IMO this is what will lead to quicker change. CDC is not going to let this affect his vision for future projects.
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (FIRE!!!!!!!!)
- Thread starter Ketchum
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IMO this is what will lead to quicker change. CDC is not going to let this affect his vision for future projects.
Trying to follow the Herman narrative and attempt at armchair psychology. It’s challenging:
1. So close as a team they tried too hard and rabbit squeezed vs Terps. (Apparently tried harder than the team dedicating the game to a fallen teammate.)
2. 3-8 Maryland a very good team, so not a setback.
3. So many young players (inaccurate), first time going on the road, inexperienced
4. Team was loose in first half vs Tulsa then I made them tight bringing on very state I said team needed to avoid.
5. Winning is very hard, (even against 2 win Tulsa.)
Good thing USC Is poorly coached and the bottom half of the big 12 is putrid.
1. So close as a team they tried too hard and rabbit squeezed vs Terps. (Apparently tried harder than the team dedicating the game to a fallen teammate.)
2. 3-8 Maryland a very good team, so not a setback.
3. So many young players (inaccurate), first time going on the road, inexperienced
4. Team was loose in first half vs Tulsa then I made them tight bringing on very state I said team needed to avoid.
5. Winning is very hard, (even against 2 win Tulsa.)
Good thing USC Is poorly coached and the bottom half of the big 12 is putrid.
He may be fundraising for an eventual change, unfortunately that may be an easier sell.
I’m pretty sure he knows that things haven’t gone well so far. He’s a Mensa making $5.5 million a year. He’s probablily staying up late trying to right the ship.
a. How am I piling on Sam?
b. From my perspective, that was the lay in the game that seemed to jump-start Tulsa. It gave them confidence.
While they didn't score on the ensuing drive, that play set up the field position that absolutely led to the first touchdown.
That's what happened.
Typically, I like to think I'm the guy that won't scream "Fire!" in a crowded theater.
On days when I'm especially feeling like a good self-pat-on-the-back, I call myself the voice of reason.
Not today. Today I'm that guy.
Under normal circumstances it would probably be crazy to make judgment calls after 15 games of evidence. After all, I was telling you that it was okay to dream big after Texas beat UTEP to move to 2-0 following Charlie Strong's 15th game in control of the Texas problem. Therefore, I willingly admit that what something looks like with such a small sample size can absolutely be misleading.
Yet, I would contend that the reaction to which I'm confessing is warranted by the sense of urgency of the here and now.
The situation in Austin can't be viewed through a vacuum. There's more going on than the Longhorns simply playing a worse (or at best break-even) brand of football in game No. 15 under Herman that they did when they were playing in game No. 2. In a world where Bob Stoops is leaving recruiting meat on the bone at Oklahoma and Texas A&M is an insignificant gnat on the window of life, you can get away with making special considerations for Tom Herman's current plight, all in the name of keeping alive the idea that Santa Claus is a real thing.
Texas doesn't live in that world anymore. Lincoln Riley absolutely looks like the real deal, the kind of coach Texas thought it was getting when it hired Herman. Meanwhile, Jimbo Fisher has done in two games what Herman is still only dreaming of doing in Austin, which is creating a wave of momentum with a big-time, prime-time performance against one of the big dogs in the sport. From an optics standpoint, the best prospects in the looming 2020 class just saw A&M play a recent national champion off its feet in an amazing atmosphere in the most highly-rated game of the weekend, while Texas held off a non Power-5 conference opponent on a channel most recruits probably can't find on their TVs.
Put your head in the sand all you want, but Texas A&M had a moment this weekend. When Fisher tells the nation's best running back that they're one player like him away from competing for championships, that kid can see it clearly. When Herman tells the same kid the same exact message, I'm not sure that the kid can see it without closing his eyes really, really, really hard.
And that's a big problem.
The world around Texas is evolving quickly and in taking its own sweet time to evolve at a meaningful rate, Herman and Co. have created a situation where a justifiable panic in the streets exists at any early point in his tenure than it did in Charlie Strong's tenure. Someone asked me after the game if Herman had replaced Charlie Strong as the Michael Scott of college football. Hell, no. He's more Robert California than anything else at the moment.
Honestly, it takes a special kind of unspectacular to put me in a position where I'm defending the virtues of Strong's tenure at Texas, yet here we are.
