January 9, 2012

Too many bowls

On the day of the BCS national championship game, this SNL video reminds us that there are way too many bowl games.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

December 22, 2011

How not to conduct a coaching search

Given the recent success of the University of Houston football program, UH athletic director Mack Rhoades has been able to fly largely under the radar of public scrutiny.

Rhoades came to UH after the past two UH head coaches Art Briles and Kevin Sumlin were hired, so he really had nothing to do with the revitalization of Houston's traditionally innovative football program that Briles and Sumlin engineered.

Rhoades' first coaching change after coming to UH was dubious, although he at least had the good sense to mitigate the negative impact of that decision by hiring a protégé of the coach that he replaced.

Rhoades' second coaching change was equally uninspired. Why replace an older coach who had at least revived the basketball program somewhat with another older coach who had been out of coaching for several years?

But despite those missteps, Rhoades was in a perfect position to hire the best coach available to replace Sumlin, who everyone even remotely connected with college football knew was going to be plucked by a program in a BCS conference after leading UH to a 12-1 record. Given UH's recent success, how hard could that be?

Well, maybe harder than you would expect, particularly if you are ill-prepared to conduct the search.

Two weeks after Sumlin elected to take the head coaching position at Texas A&M, it is painfully clear that Rhoades was inexplicably unprepared to replace Sumlin.

After being used by the coaches at Wyoming and Louisiana Tech to improve their respective contractual positions, Rhoades panicked and bestowed the head coaching position at Houston to Tony Levine, an obscure assistant coach who has never been seriously considered for a major college head coaching position before.

Indeed, but for reaping the benefit of Rhoades' questionable decision-making, Levine probably would not have been a candidate for more than a relatively minor assistant coaching position at another college program.

Meanwhile, Rhoades chose Levine over a more qualified member of the Houston staff, Jason Phillips, whose background is remarkably similar to that of Sumlin at the time the latter was hired as Houston's head coach. Phillips - who is indisputably the best recruiter on the current UH staff - will almost certainly now move on to greener pastures, probably as the offensive coordinator for SMU's June Jones, who tried to hire Phillips four years ago when Sumlin persuaded him to stay at his alma mater. After being rejected by UH for a less-qualified candidate, it is extremely doubtful that Phillips will stick around this time.

And realistically, given that Levine has never coordinated either an offense or a defense at the major college level, how likely is it that he is going to be able to attract the coaching talent necessary to sustain Houston's tradition of innovation that has been built under the regimes of Bill Yeoman, Jack Pardee, John Jenkins, Briles and Sumlin?

As a Houstonian and a UH alum, I hope Coach Levine well. He appears to be a genuinely nice fellow and a good member of UH's current staff.

But as a longtime observer of - and participant in - the politics of big-time college football, my instincts are telling me something much more troubling about the UH athletic program.

That is, Mack Rhoades is a lightweight who is in way over his head.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (2) |

November 7, 2011

How much is corruption worth?

The corrupt nature of big-time college football and basketball has been a frequent topic on this blog. Entertaining, yes, but corrupt nonetheless.

So, is it really a surprise that one of the flagship programs and legendary coaches in this corrupt system are being implicated in a particularly repulsive web of corruption?

Condemnation of the actors involved has been the almost universal reaction in social media over the weekend, but caution is advised. We have heard only the prosecutors' story so far and that story may not be true, at least entirely. The reputations and careers of prominent people are at stake here, so restraint at this point is prudent. Hindsight bias and our scapegoat instinct remain strong.

Yet, the allegations remain hugely troubling. A prominent assistant coach was allegedly caught by another coach in a compromising act with a minor. Another employee apparently also testified that he came upon the coach engaging in sex with a minor on school property.

What was done in response? Was it enough? Did it comply with obligations under applicable law? Did university authorities downplay the seriousness of the matter in order to protect a highly popular friend of the football program? Did one of the witnesses not pursue disclosure of the incident further because the football program gave him an assistant coaching position? Were the university's lawyers advised about the incident at the time" If so, what did they advise?

These are the questions that will be asked in the coming days, weeks and months. And the answers may well be troubling.

Make no mistake about it. Not only are these the type of allegations that can destroy lives, careers and families, they can shake institutions even as wealthy and time-honored as Pennsylvania State University to its core.

And at some point the leaders running such institutions must confront a very basic, but troubling, question:

Is the corruption worth it?

And for honest leaders of other institutions who realize it could just have well been theirs involved in this mess, it's a question well worth considering.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (3) |

November 3, 2011

Billy Cannon's Punt Return

As no. 2 LSU prepares to play no. 1 Alabama on Saturday night, this video provides a glimpse at another big LSU game -- the 1959 battle between no. 1 LSU and no. 3 Ole Miss that propelled LSU legend Billy Cannon to a Heisman Trophy and a rich professional contract with the Houston Oilers.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

September 21, 2011

50 Greatest Plays in College Football History

College football season is a special time in Texas, so it's easy to take some time and get lost in this entertaining compilation of the 50 greatest plays in college football history.

Of course, as with any such list, there are going to be oversights, not the least of which is the late-in-the-game 4th down pass from Texas' James Street to Randy Peschel to set up the go ahead touchdown in the 1969 Game of the Century.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

September 17, 2011

A good way to start a football Saturday

Houston Texans Performance on Sept. 11, 2011 from Barker Productions on Vimeo.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 16, 2011

This is our time?

As avant garde comedy, this University of Texas 2011 football video narrated by Matthew McConaughey is pretty good.

On the other hand, if not avant garde comedy, this video is seriously delusional and reflects much of why the UT is not a particularly attractive member for conference affiliation purposes right now.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

September 11, 2011

Opening Night, Apogee Stadium, University of North Texas

Posted by Tom at 1:41 AM | Comments (0) |

September 3, 2011

Are you ready for some college football?!

Posted by Tom at 7:59 AM | Comments (0) |

August 31, 2011

Kevin Sumlin's big season on Cullen Avenue

The Houston area's entertaining football season kicked off with high school and NFL pre-season football over the past couple of weeks. But the season really takes flight this weekend as the University of Houston hosts UCLA at Robertson Stadium. And for a variety of reasons, that game will be among the most interesting of the first weekend of the 2011 college football season.

The return of exceptional UH QB Case Keenum for his sixth (!) season is one of the obvious storylines. But an even more interesting one is whether UH head coach Kevin Sumlin will be able to steer the Cougars to a key win over a BCS conference opponent in what is his most important season of his 23 year college coaching career.

Last October, as UH's football season hung in the balance after Keenum was knocked out for the year, this blog post noted that how the Cougars finished the season would go a long way toward defining the direction of Sumlin's head coaching career.

Unfortunately, the finish wasn't what Sumlin wanted. After wins over SMU and Memphis had the Coogs entering November 5-3, UH finished the season 0-4, albeit against good teams (UCF, Tulsa, Southern Miss and Texas Tech).

But add to that disappointing finish the fact that Sumlin's Coogs lost to Rice for the second time in Sumlin's three seasons at UH and legitimate questions arise over whether Sumlin has what it takes to build a consistent winner on Cullen Avenue.

There is no question that Sumlin can coach offense. Even after losing Keenum last season, the Cougars ended the year fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision ("FBS") in passing, 11th in total offense and 13th in scoring. Not what it would have been had Keenum been at the controls all season, but not bad considering that a true freshman QB (David Piland) was under center after Keenum and his backup (Chase Turner) went down in the UCLA game.

However, no one knows at this point whether Sumlin can piece together a decent - much less a good - defense. Sumlin fired defensive coordinator John Skladany after his second season and brought in Brian Stewart last season to implement a 3-4 scheme. The result? Stewart's defense was far worse than either of Skladany's two defenses as DC, finishing 110th among the 120 FBS teams.

So, incongruously, the offensive-minded Sumlin's coaching career is largely dependent upon whether he can turnaround his team's defensive performance.  Indeed, if Keenum stays healthy all season, the defensive improvement doesn't need to be all that much - Houston's explosive offense will cover up many warts on the defensive side.

But until the Cougars' defense can show that it can stop even a hard-chargin' marching band - something that Houston's defenses haven't been able to do consistently since Jack Pardee's coaching stint over 20 years ago - Sumlin's promising coaching career (as well as Houston's BCS conference aspirations) will remain firmly planted in the second tier of big-time college football.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

August 24, 2011

NFL Flowchart

H/T Interpretation by Design. The box leading in to the Texans is spot on.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

August 13, 2011

John Cleese on football

John Cleese gets us ready for the first weekend of one of the most mind-numbing sport seasons of the year, NFL Pre-season football.

Stupid videos

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

July 13, 2011

Public Choices

This Reed Albergotti/Cameron McWhirter/WSJ article provides an absolutely devastating account of the way in which Hamilton County, Ohio political leaders pledged an enormous portion of the county's resources to pay most of the cost of a new stadium for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals:

At its completion in 2000, Paul Brown Stadium had soared over its $280 million budget--and the fiscal finger-pointing had already begun.

The county says the final cost was $454 million.  .  .  .

But according to research by Judith Grant Long, a Harvard University professor who studies stadium finance, the cost to the public was closer to $555 million once other expenditures, such as special elevated parking structures, are factored in. No other NFL stadium had ever received that much public financing. [.  .  .]

On top of paying for the stadium, Hamilton County granted the Bengals generous lease terms. It agreed to pick up nearly all operating and capital improvement costs--and to foot the bill for high-tech bells and whistles that have yet to be invented, like a "holographic replay machine." No team had snared such concessions in addition to huge sums of public money, Journal research shows.

To help finance its stadiums, Hamilton County assumed more than $1 billion in debt by issuing its own bonds without any help from the surrounding counties or the state. As debt service ratchets up, officials expect debt payments to create a $30 million budget deficit by 2012.

"The Cincinnati deal combined taking on a gargantuan responsibility with setting new records for optimistic forecasting," says Roger Noll, a professor of economics at Stanford University who has written about the deal. "It takes both to put you in a deep hole, and that's a pretty deep hole."

The stadium's annual tab continues to escalate, according to the county's website. In 2008, the Bengals' stadium cost to taxpayers was $29.9 million, an amount equivalent to 11% of the county's general fund.

Last year, it rose to $34.6 million--a sum equal to 16.4% of the county budget. That's a huge multiple compared to other football stadiums of the era that similarly relied on county bonds for financing. Those facilities have cost-to-budget ratios of less than 2%. [.  .  .]

The Bengals had said that with a new stadium, the team's revenue would increase, allowing it to sign better players, win more games and attract more fans to the area. In 2000, the new stadium's first year, the Bengals had the same record they'd had the previous year, 4-12. Since then, the team has managed just two winning seasons in the new facility. Its attendance levels have actually dropped.

Houstonians might be tempted to shake their collective heads at how badly Bengals management took Hamilton County to the cleaners in the stadium financing negotiations. But then we are forced to confront that Houston has more than its share of similar boondoggles, such as the financial black hole known as Metro Light Rail, the $100 million Bayport Cruise Ship Terminal (which has never docked a cruise ship since its completion in 2008), the continuing dither over what to do with the obsolescent Astrodome, the Harris County Sports Authority's problems servicing the junk debt it issued in connection with financing the construction of Reliant Stadium for the Texans, and - most recently - the City of Houston and Harris County's dubious decision to throw about $50 million or so into the construction of a minor-league soccer stadium.

The expenditure of a billion or two of public money on building a lightly-used light rail system and stadiums for privately-owned businesses has real consequences, such as leaving inadequate funds available to make the improvements to Houston's flood control system, road infrastructure and other improvements that actually improve the safety and welfare of Houstonians.

As I've pointed out before, the relatively small interest groups that benefit from urban boondoggles have a vested interest in preventing citizens from ever examining those threshold issues. The primary economic benefit of such public projects is highly concentrated in a few interest groups, such as representatives of minority communities who tout the political accomplishment of shiny toy rail lines while ignoring their constituents need for more effective mass transit; environmental groups striving for political influence; engineering and construction-related firms that profit from the huge expenditure of public funds; and real-estate developers who profit from the value enhancement provided to their property from the public expenditures.

As Peter Gordon has wryly-noted: "It adds up to a winning coalition."

Unfortunately, once such coalitions are successful in establishing a governmental policy subsidizing such urban boondoggles, it is virtually impossible to end the public subsidy of the boondoggle and re-deploy the resources for more beneficial projects.

How do these interest groups get away with this? The costs of such boondoggles are widely dispersed among the local population of an area such as Houston, so the many who stand to lose will lose only a little while the few who stand to gain will gain a lot. As a result, these small interest groups recognize that it is usually not worth the relatively small cost per taxpayer for most citizens to spend any substantial amount of time or money lobbying or simply taking the time to vote against such boondoggles.

But would citizens react differently if their leaders advised them that their lack of action in the face of an urban boondoggle might prevent the funding of much more beneficial projects?

No one knows for sure. But I'd sure like to see local political leaders engage in some truth-in-advertising before the financing of such boondoggles is placed before the voters.

We all might just be surprised.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

June 20, 2011

Starting a little early, don’t you think?

The NFL's lockout of players isn't even resolved yet and the Chronicle's head Texans cheerleader -- Richard Justice -- is already trotting out a pre-season puff piece on the Texans' latest savior, new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. As noted many times before, Justice has a propensity for such blather.

Phillips is the equivalent of NFL coaching royalty, the son of revered former Oilers coach, Bum Phillips. However, as noted here years ago, Wade is not a chip off the old block, at least in terms of being a successful NFL head coach.

But to sycophants such as Justice, Phillips' failures as a head coach don't make any difference because he remains a successful defensive coordinator.

The problem with that theory is that it's not balanced. As this Mac Engel post notes, the bottom-line performance of teams that included Phillips-coached defenses has not been all that impressive, either.

Moreover, as noted by Alan Burge - who runs rings around the likes of Justice in providing objective analysis of the Texans - it's not as if the Texans have an easy early schedule for Phillips to ease the Texans' defensive personnel into his new 3-4 scheme.

And, by the way, remember what happened the last time the Texans converted from a 4-3 defensive scheme to a 3-4?

Phillips is the first experienced defensive coordinator that Texans head coach Gary Kubiak has hired, so perhaps that background will help in developing the Texans' young defensive talent into an effective unit.

But Justice ignores the substantial evidence that the Texans have again elevated form over substance in relying on Phillips to turn around one of the worst expansion franchises in NFL history.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (3) |

May 31, 2011

Appalling hypocrisy

So, let me get this straight.

Ohio State University throws its most successful football coach since Woody Hayes under the bus because he knew about compensation being paid to Ohio State football players, whose talents the institution exploited for enormous profit.

Meanwhile, numerous commentators castigate Ohio State and its coach for being cheaters when, in reality, virtually every big-time college football program engages in similar violations of the NCAA's dubious regulation of compensation to players who create enormous value for NCAA member institutions. Some institutions are simply better at hiding their violations than others.

I don't know Coach Tressel, but I'd be willing to bet that he is a good man who simply responded to the perverse incentives of a corrupt system.

Big-time college football is an entertaining form of corruption (see also here). But the corruption is the NCAA's regulatory scheme, and throwing decent men such as Coach Tressel to the wolves will not change that.

South Park's analysis is spot on:

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (8) |

March 15, 2011

More on that entertaining form of corruption

James Surowieki does a good job of summing up the landscape of the litigation between the NFL players and owners:

But the N.F.L. isn't capitalist in any traditional sense. The league is much more like the trusts that dominated American business in the late nineteenth century, before they were outlawed. Its goal is not to embrace competition but to tame it, making the owners' businesses less risky and more profitable. Unions are often attacked for trying to interfere with the natural workings of the market, but in the case of football it's the owners, not the union, who are the real opponents of the free market. They have created a socialist paradise for themselves that happens to bring with it capitalist-size profits. Bully for them. But in a contest between millionaire athletes and billionaire socialists it's the guys on the field who deserve to win.

My sense is that the combination of the lockout of players and the players' litigation against the owners is going to end up being a public relations disaster for the owners. Already, I've heard that every NFL team except the Giants is requiring full or partial season ticket payments from fans during the labor impasse. I mean, really -- who is giving these guys their PR advice?

Meanwhile, though, what I'm really wondering is whether college football players should attempt to intervene in the NFL players' litigation against the owners and bring some additional defendants into the lawsuit - that is, the NCAA and its member institutions?

After all, the NCAA and its members have created a similar form of socialist paradise with capitalist-sized profits, too.

Now that would be worth the price of admission.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (3) |

February 16, 2011

Challenging that entertaining form of corruption

All the talk in the sports world these days seems to revolve around the impending lock-out of NFL players by the NFL owners.

However, this Antonio Irzarry/Sports in the Courts Blog post reports on Ed O'Bannon's class action lawsuit against the NCAA, which might just end up being more interesting and change-provoking than anything that occurs in the current NFL labor negotiations:

As noted many times over the years, big-time college sports under the rubric of NCAA regulation is shamefully corrupt. Granted, it's an entertaining form of corruption, but corrupt nonetheless.

There is simply no reason why gifted young football and basketball players should be prevented from earning compensation for the entertainment and wealth that they create in the same manner that young golfers and tennis players do. 

It is far past time for the NCAA member institutions to abandon the NCAA's obsolescent regulatory system and adopt one that recognizes and rewards the risks that the players take -- and the contributions that they make - in providing entertainment and creating wealth.

Let's face it - paying indirect compensation to professional athletes in the form of academic scholarships and flashy resort facilities just doesn't cut it anymore.

Let the market sort out the institutions that are willing to take the risk of investing in what amount to upper minor-league football and basketball teams. The top 30-50 programs will probably do so, but most institutions outside of that group will not. Why risk losing even more money than most programs are under the present system?

Who knows? Perhaps the institutions that elect not to sponsor professional teams will decide to engage in true inter-collegiate competition between real student-athletes.

And with no need for the embarrassing hyprocrisy that the NCAA represents.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

February 14, 2011

The NFL Bubble

Earlier posts here and here noted the real possibility that the problems that the Harris County Sports Authority is currently experiencing in paying the debt incurred in the construction of various stadiums in Houston may be a sign of a bubble in the professional sports business that is about to burst.

S. M. Olivia of the Ludwig von Mises Institute picks up on that theme in analyzing the very real possibility that National Football League owners may elect to lock-out NFL players because of stalled negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement:

The NFL encapsulates, perhaps better than any other single business entity, the popular conceptions -- and misconceptions -- about capitalism and the nature of markets. The league is the epitome of statist "crony" capitalism. Its franchise operators demand huge government subsidies for stadiums while jealously guarding its prerogatives as a "private" business. Governments (and their media enablers) largely go along with this because they've been led to believe the NFL's popularity is so immense that no respectable city can go without a franchise.

Professional football is the ethanol of the entertainment industry. Since 1990, nearly every NFL franchise has either opened a new stadium, made substantial renovations to existing stadiums, or is currently in the process of obtaining a new stadium. Over this 20-year period the league's franchises obtained over $7 billion in taxpayer subsidies raging from direct taxes to publicly backed bonds. Ten stadiums are 100% government-financed, while another 19 are at least 75% government-financed. Every single franchise receives some amount of government subsidies. [ .  .  .]

[The ongoing NFL-NFLPA dispute is]  .   .   . simple really: The owners overspent on unnecessary stadiums, and now they want the players to work more for less pay to help pay down the debt. That's your entire labor dispute in one sentence. The league expects -- nay, demand -- the NFLPA to act like a local government in a stadium dispute and simply give the franchise operators what they want for little or nothing in return. Maintaining the "owners'" social standing is of paramount importance. [ .  .  .]

The NFL produces three things: stadium debt, intellectual property, and bureaucracy. None of these things should be confused with "free market" values. The league is a prime example of what happens when you mix politically influential egos with easy credit and a media environment that largely promotes economic ignorance. You have the perfect boom business.

But all booms eventually end. NFL acolytes -- and they are presently the majority -- will insist, as Homer Simpson once did, that "everything lasts forever." One media writer I correspond with insisted to me recently the NFL will be even more popular in 20 years then it is today. Go back to 1991 and think about all of the businesses you could have said that about, incorrectly, at that time.

That's not to say professional football will cease to exist, nor even that the present labor situation will yield some disaster beyond imagination. What I am saying is that all the positive, pie-in-the-sky press in the world can't alter economic reality. The NFL isn't just a house of cards. It's a house of cards built atop a pile of toxic waste. The only thing keeping the house from sinking is a support structure composed of television contracts.

But the networks face their own economic challenges, and unless you can guarantee that Fox, ESPN, CBS, et al., will be stronger then they are now in 2031, then you can't say with any confidence the NFL will survive and thrive indefinitely. The league is built on consumption, and when you adopt that model, eventually you'll eat yourself out of your $1.3 billion house and home.

My sense is that the NFL owners will endure a public relations debacle if they force a work stoppage, particularly if they allow it to last a long time.

For one thing, the entertainment market is far different and more diverse now than it was during prior NFL work stoppages. Thus, the market for entertainment has many alternatives to the NFL.

Moreover, the market appreciates the grave injury risk that the players endure far better than it did during prior NFL work stoppages. The public is unlikely to side with wealthy owners who are attempting to force players to take more economic risk in the face of that injury risk.

Funny thing about those financial bubbles - they are far easier to see in hindsight.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

January 13, 2011

The amazing Barry Sanders

You will not see a running back in the NFL Playoff games this weekend who could hold a candle to Barry Sanders.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

January 9, 2011

A darn good locker room speech

Interim Miami (OH) coach Lance Guidry is out of a job after his team won the Godaddy.com Bowl earlier this week. After listening to this pre-game locker room speech, you will agree with me that he probably won’t be out of a job for long.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 28, 2010

Play of the Year

My vote for the play of the year in college football. H/T Dr. Saturday.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 23, 2010

The Eloquence of a Football Coach

Following on this earlier video of former Montana Tech football coach Bob Green, Tennessee's Derek Dooley sounds as if he could be a worthy successor in the homespun humor department.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

December 10, 2010

The Shootout

It's been a tough season for the Longhorns and their followers, so it's an appropriate time to recall some better times -- the 1969 Shootout between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Arkansas. One of the most entertaining games in the history of college football.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

December 9, 2010

ABC’s Announcement of John Lennon’s Murder

Did you remember that it came toward the end of a Monday Night Football game? Below is a well done retrospective by ESPN Outside the Lines.  Well worth the 10 minute watch.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 24, 2010

Are you ready for some football?

There is no better way to get ready for the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend of football than to take a dose of former Montana Tech football coach, Bob Green.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 10, 2010

What is the greater corruption?

This?

Or the FBI using its resources to investigate this?

The FBI shouldn't be involved in such matters at all. But if the G-Men insist on investigating, they should be investigating why some institutions of higher education are getting away with making great wealth from their football programs while colluding to restrict the compensation paid to the predominantly black professional athletes who take enormous risk to life and limb to generate that wealth.

If Cam Newton received money to play for Auburn, I'm glad he got it and that he didn't take the discounted payment from Mississippi State. He deserves every dime that he was paid.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

November 6, 2010

Autumn Golf in The Woodlands

A photo tour during the wonderful Texas autumn to parts of four of the seven golf courses in The Woodlands, Texas. You can download a high resolution version of the slideshow here.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (3) |

October 6, 2010

An entertaining form of corruption

As I've noted many times over the years, big-time college football is an entertaining form of corruption, but corruption nonetheless.

Several recent articles reminded me of this corruption and the almost pathological obsession of the mainstream media to avoid addressing it, particularly during the highly entertaining football season.

First, there was this Joe Draper/NY Times article on how the highly valuable Big Ten Network is changing the financial landscape of college sports. Not once is it mentioned in the article that the people who are actually creating most of that value - i.e., the young athletes - are forced to compete under a system of highly-restricted compensation while some bastions of higher learning profit from the value that they create. In their honest moments, how do the academics rationalize that sort of exploitation, particularly when much of it involves undereducated, young black men?

Meanwhile, this breathless Pete Thamel/NY Times article reports on how the regulator of this corruption - the NCAA - is really cracking down now on coaches who have the audacity of attempting to provide to the athletes a pittance of the compensation that the bastions of higher education are preventing them from receiving. Not once in the article is it mentioned that the system is exploiting these athletes for the benefit of the NCAA and its member institutions.

Finally, this William Winslade-Daniel Goldberg/Houston Chronicle op-ed thoughtfully points out the ethical issues that arise as a result of exposing young athletes to serious and often undisclosed risk of injury and loss of potential future compensation.

So, what is it about football that generates such cognitive dissonance when young professional athletes in other sports such as golf, tennis, and baseball are not subjected to such arbitrary restrictions in compensation?

Are we concerned that the sacred traditions of college football might change if the current system is altered to compensate the young athletes fairly for the risks that they take and the wealth they create? Are those traditions truly worth the perpetuation of such a parasitic system?

There is nothing inherently wrong with universities being involved in the promotion of professional minor league football if university leaders conclude that that such an investment is good for the promotion of the school and the academic environment. Allow the players who create wealth for the university to be paid directly, allow the universities to establish farm team agreements with NFL teams, and cut out the hypocritical incentives that are built into the current system.

Not only would such a system be fairer for the players who take substantial risk of injury in creating wealth for the universities, it would obviate the compromising of academic integrity that universities commonly endure under the current system.

So, why are the leaders of our institutions of higher learning not leading the way toward a fairer system?

Perhaps they really are not leaders at all?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (7) |

October 1, 2010

A fascinating season so far, Part III

Finally, over on Cullen Avenue, the University of Houston has endured the most disheartening start of the college football season. But with that disappointment comes a fascinating challenge.

The disappointment is the college career-ending injury to QB Case Keenum, who had one of the best seasons in college football history last season and who was primed to improve on that performance this season.

After directing UH to two easy wins against overmatched opponents, Keenum blew out a knee attempting to make a tackle in the third game against UCLA and - "Poof" - the collegiate career of one of the best college QB's of this era was ended.

To make matters worse, a hard-hitting UCLA defense subsequently ended the career of Keenum's backup - Chase Turner - about a quarter later. That leaves a good UH team with no experienced QB going into the meat of their schedule, which is not remotely where the Cougars expected to be after four games this season.

In addition to being a fine young man and a team leader, what made Keenum so much fun to watch was his uncanny field presence. He was literally a coach on the field during the game.

UH opponents often dropped eight defenders into coverage in an attempt to slow down the Cougars' high-flying passing attack, so Keenum simply checked-off at the line of scrimmage and unleashed Houston's formidable rushing attack. Then, when opposition defenders crept closer to the line to stop the run, Keenum scorched them with quick-hitting passes to over a half-dozen different receivers.

With a quick release, excellent reading skills and a commanding field presence, Keenum may be that special combination of talent - similar to Drew Brees - who can overcome physical limitations (he is just a bit over 6 feet tall) to make it in the NFL. Everyone in Houston will certainly be pulling for him.

But aside from Keenum's future, there is an interesting subplot arising from the Cougars' troubled start.

Cougars head coach Kevin Sumlin - one of the top up-and-coming coaches in the college game - now faces the toughest challenge of his three year head coaching career.

That's not to suggest Sumlin hasn't faced difficult challenges before. In his first season as UH coach (2008), he somehow kept his team and coaching staff together when Hurricane Ike pummeled the Houston area and a clueless UH athletic administration inexplicably forced the Cougars coaching staff and players to play two road games while their families were dealing with the difficult aftermath of that devastation.

After enduring that, Sumlin gamely guided the Cougars to a successful season and their first bowl victory in almost 30 years, primarily on the back of Keenum and Sumlin's innovative variation of the Spread offense. Sumlin's scheme continued UH's legacy of being an incubator for creative football offenses that began with Bill Yeoman's Veer 50 years ago, then Jack Pardee and John Jenkins' version of the Run n' Shoot in the late 1980's and early 90's, and more recently, Art Briles' idiosyncratic version of the Spread.

Houston's successful campaign in Sumlin's first season set the stage for last season's even better UH team that was one of the best non-BCS teams in the nation. The Coogs beat three teams from BCS conferences, two of which (Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) ended up in post-season bowl games. Even though the season ended on down note with a close loss in the CUSA championship game and a dispiriting loss in a meaningless bowl game, Sumlin had reason to expect big things this season with Keenum and many other offensive stars returning.

Alas, with Keenum's injury, those high expectations have been downsized considerably. Sumlin and the Cougars now must face the remainder of their schedule with two true freshman QB's, Terrance Broadway of Baton Rouge and David Piland from the Southlake Carroll QB factory near Dallas.

Broadway got the nod in UH's first post-Keenum game this past Saturday against Tulane and the results were about what you would expect from a freshman making his first collegiate start. Broadway generated about a third of Keenum's usual production and had three turnovers in a 42-23 Cougar victory over a team that would probably rank about 110th out of the 120 major college teams.

To make matters worse, UH's schedule gets much tougher quickly with SEC opponent Mississippi State coming to town next Saturday. In fact, the Cougars will probably be favored to win only two (Rice and Memphis) of their remaining eight games.

Thus, the Cougars have gone quickly from the expectation of a 10+ win season to one in which four or five wins is a distinct possibility if their freshman QB's struggle. Moreover, Sumlin was already dealing with other issues before the injury to Keenum.

For example, Sumlin is in the initial season of working with a rearranged coaching staff. After losing talented offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen to Oklahoma State after last season, Sumlin decided to replace his defensive coordinator, John Skladany, who specialized in coaching up undermanned defenses such as the one that Sumlin inherited at UH from the Art Briles coaching staff.

Although Sumlin's replacements are all experienced coaches (Jason Phillips and Kliff Kinsbury on the offensive side, Brian Stewart on defense), Sumlin must now also replace an effective on-field coach in Keenum with an inexperienced freshman. And three years of recruiting defensive players and the hiring of Stewart has not yet produced any better defensive performance than what Skladany generated for the Cougars with inferior talent to what the Coogs have on defense now.

Accordingly, it's reasonable to ask whether there is any hope for the Cougars this season?

Well, except for the UCLA debacle, the Coogs' offensive line has played capably in the first four games. As a result, the Cougars RB tandem of Bryce Beall and Michael Hayes has been quite effective. Moreover, Houston's receivers - who also man the Cougars' formidable kickoff and punt return positions - remain one of the fastest and most dangerous groups in all of college football. And maybe, just maybe, the Cougars defense will finally start to realize some of the potential that Sumlin and his staff have recruited over the past three years.

So, the Cougars are not without weapons. But without an experienced triggerman, will Sumlin be able to figure out a way for the Cougars to harness those weapons effectively?

The answer to that question may well be the defining moment in Kevin Sumlin's bright coaching future. Yet another reason why this football season is shaping up as one of the most interesting in years.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 30, 2010

A fascinating season so far, Part II

Meanwhile, this week before the annual Texas-OU weekend, there is more than the usual trepidation in Longhorn circles over the big game.

Most of the concern results from the hammering that the Longhorns took last Saturday to an unheralded but underrated UCLA team. But the seeds of this discontent actually have their root in what appear to be a series of decisions that Mack Brown made after the 2006 National Championship game.

Ever since Vince Young left the UT program, it appears that Brown and his offensive coordinator, the much-maligned Greg Davis, have been attempting to move the Longhorns offensive scheme away from the Spread Zone Read offense in which Young excelled to a pro-style scheme that balances the pass with a power running attack.

Frankly, Brown's decision was not an unreasonable one. Talents such as Young come along only once every generation and the big downside to the Spread is the injury risk that it places on the QB. Texas experienced that risk in spades during the early stages of the last year's National Championship Game when QB Colt McCoy was injured on an ill-conceived option play. McCoy was UT's most effective rusher last season out of the Spread.

Moreover, Brown has been recruiting top defensive talent to Texas for years in large part on the premise that the players will be schooled in an pro-style defense that will prepare them for the NFL. It makes sense that Brown would want to recruit offensive players in the same manner. He can't do that running the Spread, which will likely never be an effective pro offense.

Inasmuch as McCoy replaced Young and was quite comfortable in the Spread, Brown's grand plan was delayed somewhat over the past four seasons. However, particularly last season, it was apparent that Brown and Davis were attempting to implement - with limited success - a more straight ahead power running attack than the the delay and trap blocks that are the hallmark of the Spread.

Now, this season, with sophomore QB Garrett Gilbert at the helm, Brown and Davis began the season firmly committed to implementation of the pro-style attack. However, as the offense sputtered through the first four games, Brown and Davis frantically find themselves trying to integrate the pro-style scheme with the Spread scheme that the players appear to feel more comfortable with. The result has been a mess, punctuated by UCLA shutting down the UT offense completely this past Saturday.

Not exactly the kind of warm and fuzzies that the Longhorn fan base wants to feel leading into this Saturday's showdown with Oklahoma. Or the Horns' next game two weeks later against no. 6 Nebraska, which is still itching from arguably favorable treatment that the Horns received from officials at the end of last year's Big 12 Championship Game.

Inasmuch as Brown pretty much has the pick of the best assistant coaches and the best Texas high school players each season, how does he find himself in this situation?

Well, each football team has an identity, but every football program develops a culture that transcends a particular team's identity. Brown is now attempting to change the offensive line culture at Texas from a Spread blocking unit to a power running unit.

The physical requirements and techniques are considerably different for blocking in the Spread than in an power running scheme. Changing the blocking techniques, the type of lineman recruited and sometimes even the assistant coaches doing the teaching takes time. Texas remains in the process of this cultural shift.

That's why it sometimes appears that Brown and Davis are attempting to place a square peg - i.e., a bunch of Spread blocking offensive linemen - in the round hole of a pro-style power rushing attack. Add to that a group of running backs who are not dominant and before you know it, the Horns are not well-equipped to run either the Spread or a pro-style power rushing scheme.

So, what should UT do?

My sense is that the Horns should play to their strength, which is their defense. Play ball control on offense, limit turnovers, punt well, play excellent special teams and try to win as many games as possible by scores of 17-10 or 20-14. Heck, UT's secondary is so talented that they are probably good for a score a game if the Horns emphasize field position and place the opposition's offense in difficult positions. 

This is clearly a rebuilding year for UT, so a 3-4 loss season is certainly not out of the question. On the other hand, the Longhorn's defense is really good and will keep the Horns in games in which the UT offensive mistakes don't give the opposition too many easy scores.

For example, the Horns are quite capable of beating Oklahoma, which has also struggled during much of its first four games. But the Horns will not beat the Sooners if the Horns' offense and special teams give OU the field position that UCLA enjoyed in the first half last Saturday.

Long term is another issue. Brown and Davis clearly need to re-assess the type of offensive linemen that they are recruiting if they want to complete the cultural shift to a pro-style offense. But even more troubling is that Texas is not attracting the top running back talent anymore -- Texas does not have one of the top five RB's in the Big 12 South on its current roster. Getting back to attracting dominant RB's has a way of making even difficult transitions look better.

Given the Horns and Sooners' problems, this may just be the season that one of these two teams finally wrests control of the Big 12 South title away from the Texas-Oklahoma stranglehold. The Oklahoma State-Texas A&M ESPN Thursday night game tonight should be a highly entertaining affair with yet another interesting subplot.

First-year Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen - who helped Kevin Sumlin develop the University of Houston's devastating version of the Spread during the 2008 and 2009 seasons - is pitted once again against first-year Texas A&M defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, who was formerly at Air Force. Holgorsen and DeRuyter matched wits during three Houston-Air Force games during the 2008-2009 seasons.

DeRuyter clearly got the better of Holgorsen in their most recent matchup, which was Air Force's decisive 2009 Armed Services Bowl victory when the Falcons forced UH QB Case Keenum into six interceptions and held UH to a relatively paltry 331 yards of total offense.

However, Holgorsen got the better of DeRuyter in the two previous games. One was Houston's 2008 Armed Services Bowl victory when the Cougars rolled up over 400 yards of total offense. The other was the earlier game that season (a 31-28 Air Force win) that UH's clueless athletic administration at the time inexplicably forced the Cougars to play in Dallas while Hurricane Ike was devastating the Houston area. Even with that distraction, Holgorsen's Cougar offense ran up over 500 yards in total offense on DeRuyter's defense in that game.

I'd say that Holgorsen and DeRuyter have fought to a draw in their matchups so far. So, it definitely will be entertaining to see what each of them pulls out of their respective hats in the next round of what is becoming one of the fascinating personal rivalries that makes big-time college football so compelling.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 29, 2010

A fascinating season so far

We are only a month into the seemingly endless football season, but this one is already shaping up as one of the most interesting in quite awhile.

Now, note that I didn't say the best season. Simply one of the most interesting.

Inasmuch as I am no longer posting weekly reports on the local teams, the next three posts are going to be about some of the interesting stories that are playing out during this season.

First up, the Texans.

Despite Sunday's home loss to the Cowboys, if the Texans can figure out a way to defeat an improved but beatable Raiders team in Oakland on Sunday, then the local club will be 3-1 and ready to receive one of their best defensive players - LB Brian Cushing - back into the fold after a four-game suspension.

Even more amazingly, the Texans quick start has not appeared to trigger unrealistic expectations in Houston's rabid and success-deprived professional football fans. Most folks seem to understand that the Texans are a curious mix of an explosive offensive team, a decent defensive front, a chaotic defensive secondary and reasonably good special teams.

That mix can definitely win some games in the NFL, but it is also prone to losing its share. Most locals seem to understand this and simply hope that a few random breaks can turn the Texans from the 8-8 team they appear to be into a 10-6 playoff contender.

A few things to watch for with regard to the Texans over the coming weeks:

QB Matt Schaub's health. Although the Texans' offense is impressive, one chink in its armor is the tendency of the offensive line to break down against particularly strong, bull rushing defensive fronts and Schaub's tendency to hold onto the ball too long trying to make the long downfield throw. Those two tendencies result in Schaub taking a large number of sacks and hard hits, which in turn increases injury risk for a QB who has a history of shoulder problems. Inasmuch as Schaub's backups (Dan Orlovsky and Matt Leinart) have, at least to date, done nothing in the NFL to distinguish themselves, an injury that disables Schaub for any appreciable amount of time would likely doom the Texans' nascent playoff chances.

RB Arian Foster's health. Through the first three games of the season, the undrafted Foster is one of the top running backs in the NFL. He clearly is comfortable running in the Texans' scheme and the Texans' OL has done a good job to date giving Foster enough daylight to excel. However, the NFL season is brutal, particularly on RB's who are getting pounded by the opposition 20 times a game. Foster's backup is Steve Slaton - who has inexplicably gone from a spectacular rookie season two seasons ago to resembling a miniature Ron Dayne now - so don't count on the Texans being able to maintain their productive rushing attack if Foster gets dinged up. And if the threat of running the ball effectively recedes, the risk of injury to QB Schaub increases as the defensive fronts load up against the passing attack.

Andre Johnson's ankle. Needs no further explanation.

The secondary's development.  It is rare for a secondary to perform as badly as the Texans' has during the first three games of the NFL season and the team still come out of it with a winning record. Texans management made a conscious decision to go with youth and potential over experience and mediocrity in the secondary this season, so growing pains for this group certainly are not unexpected. But for the Texans to be able to win games when its offense is not clicking on all cylinders, the secondary is now going to have to fulfill that potential. Such development is certainly not impossible as NFL players now frequently show dramatic improvement over the course of a season. Moreover, a more effective pass rush - a definite possibility with the return of Cushing - also could help the secondary improve. However, make no mistake about it, if the secondary continues over the balance of the season chasing rainbows as they have during the first three games, then an 8-8 record for this Texans team would be a moral victory.

Thus, the Raiders (1-2) game this Sunday will provide key insight into this Texans team. The Raiders are likely not a playoff team, but they are strong defensively. They are challenged offensively, but it appears that even an Industrial League team could scorch the Texans' secondary at this point. So, the Texans definitely are at risk of loss.

On the other hand, a win makes the Texans 3-1 at the quarter pole of the regular season with a quality reinforcement returning to help in upcoming games. That would seem to be enough motivation for the Texans to take another step in changing their losing culture, don't you think?

We'll find out Sunday afternoon. Stay tuned.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 PM | Comments (0) |

September 24, 2010

Take a test or watch the Aggie game? That is the question

The fascinating culture of Texas A&M University football has been a frequent topic on this blog over the years. So, when a current student posted the following dilemma on an Aggie message board, hilarity ensued:

[A professor] scheduled a test on Thursday the 30th from 6-8. When we told him there is a game (Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State) that night, he just laughed. Here are a list of options I have, please offer any advice.

• Take the test quickly and watch second half
• Record game and start from beginning when I get home, roommates would not be happy
• skip test
• fake illness
• actually get sick and go to quack shack for a university excused absence
• drop the class

Help me out TexAgs.

My favorite response came from an alum who got kicked out of class for bringing Reveille, the collie that is the Aggie mascot, to the class. He advised the professor upon leaving:

"This is your class and I will respect your rules, but please know that you are more expendable to the university than this dog."

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

September 20, 2010

The creative nature of football innovation

Inasmuch as Texas has always been a hotbed of innovation in football, this guest Freakonomics post by law professors Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman caught my eye:

The theory behind copyright is simple - if we allow anyone to copy a good new idea, then no one will come up with the next one.  The theory makes perfect sense - in theory. [.  .  .]

There has been a lot of innovation in football, in both offensive and defensive systems.  But there has been virtually no attempt to copyright or patent these innovations.  There are some serious doctrinal hurdles, but it's not impossible to imagine the law providing protection. [.  .  .]

So why do football coaches continue to innovate, even when they know that their rivals will study their innovations, take them and use them?  That is, why do football coaches engage in intellectual production without intellectual property?

The authors go on to characterize football as one of the industries in which innovation is best facilitated by intense competition rather than by copyright protection of new ideas. But what is interesting is that, even with the innovations of the pass-happy offenses of the past decade or so, the top teams at the highest levels of college and professional football continue to be the ones that balance an effective passing offense with a solid rushing attack that can wean time off the clock to protect a lead.

Sometimes the more things change in football, the more they remain the same.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

September 13, 2010

Ringing the Bell

I enjoyed the first big weekend of college and NFL football as much as anyone, but the probable concussion that star University of Houston QB Case Keenum suffered in the Cougars' Friday night romp over UTEP reminded me of this Skip Rozin/Wall Street Journal article from awhile back:

Protecting football players from serious head injuries is making news again. Accused for years by outside critics and even Congress of dismissing the danger of concussions, the National Football League has finally installed measures to safeguard players during games and, when they are injured, to treat them more effectively.

The latest effort, a locker-room poster being sent to all NFL teams this month, alerts players to signs of concussion-such as nausea, dizziness and double vision-and urges anyone exhibiting these symptoms to be examined by a doctor. The initiative is supported by both the NFL and the players union.

The message embraces caution in what, for players, is a high-risk environment. Football is a collision sport. At the professional level, collisions occur between the biggest and fastest players and can wreak havoc. A vivid reminder of this came last week when safety Jack Tatum, nicknamed "The Assassin," was back in the news. Tatum, who passed away July 27, made a devastating hit on Darryl Stingley during a 1978 preseason game. The hit turned Stingley into a quadriplegic; no penalty was assessed.

One new rule enacted last season penalizes hits against defenseless players such as quarterbacks and wide receivers. In December, the league banned players who show symptoms of a concussion from returning to play or practice on the same day; they must also be cleared by the team physician and an independent neurologist. The biggest change came this March when the NFL replaced the doctors leading its brain- injury committee-who discredited mounting evidence linking concussions to serious brain damage-with doctors alarmed by the danger.

Welcome changes all, yet the glorification of violence remains a well-entrenched part of football.

In watching a weekend of hard-hitting football, I suspect that there are many more concussions resulting from the games than we even know about from evident injuries such as Keenum's. As I've noted many times in regard to the misdirected governmental criminalization of performance-enhancing drug use, we have promoted a culture that encourages players to take these enormous health risks, but demonize them when they attempt to hedge the risk of the injuries that almost always result from engaging in such high-risk endeavors. What happens to the game of football when players start requiring the owners of that risk to compensate them for their injuries?

My sense is that the games that we watched over this past weekend may be played in a substantially different way in the not- to-distant future.

 

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (3) |

September 10, 2010

Houston Texans, Year Nine

Year Nine of the Houston Texans begins this Sunday with a home game at Reliant Stadium against the dreaded Peyton Manning and the Colts, so it's time for my seventh (!) annual preview of the hometown team.

The Texans finished off their eighth season in grand style by beating the mostly-trying Patriots with an impressive 21-point 4th quarter comeback. The win wasn't enough to propel the Texans into the playoffs, but it was the Texans' fourth win in their final five games of the 2009 season, which gave the franchise it's first winning record (9-7). In the rather barren terrain of accomplishments that is Texansland, that was a major accomplishment.

Nevertheless, from a won-lost record standpoint, the Texans remain one of the worst expansion franchises in the history of the National Football League after eight seasons. As is usually the case in football, a myriad of influences have combined to cause the Texans' poor overall record, not all of which are the fault of Texans management and players. Nevertheless, with a team as young and relatively unsuccessful as the Texans, it's always helpful to review the team's journey in evaluating whether it is probable that the team has made the progress necessary to make the leap into the NFL playoffs.

The Texans were the toast of Houston for their first three seasons during which Houston's professional football-deprived fans were simply happy to have an NFL team again and didn't really have much in the way of expectations. Texans management and the local mainstream media trumpeted the party line that Texans were building a playoff contender "the right way" -- that is through prudent drafting and development of young players while eschewing the temptation of short-term rewards provided by over-priced veterans who were on the downside of their careers.

The progressively better won-loss records in the first three seasons (4-12, 5-11, and 7-9) -- plus the drafting of young stars such as WR Andre Johnson, RB Dominack Davis (or whatever he ended up changing his name to) and CB Dunta Robinson -- seemed to indicate that the Texans' plan was working. The local mainstream media completely bought into that narrative.

Unfortunately, those progressively better won-loss records distracted Texans management from recognizing that the quality of the Texans' overall roster was not close to that of an NFL playoff contender. The best evidence of that deficiency was that the Texans entered each of their first four seasons with the same two core problems -- the Texans' offensive line could not protect the quarterback and the Texans' defensive front could not pressure the opposition's QB.

Former Texans GM Charlie Casserly never could solve the offensive and defensive line problems (remember LT Tony Boselli, the flirtation with LT Orlando Pace, prospects such as Seth Wand and the thoroughly unimpressive DT's, Anthony Weaver and Travis Johnson?). The 2005 draft was an absolute disaster (DT Johnson as the 15th pick in the first round?) and initial Texans head coach Dom Capers' changes to the offensive and defensive systems between Years Three and Four proved equally dubious. After the Texans limped home with a desultory 2-14 record in Year Four, Texans owner Bob McNair mercifully cut the Casserly and Capers regime loose.

Subsequently, McNair decided to blow up his original management model and surprisingly hired Gary Kubiak, who promptly made (acquiesced to?) a whopper of a blunder in his first major personnel decision as Texans' coach -- retaining QB David Carr even though it was reasonably clear as early as before Year Three that Carr was unlikely to develop into even an average NFL QB.

Kubiak -- who is a quick study in evaluating talent -- promptly soured on Carr during the early stages of Year Five as Texans fans endured one of the worst offenses in the NFL that season. As a result of that horrible Year Five offense, Kubiak arguably overpaid for QB Matt Schaub before Year Six and clearly overpaid for over-the-hill free agent RB, Ahman Green. Not much changed through 12 games of Year Six as even the local mainstream media cheerleaders were questioning whether Kubiak was the proper coach to right the Texans' ship.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Texans showed some spark and won three of their last four games to finish with an 8-8 record for Year Six, the first non-losing record in franchise history. The Texans' offense -- even without Schaub and star WR Andre Johnson for five and seven games respectively -- improved to 12th in the NFL in yards gained and 14th in points scored, by far the best finish of any Texans offense. That was enough to give long-suffering Texans fans hope that things might finally turn around for the franchise the following season.

Unfortunately, the Texans treaded water in Year Seven. A solid season-ending win over the Bears allowed the Texans to finish at 8-8 again, but the team did not contend for a playoff spot and suffered several demoralizing defeats. Given that the team had a 7-9 record after Year Three, a reasonable case could be made that not much progress had been made from the end of Year Three through Year Seven. The offense was better, but the defense was worse than it was after Year Three. Moreover, the 2007 draft was beginning to look almost as bad as the horrid 2005 draft. Had the deck chairs simply been rearranged on the Texans' version of the Titanic?

Thankfully, several signs emerged in Year Seven that indicated the Texans were headed in the right direction. The offensive line and the receiving corps were far-improved and had more depth than at any time in franchise history. Despite being somewhat brittle, Schaub showed the talent necessary to be a consistently above-average NFL QB and RB Steve Slaton emerged as a game-breaking running back. Although the Texans' defense did not improve statistically in Year Seven, the Texans had accumulated a nucleus of young defensive players who -- with proper coaching and sensible personnel adjustments -- were likely to gel into a reasonably effective unit sometime over the next couple of seasons.

Unfortunately, that progress really did not occur in Year Eight. After yet another loss to the Colts in Week 12, the Texans were 5-6 and already a long shot for the playoffs despite a generally favorable schedule. Slaton had inexplicably turned into a fumbling mess of a running back who ended up going on injured reserve after losing his starting job to a group of journeyman RB's. So, despite winning four of their last five games to post their first winning record, the Texans' Year Eight performance had the look of fool's gold.

Although disappointing, that performance was good enough to earn Texans' coach Gary Kubiak another season at the helm. I've been skeptical from the start that Kubiak is the right coach to lead the Texans into the playoffs, primarily because I believe that he was not a good fit for the "strong coach" model that McNair adopted when he fired Casserly and Capers. McNair has endured quite a bit of on-the-job training with Kubiak that he probably would not have experienced with a more seasoned head coach.

On the other hand, each of Kubiak's teams have improved during his tenure with the Texans and his current team appears on paper to be the strongest that the Texans have fielded in their nine seasons. Thus, even though every other NFL team has either made the playoffs or fired its head coach during Kubiak's tenure with the Texans, Kubiak supporters can make a decent case that McNair made the right choice in retaining him, at least for Year Nine.

Despite my skepticism about Kubiak's ability to lead the Texans over the playoff hump, he does have many positive characteristics. The players like him and play hard for him. He handles the players and media well, and I have always been impressed by his willingness to recognize mistakes, cut losses and make changes. Kubiak does not seem to be burdened with the stubbornness that often undermines NFL head coaches.

Moreover, continuity in coaching staffs is an underappreciated factor in the success of NFL teams, so maybe giving Kubiak more rope than most NFL coaches receive will finally produce McNair a winner. McNair certainly deserves it in view of his patient support of the Texans' football operation.

But what does all of this mean for the Texans in Year Nine?

Given the high number of variables that play into a successful NFL season, picking NFL playoff teams is a highly speculative endeavor, at best. Given that constant change is a fact of NFL life, assessing something as seemingly simple as strength of schedule is a moving target and can literally change overnight, particularly given the high injury risk in the NFL.

My sense is that the Texans have accumulated enough talented football players on offense to be playoff-caliber so long as QB Schaub remains healthy and new PK Neil Rackers doesn't have a meltdown like Kris Brown had last season. But defensive improvement will probably again be the key to whether this season is a breakthrough season for the Texans or another disappointment.

Inasmuch as one of the Texan's best defensive players (LB Brian Cushing) is suspended for the first four games and Kubiak elected to go with a young and relatively inexperienced secondary, my sense is that defensive improvement will be slow and probably not evident until later in the season. Accordingly, I'm placing the over/under for Texans' wins this season at eight, the same number as I predicted last season. Eight wins will not be good enough to make the playoffs.

Oh well, patience is certainly a virtue for anyone who is a Texans fan.

Finally, as with my regular baseball reports on the Stros, I'm dispensing this season with the weekly football game reviews that I've done over the past seven years. The blogosphere has grown to the point where virtually every pro and college team has a blog that covers each team far better than I ever could in my once-a-week posts. As with the Stros, I'll continue to do an occasional post on discrete games or issues during the season, but simply not on a weekly basis anymore.

Moreover, with the maturation of the sports blogosphere, there really is no reason to rely any longer on the mainstream media for football news and analysis. For several years now, Alan Burge has been doing a much better job of covering the Texans on a nuts and bolts basis than the mainstream media, while bloggers Stephanie Stradley, Lance Zerlein and Houston Diehards all provide first-rate analysis of particular issues facing the Texans.

Similarly, on the college football front, both The Wizard of Odds and the Pre-Snap Report are excellent resources for keeping up with the college football season overall. With regard to blogs that cover particular teams, Barking Carnival is my favorite for the Texas Longhorns, while I Am the 12th Man does a good job of covering the Texas Aggies.

On the local front, the best sources of information on the Houston Cougars are Steve Campbell's blog and Fight for Red and White blog, while The Rice Football Webletter does a great job of covering the Owls.

So, with that, let the games begin!

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 1, 2010

Are you ready for some football?

The draft of Year XXIII of the Fantasy Football League of Houston (yes, that's year 23 - our league was one of the first) was held last night and a good time was had by all. And thankfully, Norman Tugwater did not show up.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

August 25, 2010

Training camp -- A football tradition that needs to die

Last week, this post noted the growing financial implications of injury risk in the National Football League and the utter lunacy of exposing high-priced player assets to such injury risk during the NFL's grueling pre-season practices and games.

This week, William Rhoden of the NY Times notices the same thing:

The N.F.L. perpetrates two annual frauds: one against the American public, the other against players who give body and blood to make the league a multibillion-dollar enterprise.

The first fraud is preseason football, those empty, glamorized scrimmages that teams force on season-ticket holders as parts of the regular-season package.

The second, more dangerous fraud is training camp, which exposes veteran players to unnecessary risk and perpetuates the myth that football is more complicated than it really is.

Despite the fact that every NFL player engages in year-around training, the tradition of a long and largely useless training camp still survives at the highest level of American football. Thankfully, at least some in NFL management are starting to notice:

"I don't know if the body has enough time to recuperate because you're seeing so many soft-tissue injuries," Jerry Reese, the Giants' general manager, said. "There's more opportunity for injury because there's so much more time on the field. Then you have training camp and you go double during training camp. And you see all across the league there are a bunch of injuries." [.  .  .]

"It's a balancing act; I'm not sure how well we're balancing it right now." [.  .  .]

Giants linebacker Keith Bulluck said it did not make sense for players to beat one another up in camp "and then when we have to go play a team, we don't have the player that we need."

Bulluck recalled that in his rookie season, in 2000, most teams held two-a-day practices with lots of contact. "It was physical, very physical, when I came in," he said.

Over the years, many teams have evolved toward more classroom work. [.  .  .]

Referring to Giants camp, he added: "Not too many two-a-days here, either. I guess the coaches are beginning to understand that it's more about the season. Beating the guys up in August doesn't help in September, October, November and December."

This much is certain: training camp is an idea that has outlived its usefulness.

There are few athletic endeavors more boring than football practice. Hammering players for a month and a half before a brutal 4+ month season makes no sense at all.

Teams should complete their hardest workouts a couple of months before the beginning of the season and then tailor pre-season work-outs toward maximizing strength, speed and health while emphasizing scheme understanding.

As Rhoden's article notes, teams are slowly moving that way. But, then again, despite serious training camp attrition already, did you know that Texans Coach Gary Kubiak announced earlier this week that he intended to expose his starters to high injury risk for three quarters in this week's practice game against the Cowboys?

So it goes.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

August 18, 2010

The financial implications of NFL injury risk

As we endure the annual, mind-numbing boredom of NFL pre-season football, my thoughts about football are elsewhere.

That is, why on earth do NFL teams expose their valuable players to such extreme risk of injury when the games do not even count?

The local Texans lost their first second round draft choice to injury for the season this past weekend. And for what?

The elephant in the closet in regard to football overall and the NFL in particular is the increasing recognition of the high injury risk that players are taking. Although this NY Times article involves primarily former MLB star Lou Gehrig and speculation whether he really died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the article provides an overview of new clinical evidence that the brain damage being suffered by NFL players is severe:

Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford, Mass., and the Boston University School of Medicine, the primary researchers of brain damage among deceased National Football League players, said that markings in the spinal cords of two players and one boxer who also received a diagnosis of A.L.S. indicated that those men did not have A.L.S. at all. They had a different fatal disease, doctors said, caused by concussion like trauma, that erodes the central nervous system in similar ways.

The finding could prompt a redirection in the study of motor degeneration in athletes and military veterans being given diagnoses of A.L.S. at rates considerably higher than normal, said several experts in A.L.S. who had seen early versions of the paper. Patients with significant histories of brain trauma could be considered for different types of treatment in the future, perhaps leading toward new pathways for a cure. [ . . .]

A link between professional football and A.L.S. follows recent discoveries of on-field brain trauma leading to dementia and other cognitive decline in some N.F.L. veterans. Dr. McKee and her group identified 14 former N.F.L. players since 1960 as having been given diagnoses of A.L.S., a total about eight times higher than what would be expected among men in the United States of similar ages.

However, the doctors cautioned, the existence of the increased number of A.L.S.-like cases should not create the same level of public alarm as the cognitive effects of brain trauma, which affect hundreds of former professionals and perhaps thousands of boys and girls across many youth sports.

Although even players commonly continue to underestimate injury risk in the NFL, my sense is that such miscalculations are being understood better and will likely recede. With NFL teams facing increasing litigation risk from injured players, will NFL teams be able to use the shield of the collective bargaining process much longer to protect the league members from the possibly severe financial implications of that risk?

And if the NFL is facing potentially dire financial implications from the increasing recognition of high injury risk, what about the implications for college football, where the compensation paid to players is regulated more rigidly than in the NFL?

Finally, will the financial implications of injury risk in football eventually prompt dramatic changes in the way the game is played?

Seems to me that these questions are a lot more interesting than pre-season football.

Posted by Tom at 5:25 AM | Comments (1) |

August 13, 2010

A Texas Legend Fades

Former Texas A&M and long-time Texas high school football coach Emory Bellard -- who invented the famous Wishbone triple-option offense that transformed college football in the late 1960's and 70's -- is suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The Chron's Richard Justice passes along the news along with many nice remembrances of several of his former players.

Coach Bellard is truly a Texas football legend. He was an extraordinarily successful Texas high school coach from 1952 to 1966 at Ingleside, Breckenridge and San Angelo Central -- his teams won the 1958 and '59 state titles at Breckenridge and the 1966 crown at San Angelo Central.

But it's Coach Bellard's college coaching career that most folks remember. Darrell Royal hired Bellard as an assistant coach at the University of Texas in 1967 where Bellard developed the Wishbone offense that was instrumental in the success of UT's 1969 and 1970 national championship teams that won 30 straight games.

Largely on the basis of his success at UT, Coach Bellard was named head coach at Texas A&M in 1972 and appeared to have the Aggie program at the brink of national prominence in 1978. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a tumultuous two-week period midway through that season resulted in Bellard resigning the head coaching position that he coveted.

Coach Bellard went on to coach at Mississippi State from 1979-85, but this quintessential Texas football coach always looked somewhat out of place in SEC country.

So, after retiring from coaching upon getting the axe at Mississippi State, Coach Bellard returned to his Texas high school roots at the age of 61 and coached for six more years at Spring Westfield High School. Westfield had won four games combined the two seasons prior to Coach Bellard taking over. Under Coach Bellard, Westfield went 41-22-5 and reached the Class 5A Division I quarterfinals his last two seasons. After his Westfield stint, Coach Bellard finally retired from coaching for good and moved to Georgetown north of Austin, where he became a regular at Berry Creek Golf Club.

Emory Bellard is a bright thread in the fabric of Texas that makes this such a fascinating place. May his final days be restful ones. He will be missed.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

April 27, 2010

The Chronicle and the NFL Draft go in opposite directions

Although I continue not to understand the attraction, the National Football League's annual draft of players over this past weekend garnered record television ratings.

Meanwhile, Kevin Whited notes that the Houston Chronicle continues to bleed badly in terms of circulation. The local daily posted a staggering 13.77% decline in daily circulation, and a 9.76% decline in Sunday circulation in the latest numbers.

Frankly, the Chronicle's coverage of the NFL draft is a good case study on why it is losing readers rapidly.

Despite the growing popularity of the draft, the Chronicle's main sportswriters -- John McClain and Richard Justice -- serve up cheerleading glop about the Texans' draft each year even though the local club has been arguably the least successful expansion franchise in NFL history. But for Chron bloggers such as Steph Stradley and Lance Zierlein, there really wouldn't be anything of substance about the draft to read in the Chronicle. Heck, this breathless Justice column from the other day piece is practically the same as his equally fatuous article about the Texans' 2007 draft at the time.

As the always-insightful Alan Burge points out, it is silly to evaluate an NFL team's draft until at least three seasons later because of the nebulous nature of selecting prospects who will turn out to be productive NFL players. And as I noted at the time -- the Texans' 2007 draft was not as impressive as Justice's flowery evaluation at the time. While Burge is charitable in giving the Texans' effort a C-minus grade, Justice has yet to realize that his glowing report of Texans management's performance in the 2007 draft was flat wrong.

Thus, while the Chron continues to run the mailed-in work on popular events, bloggers such as Burge are filling the void with substantive analysis. Consumers eventually notice and gravitate toward the substance and away from the blather.

I wonder whether Chronicle management will notice before it's too late?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

April 23, 2010

How about an NFL auction?

The most mind-numbing time of the year from a professional sports perspective is clearly the NFL pre-season, but a close second is the NFL Draft, even though some of the reactions that it generates are rather humorous.

But as this Reed Albertotti/WSJ article points out, all this fuss is being made about something that is really obsolescent:

The draft was once an innovative solution for distributing college talent to pro teams, but that was 75 years ago. The economics of pro football have gradually made it less effective, and as the college game becomes increasingly different from the NFL, players have become even more difficult to scout.

What's surprising is that the NFL, a league with a long history of making sweeping rules changes, hasn't much changed its draft format since the draft was first held in 1936. Since then, an entire academic-research area known as "market design," a spinoff of the Nobel Prize-winning concept of game theory, has grown exponentially to serve just this purpose—helping markets operate more efficiently by creating better rules and procedures to govern them.

And the best alternative would actually make the draft much more fun to watch – an old-fashioned auction of players:

Three researchers at Harvard Business School—who studied under Alvin Roth, a Harvard professor and a pioneer in market-design theory—have proposed an alternative to the NFL draft.

Under their plan, all 32 teams would be given seven picks. They would have to abide by a spending cap that would go higher to lower—with the worst team (based on its record the previous season) having the most money to spend. When the bidding opened, the most sought-after players would draw multiple bids. Teams could then raise their bid as high as they'd like for a player they coveted.

Theoretically, a team could get any player it wanted—so long as it was prepared to pinch pennies on everyone else. Meanwhile, a team that didn't want to break the bank on any particular player could pick up lots of useful parts by spreading its money around evenly. Teams could also thrive by focusing on the bidding and looking for bargains.

Management of NFL teams would probably resist an auction because it would complicate the development of their drafting strategy. But it’s not as if most teams do all that well drafting players under the current system. And it would sure make it more entertaining for the fans.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

April 6, 2010

The NFL’s big risk

This post from awhile back noted the high risks that NFL football players take relative to their compensation.

Well, it looks as if that risk may be coming home to roost:

California’s workers’ compensation system provides a unique, and relatively unknown, haven for retired professional athletes among the 50 states, allowing hundreds of long-retired veterans each year to file claims for injuries sustained decades before. Players need not have played for California teams or be residents of the state; they had to participate in just one game in the state to be eligible to receive lifetime medical care for their injuries from the teams and their insurance carriers.

About 700 former N.F.L. players are pursuing cases in California, according to state records, with most of them in line to receive routine lump-sum settlements of about $100,000 to $200,000. This virtual assembly line has until now focused on orthopedic injuries, with torn shoulders and ravaged knees obvious casualties of the players’ former workplace.

Given the dozens and perhaps hundreds of players who could file similar claims, experts in the California system said N.F.L. teams and their insurers could be facing liability of $100 million or more. They identified a wide spectrum of possible effects: these costs could merely represent a financial nuisance for a league that recorded $8.5 billion in revenue last year, or, if insurance costs rise drastically because of such claims, the N.F.L. could be forced to alter its rules to reduce head trauma. Officials already are considering decreased contact in practice and forbidding linemen from using the three-point stance.

Perhaps the NFL’s undervaluing of this risk is a product of a false sense of security that the NFL owners have nurtured from a collective bargaining process that has shielded the league from most anti-trust liabilities over the years. But the NFL owners better pay attention to this development. Plaintiffs’ lawyers will have a field day against that group.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

March 24, 2010

Longhorns Inc.

More than a few tongues are wagging around Texas Longhorn athletic circles this week over this blistering Texas Observer op-ed on the UT football program authored by UT professor Tom Palaima, who just happens to serve on the UT Faculty Advisory Committee on Budgets and is UT’s representative on the Big 12 steering committee of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics. Here’s a flavor of the article:

The NCAA program at the University of Texas at Austin generated $138 million in revenue last year, $87 million from football. Yet its profit margin is less than $2 million. The program’s cumulative debt and debt service are in the high-risk neighborhood.

Longhorns Inc. has wrapped its tentacles around the now-hemorrhaging academic budget. The athletics department gave a $2 million raise to head football coach Mack Brown as colleges across the university are laying off staff. In foreign languages alone, $1.6 million was cut. The head of the student union recently announced the closure of the Cactus Café, a historic music venue, to save just $66,000 over two years.

Worse, the university has ceded trademark and royalty revenues. Longhorns Inc. keeps 90 percent of this income, roughly $10.6 million last year. The yearly debt payment on building bonds for the nearly $300 million in stadium expansions since 1998 is $15 million. The debt run up by the athletics department has risen from $64.4 million in 2004-05 to a staggering $222.5 million in 2008-09.

Unfortunately, Palaima main criticism is how well the UT athletic department and its personnel are doing financially in comparison to the UT academics, whose average salary has increased by “only” 30 percent over the past 20 years or so.

Somehow, however, Palaima utterly misses the most corrupt aspect of big-time intercollegiate athletics. That is, the perverse and discriminatory regulatory scheme that restricts compensation to the players – mostly young black men – whose talent actually generates most of the wealth for the athletic departments.

As I’ve noted many times, big-time college football and basketball is an entertaining form of corruption. Too bad that someone as bright as Professor Palaima fails to understand the true nature of that corruption.

By the way, below is a video of a lively debate between Professor Palaima and longtime UT Law professor Lino Graglia over college football in which Palaima is actually the defender of the entreprise (a colleague asked Palaima “DeLoss Dodds must have given you priority seating at [Darrell K. Royal-Memorial Stadium]”. The transcript of the debate is here.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

March 11, 2010

Richard Justice’s confusion about David Carr

So, the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice is now writing in the San Francisco Chronicle that it was the fault of former Texans GM Charley Casserly and former head coach Dom Capers that former Texans QB David Carr did not develop into a decent NFL quarterback.

Of course, Justice extolled the virtues of that same Texans’ management team immediately before their disastrous 2-14 season in Year Four of the franchise (2004):

The Texans have made good use of their honeymoon. They've drafted wisely and spent shrewdly on free agents. They've assembled a front office admired around the NFL. Their players seem to be quality people. [. . .]

The danger for them is that their greatest strength could become their greatest weakness. They've done so many things right and have built such a model operation that it's impossible not to put expectations on a fast track. [. . .]

So far, it's impossible not to be impressed with what the Texans have done. They are run as efficiently as any sports franchise I've ever been around.

Just before the start of training camp, Casserly gathered his employees and thanked them for all their hard work. Then he went down the list of different departments and explained some little thing each had done that made the team - and the organization - better.

That's the kind of thing the people who run sports franchises almost never do, and it left every person who was mentioned proud to be associated with the Texans.[. . .]

Capers believes it's vital to emphasize doing things right because "if you ever slip, you can never get it back."

So far, the Texans haven't slipped in any significant way.

In fact, look at what Justice was saying about the Casserly-Capers-Carr regime even after it had put up a horrid 1-8 record through nine games of the 2004 season:

The Texans are respectable. They're coming close. They've got four 2-7 teams left on their schedule. They almost won in Jacksonville, and they made a run at the Indianapolis Colts before losing 31-17 Sunday. [.   .  .]

The Texans are a better offensive team since [offensive coordinator Joe] Pendry took over [for the fired Chris Palmer]. David Carr looks like he's on his way to becoming a first-rate quarterback. He's quicker and more accurate in his throws, less likely to take a sack.

But then a couple of months later, after Carr and the Texans had cemented a perfectly awful 2-14 season, Justice had changed his tune to something similar to the one he sings now:

What we'll never know is what would have happened if Carr had gotten with an organization that knew what it was doing. The Texans never protected him or coached him, never put enough talent around him. Shame on you, Charley Casserly. Shame on you, too, Bob McNair. Maybe you guys were wrong about what David Carr could have been, but you never gave him a chance to find out.

Uh, Richard. Five seasons is long enough. Yes, the Texans’ offensive line wasn’t all that good during that span. But Carr wasn’t very good, either, and that didn’t help the offensive line’s performance.

The bottom line is that David Carr was a poor NFL quarterback in Houston. Nothing that he has done with two other teams (with decent offensive lines) since his time here has changed that evaluation. The Texans made a big mistake in selecting him as the team’s first draft choice.

It really is that simple, Richard.

If you are interested in really first-rate analysis of the Texans, then check out local bloggers such as Stepanie Stradley, Lance Zerlein and Alan Burge. Their work beats the Chron sportswriters product hands down.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

February 9, 2010

Final QB Ratings

Dave Berri just posted his final NFL quarterback ratings for the 2009 season, which are always interesting.

Schaub moved up into the top quarter of NFL QB’s, but he has a ways to go before he is playing on the level that Rivers and Brees played on this past season. Interestingly, there is a big drop off in production between Schaub at no. 8 to  Roethlisberger at no. 9.

Except for the truly great ones, QB’s are notoriously inconsistent from season to season, especially in comparison to basketball players and hitters in baseball. For example, Favre went from the 27th ranked QB last season to no. 4 this past season! That’s due primarily to the more complementary nature of football. Stated another way, it’s hard to be a productive QB when laying on one’s back or running for one’s life.

Thus, statistics really don’t tell us much about NFL QB’s (except when that QB is as bad as David Carr) other than the fact that a particular QB performed well this season does not necessarily mean that he will do so again next season.

Are you listening, Chron cheerleaders? 

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

February 7, 2010

Super Bowl XLIV Primer

Too much is written about the Super Bowl each year, so it is increasingly difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. The following are a few pieces that will provide a good primer for this year’s contest:

This Hank Gola/NY Daily News article provides a wonderful overview of the colorful history of the New Orleans Saints, including the eminently forgettable Charlton Heston flick, Number One.

I tend toward being a stathead, so this Football Outsiders post provided the requisite statistical analysis of the matchup between the Saints and the Colts. The bottom line – it’s a pretty darn even matchup.

If reading that post chloroformed you, Larry Ribstein lucidly explains why he doesn’t even watch the Super Bowl.

I’ve noted before that we tend not to appreciate the fact that Colts QB Peyton Manning may be the all-time greatest NFL quarterback and certainly is one of the top three. This Judy Batista/NY Times article updates Manning’s superb legacy while noting that his excellence is more a product of preparation, discipline and insight than physical tools. Also, check out this cool graphic on how Manning makes a split second read of the defense.

Finally, this equally interesting Greg Bishop/NY Times piece notes the not well-known fact that under-sized Saints QB Drew Brees – who has had one of the best four-season runs of any QB in NFL history – is actually one of the best athletes in the NFL. Brees explains in the video below how his San Diego-based personal trainer put together a fitness protocol that helped Brees recover from a devastating shoulder injury and prepares him for the grueling NFL season:

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

January 14, 2010

Why bother?

After enduring another holiday season of mostly bad college football bowl games, I’ve been thinking about Houston’s own Texas Bowl.

Frankly, why bother with it?

As this recent University of Missouri release notes, Mizzou not only got its collective ass kicked by a feisty Navy team in the game, but the university also lost money in participating in the game even after cutting corners.

That Missouri lost money is not surprising given that the Texas Bowl’s payout is among the most paltry of any of college football’s post-season bowl games.

The Texas Bowl pays out a total of $1.250 million, which puts the bowl game in the bottom third among the 34 bowl games in terms of payout (“Tier 3” in bowl genre). That compares to the $2.2 million and $3 million payouts that Tier 2 bowls such as the Alamo and Cotton Bowls pay to its participants and the $17 million that each of the BCS Bowl games pays to its participants.

Due to its limited payout, the Texas Bowl has no negotiating leverage in attempting to persuade conferences to send one of their better teams. Accordingly, they usually get the sixth or seventh best team from one of the major conferences.

Houston’s bowl game has always struggled for funding. Even back during the days of the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl in the Astrodome, the folks running the bowl game have never been able to snare the big-fish title sponsor necessary to elevate the bowl’s stature. The Houston Open golf tournament found itself in a similar position for years until it persuaded Shell to become the tournament’s title sponsor. Despite a few blips, the Shell Houston Open has become a solid second tier tournament on the PGA Tour schedule.

What’s too bad about the Texas Bowl’s problems is that it really could be a good bowl experience, at least on par with San Antonio’s Alamo Bowl or Dallas’ Cotton Bowl.

My old friend Dan McCarney, who currently is one of Urban Meyer’s top assistants at Florida, coached Iowa State in the Texas Bowl several years ago. He said that the Reliant Park facilities were as good as any bowl game that he had ever seen – the teams used one locker room the entire week for their practices and the game. The teams loved not having to practice at a different site and then move to the stadium on gameday.

Moreover, the Houston business community routinely buys large blocks of tickets to the game (even if most of those tickets go unused). Finally, with the Johnson Space Center, the Medical Center, the Museum District, the Theater District and many fine restaurants and clubs, Houston certainly fits the bill of a place that would be a fun destination for a bowl game.

But what’s the purpose of promoting a bowl game that has mostly second-rate participants who view the game as a booby prize?

If the Texas Bowl can’t find a title sponsor that would elevate the game at least to the second tier of bowl games, then it’s time to pack it in.

There is nothing wrong with declining to waste time on being an afterthought. 

Update: Kevin Whited passes along this Chronicle article from several years ago on Houston’s bowl history.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

January 11, 2010

2009 Weekly local football review

(Previous weekly reviews for this season are here).

Alabama 37 Texas Longhorns 21

Unless you have been living under a rock, you already know that the Horns (13-1) lost the national championship game to Alabama (14-0) after losing star QB Colt McCoy to what looked like a severe pinched nerve in the first five minutes of the game.

It’s really a shame McCoy wasn’t able to play because, as I thought going into the game, the Tide looked as if it could have been had. The Horns could only parley two turnovers in Bama’s first two possessions into six points and, frankly, neither backup QB Garrett Gilbert nor the Horns’ coaching staff was ready when Gilbert was called upon to play in the first half (Gilbert had on thrown .

As a result, the second quarter was a disaster for the Horns, as Bama used short fields to ring up 17 points and then punctuated its dominance with a gift defensive TD off of an ill-advised shovel pass on the last play of the first half.

The Horns staff and Gilbert re-grouped at halftime and gamely made a game of it in the second half, pulling to within three with six minutes left to go using a well-designed short passing offense that did not give Bama’s ubiquitous blitz packages time to confuse and pummel Gilbert. 

But forced to take risks late in the game to get back in scoring position, the Horns coughed up the ball a couple of times in the closing minutes to give Bama a two cheap, but clinching, TD’s.

The disappointing finish detracted from an another otherwise successful season for the Horns. Moreover, the future is bright. Although Texas loses such stars as QB McCoy, WR Jordan Shipley and Safety Earl Thomas, Garrett and several other young Longhorns look to be ready to step up so that there will not be a big drop-off in performance next season. In particular, the defense this season became the dominant unit that has been the missing element of consistent national championship contention during Mack Brown’s tenure.

However, not all is well in the Longhorn Nation. Stated simply, this season has established with certainty that Texas has lost the capacity to pound the rock.

With increasing reliance on the spread offense, the Horns no long have an effective power running game that they can turn to when defenses put 7 and 8 players in coverage and allow their safeties to forget about run support. That deficiency was painfully apparent in the Horns’ three biggest games this season, this one, the OU game, and the Big 12 Championship game that they should have lost to Nebraska.

There are many reasons for the demise of UT’s rushing attack, but the primary cause has been a steep decline in the performance of the offensive line. Although Texas routinely has its pick of the litter of Texas high school football prospects, offensive linemen are notoriously difficult to project from high school to big-time college football. Thus, sound development in that particular area is essential to a well-balanced offensive attack. For whatever reason, it appears that UT’s coaching staff is having problems in that key development area.

With the better defenses making it increasingly difficult for spread offenses to throw the ball down the field, Coach Brown is going to have to figure out a way to re-establish a power rushing game or the Horns are at high risk of falling off from the top tier of big-time college football (see LSU). It’s going to be difficult at first and there are going to be some hiccups along the way. But the chances of the Horns returning to the BCS National Championship game in the near future are far higher with a balanced offense than the current version.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

January 6, 2010

Why do these guys write about football?

As if on cue, Houston Chronicle sportswriters Richard Justice and John McClain are all jolly about the Texans first winning season and Texans owner Bob McNair's decision to retain head coach Gary Kubiak for at least another season.

Of course, Justice is utterly oblivious to the fact that he was calling for McNair to fire Kubiak a little over a month ago. Does he not read his own posts?

Both Justice and McClain change their view of the Texans based on the vagaries of each game rather than any meaningful analysis of the team's personnel and management relative to their competition. Apparently, that latter task takes to much work.

Just another of the increasing number of reasons to ignore the Chronicle and rely on the far superior analysis on the Texans that bloggers such as such as Stepanie Stradley, Lance Zerlein and Alan Burge provide.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

January 4, 2010

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews for this season are here).

Texans 34 Patriots 27

The Texans (9-7) finished off their eighth season in grand style by beating the mostly-trying Patriots (10-6) with an impressive 21 point 4th quarter comeback.

The win wasn't enough to propel the Texans into the playoffs, but it was enough to give the franchise it's first winning record. In Texansland, that's a major accomplishment.

There was much to like about the Texans' performance in this game. WR Jacoby Jones showed heretofore unexhibited resilience by making several key plays down the stretch after muffing a pass that was returned by the Patriots for a TD. The Texans' defense forced the interception that set up the go ahead TD by applying pressure on Brady and scored another TD on a Patriots' fumble in the end zone after the Texans offense failed to score in close. The Texans' nascent rushing attack again looked good as previously fourth-team RB Arian Foster reeled off 120 yds on 20 carries and 2 TD's. And QB Matt Schaub completed his first injury-free season in three seasons with the Texans by emerging as one of the most productive passers in the NFL.

Texans' owner Bob McNair will almost certainly retain head coach Gary Kubiak, although he is the only coach in the NFL who has not made the playoffs or been fired during the four seasons he has served as head coach of the Texans. Nevertheless, the Texans have steadily improved under Kubiak and the players clearly play hard for him, as Sunday's 21-point comeback reflected.

Moreover, McNair is unlikely to break the bank to hire one of the "free agent" coaches in waiting, particularly given the uncertain nature of the stalled collective bargaining negotiations between the NFL owners and the NFL Players Association.

So, expect more of the same from the Texans. Although major improvement is unlikely in 2010, improvement on the level of what occurred between last season and this one would likely propel the Texans into the AFC playoffs. At this juncture, that seems reasonably likely to occur.

But a suggestion for Coach Kubiak -- bring in a few more placekickers for training camp next season.

Air Force 47 Houston Cougars 20

The Air Force (8-5) version of Paul Johnson's triple-option offense ground Houston (10-4) into the turf at the Bell Helicopter Armed Services Bowl at Ft. Worth on New Year's Eve afternoon, while the Falcons' defense harassed Cougars QB Case Keenum into an uncharacteristic 6 interceptions (Keenum only had 9 interceptions against 42 TD's in 450 attempts coming into the game).

That, plus the damp mid-30's temperature and windy weather, was enough to make this bowl experience a particularly forgettable one for the Cougars.

However, I can't really blame the Cougars for their uninspired play. They were at a psychological disadvantage playing in the same bowl game against the same team that it had beaten in last year's game. That Houston had to do so is a travesty of the current bowl system and the inequitable current demarcation between the BCS and non-BCS conferences in big-time college football.

The Cougars were one of the best non-BCS conference teams in the country this past season. They beat three BCS conference teams, two of which (Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) went on to play in more prestigious bowls than the Cougars despite not having as good a record. Given Conference USA's anemic bowl alliances, even had the Cougars won the conference championship game, the best they could have hoped for was a trip to Memphis to play in the Liberty Bowl.

No offense to either Memphis or Ft. Worth, but no one ever mistook them for Pasadena, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix or even San Antonio during college football bowl season.

So, UH is clearly at a crossroads. Head Coach Kevin Sumlin, his coaching staff, Keenum, and most of the offensive and defensive personnel return next season. Moreover, another solid recruiting class is on deck that emphasizes the defensive players that the previous coaching staff ignored. Accordingly, the Cougars appear on course for another stellar season in 2010.

But Houston clearly aspires for success in a BCS Conference membership, not the outback of a non-BCS conference such as Conference USA. Such a membership will require a major financial investment in upgrading or rebuilding the UH football stadium, plus securing Sumlin and his coaching staff with BCS conference-level compensation.

The University of Houston has received the lowest amount of financial subsidy from the state of any major university in Texas, so UH cannot expect much funding help from the state in its effort to move into a BCS conference. Will the Houston community and UH alumni pitch in what it will take to make the Cougars an attractive candidate for a BCS conference membership?

We will soon find out.

Georgia 44 Texas Aggies 20

The Bulldogs (8-5) broke open a close game early in the fourth quarter and cruised to an easy victory over the Aggies (6-7) in Shreveport's Independence Bowl last week.

The game was basically a replay of many of the Aggies' losses this past season. The offense was generally productive, but was forced into taking too many risks by the Aggies' porous defense and poor special teams play. Thus, even though the Aggies had a sizable advantage in total offense, Georgia controlled the ball and the second half with over a hundred more yards rushing than the Aggies.

As with UH, the Aggies find themselves at a crossroads leading into next season. The potent offensive personnel returns virtually intact next season, but young and mostly horrible defense loses both its best player (DE Von Miller) and its coordinator, the retiring Joe Kines. The Aggies are lining up another solid recruiting class, but it will mean very little unless head coach Mike Sherman hires a new defensive coordinator who can generate rapid improvement in the defensive unit.

As a result, Sherman's decision on a new defensive coordinator is very likely to make or break his tenure as head coach of the Aggies.

I have no idea who Sherman is considering as candidates for the Aggies defensive coordinator position. But if I were in his shoes, I'd take a look at hard look at Air Force's Tim DeRuyter, whose Air Force unit was one of the top defenses in the nation this past season and was magnificent in the Falcons' bowl victory over Houston.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 31, 2009

The Mike Leach Train Wreck

After what happened earlier this year, no one should really be surprised that Texas Tech University elected to fire Mike Leach yesterday.

But we still are. Just how does someone as successful and intelligent as Leach lose one of the 20 or so highest-paying jobs in big-time college football?

Absent a financial settlement between Tech and Leach, this mess will make for a particularly nasty lawsuit. From the beginning of their relationship, Tech has never been entirely comfortable with Leach, while Leach has been without success trying to find a better job than the Tech gig almost from the day he set foot in Lubbock. So, both parties have incentive to get this settled without exposing all that dirty laundry in court, notwithstanding Leach's somewhat provocative public statement about his termination.

Frankly, I don't have a clue from reading media reports whether Leach's handling of Adam James justified a termination for cause (i.e., no further compensation) under his contract. Football is a tough sport and coaches are often rough on players to make a point. Leach has also alleged publicly that James was a slacker and that his prominent father lobbied him and the other Tech coaches on behalf of his son. For what it's worth, Leach has supporters and detractors among the folks close to the program who have personal knowledge about the situation.

Although Leach's alleged conduct toward James was clearly odd and certainly meant to embarrass the young man, it's reasonably clear that James was never physically endangered or abused. Thus, this does not appear to be a situation that rises to the level of risking what happened to Ereck Plancher at at Central Florida last year or the alleged physical and verbal abuse that supposedly led to the recent resignation of Mark Mangino at Kansas.

On the other hand, this is another example of a situation that -- for whatever reason -- Leach just didn't handle well.

Beyond his shabby treatment of James, Leach was apparently given the opportunity by Tech to resolve the matter privately with an apology to James. Leach balked at that, so Tech suspended him from coaching the upcoming Alamo Bowl game. When Leach sued Tech seeking to be "unsuspended," Tech fired him (in my experience, employers often have that reaction when sued by their employees). That's not the advice I would have given Leach, but his lawyer (Ted A. Liggett) purports to be on the aggressive side.

Furthermore, stories about Leach's eccentric behavior have circulated for years. For example, Leach's tardiness for meetings is legendary (sometimes very tardy) and has caused much misery for his staff and players. When one of his players called Leach out on Twitter about that habit earlier this year, Leach reacted by banning Tech's players from using Twitter. Leach has also used poor judgment in making public remarks about assistant coaches on his staff.

Finally, although Leach did a good job at Tech, his public relations were better than his overall record.

But still, even with all that, how did it come to this?

Given Leach's eccentricities, there is certainly no assurance that any other big-time college football program will take a flyer on him -- it's telling that none came calling during his successful tenure at Tech. Leach has now blown a contract that would have paid he and his family around $11 million over the next four years and may well be the best contract that he ever has.

And what does he have left to show for it? A lawsuit.

As complicated as we tend to make such issues, my sense is that the answer to what would have prevented this imbroglio is really quite simple.

Mike Leach needs to grow up.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 28, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(Doug Benc/Getty Images photo; previous weekly reviews for this season are here).

Texans 27 Dolphins 20

The Texans (8-7) continue to have a remote chance of gaining an AFC playoff spot with their 27-20 victory over the Dolphins (7-8), but the way in which they won reflected why many folks are skeptical that Gary Kubiak has what it takes as a head coach to propel the club to success in the playoffs.

The Texans need to win next Sunday against the Patriots (10-5) at Reliant Stadium (a distinct possibility because the Patriots locked up the AFC East title on Sunday) and for two of the three other 8-7 teams — the Ravens, Jets or Broncos — have to lose for the Texans to achieve an AFC wild card playoff spot.

Nevertheless, the Texans playoff chances are not all that great. The Jets play the Bengals (10-5), who have clinched the AFC North, so that looks like a probable win for the Jets. The Ravens go on the road to play the Raiders (5-10), so who knows what will happen there. But the Broncos host the Chiefs (3-12), so that's not looking good from the Texans standpoint. I don't see two losses for the 8-7 teams coming out of those three games

After playing their best half of football all season, the Texans led 27-3 at the half. The first half was so lopsided that, at one point, the Texans had outgained the Dolphins 310-46 in total offense and 15-2 in first downs. A field goal immediately before the half was all that kept the Dolphins from being skunked.

But if the rest of the game was easy, this wouldn't be the Texans.

As has inexplicably occurred on multiple occasions during Kubiak's tenure as head coach, the opposition made routine adjustments at halftime and the Texans appeared to make none. The result? Not surprisingly, the Dolphins dominated the second half and probably would have at least tied the Texans in the fourth quarter but for a leg whip penalty that negated a long TD pass play.

Now, who knows what really is going on with the Texans? Perhaps Kubiak and his staff make adjustments and the players don't execute them.

But whatever the reason, anyone could tell that something was wrong with the Texans during the third quarter of this game. They looked as unprepared to play that quarter as the Dolphins looked during the first two.

And that should worry Bob McNair about continuing to hitch the Texans' future to Kubiak and his staff.

Oh well, a win is a win, right? The Texans did finally show the semblance of a rushing attack (126 yards) with previous practice squad RB Arian Foster and backup Ryan Moats showing the quickness at the point of attack that has been missing the entire season for the Texans.

Although their playoff hopes are slim, a win over the Patriots would give the Texans a winning record for the first time in the franchise's eight seasons.

In the Texans' mostly woebegone world, that's decided progress.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 21, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson photo; previous weekly reviews for this season are here).

Texans 16 Rams 13

It is a reflection of the Texans (7-7) endearing mediocrity that they can out-gain the Rams (1-13) by almost 200 yards and struggle to win by a field goal.

Now the Rams have been playing reasonably well over the past month and a half (only one blow-out loss during that span), but come on. They are still the Rams.

Although most sports talk hosts and fans think the Texans are underachieving, my sense is that their record is an accurate measure of their ability at this point in time.

For a variety of reasons, the Texans do not run the ball well. They do spray the ball reasonably well in the passing game, but they lost their second-most explosive receiver (Owen Daniels) to injury several games ago.

The defense has improved steadily during the season, but the lack of a consistent pass rush still puts too much pressure on the secondary, which is the weak link in the unit. The fact that 2007 first-round draft choice DT Amobi Okoye is doing a good imitation of former first-round DT bust Travis Johnson isn't helping matters on the defensive line.

Finally, kicker Kris Brown has been so inconsistent that he looks as if he has all the confidence of a professional golfer undergoing a swing change in an effort to save his career.

Thus, with two games to go (the Dolphins at Miami and home against the Patriots), the Texans still have a chance to register the best record of their tortured eight-season existence. As a team, the Texans don't seem to play with much confidence, which is probably attributable in good part to the overall youth of the team.

But the reality is that the Texans continue to improve. Just not as fast as their followers prefer.

The issue that Texans owner Bob McNair has to resolve is whether it is more likely that such improvement will continue under Gary Kubiak? Or is it more likely to continue under another head coach?

The answer is not clear.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 14, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(Bob Levey/Getty Image; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texans 34 Seahawks 7

Key tip of the day to Seahawk Defensive Coordinator Casey Bradley -- your cornerbacks need safety help in covering Texans WR Andre Johnson.

After a 64 yd TD reception on the first play of the game, Johnson proceeded to run through, around and over the beleaguered Seahawk (5-8) secondary for 193 total receiving yards as the Texans (6-7) broke a four game losing streak in this laugher.

The game was so one-sided that Texans QB Matt Schaub had only 29 yds passing in the 2nd half and still had 365 yds for the game. Before the Seahawks final drive of the first half, the Texans had outgained them 311-25.

Moreover, the Texans defense continued to show signs of improvement as they held the Seahawks to under 300 yds of total offense while forcing three fumbles, sacking Seahawks QB Matt Hasselback three times and injuring his right shoulder on another hard hit. The Texans held the Seahawks to about 20 yards on 14 plays during their first four drives of the game, resulting in four punts.

The Texans to on the road for the next couple of weeks against the Rams (1-12) and Dolphins (7-6) before returning to Reliant Stadium to close the season against the Patriots (8-5). All those games are winnable, but one concern is that PK Kris Brown remains in a funk, missing a 48 yard FG attempt and having another short one blocked when he appeared to kick it thin and low. Many a close NFL game has been lost because of a kicker who suddenly has gone into a funk. Brown certainly appears to be in a serious funk.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 10, 2009

Differing compensation under a corrupt -- but entertaining -- system

A frequent topic on this blog has been the NCAA and its member institutions' corrupt regulation of intercollegiate sports.

It's an entertaining system of corruption, but corrupt nonetheless.

Particularly appalling is the NCAA's restriction of compensation to football and basketball players, who are the people who actually generate most of the wealth for the university athletic programs.

In that regard, a couple of news items from yesterday highlight the absurdities that often arise from this perverse regulatory scheme.

First, the University of Texas announced that it has increased the annual salary of its head football coach, Mack Brown, to a cool $5 million.

Now, Brown is a good coach who has done a fine job over the past 12 seasons at Texas. And he is a wonderful man who is a great representative for the University of Texas.

But the only way that UT can rationalize or afford to pay him $5 million per year is that it is not paying a portion of its football income as compensation to the players who create the income in the first place.

By way of comparison, in the National Football League -- which is simply a higher level of professional football than big-time college football -- very few coaches earn $5 million per year despite the fact that NFL franchises generate far more income than UT's football program does.

One of the primary reasons that NFL teams do not generally pay such amounts to their coaches is that a substantial portion of the each NFL team's income is paid to players as compensation.

So, to put it bluntly, Brown makes $5 million annually because UT and the NCAA prevent Longhorn players from receiving fair compensation for the considerable risks that they take.

Meanwhile, excess regulation almost always generates creative efforts to get around those regulations.

Thus, many big-time college football programs provide indirect compensation to their athletes through exclusive use of luxurious "resort" facilities, such as private housing, elaborate workout centers and special academic services.

But those elaborate resort facilities all look alike after awhile.

So, what additional form of indirect compensation can a football program offer to attract the best athletes?

The University of Tennessee has apparently came up with one by utilizing upon one of the oldest forms of compensation known to man.

The NCAA Rules and Regulation Manual already rivals the Internal Revenue Code in terms of length and mind-numbing detail.

Perhaps the Tennessee investigation may at least result in a new section of the NCAA Manual that the football coaches and college administrators might actually enjoy reading?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

December 7, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Stephen Morton; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texas Longhorns 13 Nebraska 12

Has any team ever gone through an undefeated season and been in position to win the national championship with a more unimpressive offensive line than 2nd-ranked Texas (13-0)?

If there has been one, I can't remember it.

Nevertheless, the Horns overcame an inspired Nebraska (9-4) effort and a serious brain fart in the closing seconds to win the Big 12 Championship game and set up another Rose Bowl BCS Championship Game, this time with SEC champ, Alabama (13-0).

After their only truly bad game of the season last week against the Texas Aggies, the salty Texas defense reappeared just in time to bail out the Horns out. It didn't hurt Bthat the Huskers' offensive line is worse than the Longhorns' line.

Bama opened as a four point favorite over the Horns in the national championship game, but Texas has a reasonable chance to pull off its second national championship in five years. The initial line is a bit skewed by the Tide's impressive win over Florida (12-1) and the Horns' difficulties against Nebraska, but Bama has had its own consistency problems this season. Plus, a dynamic of such big games is that there often is a psychological advantage to the team playing as an underdog.

I expect the game to be close with the Horns having a reasonable chance of pulling it out if they can control Bama's punishing ground game and figure out some way of giving Horns' QB Colt McCoy enough time to distribute the ball to Texas' talented group of receivers.

But in the meantime, Bama's defensive front will be licking their chops to get after Texas' offensive line. Thank goodness for Texas that Bama doesn't have Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh.

East Carolina 38 Houston Cougars 32

In a game that was as entertaining as the Texas-Nebraska game was not, the Cougars (10-3) spirited comeback effort in the Conference USA Championship game was snuffed out in the final minute as QB Case Keenum's pass bounced off his receiver's shoulder in the end zone and into the hands of an East Carolina (9-4) safety.

The teams were evenly matched and neither team's defense could consistently stop the other's offense. So, the game came down to turnovers, and the Cougars had three more (4) than the Pirates (1). The most costly one was bad throw that Keenum made at the beginning of the 4th quarter that was intercepted to set up the Pirates' TD that extended the lead to 11.

But not widely reported in the mainstream media is the fact that an outrageously horrendous call by the officiating crew led to one of the interceptions and may well have cost the Cougars the game.

While leading 13-7 and driving deep in East Carolina midway through the 2nd quarter, the Cougars quick-snapped while the Pirates' defense had at least 13 players on the field. Thinking that he had a "free" play because of the obvious penalty, Keenum threw the ball into the end zone trying for a TD, but the ball was intercepted. No problem though because of the penalty, right?

Not so fast. Not only did the officiating crew not throw a flag on the play, they ignored the clear video evidence (it's a reviewable call) of 13 Pirate defenders on the field when UH Coach Kevin Sumlin challenged the call on the field.

So, rather than Houston having the ball deep in Carolina territory ready to go up 20-7, the officials gave the Pirates the ball first and ten on their 20.

ESPN commentators Ron Franklin and Gary Cunningham were incredulous over the blown call. To make matters worse, the officiating crew proceeded to call at least two other "too many men on the field" penalties on the Pirates' defense at much less important stages of the game. Go figure.

As usual, Keenum was again phenomenal (56/75 for 527 yds/5 TD's/3 INT) and cemented his performance this season as one of the greatest of any QB in NCAA history.

Also, Houston WR James Cleveland came back from an injury that had sidelined him the past two games to catch an incredible 19 passes for 241 yds and 3 TD's.

Due to Conference USA's poor bowl tie-ins, the Cougars are again slated to play Air Force (7-5) this bowl season in the Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth on New Year's Even afternoon. The game will be a replay of Houston's win over Air Force in last season's game.

There are a bunch of teams in bigger bowl games that are glad that they don't have to play this Houston team.

Jaguars 23 Texans 18

Does this sound familiar?

The Texans (5-7) start lethargically, fall far behind, battle back gamely, but ultimately shoot themselves in the foot and lose.

Key note to Coach Kubiak -- Chris Brown does not remind anyone of Paul Hornung on the halfback pass play.

The Texans begin playing out their eighth straight string next Sunday at Reliant Stadium against Seattle (4-7). My over/under for actual attendance -- 40,000.

Finally, the Texas Aggies (6-6) will play Georgia (7-5) in Shreveport's Independence Bowl on the evening of December 28th.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (3) |

November 30, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Bob Levey; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Colts 35 Texans 27

As the Texans' eighth season fades into the sunset of playoff also-rans once again, a legitimate question exists as to whether fourth-year Texans Coach Gary Kubiak is the right coach to transform the Texans into a legitimate NFL playoff contender.

Alan Burge examined that question earlier in the week and wondered whether Kubiak has the leadership qualities necessary to be a successful NFL head coach. I've been skeptical about Kubiak from the start, primarily because I believed that he was an odd fit for the "strong coach" model that Texans owner Bob McNair embraced when he fired the Texans' initial GM and head coach after a disastrous fourth season.

Despite my reservations, each of Kubiak's teams have improved during his tenure with the Texans, and his current team is the strongest team that the Texans have fielded in their eight seasons.

Thus, even though every other NFL team has either made the playoffs or fired its head coach during Kubiak's tenure with the Texans, Kubiak supporters can make a decent case that McNair should stick with him despite this season's disappointing performance.

But the Texans' (5-6) loss to the Colts (11-0) yesterday -- as well as last week's Monday Night loss to the Titans (5-6) -- are good examples of Kubiak's main weaknesses as a coach -- a failure to make adjustments on the fly during the game necessary to help the team win. This is one of the primary reasons Kubiak's Texans teams have not been able to get over the hump of winning close games.

After building a 20-7 lead while largely dominating the first half, the well-seasoned Colts made multiple adjustments at halftime. From the looks of it, the Texans made none.

The result? The Colts bludgeoned the Texans 28-7 in the second half and won the game going away.

Similarly, during the Monday Night game, the Texans pass-rushers continually rushed up field past Titans QB Vince Young, which allowed Young to step up in the pocket and run for first downs on multiple occasions. The Texans never made the adjustments necessary to keep Young in the pocket where his passing statistics were quite pedestrian.

It's almost as if Kubiak and his staff stubbornly say "Our game plan got us ahead and is good enough to win the game if executed correctly. We're not changing it, no matter what happens." Along those lines, after the game, Kubiak stated that the Texans simply "did not play well in the second half." Maybe so, but Kubiak and his staff did not put the players into a position to play well in the second half.

Perhaps most frustrating for Texans fans is that Kubiak and his staff have shown that they are capable of making effective in-game adjustments. The first game against the Titans, as well as the first Colts game, are two examples this season of where Kubiak and his staff made adjustments on the fly that gave their team a chance to win.

But Kubiak and Co. have not shown that they can make such adjustments consistently. If Bob McNair decides to replace Kubiak after this season, then that failure will likely be at the top to the list of reasons why Kubiak is let go.

Texas Longhorns 49 Texas Aggies 39

What do you get when you mix 3rd-ranked Texas' (12-0/8-0) worst defensive game of the season with Texas A&M's (6-6/3-5) best offensive effort?

One heckuva entertaining Thanksgiving evening game.

Longhorn QB Colt McCoy continued his improved play of late by having his best game of the season (24/40 fpr 304 yds/4 TD's/0 INT/18 carries for 175 yds/1 TD) and the Longhorns were lucky that he did. But even with McCoy's Herculean effort, the Horns did not put this one away until WR Marquise Goodwin's 95 yd kickoff return for a TD with just under 7 minutes to go in the game.

Although the Aggies' well-balanced offense gave the Horns' salty defensive unit fits all night, the game showed the big difference between the two programs. Outside of DE Von Miller, the Aggies lack of speed in their defensive front seven was palpable the entire game. Unless or until that deficiency is corrected, the Aggies will not contend for a Big 12 South title.

Meanwhile, despite the Horns' poor defensive effort, I do not believe that it portends problems for Texas against Nebraska (9-3/6-2) next Saturday night in the Big 12 Championship game. Nebraska has about 1/2 the offense that A&M has and, although their defense is solid, the Horns will score at least 25 points against that unit unless the Horns suffer a turnover epidemic.

I look for a relatively easy Texas win and a berth in the BCS Championship Game against the winner of the Alabama-Florida SEC Championship Game.

Houston Cougars 73 Rice 14

You knew things were not going to end well for Rice (2-10/2-6) when Houston (10-2/6-2) led 31-0 less than one minute into the 2nd quarter and prolific Cougar QB Case Keenum had not even thrown a TD pass yet.

The 18th-ranked Coogs went on to lead 59-0 at halftime, at which time they had more TD's (eight) than Rice had first downs (five). The game was not that close.

Keenum did not play in the 2nd half, but he generated his usual spectacular statistical line anyway (25/31 for 323 yds/2 TD's/0 INT/2 carries for 8 yds/1 TD).

What makes Keenum one of the best QB's in college football this season is his uncanny field presence -- he is literally like having a coach on the field during the game.

Rice often dropped eight defenders into coverage in an attempt to slow down the Cougars passing attack, so Keenum checked-off at the line of scrimmage and unleashed Houston's rushing attack, which rolled up 221 of Houston's 683 yds of total offense. When Rice defenders crept closer to the line to stop the run, Keenum scorched them with quick-hitting passes to eight different receivers.

Chron beat writer Steve Campbell pointed out in his blog that, over the past two blow-out games, Keenum has played four quarters and four minutes. In so doing, Keenum completed 54 of 70 passes (77 percent) for 728 yards, seven TD's and no interceptions. The Cougars scored 14 touchdowns and one field goal, while punting once, in the 16 possessions that Keenum has directed over the past two games.

I am convinced that this season's game films of Keenum's field presence and management of the Cougars' passing game will be studied by coaches and aspiring QB's for years. He has been that good.

The game was a disappointment for Rice, which had played well over the past month after a disastrous start to the season. The gulf in talent between the Owls and the Cougars is quite large at this point in time.

The Cougars travel to East Carolina (8-4/7-1) next Saturday afternoon for the C-USA Championship game. ECU has won five of their last six games (their only loss was to Virginia Tech), so the Cougars will likely have their hands full in Greenville, N.C.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

November 23, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Erich Schlegel; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texas Longhorns 51 Kansas 20

The 3rd-ranked Longhorns (11-0/7-0) continued their seemingly unstoppable roll to the BCS Championship Game with another laugher against a Big 12 North opponent, the Fighting Manginos (i.e., Kansas (5-6/1-6)).

QB Colt McCoy had his best game of the season (32/41 for 396 yds/4 TD's/0 INT) in his final home game as a Longhorn, and it was fun watching him bang on Big Bertha and set off the cannon after the game. The clueless ESPN announcers continue to hype McCoy for the Heisman Trophy, but that they do so undermines the integrity of the award.

Although a fine QB, McCoy has not had close to as good a season as the best college football players this season. Given the highly complementary nature of football, that's certainly not entirely -- or even primarily -- McCoy's fault. But this Texas team revolves around its ferocious defense, not its QB.

Having said that, McCoy has had a phenomenal career at UT. It's hard to think of a harder act to follow than Vince Young and the BCS National Championship that he delivered, but McCoy has actually been a big part of elevating the UT program to a level even higher than it was in Young's championship season. That is a remarkable achievement and one that vaults McCoy to the very top of the list of best Longhorn QB's.

The Horns finish the regular season with their annual rivalry game at A&M (6-5/3-4) on Thanksgiving evening and then the Big 12 Championship game against Nebraska (8-3/5-2) on December 5th at Jerry's World in Arlington.

In the meantime, Mack Brown and his staff better figure out a way to shore up the Horns' offensive line, which had McCoy dodging bullets quite often against a mediocre Kansas defensive front. Nebraska probably doesn't have enough offense to beat the Horns, but their front seven is pretty salty and could give McCoy fits if the Horns' offensive line plays like it did against Kansas.

Frankly, either the Florida or Alabama defensive front will likely annihilate McCoy if the Horns' OL doesn't shape up before the BCS Championship Game.

Texas Aggies 38 Baylor 3

The Aggies (6-5/3-4) schizophrenic season continued as they hammered Baylor (4-7/1-6) and qualified for a bowl game for the first time since the 2006 season. The Aggies have now won games by margins of 35, 37, 22, 25 and 35 while losing games by margins of 28, 48, and 55. Go figure.

The Ags finish up the regular season on Thanksgiving evening against the Longhorns, and the Ags would do well to stay within two TD's of the Horns.

A&M still has a long ways to go before they have personnel or depth on par with the Horns, but progress is being made, particularly on the offensive side of the ball where the Aggies sport a well-balanced attack when not embroiled in one of their periodic desperation meltdowns. The extra practice time that the Aggies will receive in preparation for their bowl game should be a good springboard to the 2010 season in which A&M hopes to be competitive in every game on the schedule. As bad as A&M football has been over the past couple of seasons, this year’s bowl game will be the Aggies' sixth in the past decade. Most programs only dream for such a success rate.

Houston Cougars 55 Memphis 14

The pure excellence of Cougar (9-2/5-2) QB Case Keenum was best displayed at the end of the 2nd quarter in the 23rd-ranked Cougars romp over Memphis (2-9/1-6).

After Keenum had filleted the Tigers for 35 points and 3 TD passes in the first 22 minutes of the game, Memphis came back with a long scoring drive to close to within 35-14 with 2:38 left in the half. The Tigers have an NFL-quality RB in Curtis Steele, who the Cougars' leaky defense was having trouble stopping. If Memphis could generate another such drive at the start of the 2nd half, then one could see how they could make a game of it by keeping the ball away from the Cougar offense, much in the same way that Central Florida did in upsetting the Coogs last week.

Keenum would have none of that. In a minute and 58 seconds, he drove the Cougars 73 yds in 8 plays to make it 42-14 at halftime. When the Cougar defense forced a three-and-out on Memphis at the start of the 2nd half, Keenum drove the Cougars to another quick TD to make it 49-14. Keenum took a seat on the bench for the remainder of the game only four minutes into the 2nd half. The Coogs scored on 7 of their first 8 possessions and rolled up 690 yards to Memphis’ 342.

Game, set, match, Keenum and Houston.

It is a testament to Keenum's brilliance this season that he generated better statistics (29/39 for 405 yds/5 TD's/0 INT) in a little over a half against Memphis than Texas QB Colt McCoy generated in his best effort of the season this weekend against Kansas playing the entire game.

The Cougars host cross-town rival Rice (2-9/2-5) next Saturday night and, assuming they win that game, will either host Southern Miss (6-5/5-2) or go to East Carolina (7-4/6-1) in the C-USA Championship Game the following weekend, courtesy of Marshall's (6-5/4-3) victory over SMU (6-5/5-2) this past weekend.

Rice 30 UTEP 29

The feisty Owls (2-9/2-5) upset UTEP (3-8/2-5) by forcing six turnovers. After an 0-7 start, Rice has now been competitive in all three games since their off-week during the last week in October, and have won two of those games by forcing turnovers, minimizing errors offensively and making big plays on both sides of the ball. The Owls' strong play of late will make them sky-high for their game against Houston, which they would dearly love to knock off.

After two straight weekends off, the Texans (5-4) play the Monday Night Game tonight against the Titans (3-6) followed by a showdown next Sunday at Reliant against the undefeated Colts (10-0). Should be an interesting week of football in Houston.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 16, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Central Florida 37 Houston Cougars 32

As I've noted many times, Houston (10-2/4-2) games over the past several seasons are just different. The game against Central Florida (6-4/4-2) was a case in point.

The 24th-ranked Coogs jumped out to a 17-3 lead with 7 minutes to go in the first half, but Central Florida -- which had held out its starting QB and RB in last week's game against Texas -- controlled the ball for essentially the entire 2nd quarter and narrowed the score to 17-10 by the end of the half. Inasmuch as one of the Cougar TD's was on a kick-off return, the Coogs' offense really didn't play much in the 2nd quarter.

Thus, by the 3rd quarter, the Houston offense had lost its rhythm. UCF's defensive front -- which is pretty stout -- began dominating the line of scrimmage and Houston's undermanned defense began to wear down.

Before you know it, the Coogs were reeling and UCF had outscored Houston 28-3 during the 3rd quarter and the first half of the 4th quarter. As usual, QB Case Keenum brought the Coogs back with two late scores, but the magic of a miracle finish was used last week at Tulsa.

With the loss and despite their fine season to date, the Cougars find themselves trailing SMU (6-4/5-1) in the C-USA West Division race. The Ponies play a decent Marshall (5-5/3-3) team next Saturday in West Virginia and then close at home against truly horrid Tulane (3-7/1-5). If SMU wins both those games, then the Ponies will win the C-USA West Division and play in the conference championship game against the C-USA East champ, either East Carolina (5-4/4-1) or Southern Miss (6-4/4-2). Despite having the best overall record in the league by far, the Cougars will be shut out of the conference championship game.

The Cougars close the season with home games against Memphis (2-8/1-5) and Rice (1-9/1-5). Interestingly, assuming Houston wins both those games and does not play in the C-USA Championship game, the Coogs will probably secure a more attractive bowl invitation than if they would receive if they won the C-USA Championship game (the Liberty Bowl in Memphis).

Rice 28 Tulane 20

The Owls (1-9/1-5) finally broke through against woeful Tulane (3-7/1-5) for their first victory as WR Toren Dixon did his best Jarett Dillard imitation (7 rec/158 yds/3 TD's), including a spectacular 29 yard TD reception in the final minute that secured the win.

Rice has now played two straight good games after their off-week, and they have another chance for a win this Saturday against up-and-down UTEP (3-7/2-4). The Owls close their season on the Saturday after Thanksgiving against cross-town rival Houston.

Oklahoma 65 Texas Aggies 10

As with the Kansas State game a month ago, the Aggies (5-5/2-4) rolled over and played dead against an underachieving Oklahoma (6-4/4-2) team that was itching to hammer someone. Even considering the Aggies' talent limitations, how can that not be a huge concern for those who are hoping for a rebound of the Aggie program?

The Aggies finish the season with home games against Baylor (4-6/1-5) and Texas (10-0/6-0). After A&M's recent wins over Texas Tech and Iowa State, the Baylor game looked like a reasonably sure win as the Aggies marched toward bowl eligibility. But after two straight disheartening losses, the Bears are no longer looking like such a sure thing.

A loss to Baylor would almost make certain that the Ags would not become bowl eligible, which would be another major disappointment in the Mike Sherman era.

So it goes these days in Aggieland.

Texas 47 Baylor 14

The Horns (10-0/6-0) continued to cruise toward a probable berth in the BCS Championship game with an easy win over the chronically undermanned Bears (4-6/1-5). The Horns were up 40-0 at the half and let up on the gas pedal for the rest of the game.

Texas finishes the regular season against Kansas (5-5/1-5) and A&M before taking on either Kansas State (6-5/4-3) or Nebraska (7-3/4-2) in the Big 12 Championship game. It will be shocking If UT wins any of those games by less than two TD's.

The Texans (5-4) were off this past week as they prepare for two straight interesting home games against the resurgent Titans (3-6) and the suddenly vulnerable-looking Colts (9-0).

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 9, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Tom Stratton; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Colts 20 Texans 17

The Texans (5-4) basically rolled over and played dead against the Colts (8-0) for the first quarter and a half. By early in the 2nd quarter, the Colts led the Texans in first downs 15-0 and total yards 196-12, while Texans already had seven penalties.

But amazingly, the Texans made a game of it and would have sent the contest into OT but for Kris Brown's missed 42 yard FG attempt in the final seconds of the game.

However, even more important than Brown's miss was head coach Gary Kubiak's blunder with two minutes to go in the first half. With the Texans poised to score with a first and goal at the Colts 2-yard line, Kubiak elected to allow the play clock to run-down to the two-minute warning timeout rather than run a first down play. The timeout gave the Colts coaching staff time to challenge the preceding play in which the Texans' Ryan Moats appeared to fumble while being tackled at the out-of-bounds line. The instant replay official overturned the ruling on the field and ruled that the fumble was recovered by the Colts on the goal line, resulting in a touchback and ball to the Colts at the 20-yard line.

Had Kubiak directed the Texans to run the first down play prior to the two-minute warning, it is extremely unlikely that the Colts' coaching staff would have gotten it together in time to challenge the call on the previous play. It's precisely that lack of situational awareness that makes me wonder whether Kubiak really has what it takes to be an above-average NFL head coach.

The Texans now have their off-week and so don't play again until the Monday night before Thanksgiving when they meet the Vince Young-led Titans (2-6), who have won two straight. The Texans get the Colts again at Reliant Stadium the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Houston Cougars 46 Tulsa 45

What is Case Keenum going to do for an encore?

Last week, the amazing Houston Cougar (8-1/4-1) QB drove his team 78 yards for a TD in 30 seconds of the final minute to pull out a victory over Southern Miss.

On Saturday night against Tulsa (4-5/2-3), Keenum drove the Coogs 60 yards for a TD in the final 3 minutes to close to within 45-43 with 21 seconds to go. Then, after the Cougars recovered the ensuing on-side kick, Keenum drove the Cougars 28 yards in 17 seconds to set up Matt Hogan's game-winning 51-yard field goal as time expired.

For the game, Keenum was 40/60 for 522 yds, 3 TD's and 0 INT. That was the 10th time that Keenum has passed for more than 400 yards in a game. The 4th-quarter comeback victory was the fourth that Keenum has engineered this season and the eighth of his collegiate career.

He is simply the best quarterback in college football this season.

By the way, the win was particularly sweet for a couple of reasons. First, it gave a Houston team another victory over Tulsa head coach Todd Graham, much to the delight of most Rice Owl fans.

Moreover, the Coogs also prevailed despite the strong appearance that Graham had at least a half-dozen of his players fake injuries during the Cougars' 4th-quarter comeback in an effort to slow down the Houston no-huddle offense. C-USA officials should be taking a careful look at the game films and sanctioning Graham unless Tulsa provides evidence that the suspicious-looking injuries were legit.

The 13th-ranked Cougars travel to Orlando next Saturday to play Central Florida (5-4/3-2), which held out its starting QB and top RB in its game against Texas this week so that they would be ready for Houston. That's life in the Top 20.

Colorado 35 Texas Aggies 34

This one hurt the Aggies' (5-4/2-3) fragile rebuilding project badly.

The Aggies led 21-10 at the half and 31-21 midway through the 4th quarter before a pretty bad Colorado (3-6/2-3) rallied to pull out the victory with a TD pass with 2 minutes to go. Even then, the Ags had two more chances to move into field goal range, but blew those opportunities with an interception and a fumbled punt. Ouch!

The Ags must now regroup to travel next Saturday to Norman to take on a wounded Oklahoma (5-4/3-2) team, which -- after their upset loss to Nebraska (6-3/3-2) on Saturday -- has dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time in memory. That sixth win for bowl eligibility is not going to come easily for the Aggies.

Texas Longhorns 35 Central Florida 3

This amounted to nothing more than a well-attended scrimmage for the 2nd-ranked Horns (9-0/5-0).

With Central Florida (5-4/3-2) holding out their starting QB and top RB for Houston next week, the Horns cruised to victory while finally showing some signs of a consistent passing offense (star WR Jordan Shipley went off for 273 yards on 11 receptions).

But the story of this UT team remains the defense, which held UCF to 150 yards of total offense. Interestingly, the top three teams in college football this season -- Texas, Florida and Alabama -- all have suffocating defenses with somewhat underachieving offenses. Call it the backlash of the defenses to the spread offense.

The Horns travel to Waco to play Baylor (4-5/1-4) next week before returning home to face Kansas (5-4/1-4) and the Aggies in their final two regular season games. With Kansas State (6-3/4-2) or Nebraska (6-3/3-2) as their opponent in the Big 12 championship game, Texas has the easiest route of the top three teams to the BCS National Championship game.

SMU 31 Rice 28

Rice (0-9/0-5) played their best game of the season, but a 10-point turnaround at the end of the first half (blocked Rice FG attempt was returned by SMU for a TD) was more than the struggling Owls could overcome against improving SMU (5-4/4-1).  The Owls have their two best chances for a victories this season against Tulane (3-6/1-4) and UTEP (3-6/2-3) at home over the next two weekends before finishing the season with their traditional post-Thanksgiving Saturday game against Houston.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 4, 2009

Muddled thinking

Everyone who follows football around these parts is feeling bad for Texans' TE Owen Daniels, who blew out an ACL in this past Sunday's game against Buffalo. He is done for the remainder of the season.

