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Thursday November 5th, 2009
12:05amWe'll Be Thinking About You
Haha....yeah, right....who are we fooling.
Wednesday November 4th, 2009
12:05amAg Football Preview: Colorado
Our bags are packed and we've got our gloves and thermal underwear ready to go. Jennifer and I are making the trip up to Colorado for the game this weekend. I've been wanting to go see a game at Folsom Field for over 5 years now but I couldn't get anyone to go with me in 2005 - and after seeing the result, I'm kind of glad.I've never been to Colorado and I've joked with Jennifer that going to see the Ags play is the only way she can get me to go somewhere cold and a trip to Colorado is the only way I can get her to go to a game with me. Jennifer has been to games but doesn't like to stand in the student section (where my seats are) so when she does goes she sits with her Dad - so she hasn't been to a game with me since Notre Dame in 2001.
On an interesting side note, USC getting waxed by Oregon this past weekend was the first time that the Trojans lost by more than 7 points since they played....Notre Dame in 2001.
We fly up to Denver on Thursday morning and fly back Sunday. We don't really have any plans other than the game Saturday and a visit with my grad school buddy Zach, who I haven't seen since we met up for the New Mexico game last year. Jennifer's mother is coming down to stay at the house with Benjamin so we're going to be on our own - we might even catch a movie - we're so crazy.
The weather is supposed to be GORGEOUS! I've been following it as long as the Weather.com's 10 Day forecast has included it and I got a little concerned when they got that crazy cold last week but it has all cleared up. Highs in the mid-60s, lows in the low-40s and sunshine all day long. If that holds up, we're pretty fortunate. I can handle those temps.
Folsom Field was opened in 1924 and was named after Coach Frederick Folsom. The stadium's capacity is 53,613 and the largest crowd was their 2005 game against arch-rival Colorado State as 54,972 filed into the gates that day.
I've always heard rumors that Colorado fans are among the worst that we run into but I think the majority of that comes from the student section and our seats are clean on the other side. I still have a hard time imagining Coloradodians being mean people.
One of the things I'm most looking forward to is the Buffalo's entrance with Ralphie. I've always thought that Ralphie was one of the cooler, and most unique mascots in college football and I think it is awesome that they let him run down the field. I would have totally been one of his handlers if I went to CU. The Buff's website has a great page giving the history of Ralphie.
The Ags have had some rough times in the thin air of Boulder (we're 1-4). Most recently, in 2005, we got run out of town by a score of 41-20. Before that we played there in 2001 - one of the games that I felt like was the beginning of the end.
Our Ags were 5-0 on the season and with 2:14 remaining in the ballgame we trailed the Buffs 24-21. We got the ball back and Mark Farris completed 4 consecutive passes to march us down the field and we took at timeout with 1:24 remaining and the ball on the 50 yard line. On the next snap, Farris hit Terrence Murphy for a 15 yard gain bringing us just about into FG range at the 35. On the next snap, Farris is blindsided, fumbles, and the fumble is run back for a 52 yard TD....back breaker.
This year's Colorado squad is on the fence.....if they're going to turn their season around it needs to be done this weekend and if Dan Hawkins wants to keep his job he needs to win.
CU O TAMU D ========== ========== 76.3 (114) RUSH 154.3 (80) 209.9 (71) PASS 246.4 (98) 286.1 (113) TOT 400.6 (91) 21.8 (96) SCOR 30.0 (96)Colorado has a terrible offense. We have a terrible defense. It should be interesting.The Buff's have gone through a QB controversy that has seen the head coach's son, Cody Hawkins, losing his spot to Tyler Hansen.
Unfortunately for Hansen, his offensive line is like a sieve. He was sacked EIGHT times last weekend against Mizzou and the run game was held to -14 yards (yes that is negative) rushing.
The Buffs rank 115th in the nation in sacks allowed and 114th in rush offense. They have a really bad offensive line.
So I took a look at this offensive line and found that of the 12 different players listed in their "2-deep" only two of them are classified as juniors - no seniors. So. Ryan Miller, the starting RT, was their only big time recruit ranked #2 nationally at OT when he signed (he was actually a 5*).
To pour salt on the wound, it was announced yesterday that Darrell Scott, the #1 rated RB in the country in 2008, has left the Colorado program. The Cali native chose Colorado on signing day over texas....probably because his mom got a pretty nice job in a Boulder bank. Word on the street is that he will follow his uncle, junior WR Josh Smith, from CU to UCLA.
I think that was more of a publicity blow because Scott wasn't getting many touches. He was third on the team with 23 carries for 95 yards and had yet to see the promised land. Rodney Stewart is getting the lion's share of the RB duties (130 carries for 470 yards with 7 TDs).
Tyler Hansen, the QB, is 46-for-80 on the year with one TD pass and two INTs....and has been sacked 18 times in 4 games. Two words: Von Miller.
