Ten Things I think you think I think - week 3

1. Colorado is glad they don't play Nevada this year.
2. When WTF Landry is playing, the Sooners are an average football team at best. When he's channelling Sam Bradford, they're top 10.
3. Jonathan Nelson played an outstanding game this week, when he left the game in the second half, the Falcons consistently had big gains.
4. Watching an option offense well run is just a thing of beauty.
5. That outcome did not surprise me...interior d line play seems to need improvement, and if you can't stop the fullback dive and trap on an option offense, it's going to be a long day,
6. Texas seems intent on establishing the run game this year. I think sophomore g spot < 4 yr starter My Little Pony, but not by much. The real issue appears to be the ability of receivers to catch, and o-linemen not pass blocking well.
7. I wish UMass played Notre Dame.I'd love to see how those teams match up. remember when - about a month ago - when pundits were saying that ND would-be favored in all their games this year?
8. Baylor must win 4 of their next 5 to make a bowl game this year: at Rice, home against Kansas, Texas Tech in Dallas, at Colorado and home against K State. it's possible.
9. Holy cow, BYU is down this year. So is the Big 12. The conference hosted Florida International, San Diego State and Air Force and had single digit victories over those foes. Add two miserable losses at Southern Miss and TCU, and the penalty and turnover fest in Lubbock and clearly the WTF conference did not have it's best foot forward this weekend.
10. Bugeater QB Taylor Martinez is going to be First Team All Big 12.

A Texas Aggie Update w Mrs Byrne

Each week, Cash Machine U Athletic Director updates the Aggie faithful with an email. This week's update is just pure gold.

As a customer service to my loyal reader(s), I've translated the responses to emails into a video using the http://www.xtranormal.com/ website. Finally, I took the artistic liberties of adding the lovely Mrs. Byrne to the video to provide editorial comment.

Home of the Sooners

Everyone with a keyboard / touchscreen is chiming in on the "Home of the Sooners" issue. The Lost Ogle has a great piece, for example. Since I have a keyboard and a blog, here goes:



I think putting Sooners in place of brave is in poor taste. You can't legislate poor taste. it's like going to Wal-mart. You know you're going to see stuff like this, but it's not against the law. This is against the law at Wal-mart, and most other public places.


We already butcher the song in many ways. Let's keep in mind the following concepts:

• the lyrics are set to a British drinking song
• the original key for the music is rarely followed, which has become a mission of Garrison Keillor
• the timing of the original song was 43 seconds, and most of the time a singer takes 2 minutes or more to sing it
• a 2004 Harris poll indicated 39 percent of Americans didn't even know the words. Of course, the government started a program to educate us on the words. They didn't stop the flow of illegal immigrants coming into the country, so I'm skeptical this has improved in six  years.

All that being said, I don't sing Sooners in the middle of the Star Spangled banner. I don't care for it when others do. One of the things that makes our country great - and exasperating at the same time - is that we can express ourselves in different ways.


If you want to be a moron, you can be a moron. The are plenty of morons to join you in our own special way.

Texas QB Nicknames

A few years ago, when we were starting this blog, we came up with the nickname "My Little Pony" for Colt McCoy. Yesterday, while driving back from Austin, I had an idea for Garreett Gilbert.s nickname.

He will heretofore be known as G Spot.

Bob Barry Chimes in on Home of the Sooners

Just got off the phone with Bob Barry. He had this to say about the "Home of the Sooners" controversy. Barry said, "I gave Francis Scott Key piano lessons. I never charged him a dime. Did he ever say thanks? No. Spoiled kid of a lawyer. What can you do? Anyway, aside from being ungrateful, Key was a nice enough fellow. I don't know how we would feel about changing the words. He adopted the words from a British drinking song, so it's already a derivative concept."

