After handling the so-called ‘easy’ games by a combined margin of five points, this young band of Hogs are set to invade Austin, Texas on Saturday to face the Texas Longhorns. After the last two weeks, overconfidence should not be a problem.
The Longhorns come into this game ranked #8 by both the AP and USA Today Coaches Poll. Despite the fact that UT returned only 11 starters from a 10-win team last year, Head Coach Mack Brown (105-25, 11th season) has reloaded once again. The ‘Horns have rolled up 94 points and allowed only 23 in the first two weeks against Florida Atlantic and UTEP.
Many publications, including our favorite, Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, had UT picked to finish third in the Big 12 South, primarily because of the lack of returning starters and a brutal schedule. The Longhorns face both Kansas and Missouri from the North division, travel to Texas Tech, and clash with Oklahoma in Dallas at the annual Red River Shootout.
The UT Offense is led by junior quarterback Colt McCoy, who has passed for 504 yards and seven TDs so far this year. His main target so far has been wide receiver Quan Cosby (11 catches for 188 yards).
The odd thing is McCoy also leads UT in rushing after two weeks of play (111 yards on 17 carries). The lack of an emerging Texas running back after the first two weeks is a concern down south. Not to give Hog fans false hope, but with the Razorbacks trouble stopping the run so far this season, that could play into our favor.
On defense, it’s hard to tell much about the ‘Horns so far. Both Texas opponents were so terrible offensively that giving up 23 total points is nothing to hang your cowboy hat on. (UTEP ranks 105th out of 119 Division I teams offensively.)
Quick Hits — Former Texas greats Tommy Nobis (#60) and Bobby Layne (#22) will have their jerseys retired at a halftime ceremony…Hurricane Ike is set to make landfall on the Texas coast late Friday night, and could impact the Austin area by the time the 2:30 afternoon kickoff rolls around…The early line has Texas favored by 24.
If the Hogs are to have any chance at all, they’ve got to fix the kicking game woes that plagued them last week and get a lot of turnovers — something we haven’t done at all so far this season.
But the last time we were in Austin, things went pretty well. Let’s hope for the best this time, too.
Oh, how nice a victory would be once again! As shocking was this previous game was, I doubt that lighting will strike twice! If nothing else, I'm hoping that this will be a learning experience and motivation for this team to grow as we enter the SEC stretch.
That last team that won in Austin was Houston's best team. We went against one of Texas' lesser teams which had not yet installed Vince Young at QB. We had a defense. But, all of that is past, proloque.
This the Petrino era. Fall Camp is over. It's time for the coming out party. It is time to finish drives, every one, or almost every one, in the endzone. It is time to have a competent kicking game, not great necessarily but, D-1, well coached, kicking game. It is time to pick up the blitz, throw the ball away when needed, get some sacks, and get a few turnovers. It's time to grow up. I doesn't get any easier. Might as well start this week. The future is now.
I Hope.
Speical teams is usually where the BCS teams make things easy against the creampuffs. That's usually where the BCS athletic depth is apparent. This doesn't seem to be the case with our beloved Hogs. We outgained ULM by almost 200 yards, but were behind most of the game thanks to our "special" teams. I think our 1 deep is not too bad, but we are only as strong as our weakest member (that's appears to be pretty weak).
I'm hoping BP gets the fundamentals (like catching passes, kicking off, returning kickoffs, and making extra points) cleaned up before Saturday. I'm ready to see Casey break Clints' records by the year's end. GO HOGS!
Arkansas Ranked headed into Texas game:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=bot…
The word is that Hurricane Ike might force a postponement of the game Sat. That might very well be a blessing in disguise. Extra rest for injuries and planning time for 'Bama would be nice. I'm working in Muscle Shoals, AL right now and the talk on all the sports radio is that the Tide is already chalking up the game next week as a big win. Honestly, though, I can deal with going undefeated the rest of the year with the idea of the teams we are going to field starting next year even. For once, there is light at the end of the tunnel. GO HOGS!!!!!!
OK, I watched the video from 2003 just to see if there is any possible way that we can win on Saturday. And the answer is no. BUT, man that win was impressive. We looked so calm and in control that whole game. I'm so glad we had Matt Jones because his laid back demeanor equaled out our former coach's immature exuberance.
One other thing – the run by MJ on that 4th down in the 4th quarter. For the first time I noticed that when he went out of bounds he tossed the ball to Bevo the mascot. How funny was that! Man, I miss MJ – I don't care how much trouble he's been in.
There, my once a year post about my man-crush on Matt Jones.
Postponed!
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen…
Rats! I'm sure that this will not be helpful with our SEC games by losing the bye week.
For those of us living out of state, I hope it's still going to be televised (may depend on our record in a couple of weeks).