Texas Longhorns
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch February 22
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch January 4 2024
Saves The Dates
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
2024 is upon us. The college football playoff landscape expands to a 12-team beauty contest moving forward.
The SEC officially released next year’s schedules recently. Not enough space to go through them all, but I will go through the historical SEC programs and Oklahoma and Texas.
Alabama
Aug. 31: vs. Western Kentucky
Sept. 7: vs. USF
Sept. 14: at Wisconsin
Sept. 21: BYE
Sept. 28: vs. Georgia
Oct. 5: at Vanderbilt
Oct. 12: vs. South Carolina
Oct. 19: at Tennessee
Oct. 26: vs. Missouri
Nov. 2: BYE
Nov. 9: at LSU
Nov. 16: vs. Mercer
Nov. 23: at Oklahoma
Nov. 30: vs. Auburn
First Glance: Bye weeks before Georgia and LSU. @Tennessee, @LSU, and @ Oklahoma the week before the Iron Bowl. The Tide will be road warriors in 2024.
Auburn
Aug. 31: vs. Alabama A&M
Sept. 7: vs. California
Sept. 14: vs. New Mexico
Sept. 21: vs. Arkansas
Sept. 28: vs. Oklahoma
Oct. 5: at Georgia
Oct. 12: BYE
Oct. 19: at Missouri
Oct. 26: at Kentucky
Nov. 2: vs. Vanderbilt
Nov. 9: BYE
Nov. 16: vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Nov. 23: vs. Texas A&M
Nov. 30: at Alabama
First glance: No road game until October. @ UGA and @ Alabama. Nice slate for Hugh Freeze to get Auburn back on track.
Florida
Aug. 31: vs. Miami (FL)
Sept. 7: vs. Samford
Sept. 14: vs. Texas A&M
Sept. 21: at Mississippi St.
Sept. 28: BYE
Oct. 5: vs. UCF
Oct. 12: at Tennessee
Oct. 19: vs. Kentucky
Oct. 26: BYE
Nov. 2: vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville, FL)
Nov. 9: at Texas
Nov. 16: vs. LSU
Nov. 23: vs. Ole Miss
Nov. 30: at Florida State
First glance: The last five games are brutal. Will Billy Napier still be employed by November? Only one cupcake on the slate.
Georgia
Aug. 31: vs. Clemson (in Atlanta, GA)
Sept. 7: vs. Tennessee Tech
Sept. 14: at Kentucky
Sept. 21: BYE
Sept. 28: at Alabama
Oct. 5: vs Auburn
Oct. 12: vs Mississippi State
Oct. 19: at Texas
Oct. 26: BYE
Nov. 2: vs Florida (Jacksonville, Fl.)
Nov. 9: at Ole Miss
Nov. 16: vs Tennessee
Nov. 23: vs UMass
Nov. 30: vs Georgia Tech
First glance: Clemson in Atlanta, @ Texas and @Alabama, and a trap game @Ole Miss sandwiched between Florida and Tennessee.
LSU
Sept. 1: vs. Southern Cal (Las Vegas, NV)
Sept. 7: vs. Nicholls
Sept. 14: at South Carolina
Sept. 21: vs. UCLA
Sept. 28: vs. South Alabama
Oct. 5: BYE
Oct. 12: vs. Ole Miss
Oct. 19: at Arkansas
Oct. 26: at Texas A&M
Nov. 2: BYE
Nov. 9: vs. Alabama
Nov. 16 — at Florida
Nov. 23: vs. Vanderbilt
Nov. 30: vs. Oklahoma
First glance: USC and UCLA from the Big 10, and the best SEC slate of all the SEC contenders from a management standpoint.
Oklahoma
Aug. 31: vs. Temple
Sep. 7: vs. Houston
Sep. 14: vs. Tulane
Sep. 21: vs. Tennessee
Sep. 28: at Auburn
Oct. 5: BYE
Oct. 12: vs. Texas (at Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX)
Oct. 19: vs. South Carolina
Oct. 26: at Ole Miss
Nov. 2: vs. Maine
Nov. 9: at Missouri
Nov. 16: BYE
Nov. 23: vs. Alabama
Nov. 30: at LSU
First Glance: @ Auburn welcome to Jordan Hare Sooners where dreams go to die. Alabama and @ LSU to close the regular season. Are you sure you wanted this Oklahoma?
