College Football

[Miguel]

College football has begun and it's a glorious thing.

Prior to going off to school, I was a big NFL fan. My formative years were spent in Houston so I followed the Houston Oilers. I watched as they had the greatest collapse in NFL history and fell to the Buffalo Bills and their backup QB, Frank Reich, in a playoff game. For a time, Frank held the record for the greatest NFL and college comeback victories.

Wikipedia: "The biggest highlight of his college career was the comeback he led against the University of Miami Hurricanes on November 10, 1984 at the Orange Bowl Stadium. Reich came off the bench to play for Stan Gelbaugh, who had previously replaced him as the starter after Reich separated his shoulder in the fourth week of the season against Wake Forest. Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar had led the 'Canes to a 31-0 lead at halftime. At the start of the third quarter, Reich led the Maryland Terrapins on multiple scoring drives. Three touchdowns in the third quarter and a fourth at the start of the final quarter turned what was a blowout into a close game. With the score 34-28 Miami, Reich hit Greg Hill with a 68-yard touchdown pass which deflected off the hands of Miami safety Darrell Fullington to take the lead. Maryland scored once more to cap a 42-9 second half, and won the game 42-40, completing what was then the biggest comeback in NCAA history."

After the owner of the Houston OIlers held the city hostage demanding they build a new stadium not long after the city had met his previous demands to spend tens of millions on improving the Astrodome, I soured on the NFL and began following college football.

If you're curious, I'm a graduate of the University of Texas and follow the Texas Longhorns. Nearly every one of their games is televised, so it's a lot like following a pro-team.

After a surprisingly poor season last year, they fired nearly half their coaching staff. They still look a little rough this year, but currently lead Rice 13-6 at the half.

Garrett Gilbert is the starting QB for Texas. Many fans have expressed displeasure at his performance last year. Reports were a freshman QB by the name of David Ash was making a push for the starting position during summer practices.

Ash entered the game tonight split out wide as receiver. And then later under center tonight for a play as QB. Having burned his opportunity to redshirt, it appears he may have a shot to be the starting QB for UT before the season is out.

[midnightblues]

Earl Campbell one of the all time great runinng backs

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In the NFL

[Miguel]

Earl was a new dimension in speed and power. He punished defenders.


Earl takes on a Rice defender about the five-yard line:



Earl in the NFL:



Earl was also more elusive than I remembered:



Earl's physical style of running took its toll. He now suffers from serious back and leg problems. He used to be (might still be) employed by the University of Texas when Ricky Williams was there. I believe that Ricky witnessing Earl's suffering is what led him to attempt to quit the NFL after just five seasons. He had led the NFL in rushing for 3,225 yards the two prior seasons but had carried the ball more times than any other back. They were running him into the ground.

[midnightblues]

Dallas did that to Emit Smith. He was the workhorse of the Cowboys.But they ran him to the ground also.

[midnightblues]

It sure is a thing of beauty watching Earl run the ball.

[Miguel]

I agree. Texas fans also had the privilege of watching Vince Young run (and pass) the ball for three years. He is so big that at times it appeared he wasn't moving that fast and yet he would glide by defenders. The remarkable thing about Vince running the ball was that he could pick up ten yards and make it look so effortless you would think it was five yards. And he usually finished his runs on his feet.



^^ The first run in that video is from when he entered the Oklahoma game as a freshman. The second pass play on the video is a trick play where he is the receiver that catches the ball.

[John Brown]

I'm an LSU grad and an LSU fan. However, after LSU got drummed in the national championship game by Alabama, for the first time in my life, I feel burned out on LSU football. Hopefully, I will overcome it before spring practice starts.

I also follow the Saints as well, but not as religiously as I follow LSU.

[Miguel]

2016

It's been some lean years for Texas. Their biggest problem has been the lack of a good quarterback.

2011: 8-5
2012: 8-4
2013: 8-5

The defensive coordinator was fired in week 2, and a new head coach/staff was hired in the off season (Charlie Strong replaced Mack Brown).

2014: 6-7
2015: 5-7 (ineligible for a bowl -- need 6 wins)

Now unranked Texas is about to kick off their season against #10 Notre Dame in a rare Sunday night game. Notre Dame beat them in last year's opener 38-3.

But Texas might pull the upset (I think their chances were better before many pundits in the press picked them to pull it off).

The thinking is... Texas has a lot of young talent. The coaching staff -- despite their miserable record thus far -- has recruited light's out. Though young, Texas has 15 returning starters.

More importantly, they may have found a QB in Shane Buechele. He's just a freshman -- having enrolled in January -- but he passed for 299 yards in the first half of the spring practice game. He hasn't officially been named the started though.

We also have a new offensive coordinator who runs a system like Baylor's (one of the highest scoring offenses in the country). So Texas may field a decent offense for the first time in a long while.

Notre Dame has two veteran QBs who could be Heisman candidates.

Consequently, this is likely to be a high scoring game. The "over" betting line was originally 60, but it's dropped to 56.


(Charlie Strong tweets "#Letsride" after every big recruiting commitment)

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In other college football news, there were a number of big non-conference games to open the season.

#3 Oklahoma was upset by Houston. Tom Herman who coaches Houston is expected to be a hot commodity for any major school that needs a new head coach.

#5 LSU lost a close game to Wisconsin, 14-16. Everyone was expecting to see improvement in LSU's passing game, which didn't materialize.

#1 Alabama trailed USC at the end of the first quarter, 0-3. They ended up winning 52-6. I felt bad for Haley's former manager, Chiara.

[Miguel]

Whew! Texas just pulled off the upset 50-47 -- in double overtime.

[Miguel]

One reason Texas was willing to move this game to Sunday was because it would give them the national stage. That helps with recruiting, which is the likely motivation behind this video as well: