ADVERTISEMENT

Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Very good isn't good enough)

(Buy) I've been as critical of Del Conte as just about anyone, but I'll be the first to say that he's also very, very good at a key number of aspects of his job. What he's done as a fundraiser should never be underestimated.

Probably less critical than me. And I will certainly say my biggest criticism was lack of desire to fire folks which he emphatically countered with the football and basketball hires. And quite frankly, his hiring of Beard was the boldest hire in the history of UT athletics when you consider all the circumstances. So certainly kudos to CDC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: txfight and coopdog
I'm going to keep asking that question until Texas takes that next step. Hopefully, for all us, Sarkisian has the answer
It's a fair question to ask. If this were a group of non-Texas fans, they'd be laughing at the notion of talking about dethroning OU before the other thing has happened first.
 
The last steps are the hardest to take.

I'm not sure that Texas is nearly as close as some of you believe. The "we almost did it three years ago" mantra reveals a lot in an unintentional way.
To be clear: I don't think we are close to playoff, much less natty, contention.

I do, however, think we have been held back by a moribund scheme and anemic game planning/play calling. I do think we have the talent on campus to field a much better, more exciting and more competitive product on the field next year.

The steps we need to be looking at are:
1) Separate ourselves from the rest of the conference (besides OU) as one of the two clear big dogs in the B12. Despite Iowa State being the best they will probably ever be, we might do this in 2021, and it should certainly be within our grasp by 2022.
2) Get back to beating OU more often than not. What I really mean here is that when we beat OU it should not be an upset, and when they beat us it should be. We are definitely at least 2-3 years away from this one.
3) NOW we can start thinking about winning the conference and getting a playoff spot. Again, optimistically this is a 2-3 year goal at least
4) Until we do the above, all the talk of what it takes to be a Natty contender is just a little silly.

So yeah @Ketchum I agree we are not close to the end goal. But I do think we can make major progress within the B12 in the immediate future, and I think we absolutely need to do that now if we want to be in a position to get our recruiting up to the standard of a truly national contender.

** edit: It would be a huge help if we could improve quickly enough to keep from getting totally pantsed by Bama when that home and home rolls around. We don't need to win, we just need to be competitive and look better than Aggsy against them.
 
@DrothmanII and @Ketchum what's the story with Dr. Richard Reddick. I'm out of the loop. He falsified info in The Eyes of Texas Report that exonerated the song?
 
  • Like
Reactions: harrylime
To be clear: I don't think we are close to playoff, much less natty, contention.

I do, however, think we have been held back by a moribund scheme and anemic game planning/play calling. I do think we have the talent on campus to field a much better, more exciting and more competitive product on the field next year.

The steps we need to be looking at are:
1) Separate ourselves from the rest of the conference (besides OU) as one of the two clear big dogs in the B12. Despite Iowa State being the best they will probably ever be, we might do this in 2021, and it should certainly be within our grasp by 2022.
2) Get back to beating OU more often than not. What I really mean here is that when we beat OU it should not be an upset, and when they beat us it should be. We are definitely at least 2-3 years away from this one.
3) NOW we can start thinking about winning the conference and getting a playoff spot. Again, optimistically this is a 2-3 year goal at least
4) Until we do the above, all the talk of what it takes to be a Natty contender is just a little silly.

So yeah @Ketchum I agree we are not close to the end goal. But I do think we can make major progress within the B12 in the immediate future, and I think we absolutely need to do that now if we want to be in a position to get our recruiting up to the standard of a truly national contender.

** edit: It would be a huge help if we could improve quickly enough to keep from getting totally pantsed by Bama when that home and home rolls around. We don't need to win, we just need to be competitive and look better than Aggsy against them.
I agree with all of that, especially if it was apples to apples. This staff lifts last year's team to a better finish line IMO.

My concern is that this team isn't as good on paper as last year's at this point and there are some major personnel concerns that I'm still not sure get answered in ways that lead to more than a game of improvement in the W/L column.
 
