SL Xpress

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Go lose to ODU and that’ll change.

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It was 28-0 at halftime. I couldn't believe it. I texted a friend that's the most unbelievable halftime score I think I'd ever seen.

It's the same kind of thing, though.

I've seen it with sales people. They go through a rough patch, and it screws with their head.

I've seen it the other way, too. Someone suddenly blossoms because for whatever reason they get a surge of confidence and the feeling they can accomplish anything. Even the best performers can reach a higher level of performance when they feel a sort of flow. It's like they're untouchable. Regardless of the endeavor.

But who knows what the future for Manning holds? It's just a bummer as a fan to watch him go through this.

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What's your take on Sark and why he's struggling on offense and why we still have some of the same issues that everyone blamed on Quinn?

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Thank you for the nice comments.

Without making it my usual 2000 word essay, I do feel like the main issue right now is Manning - which still falls at Sarkisian's feet, since he's the head coach. That's just how it goes.

I don't understand why Manning is struggling the way he is, but he is. There's something mental going on. It didn't show up in his limited play against UTSA and Mississippi State last year. It's not showing up in practices. But IMO he's got the yips. It becomes a confidence thing. It can happen to any of us. He hasn't had a lot of adversity in his life. This has to be the first time he's really felt like he's failed at something he really wanted. That's tough. If he overcomes it he'll be better off for it, but there are no guarantees in life.

There was a famous pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals back in 2000 by the name of Rick Ankiel who suddenly lost his ability to throw strikes. He had a very interesting career, but the basic deal is when you lose your confidence it can be crippling. There's only one way to get it back, really. You have to earn it by having success. You can listen to all the Tony Robbins tapes you want. You can visualize and manifest yourself like an Indian spiritual guru, but at the end of the day you have to experience success. These first three games have been extremely painful for all of us Texas fans, his teammates, the coaching staff, but it's been hardest on Manning. I have some sympathy for him, but at the end of the day I'm more of a Texas fan than I am a Manning fan. I hope he figures it out.

It was so exciting when he committed. I was really looking forward to seeing him be the starting QB. But now we're kind of trapped a little bit. He's not a normal starting QB. You can't just sit him. There are going to be a lot of consequences, some of which can't be foreseen. So we'll see how it goes.

I know Sarkisian has his own issues we've seen manifested. I am starting to question what we're doing with our offensive line, too. But a lot of it doesn't matter if Manning doesn't fix himself. And a lot of it gets diminished if Manning starts playing like he's capable of.

I'm grateful we have the defense we do. We'll be in every game on that alone. But there's no chance this team can accomplish what I expected unless Manning improves his play.

Dia Bell is now lost for the season for the 2nd year in a row. I'm not sure what's going on there, but that's a whole lot of snaps he's missed his last two years in high school.

If Connor Weigman continues to have success at UH, he's going to be known as a Cougar, not an Aggie.

I'm not saying Ewers would have been run out of town. I don't think Dillon Gabriel would be run out of Norman. But he's going to be known as an Oregon Duck, not a Sooner. That's just how it works.

The problem with going to the portal is that to some extent - most of the time a significant extent - it tarnishes whatever legacy you had with the original team.

I'm sure Jalen Hurts will always be welcome in Tuscaloosa, but that's one of the few I can think of where the people with the original school still think just as highly about the player after the transfer.

For example, Carson Beck's legacy to a significant extent is going to be tied to Miami from now on. Whether that's the way it should be or not, that's just kind of how it is.

At the end of the day, Ewers wanted his legacy to be firmly tied to Texas, not whatever school he transferred to. He didn't expect to be a 7th round draft pick. If he could have foreseen the future, maybe he makes a different decision. I can tell you if I was in his shoes, I would have taken the money, and I'm a huge Longhorn fan. But I haven't been making over $1 million a year while in college, either. And his family is well off, too, so it's not like he's the primary bread winner, either. He's not buying his Mom a house or anything like that.

I also don't believe this is what Manning was showing in practice. He's not showing it in practice this year. There's something going on between his ears when it comes to game time. It's not just him. Ryan Wingo is having some of the same issues. Colin Simmons is having some of the same issues. But it's most obvious with Manning, and his struggles are the ones that are the most detrimental to the team.

In any case, it wasn't really an option for Ewers to stay another season at Texas. Manning doesn't look ready at all, but I'm not sure another year on the bench solves that. It looks to me like he needs to get out there and suffer through these growing pains and get on the other side of them.

What I can say is this is not the Manning I saw play last year. I can readily admit that UTSA and Mississippi State were not the most robust competition, but neither were San Jose State and UTEP, and Manning looked inconsistent in one and plain awful in the other. It's not the competition. It's playing in games. He's not right, right now.

My guess is that Sarkisian leans heavily on him running the ball against Sam Houston State, since he still looks good in that facet, to help him get his mind right.

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You will understand why aTm is 8-4

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Because they're A&M.

Since 1939 they have 3 finishes in the top 5. 1956, 2012, and 2020.

In some ways the SEC has made it easier on them, not harder. I think you're the one who doesn't understand A&M.

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You need to brush up on your history. Since the modern era (early 70s after black athletes and scholarship limits came on board) the series is tied 19-19.

The 40 or so series lead is almost exclusively from the '40s through '74 when Texas had something like 35-3 record as the big rich public school hording 200+ scholly players vs a small all-male military school.

Texas also had a 14-1-2 record vs A&M in the first 17 games played in the 1890s thru 1910 or so.

So why dont we just throw those out while you're tossing victories? Seriously- trying to define a series by what happened 50, 60, 70 and 120 years ago? That's t-sip all the way.

Don't show your ignorance!

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Yeah, this is my favorite Aggie mental gymnastics.

Parse the series any way you choose. You take away the 1984 to 1994 streak and UT still dominates. You had a nice little run there while Sherrill and Slocum were buying players and Texas was going through their late Akers/McWilliams/Mackovic run,

From 1995 to 2025 the series is 13-5. It's about to be 14-5 after this year, and I'm not sure exactly when A&M begins to compete. Maybe the next coach?

Just to be clear, it was triple damages. So $3.

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Well then I guess nobody leaves Austin on their own terms

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It's rare. In any sport. You have to win, then you have to keep winning.

Barnes was forced out as the winningest basketball coach in school history.

Garrido was forced out after winning a couple of national championships before he wanted to (Texas had a losing season and had only made one College World Series in 5 years). David Pierce was fired after making 3 college world series in 8 years.

Jody Conradt was forced out as the winningest coach in women's basketball history.

Tom Herman was recently fired in football after going 32-18 with a 7-3 record in his final season.

Chris Beard was fired after getting arrested for choking his fiancée, even though charges were later dismissed.

Sarkisian will be fired too if performance drops off. There are rumors out there he'd accept an NFL gig if offered, but he wants to win a national championship first. I don't know how real that is, but the truth is there's a lot of pressure on college coaches with no downtime, and he recently had a child with his wife - after they had announced a separation.- at the age 51.

I can't say the pressure is greater at Texas than other places. I don't know exactly how you measure that. It feels like the pressure to win is there regardless of where you go, except maybe Iowa, apparently. But there's plenty of pressure. The school tries to give all its coaches all the resources they need to win championships. But if they don't do that, they'll look for a replacement.