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Tom "the turtle" Herman [Lame Duck or greatest 5d chess player ever?]


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7 minutes ago, NoName said:

people downplay him because of how shitty he was at Ole Miss  (no really, he was somehow even worse than you remember, 10-25 and 3-21 in the SEC and constantly shot himself in the foot at every opportunity), the fact that he has *never* been a coordinator - which is super strange for a guy who has been a coach for literally 35 years), that he wasn't LSU's number one choice (which he was not), and because he comes across like an insane person in most interviews.

also, let's not act like he is some kind of savant because he was able to go 9-4 and 10-3 at LSU. Les Miles won a *ton* of games at LSU - over 11 full seasons, he averaged 10.1 wins and 2.9 losses.

Miles went 3-7 against Saban, Coach O is currently 0-3 - that may change this year but so far he hasn't been able to flip that script. in fact, his team has scored a total of 20 points in those 3 games for a nice average of 6 points per.

Give him some credit for Joe Brady, but he got lucky there - if he really believed he would be anywhere close to as good as he has been, he would have paid him more than 400k and wouldn't have stuck with Steve Ensminger as his OC, or let him continue to actually be the guy calling plays. let's see what happens when/if Brady is elsewhere next year, or do you think he is going to suddenly demote Ensminger?

 

Bringing up what Orgeron did 15 years ago in his first head coaching job is as relevant as Texas selling Vince Young to current recruits. I'm well aware that he was shit at Ole Miss, so what? Are you bringing this up because you feel that he will revert to that standard? I'd attest most head coaches fail in their first jobs, I don't understand what that has to do with what he's currently doing at LSU. As far as his assistants, I'd rather be lucky than unlucky enough to hire a $1.7M DC who is incapable of coaching a sound defense and an OC that needs his hand held throughout a game. LSU is a school 100% committed to football, so absent Brady getting a NFL gig, I'm positive LSU will pay him whatever he wants in order for him to stay in his current role.  

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OK.....just a few things.

My original thought on hiring TH was we would be looking for a replacement in December 2019.  Oh the hostility.  This was the wonder child.  Born to corch UT.  We will dominate for years.  OU will be his bitch.  I get the enthusiasm after CS, but what I don't get is the repeated insistence of hiring the glamour coach.  More credit was given when he beat OU than was taken when he lost to SMU. Now I was never in the position to hire and fire when I worked, and I know some of you guys are.  Is this the way it is done in corporate America?  I really don't know.  Why do people think UT is way, way too big to hire an assistant coach?  Is it really any more of a crap shoot than hiring from a G5 program?  Our experience says no.  

My dream is for UT to do a true coaching search and not have the replacement pick out half way thru the season based on one game, or one season.  I get that time is critical for recruiting and all, but the right person would be worth it in the long run.  I want a guy that will take his and beat yours then take your and beat his.  I want somebody whose loyalty is to THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS.   I understand ego and loyalty to a staff, but if it aint workin it just aint workin.  Ego comes with winning.  If you aint winning than you are probably just an arrogant prick.  Or a dumb ass.  Or both.

Alright, thought I would give everyone out there in surly land something to tear apart this morning.  You guys have a good'ern and as always...HOOK'EM HORNS. 

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On 10/28/2019 at 12:58 PM, dcar00 said:

it really sucks sitting down to watch any game knowing you have a good chance of getting outcoached, out played and losing every week for 5 fucking years.

 

I think John Mackovic of all people was the last Texas coach who seemed like he was outcoaching people.  And that was only on one side of the ball. On both sides?  DKR.So to me it’s more like decades for that.    

Difference now vs 2005-09. is we aren’t out-talenting anyone by enough of a margin and the position coaches aren’t teaching skills. But we haven’t been solidly outthinking and outmaneuvering since maybe the Ford administration. 

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On 10/28/2019 at 12:58 PM, dcar00 said:

it really sucks sitting down to watch any game knowing you have a good chance of getting outcoached, out played and losing every week for 5 fucking years.

 

I think John Mackovic of all people was the last Texas coach who seemed like he was outcoaching people.  And that was only on one side of the ball. On both sides?  DKR.So to me it’s more like decades for that.    

Difference now vs 2005-09. is we aren’t out-talenting anyone by enough of a margin and the position coaches aren’t teaching skills. But we haven’t been solidly outthinking and outmaneuvering since maybe the Ford administration. 

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When the leader of an organization or team continuously tells people or the audience they are addressing that the team/group has totally bought in,  or that there are no issues with commitment to the program or staff,  that is most likely a flag that there is something wrong in the group.  

