2021 Texas Offseason: Sark Attacks Austin

[Fud 9,552]

9 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Now that game, I was shitfaced by halftime and our table was mocking other Texas tables at the sports bar for being shocked. Just a grim, grim time to be a fan. I think that was the same year where we showed up to watch the TCU game at 11am and at halftime, a bunch of us just left for the day to watch a movie. I think that TCU game was a fan low point for me where I watched the first 3 minutes of the game and realized, yep, totally fucked, and then just checked out and stopped paying attention to the screen. 

If you want to bring up some repressed negative sports feelings, try to rank the ten worst Texas games under Strong. It's an impressive list

[Bevo14 8,358]

24 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

 

There’s nothing wrong with these takes and I hope they’re right. That said, and there’s a history of pointing this out contemporaneously on this thread, people inside the LHF and AD have been trying to hedge failure for this season since Sarkisian got here.

“The schedule is really tough. Louisiana is really good. Arkansas will be a hostile environment. Iowa State and Oklahoma are really good. We’re hoping Sarkisian can put a winning record together. “ blah blah blah. That shit is real inside Bellmont and that’s the narrative they’re selling. I continue to hope that Sarkisian isn’t buying in and also fear that he has, or might even be the guy pushing that. 

Arkansas will be a 6 win team.  They better get outta here with that bullshit. We're not losing to lala either. 

[Fud 9,552]

5 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Am I misremembering but wasn't that game basically in a rainy/wet? 

It was overcast, not sure if the field was wet

Campbell admitted that he did a shitty job preparing his team mentally to play at an 11 am home game with no crowd, and if I recall correctly, they had a lot of issues with contact tracing during camp. Also, one of Louisiana's most popular young coaches passed away in the offseason, so it was a bit of an emotional game for them. This is all intangible stuff though.

Tangibly, Louisiana had two special teams TD returns and only had one more for the rest of the season, they recovered an ISU fumble, and completed a 78 yard TD pass after struggling to throw all game to a guy who only had one TD all season

The first half could have easily been 28-6 instead of 14-10 if ISU didn't shoot itself in the foot so badly 

On the other hand though, Purdy had four passes that could have easily been intercepted to go with his single interception

Weird game

My take is that Louisiana is very solid and well drilled across the board, but that they can be physically overwhelmed by the type of players Texas has in its two-deep. I think Louisiana needs the type of fortune they had against ISU (two special teams TDs, a deep TD pass against the run of play, a fumble recovery, a bunch of WR drops, some starters out for Texas, terrible Texas QB play) to have a decent shot

[Tex Pete 20,425]

3 minutes ago, Fud said:

It was overcast, not sure if the field was wet

I was about an hour west of there that week. It had rained off and on all day every day in the week leading up to the game. Everything was saturated. 

[Elmer_Fudd 22,308]

17 minutes ago, Fud said:

If you want to bring up some repressed negative sports feelings, try to rank the ten worst Texas games under Strong. It's an impressive list

The Oklahoma State game with 3 blocked PAT's has to be on the list.

[Burt Macklin 19,038]

2 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

The Oklahoma State game with 3 blocked PAT's has to be on the list.

And the UCLA game where we kicked off twice, the Cal game, at ND, loss to Kansas, the TCU blowouts.  JFC. It really is a tough list to make. So many horrible moments.
 

Apparently we got shutout by ISU in 2015, 24-0? I have no recollection whatsoever of that game. 

Edited July 16, 2021 by Burt Macklin

[Tex Pete 20,425]

This thread has become a Bizarro version of the Suicide Hotline. 
 

“Yes, yes. I think you should try it!”

[BurntOrange&White 39,940]

4 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

The Oklahoma State game with 3 blocked PAT's has to be on the list.

Is that the same game that produced the most pissed off moment I've ever had with regards to that official bumping Charlie then throwing a flag?

[Red Five 40,877]

1 minute ago, Burt Macklin said:

And the UCLA game where we kicked off twice. JFC. It really is a tough list to make. So many horrible moments. 

I shouldn't have laughed at that.

"... and the time Charlie Strong forgot how to get to the stadium, and showed up at the start of the fourth quarter. And the time he got stuck on the ferris wheel at fair park but no one noticed until the Tuesday after the game."

