Wednesday August 27th, 2008
8:20pm
TAMABINPO's 2008 Fightin' Texas Aggie Football Preview Part II
Offense
The option is gone. Harumph! Harumph! Harumph!
Over the off-season, particularly since the baseball season ended, I watched a lot of highlight films from years past. As I watched our clips from last season I was struck by realization that they're made up, almost exclusively, of: Goodson runs, Goodson catch and runs, of McGee runs, and of J-Train runs. That kind of saddened me. The defense, for the most part, was bad to quite bad, and we had no offense outside of those three players. Well, we had Martellus, but it's fairly well documented that he didn't get near the number of touches that he should have. Anyways, for some reason that realization really bothered me.
Last season our leading rusher was our QB, while our RB led the team in receiving TDs and is our leading returning receiver in yardage. Something is fundamentally wrong with that.
I think it is really interesting that instead of following the trend of moving towards a spread offense, we went from a zone-read spread and went back to a pro-style offense.
What that means exactly is kind of fuzzy to me....mostly because I'm not an Xs & Os guy. You hear "pro-style", "I-formation", "west coast offense", etc. a lot and they're used overlappingly to describe the same thing.
Regardless of the technical terminology we're going to line up with a QB, a fullback, and a running back behind the center. We're going to have 5 offensive linemen and some combination of TEs and WRs that equal 3. Shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached....we'll have an offense.
So the new offense is going to be a pro-style offense, but not necessarily a true west coast offense. The basic philosophies of the west coast offense will be there but it is a much more condensed version of it. This isn't going to be the '89 49ers out there.
Quarterbacks
The leader of this new offense is going to be Stephen McGee, who beat out Jerrod Johnson during the fall camp for the starting nod. It wasn't such a shocker for me because, and I've said this before, I can't imagine a brand new head coach sending someone other than the face of the program out to take the first snap of the season. The result would split the fan base and then it would polarize them either against or for Sherman right off the bat. The honeymoon would already be over. That said, McGee is still a big mystery for me. He threw the tar out of the ball in high school and then when he got here he was turned into a battering ram. I love the guy but I have not been wowed by his passing through his two years as our starter. When we did throw it seemed like the ball was never quite where it should have been where our receivers had to stop their routes to make the catch. Then you get a game like last season's texas game where we come out with a new game plan and he throws the ball around like Tom Brady, setting a career high (and the 5th most prolific passing game in school history) with 362 yards through the air. Was it the system? Was it because he was beat up all the time? I flat out don't know.
The above chart shows every single completion we had that went for 20 yards or further. As you can see, in 13 games, we had 26 completions over 20 yards. Nine of those 26 were completed to one of our backs, which means the yardage was a result of the yards after catch. Mike Goodson had the most receptions over 30 yards. That is not good for a passing game. Most of that was a result of play calling but some of it was a result of not seeing the open receiver or not being able to get through all the reads.
Offensive Line
I've voiced my concerns with the offensive line on several occasions. We have very little depth with any experience, let alone a significant amount of experience. The other day I was wondering when the last time we such uncertainty at the offensive line and 2003 came to mind. I was curious how much experience we brought back that year and how it compares to our current OL situation.
In 2003 we had eight players who appeared in more than 1 game. Only three of them had made a career start prior to '03. This season we have a total of 19 players listed on the roster at the position, although five are true freshman of which at least 3 should red-shirt. Of those 19 players only 6 have every played a snap and only two have made a start.
Prior Prior
2003 OL Exp 2003 2008 OL Exp
========================== ======================
A.De La Garza. 11/0 12/12 R.Frost......... 11/0
G.Hangartner.. 13/11 12/12 L.Grimes........ 8/0
Q.Holman...... 5/0 4/0 K.Matthews...... 9/0
J.Kirk........ 18/0 12/11 T.Schneider..... 26/16
A.Kotzur...... 0/0 12/12 M.Shumard....... 17/5
J.Milkavich... 0/0 7/1 V.Williams...... 5/0
A.Reuber...... 22/9 12/12
D.Steamer..... 5/0 9/0
(G/GS)
What does this mean for us? It means that we're just as inexperienced as we were in 2003. I don't expect things to go much differently than they did in 2003 but only because I have absolutely no way of being able to gauge if our inexperienced bunch is more or less talented than our inexperienced bunch was back then. I just think that experience on the offensive line is extremely important....and that is why I'm such a pessimist in regards to the position.
Take a look back at last year's Alamo Bowl as a slight indication of what to expect because we were without Yemi and Kirk Elder in that game.
Running backs
From a sour note to a note as sweet as a glass of Chicken Express tea....
CONTINUE
| Where are you?
Tuesday August 26th, 2008
8:49pm
TAMABINPO's 2008 Fightin' Texas Aggie Football Preview Part I
I'm ready for the season to start.
WHOOP! It's time for some Fightin' Texas Aggie Football!
Exactly two weeks before our first game I had another Aggie football dream. We were kicking off to Arkansas State to start the season and we pulled the onside kick. Jordan Peterson picked it up mid-stride and advanced it down to Arkansas State's 40 yard line. That was all I could remember. Weird, huh?
I'm currently re-reading one of my favorite books, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St.John, which I think is such a great book because he does an excellent job explaining what it is going through the minds of over-the-top fans....because he's one of us. It got me to thinking about my maturation from a "baseball nut who casually watched other sports and went to the football games my freshman year" to psycho fan.
Break out the Wayne's World time travel music....
The high school gang ready for our first game at Kyle Field
The fall of my freshman year was pretty miserable overall. I was struggling through a bunch of weed-out classes in the college of engineering, my best friends from high school were living on-campus and meeting a lot more new people while I was off-campus (by no means a fault of their own), I was trying to get used to being away from home, and my high school girlfriend broke my heart. As the season went on those Saturday games got me through the week. I even went to a game or two by myself. Those Saturdays were like therapy for me somehow.
I've always been a big sports fan but I certainly wasn't a football fanatic. I didn't get into sports until the 3rd grade and from there I became a baseball nut. Other than watching my friends play in high school I had been to a total of two football games, both at Rice, during my middle school years and that was it for the gridiron.
The first football game of my freshman year was at Notre Dame. My best friend's fish camp counselor invited me to tag along in his van up to South Bend to go to the game with them. I declined and went home for the weekend to see my folks. It remains the only regret I have from my time at A&M. As much as I hate that I didn't go, it serves as a marker representing where my fandom level was when I started school, kind of like the height chart hanging on the inside of a kids closet door with magic marker dashes and dates.
Aggie football got me through my first semester of school and things got much, much, much better in my second semester as I met my wife. Every now-and-then I like to joke with her that Aggie football has been there for me longer....and every now-and-then I realize I'm not as smart as I sometimes think I am.
My freshman year I knew the big name players and that was about it....basically the guys whose names kept getting called over the loudspeakers. Names like Ja'Mar Toombs, Richard Whitaker, Mark Farris, Bethel Johnson, Robert Ferguson, Jason Glenn, Brian Gamble, etc.
Then during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year I started working for the athletic department as a class checker and I got to know some of the other players as well as most of incoming freshmen (who were required to be on our check lists). That fall it was a heck of a lot more fun to watch because I actually knew some of the guys playing and I recognized a lot of the other's names.
The spring following my second football season a bizarre situation with pot-luck roommates landed me a new roommate by the name of Roylin Bradley. I had to look him up on the A&M football website and even after that it took me three weeks to realize he was guy wearing #40 on the schedule poster that was hanging on my wall. He is still ranked 6th on the A&M All-Time Sack list.
I got to meet several other players through him, but the next level of my fandom really came through NCAA Football which I first bought when NCAA 2002 came out. That was a big jump in fandom for me because it really helped me learn about the game of football, of which I had no previous experience with.
I think that sometime between my senior year and my fifth year was when it really escalated to a level that caused a good portion of my immediate family to start getting concerned.
I've always been a huge, huge baseball fan (goodness, look at my room growing up) but at this point in my life if you had to pin me down I'd forfeit major league baseball for a year if I was forced to pick between it and Aggie football.
A few years ago I wrote the following in one of my previews and it still holds true enough that I'm going to include it yet again.
To me it's something that year in and year out I continue to become more passionate about. I love going to Kyle Field with my friends (or family) and just going nuts. I love that we, as fans, can actually influence the results on the field with our enthusiasm.
I read Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John and he put it better than I could:
"On third down, as the State quarterback approaches the line, there is a sudden roar. It sounds like a massive waterfall, with the steady rumble of stomping feet on the low end and a singeing hiss of clapping hands on the high. My screams fill in the midrange. What am I saying? I have to stop to even notice: Comonbamaletsgodefensegobamagobamagodefense. Gibberish, in other words. And yet, who can tell, or cares? With the sudden spike in noise, the crowd seems to become aware of itself and of its power. It's exhilarating, and the exhilaration inspires us to scream even louder. A moment later, it happens again, as though the crowd is in a shouting match with itself. It's louder still. The decibel level ratchets upward--a graph of it would look like a staircase--McDougall's theory of intensification playing out in real time. Unnerved by the noise, a State lineman hops out of his stance--illegal motion. Our power is confirmed, and that's all it takes...The Bulldogs break the huddle and the roar begins anew, only still louder. Around me, fans are screaming and shaking their heads, mouths open, trying to muscle still more noise from the bottom of their throats, as though trying to shout rocks up a hill. I can feel the rumble through my heels. The State quarterback drops back and jogs right, under pressure. He throws the ball into his receiver's ankles, incomplete. It's our ball. We did it."
The crowd can become aware of it's self and to be a part of that is an awesome feeling (in the truest sense of the word). What an incredible rush, knowing that you're more than just a person in the stadium watching the game....you're actually contributing to the outcome on the field. The crowd is what makes the game so great. The greatest games I've been to at Kyle Field weren't even all wins....I remember those electric losses more than I remember most of our blowout wins. That is why people are sports fans. I truly think that whatever it is that flows through your body during these moments of euphoria are like a drug and make you crave more....you need more and are willing to go through just about anything to get another fix. You live through all the bad and all the agony that comes with defeat to feel that feeling. And going through all that defeat and agony makes those great moments even sweeter.
