Ags Beat Up on Sam, 65-28

The Sam Houston weekend should have been just a blip on the calender....one that we don't remember anything 5 years from now other than, "Yeah, we crushed them."

Thankfully, my weekend was better than that.  One of my best friends, who I met in grad school, flew down for the weekend.  Jennifer, myself and him met up with one of our other best friends (and his wife) on Friday night for dinner which really could have lasted x3 as long as it did.

Saturday morning was an early rise for my son's 4-year old soccer game (he scored twice and had the team's first assist of the season) and then it was up to College Station for our old pre-game ritual of Wings'N'More.....mmmmm.

We had to find a place to park, which was a difficult task, and then met up my father-in-law and his wife, who graciously shared their extra seats with us.

It actually started to rain in the first half, which was actually quite comfortable.

We scored on our first possession, and then Sam matched with a Tim Flanders TD run (x2 Southland POY).  On our second possession we got into a 1st & goal and Johnny got picked by the linebacker as he tried to hit Cam Clear up the middle.

Flanders finished the day with 170 yards and 2 TDs on the ground and another 33 yards and a TD through the air.  He gave us fits.

We ran a handful of end-arounds to Quiv throughout the game, which is something I expect they showed so Bama would have some film on it - then McKinney & Spav will put a wrinkle in it.

Sabian Holmes had a nice game, scoring his first career TD and picking up 60 yards on 5 receptions.  Mike Evans is still a beast - with another 155 yards on 7 receptions and didn't take a snap beyond the 6 minute mark of the 3rd quarter.  Ja'Quay Williams also had a great game with two highlight reel catches, including his first career TD.

The running backs continued to split the load pretty evenly - Malena had 9 carries for 68 yards and a TD, Tra Carson had 9 for 51 and two more TDs, and Brandon Williams made his debut with 7 carries for 37 yards and a receiving TD (Trey was out with that ankle sprain).

B-Will's TD was met with big smiles and hugs for the excited running back in his first action since 2011.

Johnny made a huge effort not to run, so he threw for 426 yards and 3 TDs (he also came out with about 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter). 

He did have one run worth mentioning.  On our fourth possession we were somewhere near the 20 yard line and he started to scramble.  As he approached the goal line a DB came up to hit him and Johnny dropped his shoulder and completely bulldozed him.  Unfortunately, he stepped out of bounds at the 1 yard line so Malena had to finish off the drive with his TD run.

Johnny also had a 6 yard TD run on his final drive and he got hit by a SHSU player in the endzone 4 or 5 steps after crossing the goal line, which really should have been a flag.  You could see him bow up and start to get fired up, but he thought better of it and got himself out of the situation.

We did get to see the debut of Kenny Hill.  There is really only one word to describe our introduction to the true freshman QB.....Wow.

On his first snap, he hit Ja'Quay streaking down the left sideline on a beautifully thrown ball and then his second snap was a laser to Travis Labhart for a TD.  2 plays, 51 yards, 1 TD.

At one point in the fourth quarter the defense has 3 non-freshmen on the field (of which, one was the walkon playing as the 12th Man).

After the game we walked around campus reminiscing and then made the hike back out to the car and took off towards Koppe Bridge for a burger.....but they closed at 10 and it was closer to 11pm.  Thankfully, Chuy's doors were still open so we grabbed a seat, ate, and then toughed out the late, late drive home.

For a weekend whose game was just a placeholder on the schedule, I had a really great time.

Depleated Ags Defeat Owls, 52-31

First of all....THANK GOD IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON!

We darn near missed kickoff....for the second season in a row.  It seems we either underestimate how long it takes to get all the way up to the third deck where our seats are or we are in denial over how out of shape we are.

This is a game where most of the talking points will come from after the whistle blowing.

Let's start with the suspensions.  After the mid-week announcement regarding Johnny, we knew that we would be missing him for a half and CB Deshazor Everett for a half.  We also knew we were going to be missing DT Kirby Ennis and S Floyd Raven for the entire game.

Then late Friday there were apparently some rumors that were substantiated just prior to kickoff that WR Edward Pope, CB De'Vante Harris, DL Gavin Stansbury, and LB Steven Jenkins would all be suspended for two games for "violating athletics department rules and regulations."

