Can the Texas Longhorns rebound after dropping two in a row in Big 12 play?
Tom Herman’s young Longhorn team has cooled like the Texas weather in recent weeks after defeating 3 top ranked teams in a 6 win streak after falling to Maryland in week 1.
The Longhorns slowly climbed the top 10 ranks eventually getting to #6 in the nation before loosing to Oklahoma State 3 weeks ago then falling yet again to Big 12 Power West Virginia.
Going into the Tech game this weekend Texas fans are bewildered as to what Herman team will show up. Has Todd Orlando’s defense given away the secret sauce to the rest of the Big 12? He is certainly going to have to make adjustments moving into this late in the season in conference play.
Red Raiders Alan Bowman’s partially collapsed lung will apparently keep him from starting against the Longhorns so Tech QB Jett Duffey will start QB against Texas.
Duffy who is listed at 6’1 and 200 pounds, is a smaller back, but ran a 4.60 40-yard dash in high school.While Duffed isn’t Kyler Murray, he does have elite agility and could give the Texas Defense extra running and spying duties Saturday.
Red Raiders host Texas tomorrow night on FOX. Get your umbrella out horns fans, the Tortillas will be thrown at you most likely in Lubbock this weekend.
It has been very tight in terms of lap times at the first day of track action for
the FORMULA 1 GRANDE PREMIO HEINEKEN DO BRASIL 2018. In free
practice, the fastest four drivers all lapped within 165 thousandths of a
second of one another. Valtteri Bottas was fastest overall with a lap in
1.08.846 in the second session for Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
going down to Max Verstappen, the slowest of the quartet, with a 1.09.011
for Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. In between, the now five times world
champion, Lewis Hamilton, was second fastest, just three thousandths
slower than his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport team-mate, with his
worthy rival Sebastian Vettel (Scuderia Ferrari) third in FP2 with a best lap of
1.08.919.
The gaps are always small here, as Interlagos is such a short and quick track,
which has usually produced spectacular racing with plenty of overtaking.
As was the case a fortnight ago at Mexico City’s Hermanos Rodriguez circuit,
here at another track named after a famous driver from the past, namely
Carlos Pace, Red Bull proved capable of mixing it with the two teams still
fighting it out for the Constructors’ title. Unfortunately, reliability problems
continue to be the Milton Keynes team’s Achilles Heel. At the start of the
Brazilian weekend came the news that Daniel Ricciardo will take a five place
grid penalty, for changing the turbocharger on his power unit. As for
Verstappen, he lost the first half of the second session, apparently due to an
oil leak that took a long time to fix. It meant that the winner of the Mexican
Grand Prix completed just 44 laps in total today, four less than Bottas
managed in just the second session.
As always, evaluating the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres is a major part of
everyone’s Friday programme and the results must always be looked at with
extreme caution, especially on a “green” track like Interlagos. The same goes
for the apparent signs of degradation seen on some cars. The work of the
engineers over the next few hours will be crucial in adapting the cars to the
predicted track evolution, given that, at the moment, the forecast is for much
warmer conditions on Sunday.
While the Drivers’ title was decided in Mexico, the Constructors’ one is still up
for grabs with Mercedes leading Ferrari by 55 points. To keep the fight going
down to the final race, the Maranello team has to score 13 more points than
its rival.
In order for the Houston Texans to contend for real in the AFC, there are some things they need to have happen.
They’re going to need Deshaun Watson to keep playing hard. The Texans quarterback has been dealing with a chest injury, and yet still guided them to victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Watson is tough, sure, but he’s more than tough, he’s completed 63 percent of his passes. Houston could do with a tad bit more consistency out of Watson though, at the time of writing he’s thrown seven interceptions to just 10 touchdowns.
They’ll need their playmakers to keep making plays. DeAndre Hopkins is having a great year so far, and the Texans will need him to keep making explosive plays if they want other wide recievers like Will Fuller and Keke Coutee to keep making plays as well. When one wideout draws the coverage, the rest of them benefit. Lamar Miller needs to make more plays in the rushing game as well.
