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Good job by Texas' defense to withstand the bad calls.

And then they miss an obvious holding call.

That was an awful call. It was uncatchable.

The Chuck marathon is still on.

how long is his neck Not long enough.

Texas has to get touchdowns, not field goals.

Both teams with trickery early. This could be huge for the Longhorns if they can punch it in.

I don't get the fake punt at all by Bama. They're probably the more talented team, there's no reason to do it. Texas has to have Colt to win.

Nice start for Texas. I wonder if Darius Hanks is related to Merton Hanks.

This year, yes. He's been pretty good before this season, though. Part of his problem this year, I think, was him trying to make up for other deficiencies in the secondary. Assuming we upgrade it in the offseason (Eric Berry or Joe Haden, please), I'll be interested to see how much he improves next year.

Not much of a transition for you going from UT to the other. Yeah, UT to UT, orange to orange. Not as awesome an orange color, but it'll do. :D Your Orange is closer to the Dutch National Team so its pretty awesome. Plus the Titans have several former Texas players on it. They actually just showed Vince on the preview show. He, Scaife, Ahmard Hall, Michael Griffin (I think) have all been productive players for us. I can't think of any former Tide players currently on our roster.

Yeah, I don't expect them to make a move either.

On a reasonable, max 2-year deal, I'd be interested in Hudson. Otherwise, I don't think there's much out there that would be an improvement over what a Fontenot/Baker platoon is going to do. I'm not sure how much of a bad apple he is, but Felipe Lopez would probably be better than Fontenot/Baker. Depends on which Lopez we get. If it's the .720-.750 OPS guy that he normally is, Fontenot/Baker has a really good chance of beating that out. If it's the .800+ guy that he's more recently been (parts of the last two seasons, at least) then he'll probably be better. With a guy that inconsistent, though, I don't like the idea of what will likely be a 2-3 year deal. I believe Lopez's career OPS is .738. I'd bet, with even neutral luck, Fontenot/Baker will be better than that - perhaps by quite a bit.

Not much of a transition for you going from UT to the other. Yeah, UT to UT, orange to orange. Not as awesome an orange color, but it'll do. :D

I'm rooting for Boise State tonight. Or Texas. Either one.

On a reasonable, max 2-year deal, I'd be interested in Hudson. Otherwise, I don't think there's much out there that would be an improvement over what a Fontenot/Baker platoon is going to do.

I just don't think they'll have the weapons to win convincingly with Ocho likely getting shut out by Revis again. Coles/Benson/Caldwell are nice weapons, but not explosive. Yeah, I don't think the Bengals are really capable of blowing the Jets out. But I really, really think the Bengals will win. The Jets are taking an erratic rookie quarterback on the road in the playoffs. Last week's game was completely irrelevant for the Bengals -- I suspect they almost wanted to lose -- and shouldn't be considered predictive at all. The Jets aren't good. The Jet defense is, but Zimmer against a rookie QB is a huge plus for Cincy.

I just don't think they'll have the weapons to win convincingly with Ocho likely getting shut out by Revis again. Coles/Benson/Caldwell are nice weapons, but not explosive.

Keep in mind both of those games, I believe, have been in San Diego. This game would be in Indianapolis. In what's been pretty competitive games, that could slide the advantage toward the Colts. Last year was SD, the year before was in Indy. Ok, thanks. I forgot the first matchup was in Indy.

My picks: Bengals over Jets – Cincy didn't show its gameplan, NY did. Cincy's better (slightly) and has the unknown gameplan on its side. Patriots over Ravens – Strongly considered Baltimore here, but I think Belichick's coaching gets his team one win in the playoffs. Packers over Cardinals – Arizona could easily win this, but is too inconsistent for me to pick them. Eagles over Cowboys – I think Philly brings more pressure successfully against Romo and McNabb/Jackson have better games. Westbrook may also play a factor in this one. Colts over Bengals – Benson keeps this game close, but Peyton is better than the Cincy DBs. Chargers over Patriots – Could be a blowout. New England doesn't have the defense to slow down Rivers. Eagles over Saints – I think McNabb will do well against Gregg Williams' exotic blitzes and the Eagles pull out a high-flying, narrow win. Vikings over Packers – Too much pressure on Rodgers. The GB tackles are better, but still not to the point that the Packers can move the ball consistently enough. Colts over Chargers – Great game but home field swings the very slight edge to Indy. If the Chargers run highly effectively, though, they could easily win. I think the Colts will slow the SD run just enough to win a minor shootout. Vikings over Eagles – Again, Allen and the DLine brings too much pressure against somewhat shaky tackles. I do like DeSean Jackson against the Minny secondary, though. Colts over Vikings – Could go either way, but at this point I think Favre is a bit fatigued and Peyton/Tom Moore have two weeks to figure out how to slow the Viking pressure. If he has the time, Peyton can dice up the Minnesota secondary. The key is having the time.

Keep in mind both of those games, I believe, have been in San Diego. This game would be in Indianapolis. In what's been pretty competitive games, that could slide the advantage toward the Colts.

The answer to "what gives?" could be the strong possibility of a rookie salary cap being written into the new CBA beginning in 2011. This may be guys last chance to get big bucks with a rookie contract. While if he jumps back into the first round next year, he would still make more than he will this year, even if they do institute a rookie cap, but if he stays the same, he might cost himself a great deal of money. I'm not saying that has anything do to with it, but it might. From what I've heard, the rookie cap would really only affect the top 5-10 picks in the draft. Everybody else is in the $1-5 million a year range in the first round and that's unlikely to change. The cap would really only affect the guys getting $15-20+ million guaranteed.

His measureables come combine time should help him out quite a bit. And there may be a team or two swayed by last season's success over this year's struggles. They'll see what he can potentially be with some development, perhaps. If there will be a QB battle either way, he's probably smart to head to the NFL now - even if he drops a bit. With his measureables, though, I doubt he drops all the way to the third round. I'd think sometime in the second round - maybe to a team like the Rams if they don't go QB in the first round.

Probably not a surprise:

Central Michigan wins the GMAC Bowl 44-41 in double overtime. Great game.