This is who Steve Sarkisian is.

[MotownHorn 1770]

I mean we didn’t have to keep running against TCU but something other than fucking constant deep shots would have been a good idea 

The offense started clicking a little bit once we started targeting Jordan short/middle instead of Xavier deep 

[hobbes2702 13049]

2 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

It would have been hilarious to see this thread if we continued to run Bijan into 8 and 9 man boxes against TCU. The dude had 12 carries for 29 yards. We could have stuck with the run game longer and been more creative with it but thinking some magical breakthrough was coming if we just kept pounding our head against the wall is wishful thinking. Kansas sucks, had a poor gameplan where they played a safety 15 yards deep every play and was run over. TCU is good, had a good gameplan and executed it. We did not execute ours well and were too late in adjusting.

That’s football. Our head coach said he blew it and we’ll see if anything changes. Again, maybe that’s wishful thinking. But we’ll see.

TCU kept pounding their head against the wall and got a breakthrough. That’s how it works in the running game sometimes. Defenses get tired and things happen. 12 touches is unacceptable and Sark clearly new that based on the obvious commitment early to the run

[immamac 42886]

2 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

It would have been hilarious to see this thread if we continued to run Bijan into 8 and 9 man boxes against TCU. The dude had 12 carries for 29 yards. We could have stuck with the run game longer and been more creative with it but thinking some magical breakthrough was coming if we just kept pounding our head against the wall is wishful thinking. Kansas sucks, had a poor gameplan where they played a safety 15 yards deep every play and was run over. TCU is good, had a good gameplan and executed it. We did not execute ours well and were too late in adjusting.

That is actually how a hard fought running game won especially when you are keeping the other team from scoring as well. It’s like you don’t watch football. 

[hobbes2702 13049]

1 minute ago, WinningIsHard said:

Mack is the second best coach we’ve ever had and he won 2 conference titles in his time, only on years we had hall of fame QB’s that took us to national championship games. You eat shit as a Texas fan, and always have. Some years they put flavor in it and you didn’t realize it was shit. Royal ain’t walking through that door bud. 

What schools do you think make great hires everytime? This is how it works. You churn until you find the guy. I can’t believe this has to be explained again.

[TwiceHorn 31516]

6 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

It would have been hilarious to see this thread if we continued to run Bijan into 8 and 9 man boxes against TCU. The dude had 12 carries for 29 yards. We could have stuck with the run game longer and been more creative with it but thinking some magical breakthrough was coming if we just kept pounding our head against the wall is wishful thinking. Kansas sucks, had a poor gameplan where they played a safety 15 yards deep every play and was run over. TCU is good, had a good gameplan and executed it. We did not execute ours well and were too late in adjusting.

That’s football. Our head coach said he blew it and we’ll see if anything changes. Again, maybe that’s wishful thinking. But we’ll see.

The one hope in that scenario is that with a bunch of carries, Bijan, or RoJo, or Brooks or whoever would have busted one in the same way Miller did, providing the difference in a low-scoring game.  

If we had done that, we might have won, maybe.  But people would probably be bitching about the ineffective run game and why we didn't throw to open up the run game.

And, if you're going to speculate like that, it just would have taken one deep completion to Worthy to perhaps have turned the tide, whether you blame Worthy or Ewers for the ineffectiveness there.

Edited November 20, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Neonmoon 38130]

15 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, now, wait a minute.  I'm told that on talent alone, we should be dominating the Big XII.

Aggy is aggy, but on paper they are among the more talented in SECW.

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

I'm glad the basketball team paid its dues for past sins that included hiring Shaka. It took all of... two seasons... for them to reverse those sins and have one of the best teams in the country under the new head coach. 
But that is just totally unattainable for the football team, right, [mention=1790]Thatguy[/mention]? 
We need at least 3-4 seasons to turn this thing around, right?
Because no college football program has ever turned it around in less than 3 seasons. 

