10-7 Texas, with our 10 pts coming through great field position caused by our defense / special teams. Unfortunately, I think if we do beat OU, we'll lose to K-State the following week.
I've brought up that statistic many a times but some Simms jockists won't believe he sucks against top 10 teams.
Simms doesn't have to be the hero this year. He just has to be able to control the clock, find open receivers, and not turn the ball over. Leave the rest of the offense to Benson and Young. We've got two of the best backs in the Big XII, so we should be able to ride them. O-line and special teams play will be the keys to this game.
Yeah, I wonder how Simms can breathe with all those people all up on his jock. Simms has only beaten 2 ranked teams in his career (A&M '00 and CU1 '01). A new chapter in the Simms legacy will be written on Saturday. As his athletic director, DeLoss Dodds, said Monday, "If you win a game, it's no longer a big game. That's the mentality out there now, but I don't live my life for idiots. Our program's never been in better shape." DeLoss, shut the **** up! Anyone who says TX OU is not a big game this year, is an idiot. I can't believe Texas is actually conceding the possibility of a loss in today's AAS. Mack doesn't need to beat OU? Hell yeah he does.
Both teams come out tight and nervous. Game becomes a typical OU-UT defensive slugfest. OU - 10 UT - 7 Sorry UT fans, but I think Simms, like Peyton Manning, has problems with fast defenses. He'll play better than last year, but just not good enough. The entire game, as does the entire season for UT, comes down to Benson, and whether or not UT can run the ball. If so, UT should beat OU.
Such bull****. Let's examine those numbers. First off, it's 11, not 12. Second, two of the INT's in the Oregon game were off of hail mary's. One against OU came on a desperation type throw with a minute left, and another came on the missed block. Three receivers dropped wide open touchdowns from Simms in the Oregon game. On one play, he threw a beautiful 30+ yard strike, only to have his receiver tackled at about the one inch line. TD/INT ratio is about the most useless statistic in football. It's like the win-loss record for pitchers in baseball. Show me how many of those INT's were earned and not hail mary type throws, and then show me how many touchdowns were dropped over those games, and then get back to me. Also, what's funny is that I started a thread before the first CU game last year, and most posters here agreed that it was a big game. Simms then threw for 250+ yards, 3 TD's, 0 INT's, and guess what? It's not a big game anymore! CU, at the time, was a 6-1 team, with the only loss back in August in a fluke game against Fresno State. They were red hot, had beaten quality opponents, and were a big name program in the definite game of the week. The offense may have slightly improved before the Big XII title game, but the defense did not. Who cares what the hell they were ranked. That defense was identical to the one Simms faced in the Big XII championship, and if you count one, you have to count the other. By the way, ABC's Gary Danielson is a good, objective observer of quarterbacks, probably better than any of us. Here's his review of Simms (today). http://espn.go.com/ncf/columns/danielson/1439557.html
Hey Timing, want to e-mail Kirk Bohls? kbohls@statesman.com Saturday is a must win for the Longhorns. Ask him what he means by Mack doesn't need to beat OU.
I know. I don't think people sit back and analyze every single interception to see whether or not it was the QB's fault. 0-11 or 0-12, it doesn't make any difference, the number is staggering. He did have a huge day against CU1 (yes, it was a big game), but when the stakes were turned up against CU2 (title on the line), he imploded. Simms in big games does really really well or really really bad - CU1 and A&M were Heisman worthy games. Against the top 10, he does really really bad.
I read that this morning too. Bohls is a moron. I rarely read his column, frankly I really think I could do better than him... but after such an inticing banner "Mack doesn't need to beat OU", well I just had to read it! call me a sucker for a good headline!
Well, they should. If you consider how many touchdowns were dropped, and how many interceptions were completely not his fault, the figure is about 3 TD's and 7 INT's, not counting the first CU game. That's not great, but far, far from terrible. There's no excuse INT's can't be done like ERA in baseball. To use an example, look at Mike Hampton. In 2001, his ERA was 5.41... in 2000, 3.15. The difference in wins? 14 wins in '01, 15 wins in '02. It's partially dependent on the offensive capabilities of your teammates. You can throw out however many numbers you want, but the truth is that on repeated occasions in those games, open receivers dropped touchdowns on Simms, and four INT's came off desperation (hail mary) or fluke (the missed block) plays. It's not fair to judge him off of either terrible luck, or screwups from his teammates. It's only right to judge him by the position he has put the rest of his teammates in, and going by that he should have roughly 3 touchdowns and 7 INT's against top 10 teams. It's not Heisman numbers, but by no means terrible either.
AHHHHH! What have you done with the real Cat??!!?!? You have to admit it though, Simms looks like a totally different QB when the game is on the line...... BTW, do you still want to make a friendly little bet on the game this weekend......? Email me if you have any ideas. (email is in my profile if you don't know it)
Done, I'll post if I get a response. I can't wait to see what ref calls The Cat will be whining about after this game.
Simms is the key to the game, no doubt. I sorta like the 10-7 predictions. The last two games against good defenses (A&M last year, and OU), Simms has been a non-factor. The last big game, he imploded. Chances are they don't try anything risky, and it becomes a battle for field position, thus a 10-7 type score.
