closetojumping

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.

I find these 7th and 8th year guys simultaneously nauseating and fascinating. On one hand, move on with your life and let some other dude take that roster spot. Cut your hair and get a job, hippy! On the other hand, don’t ever grow up. Hang on and avoid the grind as long as you can, hook up with as many coeds as you can, and help a team win a title or something.

I’m not sure, based on your post, that you really understand “the nature of that game” if you think upsets in it happen at all regularly.

How about not making any further hires of convenience? What the fuck is this train of thought anyway? Every other staff worth a shit in the country is raiding each other and the NFL for what is perceived to be the best and the brightest and you want to promote a guy that gets along with old high school coaching buddies in Dallas. Awesome.

Hit the sauce on a Saturday and decided to wander out of the Cloak Room and really let someone have it, I see. Hey, you added something on the football board though, I guess.

I continue to believe that all Turd Ferguson needs to not be a terrible piece of shit of a pitcher is an oversized hat. He’d freak everyone out with it and also because it is funny.

I'm not "triggered" and I am perfectly "chill". I know your kind of bullshit when I see it and I am comfortable calling it out for the white-knighting, virtue signaling, political bullshit that it is. This is not a safe space for you. As to neg, it's the only currency we possess here. If I could pay to have you relegated to where you post 90% of the time, I happily would, but I can't, so negging it is.

You're an agenda pusher. It's obvious from reading this thread lately that if you perceive some sort of slight towards women, real or imagined, you're here to yell at the board and browbeat us about someone's wrongness. It's not needed, it's tedious, and it's getting negged from here forward every time I see it. Trying to sell everyone that Beth Mowins is anything but ESPN's own failing agenda push is laughable. I have never heard or read of a single actual person that's watched a Mowins-called football game say anything positive about her contributions to the game. Don't come onto the football board and try to gaslight us, dummy.

Not sure but probably. I wouldn't rate it as "dinner worthy" if you're only in town for a few days. It's a great stop for lunch or day drinking though. Of course, I'm a snob about dinner when traveling, but I feel like most of us on these kinds of threads are.

I'm in agreement here, and I'm only voicing that because it is fucking tiring. Beth Mowins is objectively terrible as a PBP person for football. It's distracting. I don't give a shit about women calling men's sports. Good is good and bad is bad. Mowins is a bottom feeder for CFB announcers and she's hanging on to the role she was elevated to strictly because of the DEI silliness from ESPN. The @aggie08 poster seems to have a pathological obsession with righting any perceived slights assigned to females in the sports world by mean men and patsy women who are clearly too stupid to "get it". It oozes off of their dumb fucking posts and they come across as a real blast at parties. I don't see them post much, but they have plenty of posts and rep, so I'm guessing they're absolutely a cloak roomer and they only show up for sports when the right dog whistle is blown for their bullshit to make an appearance.