Where else on earth can you completely release your feelings in such a primal way? I mean, after a big play I can simply howl at the top of my lungs for a good minute, just letting the joy spill out of my body.
That's what is so incredible about college sports. Think about how soccer fans in Europe go crazy....it's similar to collegiate athletics in that you are so completely committed to your team because you can't just pick and choose your team as the seasons go by....I'm an Aggie and no matter how much I like another college's sporting team there is nothing that they could do that could come close to the bond I have formed with my school.
It's that total release that you get that makes being a sports fan what it truly is. There simply aren't other outlets like that in our lives.
Aggie football gives me that.
I don't know very much about the X's & O's of the game but I love it all the same. I think Jennifer finally "got it" a few years back when I told her that if I had to list the 20 most important days of the year to me, that about half of them would be used for Aggie football. The rest would be birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays.
Schedule
This season's schedule works out well for a new head coach. In odd numbered years we have a horrifically difficult conference road schedule (playing at tech, OU, and usually the top Big 12 North team). This season we get all of our big games at home, minus the texas game. We're also in a "Bizzaro World" where Kansas and Mizzouri are pre-season Top 15 teams....and even though I'm not sold on them at their high preseason rankings, we miss both of them as our Big 12 North opponents rotated for this year.
2008 Fightin' Texas Aggie Schedule
Date Opponent Time TV
==================================
08/30 Arkansas State 6:00pm -
09/06 @New Mexico 4:00pm Vs.
09/20 Miami (FL) 6:00pm -
09/27 Army 6:00pm -
10/04 @Oklahoma State TBA -
10/11 Kansas State 1:00pm -
10/18 texas tech 1:00pm -
10/25 @Iowa State TBA -
11/01 Colorado 1:00pm -
11/08 Oklahoma 1:00pm -
11/15 @Baylor TBA -
11/27 @texas 7:00pm ESPN
Click HERE for a ravishingly handsome schedule wallpaper
Obviously, we're going to have more televised games than that but at this point in time we don't know what networks are going to pick them up. As those networks make their decisions I expect a majority of those game times, particularly the Big 12 games, to shift so it fits the network's schedule.
I'll run through our non-conference opponents quickly....
Arkansas State is the opening game for Coach Sherman, just as they were for the beginning of Coach Fran's reign. In '03 we beat'em by two touchdowns and I don't have to remind you how bad we were in '03. They were 5-7 last season including an 0-6 record on the road.
Playing a game at New Mexico is somewhat weird. Typically, we won't travel to smaller schools to play road games but this game was set up, prior to the coaching change, as some sort of thank you to New Mexico from Coach Fran, whose Division I head coaching career started in Albuquerque. UNM hosts TCU in their season opener (5pm Versus network) on the opening Saturday of the season so that will give us a good idea of what to expect. On paper we should beat UNM but it is a classic trap game....new head coach, new offense, new defense, first road game, underdog's biggest game of the year, we're looking ahead to Miami....
....Miami is going to be fun. I've been waiting for this game since it showed up on our schedule years ago. I was really disappointed when Florida State backed out in '05 but we were able to keep Miami on the schedule. This is the biggest non-conference game at Kyle Field since Notre Dame came in '01 (just ahead of Virginia Tech in '02). On top of it being awesome just because we're getting a huge name OoC game, we now have a big chip on our shoulder after they pretty much had their way with us last season at the Orange Bowl. Miami is going to be coming to Kyle Field for their second road game of the season with a freshman starting QB (a redshirt freshman is battling it out with a true freshman for the starting nod....either way it's going to be a freshman). They play at Florida on September 6th (7pm on ESPN) and, like us, have an off week prior to our matchup.
Miami is coming to Kyle Field and it's going to be a heckuva game.
In my mind, Army is somewhat of a novelty game. They're not a particularly good team (3-9 record in each of their last two seasons) but they have a tremendous history and we have strong ties with them in regards to our own military background. We should be able to have a pretty good idea of what we're going to see from the Black Knights because their first three games will be televised live on ESPN Classic (8/29 7pm, 9/6 1pm, 9/20 TBA).
I think that in our non-conference schedule, realistically, we'll end up with a 3-1 record. I'd be thrilled (and it wouldn't completely shock me) if we were 4-0 but, realistically, it would be too perfect if we didn't have a slip up either at New Mexico or against Miami. In Big 12 play I think that everything is completely up in the air. We should win the KSU, ISU, CU, & Baylor games. We're probably going to go 1-3 against tech, OU, and texas (which is what we've done in 3 of the last 4 years). That leaves the Oklahoma State game as the deciding factor on whether or not we have a winning record in Big 12 play and I think that game is a toss-up.
So...
7-5 or 8-4 is where I think we'll end up at the end of the regular season. Hopefully, I'm completely wrong and we end up shocking the world.
Coach Sherman
Coach Sherman hasn't coached a real game yet but he is doing very well in the minds of most Aggies already.
"From the inside looking out, you can't explain it. From the outside looking in, you can't understand it."
Sherman gets "it". He understands Texas A&M, he understands the alumni, he understands the student body. He knows what we want and our goals are aligned.
That's just one part of what the alumni base wants. We also want to win.
Coach Jackie Sherrill (who also got "it" and won) said, simply, when asked about what Sherman needs to do to be get us back to dominance, "Recruit the right players".
Coach Sherman has been hard at work trying to do that. He landed the two biggest recruits in our 2008 recruiting class in Jeff Fuller & Cyrus Gray and has been busting his hump on the 2009 class. We have already secured 25 commits, including a full cupboard of offensive linemen, defensive backs and one of the strongest WR corps from top to bottom we've seen at A&M, maybe ever.
Part of the reason we're contending for these top notch recruits is the staff that Sherman put together. We have a tremendous amount of NFL experience, which is something that has impressed recruits, as well as our current athletes.
For those of you wondering what has become of our previous head coach, he has taken a job with ESPN to do the commentary for 16 games this season. He sold his house in Miramont and is rumored to have bought a new one in Marble Falls, just north-west of Austin.
Coming Up Tomorrow
The Offense
| Where are you?
Tuesday August 19th, 2008
8:17pm
Bela Karolyi = Greatness
Is there any way possible that ESPN could somehow get Bela Karolyi to start covering college football. I don't really care if he's ever even watched the sport before.
I can guarantee the ratings will go up.
I'm watching gymnastics just so I can see the segment with him on afterwards. He's like Dickie V without the annoying and the "baby"-schtic.
| Where are you?
Tuesday August 12th, 2008
10:40pm
Olympics are Addictive
Going into the Olympics this year I wasn't really looking forward to the events. The only reason I even knew it was coming was because Team USA softball was on ESPN and ESPN2 every single weekend playing warm-up games across the country against collegiate teams.
Since the opening ceremonies on Friday night, I've become an addict. I'm watching sports that I would never think I'd watch....badminton....handball....gymnastics?!?!
The one I can't turn off is the swimming. All of a sudden I'm talking about how some Australian's "splits" were in the "400" as if it's something I've followed all my life.
The most gripping story line for me is clearly Michael Phelps. He is the most amazing thing I've seen in athletics. He has raced in 5 medal races already and not only has 5 gold medals but he has set World and Olympic records in each event. This guy is the Wayne Gretzky of the pool. He has taken everything anyone has ever done and just shattered it. He's not just beating the best active swimmers, not just the best living swimmers....he is beating every single human being that has ever walked the face of the earth.
He has 11 gold medals which is now two more than any other athlete in the history of the Olympics....and he has three more medal chances remaining.
Not only is the race itself great to watch but the medal ceremony is exciting as well. Could there be a more incredible feeling?
I've always said that I love watching the sousaphone player dotting the "i" during Ohio State's band performance because you see the sheer joy, excitement and enthusiasm on that band member's face. This is to another level. These athletes, in front of the entire world, is being proclaimed THE BEST. You're on that medal stand with gold around your neck, elevated above everyone else, and your country's national anthem is playing. It must be incredible.
All I can say is....
U.S.A.
| Where are you?
Monday August 11th, 2008
7:49pm
Reveille VIII Announced
After a loooooooooong decision process, the University introduced Rev VIII today. She, obviously, is an American Collie, which is what I feel that she should be.
Welcome to Aggieland Rev!
| Where are you?
Saturday August 9th, 2008
1:40pm
Something to Get You Going
Not jacked up about the upcoming season yet? What the heck is wrong with you?
We're three weeks from kick-off now so if you're not excited the I'm going to have to get you going a little bit.
Fall practice started up on Monday and throughout the week we got to hear lots of bits and pieces of what is going on with the program. The biggest commotion has been centered around the starting QB position. Coach Sherman is saying that Stephen McGee and Jerrod Johnson are both in an open competition for the job. The other two things that have stood out to me are Sherman's unhappiness with the number of dropped balls by our unproven WRs and the domination of our defensive line over our offensive line (which scares me because I'm not convinced our DL is a dominate Big 12 front 4).
Off the field, there are two new books out there for you to pick up and enjoy. The first is called Standing Together and was written by Homer Jacobs and Rusty Burson.
It is already available and you can pick it up over on TexAgs.com. The photos are spectacular.
The second book is called No Experience Required and it is about the 12th Man Kickoff Team, written by the players that made that special squad what it was, with an incredible prologue written by the one and only Jackie Sherrill.
It starts to ship on September 15th, and will be sold around College Station the weekend of the Army game with lots of signing parties.
Not much for the written word? I've been compiling lots of YouTube clips of previous games and seasons so check those out at my Ag Highlights page.
Finally, I want to pass my condolences along to the Stallings family for their loss last week. Gene Stallings was one of the Junction Boys, a former A&M head coach, and is a member of the Board of Regents. His son, John Mark, passed away last Saturday at the age of 46.
