In three days, the Texas Longhorns football season opens, and the Garrett Gilbert era begins. While we received a taste of what he brings in the National Championship Game against Alabama, Gilbert has now been working as the starting quarterback since spring practice, and has an offense designed around his traditional, drop-back-quarterback, strengths.

But make no mistake, the Longhorn season rides on the shoulders of Gilbert’s 6′ 4″ frame.

With the departure of Sherrod Harris from the team, true…

As the social network Twitter continues its growth, more and more current Longhorn players are joining. Below is a list of the 2010 Texas Longhorns I could find on Twitter.

Let me know who I’m missing (or if any of these are fake).

One of the annual rites of each year’s upcoming Texas Longhorns football season is the release of the Preview Magazine from Inside Texas. I won’t comment on the advertisement for grape flavored vodka, but as usual, Clendon and the guys have put out a quality product.

A post I wrote about eighteen months ago on the Oklahoma Sooners is now first on Google for [cheating sooners].

Sweet. This is now one of my site’s favorite rankings.

When does NCAA football start? Not soon enough!

The Big 12 Conference is dead; it just doesn’t know it yet.

There is no question that the Big 10 Conference intends to grow. The only question is how many they add, and who they take.

On the first question, they want to add at least one team, which will give them twelve (they actually have eleven teams right now). This allows them to have a conference championship, increase their revenue, and still be part of the conversation on the…

Going into the BCS championship game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas Longhorns, if you had told me that with four minutes left in the game, we would be down by three points and have the ball, I would have said I liked our chances. If you had told me that we would get there with our true freshman quarterback, I would have told you that you were nuts.

After a very ugly first half, most of America thought the Longhorns would be blown off the field in the second half. I’ll admit that I was worried it was going to get ugly.

Instead, the Longhorns dug deep and were playing for the win late in the game. And while the final score differential as seventeen (thanks for showing your ass, Coach Saban), Texas proved their strength of heart and depth of talent on that field.

BCS National Championship Game
Texas Longhorns vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
January 7, 2010, 7pm Central
Pasadena, California
Network: ABC/ESPN Radio

I’m the first to admit that I’m biased when it comes to the Texas Longhorns. But after countless hours spent reading online articles, blogs, and forms, watching sports broadcasts, and listening to podcasts, I’m having a hard time predicting tonight’s outcome.

Part of that is because both teams have been inconsistent this year. Everyone talks about Texas’ close game with Nebraska because it was the most recent game. The Texas offense was essentially shut down in that game and against Oklahoma. And the Texas defense was totally absent for the Texas A&M game.

Don’t forget that if Tennessee had a halfway decent field goal kicker, Alabama wouldn’t be in the championship game. And that they barely slipped by a four loss Auburn team. But when Alabama struggles, people say that is just what happens in the SEC.

Alamo Bowl
Michigan State Spartans vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders
January 2, 2010, 8pm Central
San Antonio, Texas
Network: ESPN/ESPN Radio

Fourteen Michigan State players suspended. One Texas Tech head coach fired. Two programs in turmoil. The winner will be the one that can pull things together to field a cohesive team.

The challenge to Michigan State is straight forward, but significant. On the other hand, they’ve had a month to prepare replacements for those lost.

For Texas Tech, however, this is brand new, and there are lots of unknowns. Some players have indicated that things will be better without Mike Leach, and there were certainly signs earlier this season that he had lost the team. They very well could be better without the pirate on the sidelines.

Cotton Bowl
Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Ole Miss Rebels
January 2, 2010, 1pm Central
Arlington, Texas
Network: Fox

This should be one of the better games of the bowl season. Both teams are balanced and evenly matched. I only hope Fox and Time Warner let me see it. At the moment, they’ve agreed to a temporary extension, but it’s not clear how long that will last.

Insight Bowl
Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. Iowa State Cyclones
December 31, 2009, 5pm Central
Tempe, Arizona
Network: NFL Network

It seems that the departure of Gene Chizik did Iowa State some good. The Cyclones managed just five wins over the last two seasons, but went 6-6 this year. While they only went 3-5 in conference play, things are clearly headed in the right direction.