I Am The 12th Man: FanPosts

Aggies score top Recruit

2009-01-03T20:34:34Z

Christine Michael, the #6 back in the nation has finally recommitted to A&M.

This is a huge pickup for Sherman in my eyes. Scoring the #28 player in the country just shows to the fanbase, players, and recruits that the team isn't dead after one bad season.

Unfortunately, a high school rating means little to heart, soul, and performance in college. Many 5 star players don't pan out and the 2 star ones do. But either way, it's not going to hurt.

ESPN Link

It looks like Mcguffie will be heading to Rice. With Goodson and J-train gone, we will still have Gray and now Michael. Gray is a great back and was also a high recruit. WIth great running backs still patrolling our backfield, we just need a solid line, a good defense and we're back! (optimism lives!)

A Sensible Proposal For Playoffs

2008-12-27T02:59:05Z

I apologize with the length of my first FanPost, but this idea has been stewing around my head for about the last month, and I felt the need to get this onto the Internet. I realize that many in this sphere have spent many hours debating and opining on this topic, and that this might just be a drop in an endless sea of piss. However, I hope that some of these thoughts contribute to the process of changing the national football champion from being mythical to being real.

As a note, the system I will propose, in summary, is a 16-team playoff that will require the creation of 10 12-team conferences and will use 15 of the current bowls. If this sounds like something that will make the bile rise, then I recommend the use of the door to the right be made.

First, I would like to address the points that the anti-playoff crowd has brought up.

Playoffs would deminish the value of the regular season. To this, I would say the value of the regular season has gone down already. When a team can finish the season 6-6, go to a bowl game, and claim success(*cough* Notre Dame*cough*), or a team can go undefeated and not even be able to contend for the national championship, I would argue the regular season has little value already.
Playoffs would eliminate the tradition of the bowl games. Absolute bunk. Granted, moving to a playoffs would change some of the tradition, but it would need the bowl games to work successfully. What, these playoff game are going to played at new locations and fans are going to have to adapt to new places to cheer at? I think not.
The playoffs would disrupt the money payout situation. This is only brought up because people haven't really thought of something to replace the current system of tickets, traveling and conferences' being paid. I often a partial solution below.

So now, for the actual playoff scheme. The plan will detail, in order: conference organization and schedule, playoff selection and game eliminations, ticket allotment, and expansion.

The first detail that will be handled will be how teams are divided into conferences. I am a firm believer that if you lose the conference championship, then you should not participate in the playoffs. To that end, all 119 teams currently in the FBS will be placed into one of 10 12-team conferences and one additional team will upgraded from the FCS. These conferences will have two divisions (named however they like), and a championship game will be played at the end of the conference season. This scenario will likely require the dissolution of one of the conferences (my choice would be the Sunbelt), Notre Dame ending their Independent status (which would likely join the Big East since they are already associated with that conference or the Big Ten), and the Big East would have to resolve the issue between its football and basketball membership. For the playoff example, the Sunbelt conference is consumed by the Big East, WAC, and MWC, Notre Dame goes to Big East,and the Navy and Army to the Big Ten. Since all conferences will have a championship, and the extra 12th game doesn't add much to season, the season will be moved back to 11 games, so that the playoff contenders will be announced with enough time for the postseason travel.

The structure of the playoffs will be a 16-team system, with 10 conference champions and 6 at-large bids. The pairing of teams and the selection of the at-large bids will be done by a selection committee of about 17 members, from journalists to former coachers, but no current coaches (as that would be too much of a conflict of interest). The reason for 17 is that it is 1 plus the number of teams in the playoffs, and also a prime number around 20. The rules for selecting at-large will be that the team cannot have played in a conference champsionship and a 12-0 must be taken before any 11-1 team, a 11-1 team must be taken before any 10-2 team, etc.. The current BCS Title will serve as football Finals, the BCS, Cotton, and Gator Bowls will serve as the semi- and quarter-finals. In an interest to keep the Rose Bowl on New year's Day, and to help with segmenting, the Sugar and Rose will be on Jan. 1 and the remaining bowls will be the week before. To deal with the first round of the playoffs, I took a list of the higher payment bowls (as a note, the Champs Sports Bowl and the Capital One Bowl are played in the same facility, so I choose the one with the higher payout. Sorry Champs Sports).

