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Does it fell like summer of 2012 all over again here?
Posted on 5/20/14 at 11:10 am
Posted on 5/20/14 at 11:10 am
I feel like weve reverted back to May of 2012 with the Rant... We will be lucky to be 6-6 this year. Our savior is gone (which is true, see sig pic) so there is no way our QB play can hang with the rest of the SEC.
I remember these same remarks coming into the 2012. And honestly I love flying under the radar. Im not expecting a 10-2 season this year by any means, but if we are top 75 in defense in the nation, and get decent QB play (which under Sumlin I cant see why we wouldnt) I think we can go 9-3 and beat one of AU, Bama, LSU.
Am I delusional?
I remember these same remarks coming into the 2012. And honestly I love flying under the radar. Im not expecting a 10-2 season this year by any means, but if we are top 75 in defense in the nation, and get decent QB play (which under Sumlin I cant see why we wouldnt) I think we can go 9-3 and beat one of AU, Bama, LSU.
Am I delusional?
11
Posted on 5/20/14 at 11:13 am to 3andOut
if the defense can get somewhere around the top 70 I think we win 8-9.
if not...
if not...
Posted on 5/20/14 at 11:39 am to Dr RC
If we hold our opponents to less points than the amount of points we score, we will definitely win those games.
Posted on 5/20/14 at 12:06 pm to Projectpat
quote:
If we hold our opponents to less points than the amount of points we score, we will definitely win those games.
We will win the 'ship if we can pull this off
Posted on 5/20/14 at 12:14 pm to 3andOut
quote:
We will be lucky to be 6-6 this year. Our savior is gone (which is true, see sig pic) so there is no way our QB play can hang with the rest of the SEC.
I remember these same remarks coming into the 2012. And honestly I love flying under the radar. Im not expecting a 10-2 season this year by any means, but if we are top 75 in defense in the nation, and get decent QB play (which under Sumlin I cant see why we wouldnt) I think we can go 9-3 and beat one of AU, Bama, LSU.
In all seriousness, this does seem pretty accurate. However, I'm going to go into this season with the same pessimism that I did in 2012.
7 wins is our ceiling. Prove me wrong, Ags.
Posted on 5/20/14 at 12:23 pm to 3andOut
I mean. I was apprehensive about how the air raid would play in the SEC, and that had to do with the red zone. I think where Manziel struggled the most this year was throwing picks in the red zone. He was less likely to take off and run when he should have, instead trying to force it in where he shouldn't have. The Kenny Hill vs Kyle Allen battle will be a microcosm of this. I'm rooting for Kyle to win the job(because it sets the stage for Kyler) but Kenny is more mobile, which I love for this offense.
I have no faith in our defense. I have high hopes for 2015 and 2016 because the young core(Golden, Mastro, Claiborne, Garrett) should be in the prime of their collegiate careers. This year will be a learning process for all involved. If Kyle wins the job, I will be looking for signs of us turning our offense in to 2011 Oklahoma State. On defense, I'll just be looking for flashes of talent. I have no expectations on that side of the ball.
I have no faith in our defense. I have high hopes for 2015 and 2016 because the young core(Golden, Mastro, Claiborne, Garrett) should be in the prime of their collegiate careers. This year will be a learning process for all involved. If Kyle wins the job, I will be looking for signs of us turning our offense in to 2011 Oklahoma State. On defense, I'll just be looking for flashes of talent. I have no expectations on that side of the ball.
Posted on 5/20/14 at 12:28 pm to TeLeFaWx
I'll be interested to see what we run and how effective we are n the redzone if Allen is the QB.
As far as defense I do expect us to improve. If we are just as bad as last year Snyder needs to go IMO
As far as defense I do expect us to improve. If we are just as bad as last year Snyder needs to go IMO
Posted on 5/20/14 at 12:31 pm to 3andOut
2012 we were coming off a 7-6 season, fired our coach, lost a QB drafted in the top 10 with a bunch of decent, non-elite options to take over. And we were moving into a division where the top two schools had just played for the MNC, a 3rd won it the year before, and a 4th had played in a BCS bowl. There was legitimate reason to believe we were going to be pounded.
2014 we have the same coaching staff that has gone 20-6 in the last two years. We have a couple of back-to-back great recruiting classes. The QB situation is unsettled but unlike in '12, people actually have heard of our options because they were both extremely heavily recruited.
Are there a lot of people saying 6-6 etc? Of course. But I don't think the people on tRant honestly believe A&M is going to be an easy win like they truly did in '12. Every single school looks at their game with us as one they could potentially lose. I don't think anyone would be too surprised if we go 9-3 provided the QB play comes through.
2014 we have the same coaching staff that has gone 20-6 in the last two years. We have a couple of back-to-back great recruiting classes. The QB situation is unsettled but unlike in '12, people actually have heard of our options because they were both extremely heavily recruited.
Are there a lot of people saying 6-6 etc? Of course. But I don't think the people on tRant honestly believe A&M is going to be an easy win like they truly did in '12. Every single school looks at their game with us as one they could potentially lose. I don't think anyone would be too surprised if we go 9-3 provided the QB play comes through.
