College Football

Larry Brown Just Can't Stop

The remaking of SMU basketball with the game's most persistent coach.

OU's Defense Couldn't Stop Johnny Manziel, But Ennis' Finest Did

Johnny Manziel learned the hard way what happens when a suddenly famous college football player celebrates one of the more impressive individual performances in recent bowl game history by publicly guzzling Dom Perignon: People tsk-tsk and tell him to be a better role model. He's now discovered wha ... More >>

Johnny Manziel Was Guzzling Dom Perignon at a Dallas Club on Saturday Night

On Friday night, Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel was picking apart Oklahoma's defense en route to an impressively lopsided 41-13 victory in the Cotton Bowl. On Saturday, he went out to celebrate. TMZ posted pictures of the Heisman Trophy winner partying at Dallas' Ave ... More >>

Larry Brown Has SMU Basketball 7-1, Which is Good Enough for the Wall Street Journal

For more than two decades now, SMU's men's basketball program has languished in mediocrity. It saw moderate regular-season success during the Mike Dement era of the late '90s and early '00s but made the postseason only once, and that was a berth in the lowly NIT. Its last trip to the NCAA tournament ... More >>

How Getting Fired for Reporting Payments to SMU Football Players "Perked Up" Paul Hardin's Career

When Paul Hardin took over as president of SMU in 1972 after a stint at tiny Wofford College, his youth and frankness made him a favorite of the media. Not so with the school's well-heeled supporters and alumni. A 1976 article in D Magazine gives an example: One influential SMU graduate recalls mee ... More >>

Fake Penalties for Penn State, Fake Grades, Fake Success: Learning Nothing from a Scandal

The important image is Jerry Sandusky down there in the shower-room doing it to kids. Somehow a penalty that involves not being able to play in bowl games just seems terribly out of whack. I do get what's right about it. Sandusky and others in this matter face tough criminal penalties, and that is ... More >>

Why Did SMU Really Fire Steve Orsini?

You don't shoot the goose that laid the golden egg. You just don't -- not unless you really, really have to or the goose stops pooping out gold. Which is why SMU's firing of athletic director Steve Orsini yesterday was so perplexing, and why the non-explanation offered by school President Gerald Tur ... More >>

The Master List: The Best Things to Do in Dallas This Weekend, January 6-8

Cowboys fans can admit it: We cried a few sports tears when our playoff dream evaporated on Sunday night. But so be it. We know must move past another dismal season of professional football and look forward to the remaining college bowl games. Sure, these guys aren't making big money like Tony Romo, ... More >>

Why can't Anglos Pronounce Spanish Words?

And why the love for UT?

College Football's Fleecing of American Universities

How insiders use the bowl system to loot the colleges that support it.

It's Official: SMU Heads Big East

​Speaking of SMU ...It has officially been invited to join the Big East, and is only too happy to accept. In a conference call with media, commissioner John Marinatto just intro'd the Hilltop to the ranks of the conference, along with the University of Central Florida and the University of Houston ... More >>

SMU, Packers and Cowboys Great Forrest Gregg Diagnosed With Parkinson's Disease

​An old friends passes along this story from the Associated Press: Former SMU great Forrest Gregg -- Birthright, Texas's own, and a two-time All-Southwest Conference selection in 1954 and '55 -- has disclosed that he's been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Gregg, a first-round draft pick of the ... More >>

Old School Shootout

They Must Be Ice Skating in Hades Because SMU is Laying Three Touchdowns. On the Road.

​With the Big 12 seemingly back together since the Pac 12 didn't want 'em, SMU is back in play as a potential member in the wake of Texas A&M's expected departure. But before the Mustangs play with the big boys, they need to beat the little ones. They have a chance to do that Saturday. ... More >>

Rangers Closer to Raising AL West Pennant, Funds for Shannon Stone

​Yep, the Angels somehow lost to this laughable outfit again last night -- Anaheim has given up the division by going 5-9 against the A's -- shoving the Rangers' lead in the AL West up to 3 with 15 remaining and trimming their magic number to 13. Nelson Cruz should be off the DL and ... More >>

Football's Jason Garrett is a Football Coach Who Coaches Football

And that's about all he wants you to know.

As It Tries to Bolt the Big 12, The Joke's On Texas A&M (Again)

Jealous and impotent until the bitter end, the Aggies try to flee for the SEC.

