Ag Football Preview: Florida Football History

This week is a pretty historic week for Texas A&M as we host the Florida Gators in our first conference game as a member of the Southeastern Conference.  Throw in the fact that last week's game was postponed so we had an entire slate of games over the holiday weekend to up the college football itch .  Then to top it all off, College Gameday has decided to host their show from Kyle Field this week.  It's like taunting a bear with slab of beef.

Do bears even eat beef?  Who cares - IT'S TIME FOR SOME AGGIE FOOTBALL!

The new affiliation with the SEC is great on an infinate number of levels but one of those is that we get to play a bunch of incredible teams that we don't know too intimately.  That means I get to do some research on these programs, which I love.

The Florida Gator's history can be summed up with two names: Steve Spurrier & Tim Tebow.

Certainly, Danny Wuerffel and Urban Meyer should be mentioned when talking about Gator football history, but let's be honest, they are the Pippen to Spurrier and Tebow's Jordan.

For all intents and purposes, the Gators were just another team with a nicely tanned fanbase and a handful of 8-3, 9-2, 7-4 seasons scattered through their school's first 85 years of football.

 

The Gators had their first run of success in the 1960s under the leadership of Ray Graves.  They won 9 games in '60, '66, and '69.  The '66 squad made it to their first Orange Bowl and was led by their Heisman winning QB - none other than Steve Spurrier.

In 1965 the Gators did something else to bring fame to the school.  They created Gatorade.  They were pretty creative with the name, right?



I bet you didn't know that was Spurrier throwing the old pigskin around in that commercial until just now.  Boom - learned something new today.

The 1970s were not a really memorable time in Gainesville with the pinnacle being a '74 Sugar Bowl appearance.  In 1984, head coach Charley Pell was fired mid-season when it came out that Florida was being charged with over 100 major NCAA infractions.  This was one of the best Gator squads in their history and after winning what should have been the school's first SEC Championship, the Gators had to hang their heads as the title was stripped from them.  Galen Hall took over for Pell, and coached Emmitt Smith during his time with the Gators, before he was forced out with his own NCAA infractions.  Gary Darnell finished the 1989 season as HC.  LOL.

It took from 1932, when the Gators were founding members of the SEC, until 1991 for them to win their first conference championship.  Care to take a guess what changed?  The Gators hired Steve Spurrier as their new head coach prior to the 1990 season. 

Guess what else?  Spurrier actually led his squad to a first place finish in 1990 too, but they were ineligible for the title due to the NCAA infractions by Hall.

Steve Spurrier took the conference by storm, not just by winning, and not just winning right out the gate, but by winning in a fashion few had ever seen.  The dude lit up the scoreboard, didn't take his foot off the gas for anybody, and then wouldn't appologize for the waves it caused.

Since 1991 the Florida Gators have been one of the most powerful programs in the country winning almost 40% of the SEC Conference titles (8 in 21 seasons).

Spurrier's biggest success story was QB Danny Wuerffel.  The QB led the Gators to four consecutive SEC titles from 1993-1996, back-to-back National Championship games (winning in 1996), and he brought the Heisman Trophy back to Gainesville for the first time since Spurrier's own. 

Following the 2001 season, Spurrier left the Gators to take the head job for the Washington Redskins in the NFL and Ron Zook was dubbed his replacement.  Zook recruited well but couldn't get it done on the field - he was fired midway through 2004 (his third season).

Enter Urban Meyer.  Meyer had just finished launching the Utah Utes, then of the MWC, into the national spotlight with an undefeated season ending with a Fiesta Bowl win.  He lost two games while at Utah - including one at Kyle Field in 2003.  I think Ags have all done our best to completely block out the memory of his revenge in the '04 season opener.

February 1st, 2006 was the day that changed the Gator program's future.  Tim Tebow signed his letter of intent to join Meyer following the Gators 9-3 season in Meyer's inaugural run in Gainesville.  You all remember how this played out....

