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.

So it's not going to be Game of the Week here in Austin this week. But certainly the Texas coaching staff will have the team focused, right? One game at a time and all that. This is what linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy had to say on the issue after last week's big win: "The big prize is next week - Florida Atlantic. That's the next big prize on the menu." Good effort, but this week's opponent is Central Florida. But with all the cupcakes left on the regular season schedule, who are we to criticize the team for looking ahead a bit?

Awards Watch '09: Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley (they're roommates, you know?) have been nominated for this season's Maxwell Award, which honors the nation's finest collegiate player. Coach Mack Brown has also been nominated by the Maxwell Football Club for the George Munger Award, which goes to the coach of the year. Of course, these are all contingent on the Horns winning out.

This week's pick: Texas easily covered last week's 8.5-point line against the Cowboys, but this week's line is a bit heavier at 36 points. The offense could suffer a slight letdown after two dominant performances, and at this point for the Horns there's no motivation to run up the scores to secure better poll position, it's all about winning. So take Central Florida to spoil the spread this Saturday.

From Brown, repecting the Knights: "All we have to do is look back to 2007. They kicked an onside kick late in the game, we won, 35-32. Their seniors were on that team as sophomores a couple years ago so they will be coming here with a lot of confidence because they know they played us that well at that time. George O'Leary is a great football coach. He is a guy that will try to slow the game down. They will try to run the ball. They will try to hit some deep play action passes. They will do a good job in the kicking game. They are number nine in the country in run defense and number eight in the country with 27 sacks. They bunch to stop the run and put a lot of pressure on the quarterback. They have lost three games, but Miami was a tight game until the fourth quarter. Miami ended up beating them, 27-7. Their other two losses were by seven points and by five points. Last night they looked like they were out of the game and came back and won. That's how George does it. They will play a four-man front on defense, will blitz only about 16 percent of the time. They are not a big risk-taking team, but they are a team that you better be ready to play."