Oh, I'm in total agreement, but there's reason for optimism.
I think UT's A-game is better than Kansas State's A-game.
It's just a matter of whether Texas can impose its will.
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (2024 recruiting is on the line in these last 4 weeks)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
I think UT's A-game is better than Kansas State's A-game.
It's just a matter of whether Texas can impose its will.
The time to catch UGA was earlier in the season. Wrong time, wrong place this weekend for the Vols IMO.
Hendrix loves to build bridges. He's an expert at 8 on them.
She absolutely did. She missed the Golden Gate Bridge trip, though. She slept in.
We were scheduled to do it on Sunday morning, but we just didn't get to moving around fast enough. I was disappointed and I don't think anyone else cared.
Sam has lost a lot of weight since playing at UT. 20 plus pounds. Much more similar to Colt now.
Great pic with your son. Next time spend an afternoon across the bridge in Sausalito. Ghirardelli’s is the real ****
Glad your kids and family had a good time . San Francisco was once one of the best vacation cities in America. I travel there six times a year for work for many years and there has been a drastic decline in the last 20 years. Don’t kid yourself the crime mostly driven by the homeless population is at an all time high. The city does a good job of keeping the homeless population out of tourist areas so no surprise that you “didn’t” see it however the other areas our heavily populated by homeless encampments that are only growing.
We drove all over the city. Maybe there's a magic area out there that we missed.
Every city has rougher areas that are less scenic/touristy that will have more homeless people in them.
I saw very few in the downtown areas we drove in. There was some, but nothing as bad as Austin if I'm keeping it a buck.
In the same way there's a different standard of justice for rich people (thinking Robert Durst, at al, here), there's a different level of accountability--or lack thereof--for a player capable of throwing down 30+ points on any given night, as opposed to JAG who plays less than 20 minutes. As with with Kim Kardashian's former husband, when the walking embarrassment is bringing in the big bucks (GAP.Adidas, etc.), or pouring in the buckets, those who benefit will continue to "review the situation and gather facts" as long as they can. I wish KD would quit looking the other way, too.
Muir Woods?
"I really like (fill in the blank). They are definitely in my top 5 and I'll probably take an official visit there, but I want to wait and see what they look like on the field this year."
I know I don't have to tell you that those are dreaded words in recruiting. The ol' wanna-wait-and-see from recruits is something that every head coach in Austin for the last decade has experienced at some point towards the end of his tenure and it's the thing that Steve Sarkisian and his coaching staff have to avoid at all costs.
In case you've somehow forgotten or blocked it out of your memory, here's how it works,
1. Big-time prospect repeatedly tells @Suchomel that he's very interested in Texas. The big-time prospect swears that his interest in the Longhorns is sincere, but he has questions about the program's ability to be a true force on the national landscape, so he wants to wait and see how they look on the field during his senior year before falling in love with the program to the point that they would give a commitment.
2. This form of dialogue continues for months. It happens after unofficial visits in the spring. It continues into the summer. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
3. Texas is always under consideration and usually in the top five of the schools under consideration, but always kind of in the background behind other schools that the prospect doesn't have to wait on (ie ... Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson, etc ...).
4. Prospect wants to wrap up the recruiting process before the start of his senior season, which is a problem for the Longhorns because it means that a decision will be made before the Longhorns have a chance to prove anything on the field.
5. Prospect commits to a school not named "Texas."
From my perspective, this is what the rest of the 2022 season is all about for the Longhorns. Sarkisian and Co. need to finish this season in a fashion that keeps elite prospects from questioning the recruiting pitch that the coaching staff is giving them. That means finishing this season with the kind of momentum that feels significant ... like the next step toward potential greatness has been taken.
Personally, I feel pretty strongly that a 9-3 season that ends with a bowl win absolutely gets the Texas program there.
What about 8-4, you ask? I suppose it depends on whether the team wins a bowl game to move the final record to 9-4 and finishes the season ranked. That might do the trick for a lot of prospects.
7-5? That's no-man's land as far as I'm concerned.
It becomes very hard to tell kids that you're building a program that is going to compete for championships if you're not really close to competing for championships going into year three. It's critically important for the program to give the appearance of an obvious upward trajectory if landing super blue chip prospects is the goal and make no mistake about it ... it is.
Therefore, the stakes of these final four regular season games and presumably the bowl game that follows are significant for reasons that go beyond everyone on this board wanting to see Texas have a successful season and appear in a bowl game that everyone can get a little excited about.
No. 2 - The 2024 landscape in recruiting ...
One of the most interesting dynamics of the 2023 recruiting class is that Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma are all kind of flying high at the same time.
