SB Nation User Blog: miketag

Nothings Gonna Stop Us....

miketag — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:27:48 -0000

The geniuses at EDSBS linked a video to the beginning of Fisher Deberry's Air Force Football show circa 1986. Reminded me of a video I saw a while back that I thought everyone would appreciate in this slow time of the offseason. You cannot replicate the greatness of mullets and David McWilliams in the same video.

Aggie Recruit Named Indiana Gatorade POY

miketag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:51:47 -0000

Aggie Recruit Named Indiana Gatorade POY

Future object of every male softball fan's fantasy is named Gatorade POY for Indiana.

A&M Finishes 13th In Sears Cup

miketag — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:32:02 -0000

A&M Finishes 13th In Sears Cup

When considering the Sears Cup Standings, I am always reminded of Mark Twain's quote about "lies, damn lies, and statistics." I do not understand how they come up with these rankings, or why in some of our worst years on the field we have finished higher in the rankings, and vice versa.

Surprise Player Of The Year?

miketag — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:17:56 -0000

Every year you have a player step up and surprise everyone by the way he plays. Last year it was Trent Hunter, who made an immediate impact and is now one of the top safeties in the country. Who do you think will be the surprise player for the Ags this season? My vote goes to DE Matt Moss. I think Kyle Mangan may surprise many with how effective he is at MLB, but Moss just jumps out at me as the guy who will make the most impact. Every time I saw him on the field last year, he was giving it his all and showing an incredible motor. He played so well in his limited snaps on the field, I wondered why he did not receive more playing time.

Moss enters the season as a starter and I think he is going to surprise many with how effective he is at getting into the backfield and pressuring the QB. If Von Miller has the type of solid season I expect (around 6 sacks with 12-13 TFLs) then I expect Moss will to benefit from teams concentrating on containing Miller.

If Moss can give us solid pressure from his DE spot (i.e. 4 sacks 8-10 TFLs), then we will turn the defense around sooner rather than later. Other candidates for players who could surprise include the aforementioned Mangan, OG Matt Allen, OT Lucas Patterson, S Jordan Pugh, and DT Rod Davis.

Who do you think will be the surprise player of '09?

Predictions for the season/A&M game?

miketag — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:14:17 -0000

Welcome to the SBNation. Your blog looks great! You guys are doing a great job and are a great addition.

Just curious as to the expectations for your upcoming football season. Are y'all expecting a bowl? Division or conference championship? What aere your thoughts on the A&M game at Jerryworld? How are tickets selling up there?

Right now there are too many questions from both teams for me to get a handle on the game. I expect A&M to be much improved over last year, but have no idea how many wins that will translate to. Right now I have the A&M vs Arkansas game as a tossup.

Bob Stoops Gets a Raise

miketag — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:37:46 -0000

Bob Stoops Gets a Raise

We all know what this means, Mack Brown is about to get a raise too.

Scouting the Bayou Bowl

miketag — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:23:28 -0000

FInally got around to watching my DVR of the Bayou Bowl, which pits Texas HS All Stars vs. Louisiana HS All Stars. The Texas team won 17-14. There were four Aggies in the game all playing on defense: Stephen Barrera, Kirby Ennis, Stephen Campbell, and Colton Valencia. Barrera played DT for the entire game. Ennis lined up next to him at DT but also moved around to DE some. Campbell and Valencia played safety.

Barrera is definitely an OL in college. He plays too high to be a DT. The bright side is that he is at least a legit 6'5. He may be 6'6. By my count, he ended the game with 3 tackles including two tackles for loss. He was much more effective in the second half. He has the body of an OT.

Ennis reminded me a little bit of Eddie Brown. Although not quite as explosive as Brown, he was very active and spent much of the night in the Louisiana backfield. Ennis ended the night with 6 tackles including 3 for loss and two sacks if you count the last play of the game as a sack. The Louisiana QB was attempting to spike the ball to stop the clock. The Louisiana OL was not ready and Ennis burst into the backfield and caught the QBs leg to trip him and end the game. Ennis had two plays where he ran RBs down from behind. He showed great hustle and was very active. I would not be surprised to see him see the playing field this year. The only question is where you play him. I think he will eventually be a DT for us. If he is only 240 right now, he is probably not physically ready to contribute at DT right away. I will let the coaches figure it out. The good thing is that we have an active defender who should be able to disrupt things at the college level.

Campbell had the hit of the night when he came up to support then\ run and blew up a RB. I had him with two tackles including one tackle for loss. He looks like he will be a safety in college and should be able to help us right away. He is not afraid to mix it up and support the run. At the worst, I would expect him to see time on special teams for the Ags.

