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1) Texas has now won 9+ games 10 straight seasons. We’re the only D-1 school with an active streak that long. To put that streak into perspective, only 12 other schools have had 10+ straight winning seasons, much less 9+ wins, and only 5 of those have had the same coach through that streak. Texas had 9+ wins in just 10 of the 26 seasons before Mack arrived, and hadn’t won 9+ 4 years in a row since 1961-65. Granted, there are more games per season now than in the 60’s & 70’s, but put in the perspective of how peers are doing today, I think that’s still a meaningful stat.
2) Mack’s worst season at Texas, in terms of total losses, was 1999, when we lost 5. The second-worst was 3, several times. We only had 4 seasons with fewer than 4 losses in the prior 15 years.
3) Coach Royal’s record over his first 10 seasons at Texas was 82-23-3 (77.30%). Coach Brown’s is 102-24-0 (80.95%). Over Coach Royal’s first 126 games he was 94-28-4 (76.19%).
4) With the first game of 2008, Coach Brown will become the only coach other than Coach Royal to last more than 10 seasons at Texas. Only Bible & Akers previously lasted 10.
5) Texas has been ranked in the AP Poll for 119 consecutive weeks, and the USA Today poll for 147 consecutive weeks. Both streaks are the longest in the nation, and the longest in Texas history.
6) According to Texas, we’re now 3 wins behind Notre Dame on the all-time chart. According to Stassen, we’re tied. Stassen awards us a forfeit from 1997 (Colorado), 1993 & 1994 (Texas Tech), and 1910 (Baylor). When Mack took over in 1998, we were 9 wins behind Nebraska, and 33 wins behind Notre Dame according to Stassen. We’re now 11 ahead of Nebraska.
7) Coach Brown now has 188 career wins. That ranks him 26th on the NCAA all-time list.
8 ) Texas has now won at least the 4 games post-OU every year since 1999.
9) Colt McCoy has now thrown 49 TD passes over the past two seasons. That’s a UT record for TD passes in consecutive seasons.
10) “On UT’s first drive of the second quarter, Charles became the sixth player in UT history to record over 3,000 career rushing yards, joining Rick Williams (6,279), Cedric Benson (5,540), Earl Campbell (4,443), Chris Gilbert (3,231) and Vince Young (3,127).” Jamaal finished the game with 3,075 career rushing yards (1,366 this season, also 6th-best).
11) UT averaged 7.6 per carry with Jamaal carrying the ball; 2.2 per carry with Vondrell, 2.0 with Chris O. Hmmm.
12) A small grump–we gave Texas Tech 1 point more than Iowa State, 5 points more than Baylor, 8 points more than A&M, 17 more than Colorado, and 33 points more than Missouri. We gave up 3 TD’s in the last 4 Tech drives, and allowed them to score on 7 of their 10 full drives. There’s really no excuse for that.
13) Of the 10 starters lost from the 2006 Texas team, 7 were drafted, and 9 are on NFL rosters today. The lone exception is Neal Tweedie–and he finished his UT degree.
14) Colt finished the day with 2,900 passing yards for the 2007 season. That puts him in 4th place, 457 yards behind the single-season UT record held by Major Applewhite (307 behind Chris Simms’ 2nd place year, and 136 behind Vince’s 3rd).
15) I’m watching the Kansas/OK State game while writing this–Kansas can play football. I watched Missouri vs A&M earlier today. The KU/Missouri game will be really interesting. Battle of the under-recruited, vertically-challenged, Texan QB’s.
16) Colt McCoy is now 19-5 as the starting QB at Texas. Major finished 22-8. Chris was 26-6. By next season, Colt’s got a very realistic shot at passing Vince for most wins (30). Colt will never touch Vince or Street for win %, but he’s got a decent shot at 3rd (currently Chris’s mark).
17) Although I’m appreciative of Quan Cosby’s contributions to the Texas team/program, I’m not sure I’m proud of his becoming the first person in UT history to return 25 kickoffs in a single season (he’s at 34 , a record which suggest some defensive inadequacies on this team). Even though the kickoffs have been moved back to make for longer returns, Quan’s managed to get 32+ on the return only 5 times this year.
18) Perhaps no one misses Vince Young more than WR Billy Pittman. 2005 season: 34 catches, 750 yards (22.1 ypc), 5 TD’s. 2006 season, post-Vince: 35 catches, 456 yards (13.0 ypc), 4 TD’s. 2007 season: 10 catches, 72 yards (7.2 ypc), 0 TD’s.
19) Jermichael Finley now has as many career receptions as Kerry Cash, and is behind only David Thomas on the single-season receptions by a TE. It’s nice when we remember he’s an eligible receiver.
