On Graham Harrell

I'm feeling a bit testy about members of the national media making comments like these or speculating that Graham Harrell should be the Heisman race leader because of his circumstantially "better" stats (ESPN PTI), so I gathered some inspiration from maybe my favorite blogger and decided to write something contrarian.

Said Gary Danielson on Colt versus Matt Stafford as a pro:

"I'll take Stafford. He's a 235 pound player; more of a pro....If Stafford played in one of those junk offenses, he'd be putting up numbers just like McCoy. I think he's more the pro body type, he's more Matt Ryan. I think he's just a brilliant football player, I really do. He's gonna be an NFL franchise quarterback."

F. That.

Colt vs. Graham Harrell for the Heisman
Graham Harrell will not win the Heisman, and it has nothing to do with his playing ability. Definitely don't misunderstand this and think that I am trying to convince myself that Harrell isn't a phenomenal player. It's because he doesn't act like a phenomenal player. Watching Graham against Kansas and A&M this season, and every time he's played against the Horns, it has become really clear to me that he is that kid that played on your little league basketball team who would throw tantrums and kick the ball across the gym because your team was down. When he scores, he taunts the opposing student section, when he gets sacked, he calls for a late hit, if he throws an interception he actually has the audacity to run to the ref and try to win a favorable call. It's football! Get up and go to the line, quit being a diva. I may be viewing this through burnt oranges sunglasses, but you just can't get behind a football player like that. Colt was hit really hard against Mizzou after he got off the pass and didn't get a flag, but he jumped up before the defenders that hit him did, adjusted his helmet, and ran back to the line of scrimmage while trying to get the crowd to make some noise. Differences like that are tough to ignore for your average Heisman voter.

Some stats: (Team: Sacks Comp-Att)

Colt
#6 OSU: 1 38-45
#11 MU: 1 29-32
#1 OU: 3 28-35
CU: 3 23-30
Rice: 2 19-23
UTEP: 2 20-29
Total: 12 157-194 or 80.9% completion

Graham Harrell
SMU 1 37-55
#19 KU 2 38-48
Total: 3 75-103 72.8%

Colt has taken more hits from stronger opponents and completed more passes in those games. That's all I need to know. With the amount of time Tech's o-line has given Harrell to operate this season, he should be blowing Colt out of the water. Also, did I mention Harrell plays on the same team as Michael Crabtree, the Adrian Peterson of receiving?

T5B5: We won?

It's pretty rare that you lose a game, but end up with the most amount of points. That's exactly how I felt leaving the stadium after the game. I completely understand what our Oklahoman brethren must have felt like at the end of the third quarter earlier this season against us. I can't even count the amount of times I said to myself "please, please, please just stay ahead for [insert any number under 45 here] more minutes." But still, even if it wasn't the definitive drubbing the Horns have laid on every school not from Oklahoma this year, the team still played well enough to end up ahead, and that is saying a lot considering the monster that this OSU team is turning out to be. I really don't see them losing more than one other game this season. To the lists!

Top Five

1. Oklahoma State's game plan: Mike Gundy and friends did an outstanding job studying and exploiting our weaknesses. When Mack Brown tried to temper the generally high expectations before the season began, he was expecting every game to look like this one and worse starting with Colorado. Yes we are good, but if you have the manlumps to continuously run it between our two best defensive players, you are going to find that right behind them is a soft spot in the linebacking corps that can be taken advantage of. Oklahoma State is, and has seemingly always been, the tepid tequila and milk to our blazing hangover induced nausea.

2. Curtis Brown: It's interesting looking back now at how terrified I was of all the big bad spread offenses the Big 12 totes at the beginning of the season, and how at this point I am more concerned about who will be able to slow us down on defense the most. We are currently fielding the best secondary in the country, they just don't have the stats to prove it yet. Curtis (second string sophomore) finalized that for me on Saturday by holding Dez Bryant to 74 yards.

3. The Defense: The way OSU played this game, it is a true accomplishment to keep them to only 24 points. Muschamp gambled and chose to limit their deep passing game, and it worked. It's good to know that our defense can win games too. Every time Earl/Ryan/anyone drops an interception, God creates a Sooner.

4. Cirque de Shipleil: Win or lose, there isn't a team remaining on our schedule that can stop Colt from throwing to Jordan Shipley. It's like cheating.

5. Tricksy Greg Davis: Regardless of what side of the perennial debate you sit on regarding trick plays, you have to agree that they are a lot of fun to watch. I appreciate the fact that the trick plays Greg Davis has installed in our offense are small deceptions designed to give those involved an extra step, rather than the silliness expected from, say, a Les Miles offense. The reverse to Shipley resulted in the longest run of the day, the fake screen to Shipley converted one of our most important third downs, the option reverse pass would have been cooler if Quan had been a little sneakier about his intentions to pass, and Colt's fake drop play action really got the defense over-excited.

Bottom Five
1. Iowa State: How dare you drop one to the Aggies? Read the emails I keep sending you, A&M is supposed to be the worst this year. The Big 12 North never plays along, how lame. The Aggies should be on this list too for giving up 35 points to the team that lost to the Aggies... circular logic fail? Whatever.
2. Clock management: What the heck happened at the end of the second quarter? Why did we wait until there were three seconds left on the clock to call a timeout and attempt to score from 70 yards out? In the time we ran off the clock we could have had two 15-20 yard plays that would have set us up for a field goal. Bizarre.
3. LSU: The wheels are falling off for the Bayou Tigers. It seems like the football Gods are having a fantastic time making every team that my coworkers root for irrelevant. At this point their only pleasure is watching Texas struggle.
4. Graham Harrell: Yes, he played a fantastic game, but from watching that game it became abundantly clear to me why Colt could lose to Tech and still win the Heisman. Harrell’s character is piss poor. Every time something doesn’t go right for the guy, he jumps up and runs straight at the nearest official with his arms raised in the air. When Colt takes a beating, even if it is a late hit, he jumps up with his arms in the air too, but he’s trying to get the crowd excited, not whine to the referees. Harrell’s a really gifted player, but guy would benefit from a few chores around the house.
5. Colorado: 58-0? Really? You couldn’t get into field goal range once? We kind of struggled against you, and then this happens? Maybe in a few years they will be decent and most importantly healthy again, but this season is not looking good for the Buffs at all. Not even a little bit.

