Texas 41, New Mexico State 7

"i came early"
by 54beatnick

i came early, i wore orange,
was LOUD and even stayed Late,
heard the Horns stampede in the smoke,
and thought, yeah, we're awesome, that's Great.

i came early, i wore orange,
was LOUD and even stayed Late,
watched the defense destroy the opponent,
and thought, surely, these guys are first Rate

i came early, i wore orange,
was LOUD and even stayed Late,
saw Simms throw a pair of td's,
and thought, ha, the critics, he'd Placate,

i came early, i wore orange,
was LOUD and even stayed Late,
arose to my feet and cheered for the freshman,
and thought, wow, this kid's quick out the Gate

i came early, i wore orange,
was LOUD and even stayed Late,
decided that this was going to be the year,
and thought, finally, pasadena, it's Fate

i came early, i wore orange,
was LOUD and even stayed Late,
but then I remembered who we were playing,
and thought, shit, it's only new mexico State

Thank you very much. I'll be here all season. Tip your waitress.

THE GAME
After Saturday, I can honestly tell you two things; I still don't know
what to expect from the 2001 Texas Longhorns and my antiperspirant
worked about as well as New Mexico State's game plan. After achieving
super saturation and going back to my car three times to change shirts
(one of them, I purchased outside Schultz and later disintegrated after
spilling imitation guacamole on it, what's in that stuff?), I made my
way to Royal Texas Memorial only to see Mack Brown run about three
different plays all game long - Benson left, Benson right and Benson up
the middle. Seriously, Mack probably played it smart by choosing only
to run a handful of offensive plays and wait until later to divulge what
should be one of the Nation's most prolific offenses. Brown said in a
post game interview that "we could have scored a 100 if we wanted to,
but I told the coaches I wanted to establish the running game even if
NMSU was putting nine guys in the box." As if it really mattered.
Regardless, Texas rolls convincingly with a 41-7 route of patsy New
Mexico State.

THE GOOD
1) Team Defense - they came out ready to play and fired up. Forced
some turnovers when they needed to and showed a lot of team speed. The
only NMSU score was a fluke at best.
2) Give it up for the Walk-on! Dusty Mangum, not Magnum as previously
reported in the papers, did very well with two field goals and a few
extra points. I noticed that Mack chose to punt rather than ask Dusty
to kick a 52 yard field goal early. Probably a good idea to help build
his confidence.
3) Cedric Benson - unbelievable! The crowd gives the guy a standing-O
even before he runs a single play, or 7 in a row for that matter. It's
still too early to tell, but I figure he'll be starting by the Houston
game.
4) Texas Fans - I can't remember ever seeing so much orange in the
stands and I've never seen people show up that early and stay that late,
especially for a game that was obviously over after the first kick off.
Mack's got the PR machine workin'.
5) Tailgate - big points to Nad and his friends. Way to start the
season off right. Despite popular belief, tailgating is a sport and
they play it well.

THE BAD
1) O-Line - Chris Simms got laid out twice in the first 3 plays. Pick
up the damn blitz already. Offensive line coach Tim Nunez said his
players missed their blitz pick-ups because they hadn't seen NMSU do
that on film. Well punch me in the nose and call me a jelly donut, cuz
that's about the dumbest excuse I've ever heard. Is that going to be
the standard excuse every game going forward? If so, Simms better get
a bigger ear hole in his helmet, because he's gonna be looking out of it
if the O-Line keeps this up.
2) Kick-offs - they need to be much deeper, or the opposition will
start every drive from the 35.
3) Roy Williams - Dropped two balls that hit him right in the hands.
He's also got an ankle injury that could limit him for a while.
4) The Aggies - and I'm not just talking about NMSU. McNeese State
going off on Texas A&M, what's up with that?

AND THE UGLY
Folks, I don't want to say it, but get ready for Quarterback Controversy
II. Simms still stares down his receivers and telegraphs every throw.
He got it going at the end of the first half, but never looked as
comfortable in the pocket as Applewhite has in the past. Simms looks to
me like a robot; he drops back exactly six steps and fires no matter
what is happening in the play. Rarely does he let the play develop or
give his receivers any time to distance themselves from the defenders.
Maybe it was because he was nervous or a little gun shy from getting
knocked on his ass at the beginning of the game, but I never thought he
got into a rhythm. Sometimes I think he's too much of a professional
style quarterback already. Applewhite seems to be much better suited
for the college game, like Heupel was with OU. Heupel will most likely
never play a down in the NFL because he's just not a pro-style QB.
Let's hope we see a lot more from Mr. Simms in the...

NEXT GAME
UNC comes to town with an 0-2 record with losses to Oklahoma and
Maryland. The Tarheels still haven't solved their offensive problems
and look to replace their much maligned Senior QB, Curry, with a
freshman upstart. Their defense is lead by Julius Peppers, one of the
best Defensive Ends around, and is quite active. They showed a lot of
heart after getting down early at OU. Having learned from a lot of
mistakes in their first two games, I look for them to make a game of it
early, but start to fade by the 3rd quarter. The speed of the Texas
defense should frustrate them causing turnovers or 3 and outs and
creating some short field situations for the Longhorn offense. The key
match up of the game will most likely be 1st year starter and left
tackle Robbie Doan against right defensive end Julius Peppers. I'd keep
a running back in the backfield as another blocker for at least the
first quarter. So who's going to win? Well, it's time again for
the...

UNPREDICTABLE PREDICTION
Skip shot: North Carolina's gonna get "Tarheeled and Feathered", rock
me!

TAILGATE UPDATE
Well, it should be a Bloody Mary Morning (isn't every morning?). We'll
be at the usual spot around 8:00am ("six in the mornin'...") with some Breakfast Tacos (you want cheese mijo?), Bloody Marys (hair of the dog),
Screwdrivers (breakfast of champions), and Tequila Sunrises (courtesy
reach around included). We'll also be grilling after the game well into
the evening (Beef, it's what's for dinner). As always, it's BYOB (bring
your own Bitterly?). See you there.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Guys, we're losing to a team that puts their school name on the back of their jerseys." - A&M linebacker, to his teammates in the 3rd quarter after they fell behind by two touchdowns to McNeese St, a division I-AA school.