closetojumping

I will be surprised if Texas doesn't blow CSU out, but I also will not be surprised if we get pretty irritated watching Horton and Co. put up some numbers and a few drives working the intermediate passing area and slant lanes. I'm interested in seeing if that shit has been mopped up at all coming into this season.

There's a pretty dramatic shift in the weather for most of Texas happening today/tomorrow, bringing in cooler temps and much high ongoing likelihood of rain. I wouldn't bet the farm on an 85 degree kickoff, but low 90's is expected to be about as bad as it gets around then.

For all of the fanboys of Savion Red, their prayers have been dutifully answered by Twelve Win Theven. This guy basically has his numbers but with more reps and he’s apparently not a burgeoning fat ass with anger issues.

Some of us aren’t hobos subsisting off of a fucking nurse’s salary. I want to be effectively delivered to the gate without so much as having to utter a hello to the various henryjames’ and immamacs plebeians on the way there. I generally work my plans backward from the gate and choose the snobbiest, cleanest, most elitist options I can rationalize.

Sarkisian closes well and a lot of recruitments will not be settled until closer to December, even currently committed players. That’s not unusual for the big boys, of which we are one. The days of Mack stocking up in the spring and hanging on don’t work these days. Texas is going to finish with another top 4-7 class and doesn’t usually sign the same amount as other programs due to culture and effective usage of the portal. It may look odd now, but it’s no different than the prior periods under Sarkisian. If it helps, none of us paying attention planned on landing the last few guys where the Texas hat was metaphorically on the table. I expect Texas to land Brooks and Ffrench soon. The tea leaves say Texas for Williams as well, and that would be a surprise compared to what anyone thought 6 weeks ago. Those 3 are high 4 stars or 5 stars and will further drive the class into the top 10.

ChiTownDoc just quoted what I wrote yesterday on this recruitment. Few pages back now but you can read it just above and that isn’t just from what I’ve seen but someone nationally respected as well. Correct, but saying it now, the day of the commitment, doesn’t do much for the board. Nothing’s changed though. Bedenbaugh is going to have to prove his worth on Fasusi. He’s done it before, of course.

@Rimbo has a unique talent in terms of being able to actually make people cringe when they run into his posts. I don't think he can control this power and it has gotten him in trouble over the years, but it's some sort of forum superpower nonetheless. It's kind of uncanny.

I used to dismiss the notion that Pate was a paid shill for ATM as silly fan fiction. The more I see of the guy, while I don't doubt that he's not a paid shill for ATM, the more convinced I am that he's completely hollow and will do almost anything for money. I'd love for OU to become the next Nebraska, but, like you, it takes all of 5 seconds to think about why that isn't happening. But, hey, it's sensational shit and I am sure that idiot is getting paid in some form for saying it.

Thanks for the update. The only reason I go to The Get Down these days is for funerals. It might as well be states away. I imagine that Hooters is filled with a lot of crazy Mexican and Puerto Rican ladies. Those were some good times back in the day. I didn’t realize, but should have known, that this board has some serious breastaurant knowledge. I haven’t been in one of those places in almost two decades.

ATM is out on that recruitment. No one seems to realize that but us. The minute Schlossnagle left ATM, they became a courtesy mention.

My older brother considered going there for med school. He liked the campus and all, and this is decades ago, but he didn't care for the people during the process.

I assume plenty of strippers headed in the OF direction, but also assume that the default "all the hot women went to OnlyFans" is just fan fiction for the thirsty.

I've read up and thought about many teams heading into this season. Not South Carolina. I heard this dude would be the starter months ago and coupled that with Beamer being the head coach, who I think is a buffoon, and have just been assuming that they're staring down the barrel of 3-9.

Hell, Georgia Tech didn't even receive any votes, if memory serves. They bring back a ton, including rejuvenated asset Haynes King at QB. FSU may not finish the season ranked and has one of the toughest schedules in the country, partly due to early season travel. Somehow, Ga Tech is getting 11.5 in this game. They're less of an underdog to open the season than Clemson is to UGa. I'll be watching this. That SMU roster is bonkers.

