Predict AM's 2008 season

blueag09

blueag09

250+ Posts
Who will the Aggies beat/lose to this upcoming season? TexAgs predicts a 6-6 record as the worst case, with losses to Miami, OSU, Tech, CU, OU, and UT. I would like to read HornFans' perspective. If you are willing to, include a brief explanation of your prediction as well.

BTW, I know the chances of the Ags winning their last game of the regular season are very slim, so no need to overemphasize that
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Here is the schedule:

Arkansas State
New Mexico
Miami FL
Army
@ Oklahoma State
Kansas State
Texas Tech
@ Iowa State
Colorado
Oklahoma
@ Baylor
@ Texas

and here are articles outlining A&M's strengths and weaknesses that could help make your prediction:
The Link
The Link
 
My personal opinions:

It's very simple. This years A&M red shirt seniors and juniors are the same red shirt fish and sophs that led A&M to a 9 win season two years ago; and with one field goal against ou, would have played in the Big 12 championship for a bcs bowl.

Now they are all back supported by talented experienced red shirt fish and sophs. Numerous young talented sub 4'5 speed players at defensive end, lnebacker.and defensive back will surprise many, RC's last recruiting class of mostly 2 and 3 stars finished their elgibility last season.

If Fran were coaching them, A&M would easily go 12-0 or 11-1, win the Big 12 champ game and go to a bcs bowl after finally getting rid of the RC 2 and 3 star handicap of the last five years. Remember Fran went 10-1 in the tough SEC just before comming to A&M, so he can coach.

On the other hand, Byrne's Sherman has a proven record of taking a Green Bay champ team with Frave, and turning it into a loser on the field, rather than building on it.
Sherman was fired and the new coach immediately won big again, led by those same players.

If Sherman coaches from a distance and hands off, A&M still has all the horses to go 12-0, 11-1, win the BIG 12 and play in a bcs bowl.

If Sherman does the same coaching as at Green Bay, then TexAgs football challenged 80+% will be right at 6-6 or less.

The proven mature experienced talent is at A&M now with talented experienced backups at all positions. Every other Big 12 team lost an average of 17 seniors or more, many of them starters, so everything is in place for A&M to win it all this year.

With Byrne and Sherman blowing the recruiting with all the 4 and 5 star player decommits, and then losing each and every head to head battle with UT, ou and lsu for the good 4 and 5 star players in the current class, winning this year is imperative.

You have to realize that Byrne/Sherman's 14 decommits included a complete very talented defensive team at every position of mostly 4 and 5 star players so speedy and talented that many could have contributed this season, but only if needed. Also a speedy talented instate 4 star linebacker was a last minute head to head loss to ole miss.Of the three talented linebackers all with 4.5 speed, one might have now lost his shirt.


This was A&M's starting highly ranked defence for the next four years, now not.

A&M goes to the bottom of the Big 12 as soon as these two Byrne/Sherman classes delute the squad in 2009.

Miller58

A&M a rebuilding and a winning seson in 2006 and champs in 2008.
 
6-6 would be about average, 5 wins or 7 wins wouldn't surprise me. After Derrick Stephens had to retire, I looked at the roster and was shocked at the shittyness on the OL and defense. I emailed an aggy friend of mine to ask him if I was missing anything and he said no, that 6 wins would make him happy.
 
I think that the losses on the O-line will hurt aTm more than anything. Add the inexperience at WR and you have a team that will struggle to go .500. When you factor in the loss of your 2 starters at LB and the fact that the D-line has a lot of replacements to fill, I don't see them winning more than 4 games.


Arkansas State - W
New Mexico - W
Miami FL - L
Army - W
@ Oklahoma State - L
Kansas State - L (ags have had their number though)
Texas Tech - L
@ Iowa State - L (ended really strong last season)
Colorado - L
Oklahoma - L
@ Baylor - W
@ Texas - L

They will be starting some players that are good, but there won't be a lot of talent with back ups. This means their starters will probably have to play more than they should, and injuries are going to take their toll.

I think aggy will hurt our strength of schedule when we play them.
 
