Official: 2008 NCAA Football Thread

[LonghornDub]

Just announced today--Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp will stay at Texas and eventually be Mack Brown's successor at head coach (whenever Mack decides to retire):

http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.c...111808aab.html

[nikeball]

^ I was just about to post this.

Muschamp to take over Texas when Brown retires
23 minutes ago

Austin, Texas (AP)—Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has been designated head coach-in-waiting by the university, expected to take over the Longhorns when coach Mack Brown retires.

Muschamp is in his first year with Texas, but athletic director DeLoss Dodds said Tuesday he and Brown know they want to keep him at Texas. To do that, they will more than double his salary from $425,000 to $900,000 in January. He will remain defensive coordinator.

Dodds said he wants the 57-year-old Brown to coach for a long time but said he wanted to line up Muschamp now to avoid the “trauma” of a coaching search when the day comes that Brown steps down.

The No. 4 Longhorns (10-1) are preparing for their Thanksgiving night game against rival Texas A&M.



--------

A great move by us. I think Muschamp is a perfect college coach. Someone that the players want to play for and that means great recruiting resources in the state of Texas.

Good job DeLoss!

[Flacolaco]

Wow. OK looks so much better than TX did against Tech it's not even funny.

[chumdawg]

This is quite distressing so far. Game is a long way from over, though!

[Flacolaco]

OK should be in the national title game.

[BGMaverick9]

That OU offensive line has just dominated the game from the go. Pushing back Tech every time and basically getting a first down on every play. That's VERY impressive to be that dominant.

Their coverage and blitzing has really rattled Harrell and he definitely hasn't been in that situation at all this year.

It's going to be interesting tomorrow with the BCS results.

[raefformvp]

My husband and his crazy Oklahoma family is going nuts right now...

[alby]

all I can say is ouch.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

OK should be in the national title game.

Negative. Unless we've really arrived at a place where style points are more important than on-field results, OU has no business going to either the Big 12 CG or the NCG over Texas. Texas' loss came on the road with 1 second to go, whereas OU's loss was a 10 pointer to Texas at a neutral site.

Unfortunately, it may well end up that OU makes it there, simply because voters are morons. But it'd be a damn shame. We could potentially have a Big 12 title game featuring a 1 loss team and a 2 loss team, both of whom lost to Texas by double digits. Meanwhile, one loss Texas sits at home?

It's time for new tiebreaker in the Big 12, a playoff for the national title. This is absolutely absurd.

[alby]

OU will not jump UT. I'm not worried one bit.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by alby

OU will not jump UT. I'm not worried one bit.

In some twisted sense, I'm actually glad OU actually massacred Tech by that much, because now Tech may be so far removed from the discussion of the 3-way tie that voters will look more closely at only Texas and OU. And, if they do that, Texas is on top the only place that matters.

[alby]

Make your Tebow vs. McCoy shirts now.

[LonghornDub]

Well, my logic didn't quite work out. Texas is still ahead of OU, but the margin is razor thin. If OU beats OSU next week, they will jump us, barring a miracle.

1. Alabama (11-0)
2. Texas (10-1)
3. Oklahoma (10-1) (.008 behind Texas)
4. Florida (10-1)
5. USC (9-1)
6. Utah (12-0)
7. Texas Tech (10-1)
8. Penn St. (11-1)
9. Boise St. (11-0)
10. Ohio St. (10-2)

[BGMaverick9]

Yeah that margin is pretty bad. You never know what to expect in Bedlam though. Anything can happen. OSU would love to spoil it for OU.

[Five-ofan]

the interesting thing about the tech game is leach adjusted and played with much smaller splits against texas. they didnt do that against ou. Honestly i cant fathom a reason why he did that. its been proven time and again that the big splits approach doesnt work against fast attacking ds(which is why they didnt use them against ut)

[Five-ofan]

if osu beats ou, it screws texas worse. Tech wins the big 12 south. The only chance texas has honestly is for baylor to beat tech

[nikeball]

What is strange that...if OU loses to OSU...

Tech goes to the Big 12...if they win the Big 12 champ...

Texas still goes to MNC because higher BCS ranking.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

if osu beats ou, it screws texas worse. Tech wins the big 12 south. The only chance texas has honestly is for baylor to beat tech

It screws Texas in regard to the Big 12 CG, but basically ensures that Texas goes to Miami to play for all the marbles. Tech has fallen too in the rankings and won't be able to overtake Texas for one of the top 2 spots, even if they beat Missouri.