Bowl: Payout:

Alamo Bowl:  2250000
Capital One Bowl: 4250000
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: 3250000
Outback Bowl:  3000000
Sun Bowl:  1900000
Holiday Bowl:  2130000
Insight/Las Vegas Bowl: 1200000 | 1000000
Independence/Liberty Bowl:1100000 | 1700000

I chose two choices for the last two slots, as these bowls serve similiar roles as far as payout, location, and tie into the second round. And on that note, the rounds might be ordered in this matter:

Title Game

Rose Bowl

Sugar Bowl

Cotton Bowl

Fiesta Bowl

Orange Bowl

Gator Bowl

Alamo Bowl

Sun Bowl

Holiday Bowl

Insight/Las Vegas Bowl

Capital One Bowl

Outback Bowl

Independence/Liberty Bowl

Chick-Fil-A Bowl

The map for where the first round games would be played might look something similiar to this (I include all ten options): http://tinyurl.com/8hb5g7

As it would unfair for the team who won the Finals to be awarded all the money from each bowl (a team starting from the either the Independence or Liberty would be awarded either 38.2 or 37.6 million, nearly 2 and a quarter times the current amount the national champion currently gets), the money would need to be redistributed. All the money the bowls would normally reward (about 110 million)would be put into a pot, which the first round draw the most from. A good example would be a 35/25/25/15 scale. In this scenario, the champion would get just get shy 21 million, slightly more than today but a reasonable amount.

One of the problems this system introduces is that fans won't be able to sufficently plan whether or not to go to the later rounds if they're are strictly following their team. To allievate this problems, the bowls could conditionally sell allotments to schools that are in that bracket. This would mean the Rose Bowl would allot tickets to eight schools and the Title Game would allot to all 16 participants. As teams win, their students will get the chance to confirm the purchase. If the school lost, I would recommend giving those students the option of purchasing a general ticket.

Now to the issue bringing new teams to the FBS and also what happens to the remaining bowls. When a team is introduced into the FBS, a conference should have the option of swapping one of their existing members. If no conference chooses to exercise this option, the school will be an Independent. They will still qualify for playoffs as an at-large. Once there are between 10 and 12 schools, a new conference will be made. This system will support up to 192 teams in the FBS (16 * 12), so I hope that if it is implemented, a solution to integrate new schools will be had by that time. For the remaining bowls, they continue to be played in between the rounds of the playoffs (the playoffs would kickoff the bowl season). The New Year's Day Bowls would have to move (probably to Jan. 2). To get all of the first round televised, schedule four games from noon to about 9 or 10 on one channel and the other four in the same time frame on another channel (ESPN would no doubt love to fill both main channels with the games). The remaining rounds would have little scheduling issues. The advantage that the regular bowls would now have is to be able get the conference championship losers (great teams in their own right) and the average team would have a better record overall (as 14 teams would be removed from the post season).

Whew, that was quite a post. I guess let the berating begin.

Edit: When I first posted this, I forgot the playoff example that would be based off the current standings and additional rule for the selection committee. The rule would supercede the "11-1 before 10-2" rule and it is that no more than 3 at-large bids may come from the same conference. As the Big 12 found out this year, having three 11-1 teams in the same division can happen (especially if two teams are dead bottom compared to the other four) and it is possible for 6 11-1 teams to happen (if the three in one division don't play the other three in the other division). With one team taking the conference and another being ignored for at-large since they lost the championship, that would leave four 11-1 teams available. I felt that at a maximum, the at-large should be taken up by no more than half of a conference.

As for the playoff example, some assumations. The Sunbelt is split among the rest of the conferences, and for conferences that don't have championships, the 1 and 2 teams represent the winner and loser of that game respectively. Also, the Independents and the 13th MAC team are assumed to not change any current standings. I'll list the conferences, with their winner and loser, to the left and the possible at-large bids to the right

ACC: Virginia Tech [Boston College]                             Texas 11-1
Big 12: Oklahoma [Missouri]                                           Texas Tech 11-1
Big East: Cincinnati [Pittsburgh]                                     BYU 10-2
Big Ten: Penn State [Ohio State]                                    Georgia Tech 9-3
C-USA: East Carolina [Tulsa]                                          Michigan State 9-3
MAC: Buffalo [Ball State]                                                   Northwestern 9-3
MWC: Utah [TCU]                                                               Rice(!) 9-3
PAC-10: USC [Oregon]                                                     Western Michigan 9-3
SEC: Florida [Alabama]                                                    Georgia 9-3
WAC: Boise State [Hawaii]

