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PencilPusher

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  1. While I do get the tremendous respect for the Purple Wizard, context is always key when it comes to K-State. This is only the 2nd time in the Big 12 Texas rolls into Manhattan as a favorite, the other of course being 2006. The other trips there UT has ranged from small to big underdog and in almost all cases (except 2002), K-State was the better team (as has been pointed out UT did not play them during Mack Brown's 5 best seasons - 2001, 2005, 2005, 2008, 2009). In fact, Snyder has only beaten UT once as an underdog - 1999 when Texas was a slight favorite at home. That was the infamous "Apple Turnover" game and that Wildcat team was loaded with NFL talent like Darren Sproles. Point being is that Snyder's teams have largely beaten Texas when they were supposed to and lost in the last few years('13, '15, and '17) in Austin to Texas teams that they were evenly matched with or lesser than. (I still can't explain Ron Prince though). That being said, this is one of the worst K-State teams in a while and they look like they don't have very many dudes. Watching them play Miss State was painful and although I didn't see the WVa game, it sounded like it could have been 56-3 had WVa not been so sloppy with the ball. However this is college football and there is a path to victory for KState as follows: On offense, I would expect KState to roll out with Alex Delton and feature a lot of QB run game, opportunistic RPO's, and a game plan designed to get yards in small to medium sized chunks. They want to find themselves in 3rd and 4 type situations repeatedly. KState needs to possess for 36+ minutes and they want 10+ play type drives that even if they don't result in big points each time, they take precious time off the clock and keep Texas offense off the field. They want to be in the game in the 4th quarter where Texas could give up a big play that could result in a win for them. Keeping the UT offense off the field and limiting the number of plays run will force UT to be more perfect on offense, which Texas hasn't shown it can be that consistent for 4 quarters. They should want to see if Texas has earned anything since Maryland. On defense, KSU will absolutely sell out to stop the run, especially since they don't have the dudes to stop the run in standard and light formations. If they come out in standard or light box looks, Texas could roll up 250+ on the ground pretty easily and that is not a path to victory for KSU. So load the box, win on first and second down and put Texas in 3rd and long situations. UT is only 38% on the season on 3rd down conversions. KSU is giving up close to 50% on the season, but if they consistently get the offense in 3rd and 7+, they will do better than that number. We will know what kind of game this will be in the first 20 minutes. Roll out to a 14-0 lead early forces them out of their strategy and may push them back to Skyler Thompson and an offense Texas can easily defend. If Texas struggles early, strap in for a tight game into the 4th quarter. At rough glance, they should have the advantage on special teams........Texas gave back a lot against TCU that puts UT at average to below average for the season. Good news is Texas hasn't faced a team that has had exceptional special teams nor played exceptionally in the game itself. Will any of this happen? Hard to say. K-State will have to play its absolute best and hope that Texas is sluggish and makes the kind of mistakes made against Maryland. Anything short of that, Texas wins easily. Texas also played pretty well in hostile environments last year (USC, ISU, WVa) so I don't think going on the road should faze this team.
  2. Time for Bud Light to roll these out locally because your Houston Texans have become the new Cleveland Browns.
  3. I'd pay good money for seats by the beer can on the recliner as long as it came with unlimited refills. Need to get CDC on that........
  4. Spec's Downtown has Spindletap Houston Haze IPA generally when available and some other Spindletap seasonals. Check their website on the Smith Street location to see what is in stock. If she is going to be downtown, that may be the easiest.
