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Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend

Your quote, "Yes, there are few better in college football at turning water into wine like Strong,..." gave me pause. I realize CS had a few Louisville players that were drafted, but don't put him up there with the likes of Snyder, Patterson and Briles who over the years took 2 & 3 star players and made them competitive, year in and year out. If Patterson & Strong flipped rosters, who wins that game last Saturday? There you go...
 
I see a lot of opposition and not a lot of answers. Let me see your top 10. Who is definitely better than Alabama?

Objectively, the difference between a victory over UGA and a Victory over Texas Tech, Az St, Oregon or West Virginia Isn't huge at this point.

Either way, I'm not the one ranking a team that already has a home loss on its schedule above a host of undefeated teams. There's no reason to believe a beat down of Georgia is so much more impressive than everyone else's resume that it should elevate Bama above everyone despite a home loss.

8 through 10, I'll buy the argument, but there's no reason to believe they should be ranked ahead of OU.
 
Texas did NOT have a 2015 Top 10 recruiting class (by August). It is time to start viewing that class in its reality and not in it's hype. It was a good class but it was not what it has been purported to be.
 
Your quote, "Yes, there are few better in college football at turning water into wine like Strong,..." gave me pause. I realize CS had a few Louisville players that were drafted, but don't put him up there with the likes of Snyder, Patterson and Briles who over the years took 2 & 3 star players and made them competitive, year in and year out. If Patterson & Strong flipped rosters, who wins that game last Saturday? There you go...
The water to wine reference kind of bothers me, as well. I'd prefer not to have to rely on the existence of miracles to turn this around. It's really kind of simple. This was a step-up in class for Charlie, and he didn't react accordingly. He brought his guys instead of getting elite coordinators. The impact of this mistake has been most evident on the offensive side of the football because Charlie is a good defensive coach and because offense moves the needle in the Big 12. It is an ongoing two-year mistake that has probably precluded any chance of him being successful at Texas.
 
So when we go 4-8 we don't fire our failing coach because it signals panic? 10-15 over his first 25 games would be the ultimate sign of panic and a flopped program. Hiring a big name with proven success at a high level program would be the only thing that removes the panic caused by Strong's performance.

The Obama blaming Bush excuses from OB's is just pathetic at this point. Mack left here at 8-5 and Strong will likely have us at 4-8 two years later....that's acceptable? Not according to Strong. I seem to recall him specifically saying 6-7 is unacceptable here and vowing it will never happen again. Well it's gonna, and much worse. So why can't you hold him accountable for not living up this own vow? Weak apologists.
 
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If the Aggies would have just run the QB option to the left in the game against Mississippi State(Diaz) 50 times, they would have rushed for at least 400 yds.
just say'n
 
If the Aggies would have just run the QB option to the left in the game against Mississippi State(Diaz) 50 times, they would have rushed for at least 400 yds.
just say'n
 
Your quote, "Yes, there are few better in college football at turning water into wine like Strong,..." gave me pause. I realize CS had a few Louisville players that were drafted, but don't put him up there with the likes of Snyder, Patterson and Briles who over the years took 2 & 3 star players and made them competitive, year in and year out. If Patterson & Strong flipped rosters, who wins that game last Saturday? There you go...
From a column earlier this year:

A little further down in this week’s column (section II), you’ll see the data from this year’s NFL Draft that illustrates the raw value of each star ranking, but for the purpose of enlightening you on the numbers that will be of greatest interest to most of you, know these very basics for the moment based on the data from this year’s results.

a. One out of every 1.43 five-star prospects was drafted in seven rounds.
b. One out of every 5.16 four-star prospects was drafted in seven rounds.
c. One out of every 13.97 three-star prospects was drafted in seven rounds.

While Strong was at Louisville, he averaged 16 three-star prospects each year from 2010-2012, which means that the national average suggests that 1.14 players from each of those classes would emerge at some point as a drafted NFL prospect.

All told, seven players that arrived as three-star prospects under Strong were drafted this
weekend, which means that on the average, one out of every 2.28 three-star prospects recruited by Strong was eventually developed into an NFL drafted prospects.

