Big 12 Media Days preview

I guess the general consensus is that A&M will be really good this year.

My thought is that it’s a preseason poll, which ranks it right above a steaming pile of poo in how worthwhile it is.

How many guys did we have on that list last year? Two?

I figured this post was going to involve some predictions of what actually unfolds at the media day. I’ll throw a few out:

-Bob Stoops will call this “possibly the best team he’s ever coached”.

-Bob Stoops will bristle when questioned about losing a bunch of BCS games and retort with “I’d rather be playing in those games than not” or some such platitude.

-Bob Stoops will show up with no chin.

-Bob Stoops will say about his OL, “Yeah, we lost a lot of guys, but these guys all played a lot and they might be the best OL unit we’ve ever coached.”

-Mike Gundy will show up, breathing through his mouth, with his hair styled exactly the way it should look when he’s driving his canary yellow Corvette.

-Mack Brown will generally offend me with his whining and lamentations about some issue with the BCS.

-Mark Mangino will block out the sun.

-Whatever okie players are invited, at least one of them will say something shitty about Texas.

-Mike Sherman will require at least 60 minutes worth of napping between each interview. Bill Snyder will snicker and call him a pussy and then beat whatever QB he’s brought along into a state of catatonic silence.

I’d take Chykie Brown and Aaron Williams over Franks right now. Dominique Franks is this year’s version of Nic Harris. An overhyped reach.

“What makes he”

yikes

Franks is at least a respectable football player. Nic Harris was awful. How he started for a top 5 team is beyond anyone with even a passing knowledge in football.

Good work, ctj.
 
Trips:
 
You are very dramatic.
 
Nic Harris was definitely out of place @ safety in the spread world of the Big 12. I’ll be curious to see how he does at LB.

Nic Harris was named to the team as a safety. He would have been just as undeserving had he been named to the team as a linebacker. How is that dramatic?

Here’s how you make a 1st team all Big 12 corner from Oklahoma look like a scout teamer: Pump fake.

You wrote that
 
Dominique Franks is this year’s version of Nic Harris. An overhyped reach.

No. Dramatic would have been touting Gideon over anyone on the media’s team. I was simply stating Brown and Williams are and will prove to be better players over the course of the season. Franks is a square pick. If I’m a coach I take the other two.

Your hate for Gideon is typical. The guy is a baller, and to quote Hurt Locker, “acquitted himself well on the field of battle.” He led the country in touchdown saving tackles. That’s a fact. You can look it up.

He’s like a Will Muschamp on the field. That should at least earn him 2nd team honors.

Gideon will be a fantastic guy to have as our third or fourth safety over the next three years.

Where’s the stats for touchdown-saving tackles last year?

SLX can go die in a fiery car crash.

If you’re looking for me, I’m hanging out with Mangino’s FUPA.

Pretty sure OU’s kicker led the country last year in both both touchdown-saving tackles and flailing helplessly at kick returners running past him.

I don’t think he got within 10 yards of Shipley.

That’s not an exclusive club, vasher.

ponderos:
 
How will OU improve their special teams? I’m assuming Stoops made it an off-season focus.

I’m assuming that Stoops will yell louder, and that Jerry Schmidt will make them drink their own vomit and urine.

Ya’ll got one hell of a crack research team there at BC head-quarters. Brandon Carter was a guard last year, and he will be a guard this year.

Some things that you’ll never hear at Big 12 media days:

"It’s really all about field position and punting," said Leach.

"I planted a few trees and really have settled in for the long haul here in College Station," said A&M head coach Mike Sherman.

"It’s a tough place to recruit to," said Texas coach Mack Brown.

“This is a tough place to win at, not just anyone can step in and win 10 games a year here,” said Mack Brown

"I’ll turn this thing around, get a winning record here then go somewhere I can win long-term and sustain something, " said Baylor head coach Art Briles.

"I don’t think the bowls are a good way to judge a team or a head coach," said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops.

