Murray Memories

Around Texas A&M, the main topic of discussion today is Kyler Murray, the son of former Aggie quarterback Kevin Murray. Committed to A&M, Kyler (and his daddy) are apparently testing the waters at Texas U. instead. This brings me to my strongest memory of Kevin Murray and the subject of what have you done for me lately?

Kevin Murray had some great games during his tenure as A&M's starting quarterback, and his two best ones were the last two of the 1985 season: a 42-10 win against the longhorns, and a 36-16 win against Auburn in the 1986 Cotton Bowl. Those were classic Aggie wins of great significance.

The last game of Murray's A&M tenure is the one that will always stay with me, though. It was the 1987 Cotton Bowl game against Ohio State, and Murray stunk like shit in that game. He threw five interceptions, two of which the Buckeyes returned for touchdowns in a 28-12 stomping. Kevin Murray made a hero out of Ohio State linebacker Chris Spielman that afternoon. I won't even get into the allegations of NCAA violations, because Murray's lousy performance in his last game by itself was enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth for 28 years. It started an Aggie tradition of stinking up the place in bowl games (especially the Cotton Bowl) that lasted until Sumlin's arrival in 2012.

Hot Weather and Football Fever

The month of June has been a bitch so far. I hate the long (DST) hours of sunshine, the heat, and the humidity. On top of that, I've spent nearly the entire month trying to get things repaired or replaced so that my life will be as comfortable as possible during the long, humid days.

There's one good thing about June --- it's the month when all the college and professional football preview magazines appear on newsstands, and I show my first real symptoms of football fever. Until a few years ago, I bought nearly every magazine available. Now, though, I limit my intake to four national college previews (Lindy, Athlon, Sporting News, and USA Today) and one NFL preview (Sporting News). That's still too much to read completely, but at least the stacks are smaller.

It's not surprising that the magazines all predict Texas A&M will slip in the standings in its first year of post-Manziel SEC competition. Alabama and Auburn are expected to rule the conference, and the Aggies are trailing Georgia and LSU as well. USA Today and Sporting News have A&M ranked 18th nationally, and the Aggies are 29th in Lindy and 34th in Athlon. Nobody rates them higher than 4th in the SEC West, and Athlon has them rated as the 6th place team in the division, ahead of Arkansas.

USA Today predicts A&M will finish the season 9-3 (5-3 in the conference). Athlon sees a 7-5 overall record (3-5 conference). Personally, I'd be delighted with a nine-win season, considering that most of the 2012-2013 offense will be suiting up in the NFL this fall. I have the games against Alabama, Auburn, LSU and South Carolina penciled in as definite losses, and the Aggies would need to sweep the remaining games plus the bowl to attain nine Ws. Realistically, I think 7-6 (with a win in a second-tier bowl) is probably the best I can hope for until reinforcements arrive at most of the O positions and every D position.

Stupor Sunday

Football 2013 finally comes to an end the first weekend in February 2014. The Super Bowl begins at 5:00 PM, and features two western teams, Seattle and Denver, in an eastern venue. I'm struggling with cold symptoms and the weather is gloomy (chilly and rainy), so I'll probably stay inside and watch the game. Unfortunately, the broadcast's on Fox, the trash pile of American televison. I'd enjoy it more if the game was shown on CBS, NBC, or ESPN. 

My brother-in-law lives in Colorado, and is a big fan of the Broncos. I don't have a strong attachment to either team, but in this game, I lean toward Denver (although I liked them more when Elway was their quarterback). Something like a 38-34 Denver win would probably be worth seeing.

Added 7:12 PM same day: Seattle leads 22-0 at halftime. The Seahawks have a big advantage on defense, and it's really obvious tonight. Frankly, based on their futile performance so far, I'm wondering how Denver made it to this game in the first place. They gave up a safety on the first play from scrimmage, followed by two interceptions (one returned for a TD), and turned the ball over on downs on their last possession. Peyton Manning is having the kind of game Johnny Manziel had against LSU in November. So far, this has been a mismatch.

And, as usual, the halftime musical extravaganza sucks, featuring loud, obnoxious performances by acts apparently selected to appeal to Fox viewers.

One additional note: There are three former Texas A&M players on the Seattle roster (DEs Michael Bennett and Red Bryant, RB Christine Michael). Denver has one Aggie (Von Miller), who's on injured reserve and isn't playing tonight.