Tennessee
Aug. 31: vs. Chattanooga
Sept. 7: vs. NC State (in Charlotte, NC)
Sept. 14: vs. Kent State
Sept. 21: at Oklahoma
Sept. 28: BYE
Oct. 5: at Arkansas
Oct. 12: vs. Florida
Oct. 19: vs. Alabama
Oct. 26: BYE
Nov. 2: vs. Kentucky
Nov. 9: vs. Mississippi State
Nov. 16: at Georgia
Nov. 23: vs. UTEP
Nov. 30: at Vanderbilt
First glance: @ Oklahoma and @ Georgia who the Vols have lost seven straight to. Alabama lost the last time they came to Neyland.
Texas
Aug. 31: vs. Colorado State
Sept. 7: at Michigan
Sept. 14: vs. UTSA
Sept. 21: vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Sept. 28: vs. Mississippi State
Oct. 5: BYE
Oct. 12: vs. Oklahoma (Cotton Bowl – Dallas, TX)
Oct. 19: vs. Georgia
Oct. 26: at Vanderbilt
Nov. 2: BYE
Nov. 9: vs. Florida
Nov. 16: at Arkansas
Nov. 23: vs. Kentucky
Nov. 30: at Texas A&M
First glance: @Michigan, Oklahoma, and Georgia back-to-back, and a Thanksgiving trip to Aggieland. SEC was kind to Texas with the road slate to State, Vandy, and Arkansas who all are terrible now.
Whoever wins the SEC in 2024 will be tested for a deep playoff run.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch
Omaha!
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
One of the underrated sporting events in the country starts today and ends on June 27th.
It is the College World Series. The field looks balanced this year with no clear favorite after Tennessee, the self-proclaimed greatest team of all-time, choked at home in the Super Regionals losing to Notre Dame in grand fashion.
The field includes four SEC teams and two others, Oklahoma and Texas, who will be joining the SEC by 2025.
The SEC is dominant in most sports these days. The College World Series is played annually in Omaha, Nebraska. There should be plenty of SEC chants going on over the next 10 days. The CWS is a double-elimination tournament.
2022 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES Round 1
All Times Eastern
Friday, June 17
Oklahoma vs #5 Texas A&M 2 pm ESPN: A match-up of two SEC teams. One current and one in future in Oklahoma.
This was a huge rivalry when A&M was in the Big 12 so these programs are familiar with each other.
In his first year at Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle has reached the College World Series. He took TCU to Omaha five times in his 18 years at TCU. The Aggies are hot currently, so give me Texas A&M in this contest.
Notre Dame vs #9 Texas 7 pm ESPN: This should be a great contest. Texas lost game one in the Supers at East Carolina. Then come back and walked off with a win in game two and blew ECU out in game three to earn a trip to Omaha.
The Longhorns hit the long-ball frequently and will be a tough out in the CWS. Notre Dame, like I mentioned earlier, is riding high after beating Tennessee in Knoxville to earn a berth.
This is a tough gritty team that is dangerous in an environment like Omaha.
Give me Texas in this contest because the Longhorns have made the CWS field 38 times since the inception of the CWS.
The 2022 tournament marks the 75th playing of the CWS. Texas has been there more than half of the time. No other program has more than 25 appearances. Give me Texas in this match-up.
Saturday, June 18
Arkansas vs #2 Stanford 2 pm ESPN: Stanford always has good pitching, and this year is no exception. Arkansas was the Top overall seed in 2021 and did not make the CWS but went to Chapel Hill and beat a tough North Carolina team in three games to earn a spot in 2022.
Arkansas is peaking at the right time. Watch out for the Hogs. Give me Arkansas in this game.
Ole Miss vs #14 Auburn 7 pm ESPN2: Ole Miss may be the hottest team in college baseball right now. They were Preseason #1 that slumped badly in the middle of the season, only to get hot at tourney time.
The Rebels were the one of the last teams (probably last) selected to the field of 64 and have gone on a run and won a Super in Hattiesburg by sweeping Southern Miss and not giving up a run.
Auburn got sent to Corvallis, Oregon for a Super Regional and beat Oregon State.
