Texas or Independence?

As the bowl season gets closer most predict the Aggies will be going to either the Texas Bowl against Navy or the Independence Bowl against Auburn or Georgia. I, for one, would like to see the Aggies matched up against Navy here in the great state of Texas. Although the Texas Bowl is scheduled to be played on New Year's Day amongst the other bowl games and would not get the national appeal of the Independence Bowl against an SEC opponent, I feel the Texas Bowl would be best for the Aggie program.

First, there would be a ton of ATM fans in and around the stadium. The Aggie Fan Base travels well no matter where the game is located. With that being said, I can only Imagine the amount of Aggie support you would see for the bowl game if it was hosted in Houston. Plus, there is a good amount of Aggie players who are from Houston, and they would probably like nothing better than to come back and play at Reliant Stadium.

Also, I believe it is really important for the Aggies to get a win. As briefly mentioned earlier a national television win against an SEC opponent would do wonders for recruiting; however, with the Aggies, you really never know what you are going to get. Call me crazy, but I am real skeptical about our ability to win against an SEC opponent no matter what their record or ranking. If there is one thing the SEC knows how to do it's to play defense. You know, that thing ATM fans have not seen in a couple of years (especially this year). Navy gives us the chance to gain some confidence going into next year. I think it would be the perfect cap stone after the near upset in Aggieland on Thanksgiving.

Aggie Thanksgiving

It's time again for one of the greatest traditions in college football...The TAMU/Texas game gets a prime time spot on Thursday night which is perfect for capping off that food induced coma. You don't have to look back too far to see that this rivalry has little to do with win/loss records (lucky for TAMU) and more to do with emotion and desire. The Aggies are playing for their third win over Texas in the last four years and also to guarantee an overall winning season by defeating their arch rival. Although lately the Aggies have not fared well when they have been put on National TV, this is their chance to rebound after the last tv disaster (I'm not going to mention the specific game but everyone knows which one i'm talking about). Other than the regular benefits to paying well during this game, such as recruiting and exposure, the Aggies get the added bonus of trying to knock off a Texas team destined for the National Championship.

The University of Texas leads the Big 12 in scoring offense with 42.5 points per game, and is second in scoring defense, while A&M is third and last (BIG SURPRISE - our defense sucks), respectively.

I hope everyone enjoys their thanksgiving and remembers to say their Aggie prayers for the game before going to bed.

Coaches worse than Sherman

Things have heated up again in the last two weeks as the Aggies have had less than impressive showings on the football field. Both of the embarrassing losses suffered to Colorado and Oklahoma have brought back plenty of people not only questioning the choice of Sherman as the Head Football Coach but calling for his job.

Being the Aggie I am, I have decided to look at the bright side of things and list 4 coaches that make Mike Sherman look like Urban Meyer. That's right, originally I was going for 5 coaches, but I could only come up with 4.

4. Eric Mangini - Coach of the Cleveland Browns
Most recent bone head move - On the very last play of what could be called the most boring Monday Night Football Game in history Coach Mangini decided to run a trick play. That move alone probably not a big deal; however, it ranks as bone headed when you are down by 16 points. Last time I checked there was not a 16 point touchdown. You don't need to be an expert on the NFL to know you're asking for trouble when you run a desperation play down by 16 points. The result from the play - about 20 yards and a receiver in the hospital.

3. Tyrone Willingham - Former coach of Notre Dame and Washington
Spoiler Alert!!! He's not the only coach from Notre Dame that made the list...
Why he made the list - After 7 successful years and a Rose Bowl appearance with the Stanford Cardinal, Willingham was given the chance of a lifetime to cement his legacy with one of the most historic teams of all time. His first year started off with some promise when the Irish began 8-0. Three years later he was fired from the Irish Head Coaching Position and picked up by Washington. In his final season the huskies, Willingham led his team to a winless 0-12 season.
What he will be remembered for - Being the catalyst to the nightmare that is the current Notre Dame Football program.

2. Dennis Franchione - Former TAMU and TCU coach
Say what you want about Sherman being a bad coach, but I will take him any day of the week over Franchione. I've personally had to watch too many games led, or better yet, destroyed by Fran. It didn't take much for opposing chaches to scheme against this guy's offense because they only had to defend against 3 plays (option to the short side of the field, rollout right and throw out of bounds, or fat kid up the middle). Where is he now - Jobless

1.5 Mark Mangino - Coach (for the moment) at Kansas
Why he made the list - Apparently he eats his players

A quick search on google estimates his weight at around 475 LBS

1. Charlie Weis - Coach of the Notre Dame Mediocre Irish

Current Ranking on coacheshotseat.com - #1

Days until he loses his job - Approximately 1 week

Most recent Award - Named Turkey of the year by Sports Illustrated

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0711/2007.turkey/content.5.html

Upsets happen in college football, but somehow Weis has managed to make losing at Notre Dame a commonality. Weis, who did experience two years of success, has struggled to a 16 - 20 record the last three years with the Irish.