Here.
| Where are you?
Monday August 4th, 2008
12:01am
A Look Into the Cupboard: The Defense
The defensive side of the ball lost A LOT of players from last season...3 of our 4 starting defensive linemen (Red, Harrington, & Henry Smith), both of our starting LBers (Dodge & Tupe), and our best cornerback (Carpenter). We're also moving into a new defensive system under Joe Kines changing from a 4-2-5 to a 4-3/3-3-5.
Defensive Line
No Name Yr Ht Wt G/GS
===============================
72 B.Bass RF 6-5 258 0/0
11 M.Bennett Sr 6-4 261 35/5
93 P.Freeney Jr 6-4 227 12/0
86 A.Gbunblee Sr 6-5 250 34/1
91 K.Heard Jr 6-6 345 23/0
49 C.Obiozor Sr 6-4 264 35/14
77 L.Patterson So 6-4 297 12/0
99 D.Tufuga Jr 6-0 292 5/0
97 C.Williams So 6-4 262 2/0
Like the offensive line, the DL is the unsung hero of the defense. The more havoc they can create the easier it is for the defensive backs because the less timethe QB has to throw the ball, the less time that the WRs have to be covered. If the QB gets too much time it is inevitable that the WRs get open, regardless of if the defensive back is a high schooler or an NFL All-Pro.
I really like a lot of the guys we have on the defensive line but the problem is we simply don't have enough of them. Mike Bennett is going to be an All-Big 12 DE and Lucas Patterson and Kellen Heard are going to continue to develop into solid interior defensive linemen. The experience shown on the DL is slightly decieving because of how much we relyed on a rotation last season. The guys don't necessarily have a lot of starts but, for the most part, they did see a lot of action.
It's a quantity issue, not so much a quality issue.
Linebackers
No Name Yr Ht Wt G/GS
=================================
53 D.Dumas Jr 6-0 221 2/0
46 M.Featherston Jr 6-2 235 13/1
31 W.Harris Jr 6-1 216 13/0* played at DB
36 A.Lewis Jr 6-2 254 23/1
40 V.Miller So 6-3 214 9/0* played at DE
57 D.Riewe Sr 6-0 229 2/0
32 G.Williams RF 6-2 217 0/0
This is probably our weakest position. We lost both of our starters and we're bringing back Matt Featherston & Anthony Lewis (both are battling for the starting middle linebacker position)and we're adding both of our outside linebackers in Von Miller (converted DE) and his former DeSoto teammate, Garrick Williams, who caught the eye of the coaching staff in the spring. They're a very talented, and highly regarded, but grossly inexperienced group with a combined career 3 starts between them.
I loved Von Miller at DE but they needed to move his speed to LBer to help run Joe Kines defense.
I'd be a little suprised if you saw any of the other names see the field in a conference game.
Defensive Backs
No Name Yr Ht Wt G/GS
=================================
1 J.Batson Sr 6-1 195 12/1
18 A.Brown Sr 6-0 174 36/8
30 C.Bryson Jr 5-11 182 25/0
9 A.Dixon Sr 5-11 197 36/11
4 D.Gorrer Sr 6-0 173 31/24
26 D.Gregg Sr 6-0 190 32/29
47 J.McQueen RF 6-0 183 0/0
27 J.Peterson Jr 5-10 184 23/11
25 J.Pugh Jr 5-11 191 26/13
33 L.Smith RF 6-0 174 0/0
41 D.Thompson So 6-1 185 5/0
Whoa there. We have some experience and depth at defensive back for the first time in several years. I feel like we have talent at these positions and that it wasn't necessarily the players on the field last season that were the problem. Of course, a lot of how the DBs play is dependant on how well the defensive line plays. I felt like we had a good DL last season, but we still rarely got to the QB (only 18 sacks on the season).
The coaching staff has moved some guys around in the backfield but I think for the most part we're going to see a squad of familiar faces.
Defensive Overview
I think that the defense has a chance to make a bigger swing in improvement from '07 to '08 than our offense does. We're moving into an entirely new system and a lot of guys are changing positions but I think that we're more talented in more positions on defense than we are on offense. It's going to be a matter of how quickly they can adopt, understand, and execute Kines's defense.
| Where are you?
Sunday July 27th, 2008
9:12am
A Look Into the Cupboard: The Offense
Before we get too far into the Mike Sherman era, I wanted to go through the roster and see just how full the cupboard is. After R.C. left and Fran took over there have been endless debates on what Slocum left for Fran. There is always going to be some attrition when a new head coach comes in and we've already seen some of that.
What I'm going to do is run through the positions and note where Coach Sherman has the goods already and where he needs to get'em. He, of course, already knows and if you're following recruiting then you can already see he's working on addressing them.
I'm just taking last season's roster and factoring out the seniors and other attrition-ees. I'm also not including incoming freshmen because they weren't in the cupboard. Sherman busted his tail to keep the recruiting class intact and then went out and added our top two recruits (Cyrus Gray and Jeff Fuller) to the mix.
I think that there are two lines of thought on if the cupboard is bare or not. One is looking at the roster from a first year perspective, who do we have that can contribute right now. The other is looking at the full roster and seeing names of guys who as juniors and seniors are All-Conference type players but at the time of the coaching change are true freshmen, redshirt freshmen, or sophomores who haven't played much.
I think that the second line of thinking happens a lot when we're talking about Fran, although I think part of that is because it's being done from a viewpoint of hindsight rather than from a viewpoint of August 2003.
Take a look at the 2003 roster, Fran's first season. You see names like Chad Schroeder, Reggie McNeal, Justin Warren, Melvin Bullitt, Jaxson Appel, Ronald Jones, Chris Alexander, Bryce Reed, Chris Yoder, Corey Clark, Kirk Elder, John Kirk, Joey Thomas, Red Bryant, Jason Jack, Chris Harrington, Johnny Jolly, & David Ross.
By the end of those guy's careers they were, at worst, solid Big 12 starters. Many have All-Big 12 plaques hanging on their wall, many were drafted in the NFL draft, and some signed as free agents. So how could Fran have not won in 2003 with that group. Because only a couple of those guys had even a partial season of experience under their belt.
You shouldn't expect underclassmen to give you meaningful contributions. You especially cannot depend on them to give you meaningful contributions.
I'm doing this upfront, before Sherman gets going so I have documentation before my mind gets swayed by watching performances of this upcoming season or even future seasons. This is where I feel like the program sits right now, one month and three days before the 2008 season begins.
Quarterback
No Name Yr Ht Wt G/GS
7 S.McGee Sr 6-3 220 34/27
1 J.Johnson So 6-6 232 5/0
19 R.Tannehill RF 6-4 205 0/0
I'll start at the top with QB. Stephen McGee is a Big 12 QB who is tough as nails and is a bona fide leader of the offense. We're still unsure of how he'll adapt to this new offense that won't feature him as "a tailback who throws a little" like Fran did. His passing has been suspect but I do think he is very capable of being a good to very good QB.
There has been no official naming of a starting QB for this season but as it stands I think Stephen McGee will be our starting QB. I just can't see Sherman coming in an shaking up the QB position right out of the gate. Can you imagine Kyle Field on August 30th, if on our opening possession, #7 doesn't trot out to take the first snap? I would make a suggestion to shy away from starting your brand new job off with >50% of your fan base second guessing your first decision.
With that thinking in-line, we have Jerrod Johnson waiting in the wings along with Ryan Tannehill and incoming freshman Tommy Dorman. Will JJ fit into Coach Sherman's west-coast style offense? I have no idea but it wouldn't blow my mind if we saw JJ change position before his time is done here.
Running Back
No Name Yr Ht Wt G/GS Carries
22 L.Cooper So 6-0 244 0/0 0
3 M.Goodson Jr 6-0 196 26/8 280
11 J.Lane Sr 6-0 285 36/23 454
43 J.Richardson Jr 6-0 238 4/0 0
26 K.Smith Jr 5-9 201 21/1 34
28 B.Stephens RF 5-10 201 0/0 0
23 C.Tarrant So 5-19 190 7/0 12
We have a lot of guys at the position (including incoming freshman Cyrus Gray) and most of them won't see the field except in blowouts or in the case of an injury.
Our running back situation is great. Mike Goodson is an All-Conference back and Jorvorskie Lane, now moved to fullback, is the same talent level. Those two have the lion's share of the experience but the staff has liked what they've seen from some of the other guys as well, particularly Bradley Stephens.
The cup overfloweth at running back.
Wide Recievers/Tight Ends
Wideouts
No Name Yr Ht Wt G/GS Catches
88 C.Beyer Jr 6-1 177 13/0 1
15 K.Brown So 6-2 205 0/0 0
6 P.Brown Sr 6-2 197 37/14 39
87 C.Caflisch So 6-3 195 1/0 0
21 R.Holland So 5-10 169 12/0 4
83 T.McCoy So 6-4 198 11/0 1
5 H.Morrow Jr 6-0 206 23/4 13
10 E.Shankle Jr 5-11 174 21/0 6
Tight Ends
No Name Yr Ht Wt G/GS Catches
89 F.Avery RF 6-4 207 0/0 0
96 M.Ebbitt RF 6-2 238 0/0 0
10 B.Chavis So 6-4 233 8/0* 0 *played at LBer
4 J.McCoy Jr 6-3 224 8/0 0
90 H.Turnage RF 6-4 246 0/0 0
This is a position that Fran could have called "Outside linemen" because all they did the last two years was block down field.
We are thin at wide receiver and tight end. Pierre Brown, EJ Shankle, Howard Morrow, and Terrence McCoy are the names that you'll recognize from last season's roster but none of them have a full season of starter snaps. There are rumors that Cody Beyer and Roger Holland will not play next season but both of them are listed on the official roster that came out last week.