If only there were, you know, meaningful differences between building a 44-man two deep with lines that require strength few 18 year olds have relative to 22 years old and building an 8, maybe 9, man rotation in basketball. A couple of players, or even one, can carry a basketball team. VY was a badass, but Texas wasn’t going to win it all without a lot of other badasses.

Yeah, of course, other programs have turned it around more quickly. I wonder how many of the ones that did so were so rotten to the core that they were up in arms over their school song.

Look at the roster turnover. This is a foundation up rebuild with many areas of weakness and youth remaining. And, yeah, some WTF coaching decisions.

This team, from the ground up, would play the one here when Sarkisian arrived and kick its teeth in. Progress is being made and more is needed.

[immamac 42886]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

The one hope in that scenario is that with a bunch of carries, Bijan, or RoJo, or Brooks or whoever would have busted one in the same way Miller did, providing the difference in a low-scoring game.

If we had done that, we might have won, maybe.  But people would probably be bitching about the ineffective run game and why we didn't throw to open up the run game.

Except the run game is using arguably the 2 best players on the team instead of a young QB who clearly wasn’t going to turn into joe burrow overnight. Putting the game on Quinn instead of bijan and Rojo is why everyone is mad as fuck. Literally the best player on the team was on the bench so we could airmail passes to Xavier worthy, who wasn’t even looking for the ball half the time. 

[Pam Cummings 9648]

8 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

It would have been hilarious to see this thread if we continued to run Bijan into 8 and 9 man boxes against TCU. The dude had 12 carries for 29 yards. We could have stuck with the run game longer and been more creative with it but thinking some magical breakthrough was coming if we just kept pounding our head against the wall is wishful thinking. Kansas sucks, had a poor gameplan where they played a safety 15 yards deep every play and was run over. TCU is good, had a good gameplan and executed it. We did not execute ours well and were too late in adjusting.

That’s football. Our head coach said he blew it and we’ll see if anything changes. Again, maybe that’s wishful thinking. But we’ll see.

The Commanders kept running the ball on the Eagles even though they were mostly stopping it. They took 40 rushing attempts to get to 150 yards. But they won the game. 

"Stopping the run" is bullshit. "Deterring the opponent from calling run plays" is what really happens. And Sark fucking gave up running and went to throwing deep shots even though there was no reason to. We were not down in the game. Call me crazy, but i want to live and die with the ball in the best players hands and play to strengths. Especially with a talent advantage.

[TwiceHorn 31516]

6 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

What schools do you think make great hires everytime? This is how it works. You churn until you find the guy. I can’t believe this has to be explained again.

Well, the teams that are churning (UF, NU, AU, etc.) aren't having a shit ton of success, other than one-off and maybe unlikely NCs (LSU under Orgeron).

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh. and UCLA with Kelly and are starting to have some sustained success.  Maybe.  Then there's aggy.

I don't think there's a single right answer.

[Neonmoon 38130]

Also there are other options in play calling besides run up the middle and deep shot to worthy. Baylor used short and intermediate throws to compliment sweeps and such 

[hobbes2702 13049]

3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, the teams that are churning (UF, NU, AU, etc.) aren't having a shit ton of success, other than one-off and maybe unlikely NCs (LSU under Orgeron).

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh. and UCLA with Kelly and are starting to have some sustained success.  Maybe.  Then there's aggy.

I don't think there's a single right answer.

Every school has churned. All of them. It’s how they got the guy they have. Bama, LSU, USC, Texas, OU, Florida all cycled through coaches with short tenures until they found their guy. Even Michigan did it to a degree before Harbaugh.

The single right answer is hiring the right guy. You don’t stick with shit and hope it turns into a t bone steak. You order something else until they bring you the t bone

Edited November 20, 2022 by hobbes2702

[Neonmoon 38130]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, the teams that are churning (UF, NU, AU, etc.) aren't having a shit ton of success, other than one-off and maybe unlikely NCs (LSU under Orgeron).

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh. and UCLA with Kelly and are starting to have some sustained success.  Maybe.  Then there's aggy.

I don't think there's a single right answer.

