closetojumping

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.

Just to make sure I'm following, these numbers are for in-conference play only?

I realize that that is your hope. Either you win and you're fine with Venables, or you don't and Castiglione cuts him loose. If Venables goes 6-7/7-6/8-5 this season, I think it would be hard to fire him due to the transition and the schedule. The media has been apologizing for this upcoming season with OU for months. It's both mildly irritating and funny. I think Venables is not up to the challenge and I hope he gets 10 years there to try and figure it out otherwise. Credit where it is due - Marshall was a total badass in college and was the exact fit Stoops needed in that defense for that team. It sucked to watch it.

He had obvious red flags around him as a recruit that even a tone deaf staff like Fisher’s would have known about due to proximity. Scourton needed to leave the area, which made his return somewhat surprising. I didn’t say much different than you about Scourton now, you just mixed in effusive praise and I said it would be worth waiting to see him this season to cement the first round notion. It’s not like his numbers from last year are a secret here. You’ll have to show your work on the pre-transfer notion of him having 1st round status. He transferred in 8 months ago and I don’t remember anyone calling him a 1st round prospect until after the spring game. If there’s a non-obscure reference calling him a 1st rounder last Dec/Jan, well, mea culpa.

I took the under on 7.5 wins for OU yesterday at a casino. Sooner magic and all that, it’s pretty easy to find 5 losses on that schedule. They play an embarrassing non-con - UH, Temple, Tulane, and Maine. Then they also play South Carolina. Give them those 5 wins. You then have to find 3 more against Tenn, LSU, Auburn, Bama, Missouri, Texas, and Ole Miss. If you think there are 8+ wins in this team, you’d have to ignore a total OL rebuild, an overrated QB causing concerns currently at practice when it comes to managing his reads, nothing at TE, CB issues, Edge issues, and a new coaching dynamic at OC. They’re also painfully thin at different spots on the depth chart even if there is starting talent - WR, QB? Beyond all of that, you’d also have to believe that Brent Venables isn’t a slapdick yokel. Should be a fun season.

A lot of what drives the rave Scourton reviews is his performance against ATM’s offense. He was a damned good ball player at Purdue last year as well. That considered, I think he’d be an excellent part of the rotation and might start, but his hype should still be matched against a TBD for all of us. The “he’s a high first round pick” stuff due to people watching their spring game and listening to idiots like Liucci afterwards merits some cynicism. I’d happily take Turner, Stewart, Anderson and Scourton on defense. Green would immediately be in the TE rotation if he’s recovered okay from ACL surgery. Given our injuries, either Daniels or Moss would be helpful for spelling Blue and Co. There’s not a lot of meat on the bone over there. I’ve been working through a post that I’ll probably add to the aggie threads after I actually gather the data, but it is looking like they might only have like 5 transfers getting meaningful snaps across the roster. They took in like 27 and lost around that many who were, in aggregate, much higher rated. The talking heads in the media have been fed the 247 transfer rankings by Texans and whatever other PR help they have internally. Those chickens are about to come home to roost.

I’m sure. If we have time after arriving, I don’t have any other plans.

Yeah, it’s got a slight risk of cutting it close on the way there, but it’s the weekend.

We are taking the Amtrak in from Detroit and should be arriving in Ann Arbor around 10:20. Anyone chosen this option before? Our return train is at like 7:30 that night, so could be doing some tailgating or bar hopping afterwards. It costs a total of $70 for two and that includes business class on the way there. Seems like a solid option on paper.

The starting QB at Texas, if established ahead of summer camp, will likely usually be one of the top five highest paid players in college football every year.

I took the under of 5.5 wins for Baylor this season earlier today in Lake Charles. Feel pretty good about that one.

Trending towards mid-seven figures. Mostly all corporate.