<p>I’m glad this thread got hijacked for better discussion</p>
<p>Yeah we’ll see who wins in a few weeks. I know the games not played on paper, but Alabama clearly has the edge talent wise.</p>
<p>Talentwise, no. Coaching, yes. Bama (thanks to Saban and staff) is so disciplined and just executes; rarely give up big plays or are out of position and always make tackles. </p>
<p>It’s going to be a challenge, you can’t use last year’s Alabama team to say something about this year. Last year, they let up in the 4th quarter and Tebow came back to win the SEC. This year they dominated for 60 minutes. McElroy>>>John Parker. Different Season.</p>
<p>Muschamp will have the Defense playing as best as they can, but there are a lot of issues with Gideon and the rest of the D backfield besides Earl Thomas who’s awesome.</p>
<p>UT basically has no offense besides McCoy and Shipley. The offense will have to find a running game soon as well as other receivers stepping up big time for a win to happen. Defense is just great.</p>
<p>Yeah I agree UT has no offense other than Shipley and McCoy, which is not good enough against a defense that is better than Nebraska. </p>
<p>Talent wise Alabama has the edge on offense and defense. They’ve got a better offensive line, one of the best wide receivers, two outstanding running backs. On defense they have the best secondary in the country, one of the best DTs, and great linebackers. Special teams is pretty close but Texas’ is a little better.</p>
<p>Coaching wise is pretty close but I’d say Saban is better prepared and a better coach. Alabama will shut down Shipley, and Texas won’t be able to do anything on offense. Texas’ defense will do alright for a while, but the lack of offense is gonna affect the defenses play.</p>
<p>It’s sort of embarrassing as a student at UT to see this thread become about football instead of the thought-provoking discussion as it began. I believe Texas places too much emphasis on our football team, when we truly do have some pretty amazing things going on in the academic and artistic realms that are sorely underfunded, under appreciated, and under publicized. I realize that isn’t a popular opinion, but I digress … </p>
<p>Anyway, I thought the original points made in this post were definitely interesting even if I didn’t agree with all of them. I’m not a math/science/engineering major, but I still believe that UT has academic rigor, variety, and challenge. I don’t believe that everyone is just there for the title of B.A. and that people do not care about learning. Yes, I think there could be a large population of students that feel that way, but there’s going to be a large population of people in life after college who feel like that. Some people are just content with being cogs in the greater machine; not everyone aspires to attain greater knowledge or change the world. I also believe that inflated grades do exist in many cases, but the act of giving inflated grades is not a reflection of a bad professor. People who decide to learn will learn, regardless of the grade they earn. And people who are self-motivated will succeed. So what if the hard workers get the same good grades as the slackers? In the end it won’t matter – the hard workers will succeed in life. The slackers won’t even try. </p>
<p>In a way, I sort of think it boils down to the very elementary idea: Mind your own beeswax. Just focus on your own academic and personal journey, learning the most about the world during your time in college and pushing yourself to new limits in order to grow the most during your time. Everything and everyone else will take care of itself.</p>
<p>So I guess that means you don’t have a prediction for the game?</p>
<p>I don’t know but I’d say we need to step up our game. It’s not looking good at the moment due to poor performance (barely winning) against not as competitive teams while Alabama really only had one close call (Auburn) and that was all mental (biggest rival, eh?). I don’t know though, I have limited football knowledge (of course). It’s definitely still anyone’s game. </p>
<p>See? I can humor you with football talk. ;] I don’t hate collegiate sports! Good for camaraderie and gaining exposure and all that … I’m just typically not the girl you’d see at a game. All things in moderation.</p>
<p>crazichi-the Texas Athletic department is completely self-sufficient, it takes nothing from the general fund so the fact that it is able to have as much as it has may prove you’re point, but if you’re implying what I think you are the Athletic fund doesn’t need to be reduced in order to fund other aspects at UT since it is self-supporting. (its actually one of maybe 3 university athletic departments that have this)</p>
<p>did the athletic funds cover all the stadium costs?</p>
