LongJim

Steve and Barry's University Wear is carrying MG stuff. I bought a MG hoodie at the Abilene mall. They also just opened at Parks Mall in Arlington, and have a store in Grapevine Mills. Did not see caps, but they had the hunter green hoodie with block "North Texas" in black with white outline, and the gray hoodie with "North Texas" in kelly baseball script. Both pretty cool, and all the stuff is $7.85!

That's pretty awesome, Rick!

Yes, could go either way. I like TCU's team speed in this game. Good point. Also depends on if Kansas' very talented QB decides to show up. I'm picking Boise here because of the home field, the weather, and their team speed. BC could easily win, though. Totally agree. This was a tough call. I'd love to see TT win this game.

I listed the ones I had the most interest in. Anyone have opinions? ********************************** New Orleans Southern Miss (6-5) vs. Arkansas State (6-5) PICK: USM (Although I hope I'm wrong.) GMAC UTEP (8-3) vs. Toledo (8-3) PICK: UTEP Fort Worth Kansas (6-5) vs. Houston (6-5) PICK: Kansas MPC Computers Boise State (9-3) vs. Boston College (8-3) PICK: BOISE MasterCard Alamo Michigan (7-4) vs. Nebraska (7-4) PICK: MICHIGAN Pacific Life Holiday Oregon (10-1) vs. Oklahoma (7-4) PICK: MOBILEHOMA (My "upset special") Vitalis Sun Northwestern (7-4) vs. UCLA (9-2) PICK: UCLA Chick-fil-A Peach Miami (9-2) vs. LSU (10-2) PICK: Miami AutoZone Liberty Tulsa (8-4) vs. Fresno State (8-4) PICK: TULSA EV1.net Houston TCU (10-1) vs. Iowa State (7-4) PICK: TCU AT&T Cotton Texas Tech (9-2) vs. Alabama (9-2) PICK: ALABAMA Tostitos Fiesta Notre Dame (9-2) vs. Ohio State (9-2) PICK: OSU FedEx Orange Penn State (10-1) vs. Florida State (8-4) PICK: PSU The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi USC (12-0) vs. Texas (12-0) PICK: TEXAS

Heh! I saw a UT t-shirt that was UNT green and spelled out "The University of Texas" on it. I thought about coming to Fouts with that shirt, with the word "North" written on athletic tape pasted above "Texas".

I'm going to try to make this game as well. Will probably wear my UT hat and MG t-shirt.

Definitely not Young's best moment in the spotlight.

How many times was the phrase "great recruiter" used in those quotes?

HERE

So did I. Duke is schooling them.

I have edited this post, as the server hosting the file has issues with generating working links. My apologies.

That would be awesome to get a game w/one of those teams--at Fouts. BTW, DG--that helmet is cool. I love that design.

A cancer all the way from the LSU clubhouse?

Unfortunately, you're right. Amazingly, Bush didn't flush his down the toilet with two subpar games: Washington (69 yards) and California (86 yards) No argument here.

Okay. He won on the public Heisman ballot, which closed 12/6. Maybe the Yahoo voters should have voted there. Vince has gotten pub, but please. Look at Maisel's column at ESPN. Mandel and Menez at si.com. Look at the sports page in today's Startlegram. Look at the college football page at ESPN.com right now. Whatever. I'm not saying Bush isn't deserving, but he sure got a lot more mileage out of that Fresno game than Young did at OK St., and the "total yardage" the bone-heads crowed so much about was almost identical.

He's been getting all the love since Fresno. No surprise, really. VY's Heisman campaign has been a victim of UT's success this year, as illustrated below. (I'm editing this post to include information from a post at a UT message board which some here might find interesting. It definitely highlights the media influence on the Heisman. Vince Young won the public ballot for the Heisman, incidentally.) ***************************************** " I hope they will see that the numbers I put up were basically in the first half (of games). In the second half, I've basically been on the bench. I hope they look at that. If I played a full game, I'd have some more stats." - Vincent Young "We know Vince, we know. Unfortunately the mouth breathers around the country choose not to listen to you, Mack Brown, or your fellow Longhorns. I now present you the big middle finger you can shove in the face of these blind idiots. VINCE YOUNG TOTAL OFFENSIVE YARDS BY QUARTER (12 games) 1st quarter: 1,131 yards 2nd quarter: 1,210 yards 3rd quarter: 982 yards 4th quarter: 296 yards Yeah, that's right...296 yards ALL SEASON in the 4th quarter. As in averaging less than 25 yards per game. Wait there's more. - In 2 games(Ohio State, Okie State) Vince had 89 and 81 yards total offense in the 4th. - In 4 games he did not gain a single yard in the 4th quarter. I wonder why? Here are the 3rd quarter total yards for these 4 games: 2, 22, 18, and 31 yards. So in 4 games he had a grand total of 73 yards IN THE SECOND HALF. That 73 yards is the equivalent of 2 full games. Here are VY's TDs by quarter: 1st: 9 2nd: 14 3rd: 10 4th: 2 The 2 fourth quarter touchdowns? One with 14 minutes left vs. Tech and the other...well, if you have paid attention to Texas' season you can probably figure it out. Here's a hint: the whole country was watching. - 65.7% of VY's touchdowns were thrown in the 1st half. Basically 2 out of every 3 he scored were in the first half. I feel it needs repeating: Vince Young had 296 yards and 2 TD's in the 4th quarter this season. For a comparison, Vince had 237 yards and 3 TDs in the great comeback vs. Oklahoma State...all in the 3rd quarter. Congrats to Bush on winning the Heisman, he truly is a special player. ESPN sure loved breaking down his statistics to the whole country everyday on Sportscenter. It's a shame they didn't do the same for Vince."