Tom has been pumping that pretty hard from the beginning of camp through the season.  I think he knew there were some problems before the season and didn't know what to do about it,  so he did nothing and tried to convince everyone that all is well.

I seldom hear great coaches talking about players "buy in" to their programs and coaching staff.  

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28 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I think John Mackovic of all people was the last Texas coach who seemed like he was outcoaching people.  And that was only on one side of the ball. On both sides?  DKR.So to me it’s more like decades for that.    

Difference now vs 2005-09. is we aren’t out-talenting anyone by enough of a margin and the position coaches aren’t teaching skills. But we haven’t been solidly outthinking and outmaneuvering since maybe the Ford administration. 

I will always give Mackovic credit for bringing us out of the "3 yards and a cloud of dust" type offense.  

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9 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

Most of us didn't expect Herman to bring his clown car of dumb fucks with him from UH. The Beck hire should have also been a clear sign of poor judgement.

You should have.  He had incredibly limited experience as a HC and all of his success came with his clown car by his side.  There was no question he was going to transplant his Houston staff over.  Fire him and hire the next young up and comer at whatever G5 program and you will wash rinse repeat.

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3 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

You should have.  He had incredibly limited experience as a HC and all of his success came with his clown car by his side.  There was no question he was going to transplant his Houston staff over.  Fire him and hire the next young up and comer at whatever G5 program and you will wash rinse repeat.

Its what we do.

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Not saying I would limit my search to P5 programs with lots of experience because any tenured P5 guy that we can poach is likely to have their own set of red flags.  There is no right answer, but a HC is going to hire assistants he's familiar with period.  More established coaches know a lot more people and less experienced guys know less people.

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15 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

You should have.  He had incredibly limited experience as a HC and all of his success came with his clown car by his side.  There was no question he was going to transplant his Houston staff over.  Fire him and hire the next young up and comer at whatever G5 program and you will wash rinse repeat.

He managed to assemble a staff that's as shitty as Charlie Strong's Bedford/Watson team. 

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47 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I think John Mackovic of all people was the last Texas coach who seemed like he was outcoaching people.  And that was only on one side of the ball. On both sides?  DKR.So to me it’s more like decades for that.    

Difference now vs 2005-09. is we aren’t out-talenting anyone by enough of a margin and the position coaches aren’t teaching skills. But we haven’t been solidly outthinking and outmaneuvering since maybe the Ford administration. 

I don’t think our ooc schedule was as tough in the Mack days.  Of course Mack had to deal with Nebraska and a better KSU.  But Baylor and isu sucked back then. I’m just rambling now

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35 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

Most of us didn't expect Herman to bring his clown car of dumb fucks with him from UH. The Beck hire should have also been a clear sign of poor judgement.

We didn't expect it when he was hired - we thought he'd be given blank checks and go out and get top notch coordinators.

But then he did bring his G5 staff - and was given the benefit of the doubt.  Should have learned from Charlie it was going to be disastrous.  But we all wanted to believe so badly.  And hope is a dangerous thing. 

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11 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

He managed to assemble a staff that's as shitty as Charlie Strong's Bedford/Watson team. 

I'm not disagreeing, but my point being you hire a guy with a few years at HC and very limited coordinator experience he's not going to have the connections to poach a bunch of established coordinators for a rebuild.  You just hope that he's elite enough to overcome it.  Herman isn't.

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16 minutes ago, Js1 said:

We didn't expect it when he was hired - we thought he'd be given blank checks and go out and get top notch coordinators.

But then he did bring his G5 staff - and was given the benefit of the doubt.  Should have learned from Charlie it was going to be disastrous.  But we all wanted to believe so badly.  And hope is a dangerous thing. 

Come on.  He has not optimized available resources - far from it - but calling the result disastrous is a bit much even for this board.

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15 minutes ago, Js1 said:

We didn't expect it when he was hired - we thought he'd be given blank checks and go out and get top notch coordinators.

But then he did bring his G5 staff - and was given the benefit of the doubt.  Should have learned from Charlie it was going to be disastrous.  But we all wanted to believe so badly.  And hope is a dangerous thing. 

Ya hate to to see it. 

And next year is going to be even worse as we lose: Duvernay, CJ, B Jones, McCullough, Shack, Braun, Roach, etc, 

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17 minutes ago, Js1 said:

We didn't expect it when he was hired - we thought he'd be given blank checks and go out and get top notch coordinators.

