WK53

I suspect any assumption that this decision was made in a rational/strategic fashion is a faulty one.

He was the backup last year. If he technically redshirted it was just taking advantage of the 4 game rule after the fact.

Let OU in. No to Texas: they can keep a permanent OOC rivalry with OU though. Most likely they end up independent, which is probably for the best for everyone involved and really the only true "cultural fit" for them, and it gives them maximum flexibility to schedule that rivalry with OU. Find another school from Big12, AAC, or ACC to let in. They don't nececessarily have to be a football powerhouse, maybe prioritize other things. Pods or some similar arrangement would be ideal for 16 teams, but if you must keep a 2-division arrangement then it should look like this: OU obviously comes in to the West. Alabama goes East, probably switching with Missou. Preserve the Auburn rivalry (I don't think LSU will actually mind losing the rivalry all that much). This way, assuming the other school you take fits geographically in the east, you've got a combination of the old Big12 cadre reunited in the west (OU, A&M, Arkansas, Missou) plus the rest of the current west (Mississippi schools, LSU, Auburn). It's a division with 4 powerhouse programs in OU, A&M, LSU, and Auburn, and 4 other programs that are capable of raising themselves to the top in a given year. East is instantly bolstered by Bama, rounded out at the top by Florida and Georgia. Tennessee might some day (maybe in another decade or two lol) be a power program again too. Then you have Kentucky and SCar capable of being scrappy at least, and only Vandy is really getting stepped on every year. Add to the mix whichever other school you took, unless it was a big 12 school (or Houston or similar from AAC). In that case the new school might also belong in the west and you either leave Missou in the east or take another old west school (Auburn?). Absolutely no to Texas though.

Predicting 9 individual SEC teams to win isn't the same as predicting the conference as a whole to go 9-1. You have a confidence factor in each one and probably end up predicting something like 6-4 or 7-3.

It's worth looking at the whole game. Definitely some questionable calls and no-calls going in the other direction in the first half. Even ignoring that though there was only mistake in the fourth that was pretty clear, and thay was the no-call interference right at the end, but even that was far from the most flagrant PI no-call I've seen, especially since you can make an argument that he was just going for the ball.

MS Code § 97-29-49 (2013) Defines it as criminal. Which automatically is a violation of NCAA rules, and coach is basically not allowed to buy anything for an athlete, to name two of the several ways in which it violates NCAA rules. So no, it's both.

So...he said JG can date whomever he wants and the media should get over it, and this means his shot at an NFL career is tanked? Sure. BTW, I doubt any of these guys actually listen to that podcast. It's basically Johnny chatting candidly about whatever comes up with a couple friends, including his agent and Kayce from Barstool. His quotations aren't going to be some kind of polished press conference or interview statement, and they don't need to be combed over for talking points by predatory a**tards like Cowherd.

That would be awesome, I want to see it happen now...

Nah, I still pick A&M to scrape together a bowl. We have one more guaranteed-ish win, and I feel like we're going to kind of ruin somebody's season in a late upset, like we did to Auburn a couple years ago and like both Mississippi schools did to us last year(so either LSU, Auburn, or Miss St). Outside of that we just have to get two more out of Arky, SC, Ole Miss, and Florida. I also feel like Sumlin is gone between the end of the season and the bowl game though.

Including recent history but with more focus on this season, it's ACC either even with or slightly better than SEC, then B12 and PAC12 (pac was probably better last season, big 12 looks better this season), then B1G. They had a somewhat embarrassing bowl season and have been very underwhelming this year, so I definitely would put all other major conferences ahead of them. It's a young season though. The SEC West still looks a little weaker than usual outside of Bama, but the worst teams are still good enough to be middle of the pack in any other CFB division, there just aren't any real standouts for the second tier. It's like the West is one first tier school and 6 3rd tier schools, with no 2nd or 4th. It was the same case last year. The SEC scores better overall so far this year though because the lower level East teams have improved, more than making up for what is probably a weaker Florida than last year.

