Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (After a few days of considering Lincoln Riley at OU...)

[TD TX TD VY]

In the last 70 years, OU has only hired one coach with HC experience. Will Riley succeed in spite of that? Not sure, but in that same 70 year time period UT has not hired a HC that didn't have HC experience. The record over those 70 years? OU 34, UT 33 with 3 ties.

"In spite of that"?

 

[TD TX TD VY]

Ketch, just to be clear, Texas has been hiring coaches with previous head coaching experience since 1977 and only ONE did a damn thing. Akers, McWilliams, Mackovic, Brown and Strong. 4 of them got fired having won nothing. To get 18 years of Bob Stoops, I would have taken 6 years of Gibbs, Schnellenberger and Blake. Hell, I had to suffer through Akers, McWilliams and Mackovic to get to Mack, (who Bob owned). Now, we hope that Herman is everything we think he can be, because Charlie Strong stunk like a fresh turd.

So your point is that you wear panties?

 

[TD TX TD VY]

I was in a sports media class in the fall of '98 and DeLoss Dodds was a guest speaker. I wanted Bob Stoops to be hired in the fall of '97 in the worst way, but we went with Mack Brown.

So, having the opportunity to ask, I did. "DeLoss, why did you hire Mack Brown over Bob Stoops?" Dodds replied, "Texas will never hire a first time head coach for this job. This is not a job that comes with training wheels, we want a guy who knows what he's doing."

When OU went up 14-0 early in the '99 game, I thought about the comment Dodds made. Of course, we tracked OU down and won the game, which I believed was shades of things to come for Texas.

And then 2000 happened.

The arrogance and dismissiveness in Dodds response has never left me and having to watch 18 years of Bob Stoops at OU has never left me either. I was really looking forward to Herman putting it in Bob's ass in Dallas, but alas, that will not happen. I will enjoy Herman putting it in Riley's ass as well, but again, OU has made a dynasty from hiring assistant coaches, I just hope this isn't another great one for them.

You should have asked him why we'd hire a KSU track coach as AD then.

 

[jdelo]

I have to disagree about "suffering through" Akers. He was a damn good coach. He never won a NC, but he came within striking distance three times.

Agreed!

 

[Joe Longhorn]

It was terrible timing. I'd rather name an interim coach than hook myself to someone completely unproven.

The unanswered question is "why now in June?"

Just odd duck timing by Stoops. Was he doing it now for recruiting? Stay away from last signing day to not catch hell from media walking out on a newly signed class. Early enough that Riley can build a class for the next signing day.

 

[Ketchum]

You are way ahead of yourself on Durant's rank on the all time great list

No, I'm not.

 

[Ketchum]

I love KD, however, to put him in the class of the best, I feel you have to mention Ice Man. That was a more physical time.

Knit picking but had to throw Ice in there as the Stats are really similar.

Ice Man isn't even close to being in that conversation.

 

[Ketchum]

Went to Guardians part 2 tonight. If you liked 1 you will like 2. Very entertaining 2 hours.

It was just ok for me.The one movie I have seen.

 

[Ketchum]

Alien covenant was much faster than Prometheus, lots of action, really awesome. and my intern from Tennessee says good things about Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman is probably next.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum That actually piques my curiosity that I'd like to hear your opinion on... being that I agree with your sentiment, this is serious not sarcastic...

Two questions:

Where would you put OU's ranking to hire a top-flight coach if they were hiring at the same time versus the following (rank the following): Texas, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State. Alabama, USC and Florida State

If OU was hiring following the end of last season, who are 3 legit candidates do you think they could've realistically hired from the current pool of coaches (going up against Texas, LSU, etc)?

Who do you think would've been the best fit candidate if they had their pick (out of realistic hires... i.e. Not their "Dream" candidate such as they couldn't pluck a Saban, Meyer or Fisher).

a. Last among that group. The lack of a natural recruiting base is the biggest reason.

b. I haven't really thought about it, but they woud have six months to vet the situation and make a hire.

 

[Ketchum]

The unanswered question is "why now in June?"

Just odd duck timing by Stoops. Was he doing it now for recruiting? Stay away from last signing day to not catch hell from media walking out on a newly signed class. Early enough that Riley can build a class for the next signing day.

I think recruiting was a big part of it. It seems to be the one thing OU fans are really excited about with Riley.

Here's the thing, though. OU can close up its borders and it really means very little because of the lack of volume the state produces in terms of elite prospects.

 

[Center1]

Is it just youth?

