Football Articles
Blogpoll Thoughts
Posted by CloseToJumping on December 1st, 2008 under Football
Here are my blogpoll thoughts.
Who’s Number 1?
Why does this question even need to be asked? Alabama has less style and flash than Nick Saban’s hairdo, but they’ve proven that they know how to win under all kinds of conditions. While John Parker Wilson wouldn’t start for 9 of the teams in the Big 12, his entire offensive and defensive lines probably would. Can Bama stop the roll that Florida is on? Percy Harvin may help decide both teams’ fates.
The Beauty Contest for #2
The case for Texas is compelling and goes beyond the head-to-head win over OU. Arguments are usually reduced to snippets and one-bullet statements when the talking heads get involved, and not coincidentally, that’s now the only thing anyone wants to discuss. Beyond a double digit win on a neutral field, how about the fact that Texas played the toughest stretch of football in the entire nation this year? Texas did that in October and lost on the last play of the final game of that run. That loss happened after losing an All-Conference WR (Quan Cosby) on the first snap and an All-American DE (Brian Orakpo) for the entire second half. OU lost to Texas and then took 6 weeks off before playing Tech and then Oklahoma State. Need more? In the best offensive conference in the nation by a wide margin, playing against 5 top 10 scoring offenses (including Rice), Texas finishes with a scoring defense ranked 21st in the nation. Every single juggernaut offense faced scored 10 points or more below their scoring average against Texas.
Florida, USC and OU
Florida’s loss at home to a decent Mississippi team shouldn’t be too easily forgiven. They’ve clubbed some baby seals since then, but don’t carry credit too far. This season’s SEC is the normal SEC’s retarded cousin. LSU, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Georgia have all turned out to be paper tigers. Meyer never hesitates to step on the gas against a downtrodden opponent, and he still couldn’t match Texas’ victory margin against Arkansas. The Florida State team that UF rolled on Saturday couldn’t hold Marcus Outzen’s jock. Christian Ponder is spared the title of “Worst College QB since Chris Rix” only because of the existence of Jarrett Lee, another UF QB opponent. By the way, the vaunted SEC that gets so much love went 1-3 on Saturday against the hideously mediocre ACC.
If only USC could summon the ghost of Norm Chow, circa 2004, to help their offense resemble something more than pedestrian, they’d be worthy of consideration for the final match of charades. Alas, they can’t, and instead they have an offense that simply waits for their defense to win the battle of attrition against their opponents, and then they get to take out the trash. Remove blowouts to Washington St and Washington, two of the worst teams in the past 10 years, and this offense starts to really look questionable. Losing any game in the Pac 10 with USC’s talent is a laughable mockery of Pete Carroll’s growing legend.
And what about OU? If teaching holding as a skill is to be valued, by all means, OU should be 1st. If each contest were a 7 on 7 drill, there isn’t a team to rank ahead of OU. Unfortunately for the sooners, tackling is actually not just a skill to be taught to offensive linemen. At some point, they’re going to play someone (again) that has an offense that can match their own and also plays D itself. It is usually at that moment that they wish they had taught that whole tackling thing to their defense. Yes OU has laid waste to some teams of late, but they were doing just the same in September before laying an egg on the floor of the Cotton Bowl. Should they make it to the big BCS match-up, Big 12 fans should brace for another OU BCS bowl embarrassment, heretofore forgotten nationally only due to the aggressive ineptitude of Ohio State in similar situations. A test certainly awaits OU against Missouri, but nobody cheats like OU, and you can bet they’ll walk into that test with the answers.
The Back 5 of the Top 10
Utah looks great on paper and credit to them for playing Michigan and Oregon State this season. That said, both of those games were awfully tight, and both of those teams were milquetoast at best, so that gives us pause. Sure they can roll Weber State, but so did Eastern Washington. They do deserve a shot to play with a proven big boy, nonetheless.
Texas Tech had a jihad game against a wounded Texas and then slapped Oklahoma State in the face and made them cry. Outside of those events, they look like the same ol’Texas Tech. They barely won at home this weekend against an improving but poor Baylor team. They’d be lower if there were a intriguing option to swap in here.
Penn State benefits from playing in a conference that is frequently beaten in footraces by three-toed sloths. A nation cannot forget that clash of Big Televen titans, PSU & Ohio State, but it has certainly tried, repeatedly. When that is your signature W, you deserve to be relegated to the bottom of 1 time losers.