"I’m really glad to be here," said Kansas State coach Bill Snyder.

"Big money donors and the dollars that come with them are corrupting college athletics and distracting us from the mission of educating students," said Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy.

"No thanks I’m stuffed," said Kansas Coach Mark Mangino.

"As part of our previous agreement, I’ll be sending Chase Daniels 20 percent of my salary for the rest of my career, " said Missouri coach Gary Pinkel.

"We’re really excited about our leagues non-conference match-ups," said Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe.

That’s one of the main questions we fans have, too, scipio. There were multiple problems last year, everything from poor kicking, more lane responsibility, poor tackling, poor execution … OU’s special teams were nearly an all-around fail. Stoops used to put starters (read: best athletes) on the special teams and it helped, but then you ended up with injuries to key players (see Murray).

Stoops is a fan of high kickoffs inside the 5, allowing for a good coverage team (read: “good”) to stop the opponent inside the 20. I and a lot of others prefer finding some little Latin futboler to put the ball into the seats, guaranteeing we won’t see our kicker doing a dead fish flop at the 50 while the KR give a thumbs-up on the way by. Wish I got paid to make that decision.

*poor lane responsibility

Don’t quit your day job, Tim.

Ya’ll got one hell of a crack research team there at BC head-quarters. Brandon Carter was a guard last year, and he will be a guard this year.

HenryJames: Didn’t Tech move Brandon Carter to tackle?
Scipio: Who fucking cares? It’s Tech.
HenryJames: Yeah.
Scipio: Tim will probably complain though.
HenryJames: Who fucking cares? It’s Tim.
Scipio: Yeah.

I’ll add a few more to ponderos, since I’ve harped on this for some length and depth.

Moreland struggled to put the ball anywhere near the end zone, and when he did it usually consisted of line drives that was fielded before much of the coverage unit even reached half way. When this happened, it started off a chain of problems including players over-committing and taking shitty angles that directly resulted from overcompensating.

Stoops eventually said f it, just kick it high and short. Even if they get it at the 35, at least they’ll have to put together a meaningful drive to score. The new rule to move the kickoff back 5 yards really fucked OU over at the worse time. So the first piece on the agenda this offseason is to find a kicker with some semblance of a postpubescent leg and some hair on his ass.

Stoops still plays starters on ST – that wasn’t the issue. Holmes, Harris, Jackson, Franks, Box & Travis Lewis were all out there at one time or another. They just fucked up gap assignments, stuck onto their blockers like magnets, one-armed tackled, shoulder-tackled, took poor angles and lost contain too many times. Murray ranked tenth nationally in KR, and most coaches will put starters out there if there’s a chance they’ll get good returns. When DM went down, guess who trotted out there as a substitute – the other thousand yard rusher who OU couldn’t afford to lose to a ST injury, alongside their thousand yard receiver.

So, the second part would be to continually stress discipline and the importance of contain, even if that hasn’t worked out so well. Find players who are completely focused toward and are aware of the importance of playing good special teams – they’ve had guys like this in the past, and not all had to be starters: Gutierrez, Russell Dennison, Will Peoples, pre-RB Allen Patrick, Matt McCoy, etc.

Thanks, WB. I couldn’t remember if they still had starters out there last year or not. Most times when we kicked off, I had my hands over my eyes.

I actually enjoyed Tim’s quotes for once. I also found the OU discussion on Special Teams of value. This is the first entertaining thread I’ve read that was started by HenryJames.

I can’t stop laughing at Mike Gundy breathing through his mouth driving that canary yellow Corvette. Effing brilliant

Hornshornshorns— Franks is at least a respectable football player. Nic Harris was awful. How he started for a top 5 team is beyond anyone with even a passing knowledge in football.

Hey, Nic Harris was the only lowlife scumbag shitty enough to get Jesusbow to break the rules, Gatah! Chomp at him, and cause him to get a penalty.

In my book, that makes him solid gold.