Most impressive feature - His FUPA

Bitch Slapped in Norman

I believe I'm at a loss for words when trying to explain what happened last Saturday in Norman. The only saving grace was that I didn't have to be there in person. I not surprised at the fact that we lost as much as the way we Laid down and died midway thought the game. What is with our constant need to look so terrible when we are on national TV? How do you go from being in the game at the end of the 1st quarter 14-10 to being down 42-10 a quarter later? It is unexplainable. The Sooners play well at home, everyone knows that, and we are a young team; however, at some point the excuses have to stop. Our defense (or lack of a defense) was atrocious. The Sooners were able to rack up 640 yards of offense against what looked to be our JV defense. The Aggie defense (again, i use the term lightly) has the innate ability to make any player on the offense look like a Heisman Contender. We let a freshman QB pass for nearly 400 yards and 5 touchdowns - it's inexcusable. This OU team, although good, is not like OU teams of the past. This game reeked of the same stink that was shown against K-state and Arkansas. It showed an immature team that let some of the early mishaps effect our play the rest of the game. What happened to handling a little adversity? We have not shown improvement over the past couple of weeks. If anything, I'd say we have even digressed.

Looking back on the season there have been some bright points, but I'd venture to say there have been twice as many moments that leave you scratching your head. There better be a different team show up this week against Baylor otherwise we could be in for some major problems. Both teams are coming off embarrassing losses so it will be interesting to see how both teams respond.

A side note - i didn't see Bob Stoops taking a knee when they were beating us by 40 like we did when we were only up by around 30 against ISU.

Ouch...Colorado, Really???

Well, it looks like the roller coaster continues... Some weeks they play great and others they are pretty awful. I do take some fault for the earlier bold prediction

Once again someone must have given the Texas Aggie Defense the wrong directions on Saturday because they definitely did not show up at the game. 35 points to arguably the worst offense in the Big 12, Really? The performance was flat out embarrassing to say the least. I can see if we were playing a power house offense and the game was expected to be a shootout, but that was clearly not the case. No, we were outscored by the 98th ranked offense. Forgetting about the points we left on the field, 34 points should have been enough to win the game against Colorado's sub-par offense. Nevertheless, this does not excuse the Aggie Offense. On 4th and goal early in the game man up and put the damn ball in the end zone. It's missed opportunities like these that end up killing you in the end.

Positives from the game:

Jerrod ties the single season TD record

Von Miller gets 2 sacks

-Who are we kidding, it's a real stretch to find positives when you lose to Colorado.

After suffering this loss the Aggies face a must win coming up against Baylor in 2 weeks to gain bowl eligibility. Yes, OU did also lose last week but come on, what are the chances. I'm not completely counting the Aggies out, but the odds are not looking good (OU opened up as a 16 point favorite). OU has a recent history of success against the Aggies (especially in Norman). Plus, I'm pretty sure they will be pissed off looking to rebound after their own poor performance last Saturday.

Predictions for Saturday

The game this Saturday will showcase two storied programs on opposite tracks. For Texas A&M things seem to be looking up. As I've said all along, we are not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination, but we have made noticeable improvements. We have young talent at key positions on the offense, but naturally struggle with consistency. For the second game in a row the OL was opening huge holes for our running backs who, if given the chance, can do some serious damage. Jerrod is only 2 touchdown passes away from breaking his single season passing TD record. Our defense misses A LOT of tackles and can sometimes look like last year's unit where the first guy never makes the tackle. Nevertheless, they do have their moments where they look tolerable. On the other hand, Colorado looks to be just trying to play out the rest of the season. They have some serious problems and frequently stink up the stadium. Their coach is on the hottest of hot seats and will probably lose his job after the season. Colorado fans are even threatening to boycott and protest the garbage they call their football team.

The Aggies have always struggled at Boulder, but this season seems to be the season to break losing streaks. I haven't felt this way in a long time, but the biggest worry the Aggies should have should be to not beat themselves or play down to the level of their competition.

Saturday's Predicted Outcome: Aggies 38 - Buffalos 24

******UNRELATED NOTE: Be sure to check out this video of New Mexico's Womens Soccer. This chick does not take losing lightly. She's a beast.

