It is one of the most exclusive clubs in all of sports. After 12 years there are only 12 members. During its first three years of existence, only four candidates were admitted; after five years it was up to seven. Then, for the next four years only one new applicant per year was admitted. No one was considered worthy for admission the next two years. Then last year there was finally another new member initiation. What exclusive club is this? It is the BCS Championship Club. It is the total number of teams that have been invited to participate in the BCS Championship Game since 1998. The distinguish dozen are OU with four appearances; Florida St and Ohio St with three; Florida, LSU, Miami, Texas and USC with two; and one each for Alabama, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Va Tech. This compares with 65 teams per year in basketball (soon to be 68) and another 64 teams per year in baseball. If this seems just a little out of proportion, join the 90+% of college football fans who agree. But this year the BCS may have a problem developing. The top six teams this week are not club members and only Alabama and OU can be found in the Top 10. There are seven undefeated teams (all non-members) left in six conferences. The only undefeated teams left that have to play each other are TCU and Utah. Unlikely, but we could have as many as six undefeated teams left at the end of the year. I am sure there is much angst in the BCS headquarters. So many new applicants demanding admission and only two slots open. What is an elitist to do? USC is on probation, Texas is in the toilet, and Florida has lost three in a row. And are they still playing football in Tennessee? Maybe there will be a total collapse in November and the planet can be saved with an OU vs. Ohio St national championship game. But don’t count on it. There should be new blood this year and it should be fun.
We lost the #1 slot this week, congrats to Auburn. But we still have six teams in the Top 25 and that is six teams without Texas! I will have a whole lot more about Texas later. TCU continues to do what it has done a lot of lately and that is beat the next team on its schedule. Air Force has only two losses this year and both are to SWC teams. They barely lost to former #1 OU and were destroyed by current #4 TCU. Fortunately for them they are finished playing the SWC this year. If they could have only scheduled Texas instead of Texas Christian, they would be a Top 20 team this week. Arkansas bounced back from their loss at Auburn with a nice home win against Ole Miss and Tech went up to Boulder and came through as I thought with an important road win against Colorado. On the down side it was a couple of tough losses for the Sooners and Cowboys. Rice collected another L and LSU ran into a bigger, badder Tiger in Auburn. Our conference game of the week saw UH bounce back, playing their best game in a month against SMU. But the story of the weekend came from Waco, Texas. For Baylor fans it was Christmas in October; the Bears are going bowling. Every win from here is just a step up the ladder. From Shreveport, to Houston, to San Antonio, to San Diego, where you land nobody knows. Congratulations and have a great party. Last week I said that A&M was banished unless they showed a pulse. 45 to 10 qualifies as a pulse, so welcome back Aggies.
After a couple of weeks of really great intersectional games with #1 teams, this week is more relaxing, okay boring. Arkansas, OU and OK St should have no problems with Vanderbilt, Colorado and Kansas St. I have UH over Memphis, SMU over Tulane, and TCU crushing UNLV. Since Rice is off, we should actually sweep the non-conference games this week. The only games with any intrigue at all are the conference games and we have a couple of interesting ones this week. First, let’s look at A&M hosting Tech. Both are 4-3. Tech needs the game to get closer to bowl qualification. They still have Webber State on the schedule, so a win in College Station probably guarantees the magic six wins. A&M however is looking at OU, Baylor, Nebraska and Texas to finish the season. A loss to Tech just about guarantees a Christmas vacation with Mom and Dad; just what a 20 year old wants. An Aggie win gives them hope in their Turkey Day trip to Austin and that’s just what a Longhorn wants this year; an Aggie with hope. Sorry Ags, Vegas may like you this week, but I see the Red Raiders riding away with an upset. Now, let’s examine the Baylor – Texas game. As usual, it is a ranked team against a struggling team; one team coming off a great win and one a demoralizing loss. One with a national top ten offense and one being pushed all over the field. As usual, but with the roles reversed. Baylor is soaring at 6-2 and Texas is lost in the wilderness at 4-3. Baylor has scored at least 30 in every game except for its loss to TCU. Texas has only scored more than 30 twice. Yet Texas is a touchdown favorite. Do you want to bet on Texas? Didn’t think so. Want to say this is a gimme for Baylor? Yea right. Texas is embarrassed and Colt is back this week. No, not to play QB, but to be honored and have his jersey retired. There will actually be some emotion Saturday night at DKR. Only problem for Texas is that Baylor has both confidence and momentum going for it, two powerful forces to be sure. So what is it? It is probably going to be the best Texas – Baylor game in a generation.
