Friday September 23rd, 2005
3:23pmAgs 41 v. Texas State 28
I'm not sure if I'm glad that FSN picked up the game for TV....I mean, I'm glad that I got to watch it (it was the first home game I've watched on TV since the '99 texas game when I was a senior in HS) but I'm embarrassed that anyone else outside of the stadium saw it.
As much as I thought we should have won the Clemson game I feel as strongly that we should have lost this one.
I was impressed by the attendance....the student section was probably 85% full (they projected that 25K students attended) and for the first time I got to see what the 12th Man towels looked like from outside of the student section, I thought they looked awesome. They said ~45-50K were in attendance overall. Fans not already in College Station were asked not to come into town in order to keep the highways open to evacuees from Houston and Galveston. There has been a rain check offered for those who heeded the warnings and stayed home to watch the game on TV.
Last weekend I spoke of the good first and the bad second so I'm going to continue that this week.
Reggie was great again, although I'm starting to become concerned with his trend of very slow 1st quarter starts. He became the first Aggie QB to throw for 300 yards in back-to-back games.
PASSING RUSHING ------------------------------- ------------ Att Com Yds TD INT Att Yds TD 1st Half: 12 6 234 2 0 5 -1 0 2nd Half: 12 7 83 0 0 6 87 0 =============================== ============ Totals: 24 13 317 2 0 11 86 0He is incredible to watch....he throws a beautiful spiral and he can just flat out fly when he gets any open field.
Jason Carter has turned himself into an offensive force to be reckoned with. He finished the game with 8 catches for 219 yards and a TD as well as 6 yards on the ground (one carry). It was the 2nd best single game receiving performance in Ag history. In his last two games Carter now has 13 receptions for 362 and 3 TDs.
Chad "TD Machine" Schroeder continues his amazing start. He had one reception for a 44 yard TD as well as a TD run for 13 yards on a fake FG (he is the holder). He has the surest hands on the team and just makes great plays. He has 5 TDs on the season in only 5 touches. Talk about exciting.
Our WRs need to get more credit for being great blockers. They really do a great job downfield.
Courtney Lewis had a big game on the ground rushing 27 times for 136 yards and a pair of TDs (he also had one reception for 11 yards). It was C-Lew's first 100 yard game since last season's texas tech game and it is nice to see him back up to full speed.
One final positive offensive note....Howard Morrow, the true freshman who was a HS All-American, made his first catch of his Aggie career a memorable one. It was a 41 yard diving reception to put the Ags inside the 10 yard line. He completely laid out for it and it looked great.
Ok, now to the bad.
I suppose I can cushion this all a bit by thinking that this was the absolute perfect formula for a disastrous upset. Texas State was ranked the #14 DI-AA school in the nation, there is complete havoc throughout the state, player's families are evacuating, Kyle Field wasn't true Kyle Field, Texas State had 11 days to prepare (due to an off-week) while we had 4, this was the biggest game of the year for TxSt....You'd still have to think that we would have won by more than 13.
Our defense looks terrible. We gave up 493 yards of total offense including 378 in the air. Texas State averaged 7.5 yards per play. If we're going to give Reggie credit for having back-to-back 300 yard passing games then we should certainly praise SMU & Texas State for returning the favor.
A couple of weeks ago we discussed 3rd down conversions....well, Texas State converted 8-of-14. That's pretty unimpressive....or impressive depending on who you're rooting for.
I should give Barrick Nealy credit. They watched the film, knew our weaknesses and he executed their game plan very well. Nealy finished the night 26-of-34 for 378 yards and 3 TDs as well as 36 yards on the ground and a TD on 5 rushes.
My father-in-law and I are just simply baffled by our defense. We are returning 8 of our starters from last season....we only lost a DE and our two starting CBs, but we both agree that those CBs were quite poor. We can't figure out who our CBs are right now....Danny Gorrer and....Marquis Carpenter? Ray Ray Jones? Brock Newton?