Get at least 3 five stars every cycle or you won’t be in the playoffs.
5-Stars Signed by Notre Dame
2009 -- 1
2010 -- 0
2011 -- 2
2012 -- 1
* Played in the 2012 season National Championship Game
2013 -- 4
2014 -- 1
2015 -- 0
2016 -- 1
2017 -- 0
2018 -- 0
* Played in the 2018 season College Football Playoffs
2019 -- 0
2020 -- 1
* Played in the 2020 season College Football Playoffs
2021 -- 1

5-Stars Signed by Oklahoma
2012 -- 1
2013 -- 0
2014 -- 1
2015 -- 0
* Played in the 2015 season College Football Playoffs
2016 -- 1
2017 -- 0
* Played in the 2017 season College Football Playoffs
2018 -- 1
* Played in the 2018 season College Football Playoffs
2019 -- 4
* Played in the 2019 season College Football Playoffs
2020 -- 0
2021 -- 3

I get your point, which is that talent is critical to competing for Championships. But, Notre Dame and OU have made the playoffs MANY times without ever coming even remotely close to the quantity of 5-stars you're saying are necessary. And you can add Michigan State and Washington to that list as well. If our coaches are worth their salt, Texas will be in the playoffs even without a bevy of 5-stars. But, you'd be spot on if you said you're not hoisting the National Championship Trophy without averaging at least 3 5-stars per class.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Let em Hang
I agree with all of that, especially if it was apples to apples. This staff lifts last year's team to a better finish line IMO.

My concern is that this team isn't as good on paper as last year's at this point and there are some major personnel concerns that I'm still not sure get answered in ways that lead to more than a game of improvement in the W/L column.
I couldn't agree more. The schedule sets up for a potentially tough season. I'm less concerned with the W/L outcome than with the actual product on the field.

I'm expecting an aggressive offense that will do a better job of attacking weaknesses in opposing defenses. I'm also expecting growing pains with a new QB and a lot of uncertainty in the OL/WR corps. Possibly some costly turnovers due to inexperience at QB combined with an aggressive scheme. But I'd rather the offense fail boldly than go turtle.

I'm also expecting improvement and a more aggressive defense, with some concerns at LB and in the secondary (the talent is there in the backfield, but can we translate it to productivity?) I also expect the D to be in a few sudden change situations as we work out the kinks in the offense.

What I'm hoping for is (1) cleaner, more disciplined play, (2) a more aggressive and fun style of play on both sides of the ball, and (3) hopefully a team that's not afraid to run up big numbers and lopsided wins when they get a chance. I really like that Sark understands football is meant to be fun - I want to see our guys play to their potential and have a great time doing it.
 
I couldn't agree more. The schedule sets up for a potentially tough season. I'm less concerned with the W/L outcome than in the product on the field.

I'm expecting an aggressive offense that will do a better job of attacking weaknesses in opposing defenses. I'm also expecting growing pains with a new QB and a lot of uncertainty in the OL/WR corps.

I'm expecting improvement and a more aggressive defense, with some concerns at LB and in the secondary (the talent is there in the backfield, but can we translate it to productivity?) I also expect the D to be in a few sudden change situations as we work out the kinks in the offense.

What I'm hoping for is (1) cleaner, more disciplined play, (2) a more aggressive and fun style of play on both sides of the ball, and (3) hopefully a team that's not afraid to run up big numbers and lopsided wins when they get a chance.
I need to frame this.
 
In the "which is more important; elite coaching or elite players" debate, I'll just throw this tidbit out there:

With the Vince and Colt teams, we went to/won the Natty game and Greg Davis was the architect that led to Texas having some of the best offenses in the country those years. Without Vince and Colt, Texas fired Greg Davis... and then Iowa fired him too.

Elite players can overcome mediocre coaching. I'm not sure the inverse is true.

Further talking points; Scott Frost had tons of talent (relevant to his conference) at UCF and then he goes to Nebraska and it looks like he's going to fail hard.

