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.
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.
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.
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.