perhaps the single greatest photo montage ever

as I'm sure you're keenly aware, we here at the 12MC have a rather (un)healthy obsession with ESPN reporter, Erin Andrews.

today, a 3:01 gift from heaven:


(thanks to The Wiz for the heads up)

come again?

so someone, who was clearly off their meds, nominated us for "Best Big XII Blog" over at MGoBlog's annual CFB Blog Awards

go here to vote (must have a CFB blog).


Votes we feel strongly about:

• "Best Pac-10 Blog"
  
  Tightwad Hill
  hands down the best team blog we've come across.


• "Best National Blog"
  
  The Wizard of Odds
  it's exactly what a national blog should be


• "The Brady Quinn Award" (prettiest blog)
  
  Bevo Sports
  the best layout and design in the college football blogosphere


• "Best Big XII Blog"
  
  Double Extra Point or CrossCyed
  basically, vote for anyone that's not a member of the lame SB Nation syndicate, especially BON. and hey, if you're feelin crazy, toss us a vote too so we don't end up last.
  

Holiday Bowl Q&A w/Tightwad Hill

Last week we conducted a Q&A with Cal blog Tightwad Hill. TH is the best team blog i've come across, no other blog in the country provides as much quality content as that one. A bold statement, i know, but fact nonetheless. Below are their answers to my questions.

(Their questions for me can be found here)

The 12th Manchild: During this year's Texas A&M @ Kansas game, the KU student body repeatedly heckled Jorvorskie Lane with chants of "Walrus". As the resident Californian, with your proximity to sea lions (relative to Texas), can you please evaluate the validity of their choice of nickname? If you were the heckler (safe behind 1-foot thick concrete walls and bullet proof glass, of course) what name would you bestow upon him.

Tightwad Hill:Firstly, the walrus and the sea lion are quite different animals. Secondly, neither move quite as quickly as Mr. Lane. Thirdly, we come not to heckle Jorvorskie Lane, but to celebrate him. CFB is great precisely because of athletic freaks like him. In the NFL, everyone's fast and enormous, so no one stands out.

I do look forward to the Lane/Shamu staredown at Sea World. Shamu's been feisty lately, what with almost crushing one of his trainers, so Lane had better bring his A game.

With respect to the game, I am very concerned that Cal's linebackers will have a difficult time wrapping up on Lane. I am even more concerned that Lane will grow tired of the proceedings in San Diego and eat our nickel back in the 2nd quarter.

The 12th Manchild: Marshawn Lynch. 3 years. 4501 total yds. 33 TDs. 198 pts. All that in addition to an impressive trail of empty jocks and broken ankles, yet many fans cry out for the lack of hardware in the trophy case. Why do they need to shutup? and What overrated players does Marshawn get drafted over?

Tightwad Hill:I don't know a single Old Blue who followed the Bears PT (pre-Tedford) who thinks Marshawn is a disappointment. It's the bandwagon crowd who expected that Cal would naturally beat SC this year and Marshawn would naturally win the Heisman.

Marshawn's not perfect - he dances too much and occasionally tries to make the perfect run instead of picking up four yards off right tackle. But he is the most exciting back this side of Steve Slaton, and he will make a terrific pro. He's played the entire year with two sprained ankles, and he still averaged six yards a carry. What separates Lynch is his versatility - he is very dangerous catching passes out of the backfield and Tedford will typically try to isolate him and DeSean Jackson in space at least a couple times every game.


The 12th Manchild: Berkeley or Cal? It seems like it's "Cal" when the discussion is sports based, and "Berkeley" when the discussion is academics. Set this ignorant Texan straight.

Tightwad Hill: You're spot on. With respect to athletics, it's always Cal or California - never UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal-Berkeley or Cal State Berkeley, which is what the Citrus Bowl called us in 1991. However, academics always refer to the school as "Berkeley" like Oxford or Cambridge. The reasons for the AD's position are twofold. First, ours is the original UC campus, and therefore
we feel we don't need the geographic distinction - we are California, and the other guys are UCLA (or the Southern Campus). Second, the athletic department became uncomfortable with Berkeley because of what the word connotes - this was a much bigger issue in the 60s and 70s of course.


The 12th Manchild: Besides Sandy Cohen, who is Cal's most beloved graduate? most embarassing?


Tightwad Hill: Sandy is definitely one of the best fictional graduates, along with Monk, Jack Bauer, and Ray Kinsella. I'm fond of Ray myself.

