SWC Game of the Week: Texas vs. OU

Before we turn to football, just a note on this newsletter. In light of the breaking news of A&M coach Dennis Franchione newsletter to top boosters that costs $1,200 a year but gets you injury news not reported to the media plus inside “analysis” of Aggie players, SWC Game of the Week would like to take this time to remind you that you receive this newsletter at no charge, absolutely free. We here at SWC Game of the Week feel it is important to promote the amateur side of college football (which is incredibly shrinking these days) and promote the good times and memories of the Southwest Conference. We ask that all donations you feel are in order be directed to the SWC wing at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, http://www.honortheswc.com/home.asp Let’s help preserve the history of the SWC for our future generations and not worry about bad mouthing our own players to the rich boosters. Now, on to the important stuff, the games, past and present.

The State Fair of Texas first Saturday of October features a football matchup that has grown to enormous stature, Texas vs. Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl. The two will again meet to determine state bragging rights and possibly the conference champion favorite. They’ve met at the State Fair since 1929 and the Cotton Bowl is split right down the middle at the 50 yard lines, half orange, half crimson. A unique rivalry and more of an event, this game symbolizes what makes college football unique. While some may consider this a “non-conference” game as far as the SWC is concerned, it is as much a fixture of Texas football as the SWC itself. So, grab a Fletcher’s corn dog, take a ride on the Ferris Wheel, and strap your helmet on a little tighter, it’s Texas / OU weekend afterall.

THIS WEEK’S GAME:

This week’s game is Texas vs. Oklahoma. The 102^nd matchup between the two schools, with Texas leading the series 57-39-5. Texas has won the last two meetings, with OU taking the 5 games before that. This year’s game lost a bit of its luster with Texas losing to Kansas State and OU losing at Colorado last weekend. The loser of this game may be eliminated from the conference race early, falling to 0-2, something Texas hasn’t done since the 1950’s. Texas fell out of the Top 10 to 19 and OU remains in the top ten at 10. Texas is led on offense by QB Colt McCoy. McCoy had a rough outing against Kansas State, throwing 4 interceptions and suffering a concussion. He is currently cleared to play. If McCoy is unable to quarterback on Saturday the Longhorns will turn to true freshman John Chiles who saw brief action last week. The receiving corps is deep at Texas with Limas Sweed, Billy Pittman, Quan Crosby, Nate Jones and Jordan Shipley. The running attack is speared by Jamal Charles who is averaging over a 100 yards per game. On defense the Longhorns rank 16^th nationally in rush defense, led by defense tackles Frank Okam and Derek Lokey. The Longhorns will have to straighten out their special teams after allowing a kick off return and a punt return last week to Kansas State. OU is led on offense by redshirt freshman signal caller, Sam Bradford, who is leading the nation in passing efficiency. The OU offense is #3 nationally in scoring, and 10^th nationally in total offense. Senior running back Allen Patrick will try to fill the shoes of Adrian Peterson and rushed 18 times for 96 yards in the loss to Colorado. Juaquin Iglesias has 793 all purpose yards so far this season, both receiving and return yards. On defense linebacker Curtis Lofton has recorded double digit tackles in three straight games with 16 tackles at Colorado last week. OU ranks 6^th in total defense and 5^th in sacks at 3.8 sacks a game. Sophomore defensive end Auston English leads the Sooners with 4 sacks and 7 tackles for a loss. This is a rivalry game though, and as they say in all rivalry games, you can throw the records out the window. This should be a good game, and a continuation of a great college football tradition.

