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w8.02.2002


The AP Preseason Top 25 is out, with 4 Big XII teams in the Top 10 -- #2 Texas, #3 Oklahoma, #6 Colorado, and #8 Nebraska. Over on Pride's brother site ZoNotes, I asked UT faithful to give me the sweet and lowdown on the Longhorns' chances to make the Fiesta Bowl this season.

Simon Torres (F'00) states:
"I'll be happy to respond to your inquiry about UT
Football and Mack Brown.
I don't think that the Longhorns have to win this
year for Brown to keep his
job, but there is grumbling in Austin about the way
last year ended which
has the probability of snowballing if things this
year fall on their faces.
It's a bit revisionist, sure, but even the most
objective supporters concede
that it might have been Texas playing Miami in the
Rose Bowl if Mack Brown
had started Applewhite instead of Simms against OU
and Colorado. Once you
posit that, it's fair to say that the Longhorns
might have given the 'Canes
a better game than did Nebraska. Why you ask? Two
reasons:

1) Better speed on defense. Outside of Miami,
Texas' defense was the
fastest in the country; and

2) Offensive balance. All Husker arguments aside,
Nebraska's offensive
attack is one-dimensional and becomes exposed when
playing a faster team on
the other side of the ball, being shut down and
keeping the Husker defense
on the field longer (see #1 as to why this is a
problem). Texas, on the
other hand, had a freshman rush for 1,000 yards in
a conference that
includes the vaunted Oklahoma and A&M defenses and
has two recievers that
will go in the first round of the NFL draft when
they leave Austin (Roy
Williams and BJ Johnson).

None of this attempts to say UT would have beaten
Miami. They would not
have. Some college football pundits call last
year's Hurricane team one of
the two best of the last 25 years, and when you see
the number of first
round draft picks they had in April, it's not hard
to understand why.

What does all of this mean for Texas? To some,
last year should have been a
springboard to this year instead of a rehashing of
all the same arguments
(Applewhite v. Simms). The blame for this squarely
lies, right or wrong, on
Mack Brown. With arguably the top recruiting class
of 2001 and a top-3
class for 2002, Texas clearly has depth at skill
positions with speed to
burn. Cedric Benson is a sophomore. Williams,
Johnson and Cory Redding are
juniors. Their leading tackler from last year is a
sophomore. While not
babes, this team must make a run in the next two
years.

Texas fans are impatient, especially after reading
and believing their own
press. They are also to a man or woman actually
ashamed of not having won a
national title in 25 or so years. It isn't a
trophy or a ranking to these
people. It's pride and both a challenge to the
state of Texas' standing as
the home of the best football talent in the nation
and an indictment of
either previous failures to keep that talent or
current failures to produce
with the talent once you've kept it. Before you
non-Texans snicker about
the seemingly ridiculous nature of such an
assertion, think for a second
about your favorite football team, college or pro.
For college teams,
unless you root for Florida, Florida St., Nebraska
or Miami, odds are you
have quality Texan players on your team whose
subtraction would severely
reduce your win total. For the pro teams, it
becomes even more apparent.
Look at your rosters; count the players who are
from Texas, even if they
didn't go to college there.

I still think the Longhorns are a year away, but it
really all depends on
what happens this year. I honestly don't believe
this is Chris Simms' team,
because all he has to do is throw an ill-advised
pick and see two all-state
quarterbacks, Chance Mock and Vince Young, on the
bench. Brown has shown an
indecisiveness about QB in the past, and Simms has
been served notice.
Ultimately, I still think the best determinate of
Mack Brown keeping his job
is Mack Brown. He will have to either stick with
Simms if the going gets
bumpy or put Mock into service. On paper, it's a
wonderful problem to have.
In reality, it's been Mack Brown's nightmare for
the past two years."

And so then I answered back:
"Simon:

One clip stands out for me -- Applewhite's first snap at Texas Stadium, connecting with BJ Johnson. The CU defense got outrun on that play. Plus, had UT gone Air Longhorn instead of trying to establish Benson, they could have opened up a huge lead early. The CU defense was serviceable against Nebraska, lucky against Texas, and then downright awful against Oregon.

Wow. That was good. The best case for your Texans going out of state argument is Oklahoma. You subtract the Texas contingent from the Sooner roster, and Oklahoma isn't just ordinary, it's terrible.

