Well, another loss last week for Texas against a team they should have rolled. Uggh. I hate rebuilding years. Fans are pissed about the lack of success that Texas has had this year and fingers are pointing all over the place. Coaches are trying to explain themselves and individual players are catching a lot of heat from the fans. I have some thoughts on that, but first...
Important match ups this week:
#5 Michigan St @ #18 Iowa
I still don't think the Big 10 is all that great, just lots of parity. That said, I think Iowa can beat MSU at home this week and further the chaos in that conference race. Iowa 24-20
#6 Missouri @ #14 Nebraska
This one is for a lot of marbles. Mizzou coming off of arguing the biggest win in the programs recent history last week against OU, now faces it's eternal nemesis, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers got back on track last week with a win over OSU. At the beginning of the year I thought Mizzou would win this game, but now I'm less confident because nobody saw Taylor Martinez coming back then. I don't think Mizzou has the defense to stop Taylor "Swift" and Nebraska's secondary will stop Mizzou enough to win. I think NU wins 34-24.
#2 Oregon @ USC
This is one of the big match ups of the week. USC in the spoiler position against BCS hopeful Oregon. Oregon should destroy the Trojans with it's high powered offense. I think it will be closer, but UO will take it 41-31.
Texas Tech @ Texas A&M
Both teams are really looking to get some momentum going here. The Aggies beat KU last week after getting demolished by Missouri at home the prior week. Tech barely got past Colorado last week. I think A&M will find a way to pull out a win at home. The farmers will take it 34-24.
#25 Baylor @ Texas
Baylor comes in to this game having already achieved their goal of becoming bowl eligible for the first time since joining the Big 12. The have looked impressive with play makers on offense, including Robert Griffin, Jay Finley, and Kendall Wright, and an okay defense. They smell blood in the water as they come in to Austin looking for an opportunity to catch Texas while they're down.
Texas is trying to find itself. Still. Coaches are partly to blame, both for failing to develop and/or recruit top talent, and for play calling. Players are not making big plays. Texas finally looked like it was playing with some drive in the 4th quarter last week, but it was still too little too late. The Texas defense will need a strong performance to slow down this potent Baylor offense. Hopefully Emanuel Acho and Jackson Jeffcoat will be back this week. A lot of fans wanted to pull Garret Gilbert last week in favor of freshman, Case McCoy. I was one of those, but not because I don't think Gilbert can be the guy, but because I thought it was the only way to force the rest of the team to step up and play like they give a damn. I understand why the coaches didn't go with that idea last week. I would let Garret know during practice this week that that kind of tactic may be employed if things aren't significantly better this week early on. For the rest of the offense, I want to see more Mike Davis, John Chiles, Malcolm Williams, DeSean Hales in the passing game. I want to see Fozzy and Tre get the bulk of the carries in the first 4 quarters, with 8 touches or so for DJ Monroe, and then a good dose of Cody Johnson in the 4th quarter when Baylor is starting to tire. Gilbert should run the ball on occasion to loosen up the defense, and a few passes to the running backs would be good too.
I think Texas should bounce back this week and take care of business with a 27-17 win. The test will be to see what happens after that. I just hope that the team continues to improve week to week. If it doesn't something has got to change around there. Hook'em!
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