Halloween Weekend

I saw "paranormal activity" this weekend, and honestly, I was a little dissapointed. Everyone told me it was frightening and that I wasn't going to be able to sleep well the same night I saw it, etc. And yeah, it had its moments, but overall just a lot of door knocks, doors shutting, lights flicking on and off, and loud screaming. Not too impressed. Wouldnt waste another $10 to go see it. Lets talk about this weekends football games (college and some pro).

UT and OSU played in stillwater this weekend. In my initial post, I made the point that I thought both teams came into this season overrated. Still stick by that. Also I made the point that I wouldnt be surprised if OSU upset Texas, which of course, didnt happen (on a side note, i always think its funny that we try to "pick" an upset. doesnt that defeat the purpose of an upset? upsets contain the element of surprise as much as any other element within it. anyways...) Texas' defense completely owned any portion of osu's offense that ran beyond 5 yards of the LOS. I thought Zac Robinson made a lot of stupid throws, 4 of which were INT's, and only one of those that I can say were forced by heavy pressure up front. Texas' offense was....well, pathetic, to put it nicely. 275 total offensive yards. The longhorns are 39th in total offense in the country. The Cowboys are 45th in total defense. Now consider the competition each one of these teams has faced, and when all things considered, that's pretty awful. Texas' offense also only scored 27 of the 41 totals points they scored as a team in that game. Which hey, special teams and takeaways are part of the game as well, but believe me, once they get to bowl season, they're gonna face someone a little less generous at QB than zac robinson.

Now, that all being said, I think there is also something to be said for the officiating. Listen, I'm not one to blame the refs whenever a team loses or wins, and I'm CERTAINLY not one to claim that luck always follows the successful. However, there is an exception. I've watched Texas play a lot this year, and notoriously, Austin is a place where opponents find it hard to win because of the circumstances with the "usual" crew that calls the games. Apparently, that has spread beyond Austin. There were a lot of calls, particularly two in the first half, that I have a serious problem with. One was the unneccesary roughness call on OSU for laying a hit on a "defenseless" receiver after McCoy and his super precision threw the ball out of reach. The DB didn't launch himself, he didn't have helmet-to-helmet contact, so why was it called? I'm not much one for roughness calls in a football game anyway, unless its so blatant that it merits the call. Its football, it's supposed to be unneccesarily rough. Secondly was the fumble by James Kirkendoll deep in Texas territory that was so obviously recovered by OSU. The officials missed it and marked the ball as caught for a 4-yard gain. The replay officials missed it. OSU head coach Mike Gundy called a time out to discuss with the officials about the missed call, and then they conveniently relayed to him that the call wasn't reveiwable. Hmm. Texas then proceeded to march unimpeded down the field and score a touchdown with just seconds left to go in the first half, putting the longhorns up 24-7 at half. If that call had been made correctly, you would have instead seen a 17-10, maybe even 17-14 score at half. As we saw in the fiesta bowl against ohio state, Texas is not nearly as potent without big 12 officials. You cant miss calls like that. Thats why you have the job. Unfortunate.

How about k-state and ou? Holy crap, i dont know who the hell oklahoma thinks they are resting on a 28-9 halftime lead. OU is immunized in norman, but after watching that game saturday, they need to make sure they keep playing instead of sitting on a giant lead. In the first quarter, OU looked like they were gonna score 1000 points and walk away with an un-Godly victory. Instead, the Wildcats made the most of the situation, and made the 11th ranked defense in the country look like the 111th. brandon banks smashed and slashed the sooner special teams, including a 98 yard td kickoff return. Ou is showing something resembling a run game now, and Landry Jones is proving that he is the next offensive subject for the sooners (not to mention Ryan Broyles. he makes things a little easier for the frosh qb). The pass pro for OU is spectacular. The run blocking....ehhhh, not so much. But i think the big surprise of this game was Kansas State. They are up and running a lot quicker than I originally thought they were going to be with Bill Snyder. Surprisingly, they sit atop the B12 north, and will more than likely finish 8-4 and head to the big 12 championship game against (more-than-likely) texas. Im kinda scared, not gonna lie, the wildcats are improving drastically each week since that texas tech loss (66-14). They're gonna get someone big before this season is up.

Texas Tech and Kansas. The Jayhawks are outta gas. They look lethargic, they look confused, they look apathetic. Todd Reesing looks like he'd rather sit on the sideline than play. Their defense is spotty. And Mark Mangino looks hungrier and hungrier each time I see him. Yeah, that was kinda mean. Texas Tech plays defense, and really well now, too. The red raiders will probably be a lot happier when Steven Sheffield returns from his foot injury, but I must say, the next few games, I would give the ball to RB Baron Batch. Hes tough, hes fast, hes smart, and he doesnt get nearly enough touches. Also, dynamic AP athlete Harrison jeffers should see the ball more too. This game probably more than likely punched Kansas out of the Big 12 title game, barring a meltdown at the top and a late season surge by the Jayhawks.

The rest of the big 12 games......ehh, didnt really matter, so, who cares.

THE DALLAS COWBOYS! I live in the area, so yes I am a cowboy fan. I dont like the franchise, but i like the team, if you get my drift. They improved their record today to 5-2 with a nice 21-point victory over the mysteriously inept Seattle Seahawks. Romo has not thrown an interception for his 3rd week in a row. He has twelve touchdowns on the year. Miles Austin had 5 catches for 61 yards and a TD. He continues to emerge as the star target for the Cowboys. Roy Williams continues to be.....confused. The inability for Romo and Williams to ever connect on a pass or be on the same page perplexes me. The defense continues to improve, and Barbie Carpenter got his first sack, i think ever, in his career. They play Philly in Philly next sunday. The eagles just got done mopping up the giants in a 40-17 wipeout. I'll talk more about this match up in my next post. I'm getting tired.

This blogging stuff is still strange to me. Writing and talking are different. Talking is easy. You say whats on your mind, and usually, you dont have to explain a lot. Response time is also key. Writing, on the other hand, requires you to back up your claims. Thats a little harder to do. Also, response time is a non-factor (unless of course, its like 6 months later. that would be a factor). Not quite comfortable with it yet, but we'll see.