SamMan

I’m a sucker for HC press conferences. I watch a ton of them. My top two pressers every week are Kenny Dillingham and Neal Brown. I don’t know either of them, but they strike me as more accessible than most HCs, and fairly thorough and direct in their responses to questions. I’m actually surprised at how much hate that man receives in Morgantown constantly. I like the guy, but I also don’t really care if they win or lose. On a side note, Kirby Smart is a total asshole in his pressers, but sometimes I wish Texas fans would watch them and apply what he says about his team and football in general as if he was speaking about the Longhorns. Lexington and Columbia, SC are the two games I can’t wait to attend. I second the notion that Seattle and Madison are desirable. I have a half sister who lives in Seattle, and her mother is a UW Law grad (huge Warren Moon/Oilers fan which made January 1993 in my family interesting, but that’s a story for another day), so that would be fun, especially if Texas could actually beat them. I wouldn’t mind Bloomington now that they are respectable. I also wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to go to SLC or a return to Provo or Boulder if they showed up on the schedule. I really like Louisville. Went there for the Derby several years ago and had a great time. Back on the topic of Kentucky, or on Texas this week, at least, I’d like to hear Sark’s assessment of the punt game. Seems like they are ceding a lot of hidden yardage there this year.

I was under the impression that UTBOY was a middle aged white guy from Desoto who wears tall tees and starched jean shorts? Maybe I was hallucinating, but I could’ve sworn he showed up on one of the streams at Terry Black’s in Dallas a year or two ago. I seem to remember laughing when Gerry identified him.

Lucky for her, nobody is willing to schlep to Lubbock to put a chair in front of the door… I’m anxious to see which school she chooses. She has until the 20th, no? I’ll likely post some thoughts once she is signed.

I’d actually not be surprised at all to learn that Kenny D passed on Johntay. Anybody who knows about him and what he has brought to the Valley would have guessed that would be his position on a kid like that. Man, there’s not a great track record of success for the top rated WR in the state here recently. Demas, Earle, Stewart, Cook, and Hudson. Earle might be questionable but I think the next guy was a kid who now plays at SFA. I’ll never understand why anyone would think becoming a malcontent in the middle of the season is a wise choice even if you do have eyes on the portal. It looks even worse when the other two WRs in your class got zero burn last year, had much more reason to explore other options in the spring and summer, decided to stay, one literally added extra responsibilities at a brand new position to help the team with depth, and the other dude committed to filling the big shoes JWhitt left behind as a leader/glue guy. I mean, I suppose somebody could’ve been in his ear saying his position coach is giving preferential treatment to a kid from his HS alma mater, but all you would need to refute that is film and first hand accounts of Moore’s habits and demeanor. If he’s thinking his talent exempts him from following that example, he better hope to God that other programs only look at his HS highlight reel and don’t bother to find out what he has done since then. He should also hope they don’t take a look at how Sark treated Maalik and other players who had to decide to enter the portal at the end of last year ahead of the CFP, and how he handled Juan Davis when he asked to return to the team. Seems to me like he is fair and makes his decisions based on merit. If I was a coach, my response would be: “so, you played as a true freshman on CFP semifinalist, you were on the field in Tuscaloosa at critical moments in your second collegiate game, spent spring and fall camp at the top of the depth chart, got plenty of snaps to start the season, eventually got passed by two dudes who got far less handed to them, and you decided to just check the fuck out because you felt you were being treated unfairly? You didn’t appreciate the team taking three older players out of the portal, but you are asking us to bring you in ahead of the young guys we already have…and pay you handsomely to do so? The second to last relevant snap you have on film is you dropping a wide open TD in a one score game and laughing about it? You left a place with the most talented QB room in the country, where they just put three dudes at your position in the league, and you want us to believe your lack of success isn’t your own fault? Who is your advisor, again? Actually, it doesn’t matter. Thanks for your time.”

You nailed it. They are consumed with appearances, partly because they have no idea wtf it actually takes to be successful.* I’m not sure they ever truly want to win big because so much of their identity is steeped in bs try-hard, perpetual victimhood mythology. I’m convinced they’d rather lose for pity than win for pride. It’s who they are. The acceptance part is particularly true. Weak, neglected people take comfort in a sense of belonging and the relative security of shared responsibility for outcomes, be it tragedy or triumph, among the community. Self-sufficient people are never afraid to lead, regardless of who follows, and are always willing to accept a greater burden of responsibility in order to do so. Neither is inherently bad, but expecting assimilation either way is. [*Note: I have a similar theory about Tom Herman and some of his disingenuous “father-figure” bullshit.] As always, the biggest hindrance to aggie success is their own misplaced pride. They are proud of their traditions…part of that tradition is never being good enough to win and gain validation from others. They seek to prove that their way works, when it hasn’t. They are unwilling to accept that their outdated, ineffective methods and beliefs are to blame for their eight-decade era of ineptitude. It’s much easier to blame their hardship on batshit crazy conspiracy theories or just chalk it up to being the most “unlucky” people in the entire universe. @closetojumping had a great observation a while back that the time to worry about the aggies is when they finally realize they aren’t fucking special. I think I’ve said it before, but they are a victim of their own disordered thoughts. If they ever decide to stop feeling sorry for themselves, and actually begin to take responsibility for their lot in life, they will become a much more formidable opponent. This is a bit of a tangent, but that whole acceptance issue is also why the stupid fucking SEC hat making the rounds on another thread is so repulsive to me. Who the fuck thought Texas fans would even consider buying that shit? We don’t need their fucking approval. Being a fan of this team, our team, is rewarding in and of itself. No assimilation required. Texas didn’t come to the SEC for a participation trophy, and we certainly don’t need other people’s acceptance. Texas came to the SEC to kick their fucking ass from sun up to sun down, every goddamn day…and if the others aren’t doing the same, that’s their fucking problem. That’s what the SEC is supposed to be about—the highest level of competition, which is derived from assembling a group of the most competitive teams available. The teams make the conference, the conference doesn’t make the teams. Fuck that hat and any microdick motherfucker who chooses to wear it. It’s funny that the exact same people who were bitching about “loyalty” with Schloss, were the ones calling for their AD, HC (“he’s fat and ugly!”), and OC to be replaced before the very first game of their collective tenure was even in the books, AND they had already resorted to cyberbullying the QB they were hyping as a Heisman dark horse a few hours earlier. Best fans in the world. Just wanted to say that I look forward to three things when I come to this site: your markups, @Getafix’s well-formatted summaries, and @Armybrat’s self-deprecating old man jokes. Great work. That’s no slight to the always informative @Js1 and @texifornia, @Longhornfrenzy for his stream of updates, or the rest of you fine people.

