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Saturday October 28th, 2006
Saturday October 28th, 2006
10:55amAgs Representin'
HT to ForYourEarhole @ TexAgs.comAnd that's what we're gonna do to them Ags! WHOOP!
There are several more signs that surfaced in South Carolina this morning.
2:21amCFB Ponderings
Really, it's just one pondering. I'm not even sure I'd call it a pondering but more of a deep thought.
I was thinking about our 7-1 record and our #21 ranking a bit. I started to think, "Man, if we hadn't lost to tech we'd be 8-0. 8-0 in a power conference would put us at least around #10-#11 in the rankings. Just one play, an amazing one at that, makes such a big difference."
Think about it, if Louisville is sitting at #6 with a 7-0 record and Boise State is #15 with an 8-0 record and Rutgers is #16 with a 7-0 we'd certainly be somewhere in the middle of them.
Then I started to think, "Man, we wouldn't even be on the map if we hadn't stopped Army on that last play." We'd be 6-2 with a loss to Army and we might, if we're lucky, fall into the "Others receiving votes" category.
Had either of those plays gone the other way would our team be "better" or "worse" than it is now? If Jordan Peterson somehow tips that pass, or if Johnson just dropped the pass, would we be a "better" team? If Army's little jitterbug RB had squeaked through and hit the end zone on that one play, would we be a "worse" team?
I don't think you can say we would be. We would have a "better" or "worse" record but the team itself would not be any "better" or "worse". The rankings would certainly show it which I find so fascinating. Changing the result of a single snap can alter the entire way you look at team.
Think about it.
A&M has played a total of 1032 snaps on offense and defense this season.
Changing just one of the two plays mentioned (the tech TD or the Army stop) could swing us from being not even being close to ranked all the way down to the low teens.
1 play out of 1032. Crazy. The room for error is essentially non-existent and if you win, the coach is loved and if you lose the coach's head is in a guillotine.
It kind of makes you wonder how many teams are in that situation and how many teams are ranked higher than they should be because of an opposite situation.
Notre Dame instantly pops into my head. They had a last second TD pass with a great run after the catch to beat UCLA....or even, on a smaller level, the crazy finish against Washington with the whole clock situation.
I think that is fascinating and it is just another part of why college football is so great and passion-filled.
Thought I'd throw that out there to think about. Everyone needs to drive safely to Waco and have some fun.
B.T.H.O. Baylor! WHOOP!
Thursday October 26th, 2006
12:01amAg Football Preview: Baylor
I ordered my tickets for the Baylor game shortly after they went on sale and was getting worried that they had not arrived yet. About two weeks ago my brother called me with some good news. As it turns out, my tickets were sent to my old apartment in College Station (from several years ago when I was an undergrad). The people living in my old apartment turned them into the office.
My brother is actually living in the complex now (in a different apartment) and the complex called him because he was the only other person in the complex with our last name. So he picked them up a couple of days later.
Where else on earth would $180 worth of tickets be turned in for the rightful owner to get them back?
I love Aggieland.
While I love Aggieland, I'm really starting to dislike Baylor. I don't know what their problem is but in the last couple of years they have really become annoying. I never really noticed it until Guy Morriss showed up. The guy spends more time running his mouth than longhorns do running from the cops. He has rubbed off on his players and the students and they just chirp and chirp and chirp.
What is so fascinating to me is the blind belief of how good they think they are with absolutely nothing historically to base it off of. I certainly can't argue that A&M fans have a tendency to look at things through maroon colored glasses but Baylor fans simply take it to another level.
It gets to the point where you read stuff the fans write and you actually laugh while sitting in front of your computer. I'm not even talking about the times they are arguing about A&M....I'm talking about them doing it on every level possible with every possible opponent. It reaches a point where at first you wonder if they've ever watched a football game and then it goes to another level where you start to feel sorry for them. And then they make some sort of horrible comment about Bonfire and you remember why you enjoy them being the joke of the conference.
Part of you has to admire their persistence. I mean, they are 1-19-1 against us since '85, they haven't been to a bowl game since 1994, they haven't been ranked since 1993, they haven't even had a winning season in 11 years....and yet they keep on it.
There are Facebook groups now dedicated to "protect" their student section from A&M fans sitting in it. Apparently they're going to steal hats and throw water at Ags and some are even plotting to punch Ags in the mouth....just because. Fairly tough words for such a pious institution. To keep confrontations to a minimum I suggest that all Ags should just steer clear of males wearing pastel colored shirts with popped collars and blonde frost tipped hair.
They were also really pushing student attendance at the game with free tickets, but were still worried they wouldn't get rid of them all. I get frustrated when I can hear the visiting team's band at Kyle Field so I can only imagine how frustrating it has to be, knowing that at least 40% of their stadium is going to be wearing maroon.
