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burdine

Burnt Ends
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Posts posted by burdine

  1. 4 hours ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:



    The Red Raiders appear to be more in the actual, REAL  NIL game than do the Aggies. Jimbo's still trying to figure it out, apparently.

    Pretty solid move by Tech.  Transparent as to their NIL effort.  Also, by everyone getting something respectable probably helps the locker room.

  2. 33 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

    Those teams all had quality line play. And we will have very bad line play

    LSU OL was actually pretty mediocre.  They made it work.  Our QB situation seems much less experienced.

     

    Now I am totally in favor of upgrading our OL if those prospects are in the portal because it does seem pretty helpful.

     

    But LSU does show it can be worked around at a high level.  

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  3. I'm happy to root for Sark and the team to succeed.  I don't think Sark was a slam dunk hire and I don't think he is an automatic disaster either.  

    He knows offense and is a good playcaller.  If he can keep recruiting up and get the defense fixed then he may succeed.

    I don't think success or failure is written in stone yet, though I do think more coaching hires fail than succeed.

    In the era of the portal, hard ass coaches might not even work well anymore.  Who knows?  Things change.

    Also, I don't recall a lot of unanimity that there were obvious better choices available.  In hindsight, Brian Kelly looks gettable and a more proven hire.

    Personally, I just enjoy rooting for the team and the coach to succeed until they have proven they can't.  I know some are already there and they may be right.

    I remember being all in on Gary Barnett back in the day.  Since then, I recognize it's really difficult to know how a coaching situation will play out.

    Also, FWIW I think the two new coachees seem like steps in the right direction.  It would have been better to get the first staff right though.

     

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  4. 2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

    I don't follow what you're asking about here? The alumni base getting interested in cheating? No, I don't think that will ever change. I've talked to enough folks about it over the past few years and I feel like it's a multigenerational philosophical agreement. I include myself in that bunch, really. I don't want UT's brand attached to scandal and iniquity, and I want the academic side to always carry weight in conversations.

    The first thing people will ever think of for Alabama is football. Same for OU, Clemson, LSU, etc. Florida's doing its best to get there. That's simply not what informed business professionals gravitate to first mentally when it comes to Texas, USC, Virginia, Michigan, Notre Dame, UW, etc. I'd be pretty conflicted if I were a UNC or Duke alum, given their prestige in the academic realm and the counter of the weight of the basketball brand for each. 

    Anyway, NIL remedies the qualms about paying players. Now you can play players for their brand and effort around that, above board, and with a straight face. Let the fuckfaces continue to toil in the dark with the corner cases while the majority of the game begins to get played in the light.

    Very well said.

  5. 38 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:


    Probably, because we’d likely beat OU. But during the losing streak we were among league leaders in 3 and outs. That played a part in exposing this defense.

    That doesn't explain the Kansas loss either where their putrid offense drove the length of the field multiple times in the first half on our defense.

    Or the multiple 3rd and longs given up to Jarrett Doege and West Virgina.

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  6. 16 hours ago, Codaxx said:

    That is where Texas was last year. There can definitely be some improvement there. Ewers may make mistakes, but I think his overall play will be better than the disaster we saw at Qb last year. Defense only needs to be a consistent speed bump to be better than last year, you would have to work hard to make it worse. 

    Looks like we will be rolling with another first year starter at QB, no experienced portal OL, and uncertainty at WR besides Worthy.

    It might turn out great but I think it's a good bet the offense stills shows quite a bit of inconsistency next year.

    That's not a knock on Sark.  The offense was reasonably productive last year at times yet also inconsistent.  It's sort of where we are at given the lack of experience in his system.  Ewers wasn't even here last year.  Almost all the OL additions won't be here in the Spring.  That just seems like a setup for not taking the next step on offense right away.

    We were above average in scoring offense already last year.

    Defense just has to get better.  We don't lose much production because there wasn't much to lose.  Hopefully, a few key additions and a year of continuity in coaching pays off.

    FWIW, out of conference schedule of Bama and UTSA could be bumpy too.

    However, I would guess Iowa St, Okla St and OU all take steps back so Big 12 looking a bit easier maybe.

     

     

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  7. 19 minutes ago, tokamak said:

    The problem in Texas is infighting between the systems. Damn near everyone agrees that Texas needs more top-tier public universities. But no one can agree on which ones those should be. It's not as simple as the UT system saying "ok we're going to pump up UTD, UTA, and UTSA", because you have aggy, Tech, UH, etc all pitching a fit and trying to throw a wrench in the works. It also takes a lot of commitment, patience, and especially money devoted to higher education. No CR, but those aren't really top priorities for the state government.

    I think one of the biggest factors in why all these kids from Texas suburbs go to SEC diploma mills is because they offer much more of a traditional college "experience" than most of the in-state schools. And yes, sports is definitely a part of that. The UT system schools and UH are fine academically if you're comparing them to fucking Ole Miss, but they're commuter schools. Tech offers a traditional college experience, but it's roughly the same distance from Houston as Fayetteville and Oxford, MS.