Interesting that this topic has brought you out of a posting shell...

You did your job.

 

[TrailsPoppy]

After having a few days to absorb the departure of The King of Big 12 Coaching from the Oklahoma football program, one thought inside my head seems to be more prevalent than any other.

The Sooners might be in deep poop.

Oh, I'm sure that a large portion of the Oklahoma fan base is incredibly excited about the rise of Lincoln Riley, mostly because young love is the best love. With the exit of Bob Stoops and the insertion of Riley into the top job in the entire state of Oklahoma, the Sooners have traded in "Old Reliable" for a younger, sexier model.

Yet, younger and sexier doesn't automatically translate into better. Sometimes it's ... dare I say ... not even close.

Just ask Texas fans.

When Will Muschamp was named Texas' head-coach-in-waiting back in 2008, the feeling in Austin was that the Longhorns had locked up the single-best young head coaching property on the market and when he left for Florida following the 2010 season, much angst was felt.

Yet, it didn't take very long for Muschamp to prove at Florida that he almost certainly wasn't the right man for the job in Austin.

Major Applewhite is another guy who was considered to be potential head-coaching gold when he returned to Austin from a trio of outposts in 2008, but it took nearly a decade before he eventually received a head coaching shot and there's still zero proof that it's a position in which he's ready to succeed.

All you can do right now with Applewhite is guess because there's just not any kind of track record to lean on and with all due respect to Riley, the same is true of him.

Yes, the Oklahoma administration is in love with him and his work as the offensive coordinator in Norman is to be commended, but let's keep it real. He's coached all of two seasons of major college football since his work at Texas Tech as an inside receivers coach in 2009.

Other than interest from Houston this year when Tom Herman took the head coaching job in Austin and an interview with North Texas, we're talking about a guy who hasn't really come within a 100-foot pole of a big-time head coaching gig and the Sooners just turned over the keys to one of college football's top programs to him.

It's like a 16-year-old getting his driver's permit and his parents deciding to give him a Porsche for his first car. I suppose he might be the best driver in the world, but isn't it more likely he'll crash the car in less than a month?

Make no mistake about it, this is a significant risk for UT's No. 1 rival and if Joe Castiglione ends up getting this wrong, it will set the Sooners back for the rest of this decade.

Yes, Stoops was himself a coordinator back in 1999 when he took the job in Norman, so I'm not suggesting that it's not possible to catch lightning in a bottle. I'm observing that the odds suggest catching lightning in a bottle twice in a row is unlikely. I'm observing that a job like Oklahoma, which has been the No. 1 program in the Big 12 for nearly the last two decades, is too big to give to someone who has to approach the job the same way Shane Buechele approached playing quarterback last season.

Every time something happens this season, it'll be the first time Riley will have approached that situation, whether we're talking about his first game, his first road game, his first Texas-OU game or his first player arrest involving domestic abuse.

If you're Oklahoma, you can't guess, you have to know. Anyone who tells you that they know how this will turn out is a liar.

A look at recent college football history shows that this will likely give Oklahoma a boost in recruiting in the short-term, but that something entirely different might await the program in the long-term.

Keep your shovels handy, Sooners. It might not take long before they're needed.

No. 2 – For the record …

My guess is that many Oklahoma fans will scream bloody murder at the thought of Riley being labeled as a major question mark by the publisher of Orangebloods and that at least three dozen Sooners will flood my Twitter mentions with comments about "the worm turning."

For those that don't know or remember, I wrote a column back on 9/10/09 that detailed how the Longhorns had flipped roles with the Sooners over the course of the 12 months that led to Oklahoma losing to BYU in the season-opener of the 2009 season. If it's been too long for you to recall what the world looked like in the aftermath of that loss to BYU, I'll let the words of former OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson remind you of the vibe that existed.

"It was a total morgue," Wilson told the Oklahoma media a couple of days removed from the loss. "It was a concern. I was a cheerleader for 10 minutes: 'We're winning. Open your eyes. Get a little spunk here. Let's go! This is why we practice hard, for great games. Let's go!’"

* A month later, the Longhorns won for the fourth time in five years against Stoops and Co.

* Three months later, the Longhorns won the Big 12 title with a perfect season, while the Sooners fell into the land of the unranked.

* A month later, the Longhorns played for a national title.

* A month following the national title game, Texas signed a higher-rated recruiting class on the national level for the fourth time in five years.

I realize that the state of Oklahoma is one of the worst states in our nation when it comes to education, so I'll help spell it out for them ... all those things above ... this is what the worm turning looks like.

