Hot Take: Texas A&M Will Only Win 7 Games This Year

[ShotgunDawg]

Yes, the juggernaut known as A&M will once again be a sleeping giant. Schedule is awful

Who's idea was it to play at Clemson the same year they had UGA on the road? What Neanderthal made that schedule & thought that was in anyway a decent idea?

https://i.imgur.com/JLis2jO.jpg

[Tbonewannabe]

I would put at LSU as a toss up also but that is a tough schedule. 7-8 is probably likely and they could be a better team.

[ShotgunDawg]

I would put at LSU as a toss up also but that is a tough schedule. 7-8 is probably likely and they could be a better team.

They ain't winning at Tiger Stadium with LSU looking for revenge

[Tbonewannabe]

They ain't winning at Tiger Stadium with LSU looking for revenge

They have the talent and it also depends how Mond develops.

[TrapGame]

They ain't winning at Tiger Stadium with LSU looking for revenge

And if we beat LSU before that it will be Eddie O coaching his ass off. It might be a lop sided beat down.

[QuadrupleOption]

A&M could be good this year but I've always maintained that they built their reputation off of Texas recruiting, and Texas High School players are overrated.

They'll do what they always do - start strong and stumble down the stretch.
4-1 in September, 2-2 in October, 1-2 in November.
So yeah I agree - 7-5, 8-4 if they beat us.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Paper tiger

[msstate7]

8-4

They'll be a better team than last year though.

[KOdawg1]

I also see 7-5

[Johnson85]

That's a brutal schedule. A&M could be a top ten quality team and going chalk would potentially only get them 9 games. Depending on how Auburn and MSU shake out, they could have six of the 25 best teams in the nation on their schedule.

[ShotgunDawg]

8-4

They'll be a better team than last year though.

They may be but the schedule is tougher

[msstate7]

That's a brutal schedule. A&M could be a top ten quality team and going chalk would potentially only get them 9 games. Depending on how Auburn and MSU shake out, they could have six of the 25 best teams in the nation on their schedule.

3 best teams in the country on their schedule. 4 of the top 8

[ShotgunDawg]

That's a brutal schedule. A&M could be a top ten quality team and going chalk would potentially only get them 9 games. Depending on how Auburn and MSU shake out, they could have six of the 25 best teams in the nation on their schedule.

Chalk gets them to 8-4

[BrunswickDawg]

So, let me get this straight -

A&M faces a brutal schedule, and winning 7 or 8 can be "better than last year" which won 9 games. All while having an "elite" coach in Jimbo.

But, Joe Moorhead in year 1, with an all new offensive system, all new staff, no SEC quality receivers, no passing attack, plays the 6th toughest schedule in the country, and loses 1 more game then his predecessor did versus the 22nd hardest schedule, is considered to have vastly under achieved and has the program teetering on the brink of destruction. Got it.

SOS stats here: https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2018-01-08

[BuckyIsAB****]

So, let me get this straight -

A&M faces a brutal schedule, and winning 7 or 8 can be "better than last year" which won 9 games. All while having an "elite" coach in Jimbo.

But, Joe Moorhead in year 1, with an all new offensive system, all new staff, no SEC quality receivers, no passing attack, plays the 6th toughest schedule in the country, and loses 1 more game then his predecessor did versus the 22nd hardest schedule, is considered to have vastly under achieved and has the program teetering on the brink of destruction. Got it.

SOS stats here: https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2018-01-08

And beat said elite coach at A&M. And didnt lose the biggest game of the year bc he was too busy texting other AD's the night before the game

[msstate7]

So, let me get this straight -

A&M faces a brutal schedule, and winning 7 or 8 can be "better than last year" which won 9 games. All while having an "elite" coach in Jimbo.

But, Joe Moorhead in year 1, with an all new offensive system, all new staff, no SEC quality receivers, no passing attack, plays the 6th toughest schedule in the country, and loses 1 more game then his predecessor did versus the 22nd hardest schedule, is considered to have vastly under achieved and has the program teetering on the brink of destruction. Got it.

SOS stats here: https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2018-01-08

Yeah, exactly the same...
2018 Kentucky on road = 2019 Clemson on road
2018 Florida at home = 2019 Bama at home


The other 2 losses for us I had no problem with, which are equal to aTm's road trips to Georgia and LSU this year

[DancingRabbit]

So, let me get this straight -

A&M faces a brutal schedule, and winning 7 or 8 can be "better than last year" which won 9 games. All while having an "elite" coach in Jimbo.

But, Joe Moorhead in year 1, with an all new offensive system, all new staff, no SEC quality receivers, no passing attack, plays the 6th toughest schedule in the country, and loses 1 more game then his predecessor did versus the 22nd hardest schedule, is considered to have vastly under achieved and has the program teetering on the brink of destruction. Got it.