[Burt Macklin 19,038]

2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Is that the same game that produced the most pissed off moment I've ever had with regards to that official bumping Charlie then throwing a flag?

No. That was a different infuriating loss to OSU. 

[Fud 9,552]

6 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Apparently we got shutout by ISU in 2015, 24-0? I have no recollection whatsoever of that game. 

ISU took away the wheel route that allowed Heard to put up record numbers vs Cal, and he didn't know where to throw the ball. IIRC, ISU had fired Mangino earlier that week as OC 

[South Austin 52,526]

We beat OU in 2015.  Let that sink in, Sooners.

[USNALonghorn 5,078]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

Seeing Sarkisian go out and publicly hedge and say the shit he said, including conjuring the spirits of Tom Herman and Butch Jones, just reinforces the premise that this is Seven Win Steve here and we’re probably fucked. The whole “it’s not about wins and losses” nonsense is borderline “winners at the game of life” bullshit. 

Uh, no dude, wins are pretty much the only thing that matters. Go out and fucking win and then talk to us about developmental growth and pride in player work ethic, after it is reflected. Here’s where a soft athletic department hinders a HC at Texas. They’ve been apologizing to people about a record for a season that hasn’t even fucking happened yet and they’re feeding that same approach to Sarkisian’s ears and he’s sounding like he’s fooling himself too. There’s no honeymoon here if you lose to either ULaLa or Arkansas, lose to TCU, and lose to both ISU and OU. There just isn’t. 

These guys probably don't realize how repetitive the bullshit they spew is. I'm trying hard to not read into it, as our past coaches have said dumber shit before. I don't think were in trouble until Sark admits to being "scared to death", says he doesn't know his own zip code, and proclaims that we have the best offensive line he's ever seen.

[Eggo 3,980]

I don't think anyone saw Sark as the football version of Chris Beard. Different styles are allowed so long as the results are both positive. 

[texasstrong12 4,668]

22 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

It isn’t really an “all coaches do this” thing, either.  Chris Beard’s introductory press conference was all about him saying he wanted to be a Monday night (i.e., national championship game) program and he wanted it to start this year.  

He said that when Brock Cunningham and Jase Febres were the only guys he even knew for sure would be on the team this year, btw.   And then he went out and got shit done, and now he really might have a chance to win the national title in year 1.

Sark will still be fine if the product on the field is good this year, but Beard in particular has kind of been a wake up call about how badly Texas needs proactive people in the athletic department and how much we can accomplish when we hire a guy that really hustles and gets shit done.  

And nobody will give a shit what Beard said in the press conference if he flops in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. 

None of this shit matters. Winning is the bottom line. 

[texifornia 57,036]

45 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Apparently we got shutout by ISU in 2015, 24-0? I have no recollection whatsoever of that game. 

I was distracted for the Texas Bowl (thank Christ), but that one was the surrounded by friends, playing on the big TV, holy God this is an abortion, peak Charlie Strong experience for me.

Edited July 16, 2021 by texifornia

[HenryJames 66,139]

Why do we always do this?

Edited July 16, 2021 by HenryJames

[texasstrong12 4,668]

1 hour ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

On one hand, I agree with your metrics for success. On the other, it's coach speak at media day. I don't think it matters.

If you listen to the interviews, he says that the expectation at Texas is to play for the conference championship and be in the conversation for the playoff. No coach with half a brain is going to come out and say that it's a failure if that doesn't happen year one. There is no upside to it. 

He's also talked a lot about how this roster is not a rebuild and that he can compete right away. If he were truly hedging, you would be getting a different message all the way around. I just think he's trying to avoid bulletin board material. Nobody has ever won shit at media day. 

Vic Schaefer's entire mantra is pretty much "winning is hard." I.e. you have to trust the process, grind out practices, and understand it's tough to win. He says something similar to this almost every press conference. 

Tom Herman didn't lose football games at Texas because he constantly said "winning is hard" or some other random coach speak.  He lost football games because he made bad initial staff hires, went turtle Tom late in games, and refused to play his best players. 

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

11 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

Why do we always do this?