The problem for Texas is that after the worm turned, it jumped into a bottle of Tito's and drowned itself for the next seven seasons. I would suggest that the worm turned back over again, but that's not exactly what happened. The burnt orange worm overdosed. No question about it.

However, to suggest that the worm never turned means that you have to ignore all of the context of what was written, when it was written and what happened in the first 12 months after it was written.

No. 3 – Biggest takeaways from the Rivals Challenge ...

These are the things that stood out from the Rivals Challenge in Indianapolis this weekend:

a. Houston Lamar defensive back D'Shawn Jamison is an absolute must-have. While his teammate Anthony Cook receives all the glory at Lamar High these days, Jamison doesn't take a back seat to anyone and he proved that this weekend by taking home DB MVP honors among a stacked set of national prospects that worked out in Indy.

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b. Top UT wide receiver target Brennan Eagles solidified his position as one of the top must-haves of any prospect in the state. Running a 4.590 laser-timed 40-yard dash is no joke. In fact, when you consider his size and frame, his time deserves a "wow."

c. You can make a case that Louisiana star OL Kardell Thomas might be the most important out-of-state prospect in the entire 2019 class for the Longhorns. His 24 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press is pretty damn unheard of for a high school junior.

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He good.

d. Might be time for Texas to offer Houston Lamar defensive tackle Josh Landry.

e. I'm a huge fan of Leon O'Neal, but you can't run in the 4.9s and rank as a national top 50-75 prospect. A clear line between O'Neal and other in-state safeties B.J. Foster and Caden Sterns was created this weekend.

No. 4 – In case you missed it ...

Texas assistant coaches Stan Drayton and Drew Mehringer engaged in a 45-mile bike ride this weekend, and the top running back prospect on the Texas 2019 recruiting board took notice.

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No. 5 – The machine rolls on …

Speaking of what's taking place on social media, What the Texas football program continues to do in the medium is next level.

Here's one of the latest videos, which spotlights junior defensive back Kris Boyd.

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No. 6 – Buy or sell …

BUY or SELL: When we eventually find out the real reason Stoops abruptly retired it's something that tarnishes his legacy?

(Sell) The guy was an enabler of abusers of women. His legacy has been tarnished for a while.

BUY or SELL: The lack of big time players in the trenches ends up keeping the Longhorns from winning a NC in the next five years?

(Sell) The program is nowhere near the kind of position where it can point to one area of the team and suggest that it's the thing that will keep Texas from winning a national title. Winning national titles is much more difficult process than many Texas fans want to acknowledge. Hell, the first thing that needs to happen is finding a quarterback who can rank in the top 25 nationally because nothing is happening on a national level until that occurs and once it does occur, I'm guessing the offensive line play will look better by default.

BUY or SELL: We beat USC?

(Sell) The good news is that Tom Herman gets his teams ready for big games. The bad news is that USC is better than Texas at just about every position on the field on paper, and that includes a monumental advantage at quarterback.

BUY or SELL: At least 20 percent of Herman's recruiting success so far can be attributed to the team's social media presence?

(Buy) Yes, the social media presence is that important.

BUY or SELL: Tom equals Mack's total conference championships within the next five years?

(Buy) The departure of Bob Stoops has opened that door wide open.

BUY or SELL: My hope is Texas to the SEC, buy or sell that Texas admin/Belmont will actually consider that as a landing spot?

(Sell) I can't find a single person that matters at Texas that sees the SEC as a viable option. The Big 10 is the favorite if the Big 12 eventually collapses.

BUY or SELL: Texas has a chance to land Jamison, Green and Cook in this class?

(Buy) Absolutely. We're talking about one of the best DB classes in the history of the program, potentially.

BUY or SELL: Farrah > Bo Derek?

(Buy) And it's not even close ...

No. 7 – Something that occurred to me over the weekend …

With a 1.15 ERA in 31.3 IP (57K/13BB), Corey Knebel has emerged as the best former Texas player in Major League Baseball this season.

The next closest is likely Brandon Belt, who was batting .237 with 11 home runs entering Sunday.

Kind of shocking.

No. 8 – Kevin Durant's place in NBA history ...

Earlier in the week, I was having a conversation on Orangebloods Radio with Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune and he observed that in his estimation, Kevin Durant was quickly climbing the ladder of among all-time greats as perhaps the greatest pure scorer in the history of the game and perhaps the second-best player of his generation.