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh? He won 10 games his first 2 years. Jesus 

Chip Kelly is a good example, but not a great one. He is doing better 

[immamac 42886]

Just now, Neonmoon said:

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh? He won 10 games his first 2 years. Jesus 

Chip Kelly is a good example, but not a great one. He is doing better 

These people don’t get it. Only other people are allowed to have nice things. Being a Texas fan is about eating shit didn’t you know? 

[Dark Horse 2284]

49 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Lol at thinking we will beat Baylor and be 8-4

also it’s a bit optimistic to look at the season and say we should be 10-2 because of Tech and OSU games. You can easily look at two miracle fumbles and say we should be 5-6

How is forcing a fumble a miracle?

[hobbes2702 13049]

1 minute ago, Neonmoon said:

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh? He won 10 games his first 2 years. Jesus 

Chip Kelly is a good example, but not a great one. He is doing better 

He’s also coaching at UCLA who doesn’t exactly have the loftiest expectations. And he’s a title winning coach so there’s going to be leeway.

[TexArcher 37998]

13 minutes ago, immamac said:

Except the run game is using arguably the 2 best players on the team instead of a young QB who clearly wasn’t going to turn into joe burrow overnight. Putting the game on Quinn instead of bijan and Rojo is why everyone is mad as fuck. Literally the best player on the team was on the bench so we could airmail passes to Xavier worthy, who wasn’t even looking for the ball half the time. 

All of this, plus when we did run, we made it really obvious from the formation that we were gonna run, then we ran it between the tackles into a loaded box over and over.

There were no attempts to get our two NFL running backs into space.  It was like we said, welp, we can't block the interior, so we'll just have to chuck it deep 50 times today.

I'm getting mad again.

[David Dennison 18941]

3 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

He’s also coaching at UCLA who doesn’t exactly have the loftiest expectations. And he’s a title winning coach so there’s going to be leeway.

What title?

[hobbes2702 13049]

1 minute ago, TexArcher said:

All of this, plus when we did run, we made it really obvious from the formation that we were gonna run, then we ran it between the tackles into a loaded box over and over.

There were no attempts to get our two NFL running backs into space.  It was like we said, welp, we can't block the interior, so we'll just have to chuck it deep 50 times today.

I'm getting mad again.

That fucking direct snap with Quinn obviously lined up off center was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen

[DigglerontheHoof 21209]

damn, ztejas, smoke a joint or something

[Tex Pete 20426]

I’m convinced some of you are retarded. 

[hobbes2702 13049]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

What title?

Forgive me they lost to Auburn. The point being Chip Kelly has proven plenty to be given some leeway. 

[WinningIsHard 4055]

4 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

What schools do you think make great hires everytime? This is how it works. You churn until you find the guy. I can’t believe this has to be explained again.

Ohio state has killed it, oklahoma has had Barry switzer, stoops and Riley in my life time which is good for like 25 conference titles. Schembechler, Lloyd carr and harbaugh have steadily won a lot at Michigan. Gene stallings and of course saban for bama. LSU has had success with saban, miles and now Kelly. That’s 5 fucking schools who have the same resources as we do and don’t fuck it up constantly. If you are the one constantly having problems then maybe it’s you that is the problem. 

[Hookem2147 21345]

16 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Also there are other options in play calling besides run up the middle and deep shot to worthy. Baylor used short and intermediate throws to compliment sweeps and such 

Exactly. Why can’t we be like Baylor? Surely they are 9-2 or 8-3 or some such and don’t have a worse record than us with a coach in year 3 coming off 12 wins.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Hookem2147

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

2 minutes ago, Tex Pete said:

I’m convinced some of you are retarded. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

2 minutes ago, WinningIsHard said:

Ohio state has killed it, oklahoma has had Barry switzer, stoops and Riley in my life time which is good for like 25 conference titles. Schembechler, Lloyd carr and harbaugh have steadily won a lot at Michigan. Gene stallings and of course saban for bama. LSU has had success with saban, miles and now Kelly. That’s 5 fucking schools who have the same resources as we do and don’t fuck it up constantly. If you are the one constantly having problems then maybe it’s you that is the problem. 