I think there should definitely be a 30 for 30 that takes a retrospective look at the last six weeks of 2021 if Texas somehow manages to win a National Championship this year. The entire trajectory of the program changed drastically in that period of time. It would also be great to contrast that with where the aggie program was at that point. My shitty title would be: “Three Years and a Cloud of Dust: How a Perfect Storm Awakened College Football’s Biggest Sleeping Giant and Exposed Its Greatest Imposter”. Anyway, I think it would also serve as a nice amuse bouche for the point where Texas wins the CWS with Schloss at the helm, and we get to relive CDC dragging his nuts across aggie nation’s collective face in another riveting documentary chronicling the “downright dastardly” summer of ‘24. I already can see the promo montage showing Flores’ errors, LaViolette’s game-saving catch, a&m taking game one, Tennessee dogpiling on the mound with the ESPN audio…and then it cuts to an aggie saying, “I wish that was the worst part of the story..” as he stares blankly at the camera. A tribute to competent management and decisive leadership in two parts. I hope it comes to pass.

His responses make a lot more sense when you realize that he told Imma this entire forum was stale because nobody’s sense of humor is as refined as his.

I love the loser mentality this dipshit is channeling while trying to philosophize on how running off a sixth-year all-conference QB was actually the right move regardless of the fact that the dude they handed the fucking job to has already played himself out of it. I’m sure the players who came back, you know the ones who have way more blood/sweat equity in the program, are totally cool with the idea of punting their final season because some mythical window may open in the future, but only if Jackson Arnold doesn’t have to compete with that all-conference QB who, by the way, probably would have been more motivated to prepare and perform well the entire offseason than a guy with a true freshman behind him. Awesome message to send. I feel a little bad for @ChiTownDoc, in particular, because he was one of the more supportive posters on this site when shit was somewhat dismal here this summer, which freaked me out a little. I think he was expecting a loss but still. That defense is legit. I’ve known both of OU’s offensive coordinators at various points in my life, and I have zero confidence that they will ever perform up the minimum standard you guys have grown accustomed to. I’ve stated before that I’ve never been too jazzed about Jackson Arnold’s prospects, so I’m not really surprised by this latest development. That said, I was hoping it didn’t get to the point where Hawkins made his inevitable ascent before the game in Dallas. Ikard and Lehman said they didn’t want to see Arch in the Cotton Bowl, and I have somewhat similar feelings about Hawkins. I don’t think it will make a huge difference, but the kid has juice..way more than Arnold. That’s all I’ve got. The defense played well enough to win, even if Heupel took his foot off the gas. Losing Dolby sucks. That offense is dogshit and I have no idea what they are doing. *Final note: while I enjoyed watching OU lose, the game reminded me of 2014 when Baylor came to Austin and Texas wasted a superlative defensive effort. They absolutely shut Bryce Petty down that day, but it didn’t matter because Briles and everybody watching quickly realized Texas wouldn’t be able to execute on offense and they cruised to victory, essentially on a blocked FG returned for a TD (Swoopes fumbled a QB sneak at the goal line on a 99-yd drive, too).

My favorite Alan Bowman stat is that he spent more weeks (one) in the top 25 at Texas Tech than Pat Mahomes (zero) did in his entire collegiate career. In fact, the last time Tech was ranked, Bowman was a true freshman, and their starting QB…he is now in his seventh college season. Interestingly, the last time Tech spent consecutive weeks in the top 25, Baker Mayfield was a true freshman walk-on. That was 2013. They’ve been ranked for exactly two weeks in over a decade…and Bowman is responsible for half. Impressive.

It was just a reference to the Ewers thread on the recruiting board. Those guys were discussed when Tech emerged as a serious contender for Quinn.

Hate to interrupt your stargasm, sir, but I’d just like to point out that the great Karen Aston once fielded a team with TEN (10) 5-stars (including seven top seven recruits) on it (with some services’ #1 recruit in the next class on the way). I imagine it will be tough to retain all of that talent these days, when other highly motivated programs have starter minutes and generous NIL packages to offer to highly coveted rotation players at their current school, but that would be a great lineup. Do carry on.

Somebody missed the most epic thread on this entire website…and, now I want CFS.

I’m holding out for the Nahlin 85.

Minnesota, eh?