SWC Game of the Week: Texas at OU

It’s the second weekend in October, meaning the State Fair of Texas is under way and it’s time for the annual football match between the University of Texas and Oklahoma University. The Cotton Bowl is the host stadium, half way between the two campuses and this year the old stadium has undergone some upgrades. There are now second deck seats around both end zones, increasing capacity to over 90,000. But don’t worry, Fletcher’s is still selling corn dogs, the big Ferris Wheel is still spinning, and traffic will still be unbearable. SWC Game of the Week has an on the ground correspondent in Dallas, TX for the big weekend, the Red River Shootout, err. Red River Showdown, Texas / OU, #1 vs. #5.

THIS WEEK’S GAME:
Texas enters the annual match-up with #1 OU ranked #5 in the nation and undefeated. This is the 103rd time the two rivals will meet with Texas leading the all time series 57-40-5 and leads 16-13-1 in the last 30 years. This is the 30th time the two will meet with both teams undefeated, and the 4th time since 2001. The two teams have met in Dallas since 1912 and at the Cotton Bowl since 1929. Texas is ranked in the top 6 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. The Horns are led on offense by Colt McCoy, who ran his all time record to 25-6 with the victory over Colorado last weekend. McCoy is 103-130 (79%), 1,280 yards and 16 touchdowns. That’s 17 incomplete passes and 16 touchdowns. He also leads the team in rushing with 317 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Longhorns will need to get some other backs involved these next two weeks against OU and Missouri and Chris Ogbonnaya had a nice day against Colorado rushing 9 times for 71 yards, and catching 6 balls for 116 yards. On defense the Longhorns have shown more aggression this season under coordinator Will Muschamp. Sergio Kindle, playing defensive end this year after making the switch from linebacker, has 21 tackles and 2.5 sacks. The game plan for the Longhorns will certainly be to get some pressure on the quarterback.

The Sooners have been just as impressive, if not more so, on offense. The Sooners are #1 in the nation in red zone offense, scoring 23 touchdowns and 1 field goal in 24 trips inside their opponents 20 yard line. OU ranks #4 in the nation with 49.6 points per game. The 19 touchdown passes this season have been caught by 6 different receivers. QB Sam Bradford has set career highs in passing yards in three straight games before settling for 372 yards against Baylor. On defense LB Keenan Clayton is #3 on the team with 40 tackles and leads the Sooners in tackles for a loss with 6 and fumbles forced with 2. At weakside linebacker Travis Lewis is second on the team with 41 tackles and in the game against Cincinnati he had 4.5 tackles for a loss including 3 sacks and 12 tackles. OU is 70-7 in games played with a #1 ranking, but you can bet the Longhorns will be out to win the Golden Cowboy Hat.

SWC MEMORIES PLAYER PROFILE:
Bobby Lane, coming out of Highland Park High School, classmates with the great Doak Walker, played quarterback for the Texas Longhorns from 1944 to 1947. Texas has retired his number 22 jersey this year to honor this great football player. Lane was on the varsity squad as a freshman as Texas flirted with the SWC title. The next year was interrupted by service in the Merchant Marines, but he came back to lead Texas to the SWC crown. In the Cotton Bowl he completed 11 of 12 passes and factored in all six of the Longhorn touchdowns in route to a 40-27 victory over Missouri. His junior year Lane led the league in passing and Texas finished 8-2. UT Dana X Bible switched offenses for his senior year, from the single wing to the T formation and Lane simply led the ‘Horns to a 10-1 record and a 27-0 victory over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Bobby was a four time All SWC player and he was a college All American. He also played baseball at Texas and threw two no-hitters during his career. He continued his football career in the NFL with Detroit and Pittsburgh. Upon being traded by Detroit, which he had led to 3 NFL Championships, Bobby said that Detroit would not win another championship again in 50 years. Thus the “Curse of Bobby Lane, “ as the Lions have not won a championship since. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame as well as the National Football Hall of Fame. He passed away on December 1, 1986 in Lubbock, TX.

OTHER GAMES THIS WEEK:
Arkansas at Auburn (Auburn should lay the wood on the hogs, BTW Arkansas is no Vanderbilt)
Iowa State at Baylor (Baylor should get this one at home, push to be bowl eligible)
UAB at Houston – Thursday (Houston playing on a Thursday night, looks to continue push in CUSA)
Tulsa at SMU (SMU has to play another high powered offense, but everyone in Dallas will be focused on Texas vs. OU, so they will be flying under the radar)
Kansas State at Texas A&M (Aggies have a good chance in this one, but they are still a really bad team. McGee may be back under center.)
TCU at Colorado State (TCU, what to say, why did they join the MWC where no one in Texas cares about any of these teams?)
Nebraska at Texas Tech (Tech looks to hang another 50+ on the “Black Shirts.”)

RESULTS FROM LAST WEEK:
SWC Game of the Week:
Tulsa 63 Rice 28 (Rice blown out by CUSA front runner, must wait another year to beat that … “bag”)

Other Games:
Florida 38 Arkansas 7 (Arkansas suffering through a long first season for Petrino, hope he sticks around…)
OU 49 Baylor 17 (Well, take away those 4 touchdowns at the beginning of the game, and Baylor played right there with them)
UCF 31 SMU 17 (SMU starts good, finishes bad, still waiting for a break through game.)
Texas 38 Colorado 14 (Texas takes care of business, nothing more to say.)
OK State 56 Texas A&M 28 (A&M turns ball over too much, lacks talent, but how about that Goodson kid?)
TCU 41 San Diego State 17 (TCU continues winning after OU hick-up)
Texas Tech 58 Kansas State 28 (Tech rolls, any questions?)

STANDINGS:
Conference: Overall:
W L W L
Texas 2 0 5 0
TCU 1 0 5 1
Texas Tech 0 0 5 0
Rice 1 1 3 3
Arkansas: 0 1 2 3
Baylor 0 0 2 3
Houston 0 0 2 3
Texas A&M 0 0 2 3
SMU 0 2 1 5


ON THE BLOG:
Before the OU game, Texas has a Torchlight Parade. Read about it on the Blog.

FINAL WORD:
If you eat all fried food for one whole day, you will not feel well that evening. This is important if you are planning a trip to the State Fair of Texas. While Texas vs. OU will dominate the news this week, as well they should, some of our other teams play some good games as well. Tech is positioning themselves for a big showdown with Texas later in the season but must take care of Nebraska, TCU will continue it’s push to the conference crown, and Baylor will try to get a conference win and hopefully become bowl eligible. Enjoy the games, and the showdown in Big D.