While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:

I'm not saying anything, I'm just sayin'...

1. Brave, new world: We’re still seven months away from our first expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff, but I thought it would be interesting to check out the selection committee, especially if you can’t wait to start your conspiracy theories. Included in the 13-member panel are current Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, one-time Baylor coach Jim Grobe, sitting Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek, former Missouri coach Gary Pinkel and two with Nebraska ties in former head coach Mike Riley and former All-American lineman Will Shields. So, there are six members who have done battle with Texas, and we know how the Razorbacks, Bears and Cornhuskers feel about the Longhorns. What, no Sooners? Just saying. Did embrace the hate have an expiration date? In truth, I’ve got major respect for all those good folks, especially Rhoades and Riley. And they will have an impossible job trying to please so many schools and conferences … I mean, the SEC and Big Ten. … Oh, and if you are anxiously awaiting Texas’ season opener against Colorado State, you should know that BetOnline listed the Longhorns as a 36½-point favorite over the Rams. The Mountain West team finished 5-7 last season under the well-traveled Jay Norvell, a former offensive assistant at Texas who is 8-16 in two years in Fort Collins. The betting line is the third-largest spread behind only Ohio State (50½ over Akron) and Oklahoma (39½ over Temple). … Speaking of the Big 12, now that the Horns and Sooners have left the building, what’s the main football attraction that will excite the populace? Utah-BYU? Doesn’t really scream Big 12. TCU-Baylor? Hasn’t been the same since Art Briles and Gary Patterson left. TCU-Texas Tech? Seriously, that’s a gaping void that Kansas-Kansas State cannot fill.

A big series precedes a big-time pitcher

2. Epic battle, pitcher: Have to say Texas’ three softball games with Texas A&M was as entertaining and hotly contested as any athletic events I’ve covered. And the Longhorns said they think the two wins in the three one-run games could carry over and give them some momentum in the Women’s College World Series, which begins Thursday with a Texas game against Stanford and strikeout queen NiJaree Canady, who leads the nation in strikeouts and ERA. She got blasted in the 11-1 loss to LSU in her super regional opener but came back strong with back-to-back shutouts, allowing only five hits and striking out 12 in the two wins. Shortstop Vivi Martinez said the Horns showed “some good grit,” and they will need it in a tough bracket that includes Oklahoma State and Florida. … Texas coach Mike White considered recruiting the sophomore fireballer out of Topeka, Kan., but said Canady was throwing with velocity only in the low 60s back then. “I sure wish I had her now,” White said Tuesday before he and the team flew to Oklahoma City. Martinez played with her on the U.S. national team in Japan, and Alyssa Washington called Canady “a fierce competitor.”

More: After softball thriller, Longhorns, Aggies are on baseball collision course | Golden

Three Big 12 teams made WCWS, but 13 SEC teams made NCAAs

3. SEC-ya later: Yes, we respect Texas’ new league, but White made it a point to remind people that it is the Big 12 with three teams in the WCWS while the SEC has just two representatives in Florida and surprise winner in Alabama, which knocked off Tennessee. “We haven’t played a couple of the other teams,” White said, “but the strength of that (Big 12) conference shows right now. Three of the teams are in the Big 12, and that’s more than any other conference.” He also noted the SEC had all 13 of its softball programs in the NCAA Tournament while the Big 12 had just five. Three of those five are the No. 1 (Texas), No. 2 (OU) and No. 5 (OSU) national seeds. … So impressed not only with the resilience of the team but also the contributions from the entire roster. Players like seldom-used Vic Hunter, who powers a grand slam to keep the Longhorns close in Game 2 to stars like third baseman Mia Scott, whose solo homer in the fifth inning of Game 3 gave Texas a 3-1 cushion and was mostly overlooked. “For her not to be on the All-Regional team, I’ve got some question marks on that,” White said. “That kid is as good as I’ve coached. She’s smart, she’s competitive, she’s street-smart and knows how to play the game.” … Also White didn’t duck from criticism. When he sent Bella Dayton a confusing signal on whether to go home from second or stay at third in a pivotal play in Game 2, he owned up to it and said he apologized to Dayton, who later responded with a clutch home run later that game. … Lastly a tip of the cap to the crowd, who packed McCombs Field stands with the largest softball crowd there in history with 2,214 screaming fans and helped fuel one Texas comeback after another. Star Reese Atwood noted how big the fans were and how they “took energy away” from the visiting Aggies. That truly was an epic series and as good a competition over three games as I’ve ever seen.

