FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
TEXAS SURVIVES, LSU DIES

From the AP via ESPN:

McCoy soars, but No. 1 Horns escape No. 6 Cowboys behind defense

Colt McCoy made rare mistakes. The Texas defense got pushed around and the Longhorns watched their big lead and momentum gradually disappear.

Suddenly, the No. 1 team in the country looked vulnerable.

Yet here they are, still unbeaten, and with still more tough games to play.

McCoy passed for a career-high 391 yards and two touchdowns Saturday but the Longhorns defense needed to come up with two huge stands in a 28-24 win over No. 6 Oklahoma State after he threw a third-quarter interception and fumbled late in the fourth.

More here.

I had to work the rare Saturday dinner shift, which starts at four in the afternoon, which was approximately at halftime for this game, so I taped it to watch later, and tried to avoid the TV sets playing college football at our bar. Fortunately, everybody in New Orleans wanted to watch LSU play, so going home late last night I knew nothing about how Texas played.

This was a tough game to watch. I mean, Texas played pretty well overall, McCoy's short pass attack was just amazing, but the lack of running game, as well as the Doctor's rare interception and fumble, made it all a nail-biter. And oh yeah, Oklahoma State played brilliantly, too.

Really, man, after the interception late in the third quarter I just couldn't handle it anymore. I went to the internet to find out who won before I could watch the rest, figuring that I wouldn't if Texas fell. And it was still tough to watch, even knowing the final score. The Longhorns offense has not been slowed down in this way all season long.

They really, really, really need to get a good running game going if they're going to win out. Right now, they got nothin'. And Texas Tech is playing extraordinarily well. Every few years, the Red Raiders have the Longhorns' number, and they dial it best from Lubbock, which is where they will play next weekend.

You know, football season is always easier for me when Texas isn't in the national championship hunt.


Oklahoma State running back Kendall Hunter (24) is stopped by Texas defenders,
from left, Blake Gideon, Roddrick Muckelroy, Ryan Palmer, and Earl Thomas,
during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game in Austin, Texas,
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008. Texas won 28-24. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Again from the AP via ESPN:

No. 7 Georgia scampers past No. 13 LSU on back of Moreno

Georgia coach Mark Richt once called the Tiger Stadium crowd the loudest he'd ever heard.

Knowshon Moreno may remember Death Valley more for the hush he caused with his tackle-breaking 68-yard touchdown run.

Moreno's long score late in the third quarter gave seventh-ranked Georgia a three-touchdown lead, and the Bulldogs held on for a 52-38 victory over No. 13 LSU on Saturday that sent many Tigers fans to the exits early.

And

"The story is the mistakes," LSU coach Les Miles said. "When you play a quality opponent, you can't give them turnovers. You can't uncover people in coverage. You can't let runs that should be tackled go untackled. Our football team has to learn that. That's my job. I promise you I will go about teaching it."

More here.

Because I was taping the Texas game, I was unable to tape LSU as well, which played at the same time. It's just as well. I was able to get bits and pieces of the second half on the bar TVs at work, and it wasn't pretty. No, not at all.

Coach Miles says it all in the excerpt above. You fuck up a lot, you lose ball games. You lose 'em big. Especially when you throw three interceptions. Right now, the Tigers are playing like Texas did back in the mid 80s when I was a student there--the fans would openly call from the stands "Fire Fred!", as in coach Fred Akers, who presided over UT's fall from national prominence.

I've been a big defender of Les Miles, who has been savaged on Louisiana sports radio for virtually every year he's had the head LSU job. But right now, the situation is looking similar to the Akers situation back in the day. Akers took over from Texas god-coach Darrell Royal, who won three national championships. Nick Saban, who won a national championship with LSU before he left to fail in the NFL, but apparently succeed back in the SEC with Alabama, is no Darrell Royal. But it's the same point: both Akers and Miles took over wildly successful nationally prominent programs; Texas then slowly declined, which is what LSU appears to be doing now. Is Les Miles really just riding the successful program that Sabin created?

On the other hand, it could simply be that Jarrett Lee is just a kid and plays like one. I don't know. But this is all very depressing.


Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green (8) catches a pass in front of LSU cornerback
Patrick Peterson (7) in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Baton
Rouge, La., Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008. Green was ruled out of bounds on the play.
(AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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