At the time of the injury, Daniels was having the best season of his four-year career and was leading NFL tight ends in receiving yardage.

But what is really bad about Daniels' situation is that he and his agent rolled the dice and rejected the Texans' offer of at least $15 million in guaranteed money for signing a multi-year contract before the beginning of this season. As a result, Daniels is playing this season under a one-year club tender called for by the collective bargaining agreement that pays him $2.8 million.

Daniels and his agent apparent rationale in rejecting the offer was that the Texans were low-balling in comparison to what other first-tier tight ends have received over the past couple of seasons. So, they decided that Daniels should take the risk of injury and play well this season so that, after the season, he could force the Texans either to match a higher offer from another team or let him go to the higher bidder.

But given the high risk of injury in the NFL, how could Daniels and his agent leave at least $12.2 million on the negotiating table? What were they thinking?

Now, Daniels will probably not be able to a complete season at full strength until the 2011 season. And there is no certainty that another lucrative offer will be awaiting him then even if he fully recovers from the injury and plays well.

I don't like the NFL compensation system. I believe it is far too highly-regulated. The system wrongly prevents the players who endure terrible physical risk and create most of the wealth for the owners from offering their services to the highest bidder.

But what I like even less is muddled thinking that results in a huge financial loss for a talented young man such as Daniels.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

November 2, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Don Heupel; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texans 31 Bills 10

The Texans (5-3) dominated the game, but somehow found themselves trailing the Bills (3-5) after three quarters.

Previous Texans teams probably would have folded, but this one seems to be improving on defense enough that the offense can shoot blanks for awhile and the game will not be lost (but remember, this is the Bill's offense that we're talking about here). The Texans' offense finally straightened things out in the fourth quarter, hammered away at the Bills' tiring defensive front and the Texans won this one going away with three rushing TD's in the final quarter. All in all, not a bad way to prepare for next Sunday's showdown at Indianapolis against the Colts (7-0).

A couple of notes. Backup RB Ryan Moats played really well (23/126 yd/6 rec/63 yd/3 TD's) in relief of fumble-prone RB Steve Slaton. Somewhat surprisingly, there did not seem to be any drop-off in production in going with Moats over Slaton and, if anything, it appeared that Moats hit the holes quicker and with more authority than Slaton. And without the fumbles.

Also, the Texans lost their second-best receiver -- TE Owen Daniels -- to what appeared to be a serious knee injury that will probably end his season. Will we now have a James Casey sighting?

Finally, for some reason, CBS did not show a replay of how Daniels got hurt (he was not involved in the pass on the play in which it occurred). However, Coach Kubiak was furious with the referees on the sideline at the time. Why on earth did the CBS announcers simply ignore how Daniels' injury occurred and why Kubiak was so upset?

Texas Longhorns 41 Oklahoma State 14

As noted last week, I expected the second-ranked Longhorns (8-0/5-0) to beat the Cowboys (6-2/3-2) relatively easily if the Horns' offense did not give the game away. As it turned out, the Horns' rugged defense forced five Cowboy turnovers, returned two of them for TD's and generally suffocated Okie State's high-powered offense. An impressive performance, indeed.

Despite this story line, ABC's absurd television production subjected viewers to dozens of shots of QB Colt McCoy and his parents, plus non-stop blather about McCoy's Heisman Trophy prospects.

Note to ABC -- McCoy specifically, and UT's offense in general, is not having all that good a season. Yes, McCoy had a very good season last year. But that was last season.

This season, there are at least a dozen QB's in major college football who are having a better season than McCoy. Yes, Texas remains undefeated, but that is largely the result of its stout defense and the fact that the offense has not stunk it up so badly in any game so far to blow one (although they were close to doing so in the OU game).

So, please. Give this "McCoy for Heisman" stuff a rest.  

The Horns have a non-conference scrimmage next Saturday in Austin against Central Florida (4-3/3-3) of C-USA before finishing the regular season at Baylor (3-5/0-4), at home against Kansas (5-3/1-3) and at A&M (5-3/2-2). With its probable opponent in the Big 12 championship game being either Kansas State (5-4/3-2) or Nebraska (5-3/2-2), the Horns appear to have the easiest route of any of the top teams to the BCS National Championship game.

Houston Cougars 50 Southern Miss 43

15th-ranked Houston (7-1/3-1) QB Case Keenum's legend continues to grow.

This was one of those back and forth Houston games in which the opposition -- this time a pretty good Southern Miss (5-4/3-2) team -- couldn't stop the Cougar offense while the somewhat undermanned Houston defense was having trouble slowing down the other side.

Nevertheless, Houston usually wins these games, except when it turns the ball over more than the opposition, which it did in this game. So, when Southern Miss scored the tying TD with only 51 seconds to go, this game looked as if it was headed to overtime.

But Keenum proceeded to direct a five-play, 78 yard drive in about 30 seconds to pull out the win in regulation. His stats on the day -- 44 of 54 for 559 yds, 5 TD's and 1 interception. As I've noted many times, Keenum is playing at the highest level of any QB in major college football this season.

The Coogs face another tough test next Saturday at Tulsa (4-4/2-2), which is looking to bounce back from a home loss on Saturday to SMU. After the 70-30 shellacking the Cougars put on Tulsa in Houston last season, expect the Golden Hurricanes to be primed for an upset next week.

Texas Aggies 35 Iowa State 10 

For the second straight week, the Aggies (5-3/2-2) generated a productive, balanced offense and won going away against the outmanned Cyclones (5-4/2-3). In their final four games, the Ags have two games in which they could win their sixth game and become bowl eligible -- at Colorado (2-6/1-3) next week and home against Baylor (3-5/0-4) on November 21st. The other two games -- OU (5-3/3-1) and Texas (8-0/5-0) -- appear to be long shots for an Aggie victory.

Thus, next week's Colorado game appears to be critical for the Aggies' season. The Ags will probably handle Baylor, which is playing out the string after losing star QB Robert Griffin for the season. A loss to Colorado would likely mean a 6-6 season for the Ags and a marginal bowl bid. Despite its poor record this season, Colorado is not without talent, so the young Aggies will have their hands full in Boulder next Saturday. But 7-5 final record sure looks better than 6-6.

Rice (0-8/0-4) was idle this past weekend. The Owls have a tough game at SMU (4-4/3-1) before returning home to play Tulane (2-6/0-4), which appears to be the Owls only remaining realistic chance for a victory this season.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

October 26, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texans 24 49ers 21

The Texans (4-3) inched above .500 for one of the rare times in their eight season history with the win over the 49ers (3-3), but the way they accomplished it indicates that the team has a ways to go before becoming an above-average NFL team.

The Texans built a commanding 21-0 lead after a half, but let the 49ers come back behind their backup QB Alex Smith to have a chance to tie or win the game in the final two minutes. The Texans defense, which bottled up the 49ers in the first half -- became passive in the second half, allowing long TD drives in three of five second half possessions.

Meanwhile, the Texans offense -- which really was not hitting on all cylinders this day -- had only one sustained drive in the second half. The combination of defensive breakdowns with an offense that could not keep the defense off the field is usually a prescription for failure in the NFL.

But a win is a win in the brutal NFL, so the Texans head to next Sunday's game against the rugged but offensively-challenged Bills (3-4) with a legitimate shot at going into Indianapolis the following weekend at 5-3. They better beat the Bills because it does not currently look as if the Texans have much of a chance of slowing down the red-hot Colts (6-0). Thus, a 5-4 record going into the Week 10 bye-week is probably the best the Texans can realistically hope for.

Texas Aggies 52 Texas Tech 30

How do you explain the Aggies (4-3/1-2) beating the spread by 43 points in defeating Tech (5-3/2-2), which had just blasted a team (Kansas State) by 52 points two weeks ago that pummeled the Aggies by 48 last week?

You simply can't. That's one of the endearing characteristics of college football, folks.

As noted earlier here, the Aggies have a bunch of talented players, but most of the them are playing either their first or second season of major college football. As a result, there are wild swings in their performance level, as reflected by the results of the past two games.

However, if the Aggies can win the turnover battle and their generally over-matched defense can keep the game close enough so that A&M can rely on a balanced offensive attack, then the Ags have a good chance of winning three (Iowa State, Colorado and Baylor) of their final five games (only Texas and Oklahoma look to be out of reach). A 7-5 mark in Coach Mike Sherman's second season at the helm would be a major success in Aggieland.

Surprising Iowa State (5-3/2-2) is up next for A&M at College Station this coming Saturday.

Texas Longhorns 41 Missouri 7

In a game that was not as close as the score indicates, the 3rd-ranked Longhorns (7-0/4-0) staked out a 21-0 first quarter lead and a 35-7 halftime lead over the Tigers (4-3/0-3) before slipping into cruise control in the second half.

The Texas offense showed signs of life as QB Colt McCoy finally had a decent game (26/31/269 yds/3 TD's/1 INT), but this simply is not the Horns' offense of last season. McCoy is not close to operating at the level he was last season or as the top QB's in the college game are this season (such as Houston's Case Keenum).

This Texas team wins games with a suffocating and hard-hitting defense, which is equally effective against the pass or run.  With that defense, McCoy and the rest of the offense probably need only to be competent for UT to win out and play for the BCS National Championship.

The Horns game of the season to date is next Saturday night at Oklahoma State (6-1/3-0). If the Horns play in a similar manner as they did against Mizzou, then my sense is that they will win by at least two TD's.

Houston Cougars 38 SMU 15

As I've noted throughout this season, 15th-ranked Houston (6-1/2-1) QB Case Keenum has been among the best QB's in college football. Like a coach on the field, Keenum saw early that SMU (3-4/2-1) was dropping 8 and sometimes 9 defenders into coverage, so he patiently attacked the Mustangs with the running game and short flank passes.

The result was that the Cougars built a comfortable 24-3 halftime lead in a workmanlike manner. Thus, when WR Tyron Carrier took the 2nd half kickoff 92 yards for an electrifying TD, the Cougars had this one in the bag and essentially held serve for the remainder of the second half.

Although Keenum did not have a gaudy game statistically, his excellence was nevertheless apparent. When the Ponies closed to 31-15 with about 9 minutes to go, Keenum calmly directed the Cougars on a six minute, 11 play, 78 yard TD drive to put the game away without question. Impressive, indeed.

The Cougars face a tough test next Saturday afternoon against Southern Miss (5-3/3-1) at Robertson Stadium.

Central Florida 49 Rice 7

The Owls (0-8/0-4) are experiencing just how good the trio of QB Chase Clement, WR Jarett Dillard and HB James Casey were over the two seasons prior to this one. It now appears that the Owls only realistic chance for a victory this season is in three weeks against Tulane (2-5/0-4) at Rice Stadium. After a bye-week next Saturday, the Owls travel to Dallas to play SMU (3-4/2-1) on November 7th.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 24, 2009

Inspiration for a football Saturday

Still one of the finest endings in the history of cinema. Charles Dutton as Rudy's mentor Fortune, Jon Favreau as D-Bob and Ned Beatty as Rudy's father steal the scene.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 19, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Donna McWilliam; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texas Longhorns 16 Oklahoma 13

In an entertaining but sloppily-played game, 3rd-ranked Texas (6-0/3-0) rode their hard-hitting defense to tense victory over the now-reeling Sooners (3-3/1-1), who have a real chance at losing five games in a season for the first time since Coach Bob Stoops' first season at OU in 1999.

The Horns are good, but the inconsistent offensive production has to be a big concern for the Longhorn fans who are hoping for a return to the BCS Championship game.

QB Colt McCoy is not having a good season, the offensive line has been mediocre for most of the season and the wide receiving corps -- thought to be a strength at the beginning of the season -- was led on Saturday by true freshman Marquise Goodwin.

Despite UT's stellar defense, the Horns are likely going to need more than 16 points to beat Oklahoma State (5-1/2-0) the week after next in Stillwater.

The Longhorns play at Missouri (4-2/0-2) next week in an ABC Saturday night game.

Texans 28 Bengals 17

The Texans (3-3) beat the Bengals (4-2) surprisingly easily, although all four of Cincinnati's wins this season have been nailbiters than could have gone either way. QB Matt Schaub pitched 4 TD's on 28-40 passes for 392 yards, although he also threw his seemingly obligatory bonehead interception that set up a Bengals field goal that allowed Cincy to seize the lead at the half.

The Texans had a good game plan against the Bengals. They used quick passes from Schaub to their talented group of receivers to set the pace, and then worked in periodic runs from RB's Slaton and Brown to keep the defense off-balance. This is essentially the approach that the Patriots have used successfully for years, so the Texans -- who have a smallish offensive line -- would appear to be well-equipped to emulate it.

But the more encouraging development for the Texans is that, for the second week in a row, the defensive unit shut down an opposing offense with a seasoned QB for the entire 2nd half of the game. NFL defenses tend to improve in spurts, and it would not surprise me that the Texans' unit -- which is sprinkled with high draft picks -- is starting to show signs of coming together. Given the potency of the Texans' offense, if the defense can mature into even a middle-of-the-pack NFL defensive unit, that could well be enough to vault the Texans to their first winning record in franchise history.

The Texans host the 49'ers (3-2), who are coming off their bye week, next Sunday at Reliant Stadium before hitting the road against the Bills (2-4) and the Colts (5-0) leading up to the Texans' Week 10 bye week.

Houston Cougars 44 Tulane 16

There is something odd about playing in the cavernous Superdome in front of the tiny crowds that Tulane (2-4/0-3) attracts. As a result, Houston (5-1/1-1) seemed to sleep walk through the first half of this one before QB Case Keenum directed the Coogs' offense to five straight TD second-half TD drives and an easy victory over the Green Wave.

The 17th-ranked Cougars return home next Saturday to play much-improved SMU (3-3/2-0), which lost a heartbreaker in overtime to a good Navy team on Saturday. The Mustangs are still looking for the signature upset in the second-year of Coach June Jones' rebuilding program, so the Cougars better be ready to play on Saturday night.

Kansas State 62 Texas Aggies 14

Oh my.

In a game that was not as close as the score indicates, the Aggies (3-3/0-2) took a giant step backward from the overall progress that the young team had shown for much of the season in rolling over and playing dead to a mediocre Kansas State (4-3/2-1) team.

A&M has gone from looking like a reasonable candidate for winning 7 games this season just one week ago to wondering whether they can win another game. It is reasonably certain that a win will not come next Saturday when the Ags travel to Lubbock to play Texas Tech (5-2/2-1), which scorched Kansas State  66-14 just one week ago.

My sense is that the A&M administration is going to be patient with head coach Mike Sherman. However, if the Ags roll over and play dead to Tech as they did against Kansas State, will the Aggie tradition of unceremoniously dumping coaches overwhelm Sherman?

East Carolina 49 Rice 13

The Owls (0-7/0-3) looked a bit better this week on offense (faint praise given the offense's impotence this season), but the Owl defense took a hike against a rather pedestrian East Carolina (4-3/3/1) offense. I still think the Owls can win a couple of games this season, but their winnable games begin next Saturday at home against Central Florida (3-3/1-2). So, it's time for the Owls to start producing.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 16, 2009

"Why, those sorry bastards"

During football season, two Clear Thinkers favorite subjects are the annual Texas-OU game and former Texas head coach Darrell Royal (here, here, here, here and here).

So, this Barking Carnival post on the epic 1976 game -- Royal's last as Texas' coach -- is a must read on the eve of this year's game. The comment referred to in the title of this post was Royal's reply to former OU coach Barry Switzer's response to Royal's allegation that the OU coaching staff was spying on Texas practices.

The raw emotion of the game -- arguably the most severe of any rivalry game already -- rose to a boiling point in the '76 game as a result of the animosity between the coaching staffs.

Get ready to rumble!

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

October 13, 2009

Gameday Saturday in Death Valley

I went over to Baton Rouge this past Saturday with my friend John Stevenson and his family to visit my old friend Dan McCarney -- who is now the Assistant Head Coach of the Florida Gators -- and to attend the SEC showdown between the 4th-ranked LSU Tigers and the no. 1 ranked Gators. The Gators won 13-3 in a defensive slugfest.

Gameday Saturday in Baton Rouge is a special cultural event. The entire state of Louisiana -- which produces more NFL players per capita than any state in the U.S. -- takes special pride in its flagship university and its football team. A record Tiger Stadium crowd of over 93,000 attended the game, but tens of thousands more milled around outside the stadium in hundreds of tailgating parties (which feature splendid Cajun and New Orleans-inspired cuisine) spread throughout the campus.

The atmosphere for a big Saturday night football game is so intimidating for the opposition that the stadium was nicknamed "Death Valley" years ago. The Florida win on Saturday night snapped a 32-game winning streak for LSU in Saturday night games at Death Valley.

Here is slideshow that will give you a glimpse of Gameday Saturday in Baton Rouge. It is one the special experiences in college football. Enjoy!

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 12, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Cardinals 28 Texans 21

The Texans 3rd loss in the fifth game of their eighth season (2-3) was actually four games in one:

The first 28 minutes, which the Texans were lucky to lose only 7-0;

The second was the final 2 minutes of the first half in which the Texans were pummeled 14-0;

The third was the first 23 minutes of the 2nd half, which the Texans dominated 21-0; and

The fourth was the final 7 minutes of the game, which the Texans lost 7-0 on a poorly-thrown pass that was returned for a TD and the failure to punch in a TD from the 1-yard line three times in the final minute of the game.

The message here is that, for whatever reason, the Texans do not play most games without breakdowns such as they suffered in the first, second and fourth games above. It's not clear to me that they are capable of doing so on a consistent basis.

The Texans travel to Cincinnati (4-1) next Sunday to play the red-hot Bengals before returning home the week after to play the 49er's (3-2).

Oklahoma State 36 Texas Aggies 31

Despite the NCAA's best efforts to help the Aggies (3-2/0-1) by suspending Oklahoma State's (4-1) best player (WR/PR Dez Bryant), the Cowboys prevailed as the Aggie defense -- exposed last week in the loss to Arkansas -- again could not stop a hard-chargin' marching band, much less the potent Cowboys.

The Aggies travel to Manhattan, Kansas next week to face Kansas State (3-3/1-1) and then to Lubbock to face Texas Tech (4-2/1-1). The Kansas State game is winnable for the Aggies; the Tech game does not appear to be.

Texas Longhorns 38 Colorado 14

If the Longhorns' (5-0/2-0) offense tries to hang another performance next week in Dallas against Oklahoma (3-2/1-0) like the one they got away with last Saturday against lowly Colorado (1-4/0-1), the 3rd-ranked Horns can kiss their dreams of an undefeated season and a national championship good-bye.

The Texas defense is very good. At this point of the season, the Texas offense is not.

Houston Cougars 31 Mississippi State 24

The 23rd-ranked Cougars (4-1/0-1) rebounded from their disappointing loss to UTEP by beating a BCS Conference opponent for the third time, which is the most of any non-BCS conference team this season. Despite throwing an interception for a TD, Cougar QB Case Keenum continues his amazing season, generating 434 yards passing (39-52) and 4 TD's. There is simply no QB playing in college football at a higher level of efficiency than Keenum.

The Coogs play Tulane (2-3/0-2) at New Orleans next Saturday before returning home to host SMU (3-2/2-0) and Southern Miss (3-3/1-1) in successive weeks.

Navy 63 Rice 14

Yeah, it's hard to prepare in a week for Navy's (4-2) idiosyncratic triple-option attack. But it's not that hard. The Owls (0-6/0-2) gave the first indication in this game that they are a team capable of losing every game season. I still think they will win a couple, but not if they play as they did against the Middies. The Owls travel to East Carolina (3-3/2-1) next Saturday.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 5, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave J. Phillip; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texans 29 Raiders 6

So, what happens when the NFL's worst defense meets one of the NFL's worst offenses? Well, this time, Raiders (1-3) QB JaMarcus Russell is so bad that the Texans (2-2) defense dominated the game and propelled the local club to an easy victory.

The Texans potent offense played reasonably well in the first half, but after the Texans defense and special teams generated 9 points in about 10 seconds early in the third quarter (a safety and resulting Jacoby Jones kick-return for a TD), the offense simply held serve as the heretofore porous Texans defense held the Raiders to 165 total yards. The lack of offense from both teams made the final half almost unwatchable.

Prediction -- Russell will not be a starting NFL QB after this season. Maybe even before the end of this season.

The Texans now enter a tough stretch in their schedule in which they play four out of the next five games on the road before the Week 10 bye-week. First up is the Cardinals (1-2) coming off their bye week in Phoenix.

Note to the Texans defense -- Kurt Warner is no JaMarcus Russell.

Arkansas 47 Texas Aggies 19

This one was essentially two games -- the first was the initial ten minutes of the game in which the inspired Aggies (3-1) stunned the Razorbacks (2-2) and led 10-0.

Unfortunately for A&M, the other game was the remaining 50 minutes in which the Hogs blitzed the Aggies 47-9.

Look, the Aggies are not without talent, most of it quite young. But when a team is starting a true freshman at left offensive tackle, and mostly freshmen and sophomores comprise the two-deep roster, the reality is that such a team is going to get manhandled from time-to-time by more seasoned squads.

That's what happened to the Aggies yesterday. But I saw nothing in the game that indicated to me that the Aggies are a lost cause. On the contrary, give this bunch another year of maturity and sprinkle in another group of solid recruits, my sense is that the Aggies will again be competitive with all but the top flight programs (i.e., Texas and Oklahoma) in the Big 12. Even this season, the Aggies could win four more games (@Kansas State, Iowa State, @Colorado and Baylor). The others -- Oklahoma State (next week at home), @Texas Tech, @Oklahoma and Texas -- appear to be more problematic.

In the meantime, I'm picking Aggies QB Jerrod Johnson to be the QB on my sandlot team.

UTEP 58 Houston Cougars 41

How does a team such as UTEP (2-3) that didn't generate 58 yards total offense in its game last week (a 64-7 loss to Texas) turnaround and score that many points in handing formerly 12-ranked Houston (3-1) its first defeat of the season?

The answer is in my first weekly football review of the season:

The trick for the Cougars this season will be to figure out how their young defense -- which lacks depth from several seasons of under-recruiting on the defensive side by previous head coach, Art Briles -- can maintain the type of gritty effort that the unit displayed against OSU's potent offense. UH defensive coordinator John Skladany is a master at getting the most out of undermanned defensive units (he was the DC for my friend Dan McCarney during Iowa State's bowl run earlier this decade), but he will have his work cut out for him in the coming weeks. If the Coogs defensive unit can consistently play at the level it did against OSU, and the team can avoid injuries to key personnel, the Cougars are likely to be a top-20 team.

The Coogs' defensive unit held up reasonably well against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, but a hot UTEP squad exposed it for what it is -- a young and not particularly physically-imposing group that simply cannot play at the same level as Houston's high-powered offense.

The difference in this particular game was that Houston's defense was not able to force any turnovers, which it was able to do in both the OSU and Tech upsets. When the Cougar offense uncharacteristically failed to score on a couple of 2nd quarter trips into the UTEP red zone, that plus the lack of turnovers gave the Miners the edge they needed to pull off the upset.

By the way, even with the upset, Houston QB Case Keenum continues to play at the highest level of any quarterback in the nation through five weeks of the season.

The Cougars will not be able to lick their wounds for long as they take to the road again next week to play tough Mississippi State (2-3), which almost upset 5th-ranked LSU two weeks ago. After that, the Coogs ease into the main part of their Conference USA schedule, which should allow the Cougars to get back on track.

Tulsa 27 Rice 10

In the latest edition of the bitter Todd Graham Bowl, the Owls (0-5) continue to struggle on offense while their defense plays well enough to keep the score respectable. My over/under for Rice wins this season continues at two, and that may be a bit optimistic. The Owls host the potent Navy (3-2) triple-option attack next Saturday.

The Texas Longhorns (4-0) were off this weekend before starting the meat of their schedule next week  at Colorado (1-3). Following that game, the Horns play in successive weeks 19th-ranked Oklahoma at Dallas, at 24th-ranked Missouri, and at 15th-ranked Oklahoma State.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

October 1, 2009

What price for taking on this risk?

I've never really understood the basis of the widespread criticism that professional football players are paid too much. In light of the pubic disclosure of the findings of a National Football League-sponsored study regarding the high rate of dementia in former NFL players, it occurs to me that the players aren't paid enough for the risks that they take.

Moreover, what happened to star Florida QB Tim Tebow last weekend underscores that the professional players in big-time college football are even more grossly underpaid than NFL players. Although an entertaining form of corruption, the NCAA's regulation of compensation to the athletes who largely create the wealth for university college football programs is nonetheless stunningly brazen corruption. That the mainstream media and much of the public stand by and continue to allow this parasitic system to flourish does not reflect well on us.

There is nothing wrong with universities being involved in promoting minor league professional football. If university leaders conclude that that such an investment is good for the promotion of the school and the academic environment, then so be it. But let's be honest about it. Allow the players who create wealth for the university to be paid directly, let's allow the universities to establish farm team agreements with NFL teams, and let's cut out the hypocritical incentives that are built into the current system.

Not only will it be fairer for the players who take substantial risk of injury, it would obviate the compromising of academic integrity that universities commonly endure under the current system.

Shouldn't that be enough incentive to reform the current system?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) |

September 28, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave J. Phillip; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Houston Cougars 29 Texas Tech 28

In one of the most entertaining games of the young season, the now 12th-ranked Cougars (3-0) pulled out the victory over Tech (2-2) with a magnificent 95-yard TD drive late in the 4th quarter engineered by QB Case Keenum, who has played better than any QB in the nation through the early part of this season. The Coogs did not play as well in this game as they did in knocking off then fifth-ranked Oklahoma State two weeks ago, but a plucky defense and the cerebral Keenum -- combined with a boneheaded decision by Tech Coach Leach to eschew a chip shot field goal in the 4th quarter -- were enough to propel Houston to victory. The Cougars travel to El Paso next week to face a UTEP (1-3) team that is licking its wounds after being hammered by Texas.

Jaguars 31 Texans 24

The Texans (1-2) continue to be plagued by a generally horrendous defense, although a horrific penalty call nullified what should have been a game-tying TD with about two minutes left. Although the Texans' offense looks to be productive enough for the club to have a decent shot at winning half their games, the lack of defensive development through three games raises a legitimate question of whether Head Coach Gary Kubiak has the depth necessary to correct the Texans' chronically deficient defense (anyone else think that Mike Nolan looks like a really good hire by the Broncos?). When an NFL defensive team that is comprised of multiple high draft picks still cannot stop the run or put pressure on the opposing QB, that's usually a sure sign that something is seriously wrong in the coordination of that unit. The Texans better even their record next Sunday against the Raiders (1-2) at Reliant because four of the following five games are on the road.

Texas Longhorns 64 UTEP 7

I mean really -- what are the second-ranked Longhorns (4-0) doing playing opponents such as UTEP (1-3)? The Horns' third-team could have beaten the Miners by 30. Incredibly, the Horns' defense held UTEP without a touchdown and to a total of 53 yards on 51 plays. Texas has an off-week before facing under-performing Colorado (1-2) in Austin on October 10th and then 8th-ranked Oklahoma (3-1) the following weekend in Dallas.

Texas Aggies 56 UAB 19

The Ags (3-0) won their third straight against creampuff competition, so the jury is still out on whether the Ags will be competitive against the better teams of the Big 12. Nevertheless, the Aggies are halfway toward qualifying for a bowl game for the first imte in three seasons and those chances improved markedly over the weekend with Baylor's loss of star QB Robert Griffen (torn ACL) for the season. The Ags take on an Arkansas (1-2) team next weekend in Dallas that has to date not been able to stop a hard-chargin' marching band. But at least the Razorbacks are an SEC opponent. That counts for something.

Vanderbilt 36 Rice 17

You know that the renaissance in Rice (0-4) football is over when the local media emphasizes that the Owls defense played really well in holding Vandy (2-2) to a 10-10 halftime tie. The reality is that the Owls are playing with an inexperienced group of QB's with a new offensive coordinator. This has not gone well and the next three opponents -- Tulsa (3-1), Navy (2-2) and East Carolina (2-2) -- are unlikely to allow the Owls to turn it around. My current over/under on Rice victories this season is two.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

September 15, 2009

Does anyone take John McClain seriously?

Please indulge me one last Texans-related post for the week.

John McClain, the lead Chronicle sportswriter covering the Texans, condemned this past Sunday's Texans' loss as the worst in the team's history.

Now that normally wouldn't be all that unusual. I mean, the Texans really did stink up Reliant Stadium.

However, McClain said the same thing about the Texans' loss to the Ravens just 10.5 months ago.

But even that wouldn't be so absurd except that, in between those two "worst" games, McClain generally dished up this type of blather about how good the Texans are poised to be this season.

I mean really, with far superior blogosphere sources such as Stepanie Stradley, Lance Zerlein and Alan Burge around to provide coverage of the Texans, does anyone take McClain seriously anymore?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 14, 2009

2009 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave J. Phillip; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Jets 24 Texans 7

Well, as one salty high school football coach used to put it, "That went over about as well as a fart in church!"

In a home opener that was arguably as bad as the one in the their disastrous 2-14 Year Four season, the Texans had their collective ass kicked by a Jets team that was led by a rookie coach and QB. The Jets defensive front manhandled the Texans' offensive line, which is supposed to be one of the team's strengths.

Key tip of the day: Don't even think about listening to sports talk radio shows in Houston this coming week.

The reality of early-season games such as this is that the Texans (0-1) probably aren't as bad as they looked and the Jets (1-0) are probably not as good as the Texans helped make them look.

However, what should concern Texans owner Bob McNair is that Head Coach Gary Kubiak and his supposedly experienced and top-notch staff were clearly out-coached in preparation for the game and in making adjustments during the game. To his credit, Kubiak admitted as much during his post-game interview. But coming in his fourth season as a head coach, these types of debacles have to be wearing thin on even the extraordinarily patient McNair. And let's face it, despite their reasonably respectable 8-8 record last season, the Texans were only 3-7 going into their 11th game on November 24th.

The Texans face the Tennessee Titans (0-1) next Sunday in Nashville. Anyone who watched any of the Texans-Jets game already know the Titans' defensive game plan.

Houston Cougars 45 Oklahoma State 35

As I noted several times last season, the Houston Cougars (2-0) under second-year coach Kevin Sumlin are an endearing and fascinating team to follow. Thus, although the Coogs were a 16-point underdog at fifth-ranked Oklahoma State (1-1) on Saturday, anyone who has followed the Cougars under Coach Sumlin was not shocked (pleasantly surprised, yes) that Houston pulled off the upset of the Cowboys.

Behind third-year QB Case Keenum, Houston sports one of the best offenses in the country. Oklahoma State eventually figured out how to slow it down a bit in the 2nd half, but they were never able to stop it. Keenum throws the screen pass better than any college QB that I've seen in years -- his 32-yard TD pass to WR/Sprinter Tyron Carrier on a middle-screen play just before the half against OSU will be used by offensive coaches around the country for the next several years as the quintessential example of how to execute that particular play.

The trick for the Cougars this season will be to figure out how their young defense -- which lacks depth from several seasons of under-recruiting on the defensive side by previous head coach, Art Briles -- can maintain the type of gritty effort that the unit displayed against OSU's potent offense. UH defensive coordinator John Skladany is a master at getting the most out of undermanned defensive units (he was the DC for my friend Dan McCarney during Iowa State's bowl run earlier this decade), but he will have his work cut out for him in the coming weeks. If the Coogs defensive unit can consistently play at the level it did against OSU, and the team can avoid injuries to key personnel, the Cougars are likely to be a top-20 team.

The Cougars take next Saturday off before taking on high-powered Texas Tech (2-0) at Robertson Stadium late on Saturday, September 26th. Now that is shaping up to be one wild affair.

Texas Longhorns 41 Wyoming 10

Earlier in Texas Head Coach Mack Brown's tenure at UT, this is a game that the Horns (2-0) could have lost or at least sweated until the very end. An inexplicably bad offensive game plan, poor special teams play, a below-average 1st half performance by star QB Colt McCoy, only 30,000 or so fans watching the game in a far-off locale -- those were all elements that could have led to an upset of the Longhorns under Brown five or six seasons ago.

But things are different for the Texas program now. Not only does Texas have as much NFL-caliber talent as any program in the country, the Longhorns of this part of Coach Brown's era at Texas play rock-ribbed, tough defense. Accordingly, against the likes of Wyoming, Texas now can under-perform for a half on offense and still win the game going away.

Now, the Horns won't want to risk that approach against Oklahoma, or even Texas Tech (2-0) next Saturday in an unusual early-season Big 12 Conference game. But my sense is that they won't. If the Horns can find a consistent running back out of their four or five good prospects at that position, then this team will be very difficult to beat.

Texas Tech 55 Rice 10

Through two blowout losses, this season is shaping up to be a very difficult one for Rice (0-2), particularly after last season's success.

Undecided at the QB position and working in a new offensive coordinator, even an Owl defense that held the potent Tech offense to 14 points in the 1st half wilted during the 2nd half as the Owl offense continued to struggle.

And things don't get any easier for Rice over the next month. They face an angry Oklahoma State (1-1) team at Stillwater next Saturday, then they have consecutive home games against Vanderbilt (who gave LSU a good game last Saturday night in Baton Rouge), Tulsa (2-0) and Navy (1-1).

This could be a very long season for the Owls.

The Texas Aggies (1-0) were off on Saturday after last week's blow-out win over a poor New Mexico team (0-2, scorched by Tulsa 44-10 on Saturday). The Aggies take on Utah State next Saturday at College Station.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 11, 2009

Houston Texans, Year Eight

Year Eight of the Houston Texans begins this Sunday with a home game against the Jets, so it's time for my sixth annual preview of the team (previous annual previews are here).

Largely ignored amidst the inexplicable interest over the absurdly over-long NFL pre-season training camps is the harsh reality that the Texans have the worst record of any expansion franchise in the modern National Football League history.

As is usually the case in football, there are many reasons for the Texans' poor record, not all of which are the fault of the Texans' management and players. Nevertheless, Texans' management bears a substantial responsibility for the relative futility of the team over its first seven years, so it's helpful to review the team's journey in evaluating whether the Texans are finally ready to make the leap to being in contention for the NFL playoffs.

The Texans were the toast of Houston for their first three seasons during which Houston football fans were simply happy to have an NFL team again and didn't really have much in the way of expectations. Texans management and the local mainstream media trumpeted the party line that Texans were building a playoff contender "the right way" -- that is through prudent drafting and development of young players while eschewing the temptation of short-term rewards provided by over-priced veterans who were on the downside of their careers. The progressively better won-loss records in the first three seasons (4-12, 5-11, and 7-9) -- plus the drafting of young stars such as WR Andre Johnson, RB Dominack Davis (or whatever he ended up changing his name to) and CB Dunta Robinson -- seemed to indicate that the Texans' plan was working.

Unfortunately, those progressively better won-loss records distracted Texans management from recognizing the fact that the Texans' overall personnel was not close to contending for an NFL playoff spot. The best evidence of that was that the Texans entered each of their first four seasons with the same two core problems -- the Texans' offensive line could not protect the quarterback and the Texans' defensive front could not pressure the opposing team's QB.

Former Texans GM Charlie Casserly never could solve the offensive and defensive line problems (remember LT Tony Boselli, the flirtation with LT Orlando Pace, and the thoroughly unimpressive DT Anthony Weaver?). The 2005 draft was an absolute disaster (DT Travis Johnson as the 15th pick in the first round?) and initial Texans head coach Dom Capers' changes to the offensive and defensive systems between Years Three and Four proved equally disastrous. After the Texans limped home with a desultory 2-14 record in Year Four, Texans owner Bob McNair mercifully dispensed with Casserly and Capers.

Subsequently, McNair decided to blow up his original Texans management model and surprisingly hired Gary Kubiak, who promptly made (acquiesced to?) a whopper of a blunder in his first major personnel decision as Texans' coach -- retaining QB David Carr even though it was reasonably clear as early as before Year Three that Carr was unlikely to develop into an above-average NFL QB.

Kubiak -- who is a quick study in evaluating talent -- promptly soured on Carr during the early stages of Year Five, which was part of the reason why the Texans had one of the worst offenses in the NFL that season. As a result of enduring that Year Five offense, Kubiak arguably overpaid for QB Matt Schaub before Year Six and clearly overpaid for over-the-hill running back Ahman Green. Not much improved through 12 games of Year Six as even the local mainstream media cheerleaders were questioning whether Kubiak was the proper coach to right the Texans' ship.

Then, the Texans showed some spark and won three of their last four games to finish with an 8-8 record for Year Six, the first non-losing record in franchise history. The Texans' offense -- even without Schaub and star WR Andre Johnson for five and seven games respectively -- improved to 12th in the NFL in yards gained and 14th in points scored, by far the best finish of any Texans offense. That was enough to give the cheerleading local mainstream media and long-suffering Texans' fan base hope that things might finally turn around for the franchise in Year Seven.

Unfortunately, Year Seven amounted to running-in-place for the Texans. A solid season-ending win over the Bears allowed the Texans to finish at 8-8 again, but the team did not contend for a playoff spot and suffered several demoralizing defeats. Given that the team had a 7-9 record after Year Three, a reasonable case could be made that not much progress had been made from the end of Year Three through Year Seven. The offense was better, but the defense was worse than it was after Year Three. Had the deck chairs simply been rearranged on the Texans' Titanic?

On the other hand, several clear signs in Year Seven indicated that the Texans are headed in the right direction. The offensive line and the receiving corps were far-improved and have more depth than at any time in franchise history. Despite being somewhat brittle, Schaub showed the talent necessary to be a consistently above-average NFL QB. Likewise, RB Steve Slaton emerged as a game-breaking back who will only get better if another complementary back steps up from among a group of talented backs that the Texans have accumulated on their roster.

Moreover, although the Texans' defense did not improve statistically last season, the Texans have a nucleus of young defensive players who -- with proper coaching and sensible personnel adjustments -- are likely to gel into a reasonably effective unit sometime over the next couple of seasons. Improvement in NFL defensive units generally gestates over several seasons as young players gain needed experience, so I expect the defense to improve under new defensive coordinator Frank Bush, who is clearly a favorite of the players (unlike Kubiak's prior DC, Richard Smith).

Although I'm still not sold that Kubiak is the coach to take the Texans to the playoffs, I have always been impressed by his willingness to recognize mistakes, cut losses and make changes. He does not seem to be burdened with the stubbornness that often undermines NFL head coaches. In fact, that characteristic was a big part of why Dom Capers failed as the first Texans head coach.

Continuity in coaching staffs and personnel are the most common elements of successful NFL teams. Accordingly, absent a total meltdown similar to Year Four, my sense is that the eternally patient McNair will continue to endure blunders such as the Ahman Green deal in the hope that maintaining stability will ultimately reward him with a consistent winner. McNair certainly deserves it given the stellar support that he has provided to the Texans football operation.

So, are the Texans ready to contend for a playoff spot this season? Hard to say given the lack of defensive improvement during Year Seven. As I noted several years ago in defending the Texans' first-pick-in-the-draft selection of DE Mario Williams against almost universal mainstream media criticism, a common thread through NFL teams that take the step from mediocrity to playoff contention is that they find the right mix of defensive players that make it difficult for the opposition to mount a consistent rushing attack. The Texans have not found that mix yet, so playoff contention would appear to be a long-shot until they do.

However, given the high number of variables that play into a successful NFL season, picking NFL playoff teams is an extremely speculative endeavor. Almost all NFL playoff contenders are just a couple of key injuries away from the scrap heap. The Texans have accumulated enough talented football players on the offensive side of the football that they are in a position to seize the playoff opportunity if the variables tilt in their favor on the defensive side. But defensive improvement will likely be the key to whether this season is a breakthrough season or another disappointment. My sense is that the over/under for Texans' wins this season is eight, the same as last season.

Now that the sports blogosphere is matured, there really is little reason to rely any longer on the mainstream media for Texans news and analysis. The Chronicle sportswriters provide extensive coverage of the Texans, but the coverage lacks meaningful insight. Far superior coverage and analysis is provided in Stephanie Stradley's excellent blog, which she updates frequently, and  Lance Zerlein's blog, which he updates several times a week. Moreover, the Houston Examiner's Alan Burge does a much better job of covering the Texans than the Chronicle sportswriters. I will continue my tradition of providing a 2009 weekly local football review each Monday during the season.

Finally, the following Texans blogs also provide superior analysis to that in the local mainstream media: Texans Gab; Battle Red Blog; DGDB&D (for "Da Good, Da Bad & DeMeco"); In the Bullseye.com; and Houston Diehards.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

July 27, 2009

The incredible lightness of the Chron's pre-season Texans coverage

This past Sunday's edition of the Chronicle marked the beginning of what is arguably the most mind-numbing portion of the sporting year -- the five-week period of media coverage of football practice prior to the start of the National Football League season in the second week of September.

Putting aside for a moment his delusions that the Stros actually have a legitimate chance of making the National League playoffs this season when 3/5th's of their starting rotation are well-below NL-average pitchers, the Chron's Richard Justice dusts off his Texans' cheerleading garb and lays this piece of fluff on us:

At least we've gotten beyond the basic issues that smothered the Texans for so long. There should be few questions about the coach or general manager. Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith have done their jobs well.

They inherited a 2-14 mess three years ago and rebuilt it breathtakingly fast. To go from 2-14 to 8-8 in two off-seasons is an amazing accomplishment.

Of course, this is the same Richard Justice who was saying the following just last October (2008):

Wouldn’t you love Bob McNair to start holding people accountable? Wouldn’t you love it if he acted like he cares as much as all those people who write the newspaper and phone the talk shows?

Do you think he understands he’s why this football team stinks? In the end, he’s the guy in charge and every stinking loss starts with him. [.  .  .]

Coaching isn’t just drawing up a running play that works. Coaching is instilling the right mindset in a team.

It’s getting players to understand what’s important. Don’t think for a moment the Texans don’t care. They do.

Rosenfels cares. Chester Pitts and Ephraim Salaam and DeMeco Ryans and Johnson care.

Those mistakes aren’t a statement about how much they care. They’re a reflection that somewhere along the way, this organization has gotten way off track.

If it was one game, or one series of mistakes, that would be one thing. This is year after year of mistakes, of figuring out different ways to write the same ending.

In fact, what Justice is saying about the Texans now is quite similar to what he was saying about the Texans under the Casserly-Capers regime immediately before the disastrous 2-14 season in 2004:

The Texans have made good use of their honeymoon. They've drafted wisely and spent shrewdly on free agents. They've assembled a front office admired around the NFL. Their players seem to be quality people. [. . .]

The danger for them is that their greatest strength could become their greatest weakness. They've done so many things right and have built such a model operation that it's impossible not to put expectations on a fast track. [. . .]

So far, it's impossible not to be impressed with what the Texans have done. They are run as efficiently as any sports franchise I've ever been around.

Just before the start of training camp, Casserly gathered his employees and thanked them for all their hard work. Then he went down the list of different departments and explained some little thing each had done that made the team - and the organization - better.

That's the kind of thing the people who run sports franchises almost never do, and it left every person who was mentioned proud to be associated with the Texans.[. . .]

Capers believes it's vital to emphasize doing things right because "if you ever slip, you can never get it back."

So far, the Texans haven't slipped in any significant way.

Meanwhile, the blogosphere continues to bail the Chronicle out. Stephanie Stradley, who pens the Texans Chick blog for the Chronicle, has just completed a series of blog posts (the first one is here and the final one with links to the other four posts is here) that provides more astute analysis of good information on the Texans than anything that I've ever read by the Chronicle sports staff. Another Chron blogger, Lance Zierlein, also does a better job of analyzing the NFL than any of the Chron sportswriters.

Given Stradley's competence in regard to professional football, guess what Justice thinks of her?

It's going to be a long NFL pre-season.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

July 16, 2009

Big Fan

I suspect that the NFL would prefer that you watch something else going into this upcoming season, but Big Fan looks interesting.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

April 30, 2009

McClain keeps mailing it in

This really was not meant to be my "bash the Chronicle" week. I mean, really -- the local newspaper already has enough problems.

But what else can one do when confronted with this blather from the Chronicle's lead NFL columnist, John McClain?:

Let’s cut to the chase: The Texans should make the playoffs for the first time. We all know it.

The Texans are better than they’ve ever been. Their offense was terrific when Matt Schaub returned from his knee injury and won three of his last four starts. The Texans have got a better running game.

With Frank Bush as the new coordinator, the defense should improve dramatically with the addition of nine free agents and draft choices competing for playing time.

Just six months ago, this is what McClain was saying:

I picked the Texans to beat the Ravens by three. Many of you said, in so many words, that I was a moron to pick the Texans. I was. I've learned my lesson. After getting every pick right this season, I blew this one. I won't make that mistake again this season.

After watching Sunday's game against Baltimore, I think the Texans are fully capable of losing the rest of their games and finishing 3-13. It's time to start preparing for the draft. Gary Kubiak's third season is over.

The Texans are a joke, an embarrassment to themselves, the organization and to the city. They put on a wretched performance at Reliant Stadium on Sunday when they quit in the fourth quarter and allowed the Ravens to humiliate them 41-13.

Under the circumstances, I believe this was the worst loss in team history. A victory at home over a team with a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback would have made them 4-5. Now they're 3-6 with road games against Indianapolis and Cleveland, two more struggling teams that'll be licking their chops at the prospects of playing such a putrid team.

The Texans were horrible on offense and terrible on defense. Everyone on the team — indeed, everybody in the organization — should be embarrassed to say they participated in or witnessed this debacle.

Anyway, you saw what I saw. There's nothing left for me to say about this abomination  .  .  .

Despite McClain's despair, the Texans somehow pulled themselves together to finish 8-8 on the season.

Of course, the above outburst came over a year after McClain had breathlessly anointed Coach Kubiak as the second coming of Bill Walsh.

And that came after years of McClain columns in which he extolled how former Texans GM Charlie Casserly and head coach Dom Capers were "building the Texans the right way." McClain quickly changed his tune when Casserly and Capers' "effective building" resulted in a disastrous 2-14 record in the Texans' fourth season.

Frankly, the Chronicle's NFL citizen-bloggers Stephanie Stradley and Lance Zierlein are much more measured and analytical than McClain in their coverage of the NFL and the Texans.

Does anyone in Chronicle management even notice?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

April 7, 2009

Is this really the best that the Chronicle can do for its lead sports columnist?

Remember awhile back when Chronicle lead sports columnist Richard Justice defamed Stephanie Stradley, a very good local blogger on the Texans and the NFL who now blogs at the Chronicle?

Well, ol' Richard is at it again.

This time the subject of Justice's venom is Alan Burge, who pens a very good blog on the Texans for the Houston Examiner.

Burge recently made a comment on one of Justice's blog posts regarding Texans GM Rick Smith, who Justice has been belittling for months because Smith fired Justice's friend, former Texans strength coach, Dan Riley.

At any rate, after Burge commented (he goes by "AJ" in the comments) on Justice's blog post, Justice responded by belittling Burge's comment. Burge responded by again challenging Justice's statements regarding NFL contract provisions. Justice responded by continuing to belittle Burge and concluded by accusing Burge of stealing "from others and calling it research."

Inasmuch as Justice has previously removed some of his defamatory statements from his blog site after publishing them, I copied four of Burge's comments and Justice's replies to them before Justice could remove or edit them (he has, in fact, done so now). Burge's comments and Justice's replies are set forth in the document below. Also included in the document is a comment from another commenter who was appalled by Justice's comments toward Burge and Justice's reply to that comment.

With "top" talent such as this, is there any hope for the Chronicle?

 

Richard Justice Comments

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) |

March 9, 2009

The real reason why the Texans re-signed David Anderson

I don't keep up on the market in the NFL for back-up wide receivers, but I was still surprised last week when the Texans matched Denver's $4.5 million offer (including a cool $1 million up front) to restricted free agent David Anderson.

$4.5 million for a back-up wide receiver and special teams guy? Really?

But now I know the real reason that the Texans re-signed Anderson -- he keeps the other players loose in the locker room. And based on the video below, he is well worth the $4.5 million. Check out Anderson's imitation of ESPN's NFL Gameday analyst Ron Jaworski. Absolutely spot on.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

February 20, 2009

IMG's bad week

The late Mark McCormack must be spinning in his grave. His baby has had a very bad week.

McCormack was the attorney who parleyed his friendship with PGA Tour star Arnold Palmer to create the world's leading management firm for professional athletes and celebrities, International Management Group, now known as IMG. In addition to Palmer, McCormack represented such icons as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II, to name just a few.

McCormack died in 2003 after suffering a major heart attack and his shares in IMG were sold in connection with the administration of his estate. With his death, the oversight of IMG passed on to a new generation of managers led by über-agent, Ted Forstmann.

Well, that new generation of managers just hit a serious bump in the road.

First, although a relatively small deal, IMG suffered a disproportionate amount of horrendous national publicity over its handling of the contract negotiations of eccentric but successful Texas Tech football coach, Mike Leach.

Not only did IMG alienate the decision-makers at Tech to the point that the university seriously considered firing Leach, IMG's handling of the matter forced Leach to resolve the contract impasse himself in a face-to-face meeting with Tech's chancellor yesterday afternoon. What is Leach paying IMG for, anyway?

At any rate, Leach's resolution of the impasse over his contract at least saved IMG from facing the prospect of a $10 million-plus malpractice damage claim from Leach for fouling up the negotiations.

But it appears that IMG may not be as fortunate with regard to its relationship with the major business fraud of this week, Stanford Financial Group.

Check out this NY Post article (H/T Joe Weisenthal at Clusterstock):

The Post has learned that IMG quietly agreed to steer clients looking for investment advice to Stanford Financial Group, potentially exposing them to millions of dollars in losses resulting from the financial firm's alleged fraud.

According to three sources with knowledge of the situation, IMG and Stanford have a quid-pro-quo agreement under which Stanford Financial pays IMG a low- to mid-seven-figure consulting fee in exchange for IMG advising its clients - which include golfers Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, David Toms, Sergio Garcia and others - to have their money managed by Stanford.

The backroom bargaining has exposed IMG to charges of double-dealing, and is raising questions about where the firm's allegiances lay: with Stanford Financial or its athlete clients. [.  .  .]

IMG's deal with Stanford Financial involved the management firm advising the now-tarnished financial firm on where to spend sponsorship money, particularly related to golf tournaments.

Stanford's alleged fraud could cost IMG north of $10 million in fees, as well as any clients who got burned in the scandal.

For the time being, IMG is denying that it parked some of its clients' funds at Stanford in return for Stanford hiring IMG as a consultant. But IMG's denial raises as many questions as it answers, such as how did IMG's clients find Stanford if IMG didn't point them in that direction? You can rest assured that, if IMG was in fact consulting for Stanford while recommending that its clients invest money with the firm, IMG will probably just open up its pocketbook and reimburse those clients for any losses attributable to Stanford's demise.

Any other approach to the Stanford problem would be an even bigger public relations fiasco than what IMG has suffered over the Leach-Tech contract negotiations.

Frankly, regardless of whether IMG had a consulting deal with Stanford, that IMG may have recommended that at least some of its clients invest funds with Stanford raises serious questions about the firm's judgment. As noted earlier here, the Houston business community widely-knew for years that any investment in Stanford was an extremely risky bet.

IMG's immediate and vehement denial of any conflict of interest in regard to Stanford and its other clients reflects that it is taking this problem seriously. We all know what happens when a trust-based business loses the trust of the market.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

February 16, 2009

What are Leach and IMG thinking?

This earlier post noted the fascinating contract dispute that has arisen between Texas Tech University and the most successful coach in the school's history, Mike Leach.

Now, with the university and Leach at loggerheads, and a university-imposed February 17th deadline looming to get a deal done on a proposed modification and extension of Leach's contract, the real issue ought to be this -- why has IMG, Leach's agent in these negotiations, allowed the negotiations to reach impasse?

Well, it probably is not all IMG's fault because Leach has a law degree and is likely highly-involved in the negotiations. But one has to wonder about the judgment of the agent and the coach who would allow a five-year, $12.7 million contract go up in smoke over a few contractual details that simply should not be deal breakers.

To put this in perspective, the contract that Tech has offered Leach is one of most lucrative in big-time college football, almost certainly one of the top 10 or 15 contracts in terms of compensation. What makes that all the more remarkable is that Tech -- with a relatively modest athletic budget of a bit less than $50 million a year -- is not close to being one of the most lucrative football programs in college football. By way of comparison, Texas' annual athletic budget is over $100 million and Oklahoma's is about $75 million.

In short, a distinct possibility exists that the eccentric Leach will never receive another offer as lucrative as Tech's current one in his coaching career. How on earth is Leach -- who is a good but not great coach -- thumbing his nose at that kind of scratch?

In short, because IMG and Leach don't like several contractual details of the university's proposed contract. For example, IMG and Leach want it to be relatively inexpensive for another program to swoop in and hire Leach away from Tech. Not surprisingly, Tech wants it to be relatively expensive for another program -- at least during the first three years of the new deal -- to hire Leach away from Tech.

Similarly, Tech doesn't want to have to pay an arm and a leg to buyout Leach's contract if it wants to make a change, while IMG wants Tech to pay Leach a buyout equal to 40% of the remaining compensation due Leach under the contract at the time Tech elects to fire him.

The other two issues are so minor that they barely merit mentioning. First, Tech wants Leach to pay a penalty of $1.5 million if he interviews with another school during the term of the contract without Tech's consent. The other issue is that Tech wants to have any outside income that Leach arranges approved by Tech and run through the athletic department.

Having been involved in a few of these rodeos, here's why I think IMG and Leach are foolish if they allow this potentially lucrative deal to evaporate on Tuesday.

First, it's simply not unreasonable for Tech -- which does not have a particularly wealthy football program -- to hedge its risk of losing Leach to another program by requiring a substantial buyout of the contract. The purpose of such a buyout is to allow Tech to mitigate its loss by using the buyout funds to hire a good coach to replace Leach. Moreover, the amount of Tech's proposed buyout will not deter a bigger program that really wants Leach. IMG and Leach ought to recognize this reality, negotiate the least amount of buyout that they can, and move on.

The buyout of Leach is the toughest issue, but not all that difficult to resolve. IMG's 40% proposal, particularly during the early years of the contract, is unrealistic given the size of Tech's resources, so they should come off those amounts. On the other hand, Tech's proposal for the buyout in the later years of the contract is relatively paltry, so Tech should come up considerably on those amounts. By both sides giving a bit in those areas, a deal can be reached.

The other two problem provisions are easily resolvable. On the outside compensation issue, Tech has to regulate that income under NCAA regulations, so requiring Leach to obtain Tech's approval is not an unusual or unreasonable demand. Leach and Tech should simply agree that Tech will have the right to approve any such outside comp and that such approval will not be withheld unreasonably. For his part, Leach should agree that he will report and account to Tech for all such outside income so that Tech can comply with its obligations under NCAA regulations.

Finally, Tech would probably waive the proposed $1.5 million penalty if Leach would simply agree that he won't interview for another job during the term of the contract without Tech's approval, which Tech should agree would not be unreasonably withheld. Then, if Leach were to do so anyway, Tech could elect to fire Leach for cause, which means that it wouldn't have to pay him anything further under the contract. That would resolve that issue.

So, if the foregoing is all that it would take for Leach to become a multi-millionaire, then why are IMG and Leach thumbing their noses at Tech's attractive offer?

The only answer I can come up with is that sometimes pride and emotion really can overwhelm good judgment during the heat of negotiations.

Having said that, I still think cooler heads prevail and a deal gets done. There is simply too much for Leach to lose by not doing so. Leach may be eccentric, but he is not stupid.

And IMG didn't become the world's most successful agents by recommending that their clients reject very lucrative contracts.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

February 8, 2009

Is Leach worth it for Tech?

A fascinating dispute between Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach and Texas Tech University highlights the tension in the relationship between the business of big-time college football and academia.

According to this Examiner.com article (a more-detailed Don Williams/Avalanche Journal article is here and a Double-T Nation blog post is here), Leach and Tech have agreed on the financial terms of an extended contract, but are hung up over several issues relating to termination and buyout of the contract, including Tech's demand that Leach agree to pay the school $1.5 million if he interviews for another head coaching job without Tech's permission.

Thus, despite Leach being Tech's most successful football coach, Tech isn't all that secure about Leach. And despite Leach's success at Tech, Leach isn't all that thrilled about being at Tech, which is evidenced by his continually seeking other head coaching jobs. Tech apparently thinks that Leach's wanderlust makes Tech look bad, so Tech is seeking to restrain Leach's efforts to obtain another job by making it expensive for him to do so. However, by making such a demand, Tech reinforces to Leach that he really would prefer to be somewhere else.

So, Tech is caught in a conundrum. On one hand, Leach has generated profitable attention for Tech; thus, it makes sense to pay big money to keep him. However, on the other hand, Leach turns around and disparages Tech in the coach marketplace by continually trying to leave. Why pay big money to someone who is diminishing the value of your product?

Nevertheless, Tech is probably over-thinking this issue. Leach is a good coach, but not the best diplomat. Pay him a salary commensurate with Tech's financial capability and Tech's position in the Big 12, and then require a hefty buyout to compensate Tech if another program hires Leach. Don't worry much about Leach's wanderlust -- a large buyout will deter most programs from pursuing Leach. Trying to restrict Leach's wanderlust by imposing a penalty is counterproductive in that it forces Tech to endure a coach who really does not want to be there while reducing the chance that Tech will realize a windfall from another program hiring Leach and paying Tech the buyout.

Having said all that, is Leach really worth it for Tech? Could Tech's program do about as well with another (and likely, far less expensive) coach who is truly content with his position at Tech?

It sure would be refreshing to see Tech decide to find out.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

February 1, 2009

A solid Super Bowl Ad

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

January 28, 2009

Evaluating the NFL QB's and RB's

As Super Sunday approaches, check out this Dave Berri post on his final quarterback and running back ratings for the 2008 season.

A few observations:

The Texans' QB Matt Schaub had the 10th best season among QB's and rookie RB Steve Slaton had the 4th best season among running backs. Three of the seven QB's selected for the Pro Bowl rated worse than Schaub. All six of the Pro Bowl RB's rated worse than Slaton!

QB Chad Pennington, who the Jets discarded in favor of Brett Favre, finished 3rd in the rankings. Aaron Rodgers, who the Packers kept instead of Favre, finished 11th, one behind Schaub.  Favre finished 27th, which was among the worst performances in the league. Favre, not Pennington, Rodgers or Schaub, was invited to the Pro Bowl. John Madden does very good PR for Brett Favre.

One of the only five QB's who rated worse than Favre this season is the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger, who just happens to be QB'ing the favored team in Sunday's big game. Kurt Warner, the opposing QB in the Super Bowl, finished in 9th place, one slot ahead of Schaub.

Finally, Berri makes an important distinction between the highly interdependent nature of football in comparison to baseball and basketball:

[W]e must remember that systematic analysis in football is extremely difficult.  Unlike basketball and baseball -- where player performance is largely independent of his teammates (at least for hitters in baseball) -- the performance of football players depends on the performance of the player’s teammates.  These interaction effects severely hamper the objective analysis of the game.

And that can be seen when we look at how much time I devote to discussing football.  Like I did with basketball, I also have a model to measure performance in football.  But the measurement of performance in football really only tells one story.  The interaction effects in football cause the performance statistics to be inconsistent.  So the players we see perform well today are not necessarily going to perform well tomorrow.  Although I like telling that story, it’s really about all I ever say about the NFL.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

January 18, 2009

The Hardest Job in Football

As you settle in to watch today's two NFL conference championship games, be sure to check out Mark Bowden's excellent article in this month's Atlantic on the enormous human and technological resources that to into the television production of a typical NFL game.

Sort of makes a two-minute offense at the end of a game seem a bit mundane in comparison, wouldn't you agree?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

January 12, 2009

2008 Weekly local football review

(previous weekly reviews are here)

Texas Longhorns 24 Ohio State 21

In a not particularly well-played, but nevertheless highly-entertaining Fiesta Bowl last Monday night, the Longhorns (12-1) used some more QB Colt McCoy magic with 16 seconds left to pull out the victory over upset-minded Ohio State (10-3).

After arguably his worst half of the season, McCoy (41-59/414 yds/2 TD/1 INT) rebounded in the second half of the game to lead the Horns to a 17-6 third quarter lead, then engineered the spine-tingling comeback in the final two minutes after the Buckeyes had rallied during the fourth quarter to take the lead. WR Quan Cosby had a monster game (14 receptions for 171 yds and 2 TD's) and capped his Longhorn career with a spectacular catch and run for the game-clinching TD.

In many respects, this Longhorn team was the product of the best performance by head coach Mack Brown during his tenure at UT. With Oklahoma's (12-2) loss to Florida in the BCS Championship game, the win over tOSU gave the Horns the best record and the highest national ranking of any Big 12 team. The Horns survived a brutal mid-season stretch of games against highly-ranked teams and came within a dropped interception in the final minute of the Texas Tech game of playing in the BCS Championship game. Given their improvement on defense this season over the 2007 season, the stability of the coaching staff and the return of McCoy next season, UT's future remains bright, although the failure of a dominant running back to emerge this season is cause for some concern.

UT's troubles against Ohio State, Texas Tech's embarrassing loss to Mississippi in the Cotton Bowl, and OU's loss to Florida reflects a trend of Big 12 teams having problems against top-tier defenses of non-Big 12 teams. The Longhorns' lack of a consistent rushing attack was a problem against the salty Ohio State defense and that inconsistency could leave the Horns vulnerable next season to the tougher defenses that they will face against a top tier team in a bowl game.

In fact, the lack of top-notch defenses overall in the Big 12 should be at least a moderate concern for conference coaches and officials, who appear to have swung the pendulum too far in favor of the offenses in an effort to create exciting, high-scoring games. Texas Tech's offensive linemen looked absolutely shocked during the Cotton Bowl when referees from another conference actually called holding against them a couple of times during the game. Tech's offensive linemen rarely endured holding calls this season from Big 12 referees.

Such small problems aside, things are definitely looking up for the Longhorns next season. With a much more favorable schedule, the Longhorns will begin the 2009 campaign as a consensus top 3 pick in the national polls. Inasmuch as OU will probably have to replace their star QB Sam Bradford, the Horns will probably also be the consensus favorite to win the Big 12 championship.

It's all good these days in Longhorn Country.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

January 5, 2009

2008 Weekly local football review

(WRMSOX photo; previous weekly reviews are here)

Rice 38 Western Michigan 14

As expected, the Owls (10-3) rolled to an easy win in the Texas Bowl last Tuesday as star QB Chase Clement (30-44/307 yds/3 TD's/12 carries for 72 yds/1 TD/1 catch/13 yds/1 TD) and the potent Rice offense overwhelmed the Western Michigan defense (9-5). Any further question why Notre Dame opted for the Aloha Bowl over facing the Owls in the Texas Bowl?

The victory gave the Owls their 10th win in a season for the first time in almost 60 years and their first win in a bowl game since the 1954 Cotton Bowl.

Inasmuch as I've been watching the Rice offense develop over past three seasons under Clement, I was not surprised by the Owls' performance this season. Clement, WR Jaret Dillard and WR-TE-RB James Casey were as talented a trio of offensive players on one team as any in the nation.

The problem that the Owls face is whether they can sustain that level of performance.

Clement and Dillard are both seniors, as is a substantial part of the Owls' offensive line. Casey is a likely NFL draft choice, so it is unlikely that he will take the risk of uncompensated injury by returning for another season at Rice. Tom Herman, the Owls' offensive coordinator who really ignited Rice's spread offense over the past two seasons, left Rice last week to take the same position at Iowa State.

So, Owls head coach David Bailiff is going to have his hands full trying to maintain the performance level that the Owls attained this season. I hope he can, but I have my doubts.

Houston Cougars 34 Air Force 28

The Cougars (8-5) completed a successful first season under new head coach Kevin Sumlin with a victory over a plucky Air Force (8-5) squad on New Year's Even afternoon in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth.

The game should not have been as close as it was. The referees inexplicably took away a second half TD from Houston even though it was clear from the replay that RB Bryce Beall had possession of the ball while breaking the plane of the goal line before fumbling (see picture above). Also, the Air Force's only second-half TD, which allowed the Falcons to narrow the Coogs' lead to three, was set up by star Cougar TE Mark Hafner allowing an easy pass reception to ricochet off his chest into the hands of a Falcon defender. But for that blown call and Hafner's gaffe, the Coogs would have won this one going away.

Nevertheless, the Coogs will take the victory, their first bowl win in nine tries since their last bowl win the 1980 Garden State Bowl. Beall, the Cougars' true freshman RB, was the star of the game as he shredded the Falcons' defense for 135 yds on 22 carries (6.1 ave) and a TD, while catching four screen passes for an additional 92 yds.

Meanwhile, Cougar QB Case Keenum managed the Cougar offense magnificently (no college QB sets up and throws a screen pass any better), guiding the Coogs to over 400 yds total offense while spreading the ball around to seven different Cougar receivers.

And as noted above, the Cougar defense -- which has been the team's weak point all season -- really stepped up in the second half and did a fine job of containing the Falcons' wishbone offense.

With almost all of their offensive playmakers returning, the Cougars should possess one of the most potent offenses in college football next season. The challenge will be to upgrade the defense, which has suffered the past two seasons from several years of under-recruiting by former Houston coach Art Briles' staff. Given the probable productivity of the Cougars offense, even a relatively small improvement in the Cougars' defense next season is likely to vault Houston to the top tier of non-BCS Conference football teams.

Texas Longhorns

The Longhorns (11-1) take on Ohio State (10-2) in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl at 7 p.m. tonight in Phoenix on FOX. The Vegas line on the game began at Texas minus 11, but it has since moved to Texas minus 8 and, at a couple of casinos, Texas minus 7.5. Take that for what it's worth.

Houston Texans

As predicted, head coach Gary Kubiak didn't waste any time after the conclusion of the season in firing defensive coordinator Richard Smith and two of his assistants.

As noted since his hiring, I'm not convinced that Kubiak is the best fit as a coach to develop the Texans into a playoff caliber team. However, I am impressed with his willingness to recognize mistakes and take actions to attempt to correct them. Stubbornness is a common characteristic of unsuccessful NFL coaches and Kubiak does not appear to be afflicted with it. Hopefully, he will hire a seasoned NFL defensive assistant who can develop the Texans' young talent into a unit that is as productive as the Texans' offense.

On the other hand, I couldn't help but note the following passage from this NY Times article on the recent firing of long-time Denver Broncos head coach and Kubiak mentor, Mike Shanahan:

Although [QB Jay] Cutler gave the Broncos hope for the future, Shanahan was ultimately undone by an increasingly leaky defense, something a revolving door of defensive coordinators could not seal, and a string of questionable draft picks and free-agent signings that Shanahan made as the team’s executive vice president for football operations. In Shanahan’s absence, the Broncos are in the market for a general manager as well.

The Broncos’ defense was ranked among the league’s top seven in seven of the nine seasons beginning in 1997. In the last four years, however, the defense plunged to middle-of-the-pack status, then to No. 29 in 2008.

If Kubiak hires a Denver retread as his new defensive coordinator who doesn't improve the Texans' defense markedly, then similar words will be written about him within a year or two.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

January 3, 2009

Football or P.R. Genius?

Richard Justice has already deemed him a genius.

Earlier this month, he visited President Bush in the White House and, on Sunday night, he will be profiled on CBS-TV's 60 Minutes.

Even Michael Lewis has bought in to the genius story.

But after a middle-of-the-road SEC program thoroughly manhandled his Texas Tech squad in the Cotton Bowl yesterday, Mike Leach looks more like a public relations genius than a football one.

Look, Leach is a reasonably good coach with an innovative offense. However, he is not close to being the savant that Tech's breakout season is leading some folks to suggest.

In fact, an objective evaluation of Leach's Tech career reveals that his teams run up big offensive numbers, but are not particularly impressive against teams with comparable or better talent.

After Tech's 11-2 record this season, Leach has a 76-39-0 record in his nine seasons at Tech, which works out to a salty 66% winning percentage. Although that is the best mark of any long-time coach at Tech over the past 70 years, a substantial part of Leach's success has been his 29-5 (85.2%) regular season mark against non-Big 12 opponents, which have been mostly sacrificial lambs.

Of those 34 non-conference games, only five have been against other BCS-conference teams -- Ohio State (loss), Mississippi (2 wins) and North Carolina State (2 losses). The last time that Tech even played a non-conference regular season game against a BCS-conference opponent was in 2003.

Meanwhile, Tech under Leach has feasted on such sacrificial lambs as Division 1-AA teams Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Indiana State, Southeastern Louisiana, Northwestern State, Eastern Washington and UMass, as well as undermanned Division I-A outfits such as SMU and New Mexico. Eleven of Tech's non-conference wins under Leach have been against SMU and New Mexico. Winning over 85% of those games isn't particularly impressive.

On the other hand, Leach's Big 12 conference record is another story. Even after this season's 7-1 Big 12 record, Leach's record in Big 12 play is 42-30 (58.3%). Leach-coached Tech teams are only 4-14 against Texas and Oklahoma, including this season's 65-21 embarrassing loss to the Sooners that removed Tech from any serious consideration for a BCS Bowl game.

Indeed, Leach's teams have had only a 4-4 Big 12 conference record in four of of his nine seasons at Tech, including two of the last three. With yesterday's loss in the Cotton Bowl, Leach's bowl record at Tech is a decent, but certainly not superlative, 5-4.

Finally, Leach has used extremely poor judgment in some of his public remarks about assistant coaches on his staff, and he has exhibited a selective memory in his comments about game officials, too.

So, given Leach's prolific offense, why aren't his teams better against big-time opponents?

The main reason is that the defenses on Leach's Tech teams have been generally dreadful, a quality that has not been helped by Leach's tendency to place his defenses in awkward field position situations by taking bizarre fourth-down chances and throwing high-risk passing plays deep in Tech's side of the field. This is genius?

Having said all that, Leach has done an admirable job at Tech. Producing a consistently winning team and going to nine straight bowl games is a noteworthy accomplishment at Tech.

However, Leach's record at Tech is simply not extraordinary and not indicative of the genius label that many are attaching to him. And it is unlikely that he will ever do better than he has this past season because the nature of his system makes it difficult for him to recruit the defensive talent necessary to compete at the highest levels of the big-time college game.

Frankly, my sense is that it's more likely that another innovator of offensive football -- Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson -- will get his team to a BCS Bowl game before Mike Leach.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) |

January 2, 2009

Summing up the New Year's Day Bowls

Says TigerHawk:

"Until I witnessed Brent Musburger's love of USC, I did not think it was possible for a journalist to love a subject more than Chris Matthews loves Barack Obama. Now I am not so sure."

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

December 29, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 31 Bears 24

Well, at least this time, the Texans (8-8) beat the Bears' (9-7) first-string rather than the Jags' junior varsity to achieve only the franchise's second non-losing season in seven NFL campaigns. The win also allowed the Texans to match my pre-season prediction for wins this season.

As usual, the Texans were led by their star WR Andre Johnson, who had 10 receptions for 148 yds and two TD's. QB Matt Schaub finished 27-36 for 328 yards, the two TD's to Johnson and, most importantly, no interceptions.

After the Bears jumped off to a 10-0 lead in a desultory first quarter, the Texans' offense pretty well had its way with the Bears' defense, rolling up 455 yds total offense. Surprisingly, after looking defenseless during the first quarter and losing stud DE Mario Williams to a pulled muscle for most of the second half, the Texans' defense rebounded from the first quarter to hold the Bears to under 300 yds total offense.

So, another season, another 8-8 record for the Texans. There are definitely two ways to look at the Texans at this point in time.

On one hand, with another non-winning season, the Texans continue to be one of the least-successful new franchises in the history of the National Football League. Inasmuch as the team had a 7-9 record after its third year, one can make the case that not much progress has been made over the past four seasons. Yes, the offense is better, but the defense is arguably worse than it was after Year Three. Have the deck chairs simply been rearranged on the Titanic?

On the other hand, several signs indicate that the Texans are headed in the right direction. The offensive line and the receiving corps are far-improved and have more depth than at any time in franchise history. Schaub appears to have the talent necessary to become a consistently above-average NFL signal-caller. Rookie RB Steve Slaton is an excellent back who will only get better if the Texans can bring in another running back to take some of the load off of him in coming seasons.

Meanwhile, although the defense has not improved statistically from last season to this one, the Texans have a nucleus of good, young defensive players who should be able to gel into a reasonably formidable unit over the next several seasons.

What changes do the Texans need to make during the off-season? As I've noted several times during this season, the defense has not improved as much as it should have over the past two seasons based on the number of draft picks that the Texans have used on that unit. So, a case can be made that changes in the defensive coaching staff are justified.

However, what is the market going to be for defensive coaches during this off-season? It doesn't make sense to make such a change and risk what could be gradual improvement in a young defensive unit that usually results from coaching staff continuity unless there is a reasonable probability that the new coaches will generate even more improvement.

Either way, as predicted before this season, the 2009 season is the one in which the Texans should emerge as a bona-fide playoff contender. If not, then owner Bob McNair will have harder decisions to make than merely whether to alter his defensive coaching staff.

Longhorns, Cougars and Owls

The Rice Owls (9-3) begin the local teams' bowls season with the Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium on Tuesday night (7 p.m., NFL Network) against Western Michigan (9-3).

The Houston Cougars (7-5) follow up on Wednesday afternoon (11 a.m., ESPN) in the Ft. Worth Bowl against Air Force (8-4).

And then the Texas Longhorns (11-1) take on Ohio State (10-2) a week from tonight, January 5th (7 p.m., Fox) in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 27, 2008

Are you ready for some football?

The football rivalry between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners is one of the most passionate in college football. The intensity of that rivalry has led to some highly competitive recruiting battles between the two schools for the best football talent in Texas over the years.

With that backdrop, the NY Times' Thayer Evans ran this lengthy article on his bird's-eye view of the recruiting fight between UT and OU over the services of blue-chip Lufkin High School defensive tackle, Jamarkus McFarland, who orally committed to OU on Christmas day.

McFarland and his mother cooperated with Evans closely over the past several months in helping him chronicle the twists and turns of the recruiting battle. The article does not paint a pretty picture of the recruiting process, particularly of UT's efforts to land McFarland. NCAA investigations have been commenced over less.

However, the story doesn't stop there. Turns out that Evans is an Oklahoma native and apparently a long-time OU fan (he also used to write for Sooners Illustrated). Evans has written extensively about OU's football program over at the NY Times collegiate sports blog, the Quad, and almost always quite favorably. Neither Evans nor the Times disclosed any of this in connection with running the story on McFarland's recruitment.

Meanwhile, Longhorn supporters are already poking some big holes in Evans' story (see also here). And the NY Times continues to lose money hand-over-foot.

So it goes.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

December 22, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/George Nikitin; previous weekly reviews are here)

Raiders 27 Texans 16

Amidst the Chronicle cheerleaders becoming enraptured again during the Texans' (7-8) first four-game winning streak, the local team reminded us today against the Raiders (4-11) why they have been among the worst-performing new franchises in the history of the National Football League.

Basically, the Texans stunk. The progress that had been exhibited by the Texans' defense over the past four games seemingly evaporated into thin air as the unit allowed the Raiders offense to do about anything it pleased. Minimal pressure on the passer combined with lax pass coverage and arm tackling is a pretty good prescription for a defeat in the NFL.

Meanwhile, the Texans' offense looked as if it had never seen a two-deep zone pass defense. QB Matt Schaub's poor passing statistics (19-36/234 yds/0 TD/1 INT) would have looked even worse but for WR David Anderson turning a short crossing route into a 65 yd reception late in the second quarter. Moreover, despite the Raiders loading up to stop the pass, the Texans' offense was incapable of running the ball consistently against one of the worst run defenses in the NFL.

And, to make the Texans' effort completely intolerable, the special teams allowed an 80-yard punt return for a TD late in the third quarter that -- given the way the Texans' offense was moving the ball -- essentially put the game away for the Raiders.

However, the worst part about the Texans' feeble effort against the Raiders is that -- after a month-long reprieve during the the four-game winning streak -- we'll have to endure another week of Chronicle sportswriter John McClain doing his absurd impression of a crusty, old football coach disappointed with his team.

The Texans attempt to salvage a .500 season next Sunday at Reliant in the season finale against the Bears (9-6), who are still vying for a playoff spot. Given the Texans' tepid improvement on defense over the past two seasons relative to the number of draft choices used on that unit over the past three drafts, my sense is that off-season changes will be made on the defensive coaching staff.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 15, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 13 Titans 12

The Texans (7-7), who most everyone in these parts had left for dead a month ago, won their fourth straight game for the first time in franchise history by handing the division-leading Titans (12-2) only their second loss of the season.

The slugfest win certainly was not picturesque. It came about through an odd combination of stellar play from WR Andre Johnson (11 catches for 208 yds and a TD!) and rookie RB Steve Slaton, who slogged his way through the rugged Titans defense for 100 yds on 24 carries, an abysmal day by Titans QB Kerry Collins (15-33/181 yds/1 INT/0 TD's, another impressive performance for the most part by the Texans defense (holding the Titans to 281 total yds) and an odd go-for-it on 4th down call by Titans' coach Jeff Fisher in the fourth quarter when a 49 yard-field goal would have given the Titans the lead with two minutes to go. Collins overthrew the 4th down pass, as he pretty much overthrew everything all day, and that was the ball game.

So, will the Texans beat my pre-season over/under prediction of eight wins? Only the Raiders (3-11) next Sunday in Oakland and the Bears (8-6) at Reliant the following week stand in the way of the Texans first winning season.

I must say, these Texan players under Kubiak do not give up.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

December 8, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Morry Gash; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 24 Packers 21

Could the Texans actually be turning into a reasonably dangerous team so long as they hang on to the ball?

Despite four turnovers, the Texans (6-7) rallied late and beat the Packers (5-8) on a Kris Brown 40 yd field goal in the last minute.

But for the Texans' turnovers, this game would not have been close. The Texans rolled up 550 yds of total offense, including 414 through the air from returning-from-injury QB Matt Schaub (28-42/414 yds/2 TD's/1 INT). Schaub cooly engineered a 75 yard, nine-play drive in the last two minutes to set up Brown's game-winning field goal.

Meanwhile, Texans stellar rookie RB Steve Slaton rushed for 120 yards on 26 carries and caught three passes for 40 yards, cementing his place among the top five players selected in the 2008 NFL Draft.

And, although bearing no similarity to the Ravens or the Steelers, the Texans defense continued its improved play overall, including a key sack that set up the Texans' final drive.

So, the Texans are on somewhat of a roll as they prepare for next Sunday's game at Reliant Stadium against the Titans (12-1). They then travel to Oakland to play the Raiders (3-10) the following week before returning home to close out the season against the Bears (7-6), who may still be in the playoff hunt at that point.

Win two out of those three games and the Texans will finish with the same 8-8 record that they finished with last season. Few people (including me) were predicting that just three weeks ago.

Moving on to the college game, with Oklahoma's (12-1) expected demolition of Missouri in the Big 12 Championship Game, the Texas Longhorns (11-1)  lost out on playing in the BCS Championship Game. So, the Horns will face Big Ten co-champ Ohio State (10-2) in the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix on January 5.

Rice (9-3) will play Western Michigan (9-3) in the Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium on December 30 at 7 p.m., while the  Houston Cougars (7-5) will take on Air Force (8-4) in the Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth on New Year's Eve afternoon.

And the Texas Aggies stay home during bowl season once again.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 1, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Harry Cabluck; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texas Longhorns 49 Texas Aggies 9

As predicted in the previous weekly review, the Longhorns (11-1/7-1 Big 12) hammered the Aggies (4-8/2-6 Big 12), but still ended up behind Oklahoma (11-1/7-1 Big 12) in the Bowl Championship Series standings, so the Sooners will represent the Big 12 South in the Big 12 Championship Game next Saturday against Missouri (9-3/5-3 Big 12) in Kansas City. That gives OU the inside track to the BCS Championship Game.

if OU beats Missouri expected, then the Horns will have to settle for another BCS bowl game, probably the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe against Ohio State (10-2) on January 5th.

However, if Mizzou pulls off the upset, which is certainly possible given OU's tough stretch of big games and last Saturday night's injury to star OU QB Sam Bradford (he will play with a cast on his left hand against Mizzou), then the Horns would be a virtual lock for the BCS Championship Game against the winner of the Alabama-Florida SEC Championship Game.

As usual, QB Colt McCoy (23-28/311 yds/2 TD's/0 INT/11 carries/49 yds/2 TD) was the star for the Horns, but what was most interesting about this game was how uncompetitive the Aggies were. First-year Aggie coach Mike Sherman certainly did not distinguish himself this season and his dubious decision-making in this game raises questions as to whether he has what it takes to rebuild the Aggie program.

For example, Sherman's decision to have the Aggies kick a 2nd quarter field goal was close to coaching malpractice. Faced with a 4th down and less than 1 yard with under 2 minutes left in the half, Sherman had what seemed to be an easy decision.

One one hand, he could have had the Ags go for it. If they made the first down, then the Aggies would have continued the drive, which would have ended in a FG attempt, a TD or a turnover. Regardless of the outcome, if the Ags had made the 4th down, then Texas probably would not have gotten the ball back with enough time to do much of anything. Thus, a successful 4th down attempt meant, at worst, the Aggies would have gone into the locker room down 14- 7, 14 - 3, or 14 - 0.

On the other hand, by kicking the field goal, Sherman gave the Longhorns enough time to drive for another TD before halftime, which is precisely what they did, putting the Aggies down 21 - 3 and placing the momentum squarely with the Longhorns.

Inasmuch as A&M already has the poorest-performing football program in major college football relative to the size of the football budget, the Aggies don't need poor coaching decisions piled on top of their other problems.

Rice 56 Houston Cougars 42

Again, as predicted in the previous weekly review, the Owls (9-3/7-1 C-USA) had too much offensive firepower for the Cougars (7-5/6-2 C-USA).

Neither team's defense could stop the other's potent offense, so the game was essentially determined by turnovers. The Coogs lost a fumble and an interception on a tipped ball, plus had a short TD pass dropped on a 4th down play. On the other hand, the Owls recovered all three of their fumbles (all of which were inside the Rice 20 yard line), so the Owls prevailed.

Despite the lack of defense, the game was certainly entertaining. Houston and Rice combined for 1,225 yards, 98 points and 57 first downs. Three different players combined for 11 touchdown passes and four different receivers went over 100 yards. The Owls' James Casey and the Cougars' L.J. Castille caught three touchdown passes apiece, and Casey also had a TD pass and a rushing TD. He is truly a man playing among boys.

Despite the Owls victory and fine season, my sense is that the Cougars are in a better position for continued success going forward. Rice loses the amazingly productive QB Chase Clement (28-41/381 yds/5 TD's/0 INT/13 carries/58 yds/1 TD) and All-American WR Jarrett Dillard, who will be very difficult to replace.

On the other hand, the Cougars' potent offense remains largely intact. If first-year Cougars coach Kevin Sumlin can correct UH's deficient recruiting of defensive players over the past several years, then the Cougars appear to be in a position to continue contending for the C-USA title.

Although bowl arrangements will not be finalized for a couple of days, Rice appears headed to the Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth on New Year's Eve against Air Force (8-4), while the Cougars will probably play either Fresno State (7-5) or Western Michigan (9-3) in the Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium on December 30th.

The Texans (4-7) host the Jaguars (4-7) tonight in Monday Night Football at Reliant Stadium before going on the road to the frozen tundra of Green Bay to face the Packers (5-7) next Sunday.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 24, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 16 Browns 6

A win is a win, right?

Well, maybe. But the reality is that the Texans (4-7) finally found a team in the Browns (4-7) that is more inept than them. The Browns served up five turnovers to the Texans, which allowed the bumbling Texans to win the turnover battle by +3.

Toss in a fairly balanced attack (383 total offense/271 yds passing/112 yds rushing) and a absolutely horrid Browns passing attack (13-32/143 yds/3 INT) and you have the Texans' first road victory in over a year.

The Texans have an extra day to prepare this week for their first Monday Night game, the Monday after Thanksgiving at Reliant Stadium against the under-performing Jaguars (4-7).

Houston Cougars 42 UTEP 37

The Cougars (7-4/6-1 C-USA) are an endearing team this season.

They've had to overcome an undermanned defense that is the product of former coach Art Briles' tendency to emphasize offense over defense in recruiting. They likely lost two games (Air Force and Colorado State) because of outrageously bad decisions by their athletic director at the time of Hurricane Ike. Finally, the Coogs had to endure a demoralizing and unnecessary injury to one of their best players.

Nevertheless, after beating UTEP (5-6/4-3 C-USA) in their third miraculous come-from-behind victory of the season, the Coogs are now poised to win a berth in the Conference USA Championship Game if they can figure out a way to slow down cross-town rival Rice (8-3/6-1 C-USA) next Saturday at Rice Stadium.

My sense is that Rice's potent offense is too much for the Cougars' defense to handle. But I won't be surprised if this plucky Cougar team somehow pulls it out. And make no doubt about it, they will definitely make a game of it.

As usual, Cougar QB Case Keenum led the frantic 26 point 4th quarter comeback, finishing with 480 passing yards and connecting on 23 of 24 passes in the second half, including all three of his TD passes. Keenum's second pass of the half was incomplete, then he completed his last 22 while going 16-for-16 during the fourth quarter. Cougar freshman RB Bryce Beall also had a huge day, rushing for 167 yards (including a key 71 yd TD dash in the 4th quarter) and 96 more receiving as the Cougars rolled up over 700 yds total offense.

Rice 35 Marshall 10

O.K., so Marshall (4-7/3-4) slowed down the Owls (8-3/6-1 C-USA) for the first half.

But QB Chase Clement (25-41/315 yds/4 TD's/1 INT/10 carries for 58 yds and 1 TD) sorted things out at halftime and then proceeded to lead the Owls to four second-half TD's and a decisive win over the Thundering Herd.

In Clement and Houston QB Chase Keenum, two of the best QB's in major college football (who few folks outside of Houston know about) will square off at Rice Stadium next Saturday to determine the Conference USA West Division representative in the conference championship game.

But in a bittersweet twist, a Rice victory over the Cougars will result in a tie between the Owls and Tulsa for the C-USA West Division title, which will send the Golden Hurricanes and their coach to the C-USA title game because of Tulsa's win over the Owls earlier in the season.

Damn!

The Texas Longhorns (10-1/6-1 Big 12) and the Texas Aggies (4-7/2-5 Big 12) were off this past Saturday as they prepare for their annual rivalry game on Thanksgiving night in Austin.

Although the Horns almost certainly will hammer the Aggies (the Horns are favored by 34!), it's probably not going to make much difference with regard to the Horns' flagging National Championship aspirations.

Inasmuch as Oklahoma's (10-1/6-1 Big 12) decisive victory over Texas Tech (10-1/6-1) vaulted them into a virtual tie with Texas for second in the Bowl Championship Series standings, it's almost certain that OU will be rated higher than the Longhorns next week if the Sooners beat 12th-ranked Oklahoma State. If OU goes on to win the Big 12 Conference Championship game against Missouri the following week, the Sooners will be the Big 12's representative in the BCS Championship Game.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 20, 2008

Talking football in Texas

Football is an integral part of Texas culture. So, when a big game is around the corner, it seems as if everyone around here is talking about it. And some of the talk can get pretty entertaining.

The big game this Saturday pits the undefeated and 2nd-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders (10-1) taking on the 5th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (9-1) in Norman, Oklahoma.

The game has generated added interest in these parts because the 3rd-ranked Texas Longhorns (10-1), who lost to Tech a couple of weeks ago on a last second TD, could bolt back into the BCS Championship Game picture if the Sooners beat Tech.

And frankly, many Texans are pulling for Tech to beat the Sooners and remain in contention for the BCS Championship Game because Tech has never reached such heights before.

But that support doesn't immunize the Red Raiders from some good-natured razzing, such as the following OU message board comment about the above Tech promotional picture for the game:

"Why is Yosemite Sam attacking Guymon?"

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the college football spectrum, perennial cellar-dwelling Baylor's decisive win last Saturday over the Texas A&M Aggies has also generated a fair amount of conversation in Texas football circles this week.

As has been noted many times on this blog, the devotion of many Texas A&M University alumni to the A&M football program is an endearing part of Texas culture that has generated some rather awkward moments over the years.

The A&M fan base overwhelmingly considers losing to Baylor in football as another such awkward moment. To make matters worse, the A&M football program has fallen on such hard times over the past several years that, relative to the size of the football budget, the A&M program is currently among the poorest-performing in major college football.

So, with that backdrop, check out the following post that a Baylor fan posted on an Aggie message board earlier this week (the post was quickly taken down by the owners of the Aggie board; thank goodness for Google Cache). On the heels of Baylor's big win over the Aggies, the Baylor fan's post passes along some key tips to the Aggies from the "hit" book, How to Handle Being The Worst Team in the Big XII South:

I wanted to share some thoughts from the hit book "How to Handle Being The Worst Team in the Big XII South". This book, originally authored by fans of Baylor University, with foreword by Oklahoma State, has been a work in progress for 25 something years now.

Now that we have handed that prestigious torch off to your school, and it looks like it will stay that way for quite some time, you and your Aggie friends may want to really get into this material. Here are some highlights:

Chapter 1 - Bring up past records when discussing your program with friends. The best way to do this is to start from the present and go back through the past until you can find where you have more wins than "x" team. Inconsistencies in time frame does not matter - it can be 5 years for one team and 45 for another.

Chapter 3 - Find other parts of your athletic program that you can be proud of and meticulously learn and promote their accomplishments, no matter how embarrassing the sport. Baylor has done this recently with women's basketball, tennis, and most notably, track and field (Olympic gold medalist anyone?). Rumor has it that your men's club lacrosse team is pretty awesome. Just throwing that out there.

Chapter 5 - Find a couple of solid scapegoats and complain tirelessly about them. Your fan base has already advanced far in this area, with "Shermione" and "$Bill" taking the brunt of this effective relaxation technique.

Chapter 10 - Pick a team to hate and root for their failure. For Baylor fans, this has been you, and look how well it's worked! It's like The Secret - the power of positive thinking. It's very refreshing to change the channel from a frustrating loss and watch your sworn enemy fail. You may have to really dig deep here - you want a team that is average to pretty bad. You losing and them winning is a double whammy, so don't set your sites too high (UT/Tech). Arkansas is a good start, they're down this year.

Chapter 11 (THIS IS A BIG ONE) - Focus on moral victories. This chapter has a lot of content, so really pay attention to it. Within the umbrella of the moral victories chapter you'll find subsections such as: a) Don't pin your hopes on winning the game, pin your hopes on covering the spread. The spread is key, and beating the spread will bring you years and years of joy. b) Get excited about first downs. These may be harder to come by than you think, so really cherish them. c) Find remote stats that can highlight your improvement. Really dig into improvement. This should be a buzzword to use in the coming years.

Chapter 12 - Talk about the other redeeming qualities of your school. This is tricky, because it's actually really dorky to engage in academic smack talk, but, if done correctly, can deflect the focus of a conversation away from your school's crappy football program and onto other areas where the playing field is more level. Now, I'm tailor making this to A&M a little here, but I would recommend you focus on your strong engineering and business school reputation, and don't forget to bring up your various traditions! People never get tired of hearing about this.

Chapter 14** - Find another school to support on the side. This chapter is very controversial and was only added in later editions. I myself never went down this road, but several of my friends found a great deal of relaxation and comfort in finding a side school. While immediate family connections are the best (father graduated from Penn State or mom and dad met at Florida), it is also valid to dig deep into your family's history to find that great aunt that went to Alabama or that second cousin who got a masters at USC. The further away the school, the better. Claim that you have been watching them for years, especially as a little kid growing up. This helps ward off eye rolls and front-runner accusations from your friends. **Note: though highly successful, this chapter can be very dangerous, and is probably the only method that will incur hatred from fellow alumni and students. Use Chapter 14 at your own risk. Advanced students only. I'd say you'll be there en mass around 2013, although seeing how your fan base is bailing after 3 losing seasons out of the past 24, you may be there as early as 2010. Talk about advanced students!

That's it folks. I'll send you a copy for free - we're so excited to share this with a team not named Baylor. And you may read this and think: "Wow, Baylor is pathetic. This is really sad stuff." No, no! This is you! This WAS Baylor and now IS your school! I'm talking about what you and your fan base will be and have already started saying and doing.

I want to leave you with this. This can be your chance to practice, right now. Skim some of the material above, and go ahead and start using it on me. I would say the record route is the obvious way to go, but don't be afraid to be creative. Angry phrases like "F off" and total dismissal of my thread also work. Have fun, and I'll critique some of your responses as we go .  .   .

Football in Texas -- you gotta love it!

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

November 17, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy; previous weekly reviews are here)

Colts 33 Texans 27

Texans (3-7) backup QB Sage Rosenfels (13-18/192 yds/0 TD/1 INT) had another "Sage moment" (i.e., "what the hell was that?") when he threw his only interception of the game as the Texans were attempting to drive for a game-winning TD in the last minute. However, this loss was squarely on the shoulders of the Texans' defense, which gave up almost 500 yards total offense and basically had no hope of stopping the Colts (6-4) after their receivers stopped dropping passes (they dropped at least a half-dozen in the first half, after which the Texans led 13-9). All Texans defensive coaches should have their résumés updated.

The Texans travel to Cleveland next Sunday to play the Browns (3-6) before returning home to play the Jaguars (4-6) on Monday Night Football the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Houston Cougars 70 Tulsa 30

In one of the biggest upsets of the weekend, the Cougars (6-4/5-1 C-USA) vaulted back into contention for the Conference USA Championship with a stunningly easy 70-30 romp over 25th-ranked Tulsa (8-2/5-1 C-USA).

Cougar QB Case Keenum (24-37/402 yds/6 TD's/0 INT/43 yds on 4 carries and 1 rushing TD in 3 quarters!) continued his record-setting season, but the real story of this game for the Cougars was Olympic Trials sprinter Tyron Carrier going Donnie Avery on the Golden Hurricane, scoring 3 TD's (2 receiving plus another on a 95 yd kickoff return) and generating almost 300 yds total offense (127 yds on 6 receptions/142 yds on 4 kickoff returns/23 yds on 4 carries).

By the way, there is almost universal joy around Houston that current Tulsa coach and former Rice coach Todd Graham got his rear-end handed to him by the Cougars. After his less-than-statesmanlike departure from Rice, Graham is not a particularly popular fellow in Houston football circles. The post-game handshake at midfield between Graham and Cougar coach Kevin Sumlin lasted about a split second.

The Cougars host UTEP next (5-5/4-2 C-USA) next Saturday afternoon before taking on Rice (7-3/5-1 C-USA) at Rice Stadium the Saturday after Thanksgiving in what is shaping up to be the game that determines the C-USA West division representative in the C-USA Conference Championship game.

Texas Longhorns 35 Kansas 7

The Longhorns (10-1/6-1 Big 12) did an impressive job in taking care of business under difficult conditions in Lawrence against dangerous Kansas (6-5/3-4 Big 12). Now, the Horns get to sit back and watch the outcome of next Saturday's big game between 2nd-ranked Texas Tech (10-0/6-0 Big 12) and Oklahoma (9-1/5-1) in Norman and then prepare for what is shaping up to be a butchering of undermanned Texas A&M (4-7/2-5 Big 12) in Austin on Thanksgiving night.

Baylor 41 Texas Aggies 21

I'm not sure what's worse for the A&M (4-7/2-5 Big 12) faithful. That the Aggies were over a touchdown underdog to perennial Big 12 doormat Baylor (4-7/2-5 Big 12)? Or that the Aggies are so bad that they couldn't come close to beating the spread against the Bears?  Rest assured that the spread will be in substantial double-digits when the Aggies travel to Austin to face the Longhorns on Thanksgiving night. The Mike Sherman firing watch has already begun in College Station.

The Rice Owls (7-3/5-1 C-USA) were off this weekend. The Owls host Marshall (4-6/3-3 C-USA) next Saturday before ending the regular season in the annual big game against their cross-town rival, the Houston Cougars.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 13, 2008

Can you spare $350 million?

And you think the Texans' season is going badly?

Get a load of what Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is facing, and I'm not talking about whether to fire head coach Wade Phillips (H/T Brad Humphreys):

Industry watches as Cowboys look for loan

The Dallas Cowboys are seeking to borrow $350 million by Dec. 1, according to numerous finance sources, in one of the worst credit environments in the nation’s history.

The club’s proposed deal would refinance $126 million the team borrowed last year through the now-imploded auction-rate securities market, as well as add new debt to cover cost overruns at the team’s $1.2 billion stadium that is set to open next year, the sources said. [.  .  .]

For the Cowboys, getting out from underneath the auction-rate debt is a pressing concern. They are one of four NFL teams to have borrowed from the auction-rate securities (ARS) market, a market that allowed companies to borrow cheaply and continue to reset the interest rate with auctions of the debt weekly and monthly.

In February, the ARS market seized up, and debt auctions failed, which automatically triggered significant interest rate hikes. [.  .  .]

The Cowboys estimated the stadium would cost $650 million when they announced the project in 2004. With $350 million of public funding and $76 million from the NFL, it looked like a choice deal for the team.

The club arranged to borrow at least $450 million through Banc of America Securities for its portion, with the first $126 million through the ARS market. But Jones agreed to cover cost overruns as part of the team’s share, and like many stadiums in this period, the price has spiraled.

H'mm. I wonder whether the Cowboys will apply for a portion of the TARP fund, too?

Posted by Tom at 12:32 AM | Comments (0) |

November 10, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/David Einsel; previous weekly reviews are here)

Ravens 41 Texans 13

Oh my. It's going to be a long week for Houston sports talk show hosts this week.

The Ravens (6-3) manhandled the Texans (3-6) in the 4th quarter Sunday afternoon to put away the victory. The Texans had pulled to within 19-13 by the end of the 3rd quarter and really should have been leading by a point but for a bonehead Sage Rosenfels (23-38/294 yds/1 TD/4 int) in the first half.

But then the chronically shaky Texans defense allowed the Ravens to drive 78 yards on nine plays to go up by 14 and then Rosenfels set up the final two Ravens scores by throwing interceptions deep in Texans' territory.

So, where do the Texans stand midway through Year Seven of their existence?

Unlike the Chronicle cheerleaders (at least one of whom is now leaving the booster club), I've always thought that the decision of Texans owner Bob McNair to hire Gary Kubiak was a questionable one under the circumstances. Now, over two and a half years into the Kubiak era, the defense still stinks, the QB play remains inconsistent and the Texans are staring straight at the probability that they will win only 4-6 games this season.

But who knows? The Texans looked dead in the water after 12 games last season before winning three of their last four to finish 8-8.

My sense is that Kubiak survives for at least another season, but that McNair will require assistant coaching changes on the defensive side. The Texans now go on the road the next two Sundays at the Colts (5-4) and the Browns (3-6) before returning home to face the Jaguars (4-5).

Oklahoma 66 Texas Aggies 28

First, the good news -- 5th-ranked Oklahoma (9-1/5-1 Big 12) showed A&M (4-6/2-4 Big 12) the type of talent that the Aggies are going to have to attract to College Station in order to contend in the Big 12 South.

Now, the bad news -- OU may be only the third best team in the Big 12 South!

The Aggies travel to Waco next Saturday in the battle against Baylor (3-6/1-5 Big 12) to avoid the Big 12 South basement. The Aggies opened as an 8 point underdog.

Texas 45 Baylor 21

After a brutal four-week run against high-ranked teams, the 3rd-ranked Longhorns (9-1/5-1 Big 12) put together a workmanlike effort to put away the feisty Bears (3-6/1-5 Big 12). The Horns have another reasonably tough game next Saturday against explosive Kansas (6-4/3-3 Big 12) in Lawrence before resting a week for their annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry game against the Aggies.

Rice 38 Army 31

Note to the Owls (7-3/5-1 C-USA) -- unlike some other teams, Army (3-7) does not quit when they are behind by 24 points. Owls QB Chase Clement (21-38/377 yds/3 TD's/0 Int/10 carries for 84 yds) remains the best QB in the country that no one outside of Houston knows about. After an off week next Saturday, the Owls face Marshall (4-5/3-2) at home the following Saturday before hosting Houston (5-4/4-1 C-USA) on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to close out the regular season.

Amazingly, Rice could win 10 games this season.

Houston 45 Tulane 14

The Coogs (5-4/4-1 C-USA) began their final stretch of four games in Houston to close the season by generating almost 700 yards total offense (and 143 yards in penalties!) in pounding hapless Tulane (2-7/1-4 C-USA).

Cougar QB Case Keenum extended a University of Houston record with his 10th straight game passing for more than 300 yards (29-40/384 yds/4 TD's/1 Int). That's quite an achievement given the prolific passers that have played at UH over the years (Ware, Klingler, Clements, Kolb, etc).

The Coogs take on high-flying, 23rd-ranked Tulsa (8-1/5-0 C-USA) next Saturday in what may be the highest over/under number of the season.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 3, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/LM Otero; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texas Tech 39 Texas Longhorns 33

As predicted, the top-ranked Horns (8-1/4-1 Big 12) were not able to run the table through four straight games against top-10 ranked teams.

The loss dropped Texas to fourth in the BCS rankings, behind Alabama, Tech, and Penn State. Florida and Oklahoma are close behind the Horns.

The Horns remain in the hunt for the BCS Championship Game, but by a thread at this point. Alabama will probably lose to either LSU next weekend or to Florida in the SEC Championship Game, and Tech and OU must both play each other as well as Oklahoma State.

However, Penn State has a much easier schedules the rest of the way and is not likely to lose another game. So, the Horns will need help from other teams and probably a victory in the Big 12 Championship Game to attain a BCS Championship Game berth.

Now, to the game. Normally, when the Horns' defensive unit gives up almost 600 yards, 30 points (the Horns' offense gave up the other 9) and the game-winning TD pass with one second left, you would be inclined to blame the defeat on them. However, playing Texas Tech (9-0/5-0 Big 12) is anything but normal.

Truth be known, the Horns' defensive unit played well enough for the Horns to outscore Tech and win the game. However, Texas' offensive unit was completely flummoxed by Tech's defense for almost the first three quarters of the game, and that lack of productivity ended up being the difference in the game.

Tech's defense played a soft zone pass defense with two safeties deep and either five or six defenders playing between 5-7 yards off the line of scrimmage. Then, Tech would run a series of stunts with the three or four defensive lineman who were essentially pass-rushing on every play.

The strategy effectively took away Texas' mid-range passing game. Moreover, through almost three quarters, Texas inexplicably played into Tech's hands by failing to force the Red Raiders to defend the running game, which was there for the taking with so many Tech defenders running around in the defensive backfield. As a result, the Horns fell behind 22-3 and 29-13 before closing to within 10 at the end of the third quarter.

After finally forcing Tech to defend the running game toward the end of the third quarter, the Horns moved the ball at will against Tech's defensive unit in the fourth quarter and almost pulled the game out. However, it's simply unreasonable to expect a defensive unit to do much better than hold Tech's explosive offense to 10 points in a half, which is precisely what the Texas defensive unit did in the second half on Saturday night. The Horns' failure to score double-digit points in the first half cost them this game.

The Horns play resurgent Baylor (3-6/1-4 Big 12) next Saturday in Austin before traveling the following weekend to Lawrence to face a dangerous Kansas (6-3/3-2 Big 12) squad.

Vikings 28 Texans 21

The Texans (3-5) modest three-game winning streak ended with a resounding thud in Minneapolis as the Vikings (4-4) cruised to a 21-7 halftime lead and then easily repelled a late Texan comeback. The Texans are now 12-40 all-time in games played away from Reliant Stadium, 4-24 since the 2005 season, and 4-16 in 2.5 seasons under Head Coach Gary Kubiak.

If it's not one thing with the Texans, then it's another. In this game, the Vikings' DE Jared Allen dominated off the left edge where he ran past rookie LT Duane Brown and veteran LT Ephraim Salaam as if they were statutes. The result was that Texans QB's were sacked five times and pounded at least another half-dozen times.

Starting QB Matt Schaub was hurt in the first half and didn't play in the second, and backup QB Sage Rosenfels was running from Allen for much of the second half. Such harassment elevates the risk that the Texans' inconsistent QB's would make bonehead errors, which occurred on three occasions -- a costly fumble by Schaub and bad interceptions in the red zone by both Schaub and Rosenfels. Former Texans QB David Carr would have felt right at home.

Meanwhile, the Texans defense, although pretty bad in the first half, played reasonably well in the second half. Vikings RB Adrian Peterson still had no problem running for 140 yards on 25 carries (5.1 yards per carry), though.

The Texans return home next Sunday to meet another stout defensive unit in the Ravens (5-3) before going back on the road to meet the Colts (4-4) and the Browns (3-5). Without better QB and defensive play, it's getting harder by the week for me to see how the Texans are going to win more than five games this season.

Texas Aggies 24 Colorado 17

Despite being out-gained by a considerable margin, the plucky Aggies (4-5/2-3 Big 12) won the turnover battle decisively (A&M freshman safety Trent Hunter had two interceptions in the second half) and put away another Big 12 win that looked unlikely just a few weeks ago.

The Aggies offense is actually rounding into decent shape behind QB Jerrod Johnson. freshmen WR's Ryan Tannehill and Jeff Fuller, and freshman RB Cyrus Gray. However, the Ags face Oklahoma (8-1/4-1 Big 12) on Saturday and Texas in two of their final three games. They have a winnable game against Baylor in between those two.

Thus, either a 5-7 or 4-8 record is the likely result of Coach Mike Sherman's first Aggie team. That's not what the Aggie faithful had in mind when A&M hired Sherman.

Rice 49 UTEP 44

The Owls (6-3/5-1 C-USA) continued their remarkable season with another comeback victory, this time over UTEP (3-5/3-2 C-USA) in El Paso. Rice QB Chase Clement, WR Jarett Dillard and H-Back James Casey are three of the best college football players in the country, but nobody outside of Houston seems to realize it.

The Owls now return home for their final three games of the season against Army (3-6), Marshall (4-4/3-1 C-USA) and Houston (4-4/3-1 C-USA), which are all winnable. How does a 9-3 record for the Owls sound?

Marshall 37 Houston Cougars 23

The Cougars (4-4/3/1) predisposition to start slow and finish fast finally caught up with them last Tuesday evening in Huntington, W.Va. as the Thundering Herd rolled to a 30-3 third quarter lead and cruised to an easy victory.

The loss should come with a footnote, however, With the Coogs closing in on a third quarter TD that would have closed the score to 23-10, the Cougar players had to endure watching their teammate Patrick Edwards be carted off the field with a grisly compound leg fracture resulting from an awful collision with an inexplicably-placed metal cart just outside the end zone at the Marshall Stadium.

The Cougar QB who had thrown the incomplete pass on the play in which Edwards was injurred promptly fumbled a handoff while going in for the TD, Marshall recovered and marched quickly to another TD to make the score 30-3. Game, set, match. At least Edwards has a good chance of winning the personal injury-negligence  lawsuit against Marshall.

The Coogs now return home for their final four games beginning with Tulane (2-6/1/3) a week from Saturday.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 29, 2008

What's worse?

Although not many people care much, the 2008 World Series has turned into a first rate mess.

Game Five is currently suspended while the Phillies and Rays players sit around Philadelphia waiting for the inclement weather to end. This after they nearly injured themselves while inexplicably being forced to play 5.5 innings during a driving rainstorm on Monday night. The remainder of the Game Five might be played tonight.

Moreover, Game Four began at 10 p.m. EDT because of rain most of the day on Saturday. That game finished sometime after 2 a.m. Sunday on the east coast. Not exactly the way to keep the young fans interested in the game.

Meanwhile, the umpiring in the series has been atrocious, with multiple of MLB's supposedly best umpires blowing easy calls and routinely calling strikes on pitches that are clearly out of the strike zone.

And just to make matters utterly unbearable, Fox Sports imposes senseless announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver on the few folks watching on television. These two babble on endlessly describing the utterly obvious without ever saying anything remotely insightful. Often, they say things that are simply flat wrong.

But as bad as the World Series has been, it's nothing compared to legendary Baylor and Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary's first game this past Sunday as interim coach of the San Francisco 49'ers. Coach Singletary's post-game performance has already become an overnight YouTube sensation and is being touted as one of the all-time great coach tirades.

AP sportswriter Greg Beacham summed up Coach Singletary's bad first day at the office well:

Mike Singletary ended his head coaching debut by apologizing to 49ers fans above the locker room tunnel. Tight end Vernon Davis got sent to the showers like a petulant teenager, QB J.T. O’Sullivan was benched after his 11th fumble of the season, and the San Francisco defense let a 242-pound fullback catch two long touchdown passes.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 27, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 35 Bengals 6

The Texans (3-4) won their third game in a row for the first time in franchise history by drubbing the Bengals (0-8), who are truly dreadful. The Texans still have not beaten a good team this season, so it's not time to start printing playoff tickets just yet.

However, one thing struck me about this game and almost every other one that the Texans have played during the 2+ years of the Kubiak era -- the Texan players appear to play hard, if not particularly well all the time, for Kubiak. That effort reflects that at least the players think that he is the man to lead them to greater success. In contrast, it is clear that a number of Bengal players have packed it in on Bengal Coach Marvin Lewis. The Texans attempt to even their record next Sunday against the Vikings (3-4) in Minneapolis.

Texas Longhorns 28 Oklahoma State 24

The top-ranked Longhorns (8-0/4-0 Big 12) survived a rough-and-tumble offensive shoot-out with the rugged, ninth-ranked Cowboys (7-1/3-1 Big 12), who should be moving up in the BCS rankings as a result of their stellar performance rather than down. Texas continues a murderous stretch of games next Saturday night against undefeated and sixth-ranked Texas Tech (8-0/4-0 Big 12) in Lubbock, which makes it four straight weeks that the Horns will be playing in one of college football's elite games of the weekend.

By the way, there has to be a great deal of concern in Longhorn coaching circles this week on how Oklahoma State's offense carved up the Longhorn defense and special teams (217 yds rushing/200 yds passing/137 yds on returns). Tech's offense is OSU's on steroids.

Texas Aggies 49 Iowa State 35 

The Aggies (3-5/1-3 Big 12) won their first Big 12 game of the Mike Sherman era over Iowa State (2-6/0-4) in a performance by both teams that set back the concept of football defense by several decades. At this juncture, the Aggie defense could not stop a hard-chargin' marching band. However, the Aggie unit is still better than Iowa State's absolutely atrocious defensive unit, so that's essentially why A&M won the game.

At least the Ags' offense continues to develop and appears to have enough firepower to give A&M a legitimate chance of beating Colorado (4-4/1-3 Big 12) and Baylor (3-5/1-3 Big 12) in College Station down the home stretch of the season. Meanwhile, can anyone explain to me again why Iowa State did this?

Rice 42 Tulane 17

The Owls (5-3/4-1 C-USA) continue to make my pre-season prediction look good as they dominated the Green Wave (2-5/1-3 C-USA) in the first half and then cruised home for an easy victory.

The bottom line is that any team that plays Rice better be prepared to score a ton of points because the Owls' offense behind QB Chase Clement is a good bet to score at least 35 points in most games. The Owls go to El Paso for a Saturday night game this week against UTEP (3-4/4-1 C-USA) before returning home to play their three final games of the season (against Army, Marshall and Houston) in Houston.

The Houston Cougars (4-3/3-0 C-USA) play Tuesday night in Huntington, W. Va. against Marshall (3-4/2-1 C-USA) before returning home to play their final four games (Tulane, Tulsa, UTEP and Rice) beginning a week from Saturday in Houston.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 25, 2008

Different directions

Newspapers are under siege. This Henry Blodget post reports on the continuing financial deterioration of the New York Times, which looks to be in real trouble.

Meanwhile, the blogosphere continues to thrive. For example, this Stephanie Stradley post about the chronically under-performing Houston Texans defense is far more insightful than anything that I've read in years from the cheerleaders, er, I mean, reporters who cover the Texans for the Houston Chronicle, which continues to layoff employees by the droves.

And to think that one of those Chronicle cheerleaders -- whose most recent piece is this fawning salute to the manager who was mainly responsible for blowing the 2003 NL Central pennant for the Stros -- had the audacity to defame Stradley recently.

Any wonder why newspapers and the blogosphere are going in different directions?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

October 20, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 28 Lions 21

Texans (2-4) continue to be a work-in-progress. They hammered the atrocious Lions (0-6) for three quarters and looked to be on their way to an easy win.

But then Houston's chronically inconsistent defense gave up a 96 yard TD play while the offense went into a 4th quarter phone booth so as not to reprise the Colts debacle. Before you knew it, the Lions had pulled within a TD and the Texans were working the clock, which is not one of their strong points.

At any rate, the Texans pulled it out without too much trouble. Despite the lack of a killer instinct, the Texans now can win their third in a row for the first time in franchise history next week at Reliant Stadium against the hapless Bengals (0-7).

Texas Longhorns 56 Missouri 31

So much for the theory that the top-ranked Longhorns (7-0/3-0 Big 12) were primed for a letdown after their big win against Oklahoma last week. This one was basically over midway through the 2nd quarter as the Horns cruised to a 35-0 lead against a pretty darn good, 15th-ranked Missouri (5-2/1-2 Big 12) squad.

Texas generated 591 yards on the Mizzou defense, averaging 8.1 yards a play, while converting 10 of 12 third-down chances and scoring on six of seven chances in the red zone. The Horns really didn't play any significant competition over their first four games, so we'll dispense with stats from those games. But in the three subsequent games against solid Big 12 competition, Horns QB Colt McCoy (29-32, 377 yds, 3 TD's) has been extraordinary, connecting on 80 of 97 passes (82%) for 876 yards, 5 TD's and only 2 interceptions.

Meanwhile, the Texas defensive line continues to dominate the line of scrimmage and put heavy pressure on the opponent's QB, which gives Texas the luxury of dropping seven defenders into coverage on most pass plays. That is the main reason the Horns have improved so dramatically this season against the spread passing offenses that have bedeviled Texas over the past couple of seasons.

The Horns still have three very difficult games over the next month -- 6th-ranked Oklahoma State (7-0/3-0 Big 12), @ 8th-ranked Texas Tech (7-0/3-0 Big 12), and 23rd-ranked Kansas (5-2/2-1 Big 12). I still don't think Texas will come through those games undefeated, but I'm not so confident that I would bet on that hunch. This Texas squad is a very good college football team.

Texas Tech 43 Texas Aggies 25

The Aggies (2-5/0-3 Big 12) played their best game of the season in giving the 8th-ranked Red Raiders (7-0/3-0) a genuine scare. Although they led at half 23-20, the Aggies left at least 12 points on the field in that half by kicking short field goals rather than making TD's. Those points would have likely made a big difference in the outcome.

Despite the better-quality loss, the Aggies continue to be the worst-performing college football program in the country relative to the size of the athletic budget. Based on Jeff Sagarin's ratings of all U.S. college football programs, the Aggies are ranked better than only two BCS-conference schools — No. 117 Washington and No. 120 Syracuse — and are ranked below 12 Division I-AA (now called Football Championship Subdivision -- "FCS") teams. Wofford (5-1) is rated three spots higher than the Ags and Rice (4-3) is rated 36 slots higher.

The Ags now try to build on this effort next Saturday at Ames against fellow cellar-dweller Iowa State (2-5/0-3 Big 12). If the Aggies can win that one, then five wins this season might be attainable. That would be a moral victory the way things have been going in College Station this season.

Houston Cougars 44 SMU 38

As predicted last week, the Cougars (4-3/3-0 C-USA) had trouble with rapidly-improving SMU (1-7/0-5) because of another slow start, but a 21-3 4th quarter surge pulled it out.

The good news is that QB Case Keenum (28-36, 404 yds, 2 TD's, 1 INT) continues to be spectacular as the potent Houston offense again rolled up over 500 yards. The bad news is that the Houston defense gave up over 560 yds! The Coogs travel to West Virginia a week from Tuesday to play Marshall (3-4/2-1 C-USA) and then return home to play their final four games of the season in Houston.

Rice 45 Southern Miss 40

The Owls (4-3/3-1 C-USA) continue to impress with their prolific offense and a defense that slows the opposition just enough to allow the offense to pull out victories. This game was particularly noteworthy because the Owls' All-American WR Jarett Dillard had 7 receptions for 141 yds and 3 TD's, yet he wasn't even the best receiver in the game -- Southern Miss' DeAndre Brown caught 12 passes for 221 yds and 4 TD's! Rice has key road games over the next two Saturdays at Tulane 2-4/1-2 C-USA) and then UTEP (3-4/3-1 C-USA).

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 17, 2008

The maturation of A&M football

One of the many endearing cultural characteristics of Texas is the devotion of most Texas A&M University alumni to the A&M football program.

