Good morning Longhorn Fans and friends!

It is hard to believe that 18 days have come and gone since the Florida Atlantic game, but here we are in the third week of September and the Horns have only played two football games and only one at home - last month. Which brings us to something really important, before turning to football.

Hurricane Ike

As everyone who has access to a TV or the internet or other news sources or a pulse knows, Galveston, Houston and a good chunk of that part of Texas has been devastated by Hurricane Ike. It was an extraordinarily destructive storm. Many of us have friends and family in Houston and other areas, and they have been without power (and without water in many cases) since Ike roared through, and for some the wait for electricity is measured in weeks, not hours or days. Galveston and many of the other seaside villages and towns are in much worse shape. Homes are just gone. All possession lost in Creation's awesome display of its power and force, reminding us of our transient lives.

So, while it is time to get the game face on and get ready for some Texas Longhorn football, let's all keep our Texas brothers and sisters in our thoughts and prayers as they seek to recover from Ike and get their lives back in order. For those of you who want to help, the Red Cross is a great place to start. The main Red Cross website is www.redcross.org. Houston is http://www.houstonredcross.org/. If you live in Austin, our local chapter needs help right now, and you can donate online at http://www.centex.redcross.org/. There are many other ways to contribute. Check out http://www.houstonfoodbank.org/. Also check http://www.charitynavigator.org. Please help.



Okay, on to football.

UTEP

For those of you who stayed up late to watch the Longhorns play the Miners, you were treated to an entertaining football game and, most importantly, a very solid Texas win over UT El Paso. I understand from some who went that the Miner fans made a point of saying "UT Austin". Not UT, not Texas, but UT Austin.

GET OVER IT. WE'RE TEXAS. NOT UT AUSTIN. UT. WHAT START HERE CHANGES THE WORLD, REMEMBER?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=456M_nveGek

You are UTEP. Be grateful you aren't still the Texas College of Mines & Metallurgy or Texas Western or worse, Texas A&M El Paso.

Anyway, back to the game — The Horns kicked butt. Offense was outstanding and Colt McCoy? played really well. He was 20 for 29 with one pick, throwing for 282 yards and four touchdowns. Interestingly, after being our leading rusher with over 100 yards in the FAU game, he only netted 8 yards against the Miners. However, Fozzy Whittaker showed great promise with 72 years on 12 carries. And the real stud was Quan Cosby with 154 yards in 8 catches with a TD. The line played okay. Need to improve their rapidly before we come out of the tunnel in the Cotton Bowl. Buckner's TD at the start of the 2nd quarter was most excellent, and the Shipley touchdown was good too. Overall I was pleased with the offense in El Paso, even with the play calling. Welcome home Major.

On the Defensive side of the ball, I was less thrilled. Not as less thrilled as I was against FAU, which I consider to be a very much inferior opponent, but still not elated with the D's performance. The Miners rushed for 145 yards and threw for 267, although 113 of that offense was on their last two drives of the 4th quarter when we were playing pretty far down the depth chart. But, on a positive note, I thought Muckelroy did a great job, and Chykie Brown and Gideon both played very well. Miller did good too. All things considered, I remind myself that we are very young, playing for a new DC, and coming off two really crappy years. We are getting better. We need to keep improving. Quickly.

Oh yeah, and it looks like we have a punter this year. 4 for 160, a 40 yard average, two inside the 20. That helps win tackle football games.

The Horns played 59 players by my count. We put up 42 points on a good team. But for that idiot Notre Dame and former aggie coach Bob Davies who was allegedly the paid color analyst for the game, I would have enjoyed 100% of the game and the broadcast. Unfortunately, fightin irish aggie Bob kept calling Muschamp "Mus-Kamp" and making other exceedingly idiotic comments and mistakes. Thank goodness for the camera shots of the spectators, uh, watching the game from the rocks. That certainly kept things interesting.

Not a work of art, but a W is a W. Horns start the season 2-0, and on Sunday September 7th I was thinking about kicking Arkansas ass in a week and cooking a pig.

Then Ike rolls across the Gulf, and since then our world has changed. I don’t want to get off on this, but what is going on with Wall Street and the economy and our financial institutions is just no bueno por nada. As my friend Mr. Dick Rathgeber says, "pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered". Greed is an ugly thing, and I regret that so many folks are suffering because of other peoples' greed. I guess its killin' time.

