FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
TEXAS, LSU WALLOP INFERIOR OPPONENTS

From the AP via ESPN:

Longhorns use long TDs to rout New Mexico

Texas quarterback David Ash continues to do a couple of things very well.

He can run to the end zone and throw the short passes that set up his teammates to get the glory.

Ash scored on a 49-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and flipped the ball to Daje Johnson for a 45-yard TD pass in the third, and the No. 17 Longhorns cruised to a 45-0 win over New Mexico on Saturday night.

The running TD was all Ash, who rolled to his right, cut back to his left and scampered past three defenders to break into the clear. The throw to Johnson was a shovel pass behind the line of scrimmage and Johnson zipped around the end to break for the touchdown.

More here.

And from the same source:

No. 3 LSU piles up 242 rushing yards in rout of Washington

When Alfred Blue wasn't running away from the Washington Huskies, Kenny Hilliard and Spencer Ware were running over them.

That left quarterback Zach Mettenberger with little more to do than pivot and hand off, letting third-ranked LSU's stable of running backs pound the overmatched Huskies for a 41-3 victory Saturday night.

"Those dudes are beasts back there," Mettenberger said of LSU's running backs. "They just really pounded (Washington's) defensive line. That just makes them really tired. The key there is that makes it easier to pass because they are tired and can't rush as hard as they would like. I know I saw that tonight. That's just LSU football and how we want to play each and every week."

More here.

I didn't get to see Texas play, thank you very much stupid Longhorn Network, but the article excerpted above tells us a few things. They're good enough to beat the shit out of a shitty team. But it might look like a better win than it actually was. Apparently, New Mexico was moving the ball at will during the first half. Granted, the Longhorn defense kept them out of the end zone, but the Lobos chewed time off the clock, and it wasn't really until they lost their QB to injury that the Texas D started to dominate. Can Texas stop the run? Another question is about our QB: apparently he's only deft with short passes and running. Okay, that's good, but can we score points on Oklahoma without airing it out downfield? I'm not expecting a national championship this year, for sure, but a Big 12 title would be nice, and the only way to do that is by beating OU. Then there's Tech, TCU, Oklahoma State...this is still a tough conference. Do we have our shit together this year?

LSU, in contrast, beat the shit out of a better inferior team. I got to watch this one, and the Tigers looked damned good, almost as if they hadn't skipped a beat since last season, that awful loss to 'Bama notwithstanding. That is, LSU, once again, looks like a pro team, and a lot of that happens down in the trenches: both the defensive and offensive lines are incredible, which makes the running and passing games easy. I mean, they're not easy, and our backfield is fucking great. But really, the big difference between this year and last year is that LSU seems to now have a dependable quarterback. He might not be flash and dash, but when the guy throws the ball it lands on target. And that's fine. Let the running backs run. You throw the ball. It should all work out.

It would not be crazy at all to bet on LSU winning the big one in January. And fuck Alabama.

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