Jill Sterkel's Father Honored

A couple weeks ago, columnist Bill Plaschke uncovered the recent naming of the Trojan's home court.
It's now Jim Sterkel Court.
Jill Sterkel swam for UT and had a very sueccessful tenure as the head coach of the women's swim team. Plaschke's perfectly named column describes her reaction to learning of the court's renaming in her father's honor: Floored

Case of the Mondays

Word came today that Colt McCoy and Justin Blalock would both be starting against Texas A&M. According to Texas head coach Mack Brown neither of them have anything to worry about.
"Colt's 100 percent good to go, and Justin is too," Brown said.

Texas has been beset by injuries all season, and the off-week gave them some time to recover. Looking on the season, with only one regular season game remaining, Brown can't help but like what he sees.
"This team has played with the pressure of last year's team," he said. "For them to do what they've done is remarkable."
Brown called the number of injuries "insurmountable," and pointed out they'd also began they year having to choose between freshmen quarterbacks.
Now they're a win from clinching the South Division and another from playing in a BCS bowl.
Two years ago Brown had just to gripe to get in a BCS bowl. Now fans are griping that it's not the national title game.
So easily spoiled...

Brown didn't have much to say about his A&M counterpart's job situation.
The coach has come under fire after his team's lost close games following questionable coaching decisions, but Brown is looking at the bigger picture.
"Fran's won eight games. He's done a great job," he said.

A loss in the Little Apple

Nov. 11 2006 --


Texas lost their chance to play in their second consecutive national title game in three minutes and six seconds at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. During that span, in which the Wildcats scored three touchdowns due to two Longhorn fumbles and a blocked punt, Texas fell behind 42-21.
Despite steady improvement from Jevan Snead throughout the game, Texas eventually fell 45-42, with a 51-yard field from Jeff Snodgrass proving to be the difference.

For only the second time in head coach Mack Brown's tenure at Texas, the Longhorns lost after outrushing their opponents. Jamaal Charles rushed for 87 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Selvin Young chewed up 41 yards of turf on his own and scored a touchdown. Colt McCoy and Chris Ogbonnaya also scored rushing touchdowns, and the team finished with 143 yards of rushing. The Wildcats rushed for 23 yards total.

Michael Griffin's performance might have won him the Lott Trophy, while Colt McCoy, Aaron Ross and Justin Blalock likely lost their chances to take home individual awards.
Griffin had an interception he returned for 22 yards, as well as a blocked punt that lead to an early Texas touchdown. He made another big play on special teams, bringing down the Kansas State punter, Tim Reyer, 26 yards behind the line of scrimmage on a fake.
After the game, Griffin demonstrated class by opening with an apology for not shaking hands with his opponents. Instead, he comforted his twin brother Marcus. Marcus had a bad game and took the loss hard, crying afterward as his brother laid an arm over his shoulder.

Snead said after the game that he didn't have any internal reaction to getting the call after McCoy got hurt on the touchdown quarterback sneak.
"I knew I had to be ready, start warming up," he said.
While Snead's performance has been ridiculed, his numbers weren't bad. He threw for a touchdown and 190 yards. More importantly perhaps, he didn't throw a single interception, nor did he fumble.
"I'm proud of him," Brown said. "I think everybody sees the player he can be."
It didn't help that receivers, especially his tight ends, made big drops.

Perhaps the biggest drop though was Limas Sweed's. With Texas trailing 42-28, Cosby took a handoff from Snead, vaulted a fallen Texas lineman and heaved the ball as he got hit. The ball hit an open Sweed right in the hands as he stood far downfield, but it appeared that he started to turn upfield to soon and the ball slipped to the turf.

Brown didn't want to talk about how the loss affected the team's national title hopes. Instead he shrugged off the unfortunate timing.
"At Texas there's never a good time to lose," he said. "Ohio State wasn't good timing either."


A couple random thoughts I had during and right after the game:

Stopping Freeman is like trying to stop a .50 bullet with your chest. It's going to hurt and you won't stop it anyway.

I don't understand why fans chant "overrated" after pulling off an upset. Doesn't that just detract from the magnitude of your team's win?
Look at it this way: would you rather vanquish a Greek god, or someone who just plays one on TV?

To Manhattan

Nov. 11, 2006 --
Another road game means another roadtrip for Daily Texan staff, and this time I was going as the solo writer. Sports editor Eric Ransom came credentialed by the Forth Worth Star Telegram and would be helping me out. Plus, two photogs and two TV guys accompanied us.
After leaving an hour late, we made pretty good time, despite being stuck in an old church-style van and being in no hurry.
The first notable stop came after I convinced a photographer, Jacqueline, to stop and get an iTrip at Wal*Mart. Pretty much everyone ended up getting something, most importantly (at least as important as the iTrip) was a football, and most odd was a couple of 007 Box Set DVDs that ran Chris, a TV guy, around $100.
Armed with our new toys, we continued on toward Wichita, listening to country, rap and interesting stories -- mostly from the other potographer, Jeremy.
Miraculously, we found our hotel in Wichita, Kan., easily but then decided to push our luck and find a Denny's.
I'd say that was a bad decision, but the experience was so bad, it was worth it.
After finding a packed lobby, I put my name down on the list -- it was a do-it-yourself, sign in... The crowd dwindled, and we realized our name had been crossed out. A chat with the managers(?) and we learned they didn't approve of our cameras, but let us know that they'd be glad to seat us if we'd put the stuff back in the van. While the other TV guy, Jordan, and I remained in the lobby, the gear was put in the van. The managers stood there loudly mouthing off: "Who do they think they are?" "This ain't no Girls Gone Wild!" etc.
It was ridiculous to say the least. I guess Whichita State doesn't have a photo department.
After a typical Denny's dinner we headed back to Comfort Inn and hit the hay.

We got a late start the next morning, but ended up arriving in Manhattan hours before kickoff, and I used Jeremy's camera to take pictures as we walked around the stadium.