Boise State played and beat Oregon early in the season. They’ve run drills against tackling dummies ever since, and when that’s happened on Saturdays, they’ve received W’s as a reward for the hard practice. Perhaps they deserve a stronger position, but it’s tough to believe no matter how many teams they run through named St. this season. Seriously, Utah State, Idaho State, and New Mexico State?
Ohio State falls backward, stumbling, into the top 10 again. Does anyone get excited about this team besides their mothers and sweatervest manufacturers? If we could take Ball State ahead of them with a straight face, Ohio State wouldn’t be a part of this breakdown.
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Activity
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RRR commented on the blog post Mid-Season Thoughts and OU Pre-Game ago
Thanks Trips. I’m hoping for lots of Willie Warren trying to be Sheron Collins. TMG in sync is the scariest thing to face in Norman. That or we get beat up on the boards which seems to be recurring theme of Texas Tech road games.
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Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches ago
TP welcome to the network.
I like how you broke this down, and identified which positions history shows a high star ranking has proven to be important. I personally feel that after what all the recruiting sites dub their top players that there is a major falloff. We all love that the recruiting sites bring
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Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players? ago
I’m convinced.
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Mister Mike commented on the blog post Thoughts on the win in Austin ago
Don’t follow basketball as much as you guys do here, but I did watch that game last night. Using my extensive experience in analyzing the sport (next to none) the game felt like it had that “Big Game” feel to it, but somehow it just didn’t turn out that way. Kind of…lackluster?
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Hiphopopotamus wrote a new blog post: Thoughts on the win in Austin ago
We weren’t overly impressive, and at the same time, it may have been this team’s most impressive win. The game didn’t have much rhythm. We never shot it well. In fact, our two best guys can’t be much worse from the field. But damned if we didn’t guard them – especially in that first half.
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Farmer Ted wrote a new blog post: Carl Pelini Remains Red 1 minute ago
We all know that Carl Pelini is a popular guy, and now we’ve learned that Tennessee recently courted him to fill their DC vacancy. Carl said no:
“We’re on the verge of something great at Nebraska,” Pelini said. “I love working with Bo. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
Fortunately for Husker fans, Carl isSHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 5 minutes ago
Patrick, no this is hilarious (From Chip Brown):
And Barnes finally admitted after Monday night’s 80-68 loss to No. 1 Kansas that he can no longer have guards Justin Mason and Dogus Balbay on the floor together.
“We just can’t, otherwise it’s five on three,” Barnes said.
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Mister Mike commented on the blog post ”Bo Made Me Cry.” 6 minutes ago
The problem Ted is that Bo doesn’t like to give anyone the appearance that he’s not in control of the program. For some reason, he feels that the flow of information to the recruiting sites and services is far too much, and he’s seeking to try and control that. There’s a reason why
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players? 14 minutes ago
Wholesome goodness. Thanks for posting.
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HenryJames commented on the blog post Another night, another would-be hero 16 minutes ago
I think Kiper has Okung too high at number five. He’s a right tackle in the NFL, and no one will take a RT that high.
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 20 minutes ago
Basketball is a simple game of passing,dribbling,catching,shooting and denying the other team from scoring. Simple yet played by chess masters that know what they have (known quantities) in players,chemistry, and heart (will to win).
Maybe they are also an unknown phenomena to the stubborn, mad,lusting minds of entrenched coaches that are playing the games -
uthookem commented on the blog post 2011 Texas Football Recruiting 34 minutes ago
I consider this thread incomplete until a picture of Barney Frank is added.
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HenryJames commented on the blog post Scholarship Numbers & Junior Days 34 minutes ago
I summer in Brookshire.
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Texastough commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 54 minutes ago
“As long as he is putting teams into the tourney every year, I think he is untouchable. ”
Thats basically the equivalent of being one of the top six or seven Big 12 teams, which doesn’t cut it. I think he has to average top 2-3 in Big12 and sweet 16 or so to be
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour ago
Bob, essentially what you are saying is that we are not a well coached basketball team. I agree.
Jordan Hamilton is a selfish and lazy player. He is a terrible fit to play for Barnes. Not sure if either one will be around next season at this rate.
I’ve seen too much player development and too much
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour, 1 minute ago
Oh ! Trips your one liners are getting very very good in a nice sort of way. This was a great one.
Almost a classic. “ponderos, shouldn’t you be supersizing something somewhere?”