THE RICE GAME
Finally to the fun stuff. Texas Longhorns versus Rice Owls for the 91st time.
The Horns enter the game ranked 7th in both the AP and the Coaches' Poll. Rice hasn't been ranked in my lifetime. (I don't think. Hard to find records on the Rice Owls football history).

Now my friend Professor Brian C. Rider, an alumnus of Rice University and very fine real estate lawyer and UT Law professor and damn good guy (BC Rider - I wanted to say mentor, but I figured that would irreparably harm your reputation, so just know that I was thinking about protecting you as I wrote this. I decided not to say my "dear friend and mentor", because I didn’t want anyone to think that you were remotely responsible for how I have turned out. You can thank me later.) asked me to go easy on his poor Owls and not to abuse them in this e-mail. Well, okay. Sort of. If it weren't for losing that game at Reckling Park on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 by a disappointing score of 7-4, thus denying the Longhorns of a trip to a super regional and a shot at Omaha, I would probably be pretty light on the Owls. After all, it is their hometown of Houston that has been lashed by Ike and yes, they have had to stay in Nashville after getting their asses kicked by Vanderbilt last Saturday and couldn't go home to H-Town?. And yes, I feel sympathetic to their plight. And actually, I never really harbored much ill will toward Rice. My great uncle Burns Roensch was in one of the first classes at Rice decades ago, back when if you could get in it was free, and Burns always spoke so fondly of Rice. He was a fine Texan and gentleman, and that alone was enough for me to not hate Rice.

And the famous Marching Owl Band is fairly entertaining, if often tasteless.
Clint Small, for whom I had the honor and privilege of working for many years, played for the Horns in the 30's. I don’t think Clint cared much for Rice, or any of the other old Southwest Conference opponents for that matter. And I guess I started not liking Rice back then. That, and they beat us in 1994 which really ticked me off. So a general dislike for the Owls, at least on the football field, developed in the mid-90's. But then a few years ago along came a JuCo? baseball coach named Wayne Graham and a rivalry was born on the Baseball Diamond. And here's the deal: the Texas vs. Rice baseball games the last few years have been, for the most part, really really good games. Along with that rivalry has grown, on my part, what one would expect from a truly orange-blooded Texas fan: I don't like rice anymore. At least not on the athletic fields. I don't hate them. I mean, Rice isn't Arkansas or Oklahoma or even aggies or sand aggies, but it is a least a respectable rivalry worthy of my attention for a few moments. So, Brian, look at this way: if I didn't at least sort of respect Rice now, I wouldn't waste my time from here on out. I would say, "Kick-off is 6:00 p.m. Saturday. Hope to see you there. Hook Em Horns!" But no, Rice is now at least worth dicking with a little.

The Horns are 68-21-1 all-time against Rice. Not bad. 34 - 7 at DKR Memorial Texas Stadium. That is seven wins for Rice in Austin since 1925. We have won 20 straight over the Owls at home.

Last year, 58-14, 52-7 in 2006, 51-10 in 2005, 35-13 in 2004, and 48-7 in 2003. So in 5 meetings in this millennium, we have outscored the Owls 193-51.

Going back to 1960, the year I was born, Rice has managed to beat Texas 3 times and tied once. In the past 47 years, we have outscored the owls 1225 to 570.

Rice plays in Conference USA. Nuff said about that.
I will give Rice credit on one thing: they have decent athletic facilities, at least for baseball and football. Reckling Park was pretty cool, and Rice Stadium at least has a history. John F. Kennedy gave his "put a man on the moon" speech there. And Super Bowl VII was played there in 1974. Miami beat Minnesota 24-7. I don't like Miami.

Believe it or not, according to the website Rice has had five, yes 5, players in the NFL. Not bad Rice! Although to be honest, I think that the "Owls in the NFL" page of the Owls Official Website may be out of date. Surely more than 5 guys from Rice have made it to the NFL? And 2 of the 5 player links don't work, one of the bios says the guy was released in March 2008, and another (Ryan Pontbriand) is (was) the deep snapper for Cleveland (now, truth be known, I think that is pretty smart - what a great job - deep snapper). The fifth is legit - Larry Izzo who is a 4 time Pro Bowler and has four Super Bowl Rings with New England.