Turns out, it's tough to be an elite coach when you have mediocre players.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Topcat79
Completely not in the Woodlands but you need to check out Tacos A Go Go - I'll vouch for the al pastor and the pork guisada, get the smokey sauce. They have locations in the heights and downtown. Be prepared to need a few napkins as both tacos are served in an almost stew state.
If your willing to travel that far... Take a trip on 45 south to Cavelcade and go to Taqueria Laredo. It's a gritty place ( Think East Austin .. on steroids).






https://www.google.com/search?q=taq...5as-K3wAhUpxosKHdwLB_EQvS4wA3oECAsQRA&rlst=f#
 
In the "which is more important; elite coaching or elite players" debate, I'll just throw this tidbit out there:

With the Vince and Colt teams, we went to/won the Natty game and Greg Davis was the architect that led to Texas having some of the best offenses in the country those years. Without Vince and Colt, Texas fired Greg Davis... and then Iowa fired him too.

Elite players can overcome mediocre coaching. I'm not sure the inverse is true.

Further talking points; Scott Frost had tons of talent (relevant to his conference) at UCF and then he goes to Nebraska and it looks like he's going to fail hard.

Turns out, it's tough to be an elite coach when you have mediocre players.
Have we ever seen Texas have elite coaching in the last 25 years?
 
Have we ever seen Texas have elite coaching in the last 25 years?
I think that's part of my argument. We've seen Texas have a lot of success. But the road is littered with coaches who appear elite one minute and not so much the next. I think you can label about half the 5 stars as turning out to be elite players. Maybe even only 25%.

But the number of elite coaches seems to be about 5. Saban, Dabo, Riley (and probably Meyer and Stoops.) Maybe Chris Peterson... maybe. I think clearly too soon to call Ryan Day elite but it's possible down the road.

But at one point we thought Harbaugh, Chip Kelly, Jim Kelly were elite and nobody thinks of them as elite now. A&M thinks Jimbo is but they haven't won their division yet with him.

There just aren't more than a handful of can't-miss coaches.
 
I think that's part of my argument. We've seen Texas have a lot of success. But the road is littered with coaches who appear elite one minute and not so much the next. I think you can label about half the 5 stars as turning out to be elite players. Maybe even only 25%.

But the number of elite coaches seems to be about 5. Saban, Dabo, Riley (and probably Meyer and Stoops.) Maybe Chris Peterson... maybe. I think clearly too soon to call Ryan Day elite but it's possible down the road.

But at one point we thought Harbaugh, Chip Kelly, Jim Kelly were elite and nobody thinks of them as elite now. A&M thinks Jimbo is but they haven't won their division yet with him.

There just aren't more than a handful of can't-miss coaches.
Yup. I don't think outside of Muschamp or Robinson that I have ever seen the actual coaching of this program applauded by the fan base the way an OU fan looks at Riley.
 
This.

We have gotten way too accustomed to seeing our talent underperform, and lose to less talented teams. While Ketch is right that we need elite talent to compete for the playoffs, we were plenty talented last year to beat every team on the schedule, including OU.

What we need is a little better development, but mostly we need a better offensive & defensive scheme to take advantage of our strengths, and better game plans to exploit mismatches against our opponents.

Talent aside, what we put on the field last year was not a good product. We were not fun to watch and didn't really dominate anyone, even in games where we were clearly better across the board. If we start playing an exciting, aggressive brand of football like Sark & PK are trying to do, I believe we will win games and be fun to watch. And if that happens, recruiting should really go through the roof.
I enjoyed the last two games. Didn't you? What was the difference?
 
“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”
if we ever change national anthems that would be my choice!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ketchum
Me and Paul, Hello Walls, Night Life and Yesterday’s Wine are some of my favorites. I tend to like Willie’s older stuff.

The story about Willie trying to sell Faron Young the rights to Hello Walls for $500 and Faron loaning him the money instead is a classic.
 
ADVERTISEMENT