Onto the stuff that matters....
Baylor fans have has been trumpeting a lot over the last couple of weeks with more legitimacy than in years past. Two weekends ago they put up 31 points on texas (although they still lost by 32) and then last week they overcame a 35-17 margin heading into the 4th quarter against Kansas. They have 3 Big 12 wins this season which matches their total from their first 6 seasons in the conference.
The Bears like to throw the ball. They actually have the 2nd best passing offense in conference play (behind tech) at 320 ypg. and the #6 passing offense overall in the country (299 ypg). They absolutely torched Kansas last weekend through the air for 460 yards....but that might have had something to do with Kansas having the worst pass defense in the conference. The Bears have thrown the ball on 73% of their snaps (behind only tech's 75%). That is crazy.
Senior Shawn Bell has taken just about every snap for the Bears this season. He has completed 62.6% of his 363 passing attempts with 18 TDs and 10 INTs. His targets are many.
RECEIVING GP-GS No Yds Avg TD Long Avg/G Yr Po Ht ============================================================== #1 Shelton, T. 8-7 46 704 15.3 7 75 88.0 Sr WR 6'2" #7 Zeigler, D. 7-6 38 453 11.9 2 60 64.7 Sr WR 6'3" #2 Whitaker, B. 8-4 29 182 6.3 1 16 22.8 Jr RB 5'10" #5 Parks, T. 6-3 26 217 8.3 0 29 36.2 JR IR 6'4" #85 Fenty, J. 6-2 18 174 9.7 1 19 29.0 FR IR 5'10" #21 White, T. 5-2 14 225 16.1 2 34 45.0 SO IR 6'2" #17 Mosley, P. 7-3 13 55 4.2 1 12 7.9 SR RB 6'3" #9 Payne, T. 7-2 12 103 8.6 3 17 14.7 SO IR 5'9" #11 Price, M. 7-1 10 50 5.0 0 20 7.1 SO ROV 6'2"They run their offense very similar to tech. I should also point out that Terrance Parks was their backup QB until this season when they moved him to WR so keep an eye on him with trick plays.
Only running the ball 23% of the time will turn you into the worst rushing offense in the
conferencenation. Their leading rusher is Paul Mosley who is averaging 47.3 ypg on a season total of 66 carries (331 yards & 4 TDs). Brandon Whitaker is their other tailback and he has 36 carries for 155 yards. Shawn Bell is not a mobile QB averaging -5.3 yards per carry.In addition to being a bad running football team they are a bad run defense team as well. We have the best rushing attack in the conference so I imagine we'll see a game plan very similar to the Mizzou game with a heavy dose of J-Train and Goodson so we can not only control the clock but also just wear down their defense as the game goes on. I expect McGee to get in on the action as well because they have been flat out bad putting pressure on the QB as they rank #110 nationally in sacks.
Their pass defense is the strength of their defense as they hold a #43 national ranking. #3 CJ Wilson (senior CB) leads the team with 4 INTs and 4 pass breakups while #1 Dwain Crawford (So FS) is right behind him with 3 INTs and 3 pass breakups. Stephen McGee needs to be careful with those two and we need to keep turnovers to a minimum.
Just a heads-up for those of you who will be joining me on the roadtrip. Parking is $10 but when I went in '00 we just parked on the street in the neighborhood near the stadium. It's been a while so that might be outlawed (like it is in College Station)....then again they're not used to having big crowds so it might not be a problem that they've had to outlaw. It'll be worth driving through just to check it out.
Enjoy yourselves and BEAT THE HELL OUTTA Baylor! WHOOP!
Wednesday October 25th, 2006
12:01amFirst Six Seasons
Albert Pujols is a flat out freak. He is on pace to become the greatest hitter ever. That is a very powerful statement.
He came into the league as a non-roster invitee in the spring of 2001. His name wasn't even on the All-Star ballot when they came out but he should have started at 3rd base. He finished his rookie season 4th in the MVP balloting, a mark he has yet to sink to again.
2001 4th (behind Bonds, Sosa, & L.Gonzalez) 2002 2nd (behind Bonds) 2003 2nd (behind Bonds) 2004 3rd (behind Bonds & Beltre) 2005 1st 2006 ???That absolutely blows my mind. I mean, it's simply boggling. He finished behind a lot of HGH.
This season it's essentially a two man race between Pujols and Ryan Howard.
G AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG A.Pujols 143 535 110 177 137 49 83 50/92 7/9 .331 .431 .671 R.Howard 159 581 104 182 149 58 84 181/108 0/0 .313 .425 .659I'd give it to Pujols.