Although the intensity of that interest has generated some rather awkward moments over the years, the A&M game-day atmosphere is one of the best in college football and an essential experience to gaining a thorough understanding of Texas culture.

Alas, the A&M football program has fallen on hard times over the past several years. Relative to the size of the football budget, the A&M program is currently among the poorest-performing in major college football.

Given that, the prospect of high-scoring Texas Tech invading College Station tomorrow probably to put up a record opponent's score at Kyle Field would normally generate enormous trepidation among the Aggie faithful. However, as the video below reflects (H/T Jay Christensen), the Aggies are now fighting back as best they can -- holding auditions to play the role of iconoclastic Tech coach, Mike Leach.

College football in Texas -- you gotta love it!

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

October 13, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(Previous weekly reviews are here)

Texas Longhorns 45 Oklahoma 35

In the most entertaining college football game of the season to date, the Longhorns (6-0/2-0 Big !2) vaulted to No. 1 in the AP, Harris and Coaches Top 25 polls with their win over the Sooners (5-1/1-1 Big 12).

Texas prevented OU's prolific passing offense from getting too far ahead for three quarters of the game and then eventually wore down the Sooners to pull the game out in the fourth quarter. Although QB Colt McCoy (28-35-0/277 yds/1 TD) and his receivers get most of the publicity, I thought that the Longhorns' offensive and defensive line play in the second half -- particularly in the fourth quarter -- was the difference in this one.

The Horns better not rest on their laurels, however, as they face a killer schedule down the stretch -- 11th-ranked Missouri (5-1/1-1 Big 12), 8th-ranked Oklahoma State (6-0/2-0 Big 12), 7th-ranked Texas Tech (6-0/2-0 Big 12), and 16th-ranked Kansas (5-1/2-0 Big 12) in four of the next five weeks. The Horns are solid, but I don't see them going undefeated through that stretch.

Texans 29 Dolphins 28

In an entertaining but not particularly well-played game, the Texans (1-4) finally won their first game of the season by beating the Dolphins (2-3) on QB Matt Schaub's draw play with 3 seconds remaining.

With a bit of luck, the Texans could be 3-2 and in position to contend for the playoffs. However, the reality is that they aren't ready for that yet -- Schaub is still a relatively inexperienced QB and the defense, although improving over the past three games, still has too many lapses to produce a consistent winner. The fact is that the Texans are in the vast expanse of NFL teams that are below the elite teams and above the truly hideous ones. That means that the Texans will probably win about as many as they lose against teams of their caliber and may pull off an upset of an elite team every once in awhile. They simply aren't consistent enough yet to be a viable playoff contender.

The Texans have eminently winnable games the next two Sundays at home against the winless Lions (0-5) and Bengals (0-6).

Houston Cougars 45 UAB 20 

Geez, think how bad this would have been had the Cougars (3-3/2-0 C-USA) had shown up for the first half against UAB (1-6/0-3)? If the Coogs pull that sort of performance next week at SMU (1-6/0-4), the Ponies -- who just gave conference leader Tulsa (6-0/3-0) its first scare of the season on this past Saturday night -- might just feast on the Cougars for their first conference win of the season.

Kansas State 44 Texas Aggies 30

The woeful Aggies (2-4/0-2 Big 12) basically allowed Kansas State (4-2/1/1 Big !2) to score at will. At least the Ags showed something on offense as they rolled up almost 550 yards of total offense on the Wildcats.

There is simply no telling how many points 7th-ranked Texas Tech (6-0/2-0 Big 12) will put up on the Aggies next Saturday in College Station. Suffice it to say that it will likely be a record score against the Ags in Kyle Field. The Aggies will be lucky to win two more games this season.

Rice (3-3/2-1 C-USA) were off this weekend. The Owls play Southern Miss (2-4/0-2) at Rice Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

October 6, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip; previous weekly reviews are here).

Colts 31 Texans 27

The following was a conversation that I had with another long-suffering fan of Houston sports teams after the Texans (0-4) became the first team in NFL history to blow a lead of at least 17 points in the final five minutes of regulation:

"Well, this loss wasn't as bad as the University of Houston's last-second loss to Joe Montana and Notre Dame in the 1979 Cotton Bowl."

"That's right. It wasn't even as bad as the deciding Game Five of the 1980 National League Championship Series when the Stros tied the score in the sixth, took a 5-2 lead in the seventh, fell behind 7-5 in the top of the eighth, tied the game again in the bottom of the eighth, and finally fell when the eventual World Series champion Phillies scored on two doubles in the 10th."

"And at least it was not nearly as devastating as the University of Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma losing to Jim Valvano and North Carolina State on a tip-in at the buzzer in the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament National Championship Game."

"Well, come to think of it, it wasn't nearly as bad as the Oilers' 1991 NFL playoff loss to the Broncos on John Elway's last minute 98 yard drive."

"And don't even suggest that this was even close to being as bad as the Oilers' 41-38 overtime loss to Buffalo the 1993 NFL playoffs after leading at halftime 35-3."

"Really, this wasn't even as bad as the Houston Rockets' 1997 Game Six Western Conference Final playoff loss to the Jazz on John Stockton's last-second 3 pointer."

"Actually, this doesn't even come close to being as bad as when Brad Lidge served up that gopher ball to Albert Pujols in the 2005 National League Championship Series when the Stros were one out away from the World Series."

But then my friend concluded before hanging up:

"However, this loss was right up there with those other ones."

Although there will undoubtedly be much gnashing of teeth around Houston this week because of the way in the Texans lost the game, remember that the game was lost primarily because a backup QB was trying too hard to win rather than not taking the risks necessary to win. I take some solace in that. The Texans host the revived Dolphins (2-2) next Sunday at Reliant Stadium.

Texas Longhorns 38 Colorado 14

The Longhorns (5-0/1-0 Big 12) were impressive in dismantling the Buffaloes in Boulder. About the only blemish in the Horns' performance was that high-performing QB Colt McCoy was picked off twice despite going 23-30 for 262 yds and 2 TD's. The price of poker now goes up dramatically as the 5th-ranked Horns turn their attention to the game of the 2008 college football season to date next Saturday afternoon in Dallas against No. 1 Oklahoma (5-0/1-0 Big 12).

Oklahoma State 56 Texas A&M 28

The woeful Aggies (2-3/0-1 Big 12) must be satisfied with moral victories these days, such as holding the 21st-ranked Cowboys (5-0/1-0 Big 12) to less than 60 points and scoring 28 themselves (tying a season high). The Aggies host Kansas State (3-2/0-1 Big 12) next Saturday in one of the relatively few games in Big 12 conference play that A&M has a decent chance at winning. This could get much worse for the Ags before it gets better.

Tulsa 63 Rice 28

The Owls (3-3/2-1 C-USA) hung with Tulsa (5-0) for a half, but then the four turnovers and the high-powered Golden Hurricane offense buried Rice in the second half. Tulsa is the type of team that is Rice's Achilles Heel -- a team with a good enough defense to slow down the Owls' potent offense a bit with an offense that can overwhelm Rice's undermanned defensive unit. After an off-week next Saturday, the Owls host Southern Mississippi (2-3/0-2) the following Saturday (October 18th) at Rice Stadium.

The University of Houston had a well-deserved day off on Saturday and hosts UAB (1-5/0-2 C-USA) in a Thursday night game this week at Robertson Stadium.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

September 29, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Phil Coale; previous weekly reviews are here).

Jaguars 30 Texans 27 (OT)

If it isn't one thing, it's another for the Texans (0-3).

After pretty much stinking it up in the Texans' first two games, QB Matt Schaub was outstanding in this one, leading the Texans to scores on their five consecutive possessions (three TD's and two FG's, including Kris Brown's 51 yarder with a second left that sent the game into overtime). Schaub was 29-40 for 307 yds with 3 TD's and no INT's. WR Kevin Walter had two TD's reception and rookie RB Steve Slaton caught 8 passes for 83 yds and a TD. Can't ask for much more than that.

On the other hand, after playing a decent first half, the Texans' defense was horrible in the second half and overtime. For the first three quarters of the game, the Texans' defense inexplicably allowed the Jags to complete slant passes at will. Then, when the Texans' defense finally took away the slant pass in the fourth quarter, they forgot to maintain containment on Jags' QB David Garrard, who proceeded to make three key runs out of the pocket on the final TD drive in regulation. The poor defensive performance was punctuated by poor tackling in OT, which allowed the Jags to set up a chip shot field goal to win the game.

About the only good thing that can be said about the defense is that it may have been better than the Texans' coverage teams, which were absolutely awful. They provided the Jags with good field position throughout the game.

Finally, how is it that the Texans' coaching staff and players were the only ones watching the game who did not realize that the Jags had kept their offense on the field in their initial punting situation of the game? The gift-wrapped TD that the Texans' punt-return team gave the Jags might have made a difference in the final score, don't you think?

The Texans finally return to Houston for their first home game of the season next week against the well-rested Colts (1-2) and QB Peyton Manning, who carved the Texans' defense up like a holiday turkey the last time the teams played. Ay, yi, yi.

Houston Cougars 41 East Carolina 24

The feel-good story of the weekend was the Cougars (2-3 overall/1-0 C-USA), who lost a couple of close games over the past two weeks after being jacked around by their own AD during Hurricane Ike and its aftermath. Although they were double-digit underdogs to 23rd-ranked East Carolina (3-2; 1-1), the Coogs manhandled the Pirates and would have won the game by an even larger margin but for four turnovers and two missed field goals. The Cougars offense rolled up 625 yds of total offense and literally had the ECU defense gasping for air by midway through the second half. Houston has a well-deserved day off this Saturday before hosting Alabama-Birmingham (1-4/0-1) on Oct. 9 in a Thursday night game.

Texas Longhorns 52 Arkansas 10

Back when the fifth-ranked Horns (4-0) scheduled Arkansas (2-2) several years ago, they figured that the game was going to be a competitive tune-up for Big 12 play. Alas, it was not, so the Longhorns remain largely untested as they prepare for their Big 12 opener next week at Boulder against Colorado (3-1). Nevertheless, QB Colt McCoy is playing at a consistently high-level and the Horns revamped defense appears to be flying around the field pretty well. They will need to be next week as Colorado is pretty good and it would be easy for the Horns to be peeping ahead a week for their big game against No. 1 Oklahoma.

Rice 77 North Texas 20

The most amazing thing about this game is that there was no scoring in the fourth quarter! As I've been saying all season, Rice's (3-2 overall/2-0 C-USA) offense is the real deal and gives the Owls a legitimate chance to win in any game in which the Owls' defense can slow down the opposition. Rice now prepares for their annual Revenge Bowl next Saturday against their former one-year coach, Todd Graham and the Tulsa Hurricane (4-0/1-0). Here's hoping that the Marching Owl Band makes the road trip to Tulsa.

Texas A&M 21 Army 17

After the Aggies (2-2) were not able to generate 300 yds total offense at home against a very bad Army (0-4) team, a commentator on one of the Aggie message boards described the five stages of coming to terms with the Aggies' current status as a football doormat:

Denial: "Give Fran Time."
Anger: "Fire Fran!"
Bargaining: "A different coach will make the difference."
Depression: "Why even bother to post on TexAgs."
Acceptance: "We are terrible."

The Aggies might not win another game this season. Oklahoma State (4-0) is a decent bet to put 60 points on the Aggies next Saturday night in Stillwater.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 22, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/John Russell)

After a week off in deference to Hurricane Ike, the weekly local football review is back (previous weekly reviews are here).

Titans 31 Texans 12

OK, it wasn't as bad as the Week One loss to the Steelers, but that's faint praise. The Texans (0-2) defense was actually better against the Titans (3-0), but the offense continues to hit on far fewer than all cylinders. Rookie RB Steve Slaton looked promising(18 car/115 yds/1 TD), but QB Matt Schaub (17-37/ 188 yds/ 3 INT's) and Pro Bowl WR Andre Johnson (2 receptions for 29 yds and two dropped passes in the end zone) looked awful. The road to a first 2008 victory doesn't get any easier for the Texans next week as they travel to Jacksonville to play the Jaguars (1-2), who handed the Colts (1-2) their second loss in three 2008 games on Sunday. And guess who the Texans get after the Jags? The Colts at Reliant Stadium. The Chron's Lance Zerlein sums up the state of the Texans after two games here.

Miami 41 Texas Aggies 23 

Aggie RB Michael Goodson started the game off with an electrifying 62 yard TD catch and run, but then Miami tied the game four plays later and never looked back. The score was 41-10 by late in the third quarter, so this game was a blowout well before the Aggies scored two meaningless scores late. The Aggies (1-2) better get a win next Saturday at College Station against Army (0-3) because their next legitimate chance for a victory after that game is a month later against Big 12 doormat, Iowa State (2-2), and that's by no means a sure thing. My, how low can it go in Aggieland?

Texas 52 Rice 10

As the Owls (2-2) served up their annual sacrificial lamb offering to the Longhorns (3-0), does anyone else think the Horns' soft schedule may make them prime meat for an upset at Boulder by Colorado (3-0) two weeks from now? The Horns play a bad Arkansas (2-1) team next Saturday in Austin, while the Owls will have a scoreboard-burning free-for-all against North Texas (0-3) at Rice Stadium.

Colorado State 28 Houston Cougars 25

Given that UH players and coaches were inexplicably forced to play last week while many of their families were enduring peril from Hurricane Ike, and then spent most of last week trying to get back to a largely power-deprived city in the aftermath of the hurricane, I am almost inclined to give the Cougars (1-3) a pass on this loss. That is until I discovered that Colorado State (2-1) struggled to beat Sacramento State (!) two weeks ago. The Coogs better get their mojo back quickly because they travel next Saturday to Greenville, North Carolina to play East Carolina (3-1), which was the 15th-ranked team in the country before they were upset in overtime by North Carolina State on Saturday. A 1-4 start is not what new Cougar coach Kevin Sumlin had in mind as his introduction to the Houston sports community.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 17, 2008

A day in a life after Ike

Just jotting down a few observations throughout the day of living in an area that just experienced a major natural disaster.

FEMA, take note

Although The Woodlands did not suffer as much damage as many other parts of the Houston metropolitan area, it's interesting in my travels around town over the past several days that I have seen no evidence whatsoever of any federal relief.

For example, it seems to me that there are a couple of basic things that the federal government could do to facilitate recovery efforts. First, move as many portable generators to selected service stations throughout the region so that citizens can become somewhat mobile again. The primary problem at this point is not lack of gasoline. Rather, it's lack of power to operate the pumps to get the available gas into cars.

Even though large swaths of Houston remain without power, many areas are getting power back by the hour. Folks in areas without power can be much more productive if they can travel to areas that have it and work. Unfortunately, as it stands, there is no gas to get to those areas and then return home.

Another irritation is that no one in an official capacity attempts to do anything to facilitate communications for the citizens directly affected by a natural disaster such as Ike. Ever since the storm, cell phone usage has been spotty in most residential areas, and serviceable in only a few commercial areas. Perhaps damage to the cell network equipment is the cause of the poor service, but I haven't heard anyone contend that such is the case.

Galveston

Just as the deadly hurricane of 1900 changed the nature of Galveston, my sense is that Hurricane Ike has done the same thing in 2008.

Prior to the 1900 hurricane, Galveston was Texas' largest city, port and commercial center. The devastation from that storm put into the motion the changes in Texas' development that resulted in Houston becoming the major port and cities such as Houston and Dallas-Ft. Worth becoming the major commercial centers. As Houston grew into this region's major center of commerce, Galveston evolved into a tourist center and a weekend beach getaway for folks in Houston.

Despite that tourism development, the City of Galveston has been slowly dying for years. Jobs and commercial activity largely revolve around the tourism industry (even the port is now owned by the Port of Houston Authority). Most young people now move away from the city after high school, so older folks constitute an unusually high percentage of the "town folk."

My sense is that Galveston will come back as a weekender community and a modest tourist vista, but that commerce not related to the tourism industry will continue to decline at an accelerated rate. My sense is that what we might see in 20 years is a community comprised of a few high-rise condos and resorts along the seawall, the ubiquitous weekender homes on the West Beach and not much else.

It will certainly be easier to evacuate such a community.

Radio anchor people

As a general rule, I do not listen to much radio. Maybe an occasional traffic report or Charlie Pallilo's sports talk show in the rare event that I am driving somewhere during it.

But I've been shocked at how bad the radio anchor reporters have been on KTRH, the main station providing disaster information to the public. Although a number of the KTRH field reporters are OK, the anchors often sound as if they are blithering idiots. It seems as if they aren't asking inane and non-challenging questions to "experts" or public officials, they laughing and making bad jokes at inappropriate times or in regard to serious issues.

Walter Cronkite, where are you when we need you?

Houston sports teams

I noted in this earlier post in the run-up to Hurricane Ike that the high number of variables that become involved in reacting to hurricanes often generates some abysmal decisions in reaction to the storm. That observation was certainly validated by a couple of decisions that were made with regard to Houston sports teams.

From University of Houston Athletic Director Dave Maggard's absurd decision to have the University's football team play in Dallas while the storm was still hammering Houston (!) to Major League Commissioner Bud Selig's equally preposterous decision to haul the Houston Astros players and coaches away from their families (to Milwaukee of all places) the day after a terrible natural disaster left the players and coaches' families without power in a devastated city, it's hard to imagine the fractured thought process that went into either of those boneheaded decisions.

Sports competition at the major-college and professional level requires a high level of concentration. Given the circumstances under which these games were played, it is not surprising in the least that the Houston teams lost each one of them. How could the players and coaches be concentrating on a damn game?

It's only God's grace to both Maggard and Selig that no family member of either a UH or Stros player or coach was hurt or killed in the aftermath of the storm. Why do either of these fellows still have their respective jobs?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (7) |

September 8, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar; previous weekly review is here).

Steelers 38 Texans 17

Geez, that Texans' performance certainly didn't make this preview look very good.

Getting one's ass kicked in the first game of the season is never pleasant, but the most troubling thing about this debacle is its similarity to the season opener from the Texans' disastrous Year Four in which the team lost 14 of 16 games. This Texans team appears to have much better personnel than that Texans team, but it's still not clear that this one is any better coached, particularly on defense where that unit appears incapable of stopping a hard-chargin' marching band. Lance Zerlein breaks down what went wrong.

The Texans face another dominating defense next Sunday at Reliant Stadium against the Ravens (1-0), so Kubiak & Co. have their work cut out for them. Rookie OLT Duane Brown better grow up fast or QB Matt Schaub will find himself on the injured list this season even quicker than last season.

Rice 42 Memphis 35

The plucky Owls (2-0/2-0) were dominated by the Tigers for a half, but QB Chase Clement got warmed up in the 2nd half as Rice closed with 29 4th quarter points to pull out the victory (Memphis went from 15-up with 8:33 left to 7-down at the end -- Ouch!). The game winner was a thrilling 66 yard interception return for a TD by Rice DB Chris Jammer with 11 seconds left.

After starting the season with two C-USA games, the Owls now have three straight non-conference road games, next week against Vanderbilt (2-0/1-0) in Nashville, then against the Longhorns (2-0) in Austin and then against North Texas (0-2) at Denton. The Owls' offense is so potent that, if they can avoid injuries to key players such as Clement, WR Jarett Dilliard and RB-WR James Casey, Rice has a chance to be one of the surprise teams of the season.

Oklahoma State 56 Houston 37

The Cougars (1-1) actually led this one 16-14 at halftime, but then the Cowboys (2-0) took advantage of several Houston mistakes to roll up 28 points in the 3rd quarter and turn the game into a rout. Houston QB Case Keenum continues to shine (35-61, 397 yds, 4 TD, 0 INT, 81 yds rushing), but there is not much to say complimentary about a defensive unit that gave up almost 700 yards of total offense. And it sounds as if there might be some competition in the Cougar camp this week for the long snapping job. The Cougars play a couple of Colorado opponents over the next two weeks -- first against Air Force (2-0) at Robertson Stadium and then against Colorado State (1-1) at Fort Collings -- before opening C-USA play against nationally-ranked East Carolina (2-0) in Greenville, N.C.

Texas Longhorns 42 UTEP 13

The Longhorn caravan rolled into El Paso for the first time in 75 years and pounded the hometown Miners (0-2) in what amounted to a controlled scrimmage for Texas (2-0). The Horns now return to Austin next Saturday afternoon to face Arkansas (2-0), which has struggled to beat Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe in its first two games under new coach Bobby Petrino. By the way, over the next month, the Razorbacks face Texas, Alabama, Florida and Auburn in succession. Welcome back to big-time college football, Coach Petrino.

Texas Aggies 28 New Mexico 22

First, the good news -- Texas A&M (1-1) won its first game under new coach Mike Sherman.

But now, the bad news -- the woeful Lobos (0-2) out-gained the Aggies by 371 total yards to 235, had more first downs and a better 3rd-down conversion rate. In fact, about the only statistical category in which the Aggies out-performed the Lobos was turnovers -- the Lobos shot themselves in the foot with four, including an interception that Aggie DB Jordan Peterson returned for the first TD of the game. If A&M's performance in its first two games of the season is any indication, It appears that it's going to be a long season in Aggieland.

The Aggies  have a week off before taking on Miami (1-1) in College Station in a nationally-televised Saturday night game on September 20th. Having watched Miami's formidable defense do a pretty good job of containing Florida's very-good offense yesterday, the punchless Aggie offense will have difficulty generating 200 yards of total offense against the extremely quick and talented Hurricanes.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

September 6, 2008

The difficulty of making it in the NFL

Although I normally eschew the NFL pre-season, this year's pre-season has captured my interest more than usual because of a friend's effort to make the roster of one of the NFL's best teams. Monitoring his efforts has reminded me of just how incredibly talented the athletes are in the NFL.

Danny Amendola, a former star receiver at The Woodlands High School and for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, has been a rookie free-agent trying to make the Dallas Cowboys 53-man roster during this pre-season. He has had a good camp (including making a nice reception in the pre-season game against the Texans), but he was released this past week in the Cowboys' final cut down to 53 players.

However, after cutting Amendola, the Cowboys re-signed him a day later to their practice squad after no other NFL team elected to assume his free-agent contract. Inasmuch as a couple of the Cowboys' receivers who made the final roster are dealing with minor injuries, Amendola has a good chance of being activated off of the practice squad for the Cowboys opener this week against this Browns at Cleveland.

For several years, I coached Amendola in both youth baseball and basketball here in The Woodlands. I used to kid Danny's father, who is a long-time Houston area high school football coach, that at least I didn't screw up his son's football career.

Amendola was the best athlete that I coached in youth sports -- strong, fast, quick, graceful, relentless and extremely coachable. There is no doubt in my mind that he could have also played both baseball and basketball at the major college level if he had chosen to develop his skills in those sports, and I believe that he could have played baseball professionally, too.

Yet, this extraordinary athlete is not yet good enough to make a final 53-man NFL roster. Frankly, it's mind-boggling to me that there are roughly 150 or so WR's in the NFL who are better than Danny Amendola.

Amendola's story in attempting to make the Cowboys this pre-season has been a big part of the HBO series Hard Knocks, so he has become somewhat of a television star in addition to being a local sports celebrity. Here is the part of the final segment in which Amendola elects to accept the Cowboys' offer to play on their practice squad. His good fortune couldn't happen to a nicer fellow.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

September 5, 2008

Houston Texans, Year Seven

Year Seven of the Houston Texans begins this Sunday with a road game against the Steelers, so it's time for my fifth annual preview of the team (previous annual previews are here).

Largely ignored amidst the ubiquitous mainstream media optimism about the Texans is the harsh reality that the local franchise has the worst record of any expansion franchise in the modern history of the National Football League. As with most things in football, there are many reasons for the poor record, not all of which are even the fault of the Texans' management and players. Nevertheless, Texans' management bears a substantial responsibility for the relative futility of the team over its first six years, so it's helpful to review the team's journey over that time span in evaluating whether the Texans are ready to improve.

The Texans were the toast of Houston for their first three seasons during which Texans management and the local mainstream media trumpeted the party line that Texans were building a playoff contender "the right way" -- that is through prudent drafting and development of young players while eschewing the temptation of short-term rewards provided by over-priced veterans who were on the downside of their careers. The progressively better won-loss records in the first three seasons (4-12, 5-11, and 7-9) -- plus the drafting of young stars such as WR Andre Johnson, RB Dominack Davis and CB Dunta Robinson -- seemed to indicate that the Texans' plan was working.

Unfortunately, those progressively better won-loss records distracted Texans management and the mainstream media from recognizing the fact that the Texans were not close to contending for an NFL playoff spot. The best evidence of that was that the Texans entered each of their first four seasons with the same two core problems -- the Texans' offensive line could not protect the quarterback and the Texans' defensive front could not pressure the opposing team's QB.

Former Texans GM Charlie Casserly never could solve the offensive line (remember LT's Tony Boselli and then Orlando Pace?) and defensive line (remember Jason Babin?) problems. Similarly, former Texans head coach Dom Capers' changes to the offensive and defensive systems between Years Three and Four proved disastrous as the Texans limped home with a desultory 2-14 record in Year Four.

After dispensing with Casserly and Capers, Texans owner Bob McNair blew up his original Texans management model and surprisingly hired Kubiak, who promptly made (acquiesced to?) a whopper of a blunder in his first major personnel decision as Texans' coach -- retaining QB David Carr even though it was reasonably clear as early as before Year Three that Carr was unlikely to develop into an above-average NFL QB.

Kubiak -- who is a quick study in evaluating talent -- promptly soured on Carr during the early stages of Year Five, which was part of the reason why the Texans had one of the worst offenses in the NFL that season. As a result of enduring that Year Five offense, Kubiak arguably overpaid for QB Matt Schaub and clearly overpaid for over-the-hill running back Ahman Green before Year Six. Not much had improved through 12 games of Year Six as the Texans' performance had been so inconsistent that even the local mainstream media cheerleaders were questioning whether Kubiak was the proper captain to right the Texans ship.

Then, the Texans showed some pluck and won three of their last four games (the loss was a real stinker to the Colts) to finish with an 8-8 record, the first non-losing record in franchise history. The Texans' offense -- even without Schaub and star WR Andre Johnson for five and seven games respectively -- improved to 12th in the NFL in yards gained and 14th in points scored, by far the best finish of any Texans offense. That was enough to give the starving local mainstream media and long-suffering Texans' fan base hope that things might finally turn around for the franchise in Year Seven.

But is that optimism truly warranted? My sense is that it finally is.

Although I'm still not completely sold that Kubiak is the coach to take the Texans to the playoffs, I am impressed by his willingness to recognize mistakes, cut losses and make changes. In so doing, he does not seem to be burdened with the stubbornness that often undermines NFL head coaches.

Moreover, continuity in coaching staffs and personnel are the most common elements of successful NFL teams, so my sense is that Kubiak has shown enough coaching acumen over his first two seasons that the eternally patient McNair will endure blunders such as the Green deal in the hope that maintaining coaching staff stability will ultimately reward him with a winner. McNair certainly deserves it given the excellent support that he has always provided to the Texans football operation.

Interestingly, despite the Texans continuing problems at running back, I expect the Texans offense to improve again this season. Part of the reason for this is that the nature of running the football has changed in the NFL. The old saw that a team "has to establish the run" to win in the NFL has been pretty well demolished by the success of the Patriots and the Colts, both of which use prolific passing attacks to build leads and then just run the ball well enough to work time off the clock in the latter stages of the game to preserve victory. Moreover, running backs in the NFL are so injury-prone that virtually every team in the league is now manning the position with a "running back by committee" approach.

Thus, the fact that the Texans do not have a dominant running back isn't as big a concern as the mainstream media makes it out to be, particularly given the improvement of the Texans' offensive line and the potential explosiveness of the Texans' passing game. Besides, rookie RB Steve Slaton played in a blocking scheme in college at West Virginia that is based upon the one that the Texans are using, so I would not be surprised if he is a productive back for the Texans right out of the chute.

Meanwhile, the bigger question mark revolves around the Texans' defensive unit, which is the key to the Texans becoming a bona fide playoff contender.

Somewhat frustratingly, the Texans have used a large number of high draft picks on defensive players over the past several NFL Drafts and have precious little to show for it. Football Prospectus has rated the Texans' defense 32nd, 31st and 30th in the NFL over the past three seasons.

Nevertheless, the Texans have accumulated a nucleus of talented young players -- DE Mario Williams, CB Dunta Robinson (currently injured), CB Fred Bennett, MLB DeMeco Ryans, and DT Amobi Okoye -- that points toward an improved defensive unit. Getting enough consistent pressure on the opposing team's passer to relieve a somewhat undermanned secondary (at least until Robinson's probable return at mid-season) is the biggest challenge that this defense still needs to overcome.

Inasmuch as improvement in NFL defensive units generally gestates over several seasons as young players gain needed experience, I expect the defense to make major improvement this season so that it becomes a unit capable of making Texans a viable playoff contender in the 2009 season. If that improvement does not occur this season, then Kubiak will likely replace defensive coordinator Richard Smith or, at very least, bring in an experienced assistant head coach to coordinate the defensive unit.

So, are the Texans ready to contend for a playoff spot this season? Probably not, given that the division-rivals Colts and Jaguars are still better teams on paper and the first third of the schedule is brutal. My sense is that the over/under on Texans wins this season is eight, which will not be enough to make the playoffs. A playoff push in 2009 is a better bet.

But given the high number of variables that play into a successful NFL season, picking NFL playoff teams is an extremely speculative endeavor. Almost all NFL playoff contenders are just a couple of key injuries away from the scrap heap. For the first time, it appears that the Texans have accumulated enough talented football players that they are in a position to seize the playoff opportunity if the variables tilt in their favor. Given where the Texans have been, that's real progress.

As the blogosphere continues to develop, there really is little reason to rely any longer on the mainstream media for Texans news and analysis. The Chronicle's coverage of the Texans is extensive but lacking in meaningful insight outside of Lance Zerlein's blog, which is updated only once or twice a week.
I will be providing the 2008 Weekly local football review again this season, but the following blogs also provide superior analysis of the Texans over what the Chronicle offers:

Stephanie Stradley's blog on the Texans over at AOL Fanhouse;

DGDB&D (for "Da Good, Da Bad & DeMeco");

Matt Loede's Texans Gab;

Battle Red Blog of the SB Nation family of blogs;

Keith Weiland's In the Bullseye.com;

Texans Tail Gate; and

Houston Diehards.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

September 2, 2008

Richard Justice crosses the line

As regular readers of this blog know, I have often wondered why Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice is writing about sports. He is highly subjective in his views, does not back them up with objective facts and doesn't reason well. Beyond that, he does just fine.

As a result of the foregoing, Justice is a controversial fellow among Houston sports fans. His blog is a rollicking place where mostly anonymous readers who comment on Justice's blog posts regularly engage in competing insults with Justice. Not my cup of tea, but different strokes for different folks.

At any rate, after the Texans' meaningless pre-season loss against Dallas a couple of weeks ago, Justice published this post in which he harshly criticized Texans offensive line coach Alex Gibbs -- who is widely-regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in the NFL -- for yelling at his players. The post was odd, but nothing out of the ordinary for Justice, who had applauded the hiring of Gibbs this past January. Inasmuch as Justice noted that Gibbs has a policy of not talking to the media, many readers commenting on the post speculated that Justice's criticism of Gibbs was simply sour grapes for Gibbs' refusal to talk with Justice.

However, one particular reader who commented on Justice's post was not interested in engaging in the usual name-calling that is common on Justice's blog. Stephanie Stradley, who previously blogged on the Texans for the Chronicle and who now blogs on the Texans over at AOL Sports Fanhouse, posted a comment to Justice's post in which she challenged the factual basis of Justice's assertion that Gibbs' players were tuning him out because of his yelling. Stradley is a first-class blogger who analyzes the Texans much more objectively and effectively than Justice does.

In response to Stradley's comment, Justice responded with shrill comment (since deleted) in which he reiterated his point about yelling and then insulted Stradley. Despite Justice's insult, Stradley inquired in a subsequent comment about the basis of Justice's contention that Gibbs' players did not respond to him, to which Justice responded with another condescending comment. Tasteless, but again nothing out of the ordinary for the often childish nature of Justice's blog.

But what Justice did next may very well have crossed the line. Inasmuch as Justice's criticism of Gibbs was so poorly-reasoned, readers continued to mock Justice in the comments to his blog post, prompting Justice to post a follow-up post to defend his position. But in so doing, Justice made the following comment (scroll down to comment at 9:49 AM) in response to a reader who suggested that he owed Stradley an apology for his earlier tasteless comment:

I don't know what Stephanie's real name is, but she creeps me out. She writes a little too often, wants to discuss and debate. She has her own blog, so why is she so interested in mine? Ask yourself that question. Maybe I've watched Fatal Attraction too many times. If something happens to one of my rabbits, she's going to be in big trouble.--Richard

Incredibly, if that weren't bad enough, Justice followed up that libelous comment with this one in responding to another reader's comment (scroll down to comment at 10:13 PM):

Oh so you only use English when you feel like it? Be sure and put that on your resume. Listen, Cronkite, don't get into an insult contest with me. You'll end up in a fetal position whimpering and begging me to ease up. Find something you're good at and dedicate yourself to that. I don't know what that would be, but this ain't it. Go hang out with that Glenn Close woman. She'd probably find you fascinating. Speaking of Stephanie Stradley, I woke up this morning and saw our rabbit cage was empty. ''Stephanie!'' I screamed. Turns out, the little feller was sleeping beneath a chair.--Richard

In a patient and classy manner, Stradley recounts the entire bizarre episode here.

But beyond their utter tastelessness, both of Justice's comments associating Stradley with a homicidal maniac appear to meet the requirements of defamation per se. As a result, Stradley has viable damage claims against both Justice personally and the Chronicle.

Ironically, Justice's Monday blog post asserts that many Stros fans owe GM Ed Wade an apology. Absent the Chronicle and Justice heeding his advice and issuing an immediate public apology to Stradley, I hope she tees off on both of them.

The Chronicle has some very good reporters. But in these challenging times for newspapers, can the Chronicle survive the likes of Richard Justice?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (5) |

September 1, 2008

2008 Weekly local football review

(Previous weekly reviews from the 2004-2007 seasons are here).

Rice 56 SMU 27

As noted earlier here, I think the Owls (1-0/1-0 CUSA) are a good bet to surprise this season. They have an excellent and experienced QB in Chase Clement and an All-American caliber senior WR Jarrett Dillard. The Owls' offense is explosive and difficult to defend. As usual, the defense is undermanned, but they executed reasonably well in defending SMU's new Run 'N Shoot-type offense and really just need to play well enough to give the Owls' offense an opportunity to outscore the opposition. The Owls travel next Saturday to play another CUSA opponent, Memphis (0-1). Don't be surprised if the Owls start out 2-0.

Houston Cougars 55 Southern 3

New Houston (1-0) coach Kevin Sumlin unleashed the Cougars' new spread offense on undermanned Div I-AA Southern and the result was over 600 yards of total offense and a convincing win. The Coogs have an experienced and talented QB in redshirt sophomore QB Chase Keenum (33-43/390 yds; 5 TD's) as well as a deep receiving corps (11 different receivers caught passes during the game). The Cougars defense also has some playmakers, to this team has the potential to contend for the CUSA title if it continues to develop. The price of poker goes up next week, though, as the Cougars travel to Stillwater to take on a talented Oklahoma State (1-0) team that dusted off Washington State in Seattle over the weekend.

Texas Longhorns 52 Florida Atlantic 10

Key tip to Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger -- if you really think that the Horns are soft and can be intimidated if hit hard, keep it between you and your team. The Texas Longhorns (1-0) perfectly-named QB Colt McCoy completed his first 13 straight passes and finished 24-29 for 222 yds and 3 TD's, as well as 102 yds on 12 carries, in leading the Horns to an easy win over overmatched FA. The Horns soft spot -- a young and inexperienced defensive secondary -- gave up 226 yds passing in the first half, but settled down as the game wore on, giving up only 27 yds in the second half. The Horns have another scrimmage next Saturday in El Paso against UTEP (0-1) before returning home on September 13th for a widely-awaited game against former Southwest Conference rival, the Arkansas Razobacks and their new coach, Bobby Petrino.

Arkansas State 18 Texas Aggies 14

Oh my. I don't think think an opening loss to a mid-level Sun Belt Conference team is what the Aggies (0-1) had in mind as the start of the Mike Sherman era. However, the reality is that the Aggies have a young and inexperience offensive line, one of the worst QB's in the Big 12 conference, few proven receivers, an undermanned defense and an inconsistent placekicker. Beyond that, everything is just peachy in Aggieland. The Aggies travel to Albuquerque next Saturday to take on New Mexico (0-1) before facing Miami (1-0) on September 20. Inasmuch as the Hurricanes warm up for A&M by taking on Florida, the Aggies better get every win they can before taking on the likes of Miami and their Big 12 opponents. Five wins may be the best this Aggie team can do.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

August 30, 2008

"Darrell, I don't think we could go through that again"

With the beginning of the college football season this week, it just feels right to pass along this OU Insider interview of one of Texas' legendary college football coaches -- Emory Bellard, the inventor of the Wishbone offense.

Numerous National Championship teams from Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma used the Wishbone during the two decades after Bellard implemented the formation as an assistant coach with the Texas Longhorns during the 1968 season. Although Bellard went on to a mercurial tenure as the head coach at Texas A&M in the 1970's, he is best remembered for developing the Wishbone, which was a devastatingly effective triple-option offense (Paul Johnson at Navy and now at Georgia Tech runs a variation of the Wishbone today). OU Insider interview focuses on Bellard's memories and thoughts about the Wishbone, which include the following pearls:

On the criticism that the Wishbone was an ineffective passing offense:

".   .   . The biggest mistake I made in the passing game was assuming that we needed something short, but we didn’t. We just needed to throw deep. We did not need to throw short because everybody was coming up this way trying to stop the run. So as long as we kept out deep threats, post patterns and the streak patterns — that’s what we should have been placing the emphasis on."

On what happened after Bellard implemented the Wishbone at UT in 1968:

"So we put it in [1968] and we tied the first game and lost the second one and then we won the next 30."

On his misgivings about teaching UCLA's Pepper Rodgers the Wishbone:

"You can’t imagine the number of colleges that were at our spring practice. We conducted a darn coaching clinic every day; it was the biggest mess I ever messed with. I got so tired of talking to people."

"Pepper Rodgers, he came down from UCLA and they had had a bad year. Mark Harmon, the young actor, he was to be the quarterback and he was a good one, too. Ended up being a good one."

"But I spent about a week and I’d go back up to the office and talk with him at night and that jackass went back out and put the Wishbone in at UCLA and had a book published before Christmas. Boy, that takes a lot of gall there, now. I just, that really…"

And finally, on legendary UT head coach Darrell Royal's decision to teach the Wishbone to other programs, including arch-rival Oklahoma. OU  refined the formation during the late 1970's and 80's to win National Championships and to dominate Texas after UT abandoned the Wishbone when Royal retired in 1975:

"[E]verybody in the country was looking to run the Wishbone. And it became the winningest formation in the history of the game of football for quite a while there. We gave it to Alabama, we gave it to Oklahoma. I mean, their execution knowledge and so forth of the offense came from us; we gave it to Oklahoma."

"I just saw Barry [Switzer] the other day. He was offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and Chuck Fairbanks was the head coach and Darrell came into my office one day and we’d already just wore Oklahoma out a couple years and he said, “Chuck is in trouble, he’s gonna lose his job and they want to put in the Wishbone. Barry is gonna be calling you, help him all you can.”

I shook my head, I said, “Darrell, you got to be joking?” He said, “No, I wanna help him.”

I said, “Well, I can admire your wanting to help somebody but I said, gosh darn, not them.” That’s true, too, because they got to where they had so much speed it was hard for us to catch them.

He [Royal] called me about four or five months ago. He calls every now and then and I call him every now and then. But anyhow, he called and said, “You know, I was just sitting here thinking, I might not be as benevolent if I had it to do over (again).”

I said, “I hope not, Darrell. I don’t think we could go through that again.”

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

August 28, 2008

Justice fumbles again

Even when chronically-wrong Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice gets something right, he immediately follows it with more poorly-reasoned blather.

In this blog post, Justice pays tribute to former Texas Tech football coach Spike Dykes, who is truly one of the nicest men ever to be a successful head coach in the big-time college football. But rather than leave well enough alone, Justice proceeds to engage in more myth-making about current Tech head coach, Mike Leach:

Not many Division I schools would have hired Mike Leach, either. Not many Division I coaches look or sound like him. He's funny, arrogant, off-the-wall and occasionally infuriating.

He's also a great coach. He wins games and graduates his players. His ninth season begins with high hopes on the South Plains. The Red Raiders are 12th in the AP poll, the highest they've been at the start of a season in 31 years. Tech has sold every season ticket for the first time in the 84-year history of the program.

The Red Raiders have 18 starters back, including WR Michael Crabtree and QB Graham Harrell. There's depth all over the place on offense, and if Ruffin McNeill's defense plays the way it did after he took over last season, Texas Tech could be in the BCS mix.

Where to begin? In his eight years at Tech, Leach has a 65-37-0 record, which works out to a 63.7% winning percentage. Although that is the best mark of any long-time coach at Tech over the past 70 years, a substantial component of Leach's success has been his 25-5 (83.3%) record against non-Big 12 opponents, which have been mostly sacrificial lambs.

In fact, of those 30 non-conference games, only five have been against other BCS-conference teams -- Ohio State (loss), Mississippi (2 wins) and North Carolina State (2 losses). Moreover, the last time that Tech even played a non-conference game against a BCS-conference opponent was five years ago in 2003.

Meanwhile, Tech under Leach has feasted on cupcakes such as Division 1-AA teams Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Indiana State, Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State and undermanned Division I outfits such as SMU and New Mexico. Heck, ten of Tech's non-conference games under Leach have been against SMU and New Mexico. That Tech wins over 80% of such games is certainly no feather in Leach's cap.

On the other hand, Tech's Big 12 conference record under Leach is another story -- 35-29 (a 54.6% winning percentage). Leach-coached Tech teams are only 3-13 against Texas and Oklahoma and his teams have had only a 4-4 Big 12 conference record in four of Leach's eight seasons at Tech, including the last two.

Finally, Leach has used extremely poor judgment in some of his public remarks about assistant coaches on his staff.

In short, objective evaluation of Leach's career at Tech reveals that his teams run up big numbers, but they don't often beat teams with comparable or better talent because those teams can control the ball enough to keep Tech's offense from scoring a winning number. And despite what Justice suggests, Tech's defense under Leach has never stopped any good offensive team.

Tech is rated highly this season in pre-season polls (14th in the USA Today Coaches Poll), but their non-conference schedule is again largely a joke -- two D-1AA teams (Eastern Washington and UMass) and a rebuilding SMU should again be easy wins for the Red Raiders.  In an unusual twist, Tech will have a reasonably difficult non-conference game this season when they travel to Reno on September 6 to play a well-seasoned Nevada Wolfpack team from the Western Athletic Conference.

But I'll wait to see how Tech fares in the Big 12 before conceding that the Red Raiders have reached a new level under Leach. So far, Leach's success at Tech looks more like good public relations to gullible sportswriters such as Justice than any major elevation of the program.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) |

August 24, 2008

The Quad reviews UT and LSU

The Quad -- the NY Times' excellent college sports blog that has been the subject of these previous posts -- continues its excellent review of each of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ("FBS") football programs by profiling the two best football programs in this neck of the woods, the 8th-ranked University of Texas Longhorns and the defending BCS National Champion, the Louisiana State University Bengal Tigers.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

August 21, 2008

The NFL's next flagship stadium

Reliant Stadium in Houston is a nice and comfortable place to watch sporting events, but this Wired Magazine article reports that the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington looks to take the stadium experience to an entirely new level.

"The Dallas Cowboys are moving house — Texas style. When the team's new arena opens next year, it will be the largest, most tech-laden stadium in the NFL (and one of the biggest sports facilities of any kind on the planet). Its $1.1 billion price includes the most ginormous retractable roof ever built, massive end-zone doors, and the world's biggest hi-def LED screens." Not to mention locker rooms that include "power outlets, data ports, and televisions at each locker, plus ceiling-recessed projectors in the center of the changing rooms for reviewing plays." Or that "the giant arches holding up the stadium will measure 1,225 feet from end to end - roughly the length of the Empire State Building.”

Damn!

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (3) |

August 14, 2008

Cowboy business

The Texans are the toast of their local cheerleading team, but the unquestioned NFL team of Texas remains the Dallas Cowboys. This Glenn Hunter/D Magazine interview of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones confirms that the Cowboys business model is performing very, very well:

With the Cowboys, you’re said to lead the league in corporate sponsorships. Can you give me an idea how much those relationships are worth each year?

We’ve got significant, long-term relationships with Dr Pepper, Miller Lite, Pepsi, Bank of America. If you would aggregate those key, basic long-term sponsorships, that would exceed $50 million annually. We have smaller relationships through our broadcasting, radio and television.

And for merchandising, would $50 million be a good number?

The wholesale-merchandising area is a very, very proprietary number that has a lot involved with it. Let’s see, how to say this? Our wholesaling and retailing combined, as far as financial viability is concerned, is on par with what we do with sponsorships. They are equal in their contribution to the Cowboys.

For the team as a whole, what are you looking at for revenue this year? A few years ago, the figure was north of $200 million; are you going up every year?

Yes, we are. I think it’s fair to say that we will be north of $300 million.

And yes, Jones really is sorry for the way he handled the firing of longtime Cowboys coach, the late Tom Landry:

You really turned around the Cowboys franchise in the early 1990s, and to do it you had to shake up the status quo, including firing the longtime coach, Tom Landry. To this day we hear complaints from longtime Dallasites about that. If you could do things over, would you have handled that differently?

Yes. I understand the criticism; I actually understood it then. I didn’t have a sense of how significant the emotional attachment was to Coach Landry, and to some degree [Cowboys President and General Manager] Tex Schramm, but especially to Landry and the franchise. He had actually transcended the franchise. I actually had very prominent consulting people—not one but two firms, Hill & Knowlton, out of Washington D.C., and one firm from Dallas—that were advising me all during this time. And they advised me in many ways to do it the way I did it. Bum Bright—the individual I bought the team from—offered, to his credit, to make all these changes and to sell the Cowboys to me with no one here, a clean slate. But I was advised, and I concurred with it, that everybody knew the reason the changes were coming was because of me, so I should be a man and directly do it myself, as far as Coach Landry’s and Tex Schramm’s situations—in other words, do it face to face.

Having said that, it’s not something I would do that way again. I would have been more sensitive. I don’t know if I would have gone so far as having Coach Landry coach one more year, then having a transition period of a year. Or work longer with Tex; come in and let them kind of mentor you, show you the ropes, talk about their fundamental vision for the Cowboys. In hindsight, that’s what people say I should have done. But again, unfortunately, I’ve always tried to get there quicker and consequently, as I said earlier, taken more risk by getting on with things.

Finally, just what does Jones think about this whole QB Tony Romo-Jessica Simpson thing?:

Speaking of the quarterback position, does Tony Romo’s high-profile relationship with the entertainer Jessica Simpson bother you, like it does some Cowboys fans?

Tony’s relationship with Jessica Simpson doesn’t bother me at all. It’s good for the franchise—adding sizzle and show business and interest—and it doesn’t affect Tony’s performance in any way.

Maybe so, but I'm not taking a chance on Romo in my Fantasy Football League's draft. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

August 1, 2008

Chasing rainbows

I enjoy watching football games, but I have never been able to understand the mainstream media's fascination with pre-season football practice.

I mean, really. Is there anything more boring than football practice? Well, maybe pre-season football games, but that's another issue. Yet, the local media cheerleaders are lined up each day to report breathlessly about the Texans' pre-season practices. The late night television news last night reported excitedly about the Texans' practice earlier in the evening in which the Texan players, without pads, ran through a series of drills that amounted to glorified touch football. Touch football!

At any rate, with all the media resources dedicated to covering pre-season training camp, an interesting piece of information does emerge every once in awhile. For example, this AP report notes that former Texans first-round draft pick and QB David Carr, now almost 30 years old, is trying to catch on as a backup QB with the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

Despite being the Texans' first draft choice and the first player taken in the 2002 NFL draft, Carr turned out to be one of the worst QB's in NFL history, which is one of the many reasons that the Texans have been one of the worst teams in NFL history during their six year existence. It was reasonably clear even before the Texans third year (2004) that Carr was not the answer at QB, but the Texans cheerleaders at the Chronicle were still touting him as a potential top-tier talent deep into the Texans' disastrous 2-14 season in 2005. That same level of incompetence is generally displayed in almost all of the seemingly endless puff pieces that the Chron reporters (Chron blogger Lance Zerlein excepted) generate throughout Texans training camp.

Getting back to Carr, it sounds as if his performance to date in the Giants camp has been consistent with his performance in Houston:

Things have not started well for Carr. He hurt his foot working out a week before camp opened and missed some practice time. Since returning, he has thrown a couple of interceptions, fumbled two snaps and tossed a few questionable passes.

David Carr, first-round draft choice. A quintessential example of the NFL's mismatch problem?

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

July 29, 2008

Gearing up for college football

The beginning of the college football season is just a month away, so it's time to pass along some excellent web resources to prepare for the season:

The no. 1 college football resource on the Web is the Web Resources page over at Jay Christensen's Wizard of Odds, which is the best one-stop information source for college football on the Web.

This college football schedule template from the Strangest Brew allows you to prepare a page of schedules that you can tailor for your favorite teams and conferences. Very slick indeed.

The Joe Cribbs Car Wash provides this handy Paperless Preview Project that provides convenient preview information from various publications for all 120 Division I teams. Read about your favorite teams and their opponents, all in one place.

Finally, the NY Times' fine college sports blog, the Quad, continues its pre-season countdown analysis of all 120 D-I teams with no. 35, the Texas A&M Aggies (earlier Quad previews profiled Rice and Houston). Not much is expected of the Aggie football team this fall, so the best entertainment this season at Kyle Field may well be new Aggie defensive coordinator, Joe Kines. The video below is a halftime interview of Kines while he was serving briefly as Alabama's interim head coach during a bowl game after the head coach had been fired. As they say in the coaching business, Kines is an "original" and appears to have what it takes to become a beloved figure in the special culture of Aggieland.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) |

July 23, 2008

Take a tour of the Pac-10

Check out this cool Google Earth tour of each stadium in the Pac-10 Football Conference.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

July 9, 2008

The NFL confronts the Mismatch Problem

The pathological way in which National Football League teams annually evaluate college football players has been a common topic on this blog. So, I thoroughly enjoyed this New Yorker video (H/T Guy Kawasaki) of a recent talk by Clear Thinkers favorite Malcolm Gladwell in which he uses the NFL's new-player evaluation process as an example of a hiring practice that is undermined by the "mismatch problem" -- that is, the tendency of an employer to cling to outmoded employee evaluation variables despite the fast-changing nature of the employer's jobs.

Gladwell's point is that the nature and demands of jobs in American society are becoming increasingly complex. That complexity, in turn, drives employers to desire more certainty in making the right employment decision. However, in striving for that certainty, many employers continue to measure the wrong variables in evaluating prospects and finalizing their employment decisions. Gladwell is currently studying the mismatch problem and has some initial observations on how employers can minimize its effects. Check out his talk.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

June 29, 2008

The Quad previews the Coogs

In its countdown of the 120 Division I-A football programs, The Quad previews the 2008 Houston Cougar football team at no. 64.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

June 22, 2008

Expanding DKR Memorial

A couple of years ago, while attending the Texas-Iowa State football game (blog post here), I took the photo on the left of the horseshoe section on the north end of the University of Texas' Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium. After the 2006 season, UT began the process of replacing the horseshoe section with a more modern end zone section that is closer to the field and contains the now-ubiquitous luxury suites and club section that are a part of most big-time college football stadiums these days. The new section is now complete and ready for the 2008 season, so check out this cool time lapse video of the construction of the section. We get things done fast down here in Texas. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

June 5, 2008

Counting down with the Quad

It's less than three months until the kick-off of the 2008 college football season, so in anticipation of the upcoming season, the New York Times' quite good college sports blog -- the Quad -- is providing an excellent summary each day of the 110 or so Division I-A teams. The Quad rates the Rice Owls at no. 104, which seems far too pessimistic to me given the Owls' returning offensive firepower. But the summaries are generally thorough and provide a decent perspective of each program, so they are a good primer for the college football season. In these parts, it's never too early to get ready for some football!

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

May 24, 2008

Opting out with meaning

Earlier this week, the owners of the National Football League elected to opt out of the final two years of the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement with its Players Association. The Mile High Report and Stacey Brook do good jobs of analyzing the impact of the owners' election and neither believe that a lockout or strike is likely before a new deal is struck. My sense is that they are probably right, but I did chuckle when I saw this AmLaw Daily blog post on the owners' decision in regard to hiring counsel for the upcoming labor negotiations:

.   .   . [The NFL owners] hired L. Robert Batterman of Proskauer Rose. Batterman is well known in labor circles for his National Hockey League work. It was Batterman who presided over the NHL labor negotiations that scuttled the league's 2004-05 season, making it the first North American pro sports league to lose a full year to labor strife. "Batterman bullied [the union] into submission," says one sports labor lawyer who requested anonymity. "If one accepts the conspiracy theory of collective bargaining, this means the NFL must be looking for trouble," says another. [.  .  .]

No official negotiations have been held. But the hiring of Batterman sent a clear signal to the union. Gene Upshaw, president of the NFL Players Association, told SportsBusiness Journal in April that his "concerns were heightened" when he heard Batterman had been retained, noting that NHL players crumbled before Batterman's hard line. The NFLPA's outside counsel, James Quinn of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, says that the owners "have this bizarre notion that they want to get tough, so they go get Bob Batterman." (Jeffrey Kessler of Dewey & LeBoeuf is also counsel to the NFLPA.)

Doesn't sound exactly as if the NFL owners are preparing to play nice, now does it? ;^)

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

April 19, 2008

Valuing the Stros

The Stros are not worth squat on the playing field this season, but the club continues to be among the dozen most valuable franchises in Major League Baseball.

Forbes' annual valuation of MLB franchises is out and the Stros come in at a respectable 12th among the 30 MLB franchises, down one slot from last year. Forbes thinks that the Stros ($463 million valuation) are doing about as well financially as they can do in this market. A list of the values and operating income for all 30 franchises is here.

Interestingly, although the Yankees have by far the most valuable franchise in MLB, they were dead last among the 30 MLB franchises in operating income at a negative $47 million. The World Champion Boston Red Sox were 29th in operating income at a negative $19 million, although the club's valuation of $816 million is behind only the Yankees ($1.306 billion) and the Mets ($824 million).

This post from last fall noted Forbes' most recent valuation of the National League Football franchise, which continue to be much more valuable than the MLB franchises. The least valuable of the 32 NFL franchises (the Vikings at $782 million) would be the fourth most valuable MLB club.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

February 28, 2008

I'm shocked, shocked! There is academic cheating in big-time college football!

The entertaining hypocrisy of big-time college athletics continues at Florida State University. (H/T Jay Christensen). Just like Rick's Cafe, everybody knows what's going on, too.

So, what level of embarrassment in regard to "academic integrity" is it going to take to prompt university presidents to reorganize big-time college football into the professional minor league business that is its true nature?

This imbroglio reminds me of an insight into academia that my late mentor, Ross Lence, passed along to me years ago. As regular readers of this blog know, A Man for All Seasons -- the story of Sir Thomas More's conflict with King Henry VIII -- is one of my favorite movies and it was one of Ross' favorites, too. Ross particularly enjoyed the scene early in the movie when Sir Thomas attempts unsuccessfully to persuade his student, Richard Rich, to eschew a political appointment for a teaching career. After rejecting Sir Thomas' advice, Rich takes a political appointment from Henry's henchman, Thomas Cromwell, in return for agreeing to betray Sir Thomas.

"Sir Thomas knew that Rich had a corrupt heart and would never be able to resist the corrupt temptations of politics," Ross observed to me once with a chuckle. "So he recommended that Rich become a teacher." Then, with a twinkle in his eye, Ross posited the question for discussion:

"But was Sir Thomas suggesting that a corrupt heart is not a problem for an academic?"

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

February 7, 2008

The importance of recruiting classes

The institutionalized fanaticism that is college football recruiting reached its annual zenith yesterday as hundreds of the nation's best high school senior football players signed National Letters of Intent with various big-time college football programs. It never fails to amaze me how much interest the competition between big-time college programs for 17 and 18 year-olds generates among the supporters of those programs.

But as this earlier post noted, there is no doubt that it is important to the success of the programs. For example, over the past decade, the respective programs of the University of Texas and Texas A&M have mostly been going in the opposite direction, UT up and A&M down. This Suzanne Halliburton/Austin-American Statesman article reviews the past ten UT recruiting classes, while Ryan over at TAMABINP does the same here with regard to A&M's recruiting classes over the same period. As noted earlier here, A&M remains well a decided step below UT in the overall quality of its recruiting classes.

By the way, this website developed by three Stetson School of Business and Economics at Mercer University economists contains information about an econometric football recruiting model that predicts the collegiate choices of high school football players. Check it out.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

February 6, 2008

Waxing philosophic on bad announcing

My standards for announcers of football games are not high, but it seemed to me that the Fox Sports announcing team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in last weekend's Super Bowl LXII game were unusually bad. For example, neither of them made much of Coach Belichick's dubious decision of going for it on 4th and 13 on the Giants 32 yard line rather trying a long field goal (49 yards) that is made easier by the pristine conditions in which the game was played. In particular, Aikman -- who has that annoying ability to say absolutely nothing of substance while reciting overlapping clichés -- could not bring himself to stop rhapsodizing about Tom Brady's "coolness under fire" despite the fact that Brady was missing badly on relatively easy passes while looking antsy in the pocket over the brutal pounding that he was enduring from the Giants' front seven.

Noting the same mediocrity in announcing quality, Michael Bérubé takes up another key call in the game and provides this imaginary dialogue between Buck and Aikman.

We can only dream. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (1) |

February 5, 2008

What was so super about that?

While most Americans who watched Sunday's Super Bowl XLII were thrilled with a close game that wasn't decided until the final seconds, Financial Times ($) Simon Kuper examines why American football does not translate well to other cultures:

. . . few foreigners watch American sports. The media agency Initiative tallies audiences for sporting events, counting only the average number of live viewers who watched from home, and not in places like bars. It estimated that of the Super Bowl’s 93 million live viewers in 2005, just three million were outside north America, including nearly one million in Mexico.

Meanwhile, game four of baseball’s World Series in 2005 attracted about 21 million viewers in north America and Mexico, and fewer than one million elsewhere (all of them possibly American expats). And the last game of the NBA finals in 2005 drew fewer than one million live viewers outside the US, according to Initiative.

American sports suffer partly from having arrived late: the British empire got everywhere first. Kevin Alavy, an analyst at Initiative, says: “If people have been following the same sports for 50 or 100 years in a country, it’s hard to break into that.”

Furthermore, Alavy points out that, American football’s NFL has almost no foreign players, while baseball draws its foreigners almost exclusively from central America, Venezuela and Japan. Foreign fans elsewhere have no local heroes to root for. The British, by contrast, spread football so thoroughly that foreigners now generally outperform them. Consequently, English football’s Premiership features about 70 nationalities. Qiang Yan, Chinese author of a book on the Premiership, describes 100 million Chinese sitting up at 1am to watch two Chinese play in Everton v Manchester City. “That’s ridiculous, right?” he asks. The Premiership belongs to the Chinese, the French, the Israelis. [. . .]

. . . The gross revenues of major-league baseball were $6.1bn last year, up twofold since 2000. The NFL, the US’s most popular sport, grosses a fraction more. And the average NBA team made pre-tax profits of $9.8m in 2007, says Forbes magazine.

But these sports earn peanuts abroad. That is worrying, because the biggest potential for growth is not in the US but in new markets such as China and Europe. That’s why the NFL staged a league game in London last October. And in 2006 baseball staged the “World Baseball Classic”. Unfortunately, the tournament demonstrated how far the game is from global conquest. Only about 10 countries fielded serious teams. The rest struggled: South Africa’s biggest name was a minor-league pitcher with Wichita. Italy’s star was a 37-year-old American with a Sicilian grandfather. Meanwhile many American fans grumbled that the “classic” was interrupting spring training. [. . .]

Global fans want global leagues, above all the NBA or the Premiership. It’s therefore wrong to think that Beckham will save American soccer by playing for the LA Galaxy. American soccer is alive and well and watching Manchester United on Fox Soccer Channel. This is a posthumous victory for the British empire.

Read the entire article.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (1) |

January 24, 2008

You think it's hard being a Houston sports fan?

As noted earlier here, it's not easy being a fan of Houston sports teams. But as difficult as that may be, it's nothing compared to the angst that long-suffering New York Jets fans are enduring as a result of having their two most-hated rivals in Super Bowl XLII:

Perhaps the only thing worse for Jets fans than watching their team finish 4-12 this season, is knowing the historic Feb. 3 matchup pits their big-brother co-tenants, the Giants, against Bill Belichick and the ever-villainous Patriots.

"I can't wait for this to be over," said [longtime Jets fan Ira] Lieberfarb, a 53-year-old auto-parts wholesaler and a regular caller on local sports-talk radio who attends virtually every Jets game, home and away. "Whichever team wins it, I'm going to suffer. I grew up in Sheepshead Bay getting abused by Giants fans and mostly everyone at my party will be Giants fans. I can't escape that. But I don't know a single Jets fan that could root for the Patriots and Belichick."

Which reminds me of the funny video below that chronicles the reaction of Jets fans to their team's horrible draft picks from over the years:

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (1) |

January 23, 2008

Rating the recruiting classes

Now that the long college football season has finally ended, the more avid fans turn to the annual period of speculation (see previous posts here and here) as to where the top high school football players will end up playing college football. Along those lines, the Sunday Morning Quarterback blog provides this interesting post that attempts to correlate the top big-time college football programs' performance relative to the rating of their recruiting classes over the past several years.

The entire SMQB blog post is well worth reading and I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that Texas A&M appears to have made the right decision after last season.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

January 18, 2008

Sizing up the Texans' needs

As At the beginning of the past two football seasons (here and here), I noted the trend of the blogosphere replacing the mainstream media as the more reliable and insightful source of information on the Houston Texans.

Now, as the Chronicle's Texans beat reporter writes about odd people who call into radio talk shows, Stephanie Stradley and Outlaw (see also here) size up the Texans' main personnel and coaching needs as the team enters the off-season.

As these posts reflect, the blogosphere is definitely rapping the knuckles of the Chronicle right now in the competition of providing meaningful information to the public about the Texans.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (6) |

January 10, 2008

Grading the coaches

Following on this earlier post on the most overpaid big-time college football coaches and now that the seemingly unending college football season is mercificully over (and the playoff proponents want to make it longer?), the College Hot Seat posts its final grades (related blog post here) for the big-time college football coaches.

No Texas coaches get an "A." Texas Tech's Mike Leach is the highest graded Texas coach at a B+.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

January 7, 2008

Say what?

Let's see now. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has had one of the best seasons from a performance standpoint of any QB in NFL history. He led his team to a 16-0 record, which is the best regular season record in NFL history. And someone still actually voted for Brett Favre over Brady as the NFL's Most Valuable Player?

I think I know who voted for Favre.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

January 4, 2008

Not much bang for the buck

A frequent topic on this blog (see earlier post here) is how the NCAA's hyper-regulation of big-time college football causes all sorts of financial disparities, not the least of which is that a part of the excess rents that should be paid to compensate players is paid to the top head coaches.

Well, not that big money paid to coaches is a hot topic on college campuses or anything, but I bet that the following performance of the five top-paid college football coaches will be the subject of at least a few conversations in faculty lounges around the country:

1. Charlie Weis ($4,000,000) - worst season in Notre Dame history.

2. Bob Stoops ($3,620,000) - fourth Oklahoma BCS bowl loss in a row.

3. Nick Saban ($3,503,000) - 'Bama avoided a losing record with an Independence Bowl win.

4. Urban Meyer ($3,384,000) - Gators have four losses with a Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

5. Kirk Ferentz ($3,030,000) - After finishing last season 6-7 with a bowl loss, Iowa finished this season 6-6 with a loss to a 5-7 MAC team and no bowl game.

H/T Get the Picture.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

December 31, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP photo; previous weekly reviews here)

Texans 42 Jaguars 28

The Texans (8-8) beat the Jaguars (11-5) junior varsity team to achieve their first non-losing season in the team's six year history. The difference in this one was two kickoff returns for TD's and a fumble recovery to set up another by Texans' WR Andre Davis, who the Texans picked up off the scrap heap just before the beginning of the season. Talk about a nice bargain buy.

So, with the final game of the season in the books, now the season of unending media analysis of the Texans' sixth season opens. The lead-up to the game prompted yet another incoherent outburst from Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice (compare that to this largely contradictory blog post from less than two weeks ago), whose inept coverage of the Texans over the past several years (see here and here) rivals fellow Chronicle columnist Jose de Jesus Ortiz's coverage of the Stros for sheer incompetence. For an even-handed and insightful evaluation of the Texans' season by position, see this Lance Zierlein blog post.

Despite their 8-8 finish, the harsh reality is that the Texans have not made much progress since the end of Year Three, when they finished with a similar 7-9 record and comparable statistics versus the league. Based on the steady progress of the Texans during their first three seasons of existence, former Texans coach Dom Capers made the ill-fated decision to make several fundamental changes on both offense and defense between Year Three and Four in an effort to elevate the Texans to playoff-contention status. As we all know now, those decisions had precisely the opposite effect, leading to a disastrous 2-14 record in Year Four.

That experience prompted Texans owner Bob McNair to clean house, change the management structure of the team and effectively start over with an untested assistant coach as the new head coach. Through Year Two of the Gary Kubiak era, there is still no clear indication whether the Texans will be any more successful under Kubiak than those first Texans teams were under Capers.

On the positive side, the defense has a nucleus of young players with potential, so with proper seasoning, that unit could develop into an above-league average unit over the next couple of seasons. Similarly, Kubiak & Co. have made a number of savvy personnel moves, particularly in improving the wide receiving corps. On the other hand, Kubiak's supposed area of expertise -- i.e., the offense -- has been plagued by a couple of really bad personnel decisions, initially the decision to keep QB David Carr, then the decision to go long on over-the-hill running back, Ahman Green.

Is Kubiak the coach to turn the Texans fortunes around? I don't know, but I am impressed by his willingness to recognize mistakes and make changes, which reflects that he is not burdened with the stubborness that often undermines NFL head coaches. Inasmuch as continuity in coaching staffs and personnel is one of the most common elements of successful NFL teams, my sense is that Kubiak has shown enough that McNair would be prudent to endure the mistakes of this young coach on the hope that such stability will ultimately be rewarded with a winner. Goodness knows McNair deserves it, given the excellent facilities and support that he has always provided to the Texans football operation.

But just don't count on big improvement next season. The better bet for a Texans playoff drive is the 2009 season.

Texas Longhorns 52 Arizona State 34

The Longhorns (10-3) dominated Arizona State (10-3) in an entertaining Holiday Bowl game that firmly established Longhorn Coach Mack Brown's son-in-law -- Chris Jessie (pictured above) -- as one of the most unlikely "almost-scapegoats" in the storied history of Texas football. Despite the satisfying win, the Horns have several big issues to resolve during the off-season, such as shoring up a leaky defensive unit and replacing star RB Jamaal Charles if he elects to turn pro. The Horns are loaded with talent, but it's unlikely that they can overtake Oklahoma in the Big 12 South without substantial improvement in their defensive unit.

Penn State 24 Texas Aggies 17

Do you think it's possible that A&M's Alamo Bowl experience could have gone any worse?

First, an Aggie Yell Leader at a pre-game pep rally exclaimed that legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was "on his death bed" and "needed a casket." Check it out:

The Yell Leader's bad judgment prompted embarrassed university officials to fall over themselves apologizing to Paterno, who was gracious in playing down the incident.

Then, after taking a quick 14-0 lead in the game, the Aggies turned the ball over three times in allowing Penn State to dominate the rest of the game. The killer turned out to be a failed fourth-and-less than one yard call midway through the 4th quarter inside the Penn State five yard line. Rather than simply diving for the first down, Aggie QB Stephen McGee fell down for a loss on a busted option play while pile-driving 275 lbs RB Jovorskie Lane sat on the bench. That prompted Lane to break down crying (h/t Jay Christensen).

Thus, the demoralizing Alamo Bowl defeat was a fitting end to the disappointing Coach Fran era at A&M. New Aggie coach Mike Sherman has a number of pressing personnel issues to address, not the least of which is what to do about QB McGee, who returns next season for his senior season. A QB's performance is often adversely affected by peer effects, so McGee's poor showing this season may be the product of an obsolescent option offense and below-average WR's. But my sense is that McGee does not pick up secondary receivers well enough to flourish in the pro-style passing offense that Sherman wants to implement next season. As a result, don't be surprised to see a new QB under center for the Aggies next season.

TCU 20 Houston Cougars 13

As noted earlier here, it's far from clear at this point as to whether former University of Houston head football coach Art Briles made the right career decision in leaving UH to take the Baylor head coaching position.

However, one thing is clear. Briles' decision to bail out on his UH team before its bowl game -- along with taking his top two offensive assistants with him -- probably cost the Cougars their first win in a bowl game in 27 years. The way Briles abandoned his UH team has hurt his reputation, particularly considering that new A&M coach Mike Sherman and new UH coach Kevin Sumlin both completed their responsibilities with their current teams before assuming responsibility for their new jobs. Briles will need his good reputation if things don't work out at Baylor, which is not an easy place to improve one's reputation as a football coach even under the best of circumstances.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (1) |

December 24, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(Michael Conroy/AP Photo; previous reviews here)

Colts 38 Texans 15

Call it the dog days of the long and arduous NFL season. The Texans (7-8) are a young and uneven team whose only motivation at this point is attempting to achieve the best record in franchise history (8-8), which isn't saying much. On the other hand, the Colts (13-2) coming into this game didn't have much reason to put out much effort given that had already clinched their fifth straight AFC South title, the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the playoffs. So, what was the result?

Peyton Manning carved up the Texans' defense like it was a holiday turkey in generating a season-high 458 yards and 33 first downs. The performance was a big step backward for the Texans' defense, which had been showing progress over the past month or so. Meanwhile, after a couple of productive games over the past two weeks, the Texans' offense reverted to form in generating only 299 yards, even though none of the Colts regular defensive linemen played and the Texans were playing against the Colts' reserves for much of the second half.

Oh well, the Texans still have a decent chance to achieve the best record in franchise history next Sunday at Reliant Stadium if they beat the Jaguars (11-4), who have also locked up their playoff spot and will be playing reserves liberally throughout the game. Another loss for the Texans would leave them at 7-9 for the season, which is the record I predicted for the Texans before the season. Regardless of the season-ending record, however, it's hard at this point to project that this team is going to make substantial improvement in its record next season.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

December 19, 2007

The remarkable story of Kevin Everett

Three months ago, Kevin Everett, a tight end for the Buffalo Bills who was born and raised in Port Arthur just east of Houston, suffered a serious spinal cord injury during an NFL game. At the time of the injury, there was grave doubt whether Everett would ever walk again.

As this Sports Illustrated article recounts, Everett's recovery from his serious injury has been nothing short of amazing. One of the interesting aspects of Everett's recovery is that it may have been fueled by the gutsy call of a 45 year-old orthopedic surgeon on the scene in Buffalo, but it was certainly facilitated by the remarkable rehabilitation services of the Texas Medical Center's Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (known as "TIRR") and the inspiring resolve of the 25 year old patient. TIRR is regularly ranked as one of the finest rehabilitation institutions in the U.S. and is one of the many reasons that Houston is among the world's finest medical centers.

Posted by Tom at 12:30 AM | Comments (0) |

December 17, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(David J. Phillip/AP Photo; previous weekly reviews here)

Texans 34 Broncos 13

It was the Mario Williams show last Thursday evening as the second-year defensive end dominated the line of scrimmage in leading Texans' (7-7) to a convincing victory over the Denver Broncos (6-8). Backup QB Sage Rosenfels chipped in with his second straight efficient performance in leading the Texans' offense to one of its best outputs of the season (358 yds total offense/200 yds passing on 16-27 passes/158 yds rushing). And no one should overlook the fact that the Texans' offense is a different unit altogether when WR Andre Johnson (6 catches for 86 yds) -- who missed eight games earlier in the season with a knee injury -- is punishing opposing teams' secondaries with his special combination of size and speed. About the only thing wrong with the Texans on Thursday night was their all-red uniforms, which made the players look like a bunch of rather large lollypops.

But the real story surrounding the play of Williams has been the blogosphere's exposing of the vacuous, irresponsible and mostly unwarranted criticism of Williams over his first two seasons by much of the local mainstream media. When the Texans chose Williams over local favorite Vince Young and USC RB Reggie Bush as the first player taken in the 2006 NFL Draft, the local mainstream media crucified Texans management and Williams, even though a few of us in the blogosphere noted at the time that it was not an unreasonable selection.

Then, as Stephanie Stradley masterfully recounts here, the local mainstream media continued to criticize the Texans and Williams throughout the 2006 season and even much of this season. Although Williams pass-rushing ability was hampered during the 2006 season because he played the entire season with a painful injury (planters fasciitis), Williams actually played quite well against the run. Then, this season, with his mobility no longer limited by injury, Williams has continued to play well against the run and, over the past five games, has exploded into one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL. But until recently, much of the local mainstream media continued to characterize Williams as a bust, although Williams' spectacular play over the past couple of games has generated a number of mea culpas.

As distasteful as the local mainstream media's treatment of Williams has been over most of the past two seasons, it is indicative of something important that is happening in the information marketplace. Much of the mainstream media misrepresented Williams' perfomance in order to stoke controversy (and sell papers) over the Texans' decision to pass on Young and Bush in favor of Williams. It was blogs such as Stradley's and several others that provided an objective and accurate assessment of Williams' performance.

Local mainstream media management better review what happened in regard to their reporting on Williams. Stoking controversy with inaccurate reporting may sell more papers over the short term, but it's no way to engender customer loyalty in the long run. Particularly not from customers who now can obtain better information from sources other than the mainstream media.

The Texans travel to Indianapolis to play the playoff-secure Colts (12-2) next Sunday before returning home to play the Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4), which probably will be playoff-secure by the time of that game. Inasmuch as both the Colts and Jags will likely rest and protect key players in those games for the playoffs, the Texans have a decent chance to set a franchise record for wins and finish the season with their first non-losing record in their six year existence.

The University of Houston hires Kevin Sumlin as its new head coach.

After a two-week search, UH Athletic Director Dave Maggard finally selected 43 year-old University of Oklahoma assistant coach Kevin Sumlin to replace Art Briles as the head coach of the Houston Cougars. Sumlin has been an assistant coach in a half-dozen major programs, but he really first made a name for himself five years ago when he was on R.C. Slocum's final coaching staff at Texas A&M. Three games into that season, Slocum named Sumlin to replace Dino Babers as A&M's offensive coordinator and Sumlin did a good job under those difficult circumstances holding A&M's offense together and then actually improving the unit as the season wore on. OU head coach Bob Stoops took notice and hired Sumlin, who rose up through the ranks of the OU staff over the past five seasons to become co-offensive coordinator. Stoops, who is a real "coach's coach," lobbied Maggard hard on behalf of Sumlin, which is a real feather in Sumlin's hat.

Having said that, the performance of Stoops' former assistants as head coaches has been somewhat checkered -- we already have reviewed Mike Leach's uneven performance at Texas Tech; Mark Mangino had a great 2007 season at Kansas, but he is only 36-36 in six seasons there; Chuck Long is 7-17 after two seasons at San Diego State; and Mike Stoops is 17-29 in four seasons at Arizona where he is on the hot seat in 2008.

As with all head coaches, Sumlin's ultimate success or failure at UH will largely depend on the quality of the coaching staff that he puts together. Jack Pardee, the other finalist for the UH job, had already assembled an impressive group of assistants to serve on his staff had he been hired. Sumlin would be smart in filling out his staff to consider several of the assistants who Pardee would have hired.

Posted by Tom at 12:11 AM | Comments (0) |

December 12, 2007

Say what, Jerry Jones?

So, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is lobbying the Texas state legislature to intervene on the National Football League's behalf in the league's dispute with the cable companies over carrying the NFL Network's slate of games. As I understand Jones' argument, the legislators should be upset with the cable companies because they are trying to make a killing by over-charging a few of their customers who would subscribe to the network rather than simply making the network available to all customers and spreading a more reasonable amount over all of them. Or something to that effect.

Based on the numbers contained in this Mitchell Schnurman column on Jones' new Cowboys stadium that is nearing completion in Arlington (options for top-line club seats are being offered for $50,000 each!), does anyone else find it at least a wee bit absurd that Jones is criticizing someone else for trying to make too much money?

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

December 11, 2007

Making those holiday bowl game bets

The holiday bowl season tends to generate a few friendly wagers in my circles, so it's always helpful to have good information sources to check before finalizing those bets.

As noted earlier in the season, CollegeFootballSeason.com is an outstanding resource that provides the outcome of every game on every major-college team's schedule. It's a great way to check up on how competing teams fared against common opponents.

Also, Covers.com provides a ton of useful information, including this handy chart (H/T Jay Christensen) that shows the record of each major college team against the spread (Kansas led the nation this past season with a 10-1 record against the spread).

Get ready to rumble!

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

December 10, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip; previous weekly reviews here)

Texans 28 Buccaneers 14

The Buccaneers (8-5) had the incentive of being able to sew up the NFC South Division title with a win over the Texans (6-7) on Sunday afternoon at Reliant Stadium. The Texans could manage to generate only 286 yards of total offense and had two turnovers. The Texans were playing their backup QB, their third and fourth-string running backs, and an offensive line that included a couple of third stringers because of injuries.

So, what happens? The Texans win by 14. So it goes in the wacky world of the NFL.

This was a plucky performance by the Texans, particularly the defense and backup QB Sage Rosenfels. Even though Tampa Bay had to go with their backup QB Luke McCown, the Texans' defense brought consistent pressure and, with the exception of one TD drive, never let the Bucs' offense get into rhythm.

Meanwhile, Rosenfels threw three TD passes and managed the game quite well, allowing the Texans to have a decided advantage in time of possession. Rosenfels still shows his lack of game experience from time-to-time by holding on to to the ball for too long and throwing into coverage. But he is a gamer and as tough as nails, and it's clear that his teammates rally around him. It's amazing to me (and not terribly encouraging) that Coach Kubiak and his staff didn't realize early on last season that Rosenfels was a much better NFL QB than former Texans QB David Carr, who will probably be out of the league after this season.

Finally, with the win, all is well again in Richard Justice's Texans world, who was in a quite different mood after last week's loss.

The Texans take on the Broncos (6-7) in the NFL's Thursday night nationally-televised game this week at Reliant Stadium before finishing up the 2007 season at Indianapolis and then back home against Jacksonville.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (5) |

December 7, 2007

BCS lunacy

A case can be made that the Bowl Championship Series has been bad overall for college football. On the other hand, a case can also be made that it is a reasonable compromise between a playoff system for big-time college football and scrapping the lucrative bowl system altogether.

However, regardless of what you think about the BCS overall, it's clear that the component of the BCS ratings that is based upon the coaches' poll of the top teams ought to be scrapped. If you have any doubts about that, read this Dan Steinberg post regarding the absurd ratings by various coaches in their latest poll. I know Missouri had a good season and all, but how does one rate the Tigers higher than Oklahoma, which beat Mizzou rather handily twice?

By the way, the Las Vegas smart guys contend that the BCS blew it by putting LSU and Ohio State in the title game:

If Las Vegas Sports Consultants oddsmaker Ken White was a matchmaker for the BCS, he said USC would be playing Oklahoma for the title. The Trojans and Sooners were tied atop LVSC's final regular-season poll.

"I think the third- and fourth-best teams in the country are playing for the title," White said. "We have to make USC a slight favorite over anybody except Oklahoma."

White said because of "public perception," the Trojans would be about 1.5 point favorites over the Sooners.

Walker said USC would be about a 7-point favorite over Ohio State.

"I still think USC would be favored over any team on a neutral field," Walker said. "This would be a phenomenal year to have a tournament."

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

December 6, 2007

Cheerleading patience

As the Texans fade to their sixth straight losing season and fifth last place finish in their six year existence, head Texans cheerleader John McClain is preaching patience.

A year ago at this time, the Texans looked deader than a doornail and like a team that was not particularly well-coached. The Texans closed the season by upsetting the Colts and beating a bad Browns team to finish with a 6-10 record.

Then, after the usual pre-season cheerleading and despite the fact that the Texans continued to make questionable personnel moves in the off-season, McClain went batty over second-year coach Gary Kubiak after the Texans opened this season with wins over a bad Chiefs team and an even worse Carolina team.

Now, a couple of months later and a year later after the Texans looked deader than a doornail, the Texans again look deader than a doornail and like a team that is not particularly well-coached. The Texans will have to win two of the last four games against tough opponents just to finish one game better than last season's 6-10 record.

And McClain preaches patience.

Frankly, I'm quite patient with the Texans -- I don't think the team will improve much until Bob McNair is completely comfortable with a management model for the team, gets the right management and coaches in place, and that management quits making bad personnel decisions. However, I'm much less patient with what the Chronicle attempts to pass off as analysis from John McClain.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (4) |

December 3, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey; previous weekly reviews are here)

Titans 28 Texans 20

Let's see here. The Texans (5-7) lose another game on their way to their sixth straight losing season and lose their starting QB Matt Schaub to injury. Schaub is injured after being brutally hammered two plays in a row when two different Titan defensive ends waltzed virtually untouched threw the Texans' offensive line, which has been a chronic weak spot of the team for its entire six year existence. Schaub has now had to leave three different games this year with injuries and missed one game entirely (Oakland) that the Texans won.

Viewing this landscapte, the Chronicle's Richard Justice reacts to all this by expressing concern that second-year coach Gary Kubiak might not be the right coach for the Texans:

Now the Texans are at another crossroads. They've got four games left in a season that's again going nowhere. I hope Bob McNair takes a hard look at his franchise and asks this question: ''Are we headed in the right direction? Are we getting the pieces in place? Are Rick Smith and Gary Kubiak the guys that can get us to the playoffs?''

He can ask himself that question today, but he really should answer it at the end of the season. Kubiak and Smith have had two. That's enough to know whether they're what he hoped they'd be. When you see the turnovers and penalties, when you see leads consistently disappear, it makes you wonder.

Of course, this is the same Richard Justice who wrote the following only two months ago:

Do you think Gary Kubiak is the coach that will lead us to the playoffs? Not this year, but ever? Do you believe he is doing all he can do after the injuries to add talent to the team and positions?

My point is that there are a dozen different ways to do it. All NFL head coaches have to be smart, and Kubiak is plenty smart. They all have to understand the game, and he certainly does that.

Successful coaches all have a strength--dignity? toughness?--about them. If the rumors about what Kubiak said to Mario Williams after the summer speeding incident are true, he's got plenty of toughness.

So in the things that can be measured--knowledge, organizational skills, etc.--he's got plenty of all those qualities. Does that mean he can put it all together and lead a group of men to the playoffs?

Based on what I've seen, I'd say he definitely can. He has to get the right kind of players. He has to get guys who care. He has to get talented players. But I think if the Texans do their job in the personnel department, Kubiak is plenty good enough to take them to the Super Bowl.

Of course, that was absolutely restrained in comparison to what Justice wrote about Kubiak just a week earlier:

Gary Kubiak is smart and Rick Smith is competent and Matt Schaub is on the fast track to the Pro Bowl. If they win this afternoon (against the Colts), the Texans will be the NFL's best story. [. . .]

With two solid rookie classes and the addition of 10 veterans with playoff experience, this group isn't burdened by those past failures.

"That's right," Ahman Green said. "You've got people in here now who've won and expect to win."

Thus comes a cautionary tale. The Texans might have crossed one threshold but many more are ahead. [. . .]

That's the road the Texans finally have started down. They've put themselves in the conversation around the NFL. In other words, they're legitimate. Now comes the fun part.

And the foregoing doesn't even compare with how Justice was extolling the Kubiak regime before the season.

Of course, anyone who reads this blog regularly knew before the season that the Texans continue to make questionable personnel decisions and probably wouldn't improve much this season over the 6-10 record of last season. Frankly, I remain unsure whether Kubiak is the right fellow to be head coach of the Texans, but nothing that has happened this season has changed my view or been particularly surprising or unexpected.

The Texans return home next week to face a tough Tampa Bay (8-4) team, and then have Denver (5-7) and Jacksonville (8-4) at home sandwiched around a trip to Indianapolis (10-2) to close out the season. The way Justice's attitude about Kubiak goes up and down, the Texans better win one soon or else he will have soon have him in the same boat with Dom Capers.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (1) |

Art Briles moves from Houston to Baylor

Art Briles resigned last week as head coach of the University of Houston football program and accepted the same position at Baylor University and the change generated the usual knashing of teeth some sectors of the UH community that typically follows such moves. However, Briles' move surprised no one, except for perhaps a few folks in West Texas who figured that he would hold out at Houston until Mike Leach at Texas Tech moved on and Briles could lay claim to his dream job.

Although Briles was reasonably successful at Houston, he never really seemed at home as the Cougars' coach. Most folks don't realize that Houston's program is still relatively young by college football standards and Briles never was comfortable with the multi-tasked job of leading the Houston program into a Bowl Championship Series conference. The Houston program burst on to the national stage during the 25 year tenure of Bill Yeoman, the outstanding and innovative coach of the Cougars from 1960-85. When UH hires a new head coach to replace Briles, that will be the sixth head coach in the 22 years since Coach Yeoman retired. And during that span, there have been even more UH athletic directors than football coaches.

In many ways, the UH football program reflects the struggles of the University overall. As noted repeatedly on this blog, the University of Houston is a relatively young state research university (only since the 1963) that the State of Texas has consistently shortchanged in financial support in comparison to Texas' two flagship research institutions, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University. Inasmuch as the UH football program is also relatively young in comparison to the UT and A&M programs, it pales in terms of fan and financial support in comparison to its older and better-endowed competitors. Nevertheless, Houston's football and other athletic programs competed quite well with its better-endowed neighbors during the 20 year period in which UH participated in the old Southwest Conference. As with the University of Houston generally, the UH athletic program has produced more "bang for the buck" than any other athletic program in Texas over the past 50 years.

Despite that legacy, Houston's football program had been lagging badly for a decade coinciding with the demise of the Southwest Conference when Briles took over in 2003. Former Coach Yeoman campaigned hard at the time to have UH hire his former player Briles (who was a Texas Tech assistant coach at the time), even though it was clear even then that Briles had his eye on the Texas Tech head coaching job. Briles has been angling for the Tech head job for years because Tech Coach Leach apparently has been trying to get out of Lubbock almost continuously since he got there. Unfortunately for Briles and other prospective coaches for the Tech job, Leach doesn't seem to perform nearly as well in those pre-hiring interviews as he does while directing his high-powered offense on Saturday afternoons.

Thus, when the Baylor job came open, Briles elected to take it and stake his claim to a program in a Bowl Championship Series conference. And that's the real difference in the two jobs. Houston has the potential to be one of the top non-BCS conference programs, but Baylor is already in a BCS conference. Thus, Baylor has the advantage of having access to a share of the considerable sums of money that the BCS pays to the BCS-member conferences. As a result, even a downtrodden program such as Baylor in a BCS conference is likely to have more resources than a potentially better-situated but non-BCS conference program such as UH, at least for the time being.

My sense is that Briles is a reasonably good hire for Baylor. He is West Texas through and through, and that should fit in well in Waco. He did a good job at UH, although his teams' offensive flair was offset by often-poor defensive play.

Briles took over a UH program that had gone 8-26 in the previous three seasons, including an ugly 0-11 slate in former UH Coach Dana Dimel's second season in 2002. Briles immediately brought in talented freshman QB Kevin Kolb, around whom he built his innovative offense, which includes variations on the spread, the Wing-T and the Single Wing offenses. Briles and Kolb led the Cougars to a 7-5 record in that first season, including a close bowl loss to Hawaii. In 2004, the Cougars took a step backward during an uninspired 3-8 season, but bounced back the following season when they went 6-6 with a blowout bowl loss to Kansas in the Fort Worth Bowl.

In 2006, everything came together for Briles, Kolb and the Coogs as they went 10-4,won UH's second Conference USA championship and lost the Liberty Bowl in a close game to South Carolina. This past season, Briles led the Coogs to an 8-4 record and Texas Bowl berth in his first "after-Kolb" season, although Houston's progress appeared stunted late in the season around the time the Baylor job came open. I don't know if Briles' interest in the job had anything to do with that downturn, but Briles and a number of key members of his staff have bailed out on coaching the Cougars in the Texas Bowl. I'm reasonably sure that has not left a pleasant taste in the mouth of UH Athletic Director, Dave Maggard.

Although Briles' did a good job of turning around the UH program, it would be a stretch to say that his UH record was outstanding. Based on final Massey Composite ratings, Briles had one top 70 team at UH, the 2006 C-USA championship team. UH under Briles was 6-24 against teams that finished in the Top 75, including 1-8 against non-conference teams in the Top 75. Moreover, Briles tenure at UH coincided with a downturn in the quality of C-USA teams as teams such as Rice, Marshall, SMU, and UTEP entered the league and powers such as Louisville, Cincy and USF left. In C-USA games, Briles' teams were 5-14 against C-USA teams with a winning a record and won only one road game against a C-USA team that had a winning record. Briles' teams were 28-4 against teams that finished out of the Top 75 or were Division 1-AA, so his teams didn't lose much to bad teams -- about once a year. UH's best win under Briles was over Oklahoma State in 2006, but really Briles' record at UH is nothing out of the ordinary.

Whether Briles' decision made a good decision in taking the Baylor job is a tougher call. While Briles could have had as long a contract as he wanted at UH, Baylor has become a coaching graveyard. Recently-fired coach Guy Morriss is a well-respected coach within the profession and he couldn't get over the hump in the five seasons that he coached there. Briles' Baylor contract calls for $1.8 million annually over seven years, but a buyout of that contract is almost certainly far less than that. So, if Briles stinks up the joint in Waco over his first three seasons, then he could very well be looking at the same fate as Morriss while making considerably less than if he had simply stayed at UH.

Expectations at Baylor at this point are not the same as UH, so Briles first goal will simply be to get the Bears to a .500 season in the Big 12 South. Taking a peak at the 2008 Baylor schedule, that does not appear to be likely in his first season:

Aug. 30 Wake Forest (probable loss)
Sept. 6 Northwestern State (toss up)
Sept. 13 Washington State (toss up)
Sept. 20 at Connecticut (probable loss)
Oct. 4 Oklahoma (loss)
Oct. 11 Iowa State (toss up)
Oct. 18 at Oklahoma State (probable loss)
Oct. 25 at Nebraska (probable loss)
Nov. 1 Missouri (loss)
Nov. 8 at Texas (loss)
Nov. 15 Texas A&M (probable loss)
Nov. 22 at Texas Tech (loss)

Toss ups: 3
Probable losses: 5
Sure losses: 4

3-9 overall and 1-7 in the Big 12 looks likely, so Briles' honeymoon in Waco will probably be short. And the Big 12 South is not a friendly place in which to experience short honeymoons.

Who should UH hire to replace Briles? Within the coaching profession, the UH head coaching position is considered an attractive one, albeit not one without problems. My sense is that the UH should hire an experienced coach who has recruited in the Cougars' usual pipelines for players and who has experience in raising funds. The next big step for the Houston program is either the upgrade of Robertson Stadium into a decent college football stadium or the construction of a new stadium along UH's entryway on I-45. Either of such endeavors is going to cost between $60-$80 million, so hiring an experienced coach who is interested in working in Houston for the long term while being involved in a facilities fund-raising campaign makes a lot of sense.

Kind of makes you wish that there were still college football coaches like Bill Yeoman out there, doesn't it?

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (1) |

November 29, 2007

The return of Coach Slocum on a Mobile

New Texas A&M football coach Mike Sherman was an assistant coach in the A&M program under R.C. Slocum, the folksy former head coach who was somewhat unceremoniously dumped when the A&M reached to hire Dennis Franchione five years ago. As one Aggie friend put it to me earlier in the week: "So, we endured Coach Fran for five years just to turnaround and hire one of R.C.'s former assistants? Why didn't we just do that in the first place?"

At any rate, Slocum had been exiled from the Aggie football program during the Franchione regime. Incredibly, Sherman's press conference earlier this week in which he accepted the A&M job was the first time that Slocum -- who still works for A&M in its alumni relations department -- had been in the new A&M Bright Football Complex. He apparently had never been invited before!

Nevertheless, Slocum is experiencing a rebirth in the A&M football program with the hiring of his former assistant Sherman. And one of the fringe benefits of that new level of involvement is the reappearance of the weekly segment that used to run on John Granato and Lance Zierlein's local morning radio show during Slocum's tenure at A&M, "Coach Slocum on a Mobile."

"Coach Slocum on a Mobile" is comprised of an impersonator doing an incredibly precise imitation of Coach Slocum's folksy East Texas twang as he provides often hilarious answers to questions tossed to him by Granato and Zierlein. Yesterday morning, Granato and Zierlein's new KGOW 1560 AM morning drivetime show carried its first segment of "Coach Slocum on a Mobile," which included the following gems:

On A&M's new offense under Coach Sherman:

"Well, we're bringing back the 'Gulf Coast Offense' with QB Randy McCown."

On A&M's 38-30 win over Texas this past weekend:

"Did you see (former A&M RB) Jamaar Toombs run over (former UT DB) Michael Griffin this past Friday? It was great!"

On the insecurity of big-time college coaching positions:

"You know, I've always said if you can go 7-5 and have the opportunity to go to Shreveport, maybe Houston, for a bowl game, you ought to keep your job."

The old "Coach Slocum on a Mobile" segments during Coach Slocum's head coaching days at A&M were classics, which included such pearls of wisdom as "1/2 of the teams in America lose every week and so I don't think there's any shame in losing," that the tight end position in the Gulf Coast Offense is a "supertackle," that "Baylor is the Notre Dame of the South," and -- channeling former UT coach Darrell Royal's observation about passing -- "Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of 'em ain't good."

If you want a taste of pure Texas football culture, then tune in to a few segments of "Coach Slocum on a Mobile." You won't be disappointed.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (2) |

That's what you call a plug

I thought what occurred to the football after the punt in the video below only happened to my golf shots on soggy courses. I guess that's what you get from re-sodding a football field immediately before a several-inch deluge:

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

November 28, 2007

Todd Graham's Inferno

Rice University gave Todd Graham his first opportunity to be a head coach of a college football program. As noted earlier here, Graham in his first year on South Main led the Owls to their first bowl game since the early 1960's, was named Conference USA Coach of the Year, renegotiated his contract, and then announced a couple of weeks after the bowl game that he was leaving to replace his former boss as head coach at the University of Tulsa. By virtually all accounts, Graham handled the job change about as badly as possible.

Well, as predicted in my post at the time of Graham's job change, it was just a matter of time before Rice's notorious Marching Owl Band ("the MOB) would have an opportunity to comment on Coach Graham's antics, and that opportunity presented itself this past Saturday during halftime of the Rice-Tulsa game at Rice Stadium. The MOB performed a halftime show entitled "Todd Graham's Inferno," which concluded with the following comment over the stadium public address system:

You know, that reminds me of a joke: A priest, a nun, and a rabbi walk into a bar. Now, I forgot how the rest of it went, but I think in the end "Todd Graham is a douchebag."

Ladies and gentlemen, the two-thousand seven Marching Owl Band. Please send all complaints to: your mom at mob dot rice dot E-D-U.

Childish for sure, but nothing out of the ordinary for the MOB. And it was certainly not even as clever as the MOB's theme for their halftime show during Rice's bowl game against Troy last year -- "Troy Loses. Read Homer"

So, how did the University of Tulsa respond? By doing precisely what the MOB probably wanted -- fueled the inferno by filing a complaint against the MOB with the C-USA commissioner:

The University of Tulsa has sent a formal complaint to Conference USA regarding Rice's halftime show during the Golden Hurricane-Owls football game on Saturday.

The performance by the Rice marching band was titled "Todd Graham's Inferno" and depicted a search for the former Owls coach through different circles of Hell, based on Dante's "Divine Comedy."

After taking numerous jabs at Graham, the show ended by calling the Tulsa coach a "d-----bag" over the public address system.

"We filed a formal complaint with the conference and that's where it stands now," TU athletic director Bubba Cunningham said.[. . .]

When asked what he wanted the complaint to accomplish, Cunningham said, "We need to provide an environment where a student-athlete can participate and fans can enjoy college athletics in a very positive way."

Sportsmanship has been a point of emphasis in C-USA, the Tulsa athletic director said.

"When we don't meet those standards, we need to look at ourselves as a league and find how we can make that experience better," he said.

Yeah, that was real sportsmanship displayed by Cunningham and Tulsa last year when they lured Graham away from Rice right in the middle of recruiting season.

At any rate, all of this provides the opportunity to pass along again the following anecdote about football coaches that legendary Houston sportswriter Mickey Herskowitz tells:

In the mid 1960's, the Los Angeles Rams had hired George Allen off of the coaching staff of George Halas in Chicago.

Halas was furious that the Rams failed to ask for his permission and threatened to take Allen to court. At a league meeting after the issue was resolved, Halas used the occasion to vent his anger at his former defensive coach.

"George Allen," Halas raged, "is a man with no conscience. He is dishonest, deceptive, ruthless, consumed with his own ambition."

At that point, Vince Lombardi leaned over to the owner of the Rams and whispered: "Sounds to me like you've got yourself a helluva football coach."

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (1) |

November 27, 2007

The Sherman hiring

Well, Texas A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne's "nationwide search" for a new head coach to replace Dennis Franchione took a couple of days and extended all of about 100 miles southeast of College Station as A&M hired Houston Texans assistant head coach Mike Sherman as its new head coach yesterday. The deal is for seven years at $1.8 million per year. Ryan over at TAMaBINPO has a nice overview of Sherman's coaching career.

Although some in the Aggie nation were disappointed that A&M didn't hire a "big-name" coach de jour, my sense is that hiring Sherman is a reasonably good move. A&M is currently in the latter stages of a somewhat divisive search for a new president, so the A&M Board of Regents doesn't need more faculty flak from another flank. Moreover, A&M overpaid badly to hire Franchione, so the buyout of Coach Fran's contract is going to be expensive, even by A&M standards. Under these circumstances, eschewing a high-priced, big-name coach is certainly understandable.

Within the coaching profession, Sherman has an excellent reputation as a hand's-on coach, which frankly Franchione did not have when A&M hired him. The only negative comment that I've heard about Sherman is that he was not a particularly good evaluator of talent as Green Bay's general manager from 2001-04. That trait has certainly reared its head during his stint with the Texans -- Sherman was among those who blessed the questionable decision to pick up an expensive option to keep former Texans QB David Carr around for another year and he lobbied hard for the Texans to overpay old and injured RB Ahman Green. Those two decisions are costing the Texans big-time in terms of salary cap space.

Nevertheless, Sherman will have plenty of assistance in picking talent for A&M's football program and he inherits one of the richest bases for recruiting good football players in the U.S. The initial problem that Sherman faces in the recruiting wars is that three Big 12 South programs -- Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech -- have been clearly superior to the Aggies' program for a prolonged period now, although the reasons for each program's superiority are different. UT and OU have had better overall talent than A&M, while Tech has simply outcoached A&M while deploying comparable talent.

At this point, the OU and Texas programs are two of the select few big-time college football programs that are recruiting almost entirely high school prospects who project to have the potential to develop into players capable of playing in the National Football League. A&M does not yet have that luxury in recruiting players into its program, so Sherman will be dealing with a talent deficit to programs like OU and UT for at least the first 2-3 years of his tenure at A&M. With the exception of A&M's last two victories over UT, Franchione's A&M teams did not generally compete well against teams that had superior talent. How Sherman's teams deal with that talent deficit during his initial A&M seasons will largely determine whether Sherman succeeds or fails in Aggieland.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

November 26, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(Jay Janner/Austin American photo; previous weekly reviews here)

Texas Aggies 38 Texas Longhorns 30

For the second straight year, the Aggies (7-5/4-4) upset the Longhorns (9-3/5-3), this time as a resignation present for Aggie head coach Dennis Franchione. I trust that dirty look that Franchione gave to A&M athletic director Bill Byrne at the post-game press conference when he announced his resignation is an indication of how buy-out negotiations have gone. A&M officials have scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. today to introduce Texans offensive coordinator Mike Sherman as the Aggies' new head football coach while hoping that Aggie fans didn't notice the Texans' offensive gameplan in yesterday's game (see below).

At any rate, the Aggies dominated this game as the porous Longhorns defense made A&M QB Stephen McGee look like Joe Montana, and that's really hard to do. But the irony of the victory is that the Ags gameplan was precisely what A&M fans thought they were getting when A&M hired Franchione five years ago -- diverse offensive production, forcing turnovers, creating big plays, exciting trick plays and consistent wins over top tier teams of the Big 12. Unfortunately, this second straight win over the Longhorns came way too late for Coach Fran.

Meanwhile, almost as interesting as the Aggies' coaching search is the quandry that faces Longhorn coach Mack Brown. With the defeat, the Horns have now lost to Texas A&M and Oklahoma in the same season for the first time since 1993. The Horns have also lost two straight games to unranked and underachieving Aggie teams and have squandered BCS bowl berths in two consecutive seasons. And that's even after the Horns played one of the their easiest schedules in recent history.

However, most troubling for the Horns is a defense -- and even more precisely, a pass defense -- that has plummeted over the past year far below UT standards. As noted above, the Horns defense made McGee, who is a mediocre college QB, look like an NFL prospect while throwing for 362 yards. And that was not particularly unusual, either. Against a weak schedule, the Horns defense gave up an average of 533 yards in its final three games, gave up 28 points or more in half of their games as well as 35 points per game over their last four. My sense is that Coach Brown will be taking a hard look at whether staff changes are in order this off-season.

The Aggies and Longhorns now await bowl assignments, although it appears likely that the Aggies will meet Michigan or Penn State in San Antonio's Alamo Bowl. The Longhorns are probably ticketed for yet another appearance in the Holiday Bowl, which was their typical destination before the now fading-in-memory 2005 National Championship.

Browns 27 Texans 17

I'm not making this up. After the Texans' (5-6) recent two game winning "streak," the Texans' cheerleaders in the local mainstream media were actually mentioning the word "playoff" in their media pieces. Then, the Texans in this game proceed to score one TD in the first 57 minutes against the NFL's worst defense, convert only two third-downs all game, and commit three turnovers, giving the team 29 on the season, four more than last season's 6-10 team. Message to local mainstream media -- the words "playoffs" and "Ron Dayne, starting running back" are incompatible. It would also be nice if the Texans defense didn't make the Browns' (7-4) RB Jamal Lewis look like he had just become five years younger. The Texans travel to Nashville next Sunday to face Vince Young and the fading Titans (6-5) before returning home for three of their last four games of the season.

Tulsa 48 Rice 43

The feisty Owls (3-9/3-5) made a game of it, but ultimately simply did not have the horses to stop Tulsa (9-3/6-2) and win the Todd Graham Revenge Bowl. It would have been a nice victory for the Owls and the Houston Cougars, who would have won the C-USA West Division for the second straight year if Tulsa lost. But Rice returns its offensive nucleus of QB Chase Clement, WR Jaret Dillard and HB James Casey, so next season's Owls will still be able to score some points. Now, if they could just find someone to tackle . . .

Houston Cougars 59 Texas Southern 6

Remind me again -- why was this game scheduled? It seemed absolutely appropriate that the game ended up being played in a mush pit caused by a cold, driving rainstorm. The Cougars (8-4/6-2) have accepted a Texas Bowl berth at Reliant Stadium on December 28th against probably a Big 12 team, either Oklahoma State (6-6/4-4) or Colorado (6-6/4-4). If the Big 12 qualifies two teams for BCS bowls, then the Coogs will play an at-large opponent such as TCU (7-5/4-4).

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (2) |

November 23, 2007

The 2007 UT-A&M Game

Although the 113 year-old rivalry game between the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies is always interesting, this year's edition at 2:30 p.m., CST today in College Station (ABC) has an added element of intrigue over the typical UT-AM slugfest.

First, just a season removed from arguably saving his job by guiding the Ags to an upset of the Horns in Austin, embattled A&M head coach Dennis Franchione will almost certainly be coaching his final game for the Aggies. Franchione did not fit in at Aggieland and never seemed capable of winning big games consistently -- his Aggie team followed up that big win over the Horns last year with a humiliating 45-10 loss to Cal in the Holiday Bowl. You never know what to expect from players who are playing their final game for their coach. Could be good, could be bad.

Second, the 13th-ranked Horns (9-2/5-2) need a win if they are going to keep their slim BCS Bowl game hopes alive. With a win and an Oklahoma loss on Saturday against Oklahoma State, the Horns would win the Big 12 South division and play either Missouri or Kansas in the Big 12 title game in San Antonio on December 1st. But a loss to the Ags not only would end those hopes, it would earmark the Longhorns to a middle-tier bowl game for the second straight season.

The Horns are a 5 1/2 point favorite, but there really is not much difference between the two teams this season. Texas throws the ball more effectively than A&M, but that's not saying much because the Aggies act as if the forward pass is a new-fangled innovation that cannot be perfected until some uncertain date in the future. Both teams run the ball with about equal effectiveness and neither team's defense has been particularly dominant. Although the Horns have reeled off five straight wins since their loss to Oklahoma, the wins came over teams with a combined conference record of 12-26.

The Horns have dominated the series with an overall record of 73-35-5 record, but that record is a bit deceptive, particularly with regard to how close the series has been in recent decades. If you back out the Horns' dominant 31-3-1 record during the period from 1940 through 1974 when A&M was being transformed from a small, male-only military institution into a large, co-educational state university similar to UT, the record is a more balanced 42-32-4. In fact, since 1975, the Aggies actually lead the series 17-15.

Finally, for once, the UT-A&M game will not be the biggest game in the Big 12 this weekend. That moniker goes to the Border War showdown on Saturday night in Kansas City between no. 2 Kansas (11-0/7-0) and no. 4 Missouri (10-1/6-1). Take a moment to read this fine Joe Posnanski column on KU head coach Mark Mangino, a fellow for whom it is really easy to cheer.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (2) |

November 21, 2007

Lubbock is just a tough place, period

As this earlier post notes, Lubbock -- the home of the Texas Tech Red Raiders -- is a tough place to play for visiting college football teams.

But the video below shows that Lubbock is also a tough place for at least a couple of the hundreds of excited Tech fans who rushed the field after Tech's Saturday night victory over fourth-ranked Oklahoma.

What on earth are these police officers thinking?

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (3) |

November 19, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews here)

Texans 23 Saints 10

The Texans (5-5) enjoyed the return from their bye week with a convincing win over the Saints (4-6), who appear to be a shadow of the team that played in the NFC Championship Game last season. QB Matt Schaub (21/33 for 293 yds, 2 TD's, no ints), who had his best game as a Texan, and previously injured star WR Andre Johnson (6 rec, 120 yds, 1 TD (73)) were particularly effective, while the Texans defense led by DE Mario Williams and an undermanned but feisty secondary kept the Saints' offense off-rhythm for much of the game. The Texans go on the road over the next two weeks for games against the Browns (6-4) and the Titans (6-3) before returning home for three of the season's last four games.

Houston Cougars 35 Marshall 28

The Cougars (7-4/6-2) kept their fleeting Conference USA title hopes alive with a close win over Marshall (2-9/2-5) as the potent Houston offense came alive in the 2nd half after taking a long nap during the debacle last week against Tulsa and during the first half of this game. The Coogs finish up their regular season with a non-conference game next Saturday against hapless Division I-AA Texas Southern (0-10) while awaiting the outcome of Rice's grudge match against Tulsa at Rice Stadium. If the Owls can pull off the upset against Tulsa, then the Coogs win the CUSA West division title and advance to the conference championship game on December 1st against Central Florida.

Tulane 45 Rice 31

The Owls (3-8/3-4) modest three game winning streak came to an end as Tulane RB Matt Forde rolled up 194 yards and 5 TD's against Rice's overwhelmed defense. Rice's Chase Clement was 35-of-55 passing for 353 yards and four touchdowns, and -- with 379 total yards -- set a Rice season record for total offense with 3,319 yards. The Owls could do a big favor for their cross-town rival Cougars by upsetting Tulsa (8-3/5-2) in the Todd Graham Grudge Match next Saturday at Rice Stadium. However, without a meaningful defense, the Owls offense will probably have to put 60 points on the board against Tulsa for Rice to have a chance to win the game.

Texas (9-2/5-2) and Texas A&M (6-5/3-4) were idle this weekend as they prepare for their annual Friday afternoon (2:30 p.m./ABC) game, which has taken on added importance with Oklahoma's (9-2/5-2) loss to Texas Tech (8-4/4/4) on Saturday night. If the Horns beat the Aggies and a beat-up OU loses to Oklahoma State (6-5/4-3) next Saturday, then the Longhorns will win the Big 12 South Division and represent the division in the Big 12 championship game in San Antonio on December 1st.

And finally, in another type of football, the Houston Dynamo won its second straight Major League Soccer Cup Title, defeating the New England Revolution 2-1. The Dynamo are the first team to win back-to-back MLS Cups since D.C. United did so in 1996-97. The Dynamo will celebrate their latest championship on Tuesday at Houston City Hall from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

November 16, 2007

Mike Leach's selective memory

By now, most folks who follow college football know that Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach received a record fine and public reprimand from the Big 12 Conference for his post-game comments questioning the integrity of the referees who officiated last weekend's Texas-Texas Tech game in Austin in which the Horns hammered the Red Raiders, 59-43.

But not as well publicized as Leach's outburst is Leach's hyprocrisy in making the remarks in the first place. One of Leach's main gripes with the officiating crew last weekend was that one of the officials on the crew was from Austin, referee Randy Christal. However, what Leach failed to mention is that the last two Tech-Texas games also have had a Lubbock resident as an on-field crew member -- Tim Pringle last year in Lubbock and Kelly Deterding this past weekend in Austin.

Moreover, this week's Tech-Oklahoma game in Lubbock renews a similar controversy after the controversial ending of the 2005 Tech-OU game in Lubbock, but Leach wasn't complaining about the referees after that game. Both Lubbock resident Deterding and Austin resident Christal were on the officiating crew during that 2005 game when the officials flagrantly missed a spot on a key fourth down play that kept a last ditch Tech drive alive and then allowed Tech to win the game on a disputed Taurean Henderson touchdown run on the final play of the game.

The video of the blown spot call that kept the final Tech drive alive is below. It's 4th down and 3, Tech QB Cody Hodges' pass is batted in the air and Tech WR Danny Amendola and an OU defender come down with the ball well-short of the first down mark. After the play, both television announcers observe that, even if Amendola caught the ball cleanly, he was stopped well short of the first down marker. The announcers are incredulous when the officiating crew spots the ball and gives Tech a first down:

Of course, that play is followed by the last play of the game where the video shows Tech RB Henderson s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s the ball over the goal line. At least Henderson's TD stretch was a closer call than the Amendola "phantom first down" catch.

To his credit, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops didn't make a public issue of it at the time even though he had a better case than Leach did after his recent outburst in Austin. Stoops' maturity is one of the many reasons that he is a better and more successful coach than Leach.

By the way, that controversial 2005 Tech-OU is also famous for the following video, which establishes that Lubbock is not only one of the toughest places for a visiting team to play, but also one of the toughest places for a visiting player to give a post-game press interview:

Update: Tech upset the Sooners, 34-27.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (9) |

November 13, 2007

Vince Young's $5 million donation to UT

Michael Lewis (previous posts here) -- author of Moneyball and The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (previous post here) -- pens this NY Times op-ed in which he addresses a frequent topic on this blog -- that is, the shameful economic exploitation of athletes by many universities in the business of big-time college football (see previous posts here, here and here):

College football’s best trick play is its pretense that it has nothing to do with money, that it’s simply an extension of the university’s mission to educate its students. Were the public to view college football as mainly a business, it might start asking questions. For instance: why are these enterprises that have nothing to do with education and everything to do with profits exempt from paying taxes? Or why don’t they pay their employees?

This is maybe the oddest aspect of the college football business. Everyone associated with it is getting rich except the people whose labor creates the value. At this moment there are thousands of big-time college football players, many of whom are black and poor. They perform for the intense pleasure of millions of rabid college football fans, many of whom are rich and white. The world’s most enthusiastic racially integrated marketplace is waiting to happen. [. . .]

If the N.C.A.A. genuinely wanted to take the money out of college football it’d make the tickets free and broadcast the games on public television and set limits on how much universities could pay head coaches. But the N.C.A.A. confines its anti-market strictures to the players — and God help the interior lineman who is caught breaking them. Each year some player who grew up with nothing is tempted by a booster’s offer of a car, or some cash, and is never heard from again. [. . .]

Last year the average N.F.L. team had revenue of about $200 million and ran payrolls of roughly $130 million: 60 percent to 70 percent of a team’s revenues, therefore, go directly to the players. There’s no reason those numbers would be any lower on a college football team — and there’s some reason to think they’d be higher. It’s easy to imagine the Universities of Alabama ($44 million in revenue), Michigan ($50 million), Georgia ($59 million) and many others paying the players even more than they take in directly from their football operations, just to keep school spirit flowing. (Go Dawgs!)

But let’s keep it conservative. In 2005, the 121 Division 1-A football teams generated $1.8 billion for their colleges. If the colleges paid out 65 percent of their revenues to the players, the annual college football payroll would come to $1.17 billion. A college football team has 85 scholarship players while an N.F.L. roster has only 53, and so the money might be distributed a bit differently. [. . .]

A star quarterback, . . . might command as much as 8 percent of his college team’s revenues. For instance, in 2005 the Texas Longhorns would have paid Vince Young roughly $5 million for the season. In quarterbacking the Longhorns free of charge, Young, in effect, was making a donation to the university of $5 million a year — and also, by putting his health on the line, taking a huge career risk.

Perhaps he would have made this great gift on his own. The point is that Vince Young, as the creator of the economic value, should have had the power to choose what to do with it. Once the market is up and running players who want to go to enjoy the pure amateur experience can continue to play for free.

Read the entire piece.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (3) |

UT's Sooner legacy

This post from earlier this fall noted that this season was the 50th anniversary of the legendary University of Texas football coach Darrell K. Royal (previous posts here) taking the reins of the then faltering Longhorn football program and turning it into one of the most successful programs in the country over the next 20 years. If you are interested in this fascinating man, then don't miss this excellent Wann Smith article on Coach Royal, which passes along the story of why Coach Royal elected not to return to his alma mater (the University of Oklahoma) after the 1963 season when famed OU coach Bud Wilkenson finally stepped down:

After Bud Wilkinson resigned following the 1963 season, there was a groundswell of support for the idea of bringing Darrell Royal back across the Red River. Royal was inundated by calls from old schoolmates and friends urging him to take the OU job.

But Royal wasn't interested in returning to his home state. He had made it clear from the start that he had no interest in the Oklahoma coaching vacancy. However Royal's decision to stay in Austin had nothing to do with any enmity for either the State of Okahoma or for his Alma Mater.

"I had been searching for something," said Royal. "And I found it in Texas. . ."

Read the entire article.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

The ins and outs of college football recruiting

An all college football series of posts today starts out with this IndyStar.com article titled "Recruiting 101" by a former high school football coach who passes along his experience in what college coaches are looking for in high school football players. The article contains many interesting insights, including the former coach's final one, which runs counter to the specialization of athletes that is the clear trend at most big high schools:

Regardless of position, it appears that in the recruiting of [big-time college football] players that being a multisport athlete at the high school level is the norm. I encourage athletes to play as many sports as long as they can. The benefits of multisport participation are many.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (1) |

November 12, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(Eric Gray/AP photo; previous weekly reviews here)

Texas Longhorns 59 Texas Tech 43

The Texas Longhorns (9-2/5-2) had been left for dead after losing to Oklahoma six weeks ago, but the resurgent Horns are in solid contention for a BCS bowl game after defeating the defenseless Red Raiders (7-4/3-4). Although Tech closed to within 10 points a couple of times during the 47 point 4th quarter, this one was really never in doubt because Tech's defense simply could not slow down, much less stop, the Horns' offense. At least Coach Leach didn't fire his defensive coordinator or blame his players after this defeat. This time, Tech's loss was apparently the fault of the referees. Referring to Randy Cristal, the head referee for Saturday's game, being an Austin resident, Leach asserted the following in post-game comments:

"That can be argued in a variety of directions. Maybe it is something as simple as guys sitting over the water cooler in their office, in Austin, talking to their friends about the great game they are going to see, the great players they are going to see. Perhaps a preconceived notion has developed how it's going to come out."