In fact, Jones, who I view as one of the best reporters covering the NBA today, mentioned that he believed that Durant has emerged as a better player than Larry Bird. Understand that he wasn't saying that Durant's resume is better than Bird's, just that he believes Durant is a better player.

I'll admit, my jaw kind of dropped a little (or a lot) because Bird is one of the guys that I view as one of the top 10 players we've ever seen play basketball.

So, I started to think about it a little ... what does the conversation look like? Without Durant in the picture, what does the top five look like?

1. LeBron James: 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 50.1/34.2/74.0 splits, 205.4 win shares, 27.0 PER, 3 rings, 4 MVPs and 11X first-team All-NBA

2. Larry Bird: 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 49.6/37.6/88.6 splits, 145.8 win shares, 23.5 PER, 3 rings, 3 MVPs and 9X first-team All-NBA

3. Julius Erving: 24.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 50.6/29.8/77.7 splits, 181.1 win shares, 23.6 PER, 1 ring, 1 MVP and 5X first-team All-NBA

Let's just stop there because those three represent the holy trinity of small forwards, with all due respect to the likes of Elgin Baylor, Rick Berry, etc..

Let's assume for the sake of conversation that the Warriors win the NBA title this week and Durant takes home MVP honors, which he is favored to do.

Here's what his resume looks like: 27.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 48.8/37.9/88.2 splits, 119.8 win shares, 25.2 PER, 1 ring, 1 MVP and 5X first-team All-NBA.

While Durant still has some resume building to do, there's no getting around the fact that he's in the conversation right now as the second-greatest small forward. While Bird was a better rebounder and creator for others, Durant is a seven-foot scoring machine the likes the league has never seen before and he's emerged as an defender/rim protector in the last few years, an area that you could argue that he surpasses Bird and Erving in.

You can argue that Durant hasn't surpassed any of the top three at this point, but at the age of 29, he's knocking on the door and it's safe to him in the Top 20 of all-time players at this moment.

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No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …

... I have to believe the Warriors are going to respond to what happened in game four in a big way in game five.

... In honor of Rafa Nadal's 10th French Open Championship, I am paying homage today by picking all wedgies for the next 24 hours.

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... New England's new Super Bowl ring has 283 diamonds in it ... yanno ... because 28-3. Man, can you imagine the haunting regret for every member of the Falcons that is never able to return to the Super Bowl in an effort to rectify history?

... Vegas has the Patriots/Cowboys as the most likely Super Bowl this year. You'll forgive me if I don't have real hesitation for one of those two teams.

... Watch out, Mickey Mantle, the kid is coming for you.

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... Pretty sure I don't want to see James Rodriquez at Chelsea.

... It's Happening!

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No. 10 – And finally …

I haven't been to the movies in a good while.

Fill in the blank for me... the summer movie I HAVE to see is _______.

Love the Kris Boyd video!

 

[DallasKid]

OU has caught lightening in a bottle 3 times with assistant-turned-first time head coaches:

Bud Wilkinson - age 31
Barry Switzer - age 36
Bob Stoops - age 38

To think that they can't do it again defies their track record.

And, Riley is starting out with a pretty good QB.

 

[RJWaxa]

Did you miss the part when A&M was allowed to leave because Texas promised not to leave Tech and Baylor behind? We chose the Big 12 and let A&M leave. Well, with Baylor having become Rape U, no conference will take them and as a private, religious school, not a lot of leverage in the State Leg.

But Tech is a public school in a state that wants a 3rd flagship institution and will not leave an institution that has a law, business, medical, dental and vet school behind.

aggies "check-mated" Texas because they knew the flagship university in the state wasn't going to start a range war over this matter with its little sister. Good grief, our pockets were stuffed with ESPN's $$$ for the next zillion years (in college football years, that is) and we didn't need to put on a national display of Texas style greed. How do you think that would have looked? Tech alum many put up a hissy fit but won't be an obstacle should the B1G give us a call along with OU and possibly Kansas.

 

[Pho King Master]

Ketch,

I think you need to decide if this is to be a UT rag or journalism. You are walking the line now and it's not working - at least for me. Your critique of Stoops is off. There is zero chance that he is resigning due to the potential prowess of Herman. It's almost laughable to think that the arrogant Stoops gives two cents about other coaches. He does not which I can attest to personally. It's the same mantra that you slander Sumlin who according to you was to be fired in 2015 but for sure in 2016 but now for sure at 2017. How long can you be off. Answer- you don't have creditibilty on this front.

