NCAA Football 2009-10 PreSeason

[mccoyrj]

[rant]

I was in school for five football seasons (1990-1995). We didn't lose a home game in any of those seasons. It's surreal what's happened to our program since then.

The "facilities race" is just nuts. We've been spending money like crazy, and it still doesn't seem to help in recruiting. Somehow TX Tech and TCU now have better programs than us, and their stadiums are dumps.

We are supposedly broke. Texas deregulated tuition in 2003 and cut funding to its state schools. Tuition has more than tripled since then. We've had our funding cut again, and we're actually laying people off. That *never* happens at a university.

Every year individual departments nominate staff members who have done great service over the last year. The colleges pick a set number of winners and awards each of them a $1,000 "meritorious service award." They did away with the program this year because it would look bad to be "wasting money" during these tough times. They did this after the winners were notified. I am one of them. I will actually get the check at the beginning of FY2010 (September), but it still pissed me off.

Where this is going is that the Athletic Department has justified its crazy spending by the fact that it is self-sustaining. However, it was revealed a couple of months ago that they took a $16 million "loan" from the university several years ago, which they have not paid one cent on. A&M can't afford to give staff members $1,000 but can afford to give the Athletic Department $16 million?!? The department has since announced that they are laying off 17 people so they can start paying back on the loan. One of them is a friend of mine whose wife is fighting cancer. She's in the middle of chemo treatments, and he is having to worry about finding another job on campus so that he doesn't lose his health insurance.

I guess what I am getting at is that I don't really give a rat's ass about our football program these days. I haven't been to a game since 1996. I spend my Saturdays on the sofa watching whatever game DirecTV with Sportspack and GamePlan have to offer my beautiful 52" Sony Bravia. If A&M is on, then I'll watch, but I don't even read about them in the paper any more.

[/rant]

I feel for you. It's a shame not seeing A&M up there among the elite teams in the Big12, but what the staff are going through is even worse. It's hard to believe that things have gotten so out of hand down there in College Station. Major heads need to role and someone needs to get in there that knows what they're doing. Is Byrne the problem?

 

[hancox]

Except that some of the "majors", don't exactly play a tough schedule *cough*SEC's sun-belt-OOC-schedule*cough*.

Fixed for you

 

[Will94]

I am not sure what the problem is. When the program was slipping under RC, I thought that he had gotten lazy about recruiting. When I was in school, we had top 5 recruiting classes every year. I supported firing him because the program had gotten stagnant, and I never thought that he was a great coach. He was great at creating a game plan during the week, but I didn't think he was very good during the games. We were seemingly always "out adjusted" at half time.

I wasn't thrilled about Fran as a hire. I thought that he showed a lack of character to his players at Bama in how he left. As I understand it, that move was pretty much dictated by Lowry Mays (founder of Clear Channel, A&M former student, and a major athletic donor). Mays had actually flown to Alabama and met with Fran in September of 2002. RC had received an extension and a raise a couple of years earlier, and we needed a major donation to help pay off his contract. I can't imagine that Byrne wasn't on board, but Mays was a major factor in hiring Fran.

I never liked the style of defense we used under Fran. We went from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and then to a 4-2-5. I liked it when we were "linebacker U." He had a resume though, so I was willing to give him a shot. Unfortunately, by this time, Texas had become a major power as well as OU, and we were losing all of the best recruits to them. Fran still had consistent top 20 recruiting classes. I don't know why we under achieved so badly. It is just inexcusable for Texas Tech and TCU to have better programs than us!

Mike Sherman's hire was, I think, an attempt to hire someone with ties to RC Slocum. The worse we got under Fran, the more popular RC became. I found that to be a weird hire in that Sherman had spent something like two seasons here as an assistant under Slocum, and he, in my mind, was clearly an NFL guy. That's when I wanted to hire Muschamp.

Sherman has only had one season, so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

As far as Byrne goes, he is very unpopular. My season baseball tickets tripled in price his first three seasons here. He has also done a number of things that I consider to be absolutely classless. He is so greedy that he did away with Boy Scout day at Kyle Field and Little League day at Olsen Field.