Go Pokes!

[Murphy3]

Let's not forget that OU will have to beat OSU and then beat Missouri (if they jump Texas) in the Conference Championship game.. that's a tall order.

Missouri is a better team than what they showed in Austin.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Let's not forget that OU will have to beat OSU and then beat Missouri (if they jump Texas) in the Conference Championship game.. that's a tall order.

Missouri is a better team than what they showed in Austin.

Mizzou is certainly better than what they showed that night, but I think OU will handle them with at least relative ease. The one thing Mizzou has going for it is it will be close to a home game for them.

[nikeball]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122747403752551393.html

Turnabout Fair Play for Texas
As Oklahoma Creeps Closer in BC

It took a while, but justice is finally being done. Karma is coming back to bite the Texas Longhorns.

In 2004, as California fans and others with long memories surely recall, Texas leapfrogged Cal for a Rose Bowl berth as Texas coach Mack Brown shamelessly lobbied the pollsters. While coaches understandably must advocate on their teams' behalf, whenever they lobby for BCS berths, they inherently lobby against and put down other teams. Mr. Brown wasn't too subtle in his implications about the Bears' relative worth.

The negative campaign worked. Poor Cal missed out on their first Rose appearance since 1959 and trudged off to the Holiday Bowl. Their crime? Winning by only 10 against a respectable Southern Mississippi on the road in their regular-season finale.

The politicking has geared up again this season. And this time, Texas could wind up as the wronged party.

Texas coach Mack Brown now finds himself on the other end of an ugly game of lobbying.
Oklahoma crept closer to its Red River rival in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings, and the inside track between the two to reach the national-title game. The Longhorns now rank No. 2 in the BCS, with a slight edge over the No. 3 Sooners. But regardless of how the raging Texas-Oklahoma argument turns out, the mere existence of this debate represents a fascinating turn of fate. Now Texas must sweat through a week of posturing and pleading.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops fired first. "Obviously, now we're in the mix with everybody," he said after the Sooners' 65-21 demolition Saturday of former No. 2 Texas Tech. On the logic of voting Oklahoma ahead of the Longhorns, who beat the Sooners Oct. 11 on a neutral field: "If you can't do that because they beat us, then you've got to keep Texas Tech in front of Texas. What's logical for one is logical for the other." On the Sooners' performance against the Red Raiders: "I don't know what else, what other style points you're looking for."

That last statement contains the magic words. Oklahoma's rout clearly scored style points with Associated Press voters, who let the Sooners overtake Texas, as well as in the USA Today and Harris Interactive balloting, which are relevant to the BCS standings. The Sooners entered Saturday trailing Texas in all three, plus the BCS race. Next Sunday's BCS standings are paramount, since they would decide the Big 12 South's league-title game representative in the event of a three-way tie.

By all rights, this shouldn't even be a debate. Texas beat Oklahoma. The Longhorns suffered the most defensible defeat of any title contender, a last-second loss at still-top-10 Texas Tech. And Mr. Stoops's argument doesn't fly. His logic about the Texas-Texas Tech-Oklahoma dynamic wouldn't compute if the three-way Big 12 South tie didn't include the Red Raiders. Well, the Red Raiders lost their shot at the national title. This is no longer a three-team debate. It's between two teams that already played each other. Mr. Stoops made an argument for parity with Texas. He can't make one for superiority.

The title-game picture could get really messy if No. 1 Alabama or No. 4 Florida loses Saturday. Assuming that doesn't happen, the Southeastern Conference will take one of the two title-game spots. The other likely will go to Oklahoma or Texas. But remember: If Oklahoma State upsets Oklahoma Saturday, Texas won't go to the Big 12 championship game. Texas Tech will, by virtue of beating Texas head-to-head. That could seriously complicate the final voting.

View Full Image

Getty Images
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford drops back during his team's demolition of Texas Tech, which futher clouded the BCS picture.
Even though Oklahoma faces the far tougher opponent this weekend, the circumstances favor the Sooners, down to the dates of the games. With Texas playing Thursday and Oklahoma Saturday, the Sooners have the last word. Oklahoma might gain voters for blowing out the Cowboys, but they probably won't lose any for a close victory on the road against a tough in-state rival Texas struggled to beat.