By comparison, Texas has 40 players on NFL Rosters right now. Heck, we've had 12 players taken in the first round since 2000. We've had 32 Longhorns play in the Pro Bowl. So, let's face it: We like playing Rice because we are 99% sure we can chalk up a "W" when we schedule the game, we get to play in Houston every other year which is great for recruiting and for all the alums in the Houston area, and it is always fun to play an old SWC team. I just hope it stays this way the rest of my life.

Okay, this is a great idea! Rice posts the team hotels on their official website. The Owls will be staying at the Marriott North in La Frontera. The phone number is 512.733.6767. Hook Em.

Well, not much else to say about Rice Owls and the big match-up. The line is 29.5 to 30. We will probably cover. I predict a huge win for the Longhorns as they tune up for a really challenging stretch. After Saturday, we have Arkansas here, then at Colorado, OU in Dallas, Missouri here, and Oklahoma State here. That's the bad news. The good news is I have 70 pound pig to cook next week for Arkansas!

Big 12 Wrap-Up? and Preview
Don't want to ignore some good stuff.
The Big XII is looking good in the Polls right now. In the AP, OU is #2, Mizzou #5, Horns at #7, and Tech at #11. in the USA Today Poll, same for OU, Mizzou, and Texas, but Tech is No. 10. So 4 of the top 10 there. Kansas is still ranked 19 despite a disastrous loss at South Florida (any loss to a Florida team is a disaster, especially when Texas boys are leading the other team - like Lake Travis grad Todd Reesing at Kansas. Have I mentioned that Westlake is 0-3?).

Anyway, last week also saw Baylor and stud Robert Griffin put a beatdown on Washington State 45-17. When was the last time I wrote that the Bears put a beatdown on someone? Hell, I don't know, but it was a long time ago (and no, Matt, you don't need to bring up 55-7. I am still pissed). Anyway, congrats Baylor. Big win against a pathetic Pac 10 opponent.

Nebraska whipped New Mexico State to move to three and oh. Okay. Go Huskers.
Missouri DESTROYED Nevada 69-17. Not even close. Chase Daniel went large and Jeremy Maclin is a beast. Another Texas boy doing good north of the Red River.

Okie State whipped Missouri State 57-13. Tech had their way with the Southern Methodist Ponies, and ….. Drumroll ……. The Sooners just crushed Washington. 55-14. My vote for most impressive Big 12 victory and an OU team that is already making me get sweaty as I think about cold beer and corny dogs.

Oh, and the aggies outscored their opponent during regulation. Whoop.
This week, K State started us off with a loss at Louisville tonight. Not sure what to think about that. I thought the boys in purple would be better, and Josh Freeman is supposed to be the real deal, a future first rounder. So that bums me for the conference.

Tech has Massachusetts at home for Parents' Weekend. Several of the Tailgate Crew members will be in Lubbock since the State of Texas and Our University won't/can't let most kids in The University anymore. Y'all have fun. The Minutemen have not beaten a Division I (sorry, "FBS") school since 1984. I am going out on a limb here, but I predict a pretty large Red Raider victory. Raiders win by 6 touchdowns and Graham Harrell doesn't play in the 4th quarter. TTU 56, Umass 10. I couldn't find the line on this one. I may be off by 4 touchdowns.

Missouri has Buffalo. Buffalo, who you may recall beat UTEP to open their season, are coming off an exciting Hail Mary pass as time expired to beat Temple last week. That's the good news. The bad news for the Bulls (creative name there Buffalo!) is that Missouri has the #1 offense in the country, Buffalo gave up 285 yards to Temple and 223 to Pittsburgh in a loss to Pittsburgh. The line is 34 +/-. I think Missouri will cover (really). Tigers 63, Bulls 17.

Colorado hosts West Virginia. Not sure what to think. I don't think the Buffs are all that great, and I can't figure out what is going on with the Mountaineers, other than they might suck. The line opened at 4.5 (CU), now 2.5 to 3.0. I agree. Pick em. I'll be loyal to the conference and say CU 27, WVU 24.

A&M plays Miami. I don't know. Maybe the aggies will field a decent team and play respectably. Maybe not. I hate Miami. Gig Em. TA&MC 24, Miami 17.

Texas will easily cover Rice Saturday. The line is bouncing around 29.5 or 30 now. I bet it goes off at 31. Horns Win, Horns Cover. I am happy.

