Bleacher Report - Colt McCoy

Texas Wins, but Might Give Florida or Alabama a Blueprint for Victory

Alex Ferguson — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:23:00 -0500

Make no mistake about it folks, Thursday night's Texas-Texas A&M game was a Texas-style shoot-out complete with drama, fat women in the stands, and noise.

But while Texas A&M will feel once again disheartened by losing to Texas, the Longhorns will be too.

Because while that sort of defensive performance can work against a Big XII team—including Big XII North opponent Nebraska a week from Saturday (are we being a little unfair?)—it won't wash against Florida or Alabama.

The Longhorns couldn't stop the throwing game all night. Do you think Blake Gideon & Co. are going to deal with Riley Cooper or Julio Jones better than they did with the Aggies?

Texas wasn't great against the run either. Early on, it looked as though the Aggies would get roasted on the line of scrimmage. The 'horns were awesome. But, as is often the case in college football, the game rolled on, and the "D" tired.

By the end of the game, Christine Michael—we only wish we were joking about his first name, but seriously, he's called Christine (parents wanted a girl apparently)—had 83 yards to his name, and the runs were getting bigger each time. They also had trouble stopping Aggies' QB Jerrod Johnson.

While Texas will have fun against Greg McElroy, do you think Tebow won't barge them out of the way?

On the good side...Colt McCoy was a star for the Longhorns, and he's playing the best ball of his career...Jordan Shipley will be a thorn in anyone's side for the last two games of his college career (he's not coming back for a seventh year is he? Is he?)...kickers against Texas will have to "pick their poison" on kickoffs against Jordan Shipley or Marquise Goodwin, who can both fly.

Look, we know it was a rivalry game. But rivalry games probably come second to national championships in terms of games everyone will talk about when careers are done and dusted.

No one wants to be known as part of the team that went unbeaten during the regular season, but then got smacked about during the National Championship Game.

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Colt McCoy, Jordan Shipley Spearhead All-Big 12 Offense

J.D. Schaller — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:58:23 -0500

The regular season is nearly over, and despite what looks like, overall, a down year for the Big 12, no one can deny the limitless quality depth and talent featured throughout the conference. I firmly believe a very good argument could be made that the Big 12 is not only the second best football conference in the country, but (hopefully) should feature a representative in the National Championship game as well. There are more than just a few guys responsible for that kind of elite success within a single football conference, and as the season winds down it is time to pay tribute to those most deserving. Consider this the second half (you should check out my defense edition, too)of my 'thank you' to the Big 12 for yet another marvelous football season. Here is the 2009, J.D. Schaller-version of the All-Big 12 Offense...

Begin Slideshow

Charlie Weis and Al Groh - Pink Slips Ahead?: The VFA Week 12 Awards

Alex Ferguson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:43:00 -0500

It's Thanksgiving out there people, and most of us are already thinking about turkey rather than football. Actually, that's not true...we're all thinking about turkey. AND football.

For Penn State Nation, the [add word here] 10-2 season is over, with the good hammerin' of Michigan State. Gosh we played well. Life is good at last. We'll take the Land Grant Trophy. Thanks, Staters!!

Anyway, here are some awards we are handin' out.

The Pink Slip Award for Hapless Coaching

1. Charlie Weis (Notre Dame): Cry all you want Charlie, it probably won't save your job. If you do stay another year, it'll be the greatest resurrection since (Touchdown) Jesus.

2. Al Groh (Virginia): Goodbye already!

3. Mark Mangino (Kansas): If the racist remarks are worse than they appear, then it won't matter what we think. Big man is going to get his butt kicked out of hippieville.

4. Mark Richt (Georgia): We know the fate of Georgia's defensive coordinator Willie Martinez, but after the Kentucky game, could we be saying goodbye to Richt in the shock firing of the year? If we do, you heard it here first!