The only things that Howard did better it was HRs and RBIs. Really, it was just HRs because the 9 HR difference accounts for 9 of the 11 extra RBIs he had. Something else worth noting is that Citizens Bank Park (in Philly) was the 6th easiest park in the league to HR in this season while the new Busch Stadium was the 20th (or the 10th most difficult). Also, had Pujols not missed some time with in injury he would have finished with more HRs and RBIs (53 HRs if you extrapolate an extra 50 ABs). I suppose that the Cards winning their division and the Phillies finishing 3rd in the Wild Card race will be a factor as well.
Not only is Pujols a freak in the regular season but he's a freak in October. Through this year's NLDS he has played in 41 postseason games (152 ABs) and he has hit .336/.423/.618 with 11 HRs.
Now let's compare him to the greats.
I did a similar piece back in '04 with Bonds. Essentially I compared each player's MVP balloting so you could get an idea of how great they were compared to their contemporaries. The results were fairly surprising. For the sake of being conservative I will assume Pujols finishes second in the balloting this year (which I don't think will happen).
Albert Pujols MVP: 1/6 years = 16.7% Top 2: 4/6 years = 66.0% Top 5: 6/6 years = 100% Top 10: 6/6 years = 100% Babe Ruth Ted Williams MVP: 1/17 years = 5.9% MVP: 2/16 = 12.5% Top 2: 1/17 years = 5.9% Top 2: 6/16 = 37.5% Top 5: 2/17 years = 1.2% Top 5: 9/16 = 56.3% Top 10: 3/17 years = 1.8% Top 10: 12/16 = 75.0% Joe DiMaggio Hank Aaron MVP: 3/12 years = 25.0% MVP: 1/22 = 4.5% Top 2: 5/12 years = 41.7% Top 2: 1/22 = 4.5% Top 5: 6/12 years = 50.0% Top 5: 8/22 = 36.4% Top 10: 10/12 years = 83.3% Top 10: 13/22 = 59.1% Lou Gehrig Willie Mays MVP: 4/14 years = 28.6% MVP: 2/19 = 10.5% Top 2: 5/14 years = 35.7% Top 2: 4/19 = 21.1% Top 5: 8/14 years = 57.1% Top 5: 9/19 = 47.4% Top 10: 9/14 years = 64.3% Top 10: 12/19 = 63.2% Barry Bonds MVP: 7/20 years = 35.0% Top 2: 9/20 years = 45.0% Top 5: 12/20 years = 60.0% Top 10: 13/20 years = 65.0% RECAP: Name MVP Top 2 Top 5 Top 10 ===================================== Pujols 16.7 66.0 100.0 100.0 ------------------------------------- Bonds 35.0 45.0 60.0 65.0 Ruth 5.9 5.9 1.2 1.8 Williams 12.5 37.5 56.3 75.0 DiMaggio 25.0 41.7 50.0 83.3 Aaron 4.5 4.5 36.4 59.1 Gehrig 28.6 35.7 57.1 64.3 Mays 10.5 21.1 47.4 63.2That is impressive.
I would love to take a look at each of those guy's numbers through their first 6 years but I can’t find them all.
Pujols Career G AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG 2001 161 590 112 194 130 37 88 93/69 1/4 .329 .403 .610 2002 157 590 118 185 127 34 76 69/72 2/6 .314 .394 .561 2003 157 591 137 212 124 43 95 65/79 5/6 .359 .439 .667 2004 154 592 133 196 123 46 99 52/84 5/10 .331 .415 .657 2005 161 591 129 195 117 41 81 65/97 16/18 .330 .430 .609 2006 143 535 110 177 137 49 83 50/92 7/9 .331 .431 .671 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Car 933 3489 748 1159 758 250 522 394/493 36/17 .332 .419 .629Simply amazing.
Tuesday October 24th, 2006
12:01amKenny Rogers (in a) Roaster
There has been lots of controversy regarding Kenny Rogers mysterious sticky hand.
The whole situation was strange. Rogers said that it was just a clump of dirt and that he saw it himself and washed it off without anyone telling him to. His manager, however, said the umpires told him to wash it off.
There was something that struck me as odd during his press conference. He said it was dirt and that he went into the locker room and "took it off". Typically, that isn't something you say when you are cleaning your hand of dirt. Normally you would hear "Clean it off" or "Washed it off". Taking something off implies that it was put there in the first place.
ESPN showed images from each of his playoff starts and in each start you could see the substance on his palm in the same place.
Lots of people are saying that this is being blown out of proportion and it is not a big deal. Major League Baseball is the last organization that needs to be sitting back on its heels when we're talking about cheating.
The penalty is immediate ejection and a 10 game suspension. It's not like this is one of those rules that never gets called. Both Julian Tavarez, one of LaRussa's players, and Brendon Donnelly have both been ejected and suspended for pine tar in the last couple of years.