There's a poison of attitude on this team that has been covered up by early success in recent years, only to surface as soon as they have to face adversity. It was held at bay last year by the strong leadership of guys like Knight and Garrett, but now it's on full display. Regardless of record, if Sumlin can't get it under control once and for all then it's time to start over with somebody else.

This is more of an embarrassment than being down at halftime against U-La-La. I hope somebody told the coaches and he was instructed to get changed in the locker room and stay there for the duration of the game.

"...do the right thing." "What is the advantage...?"

Pretty sure that counts as both "criminal" and "serious NCAA violations" so he definitely covered it in his original comment.

That's one I was seeing during the game. They had no run game, so why were we afraid to attack the pass? But there were so many others. They could sell out to stop (or slow down, at least) our run because Mond clearly couldn't throw, and as nice as his legs may be they also helped him create some bad sack situations that counteracted his positive runs. The solution? Put Hubenak in so we have a credible passing threat. Sure he can't run worth a damn but he doesn't have to with those RBs all he has to do is keep the defense honest in the passing game. And then there's that field goal attempt. Never mind the dumb play calling right before it, but why was Lacamera not kicking? He was 3/3, including longer kicks and there's no indication he was injured. Why the hell did we put a second string kicker in there? There's just no end to the stupidity. I've always backed Sumlin up, and I'm still not one of those "don't even let him on the plane" types, but damn I think he's gone by January and I can't even argue at this point that he shouldn't be.

Does "59-0" count as two words?

Yeah, any first overall pick other than a QB who doesn't start right away, or at worst halfway into the season was probably a pretty bad pick.

The write-up was pretty rational, but the prediction was way off. You have A&M losing to every great, good, and mediocre team on the schedule, minus Miss St (mediocre to good) and plus Ole Miss (bad). There's no way the wheels fall off that dramatically for the program. We haven't netted that much talent loss this off-season (may even be a net gain) and none of the QBs would be particularly bad. Specifically on your Old Miss prediction and reasoning: Hubenak was tearing them up last year until he hurt his shoulder in the game and stopped being productive (it was still visible the following week vs UTSA too). They got lucky with a window for a comeback on that win and they're going to be worse this year than they were then. Nevermind that an accurate prediction for a season can't be determined by adding up predicted wins and losses. You have to add up percentages, like every predictive algorithm does. That means all these relatively close calls (Arkansas, UCLA, etc) should be expected to be roughly split for like a 2-3 even if you predict each individual outcome as a loss. 6-6 with a win in a crap bowl for 7-6 is the floor for this team. Another 8-5 is a more likely prediction, but we have to hope they outperform that by at least one win, preferably two (for 9-3 + a bowl win). The team's current trajectory under Sumlin makes 2018-2020 look like a viable championship window (esp 2019)...if Sumlin can keep his job, otherwise things get shaken up and there's no telling what comes next.

Well, there was Allen, who I guess might have left partially because of Murray? It probably had more to do with his QB coach/friend getting fired and a badly managed injury experience leaving a bad taste in his mouth. Hill had just lost the job and gave up on starting for A&M ever again when Allen took over, Murray had no competitor at all (we got Knight after Murray left), and I can't think of any other quality QBs to transfer out. Anyway, Mond will be a junior when this guy is on campus for his first season, so I don't know why he would be worried. If anything this is us finally on a sustainable track for QBs, assuming a premature Sumlin firing doesn't rock the boat with recruits and transfers.

Be careful what you wish for. I definitely wouldn't be sold on the idea of hiring him if my school were considering it.

I agree with you that Stidham shouldn't be discounted just for playing in the B12, but your argument kind of sucks. You're talking about a game between the overwhelmingly best team in the B12 vs a team which at most might have been second best in the SEC (and arguably as low as fourth in reality). If you pitted Auburn against the second to fourth best B12 teams (Ok St, WV, Kansas St), it would have been a different game. The same goes for Alabama vs OU. Never mind the fact that we're talking about an anomaly: the worst year for the SEC in two decades, where the second through sixth best teams were all pretty equally flawed and sort of rebuilding, with only one clearly complete (and deep) team in the conference. This year is going to be completely different.