Texas fans are smart. They know the implications of the current situation. Dare I say, they understand the implications of the situation better than their coach.
This thing either starts turning around quickly ... or else.
Or else?
Or else me screaming, "Fire!" won't have been premature. It'll have been right on time.
No. 2 - A truly special moment on Saturday ...
Allow me for a moment to say a few words about what transpired before the game on Saturday at the Orangebloods tailgate scene.
Over the years, we've done a lot of really good things as a community, but I can safely say that I have never been more emotionally moved as the owner of this site than I was about two hours before game-time when we took time to honor the members of Orangebloods that we've lost over the course of the last few months.
After @OBRob gave a moving dedication, tears swelled as we listened to @meroney's friends and parents detail just how much Orangebloods meant to him and how much the outpouring of support since Christian's death had meant to them.
I've said it before, but this is the most amazing dysfunctional family a person could ever hope to be a part of and Saturday was a special little moment. The football might not be good, but the relationships we have on this site with each other have proven to be invaluable. I'm just thankful to be involved with such a special community.
Thanks to everyone that helped remind me on Saturday just how wonderful this group of crazies truly is.
No. 3 - When your best leaders aren't your best players ...
One of the moments of the Tulsa game that stands out in my mind nearly 24 hours after the game ended occurred in the aftermath of Sam Ehlinger's third quarter fumble, which was a total game-changer. After the play was over, senior captain Breckyn Hager ran over to Ehlinger and seemed to scream something that was part encouragement, part motivation and part desperation.
From one Westlake Chap to another, Ehlinger gave virtually no reaction to Hager's motivation, good, bad or indifferent. In that exact moment, it was hard not to look at Hager trying to ignite Ehlinger and think that he needed to ignite himself as much as anything. On a night when he had two tackles and was as disappointing as any player on the field, I wondered if Hager had a right to yell at anyone, captain's badge or not.
Frankly, it's a stark reminder that the Longhorns have five captains on the team right now (Hager, Andrew Beck, Elijah Rodriguez, Chris Nelson and Anthony Wheeler) that would probably struggle to find playing time for a team competing for a national championship. None of them made a single play of significance against Tulsa and that seems rather important.
Just file this truth away for the future ... if you have five captains on your team and none of them are playing at all-conference levels, your team is going to have a limited ceiling. When your captains are performing at all-conference and all-America levels, your team has no ceiling if it has the right quarterback and coaching staff.
No. 4 - I can't believe I'm writing this ...
Tom Herman might have 99 problems, but through two games the offensive line ain't one.
Herb Hand's group has been better than ok, but just being ok represents miles of improvement from a year ago. The pass protection has been perfectly fine and while this team can't line up and overpower anyone, the work in the run game has been ... well ... ok.
Of course, this group still needs to prove it against quality competition, but it's important to acknowledge that the critical areas of needed improvement are improving when the improving is needed. It could all go sideways for this group as early as Saturday, but for now the o-line receives a tip of the cap from yours truly, considering you can make a case that it's been the best position group on the team through 120 minutes of football.
No. 5 - Tweet that deserved its own section ...
No. 6 - Compare and contrast ...
Each week, I'm going to take a look at a player from the Lone Star State that explodes on the scene with a dominant performance and I'll compare him to the players in his recruiting class at the same position.
This week's player of focus is Texas A&M wide receiver Kendrick Rogers after he recorded seven receptions for 120 yards and two touchdowns against Clemson. Rogers was regarded as a high three-star player in the Class of 2016 and ranked as the No. 75 overall player in the state of Texas.
Other than Texas A&M, his next best offers were from TCU and Mississippi State.
Here's a look at his peers in that class from the state of Texas:
No. 4 - Sachse's Devin Duveynay (signed with Texas): Starts for the Longhorns as a junior and has five receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown in two games.
No. 7 - Spring Westfield's Tyrie Cleveland (signed with Florida: Starts for the Gators and has four receptions for 31 yards and a touchdown in two games.
No. 16 Navasota's Tren'Davion Dickson (signed with Baylor): Has already been in and out of two programs. We'll probably never hear from him again.
No. 19 DeSoto's Dee Anderson (signed with LSU): Has two receptions for 10 yards in the first two games of his junior season.