Two on the Vine, so Divine

Viewing requirements: replace "Washington" with "Colt McCoy."

PASSING:

           g cmp-att-int yards td long pct avg/p avg/g effic
2008 7 160-197-3 1894 19 65 81.2 9.6 270.6 190.8

            g att yards td long avg/c avg/g
2008  7 70 371 6 35 5.3 53.0

Sick. 

Colt and Will

The talk of the tubes today has been about the futures of Colt McCoy and Will Muschamp, the first saying he will stay and the latter being rumored to possibly be done at UT at the end of the season. It's unpleasant to think or talk about, but what if both decide to move on to arguably greener pastures? 

Colt:

For the immediate future of the program, this one will hurt the most. It's no breaking news that Colt is playing at a level unseen in the history of college football, but an argument can also be made about his readiness for the big leagues. The last thing any of us want is our own Troy Smith. We as Longhorn fans may be very willing to quickly forget about his 18 interceptions and 22 touchdowns in 2007 (he already has 19 TD's this season), but the organizations looking to offer up millions of dollars will most certainly be more critical. Typically, the most oft cited physical qualities that make for a great NFL quarterback are the strength of his arm and his size. After a summer well spent in the weight room Colt is 6'3/~220 lbs, and is therefore ideally sized to play quarterback professionally. Although he has dispelled most or all of the speculation that his arm isn't strong enough to be far better than good in college, his arm strength is still about a 9 when he needs to be at 10 to be a first day pick in the draft. Leave at the end of this season, and he'll most likely go in the second or third round, stay another year and he'll have more money than Jay Z.

Muschamp:

The loss of our favorite defensive coordinator to the glamour of head coaching may not be felt immediately, but he is a commodity we will sorely miss when we are once again forced to rely on our smart play calling rather than raw talent. Fortunately for us, we have enough young nasty talent that we will be decent for a season or two without Will, but it won't last forever if we don't replace (is there a better DC anywhere?) him with similar coaching prowess. The list of suitors is long and distinguished, including Washington State, Clemson, and Tennessee. The absolute slap-in-the-dick worst case scenario would be if he was snagged by someone we have to play against on a regular basis, specifically Texas A&M. As much as I loathe to say it, compared to Texas they have similar pay grades, facilities, recruiting grounds, and fan base. Plus, I don't think anyone can argue with the fact that the Aggies are in desperate need of a shot of energy, mainlined straight into their program's figurative eyeball, and Sherman just isn't it. As much as I'd hate to see him go, I would hate nothing more than seeing him fall into the crucible of  irrelevancy that is Texas A&M. If you really really need to go Will, please for the love of everything good go to the SEC AFTER THE SEASON IS OVER. And if he goes it will be to the SEC, because if it isn't Kansas State or Texas A&M, it surely won't be some non-super conference. 

The Good News:

Colt has gone on record to say "I'm going to play here for four years," and my feeling is if he says it, he means it. It's the "I'm going to sit down with my family and talk about it" speak that you need to watch out for.

With Muschamp, the only good news I can really think of is that he's said before that he's planning on staying a while because his wife is "tired of moving." Hopefully she's tired enough to forgo $1 million+ a year.

Oklahoma State Week Facts of Dubious Veracity

The dark side of the force may feed off of anger and hate, but no Jedi ever faced an adversary as tough as Texas's 2008 schedule. Pull up a chair, grab a plate, and eat up some hate until it hurts.

1. Oklahoma State's premier receiver, Dez Bryant, tailors his jeans.

2. Running back Kendall Hunter is not a big fan of women's volleyball. 

3. Zac Robinson, OSU's quarterback, watches Madden Nation on ESPN.

4. Running back Kendall Hunter didn't hold the elevator for you this morning.

5. Then you ate his sandwich out of the break room fridge, and it tasted like the Great Depression. Learn to make a sandwich, dick.

6. Mike Gundy can show you the secrets to making up to $4,000 a week working from home, and he advertises it to you 6 freaking minutes at a time during commercial breaks.

7. Kendall Hunter ran into your car in the parking lot while you were gone, left a note, but then Zac Robinson came by and took the note off your car and threw it away.  Hate that guy.

8. Dez Bryant likes going to the mall. On Saturday.

9. Mike Gundy's playbook was directly copied from PerezHilton.com.

10. Supplement a tired case of this with a healthy dose of this. 

Butts and Cheese

Mack may or may not be losing his mind in his old age, but in that saying swear words to children sort of way that make your grandparents so endearing. To keep the Horns focused on the task ahead Mack has littered the locker room with cheese and nudez of dudez. Or something like that.

Ref Cleared of Totally Awesome Tackle

Steve Spurrier has cleared the linebacker ref, Wilbur Hackett Jr., who appeared to have tackled the Gamecock's QB, Stephen Garcia. The best part is, Hackett was a linebacker for Kentucky from 1967-1970.

I think Spurrier made the right call, I mean it's his own fault for not getting a blocker on that ref. My next question is what is Greg Davis doing to ensure that we don't let unblocked refs wreck shop.