Counting our blessings with this team.

I really enjoyed your post, Horndfl, and the entire thread. I particularly am gratified to see Mo Gordon getting the respect he deserves. This is a great young man who doesn't play a glory position but is making a tremendous impact on his team. I like Maurice and think he's vastly underrated.

The only slight bit of criticism I have regarding the initial post is that it just grates on my nerves to see our freshmen referred to as "fish." That just sounds so ... so ... well, so aggieish.
 
Thanks for the thoughts, guys.

Texanne--

When I was in high school in Houston in the mid-90's, I heard freshmen referred to as "fish" my entire time there. I have never thought there was anything aggie-ish about it. That's about the closest I've ever come to being called an aggie in my life.
 
Last night on the Longhorn SportsLine, Mack Brown did a "Tribute to the Seniors". Check out the thread on that subject and check out the link to the show. The players were great in their interviews. We will miss this great group of guys. Thank goodness they helped recruit young men like themselves.

Mack said he wished that some of the forth year seniors had been red-shirted so he would have them back next year. He mentioned how some players had improved greatly in their third and fourth years and , in fact, had just come in to their own this year.
We have a lot to look forward to in the years ahead.
 
DFL- a great well thought post. Our depth and growth as a team is in fact very scary. I guarantee you that Stoops is glad he faced us early and not late.

I remember reading an interview with Bobby Bowden who talked about a team needing to "learn" to get to the next level. Outside of OU's magical run last year, most teams build in an annual progression fashion, NU, FSU, PennSt Michigan. They build classes that get better each year.

It is incredibly exciting to think about how good this team will be next season. We will play one of the toughest schedules in the country but we bring a seasoned senior lead team with a goal in mind. To quote Tom Beringer "the only thing left to do is win the whole damn thing."

Now if I can just get my lil bro home from the shores of Pakistan(he's on the command staff of one of the Marine units deployed) and convince the lovely Michelle that Seattle is no place for her when TEXAS could make a real run, my life would be perfect.
 
Great post! Every once in a while I will slip a game tape into the old VCR from a game this year. I am continually amazed at the level and depth of talent that Texas has. The great thing is is that the talent will only get better and deeper!
 
Horndfl,

I went to high school way back in the 70s in Euless and the only time I ever heard references to freshmen being "fish" was when someone's big brother would come home from eATMe U and talk about Fish Camp or being a fish in the corps.

Likewise, when I was at Texas, the only references I heard about freshmen being fish were when my friends at eATMe U would call me or come see me and they'd talk about being "fish." At Texas we just called them freshmen.

So the only real frames of reference I have for freshmen being fish is in the aggay connotation.

Sorry if I touched a nerve. I wonder how many other people went to a high school where freshmen were routinely called "fish."
 
I wasn't offended or anything, Texanne. Just letting you know where I was coming from. In hindsight, my "mid-90's" reference is more applicable to Texas than HS. Wanted to clear that up.
 
Freshmen were called fish when I went to high school---though it was at Pville which was located across the street from a field full of cows. Now that I think about it I can see the aggie conotations. Ewww...maybe that was during the peak time of the Aggie Maroon Media Conspiracy.
 
I was thinking about this the other night. I remember during my tenure at Texas (1987-1991) when we would count into the AP Poll -- "Other receiving votes. We would find Texas at 35 and think we were only ten spots away from being ranked! Now if we can just get by Tech in Lubbock (invariably we would get our clock cleaned).

The defense was slow, the offense moribund, and the team was just bad. The Aggies physically beat us up. The Sooners laughed at us (except for 1989-1992).

I also remember going to the Sun Bowl and being so happy that the team could have an extra couple of weeks of practice to improve. WE ARE GOING TO A BOWL GAME -- IN EL PASO!!!!!

Trips Left -- I also remember that CU game when a four yards run for Salaam was a victory for the Texas defense. I also remember running plays against teams where the back (normally Demond Parker or Leeland McElroy) would have at least a 30 yard gain. I would just look up the field, the DBs were running away from the play, the LBs were no where in sight, and the back had at least 30 yards.

No one wore orange to the games, there was no tailgating near the capitol -- just Scholtz's, no smokers before the game, no Exes Center party -- nothing but bat guano, tortilla wraps, and bad defense.

Every time the team trots out on to the field, I thank the good lord for Mack Brown. We have come so far, and I have enjoyed every minute of it.
 
Last night I played Madden99 with the All-Madden team. I ran the same single back formation every play and still lost to Miami.

Now how can that be?
 
Damn, I need a job that affords more time to read and reply to such threads as this. I need to get my priorities straight.

Great post, dfl. I agree heartily. Hard to imagine that it's coming from someone with a user name of ctj. A real tribute to our current talent level. Machovic didn't suck at recruiting, but it has been a new ballgame since Mack got here.

Thanks again, I enjoyed reading it.

By the way BOW, dfl is Leslie. Hard to imagine he/she/it could only manage a 3rd or 4th place finish in this week's mayoral race.
smile.gif
 
I was reflecting on this just the other day, in regards to who is coming back next year. It is really incredible that s good as this team is, it will break even, or be upgraded at nearly every position next year.