I don't think you're being honest with yourself if you don't think the hiring of Herman had anything to do with his decision. I am sure that at his age, he probably has lost a little of the fire in his belly. We saw that with Mack the last 4-5 years. He probably looked at his bank statement and saw he had well into the 8 figures, and said f it, I don't need this anymore. But, I guaranty you, the hiring of Herman helped make his decision much easier. He knows if so called "wonderboy" Herman rolls off 3-4 consecutive wins over Stoops before he retires that tarnishes his reputation a bit. Now, as it stands, he could take a year off, do tv or whatever, and if Notre Dame opens up, he's still one of the hottest names out there and nobody questions his drive or fire even though he'll be pushing 60.

 

[WapitiHorn]

Is it just youth?

Interesting that this topic has brought you out of a posting shell...

Guns up!

 

[txfight]

If the Big 10 can take both Tech and Texas, outstanding. If not, we will go to the conference that can. We bound ourselves to Tech in 2011 and that is a tie that binds.

This is interesting because one thing nobody ever mentions is the academic reputation of Texas. From that perspective Texas absolutely does not belong in the SEC. But if Tech is tethered to Texas, I'm not sure Tech has the academic chops to fit in with the Big 10.

As for not being excited about playing a Big 10 schedule, let's not forget that SEC has some stinkers too. I suppose playing A&M and Arkansas has some nostalgic value, but those programs aren't any better than Nebraska, Wisconsin, Mich St, Iowa on any given Saturday. And I've got no thirst to play Ole Miss, Miss St, Vandy, SC, Missouri. Even playing Florida and Georgia doesn't do much for me. And the top tier of Big Ten matches up with the top tier of the SEC imo.

 

[SyberLAN]

Hell, the first thing that needs to happen is finding a quarterback who can rank in the top 25 nationally because nothing is happening on a national level until that occurs and once it does occur, I'm guessing the offensive line play will look better by default.

I disagree. It was quite the opposite. The Cowboys finally figured this out. A great OL can cover an average anything else. A great QB constantly running, and fearing for his life will be far less effective, until injuries relegates him to average. It is still a line of scrimmage game. The woeful OLs at UT undid two coaching tenures. This team still only has one sure fire NFL player on the OL. I'm still not sure he is a top 10 pick. The line progressed somewhat at a couple positions last season, but Foreman's yards came from being good at breaking tackles. Not because the OL imposed their will.

 

[Jack87]

Vegas agrees with me.

True, Vegas does agree on outcome but, the post is correct that USC has several areas of unproven players, like at receivers. The current QB vs QB is your biggest point of difference and, as we have seen in the past, this position can make up for many others. However, Texas could make this game very interesting if these new receivers do not pan-out (see Eagles last year with their receivers) and the Texas run game, as well as the new offense can make a few big plays. On paper I would have ot give it to USC but, as you have said earlier, that "on-paper" doesn't a;ways work out.

 

[txfight]

Ketch, just to be clear, Texas has been hiring coaches with previous head coaching experience since 1977 and only ONE did a damn thing. Akers, McWilliams, Mackovic, Brown and Strong. 4 of them got fired having won nothing. ... because Charlie Strong stunk like a fresh turd.

I don't like most of your rhetoric but I'm going to rehash your, "stunk like a fresh turd" line because that's fantastic!

Of course saying McWilliams (Shock the nation tour) and Mackovic (recruited a Heisman winner, won the first Big 12 conference title against a very high caliber Nebraska team) didn't do a DAMN thing isn't remotely true. They didn't win a natty. That doesn't make them terrible coaches who didn't accomplish a DAMN thing. By that rationale, Stoops accomplished nothing his last 16 years.

 

[Wild Again]

Ice Man isn't even close to being in that conversation.

This is your site so I will let that statement go

 

[TrailsPoppy]

After having a few days to absorb the departure of The King of Big 12 Coaching from the Oklahoma football program, one thought inside my head seems to be more prevalent than any other.

The Sooners might be in deep poop.

Oh, I'm sure that a large portion of the Oklahoma fan base is incredibly excited about the rise of Lincoln Riley, mostly because young love is the best love. With the exit of Bob Stoops and the insertion of Riley into the top job in the entire state of Oklahoma, the Sooners have traded in "Old Reliable" for a younger, sexier model.

Yet, younger and sexier doesn't automatically translate into better. Sometimes it's ... dare I say ... not even close.

Just ask Texas fans.