  5. Since we have a whole thread dedicated to Yacht Rock Radio, how about a debut album that defines the yacht rock genre:
  6. My only entre about the Texans is simply this. As long as Bob McNair is actively involved in making ownership decisions, the Texans will continue to underachieve as an organization. I am not sure what Cal will ultimately bring to the table, but I wouldn't expect anything radically different which means the Texans might be screwed until the franchise is sold to different owners. What is astonishing is the fact that the Texans run one of the least innovative sports organizations, not only in the NFL, but in the entire sports landscape, yet share a city with 2 of the most innovative sports organizations in the entire country. The Astros might be the most innovative in MLB and the Rockets certainly are one of the most innovative organizations in the NBA. The Texans could easily go to school on what a team like the Astros did in terms of talent identification. Sure, they obviously had high draft picks that net Carlos Correa, George Springer, and Alex Bregman, but they also were able to identify gems like Charlie Morton to fill out the fringes of their roster (and the story at how they evaluated Morton was interesting)....something the Texans are at best average at. My guess is that there is an arrogance that pervades the Texans organization because Houston is at heart a "football town" and people keep showing up to the games. Plus, they have starts like JJ and Deshaun and we just need to tinker here or there to be successful. Meanwhile, they can't identify offensive line talent to save their lives. While it isn't Cleveland and Jimmy Haslam bad over on Kirby Drive, it is more just "average" with a few moments of glory. These franchises have never won a Super Bowl: Bills, Browns, Bengals, Jags, Titans, Texans, Chargers, Falcons, Panthers, Lions, Vikings, Cardinals. With few exceptions (Vikings being the most prolific), those franchises have largely been the dregs of the NFL in the Super Bowl era. The bolded teams have never even been to a Super Bowl. Yep, when you keep company with Cleveland, Detroit, and Jacksonville, you are part of the dregs of the NFL..
  7. So I guess when Texas starts these projects under CDC's leadership(South endzone, FEC replacement, etc.), we will see a spike in revenues as well? Long as it doesn't look like a Kroger storefront, we cool.
  8. The Scene: CDC's lush wood paneled office, Monday morning CDC: Tom, good morning, come on in. You know that my mantra to all my coaches is that I always ask how I can help Tom: Yes? CDC: Well, I am taking it a step further and proactively providing that help. Tom: Come again? CDC: Consultants Tom. I've hired 2 of the best to help.... Tom: But I don't need any help......don't forget I'm MENSA CDC: Yeah, yeah, yeah.....but you don't get a tweetstorm directed at your account after every game nor do you have to hear Red McCombs go on and on about some cat named Gruden. I know I get paid the big bucks to deal with this, but you get paid big bucks too. Now before I have to go beg for donations to buy out your contract, you might want to consider listening to these guys....they're the best Tommy......the best! Tom: Fine CDC: Come on in guys. (the Two Bobs enter) CDC: I'll let these guys take it from here.......think Red is calling again. Bobs: So, Mr. Herman......you weren't in a band called Herman's Hermits were you? Man, they were into something good I tell you. We celebrate their entire catalog, along with Michael Bolton....greatest voice ever. Anyway..... TH: I am not sure I follow, but then again you don't look like you know the game of football, so like many of our fans you should shut up and let the coaches coach Bobs: That remains to be seen if you can coach football but we are here to root out organizational dysfunction. We just came off of a similar engagement at a big tech company in the area called Initech and when we left that place was on fire! You see, there are 3 key things to make sure your organization runs well. You need to: 1. Recruit and Keep Great Talent 2. Have a clear strategy 3. Have great culture We're here to help with that: TH: This is BS. Didn't you see I had the #3 class in the country last year. We're pulling great talent here. Plus, I came here to change the culture and I'd say we've done a damn good job. Plus, our strategy is simple. It the Herman Way or the Highway. Bobs: Yeah, we'll get to all of that over time. Lets start small. You know that little thing called the Tulsa game you had this past week. TH: Sure, that was a win as I recall. Bobs: Yeah, but it wasn't Michael Bolton "When a Man Loves a Woman" impressive. Apparently, you thought so little of the first half you beat up your troops in the locker room and their sphincters were so tight in the 2nd half they could have crapped out diamonds. What you should have been doing was flogging yourself and the coaching staff for not being up more. Let us point out 3 strategic errors that were made that could have lent to a different result. TH: I don't believe we made any strategic errors. Bobs: Nonsense. Lets look at the second drive that ended at the goal line. 3 plays to get it in from the 1 and you can't do it. What in the name of Steve Sarkisian is going on here TH: Well if you look at the 3rd down play our QB screwed up and made the wrong read on the handoff Bobs: So you double down on that same QB and roll him left on a slow developing play on 4th down and force in a pass. Didn't you have the same scenario in the Maryland game last week and failed. You'd almost have been better off just running 2 dive plays on 3rd and 4th down against Tulsa from the one. Personnel awareness is a big part of strategy. TH: Well, we just kinda didn't do a good job there Bobs: Yeah, you kinda didn't. Perhaps you need to tell Timothy Stephen Beckisian to go find his red stapler in the basement. We've also identified a couple of other coaches where we might need to simply fix the errors in payroll and stop paying them because there is no way they are really still employed here right? TH: Well, I don't know about that.... Bobs: Anyway, lets look at strategic error 2. Middle of 2nd quarter. 