    Driving distance the same but Lubbock is probably an easier flight from Houston.  Arizona schools are a pretty easy flight too.

    The hard part about the SEC schools is they aren't mostly near big airports.  Tuscaloosa is a loooong drive.

    We will be going down this path in a couple of years.

  8. As an Old, I will miss a small school being able to compete every now and then with the bigger schools.

    Hell, personally, I still miss the SWC.  Glad to get Arky back btw.

    I just don't see things going backwards and players do deserve to be compensated.

    It's also going to be impossible to regulate everything to be fair to every kid.

    Given that, it seems like a roughly free market should do the best job at allocating the $$$ over time.  Sure it will miss on some and over compensate others, but what scheme would legitimately do better??

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  9. The conference path should be a little easier next year.  A lot of Big 12 teams had extra depth/pieces this past year due to the extra covid year.  Bowl results also show the Big 12 had a solid set of teams this year.

    The offense won't be hitting on all cylinders but it should be pretty good a lot of the time with the occasional misfire.

    We were also probably a little better then 5-7 this year given we had substantial leads over quite a few good teams.

    The defense needs to improve a lot year over year for us to contend.

    I think getting the defense right in the next 2 years most likely makes or breaks Sark's tenure here.

     

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  10. 55 minutes ago, The Deuce said:

    So, in theory, the “haves” essentially are given a farm system, correct? Assuming the NIL goes the way we want it to, and we become the gold standard, you let others take the recruiting risk and then snag them once they are developed. You essentially take who you absolutely want while recruiting, but no longer take any as a flyer. Use those extra roster spots to snag developed talent to fill any holes/weaknesses, and the NIL already in place is the magnet used for them to choose us. Staff analysts whose sole job it is to identify current talent on other rosters and then backchannel them here. Sounds good

    Bama is doing this now.  They have such a good track record of putting guys in the league that it's an easy sell.

    We need to start putting guys in the league again.  Hopefully, this staff really is a developmental staff.

    I have quite a bit of hope on offense.  Defense seems a long ways away.

  11. Sark is probably most comparable to Mackovic.

    Solid offensive mind that will likely get that side of the team going in the right direction.

    With this type of hire, the DC is the most important position.

    Mackovic failed at this part of his job but he left Mack some great pieces to work with.

    Sark is off to a pretty rough start.

    One last thought:  Maybe the question to ask is not "Is Sark the guy?" but "Can Sark be the guy if we get him the right DC?"

    I will feel better if big changes are coming to the defensive staff.  However, the tea leaves show disappointment I guess.

     

  12. 21 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

    fair enough but perceived culture and development woes should limit a championship level coach to 7-8 wins in a 12 game season, not 5-7 losing to Kansas seasons.

    he's getting 4 years unless he tosses another 5 win season out there again.

    Let's dig down a level from 5-7 or we lost to Kansas.

    I think except for Bijan and Worthy, we can agree on a pretty limited offensive roster.  With one offseason, and no solid starting QB, we put up these offensive numbers.

    Also, except for WR, we have a solid influx of offensive talent incoming.

    I think it's reasonable to say the offense is headed in the right direction.

    The defense is a terrible mess.  They underperformed the talent on the roster by a lot IMO. 

    It is Sark's job to fix it.

    If he doesn't he fails here.

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  13. 8 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

    fair enough but perceived culture and development woes should limit a championship level coach to 7-8 wins in a 12 game season, not 5-7 losing to Kansas seasons.

    he's getting 4 years unless he tosses another 5 win season out there again.

    Also, I saw some bright spots on offense, Sark's specialty, despite limited personnel to help keep me patient.

    Just looking at wins and losses in the short term is outcome oriented thinking.  That works well with a lot of data (multiple seasons, cue CTJ with Sark's UWub and USC records) which I don't think we have at Texas.

    IMO, Sark succeeds or fails on if he can get the defense playing right because I think the offense is headed in the right direction.

    Despite a need for continuity, I'd like to see defensive staff changes to better align that side of the staff.

  14. I think there is merit in taking some things off Sark's plate like strength and conditioning, some defensive strategy stuff, self scouting stuff, etc.

    Saban has built an off the field machine that supports the on the field machine.

    If something like that is the vision and GP is a good fit, then I could see that.

    I would be very happy with GP as co DC or DC for sure.

    If I'm Sark, I might not be thrilled about GP's long standing relationship with my boss however.

    Best I can tell, Sark has solid support among Hartzell and Eltife.  I don't see why they would let a culture/personality "grenade" go off in their signature athletic initiative.

    So if they are sold, then maybe the kinks have been worked out.

    For a football GM role, I'd probably prefer someone from Sark's  background with Carroll or Saban.  I'd also prefer some defensive staff changes too.

     

    Overall, I'm still in the camp that one year is not enough time to judge changes in culture and development which have plagued our program. Most coaching hires fail at this level, but I think it's too early to call it especially given our long standing culture and development woes.

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