"Honey, is it a big deal if you miss it?" "Yeah, it might affect playing time for me in the fall and any prayer I need answered for getting a whiff of the NFL." "Is that all?" "Also, the coaches will 100% mention my dedication to the craft if I do actually have a good season and some NFL guys ask around about me as they consider the late rounds and undrafted free agents. It basically cements the reality that I'll never make a dime off the this sport outside of what I minimally get this fall." "Yeah, I'm not moving it." The spring game filled much of the lower bowl and his absence pissed off the coaches. Broughton and his now wife are idiots.

Hold on a minute. Hooters is going out of business? What the fuck? I’ve always vaguely wanted to take my boys there to see it once. When do they close?

Christ. That’s concerning.

Breakdown of position groups and rankings by The Michigan Insider. I subscribe to the 247 network and read various sites. Theirs seems fine overall. They still have an answer at QB and appear to be collectively going with the notion that "well, we're a defense and run-first school, so QB doesn't really matter." Okay then. The general expectations from that site are that the defense will be really good, which I believe, and that the offense will just eventually figure itself out and beat everyone via smashmouth football. We'll see, said the zen master. Here you go:

Tarp responding to criticism that he's critical of the OL: Tarp STAFF RGarcia46 said... (original post) Tarp will never believe in the OL again after giving all the readers false hope a few years ago. show more Yeah, it's my fault that A&M manages to overcome past performances, talent levels, and coaching on paper with a reality that makes Alien seem like a Hallmark Channel movie of the week. -- Tarp responding to the notion that ATM has a deep secondary: Tarp STAFF Big Bang said... (original post) With our lack of talent on offense, and the defense being pretty good and deep in the secondary, i’m surprised it took this long to get Bussey on ... show more Deep in the secondary? Who said that? --- Tarp whining about the Pravda shit with The Elk's program: Tarp STAFF jordanaggie said... (original post) Only 15, Tarp? show more Certain people are always on the lookout for things. You're got to be really careful. --- Tarp debunking someone's claim that the aggies are deep in the secondary by basically just pasting some names on the screen: Tarp STAFF ThePlaymaker said... (original post) Will LeeDezz RicksBrayvion RogersHillChappellBJ mayesJavon ThomasDonavan SandersThat is pretty good competition for 3 spots and Chappel has be... show more On paper you are correct. The reality might be a tad different. The self inflected wounds among the receiving corps make it somewhat difficult to judge exactly how good some of these guys are. Theoretically, if you're missing multiple starters in the DL in a scrimmage situation and the WRs (who by all accounts have not been much of a factor in fall camp) all of a sudden have a good scrimmage, then maybe you've got more issues than you assume. ---

I've quoted below Tarp's "15 things" from observing and checking around the aggie fall camp. There's some good shit in here, and I will also follow with some quotes from Tarp later in the thread that are either hilarious or enlightening or both. A few thoughts: -Not that his readers noticed, but he acknowledges in point 4 what we've been discussing here. They're asking 3 star portal guys to do 4+star player things and the results are reflecting that. -With 13 practices and 2 scrimmages behind them, no one within the aggie camp feels like they have a "feel" for the offense. That means that offense is fucking terrible and there's no simple way to spin it. -Albert Regis is going to start over DJ Hicks. That's going to present problems in recruiting and with the Hicks' family. -Weigman has bulked up because they're going to run him. Reed is a better fit for what Klein wants to do. They're going the route of feeding Weigman to the wolves and working with Reed as soon as Weigman is shredded into a million little pieces. -They really want Scooby Williams to be the starter at LB2, but they want him making plays at the LOS. Might as well be asking him to cure cancer. Sanford is likely actually LB 2. -Donovan Green's recovery hasn't brought him back to who he was, and might ever be again. -Scourton and Anderson are critical for success. Lose either guy to injury and they're in deep shit. -Leveon Moss has skillets for hands and EJ Smith is worthless as a runner. Bussey is getting more and more snaps at TB accordingly.

