Ag FB Preview: SMU Mustangs

Sunday September 4th, 2011 - 6:30pm

Taking advantage of Labor Day on Monday we are playing our first Sunday regular season game that has been played since I started school. The thought is that from a TV standpoint we'll have much fewer games to compete against for viewership.....it has been picked up nationally by FSN.

We're ranked in the preseason Top 10 for the first time since the late-90s. Kind of strange, huh?

Here are the breakdowns based on last season's stats:

SMU Offense v. aTm Defense
139 (81) Rush 130 (30)
276 (21) Pass 234 (89)
415 (33) Tot 364 (55)
25.7 (74) Scor 21.9 (34)

aTm Offense v. SMU Defense
165 (46) Rush 145 (53)
277 (20) Pass 208 (43)
442 (23) Tot 353 (40)

31.2 (34) Scor 25.6 (59)

The Ponies finished 7-7 (6-3) on the season and finished second in C-USA losing to UCF in the title game.

SMU is definitely a team that we shouldn't expect to blowout. If we play badly they can beat us.

That said....enjoy some '10 Nebraska Kyle Field awesomeness:



Now go run through a brick wall.....and enjoy the start to a beautiful college football season

Ags Serve Notice

On Wednesday August 24th, 2011 Texas A&M announced to the Big 12 their intention to entertain leaving the conference for another.

"We look forward to hearing from you." CLASSIC!

Rumors started today that texas is looking to replace the annual Thanksgiving day game against us with Notre Dame. That's all fine with me.....but they're going to need more than one decent OoC game to make their schedule respectable. OU and then the little-7 isn't going to cut it.

We started to read, shortly thereafter, a whole bunch of spin about how texas came back to the Big 12 last year after getting a pen stroke away from joining the Pac-10 to save the rivalry. What a load of revisionist crap. texas came back to the Big 12 because the Pac-10 wouldn't allow for them to start their own network and Dan Beebe said the Big 12 would. Bottom line.

It'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out in the end. I mentioned on Facebook a couple of weeks ago that OU has been WAAAY to quiet during all of this. If nothing else, this season should be a wild and emotional one.

Gig'em!

Rumblings

Rumble....rumble....rumble....

It's sooooooo hard to be patient.

Still Quiet....But More Interesting

The Thursday recap:

Interesting Note #1:

A flight from Talladega Muni landed at Easterwood Airport this morning at 8:33am and then departed back to Taledega Muni at 11:30am.

Taledega Muni is 57.7 miles from the SEC Headquarters in Birmingham, AL.

Note: I didn't do any of this legwork....behold the power of TexAgs ($)

Interesting Note #2:

The Big 12 Presidents had a conference call in which they voted to add a second game to LHN....this second game will be a Big 12 matchup. It will likely be either KU or KSU.

Interesting Note #3:

@ChipBrownOB: An A&M official just told me they were not on the call when guidelines for 2nd game on LHN were discussed and agreed to by B12 presidents.

@DarrylBruffett: A&M President Loftin was not on the Big 12 conference call today when a second LHN game was discussed.

@stevefullhart: Loftin was on the call at the start. A&M officials will not confirm whether he left of his own accord or was asked to leave.

One word Ags....SECede! WHOOP!

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

So the lawyers are apparently still working through all the legal stuff and everyone is just waiting.

Big 12 Commish, Dan Beebe, wants us to let everyone know our intentions. Seriously? We want out and we would already be out if your puppet masters weren't doing everything in their power to thwart us moving.

"We can’t operate with an institution waiting to decide if it wants to remain in the conference. There has to be a very short time for an institution to commit.”

At some point soon, Beebe said he could approach the Big 12’s board of directors about setting a date for A&M to make a commitment.

Please Dan Beebe - PLEASE - give us an ultimatum and kick us out.

Baylor is also doing their best to keep things together in ways only Baylor can.

Straight from their website. "Committed to the Big 12: And the historic Texas rivalries" and "BaylorNation: Loyal. Dedicated. Active."

Yeah, they sure as heck are commited to the Big 12....'cause their next option is the Big Sky Conference.

The school president, Ken Starr, is doing his best to win over support to save his school's BCS status with an editorial piece in USA Today and a plea that was in the Waco Times.....here is my favorite bit from that:

"I shudder to consider a future gathering of my fellow university presidents in which conversations about the disappearance of our historic rivalries lead us to consider what we were thinking back in 2011 when we let something so valuable slip away."

