The Fake Lonnie Finch

Kansas State under Bill Snyder does a good job with JUCOs. Ditto Bob Stoops at OU. Some coaches just have a knack for how to spot JUCO talent. Perhaps Sonny has it. The thing about JUCOs is that you still have to be building up depth behind them, signing enough preps at the position where you've gotten a JUCO starter. Problems arrive when you just use them as a band aid and don't sign enough 4/5-year guys along with them.

Always surprised when people watch bad defense and declare good football is being played. A&M and Louisana Tech are horrible. I wouldn't give a squirt of piss for either of them.

I'm not really sure what beating Texas proves about OU. Had the officials made the correct call on Texas' last minute fumble versus Oklahoma State, the 'Horns would be sitting at 0-3 in the Big 12. Their defense has been ripped by anyone half decent. Basically, nothing is different in the Big 12...no one really plays much defense. Texas' offense is ridiculous. Colorado and Arizona State went through this when they hired Boise State's Dan Hawkins and Dirk Koetter respectively as their head coaches. What Boise State does well works in the MWC/WAC....not so much is bigger conferences with better copetition. For reasons unknown, Texas ditched their known coordinator for Boise State's Bryan Harsin. Harsin is fine with lesser competition. He's not fine week in and week out in a Big Boy Conference. I'll also never understand Texas hiring Manny Diaz, whose total signficant resume was one season at Mississippi State. Other than that, he was Middle Tennessee State's DC for four years and a position coach at North Carolina. It's a head scratcher that Mack Brown and DeLoss Dodds took a leap of faith on a coach the likes of Diaz after blockbuster hirings of Gene Chizik and Will Muschamp before him. What Texas needs to do is write Texas A&M a thank you letter for not hiring Alabama DC Kirby Smart as their head coach when they had the opportunity to do so, then go ahead and hire him away from Bama to run their defense. Bama may be better on the field right now; but, no one has more money than Texas. Texas could hire Smart and make him the "head coach in waiting." Yes...that was stupid. But, still, Texas needs real coordinators.

Why does it matter? It's the same with recruiting - not everyone who lives in Texas has long Texas roots. Many families may have only lived here a few years. Or, they may be the only part of their family in Texas. Why would someone from Iowa, Oklahoma, Michigan, Alabama, etc. whose parents moved to Texas root for Texas against anyone? Why would they care? People from Michigan or Ohio could give a rip about the Texas-OU game. Kids born to people who moved from other states are going to have loyalties back home. And, even if they were to choose a school to support from their new home state, why would it have to be Texas? There are plenty of other schools in the state. Not everyone living in California - by birth or by migration - roots for Cal. Not everyone in Oklahoma follows the Sooners. And, again, with an 85 scholarship limit, not every kid in the state of Texas can go to a Texas school anyway. The population numbers here make it too great. Alabama won a national title with a kid from Southlake starting at QB. Who gives a damn? OU's last national title came with a kid from South Dakota playing QB. Again, who cares? The one before that, a kid from California. The two before that, a kid from Oklahoma. Who cares? Look, Texas fans...Texas gets the pick of the litter when it comes to Texas recruits. Don't be so peevish when they underachieve. They've got no excuse - none - for having OU run them out of the Cotton Bowl two years in a row. OU is a school in a state with fewer people than inhabit the DFW metroplex. If Texas can't put together teams to beat OU on a regular basis, that's not the fault of kids who don't want to stay in Texas. Texas already gets the best. If they don't know what to do with them once they get there, that's their own problem. I hope North Texas has that kind of problem someday.

I forgot to say it again, since the thrread keeps going on, but...Derek's the man!

Which beach, Galveston or Gulf Shores?

Here's the difference between the two: (1) Thompson has taken some snaps against real college competition (2) Berglund has not...for years. I like Thompson. With his experience, I bet he's a better shot at keeping the job than Berglund. Also, Berglund appears to be a kid where you can't count the chickens before the eggs hatch. He's been here, he's been there. Thompson has stuck it out through thin and thin here. I think he's the one to take us into the thick.

Offense isn't the problem. We had almost 500 yards of offense against UH. The problem is...we gave up 623 on defense - 302 rushing and 321 passing. Again, and I'll keep saying it: DEFENSIVE LINE. McCarney is a good coach, so are his coordinators and assistants. But, if they don't get the DL line depth and talent situation worked out, it will all be nothing but a fart in the wind.

WKU turned it around in two years, and are stellar in the third year. The problem is the defensive line: (1) You can't stop the run, you've got problems. (2) You can't pressure the quarterback, you've got problems. My hope in the McCarney hiring is that because he was a DL coach our DL recruiting and play would pick up. It hasn't. Our depth at DT is non-existent. The play of those unable to rotate because of the lack of depth is incosistent.

