Tag Archives: University of Texas

Austin Regional

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Texas – Since going to the College World Series, the Longhorns have not advanced past the Regional stage.  But that looks to change this year, as it seems that Texas is back.  After starting the season 16-3, the Longhorns went on an 18-game winning streak before Stephen F. Austin upset the team 1-0.  Texas faced 21 NCAA teams, finishing with a 23-7 record against them.

The Longhorns have been quite the potent team on offense, with three players in double digit home runs and  six players with 25 or more RBI.  Also, all but one of their regulars is hitting over .300.  Taylor Hoagland leads the squad with 14 home runs and adds 34 RBI, 24 steals and nine doubles.  Amy Hooke has 12 dingers and 35 RBI.  Taylor Thom has 11 doubles, 11 home runs and a team-high 41 RBI.  Her 11 two-baggers are tied for the lead with Lexy Bennett, who has a team-leading .455 batting average and 40 RBI.  Breja Washington leads the squad with 35 steals.

What might hinder Texas in the postseason is the amount that the Longhorns have relied on pitcher Blair Luna.  Luna has been the team’s horse, especially in Big 12 play, as her ERA is up nearly .6 over her overall ERA and her K:BB ratio is much smaller in conference play as well. Luna has an overall record of 27-6 and ERA of 1.27, with 298 K’s compared to 80 walks.  The team does have a capable backup in Rachel Fox, who has an 18-1 record overall with a 1.10 ERA, but she has only seen action in seven games since the start of conference play.

Houston – There must be something in the water in Texas, because the Cougars are just one of too many Texas teams that will qualify for the NCAA Tournament.  With a shocking semifinal loss to East Carolina in the conference tournament, Houston finished the regular season at 40-16.  The Cougars went 7-4 against ranked teams in the regular season.

Houston knows how to swing the bats, with six players hitting .290 or better, led by Holly Anderson, who is hitting at a .340 clip, tied for the team lead with 51 hits and leads the team with seven steals.  The big boppers, however, are Melissa Gregson and Brooke Lathan, who lead the team in home runs and RBI.  Gregson leads the team in both with 16 round-trippers and 43 runs batted in, while Lathan has 13 dingers and 36 RBI.

You know you had a top-tier pitching staff when a stud transfer, Donna Bourgeois is your number two hurler.  Bourgeois, a Louisiana-Lafayette transfer, was named the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year in 2009 and first-team All-Sun Belt two years straight.  She was also named to the All-Region second-team last season.  But her 16-6 record, 1.68 ERA and 130 strikeouts are only good enough for second on the team because Amanda Crabtree is just having a spectacular season.  The senior has an 18-8 record and a miniscule 0.94 ERA.  She has also fanned an impressive 314 batters.

Louisiana-Lafayette – The Cajuns come into the tournament having won their 11th Sun Belt Tournament Championship.  The team loaded up in the preseason, playing in two prestigious tournament, going against the likes of Alabama, Oregon, Notre Dame, Arizona and Arizona State.  They went 2-3 in those games.  The Cajuns come into the NCAA Tournament having won their last 11 games.

None of the regulars are hitting worse than .250.  Christi Orgeron (.418) is having a monster season, with 23 home runs and 97 RBI.  The crazy part is those 97 RBI are only good enough for fifth-highest in the country.  Her teammate, Gabriele Bridges (.380), has knocked 22 balls out of the park and has 76 RBI.  Sarah Draheim has 50 RBI on the season.  Nerissa Meyers, who is tied with Orgeron for a team-high 73 runs, leads the squad with 21 stolen bases.  Katie Smith is second in stolen bases with 20

Ashley Brignac is the team’s ace.  She went 30-5 in 38 appearances and holds a team-best 1.24 ERA.  She has punched out a total of 228 opponents this year, only walking 64 hitters.  The win in the conference title game gave her 30 wins for the second time in her three years at ULL.

Texas State – Texas State softball captured the 2011 Southland Conference Tournament Championship Saturday, ensuring the Bobcats their fifth NCAA Tournament berth. The title is the second in three years for Texas State as it earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.  The team usually plays a relatively tough schedule, including games against many 0n-state rivals and play them tough.  That trend continued this year, as they played Baylor, Houston (beating them once), Texas and Hawaii tough.