Still lookin'

Over in Austin, the longhorns are still searching for Mack the Knife's replacement, but most of the football coaches they thought were drooling over their vacancy have signed new contract extensions at their current schools or say they aren't interested in Texas U. Only a few days ago, Nick Saban was said to be THE guy. Right.

One by one, the hot prospects keep dropping off the wish list. Why don't they just promote Opie (Major Applewhite) and be done with it?

One thing is certain. Regardless of how far down their list they end up going to find a coach who'll take their vacant job, the longhorns will claim that guy was their top candidate all along.

Trajectories

Thanksgiving weekend is time for some of the most interesting football games of the season, since that's when many of the traditional rivalry games are played. The old saying is that anything can happen in a rivalry game, and that was true today. Undefeated Ohio State had all it could handle with a so-so Michigan team (winning 42-41), and defending national champions Alabama lost to Auburn, their most bitter rival, 34-28. Coincidentally, the Tide and the Wolverines both went down on plays that were called to avoid sending tied games into overtime.

Tonight, Texas A&M lost 28-21 at Missouri. The Aggies played four tough SEC teams with strong defenses and efficient running games, and went 0-4. The Aggies struggled to win shootouts with Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State. It was a rough year, because teams that win consistently in the SEC have potent running games and gritty defenses, and Texas A&M has neither. Their success in reaching 8-4 was mainly the result of having a quarterback with enough individual talent to win shootouts against teams like Ole Miss and Arkansas.

In 2012, the Aggies were red-hot. They stomped Auburn 63-21, and thumped Missouri 59-29. College Station was the center of attention in the world of college football after Johnny Manziel became the first freshman winner of the Heisman Trophy. The future looked bright.

In 2013, Auburn and Missouri had A&M figured out and outmanned on offense and defense. They will meet next weekend in the SEC championship game, and the winner may have a shot at the BCS championship game. What a difference a year makes. Auburn and Missouri spent the year working their way toward the top of the SEC hierarchy, while A&M was sliding down the food chain into middle-of-the-pack status. Today's SEC games allowed a glimpse of the future, and my conclusion is that until Texas A&M develops an ability to play the kind of football played by Alabama, Auburn, LSU, and Missouri, it doesn't have much future.

Numbers 1 through 125

Every Monday, I check USA Today to examine their 1-125 re-ranking list. This week, they have Texas A&M ranked 7th, ahead of every team remaining on the 2013 schedule:

• Louisiana State (ranked 10th)
• Ole Miss (ranked 24th)
• Missouri (ranked 35th)
• Auburn (ranked 37th)
• Vanderbilt (ranked 57th)
• Mississippi State (ranked 65th)
• UT-El Paso (ranked 111th)

Brighter Days Ahead

A great Saturday for me is when the Aggies win a football game and the longhorns lose one. That makes yesterday a great Saturday. Today, the Internet is humming with the anguish of Texas U fans anticipating another .500 season, and early speculation on which big name coach will quickly grab their head coaching position after Mack-aroon gets axed.

Although the teasips will have their pick of the top coaching talent, the early word is that Nick Saban is ready to interview.

Penalties

Crime and punishment have been in the news lately. Nidal Hassan, who killed or wounded 44 people in a 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, has finally been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. The only interesting thing about the verdict is that a death sentence is what Hassan was aiming for all along, since his ambition is martyrdom. So when is punishment not punishment?

Johnny Manziel was investigated by the NCAA for rule violations of a much less serious nature. As things stand this morning, he must be guilty of something, but less guilty than I expected based on the suspicious circumstantial evidence reported by the sports media, and a lot less guilty than Aggie haters around the state hoped he was. Manziel's penalty is sitting out the first 30 minutes of the season opener against Rice, about the same punishment he would've gotten for sassing an assistant coach if he was anyone other than JFF.

More Manziel media madness

Every time I turn around, Johnny Manziel is in the headlines, and usually not the good kind. Apparently the sports memorabilia market has been flooded with stuff bearing "authenticated" Johnny Football autographs. One sign of a civilization in an advanced stage of deterioration is a lucrative market for the signatures of football players. But that's an issue for another time.

When all this junk with the authentic JFF autograph on it appeared in the internet marketplace, eyebrows went up and eventually the NCAA started an investigation. JFF has been pushing the boundaries since the night he accepted the Heisman Trophy, and I've been expecting him to get caught up in something more consequential than embarrassing pictures and text messages.

The story is that Manziel agreed to autograph hundreds of items in exchange for compensation of several thousand dollars. He's already acquired two new nicknames: Johnny Cash and Johnny Paycheck. Of course, marketing himself in this manner affects his status as an amateur collegiate athlete.

