CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big XII => Topic started by: longhorn320 on August 17, 2017, 09:56:11 PM
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We kick off in a little over 2 weeks
UT is favored by 2 TDs which is kinda hard to believe
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We kick off in a little over 2 weeks
UT is favored by 2 TDs which is kinda hard to believe
Well, Maryland wasn't very good last year. But, neither was Texas.
I guess a lot of folks just have that much faith in Tom Herman.
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This is a tricky one. Maryland showed a lot of improvement last season to be honest. Durkin is doing a good job of upgrading the talent, which is pretty plentiful in the DC metro. He'll have them playing well, but even with the talent upgrade, it's still no match for the talent that UT has.
Bringing it together is the key for UT this year. If the staff can get the kids on the same page, Texas is going to be good.
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This is a tricky one. Maryland showed a lot of improvement last season to be honest. Durkin is doing a good job of upgrading the talent, which is pretty plentiful in the DC metro. He'll have them playing well, but even with the talent upgrade, it's still no match for the talent that UT has.
Bringing it together is the key for UT this year. If the staff can get the kids on the same page, Texas is going to be good.
That's about the size of it. Texas' talent isn't Alabama or Ohio State level for sure.
But there's still enough talent at Texas to be a 9-3 kind of team, and that's more than enough talent to beat Maryland.
Can the coaches deliver? I guess we'll find out starting in a couple of weeks.
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I confess I'm going off second hand reports. I haven't seen Maryland play.
However, from all reports, they have no OL. That's a huge problem, because, when run right, Todd Orlando's defense makes a QB's life really tough.
Modern collegiate offenses are supposed to account for the defenders, do the math, then strike where the largest likelihood of success is. Orlando's defense puts, like, 2 players in a static position. The other nine are part of an ever changing array of edge rushers, LB/DE combos, and secondary players that don't declare their role until after the snap - sometimes even reneging on their declaration during the play!
In short, players come from everywhere at any time. The QB and receivers just have to adjust on the fly. The constant pressure makes that adjustment time limited, and a mistake goes the other way.
Texas Offense will put out a lot of speed, but I'm expecting growing pains. Regardless, they may not have to score much.
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I'm just very, very interested to see what Texas is going to look like this year. Those first three games are going to tell us a lot about the rest of the season.
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My buddy got season tickets this year. I guess that's a pretty good way to start off a divorce :\ I'm pretty jealous (of going to all the home games, not the divorce).
He's in charge of L.A. territory for his company and has been having to fly out there once a month or so, and he got permission from his boss to schedule a trip for the UT/USC weekend, and even got his company to spring for the tickets as he'll be hosting his clients at the game. I told him to temper his rooting for UT, lest he lose the clients. Also to be careful, because I hear the Coliseum is in the ghetto.
I'd sure like to make a game in Austin again, but I doubt I'll even be making one in Baton Rouge this year. Again.
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Buddy of mine has an extra ticket that I was offered. I am going Saturday. But at first I was hesitant. The few times I have gone to DKR it was not fun. I am hoping we at least can win 7 games this year.
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Temperature won't be as bad as it could have, and the Horns have plenty of talent and a new coach. I bet you'll have a good time.
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Gameday. For the first time in 20+ years, we're not tailgating for it. Not even going down to watch it in person, we'll be watching on TV from my brother's house whilst celebrating his and my sister's birthdays.
It'll be strange, but all good things come to an end.
Hook 'em Horns!
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I knew I should not have gone yesterday - ha ha. We look like last year. Below avg and bad football as usual.
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Yeah, Herman's got his work cut out for him. I thought the same thing as well....looked a lot like last year. I think Buechelle (sp?) is more than serviceable as a QB, but there's no push in the run game and the defense is soft, and that's being generous. Same as I saw last year. I expected Orlando to make some immediate impact there, but it's early still. I do think Herman is a great coach, we'll see, moving forward.
