FirefightnRick

of course, wouldn't you know it. TSU on the aggie 2 yard line and what looks to be a sure pass interference call on a&m is miraculously against the TSU tightend. Nearly every TSU drive inside the aggie 20 yard line they have drawn a flag. TSU forced to go for it on 4th down from the 12, incomplete. What a screw job by the big 12 officials. Rick

AGGIES FUUUUUUUMBLLLEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! on their own 22. TSU's ball. 8:07 to go. Rick

TSU's QB Neally just put on his own show with that 41 yard TD run with 9:07 to go. 44 - 31 a&m Rick

....and 19 first downs along with 24 points with a quarter to go. And TSU had a couple of other chances to score such as a halfback pass to a wide open reciever who snuck 10 yards behind the defense but was overthrown by five yards. That should have made it 31 to 41 a&m late in the 3rd quarter. What an exciting, smart offensive game plan that moved the chains and kept the aggressive a&m offense off ballance. The BobCats may get blown out as they cannot stop McNeal, and they shouldn't. But they are giving a clinic on how smaller, slower, less financed programs can go out and offensively take it to the big dogs, rather than going 3 and out all night long, hoping to keep the clock moving to get the game over without any injuries and go home along with the check. Interestingly I noticed that every time TSU got within 25 yards of the aggie endzone in the first half there was the yellow hanky. Things never change do they? Rick

God Bless Johnny Quinn! Rick

Yes, and she too juggled quite well I might add. Rick

If anyone dares' us to pass they are going to be very dissapointed. K State's front 9 will have an enjoyable day for sure. By the way, the last time I was in Manhatten, the team in green walked in EXPECTING A WIN, AND THE CHECK as was the norm for my generation of the Mean Green. And had it not been for a bullshit pass interference call and the final 12 seconds the Mean Green would have gotten both. Rick

I just got a fund raiser call from the Shriners based in Knoxville Tennessee. They are asking people to sponsor some of the displaced kids from Katrina for a chance to go to the Shrine Circus when it comes to town in your area. Our's will be in Ft Worth in November. Anyhow, the gentleman sounded like he was pretty way up in his years and was very kind, he asked if I was familiar with the circus and I said I was, that I had attended it several times growing up and that a girl I dated in college was related to a man who was a long time clown in the circus, that we used to go to it and go back stage to see the animals get fed and all etc. I requested the info to send in the money, they don't ask for money over the phone. Later he asked me, "Where did you go to college?". I said the University of North Texas. He then said: "Oh, isn't North Texas State where little Darrell Dickey Jr coaches football?" I started laughing and said yes. He knew his father from way back, and I couldn't make out exactly where he said he knew them from. But he said he was surprised to read about "North Texas State" in Sports Illustrated and USA Today and glad little Darrel was doing so well. He lives in Knoxville and saw where we played MTSU the "other day" and was going to keep a better eye on our team from now on. By the way, if they call you, as I said, they don't ask for money over the phone. If you pledge to send them $30, they will send you tickets for 3 people and an addressed envelope and you send them a check or money order back. If you pledge $40 you get 4 tickets and so on. So it's a great deal for you and your family and you get to send some displaced kids to the circus as well. Rick

That's true. Here's a question for you. Why is it that a QB like Jacobs, in his sophomore year can tear it up and set himself up as a possible hiesman candidate but a running back doing the same thing can't even get nominated for the Doak? I guess a better question is(tongue in cheek): Is it possible the passing attack offense brings more interest from the outside than the running game? I know, stupid question! Rick

Not sure where the class of '99 ranked on rivals but they were by far the top group we have had to date in my oppinion. Rick

I understand that, and really, what else is he going to say? His job is to block down field in this system. You can block downfield till you've blocked up a house and it does you no good when your running back is averaging only 2.8 yards per carry and never gets to the point where your bocking in the first place. Rick

Never mind. There's a thread below that already answers this guite well. Rick

Bowling Green put up over 530 yards of offense and 42 points in a loss to Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. You want to see my dream offense? Watch these two teams tonight. Imagine what SPJMo, The Emerald Exress and the Mighty Quinn could do in either system? Rick

