Let’s Go Bowling !
Did I ever tell you about the time in 1978, when I went bowling with Mike Frank, John Spafford, and John Hairston on….Wrong forum, never mind.
Despite the fact that Oklahoma State is a bad football team, that has now lost four straight games by an average score of 38-10, Texas’ win in Stillwater Saturday night is a very, very good win and a big win for our team and our program. I thought Charlie Strong may have lost this team after the 23-0 stinker of a loss to Kansas State, but the three game winning streak since then goes a long way towards proving Strong can build a team and a program.
What a weird way to score 28 points. Two botched extra points, three field goals, and a missed 21-yard field goal.
I know there are concerns about 2015 because the team will lose seniors Quandre Diggs, Jordan Hicks, Cedric Reed, John Harris, and junior Malcolm Brown, but Strong has shown he can develop and create players and leaders where none existed before. I’m bullish on the future.
I am concerned about the future of the Longhorns at quarterback. Tyrone Swoopes played a solid game against Oklahoma State. It was his first good game since the Iowa State game a month ago. Swoopes’ good performances this year, Oklahoma, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State came against teams that ranked 6, 9, and 7 respectively in Big 12 total defense. He has struggled and hamstrung Texas in all the other games. If you were paying close attention Saturday night, you will have noticed that when Texas had troubles in the third quarter, the main reason was that Swoopes was spooked by the Oklahoma State pass rush, both real and imagined by Swoopes. All year long, if there is any traffic in the pocket, Swoopes takes his eyes off his receivers and starts looking for a place to fall down or run out of bounds. His beautiful 45-yard touchdown pass to Armanti Foreman in the fourth quarter, started with an absolutely clean pocket with no Oklahoma State defender within five yards of him. Unless he develops the ability to ignore the flak and step up in the pocket, he is not the answer at quarterback.
On to TCU. They rank fourth in the Big 12 in total defense but seventh in pass defense. The Horns have a chance.
Revelation
It was gray, misting, and 48 degrees around noon on Saturday in Austin. In other words, great running weather, which is what I was doing on the cushioned field turf at Clark Field on the UT campus. For the first 30 minutes or so I was there, I was running all alone, lost in my thoughts and my iPod. It was then that I received the answer to a question that I have pondered for decades. What is the greatest song of all time?
Answer, “Deacon Blues” by Steely Dan.
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Willie Earl
Willie Earl
HooK ‘Em,
W.E.
Over/Under Results
I know you’re out there. You know that you scored a nine and you’re thinking you won. You would be wrong, all six of you. Yes, six players made nines this week, but my pledge brothers, John Scott and Greg Swan were perfect 10s. Greg edged John in the tiebreaker by correctly predicting that Georgia and Wisconsin would come out on top Saturday. Congratulations Greg!
Mike Frank, Clayton Frink, Justin Merendino, Steve Holstead, Mark Stephan, and Art Zeitz were the nines.
The ever growing by leaps and bounds Willie Earl’s Longhorn Blog received 28 Over/Under entries this week.
Any investors out there?
