What I Love About Tommy Tubberville

First off, let me state I have no inside knowledge of the current Tubberville situation and only know what I’ve read on websites (credible and not).  I think I have enough information to know that Tubs called out the Auburn administration.  I personally think the Auburn administration was going behind his back again to see what coaches were interested.  I think Tubs realized this and said something to the effect of, “Screw this.  If you don’t want me just give my $6 million and lets move on as you’re not running me off so let’s just get this over with.”  I don’t think the Auburn administration had any intention of letting him go until they knew what coach(es) they could get.  I really think Tubs forced their hand .  Kudos to Tubs for getting out of the mess and most importantly not letting his players dangle in the wind because the Auburn administration is acting like a cheating spouse hitting on other coaching candidates.  Plus, Tubs just got a $6 million lottery ticket that he bought last season.

By all accounts I think Auburn wants Muschamp or Leach while checking on that old flame Bobby Petrino.  I don’t think Petrino is stupid enough to leave an Arkansas program he just joined after all of his drama last season.  Plus, his team was getting better as the season wore on so I don’t think he’d wants to go through another adjustment year.

As for Muschamp, his wife is an Auburn alum but he was just named the “Coach in Waiting” in Austin.  I think it’s obvious that title was given just because Mack and Co. knew the interest in Muschamp was so high and they didn’t want to establish a crazy benchmark for paying a standard DC.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Muschamp as I know his wife enjoys living in Austin but she did go to Auburn and he coached there.

Then there’s Leach.  He’s obviously interested in UW and by some reports, his agent indicated Leach and Tech haven’t had any discussions related to an extension.  My guess is Myers has told Leach and his agent that they want to extend him but haven’t officially extended him anything.  My guess is the agent’s thoughts are that until there’s an extension on the table discussions can’t really take place.  Sounds like a good agent when other programs have interest.  All things equal I think Auburn loses out to UW for a guy like Leach.  He seems more like a West Coast guy and I could see him living in Seattle.  Not saying he won’t take Auburn over Tech but I think he’d prefer UW over Auburn because Leach knows he can be successful anywhere.

If Auburn misses on Leach or Muschamp I have no idea who they get.

My prediction – They money whip Will Muschamp just like Bama did with Nick Saban.  They’ll fall on their face for a week or two and then just offer so much money to Muschamp that he can’t turn it down.

Back to Tubs – This guy played this thing perfectly.  According to reports from last season , A&M was going to make a serious run at him.  Auburn stepped in and gave him that big extension with the $6 million buyout to help prevent his leaving which worked because A&M backed down and hired Sherman.  One year later Tubs calls the Auburn administration on the carpet because they’re flirting again and got his $6 million lottery ticket.  Now he doesn’t have to deal with the drama of wondering every year what’s going to happen with his job.  He’s got enough confidence he knows he can go somewhere and probably do well.  Tubs is about as solid as they come from a coaching standpoint.

I still also believe that Auburn was flirting with Petrino last season.  I think the Auburn admin thought they could get Petrino again and Tubs would be happy going to A&M so Tubs could just be let go with no penalty for Auburn.  At some point Petrino got cold feet and Auburn freaked because Tubs could be leaving so they gave him that extension because it looked like Petrino wasn’t coming back to college.  Two weeks later Petrino had a change of heart related to the NFL and wound up at Arkansas.  Auburn was miffed because Arky had Petrino and they were stuck with poor old Tubs.  I personally think had A&M extended out their search for a couple of weeks then Tubs would be in Aggieland and Petrino would be in Auburn.  Tubs wanted out last year and Auburn wanted Petrino but Petrino was the only one that was uncertain when the pieces needed to fall.

Whatever is really going on it’s just good drama and Tubs is a richer man without the headache this morning.  That’s why I love the man.

Early 2009 Texas A&M Football Predictions

Attainable Results:

New Mexico – Win
Utah State – Win
UAB – Win
Arkansas – Loss
Ok. State – Loss
KSU – Win
Texas Tech – Loss
ISU – Win
CU – Win
OU – Loss
BU – Loss
Texas – Loss

I think the Baylor and Colorado games are interchangeable as I could see us winning in Boulder but we haven’t really done so in the past.  I can see us beating Baylor but I’m not sure.  Either way, I don’t see any reason why Sherm should go less than 6-6.  Anything less (and it’s completely possible) and he should be dismissed in year 2.  His first three games at home are gimmees as are his conference games with KSU and ISU so that’s five wins in his pocket.  I know no games are gimmees with A&M football anymore but in his second year there’s no excuse to lose any of these five games if we’re going to get this thing turned around.  He should be able to find one win in the other 7 if he’s truly going to be great here.

I personally think he goes 6-6 in 2008 and get his third year at the helm.

Outstanding Season:

New Mexico – Win
Utah State – Win
UAB – Win
Arkansas – Win
Ok. State – Loss
KSU – Win
Texas Tech – Loss
ISU – Win
CU – Win
OU – Loss
BU – Win
Texas – Loss

That’s 8-4 with losses to his Big 12 South counterparts except for Baylor.  Completely attainable in my mind.  Personally, I think this should be his measuring stick if he wants to be great.  This sets him up to go 9-3 or 10-2 in his third year and really get this thing turned around.

Crazy but Possible:

New Mexico – Win
Utah State – Win
UAB – Win
Arkansas – Win
Ok. State – Win
KSU – Win
Texas Tech – Loss
ISU – Win
CU – Win
OU – Loss
BU – Win
Texas – Loss

That’s 9-3 with his only losses going to OU and Tech on the road and Texas at home.  He beats OSU which seems like a tall task right now but it is at Kyle Field.  This would likely put him in the Holiday Bowl which would be nothing short of amazing in his second year.

Like I said, I fully expect him to go 6-6 and leave us wondering if/when he’s going to get it turned around.  I really don’t think 8-4 is out of the question if he’s going to make that leap to great.

Only time will tell.

A Look at 2008 First Year Coaches

Before Bill Byrne went on his “National Search”, these were the names I thought should be considered:

Butch Davis, Tom Tuberville, Mike Leach, Kevin Sumlin, Will Muschamp, Art Briles (I swear), Randy Edsell (UConn), and Ron Zook.  Not saying all of these guys should have been interviewed but their interest should have been gauged and due diligence on them done.  We’ll look at the first year of Sumlin and Briles since the others were already head coaches except for Muschamp and we all now what he’s become.

Other first year coaches will look at are Bo Pelini (NU), Bobby Petrino (Arky), Paul Johnson (Ga Tech), Rich Rod (Mich), and Rick Neuhesiel (UCLA).

Kevin Sumlin (7-5):

Sumlin took over an 8-5 UH team that lost to TCU in the mighty Texas Bowl.

In Sumlin’s first year he took the Coogs to a 7-5 record.  All five of their losses came on the “road” with a loss in Stillwater by 19 points in his second game (How did Sherm do there?), a loss to Air Force by 3 which was moved to Dallas to Hurrican Ike, a loss by 3 to Colorado St.,  by 14 points on a Tuesday night to Marshall, and then by 14 points to the Mighty Rice Owls (HOOT!  HOOT!).

Let’s throw out the Air Force game as that wasn’t fair with Ike and the loss to Marshall as playing on a Tuesday night on the road is not fair.  If you’ve ever looked at the results, the home team on a weeknight game wins like 58% of the time and covers the spread like 65% of the time.  The scores skew so far from the norm that there’s an obvious advantage to playing at home on weekday night.  Remember when Fran clowned the Bobcats from San Marcos?  Oh, wait.

We could probably throw out the Col. St. game as well since that was still one week after Ike and the entire city of Houston was still recovering.  The losses to Rice and OSU are legit so it’s safe to say Sumlin could have gone anywhere from 7-5 to 10-2 without Ike and the weeknight game on the road.

He had two impressive wins when he went in and beat East Carolina on the road when they were ranked in the Top 25 just coming off two Top 25 upsets themselves.  They also upset a Top 25 ranked Tulas at home.  In fact, they clowned them 70-30.  That’s right, a 40 point victory over a Top 25 team.  UH will likely wind up in the Texas Bowl again so it’ll be interesting to see how they do.  All in all I’d say Sumlin did pretty decent considering the Ike circumstances.  He definitely played OSU closer than Sherman did in just his second game.

Art Briles (4-8):

Artimus took over a 3-9 Baylor program and most folks were snickering because Briles was below what A&M could hire.  At the time he seemed like a very Billy Gillispie hire in my book.  He has the same “aw shucks” demeanor and rose through the ranks of Texas high school and college assistant before getting an HC shot at a smaller Texas program and had decent success.

Briles only improved Baylor’s record by one game but let’s look at his 8 losses.  He got blown out at home in his first game to an at the time Top 25 Wake Forest when he trotted out three QBs before realizing Bob Griffin would be his man from then on.  He won his next two games blowing out both Northwestern State and Washington State.  Say what you want but Sherm didn’t blow anyone out as his win at ISU was only by 14 points.  Briles beat both of those teams by at least 28.

He would then take his team to Hartford, CT and see his team let a late lead slip away losing to UConn by 3 points.  Next came a blowout at home to OU by 32.  Sherm lost by 38.  He beat ISU at home by 28 and then traveled to Still water where he lost by 28 points which is the same as Sherm.  Next involved a 12 point loss in Lincoln where they actually lead at half time but couldn’t score any points in the second half.  Missouri visited Waco and snuck out with a 3 point victory.  Next was a 24 point loss in Austin.

