Q: Are they not men? A: They are Bevo.

I just recently stumbled upon an article saying that a 2009 game between the University of Texas and the University of Arkansas is being postponed for another year. What the hell does this have to do with me? Well, the date of this game was scheduled for September 12, 2009. This happens to be the exact same day of the home opener for the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium. With this fateful alignment of dates, one has to ask: Why not schedule UT for the new stadium opening date?

How cool would this be? Very.

How likely would this be? A little more complicated. Let's take a look:

• Tim Brewster has stated in the past that he wants to schedule more high profile non-conference opponents and has mentioned the Longhorns specifically. The University of Texas definitely carries a higher profile than Air Force.

• The linked article above also includes this little quip:
  
  One source said Texas will consider playing a different opponent in an away game with the promise of two home games in Austin down the road.

So there are a couple glimmers of hope. Here are some potential roadblocks:

• We already have a game scheduled with Air Force. These things are never set in stone, however (which is why Texas has the open date in the first place). Rescheduling or backing out of agreements is becoming common in college football, but it also involves a little bad PR.


• UT wants an exchange of two games in Austin for one game on the road. This can be good and bad. The good is we'll get to play UT 3 times in the coming years. The bad thing is that we'll have a brand spanking new stadium in which we'll want to schedule as many home games as possible. Hopefully we get compensated fairly for the extra road game we have to take to Austin.

Ultimately, I think this would be a good opportunity for the U. Often, big non-conference opponents like this need to be scheduled years in advance. If they can get UT now, it would be a huge step for our program.

I've heard some grumbling that this may look bad if we get blown out by a big school in our new stadium opener. To those people, I say look at our team from last year and then look at Air Force's team from last year. There's a good chance that they'll come in here and beat us, too. A loss is a loss, but I'd rather have one against top competition than to a smaller and supposedly weaker program.

*****

In similarly exciting news if you are like me and read too much into little things, Notre Dame is hosting a Junior Day this upcoming Sunday. This is a football recruiting event where prospects visit the campus and learn a little bit about the program. Why do I care? The list of recruits visiting do not include any Minnesotans. This is a good initial sign since they have plundered and pillaged our area for top recruits over the years.