Keep up the good work……
“Admirable that you continue to attempt an analysis with some type of hope for them” -
Farmer Ted commented on the blog post ”Bo Made Me Cry.” 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
Good read, Mike. There’s a lot of truth in there. I do believe that one of the reasons that Florida’s recruiting class was rated so highly is that 100% of their signees were offered scholarships by Florida. If Florida loses interest in a kid, his stock drops a bit. That’s defensible
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Ag_in_TX wrote a new blog post: Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players? 1 hour, 12 minutes ago
If you watched the game, and if you have one drop of testosterone in your bloodstream, you couldn’t have missed her. The redhead with huge tracts of land – right behind the KU bench – who stood for every time out and stared at the KU players.
She stuck out like a sore thumb. Never
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Darius Pourceau commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches 1 hour, 14 minutes ago
Welcome to the site guys! Aaron Rodgers is the man.
http://bornhogwild.fantake.com/
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Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
Bob, essentially what you are saying is that we are not a well coached basketball team. I agree.
Jordan Hamilton is a selfish and lazy player. He is a terrible fit to play for Barnes. Not sure if either one will be around next season at this rate.
We went scoreless for 10:54 during
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Trips Right commented on the blog post 2011 Texas Football Recruiting 1 hour, 26 minutes ago
Well done. The Barney Frank line blindsided me like a strain of juarez clap. Funny stuff.
I’d like for us to go out of state for a QB and at least 1 maybe two CB’s. Is Quandre tall enough to play corner or angry enough to play safety?
Rumor around the campfire is
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour, 39 minutes ago
I feel our pain…
Was Barnes wearing a helmet last night. I did not notice as I was in awe of the blood being spilled
on the floor for almost 11 minutes without a point.
Coach Knight was reading this blogs out loud for TV.
The most insightful was that Barnes needs to go to the 7-8 -
James commented on the blog post 2011 Texas Football Recruiting 1 hour, 41 minutes ago
Barney Frank and Mormon quips in the same post. My Tuesday is complete.
Texas HS football is going through a phase (era?) where the best athlete talent is being put on offense. DBs aren’t being developed in vast quantities. Why wouldn’t you go after a couple OOS DBs?
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour, 44 minutes ago
ponderos, shouldn’t you be supersizing something somewhere?
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour, 46 minutes ago
Gillispie’s a mid-major clown because of his off the court indiscretions. Seriously, The University of Texas is much too high profile to risk its brand and image with this moron. And anyone that mentions Augie Garrido should be permabanned the intertubes. The situations aren’t remotely similar.
If you want to go down the
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 1 hour, 52 minutes ago
Leonidas, none of those points came against Dex. Boxscores aren’t reality, they’re like porn movies. If porn was real everyone would be a plummer.
As for Pittman on offense, Aldrich wasn’t playing him straight up, he was getting a double virtually everytime down. That’s not Aldrich’s fault but it’s reality.
Pittman rarely
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Mister Mike commented on the blog post Nebraska Fits the Profile of the 2010 National Champion 1 hour, 58 minutes ago
Good line. What is the thinking on his ability vs. the injury?
It’s funny you should ask. I’m working on putting something together right now that will be discussing this very topic. I know you’re waiting with bated breath for it too. Admit it.
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 2 hours, 20 minutes ago
Should be “complementary” scorers. Oh well.
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem 2 hours, 23 minutes ago
OK, I was there. Not the best seat in the house, but not a bad one either.
Trips hit part of what struck me over and over. KU had offensive options/outlets when Texas forced them into trouble (which happened quite a bit, as the stats showed that Texas did bring defense last night), and the
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Mister Mike wrote a new blog post: ”Bo Made Me Cry.” 3 hours, 3 minutes ago
At least, that’s the line I would expect to hear from Rivals or Scouts if they were in a relationship with Bo Pelini and ended up going to Dr. Phil to try and work out their differences. Of course, that would never happen because Bo would’ve just laughed, packed her shit up, and thrown it
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Big Satan said:
December 1st, 2008 at 6:52 am
My Thoughts? The blogpoll seems to be composed of more reasonable and intelligent people than the intellectually castrated honks in the coaching and harris poll ranks.
(The Original)Tim said:
December 1st, 2008 at 7:49 am
After all Texas Tech has accomplished this Season, with the limited resources they have at their disposal. The only thing you can say is “Typical Tech” and make excuses for why UT lost?
