After all these years we might finally have an answer to the age-old Orangebloods question … is Houston greater than Dallas?
As it relates to the University of Texas football program in 2017, I don’t know how else to answer the question, but to say yes. Emphatically.
For as long as my memory will allow me to go, the two cities have served as 1a and 1b (in either order) to the foundation of the Longhorn program. While Oklahoma always trended more heavily in the Metroplex and Texas A&M leaned a little more towards Houston, the Longhorns always played both areas straight down the middle.
Until now.
While Tom Herman might argue until he’s blue in the face that both areas carry equal significance, there’s no getting around the fact when you hire a coach from Houston, you’re getting a coach and staff that have spent the last few years doing nothing more than emphasizing Houston as its most critical hotbed.
Consider that in their first full recruiting year/class for the Cougars in 2016, Herman and Co. signed 20 kids and none of them were from the Dallas area, unless we’re counting Lucas Lovejoy, which kind of drives home the point by itself. On the other hand, you’ll find signees from Manvel, Bellaire, Crosby, La Marque, Katy, Richmond … you get the point.
Before leaving for Texas five weeks ago, the story for the 2017 recruiting class was pretty similar, as only four-star Plano West linebacker Mohamed Sanogo served a commitment from the Metroplex area. If you’re wondering, it was a Todd Orlando/Major Applewhite combo that helped land that commitment for the Cougars
When checking out the initial set of staff hires, only Oscar Giles has a real history of success in recruiting the Metroplex area, but even that was isolated success because his primary recruiting territories throughout the last decade are in the Greater Houston area and southeast Texas.
As we head into the final hires of this staff, you can make a strong case that the most important need that must be filled is finding a cold-blooded recruiting killer who can take the lead in this oh-so-very-critical region. With Oklahoma suddenly making gains in Texas, especially in the Metroplex, the Longhorns cannot afford to give up even more footing that they have following three consecutive losing seasons.
Whatever happens next with the last two hires on Herman’s staff needs to be made with the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex in mind.
No. 2 – The No. 1 recruiting story in the state of Texas in 2016-17...
OU is back.
For most of this decade, Bob Stoops has seemingly tried to eliminate the importance of the Lone Star State to his recruiting plan. Establishing tentacles in Florida, California, Nevada and other states compensated for the fact that the Sooners were probably weaker in recruiting the state of Texas than the program had ever been in the last 50 years.
A year ago, the Sooners signed a single four-star player from Texas and only two names on the Lone Star Recruiting Top 100 list. While the Sooners had a very strong class from Texas in 2015, only one of their top nine highest-rated signees from the 2014 class hailed from the state of Texas. If you don’t include the 2015 class, there was a three-year cycle for the Sooners that witnessed them sign a total of five four-star prospects from the Lone Star State.
For those of you scoring at home, that’s less than two per year.
Yet, all of that has changed in the 2017 class, as the Sooners have secured commitments from seven different four-star prospects from the state of Texas, with five of them hailing from the Metroplex. OU has more four-star commits from Texas, and in particular more four-stars from the Metroplex, than the Longhorns currently have in their own class.
Most seem to be sleeping on what the Sooners have done, probably because none of their commitments are from the group of five-stars that sit at the top of all recruiting lists, but this is a Sooners class that currently owns the No. 1 QB, No. 1 OG, No. 1 WR, No. 2 WR, No. 4 DB and No. 3 RB in the current Rivals.com rankings.
Stoops’ ability to carry this momentum from 2017 into 2018 is one of the things to keep a very close eye on in the coming months.
No. 3 – Under Armour Bowl provides a little sunshine …
If you didn’t catch a single play from the Under Armour All-American game on Sunday, don’t worry, you’re forgiven.
With its opening kickoff scheduled for exactly the same time the NFL kicked off week No. 17, garnering a ton of eyeballs didn’t appear to be a chief concern.
That being said, if you were watching the game, you probably had your first sports-created smile of the New Year if you’re a Longhorn fan.
On one hand, new Texas running back commit Toneil Carter was one of the game’s standouts on the offensive side of the ball. On the other hand, top defensive end target K’Lavon Chaisson might have been the most dominant defensive player in the entire game as a big-play creator off the edge.
With so much uncertainty at the running back situation going into next season because of injuries and the departure of D’Onta Foreman to the NFL, seeing Carter’s versatility, big-play ability and natural running back instincts made it easy to imagine the true freshman making a big first-year impact for Tom Herman.
You just can’t say enough about Texas’ good fortune of having Carter fall into its lap the way that he did because kids like him shouldn’t just fall out of the sky, but it happened.
And he’s really good. Really, really good.
Meanwhile, Chaisson is the most important defensive prospect left on the board for the Longhorns and he showed why on Sunday with constant pressure on the quarterback in collecting four sacks.
Yes, he’s a young man that could use a college off-season or two before he starts to see his true ceiling as a player, but you can’t teach what he brings to the table as a player off the edge. There were times on Sunday when he was flat out unblockable. With Texas currently sitting in his top two and probably in the pole position with a month to go until National Signing Day, those two kids serve as reasons for hope if you’re a Longhorns fan.
No. 4– Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...
… With Kirk Johnson’s status a total unknown, I could easily see Toneil Carter beating out Kyle Porter for the lead spot as the No. 2 back going into the season, which means he could really be a co-No. 1 if you believe Chris Warren’s ability to stay healthy/upside as a player are concerns going into 2017.
… Twelve different Texas offensive players scored touchdowns in 2016, while nine Alabama defensive players scored touchdowns. I don’t even know that the stat means anything other than Alabama has had a lot of defensive touchdowns this season, but I thought it was interesting, nonetheless.
… I’d have paid 20 bucks to be inside Tom Herman’s brain for a few minutes in the fourth quarter of Ohio State’s loss to Clemson on Saturday night.
... If Derek Warehime can unleash second-year offensive lineman Patrick Hudson in the next nine months, he'll be off to a good start in year one. The light switch never came on in 2016, but if it can occur in 2017, the makings of this Texas offensive line is quite promising.
... I have a feeling Erick Fowler will be a hot name in the spring.
… The Big 12 has a chance to be pretty damn good next year, especially with the two Oklahoma schools returning so many key parts. Kansas State will also be a handful.
No. 5 – Buy or sell …
BUY or SELL: The OC and RB position coaches are filled before Friday?
(Buy) First of all, great question. I’ve been going back and forth over it for about 10 minutes, which means that ultimately I think it happens within a two-day radius of a Friday benchmark. With the NFL regular season complete and Ohio State eliminated from the playoff, there’s not a lot holding Herman back at this point.
BUY or SELL: Herman hiring Tim Beck (if it happens) is the first little hiccup of Herman's otherwise solid first six weeks on the job?
(Sell) I say that because I think his chops as a recruiter in the state of Texas bring a unique set of skills that might be needed on this staff. If Herman believes that Beck is his guy and he’s not worried about any play-calling concerns, I’m not sure who is out there that brings more to the table. We’re talking about a guy that absolutely locked down Baron Browning and J.K. Dobbins this year from 17 hours and change away in a car ride.
BUY or SELL: Tim Beck was the mastermind behind that offensive gem we witnessed against Clemson?
(Sell) He’s a co-offensive coordinator with the Buckeyes, but Ed Warinner is the No. 1 voice among the co-coordinators and he’s the play caller. I have a hard time putting everything that happened this weekend on him.
BUY or SELL: The OB team's unanimous consensus on latest podcast that Herman should be trusted on selecting Beck as OC would be overturned in light of Beck's Disaster in the Desert?
(Sell) Either Herman is a rock star that knows what he’s doing or he’s not. I’m going with him being a rock star.
BUY or SELL: Texas will hire an AD in 2017?
(Buy) I believe the process will begin in the spring and conclude before the start of the football season.
BUY or SELL: 70℅ chance Texas makes playoffs in '19?
(Sell) I wouldn’t buy if the number was 50 percent.
BUY or SELL: Shane Buechele will be the best QB in Big 12 my mid-season next year, thanks in part, to Herman's tutelage?
(Sell) The No. 1 and No. 11 players in the country in terms of passing efficiency in 2016 are scheduled to return to the Big 12 in 2017. On top of that, I don’t even know if Buechele is going to hold off Sam Ehlinger.
BUY or SELL: Devin Duvernay has 10 or more TD catches in 2017?
(Sell) I’ll buy eight, though.
BUY or SELL: Patrick Vahe returns to his old groin-breaking, face-stabbing level and the combination of him, and the rest of the starting o-line actually becomes quite formidable?
(Sell) He hasn’t really been a plus-player at this level yet, although linemen usually take the big leap in year three, which he is set to enter in 2017.
BUY or SELL: Texas hoops finishes in the B12 cellar?
(Buy) Dare I say, it’s not even close.
No. 6 – The worst thing you can say about a Longhorn coach …
For the record, I am a Shaka Smart guy. I think he’s a coaching star and while there’s no question that he’s going through a wretched season, my expectations for him at Texas are still incredibly high.
Also, I fully acknowledge that there are some difficult circumstances in play that helped create the disaster that it is this season. It’s easier said than done to simply snap your fingers and have a quality point guard arrive out of thin air.
But, I stand by the comments that I made on Friday night for three reasons.
1. While Rick Barnes delivered some ugly basketball over the years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like the needles into eyeballs torture that this team is creating when we’re compelled to watch it. The closest thing to it in terms of pure ugliness was a Charlie Strong football team.
2. The point guard situation reminds me of the quarterback situation in that the inability to find an answer, no matter how hard finding that answer might have been, doomed this team before the season ever started. One of my biggest criticisms of Strong in his three years was his inability to treat the quarterback needs with more urgency. It’s only fair to hold Smart to the same type of no excuses, by any means necessary approach to finding an alternative answer that situation demands.
3. The bottom line is the bottom line and we’re midway through year two under Smart and the quality of basketball isn’t better than the brand of ball that got the previous coach fired, which is exactly the type of thing that was true about Strong in his second season.
You can argue with me all day or night that Smart and Strong are nothing alike and the situations are totally different, but I’ll maintain that those three points above justify me seeing similarities.
No. 7 – Damn, Dabo…
I never thought I would type these words, but … is Dabo Swinney the third best coach in college football?
Nick Saban is No. 1, Urban Meyer is No. 2 and … wait … are we sure that Dabo isn’t No. 2?
j/k … kind of.
Forgive me if you believe that I’m a victim of the moment, but Dabo is starting to stack up his resume quite nicely and there’s only one thing that’s missing, a truth that can be eliminated if his Tigers can find a way to beat Alabama next week.
What Dabo’s team did to a Meyer-led Buckeyes team on Saturday was jarring in how emphatic the statement was. That never happened to a Meyer led Buckeyes team or any Meyer-led team anywhere.
Once upon a time, I looked at Dabo as a little bit of a joke, a joke that could recruit his butt off, but still a joke. I think a lot of people shared that view, but the gag is on all of us because he’s emerging as a budding Hall of Fame coach that is performing at a level that trails only two coaches, one of whom he just exposed and the other up next.
It’s very close to being a Dabo world and we’ll all just be living in it.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… Can you imagine the meltdowns on Ohio State message boards on Saturday night?
… I feel like this Alabama defense is the college version of the Seahawks from three seasons ago. It’s like an NFL JV unit.
… Bo Scarbrough is fun.
… The gap between DeShaun Watson and Jalen Hurts is as wide as the difference between the Alabama and Clemson defenses … maybe wider.
… Well done, Jason Garrett. The player personnel was probably used as well as it could be on Sunday. The team’s most important assets were protected.
... No offense to the Texans fans, but that Oakland game looks like a dog of a game. The Texans kind of remind me of the Sixers a few years ago when they made the conference semi-finals because of Derrick Rose's first knee injury. They were one of the last eight teams left, but they weren't really anywhere close to winning a title.
... If you're Washington, you can't give Kirk Cousins a big deal next year, can you? Don't you have to make him prove with another year of sample size that he's worth a monster deal? What a collapse on Sunday.
… Tyreek Hill is woman-beater. He is also a difference-making superstar in the NFL right now. If New England doesn’t make the Super Bowl, I get the sense that he could be a big reason why.
… It’s almost impossible to grasp the 53 points, 16 rebounds and 17 assists that James Harden posted against the Knicks on New Year’s Eve. Who could have ever guessed that Mike D’Antoni masterpiece wouldn’t be Steve Nash?
… Let’s all help Joel Embiid hook up with his girl crush.
… A few thoughts on UFC207
a. Right before the start of Amanda Nunes’ 48-second destruction of the artist formally known as Ronda Rousey, UFC commentator Joe Rogan mentioned that both women liked to come out of the opening bell like bats shot out of hell and a little voice went off inside my head that said, “Uh oh, that sounds like that could be a very bad thing for Ronda. There’s no way this fight is going to last two minutes.”
Then, the fight started and it went down just like Joe said it would. Both fighters came out ready to throw hands without much regard to game-plans, which means for the second straight fight, Ronda just kind of forgot who she is and what her strengths are.
And she got knocked out again. Badly. Emphatically. Embarrassingly.
And with that 48 second-humiliation (that did earn her at least a million bucks for every 16 seconds she lasted in the fight), you get the sense that the only thing left at this point is retirement. The days of headlining pay-per-views is over, a little more than a year after her invincibility went out the window.
As dominant as she was at her peak, the speed with which she has crashed down to earth from the stratosphere has left a destroyed competitive soul that is barely recognizable.
You have to wonder … will she even pop her head out into public in 2017?
b. Nunes is a bad woman. I don’t know that I’m ever going to pay $59.95 to see her headline a pay-per-view (maybe I will, I dunno), but I don’t doubt that she’s going to go on a run of success in her weight class for the next few years.
c. Cody Garbrandt didn’t just beat Dominick Cruz, he pretty much destroyed him with a combination of power and class. You could have sold me that he could win the fight by knocking Cruz out, but I didn’t see that domination coming from 10 miles away. Wow.
d. I can’t wait to see a Garbrandt/TJ Dillashaw match in 2017. That might be the fight I’m looking forward to the most in the New Year. The bad blood between Dillashaw and Team Alpha Male, which Garbrandt is a member of and Dillashaw was until the last year or so, is very, very real.
e. I hate to say this because I’m a Johny Hendricks fan, but he’s toast. I’m not even sure he’s a top 10 guy in his weight class at this point. With the power gone from his punching, he’s a boring, not very dangerous one-trick pony.
f. UFC208 in Brooklyn looks like hot trash. No way I’m being talked into that one.
… Huge win for my beloved Reds over the weekend with a 1-0 triumph over Man City. Jurgen Klopp’s boys didn’t play anywhere close to an A-level game, but they grinded out the kind of defensive-first win that is supposed to be beyond this team’s grasp when playing Top Four competition. Now, let’s go out and beat Sunderland 43 hours later on the road and enjoy the next 13 days of rest.
… Is Chelsea playing the best soccer in Europe right now? You’d have to rate Real Madrid at No. 1 at the moment, but I’m not sure anyone else is in better form than the Blues heading into the New Year.
… Paul Pogba is about to have a monster second half of the season for Man United.
… Tottenham is hitting its stride. That game against Chelsea on Wednesday is all kinds of fascinating.
… What we’re going to learn about Swansea City the rest of this season is that Bob Bradley wasn’t really the problem, even if he also wasn’t the solution.
… Goal of the Year.
No. 9 – This and That ...
… Thing that annoys me that might just be a me issue: Being told that I’m hard to shop for. Just ask me.
… RIP George Michael, we’re all going to miss your kind and giving heart.
… My top five George Michael songs: 1. Careless Whisper. 2. Father Figure 3. Everything She Wants 4. Don’t Let the Sun Go Down 5. Praying for Time.
… Mariah Carey didn’t give 2016 the kind of ending it wanted, but she sure did give 2016 the ending it deserved.
… Drake and Jennifer Lopez are officially an item. Matter of time, right?
… Give me my Game of Thrones Season Seven, damnit!
… My updated Oscars rankings (based on movie that I have seen)
Best Picture
1. Arrival
2. Manchester by the Sea
3. Miss Sloane
4. Moonlight
5. Hell or High Water
6. Sully
7. Allied
8. Birth of a Nation
9. Queen of Katwe
10. Snowden
Best Actor
1. Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Tom Hanks (Sully)
3. Chris Pine (Hell or High Water)
4. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Snowden)
5. Nate Parker (Birth of a Nation)
Best Actress
1. Jessica Chastain (Miss Sloane)
2. Amy Adams (Arrival)
3. Marion Cotillard (Allied)
4. Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
5. Madina Nalwanga (Queen of Katwe)
Best Supporting Actor
1. Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
2. Andre Holland (Moonlight)
3. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
4. Aaron Eckhart (Sully)
5. Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Best Supporting Actress
1. Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Naomi Harris (Moonlight)
3. Gugu Mbatha Raw (Miss Sloane)
4. Lupita Nyong’o (Queen of Katwe)
5. Aja Naomi King (Birth of a Nation)
Best Director
1. Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
3. Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
4. David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water)
5. John Madden (MIss Sloane)
No. 10 - And finally …
After seeing Rogue One last week, it's time to update the Star Wars Power Rankings.
1. Epsiode 5: The Empire Strikes Back
2. Episode 7: The Force Awakens
3. Episode 4: Star Wars
4. Episode 6: Return of the Jedi
5. Episode 3.5: Rogue One
6. Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
7. Episode 2: Attack of the Clones
8. Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
p.s. I have as much of a problem with Hayden Christensen as I do Jar Jar Binks. I can't help it. Revenge of the Sith would have been higher on the list if I could get beyond that.