No. 25 Langham Creek's Quartney Smith (signed with Texas A&M): In the A&M receiver rotation, but only a back-up at this point in his career.
No. 27 Houston Bellaire's Courtney Lark (signed with Houston) A starter with the Cougars, Lark has eight receptions for 126 yards and two touchdowns through two games.
No. 42 Wichita Falls Rider's T.J. Vasher (Signed with Texas Tech) A starter with the Red Raiders, Vasher has seven receptions for 117 yards through two games.
No. 7 – Buy or Sell …
BUY or SELL: Herman is head coach in 2020?
(Sell) I'd be lying if I said otherwise based on what we've seen on the field thus far through two games into his second season.
BUY or SELL: You need to revise your prediction for season record?
(Buy) After the loss to Maryland, I dropped my season prediction from 8-4 to 7-5. I'll hold off on going lower than that for a few weeks because I already had Texas losing to USC, TCU and Oklahoma before the season started, as part of my 8-4 record.
BUY or SELL: Ogre's win over the Omega Mu was more compelling than Texas' win last night, but the similarities are striking.
(Buy) The Omega Mu came into the match ranked in the top 10. That was the greatest victory of Ogre's life.
BUY or SELL: The locker room is behind Herman?
(Buy) Yes, I do believe this to be true.
BUY or SELL: Hiring a second-year Conference USA head coach to take the reins at Texas was a much more risky proposition than Orangebloods staff was willing to admit at the time?
(Sell) I'm only speaking for myself, but I was always of the opinion that Herman was a risk. I've been banging on that pot for a while.
BUY or SELL: CDC wont fire Herman this offseason, but he will make him sacrifice his assistants?
(Sell) Del Conte won't have to force Herman to do anything. He'll know without anyone telling him that sacrifices will need to be made, just like Charlie before him.
BUY or SELL: Next week, the game gets out of hand by half time with USC winning big and we see a minimum of three QB’s in action?
(Sell) This will be another four-quarter game and I don't think anyone other than Sam Ehlinger takes a snap at quarterback this week.
BUY or SELL: Herman’s faux bro beard is another example of his immaturity (see rampant gun chewing last year, the dance in the bowl game, etc)?
(Sell) The bro-beard looks good on him. Much better than the goatee look.
BUY or SELL: OB sees a significant dropoff in its subscription base due to longtime fans finally succumbing to apathy?
(Sell) It's not the drop-off in subscribers that is concerning, it's the inability to grow because of the apathy. Our community is such a strength that few really want to leave this family of ours once they get in, even if there is some self-loathing over the football piece to it in the middle of it all.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... Very quietly, the injury to Oklahoma running back Rodney Anderson was one of the stories of the college football weekend. Potentially losing him for the entire season would be a serious blow to a team with national championship aspirations.
... It's only two games, but Kyler Murray looks like a bad mofo.
... It's unfair that Nick Saban has a guy like Tua Tagovailoa as his quarterback. Someone bring back Greg McElroy.
... What the hell is happening at Florida State under Willie Tagert?
... Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio State look different than all the other teams across the country.
... The first time Michael Dickson punted in the NFL, he hit it 60 yards. Later in the day, this happened...
... Not quite caring as much as a fan made Sunday's performance by the Dallas Cowboys much easier to tolerate. That's a bad football team, folks.
... DeShaun Watson looked very mortal on Sunday. Very. Signed, A guy that drafted him in fantasy.
.... I haven't talked to @Suchomel or @DustinMcComas today, but I'm guessing Steelers Nation is on tilt right about now. Probably not as on-tilt as Bills fans, but on-tilt nonetheless.
... My Serena hot-take - I thought she was out of line in losing her mind to the chair umpire, but I'm also not going to pretend that the chair umpire pulled the kind of power play that would never be attempted against a male with the stature of Williams. I don't know what the hell is going on with the tennis world right now, but it these moments of disrespect against Williams seem to be occurring a lot. That being said, Serena has to be better than that because she essentially let that moment define the entire weekend.
... Novak Djokovic might be the most underrated all-time great player in the history of tennis. That dude has 14 career grand slams, which is only one less than Johnny Mac and Andre Aggasi combined.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Literally Masterpieces I Hope Tom Herman References This Season ...
