Mack Brown should start playing Madden!

I am not a huge video game aficionado; however, I have played Madden consistently over the last decade. With the progression of Playstation and the internet, I began to play online. After replacing several controls that "slipped" out of my hand, I quickly learned two things:

• I am not nearly as good as I thought I was
• Clock management can decide a game

If only Mack Brown had learned those lessons before the Longhorns traveled to Lubbock. While I feel like I have seen that Crabtree catch more times than the Subway "Five dollar foot-long" commercials (that song really makes me want to shoot myself...or someone else). As great as it was, it should have never happened. Not just the catch...but the entire play.

You can actually argue that Texas Tech's entire final drive shouldn't have happened. The final four Texas offensive plays are listed below:

Down and Distance.........Play-Clock..........Result

1st & 10 at Texas Tech 20 3:04......:29......Pass to Shipley

2nd & 2 at Texas Tech 12 2:34.......:17......McCoy runs

1st & Goal at Texas Tech 6 2:08......:07......Whittaker runs

Texas Tech player (Dixon) injured at 1:53 on the clock

2nd & Goal at Texas Tech 5 1:34.....:21......McGee runs: TD

1:29 remaining in game

A total of 74 seconds were left on the play clock...just during the last four plays!! Texas left 1:14 on the play clock for no apparent reason. Seriously, what the hell, Mack??!!

If Colt and Company had played it right, and ran the play clock under five before each snap, only 10-15 seconds would have remained on the clock after the touchdown. Harrell probably throws a couple desperation tosses, the game ends, Colt wins the Heisman, Texas goes to the National Championship, etc...

Instead, this happens...and you know the rest.

My buddies have attempted to provide a couple of suggestions as to why Mack chose not to drain the clock:

Reason 1) Texas scored with 1:29...they didn't want to risk letting the clock run out prior to scoring

Response) Texas had two timeouts, so there should have been no reason to worry about running "too much" clock. If the clock dipped below 30 seconds, Texas simply would have taken a timeout and then run the next play.


Reason 2) McCoy running out of bounds cost them the ability to run clock.

Response) Nope...simply not true. Colt did indeed run out of bounds...but he did so with 2:27 left on the clock. With college football's new clock rules, running out of bounds ONLY stops the clock if less than two minutes remain. After Colt's run, the officials spotted the ball and started the clock.

Texas left 20 seconds on the clock with their final snap alone! Harrell threw the winning touchdown with 12 seconds on the clock. Weird.

Madden gamers simply would never allow this to happen. Never! And this exemplifies why each college and professional football team should employ an experienced gamer as their "Clock Manager." If a fancier title is needed, go with "Director of Time Operation" or "Continuum Chronometer Coordinator." But just think about how many times teams lose games by a "second here" or a "few seconds there." Think about coaches who can barely determine the best time to call their timeouts in conjunction with the two-minute warning. If it can happen to Texas, one of the largest and most successful football programs in the history of college football, it can happen to anyone!

Mack, I can be available as soon as you need me!

Al Gore 2.0

In 2000, Al Gore won the Presidential popular vote against George Bush. Unfortunately for Gore, Bush won more Electoral Votes leading to his Presidency. Gore was mad...and still remains bitter.

Mac Brown and the Longhorns find themselves in a similar situation. On Sunday, a day after Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State, despite giving up 41 points, college football voters chose Texas as their 2nd best team in the country. Just like the 2000 Presidential Election, the popular vote wasn't enough.

And just as Al Gore helplessly flailed away at the "flawed" system in 2000, I assume that the rest of 2008 will be filled with constant grumblings from Longhorn fans, players, coaches and anyone else that dislikes the current BCS system. The arguments have already begun: "Texas beat OU head-to-head on a neutral field...Human voters voted Texas ahead of the Sooners in the human polls...This system isn't fair!"

The problem for the Longhorns, as it was for Gore, is that we ALL knew the specifics of each system before the season started. The United States has never elected a President based on the popular vote...and the BCS has never elected a champion based on the human polls. It's nothing new.

Whining about the BCS at the end of the season is like going to see High School Musical 3...and then complaining that it sucked!! Yeah, who would have known that 2 hours of teenagers singing and dancing would force you to consider taking your own life?! In other words, you knew what you were in for before it started.

Oklahoma vaulted above Texas in the computer polls because they played two top 15 teams in the non-conference (#11 TCU and #13 Cincinnati)...and Texas didn't. Pretty simple. The BCS isn't perfect, but we all understood that prior to the beginning of the season.

So while Mac and Company sit at home this weekend while Oklahoma plays for the Big 12 Championship, he would be wise to follow the insightful lead of former Vice President Dan Quayle:

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."