There's no reason to mince words here at the top.
In the first 10 months on the job leading into the season, Tom Herman warranted an A-grade for his performance off the field with respect to his role as CEO of the program. From recruiting to social media presence to high school coaching relationship building to getting facility upgrades in full-swing, Herman knocked it out of the park for the most part.
In the first nine weeks of the actual football season, the performance has been very underwhelming.
How underwhelming?
Well, his teams play hard and with much more effort than Charlie Strong's Island of Misfit Teams, but outside of moral victories and mostly avoiding the big butt-kickings, the Herman impact on the field has been uninspiring. When those in the Texas administration that supported his hire fought for him, the expectation was that his hire would forever eliminate the issues of ugly offensive football that have plagued the program for almost the entirety of this decade.
He was hired to fix it. Period.
It hasn't happened. Far from it, actually.
I'm not making any hyperbolic claims. I'm not ignoring the impact of his off-field accomplishments. All I'm saying is that we're nine weeks into this season, the team is 4-5 and isn't making the kind of strides late in the year that most expected.
It's all been pretty meh.
No. 2 – The elephant in the room ...
Late in the game on Saturday night, moments before TCU scored its final touchdown with an all-too predictable defensive bust after the defense had played so well for 80-percent of the game, a thought flashed in my head that stopped me in my tracks.
It wasn't something that hasn't been discussed before, but for whatever reason it hit me like a ton of bricks as Gary Patterson sucked the life out of the game like a parent that lets the air out of a balloon because they feel like their child has played with that balloon enough.
Forgive me for the all-caps, but ... IT'S BEEN EIGHT YEARS OF THIS!
EIGHT. Eight. eight. 8. 4+4.
The reality of it all just washed over me.
"My God, this thing is approaching a decade. F*** me."
Seconds later, TCU scored to send the final dagger into the heart of Tom Herman's team and I couldn't help but think of all of you, especially those of you that I've known on this site for almost 20 years. If I'm feeling like this, what must all of you be feeling in this exact moment of exasperation?
Suddenly, I started thinking of the quarterbacks in those years ... Garrett Gilbert, Case McCoy, David Ash, Tyrone Swoopes, Jerrod Heard, Shane Buechele ... there's been so much false hope at every turn.
It's just been rough to watch and I know it's been tough for you guys to accept.
I don't really have anything profound to add to this, other than to say that I feel you guys and more than anything, I appreciate you being in the Orangebloods family when the very passion that makes everyone sign up in the first place has been battered for far too long of a stretch of time.
Believe me, I appreciate the hell out of you guys, perhaps never more so than on Saturday night.
Good grief ... e-i-g-h-t y-e-a-r-s.
No. 3 – I said it a week ago ...
You can't be too safe when it comes to concussions. I don't care what anyone says, three days of concussion-free symptoms opening the door for a return to football is simply not responsible and I feel emboldened in making the comment after hearing Tom Herman confirm that Sam Ehlinger suffered complications from his concussion issues from the last two weeks AFTER he was cleared to resume football activities.
Count me in the crowd that believes that Ehlinger should be shut down for the rest of the season, so that he can have a full year to get right before testing the waters in another full-contact setting. Let him get right and put him in a position where he can truly put this behind him with some time on his side. The risk just isn't worth the reward in any capacity at this point.
I don't care if the doctors clear him because they've been getting this wrong for decades and they seemingly got it wrong again last week.
No. 4 - One thing I would do if I was Tom Herman ...
Search under every rock and tree in the JUCO scene for more offensive linemen. It won't be easy, but it has to be done because if there's one really concerning thing about the 2018 season, it's the reality that immediate help might not be on the way from the ranks inside the program.
If Connor Williams returns next season as I expect that he will, how many linemen do you feel good about riding with from the current linemen in the program? Two? Three?
Connor Williams, Derek Kerstetter and Patrick Vahe?
Denzel Okafor is a work in progress to say the least. Patrick Hudson is coming off of a major injury. There aren't any other big-time prospects waiting in the wings.
What this program currently has on the books for 2018 with this position isn't good enough.
No. 5 – Three really good things that happened on defense against TCU ...
a. The Malcolm Roach of 2017 looked a lot like the Malcolm Roach of 2016 for maybe the first time this season.
b. Very quietly, Gary Johnson might have had his best extended snaps performance of the season.
c. Antwuan Davis replaced P.J. Locke and no one even noticed.
No. 6 - Gary Patterson delivers the velvet sledgehammer ...
Poor little TCU.
Just a poor little squirrel trying to find an acorn, while owning a 153-33 edge over everyone else's perception in the last four years.
I see you working, Daddy.
No. 7 – Buy or Sell …
BUY or SELL: There will be 5 or more de-commitments from the current 2018 class before the first signing date in December?
(Sell) Recruiting is and will be fine for the most part.
BUY or SELL: We have enough offense to outscore Tech and make a bowl game?
(Buy) Tech is garbage. Texas is at least good enough to handle garbage.
BUY or SELL: Beck finishes the year calling plays?
(Buy) Tom Herman does not view Beck as his biggest problem. He's view Beck as a guy that has been dealt terrible circumstances.
BUY or SELL: Off-season attrition will be higher than normal?
(Sell) Normal around here is one of the highest attrition numbers per year of any school in the nation over the last decade.
BUY or SELL: Roschon Johnson will walk on campus and almost instantly be the best QB option Texas will have had since Colt ?
(Sell) Maybe, but I'm not ready to say that.
BUY or SELL: Tom gives Jerrod a shot at QB, for a full game, at some point over these last few games?
(Sell) Not unless he's out of healthy options.
BUY or SELL: Last week you said Tim Beck should be given credit for a good performance by his players, and therefore this week it reasonable for Texas fans and you to call him out for a very poor performance?
(Buy) Of course.
BUY or SELL: Texas will hire an AD before the 2018 football season?
(Buy) I think.
BUY or SELL: Our offensive design is more difficult both to learn and to execute. Put another way, if we ran a version of the air raid, we would see partial ineptitude, and not complete ineptitude?
(Buy) Texas has been trying to force square pegs into round holes all season.
No. 8 – If I had a vote that mattered ...
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Notre Dame
4. Oklahoma
5. Clemson
6. TCU
7. Wisconsin
8. Miami
9. Washington
10. Auburn
No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... Never before has Bedlam been more Bedlam that it was on Saturday. Man, Oklahoma fans have to love having a head coach that can call plays and lead his offense to 62 points on the road against a top 10 team.
... Baker Mayfield for Heisman ... I think it's going to happen.
... The Big 10 is full of slightly above average teams it seems and very little else.
... As a football fan, I found myself missing Deshaun Watson on Sunday. The Texans have gone from must-watch to barely watchable.
... For the first time this season, the Dallas Cowboys impressed the hell out of me. That was a big-boy performance.
... I was wrong about Carson Wentz. Way wrong. He good.
... Dear New York Giants, what the hell was THAT?
... A.J. Green definitely watched UFC217 this weekend.
... Speaking of UFC217, a few thoughts: George St Pierre was going to get knocked out if that fight went five more minutes. I'm not knocking him at all because it was a brilliant performance for him, but the tank was starting to empty right before he went in for the finish. Man, I'm guessing T.J. Dillashaw slept well on Saturday night. You KNOW that meant a lot to him. Damn, Rose! You go, girl!
No. 10 – And Finally…
This tweet kind of spoke to exactly what I was feeling all day on Sunday. The people that were slaughtered at a place of worship deserve better than for us to have moved on by next Sunday. My heart aches for each and every family that had its world shattered today. I wish we were better.