Maybe the problem lies in the safeties? Jaxson Appel is one of the best tacklers we're ever seen but often gets criticized by fans for his pass protection. Japhus Brown, a freshman All-American last season, is splitting quite a bit of time with Melvin Bullitt.
I don't know the causes of the problems or answers. Like I said in my Season Preview, I'm just a passionate fan and I'm just trying to feel my way through all the X's & O's.
After that defensive performance we just might need the extra two days to get our heads on straight before Baylor comes to town. I'm scared to death of texas tech now....and if Vince Young or even ISU's Brett Meyers is able to roll out of the pocket as easily as Nealy was we're going to give up a lot of yards on the ground. He had a lot of time to throw....we only sacked him twice.
Maybe Reggie can play both ways?
Two other negative notes....
Earvin Taylor was carried off the field on a cart....it looked to be a knee injury. After losing both L'Tydric Riley and Keith Dickerson this summer to torn ACLs our deep WR corps is getting less and less deep.
Kerry Franks had a rough game holding onto the ball. He coughed it up twice in 3 touches. If we're down another receiver Franks will have to play a bit better. I'm sure this was just a rough game.
Thursday September 22nd, 2005
1:36pmOur Evacuation Route
We have arrived safely in Dallas.
In situations like this it is interesting to realize the things you grab and pack when all you can fill is one car. I found that I was packing a heckuva lot more photos and things like that than I ever thought I would. We got everything into Jennifer's Honda Accord, including the two dogs. I was in the passenger seat with it pulled up as far as it could possibly go....I never said we got it all into the car comfortably. I also discovered that I have very nice knees.
We left our house at 10pm last night and got here right at 4am, which is really only an hour and a half longer than it would take on a normal day. As you will soon read, we must have picked the absolutely best route at the absolutely best time to make our trip.
I'll try to give you some perspective with some very primative maps.
This is just a big Texas map so you can get your barings. Jennifer and I live where the blue dot is on 290 (the Northwest Freeway). My parents live pretty much due east of our house about 5 minutes from I-45 (they're the maroon dot). The red dot is Plantersville.
Bryan/College Station is ~75 miles north and takes me exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes from our house (the blue dot) to get to on days I have class.
As I just mentioned, we live off on Barker Cypress Rd. right off of HW-290 (one of the main evacuation highways as well as the main route to Austin from Houston). When we approached 290 it was at a dead standstill for as far as our eyes could see in either direction. We tried to take pictures but we couldn't get one clear enough.
Thankfully, Jennifer knew some back roads to take to get us further north. We were able to weave our way to HW-249 and then take that through Magnolia and Plantersville to HW-105 which dumped us onto HW-6 about 20 miles south of Bryan/College Station. It took us right at 2 hours to get there (remember this as you continue reading). We were completely shocked to see that the HW-6 was traveling at about 55mph and we were able to just drive on up through College Station (where we grabbed some grub), then through Waco and on into Dallas at a relatively normal speed. Our route is the blue one.
My parents, however, have not been so lucky. Their traveling gang consists of 2 groups: a) mom, my brother (a freshman at UH), & my grandmother (who had some major surgery about a month ago and has been staying with my parents) in my mom's sedan; 2) My old man, their two border collies and my grandmother's toy poodle in the Tahoe.
They left for Austin from their house at 4am (which is right off of I-45 at F.M. 1960....I-45 is the main evacuation route from Galveston and it heads due north to Dallas). They are trying to take the same route we took through Plantersville that Jennifer and I had about 6 hours earlier. As of 1:22pm today they just got to Plantersville. Their route is the maroon one on that map (and their house is the maroon dot in the very bottom right corner of that map).
I only pray that they have enough gas and food to keep them going. My brother said that the car has 1/2 a tank left and that the Tahoe is still reading at full, but that makes them really nervous because they don't know if that is accurate or not.