I guess on second thought, we're going to have to include the championship losers, but in an interest to not make the playoffs all rematchs, a 12-1 will be equal to 11-1 as far as being picked and 11-2 is the same as 10-2 in the same matter. In that case, the at-large selection looks like this:

Alabama 12-1
Texas 11-1
Texas Tech 11-1
Ball State 12-1
Ohio State 10-2
TCU 10-2
BYU 10-2
Tulsa 10-3

That list looks a bit better. I included Tulsa on the list at the bottom as a possiblity, not as a real choice. However, I honestly think that this group is one of the best we could come up with to figure out who is the national champion. The full list again:

Florida
Oklahoma
Penn State
USC
Utah
Boise State
Cincinnati
Virginia Tech
Buffalo
East Carolina
Alabama
Texas
Texas Tech
Ball State
Ohio State
TCU

Free tuition for needy students

2008-12-07T14:06:00Z

Texas A&M has followed the lead of Harvard and other Ivy League schools and offered free tuition and fees to incoming students who come from families whose household income is below $30,000 per year. I think this is a huge step towards fulfilling our mission as a land grant university.

Tech trying to move up in the Fulmer Cup?

2008-12-04T16:56:38Z

While Mike Leach is gallavanting around the country attempting to find a job anywhere but Lubbock, his players are making a late push to move up the Fulmer Cup standings.

Mack's Story Changed a Bit Since '06?

2008-12-03T15:43:54Z

A nice piece of info for anyone dealing with horns whining that head to head should be the determining factor in voting

2006 texas 9-3

2006 texas a&m 9-3

A&M beat texas on the road

Mack voted texas 15, A&M 22

OU jumps tu in BCS

2008-11-30T22:45:15Z

The BCS is out and OU passed tu. IMO this was a no brainer. Ever since Demarco Murray regained confidence in his knee, OU has been an offensive juggernaut. They scored 61 at Stillwater against a team that tu scored 27 at home against. If OU and tu played today, OU would win by 2-3 TDs. The big difference to me is Murray. The sips are going to bitch and whine, but the bottom line is that they played noone on non-conference play and lost to a Tech team that OU dominated. The tu coaches deserve all the credit in the world for getting the most out of this group. To win 11 games with no running game and a suspect secondary is quite a feat. It is a tribute to the senior leadership on the team that they got that done. However, that does not mean they are the best team in the conference nor that they deserve to play for the national title.

J Train-Facebook

2008-11-28T07:38:11Z

So I am friends with the Train on facebook and his updated status appeared on my "news feed". I took a screenshot with the intentions of uploading it but I guess you can't upload pics onto SBNation and it would be a waste of time to get it hosted somewhere.

So I quote (copy and paste)

"Jorvorskie Lane $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" mobile update, 26 minutes ago (around one AM)

If you don't know what a facebook status is, first of all, be happy that you haven't given in to the maketing gods. Secondly, it is a feature that people use to easily update their friends with what they are doing. For example, "Carsondude is watching A&M get massacred", etc.

So what is J Train thinking here. Is it supposed to be like now he is cashing out in the NFL or is it a cover for durse words. Those are the two that I'm thinking. Maybe since I can contact him directly, I should ask him...or ask him if he needs an agent. :)

I know this is dumb but hey, football season's over.

Poll

What does J Trains status mean?

He will soon have that much money in his bank account

6 votes

The "$" signs are the "beeps" in his rap quality mouth off

3 votes

9 votes | Poll has closed

NFL Prospects

2008-11-28T06:04:50Z

I really wanted this article to be mainly about Mcgee, but we might as well discuss the rest:

I have heard talk of Mcgee being an NFL QB but I simply don't see it. He was recruited as a pocket passer but has not flourished under that role by any means. You would think that if he was NFL material he would do great under Sherman (a perceieved NFL style coach/offense) but instead has been on the bench (for many reasons). The good thing is, I don't think he cares whether he plays in the NFL, as in, he won't mind being a high school coach or whatever else. Some of these guys think they are destined to be NFL stars and have no backup plan (cough GOODSON!).

