Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (A playoff team is getting a lot better)

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum,

Your take on CB need in the portal doesn’t match Sark’s statement that CB was Texas’ best looking position room.

Do you really think the UH CB or any other current portal CB is better than MM, J. Guilbeau, Warren Roberson, K Black, Santana Wison or KPhillips?

I don't KNOW that they are better. I just know that the staff wants more from its starting corners.

 

[Ketchum]

When I saw “Top 10 Matt Damon ...” I immediately scrolled down to make sure you had GWH at #1. Otherwise, I may have lost my mind.

I got this.

 

[Ketchum]

Good write-up Ketch.
And I agree with you that there should be more of a sense of urgency in the portal on the (interior) OL. I'm a little surprised more people aren't talking about it.

I think people expect it at this point.

 

[King Jaffe Joffer]

The National League currently has six team playing better than .600 ball through 20+ games. There are only 3 such teams in the American League.

Just kidding @Ketchum, good stuff.

 

[Ketchum]

“For months, I've reported that my sourcing was relaying to me that Texas would be "all-in on 2025" in the same fashion Ohio State was all-in on 2024 and we got a chance to see what that would look like in its execution this week. Texas wasn't just ready to strike in the Portal market. It was ready strike, pounce and maim.”

Wut?

wut, what?

That line is about the approach taken, not the quality of the haul with specific comparison to talent levels.

 

[Ketchum]

Happy Easter...my son broke his wrist on his bike today so dealing with that. If you had to pick the last three portal spots what positions do you think we hit on? I would go after The BYU WR Special Teams guy the RB from WV and then the CB from Houston.

Well, if we're talking about players from the current pool in the Portal, I would go DT Watson, WR/KR BYU and probably corner from Houston.

 

[Ketchum]

I had always heard that it was Kilgore where the oil boom riot/lawlessness had the Texas Rangers to be called. Lore tells that the “one riot, one Ranger” policy brought in a guy named Speedy Gonzales, seriously. Gonzales is said to have single-handily forced the outlaws to heel in Gregg County. Media was under Martial Law in 1921.

I need to do some google searching.

 

[Ketchum]

The problem with your favorite Matt Damon scene from Saving Private Ryan with the elderlte Ryan talking to his wife at the cemetery? That’s not Matt Damon in that scene. It’s an actor named Harrison Young.

Hush your whore mouth.

 

[Ketchum]

Might in be in the portal come December?

I dunno He loves that place as Much as Stone does. The rubble around him doesn't seem to mattter.

 

[Ketchum]

If the OU program continues to decline precipitously, it has got to be a huge benefit to Texas in recruiting the DFW area for the super blues, doesn't it? UT more than any other school?

Yes.

 

[Ketchum]

Matt Damon's list is nearly impossible... the Rainmaker was awesome and yet I don't know where to put it. I know I'm in the minority but I was really bored with the Departed. Rounders is my personal favorite, even over Good Will Hunting.

The people who love Rounders LOVE Rounders.

 

[Ketchum]

Feeling cautiously optimistic about Shipley's potential impact. The big question, though, is how he'll perform consistently under those bright SEC lights and in front of 80k+ passionate fans week in and week out. Wishing Bert Auburn nothing but the best moving forward. Hook 'em! 🤘

That question won't be answered for 8/31. Gonna take some giving it the benefit of the doubt until then.

 

[Ketchum]

Great list.

Top 5 Damon VERY mediocre movies I still watch over and over and love

Legend of Bagger Vance
We Bought a Zoo
Elysium
Invictus
Titan A.E

Post of the Morning. 🤣 🤣 🤣

 

[Ketchum]

Just kidding @Ketchum, good stuff.

I like that someone fact-checked it from Saturday to Sunday. Gotta keep me on my toes.

 

[EastCoastTexan]

@Ketchum

Damn you for making me do this here.

FIRE NICO!!! FAT PAT MUST GO!!!!

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum

Damn you for making me do this here.

FIRE NICO!!! FAT PAT MUST GO!!!!

 

[Tayeri34]

Have to say, I thought you were way off last year talking about 0U. Maybe I've been hurt too many times, maybe I didn't think something so great could happen, but man, you seem 100% accurate. Sorry I doubted you.

 

[CodyCarpentier]

Texas Departures (13)
* Projected back-up, but possible starting wide receiver Johntay Cook
* Projected back-up, but possible starting tight end Amari Niblack
* Projected rotation-level defensive tackle Sydir Mitchell
* Projected back-up kicker Bert Auburn
* Projected non-rotational defensive tackle Tia Savea
* Projected non-rotational defensive tackle Jaray Bledsoe
* Projected non-rotational defensive tackle Aaron Bryant
* Projected 3rd-string tackle Malik Agbo
* Projected 3rd/4th string wide receiver Freddie Dubose Jr.
* Projected 3rd-string linebacker Derion Gullette
* Projected 3rd-string linebacker Tausili Akana
* Projected 4th-string cornerback Jay'Vion Cole
* Projected 3rd-string edge Justice Finkley

Traded For ...

Texas Arrivals (9)

* Projected starting tight end Jack Endries
* Projected starting wide receiver Emmett Mosley
* Projected starting punter Jack Bouwmeester
* Projected starting place-kicker Mason Shipley
* Projected starting defensive tackle Cole Brevard
* Projected rotation-level defensive tackle Travis Shaw
* Projected rotation-level defensive tackle Hero Kanu
* Projected rotation-level defensive tackle Lavon Johnson
* Projected rotation-level linebacker Brad Spence

One of the Greatest Trade deals in American history

 

[Ketchum]

Have to say, I thought you were way off last year talking about 0U. Maybe I've been hurt too many times, maybe I didn't think something so great could happen, but man, you seem 100% accurate. Sorry I doubted you.