I really like Howard Morrow and I've campaigned for him many times on this web address to get more playing time and more passes thrown his way. He plays hard, is a good blocker, and can be a play maker. The downside is that he has had a slight tendency to get beat up a bit.
Pierre Brown is the most experienced and Morrow is the most razzle-dazzle and after that we have no idea what is there. Going into 2008 we don't have anyone I expect to be an All-Conference type player.
Jamie McCoy is moving to TE to join Frank Avery, but you can see there isn't a lot of experience there either.
Moving from our option running game to a more pro-style offense I think that this is a position where we are thin....if not in talent but at least with any sort of track record. Only one guy at the position with more than 15 career receptions is not terrific.
Offensive Line
No Name Yr Ht Wt G/GS
================================
55 D.Baker RF 6-5 296 0/0
65 E.Eike RF 6-4 303 0/0
79 R.Frost Jr 6-6 300 11/0
74 L.Grimes Jr 6-6 339 7/0
59 B.Lewis RF 6-0 264 0/0
63 K.Matthews Jr 6-4 297 9/0
75 T.Schneider Sr 6-8 290 25/15
76 M.Shumard Jr 6-5 301 16/4
61 V.Williams Jr 6-4 314 5/0
At OL we have 6 returning players. Only 1 has more than 4 career starts (Schneider). We are bringing in 5 true freshman at OLine this year (and another large batch is scheduled to arrive next year). I think we'll see one, maybe even two, of this year's freshmen getting some significant playing time.
This is definitely the position that I'm most concerned about on this side of the ball.
We don't have much depth and we have ZERO depth with any experience. Shoot, we have next to zero experience with our starting 5
I know that Coach Sherman is an OLine guru, and that is excellent, but you can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. This is a very inexperienced OL.
Offensive Overview
This is an offense that wasn't built to run a pro-style offense but that is what Coach Sherman is going to run and he's going to fit the pieces as best he can. Our running back corps is very strong, our QB situation is at worst just OK -- it all depends on how accurate Stephen McGee can be on his throws and how much better he can see the field. Our OL is a scare and our WRs are unproven.
Defense
Coming up next.
| Where are you?
Saturday July 26th, 2008
1:05pm
Hurry Up CFB
I woke up this morning with a craving for some college football to watch. I searched ESPN Classic's schedule for the day and was devestated to discover a marathon of Scrabble to be capped off by the 2006 Scrabble Open Championship this evening. Come on ESPN.
The next CFB related showing on ESPN Classic won't be until Friday August 1st at 8:30pm when we get Classic 60 Minutes: Joe Paterno. Their schedule is out until August 10th and not one old college football game is on schedule.
Two weekends ago I was so starved for football that I watched the 1940 Sugar Bowl, without audio, on my computer. I ran across a link that has last season's BCS games available to watch so I might watch some of that or I'll go to my Aggie football DVD collection.
This season kicks off on Thursday August 28th at 7pm for the national audience as ESPN shows NC State at South Carolina and then an hour later over on ESPN2 Oregon State kicks off at Stanford. Regionally on FSN we'll see mighty Baylor host Wake Forest (7pm).
The following night we get an old SWC match up of SMU at Rice (ESPN 7pm) and we get a preview of our future opponent, Army, as they lick their chops with Temple (ESPN Classic 6pm).
Then that Saturday we get a much needed full slate of games, headlined by USC traveling to UVA (ABC 2:30pm)....of course my attention will be turned towards Kyle Field as our Aggies host Arkansas State at 7pm for the start of the Mike Sherman-era of Aggie Football.
Here is a great link to this upcoming season's TV schedule....a season that can't get here quick enough.
| Where are you?
Monday July 14th, 2008
10:10pm
I Owe an Appology
Yesterday I came home from work with an email awaiting me in my mailbox. The title said "Howdy" and it was from Dave South. My initial thought was that it was an email the athletic department sent out to everyone announcing something but when I opened it I discovered it was not.
All it said was Please call me and it gave a phone number (an on campus number with an 845 at the beginning) and it was signed by Dave South.
I had no clue what it was regarding and I didn't know if I was nervous or excited. It's not every day that the voice of Aggieland wants to talk to you.
A little later in the evening, just by chance I opened up my junkmail folder (which I don't normally do), and for some reason there was another email from Dave in there that he sent later in the day. This email left no doubt in my mind what he wanted to discuss with me.
The 2006 Oklahoma State game was in Stillwater and was not televised so for those who were not able to attend the game the only way to follow the game was to listen to the radio broadcast with Dave & Dave. I made mention of this in my preview of that game and I made a link to a pdf document that I had come across on TexAgs that gave a chart describing the rules to the Dave South Drinking Game.
This was the topic of the second email I received.
I can only conclude that Mr. South Googled his name because, shockingly, it is the first thing that comes up, even though I have only made mention of it once in the 5 years I've operated this site.
Mr. South asked that I remove the chart and he went on to explain that it was offending to him and that encouraging drinking was not something he does nor does he want his good name associated with in any manner.
To be completely honest, it was so long ago that I wasn't even sure what he was referring to when I read the email but after searching my site I did locate it. Obviously, it was taken off immediately and will not be mentioned here again.
I sent an apology email back and although he did not request a formal apology, I felt it was necessary to write this for everyone to see.
I have a great respect for Dave South, not only for all he has done for our great University but for what he does in the Brazos Valley community.
The fact that there were two emails sent several hours apart drove home the point even more than the email itself. He had been thinking about it for a good portion of the day.
He is an Aggie icon and frankly, I'm embarrassed that this was the way that our paths crossed personally. It was a poor decision in judgment and one that I have learned from.
There is a lesson to be learned from this. I have never had the intent with my website to embarrass or offend anyone, particularly the good guys. I don't usually hesitate to take some good natured jabs at some of our opponents but there is no true viciousness in any of it. Sometimes, particularly with collegiate sports, we forget that the people we are rooting for are real people, not larger than life fictional characters that they seem to be in our minds.
Mr. South I apologize for any embarrassment that I may have caused to you or your family. Thank you for all you have done for our University.
| Where are you?
Wednesday July 9th, 2008
10:03pm
Matt Murton Era at Wrigley Ends
On the eve of his major league debut I declared myself a Matt Murton fan but he was traded to Oakland on Tuesday as part of the package deal that brought Rich Harden to the Cubs.
G AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB BA OBP SLG
=====================================================
2005 51 140 19 45 14 7 12 22/16 .321 .386 .521
2006 144 455 70 135 62 13 38 62/45 .297 .365 .444
2007 94 235 35 66 22 8 21 39/26 .281 .352 .438
2008 19 40 2 10 6 0 2 5/1 .250 .286 .300
---------------------------------------------------
308 870 126 256 104 28 73 128/88 .294 .362 .448
He just wasn't getting playing time as he has struggled to hit against big league right handed pitchers.
The good news is that Oakland is a team that I've always liked and with Cliff Pennington getting the call up to AAA in their system there is a chance two of my favorite players will be on the same team.
| Where are you?
Sunday July 7th, 2008
4:18pm
What I Did on My Long Weekend
I can barely move right now. My knees are throbbing, my back aches (upper and lower), my hands are sore, the thumb on my left hand looks like one of those cartoons where Wile E. Coyote hit it with a hammer, and for some reason two toes on my left foot have a tingly feeling.
Thursday Evening
What you're looking at is the back of my old man's truck filled with 23 boxes of laminate flooring and all the do-dads and who-has you have to buy to put it all together.
The living room before....featuring Kylie the Sheltie and Olsen the Boston Terrier.
I got all the carpet torn out before I went to bed.
Friday
I woke up and started pulling all the carpet tack strips waiting for my brother, Sean, to arrive with his muscle and the miter saw we borrowed from his roommate. He didn't make it 'til 11-ish....but it was better late than never.
Day 1's progress didn't look like a lot but we got about 1/3 of the floor knocked out. We lost a lot of time figuring out the tricks of the trades and carefully figuring out how to get the cuts correct. Each plank ended up running about $7.50 so we wanted to minimize the scrap.
Sean had a concert to go to so he left around 5pm and I spent the next hour cutting out the plank that needed to fit around the step, snugly but not too tight. I then cleaned up the trash and swept up, showered, ate while watching the Cubs game, and passed out about 45 seconds after the final out was recorded.
Saturday
We got all the wood down and we were spent. We started about noon and finished at 10pm (with a comfortable lunch break and a trip to Lowes sandwiched in there). There is no way I would have been able to get all that wood down without Sean's help. He even mowed the yard while I was screwing with some intricate stuff.
Sunday
All I had left to do was cut the quarter-round and the transition pieces. Easy, right? Uh-uh.
There was a lot of trial and error which led to another trip to Lowes, but thankfully, our careful cutting of the planks left us with 4 full boxes of planks to return for a nice $200 refund. Overall, we were able to use parts of every plank that we opened. I think that the scrap material left after our cuts was probably only about 4 planks, which amazed me.
I'm still not finished but it is clean and at least presentable. I'm a home builder so I know that in a home owner's mind "cleanliness = quality". So it's all swept up and nice and neat for when I go to the airport and pick up the Mrs. who just spent a week in Venice with her mom.
At least I know better than to bring her home to a messy, unfinished project.
Ok, I have 3 hours to get a little bit more knocked out before I have to leave for the airport. Let's hope I'm able to pick her up with all 10 fingers....
| Where are you?
Saturday July 5th, 2008
10:02am
Terrence Kiel Killed in Car Accident
Terrence Kiel was killed late in the evening on the Fourth of July when he was thrown from the vehicle he was driving after leaving a party.
TK was one of my favorite defensive players since I started watching Aggie football. The dude brought the lumber. Pat and I used to joke about his head shot that they'd put up on the jumbotron because he just looked like a mean S.O.B. -- a guy you wouldn't want to meet in a back alley, but a guy you'd love to have on your football team.