SOS stats here: https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2018-01-08

That's 2017. You can change years there or use this link for 2018.
https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2019-01-08

[BuckyIsAB****]

Yeah, exactly the same...
2018 Kentucky on road = 2019 Clemson on road
2018 Florida at home = 2019 Bama at home


The other 2 losses for us I had no problem with, which are equal to aTm's road trips to Georgia and LSU this year

State beat Auburn at home in 18 Jimbo lost. I'd say that makes up for us losing at UK while Jimbo beat them at home. That said, I am not excusing the performance at UK at all, it was pure shit and it should be a mark on Moorhead. As well as the UF loss. No excuse to lose that game. We were better and at home

[msstate7]

That's 2017. You can change years there or use this link for 2018.
https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2019-01-08

Funny that by his own link, aTm had a tougher schedule last season

[msstate7]

State beat Auburn at home in 18 Jimbo lost. I'd say that makes up for us losing at UK while Jimbo beat them at home. That said, I am not excusing the performance at UK at all, it was pure shit and it should be a mark on Moorhead. As well as the UF loss. No excuse to lose that game. We were better and at home

aTm lost to auburn on the road. It was a bad loss too... they had that game won

[BrunswickDawg]

Yeah, exactly the same...
2018 Kentucky on road = 2019 Clemson on road
2018 Florida at home = 2019 Bama at home


The other 2 losses for us I had no problem with, which are equal to aTm's road trips to Georgia and LSU this year

Never claimed it was exactly the same. A&M, MSU, and AU played the #5, #6, #7 toughest schedules last year, and went 9-4, 8-5, and 8-5. Jimbo will be going from the 5th hardest schedule to possibly the hardest - but that isn't that big of a jump when you play an SECW schedule already. And that is UGA impacting the schedule by replacing Kentucky, it's not Clemson impacting the SOS since they played last year (its a home/road increase, but they aren't replacing a FCS school or sonething like that). Meanwhile MSU's schedule from '17 to '18 got significantly harder according to SOS stats - going from #22 to #6. So what we faced from '17 to '18 was a much more difficult task then what Jumbo and the Sleeping Giants are facing this year. And, with all those recruiting stars Jimbo landed last year, I'm sure they will be fine.

[BrunswickDawg]

Funny that by his own link, aTm had a tougher schedule last season

Doesn't look like they have actually started rating this year's schedule yet. No way Western Michigan has the toughest schedule.

[msstate7]

Doesn't look like they have actually started rating this year's schedule yet. No way Western Michigan has the toughest schedule.

I don't know... MAC tough haha

[Jack Lambert]

So, let me get this straight -

A&M faces a brutal schedule, and winning 7 or 8 can be "better than last year" which won 9 games. All while having an "elite" coach in Jimbo.

But, Joe Moorhead in year 1, with an all new offensive system, all new staff, no SEC quality receivers, no passing attack, plays the 6th toughest schedule in the country, and loses 1 more game then his predecessor did versus the 22nd hardest schedule, is considered to have vastly under achieved and has the program teetering on the brink of destruction. Got it.

SOS stats here: https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2018-01-08

Jimbo is over rated.

[msstate7]

Jimbo is over rated.

Maybe he is, but nothing really points to that. There is the bad season at FSU in 2017, but the same thing happened to urban Meyer in his 6th year at Florida. Urban then left the insane Florida fanbase, and well, he was great at Ohio state for 7 years. Urban's highs were higher than jimbo's and jimbo's low was lower than urban's. I don't think jimbo is as good as urban, but I do think jimbo is on the level right below elite. I fully expect him to be a consistent NY6 program year-in, year-out at aTm with an occasional playoff starting next season. To me that's really good

[Johnson85]

So, let me get this straight -

A&M faces a brutal schedule, and winning 7 or 8 can be "better than last year" which won 9 games. All while having an "elite" coach in Jimbo.

But, Joe Moorhead in year 1, with an all new offensive system, all new staff, no SEC quality receivers, no passing attack, plays the 6th toughest schedule in the country, and loses 1 more game then his predecessor did versus the 22nd hardest schedule, is considered to have vastly under achieved and has the program teetering on the brink of destruction. Got it.

SOS stats here: https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2018-01-08

The people that think he has us on the brink of destruction are idiots, but Moorhead did take a massive shit on the field against UK and Florida. If he has us prepared and his offense isn't completely ineffectual those two games, he wins two more games and we have a special year. Doesn't mean he's going to be a bad coach, but it was disturbing how poorly we were coached on offense those two games. Plenty of reasons to not get too worked up about it (new offense, no receivers, a QB that struggled with the offense, first year as head coach at this level, etc), but there's no sense in sugarcoating how bad those two games were.

[Tbonewannabe]

The people that think he has us on the brink of destruction are idiots, but Moorhead did take a massive shit on the field against UK and Florida. If he has us prepared and his offense isn't completely ineffectual those two games, he wins two more games and we have a special year. Doesn't mean he's going to be a bad coach, but it was disturbing how poorly we were coached on offense those two games. Plenty of reasons to not get too worked up about it (new offense, no receivers, a QB that struggled with the offense, first year as head coach at this level, etc), but there's no sense in sugarcoating how bad those two games were.