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While our off line needs to improve and cut way down on the holding penalties
my main concern is the defense
41 points should win it for you
also I suspect Maryland will turn out to be a pretty fair team this year
Our QB play was good and we should be able to win with him
Our pass defense needs lots of work
We have a very young team and just need some games under our belt
Im not ready to fire TH yet
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Not since Maryland defeating FSU under Ralph's tenure, have I seen so many 4 and 5 star players on one roster that we beat.
I think it has a lot to do with 1st year system and rebranding, but our defense was great.
21 points from Texas wasn't from the offense, and ST's play can be fixed.
I'm more confident about Maryland, or at least, this coaching staff has me believing.
Best of luck the rest of the year. It was an extremely stressful game....one I chalked as a loss after the pick 6.
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MCW
Best of luck to you the rest of the season
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From a schedule standpoint, the Maryland game was one of of my seven wins this year. This was deflating and you can feel it. The local news cast can't put a positive spin on this loss in anyway. The same old Texas.
http://www.texassports.com/schedule.aspx?path=football (http://www.texassports.com/schedule.aspx?path=football)
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So the turnaround may not be as quick as some hoped, but I still think Herman is ultimately going to work out very well there. Still looking for improvements as the year goes along. Even if not, I'd still be looking for vast improvements next season. Saban inherited a 6-6 Alabama team and immediately went 6-6 again, looking like dookie much of the way. In year 2 Bama started 12-0 and was worlds different.
If things haven't changed by the start of next season then I'll probably change my opinion on Herman. He's got that long in my mind, though.
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This team really didn't look any different than last year. Perhaps that should be expected, since it's largely the same players. But I'd hoped coaching would make a difference. So far, it hasn't, and Herman seems completely lost as to what just happened on the field-- just like Strong was completely lost for three seasons.
This is a bad football team right now. Not sure what can be done to fix the things that were supposed to be fixed during the off-season.
Anyway, congrats to the Terps and best of luck the rest of the year.
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I'm concerned about the power outage in the running game. However, Maryland frequently stacked the box and dared Texas to throw. The offense showed some life, and wasn't the main problem. Lots of yards were gained with no payoff, considering the lack of 4th down production and missed/blocked FGs.
The defense must learn to trust their coaching and stop doing each other's jobs! This is a problem with highly athletic players who have not gotten results. They start thinking instead of playing. They anticipate problems, and move to correct it instead of violently executing their own role. In doing so, they 'solve' a problem that never occurred, but effectively guarantee one will be created by not fulfilling their responsibility.
I'm hoping they'll see the tape this week and realize their initial instincts were right. Once they play to their coaching and stop reasoning out the steps, they'll be closer to realizing their potential.
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Texas has finished under .500 for three years straight. Texas lost to Kansas last year. Kansas, lest we forget.
Due to his own inexperience at this level, Herman rode into town somewhat cocky and overconfident. The media bolstered that. Texas fans bolstered that. I think even he thought he was going to walk in here and start ringing up the W’s. He’s young and he still has a lot to learn, and his learning will be done on Texas’ dime. That’s the choice Texas made when scarfing up this young coach.
The #23 ranking infuriated me to no end. The name “Texas” set us all up to be disappointed, but mostly Herman was set up to fail. Of all the Tom foolery that took place on the field, nothing irritated me as much as that ridiculous ranking that the media cursed us with right out of the gate.
And then there’s Charlie running his mouth about having “baked the cake”. Let’s get real, if Charlie had even assembled a single layer of half-edible devil’s food, he would still be here. There is no semblance of “cake” with this group of players, and there won’t be anytime soon. Texas fans need to accept this. I won’t even comment on the fact how DKR fans graciously patronized 3 years of Charlie’s bumbling ineptitude, but immediately have a hissy fit when Herman doesn’t win Game #1. Ok, so I did comment.