Uhhhh Alabama probably not the best example to throw out there. 

but yes, some schools get it right more often than we do.

[David Dennison 18941]

4 minutes ago, WinningIsHard said:

Ohio state has killed it, oklahoma has had Barry switzer, stoops and Riley in my life time which is good for like 25 conference titles. Schembechler, Lloyd carr and harbaugh have steadily won a lot at Michigan. Gene stallings and of course saban for bama. LSU has had success with saban, miles and now Kelly. That’s 5 fucking schools who have the same resources as we do and don’t fuck it up constantly. If you are the one constantly having problems then maybe it’s you that is the problem. 

What happened at Alabama from Stallings to Saban? Michigan from Carr to Harbaugh's last two seasons? LSU before Saban? OU from Switzer to Stoops?

All of those schools went through droughts. It happens. 

Edited November 20, 2022 by David Dennison

[hobbes2702 13049]

Just now, WinningIsHard said:

Ohio state has killed it, oklahoma has had Barry switzer, stoops and Riley in my life time which is good for like 25 conference titles. Schembechler, Lloyd carr and harbaugh have steadily won a lot at Michigan. Gene stallings and of course saban for bama. LSU has had success with saban, miles and now Kelly. That’s 5 fucking schools who have the same resources as we do and don’t fuck it up constantly. If you are the one constantly having problems then maybe it’s you that is the problem. 

Who did OU have before Stoops and how long did those guys coach there?

Who did Bama have before Saban and how long did those guys coach there?

Who did Michigan have before Harbaugh and how long did those guys coach there?

Who did LSU have before Saban and how long did those guys coach there?

All of those schools fucked it up constantly until they found the right guy. Seriously why does this have to be explained again. You churn through coaches every 2-5 years until you find the guy. Every school does this. Sticking with shit for the sake of not churning is incredibly stupid. Hiring and firing is not unique to us and is not some program problem. It’s a fact of college football

[TexArcher 37998]

8 minutes ago, Tex Pete said:

I’m convinced some of you are retarded. 

 

[lilMAC25 3802]

56 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

Still a huge range of outcomes for this season; we have a chance to finish 10-4, 9-4, 9-5, 8-5, 8-6, or 7-6.  At the time of Sark’s hire most people would have started beating off if you’d told them we’d be 10-4 with a conference championship and a top 5 recruiting class in year 2 (while having a 49-0 win over OU and being 4 plays away from an undefeated season).  Just the same, most people would have rioted if you’d told them Sark would be .500 after 2 years.

Considering how recruiting is going, 8-9 wins puts Sark on a fine trajectory with next season and the following being the real proving ground.  7-6 would be bad, and should put Sark on the hot seat.  10 wins is extension territory.

No extension until much later

Edited November 20, 2022 by lilMAC25

[lilMAC25 3802]

48 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, now, wait a minute.  I'm told that on talent alone, we should be dominating the Big XII.

Aggy is aggy, but on paper they are among the more talented in SECW.

What? Coaching absolutely matters. That’s the argument against Sark.

[immamac 42886]

Just now, lilMAC25 said:

What? Coaching absolutely matters. That’s the argument against Sark.

This. The argument is with the talent advantage a good coach would be dumpstering this ass tier conference. 

[TexArcher 37998]

I mean, Stoops and Riley won this conference like 73 times with rosters that were no better than this one top to bottom.

[closetohumping 17455]

2 minutes ago, immamac said:

This. The argument is with the talent advantage a good coach would be dumpstering this ass tier conference. 

Everyone else inherited older 4 and 5 star rosters and were able to bring their own players.  Plus NIL

[quigley 1563]

42 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, the teams that are churning (UF, NU, AU, etc.) aren't having a shit ton of success, other than one-off and maybe unlikely NCs (LSU under Orgeron).

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh. and UCLA with Kelly and are starting to have some sustained success.  Maybe.  Then there's aggy.