Arkansas State W
New Mexico W
Miami FL L
Army W
@ Oklahoma State L
Kansas State W
Texas Tech L
@ Iowa State W
Colorado W
Oklahoma L
@ Baylor W
@ Texas L

7-5

Games versus CU and KSU are very capable of going the other way.
 
Aggy can surprise you. Play balls out against Rice and then stink it up against Miami
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As much as I hate Aggy, I give them a legit chance to win 7 games.

And to look at our schedule I am not feeling very confident. I would be quite pleased if Texas was able to win 9 regular season games- hell I would be ecstatic if we could do that and win a bowl game to extend the 10 game streak.

Missouri is going to be tough (even at home)
@ KU (and we dont have VY to save us)
@ Colorado scares me- they arent good, but they usually play tough at home.
OU - like it or not, we tend to **** the bed against them.
Aggy- its their superbowl and its on Turkey Day and after 2 years of winning, they may play even tougher.

If we play Arkansas like we did in either '03 or '04, look out, it could get ugly.

Now, I dont expect us to lose all those games, but I think there is a pretty good chance we only win 3
 
Games I think you for sure lose:
Miami
Texas Tech
OU
Texas

Games I think you probably lose
Oklahoma State
Kansas State

Games that could go either way
Colorado
New Mexico
Baylor (only because it's at Baylor)

Games A&M has to win
Arkansas State
Army
Iowa State

So that's a record of 3-4 before considering the up in the air games. I'm gonna say you lose to both OSU and KSU. Now it's 3-6. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you win 2 of the 50/50 games. That makes it 5-7.

If I'm really optimistic, I say make one of those "can't win" games a win (even a blind squirrel finds a nut, etc.) and make the third 50/50 game a win. That brings it to 7-5, absolute best case scenario, IMO.

So it all averages out to 6-6.

My thinking is that as talented as a couple of the offensive players are, there are going to be serious obstacles brought forth by the OL. Sure, Mike Goodson is a talented player, even a very talented player if I'm being nice, but he doesn't know what it's like to run behind a green offensive line. Stephen McGee has shown a profound distaste for passing the football, not to mention an utter inability to do so when he has to. Toss in the fact that he has no one to throw to anyway and an offensive line that probably couldn't give him enough protection to throw, and you're looking at an offense that Sherman tries to turn into a pass-first offense, and it won't work. Lack of a passing game will further hurt the running game, ad nauseum.

Defense ... ugh. No depth, no speed, no playmakers.

That's pretty much it. I predict only about 1000 Aggies come to Austin for Thanksgiving.
 
Arkansas State W
@ New Mexico W
Miami FL L
Army W
@ Oklahoma State L
Kansas State W
Texas Tech L
@ Iowa State W
Colorado W
Oklahoma L
@ Baylor W
@ Texas L

7-5. Could be 6-6 or 8-4 with a fluke win.

EDIT - I was trying to figure out how aggy had 8 home games. They only have 7. They play at New Mexico.
 
Wins and loses? I don't give aggy that much thought-but in the Big 12 south it will be, in no particular order-Texas, OU, and TT ahead of aggy.
And if you loose to your rabid rivals, Baylor- expect to be 5th.
 
Arkansas State W
@ New Mexico W
Miami FL tossup - Miami ain't Miami anymore
Army W
@ Oklahoma State tossup - it's a Mike Gundy team, you know
Kansas State W
Texas Tech L (pirate will beat a soldier, again)
@ Iowa State W
Colorado W
Oklahoma L
@ Baylor W
@ Texas L

From 9-3 to 7-5, depending on how the tossups turn out. The non-conf schedule is not that challenging, and in conference they avoid KU and Mizzou.

