statsman

I guess everyone knows that Alabama AD Greg Byrne is the son of ex Nebraska, ex TAMU AD BIL Byrne. Oh, how I miss Bill Byrne’s weekly missives to the Aggie faithful, updating them on the climb to supremacy and the eternal struggle against their “friends to the west” (that would be us, and no, he really didn’t mean ‘friends’)

Yeah, but I was looking at the thread on the guy who killed Brian Thompson, and thought that the “CR standards” have been widened by a bunch. On my post above, I note a couple of documented facts, and ask if they are a factor. Is that CR-ing a DT thread? Nevermind. It’s not worth it. I deleted my post.

Nevermind

Gotta be over two years, right?

Let’s see…Venables was at Clemson when Mayfield was at OU. Lincoln Riley was Mayfield’s OC and then HC. I’m not sure what real info Mayfield could offer. Maybe he offered to be Mareer’s friend?

Can you imagine that pitch? ”Come on, man, don’t be an asshole. Sign with the Sooners. If you sign with Miami, don’t think I won’t be dogging your ass on social media every chance I get. Hey, they’ll give you a statue!”

I’m sure it will happen, now. They have their QB. They have a plan for 2025. (It would have been fun if they didn’t)

I don’t know that Nicholas was lucky enough to get shot in the head or heart. The shooters were all drunk and shot wildly. I feel sorry for the children and servants.

OU has signed WRs Keontez Lewis and Javonnie Gibson out of the portal, over the last couple of days.

I don’t think anyone would believe it. Per Stassen.com, from 1999-2021 (Stoops and Riley tenures), OU won 246 games, five more than the next FBS team (Boise), 15 more than the next P4 team (tOSU). Venables’ seat is red hot. Arbuckle’s acceptance of the OC job is either a pure money grab or an idiotic decision. A lot of other jobs are better

it has to be an interesting coaching office dynamic. Arbuckle was hired for his offense, sure, but also for his QB. Presumably, Arbuckle didn’t make any promises he couldn’t keep, but he had to be seen as an asset in wooing Mateer. If Arbuckle does all he can, and Miami makes a more persuasive case (they have a lot going for them), then OU goes back to the portal and tries to find another QB. It would be disappointing for them to fail to capitalize on this portal cycle with the WRs, but they would go forward knowing they took their best shot. Now, imagine- Arbuckle actually makes a play for the WSU HC job, doesn’t get it but in trying, drives Mateer away (if Arbuckle spends more than a couple of days as a candidate, Mateer is an idiot if he doesn’t run). How does the program view their OC then? Probably pretty similar to how they viewed Lebby after he dressed Art Briles in Crimson and Cream and invited him down on the field. And, we all agree, right(?), that if Arbuckle leaves and OU has no new OC and no new WRs, Mateer is absolutely out. OU would find themselves back on square one, needing a new OC before they could do anything. As I see it, the Sooner program badly needs Arbuckle to not be a candidate, and to not be one right fucking now.

I wouldn’t swear by Blevins’ credibility, but …

Sure. Arbuckle was hired on 12-2, by OU. The portal opened on 12-9. I know Mateer is likely to sign with the Sooners, but this is 12-18 and there is not a single good reason for this not to have been complete by last Friday. Time is not on OU’s side.

He’s probably making a little over a million per year at OU, and would get over twice that as HC at WSU. Also, I’m sure it’s not lost on him how precarious his OU job is past one year. Venables could be done in November.

The WSU coach being hired by WF… You would think Arbuckle wouldn’t be a candidate for the WSU job, except that he might come with his own (returning) QB… This is one hell of a wild card. It’s fun to see how it’s played.

I am just guessing, but…if a school like Tech overpays for a good-not-great DT, won’t the NIL agents get in the ears of other (good to great) DTs languishing on rosters without retention funds dedicated? Wouldn’t that drive more DTs out into the spring portal?

That’s an interesting premise, but even if they manage to SMU their way to the top 10, … how are they going to get the attendance and TV ratings that are the true differentiators?

I thought this was interesting- I remember, on Hornfans around 2001-2002, there was a lot of talk about Florida wanting to hire Stoops to replace Spurrier. I remember reading about it coming to a head during a big OU recruiting weekend, and how his announcement that he was staying at OU seemed staged and timed to help the Sooner recruiting. On the Sooner board discussions about Mateer and the portal, a few guys referred to that time, and said that Stoops and Florida actually reached an agreement. According to the Sooners, Stoops wanted to coach Florida, and tried to work it out so that he would leave his staff in Norman, and for his brother, Mike, to take over. Evidently, per this telling, Castiglione told theStoopses that he would have a national search for a HC replacement, and Mike wasn’t getting it, and that caused Bob Stoops to decide to stay. I have to say- that sounds more logical reading it, on Sooner boards, than writing it on a Texas board.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Texas Tech is the program of tomorrow, and it always will be”.

95% foregone/likely. The other 5% possibility, that Mateer signs elsewhere, leaving OU holding their (metaphorical) dick in their hand, not having a QB or receivers after the first portal period, is what has us all interested. As I understand it, when a portable clicks the “no contact” box on their enter, it means they know where they are going. If not, they are accepting offers. Evidently, Mateer did not click that box.

I really, really hope the Sooner spring reports say things like, “This looks like it will be the best defense OU has ever had!”

The Sooners are excited. Last night, Mateer told his WSU teammates that he would not play the bowl game. This morning, it is reported that he is expected to enter the portal. Look, 95% chance he signs with OU, and they then go on to build a portal class of offensive players. However, OU is not the only school that wants Mateer, although it is the only school that hired his OC and QB coach. Miami wants him as a replacement for Cam Ward. Odds are he signs with OU, but if it was a sure thing, he would have done so already. It would be delicious beyond belief if he signed with Miami.

Years ago, a co-worker with a son playing football for a FCS school told me that college football was a very low paying full time job for players, with the only thing making it worth the effort being the prospect of getting on the field and playing. It seems clear, now, that it is a real job for FBS players, with real pay. I think that is why we see so many more players enrolling early, in the spring- the paychecks don’t start until they’re on the team. They are like all of us, wanting to start work right after graduation, because we don’t get paid until we do. Similarly, wrt the portal. When any of us seek a new job, we wait to give notice until the new one is officially offered. We ask our new employer to allow us to start after we have given notice. This is all in order to keep the checks continuous. Why is the first portal so popular, even with guys on teams where the season isn’t over yet? Because they don’t want to risk spending the spring without a job any more than you do. They want to nail that down.

You have listed a lot of guys that improved (or intended to improve) their draft position by returning. Which was what I said. Before 2023, Whittington was an UFA at best. Fans were still hoping Jones would be replaced at Tackle. Barron came back to play CB, not Star. Sweat would have been drafted mid rounds, at best, before 2023, in potential.

I don’t know about Taaffe, but a general observation about the program right now: -whatever “development” is (S&C, focused coaching, intensive drills), it is happening at UT like we have not seen for decades, if ever. Players know that they will develop here, and it helps recruit. -the work that goes into “development” is hard enough that as soon as a player sees an opportunity for greater pay in the NFL, they are gone. As soon as they see they are not going to play, they are gone. Both can be true (as they were at Saban’s Alabama)- there is no better place to be developed as a player than Texas, and the work is too damned hard to do for free or reduced pay. The days of draft-eligible players returning are over, unless they can be convinced that a return would, at low risk, dramatically improve their draft position.