<p>Considering how much money the school brings in for each game -our season tickets are $75.00 each (and knowing that some are more, some are less, but say, average price), multiply that by ~90,000 people - and each game nets ~$6,750,000.00, just in ticket sales. But, you also have to factor in the naming costs, what did Joe Jamail pay for that? And, all those rememberance plaques around the stadium cost a pretty penny too. </p>
<p>I think the stadium is covered. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>i was under the impression the 180mill for upgrades came from elsewhere in the budget and endowment.</p>
<p>Just a quick FYI about the athletic department and academics:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Like I said, I think the stadium is covered. Whatever is spent will be recouped ten fold. :)</p>
<p>id take the 180mill over a 6.6mill perpetuity.</p>
<p>Well, I guess they’re looking at the long payback.</p>
<p>If I won the lottery, I’d probably take the lump sum too. :)</p>
<p>But, seriously, the fact that the athletic department is not only self supporting, but also contributes yearly to academic programs, is just about unheard of in the world of US collegiate sports. </p>
<p>In the case of the stadium upgrades, in this case it was, “if you build it, they will come.”</p>
<p>Try getting decent season tickets without joining and donating to The Longhorn Foundation. Count my yearly donation to that as part of the payback on the 180 mill. ;)</p>
<p>"Considering how much money the school brings in for each game -our season tickets are $75.00 each (and knowing that some are more, some are less, but say, average price), multiply that by ~90,000 people - and each game nets ~$6,750,000.00, just in ticket sales. But, you also have to factor in the naming costs, what did Joe Jamail pay for that? And, all those rememberance plaques around the stadium cost a pretty penny too. </p>
<p>I think the stadium is covered."</p>
<p>You forgot to add the $2000 donantion per seat per year some of us pay BEFORE the cost of tickets. It’s a great year to be a season ticket holder.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s what I meant by the “Longhorn Foundation” donation. They do get you coming and going, don’t they! :D</p>
<p>I have to agree with “navyarf” regarding the quality of students at UT. I also have to add that while the quality of honor students are very high, honor students do not always take honor classes. In Engineering honors for example, there are no more honors classes past the basic 1st year classes. I sympathize with your feeling, as I like to be challenged in my classes. I have had my final uncurved grade 1 standard deviation higher than the 2nd highest grade in my engineering class before. </p>
<p>But I also see it from UT’s stand point. It’s a public university with the obligation to educate the masses. Even with the limited top 10% acceptance, it’s difficult to guarantee the quality of students. UT, as a public university, can not be an elitist university, pick and choose the academic elite.</p>
<p>While I know that I would have gotten a better academic experience, if I had gone to a more academically rigorous institution, I don’t regret attending UT. I was able to experience our baseball team winning the CWS, our football team going to the Rose Bowl twice, make some good friends. Furthermore, I enjoyed not gaining an air of elitism that many of my high school classmate did after attending the prestigious institutions. </p>
<p>In the end, all that really matters is how you make your college experience out to be. Going to UT will not set you back. Many of my college friends are attending top ranked graduate schools. Had they gone to MIT, they would still ended up at the same place.</p>
<p>P.S. Harvard is famous for grade inflation because it accepts many well-connected but unqualified students.</p>
<p>I don’t mean funds – I mean attention and recognition.</p>
<p>I liked your post, navyarf. I thought it was thought-provoking and passionate. I was surprised at the types of responses you got. There were a lot of disproportionately angry or critical responses, it seemed to me. And the one who said, “It’s okay to be frustrated with UT. Try to do so respectfully.” Huh? What was disrespectful about your post? I thought some of the responses were disrespectful, on the other hand. Oh well. I don’t get it.</p>
<p>A big part of college life and being in your young twenties is “finding yourself.” Discovering what makes you tick and finding out “where” you want to go next. Sounds like you’re on the right track, discerning what it is that floats your boat.</p>
<p>Interesting that people like TXhorn hijacked your thread and, from my point of view, only served to prove your point! Ironic.</p>