Leach apparently forgot that Tech was the beneficiary of a couple of dubious hometown calls at the end of one of Tech's rare victories against Oklahoma. The reality is that Leach is a mediocre coach of a one-dimensional program that is 1-11 against ranked teams and 2-13 against UT and OU during his tenure at Tech. The Horns close their regular season against Texas A&M (6-5/3-4) in their annual rivalry game the day after Thanksgiving.

Update: Here is Leach's after-game rant. The remarks will almost certainly result in the Big 12 Conference levying sanctions on Leach.

Update 2: Leach was fined $10,000 by the Big 12 on Tuesday and received a public reprimand. According to a Big 12 press release, Leach is “on notice that any future such behavior will result in a more serious penalty, including a possible suspension.”

“Coach Leach’s public statements called into question the integrity and competence of game officials and the Conference’s officiating program,” Dan Beebe, the Big 12 commissioner, stated. “Accordingly the seriousness of this violation warrants a public reprimand and the largest fine issued to date by the Conference.”

Tulsa 56 Houston Cougars 7

The Cougars (6-4/5-2) laid a major egg in their effort to win their second straight Conference USA title when they laid down and rolled over to Tulsa (7-3/5-2). Houston has had problems with its defensive unit for years, so giving up 56 points to Tulsa is not all that surprisng. But It's hard to understand how a team such as the Cougars, that is averaging almost 550 yards per game, would generate less than 400 yards of total offense against a poor Tulsa defense, 97 of which came in the Coogs' only TD drive of the game while behind 56-0. The Cougars will attempt to regroup next week against an improving Marshall (2-8/2-4) that has won their last two games. Meanwhile, perhaps Houston head coach Art Briles won't be such a hot commodity for other head coaching jobs after the Tulsa debacle.

Missouri 40 Texas A&M 26

The Aggies (6-5/3-4) actually were in a position to pull ahead during the 2nd half of this one when Aggie head coach Dennis Franchione called a series of plays that is typical of why he will be fired come season end, if not before. Early 4th quarter, the Aggies were marching down the field pounding the rushing game against a tired Mizzou (9-1/5-1) defense after closing to within 24-19. After reaching a 1st and 10 on Mizzou's 12 yard line, the Aggies telegraphed a dive play on first down that was stopped for a one yard gain, QB Stephen McGeen threw an incompletion on second down and, on 3rd and long, Franchione inexplicably called a middle screen pass that was completed for a seven yard loss. Thus, rather than continuing to pound the rushing game against an overwhelmed defense in clear four down territory, Franchione inexplicably turned to the Ags' ineffectual passing game, which stifled the drive. After Aggie kicker Matt Szymanski pushed the 36 yard field goal attempt wide right, the Aggies had completely lost the momentum, prompting the Tigers to score 16 fourth quarter points to put the game away. The Aggies close their season on the Friday after Thanksgiving in their annual rivalry game against the Longhorns (9-2/5-2).

Rice 43 SMU 42

What more can you say about the resilient Owls (3-7/3-3)? This time, the Owls came back from a 15 point 4th quarter deficit to pull out the victory on a game-winning 31 yard field goal. The potent Owls offense generated 535 total offense, including 365 yards passing from QB Chase Clement. The Owls finish with two home games, next week against Tulane (3-7/2-4) and against Tulsa (7-3/5-2) on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

The Texans (4-5) were off this past weekend. Next Sunday, they play Reggie Bush and New Orleans (4-5), which is coming off a loss yesterday to previously winless St. Louis.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (4) |

November 8, 2007

What's really wrong with Ahman Green

Leading Texans cheerleader, Chronicle pro football columnist John McClain, reports on the baffling nature of the injury that is holding back the Texans' high-priced running back, Ahman Green:

Meanwhile, the Texans asked running back Ahman Green, 30, to have his sore right knee examined by [Dr. James] Andrews to see if he can find something that might help him stay on the field.

"We're trying to find out what's really going on, why it's swelling and giving me pain and discomfort," Green said after practice Tuesday. "I've had three MRIs, and they still don't know from that, so I'm going to fly over there and see what we can find out." [. . .]

"I'm hoping we'll finally know," Green said. "I hope we can find a solution for this. We'll have our finger on the dot to see exactly what it is. Once we find the problem, we'll have a solution.

"I know what I bring to this team, and my teammates depend on me a lot. And when I'm injured, I can't do the things I know I can do."

In reality, the acquisition of Green was a mistake -- and a very expensive one at that -- from the beginning. Moreover, that it was a mistake should not have been a surprise to anyone. As noted in my annual preview of the Texans' season:

An example of the dubious decision-making regarding offensive personnel is the signing of RB Ahman Green, formerly of Green Bay. Green was a great running back in his prime with the Pack, but he has averaged less than four yards per carry for the past two seasons. Inasmuch as the Texans agreed to pay Green $23 million over four years ($8 million guaranteed in the first season), the chances that the 30-year old Green will be worth the value of this contract this season are tenuous, at best. The chances of him still being worth the contract a couple of years from now are so speculative as to be off the charts.

In short, you won't read about it in McClain's columns, but Green represents another indication that the hiring of current Texans coach Gary Kubiak has not changed the legacy of dubious personnel decisions over at Reliant Park.

Ahman Green = eventual salary cap hit.

Posted by Tom at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 7, 2007

Bad judgment alert

As if corruption in the Texas Youth Commission, the bursting state prison system, reform of the judicial selection system, or reorganization of TSU isn't enough to keep Texas legislators occupied. Now, a local state legislator is teaming up with a colleague to confront a truly important issue -- that Texans are not going to be able to watch certain NFL football games on certain cable television networks:

Cable companies and the NFL Network are competing for Texas lawmakers' support in their national fight over whether cable customers should be charged extra for the football channel.

While some cable companies have agreed to carry the network's eight regular-season games, Time Warner Cable, the largest in Texas, has not come to terms with the network.

Pressure has been mounting on all parties as the Dallas Cowboys' Nov. 29 matchup with the Green Bay Packers approaches. The game will only be shown on the NFL Network.

"I've had a lot more people contact me about NFL football the last two months instead of child protective services, windstorm insurance or worker's compensation, which are frankly more important issues," said Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball. "I don't control what constituents call me about." [. . .]

Van Arsdale and Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, said last week that they would consider introducing consumer-oriented legislation in the 2009 session if the two sides don't reach an agreement.

"Cable companies need to focus on giving their customers what they want, which is football," Brimer said. [. . .]

Five Democratic members of the Texas House from Bexar County have sent letters to the Federal Communication Commission asking it to intercede in the argument.

Of course, all of these games are readily available on the Dish Network, so no consumer is prevented from buying that product if they want to see these NFL Network games bad enough. However, that doesn't stop the seemingly limitless amount of bad judgment in legislative circles over defining a legitimate legislative issue.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

November 5, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(Sue Ogrocki/AP photo; previous weekly reviews here)

Texans 24 Raiders 17

The banged-up Texans (4-5) gamely beat a dreadful Raiders (2-6) team in front of a few close friends and relatives in a nearly-empty Oakland Coliseum. Although the Raiders are one of the worst teams in the NFL along with Miami and St. Louis, the Texans played hard and overcame injuries to their starting QB (Matt Schaub), their best defensive back (Dunta Robinson) and their best running back (Ahman Green). The Texans get a badly-needed bye week next weekend before returning weekend to face the revived Saints (4-4) at Reliant.

Oklahoma 42 Texas Aggies 14

As one columnist put it:

Texas A&M chewed up considerable chunks of Owen Field turf with precise execution Saturday night.

And then the Aggie Band left the field.

A comment from an Aggie friend pretty well sums up how far the Aggies (6-4/3-3) football expectations have fallen under Coach Fran: "Well, at least it wasn't 77-0."

With less than 9 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, with the Aggies already down 28-0 and with a first down on the Oklahoma 44, check out the following sequence:

1st and 10 at TA&M 47 -- Jorvorskie Lane rush for 9 yards to the Okla 44.
2nd and 1 at OKLA 44 -- Stephen McGee pass incomplete.
3rd and 1 at OKLA 44 -- Stephen McGee pass incomplete.
4th and 1 at OKLA 44 -- Justin Brantly punt for 27 yards, fair catch at the Okla 17.

4th and 1, in Oklahoma territory, down by 28, and Coach Fran doesn't have the Aggies go for it? My sense is that the Aggies have surrendered. Another lopsided loss is likely at Missouri (8-1/4-1) next week before the Aggies' regular season mercifully ends on the Friday after Thanksgiving in College Station against UT (8-2/4-2).

Texas Longhorns 38 Oklahoma State 35

With under 12 minutes to go, the Cowboys (5-4/3-2) led the Horns (8-2/4-2) 35-14 and had outgained the Horns 495 yards to roughly 300 yards. Less than 8 minutes later, the Longhorns had tied the score and, a couple of minutes later, Longhorn K Ryan Bailey kicked the winning field goal to pull out the victory.

During that 4th quarter, Texas had 311 of its season-high 589 yards of total offense and scored on all four possessions, including drives of 91 and 99 yards. QB Colt McCoy completed all eight of his passes in the 4th quarter for 145 yards and came up with a 14-yard scramble that put the Horns within range of Bailey's game-winning field goal.

But the real story was RB Jamaal Charles, who had an incredible 4th quarter for the second straight week. Charles had 125 of his 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the 4th quarter, which means that he has 340 rushing yards and five TDs in the 4th quarter during the last two games!

As noted a couple of weeks ago, this relatively mediocre Longhorns team remains in the hunt for a BCS bowl game if they can beat Tech (7-3/3-3) at Austin next Saturday and the Aggies in College Station on the Friday after Thanksgiving. On the other hand, this Horns team is eminently capable of losing both games. Now, that's entertainment!

Houston Cougars 38 SMU 28

The Cougars (6-3/5-1) dodged an inspired bullet in beating the Mustangs (1-8/0-5) in the ESPN Sunday night game at the Rob. The Mustangs, who clearly were playing with enthusiasm for their recently-fired head coach (Phil Bennett), gave the Coogs all they could handle. Only a revived Houston defense in the 4th quarter and the usual 500+ of total offense from the Coog offense pulled this one out. And, oh yeah, the Cougars all-everything RB Anthony Alridge even threw for a TD in this one. The Cougars go on the road for their C-USA showdown game with Tulsa (6-3/4-2) next Saturday.

Rice 56 UTEP 48

How on earth did the Owls (2-7/2-3) manage to win this game despite committing seven turnovers and allowing UTEP to recover two onside kicks? QB Chase Clement was outstanding (395 yards passing and six TDs; 103 yards rushing and two TDs), while WR Jarett Dillard (11 receptions for 168 yards and two TDs) was merely very good (he lost a fumble after a 60 yard catch and run). Ever since last year's Rice-UH game, I've been a big Clement fan, so it would not surprise me if the Owls win their final three games of the season (at SMU (1-7/0-4), at home against Tulane (2-7/1-4) and Tulsa (6-3/4-2)), particularly if the Owls can mount any meaningful defense in those games. Clement and Dillard are the real deal.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

November 4, 2007

The Houston-Cleveland connection

Other than bad NFL football teams, what do Houston and Cleveland have in common? Not much, except that they are the only U.S. markets in which the Patriots-Colts game this afternoon will not be available for home viewers via network television.

The Browns play the Seahawks on FOX at the same time as the Patriots-Colts game, so the Cleveland market gets that game. Similarly, Houstonians must endure the Raiders-Texans game on CBS rather than the Patriots-Colts game. Oakland area residents wisely didn't buy enough tickets to sell out the Raiders-Texans game, so that game is mercifully blacked out in the Bay Area, allowing viewers there to watch the Patriots-Colts game.

It's painful enough having to watch the Texans all the time. Isn't it about time for the NFL to ditch these absurd rules that prevent the best games from being viewed in certain markets?

Posted by Tom at 12:18 AM | Comments (1) |

November 2, 2007

Why is Richard Justice analyzing sports, part II

Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice's inability to analyze the subject that he covers has been a common topic on this blog (see also here and here). Following up on that theme, Matt over at DGDB&D provides this clever post on his attempt to engage Justice in a dialogue over the latter's constant criticism of Texans' defensive end Mario Williams. He also notes that most of the articles and columns generated by the Chronicle sports staff about the Texans can be categorized into one of three columns:

At this point in the season, the majority of columns proffered by that group (that aren't pure Megan Manfull rumormill) can be lumped into one of three categories: (1) Richard Justice bashing Mario Williams like a jilted schoolgirl, (2) blame-laying columns that excoriate the whipping-boy du jour (these are sometimes disguised as Vince-Young-praise columns that excoriate the fact that he was not drafted by Houston), and (3) jump-off-the-bandwagon pieces from the same people who profess to be the biggest cheerleaders.

The specialized blogs covering the Texans -- DGDB&D, Stephanie Stradley, and Texans Tail Gate, to name just three -- are far superior to the Chronicle in providing insightful analysis of the local team. Those layoffs that occurred this past week over at the Chronicle happened for a reason -- readers are gravitating toward better analysis than what the Chronicle is providing. Absent an influx of new talent on the Chronicle sports desk, that drift is not likely to change.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (2) |

October 30, 2007

Coach Fran's nightmare worsens?

Just when it seemed as if Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione's season couldn't get much worse, it looks as if it just might.

As noted in previous posts over the past two years here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, Coach Fran's tenure at A&M has been on the thinnest of ice for quite some time. The latest thud in Coach Fran's reign in Aggieland was the thorough trouncing that the Kansas Jayhawks laid on A&M this past Saturday night in front of 85,000 demoralized Aggie faithful.

But that game against Kansas may look positively pleasant in comparison to what faces the Aggies next Saturday night on ABC -- playing the sixth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.

Now, playing OU in Norman is never a picnic. But the subplot to this particular game is that Coach Fran inexplicably gave OU extra motivation with a preseason jab against the Sooners. In speaking to the Houston Touchdown Club in early August, Franchione said he wasn’t sure who would be the Sooners’ starting quarterback, but "that may be the only question mark they have . . . other than what jobs they are going to work this year. That is a joke. I couldn’t resist." Coach Fran was making light of OU’s recent NCAA violations involving players receiving unearned compensation from a Norman automobile dealership.

Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops -- who already strikes fear in at least one other Texas big-time college football coach -- was asked yesterday during the Big 12 weekly coaches' news conference if he plans to remind his players this week about Coach Fran's preseason comments:

"We don’t need to do that,” Stoops said.

Yeah. Right.

Franchione is 0-5 all-time against Stoops-coached teams (four of which have been while at A&M), including the worst lost in A&M history, a 77-0 debacle in 2003.

Things could get very ugly on Saturday night in Norman.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (1) |

The Brits get it

The New York Giants beat the winless Miami Dolphins in London on Sunday in the National Football League's first regular season game played outside the United States. And based on this Tom Lutz/Guardian Unlimited op-ed on the game, it looks as if the English sports reporters are already catching on to the style of their American brethren:

"Some Dolphins fans have complained that they've been deprived of a home game, but judging by their team's inept performance, the NFL has done them a favour."

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

October 29, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP photo by Mark J. Terrill/prior weekly reviews are here)

Chargers 35 Texans 10

No change from last week's analysis in regard to the Texans (3-5), including continued fawning local mainstream media treatment of Coach Kubiak (well, perhaps a little less fawning). The game was not as close as hte score indicates. By the way, would somebody arrange a reception so that the Texans' secondary could be introduced to Chargers TE Antonio Gates? The Texans play at Oakland (2-5) next Sunday before a badly-needed bye week. It is becoming increasingly clear with each passing week that Coach Kubiak has some difficult personnel decisions to make, both with regard to the players and assistant coaches. The Texans were a poorly-prepared football team for the second week in a row.

Kansas 19 Texas Aggies 11

The Coach Fran Death March continues as the Aggies (6-3/3-2) were dominated in this one by Kansas, which managed to keep the score closer than it should have by missing three makeable field goals and having a TD run called back by a penalty. At least Aggie angst over the situation has mellowed to the point where it is producing hugely entertaining YouTube videos. The Aggies are looking forward to next week's ABC-televised Saturday night game at Oklahoma (7-1/3-1) about as much as hemorrhoid surgery.

Texas Longhorns 28 Nebraska 25

Through three quarters of this game, the Horns (7-2/3-2) were looking to be embarrassed by the undermanned Cornhuskers (4-5/1-4). Then, Longhorn RB Jamaal Charles went Anthony Alridge on Nebraska during the 4th quarter. Charles ended up with 290 yards rushing on 33 carries in the game, including 216 yards and 3 TD runs (25, 86 and 40 yards) in the 4th quarter alone (key tip to Nebraska defense -- blitzs can backfire on running plays, too). The Horns travel to Stillwater next Saturday to face the suddnely famous Mike Gundy and the Oklahoma State Cowboys (5-3/3-1) before finishing up the regular season against Texas Tech (6-3/2-3) in Austin and A&M at College Station.

Houston Cougars 34 UTEP 31

Ho-hum, another game, another double-digit deficit, another 520 yard offensive performance, and another comeback win. The increasingly red-hot Coogs (5-3/3-1) were led by star RB Anthony Alridge (204 yards on a career-high 27 carries) and redshirt freshman QB, Case Keenum (13/20 passing for 116 yds/ 72 yds rushing on 10 carries). The Coogs host SMU (1-7/0-4) next Sunday night in a televised game and then head to Tulsa (5-3/3-2) for the game that will probably determine the C-USA Western Division champion.

Marshall 34 Rice 21

Key tip of the week to the Owls (1-7/1-3) -- it's hard to come back from a 24 point deficit, even to previously winless Marshall (1-7/1-3). The Owls host UTEP (4-4/2-2) next Saturday.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

October 25, 2007

The big-time college football arms race

Inasmuch as the NCAA prohibits direct monetary compensation of the professional athletes who provide entertainment for us by engaging in big-time college football, one of the ways in which universities provide indirect compensation for the athletes is by building luxurious "spa facilities" for the athletes to enjoy while providing their services for the benefit of the universities. This means of indirect compensation has resulted in an "arm's race" of such spa facilities between various big-time college football programs. The latest institution to jump into the arm's race is Oklahoma State University, which is riding the crest of the Boone Pickens' $250 million contribution to the institution's athletic programs. Check out this video depicting the new facilities that will result from Pickens' contribution.

And this isn't professional football?

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

October 24, 2007

Coach Leach channels Judge Ito

Sticking with the sports theme of today's posts, Missouri's surprisingly decisive victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders last Saturday apparently prompted Tech head coach Mike Leach to channel the judge in OJ Simpson's murder trial to explain the Raiders' pratfall:

"What happens with players, [it's] just like Judge Lance Ito gets in the middle of a big trial and decides it's more important for him to be a movie star than it is to be a judge," said Leach, referring to the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial. "He had problems doing his [job] from one snap to the next.

"So if it can happen to good old Judge Ito, I'm sure it can happen to 18-22-year-olds."

It can happen to football coaches, too.

Leach has developed an idiosyncratic and generally effective offense at Tech, but he has largely ignored the development of a strong enough defensive component to make Tech a truly balanced, conference championship-caliber program. Earlier this season, immediately after Mike Gundy went batshit, Leach unceremoniously fired Tech's defensive coordinator, who happened to be Tech's most experienced and admired assistant coach. Leach elevated a position coach to defensive coordinator and Tech's defensive limitations were disguised during its next three games, which were wins over teams with easily-defended offenses (Northwestern State, Iowa State and Texas A&M). However, when exposed to Missouri's salty offense this past Saturday, the Red Raiders' defense wilted, just as it did earlier in the season during the Oklahoma State game. The Red Raiders have suffered from a similar syndrome during each of Leach's eight years at Tech.

Thus, Leach's teams run up big scores and statistics against teams of inferior ability, but struggle against well-balanced teams of equal or better ability. Tech under Leach has never played in a Big 12 championship game. His treatment of assistant coaches is unlikely to result in the development of a strong coaching staff. Despite his relentless self-promotion, Leach's Tech program appears to elevate form over substance and may well have peaked. If it has, the descent is not likely to be pleasant.

Update: Coach Leach has a selective memory, too.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (3) |

October 22, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews here)

Titans 38 Texans 36

The local mainstream media view of the Texans (3-4) -- most recently reflected by Richard Justice's Sunday column of yesterday (see also this earlier column) -- is that the team has improved dramatically under second year coach Gary Kubiak and that it's just a matter of time before the team becomes a playoff contender. As noted in my annual preview, I'm not so sure.

When Texans owner Bob McNair decided to fire original Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly and head coach Dom Capers after the team bottomed out with a 2-14 record during Year Four (2005), he changed the management model of the team from its original "strong GM" model to the "strong head coach" model that the Broncos have used during the Shanahan era. Inasmuch as Kubiak had no head coaching experience when McNair hired him to lead the Texans' strong coach model, I thought the decision at the time was certainly open to question.

Through seven games of Kubiak's second season, the decision remains open to question. Kubiak had a pass during his first season (6-10) last year and probably has another one this season as he incorporates a new QB into his system. The team's personnel has certainly improved, but that would have happened under virtually any competent coach that McNair would have hired. The Texans' offense -- Kubiak's supposed speciality -- remains generally awful as Kubiak overpaid for an aging and marginally productive running back this past off-season rather than upgrading the chronically deficient offensive line, which has become hazardous to the health of Texans QB's.

So, the clock will be ticking quite loudly next season unless the Texans begin to show dramatic improvement (even Justice is starting to question Kubiak). After losing four of their last five and with a West Coast swing against the Chargers (3-3) and the Raiders (2-4) coming up over the next two weeks before the Texans' bye week, the under bet on my pre-season over/under number for Texans' victories (7) is starting to look pretty good.

Texas Aggies 36 Nebraska 14

The Ags (6-2/3-1) trampled the outmanned Cornhuskers (4-4/1-3) into submission in the Buyout Bowl. Unfortunately for the Aggies, each of the Aggies' remaining opponents have the ability to slow down A&M's rushing attack. And we know what happens when the Ags have to utilize such modern innovations as the forward pass. The Ags host Big 12 surprise team Kansas (7-0/3-0) at Kyle Field next Saturday.

Texas Longhorns 31 Baylor 10

The Horns (6-2/2-2) allowed Baylor (3-4/0-3) to hang around for most of the game and almost paid for it. The Horns have struggling Nebraska (4-4/1-3) at home next Saturday before closing at Okie State (5-3/3-1), home against Tech (6-2/2-2) and at A&M (6-2/3-1). Incredibly, a BCS Bowl game is not out of the question if the Longhorns win out.

Houston Cougars 49 Alabama-Birmingham 10

This one was over before halftime as the explosive Coogs (4-3/3-1) finally put together a complete game against the overmatched Blazers (2-5/1-2) at a nearly deserted Legion Field (holds around 75,000 or so) in Birmingham. The Cougars have generated over 1,200 yards in total offense and 15 touchdowns in the past two games. The Cougars will likely have a considerably tougher game next Saturday in El Paso against UTEP (4-3/2-1), though.

Memphis 38 Rice 35

The Owls (1-6/1-2) generated over 500 yards to total offense and lost because their injury-plagued defense cannot stop a hard-chargin' marching band, much less a reasonably competent offense. The game was played before less than 10,000 fans at Rice Stadium, which holds over 70,000. Isn't Conference USA football great? The Owls have a winnable game next Saturday against winless Marshall (0-6/0-2).

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (1) |

October 21, 2007

The 15 Greatest Catches

As you settle in for an afternoon of watching NFL football games, check out this entertaining post providing videos of the 15 greatest football catches of all-time. Some of the comments are pretty clever, too, such as the one relating to the catch of Oklahoma State wide receiver Adarius Bowman that made the list:

"[The catch] was even more impressive because that catch was made under the enormous pressure that comes with playing in the Independence Bowl."

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

October 20, 2007

The benefits of going batshit

As noted in the review of the Texas-Iowa State game earlier this week, big-time college football coaching is a wacky way to make a living.

Take, for example, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy. When he went famously batshit during a post-game press conference earlier this season, I figured that it was just a matter of time before Boone Pickens and the university athletic director carted Coach Gundy off to a padded cell and replaced him with another coach. I mean, it's not as if Okie State (4-3, 2-1) is having all that great a season this year.

But now, according to this New York Times article, Coach Gundy's decision to go nuclear may have saved his job:

The incident was one of YouTube’s most-watched videos last month and has been spoofed by a Norman, Okla., car dealership in a television commercial.

It led to a Web site called mikegundyismadatyou.com, which features e-cards from his tirade, prompted an Australian magazine to call it “American football brain explosion” and inspired wildly popular “I’m a man! I’m 40!” T-shirts. [. . .]

Gundy has seemingly benefited on and off the field. Since the incident, Oklahoma State (4-3, 2-1 Big 12) is 2-1, including the Cowboys’ first victory at Nebraska since 1960.

Gundy . . . is now more recognizable nationally, according to marketing experts, and recruits say his defense of Reid makes them more interested in playing for him. Gundy said he was surprised at the attention that the incident sparked, but he insisted he had no regrets.

“Over a period of time, it should make an impact on our program in a positive way,” he said in an e-mail message sent through a university spokesman.

Jordan Bazant, a partner of The Agency Sports Management, said Gundy’s response was already paying off for him from a marketing perspective.

“It’s ultimately going to come down to performance on the field, but people that saw that saw an honest person,” Bazant said in a telephone interview.

He added: “It was really an honest outburst. That’s what people are attracted to. They want to be associated with someone that they view has the same values.”

Bazant said he could not estimate the value in advertising dollars that Gundy received.

“It’s millions upon millions of dollars,” he said. “It would be impossible to get that. You couldn’t even buy that much. You really couldn’t even from a practical standpoint.”

Cyrus Gray, a senior at DeSoto High School and the top uncommitted tailback in Texas, said Gundy’s response to Carlson made Oklahoma State more appealing. [. . .]

“I like that in a coach,” he said in a telephone interview. “He stood up for his players. He cares for them and not just himself.” [. . .]

Kevin Klintworth, the Oklahoma State director of athletic media relations, said that less than 5 percent of the 3,000 e-mail messages the athletic department received about Gundy were negative.

“It was just so overwhelming,” Klintworth said in a telephone interview. “I think some of the people weren’t so much supportive of Mike as they were in support of someone standing up to the media a little bit.”

Of course, after Gundy's outburst, it was just a matter of time before the following spoof Bud Light beer commercial turned up, but it's still pretty clever:

And the recent Saturday Night Live spoof NBC commercial for Notre Dame football isn't bad, either:

Hat tip to Jay Christensen for both of the above videos.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

October 19, 2007

The Futility Bowls

Oh, how far the mighty have fallen!

In Lincoln, Nebraska tomorrow, the Texas A&M Aggies take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in what has been dubbed "the Buyout Bowl," because of the tenuous hold that Aggie coach Dennis Franchione and NU coach Bill Callahan currently have on their jobs. In trying to handicap the game, Wann Smith can't figure out who to favor:

Texas A&M at Nebraska (-2). This game is a real poser. Since someone has to win, we'll pick Nebraska at home. But wait…Nebraska's home field advantage has been a joke this season hasn't it? So, I guess we'll take the Aggies and the points. Just a minute…hold the bus…Franchione has somehow managed to blow both of his road games this season, and by a ton of points each time. Hang on a sec… I'd better consult the Magic 8 Ball. The 8 Ball, when asked if Nebraska would win replied… 'Hazy Now, Ask Again Later.' When asked whether Texas A&M would win, it replied 'Ask VIP Connection.' We tried that but our link was directed instead to firedennisfranchione.com.

Aggies by 3

Meanwhile, over in Florida, nostalgic thoughts about when the annual game between Florida State and Miami actually meant something on the national stage prompted Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel to observe the following about this year's FSU-Miami game, the first in which both foes are unranked since 1977:

This is like showing up at your 25-year reunion and finding out that the couple voted “Best Looking” in the high school yearbook has somehow turned into Paul Shaffer and Yoko Ono.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

October 18, 2007

The insecurity of big-time college coaches

The Dallas Morning News' Kevin Sherrington observes that the NCAA's the absurdly-high salaries of big-time college football coaches has a high price:

Football coaches at most Top 25 programs draw salaries equivalent to Fortune 500 CEOs, but they don't generate similar revenues.

How do they rate their paydays then? Coaches simply benefit from an arms-race mentality in college sports. You can't compete without an indoor practice facility, luxury suites, a weight room the size of a football field or a head coach drawing less than seven figures.

As noted in previous posts here, here and here, big-time college coaches benefit from the NCAA's regulation of compensation for players. Inasmuch as the NCAA does not allow direct compensation of the players for the money being generated, the money has to go somewhere -- i.e., into the wallets of the coaches. However, if the players were paid market compensation for the income that they generate, then the money paid to the players would not be available for the coaches. In all likelihood, the compensation of coaches would decrease.

As I've noted on several occasions, big-time college sports is an entertaining form of corruption. But if the institutions want to continue competing at that level, treating big-time college sports as a true business and compensating the players for the income they generate sure seems like a more honest way to approach it.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

October 16, 2007

Anthony Alridge does it all

In several of my weekly local football reports over the past two seasons, I have been regularly touting the feats of Houston Cougar running back, Anthony Alridge. Alridge is the most exciting UH running back since the consensus All-American Chuck Weatherspoon back in the Run 'N Shoot days of the early 1990's.

Alridge is listed as 5'9" tall and 175 lbs, but my bet is that he is closer to 5'7" and 160 lbs wringing wet. After toiling in relative obscurity as a slot receiver for his first couple of years at Houston, Cougars head coach Art Briles began to use Alridge as a RB midway through last season and the results have been astonishing. Combining blinding sprinter's speed, incredible shiftiness and surprising power for a player his size, Alridge quickly became one of the nation's top running backs. During the Cougars 2006 championship season, Alridge rushed for 959 rushing yards on only 95 attempts, resulting in an NCAA Division 1-A leading rushing average of 10.1 yards per attempt.

Alridge has picked up this season where he left off last season. As noted here yesterday, he was extraordinary in Houston's win over Rice last Saturday, scoring 4 touchdowns while rushing for 205 yards on 24 carries, including 111 yards and 2 TD's in the 4th quarter alone. ESPN ranked Alridge's incredible 50-yard TD run that put away Saturday's game as No. 4 on its top-10 Plays of last Saturdey. Here is the Barry Sanders-type run:

Even after that performance, the video below reflects that the effervescent Alridge still had enough energy after the game to do a pretty darn good job of directing the Spirit of Houston Marching Band, much to the delight of the band members:

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

October 15, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Phil Coale)(previous weekly reviews here)

Jaguars 37 Texans 17

The conventional mainstream media wisdom coming into the Texans' (3-3) game this weekend at Jacksonville (4-1) was that the Texans' lagging rushing attack would be revived by the return of injured RB Ahman Green. Well, after Green ran for a total of 44 yards on 16 carries and failed to get in the end zone twice from the 2 yard line on the Texans' opening drive of the game, so much for that theory.

As noted earlier here and here, despite the local media's love affair with Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, there is actually much to question regarding the direction of his team, particularly the offense. Green appears to be an overpaid, fragile has-been and the play of the offensive line has not been substantially upgraded since Kubiak's arrival as head coach. Moreover, even though Texans QB Matt Schuab is a decided improvement over former QB David Carr (faint praise, given the latter's incompetence), Schaub failed to get the Texans in the end zone against the Jags after doing it only once against a bad Miami team last week, he had a fumble returned by the Jags for a touchdown and he threw an interception that set up another Jags' TD.

The Texans face former UT star QB Vince Young (injured Sunday, so he may not play) and the Titans (3-2) next week at Reliant before heading on a West Coast swing with games against the Chargers (3-3) and Raiders (2-3) in the following two weeks heading into the team's off week. After a 2-0 start, it's looking as if an above .500 record as of the open week is a longshot for the Texans.

Houston Cougars 56 Rice 48

As noted in several previous weekly football reviews, Houston Cougar games are simply different from typical college football games.

This one was actually three different games in one. Over the 1st quarter, the Coogs dominated the game and led 28-14. But then, from the beginning of the 2nd quarter through about five minutes or so of the 3rd quarter, the Owls pasted the Coogs, 26-0. Finally, the Cougars regrouped behind the phenomenal waterbug RB Allen Alridge and a couple of Rice turnovers to win the latter part of the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter, 28-8, to pull out the victory.

Although the Cougars rolled up 748 yards total offense, this one was closer than it should have been because of five Cougar turnovers and the Houston defense's inability to stop Rice QB Chase Clement, who threw for a career high 355 yards on 24 of 44 passes. But Alridge (4 TD's, 205 yds on 24 carries, with 111 of those yards and two of the TD's coming in the 4th quarter) and WR Donnie Avery (a record setting 427 total yards, including 346 receiving) were simply too much for the injury-depleted Owl defense to overcome.

The Cougars (3-3/2-1) now go on the road for games against UAB (2-4/1-1) and UTEP (4-3/2-1) over the next two weeks, while the Owls (1-5/1-1) attempt to regroup at home against Memphis (2-4/1-1). Houston's success in its remaining games will likely be related directly to the team's ability to control its turnovers, while I'm mildly optimistic that Rice's improving offense will be able to compensate for the Owls' porous defense by outscoring several foes during the second half of the season.

Texas Tech 35 Texas Aggies 7

The only question remaining after this debacle is whether A&M (5-2/2-1) head coach Dennis Franchione will actually make it through the rest of the season. Based on the Aggies' sorry performance against Tech, don't bet on it.

Remarkably, the Aggies took a 7-0 lead in this one on an opening drive entirely on the ground and were driving for a second TD in Tech territory when the Red Raiders coaching staff decided to stick nine defensive players in the box to slow down the Ags' rushing attack. In an incredible display of coaching incompetence, the Aggies' passing game was so insipid that QB Stephen McGee could not force the Raiders' defenders to take the forward pass seriously. Tech's high-powered offense finally got untracked and the Raiders pulled away to win easily. The Franchione Termination March next travels to Nebraska (4-3/1-2), which is going through a similar meltdown to what the Aggies are experiencing. NU may just be the Aggies' best chance for a victory in their final five games of the season.

Texas Longhorns 56 Iowa State 3

As you may recall, I questioned (here and here) the wisdom of Iowa State's (1-6/0-3) decision at the end of last season to replace my friend Dan McCarney with former UT defensive coordinator Gene Chizik as the Cyclones' head coach. Chizik's first ISU team looked utterly rudderless against the Horns (5-2/1-2), who have another scrimmage next week against Baylor (3-4/0-3).

Meanwhile, my friend is making a substantial contribution to the nation's new no. 2 ranked team.

Big-time college coaching is a wacky business.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

October 12, 2007

As the Aggie Football World Turns

What is it about Texas A&M University that the institution cannot fire a football coach correctly?

The slowly disintegrating status of A&M head football coach Dennis Franchione has been a frequent topic on this blog for almost two years now (see previous posts here, here, here, and here). Although yesterday's development in the saga was bizarre -- A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne holding a press conference to announce in the middle of the football season essentially that Coach Fran is kaput as A&M's head coach after this season -- it was not particularly unusual in view of A&M's rather dubious tradition in dealing with its football coaches.

Take what happened in 1978, for example. A&M head coach Emory Bellard, the originator of the Wishbone offense while serving as Darrell Royal's offensive coordinator at Texas in the late 1960's, had been hired by the Ags in 1972 to resurrect the flagging Aggie football program. Bellard had led the Aggies to three straight bowl games by the 1978 season, and the Aggies seemed poised to become a national power that season.

By week five of the 1978 season, Bellard's Aggies were rolling at 4-0 and were rated no. 6 in the Associated Press Top 20 poll. Bellard was reaching the pinnacle of his popularity at A&M as the Ags prepared to face Houston, which had not been particularly impressive and had lost in their first game of the season to a Memphis State team that the Ags had crushed at home 58-0 a couple of weeks earlier. Moreover, the week before, the Coogs had barely beaten winless Baylor, 20-18. Thousands of Aggies descended on Houston's Astrodome fully expecting the Aggies to continue their winning ways over the underdog Cougars.

Unfortunately for the Ags, Houston head coach Bill Yeoman, one of the best and most unheralded football coaches of his time, had put together a brilliant game plan for this particular game. Taking advantage of the Aggies unbridled over-aggressiveness, Yeoman devised a series of traps, draw plays and screen passes to supplement his famous Veer option attack that utterly befuddled the Aggies. In the meantime, an aroused Cougar defense stuffed the vaunted Aggie Wishbone and never allowed it to get untracked. By halftime, the unranked Coogs led the no. 6 team in the country 33-0 and the large Aggie contingent in the Astrodome was absolutely stunned. Neither team scored in the 2nd half and the game ended, Houston 33 Texas A&M 0.

Back in those days, most head coaches supplemented their salaries by conducting a show the day after the game in which they went over the film highlights of the previous game. Bellard's show the Sunday after the Houston upset was absolutely brutal. Bellard addressed the camera by himself with no studio host to toss him some softball questions to defuse the anxiety of the humbling defeat. With literally no highlights of Aggie plays from the debacle, Coach Bellard was left to reviewing various Houston highlights from the game and explaining what the Aggie players did wrong in allowing the Cougar players to perform such feats. Coach Bellard looked haggard and utterly demoralized.

After watching the show with me, my late father turned to me and observed: "I hope Mrs. Bellard has removed all guns and sharp objects from their home for awhile."

At any rate, the Ags dropped to no. 12 after the Houston game and began preparations for an 0-5 Baylor team that had played one of the toughest schedules in the country. In arguably one of the worst games in the history of Kyle Field, that winless Baylor squad hammered the listless Aggies 24-6, as a previously unheralded freshman running back named Walter Abercrombie ran over and through the Aggies for 207 yards. In the span of two weeks, what had been the no. 6 team in the land had been outscored 57-6.

Coach Bellard resigned the next day under intense pressure (one large sign hanging from an A&M dorm window at the time urged "Make Emory a Memory"). In only two weeks, he had gone from being the King of Aggieland to quitting the job that he had always coveted. To this day, Bellard's demise and Texas A&M's reaction to it over those two weeks is one of the more fascinating sociological events that I have witnessed during my 35 years in Texas.

So, placed in that context, yesterday's develoments regarding Coach Franchione are not all that unusual in Aggieland. But what is interesting is that the Aggies (5-1/2-0) currently lead the Big 12 South Division as they travel to Lubbock this Saturday to meet their high-powered nemesis, Texas Tech (5-1/1-1). Although the Red Raiders have beaten the Aggies regularly during Coach Fran's tenure and are 8 point favorites to do so again on Saturday, my sense is that the Ags actually have a better chance than usual to beat Tech this time. The Aggies have the type of ball control offense to keep Tech's high-powered offense off the field and Tech's defense is in such utter disarray that Coach Mike Leach recently fired his best defensive assistant coach. So, this might just be the year that Coach Fran's Aggie team breaks through against Tech at Lubbock.

But will such a win save Coach Fran's job? Don't count on it. Even if the Ags upset Tech, they play at Nebraska next, then host a revived Kansas team before playing difficult games at Oklahoma and Missouri. And, oh yeah, don't forget about that traditional final game of the season the day after Thanksgiving against a Texas team that will be looking for revenge after last year's A&M upset of the Horns that may have saved Franchione's job for this season. Heck, Gordon Smith even thinks that A&M may have a decent case for terminating Franchione's contract for cause, which would relieve A&M from the requirement of "buying out" the contract if A&M were to terminate the contract "without cause" or, stated another way, for simply not winning enough football games.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (1) |

October 10, 2007

Did Joe Pa go "Gundy"?

What is in the water that big-time college football coaches are drinking this season?

First, Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy went famously batshit over a newspaper article that was critical of one of his team's professional -- er. I mean, "amateur" -- players.

And now Jay Christensen reports that Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is the primary suspect in a road rage incident.

It almost makes you wonder: "What would Woody Hayes do?"

Update: Paterno provides his side of the story.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

October 8, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP photo/Mike Stone)
Oklahoma 28 Texas Longhorns 21

In an entertaining revival of the Red River Rivalry (previous weekly summaries here), the Sooners (5-1) edged the Longhorns (4-2) by taking advantage of two 2nd half turnovers by Texas RB Jamaal Charles. One of Charles' two turnovers was technically an interception, but he allowed the ball to bounce off his hands, so he should have had it. My sense is that Horns head coach Mack Brown should be about at the end of his rope with the turnover-prone Charles, who was clearly the difference between these closely-matched teams. The Horns go on the road next weekend to play Iowa State (1-5), which is coached by former Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik.

Houston Texans 22 Miami 19

Texans' (3-2) kicker Kris Brown's career day (five FG's of 54, 43, 54, 20 and the game winner of 57) pulls out the win over Miami (0-5), which may be the NFL's worst team. Not much to say after the Texans struggle to secure a victory at home over a winless team that was using a backup quarterback. The Texans take their non-existent running game on the road next weekend at division rival Jacksonville (3-1).

Texas Aggies 24 Oklahoma State 23

Coach Fran's job was hanging by a thread from the top deck of Kyle Field in this one as the listless Aggies (5-1) trailed the Cowboys (3-3) 17-0 at halftime. But 275 lbs RB Jorvorskie Lane bulled in for a couple of TD's, threw a 50 yard pass to set up another and caught a TD pass to bring the Aggies back in the second half. Despite the thrilling win, I see little that makes me believe that the Aggies will be able to slow down Texas Tech's (5-1) high-powered offense next Saturday in Lubbock. Tech's defense is in disarray, though, so who knows? The game at Tech begins a brutal stretch for the Ags in whcih they will play Texas Tech, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri on the road as Coach Fran's job hangs in the balance.

Alabama 30 Houston Cougars 24

The Coogs (2-3) looked dead in the water after the 1st quarter in this one, but then dominated Alabama over the final three quarters and were within a final pass play into the end zone of pulling the major upset over the Crimson Tide (4-2). The Cougars now must regroup after two straight close losses before taking on crosstown rival and well-rested Rice (1-4) at Robertson Stadium next Saturday.

Rice 31 Southern Miss 29

With just over 12 minutes left in the game, the Owls (1-4) were driving for another score while cruising with a surprising 31-7 lead over the Eagles (2-3). But then, the Owls missed a chip shot FG and less than ten minutes later, they had to stop a two-point conversion to salvage the win. The Owls take on Houston (2-3) Saturday at Robertson Stadium in their annual crosstown rivalry.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

October 5, 2007

Longhorn trepidation on the eve of Texas-OU Weekend

It's the annual Texas-OU Weekend in Dallas and with two straight Red River rivalry victories under their belt, one would think that the Texas Longhorns would be feeling reasonably confident coming into this year's game.

Don't count on it.

As noted in last week's local football report, the Horns were manhandled by Kansas State at home after looking unimpressive through the first four games of the season. The loss hurled the Horns out of the Top 10 of the polls, although UT did retain a spot in at least this Top 10 poll.

Meanwhile, Longhorn fan Ida Mae Crimpton reports from her front porch in Elgin that all is not well in the Longhorn nation after the Kansas State debacle:

Well, things were so bad after last weekend's loss to Kansas State that Mack didn't even come out of his office to talk with the team after the game was over. So defensive coordinator Duane Akina took over for him. Coach Akina told the guys he was real proud of them except for "that first quarter Kansas State touchdown pass that Marcus (Griffin) should have stopped…and that 41 yard interception return for a touchdown that anybody on offense could have prevented…and the 85 yard kick return that the punter should have stopped…and the 89 yard punt return that my grandmother could have stopped…and the 2 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter…and, oh yeah, those two field goals that nobody even tried to block…" Then, I guess the lecture sort of snowballed because you could tell coach Akina was getting madder and madder because that knobby fat area on the back of his neck was swelling up and getting real red.

Then he asked Colt if he planned to play professional sports after graduation and when Colt said "yeah" coach Akina suggested that he might consider women's professional soccer. Next, he turned to Jamaal who had been fiddling with his cell phone and asked him if he was having any personal problems or trouble with his studies (which brought a few snickers from the back of the team…). Jamaal said "no sir" so coach Akina asked him why he was running like he was wearing flip-flops? At that point coach Akina asked if coach Davis had anything he'd like to say to the team, but he said he didn't, or at least that's what he might have said because it was hard to hear him over the sobbing coming from behind Mack's office door.

Could all of this augur for a return to the days of Mack Brown's Stoops Curse?

Tune in tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., CDT on ABC to find out.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (1) |

October 3, 2007

"We eat what we kill"

Big-time college football is big business. Maybe not as big business as the NFL, but definitely big enough that major universities really ought to dump the obsolescent and hypocritical NCAA regulatory system and form a for-profit system that would pay players market-based compensation similar to minor league baseball.

That such reform makes sense is underscored by the first part of a two part Austin-American Statesman series on the University of Texas athletic department's finances. Not only has the $100 million UT athletic department budget doubled in the past six years, athletics expenses at UT have grown twice as fast as the university’s overall spending during the same time frame.

Moreover, because of the NCAA's regulation of player compensation, UT (as with other big-time programs) funnels compensation to players in the form of "resort privileges." For example, just since UT's football team won the national title in 2005, the football program has spent more than $200,000 renovating its players’ lounge and $155,000 purchasing a hydrotherapy room to help soothe its players’ sore limbs. That hydrotherapy room probably came in handy for Texas QB Colt McCoy after the licking he took during the Longhorns 41-21 loss to Kansas State last Saturday.

Likewise, the amount of money the university spends per athletehas almost doubled over the past four years, from $113,000 in 2003 to $210,000 this year. That’s 10 times the average of all Division I and II colleges, and eight times what UT spends educating each of its non-athlete students. When questioned about that discrepancy, the UT athletic department's CFO replied that the difference is largely meaningless because of the self-supporting nature of the UT athletic program. “We eat what we kill,” the CFO told the Statesman.

Which reminds me of the thought that I had when I saw the now popular video of Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy going batshit at a newspaper reporter over an article that she had written that was critical of one of his players. Gundy wasn't wrong in going haywire. He simply went wacko at the wrong target. The target should have the feckless university leaders who perpetuate the facade of intercollegiate football at the expense of the players. It's high time that the universities engaging in big-time college football start treating it for what it really is -- a big business that should pay market compensation to the professional athletes who are responsible for generating most of the income for the enterprise.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

October 2, 2007

$1,200 for that?

As noted in the weekly football report, the water cooler conversation in these psrts over the past several days has inevitably turned to what on earth was embattled Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione thinking when he sold a secret newsletter entitled "VIP Connection" to a dozen or so wealthy Aggies for $1,200 a pop (Franchione rakes in over $2 million annually).

The Dallas Morning News' Brian Davis came up with a few of the newsletters and passes along some of their content:

The Dallas Morning News obtained several "VIP" newsletters written by McKenzie since December 2004. Most have a positive tone. . . . others talk about what plays A&M will run, the team's travel schedule and generally harmless fluff. [. . .]

Last November, [the newsletter] outlined A&M's game plan prior to the Texas game. The Aggies wanted to take shots deep, use gadget plays and "hardball running plays."

"Lane on power, and then [Mike] Goodson on a zone read that goes toward a different place in the defensive set than usual [they've never seen it run this way]."

And people wonder why A&M's offense lacks imagination? ;^)

Update: The DMN provides even more from the newsletters.

And Ray Melick makes a good point at the end of this column:

[W]hen the guys who were once willing to buy everything you were selling, including your secret newsletter at $1,200 a year, begin to turn on you.

It's usually a pretty good indication that it's time to start looking for a comfortable place to fall.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

October 1, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/John Amise)(previous weekly summaries here)
Falcons 26 Texans 16

Don't christen Gary Kubiak as the next great NFL coach just yet.

After a sprightly start of the season, the Texans (2-2) lost to a mediocre Atlanta (1-3) team that is precisely the type of team that the Texans have to be beat in order to become an average NFL team, much less a good one. Although you won't hear it much from local media that covers the team, the Texans continue to have huge problems, particularly on offense where their best WR (Andre Johnson) is hurt and the "rushing" attack (more like a walking attack) revolves around two over-the-hill and oft-injured RB's and a mediocre offensive line. Meanwhile, the defense, while improving, still has gaping holes in the secondary and remains inconsistent in putting heat on the opposing team's QB. The Texans take on a bad Miami Dolphins (0-4) team next Sunday at Reliant Stadium. Don't be surprised if the Texans serve up the Dolphins' first victory of the season.

Kansas State 41 Texas Longhorns 21

The shallowness of the Longhorns' (4-1/0-1) undefeated record was exposed with a bang in Austin as Kansas State (3-1/1-0) took advantage of two kick returns for touchdowns and four interceptions by Colt McCoy to cruise to an easy 41-21 victory. It was the worst home loss for the Horns in 10 years under coach Mack Brown. Texas as the Wildcats pummelled McCoy with multiple blitz packages that the Horns' offensive line rarely picked up. The Horns -- who have been susceptible to blitz packages during the Brown era except for the 2005 National Championship team led by the elusive QB Vince Young -- now must figure out quickly how to overcome an even better blitzing team in Oklahoma (4-1/0-1) next weekend in Dallas or else UT will be facing the daunting prospect of an 0-2 start in Big 12 conference play.

Texas Aggies 34 Baylor 10

The Aggie nation heaved a huge sigh of relief as the Ags (4-1/1-0) methodically pounded the Bears (3-2/0-1) into submission at College Station. After last week's debacle at South Beach and this week's revelations of Coach Fran's stupefyingly stupid secret newsletter, a loss against the Bears could well have prompted the type of meltdown in Aggieland not seen since the infamous firing of Aggie head coach Emory Bellard back in 1978. The Ags used their tried and true ball-control offense to overwhelm the Bears, but it remains to be seen whether the Aggies can consistently beat teams with equal or better personnel while playing offense in a phone booth. The Aggies host resurgent Oklahoma State (3-2/1-0) for first place in the Big 12 South (first place in the Big 12 South is on the line next week at Kyle Field, not the Cotton Bowl?!) before their high-anxiety trip to the plains to meet Tech (4-1/0-1) in two weeks.

East Carolina 37 Houston Cougars 35

The Coogs (3-2/1-1) had their annual shoot-self-in-the-foot game when an awful kicking game and poor run defense combined to allow a mediocre East Carolina (2-3/1-0) to pull out the close win at Robertson Stadium. The Coogs now must travel to face a tough game next Saturday at Alabama (3-2) before returning home in two weeks for their annual crosstown rivalry game with Rice (0-4).

The Rice Owls (0-4) were idle this past weekend, but play Southern Miss (2-2) in a rare Wednesday night game this week before returning home to face Houston on October 13.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (1) |

"Just comes naturally?"

I used to think that former Texans QB David Carr is a nice fellow who just doesn't have the gumption to be a top-flight NFL QB. But now I'm wondering if he is simply a nice fellow who isn't very bright.

This earlier post chronicled the increasingly testy exchanges between Carr and his former teammates after the Texan's unceremonious canning of Carr last summer. Carr followed those brickbats up with the following recent observations reported in John McClain's Sunday NFL Notebook:

David Carr is starting his first game for Carolina today. After coming off the bench to help Carolina defeat Atlanta last week, Carr replaces quarterback Jake Delhomme, who has a strained right elbow and missed practice last week, against visiting Tampa Bay.

"Honestly, I do feel better on this team," Carr said comparing the Panthers to the Texans. "I'm more relaxed. I'm not being pressed to do things I don't need to be doing.

"I feel like I can go out with my mechanics and all that and just throwing the football in general, I feel like that just comes naturally, and I don't have to think about it. That's freeing as far as playing quarterback. Now, it's just completing balls and throwing to the right guy."

Carr's stat line for yesterday's game against Tampa Bay: 10-41 for 137 net yards passing, 1 TD and 1 interception.

Just comes naturally, I guess.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (1) |

I spoke too soon

As soon as I acknowledge one of Chronicle NFL columnist John McClain's rare good columns in the previous post, he serves this blog post entitled "Texans should be embarrassed after 26-16 defeat" in response to the Texans' loss yesterday at Atlanta.

Embarrassing? McClain thinks that the Texans' performance was embarrassing? How about this performance? Or this one?

And for more Chronicle sunshine reporting, compare this Richard Justice puff piece from today's paper with this one during the latter stages of the Texans' disastrous 2-14 seasons in 2005.

Now, that is embarrassing!

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

September 30, 2007

Giving due

I am a frequent critic of Chronicle NFL sports columinst John McClain's seemingly endless cheerleading for the Texans. But McClain is still capable of writing a good column on occasion, such as this recent one on the colorful fights over the year between various local coaches and players, on one hand, and local sportswriters, on the other. Why can't he write this way about the Texans?

Posted by Tom at 12:53 AM | Comments (1) |

September 27, 2007

Shasta talks about the Duck mugging

We all got a few chuckles over the Oregon Duck mascot's mugging of the Houston Cougar mascot during the football game between the two institutions' teams earlier this season.

Well, the UH student newspaper provides this follow-up article on the student -- Kinesiology major Matt Stolt -- who mans the Cougar mascot costume. Stolt turns out to be a gentleman who handled the incident and the aftermath with admirable maturity and good nature. Bully for him!

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

Coach Fran's strategy even has Ahmadinejad baffled

The picture on the left appeared on a Texas A&M football message board -- which is still reeling from the Aggies' debacle last Thursday against Miami -- with the following caption:

"Jovorskie Lane finish with 2 carries for 2 yards. How is this possible?"

The TV Tan Line has more.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

September 25, 2007

50 years with Darrell Royal

Has it really been 50 years since the University of Texas hired Darrell Royal to revive its flagging football program?

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

September 24, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel)
Colts 30 Texans 24

Amidst the wide-eyed wonderment that a few wins by the Texans (2-1) evokes from Houston Chronicle sportswriters, the Colts (3-0) systematically build a 27-10 lead after three quarters and then cruised to the victory (previous weekly summaries here). Texans RB Ahman Green was injured on his first rushing attempt of the game and the Texans were never able to mount any meaningful running attack against the Colts. By the way, my annual preview of the Texans' season contained the following point about Coach Kubiak's decision to sign Green:

An example of the dubious decision-making regarding offensive personnel is the signing of RB Ahman Green, formerly of Green Bay. Green was a great running back in his prime with the Pack, but he has averaged less than four yards per carry for the past two seasons. Inasmuch as the Texans agreed to pay Green $23 million over four years ($8 million guaranteed in the first season), the chances that the 30-year old Green will be worth the value of this contract this season are tenuous, at best. The chances of him still being worth the contract a couple of years from now are so speculative to be off the charts.

So, let's hold off on christening of Kubiak as the next Bill Walsh just yet. The Texans go to Atlanta (0-3) next Sunday before returning home the following week to face Miami (0-3).

Miami 34 Texas Aggies 17

Oh, my.

This one was not as "close" as the final score indicates as UM (3-1) shoved the hapless Aggies (3-1) all over the field. The Aggies' model of controlling the ball with their strong rushing attack generally allows them to stay in games so long as they don't turn the ball over, but that's precisely what they did against the Hurricanes. Unfortunately, fat guy up the gut, busted option play and an incomplete pass pretty much sums up most Aggie offensive series after they fall behind by a couple of scores. The Ags get Baylor (2-2) and Oklahoma State (2-2/1-0) at home the next two weeks before a the brutal part of their schedule begins in three weeks at Texas Tech (3-1/0-1). Coach Franchione's fate appears to be hanging by a thread.

Houston Cougars 38 Colorado State 27

After spotting CSU (0-3) a 17-3 halftime lead, the Cougars (2-1) trailed CSU (0-3) 24-10 with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter and faced a 4th down and 10 situation at the Rams' 27 yard line. About 30 seconds later, after a TD pass and an ensuing fumble return for a TD, the Coogs had tied the game at 24. The Cougars tacked on a couple of TD's in the final period to pull out a win that probably established redshirt freshman QB Case Keenum as the successor to Kevin Kolb. The Cougars take on East Carolina (1-3) next Saturday night at Robertson Stadium.

Texas Longhorns 58 Rice 14

The Longhorns (4-0) rolled in this glorified scrimmage against the hapless Owls (0-4), but still showed little to lead anyone to think that they have much of a chance against Oklahoma the week after next. But at least no Longhorns were arrested on Saturday night after the game celebrating the win. As for Rice, at least the Marching Owl Band got in a few good licks.

With Texas leading 41-7 at intermission, the suspense at Royal-Memorial Stadium actually peaked when the teams left the field.

That's when the Rice Marching Owl Band — the notorious MOB — commenced its halftime show.

Known for its biting spoofs, the 80-piece MOB opened with the "Dragnet Theme." Wearing dark sunglasses and suit coats bearing the Rice crest, the musicians formed the Texas "T" near the south end zone, just as the Longhorn band does before games.

Then their fun started.

Three "Longhorns" in burnt orange shirts and white helmets scampered downfield. Three cardboard black-and-white "police" cars gave chase.

Announcer William Price, a sousaphone player in the MOB, narrated: "In the two years since the MOB last visited Austin, your team's demeanor — and misdemeanor — has changed. Buy a program at today's game. It includes Mack Brown's wrist-slap Top 10 and a photo guide to the next episode of 'America's Most Wanted.' "

The skit was a nod to the Longhorns' recent experiences with the law-enforcement community in Austin. It could've been worse.

"The idea is to entertain people," explained Rice band director Chuck Throckmorton. "People aren't entertained when they're mad." [. . .]

After their show, the musicians enjoyed a standing ovation from much of the crowd.

The Horns tune up for OU weekend next Saturday in a "payback game" against Kansas State (2-1) (who upset the Horns and began their late-season swoon last year), while the Owls have an open date next weekend before going on the road to meet Southen Miss (2-1).

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

September 23, 2007

More from the real Texans cheerleading squad

In mid-December of last year, with two games to play in the 2006 NFL season, the Texans looked deader than a doornail and not like a particularly well-coached team. The Texans closed the season by upsetting the Colts and beating a bad Browns team to finish with a 6-10 record.

After wins against a bad Chiefs team and a decent Carolina team to open the 2007 season, one of the Texans' leading cheerleaders -- Chronicle columnist John McClain -- is acting as if the Texans game today with the Colts is a playoff game. In this breathless piece, McClain is ready to anoint Texans head coach Gary Kubiak as the next Vince Lombardi or Bill Walsh:

In 2000 and 2005, I sat in Denver coach Mike Shanahan's office at the team's practice facility and the subject of conversation was the same each time.

I asked Shanahan what he thought about his offensive coordinator as a head coaching candidate. On both occasions, Shanahan responded like a Washington power broker pushing a candidate for national office.

"I'm telling you, Gary's going to make a great head coach, and teams that pass him up are going to regret it," Shanahan said of Gary Kubiak. "I know what I'm talking about. I've watched him at every level. I've been around him since 1984." [. . .]

"Gary communicates well with his players and coaches. He knows how to get a point across. He's demanding. He's tough when he needs to be. Players want to play for him because they respect him. If a team has an opening, and they don't go after Gary, they're making a big mistake."

Shanahan was right.

Texans owner Bob McNair passed up Kubiak as the franchise's first coach. He didn't want to make that mistake again.

McNair hired Kubiak for Sundays like this one. And Kubiak came back home for weekends like this.

See Richard Justice's equally breathless column about the Texans here. This reminds me of the similar columns that McClain and Justice often wrote about Texans GM Charlie Casserly and head coach Dom Capers before the Texans' disastrous 2-14 record in Year 4 of the franchise. Maybe McClain is right about Kubiak. I hope he is. But at least make him earn the accolades first.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

September 20, 2007

More on "Book'em Horns"

The legal problems of current and recent Texas Longhorn football players prompted this Book'em Horns post awhile back, but yesterday's news that yet another Longhorn football player had been arrested on criminal charges generated a new round of barbs toward the Longhorns, including the farked message below on the Godzillitron at UT's Royal-Memorial Stadium. Things have gotten so bad that Austin sports columnist Kirk Bohls is wondering whether the UT football team has replaced the University of Miami as the bad boys of big-time college football?

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

Wisconsin no longer confused with The Woodands

As noted earlier here and here, the University of Wisconsin apparently does not have enough substantive legal work to keep its lawyers busy, so the university has made a cottage industry out of threatening high schools around the country that use a "W" logo that resembles the one used by the university's sports teams.

According to this article, it looks as if UW has proven that it has more money to waste on pursuing one of those frivolous lawsuits than my local high school here in The Woodlands. The Woodlands High School has agreed to change its "W" logo to the one on the left above.

I sincerely hope that the Iowa Hawkeyes kick Wisconsin's ass on the gridiron this Saturday. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 12:02 AM | Comments (1) |

September 17, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

(AP Photo/Mike McCarn)
Houston Texans 34 Carolina 21

Don't pinch me. The Texans (2-0) have now won four straight games (previous weekly reviews are here)!

In a game strangely reminiscent of how the Texans used to lose games, Carolina (1-1) zoomed out to a 14-0 first quarter lead only to have the Texans reel off 34 straight points over the next two and a half quarters to put this one away. After giving up those two first quarter TD's, the Texans' defense stiffened and sacked the Panthers' QB Jake Delhomme three times while forcing three fumbles and an interception and holding Carolina to 66 rushing yards rushing. Texans QB Matt Schaub was a solid 20-28 for 227 yards and two TD passes to WR Andre Johnson (who, by the way, sprained a knee and may be out for awhile), and reborn RB Ahman Green rushed for 71 yards and a TD to lead the Texans. But this one was put away by a heady special teams play when CB Demarcus Faggins stripped Carolina returner Nick Goings of the ball on the kickoff after Green's TD and Texans WR Kevin Walter recovered the fumble in the end zone for a gift TD. That made the score 31-14 early in the third quarter and even the incredible Carolina WR Steve Smith couldn't bring get the Panthers back into the game. The Texans host Peyton Manning and the defending Super Bowl champion Colts (2-0) next Sunday in what is sure to be rockin' Reliant Stadium.

Houston Cougars 34 Tulane 10

The Coogs (1-1) cruised into the Superdome and creamed Tulane (0-2) despite leaving 3 TD's on the field with turnovers. Even without an established QB, the Cougars rolled up over 500 yards total offense and the defense looked much improved from the first game debacle against Oregon. The Coogs return home next Saturday to face a Colorado State (0-2) team that has played both Colorado and Cal close.

Texas Tech 59 Rice 24

Rice’s mid-second-quarter comeback drive brought the Owls to within 21-17 of the Red Raiders, but then Tech reeled off 35 straight points over the next 25 minutes to turn this one into a rout. Tech QB Graham Harrell thew six TD passes, three of which went to super WR Michael Crabtree, who had 11 catches for 245 yards. Rumor has it that the Marching Owl Band was attempting to organize a party for the players of both teams after the game to introduce the members of the Rice secondary to Crabtree. The Owls continue the sacrifical lamb portion of their schedule next week at Austin against the Longhorns (3-0).

Texas Longhorns 35 Central Florida 32

Speaking of the Horns, they pulled out the victory over Central Florida despite losing the lead in the 4th quarter and looking utterly undeserving of the 6th place ranking in the national polls. Despite the Longhorns' undefeated record, I see all sorts of problems with this team -- iffy run defense, overall lackluster linebacker play, an inconsistent rushing attack and questionable deep ball threats outside of WR Limas Sweed, who did not play much in this game because of a sprained ankle. After a scrimmage against Rice (0-3) next Saturday at Austin, the Horns play Kansas State (2-1) before their annual matchup with Oklahoma (3-0). The Horns definitely do not look ready for the Sooners.

Texas Aggies 54 Louisiana-Monroe 14

The Ags (3-0) dominated this scrimmage over hapless ULM (0-3) in a warmup for the Ags' nationally-televised game this Thursday night against Miami (2-1) at the Orange Bowl. Miami is not very good this season, having already been blasted by Oklahoma 59-13. However, before getting too confident, Aggie fans should consider that, one week after the Ags eeked out a 3OT victory over Fresno State, Oregon creamed the Bulldogs, 52-21.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

September 15, 2007

The Texans' valuable brand

Forbes' annual valuation of National Football League franchises (related article here) was published this week, and the annual survey rates the Houston Texans as the fourth most valuable in the NFL at $1.056 billion (the Dallas Cowboys top the list this year at $1.5 billion). The value of public financing of stadiums has a huge impact on the valuations as all of the top 10 most valuable teams are the beneficiaries of either new stadiums or stadiums currently under construction. Several observations:

The Texans will probably decline in rank a bit in another year or two as the value of the Giants and Jets increases in response to the opening of their new stadium;

If you assume that Bud Adams' Houston Oilers would have been worth at least as much as the Texans had they remained in Houston and awaited a new stadium rather than taking flight to Nashville to become the Tennessee Titans, then Adams left over a cool $100 million on the table by making that move. And the difference in value between the Texans and the Titans is increasing;

A new stadium is not always a gold mine in terms of increasing a team's value. The Cardinals and the Lions have two of the newest stadiums in the NFL, but they are ranked only 23rd and 24th respectively out of the 32 NFL teams in terms of value;

Who would have ever thought that the San Francisco 49ers would be among the lowest valued NFL franchises (30th) and worth less than the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Oakland Raiders and the Buffalo Bills?

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

September 14, 2007

The most loyal pro football fans

The Texans have developed a pretty impressive and loyal local fan base, particularly given the team's lack of success so far in its first five NFL seasons. But as loyal as Texans fans are, they don't hold a candle to Cleveland Browns fans, whose once legendary team was stolen from them (that team is now the Baltimore Ravens) and then reincarnated a few years before the Texans were created as one of the worst expansion franchises in the history of the NFL. As this News-Herald article reports, the Browns are now the answer to a new NFL trivia question:

Since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970, which team named a starting quarterback for its first game and then traded that player before its second one?

(Answer: Browns starter Charlie Frye was traded to the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday for a sixth-round draft pick.)

Moreover, while their Browns were getting thumped at home 34-7 by the Steelers this past Sunday, get a load of what the capacity crowd at the Browns stadium endured in the first offensive series of the season by the Browns:

1st and 10 from the Cleveland 20: Jamal Lewis rush for 2 yards (this was the high point of the series).

2nd and 8 from the 22: Charlie Frye pass incomplete.

3rd and 8 from the 22 Charlie Frye sacked at the Browns 17 for a 5 yard loss.

4th and 13 from the 17: Browns punter Paul Ernster "booms" a 15 yarder to the Cleveland 32. But that's just the beginning of the incompetence on that particular play. Look at the rest of the stat line for that fourth Browns play of the season:

Penalty on CLV-35-J.Harrison, Defensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at CLV 32.

Penalty on CLV-90-D.McMillan, Defensive Holding, declined.

Penalty on CLV-56-A.Peek, Illegal Formation, declined.

Penalty on CLV, Ineligible Downfield Kick, declined.

So, to recap, on their first offensive series of the season, the Browns had a 2 yard rush, an incomplete pass, a sack, and a 15 yard punt with four penalties. The Steelers took possession of the ball at the Cleveland 22 and scored a touchdown four plays later.

There is a special place in football heaven for Cleveland Browns fans. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 12:02 AM | Comments (1) |

September 13, 2007

Shasta mugged

Although the Houston Cougars put up a better fight against the Oregon Ducks than Michigan did, Shasta -- the Cougars' mascot -- had a can of whoopass opened up on him by the Oregon Duck mascot, as the video below reveals. As a result of the fracas, the Oregon mascot has been suspended for Oregon's next home game; meanwhile, it appears to me that Shasta could use a few lessons in self-defense. As a grizzled veteran of following Houston football, all I can say is that this would never have happened to Shasta while Bill Yeoman was coaching the Cougars. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

The hottest seat in Texas

After Texas A&M's narrow escape last weekend over Fresno State, Brett Zwerneman of the San Antonio Express-News continues to lead the chorus (see earlier posts here and here) that doubts A&M football coach Dennis Franchione is going to produce a serious Big 12 South contender in Aggieland:

How did it come to a triple-overtime game against a smaller program that finished 4-8 last season? The Aggies, however, did double up on Franchione's oft-stated goal of simply scoring one more point than their opponent. [. . .]

The No. 25 Aggies had better progress in a hurry, however, if they're to compete for their first Big 12 title in nearly a decade. A&M is lucky Bulldogs receiver Marlon Moore tried sticking the ball out for a touchdown — resulting in a fumble — during Saturday's first overtime. Texas A&M Otherwise, the Aggies would be 1-1, and Franchione might've had a tough time holding on to his gig — during the season.

A road game at Miami looms Sept. 20, with contests later in the season at Texas Tech, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri, comprising A&M's rockiest schedule since the league started play in 1996.

The above games are supposed to be tough. Fresno State wasn't. [. . .]

Franchione is a mediocre 27-23 through 50 games at A&M, but this was supposed to be the season that his veteran squad finally emerged as a true threat in the league.

Instead, all of the old questions about A&M's direction are bubbling to the surface. As one frustrated A&M graduate put it, Franchione was hired to close the gap with Texas and OU, not Baylor and Iowa State. [. . .]

Franchione, 56, already owns the worst overall loss and the two worst bowl losses in school history over his previous four seasons.

But hey, even if the Aggie football team is not top ten caliber, the Fightin' Texas Aggie Marching Band is!

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

September 12, 2007

Only in New York (or make that New Jersey)

I recognize that real estate is a bit more expensive in New York than in other places. O.K., make that a whole lot more expensive.

But $1 million per season for a football luxury suite?

This is crazy expensive and it doesn't even include the cost of beer and brats. But it makes sense in a New York sort of way. If you are a hot-shot broker entertaining the next great hedge funds, you can't just go out and buy a luxury suite to a Giants game (although maybe you could for a Jets game ;^)). Inasmuch as the suites are being sold on 10-year contracts and rarely change hands once they are sold, a big shot has no way to ensure that he will be able to enjoy a game in 2015 in a luxury suite unless he owns a suite. In short, it's become the quintessential asset that money can't buy by the time the games are being played, so the big shots better pony up now or they will be out of luck.

And when New York eventually swings a Super Bowl, can you imagine the price that these babies will be selling for?

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

September 10, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Texans 20 Chiefs 3

Pinch yourself. The Houston Texans have won three straight regular season NFL games (previous weekly summaries are here).

The Texans (1-0) took advantage of four turnovers and a tepid Kansas City offense to win their season opening game for only the second time in franchise history. The Texans defense, which is the area of the team that clearly has the most potential, held the Chiefs to 219 yards total offense and DE Mario Williams returned one of the KC fumbles 38 yards for an early third quarter TD that put the Texans up 17-0. Meanwhile, the Texans offense was not great, but it was better than the Chiefs' offense. QB Matt Schaub guided that unit to 315 yards total offense, including a 77 yard TD bomb to WR Andre Johnson. Schaub was 16-22 passing for 225 yards in his Texans debut, including the TD pass to Johnson and a first quarter interception in the Texans end zone. The Texans face a stiffer test on the road next Sunday against Carolina (1-0), whose back-up QB is the Texans fromer QB, David Carr.

Texas Longhorns 34 TCU 13

The Horns (2-0) pulled away late in a game that was closer than the final score indicates. Texas was down 10-7 late in third quarter when the sloppy kicking game of TCU (1-1) scuttled the Horned Frogs' dreams of a defining win and BCS bowl contention. After the Longhorns tied the game at 10, a TCU fumble on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by Texas on the Horned Frog 26 and, a few plays later, a rejuvenated Texas offense rammed the ball into the end zone for Texas' first lead of the night. Then, on the ensuing kickoff, an illegal block penalty backed up the Frogs to their own 10 and, after a three and out, Texas' next drive started at the TCU 44. The Horns ground out a couple of first downs and then kicked a field goal, making the score 20-10. The following offensive possession generated another three and out for TCU, and when the Horned Frogs punter dropped the snap, Texas' Brandon Foster scooped it up and returned it for a TD and a 27-10 Longhorn lead. Game, set, match. The Longhorns go on the road next week to Orlando to help C-USA member Central Florida (1-0) christen their new stadium.

Texas Aggies 47 Fresno State 45 (3OT)

The most entertaining game of the day occurred in College Station where the Aggies (2-0) blew a 19 point lead and then held on for dear life to pull out the victory when Fresno St. missed the mandatory two-point conversion at the end of the third overtime period. As with last season, the Aggies have a good and competent team, but it appears unlikely that the Ags will be able to contend with the likes of Oklahoma and Oklahoma for the Big 12 South championship. The Aggies can control the ball and clock with their strong rushing attack, but they have no downfield passing game and -- outside of RB Michael Goodson -- do not have anyone with quick-strike capability against first-rate defenses. Meanwhile, the Aggie defense is just average, so the Ags will be giving up plenty of points this season. Without a high-scoring offense and with a defense that will give up some high point totals, my sense is that the Aggies are an 8-4-type team. At this point, it's hard for me to see them at any better than 9-3. They have another sure win next Saturday at home against Louisiana-Monroe (0-2) before going on the road the following Thursday to play a very average Miami (1-1) team in the Orange Bowl.

Baylor 42 Rice 17

The headline to last week's Rice Football Newsletter story on the Owls' loss to Nicholls State was "Could it get any worse than this?" Well yes, it could, as the Owls (0-2) found out on Saturday in Waco. The Owls gave up 531 total yards to the same Bears team that could only muster 282 yards and no points a week earlier against TCU. It's a bit frightening to think how many yards and points that Texas Tech (2-0) might run up on the Owls next Saturday at Rice Stadium.

The Houston Cougars (0-1) were idle this week and play C-USA rival Tulane (0-1) in New Orleans next Saturday.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (1) |

September 9, 2007

Fighting Irish bashing

It has not been a good year so far for Notre Dame.

After getting hammered 41-14 by LSU in the Sugar Bowl, Fighting Irish head coach Charlie Weis got poured out in the trial of his medical malpractice lawsuit against the surgeons who performed a gastric bypass operation on him. Then, the Irish were pummelled in their first two games of the season, 33-3 at home by Georgia Tech and 31-10 yesterday by Penn State. A wounded but talented Michigan team looms next week.

Thus, it's probably no surprise to anyone that more than a few of Notre Dame's opponents are enjoying the current troubles of the Fighting Irish. One of those passed along the flow chart below:

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (1) |

September 7, 2007

Houston Texans, Year Six

Rejoice! The seemingly unending National League Football pre-season is over!

It's Year Six for the Houston Texans and the fourth annual preview of the Texans since this blog began back in 2004 (previous previews are here). Thankfully, this past off-season for the Texans was not as eventful as the off-season after Year Four:

After unexpectedly finishing the 2006 season with a couple of wins, the Texans are riding a wave of optimism into the 2007 season. Unfortunately, most of those optimists forget that the team looked deader than a doornail in the game before those final two wins;

After changing the management model of the football team during the off-season after the 2005 season, Texans owner Bob McNair and second-year coach Gary Kubiak changed the marquee player of the franchise, which was followed by the typical potshots that occur after such changes;

Does the Michael Vick affair provide some hope for the Texans' draft strategy?; and

Texans owner Bob McNair -- one of the truly good guys among NFL owners -- was rated much more highly than his team.

So, is the optimism for the 2007 Texans justified? Well, in addressing that question, it's helpful to review briefly the Texans' tumultuous first five seasons. As noted in the pre-season review before last season, the Texans were the toast of the town for their first three seasons of existence in which the team and the local media trumpeted the party line that the organization was building a playoff contender "the right way" -- i.e., through prudent drafting and development of young players while eschewing the temptation of short-term rewards provided by over-priced veterans who were on the downside of their careers. The progressively better won-loss records in the first three seasons (4-12, 5-11, and 7-9) -- plus the drafting of young stars such as WR Andre Johnson, RB Dominack Davis and CB Dunta Robinson -- seemed to indicate that the Texans' plan was working.

Unfortunately, those progessively better won-loss records during the first three seasons camouflaged some big problems, such as the fact that the Texans entered each of their first four seasons with the same two core problems -- the Texans' offensive line could not protect the quarterback and the Texans' defensive front could not apply adequate pressure on the opposing team's QB. Although former Texans GM Charlie Casserly tried (remember the Texans' flirtation with LT's Tony Boselli and then Orlando Pace?), the Texans were never able to address those problem areas effectively. Ultimately, both Casserly and original Texans head coach Dom Capers were fired after the disastrous Year Four for their failure to solve those two core problems.

That miserable Year Four prompted McNair to blow up his management model and surprisingly hire Kubiak, who promptly made a whopper of a blunder in his first significant personnel decision as Texans' coach -- the decision to retain David Carr as the Texans QB. Inasmuch as a rank amateur such as me expressed doubts about Carr way back before Year Three, Kubiak's decision to make a go of it with Carr was as bad as any of the dubious personnel decisions of the Casserly era. Not only did the Texans blow an $8 million option bonus paid to Carr after the 2005 season, Kubiak's decision to retain Carr effectively negated an opportunity to dangle the No. 1 pick in the 2006 NFL draft in a trade that probably would have allowed the Texans to receive some much-needed value plus still draft one of the star QB's in that draft, Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler, or Vince Young, the Houston and UT icon who won the 2006 NFL offensive Rookie of the Year Award and become the first rookie quarterback to play in the NFL Pro Bowl. Kubiak quickly soured on Carr during the early stages of Year Five, resulting in the Texans having one of the worst offenses in the NFL last season and arguably overpaying for new QB Matt Schaub over the past off-season.

But at least Kubiak is willing to admit his mistakes and take risks in making changes to improve his team. Over his first two seasons at the helm of the Texans, the offensive-minded Kubiak has continued a trend that started during the final two years of the Casserly-Capers regime of emphasizing development of the Texans' defensive unit. If high draft picks CB Robinson, MLB DeMeco Ryans, DE Mario Williams and DT Amobi Okoye develop as charted, the Texans will have four Pro Bowl-level starters on their defensive unit within a couple of seasons of further seasoning. If the Texans can elevate the performance level of the personnel surrounding those potential stars, it's not unreasonable to expect that the Texans could have a dominating NFL defense by about the 2009 season, give or take a season.

Nonetheless, the same level of optimism is not as reasonable for Kubiak's area of expertise, the offense. Outside of the Schaub decision, almost every move that the Texans have made with regard to the offense reflects mediocrity. Although the conventional wisdom was that it would take at least a season for the Texans to adjust to Kubiak and offensive coordinator Mike Sherman's offense, the Texans go into the 2007 season with seven different starters on offense than what the team trotted out for the 2006 opener, including new starters at QB, running back, left tackle (again!) and wide receiver.

An example of the dubious decision-making regarding offensive personnel is the signing of RB Ahman Green, formerly of Green Bay. Green was a great running back in his prime with the Pack, but he has averaged less than four yards per carry for the past two seasons. Inasmuch as the Texans agreed to pay Green $23 million over four years ($8 million guaranteed in the first season), the chances that the 30-year old Green will be worth the value of this contract this season are tenuous, at best. The chances of him still being worth the contract a couple of years from now are so speculative as to be off the charts. Similarly, the Texans' problems at wide receiver behind Johnson are partially attributable to Kubiak prematurely giving up on an acceptable no. 2 WR, who is now flourishing with the Patriots.

Moreover, although Schaub has looked good in pre-season, his backup duty in Atlanta -- a poor game against the Saints in 2004, a great game against the Patriots in 2005 and decent performance in mop-up duty during 2006 -- is not dispositive proof that he is destined to become a high-caliber NFL QB. Staub has thrown only 161 passes during his NFL career, which is simply not a large enough sample size to predict much in terms of future performance. Schaub looks the part of a big-time QB, but so did Carr. Schaub will probably be better than Carr (it's unimaginable that he could be worse), but it's premature to anoint him just yet as the second coming of Warren Moon. Remember Rob Johnson?

Meanwhile, what about those two chronic problems that the Texans have faced each pre-season? Well, in terms of protecting the passer, it remains unclear whether the Texans have improved much from the 2006 unit. Staub appears to have better pocket presence than Carr, whose lack of same contributed to the incredible 272 sacks that he took over his five seasons in Houston. However, the Texans continue to rely on longtime linemen such as Chester Pitts, Seth McKinney and Fred Weary, none of whom have distinguished themselves as top flight offensive linemen. Add to that mediocrity the fact that the Texans still have not found a dominant left tackle and it becomes apparent quickly that Staub and Green better be prepared to take more than a few hard licks this season.

In terms of pressuring the passer, the Texans still have not solved the problem, but it appears that they are getting closer. Williams and Anthony Weaver were actually quite good last season against the run and in improving the pass rush, and first round draft choice Okoye should bolster the generally horrible defensive tackle play that the Texans endured for most of last season. MLB Ryans is also a first-rate talent, so the Texans are starting to accumulate the critical mass of talent up front that is necessary to generate an effective pass rush in the NFL. My question is whether that talent is sufficiently developed to create consistent havoc this season?

Thus, my bottom line is that the Texans offense will probably be slightly better than the defense this season, but that both units will still likely be below-league average in terms of performance. My sense is that the defense will soon overtake the offense in terms of becoming an above-league average unit in terms of performance, but that shift is more likely to occur next season and in following seasons as the talent around the nucleus of Ryans, Williams, Robinson and Okoye improves. As a result, I am placing the over-under on Texans wins this season at 7, which is one more than last season's correct pre-season over-under prediction and one game better than last season's 6-10 record.

The Texans first game will be reviewed in next Monday's 2007 Weekly local football review. Meanwhile, the blooming of the sports blogosphere has finally reached the point this season that there really is no reason to endure the superficial cheerleading of the mainstream media in obtaining information about the Texans. The following blogs provide superior analysis of the Texans to most anything that you will find in the mainstream media:

Stephanie Stradley, who used to blog as the Chronicle's Texans Chick, now provides an excellent blog on the Texans over at AOL Fanhouse;

Although not a blog, Warren DeLuca and the other writers at Houston Pro Football.com provide first-rate commentary on the Texans;

DGDB&D (for "Da Good, Da Bad & DeMeco") is a clever new blog that characterizes itself as "a seemingly harmless Texans blog";

Matt Loede chimes in with another new blog entitled Texans Gab;

Battle Red Blog is the blog on the Texans from the SB Nation family of blogs; and

Longtime Chronicle NFL columnist John McClain's blog is here, although McClain increasingly tends to wander off on to topics other than the Texans.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (5) |

September 5, 2007

Ida Mae reports on the Horns

Those Texas Longhorns are playing football again (albeit not very impressively), so it's time for Ida Mae Crimpton to provide the inside scoop on the Horns first game, straight from her front porch in beautiful Elgin, Texas. According to Ida Mae, the first game was bad, but the after-the-game Longhorn locker room was much worse:

And based on what Mack's wife, Sally, told me, it wasn't any picnic in the locker room after the game, either. Sally said that Mack really read the guys the riot act. He yelled at them and told them that after the way they played, they didn't need to expect any post-game orange Gatorade, either (and he was true to his word, too…he made them stand in line at the water cooler). And then when Offensive Coordinator Greg Davis got back from gassing up Mack's car and bringing it around (he also lets the air conditioner run for a while so it's nice and cool when Mack gets in to drive home), he told the offense how disappointed he was. He said that Mack had every right to be pissed off and that they would be doing double drills this coming week in preparation for TCU. Well, that made the guys groan, let me tell you. It was a pretty glum locker room…you'd have thought we'd lost or something.

But that's not all. Read the entire piece.

Posted by Tom at 12:06 AM | Comments (0) |

September 4, 2007

Another great college football resource

The Web continues to amaze with the depth and quality of the sites being generated. Check out this one analyzing the win-loss record of every BCS and mid-major college football team and conference in the U.S. What a great way to track trends among conferences and teams -- or simply to keep up with your favorite team -- throughout the season.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) |

September 3, 2007

2007 Weekly local football review

The Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of the college football season and HCT's weekly local football reviews, so here's the first edition of the 2007 season:

Oregon 48 Houston 27

Well, you have to hand to the Coogs, they certainly don't schedule only creampuffs for non-conference games and they keep things entertaining. After spotting Oregon a 14-0 first quarter lead, the Cougars closed to within 34-27 with 1:50 left in the third quarter. But then on the next play, the Ducks exploited a chronic weakness of the Cougars during the Art Briles era -- a porous defense -- for an 80 yard TD run for a 41-27 lead that took the wind out of Houston's sails. The Cougars actually outgained the Ducks (538 yds to 468 yds), but Houston's five turnovers (two interceptions, two fumbles and blocked punt, three of which were inside the Oregon 20) more than made up for that offensive output. Despite the continuing defensive struggles, the Cougars appear to have found a good QB in redshirt freshman Casey Keenum and will have two weeks to regroup before taking on Tulane in New Orleans on September 15.

Texas Longhorns 21 Arkansas State 13

H'mm. Texas fans are rightfully concerned after watching the Horns fumble and stumble against Arkansas State. The Indians outpassed the Longhorns (272 to 223), outrushed them (125 to 117), tallied more first downs (26 to 23), punted fewer times (3 to 4), threw fewer interceptions (1 to 2), had a stronger kickoff return game (94 return yards to 73), and held the ball longer in time of possession (30:12 to 29:49). The Longhorns have been tabbed as 10 point favorites in their game against mid-major power TCU (1-0) next Saturday in Austin, but expect that line to move down a bit as the game approaches. Absent a substantially better effort against the Horned Frogs, the Horns could well lose that game.

Texas Aggies 38 Montana State 7

After spotting Montana State an early 7-0 lead, the Ags methodically hammered out the victory using their somewhat boring but effective strategy of emphasizing the rushing attack, throwing short passes and restricting turnovers. However, even the most optimistic Ags have to be concerned about an Ag defense that gave up over 400 yards to a Division I-AA team that replaced its head coach just three months ago and an offense that still does not appear to be able to execute a pass play of over 7 yards or so. The Aggies get a stiffer test at home next week against Fresno State (1-0), who enter the week as 17 point underdogs.

Nicholls State 16 Rice 14

Coming off the Todd Graham affair, this is not how the Owls wanted to kick off the David Bailiff era. The Rice Football Webletter commented as follows in this article entitled "Could It Get Any Worse Than This?":

Perhaps the worst strategic decision made on the turf of Rice Stadium Saturday night came not from the Owl quarterback, not from the head coach – though both sources stunned the crowd of 11,800 with the length and breadth of their miscreancy during the course of this excruciating, five and one-half hour game.

Nope, the worst decision came from the tongue of Rice Athletic Director Chris del Conte, who, given the election of sending the teams home and playing the game over later in the season after the second of two, hour-long, lightning-induced weather delays – or electing to wait it out and get the game in – chose to stand fast and play ball.

The Rice Owls responded by imploding their own building here Saturday night as a, shall we say, less-than-imaginative offense yielded up five key turnovers en route to a 16-14 loss to an aroused, strutting and confident Nicholls State team.

The fancy banners which newly-adorn the stately, former-72,000-seat-edifice still stand on a muggy Sunday morning. But down like so many tons of concrete and structural steel have fallen the remains, not of a building, but of a rebuilding.

Ouch! The Owls attempt to rebound as 6 point underdogs next week in Waco against Baylor (0-1).

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (3) |

August 30, 2007

The NCAA sinks to a new low

As regular readers of this blog know, I maintain that the NCAA's administration of big-time intercollegiate athletics has outlived its usefulness for a long while. On the heels of a shooting incident in Houston over this past weekend that killed one of the area's most promising high school football players, the NCAA once again proved that it has taken over-regulation to new heights of absurdity:

Just hours after Oklahoma football recruit Herman Mitchell was shot to death Friday in Houston, Adam Fineberg started raising money for Mitchell's family.

But after raising $4,500, enough to cover almost half the cost of Mitchell's funeral, Fineberg stopped. An OU compliance officer told him his actions would constitute an NCAA rules violation against the Sooners.

Now, Mitchell's mother likely will never receive that money.

That money is considered illegal financial assistance under NCAA rules because Mitchell's brother is a sophomore fullback at Westfield High School in Spring, Texas, and because Fineberg is an OU fan who attends Sooner football games and solicited donations through an OU fan Web site. [. . .]

OU spokesman Kenny Mossman said the an official with the university's compliance office contacted Fineberg on Monday asking to him halt his fundraising efforts until the OU received a rules interpretation from the NCAA. That interpretation came Tuesday.

"This is not a permissible expense for OU or someone who could be construed as an OU supporter,” said Mossman, an associate athletic director for communications. "We're not trying to be the bad guys, but we have to play by their rules.”

OU could apply for a waiver that would allow Fineberg to resume his fundraising and allow the Mitchell's family to receive the money, an NCAA official said late Tuesday.

"We would consider that if the university chose to go down that avenue,” NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said.

All heart, those NCAA folks, eh?

Update: After a public outcry, the NCAA comes to its senses.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (5) |

August 28, 2007

Another wonderful thing about the blogosphere

Is that you can find far better previews of college football teams than are served up in the mainstream media. A case in point -- TAMABINPO's 2007 Aggie Football Preview. Check it out to find out everything you need to know about the 2007 Aggie football team.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

August 26, 2007

Are you ready for some college football?

The college football season kicks off this week, so take a look at this clever table containing the schedules of most major college teams utilizing the logos of each team and opponent. And here is an interesting pre-season analysis of the major conferences.

Posted by Tom at 12:25 AM | Comments (1) |

August 24, 2007

Cheerleading the Cowboys?

We already know that the Chronicle sportswriters lead the nation in pre-season puff pieces about local professional football team. But now the Chron sportswriters are expanding the reach of their incessant cheerleading to Dallas with this soft toss about new Cowboys head coach, Wade Phillips, who happens to be the son of the still hugely popular former Houston Oilers head coach, Bum Phillips:

So after all these years, Wade is who he is, something of a rumpled, unprepossessing presence on the sideline and not the most silver-tongued of news conference orators. The only thing overtly sexy about him is his latest job title: head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, one of sport's most lustrous brands. [. . .]

Funny thing. If you ask the Cowboys about their new coach, they're wont to speak about how Wade also sees stuff. For that reason, quarterback Tony Romo calls him the smartest coach he has ever been around.

Let's just say that there is a slight difference of opinion about Wade's head coaching abilities at one of his previous stops, Buffalo, New York. The Buffalo News' Jerry Sullivan laid out the case against Phillips as a head coach in a column (not available online) at the time the Cowboys hired Phillips last February:

When I heard that Jerry Jones had hired Wade Phillips to be the Dallas Cowboys' new head coach, I had the same reaction as when Jones signed Drew Bledsoe two years ago:

Good luck, fella.

Is this what it's come to for the once-great Dallas franchise? When times get tough, go out and grab a castoff from the Buffalo Bills' recent, sorry past? Maybe Jones' next move will be luring Rob Johnson out of retirement to compete with Tony Romo for the quarterback job.

Ralph Wilson has to be smiling. Maybe he can't get Jones and the other rich NFL owners to give him a bigger share of the revenue pie. But at least Wilson gets the satisfaction of seeing the Cowboys picking through his table scraps -- you know, the way the Bills did with Patriots discards during the Donahoe era.

Jones can spin it any way he likes. But it's clear that the Cowboys owner, who has the title of general manager, decided it was time to meddle again and wanted a puppet as coach. Jones gave Bill Parcells control for four years and didn't get a single playoff win for his trouble. That makes 10 years without a playoff win for the storied Cowboys -- nearly as long as Buffalo's playoff drought.

Phillips was the ideal candidate, a retread who is close to 60 and was desperate for one last shot at a top job. Phillips is a nice, self-deprecating guy, a native Texan who wore ostrich-skin boots to his introductory news conference.

"Wade wanted it so bad," Jones said when he announced Phillips' hiring.

Phillips wanted it badly enough to accept Jason Garrett as Jones' hand-picked offensive coordinator. He didn't get to pick his offensive staff. I suppose he'd have taken the Cowboys cheerleaders as coaches if Jones had required it.

Jones favors the 3-4 defense. Phillips is a 3-4 guy, a good defensive coach. Some would say great, but it's funny how his defenses have failed to rise to the ultimate test over the years. The Chargers' playoff collapse against the Pats last month was the most recent example.

Of course, the Cowboys aren't hiring Phillips to run a defense. They're hiring him to be the head coach. As Bills fans have discovered to their horror (Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey), it's a huge step from coordinator to head man. All too often, owners elevate men beyond their intellect and abilities.

Why would Jones expect great things from Phillips in his third go-round? Phillips is a proven mediocrity as a head coach. His supporters point to his 29-21 record with the Bills. I'm sorry, those teams were loaded. It didn't take a Vince Lombardi to produce a winning record.

Phillips isn't big on detail. A former assistant told me Phillips didn't account for a short practice week before the Music City Miracle, which was played on a Saturday. He wasn't a stickler for conditioning. He was not a commanding presence on the sideline.

Phillips didn't win a playoff game in Buffalo and made some classic blunders along the way. He made Johnson his starting QB before a playoff game, after Doug Flutie got the team to 10-5. He made Bruce DeHaven the scapegoat for the playoff loss. Then he brought in Ronnie Jones, an unqualified crony, to coach the special teams. It was a disaster.

Before a Monday night game late in the 2000 season, Phillips went on national TV and said the Bills and Colts (who were tied at the time) were essentially out of playoff contention. The Colts won and found a way into the playoffs.

My mind throbs at the memory of Phillips fumbling his way through the Flutie-Johnson flap. He was in over his head as the spokesman for a franchise. If he thought he had it tough here, wait until the Texas media gets hold of him.

They'll chew the guy up and spit him out, ostrich skin boots and all.

Funny how none of the foregoing made it into the Chron article. Everything remains peaches and cream at the Chron during the pre-season.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

August 23, 2007

Senior football?

It's safe to say that the fellow described in this ESPN.com article is not your typical 59-year old:

Mike Flynt was drinking beer and swapping stories with some old football buddies a few months ago when he brought up the biggest regret of his life: getting kicked off the college team before his senior year.

So, one of his pals said, why not do something about it?

Most 59-year-olds would have laughed. Flynt's only concern was if he was eligible.

Finding out he was, Flynt returned to Sul Ross State this month, 37 years after he left and six years before he goes on Medicare. His comeback peaked Wednesday with the coach saying he's made the Division III team's roster. He could be in action as soon as Sept. 1. [. . .]

A longtime strength and conditioning coach at Nebraska, Oregon and Texas A&M, he's spent the last several years selling the Powerbase training system he invented. Clients include school systems and the military. His colorful life story includes being the son of a Battle of the Bulge survivor and having dabbled in gold mines and oil wells -- successfully. [. . .]

Flynt's position is still being determined, but he used to play linebacker. Wherever he lines up, he'll likely become the oldest player in college football history. Neither the NCAA or NAIA keeps such a statistic, but research hasn't turned up anyone older than their mid-40s. And even those are rare, for obvious reasons. [. . .]

. . . his wife wasn't as fired up by the idea.

"I feel like I'm married to Peter Pan," she said. . .

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (1) |

August 21, 2007

Looking for wide-outs

Amidst the Chronicle's incessant pre-season cheerleading for the Texans, most objective observers concede that the team is thin at the wide receiver position after Pro Bowl WR Andre Johnson.

Sort of makes you wonder why one of the team's top draft choices at the wide receiver position is excelling with one of the top teams in the NFL rather than the Texans? And the guy who the Texans brought in to replace him is no longer with the team?

Count me as still skeptical of the Kubiak regime.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

August 18, 2007

A job well done

University of Houston student-athlete and football player Jerrod Butler was stricken by sudden cardiac arrest on Monday during a weightlifting session at the University of Houston. Butler passed out and stopped breathing.

Members of the UH athletic training staff, led by Mike O'Shea and John Houston, immediately revived Butler, performing CPR and using an automatic external defibrillator. Butler was then rushed the short drive to the Methodist Hospital emergency room at the Texas Medical Center, where he was put on a ventilator and placed in the intensive care unit.

On Thursday, Butler was moved out of the ICU and into a regular room.

It's easy in our busy lives to take professionals such as O'Shea and Houston for granted, but they are the type of dedicated people who make Houston such a special place to live. A tip of the hat to these two fine professionals on a job well done.

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

August 17, 2007

The UT brand prevails again

For the second straight year, the University of Texas finished no. 1 in an all-important rating -- collections on royalties from the sale of merchandise.

Maybe image is everything?

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

August 14, 2007

Taking cheerleading to the next level

I enjoy the football season as much as anyone, but I absolutely abhor the football pre-season.

For weeks, we are forced to endure literally hundreds of glowing newspaper articles and media reports regarding football practice, which happens to be one of the most boring exercises in organized human activity ever invented. Prior to the Texans' 2006 season, I noted a couple of times (here and here) how the Chronicle sportswriters have elevated the pre-season cheerleading about the local NFL team to absurd levels, which means that we will then be treated to dozens of more inane articles and media reports after the season begins on how disappointing the Texans are performing.

The sheer amount of over-analysis is overwhelming. Today, while flipping the radio dial in my car, I happened upon two radio show hosts analyzing for about five minutes two incompletions from Saturday night's Texans-Bears pre-season game. Here is a typical Chronicle entry regarding Monday's Texans' practice:

The offense looked strong Monday with Bethel Johnson making some big catches. He may have earned himself a little more playing time this weekend. He saw the field Saturday, but didn't record a reception.

Pretty earth shattering stuff, don't you think? The amount of time expended on all of this is really absurd.

At any rate, from the looks of this article (pdf here), the Chronicle sportswriters are off and running again this pre-season in their role as the primary Texans cheerleaders:

A cornerback by trade in the NFL, Von Hutchins is getting a serious look from the Texans at free safety, and that's where he was playing Saturday when he intercepted a Rex Grossman pass late in the first quarter.

Hutchins stepped in front of intended receiver Mark Bradley and made the pick at the Chicago 36, then returned it 20 yards before being run out of bounds at the 16.

The heads-up play, which set up the second of Kris Brown's four field goals in the Texans' 19-17 victory, . . .

First, the interception was thrown by backup Bears QB, Brian Griese, not Grossman. And, of yeah, it would be nice if the Chronicle reporter noticed that the Texans actually lost the game, 20-19.

It's going to be a long season enduring media reports about the local football team.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

August 7, 2007

Book'em Horns

As noted last week here, it's been a tough off-season for University of Oklahoma Sooner football program, what with more NCAA sanctions and all. But it was only a matter of time before the Sooner faithful would be in a position to fight back. A flurry of Texas Longhorn players getting arrested during the off-season has given Sooner fans their opportunity. The Mack Brown-Longhorn "All-Character" team below is the result:

Posted by Tom at 12:43 AM | Comments (1) |

August 2, 2007

Who was that guy who used to wear no. 8?

With the opening of the Texans' pre-season training camp, the players are being asked about what it's like not to have David Carr quarterbacking the Texans for the first time in the team's history. Carr is already on record as saying that he's glad to be away from the Texans' sieve-like offensive line, which prompted some mild barbs back at Carr from his former main target.

But as this Stephanie Stradley post reports, more of Carr's former teammates are "diplomatically" letting it be known publicly that they are not sorry that Carr is gone. Even Bob McNair goes on record as saying that the team had bent over backward to accomodate his slow development as an NFL QB, but finally just had to move on.

My, how times change.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (1) |

The Walsh Era

Former San Francisco 49er's coach Bill Walsh died earlier this week, so the WSJ's Allen Barra provides this wonderful tribute to Coach Walsh that, among other things, reminds us of his most special legacy:

It was as a teacher, though, that Mr. Walsh had his greatest and most lasting influence on football. Unlike Lombardi, who left worshippers but no disciples, Mr. Walsh spawned an entire generation of acolytes. His defensive coordinator George Seifert won two Super Bowls with San Francisco; his offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren won one with Green Bay. Mr. Seifert's pupil Mike Shanahan, schooled in Mr. Walsh's methods, won two more with Denver.

Mr. Walsh's influence on football today is so pervasive that nearly 20 years after his final game, the Super Bowl has practically become an annual showcase for his adherents. This past February, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy, a former player under Mr. Walsh, squared off against the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith, who trained as an assistant to Dennis Green, once a Walsh receiver's coach.

That Messrs. Dungy and Smith were the first African-American coaches to reach the Super Bowl highlights perhaps Mr. Walsh's greatest legacy: In 1987, he helped create the Minority Coaching Fellowship Program. "I can tell you this," says Mr. Dungy, "his life was about much more than just X's and O's."

Meanwhile, Jean Bramel reminds long-suffering Cincinnati Bengals fans (including my nephew, Josh) that Walsh was once an up and coming assistant coach with the Bengals, and actually began developing the West Coast offense while with the Bengals. Alas, Walsh was the subject of one of the more egregious "pass-overs" in NFL history:

[While with the Bengals, Coach Walsh] found a way to modify his passing attack with short, precise passes and mulitple wide receiving options putting pressure on the defense with timing routes — what is now known as the West Coast offense but could rightly be called the Cincinnati offense. Walsh again found a near perfect fit for his new playbook in Ken Anderson, a smart, calm, precise passer. Walsh’s offense was clicking for the Bengals in the early 1970s. By the end of the 1975 season, Anderson was running the offense to perfection with a 60% plus completion rate and 8 yards plus per passing attempt. Curtis had been to three consecutive Pro Bowls and was a star. The Bengals had made the playoffs in 1973 and 1975. The future was ridiculously bright.

Then Bengal head coach and patriarch Paul Brown retired and handed the reins to long time offensive assistant Tiger Johnson instead of Walsh, who resigned in disappointment. The rest, as they say, is history. Walsh spent a season in San Diego as an assistant and coached Stanford for two seasons before taking the head coaching job in San Francisco where his offense flourished under Joe Montana. Johnson’s Bengal teams steadily declined and he was fired in 1978. Cincinnati made two Super Bowls in the 1980s, only to lose both to the franchise Bill Walsh built.

Rest in peace, Bill Walsh. This Bengal fan still longs for what could’ve been.

Tiger Johnson over Bill Walsh? That sounds almost Oileresque, don't you think?

Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) |

July 30, 2007

"Hook'em Barry?"

It's not been a good off-season for the University of Oklahoma Sooners football team.

First, there was this popular entry in the Wizard of Odds' digital billboard contest.

Then, that was followed by the NCAA leveling additional sanctions on the OU program, including making the Sooners vacate their 8 wins during the 2005 season and extending the program's probation through 2010.

But the above is nothing compared to legendary Sooners head coach Barry Switzer flashing the "Hook'em Horns" sign (hat tip Jay Christensen) with Texas head coach, Mack Brown.

Or maybe Coach Switzer had something else in mind than "Hook'em Horns?"

Posted by Tom at 12:57 AM | Comments (1) |

July 28, 2007

Rumblin' and stumblin'

Back in the late 1970's, it was 260 pound Texas A&M Wishbone fullback George Woodard.

Then, several years ago, it was 270 pound Aggie tailback JaMaar Toombs.

Now, it's 282 pound Aggie tailback Jorvorskie Lane.

What is it about over-sized running backs that fascinates the Aggies?

Posted by Tom at 12:41 AM | Comments (0) |

July 19, 2007

Hope for the Texans?

Despite my earlier reservations, the Michael Vick debacle actually provides some hope for the Houston Texans' draft strategy:

In 2000, [the San Diego Chargers] stunk. Fan apathy grew like dandelions. The Chargers had gone 1-15, almost impossible in the modern-day NFL. Ryan Leaf was their starting quarterback, fading away like bad smoke, soon to get into coaching (of all things). They needed oomph. They needed star quality. They needed box office.

The quarterback situation was beyond dismal. So, what did they do? They didn't take my advice (as usual), which was, in 2001, to draft electric Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick. That's why I'm a sportswriter, not Lombardi.

But they almost took Vick. They came this close. So the worst team in the NFL sent its No. 1 overall pick to Atlanta for the fifth selection, who turned out to be just a guy, a someone, a nice fellow, a tailback named LaDainian Tomlinson, who has scored 111 touchdowns and thrown for six more since that fateful day.

LT now owns San Diego. Vick now owns a set of tremendous problems. He makes Leaf look like Johnny Unitas.

Read the entire column. The Chargers are now one of the elite teams in the NFL, while the Falcons are trolling quickly to the bottom. Maybe that Texans 2006 draft wasn't so bad after all.

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

July 17, 2007

The sad grave of Bullet Bob Hayes

Before the ubiquitous burners these days at the wide receiver position in the National Football League was the Dallas Cowboys' Bullet Bob Hayes, the 1964 Olympic gold medal winning sprinter-turned-NFL All-Pro wide receiver.

Hayes played before the days of big money in the NFL and his life took a turn for the worse in the 1970's when he served prison time for being involved in a drug ring. Hayes died at the age of 59 in 2002 from kidney failure and is still a legend in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, but this Jacksonville Times-Union article indicates that his legendary status does not equate with a fitting resting place:

In a corner of A. Philip Randolph Park, a statue surrounded by red, white and pink flowers captures "Bullet" Bob Hayes at his Olympic peak - the 1964 Tokyo games - whizzing past the competition in the anchor leg of the 4x100 meter relay.

Yet, on the other side of the city, the final resting place for Jacksonville's most revered athlete is nothing more than a bare patch of grass. [. . .]

In 1999, the Times-Union named the phenom who rose from poverty on Jacksonville's Eastside to Olympic greatness, and later stardom for the Dallas Cowboys, as its Athlete of the Century.

Hayes is remembered locally as an Olympic legend for his world record performances and two gold medals in Tokyo - his anchor sprint in the relay is still considered among the fastest ever. And later, as a player in the National Football League, his unmatched speed forced defenses to revise their zone schemes. He holds 22 Dallas records, including 71 career touchdown receptions and 20 yards per catch, and is enshrined in the Cowboys' Ring of Honor.

But in Edgewood Cemetery, where Hayes is buried, there seems to be a legacy deferred - an empty tract with no headstone. Times-Union reporters who visited the burial site twice, once in June and again last week, observed no marker of any sort. A Times-Union photographer on Saturday found a temporary marker at the site. [. . .]

Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) |

July 5, 2007

Rating the NFL owners

SI.com's Michael Silver rates the owners of the 32 National Football League teams, and Texans' owner Bob McNair comes in a respectable seventh:

Like [Redskins owner Daniel] Snyder, McNair is an aggressive, personally invested owner who desperately wants to field a winning team. Unlike the Redskins' boss, McNair hasn't even come close to doing so.

Since the Texans joined the NFL in '02, there have been a lot of dubious decisions on key matters, from the stubborn insistence that David Carr was a franchise quarterback to the selection of Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and hometown hero Vince Young in the '06 draft. McNair, at the very least, deserves some blame for hiring the people who made those decisions.

That said, he has established a highly valued franchise in a market the NFL had abandoned. He also worked exceptionally hard on last year's revenue-sharing plan. And, on a self-serving note, McNair's may be the most media-friendly organization in the league.

If there was ever a sports franchise owner whose team deserved some good fortune on the playing field, then it's McNair.

Oilers owner Bud Adams comes in 18th, which is somewhat surprising only because it's hard to believe that there are 14 owners worse than him. Go figure.

Posted by Tom at 4:20 AM | Comments (1) |

July 3, 2007

The Tyler Rose's ordeal

In the late 1970's, Earl Campbell ushered in a generation of outstanding running backs from Texas and he remains the standard by which power runners are evaluated. However, the pounding that Earl took during his playing career has taken a heavy toll. As Jay Christensen and Tom Dienhart report, the Tyler Rose is badly crippled despite the fact that he has just turned 50 years of age (a related Chip Brown/Dallas Morning News article is here).

Given Campbell's condition, this recent Chronicle story looks even sillier than it did at the time it ran.

Posted by Tom at 4:05 AM | Comments (1) |

June 29, 2007

David who?

Stephanie Stradley, who did a good job of blogging the Houston Texans last season as the "Texans Chick" over at the Chronicle, is now blogging over at the NFL Fanhouse. She passes along this interesting item regarding Texans' star wide receiver Andre Johnson's comparison of new Texans QB Matt Schaub and former Texans punching bag, er, I mean, QB, David Carr. Johnson's comments are particularly interesting given Carr's recent remarks (see here) regarding his time with the Texans.

H'mm. Any surprise that Carr's Texan teammates never voted him to be one of the team's captains?

Posted by Tom at 12:03 AM | Comments (1) |

June 28, 2007

College football must be right around the corner

You know it's about time for the college football season to begin when the first story appears proclaiming that Texas A&M football coach Dennis Franchione remains on the hot seat (Brett Zwerneman of the San Antonio Express-News):

. . .Anyway, an Aggies neighbor here in town firmly stated Monday that this is Dennis Franchione’s make-or-break season in College Station. I didn’t realize she had that much pull with the Aggies brass.

I argued that A&M will have a better team than last season -- and a worse record. For starters to a tough last two-thirds of the schedule, the Aggies play a non-conference, Thursday night road game at Miami, a recently-proud program now under first-year coach Randy Shannon. [. . .]

Last year, A&M squeezed out a three-point victory at KU and a one-point victory in overtime at OSU. This year, A&M plays league road games at Texas Tech, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri.

The Aggies haven’t won in Lubbock since 1993. They haven’t won in Lincoln, Neb., since 1955 (no, I didn’t cover that game). They haven’t won in Norman, Okla., since 1997. They haven’t won in Columbia, Mo., since 1999.

In other words, A&M hasn’t won at any of those places this millennium (or century, if that grabs you more). In 2003, Franchione’s first season at A&M and the last time the Aggies played this league slate, A&M lost at the above four hotspots by a combined 167 points.

One-hundred-and-sixty-seven points! (Right, that team didn’t have Mike Goodson. You got me.)

Obviously they’ve got a little ground to make up. . . .

The entire column is here.

Posted by Tom at 12:25 AM | Comments (0) |

June 4, 2007

Competing with the NFL? Or with NCAA football?

Mark Cuban's Shareslueth speculative venture has not exactly been going gangbusters, so his announcement last week of a new professional football league to compete with the National Football League probably does not have the NFL owners quaking in their very well-heeled boots. Phil Miller has a good rundown on the basic economics behind Cuban's football venture, not the least of which is the current cost of an expansion NFL franchise -- probably $800 million or so to the other NFL owners even before absorbing other startup costs.

But is the NFL the real competition for this new venture? It seems to me that NCAA football will be the new venture's main competition, particularly for players. Could Cuban's venture be the professional minor league football league that could spur NCAA members to reform big-time college football toward the college baseball model that has been so successful over the past couple of decades?

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (0) |

May 30, 2007

Is there such a thing as
Texans Underexpectation Syndrome?

Maybe it's simply because the Texans have been one of the NFL's worst expansion franchises in modern times.

Maybe it's because of the scars from the Tony Boselli deal. Or perhaps the Philip Buchanon deal.

Maybe it's just because of the concern that is raised whenever Richard Justice declares that the Texans are about ready to turn the corner.

But does it trouble anyone else that the management of the Atlanta Falcons apparently knew this information about QB Michael Vick and still traded their backup quarterback to the Texans, anyway?

Posted by Tom at 4:32 AM | Comments (0) |

The Bo Legend

Has it really been 20 years since Bo Jackson made his Major League Baseball debut? Joe Posnanski tells some of the remarkable stories about this era's larger than life athlete.

Posted by Tom at 4:05 AM | Comments (0) |

May 29, 2007

Richard Justice, Texans Cheerleader

Following this post from last month, the Chronicle's Richard Justice continues to lead the cheerleading (see also here) for the Houston Texans:

Times have changed. The Texans have this city's best owner in Bob McNair. They have competent people in charge, especially GM Rick Smith. They've got a core of talented under players around which to build, and for the first time, they've got veteran leadership. The Texans seem headed for respectability in Gary Kubiak's second year on the job.

Interestingly, Justice's effusive praise of the Kubiak-Smith regime sounds remarkably similar to the following September 12, 2004 article ($) extolling the talents of the now disgraced Charlie Casserly and Dom Capers:

The Texans have made good use of their honeymoon. They've drafted wisely and spent shrewdly on free agents. They've assembled a front office admired around the NFL. Their players seem to be quality people. [. . .]

The danger for them is that their greatest strength could become their greatest weakness. They've done so many things right and have built such a model operation that it's impossible not to put expectations on a fast track. [. . .]

So far, it's impossible not to be impressed with what the Texans have done. They are run as efficiently as any sports franchise I've ever been around.

Just before the start of training camp, Casserly gathered his employees and thanked them for all their hard work. Then he went down the list of different departments and explained some little thing each had done that made the team - and the organization - better.

That's the kind of thing the people who run sports franchises almost never do, and it left every person who was mentioned proud to be associated with the Texans.[. . .]

Capers believes it's vital to emphasize doing things right because "if you ever slip, you can never get it back."

So far, the Texans haven't slipped in any significant way.

That sunny appraisal of the Casserly-Capers regime was immediately before Year Threee, and Justice held on to that view well into the disastrous 2-14 Year Four when most reasonably well-informed folks had concluded that the direction of the franchise needed to change. Of course, Justice eventually embraced a disparaging view of Casserly and Capers as if he had doubts about the two from the beginning.

Justice may be right about the current direction of the franchise under Kubiak and Smith, but it's worth noting that the chronic left offensive tackle problem has not been resolved, the pass rush remains unproven, no receiver has emerged to force teams to back off double teaming Andre Johnson, the running back position has no gamebreaker and a porous defensive secondary has not been upgraded. A little more objectivity from Justice about the Texans' situation may allow his analysis of the team to age a bit better.

Posted by Tom at 4:03 AM | Comments (2) |

May 10, 2007

UT's favorite billboard

It's still five months until the annual Texas-OU Weekend in Dallas, but the Texas-OU rivalry is big news any time of the year. So, this billboard from the Wizard of Odd's ongoing digital billboard competition will definitely warm the hearts of the Longhorn faithful.

Update: Watch out, Longhorn fans. Phil Miller is already leading the counteroffensive.

Posted by Tom at 4:00 AM | Comments (1) |

April 30, 2007

Richard Justice, Texans Cheerleader

As noted in this earlier post, Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice was a devoted supporter of the Charlie Casserly tenure as Texans general manager far beyond the time that most reasoned observers had concluded that Texans ship was leaking profusely. After the Texans bottomed out at the end of their horrid 2005 season, Justice finally turned on Casserly with the same vehemance that he previously used in supporting him. Since then, Justice has routinely mocked Casserly and former Texans coach, Dom Capers.

Now, on the heels of this weekend's NFL Draft, Justice is drinking the Kool-Aid again with regard to the tenure of the Gary Kubiak/Rick Smith regime with the Texans:

The Texans are going to be a long time escaping their past. But these are not the Texans of 2004 or 2005. Check the facts. They haven't done a single dumb thing since Charley Casserly left the organization. Not one. They'll win your confidence only by winning on the field. That's why next season will be interesting.

H'mm. Kubiak and Smith haven't done "a single dumb thing" since taking over? That offense from last season sure could have fooled one into thinking that Kubiak and Smith had done a "dumb thing" or two since coming on the scene.

Frankly, my sense is that the Texans draft this year was rather underwhelming (an opinion shared by one local draft expert). Okoye, the number one draft choice, is a fairly raw 19 year old playing at a position (defensive tackle) in which he will be pitted against wily veterans; it's by no mean certain that he will be any more successful next season than first round draft choice Mario Williams was last season. The Texans next draft choice -- third round WR Jacoby Jones (the Texans didn't have a second round pick) -- does not even appear likely to start next season. In fact, absent injury, none of the Texans' 2007 draft choices outside of Okoye are sure bets to be in the starting lineup for the Texans next season.

Granted, it might actually be a good thing if most of the Texans' 2007 draft choices aren't expected to start next season because that would indicate that the Texans are developing the type of depth that is necessary to contend for the playoffs in the NFL. Likewise, those draft choices cannot be fairly evaluated for several years. But Justice's chronic cheerleading for the Texans is better left for the team's website, not for a newspaper that is supposedly dedicated to providing objective analysis of news events.

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (2) |

April 28, 2007

The trick in drafting NFL players

Today is the beginning of the annual two-day media feeding frenzy known as the National Football League Draft, which I'm beginning to think is becoming more popular than the NFL games themselves. Channeling research about the draft that was addressed in this earlier post, the WSJ's ($) Allen St. John notes that football fans should not be as concerned with what star players take in the first couple of rounds, but rather should focus on the hidden gems that their team takes in the later rounds:

So, in general, how well does the NFL draft do in finding future stars? A look at the All-Pro teams of the past five years reveals some surprises. Of the 80 position players who made the All-Pro teams since 2002, 35, or 44%, were not drafted in the first round. That means that practically every NFL team passed on them at least once. And 21 All-Pros weren't picked until the third round -- or later.

How many No. 1 draft picks were All-Pros over that period? One: Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts. Five players who went totally undrafted -- running back Priest Holmes, tight end Antonio Gates, fullback Mack Strong, center Jeff Saturday and offensive lineman Brian Waters -- earned that honor. [. . .]

Even more important than spending first-round picks wisely is being able to tab superstars in the later rounds. To measure that we'll use APDA, or All-Pro Draft Average, which averages the overall draft slot for a team's All-Pros. (Undrafted players are ranked as if they were taken after the last player drafted that year.)

