In Which We’re Longhorns for a Weekend

UT put an end to Oklahoma’s unbeaten season yesterday in a hard-fought rivalry game I’m sorry I missed; the final score was 45 to 35, which kinda suggests something we’ve all been saying: the Big 12 is all offense. In any case, the win — along with some other amusing events — set up a rejiggering of the AP poll that puts Texas on top:

  1. Texas
  2. Alabama
  3. Penn State
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Florida
  6. USC
  7. Texas Tech
  8. Oklahoma State
  9. BYU
  10. Georgia

Mizzou falls to 11; LSU to 13. What stinks here is PSU in the #3 position. Penn State has played ONE ranked team all year, and it was #22 Illinois. Other than that? Nada. For this they’re ranked 3rd? It’s horseshit; they won’t even play another serious team all year, so they could stay unbeaten unless Ohio State (currently 12) or Michigan State (20) can knock ’em off. (The rest of their year is Michigan, Iowa, and Indiana — unranked squads to go with Coastal Carolina, Oregon State, Syracuse, Temple, Purdue and Wisconsin to fill out the rest of JoePa’s creampuff season). Florida — coming off its 51 to 21 domination of LSU — is a much more reasonable pick for #3.

Of course, Texas hasn’t exactly played titans, either, largely because the quality is on the back end of the Longhorns’ schedule; they still play #11 Mizzou, #8 Oklahoma State, and #7 Texas Tech before a stop at Baylor on 11/15, and then close out with #16 Kansas and the A&M game. Nobody will complain about UT’s rank if they keep winning, but the trick will be continuing to win.

Same goes for Alabama, though the Tide had more of a front-loaded schedule than UT. Still up for them: Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Arkansas State before the LSU game on 11/8. After that, MSU and Auburn. If the Tide that beat Georgia show up, they’ll win out, too, and set up a fine SEC-Big12 matchup in the championship game.

Sadly, this week also marked the end of Vandy’s win streak, as they were upset by Mississippi State. It sucks they lost here, but I’ve gotta say I love the idea that VANDY is the victim of an upset. You’ve gotta been seen as a strong favorite for a loss to be an upset, so in a way it’s still a moral victory. N.B. that the ‘Dores could still notch a bowl berth; they two more winnable games coming up (Wake and Duke).

One thought on “In Which We’re Longhorns for a Weekend

  1. You’re an Autumn. Bet you look good in burnt orange. Sweet video. Next week Colt shows some more skills against Chase Daniels who is a pouty punk. This will be our greatest defensive challenge for our secondary. Let’s see how that whiskey pact holds out. Hook em’ and Roll Tide