In Tebow's freshman season they won the National Championship.  In Tebow's sophomore season he won the Heisman Trophy.  In Tebow's junior season they won the National Championship.  In his senior season he led an undefeated Gator squad into the SEC Championship game where they lost to Alabama 13-12 - one point away from his third National Championship game in four years - and he was a Heisman finalist in his third consecutive season.

Herschel Walker is generally considered the greatest RB in SEC history and held the conference record with 47 career TDs.  Tebow broke that record with 57.  Herschel Walker has 20% fewer rushing TDs than a QB. Herschel Walker!

Don't just look at his career 2,947 yards with 57 TDs on the ground and think "Oh this guy was an option QB."  Why?  Because he also threw for 9,286 with 88 TDs.  To put that into a little bit of context, Jerrod Johnson is the most prolific passer in A&M history with 8,011 yards and 67 TDs.

Tebow left Gainesville as a legitimate candidate for the greatest player in the history of college football.

Urban Meyer "re-retired" after the 2010 season after briefly retiring the spring prior so he could stop ignoring his health and spend more time with his family.  Before the end of the 2011 football season he was named the head coach at Ohio State.

His replacement is Will Muschamp.  The former Georgia DB was one of the best young defensive coordinators in the country moving from LSU to Auburn to texas.  The horns were so afraid of losing him they paid him crazy coordinator money and dubbed him "head coach in waiting"....but he left anyways when Meyer vacated the head seat in Gainsville.

The Gators play their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which is better known simply as "The Swamp".  The Swamp is one of the most intimidating venues in the nation and it is always full (they sold out every home game between 1979-2010) [note: I watched their season opener against Bowling Green and there were at least two sections in one of the corners of the upper deck completely empty - I didn't get to see the rest of the stadium].  I'm looking forward to trying to make it down to Gainesville to take in a game at this legendary venue.

Tickets at Kyle Field are at a crazy premium this year and this ticket is at the top of the list.  Unfortunately for Florida fans, their AD has made getting their hands on them a little more stressful than they should have.  First of all, they're mad we didn't give them more than the league minimum requirement - so they accidentally oversold their allotment.  

They're 924 miles away from College Station and they oversold their allotment.  Last year, in the midst of their greatest season anyone can remember, Baylor had to return 3,000 of the 3,850 tickets we provided them.  They are 90 miles away.  SEC.

As if the overselling of their allotment wasn't enough, they accidentally sold the tickets 20% lower than face value so they had to go back to the fans again and request more money.   

After all of that, make sure to give those who make it to Aggieland a nice welcome - they deserve it.

To be honest, I love their helmet decal.  I'm a bit of a sucker for old school logos that look like they were drawn out by hand by some student entering an contest out of the school newspaper - and the SEC is full of those (I'm looking at you Georgia and Ole Miss).  The Gator's helmet is a classic - but they are also one of the Nike schools that gets one of those crazy Pro-Combat uniforms as well and those always look a little more cutting edge/modern/stupid.

Florida is not a school that A&M has a deep history with, like Arkansas or LSU.  We've played them twice - in 1962 at the Swamp (L 42-6) and 1977 in the Sun Bowl (W 37-14).  They are still one of the most prolific college football programs in the country - and this type of matchup is why I've been clamoring for the SEC for years.

BEAT THE HELL OUTTA FLORIDA!  WHOOP!

Isaac Strikes

Hurricane Isaac has screwed everything up.  La Tech postponed our Thursday night season opener in Shreveport in anticipation of the storm hitting Louisiana.

The game has been rescheduled for October 13th.  This hurts us on many levels.

1. We now open with Florida, a conference game, without having any live game action.  We don't have 9 days to try to tie up any lose ends that we would discover.  This is particularly troubling because we have a freshman QB who will be taking his first career snap against one of the best defenses in the country.
2. We lose our off week prior to LSU so we now have one week to prepare for them as opposed to the original two.
3. We play 12 consecutive weeks.  No time to allow nicks and dings to heal and no time to let guys rest and recharge.
4. La Tech will now catch us mid-season so they will have seen all our film and they also provide a nice opportunity for us to get caught as a trap game if we overlook them in anticipation of LSU.
5. No college football fan should have to wait an extra week and a half after clamoring for their season to start for 8 months.  At this point 9 days feels like 30 days.

