It is mid-term and the professor gives the SWC a good solid B+. Five teams are in the Top 20, TCU, OU, LSU, ARK, and OK St. Excellent! Baylor and SMU are definitely meeting expectations and I am giving UH a pass for a couple of weeks as they try to get it going again behind their third string, freshman QB. It is the last four; however, that has me concerned. I understand that somebody has to finish last, but it can’t always be the same team. I am worried about Rice. I need to see something from the Owls in the second half or they may have to go on probation for 2011. As for Tech, you cannot get whacked by Iowa State and call yourself a quality program. And as bad as that may be, Texas laying eggs in front of 100,000 fans two weeks in a row is just not acceptable in Austin. Then there are the Brazos Bottom Boys. To understand the Ags I needed to break this one down by subject matter. They mastered Texas History with their whacking of Stephen F. Austin and did ok in engineering by beating La Tech. But then again Louisiana engineering is not as tough as say Texas engineering or Georgia engineering, so I really do not know what to make of that. Geography was tough on them when they were asked if Florida International was in the USA or somewhere else. It took awhile, but they eventually got that one right also. But it was what should have been the easy stuff, Ag Science, which concerns me. The Farmers first got rounded up by the Cowboys and then last week they could not get a handle the Hogs. All this is to say that the Ags are definitely underperforming at mid-term. But all in all, there is a lot more going well in the conference than bad. Let’s hope the second half is at least as strong.
Week 6 played out as generally expected. TCU shutout an opponent for the second week in a row, LSU got by Florida, OK St woke up in the second half and blitzed La-La, Rice lost to UTEP, UH lost to Miss. St., and the Tornados swept the Hurricanes. Both of the conference games were competitive, but Tech prevailed over Baylor and ARK took care of A&M. A little bit more on the conference action. It has been a near wipeout of the northern teams over the southern. Except for Texas beating Tech, every interdivisional game has gone to the twisters. This just shows how weak A&M and Texas have been so far this year.
Week 7 could be called Turnaround Week. Or it could be called Try to Hang on to Your Recruits Week. First let’s look to Lincoln, NE. Is Texas going to have its first 3 game losing streak in the 21st Century or does Nebraska go down? Mid-term grades say Nebraska rolls at home. History says that Texas plays Nebraska very well, at home, on the road, or in a neutral site. All I will say is that I will be watching this one. A&M gets the ranked Missouri Tigers at home. This is a tremendous opportunity for the Ags. Pull this one out and they could get on a roll. Lose it and Mike Sherman may want to interview Real Estate agents. SMU has a chance to make a real statement going to Annapolis and playing a good Navy team. TCU could make it three shutouts in a row hosting BYU (not to be confused with BYE, but about as tough). LSU should absolutely destroy McNeese St. Folks, McNeese St barely beat my alma mater Lamar in Week One and Lamar has not played football since 1990. Lamar has no seniors on the team. This game should be over after about 5 minutes. OU will scrimmage Iowa St in Norman and Baylor can keep their best season in years alive with a win in Boulder over the Buffs. That leaves us with ARK at Auburn for our last non-conference game of the week. This game is at the same time as Texas – Nebraska (2:30 CT). Make sure you have new batteries in your remote control because this could be a constant jump back and forth. Jordan-Hare will be absolutely insane with noise. The Hogs better bring their A+ game or the Tigers will eat them like a pulled pork sandwich.
That leaves us with the conference games of the week. It is intra-divisional play this week with OK St visiting Lubbock and Rice and UH playing for the Bayou Bucket. Hard to say how these will play out. OK St should prevail, but Tech generally plays very well on the South Plains. UH would have been a big favorite if Keenan was still at QB, but this could be a nice win for the Owls.
So let’s go back to the midterm report card. What will it take to bring the conference grade up to an A at year end? We will need three of the top five to finish in the Top 10. Baylor and SMU need to keep it going and get bowl invites. UH needs to hit the 8 win mark and Rice needs to bag 2 wins in the second half. But for the conference to be a solid A, Texas needs to bag Nebraska this week, Tech needs to get its mojo back, and if A&M can bag two out of Mizzou, KU, and Nebraska then the final report card will look very good. Then go out and win more bowl games than lose and the conference will have some real bragging rights going into 2011. Have TCU or OU win the national championship and you will have the greatest conference in the country.
And in a closing note, I want you to think about this. Imagine going to a football game in a beautiful setting, on a truly gorgeous early October afternoon, in a rivalry game between two teams that first played in 1884. Then imagine walking up to the ticket box (I mean literally a green box) and dropping down a $10 bill for a sideline reserved seat. Take another $10 bill to the concession and come away with 3 boxes of popcorn, a diet coke, a large chocolate chip cookie, and $3.25 in change. Watch an exciting game of back and forth football that never once stops for a beer commercial; that is decided on the last play of the game when the visitors bang a FG off the right upright and the ball drops through good. Then after the game have the starting right tackle give you a tour through the home team’s locker room, meet up with the head coach and discuss how tough the loss was. Well, yours truly had that experience last Saturday when I went to the Dartmouth – Yale game in Hanover, NH. The game had absolutely nothing to do with the BCS championship, but it is an experience that I will always cherish. I strongly recommend that just once you search out a special game, maybe Army – Navy and experience football in a little bit more pure setting. Do not get me wrong, my greatest college football experience ever was Texas – USC in the January 2006 Rose Bowl. But a football game between true student-athletes in a game of pride and tradition is something you need to add to your resume.
Have a great week.
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