I am in the minority. I see the Ags having a drop off next year. They are one injury away from being a .500 team. If Johnny Football goes down they are in trouble. They lose a lot of key players and several coaches. Their defense played way over their heads last year. In typical Aggie fashion, they have one good year and they are now going to win the MNC. I think Saban will have a major hard-on for them next year and that is not a good thing.
At the conclusion of the BCS title game Nick Saban let it be known he was taking only two days to enjoy the win, then it was back to work. He lost one game last year. This year he plays at a&ms' house on a field where Coach Boom said, 'It sure if fun to come in here and ruin their afternoon.' Course he then said he's glad he's not playing Johnny Manziel next year. So, Nick Saban will be working on the a&m game from now to next season. LSU will be thinner and probably not as powerful, but should still be a tough out for the aggies at Baton Rouge. The odds from the beginning will show A&M standing between Alabama abd another trip to Atlanta for the right to play for another championship. This past season the Tide could afford to lose that game, but Saban knows it winner-take-all next season. You think he wants to get punked by aggie next season in what will certainly be College Game Day and the top game of the year? Kirk is betting Saban won't have a good enough game plan next year. I forecast A&M to go 10-2 again, this time losing at home to Alabama, and on the road at LSU. Johnny leaves after the season, and Sumllin might, too. And maybe to the NFL.
I see Aggy replacing LSU in the annual ESPN let's get at least one SEC school in the Championship. They will both start out top five, one will lose to the other and they will both cruise through a cupcake schedule to the SEC championship where they will meet an overrated Georgia team. The only likely scenario I see is Aggy crapping the bed in a game they should not lose. If Manziel stays healthy, they are capable of winning it all. Everybody squeeeeeeze.
I have posted several times that I think aggy will be preseason #1. I have no problem with it. They went in to the SEC and had great success with a Big 12 roster and Big 12 coaching staff (Sumlin and Kingsbury, anyway). Manziel appears to be freaky good, though they did have a stacked team so time will tell. I have no problem with them being preseason #1 since it is meaningless except that it will probably mean that more of their fans who are supposedly glad to be gone will be posting in droves on Longhorn boards (or just start posting after a long hiatus that coincidentally started after last Thanksgiving).
SEC 2012 OOC: Ga - Buffalo, Fla Atl, Ga Southern, Ga Tech Fla - Bowling green, ULALA, Jacksonville St, Fla St SCar- East Carolina, UAB, Wofford, Clemson Ala - Michigan, W. Kentucky, Fla Atl, Western Carolina LSU - North Texas, Washington, Idaho, Towson A&M - LaTech, SMU, S.Carolina St, SHSU Out of 24 OOC games played by the top 6 SEC teams, it would seem LaTech, Clemson and Fla State (2 of which are yearly rival games) were worth bragging about. 21 out of 24 sec OOC games were against crap teams and with 4 OOC games, they each pick up one more crap game than the Big 12. IE: The sec was able to add Fla Atl, Jacksonville State, Wofford, Western Carolina, Idaho and S. Caroilna State to the top six team's schedules rather than play a ninth conference game like the big 12.
As Johnny goes, so goes the ags. If he implodes, which his recent history proves is not an unrealistic scenario, the ags tank. And what a beautiful trainwreck it would be. Popcorn popping.
Joe - I agree with you. EDIT - re: the SEC adding a 9th game. I don't agree with Bohls - Alabama won it all. They should be number 1. Oregon would also be a good choice. Bohls' biggest criteria for choosing A&M was probably that it would drive "clicks" from giddy Aggies and irate Longhorns / Red Raiders / Baylor Bears. That's why these guys swing back and forth from one outrageous position to another. Its not journalism anymore. Not thought provoking. Just provoking.
AM loses 4-5 games next year. Losing Joekel is huge, he may be the first pick in the draft. The center was what a 4 year starter? Swopes, is like Gilbert not having Jordan Shipley. They have 7 Freshman receivers coming in, what 3 of them are going to have step in and play? Good luck with that..... Do we want to talk about their defense? Losing 6 starters off of a good defense. I see three losses, then the Sophomore Jinx, the ATM always overhypes and loses games they shouldn't, the injury bug gets everybody eventually, the inflated ego's of the players hearing how good they are until they lose at home to Alabama and they don't know how to react and lose another, then another, then it steamrolls. I see 4 losses, maybe even 5.
Don't think Ags can handle the pressure of being #1. When was the last time Sabin lost to a team in consecutive years?
Alabama is the obvious (and boring) pick, but aTm is defenisble. Frankly, if you had to bet your house on it, Saban is the guy to bet on until he starts losing them. That said, if I were a columnist and I wanted to write an interesting article, I'd pick someone else. aTm is as likely to be that someone else as any. They were the obnly team to beat Bama last year, and this year they get them at home. They have the returning Heisman winner, play 4 cupcakes in their OOC, and miss all of the tough teams from the eastern bracket. Basically they will be favored in 11 games next year (LSU loses their whole team, and none of the other 10 teams are that good), and will probably be between a pick 'em and a 3 point dogn at home vs. Bama. If the SEC West had more good teams and fewer awful teams, or if their OOC at least had 1-2 :loseable" games against decent competition, I would not put them so high. But they are a good team with a great QB and coach (the two most important people on a football team) that plays an easy schedule with 1 really tough game on it. If they win that game (again), they will almost certainly be in the MNC.
