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Just in case you missed this, Colt McCoy received his 2008 Chevrolet Division I Offensive Player of the Year trophy last Saturday night at the UT/A&M game in Austin.
He still has one or two more awards to accept for his amazing season, including the Archie Griffin Award on Feb. 7.
BTW, the Longhorns beat the Aggies, 67-58.
Hope you were able to catch some of the stuff on ESPN last weekend about Colt McCoy and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.
There is a great slideshow on mackbrown-texasfootball that wraps up the week of festivities very well. Brian Orakpo was also on hand for being part of the All-America Team, along with Colt.
I just put the 2009 schedule on the stats page.
Just in case you missed it, earlier this week Colt McCoy was announced as the winner of the 2008 Archie Griffin Award. This honors college football's most valuable player for the entire season. If you recall, the Touchdown Club of Columbus also named Colt their 2006 Freshman of the Year, one year after giving Vince Young the Griffin Award for his national championship efforts.
Colt will receive his award during the annual Touchdown Club of Columbus Sports Awards banquet on Feb. 7.
Just to review some of Colt's honors this past season: Runner-up for the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award; the Walter Camp Player of the Year; Sporting News Player of the Year; finalist for the Davey O'Brien and Manning awards; first-team All-American from the Walter Camp Football Foundation and Football Writers Association of America; second team All-American from the Associated Press; as well as a bunch of other weekly awards.
I know I said I wasn't going to make anymore predictions, but I say the BCS mess will be even bigger next season with THREE undefeated teams.
Either Texas or Oklahoma (especially with Bradford coming back) has a chance to be one of those. A lot of people have marked Oct. 17th on their calendars already.
Utah, USC and Florida (with Tebow back) also have a shot at going undefeated as well.
UPDATE: Well, maybe not USC. Sanchez declared for the NFL draft today.
If you thought this season was exciting, wait until the next one.
Well, finally ... got the slideshows and stats updated.
Sorry, I was in Tennessee most of the time after the game until now. (They have a UT too, of course, but it's the wrong color orange.)
Again, Colt McCoy had a season in which he handled himself like a champion on the field and a gentleman off the field.
His 76.7% completion rate this year is tops in the NCAA, and quite frankly, just about unheard of.
He was second in the Heisman voting. Historically, those guys go on to have better pro careers than the winners.
He has a career completion percentage of 70.2, has 85 TDs through the air and 17 on the ground. Over 1,200 yards rushing and more than 9,700 yards passing.
Last year at this time I predicted Colt would win every game in 2008 except the Tech one.
I'm not going to do that again.
Colt will have plenty of pressure on his shoulders as everyone in Burnt Orange Nation will be expecting a 15-0 record next season.
If he stays true to form, he'll again just worry about taking the W's one game at a time.
Of all the great plays he had and the images on TV this past season, the one that will stick with me, however, is the 3-second glimpse of him on the field after Crabtree had scored in the final seconds.
"Wait, we won this game! This can't be!" is what his facial expression said to me on the brief video.
As sad as that was - and my wife was depressed for days - it no doubt instilled in him an even greater will to win.
In fact, "He willed himself to that win," is what I told my wife after he and Cosby snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the Fiesta Bowl.
He has focus like so many other great quarterbacks do.
That means he'll first think about going 1-0, then 2-0, etc., without ever thinking of that possible 15-0 in 2009.
So, I'll take my cue from him and make this prediction: The Longhorns will beat Louisiana-Monroe 235 days from now.
It was SO appropriate that Colt McCoy's final pass of this season was a TD toss that brought the Longhorns back from the brink of defeat.
And just for extra icing on the Fiesta Bowl cake, Colt threw for the most yardage ever in a burnt orange uniform - 414!
The Tech loss, of course, was the epitome of the agony of defeat, but the Ohio State come-from-behind win was thrill-of-victory sweet. In the grand scheme of things, they don't quite even each other out, but a dozen victories is four more than most "experts" thought UT would get this year. But Colt is a trial-by-fire, come-from-behind veteran, so you should never count him out.
Some people are going to say Texas had some "hangover" from the whole BCS debacle, and I wouldn't blame the 'Horns at all if they did. But the truth of the matter is they ran into a great Buckeyes defense and showed they had the offense to deal with it - McCoy and Cosby, to be exact.
That was the most exciting bowl game I've seen out of the more than 30 played so far, and the only excitement left is for Colt's distant cousin, Tim Tebow, to take care of the team that somehow got a free pass over the Longhorns to the national title game.
Great season for the guy from little Tuscola. It's going to be hard to top it as a senior. He's now 2-1 over Oklahoma, even with Ohio State and 3-0 in bowl games.
But, remember, Colt came within a second of perfection this year, and I bet he gets that tick of the clock back next season.
From the Associated Press, here's a quick peek at what you need to know for tonight's game:
Line: Texas by 8.
Series record: Tied 1-1.
What's at Stake
The Longhorns (11-1) have a slim shot at a share of the national title. They'd need to leap from No. 3 to No. 1 in The Associated Press poll, and that would presumably require No. 1 Florida to lose to second-rated Oklahoma in the Bowl Championship Series title game. The Longhorns would have to hope the pollsters credit them for handing the Sooners their only loss in October.
For the Buckeyes, the Fiesta Bowl represents a chance to restore their place among the national elite after lopsided losses in the last two BCS title games. The first of those defeats came two years ago in University of Phoenix Stadium, site of Monday night's game.
Key Matchup
Texas' offense against Ohio State's defense. The Buckeyes allow 13 points per game, seventh in the nation. But their supposedly stout defens e was exposed by Florida and LSU in the last two BCS title games. The Buckeyes have to figure out a way to slow Heisman Trophy runner-up Colt McCoy, who directs an offense averaging 43.9 points per game, fifth in the nation.
Players to Watch
Ohio State: TB Beanie Wells. The junior from Akron, Ohio, overcame injuries to rush for 1,091 yards in nine games. With 3,276 yards, Wells ranks fourth in the fabled list of Ohio State rushers. Wells did not play in the Buckeyes' 35-3 loss to USC on Sept. 13.
Texas: WR Jordan Shipley. Shipley, a senior from Burnet, Texas, had his best games against Texas' top opponents. In a four-game stretch against teams all ranked in the Top 11, he caught 40 passes for 411 yards and three touchdowns. He also returned a kickoff 96 yards for a score to help spark the Longhorns to a 45-35 victory over Oklahoma in Dallas on Oct. 11.
Facts & Figures
A Texas victory would move the Longhorns ahead of Notre Dame for second place on the all-time major-college list. They're tied with 831, and Michigan leads with 872. ... This is Texas' 11th straight bowl appearance, a school record. The Longhorns have won six of their last seven, including BCS victories over Michigan and Southern California in the Rose Bowl. ... The Buckeyes are 8-6 against the Top 10 under Jim Tressel but have lost four straight. Tressel's Buckeyes have knocked off No. 1 Miami, No. 8 Kansas State and No. 6 Notre Dame in the Fiesta. ... McCoy led Texas in passing and rushing yards this year. The only others to do that at Texas are Vince Young in 2005 and Bobby Layne in 1946.