10 Things I think you think I think - Week 3

1. Florida State is an upper division team in the ACC this year.
2. Those clowns saying Boise State deserves to be #1 for beating Va Tech should vote James Madison 1 and Boise State 2, since JMU had larger margin of victory and actually did it at Lane Stadium.
3. I'm not sure which team had a bigger Jekyll and Hyde turnaround this week: Kansas? Oklahoma?
4. I’m not bright enough to understand how Ronnell Lewis can’t get on the field every down.
5. Could Georgia Tech beat Northern Iowa?
6. Dejuan Miller is a physical specimen at WR. See Ronnell Lewis.
7. Troy would have beaten OSU with Josh Jarboe on the team.
8. Former Sooner Savior QB Keith Nichol is tied for the lead in TD Passes CAUGHT for the MSU Spartans this year. Remember when his switch to OU was going to save the program because pundits thought that Bradford kid wasn't going to be any good?
9. The Sooners still need to be stronger up the middle defensively. That will be tested this weekend against Air Force. Overall, I'm concerned about this weekend. AFA appears to be a solid team this year, and if WTF Landry shows up this week, or the defense is looking ahead to Cincinnati, we could get upset. Air Force has never lost to OU in Norman.
10. I anxiously await the Texas-Texas Tech game this Saturday. The Horns are 9-9 in Lubbock since 1974. Texas appears to be down this year, but it's tough to tell with the Rice/Wyoming combo they've played. Tech appears to be playing better than expected, but it's tough to tell with the SMU/New Mexico combo they've played.

Nebraska Season Opening Wins

Last weekend I kep hearing about Nebraska winning their 25th consecutive season opening game. I first thought was "yeah, but who have they beaten?". Here's the list, and it's different than I thought.

1986 Florida State

1987 Utah State
1988 Texas A&M (neutral site)
1989 Northern Illinois
1990 Baylor
1991 Utah State
1992 Utah
1993 North Texas
1994 West Virginia (neutral site)
1995 Oklahoma State @ Stillwater
1996 Michigan State
1997 Akron
1998 Louisiana Tech
1999 Iowa @ Iowa City
2000 San Jose State
2001 TCU
2002 Arizona State
2003 Oklahoma State
2004 Western Illinois
2005 Maine
2006 Louisiana Tech
2007 Nevada
2008 Western Michigan
2009 Florida Atlantic
2010 Western Kentucky
 
The recent games have been decidedly easier, but back in the day they actually mixed in some formidable foes (last loss was to FSU in 1985). That's not unlike many other of the power teams.

Your Week 2 Viewiing Guide

If you're not spending your day travelling to Norman like yours truly, here's your viewing guide for Saturday, Sep 11:

1100 am: This one's a no brainer. South Carolina hosts Georgia, favored by 3. The Gamecocks may have an offense this year, and Georgia may have improved defense due to Willie Martinez now being DB coach for the Sooners. Prediction: Gamecocks by 2.

1100 am: TV timeouts only: Kansas seeks to avenge its 1948 Orange Bowl loss to Georgia Tech. Ga Tech is favored by 13.5. Flip over to see if Kansas is having any better luck against than they did against North Dakota State. Prediction: Ga Tech by 17

The 230 pm time slot has a couple of appealing games. Aside from the pending Sooner W over the Florida State Seminoles, you can choose from the following fare:

• On Fox Sports, Colorado travels to California in a Pac 10 preview. I wouldn't watch this at gunpoint. Let's move on.
• The U travels to Columbus as a 8.5 point underdog to take on the Buckeyes. LeBron James is suppsoed to be there. Ohio State looks to extend it's five game winning streak. I don't know what LBJ's decision is as to who to root for, but I expect the 'Canes to win outright.
• Iowa hosts Iowa State as a 13.5 point favorite. Kirk Frerentz is 5-6 against the Cyclones. He's fittin' to be 6-6.

At 600 pm, it's a no brainer. Penn State travels to Alabama as a 12 point underdog. Nick Saban figured out this week that he was playing Penn State coached by Joe Paterno, not Huntsville Penitentiary State led by Cletus Hogg. Paterno is 4-8 against the Tide, with most of those in the Bryant-Perkins-Curry era from 1975-90. It doesn't matter if Mark Ingram plays or not, JoePa is sending a true freshman into Tuscaloosa, and will slide to 4-9 against Alabama.

Some people may want to flip over to watch Texas overwhelm Wyoming, but those folks aren't reading this blog. Texas easily covers the 28 point spread.