Goodson has never stricked me as a superstar back. Granted, his play and Mcgees play have been severly thrashed by our lack of a line. Even last year, Goodson could run when the holes were there but otherwise couldn't seem to make much for himself. I guess we'll just have to see where he is scouted and how his combine works out (assuming he leaves).

I've always loved the train. I really want him to do well in the NFL. I know he has 2 daughters at least and enjoys taking them to Chuch E Cheese. lol. But seriously, as much as was made of his crying last year, he really has put his soul into this team ( I don't feel the same about Goodson) and while that's not necessary to be great, it's good in my book. I definetly think he'll get looked at and perhaps signed or even drafted depending on how things go but I don't think he'll ever be the kind of player he wants to be. He'll be a fullback wherever he goes and block 95% of the plays he is in. Perhaps he'll go to a program where they'll utilize his running but I don't see it happening. Great runner though. Too bad for him (and Goodson, and all our offensive players...) that our line was again, terrible. And Sherman decided not to give him very many chances.

Brantley--is this our only "for sure" NFL guy? He only ranks 4th or so in punting avg. but I know he has a ton of coffin kicks or something. Having a punter in the NFL is kind of like a consolation prize for having a crappy team.

The rest--I know there will be others perhaps that get looked at. Some of our defensive guys have in the past got attention. I want to say Heard, Bennett, etc. The truth is, NFL prospects are funny. Mcgee could be the next NFL MVP and no one would expect it. Just as the #1 pick this year can be a total dud. I really don't have a lot of hope for our NFL guys this year but it'll be fun to watch.

It'd be nice to have at least one Day One draft pick. Martellus was a great start. Maybe Brantley goes on day one? lol. Remember 2 years ago when no one was drafted? We're not going to have another one of those are we?

Looking ahead, who is the best NFL prospect on the team? Fuller maybe? Cyrus? Goodson? Lane? Trent Hunter? It's a whole different aspect of analyzing a team.

Don't get me wrong, I would never trade "college success" for "NFL players". It is a different game and I want to win at the college level, not produce NFL players but when you have a great program, the two go hand in hand.

Thanksgiving Day

2008-11-24T21:03:38Z

Well i've noticed that most Aggie fans aren't as excited about this years matchup. I haven't heard many non-sarcastic "Keep the streak alive!" chants breaking out among the Aggie faithful. Perhaps because Texas is #2 in the BCS and on it's way to a possible/probable Big 12 Championship and National Title game apperance.

I believe that UT will win. Perhaps because A&M has looked SO bad recently. When I attended the Army game, a Baylor friend of mine leaned over and said, "If you plan on playing this bad against Baylor, don't expect to win." But I of course said, "Oh, well we'll get better." Unfortunately this never really came to be. There just simply isn't a lot of hope for this team on Thursday.

Every mediocre or worse team deserves an upset. USC loses to Stanford, West Virginia loses a week out of it's BCS title game bid. You eventually will lose to a much worse team. And every bad team will eventually upset a big team. (it just might take a while) I believe after the Arkansas St. lose when everyones expectations were put into perspective, and predictions began to fly, everyone expected a bad season with perhaps an upset win over a ranked team thrown in. Now, we're down to one game. Does this team have an upset win in them at all? They played upset qualitiy football aganst Tech for a half but have played no good since then in upset situations. Even against Baylor a qualitiy team could not be put on the field.

The past two years A&M has played exceptionally well against UT. You could even argue that three years ago we played well but didn't come through. We always play this game like a rivalry game is supposed to be played, with our hearts full. Last year, as Frangate rumbled in the minds of all those in attendance, the players stepped it up and ignored the distractions. Can they do the same this year? Can they forget that they're not playing for a bowl and simply play to win? Last year it seemed overall that Fran finally let the players have fun.

Now I'm not predicting a win, in fact I'm predicting somewhat of a blowout. But, is it possible that this team has it in them to beat Texas one more year? It would save Shermans first season. It would save the legacy of the seniors. It would promote the future and of course it would help recruiting. Two years ago when we rolled into Austin, no one gave us a chance, now no one is giving us a prayer. I'm not hoping that UT overlooks this game, I'm hoping that our players have this game quadruple circled. This will be our biggest game of the year. It will be on national television. It is against our rival who is #2 in the country. And, we've upset them the past 2 years. If there was ever a time to make a statement and play your hearts out, this is it.