Why does anyone schedule games along the Gulf Coast in September?  I remember this happening to texas back in '04 when they were to play Southern Miss.

BTHO Florida.

2012 Ag Football Season Preview

In one week we will all be either enjoying the start of the college football season - or we'll be trying to talk ourselves off the cliff.

That, of course, all depends on how this irritating Hurricane Issaic turns out.  First it was supposed to hit Florida but now the models show it bending West and hitting Louisiana on Thursday.  I don't know what that will do to our game in Shreveport on Thursday night.

I figure that if it is bad enough to postpone the game then we won't be able to play it later in the weekend - they're going to be more concerned with cleaning up rooftops that were scattered across the highway.  Does it get moved to Dallas or Houston?  Does it come to College Station?  Does it get pushed back in the schedule (that would be terrible)?  Does it get cancelled?

Instead of wondering about how our freshman QB is going to play or how our defense is going to look we are stuck wondering if we're even going to be playing a game.  That sucks.

Anyways....

Here is a quick and dirty season preview....

Schedule:

Aug. 28th v. La Tech - 6:30pm - ESPNU
Sept. 8th FLORIDA - 2:30pm - ESPN
Sept. 15th at SMU - 2:30pm - FSN
Sept. 22nd SOUTH CAROLINA STATE - TBD
Sept. 29th ARKANSAS - TBD
Oct. 06th at Ole Miss - TBD
Oct. 20th LSU - TBD
Oct. 27th at Auburn - TBD
Nov. 3rd at Mississippi State - TBD
Nov. 10th at Alabama - TBD
Nov. 17th SAM HOUSTON STATE - TBD
Nov. 24th MISSOURI - TBD

That is rough - Phil Steele has it ranked #8 toughest schedule in the country.  Welcome to the SEC.  That is why the SEC sprinkles non-conference games through out the schedule rather than playing them all up front.

There is a fairly good chance that if we beat La Tech we'll have the ESPN Gameday Crew in College Station for our first ever SEC conference game in week two.

New Roster Number:

I know you all memorized last year's roster so here are the guys who changed numbers or are new to the program or guys who played last year sparingly that should see a big bump in P.T. this year:

 1. Harris, De'Vante (Fr-T, DB)
 1. Molina, Ben (Jr, RB)
 2. Manziel, Johnny (Fr-R, QB)
 7. Tramain Jacobs (JUCO, CB)
 8. Thomas Johnson (Fr-T, WR)
10. LeKendrick Williams (So, WR)
11. Derel Walker (Fr-T, WR)
13. Mike Evans (Fr-R, WR)
14. Floyd Raven Sr. (So, CB)
18. Edward Pope (Fr-T, WR/DB)
20. Trey Williams (Fr-T, RB)
23. Sabian Holmes (Fr-T, WR)
24. Taylor Bertolet (Fr-R, K)
26. Devonta Burns (Fr-R, DB)
29. Deshazor Everett (So, DB)
30. Johntel Franklin (JUCO, S)
33. Michael Richardson (Fr-T, LB)
34. Jordan Richmond (Fr-T, LB)
35. Tyrell Taylor (So, LB)
36. Donnie Baggs (So, LB)
38. Drew Kaser (So, P)
40. Shaun Ward (So, LB)
41. Brandon Alexander (So, DL)
43. Justin Bass (So, LB)
51. Jarvis Harrison (So, OL)
55. Alonzo Williams (Fr-T, DL)
56. Mike Matthews (Fr-T, OL)
70. Cedric Ogbuehi (So, OL)
71. Kimo Tipoti (Fr-H, OL)
72. Gavin Stansbury (So, DL)
74. Germain Ifedi (Fr-H, OL)
77. Shep Klinke (Jr, OL)
79. Joseph Cheek (Fr-R, OL)
84. Malcome Kennedy (So, WR)
88. Gaston Lamascus (Jr, WR)
89. Ivan Robinson (So, DL)
90. Polo Manukainiu (Fr-T, DL)
97. Julien Boioha (Fr-T, DL)
98. Shayvion Hatten (Fr-R, DL)