Which team found the most diamonds in the rough? The San Diego Chargers -- with an 80.3 ranking. They selected four All-Pros after round two, including Mr. Gates, a three-time All-Pro. The Ravens were next at 70.9, thanks largely to drafting linebacker Adalius Thomas in the sixth round and signing undrafted running back Priest Holmes (who would achieve fame with the Kansas City Chiefs). The NFC leader: the Panthers (40.8), followed by the New York Giants (36.5). [. . .]

So if your favorite team doesn't have a top pick, don't sweat it. APDA reveals that in today's NFL, potential superstars are available in the second round -- or second day of the draft. The trick, as the league's most successful teams know, is to find them.

Although the Texans drafts are routinely trashed in the mainstream media, the Texans drafted All-Pros in WR Andre Johnson, KR Jerome Mathis, and LB DeMeco Ryans, a potentially All-Pro caliber CB in Dunta Robinson, and have had a reasonable degree of success in picking decent players in the later rounds. On the other hand, the Texans' non-draft acquisitions (think Tony Boselli and Philip Buchanan) have been unproductive, which has a lot more to do with the team's relative lack of success than the team's draft picks.

Finally, if you still think that the Texans' first round draft picks have been bad, take a look at this hilarious video of the announcements over the years pertaining to the New York Jets draft picks:

Posted by Tom at 12:15 PM | Comments (0) |

April 15, 2007

This is the high road?

What was that about David Carr taking the high road about his divorce from the Texans? Check out the following remarks from this ESPN.com article:

As the losses and sacks kept piling up, football stopped being fun for David Carr. [. . .]

Now with Carolina Panthers, Carr is smiling again -- even though he will be a backup for the first time.

"I've been on an expansion team and it's not fun. ... I've been on teams that aren't winning and it wasn't exciting. Football is a hard enough game when you go out there and you're battling everything and you go out and lose it makes it hard."

"You get to a point where you're in survival mode, which is hard for me,'' Carr said Friday, a week after agreeing on a two-year, $6.2 million deal to be the Panthers' No. 2 QB behind Jake Delhomme.

"Honestly in the last five years we haven't had much spark. If we were stuck in the forest it would be hard to light a fire with what we had going on.''

Carr expressed some resentment Friday toward the Houston Texans, who released him last month after they acquired Matt Schaub in a trade with Atlanta. Schaub was then quickly anointed the starter.

Carr may have had chances to start elsewhere -- he visited Oakland -- but chose Carolina because he wanted to play for a team that has a chance to win.

"I've been on an expansion team and it's not fun,'' Carr said of being the first pick by the Texans. "I've been on teams that aren't winning and it wasn't exciting. Football is a hard enough game when you go out there and you're battling everything and you go out and lose it makes it hard. I wanted to be on a team that was fun and exciting and whether I had a chance to play right away, it didn't matter to me.''

Carr also made it clear he wanted to play for a team with an established offensive line. Carr completed 60 percent of his passes with the Texans, including a career-high 68 percent last season. But Carr also 65 interceptions over five seasons as he faced nearly constant pressure.

So it wasn't surprising Carr quickly sought out members of Carolina's line. Tackle Jordan Gross was one of the first Panthers he met.

"If I learned anything in the last five years, that's where football games are won and lost,'' Carr said. [. . .]

It's believed the 6-foot-3 Carr, who won't turn 28 until July, could blossom when he has time to throw. With Delhomme and the Panthers coming off a disappointing 8-8 season, it's been suggested Carr could quickly challenge for the No. 1 job. [. . .]

Carr also insisted Friday he's content as a backup -- and ready take a break from running away from defensive linemen.

"I need to take a deep breath and be around a good environment and just start enjoying the game again,'' Carr said. "In the last week or two, it's brought back a lot of excitement that I had when I was younger." [. . .]

Carr said he's returning to Charlotte Monday with his wife, and will take part in the team's offseason conditioning program, while pouring over the playbook.

"It's funny, the day I was signed by Carolina, I was throwing balls the next day. I've never done that before,'' Carr said. "I was out there throwing a ball for two or three hours and I couldn't really explain it except I was excited to get a new opportunity and a chance to show what I can do.''

H'mm. I wonder what Carr's former offensive line teammates would say about his poor pocket presence, defective throwing motion, inability to pick up secondary receivers and dubious leadership qualities? I guess none of that contributed to the Texans' poor performance over the past five seasons.

Posted by Tom at 4:47 AM | Comments (1) |

April 11, 2007

Falling back on spring football

It's been a tough past few days for Texas A&M faithful, what with losing their up-and-coming basketball coach to Kentucky and all. But at least the Ags have hired former Wichita State head coach Mark Turgeon as their new basketball coach and they have their true second favorite sport (behind football) -- spring football practice -- to fall back on. With the annual Maroon & White intrasquad game coming up this weekend, a friend passed along the following progression of how a typical Aggie football fan sizes up the upcoming football season as the off-season progresses toward the first game in the fall:

In December, immediately after the conclusion of the last game of the prior season: "We are full of more holes than a block of swiss cheese. In all likelihood, we win 5 games next season."

In March: "Well, we signed a solid class with some kids that can contribute. Add in the guys that redshirted and we'll surprise some folks next year. Pencil at least 7 in the win column for 2004."

In May: "Spring practices went well, and after seeing our squad in action at the Maroon & White Game, we've come a long way since the end of last year. I think 9 wins is do-able."

In August: "Everyone really hit the weightroom hard this summer, and the team stayed polished with the voluntary workouts on the practice fields. We are much bigger and faster across the board, and reports from two-a-days are very, very positive. A BCS bowl game is within this team's grasp."

After first game: "Wow, Wyoming will probably win 10 games this year. That was a close one."

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (0) |

March 26, 2007

Lopez on McNair's Carr miscalculation

Following on this weekend post on the end of the David Carr era for the Houston Texans, John Lopez -- who for my money is the Chronicle's best sportswriter -- provides this column that provides the type of insight (i.e., how the relationship between Texans owner Bob McNair and Carr protracted the Texans' mistake in relying on Carr) that was utterly missing from fellow Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice's commentary on Carr's exit:

McNair loved David Carr until it hurt. That was the biggest problem of all.

For all the other things that hurt this club, all the people and decisions involved, all the bad luck and bad contracts, it was the relationship between owner and quarterback that set so many things spiraling downward.

McNair loved all the things Carr stood for as a man, a husband and father. He loved the way Carr handled himself as the face of the franchise.

Love was blind.

The Texans, specifically coach Gary Kubiak and general manager Rick Smith, are in one fine mess now, their careers clinging to a life preserver named Matt Schaub, for a number of reasons. Many of the problems, they inherited. But it started with McNair investing too much emotionally.

Read the entire column. Lopez is on the money that there are operational problems in the Texans front office in the area of player evaluation and contract negotiation. It's not clear to me by any stretch that the Kubiak coaching regime has corrected those problems.

By the way, the current thinking around the NFL is that Carr will be reunited with former Texans coach Dom Capers (now the defensive coordinator) in Miami.

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (6) |

March 24, 2007

The end of the Carr era

The David Carr era of the Houston Texans came to a merciful end yesterday as the Texans released Carr, the team's first NFL draft pick in its five year history.

I didn't agree with the Texans decision to take Carr as the first overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft and I expressed skepticism about him in each of my three pre-season previews of the Texans since starting this blog back in early 2004 (see here, here and here). Carr's performance really deteriorated over this past season, (here, here and here), so he became essentially untradeable. It's true that the Texans' porous offensive line subjected Carr to an inhumane amount of physical abuse over the years, but effectiveness in football is much more interdependent on one's teammates than, say, baseball, and Carr's lack of development over his five seasons certainly didn't help the OLine, either.

The Texans decision to release Carr and trade for Falcons backup QB Matt Schaub has been the talk of the town the past couple of days, and the reactions have been all over the map. One of the more curious ones has been that of Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice, who is self-righteously indignant that Carr didn't work out in Houston:

What we'll never know is what would have happened if Carr had gotten with an organization that knew what it was doing. The Texans never protected him or coached him, never put enough talent around him. Shame on you, Charley Casserly. Shame on you, too, Bob McNair. Maybe you guys were wrong about what David Carr could have been, but you never gave him a chance to find out.

Of course, this is the same Richard Justice who, as recently as a year and a half ago, was effusive in his praise of both Carr and Texans management during the middle of the team's free-fall from a promising expansion team to a laughingstock of the NFL:

The Texans are respectable. They're coming close. They've got four 2-7 teams left on their schedule. They almost won in Jacksonville, and they made a run at the Indianapolis Colts before losing 31-17 Sunday. [. . .]

The Texans are a better offensive team since [since-fired offensive coordinator Joe] Pendry took over [for the fired Chris Palmer]. David Carr looks like he's on his way to becoming a first-rate quarterback. He's quicker and more accurate in his throws, less likely to take a sack.

In reality, Casserly and McNair were constantly attempting to upgrade the talent around Carr, they simply weren't able to pull it off. Tony Boselli and Orlando Pace are just two of several top-level offensive linemen who the Texans unsuccessfully attempted to hire as an anchor for the OLine over the past five years. Granted, Casserly and McNair didn't get it done, but it sure wasn't for lack of trying. Justice is being petty in not pointing that out.

Meanwhile, Justice gushes over the progress of the Texans under the Gary Kubiak regime:

If you care about the Texans, you should be happy this morning. A page has been turned. Moving on, moving up. In two off-seasons under Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith, the Texans have undergone a significant facelift. By the beginning of next season, there'll be few reminders of the [former coach] Dom [Capers] and [former GM] Charley [Casserly] era.

You should be happy about your new quarterback. Matt Schaub has a chance to be really good. He's no sure thing, but Jake Plummer, Jeff Garcia and Brady Quinn aren't sure things, either.

The Texans paid a high price for Schaub and they're taking a chance. No franchise gets better without taking some chances. Let's be optimistic for a second. Let's pretend the glass is half-full.

They've got a Pro Bowl wide receiver on one side of the field in Andre Johnson. They've got a very good tight end in Owen Daniels. They've got a productive runnning back in Ahman Green. Hopefully, they'll match the offer to FB Vonta Leach. They've got more depth and talent in the O-line than ever before. If they can find another receiver in the draft, they'll have the makings of a very good offense. [. . .]

The bottom line is they're making progress. They've added a running back and a quarterback and a bunch of experienced, professional guys. If they have a good draft, they'll be positioned for their first .500 season.

Maybe so, but in addition to coughing up $48 million over six years for a guy who has never been a starting NFL quarterback, the Texans dealt some serious draft-day compensation to land new QB Schaub. Was it too much? Probably not, particularly given that a quarterback taken in the first round of the draft is not an even money bet of developing into an above-average NFL QB. For every John Elway, Peyton, Troy Aikman or Carson Palmer, there are far more David Carr's, Tim Couch's, Akili Smith's and Ryan Leaf's.

But while continuing to bash McNair and the previous Casserly-Capers regime, why is Justice giving Kubiak a pass on the first key decision that he made in his tenure as the Texans coach -- that is, Kubiak's initial blunder in agreeing to retain Carr in the first place? That decision was as bad as any of the dubious decisions of the Casserly era. The Texans paid an $8 million option bonus after the 2005 season ended and before Kubiak was hired to secure the rights to Carr for three more seasons, so maybe Kubiak took the Texans head coaching job without really having any choice but to keep Carr. But by not pressing the issue that Carr was an inadequate QB last year, Kubiak blew an opportunity to dangle the No. overall 1 pick during the 2006 NFL draft in a trade. A trade of that spot could have easily allowed the Texans to receive some much-needed value plus move back a few spots in the draft and still draft either Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler or Vince Young, the Houston and UT icon who went on to win the NFL offensive Rookie of the Year Award and become the first rookie quarterback to play in the NFL Pro Bowl.

Justice may not care about any of that, but my sense is that most Texans fans won't forget about it until Kubiak and Schaub are leading the team into the playoffs. From my vantage point, that still appears to be a long way's off.

Posted by Tom at 4:20 AM | Comments (0) |

March 9, 2007

Who is Houston's most successful
professional football player?

In terms of championship rings, it isn't even a close call -- the Patriots' long-time linebacker and special teams ace, Larry Izzo, who has played on all three of the Patriots Super Bowl winners and who the team recently signed to another contract.

Izzo is pure Houston, having played collegiately at Rice from 1992-95 after starring in Texas high school football at The Woodlands, where he continues to live during the off-seaon. Izzo is an example of the specialized type of player that has become common in the NFL, which has limited rosters that place a premium on good special team players. Izzo is one of the best special teamers and has led the Patriots in special teams tackles in five of his six seasons in New England. Izzo has now completed 11 seasons in the NFL (he played his first five seasons in Miami).

Izzo's career is of special interest to me because he put on one of the best single-game performances of any football player that I've ever seen while playing in a big game for The Woodlands High School against Westfield High School in 1991. Former Texas A&M coach Emory Bellard was coaching Westfield, which was loaded. The Woodlands had a pretty good team, too, but not as good as Westfield. Playing both ways at fullback and linebacker, as well as on most special teams, Izzo dominated the game, running and tackling with equal ferocity. He literally willed The Woodlands team to a close win in a game that Westfield would have won handily had Izzo not played.

Izzo is not among the most physically gifted football players that I've ever seen, but he is one of best football players that I've ever seen.

Posted by Tom at 4:12 AM | Comments (0) |

March 1, 2007

Eric, we hardly knew ye!

So, the Texans traded a low draft pick last summer to Buffalo for the contract rights to veteran wide receiver Eric Moulds in a much ballyhooed deal. The theory of the deal was that the veteran receiver would help take the pressure off of the Texans' stud receiver, Andre Johnson.

So much for that theory.

Meanwhile, the guy who Moulds replaced came within a couple of minutes of playing in the Super Bowl this past season.

Even if such deals don't work out, it's a good thing for the Texans to be taking well-calculated risks in attempting to improve the chronically underachieving team. However, regular readers of this blog knew that the Moulds deal was probably a loser well before Moulds ever played a down for the Texans. Why didn't the Texans' personnel evaluators realize that Moulds was washed up before the team blew a five million dollar signing bonus on him? That's the question that Bob McNair ought to be asking himself this morning.

At least the Texans cut their losses on Moulds early. In the low expectation world of Texansville, that signals progress.

Posted by Tom at 4:20 AM | Comments (6) |

February 28, 2007

The curious attraction of the NFL Draft

This earlier post noted the institutionalized fanaticism that is involved in the recruitment of big-time college football players. But that fanaticism is really nothing compared to the obsession that many professional football fans will indulge over the next several weeks as National Football League teams prepares for its annual draft of minor league, er . . I mean, "college" players in mid-April.

Inasmuch as many folks in Houston believe that the poor performance of the Houston Texans during their five seasons of existence is attributable to the poor draft picks of Texans' management (I'm not convinced that's entirely correct, but oh well), we are bombarded in these football-crazed parts over the next several weeks with media coverage of who the Texans and other NFL teams should choose in the draft. I've always had this vague notion that all this attention given to who NFL teams should choose might actually push the teams toward making poor choices, but I've never really been able to put my finger on any support for that notion.

Well, American Enterprise Institute scholar Kevin Hassett just might have the answer. According to an ongoing study that Yale University economist Cade Massey and University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler are conducting, Hassett reports that the Texans likely would have been much better off trading their high draft picks from past drafts for mutiple lower draft picks that the team could have used to buy more good players:

To recap, Massey and Thaler studied the draft and found that teams make systematic errors. They tend to place too high a value on the top players and too low a value on draft picks a little farther down.

The problem is, the very top players in the draft receive very high salaries. Even if they compete brilliantly, it's hard for them to outperform their earnings. But by definition, since all teams have to operate within the same salary cap, winners have to have teams that are filled with players who outperform their paychecks.

Last year's top overall pick, Mario Williams of the Houston Texans, is a nice example. He received a salary package worth $54 million over six years -- and proceeded to play like a fairly mediocre defensive end. He was the sixth-leading tackler on his team, and recorded only 4 1/2 sacks.

While those numbers suggest Williams will be a serviceable NFL competitor, he was compensated as one of the best defensive players in the league. And since the total salary bill for the team is capped by the league, the money spent on Williams is money that can't be spent on players at other positions. That undermines their ability to compete.

On the other hand, players a little farther down in the draft can be enormous bargains. Take Houston's second-round pick DeMeco Ryans. He led the NFL in tackles, but only received a contract of $5 million over four years. Good teams fill their roster with such deals and avoid committing huge resources to the big-money players like Williams.

In other words, the Texans need more DeMeco Ryans and fewer David Carrs and Mario Williams, although it's a bit early to write off the Williams pick as a bust on the level of the Carr pick. Hassett's point is also supported by the success of the New England Patriots, who have used a model of emphasizing quality depth over star players in building one of the most successful NFL teams over the past decade. During most of that time, the Patriots were picking at the bottom of the draft board while, over the past five years, the Texans have been picking at or near the top.

Posted by Tom at 4:01 AM | Comments (2) |

February 13, 2007

The Razorback Soap Opera

Last week, it was the institutionalized fanaticism of signing day in minor league professional football. Following on that drama, this Hog News post is dispositive evidence that there is not enough to do in Arkansas:

So many people desperately want someone to come forward and tell the truth. The problem with that is many of the key players in the latest Arkansas football saga have to move forward and continue their lives. They have to protect their futures. Anyone who has attempted to tell the truth this past year has had their character, reputations and even their careers attacked by those who believe it is in the best interest of the program to prevent it. But the facts related in these writings are true and have been verified.

Read the entire piece, at your own risk. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 4:06 AM | Comments (1) |

February 9, 2007

Was Manning really the Super Bowl MVP?

I was glad that Colts QB Peyton Manning finally was on a Super Bowl winner because he is truly one of the NFL's greatest QB's of all-time. But I thought it was a tad absurd that Manning was named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player when he didn't even play particularly well. How about one of those fellows in the trenches where the Colts dominated the Bears throughout the game?

Dave Berri agrees, but makes the salient point that it is much more difficult to evaluate the performance of football players than the performance of players in other sports (i.e., baseball) that do not require the same degree of reliance on teammates as football. After pointing out that Manning actually was statistically worse during this season's successful playoff run than he had been in each of the Colts' playoff failures over the past three seasons, Berri observes the following:

So what lesson has Manning learned? For his team to win, he must play bad?

No, that’s not the lesson.

There are actually two lessons. First, playoffs are a small sample and luck plays a substantial role in determining the outcome (a point made last Sunday in The New York Times). Secondly, teammates matter in football. Quarterbacks do not win or lose games all by themselves. This was true when Manning’s team failed in the playoffs. And it’s true this year as well.

So we should stop judging quarterbacks strictly in terms of whether their teams happen to win. Manning was not less of a quarterback when his team failed to win its last game. And he’s not finally a success because his team happened to win its last game.

Berri also makes an interesting point about Bears QB Rex Grossman. Read the entire piece.

Posted by Tom at 4:59 AM | Comments (0) |

February 7, 2007

Institutionalized fanaticism

If your friends or co-workers who follow college football closely are acting a bit stressed out today, then it's quite likely that the source of their anxiety is a 17 or 18 year old who they have never met.

Yes, today is that day of the absurd dubbed "National Signing Day" when we are deluged with the rather odd spectacle of grown men fawning over high school football players to induce them to come take advantage of their university's resort facilities rather than their competition's resort facilities. And, oh yeah, if they can earn a few "tips" from well-heeled alums while enjoying those resort facilities, then that's alright, too.

Indeed, this NY Times article already suggests that the University of Illinois' inexplicably strong recruiting class this year may be the result of cheating. With the proliferation of the blogosphere over the past couple of years, a host of blogs follow the recruiting wars closely and often with keen wit. The following are a few of the interesting posts on this year's recruiting season that I've stumbled across:

The Wizard of Odds explains why all of this competition over the quality of recruiting classes is largely meaningless;

The Sunday Morning QB examines the strange system in which all of this has evolved;

The House that Rock Built explores the ripple effect of recruiting decisions;

Every Day Should Be a Saturday reveals how recruiting foretold Rex Grossman's mediocre Super Bowl performance (just kidding);

A widget that displays a map reflecting where a school's recruits are coming from; and

The College Football Resource page has more information than you should ever want to know about this year's top recruits and where they are going.

Meanwhile, as university presidents continue to dither over this fundamentally flawed system of regulating rents, this post from a couple of years ago suggests that a better system is readily available so long as the colleges forsake being the NFL's free minor league system, a position with which Malcolm Gladwell agrees. As noted earlier here, big-time college football as presently structured is hopelessly corrupt, but it's a pretty darn entertaining form of corruption. Adopting a structure much closer to college baseball would likely minimize the corruptive elements of college football while not affecting the entertainment value of the sport much. But it's going to take leadership and courage from the top of the universities to promote and implement such a reform.

What are the chances of such leadership emerging? Probably about the same as Rice knocking off Texas next season in Austin.

Posted by Tom at 4:25 AM | Comments (0) |

February 4, 2007

The brains behind the Bears' previous Super Bowl team

With the Chicago Bears playing in Super Bowl XLI, it was only a matter of time before the NY Times caught up with Buddy Ryan, the architect of the suffocating Bears defense that dominated the game the last time the Bears played in the Super Bowl (1985).

Ryan holds a special place in the hearts of Houston football fans. During the 1993 season, while passing through Houston as the defensive coordinator for a pretty good Oilers team, Ryan hauled off and slugged fellow Oilers assistant coach, Kevin Gilbride, on the sidelines during a nationally televised game. The reason for the outburst was Ryan's frustration over Gilbride's dubious coordination of the Oilers' mercurial Run 'n Shoot offense in that particular game. Local sports wags still shake their heads over that incident.

Although volatile, Ryan was a superb defensive football coach and certainly one of the best in NFL history. He was most well-known for that fine defense on the 1985 Bears Super Bowl championship team, but he may have done an even better job in coordinating the defense on the 1969 New York Jets team that upset the mighty Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Most people remember Joe Namath's famous prediction from that game, but the the Jets’ offense only scored 16 points. On the other hand, Ryan's Jets defense held the high-powered Baltimore offense to 7 points after Vince Lombardi's Packers had put up 35 and 33 points in the first two Super Bowls. Most folks before Super Bowl III thought that the AFL teams were chronically overmatched in playing against the established NFL powers, but the Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV changed that perception forever.

Ryan's genius was the unmitigated aggressiveness with which his defenses played. Focusing on sacking the QB ("We're trying to find out the identity of the opposition's second team QB," Ryan would quip with a wink), forcing turnovers and and stopping the offense on third-down, Ryan ushered in the era of bringing zone blitzes from everywhere on the field to disrupt the offense. Interestingly, the underdog Bears' chances of winning today are largely dependent on whether the Bears' defense can effectively pressure Colts QB Peyton Manning. Ron Rivera, who played for Ryan on the 1985 Bears championship team, is the Bears' defensive coordinator trying to figure out how to do that.

As with many top notch coordinators in football, Ryan was not a particularly effective head coach. He was fired from NFL head coaching jobs at Philly and Arizona before retiring to his Kentucky horse farm in 1995 after 34 years of coaching in the NFL. He continues to raise horses there while caring for his Alzheimer’s-ridden wife of 36 years and following the careers of his two sons, both of whom followed him into coaching.

Posted by Tom at 6:09 AM | Comments (1) |

January 29, 2007

Risky Business

As we endure the overblown run-up to Super Bowl XLI this week, there will invariably be much blather about the high incomes of the participants and professional football players generally. Frankly, given the risks of what these players face, they deserve every dime they make.

As this NY Times article reports, the life of even a relatively high-income NFL football player is no picnic:

[F]ootball players’ careers resemble life as Thomas Hobbes described it in the 17th century: they’re nasty, brutish and short. The average football career lasts less than four years, . . .

The minority of players who do make it past a fourth year are still treated like (highly paid) temporary or contract workers. In baseball and basketball, teams must honor multiyear contracts, even if players suffer career-ending injuries or if their skills decline.

Not so in football. “A person with a five-year contract will get paid only for the current year if he suffers a career-ending injury,” Professor [Skip] Sauer [of The Sports Economist fame] noted.

Star players with bargaining power have been able to protect themselves by negotiating guaranteed multimillion-dollar signing bonuses. But less-valued players are not able to extract those bonuses, and the relatively weak players’ union has not been effective in getting many concessions from owners, nor much protection for players hurt on the job.

The article goes on to mention the examples of former Houston Oilers Hall of Fame running back, Earl Campbell, who is partially disabled from the punishment he took during his football career, and the more recent case of former Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Andre Waters, who committed suicide after battling depression and brain damage caused by the multiple collisions he endured while playing football.

Along those same lines, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Stan Kroichick recently wrote this fine series of articles (see also here, here and here) on the 1981 San Francisco 49er's, the first of that franchise's four Super Bowl championships of the 1980's (the 1994 team won another one) in which he chronicles the physical problems that the players on the 1981 team have endured over the 26 years since that magic season (and here's another one examining the health problems of Wilbur Marshall, one of the stars of the 1985 Bears Super Bowl championship team). It's a daunting tale and one that will be simmering just beneath the surface of the NFL’s pomp and circumstance during Super Bowl week.

Posted by Tom at 5:23 AM | Comments (4) |

January 26, 2007

Plaintiff Charlie Weis

Football coaches from time to time get embroiled in lawsuits over contract matters. But it's not every day that a coach is the plaintiff in a medical malpractice lawsuit such as the one that Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis is pursuing:

Only those closest to Charlie Weis were supposed to know. The Notre Dame football coach, then offensive coordinator for the Patriots, checked into Massachusetts General Hospital in 2002 under an assumed name.

Embarrassed by his chronic obesity, Weis planned to undergo gastric bypass surgery and quietly return home the next day, avoiding public attention.

Instead, complications developed. Weis nearly died. And now, almost five years later, he faces the prospect of every detail of his long battle with obesity and his bypass ordeal becoming public record as he goes to trial next month in Suffolk Superior Court in his medical malpractice suit against two Mass. General physicians.

With Patriots quarterback Tom Brady expected to appear as a star witness, the case could draw national attention as Weis tries to prove that the doctors -- Charles M. Ferguson and Richard A. Hodin -- acted negligently in leaving him so close to death that he received the Catholic sacrament of last rites.

Weis has altered Notre Dame's spring football schedule to accommodate the trial, which is slated to begin Feb. 12.

Posted by Tom at 5:08 AM | Comments (0) |

January 24, 2007

Messrs. Personality

Bill Parcells and his former assistant, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, are good football coaches. But, man, can't they just take themselves a bit less seriously?

Parcells quit the other day as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys after four mostly mediocre seasons. As this earlier post noted, Parcells is reasonably good at what he does, but is miserable doing it. This clever Onion piece from a couple of weeks ago picked up on that in predicting Parcells' resignation.

Meanwhile, Belichick showed his sunny side after the Patriots' loss to the Colts in the NFC Championship game this past Sunday, as this YouTube clip reflects:

By the way, aren't Parcells and Belichick an interesting contrast to the two Super Bowl coaches this year, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith? Michael Smith of ESPN.com describes the latter two:

Dungy and Smith are role models, not just for coaches who look like them or men who look like them, but for all coaches and all men. They live their lives the right way, and as a result they do their jobs the same way. Their priorities are, in order: faith, their families and football. The outcome of the Super Bowl or any game does not define them. They personify words such as class, grace, dignity, honor and integrity.

Posted by Tom at 4:53 AM | Comments (1) |

January 17, 2007

The Texans' playoff star

It's not as bad as that whole Vince Young thing, but Badsports' Kevin Whited and Scott over at H-Town Sports do raise a valid question in wondering how wide receiver Jabar Gaffney (the second draft pick in the Texans' history) has gone from Texans castoff to playoff star for the New England Patriots?

I wondered the same thing before this season and why the Texans overpaid for a wide receiver in decline to replace Gaffney.

Meanwhile, consistent with that quality of decision-making, the Texans announced late last week that they are raising ticket prices for next season.

Posted by Tom at 5:10 AM | Comments (1) |

January 16, 2007

Texas football play of the year

As noted in this earlier post and several previous posts, football is synonomous with autumn in Texas and, each year, there always seems to be one play that stands out among all the rest from the season.

This season, there really is no question about the play of the year, but it's not for the faint of stomach. During a key part of the 4th quarter in the state 5A D-1 championship game between Southlake Carroll and Austin Westlake, Southlake Carroll QB Riley Dodge barks out the signals, vomits immediately before taking the snap, proceeds to throw a perfect TD pass to put Southlake ahead for good in the game, and then is helped off the field by a couple of his teammates as he vomits again on his way to the sideline.

Through the genius of YouTube, you can now enjoy -- or at least admire -- QB Dodge's effort.

Posted by Tom at 4:05 AM | Comments (2) |

January 15, 2007

The Todd Graham affair

My, the risk of managing a minor league professional football team certainly is not pleasant at times, is it?

As this John Lopez column relates, Conference USA Coach of the Year Todd Graham -- who in his first season at Rice University led the Owls to their first bowl game since the early 1960's -- stunned the Rice community last week by announcing that he was leaving after only one season to replace his former boss, Steve Kragthorpe, as head coach at the University of Tulsa.

Hightailing it after only one season, switching jobs between conference members and leaving Rice without a head coach and most of its football coaching staff during the middle of recruiting season -- Graham pretty well handled this job change about as shabbily as possible (Whew! Just wait until the Marching Owl Band gets ahold of that material for its halftime show at the next Rice-Tulsa game). And as Lopez's column and Rice alum Charles Kuffner report, supporters of the Rice football program are certainly not happy with Coach Graham.

Of course, many of those disgruntled Rice supporters overlook the fact that they ran off a loyal and good football coach who had served the Rice program honorably and effectively for many years in order to hire Coach Graham in the first place. Oh well, chalk it up to the dysfunctional marriage (see also here, here and here) of university management and minor league professional football.

All of which reminds me of an anecdote that legendary Houston sportswriter Mickey Herskowitz passes along about NFL coaching icons, George Halas, Vince Lombardi and George Allen:

In the mid 1960's, the Los Angeles Rams had hired Allen off of the coaching staff of Halas in Chicago.

Halas was furious that the Rams failed to ask for his permission and threatened to take Allen to court. At a league meeting after the issue was resolved, Halas used the occasion to vent his anger at his former defensive coach.

"George Allen," Halas raged, "is a man with no conscience. He is dishonest, deceptive, ruthless, consumed with his own ambition."

At that point, Vince Lombardi leaned over to the owner of the Rams and whispered: "Sounds to me like you've got yourself a helluva football coach."

By the way, Coach Graham better hope that his career choices are better than the last Rice football coach who elected to take another job after just one season on South Main.

Posted by Tom at 5:46 AM | Comments (0) |

January 13, 2007

The NFL Network gambit

These previous posts have questioned the judgment of the National Football League owners in restricting viewership of NFL games through the new NFL Network. In this American.com op-ed, Will Wilson -- who shares my lack of ability to win football pools -- wonders the same thing:

For casual fans, as opposed to the diehards, spectator sports are a cultural artifact with unique rhythms and socialization rituals: we clean in the spring, we shop the day after Thanksgiving, and we watch football on Sundays. For casual fans, interest in the culture of football on Sunday afternoons—and, crucially, around the water cooler on Monday mornings—depended on a rhythm that was broken once games began taking place midweek. Casual office pool participants didn’t want to structure their weeks like hardcore fans. For them, the choice wasn’t between football and no football, as the NFL would like to believe, but between football and reading, or sewing, or learning Mandarin, or watching sitcoms, or whatever it is that people do on Thursday evenings in December. These casual fans weren’t interested in the game for the game’s sake. They were involved because the game opened up a social interaction without much time commitment. Many people in my office only watched on Sunday in order to participate in the pool, and participated in the pool because it only involved Sunday (with a Monday bonus if they were still in the running). For them, the NFL vanished between Tuesday and Saturday. When Thursdays became mandatory, the NFL ceased to exist for them altogether. [. . .]

All of this raises one question: why are professional sports leagues threatening to stamp out the cultural ties that keep casual fans interested in sports? Surely they are shrewd enough to recognize the risk—attempts to capture all possible present profits drive potential and future users to other hobbies. Fantasy sports are a billion dollar a year business, but much of that would erode quickly if initial entry costs were raised.

Both leagues have a “last period problem”—a phrase not from the language of sports, but of economics. Today’s ballplayers and owners don’t care if tomorrow’s ballplayers and owners make a dime, so they’re willing to discourage potential fans of the future in order to capitalize on the diehards right now.

It is already absurdly expensive to attend an NFL football game in person. When the flap between the NFL owners and the cable companies over the NFL Network is eventually resolved, it will be more expensive to watch television because of NFL football. Maybe this is the way for NFL owners to maximize profits, but there are many other things to do in life than watch NFL football games. Just ask folks in L.A.

Posted by Tom at 6:32 AM | Comments (0) |

January 9, 2007

The final verdict on David Carr

Dave Berri over at the Wages of Wins blog has posted his final ratings for NFL quarterbacks for the 2006 season (related blog post here). The final rating is further confirmation that the David Carr saga is over in Houston.

As noted earlier here, here and here, Berri's QB rating is a much more accurate measure of a QB's true value than the misleading QB rating that the NFL uses (incredibly, the formula for the NFL rating system not only is complicated and unclear, it also ignores sacks, yards lost from sacks, rushing yards, rushing attempts, and fumbles!). Carr finished the season ranked 28th among the 32 starting NFL QB's (he ranked 15th in the NFL's official rating), higher only than such luminaries as Joey Harrington, Charlie Frye, Bruce Gradkowski and Andrew Walter. Suffice it to say that Texans coach Gary Kubiak -- who had nothing to do with the decision to use the Texans' first draft choice in history to acquire Carr -- will not likely elect to continue hitching his coaching legacy to the wagon of such high-priced mediocrity at the QB position.

Carr is a nice fellow, so it's too bad that it didn't work out for him in Houston. The team certainly didn't do him any favors, what with a chronically make-shift offensive line and several failed forays at acquiring a true left tackle to protect Carr's backside. And it's important to remember that player statistics tracked in football are not the same as statistics tracked in baseball. In baseball, many of the hitting statistics that are tracked reflect the ability of the individual. In football, however, this is not precisely the case. The stats that a quarterback accumulates are a reflection of not only his ability, but also the ability of his teammates, his coaches and the defensive players that the quarterback faces. Consequently, it's not always the case that even Berri's QB rating shows that one player is "better" than another player.

But after five seasons, Carr's numerous technical deficiencies -- poor reading skills, a low release point that causes many tipped balls at the line of scrimmage, poor pocket presence, mediocre leadership skills, inability to handle the shotgun formation, etc. -- are simply too numerous to overlook. His abysmal QB rating simply confirms that he is unlikely to improve to even an average level of NFL quarterback. At this point, backup Sage Rosenfels is a far better bet than Carr to achieve a better-than-average QB rating in the 2007 season.

By the way, for the fourth consecutive year the top quarterback in the NFL is Peyton Manning, who achieved a QB score over 2,000 under Berri's rating system, only the fourth time that a QB has attained that level since 1995. In watching Manning in his prime, we are witnessing one of the truly great NFL QB's in history.

Posted by Tom at 4:20 AM | Comments (0) |

January 7, 2007

Celebrating the new Lord of Alabama Football

This earlier post noted the rather obsessive behavior of numerous University of Alabama football fans as they followed the University's courtship of former Miami Dolphins head coach, Nick Saban. This Tuscaloosa News article covers the greeting of Saban at the local airport by hundreds of the 'Bama faithful, which included the frisky female fan who managed to plant a welcome kiss on Saban pictured on the left. As the article notes, she wasn't the only female fan who was overwhelmed by the presence of the new Lord of Alabama Football:

Colette Connell, one of the more exuberant fans at the airport, even had her own Saban cheer: “Praise the Lord, God is so good, Nick is now in the Bama hood."

Later that day, Connell was arrested for driving under the influence.

Posted by Tom at 4:11 AM | Comments (0) |

January 4, 2007

The most valuable college football programs

This post from awhile back addressed the widespread insolvency in big-time college football. However, as this Forbes article on the 15 most valuable college football programs points out, a few big-time programs do quite well, thank you. Notre Dame's program tops the list at a value of $97 million, while the University of Texas' program slides in at second at $88 million and Texas A&M's program checks in at no. 15 with a value of $53 million. By the way, Notre Dame remains the most valuable program despite being consistently the most overrated program on the big-time college scene these days. With last night's loss to LSU in the Sugar Bowl, the Irish have now lost nine straight bowl games since beating Texas A&M 24-21 in the 1994 Cotton Bowl.

A couple of surprises: Ohio State is only sixth on the list at $71 million, while the USC on the list is not the University of Southern California. Rather, it's the University of South Carolina at no. 14 with a value of $57 million. As you might expect, only teams from the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten Conference and Big 12 Conference made the Forbes list because those conferences have the most lucrative television deals with CBS, ESPN and ABC.

Finally, despite the value of these big-time programs, it is still decidedly minor league -- most NFL franchises are worth at least 10 times more than the most valuable college program.

Posted by Tom at 4:25 AM | Comments (0) |

January 3, 2007

The legacy of great Colts quarterbacks

Although I have long had my doubts that Texans' QB David Carr is a top flight NFL quarterback, I must concede that the deficiencies in the Texans' offensive line have really not given him a fair chance to develop his skills here. Along those same lines, the Colts' masterful QB, Peyton Manning, is often unfairly criticized for not being among the top NFL QB's of all time because his team has never qualified for the Super Bowl.

As Allen Barra explains in this lucid OpinionJournal op-ed, Manning truly is one of the NFL's all-time best QB's regardless of whether his team's limitations in other areas have prevented him from playing in a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, in another OpinionJournal piece on a Colts quarterback, Geoffrey Norman reviews Tom Callahan's biography of legendary Colts QB, Johnny Unitas, in the appropriately named Johnny U (Crown 2006). Just to give you an idea on how much the nature of the NFL has changed over the past 60 years, Norman reminds us of an anecdote that Callahan passes along about Unitas:

[W]hen [Unitas'] teammate [and star running back] Alan Ameche and his wife bought their first house for $8,000, it was former construction worker Unitas who laid the floor.

Posted by Tom at 4:06 AM | Comments (0) |

January 1, 2007

2006 Weekly local football review

Texans 14 Browns 6

Despite having no effective passing game, the Texans (6-10) rode a strong second half rushing performance from rookie RB Chris Taylor and another spunky defensive effort to beat the Browns and fulfill my pre-season prediction that the team would win six games. Although two straight wins with strong defensive performances to close out the season must be gratifying to Texans owner Bob McNair, this remains a team that has multiple problems to address in the off-season -- generally poor pass blocking, QB David Carr, a need for a big-time running back, depth on defense, etc. The Texans will pick eighth in the first round of the upcoming NFL draft and then will rotate with the two other 6-10 teams (the Dolphins and Vikings) for the 7th, 8th and 9th slots for the remaining rounds of the draft.

Although the Texans remain far from contending for a playoff spot, they did finish 6-10 after a horrendous 0-3 start, going 6-7 over their final 13 games and 2-2 in their last four. They won their last game for the first time and won back-to-back games for only the second time in franchise history (the other time was in late December 2004). They did all this without a top notch QB or RB, three starters lost to injury in the offensive line, two starting defensive tackles lost to injury, Pro Bowl kick returner Jerome Mathis contributing for only two games and former star RB Domanick Davis not playing a lick. As Andy Dufresne says in The Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is a great thing, maybe the best of things."

Texas Longhorns 26 Iowa 24

The Longhorns (10-3) avoided another major embarrassment by edging a mediocre Iowa (6-7) team in the Alamo Bowl, and the game underscored the problems that the Horns will need to address over the off-season if the Horns are going to return to becoming a true top-10 team. The two main problems are a lackluster rushing attack and inconsistent pass coverage, which again combined to cause the Horns to sweat another game against an opponent with inferior personnel. Already facing a search to replace departed defensive coordinator Gene Chizek, head coach Mack Brown has his work cut out for him over the next several months.

Cal 45 Texas Aggies 10

After staying close for a half, the Aggies (9-4) laid a major egg in folding down the stretch in the Holiday Bowl to the Cal Bears (10-3). As already noted, the Aggies' lackluster performance has already revived skepticism in Aggieland over head coach Dennis Franchione, whose four year performance at A&M has not been particularly impressive. Although this season's 9-4 finish was the best of Franchione's tenure at A&M, most of those wins came against cupcakes and the only signature win came against the Longhorns in the final game of the regular season. The Aggies still struggle throwing the ball effectively and the defense remains suspect, so those are two areas that the Ags will need to address in the upcoming off-season.

South Carolina 44 Houston 36

In a hugely-entertaining game, South Carolina (8-5) edged the Cougars (10-4) in a Liberty Bowl shootout. Essentially, neither team's defense could stop the other team's offense, so the difference in this one was a Houston fumble that allowed South Carolina to score an easy TD and a key second half possession when a bad snap foiled a a third and goal situation for the Cougars at the SC five yard line. Replacing outstanding QB Kevin Kolb and upgrading the defense are the key areas that the Cougars need to address during the off-season, but this season has returned the Houston program to the college football map in Texas. The future looks bright over on Cullen Avenue.

Rutgers 37 Kansas State 10

Rutgers (11-2) easily handled a mediocre Kansas State (7-6) team in the Texas Bowl over at Reliant Stadium, but not many folks in Houston were able to watch it because the television network carrying the game -- the NFL Network -- does not allow Time Warner Cable, the major cable company in the Houston area, to carry the network. As noted earlier, the NFL owners are attempting to induce an outcry from cable customers over Time Warner's failure to accede to the NFL owners' financial demands, but what's happening instead is that the NFL owners are coming off as being petty and greedy. I cannot imagine a worse way of marketing what essentially is a public relations product for a community than to limit the number of television viewers who can watch the game.

Texas Tech 44 Minnesota 41

Although not technically a local team, the Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-5) merit a mention this week for their amazing comeback victory over Minnesota (6-7) in the Insight Bowl. Down 38-7 with less than 20 minutes to play in the game, the Raiders scored 31 straight points to send the game into overtime, and then won the game with a TD in OT. The Gophers reacted to the stunning loss by firing their coach. I know where the Gophers can find an excellent replacement.

Posted by Tom at 6:29 AM | Comments (0) |

December 29, 2006

My, how quickly things change

My light holiday posting was even lighter today as I've been dealing with some technical issues. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that the glow of the Aggies' late November victory over the Longhorns is now officially gone after the Cal Bears thumped the Ags 45-10 in last night's Holiday Bowl.

Meanwhile, the best crack of the bowl season came at halftime of the Houston-South Carolina LIberty Bowl game. After a wild first half that ended with Houston leading 28-17, the sideline reporter asked South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier as he headed to the locker room: "How do you defend the explosive Houston offense?" Coach Spurrier replied with a wry grin: "Obviously, not how we're doing it."

Posted by Tom at 6:27 PM | Comments (1) |

December 28, 2006

The Houston connection to "We Are Marshall"

Texas Longhorn uber-fan Matthew McConaughey is starring in the new movie, We Are Marshall, the story about the rebuilding of the Marshall University football program after the devastating 1971 plane crash that killed most of the university's players, coaches and support staff. But as noted in this Gene Frenette/Florida Times-Union article, the success of the Marshall rebuilding project owed much to legendary University of Houston football coach, Bill Yeoman, whose innovative Houston Veer offense allowed the undermanned Marshall program to spread the field and rely on deception and finesse in competing with its opposition. In the small world department, it was former West Virginia coach and legendary Florida State coach Bobby Bowden who introduced the Marshall coach at the time to Coach Yeoman's creative offensive scheme.

Coach Yeoman was the head football coach of the Houston Cougars from 1962-1986, and he remains a vital member of the University of Houston community to this day. Coach Yeoman and the Cougars quickly gained national prominence after he introduced the explosive Veer offense in 1964, but more importantly, Coach Yeoman that year also broke the color barrier for major Texas football programs when San Antonio’s Warren McVea accepted the University's offer of a scholarship to play football at UH.

During his 25 year coaching career, Coach Yeoman compiled a record of 160-108-8 and guided the Cougars to 11 bowl games appearances including Cotton Bowl victories over Maryland in 1977 and Nebraska in 1980. He also led the Cougars to four Southwest Conference titles (1976, 1978, 1979 & 1984), including the 1976 title that came during Houston’s first year as a member of that venerable conference. For that achievement, Coach Yeoman was named Texas Coach of the Year and runner-up for National Coach of the Year. On top of all that, Coach Yeoman is one of the nicest and most engaging people that I have ever met, and yet another one of the numerous people that make Houston such a fascinating place to live.

Posted by Tom at 6:47 AM | Comments (0) |

December 27, 2006

Culture War

The magnificent Fightin' Texas Aggie Marching Band is preparing to invade San Diego for Thursday night's Holiday Bowl game between the Aggies and the University of California-Berkeley, and this Brent Schrotenboer/San Diego Union Tribune article captures the culture war that will be one of the themes of this particular game. To put it mildly, College Station -- the home of Texas A&M -- will never be mistaken for Berkeley. A few of the other differences between the two institutions that the article notes:

School bosses:

Texas A&M: The school president, Robert Gates, was recently chosen by President Bush to supervise the war in Iraq as the new Secretary of Defense.

Cal: Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, a native of Toronto, lists on his curriculum vitae an editorial he once wrote for the Toronto Star entitled “Celebrating Sexual Diversity.”

Food:

Texas A&M: Several places serve well-cooked dead animals in College Station, especially C&J Barbecue, which serves jalapeño cheese sausage, pork loin and ribs.

Cal: The Free Speech Movement Cafe at the library boasts that its “coffee is Fair Trade and organic, and tea is organic and Fair Trade when possible. The menu is a manifestation of the ideals inherent in the Free Speech Movement ... through this philosophy, students become conscious that their choice for food is a political choice as well.”

Campus faces:

Texas A&M: Football games are attended by former President George H.W. Bush, whose presidential library is located on campus.

Cal: A student became known as “The Naked Guy” in the 1990s by attending classes nude.

Guns:

Texas A&M: The school boasts of its Metzger-Sanders gun collection, one of the state's largest, with more than 600 firearms and accessories. “The collection is host to thousands of visitors every year and serves as a point of discussion and study to gun enthusiasts,” according to the exhibit's Web site.

Cal: More than 88 percent of Berkeley freshmen agreed to a 2004 survey question that stated “the federal government should do more to control the sale of handguns.”

Girls:

Texas A&M: The school was all-male for several decades. It didn't open its doors to women students until 1963, on a limited basis. Full admission for women began in 1971, with the Corps of Cadets first allowing women to join in 1974.

Cal: The first female student enrolled in 1870. One its most famous former students is Betty Friedan, co-founder of the National Organization of Women, and author of the 1963 book “The Feminist Mystique.”

Curriculum:

Texas A&M: Students can take a class called “Amphibious Warfare.”

Cal: Students can enroll in “Introduction to Nonviolence.”

Military history:

Texas A&M: The school opened in 1876 as the Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) College of Texas, with mandated military training. Its Corps of Cadets remains the largest uniformed body of students in the nation outside the U.S. service academies, according to its Web site.

Cal: Students formed the epicenter of the antiwar movement in the 1960s as the Vietnam War raged on. In 1965, hundreds tried to stop trains of troops by standing on the tracks in West Berkeley. More than 800 students were arrested at the school's administration building in 1964, ending their massive sit-in protest of the school's policies concerning academic freedom and free speech.

Politics:

Texas A&M: In Brazos County, home of A&M, Bush, the Republican, won 70 and 69 percent of the vote in the 2000 and 2004 elections, respectively.

Cal: In Alameda County, home of Cal, it was almost the mirror opposite. John Kerry, the Democrat, won 75 percent of the vote in Alameda County in 2004, up from the 69 percent won by Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

Posted by Tom at 7:25 AM | Comments (1) |

December 25, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Texans 27 Colts 24

There really is a Santa Claus after all.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Texans (5-10) dug down and showed some pride as they exploited the Colts (11-4) poor run defense to control the clock and pull out a thrilling Christmas Eve victory at Reliant Stadium. After knocking off the Colts for the first time in ten games, the Texans now have an opportunity to fulfill my pre-season prediction of six wins for the team if they can knock off the Browns (4-11) next weekend at Reliant.

Troy 41 Rice 17

The Owls (7-6) storybook season came to a close with a trouncing at the hands of the Troy Trojans in the New Orleans Bowl. The loss was not really a surprise as I did not give the Owls much of a chance without their injured QB, Chase Clement. But the defeat did not take any of the luster off of the Owls great season, which vindicated my early season belief that the Owls were going to cause headaches for most opposing teams this season if they could survive a brutal early-season schedule. Things are definitely looking up on the gridiron over at Rice.

Posted by Tom at 8:52 AM | Comments (0) |

December 24, 2006

There is a football game in Houston today?

That was the question that one of my sons asked me incredulously yesterday. With the Texans generating no positive buzz in their hometown, not many folks really care much about watching or talking about the Texans. Thus, casual fans such as my son are surprised that the team is still playing.

The game today against the Colts will likely be one of the final chapters of the David Carr saga in Houston. The Texans made a mistake in using the franchise's first draft choice and the first overall draft pick in the 2002 NFL Draft on Carr at a time in which the team should have been stockpiling draft picks and players to build depth at all positions. The Texans compounded that mistake by not building a competent offensive line to protect Carr, which resulted in Carr being hit more than a punching bag by opposing defenses. As a result, Carr never developed the pocket presence or recognition skills in reading opposing defenses to succeed as an NFL quarterback. With his development in those areas stunted, he is no longer the Texans QB of the future and frankly, needs to go to a team that has a competent offensive line so that he can attempt to salvage his NFL career.

Carr's defenders often point out that his NFL passing rating is really not all that bad, currently 13th among the 32 starting NFL QB's. However, as with batting average in baseball, the NFL passing rating is a highly misleading standard to evaluate QB's. As noted several times earlier, the folks over at the Wages of Wins have developed a far superior statistical model for for evaluating QB's and, based on that standard, the bottom has really fallen out of Carr's season. After meandering around 20th among the 32 starting NFL QB's for most of the season, Carr has slid to 29th among the 32 starting NFL QB's for the season, including individual week rankings of 31st and 34th (a couple of backups also played that week) over two of the past three weeks.

As noted earlier, Carr is a fine young man, so it's too bad that it has not worked out for him in Houston. However, Saints QB Drew Brees is one of the top-ranked QB's in the NFL this season and he is essentially a contemporary of Carr (Brees is in his sixth season, Carr is in his fifth) who was placed in a similarly difficult position with his initial team as Carr was here. The bottom line is that Brees developed while Carr has not. In the dog-eat-dog world of the NFL, that lack of development will be what buys Carr a ticket out of Houston.

Posted by Tom at 7:11 AM | Comments (2) |

December 22, 2006

Might the Cowboys' stadium deal actually work out?

Mitch Schnurman, business columnist for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegraph, thinks that the Dallas Cowboys stadium project (prior posts here) is -- against all odds and economic sense -- is shaping up to be a reasonable deal for the city of Arlington.

I remain skeptical of the true economic benefit of the stadium for Arlington citizens. However, make no doubt about it, the new stadium has reinforced the Cowboys' position as Texas' favored professional football team and it's clear that the Texans remain light years away from challenging the Cowboys in that regard.

Posted by Tom at 4:22 AM | Comments (0) |

December 21, 2006

Desmond Howard rides to the rescue of Longhorn fans

It's been a tough month for Texas Longhorn faithful.

First, there was the demoralizing loss to Kansas State, which knocked the Horns out of any chance for a rematch with Ohio State in the BCS National Championship game. Then, the Horns laid an egg against arch-rival Texas A&M, allowing the Aggies to win their first game in that hallowed series in seven years. That bitter loss has prompted some good natured ribbing of Longhorn fans, who were due to descend a notch or two after last season's magic national championship run.

However, leave it to ESPN college football commentator Desmond Howard to make things right again in Longhorn country. Seems as if Desmond is a little confused about which team from Texas is playing in the Holiday Bowl this year. So, when in doubt, Howard falls back on the one team from Texas that everyone knows. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 4:55 AM | Comments (2) |

December 20, 2006

Navy Coach Johnson is not happy

This previous post introduced Navy head football coach Paul Johnson, who is a throwback to an earlier era before media relations reps and banal press releases. Coach Johnson took some questions the other day as he prepares the Midshipman to play Boston College in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte on Dec. 30:

Q: You seem a little perturbed. Can I ask you why?

Johnson: Yeah, we didn't practice very well.

Q: You had told me originally that you would only go full pads the first couple of days, but it looks like you are going to do a little more full pad work.

Johnson: Yep. We will probably go full pads every day right up to the game.

Q: Why is that?

Johnson: We haven't exactly practiced the way I thought we should.

Q: Anything in particular you're seeing?

Johnson: We are lackadaisical and have no focus. Other than that it's been OK.

Q: Does hitting wake them up a little bit?

Johnson: I don't know. It hasn't yet, but it makes me feel better. I can't him them, but they can hit each other.[. . .]

A little more entertaining than the typical platitudes emanating from most head football coaches these days, don't you think? Considering how he has turned the Navy program around, I cannot understand what Alabama is waiting for -- Coach Johnson would be an instant hit at Bama.

Posted by Tom at 4:30 AM | Comments (2) |

December 19, 2006

Progressive destruction

As noted in this post from earlier in the fall, the University of Texas began the next stage of its master redevelopment plan for D.K. Royal Memorial Stadium immediately after the Horns' final home game of the season against the Aggies.

This stage involves destroying the "horseshoe," the part of the stadium that wound around the north side. The horseshoe was built in 1926 for $125,000, but it is a remnant of the days when the stadium also served as a track stadium, so the seats in the horseshoe were far from the field and not a particularly good place to watch a football game. Thus, the horseshoe will be replaced with a new end zone facility that will be much closer to the field of play and, of course, include the ubiquitous ring of club boxes. The end zone seats will be finished in time for next season and the club boxes will be completed in time for the 2008 season.

By the way, once UT got crackin', it didn't take long to knock out the old horseshoe, as the time-lapse photo sequence below reflects:

Posted by Tom at 4:30 AM | Comments (0) |

An Aggie Rudy?

As this Brent Zwerneman/San Antonio Express-News article reports,Texas Aggie non-scholarship football player Ben Bitner walks to the beat of a different drummer:

Texas A&M football player Ben Bitner's long hair and serene manner earned him the nickname "Baby Jesus" from a teammate.

And in a tale of biblical proportions, two years ago Bitner found himself with no room at the inn.

After a dispute with a roommate over bills, Bitner, a nonscholarship junior defensive back for A&M, moved out of a house in College Station following the Aggies' appearance in the Jan. 1, 2005 Cotton Bowl.

For a year and a half, Bitner didn't have a place to stay. He lived under creek bridges on the A&M campus, in a fort he built in the woods near the school's golf driving range and anywhere he could stretch his hammock or lay his sleeping bag around Aggieland.

When he wasn't finding shadowy crannies to catch some shuteye — "Out of sight, out of mind," he said — Bitner was attending classes as a history major and excelling on the Aggies' scout team. The 5-foot-3, 160-pounder from Round Rock has played in two games this year as a member of the kickoff squad.

"I guess I'm not that smart of a guy," said Bitner, who's finally living in a house again. "But it was enjoyable. I slept better then than I sleep now. I didn't have to worry about cleaning up after myself or paying bills. It suited me just fine." [. . .]

Bitner owned a couple sets of clothes — "I'm not one of those guys who needs 10 different shirts," he said — and occasionally he simply would throw his duds in his laundry bag in the team's locker room by Kyle Field.

He would shower and clean up in the locker room or at the school's recreation center. At night, wherever he was curled up, campus security occasionally approached him and wondered what he was doing.

"I never tried to sleep in the same place on consecutive nights," Bitner said. "If they ran into me, they'd ask if I was student while I'd start packing my stuff. I'd tell them, 'Yeah, sorry, I'll get going,' and I'd just walk off."

Bitner said he never minded the cold days, because his parents kept their house cold when he was growing up.

"In December, January and February, that's when it was easiest for me to sleep outside," Bitner said. "It was hard to sleep in the summer." [. . .]

Starter Melvin Bullitt always drilled Bitner with one question, too, during his nomadic days.

"If you take a girl out," Bullitt would inquire, "do you ask her, 'Hey, want to come back to my place?'"

Explained Bitner: "Hopefully, the girl would invite me back to her place. If not, I needed to get to know her a little better before I broke the news that I was homeless. . ."

Posted by Tom at 4:12 AM | Comments (0) |

December 18, 2006

The Smart Money

As Captain Renault -- Claude Rains' character in Casablanca -- might say, "I'm shocked, shocked that there is betting on sporting events!:"

The Brain Trust [is] a shadowy cabal of gamblers who wager enormous amounts of money on sports events, using a supercomputer and a SWAT team of injury and weather experts to take advantage of minor discrepancies in the point spreads set up by the Vegas linemakers. It’s a multimillion-dollar business — and legal — but there’s a wrinkle: they like to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars per game, and whenever the casinos sniff out betting syndicates like the Brain Trust, they show them the door in a heartbeat. That’s because in addition to risking huge losses each week, the bookmakers are forced to adjust their betting lines — sometimes by two or three points for a football game — whenever the “smart money” wades in, since they desperately need other customers to bet the other side to balance their action and stand a chance of making money.

The foregoing excerpt is from this NY Times book review of Michael Konik's new book, The Smart Money (Simon & Schuster 2006). As Konik notes, the Brain Trust attempts to manipulate the point spread on sporting events in the same way that hedge funds and currency speculators attempt to move the stock market on certain stocks and currencies. Capt. Renault would almost certainly be playing.

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (1) |

2006 Weekly local football review

Patriots 40 Texans 7

Just when you thought it was impossible for the Texans (4-10) to stoop any lower, the Texans' offense rolled over and played dead against the Patriots.

This one was over by Sunday morning brunch as the Texans were down 17-zip after the first quarter and 27-zip at half. Actually, the Texans' defense did not play badly, but the Texans offense continually placed the defense in untenable positions. QB David Carr continues to look like a basket case, going 16-28 for a net 93 yards with 4 interceptions, 4 sacks and, as usual, no TD passes. I have long had doubts about Carr, but it's becoming more certain with each passing game that Carr will not be an effective QB for the Texans. Whether it's the constant pounding that he has taken as a result of the lack of protection from the Texans' deficient offensive line, his poor recognition skills or his dubious leadership qualities, Carr has regressed to a point in Houston that Coach Gary Kubiak's sideline vibes decisively indicate that he has given up on Carr.

However, as bad as Carr has been, certainly Kubiak and Texans' owner Bob McNair have to share in the blame for the woeful state of this team. As noted earlier here, after giving up on the Casserly-Capers regime, McNair changed the management model of the Texans football operation from a strong GM model to a strong head coach model. There is nothing wrong with that, but rather than hiring an experienced head coach, McNair opted for local boy-made-good Kubiak, who had never been more than a top offensive assistant in a strong head coach model that was run by an offensive coach (Denver's Mike Shanahan). The transition from assistant to head coach has been anything but smooth for Kubiak -- the Texans' defense has improved somewhat from last season's disastrous unit, but the Texans' offense is actually worse than last season's, which was almost unimaginable before this season began. Add in the fact that Carr and the Texans' offense have actually regressed in development under Kubiak's tutelage, the luster of Kubiak's reputation as an up-and-coming offensive coach has certainly been dulled.

At any rate, the Texans have two home games left to end the season, against the Colts (10-3, playing tonight) and the Browns (4-10). It looks as if the Texans' offense has packed it in, so it's hard to imagine that the team could beat anyone these days. But stranger things have happened. Let's just hope that another win or two doesn't result in a dramatic downward change in the Texans' draft position for the 2007 NFL Draft. The Texans need all the help they can get.

Posted by Tom at 4:01 AM | Comments (0) |

December 16, 2006

It's football time in Texas

It's the lull before the onslaught of the college football bowl games, but football still permeates the culture of Texas as the high school playoffs move toward conclusion, the Cowboys contend for an NFL playoff berth and the Texans prepare for the 2007 NFL draft. The following are a few interesting football-related items that I noticed over the past week:

Dallas native and longtime Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt died after a long bout with cancer. Chronicle NFL columnist John McClain recalls a funny story about a meeting between Hunt, Bud Adams and legendarily crusty Chicago Bears owner George Halas at the time that Hunt and Adams were starting the old American Football League in the early 1960's.

Despite the Texans' problems, it's reassuring to know that owner Bob McNair does not panic.

Chronicle sportswriter Dale Robertson reports on the remarkable success story that is the Southlake Carroll Dragons football program (the cheerleading team is another matter, though).

In this interesting column ($), the Wall Street Journal's resident stathead, Allen St. John, makes a stab at objectively evaluating the pass protection of NFL teams. In so doing, he comes up with a stat that he calls the Sack Factor, which takes the sack yardage a team allows and divides it by the number of pass attempts. The lower the number, the better the protection. Although he finds a correlation between good teams and a low Sack Factor, the statistic needs some refinement -- the Texans pass protection, which is hideous, does not rate as one of the worst in the NFL, probably because the Texans' passing game is based on short, ineffectual pass routes that limit sacks as much as possible.

The lovable Ida Mae Crimpton pens her latest column from her porch in Elgin on her beloved Texas Longhorns' preparations for the Alamo Bowl against the Iowa Hawkeyes. As Ida Mae observes, "Boy, whoever said it isn't far from the castle to the outhouse sure knew what they were talking about."

And finally, don't miss Matt Damon's hilarious impersonation of Longhorn fan Matthew McConaughey on a recent Letterman show. As Clear Thinkers favorite Dan Jenkins might say, "Dead Solid Perfect!"

Posted by Tom at 7:28 AM | Comments (0) |

December 14, 2006

The NFL Network's one week special

You have to hand it to the owners of the National Football League -- they recognize a public relations blunder when they see one coming.

As noted in earlier posts here and here, the NFL owners' attempt to drive a hard bargain with cable companies that service most of the nation's television viewers has backfired badly in regard to the owners' NFL Network venture. The viewing marketplace couldn't care less about the NFL Network's product and the NFL owners have come off looking like petty moneygrubbers by not making a deal that allows most football fans to watch the NFL Network's games. In the meantime, the NFL owners' refusal to cut a deal with the cable companies meant that two post-season bowl games to be televised by the NFL Network -- Houston's Texas Bowl between Rutgers and Kansas State and the Insight Bowl pitting Texas Tech against Minnesota -- would not be seen by most viewers in the nation.

Well, the huge collective yawn of viewers, combined with the growing crescendo from long-suffering Rutgers fans who were not going to be able to watch their team play in the Texas Bowl, has prompted the NFL owners to offer an olive branch -- one week of free access to the NFL Network in the New York area during the week of the two bowl games.

Now, the only problem with the offer is that Time Warner -- one of the largest cable companies in the country and the one that services most of Houston -- has not decided whether to accept the NFL owners' offer. Regadless, most football fans in Houston won't see the game because the NFL owners' offer is limited to the New York area.

Are you getting the same impression that I have that the NFL owners have overplayed their hand a bit on this one? ;^)

Posted by Tom at 4:41 AM | Comments (0) |

December 11, 2006

The Houston bowl game that few will see

This NY Sunday Times article does a good job of reporting on Texans' owner Bob McNair's efforts to revive Houston's bowl game, renamed "the Texas Bowl" after being known over the years as the Bluebonnet Bowl, the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, the GalleryFurniture.com Bowl and, most recently, the EV1.net Bowl.

Now, if only McNair could persuade the other NFL owners to let most of us watch the game. Sort of silly to have a bowl game that is supposed to promote the city when most people can't watch it, don't you think?

Posted by Tom at 4:19 AM | Comments (0) |

A big cost of maintaining Auburn's minor league professional football program

This NY Times article reports on the latest developments in the Auburn University academic scandal involving the school's intercollegiate athletic program. The university's report on its internal probe indicates that at least one scholarship athlete had his grade changed from an incomplete to an "A" in a course without the professor knowing about it in order to allow the athlete to fulfill eligibility requirements. And it's not as if the course was even a real academic exercise -- it was something called a "self-study" course. Earlier posts on the scandal and the tension between academic institutions financing and operating minor league professional sports franchises are here, here and here.

Is there really any question at this point that minor league professional football is more important than academic integrity at Auburn?

Posted by Tom at 4:13 AM | Comments (2) |

2006 Weekly local football review

Titans 26 Texans 20

Unless you are a hardy soul, it would be a good idea to avoid sports talk radio this week in Houston.

It would have been bad enough given that jilted no. 1 draft choice Reggie Bush had another brilliant game in helping the Saints blast the Cowboys. However, Texas Longhorns hero Vince Young really turned the knife when he transformed a third and long situation in overtime into a 39 yard touchdown run to give the Titans their second win over the Texans this season. The Titans trailed 14-13 in the fourth quarter before Young led a 15-play, 88-yard drive that gave the Titans their first lead of the second half, 20-17. The Texans tied it up on a Kris Brown 36-yard field goal with a little under two minutes ago, and then Young's TD run occurred on the first possession of the overtime period.

Rookie Young clearly outplayed embattled fifth-year Texans QB David Carr, who could generate only 133 net passing yards on a 17-23 day. Young was 19-28 for a net 200 yards with one interception, but tacked on an additional 86 yards rushing on just 7 carries. Given how close-to-the-vest Texans coach Gary Kubiak played this one on offense, it's reasonably clear that Kubiak has little confidence in Carr and that the first draft choice in the Texans' history is probably playing his final few games with the franchise.

The Texans (4-9) now go on the road to face the Patriots (9-4) and then return home to finish the season against the Colts (10-3) and the Browns (4-9). There may be one more win in those three games, but my pre-season prediction of six wins for the Texans now appears to be a pipe dream.

Posted by Tom at 4:01 AM | Comments (2) |

December 8, 2006

A silver lining in David Carr's cloud?

Let's just say it's been a bad week for Texans QB David Carr. First, he was horrible in the Texans' win over the Raiders last Sunday, registering -5 passing yards. The local media has been all over him. To make matters worse, former University of Texas National Championship hero Vince Young -- who thousands of UT fans thought the Texans should have drafted earlier this year -- is returning to Houston on Sunday with his professional team, the Tennessee Titans. There is little question that Young will be more warmly received by the fans at Reliant Stadium than Carr.

Amidst this stressful week, the folks over at Wages of Wins have updated their weekly NFL quarterback ratings covering last Sunday's games, which provides some solace for the beleaguered Texans' QB -- he wasn't the worst QB in the league last Sunday!:

The Worst Performance, Times Three

Back in week six Rex Grossman of the Chicago Bears posted a QB Score per play of -7.12. Up until week 13 this was the worst performance by an NFL quarterback in 2006. The Bears defense apparently wished to take Grossman off the record books, forcing Brad Johnson of the Vikings into a QB Score per play of -7.28 in week thirteen.

Johnson’s performance, though, was not the worst performance of the week. David Carr of the Houston Texans finished his game on Sunday with 32 yards passing, 5 yards rushing, and 37 yards lost from sacks. In sum, Carr had zero yards at the end of the game. With a QB Score per play of -7.55, Carr was ranked even lower than Johnson.

Grossman, though, was not going to relinquish his crown of worst quarterback so easily. Grossman accumulated only 15 yards. Coupled with three turnovers, Grossman had a QB Score per play of -8.63. So despite a determined effort by Carr and Johnson, Grossman finished week thirteen where he started. Grossman has still offered the worst performance by a signal caller in the league this year.

By the way, although Carr ranks 9th in the league under the NFL's antiquated QB ratings, the Wages of Win's more credible QB rating puts Carr as 21st in the league, which sounds about right.

Posted by Tom at 4:26 AM | Comments (0) |

Badger nonsense

This article is dispositive proof that the University of Wisconsin attorneys -- as with some Congressional investigators -- do not have enough to do. University lawyers have demanded that Waukee High School, just outside Des Moines, Iowa, to stop using the "motion W" on the side of the school's football helmets. The university claims a trademark for the "motion W" and, thus, the high school must cease and desist from infringing on the university's intellectual property.

Beyond the utter absurdity that anyone would confuse a Des Moines high school football team with the Wisconsin Badgers, the Sports Law Professor is not impressed with the legal basis of the university's demand.

By the way, I hope Arkansas kicks Wisconsin's ass in the Cap One Bowl on New Year's Day.

Posted by Tom at 4:06 AM | Comments (2) |

December 7, 2006

The Poston Congressional hearings?

This previous post reported on the strange case of Houston-based lawyer and former sports agent, Carl Poston, who is currently serving a two-year suspension levied by the National Football League Players' Association from representing any NFL players. I thought the suspension pretty much ended that story, at least until coming across this ESPN.com article:

New York Giants linebacker LaVar Arrington is tentatively scheduled to testify before Congress this week at a hearing involving his former agent. Arrington, a three-time Pro Bowl player; NFL Players Association general counsel Richard Berthelsen; and a law professor were on a "tentative witness list" e-mailed to The Associated Press on Tuesday by House Judiciary Committee press secretary Terry Shawn. [ . . .]

The Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law has scheduled an oversight hearing for Thursday to examine the NFL Players Association's arbitration process. Lawmakers will be looking into the NFLPA's suspension of Arrington's former agent, Carl Poston, stemming from his handling of a contract the linebacker signed with the Washington Redskins near the end of the 2003 season.

Now, I recognize that a post-election Congress is the Washington, D.C.-equivalent of professional golf's "silly season," where members of a lame duck Congress are passing time until the new Congress is sworn in early next year. But still, can't our elected officials find something more noteworthy on which to hold a Congressional hearing than a relatively small, not-very-well handled contractual matter between two private parties?

Posted by Tom at 4:33 AM | Comments (0) |

Priceless!

These previous posts passed along that the Aggies are having quite a bit of fun over their recent victory over the Texas Longhorns, and now it appears that fans of the Horns' other primal rival -- the Oklahoma Sooners -- are getting in on the act.

During the Big 12 Championship game between the Sooners and Nebraska in Kansas City last weekend -- which the Sooners were playing in only because of the Aggies' upset win over the Horns -- several OU fans were spotted by the television cameras holding up three sequential signs that read as follows:

"Cost of tickets to the Big 12 championship football game . . . $350"

"Cost of hotel rooms to attend the Big 12 championship football game . . . $700"

"Cost of taking Texas' tickets and hotel rooms . . . PRICELESS!"

Posted by Tom at 4:22 AM | Comments (0) |

December 6, 2006

The penultimate Oddsmakers Top 25

Previous posts here and here reported on the Oddsmakers Top 25 Football Poll, a poll developed by Las Vegas Sports Consultants based on the company's profit motive-driven incentive to provide their sports betting customers the most accurate rating of college football teams. The following is LVSC's final Oddsmaker's Top 25, with the BCS ranking in parenthesis:

1. Ohio State (1)
2. Michigan (3)
3. Florida (2)
4. Southern Cal (5)
5. LSU (4)
6. Louisville (6)
7. Oklahoma (10)
8. Texas (19)
9. Notre Dame (11)
10. Wisconsin (7)
11t. West Virginia (13)
11t. California (18)
13. BYU (20)
14. Virginia Tech (15)
15. Arkansas (12)
16t. Boise State (8)
16t. South Carolina (NR)
18. Tennessee (17)
19t. Nebraska (23)
19t. UCLA (25)
21. TCU (NR)
22. Rutgers (16)
23t. Oregon (NR)
23t. Clemson (NR)
23t. Arizona State (NR)

Unranked by Vegas: Auburn (ninth in BCS), Wake Forest (14th), Texas A&M (21st), Oregon State (22nd), Boston College (24th)

In addition to picking Michigan rather than Florida as the proper opponent for Ohio State in the BCS National Championship Game, the Oddsmakers Top 25 raises a couple of interesting issues.

First, the credibility of the Vegas-based poll versus the BCS poll will have a lot riding on the Oklahoma-Boise State matchup in the Fiesta Bowl. The Oddsmakers Poll has Oklahoma 7th and Boise State 16th, while the BCS has Boise 8th and Oklahoma 10th. The initial line has the Sooners favored by a touchdown. My sense is that the Oddsmakers Poll has these two teams more accurtely aligned -- Oklahoma and a bunch of other teams in the Top 25 would probably have gone unbeaten if they had played Boise's schedule.

Despite LSU's two early-season losses, the Oddsmakers Poll is looking prescient for not giving up on the Tigers. The first BCS Poll had LSU 18th while the Oddsmakers Poll had the Tigers fifth. This week, the Oddsmakers Poll still has LSU at fifth while the BCS has the Tigers fourth.

I say ditch the BCS rating system and let the purity of the profit-driven Oddsmakers Top 25 determine the rankings for the BCS bowl games. It's all about the money anyway, isn't it?

Posted by Tom at 4:23 AM | Comments (1) |

December 4, 2006

The BCS muddle

The Washington Post's Sally Jenkins is the daughter of my all-time favorite sportswriter, Dan Jenkins, and an insightful sportswriter in her own right. In this column, she eviscerates the Bowl Championship Series and everything it stands for in classic Jenkins family style:

Try to find some legitimacy in the Bowl Championship Series. Go ahead, try. Exert all of your ability, industry and intelligence toward the task. You can't do it. The fact of the matter is that the treasure called the college football postseason has become buried beneath corporate scams. All you need to know is that the Fiesta Bowl has a CEO. His name is John Junker, and when he testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last year in defense of the BCS, he actually called the bowl games "independent business units" and referred to universities as "customers."

When a sports organization is more concerned with revenue distribution than with fair competition, it is asking for problems.

The BCS system is the natural outgrowth of corrupt big-time college athletics, a subject examined in previous posts here, here, here, here and here. The good news is that the market forces of big-time college athletics are pushing the system toward change as the relative few universities that make money off of their football and basketball programs likely will likely gravitate in a few years into a collection of "super conferences" similar to the divisions of the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. The bad news is that many of the traditional rivalries of college football and basketball will be lost in the process.

Is the money worth that?

Posted by Tom at 4:21 AM | Comments (0) |

2006 Weekly local football review

Houston Cougars 34 Southern Miss 20

The Cougars (10-3, 8-1) won their first Conference USA football championship in ten years with a Friday night win over Southern Miss (8-5, 7-3) before a raucous crowd of 32,000 at Robertson Stadium on the UH campus (that's star RB/WR Anthony Alridge conducting the UH band during the post-game celebration). After a seesaw first half, the Coogs blew a chance of taking the halftime lead when time expired with UH at the Southern Miss two-yard line. But the Cougars regrouped and dominated the second half to pull out the win. The offensive stars were QB Kevin Kolb and WR Vincent Marshall, but the unsung heroes of the game were the UH defensive players, who limited Southern Miss to 122 yards total offense in the 2nd half. The Cougars will play Steve Spurrier's South Carolina (7-5,3-5) from the Southeastern Conference in the Liberty Bowl on Friday, December 29th at 3:30 pm on ESPN HD.

Texans 23 Raiders 14

In a game that set back offensive football to before the invention of the forward pass, the Texans (4-9) defense played well and forced five turnovers to pull out a win despite the fact that the Texans' offense managed only 122 yards total offense. The Raiders offense was horrifying, scoring just one TD while fumbling three times, missing three field goals, and allowing five sacks to go with two interceptions. Except for the turnovers, the Texans were worse as overwhelmed Texans QB David Carr finished 7-of-14 for 32 yards and did not complete a pass in the final 32 minutes. Inasmuch as Carr was sacked five times for 37 yards, the Texans finished the game -5 yards passing, which is not going to do much for Carr's QB rating.

Despite Carr's abysmal showing, the primary problem with passing game continues to be the complete breakdown of the Texans' pass protection. Neither of the Texans offensive tackles were even slowing down the Raiders' defensive ends as they rushed Carr, so the Texans QBr barely had time to drop back, much less survey the field and throw a competent pass. The Texans play the suddenly hot Titans (5-7) next Sunday at Reliant Stadium in Vince Young Bowl II, and then visit New England the next weekend before ending the season at home against the Colts (10-2) and the Browns (4-8). Getting one win in those final four games is possible, but certainly not likely for a team as bad as the Texans. So, my pre-season prediction of six wins for the Texans is looking like a loser.

Rice is bowl bound

Finally, congratulations to the Rice Owls (7-5,5-2) as they accepted an invitation to play in their first bowl game since 1961, the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome on Friday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. The Owls opponent will be Sunbelt Conference champ Troy (7-5, 6-1), which was blown out only once this season (56-0 at Nebraska) and played tough (losing 24-17) at Florida State early in the season (the Seminoles beat the Owls 55-7 two weeks later). The bowl game will be televised on ESPN2 HD.

By the way, most Houstonians (and most of the nation, for that matter) will not be able to watch Rutgers play Kansas State in the Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium on the evening of December 28th or Texas Tech play Minnesota in the Insight Bowl on the evening of December 29th. Both games are being televised by the NFL Network, which -- as noted in these prior posts -- the NFL owners are withholding from most viewers who receive their television through cable companies. What holiday spirit those NFL owners have!

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (1) |

December 1, 2006

Ida Mae consoles the Horns after the A&M loss

After you get done playing a game of Teasip Bingo, take a moment to read this report on the Texas Longhorns' tough loss to the Texas Aggies by longtime Horns fan Ida Mae Crimpton, who writes regular reports on her beloved Horns from her perch in Elgin just east of Austin. Here's a part of what Ida Mae had to say about the Horns' most recent tough loss:

With Colt coming back off of his injury and since we were just playing the Aggies, no one really seriously thought that there was a possibility that we could lose. But when the game was finally over and we'd lost, a funny thing happened; Mack didn't seem to be too bothered. He went to midfield, shook coach Frangipani's hand and then led the team back to the locker room. Coach Chizik told Earl what happened next. Mack gave the guys a post game talk like he usually did but this one was different because of what he talked about. He told the guys not to worry too much about losing because there were other things more important than winning, like God, family, the Gross National Product, the danger posed by international communism, and erosion (which, if you stop to think about it, really is a problem in some areas of south Texas). Well, needless to say, there were more than one set of eyes rolling around that room as everybody tried to figure out what the heck the coach was talking about. Then, Mack told the whole team that they were invited to his house for cherry cheesecake and Frescas, which sent Sally into a panic when she heard about it because they didn't have any cherry cheesecake in the house and if the team did come over they'd just have to settle for Nabisco Honey Grahams with canned cake frosting (one of Mack's favorite snacks). But after Mack left, coach Chizik spoke to the team and told them that it probably wouldn't be a good night to drop by Mack's house and that maybe they could take a rain check.

Read the entire hilarious piece, and also Ida Mae's other priceless reports on the Horns' season, particularly this priceless report on the Horns' recent loss to Kansas State.

You gotta love football in Texas.

Posted by Tom at 4:13 AM | Comments (0) |

November 30, 2006

It's Texas high school football playoff time

The Texas High School Football Playoffs are taking place all across Texas right now, and there is no better way to get a good dose of Texas culture than to take in a game or two.

The video below is an example of what can happen in the Texas high school playoffs as Plano East mounts a furious comeback from a 42-17 deficit with 2:42 left in a 1994 playoff game against John Tyler High School. It's an incredible video, spiced by the absolutely hilarious commentary from a couple of good ol' boy announcers. Make sure you watch the entire video, though, because there is a surprise ending.

By the way, the town of Refugio (see name on the jersey in the picture above) is pronounced "Ruh-fur-rio" in Texas.

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (3) |

November 29, 2006

Teasip Bingo!

Football during autumn is an indelible part of Texas culture, and the University of Texas Longhorns tend to dominate the state's college football scene, particularly coming off of a national championship season.

So, when the Texas Aggies rise up and achieve one of their relatively rare wins over the Horns, the Aggies really enjoy it. This year, the Aggies have developed the Teasip Bingo game below (pdf here) in which "each time a 'friend' throws out one of those ridiculous excuses for A&M's victory over UT in Austin, mark it off your list. Get the most marks and you can say Teasip Bingo!"

We play hard down there in Texas.

Posted by Tom at 4:43 AM | Comments (2) |

NFL Network draws a big yawn

This earlier post noted that the dispute between the fledgling NFL Network and various cable companies has kept the network off of most the nation's homes that are wired for cable or satellite television.

Now, this NY Times article indicates that the inability to see the NFL Network's first game on Thanksgiving Day evening was met with a huge collective yawn by viewers.

As noted in the earlier post, the Los Angeles area gets along just fine without its own NFL team. This WSJ ($) article notes that that there is a buyer's market for advertising time to this year's Super Bowl. There is no need for regulatory action in regard to the NFL Network's petulant stance with the cable companies. Just let the markets give the NFL owners the message that there are other things to do on weekends and holidays than watch NFL games.

Posted by Tom at 4:08 AM | Comments (0) |

November 28, 2006

Chizik leaves Austin for Ames

Let me see if I've got this straight.

Iowa State University has hired former University of Texas defensive coordinator, Gene Chizik, as its new head football coach to replace my old friend Dan McCarney, who resigned under pressure a couple of weeks ago despite being the most successful coach in Cyclone football history.

Chizik is essentially the same age as McCarney was when ISU hired him in 1995. Moreover, Chizik's background is basically the same as McCarney's was at the time that ISU hired him, except that McCarney had far superior experience to Chizik in the Midwestern recruiting areas that are key to the ISU program.

Chizik’s deal is worth a guaranteed $6.75 million over six years — with incentives that could increase that to as much as $10 million over those years — while McCarney's contract was worth about $4.4 million, but only $780,000 guaranteed, through 2010.

More notably, however, is that ISU is guaranteeing Chizik $1.5 million annual budget for compensating his assistant coaches, which is one of the highest of such budgets among Big 12 Conference members. On the other hand, McCarney constantly requested ISU throughout his 12-year tenure for a budget sufficient to pay for the best assistants available on the market, but he was continually rebuffed by ISU's athletic administration. As a result, McCarney's budget for paying his assistants was in the lower tier of such budgets among Big 12 Conference members.

My question is this — why didn't ISU simply increase McCarney's assistant coach compensation budget, and then avoid the extra money and risk involved in hiring Chizik? Maybe this all works out, but it sure looks to me as if ISU has taken a huge risk where a much smaller one would have been more likely to continue the most successful era in ISU football history.

By the way, UT's defense gave its two most uninspired defensive performances of Chizik's two seasons in Austin during losses to Kansas State and the Texas Aggies in its final two games of this season. Did Chizik's distraction with negotiating a deal with ISU have anything to do with that? Mark Wangrin of the San Antonio Express-News observes:

Chizik has been more careful in his choice of destinations. Now, though, with the shine off his reputation, he may not have much of a choice. He must decide whether to jump toward a more mediocre program or stay at least another year and try to rehabilitate his reputation as a defensive mind. He must prove this season hasn't exposed his thinking as only working when he has exceptional talent at safety. He must show he can adjust.

Posted by Tom at 4:34 AM | Comments (2) |

November 27, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Texas Aggies 12 Texas Longhorns 7

In the signature moment of Dennis Franchione's mostly rocky tenure at A&M, the Aggies (9-3, 5-3) rode a magnificent defensive performance and an already legendary 16-play, almost 9 minute, 88-yard fourth quarter TD drive to hand the Longhorns (9-3, 6-2) a BCS bowl-bashing loss. The Aggies surprisingly battered the Horns nation-leading run defense with almost 250 yards rushing, while the Aggie defense gave up only about 160 yards after the Horns came up empty on their initial 75 yard drive to open the game. Horns QB Colt McCoy did not look sharp coming off his injury in the Horns' previous loss to KSU, and Horns coach Mack Brown's decision to go with McCoy in the game re-triggered discussion of Brown's often dubious QB decisions during the pre-Vince Young era. Both the Ags and the Horns will be going to top-flight bowl games, but it won't be determined which ones until after the Oklahoma-Nebraska Big 12 championship game next week.

Rice 31 SMU 27

Placing an exclamation point on the one of the best stories of the college football season, the Owls (7-5,6-2) pulled out another come-from-behind win to qualify for a post-season bowl game for the first time since the 1961 season. The win was particularly impressive given that the Owls played without star QB Chase Clement, who sat out the game (except for one pass) with an injury. The win also prompted the Chronicle to notice the Owls by finally giving them a headline and a couple of well-deserved front page stories. Heck, the Chronicle even ran a story on another remarkable story that it has ignored for most of the season, Houston RB/WR Anthony Alridge. Better late than never, I guess. The Owls now wait a week or so for their bowl assignment, which quite likely will be in Ft. Worth.

Jets 26 Texans 11

In a game that was unwatchable, the Texans (3-8) rode the incessant mediocrity of QB David Carr to yet another loss in the weak portion of their schedule. As usual, Carr -- who appears to be a very nice young man with almost no leadership skills whatsoever -- was 39 for 54 for 321 yards with a late TD, one interception, and four sacks, but that included a 19-of-24 performance for 162 yards in the final 8 minutes when the game was largely out of reach. That works out to around a 4.63 yards per pass (YPA), which is horrible and not close to a rate that is required to win consistently in the NFL. In this Weekend Journal article from over the weekend, Allen St. John explores YPA, a simple statistic that is a far better measure of a QB's true effectiveness than the NFL's arcane and misleading QB rating. Carr's YPA is pedestrian this season, as it has been for his entire career. Even more revealing, though, is that Carr's offensive teammates simply do not respond positively to Carr. It's time for the Texans to make the change at QB and let Carr attempt to create a productive NFL career for himself elsewhere. It is not going to happen here. The Texans go to Oakland next week to play the equally hapless Raiders (2-9) before returning home the following week to play Vince Young Bowl II against the Titans (4-7).

Posted by Tom at 4:06 AM | Comments (5) |

November 26, 2006

Does anyone have a radio?

Unless you are among the very small percentage of citizens who thinks that there are not enough National Football League games on television already, you may not have noticed that the NFL owners have started their own network to televise certain NFL games. And as if on cue, a dispute has arisen between two particularly distasteful business interests -- the NFL owners and some of the country's biggest television cable companies. The two sides are effectively playing a high-stakes game of chicken over whether the NFL Network is going to be available to a large part of the country.

The NFL reportedly left about a half-billion on the bargaining table in its last round of television-rights negotiations to reserve for the NFL Network eight late-season prime-time games featuring attractive teams with wide followings. The first took place on Thanksgiving night between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos, but it was available in less than half of the 90 million or so homes wired for cable or satellite.

Indeed, in an absolutely appropriate bit of fate, ailing Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt -- who has lobbied his fellow NFL owners for 37 years to put a Thanksgiving Day game in Kansas City -- had to listen to his Chiefs beat Denver on this past Thanksgiving Day night over the phone in his hospital bed. As with most NFL fans, Hunt was unable to view the game because the hospital he had been admitted to is not hooked into the NFL Network. So, his daughter held the phone near her television while he listened on the other end.

Cable operators such as Cablevision Systems Corp. and Time Warner Inc. are balking at carrying the network because the league wants to boost what it charges them each month to carry the network to a reported 70 cents per subscriber. The NFL currently charges those companies a the fee of about 20 cents per subsciber to carry its non-NFL Network games. Moreover, NFL owners are not only insisting on a high price for the NFL Network, but they are also pushing to have the network included as a part of each company's standard cable package, which doesn't charge subscribers premium fees to get the network. Cable companies are contending that customers who do not watch the NFL should not be required to foot the bill to indulge those who want those games.

The NFL owners are banking on cable company customers pitching such a fit that there companies will give in to the NFL owners' demands. On the other hand, some publicity-seeking politicians are already using the spat as a reason to attempt to extend the government's regulatory power over the "key" issue of whether a few NFL games will be televised. From my viewpoint, I hope the cable companies hold firm, the NFL owners put even more games on their little network and that market forces inform NFL owners what millions in the Los Angeles area have already discovered with regard to live NFL games -- that life without the NFL is not all that bad.

Posted by Tom at 7:36 AM | Comments (1) |

November 21, 2006

Is the Big 12 Conference really viable?

As noted earlier here, the Big 12 Conference was formed as a money grab rather than because of any meaningful allegiances between most of the conference members. And, as noted here, football programs of the institutions in the Big 12 North Division have a difficult time competing with their better-funded and located (at least in terms of attracting good football players) brethen in the Big 12 South Division.

Well, Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post has been noticing the same thing. In this column entitled Divided, Big 12 bound to fall, he observes that the Big 12 is a poorly-structured alliance of convenience based almost entirely on money. As such, Kiszla predicts that the conference is destined to fail:

A football conference divided cannot stand.

There's a feud in the Big 12 Conference between the North and South. It's a civil war in which nobody wins and Colorado too often loses.

This league - held together by little except greed and a championship game that's regularly as flat as a too-long-open can of Dr Pepper - is a clash of cultures as different as the Birkenstocks in Boulder and the ten-gallon hats of Texas.

In a conference in which the haves and have-nots are divided by geography, what has gone wrong? [. . .]

Can't we all get along here?

I'm afraid not.

For a league in which almost half the football teams have trouble putting up a good fight, there's way too much bad blood.

The Big 12 is a conference split by a Red River of tears, as the bullies from the south have won 13 of 16 games this season against the 98-pound weaklings from the northern plains.

Although the Big 12 boasts of three squads ranked among the top 25 (Longhorns, Sooners, Aggies), you again hear barely any noise from the north, other than the wind blowing through towns from Lawrence, Kan., to Ames, Iowa, as the Jayhawks and Cyclones get blown away by real football teams.

If something does not change, the Big 12 will be slowly ripped asunder, and I fear as the imbalance of power grows worse, the league as we know it will not exist 10 years down the road.

Just another example of the pressures arising from the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots in big-time minor league -- er, I mean -- college football.

Posted by Tom at 4:28 AM | Comments (3) |

November 20, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Bills 24 Texans 21

Key note to first year Texans' coach Gary Kubiak -- the Texans (3-7) are not yet good enough to put the offense in a phone booth while trying to milk the clock with a narrow 4th quarter lead. It's pretty hard for the Texans to lose a game in which their generally anemic offense generates almost 400 yards, but giving up over 200 yards passing and two long TD passes to the eminently forgettable Bills QB J.P. Losman in the 1st quarter is a good way to start to do it. And then making only four first downs in the second half (the Bills had as many in the game-winning drive) and just one in the fourth quarter is the way to finish it off. By the way, does anyone else think that John McClain's entry into the world of blogging has actually improved his analysis of Texans football (blog post on yesterday's game is here)? The Texans go on the road the next two weeks to meet the Jets (5-5) and the Raiders (2-8) before returning home the following week to meet the Titans (3-7).

Houston Cougars 23 Memphis 20 OT

In another example of what can go wrong when a team quits taking measured risks with its offense while sitting on a 4th quarter lead, the Coogs (9-3, 7-2) survived a blocked field goal returned for a Memphis (1-10, 0-7) TD in the last two minutes to win the game in overtime. Houston has an extremely difficult offense to defend when they are clicking on all cylinders, but their defense is simply not good enough for the offense to play conservatively after building a lead. The Cougars now get Thanksgiving week off before hosting the C-USA championship game on Friday evening, December 1 against probably Southern Miss (6-4, 5-2).

Rice 18 East Carolina 17

The Owls (6-5, 5-2) continue to make me look prescient for my early season prediction that they were going to surprise quite a few people this season so long as they could avoid decimating injuries during their brutal early season schedule. This win was particularly impressive in that the Owls pulled it off after losing stellar QB Chase Clement over the final quarter and a half. If the Owls can get Clement back next week and beat SMU (6-5, 4-3) at home, then they will likely be C-USA's representative in the Ft. Worth Bowl, the Owls first bowl appearance in 45 years. First year Rice coach Todd Graham is the coach of the year in my book.

The Texas Longhorns and the Texas Aggies were off this week in preparation for their annual day-after-Thanksgiving showdown in Austin.

Posted by Tom at 4:11 AM | Comments (2) |

November 18, 2006

Bo Schembechler, R.I.P.

Former University of Michigan >Bo Schembechler -- one of the true characters in the storied history of Big Ten football -- died yesterday, adding another emotional element to today's big game between No. 2 Michigan and No. 1 Ohio State. Here is the Detroit Free Press coverage on Schembechler's life and death, including Schembechler biographer Mitch Albom's heartfelt tribute.

I never had the opportunity to meet Coach Schembechler, but I have long felt connected to him. Many of my friends in the coaching profession knew and enjoyed him, particularly how he loved to compete. Even though my family was from Iowa, we always suffered with Schembechler during Michigan's long drought in the Rose Bowl when it seemed as if the Pac-10 teams were always flying by Bo's Michigan teams. Although Schembechler was 12 years younger than my father, the two of them were both active and highly-motivated men who had heart attacks and by-pass surgery at a time when that surgery was still a somewhat iffy proposition. They both then returned to their respective professions and worked productively for many years, representing two good examples of the value of that surgical procedure. Schembechler even died in the same manner as my father, suddenly of a heart attack while enjoying what he loved to do. These were two men who were not about to let a little health problem interfere with enjoying the fullness of life.

Schembechler was also indirectly responsible for a funny story from my modest athletic career. Soon-to-be former Iowa State coach Dan McCarney and I were two of the better players on a championship high school football team in Iowa City in 1970, which was during a long drought in University of Iowa football fortunes that lasted from the early 1960's until Hayden Fry resurrected the Iowa program in 1979. Frank Lauterbur, a mostly forgettable figure who had just been hired as the new Iowa coach at the time, was recruiting McCarney, who was a much better college football prospect than me. However, because Mac and I were buddies, Lauterbur allowed me to tag along during Mac's recruitment, probably because he figured that Mac would be more likely to attend Iowa if I decided to walk-on as a non-scholarship player on the Hawkeye football team.

At any rate, one winter night at the home of Mac's family in Iowa City during early 1971, Lauterbur and two of his assistant coaches were talking to Mac and me on how they planned to turn around the struggling Iowa program. Iowa had just finished the 1970 season 3-6-1, including a 55-0 pasting at the hands of Bo's Michigan team in Ann Arbor. Lauterbur made clear to Mac and me that such disasters were no longer going to be allowed under his new regime:

"Sons," Lauterbur declared confidently. "I can assure you of one thing if you come to Iowa. Michigan is not going to beat Iowa by 55 points any longer!"

Lauterbur was right, although not in the way he meant. The next season, Bo's Michigan team beat Lauterbur's first Iowa team by 56 points, 63-7.

Posted by Tom at 8:02 AM | Comments (0) |

November 17, 2006

Maybe this will make the Longhorns feel better

As noted in this earlier post, Las Vegas Sports Consultants publishes their OddsMakers Top 25 each week in which they rank major college football teams based on injuries, performance, skill and game location, not on won-loss record and not on which teams will draw the greatest or least betting action (they leave that for the bookies). The poll is becoming quite popular with the betting markets and is currently published every Monday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Inasmuch as this ranking is based on the profit motive (LVSC is attempting to attract betting customers through the accuracy of its research), my sense is that the OddsMakers Top 25 ends up being a more accurate ranking than the traditional polls, which tend to be plagued by the subjective bias of its voters. For your weekend football viewing pleasure, The following is this week's Oddsmakers Top 25 poll with the team record and BCS ranking in parentheses:

1. Ohio State (11-0, 1)
2t. LSU (8-2, 11)
2t. Southern Cal (8-1, 3)
4. Michigan (11-0, 2)
5. Texas (9-2, 13)
6. Notre Dame (9-1, 5)
7. Florida (9-1, 4)
8. Cal (8-2, 15)
9t. Louisville (8-1, 10)
9t. Oklahoma (8-2, 17)
11. Wisconsin (10-1, 9)
12. West Virginia (8-1, 8)
13t. Arkansas (9-1, 7)
13t. BYU (8-2, 25)
15. Oregon (7-3, 24)
16. Clemson (8-3, NR)
17. Rutgers (9-0, 6)
18. Nebraska (8-3, 23)
19t. Auburn (9-2, 14)
19t. Tennessee (7-3, 22)
21. Hawaii (8-2, NR)
22. Georgia Tech (8-2, 18)
23. Virginia Tech (8-2, 21)
24. Penn State (7-4, NR)
25. Boise State (10-0, 12)

Not ranked by Oddsmaker Top 25: Wake Forest (16th in BCS), Maryland (19th), Boston College (20th).

And in the college head coaching carousel, check out the YouTube video below by a Michigan State fan who is, might we say, quite supportive of LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini's candidacy for the MSU head coaching position:

Posted by Tom at 4:15 AM |

November 16, 2006

Fred Weary's adventure

H'mm, now let me get this one straight.

As Stephanie Stradley reports in detail (John McClain's comments are here), Texans offensive guard Fred Weary left work at Reliant Park a little after noon on Tuesday. Weary, who is 6'4", 308 lbs., was followed by a couple of Houston policemen in a squad car as he drove through the Reliant Park area to get on the South Loop and head home.

The officers followed Weary for about six miles and determined that he was "acting suspiciously" and "looking at (them) on several occasions." After seeing him commit the heinous offense of making a bad lane change, the crack team of officers swooped into action and pulled Weary over on the shoulder of the West Loop, which just happens to be the busiest freeway in Houston. After stopping Weary, the officers ramped up their investigation and determined that the front license plate on Weary's car was missing.

Weary was understandably irritated that the officiers had pulled him over in one of the most dangerous locations in Houston for doing something that occurs probably a million times in Houston each day. One thing led to another and, before you know it, the officers had Tasered Weary, arrested him and hauled him down to city jail. Verifying once again that it is virtually impossible to get someone processed out of jail in Houston in less than seven hours regardless of the offense, Weary was finally bailed out and able to head home at around 9:30 p.m. Quite a day off, eh?

As usual, HPD is contending that the officers acted reasonably in Tasering and arresting Weary. Count me as highly skeptical about that.

Update: The criminal case against Weary was dismissed in short order. Stay tuned.

Posted by Tom at 4:50 AM | Comments (5) |

November 15, 2006

It's all Flutie's fault?

Geez, and I thought Texas Aggie fans were taking their team's losses hard. But Aggie angst is nothing compared to what boiled over in Longhorn land after Texas' upset loss to Kansas State last Saturday night that doomed the Horns' BCS championship hopes:

An unhinged Texas Longhorn fan who blames Doug Flutie’s televised analysis for the team’s upset Saturday threatened the former football star and his family in an electronic mail message, police said.

The threat, which was not detailed by police, was sent to the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism early Sunday, police Lt. Paul Shastany said.

“We have intentions of finding this person and speaking to this person,” said Shastany. “As threats go, it’s a pretty serious incident.”

Although the exact nature of the threat was not disclosed, the man, who investigators believe lives in California, wrote, “You jinxed the Longhorn faithful and a chance at the national title,” Shastany said.

“He was upset, wishing bad will and speaking badly about his family,” said Shastany. “At this point, the information is disconcerting enough to follow this up the best we can.”

Police spoke with Flutie, and he is aware of the threat, Shastany said, but there was no imminent danger and Flutie went ahead with a foundation fund-raiser last night at the Hyatt Regency in Boston.

Flutie is a college football analyst for ABC and ESPN. His playing career included winning a Heisman Trophy with Boston College in 1984, two stints with the Patriots and several championships in Canada. The Texas Longhorns were upset Saturday, when Kansas State beat them 45-42.

Posted by Tom at 4:27 AM | Comments (1) |

November 14, 2006

It's lonely being a Texans fan in Austin

The Houston Texans recent improved play is not being noticed yet in Austin, at least according to this letter from a local Austin television programing director to Texans fan Brian over at Longhorn Law:

The last Texans game we aired (last Sunday) was tuned-in by just 21,000 households in Austin (a city with 589,000 households). By comparison, the Titans game we aired on Oct 8th (after Vince Young became quarterback) was watched by over 53,000 households (152% more football fan’s homes). At one point during that game there were as many as 68,000 households tuned in. It was the most-watched “early” game we’ve aired all season. Actually, that game was watched by more Austin fans than any Texans game we’ve aired going all the way back to October of last season - with two notable exceptions. The first is when the Texans played the Cowboys on October 15th (which you could expect to be highly watched) and the other, honestly, was when the Texans played the Titans on October 29th. [. . .]

So, where does all this leave us now? To try and answer that, we need to go back to the start. In the Texans’ first season KEYE aired every Texans game we could get our hands on. In the second season we did the same thing, no matter how bad the actual football games were, and in the third season we did it yet again. (No one could claim that KEYE hadn’t done its best to put Texans games on the air in Austin).

In the fourth season, last year, we aired every Texans game we could - even after it was abundantly clear they would have their worst season to date. What was once just a steady flow of email to the station (questioning why the heck we were airing Texans games when there was much better competition) had become a roar that we simply could no longer ignore. In that season we aired every Texans game we could in August, September, October, and November. Our last Texans game was December 4th with just 15,000 households watching, and then we moved on to other games that had actual play-off implications. The very next non-Texans game we aired that year was tuned-in by almost 75,000 homes. In other words, we did the best we could do.

Hang in there, KEYE!

Posted by Tom at 4:05 AM | Comments (0) |

November 13, 2006

The Blind Side of big-time college football

Last week, the resignation of my friend, Iowa State head football coach Dan McCarney, prompted this post reflecting on how the pressures of big-time college football prompted a resignation that is quite likely contrary to the long term ability of Iowa State to remain competitive in big-time college football. As if on cue, George Will, in this NY Times book review, provides his view on the new book by Michael Lewis of Moneyball fame, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.

In Moneyball, Lewis explored how the small-market Oakland Athletics were able to remain competitive against far richer clubs in Major League Baseball by emphasizing objective evaluation of players and, in so doing, introduced sabremetric statistical analysis to the general public. As Will notes, Lewis “is advancing a new genre of journalism that shows how market forces and economic reasoning shape the evolution of sports.” Lewis’s latest book involves big-time college football, which -- as noted earlier here -- has long been a means by which universities in the U.S. have compromised academic integrity to rent athletically-gifted young men to serve as cash cows for the institutions. As noted in my earlier post, the National Football League reaps the fruits (as if those teams really needed it) of an effectively free farm system that college football provides, while the vast majority of the universities -- including Iowa State -- either lose money or barely eke out a profit in their football programs.

Moreover, Lewis examines how the winds of change ripple down from the NFL to big-time college football and dictate the course of the college game. One case in point is Lawrence Taylor, who singlehandedly changed the nature of professional football by becoming the prototype of the huge, athletic and extraordinarily fast outside linebacker who could increase the pressure on the quarterback. At about the same time as Taylor was wreaking havoc on QB's, Bill Walsh's West Coast offense was spreading the field, which made it even more important for teams to find agile offensive linemen to block the likes of Taylor. Most important was to protect the QB's blind side, so the position of left offensive tackle increased in importance and, as a result, the position's economic value skyrocketed.

As demand increased in the NFL for the colleges to produce another kind of freak of nature to play what had been an obscure position but now was now one of the most important positions on the field, Lewis explains that the colleges were more than willing to compromise any notion of academic integrity to admit athletes who project to have the physical stature and talent to play the demanding left tackle position. In short, it's not just the star QB or running back who gets the royal treatment from the institutions in this day and age -- potential left tackles are now included, too. Lewis' book describes one of those freaks of nature, a freshman tackle at the University of Mississippi with an I.Q. of 80 who bounced from foster home to foster home as a youth.

Just as we should not be surprised that many folks enjoy betting illegally on college football, neither should we be shocked with the corruption in college football that Lewis examines in his book. One of my uncles who played SEC football during the late 1920's used to tell me how much money he was paid under the table even in those days. Moreover, there is no question that big-time college football -- even as corrupt as it is -- is a pretty darn entertaining form of corruption. As noted in my previous post, there is a model that would likely minimize the corruptive elements while not affecting the entertainment value of college football much, but it's going to take leadership and courage from the top of the educational institutions to promote and implement such reform.

Unfortunately, those considerations were not on the minds of the Iowa State administrators last week as they began figuring out how to replace a very good football coach who had just left one of the most difficult jobs in his profession. Similarly, my sense is University of Miami president Donna Shalala will not be contemplating those matters when she begins her search to replace Larry Coker later this month as head coach of one of the most storied programs in all of big-time college football. That seems to be the tunnel vision that is generated from the sponsorship of professional football by U.S. academic institutions.

Posted by Tom at 4:35 AM | Comments (0) |

2006 Weekly local football review

Texans 13 Jaguars 10

If I didn't know better, I'd think that the Texans (3-6) have the Jaguars' (5-4) number.

In a game that stands for the proposition that you don't have to play great offensively to win when the other team's QB plays poorly, the Texans took advantage of four Jaguar QB David Garrard interceptions and a stout defensive effort to win their third game of the season, two of which have been over the Jags. The win was the Texans' first road in almost two years and ended an NFL-leading 12 game losing streak in road games, The Texans mostly stunk offensively (306 yds total offense) , but they were at least well-balanced (148 yds rushing/158 yds passing) and most importantly, protected the football. Texans QB David Carr was knocked out with a sprained shoulder in the 4th quarter, but it did not look like a serious injury. The Texans now actually have a chance of stringing some wins together as their next four games are at home against the Bills (3-6), at the Jets (5-4) and Raiders (2-7), and at home against the Titans (2-7).

By the way, Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice -- who is presumably paid to notice such things -- is just noticing that Texans kicker Kris Brown is not very good:

"K Kris Brown is becoming something of a concern. His miss of a 32-yard field goal late in the first half was his third miss in four games. He missed a more difficult kick, a 52-yarder, later in the game."

Uh, Earth to Richard, Earth to Richard -- Brown has been a concern for the past several seasons!

Nebraska 28 Texas Aggies 27

That huge sigh of exasperation that you hear is coming from the Bryan-College Station area.

After last week's frustrating one-point loss to Oklahoma, the Aggies (8-3, 4-3) lost this one on a short TD pass with 20 seconds left in the game after having a field goal attempt blocked just a minute earlier and after a stupid roughing-the-passer penalty helped extend the Cornhusker scoring drive. Inasmuch as the Ags had almost 450 yards of total offense on 288 yards passing and 155 yards rushing with no turnovers, they really should have won this one, but a generally uninspired first half performance put the Aggies in a 21-10 hole. Given the developments in Manhattan, KN on Saturday night, the Aggies final game against Texas looks more winnable than before, but the Aggies will need to win that one to avoid the ignominious invitation to a minor bowl game. As Kevin Sherrington reports, it's getting harder with each passing week to defend Coach Fran.

Kansas State 45 Texas Longhorns 42

The Horns (9-2, 6-1) run of good luck ran out in Manhattan on Saturday night as star QB Colt McCoy was injured and inexperienced backup QB Jevan Sneed was forced to play from a deep hole that was dug mostly by a leaky Horns defensive secondary. Two fumbles by the Horns' running backs and a blocked punt in a disastrous three minute stretch of the 3rd quarter didn't help, either. If McCoy's banged up shoulder does not heal in time for the Horns regular season finale against the Aggies, then a season that was headed for a BCS bowl game could end up in a cold Cotton Bowl in Dallas in January.

Houston Cougars 37 SMU 27

The Cougars (8-3, 6-1) clinched the Conference USA West Division championship with the win over the Ponies (5-5, 3-3) and can wrap up hosting the C-USA championship game on December 1 with a win at Memphis (1-9, 0-6) next Saturday. As usual, nothing comes easy for the Coogs, who went up 14-0 in the 1st quarter, only to go to sleep for the next quarter and a half to find themselves behind 24-14 at the half. However, behind the incomparable Anthony Alridge (225 yds on 14 carries; two 77 yd TD runs!) and resourceful senior QB Kevin Kolb, the Cougars outscored the Mustangs 23-3 in the 2nd half to put this one away. As noted last week, Alridge's phenomenal performance this season -- he is currently averaging 12.5 yds per carry (797 yards on 64 carries) -- is one of highlights of this college football season. Alridge has 8 TD runs this year the following yardages: 87, 77 (twice), 44, 29, 15, 14, and 3. Thus, one out of every eight carries is a TD and he averages taking it to the house from 46 yards. Too bad that his effort is utterly underpublicized because of the local media's abysmal coverage of the Cougar football program.

Rice 41 Tulsa 38 (2 OT)

In another of the most remarkable stories of this college football season that the local media has largely ignored, the Rice Owls (5-5, 4-2) came within a game of bowl eligibility with a stirring double overtime victory over Tulsa (7-3, 5-2), which has had its once-promising season undermined by losses over the past two weeks to the Owls and the Houston Cougars. Although he probably has no chance because of the lack of publicity that the Owl program draws, first-year Rice head coach Todd Graham should be in the running for Coach of the Year honors for converting in less than a year a team based on an option-oriented ground game into an effective spread formation, pass-oriented team that has a chance of becoming the first Rice team to finish with a winning record since the 2001 team finished 8-4. The Owls conclude their season with home games the next two weekends against East Carolina (6-4, 5-2) and SMU (5-5, 3-3).

Posted by Tom at 4:09 AM | Comments (1) |

November 12, 2006

Re-evaluating the kickers

As noted in earlier posts here and here, Aaron Schatz is the lead author of Pro Football Prospectus 2006, which is an innovative effort to develop the same type of objective statistical framework for evaluating professional football players that Bill James and other sabermetricians have developed and refined for evaluation of Major League Baseball players.

In this provocative NY Sunday Times op-ed, Schatz suggests that NFL teams are using the wrong criteria when they pay a large amount to acquire or retain a field goal kicker who has made almost of all of his field goal attempts in the previous season. Schatz's argument is that a field goal kicker may have a "hot" season from time-to-time, but will almost always regress in the following season to his career success rate for field goals. On the other hand, Schatz notes that another key kicking statistic -- average kickoff distance -- shows far more consistency from season-to-season than field goal percentage. Kickoff distance is important because longer kickoffs generally give the team kicking off a better chance of pinning their opposition deep in their own territory, which reduces the risk of giving up touchdowns and field goals. A case in point is the Cardinals' Neil Rackers:

No kicker reflects the difference between field goals and kickoffs better than Neil Rackers of the Arizona Cardinals. Last season, Rackers set an N.F.L. record with 40 field goals, and led the league by converting 95 percent of his attempts. But in 2004, he connected on 76 percent of his attempts. This year, Rackers is even worse, making just 67 percent of his tries. His high-profile misses include a 40-yard attempt that probably would have completed an upset and handed the Chicago Bears their first loss of the season.

Nonetheless, while his field-goal percentages have swung up and down over the past three seasons, Rackers has consistently ranked as one of the league’s premier kickoff men. He led the N.F.L. in average kickoff distance in 2004 and 2005, and is fifth in the league this year.

This disparity in consistency between field goals and kickoffs means that N.F.L. teams are generally signing and drafting kickers based on the wrong skills.

Posted by Tom at 7:42 AM | Comments (2) |

November 10, 2006

A good football coach steps down

Dan McCarney, the "dean" of the Big 12 Conference football coaches, resigned under pressure on Wednesday as head football coach at Iowa State University after 12 seasons. The announcement barely made a blip in the local Houston media, but Coach Mac's resignation highlighted many aspects of the troubling direction of major college football, a topic that has also been touched on here, here, here and here.

I am biased about Coach McCarney, who is called Coach Mac by most everyone. As regular readers of this blog know (see here and here), Coach Mac and I have been friends since growing up together in Iowa City, Iowa, where we played together on City High School's championship football team in 1970. I moved to Houston with my family shortly after finishing high school and Mac went on to play football at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, but we remained in contact over the years as I went to law school and began a legal career in Houston and Mac went on to the Iowa coaching staff after graduating from undergraduate school. When Hayden Fry was hired to revive the downtrodden Iowa program in 1979, Coach Mac was one of the only coaches who Coach Fry retained from the previous coaching staff. As with most of Coach Fry's personnel decisions, retaining Coach Mac was a good one.

For the following decade, Coach Mac was a part of an extraordinary Iowa coaching staff that not only revived Iowa's football fortunes, but also produced such outstanding head coaches as Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Kansas State's Bill Snyder, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz and South Florida's Jim Leavitt. In 1990, Coach Mac followed Alvarez to Wisconsin, where they took over a 2-9 Badger program and, by 1993, had the team winning the Big Ten Conference championship with a 10-1-1 record, which included a Rose Bowl victory over UCLA. The next year, Iowa State came calling for Coach Mac and the native Iowan was off to Ames for his first head coaching job.

Over the years, Mac and I have laughed many times about the fact that neither of us really had a clue of what he was getting into at Iowa State. We both knew that the university had long been a coaching graveyard and had eeked out a barely-winning record only a couple of times in the previous 15 years. Ames is nice little college town, but it is in north central Iowa, pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the opinion of most good college football players. As a result, the football program has always struggled to attract good football prospects, who usually have sexier alternatives to living in central Iowa for four years. The physical facilities of Iowa State's football program were poor and the entire football budget at the time was just over $3 million, which was by far the smallest of any public school in the then newly-constituted Big 12 Conference that included such far better-funded programs as Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, just to name a few. To make matters worse, Iowa State was a clear second fiddle in the state of Iowa to the University of Iowa, which has a far superior football tradition and an athletic budget more than twice as large as Iowa State's. Most folks assume that Kansas State was the toughest head coaching job in the United States before Bill Snyder resurrected it in the 1990's, but I think a good case can be made that the Iowa State job was even more difficult before Coach Mac took over.

To Mac and Iowa State's credit, they agreed at the outset that turning Iowa State's program around was going to be a long-term project. As he did at Iowa and Wisconsin, Mac literally threw himself into the job of rebuilding the Cyclone football program, taking on any speaking engagement and going anywhere to promote Iowa State and its athletic teams. An outstanding recruiter, Mac and his coaching staff began to expand Iowa State's traditional Midwestern recruiting base to such football hotbeds as Texas, Florida and California. Mac began to challenge Iowa's traditional toehold on the best recruits in the state of Iowa. The progress was slow, though -- Mac's teams lost 42 or their 57 games during his first five seasons.

However, by the 2000 season, Mac and his staff had built a solid foundation for the program. Behind QB Sage Rosenfels (yes, the Texans' backup QB), Iowa State went 9-3 during that season and won the university's first post-season bowl game in the university's 108-year football history (over Pitt in the Insight.com Bowl in Tucson). That started a 40 game run where Mac's teams were 25-15, a remarkable feat considering that Iowa State was competing in the brutally-tough Big 12 Conference and playing tough Iowa each season (Mac's teams won six of their last nine games against their in-state rival). By the 2004 and 2005 seasons, Coach Mac had his teams on the cusp of the Big 12 North Division title both seasons only to lose them in an excrutiatingly close final game in each season. Nevertheless, after Iowa State had gone to only four bowl games in its history before Coach Mac's tenure, Mac took the Cyclones to five bowl games in six years, winning two of them. Coming into the 2006 season, optimism was high that the Cyclones would again contend for the Big 12 North Division championship and go to yet another bowl game.

Alas, the 2006 season did not turn out as planned. First, the Cyclones faced one of the toughest schedules in the country, including an initial stretch of Big 12 games at Texas, at home against Nebraska, at Oklahoma and at home against Texas Tech. Iowa State lost all four and were battered in the process, losing six senior starters to season-ending injury. Lack of depth is a chronic Achille's Heel at a place such as Iowa State, so a thin and deflated Cyclone team was smoked over the past two weeks by mediocre Kansas State and Kansas teams. That brought out the "what have you done for me lately" crowd in full force, many of whom were calling on Iowa State to fire Coach Mac despite the fact that few of them have any idea how difficult it is to win consistently at the top levels of major college football.

Suddenly, a little over a year after one of Mac's best wins as a coach, Mac concluded it was not right for him to become a divisive issue for the university. Understanding Spike Dykes' advice that "you lose 10% of your support each season" as a college football coach, Mac understood that he was 20% in the hole at Iowa State based on that formula. So, he elected to resign as head football coach at Iowa State, a difficult job that he would have gladly continued to perform for the rest of his coaching days. Take a moment to watch his performance during the press conference (click the video camera icon on the left side of the page) to announce his resignation -- Mac exudes the class and passion with which he handled all of his duties at Iowa State. In this age of cold-hearted and businesslike coaches who are constantly posturing for the "better" job, it is refreshing to watch someone such as Mac, who wears his big heart and humanity on his sleeve.

Thus, 12 years after arriving at Iowa State, Mac leaves the football program in far better shape than he found it. The football budget has quadrupled in size under Mac, but it remains the smallest of any public institution in the Big 12 Conference (Texas and A&M's football budgets are at least 4 to 5 times larger than Iowa State's). Mac worked behind the scenes continually to improve Iowa State's facilities and they have improved substantially during his time there. However, Cyclone athletic department officials are now attempting to raise another $135 million for facilities upgrades in an effort to keep up with the seemingly endless arms race of major college football. In one of the more bizarre aspects of Mac's resignation, that imminent capital funds campaign was one of the key pressure points that prompted the resignation of the best fundraiser in the history of the Cyclone football program. So it goes in trying to keep up with the Joneses in the wacky world of college football.

After coaching the Iowa State team in its final two games this season, Mac will kick back for a few days, but then I suspect that he will back out looking for another opportunity. His motor is always running and he has a passionate love for coaching. Inasmuch as Mac is widely popular among his fellow coaches, I am confident that he will land on his feet.