I wouldn't consider 2003 or 2004 as rebuilding years and we got destroyed against OU, Texas, Baylor, Air Force, Memphis, Southern Miss and lost to a first year 1-A program during the span of those two years. We also won the Sun Belt conference both years that included wins over Sun Belt teams by margins I would describe as by the "Skin of our teeth" including a 3 point win against NMSU, a 2 point win over ULM and a 5 point win over MTSU. With that said, DD certainly deserves our respect and support as he has done more with less. I would just like to simply see a bit of a change in offensive philosophy. Rick

There's a new sherrif in town. Reid Mathew Turney arrived in classic fashion today in San Antonio around 4:45 p.m. Weighing in at 8 lbs, 5 oz and measuring 20 inches long. Baby and momma are both doing great. Congrats to the Turney's from the Mean Green Nation! Rick

NT 34 K State 28 Surely we are better than Florida International? Rick

I got them backwards, sorry about that. 50 attempts, 29 completions. QB rating means nothing to me actually. Scott Hall had a high one and look how that stat did for us last year in New Orleans facing a run stuffing defense. I'm more for whatever moves the chains and puts points on the board, regardless. And right now, it aint the power running game that's getting it done. Rick

Well, excuse me, that would be stupid if your playing Texas, or Texas Tech or UC Davis. They're QB's throw strikes all around the field. With us, we throw into the flat behind the line of scrimmage or a hail mary down the sidelines, forcing us to beat them with the run most times. And it's not worked now three games straight for us, time to change just a bit. My 2 cents again. Rick

Actually with the one tightend set your looking at 6 blockers blocking 8. But Tulsa had 9 many times so you had 6 blocking 9 at times. Send the tightend out for a pass, now your down to 8. Send either of the two backs out in motion and your down to 7. Still you have 5 blocking 7. However if they choose to send seven, which would be stupid, you have single coverage on Quinn, Muzzy, Davidson and SPJMo. Advantage: Mean Green! Rick

Yup! Rick

Don't know where you get 200% from, is that his true QB rating? As I read it, 29 divided by 50 is .58 which is his completion percentage. His QB rating is 124.6 and I'm going by the stats given, I don't remember how to figure up QB rating? Rick

Also, in case no one was paying attention, Florida International went into Manhatten three weeks ago and gave K State all they wanted. Until KSU scored a td with 8 minutes to go to ice the game it was a 28-21 game. FIU averaged 4.5 yards passing on them and was in position for an upset. Marshall two weeks ago had K State beat had it not been a bonehead decision to move the ball closer with a pass to set up for a field goal. Down 21-19 and with the ball sitting on K state's 21 yard line, Marshall's coach, for whatever reason, tries to move the ball closer with a pass. The QB either forced it or was trying to throw the ball away when K State picked it off as time ran out. No reason for it, they were close enough for the try. Marshall had their way with K State's defense all day with an average of 6.6 yards per pass. Had they taken care of the ball (5 turnovers) it may not have even been close. We watched the game in Murfreesboro and couldn't believe the MU coach took such a risk when they didn't need to. K State can be beaten if we take it to them. Rick

Lineberry, SR, 15 starts May, SR, 11+ starts Foster, JR, 13 starts Brown, Soph, 12 starts. 4 of our 5 starting offensive linemen have blocked for a national rushing champion and helped lead the Sunbelt conference as well as rank nationally in "fewest sacks allowed" the past two years. I understand what your saying, but this is not a young O line. Rick

Allen Webb is their QB. He has 29 attempts, 50 completions for 287 yards, with a completion rating of 58.0. He's averaging 5.74 per attempt. He has thrown 4 td, 2 ints and has a rating of 124.6 Thomas Clayton is their star RB. He has rushed 43 times for 329 yards with an average of 7.7 yards per carry. He has 3 TD's so far with the longest being 80 yards. He and three other backs have combined for 454 yards rushing on 88 attempts and 3 TD's. They have 6 recievers who have combined for 287 yards and 4 TD's. Their top guy is Jermaine Moreira who has 11 catches for 117 yards and no TD's. K State's scoring defensive rank as of this week is 44th. Their rush defense is currently ranked 14th, allowing only an average of 78 yards rushing per game To answer your question about Key Matchups? Their pass defense ranks 50th right now allowing 208 yards a game. I'd say Scott Davis or Mitch Maher plus Marcus Camper, David McGinty, Troy Redwine and Johnny Quinn match up quite well against them. We should be able to stretch the field and keep their DB's busy all day long. Any more questions? Rick

No, it's common sense. See Auburn's 2004 National Championship season as a reference. Rick