LONGHORNS, TIGERS BOTH GO TO 3-0

From the AP via ESPN:

No. 6 Texas overcomes four turnovers to dispatch Texas Tech

The Texas Tech crowd was loud, the atmosphere was hostile. Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert stayed cool, though, despite some rough moments in his first road start.

Gilbert threw for two touchdowns and 227 yards to lead No. 6 Texas in a sloppy victory for the Longhorns on Saturday night.

And

Texas Tech had 144 yards of offense, its worst game in 10 years.

The last time Texas Tech had fewer than 150 total yards came in 1990 against Miami when they got just 93 total yards. First-year Red Raiders coach Tommy Tuberville was a defensive coach when the Hurricanes beat the Red Raiders 45-10 in Lubbock.

"You've got to be able to run the ball, and we weren't able to run it at all," he said.

More here.

Again from the AP via ESPN:

Josh Jasper's FG record, Tigers' staunch D doom Bulldogs

Still, the star cornerback's performance boosted his Heisman Trophy credentials and took the pressure off LSU's inconsistent offense in a 29-7 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday night.

And

Josh Jasper set an LSU single-game record with five field goals, which alone would have stood up thanks to a dominant Tigers defense that produced five interceptions in all.

More here.

Well, I've always said I love a good defensive struggle. And I really do. But when the struggle happens because your offense is playing shitty, rather than being stifled by a defense every bit as good as yours, well, it's not so fun to watch. The good news here is that both Texas and LSU's defenses look damned good. The bad news is that Texas' offense looked like LSU's offense, you know, shitty. That LSU's offense looks shitty was already known.

On the other hand, "weird things happen in Lubbock," as Mac Brown says. And this Texas/Texas Tech rivalry has gotten to be a pretty big fucking deal, the kind of thing that makes players jittery on both teams. So my thinking is that Gilbert's three interceptions - he's still a young guy, after all - had more to do with Lubbock weirdness than anything else, and I expect the offense to continue to improve throughout the season. I just hope we get it together by the time we play OU.

And great defense may get the Longhorns in a position to win when they go to Dallas: OU nearly lost to an unranked Air Force team on Saturday--the military service academies are not usually known for their ability to hang tough against elite college football programs.

LSU is another matter entirely. I totally love that their defense appears to be coming into its own, but I'm really starting to wonder if they've got anybody worth a damn as QB. As with the last game, this one didn't appear to be on television here, which is damned weird, so I didn't get to see it, but if I understand the article correctly, the offense didn't really account for much of the scoring.

You just can't win the SEC without a good offense, and even though they're 3-0, I'm expecting that second column to ratchet up a bit here in the near future. Sigh. I really would like some revenge against Alabama, especially for the Longhorn's sake. I guess we'll see.

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