The House Of Heat

I've never cared too much for Texas, and growing up in Oklahoma I didn't find too many folks who did. They weren't the hated archrival that they are today; in the 1980's the Horns were in a relative slump and Oklahoma was contending for the National Championship every season. Our bitter rival was Nebraska, as more often than not the winner of that game would play against Miami in the Orange Bowl with major title implications. Texas wasn't even a conference game in those days, as they were still the overlords of the old SWC. Obviously times have changed, but I still have loyalties to the Sooners. This game will be a lot of fun for me, even though I'll be watching it from my couch.

We're not just playing the University of Texas- we're playing the whole state, which happens to be a republic. Despite a number of quality football programs in the Lone Star state, the people of Texas unite around the Longhorns the same way they do with the Cowboys. This game will be very special for the eight Native Texans on the ASU roster.

# Name: Hometown (high school)
1 Mike Jones: Sugarland, TX (Fort Bend Austin)
20 Jonathan Clark: Arlington, TX (Seguin)
23 Chris Baloney: Houston, TX (Langham Creek)
31 Dmitri Nance: Euless, TX (Trinity)
46 Jeff Bereuter: Irving, TX (MacArthur)
48 Chad Lindsey: Houston, TX (Cypress Ridge)
71 Saia Falahola: Euless, TX (Trinity)
78 Julius Orieukwu: Houston, TX (Bellaire)

Leading up to big games against USC, Coach Kush was notorious for motivating the Sun Devil players who were California natives by taunting them during practice for never having been recruited by the Trojans. Dennis Erickson may or may not employ this strategy, but there ought to be at least some sort of chip applied to the shoulders of each of the aforementioned Texans.

Dmitri Nance received no recruiting attention from the Horns having split backfield time in his junior year, and he took it upon himself to recruit the Sun Devils leading up to his breakout senior year where he finished second all-time in single season yards in Texas 5A high school football history. Number one, of course, is Texas alum Cedric Benson.

Mike Jones was on Texas' radar but wasn't exactly a priority for Mack Brown's staff. From a 2003 Scout.com article:

Texas ATH Michael Jones has had good December trips to Oklahoma St and Arizona St. Missouri is set for this weekend. But if Texas comes calling, those trips won't matter much.

Sugar Land Austin (TX) WR/ATH Michael Jones says he'll commit to the Texas Longhorns if they come through with an offer. "They haven't talked to me about offering," says Jones. "But they've told me to keep them in mind. If they offered, I'd commit.

The offer never came but Jones isn't exactly ho-humming around Tempe, he's busy catching game-winning passes against U of A.


Who? MIKE JONES!

Heeeeey Pardner! For the rest of you who will be watching the Holiday Bowl on tv like me, take solace: Brent Musberger will be calling the game. Sure, we'll have to deal with him calling us "Wildcats" every so often (as he did during the 2005 Insight Bowl), not to mention the constant polestroking of Texas from the powerhouse Big XII sponsored by Dr. Pepper Jackaroooot, but there's one thing that will soothe the pain: the Brent Musberger Drinking game. Win or lose, you'll drink more booze.

If you're going to the game, the shirt shown above is available in maroon at Hornhater.com. The website, which is affiliated with no single school in particular, also accepts special orders on other colors (ahem, GOLD) so get cracking and be sure to get a batch in time for the trip to San Diego.

The Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
Thursday, December 27
8 pm EST on espn
www.holidaybowl.com

Labels: anecdotal evidence, blog links, getting ahead of ourselves