Is Texas becoming a laughing stock?

Alasippi said:

Before we ask this question about Texas, remember, we almost became a laughing stock ourselves from the mid 90's until Coach Saban. Bad times can happen to a program. Texas will recover, just like we did. There's too much pride there for it not to happen. Coach Strong probably made it completely understood that it normally takes at least one recruited senior class to rebuild a struggling program.

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Here, here...thing is, I believe Strong will get it turned around. He left Louisville in very nice shape. He has a rebuild to do and has the blueprint to do it. The guy's playing with a lot of young players now that will be seasoned well in couple of years. If they have some patience then Strong will get it done. Not sure they have that faith in him like I do though.

CB4 said:

The ShaggyBevo board is absolute gold. Already packed in for the season.

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Their use of potty humor in pursuit of self deprecation is amusing.

CullmanTide said:

Texas A&M is head and shoulders above Baylor and TCU as well as Texas.

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How can you say that? I think TCU or Baylor would beat A&M.

This is a very good point. Our lean years were bad but #Bama Problems. We played in the toughest conference in football and lost too many games, but outside of 2003 it was not embarrassing. We played competitively. Texas has reached a stage where they are playing in a pretty weak conference and still losing and not looking particularly good when they win. Agree they will be back, but it may take another regime change to do it.

I'm only a casual observer and I think their AD is in trouble.

Loam said:

How can you say that? I think TCU or Baylor would beat A&M.

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Did you see what A&M did to Arizona St? They are improved this year and will be much better on defense. Besides, what have either of those wannabe's done? They play in a soft conference. A&M plays in the SEC west so their record isn't inflated.

BamainBoston said:

Yeah, people forget we were always just respectable enough in our mediocrity that people wanted to keep Shula. We were never really embarrassed.

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Auburn fans wanted to keep him here so bad they would have paid his salary.

Charlie will do a fine job there. The cupboard was bare before he got there. He did the typical house cleaning last year. You should see some good moments this year, but next year is the one to really judge, and as bad as that program was, he still should get 4 years.

Replacing him would only set them back further

You guys are writing Texas and Strong off too soon. Against ND the defense started 3 freshmen and 3 sophomores. The offense started 3 freshmen and 2 sophomores. 2nd team defense has 6 freshmen. Texas recruited better than any school in Texas. There will be growing pains this year but they will get better as the year goes on. Their QB, Swoopes, had no time to throw the ball against ND. There's another guy, Heard, a freshman, who shows a lot of promise. The defense has some good athletes but no pass rush. Notre Dame is legit this year and the Texas OL and DL play was horrid.

Texas may be a laughing stock this year, but they'll turn it around soon and then I expect the Big whatever to again be dominated by Texas and OU.

Charlie Strong inherited a train wreck.

Posted this article about Texas' young depth chart earlier. Here's a tweet from Mark Ennis, Louisville sports guy, in the article:

Did this at Louisville year 2. Started 2-4, finished 7-6. 11-2 and 12-1 the next two years.

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Go Bama said:

You guys are writing Texas and Strong off too soon. Against ND the defense started 3 freshmen and 3 sophomores.

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Alabama started two freshman in the secondary last game and some people were asking what's wrong. When Alabama has a similar level of inexperience people barely notice or accept that it could be a factor, so while I get your point, some level of performance is generally expected.

I'm not saying Strong is gone, but I'm saying if he has two losing seasons in a row the seat will heat up. If he wins 8 or more though, no way he's gone.

KrAzY3 said:

Alabama started two freshman in the secondary last game and some people were asking what's wrong. When Alabama has a similar level of inexperience people barely notice or accept that it could be a factor, so while I get your point, some level of performance is generally expected.

I'm not saying Strong is gone, but I'm saying if he has two losing seasons in a row the seat will heat up. If he wins 8 or more though, no way he's gone.

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I don't think there's any way the Horns win 8 games. The turnaround is going to be more like what the Vols are going through. The upside is Texas is in a much weaker conference though so you may be right.

Bama has 10 upper classmen on defense. Texas has 5. That's not a similar level of inexperience.

Go Bama said:

I don't think there's any way the Horns win 8 games. The turnaround is going to be more like what the Vols are going through. The upside is Texas is in a much weaker conference though so you may be right.

Bama has 10 upper classmen on defense. Texas has 5. That's not a similar level of inexperience.

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Just looked at Texas' schedule. I'm not sure they even go 6-6.

Rice -- W
Cal -- toss up
Okie State -- toss up (leaning towards L)
@ TCU -- L
Oklahoma -- L
K-State -- toss up (leaning towards L)
@ Iowa State -- W
Kansas -- W
@ West Virginia -- toss up (leaning towards L)
Texas Tech -- toss up
@ Baylor -- L

ESPN's Football Power Index projects Texas with 5.5 wins.

