It's that terrible time of year when all of our questions about next year's team can only bubble before the first answers creep in from spring practices. Given the circumstances, losing the national championship and most of the main figures in it, it's easy to be especially curious about which players or what schemes will see prominence.
Football
Well I've got little for you save for the non-news that the Coaching staff are getting bonuses.
List of top 10 WRs in the 2010 Draft Class. Shipley in at no. 7.
Vasherized points out that 2011 will feature a visit from BYU giving Texas an opportunity to do what OU could not and defeat the Clan of the Sacred Underwear. There's a link to the released schedules at MackBrown-texasfootball.com. Other than the Mississippi series the featured matchups are against the Pac-10. Hopefully this will pay dividends in cleaning up the Golden State leftovers.
Jackson Jeffcoat announces his intentions on January 31st, hopefully providing the Nickel Rover with a happy birthday gift. Gerry Hamilton thinks that's the most likely $cenario.
Basketball
Over on Tortilla retort RRR frets about Red Raider's chances Wednesday with Polish Athletes.
Ken Pomeroy has this ranked as the fifth best team vs. the 87th. It becomes clear when looking at Pomeroy's rankings that Texas is only scoring high in games where the pace would allow for most teams to score proficiently. The real difference is Texas' defense which has been able to contest/block shots and jump passing lanes in those high-speed contests. In a slower halfcourt game Texas' offense more closely resembles the 31st ranked unit Pomeroy sees in the numbers.
The SuperBowl
The matchup is set, Colt McCoy's most favorable NFL comparison vs. Greg Davis' vision for the Texas offense. If we had video like this of Colt bitching out his line I would watch it 10 times every morning.
As for that Colt offensive scheme, you can see a breakdown here and probably won't fail to notice the similarities with what Texas does save for being under center and at a higher level, obviously.
Tuesday Morning Quarterback offers his normal NFL thoughts centering mostly on damning Favre for his 316th interception. I was one of probably 12 million Americans who predicted his interception both before the drive and immediately before he threw it back against the grain of the Saints defense.
This is the 2nd SuperBowl in a row in which both teams rely primarily on the passing game. Certainly Thomas or Addai will punish defenses that don't play the run honestly (that towering standard Texas could still not achieve) but no one thinks of those players when considering the matchup.
Finally, we can always spend attention on other topics, such as the greatest 25 action movies according to inside movies.
I'm not real thrilled about no. 2 while 4 and 17 seem out of place and strangely ranked.
The real tragedy however is the absence of Predator, perhaps Arnold's 2nd greatest achievement. There are, in fact several Arnold movies I would choose to watch in a second over some of the inclusions on the list. What makes a truly great action movie should not overlook such entertainment values as unintentional comedy and re-watchability. Dutch and Dillon's reunion is a perfect introduction to the kind of movie you're gonna get. Gratuitous action and testosterone.