Texasrocks

Ryan Day seems like Mack Brown as far as doing less with more.

There's a strong recency bias here.

Just bumping the thread as a reminder for folks to get their picks in.

I know QBs call audibles all the time, but I've never seen a QB shake off a call before.

I know nothing about TV contracts, but I could see ESPN+ being more interested in the Houstons, Baylors, etc. of the world than it used to be. Lots of folks weren't willing to sign up for LHN for one football game a year plus non-revenue sports. That would change considerably if LHN was carrying most Texas games. ESPN is getting ESPN+ up and running and needs content to attract subscribers. A typical UH football game isn't going to move the needle unless it's against Texas, LSU, or other big name programs. But with ESPN+, ESPN gets $6 a month per subscriber or $72 a year. That's $7.2 million for every 100,000 subscriptions on top of the ad revenue. ESPN doesn't need UH games to draw 4 million viewers, it needs UH's season to attract 200,000 subscribers. Carrying most of UH's home games on ESPN+ would probably do that. Package football and basketball and these second/third tier schools could actually be pretty attractive.

I was surprised Sark pulled Card as quickly as he did. I see it as good roster management as opposed to appeasement though. Other than the bowl game last year, Casey has no real game experience. Card now has about as much experience, after one start, as Casey does. Casey's one play/covid diagnosis away from starting so the more experience he gets the better. Given Card's performance and the score, I thought it was a good decision.

It doesn't really make sense to freeze out the SEC - marquee games draw huge numbers. A USC vs LSU home-and-home is good for USC and the Pac 12 overall. I'm sure Clemson/GA drew huge numbers. Where the alliance needs to stay aligned is in designing the playoff and preventing the SEC from stacking the deck in its favor. From a scheduling perspective, it would make more sense for the alliance to avoid the lower-tier teams. Play Nebraska or Iowa instead of Nevada or UNLV. In other words, use the alliance to raise the floor rather than freeze out the SEC and lower the ceiling.

The Big 12 championship game numbers are suspect as well. Is ESPN really going to pay $20 million for ISU vs Cincy? Given that the Big 12 is already talking further expansion, there has to be some behind-the-scenes outline of a future deal. That probably means there's at least a tentative agreement that the Big 12 lets Texas and OU go in return for a reduced payout and a highly subsidized TV contract.

Arkansas out front should of told you.

Legs? How do you break both legs in practice?

Tell me this was written by Bowlsby without telling me it was written by Bowlsby... Let me see if I understand this correctly. Under the current deal, 10 schools get $26 million each for a total of $260 million in tier 1 and 2 revenue. In the new deal, 12 schools will get $22 million for a total of $264 million. So the argument here is that the Big 12 is worth more without Texas and OU? They should keep this quiet or the SEC might ditch Texas and OU and cash in on the BYU/Cincy/UCF/Houston gravy train.

Dude's electric on kick returns.

FIFY.

This sounds like some chick following you around all night waiting for the opportunity to tell you she's not interested in you.

I need to hear more about why a school chose "Blue Hose" as it's mascot. And perhaps more importantly, how have I never heard of this before? I have so many questions right now.

Getting the margin of victory wrong has a larger penalty than than getting individual scores wrong. There is a 2 point deduction for each point that the margin is off by (let's call it margin error) whereas there is only a 1 point deduction for each team's score (Texas error/opponent error) The calculation: 200 - (margin error * 2) - (Texas error) - (Opponent error) So 37-17 has a margin error of 0, a Texas error of 1, and opponent error of 1. IOW, 200 - 0 - 1 - 1 = 198 38-17 has a margin error of 1, a Texas error of 0, and an oppenent error of 1: 200 - (2 * 1) - 0 - 1 = 197. 45-24 has a margin error of 1, a Texas error of 7, and an opponent error of 6: 200 - (2*1) - 7 - 6 = 185 45-19 has a margin error of 6, a Texas error of 7, and an opponent error of 1: 200 - (2*6) - 7 - 1 = 180 The margin of error is what is getting you.

I rewatched the game and it's nice to see players making plays for a change. For years, it seemed like no one could break a tackle. If a run was blocked for 3 yards, we got 3 yards or less. We had guys making plays all day yesterday. Bijan probably picked up half his yards after contact. RoJo embarrassed guys on his two receptions. Whittington went into beast mode a couple of times. The entire defense knew what they were supposed to do and tackled well. It's amazing how that works. I don't remember a single play where guys were obviously confused. Even on the long touchdown run, Gbenda just lost a foot race. The d-line wasn't great or terrible, they were fine. The linebackers, however, are legitimately good (at least the starters). They consistently diagnosed the play and were where they needed to be. Overshown is going to have a monster year. This is a good game for the coaches. The team played really well and still has significant room for improvement across the board. Card looked great, but needs to throw the ball away rather than take sacks. Bijan is a stud... who needs to block better. We did a great job of converting third downs, but need to clean up the penalties and blocking that led to third and long. Run blocking was the only thing that was consistently bad.

Napier would be perfect for LSU, which is why they'll probably hire Jimbo.

The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club.

LSU looked legitimately shocked that UCLA not only wasn't intimidated, but was kicking their ass.

That's a bummer of a weakness.

Johnson is rattled.

UCLA looks like they're having fun out there.

I watched the first half and Arkansas' offense was awful. Their defense wasn't impressive either, but it looked like Rice's offense was really bad too.

Those holding calls on the o-line would have resulted in punts last year. It was nice to be able to pick up first downs ever after penalties.