The Morning After: Texas 50, Notre Dame 47

There’s a moment when you realize that two people are so interconnected to each other that despite the dynamic of their relationship, their successes and failures are viewed together.

Tyrone Swoopes and Charlie Strong are those two people.

When Swoopes does well, Texas typically wins and Charlie Strong looks like a genius. When Swoopes fails, Strong fails. Tyrone Swoopes has been a lightning rod of fan’s ire for nothing he’s done off the field. He, fairly and unfairly, receives a lot of fan frustration from a quarterback situation that hasn’t been solved in 6 seasons. He’s a small town guy who has the noticeable skills that you want out of a quarterback and yet hasn’t put it together. He’s a part of Mack Brown’s last recruiting class where the Longhorns passed on JT Barrett to recruit him. And he’s dealt with 4 different play callers in 4 years and 3 different offensive styles. Swoopes never really was THE guy and the only time he was, it was in the South Bend embarrassment last year.

On Saturday night, Swoopes found out that he lost his last chance to be THE guy as Charlie Strong gave the starting job to the true freshman Shane Buechele. Picture an aging worker who has showed up every day, on the back nine holes of his career heading up the hill to the 18th green looking for something to hang his hat on when he retires. Except he only to finds out that the spunky new associate is getting the promotion he wanted. Let’s be honest, most workers would check out and try to exit stage right gracefully.

Swoopes wasn’t going to exit gracefully. He found a way to show his worth to the organization. He did what he knows he can do best. He excelled and he proved that he is a valuable asset to his head coach and his teammates.

With Swoopes buying into his new role, Charlie Strong shows he has control of this program and of the locker room. His team bought in, the recruits are buying in and now its time for the fans to buy in. A record crowd had the pleasure of seeing what they wanted – coach Strong proving he is up to the challenge of being THE guy rather than the guy who follows THE guy.

It may not result in a national title this year or next year, but Charlie Strong showed that he is the right man for the job. Fittingly, I guess this is where Charlie Strong would say: “Stop with all the firing talk!

BOOM!”

*Other Thoughts on Week 1 of College Football*

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[*]The SEC hype train. Most loathe it but it must be profitable because it’s done every year. Everyone looks for the flaw. SEC haters didn’t have to wait long to get their red meat. 9th-ranked Tennessee, who came in as 23 point favorites, needed overtime to beat Appalachian State. Tennessee kool-aid drinkers are going to be out in force lobbying to keep their position in the top 10. “Applachain State had a top 15 defense last year!” “They were looking ahead to Bristol!” You name it, they will argue it. At the end of the day, the highest ranked team to play on Thursday night looked like a 7-5 team. The off-season is so long, we forget that some programs just don’t have what it takes to rise to the occasion.

 

[*]For those losers like me who stayed up late to watch Oregon State-Minnesota (like I said, it’s been a long off-season), you might have seen something unconventional. Minnesota, up 24-23, scores a touchdown to make it 30-23. The new head coach of the Golden Gophers decides to go for 2 to make it a two possession game. It fails. Minnesota ultimately prevailed but of course all the expert Twitter coaches called foul on the 2-point play call. Why? He had nothing to lose. Sure, kick the extra point forcing a 2 point conversion for Oregon State IF THEY SCORE. However, if Minnesota was successful in the 2 point conversion, it’s a two possession game with roughly 90 seconds to go. It would be clearly over. I agree with the call 100%.

 

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[*]Baylor opened their season with a ho-hum win over Northwestern State. Yawn. Look throughout the season to see if Baylor goes up dramatically or stays out of the top 10 because of their scandal.

 

[*]Kansas State isn’t bad and did well against Stanford. It’s difficult to stop Christian McCaffrey However, if they can’t find a rushing attack, they will be doomed when it comes to Big 12 play.

 

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[*]Oklahoma just had a bad day. First, they had the strongest earthquake in the history of their state at 7am on Saturday. Then, the pride and joy got whooped by a commuter school in Texas. I see Bob Stoops being removed at the end of the season with a “special assistant” position within the athletic department.

 

[*]Speaking of coaches being removed, Les Miles will also be looking to get out of LSU fast. Once again, terrible quarterback play doomed the Bayou Bengals which puts it all on Leonard Fournette. They lost to essentially a poor man’s Alabama and looked bad doing it. Only 7 points were scored by the offense and it was on a 41 yard drive. Just put 10 in the box and walk away with a victory against LSU.

 

[*]The SEC as a whole did not have a great day. Mississippi State lost to South Alabama, Kentucky lost to Southern Miss and Mizzou (😢) looked terrible against West Virginia. It was embarrassing.

 

[*]The State of Alabama was a big winner today. Alabama romped USC and Auburn was a Hail Mary short of beating the 2nd ranked team in the nation. The Iron Bowl will be a very good game this year.

 

[*]So Texas A&M almost lost a game it had controlled throughout the afternoon. The Aggies were up 24-9 heading into the 4th quarter and somehow UCLA was able to tie the game and get it into overtime. Wow. Congrats?

 

[*]On that note, Former Aggie Kenny Hill showed why is he great and why he is terrible. The good news is that Hill threw for 439 yards. The bad news is he threw two interceptions on consecutive passes that led to a double digit lead by FCS South Dakota State. The Horned Frogs still won but TCU has to worry that Hill may not be the answer.

 

[*]The Washington Huskies might actually be a legit Pac-12 title contender. I know Rutgers is bad but they were impressive today. I think they could shock some teams this year.

 

[*]The Kansas Jayhawks beat Rhode Island to snap their 15 game losing streak. Then the students rushed the field. At this point, I don’t blame them.

 

[*]Virginia lost to Richmond 37-20. Yeah, that happened.

 

[*]Player of the day has to be Nick Chubb. After being lost for the season last year on his 1st rushing attempt, he comes back against UNC and puts up 222 rushing yards. Outstanding performance.

 

[*]Finally, Ole Miss and Florida State play tonight in what should be another great game. While I would love to see Ole Miss lose, I just don’t think that will happen. Dalvin Cook might be one of the greatest backs we have seen in college football but he can’t do it alone. Ole Miss has all the pieces and should win easily.

 

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