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Saturday January 20th, 2007
12:01amAggie Basketball Preview: #12 Oklahoma State
It has been crazy in Aggieland since school started back up on Wednesday, a day and a half late due to horrendous weather. The pull for student tickets for tonight's game were supposed to be Tuesday morning but it got bumped back twice and they finally pulled on Thursday morning. From what I've heard the windows opened at 7am and the 4,200 student tickets were gone by 8am.Some of you might not think that is all that impressive but this is TEXAS A&M. In the 2003-2004 season I went to most of our games, including our matchup against #12 Kansas, which was one of the most anticipated opponents of the season.
Obviously that's me in the circle with the arrow pointing to it. To get that seat I walked up to the ticket window an hour before tipoff. People camped out in sub-40 degree weather to get tickets for tonights game. As I type this (Friday night) there are tents set up at Reed Arena for the few S.R.O. tickets that are only available just before tip-off. My have things changed.
For those of you who haven't been following our squad very closely I highly recommend heading over to The 12th Manchild to read Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 of his "Basketball Bandwagoning" series. Clever and quite informative.
Honestly, I haven't watched any Okie State basketball except for their classic 3-OT performance this past Tuesday against texas. Easily the best basketball games I've watched this season.
Should be a great game. I'll see ya at Reed.
B.T.H.O. OSU! WHOOP!
Thursday January 18th, 2007
12:01amAg Football Season Recap
It was a good season. Going into the bowl game there was that potential for this to be one of those magical seasons that are talked about for years but it just wasn't meant to be.Going into the season, and coming off of a 5-6 2005 campaign, I said that I needed to see 8 wins. We got 8 wins + a win at texas. I'm not happy about the way the bowl game went but this season still exceeded the expectations I had going into this fall.
I want to take this time to look at some things that I wanted to highlight.
J-Train on 3rd & 4th Down
We'll start with J-Train on 3rd & 4th downs. I posted this originally after the OU game but I thought that I'd complete it now that the season is over. He was stopped twice on the season, both in the Army game, and both were fairly explainable.
Jorvorskie Lane 3rd & 4th Down Carries ====================== Attempts 29 First Downs 22 Touch Downs 6 ---------------------- Totals 27/29 (93%)Here are the game-by-game breakdowns....
He was not stopped once in our final TEN games including a perfect 15-for-15 conversion rate in Big 12 play.
- The Citadel: 2-for-2 with two first down (one was fumbled)
- 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
- Nebraska: 0-for-0
- texas: 2-for-2 with two first downs
- Cal: 0-for-0
On 18 of his 20 1st down conversions J-Train ran for more yardage than needed to convert.
For comparison I went back through each of our season 3rd or 4th situations with 4 yards or less to convert either a 1st down or a TD.
Rushing Passing ======================= ==================== McGee 57% (8-of-14) McGee 57% (13-of-23) Goodson 50% (4-of-8) Alexander 75% (3-of-4) ----------------------- J-Train 96% (26-of-27)For whatever reason, Fran essentially stopped using J-Train on 3rd down starting on that oh-so questionable 3rd & Goal in the OU game. If we won that game we would have won the Big 12 South. That kills me.
I have no clue why we essentially abandoned using him. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Howard Morrow
I was particularly disappointed that Howard Morrow didn't ever get the ball. I really thought that he would be utilized better this season. Well, he flat out didn't get the ball....again.It isn't like he is blowing opportunities. He had one drop this season on 11 passes to him (3 were uncatchable and he caught the other 8). The kid has shown that he is a playmaker and I just cannot understand why he is being neglected in this offense.
One thing that I have noticed is that Fran is very reluctant to let his underclassmen at WR get into the game. He really likes getting the ball to his seniors (2003: Tim VanZandt, 2004: T-Murph, 2005: Jason Carter, 2006: Chad Schroeder). Earvin Taylor is the only WR who had more than 12 receptions as an underclassman (in 2004 when he was a sophomore).