I am more pissed about UF than UK. UK was a great defense at home in a big game. The UK defense forced Fitz to try and throw in the rain and he looked like a freshman in his decision making that game. He had several first downs that were in front of him but he chunked it down field. I think that was a combination of the first time Fitz saw that kind of speed on defense and he couldn't process it and Moorehead not adapting to what Fitz was doing.

Now UF had a good defense but it wasn't on par with UK as well as UF was at home. We were a dropped TD away from having the lead in that game though.

[BrunswickDawg]

The people that think he has us on the brink of destruction are idiots, but Moorhead did take a massive shit on the field against UK and Florida. If he has us prepared and his offense isn't completely ineffectual those two games, he wins two more games and we have a special year. Doesn't mean he's going to be a bad coach, but it was disturbing how poorly we were coached on offense those two games. Plenty of reasons to not get too worked up about it (new offense, no receivers, a QB that struggled with the offense, first year as head coach at this level, etc), but there's no sense in sugarcoating how bad those two games were.

I don't disagree with you. At the time, I might have, but hindsight is 20/20. And similarly, there were so many factors at play that we shouldn't get too worked up yet. But, teams 4-10 in the SEC all have games like those. AU and A&M both shit the bed against us on offense - especially AU who flat out dominated us in 2017. You can make the argument that LSU's Offense did too (239 total yards??) - they just escaped with a win because we had 4 INTS. All 3 had far better offensive numbers then us in conference games - as did the UF team we held to 13. The fact is, the SEC is a defense dominant league again after a few years in the 2010s of being offense oriented. When you have a Kentucky team ranking as #6 in the nation in scoring d, you know you should be in for a dog fight week to week.

[Jack Lambert]

Maybe he is, but nothing really points to that. There is the bad season at FSU in 2017, but the same thing happened to urban Meyer in his 6th year at Florida. Urban then left the insane Florida fanbase, and well, he was great at Ohio state for 7 years. Urban's highs were higher than jimbo's and jimbo's low was lower than urban's. I don't think jimbo is as good as urban, but I do think jimbo is on the level right below elite. I fully expect him to be a consistent NY6 program year-in, year-out at aTm with an occasional playoff starting next season. To me that's really good

He is not worth what they are paying him.

[Johnson85]

I don't disagree with you. At the time, I might have, but hindsight is 20/20. And similarly, there were so many factors at play that we shouldn't get too worked up yet. But, teams 4-10 in the SEC all have games like those. AU and A&M both shit the bed against us on offense - especially AU who flat out dominated us in 2017. You can make the argument that LSU's Offense did too (239 total yards??) - they just escaped with a win because we had 4 INTS. All 3 had far better offensive numbers then us in conference games - as did the UF team we held to 13. The fact is, the SEC is a defense dominant league again after a few years in the 2010s of being offense oriented. When you have a Kentucky team ranking as #6 in the nation in scoring d, you know you should be in for a dog fight week to week.

During the season, I was much more pessimistic about Moorhead than I am now. Looking at the entire picture:
- we dominated mediocre to bad defenses; whatever we have done, we have not hired Croom
- Fitz might have been more limited than we even realized; our 2017 team couldn't move the ball against elite defenses b/c our receivers/passing game were so awful, especially on the road; so take that team, but give it a QB that is overwhelmed by the new offense, and we end up with a team that can't move the ball against 4 teams on the schedule instead of two
-unlike Mullen, Moorhead has gone out and addressed the positions where we have talent holes that significantly lower our ceiling; Moorhead seems to have fixed three years of neglect of OL recruiting in one class, and got a legit Power 5 receiver, and got a QB that fits his system (as well as signing the presumptive long term solution). Granted the transfer portal is a little different now, but we are not starting the season knowing we have any weaknesses that will prevent us from being competitive against good teams.

It still makes me nervous the way he seemed to freeze up against UK and have no solution for what is a pretty common occurrence (having an edge rusher your OT can't handle alone). And some of the games where the offense performed, I'm not sure how those would have looked if we had just a good defense instead of a great defense. But I feel pretty good based on what we did against mediocre teams that as long as he gets talent that fits his offense, we should be able to have an offense that is good enough to compete against all but 2 to 3 teams on our schedule each year, and probably good enough to put our floor at 6 wins pretty much every year.

[BrunswickDawg]

During the season, I was much more pessimistic about Moorhead than I am now. Looking at the entire picture:
- we dominated mediocre to bad defenses; whatever we have done, we have not hired Croom
- Fitz might have been more limited than we even realized; our 2017 team couldn't move the ball against elite defenses b/c our receivers/passing game were so awful, especially on the road; so take that team, but give it a QB that is overwhelmed by the new offense, and we end up with a team that can't move the ball against 4 teams on the schedule instead of two
-unlike Mullen, Moorhead has gone out and addressed the positions where we have talent holes that significantly lower our ceiling; Moorhead seems to have fixed three years of neglect of OL recruiting in one class, and got a legit Power 5 receiver, and got a QB that fits his system (as well as signing the presumptive long term solution). Granted the transfer portal is a little different now, but we are not starting the season knowing we have any weaknesses that will prevent us from being competitive against good teams.

