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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. It's crazy how much more accurate field goal kicking has become in my lifetime. I looked on that list for who is the highest percentage kicker that retired before 2000. It's Nick Lowery, at #75.
  2. Again, you're still overreacting. I saw the thread come up. I read the last few posts. I thought we were talking about Texas as kicker U. You didn't give a lot of context in your post. Sorry not sorry if I missed what you were referring to.
  3. If we're only talking NFL, btw, the clear 3rd choice is Phil Dawson.
  4. Overreact much? My gosh, if I gave a rat's ass what you thought about me, you might have hurt my feelings.
  5. Well, Erxeblen if we're talking college. Minus a few fraud charges here and there.
  6. I'm sure Bukauskas is going to be outstanding, but I don't understand why we don't simply go after the best punter prospect in Australia.
  7. To be clear, I was being a jerk about those Greg Davis offenses.
  8. I remember the days when we were sandbagging on offense until the OU game. And then we sandbagged for that game, too, just to be safe. One thing I will tell you, when I rewatch the game and I'm watching an offensive lineman consistently getting beat, and then I look closer to see who it is, and the number 79 seems to come up often, that's not about Sarkisian preparing for later on in the season. That's a guy who is challenged to perform the task that has been assigned to him. What I don't know is what's going on in practice? What kind of struggles is Neto Umeozulu demonstrating? Is the witness protection program Nate Kibbles apparently entered into that effective? What happened with putting Robertson at center and moving Hutson over? Maybe Stroh is simply the best option in terms of splitting snaps with Umeozulu, but his future acumen isn't being demonstrated to these laymen eyes. All I know is that when Hutson and Stroh are lined up next to each other on the interior, I don't feel like right now that's a lineup geared for success. And I don't think it has much to do with Sarkisian scaling up the offense. That said, I do feel like he is going out of his way to give Arch Manning passing reps. I also wonder if Manning is being told to go through his progressions rather than taking off. I have some mixed feelings if that is the case, and I don't know if it is anyway. I still think the main thing that's not being executed consistently enough is Manning getting the ball into the receivers' hands, and the receivers actually holding on to the ball when he does so. Also, the offensive penalties were not helpful. When your average down and distance is 3rd and 9.7 yards to go, that's not good. Against San Jose State. My hope is that we see improvement in that aspect tomorrow. I do know there are a lot of people on this board who are more down on this team than I am. I continue to hope and expect great things from these guys. Sure, they'll need to show improvement to do it, but we're two games into the season. We have UTEP and Sam Houston State, then let's see what we look like in Gainesville. If we look like hammered shit against Florida I'll have some serious concerns about the season. But I've always pointed at that as a healthy barometer for what kind of progress has been made from the opener until then.
  9. I feel like game threads are their own animal. Part of the reason to participate in something like that as a collective is to have an avenue for cathartic release instead of simply screaming into the ether. The cray crays on those things also provide a benefit to the rest of us by allowing us to realize as emotionally unstable as we are when the team isn't meeting our expectations, "at least I'm not as bad as THAT guy," whoever it is.
  10. Yeah, I have mixed feelings. I love Kahahawai. I do think she should have transferred if she wanted a post collegiate career. Game reps matter. But she loves it here. I hope it pays all kinds of dividends to her both on and off the court. But Spears is a rock star. For long term purposes, I'd prefer she closes out sets. But we have success with it. Dunno. Like I said, mixed feelings. It'd be great to close out her career with a ring. 3 national championships would not be a bad way to spend your collegiate career.
