So now that the bowl games have been announced and Cincinnati, Boise State, and TCU are not in the mix for the National Championship game.  Let the media and fans around the country bitch, moan, and complain.  Various sports writers around the country are saying that Texas doesn’t deserve to play Alabama for the National Championship,  based on last nights  last minute field goal to beat Nebraska.  What they failed to mention (which is no surprise) Alabama’s last minute field goal last week and  Cincinnati’s come from behind win yesterday. Every team in the top 10 have had scares at one point or another this season. Mack Brown said it best last night. Had the Texas/Nebraska game been an SEC game it would have been considered a defensive battle.  Since it was a Big 12 game, its being considered a below average game.

Bowl Championship Series title game (Jan. 7)

Texas vs. Alabama

Orange Bowl (Jan. 5)

Georgia Tech vs. Iowa

Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 4)

Texas Christian vs. Boise State

Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1)

Florida vs. Cincinnati

Rose Bowl (Jan. 1)

Ohio State vs. Oregon

Okay, sports fans, what’s wrong with this poll? I mean, there’s a lot to scrutinize, that’s for sure. Florida is obviously still riding the wave they caught last year by winning the BCS Championship game. Texas would have loved to have played them, but they didn’t, so don’t sweat the number 2 ranking. Pete Carroll is probably sitting in some booster paid-for recruit’s den, whining about being below the Okies, but number 4 isn’t a bad place to start. And Ole Miss at number 8? Riiiight. That’ll last a long time (Sorry, Jeavon). As you go down the list, there are plenty of places to stop and scratch your head, but the biggest surprise of all is the omission of the Cabbage Patch Kids from the plains of Lubbock, Texas. Obviously, nobody talked to the Cabbage Patch Coach about his team. You know, the one which scores huge numbers each game. The team that sends all these great players to the pros!! I mean, the QB is so good, teams figured they couldn’t afford him, so the didn’t bother to draft him!! Why go through the contract hassle? Oh, damn, that doesn’t make sense. That only happens when you drop to 10th in the draft, but want 5th place money because that’s where you felt you should have been drafted. Al Davis paid Heyward-Bey a kings ransom at number 7, you say? So what…Al Davis has been fiscally irresponsible for years. He probably pays more than $10 for a haircut, too. Lookout for the weaker teams the Tt Red Raiders play this year. The “System” will try to score in triple digits to wipe this insult from their swashbuckling faces!! There’s a bad wind blowin’ out there on the plains of west Texas. Beware of scorned CP Kids!!

*Submitted By Lajitas*

If you follow college football or don’t live under a rock then you are familiar with the BCS. There are several determining factors that go into the selection for one of the 5 major BCS bowl games. Some of the things that are taken into consideration are things like..

Style Points (Anyone that says how much you run up the score against teams isn’t considered is full of sh*t)

Poll’s (BSC, AP, Coaches)

Computers (a shameless cover up for a bunch of  millionaires sitting around smoking cigars, drinking brandy, and trying to determine which team has the best *traveling fans* and which teams will be the best match up, not for the best game, but for the most money.

Strength Of Schedule (simply put who did you play, and how good was that team. Also Home/Away is taken into consideration)

The Longhorn 2009 schedule is a joke to say the least. I went through and did some comparisons between 2 of the powerhouses in the Big 12 being Texas and Oklahoma. I also went with Oklahoma because of the drama that came up at the end of last season for the Big 12 Championship and National Championship. Also Oklahoma is the BIGGEST game on Texas Schedule. Some would argue that Texas A&M would be the biggest game. Being the biggest rival, and biggest game are two totally different. Lets face it Oklahoma is a National Championship contender every season, and well Texas A&M haven’t been relevant since the days of R.C. Slocum. Sorry Aggie fans no offense intended, just being honest.   I have broken down my comparison between schedules as such..

-Teams

-Overall season standings from 2008 season

-Conference, Non Conference Game (Each team is given 4 non conference games each year(unless your Notre Dame), and can pretty much pick who they play)

-Home or Away game

Texas Longhorns 2009 (11-1)

Louisiana Monroe (4-8)  Non Conference

@Wyoming (4-8) Non Conference

Texas Tech (11-2) Conference

UTEP (5-7) Non Conference

Colorado (5-7) Non Conference

Oklahoma (12-2) Conference (Neutral Site)

@Missouri (10-4) Conference

@Oklahoma State (9-4) Conference

UCF (4-9) Non Conference

Baylor (4-8) Conference

Kansas (8-5) Conference

Texas A&M (4-8) Conference

Oklahoma Sooners 2009 (12-2)

BYU (10-3)  Non Conference

Idaho State (1-11) Non Conference

Tulsa (11-3)  Non Conference

@Miami (7-6) Non Conference

Baylor (4-8) Conference

Texas (11-1) Conference  (Neutral Site)

@Kansas (8-5) Conference

Kansas State (5-7) Conference

@Nebraska (9-4) Conference

@Texas A&M (4-8) Conference

Texas Tech (11-2) Conference

Oklahoma State (9-4) Conference

Oklahoma plays 3 non conference teams with winning records, where as Texas plays ZERO non conference teams with winning records. I would like to hope EVERY Texas fans keeps this in mind at the end of the season. IF there is a debate about who should go where, and the records are similar, please don’t whine and complain when Oklahoma gets the nod. Remember that 45-35 is history, and your Texas Longhorns control who they play 4 weeks of the season. They continue to schedule lesser opponents. This year as always strength of schedule is something Mack Brown and the rest of his coaching staff are clueless about. Thanks Mack!