Players Gone:

Whether it be graduation, the draft, or just plain old attrition here are the players gone from last year's roster:

#1 Trent Hunter (Sr S 13G/13GS), #3 Lionel Smith (Sr CB 13/7 Dallas Cowboys), #5 Coryell Judie (Sr CB 7/2 Denver Broncos), #7 Terrence Frederick (Sr CB 13/13 Pittsburgh Steelers), #8 Jeff Fuller (Sr WR 13/12 Miami Dolphins), #8 Garrick Williams (Sr LB 9/5 Buffalo Bills), #9 Charlie Thomas (LB 12/2), #13 Tommy Dorman (TE 5/0), #17 Ryan Tannehill (QB 13/13 Miami Dolphins), #18 Kyle Mangan (LB 13/0), #24 Taylor Randle (3/0), #28 Louie Swope (DB 2/0 left team but remains in school), #28 Randy Bullock (PK 13/0 Houston Texans), #32 Cyrus Gray (RB 11/5 KC Chiefs), #33 D. Thompson (13/0), #34 Will Randolph (RB 1/0 transf. to SHSU), #39 Eddie Brown (DL 13/13 San Diego Chargers), #44 Andrew Wolridge (LB 4/0), #45 Matt Sherman (3/0), #56 Ryan Liscum (1/0), #62 Jeffrey Hyde (OL 5/0), #65 Evan Eike (OL 13/0), #67 Joe Villavisencio (OL 2/0), #71 Brian Thomas (OL 12/12 trans. to tech), #74 Danny Baker (OL 13/0), #80 Hutson Prioleau (TE 13/4 left team but remains in school), #83 Tony Jerod-Eddie (13/13 SF 49ers), #83 Michael Walker (1/0), #85 L. Williams (3/0), #86 Seth Gardner (3/0), #89 Travis Labhart (4/0), #90 Ben Bass (DE Dallas Cowboys)

Offense:

We have one of the top OL in the country.  We return 4 of our 5 starters, including Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews - both possible 1st round NFL picks.  We have a total of 85 career starts along our line which is often a good indication of a team's success.  And only one has played a snap as an upperclassman.

We probably also have one of the top 2 or 3 RB groups in the country with C-Mike, Ben Malena and Trey Williams.  Brandon Williams was denied his waiver to bypass the transfer rule - had he not, this would have been the most incredible backfields ever (three 5*s and one 4*).

I love C-Mike - the guy has a really good chance of bumping Cyrus Gray off of my unofficial Top 5 Favorite Players That I've Watched Put on the Maroon & White List (Toombs, T-Murph, Brantly, & J-Train).  First of all, he is humble.  Second of all, he WANTS to be a leader and do good things for this program.  Third of all, the dude is a beast - he came in as a true freshman and looked like he could suit up in the NFL.

We know what C-Mike and Malena can do but Trey came out in fall camp and completely Wow-ed everyone.  I'm REALLY excited about our running game this year.

At WR we should be fine.  We have Pre-Season All-SEC Ryan Swope back who should easily break all of the school's WR records.  He is ~900 yards shy of the school record (which is about 3/4 of his season total from last year) and he is 53 receptions shy of the school record - both held by Jeff Fuller.  I don't think he's going to catch Fuller's TD record - he is 18 shy of Fuller's 34 career TDs.

EZ is back for his senior year and we have some very highly touted youngsters who will see plenty of time - Mike Evans, Thomas Johnson and Sabian Holmes.