However, I am not so sure about Iowa State. The institution is caught in the proverbial rat race of attempting to compete with far-better funded programs and the gap between Iowa State's resources and those of programs such as Texas and A&M are likely to get even larger. The pressure of that competition has now prompted Iowa State's administration to take what appears to be a huge risk that the program will decline from the solid foundation that Mac painstakingly built over the past 12 years.

Does Iowa State think that it is going to hire someone who will magically recruit better athletes to Ames than Mac? That's highly doubtful as Mac is one of the best recruiters in the business and Ames is always going to be a difficult sell to all but a few of the best football prospects. Does the institution think that it is going to hire someone who will coach better than Mac? Maybe, but Mac is a pretty darn good coach and how many more wins does Iowa State really believe it can achieve through slightly better coaching methods? And even Iowa State officials readily concede that it is highly unlikely that they will ever be able to find someone who can match Mac's tireless enthusiasm for promoting the institution and the football program.

The bottom line is that seasons such as the one that the Cyclones and Mac are enduring this season are inevitable at a program such as Iowa State's. That is one of the costs of attempting to compete with limited resources at the highest level of major college football. That's not a particularly pleasant reality, but it's dubious decision-making to take big risks based on an emotional reaction to a disappointing result that is inevitable. That appears to be precisely what Iowa State is doing in letting Mac get away. Wouldn't embracing a good coach who understands the institution's limitations and has competed effectively in spite of them be far less risky and much more likely to result in continued success?

Ironically, the Cyclone family now finds itself looking for a new head coach who has the depth and characteristics of . . . well, Dan McCarney. Iowa State will be extremely fortunate if they find one.

Posted by Tom at 4:44 AM | Comments (4) |

November 9, 2006

Rumblings from Aggieland

It's not been a pleasant week in Aggieland.

As noted in Monday's weekly local football report, Aggie head coach Dennis Franchione made several dubious decisions late in last Saturday night's 17-16 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners. In particular, Aggies everywhere are wondering why Coach Fran decided to have Aggie QB Stephen McGee -- who was passing poorly in the game anyway -- throw a pass on 3rd and goal at the Sooners 2 yard line late in the game down 17-10 rather than simply hand the ball to the Aggies 275 lbs RB, Javorskie Lane on 3rd down and even 4th down, if necessary. After McGee was forced to throw the ball away under heavy pressure on the 3rd down play, Coach Fran settled for one of the most unpopular field goals in the history of Aggieland on 4th down.

Well, all of that went over about like the proverbial turd in the punch bowl in Aggieland and reopened the lingering doubts that many Aggie fans have about Coach Fran from last year's disastrous season (see here and here). It was in that volatile environment that Coach Fran faced media questions on Tuesday about his decision, and this is what he had to say:

"Hindsight is always easy, and you certainly rethink everything that you do in situations. We wouldn't have called the play on third down that we called if we didn't think it was going to work."

"Well, a lot of those [short yardage plays in which Lane has been successful] are not on the 2-yard line where defenses are bunched down as close as they are. A lot of them are in the field in a little bit different situations."

Apparently, Coach Fran was unaware of the fact that Lane had previously carried the ball on 3rd & 4th downs this season 27 times, resulting in 18 first downs and 6 TD's. In other words, an 89% success rate. Moreover, Lane has not been stopped short of a 1st down on 3rd or 4th down in the Ags' last seven games, including all six of the Aggies' Big 12 conference games. On 16 of his 18 successful 1st down conversions, Lane has run for more yardage than needed to make the 1st down.

In light of these facts, the rabid Aggie fans -- who were not pleased with the call to begin with -- are livid now.

With tough games looming at home against Nebraska and at Austin against Texas, the Aggies are squarely facing a potential three game losing streak to close the regular season and a minor bowl game, which will not sit well with most of the Aggie fan base. Win one of the next two games and the Ags will finish 9-3 and probably head to San Diego's Holiday Bowl, which most Aggies would consider a reasonably successful season given last year's disastrous season. Win both games and the Ags would finish 10-2 and head to the Cotton Bowl, which no one could complain about. Regardless of whether the Aggies win either of their next two games, my sense is that Coach Fran is safe for at least one more season. However, if the Aggies get blown out in both of those games -- not likely for a team that is only five points away from being undefeated -- then all bets are off.

Posted by Tom at 4:24 AM | Comments (0) |

November 6, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Giants 14 Texans 10

In a game that set offense back to the days prior to development of the T formation, the Giants (6-2) hung on to beat the Texans (2-6) as neither team could muster 300 yards total offense. About the only good thing about Texans QB David Carr's 5.7 yds per pass was that it was better than Giants QB Eli Manning's 5.6 yds per pass. The Texans actually had a shot at winning the game late in the 4th quarter when FB Jameel Cook coughed up a fumble after catching a short pass at the Giants' 35 yard line. That was the Texans' only turnover in the game, but the margin of error is pretty thin when the offense can only muster 250 total offense. The Texans travel to Jacksonville next Sunday for what could be an ugly revenge game with the Jaguars (5-3) before returning home for a winnable game the following Sunday against the Bills (3-5).

Oklahoma 17 Texas Aggies 16

There was good news and bad news about Texas A&M's (8-2, 4-2) loss in its big game on Saturday night against the Oklahoma Sooners (7-2, 4-1). The good news is that the Aggies generated over 200 yards rushing against a solid OU defense in almost beating the Sooners.

I'll leave the bad news to Mike Finger's column about the game in the San Antonio Express-News, which begins with the following:

Bob Stoops smiled as he approached his adversary at midfield, then put his arm around Dennis Franchione and whispered a few words of encouragement into his ear.

This is what all good gamblers do.

They always make sure the suckers keep coming back for more.

If Saturday night's showdown at Kyle Field was a poker game, Stoops was the seasoned card shark who knew exactly when to take the risk that would make his opponent flinch. And Fran was the sweaty-palmed mark who came so close to going all-in before losing his nerve.

Coach Fran's teams are now 1-11 in games against key Big 12 rivals Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, 14-16 in Big 12 play, and 4-14 against ranked opponents (wins coming against #25 Clemson ('04), #15 Okie State ('04), #25 Texas Tech ('04), & #19 Mizzou ('06)). The Cornhuskers (7-3, 4-2) invade College Station this Saturday and, if the Ags can't figure out how to throw the ball effectively against a top flight defense, then it's likely they will be 1-12 against the above-mentioned Big 12 rivals going into their day after Thanksgiving game against the Longhorns (9-1, 6-0) in Austin.

Suffice it to say that's not what Aggie boosters thought they were buying when they bought out Coach Fran's Alabama contract back in 2003.

Houston Cougars 27 Tulsa 10

In a battle for the Conference USA West Division lead, the Cougars (7-3, 5-1) utilized their usual balanced and difficult-to-defend offense while coming up with an unusually inspired defensive performance in cruising to victory before a raucous Homecoming crowd of 23,500 at Robertson Stadium. The Coogs put this one away by taking the lead with a long scoring drive immediately before halftime and then by coming out and tacking on another TD with the opening drive of the 3rd quarter. Although not well-known because of the Cougars' somewhat neglected stature on the local sports scene, Houston's Anthony Alridge -- a 5'9", 170 lbs. WR/RB sprinter -- is currently averaging 11.2 yards per carry on his 51 carries this season and is the most exciting Cougar player that I've seen since bowling ball RB Chuck Weatherspoon averaged over 9 yards a carry during the Run 'N Shoot days of the late 1980's and early 90's. The Coogs now go on the road at SMU (4-4, 2-2) and Memphis (0-4,1-7) to finish the regular season and, if the Coogs' defense can hold together for those two games, Houston has a good chance to host the C-USA championship game in early December.

Texas Longhorns 36 Oklahoma State 10

Perfectly-named Colt McCoy threw for a career-high 346 yards and three TD's in setting a Texas single-season record for touchdown passes with 27 and keeping the Longhorns in the middle of the race to meet either Michigan or Ohio State in the BCS championship game. The Horns go on the road next Saturday night to meet Kansas State (6-4, 3-3) before taking a week off before their big game against the Aggies on the day after Thanksgiving.

Rice 37 UTEP 31

The Owls (4-5, 3-2) continue to make my early season optimism about their prospects look good as they broke out to a 30-10 halftime lead against UTEP (4-5, 2-3) and held on for another win in Head Coach Todd Graham's increasingly successful first season. The bottom line on the Owls is that QB Chase Clement, RB Quinton Smith and WR Jarett Dillard are really good and give the Owls a decent shot of winning games in which their defense is not overwhelmed by the opposition's offense. The Owls have a tough game next week at Tulsa (7-2, 4-2), and then close the season at home against East Carolina (5-4, 4-2) and SMU (5-4, 3-2).

Posted by Tom at 4:36 AM | Comments (0) |

November 3, 2006

Hit of the Year?

When your team is getting hammered 44-0, it must feel good to lay the wood in the way that Minnesota's Dominic Jones did to Ohio State's Ray Small last Saturday (see video below). It's the hit of the year.

Posted by Tom at 4:30 AM | Comments (1) |

November 2, 2006

Gil Brandt on David Carr

Texans QB David Carr gets the NY Times treatment this week as the local team prepares to be hammered by the Giants this Sunday in the Meadowlands. Former Dallas Cowboy personnel director Gil Brandt, who knows a thing or two about evaluating football players, is quoted as making the following observation about Carr:

“I think maybe sometimes a guy doesn’t have the tenacity or is too nice a guy to really play to his capabilities,” Brandt said in a telephone interview. “He’s an enigma to me.”

That is football-speak for questioning whether Carr has the heart and leadership ability to be an above-average quarterback in the NFL. Based on what I saw last Sunday, Brandt is spot on in his observation about Carr. With each passing week, it is becoming clearer than Carr is not going to be as good an NFL quarterback as contemporaries such as the Saints' Drew Brees or the Bengals' Carson Palmer. Indeed, Carr is at a point where he must answer the question of whether he is a better QB than Sage Rosenfels.

Carr's defenders point to his salty NFL quarterback rating, which was 4th in the league going into last week's debacle against the Titans. However, the NFL's QB rating is about as misleading as batting average in baseball in terms of evaluating a player's true effectiveness. QB Score per play -- a far more accurate statistic for evaluating QB play developed by the folks over at the Wages of Wins blog -- reflects that Carr is nowhere near the top level of NFL QB's. When rushing, sacks, and fumbles are considered along with passing stats, then Carr was ranked only as the 19th best QB in the NFL going into the Titans game. Based on his disastrous game against the Titans last Sunday, Carr was ranked dead last in the NFL for the week in QB Score per play.

Just to underscore the misleading nature of the NFL's QB rating, after Carr’s horrific Week Eight effort, he barely dropped in the NFL QB rating -- from 4th to 6th. In comparison, QB Score per play ranks him 23rd among NFL signal-callers, which appears to be much closer to where Texans head coach Gary Kubiak is rating Carr.

I don't think that level of performance is what Bob McNair had in mind when he selected Carr as the Texans' first draft choice in 2002.

Posted by Tom at 4:03 AM | Comments (1) |

November 1, 2006

All in the Family

Based on this article, it's safe to say that the family get-togethers of New Orleans Saints and former Austin Westlake High School quarterback Drew Brees aren't the stuff of a Norman Rockwell painting:

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has asked his mother to stop using his picture in TV commercials touting her candidacy for a Texas appeals court.

"I think the major point here is that my mother is using me in a campaign, and I've made it known many times I don't want to be involved."

In commercials running on Austin stations, Mina Brees had been using a picture of her son in the uniform of his former team, the San Diego Chargers, to emphasize her ties to football.

"I think the major point here is that my mother is using me in a campaign, and I've made it known many times I don't want to be involved," Drew Brees said Monday.

Mina Brees, an Austin attorney, is running as a Democrat for a spot on Texas' 3rd Court of Appeals. She said replacement commercials that omit any mention of her son were taped last week and sent to stations on Friday.

She said she did not anticipate upsetting her son and that "everything in the ad was true."

She said her connection to football is relevant to her campaign because her father, a successful high school coach, used sports to teach her a strong work ethic that she would bring to the judicial bench.

Drew Brees, who won a state football championship with Westlake High School in suburban Austin, said he got no response from his mother when he first heard about the ads and called her to ask that she stop using them. His agent sent her a letter Oct. 20 threatening legal action, he said.

He called his relationship with his mother "nonexistent" after it crumbled six years ago when he refused to hire her as his agent.

Mina Brees said her son's allegations were a mischaracterization and that she had no intention of becoming his agent.

"I love Drew very much, and I'm very proud of him. But sometimes when people are following a career path, they change," she said.

Sounds as if Mrs. Brees and Marc O'Hair ought to get together and compare notes on child rearing.

Posted by Tom at 4:33 AM | Comments (1) |

October 31, 2006

Big Tuna's World

In this NY Sunday Times article, Michael Lewis of Moneyball fame profiles Dallas Cowboy Head Coach Misérables, Bill Parcells:

Right now he is living alone in what amounts to a hotel room in Irving, Tex., whose sole virtue is that it is a 10-minute drive to both the Cowboys’ practice facility and Texas Stadium. It’s just him and whatever it is that keeps him in the game. For the longest time he pretended that he didn’t need it. He walked out of two jobs without having another in hand, and he has played hard-to-get with N.F.L. owners more times than any coach in N.F.L. history. After he quit the Jets, in 1999, he said at a press conference: “I’ve coached my last football game. You can write that on your little chalkboard. This is it. It’s over.” Now, even as his job appears to be making him sick, he has abandoned the pose. “As you get older,” he says, pointing to a screen, where the play is frozen, “your needs diminish. They don’t increase. They diminish. I need less money. I need less sex. But this — this doesn’t change.”

What this is, he can’t — or won’t — specify. But when your life has been defined by the pressure of competition and your response to it, there’s a feeling you get, and it’s hard to shake. You wake up each morning knowing the next game is all that matters. If you fail in it, nothing you’ve done with your life counts. By your very nature you always have to start all over again, fresh. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, but it’s nonetheless addictive. Even if you have millions in the bank and everyone around you tells you that you’re a success, you seek out that uncomfortable place. And if you don’t, you’re on the wrong side of the thin curtain that separates Cyclone Hart from Vito Antuofermo. “It’s a cloistered, narrow existence that I’m not proud of,” says Parcells. “I don’t know what’s going on in the world. And I don’t have time to find out. All I think about is football and winning. But hey — ” He sweeps his hand over his desk and points to the office that scarcely registers his presence. “Who’s got it better than me?”

I'm convinced that a part of the fascination with Parcells is similar to the enchantment that some folks have in going to auto races in anticipation of a spectacular wreck -- they just want to be there when he finally blows his stack. Based on Lewis' article, it probably won't be too much longer until Parcells does.

Posted by Tom at 4:31 AM | Comments (1) |

October 30, 2006

The insolvency of big-time college athletics

My son Cody and I enjoyed a splendid Texas autumn afternoon on Saturday while attending the University of Houston's football game against Central Florida. But only about 13,000 other folks showed up for the highly-entertaining game in an enjoyable on-campus environment, and that's sadly an all-too-common experience for UH.

UH is a member of Conference USA, which was formed a decade or so ago by about a dozen universities that were not offered membership in one of the Bowl Championship Series conferences. As a result of its creation by necessity rather than design, few of the C-USA members have natural rivalries with other members and virtually all of the members struggle to attract fans to their games. UH's situation is particularly difficult because UH competes in a market that offers NFL football and two effectively local universities (A&M and Texas) that compete in a BCS conference (the Big 12) with many traditional rivals. And that does not even include the competition represented by Texas' hugely popular high school football scene.

With that backdrop, this Vic Matheson post over at the Sports Economist is the most cogent analysis that I've seen in some time of the underlying instability of the present structure of big-time college football. Using Florida International University's recent foray into major college football as an example, Matheson concludes as follows:

Big-time college athletics is an lure that many schools find difficult to resist. The reality is, however, that even revenue sports such as football and men’s basketball are money losers for most programs. Certainly FIU must be rethinking their decision to step onto the football field.

Despite a storied history in intercollegiate athletics and excellent on-campus facilities, the University of Houston is facing the same problems as Florida International in attempting to finance a big-time intercollegiate athletic program without the infrastructure of a BCS conference affiliation. Moreover, virtually every other non-BCS conference university -- and even a number of the universities in BCS conferences -- are experiencing the same dilemma. Although a model exists for the reorganization of big-time college football and basketball into a true adjunct to the academic experience rather than minor league professional enterprises, my sense is that the current instability in the structure of college football will more likely trigger the development of three or four super conferences comprised of member institutions that are willing to pay the price -- both financially and morally -- to compete at the highest levels of minor league professional football and basketball.

Although such a development may be the natural evolution of big-time intercollegiate football and basketball, I can't help but think that something valuable -- such as the old Southwest Conference and UH's intense rivalries with UT and A&M -- is lost from the fabric of the most university communities as intercollegiate football and basketball mimic professional sports franchises.

Posted by Tom at 4:35 AM | Comments (2) |

2006 Weekly local football review

Titans 28 Texans 22

The Texans (2-5) returned to earth with a thud after last week's unlikely victory over the Jaguars as Titans and former Longhorn hero Vince Young threw and rushed for a TD in a game that the Texans could have easily won if QB David Carr had shown up to play. In a curious relapse to his play for most of the past four seasons, Carr reverted to his deer-in-the-headlights look as he coughed up a couple of fumbles (one for a Titans' TD) and an easy interception, so Coach Kubiak replaced him early in the 2nd half after the second of his fumbles. Carr's performance on the field was bad, but my sense is that his demeanor on the sideline is even more telling regarding whether the Texans should continue hitching their wagon to him as the franchise QB.

Carr essentially looked aloof and somewhat clueless on the sideline after each incident of his poor performance. There is certainly nothing wrong with not getting overly down on oneself for making demoralizing mistakes that hurt your team and Carr certainly said all the right things after the game. But appearing not to give a damn about those mistakes during the game on the sidelines -- or worse, acting as if the mistakes were not primarily his fault -- is a good way to lose your teammates' respect fast. In arguably the most important development of this game, the Texans seemed to respond to backup QB Sage Rosenfels much better than Carr, which -- as John Lopez notes -- is an ominous sign for Carr's future in Houston. The Texans really needed to win this game because they don't have much of a chance in their next two, at the Giants and at the Jaguars. Look for the Texans to be 2-7 when they have their next realistic chance for a win in Week 11 at home against the Bills.

Texas Longhorns 35 Texas Tech 31

This was the tale of two games as the Red Raiders sprinted to a 21-0 first quarter lead and then the Horns (8-1, 5-0) methodically hammered the Raiders 35-10 over the final three quarters. Although Longhorn QB Colt McCoy's 325 yds total offense (256 yds on 21-31-1 passing and 68 yds rushing on 9 carries) was the Horns' offensive star, this game was really decided by the Longhorns' defensive adjustments at halftime that allowed the Horns' defense to pitch a shutout against the high-powered Tech offense in the second half. Of course, two key 4th quarter, fourth down spot calls by the referees that went in the Longhorns' favor were huge breaks for Texas. The Horns have a good chance of continuing to climb the BCS poll (Texas remained seventh in the latest BCS standings released Sunday, but with only .023 points separating the fourth through seventh spots) as they face Oklahoma State (5-3, 2-2) at home and Kansas State (5-4, 2-3) on the road before ending the season at home against A&M (8-1, 4-1) and then either Missouri (7-2, 3-2) or Nebraska (6-3, 3-2) in Kansas City's Big 12 title game in early December.

Texas Aggies 31 Baylor 21

The surprising Aggies (8-1, 4-1; No. 21 in the BCS standings) continued their effective balanced, ball-control offense with no turnovers and threw in true freshman RB Michael Goodson's electrifying 64 yard TD run to break open a tied game in the 4th quarter. I don't think that the Ags will beat both Oklahoma (6-2, 3-1) and Nebraska (6-3, 3-2) in their next two games before their annual showdown with Texas. However, the Ags just might, particularly if they can continue their exceptional characteristic of not turning the ball over.

Houston Cougars 51 Central Florida 31

My son Cody and I enjoyed a perfect Texas autumn afternoon while taking in this game, and we certainly came away entertained. The Cougars (6-3, 4-1) play a different type of game, combining a high-powered, idiosyncratic offense with a defense that couldn't stop a hard-chargin' marching band to provide an exciting -- if at times frustrating to watch -- brand of football. In this game, the Coogs burst out of the gate to take 10-0 and 17-7 first half leads, only to take a nap in the 2nd quarter to allow UCF to take a 21-17 halftime lead. Then, in the 2nd half, Houston's offense essentially became unstoppable and, when the Cougars defense finally got a couple of stops on UCF early in the 4th quarter, the Coogs cruised to victory. Houston plays for the C-USA West Division lead next week at home against Tulsa (7-1, 4-0), and then finishes out the season against SMU (4-4,2-2) and Memphis (1-7, 0-4) on the road. One would think that the latter two games would be sure wins for the Cougars, but UH's defense is so porous that no game is a sure win.

The Rice Owls (3-5. 2-2) were off this week before hitting the road to play UTEP (4-4, 2-2) and Tulsa over the next two weekends.

Posted by Tom at 4:33 AM | Comments (0) |

October 23, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Texans 27 Jaguars 7

Where on earth did that come from?

In a game in which no one gave them much of a chance of staying close, much less winning, the Texans (2-4) played the Jaguars to a standstill for the better part of three quarters and then put them away with by capitalizing on a couple of 2nd half fumbles. Rookie RB Wali Lundy gave the Texans their first presence this season in the running game with 93 yards on 19 carries and QB David Carr was efficient in the passing game while throwing TD passes (to WR Andre Johnson and rookie TE Owen Daniels) with no interceptions. With a winnable game next week at 1-5 Tennessee, the Texans could be 3-4, the first time that they have sniffed the .500 mark since the final game of the 2004 season.

The Jaguars came into this game off of a bye week after creaming the Jets 41-0. They were looking at the Texans game as being a nice scrimmage before next week's showdown with the Eagles. It didn't turn out that way. Coaching an NFL football team must be a very trying experience.

Texas Longhorns 22 Nebraska 20

On walk-on, second-string kicker Ryan Bailey's 22-yard field goal with 27 seconds to go, Texas (7-1, 4-0) turned back improving Nebraska (6-2, 3-1) and reinforced its throne atop the Big 12. Poised redshirt freshman Colt McCoy was 25 of 39 passing for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns, while his favorite target -- junior wide receiver Limas Sweed -- had 8 catches for 120 yards, including a 55-yard TD. But make no doubt about it, this was another rock'em, sock'em defensive battle that ultimately turned on the Texas defense forcing a fumble in Nebraska territory with just over two minutes to go. The Horns have now won a team-record 16 consecutive road games and 28 of their past 29. They travel to Lubbock next weekend to play the up-and-down Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-3, 2-2).

Texas Aggies 34 Oklahoma State 33

Facing a 4th and 13 situation with less than 3 minutes to go and behind 27-20, Aggie QB Stephen McGee completed a short pass to 275 lbs Aggie RF Jovorskie Lane, who lumbered 17 yards for a first down that kept A&M's tying TD drive alive. Then, McGee completed another short pass for a TD as time was expiring and massive Aggie DT Red Bryant blocked OSU's PAT kick in overtime to secure the victory for the Aggies (7-1, 3-1), who are certainly one of the most entertaining teams in college football this season. The improving McGee -- who is a redshirt sophomore -- had another solid game, completing 17-of-26 for 192 yards with 2 TDs, no interceptions to go along with 85 yards rushing on 17 carries. The Aggies face another potential close game next Saturday at Waco against Baylor (4-4, 3-1), but they finally appear to be turning the corner.

Houston Cougars 34 UTEP 17

The Cougars (5-3, 3-1) are difficult to pin down. After starting the season in promising fashion with four straight wins, they lost three straight and were down 14-3 after the first quarter of their game Saturday night against a decent UTEP (4-3, 2-1) team. Then, right when the season appeared to be teetering on the brink, the Coogs pummeled the Miners 31-3 over the final three quarters of the game to win going away. The Cougars are dinged up on the offensive line, but when QB Kevin Kolb and crew get rolling, they are a formidable unit. Nevertheless, the defense remains shaky, which means that none of the Coogs' remaining games are a lock. The Cougars play a reeling Central Florida (2-5, 1-2) team next week at home.

Rice 40 Central Florida 29

The feisty Owls (3-5, 2-2) are making my earlier predictions of success for the team look good. QB Chase Clement had another good game (16-29 for 170 yds, 2 TD's 0 INT's, 14 carries for 67 yds), but the star of this game for the Owls was RB Quinton Smith, who sliced his way through UCF's defense for 183 yards on 21 carries. Rice stays on the road against UTEP next week and then Tulsa the week after that before closing the season at home against East Carolina and SMU. The Owls could still win a couple more games, which would be a tremendous accomplishment for first year coach Todd Graham and his staff.

Posted by Tom at 4:01 AM |

October 20, 2006

Great Coach tirades

By now, you have probably seen Arizona Cardinals' head coach Denny Green's meltdown after his team blew a 20 point lead to the Bears over the final 17 minutes of the Monday Night game earlier this week. Even Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy was impressed. "That was one of the best ones I've ever seen," Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle. "I loved that. It was great. I could feel his passion. I could feel the sting, too."

Although Green's tirade was entertaining, it really wasn't one of the best coach rants of all-time. For example, Green's performance is rank amateurism in comparison to the following:

The King of Tirades, former Indiana University and current Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight, has a classic halftime speech here as well this collection of ten of his best tirades. And don't miss this hilarious commercial that Coach Knight did for Minute Maid.

Not exactly a tirade, but no collection of coaching meltdowns is complete without former Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes going nuclear on a Clemson linebacker at the end of his final game as Ohio State's head coach.

Former Colts coach Jim Mora's famous tirade after his team lost a game by turning the ball over five times -- "Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs. You kiddin' me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game."

This video includes a nice collection of tirades by former Raiders coach and current Nebraska coach Bill Callahan, former Jets coach Herm Edwards and former Saints coach Mike Ditka, among others.

Finally, one of the best ever, former Cubs manager Lee Elia's tirade in 1983 over his club's 5-14 start that season. Incredibly, Elia lasted several more months that season before being fired.

Posted by Tom at 4:34 AM | Comments (0) |

October 18, 2006

A better ranking than the BCS?

The usual hue and cry met this week's first Bowl Championship Series rankings of the 2006 college football season. I must admit that it's pretty difficult to understand how Auburn, which was plastered at home a couple of weeks ago by 13th-ranked Arkansas, could be ranked fourth, five places ahead of Texas, which has manhandled 22nd-ranked Oklahoma and lost only to top-ranked Ohio State.

At any rate, there is a better way. Las Vegas Sports Consultants is the leading consultant for Nevada sports books and, last year, they began publishing their own OddsMakers Top 25. Inasmuch as the firm's four college football oddsmakers were already preparing ratings for all 119 Division I-A teams, they decided to submit ballots and calculate the results for use in their radio shows. They rank teams based on such criteria as injuries, performance, skill and game location, not on won-loss record and not on which teams will draw the greatest or least betting action (that's for the bookies) Their poll is gaining traction in betting markets and is now published every Monday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

For my money, this ranking -- which is based on the profit motive (LVSC is attempting to attract betting customers through the accuracy of its research) -- is a more accurate way to rank teams than the way in which voters of widely-varying interest rank teams in the more traditional polls. The following is this week's Oddsmakers Top 25 poll with the team record and BCS ranking in parentheses.

1. Ohio State (7-0) (1)
2. Texas (6-1) (9)
3. Michigan (7-0) (3)
4. California (6-1) (10)
5. Louisiana State (5-2) (18)
6. Southern Cal (6-0) (2)
7. Florida (6-1) (6)
8. Tennessee (5-1) (11)
9. Louisville (6-0) (7)
10. Notre Dame (5-1) (8)
11. Clemson (6-1) (12)
12. Wisconsin (6-1) (21)
13. Oregon (5-1) (14)
14. West Virginia (6-0) (5)
15. Auburn (6-1) (4)
16. Nebraska (6-1) (17)
17. Oklahoma (4-2) (22)
18. Boise State (7-0) (15)
19. Georgia Tech (5-1) (19)
20. Miami (4-2) (NR)
21. Pittsburgh (6-1) (NR)
22. Penn State (4-3) (NR)
23. Arkansas (5-1) (13)
24. Florida State (4-2) (NR)
25. Missouri (6-1) (24)

My sense is that Horns' fans are already sold on this poll over the BCS ranking.

Posted by Tom at 4:19 AM | Comments (2) |

October 16, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Cowboys 34 Texans 6

As expected, it was men against boys as the Texans (1-4) went down without so much as a whimper against the Pokes (3-2). The Texans defense played well for a half as Houston actually led 6-3 at the half. However, the utter incompetence of the Texans' offense wore the defense down in the second half as the Texans committed all seven of their penalties and turned the ball over three times on two David Carr interceptions and a fumble by kickoff returner Edell Shepherd. With the Texans facing the Jaguars twice as well as the Giants and the Titans over the next month, the best that Houston can realistically hope for is a 2-7 record when the schedule gets a bit easier in late November and early December when the Texans play the Bills, the Jets, the Raiders and the Titans again in consecutive games. This is a brutally bad football team.

Texas Aggies 25 Missouri 19

The Aggies (6-1; 2-1) finally got their first quality win of the season, beating a Missouri (6-1; 2-1) team that has achieved a good record to date by mirroring A&M's approach of scheduling weak non-conference opponents. Nevertheless, the win was a good one for the Ags, who used a balanced attack to dominate the second half after the teams finished the first half tied at 17. The Aggies are not a real good team yet, but they can be reasonably effective when they do not turn the ball over, force a few from the other team (Mizzou had three, including one while a receiver was about to score a TD) and control time of possession (41:30 to 18:30 in this game) by hammering their one-two tailback punch of 275 lbs Javorskie Lane and burner Michael Goodson. QB Stephen McGee also had his best passing game to date, going 20-24 for about 185 yards. And it was a nice touch that the same Aggie cornerback who got torched on the late TD play in the Tech game made the play to cause the fumble by the Mizzou WR who was going into the end zone. The Ags -- who remain unranked in the first BCS rankings -- now go on the road to play Oklahoma State (4-2; 1-1) and Baylor (3-4; 2-1), both of which are capable of beating the Aggies. The Ags then close out the season against Oklahoma (4-2; 1-1) and Nebraska (3-0; 6-1) at home and Texas at Austin.

Texas 63 Baylor 31

After essentially sleep-walking through a first quarter in which they allowed Baylor to take a 10-0 lead, the Longhorns (6-1; 3-0) woke up and pounded the Bears over the next three quarters to win easily as QB Colt McCoy set a Texas record with six TD passes. The 9th-ranked BCS-rated Horns now face their toughest test of the season next week as they travel to Lincoln to face Nebraska (6-1; 3-0). Although the Horns will be favored, there is cause for concern -- they are getting dinged with injuries to several key players, something that Texas was able to avoid during last season's magical ride to the National Championship. This next game could be where the Horns stub their toe during the Big 12 season.

Rice 34 UAB 33

How 'bout them Owls (2-5; 1-2)? Given a repreive from a game-ending interception by a fumbled return, savvy Rice QB Chase Clement (over 330 yards total offense) found stud WR Jarett Dillard on a 9-yard fade route for a TD with 3 seconds left to pull the win out for the feisty Owls. Rice now has a rough road trip against Central Florida, UTEP and Tulsa before returning home to close out the season against East Carolina and SMU. But don't be surprised if the Owls win another 2-3 games down the stretch. Both Clement and Dillard are the real deal.

Southern Miss 31 Houston 27

The Cougars (4-3; 2-1) once-promising season continues to go by the wayside as another shoddy defensive effort, poor special teams play and an anemic rushing attack combined to cause the Coogs to lose their third straight game. The Cougars still have a chance of turning their season around as they play their next three, tough C-USA games at home (UTEP, Central Florida and Tulsa), but the increasingly-mediocre defensive and offensive line play indicates that the Cougars will muddle through the remainder of their season.

Posted by Tom at 4:38 AM | Comments (0) |

October 11, 2006

They play for keeps in the SEC

Year in and year out, the Southeastern Conference is the most competitive of the major college football conferences.

Reflecting that intense competition, you may recall this item from earlier this year in which an Auburn University professor charged that another university professor and the Auburn athletic department had engaged in academic fraud for the purpose of ensuring the eligibility of a large number of Auburn football players.

Those competitive fires boiled over again a couple of weeks ago when an Auburn football team laptop containing the team's confidential playbook turned up missing the week before Auburn played South Carolina in a big game. Although Auburn initially feared that South Carolina would end up with the missing playbook, it turned out that a homeless man had lifted the computer and it was returned to the Auburn team.

All of that leads to this Onion article that reports that the playbook was actually returned in, might we say, slightly altered form.

And, just to emphasize that truth is often stranger than fiction in the SEC, this State.com article reports that South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier dressed down one of his assistant coaches during the post-game press conference after the Gamecocks won this past week against Kentucky. Spurrier followed up that dressing-down with this apology. At least I think that's an apology.

Posted by Tom at 5:45 AM | Comments (0) |

October 8, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Texas Longhorns 28 Oklahoma 10

As noted in last week's review, my recent up-close exposure to this Texas team led me to conclude that the Sooners would have their hands full with the Longhorns (5-1, 2-0), and that was certainly the case during the second half of the annual Red River Shootout in Dallas on Saturday. The Horns dominated the Sooners 21-0 in the second half on their way to a convincing 28-10 victory in what really amounted to a rock'em, sock'em defensive battle that was won by the team with the fewer turnovers. Texas QB Colt McCoy had a couple of nice TD passes during that second half and Longhorn CB Aaron Ross was all over the field, icing the game with an alert scoop-up of a lateral pass in the 4th quarter. Texas' current 17-game winning streak in Big 12 games is the longest in conference history, surpassing Kansas State's 15-game winning streak from 1997-98. The Longhorns have surprising Baylor (3-3, 2-0) at home next week before facing the toughest part of their schedule -- consecutive road games at Nebraska (5-1, 2-0) and Texas Tech (4-2, 1-1).

Texas Aggies 21 Kansas 18

About the time late in the 4th quarter that the Aggie faithful were ready to go Emory Bellard on current Aggie coach Dennis Franchione, the Ags (5-1, 1-1) dug deep and drove 80 yards for the game-winning TD. Although the Aggie defense pretty well shut down KU's offense in the second half, the Aggie offense is still not hitting on all cylinders under QB Stephen McGee. The Ags have surprising Missouri (6-0, 2-0) at home next week and then travel to Baylor and Oklahoma State before facing their crushing final month of the season against OU, Nebraska and Texas.

Louisiana-Lafayette 31 Houston 28

Note to Coogs (4-2, 2-0) -- when you are trying to build credibility on the national scene and within your community, it's a good thing not to lose to a team called "La-La," particularly after building a 21-0 first half lead. The Cougars' once-promising season now hangs in the balance as it faces tough games at Southern Miss and at home against UTEP, Central Florida and Tulsa in their next four games.

Tulane 38 Rice 24

The Owls (1-5, 0-2) struggled on defense all day as a mediocre Tulane team ran up almost 500 yards total offense. The Owls play UAB at home next week before taking on a tough stretch of their season on the road against Central Florida, UTEP, and Tulsa.

The Texans (1-3) are off this week before going to Dallas next week to be hammered by the Cowboys.

Posted by Tom at 8:01 AM | Comments (1) |

October 5, 2006

Runnin' with the Dogs at Texas-OU Weekend

The greatest annual rivalry game in college football is renewed this Saturday in Dallas as the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners strap it on at the Cotton Bowl, and this year's game is highlighted by a new book about the game, Mike Shropshire's Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The True, Unvarnished Story of the Texas-Oklahoma Football Wars (William Morrow 2006).

Shropshire's book is rollicking fun, focusing on the classic 1967 game, which is the first game of the series that he covered. However, the author also vividly develops the culture of the game, which involves a blow-out weekend in Dallas each year during which wild-eyed fans of each team continually confront one another. Legendary coaches such as Darrell Royal, Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer are a big part of the book, as are current stellar coaches, OU's Bob Stoops and UT's Mack Brown. In this recent Wall Street Journal ($) review of the book, Texas Monthly's Skip Hollandsworth observes the following about the game's unique setting:

[T]he atmosphere is so combustible that it really makes no sense to play the game in the hometown of either team. So it's played at a neutral site: the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Which means that on the Friday before the game, Interstate 35 coming south from Oklahoma and north from Austin is jammed with frenzied fans, their cars, SUVs and pickups decorated with either red Boomer Sooner or orange Longhorn flags and their back windows covered with semi-obscene slogans decrying their rival's ineptitude and lack of -- how to put it? -- manhood and legitimate parentage.

By the time these fans hit the city limits, horns are blowing and beer cans are flying out the windows. The fans either check into hotels (which are booked months in advance) or they barge into the homes of friends and relatives who have ill-advisedly agreed to let them stay. Soon they're out again on Dallas's streets, resuming the horn-blowing and can-tossing. I have some Dallas friends who are so determined to avoid the Texas-OU madness that they don't just leave town; they leave the state.

When the game finally begins, few of these fans have had any sleep. They're bellowing at the enemy and clutching the flasks of margaritas that they smuggled into the stadium -- and those are just the grandparents. As Mr. Shropshire writes in his very entertaining history of the rivalry: "You'll find audiences more genteel and reserved at cock fights."

And Hollandsworth passes along one of his favorite anecdotes about the annual rivalry:

In 1976, Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer and Texas coach Darrell Royal were standing with President Gerald Ford right before the pre-game coin toss. An Oklahoma fan, standing nearby, suddenly yelled: "Hey, who are those assholes with Switzer?"

Who can't love a game that has included players named Wahoo McDaniel (who later became popular on the pro wrestling circuit), the appropriately-named Joe Don Looney (what was the name of that remote island where he ended up?) and the majestically-named Duke Carlisle? Kick-off is at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Posted by Tom at 5:05 AM | Comments (6) |

October 2, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Texans 17 Dolphins 15

Well now, that's a relief!

In an entertaining but not particularly well-played game, the Texans (1-3) won for only the third time in the past 21 games as the Dolphins (1-3) could not convert a questionable play call on a two-point conversion attempt late in the 4th quarter. The Texans defense finally showed a long-awaited pass rush, sacking the immobile Dolphin QB Dante Culpepper five times and hurrying him at least another dozen times or so. The Texans offense was mediocre, but QB David Carr and WR Andre Johnson were able to put the Texans in a position to score a couple of TD's, which was enough to get the job done against a Dolphins team that is dragged down by a rather pedestrian offense. The Texans have a bye in Week Five and then go to Dallas to be smoked by the Cowboys (2-1) in Week Six before returning home to face the Jaguars (3-1) in Week Seven. Although the win against the Dolphins was refreshing, this team has no NFL-average running back, is soft in the defensive secondary, tackles poorly overall and continues to have problems protecting the QB. Thus, my sense is that the Texans will be 1-5 when they have their next realistic chance for a victory in Week Eight against the Titans in Nashville.

Tech 31 Texas Aggies 27

"We may have lost, but I got'em with the strawberries . . ."

Whether A&M Coach Franchione is currently doing his best imitation of Capt. Queeg in The Caine Mutiny is anyone's guess. However, the heat in the Texas A&M football kitchen increased considerably over the weekend as the Ags (4-1; 0-1) lost in the last minute to Texas Tech (4-1; 1-0) in both teams' Big 12 Conference opener. Tech should have put the game away in the first half, but led by only 24-14 after giving A&M a kickoff return TD and fumbling away another TD at the goal line. Then, in the second half, the Aggies mounted a comeback by controlling the clock (the Ags had the ball over 20 of the 30 second half minutes) and keeping the potent Tech offense off the field. Alas, after taking the a 27-24 lead with just over two minutes left, the Aggies gave up a perfectly-thrown bomb for a Tech TD to allow the Raiders to pull out the win. As I've been harping all season, A&M's cupcake non-conference schedule ill-prepared the Ags for Big 12-caliber competition and it doesn't get much easier for the Ags next week as they travel to Lawrence to take on a 3-2 Kansas team that lost to Nebraska in overtime at Lincoln on Saturday. Get it goin' quickly, Coach Fran, or start calling the real estate agents.

Miami 14 Houston Cougars 13

The Coogs (4-1), who were 16-point underdogs, played the Hurricanes (2-2) off their feet in Miami and probably would have won the game but for a second half fumble on the Miami 10-yard line and an awful first half call nullifying a Houston fumble recovery deep in Miami territory. This is the worst Miami team in recent memory, but the Hurricanes still have excellent talent and the Coogs' effort in almost pulling off the win in the Orange Bowl is probably the Coogs' second most-impressive performance of the season to date (the win over Oklahoma State being the most impressive). The Coogs have 2-2 La-La (a/k/a University of Louisiana-Lafayette) at home before taking on tough Southern Miss (3-1) on the road and high-scoring UTEP (2-2) at home the following week, so there is no rest for the weary at UH.

Rice 48 Army 14

Let's see here. A&M barely beat Army with a home field advantage, Baylor lost to Army with on its home field, and Rice routed the Cadets at West Point. So, how would Rice fare against A&M and Baylor?

Comparing scores is risky undertaking, but this was still an impressive win for a Rice team that was playing with extra emotion after the sudden death last week of one of their freshman players, Dale Lloyd, a former Houston high school star. The Owls dominated Army behind first team QB Chase Clement, who had to sit out the past three games with a thumb injury suffered in the closing minutes of Rice's first game this season against Houston. The Owls have no one who can operate their spread offense even close to as efficiently as Clement does, so losing him for the past three games was a real blow to the Owls. However, it may have been a blessing in disguise because the Owls really didn't have a chance of winning any of those three games and Clement avoided being injured even more severely. As I've noted earlier, this Rice team is capable of winning several games this season with Clement at the controls. Next up for the Owls is Tulane (1-3) at New Orleans before returning home to face Alabama-Birmingham the following Saturday.

Texas Longhorns 56 Sam Houston State 3

The Longhorns (4-1) warmed up for Texas-OU Weekend next Saturday in Dallas by participating in what amounted to a scrimmage against a team comprised of players who probably could not bust the Longhorn three-deep roster. OU (3-1) had a bye this week, so it will be interesting to see which team is sharper next Saturday. As I noted earlier here, this Longhorn team is big, strong, fast and deep, and very well could be better overall than last season's national championship team except for the QB position. Thus, OU will have its hands full on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl.

Posted by Tom at 4:00 AM | Comments (1) |

September 26, 2006

Visiting the Longhorns

This past Saturday, I traveled to Austin for the day with my buddy Jerry Sagehorn to meet my brothers Bud and Mike, and my brother-in-law Gene Acuna to watch the 7th-ranked Texas Longhorns play their Big 12 Conference opener against the Iowa State Cyclones, who are coached by my longtime friend, Dan McCarney.

McCarney -- or "Coach Mac" as most everyone calls him -- and I grew up together in Iowa City, Iowa, where we were teammates on a championship high school football team at City High in 1970. We have remained close friends over the years, and so I have tried to attend each game that Iowa State plays in Texas since Coach Mac became head coach at ISU in 1994. Coach Mac graciously comes through with a few sideline passes for me to use, and it's always a great experience attending a game in Austin and College Station.

The Longhorns really have it going these days. After winning their first National Championship last season since 1970, the Horns are re-loading this season with a talented and deep group of players who are not only fast and strong, but also well-motivated. Mac's Cyclones battled hard and, had a couple of plays turned out differently, could have been in a position to pull an upset over the 24 point-favored Horns at the end. However, the Horns dominated both lines of scrimmage over the final two-thirds of the game and methodically pulled away for a 37-14 victory.

The FilmLoop below contains some of the photographs that I took from the sideline during the game along with my comments about attending a game on the sidelines at D.K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. As with College Station, Austin is one of the great college football venues in the country. I am blessed to have the opportunity to experience it up close and personal, and I am grateful to be able to pass along the experience to you.

Posted by Tom at 4:15 AM | Comments (0) |

September 25, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Redskins 31 Texans 15

Oh, my.

It's only been three games, but let's face it -- the Kubiak Era is looking like an utter disaster. As noted in this earlier post, when Bob McNair replaced former general manager Charley Casserly and head coach Dom Capers, he changed the model of the football operation from a strong GM-field coach model to the strong coach-support GM model. Thus, Kubiak -- who had never been a head coach -- was a somewhat unusual choice to replace Capers.

Through three games, Kubiak looks like a marginal improvement over the Texans' previous offensive coordinators, but a fairly disastrous choice as a head coach. Indeed, there is precious little that has occurred in the first three games that indicates that this team is any better overall than the 2-14 team of last season. Although the Texans' offense has been dreadful in large parts of each of the first three games, the Texans defense is in complete disarray after giving up almost 500 yards for the third straight game and making 36-year old Redskins QB Mark Brunell look like Hall-of-Famer Steve Young. But what's most distressing is that the Texan defenders don't even look as if they have ever seen a screen pass or draw play, and don't appear to have a clue as to situations in the game when those plays are likely to be called. Talent limitations aside, such lack of preparation is a sure sign of bad coaching.

Absent a win next week against a Miami team that has a feckless offense but strong defense, the Texans will likely be 0-6 because, after their bye in Week Five, they play at Dallas and at home against Jacksonville. Thus, the next realistic chance for a victory would be in Week Eight against the Titans. Moreover, based on their performance in the first three games, the Texans appear to have a realistic chance of winning only three or four of their remaining games -- my pre-season prediction of six wins is a pipe dream at this point. Bob McNair does not deserve this.

Houston Cougars 34 Oklahoma State 25

The red-hot Coogs (4-0) rode a superlative performance from senior QB Kevin Kolb to an impressive victory over Oklahoma State (3-1) before a near-capacity crowd on the UH campus. The Cougars are looking as if they are a bonafide Conference USA title contender this season, although they have a difficult next month as they play a well-rested and hungry Miami Hurricane team at the Orange Bowl next Saturday, then always-tough Southern Miss at Hattiesburg two weeks after that game, and then explosive UTEP at home the week after that.

Texas Longhorns 37 Iowa State 14

In their first Big 12 Conference game of the season, the Horns (3-1) methodically hammered a solid Iowa State (2-2) team, although this game would have been closer had the Cyclones not sustained a Longhorn scoring drive with a penalty while trailing 16-14 and later failed to execute an easy interception that resulted in a Texas touchdown. The Horns have an impressive blend of speed, size and strength, particularly on defense where their lock-down cornerbacks allow the front seven to bring withering pressure on the opposing team's QB on virtually every pass play. The Horns have another scrimmage next Saturday in Austin against Sam Houston State (a Division I-AA team), but then it's OU weekend in Dallas the weekend after. My sense is that the Sooners are going to have their hands full with this Texas squad.

Texas Aggies 45 Louisiana Tech 14

H'mm. After last week's debacle against Army, the Aggie fans had to endure a two-hour weather delay before this game and then a first quarter in which the Aggie offense had two three-and-outs and a fumble that led to a La Tech TD. Thankfully for Coach Fran, the 4-0 Ags turned it on and cruised to an easy victory over a mediocre and outmanned La Tech (1-2) team. After completion of the cupcake portion of their schedule, the Aggies next face a battle-tested 3-1 Texas Tech team that has largely owned the Aggies over the past decade. My sense is that the Aggies have made a big mistake in not playing a more challenging schedule before facing Tech.

Florida State 55 Rice 7

Now that 0-4 Rice is through with the brutal part of its schedule, here's hoping the Owls get back starting QB Chase Clement (injured since the end of the Owls' first game against Houston) back this week in time to play against Army this week in West Point. The Owls can't compete against such teams as Texas and FSU, but they are capable of pulling out at least a couple of wins in their remaining games if Clement returns and the Owls can avoid injuries that deplete their fragile depth.

Posted by Tom at 4:19 AM | Comments (4) |

September 22, 2006

Duck Soup

To say that college football is a passion in Oklahoma is an understatement, which has been reflected this week as many supporters of the University of Oklahoma football team are undergoing psychotherapy over a blown call by a replay official on an onsides kick that allowed the University of Oregon Ducks to nip the Sooners at the end of their game last Saturday in Eugene, Oregon.

Well, Oregon apparently has had enough of the OU criticism over the blown call and is now fighting back. Don't miss this hilarious news conference as the Oregon Duck explains with White House Press Secretary-style clarity that the replay official's call was actually the correct one.

Posted by Tom at 4:21 AM | Comments (1) |

September 18, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Colts 43 Texans 24

It was not as "close" as the score indicates. Behind 17-0 before they appeared to look up, the Texans (0-2) could not force the Colts (2-0) to punt until it was 30-10 midway through the fourth quarter. The only way that the local team ended up with 24 points was by scoring three largely meaningless TD's in garbage time when the Colt defenders were merely attempting to avoid injury. After two games, the replacement of the Casserly-Capers regime with the Kubiak crew looks like the quintessential rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic, particularly on defense. The Texans have winnable games the next two Sundays at home against the Redskins and the Dolphins, so they better get a win or two in those games or this season could quickly deteriorate into a repeat of the 2005 nightmare. With each passing week, this Texans team is looking more like the inept early 1970's Oilers teams. Where are Sid Gillman and Bum Phillips when you really need them?

Texas Longhorns 52 Rice 7

In what amounted to an exhibition scrimmage in Houston before next weekend's Big 12 Conference opener against Iowa State (2-1) in Austin, the (2-1) Horns trampled the undermanned Owls (0-3) at Reliant Stadium in an indictment of the current structure of NCAA Division I college football. In the next absurdity on their schedule, the Owls go to Florida State next weekend to be served up to the nationally-ranked Seminoles. Sigh.

Texas Aggies 28 Army 24

Inasmuch as the Ags (3-0) had to put up a goal line stand at the end to pull out a game by 4 that they were favored to win by 27.5, let's put A&M's "victory" in perspective:

Combined points scored by Army (1-2) against previous opponents, Arkansas State and Kent State: 23

Arkansas State's margin of victory vs. Army: 8

Army's Total Offense:
vs. Arkansas State - 164
vs. Kent State - 275
vs. Texas A&M - 322

Army's Total Yards Rushing:
vs. Arkansas State - 95
vs. Kent State - 104
vs. Texas A&M - 136

Army's Total Yards Passing:
vs. Arkansas State - 69
vs. Kent State - 171
vs. Texas A&M - 186

Quotes from Coach Fran:

"We attacked and had tremendous pursuit and that paid off."

"I felt like if we make it, the game is pretty much in our hands. I wish I'd have punted now [rather than going for it on 4th and 1 and failing to get a first down before Army's final drive], I guess, but it all worked out."

"Our defense really rose up on that [final] series. I think we grew up a lot on that series."

"We didn't have a lot of miscues, but every one of them we had was costly."

Buck Harvey's analysis of the game: "Dennis Franchione didn't lose a game or his job Saturday night. But he's on his way to doing both." The Ags conclude the cupcake portion of their schedule next week at home against Louisiana Tech (1-1) before beginning Big 12 Conference play the following week against Texas Tech (2-1) in College Station.

Houston 42 Grambling State 22

In their second straight impressive offensive performance, the 3-0 Cougars chewed up Grambling and led 42-7 early in the third quarter before calling the dogs off. The Coogs have "show me" games upcoming at home against Oklahoma State and at Miami over the next two weeks, so we'll get a better idication in those two games of whether the Cougars have really arrived than we have gotten in their first three.

Posted by Tom at 4:00 AM | Comments (0) |

September 13, 2006

Would you want to march at a Texans game?

Although not as bad a public relations blunder as last year's decision to roast their fans during their first home game, the Texans were not particularly hospitable to the high school band that performed at this past Sunday's opening game of the 2006 season. In addition to being subjected to NFL-mandated pat downs before entering the stadium, Houston-based public relations expert John Wagner reports that the band members were not even allowed to watch one play of the game!

Of course, based on the way the game went after the Texans' first drive, the kids didn't miss much as a result of the Texans' lack of hospitality.

Posted by Tom at 6:43 AM | Comments (3) |

September 11, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Ohio State 24 Texas Longhorns 7

Ohio State came into Austin on Saturday night and won the season's first big game by playing as exceptionally as Texas did last year in Columbus. The Horns did not play badly and would have been threatening to take the lead deep in Ohio State territory midway through the 4th quarter had Michael Pittman not fumbled away a Longhorn TD in the first half. Although the Horns ran the ball reasonably well against an always rugged Buckeye defense, none of the Horns' receivers were able to break a big play, which is going to be an important element for the Longhorns to win big games in the post-Vince era. And what on earth is UT doing allowing Matthew McConaughey to act like an idiot on national TV while on the Longhorns sideline? The Horns have a nice scrimmage against Rice this weekend in Houston at Reliant Stadium before beginning the Big 12 schedule the following weekend in Austin against Iowa State.

Eagles 24 Texans 10

What was that I said in the pre-season review of the Texans of not being able to protect their QB and not being able to pressure the opposition's QB? Eagles QB Donovan McNabb carved up the mediocre Texans secondary like a Thanksgiving turkey as he could have checked stock quotes on most of his pass drops against the ineffectual Texan pass rush. Meanwhile, Texans QB David Carr was, as usual, running for his life while being sacked five times, usually on jailbreak blitzes by the Eagles that Carr may not have recognized properly. And on one of the sacks, Texans RB Vernand Morency completely whiffed on his blocking assignment. The more things change with the Texans, the more things remain the same. The Chronicle's John McClain has a good blog post on the game, and mentions that things don't get any easier as the Texans go to Indianapolis next week to help Peyton Manning pad his career passing statistics.

Houston Cougars 45 Tulane 7

That's more like it. After an unimpressive first game against Rice, the Cougars plastered a veteran Tulane team in running up 621 yards of total offense, almost perfected balanced between rushing and passing. More importantly, however, is that the Cougar defense put in its second impressive preformance by holding the Green Wave to 244 yards of total offense while dominating the line of scrimmage. The Coogs take on Grambling next week at home before returning home the following weekend for Okie State. Stay tuned to the Cougars -- they have the tools to become something special.

UCLA 26 Rice 13

The 0-2 Owls made a game of it again versus the Bruins, but ultimately UCLA cruised to the victory. As with last week's game against Houston, the Owls struggled again on offense, gaining less than 200 yards total offense as starting QB Chase Clement was out with a broken finger. The Owls have now lost 18 of their last 19 games and are 0-13 on the road since closing the 2003 season with a win at Louisiana Tech. With Texas looming next week and Florida State the week after, the Owls do not have a realistic chance of winning a game until they travel to West Point to meet Army on September 30.

Texas Aggies 51 Louisiana Lafeyette 7

The Ags continued the cupcake portion of their schedule as they trounced La-La. It's not a good indication of the quality of a program's non-conference schedule when the premier opponent is Army, which the Ags take on next week at the Alamodome in San Antonio. As noted before, none of these glorified scrimmages are doing much to prepare the Aggies for a well-seasoned Texas Tech team, which beat a good UTEP team in overtime over the weekend and will be the Aggies first real opponent when they invade Kyle Field on September 30.

Posted by Tom at 4:14 AM | Comments (2) |

September 8, 2006

Houston Texans, Year Five

Has it really been only a year since the pre-season review of the Texans' 2005 season? Look at all that has transpired over the past year:

The Texans had a disastrous start to what was considered a promising 2005 season, which included a first home game roasting of some understandably upset season-ticket holders;

A previously-fawning media bailed out quickly as the Texans ship was sinking, even though some reporters remained quite confused over the Texans seemingly inexplicable decline;

Former Texans general manager Charlie Casserly was initially in disbelief over the season, but then became increasingly defensive over criticism of his personnel management, which -- at least in regard to drafting players -- turned out not to be as bad as most folks assumed, although it became apparent that selecting QB David Carr with the first pick of the 2002 NFL draft was a mistake;

As the Texans' fortunes faded, hope sprang anew that the team would be revived by a once-in-a-decade-type running back, only to have those hopes dashed by intrigue and then the selection of what may end up being a more prudent choice in the long run, even though John McClain contended that it is impossible (except for him) to evaluate NFL drafts accurately in the short term;

Coach Dom Capers graciously accepted being cut loose at the end of the horrifying season, but then worked his new job to scam Texans owner Bob McNair for more salary. Meanwhile, despite strong denials from Casserly and McClain that Casserly was being shown the door, Casserly was fired after the NFL draft even while denying that he was being fired, and then confirmed that he was indeed fired a couple of months later;

After three seemingly successful seasons and a fourth disastrous season in the team's first four years, Texans owner Bob McNair changed the management model for the Texans going into the team's fifth season;

Increasingly sophisticated statistical analysis of professional football generated some underappreciated factors for determining the outcome of NFL games; and

Although more circumspect about the Texans' prospects in comparison with the pre-season last year, the local media's pre-season coverage of the team and its players frequently continues to lack any objective analysis.

Whew! So where does that leave the Texans coming into the 2006 season? Well, certainly not in great shape but, somewhat surprisingly, in better shape than would normally be the case of team coming off a 2-14 season. Indeed, a reasonable case can be made that the Texas are finally moving in the right direction.

To understand where the Texans are at this point, it's helpful to review briefly where the team has been. The Texans were the toast of the town for their first three seasons of existence in which the team and the local media trumpeted the party line that the organization was building a playoff contender "the right way" -- i.e., through prudent drafting and development of young players while eschewing the temptation of the short-term rewards of relying on generally over-priced veterans who were in the downside of their careers. The progressively better won-loss records in the first three seasons (4-12, 5-11, and 7-9) -- plus the drafting of young stars such as WR Andre Johnson, RB Dominack Davis and CB Dunta Robinson -- seemed to indicate that the Texans' plan was working.

Unfortunately, those won-loss records camouflaged some big problems. As noted in the pre-season review before last season, the tip-off that the Texans were primed to crater during the 2006 season was that the Texans entered each of their first four seasons with the same two core problems -- the Texans' offensive line could not protect QB Carr and the Texans' defensive front could not apply adequate pressure on the opposing team's QB. Although former GM Casserly tried (remember the Texans' flirtation with Orlando Pace two years ago?), he was never able to address those problem areas effectively, and ultimately that failure was the primary reason that both Casserly and Capers lost their jobs with the Texans.

That's not to suggest that there weren't other big problems. In retrospect, Capers' decision before last season to convert the defense from a relatively successful 4-3 alignment to the 3-4 because that latter alignment tends to give Peyton Manning and the Colts more problems than the 4-3 completely overestimated where the Texans stood relative to such premier teams as the Colts. The Texan players never took to the 3-4 alignment and, as a result, the defense was actually worse than the offense last season, which is really saying something given how abysmal the Texans' passing offense was last season. In that regard, the offensive line in 2005 continued its contribution to QB Carr's anxiety-in-the-pocket syndrome as Football Prospectus 2006 concluded that the group was responsible for blowing blocks than resulted in an incredible 36 sacks of Carr. No other NFL offensive team had more than 30.

Which brings us to Carr, who has proven primarily in his NFL career to date that he is not good enough for the Texans to have used the franchise's first draft pick on him. Nevertheless, that does not mean that he cannot still develop into a productive NFL quarterback. Carr has been treated somewhat unfairly in that he has been hammered physically more than any other NFL QB over the first four years of his career. As a result, Carr has developed understandable anxiety-in-the-pocket syndrome (sometimes called "happy feet"), which has resulted in even more sacks than what the offensive line already gave up through blown blocks. That pocket anxiety, combined with a below-average ability to pick-up secondary receivers and a somewhat side-arm delivery, has made Carr a relatively poor pocket passer during his four-year NFL career. How many top-flight NFL QB's can you name who have been poor pocket passers?

Nevertheless, Carr is new Coach Gary Kubiak's reclamation project and a big part of the storyline for this season will be whether Carr becomes a viable starting NFL QB. One of Carr's contemporaries, Drew Brees, emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become an effective NFL QB in the fourth season of his career, so it would not be unheard of for Carr to show the same type of improvement in his fifth season. However, to hedge the risk that Carr does not develop, the Texans picked up QB Sage Rosenfels from the Dolphins in the off-season to back-up Carr, and he clearly is the best backup QB that the Texans have ever had. So, even if Carr does not improve this season, the Texans QB position has been upgraded.

The primary reason that the Texans' prospects are looking brighter this season is that the team finally addressed during this past off-season both of the team's core problems that have bedeviled the team from inception. On the offensive line, the Texans used two third round draft picks on Pitt tackle Charles Spencer and Miami tackle Eric Winston, and both of them are expected to contribute this season -- indeed, Spencer will start at one of the Texans' chronic trouble spots, left tackle (in addition to the flirtation with Pace, remember Tony Boselli?). Veteran center Mike Flanagan and veteran tackle Ephraim Salaam were also brought in from Green Bay and Jacksonville respectively, while veterans Chester Pitts, Zach Weigert, Fred Weary, Steve McKinney and a talented group of tight ends round out what is clearly the deepest and most talented offensive line in the Texans' short history. That new-found depth is a big part of the reason why the Texans let underachiever OT Todd Wade go during the off-season and waived unsuccessful small college project OT Seth Wand in the final pre-season roster cut.

By the way, despite the fact that the Texans offensive line has not been able to protect Carr adequately, it should be noted that the unit actually has improved steadily over the past two seasons in run blocking. Inasmuch as the zone blocking scheme that the line used last season is similar to the one that Coach Kubiak uses in his system, there is a reasonable probability that the Texans' running attack will continue to improve this season, despite the fact that the Texans -- due to the season-ending injury to Davis -- will be depending on a couple of relatively inexperienced running backs this season along with the uninspiring Ron Dayne. Morevoer, even though the loss of Davis is unfortunate, it will likely help the Texans' offense in the critical area of pass blocking. Davis was an atrocious pass-blocker (he led all non-lineman NFL players last season in blown blocks that led to QB sacks), so it's hard to imagine any of Davis' replacements this season being as bad as Davis was in that department.

Similar to the restocking of the offensive line, the Texans also upgraded their defensive front during the off-season. Everyone knows about the first pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, DE Mario Williams, but equally important was the off-season acquisition of DE Anthony Weaver from Baltimore, who is a legitimate run-stuffer to complement DT Seth Payne. With the Texans going back to the 4-3 alignment, last season's first-round draft choice DT Travis Johnson has emerged as a starter during training camp (allowing the Texans to dump high-salaried DT Robaire Smith) and speedy former LB's Jason Babin and Antwan Peek were effective pass rushers off the edge in passing situations during the pre-season. Moreover, second-round draft pick MLB DeMeco Ryans looks like a potential star, which is a badly-needed dose of talent in an otherwise mediocre linebacking corps. Thus, the front seven of this year's Texans' squad appears to be the first group in Texans history that has the legitimate potential to generate much-needed pressure on the opposition's QB.

One additional point about Williams. Yes, it's unlikely that he will be as good an NFL rookie as Reggie Bush. However, it's easier for a star at the running back position to excel in his rookie NFL season than it is for a defensive lineman. If Williams develops properly, then he should be a solid contributor to the Texans defense for a long time, which will justify the Texans' use of the first draft pick on him over Bush. To use an Oilers analogy, the Texans -- at this stage of their development -- need an Elvin Bethea more than they need an Earl Campbell.

Despite the apparent improvement in those two chronic problem areas, the Texans -- as you would expect from a team coming off a 2-14 season -- still have a myriad of problems. The left offensive tackle, running back and QB situations have already been mentioned, but the defensive secondary beyond star CB Robinson is certainly not top-level NFL quality. Until All-Pro kick returner Jerome Mathis returns from injury rehab, the Texans are relying on cast-offs for their kickoff return men, while kicker Kris Brown has been a below-NFL average kicker during his tenure with the team. WR Eric Moulds is on the downside of productivity in his NFL career and it remains to be seen whether he will be an effective complement to star WR Johnson, although it should be noted that third WR Kevin Walters appears to be a big upgrade over the personnel that the Texans have had in that third wideout position in previous seasons. Finally, by my count, the Texans have at least 12 new starters (seven on offense; five on defense), including five rookies, so it would not be surprising if it takes a few games for those units to begin hitting on all cylinders.

What does all of this mean? Well, not much at this point, but it does appear that the Texans have a reasonable chance of showing dramatic improvement this season. Scanning the 16-game schedule, there are only 3-4 games where it appears at this time that the Texans don't have a realistic chance of winning the game, so that leaves 12-13 games where the Texans have a legitimate shot of winning. My sense is that winning a third of those games would be a disappointment for this team, although still a significant improvement over last season. Most reasonable people would consider winning half of those winnable games as a successful first season of the Kubiak era, so that means that five is the over/under for the number of Texan wins this season.

Although I won a steak dinner from a friend by taking the under bet on Texan wins last season, I'm taking the over bet this season. That bet is probably not justified by the team's prospects, so I'm counting on the karma that It's high time for something good to happen for the football team of Bob McNair, who is one of the classiest professional sports franchise owners in Houston's history. Let'er rip Texans, and let the chips fall where they may.

By the way, several good local resources for information on the Texans and the NFL have developed over the post year, and I recommend that you check them out:

As noted in an earlier post, Stephanie Stradley a/k/a Texans Chick has been doing a good job of covering the team over the past several months and is preparing for her first season of blogging the team;

Chronicle senior NFL writer John McClain has recently started a blog. Although McClain tends to shoot from the hip more than I prefer, there is no question that he has a wealth of knowledgeable about the NFL; and

Although not technically a blog, Warren DeLuca's HoustonProFootball.com is "your-balls-to-the-wall source of Houston Texan news, information and wild-ass opinion."

Posted by Tom at 5:27 AM | Comments (5) |

September 6, 2006

McClain leads more cheerleading for the Texans

As noted earlier here and here earlier, even his hyprocrisy in turning on the Texans during their disastrous 2005 season after predicting in the pre-season that the team was a playoff contender does not deter Chronicle NFL sportswriter John McClain from engaging in more cheerleading for the Texans with this puff-piece regarding the team's recent acquisition of journeyman running back, Ron Dayne (for a positive, but more realistic, view of Dayne, see John Lopez's column here). The article even includes a chart noting that Dayne is the fifth Heisman Trophy winning running back to have played for a Houston professional football team, the others being former Oilers Billy Cannon, Earl Campbell, Mike Rozier and Eddie George.

Not mentioned in McClain's article is that Dayne is overweight and slow, and is unlikely to have any meaningful impact on the Texans' performance this season. Football Prospectus, which uses objective criteria to rank Dayne as a below-NFL average running back for his career, observes that "Dayne's problem has always been finding the hole to run through. You literally have to stick the hole in front of him, slap him across the face, point, and yell 'HOLE!'"

Now, this all may work out just fine for the Texans, but don't you think that such a counter-analysis of Dayne might creep into at least a part of an article by the Chronicle's lead NFL writer? Stay tuned for my pre-season evaluation of the Texans coming this Friday.

Posted by Tom at 5:19 AM | Comments (8) |

September 4, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

The Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of the football season and HCT's weekly local football reviews, so here's the first weekly review of the 2006 season:

Houston 31 Rice 30

The only real game of the weekend occurred at Rice Stadium on Saturday night as the Cougars pulled one out that they should not have won against the feisty Owls playing their first game under new head coach Todd Graham. The Coogs looked to be preparing for a blowout by taking a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but then the Ows scored 30 straight points behind clever QB Chase Clement over the next quarter and a half to take a 16 point lead, only to have UH score the final 17 points of the game to nab the victory.

Despite the win, Cougar supporters were not thrilled. The Cougars under head coach Art Briles frequently engage in an untraditional, discombobulated sort of game that leaves UH supporters scratching their heads. Briles runs an unconventional offense -- sort of a combination of the Wing-T, Single Wing, Run 'N Shoot, and Spread offenses, if you can imagine that -- which, when it is clicking, is very difficult to defense. Unfortunately, the offense is also based largely on timing and, when a defense figures out how to disrupt that timing, the UH offense struggles. And when Houston's offense stuggles, it tends to affect the other components of the UH football team.

That's precisely what happened on Saturday night. In the first quarter, the Cougar offense was clicking and it looked as if it would dominate the game. Then, in the second quarter, Rice's defense made a couple of adjustments and began disrupting the timing of the UH offense, UH senior QB Kevin Kolb started looking like a freshman starting his first game, the Cougars dispensed with what had been an effective running game in the first quarter, the UH punting and kickoff return teams made several atrocious plays, the Owls hit a couple of big plays and presto, the Cougars found themselves down by 16 points. The Cougar booster club was not happy.

At least UH showed the moxie to turn things around enough to pull out the win. And there were certainly some bright spots for the Cougars -- Rice's offense got over 130 yards of their 280 total yards on two plays in the 2nd quarter, so the Houston defense shut down Rice for most of the game. Moreover, UH has a group of fleet receivers and an explosive running back in Roshawn Pope. But the bottom line on this first game is that either the Cougars took Rice lightly or the Cougar players are not much better than the Rice players. Either way, that does not bode well for the Cougars' prospects over the remainder of the season.

By the way, former Rice athletic director Bobby May is probably not a popular man right now around the Rice football office. The Owls' next three games are at UCLA, Texas at Reliant Stadium, and at Florida State. If the Owls can survive those games with a minimum of injuries, then my sense is that this plucky bunch can win a game or two in Graham's initial season. Despite that dire forecast, based on what I saw Saturday night, the Owls appear to be moving in the right direction.

Texas Longhorns 56 North Texas 7

The Longhorns dispensed with one of three non-conference cupcakes on their 2006 schedule as perfectly-named Longhorn QB Colt McKoy had a smashing debut. However, a question for you: How does playing a team that has players that are not as good as Texas' second team do any good in preparing the Horns for their next game against No. 1-rated Ohio State?

Texas Aggies 35 The Citadel 3

The Aggies easily won their first game by holding The Citadel to under 245 yards of total offense, but how does defending offenses such as those of The Citadel and the next three Aggie opponents -- La-La (a/k/a Louisiana-Lafayette), Army and La Tech (Louisiana Tech) -- prepare the Aggies for defending on September 30th the explosive offense of their nemesis of the past several seasons, the Texas Tech Red Raiders?

Posted by Tom at 7:23 AM | Comments (0) |

August 29, 2006

What was that about Casserly not being fired?

As noted in this earlier post, Texans owner Bob McNair allowed former Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly to resign under the pretense that he would be pursuing a job with the National Football League's main office, which Casserly subsequently failed to land. Some Houston media reporters -- such as the Chronicle's John McClain -- actually swallowed the "Casserly resigned" charade.

Thus, my eyebrow raised a bit when I read the following blurb from John Czarnecki's blog over at FoxSports:

How is that?

You would be amazed how many NFL general managers know Matt Millen’s won-loss record in Detroit since he became the team’s general manager.

“How in the hell does someone with a 21-59 record get named to the Competition Committee?” one GM asked me. “How does he keep his job and also get a new contract?”

Said a former member of the committee: “Matt is the wrong kind of person to be on that committee. I just can’t figure out what they are doing, but I’m glad I’m not dealing with it anymore.”

Millen replaced former Houston GM Charley Casserly, who is now working for CBS Sports. By the way, Casserly wasn’t happy with his settlement pay from Texans owner Bob McNair after being fired.

Gosh, I wonder who that "former member of the committee" is (hint - Casserly was formerly a member of the Competition Committee while he was Texans GM)? And then, after dumping on Millen, Casserly goes off on the eminently classy McNair for supposedly being cheap in buying out Casserly's contract.

But John McClain says Casserly resigned. Yeah, right.

Posted by Tom at 4:56 AM | Comments (2) |

Everything really is bigger in Texas

Although the big news on the University of Texas campus yesterday was that freshman cowboy Colt McCoy will be replacing Vince Young as the Longhorn starting quarterback in the Longhorn's first game this Saturday against sacrificial lamb North Texas, the bigger news is the new Jumbotron video screen that has been installed at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Check out the the specs on this thing:

The screen is 55 feet tall by 134 feet wide;

The university had to upgrade its utilities capacity to accommodate its power needs;

Forty 5-ton air conditioning units are required to cool it;

The heads of the gounding bolts are 5 inches wide; and

At least for a few months, it will be the world's largest HDTV in existence.

The Yankees have the house that Ruth built. The Longhorns have the video screen that Vince built.

Posted by Tom at 4:38 AM | Comments (4) |

August 23, 2006

The lucrative sacrificial lamb market in college football

Although I enjoy most college sporting events, I have long maintained that the structure of major-college football in the US is fundamentally flawed (related post here). Along those lines, this NY Times article reports on a lucrative market that has evolved from the NCAA's regulation of major college football -- less successful football programs selling the opportunity to be a sacrificial lamb to the more successful programs:

The University at Buffalo football team went 1-10 last season and did not score a touchdown until the fourth game. For nearly a decade, it has been considered one of the worst teams in college football.

Buffalo is just the kind of opponent some of the nation’s top-ranked teams are looking for — and are paying rapidly rising prices to play this season. The Bulls will travel this coming season to play Auburn, a national title contender, and Wisconsin, a perennial Big Ten Conference power. Although Buffalo appears destined to be humiliated, the university will receive a $600,000 appearance check for each game.

Scheduling easy victories is a tradition as timeless in college football as fight songs and homecoming. But after the National Collegiate Athletic Association approved the addition of a 12th regular-season game for the coming season, the appearance fees began climbing in a bidding war for games against college football’s flotsam and jetsam.

Buffalo became such a hot commodity in the off-season that it broke contracts with West Virginia and Rutgers because Auburn and Wisconsin were offering at least double the money. Troy State of Alabama will receive $750,000 from Nebraska to play in Lincoln this season. Louisiana-Lafayette will get the same amount from Tennessee next year.

In fact, demand for sacrificial lambs has become so great that the supply of lambs is running out:

With the weakest teams in Division I-A becoming more expensive, top programs are stooping lower for competition. Iowa, a Big Ten favorite this year, wooed Montana, a Division I-AA program, for $650,000.

Texas A&M and Texas have bought into the sacrificial lamb market big-time. Get a load of A&M's non-conference schedule: Citadel, Louisiana-Lafeyette, Army and Louisana Tech. Other than the Ohio State game, Texas' non-conference schedule is about as bad -- North Texas, Rice and Sam Houston State.

Interestingly, in the structure of the major college sport that football should be emulating -- baseball -- there is little incentive to play sacrificial lambs because playing better competition enhances a team's post-season tournament prospects and seeding. Would such a structure work in major college football? Sure, but it's going to take courageous and creative leadership from the university presidents of the top major college football programs to effectuate such a change, and that type of leadership in academia is in short supply these days.

Posted by Tom at 6:30 AM | Comments (5) |

August 22, 2006

John McClain can't help himself

Given the largely meaningless nature of NFL pre-season football, I'm holding off on posting my annual pre-season blog post on the Texans until the first regular season game is close at hand. But given the Chronicle's blanket coverage of the Texans' training camp, it's a bit hard to overlook the cheerleading doozies that the Chronicle writers generate almost daily about their hometown heroes.

With the exception of a couple of comments such as this one last week, Chronicle NFL columnist John McClain has generally been more careful this pre-season than he was last pre-season when he was predicting that the Texans were primed to make a playoff run. However, McClain simply cannot contain his cheerleading for the Texans at times, such as the following comment about Texans guard Chester Pitts, who is competing for a job in the area of one of the Texans' traditionally weakest areas, the offensive line:

"It seems strange that Pitts is having to compete for a starting job, considering he's never missed a play in four seasons while moving between left tackle and left guard."

Pitts has been a member of the Texans offensive line that has been the worst pass-blocking line in the NFL for the past four seasons. Last season, Football Prospectus attributed 40 of the quarterback sacks that QB David Carr endured directly to blown blocks of the offensive line, which was the highest number in the NFL among offensive lines. Pitts had six of those blown blocks for sacks, which was the second-most on the line (Todd Wade, who is no longer with the team, was the leader with eight). Pitts has also been one of the most-penalized offensive linemen in the NFL during his four years in the league.

Thus, from my vantage point, it does not seem strange at all that Pitts is competing for a starting job. In fact, it reflects progress that he is.

Posted by Tom at 6:20 AM | Comments (0) |

August 15, 2006

An underappreciated factor in NFL games

Aaron Schatz is the lead author of Pro Football Prospectus 2006 (prior post here), which is an innovative effort to develop the same type of objective statistical framework for evaluating professional football players that Bill James and other sabermetricians have made standard in evaluating Major League Baseball players. I have read much of the first two Football Prospectus editions that have been published, and I recommend that you pick up this season's edition if you are interested in the NFL and the evaluation of football players.

In this interesting NY Times article, Schatz takes on an issue in regard to NFL games that the NFL hierarchy does not enjoy talking about -- that is, the wide discrepancy in the number of penalties called in NFL games between the various referee crews that call such games.

As Schatz notes, one of the Super Bowl participants could well have been determined by that factor last season as the Seattle Seahawks barely survived their November game against the New York Giants even though the officiating crew called an astounding 19 penalties against the Giants (the average NFL team was penalized 8.5 times a game last year). Not surprisingly, the crew that officiated that game called more penalties than any other NFL referee crew last season. Schatz goes on to observe that certain crews tend to call substantially more of certain types of penalties -- such as false starts and pass interference -- than other crews.

The NFL promotes the image that its games are decided on the field by the players and their coaches. But Schatz's research is indicating that who referees a particular game may be as big a factor as the participants.

Posted by Tom at 7:22 AM | Comments (3) |

August 11, 2006

More Chronicle Cheerleading for the Texans

After Richard Justice's fawning column yesterday on new Texans' receiver Eric Moulds, Chronicle columnist John McClain gets into the cheerleading act today as he states the following regarding Texans placekicker Kris Brown in his daily report on the Texans' practice:

Despite the uncertainties in the return game, Marciano has no concern about three members of his special teams — kicker Kris Brown, punter Chad Stanley and long snapper Bryan Pittman. All are solid veterans whose consistency helps a coach sleep better.

"I don't know what I'd do without those guys," Marciano said.

McClain might have a point about Stanley and Pittman, but it's ludicrous to characterize Brown as a consistently good kicker. Last season, Brown blew at least a couple of games by missing quite makeable field goals and only two kickers in the entire NFL (Ryan Longwell and Paul Edinger) made a lower percentage of field goal attempts between 30 - 39 yards than Brown. And just to show that last season was not an aberration, Brown has been in the lower third of NFL kickers in overall accuracy for the past five consecutive seasons.

Thus, rather than "a solid veteran whose consistency helps a coach sleep better" and who draws $1.2 million in base salary, Brown actually ought to be fighting for his job during training camp. But the Chronicle never has let objective criteria get in the way of cheerleading for the Texans in the optimistic glow of the pre-season.

Posted by Tom at 7:02 AM | Comments (6) |

August 10, 2006

Cheerleading for the Texans

As regular as the sun rising, the Chronicle sports staff reverts to hometown cheerleaders during each pre-season training camp of the Houston Texans, chloroforming readers with puff pieces such as this Richard Justice column on new Texans wide-receiver, Eric Moulds.

For the first three seasons of the Texans, the training camp stories all lapped up the optimistic theme that the team was making steady progress behind the well-coordinated plan of owner Bob McNair, GM Charlie Casserly and head coach Dom Capers that had led the expansion team to the brink of being a playoff contender. Unfortunately, that theme fell rather flat last season as the bottom fell out for the Texans during a horrifying 2-14 season. It was rather comical to watch as Chronicle sportswriters John McClain and Justice went from fawning praise of the Texans during the pre-season to acerbic criticism just several weeks later during that awful season.

Given last year's disastrous season, the Chronicle's overall theme this pre-season is a bit different -- the team has overhauled management and personnel, and the new, better-organized coaching staff and the new players who the Texans have brought in are moving the Texans in the right direction again. Maybe so, but there is no meaningful analysis in Justice's column on Moulds that would lead an objective observor to conclude that the receiver is a significant upgrade over the seemingly serviceable Jabar Gaffney, the former Texans receiver who Moulds replaced.

Compare Justice's fawning piece on Moulds with the following pre-season analysis by the folks at Football Prospectus, who base their evaluations of players primarily on objective criteria rather than subjective considerations:

Moulds has been an average receiver at best for several years now; even back in 2003, teammates such as Bobby Shaw outranked him in DPAR ("points above replacement-level player"). But the national media still considers Moulds an elite talent because the Bills throw him 150 passes per year, and he still has one or two 9-catch, 120-yard games each season, usually when the Bills are being beaten handily. The new Bills brain trust finally figured out that Moulds' best years were behind him, and they did everythign but throw his cleats into a trash dumpster in their effort to get rid of him this spring. Moulds is a top candidate to fall off the map in 2006.

In short, based on objective criteria, Moulds' decline in productivity has been masked by the fact that his former team threw to him frequently, albeit ineffectively. Thus, objective analysis suggests that the Texans overpaid for Moulds and that he will not be any better than a replacement-level player. Justice's column might make you feel better about Moulds for awhile, but my sense is that most serious followers of the Texans and the NFL prefer the cold, hard facts to the type of subjective blather that the Chronicle regularly fees us during the Texans' pre-season camp.

By the way, for current information on the Texans, check out the Chronicle's new blog, Stephanie Stradley's Texans Chick. Stephanie is an unabashed Texans' fan, so she is unfailingly optimistic about the team and its players. However, she does pass along quite a bit interesting information and analysis on the Texans and its players that is not available from the Chronicle's other sources. I recommend giving Stephanie's blog a look.

Posted by Tom at 5:56 AM | Comments (8) |

July 28, 2006

Local player agent suspended

In a story that appears to be flying underneath the radar of the local media, Houston-based sports player agent and lawyer Carl Poston has been suspended from representing NFL players for two years by the NFL Players Association because of alleged "bad faith efforts to delay, frustrate and undermine" an arbitration hearing about Poston's role in a contract dispute between NFL linebacker LaVar Arrington and the Washington Redskins. The NFLPA licenses agents of NFL players as a right granted under its collective bargaining agreement with NFL owners.

The NFLPA's disciplinary committee previously suspended Poston for two years due to his actions in connection with the December 2003 contract extension signed by Arrington with the Redskins. Inasmuch as the most recent action is a separate two-year suspension, Poston could now be barred from representing NFL players for up to four years.

Since the mid-1990's or so, Poston and his Michigan-based brother Kevin have made a splash for themselves for their "take no prisoners" approach to representing high-profile professional athletes, such as former NBA star Penny Hardaway, NFL All-Pro tackle Orlando Pace of the St. Louis Rams, Kellen Winslow Jr. of the Cleveland Browns, Charles Woodson of the Oakland Raiders, and Charles Rogers of the Detroit Lions. The Postons were somewhat unique in that they tended to represent linemen, defensive backs, and other NFL players who traditionally have earned far less than the marquee players at the skill positions.

But controversy has increasingly dogged the Postons recently, as many management-types within the NFL considered them to be unrealistic and needlessly adversarial in contract negotiations. Last year, Pace fired the Postons as his agents after they failed to secure a long-term contract for him with the Rams, and then quickly obtained a lucrative contract with the Rams after retaining another agent to represent him.

The Arrington case is particularly troubling for the Postons because the main issue is whether the team negotiated one contract and then -- unbeknownst to Carl Poston -- slipped Arrington another to sign, minus a $6.5 million bonus. That a lawyer didn't bother to read the contract of his client before having the client sign it is not a particularly effective basis for the client's claim.

Posted by Tom at 5:52 AM | Comments (0) |

July 24, 2006

The New Spirit of Aggieland?

Given the recent downturn in Texas A&M football fortunes, rumor has it that Coach Fran is going to replace the Aggies' traditional pre-game ritual "Spirit of Aggieland" with the New Zealand National Rugby team's traditional pre-game HAKU.

Just kidding.

Posted by Tom at 8:13 AM | Comments (0) |

July 20, 2006

Say what?

Chronicle reporter Megan Manfull opens her article on the latest development in Texanville with the following paragraph:

Spencer, an offensive tackle out of Pittsburgh, will receive a $610,000 signing bonus on a four-year contract that voids to three years. He is slated to make $275,000 this season, $360,000 in 2007 and $440,000 in 2008. The deal is expected to be finalized today.

I have my limitations as a lawyer, so can someone explain to me what "a four-year contract that voids to three years" means? By the way, my understanding is that Spencer has not yet dispensed formally with his first name, which is Charles.

Manfull also reports that the Texans -- who begin their pre-season camp next week -- have signed all of their draft choices except University of Miami offensive tackle Eric Winston (3rd round, 66th player chosen in 2006 NFL draft). Winston's agent is Drew Rosenhaus, which may explain why the once highly-touted Winston was still available for the Texans to pick up in the 3rd round of the draft.

Update: Ted Frank, who knows a bad regulation when he sees it, writes to explain the "four voiding to three" jibberish: "A four-year contract that voids to three years is a four-year contract where the fourth year can (and almost certainly will) be unilaterally voided by the player. The effect is to fool the salary cap by allowing the team to divvy the signing bonus over four years, rather than the three years that is the economic reality of the contract."

Posted by Tom at 5:33 AM | Comments (2) |

July 15, 2006

Agency costs of big-time college football

College football is a big and competitive business, so it's no surprise that the issue of agency costs has reared its head with frequency over the past century of the sport. This NY Times article reports on the latest incident of apparent academic fraud -- an Auburn University sociology professor arranged to have 18 members of the 2004 Auburn football team, which went undefeated and finished No. 2 in the nation, take a combined 97 hours of the "directed-reading courses" which required no classroom instruction whatsoever. More than a quarter of the students in the professor's directed-reading courses were Auburn University athletes. The usual NCAA investigation is to follow while serious academics at Auburn must be shaking their heads over it all.

As noted in this previous post, big-time college football and basketball are caught in a vicious cycle of uneven growth, feckless leadership from many university presidents and obsolescent business models. As the previous post notes, it's an unfortunate situation because big-time college football and basketball would likely not suffer a bit from reform that required universities to compete with true student-athletes, as opposed to minor league professional players. Given the hyprocrisy of many state universities subsidizing minor league football and basketball at the same time as grappling with funding issues for core academic programs, one would think that expensive and mostly unprofitable system of big-time college football and basketball would be ripe for reform. However, powerful and wealthy special interests continue to support the current system despite the implications to the universities' academic responsibilities.

Is there any hope for true reform of intercollegiate athletics as well as minor league football and basketball? Or is the current system so entrenched in concentrated wealth and regulation that it is impervious to reform?

Posted by Tom at 9:36 AM | Comments (0) |

July 14, 2006

Dolphins and Capers scam Texans

In this previous post, I speculated that former Houston Texans head coach and current Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Dom Capers will be particularly incentivized to have his Dolphins defensive unit ready for the Dolphins' game with the Texans this coming October.

Well, the following blurb in this MiamiHerald.com article indicates that Texans owner Bob McNair has reason to have his troops reciprocate with some spirited play in the upcoming game:

Dom Capers won't have the defensive coordinator title, but that essentially is his job. ''Maybe some day he'll be that, but not this year,'' coach Nick Saban said. Miami is saving a bundle by withholding that title. Now Houston, which fired him as head coach, must pay Capers $2 million in 2006, and Miami only $300,000.

Posted by Tom at 5:02 AM | Comments (2) |

July 11, 2006

From UT Wishbone QB to HTU golf coach

Former Houston plaintiff's attorney Marty Akins -- who was the University of Texas' wishbone quarterback from 1973-75, has a rather interesting new job.

He's been named the golf coach at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin. Akins has also taken a position on the HTU faculty in the business school.

By the way, that's former UT Heisman Trophy winner and Houston Oiler great Earl Campbell taking the handoff from Akins in the accompanying photograph. Campbell was a wishbone fullback at UT before being converted to an I formation tailback in his senior season when UT ditched the wishbone formation in 1977 under then new coach Fred Akers. The rest is history.

Posted by Tom at 6:57 AM | Comments (0) |

July 7, 2006

Mack Brown's dream role

When your team wins a national football championship in Texas, a vast array of interesting opportunities emerge. This Ed Bark/Dallas Morning News preview gives a hearty thumbs up to Friday Night Lights, a new television show that debuts this fall and includes a cameo role for University of Texas football coach Mack Brown. My sense is that Coach Brown is especially well-prepared to play this particular role:

"Friday Night Lights" (drama): A terrific continuation of the best-selling book and feature film, with Kyle Chandler the perfect choice to play under-the-gun new football coach Eric Taylor. Filmed in Austin, the pilot superbly sets a small-town West Texas stage in fictional Dillon, Texas. Football action is brilliantly choreographed, and the key players come off as far more than tackling dummies.

University of Texas coach Mack Brown has an effective cameo as a demanding booster who expects the Panthers to triumph at all costs.

Posted by Tom at 5:22 AM | Comments (0) |

July 4, 2006

Is this a new A&M recruiting video?

I recognize that football recruiting at Texas A&M has not kept up with Big 12 competitors such as Texas and Oklahoma. The Coach Fran era has not gone as expected, and even the sacred 12th Man tradition is under attack. So, drastic measures are required to turn things around.

But a rap music video extolling the virtues of Bryan-College Station? Let's just say I'm still partial to the Aggie War Hymn.

Former A&M football coach Bear Bryant is turning over in his grave. Old Army will never be the same. Hat tip to the Burnt Orange Nation for the link.

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Posted by Tom at 8:54 AM | Comments (0) |

June 6, 2006

The new Texans GM

Houston Texans' owner Bob McNair completed his overhaul of the team's management yesterday by naming former Denver Bronco's assistant Rick Smith as the second general manager in the Texans' five year history. Smith replaces Charley Casserly, who resigned last month amidst widespread criticism regarding the Texans' player personnel choices and a disastrous previous season. McNair began the overhaul earlier this year by firing head coach Dom Capers and replacing him with former Broncos offensive coordinator and Houston native, Gary Kubiak.

The hiring of Smith also completes an interesting change in management philosophy for McNair, who originally went with the strong GM management approach in hiring Casserly as the Texans' first employee. Casserly was the public face of the team's management, much more so then former head coach Capers. Although that approach placed most authority in football operations in Casserly's hands, it also sealed his fate as he became increasingly verbose with the media over the past season in attempting to deflect criticism over the team's horrifying performance. My sense is that Casserly's manipulation of the media during the team's horrendous season did not sit well with McNair, a classy man who does not appreciate such public posturing.

With the hiring of Smith, McNair has completed the adoption of the Broncos' management system in which the head coach has the decision-making authority on personnel matters and the GM serves in a support role. Under the Texans' new regime, it's clear that head coach Kubiak is calling the shots, just as Broncos coach Mike Shanahan does in Denver.

What's particularly interesting about the shift in the Texans' management philosophy is that Kubiak is getting far more power as an unproven coach than Capers ever received when he became the Texans first coach five years ago with a much more impressive resume than Kubiak. Capers took the expansion Carolina Panthers to the NFC title game in only their second season, and he was a successful NFL defensive coordinator before and after his tenure in Carolina. On the other hand, Kubiak's sole NFL coaching experience prior to receiving extensive authority under the Texans' new management approach is that of being the trusty sidekick to the Broncos' Shanahan, who delegated limited authority to underlings in regard to running the Broncos' offense.

In light of the foregoing, do you think the Miami Dolphins' defense -- which is now coached by Capers -- might be hitting with a little more, might we say, "enthusiasm" when the Dolphins come to town on October 1 to play the Texans?

Posted by Tom at 4:30 AM | Comments (3) |

May 10, 2006

Casserly is gone

As noted in this post from over a month ago, one of the worse-kept secrets in Houston sports circles over the past several months is that Houston Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly would -- take your pick -- either resign or be fired after the completion of the annual NFL Draft of college players in April. This Megan Manfull/Chronicle article today confirms that Casserly is gone.

Inasmuch as the Texans on-field performance over the club's first four seasons has been the poorest of any recent NFL expansion franchise, the fact that Casserly is being shown the door is not a surprise to anyone except the Chronicle. For some reason, Chronicle NFL columnist John McClain has been maintaining the facade that Casserly's leaving is voluntary when there is a strong probability that it is not. "There have been reports that Casserly will be fired, which isn't true," writes McClain. "If he leaves, it will be his decision."

H'mm. Apparently it never occurred to McClain that the eminently classy Texans owner Bob McNair might be willing to throw Casserly a bone by allowing him to say that his leaving is voluntary rather than a firing. The fact that McClain's relationship with Casserly apparently does not allow him even to acknowledge that possibility reveals that he really shouldn't be writing about the matter in the first place.

Update: McClain won't give up on his theory that Casserly was not pushed out, even though there is little question that Casserly's contract -- which had only a year left on it -- would not have been renewed.

Posted by Tom at 6:44 AM | Comments (0) |

May 9, 2006

Aggies and Seahawks settle the 12th Man dispute

Withering under the logic of Texas A&M's complaint (picture on the left) in the university's copyright infringement lawsuit over its revered 12th Man slogan, the Seattle Seahawks gave in and entered into a settlement with the Aggies under which the Ags will allow the NFL club to continue using the phrase "12th Man" so long as the Seahawks acknowledge in doing so that the copyright on the slogan belongs to the Aggies.

The 12th man tradition began at Texas A&M in the 1920s, and the Seahawks adopted it in 1984 when they retired the no. 12 because of the help that their noisy fans provided in the old Kingdome Stadium. The Seahawks' use of the 12th Man slogan became more prominent this past season during a successful playoff run when the volume at Qwest Field was so loud that more false-start penalties were committed there than in any other NFL stadium. As a result, the Aggies demanded that the Seahawks refrain from using the slogan and then filed a lawsuit.

Both sides of the lawsuit attempted to spin the settlement favorably. A&M Chief Marketing Officer & Vice President for Communications Steven B. Moore emailed this message to A&M alums :

"I'm pleased to inform you that, after months of negotiations, the university has reached an amicable agreement with the Seattle Seahawks resolving the controversy regarding the use of Texas A&M's 12th Man trademark. Under the agreement, the university has granted the NFL team a license to use the 12th Man trademark in a seven-state area in the northwest that encompasses the current primary broadcast area of the Seahawks. As is the case of all licensees, the Seattle Seahawks will pay the university a licensing fee and will state publicly that Texas A&M owns the 12th Man trademark each time it is used."

On the other hand, Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke said:

"You won't see any change. In certain places we will acknowledge their license and trademark. [. . .] Once they got into it, they realized it was the real deal here. It wasn't a one-time marketing slogan . . . there was something real and authentic here."

Meanwhile, a friend of mine -- a fervent Aggie booster -- emailed me with this reaction to the settlement, which is apparently shared by a number of Aggie faithful:

"The Ags gave up, just like [Head Coach Dennis] Franchione's defense."

Posted by Tom at 6:28 AM | Comments (0) |

May 3, 2006

Did John McClain just call himself a charlatan?

Chronicle sports columnist John McClain makes the following rather odd observations at the outset of his column today on the quality of the Texans' picks in the just-completed NFL draft of college football players:

"First of all, let's reiterate that our first two choices were Vince Young and Bush, but that being said, it's clear to anyone who knows anything about the NFL that the Texans had a terrific draft on paper."

McClain then follows that prediction with the following observation:

"No one can accurately judge this draft until several years down the road, and anyone who pretends he can is a charlatan."

McClain then proceeds to pretend to judge the Texans' draft.

Posted by Tom at 4:47 AM | Comments (3) |

May 1, 2006

The bloom is definitely off the USC rose

Although the University of Southern California football program has had a pretty good run under Coach Pete Carroll over the past several years, there is little question that events over this past weekend have confirmed that the USC program is in full-blown retreat mode.

The warning signs began appearing immediately after the Texas Longhorns beat the Trojans in the BCS National Championship Game in early January. This hilarious Bill Simmons article after that game revived the "Coach Fredo" (after the frustrated oldest son of the Corleone Family) nickname for Carroll that East Coast pundits had tagged him with during his less-than-stellar coaching stints with the New York Jets and New England Patriots.

But that was nothing compared to what has occurred over the past couple of weeks in the run-up to this year's NFL draft of college football players. As this NY Times article reports, it started about a week ago with various media outlets reporting that Reggie Bush's family had been in a house owned by a San Diego man who was hoping to handle Bush's marketing work, which prompted Bush and his handlers to make some ill-advised public comments. That resulted in the owner of the house disclosing publicly that he had made over $100,000 in cash payments to the Bush family and that he plans to file a $3.2 million lawsuit against Bush for fraudulently inducing Michaels to spend more than $300,000 under the premise that his sports marketing company would be representing Bush.

Inasmuch as those allegations, if even half-true, would be major violations of multiple NCAA rules and regulations, that giant sucking sound you hear is the Trojans' 2004 National Champtionship Trophy beginning to be pulled back to NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis.

But that wasn't all.

On the heels of the Bush revelations, reports last week indicated that former USC Quarterback Matt Leinart and star Trojan receiver Dwayne Jarrett were living last season in a $4,000-per-month L.A. condo, but Jarrett was paying far less than 50 percent of the rent. Turns out that each player was paying $650 monthly, with Leinart's father picking up the tab for the balance.

Now, normally there is nothing wrong with a college student's father paying a portion of his son's rent. However, Leinart's father has taken a central role in the representation of his son, which makes him look very similar to a sports agent. The NCAA does not look kindly on sports agents advancing funds for the benefit of student-athletes, particularly for student-athletes who are not the son of the agent. And just to make sure that measly major violations of NCAA regulations governing relationships with agents were not the only problem for the USC program at this point, current Trojans quarterback Mark (appropriately nicknamed "DJ Dirty") Sanchez was recently arrested on charges of sexual assault.

Meanwhile, almost every USC prospect in the NFL draft over the past weekend was picked lower than expected. Of course, as we all know, the Texans passed on the presumed no. 1 pick, Bush, while Leinart, who probably would have been the No. 1 pick in last year's draft had he elected to participate, fell to the tenth pick in this year's draft, costing him an estimated $25 million or so. Offensive tackle Winston Justice fell out of the first round altogether, as did Bush's running back counterpart, LenDale White.

In the wake of all this, Coach Fredo must be wondering how much money he left on table by not taking one of any number of NFL coaching jobs that he could have had over the past couple of seasons in the glow of USC's National Championship run. Timing is everything, Pete.

Meanwhile, the best crack I heard over the weekend on the Texans Williams-instead of-Bush pick came from Brian over at Longhorn Law, who observed that, "with this year’s #1 draft choice, Texans GM Charley Casserly has made a strong case for extending the league’s random drug-testing program beyond the field to the front offices."

Posted by Tom at 5:53 AM | Comments (0) |

April 29, 2006

Bye-bye Reggie; Hello Mario

Although perhaps not always fulfilling, things are certainly always interesting over at Texansville.

In a stunning development, the Texans ignored conventional wisdom and threw today's National Football League draft into chaos by signing North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams instead of USC running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush as the no. 1 pick in the draft. The ESPN.com report is here and the Houston Chronicle's John McClain's story is here.

Although Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice is typically apoplectic (see also this blog post) about the Texans' decision to select Williams over Bush, the decision is not all that surprising. For their entire existence, the Texans have come into each season with the same basic problems -- the team could not protect its own passer and could not put pressure on the opposition's passer.

Despite those constant problems, the Texans were able to muddle through their first three seasons with the appearance of overall improvement, but then backslid in Season Four last year as the chronic problems became too much for the undermanned franchise to overcome. Thus, when contract negotiations between the Texans and Bush's agent stalled this past week, the decision to attempt to address the Texans pass rush problem with the 6' 7", 295 lbs. Williams -- who is about as fast as Texas QB Vince Young -- was really not unreasonable at all.

There will be much knashing of teeth over the Texans' decision to pass on Bush, but I'm not buying into that type of over-reaction. Last fall when the Texans' season was going awry, most folks simply concluded that the answer to the Texans' troubles was simple -- fire General Manager Charlie Casserly, head coach Dom Capers and Capers' staff. However, as noted in subsequent posts here and here, the solution to the Texans' problems are not that simple.

Consequently, addressing one of the team's chronic problems with the first pick in the draft is not an unreasonable decision. I only wish that they had done so with the first pick in the draft before Year One that the club used on QB David Carr. Oh well, better late than never.

By the way, almost 30 years ago, the Houston Oilers used the first pick in the NFL draft to pick Texas running back Earl Campbell, who elevated the Oilers into several seasons of championship contention and went on to become an NFL Hall-of-Famer. However, there is a key difference between then and now.

Unlike the Texans, that Oilers team was already a pretty good one when it drafted Campbell. In fact, one of the primary reasons that the Oilers were already a good team was defensive tackle Curly Culp, who the Oilers had obtained in a trade a couple of seasons earlier. With Culp plugged into the middle of the Oilers' defensive line, teams could not run consistently on the Oilers and, with Culp occupying the interior offensive lineman, LB Robert Brazile and DE Elvin Bethea were free to generate a devastating pass rush off the edge. That rock-solid defense is what made those Oilers teams of that era good. The addition of Campbell made them nearly great, but that would not have been the case without players such as Culp, Brazile and Bethea.

In contrast, the Texans are not a good enough team yet for Bush to elevate them into a great one. Frankly, I am cautiously optimistic that Texans owner Bob McNair did not allow public pressure to sway him from addressing a core need with the first pick in this draft. Remember that key fact over the next several months as you listen to the Richard Justices of the world rail against the Texans' decision to pass on Bush.

While we're on the subject of the NFL draft, don't miss this NY Times op-ed by Jim McFarland, a former NFL player, who proposes that the draft be abolished in favor of allowing each NFL team to negotiate with any former college player that they want after each season.

Finally, for absolutely the funniest thing I've seen regarding the draft in some time, don't miss this video entitled "New York Jets NFL Draft Blunders."

Update: L.A.-based corporate law and football expert Professor Bainbridge believes that the Texans blew it by not picking Bush, but points out that the Saints may have blew it even more by selecting Bush. And local blogger Kevin Whited makes the case that the failure to pick Bush reflects an overall lack of competent Texans management.

Posted by Tom at 7:31 AM | Comments (3) |

April 25, 2006

Uh, Reggie, can you return kick-offs, too?

I may have missed it, but I didn't see the following news reported in ProFootballTalk reported by any of the local media:

Mathis Pulls a Winslow

A league source tells us that Texans receiver Jerome Mathis is sporting casts on both hands and bandages on his wrists and arms due to a recent motorcycle accident.

The accident happened recently, and nearly a year to the day after Browns tight end Kellen Winslow auditioned for the role of Superman by flying over the handlebars after attempting a reverse wheelie. Winslow suffered far more extensive injuries, including a torn ACL that knocked him out for the 2005 season.

Per the source, the injuries to Mathis appear to be limited to his arms. The source added that Mathis looks like "a mummy from the elbows down" (which raises all sorts of interesting bathroom issues).

Mathis, who excels at returning kick-offs, was the only member of the Texans team to make the NFL Pro Bowl All-Star game this past season.

Posted by Tom at 9:33 AM | Comments (1) |

April 18, 2006

The intrigue of the NFL Draft

This NY Times article from over the weekend discusses the ups and downs that prospects endure in the run-up for the annual National Football League draft, but even that did not prepare me for this:

For the first time, there is legitimate reason to think that USC running back Reggie Bush is not going to be wind up in Houston, the city that currently holds the No. 1 overall pick. This does not come from one source or from one team. This comes from multiple sources, from across the league, without any agenda to push.

The mounting evidence includes this:

As of Monday, the Texans had not had any contract discussions with Bush and his representatives. None.

Yet the Texans have approached North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams, trying to see if he would be receptive to discussing a deal.

But the evidence goes beyond contracts. When Bush was in Houston, a certain segment of the organization never introduced itself to the running back. This might not be unusual, but if the organization was convinced it was taking a certain player, it should be rolling out the welcome mat with everyone trying to make the player feel as at home as possible. This, according to those who know Bush, did not happen.

Then there is the simple and significant matter of need. Within the past year, the Texans signed running back Domanick Davis to a long-term extension. They also drafted wide receiver Jerome Mathis, the return man who went to the Pro Bowl during his rookie season. The Texans know they have a dependable running back and return man, the two spots Bush fills.

Houston's greater need is at defensive end, and, just as much, at left tackle, a position that could be filled by Virginia's D'Brickashaw Ferguson, who is expected to go in the top four picks.

Yet whether Houston winds up with Williams or Ferguson is unknown. What is known is that Bush no longer is a lock for Houston.

As a person in the Bush camp said Monday, "Do I have a feeling that Reggie is going to Houston? No, I have a feeling that he's not."

Posted by Tom at 7:59 AM | Comments (4) |

April 13, 2006

Playing for keeps in the SEC

This SI.com article reports that Logan Young, a University of Alabama football supporter who was convicted in 2005 for money laudering and racketeering in connection with bribing a high school coach to induce a top high school football recruit to play football from the Crimson Tide, was found brutally murdered in his Memphis, Tenn. home this past Tuesday.

Interestingly, Philip Shanks, a Memphis attorney involved in a lawsuit stemming from the resulting NCAA sanctions over the Young affair, was attacked in his office and left unconscious in May 2004. No one was ever charged in that incident.

Update: Memphis police are now contending that Young's death was the result of a bizarre accident.

Posted by Tom at 7:41 AM | Comments (2) |

April 9, 2006

Is Casserly gone?

ProFootballTalk.com is reporting that embattled Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly will be replaced as the Texans GM after the upcoming NFL Draft:

A league source tells us that the Houston Texans plan to fire G.M. Charley Casserly after the 2006 draft. Casserly has been the franchise's only general manager, joining the team more than two years before the Texans every played a game.

The plans to part ways with Casserly, we hear, are common knowledge within the upper reaches of the organization.

The move isn't all that surprising. Owner Bob McNair brought in former Broncos, Giants, and Falcons coach Dan Reeves as a consultant late in the 2005 season, and charged Reeves with the task of, among other things, evaluating the team's roster. Since that's usually the G.M.'s function, it wasn't a good sign for Casserly's long-term job security.

And it's not unusual for a team to hold on to a football executive through the April draft in lieu of firing him at the end of the season. Casserly, in January, was privy to much of the team's free agency and draft strategies. He could have landed with another team and coughed up all sorts of sensitive information.

Casserly has spent nearly 30 years in the NFL, including 23 with the Redskins. He reportedly is under consideration for a position in the league office. His contract with the Texans runs through June 2007.

Posted by Tom at 11:32 AM | Comments (2) |

February 16, 2006

UT football's newest recruiting tool

"Recruits, click on the picture. You could have one of these if you come to UT."

Posted by Tom at 6:59 AM | Comments (0) |

February 5, 2006

How times change

As you ease into your favorite chair or couch to watch Super Bowl XL this evening (5:18 p.m., CST) and its featured entertainers, Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones, did you realize that it was only 13 years ago when Super Bowl XXVII in 1993 featured O.J. Simpson flipping the coin during the pre-game coin toss and Michael Jackson performing at halftime with "a choir of 3,500 local Los Angeles area children joining Jackson as he sang his single 'Heal The World'"?

My, how times change!

But if you really want a refresher on how times change, check out this Anthony Lewis/NY Times review of Taylor Branch's third segment of his fine trilogy about the social revolution that occurred in America during Martin Luther King's voting rights and desegregation movement in the late 1950's and 1960's, At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 (Simon & Schuster 2006). Lewis describes the simplicity of Dr. King's purpose in pursuing the movement:

In Alabama, Mississippi and large parts of other states in the Deep South [at that time], the [Constitutional right to vote without discrimination] was a myth for blacks. They were threatened, abused, even murdered if they tried to register or vote; they often lost their homes or their jobs. Armed white mobs menaced them.

King believed that if Americans outside the South were aware of its brutal racism — as few then were — they would want to end it. The violent response to nonviolent protest made the brutality plain. What Americans read in newspapers and saw on television shocked them, and jump-started the political process. Meaningful civil rights legislation made it past Senate filibusters at last.

But Branch's book also reminds us that King's movement revealed that racial discrimination was not confined to the South:

Chicago dramatized the reality of antiblack feelings in the North. Marches organized by King to protest segregated housing and unequal government benefits [in Chicago] were met with mob taunts and rocks. "Burn them like Jews!" one white group shouted at the marchers. Branch concludes that "the violence against Northern demonstrations cracked a beguiling, cultivated conceit that bigotry was the province of backward Southerners."

In 1965, he notes, Mary Travers of the trio Peter, Paul and Mary kissed Harry Belafonte on the cheek at a rally. CBS television, which was showing the rally, was besieged by protesting callers, and took the rally off the air for 90 minutes. In the border state of Kentucky, the famous basketball coach Adolph Rupp kept his University of Kentucky team all white. He complained of calls from the university president, "That son of a bitch wants me to get some niggers in here." A little-noted team from Texas Western, with five black players starting, upset Kentucky in the 1966 championship game — a story told just now in the movie "Glory Road." Only slowly, after that, did the bar on black athletes break down in the South. Many people watching college sports on television today would not have dreamed that such a policy ever existed.

As noted in this earlier post about that Texas Western team, those were very different times. America has come a long ways in its race relations since then, but we still have a long ways to go, and much of the impetus for continued progress is the memory of those different times not so very long ago.

Posted by Tom at 8:24 AM | Comments (0) |

February 3, 2006

Update on the Aggies' 12th Man trademark litigation

Earlier posts here and here reported on developments in Texas A&M University's lawsuit this week against the Super Bowl XL-bound Seattle Seahawks to enjoin the Seahawks from infringing on A&M's 12th Man trademark. The latest development is that the Seahawks have removed the lawsuit from the Aggies' homefield of Brazos County District Court to the reasonably neutral venue of federal court in Houston.

Not wanting to appear heavy-handed, A&M released the following statement to the media over the controversy:

"Texas A&M University certainly has no ill will towards the Seattle Seahawks; in fact we have Aggies on the team and coaching staff and we congratulate them on their splendid season leading up to Sunday's Super Bowl. However, we have the responsibility and legal obligation to protect the university's trademarks, which in this instance is the 12th Man. The 12th Man is one of our most treasured traditions, recognized by most as one of the most compelling in collegiate athletics. We have asked the Seahawks' management to cease and desist promoting use of the 12th Man trademark. Such letters were submitted in 2004 and 2005 requesting their compliance, but our requests have not been honored. . . "

"Texas A&M has done everything in its power over the last 2 years to bring quiet closure to this situation. Our hope is that the Seahawks' organization will recognize our federal trademark."

"Finally, just for the record, A&M sincerely hopes that the Steelers beat the hell out of the Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Sunday."

O.K., I confess. I added that last paragraph. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 12:57 PM | Comments (1) |

February 2, 2006

An Aggie Original Complaint

Kyle Field, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.

Qwest Field, Home of the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle, Washington.

Posted by Tom at 8:30 AM | Comments (4) |

January 30, 2006

Stealing the 12th Man?

It's demoralizing enough for followers of the Texas A&M University football program that the Aggie football team has fallen on hard times, but now they have to deal with the theft of their sacred 12th Man tradition:

The Seattle Seahawks are facing the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, but they have an off-the-field battle brewing with Texas A&M.

School officials are upset with the Seahawks' use of the "12th Man" theme to recognize their fan support. A&M has legal claims to the "12th Man" moniker, a school tradition that dates to the 1920s.

Texas A&M contends the 12th man lives at Kyle Field, not in Seattle.

The Seahawks have celebrated their fans as a "12th Man" since the 1980s, when they used to turn the now-demolished Kingdome into one of the NFL's loudest venues. . . .

A&M has twice registered trademarks for "The 12th Man" label -- in 1990 and 1996 -- that include entertainment services, "namely organizing and conducting intercollegiate sporting events," and products, such as caps, T-shirts, novelty buttons and jewelry. . . .

[A&M Athletics Director] Bill Byrne said A&M has contacted the Seahawks about the issue. He said he wrote the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills in the past about halting their 12th man themes once the university made them aware of the trademark registrations. Byrne said Seattle, though, "has been slow-rolling us."

The Aggies reduced to a post-season lawsuit rather than a post-season bowl game? Well, at least some folks are smiling.

Update: A&M filed a lawsuit in Brazos County on Monday to enjoin the Seahawks from infringing on the university's 12th Man trademark. Home field advantage -- Aggies.

Posted by Tom at 5:40 AM | Comments (1) |

January 25, 2006

Want a luxury suite for Super Bowl XL?

Well, the market for tickets to Super Bowl XL isn't doing so badly after all (previous post here):

There are 132 suites at Ford Field, ranging considerably in size and price.

TicketsNow.com, which connects ticket buyers and sellers, advertised Monday a 40-person luxury suite on the 40-yard-line for — are you sitting? — $261,000. Another Web site priced a box at $315,000. The median home price in the Detroit area last year was about $169,000.

Hat tip to Tyler Cowen for the link.

Posted by Tom at 7:25 AM | Comments (1) |

January 23, 2006

Bashing this year's Super Bowl city

Yesterday's league championship games decided that the Steelers and the Seahawks will tangle in Super Bowl XL, but it remains decidedly unclear whether this year's big game in Detroit will be the hot ticket of Super Bowls past.

As noted in previous posts here and here, last year's Super Bowl host city Jacksonville was ill-equipped to handle the logistical demands of handling the Super Bowl. Now, as Phil Miller notes in this post, Detroit is getting even a worse reaction from from prospective Super Bowl attendees than Jacksonville:

With the NFL's first cold-weather Super Bowl in 14 years, and only the third one in the event's 40-year run, just three weeks away, many of the firms that arrange Super Bowl hospitality trips report that clients are not as eager to go this year.

The tepid response is largely due to the expected cold weather, with the average high termperature in February in Detroit at 36 degrees. That combined with the city's lackluster reputation, have led some clients to depart for other locales such as Vegas and the Caribbean for viewing parties, or simply taking a pass and booking early for the 2007 game in south Florida.

Well, so much for building a stadium to get a Super Bowl to promote the city!

That's from the latest issue of the Sports Business Journal. The article starts out by mentioning that Dan Marino and John Elway will be raising money for their charities during Super Bowl week - in Las Vegas. Ouch!

Speaking of football, here is a nice story about a couple of football fans who have a special interest in the upcoming Super Bowl.

Posted by Tom at 6:31 AM | Comments (5) |

January 18, 2006

Now, that's serious!

And I thought that Texans took football seriously:

Bettis Fumble Coincides With Fan's Heart Attack (WTAE-TV)

The excitement of the Steelers taking on the Indianapolis Colts proved too much for one fan on Sunday.

With about 1 minute remaining in the game, Colts linebacker Gary Brackett hit Steelers running back Jerome Bettis on the Indianapolis goal line and forced a fumble -- one that caused a man to go into cardiac arrest at Cupka's bar, in the South Side, Sheldon Ingram said.

The firemen performed CPR on [the victim] and the called the paramedics, . . .

[The victim] was later revived with a defibrillator and taken to UMPC Presbyterian Hospital.

Posted by Tom at 8:56 AM | Comments (0) |

January 9, 2006

National Championship redux

Following a weekend in which University of Texas alums continue to bask in the glow of their university's first National Championship football team in a generation, I pass along the following items of interest:

The flat-out cleverest piece on the UT-USC National Championship game is this hilarious Bill Simmons/ESPN Page 2 column entitled "Welcome Back, Coach Fredo." Don't worry, Longhorn fans. Simmons is talking about USC coach Pete Carroll with that "Coach Fredo" tag. Hat tip to Kevin Whited for the link.

As expected, the star of UT's National Championship team -- QB Vince Young of Houston's Madison High School -- announced on Sunday that he is ending his UT career and declaring himself eligible for the NFL Draft later this year. A collective sigh of relief could be heard from the eleven Big 12 coaches other than Longhorn coach Mack Brown.

Speaking of the NFL Draft, corporate legal expert Stephen Bainbridge provides a forum for discussing who the Texans should select as the first pick in the upcoming draft. One commenter posted the following football/corporate law question regarding the recent Texans-49'ers "Reggie Bush Bowl":

Just a thought on the football game between the 49ers and the Texans. If the team was a corporation, would the Texans have a duty to lose the game in order to secure the number one pick? Winning the game is really not a benefit to the organization itself. Curious about your thoughts.

Another favored former Longhorn QB -- Major Applewhite -- may be the last offensive coordinator of the Rice University football program before the university downgrades its football program from NCAA Division I-A. New Rice head coach Todd Graham is employing young assistant coaches to help him attempt to revive the program -- the average age of the assistants who he has hired to date is just under 33 years old.

The star-crossed football career of former Texas Tech running back Bam Morris -- fresh off a prolonged stint in Leavenworth Federal Prison -- took another interesting turn as the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League hired Morris to play running back for the team. Morris was the top running back in college football during the 1993 season.

Finally, although football is a dangerous activity, it's nothing compared to this one.

Posted by Tom at 4:48 AM | Comments (1) |

January 5, 2006

Texas Longhorns 41 USC Trojans 38

The University of Texas Longhorns, National Champions!

It's taken me until 9 a.m. the morning after the game just to recover enough to pass along my thoughts.

In short, the game was hugely entertaining, if not particularly well-played in all respects. The first quarter was just kind of an all-around mess, Texas owned the second quarter, the third quarter turned into a fist fight between two heavyweights who could not defend themselves, and then Vince Young simply picked up his Texas team in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter and refused to let them lose.

It was truly a game for the ages and a perfect example of the reason that I prefer college football to the NFL.

