FanHouse Major Applewhite

It's hard to argue with much when a team goes 12-1 and comes within a lucky last-second play of going undefeated during the regular season as well as having a chance to play for the national title.

That is unless you play in the backfield at the University of Texas, where high production at running back is an expectation. The Longhorns, relying heavily on a group of inexperienced running backs, didn't put up the kind of running numbers that have become commonplace in Austin, where immortals like Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams once did their work.

Junior running back Vondrell McGee knows that this season the running back corps will have to make considerable strides to quiet detractors who insist the Longhorns ground attack has fallen off.

Offensive gurus don't take kindly to head coaches out-and-out shelving of their precious schemes. So it comes as no surprise that when queried about the difference from last year at Arkansas to this one, new Tulsa offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn snippily states the obvious:

I think the biggest difference is that we're going to run the spread, no-huddle offense. Coach [Todd] Graham is 100 percent behind that philosophy and I am too," Malzahn said. "I think that's the biggest difference.

Here's looking at you, Houston Nutt.

Malzahn - at least publicly - has been classy about his tenure at and departure from Arkansas, but the fangs came out a little this week. Until now he's been deferential about Arkansas' reversion from his offense to a heavy ground attack, but safely ensconced in Tulsa with a friend as his boss, Malzahn has finally given some light to the philosophical disagreement between himself and coach Nutt. He later added "this is who I am as a coach."

Oddly, new Tulsa coach Todd Graham also subtly snipes at Major Applewhite, his offensive coordinator last year at Rice.

"I like going into meetings and there's no arguments over philosophy," Graham said. "We philosophically believe the same thing."

Graham was a little put off in the offseason, telling reporters:

If (Applewhite) chooses to leave our offense doesn't leave with him," Graham said. "We run Rice's offense not Major Applewhite's offense

Anyway, it's good to see both coaches working their complexes off.

Previously at FanHouse:
Mess at Arkansas Continues with Malzahn Departure and Mustain Rumors
David Lee Hired to Replace Gus Malzahn as Arkansas Offensive Coordinator
What's Going Down in Arkansas

You may remember Colorado quarterback Cody Hawkins from such tired sportswriter classics as "my father is the coach". The kid's angling for a starting job this year against incumbent senior Bernard Jackson. But that's not what is interesting about him.

Rather, it's that he loves outgoing Florida quarterback Chris Leak.

Said Hawkins: "Chris Leak is my favorite player ever. . . . He's the exact same size I am."

This tells us everything we'll ever need to know about Hawkins' playing style: death by dink and dunk (ETA 2008).

At least the kid's got opinions. Here's what he says about Alabama offensive coordinator and former Texas quarterback Major Applewhite (as told to the Rocky Mountain News' B.G. Brooks):

"one of the two sharpest offensive minds in the country."

The sharpest belongs not to his father but Colorado offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich.

H/T: Google Alerts