Johnny Manziel was named the starting QB last week after beating out the perceived leader, Jameill Showers, and holding off the surging Matt Joekel.  He will be the first freshman to start the season at QB in A&M history.

Now, of course, everyone is ready for Johnny Football to step in and be Bucky II and I must be the only person in the state that is concerned about our QB play.

It's not that I don't like Manziel, it's that I don't like the situation - I don't like young, inexperienced QBs.  The three QB candidates have a total of 5 career pass attempts between them and we will be facing some of the top defenses in the country week in and week out.  I'd be worried if we were facing Big 12 defenses.  We'll have to see how this one plays out.

Regardless of all of that - the one thing we KNOW.....this will be the most uptempo team we've had - Sumlin is going to squeeze as many plays in as quickly as possible. Frankly, I'd advise you to take a look at all of the passing and receiving school records now just so you remember those player's names in 4 years when they've been obliterated from the record books - Manziel or whomever.  Keep in mind that at UH last year, under Sumlin and Kingsbury, Case Keenum threw for 5,600+ yards and 48 TDs last year.  Jerrod holds the CAREER record with just over 8,000 yards and 67 TDs.

Should be interesting.

Defense:

Our defensive line scares me.  You always hear how SEC football is won in the trenches, and frankly, I don't think we are big enough and we certainly aren't deep enough.  I like the guys we have - Spencer Nealy, Johnathon Mathis, Damontre Moore - but  none of them are big time SEC defensive linemen....or at least have not been yet.  Behind them is....crickets....not much experience from guys who haven't been able to crack a solid but far from great starting unit.

Think back to our last few games against SEC opponents and how their OLs just overwhelmed us. 

In our last 6 games against SEC opponents we gave up 1,100 yards rushing (Arkansas throwing for 500+ against us last year skewed that number because they didn't run the ball much because they didn't have to) and two of our top three tacklers in each game were defensive backs (no DLman finished in the top 3 in any of those games).

Well, I don't thing this DL is particularly better than any we have trotted out in any of those seasons.

The linebacker corps brings back all the starters (Steven Jenkins, Jonathan Stewart, and Sean Porter) but the backups are all VERY inexperienced [Donnie Baggs (Soph). walk-on Justin Bass (Soph. walkon - brother of Ben), and Michael Richardson (Fr-T)].  Porter is the most heralded of the group - I'll be interested to see how he stacks up against other SEC linebackers when it's all said and done.

The defensive backfield is our strength....but we all know that your DBs are only as good as the DL is at putting pressure on the QB.  We lost corners Coryell Judie & Terrence Frederick as well as 4 year starter at safety, Trent Hunter.

We are very young at corner but very talented.  Deshazor Everett (Soph), De'Vante Harris (Fr-T), and JUCO transfer Tremaine Jacobs look to join Dustin Harris at corner.  Floyd Raven will also be in the mix very heavily - maybe even more so than Harris.

Steven Terrell and Steven Campbell look to start at safety with Johntel Franklin (JUCO) and the versatile Tony Hurd Jr backing them up.  Heck, returning starter Howard Matthews isn't even on the season opening 2-deep.

It is really interesting to see how the new staff is using the 2-deep as motivation.  Matthews, Raven, Shaun Ward (LB) & Brandon Alexander (DL) are all guys who are probably a bit surprised that their name didn't appear on the 2-deep when it was released on Thursday.  I sure was.  How they respond to that perceived slight is going to determine their success in the program.

Sumlin has said repeatedly that the best will be on the field and there are a whole bunch of freshmen's names and numbers that we're going to be frantically looking up on our rosters during the first couple of weeks.

Special Teams:

This is somewhat of a concern.  First of all, how do you replace last season's Groza Winner/NFL Draft worthy kicker?  You can't - our FG unit is clearly going to take a step backwards but it looks like Fr-R Taylor Bertolet has won the job out of the gate.