Auburn has been a major surprise in 2022. The Tigers have a good power packed line-up. The SEC goes head-to-head in this one. Give me Ole Miss in this contest.
Teams with deep pitching staffs will rise to the top during the tourney. When it is all said and done, here is how I see it playing out:
Bracket One:
Notre Dame
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M
Winner: Texas
Bracket Two:
Arkansas
Auburn
Ole Miss
Stanford
Winner: Arkansas
College WS Final:
Arkansas vs Texas
Winner: Arkansas
Arkansas is your 2022 National Baseball Champions.
The New Look SEC
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the next several days, the SEC will take over Destin, Fla., as the league’s leaders and coaches meet to discuss name, image and likeness, future scheduling, playoff expansion, transfer portal windows and more.
There’s undoubtedly going to be grumblings about collectives and college football free agency, but after commissioner Greg Sankey told Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher to zip-it recently, the spiciest of soundbites may have already happened.
Still, even if we don’t get Fisher vs. Saban Round 2, these SEC spring meetings could carry as much importance as they have in many years.
With Oklahoma and Texas set to join the league in 2025, the future of the conference could be hammered out at the Hilton Sandestin this week.
Here’s primer on the various topics expected to dominate the conversations:
Which scheduling model will the SEC choose? Heading into the SEC spring meetings, the conference is split on a couple different potential scheduling options starting in 2025 when new members Oklahoma and Texas join the league.
Pods (think NFL-like divisions) have been eliminated from the proposals.
The league is now considering two main formats: An eight-game (1-7) schedule where schools would have just a single permanent opponent (think Alabama–Auburn) and seven rotating opponents. This would allow every team and fan base to see the entire league every other year.
On the flip-side, it would eliminate a bunch of annual, storied rivalries.
There’s also a nine-game format proposal, where every school would have three permanent opponents, thus preserving more rivalries, and six rotating league games.
For now, divisions seem unlikely but haven’t totally been ruled out.
Expect plenty of horse-trading with whatever format the league chooses. The powerbrokers (i.e., Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, etc.) are in favor of the nine-game format, understanding that it would generate the league even more revenue (i.e., more TV inventory, more butts in the seats) and produce better games. Again, it bears repeating, but it would also save important rivalries like Auburn-Georgia or Tennessee–Kentucky.
Notably, Sankey prefers a nine-game conference slate.
The bottom half of the league currently favors the eight-game format, wanting that extra non-conference game as a potential boost for their overall win-total.
Determining team’s permanent opponents will lead to some contentious debates. What’s equitable? And to whom? Is it fair if Auburn has to play Alabama, Georgia and Florida every year plus a rotating set of opponents? No. And other schools will make similar cases.
How serious is the league about an All-SEC playoff? Four Means More to the SEC than any other conference, so don’t expect Sankey or the league’s ADs to cave on any future eight-team playoff.
They were willing to sacrifice for 12, but when talks collapsed, the league began tinkering with ideas about its own postseason tournament.
The early details include an eight-team playoff tournament, likely starting around the same date (early December) as the current SEC Championship.
The question at hand is this merely a leverage play by Sankey and the ADs to essentially threaten the rest of the sport that if they don’t meet back in the middle on College Football Playoffs expansion then the league will be ready to do its own thing, or are they serious about exploring potential additional expansion (think poaching ACC schools like FSU and Va. Tech, among others), building a super conference and holding their own tournament?
The league would obviously benefit greatly financially from an intra-SEC postseason, and could still plot a path to playing someone from The Alliance (Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 or Big 12) for “national championship.”
The Best All-Time
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
LSU just finished one of the most dominant football seasons in recent memory with a 42-25 win over Clemson for the National Championship.
It was LSU’s third national championship this century to go along with titles in 2003, and 2007. I have been watching college football since the 1970’s and here are my top five college football teams in the window:
Honorable Mention: 1976 Pittsburgh 12-0: The Panthers with Heisman winner Tony Dorsett drilled SEC Champion and 4th ranked UGA in the Sugar Bowl 27-3 as Dorsett rushed for over 200 yards.
1999 Florida State 12-0: The Seminoles beat a Michael Vick led Virginia Tech team in the Sugar Bowl to win Bobby Bowden’s second National Title in Tallahassee. Where have those days gone FSU fans?