Of course they will probably lose to someone like ISU or Baylor in completely mystifying fashion, and beat Tech or OU. Trying to predict aggy is a fruitless endeavor.
 
if fuller is as good as advertised, he could add a dimension to aggy football that they have never had. he'll certainly be the first good wr mcgee has had the luxury of throwing to since shipley at burnet. after fuller, they have a bunch of warm bodies. goodson and stephens will be a really good duo, and i imagine fatty will still come in for short yardage. the OL situation is no bueno. i think the aggy offense, stats-wise, could look alot like ours from last year. mcgee's passing yards will jump, but he'll get sacked a lot and pressured into interceptions. goodson/stephens will struggle early, and they will have to break off some long runs, which they will begin to do as the OL matures. i don't think scoring points will be their problem, on paper. it's going to be consistency. they're not going to be able to pass against everybody, and they're not going to be able to run against everybody.

the D is sort of a wild card. i think kines was a great short-term hire. he'll change the style and attitude immediately, but the overall talent level is pretty bad. i don't know if one of their guys would start for us on D, and we're not world-beaters either. their DL is pretty solid, and their secondary ought to be ok, but for those that think we've had a hard time recruiting/developing LBs...if you want to feel better, look at their depth chart. i think aggy will come prepared and play hard, but they aren't going to scare anybody.

Arkie State - W
UNM - W
Miami - W (I think they'll do it...)
Army - W (...get worked up into a good froth, announce the coming of a new aggy world order, and then...)
@Okie Lite - L (swift kick to the nads...)
KSU - W (no jordy)
Tech - BIG L (they talk a big game, then roll over and take it...again)
@ISU - W
CU - tossup
OU - L (obliteration in the trenches)
@BU - tossup (if briles finds the 10 yd min thread, aggy is toast)
@Texas - L

7-5, I think. To be fair, if Texas is going to go 7-5 under Mack, this is the year.
 
My personal opinions:

blonthang, the answer to your questionis simple:

The most incompetant AD Byrne was the difference in the two A&M teams, 06 and 07.

Byrne's inexperienced incompetance in football created an atmosphere of major uncertainty that was a major distraction for A&M"s commits, the football team and the football coaches. It would be impossible for any AD to handle a situation any more stupidly and incompetantly. Look at just some of the direct AD ramifications :

1. a major distraction for 14 A&M commits left dangling, that directly resulted in their decommitting to go to other schools.

2. the loss of a top 5 ranked recruiting class including 11 defensive studs mostly ranked 4 and 5 star. Three linebackers and four db's lost, all with 4.5/sub 4.5 speed that would have been our wrecking crew leaders for the next FIVE years, due to an incompetant AD. This recruiting space for defensive studs was created as a result of Tim's and RC"s last recruiting class leftovers finishing last season.

3 the loss of several games due to the distractions of the football tean created by an AD incompentance in handling his job.

4. the incompetant AD hiring of a new coach, completely incompetant in recruiting, fired from Green Bay for taking a Farve led, champinship team down the tubes.

His replacement immediately won with the same players; and last, incompetantly hiring coaches that can only recruit leftovers, and as yet have not won a head to head recruiting battle with UT, lsu, ou or tulsa university.

5. an incompetantly hired football coach ranked in national publications as the #8 coach in the Big 12 and #46 out of 66 bcs coaches, and as a result, has A&M ranked a laughing stock #65 in the nation.

6. and finally,A&M has an incompetant AD interested only in political power struggles, not winning A&M athletics; otherwise you wouldn't incompetantly permit hiring 10 football coaches who only experienced signing a total of 2 four and five star players in the last 5 years.

This is your answer.

miller58
 
I would stop short of calling Byrne incompetent. While I do not think he is suited to run an athletic program at a football school, he's done a nice job with the Olympic sports at A&M. I agree that his handling of the football program has been a cataclysmic disaster so far, but given the right program, say Baylor, he could be an excellent AD.
 
For Sure A&M Losses:

OU
Tceh- Thier Super Bowl

Toss Ups

Horns- Our Super Bowl
ISU- How good are they
OSU- Gundy could fvck up a wet dream
Miami- Randy Shannon could fvck up a wet dream
CU- These guys could be the suprise team of the B12
UNM- Massive personnel losses, serious offensive/ front 7 personell losses

For Sure Wins

KSU- We have had thier number for years, and they have less talent than us
Army
Baylor
Arkie State
 
My personal opinions;

bassale47, no question Byrne, Sherman and Turgeon will all be gone this season after the Texas losses in both sports.

To put them at Baylor would be a downgrade for Baylor compared to what they have now. Art Briles can coach and recruit, their AD can hire competantly, their basketball coach can recruit and win.

Maybe they could fit in at Mary Hardin Baylor.

miller58
 
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