When I wrote these words a week ago on Saturday Lil'Jordan Humphrey hadn't yet caught a pass, let alone create a human highlight reel of playmaking for NFL scouts to drool over.
This was the very first thought upon hearing that Collin Johnson was officially out.
Anyone but Lil'Jordan can beat me if I'm Tech. Clearly, my pre-game opinions don't carry a lot of weight in the South Plains, but maybe someone should have been listening because... the other way didn't work.
All of this brings me to this Saturday and the memo I'm releasing earlier for Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.
Anyone but Hakeem Butler.
Now it's possible that many of you have seen very little of the 6-6, 225-pound monster that goes by that name, but let me tell you right now, he's the guy on the field that Texas can't let beat them, especially with starting running back David Montgomery out of action until the third quarter. I don't care what sacrifices one has to make to make to insure that Butler doesn't one-man-gang you like Humphrey did to Texas Tech, but it needs to be made. There's no one else on that Iowa State team that is within a 100-foot pole of the danger he presents.
Ask Oklahoma (174 yards and two touchdowns). Ask Texas Tech (148 yards and a touchdown). Ask this dude from Kansas. His defensive coordinator didn't give him help, either.
Repeat after me, anyone but Hakeem Butler
Number Two
Generally speaking, I think Iowa State is playing better football than Texas on a week-in and week-out basis. They didn't just beat West Virginia, they beat the hell out of West Virginia. This team's A-game is damn good, which means Texas probably needs to play one of its one or two best games of the season to win on Saturday. You can be a C+ or B- against the likes of Texas Tech and Baylor, but Texas needs to play at least an A- game on Saturday and I would argue that's probably only happened for a long span of in-game football once all season... against Oklahoma for about 35-40 minutes.
It's going to take something like that on Saturday.
Number Three
I'm expecting the Texas running game to be somewhat limited against the Cyclones, which makes it even more urgent that Tom Herman uses Sam Ehlinger with absolute aggression. Throw the ball down the field. Get it to your playmakers, early and often. This is another one of those games where I'd be a lot more comfortable with my game prediction if I knew that Ehlinger's yards per attempt was going to be in the 8.0-9.0 yards per game area than the 5.5-7.0 range.
Number Four
The All-BIg 12 teams will be announced in the next couple of weeks and I'm guessing these are the names most likely to receive notable accolades:
Sam Ehlinger (honorable mention All-Big 12)
Collin Johnson (second-team All-Big 12)
Lil'Jordan Humphrey (second-team All-Big 12)
Andrew Beck (honorable mention All-Big 12)
Calvin Anderson (honorable mention All-Big 12)
Sam Cosmi (second-team All-Big 12)
Charles Omenihu (first-team All-Big 12)
Charles Nelson (honorable mention All-BIg 12)
Gary Johnson (second-team All-Big 12)
Kris Boyd (second-team All-Big 12)
Caden Sterns (honorable mention All-Big 12)
Brandon Jones (honorable mention All-Big 12)
Number Five
I'm a little worried about Shaka Smart's team against The Citadel on Friday. That feels like it speaks volumes.
Number Six
Interesting article today on Kevin Durant from ESPN, which suggests that he's the most powerful person in the NBA at the moment, which might actually make him the most powerful athlete in all of sports.
Number Seven
There's a lot of stuff pinned at the top of the board right now, so I wanted to save a section for a little TicketCity Podcast promotion. I thought it was one of our best of 2018.
