HonkEm

Bring the house on every play tomorrow.😀 Just kidding. In fact, OU's injuries are probably a reason not to bring the house every snap. If Oklahoma is down receivers and/or playing a QB behind a shaky offensive line, Texas' biggest advantage may be letting the front four create pressure while keeping seven in coverage. Going to be interesting to see Muschamp's game plan tomorrow.

Turf Toe is a sprain/injury to the big toe joint, which is common in football. Deion's toe amputations were caused by serious circulation problems from blood clots, not turf toe.

17-14 Texas

BEERS ... only because i like the name and will be gulping them down.

He made a lasting impact on college football and on the many players, coaches, and communities he touched throughout his career. My sincere condolences to his family, friends, former players, and all who had the privilege of knowing him. RIP

serving....ugh

Deion spends millions on recruiting, NIL, facilities, travel, analysts... Then the scouting report gets defeated by a guy ordering a beer in the hotel lobby.

fortunately, you can fast forward all the prize pick ads in the podcasts...takes about 5 seconds...unlike some ads where you have to wait a min or so to skip.

RIP Duke ----- A true Longhorn legend and national champion. Thanks for what you did for Texas football. Hook 'em forever. 🤘

I've had the exact opposite happen too. A game can feel completely different depending on whether you're experiencing it or studying it. I didn't make the Tennessee trip, but I've had games at DKR where I walked out feeling one way and then felt completely different after watching the replay. When you're there live, you're absorbing the atmosphere, the crowd, the emotions, and the result. The overall experience can overwhelm the individual plays. In Knoxville, you weren't just watching football. You were taking in a road trip, a huge win, a packed stadium, 100,000 Tennessee fans walking out unhappy, and the satisfaction of watching Texas win on a big stage. Then you get home, turn on the replay, and suddenly you're not experiencing the game anymore. You're reviewing it. Every missed tackle, missed opportunity, bad call, and coaching decision gets put under a microscope. I think that's why some games feel better live than on TV and some feel better on TV than live. They're really two different products. One is an event. The other is film study. Personally, if I'd been sitting in Neyland watching Texas walk out with a win, I'd rather remember those 20 extra minutes soaking it all in than spend the next week getting aggravated about every little thing the broadcast exposed. 🤘

I don't think anyone is arguing that Vic hasn't elevated the program. Texas is unquestionably more relevant now than it was before he arrived, and he deserves credit for that. Where I differ is in how much of the recent success I attribute to coaching versus talent acquisition. Recruiting absolutely counts as part of coaching, and Vic deserves credit for bringing in elite players. But once those players are on campus, I'm not convinced the on-court coaching consistently maximizes what Texas has. To me, the last few years have often felt like elite talent overcoming limitations rather than elite coaching elevating talent. That's why when people call Vic a coaching genius, I'm skeptical. I see a program loaded with All-American caliber players, multiple top recruiting classes, and rosters that should be competing for Final Fours. The results have been very good, but not necessarily beyond what the talent level would suggest. Maybe this freshman class changes my mind. If Texas takes a bigger step than expected, I'll gladly give Vic credit. But my first assumption won't be that a coach in his 60s suddenly became dramatically better. It'll be that adding another wave of elite talent raised the team's ceiling even further.

High school football and lower-division college football aren't really comparable. Those leagues have dozens or even hundreds of teams with far less separation between schedules and conferences. FBS already has the most meaningful regular season in sports. Why copy the playoff model from levels that don't have that? If the committee is ignoring strength of schedule, the fix is to improve the selection criteria, not invite another dozen teams that probably aren't national title contenders anyway.

The NCAA Tournament comparison gets made a lot, but college football isn't college basketball. The reason the regular season has always been so compelling is because every week feels like an elimination game. If 24 teams get in, a lot of the urgency disappears. A team can lose multiple games, sleepwalk through part of its schedule, and still make the playoff. That's not increasing the value of the sport, it's shifting the value from the regular season to the postseason. And let's be honest, this isn't primarily about fairness. If the goal were simply to crown the best team, 12 was already more than enough. The difference between the 12th-best team and the 24th-best team is usually pretty significant. More fan bases might stay engaged, but that's because everyone gets a participation trophy path into the bracket. What made college football unique was that not everyone did. At some point we're not improving the playoff, we're just creating more inventory for. You should know this better than anyone Gerry>>>>College basketball can survive watering down the regular season because it plays 30+ games. College football only gets 12. The scarcity is the product. A 24-team playoff turns huge regular-season games into seeding debates. That's great for TV executives, not necessarily for the sport. I stick with my ugh 😀

The freshmen may be elite. The coach? I'm not sold. If this team exceeds expectations, I suspect the primary reason will be the influx of elite young talent rather than some sudden evolution in Vic's coaching. Every year I hear about Vic's coaching genius. Every year I end up more impressed by the roster than the coaching.

