To Top of Page
Friday November 10th, 2006
12:01amAg Football Preview: #25 Nebraska
The Cornhuskers come into town this weekend with the winner taking the edge in the chances of landing the Cotton Bowl. Nebraska is 7-3 on the season with losses to USC, texas, and Oklahoma State. I'm not really sure who I would consider their "big" win. They've beaten LaTech, Nicholls St, Troy, Kansas, Iowa State, Kansas State, & Missouri. That's fairly weak.
The last time we faced the Huskers was in 2003 when we were completely slaughtered in a record turnover afternoon. After making the trip up to Lincoln for the game my respect for Nebraska grew even more (they have always been one of my favorite teams outside of A&M). The last time the Huskers were at Kyle Field was in 2002. I was so excited going into the game because I had never seen Nebraska in person before but it was kind of nasty outside but the result was nastier. It was another game that most of us wish to forget....a monstrous 4th quarter meltdown, a game losing INT inside the 10 yard line, and the irritation of them simply running, and running, and running, and running while we had no answer (two players went for 125+ on the ground).
This season the Huskers will look completely different. Head coach Bill Callahan has shifted the traditional option offense into a very balanced offense.
Neb Offense A&M Defense =========== =========== 189 (17) Rushing 128 (51) 246 (23) Passing 182 (38) 435 (10) Total 310 (45) 34.2 (12) Scoring 18.7 (37)They get it done running the ball with a stable of tailbacks: Brandon Jackson (125 carries, 5.6 ypc, 6 TDs), Marlon Lucky (100/5.7/6), Cody Glenn (65/5.3/6), & Kenny Wilson (69/4.5/3).
Senior, Zac Taylor, leads the passing attack completing 62% of his passes for 227 yards per game with 20 TDs to only 3 INTs. His big-time targets are JUCO transfer Maurice Purify (25 receptions for 503 yards and 6 TDs) & Terrence Nunn (30 receptions for 472 yard and 2 TDs) but both Jackson & Lucky get into the passing game as they have 18 and 20 receptions, respectively. Purify scares the tar out of me.
On the defensive side of the ball the Blackshirt defense doesn't appear to be in traditional form.
A&M Offense Neb Defense =========== =========== 213 (8) Rushing 120 (45) 195 (61) Passing 222 (86) 407 (17) Total 342 (73) 31.2 (20) Scoring 17.7 (30)The only Husker game I've watched was the texas game and I came away from it with a different feeling than those numbers imply. Their defense was extraordinary whenever the ball was in front of them. Virtually every run, screen pass, etc. was just gobbled up. It wasn't until texas started to throw the ball vertically downfield that they were successful. Their weakness is definitely the secondary. Stephen McGee will need to be a big factor in this game which almost always means that Tellus will also be a big factor (after getting no love last weekend).
Their defense is headlined by LBer Bo Ruud, who is part of a Husker Legacy that included his brother (Barrett), his father (Tom), his uncle (John), his other uncle (Bob Martin), and his great-grandfather (Clarence Swanson). I think more people need to name their kids Clarence. Bo is third on the team in tackles, second in INTs, and leads the squad with 3 forced fumbles.
Their DL is anchored at the corners by Adam Carriker & Jay Moore, both were All-Big 12 selections a year ago, and neither have slowed down at all.
It should be a heckuva ballgame with a fairly significant amount on the line in terms of bowl games.
This weekend will also be the final game at Kyle Field for our seniors: Ty Branyon, Grant Dickey, Alex Kotzur, Layne Neumann, Melvin Bullitt, Brandon Leone, Courtney Lewis, Nurahda Manning, Bryce Reed, Ty Riley, Chad Schroeder, Marques Thornton, & Justin Warren. I wish you all the best of luck in your futures, wherever they might take you, and of course best of luck the rest of the season. Gig'em & B.T.H.O. Nebraska!
Thursday November 9th, 2006
4:06pmAgs Add Montana State to 2007 Schedule
Just ran across this over at ESPN.com.
The game is apparently scheduled for September 8th at Kyle Field and we're paying $450K. These are the guys who shocked the world early this season upsetting Colorado.
Eh.
Adding them brings our 2007 schedule to look like this:
09/08 Montana St 09/15 @Miami 09/29 Baylor 10/06 Oklahoma St 10/13 @texas tech 10/20 @Nebraska 10/27 Kansas 11/03 @Oklahoma 11/10 @Missouri 11/23 texasLooks like we have 2 more slots to fill before we get our 12 games.