Other observations: Southern Cal is really good. Destroyed the Buckeyes. They deserve the Number One. In ironic scheduling, Ohio State plays Troy this week. The PAC 10 sucks otherwise. The Big 10 is sad. Notre Dame whips Michigan? Are you kidding me?? Poor Charlie Weis. New respect from me though, coming back out after half. The ACC is irrelevant, and I have doubts about the Big East.

The SEC is really good, but the Big 12 is more fun. They have lots of ranked teams. So do we. LSU at Auburn, Tennessee and Florida, Arkansas and Alabama. Roll Tide Roll. Good matchups from the South. But here is the deal. Between the 24 teams in the Big 12 and the SEC you have the best College Football in the Country. Hook Em.

That's it for this week.
God Bless Texas.

Tim Taylor

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Good morning Longhorn Fans!

The 2008 season has finally arrived, and we are ready for some football. And sausage and beer.

But before that - what a great night for TV it was! We had three college football games on and my Chicago Cubs rallied in the bottom of the 8th on the strength of an Aramis Ramirez grand slam to beat the Phillies 6-4. We have one 6 straight and lead the Brewers by 6.5 and the Cardinals by 10.

South Carolina and the Ole Ball Coach put a 34-0 beatdown on NC State, Stanford beat Oregon State at the Farm 36-28, and Baylor lost to Wake Forest 41-13 (ouch).

I heard there was something on TV from Denver, but I missed it.

To say I am a bit excited about the season and watching the Longhorns suit up would be a gross understatement. I am really pumped up. Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium is going to be bigger and better than ever. The team looks really good. We have a real deal DC in Will Muschamp running the defense and Greg Davis and Major Applewhite should make a pretty good tag team on the offensive side of the ball, expecially with the rest of our great coaches. So here is the rundown on this Saturday.


Check this out: http://www.forbes.com/sportsbusiness/2007/11/20/notre-dame-fooball-biz-sports-cx_ps_1120collegeball.html

And a final note on the Olympics:
Gold medal count at 2008 Beijing Olympics
1. China 51
2. United States 36
3. Russia 23
4. Great Britain 19
5. Germany 16
6. Australia 14
7. South Korea 13
8. University of Texas 10
9. Japan 9
10. Italy 8



The Florida Atlantic Owls

Florida Atlantic University is a public university located in Boca Raton. That means, of course, Rat's Mouth.
One might think that would be enough, but no, let's explore more.

"When it opened its doors in 1964, FAU was the first university in the country to offer only upper-division and graduate-level work. This model was based on the theory that freshmen and sophomores would be served by the community college system. In 1984, the University responded to population growth and the need to provide increased access to higher education by admitting its first freshmen class. Today, FAU's seven partner campuses serve 26,000 students through more than 170 degree programs." Nice. A four-year school for 24 years now.

In 1962, "The Board of Control selects Florida Atlantic University as the name of the new university. Rejected names include Bryant State University (to honor Governor Bryant), Sunshine State University and A-OK University (a reference to a catch-phrase used by U.S. astronauts, who were then based at Cape Canaveral, Florida, about 150 miles north of Boca Raton)." Good gosh how fine would that have been - "A-OK University". I wonder if the Sooners would have been pissed. You know, "Oklahoma is OK". Give the Board of Control credit. Floridat Atlantic is a helluva lot better than the other names they considered.

The FAU website (from whence all this fascinating information is derived), on their historical timeline page, has 5 bullet points for 1965. One of them is, and I am not making this up "The cafeteria opens". Yep, that is a milestone. Just think how proud they must have been to have a cafeteria.

In 1971, the Boca Raton campus became a "burrowing owl sanctuary". Nice.

And in 1999, the FAU Board of Regents authorized establishment of a football program, and that very year the legendary Howard Schnellenberger was hired to start the FAU football program. Oh, the excitement.

In 2001, the Fighting Owls play their first football game, losing to Slippery Rock University (yes, our Slippery Rock) by the score of 40-7.

Schnellenberger, Slippery Rock … one begins to see the one degree of separation. We will come back to Howard.

First, a look at FAU traditions (all those mighty traditions which they have established with 7 years of football under their belts).

