the tindog coffeehouse

First, a quick rant. Thanks to the Louisiana-Monroe game being on pay-per-view and the Wyoming game being on the Versus network (which was just dropped by DirecTV over a financial dispute), it looks like I’m going to miss the first two Texas football games of the season, which really blows. I mean, I’ve been jonesing since January for some college football, and now that it’s finally here, I’ve gotta wait two more weeks? Argh! It’s killing me!

OK, rant over. Deep breath. Serenity now! Ah, much better.

So last year I tried a season-long experiment in which I played NCAA College Football on the Wii every week, pitting the Longhorns against that week’s opponent to see if the video game score was any indication of the real score. The answer was that, well, no, it wasn’t too accurate. So while I had fun playing video games every week, I won’t be repeating the experiment this year. Sorry to disappoint you.

However, I did want to weigh in with my thoughts about the upcoming season. Basically, it comes down to this: The Horns have to win. Period.

Here’s their schedule:

• 9/5: Louisiana-Monroe
• 9/12: at Wyoming
• 9/19: Texas Tech
• 9/26: UT El Paso
• 10/10: Colorado
• 10/17: OU
• 10/24: at Mizzou
• 10/31: at Oklahoma State
• 11/7: Central Florida
• 11/14: at Baylor
• 11/21: Kansas
• 11/26: at Texas A&M

Of those games, the big three are Tech, OU, and OSU. Forget the National Championship. If the Horns want to win the Big 12 South, they have to win all three of those games. Any misstep there, and the Big 12 tie-breaker rule that bit ‘em in the butt last year could do the same again.

Also, the schedule allows no room for error since the last four games will essentially be givens against weaker non-ranked (or lower-ranked) teams. In other words, if they fall early to OU or get tripped up in Stillwater, a blowout victory against Central Florida isn’t going to help them; there’s nowhere to go but down.

Contrast this with OU’s schedule:

• 9/5: BYU
• 9/12: Idaho State
• 9/19: Tulsa
• 10/3: at Miami
• 10/17: Texas
• 10/24: at Kansas
• 10/31: Kansas State
• 11/7: at Nebraska
• 11/14: Texas A&M
• 11/21: at Texas Tech
• 11/28: Oklahoma State

Not only does OU play tougher non-conference games, they play tough, high-ranked opponents late in the season. So even if OU falls to Texas at the Cotton Bowl, they have a chance to at least partially redeem themselves over time.

The only way Texas can ensure they will end the regular season with a higher BCS ranking than OU is to go undefeated. And even if they do win the Big 12 with one loss, that single loss will probably be enough to keep them out of the National Championship. So it really comes down to winning every game, not just the biggest three. As Yoda says, “Do or do not… there is no try.”

Now the big question: Can they do it? In my opinion, yes. They have all the right ingredients to go all the way, just as they did in 2005.

It should be an exciting year for Longhorn fans. Even if we won’t be able to witness all of it.

Hook ‘Em Horns!