hook me

TTU will be starting their 2nd or 3rd string QB so it shouldn't matter that we're starting Card, & his ankle looked well enough last week that it can't be that much of an excuse. Their offense sucks w/o their starting QB & is likely to have as many TOs as TDs per game with Smith playing. Their defense looks like an average TTU defense that'll happily let you give them the ball or throw incomplete passes but won't do much more than that. Looks like they have a decent punter & other than that I'm not seeing anything that should make anyone worried about this game other than the possibility of Card shitting himself so bad that he single-handedly leads us to defeat. I don't see that happening no matter how many tortillas he's pelted with. We hung 70 on this team last year with a worse OL & w/o a TE worth a damn. Card may be worse than Thompson but if he can't manage 30 against this team then he should just move to slot WR & be done with the QB position forever. TTU keeps it interesting for the first half. UT wins. TTU fans continue to act like little brothers who are upset that their older brother is hanging out with his GF instead of destroying him in Madden for the 100th time.

Should have taken TCU to the Big 12 to begin with. I can't imagine TTU accomplishing what TCU did in order to be worthy of being brought into the Big 12 at a later date considering TTU hasn't accomplished jack shit outside of Beard (whom y'all now hate) & a few nice baseball seasons in your entire stint in the Big 12 & SWC. Seriously, TTU's inflated view of its (lack) of accomplishments & general desirableness is astounding. The quote from Campbell last week or whenever about UT being scared is the mindset of almost every TTU fan you will bump into (which isn't often if you're not in Lubbock). TTU has finished worse than .500 in football 22 times as members of the SWC/BIG12 & has a losing record in the Big 12 FOR 12 STRAIGHT YEARS. Literally no one is scared of you. No one cares about you. If it weren't for scheduling behemoths the likes of North TX, Murray St., & that ilk TTU would probably have as many losing season as they do winning seasons by now. Deloss didn't ruin your free meal ticket, you ruined it by sucking & adding almost nothing of value to the conference. The only difference between TTU & a&m is that TTU isn't a cult & a&m has actually won something significant in the last 100 years.

Saving up for Saturday

Tough week without knowing who's playing QB. I'm going to say coaches will be cautious thinking they can beat TTU w/o Quinn. TTU scores late to make it look better. UT:34 TTU:24 Prop: 216 primarily because of a couple of screens that pop.

Beating a ranked rival as despised as a&m is, at home, as the underdog is a good reason to rush the field. Shoving the FG posts up their ass & the ensuing brawl, while frowned upon by people in authority, I personally find hilarious.

none of that changes the point that was made. TTU was favored by a FG+ at home vs a G5 school & pulled it out in 2OT. Congrats. Yell really loud, jump & holler, throw tortillas, but stay in the stands. 4th & 20 followed by a game winning TD... 15ish plays & probably 30ish minutes later? TTU fans are too easily excitable.

Bragging rights are cool & I'm perfectly fine with in-state rivalries & pumped up fan bases. Rushing the field because you beat a team you were favored to beat, & a current G5 school at that, is lame & perfectly on script for TTU.

I don't remember there being a story about Bonitto. If memory serves correctly (it probably doesn't) FCB wrote that Orlando was in talks with a school (SMU?) about their HC vacancy and Orlando was in serious consideration. This was after a stellar defensive year & before the real Orlando reared his ugly face. He also wrote that Shane Buechele was unhappy with something I think having to do with how his injury was handled or playing time vs. Sam E. & that the locker room was a mess because of Herman. That story came the week of - maybe just a day or 2 before - early signing day, right after we had a slew of predictions for Bonitto to us. All of those predictions changed to OU shortly after the article hit job was released & the national "insiders" were very vague about why saying things like "things suddenly changed" "not really sure but it was all UT yesterday & it's all OU today". Most people just kind of put 2 & 2 together & still blame FCB to this day even though he swears Bonitto doesn't even remember the hit job that he put out. I personally buy that it had something to do with the reversal in the decision &, even if it didn't, screw FCB for releasing that garbage right before signing day anyways. Fast forward several years & Bonitto is breaking Casey's thumb in the RRS & our season quickly goes from promising to in the toilet. So FCB for that as well. ETA: Traylor 100% wasn't on staff at the time. Pretty sure the locker room stuff was from a player or his parents (which may be why the Buecheles weren't happy about their son being named). Not sure about the Orlando to SMU stuff because Traylor was on staff at SMU for the 2017 season. Seems unlikely, but I wasn't here when all of that went down so maybe that's been discussed elsewhere on the board.

In a game TTU was favored by 3 or 4 at kickoff....