5. Joe Paterno (Penn State): Just joking. Really—he'll leave when he wants to.

Games Of The Week

1. Oregon 44, Arizona 41: What an atmosphere and what a game. Oregon wasn't at its best, but it survived. Oh, but Arizona won the best cheerleader award. Sorry Ducks.

2. UConn 33, Notre Dame 30: It wasn't the win that moved us, it was the tears of both Weis and Randy Edsall. Football's about emotion, and regardless of the result, this was pretty emotional.

3. Ole Miss 25, LSU 23: Late LSU comeback fails. We're still exhausted watching this one.

4. Penn State 42, Michigan State 14: Because at last the Nittany Lions brought the wood out. A great performance on both sides of the ball.

5. Northwestern 33, Wisconsin 31: After getting their Big 10 hopes shredded last week, Wisconsin then loses to a loser-ish team (sorry Wildcats!). But we're all sad it's over.

Best Two-Tool Player in the Nation

1. CJ Spiller (Clemson): Can run, throw, and catch. The kid's the real deal.

2. Jordan Shipley (Texas): He might be 85, but his punt returns are second to none and we love his wide receiving skills.

3. Tim Tebow (Florida): He's Superman. He's Jesus. He's Florida's quarterback. His walking on water skills might be needed if the FSU game on Saturday is as wet as last week's.

The Unexpected Award for Stunning Results, Turnarounds and Events

1. Northwestern beating Wisconsin. Mike Kafka. Future Big Ten legend. You heard it here, er, third.

2. Cal beating Stanford. We know it's 'The Game' and all that, but after Stanford savaged Oregon AND USC, we expected Cal to take a beating. Maybe Jeff Tedford can coach.

3. Georgia blowing a monster lead and losing to Kentucky. It's not even getting funny now.

4. Florida State going bowling. Didn't expect this after a string of horrible performances. The last-ditch win over Maryland was exciting - but who holds hope for them against the GateShow? Not us!

And the Richard Fuld Award for Bad Management goes to....

1. LSU's Les Miles. A lot of Tigers fans want 17 seconds back.

2. Stanford's Jim Harbaugh. Going for it with three minutes to go. The throws from Andrew Luck - the so-called best quarterback in the Pac-10 - weren't much better. Both will have better days. But not on Week 12 of the 2009 season.

3. Georgia and it's defensive co-ordination team. Goodbye, and thanks for nothing.

4. Charlie Weis' defensive co-ordinators John Tenuta and Corwin Brown both deserve to be fired after the Irish's defensive efforts. Can't tackle a UConn running back? Not going to be easy against Toby Gerhardt of Stanford, either.

5. Rich Rodriguez. Should have pulled Tate Forcier earlier in the game. Four interceptions? We think Denard Robinson could have done better.

Congratulations to...

1. Connecticut's Randy Edsall: Finally gets a win for Jasper Howard, who passed away earlier in the season. Not a dry eye in the house.

2. The College Gameday guys: They finally picked a game that they would actually show. And boy, was it great. The "student shots" made you want to sign up and take another four years of college in Tuscon...Mama! I'm comin' home!

3. Nebraska (Big XII North Champs): The title's coming home to Lincoln. Children of the Corn, it's coming home!

4. Clemson (ACC Coastal Champs): We have to say that after the Georgia Tech game it all looked a little unlikely, but well done!

5. Florida and Alabama: Because one of you will end up in the National Championship. And one of you will end up in the Sugar Bowl. And you'll win both games.

Quote of the day

"Jordan Shipley had a senior day with Tommy Nobis," Rece Davis, College Football Final. We laughed anyway. By the way, CFF had a picture of Colt McCoy hugging his family on Senior Day. Did anyone else noticed that his mother is smoking hot? How did he come to look like such a, well, alien?

Wish we were...

In Tuscon last week for the Arizona game. Hot girls, lovely temperatures, and an atmosphere in Arizona Stadium that was to die for. We ask you to go to your recording of the U of A game and watch for the crowd shots in the fourth quarter for the reasons why.

