FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
TEXAS, LSU START SEASON WITH WINS

From the AP via ESPN:

Tre' Newton's 3 TDs lead Texas as Garrett Gilbert makes 1st start

Mack Brown insisted this offseason that with Colt McCoy gone, No. 5 Texas would re-establish a running game that had gone stale as the Longhorns leaned on their star quarterback in recent years.

At least for the first game of the post-Colt era, the Longhorns' coach showed he was serious.

Tre' Newton ran for three touchdowns and Texas ran twice as much as it passed in Garrett Gilbert's first games as starting quarterback, a 34-17 victory against Rice on Saturday.

More here.

Again from the AP via ESPN:

No. 21 LSU holds off furious rally from short-handed UNC

LSU appeared headed for an easy win after scoring 23 straight points over the final 8:06 of the first half. But the Tigers nearly let it slip away, which would have been a devastating blow to coach Les Miles and a program that's trying to show it's still a powerhouse in the Southeastern Conference.

Three years removed from a national championship, LSU has lost eight SEC games over the last two seasons and watched Florida and Alabama claim the dominant roles.

"We won a football game tonight in very sloppy fashion," Miles said. "If we just play efficient football, this game is not even close. We've got to tie up some loose ends right now."

More here.

Wow, is it September already?

I had friends in town Saturday so I only got to watch the second half of the Texas game, and none of the LSU game, but you know, things went about as expected. That is, the Longhorns were solid against former Southwest Conference whipping boy Rice, and LSU was sloppy but somehow pulled it off anyway against a higher ranked team that had a lot of key players out on suspension.

I anticipate a fairly relaxed season, from my perspective as a fan, because neither of my two schools' teams is in real contention to win the national championship. I mean, Texas is ranked fifth, but that's probably too high for what is obviously a rebuilding year--probably the only frustration I'll have with the 'Horns is when they get their first loss and topple to the low teens or some such. I do very much like that Mac Brown is going for a more conventional running game. It ought to make watching a bit different from the razzle dazzle of the last decade or so, what with Vince Young and Colt McCoy and their weird mutant abilities, and when you get down to it I'm a traditionalist at heart: Texas had their first glory days and national championships running the ball back in the 60s and 70s. This should be a fun year.

LSU, on the other hand, worries me. Their great weakness since their most recent national championship back in '07 has been inconsistency and sloppiness, and this near loss against the Tar Heels is simply more of the same. Yeah, they apparently looked great in the first half, but couldn't, or wouldn't, keep up the pressure and almost started out with a goose egg. You just know that Les Miles thinks his job is on the line this time, so maybe he'll get it turned around by the time SEC games comes roaring in, but after the last couple of years, I'm not so sure.

I guess we'll see.

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