FanHouse Foswhitt Whittaker

Bloggers who fancy themselves purveyors of All Name Teams, be alerted that you have a new starting running back: Texas redshirt freshman Foswhitt "Fozzy" Whittaker. (You have no idea how difficult it was to only have two quote marks in that last sentence.)

Mr. Whittaker is one of only two I-A players named after a muppet--TCU's Mrspiggy Sullivan is the other*--and had a stellar debut against UTEP and their... er... frisky fans, rushing for 72 yards on 12 carries and revitalizing a previously moribund UT ground game.

He promises four full years of people saying "no, seriously, what's his real name" and possibly some long gains for Texas or whatever, but who cares? He is a muppet running back. He is full of win.

*(This person obviously does not exist or you would have heard of him already. There would have been a parade.)

Big 12 ... cattle country ... the plains ... cowboys ... boots ... If this were the Pac-10 we'd be talking about filling sandals. I'm a shoe man, personally. Anyway. Some Big 12 figures are going to be difficult to replace, although it's not as bad as you think (similar to last year). Let's review.

TOM OSBORNE, NEBRASKA

Nebraska didn't simply terminate Bill Callahan last year, they terminated the heir to Osborne's throne. Bo Pelini isn't replacing Callahan, no sir. He's replacing his boss Tom Osborne in attempting to transition Nebraska football back to another dominant era. No pressure or anything. So far Osborne's replacements are 0 for 2, but the program thinks it has found its man in former assistant and last year's defensive coordinator at LSU, Bo Pelini. Pelini doesn't possess Osborne's steely but quiet command of his team, but no coach nowadays could. He's a spirited barker demanding tremendous effort and sacrifice. He's tasked with picking up the pieces of mistrust that led to last year's collapse and the worst defensive performance in the program's deep history.