Report

There are some improvements. Rogers is a real bright spot. Offense as a whole looks like it has the potential to develop into a consistently dangerous unit. My issue is that I haven’t been particularly worried about the offensive side of the ball going back to the Morris hire.  It’s the defense that will end up breaking this season for us. Simply put, we don’t have the personnel for this 3-3-5. Richards - our best defensive player - is almost completely neutralized in this alignment. When we’ve gone to 4 man, we look more competent. Not amazing, but better. Then we inexplicably switch back to 3 man in obvious running situations and get gashed. Even by FCS ACU. We’re simply being hard headed in philosophy on that side of the ball. To the team’s detriment. Either we adjust base alignment or expect AAC play to be a brutal slog for us.

Let me just add to the comment about Landon Sides. I believe that there was a post about his signing with North Texas a few months ago. After listing all of the things that he did on the field, UNTLIFER beat me to the punch by saying that he sounds like a certain former player Michael Lawrence....something that  I immediately agreed with. After observing him last night, I think Mr. Sides is at a slightly higher level.  I remember going to a fall practice with FFR back in 2010. One of the new players out there was a receiver that I had never heard of but by the end of practice I was very impressed. It was Breland Chancellor. FFR struck up a conversation with the young coach in charge of WR's and special teams, and toward the end of the conversation I asked about Chancellor. The coach acknowledged that he was a talented player, but they would probably redshirt him. I just smiled at the coach and said "Coach, I don't see how you are going to keep him off the field this year....he's too talented".  I am going to repeat that assessment for this young man.  They used him to great advantage last night. If I were in charge, the next thing I would do is put him out there returning punts. 

While we are on the subject of past glory days, why does TAMU come up as one of the unquestioned powerhouse football stories in Texas? All 3 of TX A&M's national titles (1919, 1927, 1939) are contested. Yet these years all appear at Kyle Field. The 1919 Title is also claimed by tiny Centre College among a few other schools. Yeah, TA&M is competitive some years and there are some nice folks in College Station. But their nothing special in college football history.    

I definitely don’t think SL was “apathetic”.  I think he wanted to win.  The guys were obviously playing hard for him. And I don’t know what else he could’ve done defensively.   He basically pulled one of the better DCs we’ve seen in a while, and gave him the keys.  I think we’re 3-1 with a much better fan-feel if PB we’re still running the defense.

Ah. Yeah, that's stupid.