Play hard.

Women's Basketball Defeats Michigan

2008-11-21T07:12:59Z

Basketball Wins a Close One, 59-56

Sounds like we struggled on offense, but we did enough to win.

Holding Michigan to 25% shooting from the floor in the second half was key, as we came back from being down 30-26 at halftime.

Tale of the Tape: A&M vs. UT

2008-11-20T09:09:35Z

I thought I would do a little breakdown/ preview of the game on Turkey Day against our arch rivals in Austin. I will do a position/unit breakdown of the game.

Offense:

Quarterback: Colt McCoy has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country and a contender for the Heisman, while Jerrod Johnson has shown flashes of brilliance at times and shown that he is a first year starting QB at others. A lot of his mistakes have been contributed, though, to just how poor our o-line has been. The poor kid has had to be running for his life the second the ball snapped.

Edge: Significant to Texas

Running Back: Heading in to the season, many of us thought that the two head monster of Lane and Goodson would be one of the huge strengths of the team and that we had a significant advantage over Texas. Well the thunder and lightning combo has been a bust this season with Goodson being hurt for stretches of the season and showing flashes that made him a dark horse Heisman candidate entering the season, while the J-Train has been derailed from the start of the season, whether being in Sherman's dog house, ineffectiveness or us falling behind so early that we have been forced to abandon the running game. Freshman Cyrus Gray has shown flashes at times but he has been more effective as return man. While Texas has no one tailback that has carried the team like in previous seasons with Cedric Benson and Jamaal Charles, they have more of a tailback by committee approach this year with several guys contributing. In the middle of the season, it was Chris Ogbonnaya who was the head guy, now lately it has been Vondrell McGee and a freshman named Fozzy Whitaker. All three guys have a distinct running style and bring different aspects to the game. Ogbonnaya is more of their all purpose back while McGee is a one-cut downhill type of runner and Whittaker is a shifty back who is very similar to Jamaal Charles in terms of running style while not as fast.

Edge: Texas, they have been much more productive and better than ours.

O-Line: This is pretty simple our o-line has probably been the weakest link on the team while the Texas o-line has been very solid throughout the season with the exception of one bad half against Tech.

Edge: Texas and a significant one.

Tight end: With the injury of UT's top tight end, Blaine Irby, the tight end position has basically been non-existent for UT, while Jamie McCoy has put together a solid season and has been a down the seams threat for us this year.

Edge: Significant one to Texas A&M.

Wide Receivers: The wide receiver group has probably been the strength of the team for us this year. Jeff Fuller, Ryan Tannehill and Terrence McCoy have been steady and solid for us this whole year. The big play threat for us has been Jeff Fuller who has the potential to be a star later down the road. While the Longhorns don't boast the start power at the wide receiver position as they have in previous years with the likes of Roy Williams, BJ Johnson, and Sloan Thomas, an argument could be made that this year's group is much deeper and better overall. The Longhorns have 5 legitimate threats at the wide receiver position, in Jordan Shipley, Quan Cosby, Brandon Collins, James Kirkendoll and Malcolm Williams. Colt McCoy's favorite targets are Cosby and Shipley, with Collins filling the role as the third wide out. With the exception of Malcolm Williams all of the receivers are more possession type receivers than deep threats. They have the ability to go deep, but they do not go that often.

Edge: This one goes to Texas as Texas is deeper and better at this position than the Aggies.

After the jump: Defense and Special Teams

Defense: D-Line Our d-line was supposed to be a strength, to an extent, on the defense with Michael Bennett and Cyril Obiozor anchoring the unit. Needless to say, they and the unit have been a disappointment this year. They have given quarterbacks all day to throw and have been non-existent at run defense. The unit in general is pretty forgettable and unimpressive. We have only had 13 sacks on the year while our opponents have had 33. Texas d-line is arguably the strength of their defense with two potential first round draft picks in Brian Orakpo and Roy Miller. Both figure to earn first team All Big 12 with Orakpo probably an All-American. They have wrecked havoc on offensive lines the whole year and have gotten into the face of every quarterback they have played with the exception of Tech. With how bad our o-line is, expect a sack party for the Orakpo and Co.