3:31pmBlogPoll Roundtable v2.6
This week it is being hosted over at Hey Jenny Slater, a UGA blog. I'll jump right into it....
BlogPoll Roundtable v2.6Q1. We're just a few weeks away from the end of the regular season, so everybody should have a pretty good handle on how good their teams are and what sort of records they can expect to finish with. Looking back over the season, which was the game where your team really defined itself in 2006, for good or ill? Or to look at it another way, which game, win or loss, was most representative of your team's attitude and style of play this season?
A1. I think that the Mizzou game was that game for us. In the first quarter the defense got completely shredded but turned around and completely stifled their offense the rest of the game. That's a trait we've seen in the majority of our games; poor initial starts but great adjustments on the defensive side of the ball. We also ran the living tar out of the ball, which is our strong suit (we are the #8 rushing offense in the nation). J-Train ran wild as this was probably the game that put him "on the map" outside of Aggieland.
Q2. Are there any teams you think are still hugely overrated? What about underrated?
A2. Sure there are. I'm still not convinced that Louisville or West Virginia or, to a lesser extent, Rutgers are where they should be in the rankings. It seems like all of their big games have come against each other, which inflates the perception of them. I'm not saying that they're not having great seasons but I think they're a little over-exaggerated.
Q3. Did your team play any Division I-AA opponents this year? If so, do you think it benefited your team at all? If you were a coach or an NCAA official, what policy would you have toward scheduling D-IAAs?
A3. Yeah, we played The Citadel. I wouldn't say that it really benefited us in the sense that we could have used a powderpuff DI-A school as a warm-up game just as easily. I don't think it really matters that much because there are plenty of DI-A that are just as bad, if not worse, as some of the DI-AA schools.
Q4. Which not-a-typical-national-powerhouse team (i.e. no Ohio States or USCs) has played well enough this year to set themselves up for a breakout season in '07?
A4. I have to say that A&M could be one of those teams.
We were 5-6 last year while going 1-5 on the road. This year we're 8-2 while going 4-0 outside of Kyle Field. We've won more road games this season than we had in the previous 3 years under Fran. That is going to play a big factor next season when we play @Miami, @Mizzou, @texas tech, @Oklahoma, & @Nebraska.
I don't expect us to go 5-0 in those games but only losing 5 starting seniors we should field our best team since the late-90s/early-00s.
We're learning to crawl right now and we'll be walking next season.
Q5. Take a look at your team's bowl prospects this season. Which bowl(s) do you think you have a reasonable shot of ending up in? Of the teams you might likely face in a bowl, which team would you most want to play and why (maybe you've always wanted to see how your team would match up with them, maybe there's an old score you want to settle, or maybe you just want to finish the season with an easy win)? Conversely, which potential opponent would you really like to avoid in a bowl game?
A5. Realistically, we'll be in either the Cotton Bowl or the Alamo Bowl. I'm thinking that the Big 12 will finish like this: texas, OU, A&M/Nebraska, Mizzou/texas tech. texas should be in the Fiesta Bowl and it looks like OU will be traveling to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. This weekend we play Nebraska so the winner of that game should be in the driver's seat for the Cotton Bowl with the loser heading to the Alamo Bowl. I think that either of those bowls would like either of those teams because both fan bases travel well.
The Cotton Bowl team will face the one of #3-5 from the SEC. Right now that could be any of LSU, Tennessee, or Auburn. We have history with all three of those teams and I would put us as underdogs in all three situations. I would want to face LSU simply because of the geographic rivalry. We recruit the same players and things sit well when they decided they didn't want to play us anymore in the mid-90s.
The Alamo Bowl would pit the Big 12 team against the #4 or #5 Big 10 team. That is all up in the air with both Michigan and tOSU in contention for a BCS bid. I'd like to face Wisconsin or Penn State but it would likely be someone like Purdue or Indiana (?!?).
Q6. In a roundtable question during the off-season, we were asked whom you'd pick if your current coach fell deathly ill and you had to select another coach to lead your team to victory. Let's turn this around and imagine that you've somehow schemed your way onto the search committee to select your biggest rival's next head coach. Which rival would that be, and which coaching sooper genius would you try to stick them with?
A6. I'd probably stick texas with someone like Ron Zook. The program would go straight into shambles, particularly if the Frats said something mean to a football player and Zook wanted to beat them up.