That's the exact raise I had in mind when I included the word "that". 2 extra years @ 6.75mm was dumb, but it's pennies compared to what a&m did. Of course, if you're dumb enough to give $75mm guaranteed for the initial contract you're dumb enough to overpay on a dumb extension as well

I mean.. you gotta love it. Guaranteeing a coach $75mm & then upping it after 1 non-mediocre season where the entire world was in shambles is just.. great. Even we aren't that dumb. Assuming they're going to want at least a top-tier, proven coordinator, more likely a proven P5 HC, they're looking at >$100mm anytime before 2027 based on today's contracts - which will only go up by then - & that's just Jimbo's buyout + new coach contract. That doesn't include the actual buyout of said new coach from his current school, his new assistants buyouts + new contracts, the current assistants buyouts, the amount of money it'll take to keep the players on the team that are worth something, & whatever incentives you have to throw in to convince someone to move to fucking B/CS. I know they like to tout how much money they have & Eagle Ford & all that, but I don't see how they can do anything until 2029 if they're still going 8-4 (lol at "keeps putting up 9-3..records" since he has yet to do that at a&m w/o a pandemic). Maybe they can find a way to fire him with cause (or get him to negotiate a lower buyout so that they don't have to) or see if they can unload him on another school & have that help with the buyout, but this is what you get for giving someone a fully guaranteed contract & then doubling down on it. Congrats.

This is one reason why I'd like for all refs to wear hat cams, if for no other reason than for when they're reviewed by their higherups to get a good idea of where they were looking & what they were seeing. It's be even better if they could all be shown on TV for viewers to see, but maybe that's too much. Replay can help with a lot of things but the question of "why was/wasn't this called?" could be cleared up if you see from their perspective that there was a body in the way or they were looking at a different spot than everyone is yelling about or something else. That said, replay should have been able to easily see that his calf was down with the ball in his hand, I saw it after the first replay of it that showed him down. How can replay officials look at that & not see it after however long they had to look at it? Awful.

The thing about a&m is they always end up where you expect them to, they just rarely take the path you expect. They could be 4-2 heading into the bye after playing Bama close w/ people back on the bandwagon talking about a NY6 game because Johnson is the QB the system needs right before melting down against Ole Miss & Auburn/LSU to end up right where we thought they'd be.. 8-4 or 7-5 & them talking about how next year is laid out perfectly. It's like a choose your own adventure book except every choice leads to the same outcome.

UT: 38 UTSA: 30 Yards given up: 411 Bama hangover + injuries + Traylor interviewing for this job if it were to ever open up makes it a closer game than we want with a late UTSA score to make it even closer than we want.

We'll learn a little bit more about TTU when they play @ NCST this week. Their starting QB was injured in their first game - unsure of when he'll be back - but the backup was the absolute definition of hot & cold at home vs UH. He's shifty & a very willing runner, but that's mainly because he's a liability as a passer. Definitely someone we need to spy when in man or run more zone coverages but I'm not scared of their offense at all & their defense looks like the normal TTU defense that won't stop you but will let you beat yourself if you try hard enough. That just so happens to be what UH did for the most part with 120 yards of penalties. Also, they stormed the field Saturday.. as 4 point home favorites to a G5 school.. just in case you may have mistakenly thought TTU fans changed over the summer. This is a game that we can hopefully manage with our D, RBs & quick passing game & won't need anything special from the QB position. WVU looks like warmed over dog excrement & we get them at home after they have to travel to a slightly more inspiring, still mostly crappy, VT. They have a decent DL that gave up 42 points & 400+ yards to KU at home. I mean, what kind of horribly coached, no talent, waste of space defense gives up.. oh wait... moving on. They have 1 good WR & and maybe a good QB that's on his 10th school in 3 years. I was hoping Quinn would be back by this game to knock some rust of before OU, but I THINK Card can manage us through these 2 games. If not, hopefully our defense wasn't a 1 hit wonder & can win a few games for us before Quinn gets back.

Being complete morons is not much of a tradition & isn't difficult for "outsiders" to understand. You're a moron, we get it, the whole world gets it. Stop trying to mystify it. You have midnight yell before every home game because you can't remember simple yells from week to week? - morons You make really bad jokes & deliver them terribly? - morons You give a guy that just burned down a blue blood program in a weak conference ~$100mm guaranteed at a non-blue blood program in a difficult conference? - morons You hiss instead of boo? - morons Dudes in white jumpsuits looking like they just broke out of prison instead of cheerleaders? - morons Squeezing your nuts in hopes of yelling louder? - morons (squeeze harder & maybe there won't be a new generation of morons one day) None of falls under "people just don't understand us or our traditions". It's all fairly obvious.

I don't disagree with this at all but as a way to satisfy all the clingers, get games in front of BMDs, & have highly desirable recruits be able to easily come I can see the benefit of having neutral site games. CTJ says UT isn't interested so maybe it won't happen, but traveling to Waco, Lubbock, Cougar-high, or any of those others is giving up too much imo. If we can strong arm them all into coming to Austin or not playing them then I'm all for that, it just seems unlikely currently.

To hell with home & homes with any of them. Play the game in DKR, Jerryworld, or NRG & rotate them. TCU/TTU/BU - Jerry world Rice/UH - NRG UTSA/SHSU/TXST/UTEP & everyone else that wouldn't help fill an NFL stadium - Austin We're in the SEC & it's time to start scheduling like it which means we do neutral site games against teams that we don't benefit from having a home & home with but could fill up an NFL stadium & small in-state schools can stop at DKR while on their fieldtrip to the capital.

