Houston in Big 12

With Houston going 2-0 vs the Big 12 this year, here's the last time each Big 12 team defeated two teams from the Big 12 South:

• Colorado - 2007 (includes upset of Oklahoma while a 20+ point underdog)
• Iowa State - 2005
• Kansas - 2007 (went 12-1, and did not face Oklahoma, Texas or Texas Tech). Only time they've accomplished in Big 12 history.
• Kansas State - 2007 (upset Texas)
• Missouri - 2007
• Nebraska - 2003
• Baylor - not since Big 12 formed in 1996
• Oklahoma - 2008
• Boone State - 2008
• Texas - 2008
• Texas A&M - 2007
• Texas Tech - 2008

The suprising part to me was that each Big 12 North team - outside of Nebraska - had done this farily recently. I did not expect that. I guess I have a short memory.

BCS Busters

Much yelling going on about Boise State or Houston as a BCS buster this year. Some people mention the Horned Lizards, but not many. Here's why:

Current Win Loss records of future opponents

• Boise State (8 games remaining): 7-15. Of the 7 remaining 1-A combatants for Boise State, they have collectively won 7 games. This includes Tulsa, which is 2-1 (1-aa wins/losses are excluded). Intrastate foe Idaho (hey, that rhymes!) is 3-1 (beating juggernauts NM State, San Diego State and Northern Illinois), and is probably their second toughest remaining game. Aside from those two, BSU opponents are 1-AA UC-Davis, and 5 other teams thave have combined for two wins against 1-A teams. this is not to say that Boise is not good, but they will NOT be tested extensively the remainder of the way.
• Houston (9 games remaining): 8-19. The Cougars also have Tulsa remaining, as well as Mississippi State, a team that is 1-2 against 1-A foes, but almost beat LSU this past week. After 4 weeks, Conference USA appears pretty weak, with the exception of Houston and perhaps Tulsa, which lost by 51 to Oklahoma.
• TCU (9 games remaining): 13-16. The Horned Lizards host 3-1 Utah and travel to 3-1 BYU, so they definitely have their plate full.

How Texas Tech Blew the Game

One of my more faithful readers asked me for a breakdown of how Texas Tech blew the Houston game. Well, let’s look at the stats, without team names.

Stat / team A / team B
Yards per pass / 6.8 / 7.5
Yards passing / 321 / 435
Pass completion % / 64 / 66
Yards per rush / 5.1 / 4.0
Yards rushing / 163 / 144
Time of possession / 27 / 33
Turnovers / 2 / 1
3rd down efficiency % / 50 / 55
4th down efficiency % / 0 / 100

Which team do you think wins the game? Of course, Team B wins the game. Team B, the Cougars, out-passed the Dust Pirates, were marginally beat in rushing, won the turnover battle, controlled the clock and converted more 3rd and 4th down opportunities. Also, remember that on the final play of the 3rd quarter, Potts throws a horrible interception, which is negated by an illegal hands to the face call on a Cougar lineman. Personally, I thought the call was bogus.

We can throw stones at the Great Pirate for going for it on 4th down when he could have kicked a FG to go up 31-23 with 11 minutes to go. However, Leach has always been a gambler. I went back and looked at 2008 and 2009 season to date for the Red Raiders. Leach goes for it on 4th down at least once almost every game, with the exception of last year’s Texas game and the Nebraska game. The last time Leach attempted a 4th down in a game and had no conversions in that game was the 2008 opener against Eastern Washington. I think Leach knows if he converts on that 4th and goal, he puts the game away. Plus with the PF call to negate the interception earlier in the drive, he was gambling with house money anyway.

In hindsight, it's easy to say that he should've kicked the field goal. However, the Red Raiders were running the ball effectively. The question, in my mind, is why go with the quarterback sneak there, not so much that he went for it, but how he went for it.

Big 12 Goes 9-1, Yippee

The Big 12 went 9-1 this week, as the conference proudly states.

As a conference, we went:

3-1 against Conference USA
3-0 against 1-AA teams
1-0 against the WAC
1-0 against Independents
1-0 against the Sunbelt Conference

Impressive.