Edge: Texas

Linebackers: The linebacking unit for us has been fairly mediocre with offenses being able to do whatever they want whenever they want. Our run defense has been terrible to say the least with teams averaging 5.2 yards per carry for 220 yards a game. Our linebackers have been mediocre to put it nicely. The "best" player for us has been Matt Featherston and Von Miller is second. The linebackers for UT have been solid for the whole year. There is no Derrick Johnson as in years past, but the closest has been Sergio Kindle who is looking more and more as a potential first round pick. He has the speed to rush the passer and chase down ball carriers from behind. His strip of Michael Crabtree was one of the more impressive defensive plays of the season that I have seen. Roderick Muckleroy and Jared Norton have been steady contributors as well. Expect the Texas linebackers to contain our running game with ease and then go after the QB.

Edge: Texas

Secondary: Its simple this unit for us has been absolutely terrible making the likes of Josh Freeman and Robert Marve look like All-Americans. Whether it has been busted coverage, being burned deep or missed tackles this secondary has been bad. There is no other way to put it. It doesn't help them that their d-line couldn't sack the quarterback if their lives depended on it. The only playmaker for us has been Trent Hunter. The talent on this secondary is just inferior to UT's and makes you long for the good ol' days of Sammy Davis, Terrence Kiel, and Byron Jones. While statistically UT's secondary has been poor they have actually been a very solid unit. They don't give up many big plays in the passing game and are very solid tacklers. Their secondary is not a ball hawking one as their safeties seem to have bad butterfingers as they can't catch balls thrown right at them. Perhaps the biggest play of this season in all of college football has been the drop of gift wrapped interception by Blake Gideon against Texas Tech in the dying seconds.

Edge: Texas, they have been much steadier and solid than us.

Special Teams:

Punter: Justin Brantely is probably the only guy on the team that will make All-Conference honors while UT's punter has been solid throughout the season, but not really needed as he has punted only 20 times.

Edge: Texas A&M

Kicker: I don't really expect the game to come down to the kickers as neither team has attempted many. UT has only attempted 12 because they go down the field score a touchdown on every possession while we have only attempted 9 because we have fallen so far behind that it is worthless to kick a field goal or we can't get into opponents territory. The UT kicking game has been much more stable then ours with two solid kickers in Hunter Lawrence and Ryan Bailey where it appears that Randy Bullock has won the job over Richie Bean.

Edge: Texas, not that they will really need to kick field goals.

Kick Return: Texas has had 33 Kick Returns while we have had 57. That is all I need to tell as to which team is better at this area. Cyrus Gray has been a spark for this team in the return game where Jordan Shipley has been a solid a return guy for Texas with a knack for making big returns in big games. Although Shipley has a better return average it is because he hasn't had as many opportunitites as Gray. The kick coverage for both teams has been solid and is about even.

Punt Return: There really is no difference between the two teams as they have only had 11 (Texas) and 13 (A&M) each. Both teams have low punt return averages, but Texas has returned one punt for a touchdown this year while our long return has been 22 yards. Don't look for this game to be a field position battle.

Edge: Texas gets the edge because of the Touchdown.

Edge Texas A&M

Coaching: The coaching matchup is irrelevant as Bear Bryant could not lead us to victory. The talent gap is so far that any edge that A&M would have would be erased by the talent gap.

Edge: Texas

Conclusion/Prediction: I don't see us even being competitive in this game. I know I am being pessimistic here but the performances the past two weeks have really given me no hope as to how we will be competitive in this game. Look for Texas to try to establish the running game early in order to minimize turnovers and then pick us apart with the short passing game. Frankly, whatever Texas decides to do on offense will, more than, likely work, Defensively expect the 'Horns to come after Jerrod Johnson and double Jeff Fuller on the outside and expect their linebackers to take care of what little running game we have. Offensively I think we will try to spread Texas out and use their speed and aggressiveness against them, with bubble screens, screens and draws. Texas has a huge edge in every statistical category and has a huge talent advantage at nearly every position. Which means bad news for us guys.