My biggest concern: Orlando’s 3-3-5 defense. I’m not sure Orlando is ready for this level. What defensively works in Conference USA (or whatever) will likely not work in P5. True, we need more talent, but scheme is part of this. Facing a B1G style opponent is precisely not what the doctor ordered for Orlando’s defense which is geared to stop 2-star Texas HS players and pass-happy Texas HS offenses. Once he comes up against someone with a running back, this scheme is toast. And once the run is established, the passing game opens up. Orlando was lost.
Meanwhile, Herman has got to hold this thing together. I’m sure in his mind he realizes that he doesn’t have the talent here to wave a dead fish. Herman had to tell these guys to sit up in their chairs on day 1. They cried like babies when Charlie was let go. I’m sure most of them still regret Charlie leaving, especially since last Saturday. So anyway, for now Herman’s got to put lipstick on this pig, because recruiting is the only thing that will eventually bail this thing out. And to attract recruits, the program has to appear solid.
Now the shocker, I still predict we will win 7 games this season. And frankly, I predict the same for South Florida.
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I agree with you on our defense
We need a 4 3 4 approach otherwise teams will just eat us alive with short passes
to the flats
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I agree with you on our defense
We need a 4 3 4 approach otherwise teams will just eat us alive with short passes
to the flats
Just making sure you realize I am T95. Not trying to be squirrelly, I just like the BrownCounty handle better.
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Oh hell if Id known you was ol 95 I would never have agreed with ya
seriously its good to see you back
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Schemes don't matter if all the players run to the same gap, or check and see where their teammates are going. A step late is the same as not being there at all.
The first two series for the Texas defense were exactly like they wanted them. Then, Maryland started directing more resources towards the edge. They had some success. Rather than trust their teammates on the edge to adjust and make their plays, the Texas defenders reverted back to last season's habits of overcompensating. They tried to find their mistakes. In doing so, they became slow and unsure. Maryland then kept them off balance the rest of the game by constantly varying their attack as the Texas defenders scurried from one perceived trouble spot to the next.
Being "mentally tough" describes how you handle negative situations. Realizing that a couple of good plays from Maryland only required an alignment adjustment on the edges rather than wholesale panic could have resulted in a much different ball game. Instead, muscle memory kicked in as the Texas defense reverted to the only thing they knew - panic and increased effort.
When Herman says "1-0", he means to emphasize a culture of winning. Too often, the sting of losing gets lost when it occurs too often. Losing then becomes acceptable or even expected. All the exercises, competitions, losers getting watery eggs and burnt toast, help clear out the loser's mentality. It demonstrates the value of winning, and creates that expectation. I wholly expect that this week's sessions were spent demonstrating how the defenders largely abandoned everything they'd been practicing when the going got tough.
Experience is the best teacher, but it can be the most expensive tutor.
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I'm astonished Herman was not fired right after that game, immediately.
Well, no, I wasn't.
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The first two series for the Texas defense were exactly like they wanted them. Then, Maryland started directing more resources towards the edge. They had some success. Rather than trust their teammates on the edge to adjust and make their plays, the Texas defenders reverted back to last season's habits of overcompensating. They tried to find their mistakes. In doing so, they became slow and unsure. Maryland then kept them off balance the rest of the game by constantly varying their attack as the Texas defenders scurried from one perceived trouble spot to the next.
Sounds like Herman needs to take them on a corporate retreat and do some trust falls.
Did those from a 6 ft platform on a youth retreat one time. Scared the hell out of me.
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Sounds like Herman needs to take them on a corporate retreat
Yeah, a retreat to Junction, Texas.
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Just making sure you realize I am T95. Not trying to be squirrelly, I just like the BrownCounty handle better.
It was cute when you initially denied this a few years ago.
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It was cute when you initially denied this a few years ago.
I never denied it without a tongue in cheek.
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Sounds like Herman needs to take them on a corporate retreat and do some trust falls.
Did those from a 6 ft platform on a youth retreat one time. Scared the hell out of me.
The problem isn't the actual trust. The problem is muscle memory. When the going got tough, they panicked and resorted to what they knew - which was, well, to panic.
