Burnt Orange Nation

We'll be back. Augie Garrido believes the young Horns have a great future.

Texas lost to LSU in the College World Series finals, but coach Augie Garrido has a hunch his Longhorns might be back soon.

"This is the beginning of a new era of Texas baseball in Omaha,'' Garrido said after Wednesday night's 11-4 loss. "We didn't have a player who played in the College World Series before, and they finished second.''

And he plans to be around for a long time.

Asked how long he planned to keep doing what he's doing, Garrido responded: "For me, this is a lifestyle, it's not a job. As long as I'm healthy and feel the way I do about the players and continue to be effective, then this is what I want to do. ...

"I don't know if it's a chronological number. I think it's about health, I think it's about attitude. You're going to get older but you can stay immature forever."

You had better be kidding... Richard Justice has some thoughts on our head coach.

If Texas didn't care about winning, it would change its name to Baylor or Texas A&M. That won't be happening. Texas is about winning.

Texas was the next-to-last team standing in college baseball, and that ought to buy Augie another season. Just one more thought. Next season, it's win or else. We're Texas.

Counting down the days...71 until the Louisiana-Monroe game.

Colt McCoy is making the rounds this summer. 

What new players will have the biggest impact in the Big 12 this season? Columbia Tribune's Dave Matter has a list.

5. Alex Okafor, DE, Texas: You don’t see many defensive linemen graduate high school early and participate in spring practices as true freshmen, but that’s how Okafor found himself in the mix for playing time this fall. His early arrival already has Texas fans drawing comparisons to departed All-American Brian Orakpo.

"We’ve been really pleased with Alex Okafor throughout the spring," Texas Coach Mack Brown told reporters. "For Alex to come in and do what he has done as a pass rusher and just a senior in high school has been really fun for us to watch. He’s got so much potential, and he will get stronger."

This is just too painful to remember. Why even bring it up? ESPN's Tim Griffin calls this UT game in 1997 one of the Big 12's most memorable?

They said it, part I: "My family's out there waiting. I know it sounds horrible, but I don't want to look them in the eye. Playing sports all my life, fighting with my brother, I've never seen something like this. It's embarrassing," Texas center Ryan Fiebiger, who told reporters of his angst after the loss.

They said it, part II: "What do you say to friends and family who see this score?" Texas coach John Mackovic after the loss.

They said it, part III: "When the landslide starts, it's hard to get it stopped. I feel bad for John," UCLA coach Bob Toledo, who spoke after the game of his empathy for Mackovic.

They said it, part IV: "At least the band kept playing." The classic first paragraph in Kirk Bohls' column about the game.

The upshot: Mackovic was never able to overcome the loss as he was fired after the season ended. Only a year after the Longhorns claimed the Big 12 title, Texas finished 4-7. But the Longhorns have been to a bowl game every season since hiring Mack Brown.

Rick Barnes does more than just coach a good game.

There is, in unofficial NBA parlance, an entity called the 300 Club, a loose reference to the theory that based on talent alone there may be 300 players out there who theoretically could play in the league if only they didn’t lack the mind-set.

Longhorns coach Rick Barnes and his support staff make a concerted effort to assure that their NBA-skilled players do not qualify for the 300 Club. Based on the high percentage of Texas’ NBA-worthy players who succeed at the next level, it appears that effort more often than not succeeds.

"I do think people in the NBA have a great respect, not only for that program, but also for Rick Barnes and the way he both coaches his kids and how he prepares them [for the NBA]," one NBA talent evaluator said.

Barnes' supports a player's decision to enter the NBA draft early (one-and-done) as long as the player takes care of school work to meet the NCAA's APR guidelines.

Texas coach Rick Barnes has a unique perspective on the one-and-done players and how to keep academic integrity. He says he talks to perspective student-athletes who might have that opportunity to exit for the NBA early and explains if they do so that he is OK with their decision as long as they take care of their school work during that spring semester.

It worked with Kevin Durant, who left the Longhorns after one spectacular season in 2007. Barnes had the same conversation with D.J. Augustin, T.J. Ford and LaMarcus Aldridge. He hasn't had a problem with the NCAA and its APR guidelines.

"If a person told me they wouldn't do that then we wouldn't recruit them," Barnes said. "That's a decision we have to make it so we lay that out."

Longhorn guard Harrison Smith is transferring.

This makes you wonder if coaches sit around in their offices planning to one-up the other. Mack Brown isn't the only coach signing players years in advance.

Matt Hayes, Sporting News, ranks college football's top offensive units.

2. Oklahoma. With junior All-American Sam Bradford likely headed to the NFL after this season, the Sooners want to get freshman backup Landry Jones some meaningful snaps.