2005 USC: 12-1: The Trojans were a great team that lost to Texas for the National Title. Reggie Bush and company were defending champions but this team was better than their 2004 title team.
1979 Alabama 12-0: This was Bear Bryant’s last National Title team at Alabama.
They won seven games by 20 or more points. The Tide led the nation in scoring defense and beat a very good Arkansas team 24-9 in the Sugar Bowl.
2018 Clemson 15-0: This team beat Alabama 44-16 to capture the National Title, and blew out Notre Dame in the semifinals 30-3. Dominant defense with four NFL players on the defensive line.
My Top Five College Football Teams of All-Time:
- 1996 Florida 12-1: This was great football team and Steve Spurrier’s only National Champion that blew out unbeaten FSU 52-20 in the Sugar Bowl to avenge a 24-21 regular season loss to the Seminoles.
Bob Stoops was the defensive coordinator and the team was led by Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel at QB and All-American receivers Ike Hilliard and Reidel Anthony.
The Gators outscored their opponents 612-228 during the season. The Ole Ball Coach put Florida football on the map when he took the job in 1990 and won 127 games in 12 years in Gainesville.
- 2005 Texas 13-0: Vince Young led the Longhorns to a classic 41-38 win over USC in the Rose Bowl.
Texas scored 652 points during the 2005 season while giving up only 213. The Rose Bowl that year may be the greatest college football game I have ever watched on television.
- 2001 Miami 12-0: The 2001 Canes only allowed 117 points all season, and hammered Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl for the title.
Many say this was the most talented team in the history of college football with players like Ed Reed, Jeremy Shockey, Clinton Portis, Andre Johnson, this roster was littered with future Pro-Bowlers.
- 2019 LSU 15-0: The first team in the history of the SEC to go 15-0. Led by Heisman winner Joe Burrow, who tossed for 60 TD’s to only 6 Int’s on the season.
This LSU team will go down as the best team in the history of the SEC. The Tigers beat Clemson for a National Title, while Clemson was riding a 29-game winning streak.
This team beat five teams ranked in the top 10 of the final rankings, and six of the top 15. This team will stand the test of time for greatness.
1.1995 Nebraska 13-0: The most dominant team in college football history. The 1995 Cornhuskers averaged 53 plus points a game and defeated four teams ranked in the Top 10.
No team all year came closer than 23 points to the Huskers, and this team beat a great undefeated Florida team 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl and it looked like men playing middle schoolers.
27 players from this team played in the NFL. QB Tommie Frazier is one of my favorite college football players of all-time. He Led the Huskers to back to back National Championships in 1994 and 1995.
There you have it folks. College Football is our greatest game. Nothing really comes close.
Sour Sugar Bowl
By: Kipp Branch
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
Georgia got whipped in the Sugar Bowl by a Texas team that had something to prove and the Longhorns came out and took it to Georgia; winning the Sugar Bowl 28-21. The Dawgs ended the season with two straight losses, but great lessons come from a little adversity.
Georgia went into the Sugar Bowl over-confident and it showed throughout the contest. Jake Fromm probably had his worst game in a UGA uniform. D’Andre Swift could not hold on to the football. JJ Holloman had a bad case of the drops. Richard LeCounte tackled like a Pop Warner league defensive back.
The only player that played like he wanted to be in New Orleans was Brian Herrien. UGA only had 69 yards rushing against a Longhorn defense that had leaked all season like a West Texas oil well.
Texas beat UGA at its own game, which was being physical at the point of attack. Texas is on its way back to being a national power. Great job Texas you earned the Sugar Bowl trophy.
What can UGA learn from this effort?
Social Media is not the place to vent your frustrations about not being selected for the college football playoff. Going into this game against the Longhorns’ T should have stood for Texas and not Twitter.
Take care of your business on the field and not put it in the hands of a committee. UGA lost by 20 in Baton Rouge and blew a two-touchdown lead against Alabama in the second half.
Notre Dame looked bad against Clemson, but Georgia players after the way UGA looked against LSU had no business blowing up social media after Clemson beat the Irish 30-3.