Scotty McKnight leads the team with 50 receptions for 535 yards and 3 TDs while TE Riar Geer has 30 for 345 and 3 TDs....no one else has more than 13 catches.
TAMU O CU D ========== ========== 191.1 (23) RUSH 154.0 (77) 299.4 (12) PASS 227.9 (72) 490.5 (3) TOT 381.9 (80) 35.8 (8) SCOR 29.5 (92)The Buffs run a base 4-3 defense but looking at their stats the four up front aren't making a lot of noise. Six of their top eight tacklers are DBs. Their leading tackler, LB Jeff Smart, has 21 more tackles than the second leading tackler - 2008 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention DB, Cha'pelle Brown (who also has 3 sacks). DB Jimmy Smith is third in tackles and has 9 PBU and DE Marquez Herrod has 5 sacks.Hopefully the OL shows up again and JJ has time to cut the Buff's defense apart.
A win by A&M would make us bowl eligible with 3 games remaining, a feat that many didn't think we'd get to. A win would also give us consecutive road victories, something we haven't accomplished since 2006.
B.T.H.O. CU! WHOOP!
Monday November 2nd, 2009
9:34pmJerrod Johnson's Assault on the Record Books
Through eight games this year Jerrod Johnson has shown that he is on his way to being the QB that we thought he could be. In my season preview I said that last season Jerrod had one of the best passing seasons in school history. I concluded that Reggie's 2004 season was THE best and Jerrod's was behind that but also noted that Jerrod was more polished as a sophomore than Reggie was and that it was Reggie's junior season (of 2004) where he made the big leap.
Jerrod has made that big leap as well. His name is moving up to the top of every passing record - both single season and career.
Our offense is sitting as the #3 total offense in the country, the #8 scoring offense, and we are 4th nationally on 3rd down conversions (at 52.5%).
Before I get into this I want to silence naysayers before they start. We do pass the ball a lot and historically, A&M hasn't thrown the ball like we do now. My response to that is that Jerrod is SEVENTH in career passing attempts - behind every single QB who still sits ahead of him.
Single Season Passing Attempts Career Passing Attempts ------------------------------ ----------------------- S.McGee '07 364 C.Pullig '92-'95 992 K.Murray '86 349 K.Murray '83-'86 926 E.Hargett '68 348 R.McNeal '02-'05 875 M.Farris '01 347 E.Hargett '66-'68 821 M.Farris '00 347 S.McGee '05-'08 815 R.McNeal '04 344 M.Farris '99-'02 755 D.Long '02 333 J.Johnson '07- 645 J.Johnson '08 326 G.Kubiak '82 324 S.McGee '06 313 J.Johnson '09 312You can also see that with four regular season games remaining in 2009, and an average of 39 attempts per game, Jerrod will finish with significantly more attempts in a single season -- BUT -- he will is on pace to break records well before we complete the regular season.
Now I say this but I must warn that we are still yet to face two of the tougher defenses on our schedule in texas (#26 pass defense) and Oklahoma (#37) - but we do still have Baylor (#46) and Colorado (#72).
- In 2009 (through 8 games) he has 20 TDs passing this season, one shy of his own school record of 21 that he set last year
- Career record is 48 TD passes (Kevin Murray) - JJ is 5 shy of that
- Through only 8 games he is already only 421 yards shy of the single season school record for passing yards (he has 2,365 yards passing - the record is 2,791 by Reggie in '04)
- By the end of the season he should be about 1,000 yards shy of the school's career record (Reggie threw for 6,992 yards). He might be 6th on the career attempt list by then.
- He has thrown only 3 INTs in 2009
- Currently has career completion percentage of 59.8% (386-645). That sits as the highest in school history.
- Four 300 yard passing performances in 2009 (school record was three by Dustin Long in '02)
- Six career 300 yard passing performances (school record was three by Dustin Long)
- Big 12 record for single season consecutive pass attempts without an INT (225)
- Big 12 record for consecutive pass attempts without an INT (242 - from '08 BU to '09 KSU)
I thought it was very interesting to see all of that laid out - I was a little surprised, not that JJ is moving up those lists, but how quickly. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the end
Sunday November 1st, 2009
12:05pmA Few Random Football Notes
I, myself, have never seen the letters on the side of Kyle Field lit up but I have seen the pictures from years past. There has been a grass-roots mission started up to collect enough money to get those letters lit back up. For more information or to make a donation or to buy a t-shirt, because who doesn't love a t-shirt, check out AgsForKyle.com
The next thing I wanted to touch on was the current issue of Texas Monthly. I haven't picked up a copy yet but I wanted to point it out. I'm not sure if there is any sort of slant on it but I figure it's worth a read either way.
Finally, we've got something brewing that we haven't seen in years....there is an Aggie defensive player up for a major collegiate award!
Von Miller is a semi-finalist for the Butkus Award. You can vote for Von by clicking here and clicking on his name. Let's make this happen.
Von currently leads the nation in sacks with 13.5 and is second in the nation with 15 tackles for a loss.