TCU signaled that they were "all in" to the Big 12-2-2+2 whenever this kid told police he'd been doing weed, blow, and X in February. They had their chance to kick him off the team then, but didn't. We hear about Bob Stoops and Mack Brown and others in the Big 12 having standards. Balogna. Both have let kids get away with multiple DWIs/DUIs, failed drug tests, etc. They suspend them for a gimmie win game (SEE OU suspending Brandon Everage for their game against us after he was caught with weed during a traffic stop in 2003). This TCU QB was drunk and ran a stop sign in the middle of the night. No one was hurt. But...the potential was there. All drugs he's admitted to taking are still illegal, despte what the hippie scum want. Patterson didn't car ein February, and he only cares now because he has to do so. My guess is, the kid is back before the end of the year, as TCU decides to punish him "after the court process runs its course" - every FBS coaches chicken shit way of avoiding having to discipline star players during the season.

Tonight, either Arkansas State or FIU try to salvage the opportunity to stay in the Sun Belt race. Louisiana throttled FIU pretty god last week; Arkansas State played half a game versus WKU. I think Arkansas State makes FIU an afterthought, winning in Miami. ULM plays their first conference game of the year at bipolar MTSU. I'm not sure how impressed to be that MTSU beat Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is decidedly a run-first team. But, ULM leans toward the pass game. I'm thinking ULM takes is to MTSU on the road. It's difficult to not be impressed with ULM this year. Lousiana is where the Sun Belt title will be decided this year it seems. Big games in the Belt title race: Oct. 20 - ULM at WKU Oct. 23 - Arkansas State at Louisiana (Tuesday game) Nov. 3 - Louisiana at ULM Nov. 8 - ULM at Arkansas State (Thursday game) Nov 17 - WKU at Louisiana That is the Belt race this year. ULM playing Louisiana and Arkansas State in a five day span is a ballbreaker. Louisiana gets Arkansas State and WKU at home. That may be enough give them the edge for the title. Arkansas State has a sweet set up in October. Nine days between tonight's game and their next game, Oct 13 at home versus newbie South Alabama. Then, another ten days between that game and their Oct 23 showdown with Louisiana. Then, a bye week for Oct 30! So, another 11 days between Louisiana and the Nov 3 game at Apogee. Of any of the possible Belt contenders, no one should have a better rested team for each game than Arkansas State.

There can't be more than 200 people at the Tulsa-UAB game. Sad. http://www.thefirstrow.eu/watch/144001/1/watch-tulsa-vs-uab.html

Yes, but not playing in the SEC yet, we don't need 4* and 5* DTs the way Bama does. We're in the Belt and going into the C-USA. We need 3* and 2* for sure...and we need six or seven over the next two signing classes. Like SilverEagle, I thought McCarney being a D-Line guy that this wouldn't be a problem. If we bring in two or fewer with the next recruiting class, it'll be disappointing.

People with dangerous dog breeds around kids are idiots. I broke into the insurance industry 17 years ago as an adjuster. Dogs mauling kids are the worst type of claims. Everytime a dog owners told me, "He's never bitten before" I wanted to punch them in the face. It doesn't matter that the dog hasn't bitten before. What matter's is that you have a 100+ pound dog around toddlers and little kids who can in no way defend themselves against an animal that big when it decides to bite/defend itself.

What we need is DTs: two-star, three-star, four-star. And, they are hard to get. Former football coach Barry Switzer on the importance of DTs this week in the Tulsa World: While the Sooners were adding two defensive tackles in two years, Alabama signed seven. "You've got a quota, and if you can only sign 18, 19, 20 players and you've got to get every position covered, that limits you to how many you can get," Switzer said. "When you don't sign any, when you're shut out, you really are in trouble. Because it really makes you fall off. If you can't play defense, people will beat your ass."

From Pat Forde this week: Willie Taggart (15). Base salary for the Western Kentucky coach: $475,000. Expect that to change when the bigger schools come after Taggart in a hurry at season's end. Since taking over an 0-12 Sun Belt program in 2010, Taggart has gone 2-10, then 7-5 and now is 3-1 with victories over Kentucky and Southern Mississippi. The Hilltoppers bludgeoned Southern Miss 42-17, racking up 560 offensive yards against one of the more accomplished mid-major programs. Taggart played under Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky and coached under his son Jim at Stanford. He brings a Harbaugh-esque level of confidence and charisma to the job.