Our punting hasn't been anything to write home about since Justin Brantly graduated.  This year the incumbent (whoa - that is political term usage.....and that's as much as you'll ever see here) Ryan Epperson has held off Drew Kaser, who has a huge leg but is wildly inconsistent, again.

I am excited about Trey Williams returning KOs - that could be exciting.  And it looks like Dustin Harris will be back fielding punts.

Special teams has been a big killer for us for the better part of a decade and I hope that Sumlin and Brian Polian can get this unit turned around from a detriment to a positive.

One interesting note is that senior Ben Bredthauer who has been our deep snapper for the last three seasons has disappeared from the roster at some point over the last two weeks and Jake Matthews is the #1 guy on the depth chart.  Just something to keep an eye on.

To date, Sumlin has met or exceeded every expectation I had for him. 

Frankly, he has been damn near perfect.  He assembled a high level coaching staff, his recruiting has been outstanding, he has come in with a little bit of a cocky demeanor, he has said all the right things, he understands the school's culture, he has put an emphasis on marketing and public perception, has been on almost every talk show and college football program in the country, and he has embraced the move to the SEC.

Basically, he has dominated the off-season.

We're about to see how he does with the other 50% of the job.  It's football season, my friends. 

WHOOP!

Keep Maroon Out

At the end of June I called the 12th Man Foundation to get away game tickets and I was mildly surprised to find out that I could still get Auburn tickets (which I did) but that the SMU game was the first one that we had sold out of our ticket allotment.

I was also a little surprised when I found out last year that SMU didn't want to sell the home game site rights to Jerry Jones to be played at Cowboy Stadium or to the Cotton Bowl, where they could fit twice as many fans in the seats and charge significantly more for tickets.  They wanted to have a big name opponent come play on campus to show their alumni base that they're serious about football.


As a result, I knew that the game would sell out because Ford Stadium only holds 32,000 but I was probably more surprised that it was the first away game to sell out - I mean, we're playing at Auburn, at Ole Miss, and at 'Bama.  Then again, it makes sense because very few Ags can make more than one big away game but I bet most can make one big away game and squeeze in a game in Dallas.

So, now I am on a quest to find tickets to the game for me and my brother, Sean.  I made a call to SMU's athletic department to inquire about season ticket prices.  My ticket rep, Gregory, shared that they had two mini-season ticket packages - one for $50 that included the TCU game and one for $90 that included the A&M game.  I then asked what a full season ticket cost.  $99.

Wait, for $9 more I could get ALL the games?  Yep.  I told him thank you and that I would call him back once I ran it all by Sean.  Sean is a smart kid and obviously he agreed the full season ticket route was the way to go.

I called Gregory back the next day and was informed that they were no longer selling season tickets to A&M fans but I could buy the mini-pack for $90.  I said, "Well that means I can't recoup my money back by selling the TCU ticket.  What if I hang up and call back and when I do, I'm no longer an A&M fan?"  He informed that that wouldn't work.  Stupid caller ID.

His explanation was that they wanted SMU fans to have access to tickets for games and they were getting inundated by A&M fans ordering tickets.  They want fans in seats for all  the other games.

This, in my opinion, is a simple problem of supply and demand.  First of all, the fact that SMU season tickets cost as much as the just A&M home opener is a sign that SMU fans aren't really knocking down the door to get tickets to see their Mustangs play.  The SMU fans don't care as much as the A&M fans do.  If they did, not only would there be no season tickets left for me to buy but the price would be significantly higher.

Also, if you were only concerned with getting SMU fans into the game then you wouldn't be offering a mini-ticket package to Ags.  Really, you just want to be able to control the market share of tickets for the TCU game, who is your biggest rival.  If Ags buy up all the season tickets, and therefore all the TCU tickets, it is the Ags who will turn around and sell the TCU ticket and make the money.

The first solution would be to raise the season ticket price to create a larger gap between the mini-pack and the season ticket price.  Another solution would be to give the 12th Man Foundation a significantly larger number of tickets to distribute.  Ags would rather pay a little bit of a premium and be able to sit with other Ags.  That way you don't also lose out on your TCU tickets.