The great thing is, muscle memory works both ways. Those Texas teams that got down to oSu by like 50 points in the 1st half only to storm back and win knew they wouldn't lose even when they had no right to expect not to. They never really lost before. They just did their job and waited for the breaks to even out. Luckily, that usually happened with enough time left.
Trying to turn losing muscle memory into a winning one? That's where great coaches earn their money.
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Trying to turn losing muscle memory into a winning one? That's where great coaches earn their money.
Muscle memory. Who knew?
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I was hopeful Texas would do better. I was hopeful that Tom Herman and his staff would be able to assess their players and put the best on the field in schemes to exploit their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses.
Instead it looked like none of the Texas coaches had ever seen any of the Texas players on film.
I can understand forgiving the past and not looking back if you're in a romantic relationship. Who wants to think about their little angel having once sucked somebody else's johnson?
But football teams are different. Glaring weaknesses, tendencies and inabilities are something coaches need to be aware of.
I hate system coaches. Mackovic was a system coach. He took a team two years removed from the Cotton Bowl and a 10 win season and we had to sit on our hands through 1992 and 1993 while he hammered square pegs into round holes and waited for "his players" to run "his system."
When Mack Brown was successful it was because he was adaptable enough to build his schemes around his talent - running with Ricky, Benson and Young, while passing with Major, Simms and Colt.
Ironically, it was when he stopped doing that in 2010 and insisted on smash mouth football with spread players that everything came unglued.
I could harp all day about how Herman seems to be putting the wrong people in the wrong schemes but I'll just say two things.
1. Forcing a power spread with QB runs on Buechele is like ruining Major Applewhite by putting him in offense better suited for Vince Young than one better suited for Applewhite.
Is anybody surprised he's injured this week?
2. As Charlie Strong learned the hard way, you can't have our DL contain blocks and leave it to the LBers to make the tackles. You have to cut the DL loose, let it penetrate and create havoc.
Last year if Texas did anything right on D, they penetrated to get sacks and TFLs.
So this year we start off the season against the crappiest OL in the B1G and what happens? We get exposed.
It's just pitiful to see the hubris of a coaching staff imposing its preferences in opposition to a team's abilities. I honestly hoped we'd see good, smart, better coaching this year.
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Good points CH
But like the saying goes youre never as bad as you think you are and
youre never as good as you think you are
I think we are a much better team then we saw last Saturday
I still think we have good coaches and they will make the changes needed
we are a very young team and just need more experience
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Good to see you around, Slick.
Sadly I have to say I agree with every word you posted.
Not sure where we go from here, kids might be able to change their spots but I'm uncertain coaches can.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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Not a fan of Hermie blaming the 4/5* kids for the failure. Fairy dust and all that. 9 months is a long time to get your shit together.
Big fan of Urban Meyer calling him out on it.
Hermie is supposed to be a great coach (he's paid as such). Great coaches win with superior talent, or even with lesser talent.
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Not a fan of Hermie blaming the 4/5* kids for the failure. Fairy dust and all that. 9 months is a long time to get your shit together.
Big fan of Urban Meyer calling him out on it.
Hermie is supposed to be a great coach (he's paid as such). Great coaches win with superior talent, or even with lesser talent.
UM needs to worry more about his own house
He might have something to cry about after this Saturday
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We are actually in a discussion about Meyer on the B1G board. He is keeping a very clean house in Columbus - much more so than what was there before him and what he had in Florida.
You almost never hear a peep out of that place now, and when you do, a player is no longer with the program.
I've been impressed. I really thought he would bring the cesspool North.
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I'm no great defender of Tom Herman right now, but the fairy dust comment was taken way out of context. All Urbie did was take a shot at Texas and kick the program while it's down, in an obvious attempt to undermine our recruiting and make himself look better.
He might not have as many criminals on his team these days but he's still a major a-hole. I'm honestly quite surprised to see you defending him, bf. You've got a B1G blind spot on this one, my friend.
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I'm no great defender of Tom Herman right now, but the fairy dust comment was taken way out of context.