Quick Thoughts: Why I'm Glad I'm not a Raider

I had a couple of free minutes yesterday so I decided to read through some of the old posts/comments left on this blog. One that immediately caught my attention was posted by cosaggie titled "Why do I love being an Aggie." I could immediately relate since some of the reasons mentioned in this post were some feelings I still currently have as an Aggie. To supplement this list I've decided to add my personal top 4 reasons why I'm glad I'm not a Raider. We may not have the best team on Saturday; however, we're definitely better overall.

4. Lubbock Stinks. I believe the expression, "the wind blows almost as hard as the city" sums everything up pretty nicely. Also, the whole town smells.
3. If you don't like going to bars everynight there is nothing to do. Plus, they have the bell ringer guy (Please feel free to click on the picture to witness the greatness that is the bell ringer).
2. The women at tech are beautiful, there's no denying that. However, they are not exactly the type of women you would want to introduce to your parents. Plus, they should all come with a coupon and a map to the closest clinic.
1. Community Colleges are great for some people, but I figured it was in my best interest to go to a four year school as prestigious as TAMU. The education and connections available at TAMU are unparallel to any other school.

Cooks Kitchen - Jalapeno Poppers

In light of the potential Ass Beating Round 2 in Lubbock this weekend I'd like to offer up a delicious gameday appetizer. Because it's not inconceivable for Tech to drop 100 Saturday, you'll need something to keep your mind busy, if only for a little while. Below should be what you need to Gameday off right with some Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers.

You'll need:
24 whole jalapenos
1 1/2 cups shredded Jack Cheese
8oz Cream Cheese
24 Bacon Strips
toothpicks
Some sort of Meat

Step 1 - Start the grill
Step 2 - Prepare the jalapenos by cutting off the stems and the tops of the peppers
Step 3 - Remove the seeds from the peppers and cut the peppers in half
Step 4 - Cut the meat into slices the lenght of the peppers
Step 5 - Combine the 8 oz of cream cheese, the 1 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, and the salt and pepper to taste in a large mixing bowl
Step 6 - Fill the halves with the mixture
Step 7 - Combine the jalapenos with the sliced meat, securing them together with the bacon and a toothpick
Step 8 - Place on the grill

Aggies Lose Another Close One - Sherman on Hot Seat

The Aggies found themselves playing for pride (AGAIN) on Saturday when they faced off against the Kansas State Wildcats. However, even pride was in short supply as the Aggies found themselves on the wrong side of a 62 - 14 Ass Kicking. Luckily I was not able to watch this disastrous game, but it did get me thinking about the direction the Aggies are heading. Sure, the 3-0 start seemed promising on paper, but the undefeated record left out the fact those wins came against three of the worst ranked teams in College Football. The second loss, like the first loss, came against a formidable opponent in OSU, but to lose this bad against a K-State team is at the very best embarrassing.

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All of this brings me to my question: How Long Should We Stick With Mike Sherman?

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I understand when a new coach comes to town the need to give them some time to do recruiting and rebuilding; however, I personally feel Sherman has had adequate time to try and erase the piss poor performances of Coach Fran. There needs to come a time where the blame starts to fall on the new coach, and I believe the time is now. I'd be more than happy to stick with Sherm if we were in the MAC or WAC (or Big 10) conferences, but we're in one of the most competitive conferences in the the NCAA (second only to the SEC) . Hell, I'm pretty sure I could be brought into the coaching position if piss poor results would suffice. Clearly the students and the Aggie Nation should have higher expectations from a school so rich with football history. At this point I think it's pretty hard to build a case for Sherm.

Rivalry Games in College Football

In the spririt of this weekend's rivalry game, the Red River Shootout taking place in the beautiful city of Dallas, I started to think about some of the best rivalrys in college football. Most likely your opinion on this matter largely depends on where you grew up. Do you think someone who went to Navy would reference any other game except the Army-Navy Game? If you are from the left coast you might say the best rivalry game is when a team like USC matches up against a solid Notre Dame squad. Likewise, if you are from the mid-west you may site the Michigan-Ohio State game as the best rivalry in college football even though lately the Big 10 has been the red headed step child of the major conferences. It works that way anywhere you go. Ask any football enthusiast in the state of Alabama his or her thought on the question. If they don't respond Auburn-Alabama, I'd be shocked.

For me personally it's hard to argue against the Red River Shootout between Texas and OU. The two teams are always highly ranked and there are usually National Championship Implications on the line. As an alumni from TAMU it's hard to admit this with all of the TAMU rival opponents; however, I challenge anyone to dispute the greatness that takes place at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.