But then he did bring his G5 staff - and was given the benefit of the doubt.  Should have learned from Charlie it was going to be disastrous.  But we all wanted to believe so badly.  And hope is a dangerous thing. 

All true.  When I found out half his staff showed up to Austin with him for an initial meeting I was disappointed.   But I wanted to win so bad and was on a high I went with “all star team coaches don’t mesh well this is his show”

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12 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

I don’t think our ooc schedule was as tough in the Mack days.  Of course Mack had to deal with Nebraska and a better KSU.  But Baylor and isu sucked back then. I’m just rambling now

Actually, he had a tougher OOC schedule than any of the coaches since.

Mack I OOC games: 1.66 Top 25 teams per year (Regular Season)

1992 - #21 Miss. St., #9 Syracuse, and North Texas

1993 - #11 Colorado, #6 Syracuse, and #24 Louisville

1994 - Pitt, Louisville, and #5 Colorado

1995 - Hawaii, Pitt, #11 Notre Dame, #14 Virginia

1996 - New Mexico State, #9 Notre Dame, #19 Virginia

1997 - Rutgers, UCLA (sorry everyone), Rice

Plus until 1996 BlowU was an OOC game.

Mack II OCC Games: 0.31 Top 25 teams per year (Regular Season)

1998 - New Mexico State, #6 UCLA, and Rice

1999 - North Carolina State, Stanford, Rutgers, and Rice

2000 - Louisiana, Stanford, and Houston

2001 - New Mexico State, North Carolina, and Houston

2002 - North Texas, North Carolina, Houston, and Tulane

2003 - New Mexico State, Arkansas, Rice, and Tulane

2004 - North Texas, Arkansas, and Rice

2005 - Louisiana, #4 Ohio State, and Rice (Road to Glory)

2006 - North Texas, #1 Ohio State, Rice, and Sam Houston State

2007 - Arkansas State, #19 TCU, UCF, and Rice

2008 - Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Rice, Arkansas

2009 - Louisiana - Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP, and UCF

2010 - Rice, Wyoming, UCLA, and Florida Atlantic

2011 - Rice, BYU, and UCLA

2012 - Wyoming, New Mexico, and Ole Miss

2013 - New Mexico State, BYU, and #25 Ole Miss

Charlie Stonge OOC schedule: 1.0 Top 25 teams per year (Regular Season)

2014 - North Texas, BYU, and #12 UCLA

2015 - #11 Notre Dame, Rice, and Cal

2016 - #10 Notre Dame, UTEP, and Cal

Tom Herman OOC schedule: 1.0 Top 25 teams per year (Regular Season)

2017 - Maryland, San Jose State, #4 USC

2018 - Maryland, Tulsa, #22 USC

2019 - La. Tech, #6 LSU, and Rice

 

 

 

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Conversation is pointless. Team's going 8-4, blasting some overmatched team in a low level bowl ala that garbage 2017 Mizzou team. Tom Herman will not only be here next year (not sure anyone questions that but if you do, you are dumb), but so will Orlando. And everyone will be drinking kool aid next August.

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7 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Conversation is pointless. Team's going 8-4, blasting some overmatched team in a low level bowl ala that garbage 2017 Mizzou team. Tom Herman will not only be here next year (not sure anyone questions that but if you do, you are dumb), but so will Orlando. And everyone will be drinking kool aid next August.

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You realize we have to win 3/4 of KSU, Tech, @ISU, and @Baylor to get to 8-4, right? The team that’s shown up the last two weeks has no chance of doing that. Barring some major improvements over the bye week (you know, like hiring a guy who can get our defense to solidly below average), this team will be lucky to go 2-2 over the next four.  
Buy your tickets for the Texas Bowl now, folks.

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8-4?  We may get to 8 wins, but it'll be 8-5 with a win in some Liberty Bowl

 

Why has it taken a decade for serious college football fans to realize a regular season is 12 games, a bowl game means you play 13 games?  

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21 minutes ago, Lobo said:

8-4?  We may get to 8 wins, but it'll be 8-5 with a win in some Liberty Bowl

 

Why has it taken a decade for serious college football fans to realize a regular season is 12 games, a bowl game means you play 13 games?  

8-5 sounds like a dream they way we've played the last couple of weeks.  

If we lose to KSU at home after a bye week, I fear the team will quit on Tom and we'll end up 5 - 7.  

Edited by DixonHur
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3 hours ago, Laga4 said:

When the leader of an organization or team continuously tells people or the audience they are addressing that the team/group has totally bought in,  or that there are no issues with commitment to the program or staff,  that is most likely a flag that there is something wrong in the group.  