More: Texas softball coach Mike White: World Series should rotate from Oklahoma, but it won't

Beautiful rivalry returning in a big way

4. Get ready, bus drivers: Aggies have routinely yelled at Longhorn bus drivers, uh coaches, to sit down and be quiet. Just part of the flavor of this beautiful rivalry that thankfully is returning in a big way. … Do not write off the Texas baseball team, especially when it’s playing its arch-rival A&M. While the Longhorns pitching may be totally unsettled, if Max Grubbs and potentially Ace Whitehead in relief (all hands on deck) can get past a really salty Louisiana team and Lebarron Johnson Jr. pitches up to his capabilities against the Aggies, Texas has a chance with a potent offense and an excellent defense. … Love how Texas was embracing the rivalry. “A&M has always been a rivalry, and I’ve never liked them,” Texas first baseman Jared Thomas said. “They’re a good ball club. They’ve got a good offense, and their pitching is kind of just like anybody else in the SEC, but I think we can compete with anybody in the country.” Thomas said he expects “a lot of chirping, a lot of craziness. It’s going to be really loud. They’re going to do their ball five, ball six chant. They’re going to blow their bubbles, but at the end of the day it’s about us.” … Head coach David Pierce knows his team won’t back down and I can’t remember a Texas team that’s ever been intimidated. “I don’t think (Blue Bell Park) is any more intimidating than any other place,” he said. “To me, it’s more of a thrill and more exciting than intimidating. I think it’s fun. If we’re not playing here, I want to go to the rowdiest place you can play, and this year that’s Texas A&M.”

More: Yes, the Horns have been inconsistent but a 3 seed? | Bohls

Saying goodbye to a rare breed

5. One of a kind: Must say a sad goodbye to Bill Walton, who died of cancer Monday. To me, he was the quintessential athlete. A two-time champion in college and the NBA. Played hurt. Always. One of the all-time greats as a true Hall of Famer. Interested in the whole world not just sports. Totally engaged. Truly a unique and fascinating character. I don’t know how somebody could dislike Walton. He made time for everybody and celebrated life every single day. We’ve rarely seen his likes and may not again. "I love being involved," Walton told me during a drive down a California highway a year ago. "I'm an engaged citizen. I have a duty and obligation ... to do as much as I can to make the world a better place.” Walton’s been the rarest of white superstar athletes, one who’s unfailingly candid about pressing social issues and willing to take the heat. When I asked him why others aren’t as willing to speak out about injustice, he said, “I can’t and don’t speak for other people. I try to encourage, to inspire, to try to illuminate and elevate."

More: As NCAA baseball tournament gets underway, Texas placed in College Station Regional

A plight that touches many

6. Hug your family: Mental health issues are real and deserve all the attention they get. The loss of 31-year-old PGA golfer Grayson Murray to suicide, as his parents said, shines an important light on mental health issues and the need to take it very seriously. Suicide has touched so many families' lives, including mine after my brother-in-law, Craig Stafford, a painfully quiet and shy but brilliant photographer, took his life at 39 and left a profound hole in our lives. I also applaud former NBA head coach and current TNT broadcaster Stan Van Gundy, who said his wife Kim took her own life eight months ago. This touches thousands of families and needs to have a spotlight on it, especially with all the bullying and vitriol spewed out often anonymously on social media these days. Van Gundy spoke openly about dealing with the grief. “She took her own life. I’ll never — I don’t care how long it goes, I can’t imagine that I’ll ever get over that. ... It was devastating,” Van Gundy said on Dan Le Batard’s podcast. “We’d been married for 35 years and had been together for close to 40 years, since I was 24 years old ... my entire adult life. I trace everything, job changes, kids, everything, I was with her, and she was by my side. I never, ever, envisioned that I was going to live another day in my life without Kim. I'm trying hard to remember her voice, to remember her smile, all of those things, but more than anything, to live her values, because her values were better than mine.”

A Longhorn for life

7. A wonderful Longhorn: Mike Cotten was a Longhorn through and through. The All-Southwest Conference quarterback, who died Saturday at age 84, wasn’t as celebrated as some who followed him. But he was a gifted quarterback who led the SWC in touchdown passes with seven in 1961 in a 10-1 season and very nearly joined the company of four other Texas quarterbacks who won national championships and whose bronze busts reside at the southwest plaza of Royal-Memorial Stadium. Cotten would have been among them, but for a 6-0 upset by TCU that prompted Darrell Royal to call the Horned Frogs “cockroaches” because of what they “fall into and mess up.” Cotten took Austin High to the state semifinals, the last Maroons quarterback to take them to a playoff win. He was a loyal Marine. He was a devout, season-ticket-holder to Longhorn football, basketball and baseball for three decades. He taught his girls, Lesley and Ashley, how to score a baseball game. Never showed up at work as an attorney as late as 8:01 a.m. Considered DKR a second father. “It was fitting he died on Memorial Day weekend,” said Scott Norman, a second cousin to Cotten’s daughters. “I never heard him raise his voice or say a cuss word. Just not what a Marine would do.”

Where's Chuck?

8. Scattershooting: While wondering whatever happened to Aggie second baseman great Chuck Knoblauch.

A personal favorite can't save this flick

9. On the couch: I fell for it. My wife and I struggled through “Fall Guy,” a wonderfully titled movie about Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt man. Just an endless parade of fight scenes, car chases, sappy lines between him and a personal favorite Emily Blunt. Gave it two ducks.

Wanted: a big human

Crazy prediction: Texas men’s basketball will still get a frontcourt player. Maybe.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football a CFP favorite, but not everyone's favorite