The Unranked, Undefeateds

An Aggie fan was complaining to me at lunch today that the Aggies were getting no love, even though they are undefeated. Let's look at all the undefeated teams that are not ranked in the Coaches top 25:

(Team / Record / Sagarin Schedule Ranking / Best Win)

• South Florida / 4-0 / 131 / Florida State
• Auburn / 4-0 / 107 / West Virginia
• Wisconsin / 4-0 / 86 / Tie between Fresno State, Michigan State, Northern Illinois
• UCLA / 3-0 / 62 / Tennessee
• Texas A&M / 4-0 / 177 / Utah State

I'm not saying the Aggies schedule has been easy, but this is the Texas A&M schedule poster this year.

All the teams aside from Cash Machine U that have been shunned have played and defeated a team from a BCS automatic qualifying conference. The next two weeks against 1-2 Arkansas (best 1-2 team in the land) and Oklahoma State will tell us much more about year 2 of The Shermanator.

Breaking Down the Polls

• Florida lost one of their first place votes in the Coaches Poll. I checked. UTEP Coach Mike Price must have a vote, nor does Lane Kiffin. I'm not certain what Florida did wrong in their 41-7 win on the road at Kentucky. Was the Horns victory against UTEP that impressive?
• LSU's 4 point rout of Missisippi State propelled them three spots up to #4. The MSU Bulldogs are now an impressive 2-2 this year, only losing by 25 to Auburn and blowing out Vanderbilt by 12 and dominating Jackson State. LSU was 8-5 last year, and boasts victories over Washington (8 pts), Vandy (14 pts), La-Lafayette (28 pts) and MSU (4 pts). LSU will really hit their stride after games against Tulane and Louisiana Tech later this year.
• Southern Cal's home victory over the hapless Washington State Cougars earned them the opportunity to vault over the Sooners for the 7th spot in the polls. I'm interested to see how the polls play out next two weeks...the Sooners travel to #21 Miami, and the Trojans travel to #19 California. If both win, and the Sooners beat the Baylor Bears at home during the Trojans' bye week, will OU leapfrog the Trojans? Seriously, what part of a 21 point victory to a team that has only beaten Ty Willighman coached Washington, Portland State and Southern Methodist in their last 16 games is impressive?
• Cal dropped from 6th to 19th after eking out a 39 point loss to previously unranked Oregon.
• Oregon went from unranked to being ranked 25th. They are six spots lower than the team they just beat by 39 points. Oregon's only loss is to 5th ranked Boise State. Oregon hosts Washington State next week, so look for them to jump into the top 10 next week after a victory.
• Virginia Tech's pasting of Miami FL helped them vault from 12th to 6th. I have no issue with this. After the Hokies lost to the higher ranked Crimson Tide the first week, they fell from 7th to 15th. That was pretty harsh for losing to a team ranked higher.

This will all shake out in the coming weeks - or at least most of it.

Bradford Visits Dr Andrews

Holy Cow! Reports coming out yesterday indicated that Sam Bradford is going to visit renowned sports doctor James Andrews in Alabama.

Here's a knee jerk reaction on two sides to this issue from someone (me) who is so far removed from the situation I can't even get lower deck tickets to the OU-Texas game.

1) Sam's shoulder has made no improvement and his whole entire season is in jeopardy. I have no basis for this conclusion, other than the fact that when some people see a glass as half full and others see it as half empty, I think I saw a leak.
2) Sam's shoulder is feeling better, and this is a business trip. Sam's dad not only played college football, he's now in the insurance business. I'm sure Papa Bradford was very diligent on reading his son's sports insurance policy. As mentioned in the article I linked to, it's a complicated business. The policies cover catastrophic, never-play-again injuries, but rarely cover money lost in the transition from "I was a first round lock and now I'm a 7th round throwaway pick for the Eagles." This entire visit could be a precaution. I would imagine that if Sam takes the field for the Sooners again, he's demonstrating that the injury is not career ending, and therefore eliminating this injury from coverage. If that's the case, and literally MILLIONS of dollars are at stake, you would be a fool to show your toughness and just get out there. You would do to the leading doctor for shoulder joints in the business, and get his thoughts before taking a snap in a regular season game again.

I wish for Sam's sake that this trip is a result of #2, and not #1.