Kevin Sumlin

With Knight and Garrett hurt, he may not win another conference game.

He found the perfect job, where he is held to no standard and gets paid $5 million a year for this.

Chad Morris or Mike Leach

That's probably a little excessive. Some hearsay bullshite from the rumor mill isn't a sufficient foundation to make statements like that.

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Chad Morris

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I'd rather keep Sumlin an extra year just to see if Morris is for real.

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Mike Leach

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.....No. If you have ever complained about Sumlin, then you're a dumbass for wanting Leach.

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How the mind of Aggy changes. It's one game. Don't be so quick to throw away you're coach. Makes you look like an LSU fan.

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I think the vast majority thought we were over ranked, and that whatever success we've had was not because Sumlin suddenly was doing it right. Huge amount of talent can carry you, but development has been a joke. Name one player that has gotten markedly BETTER during a season or during his time here.

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Name one player that has gotten markedly BETTER during a season or during his time here.

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yeah, this is a good point. i was having this discussion with my dad over the weekend, and we were hard pressed to think of guys that have arrived at a&m under sumlin and progressed at their position from a skill set level. there is obviously a marked level of improvement physically as an 18 year old matures into a 20+ year old, but from a skill set perspective it doesn't seem like there is significant advancement. This seems most apparent at the WR position. imho.

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Offense: Push

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Troll post

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cardboardboxer

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Godspeed.

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I could deal with being mostly awful, but being teased with greatness is the true torture.

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WARNING- LONG CARDBOARDBOXER POST INCOMING!

Meh, we were top 4 not number 1. And keeping that #4 wasn't completely in our control (an undefeated Washington would have jumped us no matter what).

Our problem is the escalation of desires. We could easily still have a 9 or even 10 win team this season, and any of us would have taken the latter in a heartbeat before the season started.

The problem is when you get ranked #4, when you beat an overrated Tenn, when you get to November, you start to have dreams of maybe winning 11 games or going to the playoff. Suddenly 10 wins is a letdown because you had dreams of better. Because really none of us want ten wins, we all want titles. We would just would have taken ten wins given our history the last 20 years.

A Roger would say the fact that we would have gladly taken 10 wins in the preseason is the real problem, and that any coach in their fifth year here should be able to do more. I would happily debate that point if we had a history of achieving such things, but we don't. And the reason why is real problem, not Sumlin.

Why is a Boise St. great almost every year, coach after coach, with shite talent and almost no facilities? I think the reason for that, or more exactly the inverse of that reason, is why we so massively underachieve.

I have a theory why- manipulated and amplified personal pride. My grandpa used to tell me that The Bear used to tell his players after a loss "you can get on the bus if you want, but that just means you are back to the state and fans you disappointed today that much quicker. How you can live with yourself after letting your family, the state, and everybody down is a mystery to me." And then the next game they would kill people and make sure to not lose that same game again (or any other game they "should" win).

I am sure Nick Saban operates the same way, as does a Boise (in a way) or hell even an Oklahoma. Our problem is we lack not only that base of motivation, but we don't have the experience of success to lean on.

What do our kids play for? The state? Texas has that burden/responsibility in the popular culture. Us Aggies? Most of us are conservative goobers that will vote for a completely different candidate than the parents of most of the players. They don't care about us. Their parents? So many of them wanted their kid to go to Texas or somewhere else. Few parents from the demographic most players come from grow up Aggies. To uphold our legacy as a program? Hell every kid knows our best year in decades came about because of a drunk a-hole. We have no legacy. I love what Myles does but the loss to him was just a small letdown on the road to being a top pick, nothing more.

Given this lack of motivation, and the lack of taste of success (and the responsibility that it brings to uphold that legacy) it seems obvious why we drop games like this we shouldn't drop. That combined with the caste system and catch 22 that is recruiting in college football probably keeps REAL success (or even a taste of it) out of our reach.

So what are we left with? A program that can win more games than not, in a very nice stadium, and an environment we can be proud of, with a great schedule. And there are many programs (Tech, Boise, etc.) that would kill for just that. But for us it isn't good enough because we want to rub elbows with programs that take advantages we have and actually win with them.

The unfortunate answer is learn to be happy with 8 and 9 win seasons, which is hard for any fan- go read the Arky forum if you doubt me. I just don't see how we break the cycle to do better. Maybe next week I will find that SEC-branded koolaid package but not now.