It’s good to be back to my underestimating ways with the Longhorns. I predicted a score of Texas 35 – Baylor 14, while the final score turned out to be Texas 45 – Baylor 21. I was also incorrect in how empty I thought it would be at kickoff:
While there certainly were some sparse areas, I was impressed with the number of students there at kickoff, hangovers and all. Total attendance was 97,715, but I can’t imagine that many were ever there at one time.
I was correct, by the way, that Texas wouldn’t cover the point spread. Four touchdowns was just too much for a Baylor team that is playing some solid football.
The opening ceremonies were fairly standard, except for some reason the pulled out a pair of giant Texas flags:
The game itself was about what I expected. The Longhorns came out a bit sluggish, with Colt McCoy throwing a couple of interceptions. The Bears came out fired up, smacked us in the nose, and even had it tied 14-14 in the second quarter.
Baylor’s band made the ninety minute drive down IH-35 and marched for us at halftime.
Longhorn Band played favorites from the big band era, with what was frankly a horrible arrangement of “Take the A Train”. Their lines and curves were nice, however.
Texas came out and took care of business in the second half, to win the game going away. Colt threw for 300 yards and five touchdowns, although he did have those two picks. Fozzy Whittaker was the leader rusher with 82 yards on 15 carries. I hope we see lots more of Fozzy in our last few games.
So, where does this leave Texas with its Big 12 title and national championship hopes?
With Texas Tech’s easy victory last night, Oklahoma State falls out of the running for the Big 12 South. Sorry, Okie Lite. I was pulling for you, but you didn’t get it done.
While Tech is playing incredible ball right now, and deserve the accolades they are receiving, because they played two teams from the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) in the non-conference part of the season, they must win out to maintain that respect. They’ll be punished in the polls if they drop a game. With Baylor and Oklahoma left, they are not likely to lose more than one.
Oklahoma has Texas Tech and Oklahoma State left. Frankly, they could lose either or even both (which would knock them out of the running), but I expect they’ll win both.
Texas has Kansas and Texas A&M left. Given that the Aggies have beat us twice in a row, I’m hesitant to predict a Texas win, but we should beat both of them.
That would leave a three way tie between Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma for first place in the Big 12 South, with each having one loss. The champion of the Big 12 South would be declared by whoever has the highest ranking in the BCS.
In this scenario, that is unlikely to be Texas Tech. It would be awful close between Texas and Oklahoma, however. While I think Texas would have the better resume, Oklahoma’s loss would be further back, and they would have some quality wins under their belt as well.
In other words, it’s too early to make that prediction.
As for the national championship, if Texas makes it to the Big 12 Championship and wins, they’ll be playing in Miami. If they make it to the Big 12 Championship and lose, it still might be possible for them to make it, but I wouldn’t think it would be likely. If they don’t make it to the Big 12 Championship, I don’t see them playing for the national championship.