The last two games included a 20 point thumping over Texas A&M and his final game was a 7 point loss in Lubbock where they lead by 14 at one point.

So in summary they lost 5 games by 12 or less with their greatest losses being 32 to OU, 28 on the road to OSU, and 24 in Austin.  Considering the talent of the programs they lost to I think Briles had a REMARKABLE first season.  4-8 might be 4-8 but I’ll take Briles’ 4-8 over Sherm’s 4-8 any day of the week.

If you’re an Aggie fan you should absolutely be steaming at what Briles did in Waco while seeing what Sherm did in College Station.  There is little doubt in my mind right now that Baylor made the better hire all because A&M was afraid to interview Briles because we thought we were better or smarter than that.

Bo Pelini (8-4):

Pelini took over a 5-7 Nebraska program that A&M beat last year and had arguably a worst defense than A&M.  Enter Bo Pelini and his crazy college experience and he took that crappy Nebraska team to an 8-4 record and closed out the season strong.

Pelini won his first game at home and suffered his first loss in questionable 30-35 loss to Va. Tech at home in prime time.  They woudl then get clowned at home by 35 points to then BCS contender Missouri.  The next week they pushed Tech to overtime in Lubbock only to lose by 6 points.  After that they would stomp ISU by 28, beat Baylor by 12,  lose to OU by 34 in Norman (Sherm 38 at home), beat Kansas by 10 at home, KSU by 28 in Manhattan, and then kind of lucking out with a 9 point victory over CU at home to close out the season.  They dominated CU statistically but CU had some big plays and NU had one HUGE bone headed fake kick that damn near cost them the game.

All of this has set Nebraska up for a Gator Bowl matchup with Ga. Tech for a battle of the first year coaches that over achieved.  Say what you want about playing in the North but it’s clear Bo Pelini is a better head coach right now than Mike Sherman.  Too bad he didn’t have any head coaching experience.

Bobby Petrino (5-7):

Bobby eeked out his first two wins over Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe but he did get the win.  He then got clowned by Bama, Texas, and Florida.  Next came an upset of Auburn on the road.  Next was a one point loss to UK in Lexington, a 2 point loss to Ole Miss, and then a 7 point win over a decent Tulsa team.  They then lost by 14 in Columbia, SC, 3 points to MSU in Starkville, and then beat LSU by 1 point at home.

Everyone wants to talk about how bad Arkansas was in Petrino’s first year but when you look at it, he did pretty damn good.  Sure he struggled in his first two wins but then got blown out by 3 of the Top 4 teams in the current BCS.  Is that so bad?

You take out those three games and he went 5-4.  Of his other 4 losses, three were within 3 points and the other was by 13.  I don’t think that’s bad at all in a tough SEC.  Say what you want but Bobby Petrino had a much better season than his record and three blowout games indicate.  His team definitely got better as the season went on which is a sign of a good coach.

Doesn’t bode well for A&M next season and I think it’s safe to say Arky hired the better coach.  Don’t be shocked to see Arkansas competing for the West division next season.

Paul Johnson (9-3):

Johnson took over a 7-6 Ga. Tech that lost their bowl game last season.  He went 9-3 with wins over BC, Clemson, FSU, Miami, and UGA.  In the brand name department that’s damn impressive in your first year.   The BC, Clemson, and UGA wins were on the road.  That’s outstanding for a first year head coach to do that on the road.  He destroyed Jacksonville St. at home in his first game which is an indicator of potential future success based on my research.  His greatest loss was to UNC by 21 points in Chapel Hill.  His other losses included a 3 point loss to Va. Tech in Blacksburg, and a 7 point loss to UVA at home.

Yep, Ga. Tech hired the better coach.

Rich Rod (3-9):

Rich Rod took over a 9-4 Michigan that won it’s bowl game.  He went 3-9 and got his ass beat by Notre Dame, Illinois, Penn State, and Ohio State.  The other losses were by less than 14 points and including by 2 points at home to Utah in his first game.  Uh oh.  Utah is a solid team though so it’s not that damning but it’s not good.  He lost by 3 at home to Toledo.  Yep.  3 points at home to Toledo.  The Michigan coach.  Lost to Toledo.  At home.  In his sixth game.  Not good.  His other losses included a 14 point loss at home to Michigan State, a 6 point loss to Purdue on the road, and a 7 point loss at home to Northwestern.

His three wins included a 10 point win at home over Miami of Ohio, a 2 point win over Wisconsin at home, and a 23 point win over Minnesota on the road.  He was 2-5 in games at The Big House and 1-4 on the road.  Hmmmmmmm, that sounds familiar with one less loss on the road.

I never really thought about it but Rich Rod could be a Fraud on the level of Coach Fran.  He ran a gimmick offense in a lesser conference that relied solely on getting talented guys that could run.  He did finish in the Top 10 in 2005 and 2006 while winning the Sugar and Gator Bowls respectively.  Now that’s much more impressive than Fran but the most amazing part is that with an opportunity to play for the National Championship he spit the bit and lost to a Pittsburgh team coached by Dave Wannestedt’s mustache at home.  Maybe he can’t get over the hump and will struggle in a legit conference where he might or might not get the two key people to run his offense.

There’s another similarity to Fran in that Rich Rod took over a big program that just let a very successful head coach go just because he’d become stale and their main rival had taken them to the woodshed and was playing for national championships.  I think the similarities between R.C. and Carr are pretty close.

Look at how he and Fran left their respective gigs.  Both where known flirters for other jobs prior to the season they left and left after one of their best seasons ever while leaving their players high and dry.  It’s okay if the fan base is upset with your leaving but when you don’t even feel welcome in the state you left by ANYONE something is wrong.  I think it’s safe to say West Virginia isn’t on Rich Rod’s favorite places to visit these days just like Fran will say with Alabama.

Not saying Rich Rod will fall on his face but I won’t be surprised if in five years he’s let go without ever accomplishing anything.  Maybe he can get a job after he’s done in 5 at UMich on ESPN Radio doing color commentary where he just interjects random thoughts in a nasaly pitched voice while having no rapport with his play by play guy.  That’s what Fran’s doing.

Maybe Rich Rod will be the exception but his first year doesn’t look good for future success.

Rick Neuheisel (4-8):

Neuheisel took over a 6-7 UCLA team that lost it’s bowl game.  He’ll go 4-8 as I assume he’ll get beat by USC.  I never quite understood this hire as it just seemed like getting the band back together.  I thought they were absolute fools for not hiring Mike Leach as he’d be perfect for this gig.  The yin to Pete Carrol’s yang while running the craziest offense in the Pac-10.  Hey, there’s safety in memories.

Rick started off his career with a pretty amazing overtime win over Tennessee or so it seemed but it quickly went downhill after that.  He was blown out 59-0 to BYU and then lost by 21 to Mike Stoops’ Arizona team at home.  He then lost by 5 points to Fresno St. at home.  Fresno is good but UCLA doesn’t need to be losing to that team at home.  His other losses included a 7 point loss to Oregon on the road, by 21 points to Cal in Berkley, by 28 points to Oregon St.  at home, and by 25 points to Arizona St. on the road.  That’s 5 losses by 21 points or more and that doesn’t included his pending game with USC.  Half his total games could be losses by more than 21 points which is just not good.

His wins are not really that impressive as Tennessee wound up not being that good, he beat a HORRIBLE Wash. St. team by 25 at home, Standford by 3 at home, and beat Washington by 20 in Seattle.  Not one of those is really that impressive.

All in all I’d say the Nueheisel hire is pretty close to Sherman.

It looks like everyone but Michigan and UCLA hired better coaches than A&M at the same time.  Only time will tell but it’s not looking good for A&M, Michigan, and UCLA so far.  Let’s come back and look at these coaches next year.

Second Year Coaching Benchmarks

As I’ve stated before, I think Butch Davis and Mike Dantonio are great measuring sticks for what Sherm should be.  I’d say they took over somwhat similar programs from a talent standpoint with the same resources.  The only real difference is they’re in easier conferences but I’d counter that with A&M has more talent to pick from when it comes to recruiting so it’s kind of a wash.

Butch Davis:

In his first year Butch Davis went 4-8 with all of his wins at home and only lost by more than 7 points twice and that was to ranked teams.  Not a great record but his team was obviously competitive in 10 of their 12 games.

So how did Butch do in 2008?  The envelope please.  8-4!!!

That’s right, Butch reversed his record and won 8 games.  He had one real stinker of a game when UNC lost to NC State at home by 31 points with the potential on the line to tie for the ACC Coastal Divison Championship even though they would have lost all head to heads so they couldn’t get to the championship game.

The other three games he lost where all by less than three points which includes 3 to eventual Coastal Co-Champ Va. Tech, 3 on the road to Virginia, and 2 on the road to Maryland.  I would say the losses to Virginia and Maryland are slight head scratchers as UNC wound up with a better record than both of those but they were on the road and they were obviously very competitive.

They’ll likely wind up in the Music City Bowl in Nashville against an SEC opponent like Vandy or in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against a Big East team like West Virginia.  Both great bowl tests for them even if the bowls aren’t that well known.