Tom has been pumping that pretty hard from the beginning of camp through the season.  I think he knew there were some problems before the season and didn't know what to do about it,  so he did nothing and tried to convince everyone that all is well.

I seldom hear great coaches talking about players "buy in" to their programs and coaching staff.  

He sounds like our Dept Director who is also obviously completely full of shit. 

Everyone left on our schedule is better than this team with Tech being about even with our shittiness or slightly worse.  This team may win one more game to get into the gallery Furniture Shit Sammicnh bowl at best.

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I think we still win one of the two home games (and thankfully those are the two worst teams outta the four left on our slate).  I am quite confident we pick one of those games up as a win and get to bowl eligibility.  Of the other 3 games plus the bowl game, of those (now aggregate, 4 contests). I think we can pick up one more win and get to 7-6.  

And because of Herman and Culture, "We're Back!"  

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You realize we have to win 3/4 of KSU, Tech, @ISU, and @Baylor to get to 8-4, right? The team that’s shown up the last two weeks has no chance of doing that. Barring some major improvements over the bye week (you know, like hiring a guy who can get our defense to solidly below average), this team will be lucky to go 2-2 over the next four.  
Buy your tickets for the Texas Bowl now, folks.

Yeah, it didn't come from a place of optimism or sunshine. That doesn't change the fact that all four of those are games Texas should win if well coached (lol).

They'll probably piece together just enough off the bye to get 3/4. No B12 championship game though, which is an abject failure for the year. I have little faith in this staff and even less that meaningful change will be made for next year.

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8-4?  We may get to 8 wins, but it'll be 8-5 with a win in some Liberty Bowl
 
Why has it taken a decade for serious college football fans to realize a regular season is 12 games, a bowl game means you play 13 games?  

Chronological order, how does it work? 8-4 in regular season, bowl game, kool aid. Same as it ever was.

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I meant that there's only a 50/50 chance we could get to 8 wins, but it  would also have to take into account the 13th game.  

Of course, as Coach Dreben once said, there's only a 10% chance of that all happening.  

CampingWorld Bowl or Bust, Baby!  

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2 hours ago, DixonHur said:

Actually, he had a tougher OOC schedule than any of the coaches since.

Mack I OOC games: 1.66 Top 25 teams per year (Regular Season)

1992 - #21 Miss. St., #9 Syracuse, and North Texas

1993 - #11 Colorado, #6 Syracuse, and #24 Louisville

1994 - Pitt, Louisville, and #5 Colorado

1995 - Hawaii, Pitt, #11 Notre Dame, #14 Virginia

1996 - New Mexico State, #9 Notre Dame, #19 Virginia

1997 - Rutgers, UCLA (sorry everyone), Rice

Plus until 1996 BlowU was an OOC game.

Mack II OCC Games: 0.31 Top 25 teams per year (Regular Season)

1998 - New Mexico State, #6 UCLA, and Rice

1999 - North Carolina State, Stanford, Rutgers, and Rice

2000 - Louisiana, Stanford, and Houston

2001 - New Mexico State, North Carolina, and Houston

2002 - North Texas, North Carolina, Houston, and Tulane

2003 - New Mexico State, Arkansas, Rice, and Tulane

2004 - North Texas, Arkansas, and Rice

2005 - Louisiana, #4 Ohio State, and Rice (Road to Glory)

2006 - North Texas, #1 Ohio State, Rice, and Sam Houston State

2007 - Arkansas State, #19 TCU, UCF, and Rice

2008 - Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Rice, Arkansas

2009 - Louisiana - Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP, and UCF

2010 - Rice, Wyoming, UCLA, and Florida Atlantic

2011 - Rice, BYU, and UCLA

2012 - Wyoming, New Mexico, and Ole Miss

2013 - New Mexico State, BYU, and #25 Ole Miss

Charlie Stonge OOC schedule: 1.0 Top 25 teams per year (Regular Season)

2014 - North Texas, BYU, and #12 UCLA

2015 - #11 Notre Dame, Rice, and Cal

2016 - #10 Notre Dame, UTEP, and Cal

Tom Herman OOC schedule: 1.0 Top 25 teams per year (Regular Season)

2017 - Maryland, San Jose State, #4 USC

2018 - Maryland, Tulsa, #22 USC

2019 - La. Tech, #6 LSU, and Rice

 

 

 

Sorry I meant MackIII not Mac1

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5 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I meant that there's only a 50/50 chance we could get to 8 wins, but it  would also have to take into account the 13th game.  