Finally, on the defensive side of the ball, they need to keep rushing the passer well. The Texans front seven is downright nasty, and they’ll need to keep the pressure on opposing gunslingers in order to play for real in the AFC. JJ Watt, Jadaveon Clowney, and Whitney Mercilus can all create nightmares for opposing offensive lines, and need to keep doing what they’re doing.
The Texans are in a very weak division, and might very well win that by virtue of not being the absolute worst. Contending in the AFC is still a bit of a longshot for right now, especially with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs appearing Super Bowl bound. The Texans have the pieces in place, but it may very well just be someone else’s year. Eventually though, they’ll begin to make waves
Texas has, so far, taken the college football world by surprise. The one-loss Longhorns are currently leading the Big 12 and are poised to have their first very successful season in what feels like forever.
These developments have some fans talking about the holy grail: the College Football Playoff. It could happen, they reason, the rest of the college football world outside of Alabama isn’t great, they say. They’re correct, this isn’t a deep roster of teams in 2018. However, a Texas berth in the College Football Playoff is a little bit premature, but not outside of the realm of possibility.
Yes, the Longhorns are ranked No. 6 in the nation. But according to Bill Connelly’s S&P+, a series of stats and rankings intended to be predictive of a team’s success over the whole season, the Longhorns rate just No. 38. Connelly’s number are by and large accurate when it comes to predicting victories, and so far, the data shows that the Longhorns’ rushing offense without Keaontay Ingram just isn’t explosive enough to predict lots of victories in the points-laden Big 12, and that when the Longhorns turn the ball over, they do it in the worst possible scenarios.
Keep in mind as well that Texas still has to play West Virginia, go on the road to play Texas Tech, and take on the crushing defense of Iowa State. At the halfway mark of the season, though, the Longhorns are still sitting pretty.
You might say, so what, these fancy numbers indicate that the Longhorns are going to lose a game or so, but numbers have been wrong before. You’re correct! Unfortunately for the Longhorns’ playoff hopes, their loss was to Maryland. Maryland looked good at the beginning of the season, but is sitting at a very average 4-3 record at the time of writing. Contrast this with the rest of the current AP top four teams, three of which (Alabama, Clemson, and Notre Dame) have no losses and LSU, who only has a loss to a top 10 ranked Florida. Yes, the SEC bias is real and is carrying lots of water for that LSU loss, but Florida is still currently a one-loss team and at least deserves to be ranked. Contrast that with Maryland, who, well, doesn’t.
It’s an uphill climb and the Longhorns are working against some tough forces. Fortunately for Tom Herman and the boys, they’re arriving a year early. If the Longhorns don’t make the playoff, don’t sweat it. They’ll return nearly every impact player next year, and be fully ready to make a playoff push in 2019 should they get left out in 2018. Kick back and enjoy the ride.
Kimi Raikkonen took his Ferrari to victory in the FORMULA 1 PIRELLI 2018
UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX. It was the Finn’s first win since the 2013
Australian Grand Prix. Joining him on the podium in Austin were Max Verstappen and Lewis
Hamilton, second and third respectively for Red Bull Racing and Mercedes. The Englishman thus closes in on a fifth world title, extending his lead over
Sebastian Vettel by a further three points, after the German finished fourth today. Hamilton now leads by 70 points with three races remaining.
It was a really exciting race, with the crowd on the edge of their seats from start to finish. Raikkonen produced an impeccable drive, doing a clever job of
managing his tyres and getting every last drop of performance out of his Ferrari.
Raikkonen was the only front runner to start on the Ultrasoft tyres and he overtook pole sitter Hamilton at the first corner, settling down to a fast pace,
although he never really shook off his pursuers. Behind these two, Valtteri Bottas held onto third place, while Daniel Ricciardo and Vettel locked horns.
As was the case a fortnight ago in Suzuka, the German found himself colliding with a Red Bull and spinning before dropping down the order.