4th and 2 from the opponents 40. You elect to punt. What were you thinking there. TH: Well, last year I took a lot of heat for going for it on 4th down when my chart suggested I...... Bobs: Really? Thought the fans didn't know what they were talking about. Listen, there is about 20% of every fan base (30% in certain southern regions of our great country) that get mad if you don't call the touchdown play every time. You can't get your feelings hurt by those mouthbreathers. Here are the facts. Up to that point in the game, you are averaging over 7 yards per play. You don't really pick up that much field position by punting and oh by the way, don't have your all-world punter back there and your punt team so far this season has been less than exemplary. So your strategy is to double down on that by taking a 5 yard penalty to give your punter more room and then proceed to watch the kick get blocked. Tulsa is definitely back in the game at this point. TH: Well, I thought punting was a low risk play here...we were up 14. Bobs: Your team lacks a killer instinct and this is why. When you are on your opponents side of the field and out of sure FG range, if the distance to gain on 4th is less than what you are averaging per play, you go for it...always. 4th and 2 from the opponents 40...you shouldn't have to think about it. You should tell your team that is what we are going to do and they should expect it. TH: But what if we didn't make it.....I don't want to have to deal with those dumb reporters from the local paper wasting time on that one play Bobs: Reporters will always ask dumb questions. They don't understand strategy any more than an Aggie understands winning championships. This is a mentality that you need to establish. If you can't do it at home against Tulsa in a low risk situation, how do you expect to do it when it really matters. You need to send the message to the players and to the opposing team and coaches that you aren't here to f around. You looked weak. By the way, the Tulsa coaches also figured that out too late after like the 19th missed FG. They probably don't need to kick FG's unless they are inside the 15 it seems. TH: Yeah....maybe you should be working with them instead of us. Bobs: Yeah...they don't pay as much. Anyway, last item for today. You have the ball back with 1:17 at the 20, 2 timeouts, Tulsa has one. What are you trying to do there. TH: Well, we wanted to test the middle to see if we could get anything going before half. Bobs: Yeah, well it looked like you wanted to run out the clock, even though apparently you weren't satisfied and told the team so at halftime. If you really wanted to see if you could get something going, why not flare something out to the side. You'd been getting 5-7 yards pretty consistently on that. TH: A pass? What if it was incomplete or intercepted. Bobs: If your QB throws an INT on a little swing pass, either the QB or the team is dumber than a bunch of rocks and we will tell CDC that it would be a waste of time continuing to engage us because there is no hope. Even if it was incomplete, Tulsa only has 1 time out so you could kneel it the next two plays and should still be able to run out enough clock to ensure Tulsa doesn't have a shot to score. Plus, they've already proven they can't really kick FG's. Situational awareness. TH: That's dumb. What if we were in the same exact score scenario against USC this week. Bobs: They're USC. If you are up 21 in the first half with 1:17 to go and they are down to one timeout, then by all means do what you did. I think we all see there is a big difference between Tulsa and USC and you might want to play each differently. Point is, against a Tulsa you should be more aggressive so you get things on tape that other teams have to plan for. TH: Well, we won so... Bobs: Yeah, you won but didn't close the deal like you should have......you aren't related to a Ken Giles are you? You spent some time in Houston....ask Astros fans how they felt about that dude coming in to close things out. Anyway, that's enough for this week but we are going to be watching you this season. CDC (re-enters); Thanks Bobs..... Tom I'd listen to these guys.....they'll let me know if they think you are a straight shooter with upper management written all over you. Now if you will excuse me, some dumb fan just tweeted me about adding a dude on a jet pack to our pre-game experience.......I don't like the sound of that...... ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In all seriousness, we can use this thread to discuss and monitor signs of organizational dysfunction within the team this year. I pointed out 3 seemingly small strategic miscues that appear to be a symptom of a larger issue within the team (situational awareness) that either the coaching staff figures out or doesn't. As an analyst at heart, I can't just shout "Tom Herman Sucks" from the rooftops....I need to understand why things are happening and whether or not there are discernable trends that either support or refute the current line of thinking. (and I love contrarian scenarios). Oh and of course if you are from the TL;DR crowd, then the message above is: "Everything is Awesome!"