Ten things I think you think I think - week 1

1. Remember, Boise State plays host to Utah State on December 3. Don't put the Broncos in the BCS Championship game yet.
2. Drew Allen will play at some point against Florida State.
3. According to his bio on the 'Noles website, Chris Ponder obtained a bachelor's degree from FSU in 2.5 years. He's a redshirt senior who showed up on campus a semester early. WTF has he been doing for the past three years in Tallahassee? UPDATE: web site was updated, Ponder now has an MBA and is working in graduate sports management program at FSU.
4. Up until a few weeks ago, you could do undergraduate sports management at North Carolina, but the teacher abruptly resigned.
5. I think shower discipline is something you learn at prison orientation, not college.
6. Chris Wienke was going to represent FSU at the Sooners' 2000 team reunion last week, but he was insulted for being offered the senior citizen discount and Luby's and refused to show up at the event.
7. I think Tom Wort will have fewer penalties this week.
8. Bob Barry will see a number 7 jersey running the ball against Florida State and refer to DeMarco Murray as Kelly Phelps.
9. The Sooner pass rush will be in full force against FSU.
10. I think the Sooners win 27-24.

Sooners Favored by 8 1/2 against FSU

Holy cow. I'm not a gambling man, but I wouldn't give eight points to Texas State after last week's performance,

Utah State Analysis

I spent some time this summer contemplating if my theory that Phil Steele was suffering from dymentia for ranking the Sooners number one and Landry Jones a Heisman candidate was incorrect. I had contemplated a post detailing how I could be wrong...Maybe Josh could develop Landry into better decision making, and perhaps last year's trials and tribulations for the o-line led to some improved performance this year. I couldn't figure out how to address the turnover in the defensive secondary. My work schedule never allowed me to publish what was clearly now a flawed view.


Now, let's role play a few discussions being played out on message boards across the casino state, if message boards were a free flowing exchange of logical and rational ideas.

• Statement: The Sooners will be alright next week. They had a very vanilla game plan against the Aggies, and that contributed to the performance. Rebuttal: Agreed, they Sooners did display a very plain game plan. Offensively, there were very few counters, and the pass plays had very little sophistication. There was no misdirection. There was also very little blocking. The Sooners were going up against defensive unit that did not have a single player in the top three WAC all conference units in Phil Steele's preseason mag. The o-line did not protect Landry well. They did not create a consistent push. This offense does not have a tight end threat for the second straight year. They don't appear to be able to block any better. If the face of this rush, Landry displayed the accuracy of Eric Moore, the happy feet of Nate Hybl and the elusiveness of Paul Thompson.
• Statement: The defense will be okay. The Sooners only ran one blitz package at Utah State, and they will be more aggressive next week against the 'Noles. Rebuttal: I sure hope you're right. The CBs gave up several big pass plays. Not sure why, but there never seemed to be any deep help from the safeties. Several trap plays were effective against the interior line, which is concerning. To Utah State's credit, their QB was very mobile, and created some big plays with his feet.
• Statement: Utah State is better than Stanford this year. Rebuttal: That's an interesting hot sports opinion. I would love to believe that Utah State is a quality foe, but they're probably the third or fourth best team in the state of Utah. I haven't seen Snow Valley JC this year to know if USU can overtake them, and the past and present both tell me Utah and the Fightin' Mormons are better.
• Statement: DeMarco Murray can carry this team this year. Rebuttal: No, he can't. The line's not good enough. If Landry doesn't become functional as a QB, the opposition's just going to load up on the run and defy Landry to beat them. He won't succeed agaisnt the elite teams.
• Statement: I think this is the worst I've even seen a Stoops coached Sooner team play at home. Rebuttal: Grasshopper, you have a short memory. It's not the worst, but it's in the bottom five. you've got the 2001 Oklahoma State game, 2005 opener against TCU, and later that same year against Tulsa that were probably worse performances. I can't think of the fourth at the moment.

College Pick em 2010

Join the Landthieves college pick 'em game. Here's the link .

If you've never finished in the top 5 of an online game, here's your chance!