I'll do my best to keep you all up-to-date. It's so frustrating and scary knowing that that you're completely safe while they're all still fighting to get out of there....not even from the storm sense just from the sense of having gas to keep them moving.
UPDATE (2:01pm): Heard from my brother....they finally got through the 105/1774 intersection which is where all the hold up was. They're going to stay on 1774 up to HW-30 and then take that over to College Station. He said they're going ~50mph now, which is a nice change from 2mph. From B/CS they're going to see what the traffic is like before selecting their route to Austin.
Also, I forgot to mention that Jennifer and I were exhausted and starting to drag a bit when we got up around Waco last night. All of a sudden we heard the name Granger Smith on the radio (I think it was something like 105.5 FM) and apparently he's got something going on up further north than B/CS. That's funny because I just put his CD back into my CD player on my 3 hour trek home from work yesterday. I just checked his site and saw he's got a new album out that I'm going to have to order now.
UPDATE (3:25pm): Just got a call to let me know they made it to College Station and are currently sitting in line to get gas. PSHEW. It took them 11 hours to make a drive that normally takes 1 1/2. Leg 1 of their trip is over....Leg 2 on their way to Austin will follow....
UPDATE: They arrived in Austin somewhere around 8:15pm. They're all safe and sound and very worn out. I'm glad they were able to get out and get where they were going.<
Wednesday September 21th, 2005
9:30pmWe're Bailing
Apparently I'm just a big talker....and a hurricane will keep me from using my second deck row 2 seat.
Things are beyond crazy down here in Houston. I left work an hour early and it took me THREE HOURS to get to my house (the normal, hellacious Houston 5 o'clock traffic usually takes me an hour and twenty minutes). In the 30 mile drive I must have seen 15 stalled vehicles including a big ranching truck pulling a trailer full of horses....except the bottom fell out of the trailer and the horses were still in the trailer but physically standing on the highway.
Gas stations are out of fuel but thankfully Jennifer's car should be able to get us to Dallas. We're going to leave in the next 30 minutes or so.....cross my fingers. I've heard rumors that it is going to take over 15 hours to get up there....we'll see.
I'll, however, be watching the game, which has officially been moved to 7:30 Thursday night (and will now be picked up on FSN). I jotted down some notes to make a Texas State Preview but obviously don't have time to type it up and post it....maybe tomorrow afternoon if I have time/care to?
Here's to the roof being on, the walls still standing and the house being free of looters....
One final thought....I am an evacuee not a refugee....racism will not be tolerated.
Gig'em and Beat the Hell Outta Texas State! WHOOP!
Tuesday September 20th, 2005
12:15pmAgs v. TxState Possible Reschedule
Due to the potential hurricane expected to land Friday or Saturday, the athletic department is currently trying to decide whether to move this Saturday's game against Texas State up to Thursday evening.
Either way I don't care....It'll take more than a hurricane to get me to miss out on using the second deck row 2 tickets my group pulled! It's the first time I've been able to sit as low as row 2 in any of my 32 previous attempts.
If this does come to fruition I probably won't get a Texas State Preview up in time for the game....we'll have to wait and see....I'll keep you up to date....
UPDATE (10:46pm): Coach Fran has been quoted as saying there is a "pretty good chance" the game will be on Thursday....an official decision will be made tomorrow sometime around mid-day.
Arrested Development Season Premier
Last night was the season premier of Arrested Development, one of my favorite shows. FOX moved it to 7pm on Monday night this season, which I'm really excited about because it's easier for me to watch it. Anyways, season 3 looks like it's going to be just as great as the first two.
Also wanted to point out a new show that we watched that was really pretty good. It was on CBS right after AD and is called How I Met Your Mother....I thought it was pretty funny....and it has the band chick from American Pie & even Doogie Howser in it....I suggest you "Suit up" and watch it....