As things stand, there are three possible outcomes to this fucking mess. In the best case scenario, the NCAA completes its inquiry, announces that Manziel agreed to autograph all that crap, and the sleaze merchants he was negotiating with agreed to donate 99,000 dollars in his name to research organizations seeking a cure for cancer. The season goes on as planned, and the Aggies finish in the Top Ten again. Since this is real life and not an episode of a 1950s TV sitcom, I don't expect this to happen.

In the worst case scenario, the little bastard took the 99,000 dollars, lied about it, and left a trail of incriminating evidence a mile long. Johnny gets his opportunity to try pro football, and Texas A&M launches its post-Manziel football era a year earlier than anticipated. The last time the Aggies played an SEC schedule with an untested quarterback, it worked out okay. I'm not counting on a repeat, though, so the Aggies probably finish 7-5, maybe 8-4, in a minor bowl game, and College Station is no longer the center of the football universe.

The third possibility, the one that seems probable at the moment, is that the NCAA accumulates a small mountain of circumstantial evidence, but for various reasons, Manziel retains his eligibility after being suspended for several games. In this case, the season record is probably pretty good, but is tainted with an implied asterisk: "Yeah, they won, but..."

After last year's Alabama game, when Manziel moved into the top tier of Heisman contenders, I had misgivings. My personal preference was for him to finish second in 2012, then win it this year and again in 2014 as a junior. We don't always get what we want, but life would be simpler today if Manziel's autograph didn't have so much historic significance.

Coaches come, coaches go...

There was a forum discussion at texags.com on the matter of whether the head coaching position at TAMU is a destination job or a stepping stone job. I think it could be either, depending on the coaching prospect. For Bear Bryant, it was a stepping stone, since he finished his long career winning championships at Alabama. For Jackie Sherrill, it was more of a destination job. Unfortunately, for too many years it's been a coaching graveyard. Since Bryant's departure, I can't recall a single coach who's left TAMU and gone on to greater prominence and success with another program -- with the possible exception of Gene Stallings, who eventually won a national title with the Crimson Tide about 20 years after he was fired by A&M. Dennis Franchione came to TAMU as one of the hottest commodities on the market, and is off the map now.

The usual generalizations about Aggie football no longer apply, though. One SEC season with Sumlin at the helm and JFH under center has changed things dramatically in terms of glamor and prestige. If TAMU turns out to be Kevin Sumlin's stepping stone job, it will probably be a destination job for the guy who replaces him.

Johnny, be good.

My bro in Houston and I exchanged email this weekend about the most recent winner of the Heisman, Johnny Manziel, and his tendency to be photographed in potentially embarrassing or troublesome situations. We agreed that it would be better for everybody if JFH could be a model citizen (if not a paragon of virtue) for the next few years, at least as long as he's the foundation upon which the future success of Aggie football rests.

JFH has proven he can handle nearly every challenge opposing defenses present. Now we'll see if he can handle the challenges of celebrity and life under a microscope.

Prizes

Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy tonight, and I read somewhere that he'll be on the David Letterman show next week to do the Top Ten List. Has an Aggie football player ever been on Letterman before? I don't know for sure, but I doubt it.

Any Aggie who really wants to enjoy Johnny Football's Heisman win should spend a little time reading the comments on the hornfans.com forum boards tonight. What the Aggies accomplished this season is sucking the life out of the teasips.

Speaking of happiness, I'll bet Kevin Sumlin is in a good mood this evening. Having his freshman quarterback walk off with the biggest award in college football can't do anything but help in recruiting, can it?

Yuck

This much is clear -- the Dallas Cowboys are to professional football as Rick Perry is to national politics. Overrated, unprepared assholes.

Football 2011: Week Six

Texas A&M's farewell tour in the Big 12 conference continues today with Baylor playing at Kyle Field. The bears, leading 7-3 in the 2nd quarter, just missed a short FG attempt. I'm listening to the game on the radio since the Fox presentation on TV is unwatchable. I realized if I heard another word about the magnificence of the Baylor quarterback, I'd puke my guts up. The Aggies followed the missed FG with a long TD pass, went ahead 10-7, then let BU score a TD on one pass for 77 yards to trail 14-10. It looks like it's gonna be one of those days, since the Aggies haven't been particularly sharp on offense and continue to muddle around on defense. It'll be a shame if they blow what will probably be their last game against the Bears.