That’s classless BC blogging at it’s best. The Texas Tech vs. UT game was not won on a last second miracle, it was won in the trenches the entire game. The UT O-line couldn’t handle Texas Tech, and the Tech O-line survived. I know, I know all UT fans make the excuses about Tech’s line holding the entire game, and that’s all that is, an excuse.
Show some respect, Texas Tech had a tougher run than UT, Texas Tech had 3 top 10 teams in a row. How come everyone talks about the guantlet UT went through but everyone forgets that Texas Tech actually had a tougher run. The fact that Texas Tech played 3 Top 10 teams in a row, and they had to go to Norman makes their run tougher.
It isn’t fair to the rest of the South that neither OU or UT ever have to play true road games against each other. If UT played in Norman this year they lose that game hands down.
intellectual type said:
December 1st, 2008 at 7:54 am
Tim,
Leave. Stop posting here. You had your time to shine and it’s done. We told you to enjoy it while it lasted and I hope you listened. Good luck next year.
(The Original)Tim said:
December 1st, 2008 at 7:55 am
I also like how you make injury excuses for UT losing to Texas Tech, yet fail to mention the reason Texas Tech struggled against Baylor. Is because Graham Harrell crushed two fingers half-way through the second quarter, Micheal Crabtree only played 20 minutes and starting FS Charbonett didn’t play at all.
Hypocritical at Best.
(The Original (The Original)) Tim said:
December 1st, 2008 at 7:55 am
That last post was pure garbage. I am making stuff up now
bighornfan32 said:
December 1st, 2008 at 7:58 am
You’re still arguing for Tech? You had your chance and got ass raped by OU. We lost with one second left. You lost with 55 minutes left. Then you just about laid an egg at home to Baylor. Sorry, but you dont deserve any respect. Especially considering your QB is a classless moron and your coach thinks its alright to vote his team number one.
Nordberg said:
December 1st, 2008 at 7:58 am
The morons around here are pretty much ruining this site. I wish we had a Tim/Steven/Ponderos system where you could block certain posts.
Would the BCS Implode if The Following Happened? - Page 2 - SpartanTailgate.com - Michigan State Spartans Forums said:
December 1st, 2008 at 8:07 am
[...] I think these two would kick any Ok – Tex – Tex Tech teams there is…. As to defense… Barking Carnival
Facebook User said:
December 1st, 2008 at 8:26 am
Nordberg – It’s coming in the next few months.
hopefulhorn said:
December 1st, 2008 at 8:26 am
(The Original) Tim would make a much more compelling case if his team hadn’t gotten rolled a week ago in Norman with everything on the line. Tech has always been one team at home in Lubbock (particularly at night) and another team entirely on the road against a quality opponent. Series results with both OU and Texas reflect this: close games in Lubbock and blowouts on the road. Despite being clearly improved, Tech absolutely reverted to historic form.
Big games are put-up or shut-up affairs. Your team didn’t come through, Timmy. Do we need to tell you what to do here?
coach Callahan said:
December 1st, 2008 at 8:40 am
Tim a very average NU team took you to overtime in your own stadium with 5 defensive starters on the shelf. You probably should just shut up and sit down and let the big boy football teams talk.
4th and 5 said:
December 1st, 2008 at 9:30 am
Anyone know Mike Leach’s and Mark Mangino’s top 5 on their coach’s polls?
Woody Bombay said:
December 1st, 2008 at 9:33 am
“If UT played in Norman this year they lose that game hands down.”
Sorry, Techster. Take a look at your hypothetical UT-OU home-and-home schedule. OU would have played in Austin this year. Texas wins by 24.
8straight said:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:05 am
The “Best Tech Team EVER!” Congrats on your win over the Horns and a top 10, if you win your bowl game, finish.
Now lets talk about real football schools who have actually won championships and have a realistic chance to win one in the future. The miracle on the plains will become a distant memory to everyone outside of a 100 miles radius to Muleshoe. I’m sure those 39-33 t-shirts will sell like hot tamales for years to come.
ChicagoTTU said:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:28 am
“Texas Tech had a jihad game against a wounded Texas and then slapped Oklahoma State in the face and made them cry. Outside of those events, they look like the same ol’Texas Tech.”
By no means am I crying BCS, but gotta disagree with the “same ol’Texas Tech” label.