1936 George V 6-6 vs. LSU

"that 7 or 8 win area" good grief the lack of self-awareness is truly astonishing at times. 2008: 4-8 Mike Sherman is our savior 2009: 6-6 wait a minute 2010: 9-3 2011: 6-6 Sherman sucks. Sumlin is our savior! SWAG! WRTS 2012: 10-2 yay manziel saved us from eternal mediocrity!! WRTS! We're on the verge of dominating college football for decades 2013: 8-4 wait a minute 2014: 8-4 WTF? 2015: 8-4 2016: any guesses? 8-4 2017: 7-5 okay Sumlin sucks. Jimbo is our new savior!! He's won a NC!! 2018: 8-4 2019: 7-5 wait a minute 2020 (covid & 3 bye weeks in a 5 week span): 9-1 JIMBO IS THE GREATEST!!! WE'VE FINALLY ARRIVED!!! CFP SCREWED US!!! WE'RE GONNA RULE COLLEGE FOOTBALL!! 2021: 8-4feit If anyone, & I mean anyone, knows what "that 7 or 8 win area" is like... it's those morons. 1... ONE... 10+ win season since fucking 2000. As in Y2K. We ascended to the top of college football, stayed there for a hot minute, came crashing down, & are (hopefully but doubtfully) on our way back up all in the span of their 1 10 win season. They're going to lose 2 or 3 of the next 5 & be staring right at - you guessed it - 8-4 again.

BOB being the offensive coordinator leaves open the possibility that Bama loses to any team with a pulse on its schedule. Also, Saban is an embarrassing 1-2 when facing former assistants in the last 3 games - what a loser!

Bama: 59 UT: 31 Ewers: 333

Your starting QB is made of glass & a turnover machine in limited action. Maybe he'll be good, maybe he'll be serviceable, but based on his senior year & limited college experience he'll be injured trying to make a tackle on an INT return. Also, the coach that apparently sucked at coaching WR is now coaching your QBs so... that's fun. Achane is a good RB but your questions across the OL will hurt his productivity this year. Smith is a serviceable slot & Stewart has the potential to be a day 1 pick but the offense doesn't cater to WRs so I'm not sure it's going to matter & I personally can't wait until Stewart isn't getting the touches he should be getting & starts griping (I'm guessing it starts happening during the bye week). The much more important TE position is filled with only question marks which won't help the questions that exist along the OL as well as the passing game that relies on the TE. Speaking of OL, with Foster ready to go it looks pretty decent, but with Foster out & maybe not interested in playing your decent looking OL suddenly looks questionable. Considering just how much your offense needs a good OL to succeed this should be the biggest worry on the team even with a good right side. DL should be the strength of the team again which should help cover some other holes on defense but the moment y'all play a good OL or an OC good enough to mitigate the DL your defense will be asked questions that I'm not sure it'll be able to answer. A&M always does the opposite of what I feel like they'll do so I'm fully expecting them to get off to a nice start & right when I start to worry that this may actually be y'alls year you'll blow it & end up 9-3 or 8-4 again after losing 1 or 2 WTF type of games that it seems y'all are good for. Don't take that as a jab either because I'd love to only have 1 or 2 WTF types of losses this year as it would show a drastic improvement over the last 12 years for us.

You'd think Jimbo would have learned his lesson about having too many johnsons

The Big 12 is in a good spot for negotiating expansion with what looks to be the leftovers of the Pac12. I wouldn't be surprised if part of their meetings with ESPN/FOX are getting numbers on if they remain with the 12 they will have vs adding the corner schools. It doesn't benefit the Big 12 in the least to go up to Washington/Oregon since UW & UO are obviously waiting on the Big 10 to call & no one else in that conference is worth the logistical headache. ESPN being locked out of the Big 10 & seeing the implosion of the Pac 12 on the horizon will want/need the P5(4?) content & territories that the Big 12 has to offer in a way that FOX may not. It wouldn't surprise me to see ESPN be a little more aggressive & potentially overpay the Big 12 to try & entice members from the ACC to give them a look when that conference implodes in the next several years as they're being lapped by the Big 10 & SEC in TV revenues. Once the ACC falls apart the Big 12 will be in position to snatch up some of the second-tier universities (Pitt, Louisville, NCST, UVA, VT) & possibly a bigger fish if the SEC & Big 10 decide to pass on one or won't take some sort of package (UNC/Duke, UNC/NCST, Miami/FSU). If the corner schools aren't banging down the doors of the Big 12 trying to get in while they still have some sort of leverage for negotiating then they deserve to be left in the cold. There's no one to add to the Pac 12 to make it a viable P5 conference with the TV deals that you had &, while you may not enjoy being labeled a villain by the rest of that conference, I'd rather be called bad names while maintaining/increasing TV revenue than be left behind in the MWC or AAC hoping someone eventually throws me a bone.