I can’t tell you how excited I’ll be in 2009 if Sherman goes 8-4 with only ONE blowout loss.  If he puts a big bowl win cherry on top then I might just get right back on that Shermwagon.

Mike Dantonio:

I don’t think most folks have any idea who this guy is but I would say Michigan State is a very comparable program to A&M.   In 2007, Dantonio took Michigan to a 7-5 record with a bowl loss to Boston College lead by Matt Ryan.  They only lost by 3 points in that bowl game.   Every other loss was less than 7 points so even in his first year he had the Spartans competitive.

So how did ol’ Mike do in 2008?  The envelope, please.  9-3 for the third place in the Big 11!!!

He did open up the  season with a loss but it was to Cal on the road in Berkley.  His other losses were flat blowouts to Ohio State by 38 at home and on the road in State College, PA by 31.  As a fan you don’t like the scores but at least it was to the top 2 teams in the conference and one was on the road.

All of this is likely good for a Capital One Bowl game appearance against Georgia which seems like it would be a HUGE test except no one has any idea what happened to UGA this year.  For A&M to duplicate this kind of season would be like losing to OU, tu, and Arkansas in 2009 to get a Cotton Bowl berth.  Folks, I’d have ZERO problems with that in year 2.

I know everyone is down on Aggie Football but honestly I don’t know why Sherm can’t duplicate something like what UNC did.  Sherm’s coming from a bigger hole but that’s his fault and if he’s going to turn this thing around I think he has to do something similar to what Butch Davis did.  He needs to win and win now and there’s proof that others have done it.  No more “woe is me” because of talent or any other lame excuse.

Thoughts from the tu Game

I had planned on writing up my thoughts from the game like I normally do but I just can’t do it. I think everyone saw the game and knows what’s going on. I still stand by my statement that Sherman deserves another year unless we can get Mike Leach. I know that’s not possible so I’ll fully support Sherman for another year while being critical. I want him to prove me wrong but I’m not seeing it.

As for Leach, I was driving back to Fort Worth on Saturday and listened to the game on the radio. Mike Leach deserves all kinds of credit for pulling that game off. It was a classic let down game against a team that was getting better each game (more on that later) while Tech was being decimated by injuries. Tech was down by 14 points at one point and lost probably the best player in the Big XII in Crabtree. They got a couple of lucky breaks thanks to penalties by Baylor that negated turnovers but Leach and his DC hung in there and pulled it out. That was not a cheap win by any stretch.

To the A&M/tu game:

  • Back on Turkey Night. I know some people don’t like this but I can’t tell you how great it was seeing the game featured on SportsCenter on Wed, Thur, and Friday. Sure, it wasn’t good for us but those of you that remember 1984 and 1985 will understand how great it will be when Aggie Football is back. There’s no better stage for us. My wife wasn’t completely excited about it as she wanted to spend more time with family but she’ll adjust. I think.
  • The I-Formation. I think this is the part that frustrates me the most about Sherman. He ran the I most of the game but there were three times that got me. It was the formation for the first play in each half as well as a 3rd and 11 in the 3rd quarter. All three times it went absolutely nowhere. What the hell was he thinking believing he could convert a third and 11 from the I formation? Sherman had a week and a half to prepare for this game and this is what he came up with. What did he do for those 10 days? Surely he could have been creative for those three moments. At least set the defense up to think you schemed differently for 10 days. That’s like Fran going option to the short side on 3rd and 3.
  • I saw Mike Shumard cut out the legs of the DE on the first drive of the game. I kid you not. He sawed the DE right down and I got giddy. 12 games into the season and Sherm’s vaunted OLine finally chopped someone down. Shumard actually played fairly decently for most of the game. Most of the offensive line struggles came up the middle. We just can’t establish the running game or a pocket but Sherman doesn’t seem to realize this.
  • I think the OLine play is the part that bothers me the most about Sherman. He’s supposed to be an OLine guru but this line has not developed AT ALL. I understand there have been plenty of injuries but in 12 games this line has NOT DEVELOPED. I also understand that Fran left Sherman in a bad way with numbers but this line has NOT DEVELOPED. In addition, they get flagged for false starts 12 games into the season. I played OLine in high school and my coach had two cardinal rules – 1) Hit someone. Even if you missed your assignment you better be blocking someone. You’d still get yelled at if you blew your assignment but if you were at least hitting someone you wouldn’t get yelled at as loud. To this OLine’s credit they do a better job of that than they did last year. 2) No penalties. This included false starts and holding calls. Our rule was that the line was one unit and we got two penalties a game with no repercussions. After that we had to do these awful drills called “Back, backs” where we had to drive the blocking sleds backwards. We had 4 penalties in our second game and we did “Back, backs” for 15 minutes. Needless to say, we didn’t do anymore “Back, backs” for the rest of the season. Sherman’s OLine is not disciplined and you can blame the players all you want but I see this on the coaching staff. They have to instill confidence and discipline. It’s not there.
  • I’m glad I was there for Mike’s last game as an Aggie. I’m glad he almost broke a 90 yard reception for one last memory. Unfortunately, Earl Thomas had an angle and happens to be fast as well so Mike couldn’t outrun it. Until that moment the offense hadn’t done jack. Say what you want about Stephen McGee but Mike Goodson is the reason we beat the sips in 2006. Not only did he get that first TD but he had two long 3rd down runs on “The Drive” that would not have happened without Mike coming along. I’ll never forget standing in the end zone of DKRMS watching those two runs and realizing how special he was. I’m gonna miss the kid despite all the criticism of injury and not being an every down back. If you don’t think he’s gone then you’re fooling yourself as I don’t think he’s been going to class which explains why Keondra has played so much and there’s really nothing for him to come back to.
  • Bag on Joe Kines all you want, but that man did everything he could for as long as he could. For 20 minutes of football the sips had only scored 7 points, 14 points for 25 minutes of football, and 21 points for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the offense of the team he coached went three and out on its first three possessions and then settled for a field goal on a 4th and short on their fourth and final drive of the half. (Won’t even get into that decision) If the offense does anything then it’s likely that game goes to half tied or down by 7 at the worst. I told my wife at halftime that the final score would be 56-17 as our defensive dam was about to burst and our offense would still be inept. I was ~7 points off on each side.
  • We have no idea how lucky we are to have Trent Hunter for three more seasons. If Sherman does anything defensively it’s going to because this kid is leading the secondary. Kudos to Sherman for landing the kid and realizing he needed to be on the field.
  • Von Miller had a hellacious knock on Colt McCoy. I don’t know what it takes but you find a way to spring this kid. In two seasons he’s put licks on Harrell and McCoy that have caused them to get up gingerly. I’m not advocating late hits by any stretch or injuring anyone but you have to find a way to spring this kid. Don’t worry about him covering people. Line him up and let him be the focal point of the offense’s pass blocking scheme. If they screw up they’ll know their QB is going to pay. If they’re going to turn just let Von contain and have the LBs fill. Oh wait, we need LBs. Either way, turn the kid into a pass rushing machine.
  • This is going to sound stupid but I knew we were done when the sips ran on the field. For those of you that haven’t been to a game at DKRMS the teams come on the field from opposite sides. The sips come out from the South end zone and the visiting team comes out from the Northwest corner. A&M was huddled up in the NW corner ready to release as the sips came on the field. The sips ran to the North end zone and lined up across ¾ of the goal line taking a knee blocking A&M’s path to their sideline. It was clear what the sips were doing and I don’t blame them one bit. I know they were praying but it was an act of intimidation and confrontation by the sips. Make no mistake they knew what they were doing. Our team stood idly by while it happened and finally showed some fight at the end which is what you saw on TV. It took way too long for that confrontation to happen. A coach with nuts would have released his team to get in the face of the sips way sooner. This team had no fight from the beginning and that has to change. Same thing goes for Harrel’s late TD and McCoy’s last running TD where Batson could have lit the guy up but just kind of gingerly tackled him while McCoy was going into the end zone. Once again, I’m not advocating late or dirty hits but it is a painful game and you better be ready to make your opponent pay when the opportunity is presented. The great Aggie teams had swagger and confidence and it’s clearly missing here. Somewhere along the way the sips got some of it and intimated us before the game ever started.
  • One knock I do have on our defense is the DEs biting on the ball fake in the zone read. I don’t know if that’s by design but they’re HORRIBLE at containing on the zone read. It’s just like defending the option. Stay home as grabbing them from behind ain’t really going to slow them down. If your interior holds then you can still get there in time if you’re certain the RB has the ball but don’t go down until you know the QB has released the ball.
  • As much as I’ve railed on McGee this season I was glad to see him getting some PT in his final game. I don’t agree with his getting in the face of the tu player that sacked him as it was a clean hit and he wasn’t celebrating anywhere near him. I didn’t even see what was going on until I heard the crowd as McGee and the celebration was so far apart that McGee went and found him. It’s his final game against a team he’s had his greatest moments so I can’t completely blame him. You’re a good Ag, #7 and I’m sorry that Fran ruined you.
  • JJ to Jeff Fuller. I don’t care if it was garbage time as those two are going to be very important to Aggie Football’s future.
  • Speaking of WR, that group deserves credit for being the most improved unit for the season. If the rest of the team showed the improvement that WR corp showed then we might be bowling. Fuller, Tannehill, and the two McCoys really stepped up and developed over the course of the season.
  • It was kind of sad seeing McGee, Lane, and Goodson on the field for one last time. It’s amazing to think what we could have been had Fran been a better head coach with those guys as the foundation for 2008.