M2J said:

Charlie will do a fine job there. The cupboard was bare before he got there. He did the typical house cleaning last year. You should see some good moments this year, but next year is the one to really judge, and as bad as that program was, he still should get 4 years.

Replacing him would only set them back further

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Saban inherited Shula's bunch with a 6-7 record, 2007, 7-6, 2nd year 2008, undefeated regular season. Saban IMHO is a helluva coach and that is what Texas fans expect from their coach.

I may be in the minority here, but in my opinion Charlie Strong is the exact kind of coach that Texas needs. He will rebuild the program, but only if he's given enough time to do so.

He's had to completely implode the team and rebuild from the ground up. Brown misjudged a lot of talent in his final years and the lack of discipline they ran the program with was astounding. Strong is trying to rebuild a team and a culture, and that takes time.

Shoot, Saban turned it around quickly for us, but he already had a lot of talent to work with. As bad of a game coach as he was, at least Shula could recruit. Strong hasn't had that luxury as the cupboard was pretty bare when he took over.

Personally I like Strong, and I hope he does well. He definitely has a tougher road back to the top now that UT isn't the only team in Texas that matters anymore.

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RTR91 said:

Just looked at Texas' schedule. I'm not sure they even go 6-6.

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My take on that though is there's no way Texas fans will take a season like that well. I'm not saying Strong will be gone, I'm not saying he should be gone, but the seat will heat up that's for sure and if they think they can get a guy they really want, I'm betting some behind the scenes will be pushing for that.

Remember (not necessarily you, heh) this is a program that wanted to push Mack out a couple seasons removed from going to the title game, because he only won 8 games. They won't have a lot of patience with Strong and their expectations are that he will win 10+ games every year. Mack did it for a very long time, he was their most successful coach ever, and as soon as he stopped doing it they wanted him gone. They didn't bring in Strong for anything short of consistent excellence (for the record Mack started out 9-3 at Texas)

tidegrandpa said:

Saban inherited Shula's bunch with a 6-7 record, 2007, 7-6, 2nd year 2008, undefeated regular season. Saban IMHO is a helluva coach and that is what Texas fans expect from their coach.

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Exactly, it might be unrealistic but they didn't bring in a coach to have 6 and 7 win seasons. They want nothing short of being in the championship hunt every year.

Edit: I might also add that for like... the first time ever Texas really is legitimately vulnerable. Texas A&M in the SEC has grown up to national prominence, and is a threat on the field and off. Along with that, the move to bring in TCU to kind of maintain regional strength has backfired a bit. TCU is a contender now and so is Baylor.

So, in the big scheme Nebraska left, ok they weren't in Texas, Colorado left, same, Missouri, same... they brought in TCU and made them stronger, Baylor got stronger in the state, and Texas A&M got stronger in the state. They have cause to be worried.

'IF ONLY 'COLT' HAD PLAYED'
Some things haven't changed lately. RTR.

Texas will always have great players on the team & has talent on the team right now simply cause the majority of the best Texas high school football players, wants to play for Texas Long Horns..I agree Texas problem right now is the over stay of Mack brown & the lack of Mack Brown coaching up his kids..Discipline under Mack Brown was thrown out the window years ago & the program that many coaches & players over the years built up, was torn down by Mack over staying his welcome there & will take more than 1 or 2yrs for Strong or any HC to fix..

Another factor working against Texas is that so many of the high schools in Texas plays out of the HUNH offense now days cause that's the offense Mack went with at Texas years ago & when they get to college has to learn the physical part of college football that's played in Alabama & the SEC..

BamaHoosier said:

I may be in the minority here, but in my opinion Charlie Strong is the exact kind of coach that Texas needs. He will rebuild the program, but only if he's given enough time to do so.

He's had to completely implode the team and rebuild from the ground up. Brown misjudged a lot of talent in his final years and the lack of discipline they ran the program with was astounding. Strong is trying to rebuild a team and a culture, and that takes time.

Shoot, Saban turned it around quickly for us, but he already had a lot of talent to work with. As bad of a game coach as he was, at least Shula could recruit. Strong hasn't had that luxury as the cupboard was pretty bare when he took over.

Personally I like Strong, and I hope he does well. He definitely has a tougher road back to the top now that UT isn't the only team in Texas that matters anymore.

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TideMan09 said:

Texas will always have great players on the team & has talent on the team right now simply cause the majority of the best Texas high school football players, wants to play for Texas Long Horns.

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That is not the case anymore. Baylor so far has the top rated recruiting class in the Big 12 for next season. TCU is close behind them at 3 or 4 I believe. Texas is behind both of them.

The state of Texas belongs to TCU, Baylor and A&M. Arguably in that order.