Bowfin

I don't think players automatically get better as time goes on. Case in point, has Tiger Woods a better golfer now than he was three years ago? Tackling will improve when improvements are made, not because time passes.

"...bat sh!t crazy girlfriend" is the best analogy I have heard to describing Texas. Now that I think of it, Texas U doesn't really have fans, they have people in the stands that stalk the team. They can be obsessively cloying and clingy when they win, and they go psycho, "I am going to cut myself", "I hope the Longhorns die in a fire", "f**k my life" crazy when they lose. According to Brent Musberger, the longtime voice of the Texas Longhorns, even Bevo turns his back on the Longhorns when they lose big to someone like Oklahoma.[ /cheap shot ] We need to send Shaggybevo one of those despair.com t-shirts that says, "The only common denominator in all of your failed relationships is you."

I do see a problem with our defense that a quarterback who slips through the four man rush is virtually guaranteed a first down, whether he carries the "mobile" moniker or not. An opposing coach could feed off of that all day long. I don't know the answer, except to have someone spy or fill that area behind the pass rush. "Mobile" quarterbacks are more dangerous than pocket passers just because they add another dimension to hurt you. EVERY team has more problems with a quarterback who can roll out of the pocket, scramble, or just tuck the ball and run. Heck, we even have one of those ourselves, and he has been known to hurt teams.

I have been banned from Shaggybevo for life. I called the Longhorn network the "Texas Unicorn network", since everybody talks about it and nobody has actually seen it. That, and I said the Longhorns and Aggies were a pair of Siamese twins joined at the head, and neither would survive the operation to separate them...oh, and I said I rooted for the Mexicans when I watch the movie "Remember the Alamo"...and some other stuff too, I guess. A thin skinned bunch for all of their swaggering and sneering, once you get down in the trenches with them. Texas is defined by who they hate. The closer one is to Texas, the more they hate them. They hate us because we used to be in the same conference. They hate Oklahoma worse because they still are in the same conferrence. They hate Texas A&M worse yet because they are the two teams most like each other psychologically, and the number one team they hate the most is....(drum roll)...TEXAS!! They hate Will Muschamp for daring to leave, they hate Mack Brown for not leaving to give the team to Will Muschamp, they hate their old offensive coordinator, their new offensive coordinator, they hate their defensive back Blake Gideon, their old quarterback Gilbert, both of his replacements in McCoy and Ash, and any team or teams contemplating either leaving or joining the Big 12. They hate the Pac 12, Big 10, and especially the SEC, the NCAA, and the Texas State Legislature. The shorthorns don't like anybody or anything, they are defined by who they hate and the reasons they give.

Fumbles are inevitable and happen also, that doesn't mean it's okay to carry a ball one handed like a loaf of bread, because sooner or later the ball will be fumbled regardless of good technique or lack thereof. It happens more to quarterbacks who release the ball lower than those that release the ball higher.

I think a lot of college coaches skip the fundamentals because they are more interested in "gee whiz" schemes and doctoral thesis type strategies. The only flaw in this is the bottom line is none of this works if your X can't tackle their O. Same with blocking. Vince Lombardi would start every season of training camp with the basics, and I means BASICS. How basic? Vince held out a football, and said, "This...is a football..." Then the coaches would go through how to carry it, how to snap it, how to take the snap, and build on the basics. Same with tackling. Same with blocking. Same with running with the ball. Now, if we have a player who doesn't wrap up, or carries a ball like a loaf of bread, or throws a pass underhanded, "That's just how he does that."

I guess I'm taking the quote at face value, while you are replacing "headline news" for "big deal". I wasn't aware I had to substitute phrases and turns of the word in order NOT to grossly interpet his quote... ...silly me! I also wonder, as a parent myself, when Lauren's driving troubles would have become enough of an issue for him to take time out and address it as her father, absent of it being "headline news/big deal".

