In the U.S. government,it is said that the Federal Reserve Chairman is the guy who “takes the punch bowl away, once the party gets started.” This is due to his responsibilities to raise interest rates once the economy takes off- (I guess we won’t have to worry about this any time soon) in order to keep inflation risks at bay. The Texas Longhorns were the college football version of that tremendous buzzkill last summer.
Once the fun started with teams jumping conferences, and the very realistic possibility of super-conferences forming, and therefore bringing us closer to a real postseason, UT was Captain Bringdown. Texas, which nearly left the Big 12 for the Pac-10 last year, instead stayed put and created its own television network.
The Longhorn Network (partnering with ESPN for 20 years, $300 million) ensured that Texas, the biggest/richest/most powerful Athletic Department in this scenario would keep the Big 12 alive for a little while longer. I understand why they did it, it was in their best interests, but man did that news disappoint me at the time. Texas would have been the biggest domino to fall, and it would have opened the floodgates to all sorts of conference moves/mergers. We could have had media coverage of college football all summer long, instead of boring ass baseball. Shame on you Texas!
You could have made the summer lull in sports news, a million times more interesting for all of us. I guess it’s karma that the Longhorns suffered a losing season for the first time in quite awhile.
But this year, look for them to be back in a bowl.
2010 was: a disaster, 5-7, 2-6 in conference. The Horns offense couldn’t hook anything as they had their worst scoring average in 20 years. (bad for 88th in the nation) They even lost to Iowa State; something that just doesn’t happen in Austin. It cost come coaches their jobs, and Mack Brown (all-time Captain of the Reggie Cleveland All-Star Team) used the University’s mad cheddah to bring in some new high priced coordinators to make the ship right and tight in 2011; hopefully. This year should be better. “Texas Forever, 6”
BMOCs: RB Fozzy Whittaker seems to have the edge over Cody Johnson now, whose stock is falling like the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Both may have to hold off Malcolm Brown, the state of Texas’ #1 running back recruit. Last year’s awful offense means uncertainty at the QB position, and a battle between Connor Brown and Garrett Gilbert. C David Snow and WR Mike Davis have potential, but the real stars are on defense: LBs Emmanuel Acho, Kennan Robinson, DEs Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat
2011 will be fruitful if: Brown’s new assistants and coordinators can make it all mesh together. Both the running game and defensive line should be stellar, but only if they find more consistency in the OL and passing game.
2011 will be awful if: The quarterbacking is subpar, the O can’t find new play-makers and a green secondary gets exploited in the pass happy Big 12. Three Texas CBs were taken in the first five rounds of the NFL Draft
Bottom Line: Just two seasons out from a national title game appearance, it’s going to take awhile to get back there. But this will be a step in the right direction. 8 wins looks like a worst case scenario
UT Rankings: #24 Athlon, #28 Lindy’s, #18 Phil Steele
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
He does regular weekly radio spots in Chicago and Cleveland and has appeared on live shows all across the world from Houston to New Zealand. You can follow him on Twitter
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