I am undecided as to whether or not, my personal feelings aside, he is a good AD. He has built a basketball program from nothing and baseball is about where it was when he took over. We won national championships this year in golf and men's and women's track. On the other hand, the football team has been a disaster under him, and I can't name a single athlete in any of the three sports in which we won championships. BTW, we hired our current men's track coach away from LSU.

 

[mccoyrj]

Sporting News Poll is out....

Here's their top 10:

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Ole Miss
6. Virginia Tech
7. Oregon
8. LSU
9. Ohio State
10. Oklahoma State

I agree with the placement of the top 4, but from there on...

Kickoff 50 days away: SN counts down the Top 100 - Sporting News - College Football - Sporting News

 

[Ramy]

Kentucky is #61 Whooo hoooo!

 

[HD MM]

Here's their top 10:

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Ole Miss
6. Virginia Tech
7. Oregon
8. LSU
9. Ohio State
10. Oklahoma State

I agree with the placement of the top 4, but from there on...

Kickoff 50 days away: SN counts down the Top 100 - Sporting News - College Football - Sporting News

tOSU #9! I like it! Still room for improvement though. Us Buck-Nuts like to compete for a National Title each and every year.

 

[Derwin0]

Kentucky is #61 Whooo hoooo!

You must be proud.

I'm actually shocked to the Wreck up to #11. That early matchup with the Hokies should be interesting, Go Jackets!

 

[SabresRule]

Notre Dame, Army to play at Yankee Stadium in 2010 - College Football - Rivals.com

What do you think of this?

 

[Derwin0]

Notre Dame, Army to play at Yankee Stadium in 2010 - College Football - Rivals.com

What do you think of this?

If Notre Dame wants to play teams with the caliber of Army, they should just go ahead and join the Big East in football.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

MICHIGAN is #38? Sounds a little optimistic.

 

[Jimbo]

MICHIGAN is #38? Sounds a little optimistic.

Actually, I think it's reasonable, they should be better in the second year under Coach RichRod

 

[Hart5150]

Here's their top 10:

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Ole Miss
6. Virginia Tech
7. Oregon
8. LSU
9. Ohio State
10. Oklahoma State

I agree with the placement of the top 4, but from there on...

Kickoff 50 days away: SN counts down the Top 100 - Sporting News - College Football - Sporting News

I think the fact that the Rebels have an established qb in Snead and LSU has uncertainty at that position gives them the pre-season advantage as the favorite in the SEC west and thus the higher ranking.

Now as far as Oregon & Virginia Tech being in the Top 10, that is laughable.

 

[HD MM]

Notre Dame, Army to play at Yankee Stadium in 2010 - College Football - Rivals.com

What do you think of this?

Meh. The Bronx doesn't exactly strike me as a college town. This just won't feel right.

 

[hancox]

Kentucky is #61 Whooo hoooo!

Trailing you-know-who

 

[Ramy]

Trailing you-know-who

Not for long.

 

[hancox]

If Notre Dame wants to play teams with the caliber of Army, they should just go ahead and join the Big East in football.

...or join the SEC, so they can take on the mighty Sun Belt.

 

[Will94]

...or join the SEC, so they can take on the mighty Sun Belt.

The SEC is strong enough that they don't need to play anyone out of conference. Their schools' SOS is always strong by the end of the season.

 

[Ramy]

The SEC is strong enough that they don't need to play anyone out of conference. Their schools' SOS is always strong by the end of the season.

:up:up

 

[hancox]

The SEC is strong enough that they don't need to play anyone out of conference. Their schools' SOS is always strong by the end of the season.

...and so spins on the self-fufilling prophecy. It USED TO BE the same thing with the Big East basketball conference, when Georgetown (especially) would play the little sisters of the poor 15x OOC.

I'm not saying there isn't any truth to this, but it's hard to prove or disprove something where there's little evidence either way.

A disproportionate number of OOC home games and loading up on creampuffs will always make your record look good, and the conference games may justify everything, but it's a shame.

 

[salsadancer7]

Why do they rank team when they have yet to play a single game....much less a decent team?

Rankings are USELESS until you have played some decent teams and at least halfway into the season. I have seen in the years, teams ranked in the top 10 to start the season and be completely out of the rankings by mid season.