The Bobcats aren’t a team that swings for the fences, but they know how to drop balls in the gaps for doubles and singles.  The team features five players who have driven in 20 or more RBI, with the high being 29, set by McKenzie Baack.  Anna Hernandez is next with 28 and she’s also second on the team in steals with seven.  Jenna Emery, who leads the team with six homers, is tied with Haley Lemons, who leads the squad with 12 doubles, with 25 RBI.

Texas States’ two two pitchers, Chandler Hall and Anne Marie Taylor, have started 29 and 24 games, respectively.  Taylor has a 17-5 record, with a 1.77 ERA and 146 punchouts.  Hall is 15-15 with a 2.75 ERA and 173 K’s.

>College Basketball Previews

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>While this weekend’s matchups may not be as sexy as last week’s there are some very intriguing games that might go a long way in determining how a team ends up in the conference.  There are four games featuring ranked teams and those will be previewed here.

Game of the Week: Missouri vs. Texas

   Missouri comes into the game on a two-game winning streak, having defeated both Kansas State and Iowa  State handily.  The Tigers come in at 17-3, but two of their losses have been on the road (at Colorado and at Texas A&M by two points in overtime).  Junior guard Marcus Denmon leads five Tigers in double figures with 17.3 points per game.  Missouri uses a 10-man rotation and eight of the ten play 17 minutes per game or more (the other two play 11-12 mpg).  The Tigers average 85 ppg, which is good for fifth nationally and dish out 18 ppg, which is good for sixth in the nation.  Three players could be key factors in the game, besides Denmon. Ricardo Ratliffe, who is second on the team with 12 ppg and seven rpg, will be looked upon to neutralize the Texas big men.  The other two keys are Kim English and Phil Pressey.  English was expected to have a breakout season, but has struggled early in the season and Pressey has come back from an early season wrist injury to be second on the team in assists with nearly four dimes per game.  Texas was featured in last week’s preview as well.  The team is led by the frontcourt duo of Justin Hamilton and Tristan Thompson.  Cory Joseph will be the key for Texas in this game.  How he reacts to the “Fastest Forty Minutes in Basketball” will be crucial.  The Tigers love to press and create turnovers after made baskets so how he will be able to handle the pressure will be the difference.  Joseph has only turned the ball over more than three times once and has had some of his cleanest games against UNC, UConn and USC.  Prediction:  Mizzou pulls the road upset: 78-76

Louisville at Connecticut

   The Cardinals come in having won three of their last five, including two buzzer beaters over Marquette and West Virginia.  Louisville is led by Preston Knowles, who averages just over 15 points per game and is hitting 40 percent of his three point attempts.  Two others, Peyton Siva and Chris Smith, are also averagibg double figures.  Siva, who hit the game-winner against West Virginia, is going for nearly 11 points per game and a team-high five assists per game.  Smith averages 10 ppg and leads the team, hitting nearly half of his three pointers.  Three of Louisville’s bog men (Rakeem Buckles, Jared Swopshire and Gorgui Dieng) are out with injuries.  The key could be Kyle Kuric.  He is an on and off player, who when he is hot, is able to put up 20 ppg but has also had five games of zero points.  The Huskies rely on guard Kemba Walker and their inside presence, which is helping them average 41 rebounds per game.  Walker is being considered as one of the top two contenders for NCAA POY, averaging 24 ppg, five rpg and four apg.  Big man Alex Oriakhis is the only other Huskie averaging double figures at 11, but leads the team with nine boards per game.  The key could be freshman Shabazz Napier, who is averaging 8.4 ppg and over three assists per game.  Like Kuric, he is hot and cold, going for double digits in six games, including three this month.  Prediction: The Huskies’ depth and Louisville injuries help the Huskies pull out a 75-60 win.