I'm curious if they shuttered when they forced their way into the Big 12 leaving "historical rivalries" like SMU, TCU, Rice, and UH to fend for themselves.

One final thought before I head off to bed....

On the radio all this week the radio hosts in Houston have been arguing that A&M shouldn't go to the SEC because it's a harder to win there and winning is the most important thing.

Seriously?

By that logic then everyone should be fighting to get into the WAC or the Sunbelt. We could go 12-0 or 11-1 there since winning is all that matters. We should all strive to be in the situations where we have to do the least to accumulate the most wins.

Ask Utah how much respect you get for that - didn't they go undefeated in '04 & '08....and now they have moved into the Pac-12 so they can play tougher competition because no one cared that they beat up on New Mexico and San Diego State.

Look, I'm not saying that THE reason we're wanting to go to the SEC is because we strive to play stronger competition. I don't have delusions of grandeur where we walk in and win 5 SEC titles in the first 15 years. The SEC is the strongest conference in the country, year after year, at the top and from top to bottom. We're going to struggle and we're going to have a bunch of 7 win seasons but to make an argument that we shouldn't go simply because it's harder is asinine.

Taking the easy road is the reason this entire country is in the situation we're in.

PS. At what point does the Big 12 become the Big East and undefeated teams don't go to the national championship because their road wasn't hard enough?

Twist of Events

I read an article from Sporting News this morning that said, "Presidents from the SEC will not meet on Sunday to discuss the possible move of Texas A&M to the SEC, a high-ranking official from the SEC told Sporting News on Saturday."

After I read that I thought, "Wow, this guy has a horrible source. The presidents are meeting - their planes have already been tracked to Atlanta."

After that I read close to 4,000 articles, tweets and message board posts and didn't think anything else about the Sporting News article.

Then the bombshell in the early afternoon.....The press release from the SEC:

“The SEC Presidents and Chancellors met today and reaffirmed our satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment. We recognize, however, that future conditions may make it advantageous to expand the number of institutions in the league. We discussed criteria and process associated with expansion. No action was taken with respect to any institution including Texas A&M.”

I was sick to my stomach. Thankfully I was already sitting down.

After my vision came back to me I re-read the presser two or three more times. Shoot, I read it about 10 times. I thought it was good that they worded it, "No action was taken with respect to any institution including Texas A&M." They could have said, "We voted against admitting Texas A&M". It could have been worse - maybe?

Still, I couldn't imagine that we have been in conversations with Mike Slive (SEC Commish) for three weeks (as reported) and didn't have assurances that this was going to go through before making our bold move/announcement at the end of the work week. Not unless we just got totally screwed over.

What I couldn't get my head around was if this was some sort of vaguely written statement, then why did it start out with: "The SEC Presidents and Chancellors met today and reaffirmed our satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment"? That I didn't get. If there is really a chance for us then why would you say that you're happy with 12 teams?

I fought with that until my law degree bearing wife, who graciously listened to me rant and rave and read the press release aloud over and over, mentioned that they need to make sure they have as much documented evidence as possible showing it was A&M that came to them, not them coming to poach us from the Big 12.

Ok, I can breathe again.

Shortly after that I saw Sporting News's Matt Hayes tweet: Source on "meeting" today: Conf call/w SEC attorneys and Machen. Released legal statement to protect the league.

I had read something a day or two ago about potential "tortious interference" from the legal side but I just brushed past it. Apparently, the SEC lawyers didn't and they know what they're doing - us sports fans just blow past words we don't understand.

So the A&M Board of Regents are still scheduled to meet tomorrow and are apparently going to give President Loftin the power to negotiate a new conference affiliation. The state legislature is still scheduled to meet on Tuesday and we're going to go from there. I imagine it will involve an application to the SEC (and likely other conferences) and at that point the SEC presidents will get together and actually vote.

So we didn't get the good news we wanted today, and there is still a small part of my stomach that is in knots, but I believe that the press release was a CYA move by the SEC. I'm sure tomorrow we'll find out some other new twist in the plot that we hadn't considered/realized was a possibility....and it will add to our anxiety.

Either way, the Sporting News article that I thought was completely bogus was the only one that actually knew what the heck was going on.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pop a handful of Xanax.

Rumors Heating Up and the Backlash

Rumors have become hot and heavy over the last two or three days about A&M and the SEC starting up talks again and it looks like this time it is going to happen. The SEC school presidents have a meeting set for Sunday to vote on expansion and A&M has a emergency Board of Regents meeting that was moved from the 22nd up to this coming Monday.