The “same ol’Texas Tech” would have dropped those games against Nebraska and/or Baylor.
Tech had their opportunity, but, as stated, dropped the ball vs. OU – which is why they’re being addressed above under the sub-head “The Back 5 of the Top 10.”
But even here, #’s 5-10, it’s implicit that Tech doesn’t belong…
“They’d be lower if there were a intriguing option to swap in here.”
Fact of the matter, despite the OU raping in Norman, Tech belongs in the top 10. Simply put, 11-1 in the Big XII South is a pretty impressive resume.
ChicagoTTU said:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:40 am
8straight-
Thank you. Was it so hard guys to dish out just that little bit?
So lets talk about real football schools who have actually won a national championship with a realistic chance to win a national championship in the future:
Army
Now with Obama in office I think we’ll see some real talent headed to West Point – Here come the Black Knights!
8straight said:
December 1st, 2008 at 11:10 am
My son’s Army x-box team is undefeated for two years. Don’t under estimate the Black Knights.
For my tastes, I hope Obama stays away from West Point and goes with what he knows. Like community organization.
Tim's Bleeding Vagina said:
December 1st, 2008 at 11:13 am
someone please spay me.
(The Original)Tim said:
December 1st, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I’m not sitting here crying about the tie-breaker or not making a BCS game am I? I’m just saying the least BC Bloggers can do is not make excuses for the Texas Tech loss and recognize the Texas Tech stretch was tougher because we had to travel to Norman.
All everyone here is doing is making excuses for your loss, and writing Texas Tech off as “Typical Tech”. That is just lazy (or spiteful)blogging on behalf of BC.
I have yet to see a Texas Tech fan make an excuse for the OU game. I personally came on here the day after OU/TTU and said we got our ass handed to us and didn’t belong yet. Doesn’t mean we didn’t win 11 games in the toughest division in College Football.
If 11 wins in the Big 12 South in 2008 can’t earn you respect, it’s obvious that nothing will ever be good enough unless you have Sooner or Longhorn on your jersey.
CloseToJumping said:
December 1st, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I didn’t even think about Tech when I wrote the missive above. You guys are and always will be an afterthought to us. I don’t hold any animosity towards Tech, except for the way your fans behave when you’re doing well, both at the stadium and online. I actually like Leach and the program compared to most opponents. I certainly didn’t expect whiners from Tech demanding respect from the post.
You didn’t have a more difficult run than Texas did. This is not a subjective issue. You simply didn’t. You had time off between 2 of the games and played less talent overall. Sorry.
As to the injury claims and so forth, for one, they happened, for two, they’re there to match the absurdity of the OU claims about losing because of Ryan Reynolds.
(The Original)Tim said:
December 1st, 2008 at 2:19 pm
The “afterthought” you mention is the reason you are headed to the Fiesta Bowl and not the National Championship. Maybe, if the Longhorn program and fan base didn’t view Texas Tech as an “afterthought” you would be spending January in Sunny Miami.
I have not whined or demanded respect; I simply questioned the status quo.
Playing;
#1 @ Neutral Field
#11 @ Home
#6 @ Home
#7 @ Lubbock
is not as difficult as;
#23 Away
#1 @ Home
#9 @ Home
#5 @ Norman
I don’t care what kind of excuses you make or how you slice it, it’s not subjective, it’s harder to win in Norman in your 3rd consecutive Top 10 game than it is, in Lubbock in your 4th consecutive Top 25 game. To make your argument valid, UT fans would have to admit that it’s harder to win in Lubbock, than in Norman. I highly doubt I’ll ever see a UT fan utter that phrase.
How is it absurd for OU to claim they lost because of Ryan Reynolds going down, but ok to claim that UT lost because Orakpo and Cosby went down? All the while bashing Texas Tech for keeping it tight vs. Baylor while their best player is out and the QB has broken fingers?
HenryJames said:
December 1st, 2008 at 2:39 pm
it’s harder to win in Norman in your 3rd consecutive Top 10 game
So you played in Norman on November 15th?
dedfischer said:
December 1st, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I’m not sure why Tim is still trying here. Tim, if I ever get tired of how the University of Texas is treating us, I’ll send out a couple of telegrams and let the Commanches back off the reservation. For now, they’re harmless and find solace in some badass scholarship athletes making them feel tough. Like HJ’s Facebook douche buddy.
ChicagoTTU said:
December 1st, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Army. Black Knights. 2010.