A quick look at the Rivals recruiting rankings shows Texas in 5th and Oklahoma in 9th, while Texas A&M ranks second in the average ranking per prospect metric. The question I had going into this season was whether any of these three schools might separate itself from the pack in a way that would allow it to dominate the others in the 2024 recruiting cycle among the super blue chips.
Perhaps the best news for the Longhorns is that the Aggies have completely fallen on their face this season. While cash still spends and will continue to turn heads, there's no getting around the fact that A&M looks like a bit of a shattered dream at 3-5 and on a four-game losing streak. Jimbo Fisher has been selling the idea that his program was close to de-throning Alabama in the SEC and the naked eye can see that's a foolish sales pitch at the moment. Recruits and their families are going to have questions about the state of this program going into the off-season. It's absolutely unavoidable. The Aggies might be headed towards the type of "wait and see" mode in recruiting that the Longhorns are trying to avoid.
Meanwhile, after a brutal three-game stretch that saw it outscored 145-58, Oklahoma has bounced back to a 5-3 record with four very winnable games down the stretch. Brent Venables might not be able to position his program into a higher position than OU fans had hoped for going into the season, but a very good end to this season will probably allow his recruiting sales pitch to work for another season before prospects start asking tougher questions about what he's building.
All of this leaves the door open for the Longhorns in the final four weeks to position themselves as the No. 1 option among elite recruits between the three schools being discussed if ... if ... IF ... the Longhorns can finish this season with a bang. Without a bang, you'll have to wonder if the three regional powers have left the door open for the likes of Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia to come in and take all of the super blue chip cornbread away from them.
Again, it can't be stressed enough about the high stakes that exist in this final month of 2022 football.
No. 3 - About this weekend...
It bottles my mind that the Longhorns could be favored on the road against Kansas State.
Maybe if this game was in Austin ... sure.
But, in Manhattan? The same place where the Wildcats just dropped a 48-0 nuclear weapon with their back-up quarterback on an Oklahoma State team that literally just beat Texas a week ago?
Maybe Vegas knows something that I don't, but until this Texas team displays better finishing form on the road, I'm not sure it warrants being favored against Kansas, let alone Kansas State.
Of course, there's a lot on the line. A win keeps the Longhorns alive in the Big 12 title race and would provide them with a tie-breaker advantage over a Wildcats team that will also have two losses under its belt if it loses at home this weekend with road games in Waco and Morgantown looming in the following two weeks.
A loss would leave Texas aiming for the Alamo Bowl (at best) as it attempts to qualify for a bowl game with three weeks to play.
When you add in the recruiting stakes I've already outlined in the previous section, Saturday looks pretty monumental.
No. 4 - Updated Heisman Odds ...
How important is winning when it comes to the Heisman?
Texas running back Bijan Robinson currently leads Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn in rushing (920 vs 902) and has scored twice as many touchdowns (13 vs 6), but trails Vaughn in the current DraftKings Sportsbook Heisman Odds. In fact, Robinson trails five other running backs heading into Week 9.
Here are the current odds (running backs are listed in bold)
(-110) Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker
(+190) Ohio State quartrback CJ Stroud
(+1500) Michigan running back Blake Corum
(+1500) USC quarterback Caleb Williams
(+2500) Oregon quarterback Bo Nix
(+2500) UNC quarterback Drake Maye
(+3000) TCU quarterback Max Duggan
(+3000) Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt
(+3000) Alabama quarterback Bryce Young
(+4000) Illinois running back Chase Brown
(+5000) Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs
(+6000) Georgias quarterback Stetson Bennett
(+10000) Clemson running back Will Shipley
(+10000) Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn
(+10000) Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei
(+15000) Texas running back Bijan Robinson
Of the six running backs listed, only Corum leads Robinson in rushing yards per game (134.8 vs. 115) or has more touchdowns (14 vs. 13). Robinson leads all six backs listed in all-purpose yards and is second in total touchdowns.
No. 5 - Updating the Texas scholarship board ...
(Note: We've left off redshirt freshman Ishmael Ibraheem, who has been suspended indefinitely (again) after his arrest in September.)
View attachment 3398
No. 6 - Sam's debut ...
In his first game as an NFL starter, Sam Ehlinger was able to walk off the field with his head held high, even in a loss.
The former Texas star completed 17 of 23 passes for 201 yards (100.1 rating), while adding 15 yards rushing on the ground. While the numbers were modest because of the lack of touchdown passes, there's no doubt that Ehlinger proved that he can play at this level and has a place in the league.
To put his performance in perspective, his 100.1 rating was higher than four of the five starts that Cooper Rush made with the Cowboys this season after the injury to Dak Prescott.
Personally, Ehlinger looks like a tweener starter in the NFL in my mind. Maybe he's not going to be a guy that leads a team to the playoffs or the Super Bowl, but he might end up being better than almost all of the backup quarterbacks in the league.