In the time it took to type the last two sentences, the Aggies answered the Baylor TD bomb with a nice 73-yard drive to regain the lead at 17-14. This may end up being a regular pissing contest, last team with the ball wins. At 2:30 today Oklahoma State is at Texas on ABC, and I want to watch the cowboys give the horns a beating. Any Saturday when the Aggies win and TU loses is a good Saturday.

Added 4:32 pm same day: In Austin, Oklahoma State receives the kickoff to start the third quarter and returns it 100 yards for a TD. Then they kick off, and the longhorns return the kick for a touchdown. That's probably happened in college football at some point, but I don't remember seeing it. Anyway, Oklahoma State leads 28-17 after the exchange of scores.

The Aggies settled down in the second half of their game and won it 55-28. In the first half both teams were able to score at will, but in the second the Aggies actually made a few defensive stands and continued to roll up yards and points on offense. I was finally able to relax with about ten minutes left in the game. If that was the last football game the schools play, it was a good one for A&M. Hey, Ken Starr -- this one's for you, muthafugga.

Added 7:12 pm same day: Well, it wasn't quite the one-sided blowout the sooners managed last week, but Oklahoma State finally put the longhorns down for the count 38-26. A convincing Aggie win over Baylor and another loss for Texas U adds up to a successful afternoon of college football.

Trends and traditions

Some troubling patterns are developing with the Aggie football team. In consecutive games against Oklahoma State and Arkansas, they've played exceptionally well both offensively and defensively in the first halves, building substantial leads against ranked opponents. They led Oklahoma State 20-3 and Arkansas 35-17 to begin the third quarters. In both games, they collapsed in the second halves, committing turnovers, dumb penalties, and major defensive miscues. I could write one meltdown off as the kind of freakish occurrence that most teams experience now and then, but at A&M anything that happens twice becomes a tradition.

The other pattern is even more disturbing now that A&M's move to the SEC is official. The last time the Aggies knocked off an SEC team was in 1995, the final year of the Southwest Conference. R.C. Slocum was still the head honcho, the Aggies would finish 9-3 and one of the 9 was a 33-17 win over LSU. Since that victory, they've dropped seven straight to SEC teams. In their 2000 bowl game, Mississippi State (coached by Jackie  Sherrill) beat them 43-41 in OT. Franchione's 2004 team was blown out (38-7) by Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl. Under Sherman, it's been even worse: in 2009, blowout losses to Arkansas (47-19) and Georgia (44-20), followed in 2010 by losses to Arkansas (24-17) and LSU (41-24). Sherman's fifth consecutive defeat by an SEC opponent came in yesterday's game against the Razorbacks. I hate to say it, but this is not a good sign.

Tortious Interference ?

Does Baylor have a case against the SEC ? Maybe, maybe not. One blog says not. An article in Forbes says maybe not. Baylor is a candidate for an EMF if there ever was one.

We are SO outta here...

It looks like it's a done deal. The Aggies have issued an official announcement that they're leaving the Big 12 Minus 2, and at least one sports columnist thinks the longhorns are probably jealous. I don't know about that, but I hope it's true. The short-term consequences of a move to the SEC are pretty grim to contemplate, unless it turns out that TAMU really IS a legitimate Top Ten team at this point. I keep thinking back to the 2010 season, when the Aggies went on a run that by their standards was just short of a miracle. As good as the 2010 Aggies were, though, they still lost to Arkansas and were hammered by LSU in the Cotton Bowl.

So... I'm reserving judgment on the SEC move for the moment. The positive aspect that leaps out at me today is that A&M is probably no longer joined at the hip to the longhorns. The negative aspect is that for several seasons, the Aggies may be closer to 6-6 than to 12-0.

Good Things Came

They say good things come to those who wait. I think that adage is trying to make a point that patience is a virtue. Well, I've been waiting for the Texas Aggies to have something resembling a special season for a long time, and one finally arrived.

The Aggies won the Big 12 championship in 1998 with a dramatic OT win over Kansas State, then went to the Sugar Bowl and got thumped by Ohio State. The downhill slide started gradually the following year, and by 2000 all the signals were indicating a program in decline.

For the next ten years (2000-2009), four conference teams made life miserable for TAMU. Nebraska won three of four games, Texas Tech won seven of ten, Oklahoma won nine of ten, and Texas U won eight of ten. Add it all together, and the TAMU record against those opponents was 7-27. This year, the Aggies again played all four and got a sweep. It didn't balance the ledger, but it was a step in the right direction. For ten years, it was a big deal in College Station if the Aggies could beat any one of those four opponents, and beating two of the four in the same season was unthinkable and beyond the realm of possibility. In 2010, the stars were aligned precisely -- A&M was good, Tech was in a rebuilding mode under a new coach, and Texas was in the shithouse for reasons no one completely understands. Nebraska was solid, but self-destructed with penalties and turnovers. 