3. Texas. Check out Colt McCoy's three-year numbers: 85 touchdown passes, 9,732 passing yards, 17 rushing touchdowns. Texas wants to get gifted backup John Chiles -- the team's best runner -- snaps in zone-read sets.

Yea, we're not buying Bob's story either. OU's coach claims concern over the offensive line, but people aren't really buying into that theory.

By the way, Bob Stoops is a very rich man.

Iowa State offered a football scholarship to a player that didn't even play football last season.

West Des Moines Valley punter Kirby Van Der Kamp received and Sunday accepted a scholarship offer to attend Iowa State and he didn't even punt last season.

The senior-to-be performed so well at a special teams camp last week that new Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads came forth with an offer.

"It really came out of nowhere," Van Der Kamp said Sunday. "I was thinking that I'd have to put up some numbers in a game before someone would start looking at me."

Wait until Les Miles hears about this. The Aggies see Shreveport as a recruiting mecca.

The Aggies are ranked No. 72. Whoop. The Quad, the New York Times college sports blog, is ranking football teams 120 to 1. The interesting tidbit from the article:

Tidbit (U.T. edition): Or T.U., standing for "Texas University," as A&M often refers to the rival Longhorns. The relationship between the two colleges, contentious on its best day, can be summed up in A&M’s fight song, the Aggie War Hymn. The song has 23 lines, 13 of which (by my count) reference their neighbors in Austin. For example, the War Hymn (sung to the tune of "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby") starts "Goodbye to Texas University," and continues with lines like "the eyes of Texas are upon you/That is the song they sing so well/Sounds Like Hell/So goodbye to Texas University/We’re going to beat you all to…" Of course, the final stanza is great fun, as Aggie fans repeat "Saw varsity’s horns off" while locking arms and swaying in unison, replicating the motion of a blade. I shiver at the thought of what a group of Aggie students would do to Bevo if they ever got their hands on him.

We just love it when someone uses the Aggies as an example. Tim Griffin writes about how sacks skew rushing statistics in college football.

Take Texas A&M, which had trouble protecting the quarterback last season. The Aggies averaged 2.9 yards per carry, but those statistics were limited because the Aggies also led the conference in sacks allowed and yards lost in sacks. When those numbers are removed from the rushing total, the Aggies then averaged 4.2 yards per rush.

The Aggies' inability to protect the quarterback shouldn't detract from their running backs' rushing averages.

There are two distinctly different skills that are being measured in running the ball and protecting a passer. And they shouldn't be lumped together.

Good news from Manhattan. According to the Kansas State's outgoing president Jon Wefald, there will be no more questionable financial bombshells.

Kansas State has been rocked in recent weeks by disclosures of what appear to be questionable financial decisions, beginning with what the university contends was a secret deal to funnel more than $3 million in deferred compensation to former football coach Ron Prince.

One of the greatest resources in the state: Dave Campbell's Football Magazine.

Always on the lookout for summer sports reading material in the late '50s, he'd lamented the dearth of space afforded college football, especially the Southwest Conference variety. Even Notre Dame rated scant coverage. What little you could find came directly from colleges or less reliable sources. The copy had more holes in it than Clyde Barrow's getaway car.

And so young Dave came up with a plan that didn't rely on local beer barons, an iffy bunch anyway, this being Waco in 1959.

"If someone could send reporters to each campus, get fresh interviews and up-to-date information," young Dave thought to himself, "he'd have something."

We lost the national championship to LSU. We're pathetic. A&M has three, count em' three, national titles this year. Are you people happy now? Will this make your year? And how far did that ranked Aggie baseball team get this year? And weren't the Aggies picked to win the conference? How did that work out for you?

Aggies, before you pat yourself on the back too may times, you might want to read this.

LSU and Texas have racked up 20 national championships in all sports this decade - with one more on the way. The two teams vying for the College World Series crown have been two of the best in college sports since 2000.

The Tiigers and Longhorns have seen success on the gridiron, taking three championships - 2003, 2005, 2007. They didn't let up on the diamond, claiming titles in 2000, 2002, 2005 and now another in 2009.

Texas also scored in the pool, winning swimming and diving championships from 2000-2002.

One of the biggest shining points for both schools in the ‘00s have been on the track. One of the schools won either an indoor or outdoor track and field championship every year besides 2007 and 2009.

Basketball is a third pony at both schools, but they have reached some prosperity on the court. The Tigers made it to the Final Four in 2006, while the Longhorns took the Big 12 regular season title in 2006 and 2008.

Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.  - H. Jackson Brown, Jr. The Aggies sure blew this.

Who knew? There is actually an Arkansas Razorback that owns and can operate a computer.

And finally...

Rest in peace. Farrah Fawcett, the beautiful, vivacious and iconic former UT student, lost her courageous battle with cancer.