I can't help but feel like we've wasted half of his career. He has been the biggest WR recruit we've landed out of HS since Robert Ferguson and he has done nothing do disprove his status. He makes catches and fights for 1st downs. He is also one of our better blocking WRs.
If he doesn't become a significant factor in our offense next year I will be furious.
Offensive Touches
Let’s take a look at how the offensive touches were split up....who got them and how that changed as the season went on.I took out all of the players who had touches in only 3 games or fewer and included them in the "Others" category. As you can see they were non-factors in our Big 12 games.
The first number listed is the number of rushing attempts and the second number is the number of receptions.
CIT ULL ARMY LaT tt KU MU OSU BU OU NEB tu Cal ======================================================================================== C.Alexander - 0/1 - 1/2 4/1 0/1 0/1 0/1 4/1 0/1 2/2 - 3/0 M.Bennett 0/3 0/5 0/1 0/3 0/1 0/6 0/2 0/2 0/5 0/1 0/6 0/1 0/1 P.Brown 0/2 0/2 - 0/2 0/1 - 0/2 0/1 1/0 1/0 0/2 - 1/0 K.Franks - 0/1 0/1 0/2 - 0/1 3/0 - - - 0/2 1/0 - M.Goodson 5/0 8/1 9/1 6/2 6/1 8/0 15/3 13/1 8/0 10/3 11/2 15/1 13/2 J.Lane 7/0 12/1 24/0 9/0 12/0 10/1 28/0 10/1 12/1 13/0 6/0 16/1 7/2 C.Lewis 13/2 0/2 - - 13/0 12/0 - 8/0 5/0 2/0 - - 1/0 S.McGee 8/0 7/0 11/0 8/0 11/0 - 8/1 17/0 17/0 13/0 8/0 18/0 8/0 H.Morrow - - 0/1 1/1 0/1 - - - 0/2 - - - 0/2 L.Riley 0/1 0/3 - 0/4 0/2 0/3 0/3 - - - 0/2 0/1 0/4 C.Schroeder 0/6 0/3 0/3 0/2 0/2 0/5 0/3 0/6 0/1 1/3 0/2 1/1 1/2 E.Taylor - - - 0/1 - 0/7 0/1 0/3 0/1 - 0/1 0/2 0/3 J.Thomas 0/2 0/3 - - - 0/1 - 0/2 0/1 - - - 0/1 Others 3/0 8/1 - 9/2 1/0 - - - - - - - 4/1Prior to the bowl game Chris Alexander had as many receptions as he did rushing attempts....our fullback. How he wasn't 1st team All-Big 12 continues to baffle me.
With Schroeder and Riley both graduating you have to expect Morrow and Brown to take those touches next year. Lewis's carries will probably be absorbed by Goodson and J-Train.
C-Lew in the Record Books
Before the season C-Lew had a very good chance to move up quite high in our rushing record books but really didn't get many touches....not nearly enough to move up the lists. When I went though the chart in the previous section I was surprised to see that Lewis carried the ball as many times as he did this year but then I realized that most of his playing time came away from Kyle Field.Career Rushing Yards Career Rushes Career TDs ==================== ================== =================== 1. D.Lewis.... 5012 1. D.Lewis.... 909 1. D.Lewis...... 44 2. C.Dickey... 3703 2. C.Dickey... 697 2. R.Thomas..... 41 3. G.Hill..... 3262 3. G.Hill..... 631 3. G.Woodard.... 35 4. R.Thomas... 3014 4. G.Woodard.. 625 4. C.Dickey..... 34 5. G.Woodard.. 2911 5. R.Thomas... 604 5. G.Hill....... 33 6. B.Bean..... 2846 6. R.Vick..... 598 t6. B.Richardson. 30 7. D.Hall..... 2818 7. J.Hector... 550 t6. J.Hunt....... 30 8. C.LEWIS.... 2711 8. D.Hall..... 522 t6. C.LEWIS...... 30 9. C.LEWIS.... 517This season allowed him to pass one player on each list.