May we never forget

[LTtxfan 49,326]

ctj worried about athletic dept, belmont and SARK...

guess only 1 thing left to do...  🤘

 

[Born Burnt 6,182]

19 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

ctj worried about athletic dept, belmont and SARK...

guess only 1 thing left to do...  🤘

 

[South Austin 52,526]

42 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

Why do we always do this?

Like the jokes about my mom, it's tradition.

[Born Burnt 6,182]

1 minute ago, South Austin said:

Like the jokes about my mom, it's tradition.

[Ojo Rojo 1,967]

3 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Seeing Sarkisian go out and publicly hedge and say the shit he said, including conjuring the spirits of Tom Herman and Butch Jones, just reinforces the premise that this is Seven Win Steve here and we’re probably fucked. The whole “it’s not about wins and losses” nonsense is borderline “winners at the game of life” bullshit. 

Uh, no dude, wins are pretty much the only thing that matters. Go out and fucking win and then talk to us about developmental growth and pride in player work ethic, after it is reflected. Here’s where a soft athletic department hinders a HC at Texas. They’ve been apologizing to people about a record for a season that hasn’t even fucking happened yet and they’re feeding that same approach to Sarkisian’s ears and he’s sounding like he’s fooling himself too. There’s no honeymoon here if you lose to either ULaLa or Arkansas, lose to TCU, and lose to both ISU and OU. There just isn’t. 

This is why we can't have nice things.

Pump the brakes on that shit, Negative Nancy.  Naming the guy "Seven Win Steve" before he's even coached a game here?  Nah, man.  Why you want to perpetuate the idea that Texas fans are a bunch of entitled whiny bitches?  The dude was trying to temper expectations a little bit.  Very few people are going to be swayed by that.  Changes nothing.  No one is going to be satisfied with 8 wins.  He knows that.  His main point was that he's building for long-term, high-level success.  He thinks that requires some foundational things first, before counting win totals. Sure, fine, whatever.  Could work.  We'll see.  But no reason to go all Chicken Little before we've seen a single snap.

Edited July 16, 2021 by Ojo Rojo

[Vito Andolini 9,127]

Iowa State 24-0 buttfucking was memorable for just one thing.

[closetohumping 17,455]

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

Like the jokes about my mom, it's tradition.

I saw Kofi Cockburn was predicted to stay at Illinois.

[Duane Moore 5,248]

I think Dvoracek had it right - 9 wins regular season is the minimum number to call the season a “success” in any fashion, and he probably needs to win the bowl game too in that scenario. 
 

And we simply can’t have another Maryland situation where we lose at home to a Sun Belt team in his first game. Has to get a win there, even a close one will do. 

[South Austin 52,526]

25 minutes ago, Vito Andolini said:

Iowa State 24-0 buttfucking was memorable for just one thing.

Still hard to fap to that with the score showing.

[gmr548 16,590]

If you want to bring up some repressed negative sports feelings, try to rank the ten worst Texas games under Strong. It's an impressive list

[texifornia 57,036]

1 hour ago, Ojo Rojo said:

This is why we can't have nice things.

Pump the brakes on that shit, Negative Nancy.  Naming the guy "Seven Win Steve" before he's even coached a game here?  Nah, man.  Why you want to perpetuate the idea that Texas fans are a bunch of entitled whiny bitches?  The dude was trying to temper expectations a little bit.  Very few people are going to be swayed by that.  Changes nothing.  No one is going to be satisfied with 8 wins.  He knows that.  His main point was that he's building for long-term, high-level success.  He thinks that requires some foundational things first, before counting win totals. Sure, fine, whatever.  Could work.  We'll see.  But no reason to go all Chicken Little before we've seen a single snap.

Seven Win Steve was UW fans' nickname for him

[South Austin 52,526]

21 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

Didn’t they go 0-12 and lose the Apple Cup to 1-11 Washington State the year before Sark was hired?  Maybe they meant 7 Win Steve as an enthusiastic term of endearment?

They did, and 7 wins was a huge accomplishment when he got to Washington.  But like many fanbases, they wanted more, and after three straight years of 7 wins I can see why he warranted the nickname. 

[MuellerHorn 4,256]

4 hours ago, closetojumping said:

 

There’s nothing wrong with these takes and I hope they’re right. That said, and there’s a history of pointing this out contemporaneously on this thread, people inside the LHF and AD have been trying to hedge failure for this season since Sarkisian got here.