I hate to say it guys, but this game will be over by halftime as Texas will come out hungry and mad and blow us off the ball. The game will be about damage control for us. The only thing that will save us from total embarrassment is that Mack Brown is a nice guy, but then again he probably will need to convince the voters that his team should be in the Big 12 Championship Game provided OU beats Tech this Saturday. I may be pessimistic but I really don't see how the game will be competitive. I know it's a rivalry game and that we have won the last two years, but the last two years UT wasn't as good as this year and we weren't this bad.

Prediction: Texas 56 Texas A&M 14

We are "infamous"

2008-11-20T07:24:27Z

That means more than famous. We have been ranked as one of the top 100 college sports blogs on the web.

Alabama-Birmingham @ Arizona

2008-11-19T05:50:21Z

Arizona comes to Reed Arena on December 5, so I figured I'd take an early look at a future opponent.

UAB is currently up 50-39.

Zona misses Lute Olsen badly.

Expectations for Next Year

2008-11-18T22:42:35Z

Seeing that the 2008 season is a total loss and disaster, I think its time we start looking towards next year (I'm pretty sure some of you started that after Arkansas St.). Our schedule next year sets us up for a very good season a possible 9 win season. Here is how our schedule breaks down next year and how I think it will play out.

Game 1: New Mexico - W

Game 2: Utah State - W

Game 3: UAB - W

Game 4: Arkansas (at Jerry World) - W

Game 5: Oklahoma State - L

Game 6: at K-State - W

Game 7: at Tech - W

Game 8: Iowa St. - W

Game 9: at Colorado - W

Game 10: at OU - L

Game 11: Baylor - W

Game 12: Texas - L

Breakdown after the jump.

Even though we lost to Arkansas St. last year, our first three games should be wins and decisive ones as well. We beat New Mexico this year and they will be coming off the same record as us this year (4-8). It should be a win and anything less than a blowout will be a disappointment. Utah State will be introducing a new head coach and that should be another decisive victory. UAB should be another blowout as its a bad football team with inferior talent. Anything less than 3-0 heading into the game at Jerry World against the Pigs will be a huge disappointment.

The game against Arkansas will be the first game of the season where we could potentially lose and where a loss would not be so shocking. Arkansas will likely be coming off a 5-7 season and with expectations similar to ours in that anything less than an 8 or 7 win season will be unexpectable. I honestly think that we will win this game.

After the Arkansas game Big 12 play will start and we will open up with, most likely, an undefeated top 10 Oklahoma State team. I don't see us winning this game Okie Light will be loaded on offense with a very physical defense. My only expectation for this game is for it to be close and competitive. A win would not shock me, but I think that the talent gap is too far between us and OSU.

To save time and shorten the post I won't go into an indivdiual break down of the three Big 12 North opponents. It is simple for the season to be any kind of success we have to win the three games against K-State, Iowa State, and Colorado and the four non-conference games. K-State has to be a win as they will be breaking in a new head coach and most likely breaking in a new qb. Iowa State is just terrible and it will be an easy win. Colorado is going to be the toughest of the three Big 12 North teams, but I see us coming through because they are just not that good offensively to give us huge problems. We played our best defensive game against them and our defense has no where to go but up from this year.

Sandwiched in between the three Big 12 North teams is the Tech game. All I have to say about this game is this is Sherman's statemant game. If Sherman really is going to turn this program around this is the game to show us that he can. This is a game that we can win and, frankly, should win. If we are every going to beat Tech in Lubbock this will be the year to do it. Tech will be breaking in a new qb (even though it really doesn't matter with Leach's offense, but he won't be anywhere near as good as Harrell) and without Crabtree who will be playing on Sundays. They will also be losing alot of playmakers on defense as well. I honestly think that we can win this game. If this program has made any progress we will come out on top. We gave them a good game for a half this year and offensively we might be having an offense that could give us a chance for the first time in years. I think we come out with the W.

After Colorado we go up to Norman where my only expectation is for the game to be reasonable competitive. I don't see us winning this game as no one wins in Norman and once again the talent gap is too far to make up in two years. My hope is that we keep it close. Even a 21 point loss would not be that bad as OU probably be ranked in the top 5 at the time of the game.

After OU we get Baylor and Sherman its simple win this game. I can live with losses to Tech, OSU, Texas, OU but not to Baylor. I don't care how you do it, win the game. Honestly, I truly expect us to win this game. Baylor will be improved but so will we and we will be too as well.