  9. Commenting in the Ranking all 131 Van Halen songs thread, I raised the question about iconic debut albums, arguing that Van Halen I was on that list. So lets hear from you about what you think some iconic debut albums were. Besides Van Halen I, I also threw out the Cars debut album, "The Cars", which could function not only as their greatest hits album but also really encapsulated the American new wave sound of the late 70's. What say y'all and also share why you think it qualifies.
  10. Totally agree with this......it is my favorite VH song. Others in that panopoly of great VH songs: Runnin' Eruption/You Really Got Me Panama Hot for Teacher Feel Your Love Tonight Yes, they are all from either VH I or 1984, other than Unchained. 1984 was the second cassette tape I ever bought and I wore the shit out of that tape. Because of 1984, I went back into the VH catalog and discovered the greatness of VH I. We probably should have a thread for iconic debut albums by bands. "VH I" and the "The Cars" would be 2 of mine.
  11. When I saw the score last night, figured the rubes would be pounding their chests and they didn't disappoint. Figure that it makes sense to douse the aspirations of the rubes by pointing out a couple of things: 1. Jimbo aint built shit in his career as a head coach. He was the HCIW for 3 years while FSU tried to ease out Bobby Bowden. They never had a losing season during that time (though the record books show it due to vacated wins). This is his first attempt at starting from scratch. While he could build A&M into something, it ain't a given and can't be based on past experience because he didn't build FSU from the rubble so to speak. It is definitely a tougher build in B-CS. 2. Only 2 coaches in the modern era of college football (post WWII) have won titles at 2 different schools. Both are current coaches and you know them both - Saban and Meyer. You have to significantly discount Meyer's OSU title though because he walked into a talent rich environment that had a 6-7 gap season between the Tressel firing and the Meyer hiring. There was however nothing to rebuild. Meyer thusly went 12-0 in his first season and won the title the next year. So that leaves Saban who did have to rebuild Bama. Do we really think that we should utter the words Saban and Jimbo in the same sentence. With all of that to consider, the exuberance that is being exuded from College Station is mildly amusing given that these rubes wouldn't have a clue as to how a championship could even be built, much less the folks in charge. So it is theoretically possible that Jimbo could meet expectations (which are outrageously high). Of course it is also theoretically possible for me to walk but on my back porch and find <insert hot model name here> sunbathing topless next to the pool. But I ain't holding my breath.
  12. Think OSU should hire this guy to do PR and this is the first thing he says to Urban......
  13. When we would make our annual beach pilgrimage to Corpus from Austin in the late 70's through the mid 80s, we would always eat at Ship Ahoy the first night. Can't remember if it was any good, but it always signaled a few fun days at the beach were ahead.
  14. We're talking with Elaine Benes, adult film star on the set of her new picture "Elaine does the Upper West side"
  15. Of course he is. His father was a mudder. His mother was a mudder. Loves the slop....eats the slop.
  16. Damn, if the Texans are playing in the ACC championship game, I'd give them better odds to beat Clemson or whoever comes out of that league.......
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