I'm not concerned about Bohls or the Ags. I'm concerned about: * The Texas D improving * The Texas run game improving. Everything else irrelevant.
not at all trying to minimize the impact of swope leaving. i do think he was our most consistent WR, but it took a while for him and johnny to gel. it's a tough call because both are outstanding, but i think that mike evans was our best receiver. he was dinged up for a lot of the year, or his numbers would have been even better. we will definitely miss swope. and like i said, WR (evans aside) is a question mark for us next year. hence the reason we've got such a big WR class this year.
well now i'm starting to second guess myself. i could legitimately make arguments about why one is better than the other. it's like having to pick between your kids. swope was better after the catch, but evans was more physical and and has a helluva vertical. tough call. either way, to go to your point, i was not trying to minimize swope's departure, but i think sumlin's system will find a way to make up for the loss.
Last time I saw Swope it was against us and he got 3 catches for 33 yards from the aggie pro qb Tannehill. I think that was the last time we played aggie and won on a game winning field goal. I havn't seen or heard of him since. Guess I just don't give a damn about aggie football...or the douchbag bohls.
PropJoe, I think you are minimizing Swope, perhaps unwittingly. Arguably the biggest win in Aggie history was over Bama this year, and Swope was an absolute warrior in that game. Indeed, other than Manziel, he was the player most responsible for that win. The ridiculous catches he made to extend drives that led to critical points were extraordinary, and his fire and leadership was incandescent. I have rarely seen a receiver that was that clutch in a hostile environment (Shipley in the MNC was close, but partly because every other WR we had was awful that day, and we lost). You can probably replace a lot of his receptions and yards. The jury is out, however, on whether his leadership and competitiveness will be easily replaceable. My guess is it won't. That said, every Top 10 team loses good players. It is part of the game. Had VY and Jamaal Charles both come back, Texas may have 1-2 more MNC's in the past 7 years, and Mack's tenure would look a lot different right now. (If you put Jamaal Charles and his 1600+ yards on that 2008 team -- which was Colt's best team -- we beat TTech and play for the MNC. Instead, Colt led the team with 561 yards rushing as a QB.). It remains to be seen how much the losses of Joeckerl, Swope, etc will hurt. My guess is that Mathews will be the favorite to win another Outland trophy as he slides over to left tackle, so the OL will be fine. As long as Manziel stays grounded and focused, the team will be highly competitive. If you beat Bama, you will be in the MNC, even with a loss to someone else. Fairly or unfairly (I would argue the latter), Espn makes sure that 1-loss SEC teams almost ALWAYS get into the MNC game. (Meanwhile, no 1-loss Pac 12 team has ever played for the MNC in the BCS era; even the 2003 USC team that was consensus #1 in both polls got left out in favor of LSU and an OU team that lost to K-State in the Big 12 title game 35-7). If you beat Bama, you basically have to lose twice to not get in. It would take a complete meltdown by Manziel or some really bad luck in a few unexpectedly close games for that to happen. I think it is close to a toss-up on y'all beating Bama again, and probably a 75/25 chance of you going 13-0 or 12-1 if you manage to beat Bama. Thus, by my rough math, you have about a 35-40% chance to make it to the MNC game at the start of the season, which is a great place to start. Oregon and Stanford and Ohio State and whoever wins the Big 12 are not in as good a position as a loss for them almost certainly means they won't play in the MNC, and with 9 conference games, more competitive "good" teams, and tougher OOC, at least the Pac 12 and Big 12 teams have a much greater chance of dropping a game. Case in point: Oregon lost to a very good Stanford team and their season was basically over. Bama didn't even win is division last year and still got in, playing a rematch with LSU is the most boring MNC game in the BCS era. It's corrupt as hell, but membership in the SEC has its privileges. That is the benefit of having the biggest megaphone in sports (Espn) as your (very biased) business partner. (Google "conflict of interest" and also look up how many times Gameday featured an SEC team this year vs. a Pac 12 team or a Big 12 team). If Texas ever got good again maybe that Espn partnership would pay some dividends for us (if not the full Big 12), but right now we are not good enough to get any bang for that LHN buck.
Maybe I'm nitpicking. Is it hedging to say that I think Evans is a better overall WR but swope meant more to the team? And sure we will miss his leadership but this team has one unquestioned leader on offense and I'm sure others will step up. But don't get me wrong. I'm going to miss the hell out of swope. Hit after hit he just made plays. That's the bad part of being a loyal fan as most of you know. You get so damned attached to the players.
Did notice that Jameil Showers, the backup qb who led Manziel heading into last season, has announced he's transfering. He mentioned Baylor and Tech and some PAC schools as possibilities.
yeah, showers transferring is not at all surprising. he's a good kid with a great arm who deserves a shot elsewhere. he's graduating this may so he'll be able to go somewhere and play immediately.