Meanwhile, Texas faces the inverse scenario. The Longhorns can expect no extra credit for routing Texas A&M, something lowly Baylor just did. But they face demerits, fairly or not, if they don't win big.

The Longhorns' plight would elicit more sympathy if not for the Cal controversy four years ago. It wasn't just Mr. Brown's lobbying that was maddening. The Bears happened to boast superior credentials. Cal's lone defeat in that regular season was a classic against Southern California, which the visiting Bears lost after seriously outgaining the top-ranked Trojans. By contrast, Texas played terribly in its one loss, a 12-0 neutral-field defeat to Oklahoma in which the Sooners seriously outgained the Longhorns.

But Cal lost some votes after its victory over Southern Miss – and Mr. Brown's lobbying -- and Texas made up enough ground to pass the Bears for fourth in the BCS standings and a bid. (Cal lost to Texas Tech while Texas beat Michigan in the bowls, but the teams' subsequent performances has no bearing to which bowls they deserved to make.)

No matter who wins the Texas-Oklahoma debate, the loser will at least meet a better bowl fate than the Bears did. If either Texas or Oklahoma finishes third or fourth in the BCS, which they're virtually assured of doing if they don't lose again, they must receive a BCS bid. Fiesta Bowl president John Junker said in an interview that his bowl -- which ordinarily snags the Big 12 champion, but will likely lose that team to the BCS title game -- would prefer to take a replacement Big 12 team. Further, because of the BCS pecking order this season, the Fiesta should have the option of taking a second heavyweight at-large team, like Southern California or Ohio State.

That wouldn't make up for getting nosed out of league- and national-title game berths by an archrival whom you tied in the standings and beat head-to-head. But if Texas loses out, Oklahoma fans won't be the only ones smiling.

----------------

Texas v USC or Texas v OSU would be fun to watch. Relive some of the previous games of years past.

I didn't think we would make the MNC this year based on our schedule (next year was the year I penciled us winning it all). I would also be scared to play FLA, which just looks insane about now. I wouldn't mind playing in the Fiesta Bowl and watch OU get trounced again in another bowl game .

[DirkFTW]

Wait, so if OSU somehow upsets OU, then Baylor would also need to beat Tech? Yikes.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by DirkFTW

Wait, so if OSU somehow upsets OU, then Baylor would also need to beat Tech? Yikes.

Doubt it. The voters would have to do some real manipulation to keep Texas out of the top 2 of OSU beats OU, regardless of whether Tech beats Mizzou.

[u2sarajevo]

I still..... STILL can not get over why we didn't run more time off the clock before scoring against Tech. And if that catch had been made.

What if's....... they drive you crazy. CRAZY.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by u2sarajevo

I still..... STILL can not get over why we didn't run more time off the clock before scoring against Tech. And if that catch had been made.

What if's....... they drive you crazy. CRAZY.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

Our last TD against Tech was the only time in the history of me watching sports that I have been angry at my own team for scoring. In all honesty, right when Vondrell walked into the end zone, I immediately thought, "We just lost this game." Sort of counterintuitive, because we had just gotten our first lead, but that's really how I felt at the time.

To me, that's infintely more frustrating than Gideon's dropped interception. After all, he's a 19 year old true freshman. The coaches are professionals getting paid 6 (and 7) figure salaries--they should be smart enough to know that you at least run the play clock on our last 4 downs inside the 10 and get the game clock under 45 seconds or so.

[u2sarajevo]

We have to consider ourselves fortunate, however. In all honesty OU should be ranked ahead of us right now.

The fact that we are #2 in the BCS has got to be ticking off Sooner country. They hold their own destiny though. I expect they will win Saturday.

How I wish that the Cowboys would defeat them. We don't have to be the Big 12 Champion to play in the title game..... but somehow it might feel dirty if we didn't. But I'd take it.

It's funny though... I was thinking the only way we could end up having what ended up happening happen (is that confusing?) is by OU eeeking by Tech. I fully expected us to be jumped. I guess they just delayed the inevitable by a week.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by u2sarajevo

We have to consider ourselves fortunate, however. In all honesty OU should be ranked ahead of us right now.

I don't agree with this, actually. It's a 3-way tie, but it seems fairly clear that the voters aren't seriously considering Tech in said 3-way tie. I've yet to hear a single person anywhere argue that Tech should come out on top of the tie.