In real life, there's lots to choose from in both categories. For "embarrassing" lots of folks suggest William Hung of Idol fame, but the Hungster never graduated. William Randolph Hearst has his name all over the campus and city, but he was a pretty miserable guy. The inspiration for Citizen Kane the inventor of yellow journalism, which is quite a legacy. I guess I'd go with Robert McNamara, who seemed to hash things up pretty well in Vietnam.

For most beloved, Jerry Mathers merits mention, but I prefer Mark Bingham. No one knows exactly who forced Flight 93 to the ground in rural Pennsylvania, but my money's on the 6'5" rugby star sitting in first class.


The 12th Manchild: With the Aggie Defense's return to "Wrecking Crew" status this season, coupled with a solid list of QBs mangled at their hands (OkState-Bobby Reid, Baylor-Shawn Bell, Texas-Colt McCoy), how concerned are you for Nate Longshore and his various internal organs?

Tightwad Hill: I'd be more concerned if Cal's line wasn't so efficient at pass blocking. Longshore hit the turf only 13 times this year, despite being about as mobile as a dump truck. I'm actually more concerned with Nate's decision making under pressure - his pocket presence isn't very good and he tends to force balls. Another concern is that Cal's fullback Byron Storer broke his arm and will miss the game; Storer is excellent on blitz pickup and his absence could present a problem.

4th&40: Go for it or Punt?

When playing Cal: for the love of God (Danny Ford?), GO FOR IT!









DeSean Jackson: making punt teams look special all year long.

(from punt returns alone)

Yards: 455
TDs: 4



sorry for being MIA lately. finals and the obligatory 48 hrs of slumber that followed are to blame. look for further Cal previewage and an exchange with Cal Blog, Tightwad Hill, later this week.

Breakin My Balls

• the Anti-Playoff Alliance
  CFR and his compatriots can whine all they want about how the MLB, NBA, & NCAA basketball playoffs practically negate their respective regular seasons, but when it comes down to it, you can never convince any true sports fan that a consensus of spectators opinions should preclude the playing of the sport itself. They argue that a playoff would undermine the sport. What is truly undermining our sport is the notion that a team is definitively better than another because of stats & opinions, rather than a final score after 4 quarters of play


• Josh Carter's hands
  
  i don't wanna rip on Josh, but somebody get this guy a pair of Cutters. (Anyone know if wearing gloves is actually legal?) Atleast 5 times during last week's games (@ LSU and @ UCLA) the ball just inexplicably flew out of his hands and out of bounds.


• Texas Weather
  
  ok, so it's nothing new, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. For my final on Friday: it was 35 and windy. For my final on Monday: 75 and drizzly. The only true season we experience in North/Central Texas is summer (F-ing hot), other than that, it's kind of a weather buffet each month.


• the Textbook "industry"
  I'm hardpressed to come up with a historical example of firms within an industry with such monopoly AND monopsony power as is displayed by the Bookstores in College Station. I'm tired of buying high and selling low. Yes, i am aware of this thing called the interweb and it's amazing ability to facilitate the free flow of information, thus assisting in the natural equilibration of prices in markets worldwide...but to me, the current risk and inconvenience of buying over the internet is greater than the current reduction in cost. Can someone at the SEC ("Securities & Exchange Commission" for those of you from Louisiana) explain to me how the textbook stores are NOT monopolists/monopsonists when they sell a brand new text book for $120 -> buy it back for $40 -> sell it used at $100 -> rinse & repeat cycle with new edition of the text book

basketball & music

A&M goes on the road for a week of huge games, including a rematch with #9 LSU, the team that knocked the Aggies out of the NCAA Tournament on a last second 3-ptr, tomorrow night.

It's dead week and i'll be makin the drive to Baton Rouge after my classes tomorrow morning.

to tide you over until i can post from Baton Rouge:
i've noticed some of yall are quite the music fans. i finally updated my neglected step-child of a personal blog with a list of "currently listening to" complete with mp3's. check it out, let me know what you think.

roundtable w/BevoSports

we sat down with(err..emailed) Matt from BevoSports and took a look at the state of our respective programs and the impending "little tee, little ewe" vs A&M LoneStar State Showdown.


Matt's Questions: My Answers

1. No doubt Coach Fran is having a tough year, what are your thoughts on his performance so far this season? Are you ready to start looking for a new coach?

Tough year? no. Tough November? you bet.

It's too early to legitimately and accurately evaluate this season. On the one hand, the physical condition of the program has vastly improved. The level of talent on both sides of the ball and currently being recruited is the best in years, the controversial decision to hire Darnell proved to be a good one, and Fran is finally winning on the road (undefeated so far this season). On the other hand, Fran continues to squander opportunities and choke in the big games.