Texas needs to beat OU. I think OU is a bigger deal now for the faithful than A&M is, given the positioning of the game on the schedule and the ramifications in the Big XII South.

Had Texas gone Rose, the game would have gone into OT. I think Miami would have given up a couple of sacks to the Texas defense, and the speed on the corners would have been more even. Roy Williams would have beaten Buchanon on at least one deep ball. Plus, with Applewhite playing, he would have upstaged Kevin Dorsey. I still think Miami would have won, but it would have been a much better game from the entertainment perspective.

Nebraska was a fraud last season."

(Oh, and as an aside, Nebraska will likely chalk up 3 losses this season)

Michael Gallagher offers his musings on the Texas season:
"I'll coment on the University of Texas football program for ZoNotes:
It would take a coach with the analytical abilities of a disabled toad with a bum leg and a scorching case of syphillis to screw up this season for UT and _not_ go to the B[ullshit]owl Championship Series. Nevertheless, you mark my words right here and now sportsfans: UT will not go to the Big Dance. They will screw up this year and go 10-2 or 9-3. Mark my words. They'd fare better if Sean Mullaney (B'00) was the starting quarterback and Buck Williams was the backup. There is no way in hell UT will go to the title game. Mack Brown is many things, but he ain't a sterling football strategist. He's just a mini-Bobby Bowden, without the accent. These are just my thoughts. Any and all commentary in response is welcome."

Meanwhile, Aaron Ammerman (F'00) breaks down the Green Bay Packers' camp this week:
"Residents of northeastern Wisconsin carry a grim
optimism these days. The
news out of training camp looks unusually bleak,
but no real Packerbacker
would dream of losing faith in their team before
Christmas. Right now, it's
a summer for taking stock, moderating expectations,
and revising previous
estimates.

Receiving

Coach and GM Mike Sherman moves in mysterious ways
and boldly released the
top three wide receivers from last year's playoff
roster. In the first
round, Green Bay picked up Javon Walker of Florida
State, a player widely
rumored to be functionally illiterate.
Complementing him on the other side
of the field will be the newly acquired Terry
Glenn, whose disciplinary
problems found him driven out of New England last
year. The Pack is banking
on the small-town atmosphere of Green Bay to ensure
a communal policing of
Glenn's bad-boy behavior - he won't be able to walk
into a building anywhere
within 3 hrs of GB without someone keeping a kindly
eye out for him. This
could be the year he returns to the lofty numbers
he posted his rookie year

Rushing

Green Bay standard-bearer Dorsey Levens was also
sent packing this spring.
The intense speed of blue-collar Ahman Green will
be all the Pack can rely on
for a backfield to start the season. Backing him
up are a couple of guys
with great speed but a history of chronic
gimpiness- Ki-jana Carter and Najeh
Davenport (4th round draftee out of Miami). Of
these Davenport could be the
sleeper hit of the autumn: despite his early brush
with the law this
Independence Day, he is noted for his maturity and
leadership as well as his
bruising speed.

Defense

The Pack has a beefy line and swift linebackers,
but the question mark is
always over Green Bay's secondary. Leroy Butler,
the lifeblood of the
Packers for the last decade, is still a punisher
downfield at age 38, but
Coach Sherman expects his real contribution will be
in teaching a new crop of
youngsters how to make grown men cry. Expect to
see him on the sidelines
deep in Yoda-like contemplation as he grooms a new
generation of fearless
D-backs like the impossibly named Bhawoh Jue.

A New Hope

Actually, there's only one reason why everyone in
Packerland has joined Coach
Sherman in confidently booking their tickets for
San Diego: the golden arm of
Brett Favre. Receivers? We don't need no stinkin'
receivers! Everyone
knows that Brett Favre could hit Stephen Hawking
for two TDs a game if that's
all he had to work with. As for rushing, Brett's
went five seasons without
any help in the backfield. If Green can even
threaten for a 100-yard game,
the passing will take care of itself. Adding to
Favre's potency will be an
offensive line intact from the 2000 season. This
is a carefully cultivated
band of brothers who should be capable of magic
this fall.