I don't think there's a single right answer.

 

37 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh? He won 10 games his first 2 years. Jesus 

Chip Kelly is a good example, but not a great one. He is doing better 

Mike Norvell at Florida St. is a good example of sticking with it paying off at a school that cares about football. They were awful his first two years. This year didn't start out great (the LSU win was lucky), but have improved throughout the year. Recruiting is starting to trend up for them too despite not having a flashy NIL program.

 

27 minutes ago, WinningIsHard said:

Ohio state has killed it, oklahoma has had Barry switzer, (Gibbs, Schemboozler, Blake) stoops and Riley in my life time which is good for like 25 conference titles. Schembechler, (Moeller) Lloyd carr (Hoke, RichRod) harbaugh have steadily won a lot at Michigan. Bear (Perkins, Curry) Gene stallings (Dubose, Franchione, Price, Shula) of course saban for bama. LSU has had success with (trash for decades prior to) saban, miles (they wanted to fire him for 5 yrs; Ed  LOL) and now Kelly (let's see). That’s 5 fucking schools who have the same resources as we do and don’t fuck it up constantly. If you are the one constantly having problems then maybe it’s you that is the problem. 

Your examples prove the opposite point. I've filled in the blanks your memory omitted. Ohio St is the one school that's had success from Hayes onward.

OU's gone 2-3 with coaching hires since Switzer (wins Stoops, Riley).

Michigan's 2-3 (wins Carr, Harbaugh)

Alabama was being thought of as like Auburn, a wasteland because of booster interference, prior to Saban. Since Bear, they've gone 2-6 (Stallings, Saban).

LSU was underachieving for 40 years prior to Saban and won despite Miles, not because of him. Ed O is a proven clown.

Edited November 20, 2022 by quigley

[lilMAC25 3802]

46 minutes ago, WinningIsHard said:

Mack is the second best coach we’ve ever had and he won 2 conference titles in his time, only on years we had hall of fame QB’s that took us to national championship games. You eat shit as a Texas fan, and always have. Some years they put flavor in it and you didn’t realize it was shit. Royal ain’t walking through that door bud. 

9 wins a year and competing in the CCG would make me an ecstatic fan 

[hobbes2702 13049]

1 minute ago, quigley said:

 

Mike Norvell at Florida St. is a good example of sticking with it paying off at a school that cares about football. They were awful his first two years. This year didn't start out great (the LSU win was lucky), but have improved throughout the year. Recruiting is starting to trend up for them too despite not having a flashy NIL program.

 

Your examples prove the opposite point. I've filled in the blanks your memory omitted. Ohio St is the one school that's had success from Hayes onward.

Ohio St seems to be the only real football factory in CFB. No school has managed to get it right like they have 

[closetohumping 17455]

1 minute ago, hobbes2702 said:

Ohio St seems to be the only real football factory in CFB. No school has managed to get it right like they have 

And not really a tolerant group.  They eventually fired cooper 

[lilMAC25 3802]

45 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

The one hope in that scenario is that with a bunch of carries, Bijan, or RoJo, or Brooks or whoever would have busted one in the same way Miller did, providing the difference in a low-scoring game.  

If we had done that, we might have won, maybe.  But people would probably be bitching about the ineffective run game and why we didn't throw to open up the run game.

And, if you're going to speculate like that, it just would have taken one deep completion to Worthy to perhaps have turned the tide, whether you blame Worthy or Ewers for the ineffectiveness there.

Except there’s a LOT more evidence that says Bijan/RoJo pops one vs Worthy and Quinn connecting on a deep ball. A LOT.

[lilMAC25 3802]

39 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, the teams that are churning (UF, NU, AU, etc.) aren't having a shit ton of success, other than one-off and maybe unlikely NCs (LSU under Orgeron).

Michigan has stayed the course with Harbaugh. and UCLA with Kelly and are starting to have some sustained success.  Maybe.  Then there's aggy.

I don't think there's a single right answer.

Iowa doesn’t churn.  I’m not interested in being Iowa, are you?