That means he's going to end up playing in the league for a long time if he can stay healthy. He'll earn his pension.
Frankly, if there's a player he sort of reminds me of, it's current Cleveland starter Jacoby Brissett, who had a pretty fantastic night last night on Monday Night Football in a win over the Bengals. Brissett is currently in his seventh year as a starter.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) It's a night game on the road against the Big 12's best passing efficiency defense. He might play well, but it's hard to believe he has a career-best performance.
(Sell) I kind of feel you on this, but that's only if we look at this in a vacuum. There are both hugely important to the 2022 season, but we won't look back on them as such unless they are won.
(Buy) That's where I've been all year and I'm not budging now.
(Sell) That feels extremely high.
(Sell) I don't really know what that accomplishes.
(Buy) You never stop recruiting super blues until they've signed.
(Sell) I'll believe it when I see it.
(Sell) I don't see this team winning out, whether Quinn is 100 percent or not. Few players are 100 percent at this point in the season.
(Buy) This team loses a lot of talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Success in the Portal will be critical to replacing losses on the defensive side of the ball.
(Sell) The players own some of the blame, but I'm not going to shift the majority of the blame to them. That feels like avoiding the issues that the head man is ultimately responsible for.
(Buy) At least. As things currently stand, Blake Corum is the heavy favorite for that award.
(Buy) He'll be safe because he's only two years into his deal (and Arch is on the way), but he'll be on the hot seat going into 2023, Arch or no Arch. That would be worse than Charlie Strong's first two seasons.
(Sell) KSU has a lot to play for. I expect a very dialed-in Wildcats team.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on anything and everything ...
... If I had a vote that mattered ...
1. Georgia
2 Ohio State
3. Tennessee
4. Michigan
5. Clemson
6. TCU
7. Alabama
8. Oregon
9. USC
10. Kansas State
... Heisman Ballot: 1. QB Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), 2. QB CJ Stroud (Ohio State), 3. QB Max Duggan (TCU), 4. RB Blake Corum (Michigan) and 5. RB Bijan Robinson (Texas)
... Buckle up for Tennessee vs. Georgia. The Dawgs seem to be really hitting their stride, but the Vols are loaded with weapons on offense. Still, the game is in Athens, which makes me think the Dawgs win by double digits.
... The Heisman Trophy might be on the line in a couple of weeks if the Dawgs beat the Vols when Michigan takes on Ohio State. We're talking CJ Stroud vs. Blake Corum ... winner take all?
... That TCU offense ... man, I just didn't see that coming this season. In five Big 12 games, the Horned Frogs have scored 55, 38, 43, 38 and 41 points.
... I've had a hard time buying what Oregon is selling because of that loss to Georgia in week one. Maybe that's unfair, but I can't unsee what I witnessed.
... How in the hell did Oklahoma State get shut out in Manhattan? How does that happen?
... Kind of crazy to think that Zach Charbonnet might be a virtual unknown to the entire country if he hadn't transferred from Michigan to UCLA. At the moment, he ranks second in the nation in all-purpose yards per game with 170.9. That's 20 more yards per game that Bijan.
... How good is Drake Mayes? I just don't believe in stats compiled against overrated ACC teams.
... Why can I get the Cowboys game on television in San Francisco, but not all the time in Houston?
... Speaking of the Cowboys, I absolutely loved watching them pummel the Bears. In Tony Pollard, I trust.
... Kind of dig watching NFL games at 10 am and having the entire slate of games going into Sunday night being over around 4 pm.
... D'Onte Foreman keeps doing the damn thing in Carolina now that the depth chart opened up for him. Make that two straight 100-yard games for the former all-American.
... The Dolphins might be the most entertaining team in the NFL.
... Zach Wilson looks like a wasted first-round pick to these eyes.
... The Texans are .... never mind.
... I'm looking forward to the day when Kyrie Irving's name is never mentioned again.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Moments from my trip to San Francisco ...
How was the trip to San Francisco this weekend, you might be asking?
Well, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. yesterday to find my son crying because he didn't want to leave.
"It's my favorite city and I don't want to leave because we might not ever come back," he sobbed on a couch in our hotel suite.
Meanwhile, my daughter gave it "a million" on a 1-10 scale of fun.
To see them have so much fun meant that I had a really good time. Also, there were very few parts of the city that we didn't visit and I have to say .... many of you absolutely overstated the homeless problem. We walked all over the city and I never saw anything that was remotely noteworthy. There was no poop on the streets. No needles laying around. Maybe I simply lived in Austin too long and drove by the Burnet Road/183 intersection too many times to be overwhelmed with homeless issues on the streets, but unless there's a Skid Row out there that we missed, I came away thinking a lot of you were crybabies to make such a fuss.