Personally, I think Fran has done too well for his own good this season. Aggieland went from having very low expectations to dillusions of grandeur in a very short time this season. What has got him in the hot seat again is his inane in-game decision making, the majority of Aggies feel that neither Nebraska nor Oklahoma beat us, rather Fran's inept playcalling gave the games away.

If the Ags can win in Austin and win convincingly in our bowl game, "CanFran" will revert back to "FranistheMan". Otherwise, with the hellish schedule next year, Fran could likely be gone by December 2007.

2. The Aggies' schedule was noticeably soft at the beginning of the year. Do you think this played a part in your loss to Texas Tech? Would you like to play a tougher non-conference schedule to help prepare you better for the regular season?

The loss to Tech can be blamed on multiple things, but a weak non-conf isn't one of them. Unless you're putting New Mexico State or Hawaii on your schedule, no non-conferenc team will prepare your secondary for Texas Tech's offense. If there is any one thing that can be blamed for the loss to Tech, it could be that we scheduled them as our first conference game of the season. Gimmick offenses are always strong early in the season, but as the season goes on and the tape stacks up, the offense falls because teams are able to pick apart the hidden system (i.e. Tech's current season). Combine that with a relatively young secondary prone to giving up the big play, and you get an offensive shootout where the winner is the one who has the ball last.

I would certainly like to play a tougher non-conference schedule, but not for reasons of "preparation". Nobody schedules big programs for preparation purposes anymore, they schedule them because of the way BCS depends on the polls -> hence the way polls depend on "big" non-conference games to reshuffle their pre-season polls.

I'm all for playing DI-AA Citadel again, as long as there's also a Top 20 team on the schedule with them.

3. The Aggies' 3 losses this season have only been by a combined 6 points, all at home. What will it take for the Aggies to get over the hump next year and start winning those close battles?

The "hump" the Aggies need to get over is their inability to consistently beat the elite teams of the Big XII. Granted, those losses were certainly close as you pointed out, but so were our wins this season (except citadel, ula-la, and la tech). Every conference game this season was decided in the final 5 minutes of regulation or overtime.

It's kind of a double-edged sword, we can say we're "a play away" from being undefeated, but it's also true that we're "a play away" fighting for bowl eligibility again.


4. Colt looks like he will be 100% for the game against A&M. What will Texas A&M have to do on defense to try and stop the texas offense, who is averaging an impressive 39.5 points per game?

The 39.45 ppg doesn't worry me. With the glaring and embarassing exception of Army, the A&M Defense has held every opponent to less than their average ppg. Colt & Co. need to get their licks in before halftime, before Darnell and the Crew make adjustments and stifle the offense a la the OU & Nebraska games. The Aggies could be playing the #1 ranked offense or the #117 offense, it doesn't matter, the game will be decided by the play of the Aggie offense, not the defense, just as every game this season has.


5. Finally, let's get down to predictions. What do you see happening in the game? What do you think the final outcome will be?

I don't want to sound like a huge homer, but the outcome of the game is solely in the hands of Stephen McGee. If his shoulder has healed and he's relearned how to make his reads under pressure, then this will be the game of the year.

keys to the game:

• Turnover Margin
  it doesn't take a genius to come up with that one, but everyone knows this game is gonna be close, and close games are about turnovers.


• Stephen McGee's Arm
  if the Aggies can't throw effectively, it won't matter how big Jorvorskie Lane is or how fast Mike Goodson is when Texas loads the box.


• Feed Jorvorskie
  the J-Train needs to touch the ball 15+ times. Instead of trying to stay one-step ahead of Chizik, by using Lane as a decoy or for trick plays, Fran needs to let Jorvorskie do what he does best: wear down both the defense and the clock.


• Secondary Suck
  although much has been made of Texas' poor secondary play, A&M's still has a tendency to get caught with its pants down for 70yds and a TD. Colt McCoy -> Limas Sweed in single converage = ohsh*t

the only thing i can guarantee about this game is that it will be close, and it will be decided in the twilight of 4th Qtr.

Final prediction: A&M by less than a FG. Pandemonium ensues. and I will be found staggering around Red River & 6th slurring the War Hymn.




My Questions: Matt's Answers


1. What, if anything, can explain the meteoric descent of the Longhorn secondary throughout the course of the 2006 season? The loss of crucial pass-rushing defensive linemen? More pass oriented opponents? Statistical anomaly? The act of a vengeful, yet righteous God?