20) Jamaal Charles is the only RB in UT history with a rush of at least 80 yards and a reception of at least 70 yards. That surprises me–I’d have guessed Hodges Mitchell or Eric Metcalf hit those marks.
21) Jamaal Charles has averaged 6.3 yards per carry for his career. That puts him behind only Vince Young (6.8), Graylon Wyatt (6.6), and James Saxton (6.4) among UT players with 1,000+ career rushing yards.
22) Texas hasn’t shut out anyone since 11/5/05 (28 games). Before that, 19 games, 6 games, 11 games, 5, 2, 3, 19, 12, 12 (start of Mack’s career at Texas). In 71 games under Coach Mackovic, we had no shutouts. From 9/17/1988-10/26/1991, under Coach McWilliams, we went 37 games without a shutout.
23) Marcus Griffin’s 91-yard INT return against Baylor was the longest return by a Texas defensive player in 71 years. Wow.
24) Since Texas crushed Iowa State 56-3, they’ve played respectable football–losing to OU 17-7, @ Missouri 42-28 (only Illinois with 34, and OU with 41, scored more on Missouri), beat KSU 31-20, and beat CU 31-28 today (down 21-0 at half).
25) Conversely, Colorado has lost 4 of their last 5 games, and must beat Nebraska on the 23rd in the “bowl-eligibility/bye-bye-Billy” game to have any post-season hope.
26) Spurrier’s about to lose his 4th game in a row. I like that.
27) Texas has had 74 rushing plays go for 0 yards or fewer this year. Yuck. Sounds terrible, but interestingly enough we apparently had 108 of those prior to the Rose Bowl in 2005.
28) Is Ralph Friedgren a good coach or not? 3 straight 10+ win seasons with another guys’ players; but now it’s looking like 3 out of 4 years 5 or 6-win seasons. Tonight Maryland’s beating BC.
29) Tedford’s great, but has at least 2 losses every year; 4+ in 4 of his first 6 years at Cal, including this one.
30) Dennis Erickson’s scum, but Arizona State’s 9-1. ASU has only 3 9+ win seasons in the past 20 years.
31) Did Al Borges or Brandon Cox lose his mind today? Cox had 4 INT’s today against GA, after throwing only 1 in the past 150+ attempts (7 games). His season high was 9 in 2006, but he’s now thrown 11 this year.
32) Tennessee is now a win over Vandy and a win over KY away from meeting LSU in the SEC Championship game. Should TN lose one, Georgia’s a win at KY away from taking their place. Tough to picture either team giving LSU a run.
33) Am I the only one surprised that Matt Stafford’s season-high in passing yards is 237 (today)?
TaylorTRoom said:
November 12th, 2007 at 6:51 am
30). Here’s an interesting exercise. I perceive Spurrier to be a better coach than Erickson, but I have a hard time finding numbers to support that belief. Spurrier has the edge in total wins and conference championships, but not by much. Erickson has the edge in MNCs and actually went undefeated in 1991 (something Spurrier has never done). Spurrier has made two historically crappy/mediocre programs respectable (Duke and S. carolina), and Erickson has three (Idaho, Oregon State, and ASU). I think Erickson did a little better in the NFL, although they both washed out.
Maybe Spurrier is better at image management.
Lowery said:
November 12th, 2007 at 7:14 am
Florida used to blow as well.
srr50 said:
November 12th, 2007 at 7:15 am
I don’t think you are giving Spurrier enough credit for what he did at Florida. The Gators before Spurrier were a mediocre program (kinda like the A&M — lots of bravado among their fans, but damn little substance in historical success).
Before Spurrier, the number of Conference championships the Gators had?
Zip. Zero. Zilch.
Historically Florida is a 59% winning percentage program. In the 30 years before Spurrier they were 134-91-5. Spurrier went 122-27-1 for an 81% winning percentage.
Spurrier finished in the Top 10 eight times, and the school had finished in the Top 10 only three times before that. And that was because Charly Pell was running a dirty program that eventually got him fired. Spurrier won while running a clean program.
I don’t have any problem picking him over Erickson (another good coach who has had NCAA problems and saw his Miami team spin out of control).
Jeff said:
November 12th, 2007 at 7:58 am
I could have sworn that Ricky finished his career at something like 6.6 ypc.
TaylorTRoom said:
November 12th, 2007 at 8:10 am
Yeah, SRR, but what was Miami’s historical record before the ’80s? or FSU’s before Bowden?
I think that pre-integration, Florida was a state that had a small talent pool, and post-integration had a huge talent pool.