When Will Muschamp was named Texas' head-coach-in-waiting back in 2008, the feeling in Austin was that the Longhorns had locked up the single-best young head coaching property on the market and when he left for Florida following the 2010 season, much angst was felt.

Yet, it didn't take very long for Muschamp to prove at Florida that he almost certainly wasn't the right man for the job in Austin.

Major Applewhite is another guy who was considered to be potential head-coaching gold when he returned to Austin from a trio of outposts in 2008, but it took nearly a decade before he eventually received a head coaching shot and there's still zero proof that it's a position in which he's ready to succeed.

All you can do right now with Applewhite is guess because there's just not any kind of track record to lean on and with all due respect to Riley, the same is true of him.

Yes, the Oklahoma administration is in love with him and his work as the offensive coordinator in Norman is to be commended, but let's keep it real. He's coached all of two seasons of major college football since his work at Texas Tech as an inside receivers coach in 2009.

Other than interest from Houston this year when Tom Herman took the head coaching job in Austin and an interview with North Texas, we're talking about a guy who hasn't really come within a 100-foot pole of a big-time head coaching gig and the Sooners just turned over the keys to one of college football's top programs to him.

It's like a 16-year-old getting his driver's permit and his parents deciding to give him a Porsche for his first car. I suppose he might be the best driver in the world, but isn't it more likely he'll crash the car in less than a month?

Make no mistake about it, this is a significant risk for UT's No. 1 rival and if Joe Castiglione ends up getting this wrong, it will set the Sooners back for the rest of this decade.

Yes, Stoops was himself a coordinator back in 1999 when he took the job in Norman, so I'm not suggesting that it's not possible to catch lightning in a bottle. I'm observing that the odds suggest catching lightning in a bottle twice in a row is unlikely. I'm observing that a job like Oklahoma, which has been the No. 1 program in the Big 12 for nearly the last two decades, is too big to give to someone who has to approach the job the same way Shane Buechele approached playing quarterback last season.

Every time something happens this season, it'll be the first time Riley will have approached that situation, whether we're talking about his first game, his first road game, his first Texas-OU game or his first player arrest involving domestic abuse.

If you're Oklahoma, you can't guess, you have to know. Anyone who tells you that they know how this will turn out is a liar.

A look at recent college football history shows that this will likely give Oklahoma a boost in recruiting in the short-term, but that something entirely different might await the program in the long-term.

Keep your shovels handy, Sooners. It might not take long before they're needed.

No. 2 – For the record …

My guess is that many Oklahoma fans will scream bloody murder at the thought of Riley being labeled as a major question mark by the publisher of Orangebloods and that at least three dozen Sooners will flood my Twitter mentions with comments about "the worm turning."

For those that don't know or remember, I wrote a column back on 9/10/09 that detailed how the Longhorns had flipped roles with the Sooners over the course of the 12 months that led to Oklahoma losing to BYU in the season-opener of the 2009 season. If it's been too long for you to recall what the world looked like in the aftermath of that loss to BYU, I'll let the words of former OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson remind you of the vibe that existed.

"It was a total morgue," Wilson told the Oklahoma media a couple of days removed from the loss. "It was a concern. I was a cheerleader for 10 minutes: 'We're winning. Open your eyes. Get a little spunk here. Let's go! This is why we practice hard, for great games. Let's go!’"

* A month later, the Longhorns won for the fourth time in five years against Stoops and Co.

* Three months later, the Longhorns won the Big 12 title with a perfect season, while the Sooners fell into the land of the unranked.

* A month later, the Longhorns played for a national title.

* A month following the national title game, Texas signed a higher-rated recruiting class on the national level for the fourth time in five years.

I realize that the state of Oklahoma is one of the worst states in our nation when it comes to education, so I'll help spell it out for them ... all those things above ... this is what the worm turning looks like.

The problem for Texas is that after the worm turned, it jumped into a bottle of Tito's and drowned itself for the next seven seasons. I would suggest that the worm turned back over again, but that's not exactly what happened. The burnt orange worm overdosed. No question about it.

However, to suggest that the worm never turned means that you have to ignore all of the context of what was written, when it was written and what happened in the first 12 months after it was written.

No. 3 – Biggest takeaways from the Rivals Challenge ...

These are the things that stood out from the Rivals Challenge in Indianapolis this weekend:

a. Houston Lamar defensive back D'Shawn Jamison is an absolute must-have. While his teammate Anthony Cook receives all the glory at Lamar High these days, Jamison doesn't take a back seat to anyone and he proved that this weekend by taking home DB MVP honors among a stacked set of national prospects that worked out in Indy.

