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Is Texas becoming a laughing stock?

I

imauafan

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selmaborntidefan said:
But you're ignoring some critical details in this assessment. Yeah, he started out 0-3, but a huge chunk of the offence - Siran Stacy missed the entire season after getting hurt in the opener against USM. The Florida game was lost on a blocked punt late on a team with an anemic offense thanks to the loss of Stacy. We then lost Craig Sanderson and Prince Wimbley - two guys trying to function as replacements of sorts for the loss of Stacy - in each of the next two games. I didn't see the UGA game, but I believe we blew a 16-3 lead late on turnovers.

The offense post-Stacy's injury was horrific. If you exclude the Vandy game where we torched them for 59 points, our offense only averaged 17.7 ppg after Stacy was hurt. The only reason our record was as good as it was is because the defense was truly All-World. Yeah, a letdown against Louisville, but otherwise excellent.





If you were there then I'm sure you remember the score was 6-0 at halftime and got out of hand thanks to three turnovers in the early stages of the second half. Short field and Shane Mathews. Yeah, we lost 35-0 but just like you ca have 35-21 games that aren't really that close, you can have blowouts not as bad as the scoreboard suggests.




You DO recall that long run included:

Alabama 10 Memphis St 7
Alabama 13 La Tech 0
Alabama 6 Tulane 0 (at halftime in 1992)
Beating a horrible LSU team on a blocked field goal in 1991

Texas didn't show the spunk the other night that Stallings's teams did.

I won't say it's hopeless, either, but they're in trouble.
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No, I did not ignore those details, I chose not to discuss them ad nauseum. Yes there were injuries and close wins against bad opponents. Actually, there were close wins against bad opponents the entire time Stallings was the HC. The point is that it takes time for a new coach with a drastically different way of doing things to get his system in place. Step 1 will be learning how to win. The very next week after the UF humiliation we played UGa in a rare (back then) Saturday night game at BDS. If my memory is correct it was 0-0 late in the 3rd quarter, perhaps even going into the 4th quarter. We pulled it out 10-0 and I think that was the game were the team learned how to win games. It was ugly but it was a win. UT will have to do the same thing. I'm neither for nor against UT. I like Strong and hope he is successful because, unless I am mistaken, he seems like one of the few coaches who are trying to do things the right way.
 
TideEngineer08

TideEngineer08

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imauafan said:
Stallings took over a good team with several returning All-SEC players and started out 0-3, then finished out 7-5 with a 35-7 blowout loss to Louisville that wasn't as close as the score indicated. The next year after an opening win over a weak opponent (Temple?) we were destroyed 35-0 by UF coached by Spurrier on a Saturday night in the swamp (I was there). Then we went on a long winning streak which included a NC. I'm not saying that Strong is on the verge of winning a NC but I think he can get the job done given time to build the program his way which seems to be the right way AFAIK.
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Selma has already noted some key differences but I will also point out this: Texas has been in decline for several years. In reality, since 2009. Mack Brown was getting lapped in recruiting by that point and the program had grown stagnant with entitlement.

Alabama had been a good program for several years before Gene Stallings. My point is that Charlie Strong inherited a bad program, and he's working for horrible management. It's really a very different situation. I don't know if Strong is a great coach or just a pretty good coach. But either way, I'm not sure it matters because of circumstances beyond his control. I really believe he took the wrong job by jumping to Texas.
 
B

bama579

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imauafan said:
No, I did not ignore those details, I chose not to discuss them ad nauseum. Yes there were injuries and close wins against bad opponents. Actually, there were close wins against bad opponents the entire time Stallings was the HC. The point is that it takes time for a new coach with a drastically different way of doing things to get his system in place. Step 1 will be learning how to win. The very next week after the UF humiliation we played UGa in a rare (back then) Saturday night game at BDS. If my memory is correct it was 0-0 late in the 3rd quarter, perhaps even going into the 4th quarter. We pulled it out 10-0 and I think that was the game were the team learned how to win games. It was ugly but it was a win. UT will have to do the same thing. I'm neither for nor against UT. I like Strong and hope he is successful because, unless I am mistaken, he seems like one of the few coaches who are trying to do things the right way.
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Sign me up for the part in boldface.
 
Go Bama

Go Bama

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Actually, I'm kind of for Strong for the same reasons posted above. I think he's one of the good guys and I hope he does well. Texas is going to be good again either with him or without him.

Two things I don't get. People are saying Texas hasn't been recruiting well and I haven't seen that. What am I missing here?
http://athlonsports.com/college-football/2012-recruiting-rankings-no-2-texas-longhorns

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews...s-initial-2014-team-recruiting-rankings.html/

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/teamrank/2014/all/all

Even last year when Texas was ranked 20th, the only Texas team that ranked higher was aTm.

The other thing I don't understand is the thing about "management". I realize the Texas athletic department is arrogant, but they raise more money than anyone else. I expect them to be vocal and arrogant. Exactly how does this translate to points on the field?

Texas played 22 freshmen in South Bend. They had ND pinned late in the 3rd quarter with the score 17-3. They were outmanned and once ND scored there was a let down.

It's too early to write the Horns off. They may be in trouble, but they may not be. We'll have to wait and see.
 