 

[Ketchum]

One of the Greatest Trade deals in American history

Better to. be on the right side of this than the wrong side.

 

[CodyCarpentier]

... Steve Sarkisian definitely has a type in the portal. Outside of the kicker Mason Shipley, here is the list of schools for the other eight transfers Texas has taken this off-season: Stanford, California, Purdue, North Carolina, Ohio State, Maryland, Arkansas and Utah. All power conference players. Four from the Big 10. Two from the ACC. One from the SEC and Big 12. Sark does not like to slum the smaller schools for talent. Personally, I'd like to see him take an occasional flyer on small school players, but I understand why his instincts tell him not to ... most of these guys will fail and if Sark is going into the Portal for someone, he wants a guarantee on the box more than he wants a lotto ticket.

It sounds good in theory, I'm as big of a small school enthusiast as there is as well, but everything Sark has said would lead us to just what he has done!

* It's interesting to me to see the various levels of urgency that exist at a position like defensive tackle and the lack of by any means needed urgency given to the offensive line. I could/would argue that guard/center needs just as much urgency with regards to needed improved quality.

 

[Ketchum]

It sounds good in theory, I'm as big of a small school enthusiast as there is as well, but everything Sark has said would lead us to just what he has done!

I just hope it's not the thing that holds this team back..

 

[CodyCarpentier]

No. 6 – OU doesn't understand what it is ...

So, let's be clear about Oklahoma Football in April of 2025 ...

* Only occasional elite national high school prospects dare to sign there.
* It can't afford to pay the occasional elite prospect that it does sign.
* It hired a general manager that specializes in finding under-the-radar talent
* It is shopping for DL help at SE Missouri State, TE help at Missouri State and WR help at Illinois State.
* It partly passed on the WR help from Illinois State because of NIL budget concerns.

Honestly, I'm at a loss for words over the state of the OU program. It is not handling this new NIL world well. It is not remotely ready to play high-level football in the SEC. It does not have a plan that looks doable as things currently stand.

The OU fan base doesn't know what it needs to focus on because there are so many things in a state of disaster that need focus. The fan base seems confused that a 2024 5-star defensive tackle would flinch over allegedly seeing his NIL money drop in half from one year to the next at a time when players at his position are earning half the national debt just by having a pulse. It seems confused at the notion that Texas was able to allegedly give Texas State kicker Mason Shipley a large enough NIL deal that he basically ghosted the Sooners after visiting. It seems confused about faking excitement over trying to bring in players from under rocks to compete against the titans of the sport in the titan conference of the sport.

That program is in an absolute free fall and I'm not afraid to call it out. What's happening in Norman is not what happens to the healthiest programs in college football.

It reminds me of what happened to Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights once Little Bill committed a double murder and the 80s kicked in.

Maybe OU really is about to become Nebraska.

 

[sodiumacetate]

Great list.

Top 5 Damon VERY mediocre movies I still watch over and over and love

Legend of Bagger Vance
We Bought a Zoo
Elysium
Invictus
Titan A.E

Dang... I love the first two on that list. That scene in We Bought a Zoo where he shows his kids the place he first saw their mom... gets me every single time.

 

[Ketchum]

Dang... I love the first two on that list. That scene in We Bought a Zoo where he shows his kids the place he first saw their mom... gets me every single time.

Legend of Bagger Vance?

 

[sodiumacetate]

Legend of Bagger Vance?

Indeed. Ridiculous story and Charlize Theron almost makes it unwatchable, but as a golfer this scene is where it's at.

 

[mmahorn]

This movie should have made Damon's honorable mention

Dogma is on the honorable mention.

 

[Ketchum]

Dogma is on the honorable mention.

correct

 

[TedYettis54]

wut, what?

That line is about the approach taken, not the quality of the haul with specific comparison to talent levels.

The Ohio state approach led to multiple all conference players including their starting qb and all American safety. You have built this up to be a similar off season for the Horns. If you think the results so far confirm similar commitment to the portal between the 24 buckeyes and 25 horns … do you think they have landed any all conference players (or better)? Or is this still a bit about what you’re hearing through the grapevine that is ongoing?

 

[Srone03]

Honestly, I'm at a loss for words over the state of the OU program. It is not handling this new NIL world well. It is not remotely ready to play high-level football in the SEC. It does not have a plan that looks doable as things currently stand.

Having lived through those Stoops era beat downs, this feels so good.

 

[SnakeEarl]

OU isnt firing on all cyclinders but watch the 'dumpster fire' play us to within in 10 points going into the 4th quarter.

the idea that OU wont have talent and wont fight us to the end is pure rubbish.

 

[SnakeEarl]

One of the Greatest Trade deals in American history

Cole, Black are outliers here. The rest are understandable. roster fillers and simply were tweeners or simply not that good. Its ok, you simply don't know how things move over time with young players. On Cole, he was a play make for SJS I believe. And he didn't do a damn thing at Texas. Black, tweener and cant or wont block, which means move on at Texas.

 

[Ketchum]

You have built this up to be a similar off season for the Horns.

Can you quote that part?

 

[Ketchum]

Having lived through those Stoops era beat downs, this feels so good.

It's going to last for a while.

 

[Ketchum]

OU isnt firing on all cyclinders but watch the 'dumpster fire' play us to within in 10 points going into the 4th quarter.

the idea that OU wont have talent and wont fight us to the end is pure rubbish.

No one said they wouldn't fight. You made that up. The talent they are working with is deceasing annually.