Honestly, there’s not much else to talk about as it’s just disheartening knowing what’s coming and seeing it happen. I think the oddest thing was that in 15 years of attending this game both home and away I’ve never seen the sips sympathetic when we lost. The only thing I can equate it to is after the 2005 game where they tight as a drum in McGee’s starting debut. They know they earned a win that day to keep their MNC hopes alive.

This game was similar but different in that I had a bunch of Texas fans ask me after the game what had happened to A&M football. They were genuinely concerned for Aggie Football because it felt strange whipping a hopeless team. We went out on Sixth Street after the game and didn’t have anyone talk trash to us at all. Even before the game we hit a bar and just had a couple folks ask us if we were going to the game, from College Station, or wanted to change shirts before going in a joking manner. I’m used to people genuinely hating me when I wear maroon in Austin the day of the game. Most people were good natured ribbing us and asking what happened to Aggie Football. It’s like we’re terminal or got hit by a car. I even had a couple of shots bought for me because they felt Aggie fans needed it. I wasn’t even crying. Very surreal and I don’t like it one bit. I want to return to the day where we genuinely hate each other because there’s something on the line.

I still stand by my statement that I won’t feel good about Sherman until he wins a bowl game next season and finishes in the Top 25 in his third season. He dug himself a HUGE hole and he needs to see some immediate success to turn around recruiting. He can’t just skate by going 6-6 and 8-4 over the next two seasons. He needs some late season success because as you’ll see the great coaches get better as the season wears on regardless of the schedule. I firmly believe Sherm walked into the situation not knowing what college football had become both on the field and in recruiting. He’s now been head coach for 12 months which is plenty of time for him start turning this thing around.

As for his coordinators, I think Joe Kines actually deserves to stay. The last thing this team needs is turnover at the DC spot. If Kines is committed for another 3-4 years then by all means let him stay. The only coach I can see potentially moving on is Buddy Wyatt which pains me to say as he’s from my hometown and really likes A&M. However, if there’s one unit on the field that truly underperformed then it’s the DLine.

Offensively, I personally hope Cromwell moves on and Sherm hires either the OC at UH that was the OC under Leach or the OC from Tulsa just so Sherm can get some serious spread input into his scheme. I still don’t feel he’ll ever be successful with a true I formation just like Fran wasn’t successful with the option. He needs to learn the spread as that’s what most of the high schools in Texas are running and most Big XII teams which is why you see the Big XII QBs getting all the press except for A&M. If Sherm is going to be stubborn like Fran then he’ll see the door like Fran and never get another get a head coaching gig again or have any kind of legacy anywhere. I also think Sherm needs to get a truly awesome special teams coach. Go find the craziest high school head coach you can find that’s had some measure of success and get him on your staff to focus on special teams. It’ll also help with recruiting. I’m not kidding.

I’m definitely not shutting the door on Sherm being successful but he’s going to have to make adjustments and hire some folks he’s not comfortable with but are damn good coaches. It’s what Mack’s done twice in his most successful seasons. He simply went out and got the best DC he could hire at the time and obviously had no prior relationship with. Not saying he should do it with his DC but he should do it with his OC. It’s not a knock on Cromwell at all as his work with the WR corp has been absolutely amazing but I just don’t think he understands the college game right now and we don’t have the time to allow him to learn. It’s time for Sherm as an old dog to learn new tricks from an offensive standpoint.

Thoughts From the Baylor Game

I didn’t write any thoughts from the OU game mainly because I didn’t feel there was anything to write about.  We got our butts whooped plain and simple.  Outside of Cyrus Gray’s efforts there wasn’t that much positive in what OU did to us.  I didn’t want to waste any effort writing about it.  I feel much the same way after yesterday’s game but think it might be cathartic to write about it so here goes.

 

My wife and I made the journey down I-35 yesterday to the game.  We’re 60-90 minutes further from Aggieland in Fort Worth than Houston but we’re about 75 minutes from Waco.  I guess that’s a positive.  It makes that drive after a Baylor loss a little more bearable.  Notice I said little.

 

For this write up I’m going to get to do my usual style of Offense, Defense, and Special Teams.  I’m adding a special section on Coaching and Where I’d Go From Here.

 

Offense:

 

·        Normally I write about Mike Goodson here and quite honestly I’ll do it again because he had the greatest play by an Aggie offensive player when he made an amazing catch on a 51 yard pass that took him to the 1 yard line.  Not sure why he’s not getting more touches but he’s not.  Mike had some very solid swing passes where he’d gain anywhere from 4-12 yards.  The kid is special.  One more game folks and he’s gone.  I don’t know why he’d come back at this point.  Someone will take the kid.

·        Second post always goes to JJ.  We had 5 turnovers yesterday and 3 of those he’s responsible for.  The other 2 were due mainly due to tipped passes.  He’s had less and less time in the pocket since the second half of the Tech game.  I will say his biggest mistake yesterday was not recognizing the pressure and dumping the ball sooner.  He spent way too much time looking downfield trying to gain more yardage and he’s just not getting the time he needs to do so.  He has to learn to dump the ball sooner.  He’s definitely played better games but he’s getting less and less time in the pocket every game.

·        The offensive line.  I don’t even want to go there but I feel I have to.  I think the best illustration of what’s going on here is the time Baylor brought 8 guys on a flat out blitz and the offensive linemen whiffed on 6 of them.  I kid you not.  There 5-6 Bears in the offensive backfield and we had 3 of our lineman just standing around.  Some of that’s talent but some of that is coaching in not learning how to pick up blitzes.  At least make contact with someone.  The other thing I noticed was the offensive linemen pulling into space and not picking anyone up.  There’s no attempt to chop block or really make contact as they just kind of cruise out there like my dogs at the dog park just kind of running free with no real purpose.

·        Surprisingly we have a really good core group of receivers.  Fuller, Tannehill, and T. McCoy are really looking good.  Jamie McCoy had his usual solid catches but he also had a couple of drops.  All in all the receivers looked decent when we could get them the ball.  This group without a doubt has progressed the most of any group through 11 games.  Credit to Cromwell for that.

·        Other than that, not much here as this staff is just not giving this group a chance to win games which I’ll touch on later.

 

Special Teams:

 

  • Let me give HUGE credit to E.J. Shankle here.  I’ve bagged on this guy not having good hands but this kid has been nails on punt coverage as a gunner.  He simply blows by the defender as the gunner and is consistently near the punt returner when he gets the ball.  In addition, he’s not afraid to make some contact.  Love to see a kid embracing his role on the team and Shankle deserves HUGE credit here.
  • We got a punt block.  Not to take anything away from that but I do have to say we looked really confused on what to do with the ball bouncing around.  No one really knew if they should fall on it or run with it.
  • Probably the most disheartening part of the game for me was the fact that Baylor got to kick off so many times.  To make matters worse Gray and Stephens looked REALLY confused on who should be getting the ball.  In my mind that’s all coaching as there were at least 3 times when the ball either hit the ground or they really had no clue who should be catching it.  Now to their defense it was pretty windy and the ball wasn’t going to the same spot every time but when you’ve to two guys back there they need to figure out quickly who’s getting the ball.
  • We were offsides on our only onside kick attempt.  Folks, that’s coaching in my book.  I think what’s worse is that we only did one onside kick.  Our second TD was in complete garbage time and we had nothing to lose but we kick off instead of the onside.  If anything to just practice onside kicks in a game.  It’s not like we were saving face.  We weren’t covering the spread and we weren’t winning so let’s work on some things you don’t normally get the chance to.
  • Justin Brantley is solid.  I can’t wait to see 2 of the 32 NFL teams anchored by Aggie punters.  We’ve got that going for us.

 

Defense:

 

  • First off, let me say that this team takes WAY too much heat for the overall trouble of the team.  The offense is not helping these guys out one bit.  They actually played pretty decent in the first half as Baylor got two big plays when they converted a long third down that ultimately led to a Baylor TD and then when Kendall Wright made a pretty amazing TD catch right before half.  In the second half Jonathan Batson completely misplayed a deep ball he could have deflected or even picked off.  Once that TD happened the gates were open and the route was on.  I have to think Trent Hunter makes that play.  Either way we weren’t winning that game.
  • I have to give credit to Danny Gorrer as I have bagged on him in the past for poorly supporting the run and shying away from contact.  Something’s changed in him as he made some decent tackles yesterday so I want to give him a shout out since I normally bag on him.
  • Speaking of tackling, this team is just horrible at it.  Not only can they not arm tackle but they don’t know how to take anyone’s legs out.  Blame the last staff all you want but we’re 11 games into the season and the fundamentals still aren’t there.
  • In addition to tackling, we’re HORRIBLE at shedding blocks.  It seems like we’re so worried about losing site of the ball that we can’t anticipate where it’s going in order to fight off the blocker and make the play.  It’s horrible how tentative we are because it looks like we’re afraid we won’t see the ball if we try to shed the defender.  Once again, 11 games into the season and we’re lacking in fundamentals.
  • Other than that, not much else to speak of except that Matt Featherston had his named called quite a bit.  I guess that’s good.

