FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
TEXAS GETS ANOTHER LOPSIDED WIN OVER AN INFERIOR OPPONENT
LSU BEATS QUALITY TOP TEN OPPONENT IN DRAMATIC FASHION

From the AP via ESPN:

McCoy breaks career TD pass mark in Longhorns' triumph over Owls

Instead, the Texas quarterback coolly tossed a perfect strike down the middle of the field for a 60-yard touchdown play and the No. 7 Longhorns romped to a 52-10 win over Rice on a record-setting Saturday night for McCoy.

McCoy passed for four touchdowns against the Owls, giving him a school record 62 for his career. He finished with 329 yards on 19-of-23 passing and led Texas (3-0) in rushing for the second time this season with 83 yards on eight carries.

"He's just taken over," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "This is his team. He's having fun."

McCoy even got into the power running attack, bowling over two defenders who outweighed him by 230 pounds on an 8-yard TD run in the first quarter.

And

All of Texas' wins have come against teams from Conference USA and the Sun Belt. The Longhorns plays Arkansas next week in a game that was postponed two weeks because of the hurricane.

Click here for the rest.

Okay, so this wasn't shown live in New Orleans, but I did get a chance to watch a quarter or two for an FSN rebroadcast shown here in the middle of the night. And what I saw was cool, along the lines of what I've seen for the 'Horns' last couple of drubbings of utterly over matched teams: they looked pretty good and confident; they moved the ball well; their freshman secondary allowed a lot of passing yards, but stiffened when they had to. Colt McCoy is finally fulfilling the promise I and many others saw in him a couple of seasons back. I mean, he's looking pretty goddamned good.

But...

Like the AP article excerpted above observes, Texas hasn't really played anybody worth mentioning yet. I was really looking forward to what would have been last weekend's game against former Southwest Conference rival Arkansas, who beat LSU last year in a late season SEC matchup that almost derailed the Tigers' shot at the national championship, but it was postponed by Hurricane Ike. Now, since the Razorbacks got the shit kicked out of them by Alabama, it looks like Texas will once again be playing a wildly overmatched opponent for the rescheduled date next weekend.

I guess we'll have to wait until Big 12 play begins in two weeks. I do hope the Longhorns are as good as they appear to be.


Texas quarterback Colt McCoy (12) slips away from Rice defensive end Scott Solomon
as he scrambles for a 15-yard gain during the second quarter of an NCAA college football
game Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008, in Austin, Texas. McCoy rushed for 83 yards and passed
for 329 in Texas' 52-10 victory. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

Again from the AP via ESPN:

LaFell's touchdown catch lifts LSU past Auburn in thriller

Jarrett Lee and Brandon LaFell hooked up on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 1:03 left to lift No. 6 LSU to yet another dramatic comeback win over No. 10 Auburn, 26-21 Saturday in an SEC West showdown that once again produced a fantastic finish and wild momentum swings.

The last five meetings have been decided by a collective 19 points in a rivalry that has produced more than drama. The winner has gone to the SEC championship game in six of the last eight seasons.

And

The only major difference in this one was the road team came out on top. The last eight games in the series had gone to the home team. LSU (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) also snapped Auburn's streak of six consecutive victories at Jordan-Hare Stadium against Top 10 teams.

Click here for more.

On the other hand, this game was pure joy to watch. Full disclosure: I only saw the second half. I was taping it to watch later because I had been planning on hanging out with some non-football friends, but that didn't materialize until around halftime, so I said "fuck it" and flipped over to ESPN. That's when I found out we were down by eleven.

So the pure joy came from watching an incredible road comeback against a hardcore top ten SEC opponent. I didn't see Lee's agonizing first half interception - well okay, I did get to see about three or four replays - so, to me, he was fucking brilliant. Fuck man, everybody was brilliant. The Tigers are arguably better this year than last year's national championship team was. And Coach Les Miles, as usual, gave us lots of theatrics: okay so we went three and out after the successful onside kick early in the third quarter, but it was a fucking successful onside kick!!! When we didn't have to do it!!! The Tigers have both talent and balls.

I've been saying for several years now that the SEC is so tough (three of this week's top five are from the SEC) that if a team can make it through conference play undefeated, the national championship is simply a formality. Looks like the Tigers have a shot at proving my new maxim.


LSU wide receiver Brandon LaFell (1) scores a the game-winning
touchdown against Auburn during the second half of an NCAA
college football game in Auburn, Ala. on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008.
LSU won 26-21. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

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