Auburn's unscored-upon 1914 season makes sense on the list, but I think it's an interesting decision to go with that one Auburn but then for A&M run with 1939 1.71 yards per play instead of the 1919 undefeated, unscored-upon 10-0 season (we also did it in an 8-0 1917 season). Better yet would be the 18 game unscored-upon streak (admittedly with a 0-0 tie against LSU ) starting on December 7, 1918 and running until November 25, 1920. Both records are realistically "unbreakable" due to changes in the game and competitive environment, but I guess I just feel like 18 straight games of giving up 0 points and outscoring your competition 560-0 is a little more insane than allowing 1.71 yards per play for a season. It's also worth noting that Kentucky did it (in a 7 game season) in 1998 and Tennessee did it during the 10 game regular season in 1939 before losing the Rose Bowl 14-0 against USC on January 1, 1940.

The East pulled off a couple of good upsets against teams in down years or even just unlucky parts of their season, but that's not turning things around. As LSUSMC pointed out, the record was 4-11. That's embarrassing. And yeah Bama is the best, but part of what prompted this story is their 54-16 beat-down of Florida, not just the fact that they won. Do you want to know who played Bama tougher? How about Ole Miss (bottom place West team, lost by 5 in a shoot-out)? Or Arkansas (49-30), or A&M (33-14), or Auburn (30-12), or LSU (10-0)? Only Mississippi State in a bad year gave a less watchable match-up than the "Eastern Division Champions". Oh, and Florida lost 31-10 to Arkansas (5th place in the West). Yes, they caught LSU at just the right moment and pulled off a close victory, but that doesn't change the fact that Florida, by far the best the East has to offer, has demonstrated that it would fit squarely into the bottom half of West teams. Reorganizing the conference in this fashion would indeed solve the problem of uninspired championship match-ups.

It's an easy pill to swallow though when you still play each team every other year (or in his version, twice every four years). And I think most people would agree most teams really only have one game that absolutely must happen every year, and definitely not more than 3.

If we were short on scholarships I wouldn't mind as much, with the way this class is ballooning and the number of DEs on the roster, but apparently we already have room for 30-32 in this class.

Still, the point stands that he would have still probably gotten more playing time next year, and his real chance would have been the following year. Now he loses a year to either JUCO or the bench somewhere else and still has to wait for the year after.

I don't really understand where you're coming from there. I obviously wish Sumlin would step it up, but he has the fifth best SEC winning percentage on that list (and Orgeron hardly counts with only 6 games so far, but then again if Les Miles were still there he would still be ahead of us). Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, and Auburn all have better 4-year recruiting rankings, and the only teams ahead of Sumlin's record here are Bama, LSU, Florida, and Auburn (and Gus's record is practically neck-and-neck here with Sumlin's). Nobody else is even over .500. Based on a talent perspective Sumlin has performed almost exactly as one would realistically predict. Considering the losses of top level talent over the last few years and particularly the butchering of the 2013 class (out of 14 blue-chippers enrolled, 8 are gone...to other schools, not early draft), he has probably been punching above his talent level, though to be clear much of the blame for the lost athletes does fall on him. However, he has still recruited and developed better talent than probably any other coach in A&M history, boosts from Johnny and the SEC move notwithstanding.

People love to act like A&M is always hyped in the preseason, but each of the last two "disappointing" seasons hit exactly on the mark or slightly above the majority of preseason projections. Preseason, the 2015 squad was projected by most outlets to get 8 wins. That's what they did. The projections were the same or worse in 2014, with the same result. Even this season, the projections by most people are 7 wins, sometimes 8. The "dark horse" believers give them 9-10. The only season since moving to the SEC in which the Aggies have under-performed on high expectations was 2013, which was still a decent season, but a disappointment after 2012. In fact, the only recent season with a significant difference between expectations and reality was the huge surge in 2012. I get that the 5-0 openings drive up the hype during the early part of the season, but that is earned insofar as it goes, and also taken with a grain of salt, particularly last year when even the most optimistic praise came with a comment on how it could just be a repeat of 2014.