1 - It's Texas Week! Tell me why Missouri will beat Texas in 2009. That's right, I said "WILL."
2 - If you had to bet your life on either Texas or Oklahoma winning the Big 12 in 2009, which would you take?
3 - Here's UT's schedule. Give me a record prediction:
9/5 - UL-Monroe
9/12 - at (!) Wyoming
9/19 - Texas Tech
9/26 - UTEP
10/10 - Colorado
10/17 - vs Oklahoma
10/24 - at Missouri
10/31 - at Oklahoma State
11/7 - Central Florida
11/14 - at Baylor
11/21 - Kansas
11/26 - at Texas A&M
4 - Favorite city in Texas not named Austin?
The Beef: 1 - Um…because the fall blockbuster "Transformers III – Revenge of Godzilla-Tron" will be loosely based on the scoreboard falling on the UT team in a freak accident, limiting the roster to the cast of Necessary Roughness for our game.
2 - I’d bet on OU for no real educated reasons
3 - 9/5 - UL-Monroe - win
9/12 - at (!) Wyoming - win
9/19 - Texas Tech – early…interesting…win
9/26 – UTEP - win
10/10 – Colorado - win
10/17 - vs Oklahoma - loss
10/24 - at Missouri - win
10/31 - at Oklahoma State – win (I guess since I said OSU would lose this game last week)
11/7 - Central Florida – late…intereting…win
11/14 - at Baylor - win
11/21 – Kansas - win
11/26 - at Texas A&M – win
Oy…I guess 11-1 it is…not entirely sure who OU loses to, so I am guessing UT will be held out of the inaugural December Jerry Bowl.
4 - I am going to have to go with Dallas while mentioning I have not ever been to Austin or San Antonio or really anywhere else in Texas (and understanding at least the two which I mentioned are typically held in higher esteem than Dallas). We really did have a good time in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl however.
The Boy: As soon as I hit send, I realized it was probably silly to ask Mizzou fans about their favorite Texas city...at least after the really good time most had in Dallas not that long ago. Pretty obvious answer there (especially since two members of the Roundtable are from the Dallas area). My bad.
1 - I was going to give a joking answer, but I'm not going to top Beefy's, so I'll go serious. I'm not even remotely predicting it will happen, but if Mizzou has to play Texas, I'd say "between the OU game and UT's trip to Stillwater" would be pretty much the perfect placement for the game. Decent sandwich/trap game potential there. That, and as I mentioned in my stat-nerdy post yesterday, I'm not convinced UT's offense isn't going to go into at least a teeny, tiny (and temporary) offensive funk.
Yeah, that's the best I can do.
2 - I'm riding the hot hand (three wins in four years): Texas. That, and at some point OU's thin, raw offensive line is going to cost them...might as well say it happens here.
3 - My stats say 12-0, so I'll go with that. Clearly you couldn't ask for a much better schedule if you're Texas. OSU aside, their other road games are at Wyoming, Missouri, Baylor, and ATM. None of the final three are total pushovers, but still...for a Big 12 team with national title aspirations, that's not too bad.
4 - Lubbock, baby. The only place I've ever visited where I had to spend an hour under the bleachers because of a freak thunderstorm and almost saw a tuba (okay, sousaphone) player get struck by lightning directly after pronouncing "Let's hear it for the lightning rod!!"
(My real answer is Dallas, but that's already too predictable. I enjoyed San Antonio too, but the Alamo is EXTREMELY overrated, so they get a point deduction for that.)
The Boy: Okay, 38 minutes, not an hour.
ZouDave: 1 - Well, beating Texas will mean that:
a) - our pass rush, specifically from the defensive ends, is twice what it was a year ago so McCoy can't scramble and buy time
b) - our secondary is not only improved in pass coverage, but also isn't breaking down as often because of the pass rush
c) - Sean Weatherspoon controlled the middle in such a way that the run isn't getting through
Honestly, it would be because of our defense. Our offense will just have to take what they can get, but we're only beating Texas because our defense went fucking crazy.
2 - Oklahoma. If I'm betting my life, I'm going with the odds. OU has won it a helluva lot more often.
3 - 9/5 - UL-Monroe - W
9/12 - at (!) Wyoming - W
9/19 - Texas Tech - (wow, this early?) W
9/26 - UTEP - W
10/10 - Colorado - W
10/17 - vs Oklahoma - L
10/24 - at Missouri - W
10/31 - at Oklahoma State - W
11/7 - Central Florida - W
11/14 - at Baylor - W
11/21 - Kansas - W
11/26 - at Texas A&M - W
Yikes. So I guess they'll be 11-1 again, and likely not in the B12 Championship Game again, but most likely in a BCS Bowl again. Maybe OU will lose 2 games this year in conference and let Texas into it, though, I have no idea.
4 - I've spent so little time in Texas I can't answer this meaningfully. The only cities I've ever been to in Texas are Dallas (once for a conference, once for the Cotton Bowl after the '07 season) and San Marcos (was there in the summer of 1993 for a Cheerleading Camp...that was glorious).
Doug: 1 - Uh... because a giant hole will open up at the Columbia Airport and swallow the Texas team plane when it arrives from Austin?
2 - Can I bet Beef's life? Because if that's the case, I'll pick Baylor. If I still have to wager my own, I'll go with Oklahoma, when picking between Stoops and Brown... always go with Stoops.
3 - I'll say 11-1.
4 - I've only been to Dallas, but I've been a couple of times, and for a gigantic, sprawling megalopolis... it does seem like a nice city and one where I wouldn't mind living.