That being said, I agree with you that Spurrier is a better coach than Erickson. I just think it’s interesting that Erickson’s measurable accomplishments are so close (and sometimes superior).
Bobby Jack Akina said:
November 12th, 2007 at 8:25 am
TaylorT — Erickson also gave Wyoming one good season, and they had another the season after he left.
On #27: I wonder how many times we took a knee in 2005. That had to account for good chunk of those gains of zero or fewer yards.
Huckleberry said:
November 12th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Note on #6 -
We also count the Baylor forfeit. That was the only forfeit that occurred during or before the game. Baylor forfeited at halftime so we count the win.
The other three were after-the-fact mandates from the NCAA. Essentially it seems our policy is that we count the results that took place on the field no matter what when it comes to opponents’ forfeits. I agree with it. Baylor forfeited on the field, so that’s a win.
Drew said:
November 12th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Jeff- I believe Ricky had a 6.2 YPC average.
Jeff said:
November 12th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Drew, you’re right. I guess I was thinking that he had a greater YPC than anyone in Texas history because at the time of his departure he had the NCAA record for YPC. It must be true that those ahead of him in the UT record books didn’t meet the minimum # of rushes standard for the NCAA.
I think he no longer holds that record, btw.
srr50 said:
November 12th, 2007 at 9:50 am
“Yeah, SRR, but what was Miami’s historical record before the ’80s? or FSU’s before Bowden?”
Actually, Miami spent a good portion of the 1950’s in the national rankings, and FSU also was successful during the 1960’s (remember Bill Peterson?) FSU actually has a 67% all-time winning percentage.
Florida took its first African-American scholarship football player when we did – 1969. Miami and FSU started recruiting blacks a couple of years earlier.
kchorn04 said:
November 12th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Another note from this weekend: Boy Scout Tank Johnson played in a NFL game, while pot smoking Ricky Williams can’t get the NFL to meet on his re-instatement. Ricky needs to plead guilty on some gun charges to improve his rep.
Macanudo said:
November 12th, 2007 at 10:06 am
“behind only David Thomas on the single-season receptions by a TE.”
Where does Pat Fitzgerald fit in there?
CarKev said:
November 12th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Macanudo, Pat had 38 catches for 545 yards, 2 TD’s as a senior. As a junior he had 30 catches for 445 yards, 8 TD’s.
Anyone interested in historical team records can use http://www.stassen.com. Good stuff, easy to use.
Jeff, the NCAA had a few arbitrary breakdowns of career rushing carry #’s, which put Ricky up there at #1. I believe DeAngelo Williams had 6.22 ypc (969 carries) and Ricky had 6.22 ypc (1,011 carries) so DeAngelo is the record-holder for backs with 781+ carries. Mike Rozier (7.16 on 668 carries) holds the record for 414+ carries.
Huck, thank you–I wondered about the difference.
Macanudo said:
November 12th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Holy crap. Finley does have 40 catches this season. And that’s with him being totally ignored in the game plans for several different games.
CarKev said:
November 12th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Finley had 1 catch against Arkansas State, 0 against ISU, 2 against Nebraska, 3 against Rice, and 4+ against TCU, UCF, KSU, OU, BU, OK State, and Tech. He’s grossly underutilized, but so it goes.
mileslong said:
November 12th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
love the stats, thanks. the most meaningless stat ever is the one about how many times we win the week after OU. why can’t we just beat OU then and then see what happens. some are wearing this stat like some badge of honor that we usually do pretty well after getting face raped by OU each year…
mileslong said:
November 12th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
oh i almost forgot, hey carkev, say hello to art bell for me…
Texoz said:
November 12th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Regarding Pittman, what is going on there? I know he was out for a few games due to suspension.
In his first game (or two) back he made a few nice catches, and then I don’t think I’ve seen him thrown to since.
CarKev said:
November 12th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Mileslong, I’m not sure what the reference to Art Bell was?
As for the one about OU, I actually think it’s justification for Mack’s approach to the OU game (that it’s just another game, and that the season can still be a success even if we lose). I don’t agree with the approach, but Mack strikes me as a guy who prefers merry-go-rounds to roller coasters.
I don’t think the stat is terribly meaningful, but I do find it interesting. Recovering from the two worst games and winning the next four + was remarkable.
mileslong said:
November 14th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
i love your stats carkev, you always put them in a succinct manner which is fun to read and always interesting. the art bell reference was because henry james mentioning you coming out of your cave. i had always pictured you sitting in some isolated house like pahrump, nevada grinding out stats through out the night with shelves upon shelves of books full of statistics and rarely venturing out of the house. much like art bell does except his books are all about aliens…
incheslong said:
November 18th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
well said