  11. Yeah, Gary regularly looks like she's heading to the concession stands to go get a ball if that's what it takes. I mean, she just had the amazing play against Stanford, and then follows it up with this. I fell in love with Skinner in 2023. Her backrow attack seemed undefendable at times. I believe she was hitting over .400 off the BIC. She played on the national team that summer, the same way O'Neal had done the year before. I don't really blame the team's woes on her. There was a lot going on with that group. The setter stuff especially was an issue. Remember how slow Skinner started in 2023, primarily trying to get adjusted to Swindle and vice versa? NIL may have had something to do with her coming to Texas initially, but I can guarantee it wasn't any kind of big payday. Even now volleyball players aren't making the same kind of money other women's sports are bringing in, but back when Skinner transferred the whole NIL stuff was in its infancy. Also, she kind of saved our bacon. Remember we had just lost Skylar Fields to USC. That had the potential to be a debacle. Instead we really got an upgrade at the position in all kinds of ways. Look, Elliott has earned all kinds of allowances, so I don't really mean to criticize the guy. But sometimes I feel like we get enamored with who we can bring in, rather than bringing in the right people. Transfers have been such a big part of our success even before the portal was a thing. But I never liked bringing in Wenaas. I hate being critical of her, because she had a really good tournament in 2023, and she always seemed to be a good teammate, but I wasn't in love with her at Minnesota. Watching her as a starter for two years about did me in. And I always wondered about the Carlsen commitment. We just seemed on such a roll at the time. We flipped Ames, which was huge. Got Spears and Vander Wal. Got Harvey. Got Rutherford. Lauenstein announced for Texas. It just seemed like everything was going our way. "In Elliott We Trust." But things just never worked out there with Carlsen, and it seemed to destroy Swindle's confidence. I feel like Elliott took the program culture a little for granted, and thought it would just magically work. I still don't understand Rutherford's year. That was as big a misuse of talent as I've seen at Texas. We were just never able to get her going. I do think handling that NIL stuff can be a distraction. Sometimes Texas kind of puts it on players to create their own NIL opportunities, giving them tools, but expecting them to go out and hustle themselves. Which is kind of how it should work in some ways, but it's tough for anyone to tell when they've overcommitted themselves until after they've done it. In any case, this is the best start we've had to the season since 2022. It's not just about the wins, although those absolutely matter. Those regional host positions are really critical. But it's how the team is playing. Even with the mistakes and errors, it just feels like natural growing pains. There's a joy on the court I didn't always see the last two years - the amazing tournament run excepted in 2023. I missed that. Both Gary and Stafford are home run transfer additions. I don't know how I feel about the Binney/Kahahawai double sub, but it's keeping them involved with the team, and we are having some success there. Binney had a great save on that Louisville play, too, which allowed Gary to do her superwoman act.
  12. Those are all some great memories. That BYU win in particular stands out to me. I believe the Florida match is the one that everyone points to that led to replay because of the ball called out of bounds in UT's favor. UCSB was the Khat Bell speech, lol. Zoe Fleck was on that team! That Washington match was cray cray. It's like they flipped a switch midway through the 3rd set, and just blasted Washington off the floor. A bummer the next match went the way it did.
  13. It's not just the number, although that is impressive. She looks like a legitimate back row defensive player. One handing shit all over the place. For a comparison, I thought O'Neal looked like the best defensive middle I'd ever seen...but she was without a doubt an impressive middle playing defense in the backrow after serving, not a true backcourt player. Stafford isn't Brooke Nuneviller out there, who was a legitimate libero who was a great outside hitter for Oregon. But she would fit in with that Arkansas team from 2023. That Kentucky team we lost to in the national championship had elite level passing. That's another team Stafford would have fit on. I just don't recall any of our outsides being this good on defense. We've had outsides rack up big dig numbers, but it's as much because they're getting picked on as it is they're so amazing.
  14. It's a long season, but I think this Louisville team has the pieces to win a tough ACC. This could easily be a rematch late in the NCAA tournament.
  15. By the way, the Louisville hand sign stand for Loser.
  16. I love this fucking team. I would have loved them win or lose. So much more fulfilling to watch than last year. Thanks for joining the thread to the rest of you.
  17. I think they should make it the players have to stay on the court and the coaches can't talk to them during review calls. I get the coaches using it, but the system can do more to discourage it.
  18. This ref wastes no time on these challenges. That Hawk system makes a huge difference, too.
  19. The whole Carlsen/Swindle dynamic hurt my heart, too. And watching Skinner go from one of the most undefendable players I've ever seen to whatever last year was. Just really like everything this team is about. And there's a lot of upside, too.
  20. Fuck you magical meske timeout. Fuck you. Now 12-11.
  21. Um. I love this fucking team. I know we're down 12-9, and it hasn't always looked pretty, but this is a team that I find easy to root for.
  22. Honestly I'm really grateful for Ames. It felt like we were losing every one on one recruiting battle with Nebraska for a couple of years. It allowed them to build a monster roster. But we competed in the portal. Ames looks so much more fluid early this year than she did as a true freshman last year. She's no slide queen, though.
  23. Yeah, they featured her early on. Showed her next to Elliott's wife and talked about her impact on Halter.
  24. She's really good on the slide, too. She reminds me of how opponents must have felt trying to defend O'Neal. She's a tremendous weapon.
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