This post was written by a die hard Longhorn fan!

]]> http://www.ickscorner.com/2009/07/strength-of-schedule/feed/ 6 http://www.ickscorner.com/2008/11/2263/ http://www.ickscorner.com/2008/11/2263/#comments Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:46:43 +0000 Ick http://www.ickscorner.com/?p=2263

A simple question was sent to me sometime between last night, and this morning on my facebook and it read this. “WTF, how did the Texas allow themselves to loose to Texas Tech”?? Let me start by saying this, Texas did not allow themselves to get beat, they flat out go beat last night. In this post I will make no excuses for why my beloved Longhorns are no longer ranked #1 in the country. I will only point out facts.

Texas rolled into Lubbock last night physically and emotionally drained after the last 3 weeks. Playing Oklahoma, Missouri, and Oklahoma State has been no easy task. In the first half last night Texas looked lost both on offense, and defense. Texas Tech lined up and spent the first half punching Texas square in the mouth. I will give Texas Tech credit for lining up and playing football all night long, instead of their usual gadget and trick play fest. Texas Tech was fired up bringing in a swarming defense, and a balanced offensive playbook in with them. Texas Tech has never been known for their defense or run game, oh how times have changed. Texas defense was kept on its heels all of the first half. They never forced a three and out until the third quarter. Keeping this high powered Texas Tech offense from scoring is no easy task. The inability to keep Texas Tech from scoring, and having a flat, pass dropping offense left Texas in a 22-6 hole going into the half.

The second half was a different story on both sides of the ball for Texas. The defense came out and remembered how to play defense, and the offense came out and remembered which way the endzone was. Texas would battle back to take a one point lead with 1:23 left to go in the game, Longhorn fans could finally stop the barage of  4 letter words flying out of their mouths. With 1:23 left on the clock and a time out in their back pocket, Texas Tech sends their special teams out on the field, 3 key plays on this drive would start the end of the Longhorns run at #1.

Key Play #1 On the kickoff Texas special teams fell apart, allowing the return man to rattle off a 30+ yard kick off return.

Key Play #2 On a deflected Harrell pass, true freshman Blake Gideon would drop a gift of an interception that would have sealed the fate of Texas Tech. This dropped interception will haunt Gideon for many years to come.

Key Play #3 With 8 seconds left in the game, Harrell finds Crabtree for a sideline circus catch on the 4 yard line, add in the lack of a wrap up tackle, and the rest his Red Raider History.

Now Longhorn fans can wait and see where the powers that be place the Longhorns in the BCS standings. I’m sure we will drop below USC and Oklahoma in the polls after USC shut out the high school team they payed yesterday, and Oklahoma put on a scoring clinic against Nebraska yesterday. Not only did Texas loose a very important game last night, but now they no longer control their own destiny in the polls. If the rest of the season plays out for Alabama, and Penn State, the Longhorns are no longer in the National Championship hunt. At the beginning of each season, my only wish for my beloved Longhorns is to go to a good bowl game. Sure having a shot at the National Championship is all great and fine, but a BCS bowl game is better then the Alamobowl, which Texas had the pleasure of playing in after an average 9-3 season last year. Texas now finds themselves in a *must win out* position to make a serious run at a BCS bowl game.

With Baylor, Kansas, and Texas A&M still left on the schedule. Texas better not let this loss last night rattle their cages to bad. An 11-1 season is still one hell of a season, and is still a more then obtainable goal.

Congrats to Texas Tech, you guys deserve to enjoy this win. I will give the team credit, but Mike Leach can suck it! He hates him some horns, I hate me some cabbage patch kids!!!

*EDIT* The new poll has been released..

	1	Alabama	.975
	2	Texas Tech	.937
	3	Penn State	.929
	4	Texas	.853
	5	Florida	.827
	6	Oklahoma	.822
	7	USC	.755
	8	Utah	.697
	9	Oklahoma State	.666
	10	Boise State	.653
	11	Ohio State	.555
	12	TCU	.544
	13	Georgia	.536
	14	Missouri	.492
	15	Brigham Young	.37

I must say, I am rather surprised by some of the places teams ended up…

]]> http://www.ickscorner.com/2008/11/2263/feed/ 6 http://www.ickscorner.com/2008/10/and-so-it-continues/ http://www.ickscorner.com/2008/10/and-so-it-continues/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:50:56 +0000 Ick http://www.ickscorner.com/?p=1977 This was waiting for me in my email, can’t say I’m real surprised..