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b. Top UT wide receiver target Brennan Eagles solidified his position as one of the top must-haves of any prospect in the state. Running a 4.590 laser-timed 40-yard dash is no joke. In fact, when you consider his size and frame, his time deserves a "wow."

c. You can make a case that Louisiana star OL Kardell Thomas might be the most important out-of-state prospect in the entire 2019 class for the Longhorns. His 24 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press is pretty damn unheard of for a high school junior.

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He good.

d. Might be time for Texas to offer Houston Lamar defensive tackle Josh Landry.

e. I'm a huge fan of Leon O'Neal, but you can't run in the 4.9s and rank as a national top 50-75 prospect. A clear line between O'Neal and other in-state safeties B.J. Foster and Caden Sterns was created this weekend.

No. 4 – In case you missed it ...

Texas assistant coaches Stan Drayton and Drew Mehringer engaged in a 45-mile bike ride this weekend, and the top running back prospect on the Texas 2019 recruiting board took notice.

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No. 5 – The machine rolls on …

Speaking of what's taking place on social media, What the Texas football program continues to do in the medium is next level.

Here's one of the latest videos, which spotlights junior defensive back Kris Boyd.

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No. 6 – Buy or sell …

BUY or SELL: When we eventually find out the real reason Stoops abruptly retired it's something that tarnishes his legacy?

(Sell) The guy was an enabler of abusers of women. His legacy has been tarnished for a while.

BUY or SELL: The lack of big time players in the trenches ends up keeping the Longhorns from winning a NC in the next five years?

(Sell) The program is nowhere near the kind of position where it can point to one area of the team and suggest that it's the thing that will keep Texas from winning a national title. Winning national titles is much more difficult process than many Texas fans want to acknowledge. Hell, the first thing that needs to happen is finding a quarterback who can rank in the top 25 nationally because nothing is happening on a national level until that occurs and once it does occur, I'm guessing the offensive line play will look better by default.

BUY or SELL: We beat USC?

(Sell) The good news is that Tom Herman gets his teams ready for big games. The bad news is that USC is better than Texas at just about every position on the field on paper, and that includes a monumental advantage at quarterback.

BUY or SELL: At least 20 percent of Herman's recruiting success so far can be attributed to the team's social media presence?

(Buy) Yes, the social media presence is that important.

BUY or SELL: Tom equals Mack's total conference championships within the next five years?

(Buy) The departure of Bob Stoops has opened that door wide open.

BUY or SELL: My hope is Texas to the SEC, buy or sell that Texas admin/Belmont will actually consider that as a landing spot?

(Sell) I can't find a single person that matters at Texas that sees the SEC as a viable option. The Big 10 is the favorite if the Big 12 eventually collapses.

BUY or SELL: Texas has a chance to land Jamison, Green and Cook in this class?

(Buy) Absolutely. We're talking about one of the best DB classes in the history of the program, potentially.

BUY or SELL: Farrah > Bo Derek?

(Buy) And it's not even close ...

No. 7 – Something that occurred to me over the weekend …

With a 1.15 ERA in 31.3 IP (57K/13BB), Corey Knebel has emerged as the best former Texas player in Major League Baseball this season.

The next closest is likely Brandon Belt, who was batting .237 with 11 home runs entering Sunday.

Kind of shocking.

No. 8 – Kevin Durant's place in NBA history ...

Earlier in the week, I was having a conversation on Orangebloods Radio with Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune and he observed that in his estimation, Kevin Durant was quickly climbing the ladder of among all-time greats as perhaps the greatest pure scorer in the history of the game and perhaps the second-best player of his generation.

In fact, Jones, who I view as one of the best reporters covering the NBA today, mentioned that he believed that Durant has emerged as a better player than Larry Bird. Understand that he wasn't saying that Durant's resume is better than Bird's, just that he believes Durant is a better player.

I'll admit, my jaw kind of dropped a little (or a lot) because Bird is one of the guys that I view as one of the top 10 players we've ever seen play basketball.

So, I started to think about it a little ... what does the conversation look like? Without Durant in the picture, what does the top five look like?

1. LeBron James: 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 50.1/34.2/74.0 splits, 205.4 win shares, 27.0 PER, 3 rings, 4 MVPs and 11X first-team All-NBA

2. Larry Bird: 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 49.6/37.6/88.6 splits, 145.8 win shares, 23.5 PER, 3 rings, 3 MVPs and 9X first-team All-NBA

3. Julius Erving: 24.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 50.6/29.8/77.7 splits, 181.1 win shares, 23.6 PER, 1 ring, 1 MVP and 5X first-team All-NBA

Let's just stop there because those three represent the holy trinity of small forwards, with all due respect to the likes of Elgin Baylor, Rick Berry, etc..