Ok, I have gone long enough ignoring it. The question that I have been hearing constantly since 2:30 last Saturday afternoon is “what is the matter with Texas?” The easy answer is that if I knew, I would sit down with Mack and tell him. When Mack is asked, he uses words like arrogant and entitled to describe both his players and his coaches. But didn’t Mack recruit every player on the field and hire every coach on the sideline? Were they arrogant and entitled when he brought them in or did they learn it when they got to Austin? When Muschamp was asked his opinion Monday, his brilliant reply was “I don’t know?” And he is the heir apparent to the program. Greg Davis gave the best answer; he actually said he takes responsibility for it. But what does that really mean? Does it mean he actually designed the mess that we witnessed and then taught it to the offense all week or does it mean he watched the Wyoming film last Saturday and prepared for the wrong game? Well, Texas does open against Wyoming in 2011, so maybe he is already thinking next year. Since I do not think any of the three have the whole answer, what if each has a part of it. Let’s start with “I don’t know.” The coordinator that designed one of the best defenses in the nation last year says he does not know. Apparently, whatever Will is trying to do is just not getting through to his players. Is it because of arrogance and entitlement? Is that how you play lights out against Nebraska and with passion against OU, but just put a uniform on for Rice, UCLA, and Iowa St? And finally, let’s look at Mr. I Take Responsibility. Prior to the Iowa St game in 2003, with the exception of the games he let Major Applewhite start, Coach Davis had to actually design an offensive and call the plays. And if you remember those days, we definitely underperformed on offense. Then starting with that Iowa State game in 2003, he turned the team over to VY and the Horns went 30-2, with a 20 game winning streak and a National Championship in January 2006. Now if you watched the same games I did, I would say that VY let Coach Davis suggest a play now and then, but VY would decide what would actually happen. Sometimes even he did not know what that would be until after the ball was snapped. Then there was 2006 through January 2010. Colt came along and he and Shipley designed the offense. They even had that play with the boat in case they had a really raining game. Davis seemed to ride along and Texas only went 45-8 those four years and once again playing for a National Championship. So 2010 comes along and for the first time in seven years Davis actually has to design an offense. He has a sophomore QB that has neither VY’s talent nor Colt’s understanding of the game. He is being exposed as to who he is; a rather uninspiring, uncreative coordinator. Mix that with defensive players who choose when to play and you have a collection of very talented players, but not a very good team. And one more trip by the arrogant and entitled comment. The fans and students also need to look themselves in the mirror on this one. Yes it was only Iowa State and yes it was an 11 am start and yes there was a mist in the air. But apparently there was less than 5,000 in the stands when the teams came onto the field to warm up and those were mostly Iowa St fans. I cannot say for sure because I was not yet in Section 117, Row 1. When the team came out to start the game, my guess is that there were maybe 50,000 in the stadium with the student section less than half full. This is first hand knowledge because I was there by then. Whatever Mack had done that morning to pump the players up was deflated in a second. So what does this mean for the rest of the season? My guess is that they will play one or two really inspiring games the rest of the year, but that will be about it. Only the players can turn this season around, but I do not think they will. We are probably looking at a 7-5 team and I have absolutely no clue as to where the 3 remaining wins come from and who the 2 losses are against. So yes Coach Davis, pull that Wyoming film out and get ready for the 2011 season. This one appears done.
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