10. Pride and Prejudice
9. Charlotte's Web
8. Where the Sidewalk Ends
7. The Hunger Games
6. The Sound and the Fury (Benjy's section)
5. 1984
4. The Scarlet Letter
3. Lord of the Flies
2. The Grapes of Wrath
1. Where the Red Fern Grows
No. 10 – And Finally...
Dear Cub Scouts of America …
Please ditch the popcorn and go find some cookies to sell. It doesn't make any sense at all that you'd have an inferior product and you'd sell it for four to five times the cost of a box of Girl Scout Cookies.
Basically, I'm suggesting that Cub Scouts get in on the cookie market that the girls seem to think they have a monopoly on. I don't understand why the Cub scouts can't make their own cookies and just make sure that the sale of those cookies is months removed from when the Girl Scouts do their thing.
Anything is better than $20 popcorn.
Good job on the tailgate tribute.
Swing and a miss on the second part.
We played USC (away) and ou that close last year and we didn't get the kind of cheerleading you're giving the ags right now. All you need is a little milkman's outfit.
They lost, at home, we won and yet we've got you waving the white flag.
I'm sure this column just got mailed to shepherd and other UT commits by the Ag recruiters.
Yuck.
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Sadly Mackovic is a better coach than TH. The arrogance level is about the same though.
I swear to God (and I know this is really kind of a stupid and silly analogy here.... but I can't help it) when it comes to the problems of the UT Longhorns football program it is that when we try to fix the problems of the UT Longhorns football program they end up creating even more bigger problems, then those problems create even more bigger problems and then when we try to fix them all, it eventually leads into all of those problems just cascading all into one another creating one big, giant endless mess and mire of problems that can't be solved or fixed in the foreseeable future or maybe even in our lifetimes.
The whole thing reminds me of one of those saturday morning cartoons that I used to watch as a kid on the Bugs Bunny, Road Runner hour where Elmer Fudd checks into a hotel room and finds a very pesky mouse in his hotel room that just drives him crazy and that doesn't allow him to sleep. So Elmer brings in a cat to take care of the pesky mouse and the cat can't get the job done to take care of the pesky mouse, so Elmer brings in a big bad mean dog to get after the little pesky mouse. The big, bad, mean dog can't get the job done either and then so sooner or later you end up with a big bad giant bear in the room chasing some little pesky mouse around and Elmer Fudd still can't get any sleep. I just wonder how much longer it is going to be before the UT Longhorns football program has that big giant bear in the room chasing after that little itty bitty pesky mouse?
The whole thing reminds me of one of those saturday morning cartoons that I used to watch as a kid on the Bugs Bunny, Road Runner hour where Elmer Fudd checks into a hotel room and finds a very pesky mouse in his hotel room that just drives him crazy and that doesn't allow him to sleep. So Elmer brings in a cat to take care of the pesky mouse and the cat can't get the job done to take care of the pesky mouse, so Elmer brings in a big bad mean dog to get after the little pesky mouse. The big, bad, mean dog can't get the job done either and then so sooner or later you end up with a big bad giant bear in the room chasing some little pesky mouse around and Elmer Fudd still can't get any sleep. I just wonder how much longer it is going to be before the UT Longhorns football program has that big giant bear in the room chasing after that little itty bitty pesky mouse?
We let them back in the game in the second half, it was closer than it should have been but we won. I know nothing about USC. What do we need to do to beat these invading prophylactics?
Nothing Ketch said can be argued with. It is what it is.
Yet our inbred rivals to the north have 2 grand slams in as many at bats hiring guys with no HC experience at all!
Fack I hate everything right now.
In a fundraiser’s eyes, it’s got to be frustrating for him. Especially with how strong TCU’s program was when he left.
With this team “A Confederacy of Dunces” deserves a press conference literary reference.
A Girl Scout will cut a Cub Scout that tries to move in on their cookie territory.
As I said, premature ejectulation. If we win the next game and the three after that’s (yes, I was there for the Tulsa game and I’ve been drinking), we will want to extend CTH. Let’s see how the next 4 games play out before going into full blown panic mode.
Coaches are usually the last to figure it out, ironically.
I’m not leaving no matter how many bullshit podcast you try to sell me.
Never mind that she actually cheated. It’s about the equality of how she’s treated for cheating? Here’s a novel idea, act like the GOAT and don’t cheat, but let’s feel sorry for her instead.