After Baylor its the game against Texas on Turkey Day. I think we will be welcoming an undefeated number one ranked Texas to Kyle Field. This is another game where I really don't think we have a chance of winning the game. It might be a competitive game because the game is at Kyle Field, but UT is so far ahead of us talent wise that it will be really tough for us to win the game. My expectation is for us to give them a good game.

Baiscally, I think we have the schedule to go 9-3 with a maximum of 10-2 and a minimum of 8-4. I think we can go 9-3, but most likely we will go 8-4 with three for sure losses and a slip up against either Tech or to Colorado. I, personally think, anything less than 8 wins will be a disappointment.

What do you guys think?

Poll

What are you expecations for next year?

Hope we got a bowl game

13 votes

8-9 wins

0 votes

7-8 wins

5 votes

6-7 wins

9 votes

National Championship or Bust

3 votes

30 votes | Poll has closed

T. Boone Pickens energy plan put on hold

2008-11-13T03:07:43Z

It was announced on the news this morning that T. Boone Pickens was putting his wind farms on hold. This has to be due to the $2 billion loss suffered by Pickens' hedge fund last quarter. He does not have the capital to sustain his wind farm project. The question is whether the rumors are true, and Pickens' $160 million donation to OSU was part of the losses in the fund. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Ask a Sooner

2008-11-04T22:49:23Z

Hey guys, I'm Nick and am one of the writers over at the Oklahoma blog on SB Nation, Crimson and Cream Machine.

If there is anything you want to know about the Sooners but didn't have anyone to ask, please feel free to ask me here in this Fan Post.

I personally am nervously confident going into this game since we always seem to struggle when we play in College Station but the way our offense is rolling, it might not be as tough as it as been in the past.

Who do you want to win on Saturday in the texas-Tech game?

2008-10-28T04:46:15Z

On the one hand, while they are our archrivals and, like many Aggies, my favorite team after A&M is whoever is playing texas that day, this is Tech we're talking about. I'm not sure I want people to think the premiere football program in Texas (much less the nation) is in Lubbock. You can't trust the Tech fans to not embarrass themselves.

There is also the fact that even if Tech wins the game, you know they're going to lose to OU and/or Oklahoma State later in the season.

On the other hand, it's texas, and any texas loss is a good loss.

Who do you want to win and why?

Poll

Who do you want to win on Saturday, texas or Tech?

texas, and I hope they burn the field down afterwards

14 votes

Tech. Any texas loss is a good loss.

8 votes

Neither. I want a giant hole to open up in the field and swallow both teams whole.

5 votes

27 votes | Poll has closed

Gas Prices Dropping in Texas

2008-10-23T18:35:30Z

Prices have dropped $.30 in the last week.

Why is this significant, and what does it have to do with A&M?

Fans who were on the fence about driving to College Station for football games because of gas prices can now afford to go.

Recruits who want to take non-official visits can now afford to visit.

While this drop is suspicious with its timing (right before the election, how convenient), we should enjoy it while we can.

Aggie Athletes Giving Back to the Community

2008-10-23T06:09:21Z

Aggie Athletes Involved (AAI) is helping teach children about bicycle safety and reasons to wear a bike helmet in "Hard Hats for Little Heads".

I think this is a terrific community service project for our athletes, and it ties in nicely with a visit to A&M, giving all of these second graders a chance to meet their athletic heroes, as well as get a glimpse of their possible future college.

Given how busy athletes are with their athletic and academic schedules, they are to be applauded for taking the time to work int he community.

Jerome Solomon has no business being this ignorant

2008-10-21T18:38:26Z

Solomon says no reason for A&M to be this bad

Solomon seems, like many media, to completely overrate the abilities of some coaches. Solomon and other media members seem to think that some coaches possess superhuman abilities. It doesn't matter how much you know about the game of football, if both of your lines are weak, you aren't going to "outcoach" anyone.

This reminds me of the morons who thought Notre Dame would have a stellar defense in Weiss' second season, because "Weiss is too good of a coach to let his team have a bad defense". What, Weiss was going to magically change the phenotype of his players, and make them faster?

I'm used to the media being blissfully ignorant about football, but sometimes articles like this one really exacerbate the situation.