Early '08 Predictions, Part II

We left off yesterday with Texas at 6-0 midway through the season. Game 7 involves Missouri coming to DKR for what should be a great game between two top ranked teams. Coming off an emotional win over OU, Texas is in danger of being mentally exhausted. Missouri returns 6 and 8 respectively, with the most important returning starters being QB Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin. However, one of the most interesting things to watch will be the O-line and how they respond to the loss of Adam Spieker. Assuming someone steps up to fill the slot, look for Missouri to beat Texas in Austin. As much as I would like to be wrong on this, I'm just not sure that Texas' secondary will be up to the task of defending against Daniel and Mizzou's wideouts. Whether or not the front 4 can get pressure on Daniel in this game will be huge. If Texas does have to resort to frequent blitzing, Daniel will eventually pick them apart. If the front 4 is able to get pressure, Texas could very well win this game. Also important will be the state of Mizzou's running game after the loss of Tony Temple. While I do think that Texas is the better team, Mizzou will be coming off a home game against Oklahoma State while Texas will be coming home from the OU game in Dallas. Call it a hunch, but Texas gets their first loss of the year at home to Mizzou. Texas' 8th game of the year is a home date with Oklahoma State (returns 7 on offense and 5 on defense). I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that Ok. St. goes up early, and loses late. Rather prescient of me, I know. Just call it a hunch. The closest I have ever gotten to feeling sorry for an opponent is last year's UT v. Ok. St. team. I doubt any team has ever lost to the same opponent in THE SAME WAY consecutive times. Since our starters don't really start playing in this game until the 4th quarter, I say we put the second team offense in for the first three quarters. Watching Ok. St. try to beat Texas is like watching Colin Montgomery with the lead in the final round of a major. SURELY he can't lose this one too, right? Wrong. We are in their heads, and there is no way they win in Austin. Texas gets out of this game 7-1. Up next is Tech, who returns TEN starters on offense and 7 on defense. This game will be played in the booming, modern metropolis of Lubbock. Bring your favorite bratwurst, as the tortillas will be provided for free (dumbest "tradition" ever). Last year Tech averaged 529 yards of offense per game, and all those kids now have another year of experience. As with Missouri, I am concerned about how our defensive backs will fare in this game. Much will depend on how well the defense is adapting to Muschamp's scheme. This game will also be the last in a very tough stretch that consisted of OU, Mizzou, Ok. St, and finally Tech. As usual, the key will be keeping our offense on the field, and theirs off of it. Unfortunately, I think Tech gets the win here. Texas will be exhausted, and Tech will play with tons of energy as they try to convince themselves that they are as good as the big boys. They aren't, but on this day they are due for a win. Texas sits at 7-2, and gets their first loss in the south division. After Tech is Baylor. So, we are now 8-2. Game eleven is at Kansas. Yes, I am talking about extremely overrated, played a high school schedule, our coach is overdue for an infarction and looks like he ate a fat guy Kansas. Now you know what I think about their "big" 2007 campaign. I'm just not drinking the Kool-aid. Look for Texas to roll in this one, outscoring Kansas by at least 17. And finally, after stuffing your face full of turkey and mom's buttermilk pie, we get to see Texas play the Aggies in Austin (looks like the farm animals in College Station get the weekend off). NO WAY does Mack let ATM win 3 in a row. The fact that they won 2 in a row is unacceptable, and Mack knows it. I mean, come on. ATM is paying their new $1.5 million a year, and Baylor is paying their new coach $1.5 million a year. Who is keeping up with who? It's hard to tell. No matter what Sherman says, ATM is going to have to be a run-oriented team next year. McGee is simply not able to throw the ball well enough to run a balanced pro-style offense. As one aggie told me after seeing a game last year, "McGee reared back and threw it as far as he could....and it went 30 yards." With Goodson and Lane returning, Sherman will have to work with what he has. If there is one thing Muschamp knows how to defend, it is the run. Anyone watched an SEC game lately? Plus, Muschamp practiced against Auburn's offense all last year, and that offense is not far off from what ATM will be running. Colt and the boys hang 42 on the Aggies, and Texas wraps up the season a surprising 10-2. Whether or not they play for the Big 12 title will depend on whether or not OU loses 2 conference games. So there you have it. If you disagree, you are wrong. But feel free to try and convince me otherwise. As Seymore Skinner says, "prove me wrong kids, prove me wrong."

Early Look at '08

Allright sportsfans, here is an early look at the Big 12 in '08. Mainly, we will be looking at the number of returning starters on offense and defense, and then we will take a look at Texas' schedule to make some early projections. Unlike most people, I don't think there is any such thing as way too early predictions. Just make them early, and revise as necessary. Here we go, with the first number representing returning starters on offense, and the second number being the returning starters on defense:

Texas 6, 4
OU 8, 6
ATM 4, 5
TTech 10, 7
OK St. 7, 5
Baylor 9, 6

Missou 6, 8
Kansas 7, 9
Nebraska 5, 6
Colorado 7, 8
Kan. St. 7, 4
Iowa St. 8, 6

The early part of Texas' schedule is not too bad. They should dispose of Fla. Int'l. without much trouble, and follow that up with a win at UTEP. Things get interesting in week 3 against Arkansas, who returns 6 starters on offense and 4 on defense. New coach Bobby Petrino is a heck of an offensive coach, but it will take time to install his system. Arakansas was an all-run team last year with McFadden, which makes Petrino's pass-happy game more difficult to install. If this game was to be played in Fayetteville, I would be a little worried. However, I think Colt plays well at home and puts up some big points on a defense that returns only 4. Week 4 is at Rice, which is basically a recruiting trip for Texas. Let's call it 4-0 at this point without much discussion needed. Game 5 is at Colorado (returns 7 on O, 8 on D). Cody Hawkins looked pretty good at times last year, and just ask Oklahoma whether or not Boulder is an easy place to play. Expect D. Scott to play in this game, which could be a challenge to whomever our interior D-linemen turn out to be. However, with 4 games under their belts I expect our defense to be getting used to Muschamp's scheme. I think Muschamp blitzes frequently to harrass Cody and make him beat Texas with his arm. This game is close, but Texas should get the win. Next up on the slate is OU (who, by the way, still sucks). With OU returning 8 and 6 respectively, against Texas' 6 and 4, OU gets the nod in experience. However, Texas played a lot of guys last year who were not starters, so this number is probably a little skewed. Having split the last 4 games in the series with 2 wins each, the game looks to be close (as usual). There is also an interesting coaching situation with these teams. I think Texas did have the better team in 05' and 06' (games they won), but 07' was different. Last year was the first time I felt that Texas had a better game plan than OU on both sides of the ball. But for Charles' fumble near the goal and his tipped pass for a pick, Texas probably wins that game. This year OU returns their entire O-line, which is huge. However, a couple of key injuries could change the look of the whole team (see Texas' O-line last year). This one is a total toss-up, but if Mack really has figured out something in coaching against OU then look for Texas to win this one. But, if Texas turns the ball over like last year, then no game plan will be good enough to win. We will have to see which team comes into this game healthy, but I still think Texas can win this one. That puts the horns at 6-0 at the season's midpoint. Tune in tomorrow for a look at the second half of the season. And before you ask, no, I do not think Texas gets through the year unbeaten.

Where Ya'll At?

Ok people, if someone actually reads my "opinions," how about leaving a comment so that I know that I have at least one reader. Then, keep coming back. My posts are only going to get better. First 5 commentators will get "All-Star" status, and Bevo will bless you.

Bold Move!

Having exactly zero known readers at the moment, I am going to make a bold move. No, I am not going to try to sneak a twinkie past Rosie O'Donnel, but I am going to create hoookedonhorns' first ever reader poll! Ok, so maybe it's not that exciting, but I am going to do it anyway. It is on the left side of the page, so have fun and enjoy. Suggestions/comments for future polls are always welcome. Polls will be updated weekly.

BOOM Mother F-er!

Well, last season sucked for the DBs. Akina and Duffy's pass defense went over like a wet turd. Fortunately, Duffy headed for browner pastures and Akina was demoted. Enter: the youtube legend Muschamp. He dropped the F-bomb in the video, and was cussing a blue streak at spring drills. I say that is FANTASTIC!!!! Mack is a great guy, but hasn't been fiery during his 10 years. He got better at the end of last year, but we needed a D-Coordinator who was going to be getting in those kid's faces day in and day out. Sometimes they don't need encouragement, they need inspiration. Having a young coach who will get after them is going to help a lot. Let's hope we can get to the QB more next year and have 11 kids playing hard on every down.

Receivers?

Here is what we know: Shipley and Cosby are both good, but neither is a scary down-field threat. They are great 2 and 3 receivers, but we really need a big, fast body that can get down the field and keep defenses honest. I've heard that Buckner is looking good, and either he or one of the other young receivers needs to really step it up. Anyone hear anything else about who is looking good? Colt can get it there, but we need some serious weapons to run those 3, 4, and 5-wide looks Texas has been using.

Spring Practice

The horns looked good in their first workouts. I thought the DBs were pretty good, and Muschamp will have them playing better when the season rolls around. McGee looked good too, but I am still yearning for that Ricky Williams/Cedric Benson type of back. I really don't think we are going to miss Charles that much. The people who think we are going to miss him a ton have either had too many beers or have managed to only remember the second half of the year. I will not miss all the fumbles and negative yardage plays. I'm excited about maybe playing a back who will take the 3 yards when they are there and not lose 4 trying to break the big one. You can argue with me on that, but our remaining backs are good and a rotation to keep them fresh might be just what we need. Besides, Charles was never that great at picking up blitzes. Not bad, not great.

Football, Football, and Football

Here's the deal, I only really care about Texas Longhorns Football. I may watch Texas basketball when they are in the tourney, but the truth is I don't care all that much. College football, however, is the greatest sport in the world. Particularly, the Texas Longhorns football team is the best team in the world. With that in mind, I decided to create a blog for fans to talk about Longhorns football 24/7/365. Talk of general college football and other teams is encouraged as well, but the focus will be on Texas. In the off-season, I don't want to stop talking about it. I can talk about games from years past, or discuss future schedules, depth charts, coaches, just about anything. I figured there are lots of fans of Texas and other college football teams who never get tired of college football either. For those of you who ALWAYS want more college football, this blog's for you. I will post, others can comment, post, whatever. Have fun, and hook 'em horns.