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I totally agree with you about White being the key. Ohio State had decent success rushing, but they didn't exactly dominate, and Pittman was probably the best back they faced all year. I believe he had about 70-75 yards that game. Mike Hamilton of Ok St had probably the best game up the middle against Texas, but he was pretty much shut down after halftime. That's the thing--UT (at least this year) basically came out in a base defense to determine what the offense was trying to do, and then made adjustments to their defense based on that. The glaring exception to these adjustments being the NON-adjustment to the option run by aTm. Agree. No doubt about it. I don't agree with OSU. I do agree to an extent about the aTm game. I believe he had VY under wraps for that game, and wanted to see if they could win without too much "fuss". I personally think you'll see VY totally turned loose by Davis and Brown, much as you saw in last year's RB. They've (IMO) kept Young from running too much the last few games of the year in order to save him for this game, because I believe they felt that they could win without his legs and didn't want to get him hurt. You may well be right, and CMJ may be as well. I believe USC holds a slight edge over our defense. I believe UT holds a bigger edge over their defense, and I believe UT has a significant advantage special-teams wise. If UT can avoid TO's, and get some 3 and outs, I believe they will beat USC. Just seeing UT make a MNC game is a big thrill for me.

Well, it's going to be a great game, for sure. Regarding VY, from what I've read from and about him all year, he's been asked questions pretty much in the "what do you think of this team/offense/etc." all year, and he's answered honestly for the most part. I don't really view anything he's said as smack, other than the comment he made about aTm fans and how he viewed the "saw varsity's horns off" swaying at Pyle Field as "ridiculous". But honestly, that game has a history of rivalry and off-the-wall stuff being said, such as a UT player when asked whether he wanted heads or tails during the coin flip against aTm answering "It don't make a shit." And now that I think of it, maybe it was OU, but I digress UT is damned either way, though. If they don't have at least some kind of attitude that "hey, we're as good as those guys" then they're soft--which is a criticism this team has faced for the last 15 years. If they answer with basically "we have a pretty good team too" attitude, then they're talking smack, particularly since the national media already has UT getting dismantled on 1/4. If you've watched Young closely during the last couple of years, you've seen him getting up and congratulating opposing players on their efforts, as well as pumping his own team up. There's a story that before spring practices this year, Young wrote on a marker board something like "Those that want to beat Ohio State, be here after practice...etc." to get extra time working with his receivers. I think it paid off. He also supposedly came to two-a-days and the first thing out of his mouth was "Rose Bowl's over, y'all." I think Young's point lately is that he and his team aren't going to be intimidated by anybody, and I respect that. As UT took the field against Ohio State, Mack Brown was asked basically if the crowd/atmosphere was going to affect them. He replied diplomatically: "This is a nice place. But we've been in nice places before." IMO, that's the frame of mind you have to have in any ballgame. It's similar to Pete Carroll's attitude, btw. Here's what Pete Carroll said at another interview this week: Carroll was asked what it would be like to take on the nation's No. 1 offense. "You mean in practice every day?" Young is just echoing the attitude of his coach and coaching staff. Regarding the game: USC is a great team. They have great offensive players, and will be difficult for UT to stop. I do believe that UT has the toughest defense USC will face this year, though, and I believe the UT secondary and d-line will give Leinart trouble. I'm not as confident in UT's linebackers, and they are going to have to play lights out, or Bush and White will eat them alive off tackle. To win, UT will have to do 2 things, as I see it. 1. Stop the run. (Easier said than done.) Rotate DL's like they have all year. 2. UT will have to get pressure on Leinart from the middle of the d-line, and occasionally outside, in order to throw his passing game off. The linebackers have got to contain USC's backs off-tackle, or UT will get killed w/play action. I think USC will have difficulty running on UT up the middle. I think UT's secondary will do well against USC's receivers, and they need to be punished on every play, which is something that I believe UT will do. I also believe that UT will have success offensively, and will be able to put 35-40 points up, while holding USC to no more than 30-35. I expect at least 7 UT points to come from a turnover or special teams. Young needs to have no turnovers. Robison, Bobino, Killebrew, and Aaron Harris have to play lights-out. Secondary has to bring their A game. OL/DL have to dominate. Simple!! I expect a game with a final score of about 41-31, with UT winning. I will now put down my orange-tinted glasses.

Northwest ISD has just done the same.

One of the funniest things I've heard Leach say was at halftime of the UT/Tech game, right after Texas had blocked a punt. The interviewer asked something like: "Coach, what adjustments do you think you'll need to make for the second half?" He stammered and stuttered, and ran his hand through his hair and finally said something like, "Awww...uhhhh...well, the first thing we need to do is see if we can learn how to kick the football." It was a location situation, but funny as hell.

River Oaks/I30 all the way to about 820 east is light rain, which is turning to slush on the windshield. Bridges were clear at 7:45a, but the DOT signs are warning of freezing conditions coming. Dry at I30/Cooper, but looks like the rain is heading in from the W/NW.

I'm collecting my thoughts...

Maybe I should have said "barnacles"...