“The schedule is really tough. Louisiana is really good. Arkansas will be a hostile environment. Iowa State and Oklahoma are really good. We’re hoping Sarkisian can put a winning record together. “ blah blah blah. That shit is real inside Bellmont and that’s the narrative they’re selling. I continue to hope that Sarkisian isn’t buying in and also fear that he has, or might even be the guy pushing that. 

Objectively, I have two positions that lend me to be more sanguine - especially with the cacophony of past horrors currently spreading around in here.

1. We know for a fact that Sarkisian is a different kind of coach in comparison to Herman. He runs an offense where he actually scrutinizes how to exploit personnel mismatches on a game-to-game basis and game plans will be tailored as such. This won't be egomaniacal Herman doing the same shit over and over again because he's just "smarter than everyone else." Additionally, coach K will be analogous in his approach on defense. He runs a multiple defense that will provide myriad ways to defend opponents each week.

2. When the players talk, they are offering a lot of commentary on how much they are already learning and feel like the coaching is superior to what they've had in the past. I don't believe this is just another situation where a new regime takes over and all is well with the world again. It genuinely seems like they are interested and engaged because the teaching is there.

[Ojo Rojo 1,967]

1 hour ago, Vito Andolini said:

Iowa State 24-0 buttfucking was memorable for just one thing.

Shit.  Just snapped out of a trance where I think I watched this for an hour. Alyssa Milano meets Tara Reid with a hot cheer bod? I'll take two, Utah.

[Royale with cheese 1,467]

1 hour ago, closetohumping said:

I saw Kofi Cockburn was predicted to stay at Illinois.

ISWYDT

[UncleSonny 6,573]

15 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

coach K will be analogous in his approach on defense. He runs a multiple defense that will provide myriad ways to defend opponents each week.

The DC hire is sort of what I go back to whenever I need another shot of Kool-Aid. It has the potential to be as good as the Watson hire was terrible. The internet reaction of Husky fans when it was announced was really something.

Sark's first DC hire as a head coach, Nick Holt, wasn't great. He had his best Washington season once Holt was fired and he hired Wilcox who went to USC with him. It's sort of hard to take away anything from that short USC stint with everything else that was going on. Wilcox is solid but as a defensive coordinator and playcaller I don't feel like he's on the level of Coach K.

If PK is as good as advertised (and Sark keeps his personal stuff in check) this shit is going to work. Goddammit, it's got to work right? 

[closetohumping 17,455]

1 hour ago, texifornia said:

Seven Win Steve was UW fans' nickname for him

I lived in Seattle for a bit.  Some people called him Seagrams 7 Steve.  Assclowns

[closetojumping 62,765]

2 hours ago, Ojo Rojo said:

This is why we can't have nice things.

Pump the brakes on that shit, Negative Nancy.  Naming the guy "Seven Win Steve" before he's even coached a game here?  Nah, man.  Why you want to perpetuate the idea that Texas fans are a bunch of entitled whiny bitches?  The dude was trying to temper expectations a little bit.  Very few people are going to be swayed by that.  Changes nothing.  No one is going to be satisfied with 8 wins.  He knows that.  His main point was that he's building for long-term, high-level success.  He thinks that requires some foundational things first, before counting win totals. Sure, fine, whatever.  Could work.  We'll see.  But no reason to go all Chicken Little before we've seen a single snap.

Chicken Little? I’m nothing of the sort. I expect 10 wins because this roster is strong and the schedule is conducive for it. That can include a bowl win to get there, but there are no excuses for the “we might struggle to win” bullshit. 

Also, Seven Win Steve is a moniker the fucking guy earned at Washington and carried over to USC, where he was eventually fired in the middle of a week for being a falldown drunk who couldn’t handle the gig. The guy does not get any benefit of the doubt and shouldn’t from anyone. He took the job and got the hype go win. 

[South Austin 52,526]

Might I remind everyone that Steve Sarkisian's winning percentage as the Alabama Head Coach* is higher than that of Nick Saban?.  We're going to win every fucking game, fellas. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Interim, but that's not the point.

[Vertigo 20,299]

2 hours ago, South Austin said:

Still hard to fap to that with the score showing.