The only time I noticed a single issue on the streets that was worth noting was when a man danced to 80s music on the corner of Haight/Ashbury.
OK, with that out of the way, here's my list of the Top 10 things from the visit.
10. Chinatown
It was later on Sunday afternoon when we made our way over to this part of the site and I'm not sure we spent enough time there to properly get the total experience, but I think I dropped $500 in various stores in less than 90 minutes, which means that my family probably enjoyed it more than I did. Still, it was cool to get out and walk around a little. The people in this area were super-nice.
9. Alcatraz
Kind of an overrated experience IMO. Don't get me wrong, it was cool to check out the cells, but after about 10 minutes, I found myself a little bored.
View attachment 3400
8. Transamerica Pyramid (lunch at Columbus Brothers)
The drive downtown was enjoyable and we were able to take some cool pictures once we parked. Yet, this makes the No. 8 spot because the burgers and Columbus Brothers (about two blocks away) were pretty sensational. I walked away wishing we had enough time left in the visit to have a second burger.
7. Lombard Street
Yes, you might have seen the steep streets in the movies, but nothing quite prepares you for driving down streets that have a 30-degree incline. It's pretty awesome to drive.
6. Fisherman's Wharf
We saw the sea lions. We watched the street shows. We ate some food. We spent a lot of money.
5. Monterey Aquarium
I asked each member of the family if they felt like the 5-hour round trip was worth the visit and they all agreed that it was. Maybe I'm a little cynical because I feel like I have been to better aquariums (National Aquarium in Baltimore is better IMO), but it was definitely fun. My kids and my wife gave it 10 out of 10 stars. I'd probably give it a 9, but I kind of wanted to explore the streets of Monterey a little more.
View attachment 3402
4. Haight Ashbury
If I had one wish, it would have been to have found a kid-sitter, so that my wife and I could have explored this area of the city alone for an entire day. Everything about the vibe was in tune with what I wanted. My favorite photo of the entire trip occurred when I was able to take a photo of 8-year-old Hendrix inside the Red House where Jimi Hendrix once lived.
View attachment 3399
3. Fairmont Ghirardelli Square
I simply can't say enough positive things about the hotel we stayed in. There was a mistake with our booking when we arrived that made me feel like Clark Griswold when he gets stuck with the Country Squire Wagon after ordering the Sports Wagon in the original Vacation movie, but the hotel upgraded us to a room overlooking the Bay with an outdoor area with fire pits a mere 15 feet away from our door. Everything about the facility and people working there was 5 stars. When we go back, this is where we'll stay.
2. Drive to Monterey
Absolutely breathtaking. There are no other words needed.
1. Golden Gate Bridge
My son is obsessed with the Golden Gate Bridge, so to see the absolute joy he felt when we explored the bridge and the area/overlooks around the bridge was my biggest highlight. It was like watching a kid open up the present of his dreams on Christmas morning. He literally skipped and danced his way all over the bridge like he was in heaven.
View attachment 3401
No. 10 - And Finally ...
This moved me to tears. It's a video of a dog that didn't quite recognize its owner, who had been away for service. It takes about 30 seconds for the dog to realize who has returned, but once it does ... onions.
Full House?
Yoda Fountain?
Houston is mostly Texans and aggy centric in the media…Cowboys are hated there. I also predict your kids will be pressured heavily to attend aggy if you stay in The Woodlands thru high school. Good luck!
The dog video really hit home. I lost mine in my divorce and I haven’t seen here in over a year. Sad that I miss the dog way more than the wife by far.
I’ve never eaten anywhere other than the slanted door the 5 times I’ve been to fisherman’s wharf, it’s just so good i have to go but that menu makes feel like I need to expand next time there.
Home - Bistro Boudin
Welcome to Bistro Boudin The unique San Francisco waterfront restaurant that celebrates local history & more. 160 Jefferson Street, Second Floor, San Francisco California 94133 Open: Sunday – Thursday 12pm – 9pmFriday and Saturday 12pm – 10pm 415.351.5561 1 Person2 People3 People4 People5...www.bistroboudin.com
I know your kids are probably too young for it but the bike ride down to Tiburon California from San Francisco is still the best thing I’ve ever done while there. Sitting at Sams Anchor Cafe and people watching was awesome as well. Just an amazing ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and through fantastic scenery.
Sorry that just dumb it’s the same plan as any team in the league suck until you find your franchise QB. The defense can be lights out with a couple more drafts.
A reason to care?? About my school’s team that I’ve been a fan of for 40 years? No, I don’t need a “reason.” Too bad you do. I hope you at least care about your school’s team. They need your support.