He was drafted in the second round of the '03 NFL draft by the Chargers, along with teammate Sammy Davis (taken in the first round by SD). He had been in a few scrapes with the law before, mostly minor, and he was even shot 3 times while being car jacked prior to his rookie season.
The news of his death really kind of took me by surprise.
Here.
| Where are you?
Monday June 23rd, 2008
9:22pm
George Carlin Dies at 71
One of the funniest men to ever walk the earth.
- You take an Oriental person and spin him around several times,does he become disoriented?
- If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?
- Why do we say something is out of whack? What's a whack?
- Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
- If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
- If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
- When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts" and you put your two cents in what happens to the other penny?
- Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
- Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?
- When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
- Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a racecar not called a racist?
- Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
- Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
- Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?
- "I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?
- If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
- If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?
- Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?
- What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?
- I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me. They're cramming for their final exam.
- I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?
- Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?
- If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?
- You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
- No one ever says, "It's only a game" when their team is winning.
- Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag?
- Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door went nuts.
- If a cow laughed, would milk come out her nose?
- Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?
- Do people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water know that spelling it backwards is NAIVE.
- Isn't making a smoking section in a restaurant like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?
- OK...so if the Jacksonville Jaguars are known as the "Jags" and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are known as the "Bucs", what does that make the Tennessee Titans ?
- If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea does that mean the fifth one enjoys it?
| Where are you?
Saturday June 14th, 2008
6:42pm
Ags Season Comes to an End
It has been a full week and like with the end of the football season, I don't really want to write this up. Not because I'm too upset but because I'm kind of burned out and ready to move on to whatever is next.
Game two was a heckuva ballgame. We put up some early runs going up 5-2. Rice was saved by a ground-rule double that held Kyle Colligan at third base when he would have easily scored.
Rice battled back in the 6th inning and put the score at 5-4. Travis Starling came into the game in the 7th inning with no outs and runners at 1st and 2nd. There was an sac bunt that moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd before we intentionally walked the bases loaded. T-Star got JD Padron to strike out and then was able to get Seastrunk to hit a ground ball to Luke Anders at 1st base and T-Star beat Seastrunk to the base for the 3rd out. That was a HUGE inning.
Unfortunately, T-Star's 8th inning wasn't as fortunate. He gave up a long ball to Adam Zornes over the LF fence which gave Rice the lead, one that would not be relinquished.
We didn't help matters going 0-for-9 over the final 3 at-bats.
It was a great season but we just didn't have enough to get past the Owls. There weren't any big controversial calls this season (although the strike zone in the second game was atrocious for both teams). We just didn't have enough.
The summer leagues have already started up and some of our boys are negotiating with their agents and the major league teams that drafted them. Of our players with eligibility remaining, we should keep our eyes open to see if Jose Duran (6th round by Brewers), Kyle Thebeau (9th round by Padres ) and Alex Wilson (10th round by Cubs) sign. Those three are our most likely to sign. Wilson took a medical redshirt this year after transferring from Winthrop. If he is to ever pitch in Aggieland he will step right in as our Friday night starter.
Only 76 days until Aggie football kicks off.
| Where are you?
Sunday June 8th, 2008
11:21am
Rice Capitalizes on Aggie Generosity
Jordan Dodson hates me back. I'm not even sure the last time the guy saw the field, but he was in the starting lineup for the Owls and he was 2/3 of their offense going 3-for-3 with 4 RBIs and 2 runs. I hope he knows that doesn't make me like him any more than I did.
The other 1/3 of their offense was our pitching staff. It wasn't that Rice bludgeoned us, we GAVE them base runners. Five runs were scored by walked or hit batters and a sixth run was scored on a 2-out error. That's your ballgame.
You can't give Rice free base runners, ESPECIALLY to lead off an inning.
Rice played their game and played it very, very well. They bunted guys around (guys that were walked) and they hit and ran and they even squeezed a run in. There was one situation in the 4th inning, and I'm not sure it was a designed hit and run, but they were stealing third base and the batter (I believe it was Dodson) swung and hit a ground ball right to the spot where Dane Carter had just moved from in order to cover the base for a throw. It couldn't have worked any better that. Things just fell into place for Rice and they executed.
Brooks Raley did not have it working and he didn't get very deep into the game, which scared me. We brought Kyle Thebeau into the game in the 4th inning and all I could think about was how this was entirely too early for us to need Thebeau. We were going to need a marathon outing from him and then he'd be done for the weekend. Childress had a different plan though. Thebeau pitched through the 7th (52 pitches) and then we brought in Kirkland Rivers, who was excellent over the final two innings. I couldn't have been happier for Kirkland.
After our Regional, Houston Coach Rayner Noble made a comment about us that got a good bit of press.
"I think that A&M is struggling against quality right-handed pitching," Noble said. "They can use this to their advantage and it can fire them up, but I don't think they match up very well with Rice's pitching that will be thrown at them."
Well, we hammered Rice's righties. We just couldn't get much going against lefty, Cole St. Clair. Brian Ruggiano had one of the best 0-fers I've seen at the plate in a while as he reached and scored 3 runs. Darby Brown, Luke Anders, and Kyle Colligan all had good afternoons as well hitting very hard hit balls all around the ballpark.
This year's seats are MUCH, MUCH better than last year and after the first game I am pleased to say that I don't have any complaints of nearby Rice fans....although the guys a row in front of us to the left have strong potential to cross the line at some point during the weekend.
This evening's game is at 6pm and will be on ESPN2. Thank God because yesterday's 2pm start was unbearably hot. Currently our game three is penciled in for the 11:30 game on Monday (boo) but I would think that could change if there were sweeps on our side of the bracket.
Here are the updates for the other Super Regionals from around the country:
Fullerton: Stanford 2 v. Cal State Fullerton 0 - STANFORD ADVANCES
Coral Gables: Miami 1 v. Arizona 1
Cary: UNC 1 v. Costal Carolina 0
Tallahassee: FSU 1 v. Wichita St. 1
Tempe: Arizona St 1. Fresno St 0
Athens: Georgia 1 v. NC State 1
Baton Rouge: LSU 0 v. UC Irvine 1
See ya at Reckling! BTHO Rice! WHOOP!
UPDATE: Baseball America's write-up of the game is up and completely inaccurate.
Rice got homers from Jared Gayhart, Aaron Luna and Jimmy Comerota and a big day from DH Jordan Dodson (3-for-3, 2B, 4 RBIs) out of the No. 9 hole in a 9-7 win against Texas A&M. Senior lefty Cole St.Clair picked up the win in relief, allowing just a run on two hits over 4 1/3 innings after Ryan Berry was chased in the fifth. Aggies starter Brooks Raley (3.1 IP, 6 H, 6 ER) had a short outing. Texas A&M will try to keep its season alive with freshman righthander Barret Loux on the mound Sunday. Rice will counter with either Chris Kelley or Mike Ojala.
There were ZERO home runs hit by either team in the game and Gayhart, Luna, & Comerota were a combined 0-for-9. I have no idea what game Aaron Fitt was watching.
| Where are you?
Thursday June 5th, 2008
10:42pm
Super Regional Preview: #6 Rice
D/L-able Rice Media Guide
D/L-able Version of this Preview
After our win on Monday night Coach Childress gathered the team around him and showed them a piece of paper that he had kept in his truck for the last year. It was the lineup card from game two of last season's Super Regional; a reminder of how it ended last season. They tore the card up.
It is a new season. We've got a 3 game series to move a step further than we went last year. It is the same team that is going to try to stop us, to let their season continue and let their fans make the trek up to the majestic city of Omaha.
The NCAA committee made sure that they kept their Super Regional opponents very regional. In our case we're very familiar with Rice having already played them 5 times in the last two seasons.
Here is the tentative schedule:
Saturday 2:00pm ESPNU
Sunday 6:00pm ESPN2
Monday 11:30 or 6:30pm ESPN or ESPN2 (if necessary)
This Rice squad isn't as exciting as teams in the past. There isn't a slew of All-American starters or first round talent hitters. They are more balanced on offense with above average starting pitching and a ton of bullpen depth.
Just a quick breakdown of our previous game against them this season. They thumped us pretty good (11-2), however, they likely won't see all of the pitchers they beat up on. Scott Migl started and gave up 5 ER but he won't start this weekend but will likely be some sort of long reliever. They scored their other 4 earned runs off of Carson Middleton, & Kirkland Rivers....neither of whom I expect to see a lot of innings out of. That's not to say that they can't hit Raley, Loux, or Ehlert but it is worth noting. They barely touched Thebeau or Starling, who I can guarantee they will see.
Offensively, we didn't have an answer for Mike Ojala. It was a rough night offensively for us.
30+ At-Bats
AB R H RBI SO/BB HR XBH SB/A BA OBP SLG
==============================================================
5 D.Seatrunk. 240 54 87 56 19/17 5 25 1/4 .363 .404 .513
32 J.Padron... 220 47 78 40 53/24 5 17 7/7 .355 .437 .477
11 R.Hague.... 217 38 75 48 43/21 8 28 4/7 .346 .407 .558
9 A.Luna..... 207 57 66 52 34/46 9 22 12/16 .319 .473 .512
10 J.Gayhart.. 223 55 71 45 45/49 6 24 10/16 .318 .446 .493
30 A.Zornes... 206 39 63 52 42/27 11 22 2/3 .306 .393 .524
4 C.Mozingo.. 205 40 61 30 44/25 2 11 4/6 .298 .382 .385
2 J.Comerota. 184 43 54 27 15/21 0 7 11/14 .293 .373 .337
14 J.Buenger.. 59 8 16 8 10/9 1 3 1/1 .271 .368 .356
38 D.Simmons.. 38 6 9 7 14/5 1 4 1/1 .237 .356 .395
1 D.Myers.... 77 21 18 16 13/10 3 7 2/2 .234 .355 .416
7 J.Dodson... 96 16 16 14 32/18 0 7 1/2 .167 .302 .250
Offensively they're led by sophomore Diego Seastrunk, however, he has struggled of late with only 4 hits in his last 25 at-bats (no extra base hits).