Wednesday November 8th, 2006
12:01amJ-Train on 3rd & 4th Downs
I've been charting this throughout the course of the season, mentioning at times in previews and recaps, as I did in the OU recap. I took it a step further than what I did in the OU recap in a post I made on TexAgs, which has seemed to spark some interest.
I was listening to the great Charlie Pallilo on Monday and a caller quoted some of this and then yesterday morning I heard Louie Belina talking about it as well.
I actually found a discrepancy from when I posted the numbers on Sunday. One of his 3rd down conversions against texas tech was a first down but it was also a TD, which I had not realized until I tripled checked my work. I will not count this as a first down but instead as simply a TD. I have changed the original numbers I posted to reflect this.
Jorvorskie Lane 3rd & 4th Down Carries ====================== Attempts 27 First Downs 18 Touch Downs 6 ---------------------- Totals 24/27 (89%)Here are the game-by-game breakdowns....
He has not been stopped in our last SEVEN games including all SIX of our Big 12 conference games.
- The Citadel: 1-for-2 with a first down and a fumble
- Note: he got the first down before he fumbled
- ULaLa: 4-for-4 with two TDs and two first downs
- Army: 4-for-6 with one TD and three first downs
- He was stopped on a 3rd & 7, where he 'only' picked up 6 yards
- He was stopped on a much talked about fourth quarter 4th down where the defender came through completely unblocked
- LaTech: 2-for-2 with two first downs
- texas tech: 4-for-4 with a TD and three first downs
- Kansas: 1-for-1 with a first down
- Mizzou: 3-for-3 with one TD and two first downs
- OkieSt: 1-for-1 with a first down
- Baylor: 1-for-1 with a first down
- OU: 3-for-3 with a TD and two first downs
Here is an even more in-depth look. The first numbers are the down and the yards we needed, the second number was the number of yards he picked up, and the third notation is the result.
CIT: ULaLa: Army: =============== ========== ========== 3-4 7 1st 3-1 4 1st 3-G 1 TD 3-1 3 (fumble) 3-G 2 TD 3-7 6 -- 4-1 4 1st 3-1 5 1st 3-G 8 TD 4-1 16 1st 3-2 4 1st 4-1 -4 -- LaTech: ttech: Kansas: ========== ========== ========== 3-4 25 1st 3-1 2 TD 3-1 3 1st 3-1 7 1st 3-1 2 1st 3-6 11 1st 4-1 3 1st Mizzou: Okie St: Baylor: ========== ========== ========== 3-2 2 1st 3-1 2 1st 3-1 2 1st 3-G 1 TD 3-4 4 1st Oklahoma: ========== 3-4 14 1st 3-G 1 TD 3-1 2 1stAs you can see, he not only converted but he ran for more than he needed. On 16 of his 18 1st down conversions he has run for more yardage than needed to convert.
Fran, give him the rock. Please.
Tuesday November 7th, 2006
9:20pmBrett Bielema is a Genius
In Saturday's game against JoePa's Nittany Lions, 1st year Wisconsin Head Coach Brett Bielema completely exploited the new rules that state on kickoffs the clock starts as soon as the ball is kicked.
This is one of those things that puts a young coach on the map in the eyes of general sports fans but some have known all along that Bielema was brilliant.
There was a BlogPoll Roundtable last season that asked, "Which one coach you would pick to run your defense?" Most bloggers picked Pete Carrol or Bob Stoops but my response was Bielema.
Some Ags might remember him from when he was co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State from '00 until '03. He was hired on at Wisconsin before the '04 season. Here are the national rankings of his defenses in Scoring Defense (SD) and Total Defense (TD).
04TD 04SD 03TD 03SD 02TD 02SD 01TD 01SD 00TD 00SC ======================================================== KState 43 84 6 8 2 1 3 7 4 17 Wisc 9 6 43 50 63 38 58 81 79 34That blows my mind.
I'm curious who my selection would be now with essentially 2 more years of data. Bo Pelini at LSU and Gene Chizik both jump to mind. Let's take a quick look at them.
Pelini has been at LSU prior to the 2005 season following a season as co-defensive coordinator at OU (in 2004) and a year as defensive coordinator at Nebraska (in 2003; he was also the interim HC after they fired Frank Solich).