Burrowing Owls

A Burrowing Owl is a small ground-dwelling Owl with a round head and no ear tuffs. They have white eyebrows, yellow eyes and long legs. The Owl is sandy coloured on the head, back and upper parts of the wings. Burrowing Owls are easy to see because they are often active in daylight, and are bold and approachable. The females are usually darker than the males. The main call of a Burrowing Owl is mainly given by the adult males when near the burrow to attract a female. A who-who is given at the entrance of a promising burrow. This call is also associated with breeding and territory defense. They also make other sounds, which are described as chuck, chatter and scream. These sounds are usually accompanied by a bobbing of the head up and down. Burrowing Owls feed on a variety of prey. They feed on things such as beetles, grasshoppers, small mammals, especially mice, rats and ground squirrels. Unlike other Owls, they also eat fruits and seeds, especially the fruit of Tesajilla and prickly pear cactus. … Burrowing Owls are able to live for at least 9 years in the wild and over 10 years in captivity. They are often killed by vehicles when crossing roads, and have many natural enemies, including snakes, cats and dogs. They are listed as an endangered species. The FAU campus was designated a burrowing owl sanctuary in 1971 by the Audubon Society. The Owl came here because there are not many predators, other than cats, near an airport. The feisty bird, traditionally associated with wisdom and determination, serves as the University’s mascot."

The only other tradition is, apparently, the "Shula Bowl" where FAU plays Florida International each year. A big big rivalry for South Florida bragging rights. Woo hoo! I bet that is tough ticket.

Fighting Owls Football

I will give Howard Schnellenberger ("HS", for short. I'm already sick of typing Schnellenberger) some credit. He has built a pretty decent little program from nothing. They won the Sun Belt Conference last year.

FAU has played 83 football games in its entire history. To put that in perspective, Texas has beaten the aggies 73 times, Baylor 71 times, OU 57 times, Rice 68 times, and TCU 61 times.

Here is a tradition not on their website: FAU is 0-7 versus the spread as a road underdog of 21 or more points. Now that is a tradition I would like to see continue! (the line right now is somewhere between 23 and 24).

They do have a dance team, and I'll have to say this is one Florida team whose dancers aren't quite what one might expect. But you decide. http://fausports.cstv.com/spirit/dance-team-roster.html.



The following article showed up on the Florida Atlantic University Press internet site Sunday. The FAU Press is the student newspaper at Florida Atlantic. Here is the article:

As FAU prepares for its first real game since the New Orleans Bowl last Dec. 21, confidence is high that the Owls can go into Austin and give the Longhorns a tough game - not just on the scoreboard but in the trenches.

Coach Howard Schnellenberger is firm in his belief that the FAU defense, which often won the turnover battles last season, is even better and meaner in 2008.

Schnellenberger believes that a mean, tough defense can stifle a Texas offense that thrives on athleticism, not physicality. While it may be hard to fathom that a Sun Belt team is scheming to overpower a team from the BIG XII, that is the game plan Schnellenberger is sticking to - at least out loud.

"Once we step out on the field with Texas, the only ones who can help us is ourselves. Texas always has a very polished team that has great talent, but they aren’t tough, they aren’t a physically tough team."

FAU returns eight starters on defense, and Schnellenberger is counting on them as well as four experienced backups moving into starting roles to lay the wood on the Texas receivers.

"My defense will get to a point where they will be mean, nasty and ornery bastards and that’s what you need for Texas. Texas will move the ball with tit-for-tat, screens and options, but we’ll make them pay a price whenever they catch one of those dinky passes. We’ll put three hats on them and make them not want to get up, that’s the way to beat Texas."

Well HS, I think you are going to be sorely disappointed about those comments.

A few other thoughts about HS. He has been a head coach at 3 schools before FAU: Miami, Louisville, and Oklahoma. Boy, those are three schools I really like. He beat us at Louisville pretty bad in John Mackovic's second year (1993). A 41-10 whipping. I remember being sick to my stomach watching Louisville, of all schools, whip up on my Longhorns. Louisville? And in 1981, we handed HS and Miami one of its 2 losses that year, beating them 14-7. And in 1995, HS's one year at OU, we fought to 24-24 tie. So, by my calculation, we are 1-1-1 vs. HS all time.

I have been trying to think up a clever caption for this picture. E-mail me your best bull, and I will publish the best ones in next week's e-mail.

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