I said we'd go 5-7, but I wouldn't be surprised at 4-8. After Texas State "upset" Houston, and other "little" schools beat "bigger" schools in the first two weeks, I thought 6-6 might be achievable for us. Here's the problem - at the time I made my prediction, I made the assumption that an experienced defense and speical teams would cover an inexperienced defense to the five to six win plateau. However, a third of the season is now gone, we're 1-3, and the script is completely flipped - the offense and special teams are struggling, and the defense is doing a pretty good job in spite of the inexperience all around it. In my first prediction, I said we'd go 2-7 in the first nine games, then win the final three to go 5-7. Well...the last two games are against ULM and WKU on the road. You look at the way those two are playing versus what we're doing, and it's pretty safe to say that we're not going to be favored in those two. So, how's it going? Well, we lost to one of the more beatable school in the Sun Belt last week. FAU is even more beatable. If our offense flounders against FAU, there are going to be many dark days the rest of the fall. FAU is horrible, worse that Troy. But, we couldn't nail Troy down. What I'm saying is - there are problems. Moreso than any - but a few - of us could have imagined. A loss to FAU...I can't even imagine the scenario. The offense and special teams have got to do something. Remaining games: @ FAU (1-3): Only win a 7-3 fourth quarter comeback versus Wagner...the school, not the composer. @ Houston (0-3): Sucking tremendously, paying the price for not having a real coaching search when Sumlin left. Louisiana (2-1): Only loss to Oklahoma State. @ Middle Tennessee (2-1): Lost to McNeese, beat crappy FAU and Memphis. The level of suck here is yet to be determined. Arkansas State (2-2): Malzahn's one and done tour's only losses have been at Oregon and Nebraska. South Alabama (1-3): Only win a 9-3 barnburner versus FCS Nicholls. @ ULM (1-2): Beat Arkansas, took Auburn to overtime, led Baylor in 4th quarter. @ WKU (3-1): Only loss to #1 Alabama; wins of Kentucky and Southern Miss. FAU and South Alabama are the gimmies (?). Middle Tennessee is a push - winnable, but the two of us are competing for a certain level of mediocrity. This game will decide which is merely mediocre and which just sucks. As much of a struggle as Houston is having, I still have a hard time imagining them losing to us. If they do, though, I can't imagine that they keep their head coach for a full year. Louisiana, Arkansas State, ULM, and WKU are playing way above us so far. So, we're staring at 3-9 now. If we can muster the mustard to get past MTSU, 4-8 is realistic. If we can really crank it up K-State game style, we can send Houston into football laughingstock hell. There's our 5-7. See how shaky it is? Louisiana, Arkansas State, ULM, and WKU...those would be true upsets. I still hope we can get a win versus one of those four. But....

dahbeed, Congrats. Your guy really has the Hilltoppers going along well. There has to be some concern that schools up the chain will take notice and try to hire him away. Is the WKU administration doing anything to make his contract more lucrative? Or, is his loyaty to the alma mater strong enough to keep him there?

On the heels of 2-10 and 0-12 seasons in 2008 and 2009, WKU hired Taggart from Stanford. Improved from 0-12 to 2-10 in 2010. Improved from 2-10 to 7-5 in 2011. Have begun 2012 with a 3-1 mark with wins over Kentucky and Southern Miss. Since beginning the 2011 season 0-4, WKU has gone 10-2. And, those two losses were to...LSU in 2011 and Alabama this season. I've got to admit, what Taggart has done in short order has been very impressive. He couldn't have had much more in the cupboard than we had when McCarney took over. WKU plays both Arkansas State and Lousiana on the road. Those will be the games that decide the Sun Belt. This weekend's Sun Belt slate will feature the top four contenders playing one another with FIU at Louisiana and WKU are Arkansas State.

It is at North Texas...apparently.

Well, McCarney doesn't have his own son (or daughter) to start at QB, but he does have someone else's son. Take heart.

Or, play defensive tackle? At what point are we allowed to point out that we aren't getting "highly rated" players? This was a point people made about the majority Dickey and Dodge's recruits. Does it seem like things have changed all that much so far? Don't misconstrue this as a knock on the recruit. My point is just this - because the level of recruit is about the same as we were getting under Dickey and Dodge, we'll see with McCarney whether or not coaching matters down here in the lower FBS programs that are trying to grow up. McCarney will sign his third class in February, and we will move into a new conference on July 1, 2013. We need bigger, better, faster, stronger...except against Memphis and UAB...and Tulane.

They are putting more butts in the seats that anyone in the WAC. Second is Texas State. http://blog.mysanantonio.com/utsa/2012/09/utsas-home-attendance-no-1-in-wac-despite-drop-from-last-year/ Whether we admit it or not, these two schools' fanbases are excited about watching them play even lower level opponents.