LOL....Texas has 75 pressures. Rodney had about 75 punchlines in a 5-minute Carson segment. Both were living in the backfield....Rodney on Carson never got any respect, but he got plenty of laughs. Unlike opposing QBs facing this Texas DL, he at least had a chance to finish his sentences. 🙂

The BK guy

Ugh. I hate this idea. We just expanded to 12 teams and now we're already talking about 24? At some point the regular season stops mattering. One of the best things about college football has always been that every game feels huge. A single loss can change your season. Expand it to 24 and we're moving closer to the NFL model where you can lose multiple games and still comfortably make the playoff. This feels a lot more like a TV money decision than a competitive balance decision. Not every problem in college football needs to be solved by adding more playoff games.

Thanks for the detailed breakdown HookemTexas . You made some good points, especially about how much production Texas is replacing and where the likely upgrades are. I think that's a pretty fair breakdown. The biggest upgrade is obviously at 2B. Going from a good, experienced player like Goode to the reigning Player of the Year is about as clean of an upgrade as you'll find on paper. I'm a little more cautious on catcher than you are. Swan absolutely showed up in the postseason and I like her upside, but replacing Atwood behind the plate is a huge ask. The offense may end up being comparable, but Atwood controlled games defensively in ways that don't always show up in the box score. I also agree that LF should be an upgrade offensively. That's probably the easiest spot on the field to improve from last year's numbers. RF is the one position I think fans may be undervaluing. People focus on batting average and power, but Maloney's speed, ability to pressure defenses, and especially her arm saved a lot of runs. Replacing those outfield assists won't be easy. The next player may put up bigger offensive numbers, but that doesn't automatically mean the overall value is higher. As for pitching, Lincoln being a lefty definitely adds a different look and gives White more options. The question for me isn't whether the talent is there, it's whether she can be as reliable as Citlaly was when the season was on the line. By the end of the postseason, Citlaly was pitching some of her best softball of the year. Overall, I agree the roster talent is probably better top-to-bottom than last season. The bigger question isn't whether Texas has enough talent to make another WCWS run. It's whether the lineup develops more consistency 1 through 9. There were too many stretches last year where it felt like Stewart was carrying the offense. If a few hitters take a step forward, this team may have a higher ceiling than the one that just played for a national title. Again, appreciate the insight. Always enjoy reading thoughtful softball posts like this.

1) The Fair is the only place where I'll spend $27 on a corny dog, $14 on a Shiner, walk 5 miles, and somehow convince myself I came out ahead financially. 2) The best part is the 50/50 split. One side is confident, happy, and having fun --- The other side is wearing crimson 3) For me, My favorite tradition is hearing OU fans tell me how many national championships they have while actively losing to Texas. 4) The Cotton Bowl crowd noise is unmatched. Especially when an OU quarterback realizes Anthony Hill was coming through the A-gap uninvited. 😁

The roster looks a lot deeper than it did a year ago. The biggest battle may not be finding starters, but figuring out where to put all the talent. The infield is crowded, while the corner outfield spots seem like the clearest path for some of the younger players to earn at-bats. I'm still curious about Abdullah. She's obviously an elite prospect, but when I watched her with Team USA, she looked like she had some trouble picking up the ball at times and wasn't always comfortable against top-level pitching. If she's good enough to force her way into the everyday lineup immediately, then someone established may have to change positions. If not, it gives White a little more flexibility while she adjusts to the college game. Either way, there are only so many spots available. That's a good problem to have, but with this much talent on the roster, I'd be surprised if there aren't a couple of transfers after the season.

Those numbers are wild. People see scaffolding and think it's just cosmetic work. In reality they've restored 439 windows, cleaned and repaired 54,000 square feet of stone, and hand-regilded 114 letters with gold leaf. That's preserving one of the most recognizable buildings in Texas, not just giving it a facelift. Looking forward to seeing the south side scaffold-free in 2027. 🤘

That's what i thought also

you correct.... https://x.com/TexasSoftball/status/2105095536323993980/photo/1

Guess there is nowhere to watch this game unless you attend? Hopefully someone attending can give some details?

Ant may have wanted to play off-ball LB, but Muschamp's defenses have always let elite linebackers attack. He wouldn't have lined Hill up as a full-time edge, but he'd have found plenty of ways to unleash him as a blitzer and playmaker.