Stephen McGee
I'm not sure how much I learned about McGee this season. In my season preview I went though and dissected each of his passing plays of 2005 and came away with skepticism.McGee is tough as nails and everyone loves to watch him go head to head against the LBers and safeties that come head hunting for him. He is smart and hasn't made many mistakes and of course he is a big threat with his legs. However, now that the season is over I still can't say that I have been impressed with our passing game. I LOVE his leadership and his toughness but the passing game is still not at the top of the pack.
Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Avg/G ============================== 194-313-2 62.0 2295 12 176.5The numbers look good but over the last 1/4 of the season there was essentially no threat of a deep pass. Yes he did set the school record for completion percentage but that stat is not very telling as we never made McGee throw difficult passes. We threw lots of safe out routes and short slants. We really focused on ball control in an effort to minimize the amount of time the defense was on the field. We also focused on minimizing turnovers, which we did an excellent job of (as we did in '04). McGee also led the nation with the lowest INT/CMP Ratio.
I really think he did what he was asked to do. However, for the future, I am concerned with the lack of the deep pass threat. Teams can load up the box on us and not have to worry about us throwing the ball down field.
I went through the box scores and videos and wanted to see our deep passes since conference play started (our final 9 games). In those 9 games we completed only 13 passes for >20 yards. We completed 7 passes for >30 yards and only 6 passes for >35 yards.
Here are all of McGee's completions of >20 yards (30+ yards):
On only three (or 4 depends on Tellus OkSt) of the seven 30+ yard receptions was the ball actually thrown "deep". The rest were a result of YAC.
- texas tech:
- 44 yards to Schroeder (last play of game in desperation)
- Kansas:
- 35 yards to Riley (screen pass; 38 yac)
- 25 yards to Tellus (16 yac)
- Mizzou:
- 67 yards to Franks (45 yards in air)
- Oklahoma State:
- 40 yards to Tellus (lots of yac; couldn't see the marker where he caught it)
- Baylor:
- 75 yards to Tellus (70 yac)
- 28 yards to Morrow (26 yards in air)
- 24 yards to Schroeder (9 yac)
- Oklahoma:
- 22 yards to Schroeder (can't get the vid up)
- Nebraska:
- 25 yards to Tellus (13 yac)
- 33 yards to Riley (26 yac)
- 47 yards to Franks (45 yards in air)
- texas:
- none
- Cal:
- 25 yards to J.Thomas
Yeah, only 3 deep balls were completed in our last 9 games.
Like I mentioned earlier we wanted to keep the offense on the field and run out the clock and not turn over the ball but after looking at that you have to wonder if there is some sort of injury.
Finally, here is a look at how we threw the ball against our opponents showing their national pass defense ranking. Rnk is their national rank, Yds is how many yards McGee threw for, the number in the ( ) is the total passing yardage we had in the game if someone other than McGee completed a pass.
McGee vs. Opponents Pass Defense Rnk Yds ================ CIT.. * 200 ULL.. 62 200 (271) ARMY.. 7 102 LaT.. 116 318 (336) tt.. 32 103 *Citadel is a DI-AA opponent KU.. 119 240 MU.. 37 183 (223) () = team total passing yds OSU.. 84 192 BU.. 83 215 OU.. 32 63 NEB.. 87 244 (288) tu.. 99 58 CAL.. 104 177 186Against our 4 opponents in the top 40 in pass defense McGee averaged 113 yards passing.
Like I said....I love his leadership, his heart, and his toughness but I think that a little competition for the starting job this spring would be interesting to watch. It couldn't hurt anything. This is unlikely because Jerrod Johnson will be on the hardwood court in the spring.
I don't care who starts. This past year we won more games with McGee than any other season since I've been here. I just want the guy out there who gives us the best opportunity to win the most games.