My philosophy has always been that success results when ability merges with opportunity. This year the Aggies had the ability, they had the opportunity, and they were successful. Good things came to those who'd been waiting.

Aggie football on the TV

The Texas Aggies have a nice string of wins going for them, and have won their last two televised games. The next game, against Nebraska, will also be on TV and I wonder if TAMU can keep their streak of televised wins alive. The huskers are favored by about three points at Kyle Field.

I'd enjoy seeing the Aggies finish the regular season at 9-3, which would require them to win four straight TV games (against OU, Baylor, Nebraska and Texas). That's a tall order.

The Aggies won the so-called "Bonfire Game" against Texas on November 26th, 1999. A lot of people had a psychological and emotional investment in that game, and I was among them. It was tense start-to-finish, with A&M finally pulling out a 20-16 victory. I remember telling God that if He would let the Aggies win that game, I'd never ask Him to help them win another one.

Apparently God took me seriously. For the next ten years (2000-2009) the Aggies had an extremely mediocre record in televised games. I downloaded the 2010 football media guide and did the research this morning. Overall, the Aggie record in all games televised 2000-2009 was 30-49, with most of the thirty wins coming against weak teams like Wyoming or Baylor. High-profile games against non-conference opponents like Miami, Virginia Tech, California, Georgia, or Tennessee were mostly wipeouts, with an occasional win mixed in. And of course there were a few memorable Big 12 wins against Oklahoma (2002), Kansas State (2000 and 2004), and Texas (2006-2007).

R.C. Slocum's record in TV games 2000-2002 was 11-10, and things went downhill after that. Dennis Franchione (2003-2007) went 16-28, and Mike Sherman (2008-2009) was a miserable 3-11. The Aggies went 0-8 in TV games in Franchione's first season, and 0-7 in Sherman's second season last year. The only post-season victory came against TCU in the Furniture Store Bowl in 2001, back when TCU was emerging and wasn't yet a major power.

In the Big 12, the Aggies had most of their good fortune in TV games against Baylor (4-0). They were winless against Colorado (0-2) and Nebraska (0-3). In the South division, excluding Baylor, the Aggie record was a pathetic 7-25, with Texas (2-8) and Oklahoma (1-9) causing most of the damage, and the Red Raiders getting in their licks (2-5) as well.

It comes down to this: For TAMU to finish 9-3 this season, they'll need to reverse a decade-long pattern in TV games. If they pull it off, Sherman and his staff deserve contract extensions and pay raises.

Sooner (or later)

After two weeks in a glide pattern against Kansas and Texas Tech, it's back to the grindstone for Aggie fans tonight when Oklahoma visits TAMU at Kyle Field. The Sooners lost to the Aggies in 2002, the last quality win of Slocum's tenure. Since then, OU has run off seven straight victories (2003-2009), including some of the most lopsided, humiliating thrashings the Aggies have ever suffered through.

Tonight, they're favored by less than a TD. Whether that's a sign the oddsmakers respect the Aggies or lack confidence in OU is unknown, but eventually A&M needs to reach a point where it's never a home underdog.

Maybe the line is small because the Aggies will probably start Tannehill at quarterback. He's done well in his first extended time at the position, but the defense he'll face tonight is a few cuts above the ones Kansas and Tech fielded.

Both teams have lost to Missouri: Oklahoma's game was competitive, and A&M's wasn't. As good a reason as any to give the edge today to the Sooners. I guess I'll watch as long as A&M can stay close, but it's too bad the game is being carried on Fox.

Added 10:12 pm: I stayed with the game until OU scored to narrow their deficit to 19-17 -- thinking, "Oh shit, here we go again." The Aggies to that point had played their usual televised game: a few brilliant plays mixed with just enough garbage (penalties and turnovers) to have me pulling my hair out. I hit the record button on the DVR and switched the channel to ESPN, where Kansas State was kicking the snot out of the longhorns. Maybe the best decision I made all day, because the Aggies got serious again and polished off the Sooners 33-19. DVR, here I come. I usually enjoy Aggie football more when I can watch with the relaxed mind of a man who already knows the final score. Taking out Texas Tech and OU on consecutive Saturdays is sweet, and the longhorns taking gas (39-14) for the fifth time makes it even better.