So it wasn't just me... Urban really spun Herman's words against him and Texas. Did they split on bad terms or something? What a richard.
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My first take on the Meyer statement concerning TH was - man does this guy have a huge ego.
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He lit up Muschamp too guys, who also had it coming.
No B1G blinders with the Urb fellas. I couldn't stand him up until recently. There is no trouble in CBus anymore and that's on him. He cleaned it up.
Now, the previous guy.. yuck. I can't believe he's a school president right now.
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You know how you say "I hate it when people..." when what you really mean is "I hate it when that person right there..."?
I think Meyer wanted a rejoinder to Muschamp's accusation that Meyer cut and ran leaving the Gators in a sorry state. He didn't want to just single him out, so used the whole "coaches who use excuses" and needed more than 1 as an example.
Either Texas is the unluckiest team over the last 3 seasons (unlikely), the players stink (almost universally recognized as untrue), or the previous coaching staff had them doing things that lost football games. I'm going (largely) with the last option. Herman just pointed out that it takes more than 9 months to fix that.
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I'm not so sure about that, at least in the case of Texas and other blue bloods. The horses were there, if you believe in the STARZ rankings anyway. A great staff should be able to transition those kids in 9 months. You had Spring ball, summer "conditioning" and Fall camp.
Anyway, they scored points so there's that.
If you go way up-thread, I told you that Maryland showed a lot of improvement last season with a new coach and was poised to show more improvement this year. So there's that.
Maybe Texas will be OK, maybe not.
I'm really not a Herman believer, so there's that too.
Finally, Michigan was 5-7 the year before The Madman showed up, and he went 10-3 with the same horses as the prior year. OSU was 6-7 the year before The Urb showed up, and went 12-0 with the same horses as the prior year.
It's not like it can't be done. A great staff can get it done.
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Urb may not have any major criminals on his team (that we know of), but he's still a major league a-hole who took a wild and unnecessary shot at a former assistant. It was obviously motivated by "taking Texas down a notch" in the eyes of recruits. He's still pissed about the way Herman and Texas moved in on one of his satellite camps down here a while back.
He's a major a-hole and if you don't see it, it's because you're choosing not to. I can only surmise that it's because of your incessant need to defend and pimp out the B1G. I'm not trying to rip you, but this is a repeated blind spot for you, and it's just sort of surprising to me.
Anyway, Tom Herman may or may not succeed at Texas, but Urban Meyer doesn't know jack shit about the situation.
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Defend the B1G? No need to. The B1G is all good.
I'm a happy Badger fan and I've been such since King Barry showed up.
When UT (and OU) finally makes the move to join and make the B16, we'll all be happy. :72:
As for The Urb...
You'd love him if'n he was the head bastage on the 40 acres. Heh.
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By the way, why did you choose to overlook my entire post and just attack me on my position with The Urb?
I thought I made some pretty good observations. ???
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Which entire post? The one where you said Urbie took an outside shot at Muschamp just so he could line up his shot to kick Texas while we're down? (I mean, you realize that was his sole purpose, right? Otherwise why comment at all on a program a couple thousand miles away? What a truly bizarre non-sequitir)
Or was it your stated belief that the B1G is "all good" despite the woefull douchebaggery of Urbie, plus the bizarre asshattery of Harbaugh, plus the not-AT-ALL-forgotten sheer horror of Pedo State? All that combined is.. well... a unique case of weird B1G blinders. I have no other explanation for it.
I'm not accusing or attacking Wisconsin at all, you know I'm all good with your program, which is precisely why it baffles me why you turn a blind eye to the shitshow that occurs beyond your program's borders. It doesn't seem like you, to give free passes to to the assholes that surround you. I choose to believe that you're better than this SECSECSEC mentality and I'm just puzzled beyond belief at the lengths you go to defend those programs that are not yours and simply don't deserve it.
It's your choice of course, but it's a really odd one in my opinion.
