Choose Your Own Adventure: Saints Style

You're up by three points. There is 3:36 left in the game and your opponent only has one timeout left. You have the ball at midfield. Second and ten. You have all the momentum, are averaging 8 yards per pass attempt, and 4 yards per rush attempt. Do you:

A) Run the ball up the middle twice, hoping to get a first but knowing that you can pin the opponent deep in their territory late

B) Run it once and throw it once, hoping to run a little time off the clock but thinking you've got a good chance to pick up the first down and end the game

C) Throw it twice, knowing that you have a smart quarterback and a good chance to pick up the game and the win

D) Run a shotgun draw, reverse pitch the wide receiver involving two players with sketchy hands and a penchant for coughing it up.

Yea, we'd do option D too. At least you've gotta give credit to Sean Payton...for admitting that this was the worst game he's called as the Saints coach. Actually, that's pretty much all I wanted to hear.

In other news, BCS is about to be announced, the guess is LSU vs. Ohio State, Texas is Holiday Bowl bound, and the Horns are about to square off in basketball against UCLA in a huge early season test. Should be fun.

Gone Bowlin...

A great breakdown of Texas and the BCS can be found here. The point is: beat Aggy and Texas has a great chance at a BCS bowl, which we thought might happen. Considering all that's happened this season, that would be a heck of an accomplishment for the Horns. To summarize the post:

Assuming LSU and Oregon go to championship, Sugar gets first choice.
Ten BCS bowl spots, two championship teams, four other BCS automatic bids.
Four at-large bids.
Let's assume Hawaii gets one of them after climbing to the top twelve.
Only BCS teams in the top four get automatic at-large spots, can't predict the future so let's just assume that doesn't happen.
So, three at-large bids remain.

At-large candidates (if they don't win their conference championship:
Georgia, LSU, WVU, Ohio State, Arizona State, USC, Texas, KU, Mizzou, OU.

Here is how each team could get an at-large bid:

Georgia -- Loses the SEC Championship game, hard to believe a 3-loss UGA team gets an at-large over Texas.
LSU -- Loses to UGA in SEC Championship game, hard to believe a 2-loss LSU team gets an at-large bid in a BCS game (remember, Sugar Bowl will be taken by UGA in this scenario).
WVU -- Does not win Big East, hard to believe a 2-loss WVU team gets an at-large bid over Texas.
Ohio State -- Loses to Michigan, hard to believe a 2-loss OSU team losing two straight gets an at-large bid over Texas.
Arizona State -- No way a two-loss ASU team gets in over Texas, a one-loss ASU team may get a Rose Bowl bid if Oregon goes to the national championship game.
USC -- A 2-loss USC team probably gets a Rose Bowl bid over Texas, but USC playing ASU next week means that only one of these Pac-10 teams can get an at-large bid. We'll give one of the at-large bids to the ASU/USC winner.
KU -- A 1-loss KU team goes to the Cotton/Holiday Bowl in our opinion. An undefeated KU team goes to the national championship game in our opinion. KU losing would be good for Texas as it removes LSU & Oregon as at-large possibilities.
Mizzou -- Assuming a 1-loss Mizzou team does not go to the title game, a 2-loss Mizzou team seems like a less attractive option than a 2-loss Texas team. A 1-loss Mizzou team goes to the Fiesta Bowl as the Big XII representative, so they are unlikely to be an at-large team.
OU -- Here's the trick. If OU wins the Big XII it probably goes to the Fiesta Bowl. If it does not the question becomes which is more attractive to a BCS Bowl: a 2-loss Texas team having won 6 straight or a 2-loss OU team coming off a conference championship loss. Our guess is that Texas gets the nod as the bigger television audience that will travel better and stay in hotels as opposed to trailers.

So, the guess right now for at-large spots: Georgia, Texas, Hawaii, ASU/USC.

Sugar Bowl here we come?

Of course it's all moot if Texas doesn't beat Aggy.