 Georgetown at Villanova


   Georgetown has been on a bit of a slide lately, going 4-4 in their last eight and are coming into a hostile environment on Saturday.  The Hoyas are riding a three-game winning streak, however.  They are led by Mr. Do-It-All Austin Freeman, who is averaging over 18 points per game.  The senior guard has scored in double digits in all but two games and has scored 25 points or more in two of the last three.  Georgetown has two others, Jason Clark and Chris Wright, who are averaging double digits.  Clark is pouring in 13 points a game, while wright is averaging over 10 and leads the team with 5.6 assists per game.  Guard play will be the key in this game.  If one guard is having a rough night, there will have to be others to pick up the slack. And if the guards struggle, the frontcourt has to be able to bail them out too.  After knocking off Syracuse on the road, Villanova got blown out in their game against Providence.  Villanova has won two of the three, losing the last to Connecticut on a last-second shot by Kemba Walker.  The Wildcats have three players who average double figures, including two seniors: Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes, both of whom are scoring 15 points per game.  While Stokes leads the team in free throw (94) and three point (44) percentage, Fisher is second on the team in assists per game, with five.  The other player in double figures, Maalik Wayans (13.5 ppg), also leads the team with 5.3 dimes per game. Prediction: Villanova is just too good and wins 80-65

Minnesota at Purdue

   Minnesota, on a four-game winning streak, started that streak with a home win against Purdue.  A key piece from that win, Al Nolen, is out for the season with an injury however and that has caused Blake Hoffarber to take over PG duties.  Three of the Gophers’ four losses have been on the road.  Hoffarber is one of three Minnesota players in double digits, averaging 14 points per game.  He not only leads the team in assists with 4.4 per game, but also three-point percentage, knocking in 40 percent of his treys.  Trevor Mbakwe is second in points with 13.4 and leads the team with 10.5 rebounds per contest.  Ralph Sampson III is the other Gopher is double figures, throwing in 11 ppg.  The key will be the play of Mbakwe and Sampson, as they will have to go up against the beasts of Purdue.  The Boilermakers, on the other hand, have been on a bit of a skid lately, dropping three of their last five.  JaJuan Johnson continues to be a beast for them inside, averaging nearly 21 ppg and eight rebounds per game.  Johnson has scored 20 points or more in his last five games.  He is supported by guard E’Twaun Moore, who is averaging 18 ppg.  No other Purdue player is averaging over six points per game.  The key here is for Johnson to continue his hot streak.  Prediction: Purdue pulls out a squeaker, 67-64

>Rivalry Week Part 1

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>The last couple of weeks of the college football season always brings us some of the nation’s top rivalries, and that is the case again this year.  There is a minimum of 13 rivalry games this weekend, highlighted by Missouri-Kansas, Texas-Texas A&M, Ohio State-Michigan and .  Here’s a look at some, if not all, of them.

Texas-Texas A&M

   This is the first time the teams have met without Texas (5-6, 2-5) ranked in the Top 25 since 1998, when the Longhorns defeated the then-No. 6 Aggies 26-24 on a late field goal.  The Aggies started the season sluggishly, but have won five straight, pushing them into the top 20 in the country. The Longhorns were unable to recover from theirs and need a win to avoid missing a bowl game for the first time since 1997 — also the last time they had a losing season.

   The football series between the two universities is the third longest running rivalry in all of college football.  Since 1900, the last regular season football game is usually reserved for their matchup. Each school mentions the other in their fight song (Texas with “and it’s goodbye to A&M” in Texas Fight and the Aggies singing about Texas for essentially the entire second verse of the Aggie War Hymn).  In the past, mischief has preceded the annual game, such as “kidnapping” each other’s mascots.  The Longhorns lead the series 75-36-5.

Auburn-Alabama

   The Iron Bowl is a common name for the college football game between the Auburn University Tigers and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.  Auburn and Alabama played their first football game in Lakeview Park in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 22, 1893.  Disagreement between the schools began immediately as Alabama considered the game to be the final matchup of the 1892 season and Auburn recorded it as the first of 1893.  The series was indeed suspended after the 1907 game when the schools could not come to agreement over the amount of expenses to be paid players, as well as from where officials for the game should be obtained.

   In 1947 the Alabama House of Representatives passed a resolution encouraging the schools to “make possible the inauguration of a full athletic program between the two schools.” Ralph B. Draughon, the president of Auburn (then named the Alabama Polytechnic Institute), and Alabama president John Gallalee decided during the winter and spring of 1948 to end the disagreement and renew the series. The games would be played in Birmingham because it had the largest stadium in the state, 44,000-seat Legion Field, and the tickets would be split evenly between the two schools. Alabama won the first game when the series renewed 55–0, the most lopsided victory of the series.