By the way, don't miss the Austin American-Statesman's photo gallery containing a measly 143 photos from the Rose Bowl game.

Posted by Tom at 4:00 AM | Comments (5) |

January 4, 2006

First things first for Clarett

You may have heard that former star Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett was wanted by Ohio police earlier this week for his alleged participation in a robbery.

Well, according to this NY Times article, Clarett had a particularly compelling reason to delay turning himself in to police for a couple of days:

Clarett declined to answer most questions from reporters, but he did reveal that he watched Ohio State beat Notre Dame on Monday night before turning himself in to the police. Clarett, who had been wanted for almost two days, apparently wanted to see his former teammates play in the Fiesta Bowl, the same game in which he achieved stardom and helped capture the 2002 national championship for the Buckeyes. Asked about Ohio State's 34-20 victory over the Irish, Clarett cracked a half-smile and said:

"Glad we won."

Posted by Tom at 8:04 AM | Comments (1) |

Good karma for the Rose Bowl

As Texans prepare for the long-awaited Rose Bowl matchup tonight between the Texas Longhorns and the USC Trojans, this Ray Buck/Ft. Worth Star Telegram article does a good job of telling how Longhorn coach Mack Brown's relationship with legendary former Texas coach Darrell Royal has been an important part of Brown's success in bringing UT back to the top tier of major college football.

As noted in this earlier post, Texas won two undisputed national championships under Coach Royal, one in 1963 and the other in 1969. But after Royal retired in 1975, the Longhorns got close in 1977 and 1983 and then gradually faded from the top tier of big-time college football. By the time Brown was hired seven seasons ago, the Horns were not even a national championship contender. The article contains a number of interesting observations from Coach Royal, not the least of which is the following:

When asked if his presence might be a source of motivation for the Longhorns, Royal had one more answer for everyone:

"If they need any kind of motivation," Royal said, "they're in the wrong game."

Meanwhile, this interesting Alex Barra/W$J article on the development of big-time college football players over the past 20 years includes the following observation from Clear Thinkers favorites, Dan Jenkins:

"Comparing the best college teams of the past five or so years to legendary champions of the past is like comparing supersonic jet fighters to propeller-driven World War II planes. The game has really changed that quickly. Most of the players I see on top teams today look like they were manufactured in laboratories."

By the way, the best line that I've heard in the run-up to the Rose Bowl was the following:

When [former USC wide receiver] Mike Williams lost his court challenge to the NFL underclassman rule and was not allowed to return to college football, did he still count against USC's salary cap?

Posted by Tom at 4:29 AM | Comments (1) |

January 2, 2006

Why John Lopez is wrong about the bowl system

As you sit back today to watch any number of the six college bowl games, you might come across Chronicle sportswriter John Lopez's column from yesterday in which he characterizes this past Saturday's EV1.net Houston Bowl as the "Apathy Bowl" because of the low turnout from local football fans and renews the call for an NFL-style playoff system to determine a national champion in NCAA Division I-A college football.

Lopez's opinion is a common one, arguably even the majority view of most folks who follow college football passionately. However, it is wrong for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the health of college football as we know it.

Lopez's view is that the BCS system -- which has set up Wednesday's USC-Texas Rose Bowl matchup for the national championship and will have a championship game next season a week after four major New Year's Day bowl games -- is killing the bowl system, anyway. He cites the low attendance figures for lesser bowl games that do not figure in the national championship equation as dispositive evidence that the bowl system is flawed and that a playoff system would generate far more interest (i.e., money). Lopez predicts that peripheral bowls will die off as sponsors ditch games for lack of interest in the face of the more popular BCS bowl games.

Well, Lopez's prediction about the lesser bowl games may turn out to be correct, but his view ignores current market conditions and severe logistical problems with an NFL-style college bowl system. Contrary to Lopez's prediction, the market for such bowls is quite bullish -- 20 bowls took place this season even before the traditional 8 New Year's Day bowl games. That gave 48 teams of players -- 99% of whom will never play professional football -- and 48 university communities the thrill of enjoying bowl week festivities that would not have done so under an NFL-style 8-team playoff system. Even though Lopez characterizes the Houston Bowl as the "Apathy Bowl" because of low local turnout, I noted nothing apathetic about the thousands of Iowa State players, coaches, band members and fans I saw while hanging out with my old friend Coach Mac during the week -- they thoroughly enjoyed their holiday week in Houston.

Why not simply incorporate the lesser bowl games into a playoff system? That's where you run into severe logistical problems that do not exist under the current bowl system. College presidents, athletic directors, and most college football coaches do not want to see the football season extended into the second semester of school where it would interfere with college baskeball. Consequently, to conclude a 16 or 8-team, NFL-style playoff system by early January, such a system would have to be implemented early enough in the season -- say, by at least the Thanksgiving weekend in the event of a 16 team system -- to allow for the championship to be decided by New Year's Day or the weekend thereafter. How many students and members of university communities are going to be willing or able to afford traveling to a neutral site in late November or early December (when most colleges are preparing for final exams) to watch a first round playoff game, particularly when a trip to a later round game may be in the offing?

Moreover, if a second round game takes place the weekend before or on a Christmas holiday weekend, how many of those folks are going to be willing to uproot their holiday family gatherings to attend such a playoff game? Indeed, beyond the wealthiest of alumni, who is really going to be able to afford the expense of traveling to multiple playoff games during the busy holiday season? The NFL playoffs work from an attendance standpoint because the games leading up to the Super Bowl are played at one of the participating team's home stadium. A college playoff system could incorporate the same type of logistics, but that would do away with the holiday tradition and thrill of thousands of players and fans traveling to a city such as Houston as a reward for a successful season. And don't suggest that the lesser bowls could survive outside of an NFL-style playoff system -- just look at the NIT post-season basketball tournament, which generates nominal interest in comparison to the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

And the foregoing analysis doesn't even address the physical toll on players of adding multiple additional games after they have already endured a physically brutal college football season. Again, almost all of these fellows will not be playing this game as professionals after completion of their college careers. Yes, players in high school and lower divisions of college football endure such additional playoff games, but the physics of the bigger and faster major college football players make the risk of serious injury far greater at the Division I-A level of play. NFL professionals get compensated well to take such risks. The same cannot be said for major college football players.

So, in the end, the question becomes whether the benefit of the additional television revenue that an NFL-style college playoff system would generate for participating schools justify doing away with a system that gives 40 or 48 (depending on whether a 16 or 8-team playoff system is used) more teams of players, university community members, and fans an opportunity to enjoy a holiday trip to participate in bowl game festivities? Perhaps Lopez's prediction is correct that market forces will eventually lead us to an NFL-style college system, anyway. However, the market has not done so yet, and I'm not willing to advocate scrapping a largely successful system that rewards huge numbers of participants and supporters for a playoff system that would simply throw even more money at the relatively few large university football programs that would likely dominate such a playoff system.

Thus, my sense is that the championship game that the BCS system is implementing next season is a good compromise between a playoff system and the current bowl system. The real answer to improving the lesser bowls in the current bowl system is the hard work of making those bowl games as attractive as possible for the participating teams, which is something that San Antonio's Alamo Bowl and El Paso's Sun Bowl accomplish most seasons.

As far as the Houston Bowl is concerned, the bowl game already has most of the ingredients necessary to become a successful civic activity -- great facilities, decent winter weather, and a fun city for participants to visit. By coming up with a long-term deal with a big-name corporate sponsor such as Shell Oil Company (the sponsor of the Houston Open golf tournament), the Houston Bowl could then offer the money necessary to attract teams that would generate more local interest, such as the Alamo Bowl had this season in its matchup between Nebraska and Michigan or the Cotton Bowl has with Texas Tech and Alabama. That's a far better approach to generating local interest in the Houston Bowl than advocating an NFL-style playoff system that might not include a playoff game in Houston at all.

Posted by Tom at 5:26 AM | Comments (11) |

January 1, 2006

2005 Weekly local football review

49er's 20 Texans 17

The Reggie Bush Bowl came to a successful conclusion for the 2-14 Texans as a field goal with 5 minutes left in overtime lifted the 4-12 49er's to the victory. The Texans can now get on with the inevitable firing of head coach Dom Capers and his coaching staff, and the latest rumor is that Texans GM Charlie Casserly will be retained in some personnel-related capacity, although it remains unclear whether he will remain general manager of the team.

One could reasonably speculate that the Texans did not try to win the game much. QB David Carr (elbow), star receiver Andre Johnson (ankle) and leading pass rusher Shantee Orr (back) all retired to the sideline after a couple of series with injuries. They joined running backs Domanick Davis (knee) and Jonathan Wells (thigh) and defensive end Gary Walker (tricep), who all went on injured reserve last week. Moreover, kicker Kris Brown missed another chip-shot field goal with six minutes to go that would have won the game in regulation for the Texans, and the Texans' offense continued to distinguish itself as one of the worst in recent NFL history -- the unit not only failed again to exceed 300 yards of total offense, but also set up the 49er's tying and winning scores.

By the way, one of the stranger observations on the game and the season was in this Megan Manfull/Chronicle article:

"The Texans have rallied around [Texan head coach Dom] Capers all season."

If the Texans have rallied around Capers this season, then how bad would the Texans have been had they actually tanked on their coach? Texans announcer Mark Vandermeer summed it up with his call at the end of the game:

"Here's the snap. The kick is good. The game is over. The season is over as the Texans lose to San Francisco 20-17. They lock up the worst record in the National Football league at 2 and 14, and the nightmare that was the 2005 campaign finally comes to an end."

EV1.net Houston Bowl - TCU 27 Iowa State 24

In a highly entertaining although not particularly well-played game, the 11-1 Horned Frogs kicked a late field goal to pull out the win, which gave the Froggies two wins this season over Big 12 teams (the other was against OU in the season opener). TCU jumped out to a 14 point lead, only to have the 7-5 Cyclones rebound for 17 quick points in the 2nd quarter to take the lead. Then, as the Cyclones were driving for what looked like another touchdown to go up 24-14, ISU's QB promptly fumbled on the TCU 19 and, on the next play, TCU's QB threw an 81 yard TD pass to allow TCU to go up 21-17. From that point on, the game turned into a fist fight between the two defensive units as neither team could muster a consistent rushing attack. The loss was another bitter pill for Iowa State, which was not highly-rated coming into the season, but was never beaten decisively in any game this season. The Cyclones lost their five games by a total of 26 points.

Rams 20 Cowboys 10

Inasmuch as the Cowboys (9-7) did not get the help from other teams necessary for them to make the playoffs by winning this Sunday night game, they basically went through the motions in losing this one to the 6-10 Rams. Now the annual "Tuna Watch" begins as Dallas' coach decides whether to retire or continue coaching, and the Cowboys personnel department begins the even harder task of figuring out how to put together an offensive line that can block sufficiently well to protect an immobile QB and revive Dallas' lackluster rushing attack.

Meanwhile, in other local football news, Rice University cornered the market on head coaches named "Graham" by selecting as its new head football coach Tulsa defensive coordinator Todd Graham, who is no relation to Rice head baseball coach Wayne Graham. The new Coach Graham may be a fine coach, but my sense is that he will be the final coach of a Rice team that competes at the Division I-A football program. Graham's resume is simply not close to being as impressive as that of former Rice head coach Ken Hatfield when he took the Rice job. Combined with Rice's non-committal approach to its football program, that disparity in resumes reflects just how far the Rice football program has fallen.

Posted by Tom at 7:30 PM | Comments (0) |

December 26, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Jaguars 38 Texans 20

The 2-13 Texans got a leg up on the 3-12 49er's in next weekend's Reggie Bush Bowl in San Francisco as the Jags scorched them for 21 points in the final quarter to put this one on ice. The local media was agog over Texans QB David Carr throwing for 295 yards on 29 attempts with a couple of reasonably long TD passes, but he also threw his obligatory tipped-pass-at-the-line-of-scrimmage (largely the result of Carr's defective throwing motion) for an interception, which set up one of the Jags' fourth quarter TD's. Assuming that the Texans don't blow the first pick in the 2006 NFL Draft by beating the 49er's on New Year's Day, the team not only has to decide whether to draft Bush (an easy decision, in my view), but whether to pick up what appears to be a fairly expensive $8 million option on Carr. My sense is that the Texans will probably do so, although the market for free agent QB's will likely have an impact on the decision. Nevertheless, two things remain clear about Carr -- the Texans made a mistake in making him the no. 1 draft pick in team history and he is not good enough to make an offense with a deficient line even average in the NFL.

Cowboys 24 Panthers 20

After having their playoff hopes essentially written off in last week's blowout loss to the Redskins, the 9-6 Pokes used a revived rushing attack and a break on a blown roughing-the-kicker call to get rught back in the playoff hunt. With the victory, the Cowboys are in a position to know their prospects for attaining a wildcard playoff spot before they tee it up with the Rams (5-10) on New Year's Eve night. Earlier that day, both the 9-6 Redskins (at Philadelphia) and the 10-5 Panthers (at Atlanta) need a win to make the playoffs. If either of those teams lose and the Cowboys beat the Rams, then the Pokes will nab the final NFC wildcard playoff spot at the wire.

Kansas 42 Houston Cougars 13

KU manhandled the Coogs (6-6) in the Ft. Worth Bowl on Friday night, limiting Houston to a total of 244 yards, including only 30 rushing yards. Somehow, with five minutes to go in the third quarter of this one, the Coogs were within a TD of tying the game. But KU then hit on a long TD pass and returned an interception for a TD on Houston's next play and, presto, the Coogs were planning for spring practice. Although technically a bowl team, Houston remains a fringe college football program, good enough to win about half of its games with a quirky offense and speedy skill-position players, but woefully undermanned in almost all other phases of the game. Until the Houston program undertakes a systematic upgrading of the talent throughout all phases of the team, the Coogs will continue to struggle in Conference USA, which is not a prescription for an invitation into a BCS conference.

Posted by Tom at 4:46 AM | Comments (0) |

December 23, 2005

The integration of the University of Texas football program

When the University of Texas plays USC for the BCS National Football Championship in the Rose Bowl on January 4, 2006, the Longhorn football team will be attempting to win its first undisputed national football title since 1969, which happened to be the last all-white college football team to win the national football championship.

This NY Times article tells the story about the integration of the Texas football program, including the not well-known story of how former Major League Baseball player and manager Don Baylor almost became the first black football player at the University of Texas in the mid-1960's, how former President Lyndon Johnson used to help recruit football players for UT, and the interesting story of Julius Whittier, the first black student-athlete to play football at the University of Texas.

Posted by Tom at 8:27 AM | Comments (0) |

December 18, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Texans 30 Cardinals 19

Now that we know that the Texans' draft picks are not all that bad, the Texans (2-12) went out and set up a January 1st "Reggie Bush Bowl" in San Francisco against the 49ers by beating the equally hapless Arizona Cardinals (4-10) on Sunday afternoon at Reliant Stadium. The Cardinals QB Kurt Warner was hurt early in this one and the team's second team QB (Josh McCown) came down with the flu during the game. So, the Texans were able to play most of the game against the Cardinals third-team QB John Navarre and were able to pull this one out despite gaining 63 yards in the second half. Texans fourth year QB David Carr continues to look basically clueless as he threw for a total of 134 yards passing on 33 attempts while coughing up two turnovers, which was basically the only possible way the Texans could lose this game. Oh well, at least the win makes the Texans' season-ender against the 49er's -- who will probably also have only two wins as of that game -- something to watch on New Year's Day.

By the way, I know the Texans' management blew it badly by having the roof open at Reliant Stadium for the Steelers game earlier this season, but who one earth decided to close the roof for the Cardinals game on a gorgeous late autumn afternoon in Houston?

Redskins 35 Cowboys 7

In a game that was not as close as the score indicates, the Cowboys (8-6) got blown out for the first time this season in a game that probably ends the team's flirtation with the playoffs for this season. The Pokes were Texans-type bad in this one as Cowboy QB Drew Bledsoe had three interceptions and a fumble while being sacked seven times, and the rest of the Pokes committed an appalling nine penalties, including three false starts by three different linemen on the same drive. With the victory, the Skins (8-6) hold the tiebreaker over the Pokes for a possible wildcard playoff spot with games at home against the division-leading Giants (10-4) and at the demoralized Eagles (5-9). The Cowboys final games are at Carolina (10-4) and at home against the Rams (5-9), and it the Pokes win them both, they still have a -- albeit very long -- shot at a wildcard playoff spot, but it's beginning to look as if the Cowboys can begin the process of shoring up their offensive line during the upcoming off-season. By the way, while they are at that task, perhaps they could explor what has happened to the Cowboys rush defense over the past several games.

Posted by Tom at 7:04 PM | Comments (2) |

Evaluating Charlie Casserly's draft picks

Over the years, I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to represent several professional and major college football coaches in their contract negotiations and related legal matters. Through that experience, I have become friends with quite a few coaches and personnel experts in both professional and major college football.

As noted in this earlier post, I have been disappointed in the local sports media's (with the notable exceptions of the Chronicle's John Lopez and talk radio host Charlie Pallilo) lack of evaluation of the Texan GM Charlie Casserly's personnel decisions, I decided to ask a friend with extensive experience in evaluating college and NFL players to review and assess Casserly's Texan draft picks. My friend graciously agreed to do so, and his final evaluation contains some surprising and interesting observations.

First, a note on the format of the evaluation. My friend categorized the 38 Texan draft choices over the past four NFL drafts into three categories -- good , decent (neither good nor a bust), and bust (i.e., bad). Moreover, my friend further broke down the draft picks into two further categories -- (i) draft picks chosen in rounds one through four of the NFL draft, and (ii) draft picks chosen in rounds five through seven. "A GM should have a better batting average in rounds one through four because those picks should generate a solid NFL player at least three out of four picks," reasoned my friend. "Rounds five through seven are more of a crapshoot, so the batting average is usually lower. If a GM picks an NFL-quality player in half of his picks in the latter rounds, then he is doing an average job. Picking more than that reflects someone who knows what he is doing."

Second, my friend is no fan of Casserly, who he has dealt with professionally. "An arrogant know-it-all," my friend observed about Casserly. "He is obsequious to people from whom he can benefit (such as owners and reporters), and insufferable to everyone else."

Despite his dislike of Casserly, my friend believes that Casserly has done a reasonably good job for the Texans in choosing players in the NFL draft. Of the 38 total picks, my friend concluded that Casserly chose 26 players (68%) who are either good or decent NFL draft picks, and 12 (32%) who were busts. 13 of the 38 picks (34%) were good ones and 13 were decent. "I would prefer to see a higher percentage of good picks, closer to 50%," commented my friend. "But making good picks 68% of the time in the NFL draft is certainly above-average and actually pretty darn good."

Of the 19 total picks in the first four rounds of the draft, my friend concluded that Casserly had 7 (36%) good picks, 9 (52%) decent ones and only 3 busts. "I would prefer to see the number of good and decent numbers switched," noted my friend. "But making good or decent picks 88% of the time in the first four rounds of the NFL draft is well above-average."

Similarly, my friend was impressed with Casserly's selections in rounds five through seven. Of those 19 picks, my friend concluded that 6 (32%) were good and 4 (21%) were decent. "Hitting on 53% of the players in those rounds is above-average," observed my friend. "And hitting on 6 good players in the 19 picks in those latter rounds is very good."

Several of my friend's observations on specific picks were also quite interesting. For example, on Jason Babin (LB 2004 first round), Seth Wand (OT 2003 third round) and Travis Johnson (DL 2005) -- all of whom are often cited as Casserly "bust" picks -- my friend disagreed and characterized each of them as decent picks, at least at this point in the evaluation process.

"Babin started and played reasonably well as a rookie, and then he has been injured while learning a new system in his second season," my friend noted. "He may not be a star, but he can still develop into a solid NFL starter."

As for Wand, my friend observed: "He's a small college player who has been pushed too fast at this level. That doesn't mean he won't eventually become at least an average NFL player."

With regard to Johnson, my friend pointed out that his inconsistent play this season is at least partly attributable to being thrown into a poorly-organized defensive unit that is just now adjusting to the change from the 4-3 to the 3-4 defense. "He's not Reggie White," my friend chuckled. "But it's way too early to characterize him as a bust."

So, why don't the Texans have enough good players? "Well, I haven't analyzed Casserly's free agent and trade transactions, so those certainly could have something to do with that," observed my friend. "But remember, quality depth is built up over time and the Texans are still a young franchise. Wand is a good example. He was a decent pick, but he is a project and thus, might not have been the best fit for a team such as the Texans that needs players who can play at the NFL-level as soon as possible."

And what about the Texans' coaching? "I do not see an overabundance of players who appear to be developing at an above-average rate, particularly in the lines," commented my friend.

So, should Casserly be fired or retained? "I have only analyzed his draft picks, which is only one factor to consider in answering that question," replied my friend. "The issue of whether Casserly should be retained or fired includes a number of other factors, such as his free agent and trade acquisitions, how well he supports the coaching staff, the management of the scouting staff, and the manner in which he has handled personnel problems."

"One thing that would concern me if I were Bob McNair," my friend went on to observe. "Is that the Texans' main problems going into the past three seasons have been protecting the passer and rushing the passer. Going into next season, the Texans' main problems are protecting the passer and rushing the passer, and now they don't even stop the run very well. The failure to address those problems is a valid criticism of Casserly."

"But if you are going to fire Casserly," concluded my friend. "Do it for reasons other than his draft choices. In that particular area, he has done a pretty decent job."

Posted by Tom at 11:41 AM | Comments (6) |

December 16, 2005

What does "Franchione" mean?

It's no secret in these parts that Texas A&M head football coach Dennis Franchione had a bad season, not something to take lightly in terms of job security in the football-dominated culture of College Station, Texas. So, after Franchione fired his defensive coordinator at the end of the season, the conventional wisdom was that Franchione would hire a big name coach as the new A&M defensive coordinator, particularly given A&M's willingness to pay top dollar for an assistant coach who would revive the long-dormant Wrecking Crew defense.

Well, suffice it to say that Franchione's hire -- his old friend and oft-fired coach Gary Darnell -- is not exactly what most Aggie fans had in mind as the solution to revive the flagging A&M program. Darnell has been out of football entirely the past year after being fired as head coach at Western Michigan. Moreover, Darnell was previously the source of much angst among Texas Longhorn fans when his unaggressive "read and react" defense that he instituted while serving as Longhorn defensive coordinator from 1994-96 was one of the primary reasons that former Longhorn coach John Mackovic was fired after the 1997 season and remains one of the most unpopular Texas football coaches in history. Darnell's tenure as Texas defensive coordinator included the Horns' defense giving up over 30 points five times in 1994, as well as such embarrassments as the 55-27 pasting that Notre Dame laid on the Horns in 1995 and the lopsided 38-15 Longhorn defeat to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl after the 1996 season. Just to put the icing on the cake, Darnell was also the college coach of currently underachieving Houston Texans linebacker Jason Babin, on whom the team wasted a first round draft choice.

Thus, with that backdrop, it was not particularly surprising that I received a phone call yesterday from a friend who is an ardent Longhorn fan. While chortling about Franchione's hiring of Darnell, he passed along the following :

Q: "What does 'Franchione' mean in English?"

A: "Mackovic."

Posted by Tom at 5:34 AM | Comments (1) |

December 12, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Titans 13 Texans 10

Texans kicker Kris Brown made his contribution to the Reggie Bush sweepstakes today as he missed not one, but two, field goals in the closing minutes to ensure that the Texans (1-12) remain in position to have the worst record in the NFL this season and have the first draft choice in the 2006 NFL Draft. This was another particularly ugly game that pitted two bad teams playing in front of a half-filled stadium in Nashville on a cold, gray day. The Texans' offense amassed a paltry 234 yards, including 82 through the air as Texans QB David Carr was sacked six times and hit or hurried countless other times -- the Texans' pass offense is the worst in the NFL this season and one of the worst in the NFL over the past several seasons. The Texans play Arizona and Jacksonville over the next two weeks at Reliant Stadium before mercifully finishing their abysmal season in San Francisco on New Year's Day.

Cowboys 31 Kansas City 28

In the type of hugely entertaining game that Texans fans thought they were going to be seeing this season, the Cowboys (8-5) survived a wild last 22 seconds in this one to remain a game back of the Giants in the NFC East. After offensive line problems had constricted the Pokes' offense over the past several games, the Cowboys burst out for 445 yards of total offense as QB Drew Bledsoe threw for three TD's, including the game winner. Given the Cowboys remaining schedule (at Washington, at Carolina, and St. Louis at home), I've got my doubts that they can win all three, but this team is feisty and has played every game close this season. If the Pokes make the playoffs, no team is going to want to play them.

In other local football-related news, Texas Longhorn QB Vince Young, who hails from Houston Madison High School, came in second to Bush in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy. In most years, Young would have been a run-away winner of the award, which is college football's most prestigious. However, Bush is a once-in-a-decade type of player and his exploits late in season for USC sealed the award for him.

Posted by Tom at 4:23 AM | Comments (1) |

December 7, 2005

The hope of the Texans?

How exactly does a human body make the kind of cut that USC running back Reggie Bush is making in the picture on the left?

Although the Texas Longhorns must find a way to stop Bush in the Rose Bowl, the Houston Texans and their supporters are just hoping that Bush comes out of the game in one piece so that he will be available for the Texans to select with their first round draft choice in the 2006 NFL Draft (at least Texans GM Charlie Casserly didn't give that draft choice up in the Philip Buchanon deal). Inasmuch as the current Texans team is nearly unwatchable, take a moment to review this slick USC promotional video for Bush's Heisman Trophy candidacy and the video that is included with this New York Times article of Bush's exploits while playing high school ball in San Diego. This young man is really something special.

Posted by Tom at 10:22 AM | Comments (11) |

Got your Rose Bowl tickets yet?

This US Today article reports on the ticket market for this season's Rose Bowl game between USC and Texas for the BCS National Championship:

[T]ickets in the Texas end zone were selling for $1,050 apiece. Tickets near the 40-yard line were priced at $4,458.

H'mm. Watching the game on HDTV is sounding pretty good, eh?

Speaking of Rose Bowl tickets, you can always count on Craigslist to generate creative new ways to facilitate the exchange of such hot items with, might we say, more traditional services.

Posted by Tom at 8:47 AM | Comments (0) |

December 4, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Texas Longhorns 70 Colorado 3.

Just as this special Texas Longhorn football team exorcised the Stoops Curse earlier this season, the Horns annihilated Colorado and freed Longhorn fans everywhere from the nightmare of the 2001 Big 12 Championship game in delivering UT's first Big 12 Football Championship to their long-suffering coach, Mack Brown.

This one was not as close as the score indicates as the Horns scored their 70th point midway through the third quarter and essentially went to the belly series on offense after that. Most of the accolades go to the spectacular Vince Young and the Horns' offense, but the development of the Longhorn defense over the past two seasons is really what has set these past two Longhorn teams apart from Brown's previous UT squads. Last season, long-time college defensive whiz Dick Tomey joined the Longhorns staff and the Horns' defense displayed a toughness and tenacity that Brown's previous defensive squads had lacked. Then, after Tomey and UT defensive coordinator Greg Robinson departed for other programs after the 2004 season, Brown hired former Auburn defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, and the result has been an even more aggressive and cohesive Horns defensive unit. Most of the focus on the upcoming Rose Bowl/National Championship Game will revolve around the spectacular Young and the equally phenomenal USC running back Reggie Bush, but my sense is that, if the Longhorns are to win their first national football championship in 36 years, then it will be the performance of the Horns' defense that will be the difference.

Ravens 16 Texans 15

Oh, my. This is getting beyond ugly.

After Kris Brown's fifth field goal with 1:08 to go put the Texans (1-11) in position for their second win of the season, the Texans' defense again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Starting at the Ravens' 13 yard line, Ravens QB Kyle Boller completed 24-yard, 11 yard, and 35 yard passes to put the Ravens (4-8) in field-goal position, and then Matt Stover kicked a 38-yard field goal with 6 seconds left giving the Ravens the victory over the hapless Texans.

I worked while watching (in a very vague way) this game, which was one of the worst football games that I have ever seen at any level. The Texans fumbled five times, received 11 penalties for 93 yards, and QB David Carr was sacked five times and had one interception, which was returned for a touchdown. Despite that overwhelming incompetence, the Texans were able to stay in the game because the Ravens fumbled four times, had eight penalties and could muster only 73 yards rushing against the worst rushing defense in the NFL. The Texans now play Tennessee next week in Nashville, and then return home for games against Arizona and Jacksonville the following two weeks before the season ends mercifully at San Francisco on January 1st. The only question then will be how quickly will Texans owner Bob McNair clean house after that final game.

By the way, things have gotten so bad with the Texans that now even a prominent corporate law professor is dissing them.

Giants 17 Cowboys 10

This game was just about as ugly as the Texans-Ravens fiasco. The Cowboys (7-5) totaled 208 yards of total offense, had four turnovers, and looked as bad as the Texans for the the first half of the game. But Giants QB Eli Manning was only 12 of 31 for 152 yards passing and two picks as he effectively kept the Pokes in the game. Nevertheless, the loss -- coupled with the Pokes' excrutiating loss to the Broncos on Thanksgiving Day -- has now placed the Cowboys at serious risk of missing the playoffs. Their final month of the season is pretty brutal -- the Chiefs at home, then games at Washington and Carolina before finishing the season at home against the Rams.

Finally, congratulations are in order for the Houston Cougars, who accepted the Ft Worth Bowl's offer Sunday afternoon to play Kansas on Friday night, December 23.

Posted by Tom at 4:58 PM | Comments (2) |

December 3, 2005

Go Raiders!

Texas Tech's football team (9-2) has had a fine season and will probably represent the Big 12 in the Cotton Bowl, although that final victory over Oklahoma was a bit tainted. Nevertheless, a mere tainted victory couldn't stop a Tech fan in this hilarious video from proclaiming (loudly) his allegiance to the Red Raider nation during post-game media interviews. Hat tip to the Georgia Sports Blog for the link.

Posted by Tom at 8:24 AM | Comments (1) |

December 2, 2005

The Horns' recurring nightmares

As Houston prepares for the Texas Longhorns to win their first Big 12 Football Championship tomorrow at Reliant Stadium, I have detected an unusual reserve among the Longhorn supporters. It's a bit hard to describe, but it's definitely noticeable -- sort of like UT fans are telling each other "let's not get too excited just yet; there may still be a train wreck looming out there" as the Longhorns march on to to their widely-anticipated Rose Bowl game against USC for the BCS National Championship.

A friend who is a grizzled veteran of the college football wars described such uncharacteristic lack of confidence in the following manner: "The Horns have not really been a truly elite team in college football for over a generation now, since the strong teams of the late 60's and early 70's. Thus, among current college football fans, the Longhorn program is sort of like the Roman Empire -- very good a long, long time ago."

My friend has a point. After legendary coach Darrell Royal retired in 1975 and until this magical season, Longhorn football fans have endured years of relative misery. During that span, programs such as Oklahoma, Nebraska, Miami, Florida State, Florida, USC, LSU, and Alabama have all ascended at various times to become the type of elite college football program that Longhorn faithful believe is UT's birthright. The following are just a few of the heartbreaks that Longhorn fans have endured the past few decades:

The less-than-Royal-like coaching tenures of Fred Akers, David McWilliams, and John Mackovic;

The failure of Longhorn teams to win national championships despite the exploits of Heisman Trophy running backs Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams;

The Horns' gut-wrenching loss to Georgia in the 1984 Cotton Bowl game that blew a chance for the national championship;

The humiliating early 1990's Horns loss to a clearly-superior Miami team in the Cotton Bowl;

Current Longhorn coach Mack Brown's Stoops Curse, which was finally exorcised just a couple of months ago.

However, all of the foregoing disappointments may pale in comparison to the 2001 Big 12 Championship game, in which Horns QB Chris Simms melted down before a national television audience as UT blew the Big 12 Championship and a BCS bowl berth to a Colorado team that the Horns had beaten 41-7 earlier that season. Thus, while the Longhorn faithful prepare to celebrate tomorrow's expected victory in the Big 12 Championship game over a Colorado team that the Horns beat 42-17 earlier this season, this hilarious Burnt Orange Nation retrospective on that 2001 game should give pause to all Longhorn fans. Although my sense is that the Horns will win easily tomorrow -- primarily because Vince Young is no Chris Simms -- stranger things than a Colorado upset have occurred during the Longhorns' long journey back to elite status on the national college football stage.

Posted by Tom at 5:14 AM | Comments (1) |

November 30, 2005

Strained relations?

Does anyone else get the impression that negotiations regarding Rice University head football coach Ken Hatfield's future with the program don't seem to be going all that well?

First, this ESPN.com article reports on the rather defiant press conference that Coach Hatfield called yesterday in which he denied that he is going to resign and talked about the upcoming 2006 season.

This morning, the Chronicle is reporting that Coach Hatfield and Rice are finalizing arrangements for the coach's resignation.

In comparison, Texas A&M's head coach Dennis Franchione handled the shakeup of his staff via an email press release.

You know things are changing in the world of college football when Texas A&M handles the firing of a football coach better than Rice.

Posted by Tom at 7:01 AM | Comments (0) |

November 27, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Texas Longhorns 40 Texas A&M Aggies 29

The 5-6 Ags came up with an unexpectedly spirited performance for me behind redshirt freshman QB Stephen McGee (pictured) and true freshman RB Jovorskie Lane before the 11-0 Horns put the clamps on late to stay on course for their long-awaited BCS National Championship showdown with Southern Cal.

McGee and Lane were incredible, literally throwing the dispirited Aggie team on their shoulders and having the Ags in position to tie the score with just over 8 minutes left in the game. But Texas promptly tacked on another field goal, the Horns' defense didn't allow A&M another first down for the remainder of the game, and UT heaved a huge sign of relief as they pulled out the victory. The Horns finish their regular season on Saturday in the Big 12 Championship game at Reliant Stadium against overmatched Colorado and then it's on to the Rose Bowl in early January against USC.

Much has been made about the Aggies' disappointing season, but my sense is that it's too early for the Ags to banish Coach Fran from Aggieland. Coach Fran and his staff have been responsible for the past two recruiting classes (2004 and 2005), partially responsible for the 2003 class (with former coach R.C. Slocum's staff) and not responsible at all for the 2002 class. The Aggies basic problem is that they do not have enough good players in the junior and senior classes because, by my count, at least 17 of the 47 recruits in the 2003 and 2002 classes are no longer in the program. Losing a third of those older and more mature players left this particular Aggie team with little quality depth, and a bad spate of injuries -- particularly at the wide receiver and defensive back positions -- undermined that poor depth further. With a much more favorable schedule next season, along with another solid recruiting class and maturation of the previous two recruiting classes, Texas A&M's program should turnaround solidly next season and trend upward over the next several seasons. What is unclear, however, is whether Coach Fran has what it takes to compete against Mack Brown of Texas and Bob Stoops of Oklahoma at the top echelon of the rugged Big 12 South Division. That issue will ultimately be the pressure point for Franchione's success or failure at Texas A&M.

Houston 35 Rice 18

The 6-5 Cougars quixotic march to a bowl berth continued on Saturday as they allowed Rice to take a 10 point lead (nearly a 17 point lead) to start the game, and then reeled off 28 straight points as the 1-10 Owls coughed up the ball on four of their next six possessions after scoring on their first two series of the game. Although they do not draw well at home, the Coogs are actually an attractive prospect in the strange world of college post-season bowl games -- although frustrating, the team does play an exciting brand of ball and the team has always generated solid television ratings generally, and in the Houston area in particular, for past bowl games.

On the other hand, the Rice football program is at a crossroads. Coach Hatfield is a wonderful fellow, but he is running a throwback offensive system without the quality of athletes necessary to win with it and overseeing an Owls defense that has contributed greatly to the program's 18 losses in the past 22 games. As Richard Justice points out in this column, there are no easy answers for a program that has minimal support on campus and generates revenue for the athletic program primarily by playing the sacrificial lamb in early season games for programs such as Texas, UCLA and Florida State. Rice's football program is being propped up by a relatively small group of alumni who remember the glory years of Rice competing in the Southwest Conference and who realize that maintaining the Owls' elite baseball program would be difficult -- if not impossible -- if the Owls downgrade the football program to Division I-AA or lower. Rice needs to establish a new paradigm for its football program quickly or the program risks death by its own considerable weight.

Rams 33 Texans 27

The 1-10 Texans lost this one in a manner that even grizzled veterans of bad Houston professional football teams could not imagine. After going up by 21 points at halftime, the Texans scored only 3 points the rest of the game against a Rams secondary that was without its starting safety and both of its starting cornerbacks. Then, as if realizing that they were screwing up their place in the Reggie Bush sweepstakes, the Texans allowed the Rams' third-string rookie quarterback from that football factory Harvard to lead the Rams to 10 points in the final 27 seconds of the game to force overtime. Then, in a remarkable coup de grâce, the hapless Texans defense allowed the Rams to score from 56 yards out on a hitch pass to seal the loss in overtime.

How on earth does a 1-10 team get so overconfident during a game that they lose it?

The Texans go on the road to play bad teams at Baltimore and Tennessee over the next two Sundays, but those teams would really have to mail it in to lose to the Texans. 1-15 is looking like a distinct possibility.

Broncos 24 Cowboys 21

The 7-4 Pokes saved the turkey on Thanksgiving Day for overtime as their typically stout defense allowed journeyman Bronco RB Ron Dayne to take off for 50 yards to set up the winning field goal in overtime. The Cowboys most recent placekicker missed what would have been the game winning field goal in regulation, which means that the Big Tuna will probably go out this week and retain the Cowboys tenth placekicker of the season. Amazingly, however, with the Redskins and Eagles fading like cheap suits, the Pokes can take command of the NFC East this Sunday by beating the Giants in New York. The Pokes' four losses this season have been by a total of 13 points.

Posted by Tom at 4:05 PM | Comments (10) |

November 23, 2005

Dan Jenkins on Vince Young

As regular readers of my blog know, Dan Jenkins of Ft. Worth is my favorite sportswriter, bar none (previous posts on Jenkins are here, here, here, here and here). In this interesting David Barron article that explores where the 2005 edition of the Texas Longhorn team fits among the great teams of the past in the Horns' legendary football program, Jenkins makes the following hilarious observation about the 2005 Texas team and its star quarterback, Vince Young:

"Even if this team wins it all, the whole deal, in my mind it won't be the best Longhorn team of all time. That's because this team is led by an alien, not a human, and its biggest threat is a busted play where the alien goes back to pass, can't find a receiver, then runs over everybody for a touchdown."

"If Vince Young carried the ball on every play, Texas would win games 85-0. But that's not a team, it's a group of undistinguished guys led by a monster from outer space. Nobody outside of Austin can name another player on the 2005 team, other than, maybe, Jammal Charles. Nobody."

My vote for the best Horns team was the 1968 team, which lost and tied a game before Coach Darrell Royal said "what the hell" and switched to the Wishbone offense. After that key move, the '68 Longhorns dominated the remainder of their opponents in a manner unequaled by any of the Horns' national championship teams.

Posted by Tom at 8:23 AM | Comments (5) |

November 21, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Chiefs 45 Texans 17

After beating the spread in the past three games, the 1-9 Texans took a dive in front of a national television audience in the ESPN Sunday night game as their nightmare season continued. This one was over in the second quarter as the Chiefs sliced and diced the Texans defense to take a 24-7 lead before Texans QB David Carr iced it for the Chiefs by throwing an interception TD in the waning moments of the first half to give the Chiefs an insurmountable 31-7 lead. Although the Texans' defense was non-existent, Carr was particularly bad, as was star WR Andre Johnson, who looked like a petulant jerk for most the game. The Rams come in next week for their confidence-building session against the Texans, and then its off to Baltimore and Tennessee for back-to-back road games. My oh my, this is a really bad football team, every bit as awful as the horrifying Oilers teams of the Bill Peterson era. The Texans sure could use Sid Gillman and Mike Holovak.

Cowboys 20 Lions 7

The 7-3 Pokes continued their impressive mid-season run with a workmanlike victory over the Lions at Texas Stadium. I still have my doubts whether the Cowboys' mediocre offense can score enough points to win against the NFL elite teams, but there is no question that the Cowboys' defense is developing into a devastatingly fast and hard-hitting unit. By the way, the Lions were penalized an incredible 17 times for 130 yards in the game. Got that resume updated, Coach Mariucci?

SMU 29 Houston Cougars 24

The 5-5 Cougars maddening season continued as they blew a 14-10 halftime lead to the 4-6 Mustangs despite dominating the statistical battle. Inasmuch as the loss probably dealt a fatal blow to the Cougars' bowl hopes, the Cougars are ripe for an upset in their closing game against cross-town rival Rice in their final game on Saturday afternoon.

Central Florida 31 Rice 28

The 1-9 Owls almost pulled off the upset, but lost two fourth quarter leads in falling to one of C-USA's top teams. However, the performance should give the Owls confidence going into their season-ending game on Saturday against Houston, which looks like a prime candidate for an upset.

The Texas Longhorns and Texas Aggies were off this weekend in preparation for their annual rivalry game on Friday in College Station. The betting line in this one is currently Texas minus 26.5, which is the largest line in this game that I can recall. Even at that elevated level, I don't know of many Aggies placing money on their team.

Posted by Tom at 3:20 AM | Comments (6) |

November 16, 2005

Examining the train wreck that is the Texans

Recent posts here, here and here have noted the lack of research and insight in recent articles by Chronicle NFL beat writer John McClain and columnist Richard Justice on the subject of the woeful Houston Texans. Into that vacuum of analysis, Chronicle sportswriter John Lopez stepped up with this excellent column on the questionable personnel moves of Texans' General Manager Charlie Casserly, and he follows up on that effort with this interesting column today in which he questions Texans head coach Dom Capers' management of the team's coaching staff.

Regardless of whether you agree with Lopez's views, his last two columns on the Texans contain the type of research and analysis that provides the reader with a grounded position to think about in evaluating the Texans' surprising downturn this season. That's far more satisfying than off-the-cuff observations that have little or no factual basis and sound more like water cooler banter than the insightful analysis that readers really want with regard to the Texans' baffling situation that few people predicted (Clear Thinkers reader Don Mynack excepted) before the season.

Posted by Tom at 6:30 AM | Comments (2) |

November 15, 2005

Settled again, with an assist from Dow Jones

Last time we checked in with University of Texas at El Paso head football coach Mike Price, the former University of Alabama head coach (for about five minutes) was settling his $20 million libel lawsuit against Time, Inc.

Well, as you might have heard, Time backed off of that settlement a few days after its announcement. Time contended indignantly that Coach Price and his attorney had breached the settlement agreement by making public comments about the settlement and the litigation. Coach Price and his lawyer denied that any of their statements breached the agreement, Time went ahead and filed a motion with the Alabama state court requesting that the settlement be set aside, anyway.

Enter Dow Jones, Inc., venerable publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones filed a motion with the court in the Price v. Time lawsuit requesting that the court unseal the terms of the defunct settlement and other records in the case, which included information regarding the identity of Time's sources for what went on in Coach Price's hotel room that summer evening in Pensacola. Time apparently said "Oops!" and promptly opposed Dow Jones' request.

Regaining its senses, Time announced today that it had once again settled with Coach Price, which apparently moots the Dow Jones motion in the court's view. This time, Coach Price and his attorney could not be reached for comment on the settlement, thank goodness.

However, Coach Price has arranged for a several sideline passes to UTEP's next game to be held at the will-call window for Dow Jones. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 3:56 PM | Comments (0) |

November 14, 2005

Richard Justice said what?

Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice says some of the darndest things. Take the following quotes from today's column on the current state of the hapless Houston Texans:

"The Texans are respectable. They're coming close. They've got four 2-7 teams left on their schedule. They almost won in Jacksonville, and they made a run at the Indianapolis Colts before losing 31-17 Sunday."

The Texans are respectable? In nine games this season, the Texans have been in only three games that they had a reasonable chance to win, albeit two of those have been in the last three games. As for making "a run" against the Colts, when the Texans closed to 21-14 in the third quarter, Peyton Manning and the Colts offense reeled off a five play, 75 yard march for a touchdown that made the Texans defense look as if it would have a difficult time stopping a hard-chargin' marching band. If that's respectable, then I would hate to see what Justice considers just plain bad.

"The Texans are a better offensive team since [offensive coordinator Joe] Pendry took over [for the fired Chris Palmer]. David Carr looks like he's on his way to becoming a first-rate quarterback. He's quicker and more accurate in his throws, less likely to take a sack."

H'mm. The Texans are a better offensive team since Pendry took over? The Texans are averaging 215.9 yards per game, which is 31st among the 32 NFL teams, and 13.9 points per game, which is 30th. Last season under Offensive Coordinator Palmer, pretty much the same Texans offensive personnel generated 320.5 yards per game (19th in the league) and 19.3 points per game (21st in the league). Meanwhile, last season, Carr was sacked a total of 49 times during the entire 16 game season, while he has already been sacked 46 times this season in only nine games, 33 of which have been while Pendry has been offensive coordinator. At the same time, Carr continues to have passes batted down at the line of scrimmage due to his sidearm delivery, gets flushed easily from the pocket, and continues to be poor at picking up secondary receivers. That's improvement?

"McNair has made mistakes, too. After spending more than $700 million on the franchise, he gave Capers a limited budget to hire a coaching staff."

Justice has been floating this theory in several of his recent columns, but he has not done any analysis of how the Texans' assistant coaching salaries stack up against the salaries of other NFL staffs. Without such an objective analysis, this criticism looks like Justice is passing along the sour grapes of either the head coach or the general manager.

Just what is the deal with Chronicle sportswriters shooting from the hip?

Posted by Tom at 6:07 AM | Comments (0) |

November 13, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Rice 42 Tulane 34

The Owls (1-8) get the top spot on the local football review this week as they finally broke their 14 game losing streak (the longest in major college football) in beating Tulane at Rice Stadium. The win was a relief for the Rice program, which could attract a "crowd" of less than 10,000 for homecoming on a mild Texas autumn afternoon. Rumors continue to swirl that this will be head coach Ken Hatfield's last season, and -- despite the problems that the program has endured over the past two seasons -- he is going to be a tough act to replace. While Rice's new affiliation with Conference USA renews its traditional rivalries with Houston, SMU, and Tulane, it's reasonably clear that those rivalries will not be enough to revive the lagging Owl football program. The Owls have a tough game next Saturday at Central Florida before ending the season on the Saturday after Thanksgiving against Houston.

Colts 31 Texans 17

Let's see now. Total yards: Colts 420; Texans 210. Score with 9.5 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter: Colts 21 Texans 0. But for a couple of muffed punts by the Colts, this one would have been even uglier, which is a daunting thought. Meanwhile, the Texans' offensive line -- already the worst in the NFL -- has lost three regular players due to injury, which will probably prompt Coach Dom Capers to rearrange the deck chairs on this version of the Titanic once again (he has already done it a couple of times, described here and here). The Texans (1-8) -- which increasingly resemble those perfectly awful early 1970's Oilers teams -- now have home games the next two Sundays against the Chiefs and the Rams, both of which are likely to lace the Texans' porous defense in the same manner as the Colts did.

Texas Longhorns 66 Kansas 14

Key tip to Kansas head coach Mark Mangino -- don't declare in a post-game press conference that a close Texas victory over your team (last season's, as a matter of fact) is the result of referees throwing the game so that the Longhorns will be eligible for a BCS bowl game. Vince Young might hear about it. After leading this one 28-0 after the first quarter and 52-0 at halftime, the Horns (10-0) now get to rest for their rivalry game with the Aggies in College Station the day after Thanksgiving and the Big 12 Championship game the following Saturday at Reliant Stadium against probably Colorado. If the Horns take care of business in those two games, the Rose Bowl matchup with Southern Cal shapes up to be the most important game for the Texas football program since the classic 1969 "Game of the Century" victory over Arkansas that prompted President Nixon to declare the Horns national champions.

Oklahoma 36 Texas Aggies 30

The 5-5 Aggies are now falling back on moral victories, as they beat the spread for only the third time this season in this one, a sure sign of unfulfilled expectations. After getting blown out 28-7 in the first quarter of this game, the Aggies battled back and made a game of it, only to blow the opportunity to win the game by giving up a 3rd and long pass play with a little over two minutes to go after backing up the Sooners deep in their own part of the field. To make matters worse for the Aggies, QB Reggie McNeal endured what looked like a seriously sprained ankle, so he is questionable at best for the Texas game on the Friday after Thanksgiving. My sense is that the Aggies will get hammered by at least 30 by Texas, which will leave the Aggie faithful a long time before next season to grouse about Coach Fran and the $10 million buyout under his contract. Oh well, although not a national power anymore in football, the Ags are a winner in at least one fall sport.

Houston Cougars 27 Southern Miss 24

The 5-4 Coogs continue to irritate and amaze simultaneously. Although they dominated the line of scrimmage and the statistical battle, the Cougars fell behind 10-0 in this one before coming back to take 20-10 and 27-17 leads in the 4th quarter. Then, the always exciting hometown team coughed up two of their three fumbles -- including a fumble and a flubbed onside kick in the final 2:40 of the game -- to give Southern Miss an opportunity to pull the game out until the very end. Nevertheless, with wins in home games against SMU and Rice in their final two games, the Cougars will be 7-4 and a rather attractive team for a minor bowl game. You gotta love college football.

The Cowboys play the Eagles in the Monday Night game this week before playing Detroit the following Sunday and Denver on Thanksgiving Day. This is the key stretch of the season for the Pokes, who could take control of their division over the next 11 days.

Posted by Tom at 6:51 PM | Comments (5) |

November 11, 2005

Getting up for the OU-A&M game

As we hope that the next installment of Texas A&M football coach Dennis Franchione's Friday with Fran will be as entertaining as last week's installment, the following are ways in which more than a few Aggie fans are getting up for this Saturday's clash in Norman, Oklahoma between the Aggies and the Oklahoma Sooners:

FireDennisFranchione.com

FireFranPetition.com

FranUnderFire.com, which includes this handy list of embarrassments.

Posted by Tom at 8:42 AM | Comments (0) |

The David Carr dilemma

The Houston Texans face a vexing decision with regard to quarterback David Carr, the team's first draft pick in its existence -- whether to pick up an $8 million option to retain Carr's services over the next four seasons?

In what has become his typically superficial manner, the Chronicle's main NFL beat writer, John McClain (previous posts on McClain here), weighs in with this column in which he contends that the Texans will and should pick up the option to retain Carr's services. McClain reasons that the Texans should retain Carr because "every team in the NFL that needed a quarterback would line up to give him a signing bonus of a lot more than $8 million," although McClain provides no supporting analysis for that conclusion.

Well, McClain may be correct and it may be true that the market for experienced QB's in the NFL mitigates in favor of the Texans picking up Carr's option. However, as with McClain's recent criticism of the Texans' personnel moves, it would be nice if McClain could provide some support for his views. Although Carr's development as a QB has been stunted by the Texans' atrocious offensive line, Carr has not shown many signs that he has the potential to be a top notch NFL QB. He has a sidearm delivery that results in a high number of tipped passes. He does not step up in the pocket well, and his ability to pick up secondary receivers is mediocre, at best. Moreover, just looking at the QB's on other teams in the Texans' division, it's far from clear that Carr would be a hot commodity in the NFL's QB market:

Indianapolis -- Peyton Manning. No way they are in the market for Carr.

Cincinnati -- Carson Palmer. Ditto.

Jacksonville -- Bryan Leftwich. Ditto.

Tennessee -- Steve McNair. Maybe, although owner Bud Adams is notoriously tight and would he view Carr as much of an upgrade over McNair's cheap and servicible backup, Billy Volek? That's certainly far from clear.

Similarly, taking a quick look around the NFL, there does not appear to be a large number of teams who would be competing for Carr's services -- my guesses of potential candidates would be Arizona, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Miami, New York Jets, and Tampa Bay, but even most of those teams have viable alternatives who would be far cheaper and not clearly inferior to Carr.

So, McClain may be right about the Texans and Carr. But just as with his recent discovery that the Texans' personnel is deficient, McClain ought to present supporting evidence for his view. Otherwise, his off-the-cuff opinions end up sounding like those of a cheerleader for Carr, just as his similarly sanguine views of Charley Casserly made him appear to be a shill for the Texans' front office before this disastrous season.

Posted by Tom at 6:21 AM | Comments (2) |

November 10, 2005

Charlie Casserly said what?

Chronicle sportswriter John Lopez has a good column today regarding the poor personnel moves of Texans' general manager Charlie Casserly that have been primarily responsible for the Texans' disastrous season this year. Included in the article was the following quote from Casserly:

"We're 1-7, but we're not a 1-7 team," Casserly said. "This isn't a sinking ship deal. I'm not trying to blame coaching or anything like that. Sometimes these things just happen. If we make a couple of good moves, boom, we're back to where we should be next year."

H'mm. Of their eight games this season, the Texans have been competitive in precisely three. QB David Carr continues to be sacked more than any other quarterback in the NFL, and the defense is one of the worst in the league in terms of stopping the run and in sacking the opposing team's quarterback. Sounds precisely like a 1-7 team to me.

Oh well, at least Casserly doesn't blog.

Posted by Tom at 8:00 AM | Comments (4) |

November 8, 2005

Coach Queeg at A&M?

Some people simply should not blog. Let me put this in context.

Two weekends ago, Iowa State hammered Texas A&M 42-14 in front of the fifth largest crowd in the history of Kyle Field. Then, last Saturday night, Texas Tech blistered the Aggies 56-17 in Lubbock.

In between those two debacles, Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione published this post on his Coach Fran website, which included the following:

From appearances at a press luncheon, and a Big 12 phone conference, and at the local Quarterback Club, and at our radio show, the most-asked question of the past week about our game was, "Why didn't you run Jorvorskie Lane on third-and-one?"

Some people asked that question and really didn't care about the answer. In fact, some people right now don't care about anything we say, which is why in our camp we are working hard on doing instead of talking. Other than a few coaches who look at recruiting news, our staff does not spend time on the Internet and this week we didn't spend time with emails or letters, either.

And if that was not sufficiently patronizing for you, try this:

In case you are interested in understanding why we do or don't run a certain play at any given time, the best way to help is to tell you how we design our offense and the game plan. The easiest thing in the world is to sit in the stands or in a press box and have a simple take on what's happening on the field. If it was easy as walking in here and saying, "OK, let's hand the ball off to this guy 25 times and we'll win," we could save a lot of time and effort and get more sleep.

Which is followed by the following pearl of football wisdom:

[F]rom an ancient Asian religion there is a saying, "Wise people seek solutions. Others only cast blame."

The entire piece is not as defiant and condescending as the above excerpts, but you get the idea. As you might expect, more than a few Aggie fans are not pleased with Coach Fran's piece. Meanwhile, the Aggies are 13 point underdogs this Saturday at Oklahoma, where the Aggies lost 77-0 two years ago during Coach Fran's first season. And second-ranked Texas looms after that game.

Can Coach Fran survive four straight blowouts to end his third season at A&M, two of which have been losing seasons? My sense is that he's got one more season, but you never know. For us old-timers who recall the two week meltdown of Emory Bellard as A&M's head coach back in 1978, stranger things than an unexpected firing have happened to coaches in the passionate culture that is Texas A&M football.

Posted by Tom at 12:05 PM | Comments (2) |

November 6, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Texas Longhorns 62 Baylor 0.

The Longhorns (9-0; 6-0 Big 12) relentless march to the BCS National Championship Game against USC continued on Saturday as the Horns barely broke a sweat in racing past undermanned Baylor and Miami took care of Virginia Tech's dream of sneaking past the Horns in the BCS standings. The Horns face a scrimmage against Kansas at home, a rivalry game against a demoralized Aggie team in College Station, and a reasonably competitive game against Colorado in the Big 12 Championship game in in early December at Reliant Stadium. But make no mistake about it -- this Texas team is making its reservations for Pasadena in the first week of January and only a huge upset could scuttle those plans.

Texas Tech 56 Texas Aggies 17.

The Aggies (5-4; 3-3 Big 12) officially packed this season in on Saturday night as the Red Raiders (8-1; 5-1 Big 12) beat the Aggies for the sixth straight time in Lubbock. As predicted earlier, the 16.5 point spread in favor of Tech was the lock bet of the year, and with upcoming games at improving Oklahoma and at home against Texas, the Aggies are facing an almost certain second losing season in the first three seasons of the Coach Fran era. A&M's football program is now clearly among the most underachieving programs in major college football.

Jaguars 21 Texans 14.

The Texans (1-7) continued their march to the number one choice in the 2006 NFL Draft by gift-wrapping a win to a listless Jaguars team Sunday afternoon in Jacksonville. After the Texan defense shut out the Jaguars in the first half and stopped them again on their first series in the second half, Texans QB David Carr fumbled deep in Texan territory while being sacked. The Jags recovered and took in for a score and then tacked on scoring drives of 80 and 82 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the win, prompting Carr and defensive lineman Gary Walker to get into a shouting match as they walked off the field. The Texans go to Indianapolis next week to be served as sacrificial lambs to Peyton Manning and Co., and then return for two straight home games against Kansas City and St. Louis.

Central Florida 31 Houston Cougars 29.

Sigh. Watching the Cougars (4-4; 3-2 CUSA) is just plain frustrating. Penalties, missed tackles, turnovers, tipped passes, and questionable playcalling interspaced with a few big plays that keep the Coogs in the game. Alas, it's hard to beat a team when you give up 500 yards of total offense. Amazingly, the Coogs can still become bowl eligible by winning at least two out of their three remaining home games against Southern Mississippi, S.M.U., and Rice.

SMU 27 Rice 0.

The Owls (0-8; 0-3 CUSA) now have lost 14 straight, the longest losing streak in Division 1A football. After mustering only 230 yards total offense against a bad SMU team (3-6; 2-3 CUSA), the prospects for a win in their remaining games against Tulane, Central Florida and Houston do not appear to be particularly good. The Ken Hatfield firing watch continues.

The Cowboys (5-3) were idle this week, but play three games in 11 days starting next Sunday at Philly, and then at home against Detroit and Denver.

Posted by Tom at 7:15 PM | Comments (2) |

October 30, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Texans 19 Browns 16.

That's a huge sigh of relief that you are hearing from the South Main area as the Texans (1-6) avoided the real possibility of a 0-16 season with their win over the equally hapless Cleveland Browns (2-5). Amazingly, the Texans were able to pull out this field goal battle with only 237 yards of total offense, including 120 yards passing on David Carr's 10 completions on 20 attempts. Let's just say that I don't think that's a prescription for another victory next week in Jacksonville against the 4-3 Jaguars.

Cowboys 34 Cardinals 13.

The Cowboys (5-3) continued to get stellar defensive play as they held the Cardinals (2-5) to just over 200 yards total offense in cruising to an easy victory. The Pokes needed a win in this one as they head into their bye week, after which they have to play three games in 11 days, including tough ones at Philadelphia against the Eagles (4-3) and at home against the Broncos (6-2).

Texas Longhorns 47 Oklahoma State 28

The 8-0 Horns fooled around for a half, but then Vince Young ran 80 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half and the Horns were off to the races against Okie State (3-5). The next junior varsity games for the Horns are at Waco against Baylor (4-4) and at home against Kansas (4-4). Then, it's the Horns rivalry game against A&M (5-3) on the day after Thanksgiving and hopefully a date in the Rose Bowl against USC for the national championship. Stay tuned.

Iowa State 42 Texas Aggies 14

That sinking sound you hear is coming from College Station, where the Aggies (5-3) were clobbered by an underrated Iowa State (5-3) team and now face games at 7-1 Texas Tech (the current 16.5 point line in favor of Tech is a good bet -- for Tech!), at Oklahoma (5-3), and at home against 8-0 Texas to close out the season. That 5-6 record that the Aggies are staring at is not what the Aggie faithful expected in Year III of the Coach Fran era. By the way, you can read about my experience trolling the sidelines in this game here.

UTEP 38 Rice 31.

The plucky Owls (0-7) scored three times after UTEP (6-1) turnovers in the second half and moved to the Miners' 3-yard line in the final minute after recovering on onside kick. But the Owls lost 2 yards on fourth down with a minute left and that iced the Owls' 13th straight loss. However, the Owls have a decent chance next Saturday at Dallas against 2-6 SMU, so keep your fingers crossed.

The Houston Cougars (4-3) were off this week and travel to Orlando next Saturday to play Central Florida (5-3). And, after a brief respite, Kevin Whited is back to summarizing all of the Big 12 Conference games from the past week over at PubliusTX.net.

Posted by Tom at 8:48 PM | Comments (2) |

An afternoon on the sidelines at Kyle Field

On Saturday, I spent a beautiful Texas fall afternoon on the sidelines of Kyle Field in College Station to watch the Texas A&M Aggies host the Iowa State Cyclones in a Big 12 Conference football game.

Iowa State head football coach Dan McCarney and I grew up together in Iowa City, Iowa, where we were teammates on a championship high school football team at City High in 1970. We have remained close friends over the years, and so I have tried to attend each game in Texas that Iowa State plays since Coach Mac became head coach at Iowa State in 1994, and Coach Mac always comes through with a sideline pass for me to each of the games. The following are a few photos that I took Saturday afternoon as the 10.5 point underdog Cyclones steamrolled the Aggies 42-14 in front of over 86,000 rather disheartened Aggie fans.

The Corps "Steps Out". One of many fabulous traditions at A&M on gameday is when the A&M Corps of Cadets "Steps Out" of the Corps' dorm about two blocks away from Kyle Field. Precisely one hour and 45 minutes before kick-off, a cannon blast signals that the outstanding Fightin' Aggie Marching Band is beginning to lead the various Corps squadrons out of the dorm area as they parade down a boulevard to Kyle Field. Thousands of Aggie fans stand along the parade route and cheer the Band and the Corps members as they march toward Kyle Field. When they reach Kyle Field, the band and the Corps march into the stadium before the watchful eye of visiting dignitaries on a reviewing stand, which yesterday included former President Bush and Texas Governor Rick Perry. "Step Out," the parade, and "March In" are truly among the great college gameday traditions in all of college football.

Coach Mac chats with Coach Fran. Coach Mac and Texas Aggie Coach Fran (Dennis Franchione) engage in the traditional head coach pre-game chat at mid-field as both teams go through their pre-game warmups.

Coach Mac and Coach Fran are about the same age, but Coach Mac has been coaching in the Big 12 far longer (11 seasons) than Coach Fran, who is in his third season at A&M. Inasmuch as Coach Fran and his squad are going through a tough season, he's probably passing along his troubles to Coach Mac, who has plenty of experience in enduring tough seasons. By the way, that fellow below the two coaches is fixing something on the turf rather than tying Coach Mac's shoe.

An old quarterback shows he can still throw the pigskin. One of Iowa State's associate head coaches is Terry Allen, shown here throwing pregame warmup tosses to the Iowa State receivers. Terry's family lived across the street from my family while we grew up in Iowa City, although Terry is several years younger than Coach Mac and me, so he did not play ball with us in high school. However, Terry was quite a player, and he went on to be the starting quarterback for three seasons in the late 1970's for the University of Northern Iowa, where he eventually became a successful head football coach. Terry parlayed that success into the head coaching job at the University of Kansas during the early part of this decade, but he -- like many other coaches at that football coaching graveyard -- was fired after just a few seasons. Coach Mac hired Terry immediately and he has become a key member of the Iowa State staff.

Kyle Field is a very intimidating place to play. This is a photo of one of Iowa State's first plays during the game, which prompts me to comment on what it's like on the sidelines of Kyle Field when the visiting team has the ball. To put it gently . . .

IT IS VERY LOUD!

One of the A&M traditions is the 12th Man, which means that all students and many other Aggie fans stand during the entire game and make an incredible amount of noise while the visiting team is attempting to call its signals at the line of scrimmage. The effect of this din is disconcerting, to say the least, and most teams end up relying on hand signals to their wide receivers because of their inability to hear the signals that the quarterback is calling at the line of scrimmage. As a result, more illegal procedure penalties are generated from opponents at Kyle Field than any other venue in college football.

A key play in the game. Although I did not realize it when I was taking this picture, this play turned out to be a key one during the game. With A&M trailing 14-7 late in the first half, A&M's talented quarterback Reggie McNeal is dropping back to pass on the play, but is flushed by the Iowa State defensive line. The fleet McNeal took off done the far sideline, then cut back across the field and raced 65 yards for an apparent touchdown, except for those dreaded words . . .

"There was a flag on the play."

As you can see from this photo, directly in front of McNeal, an Aggie offensive lineman is holding Iowa State defensive lineman Nick Leaders, who has beaten the Aggie lineman badly on the play. That indiscretion cost A&M a game-tying touchdown and, frankly, the Ags never recovered.

The Fightin' Aggie Marching Band lines up for its halftime performance. The Aggie Marching Band is one of the great bands in college football, and this picture shows the band lining up for their halftime performance directly under A&M's "Zone" facility that looms over Kyle Field's north end zone. When the opposing team has the ball and is near the "Zone," the noise down on the field is absolutely deafening. A&M's master facility plan projects that a similar facility will eventually be built in the south end zone of Kyle Field, which will raise the stadium's capacity to 110-115,000.

The Aggie Band specializes in precision military marching drills and patriotic music (think John Phillip Sousa on steroids). My favorites -- the theme to the movie Patton, Noble Men of Kyle and the Strategic Air Command March.

The Tuba Pivot. A favorite part of the Aggie precision marching drills is the pivot that the tuba players make while turning during the drills. You have to see the Tuba Pivot to appreciate it fully, but take it from me -- the Aggie Tuba Corps is one precision outfit!

During the days of the now defunct Southwest Conference, the Aggie Band used to come to Houston each season when the Aggie football team played either Rice or the University of Houston. During those days, the Aggie Band and the Corps of Cadets used to parade down Main Street in downtown Houston the morning of their game against either Rice or UH, and the parade was always well-attended. That's a part of Texas football culture that I miss.

The Final Score. The scoreboard tells the story as the Cyclones beat the Aggies for the first time in eight games between the two schools. Inasmuch as it's highly unusual for Iowa State to beat A&M -- and even more unusual to hammer them at Kyle Field -- Coach Mac came over to me as the final seconds on the clock were winding down to commiserate for a moment before he had to rush off at the end of the game for the midfield handshake with Coach Fran, post-game interviews and his many other responsibilities.

It was a heartwarming moment as I embraced my old friend on the sidelines and congratulated him on his first win over the Aggies until . . . the Iowa State players decided to give Coach Mac the traditional celebratory ice-water dousing at that particular moment! As we both got drenched, Coach Mac and I had a good laugh as we parted, and it was all-in-all a satisfying -- albeit wet -- post-game ride back home to The Woodlands.

Posted by Tom at 6:42 PM | Comments (3) |

October 27, 2005

Unconstructive criticism

Kevin Whited over at blogHouston.net is one of the most insightful local bloggers on matters relating to football. In this post, he observes that John McClain -- the Chronicle's main beat writer on the National Football League for many years -- is a rarity among Houston media types in now suggesting that Houston Texans owner Bob McNair ought to fire General Manager Charlie Casserly along with Texans Head Coach Dom Capers for the Texans' miserable 0-6 start to the 2005 season. Kevin notes that Mr. McClain's criticism of Mr. Casserly is unusual in comparison to the normally fawning treatment that most local sports media types give to the personable and media-savvy Texans General Manager.

Kevin makes a valid point, but what I would like to know is Mr. McClain's explanation for his sudden turnabout -- as late as the pre-season this year, he was also one of the local media types who was fawning over Mr. Casserly and the Texans. For example, check out the following from Mr. McClain's July 24, 2005 column entitled "Playoffs on minds of Texans: Players to put gear for start of camp:"

For the first time in the four-year history of the franchise, the Texans enter training camp as a playoff contender.

While it probably is unfair to expect them to win the AFC South when they never have defeated Indianapolis, it is not too much for fans to expect them to contend for a wild-card berth after the Texans swept Jacksonville and Tennessee last year on the way to a 7-9 record.

This particular article is not unusual. Mr. McClain wrote dozens of similar articles over the past four years in which he breathlessly extolled the virtues of Mr. Casserly and the Texans' front office as he trumpeted the Texans' party line that the team was becoming an NFL playoff contender. Not until the Texans began this season with one of the most devastatingly bad string of performances in recent NFL memory has Mr. McClain began to make the rather obvious point that the Texans do not have enough frontline NFL-quality players and that the players that they do have are not performing well. Ergo the criticism of Mr. Casserly and Coach Capers.

However, what I want to know is this -- how has Mr. Casserly bamboozled experts such as Mr. McClain for all this time? The Texans did not become this bad overnight, although the team did show steady improvement during its first three seasons. Where is Mr. McClain's admission that he and other "experts" at the Chronicle were wrong in gobbling up Mr. Casserly's blather over the past several years that the team was being built "the right way." Rather than taking the easy way out, I would like to read an article by Mr. McClain that is based on thorough research that details the personnel choices of Mr. Casserly, compares those choices to alternatives that were available at the time of such choices, and analyzes why the choices that were made have come together to make the Texans the laughingstock of the NFL.

That type of article is much more difficult to prepare than one that simply observes that Mr. Casserly and Coach Capers ought to be fired. However, it is a much more honest approach to the Texans and one that will contribute something constructive to an otherwise desultory season for Houston's long-suffering supporters of professional football.

Posted by Tom at 7:45 AM | Comments (0) |

October 24, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Texas Longhorns 52 Texas Tech 17

Texas QB Vince Young didn't really have all that good a game, yet Texas (7-0) rolls over formerly undefeated Tech (6-1), anyway. The fact that Tech is arguably the second-best team in the Big 12 this season underscores just how better the Longhorns are than anyone else in the conference. The Horns now have the equivalent of junior varsity games the next three weeks against Oklahoma State, Baylor and Kansas before closing the regular season with its rivalry game against Texas A&M.

Texas Aggies 30 Kansas State 28

Although Kansas State's (4-3) program has trended downward over the past couple of seasons, this was still an important road victory for the Ags, who find themselves at 5-2 even after a disappointing first half of the season. Unfortunately for the Ags, they host a tough Iowa State (4-3) team this week, then go to Tech and Oklahoma before finishing the season at home against the Longhorns. The Ags could lose all of those games, which would not go over well in Aggieland.

Colts 38 Texans 20

Texans QB David Carr was 6 of 9 passing for 48 yards while being sacked 5 times for 42 yards in losses and scrambling for 35 yards on five carries. He also had one interception, which was returned 20 yards. Thus, out of roughly 20 pass plays called in the game, the Texans netted a total of 21 yards. On the other hand, the Texans had 133 yards on 33 running plays. The inescapable conclusion gleaned from this data is that the Texans should simply eschew the innovation of the forward pass altogether and convert to the Wishbone offense. The 0-7 Texans have a rare chance for a victory next Sunday at home against the almost equally hapless Cleveland Browns (2-4).

Seahawks 13 Cowboys 10

The Pokes (4-3) lost one like the Stros in this one by giving up 10 points in the last 40 seconds. The Cowboys really got screwed as they dominated the game defensively, but were denied a probable late touchdown that would have put the game away when the referees inexplicably picked up a defensive holding flag on a third down play near the Seattle goal line where the Seahawk defender clearly attempted to tackle Cowboy TE Jason Whitten during his route. The Big Tuna not only chewed out the officiating staff on the field after that call, but also whacked in full view of the television cameras one of his own staff members who attempted to get in his two cents during the rhubarb. Assuming that defense continues playing in such a dominate fashion, the Cowboys should be O.K. as they have their off week in between relatively easy games against Arizona and Detroit, and a tough one at Philadelphia, over the next month.

Houston Cougars 28 Mississippi State 16

Even a win over a bad Southeastern Conference team is a big step forward for the inconsistent Cougars (4-3), who are still hoping for a minor bowl bid this season. The Coogs are off this week before closing at Central Florida (4-3) and then at home against SMU, Southern Mississippi, and Rice.

Navy 41 Rice 9

The Owls (0-7) death march to a possible 0-11 season continued as a very solid Navy team -- led by its colorful coach Paul Johnson -- trampled the Owls at Rice Stadium before 12,000 friends and family members. Mike Price and UTEP get to pad their stats against the Owls next.

Posted by Tom at 3:58 AM | Comments (2) |

October 17, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Texas Longhorns 42 Colorado 17

Vince Young prevents the Horns (6-0) from having a post-OU letdown as the Horns cruise over what probably is the best Big 12 North team. The win sets up what will certainly be one of the most entertaining games of the Big 12 season next Saturday in Austin as the Horns host 10th-ranked Texas Tech, which is also 6-0. My sense is that Horns' Defensive Coordinator Gene Chizik is licking his chops at the opportunity to unleash the Horns' defensive unit against Tech's idiosyncratic pass-happy offense, but this one should be fun.

Seahawks 42 Texans 10

So, who do you think the Texans should take as the first pick in the 2006 NFL Draft? At this point, it's inconceivable to me that the Texans could win a game this season absent the other team simply laying down and letting them do so. And then the Texans might trip and screw it up, anyway. The team simply does not have enough NFL-quality players, and Head Coach Dom Capers has clearly lost the team -- the Texans gave up 320 rushing yards in an NFL game, had 13 penalties for 95 yards, and the offensive line couldn't even line up without a penalty during the first quarter! Accordingly, Texans owner Bob McNair is facing the unsettling prospect of cleaning house in his football operation -- from General Manager Charlie Casserly on down -- less than four years after the franchise played its first game. Ugh.

Cowboys 16 Giants 13

What a strange game. The Cowboys (4-2) committed four turnovers, missed two field-goal attempts and allowed a tying touchdown with 19 seconds left in regulation. Nevertheless, the Pokes won the toss in overtime, and calmly drove down the field for a 45-yard Jose Cortez field goal for the victory.

"I feel pretty fortunate," Cowboys coach Bill Parcells remarked after the game, in the understatement of the NFL season so far. Much to my surprise, the resilient Pokes are remaining in playoff contention, although they face a tough game next Sunday against the high-powered Seahawks at Seattle.

Texas Aggies 62 Oklahoma State 23

Ags QB Reggie McNeal and freshman RB Jovorskie Lane ran roughshod (almost 300 yards between them) in leading the Ags (4-2) over an inept Oklahoma State team. After three weeks of uninspiring performances, the performance against even a weak opponent was a relief for Aggie faithful, but the calm may be short-lived. The Ags travel to play a hungry Kansas State team next week.

Memphis 35 Houston Cougars 20

In a game that was closer than the final score indicates, the Coogs (3-3) gift-wrapped this one for Memphis as they lost two fumbles in the end zone and missed a 21-yard field goal, all in the second half. The Coogs travel to take on SEC opponent Mississippi State next weekend.

Tulsa 41 Rice 21

After rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic by reassigning his defensive coordintor, embattled Rice head coach Ken Hatfield saw his Owls endure their fifth straight defeat. A rugged Navy team visits Rice Stadium next Saturday, so things don't get any easier anytime soon for the overmatched Owls.

Posted by Tom at 4:00 AM | Comments (5) |

October 10, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Despite this, football was still noticed in these parts over the weekend. First, the good.

Texas Longhorns 45 Oklahoma 12

Dr. Vince Young found a cure for the Stoops Curse -- it's called "Give me the ball and get out of the way."

Young threw for 241 yards and three TD's as the Horns (5-0) romped to their largest margin of victory in this hallowed series. Although Young is such an extraordinary player that he tends to attract most of the attention, the Horns' defense was really the difference in this game as it absolutely manhandled an overmatched OU offense that could muster only 171 yards of total offense.

Probably the best evidence that the Stoops Curse is officially a thing of the past is Coach Stoops' dubious decision to play injured stud running back Adrian Peterson, who "ran" ineffectively for 10 yards on three carries. That was a clear sign of desperation that reflects that things are getting a bit testy these days in Norman, Oklahoma.

By the way, the Horns will have their toughest game next Saturday since the Ohio State game when they host surprising Colorado (4-1).

Cowboys 33 Eagles 10

In their most impressive performance of the season, the Cowboys crushed the Eagles 33-10 as QB Drew Bledsoe directed the Pokes' to two early touchdowns and scores on six of their first seven drives and the defense shut down Philly QB Donovan McNabb and the NFL's top offense. The Pokes host the Giants next Sunday.

Houston Cougars 35 Tulane 14

After an unimpressive start to the season, the Coogs (3-2) had their second straight reasonably impressive performance in downing Tulane somewhere in Louisiana on Saturday afternoon. The Coogs -- who have genuinely talented skilled position players -- are developing a balanced offense that could be extremely difficult to defend as the season progresses. The Coogs host Memphis next weekend then go to SEC opponent Mississippi State the following weekend.

And now, the bad:

Titans 34 Texans 20

Can the Texans (0-4) really do this every week?

The answer is "you bet." The Texans continued their downward spiral, converting none of their 13 third downs and managing just one touchdown long after the game had been decided. They are the only winless team in the league and are 0-4 for the first time in their four year history. To make matters worse, the Texans' best player -- Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson -- left the game in the first quarter with a strained right calf and never returned.

Although 70,430 fans purchased tickets to the game, but only about two-thirds of those bothered to show up. Those that did endured Texans' QB David Carr go 18-of-27 for 131 yards with an interception that Tennessee converted into a field goal in the fourth quarter. Carr was also sacked seven times, which brings the Texans' sack total this season to 27. The Texans' fans roundly booed the team beginning in the second quarter and the stadium was mostly empty by the beginning of the fourth. The only time the crowd really cheered was in the second half when an update of the Stros' comeback against the Braves was announced and the remaining fans began to chant "Let's go Stros!"

I saw and spoke briefly with Texans' owner Bob McNair at the Stros-Braves game on this past Saturday night. I am glad that this good man is able to find some pleasant distractions from this mess. The Texans are on the nationally-televised game next Sunday night in Seattle, which could be very ugly.

Colorado 41 Texas Aggies 21

In game that was not as close as the final score indicates, the Aggies (3-2) did their best imitation of the Texans in rolling over and playing dead in Boulder, Colorado on Saturday night. As Ag QB Reggie McNeal does his best imitation of Texans QB David Carr, the Aggie defense does not appear to be able to stop a hard-charging marching band at this point.

Of the Aggies remaining six games, the Ags look to have a good chance of winning only two of those games, and neither of those (Oklahoma State at home next week and Iowa State at home on Oct. 29th) are locks. What once looked like a promising season now has a 5-6 finish looking like a distinct possibility.

As one crusty football coach once put it to me: "That will go over about as well as a turd in the punchbowl in Aggieland."

East Carolina 41 Rice 28

In one of the few games on their schedule that they could win, the Owls (0-4) defense rolled over and allowed a mediocre East Carolina team to do pretty much anything they wanted. The Owls get Tulsa at home next Saturday.

And don't forget to check out Kevin Whited's weekly Big 12 football review.

Posted by Tom at 4:17 AM | Comments (6) |

October 6, 2005

The Stoops Curse

On the surface, all things look rosy in Texas Longhorn football land these days.

The Horns are the second-ranked team in the U.S., dramatically defeated Michigan in the Rose Bowl after last season, have already beaten mighty Ohio State on the road this season, and have a bonafide Heisman Trophy candidate in QB Vince Young. So, coming into the annual Texas-OU game this weekend in Dallas against an Oklahoma team that has been relatively unimpressive this season, the Horns and their faithful should be calm and supremely confident, right?

Not a chance.

As this Ted Lewis piece notes, you can almost feel Coach Brown and his team gripping the golf club too tightly as they prepare to confront their nemesis, OU head football coach Bob Stoops, whose teams have beaten the Horns for the past five straight years. There is a palpable sense that the mere thought of Coach Stoops throws Coach Brown into a panic, and that Texas' dull offense (at least pre-Vince Young) does not even challenge the defensive-minded Stoops:

Chicago Bears rookie running back Cedric Benson, who just finished playing four years for Brown, sees it much the same way, saying during an ESPN radio interview that "without a doubt" the Texas coaches approached the Oklahoma game trying not to lose more than planning to win.

Certainly the Longhorns, dominant against just about everybody else during Brown's tenure (their 73 victories in his seven-plus seasons at Texas are more than anyone else in the same span), have not been at their best against the Sooners of late.

"We know there are questions about Oklahoma, and that's fair," Brown said. "We haven't played very well or coached very well on that day."

Indeed.

Two of the last five games wound up in humiliating blowouts – 63-14 in 2000 and 65-13 in 2003.

Last year, Oklahoma won 12-0, handing Texas its first shutout in 24 years.

Small wonder frustrated Texas fans have taken to wearing "Reverse the Curse" ornaments.

Still, the Horns are a 14-point favorite, the biggest spread in the game since 1970. OU lost two of its first three games this season, including a shocking home defeat to TCU. Given the Horns' strong play so far this season, Coach Brown should be brimming with confidence, right? Well, not exactly. Commenting on OU's victory this past weekend over Big 12 rival Kansas State, Coach Brown said the following:

"Bob has done an amazing job getting his kids back together. They used that week off to get themselves back to being the Oklahoma teams we're used to -- quick, tough and aggressive."

Yeah, and there is that little problem about the five straight losses to OU, which Coach Stoops uses with the mastery of an experienced gridiron psychologist:

"It gives us the confidence that we match up well against them and we understand what they like to do," Stoops said. "Our players have a sense of that."

Even Barry Switzer, the hated former OU coach whose teams dominated UT for over a decade, chimed in:

"The problem for Mac is getting it done," Switzer said. "He's supposed to win, and by more than he was before the season began. If he can't get it done this time, it's really going to eat away at him. . . "

This is clearly a huge game for Texas and Coach Brown, another put-up-or-shut-up game for a program that has been notorious for underachieving during most of Coach Brown's tenure. Last season's Rose Bowl game was the Horns' highest-profile bowl appearance since they lost the 1978 Cotton Bowl game to Notre Dame while ranked no. 1 in the country. Despite Texas' dramatic win, Michigan was not really a top-tier team last season -- it lost to mediocre Notre Dame and Ohio State (7-4) teams, and San Diego State came within three points of beating the Wolverines at Ann Arbor. As a result, Michigan was ranked only 13th in the BCS standings going into the game and only Pitt, the Big East co-champion, had a worse BCS standing (21st) among the eight schools that played in the last season's BCS bowl games.

In 17 seasons at North Carolina and Texas, a Coach Brown team has never won a conference title. Now, that is understandable at North Carolina, which is a basketball school and had to deal with conference-rival Florida State during Coach Brown's tenure. But no conference championships at Texas -- where the resources and talent pool is virtually unlimited -- is almost unfathomable.

In fact, the quality of play of Coach Brown's Texas teams has often had an inverse relationship with the relative importance of the game, as the following reflects:

Those five consecutive losses to Oklahoma.

An 0-2 record in Big 12 championship games, where the Horns lost to Nebraska in 1999 and, with a BCS bowl berth seemingly in the bag, were upset by Colorado in 2001.

A 4-3 bowl game record, including that horrifying 28-20 loss to Washington State in the 2003 Pacific Life Holiday Bowl in which Texas' offense acted as if it had never seen a zone blitz before.

Accordingly, despite the apparent mismatch, this particular OU game may be the most important game of Mack Brown's coaching career. The Horns' win over a strong Ohio State team on the road was arguably the most impressive win by a Brown-coached team. But if the Horns blow this one to OU and its uber-coach Stoops, then the Ohio State win will quickly fade from memory as Longhorn fans contemplate whether the Texas program will ever gain true top-tier status under the very well-paid Coach Brown.

Posted by Tom at 7:04 AM | Comments (0) |

October 2, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Bengals 16 Texans 10

The local media will likely view this game as a moral victory because the Texans (0-3) at least had a chance to win the game. However, the Texans passing game generated a measly 128 yards on a 4.9 yards per pass average. The rushing attack generated 126 yards for a slightly-better 5.5 per rush average. The bottom line is that 254 yards of total offense will not win many NFL games. The defense was decent, allowing less than 100 yards rushing and keeping the team in the game for the most part. But folks, this is shaping up as a very looong season for the Texans. The Texans better beat Tennessee at home next Sunday because they have Seattle on the road and Indianapolis at home the two weeks after that one. 0-6 is looking like a distinct possibility.

Raiders 19 Cowboys 13

That hissing sound is the air leaking out quickly of the Cowboys' (2-2) once promising season. The Pokes are now 2-2 and in the cellar of the strong NFC East Division. Dallas is not running the ball particulary well so far this season, and Drew Bledsoe is probably not capable of putting up the kind of passing statistics necessary to carry this team's offense. The Cowboys are light years better than the Texans, but this does not look so far like an NFL playoff caliber team.

Texas Longhorns 51 Missouri 20

Let's see now. Second-ranked Texas (4-0) has 14 penalties in the game, has two turnovers and a fumbled snap on a fourth down play near the goal line, and is only a point ahead after the first quarter on the road. Sounds as if they should be in trouble, right?

Nope. This is an exceptionally explosive Longhorn team, so it doesn't take them long to pile up the points. But the big hurdle for this team is directly in front of them this week in Dallas: The Horns face Oklahoma (2-2), which has won five straight games in the series, and UT coach Mack Brown must deal once again with the intimidation of being continually out-coached by Sooners' coach Bob Stoops. OU superback Adrian Peterson appears to have a hitch-in-his-giddyup and the Horns appear to have the much better balanced team, but you can throw out the statistics and record-to-date in this one. I think Texas will have all that it can handle in this one.

Texas Aggies 16 Baylor 10

I don't think this result is what Aggie (3-1) fans had in mind before their team goes on the road to face Colorado (3-1) and Kansas State (3-1) in two of the next three weeks. In fact, I'm sure it's not.

Houston Cougars 30 Tulsa 23

The hard-luck Cougars (2-2) get a nice road win after bailing out before Hurricane Rita and spending the week in a downtown Tulsa hotel. The Coogs play hurricane-displaced Tulane (2-1) in Lafayette, La. next Saturday.

UAB 45 Rice 26

The 0-3 Owls lose their ninth straight game stretching back to last season. The seat is getting very hot for Rice coach and genuine nice guy Ken Hatfield.

For more thorough analysis of the week's Big 12 games, check out Kevin Whited's weekly review.

Posted by Tom at 8:57 PM | Comments (6) |

September 26, 2005

What's really going on over at Texansville?

Kevin Whited over at blogHouston.net has this interesting post chronicling the trial balloons that are being floated out of the Houston Texans' camp these days as various coaches and management figures attempt to deflect criticism for the team's absolutely horrendous start to the 2005 season.

Although the Texans have a myriad of problems, it appears reasonably clear that the biggest one is that they do not have enough good players. That problem falls squarely in the lap of General Manager Charlie Casserly, whose golden touch with the media has been much better than his coordination of choosing the team's players. The good news is that the Texans are almost $10 million under the NFL salary cap. Moreover, even with the almost certain decision at this point to exercise an $8 million option on under-performing QB David Carr's contract for next season, the Texans should still have plenty of room under next season's salary cap to attract some good offensive and defensive linemen during this upcoming off-season. The key question that Texans owner Bob McNair has to address is this:

Given the below-average nature of the player selections made to date, should Casserly be in charge of making the next round of player selections for the team?

Posted by Tom at 8:27 AM | Comments (0) |

September 25, 2005

Does Joe Pendry use the Run 'N Shoot?

Looks as if Chronicle NFL sportswriter John McClain better avoid political analysis and stick to football.

In the introduction to a column noting that new Texans offensive coordinator Joe Pendry is much more conservative in his offensive philosophy than the just-fired Chris Palmer, McClain makes the following analogy:

"Texans offensive coordinator Joe Pendry has a reputation for being so conservative he makes George W. Bush look like Bill Clinton."

Posted by Tom at 7:05 AM | Comments (1) |

September 23, 2005

"Houston to Coach Briles, are you with us?"

For the sake of the University of Houston football program, I am hoping that head football coach Art Briles had his tongue placed squarely in his cheek during his weekly radio show Wednesday described by Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice:

"OK, there's no requirement that your local college football coach has to read the New York Times Book Review.

But shouldn't he know something.

UH's Art Briles went on the radio Wednesday and just about made a fool out of himself.

When he was asked if this week's game with Southern Miss would be cancelled, he said he hadn't heard anything about it. He also said he hadn't heard anything about a hurricane.

If I'm the president or athletics director at UH, I'm wondering if this guy might have a little too much tunnel vision."

Posted by Tom at 6:12 AM | Comments (1) |

September 20, 2005

Coach Price turns up the heat on Sports Illustrated

This prior post related the interesting story of former University of Alabama football coach and current University of Texas at El Paso football coach Mike Price's $20 million libel lawsuit against Time Inc. The lawsuit involves an allegedly false and malicious story that Time's Sports Illustrated magazine ran in May, 2003 involving a very wild night that Coach Price had in Pensacola, Florida while attending a University of Alabama football-related golf tournament. That night of festive activity led to Coach Price's termination as the Alabama football coach before he had ever coached a game for the Crimson Tide.

Well, the Price v. Time case is getting very interesting, as this recent AL.com story relates. An appellate panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has advised Time's attorney in this decision that the attorney-client privilege does not obviate the attorney's parallel obligation as an officer of the trial court to advise the court of perjury that would help identify a confidential source. The attorney stuck between a rock and a hard place is Gary C. Huckaby of Huntsville, Ala., who represents Time in the Price lawsuit.

The crux of the issue before the Eleventh Circuit was the magazine's article in 2003 that Coach Price invited two women he met at a strip club to his hotel room and had sex with them there. Coach Price has denied having sex with any woman in his hotel room that night, so in pursuing his libel suit, he has sought to discover from Time the identity of the anonymous source for the article. Time objected to the discovery on the grounds that the identity of such a sources is confidential.

A U.S. District Judge previously ordered Time to identify the confidential source, and the magazine appealed. During oral argument on that appeal in May, Eleventh Circuit Judges Edward E. Carnes and William H. Pryor Jr. asked Mr. Huckaby from the bench what he would do if, during cross-examination of a witness in a deposition, he heard the person who he knew to be the confidential source deny being the source and, thus, commit perjury. Mr. Huckaby confirmed to the appellate court that he would advise the U.S. District Judge handling the case of any such perjured testimony.

As a result, the panel issued this July decision that vacated the District Court's order requiring Time to disclose the identity of its confidential source. However, the panel went on to point out that Coach Price's counsel could discover the source's name anyway by simply deposing the four women who everyone knows were interviewed for the story and then asking each witness whether she was the confidential source. Faced with the prospect of Mr. Huckaby having to divulge perjury committed by its confidential source, Time requested that the panel reconsider its ruling on the grounds that the attorney-client privilege and ethical standards precluded Mr. Huckaby from identifying his client's confidential source -- even if he knew that she was committing perjury -- because Mr. Huckaby had no duty to advise the trial court of the perjury of a witness who was not his client.

The Eleventh Circuit panel did not buy Time's argument:

"[Time] insist[s] that it is the perfect prerogative of an officer of the court to stand silently by as the search for truth is led astray by perjury -- assuming, of course, that the perjury serves his client's interests.

That is an interesting position. Whatever its merit in general circumstances, there may be problems with it in situations involving the search for a confidential source in a libel case, as this case illustrates. Through their counsel defendants have steadfastly refused to divulge their confidential source for the article in question; they have attempted to shield her identity by every legal means; . . . Now they say that if the confidential source lies under oath and obstructs the pathway to the truth that their counsel has urged us to take, he has no duty to remove the obstruction by reporting the lie. We have some problems with that position.

Does anyone else get the sense that Time needs to settle this case quietly?

Posted by Tom at 12:44 PM | Comments (0) |

The Texans' next firing?

This Wall Street Journal ($) article profiles Dr. Fran Pirozzolo, The Woodlands-based sports psychologist who has developed a successful practice by catering to a couple of dozen professional athletes who seek him out for "stress inoculation" and other "mental toughness" techniques that supposedly enhance performance. I have listened to Dr. Pirozzolo several times on local sports-talk radio shows and, for the life of me, cannot understand how he is able to persuade professional athletes to pay him money for the psycho-babble that he exudes on those shows. However, as the article notes, Dr. Pizzorolo is also the "staff psychologist" of the Houston Texans, who are not exactly the most well-adjusted and emotionally stable group at this time. If offensive coordinator Chris Palmer lost his job after these two performances (here and here), then how on earth has Dr. Fran not also been canned?

Posted by Tom at 8:05 AM | Comments (2) |

September 19, 2005

Texan fans in full revolt

The Texans firing of offensive coordinator Chris Palmer this morning did little to quell the anger of Texan fans over yesterday's debacle, one of whom emailed me as follows:

"The biggest joke of all is leaving the roof open. On Friday, I got an e-mail telling me that the roof would be open and that I should stay hydrated during the game. I couldn't believe they were sending out a heat related medical advisory on a stadium that has air conditioning. During the first year of the new stadium, management said it was going to keep the roof open in order to have an advantage over the teams that didn't practice in the Texas heat. So, yesterday, the Texans -- whose bench is on the sunny side of the field -- sat there and baked. The Steelers had air-conditioned benches (Texans not) and sat in the shade. Moreover, the Texans lost whatever home field advantage we might have had because half of the seats were emptied by people seeking refuge from the sun. What a bunch of Braniacs."

Key hint to the Texans' front office -- the only thing worse than an angry fan is an angry fan who is also hot and sweaty after boiling in the sun for three hours.

Looks like it's going to be a long season, folks.

Posted by Tom at 1:28 PM | Comments (1) |

September 18, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Pittsburgh 27 Texans 7

"Houston, we have a problem."

After an absolutely awful performance in Week One of the NFL schedule, the Texans outdid themselves in their home opener by rolling over and playing dead to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-7. This is a Texans team that is clearly in turmoil, as most of the players are lifeless and merely going through the motions. In fact, the Texans are beginning to resemble those vintage Oiler disaster-teams of the early 1970's.

QB David Carr is now officially a basket-case who is reverting to survival instincts in the face of even a moderate pass rush from the opposition. Unfortunately for Carr and the Texans, even that approach is not doing much good as Carr was sacked eight times by the Steelers and vented his frustration openly on the field and on the sidelines throughout the game. In fact, a Steelers linebacker Joey Porter was quoted with the following after the game by media reporters:

"[Carr] didn't know what to do. We had him confused. He was arguing with his offensive linemen. It's always a good sign for the defense when the quarterback's yelling at his teammates."

"Sometimes he sacked himself. He was running everywhere, (taking) delay of games, throwing the ball in the dirt, taking sacks, running into guys — he was scrambling for no reason at times."

Texans offensive coordinator Chris Palmer was not exactly ebullient with his QB, either:

"They scramble around and make plays. We scramble around and we don't make plays."

Not a ringing endorsement of the Texans' first draft choice in franchise history.

Meanwhile, the Texans defense remains incapable of generating any meaningful pass rush on the opposition's QB, so the Steelers were able to gain huge chunks of yardage through the air on Sunday. By the way, would someone please introduce new Texan cornerback Phillip Buchanon to Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward?

Frankly, Texans owner Bob McNair has some tough questions to address with the Texans football management. The Texans problem is that they do not have enough good players to compete with teams such as the Steelers, and the responsibility for that deficiency is squarely in the lap of Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly. The Texans have drafted 40 players in four NFL Drafts and, from what I can see, only three players taken in those drafts -- WR Andre Johnson, RB Domanick Davis, and CB Dunta Robinson -- are better than average NFL players. That appears to be an extremely poor drafting record for any NFL team, but particularly for an expansion team such as the Texans. It may not be time to clean house, but it's sure time to start addressing what's wrong with the Texans' plan or the execution of that plan.

Finally, one key hint to the Texans' front office -- give up on this silly notion that the Texans achieve some type of competitive advantage over the opposition by keeping the roof of Reliant Stadium open on a brutally hot afternoon when tempuratures in the sunlight in the stadium easily exceeded 100 degrees.

The Texans will be underdogs against their open week this coming Sunday, while they travel to Cincinnati in two weeks to get pummelled by the red-hot Bengals.

Update: The good news is that the offensive coordinator has been replaced. The bad news is that the new offensive coordinator is the offensive line coach! Can you say "Rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic?"

Texas Longhorns 51 Rice 10

Does anyone else think that freshman RB Jamaal Charles looks a lot better than Cedric Benson did as a freshman?

The Horns (3-0) toyed with Rice (0-2) before taking the next week off. The Horns travel to Missouri for a warm-up game before taking on the Sooners in Dallas on October 8th. Given OU's troubles, the Horns biggest problem against OU this season may be over-confidence. Rice (0-2) has tough games against Navy in Houston next weekend and then at UAB the following weekend, so an 0-4 start is a distinct possibility for the Owls.

Texas Aggies 66 SMU 8

Despite the loss to Clemson in their first game, my sense is that the Ags (1-1) are going to be a very good team by the end of this season and may be -- along with Tech -- one of the only teams that can give the Horns a run for their money this season. This is a very fast, strong and deep Aggie team that runs and passes the ball equally well. If the defense improves over the course of the season, this bunch could develop into a Top Ten team. The Ags get a JV game against Texas State next week before hosting Baylor the following week in their initial Big 12 game of the season.

UTEP 44 Houston 41 (OT)

The Coogs (1-2) are a frustrating team to watch. They clearly have some talented skill position players who can break an exciting TD run or pass at virtually any time. Meanwhile, however, their games are a mish-mash of penalties, sacks, fumbles, turnovers, missed assignments and poor tackling. I'm not sure that this is entertainment. The Cougars host Southern Miss next Saturday.

Finally, remember to check out Kevin Whited's weekly Big 12 report for analysis of the rest of games involving the rest of the Big 12 Conference.

Posted by Tom at 8:39 PM | Comments (6) |

September 12, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Two local quarterbacks had very different tales during the first full week of college and pro football of the 2005 season.

Texas Longhorns 25 Ohio State 22

In a magnificent early-season game between two storied college football programs, Texas' WR Limas Sweed made a tremendous catch for the winning touchdown in the closing minutes on a 24 yard pass from QB Vince Young as the Longhorns held on to beat Ohio State before a record 105,000 crowd in Columbus. Although the gazelle-like Young was the media-picked star of the game, it was the Longhorn defense that actually won the game for the Horns as that plucky unit held the Buckeyes to three field goals after three Longhorn turnovers deep in their own territory gave the Ohio State offense multiple opportunities to build an insurmountable lead. Also, it looks to me as if the Horns have a couple of emerging stars in freshman RB Jamaal Charles and MLB Aaron Harris. About the only negative for the Horns was their kick-off team, which continued the abysmal trend that first appeared in last season's Rose Bowl game against Michigan. The Horns have a couple of warm-up games against Rice at home and Missouri on the road sandwiched around an off-week before the Oklahoma game on October 8th in Dallas.

Buffalo 22 Texans 7

In a game that was not as close as the score indicates, the Texans looked even worse than they did in the final game of last season against Cleveland in losing to the Bills in Buffalo. QB David Carr and the offense were pathetic, as Carr threw three interceptions and fumbled once, and was sacked five times and harrassed on virtually every pass play. The offense could generate only 107 yards, had seven possessions of three plays or less, and did not have a first down until the second quarter when the Bills already led 12-0. The only positive from the game was the play of the Texans' defense, which held the Bills to only one touchdown despite being put in adverse positions the entire game by the Texans' ineffectual offense. It doesn't get any easier for the Texans as they play the Steelers at home and the Bengals in Cincy with their off-week in between over the next three weeks. Frankly, based on their performance in the Bills game and despite my generally positive pre-season analysis, it's a bit difficult to see how the Texans could win more than just a few games this season.

Cowboys 28 San Diego 24

New Cowboys QB Drew Bledsoe three three TD passes as the Cowboys held on to beat the Chargers in San Diego. Former Texans CB Aaron Gleen intercepted a Drew Brees pass in the Cowboys end zone with 24 seconds left to seal the win for the Pokes. By the way, Brees is about the same age as David Carr and has roughly the same experience level as Carr, but Brees is a far superior QB to Carr at this point in their careers.

Houston 31 Sam Houston State 10

The Coogs overpowered a good Division I-AA Sam Houston team while warming up for their first C-USA game against a tough UTEP team in El Paso next Friday night.

UCLA 63 Rice 21

In another game that was not as close as the score indicates, the Owls allowed UCLA to score the first seven times they had the ball, and apparently stood by and watched as the Bruins rolled up 300 yards total offense in the first quarter and over 400 yards by halftime. In the understatement of the year, Rice coach Ken Hatfield observed after the game that "it was a physical mismatch. They're just plain better than us." Rumor has it that Texas will play its junior varsity against the Owls this Saturday in Austin.

The Texas Aggies were off this past weekend and play SMU in College Station on Saturday before taking on Texas State and Baylor at home over the following two weekends before traveling to Boulder to play Colorado. And Kevin Whited is back from vacationing and has cranked back up his weekly Big 12 Conference football review.

Posted by Tom at 4:00 AM | Comments (1) |

September 9, 2005

Houston Texans, Year Four

As the fourth season of the Houston Texans begins this Sunday in Buffalo against the Bills, Houston professional football fans no longer consider the Texans an NFL expansion franchise. As a result, it's now put up or shut up time for a franchise that has largely received a free pass from a fan base that, for the first three seasons of the team's existence, was simply thrilled that the National Football League had returned to Houston.

That inherited goodwill is pretty well used up, as the boo-birds let the Texan team members know during an awful final regular season loss last season to the moribund Cleveland Browns. That debacle blew the opportunity for the Texans to finish the season at an even 8-8. Nevetheless, a 7-9 record for a third year franchise is still respectable, and the Texans do have a number of positive factors working in their favor, not the least of which is a wonderful fellow in owner Bob McNair. So, even with the team's generally awful 2005 pre-season performances, there remains an air of cautious optimism regarding the Texans' chances this season.

The Texans' 2004 season was an odd one as the team was wildly inconsistent, either combining a good defensive game with a poor offensive one or a lousy first half performance in a particular game with an inspired second half effort. The team's first (against San Diego) and last (against the Browns) games were awful, but the Texans recovered from the San Diego loss to win four of six games to rise to a 4-3 season by midseason. Then, despite some close games, the Texans faded to 3-6 down the stretch to end the season at 7-9.

Some aspects of the Texans 2004 performance were very encouraging. Andre Johnson bloomed into an All-Pro receiver and QB David Carr had his second and third 300 yard passing games, flinging five TD passes and only one interception in those games. The defense laid the wood to division rival Jacksonville in two games, allowing a total of six points and forcing four turnovers. One of the Texans' two first round draft picks in the 2004 NFL draft -- CB Dunta Robinson -- was spectacular all season, which included a two-interception game against the Raiders and a two-sack game against the Colts. After overcoming nagging early season injuries, RB Domanick Davis was one of the best running backs in the NFL with a 4.5 per carry average and ten TD's.

Unfortunately, the three big issues for the Texans going into the 2004 season -- a deficient offensive line, the lack of a pass rush and mediocre play at quarterback -- remain the team's big question marks going into this season. Although the Texans football management team of GM Charlie Casserly and Head Coach Dom Capers have done a solid job of developing the team over its first three seasons, the fact that the team's main problems beginning this season are the same ones that existed before last season is a reason for Mr. McNair to pause and contemplate the direction of the franchise.

The Texans did make an unsuccessful off-season run at signing All-Pro Orlando Pace in an effort to shore up the troublesome offensive left tackle position that still has not recovered from the ill-fated Tony Boselli deal. However, after Pace re-signed with the Rams, the Texans settled on mediocre Saints right tackle Victor Riley to provide competition for Seth Wand, the Texans' starting left tackle last season who was overmatched in only his second season out of Division II college football. Riley has beat Wand out during the pre-season, which does not bode well for the prospect of the offensive line improving much this season. The other members of the unit are reasonably capable and durable, but no one will mistake this unit for the OLine of the Broncos or the Chiefs. Which begs the question -- why on earth is Texans management giving OG Chester Pitts -- who leads NFL offensive linemen in penalties over the past two seasons -- a lucrative new contract?

On the defensive side, Texans management decided after last season that this unit was getting too old, so the team jettisoned several of veteran players such as Aaron Glenn and brought in a new cornerback (the Raiders' Phillip Buchanon), two new linebackers and a rookie defensive lineman that the team selected in the first round of the draft (Travis Johnson). Nevertheless, 2004 first round draft choice, LB Jason Babin -- who is in the second season of making the transition, like Wand, from small college football to the NFL -- still has not shown the ability to pressure the passer consistently. Consequently, although younger and faster than last season's defense, it remains unclear whether this season's defensive unit will be any more effective than last season's unit in generating the type of pass rush that leads to turnovers and wins.

However, the most important element in the Texans' ultimate success remains the development of the franchise's first draft choice, QB David Carr. Carr has been the sacrificial lamb of a deficient offensive line during his first three seasons, so his lack of development is somewhat understandable. Nevertheless, he has a poor throwing motion that makes his passes prone to deflection at the line of scrimmage and he still has not shown the ability to pick up secondary receivers. Moreover, after completing almost 65% of his passes for an average of 270 yards per game in the first eight games of the 2004 season, Carr had a pedestrian 59% completion rate for an average of 172 yards per game in the final eight games. There is no way around it, that's a troubling trend.

Consequently, the Texans' upcoming season revolves around the development of Carr and the offensive line. If Carr and the OLine show consistent development, the Texans could finish 9-7. Add in a defensive unit that is more successful in putting pressure on opposing QB's and the team could reach 10-6, and be a viable candidate for a Wild Card playoff berth. On the other hand, if Carr and the OLine's inconsistent play of the past three seasons continues, then this could easily become a 5-11 or 6-10 team, which would not go over well in Houston's hard-knuckled pro football circles. If that happens, then the Texans' privileged existence as the city's conduit back to the NFL will end, and Mr. McNair will be dealing with the difficult task of selling a very high-priced product to an increasingly dissatisfied customer base.

Posted by Tom at 5:00 AM | Comments (5) |

September 5, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

Amidst the chaos resulting from Hurricane Katrina, at least a small amount of normalcy returned this past weekend as the local college football season kicked off. As with last season, I will pass along a brief summary of the local and notable college and professional games of the past week, and refer to links that provide more thorough analysis of particular games. Now, for this week's games:

Texas Longhorns 60 Louisiana-Lafayette 3

The Horns cruised in what amounted to a scrimmage against outmanned an outmanned and understandably distracted team from Louisiana-Lafayette, otherwise know as "La-La" in football circles. However, the price of poker goes up considerably this coming Saturday as the Horns travel to Columbus, Ohio to face a fellow top 10 ranked Ohio State team.

Although the Longhorns have finished in the Top 12 for five straight seasons, have 16 starters returning and are coming off an 11-1 season and a dramatic Rose Bowl victory over Michigan, the long shadow of Darrell Royal still looms over Mack Brown and his embarrassing 1-12 record against top five-ranked teams, which includes a grating five straight losses to Brown's nemesis, Bob Stoops and Oklahoma. In my view, UT really has only five reasonably tough games on its schedule this season, and the game against Ohio State is one of only two that are true away games (the other true away game is with A&M in College Station to end the season, although the Horns do play a quasi-away game against OU in Dallas). With expectations sky high in Longhorn-land, the Ohio State game will likely set the tone for the Horns' season.

By the way, for extensive analysis of all things relating to the Longhorns, check out the All Things Longhorn blog.

Clemson 25 Texas Aggies 24.

In Dennis Franchione's first season in 2003, an undermanned Aggie squad had one of the worst defenses in the past 20 seasons of Aggie football. In his second season last year, the Aggies were one of the most improved teams in college football, but struggled to stop the run against top-flight competition and ended the season with embarrassing losses to Texas and Tennessee.

Now, in his third season, Coach Franchione has his most talented team and is armed with an improved contract that pays him over $2 million per year. The result in the first game? The Aggies can still not stop the run against top flight competition and, to make matters worse, the Aggies certainly did not get their money's worth in regard to Coach Franchione's blown decision not to go for two points midway through the 4th quarter that would have given the Ags a three point lead and, as the game turned out, a chance to win in overtime.

The Ags have three straight games at home against weak teams before traveling to Colorado on October 8th, so the restless in Aggieland will calm down a bit by then. But even though this is Franchione's most talented Aggie team, a tough conference schedule -- away games against Colorado, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma, and a home game against Texas -- means that even an improved Aggie team may not have as good a record as last season's 7-4 slate.

Note to Coach Fran -- you really do not want to go there.

By the way, for more thorough analysis of all things relating to Aggie football, check out Texas A&M and Baseball in No Particular Order.

Oregon 38 Houston 24

Last season, Houston's offensive line resembled a huge sieve and its defense could not even shut down a hard-charging marching band.

In its first game this season, Houston's offensive line resembled a huge sieve and its defense would have had problems stopping Oregon's marching band.

Some things never change. The Coogs look like a 4-7 team to me.

TCU 17 Oklahoma 10

Does anyone really question anymore that Jason White was an extraordinary college quarterback?

The Sooners were the most talented and experienced team in college football last season -- NFL teams drafted the incredible number of 10 players off that squad, including two players in the first round and three in the second. However, for the second straight season, the Sooners laid an egg in the National Championship game, and the 2005 edition returns only nine starters off last season's talented team. So, the Sooners -- despite a load of very good young talent -- are clearly in rebuilding mode, and the TCU game reflected that fact in spades.

The following are a few questions that OU fans should be asking after the TCU debacle:

After the loss of three starters (including an Outland Award winner) and a top reserve, will the Sooners offensive line develop quick enough to allow the Sooners to score enough to be a serious contender for the Big 12 South title?

Despite the o-line problems, how is it that Adrian Peterson, the best running back in college football, only had eight carries in the first half of the TCU game?

Did an experienced offensive line and Jason White's excellence as a college QB cover-up Chuck Long's deficiencies as an offensive coordinator?

Stay tuned for the answer to these questions.

Rice opens its season this Saturday in L.A. against UCLA (1-0), and the Texans open their season this Sunday against the Bills in Buffalo. Look for my pre-season analysis of the Texans later this week. Also, for more detailed analysis of Big 12 games, check out Kevin Whited's weekly posts over at PubliusTX.Net, which ought to crank up in another week or two.

Posted by Tom at 5:45 AM | Comments (0) |

August 14, 2005

The politics of Texas college football

If you are interested in college football, then don't miss the well-done series of articles in the by Mark Wangrin in today's San Antonio Express-News, The Great Texas Football Rebellion.

Mr. Wangrin does a nice job of recounting the details and intrigue behind the creation of the Big 12 Conference, including the parochial Texas politics that kept TCU and the University of Houston out of the conference and perennial doormat Baylor in.

Moreover, Mr. Wangrin tells the story about how the Texas schools -- particularly the University of Texas -- insisted upon more stringent entrance requirements for student-athletes in the new Big 12 Conference, which was a key development in the decline of Nebraska's football powerhouse. For decades, Big Red's program thrived in the Big 8 Conference on recruiting out-of-state players who did not meet many big school's entrance requirements, but who were able to meet NU's lenient entry requirements for football players -- remember Mike Rozier?. However, the leveling of entrance requirements in the Big 12 has slowed down the flow in the pipeline of out-of-state players to Nebraska, as the 5-6 record from last season (the worst since 1961) reflects. The most recent change in coaching staffs indicates that Nebraska is taking a different approach from the one that had been followed successfully for the past 45 years (indeed, it appears that arch-rival Oklahoma is the now the model for Nebraska's program), but it is still too early to say whether the Nebraska program can regain its stature among the elite college football programs.

Mr. Wangrin provides a wealth of background information on Texas college football and should be required reading for any fan of the collegiate gridiron. Check it out.

Posted by Tom at 8:50 PM | Comments (1) |

July 5, 2005

Hank Stram, R.I.P.

Hank Stram, one of the most creative professional football coaches and indisputedly one of the best evaluators of talent, died on Monday at the age of 82 from complications of diabetes. He was best known for coaching the Kansas City Chiefs to one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, a 23-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in 1970's Super Bowl IV, a game that was particularly notable because of pre-game allegations regarding Kansas City QB Len Dawson's alleged association with gambling figures.

The Chronicle's Mickey Herskowitz -- the preeminent sportswriter regarding football coaches from Stram's era -- weighs in on Coach Stram in this typically fine column. Mr. Herskowitz's piece includes the following anecdote about the early days of professional football in Dallas, where Coach Stram coached the Dallas Texans AFL franchise. After sharing the Metroplex with the Dallas Cowboys NFL franchise for a couple of seasons, the Texans franchise moved to Kansas City in deference to the Cowboys. Herskowitz observes:

Stram fought the battle of Dallas, where the Cowboys and Texans both drew so poorly that a playoff was suggested, with the winning team getting to leave town.

Posted by Tom at 9:42 AM | Comments (0) |

May 5, 2005

Nebraska upsets OU!

Following on these earlier posts on the current conflict between the Universities of Nebraska and Oklahoma, the 'Huskers have scored an upset!

My sense is that the 'Huskers will not do as well against the Sooners on the gridiron this fall.

Update: OU fan Jim Bob Baker, who had taken the "over" on the pre-verdict over/under betting line of a three year sentence for the defendant, observed the following about the jury:

"Not guilty? Gee, I didn't know that there were that many Oklahoma State alumni in Cleveland County (Norman), Oklahoma."

Posted by Tom at 6:29 AM | Comments (2) |

April 27, 2005

Nebraska v. OU

The University of Nebraska's storied football program has fallen on hard times recently, and it seems like forever since the Huskers were even competitive in a football game against their arch-rival, Oklahoma. And the program hasn't fared very well in the courtroom, either.

Following on the incident reported in this post from last fall, this CBS Sportsline article reports jury selection in Cleveland County, Oklahoma District Court for the former Nebraska offensive lineman who is charged with aggravated assault for ramming a University of Oklahoma's spirit squad member into the brick wall that surrounds OU's Owen Field prior to the most recent Nebraska v. OU football game last November. The Nebraska lineman faces up to five years in the slammer if convicted on the charge.

Given the home court advantage, the prosecution is favored. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 4:42 AM | Comments (3) |

April 13, 2005

Houston vies for Super Bowl XLIII

This Chronicle article reports on the road trip that several Houston business and city government representatives are taking to New York this week for a Thursday meeting with National Football League officials on Houston's bid to host Super Bowl XLIII (i.e., 43) in 2009. Final bids must be submitted by May 2, and the league's owners will award the Super Bowl to one of the candidates on May 25 at the NFL summer meetings in Washington. Houston and Atlanta are considered the early favorites to win the bid, although Tampa and Miami also are submitting bids.

Houston's successful hosting of the Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 is certainly a feather in its cap, but the competition for hosting the Super Bowl is getting very stiff. With new stadiums likely to be completed in both Dallas and New York by 2010, and with San Diego, Miami and New Orleans being the favored sites for Super Bowls, Houston might not be in the running to host another Super Bowl for a long time if it is not successful in its bid for the 2009 game.

Posted by Tom at 6:20 AM | Comments (0) |

April 8, 2005

A true character at the Naval Academy

When Naval Academy head football coach Paul Johnson took over the head coaching job after the 2001 season, he inherited a Navy football program that that had gone 1-20 over the two seasons before he was hired.

In Coach Johnson's first season, Navy went 2-10, playing six teams that played in postseason bowl games. But then, in 2003, Navy went 8-5 and became just the sixth team in NCAA history to make a bowl game two years or less after a winless season. This past season, the Midshipmen were 10-2, which was Navy's first 10 win season in 99 years. In so doing, the Midshipmen wrapped up their second consecutive Commander in Chief's Trophy (their last one had been in 1981) and beat New Mexico in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco to give Navy its first bowl win since 1996.

In short, Coach Johnson can flat out coach.

Longtime Houston oil and gas attorney Dick Watt gained an appreciation for cogent football coaches while playing under the legendary Darrell Royal and Coach Royal's late Defensive Coordinator, Mike Campbell, on the fine University of Texas football teams from 1966-68. Dick's son, Andrew, is currently attending the Naval Academy and so Dick has taken an interest in Coach Johnson, whose blunt nature reminds him of football coaches from bygone eras.

Along those lines, Dick passes along this recent interview with Coach Johnson, who is just not pleased with the way spring football practice is going at the Naval Academy. Here are a few pearls of wisdom from the interview:

Q. How does the team look?

A. Lovely.

Q. Who's your best fullback?

A. I don't know. I don't know if we have one.

Q. Have you not been pleased with what you've seen from the fullbacks so far?

A. Not really.

Q. In what way?

A. I just haven't been pleased.

Q. They don't run hard enough?

A. It's a myriad of things, each one has his own problems. It hasn't sorted itself out at all in my mind.

Q. Do you think the three guys that are out here (Kimbrough, Ballard and Hall) are capable?

A. Yeah, I think they have the ability. But if they don't get better, we will play with a freshman.

Q. What happened to Marvin Dingle?

A. He quit.

Q. Is he expected to return? Is he just taking the spring off?

A. Nope. Not when you quit. You don't do that here with me. When you quit, you quit.

Q. Any injuries of note?

A. Not really, same guys that were hurt before.

Q. How does the quarterback situation look at this point?

A. It's about like I thought. Some days are better than others.

Q. Just watching the kickers briefly, it appeared that the kid that came over from the sprint football team (Joey Bullen) has a decent leg.