We lose posssibly the top corner in the nation, but consider which is better, senior Jammer and junior Babers, or senior Babers and junior Vasher? I don't think you can say one is better.

The whole team is in that shape. It is truly amazing what talent exists here now. Mack Brown has succeeded far beyond what I thought was possible, and still has the motor running. Even OUs MNC appears to have done little to slow down the accumulation of talent on the 40 acres.

I think the talent level of this team is still in a significant upward climb. Every team we play (including Kansas for this week) says we are the most talented team in the Big XII. They really haven't seen anything yet. What Mack Brown is doing will not get close to peaking for another full five years. The class we just shirted, and the class we are recruiting are just scary. We red shirted two guys in the O line who would have started for our two arch rivals. Bringing them back as fifth year seniors would be as if we could bring back Mike Williams or Antwon Kirk-Hughes for one more year.

On the down side, we are still shackled by an offensive scheme which will only succeed when we have a significant talent edge over the opposition. I've never said a bad (or good) thing about Nunez, because I can't tell if the problems he faces are related to coaching or related to scheme. He seems to have been very successful before coming here, so I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt. But, it is our offensive scheme that will keep talented teams in the game with us.

Now, it is starting to look like these guys are developing so well, that maybe we won't see a team as talented as we in a few short years, say by 2003. Then our scheme works. If not, we are in for a lot of 11-1, 10-2 seaons. I know that looking back, we would all say how wonderful this is, and it is. But thinking of what might have been will be frustrating.

Hook'em!
 
Yo, dfl--great, great post, man!!

Sometimes we overlook the big picture and forgot what a quality team we have with all that great talent. I don't miss the days when we were luck to finish above .500!!

All we need is some big-game mindsets, when all those talented players develop the mental toughness needed to win big games. It took the Dallas Cowboys several painful losses in the late 60s and early 70s before they developed the mental toughness to win close playoff games and, then, finally Super Bowls.

I need sunglasses, 'cause the future is SO BRIGHT!!!

HOOK 'EM HORNS!!! BEAT KU!!!
 
This was down to the last post on page 7! I am bringing it back to the top because I can! for my 440th post!

Hi horndfl, long time. Best wishes, I agree!
Domedriver
 
****. I thought dfl had shrugged off the slings and arrows and offered up another tome. I for one was looking forward to it. It was fun to read again anyway.
 
Before we get too geeked up on talent, remember that last year we struggled in big games. OU, CU2, aTm, Washington. Our talent level shoul be about the same as last year. The game is played on the field for 60 minutes. What happens in that specific day and time determines the fate of the season.
Even at this level of talent we will have to play like crazed dogs to beat Nebraska at home and KSU and OU. Not with 40 times and 5 star rankings. The only good thing about raw talent is that it can usually play well despite poor coaching. In the college game the overachiever is usually the guy who wins games--ala Applewhite. For OU, it looks more and more like Calmus and Roy Wiliams were overachieving based on their combines.

Horndfl-You can't watch how we looked against Baylor or Kansas or Mary Hardin. Our walkons could probably beat them.
Yes we've got talent, but it will be HEART that decides the fate of this team.
 
Wow. This was a surprise.

domedriver--

Good hearing from you, I haven't seen you around in some time.

ISIPT--

Do you have any more profound bits of insight that you've unearthed and would like to share with the class? We have to play well in big games? We have to play with heart? Anyone could beat Baylor or Kansas? Man, that's some amazing ****.

I wrote this thread in the middle of last November. It was written after rewatching the Baylor game and before the KU game, I believe. It was during a time on this board in which everyone was bitching as we were heading towards a 10-1 regular season finish and an unexpected Big 12 Title invite. Consider the context and ease up on the platitudes.
 
horndfl,

Your last post answered my question of when you actually first wrote these observations, since you make references to signing Eric Winston, Nicholson, Byrdsong, etc., and comment on players that are now gone.

More people need to realize how much progress Simms has made, and how good he actually was in 2001. With another year of improvement, he can arrive at the point of being something special in 2002. Nobody ever seemed to want to give him the time to get there.

I agree that there is a wealth of talent across the board, and deep. Which brings me to another question: since you arrived at this realization of how talented and deep the current team is, how could you have made your recent observation that you'll be surprised if less than 12 of the incoming freshman see playing time next fall? Yes, they're all supremely talented. But they're freshman, and fewer than a handful of them, probably between two and four, are going to be able to move ahead of the experienced talent already on hand. Some of the freshman you believe will not only see playing time but will truly make an impact next year will never take their shirts off. That's how talented this team already is.

I don't know where in the line of an oldtimers I fit, but I've seen this scenario play out time and again. More of these freshmen that you'd expect will not report in condition and no matter how studly the resume, most will not be ready to challenge for playing time.

As you have pointed out in your look at every position, a main reason for that is how much talent is alreadyon hand.
 
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