 

Coaching:

 

  • At 11 games into the season we can’t keep blaming the players.  We just got destroyed by a Baylor program that is also in its first year with a head coach.  Plain and simple our coaching staff got out coached by a Baylor staff.  Can we really say they have more talent than us?  That game truly exposed the ineptitude of our coaching staff.
  • Here’s where I think the main issue is and it starts with the man at the top and the staff he’s assembled.  First off, he’s a pro coach that hasn’t coached college in 10+ seasons.  Because of that he has no idea how 7 on 7 has influenced the spread attack that is now prominent in Texas which is what stocks most Big XII schools.  He’s trying to run a system he’s familiar with but that his players have no idea about.  There’s a reason why fullback prospects don’t exist anymore in the entire state.  That position doesn’t exist anymore and TE is on its way out as well.  As it stands those are two of the most crucial positions in what Sherm is trying to do.
  • In addition to his unfamiliarity with the college game he went and hired an OC that has ZERO college experience and ZERO coordinating experience at any level.  I think Cromwell would have probably been a decent enough OC at the pro level but he’s never going to cut it at the college ranks.  I just don’t think he’ll ever get the talent in the state of Texas he’ll need to make their pro style system work.  I’m going to mention Kevin Sumlin later but guess who he went and hired to be his OC at UH this season?  The guy who was the OC at Tech for the last three seasons and spent a total of 8 seasons in Lubbock where he coached Wes Welker as inside receivers coach and then Graham Harrell the last three seasons as OC and QB coach.  Obviously Leach is the OC in Lubbock but I’m sure this guy has picked up a ton of knowledge along the way.  How Sumlin convinced him to leave Leach whom this guy actually played college ball for is beyond me but Sumlin got it done.  Sherm hired his buddy.
  • Defensively I’m actually okay with Kines.  I know he catches a ton of heat but if the Aggie offense was any better I swear the defense would probably average 100 yards less a game.
  • Outside of the staff there are a couple of things I just can’t get over.  The first is how our best offensive showing was the first half of the Tech game and since then we’ve gone away from it where Sherm keeps forcing the I formation which he obviously doesn’t have the personnel for.  Sure we beat two teams but that was a pitiful ISU team and if we don’t have the offensive outburst in the third quarter against CU we likely lose that game as well.  The I formation is going to be the same as Fran’s option.  It doesn’t scare anyone and its not working but yet we keep forcing ourselves to do it thinking it will break through at some point.  I wish I had the time to go back and see the average yards when we’re in the I formation.  I bet it’s not more than 2.5 yards.  I understand you have to establish the run to establish the pass but when everyone in the world knows what’s coming it’s not going to work.  The other thing that’s not working in the I formation is that JJ is dangerously staring down his target as he drops back.  That’s going to get jumped in the Texas game so get ready for it. 
  • The other thing that gets me about this staff is their decision to use certain people in situations.  I think my main concern is the concerted effort to use Keondra Smith so much.  I’m not bagging on the kid but when you have a Mike Goodson, Mike needs to be getting the ball in key situations.  The best example I can give is yesterday when we had a third and three and Keondra is in there.  We got a sweep to the right which I actually LOVED as a play call but we only got about a yard and a half and had to punt.  It was actually executed really well but Keondra just doesn’t have the burst or moves to get outside.  He’s a between the tackles runner.  I don’t understand the play call with the package on the field.  Maybe Goodson doesn’t practice well but there’s times you have to put that aside and know your best option for converting a third down.  I just see a lot of the same issues as I saw with Fran when it comes to utilizing personnel as well as they should.
  • Let’s face it too that Sherm was never great at the pro level.  I think he’s a very solid fundamental coach but I just don’t think he has that great factor about him.  I know everyone wants to point to Pete Carroll but the list of pro coaches that didn’t make it is longer and I see Sherm ending up like Charlie Weiss or Al Groh.  Sure he needs time but I just don’t see “Great” coming from Sherman.
  • I won’t even go into Sherm’s inability to go up against the Big Boys and get the top recruits.  He’ll recruit decent enough and do a better job of identifying talent than Fran but he’s never going to be a lights out recruiter because of the hole he dug this season.  We have a chance to close out with Christine Michael and Craig Loston and I bet we get neither of the guys even though they were both committed to us at one point.

 

Where Do We Go From Here:

 

  • I hate saying that I’m off the Shermwagon in his first year but I am.  What I’ve seen these past two games is simply pathetic.  I didn’t expect Sherm to light the world on fire but I fully expected us to be competitive.  Let’s look at who we’ve lost to.  Arky State at Kyle.  They’re currently 4-5 in the mighty Sun Belt Conference.  Their other three wins you ask?  Texas Southern, Middle Tennessee State, and Louisiana-Monroe.  That’s some select company for us.  Let’s not forget about that loss to KSU at KYLE by 14 who is 4-7 and their only Big XII win so far.  Baylor who is 4-7 and their other Big XII win is over ISU.  Other losses include Miami, OSU, Tech, and OU with the closest margin being 18 points in both Miami and Tech.  I fully expect to get clobbered in Austin as they make atones for the past two years.
  • Next season I see us going anywhere from 5-7 to 8-4.  I still say we have to win a bowl game next season and then for us to be in the Top 25 at the end of Sherm’s third season.  I say if we’re not bowl eligible at the end of next season then Sherm needs to be gone no questions asked.
  • I do say there’s one scenario where Sherm should be let go this season and I’m not advocating for it all but I would strongly consider it if I was Bill Byrne.  There’s a good chance Mike Leach is leaving Lubbock this season.  I know Tech is probably going to make a serious run at keeping him but if I’m Bill Byrne I keep in tune with what’s going on with Leach’s situation.  If I know for certain we can get Leach then I move on from Sherm this season.  It’s outlandish but desperate times call for desperate measures.  I would even go so far as to tell Sherm so he knows he’s operating with some serious heat under him.  It would cost us a ton of money but my guess is keeping Sherm is going to cost us more.
  • Outside of that I let Sherm come back next season with the understanding he needs to win a bowl game next season to get comfortable and if he doesn’t go to a bowl game then he’s gone.  I keep an eye on what’s going with Kevin Sumlin at UH.  That’s the guy we should have hired and I’m firmly convinced of that now.  Go look at the guy’s staff of who he’s assembled.  I’d dare say it’s much more impressive than Sherm’s staff.  Couple that with the fact that he throttled the #25 team in the country and it’s hard to see why we should have hired him.  I still get really pissed thinking that Bill Byrne didn’t even give the guy or anyone else an interview outside of Sherm.
  • I always advocated that we should have interviewed Sumlin, Briles, and Muschamp once it became obvious we weren’t getting a big name such as Butch Davis or Tom Tubberville.  As it stands Sumlin is doing pretty good at UH, Briles just beat Sherman, and Muschamp is doing a yeoman’s job with a young secondary in Austin.  I don’t mean this personally towards Sherm but it feels like we got the run of the litter.

 

Now that I’m done with this I don’t feel any better at all.  In fact I feel sicker because we’re essentially stuck with Sherman for two more years at least all because Bill Byrne didn’t want to interview anyone else and was in such a hurry to hire Sherm when he clearly wasn’t in demand by any other program.  This is nothing personal against Sherm at all but it has everything to do with wanting A&M Football to be great again.  He’s not going to get us there.

 

I’ll be renewing my season tickets next year just like I will every season until I’m six feet in the ground but my wife and I talked about how much we spend and how it’s just not enjoyable anymore.  There’s no much I enjoy more than watching those maroon helmets with the big white aTm running around on a football field but I just feel like we made a huge mistake in hiring Sherman because he’s been gone from the college game so long and was never truly great in the first place.

Thoughts on the Colorado Game

Sorry there won’t be any Thoughts from the Game for the CU game as we didn’t make it.  One of our dogs threw up for the 6th time in 60 minutes right before we were leaving.  We just couldn’t leave her all alone in the backyard so we took her to the vet.  By the time we got done it was too late to get to the game.

She’s doing fine as she didn’t throw up anymore after that last time and appears to be back to normal.  We’d been to the Dog Park that morning so you never know what she could have gotten into and how bad it could have been.  We just couldn’t spend 9 hours away without anyone watching her.

I did listen to the game on the radio which could be a whole post itself with Dave and Dave.  I’ve always been a fan of Dave South since I know him personally but after that broadcast I can no longer defend him from a broadcast standpoint.  It was just a horrible broadcast.  I watched the No Huddle replay on FSN Sunday morning and it really showed me how bad he really is.  I think the most glaring example was when the CU player scored their first TD and put the ball right inside the pylon.  It was pretty clear and Dave was questioning it.  All in all it was just frustrating to listen to.