Basically, Strong spots and develops three-star prospects better than the rest of the nation develops four-star prospects by a considerable margin and nearly as well as the rest of the nation develops five-star prospects.
 
Objectively, the difference between a victory over UGA and a Victory over Texas Tech, Az St, Oregon or West Virginia Isn't huge at this point.

Either way, I'm not the one ranking a team that already has a home loss on its schedule above a host of undefeated teams. There's no reason to believe a beat down of Georgia is so much more impressive than everyone else's resume that it should elevate Bama above everyone despite a home loss.

8 through 10, I'll buy the argument, but there's no reason to believe they should be ranked ahead of OU.
I still haven't seen anyone make a strong case for a team being better than Alabama.
 
Texas did NOT have a 2015 Top 10 recruiting class (by August). It is time to start viewing that class in its reality and not in it's hype. It was a good class but it was not what it has been purported to be.
I disagree. It's performance this season is outside the norm for most top 10 classes from an impact standpoint.
 
The Obama blaming Bush excuses from OB's is just pathetic at this point. Mack left here at 8-5 and Strong will likely have us at 4-8 two years later....that's acceptable? Not according to Strong. I seem to recall him specifically saying 6-7 is unacceptable here and vowing it will never happen again. Well it's gonna, and much worse. So why can't you hold him accountable for not living up this own vow? Weak apologists.
Re-read this article and tell me where I'm making excuses for Charlie. This post doesn't make logical sense.
 
I still haven't seen anyone make a strong case for a team being better than Alabama.

Bama lost at home. Ole Miss lost on the road. Big Big difference and Florida has some players and an offensive coach in the swamp donkey. Winning on the road in college football is hard and especially when you are playing at night in front of 85,000 plus . Ole Miss defense is every bit as good as Bama's and I will take Swag and Treadwell over what Bama is running out there even though I love Derick Henry. When you play the top tier teams you better be able to do both run/pass and Bama struggles with the forward pass.
 
You think Ole Miss is clearly better than Bama? How many times do they win if they play 10 times on a neutral field? Just curious.

They were up by 20+ points IN Tuscaloosa. They showed that night that they were clearly better. That was the same night Texas played Cal, so I'm assuming (and could be wrong) that you didn't actually watch the game. (Fluke onside kick, etc. kept them in the game)

Your fictitious scenario carries no weight. The game was played. Ole Miss proved to be better. I'm tired of the talking heads saying, "Ya, but if they play again..." or "Vegas has them favored..." They don't play well against spread teams, period. How many times do they have to lose before people figure this out? You get ONE shot to play the opponent in front of you. Do you just disregard the results on the field?

Lastly, you say that Alabama will be the best team at the end of the year. No one knows if that will be true or not. They very well may be. But like you were saying earlier... you have to go by current resumes. That's the criteria you set earlier. You can't make arguments each way. There are several undefeateds with better resumes than a team with a loss.
 
Man, I'd have to look it up.

Name the win/performance that was better than the one that went down this weekend in Athens. Just one.
If one or two don't stick out I'm not sure you have an argument. I would argue his best game was the 2012 SEC title game, and he lost. That annual Georgia preseason ranking reminds me of Virginia Tech in the 2000's.

I already told you Florida's win was better. They absolutely destroyed a team that just went on the road and beat your #1. The rest of the Saturday schedule was a snooze fest.
 
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What the hell are they waiting for? It is painfully obvious Charlie Strong is NOT the right fit for this program. He was hired by a complete idiot and it shows. Strong is probably a good guy, but so am I and you damn sure don't want me coaching your team. It is past time to cut the losses and move forward. There are quite a few viable options out there. This school has enough money to splurge on a winner with an established, long term, record. Urban Meyer and Chip Kelly come to mind right away. There will be a ten million dollar a year coach pretty soon. Why not be the first and try to lure Meyer? Even Gary Patterson might be swayed for less than ten. After all he makes half of what they're paying CS and he keeps kicking his ass. If you want to gamble on an up and comer then Tom Herman might be a great choice. He is out of the Urban Meyer stable of coaches. At any rate, why wait? Charlie is losing the team and the fans and those tens of thousands of empty seats are sure to make a lot of noise in the budget meetings.
 