The problem there is that you lose all the guaranteed ticket sales for the other games in the mini-pack/season ticket.  You can sell 20-25,000 tickets for every game of the season and it just be mostly empty or you can sellout one game, probably sell out a second game, and then hope that Southern Miss, Memphis, and Tulsa have a lot of kids with huge families from Texas on their rosters and want to come see them play.

It's a noble effort you're trying to make but your fan base doesn't care enough to come through and reward you for it.  Shoot, I'm willing to bet that a big portion of your actual SMU season ticket holders are going to try to sell their A&M ticket to pay for the rest of their season.

I read an article online yesterday that said, "season ticket sales at their highest level in a quarter century".  As a new SMU season ticket holder, I say "You're welcome."

BTW, if anyone is looking for a great deal on two tickets for 5 of SMU's 6 home games, I know a guy.

The Big Reveal

 

Sorry, my intention was to post once we saw the uniforms yesterday....but I passed out in excitment/anxiety/elation as I was logging onto my computer.

I have really liked the uniform we've worn for the last year and a half so beyond hoping for a matte finish on the helmets I wasn't really sure I wanted to change.

That said, I really dig the new unis.  They're a modern twist on the 1970s/Emory Bellard style uniforms.

Helmet:

I've been wanting a matte finish on our helmets since I saw Mizzou first wearing it in 2009 against Kansas.  These new maroon helmets aren't quite matte but at the same time, they are certainly not the normal glossy finish - I would almost call it a candy finish. 

It's that candy paint, 84's,
Belts and buckles, chrome and grill.
Leather seat, stitch and tuck, TV screens and wooden wheels.
Suede roof, neon lights, four tires swang and bang.
Tops drop, blades chopped, fifth wheel just hangin mane.
White Tees, fitted hats, Jordans under dickies. (dickies)
That Swisher sweet, cigarillos filled up with the sticky. (sticky)
The 15's bammin' and the bass kick... kickin.
Cadillac doors slammin on them 44's, tippin.

Basically, they are awesome.

We also have a white helmet, similar to the one we wore in '09 (against Arkansas and OU).

I really like grey facemasks, but I'm a little surprised that there is so little grey elsewhere to go with it (like grey pants).  I think it looks much better on the white helmet than our maroon one did in '09.

The helmet also features an SEC pennent sticker on the back as well as one of the new block aTm outlined by the State of Texas (which I will refer to as aTm/SoT).

Tops:

Let's start with the biggie.  The SEC logo.  It is glorious.

The biggest buzz creator I think has been the beveled numbers.  I cannot stand our beveled block aTm logo so my initial feeling when I heard about the numbers was negative - but when I saw them they weren't as bad as I had imagined.  The bevel is grey on both uniform colors so it is much more visible on the white tops because it stands out more strongly on the maroon font.

We've got two stripes running from the collar down the sleeve that carries on down the undershirt sleeves.  This is a pretty clean retro look. 

It appears that our weekly 12th Man representative will have a 12th Man logo on his undershirt sleeves - it is a little cluttered and busy.  I orginally thought it was on everyone's sleeves and I wasn't really into that but since/if it is just on the one player's arm that makes it much more purposeful and actually highlights one of our coolest traditions - you and I both know that every single announcer will zero in on that on kickoffs and talk about it ad nauseum.

We did keep the small font size with TEXAS A&M on the front from last season, although the font is just slightly different.

I think what looks more odd than the bevel is the size of the numbers (proportionally) on the front of the uniform.  They look to be about 20% smaller than they have been.  The text above the numbers is the same size so if you compared it to one of last year's jerseys you can see how much smaller the numbers are.

On the back, just below the collar there is a block aTm logo.

Bottoms:

 

 
Nothing too crazy here.  There is a single stripe down the outside of the leg - and if you followed the two stripes down from the arm, the single pant stripe lines up between the two arm stripes.