So, for all practical purposes, it's a 2-way discussion between Texas and OU. And when you have a 2-way discussion between two teams with identical records and almost identical strength of schedule, a 10 point head-to-head victory by one of those teams (on a neutral site, no less) should make the choice pretty easy.

But you're right to say that OU jumps us if they beat OSU. It shouldn't happen, but it will. The voters have spoken: scoreboard is out, margin of victory and style points are in.

[nikeball]

http://www.tellshowbcs.com/

good, comprehensive, confusing read.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by LonghornDub

It screws Texas in regard to the Big 12 CG, but basically ensures that Texas goes to Miami to play for all the marbles. Tech has fallen too in the rankings and won't be able to overtake Texas for one of the top 2 spots, even if they beat Missouri.

Go Pokes!

i was under the impression they had implemented a rule that if two one loss teams had played, the winner had to be ranked higher.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by nikeball

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122747403752551393.html

Turnabout Fair Play for Texas
As Oklahoma Creeps Closer in BC

It took a while, but justice is finally being done. Karma is coming back to bite the Texas Longhorns.

In 2004, as California fans and others with long memories surely recall, Texas leapfrogged Cal for a Rose Bowl berth as Texas coach Mack Brown shamelessly lobbied the pollsters. While coaches understandably must advocate on their teams' behalf, whenever they lobby for BCS berths, they inherently lobby against and put down other teams. Mr. Brown wasn't too subtle in his implications about the Bears' relative worth.

The negative campaign worked. Poor Cal missed out on their first Rose appearance since 1959 and trudged off to the Holiday Bowl. Their crime? Winning by only 10 against a respectable Southern Mississippi on the road in their regular-season finale.

The politicking has geared up again this season. And this time, Texas could wind up as the wronged party.

Texas coach Mack Brown now finds himself on the other end of an ugly game of lobbying.
Oklahoma crept closer to its Red River rival in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings, and the inside track between the two to reach the national-title game. The Longhorns now rank No. 2 in the BCS, with a slight edge over the No. 3 Sooners. But regardless of how the raging Texas-Oklahoma argument turns out, the mere existence of this debate represents a fascinating turn of fate. Now Texas must sweat through a week of posturing and pleading.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops fired first. "Obviously, now we're in the mix with everybody," he said after the Sooners' 65-21 demolition Saturday of former No. 2 Texas Tech. On the logic of voting Oklahoma ahead of the Longhorns, who beat the Sooners Oct. 11 on a neutral field: "If you can't do that because they beat us, then you've got to keep Texas Tech in front of Texas. What's logical for one is logical for the other." On the Sooners' performance against the Red Raiders: "I don't know what else, what other style points you're looking for."

That last statement contains the magic words. Oklahoma's rout clearly scored style points with Associated Press voters, who let the Sooners overtake Texas, as well as in the USA Today and Harris Interactive balloting, which are relevant to the BCS standings. The Sooners entered Saturday trailing Texas in all three, plus the BCS race. Next Sunday's BCS standings are paramount, since they would decide the Big 12 South's league-title game representative in the event of a three-way tie.

By all rights, this shouldn't even be a debate. Texas beat Oklahoma. The Longhorns suffered the most defensible defeat of any title contender, a last-second loss at still-top-10 Texas Tech. And Mr. Stoops's argument doesn't fly. His logic about the Texas-Texas Tech-Oklahoma dynamic wouldn't compute if the three-way Big 12 South tie didn't include the Red Raiders. Well, the Red Raiders lost their shot at the national title. This is no longer a three-team debate. It's between two teams that already played each other. Mr. Stoops made an argument for parity with Texas. He can't make one for superiority.

The title-game picture could get really messy if No. 1 Alabama or No. 4 Florida loses Saturday. Assuming that doesn't happen, the Southeastern Conference will take one of the two title-game spots. The other likely will go to Oklahoma or Texas. But remember: If Oklahoma State upsets Oklahoma Saturday, Texas won't go to the Big 12 championship game. Texas Tech will, by virtue of beating Texas head-to-head. That could seriously complicate the final voting.

View Full Image

Getty Images
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford drops back during his team's demolition of Texas Tech, which futher clouded the BCS picture.
Even though Oklahoma faces the far tougher opponent this weekend, the circumstances favor the Sooners, down to the dates of the games. With Texas playing Thursday and Oklahoma Saturday, the Sooners have the last word. Oklahoma might gain voters for blowing out the Cowboys, but they probably won't lose any for a close victory on the road against a tough in-state rival Texas struggled to beat.