I told my wife Saturday night that UGA was in trouble against Texas. Georgia was not a focused football team in New Orleans.
You need to limit your distractions. Deandre Baker you are a DGD, but when you made the decision not to play in the Sugar Bowl then you became a former player getting ready for the NFL draft.
Best of luck to you, I and the rest of Dawgnation will be supporting you in the future. BTW, you didn’t come to UGA as a first round draft pick. Georgia helped prepare you for the NFL. You are an all-time UGA great and a favorite of mine.
Touchy subject matter here I know, but you made the wrong decision and as a leader of the football team your decision spoke volumes about how much the Sugar Bowl really mattered to the younger kids in the program.
All of those years of Outback, Citrus, Liberty, Belk, Taxslayer/Gator, and any other insignificant bowls; then this team wasn’t ready or motivated to play in the damn SUGAR Bowl.
Really? The Rose, Sugar, Orange and Cotton are the historic bowl games guys. Hines Ward, Champ Bailey, current UGA head coach, Kirby Smart, Robert Edwards, Todd Gurley, Rodney Hampton, Garrison Hearst, and the list goes on, would have loved an opportunity to play in the Sugar Bowl.
Deandre you should have followed your heart and played in the game. We still love you though #18 and always will.
Justin Fields. UGA does not hand out starting jobs. You did not beat out Jake Fromm for the QB position.
You played in 11 games as a freshman. If you don’t want to be in Athens then take your talents to another university. There are plenty of kids that are hungry for your spot.
Competition is everywhere in life. Get used to it Justin and best of luck to you. I hope you stay.
Now that my rant is over that Sugar Bowl loss could be a blessing in disguise for UGA.
With 88 players who are freshman or sophomores this team will learn from this, and will be a huge coaching point for Coach Smart and the staff.
Georgia has more talent than anyone in the country and a great head coach and staff are in place.
Georgia is in transition from being a good program and on the cusp of being a great program. The lessons learned from the last month will help define that greatness just on the horizon.
Sugar Sweet For Dawgs?
By: Kipp Branch
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
It has been an interesting football season. Georgia won the SEC East and came up just short in the SEC title game against Alabama. Georgia led Alabama for 58 minutes and 51 seconds and just missed the college football playoff.
Texas has a proud football history, but has struggled as of late. Tom Herman is building the Longhorns back into a national brand. The Longhorns lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game 39-27. Texas beat Oklahoma during the regular season.
The two blue bloods meet in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Night in New Orleans.
Georgia is coming into the game as a 13 point favorite against the 9-4 Longhorns. The last time the two teams matched up was the 1984 Cotton Bowl where Georgia beat Texas 10-9.
Both teams have just finished signing top 10 recruiting classes during the early signing period.
Georgia is led by QB Jake Fromm and a pair of 1,000 rushers in Swift and Holyfield. Will Georgia feel the effects of the SEC title game loss, or the saga of Justin Fields and his potential transfer?
Sam Ehlinger has given the Longhorns a consistent, quality player at quarterback for the first time in 8-10 years. He was responsible for 38 touchdowns. Only Longhorn legend Vince Young has produced more in a single season.
He’s smarter with the football (only five interceptions vs. seven last year) and he’s a great option in the run game, using his legs to get many key first downs.
Texas has two big-time receivers on the outside in Collin Johnson and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. They are two big, physical pass-catchers who have given opponents problems all season. It’s still on Ehlinger to get the ball to them, which he has done consistently.
Georgia is going to run the football in this contest and Texas, like most teams in their conference, struggles at time against the run. Georgia has the best defense Texas will see this season.
Texas is looking for its first 10-win season in almost a decade, and I think the Longhorns will come in highly motivated to show the country they belong in this contest. Texas is always going to have great athletes and UGA better come into this game expecting a 60-minute fight to the end.
Keys to the game: The Texas run defense. Can Texas slow down the power run game of UGA?
Georgia’s motivation. Will the Dawgs be motivated to play at peak level?
Can Texas exploit the Georgia secondary?
Will Georgia open up and attack the Longhorn secondary?
I think this will be a great contest that UGA wins 41-28 and finishes 12-2. This may set up a national championship run in 2019.
Texas is on its way back in being a national power. UGA is a national power. Enjoy these times Dawg Nation.