Let's assume for the sake of conversation that the Warriors win the NBA title this week and Durant takes home MVP honors, which he is favored to do.

Here's what his resume looks like: 27.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 48.8/37.9/88.2 splits, 119.8 win shares, 25.2 PER, 1 ring, 1 MVP and 5X first-team All-NBA.

While Durant still has some resume building to do, there's no getting around the fact that he's in the conversation right now as the second-greatest small forward. While Bird was a better rebounder and creator for others, Durant is a seven-foot scoring machine the likes the league has never seen before and he's emerged as an defender/rim protector in the last few years, an area that you could argue that he surpasses Bird and Erving in.

You can argue that Durant hasn't surpassed any of the top three at this point, but at the age of 29, he's knocking on the door and it's safe to him in the Top 20 of all-time players at this moment.

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No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …

... I have to believe the Warriors are going to respond to what happened in game four in a big way in game five.

... In honor of Rafa Nadal's 10th French Open Championship, I am paying homage today by picking all wedgies for the next 24 hours.

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... New England's new Super Bowl ring has 283 diamonds in it ... yanno ... because 28-3. Man, can you imagine the haunting regret for every member of the Falcons that is never able to return to the Super Bowl in an effort to rectify history?

... Vegas has the Patriots/Cowboys as the most likely Super Bowl this year. You'll forgive me if I don't have real hesitation for one of those two teams.

... Watch out, Mickey Mantle, the kid is coming for you.

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... Pretty sure I don't want to see James Rodriquez at Chelsea.

... It's Happening!

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No. 10 – And finally …

I haven't been to the movies in a good while.

Fill in the blank for me... the summer movie I HAVE to see is _______.

In regard to the lack of "big time players in the trenches", just look at the '09 team. Colt, Jordan, Quan, & Hunter got us there without many big time linemen—although we barely made it by cornaggy.

 

[Ketchum]

Hell, the first thing that needs to happen is finding a quarterback who can rank in the top 25 nationally because nothing is happening on a national level until that occurs and once it does occur, I'm guessing the offensive line play will look better by default.

I disagree. It was quite the opposite. The Cowboys finally figured this out. A great OL can cover an average anything else. A great QB constantly running, and fearing for his life will be far less effective, until injuries relegates him to average. It is still a line of scrimmage game. The woeful OLs at UT undid two coaching tenures. This team still only has one sure fire NFL player on the OL. I'm still not sure he is a top 10 pick. The line progressed somewhat at a couple positions last season, but Foreman's yards came from being good at breaking tackles. Not because the OL imposed their will.

In college football, the importance of the quarterback position is the single most important factor in the sport.

Period.

 

[Ketchum]

This is your site so I will let that statement go

It's pretty much a universal opinion.

 

[dankhorn]

That's completely fair, but also completely beside the point.

It's really not. Anyone in college football would take 50 years of success coupled with 10 years of mediocrity.

 

[davrob1]

Bama vs Texas, Tennessee vs Texas, Florida vs Texas, LSU vs Texas, Auburn vs Texas, and of course the little sisters of the poor - Aggies vs. Texas, etc. etc. etc. Let's see. Compare that to Nebraska vs. Texas, Michigan vs. Texas, Ohio State vs Texas, Michigan State vs Texas, Iowa vs. Texas (but it also includes yawners Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers & Northwestern compared to SEC yawners Kentucky & Vanderbilt).

Either one of these would be a giant step up in competition, no doubt. Personally, I'd rather be in SEC for a whole host of reasons not limited including travel, tradition, weather and Aggies not having SEC recruiting advantage (if any).

Both of these moves would strengthen basketball, but would be a huge setback for baseball if Big Ten move was made for all sports.

 

[Ketchum]

It's really not. Anyone in college football would take 50 years of success coupled with 10 years of mediocrity.

That literally has nothing to do with the discussion of Lincoln Riley and the virtues of his hire.

 

[dankhorn]

That literally has nothing to do with the discussion of Lincoln Riley and the virtues of his hire.

It doesn't I wasn't responding to that point. We'll see soon enough on the hire. That I agree with...

 

[coopdog]

Uh. The anti-SEC attitude goes way, way, way beyond Powers and Dodds.

Agreed