UT played McCoy because he needs to continue getting experience. When we had Vince, the starters rarely played beyond the early 3rd quarter if the game was in hand. In general, if you're only up 14-20 points, you're going to keep playing your starters, because one bad play can change the entire game. So MOV up to about 20 points has value. If a team wins by 3, they were trying their hardest the entire game and weren't able to win by more than that.
Horns schedule is garbage except for Ohio State. It think this title picture could get very cloudy. Michigan will probably have only the one loss to Ohio State, same as Texas. Auburn could have the 1 loss to Florida and vice versa. West Va. could go undefeted, USC will probably slip to Cal or Oregon and maybe the Irish, giving Notre Dame it's only loss agianst Michigan. All of these top 10 BCS ranked teams have legit shots at playing OSU for the title, but I think Ohio State is just gonna be too much for anybody in the long run. I still think Notre Dame and Ohio State would be the most entertaining game but who cares.....this is gonna be another one of those years where the BCS fails becuase of several deserving teams that could make a case for #2.
I meant 1-1 versus ranked. I would say ND's is tougher right now, but not by the end of the season. Also, Stanford is probably the worst Div I A school. 4 of their last games include the Academies (don't let Navy fool you, they lost 34-zip to Rutgers at home and havn't beat ND since like the war era I believe) and UNC, the latter just barely better than Stanford and another bottom dweller. That makes 5 gimmies. Texas has 5 gimmies if you include the more middle roaders Iowa State and Baylor (Rice, NT, SHS). Texas also picks up another game in the Big 12 title game. The only way IMO ND schedule looks better are if GT and SC keep winning and NU, A&M or Missou lose to other teams where ND's top looks better. A Michigan victory over OSU would help ND too. My own opinion is Michigan is the best team right now (slightly over OSU), I think their full team (particularly the D) is more veteran and stocked than OSU, and it will finally show. People should not downplay WV. They will have to beat Lou, Pitt and Rutgers and everyone else in their conference. They also beat Maryland (mid ACC). The Big East actually did pretty well in nonconference, and kicked the ACC's butt in particular. If WV or Lou (who took apart Miami and Kansas State) go undefeated they definetly deserve a birth in the NC game over any 1 loss team.
ND seems to play a lot of "name" schools in down years (like last year for example, when they played a lot of ranked teams that plummeted out of the top 25 before seasons end.) I think Michigan State is in a flat spin at this point and could end up being an SOS drag. I think Air Force could give them trouble and would love for them to get knocked off in Colorado Springs.
I watched WV the other day. This team is seriously the reincarnation of the old Nebraska teams that ran the option out of the I-formation, only WV runs an option like offense out of the spread. Either way its pretty badass to watch them just run over teams and they're still really young. Their defense is still average at best and their secondary is not very good at all. But they have some good games coming up as you said and the Big East has actually faired pretty decently this year. WV or Louisville will go undefeated this year and I agree they'll slip into the championship game because of that.
WV does remind me a little of Nebaska, but I think they can throw it better and the combo of Steve Slaton and Pat White is fast, fast, fast. Slaton is a burner.
I think rich rodriguez' option is more like the air option that homer rice developed back at G-tech like 20 something years ago, but with th shotgun instead of under center.
Their passing game is ok but nothing to write home about. They've got some great recievers and once Pat White learns how to throw, this offense will be unstoppable. They still go run first and won't start throwing until you stop them. Still its nice to see a running oriented juggernaut offense again in college football. I miss seeing nebraska just shove it down people's throats and run all over them. But I really like watching Hillbilly U play football