And finally...

Best Cheerleaders

1. Arizona
2. Oregon
3. Ole Miss
4. Florida
5. Arizona State (We can't WAIT until the Arizona-Arizona State game)

Had this song in my head...

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College Football's 11 Best 11s: Texas, Alabama Stalk BCS Title

BabyTate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:41:11 -0500

The storyline may vary, the locations differ, but rising to the occasion will be the theme as one reviews the college football activity of this past weekend.

Stanford, fresh from two of the most impressive victories in the BCS era, was beaten on their home field by ancient rival California, 34-28.

The Cardinal had their chances, and were only turned away in the final moments when their powerful ground game was betrayed by an interception near the Cal end zone.

Michigan and Notre Dame, two of the most storied programs in history, each lost at home.

While the Wolverines fell by 11 points to a superior Buckeye team, the Irish bowed to middle of the road Connecticut. The UConn squad refused to fold this year, despite carrying an enormous burden of having a teammate murdered during the season.

The Iowa Hawkeyes, left for dead following two consecutive Big 10 losses, rose from the ashes like a Phoenix to shut out the Golden Gophers of Minnesota.

The 12-0 victory secured the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy (see pictured above) and should inoculate the Hawkeyes against being dropped from BCS Bowl consideration.

Quarterback Greg Paulus and Syracuse stunned 25th ranked Rutgers, 31-13. Paulus, the former Duke basketball point guard, led an offensive charge from the Orange that controlled the ball for 40 minutes in a complete annihilation of the Scarlet Knights.

Penn State bounced back from some less than stellar performances to destroy Michigan State 42-14, thus securing the Land Grant Trophy.

The Old Oaken Bucket went to Purdue after the Boilermakers stifled the Indiana Hoosiers, 38-21. It was IU's eighth loss in the last nine games.

Nebraska qualified for a spot in the Big 12 Title game against Texas by throttling feisty little Kansas State, 17-3.

In other Big 12 action, Texas Tech avenged its only regular season loss of 2008 by overwhelming the suddenly ineffective Oklahoma Sooners, 41-13.

Oregon, a powerful but inconsistent western steamroller, came back in the desert to conquer a rugged Arizona Wildcat squad in double overtime, 44-41. Nothing speaks louder concerning a team's future than how it performs when faced with adversity.

Score one for first year coach Chip Kelly of the Ducks, an impressive gentleman with places to go and important deeds to complete.

Brigham Young continued its march toward a showdown with Utah by handling The Air Force, 38-21.

In the South, two games of note were played while many squads rested or feasted in preparation of next week's rivalry games.

Mississippi spotted talented LSU the lead early on but, manged to find it within themselves to withstand a late Tiger onslaught and escape with a 25-23 win.

Clemson reached their first ever ACC Championship game by disposing of overmatched Virginia, 34-21. The Tigers move on to play Georgia Tech for the title.

These teams met earlier this season with the Yellow Jackets pulling out a 30-27 victory. With both running games operating at full throttle, fans can envision a decision being reached in less than two hours down in Tampa.

Simply put, it was the type of day where legends are created.

The 11 Best 11s

Ranking This Week Last Week

1. Texas 1.

2. Alabama 2.

3. Florida 4.

4. Texas Christian 3.

5. Boise State 5.

6. Cincinnati 6.

7. Georgia Tech 7.

8. Pittsburgh 8.

9. Oregon 9.

10. Ohio State 10.

11. Iowa (No. 1 On The Porch)

On The Porch: Oklahoma State, Mississippi, Penn State, Oregon State, Nebraska

By virtue of results from the past two weekends, the SEC Title Game is set between defending champion Florida and Alabama.

Texas and Nebraska are headed to the Big 12 Championship.

Before reservations are made in Pasadena for the ultimate prize, the small matter of avoiding a season ending upset at the hands of an arch-rival must be avoided.

Just don't call Jim Harbaugh and Stanford for advice on how to do it.

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