It still makes me nervous the way he seemed to freeze up against UK and have no solution for what is a pretty common occurrence (having an edge rusher your OT can't handle alone). And some of the games where the offense performed, I'm not sure how those would have looked if we had just a good defense instead of a great defense. But I feel pretty good based on what we did against mediocre teams that as long as he gets talent that fits his offense, we should be able to have an offense that is good enough to compete against all but 2 to 3 teams on our schedule each year, and probably good enough to put our floor at 6 wins pretty much every year.

I think so much of the issues roll back to Fitz not fitting or understanding what the offense was supposed to to do. And I don't think it was from lack of trying or prep - it was from Fitz not having years of experience as a QB to fall back on. Throwing 7 passes a game in high school for 1 year is not how most QB's develop their skills. We took possibly the least experienced QB in D 1 football (and I mean lifetime experience, not college) and threw him into an advanced offense that he had limited prep time for. He could handle it for lesser opponents, but when playing elite Ds it fell apart for him. I think it perplexed Joe because he also knew Fitz was his only option. And Joe's blank stare at Uk wasn't much different than Dan Mullen's - we all know that Mullen apathy look - it wears shorts and loses to South Alabama.

All that said, it was a crap situation all the way around.

[Tbonewannabe]

During the season, I was much more pessimistic about Moorhead than I am now. Looking at the entire picture:
- we dominated mediocre to bad defenses; whatever we have done, we have not hired Croom
- Fitz might have been more limited than we even realized; our 2017 team couldn't move the ball against elite defenses b/c our receivers/passing game were so awful, especially on the road; so take that team, but give it a QB that is overwhelmed by the new offense, and we end up with a team that can't move the ball against 4 teams on the schedule instead of two
-unlike Mullen, Moorhead has gone out and addressed the positions where we have talent holes that significantly lower our ceiling; Moorhead seems to have fixed three years of neglect of OL recruiting in one class, and got a legit Power 5 receiver, and got a QB that fits his system (as well as signing the presumptive long term solution). Granted the transfer portal is a little different now, but we are not starting the season knowing we have any weaknesses that will prevent us from being competitive against good teams.

It still makes me nervous the way he seemed to freeze up against UK and have no solution for what is a pretty common occurrence (having an edge rusher your OT can't handle alone). And some of the games where the offense performed, I'm not sure how those would have looked if we had just a good defense instead of a great defense. But I feel pretty good based on what we did against mediocre teams that as long as he gets talent that fits his offense, we should be able to have an offense that is good enough to compete against all but 2 to 3 teams on our schedule each year, and probably good enough to put our floor at 6 wins pretty much every year.

And this is exactly what we had with Mullen. Everyone saying we are going to drastically drop off has some rose colored glasses when it comes to Mullen. I understand the whole grass is always greener issue and we have been more consistent than almost every team in the West not named Bama. I am just not ready to give up on Joe after one season that showed: 1) We can beat the Hell out of anyone not on our level and 2)Moorhead seems to be able to recruit at bare minimum as well as Mullen. Both of those at least keep us making bowl games and building our program.

There were times that like the UK and UF game that I wanted to set stuff on fire but last year was hopefully a QB being about the worst fit for Moorhead's offense combined with a first time SEC Head coach. Most first time coaches in the SEC screw up which is why Saban and Smart both struggled their first year.

[StateDawg44]

The people that think he has us on the brink of destruction are idiots, but Moorhead did take a massive shit on the field against UK and Florida. If he has us prepared and his offense isn't completely ineffectual those two games, he wins two more games and we have a special year. Doesn't mean he's going to be a bad coach, but it was disturbing how poorly we were coached on offense those two games. Plenty of reasons to not get too worked up about it (new offense, no receivers, a QB that struggled with the offense, first year as head coach at this level, etc), but there's no sense in sugarcoating how bad those two games were.

Most people that are deemed "Moorhead Defenders" don't really sugarcoat those losses and agree they were both disasters for multiple reasons. Big difference in not sugarcoating and not feeling like it's time to bust out the pitchforks like some want to do already.

[Johnson85]

And this is exactly what we had with Mullen. Everyone saying we are going to drastically drop off has some rose colored glasses when it comes to Mullen. I understand the whole grass is always greener issue and we have been more consistent than almost every team in the West not named Bama. I am just not ready to give up on Joe after one season that showed: 1) We can beat the Hell out of anyone not on our level and 2)Moorhead seems to be able to recruit at bare minimum as well as Mullen. Both of those at least keep us making bowl games and building our program.

There were times that like the UK and UF game that I wanted to set stuff on fire but last year was hopefully a QB being about the worst fit for Moorhead's offense combined with a first time SEC Head coach. Most first time coaches in the SEC screw up which is why Saban and Smart both struggled their first year.