This little cartoon must have been drawn by a Sooner fan, since most Sooner fans think the refs handed Texas the game. This was sent to me courtesy of the Bean… *shakes head*  Seriously??? I have said everything I have to say about this game in a post yesterday

I guess when I wrote that post I should have been a fan, instead of trying to be objective. I guess I should not have gone out of my way to point out how horrible the officiating was. I should have left out the praise for the Sooners program.

The fact that OU only slid down to #4 after loosing this weekend, should speak volumes to how good this game really was, DESPITE the officiating! The Texas fan in me would like to close by saying this!!!

After this win, I will no longer refer to Colt McCoy as a “retarded field general”!! Colt McCoy has finally made me a believer. He has finally grown to be a solid quarterback. I guess God traded in his Sooner maroon for burnt orange huh Bean?? Now I will say this, there were some ummm *questionable* calls all day long, working in favor of both teams. There were also alot of calls that were not flagged. This was a poorly officiated game to say the least.  This game is already one of the biggest rivalry games in college football, add in the fact that both teams come in ranked in the top 5, the officiating crew should have been top notch. I will gladly take this win, but I can also understand the frustration level about the refs. While we were watching the game, someone mentioned they were waiting for the crowd to change the chant from *OU Sucks*/*Texas Sucks* * to *The Refs Suck*!!

Both teams combine for over 800 yards of total offense, and both teams left it all out on the field. After this game, Bob Stoops and the Sooners are still one of the best programs in the country. On paper the Longhorns do not match up well with the Sooners, and in my opinion if these two teams played 10 times, OU would win 6 out of 10 times.  At the beginning of the week while talking to Bean, I gave the Longhorns a 40/60 chance of winning. Not because I have no faith in my team, but because of what a powerhouse OU is. I also said I would increase our chances if Mack Brown was left in Austin on game day.

I have already started hearing from Sooner fans about yesterdays game. All but a few have said the same things. The refs gave you guys the game, you guys didn’t deserve that win, and you still suck. Over the years its only become obvious that when the Sooners lose the Red River Shootout, (the few times in recent years) it can’t ever be because they actually got beat, there is always an excuse as to why the Longhorns won. This is just being a poor fan if you ask me. I can understand that last second, GAME changing flag that allows another team to pull off a win. Yesterday, just like all Red River Shootouts there was not a single GAME changing flag. Most years I have to just face the facts that the Sooners outplayed us, and Bob Stoops outcoached Mack Brown, I take my lumps and throw out the congratulations to the Sooner fans I have in my life, but it sure is funny how the tide turns when the Sooners lose.

To the Sooner fans that were not complete pricks to me yesterday like, White Beaner, Brandy, and The Bean I would like to say thank you. To the other Sooner fans out there that refused to pick up a phone, or sent me the rude text messages, please remember one team has to lose, and one has to win.  Your team can’t win all the time.  To the rude and crude OU fans out there, I leave you with this

HOOK’EM HORNS BABY

Get your burnt orange candle lit Longhorn fans its time to get it on with Colorado!!!!

USC the best team in the country? Maybe, but we’ll have to wait until a bowl game to find out. Playing in that horrendous Pacifist 10 Conferrence, (and getting beaten by the likes of Stanford and Oregon St. with alarming regularity) doesn’t help. The Dragon // Sep 22, 2008 at 2:43 pm

it does start early rumbling about polls, playoffs, and conference strength.  I don’t know anyone that would be stirring the pot this early.  Well, except for (here, here, and here).

So, what’s the story here?  There have always been upsets.  That’s a part of the reason I love college football.  Vandy had no business beating Georgia two years ago.  Appalachian State in the Big House, Boise State over Oklahoma, Cal over USC in 2003… in this decade, they are too many to name.  There is no one answer.  Or is there? 

The 85 scholarship rule drove a railroad spike into this coffin.  When you look at the past you see 5 teams that stand above the rest.  Settle down, Penn St, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Florida fans, this is based on tradition, trophies, wins, national following, etc.  Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC, Alabama, and Michigan were winning for decades before anyone knew what a spread offense or a Miami Hurricane was.  They are the cornerstones of this game.  It’s no coincidence that they cover the country.  The mid-west, south central, west coast, Dixie, and the northern “rust belt” (in that order).  These teams that our Dads and Grandpas used to talk about regularly were spread across the country raking in players with both hands like a poker player that wins a big pot.  Like a buddy of mine said; “Bear used to sign players knowing that they’d never see the field because he didn’t want other teams to get them”.  They were perfectly willing to sign to “play” for Bryant.  Same with Wilkinson, Rockne and so on.   Why are Bama fans shocked when Georgia has the nerve to beat them in their stadium last year?  Why are they flabbergasted at an upset by Louisiana-Monroe the same year?  The same reason some 60 year old president of programming at NBC signed an awful Notre Dame team to another contract ensuring us four more years of mediocre football on his network.  In almost every way, I agree with him and the surprised crimson painted faces watching Louisiana-Monroe celebrate on their field.  But this isn’t 1975 and this isn’t the same game.