Gary Johnson Cleared to Play

Freshman Gary Johnson is finally going to play.
After being limited to practicing due to a heart condition, the Houston native will finally make an appearance at the college level.

"After a six-month process of monitoring, testing and evaluation by Dr.
James Willerson (President-Elect at the Texas Heart Institute and
President of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston),
Gary Johnson has been cleared to participate in all physical activities
at The University of Texas, including regular-season games, beginning on
January 1, 2008," UT athletic trainer Fred Burnett said in a statement released by the university. "Based on the team's schedule, the first game Gary can participate in will be the January 2nd home contest against TCU."

At 6-foot-7, 247 pounds, Johnson gives Texas more size that it's been lacking. After losing each of their last two games, the Longhorns can definitely use any boost he provides.

Texas beats Arizona State 52-34

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Well it's all over, and Texas won their fourth straight bowl game.
This one was never close. The Longhorns raced out to a 21-0 lead, and survived a few momentum swings before finally winning 52-34.

Jamaal Charles rushed for 161 yards and a pair of touchdowns while quarterback Colt McCoy ran for 84 and a score of his own. McCoy also passed for 174 yards and a touchdown on his way to being named offensive player of the game.
Brian Orakpo earned defensive player of the game honors with six tackles including a pair of sacks. Marcus Griffin contributed to the defense by intercepting a pair of deflected passes and making a couple tackles.

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl - Halftime

SAN DIEGO, Calif., — In a game marked by wild swings in momentum fueled by turnovers, personal fouls and one of the oddest unsportsmanlike penalties... ever, Texas leads Arizona State 28-18 at the half.
The Longhorns scored in a Holiday Bowl record 1:21 to start the game, then cruised to a 21-0 lead.
Derek Lokey scored his first touchdown on offense with a 2-yard reception to cap the first drive, and backup quarterback John Chiles scored on a 4-yard rush minutes later.
Running back Jamaal Charles rushed for 80 yards in the first quarter alone, and scored on a 15-yard run to end Texas' initial outburst.
In the second quarter things got interesting. A deflected backward pass was touched by a UT assistant as it rolled a few feet from the sideline. Texas recovered the ball several yards down the field, but a video replay revealed the sideline gaffe. Arizona State got the ball back, an automatic first down, and advanced half the distance to the goal line from the original line of scrimmage. The Sun Devils quickly scored to put their first points on the board.
Colt McCoy finished the first half with 56 positive yards and 42 negative yards of rushing, and seemed held together only by gumption, but it wasn't impressive.
He did score a 9-yard rushing TD.
An ASU field goal ended the scoring.

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl - Pregame

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The band is out on the field. The Longhorn marching band that is.
I'm at Qualcomm stadium for the Holiday Bowl, and kickoff is in less than 10 minutes.
After announcing that no players' jobs were safe, Mack Brown made no changes to the depth chart. We'll have to see who actually starts, but I bet he'll stick with the chart.

San Diego's Gaslamp district is the place to be if you're going out at night, but after spending last night there, I'm not impressed. The drinks are ridiculously expensive, and there's nothing especially cool about the bars or clientele.

Matt Hill Done for Season

Matt Hill's season is over before it began.
Friday the six-foot-ten sophomore will undergo surgery on his injured left heel, and he won't recover in time to play this season. Hill hasn't seen any action yet this year because of the injury, and he missed a lot of time last year with injuries.
Texas already suffers from a lack of depth, and the return of Hill was seen as part of the antidote for that problem. Now the Longhorns will have to look elsewhere.
Rick Barnes could have used Hill to provide some size to an undersized lineup, but he'll have to wait for next season.
At this point in the season, Hill was one of three players yet to see action. Freshman Dogus Balbay is probably out for the year after being injured in a pickup game, and freshman Gary Johnson suffers from a heart condition which has precluded his opportunity to play thus far.

Major Applewhite to Texas?

It's that time of year in college football. The rumor mill is up and running, and it won't stop until the season of hirings and firings is over.
Have you heard this one?
Major Applewhite to Texas, where'd he'd replace Greg Davis as offensive coordinator.
This is definitely a rumor, but isn't that what blogs are for?
My source — whose scrupulousness I can vouch for — heard it from a former teammate and current buddy of Applewhite's. Supposedly, UT and the Major have been talking.
It'll be interesting to see if anything comes of this.