One name I'm pleased to see at the bottom of that list is Jordan Dodson. For whatever reason, that guy gets under my skin. I'm not sure why I don't care for him but I don't....and I'm glad that he's hitting 120 points lower this year than last year because I'm not going to have to see him play.
Aaron Luna is the guy who scares me the most in the lineup. He has alway hit us well (as you'll see below) and he plays with a reckless abandon in the field.
Here is the lineup that Wayne Graham has trotted out over the last month.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
======= ====== ========= ==== ======= ========= ========= ======== =======
5/09 Gayhart Padron Hague Luna Zornes Seastrunk Mozingo Comerota Myers
5/10 Gayhart Padron Seastrunk Luna Mozingo Hague Zornes Comerota Myers
5/11 Gayhart Padron Seastrunk Luna Mozingo Hague Zornes Comerota Simmons
5/15 Gayhart Padron Seastrunk Luna Mozingo Hague Zornes Comerota Simmons
5/16 Gayhart Padron Seastrunk Luna Mozingo Hague Comerota Hale Myers
5/16 Gayhart Padron Hague Luna Zornes Seastrunk Mozingo Comerota Myers
5/21 Gayhart Padron Seastrunk Luna Zornes Hague Mozingo Comerota Myers
5/22 Gayhart Padron Seastrunk Luna Zornes Hague Mozingo Comerota Simmons
5/30 Gayhart Padron Seastrunk Luna Hague Zornes Mozingo Comerota Myers
5/31 Gayhart Padron Hague Luna Zornes Comerota Seastrunk Mozingo Myers
6/01 Gayhart Padron Hague Luna Zornes Comerota Seastrunk Mozingo Myers
He has his starting 9 pretty much set and his 1st, 2nd, & 4th hitters locked.
I went through every game we've played against Rice and I broke out all of the head-to-head match-ups between their hitters and our pitchers. Here are those numbers:
H-AB/SO/XBH * = HR
Cravey Middleton Migl Rivers Robertson Thebeau Starling
======= ========= ======= ======= ========= ======= ========
Buenger 0-1/0/0 1-3/0/1 0-2/0/0
Comerota 0-1/0/0 0-1/0/0 0-1/0/0
Gayhart 1-5/2/1* 1-2/0/1 0-1/1/0 1-2/1/0 0-1/0/0
Hague 0-0/0/0 0-1/1/0 0-2/0/0 0-4/3/0
Luna 0-1/0/0 2-4/0/2** 0-2/1/0 0-1/0/0
Mozingo 0-1/1/0 0-2/0/0 1-1/0/0
Meyrs 1-1/0/0 0-1/0/0 0-1/0/0
Padron 2-2/0/1 0-1/0/0 0-0/0/0
Seastrunk 0-1/0/0 2-5/0/1 0-1/0/0 1-5/2/0
Simmons 0-1/1/0
Zornes 1-1/0/0 1-1/1/0 0-2/0/0 0-1/0/0
I shouldn't have put Robertson in there since he's done for the year but I didn't catch it until I already had it all formatted. So just remember that Robertson isn't going to pitch.
Our two big bullpen arms have had success. Our three starters, however, haven't ever faced any of these guys. One other note: Don't let Migl face Luna.
10+ IP
G-GS W-L-S IP H R ER SO/BB HR ERA BAA
============================================================
28 R.Berry.... 15-14 8-4-0 96.0 89 33 32 84/26 6 3.00 .247 RHP
26 M.Langwell. 15-13 5-1-0 72.0 74 41 35 62/28 8 4.38 .269 RHP
21 C.Kelley... 16-11 5-1-0 68.2 87 34 25 59/19 3 3.28 .312 RHP
42 C.StClair.. 21-3 9-2-5 54.1 45 20 16 60/16 4 2.65 .230 LHP
17 M.Ojala.... 13-11 5-0-0 51.0 55 31 25 60/17 4 4.41 .263 RHP
23 B.Price.... 27-1 3-4-2 44.1 36 22 18 50/24 2 3.65 .224 RHP
12 M.Evers.... 27-0 4-1-0 41.0 34 15 12 54/21 4 2.63 .230 LHP
25 L.Luetge... 16-3 1-0-1 30.0 34 22 19 36/10 3 5.70 .281 LHP
40 B.Bell..... 12-0 1-0-2 17.2 9 2 2 23/6 1 1.02 .143 RHP
3 J.Runnels.. 7-2 0-0-0 13.2 19 9 4 12/4 2 2.63 .333 LHP
27 M.Haynes... 9-0 0-0-1 13.0 11 5 5 5/5 1 3.46 .220 RHP
Their weekend starters (Berry, Langwell, & Kelley) are solid but none are dominant like we've seen from Rice in years past. Berry was a 1st team All-CUSA while Kelley and St.Clair were 2nd team.
One stat that jumps out at me is Chris Kelley's ERA compared to his BAA. How often do you see a BAA that high paired up with an ERA so low?
Here is how Graham has used his staff over their last 11 games (which takes you back through their last two regular season weekend series).
IP H R ER SO/BB IP H R ER SO/BB
================================== ==================================
5/09 R.Berry.... 7.0 9 3 3 4/1 W * 5/11 M.Langwell. 6.0 6 2 2 6/1 W *
5/15 R.Berry.... 8.0 3 0 0 7/3 W * 5/16 M.Langwell. 1.2 0 0 0 1/3
5/22 R.Berry.... 5.1 6 4 4 4/3 L * 5/21 M.Langwell. 3.2 8 4 3 4/1 L *
5/30 R.Berry.... 6.0 7 2 1 4/1 W *
IP H R ER SO/BB IP H R ER SO/BB
================================== ==================================
5/10 C.Kelley... 6.2 8 1 1 5/0 * 5/16b M.Ojala.... 6.2 5 2 1 10/1 W *
5/16 C.Kelley... 3.2 4 3 3 3/2 * 6/01 M.Ojala.... 4.0 3 3 3 6/1 *
5/31 C.Kelley... 4.2 6 2 2 2/1 *
IP H R ER SO/BB IP H R ER SO/BB
================================== ==================================
5/11 B.Bell..... 1.0 2 1 1 2/1 5/10 M.Evers.... 0.1 0 0 0 0/0 W
5/16b B.Bell..... 2.1 0 0 0 4/0 S 5/11 M.Evers.... 1.2 0 0 0 1/1
5/22 B.Bell..... 1.0 0 0 0 1/0 5/16 M.Evers.... 1.0 0 0 0 1/0
5/30 B.Bell..... 3.0 0 0 0 1/0 S 5/21 M.Evers.... 2.2 2 1 0 4/1
6/01 B.Bell..... 3.2 2 0 0 2/1 W 6/01 M.Evers.... 1.1 1 1 0 2/4
IP H R ER SO/BB IP H R ER SO/BB
================================== ==================================
5/10 C.StClair.. 2.0 2 0 0 2/1 5/11 B.Price.... 0.1 0 3 2 0/3
5/16 C.StClair.. 1.2 0 0 0 3/2 W 5/16 B.Price.... 2.0 1 1 1 1/4
5/22 C.StClair.. 1.2 2 0 0 1/0 5/21 B.Price.... 1.2 3 3 2 2/1
5/31 C.StClair.. 4.1 0 0 0 4/2 W
IP H R ER SO/BB IP H R ER SO/BB
================================== ==================================
5/09 L.Luetge... 1.0 0 0 0 1/0 5/09 W.McDaniel. 1.0 1 3 2 0/2
5/16 L.Luetge... 0.0 0 0 0 0/1
5/21 L.Luetge... 1.0 1 0 0 2/0
McDaniel was only used in mop-up action with a 10 run lead against UH. Bryan Price was taken at the end of the supplemental 1st round in yesterday's draft, which I thought was slightly surprising, not that he was drafted but because he was taken that high.
Worth noting, Mark Langwell went to A&M Consolidated HS and started against us in game 2 of last season's Super Regional.
I did the same thing for us, breaking down our match-ups between our hitters and Rice's pitchers.
Bell Berry Evers Gayhart Kelley Langwell Ojala Runnels StClair
======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======== ======= ======= =======
Aaron 0-1/1/0 0-1/1/0
Anders 0-1/1/0 2-3/1/0 0-1/0/0 0-1/1/0 0-0/0/0 1-4/0/0 1-2/0/0
Brown 0-1/1/0 0-1/0/0 1-1/0/0 0-5/2/1 1-3/0/0 1-1/0/0
Carter 0-3/1/0 0-1/0/0 0-0/0/0 0-2/0/0
Colligan 1-1/0/1* 1-2/1/0 2-2/0/0 0-1/1/0 1-2/1/0 0-3/1/0 1-3/0/0
Duran 0-1/1/0 1-3/1/0
Feltner 0-3/1/0 1-1/0/0 1-1/0/0 0-1/1/0 0-0/0/0 0-1/0/0
Gonzalez 0-1/1/0
Greene 0-1/1/0 0-1/0/0 0-1/1/0 1-1/0/0
Ruggiano 1-1/1/0 0-2/1/0 0-1/0/0 1-1/0/0 0-2/0/0 0-2/0/0
Stouffer 0-1/0/0 1-3/1/1 1-3/0/1* 0-1/1/0 0-0/0/0 0-2/0/0 0-0/0/0 1-1/0/1*
If you can't make it out to the ballpark, and you don't have ESPNU, and you can't get WTAW 1620 you should try 91.7 FM in Houston and you should be able to pick up the Rice broadcast. It's going to be pretty bad announcing but it's better than nothing, right?
I'm going come out of this weekend sounding like I can't stand Rice (as I did last season) but they really are one of my favorite baseball teams outside of A&M. I grew up going to Rice games at the old Reckling Park and I went to baseball camps there under both Coach Hall and Coach Graham. Rice, Nebraska, and Arizona State (and every now-and-then Stanford) are really the only other teams I can find myself really rooting for. That said, I do not like the average Rice fan. I've never had a problem with a Rice student but I've had too many bad experiences with grown-up fans, both when I was wearing Maroon and when I was neutral.