In the Callahan era, when Oklahoma State was up 35-0 by halftime. I felt sorry for the Maximus bar in Columbus, as they lost at least a couple thousand dollars in business when everybody left halfway through the game. People didn't even get settled in and get their appetizers before the game was over, for all practical purposes. We needed to get one of those corkscrew dog anchors and a short chain to keep Corey McKeon from leaving his gap when playing the run.

So you're saying Martinez hit Caputo in the back of the helmet with his pass to retaliate against him for all of his shortcomings, real or imagined? Excellent commentary! As long as you are on a roll, tell us who should be playing center, and also why you think Cotton isn't playing that particular person.

As Fonzi on Happy Days said to his nephew: "You didn't make a mistake! 2+2=3 is a mistake! What you did is wrong!" Not judging the person, judging the actions, and they were wrong. No one is perfect and we can support the person without overlooking on the misdeed. I am a little bent out of shape when Daddy said if she was a sorority girl, it wouldn't be a big deal. People being hurt is a BIG DEAL anytime and anyplace. Broken legs don't always mend 100%, and even if they do that's a chunk of time out of somebody's life when they can't do what they want to do or need to do. I'm thinking it would be a big deal to Daddy Cook if two of his players were on that motorcycle, or two of his family members.

This win was huge for Northwestern. If we had to lose, then I don't mind it so much losing to a team that fought through some bad times and played a helluva game. Northwestern won, we didn't hand it to them. That last touchdown drive of theirs was fueled purely on determination, and they had more horsepower under the hood.

Running back is one position where we are flush with talented backup players. I believe one of our problems was we used our fullback too much in the early going. Secret NCAA rules say a team can use a fullback for only 100 plays per season, and he can actually rush the ball just 10 times in one season. We are bumping up against that now, which is why we couldn't put a fullback on the field for an ailing I back to run behind. I just hope we have enough fullback time left to get Legate on the field in case we get to a bowl game or the championship...

...but not impossible... It was hard for me to run a mouse lefthanded when I got carpal tunnel (I'm an IT guy), but I decided I need to do so to avoid surgery. I did. It's also hard to learn how to drive a stick shift, lose weight, put the toilet seat down when you get married, quit smoking, learn to take your hat off in the house, and <YOUR EXAMPLE HERE>. The difference between adequate and excellent is if and when you are satisfied in not improving the status quo. I guess Martinez and the coaching staff are at that point with his throwing motion.

We have a pasted together offensive line right now. Worse yet, we robbed Baker Steinkuhler from that lot and made him a Blackshirt. One can turn the wheel all the way open, but it still takes time for the pipeline to fill back up. We used to have 5th year Seniors starting, playing in the same offense all of those five years. People wouldn't have to swap positions or play hurt to cover the holes. That's not the case now. We are just trying to put together a rotation with a strategy to keep them fresh and crossing our fingers that everybody can stay healthy. To an extent, the same could be said about the defensive line, except their coaching staff has has a bit more stability since Pelini has showed up. All of the Callahan/Solich fallout hasn't been replaced yet, and what it will be replaced with is an unknown.

Taylor usually has at least one pass batted or hit a lineman every game because of his quirky throwing motion. Exhibit A today would be Martinez bouncing one off of Caputo's helmet. Caputo isn't exactly tall for a lineman, and a normal throwing motion would let Taylor release the ball a foot higher, at least. I am baffled as to why Martinez" throwing motion can't be fixed by a coaching staff collecting millions of dollars in payroll, or better yet, by Taylor himself. If all of our defensive line got dow in their stance with their legs crossed, would everybody say, "Well, that's just how they always have done it, too late to change now."

The key word in the above is "GAME". Here we have a grown man crying over a made up game played with an funny shaped ball, because he lost. That is horribly venal and shallow. Compare that to another 20 year old (from Columbus) I know who was upset last week because he spent five days climbing rocks and wading rivers in Afghanistan looking for the bodies of two fellow paratroopers who drowned trying to pull air dropped supplies out of the river. He had to give up when he got frostbitten hands because he had wore his gloves into soggy tatters. One young man prays to find a body to send home to a grieving family, one prays for a 46 yard field goal to win a meaningless game. Interesting contrast of two parallel realities, don't you think?