At the top of the stripe, on the hip, there is the new aTm/SoT logo

Etc.:

From a performance standpoint they are apparently 30% lighter than the jerseys that were already 30% lighter when they were introduced 1-1/2 years ago and the cuts are supposedly better for the players.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING: The recruits all gave glowing feedback - an overwhelming number were really high on the all whites combos.

Next Up: Actual football?

Got the Itch

July 10th, 2012 - I just got my annual itch for college football.

We're talking about fiending so badly that I'm squinting for 10 minutes stretches at tiny little teaser 200x200 pixel images trying to decipher what our new uniform is going to look like.....

.....only because my aging eyes can't squint at a screen any longer than 10 minutes stretches without my peripheral vision starting to go blurry.

They're releasing the new uniforms on Thursday.  Full size images.....I hope.

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH.

I think I'm going to have to go pick up my Phil Steele magazine today.

Early Summer Update

Who am I kidding, the only reason I'm posting right now is to celebrate.

Yesterday, July 1st, 2012, Texas A&M officially became a member of the most prestigious league in the land, the Southeastern Conference.

It has been a long, long road but I think that the fan base's excitement and enthusiasm clearly shows how much the wait was worth.  I think the buzz right now tops any other time I can think of since I started school.

Coach Sumlin is currently cleaning up on the recruiting trail which brings even more unbridled enthusiasm.  He has brought a flair of confidence back to College Station that we haven't seen since prior to our current commits were born.  He loaded up the staff with recruiters and has sent them out to do some damage.  Everyone loves to see his now famous "YESSIR" pop up on their twitter feed....because that happens when he lands another commitment.

Interestingly, Tommy Tubberville, who has to be the happiest guy ever to be on the hot seat, must be really surprised at Sumlin's success.

"I think there's a lot of kids that's going to want to stay in the state of Texas and play, and that's going to be probably 10-12 guys that could have gone to A&M that stay in the state, so you're going to see a lot more teams go to that area, which we already do," Tuberville said, "but you're going to see more of a presence there."

Huh?  Someone get that man a map. 

How far would a Houstonian have to travel to attend all of A&M's games?  3,534 miles.  How about to see all of the red raider's games?  5,989 miles.  I'll do the math for you tech fans.....it's a difference of 2,455 miles. Give it up Tubbs - even you are better than that.

Getting into our games?  That's going to be tough because tickets.....well, there aren't any.

We sold out our season tickets at Kyle Field and I was fortunate to be able to secure tickets to the game at Auburn.  What is the hardest ticket to come by?  The SMU game in Dallas.  Yeah, seriously.  The problem is that SMU isn't selling the game to the highest neutral site bidder and their stadium only holds 32,000.  Season tickets for the Ponies are only $100 a pop so that might be the best way to go.

All of this ticket commotion has pushed another issue to the forefront.  Expansion of Kyle Field.  They don't really know how they want to do it, but it's coming.  It looks like one of these three scenarios will play out:

• Build a new stadium off campus
• Knock down Kyle Field and build a new stadium in it's place (forcing us to play our home games in Houston/Dallas/or San Antonio for a season or two)
• Add onto the current stadium in segments 

I honestly haven't really done my due diligence and really read up on this like I feel like I should have....but I just can't wrap my head around having to travel to all of our home & away games.  That would suck.

This next topic is getting glossed over way to much by me but let me assure you that it is very important.  Bill Byrne announced last month that he was stepping down from his position with one year remaining on his contract.  His replacement was named on Saturday - former South Carolina AD, Eric Hyman.  This is a big move by our administration, going out and picking a big time guy from a big SEC school - one that has had tremendous success in the last few years.

I'm excited.  You're excited.  Let's bring on some Aggie football!  WHOOP!

Oh yeah.....ding dong the witch is dead.....the BCS is gone and in 2014 we will be going to a 4-team playoff to supplement the bowl games.  Finally!