Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Spitballing all weekend)

[NativeTex]

I recall quite a bit of angst around Patterson. Most if not all on here preferred Oliver Luck. Still, at the time I thought anything would be better than what Dodds was at the end. Shaka had some doubters too, but then again many of the guys that were most popular (Greg Marshall, Sean Miller, Buzz Williams) haven't exactly proven they would have been amazing hires either.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and change is always welcome. I do think it's interesting you included Del Conte. I think he has been a tremendous hire when I look at the coaching hires he has made and the improvements to the campus experience on gameday. I know there have been some mistakes too, but I think before too long there won't be many left complaining about him. Guess we will see.

Exactly. Then after they were both interviewed, word came out that Luck was aloof and oddly demanding in his interview, that he would not deal with the Mack Brown issue, and wanted him fired before Luck came in. OTOH, Patterson was described as having been brilliant in his interview, blew everyone away, but many posters pointed out his obvious flaws. Then he screwed us blind, in a manner that left a lasting legacy of mediocrity and limited choices for quick improvement.

For me personally, I was not sold on CDC at the time. It seemed a target hire, without much thought being given to conducting a search (with or without Corn Ferries), and having a set of criteria the new AD ought to have on his resume. I'm still not sold.

 

[Ketchum]

The cool part is that even if you don't really know the sport (me), you can see them improve week over week. They may or may not win it all, but they're fun to watch, and they're very good.

It's nice that the bar for success for them is winning it all and it's realistic.

 

[Ketchum]

I completely agree. It's the difference between trying to be a good influence and being a dictator. You guys do a pretty good job walking that line - as evidenced by the fact that you usually have detractors on both sides of the discussion.

And it's a murky, hard to see line that we have to guess with a lot of the times.

It's why I pushed back so hard against the suggestion.

 

[Ketchum]

Exactly. Then after they were both interviewed, word came out that Luck was aloof and oddly demanding in his interview, that he would not deal with the Mack Brown issue, and wanted him fired before Luck came in. OTOH, Patterson was described as having been brilliant in his interview, blew everyone away, but many posters pointed out his obvious flaws. Then he screwed us blind, in a manner that left a lasting legacy of mediocrity and limited choices for quick improvement.

For me personally, I was not sold on CDC at the time. It seemed a target hire, without much thought being given to conducting a search (with or without Corn Ferries), and having a set of criteria the new AD ought to have on his resume. I'm still not sold.

They wanted Patterson because he said he's do any dirty work that was needed. When he did the dirty work, everyone turned on him because his dirty work didn't come in the form of a charming package.

 

[fidozam]

If you haven't yet, check out Good Lord Bird. Ethan Hawke is killing it as John Brown.

 

[Ketchum]

Just so we're clear...

James Brown the same number of conference championships as a starter as VY, Colt McCoy, Simms, Applewhite and Ehlinger COMBINED.

 

[RLong68]

It was kind of hard to watch college football this weekend and not notice that half the schedule was wiped out because of COVID.

I literally watched ZERO CFB this weekend. I couldn't even tell you who was or wasn't playing.

 

[Ketchum]

I literally watched ZERO CFB this weekend. I couldn't even tell you who was or wasn't playing.

You missed very little.

 

[RLong68]

With four or five games left in his career, his place on my list of the top Texas quarterbacks of all-time seems cemented.

1. Vince Young.
2. Colt McCoy
3. James Street
4. James Brown
5. Bobby Layne
6. Sam Ehlinger
7. Chris Simms
8. Major Applewhite

The list hasn't changed a bit since the start of the 2019 season, which is disappointing for everyone because cracking the top four seemed possible 20 months ago and that it hasn't occurred speaks to the heights that haven't been reached.

Sam shouldn't be above Simms and Major. Ehlinger is an interesting case study of Texas fans. I've said it for some time that Sam would get a LOT more leeway from Texas fans because of circumstances completely unrelated to Texas football. And I think that's showing itself to be accurate. Given his disappointing play this season, if Sam had a different set of personal circumstances in his history, people would be much more down on him.

 

[Center1]

You don't really know that.

CFP has devalued conference championships. The top recruits value.
1. NFL pathway.
2. CFP.
3. Relationships. (Show me love)

 

[Ketchum]

CFP has devalued conference championships. The top recruits value.
1. NFL pathway.
2. CFP.
3. Relationships. (Show me love)

Recruiting is much more fluid in terms of reasoning than a top three list like that would indicate.

 

[Mi Rey]

Just because your 7-3 prediction is looking pretty good at this point, doesn't mean that you're not generally still a 'misguided worrywart'.

 

[Ketchum]

Just because your 7-3 prediction is looking pretty good at this point, doesn't mean that you're not generally still a 'misguided worrywart'.

That's 100-percent fair.

 

[samthehorn]

Recruits don't care about a big 12 title. Ou sux has won many and that has done little for them.

Wrong coach. Wrong time. Wrong results.

UM there for the taking. Money is there. No brainer.

Otherwise, RIP Texas football.

Well stated

 

[RLong68]

... It feels like Dustin Johnson is going to be this decade's Phil Mickelson, as the sports world will spend a lot of his career focused on what he didn't do and then one day you'll look up and he'll have four or five majors baked inside of a Hall of Fame career. After this weekend's win at The Masters, Johnson is basically half-way there.

Not sure that's really accurate of Lefty. Once he got that first major at Augusta in '04 (23rd overall W), his perception began to go more positively. Yes, he carries the same career US Open as Slammin' Sammy Snead, including that '06 meltdown, but going back at least 10 years when he won his 4th major and 3rd green jacket (Win #38), people putting much firmly has easily the second best golfer of his generation and from a pure results standpoint, just outside top 10 of all-time. Then there was his subsequent epic win in the '13 Open Championship with one of the greatest final rounds in majors history.

