Longhorns Around the Web

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web.

Before the bye week: Against UTEP, Texas ran up 300 passing yards and 300 rushing yards for only the second time in school history. The only other such occasion was in 1990 against Houston. Just for reference, the Colorado defense has given up an average of 409 yards per game over its first four.

Screwup Watch '09: A few Longhorns have had some trouble over the last few weeks. Most notably, freshman safety Kenny Vaccaro has a warrant out for his arrest after an altercation during a pickup basketball game last week at Gregory Gym. Vaccaro is listed as day-to-day with a knee injury suffered against UTEP, and has been a key reserve in the secondary this season as well as special teams. No word yet on any team-imposed punishment. Elsewhere on the team, sophomore safety Christian Scott and junior wide receiver Brandon Collins will miss the remainder of the season to academic troubs, although the two can still practice with the team.

Is the SEC infringing on the Big 12's Texas talent pool? Undoubtedly so, certainly the Big 12's recent non-conference struggles won't do much to inhibit Lane Kiffin, Urban Meyer and others.

This week's pick: Well, we're two-for-two since picks haphazardly began in this space three weeks ago. Vegas has Texas as a 32.5 point favorites this week, and we'll take Texas to cover, by something like 52-10. After all, in their last four meetings, Texas owns a 35 point average margin over the Buffaloes, and Texas holds a 34.3 point average margin in its first four games. Gotta go with the odds.

From Coach Mack Brown, on his team's weekend off: "Players and coaches watched a lot of games this weekend, so it was fun, but it was an eye opener. We told them to sit like coaches and watch games and see what you would do in that situation and see what actually happens. It was fun for me because I had guys texting me throughout the night, on Thursday night's game with Colorado and West Virginia, and Friday night and Saturday night. "What would we do here coach? Who do you think is going to win? How's this one going to come out?" So it was really fun to back away from it and just watch other teams play and kind of get a feel for where we really are."

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