I don't think it's rose colored glasses as much as focusing in on the UK, UF, and LSU games and comparing those games to how Mullen's 2017 offense would have done against them. Mullen's offense would have moved the ball in all of those games, and we win any of those games he doesn't screw up, so probably two of the three and possibly three out of three (but if three out of three, probably would screw up the A&M or Auburn game just b/c it's hard to go a season without getting out coached/prepared for one game that can go either way). If we just have a package to run the read option for some key drives, we probably can just brute force our way to a win against UF and UK b/c of our defense (not saying that would have been a good use of practice time, or wouldn't have hurt us in other games and hurt us long term, just that we could have won those games by doing it). Those games were frustrating as hell. But those weren't the only games we played and dropping a deuce in those games doesn't negate the fact that the team showed he was doing some things right in the other games.

The people that are maintaining perspective are stepping back and looking at the whole season, and then you can see some reasons for optimism.

[BrunswickDawg]

During the season, I was much more pessimistic about Moorhead than I am now. Looking at the entire picture:
- we dominated mediocre to bad defenses; whatever we have done, we have not hired Croom
- Fitz might have been more limited than we even realized; our 2017 team couldn't move the ball against elite defenses b/c our receivers/passing game were so awful, especially on the road; so take that team, but give it a QB that is overwhelmed by the new offense, and we end up with a team that can't move the ball against 4 teams on the schedule instead of two
-unlike Mullen, Moorhead has gone out and addressed the positions where we have talent holes that significantly lower our ceiling; Moorhead seems to have fixed three years of neglect of OL recruiting in one class, and got a legit Power 5 receiver, and got a QB that fits his system (as well as signing the presumptive long term solution). Granted the transfer portal is a little different now, but we are not starting the season knowing we have any weaknesses that will prevent us from being competitive against good teams.

It still makes me nervous the way he seemed to freeze up against UK and have no solution for what is a pretty common occurrence (having an edge rusher your OT can't handle alone). And some of the games where the offense performed, I'm not sure how those would have looked if we had just a good defense instead of a great defense. But I feel pretty good based on what we did against mediocre teams that as long as he gets talent that fits his offense, we should be able to have an offense that is good enough to compete against all but 2 to 3 teams on our schedule each year, and probably good enough to put our floor at 6 wins pretty much every year.

Yeah, the Croom comparisons are way, way over the top. I know some that say "it's not his offense we are comparing, its their stubbornness" and point to the lack of using the Auburn game plan as an example. Where that falls apart for me is in 2 areas; 1) Go look at PSU's offense under Joe. What he was running last year was absolutely nothing like that offense. Yeah, we had RPOs, but what we ran last year was a lot closer to a Mullen offense then a Moorhead offense - and that was Joe adjusting to his personnel. He had an SEC Top 5 running threat at QB and he used that because it was our best chance to compete. If Fitz had been a traditional RB racking up those yards, most of our fans would have been comparing him to Jerious and Boobie and singing the praises of smash mouth football. Instead, people wanted him to hand the ball off? Why? He was the best RB on the team. Did he make perfect decisions on holding or pitching? No. Did we get in a short yardage play rut? Yep, just like Dan Mullen did, because, you can not win in this league anymore by RTDFB every single play. Which leads me to - 2) You can not win against the elite teams in the SEC without being able to throw the ball, and running the Auburn game plan every week would have lost us more games. How many times over the past 10 years have we watched an elite defense stuff our running game, force us to throw, and watch us flail away in desperation because our QBs were inconsistent, our WR were subpar, and we never ever throw to a TE?? Last year brought that to a head because Joe's approach to fixing that was different than Dan's and was beyond our QB's abilities. In spite of that, Fitz's passing numbers were virtually identical in '17 and '18 - and in neither case were they sufficient to get us past the top level defenses.

[gravedigger]

8-4

They'll be a better team than last year though.

I agree with this.

[Tbonewannabe]

I don't think it's rose colored glasses as much as focusing in on the UK, UF, and LSU games and comparing those games to how Mullen's 2017 offense would have done against them. Mullen's offense would have moved the ball in all of those games, and we win any of those games he doesn't screw up, so probably two of the three and possibly three out of three (but if three out of three, probably would screw up the A&M or Auburn game just b/c it's hard to go a season without getting out coached/prepared for one game that can go either way). If we just have a package to run the read option for some key drives, we probably can just brute force our way to a win against UF and UK b/c of our defense (not saying that would have been a good use of practice time, or wouldn't have hurt us in other games and hurt us long term, just that we could have won those games by doing it). Those games were frustrating as hell. But those weren't the only games we played and dropping a deuce in those games doesn't negate the fact that the team showed he was doing some things right in the other games.

The people that are maintaining perspective are stepping back and looking at the whole season, and then you can see some reasons for optimism.

The UK defense was very close statistically with the UGA defense that butt raped Mullen in 2017. He was also dominated by Auburn in 2017. Those 2 defenses compared pretty close to UK, LSU, and AU this year. That is why I say Rose colored when comparing to Mullen. Moorhead faced another tough defense and it isn't like Mullen was never shut down like Moorhead was in 2018. Now I agree that the UK, UF, LSU, and Bama all had instances that made me want to burn the house down but historically last year wasn't too much different than years past. Moorhead did dumb stuff but I also spent a few years watching a 150 lb RB run up the gut multiple times a game.