Personnel Changes
Before the bowl game I mentioned that Jamie McCoy moved from QB to WR and that Kenny Brown moved from WR to S. I also noticed that according to the depth chart 4* LBer from our 2005 recruiting class, Jordie Richardson, has been moved to FB. He red shirted in 2005 so the upcoming season will be his sophomore year.
DE Jason JackYesterday it came out that Jr. defensive end, Jason Jack, has declared himself eligible for the NFL draft. This caught me by surprise but I certainly wish him the best of luck.
He finished his career in Aggieland with 28 starts in three seasons making 98 tackles, two sacks, and forcing 2 fumbles. He was phenomenal in 2004 as a red-shirt freshman when he was named Freshman All-American by both Sporting News and Rivals.com. I wish Jack the best in his future.
Statistical Progress Over Time
A poster on TexAgs.com named StrongbadAg went back and looked at each season under Fran and showed our national and conference rankings in just about every offensive, defensive and special teams categories (he later went back and added 2002 to the comparison). I thought this was really interesting and it showed marked improvements but I was curious how we measured up against our conference foes. So I went back and dug up all the Big 12 stats for conference games. I think it paints a slightly more accurate picture because it eliminates everyone's cupcake non-conference games so you're comparing apples to apples....but then again in '03 & '04 our non-conference schedule was brutal. Anyways, here are the numbers and conference rankings.2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Actual Rnk Actual Rnk Actual Rnk Actual Rnk Actual Rnk ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== Rushing Offense 114.1 9 180.5 6 160.4 5 223.1 2 212.8 1 Pass Offense 302.1 2 224.1 5 265.0 2 181.1 11 172.8 10 Pass Eff. 145.5 1 122.5 7 153.3 3 105.5 10 121.8 7 Total Offense 416.2 4 404.6 5 425.4 4 404.2 3 382.9 5 Scoring Offense 33.2 5 25.6 9 31.9 4 27.2 6 24.1 9 Sacks Allowed 19 7 27 11 19 10 14 4 12 t3 3rd Down % 37.4 8 33.9 10 45.1 3 33.9 8 52.1 1 Redzone % 88.2 4 76.5 t8 96.3 2 90.3 2 89.7 3 Rushing Defense 162.0 5 239.2 11 150.2 6 149.2 8 118.5 3 Pass Defense 228.6 7 228.4 7 244.0 10 306.4 12 216.5 5 Pass Eff. D 127.3 7 171.5 12 125.2 8 143.3 11 132.2 9 Total Defense 390.6 7 467.6 10 394.2 8 455.6 11 335.0 2 Scoring Defense 30.6 8 44.5 11 25.9 7 34.9 11 21.8 4 Sacks 23 t3 15 8 15 8 20 5 11 11 3rd Down % 40.6 6 45.3 10 47.1 10 47.9 12 27.1 1 Redzone % 78.8 5 91.2 t11 80.6 6 79.1 6 80.0 5 T.O.P. 29:18 9 28:42 9 26:38 12 30:49 4 34.51 1 Net Punting 33.6 8 34.1 8 33.2 11 32.7 10 36.8 6 Punt Returns 12.6 6 4.6 11 4.4 12 8.8 9 7.3 8 Kickoff Returns 20.4 7 20.7 8 16.9 10 17.5 12 27.3 1 KO Ret Coverage 50.9 3 42.0 11 21.6 10 38.2 10 41.5 6 Turnover Margin -0.50 9 -0.88 11 0.88 3 0.38 7 1.0 1 Penalties 46.0 6 54.4 5 67.9 11 53.9 2 48.4 10
One Final Look at the Defense
Just wanted to finalize the improvements (with the Cal game included) that Gary Darnell, Bill Clay, & Van Malone made in our defense.RushD PassD TotalD ScoreD ======================================================== 2003 225.1 (112)* 206.42 (40) 431.50 (96)* 38.8 (115)+ 2004 142.5 (55) 244.25 (93)* 386.75 (63)* 23.3 (47) 2005 139.2 (38) 304.64 (117)+ 443.82 (108)+ 31.2 (96)* -------------------------------------------------------------- 2006 132.1 (44) 190.54 (44) 322.62 (46) 20.5 (44) *Indicates that at the time it was one of the three worst seasons in modern Aggie history (post-1950) +Indicates worst season in modern Aggie history INT FF Sacks 3DC 2003 6 16 19 44% 2004 13 16 28 44% 2005 12 14 26 48% ---------------------- 2006 11 11 20 29%I said at the time of the hire that the hiring of Darnell would make or break Fran. He's glad he made the move. I think things have improved drastically.