Texas in Holiday Bowl

The Longhorns will spend Christmas away from home this year while they prepare to take on Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.
"We're looking forward to getting out to San Diego and preparing for another
great Holiday Bowl," head coach Mack Brown said in a statement.
Only fifth-year senior Longhorns have been to the Holiday Bowl.
"It's starting to get exciting again," quarterback Colt McCoy said. "You know who you're going to play. You know where you're going to play."
They also know what they're playing for.
The Longhorns are trying to become the only college football team with 7 straight 10-win seasons.
The game is in San Diego, Calif., and pits a Pac-10 team against a Big 12 team.

Oklahoma wins Big 12 title

By Ryan Killian
Daily Texan Staff

SAN ANTONIO - No. 1 Missouri ended the 2007 regular season in the only fitting way - with a loss to No. 9 Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship.
On the last day of the season, the Tigers' 38-17 loss ended their hopes at playing in their first ever national championship game and upset an already inconceivably convoluted BCS picture.
"I would like to think if you're 11-2 it's somewhat of a success," head coach Gary Pinkel said. "Our players are certainly very disappointed. That's what they should be."
Instead, the Tigers probably won't even play in a BCS bowl of any sort, and the Sooners clinched an automatic bid to the Fiesta Bowl - and a shot at slipping into the title game.
"Ya'll just voted [Missouri] the No. 1 team in the country in the last week of the year, and we beat them on a neutral field by 21 points," head coach Bob Stoops said. "Hopefully it matters to somebody."
A rushing touchdown from Chase Daniel with 14 seconds left in the first half, and the ensuing game-tying two-point conversion seemed to give Missouri the momentum heading into halftime, but the Tigers couldn't muster any sort of offense in the final two quarters. The Sooners though, were almost unstoppable.
Oklahoma took the lead for good on a four-yard rushing touchdown from Allen Patrick late in the third quarter and scored another touchdown less than two minutes later after a bobbled Daniel pass ended up in the hands of a defender.
Curtis Lofton returned the interception 26 yards to set up a touchdown that made the score 28-14.
Missouri managed a field goal to begin the fourth quarter, but the Sooners answered right back with a 10-play, 65-yard touchdown drive to widen the margin again.
A 26-yard Oklahoma field goal with 3:42 on the clock ended the game's scoring.

Big 12 Championship - Halftime

Missouri's Chase Daniel has looked alright through the first half, completing 13 of 23 passes and throwing no interceptions. He's also run for 40 yards and a TD.
But he's not looking like a Heisman winner.
He's overthrown guys, and he's underthrown guys.
Granted, pretty good coverage is forcing him into making tight throws, but Heisman operators of pass-oriented teams make those throws.

On the other sideline, Sam Bradford loked good during the first half, completing 11 of 15 passes for 130 yards. Neither team has mustered impressive running attacks, but they're plodding along, getting it down.

The score is tied at 14-14 after the Tigers scored with :14 left on the clock, and Gary Pinkel made an odd decision to go for two. It seemed he had the perfect play in his back pocket and was ready for an excuse to try it out.
Tight end Martin Rucker took a pitch on an apparent reverse, then found Jeremy Maclin wide open in the end zone for a successful conversion.

Maclin has been all over the place, grabbing six passes for a total of 49 yards while also taking care of punt and kick returns. He also rushed once for 8 yards.

Big 12 Championship - Pregame

I just got done watching LSU take care of Tennessee. Erik Ainge's interception at the end there was ridiculous. The Vols had LSU right where they wanted them, and they let it slip away with that.

The OU band is out on the field.
The Sooners crowd is making itself heard, but to my naked, untrained eye the place seems pretty evenly split.
Here's Missouri's band. I've never seen them before, but I already like them better than OU's. I think it's MU's use of dancers that I like. That makes sense.
Really I don't care much for marching bands either way. They just make halftime at college football games interminably long. (I must admit though, the playing of "Eye of the Tiger" is pretty cool.)

It's still over 17 minutes to kick off. I'm ready to get this thing started. I'm taking Mizzou 35-28 over the Sooners. You heard it here first.