For those counting at home that meant that SIX defensive starters would be out.  We lined up to start the game with only two players in our starting lineup with more than 1 career start (Obioha & Matthews). 

Howard Matthews and Harderick Walker (started as a true freshman at DT) both left the game with injuries. There was an extended period of time in the second half when the 12th Man was actually on the field.

There were more red-shirts burned than burgers at the tailgate.  Thirteen defensive players make their first appearance for A&M and I counted a total of nineteen on both sides of the ball after re-watching the game at home.

Offense:
Tra Carson (TR), Cam Clear (JUCO), Quiv Gonzalez, Ricky Seals-Jones, Jeremy Tabuyo, Ja'Quay Williams

Defense:
Jay Arnold, Darion Claiborne, Noel Ellis, Tavares Garner, Isaiah Golden, Daeshon Hall, Jordan Mastrogiovani, Tommy Sanders (JUCO), Alex Sezer Jr., Tyrone Taylor (RS),  Hardreck Walker, Shaan Washington, Jonathan Wiggins

Usually when you have a lot of inexperienced guys out on the field there are still experienced players on the field to help pick up the slack.

Not this game.  This was like a spring game for Rice where their 1st team offense went against our #2s and #3s.  Typically, these young players are seeing 8-12 snaps at this point in the season - IF they're even seeing the field.....but these kids played at least 2/3 of the game before being replaced with equally experienced true freshmen.

To the Owl's credit, they took advantage, accumulating 31 points on 509 yards (306 came on the ground).  They went heavy with the option - Stephen McGee style - and our inexperience was not disciplined enough to stop them.

The biggest thing that I saw that hurt us was missed tackles.  There were at least a half-dozen times when I thought we had them wrapped up for a loss and they ended up picking up a 1st down.

I will say that I thought Tremaine Jacobs played well in Harris' absence and I thought that despite a few missed assignments, Darion Claiborne looked really good

Did Brandon Alexander see the field?  In a game where we were COMPLETELY decimated in terms of depth, I thought it was very telling that in his third year in the program Alexander didn't see the field.  I think we saw the writing on the wall but this, in my mind, was all but the pink slip.

I'm not sure what to think about our defense.  There was certainly a level of concern going into the season about the front seven but Saturday didn't lessen or worsen that fear.  Honestly, barring a miraculous, stifling performance against Bama, I don't think we'll have a true feeling for the defense until Arkansas/Ole Miss.

The special teams were a mix of highs and lows.  Kickoff return and coverage were poor.  We didn't have a fielded punt (Travis Labhart was back returning for us).  Taylor Bertolet was outstanding - as much as he made me cringe last season, I have to give him credit - he was 7/7 on PATs and hit a 44 yard FG.

The other special teams bright spot was Drew Kaser.  What a leg.  He AVERAGED 62.7 ypp on 3 punts. 

Matt Joeckel played well in the absence of Johnny.  His first drive ended in punt but the second drive was a 10 play, 75 yard march down the field that ended with a nice Ben Malena TD run.  We scored 28 points on eight possessions.  Joeckel had 190 yards and a TD on 14-of-19 passing.

The running game was strong with Ben Malena and Tra Carson (transfer from Oregon) leading the way.  Malena had 82 yards and TD on 12 carries while Carson had 76 yards and 2 TDs on 14 carries.  Carson ran strong and will be a nice compliment to Malena and Trey Williams.

Trey Williams got tripped up on a KOR on our second possession and looked to hurt himself.  He came back in the game just before the half but I saw him with sunglasses and no pads in the second half.  According to his Twitter account, he has suffered the dreaded high ankle sprain one of the slowest healing, most nagging injuries a back can pick up.

Mike Evans had a nice afternoon with 84 yards and 2 TDs on 6 receptions and Ricky Seals-Jones made a splash with a 75 yard TD reception - but he hurt his knee on the play.

When Johnny entered at the start of the 2nd half the stadium predictably erupted.  Johnny gave a nice little salute to the student section and then took off running on his first two snaps before overshooting Derel Walker in the endzone and getting sacked.  Taylor Bertolet cleaned it up with that 44 yard FG.