Sunday January 14th, 2006
2:36pmAgs Win Big in Boulder, 87-69
I had my whole evening planned out. Jennifer and I were going to grab something to eat at 5pm, swing by Lowes to get some faucet freeze protectors before this big northerner blows in, and be back home just in time for tip off at 6pm.
Well, there was some miscommunication between the Mrs. and myself so we ended up going to Wal-Mart for the insulation because she needed to get some groceries too. I know that last January I vowed never to shop there again and for the most part I have done a fairly good job holding to it.
I think I've been four times in the last year and three of those trips have resulted in similar vows. Once I went looking for a mount to hang a flag from the side of the house and of course they don't have them unless you buy the entire USA flag, pole, and mount together for $20. I got one at Lowes for $3.
The other time I went because I needed a new spool for my weed eater and Jennifer needed me to pick up some groceries. I think to myself, "I hate going to Wal-Mart but I suppose I'll cut down my time by knocking them both out at one place." Nope. They didn't have the weed eater spool and then I had to stand in line for 15 minutes (in the 20 items or less line) to pay for the groceries. Then I had to go to Lowes for the spool.
Last night was a similar story. When I asked the guy in the hardware department where I could find the faucet covers he literally said, "You're S.O.L. They didn't ship us any." Of course. Then we went to Home Depot, which is right next door, and they were out of stock so then we went to Lowes and there are 3 huge boxes full of them.
Of course I couldn't catch any of the game on the radio because the NFL playoffs have seniority so I got back to the house with 14:30 left in the second half not having a clue what went on.
Apparently I got there at the right time. Colorado was shooting two free throws and brought the score to a one point margin. It was neck and neck until right around the 9 minute mark. Acie Law, who had 7 points thus far, went crazy going 5-of-5 from the floor (including a dagger 3 pointer) and 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. He finished with 21 points.
On Friday we got some love from ESPN.com with a feature article on our Ags. It basically said that with our defense we just need to have a more consistent 3rd scorer and we'll have a shot to really go deep in the tournament. Josh Carter must have read it because he went off shooting 5-of-7 behind the arch and finishing with 19 points. AK has another nice night missing a double-double by one rebound (15 points). Of course, Joe Jones had one of his better performances of the year scoring 18 points and pulling down a career high 15 boards.
The broadcast on FSN was horrible. The two announcers couldn't help but trip over their words during their terribly boring and often unrelated stories. Then the camera crew decided to let us watch each of CU's possessions from the camera on the top of the backboard for a handful of possessions, so you can only see about 2/3 of the court, and then for about 5 minutes the game somehow got turned into some local Houston sports talk show before flipping back to the game.
The only thing worse than the broadcast was Colorado's shooting percentage (37.7%). They were horrible missing shots very badly, air-balling several others and missing lots of FTs down the stretch. We played one of our poorer defensive games allowing for the first time all season more than 65 points. We were the last team in the nation who hadn't given up 65. Their low shooting percentage was more because they couldn't make the shots they took than us stifling them.
We ended up winning in powerful fashion but I know that BCG is not happy about the way we played up in the thin Boulder air.
We're off on Wednesday so our next game will be a monster match-up next Saturday with a fellow top-10 squad, Oklahoma State. The game is already sold out but students still have a chance for seats as their ticket pull is on Tuesday morning. Good luck to those who brave the arctic weather to campout. For those not going, the game will be on ESPN at 7pm.