06TD 06SD 05TD 05SD 04TD 04SD 03TD 03SD 02TD 02SD 01TD 01SD 00TD 00SC ============================================================================ NE 73 30 26 25 56 71 11 2 55 45 8 6 26 26 OU 14 15 13 37 13 11 3 5 10 6 4 4 8 7 LSU 1 3 3 3 3 14 1 1 8 15 75 39 46 32 (through this past weekend)Chizik joined texas's program prior to the 2005 season following a 3 year stint with Auburn (2002-2004) as defensive coordinator. Before joining forces with Tommy Tuberville at Auburn he was DC at Central Florida from 1998-2001.
06TD 06SD 05TD 05SD 04TD 04SD 03TD 03SD 02TD 02SD 01TD 01SD 00TD 00SC ============================================================================ CFl 112 107 96 76 83 100 80 89 45 59 16 13 28 32 Aub 13 4 19 6 5 1 5 9 26 13 39 48 14 28 tu 21 19 10 8 23 18 25 32 16 8 1 3 7 11 (through this weekend)I think that both of these guys will be getting some BIG time head coaching gigs in the very near future.
Sunday November 5th, 2006
10:50pmAgs Drop a Frustrating 17-16 Game to OU
Third and two. Those words have been uttered hundreds of times by Ags since the game ended. They're usually preceded with, "Why on earth".
In the 4th quarter the score was 17-10 and we were sitting on OU's 2 yard line. Jorvorskie had literally been running over Sooners the entire quarter. Fran called a timeout from the sideline and the Gig'atron cameras focused on J-Train, who appeared to be fairly pissed and was yelling at someone on the sidelines. The team came back out on the field and we throw an incomplete pass and settle for a FG.
On the third down the crowd wasn't happy we tried to throw the ball and then when the FG unit came out onto the field, the entire stadium was stunned. We have one of the best goal line tailbacks in the nation and we weren't going for it.
The funniest thing was that this afternoon I asked Jennifer if she had watched any of the game and I was kinda surprised when she said she had actually watched the last 8 minutes or so. The first thing she mentioned was, "I don't understand why Fran kicked that field goal when we have Jorvorskie?” I had to smile.
Someone needs to get this information to Fran:
Jorvorskie Lane 3rd & 4th Down Carries ====================== Attempts 27 First Downs 19 Touch Downs 5 ---------------------- Totals 24/27 (89%)I can even explain the three time he didn't convert. The first was in the season opener v. The Citadel when he fumbled. The second was in the Army game on a 3rd & 7; he fell a yard shy picking up 'only' 6. The last time that J-Train was stopped on a 3rd or 4th down carry was the much talked about 4th down in the Army game. He has yet to be stopped in any of our six Big 12 games. He was 3-for-3 against OU last night prior to that decision.
Seems to me we had a fairly good chance of punching the ball into the end zone.
I'm going to backtrack a little bit and talk about the events leading up to the ballgame.
I found out on Thursday night that Jennifer's friend wasn't going to be able to come into town so I cancelled my plans of going up to College Station for Friday night. However, around 10pm Jennifer said she was tired and was going to go to bed. Since I was planning leaving for CS around 6am I figured "what the heck" and made it up Friday night just in time for Yell Practice.
After Yell, Sean and I made our Gameday signs and finally crashed around 2:30am. The alarm went off at 6:45 and we were out the door and on campus around 7:15.
The park was fairly full but with almost two hours until the show started I was kinda impressed. There were some really funny signs.
I thought the best was the cut-out of Lee Corso where his arm moved up and down doing the J-Train signal.
The second best was this huge cutout of Homer. By itself it was cool but the funniest thing about it was that the guy holding it was moving it around behind Corso during the broadcast and popping out every now and then.
I also liked the cutout of Sul Ross and another sign that said "Employee of the Month" underneath a photo of Rhett Bomar.
Here are some of the pictures I took while I was out there.
Rece Davis, filling in for Chris Fowler, wins over the crowd just before the show startsThe show was a lot of fun and a great experience. There was a lot of downtime during commercial breaks and whatnot but "Sound guy" kept us pretty entertained.
After the show ended Sean and I walked over the McDonalds for some breakfast and waited for our old man to arrive. He kind of surprised us and ended up getting a ticket at the last minute.
Once he arrived we headed to the Rec to play some racquetball. I am sad to admit that I lost after holding a 7-1 lead to my pops. That hurt. Actually it did hurt....I did something to my back and still, as I type, cannot stand up completely straight or bend over properly.