Of course, as Coach Dreben once said, there's only a 10% chance of that all happening.  

CampingWorld Bowl or Bust, Baby!  

90% of probabilities thrown out on message boards are made up.

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2 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Sorry I meant MackIII not Mac1

Ah, ok, your reply was to a post about John Mackovic...who I admit I misidentified as Mack I...I spaced on McWilliams, even though he was the coach my first few years at UT.  

But to be fair, I've forgotten a lot of things from that time period. 

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6 hours ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I think John Mackovic of all people was the last Texas coach who seemed like he was outcoaching people.  And that was only on one side of the ball. On both sides?  DKR.So to me it’s more like decades for that.    

Difference now vs 2005-09. is we aren’t out-talenting anyone by enough of a margin and the position coaches aren’t teaching skills. But we haven’t been solidly outthinking and outmaneuvering since maybe the Ford administration. 

 

5 hours ago, BurntEyes said:

Sad but true.

And when John fucking Mackovic is the coach with them most conference titles in my season ticket time...

Something is very, very wrong.

Some serious revisionist history going on here. Mackovic was just as likely to out-smart/coach himself as he was the other team. Yes, he recruited some offensive talent we hadn't seen in a long, long time but he was competing in the shit-tastic SWC for the majority of his tenure at Texas and one of his conference "titles" was a season we went 4-3 in the conference and tied with everybody not named aggy (undefeated but on double-secret probation).

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5 hours ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I think John Mackovic of all people was the last Texas coach who seemed like he was outcoaching people.  

I cannot recall a moment that notion ever crossed my mind. 

4 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Some serious revisionist history going on here. Mackovic was just as likely to out-smart/coach himself as he was the other team. 

Dump DeLoss and Flush the John.

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49 minutes ago, SwanderedTalent said:

if he'd run the 1991 team's offense, it would have won nine games

Good lord no. That was my freshman team. The defense was incredible but the offense was trash. Gardere was below-average with no Cash twins or Johnny Walker to throw to and Butch Hadnot quit halfway through the year. The receiving corps was atrocious -- Darrick Duke, Kenny Neal, Curtis Thrift and Justin McLemore (I had to look it up to get those names, BTW). 

53 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Look I’ll drag Mackovic with anybody, but he was an elite offensive mind.

At times he was fantastic. Other times -- like calling toss sweeps to RBs who are four yards deep in the end zone when facing a heavy wind in Lubbock -- not so much. But we'll always have a win over aggy at Kyle Field in 95 and one over Nebraska in the Big 12 title game the following year.

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5 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Good lord no. That was my freshman team. The defense was incredible but the offense was trash. Gardere was below-average with no Cash twins or Johnny Walker to throw to and Butch Hadnot quit halfway through the year. The receiving corps was atrocious -- Darrick Duke, Kenny Neal, Curtis Thrift and Justin McLemore (I had to look it up to get those names, BTW). 

Disagree. The defense played well enough to win every single game that year-- how often do you hold a team to 200 yards and lose by 17 (A&M)? With even a modestly competent offense (which I think Mackovic could have given us, since it's what he did in 1992) to keep the defense off the field a bit and score just a handful of touchdowns, instead of pitch left pitch right play action on third down, that team could have won nine. 

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12 minutes ago, SwanderedTalent said:

Disagree. The defense played well enough to win every single game that year-- how often do you hold a team to 200 yards and lose by 17 (A&M)? With even a modestly competent offense (which I think Mackovic could have given us, since it's what he did in 1992) to keep the defense off the field a bit and score just a handful of touchdowns, instead of pitch left pitch right play action on third down, that team could have won nine. 

Maybe -- maybe -- if you had Mackovic as simply the OC and let Fuller handle the DC duties, I might be persuaded into seeing them "ugly win" a couple of games. Still don't think you can create a narrative that gets them to nine though. Mackovic won more than eight games exactly once during his tenure at Texas (twice in 16 seasons as CFB coach).

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2 hours ago, C-Man said:

Maybe -- maybe -- if you had Mackovic as simply the OC and let Fuller handle the DC duties, I might be persuaded into seeing them "ugly win" a couple of games. Still don't think you can create a narrative that gets them to nine though. Mackovic won more than eight games exactly once during his tenure at Texas (twice in 16 seasons as CFB coach).

You're probably right. I just hate that the '91 defense was so stout and yet that team couldn't even make a damn bowl game. 

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