Ricciardo was able to continue and seemed to be heading for a good result, given his pace, but on lap 9, his Red Bull stopped because of an engine energy
store failure. The Australian thus posted yet another retirement in what has been a troubled season. As for Verstappen, having started 18th, he charged
up the order, just as he had done in Russia, to come up behind his team-mate.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed while Ricciardo’s car was removed and Hamilton made the most of it to minimise the time lost compared to his rivals,
by coming in for Soft tyres on lap 11. At the time, Mercedes’ strategy seemed to be the right one, in that Hamilton had rejoined in third place and easily
closed on Raikkonen, who was running a longer stint. The Ferrari man stayed out until lap 21 before making his only pit stop, he too now running the Softs.
Behind the top two, drivers went for different strategies: having started on Softs, Verstappen tried the undercut on Bottas, stopping on lap 23 to take on
the Supersofts. Bottas responded next time round, fitting Softs. The Red Bull gamble paid off, because the Dutchman was able to get ahead of Bottas asthe
Finn rejoined the track and also because the Supersoft was clearly able to go all the way to the end without suffering much degradation.
The same could not be said of the Soft compound, especially on the two Mercedes. Hamilton started to suffer with a bit of degradation at the start of
lap 30, which saw his lead over Raikkonen drop from 17 to 9 seconds in just six laps. Inevitably, the championship leader had to make a second stop for a
set of new Softs, after which, he rejoined in fourth place.
On lap 38, Raikkonen led the race, with a 2.5 second advantage over Verstappen. Bottas was 9.1s back, Hamilton at 12s and Vettel trailed his team-
mate by 16.2 seconds. Quite rightly, Mercedes asked Bottas to move over for Hamilton after which the Englishman charged after the two cars in front. If he
had managed to take second place and his team-mate could have held off Vettel, then a fifth title was in the bag, here in the United States.
But the race ended with a different script. Hamilton tried all he could to pass Verstappen, but the Dutchman fought him in a hard but fair manner,
especially on lap 54, when Hamilton seemed to have got the upper hand, before running wide in the final sector, which meant Verstappen could make
good his escape. This scrap played into Raikkonen’s hands, as he managed to eke out a small lead. But it was all he needed to return to the top step of the
podium after a very long absence.
On that 54th lap, Bottas was clearly struggling even more with his tyres and had to give best to Vettel, who thus managed to limit the damage, keeping
the title fight alive for at least one more round.
The fight for the top places was fascinating all the way to the end, but the other points places were not completely decided until well after the
chequered flag had been waved. Nico Hulkenberg crossed the line in sixth spot, followed by Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio
Perez. However, post-race scrutineering led to the disqualification of Force India’s French driver, because his “fuel mass flow exceeded 100 kg/hr during
Lap 1 of the race.” A similar fate befell Haas’ Danish driver, because the “amount of fuel consumed exceeded 105 kg during the race.” This promoted
Brendon Hartley to ninth and Marcus Ericsson to tenth.
After this trip to the States, which featured an F1 show on the streets of Miami as well as the Formula 1 race, the pinnacle of motorsport stays in the
Americas, moving on to Mexico City where the FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE MEXICO 2018 takes place at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez next weekend.
Stars Tame Wild with Second Straight Four-Goal Third Period
CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, and the Iowa Wild were scoreless in the first half of tonight’s game at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, but combined for nine goals in route to a 5-4 Stars win. Texas scored four goals in the third period for the second straight game to earn the win and put Iowa in the loss column for the first time this season.
Ben Gleason opened the scoring for the Stars to tie the Wild in the second period with his first goal of the season. The power play tally was the first of three goals on the man advantage for the Stars in the game as the rookie defenseman danced his way to an unassisted goal.
With the tie score holding until the third period, the flood gates opened. Mike Liambas scored his third of the season on a rebound for the Wild to advance the score to Iowa’s favor. The Stars turned a power play into the tying goal four minutes later. Michael Mersch connected for his second goal in as many games, battling in front of the crease at 5:28 of the third period. Less than thirty seconds later, Nicholas Caamano cashed in his second goal of the season, deflecting the puck off an Iowa defender and into the net.