   Auburn desired to make the Iron Bowl a “home-and-home” series, and the schools reached an agreement where Auburn could play their home games for the Iron Bowl in Auburn starting in 1989 (except for the 1991 game, which was played at Legion Field), and Alabama would have a “home” ticket allocation for games in Legion Field.  Since 1893, the Crimson Tide and Tigers have played 74 times. Alabama leads the all-time series, with 40 wins to Auburn’s 33, with one tie. The game has been played in four cities: Auburn, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa. Alabama leads the series in Birmingham (34–18–1). Auburn leads the series in Tuscaloosa (6–1–0) and Auburn (7–3–0). The series is tied in Montgomery (2–2–0).

Kansas-Missouri

   The intense rivalry between the two universities can be traced to the open violence involving anti-slavery and pro-slavery elements that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of Missouri throughout the 1850s. These incidents were attempts by Missouri (a slave state) to influence whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. The term Bleeding Kansas is often used to refer to the pre-war conflict, culminating with the burning and looting of Osceola, Missouri in 1861 by James Lane’s Kansas Jayhawkers, which was a contributing factor to the Lawrence Massacre reprisal two years later. The raid on Lawrence was led by William Quantrill, a Kansas citizen who had actually taught school in Lawrence prior to the Civil War. SI.com supervising producer Dan George summed up the rivalry by stating “It’s more than the schools — it’s a state thing going back to before the Civil War, when William Quantrill’s Confederate guerillas burned Lawrence and murdered nearly 200 people. Neither Missouri nor Kansas folks have forgotten it.” Those on the Missouri side are quick to point out that the Jayhawkers were guilty of the same things – crossing into Missouri, leading brutal raids and burning towns, and that Quantrill was part of a group that almost burnt down Columbia due to it being a Union stronghold.

   The 2007 football season brought the origins of the rivalry between the two states back into the spotlight. A t-shirt created by a Missouri alumnus gained national attention with its reference to Quantrill’s Raid of 1863. The shirt depicted the burning of Lawrence in 1863 following the raid of William Quantrill and his Bushwhackers against the Jayhawkers of Kansas. The image of Lawrence burning was paired with the word “Scoreboard” and a Mizzou logo. On the back of the shirts, William Quantrill was quoted, saying “Our cause is just, our enemies many.” Some Kansas fans interpreted these shirts as supporting slavery. KU supporters returned fire with a shirt depicting abolitionist John Brown with the words, “Kansas: Protecting America from Missouri since 1854.”

    The Missouri-Kansas football series is the second-most-played rivalry in college football history. The teams first matched up in football on October 31, 1891. There have been 9 ties in the 118 games played.  On November 24, 2007, the two teams entered the game both ranked in the top five in the nation: Kansas at #2 and Missouri at #3. On the heels of #1 LSU’s loss the day before, Missouri won the game 36-28 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, with a near-record 80,537 people (the second-largest crowd in stadium history) in attendance and the largest TV audience to watch any 2007 regular season game, and therefore became #1 in both the Bowl Championship Series and Associated Press polls.

   Although 55-54-9 for MU is the official series result, there is an ongoing discussion about whether the 1960 games should have been counted as a win for Kansas, making the series 55-54-9 in their favor. The Big 8 forfeited the win to Missouri due to Kansas’ ineligible player, Bert Coan. The University of Kansas still considers the game a Kansas win, fueling the controversy. Due to the Kansas win on the field, several other publications have also referenced the series record more to the favor of Kansas.  