On his second drive, Tra Carson toted the rock twice before Johnny scrambled for 8 yards.  It was following this scramble that Johnny got a bit chirpy with the linebacker that hit him (#46). Then it was directly following this verbal exchange that Johnny went right back at LB #46, who was attempting to cover Mike Evans, for a 23 yard TD pass.

On his last drive, he hit Evans again in the endzone on a scramble and after the play two Rice players were jawing with him and he pointed to the scoreboard.

He was flagged for that.  It wasn't even like he was up in their face, or even pushed anyone.

The only reason he got flagged for that was because he is Johnny Manziel.  You can't tell me that was the first time someone had the audacity to call "Scoreboard" when an opponent was running their mouth in a blowout.  And only one of the two officials thought it was worthy of throwing a flag.

He's also getting criticized for his OVO hand gestures during his TD celebrations.  If you don't know what I'm talking about you probably remember them from every game he played in last year....or you could watch the Clemson/Georgia game and see Taj Boyd doing exactly the same ones.  Except Boyd isn't getting hammered by the media for doing it.  The same media who were analyzing (deeply) Johnny's every facial expressions on the sideline during the first half as they cut to him in between every single play.

Stephen McGee jawed at opponents - he was beloved for it.

Shoot, everyone loved Johnny for it last year but now it's taboo?  Every highlight reel I saw from last season featured the clip in the Miss St game with him "opening his shirt" Superman-style after a TD.  That drew a flag too.

He has what every single football fan, and coach, and broadcaster wants a team to have.  That silly word that didn't even exist 15 years ago.  Swagger.

This is big time football.  It isn't his job to be a role model. It's your job to be your own kids role model.  This isn't instructional league where we don't keep score and everyone gets a juice box and animal crackers when the clock hits 0:00.  You don't get your feelings hurt in DI football - you have to stop the opponent to make them stop.

As Dan Hawkins said, "IT'S DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL! .... IT AIN'T INTERMURALS!"

I never thought I'd ever be quoting Dan Hawkins, but he was right about that.

Here is what I am taking away from the game regarding Johnny:

• He took 18 snaps and we scored 24 points.
• Re-read that line above
• He threw 3 TDs on eight pass attempts.
• He had 113 yards of total offense, despite starting with the ball in field goal range on three of his five drives.

We did have the ball once more and it was Joeckel that came back out with the offense to run out the clock.  Sumlin didn't feel the same way as I did about the "incident" and he made it clear in the post-game interview that Johnny wasn't going to be coming back in the game after that penalty.

I was surprised that we didn't see freshman Kenny Hill get any action at QB.  It will be interesting to see how the coaching staff handles him moving forward.  Joeckel might have shown enough to keep the redshirt on Hill.

There was one more bit of controversy in the game.  Late in the 4th quarter, Deshazor Everett hit a receiver going over the middle.  Had the receiver caught the pass nothing would have been made of it, but since the ball skipped off the receiver's fingers Everett was flagged with "targeting".

Starting this season, a targeting flag isn't just a 15 yard penalty, it is an ejection.  And if it happens in the second half of a game, the player is suspended for the 1st half of the next game.  Goodbull Hunting has a great article that lays it all out.

Deshazor did not hit the receiver in his head or neck area - it was square in the chest, nor did he lead with his helmet - it was all shoulder. In fact, the WR (who happened to be Gary Kubiak's son) tweeted out:

Even after all of that, we beat Rice soundly with a final score of 52-31.

Next week should be fairly drama free since the game is going to PPV, so ESPN won't be there to sensationalize everything.



Side note, Clemson looks like they are for real.  They're 3-1 against the SEC since the start of last year with wins over #6 Georgia (on Saturday night) and #9 LSU (in their bowl game last year).

Ag Football Preview: Rice Owls

Surprisingly, we haven't faced Rice since 1995 as the SWC came to an end.  It was an annual match-up where in A&M won twenty one of the last twenty two meetings (fifteen consecutive).  Rice has literally not beaten A&M in my lifetime.