Sunday September 18th, 2005
6:04pmAgs Offense Shines Against Ponies in 66-8 Victory
I'm directly under the "M" in "Welcome" in the first row of the shade....thankfullyOn a scorching afternoon at Kyle Field, one that is considered by many as the hottest in recent memory and the temperature meter on the side of the stadium confirmed at 104 degrees, the Ags just wore out SMU.
I'll start with the big story....Reggie. He was the Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week. The man easily had his greatest performance, a school record of 449 yards of total offense. He threw for 349 of those and ran for another one hundred.....5 passing TDs and 1 rushing TDs. Just think what could have been had he not taken his last snap at the 6:25 mark of the third quarter. His TD passes were for 15, 80, 68, 32, & 47 yards.
PASSING RUSHING ------------------------------- ------------- Att Com Yds TD INT Att Yds TD 1st Half: 16 10 97 0 0 3 94 1 2nd Half: 8 5 252 5 0 3 6 0 =============================== ============ Totals: 24 15 349 5 0 6 100 0He had a career long run of 63 yards where he hit the O button on the PS2 controller, spun out of tackle and into 55 yards of wide open, beautifully manicured Kyle Field turf (Video Link from AgClips.com). A great block by our WR #9 DeQwan Mobley helped open that play up.
In our first two games Reggie has gone 23-for-40 with 459 yards passing and 6 TDs to 1 INT while rushing for 200 yards on 15 carries with 1 TD.
Upon Reggie's departure we got to see RS-F, Stephen McGee, make his debut in maroon and white. I was quite impressed with him even though he only threw the ball 3 times as we just ran out the clock. He was 3-for-3 for 56 yards and had 20 yards rushing on two carries. His most impressive pass wasn't necessarily a big play but I thought it was telling of the young man....SMU got some pressure in on him and he scrambled a little bit, still composed, and threw a little 3 or 4 yard dump pass to Jorvorskie Lane who picked up a few more yards after the catch. It could have been very easy for him to screw that play up but he kept his composure and we got + yards out of the play. Basically, it helped ease my feelings of anxiousness as I look ahead to a time when we no longer have Reggie.
#7 Jason CarterA big factor in Reggie's huge jump in numbers is the play of the WRs who played up to the level expected of them when I wrote so highly about them in my Ag Football Season Preview. 9 players made a reception on this day with Jason Carter leading the way with 5 for 143 yards (and 2 TDs). Chad "TD Machine" Schroeder contributed in a big way as well making 2 great catches, both for TDs. He now has 5 career TDs in only 7 career receptions (all three of his receptions in '05 have been for TDs). Earvin Taylor also needs to be mentioned for his 80 yard TD run after he slipped out of 3 defender's grasps.
Martellus Bennett dropped his first 2 chances, and tipped his third before making his first career reception. The play showed what makes every Ag salivate at his talent....he made the catch, broke a tackle, stiff-armed a guy and simultaneously hurdled the falling body, then lands on the hurdled body, then regained his balance and ran for another 10-15 yards....Unfortunately he was ruled out of bounds after his hurdling (Video Link). It was still fun to watch big ole' #3 move like that.
With all the people who passed out due to the heat I think that the medics had more carries than our RBs but I still liked what I saw with our ground game. We didn't see much of Courtney Lewis (11 carries for 67 yards) but we had a great opportunity to see some of our youngsters in game action. Jorvorskie Lane, Samson Taylor, & Jay Lucas all made their Kyle Field debuts and I was impressed with each of them. In uniform, Lane (11 carries for 54 yards and a TD) is a spitting image of Ja'Mar Toombs and he rumbled quite a bit like old #5. Samson Taylor had 5 carries for 42 yards (and lined up as a WR several times) while Jay Lucas was impressively shifty in his 3 carries (21 yards) including his TD score. Lane almost picked up his second TD as the game wound down on a run right through the SMU defense but fell short at the 2 yard line....we left the ball sitting there as the clock wound down the final seconds of the ballgame.