Guess A&M Finally Listened to its Own Fight Song

Like a lot of Aggie traditions, how is their nonsensical, yet sacred War Hymn going to sound in the SEC? Good bye to Texas University; So long to the orange and white Imagine the curious looks in Florida's Swamp when the Aggies, trailing 42-7 in the third quarter, start singing about abo ... More >>

For SMU Football, Adrian Klemm's L.A. Story is Paying Off (But Not Like That)

And a little movie about the Mustangs' downfall isn't hurting either.

Are You Ready For Some (College) Football?!

​In 65 days there will be football at Cowboys Stadium. And it will be before a sold-out crowd. NFL lockout be damned, LSU and Oregon will play in the Cowboys Classic Sept. 3. With 80,000 tickets already sold, standing-room only seats could go on sale as early as next week. Without& ... More >>

With USC Out, Oklahoma Should Be 2004 National Champs

Like it never happened?​When Ben Johnson was stripped of his 100-meter gold medal in the 1988 Olympics, it was awarded to second-place finisher Carl Lewis. When Carter High School was ripped of its 1988 Texas State 5A Football Championship, it was given to the team it beat in the titl ... More >>

Texas A&M Quarterback Jerrod Johnson Falls From Heisman to Hartford

One thing I will do is admit when I'm wrong. And Aggies fans, I was wrong about this one and y'all were right. Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson was indeed good enough to be a first-round draft pick. In the United Football League. The Hartford Colonials last night made Johnson the firs ... More >>

Super Bowl XLV Also Gave Us ... The Greatest Moment in Texas Football History?

​I was flattered when the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee approached me late in 2009 to help construct and singularly author its prodigious Century in the Making project. What started with 250 of the greatest moments in Texas football history -- high school, college and pro -- ... More >>

Can Dallas Cowboys fans forgive new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan for the sins of his father?

Auburn 22, Oregon 19: My Top 10 Observer-ations

​10. Cam Newton = Overrated. I take it back. He ain't better than Vince Young was at Texas. 9. Sure he's corny at times, but I love me some "Big Game" Brent Musburger. 8. Props to Auburn coach Gene Chizik for running a play to wind the clock down and set up a walk-off 19-yard field goal by We ... More >>

Auburn over Oregon in Tonight's BCS Title Game: My Top 10 Observer-ations

Cam can. And will.​A year ago I was correctly predicting Alabama over Texas in college football's national championship game. In tonight's Oregon-Auburn clash my heart says Ducks but my head says no way the Tigers don't prevail. Why? 10. Oregon usually wins with its spee ... More >>

Accountability, Shame and Wealth: A Review of My 2010 NFL Predictions

​You can say I botched my 2010 NFL prognostications. But you can't say I ran and hid from my errors. There's hope for me surviving this thing, as I have Big Ten Buffoonery dough coming in, tonight's Megamillions jackpot is up to $330 million and I actually sneaked by with a profit b ... More >>

TCU Finally Shuts Up the Big Ten Buffoons

​So a bunch of us are sitting around on New Year's Day laughing at the empty seats at the Ticket City Bowl, gulping venison chili and combating our headaches with straight up hair o' the dawg. Suddenly, invited to our football-watching gala by a mutual friend, the Big Ten Buffoons show up. Th ... More >>

Battle on Mockingbird

Cuban Reads Book Making the Case Against BCS, Then Decides to Do Something About It

​I was coming back from an interview last week when I heard Mark Cuban on with Bob and Dan talking about a book he's reading: Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan. In the book, the reporters write that the only reason ... More >>

Screw Baseball, Mark Cuban Wants to Own College Football

​College football's biggest division is popular, yet ultimately broken. The latest example - one that hits close to home - is TCU having a 12-0 record yet 0 chance of winning a national championship. Every year the BCS attempts to pair the two best teams against each other in the title g ... More >>

Undefeated TCU, with the best college football program in Texas, doesn't get a chance to win a national championship. Now why is that again?

SMU and "Pony Excess": The Scars Remain

No one from the 1980s pay-for-play scandals remains at SMU, but the stigma - and the residue from the NCAA's Death Penalty - remain on the Hilltop. Those wounds may not be re-opened, but they'll certainly be re-visited Saturday night when ESPN presents its latest 30 for 30 documentary: "Pony Exces ... More >>

Holy Nevada, The Frogs Smell Like Roses. And the Big East.

Think it's been a wacky college football season? Michigan, Florida, Southern Cal and Texas are a combined 26-17 22. And TCU (which is apparently jumping to the Big East in 2012) - at the very worst - is going to the Rose Bowl. Couldn't believe my eyes early Saturday morning. Despite a stirrin ... More >>

TCU BCS = WTF?!