Meanwhile, Texas faces the inverse scenario. The Longhorns can expect no extra credit for routing Texas A&M, something lowly Baylor just did. But they face demerits, fairly or not, if they don't win big.

The Longhorns' plight would elicit more sympathy if not for the Cal controversy four years ago. It wasn't just Mr. Brown's lobbying that was maddening. The Bears happened to boast superior credentials. Cal's lone defeat in that regular season was a classic against Southern California, which the visiting Bears lost after seriously outgaining the top-ranked Trojans. By contrast, Texas played terribly in its one loss, a 12-0 neutral-field defeat to Oklahoma in which the Sooners seriously outgained the Longhorns.

But Cal lost some votes after its victory over Southern Miss – and Mr. Brown's lobbying -- and Texas made up enough ground to pass the Bears for fourth in the BCS standings and a bid. (Cal lost to Texas Tech while Texas beat Michigan in the bowls, but the teams' subsequent performances has no bearing to which bowls they deserved to make.)

No matter who wins the Texas-Oklahoma debate, the loser will at least meet a better bowl fate than the Bears did. If either Texas or Oklahoma finishes third or fourth in the BCS, which they're virtually assured of doing if they don't lose again, they must receive a BCS bid. Fiesta Bowl president John Junker said in an interview that his bowl -- which ordinarily snags the Big 12 champion, but will likely lose that team to the BCS title game -- would prefer to take a replacement Big 12 team. Further, because of the BCS pecking order this season, the Fiesta should have the option of taking a second heavyweight at-large team, like Southern California or Ohio State.

That wouldn't make up for getting nosed out of league- and national-title game berths by an archrival whom you tied in the standings and beat head-to-head. But if Texas loses out, Oklahoma fans won't be the only ones smiling.

----------------

Texas v USC or Texas v OSU would be fun to watch. Relive some of the previous games of years past.

I didn't think we would make the MNC this year based on our schedule (next year was the year I penciled us winning it all). I would also be scared to play FLA, which just looks insane about now. I wouldn't mind playing in the Fiesta Bowl and watch OU get trounced again in another bowl game .

everyone seems to forget texas played the most entertaining bowl game of the year that year(vince's first dominant rose bowl) and cal got pounded by tech... cal had no business being ahead of texas to begin with.

[nikeball]

ESPN keeps showing the girl next to Colt's dad on TV...(on his right)

so after some google searching here she is...pretty cute!

http://coedmagazine.com/sports/37010/

[BGMaverick9]

Yeah I saw her a few times on the screen.

Very nice!

[mavspwnage]

Originally Posted by nikeball

ESPN keeps showing the girl next to Colt's dad on TV...(on his right)

so after some google searching here she is...pretty cute!

http://coedmagazine.com/sports/37010/

[Kirobaito]

Originally Posted by nikeball

ESPN keeps showing the girl next to Colt's dad on TV...(on his right)

so after some google searching here she is...pretty cute!

http://coedmagazine.com/sports/37010/

sic 'em bears

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

i was under the impression they had implemented a rule that if two one loss teams had played, the winner had to be ranked higher.

Nope. I wish.

[mavspwnage]

LMAO @ Missouri... lost at HOME to Kansas. Way to head into the Big 12 title game! It will be so fucked up if they win that game.

[LonghornDub]

Baylor up 21-14 on Tech at half. Crabtree was carted out of the game with an injury.

If Baylor wins, Texas takes the Big 12 South and goes to the CCG to play Missouri. COME ON BEARS. Hold on!

[Kirobaito]

Originally Posted by LonghornDub

Baylor up 21-14 on Tech at half. Crabtree was carted out of the game with an injury.

If Baylor wins, Texas takes the Big 12 South and goes to the CCG to play Missouri. COME ON BEARS. Hold on!

We'll try. Oh, that would be a great sports weekend. Beating AZ State to seal a ranking in next week's BB standings, and upsetting TTU.

[Kirobaito]

Good start to the half! It's shocking how different the running game is compared to years past. How does that happen? We were last in the nation in running the ball the last two years.

[LonghornDub]

RG IV reminds me of a certain QB who used to play for Texas.