Sure, Johnson may be "basically half-way there," but that second half will be no walk in the park. I'd say Johnson has about a legit 5 year window to make more hay. To be clear, he already is probably no less than 4th/5th best in the Tiger Era (last 25 years). But getting to Lefty's 44 wins and 5 majors might be a bridge too far. But we'll see. DJ most certainly has a consistently high track record going back back nearly a decade in 3 of the 4 majors so he would project to have more than his share of chances. The Open Championship is one that he has struggled with much more in that time frame.

 

[samthehorn]

Is any of this UM talk even real?

I really believe if it wasn’t real that Meyer would have made some comment that would shoot the rumors down. He has only made A few veiled comments that lead me to believe he is on board with coming to Texas. I hope I’m not pipe dreaming

 

[RLong68]

CFP has devalued conference championships. The top recruits value.
1. NFL pathway.
2. CFP.
3. Relationships. (Show me love)

Always strikes me as odd that people want to dismiss conference championships while saying the CFP is much more important even though it's real f'n hard to make the CFP WITHOUT winning a conference title. To date, 3 of 24 CFP teams didn't win their conference, and one of them was Domer which obviously is not in a conference. Sorry, but you can't way the CFP has "devalued" conference titles given just how f'n important they are to making the CFP.

 

[RLong68]

And Simms>James Brown

 

[RLong68]

Simms>Ehlinger

No.

Yes.

 

[jessed50]

Sam shouldn't be above Simms and Major. Ehlinger is an interesting case study of Texas fans. I've said it for some time that Sam would get a LOT more leeway from Texas fans because of circumstances completely unrelated to Texas football. And I think that's showing itself to be accurate. Given his disappointing play this season, if Sam had a different set of personal circumstances in his history, people would be much more down on him.

Disagree on Applewhite. After watching way too many old games on YouTube during quarantine, Applewhite is easily the most overrated Texas football player of all time. I would say his diminutive stature and fierce competitive nature, won him more leeway for his many times below average play than Sam. The amount of talent that surrounded him was absurd, and the quality of coaching isn’t comparable.

They do share the common trait of being horrendously inaccurate until the 4th quarter of games.

 

[RLong68]

Recruits don't care about a big 12 title. Ou sux has won many and that has done little for them.

Besides get them into 4 of the last 5 CFPs?

 

[RLong68]

Disagree on Applewhite. After watching way too many old games on YouTube during quarantine, Applewhite is easily the most overrated Texas football player of all time. I would say his diminutive stature and fierce competitive nature, won him more leeway for his many times below average play than Sam. The amount of talent that surrounded him was absurd, and the quality of coaching isn’t comparable.

They do share the common trait of being horrendously inaccurate until the 4th quarter of games.

Just to clarify, I for sure thought Simms was the better QB than Applewhite. I don't really disagree that Applewhite very overrated. JMO though, that I can't put Sam above Applewhite yet.

 

[jessed50]

@Ketchum, a couple of series you should start...

Utopia and Wayne

Also did you not like The Boys or Mandalorian?

 

[RLong68]

Is Jim Harbaugh college football’s Jordan Spieth?

Jordan Spieth has 3 majors. What are Harbaugh's? One NFC title?

 

[RLong68]

More like is Tom Herman the Jordan Spieth?

Wut?

 

[heygents]

Comparing Texas to OU in this instance isn't applicable.

I think the evidence it is working for OU in recruiting is in the fact that they are about to have their 5th straight top 10 class, potentially their second top 5 class in 3 years, and they have to recruit to the meth capital, crap school, crap city vs. Texas recruiting to a world class academic institution in one of the best cities in America.

 

[RLong68]

You know what Simms' career passing numbers look like, right?

I say that as a Simms stan.

Quite honestly, it's not very nuanced comparing QB stat numbers from 2 different eras. But I'll give you Sam's career numbers along with another, unnamed QB's college numbers:

Sam - 10, 700 pass yds. 62.4 comp %. 90 TD/27 ints. 143.7 passer rating.

Unnamed QB - 11,700 pass yds. 61 comp %. 90TD/45 ints. 132.5 passer rating.

So based on that you're taking Sam over said unnamed QB?

 

[RLong68]

At the time Muschamp was named HCIW, there were parties on this board as it was almost universally celebrated. In fact, I don't remember a single post complaining about it, which struck me at the time because that almost never happens. Muschamp was an absolute rock star and seen as the next Saban. We were scared shitless another program would make him a head coach after the 2009 season.

Honestly, this is pretty damn accurate. Much like 4 years ago Thanksgiving weekend when 98%, at worst, was jumping for joy over the hire of Herman. Sh*t happens. We didn't want to lose Muschamp. We didn't want to miss out on Mensa.

 

[FtBendHorn]

It's really annoying to try and read an article with a annoying loud five below ad repeating over and over. This is a premium pay site and shouldn't have disruptive audio ads. Keep this up and I'm out of here when my renewal is up in five weeks.

 

[RLong68]

Steve Edmond/Edmonds comes to mind. Still don't know that dudes name but Muschamp championed him and would not normally be a caliber of player we would even look at. Don't remember him being anything but JAG caliber player.

Steve Edmond was a top 30 player/6.0. Rest assured Steve Edmond is not the guy that should come to mind. Now Patrick Nkwopara is probably someone that might come to mind.