The Big 12 (Dan Beebe) came back to A&M towards the end of the week to see if he could keep things put but could not commit to what the A&M administration deemed necessary. At this point, I can't see how the relationship between A&M and the Big 12 would be able to continue - SEC-bound or not. I have no clue what happens if the "or not" scenario has to play out.



The backlash over this potentially happening is really starting to heat up. All of the Houston sports talk radio shows discussed it ALL DAY LONG on Friday and Saturday. Of course, most of those guys are windbags who don't really know the A&M program deeply enough to know what they're talking about outside of what they see scroll across the ticker on ESPN....but still.

The national media started picking up on it on Saturday and ESPN.com had an article and a video up - neither flattering of A&M. Shocker.

Even t-sip, Richard Justice sees the conflict of interest there: "How can anyone from ESPN weigh in on Texas A&M? ESPN is a corporate partner with The University of Texas. Zero credibility regarding A&M."

SI.com took a different approach.

I even had a healthy Facebook "conversation/discussion" with an old longhorn highschool buddy.

Here are the big arguments heard....

• Get over it and quit being crybabies about LHN
• You guys are going to get killed in the SEC
• You're running away from your rival texas
  

The LHN is not the entire issue here. It is, however, the vehicle that drives the issue.

Last summer A&M was a breath away from this same situation we're in now - pushing for a move to the SEC. I wrote about the possibilities here at that time. We came back to the Big 12 under the impression that all parties involved were going to make a concerted effort to keep the Big 12 intact.

What has evolved since then centers around texas and their long-term plans. The horns are working their way towards being independent, without a conference affiliation, ala Notre Dame. That is why their ability to have their own TV network deal was so important in their negotiations with the Big 12. The plan is to use the Big 12 until the LHN is stable enough for them to go off on their own. That is also a key point as to why the Pac-10 thing fell apart last year because they would not let texas have their own network.

texas has continued to push the envelope putting their own priorities ahead of the conference (with attempt to broadcast a Big 12 conference game on their network as well as broadcast HS football games). This agenda makes for an unstable conference and the A&M administration wants stability. Instead of A&M letting texas play it out on their own convenient terms, A&M is now looking out for their best interest - and is talking to the SEC again. There is no reason A&M should get left holding the bag when this conference dissolves.

This move is about A&M being PROACTIVE.

Of course, A&M will be blamed for it by Baylor and tech and Kansas and Iowa State etc.....because they aren't desirable and don't have any other options - the Big 12 as is, even with texas running it's own agenda, is still their best option. See SMU, UH, Rice after the SWC dissolved. And there is no way that texas is going to say, "Wait guys, don't get mad at them - it's not really their fault you are the newest members of the Sun Belt."

Don't let the longhorns fool you into thinking that they are playing the role of momma bear and wanting to protect texas tech, Baylor, KU, etc. They were willing to leave them high and dry last year when they flirted with the Pac-10. They were also willing to leave them high and dry when the SWC ended (state legislature forced A&M & texas to bring tech and BU with them to the Big 12).

texas is going to protect Baylor and tech....and the Big 12 now because A&M is forcing their hand for once. texas doesn't have a choice to go to the SEC, Big 10 or Pac 12 now because they don't allow their schools to have their own networks. They need a conference affiliation until the LHN gets on solid footing before they can go independent.

A&M's administration sees that this conference is a sinking ship and is getting out now because they have the option. [Insert Little 7 School Name] fans are going to complain and call us backstabbers and unloyal but if they had the leverage or the opportunity to make a move to the SEC they would be lying if they told you they wouldn't jump at that chance.

A&M needs to look out for #1....just like texas is doing.

I don't have a problem with the Longhorn Network - my hat is off to texas for being able to negotiate that out. My problem is with their athletic department continually thumbing their nose at the conference and try to pull the fleece over everyone's eyes as we're all stupid. I have a problem with the front that is being put up by those in charge - and then acting like the rest of the conference should just stand there and take it. It's not the network itself that I have a problem with.

In response to us getting killed in the SEC or the SEC being a more difficult path to prominence....

1. We'll have to see how it plays out
2. What on earth do you care for? If we're so inferior and if this is such a terrible move by us, then why are horn fans all up in arms about this? I would welcome texas or tech making a huge silly mistake that would relegate them to has-beens and the forgottens. I can't imagine that horn fans and administration are trying to give us good, loving, sound advice to prevent us from making a mistake because they truly care about us, would they?
   