[Johnson85]

The UK defense was very close statistically with the UGA defense that butt raped Mullen in 2017. He was also dominated by Auburn in 2017. Those 2 defenses compared pretty close to UK, LSU, and AU this year. That is why I say Rose colored when comparing to Mullen. Moorhead faced another tough defense and it isn't like Mullen was never shut down like Moorhead was in 2018. Now I agree that the UK, UF, LSU, and Bama all had instances that made me want to burn the house down but historically last year wasn't too much different than years past. Moorhead did dumb stuff but I also spent a few years watching a 150 lb RB run up the gut multiple times a game.

They may have been close statistically, but I don't think UK 2018 and UGA 2017 looked comparable by the eye test. Maybe it's just UGA being a championship level team that year that is making their defense look better than it was.

Auburn is a fair comparison, but I think that was somewhat a hangover from UGA. Not unlike what Mullen and crew did against Missouri this year.

The biggest difference though is that we never had a chance against UGA and Auburn. They put it to us pretty early. As bad as our offense was performing, we were still in it through three quarters at UK.

[MetEdDawg]

I could see only 6 wins for them. I think best case scenario for them is 9-3 before they even start the season. They aren't beating Clemson, Bama, or Georgia.

To get to 9 wins, they have to win @LSU, @OM, Auburn, MSU, @Arkansas, and SC.

I see 2 losses in there but tell me why not 3? I honestly think best case for them is 8-4. They will lose at least 1 out of @LSU, Auburn, MSU, and SC.

If they go 6-6 Jimbo will be in a world of hurt. Now I think 2020 sets up well for them to go 10-2, but 6-6 would be really bad for them

[Tbonewannabe]

I could see only 6 wins for them. I think best case scenario for them is 9-3 before they even start the season. They aren't beating Clemson, Bama, or Georgia.

To get to 9 wins, they have to win @LSU, @OM, Auburn, MSU, @Arkansas, and SC.

I see 2 losses in there but tell me why not 3? I honestly think best case for them is 8-4. They will lose at least 1 out of @LSU, Auburn, MSU, and SC.

If they go 6-6 Jimbo will be in a world of hurt. Now I think 2020 sets up well for them to go 10-2, but 6-6 would be really bad for them

Unless they catch him with a live boy or dead girl, Jimbo is the coach for a while. I believe his contract was 10 years $750 Mil fully guaranteed. Maybe I am wrong but it seemed like Jimbo basically dictated his contract and A&M just paid it.

[gravedigger]

The people that think he has us on the brink of destruction are idiots, but Moorhead did take a massive shit on the field against UK and Florida. If he has us prepared and his offense isn't completely ineffectual those two games, he wins two more games and we have a special year. Doesn't mean he's going to be a bad coach, but it was disturbing how poorly we were coached on offense those two games. Plenty of reasons to not get too worked up about it (new offense, no receivers, a QB that struggled with the offense, first year as head coach at this level, etc), but there's no sense in sugarcoating how bad those two games were.

Equally, there isnt much sense in trying to assert that it was the coaches gameplan that failed. Players didnt execute. Primarily our OL vs UK. Florida was a whole different story as their coach knew every tendency of our qb.

[Johnson85]

Unless they catch him with a live boy or dead girl, Jimbo is the coach for a while. I believe his contract was 10 years $750 Mil fully guaranteed. Maybe I am wrong but it seemed like Jimbo basically dictated his contract and A&M just paid it.

Ten years $7.5M per year, fully guaranteed unless fired for cause. Zero buyout in the event Jimbo leaves for another team. Plus he gets up to $300k per year of private jet use, two luxury vehicles, country club membership, and sports tickets. Pretty sweet deal.

[msstate7]

Equally, there isnt much sense in trying to assert that it was the coaches gameplan that failed. Players didnt execute. Primarily our OL vs UK. Florida was a whole different story as their coach knew every tendency of our qb.

Eiland couldn't block Allen from the first snap till the last one. We never made an adjustment. Hard to blame the player for just not being even close in talent level to Allen. No way you can blame anyone but Moorhead after the first quarter for making no adjustment

[gravedigger]

Eiland couldn't block Allen from the first snap till the last one. We never made an adjustment. Hard to blame the player for just not being even close in talent level to Allen. No way you can blame anyone but Moorhead after the first quarter for making no adjustment

The quarterback, on every play, has the ability to exploit an over aggressive defensive player in Moorhead's offense. That presupposes the qb has the concept of the offense down to know where that weakness is in the defense.

[msstate7]

The quarterback, on every play, has the ability to exploit an over aggressive defensive player in Moorhead's offense. That presupposes the qb has the concept of the offense down to know where that weakness is in the defense.

Allen dominated penn st the same way. McSorley (3 year starter) didn't have the ability to exploit Allen either.

[BrunswickDawg]

Allen dominated penn st the same way. McSorley (3 year starter) didn't have the ability to exploit Allen either.