[DaysOff 7965]

29 minutes ago, WinningIsHard said:

Ohio state has killed it, oklahoma has had Barry switzer, stoops and Riley in my life time which is good for like 25 conference titles. Schembechler, Lloyd carr and harbaugh have steadily won a lot at Michigan. Gene stallings and of course saban for bama. LSU has had success with saban, miles and now Kelly. That’s 5 fucking schools who have the same resources as we do and don’t fuck it up constantly. If you are the one constantly having problems then maybe it’s you that is the problem. 

 

Maybe winning is hard.

[quigley 1563]

6 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

And not really a tolerant group.  They eventually fired cooper 

He went 2-10-1 vs Michigan   FULL STOP             Don't do that.

He and Mark Richt (GA) were good but unlucky coaches who came close but didn't get it done and then were followed ass-kickers.

[David Dennison 18941]

12 minutes ago, immamac said:

This. The argument is with the talent advantage a good coach would be dumpstering this ass tier conference. 

The reality is we're going to have to wait at least one more season to find out if Steve Sarkisian becomes that coach.

I hope he does.

 

[Dbeasy 15077]

I’ve been critical of this staff, primarily because Texas has more talent than many teams that beat Texas. 

With that said, there is a glass half full view right now. Many of us had 8-4 as a predicted record this year because of youth and a few gaps at key positions. That’s still a possibility.

It’s just been difficult to watch because of so many frustrating situations on the field.

If they can beat Baylor and win a bowl game, keep the recruiting class intact, and get portal help for several key positions then they might be pretty good next year. If Sark and PK can really coach. If not, by the end of next year it will be crystal clear whether Texas has the wrong guy. 

[immamac 42886]

5 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

The reality is we're going to have to wait at least one more season to find out if Steve Sarkisian becomes that coach.

I hope he does.

 

The SEC is happening. I don’t think Texas sticks around to play in 20k person stadiums all year and waste a year of splitting revenue 14 ways. 

[Dbeasy 15077]

8 minutes ago, quigley said:

He went 2-10-1 vs Michigan   FULL STOP             Don't do that.

He and Mark Richt (GA) were good but unlucky coaches who came close but didn't get it done and then were followed ass-kickers.

There’s a view Richt refused to cheat at Georgia. No idea whether that’s true or not. 

[Sawbonz 27580]

14 hours ago, Thatguy said:

That was because TCU's aggressive front was whipping the interior of our line.

Just spitballing here but is it, maybe, possible there are some plays we could have called early that could have forced them out of the goal line defense they were playing (other than throwing deep to worthy, which no one is afraid of at this point)

[Hank Chinaski 6315]

To me, this entire argument comes down to two main things: how “talented” is the roster in reality, and how much of QE’s seeming lack of progression is squarely in Sark?

On the talent issue - I think of “talent”, as an overall measurable of an 80+ man roster, as a little more nuanced than the count of 3/4/5-star ratings from high school. (Yeah I know those rating mean something at a population level.) But I would posit that “talent” at some positions is more critical than others, and that experience is a great equalizer. We start 2 freshmen on the OL. They are very talented. Are they better players right now than 4th or 5th year guys who had lower ratings 4 or 5 years ago?

Even though it is a lagging indicator, couldn’t we say that players drafted is a pretty good proxy for the intersection of experience + talent? Texas had zero players drafted last year.

The second issue, to me, is the most worrisome. The whole value proposition of Sark was supposed to be that we’d get excellent QB play, which makes all the difference in college FB. And QE’s “talent” is obvious; as he plays more, I think it is fair to expect him to generally improve - not necessarily on a linear trajectory, because that’s not how real life typically works, but overall. Strangely, he seems to be getting worse. Is that all on Sark? I have no idea why QE appears to be regressing, and while I don’t think it is 100% coaching, it is a damning data point for Sark. It was easy to excuse last year and say “well, CT and HC just aren’t good QBs, but now it’s getting more difficult to make that argument. Some of QE’s struggles are surely on QE, but it is Sark’s job to correct them and that isn’t happening.