That's it for the Packers, til they square off with
the Philadelphia Eagles
next weekend."







posted by Lorenzo at 8/02/2002 11:46:00 PM


w7.31.2002


Dallas Cowboys Correspondent Simon Torres (F'00) gives us his thoughts on Jamar Martin's season-ending knee injury and Troy Hambrick's verbal excesses:

"Martin's injury pretty much ruined my Monday. I am
distrustful of most
pundits, but by all accounts, this kid is going to
be good. There is zero
chance the Cowboys would say a rookie has a chance
to be the starter and be
on the field for Emmitt's run if, well, he didn't
actually merit that
chance. It's all academic now, and we have to hope
to hell that Big Red
can stand up for 20-plus weeks. They are also
trying to convert a LB named
Scott Zimmerman to fullback. Campo is on record as
saying that Hambrick
will not play fullback this year.

Speaking of....after a great season last year and
mentions that he is
Emmitt's heir-apparent, Troy has been running his
mouth a bit and showing
signs of being a prick like his brother. Someone
needs to put a muzzle on
him, or I can promise that Dallas will make no
bones about drafting a RB in
the first round next year. Jones has shown
recently that he wants classy
guys."



posted by Lorenzo at 7/31/2002 09:04:00 AM


w7.30.2002


Courtesy of Kathy Ellwood (F'00), Cleveland Browns Correspondent:
Top 10 reasons to be a Cleveland Browns fan.


First-round draft pick William Green hasn’t shown up to camp (ZoFact: He has since shown up). It’s more drama than the West Wing!

They play the Baltimore Ravens twice a year. Two opportunities to beat the false Browns and Art Modell. Boo, hiss.

Brown and orange. Watching a game is just like passing orange barrels on the highway.

Old Municipal Stadium. How many other teams can dump their old stadium in a lake?

It’s easier than being a Lions fan.

High hopes. Or else the more widely recognized slogan of the Browns, “There’s always next year.”

Carmen Policy and Al Lerner. You don’t pay your MBNA credit card on time, you got these guys on yo’ ass.

The Dawg Pound. Drunk blue collar prouder than hell fans that come to games half naked in the snow with a dog mask. Makes me homesick. Tear.

Pittsburgh Steelers. Nothing purer and more exhilarating than a football rivalry. Anyone say Cowboys v. Redskins?

Filled plastic projectile bottles. Nuff said."





posted by Lorenzo at 7/30/2002 08:29:00 AM


w7.29.2002


Courtesy Sean Mullaney (B'00):
"Zo and Liv,

While I'm the Jets handicapper for ZoNotes, if I
was the Keithley fall
semester law school handicapper I'd say the
gentleman's C across the board,
after reading the following:
2) The Triumvirate is Healthy. Without question,
the Broncos are probably the only team in the
league whose third string RB can run circles around
most
all other RBs in the league. Olandis Gary, Mike
Anderson, and Terell Davis are all healthy. In a
way, I do feel sorry for the rest of the teams in
the
league...

Healthy? R u smoking something? You and I both
know that the Broncos
Weeks 3 through 16 injury report already has
penciled in Terrell Davis,
doubtful. We've heard the "Triumverate" talk
before, and it always fails.
TD goes down early, after 100 yard games in Week 1
and 2 (assuming he gets
that far) just to whet the appetite of Broncos
fans. The Broncos would be
better off trying to get Ric Flair, Arn Anderson,
Tully Blanchard and Barry
Windham back together as the "Four Horsemen" and
using that in their
backfield (at least they might get to Week 5).

Liv does make some good points, but after last
year I'd put Griese as a
big time question mark. Also, little children all
across this great nation
still tell tales of "Brady, screen left side to
J.R. Redmond, out of bounds,
out of bounds!" and "A seven yard throw to Jermaine
Wiggam!" to this day.
Let's not take anything away from the P-Men -- they
are the champions, and
IN ORDER TO BE THE MAN, YOU'VE GOTTA BEAT THE MAN!
WOOOOOO!

I can't wait for NFL, Madden, Redskins tanking
and all the other great
stuff that will commence in September! Chill till
then."


posted by Lorenzo at 7/29/2002 10:15:00 AM


w


PRIDE OF THE FALL is now operational and ready to go. The 2002 football season is ready for maximum coverage.

posted by Lorenzo at 7/29/2002 08:11:00 AM