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Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (How to get to nine wins in 2016)

People overstate the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. The conference as whole is losing a ton of talent, especially up front.

- Notre Dame is losing their top RB, their top OL (although that group should still be really good), 4 starters from their front seven, including meta-human Jaylon Smith and 2 from the secondary
- Cal is losing their QB, RB, 2 WR's, 2 OL starters, 2 DL starters and 2 in the secondary.
- OU is losing 4 of their 5 starters along the OL, 3 along the DL/front seven including their 2 most productive players.
- TCU is losing their QB, RB, 2 WR's, 4 of 5 OL starters and 2 DL starters.
- Baylor is losing their top WR, 4 of 5 OL starters, all 4 DL starters and their MLB

Whether we have the man power to make to advantage of all that can be debated, but it's it not nearly as daunting of a schedule as people are making it out to be. Outside of OU and Notre Dame, no one else on the schedule recruits at a high enough level to really 're-load' from that type of attrition.
 
Negative: Charlie Strong is not Bill Snyder. Tyrone Swoopes is not Colin Klein.
Positive: You always open my ears to new music. Thanks. Some of the lyrics in those songs are profound.
Net: I think I like Merle Haggard more than Texas football.
 
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The passing offense this season will be markedly better and will reveal with even more clarity how horrific of a coach Shawn Watson is. We are think he is poor. We will know without question this fall that he is a bad an offensive coach as there is in the country.
 
"… Danny Willett seems like a good dude and he’s a hell of a player, but I’m sorry, he reminds me of Theon Greyjoy every time I look at him."

I thought this as well. lmao

Thanks for the thoughts. great read as usual

hookem
 
People overstate the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. The conference as whole is losing a ton of talent, especially up front.
A team that was 5-7 a year ago plays as many as 5 teams that might be top 15 when they play them.

And in almost all of those cases, Texas will probably have a disadvantage at quarterback.
 
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Well, in order to achieve the stature you think they can reach, they'll have to perform better than the players we know eventually reached that status at Texas.

Garrett Gilbert left quite a mark on you didn't he?
 
To continue, last year at this time you were buying my notion that the OL would be improved over the unit from '14. And yes, it's obviously about "relatively speaking" but it simply was. Now that we've finally dumped the last 2 remaining members of the dreadful '14 unit, I'm VERY positive the OL will continue to show marked improvement.
 
Ketch,

More of a chat question than anything

Take coaching out of the equation (I know systems are everything but) and look strictly at the roster, would you trade with anyone else in the Big 12 conference right now? Maybe Baylor and OU....but that's only a maybe for either.
 
The passing offense this season will be markedly better and will reveal with even more clarity how horrific of a coach Shawn Watson is. We are think he is poor. We will know without question this fall that he is a bad an offensive coach as there is in the country.

Shawn Watson found a job in charge of Quality Control of the offense at the University of Indiana.
I guess his West Coast offense resume didn't fly too well.
 
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Shawn Watson found a job in charge of Quality Control of the offense at the University of Indiana.
I guess his West Coast offense resume didn't fly too well.
I'll never forget Shawn admitting he didn't know the offense he was installing that last year all that well, but he was having fun nonetheless.

smh.
 
To continue, last year at this time you were buying my notion that the OL would be improved over the unit from '14. And yes, it's obviously about "relatively speaking" but it simply was. Now that we've finally dumped the last 2 remaining members of the dreadful '14 unit, I'm VERY positive the OL will continue to show marked improvement.
It's the "marked" improvement that I'm not sure about. I think it might be average, but a slightly better average.
 
Ketch,

More of a chat question than anything

Take coaching out of the equation (I know systems are everything but) and look strictly at the roster, would you trade with anyone else in the Big 12 conference right now? Maybe Baylor and OU....but that's only a maybe for either.
The quarterback play/position matters so much in college football.
 
It's the "marked" improvement that I'm not sure about. I think it might be average, but a slightly better average.

The substraction of Flowers and Doyle can't be anything other than marked addition.
 
A team that was 5-7 a year ago plays as many as 5 teams that might be top 15 when they play them.

And in almost all of those cases, Texas will probably have a disadvantage at quarterback.
They might be ranked top 15, but the only 2 who could remotely be considered as being one of the top 15 teams in the country, are Notre Dame and OU. Maybe OSU as well. I don't really care where TCU or Baylor are penciled in the rankings, they both lose entirely too much and don't recruit at level that allows them to just reload.
 
It can't? Feels like we've said that about the OL for a decade now.

Yes. It can't. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Flowers was our worst regular starter on the OL in that timespan. And not sure Doyle was that far ahead. It's a scientific impossibility that their replacements aren't better.
 
I'll never forget Shawn admitting he didn't know the offense he was installing that last year all that well, but he was having fun nonetheless.

smh.
Yet the offense he did know and install the prior year was horrific - as it also was at Nebraska. Only a first round NFL talent at QB could make him look competent.
 
2. Charlie Strong really likes this team. Over the last two months, there have been whispers from those who know Strong that suggest he is very bullish on the season and isn’t nearly as concerned about this team’s question marks as say ... well … me. If Strong really felt like there was a chance his team would embarrass him, I think he’d have told his superiors that everyone should just leave things alone. All signs point to Strong embracing the raised stakes.

Charlie Strong also thought that Shawn Watson was the right man for the job heading into year 2 and thought he would see an up-tempo spread offense in the Notre Dame game last year. I can't say I trust Strong's opinion of how his own team will look on opening night. Self-analysis is not one of his better skills.
 
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Yes. It can't. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Flowers was our worst regular starter on the OL in that timespan. And not sure Doyle was that far ahead. It's a scientific impossibility that their replacements aren't better.
Is it scientifically possible that they will essentially be the same?
 
Charlie Strong also thought that Shawn Watson was the right man for the job heading into year 2 and thought he would see an up-tempo spread offense in the Notre Dame game last year. I can't say I trust Strong's opinion of how his own team will look on opening night. Self-analysis is not one of his better skills.
I sometimes think that he wants it so bad that he's willing to believe anything in order to answer his thirst for wanting it so bad.
 
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I think scientifically might mean something different to you than it does to me.;)

My source.
Neil--deGrasse-Tyson.jpg
 
I'm just not as bullish on this team and for reasons that can be explain in 7 letters: QB, OL, DL, K
Until I see results, I am putting HC into that alphabet soup of reasons to remain grounded with this year's expectations. Up to this point, it has been a categorical fail for Strong in every significant area of the program save for recruiting. But yeah, we can get nine wins with concerns in all of those groups.
 
@Ketchum...as much as talent, coaching, schemes, etc....the question is whether a team who has gotten used to mediocrity can learn to win. Can they learn the discipline of doing the right thing every time, not just some of the time? Can they learn to excel when pressure is on? Can they make plays at winning time? These will be the things that turn a six win team to a nine win team...or at least play a large role in it.
 
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I'll never forget Shawn admitting he didn't know the offense he was installing that last year all that well, but he was having fun nonetheless.

smh.

I'll never forget people thinking the offense would be fine, even though two position coaches were brought in as Watson's training wheels instead of firing his ass at the Texas Bowl.

Even worse is the whole operation was aborted as soon as the season started in South Bend.
 
… Danny Willett seems like a good dude and he’s a hell of a player, but I’m sorry, he reminds me of Theon Greyjoy every time I look at him.

There you go. Couldn't put my finger on it but you nailed it.
 
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