The first quarter, and even going into halftime I didn't think the score reflected the game being played. SMU could have easily had more than 8 points had they not dropped numerous passes or given the ball up so many times.
Apparently, at halftime Jason Carter laid into his teammates:
(on what he said in the locker room) "I don't know if we can put it on tape. I challenged the guys. We were playing like crap and, other words. And I just told them I was sick of it. I challenged the wide receivers to step up and make blocks and make the catches, because we got hounded two weeks ago for some dropped balls. I challenged the offensive line. I said, 'People don't think y'all are physical enough. Y'all step up. The defense needs to step up. The linebackers can't miss any tackles. They shouldn't get another point.' And some different words."Again, you've got to love that leadership. We came out with our guns a blazing after his little pep talk....including Carter who contributed big in that 3rd quarter.
I've always included the good with the bad so I'm going to also include the bad with the good....also, many people from the BlogPoll didn't get to watch the game and I want to provide an accurate portrayal of the team for them.
Our pass defense scares the crap out of me. We gave up 309 yards through the air to SMU including a career high of 243 yards by Jerad Romo (who was 18-of-39). We looked flat out silly on a couple of plays (including one by our lone senior CB) and it seemed that we gave them a lot of room to make catches before we came up and tackled them, which is probably a result of being worried about getting burnt long.
#4 Danny GorrerI can't see how newcomers Marquis Carpenter (So-Tr) & Danny Gorrer (RS-F) won't be our starting CBs from here on out. Carpenter wasn't spectacular but he did come up with two gift INTs and he was our second best cover guy out there. Gorrer was very solid and I expect him to improve with time into a great CB. Brock Newton made a lot of tackles (led the team with 10) and I can't really think of a single play that he was in that looked bad so maybe I'm being a bit harsh on him....although I suppose I could say that he would have had fewer tackles had he knocked down some of those passes.
We held SMU to just 39 yards rushing on 26 attempts and held their RB, DeMyron Martin to just 8 yards on 8 carries.
Justin Warren was solid again with 9 tackles including 2.5 for a loss, a sack, and a fumble recovery. One of those tackles was a sick hit he put on the kick-return man as he literally sandwiched the blocker between him and the returner. It was awesome.
We saw a lot of Jordan Chambless and Melvin Bullitt rotating in at safety with Jaxson Appel & Japhus Brown. I felt that both played strongly.
Our special team coverage was suspect at best. We allowed 6 kick returns of 18 yards or more, four went for 20 or more, and two of those went for 40 or more. I will say though that after watching a couple of those in a replay here at home, SMU got away with a couple of blocks to the back but we were still giving up a lot of yardage.
A big thanks goes out to Coach Fran who sent out an all walk-on kickoff squad for the kick-offs following our final two TDs. The last time this was done was during the '03 Baylor game. Those boys put in a lot of hard work and it's so exciting to see them be rewarded when they can be.
I thought I'd give a rundown of which true freshman have played this year:
No Name Po Clem SMU 3 Ma.Bennett TE XXX XXX 11 Mi.Bennett DL XXX XXX 44 J.Brantly P XXX XXX 48 A.Brown DB XXX XXX 9 A.Dixon DB XXX XXX 11 J.Lane RB - XXX 5 H.Morrow WR XXX XXX 27 J.Peterson DB - XXX 26 K.Smith RB - XXXNone of them have started a game.
I can't finish this recap without mentioning the highlight of the day....the SMU band leader guy. Not only was the band wearing royal blue maitre d outfits but the director had to literally run across the field (around the 35-40 yard line) to get to the other side so they could see him when they turned and faced the other direction. The place went nuts when he took off in a full out sprint mid-song. Classic.
Next weekend's game against Texas State will not be televised and will, thankfully, be at 6pm....out of the heat of the day. Hopefully, my sunburn will be gone by then ;)
To Top of Page