Here’s what I like about Sark: I generally like the coaching staff he hired. You can see development at both lines, the defense overall is better (I don’t give a shit if you want to credit PK or GP, all I care about is the result), the RB and WR coaches were terrific hires, etc. Strong didn’t do that, Herman didn’t do that. And in 2 years Sark has addressed the talent on the lines, which has been a huge issue. And I generally like his offense, though I’m not sure what is going on with QB play, because that is limiting it right now.

I don’t think Sark is a great head coach. I do think he does enough stuff well to be a good head coach. I thought 8-4 was about right for this year (I don’t see the massive talent advantage that others do) and freshmen are gonna do freshmen things. Sark has fucked up some stuff this year, no doubt. Again, I don’t think he’s a great head coach, but I’m not convinced that he’s not a good one.

[boilerhorn 1398]

Predicting 8-4 before the season and being satisfied with 8-4 after the season is silly.

Before the season, the only real context we had was that OU, OSU, Baylor, ISU, and KSU were decent in 2021 - and would likely be decent in 2022.  Losses to Bama, two of those five and "one we shouldn't" would have Texas at 8-4.  Reasonable pre-season prediction with zero in-season context.

Having seen this Texas team and the pile of steaming mediocrity that is the Big12, there is no reason this team should have 3 conference losses, especially not to TTU and OSU.  However, coaching tactics contributed to those losses and I guess we should be somewhat thankful that the coaches did not choke away a couple more.

That said, this team would steamroll what Texas put on the field against LaLa last year.  There is marked improvement.

[927 E. 41st 1124]

5 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

To me, this entire argument comes down to two main things: how “talented” is the roster in reality, and how much of QE’s seeming lack of progression is squarely in Sark?

On the talent issue - I think of “talent”, as an overall measurable of an 80+ man roster, as a little more nuanced than the count of 3/4/5-star ratings from high school. (Yeah I know those rating mean something at a population level.) But I would posit that “talent” at some positions is more critical than others, and that experience is a great equalizer. We start 2 freshmen on the OL. They are very talented. Are they better players right now than 4th or 5th year guys who had lower ratings 4 or 5 years ago?

Even though it is a lagging indicator, couldn’t we say that players drafted is a pretty good proxy for the intersection of experience + talent? Texas had zero players drafted last year.

The second issue, to me, is the most worrisome. The whole value proposition of Sark was supposed to be that we’d get excellent QB play, which makes all the difference in college FB. And QE’s “talent” is obvious; as he plays more, I think it is fair to expect him to generally improve - not necessarily on a linear trajectory, because that’s not how real life typically works, but overall. Strangely, he seems to be getting worse. Is that all on Sark? I have no idea why QE appears to be regressing, and while I don’t think it is 100% coaching, it is a damning data point for Sark. It was easy to excuse last year and say “well, CT and HC just aren’t good QBs, but now it’s getting more difficult to make that argument. Some of QE’s struggles are surely on QE, but it is Sark’s job to correct them and that isn’t happening.

Here’s what I like about Sark: I generally like the coaching staff he hired. You can see development at both lines, the defense overall is better (I don’t give a shit if you want to credit PK or GP, all I care about is the result), the RB and WR coaches were terrific hires, etc. Strong didn’t do that, Herman didn’t do that. And in 2 years Sark has addressed the talent on the lines, which has been a huge issue. And I generally like his offense, though I’m not sure what is going on with QB play, because that is limiting it right now.

I don’t think Sark is a great head coach. I do think he does enough stuff well to be a good head coach. I thought 8-4 was about right for this year (I don’t see the massive talent advantage that others do) and freshmen are gonna do freshmen things. Sark has fucked up some stuff this year, no doubt. Again, I don’t think he’s a great head coach, but I’m not convinced that he’s not a good one.

My God, a well thought out and considered take on this thread... What is the world coming to? Shall this be allowed to stand? Surely we need another few pages of people going full Aggy!