[Ricky Butler 2,731]

56 minutes ago, UncleSonny said:

If PK is as good as advertised (and Sark keeps his personal stuff in check) this shit is going to work. Goddammit, it's got to work right? 

Did CTJ say this was the best coaching staff in the past 30 years or something? We're golden.

[Jabberwocky 1,666]

6 hours ago, Burt Macklin said:

Apparently we got shutout by ISU in 2015, 24-0? I have no recollection whatsoever of that game.

This is probably the most memorable one for me. I think it was halloween or something.

After sitting in fron of the tv, zoning out for the 2nd and 3rd quarters, I sort of snapped out of my trance and wondered what the hell it is I was watching.

At this point I knew Charlie would never accomplish anything at Texas, and that there were much better things to do on a Halloween night.

[LOHorn 277]

Low point for me was a Fat Gary pregame interview where he was asked just before kick off and said some generic coach speak about taking care of the ball, etc, and ended with “we will be fine.” It was the TCU coach raking about Texas the way Texas coaches talk about Rice. So depressing. Then they kicked our ass. That was it for me. 

Edited July 16, 2021 by LOHorn

[SKA the boss 729]

When your coach is blowing 4th quarter leads because of his ineptitude and stepping all over his dick, then telling you "winning is hard" and "magic fairy dust" crap", yeah, it's cringy and trigger worthy. He should say we lost, my fault, won't happen again.

When your coach hasn't even put the team on the field yet to evaluate, generic coach speak doesn't mean anything.

[Darth Tron 1,123]

18 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I don’t even remember what nightmare thread we’re on with all of this, so fuck it, I’ll add that, for me, I knew that Strong was trash not after that game but after he announced that Watson was coming back. Then the $9.95ers started touting during the off-season that Watson had changed the offense. That shit I mocked aggressively. Then South Bend and that’s when you simply fucking knew “oh yeah, this guy ain’t making it.” So you were ahead, but misery wasn’t far off for all of us, I guess. 

My buddy is from Yutan, Nebraska and is a lifelong Husker fan.  I knew we were fucked when he started laughing maniacally at me when we hired Watson.  He had been bitching about Watson for years beforehand, so yeah I had a pretty fuckin bad feeling about that one from the jump, despite liking the Charlie hire initially.

[Bobby_Batronic 1,994]

10 hours ago, Acropora said:

I think that's Tim Beck, the former Pitt St coach, as an analyst.   I don't think Tim Beck from NC State is coming over, though, i could be out of the loop.

I refuse to believe that there are two coaches of the same name in the entirety of college football. 

 

Thanks, made a bad assumption.

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

18 hours ago, Hookah Horns said:

Yeah we were down 23-0 with 5:00 remaining in Q1. 30-0 after one. 

Our first half drives went:

Fumble, Safety, Punt, Punt, Fumble, Missed FG, Punt, Missed FG. 🤣

Video evidence…

 

[texifornia 57,036]

Just now, ImissWallyPryor said:

Video evidence…

 

Yeah fuck that

[TheAuditor 1,038]

247 Sports came out with top 150 portal transfers for 2021.  I had been following our folks (in/out) and a few that were rumored to be targets but for the most part was not paying attention.  I was surprised by a few items as represented by the list:

1) Texas first inbound is our new RB at #70 from AL (Robinson)

Prior to #70:

2) Texas has three outbound (Ingram, Smith, Alford) 

3) Suck has three in the top 21 - all inbound from Tenn and 5 overall

4) SMU (3), Baylor (2), WV (2), TCU (2), and Tech (1)

 

What does it mean - not jack shit - other than this staff didn't hit the ball out of the park on inbound talent where there was a bunch out there for the taking.  Maybe our bag game was stuck in neutral through the major parts of the cycle,  or they had other shit to worry about, or that list sucks.    

 

[6th Street 6,446]

They needed help on the OL via the portal and didn't do anything. 

[texifornia 57,036]

3 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

They needed help on the OL via the portal and didn't do anything. 

Go look at the OL who transferred and find one outside of Wanya Morris (part of the Tennessee > OU connection that just want to pick up a ring during OU'S big year) and Dare Rosenthal (bunch of Kentucky connections) who would have made a big impact.

Cain Madden is solid, but we seem happy at center.