Sunday, September 13, 2009

Turning Back the Hands of Time

For the few who read this, sorry about the delay, but baseball season in Houston is borrring. In fact even though I love the game I am just not into it at this point in time. But football season is here and there have been some great games early on in the college scene.
The Houston Cougars had a landmark win yesterday over the Oklahoma State Cowboys. They went on the road to Stillwater and beat the Cowboys 45-35. What is even more remarkable is the journey to the win.
Houston had their athletic program gutted in the mid 90's. The powers that be did not include them in the Big 12 when Conferences realigned for the money grab that was up for Super BCS Conferences. Ann Richards, the Governor of Texas was a Baylor grad and would not sign off on Texas and Texas A and M joining the Big 12 unless they included Baylor. Thus Houston, who was a multiple Final 4 contestant in basketball and a power in football, got left in the cold. Shortly thereafter, Houston alumni could look forward to seeing Army and various teams that they would not walk across the street to view, play the Cougars in Houston. Bad coaching followed and some games had about 1,000 spectators in the stands...no matter what the ticket sales said...I had friends that played there and saw the pictures, it was dismal.
Add the fact that T. Boone Pickens has sunk billions into the athletic department at OSU and that makes yesterdays game even more of a David vs. Goliath victory.
When I first came to Houston, they had a big number of the better Houston athletes and routinely beat Texas and other teams that are now in the Big 12. It was fairly hilarious, because in most states the fans of the University of (name any state) feel they are entitled and a cut above the other state university's. In Texas every midget that got cut from high school truly thinks they scored the winning points whenever Texas plays and it gets old....even though I like and respect Texas and Coach Mac Brown.
Houston needs and deserves to be in the Big 12. It would give them one major league city in a league full of mostly small college towns. It will probably never happen, because most of the power teams in Texas and Oklahoma would lose a ton of their recruits being pulled out of Houston.
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Did anyone notice the QB for Michigan, Forcier yesterday? I may be daydreaming but he really reminded me of a young version of Joe Montana. A true freshman playing with poise in front of a huge crowd. Also, USC was led by a young freshman who was really outstanding on the road. These kids are incredible for freshmen.
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Oklahoma got pounded the first week by BYU at Cowboy Stadium. Knocking out Sam Bradford was key to their victory, but give them credit, they played really well. Oklahoma will still give Texas all it can handle when he comes back. I bet Bradford has some second thoughts about not going pro with this kind of injury. Speaking of Texas, they need a running game to justify their high ranking. At this point I would say both USC and Ohio State could beat them as well as Florida and Alabama. And what is with the weak schedule. That is pathetic. One thing is for sure.....all these teams will keep improving barring injury.
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One has to feel a little for Florida State and Miami. These are 2 teams that have to go into the fire the first game of the season. It was a nail biter with the Hurricanes coming on top. FSU is not ducking anyone this year as they play BYU in Provo soon...a very difficult stadium to win in and with the altitude...well you get the picture. Hats off to FSU. I wish Texas would try this approach...it was great when they played Ohio State early a few years back. Playing against teams like that early on only make you better.
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Some stat geek did a simulated game for all division one teams and gave them all ten thousand games round robin style. These games were played against all D-1 teams. Florida only lost 5 times. That is scary, because with technology these things can be fairly real. The Gators are loaded and they are getting the players Miami and FSU routinely captured. However, don't forget Alabama had good chances against the Gators and IF Oklahoma would have went for the field goal, they would not have only had a nice lead, but they would not have had to change their gameplan in the BCS Championship. I am impressed by Alabama's D line and their speed overall on defense, not to mention their size. Still, they may fall short at QB, we will see.
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Lastly, I would be remiss not to mention the very good non BCS teams like Utah, Boise State, and TCU. There are some really decent teams under the radar. Heck, Toledo smoked Colorado, a team that once upon a time was National Champs. These teams really do deserve a shot. It is the one cause government may be able to actually do something about.