Zero nuance in that remark. The offensive line situation was a disaster of his making. The recruiting along the defensive line was weak in the final years. The quarterback situation was mostly a disaster. Few playmakers on offense.

Seriously, let's not play like Mack's role in this is tiny. And this comes from a guy saying it's time to stop talking about Mack's failures.

You said you think Texas will slip into the top 25 in recruiting, will get 6-8 4* players, and have an average rating of 3.3*. What does that really mean? As a reminder, from your own website, here are the Rivals Team Rankings for UT for 2009-2013 - the players that should have led us last year and/or be currently leading us:
2009 - #5
2010 - #3
2011 - #3
2012 - #2
2013 - #15.
So, in terms of UT football, Rivals recruiting rank equates with football success. I'm gonna SELL that one.
Sure, people are going to throw "development" around, but, other than John Harris, which 3, 4, and 5 stars have we seen this staff develop? Forget the offensive line - we knew that would be tough, but trusted Wickline to make chicken salad, and we knew the QBs would struggle at least some. But how about receivers? We've got a slew of top recruits there - why can't they run good patterns or catch the ball? Running backs - 5*, 3*, 4* FR?
How about defensive line - our deepest and best position group, everyone said, but they can't stop the run or sack a QB? Linebackers? Defensive backs that can't play zone but get beat in man? Where is the development there, in Charlie and Vance Bedford's bailiwick?

IMHO, if this staff wants to be here next year they need to turn this around. Compete with OU and Baylor, beat KSU, KU, WVU, and TT. If that happens I will agree that they need another year. But lose close games to KSU, WVU, TT, get humiliated and look inept against OU and Baylor? Hell no - they need to go! And, frankly, one more "historic" loss where announcers are referencing "not since the 1950s" should be the last one. There are dozens of coaching staffs that could take this team and, at least, be somewhat competitive with TCU. Instead, we look hapless anytime we go up against a quality coaching staff.
 
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Yes, he would obviously be Briles and Patterson good, because it took both those coaches five to six years each to make their programs competitive from crap, which is what Strong inherited from Mack. It only took Royal five years to win ten games at Texas. Heck, he lost three or more games in ten of his twenty seasons at Texas, and he was the greatest Texas coach in history.
Was Royal 7-11 after 1.5 years? DKR went 6-4-1, 7-3, 9-2, and he inherited just as big a mess as Charlie did. Think we're going to have a winning record this year? Next? Don't see it.
 
So, with all of the talk of firing Strong....with whom do we replace him?
No, it's overperformed against any fair expectations one could have for the class.

Multiple starting linemen. Starting linebacker. DBs all over the field. The punter. Receivers.
 
Bama lost at home. Ole Miss lost on the road. Big Big difference and Florida has some players and an offensive coach in the swamp donkey. Winning on the road in college football is hard and especially when you are playing at night in front of 85,000 plus . Ole Miss defense is every bit as good as Bama's and I will take Swag and Treadwell over what Bama is running out there even though I love Derick Henry. When you play the top tier teams you better be able to do both run/pass and Bama struggles with the forward pass.
Bama had a meltdown performance and was still in a position to win it late.
 
They were up by 20+ points IN Tuscaloosa. They showed that night that they were clearly better. That was the same night Texas played Cal, so I'm assuming (and could be wrong) that you didn't actually watch the game. (Fluke onside kick, etc. kept them in the game)
a. The game right down to the end.
b. I did watch a lot of the Bama game.
c. Ole Miss caught a ton of breaks and won the TO margin 5-0.

You never answered the question. How many times would they win if they played 10 times?
 
Haven't seen a strong case that Bama is the #1 team in the country either...I'll submit the W-L record as reason #1 why they're not though.
I submitted my reasoning and it hasn't been countered well.

I'm the first one to agree that it's a cluttered mess at the top right now. It's more of a rhetorical question than anything else.
 
a. The game right down to the end.
b. I did watch a lot of the Bama game.
c. Ole Miss caught a ton of breaks and won the TO margin 5-0.

You never answered the question. How many times would they win if they played 10 times?

I do know who has won the last 2 times they have played which is the most recent evidence. Bama has trouble with teams that can throw the football. The A&M game will be very telling for them.
 
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