A. Today he did better than the others.

Q. But it's not that way every day?

A. None of them are consistent right now.

Now, that's my idea of a football coach!

Posted by Tom at 4:30 AM | Comments (0) |

March 30, 2005

Well, at least it's warmer in Honolulu

After losing out on the Northern State University job in South Dakota, former Oilers coach Jerry Glanville has resurfaced in Hawaii.

Posted by Tom at 6:24 AM | Comments (2) |

March 17, 2005

Return of Stagger Lee?

Former Houston Oilers head coach Jerry Glanville is one of the lead candidates for the head coaching position at Northern State University in South Dakato, an NCAA Division II program.

Glanville remains a central figure in one of the most famous Oiler foibles for his infamous "Stagger Lee" trick play call in a playoff game against the Broncos in 1987. The main problem was that he called the play while the Oilers were on their own one yard line. The Broncos defense promptly blew the play up and recovered the ensuing fumble for a touchdown on their way to a 34-10 shellacking of the Oilers. Glanville has never lived down that call, which remains seared on the psyche of those who have followed Houston professional football over the years.

Posted by Tom at 6:49 AM | Comments (1) |

March 2, 2005

Study finds that most NFL players are obese

You don't say? H'mm. Please pass the potatoes.

Posted by Tom at 5:39 AM | Comments (0) |

February 26, 2005

Nebraska v. OU Spirit Squad

The University of Nebraska football team has not been fairing well lately in its football rivalry with the University of Oklahoma. So, last year, a Nebraska lineman got confused and thought that NU was going to play the OU Spirit Squad instead. Oklahoma criminal authorities are not pleased (bugmenot login: "privatecitizen@msn.com"; password: "password").

Posted by Tom at 10:04 AM | Comments (2) |

February 14, 2005

McCombs prepared to sell the Vikings

San Antonio businessman Red McCombs is reportedly ready to consummate a deal to sell the Minnesota Vikings Football Club of the National Football League.

McCombs is selling the Vikes for $625 million. He bought the club for about $245 million in 1998.

Phil Miller over at the Sports Economist has been following the negotiations over the sale of the Vikings and has some interesting observations.

Posted by Tom at 7:18 AM | Comments (0) |

Thoughts on the regulation of minor league football and basketball

Several developments over the past month or so have prompted me to think about the National Collegiate Athletic Association's regulation of minor league football and basketball. Although it is an unincorporated association that includes many of the best universities in America, the NCAA has developed into a hulking and bloated bureaucracy that is the poster child for ineffective and misguided regulation.

One of the developments that triggered my thinking was the disclosure this past week that one of the best players on each of the University of Texas' basketball, football and baseball teams had been declared academically ineligible for the spring semester. That's not much of a return on the astounding $1.6 million a year that UT is currently spending on academic assistance for its athletes.

This UT academic problems come on the heels of the announcement last month that the NCAA -- whose rules and regulations manual already resembles the Internal Revenue Code in terms of size and complexity -- approved the first phase of a "landmark" academic reform package under which about 30 percent of Division I football teams (including UT's) would lose scholarships if the reforms were to be implemented immediately. The demand for professors with expertise in developing basket-weaving curricula is going to increase at more than a few NCAA member institutions in response to this latest NCAA initiative.

Meanwhile, partly as a result of the NCAA's strict regulation of compensation that can be paid to athletes in intercollegiate football and basketball (i.e., essentially scholarships), salaries for college coaches skyrocket at the same time as a black market for compensating college football and basketball players continues to run rampant, despite the NCAA and now the government's efforts to curtail it.

Finally, a college baseball game in Houston over the weekend between Rice and Texas A&M during the Minute Maid Classic Baseball Classic drew almost 20,000 fans. That's right -- a college baseball game, in February, drew almost 20,000 fans.

What are we to make of all of this?

Well, a bit of historical perspective helps. For all of its faults, Major League Baseball is the only one of the three major professional sports (football, basketball and baseball) that has capitalized and subsidized a thorough minor league development system. Oh, the NBA has its development league and the NFL has NFL Europe, but both of these ventures pale in comparison to the depth and success of baseball's minor league system. As a result, it's relatively rare for a baseball player to play in the Major Leagues without spending at least some time playing minor league baseball. In comparison, relatively few of the players in the NFL or the NBA ever play in NFL-Europe or the NBADL.

The reason for this is not that professional football and basketball players do not need to develop their skills in a minor league. Rather, the reason is that professional football and basketball simply rely on a ready-made minor league systems to develop most of their players -- that is, intercollegiate football and basketball.

This odd arrangement arose partly as a result of how professional sports developed in America over the past century. On one hand, professional baseball was already well-established in the late 19th century when intercollegiate football and basketball started taking root. Thus, MLB developed its minor league system as a necessary means to develop its players decades before intercollegiate baseball became popular on college campuses. Intercollegiate baseball has only become a source of player development for professional baseball over the past couple of decades or so, and it is still rare for a college baseball player to go straight from playing college baseball to playing in the Major Leagues.

On the other hand, despite the popularity of the NFL and the NBA today, the success of of those professional sports is still relatively recent in comparison with MLB's business success over the past century. Until the 1960's in regard to football, and the 1980's in regard to basketball, neither professional sport was particularly vibrant financially or as popular with the public as their intercollegiate counterparts. Thus, until relatively recently, neither the NFL nor the NBA has been in a financial position to capitalize a minor league system of player development similar to MLB's minor league system.

However, now that the NFL and the NBA owners have the financial wherewithal to subsidize viable minor league systems, they have little economic incentive to do so. Inasmuch as the NCAA and its member institutions have transformed intercollegiate football and basketball into a free minor league system for the NFL and the NBA, the owners of professional football and basketball teams have gladly accepted the NCAA member institutions' generosity.

The arrangement has been extraordinary successful for professional football and basketball owners, who have seen the value of their clubs skyrocket over the past two decades. A substantial part of that increase in value is attributable to avoiding the cost of developing a minor league system, as well as taking advantage of liberal public financing arrangements for the construction of new stadiums and areanas. That latter point is a subject for another day.

In comparison, the NCAA member institutions' acceptance of minor league professional status has not been nearly as successful. Yes, the top tier of intercollegiate football and basketball programs have had been successful financially, but the athletic programs of most NCAA member institutions struggle financially.

Moreover, almost every NCAA member institution compromises academic integrity at least to some extent in order to attract the best players possible to play on the institution's football and basketball teams. As a result, respected academics such as UT Chancellor Mark Yudof regularly have to endure troubling scandals (in Yudof's case, as president of the University of Minnesota) that underscore the tension between the business of minor league professional sports and the academic integrity of NCAA member institutions. The NCAA member institutions' reaction to these conflicts has generally been to increase regulation with usually unsatisfactory results.

So, what is the solution to this mess? Well, it's doubtful that more regulation of college football and basketball is the answer. Rather, my sense is that the model for reform is right in the front of the noses of the NCAA member institutions -- i.e., college baseball.

Due to MLB's well-structured minor league system of player development, a baseball player emerging from high school has a choice: Do I accept a moderate compensation level to play professional ball in the minor leagues in the hope of developing to the point of being a highly-paid MLB player? Or do I hedge the risk of not developing sufficiently to play at the MLB level by accepting a subsidized college education while developing my skills playing intercollegiate baseball?

This simple choice is the key difference between intercollegiate football and basketball, on one hand, and intercollegiate baseball on the other. Except for the relatively few high school basketball players who are sufficiently developed to be able to play professional basketball in the NBA or Europe immediately after high school, high school football and basketball players' only realistic choice for developing the skills to play at the highest professional level is college football or basketball.

Consequently, each year, the NCAA member institutions fall over themselves trying to accomodate a large pool of talented football and basketball players who have little or no interest in collegiate academics. Rather than placing the cost and risk of these players' development on the professional football and basketball clubs, the NCAA member institutions continue to incur the huge cost of subsidizing development of these players while engaging in the charade that these professional players are really "student-athletes."

In comparison, most top college baseball teams are generally comprised of two types of players -- a few professional-caliber players combined with a greater number of well-motivated student-athletes. That is an attractive blend of players, and the tremendous increase in popularity of college baseball over the past decade reflects the entertaining competition that results from such a player mix. Heck, the college baseball system is structured so well that even a small academic institution can win the National Championship in college baseball.

Nevertheless, transforming the current minor league system in college football and basketball into the college baseball model is going to take fundamental reforms within the NCAA. Primarily, it's going to require the courage and resilience of the presidents of the NCAA member institutions, who need to stand up and quit being played as patsies by the NFL and NBA owners who prefer to foist the risk of funding and administering minor league systems on to the NCAA member institutions.

Moreover, such a transformation of college football and basketball from entrenched minor league systems will be risky. The quality of play in college football and basketball will suffer a bit, even though the competition likely would not. In time, such a transformation would force both the NFL and the NBA to expand their minor league systems to develop the skills of the pool of physically-gifted athletes who prefer to develop their skills as minor league professionals rather than as college students. Competition from such true minor league football and basketball teams might result in a decrease in popularity of college football and basketball.

However, such a transformation would remove most of the galling incentives to compromise academic integrity and to engage in the black market for compensating players that are rife under the current system. Likewise, once viable professional minor leagues in football and basketball exist, football and basketball players will have the same choice coming out of high school that has generated the well-motivated mix of players that has made college baseball such an entertaining intercollegiate sport over the past decade.

Now that type of choice -- rather than the choice of which basket-weaving course to take in order to remain eligible -- is the kind of choice that NCAA member institutions should be encouraging.

Posted by Tom at 6:30 AM | Comments (4) |

February 2, 2005

Super problems

This previous post expressed skepticism that the city of Jacksonville would be able to handle the logistical nightmare of Super Bowl XXXIX. In this article, ESPN's Bill Simmons -- who believes that the Super Bowl should be played only in Las Vegas (in a to be-built stadium), Miami, New Orleans, and San Diego -- says that the disaster developing in Jacksonville is making Houston's performance hosting Super Bowl XXXVIII last year look good in comparison:

If anything, the past two days made me appreciate Houston's performance last year, a city that faced the same logistical problems and conquered many of them. I don't think Houston should have hosted a Super Bowl either, and those last two days were a certifiable train wreck. But at least they had enough hotels. At least there were a decent number of cabs. At least there was a recognizable downtown area. At least they had the Light Rail, with the bonus that you might get to see some drunken pedestrian bouncing off it. Houston was 10 times more prepared than Jacksonville is right now.

Thanks for the compliment, Bill. I think. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 1:19 PM | Comments (0) |

January 6, 2005

Thoughts on USC's National Championship

Don't miss USC Professor Peter Gordon's thoughts on the effects of his university's national championship football team.

Posted by Tom at 7:53 AM | Comments (0) |

January 5, 2005

USC, National Champs

USC 55 Oklahoma 19

In another bowl game that was not as close as the final score indicates, the USC Trojans absolutely laid the wood to the Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS National Championship Orange Bowl game on Tuesday night.

In this previous post on November 7, I noted that OU's defensive secondary was probably not good enough to beat USC, and that certainly turned out to be the case as USC QB Matt Leinart (18-35 for 332 yds; 5 TD's; 0 Int) sliced and diced the OU secondary as if he was preparing a salad.

Meanwhile, OU's offense could never find a rhythm against the speedy USC defense. OU QB Jason White (24-36 for 224 yds; 2 TD's; 3 Int) finished a marvelous college career by throwing three interceptions and looking generally overwhelmed the entire game.

White's first interception -- the result of a brain fart decision of throwing into triple coverage while under pressure -- was arguably the turning point in the game. It came at the end of the first quarter as OU appeared poised to tie the game at 14, and USC promptly took the ball and drove for a quick TD and a 21-7 lead. After an OU receiver slipped and White threw another interception on the next possession, the Trojans quickly scored another TD and the game was effectively over.

USC is now 34-3 over the past three seasons with one and a half National Championships and two Heisman Trophy winners. They are now indisputably the best program in college football at this time.

Posted by Tom at 5:09 AM | Comments (6) |

January 2, 2005

2004 Weekly local football review

Browns 22 Texans 14

In an effort to compete with the Aggies for the most uninspired effort of the holiday season, the Texans laid an egg against the hapless Browns in the final game of the 2004 season. The loss prevented the Texans from achieving an 8-8 record in their third NFL season and left a sour aftertaste to a season of undeniable progress for the Texans.

The main flaws in the Texans' squad were on full display in this one. The Browns' pass rush manhandled the Texans' offensive line, so Texans QB David Carr (15-25 for 114 yards; 1 TD; 0 Int) was running for his life most of the day. Moreover, inasmuch as Carr has below average recognition skills, the Texans could not combat the Browns' fierce pass rush with short drops and passes to hot receivers. Consequently, the Texans' passing game was rendered utterly ineffective in this game, averaging a full yard less per play than the Texans' rushing attack.

Frankly, the Texans' problems in the offensive line are not surprising given that the Texans' management has made some particularly bad choices in this personnel area. The Tony Boselli deal was a bust, and then the Texans wasted a high draft choice in their second draft on tight end Bennie Joppru, who has not played a down for the Texans.

Partly as a result of these questionable decisions, the Texans are playing Seth Wand -- an inexperienced second year player from a small college program -- at the key left offensive tackle position. Although the Texans have veteran offensive linemen Steve McKinney (7 yrs), Todd Wade (5 yrs), and Zack Wiegert (10 yrs) playing regularly, a football team is only as strong as its weakest links in this area. And the Texans' key offensive line draft picks -- Wand, Chester Pitts and Fred Weary -- have been weak links to date.

If the Texans had a top flight QB, at least some of the problems in the offensive line would probably not be so apparent. However, through three seasons now, Carr has established that he is only an average NFL QB at best. Carr is not a bust such as Tim Couch or Ryan Leaf, but he is simply not good enough to overcome the current limitations in the Texans' offensive line.

Interestingly, the rest of the Texans' personnel areas are in reasonably good shape. Oh, they could use a dominant defensive lineman (couldn't every team?) along the lines of the Oilers' Curly Culp from a generation ago. Similarly, another big wide receiver to take pressure off of the talented but underutilized Andre Johnson would also be helpful. But none of these other holes are as big as the ones on the offensive line. So, assuming that the Texans' management can plug those, the Texans appear to be on track to be a playoff contender by their fifth season in the NFL.

By the way, I know that the Texans' loss to the Browns was bad, but is that really a reason for this, particularly after this a couple of weeks ago?

Giants 28 Cowboys 24

In an absolutely appropriate ending to a miserable season, the Cowboys snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as they scored with 1:49 to play to take a 24-21 lead, and then allowed the Giants to march down the field and score the winning TD with 11 seconds left. The rebuilding job at Dallas looks to be so extensive at this point that I cannot see the Big Tuna lasting much longer as coach of the Pokes. Good thing that vote on the new stadium occurred in early November rather than early January.

Texas Longhorns 38 Michigan 37

In a hugely entertaining Rose Bowl game, the Horns' Vince Young put on a show for the ages as UT kicker Dusty Mangum's 38 yard field goal as the clock expired won it for Texas. The win was the first for Texas in a BCS Bowl game, and at least loosened the hold of that big monkey on UT Coach Mack Brown's back that was mentioned in this previous post.

Michigan's offense performed admirably against the Horns' quick defense, efficiently using their 355 yards of total offense to score 37 points. Freshman Michigan QB Chad Henne (18-34 for 227 yds, 0 int) was very good, throwing four TD passes, including three to All-World WR Braylon Edwards.

Nevertheless, the Michigan defense simply could not contain Young, who glided like a gazelle through and around the Michigan defenders while scoring 4 TD's, rushing for almost 200 yards, and generating just under 400 of Texas' 444 yards of total offense. Young is simply the type of rare athlete who looks like he could dominate a basketball game or a track meet just as readily as a football game.

By the way, the videotape of this game is almost certainly destined to become one of the most effective tools in coaching circles for teaching how not to cover kickoffs. Between Michigan's Steve Breaston and Texas' Ramonce Taylor, the teams combined for over 420 yards on kickoff returns, averaging a remarkable 32.5 yards per return. Texas' kickoff coverage was so bad that, by the fourth quarter, I was urging Coach Brown to direct his kicker simply to kick the ball out of bounds on kickoffs so that Michigan would be "backed up" to its 35 to start their next drive.

Also, the Iowa-LSU Capital One Citrus Bowl game that was on ABC immediately before the Rose Bowl game had an even more incredible ending as Iowa QB Drew Tate (from Baytown, just east of Houston on I-10) threw a 55 yard TD pass as time expired to pull it out for the Hawkeyes. Between that game and the Rose Bowl, ABC had an incredibly engaging eight hours of college football on this New Year's Day.

Tennessee 38 Texas Aggies 7

In a game that was not as close as the final score indicates, the Volunteers had a 21-0 lead over the hapless Aggies with over 13 minutes to go in the second quarter of the 2005 Cotton Bowl. As with the Texans' loss to the Browns, this was a disappointing ending to a season of decided overall progress for the Aggies.

Although the Aggies performed surprisingly well this season while playing one of the nation's most difficult schedules, the last two games against Texas and Tennessee exposed the Aggies' weakness vividly. Both Texas and Tennessee's defenses were quick and strong enough to shut down A&M's rushing attack while bringing pressure on A&M QB Reggie McNeal in a manner that kept him in the pocket while passing. Without an effective rushing attack and McNeal's scrambling outside the pocket, A&M's offense was rendered largely ineffective in their final two games this season. Eventually, turnovers in both games wore the Aggies' defense down, and the Aggies were unable to make much of a game out of either contest.

Accordingly, as with the Texans, the Aggies need to make considerable off-season upgrades in their offensive line in order to continue this season's progress against an equally difficult schedule next season.

Posted by Tom at 4:48 PM | Comments (0) |

December 31, 2004

Tech humbles Cal in Holiday Bowl

Before the fourth ranked Cal Bears football team complain too loudly again about being passed over by Texas for the Bowl Championship Series Rose Bowl game, they need to compare this game with this game.

Indeed, the Pac-10 Conference is fortunate that USC was left out of the BCS Championship Game last season. In my view, that's the only justification for choosing the undefeated Trojans for this season's championship game over Auburn, which is also undefeated and played a far tougher schedule than USC.

Posted by Tom at 6:15 AM | Comments (1) |

December 30, 2004

Mack Brown's rich new deal

The University of Texas announced Wednesday that the UT System Board of Regents has approved a deal in which UT football coach Mack Brown's current contract -- which pays him $2.017 million annually -- will be replaced with the 10-year deal that will pay him $2.159 million in 2005 and $100,000 more than that amount each year through the 10 year term of the contract.

The new contract is the fourth most lucrative one for a college football coach. Only Bob Stoops at Oklahoma ($2.3 million), the departing Nick Saban at LSU ($2.3 million) and Tommy Tuberville at Auburn ($2.28 million) make more than Brown. Due to one-time $1.6 million bonus he received on his 53rd birthday this past August, Brown was the highest paid college coach in 2004 with earnings $3.6 million.

Geez, just think what Brown could make at UT if he could ever manage to beat Oklahoma -- to whom his teams have lost five straight times -- or win a conference championship, something that none of his teams has ever accomplished during Brown's 17 years of being a head coach on the major college level. Not to have won a conference championship at a school with the resources and talent of Texas is a major blemish on Brown's resume.

Moreover, Brown's Texas teams have had a history of playing poorly in big games. They have lost five consecutive losses to Oklahoma and Brown is clearly overmatched by his nemesis, OU Coach Stoops. Brown's Texas teams have lost both Big 12 championship games in which they have played, including the galling upset by Colorado in 2001 that prevented that Texas team from getting a BCS bowl berth.

The bowl record of Brown's Texas teams (3-3) is similarly tarnished. Last year's 28-20 loss to Washington State in the Holiday Bowl was particularly awful, as Texas made WSU's zone blitzs appear to be a new invention in football.

So, one certainly has to admire UT for keeping up with the compensation levels of the elite group of teams in college football, which is where UT aspires to be. However, a valid question remains as to whether Mack Brown deserves it.

In more troubling news for UT, assistant coach Dick Tomey, who is largely responsible for the development of the UT defense this season into an elite unit, will be departing the UT staff next season to take the head coaching job at San Jose State. Perhaps even more troubling from an emotional standpoint, Tomey is attempting to persuade UT graduate assistant coach and former QB great Major Applewhite to join him as an assistant on his San Jose staff.

Posted by Tom at 6:08 AM | Comments (3) |

December 29, 2004

My nomination for Sportsman of the Year

Oregon State's football team handed Notre Dame its seventh straight bowl loss last night in the Insight.com Bowl in Phoenix. However, for my money, the real story from that game is Oregon State's kicker, a 19 year old freshman named Alexis Serna, who walked on the Oregon State football team before this season without a scholarship.

Four months ago, after having attended just a few classes at Oregon State, Mr. Serna was the goat of college football after blowing three extra points in a one-point loss to then number one ranked LSU. As SI.com columnist John Walters writes in this wonderful article on Mr. Serna:

So imagine waking up as Alexis Serna in Corvallis, Ore., on the morning of Sept. 5. You don't have a scholarship. You've only dressed for one game in your college career and the entire country -- yourself included -- is blaming you for Oregon State's loss the night before. And someone at ESPN refers to any missed PAT as "pulling an Alexis Serna." You are 19 years old.

Remarkably, Mr. Serna overcame the humiliation of his first college football game to nail 40 of his next 41 kicks -- including 16 of 17 field goal attempts -- to make the second team All Pac-10 team. Late last month, Mr. Serna's coach rewarded him by giving him an athletic scholarship. From my vantage point, Mr. Serna ought to be awarded Sportsman of the Year.

Posted by Tom at 6:55 AM | Comments (0) |

December 26, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Texans 21 Jaguars 0

The Texans defense laid the wood to Jags' QB Byron Leftwich in holding the Jags' offense to 126 total yards and the Texans' much maligned offensive line sprung RB Dominick Davis for 150 yards rushing and a TD as the Texans humbled the Jags in chilly Jacksonville, 21-0. The shutout was the first in Texans' franchise history.

The Texans defense gave Leftwich a concussion early in this one, and the Jags QB could never get untracked as the Texans forced three turnovers and held the Jags to 54 yards passing. Meanwhile, the Texans offense generated 333 total yards behind another average but adequate performance by QB David Carr (14-20, 122 yds., 1 TD, 2 INT). Actually, Carr's line would look better except that one of his interceptions came on a great play by Jags DB Dewayne Washington. Washington made a spectacular one-handed interception on a Carr pass that Andre Johnson probably would have taken to the house for his second TD catch of the game but for Washington's incredible play. About the only phase of the Texans' performance that was subpar on this day was the punt return team, which had one adventure after another while trying to cope with the absence of injured regular returner J.J. Moses.

The 7-8 Texans, who are clearly on a roll, could end the season with a .500 record with a win over the Browns at Reliant Stadium next Sunday. That would be quite an accomplishment for this third year franchise.

Cowboys 13 Redskins 10

Oh, how the might have fallen. In an excrutiatingly boring game between two teams with inept offenses, Cowboys QB Vinnie Testaverde somehow three a 39 yard TD pass to someone named Patrick Crayton with 30 seconds to go to pull out the win before a feisty crowd at Texas Stadium. The 6-9 Cowboys close this disastrous season next week at the Meadowlands against the Giants, and then the off-season process of revamping the Cowboys offense begins. It will not be an easy task.

Posted by Tom at 9:41 PM | Comments (5) |

December 22, 2004

Sports notes on UH bball, Jackie Sherrill, golf, Mack Brown, Gene Conley and Friday Night Lights, Houston style

The Houston Cougars men's basketball team had a nice win over LSU last night, as new coach Tom Penders continues to make my post on his hiring look bad.

Meanwhile, former Texas A&M, Pittsburgh, and Mississippi State head football coach Jackie Sherrill has teed off on the NCAA in a lawsuit over in Mississippi. The over/under bet on this lawsuit is $1 million.

On a more pleasant note, 55 year old Austin resident Tom Kite -- fresh off an impressive performance in the 2004 U.S. Open -- plans to rejoin the regular PGA Tour next month and become the oldest exempt player in Tour history.

Also on the golf scene, in concrete evidence that securities regulators do not have enough to do, this recent Wall Street Journal ($) article reports that regulators have embarked on sweeping inquiries into Wall Street gift-and-entertainment practices, particularly golf junkets that Wall Street firms provide to mutual-fund executives and other money managers they are trying to woo for trading business:

NASD regulators, for example, have started to examine golf outings that Bank of America Corp. provided to Fidelity Investments' head of stock trading, people familiar with the matter said. As the bank worked in recent years to win trading business from Fidelity, it hosted the executive, Scott DeSano, at the annual AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament several times, allowing him to play alongside the pros competing in the event, which raises money for charity.

What next? Eliot Spitzer to sue?

Also in the combat department, as the University of Texas football team and its supporters prepare for their trip to L.A. for the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, the Dallas Morning News' Greg Fraley throws down the gauntlet and declares the run for the Roses a make or break game for Longhorn coach Mack Brown:

Texas and Brown must win a game on the main stage for once, or never again demand to play with the big boys.

It will be a real live put-up-or-shut-up game for a team notorious for underachieving in these moments. . .

It will be the Longhorns' highest-profile bowl appearance since they went into the 1978 Cotton Bowl ranked No. 1 but lost to Notre Dame.

This is not the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, a regular stop off the main bowl draft for the Longhorns. . .

The only way the Longhorns' task could have been easier would have been if Pittsburgh had landed in Pasadena.

Michigan is 13th in the BCS standings. Only Pitt, the Big East co-champion, is worse among the eight schools in BCS bowls at No. 21.

Michigan, which shared the championship of the stodgy Big Ten with Iowa, has the name but not the chops this season.

The Wolverines lost to Notre Dame, which has fired its coach, and to Ohio State (7-4). San Diego State came within three points of the Wolverines, at Michigan.

This is not an opponent of the USC-Oklahoma-Auburn level. Michigan is not even Utah, which may be out of coaches before its bowl game.

The Longhorns must cleanly handle Michigan and prove they belong at this level, . . .

Brown asked for this chance. Now, he must do something with it.

And that would be a first, too.

Brown has been a convenient target of barbs because his teams promise so much and deliver so little under the spotlight.

In 17 seasons at North Carolina and Texas, Brown has never won a conference title. That is somewhat understandable at North Carolina, where basketball is king and Florida State was in the conference for part of his tenure.

An 0-for at Texas, flush with resources and talent, is unfathomable.

The bigger the moment, the worse Brown's Texas teams have played. Look at his big-game resume:

? Five consecutive losses to Oklahoma and uber-coach Bob Stoops.

This is as big a mismatch as there is in the college game. The thought of Stoops throws Brown into a panic. The gap is growing. Texas' dull offense does not even challenge Stoops and his staff.

? An 0-2 record in Big 12 championship games. Texas lost to Nebraska in 1999 and, with a BCS berth at hand, was upset by Colorado in 2001.

? A 3-3 bowl record. Last year's 28-20 loss to Washington State represented a dreadful showing by Brown and his staff. Texas acted as if it had no idea Washington State, which led Division I-A in sacks, would blitz. With the offense collapsing in the face of the heavy blitz pressure, Brown removed the mobile quarterback (Vince Young) for the stationary quarterback (Chance Mock).

Reputations are formed by a body of work. There are lots of wins but no landmark triumphs during Brown's seven seasons with Texas.

A win against Michigan would have substance because of the setting.

A loss to Michigan would make it easy not to take Brown seriously for a long time. . .

Moving to thoughts of Christmas, if you are looking for a gift for a sports-interested family member or friend, this Boston Globe article reviews the new book by Gene Conley, one of the last athletes to play two professional sports (Major League Baseball and the NBA) at the same time for much of his professional career. Conley's is a remarkable story, as reflected by this snippet from the article:

There was the time he struck out Ted Williams in the All-Star Game. Then there was the time he had to separate Tom Heinsohn from Wilt Chamberlain during a heated exchange in an NBA game. . . No one else ever won a championship ring in two major sports. No one else played against Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Oscar Robertson. No one else played with Carl Yastrzemski during the summer, then joined Bob Cousy for the winter. No one else lockered next to Hank Aaron and Bill Russell in the same calendar year.

Conley also confirms the truth about the legendary story in which he and a teammate got off the Red Sox team bus and Conley was not seen again for 68 hours. Ah, those were the days.

Finally, this Houston Press article provides an interesting analysis of the evolution of the high-powered suburban high school football programs in the Houston metropolitan area. Call it the natural evolution of Friday Night Lights.

Posted by Tom at 8:07 AM | Comments (2) |

December 19, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Texans 24 Bears 5

In a game played in -10 wind chill conditions, the Texans' defense beat up on an utterly incompetent Bears offense as the Texans beat the Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago. The sixth win is the most that the Texans have won in a season during their first three in the NFL.

The tale of this game was turnovers, as the Bears lost four and the Texans none. Neither team could do much offensively under the difficult conditions, but the Bears were particularly atrocious, managing barely 200 yards total offense. The Texans' David Carr played reasonably well under the circumstances (13-28/208 yds/1 TD) and, most importantly, had no turnovers. Notably, Carr did a good job of throwing passes to wide receivers Jabbar Gaffney and Corey Bradford, which is the only way that the Texans are going to be able to force teams to loosen the now routine double coverage on the Texans' star receiver, Andre Johnson.

The entire Texans' defense was impressive, although this Bears offense is truly one of the worst of the past decade in the NFL. Particularly impressive for the Texans is rookie cornerback Dunta Robinson, who was one of the Texans' first round draft picks in the 2004 draft. This young player plays like a seasoned veteran 14 games into his professional career and, barring injury, looks as if he will hold down one of the Texans' cornerback positions for the next decade.

The Texans play the Jaguars at Jacksonville on the Sunday after Christmas Day and then play Cleveland at Reliant Stadium to finish up the season. Despite rather substantial problems in both the offensive and defensive lines, and a still unproven quarterback, it is a credit to the Texans' coaching staff that they have this club in a position to break even on the season.

Eagles 12 Cowboys 7

In perhaps the best reflection of the state of the Cowboys franchise, the Pokes were able to take solace in the fact that they were at least able to keep it close against the Eagles this time, as opposed to the 49-21 Monday Night Football disaster of earlier this season.

What is truly amazing is that the Cowboys were in a position to win this game at all after mustering barely 300 yards total offense and coughing up three turnovers. But the Eagles scored with less than two minutes remaining to seal the win and place the Cowboys in distinct peril of finishing the season with a worse record than the third year Texans. The Pokes wind up the season with the Redskins at home next Sunday and then the Giants the following week at the Meadowlands before beginning what is sure to be an eventful offseason as this once proud franchise faces a formidable rebuilding project.

Posted by Tom at 6:41 PM | Comments (4) |

December 18, 2004

No holiday cards being exchanged between the Universities of Houston and Nebraska

Twenty-five years ago, the University of Houston football team was preparing to play the University of Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl game on New Year's Day. Houston won that entertaining game 17-14 on a last minute touchdown pass.

Thus, UH Athletic Director Dave Maggard's idea of scheduling a game between Houston and Nebraska at Houston's Reliant Stadium to open the 2005 football season seemed like a good one. That is, until Nebraska pulled out of the game yesterday in order to schedule a home opener against that traditional college football powerhouse, Maine. Mr. Maggard is not pleased, as the Chronicle reports:

"This is the most unprofessional thing I've dealt with in my 30 years in this business. I'm very, very surprised by all this. This is something that doesn't belong in Division I athletics. I'm very, very angry about this."

"This is absolutely unprofessional in every way." It's gutless. Spineless. They're going to have to live with it. I've lost a tremendous amount of respect for that program. I think that for college athletics, it's shameful."

"We're going to figure out a solution, but they are developing a reputation for hanging people out to dry. I think it's a sad commentary on the people running that athletic program."

On the heels of this earlier incident involving a Nebraska football player, this latest development makes one wonder just how low the University of Nebraska football program must fall before it bottoms out?

Posted by Tom at 9:43 AM | Comments (2) |

December 17, 2004

This year's Super Bowl City

As noted in this earlier post, the city of Jacksonville has a tough act to follow in hosting the 2005 Super Bowl. With only a fraction of the facilities that Houston used in hosting the 2004 Super Bowl, Jacksonville officials are scrambling to accomodate the NFL's gargantuan requirements for putting on the biggest spectacle in U.S. professional sports.

However, despite the perk of hosting the Super Bowl, Professor Sauer observes that Jacksonville is not even a sure bet to keep its NFL team. Because of declining ticket sales, Jacksonville's ownership is artifically reducing the number of seats in the team's stadium. Professor Sauer notes:

In an open system of leagues, teams from smaller burgs occasionally get good, generate enthusiasm, and go on a run. In the US system of league monopolies, a town essentially gets a short term lease on a team, then it gets auctioned off to the next town starved for the sport.

Read the entire post.

Posted by Tom at 7:46 AM | Comments (0) |

December 15, 2004

Thinking about football statistics

While Bill James and his Sabermetrian disciples revolutionized analysis of baseball over the past generation, no similar movement took place in regard to analysis of football. However, as this NY Times article reports, football at the highest levels is increasingly embracing Sabermetric principles:

Now the sabermetric revolution may be gaining a toehold in football as well. And here too the center of the revolution can be found in Massachusetts, where Coach Bill Belichick has led the New England Patriots to victories in two of the last three Super Bowls.

Belichick is known for his unorthodox strategies: being more willing than most to not punt on fourth down; running the ball far more than average in certain crucial situations; and eschewing two-point-conversion attempts in situations when orthodox doctrine recommends them.

Not coincidentally, experts in the world of football statistical analysis endorse all these strategies. For example, David Romer, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley, published a working paper arguing that conventional football wisdom led to far too much punting. Romer analyzed thousands of plays and calculated the chance of scoring from any position on the field. Based on that, he gauged the relative worth of the field position gained by punting against the lost opportunity to score. Romer found that football coaches punt far more than they ought to -- perhaps acting out of fear of the worst outcome (going for it on fourth down and failing), rather than rationally balancing risk and reward.

Romer's paper, "It's Fourth Down and What Does the Bellman Equation Say? A Dynamic Programming Analysis of Football Strategy," is far from light reading, so it came as a shock to Romer when he learned that Belichick, who was an economics major at Wesleyan University, had read it.

The main thrust in football statistical analysis is the development of a metric known as "defense-adjusted value over average," or "DVOA." The statistic takes into account that not all yards gained in football are created equal. For example, gaining 5 yards on third down and 4 is more beneficial, on average, than gaining eight yards on third and 10. Aaron Schatz over at FootballOutsiders.com is doing the best analysis with DVOA:

Just as it is in baseball sabermetrics, context is crucial to Schatz's analysis. Schatz rates every play a team runs by comparing it with the league average performance for plays in as close to that situation as possible. In Schatz's analysis, the relative success of a play is determined by, among other things, the down and distance, the current score, the field position and the opponent's strength. DVOA, in short, is an attempt to create a tool of analysis for football similar to such Jamesian baseball statistics as offensive winning percentage, runs created and OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage).

Meanwhile, the lack of refined football statistics obscures just how phenomenal a season Peyton Manning this seasons. Although Manning has received a fair amount of publicity over the fact that he will break Dan Marino's record of 48 touchdown passes in a season, Allen St. John in this Wall Street Journal ($) piece observes that Mannings' excellence is better reflected by another key passing statistic -- yards per pass:

For pro quarterbacks there's no statistical Holy Grail. The conventional milestones Mr. Manning is approaching don't quite resonate. We have developed a benchmark of our own that should make watching the rest of Mr. Manning's historical season all the more compelling.

10 Yards per Attempt: What's the essence of football? Almost every time the referee spots the ball on first down, a team has one goal -- move the ball 10 yards and earn another set of downs. In a game of variables, it's the one near-universal. By the Numbers has long touted YPA as the game's most revealing passing stat because it factors in all the qualities that a great quarterback needs. Accuracy is important, but so is the ability to go deep.

And 10 yards per attempt is near perfection. It means that almost every time a quarterback throws, the linesmen move the chains. And while it's been achieved in the past by greats like Sid Luckman and Otto Graham, it's a goal that has become elusive in the modern NFL. Mr. Manning's YPA of 9.41 is the best single-season mark of any post-merger quarterback with more than 350 attempts in a season. Indeed, just topping nine yards per toss puts Mr. Manning in some pretty heady company. Only four other post-merger QBs have been able to top nine yards per throw for a full season, and three of them made the Super Bowl in the year they did it.

The three Super Bowl QB's who topped nine yards per pass were Marino, Joe Montana, and Boomer Esaison. Who was the other quarterback who averaged more than nine yards per pass in a season?

Lynn Dickey of the Packers in 1983!

Posted by Tom at 5:10 AM | Comments (0) |

December 12, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Colts 23 Texans 14.

The Texans actually made a game of it against high-powered Peyton Manning and the Colts, but Manning methodically picked away at the Texans defense for six 4th quarter points to salt this one away for the Colts. The Texans closed to within 17-14 with about six minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, but the Texans could not mount any meaningful offense against an average Colts defense for the rest of the game (only two first downs and 35 yards in the 4th quarter). No team is going to beat this Colts team scoring 14 points.

Texans' QB David Carr continues to be unimpressive in his development, which is best reflected by the Texans' sputtering offense the past two weeks under his control. Although the mainstream media continues to fawn over Carr, he simply is not performing at the level that a top draft choice should be in his third season in the NFL.

Carr's recognition skills continue to be mediocre, and his unorthodox throwing motion makes it difficult for him to take full advantage of the passing lanes. Moreover, Carr'statistical performance has been mediocre. Carr was 16-21 for 167 yards and an interception against the Colts, which means that his yards-per-pass -- the key statistic for evaluating an NFL QB's performance -- was a pathetic 5.5 yards today. For the season, his yards-per-pass is about 6.3 yards, and he has thrown for only 13 TD's against 12 interceptions.

By way of comparison, check out the statistics of Drew Brees, a QB with comparable experience to Carr who plays for a team that was about equal in stature to the Texans coming into this season. Brees has thrown for 23 TD's against only 6 interceptions, and his yards-per-pass is over a half yard per pass better than Carr's. As a result, Brees' QB rating is over 103, while Carr's rating is less than 85. More importantly, the Chargers are 10-3 and the Texans are 5-8.

Inasmuch as the rest of the Texans' team played well enough to win for the second week in a row, the Texans' management has a huge problem developing with Carr. The Texans have a ton of money invested in him, but it's becoming clearer with each game that Carr is nothing more than an average NFL QB, at best. With games at Chicago and Jacksonville the next two Sundays before closing at home on January 2nd against the Browns, the Texans' management must begin addressing whether they have a bust on their hands with Carr. Inasmuch as the Texans' offensive line still has not completely recovered from the failed Tony Boselli transaction, the Texans can ill-afford to have their overall offensive development stunted by a QB that is not developing at the same rate as the rest of the unit. And at this point, Carr certainly is not.

Saints 27 Cowboys 13.

The Cowboys are the only organization in the NFL that begins printing playoff tickets with a 5-7 record. However, after the woeful Saints humiliated the Pokes at home on Sunday, the 5-8 Cowboys will now simply be playing out the string in their last three games against the Eagles, Redskins and Giants. The Cowboys have more personnel problems overall than the Texans, so this is a franchise that is clearly in a serious rebuilding mode.

It's going to take at least two seasons for the Cowboys to have a realistic chance for the playoffs, and that assumes that they acquire a top flight QB as soon as possible. If they draft a QB, then this team is a good three seasons away from being a playoff team. It will be interesting to see if the Big Tuna has the stomach to stick around during a long rebuilding phase. My bet is that he does not.

Posted by Tom at 7:15 PM | Comments (7) |

December 10, 2004

The List-Eater

And just in case anyone thinks that Notre Dame has the market cornered on over-the-top football fans, check out this story about a dispute that broke out at Texas A&M University over buying Cotton Bowl tickets:

A woman, who is a senior at Texas A&M, who asked that her identity be withheld, shoved a paper copy of a waiting list for SBC Cotton Bowl tickets into her mouth to secure her place in line while waiting to pull tickets for the sold-out game at about 6 a.m. Thursday.

"The piece of paper doesn't justify a spot in line to me if no one is standing there," she said. "If they wanted a spot, they should've woken up."

Aggie blogger Chris Elam over at Safety for Dummies is all over the story, and even identifies the notorious List-Eater.

Lawsuits certainly to follow.

Posted by Tom at 6:16 AM | Comments (1) |

The trouble at Notre Dame

Having followed college football my entire life, I would have never thought that the University of Notre Dame would have a hard time hiring a head football coach.

Until now.

A week or so ago, Notre Dame fired Tyrone Willingham -- a highly-regarded coach within the profession who will not be without a job for long -- after three seasons and a 21-15 record. Since that time, both the retiring Notre Dame president and its athletic director have stated publicly that they did approve of the firing.

But, as the Washington Post's Sally Jenkins points out in this op-ed, if they did not approve of Coach Willingham's termination, who did?:

Now, the only thing that has taken a hit here is Notre Dame's affectations. [President] Malloy's statement begs the question: If the school president isn't responsible for Willingham's firing, then who is? . . . [I] have to wonder if this pale after-the-fact confession is what passes for administrative support at Notre Dame these days. Malloy's statement was easy enough to say a week later and 700 miles away. He was in the room where Willingham's fate was being determined. But he deferred, citing his impending retirement.

As Ms. Jenkins notes, for all its nostalgic value, the Notre Dame football program is simply not all that attractive to good football players anymore:

Notre Dame has become a creaking old fraud. That's why people don't want to go there anymore. Its integrity is based on yellowing old cinema reels. Its facilities are outmoded (although it does still have that stadium.) Its recruiting pitch is no longer persuasive: as a destination for coaches and blue-chip recruits, its appeal falls somewhere between those of sleek warm-weather football schools, and the more elite educational institutions such as Stanford and Duke. It's not just old; it's cold.

[Moreover,] the Irish have struggled on the field for nearly a decade and a half now. It's been 16 years since they won the last of their record eight titles, and 10 seasons since they won a bowl game. They've lost four straight to Boston College, three to Tennessee and two in a row to Purdue. And they've had just two NFL first-round draft picks since 1999 -- compared with nine for Ohio State and 21 for Miami.

Which leads me to pass along an old joke among college football aficionados:

Q. What do you call Notre Dame without a football program?

A. Creighton.

At any rate, Notre Dame will eventually find a good football coach, although it is far from certain that the new coach will fair any better than Coach Willingham, who remains a good coach. Rather, Notre Dame's real problem is reflected best by the hypocrisy of the statements made by its president and athletic director decrying the termination of Coach Willingham.

You see, these two administrators have negotiated the most lucrative television contract of any university athletic program in the nation and have overseen the raising of tens of millions recently to expand Notre Dame's historic stadium. Then, after having a key role in creating this swamp of financial expectations, these two fellows criticize a move that was made precisely because the football program was not meeting those high expectations. Frankly, a much better case can be made that the firing of Coach Willingham was utterly consistent with the values that have become most important in the Notre Dame football program.

Notre Dame is relearning the hard lesson that you reap what you sow. The timing of Notre Dame's realization of that enduring truth will have much more to do with the re-emergence of its football program than whoever the Domers choose as their next football coach.

And it would help to find another Joe Montana out there somewhere. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 5:03 AM | Comments (0) |

December 5, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Jets 29 Texans 7.

After leading 7-6 at halftime, the Texans folded in the second half to allow the Jets to win easily. In another miserable performance during a season of inconsistent outings, Texans' QB David Carr (12/25 for 157 yds, no TD's and 2 ints) threw into coverage the entire day and once again provided considerable evidence that he lacks even average recognition skills after 2.5+ seasons in the NFL.

With Carr totally ineffective, the Jets gradually began to dominate the line of scrimmage in the second half and ended up rushing for more than 200 yds against the Texans' beleaguered defense. Nevertheless, other than Carr, the rest of the Texans played reasonably well and this loss is squarely attributable to Carr's inability to find the hot receiver against the Jets' stout defense.

With young AFC QBs such as Brees, Roethlisberger, Leftwich, and Palmer all outperforming Carr, the Texans' management has to be getting nervous that they blew the first pick in their first draft on what is appearing to be, at best, a barely above-average NFL quarterback.

The 5-7 Texans return to Reliant Stadium next Sunday to be sliced into small pieces by Peyton Manning and the Colts.

Cowboys 43 Seahawks 39. The Cowboys scored 14 points in the final two minutes of the game to edge the Seahawks on Monday Night Football. The Pokes' running back from Notre Dame -- Junius Jones -- looks pretty darn good and has placed Eddie George so far down the Cowboys' bench that he is not even mentioned anymore. The 5-7 Cowboys take on the 4-8 Saints next Sunday at Texas Stadium in Dallas.

College Bowl Game Selections

The final games of the regular season worked out well for Texas and Texas A&M, as the Longhorns moved into a BCS Bowl game against Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and the Aggies moved up into the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day in Dallas against Tennessee.

However, the EV1.net Houston Bowl on Dec. 29 was a loser in the bowl selection process as the Independence Bowl selected Iowa State, leaving the Houston Bowl with Colorado, which was pummeled by Oklahoma 42-3 in the Big 12 Championship game on Saturday night. The Houston Bowl wanted to match already selected UTEP with Iowa State because the Cyclones improved dramatically over the last part of the season and their fans travel well. On the other hand, Colorado's supporters are notorious for being the worst traveling fans in the Big 12. Indicative of that trait is the fact that they bought a total of 1,700 out of 8,000 alotted tickets for the Big 12 Championship game.

The other Texas bowls have interesting matchups. San Antonio's Alamo Bowl has Ohio State playing Oklahoma State on December 29, while Arizona State and Purdue will fling it around El Paso's Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve.

Posted by Tom at 8:42 PM | Comments (0) |

November 28, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Texans 31 Titans 21. My younger son and I went to the Texans game today with a couple of friends and we all enjoyed an entertaining game. The Texans began the game in a coma and found themselves trailing 21-3 midway through the second quarter as Titans' QB Steve McNair sliced and diced the Texans' secondary. The Texans then pieced together their only drive of the first half to narrow the score to 21-10, but still looked overmatched as they could not stop McNair's pinpoint passing. Then, seemingly without reason, the Texans offense woke up in the third quarter, David Carr began to look like a top level NFL QB, and the Texans' defense started getting pressure on McNair. Before you knew it, the Texans had scored two TD's to take the lead 24-21. The remainder of the game pretty much involved the Texans playing it close to the vest on offense while defending furiously against the Titans' fourth quarter thrusts. Finally, a McNair fumble and interception in the fourth quarter thwarted the Titans' final drives, and then the Texans' Domanick Davis ran in a late TD from 41 yards to seal the victory for the hometown crew. The bottomline on this one was that the Texans' offensive line did a much better job of establishing a running attack for Davis and in protecting Carr, and that's the primary reason that the Texans (now 5-6 on the season) were able to beat the former Oilers for the second time this season. Next week's game for the Texans is at the Meadowlands against the Jets.

Dallas 21 Chicago 7. After a horrid first half display from both teams that almost set back NFL offenses from several decades of development, the Pokes' Vinnie Testaverde made the first of what will likely in coming weeks be several appearances in relief of current Cowboys savior Drew Henson and engineered two second half drives to secure the win for the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. Henson -- who curiously has gotten rich off of unrealized potential in both professional baseball and professional football -- stunk in his first start for the Pokes, going 4 of 12 for 31 yards with 1 interception that was run back 45 yards for a Chicago TD. Thus, in his first outing, Henson passed for more yardage and touchdowns to the other team than his own. The 4-7 Cowboys go to Seattle for the Monday Night game next week against the Seahawks. The Texans have a real chance of finishing this season with a better record than the Cowboys, which would not go over well with Pokes' owner Mr. Jones at Valley Ranch.

Texas Longhorns 26 Texas Aggies 13. In a game that was not as close as the score indicates, the Horns calmed down after a first half near-disaster to pound the Aggies into submission in the second half and come away with their fifth straight win in the storied series between the two programs. The Horns were about ready to take a 13-7 lead at the end of the first half when Texas QB Vince Young had a brain fart and fumbled the ball while attempting to stretch his arm over the goal line. Aggie safety Jonte Buhl picked up the fumble and raced 98 yards for an Aggie TD and a stunning 13-7 Aggie lead at halftime, which did not go over well with the Horns. That incident appeared to make the Longhorns downright ornery as the Horns' defense suffocated Aggie QB Reggie McNeal in the second half, holding the Aggie offense to a total of about 60 yards total offense. In one series during the fourth quarter, Texas took complete control of the line of scrimmage and sacked the elusive McNeal on three straight plays before the exasperated Aggie QB threw an interception on the fourth play. Meanwhile, Young and Cedric Benson kept pounding on the overworked Aggie defense and methodically scored 19 second half points to put the game away. The 10-1 Horns now await the outcome of the league championship games, but it is looking more and more like the best Texas team of the Mack Brown era will again miss out on a Bowl Championship Series game on New Year's Day. That's a shame, became this Horns team -- particularly its fast and strong defense -- is pretty darn good. The Aggies look like they are headed for the Holiday Bowl in San Diego against Arizona State for the Ags' first bowl game in three seasons.

Louisiana Tech 51 Rice 14. Rice's disappointing season ended on Monday night in a 51-14 loss to Louisiana Tech before a "crowd" of friends and family members of 8,317 at Reliant Stadium. The Owls finished with a record of 3-8 on the season.

The 3-8 Houston Cougars' season finished last week (mercifully).

And finally, don't miss Kevin Whited's final Big 12 wrap-up.

Posted by Tom at 6:49 PM | Comments (2) |

November 23, 2004

The Heisman Trophy winning faith healer

This Austin American-Stateman article reports on the latest undertakings of former University of Texas Heisman Trophy and NFL running back Ricky Williams. The quixotic Mr. Williams -- who retired from the NFL earlier this year at the relatively young age of 27 -- is now training to be a faith healer:

Williams has turned up about as far from professional football as you can get, as a student of the ancient Indian medical system known as Ayurveda. In the Sierra foothills, no less.

"I realized a while back that I have an innate ability to be compassionate," he said, "and I saw that the strength of compassion is something that healers have and healers use."

Williams is now a month into a 17-month course at the California College of Ayurveda (pronounced I-yur-vay-da) in Grass Valley, a city of 12,000 about 45 miles northeast of Sacramento. He's renting a one-bedroom cottage in nearby Nevada City.

Reluctant at first to talk, [Williams] soon started describing his old life in football and his new life in holistic healing.

"Ayurveda deals with using your environment to put yourself in balance," he said. "I've realized, both on a psychological and physical level, that the things we do in football don't bring more harmony to your life. They just bring more disharmony."

Is he happier now that he's removed from the game?

"I'm closer to being happy. I'm doing things that make me happy," Williams said. "In football I loved to practice and I loved to play, but I hated to be in meetings, hated to talk to the media, hated to have cameras in my face, hated to sign autographs. I hated to do all those things."

But then Ricky -- how do you explain this?

Earth to Ricky, over and out.

Posted by Tom at 6:26 AM | Comments (3) |

November 22, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Packers 16 Texans 13. On ESPN Sunday Night Football, the Pack handed the increasingly hapless Texans their third straight loss on a last second field goal despite the fact that they were down to their third string running back and could do nothing but pass. As usual, the Texans could not mount a pass rush, so Brett Favre methodically drove the Packers to 13 fourth quarter points to overcome a 10 point Texans' lead. Meanwhile, the Texans' offense continues to struggle as David Carr was only 5-for-11 for 49 yards in the second half and the Texans were so bad on offense against a mediocre Packers' defense that the capacity Reliant Stadium crowd started booing. Although the Texans' offensive line has not provided consistent protection over the past three games, Carr continues to fail to live up to his stature as the number one pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. In looking at the other 15 AFC teams, only five of them -- Baltimore, Buffalo, Miami, Cleveland, and Oakland -- would clearly trade their starting QB right now for Carr. For the first pick in the draft, Carr should be a better player than that, and his slow development is becoming a big problem for the Texans.

Baltimore 30 Dallas 10. Dallas actually led 3-0 after the first half, which was so bad that it almost placed the development of NFL offensive systems back several decades. The Cowboys next hope (maybe prayer?) at quarterback, Drew Henson, got some mop up duty in the fourth quarter, so maybe he will get the start against the Bears on Turkey Day. The Cowboys are simply a very bad football team right now, even worse than the Texans.

Louisville 63 Houston 27. The Coogs actually pulled to within eight points in this one just after the start of the fourth quarter, but then the Cardinals turned on the afterburners and left them in the dust (mud?) at Robertson Stadium. The Cougars finish 3-8 and, after two seasons of the Art Briles' era, still show no signs of developing a decent defense. Add in the need to re-develop the offensive line and the Cougars have their work cut out for them in this upcoming off-season.

The Aggies and Longhorns were idle this past weekend as they prepare for Friday's big game, and the Rice Owls were also off as they prepare for their last game of the season against Louisiana Tech that I believe is now scheduled for the Monday (?) after Thanksgiving at Reliant Stadium.

And, as usual, check out Kevin Whited's always insightful Big 12 Wrapup over at PubliusTx.net.

Posted by Tom at 5:17 AM | Comments (2) |

November 21, 2004

"The triumph of an uncluttered mind"

This Dallas Morning News article catches up with former Dallas Cowboy quarterback and folk hero Clint Longley, who as a 22-year-old rookie out of Abilene Christian University replaced a woozy Roger Staubach early in the third quarter and led the Cowboys to a dramatic 24-23 comeback victory over George Allen's Redskins 30 years ago on Thanksgiving Day.

Longley was a live wire, so his remarkable performance generated more than the usual amount of interest throughout Texas and the NFL. One of the best comments on the game came from Cowboys offensive lineman, Blaine Nye, who described Longley's performance (11-20 for 203 yards and 2 TD's) as "the triumph of an uncluttered mind."

Longley's three year professional career was utterly undistinguished except for that one magic game and one other incident -- when he sucker-punched Staubach during training camp in 1976, prompting the Cowboys to trade Longley to San Diego. By the end of that season, the Chargers waived Longley and he never played for another NFL team.

Charlie Waters, a former Cowboy teammate, noted that Longley's unpredictable nature manifested itself in the Staubach sucker-punch:

Waters knew how unpredictable Longley could be. The season before, Waters had agreed to let Longley keep his new pony on three acres of land he'd purchased near the team's practice facility.

"He pulls up in a 1957 Cadillac," said Waters, "and the horse's head was sticking out one of the back windows and its ass was hanging out the other side."

Over the past 30 years, Longley has refused all interview requests and now lives quietly -- albeit idiosyncratically -- in Corpus Christi. He did not grant an interview for the story, but DMN reporter Matt Mosley did a good job in the article, anyway. Read the entire piece.

Posted by Tom at 9:03 PM | Comments (0) |

November 19, 2004

The Old Ball Coach is headed to Augusta National . . . er, I mean, South Carolina

This Washington Post article confirms that former University of Florida and Washington Redskins football coach Steve Spurrier is headed to the University of South Carolina to replace Lou Holtz as football coach there. South Carolina apparently sealed the deal with Coach Spurrier -- who does not allow his coaching duties to get in the way of playing golf -- in the following manner:

Spurrier, 59, agreed to the deal Wednesday, after he and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, met with Holtz and South Carolina alumnus William "Hootie" Johnson at Augusta National Golf Club, where Johnson is chairman . . . Sources close to Spurrier have said Johnson's role at Augusta National and Spurrier's desire to be a member at the exclusive club approximately 70 miles from Columbia, S.C., were a factor in the coach's decision. Holtz is also a member at the club and Johnson is a former Gamecock fullback. Spurrier received a tour of the club's facilities Wednesday.

Posted by Tom at 6:16 AM | Comments (1) |

November 16, 2004

The $300 Million Cowboys Victory

Lest anyone think that the Big Tuna is in any hot water with Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones over the rather pathetic turn in the Cowboys' season, Reid Slaughter of the Frontburner makes a persuasive case to the contrary:

THE $300 MILLION FOOTBALL GAME

This morning, as Cowboys fans reach for the Prozac to stave off another post-game grief hangover, you have to wonder: just how HUGE was that thrilling October 31 win over the Detroit Lions at Texas Stadium? It put the 'Boys at 3-4 on the season, and you had the feeling that somehow the home team might pull out a decent season. So, let's go to the polls Nov. 2 and give our gridiron warriors a nice new stadium to play in.

Then come the next two games. Absolute, total butt-kickings. Humiliation. On TV, many shots of Jerry Jones up in the owner's booth, arms folded, stroking his chin with that "What the hell is wrong with us?" look on his face. I don't know about you, but such scenes do not inspire me to ante up half of $600 million to make that man richer.

During last night's 49-21 loss to the Eagles, John Madden said of a disconsolate Bill Parcells, "Sometimes you just need a win." At no time was the more true than Oct. 31. And The Tuna delivered a whopper for his boss.

Posted by Tom at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) |

November 15, 2004

Football is taken seriously in the Big 12

This earlier post referenced Kansas Coach Mark Mangino's comments after Saturday's controversial ending to the Texas-Kansas game in which Coach Mangino alleged that the officials were favoring UT to preserve the Horns' stature for a lucrative Bowl Championship Series Bowl game.

Well, it turns out that Lawrence, Kansas was not the only place where passions were bubbling out of control in Big 12 country this past Saturday. This article from Husker.com indicates that Darren DeLeone, a 6'4", 315 lbs. offensive tackle hauled off and whacked a member of of the Oklahoma spirit before Saturday's Nebraska-OU game in Norman:

During pregame warmups, an incident allegedly occurred involving Nebraska offensive lineman Darren DeLone and a member of the Ruf/Neks, an Oklahoma sideline spirit group.

According to Sunday's editions of The Oklahoman, Adam Merritt, a Ruf/Nek, was transported from Owen Field on a medical cart and taken to Norman (Okla.) Regional Hospital after having several teeth knocked out and suffering facial lacerations in what witnesses described as an assault by the 6-foot-4, 315-pound DeLone.

Merritt was treated and released before the game ended.

DeLone was not arrested and was allowed to leave the stadium with the team, according to The Oklahoman.

The Nebraska athletic department Sunday released a prepared statement saying it was "aware of a collision that occurred on the field of play during the official pregame warmup period."

The one-paragraph statement ? which doesn't identify DeLone or any other Husker player ? said several members of the Nebraska football team, including two coaches, "witnessed the collision and immediately summoned a member of Nebraska's medical staff to assist. Players and coaches spoke with officials immediately following the game."

The Nebraska athletic department and football team "are sorry the accident happened and wish the young man a quick and full recovery," the statement said.

However, there might just be more to the story than the Nebraska officials are letting on:

According to The Oklahoman, witnesses in the Sooner student section at Owen Field and on the sideline said DeLone head-butted Merritt in the face with his helmet and shoved him into the 3-foot brick wall.

Well, I guess that could be construed as a "collision."

But that was only the "before game" incident. After the game, Nebraska coach Bill Callahan came unhinged as he was leaving the field and began yelling obscenities at several boistrous OU fans. The AP wire story on the incident relates the following:

While acknowledging he used a poor choice of words in a profane outburst directed at Oklahoma fans Saturday, Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said he was upset because a group of hecklers were allowed so close to his players during warmups and oranges were thrown onto the field late in the game.

As he walked toward the Nebraska locker room after a 30-3 loss, Callahan looked into the stands and called OU fans "[expletive] hillbillies."

"I'm an emotional guy, and I'm a competitive coach, and on the field I stick up for my players," Callahan said Monday on the Big 12 coaches teleconference. "I don't think any team should be subjected to the type of treatment we were subjected to in that particular contest."

Callahan also said he could not comment on what Nebraska called a
"collision" between a player and an Oklahoma student fan incident because the coach did not see it.

Welcome to the Big 12, Coach Callahan.

Posted by Tom at 2:39 PM | Comments (1) |

November 14, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Colts 49 Texans 14. In a game that was not as close as the score indicates ;^), the Texans reinforced the fact that last week's debacle at Denver was no aberration. Peyton Manning toyed with the Texans secondary as he threw five TD passes in the first three quarters. He would have had a couple more had the Colts not called off the dogs. On the other hand, David Carr continued his up and down season with a horrid performance (22-41/215 yd./3 picks) behind an offensive line that looked like a sieve against one of the weakest defenses in the NFL. Carr spiced his poor performance by giving up a fumble and an interception that were returned for TD's. Meanwhile, the Texans' defense would have had a hard time stopping a hard charging marching band as Manning sliced and diced them for 320 yards on just 18 completions. Things do not get any easier for the 4-5 Texans as the red-hot Packers come to town next week for the ESPN Sunday night game at Reliant Stadium. That could be very ugly.

Eagles 49 Cowboys 21. In another game not as close as the final score indicates, the Eagles overwhelmed the hapless Cowboys at Texas Stadium, again increasing the chances that the Big Tuna will explode at any time. The Eagles' 35 first-half points were more than they had scored in any game this season as Eagles' QB Donovan McNabb was 15-of-28 for 345 yards with four TD passes and no interceptions. It was the Cowboys' fifth loss in six games, and they have lost the last three by 21, 23 and 28 points. The Pokes now get the pleasure of going to Baltimore next Sunday to have Ray Lewis and the Ravens defense hand their hat to them.

Texas Longhorns 27 Kansas 23. For the second straight week, the Horns flirted with a disastrous upset loss, but pulled it out with a last minute TD drive spiced by QB Vince Young's incredible 22 yard run for a first down on 4th and 18. The game was spiced with controversy as the Horns benefitted from an offensive pass interference call that forced the final Kansas punt and allowed the Horns one more chance at pulling it out. Based on the following post-game comments, Kansas Coach Mangino did not think much of the offensive pass interference call:

"You know what this is all about, don't you? The BCS. That's right. That's what made the difference today in the game. That's what made the difference on the call in front of their bench ? dollar signs."

After conferring with the Kansas Athletic Director and his investment banker over the probable amount of the fine from the Big 12 Conference stemming from those comments, Coach Mangino issued the following "public statement" later on Saturday afternoon:

"After an emotional loss, in our seniors' last home game, I made remarks that I regret. Any implications that BCS standings played a role in Saturday afternoon's game was inappropriate. I have always supported the BCS system and will continue to do so."

At any rate, the 9-1 Horns are now off until their annual rivalry game with the Aggies on the day after Thanksgiving. I do not expect the Horns to play as soft against the Ags as they did in parts of their last two games. If they do, then the Aggies have enough firepower this year to beat the Horns.

Texas Aggies 32 Texas Tech 25 OT. In a hugely entertaining game, the Aggies played their third overtime game in their last four in finally beating the Red Raiders, who have tormented the Ags in recent seasons. Everybody was betting the over before this game (it was 66), but these two high-powered offenses combined for 13 points in the first half, and only 19 through three quarters, so the under bet looked golden. Then, almost as if each team turned on a switch, both offenses started scoring almost at will in the fourth quarter and, as the overtime commenced, the over bet looked within reach. Alas, Tech's offense sputtered in overtime, handing the Ags the win before a delirious crowd of over 82,000 in College Station. The 7-3 Aggies (5-2 in the Big 12) are now off until their annual showdown with the Horns in Austin on the day after Thanksgiving. The Aggies have lost four straight games to the Longhorns and seven of the last nine, but this one is shaping up to be a serious battle. I give the Horns the edge because of their superior defense and running game, but the Ags will likely make a game of it.

UAB 20 Houston 7. You can stick a fork in the Coogs. Even though they must endure one more beating at the hands of high-powered Louisville at Robertson Stadium next Saturday, the Coogs have packed it in. The probable 3-8 mark in Coach Art Briles' second season is highly disappointing, and will be the subject of much soul searching over at UH.

UTEP 35 Rice 28 OT. The Owls almost pulled off the upset of their season against the Mike Price-rejuvenated Miners, but a fumble near the goal line in the second OT doomed the Owls' hopes. The game was played in a cold drizzle and the finish was a madhouse. After UTEP grabbed a 35-28 lead on the first play of the second overtime, the Owls appeared to have tied the game again when the Owls' Ed Bailey was tackled at the goal line by his facemask. However, the official closet to the play ruled Bailey was down inches from the end zone even though Bailey clearly hit the pylon following the infraction on the UTEP defender. On first and goal, the Owls handed the ball to Bailey again and he appeared to cross the goal line, but he fumbled on the play and UTEP recovered. The refs ruled it a fumble and that was the game. The 3-7 Owls now have a week off before finishing their season on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Rice Stadium against Louisiana Tech.

And Kevin Whited has his weekly Big 12 wrap-up over at PubliusTx.net

Posted by Tom at 6:27 PM | Comments (0) |

November 7, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Broncos 33 Texans 13. After a month of strong performances, the Texans looked absolutely awful against the Broncos. The offensive line play was horrible, and David Carr -- who does not throw particularly well under pressure -- was mediocre (22/41 for 245 yds, no turnovers) as he was sacked four times. Meanwhile, the offense's incompetence left the Texans' shaky defense over-exposed, and Broncos' QB Jake Plummer took advantage, flinging four TD passes on the day. Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, the Texans' best player -- receiver Andre Johnson -- had three catches for 28 yards. Things don't get any easier for the 4-4 Texans as they travel to Indianapolis next week to be lit up by Peyton Manning and Co., and then return to Reliant Stadium for games against Green Bay and Tennessee the following two weeks.

Bengals 26 Cowboys 3. Not to be outdone, the Cowboys looked even worse than the Texans as the Bengals pummeled them in Cincy. Making things worse was that the Bengals were wearing possibly the worst looking uniforms in NFL history while administering this whipping on the Pokes. Cowboys QB Vinnie Testaverde looked all of his 41 years, spraying three interceptions to go along with a fumble in the pocket. The 3-6 Cowboys are a horrible football team right now. An over-the-hill QB, no top flight running back, and a questionable defensive secondary. This could end up being the Big Tuna's worst professional football team since his first Giants team in 1983, which finished 3-12-1. The Pokes get Philly at home and Baltimore on the road in their next two games before hosting the Bears in what is stacking up to be a forgettable Turkey Day game.

Oklahoma 42 Texas Aggies 35. Like a champion heavyweight fighter, the Sooners got off the mat before a wild crowd in College Station after the Aggies had taken 14 point leads on three occasions in the first half. OU systematically took the lead in the third quarter, and then hung on for dear life as a final Hail Mary pass fell just short of an Aggie receiver at the buzzer. OU's Jason White showed again that he is a marvelous college QB, as he shredded the Aggie secondary for five TD passes. This was simply a whale of a college football game in which the Aggies threw the kitchen sink at the Sooners, scoring TD's on a fake punt and a fake field goal. Meanwhile, both teams' secondaries looked a bit shell-shocked as both teams combined for almost 700 yards of passing yardage. OU has two relatively easy games (Nebraska and Baylor) before the Big 12 Championship game against one of the Big 12 weak sisters, so it is looking like OU and USC will meet in the BCS National Championship game. The Sooners are a top flight team, but my sense is that Coach Stoops will really have to coach around their defensive limitations to beat USC. Meanwhile, The 6-3 Aggies have no time to feel sorry for themselves, as they face tough Texas Tech in College Station next Saturday before their finale in Austin against the Longhorns on the day after Thanksgiving.

Texas Longhorns 56 Oklahoma State 35. A tale of two halves. As my wife and I went into a charity gala dinner on Saturday night, I turned off my car radio with the score Oklahoma State 35 Texas 7 with just a minute left in the first half. After the salad at dinner, a friend with a son text messaging him from the game told me it was 35-21. Then, midway through the entree, it was tied, and just as we were getting dessert, Texas was leading 49-35. You gotta love college football. The 8-1 Horns play at Kansas next Saturday before entertaining the Aggies in their finale on the day after Thanksgiving. The Horns are finally looking like a BCS bowl team to me.

Houston 34 East Carolina 24. The Coogs continued their mini-recovery after a 1-6 start by beating mediocre East Carolina at Robertson Stadium in Houston. The Coogs were behind 17-14 at halftime, but put this one away by scoring 20 straight points in a 10 minute span at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth. The 3-6 Cougars have two tough games remaining, next Saturday at 5-3 Alabama-Birmingham and then the following week at home against nationally-ranked and Louisville (6-1), so a 3-8 finish for the Coogs is still a distinct possibility.

Fresno State 52 Rice 21. The bottom has fallen out of the season for the Owls, who are now 3-6 and bleeding badly. Fresno just manhandled the Owls at Rice Stadium in Houston, as the Owls trailed 28-7 at the half and 52-7 after three quarters. Rice (3-6) should get ready for more of the same next week as they must go to El Paso to take on the Mike Price-revived UTEP(6-2)squad before finishing at home the following week against 4-5 La Tech.

By the way, in a reflection of the continued polarization of college football, the Longhorn and Aggie games on Saturday drew a combined total of about 165,000 fans. UH and Rice's games drew a combined total of barely 30,000.

And, as usual, Kevin Whited has his excellent review of Big 12 games over at PubliusTx.net.

Posted by Tom at 6:42 PM | Comments (0) |

November 3, 2004

Pokes get municipal funding approved for new stadium

The Dallas Cowboys won easily their biggest victory of the season Tuesday as Arlington voters approved a $325 million proposition to help build the team a new stadium.

The proposition authorizes tax increases to pay for half of a $650 million stadium for the Cowboys. The proposition will raise the city sales tax by a half-cent, its hotel occupancy tax by 2 percentage points and its car rental tax by 5 percentage points. A tax of up to 10 percent on tickets and up to $3 on stadium parking will also likely be levied, but proceeds from those taxes are earmarked for retiring a portion of the Cowboys' debt on the project.

Opponents of municipal funding for the stadium kept the race reasonably close despite being widely outspent by stadium proponents. The Cowboys funded a political action committee funded that spent $4.6 million on the campaign through the end of October. Opponents raised only about $120,000.

The site of the stadium, which is scheduled to open in 2009, will be in the area adjacent to the Six Flags of Texas Amusement Park and Texas Rangers' Ameriquest Field. A couple of weeks ago, the Cowboys and the Rangers announced that they were working on a joint master planned development, similar to Southlake Town Square, for the area near the football and baseball stadiums.

Stadium supporters estimated that the 75,000-seat retractable-roof stadium would provide the city an additional $5 million in rent and sales tax revenue from spending at the facility, plus other economic activity throughout the city. Stadium backers pointed to a city-commissioned study by Economics Research Associates projecting that the venue would pump $238 million into Arlington's economy each year.

Opponents of the stadium contend that the project would cost far more than it injects into city coffers and would hamstring efforts to attract other businesses. They also said that other economists have criticized the city-commissioned report for being unreasonably optimistic. Virtually all academic research -- summarized nicely by Craig Depken here -- has concluded that major sports facilities typically do little to boost local economies.

One of the civic motivations for the stadium project is Dallas' desire to attract a future Super Bowl game, which was not possible so long as Dallas area relied on Texas Stadium as its professional football venue. Although Dallas stadium and convention facilities are not as well coordinated as Houston's, the new stadium will undoubtedly attract a Super Bowl for Dallas, probably between 2010-12.

Posted by Tom at 5:37 AM | Comments (0) |

November 1, 2004

The Santa Maria Cougars

It's not everyday that a Texas high school football team makes the Washington Post. Read about the inspiring tale of the Santa Maria Cougars here.

Posted by Tom at 6:29 AM | Comments (1) |

October 31, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Texans 20 Jaguars 6. In their most impressive overall performance to date, the Texans beat the Jags decisively at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The Texans actually should have had another TD except that Jabbar Gaffney somehow fumbled the ball out of the endzone in the second quarter without being hit a moment before reaching the goal line. The Texans' often shaky defense was outstanding in this game, holding the Jags to a paltry 39 yards rushing and about 3.5 yards per pass, and tacking on a TD on DeMarcus Faggins' fourth quarter interception return to ice the game. Meanwhile, David Carr had probably his best game as a pro, hitting on 26-34 throws for 276 yards, a TD, and most importantly, no turnovers (well, actually he did have a fumble, but the refs blew the call). The Texans are now an improbable 4-3, but face tough road games at Denver and then Indianapolis over the next two weekends.

Cowboys 31 Lions 21. Meanwhile, the our north, the Cowboys avoided sending the Big Tuna toward another coronary infarction with a win over the visiting Lions at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys finally found a run defense in this one, something that has been strangely absent this season for their usually formidable run defense. The 3-4 Pokes have a winnable game next Sunday at Cincinnati before returning home the following week for a showdown with the NFL East-leading Eagles.

Texas Longhorns 31 Colorado 7. The Horns' increasingly formidable defense keyed this win, as Colorado could muster only 3 yards rushing and 221 yards total offense. The Horns still can't pass a lick, which will be a problem against teams that have the defensive strength to stuff their rushing attack. However, a big difference in Texas this season is that their defense is good enought to win low scoring games. My friends in college coaching told me before the season that Dick Tomey would make a difference in Texas' defensive unit, and I am now a believer.

Baylor 35 Texas Aggies 34. The Aggies almost laid an egg at home last week against Colorado, but they went ahead and laid a whopper in Waco against the Bears. Frankly, I was not surprised that Baylor gave A&M a game, as I had been on the sidelines of the Baylor-Iowa State game the weekend before and concluded then that the Bears -- although undermanned at several line positions -- were very well motivated and well-coached. The Ags put the ball on the ground a few times and, before you now it, the Bears determined that they could win the game. The decision of Baylor coach Guy Morris to go for two points after pulling to within 34-33 in the first overtime is one of those decisions that anyone who enjoys college football just has to admire. The 6-2 Aggies must now try to regroup before Oklahoma comes to College Station next Saturday night. Given the performance of the Aggie defense over the past two games, here is a betting recommendation on that game -- take "the over."

Houston 24 Tulane 3. The Coogs, who really have played a brutal schedule this season, finally caught a break and pounded a poor Tulane team at Roberston Stadium in Houston. This one was over by halftime as the Coogs coasted in the second half against either a dominating defensive effort or an imcompetent Tulane offensive performance, depending upon your viewpoint. The 2-6 Coogs have another winnable game next Saturday at home against 2-5 East Carolina.

Tulsa 39 Rice 22. The Owls' once promising season has now officially fallen apart as they lost decisively to a bad Tulsa team in Tulsa. The 3-5 Owls now face Fresno State and the Mike Price-revived UTEP in two of their final three games. Those games could be very ugly for the Owls.

And remember to review Kevin Whited's excellent weekly review of Big 12 games.

Posted by Tom at 7:46 PM | Comments (2) |

October 24, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

The Texans were off in Week 7 of the NFL season. They play the Jags at Reliant Stadium in Houston next Sunday.

Green Bay 41 Dallas 20. If there was any doubt that the Cowboys were in deep trouble to date, then this game removed all doubt. The Packers toyed with the Cowboys, who were incapable of stopping either the Pack's ground or aerial game. In the meantime, the Cowboys have no rushing attack and no real deep threat in the passing game. This 2-5 Cowboy team is a good bet to reach 10-12 losses this season. The improved Lions are up next for the Pokes at Texas Stadium next Sunday.

Texas 51 Texas Tech 21. The 6-1 Horns proved again that they can dominate a team that cannot stop the run. Unfortunately, Texas' problem is with the teams that can stop the run and force the Horns to rely on their questionable passing game. None of the Horns next four games are going to be picnics -- at Colorado, home against Okie State, at Kansas, and the annual Thanksgiving weekend grudge match against the Texas Aggies. Interestingly, it may be Texas' relatively unnoticed but much improved defense that pulls the Horns through these next four games.

Texas Aggies 29 Colorado 26 (OT). After back-to-back impressive road wins over the past two weeks, the Ags came home and almost laid an egg before winning their sixth straight. The Aggies came out flat in the first half of this game, but mounted a couple of impressive second half comebacks to tie the game in regulation. The Buffs sprayed the ball all around Kyle Field in generating almost 400 yards of passing offense, so the Aggies' secondary better shore up quickly if they want to stay on the same field with OU's high-powered offense in two weeks. The 6-1 Ags tune up for the OU showdown by taking on Baylor next week in Waco.

TCU 34 Houston 27. The Coogs are in a clear freefall as their record deteriorates to 1-6 in a game that was not as close as the score reflects. Houston is looking like a 1-10 or 2-9 team to me. What a comedown after Art Briles' magical first season as UH's coach.

Navy 14 Rice 13. The Owls made a nice fourth quarter comeback against a strong Navy squad only to undermine their chance for victory in overtime by blowing the PAT after the second TD. The 3-4 Owls are just a couple of breaks away from being 5-2 and in the thick of the race for a minor bowl appearance, but the Owls are now facing a brutal final month of the season beginning next Saturday at Tulsa. Rice will struggle to finish with a .500 record this season.

And, as usual, Kevin Whited has his excellent weekly review of Big 12 games.

Posted by Tom at 8:06 PM | Comments (0) |

October 17, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Texans 29 Titans 10. In the sweetest win for the young Texans franchise since the win against Dallas in the team's first NFL game, the Texans defense picked off four Steve McNair passes and beat the Titans 20-10 in Nashville. The Texans defense -- which has looked pathetic for much of the season -- held the Titans to 210 passing yards on 41 attempts. I know it's juvenile, but how can one not feel good about kicking the collective butts of a Bud Adams team? Here's hoping the Texans make a habit of it. The Texans have an off week next Sunday before taking on the Jacksonville at Reliant Stadium in Houston on October 31.

Steelers 24 Cowboys 20. Rookie Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger cuts up the Pokes with 14 points in the fourth quarter to pull out the win. Uh, Big Tuna, have you noticed that the Texans have a better record than your Cowboys? The Pokes play at Green Bay next Sunday.

Texas Aggies 36 Oklahoma State 20. This was the resurgent Ags most impressive win to date as they extended their winning streak to five. Okie State is pretty good, and they had no answer for the Aggies offense under Reggie McNeal, who ran up almost 400 yards total offense. The Aggies take on Colorado at College Station next Saturday.

Texas Longhorns 28 Missouri 20. The Horns overcame their increasingly mediocre passing game to hold off Mizzou at Austin. Texas is a good team with a solid rushing attack and a quick and generally effective defense. However, the lack of any meaningful passing attack is a huge problem, particularly against good teams. The Horns take on Tech next week in Lubbock, which will be no picnic, and both Oklahoma State and the Aggies will be difficult games for the Horns. This team could easily end up 8-3, which will not go over well in Austin.

Nevada 35 Rice 10. The big bugaboo of the triple-option oriented attack is that it does not play well from behind -- it simply takes to much time running the ball to overcome a big deficit. That's what happened to Rice in this game as Nevada took a big lead and Rice's offense simply could never get on track. This is a disappointing loss for the Owls because Nevada was a team that they should have beat and the Owls' next game is against a very tough Navy squad next Saturday at Annapolis.

The Houston Cougars were off this week as they prepare to go 1-6 against TCU next Saturday in Ft. Worth.

And remember, for a more thorough weekly review of Big 12 games, check out Kevin Whited's analysis over at PubliusTX.net.

Posted by Tom at 10:46 PM | Comments (2) |

October 10, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Vikings 34 Texans 28 (OT). Down 21-zip midway through the third quarter, the Texans came charging back to tie the game at 28 behind a gutty performance from QB David Carr and extraordinary efforts from WR's Andre Johnson and Derick Armstrong. Unfortunately, the Texans defense could not stop a hard chargin' marching band, so early NFC Pro Bowl QB candidate Dante Culpepper threw for over 400 yards, five TD's, and the hit the 50 yard gamewinner in overtime. And Dom Capers is supposed to be a defensive coach? The Texans go to Nashville next Sunday to play the well-balanced (at least if Steve McNair is playing) Titans.

Giants 26 Cowboys 10. With no passing offense, 11 penalties, and two turnovers, this performance will not be on Bill Parcells' career highlight film. The Cowboys remind me of the NFL version of the Texas Longhorns. The Pokes play the Steelers next Sunday in Dallas.

Oklahoma 12 Texas Longhorns 0. As noted in earlier weekly reviews, Texas simply does not have the passing game to force OU's DB's to play defensive back rather than linebacker. Consequently, OU stuffed the Horns' running game and Vincent Young was incapable of making the Sooners pay for stacking their defense to stop Ced Benson. Texas' defense did an admirable job stopping OU's vaunted passing game, but OU freshman phenom Adrian Peterson shredded the Horns' rushing defense for 232 yards. Based on their performance on this game, the Horns are going to have tough games against Tech, Oklahoma State, and A&M, although they get Okie State and A&M at home, which will help. However, Bob Stoops continually outcoaches Mack Brown while Texas continues its mystifying inability to develop their quarterback talent -- Major Applewhite is the only UT QB in recent memory to develop reasonably well over his career. If the Horns slip to third or fourth in the Big 12 South this season, how long will UT's alums -- who have invested an enormous amount into the UT program over the past five years -- put up with this obvious inability to reach the top tier of college football? The Horns get Missouri next week in Austin, which should be reasonably easy, but Tech looms in two weeks in Lubbock.

Texas Aggies 34 Iowa State 3. The Ags are starting to gain some confidence as they reel off their fourth straight win. Next week is a tougher test -- Okie State at Stillwater. Man, is the Big 12 South looking tough this season or what?

Southern Miss 35 Houston 29 (OT). The Coogs beat the spread in this Thursday night ESPN game, but allowed USM to score the last 14 points of the game to grab the loss from the jaws of victory. The Coogs somewho lost this game despite almost 520 yards of total offense and no turnovers. Oh, well, the Coogs are off next weekend before trying to avoid a 1-6 record at TCU the following weekend.

Rice 44 SMU 3. The Owls crushed the Ponies while racking up 501 yards of total offense, 496 of which was on the ground. The word in the coaching community is that SMU head coach Phil Bennett is in hot water, and performances like this one will only make the hot seat even warmer. The Owls go to Nevada next week for another WAC game that they should win.

And remember, for a more thorough weekly review of Big 12 games, check out Kevin Whited's analysis over at PubliusTX.net.

Posted by Tom at 9:16 PM | Comments (0) |

October 3, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Texans 30 Raiders 17. With the Stros winning the Wild Card playoff spot at the Juice Box downtown, the Texans did their part at Reliant Stadium to make Sunday a very good day for Houston sports fans. David Carr easily had his best game of the season as he was 14-22 for 238 yards, one TD pass in finding Andre Johnson as a secondary receiver on the play, no interceptions or fumbles, and 35 yards rushing on 8 carries. The Texans offensive line played well, protecting Carr sturdily and allowing third team running back Jonathan Wells to run for 105 yards. On the defensive side, the Texans were able to turn a Jamie Sharper sack into a TD and, while they did not ever really stop the Raiders' offense, they did pick off three Kerry Collins' passes and force two fumbles. The high-scoring Vikings come to town next Sunday, so the Texans' defense better plug the holes or else the Texans offense may need to score 40 just to stay in the game. Will the over/under on that game break 60?

Longhorns 44 Baylor 14. The Horns endured their final scrimmage of the pre-season before the real season begins next weekend in Dallas against Oklahoma. Although the Arkansas win from three weeks ago was a solid one, the three other teams that the Horns have played are not remotely comparable to Oklahoma's talent level. Similarly, Oklahoma's only reasonably tough game to date was this past weekend's win over Texas Tech, which was not particularly impressive. So, to a certain extent, next week's Red River Shootout will involve two talented, but largely unproven, teams. Although I think the addition of Dick Tomey to UT's defensive coaching staff will improve that unit, I'm not sure that the improvement will be sufficiently developed at this stage of the season for the Horns to hold the Sooners under 28 points, which I think is a requirement of beating them. And the Horns still have to figure out now to deal with the fact that the Sooners head coach Bob Stoops is a far superior game day tactician to UT's head coach Mack Brown.

Texas Aggies 42 Kansas State 30. This was a strange game. The Aggies really never stopped Kansas State, but four Wildcat turnovers allowed the Ags to have a short field for several of their scoring drives. Moreover, the Wildcats were behind for much of the game by double figures, so they abandoned their potent rushing attack behind Darren Sproles, despite the fact that it appeared to be working quite well. Nevertheless, with two and a half minutes to go, the Wildcats were driving the ball in Aggie territory and down only 35-30. Then, the KSU coaching staff inexplicably makes several questionable play calls and, for one of the only times in the game, the Aggie defense holds and KSU turns the ball over on downs with a minute and a half to go. As the Ags are running out the clock, Reggie McNeal takes off around left end and scoots 62 yards for a TD to put the game away. The Ags travel to Ames, Iowa next Saturday to play the Iowa State Cyclones, who are coached by my old friend Dan McCarney.

Memphis 41 Houston 14. On their way to a 1-6 record, the Coogs lay an egg against a good Memphis team. The problem with junk offenses such as the one the Coogs run is that, once the opposition's defensive coordinators have seen it, they make adjustments and force the offense to do something else. If the junk offense does not have something else that it can do well, then it gets ugly in a hurry, and that's where the Coogs find themselves now. Art Briles' second season is quickly turning into a rocky one. The Coogs play Southern Miss next on this week's ESPN Thursday night football.

San Jose State 70 Rice 63. When I first heard this score, I thought that Rice's basketball season had started early. The Owls uncharacteristically blew leads of 34-7 and 63-49, and somehow figured out a way to lose despite gaining 634 yards. In case the Owls had any doubts that their decision to move to Conference USA is the correct one, the attendance at this game was only 4,000, which means that this game drew less than a large number of Texas high school football games each week. Rice plays SMU next Saturday night at Rice Stadium.

And remember that Kevin Whited has the best weekly review of Big 12 games over at PubliusTx.net.

Posted by Tom at 9:21 PM | Comments (3) |

September 26, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Texans 24 Chiefs 21. In the biggest upset of the young NFL season, the Texans took advantage of a Trent Green blunder that resulted in Marcus Coleman's 102 interception return for a touchdown to edge the Chiefs at Arrowhead on Kris Brown's 49 yard field goal with 2 seconds to play. The Chiefs really should have won this game, as they were about to go up 21-6 when Coleman picked off Green. But David Carr overcame another mediocre performance for three quarters and played well down the stretch along with receivers Johnson, Gaffney, and newcomer Derick Armstrong to pull out in impressive victory. The Texans have the Raiders and Vikings the next two weeks at home, and the Texans have a shot in both games if they can slow the offenses of the opposition as they did in the Chiefs game.

The Cowboys play the Redskins on Monday Night Football this week.

Texas 35 Rice 13. The Horns pounded the gritty Owls in what amounted to a scrimmage as Texas continues to prepare for their October 9th showdown in Dallas with OU. As of now, I don't think Texas can throw well enough to move the ball consistently on OU and the Horns do not seem strong enough defensively to keep OU's offense in a low scoring game. But Texas does have serious offensive talent in Young and Benson, so a surprise in Dallas is possible. However, at this point, I just don't see how the Horns win that game. OU plays their first tough game of the season this coming Saturday against Texas Tech, while the Horns tune up against Baylor. Rice goes to San Jose State this Saturday, which is a very winnable game for the Owls.

Miami 38 Houston 13. THe Coogs improbably made a game of it with the Hurricanes into the third quarter, but the Miami defense ultimately proved too strong for the Coogs to score enough points to really worry the Canes, although the Coogs beat the spread comfortably. As usual, Miami's defense is big-time good, but the Canes' offense is not National Championship caliber this season. The Coogs go to Memphis this Saturday, which is definitely no picnic. Expect the Coogs to be 1-4 after this Saturday.

The Texas Aggies were idle as they prepare for their Big 12 opener against Kansas State in College Station next Saturday.

Posted by Tom at 9:49 PM | Comments (2) |

September 19, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Lions 28 Texans 16. "Uh-oh" is the barely audible sound that you will hear emanating from Reliant Park this week. Not only did the Texans lose their second straight, but they once again showed the inconsistency that could really make this a long season. The offense -- particularly QB David Carr -- was horrible in an excruciating first half that mercifully (for the fans, anyway) ended with the Lions ahead 7-3. Then, in the second half, Carr played reasonably well and threw his first two TD passes of the season only to have the Texans' defense go into the tank and the kickoff return team give up a 99 yard kickoff return for a Lions' TD. Given that the Texans play the Chiefs, Raiders, Vikings and Titans in the next four games, a 1-5 or 0-6 start is looking quite likely. My sense is that the Texans' honeymoon with Houston is quickly coming to an end.

Cowboys 19 Browns 12. Incredibly, the Cowboys turn it over four times and still win, primarily because the Browns' QB Jeff Garcia was 8-28 for 78 yards passing. I'm glad I resisted the urge to take him as my reserve QB in my Fantasy Football League draft.

The Texas Longhorns were idle this weekend, and most of the Horn players were probably here.

Texas Aggies 27 Clemson 6. The Ags finally won a game under Coach Franchione against a reasonably tough opponent, although Clemson does not appear to be comparable to top Big 12 caliber opposition. However, the Ags rolled up over 500 yards total offense, committed no turnovers, and held Clemson QB Charlie Whitehurst to under 200 yards passing. Certainly progress for a program that has been in steady decline -- much to the consternation of its rabid fan base -- for the past four seasons. The Aggies have an off week before taking on Big 12 North rival Kansas State on October 2 in College Station.

Houston 35 Army 21. Coogs finally get their offense cranked up and pull out the win after the Cadets tied it at 21 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. UH should be about a 60 point underdog in this Thursday evening's ESPN game at Reliant Stadium against Miami.

Rice 41 Hawaii 29. I don't know why, but I always enjoy it when a triple option team such as Rice beats a Run 'n Shoot team such as Hawaii. The Owls now try to beat a spread that will be around 35 next week in Austin against the Longhorns.

Posted by Tom at 9:21 PM | Comments (0) |

September 13, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

Given the over-analysis of football that takes place in Texas, I am going to institute a brief review of each local team's game from the past weekend with links to more thorough analysis:

Chargers 27 Texans 20. In their first game as a betting favorite, the Texans lay an egg as four turnovers (2 fumbles, 2 David Carr interceptions) undermine the Texans' chances to pull out the win. The Chargers' fourth year QB -- Drew Brees from Austin -- who the Chargers have been trying to get rid of since the end of last season, threw two TD passes to none for the third year QB Carr, who was the first pick in the 2001 draft. As noted earlier here, Carr has shown very little to date to indicate that he is a talent worthy of taking with the first pick of the NFL Draft. That he was outplayed by Brees in the first game of the season is telling.

Minnesota 35 Dallas 17. Vikes culpepper Pokes. Big Tuna will not be pleased.

Horns 22 Arkansas 20. A quality road win for the Horns, who received productive games from both QB Vincent Young and RB Ced Benson. UT's defense looked improved over last season's unit, as new defensive coaches Dick Tomey and Gregg Robinson appear to be making an impact. One major problem for the defense against Arkansas was a poor pass rush and containment, which better be fixed before the Horns tee it up in three weeks with OU in the Red River shootout. Offensively, it is still unclear to me whether UT can throw the ball well enough to force OU's safeties to play safety rather than linebacker, which is essential if a team wants to beat the Sooners. Unfortunately, neither Rice nor Baylor -- the Horns' next two opponents before the OU game -- will provide quality competition in which UT can develop that part of their offense.

Oklahoma 63 Houston 13. In a game that was not as close as the score indicates, the Cougars were in it all the way through the coin flip. In glancing at the Coogs' schedule, it appears reasonably likely that UH will be 1-6 (Army appears to be the only likely win) by the end of October unless dramatic improvement occurs. Quite a comedown from Art Briles' first season magic.

A&M 31 Wyoming 0. The Aggies take care of business against a patsy at home, which is an accomplishment for A&M the way they have been playing for the past couple of seasons. The Ags get a better test this Saturday night a home against a decent Clemson team, which is coming off a close loss to Georgia Tech.

Rice was idle this past Saturday. The Owls play the Run N' Shoot Hawaii Warriors this Saturday at Rice Stadium. If Rice plays defense as well as they did against Houston's junk offense a week ago, then the Owls could be 2-0 before becoming sacrificial lambs to Texas in Austin the following week.

For more information on Texas Tech, Baylor, and other Big 12 teams, Kevin Whited does a good weekly analysis of Big 12 games over at PubliusTx.Net.

Posted by Tom at 8:15 AM | Comments (2) |

September 12, 2004

Fantasy Football headaches

Geez, I have enough problems just deciding on my Fantasy Football team's lineup each week without having to worry about this.

Posted by Tom at 7:23 AM | Comments (0) |

September 11, 2004

The demise of the Southwest Conference

Kevin Whited has this interesting post over at PubliusTX.net about the demise of the old and beloved (at least in Texas) Southwest Conference, and how former University of Houston Athletic Director Bill Carr flubbed the chance to shoehorn UH into the Big 12 Conference.

I was quite close to the Jack Pardee-John Jenkins coaching staffs at UH, and I ended up representing Jenks in the settlement of his contract with UH (but that's the subject of an entirely longer post!). The info in Kevin's post is pretty much the way I remember it and his point about Baylor's acceptance into the Big 12 as being a booby prize is right on the mark.

For most of their existence, UH's athletic programs have generally competed very well despite fewer resources than most of their competitors. For years, several of the old Southwest Conference schools refused to agree to admitting UH until Darrell Royal and the few other statesmen in the SWC lobbied for UH's admission. I'm sure that UH will continue to face similar obstacles in attempting to join one of the BCS Conferences (the Southeastern Conference probably makes the most sense). But it would be great for Houston to have UH's athletic programs back in a major conference.

Posted by Tom at 11:32 AM | Comments (1) |

September 5, 2004

Houston Texans, Year Three

Lest you think that the only baseball and the Stros are the only sports subjects addressed on this blog, we bring you a review of the first weekend of college football. I generally ignore football until the National Football League pre-season games are concluded because they combine all the tedium and meaningless nature of baseball's spring training games without the charm.

The Texas Longhorns pounded North Texas in their first game, but the Chronicle provides Oklahoma some little needed bulletin board material as columnist Richard Justice predicts a UT victory already in the annual Texas-OU game. Given UT's futility with Oklahoma over the past several seasons, can't everyone just shut up about Texas-OU until the game is played?

Meanwhile, things are not going well with the transition from the R.C. Slocum era to the Dennis Franchione era at football-obsessed Texas A&M. After putting up a 4-8 mark in his first season last year, Coach Fran's crew allowed Utah to cream them this past Thursday night on ESPN's nationally televised game. That went over like the proverbial turd in the punch bowl in College Station, and Texas' best sportswriter -- the Chronicle's Mickey Herskowitz -- is not impressed with some of the contrived efforts of Coach Fran:

If you had played as poorly as the Texas A&M Aggies did against Utah, wouldn't you be glad not to have the names on the back of your uniforms?

This was one of the many questions that emerged from the ashes of A&M's 41-21 loss in its opener on national television.

Coach Dennis Franchione removed the names to make a point about playing as a team.

Sadly, the Aggies missed the point, along with a boatload of passes, tackles and blocks.

So the ploy did not work. In the best interest of Aggie survival, we implore coach Fran: please, please, give them back their names.

This isn't the 1970s, when a few teams still thought that identifying the players might cut into their program sales.

The blank space on the back of the A&M jerseys seemed to merely reinforce the feeling that the Aggies didn't know who they were or what they were doing in Salt Lake City.

They appeared not to know where the football was, which can cost a team dearly and did. The Aggies had the Utes backed up to their own 10, and you saw at the start they had no intention of trying to blitz or put pressure on the quarterback, Alex Smith.

So right there, Smith hit a pass for 12 yards. Going without a huddle, he connected with Steve Savoy on a short pass that the receiver turned into a 78-yard touchdown.

Just like that, the Aggies were doomed.

Moving on to the Houston Texans, the local media, which generally fawns over the Texans, has its usual puff pieces as the team prepares for the opening of its third National Football League season. As a grizzled veteran of observing football at all levels, I am skeptical that the media's optimism is justified.

The Texans have a great owner in Bob McNair, but after that, all I see are question marks. The defense -- which is the foundation upon which solid NFL teams are built -- was awful last season and the Texans still do not have the potentially dominant defensive front that is essential to a top flight NFL defense.

Moreover, on the offensive side, the left side of the offensive line is inexperienced and quarterback David Carr, coming into his third season, has shown little (admittedly, on undermanned teams) to indicate that he is a top tier NFL quarterback. Finally, Coach Dom Capers is a capable NFL coach, but my sense is that he is defensive coordinator masquerading as a head coach. Accordingly, I do not believe that the Texans will break out into a playoff caliber NFL team under him.

But Mr. McNair is a great guy and deserves a winner, so I hope I'm wrong on my forecast for the team.

Finally, the best game of the first weekend will take place this afternoon in Houston at Reliant Stadium, where the University of Houston and Rice tangle in their annual game for the Bayou Bucket Trophy. The Cougars hung a 48-14 pounding on the Owls last season, so the Owls will be primed to make this one a more competitive affair. The Coogs are a 3 1/2 point favorite in the 4 p.m. kickoff at Reliant.

Posted by Tom at 7:28 AM | Comments (6) |

August 24, 2004

Bye-bye Monday Night Football?

Monday Night Football is ABC's highest rated show. However, ABC is currently losing about $250 million on MNF. This LA Times (free online registration required) article is a good overview on the economics of televising professional football and the difficult decisions that ABC faces in regard to MNF.

Hat tip to Professor Sauer for the link to this article.

Posted by Tom at 6:08 AM | Comments (0) |

July 25, 2004

UT-ex Ricky Williams announces retirement

Former University of Texas star running back and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams has stunned the Miami Dolphins and the National Football League by announcing his retirement from professional football while in the prime of his career.

Posted by Tom at 7:41 AM | Comments (0) |

May 26, 2004

Update on the Clarett case

On Monday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued this decision denying former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett's challenge to the National Football League's rules that prevented him from participating in this year's draft. Here are the prior posts on the Clarett case.

For a variety of reasons, the Second Circuit's decision is questionable, including its complete dodge of the issue that Americans are generally free to make their own decisions on employment opportunities, even if those decisions are bad ones. As usual, Professor Sauer over at the Sports Economist has the best analysis on the decision, in which he observes the following:

The decision is evasive on two major counts. First, apart from mentioning the NFL's claim that the rule protects young players from physical harm, the decision wastes nary a sentence on the issue. The reason is clear - since labor law trumps antitrust, there is no need to judge the reasonableness of the restraint. Second, in announcing this in unabashed terms, the court tiptoes around the real issue here:

In the context of this collective bargaining relationship, the NFL and its players union can agree that an employee will not be hired or considered for employment for nearly any reason whatsoever [emphasis added] so long as they do not violate federal laws such as those prohibiting unfair labor practices ... or discrimination.

That the restriction is discriminatory is obvious. But youth is apparently not a protected class, unlike minorities or the elderly. I find this odd.

Posted by Tom at 9:08 AM | Comments (0) |

April 26, 2004

The NFL as Lake Wobegon

John McClain, the Houston Chronicle's National Football League writer, apparently believes that the NFL is a bit like Garrison Keillor's fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, where "all of the children are above-average." In today's Chronicle here and here, McClain rates 23 out of the 32 NFL teams as having better than average selections at this past weekend's NFL Draft.

Posted by Tom at 10:54 AM | Comments (1) |

April 22, 2004

SCOTUS turns down Clarett motion for stay

As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down football player Maurice Clarett's motion to stay the Second Circuit's order of earlier this week that bars Clarett and similarly situated underclassmen from this weekend's NFL Draft pending the Second Circuit's final adjudication of the NFL's appeal of the U.S. District Court decision that enjoined the NFL from barring Clarett and similarly situated underclassmen from the NFL Draft. The SCOTUS' reasoning was the same as the Second Circuit's. Inasmuch as the NFL has already agreed to conduct a supplemental draft for Clarett and others like him before the upcoming NFL seaosn if the Second Circuit upholds the District Court's decision, SCOTUS concluded that there was no material harm to Clarett and the others in barring them from this weekend's draft pending the Second Circuit's ruling on the merits of the NFL's appeal.

Posted by Tom at 2:57 PM | Comments (0) |

April 21, 2004

Clarett seeks stay from SCOTUS

The Maurice Clarett v. NFL case went to the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday as Clarett's attorneys filed a motion requesting that SCOTUS stay the Second Circuit's Monday ruling that barred Clarett from being eligible for this weekend's NFL Draft.

Although I believe that Clarett's position in this case is the correct one, my sense is that this motion to SCOTUS does not have much of a chance. The Second Circuit's order barring Clarett from the draft was premised on the notion that the NFL had agreed to conduct a supplemental draft before the 2004 NFL season for Clarett and other underclassmen if the NFL lost on the merits of its appeal to the Second Circuit. Accordingly, the Second Circuit reasoned that there was little damage to Clarett by barring him from this weekend's draft while the Second Circuit considered the NFL's appeal on the merits. I suspect that Justice Ginsburg, who drew Clarett's motion to SCOTUS, will likely have a similar view, although the inherent weakness of the NFL's underlying case might persuade her that the NFL has no reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of its appeal, in which case she could justify staying the Second Circuit's order barring Clarett from the draft.

Posted by Tom at 6:36 AM | Comments (0) |

April 19, 2004

Appeals court bars Clarett from NFL draft

In a surprising ruling reported here, a three judge panel of the the Second Circuit Court of Appeals barred former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett from participating in next week's National Football League annual draft of collegiate players. Here are the prior posts on the Clarett case.

From the news report, it appears that the appellate court simply issued a short order barring Clarett from the draft, reasoning that any damage to Clarett from the stay was minimal because the NFL has agreed to hold a supplemental draft for Clarett and other underclassmen who are not eligible for next week's draft before the upcoming NFL season if Clarett prevails on the merits of the case. Consequently, look for the Second Circuit to issue a more detailed decision soon on the merits of the NFL's appeal of the lower court ruling that made Clarett eligible for the next week's NFL draft.

Posted by Tom at 4:31 PM | Comments (0) |

April 13, 2004

NCAA supports the NFL position in Clarett case

According to this Chronicle story, the NCAA filed a legal brief Monday in support of the NFL's appeal to keep former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett out of this year's NFL draft. Previous posts on this lawsuit can be reviewed here.

NCAA President Myles Brand commmented that the NCAA is supporting the NFL not because of its economic interests (umm?), but rather because eliminating the rule would lead more college athletes to make poor decisions:

"If not reversed, this decision is likely to unrealistically raise expectations and hopes that a professional football career awaits graduation from high school and that education can therefore be abandoned," Brand said. "The result could be a growing group of young men who end up with neither a professional football career nor an education that will support their life plans."

This is an extremely disappointing position coming from Dr. Brand, who was supposed to bring some academic integrity to the NCAA. In short, Dr. Brand is taking the position that the NFL and NCAA should be allowed to engage in violations of anti-trust law to prevent a few young football players from making a bad decision (i.e., to opt for the NFL before they are ready over a subsidized college education).

Note to Dr. Brand -- in America, people are generally free to make bad decisions. Rather than taking this dubious position, the NCAA should be working with the NFL to establish a true minor football league to accomodate the hundreds of football players who really have no desire or business being in college while preparing to take a stab at professional football. That system has worked well for years in baseball, and college baseball has flourished in the Sun Belt over the past decade as a result. Until NCAA football quits being a glorified minor league for the NFL, the college football scandals that arise annually will continue to undermine the integrity of intercollegiate athletics.

Posted by Tom at 9:42 AM | Comments (0) |

April 12, 2004

UT assistant Haith to coach Canes

Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News is reporting that Frank Haith, 38, associate head basketball coach at the University of Texas for the past three seasons, will be named the new head coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes basketball program this week.

Haith has been a key recruiter for the strong Texas basketball program over the past several years. Although Texas is known more for its football team, the Texas basketball program has actually been better than the football program lately. The Horns have made it to three straight NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteens and reached the Final Four in the 2002-03 season. Haith also has also worked as an assistant coach at Wake Forest, Texas A&M, Penn State and UNC Wilmington.

Posted by Tom at 2:03 PM | Comments (0) |

April 6, 2004

Friday Night Lights

Some of my non-Texan friends chide me that the phrase "Texas culture" is an oxymoron. However, Texas actually is a place rich in many distinctly interesting cultures, and the following are a few noteworthy books and movies that explore those cultures.

Texas author Larry McMurtry has brilliantly explored the diversity of Texas culture in many of his novels. His Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Lonesome Dove" and the extraordinary television mini-series based on the book (with Robert Duvall and Tommie Lee Jones in th lead roles) captures many of the frontier aspects of Texas culture. Similarly, Mr. McMurtry's "Last Picture Show," -- which Peter Bogdanovich made into a fine movie -- is an exceptional depiction of West Texas culture, just as his alternately hilarious and heart-wrenching "Terms of Endearment" (also made into a wonderful movie starring Shirley McLaine, Debra Winger and Jack Nicholson) is an insightful view into the upper crust of Houston culture.

One of my favorite movies about Texas is John Sayles' movie "Lone Star," which is a fine murder mystery set in the complicated culture of Texas' Rio Grande Valley near Texas' border with Mexico. As the characters in this movie remind us on several occasions, "This isn't Houston, ya know."

But one of the most popular books about Texas culture is H.G. Bissinger's "Friday Night Lights," the definitive book on the fascinating culture of Texas high school football. In this fine book, Mr. Bissinger examines the spirit of one of Texas high school football's most successful programs: the Odessa Permian Panthers. Set in a city in decline in the West Texas desert, Mr. Bissinger explores the town, the school, the coaches, the team, its players, and how -- for better and for worse -- the team becomes the town's identity. The picture is not always pretty, but the image is impossible to forget.

"Friday Night Lights" is now about to become a movie. This Chronicle article describes the current Houston-area filming of the new movie, which stars Billy Bob Thorton. Here's hoping that this movie can live up to the standard of the above-described movies in portraying yet another fascinating aspect of Texas culture.

Posted by Tom at 9:50 AM | Comments (2) |

April 3, 2004

Enterprise status for public universities

Skip over at The Sports Economist posts this interesting story about how the scandal involving the University of Colorado football team is emboldening the economist-president of the University to push the University's Board of Regents and the Colorado State Legislature to grant the University "enterprise status," which would make it a semiprivate institution with more independence over financial matters such as raising money and setting tuition rates.

Skip comments insightfully on this development as follows:

This issue is not unique to Colorado. The University of Virginia is a well known example where state funding has become a small percentage of operating expenditure. Clemson has the same problem. The issue is not just "managing finances," but having the freedom to make autonomous decisions on numerous margins which affect the university. Given the dry well in public funding, schools want to be released from regulatory constraints on what they do. Increasingly, good state universities are obtaining a more private character. Schools that do not move in this direction will surely suffer in the national competition for quality students and faculty.

This is a development in public school financing that we Texans should be watching closely. Public financing of universities in Texas has long been a controversial issue, with the University of Texas and Texas A&M University long enjoying an absurdly and unjustifiable favored financing status over all other public universities in Texas. As a result, leaders of Texas public universities in areas of great fund-raising potential (three examples would be the University of Houston, North Texas State University, and Texas Tech University) would be well-advised to follow the "enterprise status" initiative at the University of Colorado. It may well be a way for those universities to break out of the politically imposed financial limitations that have constrained their overall advancement for many years.

Posted by Tom at 10:11 AM | Comments (0) |

March 24, 2004

Mike Price, litigation machine

Because of NCAA sanctions, the University of Alabama football team cannot go to a post-season bowl game for awhile. However, that sanction sure does not stop former UA coach Mike Price from getting it on with the current UA president. Priceless.

Posted by Tom at 5:41 PM | Comments (0) |

New York City announces ambitious stadium plan

This NY Times article indicates that New York City might finally have decided upon a viable deal to develop the long-awaited West Side football stadium.

Posted by Tom at 5:11 AM | Comments (0) |

March 22, 2004

Qualities of a good football coach

Houston Chronicle sportswriter Mickey Herskowitz passes along this story about those two NFL coaching icons, George Halas and Vince Lombardi:

One recalls the story of George Allen, who was hired off the staff of George Halas in Chicago to coach the Los Angeles Rams.

Halas was furious that the Rams failed to ask for his permission and threatened to take Allen to court. At a league meeting after the issue was resolved, Halas used the occasion to vent his anger at his former defensive coach.

"George Allen," Halas said, "is a man with no conscience. He is dishonest, deceptive, ruthless, consumed with his own ambition."

At that point, Vince Lombardi leaned over to the owner of the Rams and whispered, "Sounds to me like you've got yourself a helluva football coach."

Posted by Tom at 6:17 AM | Comments (0) |

March 12, 2004

Texans turn a sixth round draft pick into a third round pick

As noted in this earlier post, the Houston Texans chose former University of Michigan quarterback Drew Henson in the sixth round of last year's NFL Draft even though Henson was playing baseball at the time in the New York Yankees minor league system. The Texans' figured that Henson's mediocre baseball skills would eventually lead him back to football, and today their gambit paid off. The Texans traded their contract rights to Henson to the Dallas Cowboys for a third round draft choice in the 2005 NFL Draft. By focusing on preserving draft picks, the Texans are building a formidable foundation of good, young players. The third round draft pick that the Texans received in this deal will probably be much more useful for them next year when the team will likely be maturing into a playoff caliber team than the sixth round choice would have been for this season's team.

Posted by Tom at 8:43 PM | Comments (0) |

March 2, 2004

Houston Bowl attempts to go BCS

This Houston Chronicle story reports on the intent of Houston Bowl officials to bid on being the host for a fifth Bowl Championship Series college football game to be added after the 2006 season.

This is a new initiative for Houston, which has never had much of a college football bowl heritage. The old Bluebonnet Bowl had a rather uneventful run from 1959-1987 and always struggled for sponsorship support and attendance. The newer Houston Bowl has been around for the past several years, but has paid the minimum amount to the participant teams, so it has not moved above the lowest tier of bowl games. However, with the wide array of new facilities that Houston recently used in successfully hosting Super Bowl XXXVIII, Houston now has proven that it has the capability of hosting major events such as a BCS Bowl game. Given Texas' rich history and tradition in college football, Houston would be a logical choice for hosting one of college football's premier bowl games.

Posted by Tom at 10:11 AM | Comments (0) |

February 27, 2004

UT honors Dr. Denton Cooley

Dr. Denton Cooley is one of Houston's many legendary doctors who have helped build the Texas Medical Center into one of the world's great medical centers. Dr. Cooley founded The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, and he performed the first successful heart transplant in the United States in 1968 and the first involving an artificial heart in 1969.

As Houston sportswriter Mickey Herskowitz writes in this column today, Dr. Cooley was a starting basketball player at the University of Texas at Austin in the late 1930's, and UT is honoring Dr. Cooley by naming its new basketball practice facility after him. The entire column is worth reading, but this part is essential for all fans of legendary former UT football coach Darrell Royal:

Among the speakers in Austin the other night were Mack Brown and Rick Barnes, who coach the marquee men's sports at UT. But the one who stole the show was Jody Conradt, the Hall of Famer who gave the Longhorns a national championship in women's basketball.

"They built the Erwin Center 21 years ago," she said, "and obviously it never occurred to anyone that the women would need a separate locker room. So every room in this place had urinals in it.

"Now we have one of our own. Before one of our games, coach Darrell Royal was kind enough to speak to my team. Before he left, someone asked what the biggest difference was between our locker room and all the ones he knew from all his years of coaching. Coach Royal said, `Offhand, I can't remember anyone ironing anything before a game in one of our locker rooms.' "

Posted by Tom at 6:43 AM | Comments (0) |

February 23, 2004

NFL revenue sharing to be reviewed

This Washington Times article describes a movement among certain National Football League owners to revise the NFL's Trust, the master business agreement that maintains that shared national revenue structure that has propelled the NFL into a multi-billion dollar industry and makes the NFL the envy of virtually every other professional sports league.

Posted by Tom at 7:43 PM | Comments (0) |

February 21, 2004

Cowboys back to Fair Park?

This Dallas Morning News article is about the proposal that Dallas officials have made to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to bring a new Dallas Cowboys stadium to Fair Park, which is the location of the Cotton Bowl, the stadium that the Cowboys' left 33 years ago when they moved to Texas Stadium in Irving. Dallas officials are pitching the proposal after rejecting the Cowboys' overture to redevelop an industrial area near downtown. Fair Park, which is already developed, would require less public investment and benefit from having the Cowboys' stadium replace the outdated Cotton Bowl.

Within the past five years, Houston has lapped Dallas in terms of sports facilities and related infrastructure. During that time, Houston has built two retractable domed stadiums--Minute Maid Park and Reliant Stadium--and the new Toyota Center basketball arena. In addition, Minute Maid Park and Toyota Center are adjacent to Houston's downtown Convention Center and related hotel complex, and Reliant Stadium is in Reliant Park, which includes the Reliant Center convention facility and the Astrodome. Each of these facilities played a major role in Houston's successful hosting of Super Bowl XXXVIII, and the NFL's recent announcement that it intends to return the Super Bowl to Houston toward the end of this decade. Those developments have been a tremendous boon for Houston's ability to attract large conventions, which had been lagging for many years. If Dallas builds a new football stadium for the Cowboys, then it would become one of the increasingly few cities that has adequate facilities and infrastructure to accomodate major conventions and events such as the Super Bowl.

Posted by Tom at 9:17 AM | Comments (0) |

February 11, 2004

NFL Moves for a Stay in the Clarett Case

This previous post reported on the National Football League's recent loss in attempting to prevent former Ohio State underclassman running back Maurice Clarett from entering this year's NFL Draft. Yesterday, the NFL requested that the federal district judge stay the order requiring the NFL to allow Clarett to be eligible for its 2004 draft pending the NFL's appeal of that order.

Clarett's attorneys have an interesting strategic decision to make here. Clarett would be eligible for the 2005 NFL Draft under the league's current rules. Also, my sense is that Clarett has a strong case on appeal and will probably win it. Inasmuch as any such stay would be conditioned upon the NFL posting a rather large bond, Clarett may be better off strategically attempting to move the District Judge to set a high bond in favor of Clarett in connection with granting the NFL a stay of the order. In that case, Clarett could use the next year preparing for the 2005 NFL Draft (I'm sure Ohio State would not mind having him back for a season) and recover a windfall if the NFL posts the bond and then loses the subsequent appeal. Certainly something to consider.

Well, so much for that strategy. The Judge in the Clarett case has already denied the NFL's motion for stay in this order.

Posted by Tom at 8:54 AM | Comments (0) |

February 5, 2004

Clarett Beats NFL

Maurice Clarett, the talented running back who led Ohio State to a thrilling victory over Miami in the 2003 National Championship game, sued the National Football League several months ago in this complaint alleging that the NFL was violating anti-trust laws by not allowing Clarett to become eligible for the NFL Draft until 2005. Today, the District Court issued this decision ruling in Clarett favor and enjoining the NFL from not allowing Clarett to be eligible for the 2004 NFL Draft.

Although this decision may seem surprising, it is not to those of us who follow professional sports and anti-trust law. As a matter of fact, the NFL's record in past anti-trust cases is not all that great. Part of the reason for the NFL's phenomenal growth and business success over the past 40 years is that it has avoided investing the money necessary to capitalize a minor league football system similar to what exists in Major League Baseball. Rather, through rules such as the one Clarett challenged, the NFL has shifted the financial risk of minor league football to Division I-A college football teams.

The Clarett decision probably will not result in many high school football players moving directly from high school to the NFL similar to what often occurs with regard to high school basketball players moving directly to the NBA. As a general rule, high school football players simply are not ready physically for the rigors of the NFL. However, a few such as Clarett probably are, and the decision in Clarett's case correctly gives them the opportunity to pursue that goal if they prefer that goal over a subsidized college education.

Posted by Tom at 2:55 PM | Comments (0) |

February 3, 2004

McNair is on a Serious Roll

Bob McNair, the majority owner of the NFL's Houston Texans, is an old friend and a wonderful man. Bob and the Texans just completed a masterful job in leading Houston's hosting of the highly successful Super Bowl XXXVIII, and now it appears that Bob may have struck gold again.

Drew Henson, the former University of Michigan quarterback and NY Yankee minor leaguer, announced today that he has finally given up on baseball and is going to play in the NFL. In last year's NFL Draft, many folks scratched their heads when Bob and the Texans used a sixth round draft choice on Henson. The Texans already have a young franchise QB in David Carr and Henson was still playing baseball with the Yankees AAA team at the time. However, Bob and the Texans knew what they were doing.

Henson's poor on base average and mediocre slugging percentage in AAA reflected that he was not a Major League Baseball prospect. However, Henson is an excellent football talent, and many scouts considered him a better prospect than Tom Brady, the Super Bowl MVP who was his teammate at Michigan. With Henson now turning to football, the Texans retain his contract rights until this year's NFL Draft, and there will be several teams bidding for his services. The Texans will likely come out of this deal smelling like a rose, and likely will pick up at least a higher draft pick in this year's draft in return for the right to sign Henson.

My early bet on the Henson sweepstakes: the Miami Dolphins.

Posted by Tom at 8:36 PM | Comments (0) |