I will hit on a couple of quick thoughts:

  • Outside of one HUGE quarter we struggled offensively.  I was shocked to see us go to the I formation so much in the replay.  One of my fears with Sherman is sitting on a lead like they do in the pros.  In college football you have to keep the throttle down.  It’s amazing how we flat out throttled them through the air in the 3rd and went conservative up by 2 scores to protect the lead.  CU knew it and pinned their ears back and shut us down.  We were an onside kick and CU drive away from tying the game.  Those things never happen in the pros but they do happen more than you realize in college.
  • The defense sounded like they played a pretty good game and got some KEY turnovers when we needed them.  Without Pugh’s interception in the end zone, I wonder what the game looks like.  We finally got some pressure in the second half as well.
  • Hey, hey Randy Bullock!!
  • Watching the replay JJ just reinforced how crazy he can be in making something out of nothing.  There was one play where he was rolling left and looked to be throwing it out of bounds but just drilled a pass to Jamie McCoy even though he didn’t catch it.  That’s a very tough throw.

All in all, that was about it.  Let’s just hope we can beat Baylor and not get too embarassed in the games against OU and tu.

I still say Sherm needs to do this over the next three seasons for me to believe in him:

Year 2 – Win a bowl game.  Don’t care which one or the record but we need to win a bowl game since it’s been since the 2001 and Mattress Mac Bowl since we won one.  Obviously a BCS loss or close Cotton Bowl loss is acceptable.  Anything outside of that will be a disappoiintment.

Year 3 – Finish the season in the Top 25.  Don’t care about the W/L or the Bowl as finishing in the Top 25 will let that stuff take care of itself.

Thoughts from the Tech Game

I have to admit that I had a good feeling going into the Tech game. I knew Tech was beatable because their defense is still not that great and Joe Kines knows how to scheme against them. I put the chances at about 20% but I got a serious high on Saturday morning. There’s a little Italian joint caddy corner from our house. Best Italian place in Fort Worth. It’s not big at all but they put tables and chairs on the sidewalk for folks to eat and it’s BYOB so folks bring bottles of wine and pop them open out on the sidewalk. Shealynn collects corks so we often look for corks when walking the hounds. On Saturday morning as I was walking the hounds the first cork I saw was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk with a #12 staring me right in the face. I saw it as a sign and even took it to the game for good luck. At the end of the day, I was just some idiot sitting in the stands with a cork in my pocket for no apparent reason. Oh well.

I was highly disappointed by the results but I was greatly encouraged by the effort. So much so that I was ready to whip Mike Leach’s ass in the last minute. I know Leach is Leach but that was a prick move and I was pissed because our kids put up such a great effort to have Tech basically poop on it for no good reason. Leach did explain after the game that the reason he went for the score was to get Shannon Woods a touchdown. Harrell made the decision to keep the ball which makes me hate that prick even more. I’m just disappointed no one on the Aggie defense leveled him in the endzone. Not a cheap or dirty hit but just a good clean shot that put him on the ground. I think that bothers me the most is that no one on the defense stepped and popped the kid when Harrell was prancing in their endzone at home. Lay him out. I apologize to anyone that was in my section when I was hollering at Leach. There where no kids around but I told Mike Leach and the rest of the Tech team what I thought of them. I was pissed to say the least. I was ready to just deck a Tech fan for looking at me wrong after the game. I hate those aholes.

Onto my thoughts:

Mike Sherman:

  • I know I’ve been critical of the man up until now but I don’t think there was anything else he could have done that game. His plan was as good as it could get in my mind. He had his team emotionally ready and most importantly they believed it. He knew his team’s strength and weaknesses and Tech’s strengths and weaknesses and planned perfectly. His plan was to keep it close and hope that home field pulled him out in the end. Not a thing wrong with that.
  • He also deserves credit for adjusting to his personnel on offense. The offense you see is not the offense Sherm wants to be running. Ideally he’d want to be under center with a fullback, tailback, and tight end all disguising run and pass. He knows he doesn’t have the players to do that so he’s giving his offense the best chance to win. He’s not putting square pegs in round holes and he’s making the adjustment as a staff instead of to his players. Kudos to him. Especially at the goal line.
  • I also agree with both of his questionable decisions on the day. His team believed they could beat Tech and not getting it on 4th and 1 from the 1 would have been devastating to the team. He doesn’t have the offensive line to guarantee a 4th and 1 conversion. Not by drive blocking, not by play action, and not by rolling out. He did realize later on in the game that Mike Goodson is his best short yardage option mainly because it forces the defense to respect the edge. Without him, the defense is going to crash from the edge not worrying about losing containment. That decision didn’t cost us the game as we went into half time up by 3. I don’t think you can question any decision prior to that.
  • I also agree with the punt on 4th and 15 with almost 6 minutes left. The difference in the game came when Tech learned JJ loves to be blitzed and that you can get pressure with a 4 man front against our offensive line. JJ had been sacked 3 times in the second half and the play before that was the amazing JJ running for his life and getting the penalty because his line was downfield. Had JJ run there and gained 5-7 yards I bet Sherm goes for it. We had 18 plays and 32 yards in the second half. We weren’t converting that 4th and 15. Our defense had done decently so there was a chance for muffed punt return or even our defense holding. We weren’t getting that conversion. You don’t make it and the game is over with 5+ minutes. At that point in a game you need a prayer for success. If you punt, you give yourself a chance for more prayers. It wasn’t the time and place for one prayer. It wasn’t going to be answered even with my lucky cork. I’ll post a separate entry on this a little later so I don’t bog this down. I’m sure many of you will disagree but Sherm just had zero faith in his offensive line and so did I.

Special Teams:

  • Randy Bullock looked good but that was a bright spot outside of a streaking Arkeith Brown.
  • The worst part was the kickoffs after scoring on both sides early in the game. One involved Crabtree getting a strong return and then when our appointed 12th Man makes a great play, it gets brought back because someone was off sides. The only defense I can say is that I believe it was Bullock’s first kick off duty in a game so their timing could have been off a bit.
  • The other issues involved the return where we had a hold to bring it back half the distance to the goal line. Just have to get that cleaned up. We can’t have that stuff against Tech.
  • A great job by the kicking defense. They blocked two extra points and even returned one for a two point conversion. Arkeith looked great cruising that ball down the sideline. That’s the kind of stuff that can turn a game around but unfortunately our offense just couldn’t respond. Most importantly that play wound up being the difference between covering the spread and just having a push. Sure, with this team a push is some kind of victory but we COVERED the spread against Tech. Thank you and your fleet feet, Arkeith Brown.
  • I worry about Cyrus Gray returning kicks. He just doesn’t have that explosiveness you want in a kick returner and his fumble didn’t help. I do think it’s pretty amazing that Bradley Stephens never gets the ball. Don’t know if people are kicking off to Cyrus on purpose or if that’s just how it’s working out.
  • I also worry about Jordan Pugh on punts as you know. In a surprise move, Leach actually punted the ball once and Pugh didn’t look real comfortable pulling in the ball on a fair catch. I know I’m being critical but a muffed punt is going to manifest itself at a really bad time this season.
  • Nice work, Randy Bullock.

Offense:

  • Mike Goodson was one chop block away from taking it to the house on a sweep. Other than that he wasn’t too productive since we had no offensive line. Five more games. I should probably quit typing that as it’s just sad. I still don’t think we’re using him enough.
  • JJ looked great in the first half but Tech actually discovered his weakness. He doesn’t have an offensive line so he really wants you to blitz. He knows if six guys are coming at him then that means he’s got man coverage all over the field. At that point, he’s going to find someone and hit them. In the second half Tech realized that they could get enough pressure with a four man rush and poor JJ couldn’t find open guys coupled with a pass rush. I just worry other teams are going to start doing the same. I did love it when he stared down the Tech defensive lineman. Kid is fearless but I don’t think he can stare down too many other defensive lineman. Texas is going to rip our heads off with their four man rush that’s destroyed OU and now Mizzou. Just getting us ready for the inevitable. In addition to suffering from a porous offensive line, JJ didn’t get the benefit of his receivers as they dropped some sure passes. I believe the stat was five drops with each of them being for a first down had they been completed. For the most part, JJ was putting the ball on the mark when he had time. I love this kid. I won’t even mention the pass to Fuller that got called back. I don’t blame the game on that one play as the defense got the ball back and we wound up scoring to go up at halftime. It just really hurt his stats.
  • Sherm did the right thing with his offensive line. He had guys that were banged up and they needed rest. Unfortunately, it just meant he had a bunch of inexperienced guys playing in the position. He had to do it and the guys did a pretty solid job until they were just beat in the second half. I’m not going to bag on any of them but to be fair it was their lack of stopping the four man Tech rush that ultimately lead to us being on the wrong side of the scoreboard. I don’t blame the loss on them as they did all they could. It’s just the reality of why we lost. Let’s hope they just keep getting better. If you want to blame the loss on anyone, blame it on that money stealing joke of a coach that came before Sherman that didn’t feel offensive line was an important position to recruit to.
  • I personally think what Sherm is going to have to do from now on is leave Jorvorskie in as the lone back. We’re obviously not going under center anytime soon and we need the Train in there to help protect his back side. Plus, because he can catch the ball he can handle that new little shovel pass we incorporated on Saturday. The reason it stopped being effective was because Tech started twisting their DTs which spread our offensive line instead of giving them the ability to create a lane. Jorvorskie is the perfect guy for this situation because of his hands and feet. He can catch the ball in space and has the feet and balance to get 3-4 yards after the catch even with defensive linemen bearing down on him. He can also chip the DE and then release so that JJ can hit him in the flat. Seriously, this needs to happen as teams are just going to stop blitzing us and slow us down with a four man front. He can also motion in Goodson with Lane in the backfield and run a semi-traditional two back set just for a different look. I still think Goodson is most dangerous on sweeps but I just don’t think Sherman trusts his line. I’m not talking about a toss as I’m talking about a sweep where you have a tackle pulling. This is actually Shumard’s greatest strength so use it more.
  • Not sure there’s anything else to write about. Lots of positive with two obvious negatives in spotty offensive line play and dropped passes. I don’t think most people realized that we had 18 plays and 37 yards in the second half. We lost 27 yards on sacks in the second half. We had 16 plays and 25 yards if you don’t count that last drive after Tech’s cheap TD. JJ just looks more stylish so you don’t realize the lack of stats. Once again, we’re still waiting for 2 halves of football from the offense. We haven’t seen it all year.