After racquetball we ate lunch at Wings'n More and then went back to Sean's place. Sean took a nap and we went and dropped my truck off for an oil change and grabbed some Gatorade for the game. When we got back we started to watch the LSU/Tennessee game but both of us fell asleep as well.
Luckily, I had set my cell phone alarm for 5:30pm just incase we dozed off. We headed off to the stadium shortly thereafter. I had a small run-in with the ticket guy who made Sean and I throw away our Gatorades. I've been bringing them since they allowed drinks into the stadium (back in '03ish) and not once had anyone even questioned me bringing them. Apparently Mr. Ticketman at Gate 3 is a hardass. I think my favorite part was the blue-hair lady behind us who had to chime in that the Ticketman was right. I restrained from commenting that her 5 gallon purse probably shouldn't have been brought into the "Express/No Bags" Line that we were in. My buddy, Zach, who met us at our seats, enjoyed his Gatorade throughout the game.
The game itself was a nail biter. The defense was atrocious in the 1st quarter as Allan Patrick ran for 101 yards (the team had 134 yards on the ground and 160 yards of total offense). All I could say was "Thank God Adrian Peterson is out".
After that first quarter the defense was flat out phenomenal allowing only 103 yards in the 3 remaining quarters. They gave up 14 points in that 1st Q and only a FG in the last three....that FG came following an INT return that put OU at the 6 yard line.
Chris Harrington had a nice game as did Michael Bennett, who created havoc in the backfield all night long. We forced a couple of fumbles but unfortunately the offense couldn't capitalize on either of them.
Neither team threw the ball worth squat as we combined for 102 yards through the air. Thompson looked terrible and Stephen McGee had one of his worst nights throwing the ball. Every time we dropped back he threw the ball away. I don't know if he was gun-shy after throwing that interception or if the OLine was not blocking or if the WRs couldn't get open or if the plays we called were just bad routes. Whatever it was, it can't happen again if we want to win.
Running the ball was exciting. Mike Goodson busted three or four big gains and finished with 127 yards on 10 carries. J-Train was solid picking up 62 yards on 13 carries including his 18th TD. I haven't seen any clips of the game but he literally bulldozed OU defenders on several plays. Courtney Lewis only had 2 carries for -1 yards....I don't know if he was hurt or if he was just ineffective.
After the FG we kicked on the "3rd & 2" possession we forced OU to punt again but had to settle for another FG when we had a 4th & 6 from OU's 22 yard line. There was only 3:28 left in the game at this point so there is some controversy regarding this decision as well. I think the big screw-up was on the "3rd & 2" because if we scored it would have been tied and then kicking this FG would have given us a 3 point lead.
When OU got the ball back they ran it twice with Patrick for 9 yards. On 3rd & 1 Devin Gregg & Melvin Bullitt stuffed Patrick in the backfield inches shy of the first down marker. Then both teams played the Timeout game with us calling one and OU calling two back-to-back.
During the timeouts the 12th Man continued to yell which is something I always love when we do it. Lee Corso was on OU's sideline and he spent the timeouts just staring into the student section. They showed the stadium on the Gig'atron and it looked incredible with all the 12th Man towels and the noise. That had to be kind of impressive from down on the field.
Coming out of the timeouts, Paul Thompson ran a QB sneak and got the first down but there was a penalty on the play. Illegal Participation on the defense, 12 men on the field. First down. The irony in that makes me a little nauseous. Two QB kneels later and OU celebrates a 17-16 victory.
Thompson got the 1st down on his own but the fact that the coaching staff didn't catch 12 men on the field after 3 timeouts magnified everyone's anger at the previous play calls. Last night's 4th quarter cost Fran a huge portion of the fan support that he had been slowly but surely gaining back after the disaster that was the 2005 season. I only hope he didn't lose some of the player's faith as well.
With this loss to OU Fran's record takes another blemish.
That is rough.
- He is now 1-10 against texas, Oklahoma, & texas tech.
- He is 14-16 in Big 12 play.
- He is 4-14 against ranked opponents with wins coming against #25 Clemson ('04), #15 Okie State ('04), #25 texas tech ('04), & #19 Mizzou ('06).
After the game we met my old man and walked back to Sean's place. From there we picked up my truck, grabbed a bite at Subway, and headed on back home. It was a great weekend, even after losing the way we did. With Sean and me being off at school we haven't been able to spend a lot of time together just the three of us. We have a good time together.