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Friday November 3rd, 2006
12:01amAg Football Preview: #18 Oklahoma
The excitement on campus has been brewing steadily. The guys at Wal-Mart’s headquarters are going to be completely baffled as to why College Station has been going through poster board faster than bread.
I still haven't figured out my sign yet but I'll think of something (although probably not very witty). They have decided to set up shop next to Cain Hall with the Zone in the background. It should look great and will be a huge upgrade from when they were here in '00.
OU comes into the game with a 6-2 overall record with their only losses coming to texas and to Oregon, in one of the most controversial games in recent history. With the amount of players from deep on their depth chart getting playing time, I'm kind of impressed with how well they've played.
Rhett Bomar's replacement, Paul Thompson, has played much better than I thought he would. He has completed 61% of his 197 passing attempts for 1566 yards and has 13 TDs with 5 INTs. His #1 target is Malcolm Kelly who scares the tar out of me. Think of Dominique Zeigler x3. Kelly has 564 yards and 6 TDs on 34 receptions. Juaquin Iglesias has the second most receptions with 25 for 285 yards and 1 TD. I think that Kelly will be the key to winning....if he goes off we lose, if he's held in check we win.
OU Offense A&M Defense =========== =========== 178 (23) Rushing 118 (42) 198 (62) Passing 197 (58) 376 (35) Total 315 (52) 30.9 (20) Scoring 18.9 (42)While I'm glad we don't have to defend against Adrian Peterson, who broke his collarbone a couple of weeks ago, I am disappointed that I'm not getting to see him. I missed the '04 OU game (my first missed home game) so I didn't get to see him then. The guy is simply a freak and is the best collegiate player I've seen since I started watching college football. His replacement is Allen Patrick. On the season, Patrick has 329 yards on 88 carries and 1 TD....however....in the two games since AD went down he has 272 yards and a TD on 71 carries. In other words, he's carrying the load well.
A&M Offense OU Defense =========== =========== 214 (8) Rushing 110 (30) 209 (48) Passing 168 (29) 423 (13) Total 278 (18) 33.0 (16) Scoring 15.1 (17)As you can see, OU's defense stacks up well against our offense. That should be fun to watch.
Their defense is very top heavy with Rufus Alexander, Zach Latimer, and Nic Harris. Those 3 have half of the team's 10 sacks, and 7 of their 10 INTs....and are 1, 2, & 4 on the squad with tackles. C.J. Ah You is also someone who needs to be watched as he has a team high 6 QB hits. Look out McGee.
I got to participate in a "Fact or Fiction" segment over at Crimson & Cream Machine. You can check out my thoughts on their questions over there.
The one thing that I wanted to bring up that I touched on there was OU's troubles at Kyle Field. Since the rivalry was reignited in 1993 the two teams have played in College Station six times. The Sooners are 2-4 in those games including our 2002 victory over their #1 ranked team.
Their two wins have both been nail biters coming down to the last few minutes. They were ranked #1 in 2000 and with under 4 minutes left in a 35-31 game we had a 1st-and-goal from OU's 10 yard line. We got down to the 4 yard line and then, for whatever reason, stopped giving the ball to Ja'Mar Toombs and threw two incomplete passes to turn the ball over on downs. That was the ballgame. In 2004 OU was ranked #2 and we lost 42-35 when a Hail Mary fell, literally, inches from Chad Schroeder's outstretched fingers as the clock hit 0:00.
For whatever reason, the Sooners struggle with the 12th Man. Let's hope this trend carries on this weekend.
Gig'em & B.T.H.O. OU! WHOOP!
Thursday November 2nd, 2006
12:01amAgs make it 21-1-1 Against BU
What a great Saturday. I met up with my brother (Sean), his buddy (David) and my buddy (Zach) at 2pm in College Station so we could head up to Waco.
We pulled into town and looked for a place to eat on our way to the stadium but we got to the stadium before we found a place we wanted to eat so we kind of wrapped around the stadium and found a Jack in the Box. Zach is from Colorado and had never been to a JIB but knew all the jokes about it....unfortunately this particular location was probably the worst I've ever been to so it essentially made the stereotypes ring true.
We got back to the stadium and parked in some guy's back yard about 1/2 a block from the stadium and walked through all the tailgating up to the entrance. I don't know if Floyd Casey has been renovated since I was there in '00 but it sure looked nicer than what I remember. The only exception was underneath the stands, which looked like an old small stadium concourse.
The game itself was a good one. We ran the ball with just about everyone, led by Stephen McGee with 17 carries for 89 yards. Mike Goodson finally busted that big run we've been foaming at the mouth to see and it was a huge 64 yard victory sealer with just over 2 minutes left. Sweet goodness, he can F-L-Y. Jorvorskie picked up 53 yards and his 17th TD on 12 carries. Chris Alexander also got into the action with some very nice rumbles. 292 yards on the ground is a nice evening.