Posted on 5/20/14 at 1:23 pm to 3andOut
quote:
Does it fell like summer of 2012 all over again here?
I made that exact same comment over there a day or two ago.
That place is filled with idiots.
There's no middle ground for those nimrods … either you win it all or you're "horrible."
Posted on 5/20/14 at 1:27 pm to TeLeFaWx
quote:
I will be looking for signs of us turning our offense in to 2011 Oklahoma State
If you recall, the 2011 Oklahoma State defense was one of the worst in the country...except for forcing turnovers, where they were the best.
Posted on 5/20/14 at 3:32 pm to 3andOut
It's like deja vu 
Posted on 5/20/14 at 4:08 pm to Swaggit
It does, but I think we know a lot more of what to expect for 2014 than we did in 2012. We're not going to have the sheer lack of injuries that we had in 2012 on defense.
Posted on 5/20/14 at 9:11 pm to 3andOut
Well May 12 we didn't have a QB who look like they could complete a pass. Our O line was awesome our running game had everyone excited. Our defense had questions on pass rush and pass protection.
I think we'll do fine and have a 8 or 9 win season at a minimum.
I think we'll do fine and have a 8 or 9 win season at a minimum.
Posted on 5/20/14 at 10:05 pm to 3andOut
Our defense was decent in 2011, it just collapsed late in games. In hindsight, it wasn't all that surprising that our defense was decent in 2012.
It would shock me if we had a good defense this year, and the odds of duplicating our first year QB play of 2012 is minimal IMO.
It would shock me if we had a good defense this year, and the odds of duplicating our first year QB play of 2012 is minimal IMO.
Posted on 5/20/14 at 10:23 pm to Roger Klarvin
quote:
Our defense was decent in 2011, it just collapsed late in games.
up 21? run the ball twice in the second half!
Posted on 5/21/14 at 10:23 am to Roger Klarvin
quote:
It would shock me if we had a good defense this year, and the odds of duplicating our first year QB play of 2012 is minimal IMO.
Duplicating? Yeah, I'm not expecting that at all. But with the weapons we have on offense, I think the winner of the QB battle is going to have a lot of success. I said it on a different thread, but even when Keenum went down, and Sumlin had to start a 3rd string true fish at QB for most of the season, the Houston offense still finished 11th in yardage and 13th in scoring.
I think we're going to rely a lot more on the RBs running the ball and catching it out of the backfield. And we'll see Cam Clear much more involved in the offense, too. I think McKinney was more a caretaker OC, not a real innovator. Spavital is going to be an upgrade.
I don't know if we're going to be a "good" defense, but I'll honestly be surprised if we aren't average. With Garrett, Cunningham, and a beefed-up Hall, I really think our pass-rush is going to be an order of magnitude better.
Posted on 5/23/14 at 10:36 am to 3andOut
I am cautiously optimistic and can find reasons why we could be not good but great this year, of course the margin from that and being average to poor is razor thin in the SEC West.
On offense I honestly expect very little drop off. There is no replacing Johnny but we don't need to and honestly at times Johnny hurt us with some hero ball (Blasphemy I know). Johnny always went for the big play which was great but with the talent we have on O that really isn't necessary. For instance, if you took half of Johnny's called run plays and gave them to Trey or Tra or Brandon would there be a big dropoff? I would say no.
The key is if whomever the QB is can go out there and be confident and run the offense. We have a fantastic OL and playmakers all over the place, he just needs to minimize mistakes and get the ball to the playmakers. Anytime you get TW, BW, RSJ, or Speedy in space they can take it to the house and that doesn't count the next rung of guys like Clear, Kennedy, Quiv, and Carson that can make plays as well.
We are going to score a lot, we just will likely go through a few more droughts and maybe have the overall points drop by a few per game.
The key is absolutely the defense and no one really knows what that will be. Even in the Spring we were missing the players that are really key to understanding what we have there. Too many injuries and too many potential impact True Fish just weren't there.
The #1 issue last season was we simply didn't have anyone that could consistently pressure much less sack the QB. It all starts there because if you can't pressure a QB even an average one can pick you apart. There is legit hope that we will have some pass rushers this year whether it be Garrett, Hall (after a year in a weight program), or someone else. We also should be deeper and stronger overall on the DL.
The next issue was LB last year and to me the biggest issue was we had no leadership at all from this position that is so crucial to QB'ing the D. Mastro coming in to his own and Claiborne returning and continuing to improve could really flip the script for this unit. If you have a physical specimen like Mastro in the middle being a vocal leader, being in position, and laying the wood and thus freeing up Claiborne to be on the outside with more ability to roam and make plays (esp in pass coverage) then suddenly this is a pretty solid group. You also have some promising guys like Washington, Hilliard, etc to mix in so you aren't relying on one guy or True Fish to make the difference.
DB is the biggest question mark. More experience and depth certainly is encouraging. Allowing Everett and Harris to man the corners is encouraging. Safety play has to improve obviously but it almost can't be worse than last year. The real keys to this group are 2 fold imo. First, can we get a pass rush? As much as this group was berated justifiably last year how much of it was because they had QB's that were comfortable in the pocket and making unmolested throws? Second and more importantly imo is we will find out if Joseph is a better DB coach than Yates, they clearly have different styles and approaches. I love what I am hearing but it's all talk so far, every coach sounds like a hero when you don't have any negatives you can point to compared to the old one.