Valencia returned punts and muffed the first one he received but recovered it. He did nothing to report in the return game after that. He got his hands on a would be interception late in the game, only to collide with the Louisiana WR who took it out of Valencia's arm. It was tough to get an impression of what he was capable of in this game. Looks like he can play the ball well in the air.

Ran Into Wendell Housely '69

miketag — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:40:47 -0000

I was eating breakfast at a Plano restaurant this morning when a friend of mine recognized one of his old high school classmates and called him over to the table. Turns out that this friend of a friend was none other than Aggie RB Wendell Housely who scored the TD to put Alabama away in the 1968 Cotton Bowl. Housely scored from 20 yards out to put the game out of reach. Housely was the 17th round selection of the Minnesota Vikings in the 1969 NFL Draft. Had a chance to chat with Wendell a bit and he said he still makes it down to Aggieland for a lot of games. Said he is a supporter of Mike Sherman and thinks that he is going to get the program back on track. I was lucky enough to be able to get in a pic with Wendell. I am the one on the left obscured by the sun.

Why Tech Will Return To Being Tech

miketag — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:48:26 -0000

Last season we watched as Texas Tech put together their greatest season in the history of the program. They won 11 straight games and vaulted all the way up to #2 in the national rankings. College Gameday was in attendance at two Tech games in a row. Tech was deemed nationally relevant for the first time in recent memory. With the departure of Michael Crabtree to the NFL, and Graham Harrell to graduation I expect Tech to regress back to the program that we have all grown to know and love.

You know what I am talking about. I am talking about the 7-8 win team who can pull off an upset one week only to lose to a much inferior team the next week. In '09 Tech will resort to being a middle of the road conference team with a 4-4 or 5-3 record in the Big 12, and the bowl appearance that a record like that demands. Michael Crabtree made Tech capable of standing toe to toe with any team in the country. In Crabtree they had a WR who no DB could cover one on one. If you doubt how important Crabtree was to Tech, go watch the portions of the game that Crabtree missed because of his dinged ankle last year. Tech goes from being an offensive machine, to a good spread team that can go three and out just like everyone else. Detron Lewis is a heck of a college WR and will put up 1000 yds receiving this season. He is no Michael Crabtree.

Taylor Potts is taller and does have a stronger arm than Graham Harrell. He does not have the experience that Harrell had. It remains to be seen whether he has the inherent leadership qualities that Harrell had. Speaking of Harrell, I think the guy can be a good NFL QB. I think in order to get there, he needs to go to the CFL first a get a few years of seasoning against top competition so he can come in as a starter like Jeff Garcia and Warren Moon did. Wasting his time as a 4th QB on a training camp roster will get him nowhere.

Tech is at its best when it has experience on the OL. They lose three OL from last years lineup. Potts will have to deal with more pressure than he was accustomed to in his mop-up role last season. The pressure in addition to the usual first time starter mistakes will lead to turnovers which will lead to losses. Tech has to play tu in Austin in '09 where they will actually call holding on the Tech OL. No one enjoyed watching Tech beat tu last year as much as I did. However, if you watched the game, you know that the Tech OL held the tu DL like few have seen before. That will not be the case in Austin this year.

Even if McKinner Dixon becomes academically eligible (which I fully expect he will), the Tech defense has to deal with the loss of their best pass rusher to the NFL. It is not like the defense was a rolling ball of butcher knifes last year, especially at the end of the season when it got rolled over by OU and Ole Miss. Tech will have to outscore people this year much as they have done since Mike Leach arrived. They should be successful at that 7-8 times in the regular season in '09.

If you go 7-5 and go to a bowl game at Tech they give you a contract extension. If you do that at A&M, tu, or OU they talk about replacing you. Tech fans need to realize that last season was one for the ages where everything came together for them. No one in the Big 12 played defense, and with Harrell and Crabtree (not to mention role players like the smurf) they had one of the best offenses in the country. They were able to ride that offense and momentum to 11 wins. Kudos to them and I hope their fans enjoyed it. Now they will resort back to being the middle of the pack Big 12 program that they are.

Best All Star Game Performance?

miketag — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:34:42 -0000

The Big 33 game is on the NFL network today. That game matches up All Star high school players from Ohio vs. All Star players from Pennsylvania. Every Super Bowl has featured at least one participant from this game. This got me to thinking, what was your favorite HS All Star Game performance? Mine would have to be watching Reggie McNeal will his team to win the 2002 THSCA All Star Game. Who do you remember the most?