I love how people say that like Allen didn't dominate almost every opponent Kentucky played. Unanimous All-American, SEC DPOY, won the Nagurski, Lott, and Bednarik Awards, Highest drafted OLB in 2019, led the SEC in sacks and TFL - but only us and PSU couldn't exploit him.

[gravedigger]

Allen dominated penn st the same way. McSorley (3 year starter) didn't have the ability to exploit Allen either.

Admittedly, I didnt watch that game. McSorley was a good qb for that system, but mainly because he made quick decisions and had that 'it' factor in leadership. I didnt find him all that talented running or passing. That said, the options are there. Go look at the Fordham videos of the play Joe described. It's pretty technical but the qb is fairly autonomous to make the decisions he wants to make.

With hindsight being 20/20 I see last season a bit more pragmatically now than I did back then. The KSU game gave us all a false sense of hope because I think we didnt think UK was going to be much different than they were when we beat the brakes off them in Starkville.

[msstate7]

I love how people say that like Allen didn't dominate almost every opponent Kentucky played. Unanimous All-American, SEC DPOY, won the Nagurski, Lott, and Bednarik Awards, Highest drafted OLB in 2019, led the SEC in sacks and TFL - but only us and PSU couldn't exploit him.

He used the word "exploit", not me. I know Allen was the best defender in the sec, which is why I would've doubled him, ran screens at him, ran draws his way, etc... adjustments to slow him down. We did none of those and he just continued to run right around Eiland.

[gravedigger]

He used the word "exploit", not me. I know Allen was the best defender in the sec, which is why I would've doubled him, ran screens at him, ran draws his way, etc... adjustments to slow him down. We did none of those and he just continued to run right around Eiland.

isnt running screens, draws at him the same as exploiting his aggressiveness?

[msstate7]

isnt running screens, draws at him the same as exploiting his aggressiveness?

I suppose, but I don't think anyone was gonna exploit Allen. That kid was super talented. I wanted to do those things just to slow him down a little. He was around Eiland before Greg could get out of his stance.

[BrunswickDawg]

He used the word "exploit", not me. I know Allen was the best defender in the sec, which is why I would've doubled him, ran screens at him, ran draws his way, etc... adjustments to slow him down. We did none of those and he just continued to run right around Eiland.

We actually did a better job against Allen then most of the SEC teams that played UK - at least in terms of sacks, TFL, tackles, and forced fumbles via the stats sheet. Against us, Allen had 3 solo tackles, 3 assists, 2 TFLs and a sack. He destroyed USC, Vandy & Mizzou. UF and UT did about as well as we did. A&M and UGA are the only SEC teams that gave up no TFL and no sacks against Allen. And even then, he had an INT against A&M and 2 fumble recoveries against UGA - so that says to me they didn't completely adjust to him either. The guy wrecked people's $h!t every week.

[DancingRabbit]

Regarding Allen, in the RPO world you see the phrase, "block him or read him". There was probably some missed reading to go along with the missed blocks.

It was a shit show for sure. I have a hard time believing Joe didn't try anything. I doubt he was thinking, "well Eiland is going to start blocking him any minute here, no need to make an adjustment."

Bottom line is the bottom line, though.

[Tbonewannabe]

Regarding Allen, in the RPO world you see the phrase, "block him or read him". There was probably some missed reading to go along with the missed blocks.

It was a shit show for sure. I have a hard time believing Joe didn't try anything. I doubt he was thinking, "well Eiland is going to start blocking him any minute here, no need to make an adjustment."

Bottom line is the bottom line, though.

Head coaches can be stubborn but it does probably boil down to Joe thought Fitz grasped the offense more than he actually did. Listening to Fitz, he is SUPER confident in himself but might have been overconfident in his grasp of the offense. I imagine he ran plays that he thought would account for Allen but they still didn't work. I remember sitting there in the rain thinking when Fitz rolled out why wouldn't he run. He almost defaulted to throwing the ball pretty much no matter the coverage.

On the flip side, I imagine Mullen had a reason to run a 150 lb RB up the gut repeatedly. Even when he was asked, he would make you think it was a stupid question.

[Johnson85]

Head coaches can be stubborn but it does probably boil down to Joe thought Fitz grasped the offense more than he actually did. Listening to Fitz, he is SUPER confident in himself but might have been overconfident in his grasp of the offense. I imagine he ran plays that he thought would account for Allen but they still didn't work. I remember sitting there in the rain thinking when Fitz rolled out why wouldn't he run. He almost defaulted to throwing the ball pretty much no matter the coverage.

On the flip side, I imagine Mullen had a reason to run a 150 lb RB up the gut repeatedly. Even when he was asked, he would make you think it was a stupid question.

I think to prove to Josh Robinson that he really would do anything to keep him from playing if he didn't do what Mullen thought he needed to do.

[Pollodawg]

If Jimbo can?t win double digit games a season on the regular there, we can pretty much put to bed the ?AM is a sleeping giant? talk.