R

Redwood Forrest

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crimsonaudio said:
I disagree - here are the four preceding recruiting class rankings at each school before the new coaches took over.

Texas:
2013: #24 (0-5*, 9-4*)
2102: #2 (2-5*, 15-4*)
2011: #3 (1-5*, 15-4*)
2010: #3 (2-5*, 19-4*)
Average: #8, (5-5*, 58-4*)

Alabama:
2006: #11 (2-5*, 10-4*)
2005: #18 (0-5*, 6-4*)
2004: #24 (0-5*, 4-4*)
2003: #49 (0-5*, 4-4*)
Average: # 26, (2-5*, 24-4*)

Bama had some talent on hand - we always do - but Strong inherited a team loaded with top shelf talent. I'm not suggesting Strong isn't a good coach, but Saban won in year two because of his coaching ability, which is light years beyond Strong's. This is obvious when you look at the situations they inherited.
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Thank you. I was going to look that up because I knew Texas recruiting was not as bad as some making out. They are not scraping the bottom of the barrel unless half the recruits have left.
 
RTR91

RTR91

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crimsonaudio said:
Yup - only a handful of schools wouldn't kill for Texas' recruiting in the few years before Strong took over: http://www.tidefans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=252166&p=2656897&viewfull=1#post2656897
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I compared those four recruiting classes to the current roster.

Of the 25 signees in the 2010 class, none remain.

Of the 22 signees in the 2011 class, four remain.

Of the 28 signees in the 2012 class, 17 remain. Two of the 28 were from JUCO, so they obviously are no longer there.

Of the 15 signees in the 2013 class, seven remain. Two of the 15 were JUCO, so they are no longer on the team.

Not to mention he dismissed his ninth player last year by the middle of September.

He already had one player from the most recent signing class leave because the player didn't get the jersey number he wanted.
 
D

DollarTaker

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selmaborntidefan said:
But you're ignoring some critical details in this assessment. Yeah, he started out 0-3, but a huge chunk of the offence - Siran Stacy missed the entire season after getting hurt in the opener against USM. The Florida game was lost on a blocked punt late on a team with an anemic offense thanks to the loss of Stacy. We then lost Craig Sanderson and Prince Wimbley - two guys trying to function as replacements of sorts for the loss of Stacy - in each of the next two games. I didn't see the UGA game, but I believe we blew a 16-3 lead late on turnovers.

The offense post-Stacy's injury was horrific. If you exclude the Vandy game where we torched them for 59 points, our offense only averaged 17.7 ppg after Stacy was hurt. The only reason our record was as good as it was is because the defense was truly All-World. Yeah, a letdown against Louisville, but otherwise excellent.





If you were there then I'm sure you remember the score was 6-0 at halftime and got out of hand thanks to three turnovers in the early stages of the second half. Short field and Shane Mathews. Yeah, we lost 35-0 but just like you ca have 35-21 games that aren't really that close, you can have blowouts not as bad as the scoreboard suggests.




You DO recall that long run included:

Alabama 10 Memphis St 7
Alabama 13 La Tech 0
Alabama 6 Tulane 0 (at halftime in 1992)
Beating a horrible LSU team on a blocked field goal in 1991

Texas didn't show the spunk the other night that Stallings's teams did.

I won't say it's hopeless, either, but they're in trouble.
Click to expand...



I don't think Strong has a chance to build a program at Texas now, too many problems left behind and he hired the wrong people for his staff. He has done a good job cleaning things up, but the next guy will start winning games again for them.
 
RTR91

RTR91

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This talk from Chip Brown and Horns Digest isn't the best news for Charlie Strong. Link

Texas president Gregory Fenves hasn’t reached a final conclusion in his evaluation of athletic director Steve Patterson, but according to multiple sources close to the situation, Fenves is strongly considering parting ways with the Longhorns’ third-year AD.

The sources told HornsDigest.com one of Fenves' top concerns is the number of donors - small and large - who have expressed they will no longer give to athletics as long as Patterson is in place.

“Fenves knows athletics is the front porch of the university,” one source close to the situation said. “So he can’t have people who want to give being turned off or turned away at the front porch.”

Fenves ascended from provost at Texas to school president in June. And there's been steady drama involving the athletic director since, sources said.
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Al A Bama

Al A Bama

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RTR91 said:
I compared those four recruiting classes to the current roster.

Of the 25 signees in the 2010 class, none remain.

Of the 22 signees in the 2011 class, four remain.

Of the 28 signees in the 2012 class, 17 remain. Two of the 28 were from JUCO, so they obviously are no longer there.

Of the 15 signees in the 2013 class, seven remain. Two of the 15 were JUCO, so they are no longer on the team.

Not to mention he dismissed his ninth player last year by the middle of September.

He already had one player from the most recent signing class leave because the player didn't get the jersey number he wanted.
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Now, that is sad! The Entitled youth of the USA! If I had had the ability to play for Coach Bryant, I'd take any number or if I had to take a "NO" number, I would have. I would have even played with a "Script A" instead of a number or any letter for that matter.

I guess Coach Strong showed him the highway leading out of Austin. Maybe he got on that number when he left! Was it US 290 or I-35?

You shouldn't just get a number, you should EARN it after someone in seniority is through with it!
 
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