I was surprised at how LaRussa tried to down play the whole situation after the game. That is completely against his normal actions. He's the exact type of manager who hangs on umpires to get pitchers to change their sleeves during a game because they make it difficult to see the ball or swap out a funky colored glove or remove shiny jewelry.
I'm kind of curious why Tony played it down. Maybe he doesn't want any of his pitchers to be scrutinized?
It is also interesting that Rogers is the only Tigers pitcher to wear a hat with a dark colored bill underside. Hmmm.
Regardless of the whole sticky hand thing, Rogers was lights out even after having to wash his hands. He has been lights out through the entire postseason:
IP H R ER SO/BB HR PC GSc =========================================== ALDS G3 v. NYY 7.2 5 0 0 8/2 0 113 75 ALCS G3 v. Oak 7.1 2 0 0 6/2 0 97 78 WS G2 v. StL 8.0 2 0 0 5/3 0 99 80Only twice during the regular season did he have games above his post-season low GSc of 75.
He is on his way to having one of the greatest postseasons in history.
The only question I have is why on earth did he come out after 8 innings for Todd Jones??? Jones gave up a run and then loaded up the bases and was a bloop hit away from giving up the lead.
Sunday October 22nd, 2006
10:34pmAgs Keep Him In Your Thoughts
I just found out that former Aggie Band Commander and U.S. Marine, Dan Moran '03, was injured in Baghdad when his vehicle was blown up. He has suffered severe burns on his body. Thankfully, he suffered no internal injuries. He has been moved to Germany and is supposed to return to the USA in a week or two for treatment.
Danny went to high school with me and played baseball. He was a year older than I was and was always on the team above me so I didn't know him very well. During every Aggie Football game I would tell my buddy Pat, "I know that guy" each time they announced his name when the band marched. Pat knew him too from high school so it was always a running joke between us whenever they called his name at Kyle.
Please keep him in your thoughts and I will try to keep you updated when I hear or read more on his status.
Gig'em Danny. Thank you for serving your country and get better soon.
11:15amAgs Win in OT, 34-33
I think listening to that game on the radio took 3 years off my life expectancy. I spent a good amount of time on the phone with my brother trying to figure out what the heck was going on. It's really tough following a game on the radio.
I honestly can't say if we played well or played poorly. I came away with the feeling that we left some points on the board not finishing drives and turning the ball over a couple of times.
I was correct in my preveiw about not feeding Jorvorskie the ball (only 10 carries) and getting it to Tellus (team high 50 yards and a TD on 2 receptions). Tellus had a huge catch on the first play of the game when McGee ran a play-action and hit Tellus for 40 yards. J-Train did have two TDs giving him 16 on the season (3 more will tie the school record).
There were three situations where I came away frustrated with the offense. The first was on that first possession as we had to settle for a FG after a 1st and goal from the 10 yard line. The second was in the second quarter a 1st and 10 from OSU's 20 yard line when we threw an INT on a trick play where Pierre Brown was throwing the ball (score was 6-3 OSU). Seemed like a strange time to run a play like that. The third was on our first possessoin of the 3rd quarter when we rolled off an 11 play drive and again had to settle for a FG after having a 1st and goal from the 2 yard line.
Two of the biggest plays of the game both came on our final drive. The first was on a 4th and 13 from our own 32 yard line. I still haven't seen the play but from what I can gather McGee hit Jorvorskie, who had to catch the ball behind him and then rumble for the first down. The second was our game tying TD. With just second left on the clock McGee dances around in the pocket and then flicks/shotputs the ball to Joey Thomas in the endzone.
Our third huge play was the game winner. In OT OSU matched our TD and Red Bryant blocked the PAT giving the Ags the win. I seriously almost had a cardiac arrest. My brother said he was glad no one was around because he's never yelled at his computer like that before.
Stephen McGee had a very solid game completing 17-of-26 for 192 yards with 2 TDs and 0 INTs. He also led the team in rushing with 84 yards on 17 carries. Speaking of leading, McGee has been very good in 4th quarter game winning/tieing drives putting together the 65 yard drive this weekend and an 80 yard drive against Kansas....both on the road. I love that.
Of our 8 games this season, four have been major nail biters (Army, tt, KU, OSU). It really reminds me a lot of our 2004 season when we went to OT with Colorado, Baylor, & texas tech and could have won the OU game with one more completed pass as time ran out.
Next weekend we travel up to Waco as we attempt to stop the Bears from running their mouths after their win over us two years ago. I really hope we just blow'em out. Fran has gained a chunk of ground back in my opinion of our situation but a loss to Baylor would probably be the straw that breaks the camel's back.