I'm hoping that this year's seat isn't as bad as last year's and I'm hoping for a little warmer reception from our opponents fans.
Most of all, I'm hoping we're playing next weekend a little further north.
BEAT THE HELL OUTTA RICE! WHOOP!
| Where are you?
Tuesday June 3rd, 2008
12:01am
Ags to Meet Rice Again in Super Regionals
In only his third season as head coach of Texas A&M Rob Childress has taken this team from last place in the Big 12 to winners of a Big 12 Tournament Championship, a Big 12 Regular Season Championship and has now added back-to-back Super Regional appearances to his list of "WOWs".
Sunday was a completely different story from our previous games in the weekend. Jared Ray started for the Cougars and really did an excellent job holding us at bay.
We only had 1 hit going into the 6th inning. We put up a three spot on the scoreboard in the 6th with a double, triple, and double to lead off the inning followed by some walks and a fielder's choice. We only had one hit after the 6th inning.
UH scored a little more sporadically scoring 2 runs in the 3rd on an Austin Goolsey HR, then in the 6th with a lead-off triple followed by a double, and then in the 9th inning as a result of a walk and back to back singles. When that walk scored it ended the game at 4-3 as Houston was the home team.
Argh. Why can't we ever just put a team away? In any sport?
So we faced the Cougars again on Monday night in a win-or-go-home battle.
Houston just ran out of pitching. They had an incredible tournament but had to start throwing guys that had already thrown a good bit this weekend. I was really concerned all day long on Monday because of the moxy they've shown all weekend. The final score was 13-5.
Our offense was the key to our pitching success. We scored a lot of runs and gave our starters a lot of breathing room so that they could go deeper and minimize the use of Thebeau and Starling early in the weekend.
Scott Migl was solid for 4 innings and then Kyle Thebeau came in and dominated, just as he did in the 2007 Regional Championship Game. Travis Starling finished it off just like we needed him to.
Darby Brown was huge not only on Monday night but all weekend. Kyle Colligan was even huger with 2 HRs on Monday to add to his 2 HR game on Saturday vs the Cougs. He has 5 HRs against UH in 6 career games against them.
The All-Regional Team was named and it was chalked full of Ags
P J.Ray (UH)
P B.Raley (TAMU)
DH D.Brown (TAMU)
C C.Wallace (UH)
OF B.Ruggianio (TAMU)
OF J.Carr (UIC)
OF K.Colligan (TAMU)
3B D.Carter (TAMU)
SS J.Duran (TAMU)
2B R.Lorman (UH)
1B L.Anders (TAMU)
1B J.Cesario(UH)
MVP: Kyle Colligan (TAMU)
As soon as we scored our 11th run I challenged fate and ordered my tickets for the Super Regional (and I got real seats in the lower deck behind the dugout). Every walk or base hit by UH after that point completely freaked me out. It turned out to be a good thing I did act early because it was slim pickins shortly after the game ended.
So we've got Rice at Reckling Park again. I'll get a Super Regional Preview up before the series starts up.
Great weekend of baseball! I love this three week stretch of time.
| Where are you?
Sunday June 1st, 2008
10:14am
Potential Trouble at Olsen Quickly Squelched by Childress
For some reason I replayed this conversation in my mind going a little differently on Friday night.
Coach Childress: "Hi there Mike. Good to see you again. Welcome to beautiful Olsen Field. I wish you guys the best of luck this weekend."
Mike Dee: "My name's Mike Dee and I'm about to get money."
Then he pulled out the jammy aimed it at the sky.
Mike Dee (yelling): "Stick 'em up!"
Then he let two fly. Hands went up and people hit the floor. He wasted two kids that ran for the door.
Coach Childress: "Whoa, whoa, whoa Mike. I'm not going to tolerate that. That's not how we do it here in Aggieland. I'm sure that your school pays you a little on the light side but that is something you're going to want to bring up with your athletic department. A win or two this weekend will go much further with them than acting foolishly."
Mike Dee: "I'm Mike Dee and I get respect. Your cash and your jewelry is what I expect".
Kool was with it and he's Mike's ace. He grabbed the piano player and he punched him in the face. The piano player's out the music stopped his boy had beef and he got dropped. Mike Dee grabbed the money Kool snatched the gold.
Coach Childress: "I see how it's going to be. Hey Deggs, don't call off the dogs tonight. Let's put 15 up on'em. Make Kool's ERA jump."
Then Coach Childress grabbed two girlies and a beer that's cold.
| Where are you?
Ags Defeat Cougs, 22-4
We pretty much busted out the whoopin' stick last night. We tied the school record for 6 HRs in a game (Colligan, Anders, Brown, Gonzalez, Greene, & Colligan again). If I had my scanner I'd print my scorecard showing the 12 run 7th inning. We had 7 different players score in the inning, including 5 guys who scored twice. Either Luke Anders or Darby Brown will the tournament MVP. Luke is 5-for-8 with 8 runs, 5 RBI, a double and 2 HRs. Darby is 5-for-8 with 6 runs, 8 RBI, a double and 2 HRs.
Pat and my dad came up for the game (my dad had come up Friday as well) and we went to Wings-N-More for a little pre-game deliciousness. The weather has been excellent for us so far this weekend. The sun is off our backs by the 3rd inning and it is just beautifully warm, but not hot.
We gave up another 1st inning unearned run but we were up 8-1 before they had a little run at us. Loux gave up a single and walked a batter and with a 2 outs and 2 strikes on Jimmy Cesario he threw a HR to RF. 8-4 was as close as this ballgame would be.
Loux was very good going 6 innings and not allowing a hit or a walk after that HR. He was relieved in the 7th by Michael Heard, Carson Middleton, & Blake Rampy all throwing one inning of relief (allowing only 1 base runner combined).
We are in great shape bullpen-wise with a fully rested Travis Starling and Kyle Thebeau. Clayton Ehlert will start this evening against the winner of the UIC/Houston game that starts at 12:30pm. UH is throwing Bryan Tully and UIC is throwing Grant Kohlstaedt. If UH wins then we'll likely see Jered Ray or Donnie Joseph. If UIC wins I have no idea who they even have left but I'm rooting for them to shock the Cougs.
Here are some photo galleries I've come across from our first two games:
A&M v. UIC Gallery #1
A&M v. UIC Gallery #2
A&M v. Houston Gallery #1
A&M v. Houston Gallery #2
A&M v. Houston Gallery #3
Enjoy the afternoon & BHTO UH/UIC! WHOOP!
| Where are you?
Saturday May 31st, 2008
4:20pm
Ags Thwarp Illinois-Chicago
It was a blowout, 15-1. Their one run came in the first inning and it was unearned.
Brooks Raley went 8 innings and was excellent allowing only 5 hits, and a walk while striking out 5. Shane Minks (donning #55) came in to nail it down in the 9th inning. We did exactly what we needed to do and that was win big and not go into the bullpen.
Luke Anders was 4-for-4 at the plate with 5 runs scored (tied a school record) and missed the cycle by a triple. Our 4-5-6 hitters (Anders, Ruggiano, & Darby Brown) were 9-for-12 with 10 runs and 7 RBIs.
In the early game on Friday, Houston did beat Dallas Baptist, which means we face Houston at 6:30pm this evening in the winners bracket. The DBU/UIC game just finished and I'm pleased to announce that Dallas Baptist has been sent home. Wow.
Tomorrow afternoon UIC will face the loser of our game tonight and the winner of that game will face the winner of our game tonight.
UH threw Wes Muscik against Dallas Baptist, and closer Chase Dempsay went 2.1 innings. We'll be seeing righty John Touchton in our game tonight and he's going to be a lot tougher than what we saw last night. Game 2 is the most important in a Regional....if you're in the losers bracket you either win or go home....if you're in the winners bracket you can go into Sunday needing to win only one of a potential two games.
Sunday's games have been picked up to be televised.
FSN Southwest and FSN Houston will show Sunday's elimination game at 12:30 p.m. (except in the Dallas-Fort Worth market).Sunday's championship game at 6:30 p.m. will be carried on participating FSN Plus affiliates due to prior programming commitments on FSN Southwest and FSN Houston.
If a final championship game is necessary on Monday, it will be televised at 6:30 p.m. on FSN Houston, FSN Southwest (Southern region markets) and participating FSN Plus affiliates (Northern region markets).
All games will be available throughout the region and nationwide live on DirecTV, Dish Network and Fox College Sports Central (see schedule below for channel numbers).
In our pairing regional down in Houston there has been a little shake up. St. Johns knocked off the longhorns last night before Rice snuck out with a victory over Sam Houston. This afternoon, texas is beating the pulp out of Sam (its 13-1 in the 7th). Rice plays St. Johns this evening.
BTHO Houston! WHOOP!
| Where are you?
Thursday May 29th, 2008
12:01am
College Station Regional Preview
My first Aggie baseball season was 2000 so that makes this my fourth Regional experience and my third at Olsen Field.
I'm really, really excited but I know that crazy things happen in the NCAA tournament so I'm trying to keep myself grounded. I think we got one of the better Regionals. I think that the 2-seed and the 3-seed are going to beat each other up for us which is going to be really important for us. That said, the other teams in our Regional are probably thinking the same thing because they're playing a team that has been streaky and cold over the last 2 weeks. Thankfully for us we saw great signs of the team we are capable of being in our last two games.
The team that can get the farthest with their pitching is going to advance so we need to make sure we keep our bullpen fresh and score a ton of runs....but that goes for all the teams.
In Regional play, everyone's weaknesses get exposed because of the number of games you have to play in such a short time. The winner is going to be the team who is able to minimize the impact of their own weakness.
Enough of that, here's what you guys came for.
Again, here is the schedule for the weekend.