Defense:

  • I know most of you want to skewer the defense but Joe Kines did what he could and did it admirably in my mind for about 55 minutes. He came back from that KSU debacle and pitched to contact like he should be doing. He did everything he could to win that game and just got little offensive support. He didn’t give up any big plays and actually held Tech for the most part. That’s all you can ask for. The only negative I can put on Joe Kines was that his blitzes weren’t called at the right time. He called a couple that we flat out got burned on. It’s not really a big knock because blitzes are so risky but you still have to call them to keep the offense honest.
  • I don’t know how anyone can pound on this defense that got three turnovers against Tech. Two of them were about as big as you can get to boost the offense. The second one came after Fuller’s TD was called back. Harrell lays out a bad pass and we wound up covering the fumble. Harrell was out of synch for much of the game on vertical passes and you have the defense to thank for that. I would have to go back and look at the film but I bet his total passing yards reflect only about 25% of his actual doing. The other 75% came from runs after catches by his receivers which is more a credit to the system he plays in and Tech’s receivers. He didn’t look good at all when he had to pass beyond 15 yards in the air. Credit the defense for that.
  • The third turnover was in a serious do or die situation after Cyrus Gray fumbled the kick return. Tech was ready to throw the dagger and the defense made a great play knocking the ball out of Crabtree’s hand and Bennett picking it off. HUGE play. Tech scores there and we get our butts handed to us and no one is questioning any of Sherm’s decisions and just call it a butt whipping.
  • The first turnover was all on the defense too. The two DTs actually made that happen. Lucas Patterson and Kellen Heard were lined up just outside the center on both sides. Patterson stunted to his left taking the center with him and Heard jumped the gap that Patterson created. Heard had Harrell in a flat out run backwards. Heard had his hands up and Harrell wound up overthrowing his guy in Hunter’s hands. All defense.
  • As a unit this defense did some great things. The linemen did a really nice job of keeping their heads and hands up. It didn’t wind up being that effective but Harrell was much slower to throw the ball because hands kept popping up in his throwing lanes. The lineman also did a nice job of pulling off and looking for the underneath stuff when they knew they were getting to Harrell. Our old defense would have kept pressuring for no apparent reason and never even attempting to trail the play.
  • I was surprised to see Tech tighten up their splits. I had read that Joe Kines wanted to run some faster guys on the defensive line and attack those splits. Tech never really let that happen which hurt our use of Von Miller to shoot those things.
  • The safeties did a nice job of playing the receiver and not the ball. There were some serious sticks out there so nice job of the safeties to pound on the receiver. You have to do that against Tech. Crabtree actually spent about 5 minutes out of the game in the 4th quarter because he got popped once.
  • Not much on the linebackers because we really ran a 4-1-6 for the most part which is why you saw Harrell hold on to the ball for so long with no pressure. That’s fine as it slowed them down. Harrell was not completely ready for what he saw. Had our offense showed up in the second half then the defense looks MUCH better statistically.
  • I love what I’m seeing out of Hunter and Frederick. A lot of those kids credit goes to their high school coach. Coach Joseph at Katy is a great defensive coach and these two kids show it. It’s nice to know we have two guys sitting back there that can contribute for a while. They both appear to be hard workers that understand the game and most importantly know how to win as they won a state championship last season at Katy. That can’t be understated since very few folks on this team really know how to win. Feel good about these two.
  • Don’t look at the stats when you look at this defense from that game. They played their hearts out and did everything they could to win. They should be proud outside of not knocking Harrell on his ass and getting in a little scrum to show some fight at the end of the game.

I’m sure Sherman is flat out depressed after this game. For about 45 minutes of football his team really stood a chance against Tech. He had his team believing and it was working for the most part. Unfortunately, his offensive line just couldn’t hold. I don’t want to call those guys out but their lack or protection is ultimately what did A&M in. They did an admirable job in the first half but just weren’t ready for Tech’s adjustments in the second half. Sherman had no choice but to play those guys though. I’m sure it was devastating for Sherm to call for that punt because he knew his pride and joy couldn’t hold. Like I said earlier, put this entire loss on Fran due to his lack of offensive line recruiting. That bird has come home to roost and to me that will always be his biggest sin.

All chances of bowling went out the window on Saturday. At this point, Sherman DESPERATELY needs to get to 4-8 with two wins over ISU, CU, and Baylor. If there’s only two wins in there I’d prefer CU and Baylor. I don’t think the ISU win is nearly as important as people make it out to be. Sherman appears to have these guys playing week to week so I don’t know that an ISU loss makes us spiral out of control. It would be a nice win but in my mind there’s no difference between 2-10 or 3-9 if that extra win is over ISU. I do think we beat ISU so it’s kind of a moot point.

If Sherm were to come back and go 5-7 and keeps OU and tu within 14 points then that’s all you can ask for. After Saturday’s game I do believe it’s entirely possible and if he’s a good coach he’ll get it done. There’s lots to build from this game and he needs to take it into the ISU game and then into the CU game. 4-5 would be damn nice going into OU.

So What Does All of This Coaching Research Mean?

Since I want A&M to win a National Championship, I think it’s important to note what great coaches have done.   I’m not so concerned with what other coaches have done in their first year as I want A&M to be great and not just good.  Some other coaches I should probably research include Tommy Tubberville and Mark Richt.  Maybe I’ll do them later today.

Out of everyone I researched, here are the consistent things I kept seeing:

  • Bob Stoops and Phil Fulmer are the exceptions as all had Head Coaching experience elsewhere.  Tressel had lower division experience and we all know about Pete Carroll only having pro experience and it being suspect at best.  Meyer had experience in a non-BCS conference.
  • Won their first game.  There is not one exception to any of these coaches winning their first game.  Some were close but most of them stomped whoever they played at home.  They were playing lesser talent most of the time but they all won that crucial first game.
  • There are a few exceptions but for the most part all of their first year losses were under 7 points and most of them were on the road.  It’s very consistent.  Bob Stoops and Nick Saban actually did the worst with 3 losses by more than 7 points in their first season.  Stoops was in his first year as a head coach and Saban lost to SEC teams on the road with two of them ranked teams.  They both beat all of their conference foes at home though.
  • Only Bobby Bowden didn’t go to a bowl game in their first year but he took over a pretty bad FSU program.  Not on the BCS list, but Butch Davis is the only other coach not to go to a bowl game in the list of coaches I looked at and it can be said he took over a pretty bad UNC team that was previously 3-9.
  • Only Les Miles took over a program that was pretty successful the previous season.  It makes sense as most coaches don’t get fired with a winning record.  Sherm took over a team that was 7-6.

So what does all of this mean to Sherman?  Only time will tell but he’s missing one bullet point up there which is winning their first game.  In addition he’s been blown out by Miami, OSU, and KSU.

His toughest games are yet to come and it’s hard to see us going bowling right now which won’t work in his favor as he’s not young enough to be Bobby Bowden and isn’t Butch Davis in my mind.  He also has tough home match-ups against Tech and OU so it’s not looking good for having that solid home record the great ones had at home.  We could easily be 2-5 or maybe even 1-6 at home.  That’s not good folks no matter the state of the program.

I still think Sherm deserves three years but he HAS to get a bowl win next season and then has to have us in the Top 25 at the end of the 2010 season.  If he doesn’t do any of those then I think it’s time to cut bait and move on.  Yes, after three seasons it’ll be time to move on.

I hope like hell he becomes the exception to the norm but he’s not looking good after six games when you compare him to the great ones.

A Look at The First Year of Coaches that have Won a BCS Championship

NOTE – Prev. Season is the record for the program they took over and not their previous record as coach elsewhere.  I was trying to get a feel for the state of the program they took over record wise.

Bob Stoops (Oklahoma)

Prev. Season – 5-6

1st year – 7-5 (Bowl Loss)

Conf: 5-3

Wins – Baylor, A&M, Mizzou, Iowa St., and Ok. St.

OU stomped all five of these people by at least 21 points. Closest game was Iowa St. by a margin of 31-10.

Lowest and highest points respectively were 31 points offensively and 10 points defensively.

Losses – Texas, Colorado, and Tech

Lost by 10 to Texas, 14 in Boulder, and 10 in Lubbock. Like to see a little closer but not bad considering they’re all road losses.

Non-Conf: 2-2 (Bowl Loss)

Wins – Indiana State and Louisville

Opened up the Stoops Era with a 49-0 shellacking of Indiana State in Norman. Beat Louisville 42-21.