>Weekend Observations

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  • The Michigan-Illinois game (132 points) is the highest scoring game in FBS this season and the highest scoring game between two Big ten Conference opponents all-time.  Roy Roundtree who finished with a Michigan school record 246 receiving yards.  65 points by Illinois is the most allowed in Michigan school history. Illinois’ 65 points is two shy of FBS record for most by losing team (9th-most points scored in school history). Michigan: allowed 40+ pts in back-to-back games for 1st time in school history.
  • Army threw its first interception of the year against Air Force. That means every FBS team has now thrown an interception this year – Army was the last team alive without one.
  • Brandon Weeden threw for a school-record 435 yards and three scores and Oklahoma State set a new school mark for total offense for the second time this season by gaining 725 yards. Baylor has not won at Oklahoma State since 1939. The Cowboys improved to 11-1 against the Bears since 1999. 
  • Damaris Johnson moved into first place in the Conference USA record books for career kickoff return yards. 
  • Kansas scored 35 unanswered points after trailing 45-17 early in the fourth quarter. The 35 points are the second-most scored in the 4th quarter by a team to win in FBS History.  The 35 points in the fourth quarter were the most in Jayhawks history.
  • North Carolina beat Florida State for the second time (2-15-1 all-time).  The win made the Tar Heels bowl eligible. They’ve qualified for a bowl every year under Butch Davis.  T.J. Yates threw for a school-record 439 yards
  • Boise State extended the FBS’ longest active win streak to 22 games and 33 regular-season games.  Kellen Moore threw for a career-high 507 yards and three touchdowns, which gives him a school-record 85 touchdowns.  The team rolled up a school-record 737 total yards
  • Navy beat East Carolina 76-35 on Saturday, setting a school single-game scoring record and most since 1919.  With the win, Navy qualified for a bowl game for the eighth straight season and will play in the Poinsettia Bowl against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference on Dec. 23.  It was the most points scored by either East Carolina or an opponent in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, while Navy’s 521 yards rushing were the most by an opponent here and the second-most allowed by the Pirates ever. It was also the second-most points ever allowed by East Carolina, trailing Guilford’s 79 points in November 1932.
  • Joe Paterno joined John Gagliardi and the late Eddie Robinson as the only coaches in NCAA history with 400 wins and is the only FBS coach to do so.  Only two other coaches have more wins. Robinson had 408 with FCS school Grambling State, while Gagliardi had 476 entering the weekend with Division III St. John’s, Minn
  • Colin Kaepernick had 320 passing yards and five TDs as Nevada beat Idaho for the sixth straight time. Nevada had 844 total yards of offense, a school record. It was the most offense by any FBS school since 2004. Nevada had three players run for over 100 yards.
  • James Aho kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired to lift New Mexico to a 34-31 victory over Wyoming and end a nine-game losing streak on Saturday.  UNM had lost 23 of its last 24 games
  • Texas A&M broke a seven-game losing streak to Oklahoma. Texas A&M won its third straight overall and beat the Sooners for the first time since 2002.  Oklahoma lost on the road for the second time in less than a month. Texas A&M earned its first win over a ranked team since defeating Texas in 2007. 
  • Arkansas beat South Carolina for the fourth time in the last five games between the two schools. Since Bobby Petrino became head coach, Arkansas has thrown for at least 300 yards in 17 of 34 games.  South Carolina had its six-game home winning streak stopped and it was just the Gamecocks’ second loss in 15 games in Columbia.  
  • Stanford matched its win total from last season and snapped Arizona’s five-game road win streak. Stanford RB Stepfan Taylor ran for four TDs, outscoring Arizona by himself. Taylor hadn’t scored more than two TDs in a game in his career. Arizona allowed at least 30 points for the first time this season.  
  • The Longhorns, who played Alabama last season for the national championship, lost for the fifth time in six games and fell below .500 for the first time since losing their 1999 opener. They will have to win their last three games — home against No. 19 Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M — just to match Brown’s lowest victory total since going 7-5 at North Carolina in 1995. Also in jeopardy is Brown’s string of taking 18 consecutive teams to a bowl.  
  • Ronnie Hillman became the third San Diego State freshman to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season, joining Marshall Faulk (1991) and Lionel Hamilton (1994).
  • With two rushing touchdowns Thursday, Josh Nesbitt ties Jonathan Dwyer for the 2nd-most rush TD in Georgia Tech history with 35 for his career. Robert Lavette leads with 45. With Nesbitt’s 86 yards rushing Thursday, he passes Woody Dantzler for the most rushing yards by an ACC quarterback. He entered the game needing 42 yards to pass Dantlzer. Nesbitt now has 4 50-yard rushes this season. Since 2004, only Joe Webb (UAB) with 5 in 2009 has more in a single season by a quarterback.