FRIDAY, MAY 30
GAME 1: Houston vs Dallas Baptist, 12:30 p.m.
GAME 2: Illinois-Chicago vs Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, MAY 31
GAME 3: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2, 12:30 p.m.
GAME 4: Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2, 6:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, JUNE 1
GAME 5: Winner Game 3 vs Loser Game 4, 12:30 p.m.
GAME 6: Winner Game 4 vs Winner Game 5, 6:30 p.m.
MONDAY, JUNE 2
GAME 7: Winner Game 4 vs Winner Game 5 (if necessary), 6:30 p.m.
Let's get to know our opponents.
Here are previews of each of our opponents and here it all is in a PDF format so you can print it out and bring it with you to the ballpark.
4. Illinois-Chicago; 34-20 (Horizon 17-6); RPI #167
Website
2008 Media Guide The Horizon League Regular Season AND Tournament Champions will be making their second trip to Texas this season after playing in the QTI Baylor Classic up in Waco at the beginning of the season. They have played a few common opponents with us in Baylor (0-1) & Stephen F. Austin (1-0). They've also played Tulane (0-3), Vanderbilt (1-3), Purdue (1-0).
The Flames three main starters are Mike Kool (#17), Derri Miramontes (#20), and Grant Kohlstaedt (#29) and their three most used arms out of the bullpen are Adam Worthington, Don Phillis, and Chris Kovacevich. Miramontes was the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year while Worthington was named the conference's Reliever of the Year. They were the Flames two All-Conference selections (both 2nd team).
40+ IP G/GS IP H R ER SO/BB HR ERA BAA
=========================================================
17 M.Kool........ 18/13 87.1 101 48 38 33/23 6 3.92 .299
20 D.Miramontes.. 17/13 92.1 97 41 34 45/22 2 3.31 .279
29 C.Kohlstaedt.. 15/12 71.1 92 58 49 41/31 6 6.18 .314
---------------------------------------------------------
21 A.Worthington. 29/0 42.1 37 17 14 36/14 1 2.98 .233
24 D.Phillis..... 24/2 50.2 63 32 31 39/17 6 5.51 .309
18 C.Kovacevich.. 19/7 44.2 61 36 29 23/8 5 5.84 .330
I'd hate to be the guy to sew the names on the backs of their unis.
CONTINUE HERE
| Where are you?
Monday May 26th, 2008
12:13pm
NCAA Bids Announced
The NCAA Regional Hosts were announced yesterday evening and this morning we all sat clamoring as ESPN had their show announcing the national seeds and the rest of the field.
As expected, we will be hosting a regional in College Station this coming weekend but we're not scheduled to host a Super Regional. That's pretty much what I was expecting but there was a part of me that was thinking we might slide in as a Super Regional host.
What was surprising was that Georgia picked up a national seed while there was no Big 12 national seed. I wouldn't have argued that we deserved it necessarily but I thought someone from the Big 12 would get one....either us, Nebraska, or oSu.
I like our bracket and it brings us a lot of familiarity.
1. Texas A&M
4. Illinois-Chicago
2. Dallas Baptist
3. Houston
We played a three game set against DBU just a few weeks ago at Olsen and we play UH every year (beating them at Cougar Field in early April).
We are matched up with the Houston Regional at Rice. That is going to be a very interesting regional to keep a watch on as the Owls drew a rough 2-seed in texas along with Mark Johnson's Sam Houston State as the 4-seed. The Owls have struggled against Sam in their recent history and the horns are the hottest team in the country. If the Owls don't make it out we have an opportunity to host the Super Regional against the winner. An A&M/texas Super Regional at Olsen Field would be epic.
Here's the schedule from Aggieathletics.com:
FRIDAY, MAY 30
GAME 1: Houston vs Dallas Baptist, 12:30 p.m.
GAME 2: Illinois-Chicago vs Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, MAY 31
GAME 3: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2, 12:30 p.m.
GAME 4: Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2, 6:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, JUNE 1
GAME 5: Winner Game 3 vs Loser Game 4, 12:30 p.m.
GAME 6: Winner Game 4 vs Winner Game 5, 6:30 p.m.
MONDAY, JUNE 2
GAME 7: Winner Game 4 vs Winner Game 5 (if necessary), 6:30 p.m.
I'm interested to see how having Dallas Baptist in our bracket works. They don't play on Sundays which is why we played a Thursday-Saturday series against them during the regular season.
I just can't see the NCAA allowing them to take Sunday off. If they have to play on Monday not only does it screw me because I can't get up there for Monday games but it puts the winner at a disadvantage because there would be a day less rest or practice before Super Regionals start. If DBU were to advance to a Super Regional or even to Omaha I can't see how it would be possible for them to not play on a Sunday. Hopefully this won't be a problem and the schedule will stay as is.
I'll do some research and get a nice Regional Preview up before the end of the week.
My favorite time of the year is the 3 weeks leading up to the College World Series. WHOOP!
| Where are you?
Sunday May 25th, 2008
12:13pm
Big 12 Tournament Wrapup
We didn't have the great Big 12 Tournament that we were hoping for but there were definitely signs of life.
Wednesday we were stifled by Oklahoma 4-1. It was another case of us beating ourselves as all four of their runs were unearned as a result of 3 errors. Scott Migl had a good start and Kyle Thebeau threw 3 innings of 1 hit ball. Our 1-6 hitters combined for a 2-for-22 afternoon at the plate.
Thursday afternoon was a mixed bag that resulted in a 15-9 loss. Brooks Riley got hammered for the first time all season. It was 10-0 when he exited after 1.2 innings. After that things got better and we actually climbed back into the game. Coach Deggs shook up the lineup quite a bit and we responded very well with our first 9 run outburst since that miserable Sunday Nebraska game. The offense and the defense were much improved so we had two of the three cylinders going.
Saturday we were hitting on all three cylinders and we snapped the losing streak. PSHEW.
Barett Loux was outstanding on the mound shutting out Mizzou for 6.1 innings and the offense clicked again, with another new lineup. Kyle Colligan had a big game with a solo HR to jump start the day, as did Jose Duran who hit a bomb to put the game away in the 5th inning. Luke Anders also added to the long ball fun with his first HR since the Sam Houston game (May 5th).
I think that my biggest concern now is the bullpen. We're essentially a 2 man show out of the bullpen with Kyle Thebeau and Travis Starling, but Starling has been getting roughed up fairly frequently. On the season he has allowed 17 ERs, but 13 of those have come in the last 7 outings. Outside of the gem he threw against Nebraska he's been hit pretty hard.
The Big 12 announced their post season awards and we were very well represented. Coach Childress was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year and Jose Duran was named the Big 12 Player of the Year.
Coach Childress, as Nebraska's recruiting coordinator or A&M's head coach, has recruited SIX OF THE LAST NINE Big 12 POYs. That's incredible.
Luke Anders (1B), Duran (SS), Dane Carter (3B), Kyle Colligan (OF), and Travis Starling (RP) were all first teamers. Darby Brown (DH) and Brian Ruggiano (UTL) were second teamers while Clayton Ehlert, Barret Loux, Brooks Raley, Blake Stouffer, and Kyle Thebeau were all Honorable Mention.
Last season I argued vehimately that Kyle Nicholson was robbed as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and Blake Stouffer was robbed of the Big 12 POY. This year I'm going to argue that Kyle Thebeau was robbed by his own teammate. T-Star has been very good for us this year but Thebeau has been the best relief pitcher we have.
Regardless, it has been a good year for Aggie baseball thus far. This evening at 6pm the regional sites are going to be announced and then tomorrow at 11:30am on ESPN the national seeds will be announced as well as the tournament field. Let's hope for some good news.
Gig'em!
| Where are you?
Saturday May 24th, 2008
12:51pm
NCAA Lacrosse National Championship
I almost forgot about my annual NCAA Lacrosse kick. I'm waiting for the texas/ou game to finish up before our game against Mizzou starts and I was flipping through ESPN.com. It's Memorial weekend, which means the NCAA Lacrosse semi-finals and championship are on ESPN & ESPN 2.
Here is the schedule....
SEMI FINALS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
=============================== =======================
Sat 5/24 12pm ESPN2 Mon 5/26 1pm ESPN
#3 Syracuse v. #2 Virginia Winner of #3/#2 v. Winner of #5/#1
Sat 5/24 2:30pm ESPN2
#5 John Hopkins v. #1 Duke
I don't know a thing about it but I love watching it.
and of course....BTHO Mizzou! WHOOP!
| Where are you?
Wednesday May 21st, 2008
12:29am
A Trip to Minute Maid to See the Cubs
My dad called yesterday afternoon and told me he had scored two tickets for the Cubs/Astros game last night. I, shamefully, did not see a single Cubs game live last season (for the first time ever) so I gladly took him up on his offer.
We lost 4-2 on a Hunter Pence opposite field grand slam. Pence is going to be star for many, many years. The fans love him and he can flat out rake.
Some mental notes I made during the game:
- Astros fans really dislike Cubs fans
- Derrek Lee is a true professional. I love the guy.
- Michael Bourn - I've loved the guy since he was at UH, even when he beat us in the '03 Regionals. I just don't see him as an everyday major league starter.
- With the Cubs carrying 12 pitchers, their dugout is almost empty when they're in the field
- I can't stand Alfonso Soriano
- The Astros had 4 players in their lineup whose batting averages were .205 or lower....that's pitiful. Late in the game they replaced one of those four with another guy hitting .205 or lower.
- People at games drive me crazy. If you're going to get up 7 times to go get more beer and food you might as well not be at the ballpark. You only see about 1/4 of the game and I can guarantee you that the bar across the street has cheaper beer and better food.
- The Cubs picked up Jim Edmonds off the scrap heap last week and he has stunk. In my mind the Cubs' Jim Edmonds experiment should already be over. He's washed up.
- Where the hell is Matt Murton?
- I support fans, regardless of age, wearing their team's jersey to a game.