The series started back in 1914 and this will be the 80th meeting between the two teams.  That makes the last 17 year absence so much more surprising to me.

The Owls are not a historical powerhouse.  They're just historical.  Their best run of football was the 9-year stretch from 1946 to 1954.  They went 9-0 against the Ags. and won three of their seven SWC crowns (four shared titled).  They also played in three bowl games during that stretch (they have played in only five since).

In the mid-50s, it was Rice who, threatened by what newly hired Bear Bryant was building in College Station, turned him in to the NCAA for recruiting violations, although they themselves (and any SWC team of the era) were just as guilty.

Owls celebrate upset over A&M (1957)

It was also just the day before the Rice game in 1957 that the Houston Post leaked that Bryant was going to be leaving A&M to go to Bama - and it was just enough distraction to allow the #20 Rice Owls sniff out a 7-6 win over the undefeated Ags after six A&M fumbles.  A mere two wins away from a national title.  Rice went on to win the SWC and play in the Cotton Bowl.

Rice was obviously one of the schools left for dead when the SWC dissolved but it was good for them, or at least for their record.  They played in the WAC from 1996-2004 and then moved to their current affiliation with C-USA in 2005.

I don't even have the heart to give you a current picture of Rice Stadium - it's really sad.  At one time Rice Stadium was a jewel of college football (it hosted a Super Bowl for Pete's sake) but now it is just old, empty, dingy and sad.  The running joke is that there are more seats in Rice Stadium than living Rice Alum.  Frankly, it's probably not a joke - there are 70,000 seats and a total enrollment of ~5,000 students.

As I was looking for picture of Rice Stadium, I realized that my first college football experiences occured at Rice Stadium.  I remember going to a handful of games with my Dad when I was a kid - I remember a game against UH (but only because I vaguely remember the program cover).  There was another we went to with a couple of my buddies and we were given football cards with Rice players on them and we just looked at the cards all game.  I also remember being at Rice Stadium and my Dad pointing out Bevo to me - it might have been the same game we got the cards) and we were sitting at almost the exact angle of that picture above, but much closer to the field..  Looking at their schedules, the game against the horns had to have been either 1989 or 1991.

Interestingly, the most vivid memory I have of Rice Stadium as a kid was the men's room.  The trough urinals had to have been 40 years old at the time and there was one big one in the middle of the room and one on each wall flanking the middle one.  I don't have any recollection of any people being in the men's room, but I'm pretty sure it was my first experience with a trough urinal and I was pretty horrified by the prospect of it.

More recently, the Owls have had a little more success than the previous 45ish years.  They played in the New Orleans Bowl in 2006 and then the Texas Bowl in 2008.  Then last season they knocked off Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl to finish on a five game win streak to end the season (7-6 overall).

The MOB (Marching Owl Band) will not be making a trip to College Station this season, which is a little bit of a disappointment.  The MOB is a scatter band and their routines are typically parodies and skits - some clever and some toeing the line of offensive.  They're slightly better than the football team.

I'm not going to dive too much into the current Rice squad.  You can find that information elsewhere.  I will say that they will be without a couple of their key defenders who are out via suspension or injury.

One of my favorite things to do when we play a team like Rice is to go through their roster and look for interesting facts

• Sr CB Alex Francis had four uncles who played in the NFL (including Lamar Lathon). I hope for his father's sake those uncles are all on his mother's side
• Freshman TE, Robbie Wells III, is broadcaster Jim Nantz's cousin
• Texans HC Gary Kubiak's younger son is on the roster....and apparently, Gary Kubiak's brother-in-law is SHSU head baseball coach, David Pierce
• Larry Edmondson (Passing Coordinator/QB Coach) lettered at A&M and graduated in '83
• DC Chris Thurmond coached at A&M during the Fran era as a CB coach ('03-'05)....remember when you were always yelling at our corners, "TURN AROUND AND LOOK FOR THE DAMN BALL!" and the clinic's put on by Larry Fitzgerald and Austin Flynn (!?!).  That was under his tutelage.

Frankly, even if Johnny doesn't take a snap, we should beat Rice by double digits.

The Verdict

One half of a game.

What a joke.