COTTON BOWL MEMORIES:

The 1970 Cotton Bowl was a dream matchup, unbeaten, untied and number 1 ranked Texas Longhorns facing traditional power Notre Dame (8-1-1). Notre Dame was making only its second bowl appearance ever and first since the 1925 Rose Bowl and a self imposed bowl ban. Number 9 ranked Notre Dame was led by coach Ara Parseghian and quarterback Joe Theismann. Theismann totaled 279 passing and rushing yards on 38 plays and kept Notre Dame in the lead until the fourth quarter. Texas scored early in the final period on a 77 yard drive capped by a Ted Koy short run to take a 14-10 lead. The Irish came right back though, moving the ball 80 yards and Theismann throwing his second TD pass of the afternoon. There was only 6:47 when Texas went to receive the kickoff. Texas QB James Street, just as he had done in the 15-14 “Shootout” victory over Arkansas would lead the Longhorns on a long drive. The 17 play, 76 yard drive was dominated by fullback Steve Worster (155 yards rushing on 20 carries) muscling the ball upfield with Koy and Jim Bertelsen. On 4^th down from the Irish 10 yard line Street scrambled and passed low but a diving (appropriately named) Cotton Speyrer made the catch at the 2 yard line. Substitute back Billy Dale went in for the touchdown and secured the 21-17 win over the Irish for the Longhorns. Joe Theismann would call the 1970 Cotton Bowl Classic on of his most thrilling moments in football, despite the loss to Texas. For the second time in seven years, Darrell Royal’s Longhorns left the Cotton Bowl with a perfect 11-0 record and a national championship trophy.

OTHER GAMES THIS WEEK:

Chattanooga at Arkansas (Arkansas has a weird schedule this year)

Colorado at Baylor (Baylor catches CU right after their big OU win)

Houston at Alabama (Cougars shot at the big time luster lost with lost to East Carolina, sure would be nice to beat another “highest bidder” coach, Saban)

Rice at Southern Mississippi (Wed. night game for the Owls)

Oklahoma State at Texas A&M (For first place in the Big 12 South, who’d thunk that?)

TCU at Wyoming (TCU looking to pick up first road win of the season)

Iowa State at Texas Tech (Texas Tech looks to keep high flying offense going)

RESULTS FROM LAST WEEK:

SWC Game of the Week, Week 5:

Texas A&M 34 Baylor 10 (Bears don’t bring the Varsity offense to College Station)

SWC Correspondent’s Report on Last Week’s SWC Game of the Week:

The game was rather uneventful, with the teams looking to go in at the half tied 3-3 until A&M’s Mike Goodson broke some tackles and took a screen pass 58 yards for a touchdown right before the half. For the most part, Baylor hung in there forcing the Aggies to field goal attempts despite the Aggies having the ball for 3 times the amount the Baylor offense did. Baylor could never get going on offense, just one long pass, 69 yards, that set up their only touchdown. They were plagued with dropped passes, 10 total, on the day. At the end, the Aggies just wore them out and scored several touchdowns in the 4^th quarter as a result. The highlight of the day was the Baylor band dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It’s a new world out there when the Baylor Band dances.

Other Games:

Arkansas 66 North Texas 7 (Arkansas flexes its muscles against out manned North Texas)

East Carolina 37 Houston 35 (Houston missed field goals come back to haunt them)

UTEP 48 SMU 45 OT (Ponies blow 28-7 1^st half lead, seriously damage bowl hopes)

Kansas State 41 Texas 21 (Worst home lose in Mack Brown era sets Longhorns up for OU week)

TCU 24 Colorado State 12 (Rah , Rah, TCU)

Texas Tech 75 Northwestern State 7 (Ouch, Tech rolls over Northwestern State, which is where???)

STANDINGS:

	Conference:		Overall:
	W	L	W	L
Texas Tech	2	0	4	0
Texas	1	0	3	1
Texas A&M	1	0	3	1
TCU	1	1	2	2
Arkansas:	0	0	2	1
Baylor	1	2	2	2
Houston	0	0	1	2
SMU	0	1	1	3
Rice	0	1	0	3

FINAL WORD:

That’s a wrap for this week. Please feel free to forward to your friends, send me emails of those that should be included that aren’t, and submit your additions to the weekly newsletters (favorite SWC memories, player bio’s, funny old SWC stories, mascot hijinks, etc.) If you are receiving this note and you don’t want to, shame on you, but let me know, I’ll take you off the list.

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