Like pro sports free agency, I assume the "just buy a new team" strategy will rarely work in college due to the chemistry requirements in football. In addition, at Texas for sure and I assume elsewhere, the pure mercenary play would raise all kinds of issues with the academic side. I took the under on 5.5 for CU this year. Took the under for ATM going over 8.5 too. Both of those seasons will be informative and illustrative for the approach of burning down rosters to rebuild them.

We'll be around after the game for a while, it appears. The total cost was $70 combined for both tickets. I'd allocated $1000 for car service before my wife went and found the Amtrak solution. If we near the day and get shaky on the plan, I'll find us a service. It wasn't a cost-cutting move, but I'm glad it cut costs. If it costs me the ability to see opening kickoff and such, I'll adjust ahead of that to nullify that risk because that would suck. Good input. I am assuming that keeping with the crowd until Uber appears will work well for safety. Here's hoping.

I just addressed some of that. The booster wrote that piece for Ketchum. It was well written and made great points, but it also had biases woven into that are a byproduct of the writer's perspective. Nothing wrong with that, but it is there and hopefully my post above helps on some of it. Look, all of this considered, one thing that is very critical for everyone here to understand regarding Fasusi - OU just flat out won that recruitment. OU and Texas offered market-level stuff, which is fucking huge for a borderline 5 star OT. The dude is going to OU because he liked his time in Norman and preferred the whole experience to Austin. He also likes their depth chart. Do not have any illusions that Fasusi is choosing OU because Texas is somehow being strategically intelligent against "dead money" on the OL or holding something back for other spots or for Turntine. That's a bunch of bullshit from the staff and their extensions trying to rationalize the inevitable recruiting outcome on this one.

I feel like I've posted on this a bunch before, but yes, retention is a huge deal. Corporate side is helping more and more in that direction, but yeah, this is going to be a cycle into the $20s when everything is combined, from corporate to collective, from recruiting to retention to portal acquisition. The team on the field this season, 2024, is what I am talking about here. The same is showing to be true for the next cycle as well. The recruiting aspect is a minority fraction of that. If people here actually think that any of that is normal, they have their heads firmly planted up their own assholes. Oregon, Texas, Ohio State. That's that. I've been saying as much now for years here. Notice how that does nothing to negate the reality of random schools and random recruitments blowing numbers out of the fucking water on the reg? It happens. When Oregon does it, it is a feature, not a bug. OU, Auburn, Tennessee, USC, a few others will do it for a guy or two every cycle as well. ATM, Michigan, UGa, a few others will wind up in the top tier when they have all of their ducks in a row and have put aside either incompetence or a weak starting point. As to allocation of a total amount to specific position groups, um, no. Not now. You'd need a competent leader on the GM side with a vision and his/her own gravitational pull within the building and within the recruiting/portal realms. For people looking for a weakness in the UT machine, there are two. One is shared by all NIL efforts across the country, but bigger at Texas or OSU due simply to the scale, and that is too much dependency upon a small cabal of supporters. Don't read too much into the guy Ketchum is a mouthpiece for at this point, as it is more than just 2-3 folks offering support. You'd still like to see way more diversity. The other weakness is a Sarkisian self-own - other programs are putting critical infrastructure into place and it is being led by outstanding personnel. I have confidence that Texas can always exploit second mover advantage due to the wherewithal of internal finances and brand reach, but fuck us all right now waiting for that shit to be leveraged once they realize how fucking far off the mark they are by comparison to other blue bloods. It doesn't matter that you're correct. Many idiots just like to pound their fists on the table.

This is mostly where I've been and what I've been writing about regarding the game. The one thing that gives me pause is a potential gap in regard to quality. Both programs are entering the matchup with similar assumed weaknesses and strengths against one another. That said, even with the OL rebuild at ND, can we be certain that they're just not substantially better from the jump, thus better nullifying some of the perceived aggie DL advantage? We know ND knows what they're doing with OL development, which leads to that question. Conversely, I'm not saying Cushing isn't solid, as I don't know what I think yet given the majority of his time was at NW, but I do know that he's inherited a pile of dogshit to work with on the aggie end of the OL. If there's a Graham Barton hiding somewhere in that pile, good on Cushing for somehow finding him.