Through the air, McGee loved what Tellus did. You look back on player's careers and can pinpoint the game when a guy truly arrives and this was it for Tellus. Five receptions for 133 yards and two TDs, including a 75 yard rumble. My boy, Howard Morrow, also picked up a couple receptions for 31 yards as he was the only other player with more than one catch....even though we had 7 players with a reception.
I am becoming slightly concerned with our recent problems scoring inside the 10 yard line. Against Mizzou we had to settle for a FG from their 6 yard line. Twice against OSU we had to kick FGs from inside OSU's 6 yard line. Against Baylor we left points on the board picking up only 3 points in two of our possessions inside Baylor's 5 yard line. It seems to be getting worse as each week passes. I don't know if this has to do with teams keying in on J-Train more or what but we aren't going to be able to depend on FGs to beat OU, Nebraska, and texas.
The defense played a little bit shorthanded. Red Bryant didn't suit up for the game and Kellen Heard was on the sidelines with his shoe off and his leg wrapped up (he didn't play in the second half). I was also worried about Chris Harrington because I didn't see him out there at all in the second half but after the game when the team came over to sing the War Hymn in front of the band I saw that he was wearing #90 instead of his usual #92. Turns out his jersey ripped and he had to change it mid-way through the game. Pshew.
I still can't figure out why on earth Baylor stopped feeding the ball to Dominique Zeigler. The guy simply owns us. He caught four passes for 166 yards in the first half and then only had one catch for 14 yards in the second half. I just don't get it. Over the last three meetings between A&M & Baylor, Zeigler has 22 catches for 367 yards and 3 TDs. That's 20% of his career receiving yards and 23% of his career TDs. Anyways, I'm glad they stopped throwing to him.
Here is a question....why does it seem like we always have a defensive back falling down on our opponent's big plays? I've noticed it several times where a guy is laying on the turf while a wideout is streaking across the middle of the field wide open and ends up with a 50+ yard TD. I find this very odd.
Ok, I have to crack on Baylor a little bit. I had to laugh when I heard Eminem's Lose Yourself come on over the sound system but I was sadly disappointed when I realized they were just playing the musical accompaniment. I also got a chuckle when they played some NFL highlights to pump up the crowd because they didn't have enough big hit type plays to fill up an entire reel.
The funniest part of the evening was something we will laugh about for a long time to come. Right in the middle of the game, during a timeout or a possession change, the Jumbotron flashed to a Baylor reporter who was in the middle of the Baylor student section. He said "I have some good news" and everyone quieted down. Then he says, "The good news is that it's the third quarter and you guys [the students] are still here." It was pure comedy gold. Ahhh, good old Baylor.
I'm only posting this so BU fans can finally put away the 35-34 pictures they waited 20 years forThe game was essentially over when Goodson broke his TD run but it was officially sealed when Jordan Peterson picked off a pass with under a minute left on the clock.
After the game we got back to the car, plugged in my Fightin' Texas Aggie Band cd and idled down the street fighting traffic on our way home.
It was a great road trip. Nebraska's defense was extraordinary whenever the ball was in front of them. Virtually every run, screen pass, etc. was just gobbled up.
Tuesday October 31st, 2006
2:21amGameday Coming to Aggieland!
The Gameday Crew is comin' back to College Station for the first time since I was a freshman and didn't have a clue what was going on. This time I'm fully aware and well prepared to partake and enjoy the events."There are 85,000 people standing the entire game, waving their 12th Man towels--it's unreal. Kyle Field and the 12th Man lived up to, and exceeded every expectation we had for them. Last Saturday in Aggieland proved without a doubt, one of the most special memories I'll ever have from College Gameday."
---Kirk Herbsteit, ESPN College Gameday (2000)The weekend in already planned out. One of Jennifer's friends is coming into Houston for the weekend to visit so I'm free to head up to College Station for the Men's basketball game Friday night (8pm v. Lithuanian Academy). From there we'll be heading to Midnight Yell. We'll probably sit down and make our posters sometime in there too.
Saturday morning will start bright and early where ever the Gameday Crew sets up shop. We'll probably not get there early enough (read: Thursday night) to get prime spots but we're going to just enjoy the atmosphere and experience everything we can. Since kickoff isn't until 7pm, I'm thinking maybe we'll attempt to catch Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan during the early afternoon, which opens Friday night. Then of course is game time.
Should be a good one.
I'll get my Baylor recap up later this week as well as my OU Preview. Things are crazy this week with school....today I have an exam in one class and a presentation in each of my other two classes.