The Stars seemed to control the pace but Iowa answered as Cal O’Reilly scored his first of the year to tie the game at 3-3. Penalty time continued to hurt the Wild who put the Stars on eight power plays in the game. At 9:01, Gleason continued his successful night, launching a pass to Joel L’Esperance for a redirection. The goal pushed the Stars to a lead that they never relinquished.
Third year forward Denis Gurianov helped the Stars solidify the win with insurance in the final six minutes. The winger notched his fourth goal in four games and held the game winning goal in the decision due to a final tally by Luke Kunin. The Wild netminder Andrew Hammond was pulled in the remaining 30 seconds to help pull his team within one goal but he suffered the loss with 21 saves as the comeback fell short.
LandonBow earned his third win with the Stars, making 26 saves in the team’s victory.
The two teams meet again tomorrow night for a rematch at the H-E-B Center at 7 p.m.
(AUSTIN, TX) The Fight for Equality in American Sports examines the intersection of social justice and sports in the United States. The exhibition celebrates athletes who have broken barriers and spoken out for equality, both on and off the playing field.
Get in the Game begins at the turn of the nineteenth century by exploring the experiences of athletes of color in the early days of organized American sports and how those athletes contributed to the development of modern day athletics. “From Jack Johnson (recently pardoned by President Donald J. Trump) to Jackie Robinson and Billie Jean King to Jason Collins and Ibtihaj Muhammad, Get in the Game reflects sports as an indelible platform toward our ongoing quest for civil rights and social justice for all Americans,” said Mark K. Updegrove, President and CEO, LBJ Foundation.
The exhibition continues through to current day, stopping along the way to spotlight athletes and events that have contributed to or changed conversations around issues of race, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and religion in the United States.
By connecting beloved sports figures and defining athletic moments within the greater context of American history, visitors of all ages will learn about the courage of these leaders and view current sports issues in a discerning light. An interactive social media wall encourages an ongoing conversation about equality in sports. #LBJGetInTheGame
Exhibition highlights
Stephen Curry, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and LeBron James autographed jerseys
Olympic Fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad’s hijab, mask, and jacket
Michael Jordan’s first Nike Air Jordan Sneakers and others from 1985-2000
Venus and Serena Williams’ 2008 Olympic uniforms
Muhammad Ali’s autographed boxing gloves
Billie Jean King’s tennis dress
Jackie Robinson’s game-worn pants and autographed baseball
Jim Brown’s shoulder pads and autographed football
Jesse Owens’ diary from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
Lee Trevino’s glove and hat
Negro League baseball jerseys and cleats
Black Fives Era basketball artifacts
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League artifacts
Colin Kaepernick and Colt McCoy autographed football
And lots more!
Generous support of the exhibition is provided by The University of Texas at Austin.
In what would ultimately be the highest total scoring game in the history of the Red River Showdown, the game lived up to its name in historic fashion. Dicker the Kicker of Austin Lake Travis nailed a 40-yard go-ahead field goal with seconds left in the game Saturday a the Cotton Bowl.
No. 19 Longhorns get a huge victory for Tom Herman’s young team with a 48-45 win on Saturday over No. 7 Oklahoma after a heart racing 4th quarter push by the Sooners late at the Red River Showdown. The Longhorns had a lead 45-24 into the fourth quarter but offensively looked rattled through a series of conservative calls. For a the top half of the 4th quarter it looked like Texas was self destructing. However, Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger, looked good all day, put a final game winning drive with about 2:38 left to get the Horns into field goal range. Texas has won five straight on the season and the first over Oklahoma since 2015.
Is Texas Back in the race for a Big 12 Title?
The season is a third of the way into its games and the Horns are looking good at this point with big wins this season over top ranked USC, TCU and now Oklahoma.
Herman has a history for being an underdog. He’s now 10-4 overall and 13-1 versus the spread in similar games. Texas will likely be the favorite for its remaining match ups .
The Horns will host Baylor at DKR next week on Oct 13th where they are so far undefeated at home in 2018.
Outside it was a balmy 80-plus degrees, but inside the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park Friday night, Oct. 5, the ice was cold – marking the beginning of hockey season for the Texas Stars.