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The Penn State thing is over. People are in jail. Civil law did its justice (it was not an NCAA thing and the NCAA knows it).
We can disagree on Urban Meyer and what he said and why he said it. The media has done the same, with some siding for Herman.
I said the B1G is all good because it is. It's stable and it's all good. I wish it were smaller, but that's not the trend these days. It's going to 16 (you've seen the logo) and probably within the next 6-8 years. Oh well. Football won't be around forever.
20 years maybe?
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And yes, I do not like Jim Harbaugh at all. Close to him in my book is his kindred sister who coaches at Minnesota now. Talk about an assclown.
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I read that over today and it sounds overly harsh. My apologies, bf. You're a really good guy. I hope I didn't offend you.
I don't know anything about Minnesota's football coach. Harbaugh is a puzzling, bizarre asshat, but I don't think he's evil or anything.
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No offense taken whatsoever. I know who you are. It's all good.
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Finally, Michigan was 5-7 the year before The Madman showed up, and he went 10-3 with the same horses as the prior year. OSU was 6-7 the year before The Urb showed up, and went 12-0 with the same horses as the prior year.
It's not like it can't be done. A great staff can get it done.
Yeah, and in Nick Saban's first year at Alabama he went 6-6, the exact same as Mike Shula the year before.
Wow, cherry-picked examples show exactly what we want them to...who'da thunk it?
Meanwhile, the non cherry picked stats conclusively prove that new coaches almost always have bad first years. Whether they turn it around after that is the unknown.
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Oh, and by the way GO CYCLONES!!!!
Overtime starting now!
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Looks like Urbie coulda used some fairy dust today.
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I'm no great defender of Tom Herman right now, but the fairy dust comment was taken way out of context. All Urbie did was take a shot at Texas and kick the program while it's down, in an obvious attempt to undermine our recruiting and make himself look better.
He might not have as many criminals on his team these days but he's still a major a-hole. I'm honestly quite surprised to see you defending him, bf. You've got a B1G blind spot on this one, my friend.
YUP.
I have a feeling if Badger had actually heard Herman's comments he'd realize that Meyer either intentionally or unintentionally--doesn't matter--misinterpreted them. He should probably stick to coaching his own players to not let a tight end repeatedly roam free through an open range and quit worrying about Herman/Texas.
This is par for the course with him, though. You're right, this is about recruiting and image. Dude's a grade-A a-hole, and if one really needs a list of documented offenses, I've seven years worth of them circa 2005-2011 (that's right, I have an a-hole offense from the year he wasn't coaching). Men don't change that drastically and Ohio State didn't magically turn him into a personable fellow offering harmless commentary with no motive.
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By the way, why did you choose to overlook my entire post and just attack me on my position with The Urb?
I thought I made some pretty good observations. ???
Given Herman's actual comments, and Urb's....you did not.
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The Penn State thing is over. People are in jail. Civil law did its justice (it was not an NCAA thing and the NCAA knows it).
This is the most baffling thing to me. This was my position back when the ordeal was coming to light, and you vehemently disagreed with me. I remember very clearly on the old board you disagreeing with me and doing your best to explain to me that it all fell under LOIC and the NCAA absolutely should have pitched in with actual law enforcement.
No doubt about it, the aliens have come and replaced you with Robot-Badger.
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Seems like the older y'all get, the feistier y'all get. As for me, I get mellow. Mellow as the breeze.
So Urban Meyer chose to take Tom Herman's comments and use them as the catalyst for a commentary of his own. Who knows his motivations? Who really cares? At least it livens up the otherwise drab non-inflammatory, non-revealing banal coachspeak platitudes.
And even if he intentionally took Herman's words out of context to curry favor with recruiting targets, who cares? It hardly makes him a bad guy.
Does he beat women? molest children? kick dogs? run for office?
The preceding posts, as articulate as they may be, fail to convince me he's the scourge of the earth who's going to hell in a hand basket.
He's just a guy, who coaches football and talks shit. We should be so lucky.