A lot of what?s wrong with the Texas schools is Texas high school football. It?s wildly overrated. It?s all finesse. No defense at all.

[Pollodawg]

Jimbo isn’t at Smart or Saban level, but he’s the second best coach in our division.

[Ari Gold]

Moorhead 1
Jimbo 0

And with the loss at UK . The same Kentucky team beat Mullen in the Swamp

Yes we had 3 bad losses last year UK, Fla and Iowa

But at least we didn’t mail it in against OM and squeak by Arkansas like in 2018

[Tbonewannabe]

I think to prove to Josh Robinson that he really would do anything to keep him from playing if he didn't do what Mullen thought he needed to do.

Yes but he didn't have to run that play over and over and over. We had a really fast guy and we rarely ran a jet sweep or really very much to the outside. Now whether the defense was "showing" that we should run up the gut then that is a different story. I am just saying people thinking Moorhead was stupid for not "adjusting" to Allen overlook 9 years of Mullen doing that and worse.

[msstate7]

Yes but he didn't have to run that play over and over and over. We had a really fast guy and we rarely ran a jet sweep or really very much to the outside. Now whether the defense was "showing" that we should run up the gut then that is a different story. I am just saying people thinking Moorhead was stupid for not "adjusting" to Allen overlook 9 years of Mullen doing that and worse.

2015 was Holloway...

Sec ranks:
Scoring off...
2015 - 5th, 2018 - 10th
Total offense...
2015 - 3rd, 2018 - 10th

National ranks:
Scoring off...
2015 - 33rd, 2018 - 68th
Total offense...
2015 - 31st, 2018 - 71st


Acting like offense was a problem Holloway's year as feature back while defending last season is rich

[Tbonewannabe]

2015 was Holloway...

Sec ranks:
Scoring off...
2015 - 5th, 2018 - 10th
Total offense...
2015 - 3rd, 2018 - 10th

National ranks:
Scoring off...
2015 - 33rd, 2018 - 68th
Total offense...
2015 - 31st, 2018 - 71st


Acting like offense was a problem Holloway's year as feature back while defending last season is rich

Not saying that it was a problem but anyone that is defending running that play I guarantee is ignoring their own posts calling Mullen a dumbass at the time. Also, having a NFL starter at QB who set NFL records as a rookie the next year, I would hope our offense didn't suck or else there is no hope at MSU.

I understand you LOVE Mullen and HATE Moorhead but can you admit that Mullen did dumb shit also or are you just ignoring anything Mullen did wrong when he was here? Moorhead may let the entire thing burn to the ground but no one knows that yet. All he has done is have one of our better recruiting classes in the past decade and win the 2nd most game in the regular season. Moorhead had 4 rough games but Mullen also had 2-4 rough games every year. We have a few months to see what kind of improvement he has on offense, if there isn't any improvement then we all will get to bitch.

[Scared_Hitless]

2015 was Holloway...

Sec ranks:
Scoring off...
2015 - 5th, 2018 - 10th
Total offense...
2015 - 3rd, 2018 - 10th

National ranks:
Scoring off...
2015 - 33rd, 2018 - 68th
Total offense...
2015 - 31st, 2018 - 71st


Acting like offense was a problem Holloway's year as feature back while defending last season is rich

2015 Had Dak who at that point was so good he masked alot of our deficiencies. He also was a coach on the field with the ability to audible and adjust based on his reads.

Not excusing the offense last year, in our losses it was bad and we had to remedy what Fitz was missing in the scheme and that didnt happen. Tommy this season will give us a much better idea of where we stand with Moorhead. He knows the system if it still fails we may be in trouble.

[Tbonewannabe]

2015 Had Dak who at that point was so good he masked alot of our deficiencies. He also was a coach on the field with the ability to audible and adjust based on his reads.

Not excusing the offense last year, in our losses it was bad and we had to remedy what Fitz was missing in the scheme and that didnt happen. Tommy this season will give us a much better idea of where we stand with Moorhead. He knows the system if it still fails we may be in trouble.

I heard from someone at the Ladies Camp that Moorhead said that he had to change his offense so much with Fitz that it wasn't really much of the offense he liked to run. He did it trying to play to Fitz's strengths but it changed how he liked to run the offense. He was kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't with last year's personnel. Everyone knows with Fitz's limited QB history that going to a possible pass heavy offense (depending on the read) probably wasn't the best option. Moorhead also said that the QB that could make the throws would be the one who started.

Fitz was entirely too inconsistent. It will be interesting if he develops into a QB that can consistently make the throws with NFL coaching. I think Brunswick mentioned before but it bears repeating: Fitz didn't really play QB in high school. In today's world of 7 v 7 and QB camps, Fitz had very little experience and less actual game reps. Fitz has the arm strength but making the routine pass to a RB in the flat was hit or miss. He was liable to make a throw in a tight window one play and the next miss a wide open guy by 10 yards. That makes it really hard to call plays when the play you call works but the QB just can't execute it more than half the time. That might lead either the playcaller or Fitz to end up with Fitz running the ball because that is the most consistent and has the highest probability of success.