​TCU is by far the best college football team in Texas. The Horned Frogs could have easily won the Big 12 this season. TCU, in fact, can beat any team in the country. But even with the best defense in the country, TCU is defenseless against the BCS. With another week of results from coll ... More >>

OU 28, Texas 20: My Top 10 Observations

​10. Pretty sure the Sooners and Longhorns are just mediocre football teams. But I'm certain Texas was absolutely gutted -- in emotion and field-position -- by nine penalties. 9. The Longhorns will lose Oct. 16 at Nebraska, giving Texas three consecutive losses for the first time since 1 ... More >>

Texas-OU has, with last week's shocking Longhorns loss, slid from a marquee game with national implications.

The Top 5 Best Games in the History of Texas-OU

​Here's hoping that Saturday's Texas-OU game at the Cotton Bowl is better than last year's yawny 16-13 Longhorns' victory. The memorable 45-35 game in 2008 was a little more like it. Still, with pedestrian quarterbacks Garrett Gilbert and Landry Jones and what I think are two medioc ... More >>

Reggie Bush Should Give Up His Heisman Trophy ... to Vince Young?

Your 2005 Heisman Trophy winner?​Reggie Bush is a liar. Should Vince Young be a Heisman winner? That's the contention of Texas coach Mack Brown, who says - if - the Heisman Trophy Trust yanks back its 2005 award from the Southern Cal running back it should be handed over to former Longhorns ... More >>

SI Cover Jinx: University of Texas?

​Not sure I get all the hype over Texas this year. I know the Big 12 media picked Oklahoma to win the South, but Texas is ranked No. 4 by Sports Illustrated and - uh-oh - on the cover this week. Last time I checked UT lost a quarterback named Colt McCoy and a receiver called Jordan Shipley an ... More >>

Big 12 Football: OU over UT

​The media hath spoken in regards to the 2010 Big 12 Conference football season and the winners are ... Oklahoma. And Nebraska. We'll get to the full pre-season predictions after the jump, but in picking OU over Texas in the South apparently the Big 12 media thinks Landry Jones will be a bett ... More >>

Lousiana Season is Over,
But You Can Still Get a Crawfish Fix

Crawfish lovers, don't give up yet.​A new project at Louisiana State University may eventually extend the crawfish season through the fall, but a local seafood purveyor says many consumers don't realize live mudbugs are already available through Halloween. "You can get crawfish from the Pacif ... More >>

A Smaller, Weakened Big 12 Conference Means Football Fans Lose Big.

SMU Cornerback Derrius Bell, After A Series Of Concussions, Makes The Heads-up Decision To Quit Football

SMU Cornerback Gets His Bell Rung

​Last Sept. 12, SMU cornerback Derrius Bell suffered a concussion in a game at Alabama-Birmingham. Sidelined for three weeks, he returned against TCU and, on the game's first play, violently hit a Frog receiver after a reception. The tackle forced a fumble, and gave Bell another concussi ... More >>

Dallas Cowboys Receiver Roy Williams, After A Dismal Season Of Drops And Disappearances, Is On The Verge Of Being A Big-Time Bust.

BCS Playoffs: Quarterfinals/Semifinals

​See, that's the problem with the current bowl system. Even though they're 12-0 and good enough to beat any team in the nation, a TCU team playing for nothing but a bag of Tostitos shows up unmotivated and loses, 17-10, in the Fiesta Bowl. If last night's game was a BCS quarterfinal, mind you ... More >>

If Joe Barton's BCS Bill Is All About Making Lobbyists Some Dough, Then Good Work

​For more than a year, Smokey Joe Barton's been trying to kill the Bowl Championship Series -- most recently, of course, with H.R. 390: College Football Playoff Act of 2009, which would ...... prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, the promotion, marketing, and advertising of any po ... More >>

The Eyes of the BCS Critics Are Upon ... Texas

​Ironic, isn't it, that last year Texas was a great, sympathetic team that got rejected, and this year the Longhorns are a good, criticized team that's getting the royal treatment? Colt McCoy lost the Heisman Trophy last Saturday night in Arlington. Does Texas still deserve a chance to w ... More >>

Who's More "Inspiring": Sully Sullenberger, Michael J. Fox or Local Air Force Major?

Courtesy BeliefnetMajor Tobin Griffeth and Capt. Katie Illingworth​That's more or less the question being posed over on Beliefnet, where readers are being asked to vote for "The Most Inspiring Person of 2009." Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and the former Alex P. Keaton are among the nominees, ... More >>