In response to us running away from our rivals or trying to get out of texas's shadows.....We are not moving to the MWC - we're going to the friggin' SEC. Does it make sense that we are running away from texas to play Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and LSU because we're scared? No. No it doesn't.

There were two articles that I read in the last couple of days that completely nail this situation. One is by Clay Travis, a Tennessee fan who now runs Outkick the Coverage, and the other is from And the Valley Shook, an LSU blog. Like I said, they nailed it.

Tomorrow's SEC president meeting is going to be really interesting. I can't imagine that SEC Commish would call the meeting, and waste all of these university president's time, if he didn't know what the result would be....I just wish I knew so I could stop hitting refresh on my internet browser and go to sleep.

Gig'em!

Fall Practice Schedule

I got this from TexAgs....same rules apply as in previous seasons....The practices held at the McFarrin Center (which has a firemarshall limit of a certain number of people) are not open to the public....all the rest are free entry for anyone with an Aggie ring or a student ID:

Wednesday, August 10 - 6:30 p.m. - grass fields
Thursday, August 11 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields
Friday, August 12 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields
Saturday, August 13 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields
Sunday, August 14 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields / 4:00 p.m. - McFerrin
Monday, August 15 - 8:25 a.m. - Kyle Field (scrimmage)
Tuesday, August 16 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields / 4:00 p.m. - McFerrin
Wednesday, August 17 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields
Thursday, August 18 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields / 4:00 p.m. - McFerrin
Friday, August 19 - 7:30 a.m. - grass fields
Saturday, August 20 - 6:35 p.m. - Kyle Field (scrimmage)
Monday, August 22 - 7:30 a.m. - grass fields
Tuesday, August 23 - 7:30 a.m. - grass fields / 4:00 p.m. - McFerrin
Wednesday, August 24 - 4:05 p.m. - Kyle Field (closed scrimmage unless you attend Kickoff Dinner)
Thursday, August 25 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields
Friday, August 26 - 8:25 a.m. - grass fields

The odds are fairly high that I'll be making the drive up on the 20th with Benjamin

Its Been A While....

It has been quite some time since my last post here so I thought I'd catch everyone up....

- The athletic department decided to go back on the t.u. game to December move....they must have read my rant....it is now scheduled back on Thanksgiving night, as it should be, and all is well in the world.....on that front

- We all finally realized why it is irrational to count on true freshmen to come in and be All-Americans right away

- Von Miller was the #2 overall selection in the NFL draft going to the Denver Broncos

- R.C. says: A&M to SEC....but he said it back in September 1992

- Mike Sherman got a raise and extension and Tim DeRuyter got a raise.

• Sherman's original deal was through 2015 at $1.8M/year....the remainder of the contract has been bumped to $2.2M/year and there was an A&M option extension added for 2016 & 2017
  
• DeRuyter originally signed a 3-year deal prior to last year with a salary of $425K in '11 & $450K in '12....it was raised to $550K in both remaining seasons....I can't see how it is going to be enough to keep DeRuyter long term but it was a nice gesture. The thought of losing him scares me. Badly.

- My brother graduated....with Ty Warren


-Benjamin got pictures with the members of the Mt. Rushmore of Aggie sports

- texas has really stirred the pot in the last month in regards to the Longhorn Network (LHN), their ESPN created network. They have negotiated the rights to broadcast a football game on it, which will be their season opener against Rice. They have also pushed for a second game, a conference game, but are being met with resistance. The biggie is that they have approached some Texas high schools and presented the opportunity to them for a game (or two) of theirs to be broadcast. This is a HUGE deal in regards to recruiting. The Big 12 has put a moratorium on this for one year but the horns are still approaching more high schools.

Mack's comments on broadcasting high school games from last week's Big 12 Media Days: "The one [issue] is whether high school games should be played on the [Longhorn] Network … I hope that they consider doing that because we're going to sign 20-25 players per year," Brown added. "Those players are probably going to be committed, based on what we've done, by May. And none of them would have played their senior year in high school, so it's not going to affect who we recruit. I would love to see the high school coaches, and the players, and the communities be able to showcase what we all use to feed the Big 12 and that's high school players from the State of Texas. I hope that's what it comes back to."

These are high schools with current longhorn verbal commits, yes (but not LOI signed players) - but they are also high schools with freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Mack should know all about early recruiting since he is the one who started the trend.