You know, it is hard to really pinpoint any one thing that has caused our secondary to play so poorly. Sometimes they look great, and other times they look like they did against Kansas St. I guess you just can't under-estimate the value that Cedric Griffin and Michael Huff brought to our secondary last year.

One big thing I noticed with our secondary, is that their aggressiveness on trying to hit hard costs them a lot. They don't necessarily play tight coverage, they expect you to catch the ball and then hit you so hard you either drop the ball or fumble it. They also bite quite a bit on play-action and half-back passes, because they want to make the big hit. All-in-all I think they have the talent, just need to be more disciplined.


2. Although Texas still has 2 (possibly 3) games to prepare for, let's look ahead to the post-regular season melee of coaching changes: How real is the possibility of losing both Davis (to an SEC/ACC head coaching job) and Chizik ("you're fired") at the end of the season?

Well up until the last few games, I really figured Chizik to be one of the most highly sought after head coaches, but who knows now. He will probably get a job somewhere else, and maybe that will give Akina more responsibility and help out our defense.

As far as losing Greg Davis, I am not opposed to that at all. He has been good at times, but overall I have pretty disappointed with his playcalling, especially in important situations. He looked good with Vince, but that was because it was Vince. I wouldn't mind getting a fresh look into our offense and maybe turn up the notch a little. I am tired of seeing wide receiver screens all day.


3. Forgive the obviously loaded question, but: is the Texas run defense's stats/ranking a product of it's formidable level of play or a result of weak secondary coupled with the number of pass-heavy offenses (Texas Tech, Baylor, Missouri, Nebraska) the Longhorns have faced this season?

Some of it probably has to do with who they have played, but I truly believe that Texas has one of the best front sevens in the nation. Their front 4 is loaded, and has depth to bring in new players on almost every other set of downs. Their linebackers are as fast as they have ever been, and that makes it hard for them to be blocked. A&M does have the big Javorski Lane, but I still think it will be hard for them to run consistently on this defense.

4. Which Longhorn do you foresee having the biggest impact on the outcome of the game: Tim Crowder, Selvin Young, Aaron Ross, Michael Griffin, or other?

I am going to have to go with Colt McCoy. All indications are that he will be 100% for the game. He has had some time off, but I expect him to step back in rhythm pretty easily. I see him having a big game and going for possibly 4 touchdowns. I think Texas has the weapons on offense to exploit the A&M secondary.

5. How do you see the game playing out? The DKR special (over at half), or down to the wire? Could the Longhorn faithful mentally handle the soul crushing effect of a loss to K-State and its first loss to "Aggy" of the millenium in the time span of a mere two weeks?

I think this is going to be a close tough battle, similar to last years' game. The Aggies know they can upset our Big 12 Title hopes and will come to this game with 100% effort. I think A&M will probably jump out to an early lead, but I see Texas taking over the game in the second half and winning by a touchdown or so, say 34-27. And as long as we don't have to kick many field goals and all of that, we should be ok.

It would be tough to handle this loss to "Aggy," not necessarily because it would be the first loss to "Aggy" this millenium, but mainly because it would mean we have thrown our shot at a BCS bowl down the drain. I can't imagine how sad of an off-season that would be, so I try not to even think it is a possibility.

Ag Blogger drops Knowledge bomb

our boy Ryan over at Texas A&M and Baseball pulls out all the statistical stops in showing why the J-Train should always get the ball on 3rd & 4th down. The absurd detail in his report leaves Fran and staff absolutely no room to wriggle and leaves them without pants much less legs to stand on when claiming that the call made was the right one at the time.

excerpts:

Jorvorskie Lane
3rd & 4th Down Carries
======================
Attempts 27
First Downs 18
Touch Downs 6
----------------------
Totals 24/27 (89%)

"He has not been stopped in our last SEVEN games including all SIX of our Big 12 conference games."

Wat it do?

from around the sphere o'blog:

our boy at ScalpEm.com decides to put away the grain alcohol and go for a different kind of 'Black Out' during FSU's game against B.C. this weekend

hitch a ride with Run Up The Score as he continues to interject what little humor can be found in the fiery tailspin that is Penn State's return to mediocrity

hate Footbaw? need to release some of that inner SEC loathing? DCFW's got ya covered. If forced to choose between nuking the following cities, would Herringbone choose: A) Pyongyang B) Auburn,AL C) Tehran or D)Gainesville,FL

correct answer: E) both B&D

Chili and Willy Mac prepare for the coming of Chri..Gameday over at DannyFordisGod. Marketing schemes may include, but are not limited to: appearances from turkish cultural ambassador Borat, graphic depictions of Corso's "baby arm", and subliminal messaging.