Here is the official joint statement from the school and the NCAA:

COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Texas A&M University and the NCAA confirmed today that there is no evidence that quarterback Johnny Manziel received money in exchange for autographs, based on currently available information and statements by Manziel. Due to an inadvertent violation regarding the signing of certain autographs, Texas A&M declared Manziel ineligible and submitted the following conditions for reinstatement to the NCAA:

• A one-half game suspension for Manziel

• Manziel will address the team regarding the situation and lessons learned

• Texas A&M will revise its future education concerning student-athlete autographs for individuals with multiple items

Based on the information submitted by the university, the NCAA accepted the conditions as put forward by Texas A&M. If additional information comes to light, the NCAA will review and consider if further action is appropriate. NCAA rules are clear that student-athletes may not accept money for items they sign and based on information provided by Manziel, that did not happen in this case.

If last season was any indicator, he wasn't likely to play more than about a half anyways.

What is Good for the Goose....

Why is it that it's kosher for photographers to sell pictures of NCAA student athletes to media conglomerates who turn around and slap the picture on the cover of their product with sole purpose of selling more of that product?

Weren't those pictures taken with the knowledge that someone was going to profit off of the student athlete?

And then the same media conglomerate gets to turn around and create a witch hunt in an attempt to destroy the same athlete they just used to sell magazines.





Also....How many guys have been on the cover of SI twice in one month?

Pre-Season All-SEC

The SEC coaches voted on the Pre-Season All-SEC team.  UGA's QB, Tyler Murray, was voted 1st Team All-SEC at QB.

Thank you coaches.

A lot of writers and publications are doing all of their pre-season rankings, etc. and are leaving Johnny off completely because of his "unknown status".  The coaches can't even play that card - Johnny was voted 2nd team.

Jake Matthews was named 1st team, Mike Evans was named 2nd team, and Deshazor Everett was named 3rd team.

Murray didn't even make an All-SEC squad at the end of 2012 and somehow he leapfrogged the 1st and 2nd team winners from last year (McCarron was 2nd team).

Sixteen of Bama's players made one of the three squads....they only have twenty-two starters.  They should probably go ahead and get sized for their rings now.

2014 Schedule Released

Today the SEC released the 2014 season schedule.

Thurs. Aug. 28 - at South Carolina
Sat. Sept. 6 - tbd
Sat. Sept. 13 - tbd
Sat. Sept. 20 - at SMU
Sat. Sept. 27 - vs. Arkansas (Dallas)
Sat. Oct. 4 - at Mississippi State
Sat. Oct. 11 - OLE MISS
Sat. Oct. 18 - at Alabama
Sat. Oct. 25 - tbd
Sat. Nov. 1 - LA-MONROE
Sat. Nov. 8 - at Auburn
Sat. Nov. 15 - MISSOURI
Sat. Nov. 22 - tbd
Thurs. Nov. 27 - LSU

 Our 2014 road trip will be 'Bama

• South Carolina on Thursday night to open the entire football season....and is also the first game shown on the new SEC Network.  Clay Travis wrote an outstanding article about the importance of this....basically, Slive is just brilliant.
  
• Arkansas at Jerry's World on September 22nd....the week after we are scheduled to play at SMU?  I'd be mildly surprised if that SMU game didn't get shuffled somehow.  For me, it works out fine because I have family in Dallas - but I don't know if they like me enough to put me up for back-to-back weekends.
  
• Really wish we could have squeezed a bye or the La-Monroe game in just before Bama
  
• Our Bama game falls on the 3rd Saturday in October.  I'm pretty surprised about that.  Easily the toughest ticket for away games....the rest of the road conference schedule isn't very sexy so I think most will make an attempt at Tuscaloosa.
  
• For the love of God!  No more Mizzou.  Please.  This will be the 5th consecutive year we've played Missouri (the 4th time they've traveled to Kyle Field in that span).  It is a shame that we continue to get stuck with our old conference mates when there are so many other teams from the east that we would be dying to play.
  
• Coming off a bye.....LSU at Kyle Field on Thanksgiving night. R-O-C-K-I-N-G.
  
• There are still two slots remaining to fill - most likely Sept 6 & 13th