One other big factor on D is the overall talent is simply better. We have effectively increased our average rotation player from a 3 Star to a 4 Star in the last couple of years. That is bound to show some results. The kids we have now are simply bigger, stronger, faster, and more athletic than previous squads. Doesn't mean they will be better but they have more raw skills to work with.
Overall another issue is I don't think the gap in talent from A&M to the rest of the SEC is as wide as it was 2 years ago. When we came in the league we had a few star players mixed in with some solid vets that allowed us to play with teams that simply had better talent overall. Now the gap is much smaller and arguably only exists at all with LSU and Bama (and not by as much as many think). If our defense can get to the point where they can get more 3 and outs, some turnovers, and force FG's instead of TD's we are going to win a lot of games.
None of this means we will win 6 games or 12. I do see it being possible for this team to really surprise people though. If Auburn can do it then we certainly can. We need some players to step up both in terms of play and leadership and honestly we need some luck both in terms of injuries and bounces of the ball. I don't see this team getting steamrolled by anyone but I'm still realistic enough to know that a few breaks go against us and we could tumble fast as well.
On offense I honestly expect very little drop off. There is no replacing Johnny but we don't need to and honestly at times Johnny hurt us with some hero ball (Blasphemy I know). Johnny always went for the big play which was great but with the talent we have on O that really isn't necessary. For instance, if you took half of Johnny's called run plays and gave them to Trey or Tra or Brandon would there be a big dropoff? I would say no.
The key is if whomever the QB is can go out there and be confident and run the offense. We have a fantastic OL and playmakers all over the place, he just needs to minimize mistakes and get the ball to the playmakers. Anytime you get TW, BW, RSJ, or Speedy in space they can take it to the house and that doesn't count the next rung of guys like Clear, Kennedy, Quiv, and Carson that can make plays as well.
We are going to score a lot, we just will likely go through a few more droughts and maybe have the overall points drop by a few per game.
The key is absolutely the defense and no one really knows what that will be. Even in the Spring we were missing the players that are really key to understanding what we have there. Too many injuries and too many potential impact True Fish just weren't there.
The #1 issue last season was we simply didn't have anyone that could consistently pressure much less sack the QB. It all starts there because if you can't pressure a QB even an average one can pick you apart. There is legit hope that we will have some pass rushers this year whether it be Garrett, Hall (after a year in a weight program), or someone else. We also should be deeper and stronger overall on the DL.
The next issue was LB last year and to me the biggest issue was we had no leadership at all from this position that is so crucial to QB'ing the D. Mastro coming in to his own and Claiborne returning and continuing to improve could really flip the script for this unit. If you have a physical specimen like Mastro in the middle being a vocal leader, being in position, and laying the wood and thus freeing up Claiborne to be on the outside with more ability to roam and make plays (esp in pass coverage) then suddenly this is a pretty solid group. You also have some promising guys like Washington, Hilliard, etc to mix in so you aren't relying on one guy or True Fish to make the difference.
DB is the biggest question mark. More experience and depth certainly is encouraging. Allowing Everett and Harris to man the corners is encouraging. Safety play has to improve obviously but it almost can't be worse than last year. The real keys to this group are 2 fold imo. First, can we get a pass rush? As much as this group was berated justifiably last year how much of it was because they had QB's that were comfortable in the pocket and making unmolested throws? Second and more importantly imo is we will find out if Joseph is a better DB coach than Yates, they clearly have different styles and approaches. I love what I am hearing but it's all talk so far, every coach sounds like a hero when you don't have any negatives you can point to compared to the old one.
One other big factor on D is the overall talent is simply better. We have effectively increased our average rotation player from a 3 Star to a 4 Star in the last couple of years. That is bound to show some results. The kids we have now are simply bigger, stronger, faster, and more athletic than previous squads. Doesn't mean they will be better but they have more raw skills to work with.
Overall another issue is I don't think the gap in talent from A&M to the rest of the SEC is as wide as it was 2 years ago. When we came in the league we had a few star players mixed in with some solid vets that allowed us to play with teams that simply had better talent overall. Now the gap is much smaller and arguably only exists at all with LSU and Bama (and not by as much as many think). If our defense can get to the point where they can get more 3 and outs, some turnovers, and force FG's instead of TD's we are going to win a lot of games.
None of this means we will win 6 games or 12. I do see it being possible for this team to really surprise people though. If Auburn can do it then we certainly can. We need some players to step up both in terms of play and leadership and honestly we need some luck both in terms of injuries and bounces of the ball. I don't see this team getting steamrolled by anyone but I'm still realistic enough to know that a few breaks go against us and we could tumble fast as well.
Posted on 5/23/14 at 11:27 am to 3andOut
I see 8-9 wins because I do not see us regressing on offense or special teams, and the defense has no where to go but up
Posted on 5/23/14 at 3:26 pm to aggressor
That's what I'm talking 'bout! 
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