The Stars, who are the American Hockey League’s affiliate for the NHL’s Dallas Stars, opened their 10th season with a 3-1 home win over the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Coming off a strong season in which they won the Western Conference Championship with 38-24-0-14 record, the team picked up right where it left off.
Stars left winger Colton Hargrove scored an unassisted goal early in the first period before the Griffins tied the game going into the second period.
In the second period, center Joel L’Esperance scored on assists from Hargrove and right winger Erik Condra, sending the Stars into the third period with a 2-1 lead.
Lastly, Stars center Justin Dowling, in the last remaining minutes of the game, scored in an empty net after Grand Rapids had pulled their goalie.
Ultimately, the Stars took 21 shots on the night; the Griffins took 25, but Stars goalie Landon Bow was a defensive force with 24 saves on the night.
“I thought we were really resilient – kind of the trademark of our organization. I like the way we handled that, especially with 11 new guys in the lineup,” said Stars head coach Derek Laxdal after the game. His contract was extended earlier this year, tonight marking his fifth season leading the team.
“… It’s always tough to get that first win,” he added, “so now we can move forward and focus on the second one.”
The Stars play the Milwaukee Admirals Saturday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m., at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, the Admirals’ first game of the season. Last season, the Stars beat the Admirals three out of four times.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
That phrase was coined by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, a Frenchman who had a penchant for satire. The showdown between Texas and Oklahoma coming on the first Saturday of October, however, is no laughing matter.
The duo broke in new coaches last year, Tom Herman for the Horns, and Lincoln Riley for the Sooners. Riley and Oklahoma took the first encounter 29-24, but it wasn’t easy. Sam Ehlinger, despite being punished every play for merely existing on the same 100 yard long and 53.5 yard wide field as the Sooners, put on a fine display of quarterbacking under pressure.
This year could be different though. Baker Mayfield, a son of Austin and now of Oklahoma, is long gone to the Cleveland Browns. Several Longhorn stalwarts are gone too, most notably on the defensive side of the ball. One thing is for sure: this is a largely unpredictable rivalry.
We’ve already mentioned Sam Ehlinger, so let’s focus on other Longhorn standouts. At the time of writing, Tre Watson leads Texas in rushing with a respectable 4.1 yards per carry. Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Collin Johnson have been solid receivers so far, despite the Longhorns’ struggles to move the ball at times. Keaontay Ingram has also flashed potential at the running back position as well.
On the defensive side of the ball, look for Charles Omenihu to make some big plays from the defensive end position. Breckyn Hager provides a solid bookend on the other side of the defensive line. Anthony Wheeler is having a solid season at linebacker, and the ‘Horns are talented in the secondary with Kris Boyd and P.J. Locke providing veteran knowledge, and Caden Sterns and B.J. Foster providing raw talent.
At the time of writing, Oklahoma looks like a juggernaut on offense. Few have been able to slow the Sooners, who are led in rushing and passing by Kyler Murray, who will leave after this season to join the Oakland Athletics. Murray made a whopping 4.7 million bonus for signing with the A’s, and will easily be the highest paid player on the field since this is college football and there’s definitely no other players getting that kind of money from bagmen or their universities. Bruising running back Trey Sermon returns as well, and CeeDee Lamb is a deep threat every time he steps on the turf.
On defense, the Sooners have some young stars of their own. Freshman DB Brendan Radley-Hiles is looking like a star in the making, and Curtis Bolton and Kenneth Murray are legitimate All-Big 12 contenders. The Oklahoma defense gives up some points, but with their offense they can afford to spot teams some points.
Texas is better this year, sure. But this is an Oklahoma team that appears to be just as good as the team that went to the College Football Playoff in 2017, and lost in overtime to Georgia in the semifinals.
Be patient, Texas fans. This one might not be your year. But anyone who knows anything about football can tell you that Tom Herman’s teams are improving, and his most promising players are his youngest. Your Longhorns might not pull this off. But they’re well set up for huge Big 12 runs in the future. There has been change, but for now, it’s likely that history will repeat itself with an Oklahoma win.