Losses – Notre Dame and Ole Miss

Lost by 4 in South Bend and by 2 in their Shreveport bowl game.

Overall Thought – This was an 11 game season so 7-4 is not bad at all with all road losses to decent programs at the time in ND, Texas, CU, and Tech. Tough bowl loss but Stoops rectified it the next year and hasn’t really looked back.

Mack Brown (Texas):

Prev. Season – 4-7

1st year – 9-3 (Bowl Win)

Conf: 6-2

Wins – Baylor, A&M, Oklahoma, Iowa St., Ok. St., and Nebraska

Beat 7th ranked Nebraska in Lincoln and 6th ranked A&M in Austin. Destroyed ISU at home and Oklahoma in Dallas. Beat Baylor by 10 and OSU by 3 both in Austin.

Losses – Kansas St. and Texas Tech

Lost by 41 at KSU which was their near national championship team and then by 7 in Lubbock.

Non-Conf: 3-1 (Bowl Win)

Wins – New Mexico St., Rice, and Mississippi St.

Opened up the Brown era with a 66-36 shellacking of New Mex. St. Destroyed Rice 59-21 and then beat Miss. St. 38-11 in the Cotton Bowl.

Losses – UCLA

Texas lost 31-49 in Los Angeles. Considering the previous season was the famous Route 66 in Austin that’s not a bad showing at all in your second game and first on the road.

Overall Thought – This was an 11 game season so 8-3 is very damn strong with losses to KSU, Tech, and UCLA on the road. Not bad at all. They beat a solid Miss. St. in the Cotton Bowl to get to 9 wins and Mack Brown has not looked back.

Nick Saban (LSU):

Prev. Season – 3-8

1st year – 8-4 (Bowl Win)

Conf: 5-3

Wins – Tennessee, Kentucky, Miss. St., Alabama, Ole Miss

Pushed 11th ranked Tennessee to OT to win by 7 at home and then duplicated the same thing by doing the same to 13th ranked Miss. St. at home. Blanked Kentucky by 34, squeaked by Bama at home by 2, and beat Ole Miss at home by 11.

Losses – Auburn, Florida, and Arkansas

Lost by 17 to 24th ranked Auburn on the road. Embarrassed by 32 to 11th ranked Florida at The Swamp. Lost by 11 to Arkansas in Little Rock.

Non-Conf: 3-1 (Bowl Win)

Wins – Western Carolina, UH, and Georgia Tech

Opened up the Saban/LSU era with a 58-0 shellacking of Western Carolina. Beat UH in Baton Rogue 28-13 and beat 15th ranked Georgia Tech 28-14 for a bowl victory.

Losses – UAB

Lost at home to UAB 10-13.

Overall Thought – This was an 11 game season so 8-4 is very damn strong with losses to solid SEC teams on the road and one stinker to UAB at home. Not bad at all. They beat a solid Georgia Tech. in their bowl game to cap the season. When you look at Saban’s first year at Bama it’s not far off.

Pete Carroll (USC):

Prev. Season – 5-7

1st year – 6-6 (Bowl Loss)

Conf: 5-3

Wins – Arizona, Arizona St., Oregon St., Cal, and UCLA

After losing their first three conference games, USC went on a tear winning their final five conference games including a pounding of Cal 55-14 in Berkley.

Losses – Oregon, Stanford, and Washington

All of the conference losses were within 5 points. They lost to Stanford at home by 5 points then on the road in Eugene by 2 and Seattle by 3.

Non-Conf: 1-3 (Bowl Loss)

Wins – San Jose St.

Opened up the Carroll Era with a 21-10 victory of San Jose St. at home.

Losses – Kansas St., Notre Dame, and Utah

Lost to KSU and Utah by 4 and lost in South Bend by 11.

Overall Thought – The overall record is not all that great but he got his team to a bowl game even though they lost. Not surprising, he won his first game and all of the losses were within 7 except a trip to South Bend where he lost by 11 back when Notre Dame was pretty decent. Pete would never look back as USC went 11-2 the next season tieing for first in the Pac-10 and getting an Orange Bowl win. He would go on to win or share the Pac-10 crown in the next 5 seasons.

Phil Fullmer:

Prev. Season – Special Case replacing Johnny Majors due to illness with 4 games left. Fulmer went 4-0 during that stretch. Not sure Tennessee’s compiled record as their website didn’t go back that far.

1st year – 10-2 (Bowl Loss)

Conf: 7-1

No data due to fact I couldn’t find archives of the game results. I’d say 7-1 is not bad.

Non-Conf: 3-1 (Bowl Loss)

No data other than winning three non-conference games and losing the Citrus Bowl. They still finished 12th in the AP poll.

Overall Thought – Phil Fulmer is the exception and not the rule these days having spent 16 seasons as the UT head coach. He’s had one losing season in that time and a National Championship to his name. I think he “retires” next season but he’s had a helluva run and started it off with a damn fine first season.

Bobby Bowden:

Prev. Season – FSU was real crappy when he took over as they only won four games in their previous three seasons.

1st year – 5-6 (No Bowl)

Conf: ????

I think I have to go to the Tallahassee Public Library to find this stuff.

Non-Conf: ????

Overall Thought – Bobby’s first season was his worst as he’d never have another losing season. He went 10-2 in his next season with a Tangerine Bowl win.

Jim Tressel (OSU):

Prev. Season – 8-4

1st year – 7-5 (Bowl Loss)

Conf: 5-3

Wins – Indiana, Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue, and Michigan

No standout wins but all are solid including that win over Michigan which was what John Cooper could never do and why he got fired even though he went 8-3 the season before.

Losses – Wisconsin, Penn St., and Illinois

Lost to Wisc. and Illinois at home. Wisc. was a three point loss and Penn St. was a 2 point loss. Illinois beat them at home 22-34. I think that was the year Ron Meyer had Illinois playing their best football in 20 years or something like that.

Non-Conf: 2-2 (Bowl Loss)

Wins – Akron and San Diego St.

They opened up the Sweater Era with a 28-14 victory over Akron at home.

Losses – UCLA and South Carolina

Lost to UCLA in L.A. by 7 points and South Carolina in their bowl game by 3 points.

Overall Thought – The overall record is not all that great but he got his team to a bowl game even though they lost. Not surprising, he won his first game and all of the losses were within 7 except a loss at home to Illinois. Tressel would spend the next year winning the national championship and has played in 5 BCS games in his 7 seasons. Say what you want about getting clowned by SEC schools but he’s getting his team there.

Urban Meyer (Florida):

Prev. Season – 7-5

1st year – 9-3 (Bowl Win)

Conf: 5-3

Wins – Tennessee, Kentucky, Miss. State, UGA, and Vandy

All solid wins in the SEC. None really stand out as UGA, Vandy, and Tennessee were all pretty close. UK and Miss. St. were thumpings.

Losses – Alabama, LSU, and South Carolina

All losses on the road and within 7 points except a blowout loss to Alabama which was Bama’s best year when they went to the Cotton Bowl and beat Tech.

Non-Conf: 4-0 (Bowl Win)

Wins – Wyoming, Louisiana Tech, Florida State, and Iowa

Meyer opened up his UF career with a win at home over Wyoming in pretty convincing fashion at 32-14. Thumped La. Tech and FSU at home. Beat Iowa 31-24 in their bowl game.

Losses – None

Overall Thought – We all know about Urban Meyer so no need for lots of comments as he won a national championship in his second season. He inherited a very talented program from Ron Zook and kept it going. He was 10-2 in his first season at Utah followed by 12-0 the next season. He was 8-3 and 9-3 in two seasons at Bowling Green. I think the guy is a real prick but he’s no doubt a helluva head coach. He’s the Bob Stoops of the SEC.

Les Miles (LSU):

Prev. Season –9-3

1st year – 11-2 (Bowl Win)

Conf: 7-2 (Including SEC Championship Loss)

Wins – Miss. St., Vandy, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas

All great wins in the SEC.  Florida, Bama, and Auburn all ranked #16 or higher.  Signature win was probably over #5 Bama in Tuscaloosa.  They 16-13 in overtime.  Florida was by 4 and Auburn was by 3 in overtime.  Arkansas did play them close losing by 2 in Baton Rogue so Les appears to have problems with Arkansas.

Losses – Tennessee and Georgia

Second game of the year at home to 10th ranked Tennessee.  They lost 27-30 in overtime.  Welcome to the SEC, Les.  Not embarrassing at all.  Lost 34-14 in the SEC Championship Game to UGA.

Non-Conf: 4-0 (Bowl Win)

Wins – Arizona State, North Texas, Applachin St., and Miami.

Went on the road to open up his career in Tempe and beat 15th ranked ASU 35-31.  Dogged North Texas and App. State at home.  Destroyed 9th ranked Miami in the Peach Bowl by a score of 40-3.

Losses – None

Overall Thought – Les is a special case in so many ways.  He was handed the keys to a powerful program from Nick Saban and was simply asked not to screw it up.  Credit the man as he’s won at least 11 games and not lost more than 2 games in any season with no bowl losses.  At Oklahoma State, he was 4-7 in his first season as a head coach anywhere and then 8-5 the next season with a bowl win.