1 - Mizzou will beat Texas because it's homecoming, and Missouri is 129-0 on homecoming all-time. Wait, what's that? I made up that statistic? Missouri loses on homecoming quite often, especially to vastly superior teams? Well then. I rescind my statement.
2 - Just pull the trigger.
3 - Alright, here we go. Sure wins for UT include UL-Monroe, at Wyoming, Texas Tech (a sure win by virtue of it being in Austin), UTEP, Colorado, @Mizzou, Central Florida, @Baylor, Kansas and @Traditionville University. There are no sure losses on the schedule. The toss-ups are OU and @OK State (really, only because it's in Stillwater). That makes them as good as 12-0, as bad as 10-2, and I'm extremely comfortable calling them 11-1.
4 - I don't think I can answer this question as well as my friend Big Tuck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYbGEnEtCBc
In short, we so for real hurr, presidents get kill'd hurr.
Or, if that's not enough to convince you, consider Dallas rapper Dorrough, who has written the single greatest rap song of the past 20 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yfArN-e2OU
You're all welcome.
rptgwb: 1. Because there's nothing like that Faurot Field advantage?
2. Give me Texas. I remain extremely curious to see what Sam Bradford's numbers look like behind an retooled offensive line at Oklahoma. Granted, OU is probably replacing 5-stars with 5-stars, but that factor alone tilts the favor the way of UT in my eyes.
3. Everyone is calling them at 11-1 it seems. For the sake of being different, put me down as calling them at 12-0. Do I want that to happen? Nope. Can I see it happening? Yes. Plus, by calling them to go undefeated, I just jinxed them. See what I did there? Prediction failure CAN be fun!
4. Dallas is the easy answer here, but why not spread the love? How about a little love to Gruene, which has been gently resisting change since 1872? How about brews from the little town of Shiner? How about the cities of Rockdale and Denton for producing Mizzou's top two sack leaders? I'll stop here.
And considering I haven't had the opportunity to "fully appreciate" the Riverwalk, I'll second The Boy's sentiments on San Antonio.
(Two hours later...)
ZouDave: So have we jumped the shark? Or is there just not enough to talk about in the pre-season, especially when focusing on an opponent we all pretty much assume is just going to leave us as a stain on the field?
The Beef: I just think it is tough to talk about these teams in June/July when we wont see them play for another couple of months. I must be a visual learner…or something
ZouDave: Is anybody else a big enough junkie to have already picked up NCAA Football 10 for their respective gaming system? It was, after all, released YESTERDAY.
Mizzou is pretty bad on there, but I'm remaining optimistic about the sim engine because Mizzou is so young. EA Sports has said that the game has been redesigned this year so that players will grow more from year-to-year than they have in the past, so a guy that is a 70 OVR as a FR/SO could end up in the upper 80s or lower 90s as a JR/SR. If that's the case, then Mizzou (on NCAA 10) will have a rough go in the 2009 season but then will likely be pretty awesome in the next 2 seasons. That may be closer to reality than I want to admit.
On the other hand, EA Sports sure gives Nebraska a lot of credit. Nebraska is probably one of the top 20 rated teams on the game, and that's just rubbish. They're rated WAY higher than kansas (who for some reason has 3 offensive linemen better than our best offensive linemen, one of which is a true frosh) and kansas is rated pretty far above us. However, kansas' future shows pretty well on there because their entire team (other than those linemen) is Reesing, Meier, Briscoe and Sharp. They'll all be gone after the 2009 season, and kansas will suck out loud. Mizzou's defense is pretty bad on there, but it's better than ku's by a decent margin.
There are some problems with the roster, though. Like...Coulter doesn't exist on there. And Sheldon Richardson does. And Shawn Scott has the same OVR as De'Vion Moore. And Danario Alexander is our 5th fastest receiver. And they reversed our centers, and they have Baston as the 3rd DT, and they think Gachkar is the equivalent of Gettys. Other than that, though... ;-)
Michael Atchison: Honestly, I didn’t understand a word of that. Is that somehow like Missile Command?
Doug: Any more these days, the EA Sports games are like real Missile Command, and God help you if you screw up, because you'll level Moscow.
The Beef:
rptgwb: "Is anybody else a big enough junkie to have already picked up NCAA Football 10 for their respective gaming system? It was, after all, released YESTERDAY."
To answer your question, yes. I haven't played with Missouri yet, though. I refuse to play with them until I get the names on the roster and I have time to fix MU's depth chart. Forgetting Coulter was one thing, but the mid-50s Gachkar was appalling.
But, oh my, what a sexy, sexy addition Teambuilder is to this series.
ZouDave: TeamBuilder is a sexy addition. I created Eastern State University from "The Program", and was so meticulous I actually went through the entire movie and figured out everyone's name and corresponding number and, where possible, their position and have the roster to match the team. Yes, this is what I do with some of my spare time. I do it instead of sleeping, really.
Are you on 360 or PS3? If you're on 360, I can at least give you the hookup for a roster that will bridge the gap until a fully named roster comes out. I went through and named all of the Mizzou players, adjusted those that weren't correct, added players that weren't there, etc. It's not perfect, but it's way better than it was. My gamertag is, of course, ZouDave. I'll post the file in my EA Locker tonight so you can download it.
The Beef: And with this…we just lost our last three readers…the geekdom just hit a level reserved for Star Wars movie premieres.
ZouDave:
Michael Atchison: We also lost at least one writer. I’m gobsmacked.