Bob Stoops Steps In IT

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops recently stepped in it by saying the SEC really wasn’t that great of a conference even though it has produced the National Champion the last seven years. Here is what the infinitely wise coach said:

Listen, they’ve had the best team in college football, meaning they’ve won the national championship. That doesn’t mean everything else is always the best.

So they’ve had the best team in college football. They haven’t had the whole conference. Because, again, half of ‘em haven’t done much at all. I’m just asking you. You tell me.

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Spring SEC Football Humor

I found both these on Friday and thought I could put together an SEC football edition even though we are months away from kickoff.

Here is the SEC if they were played by characters from the Simpsons:

SECSimpsons

I especially like the characters for South Carolina, LSU and Tennessee. Seems to work well.

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Aggies-Longhorn Game a Matter of Law?

AndyTEX011Apparently a Texas legislator has filed a bill in the house that would require Texas A&M and the t.u. longhorns to play football every year. If you will recall, the t-sips opted out of the rivalry after A&M bolted the Big 12 for the SEC because A&M was tired of the bully tactics of the t-sips. In a snit, the t-sips refused to play A&M any longer, even though A&M was ready to keep the rivalry alive.

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CBS Preseason Poll Has Texas A&M Aggies Number 1.

Manziel002It really means nothing at this point in time, but it’s fun to mention. CBS Sports has released their preseason college football polls for next season and instead of having the Alabama Crimson Tide at number one, they have the Texas A&M Aggies at number 1. Let’s be clear, I know this is just pure speculation at this point. But it’s fun to see.

Here is their Top 10:

10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

9. Clemson Tigers

8. Florida Gators

7. South Carolina Gamecocks

6. Georgia Bulldogs

5. Oregon Ducks

4. Ohio State Buckeyes

3. Stanford Cardinal

2. Alabama Crimson Tide

1. Texas A&M Aggies

Alabama Rolls To National Championship!

OK, there is my prediction. Let me be on record, I’m picking Alabama to win the National Championship tonight over Notre Dame. And while I’m not a professional sportswriter, or even an amateur sports writer, my pick is just as valid as the boys over at ESPN.

Gene Wojciechowski over at ESPN gives 10 reasons Notre Dame wins the National Championship. You can tell he is stretching because he says Notre Dame’s quarterback is a whole lot like Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel. Really? I really don’t remember anyone mentioning Everett Golson in the same breath as the Heisman Trophy. I’m surprised he didn’t make the logical jump that Notre Dame beat Oklahoma. A&M beat Oklahoma. A&M beat Alabama, therefore Notre Dame will beat Alabama. It would have been as good as any of the other reasons he gives.

Ivan Maisel gives his 10 reasons ‘Bama wins and I think they are more convincing. The number one reason he gives is that ‘Bama has the experience. That alone counts for at least 14 points in my book. But it’s not just experience in National Title games, it is experience in big games every week. Yes, Notre Dame had to rise from the ashes to get to this point. But let’s face it, when they went into play a team like the Sooners, the Sooners were not thinking that they were playing a national powerhouse. ‘Bama has been a national powerhouse for years, and managed to keep that moniker because they are so good. For all we really know about Notre Dame, they’ve had to have some really lucky games to remain undefeated. I’m not trying to take away from their season. They’ve had a great season. But I don’t think it will be enough to beat ‘Bama.

Texas Aggies Finish Dream Season, 41-13 over Oklahoma Sooners in Cotton Bowl Victory

CottonTrophyYes, it is the end of a dream season. As I watched Heisman trophy winner Johnny Manziel dance along the sidelines for the opening touchdown, I could not help but feel like I was living in a dream. The Texas A&M Aggies were finishing up their season in 77th Cotton Bowl against Number 11 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. It was a close game at the half with the Aggies leading 14-13.

The second half, the Sooners had no answer for Johnny Manziel and company. The Aggies went on to score 27 unanswered points in the second half and the defense stepped up and kept the Sooners off the score board. More than that, they kept the Sooners off the field. The Sooners first two possessions in the second half ended without first downs and punting the ball away. At one point, the Sooners only managed 17 yards in the second half.

That was when the dream-like feeling really came over me because I realized that the Aggies not only were going to win, going 11-2 for the season, that they had the Heisman Trophy winner leading the way, but that they were NOT going to blow it. The win was in the bag and there was nothing the Sooners could do to avoid the thrashing. It was sweet.

And it was fun. Watching Manziel run the ball made it a true joy. He is a fun player to watch, which is one of the reasons he won the Heisman. He doesn’t just put up the numbers, but he does it in a fun way to watch. It made the game almost surreal. Nice, but surreal.

On top of that, Manziel went on to help the Aggies with 599 yards of total offense, a Cotton Bowl record. I’m sure there are some other records that I’m missing, but it is late.

I did want to add a few of the tweets posted at ESPN. It’s quite revealing what some of the sports writers are thinking:

He beat Bama. He won the Heisman. He conquered the Cotton Bowl. Johnny Football became a legend this season. — ESPN

Johnny Football starts his 2013 heisman campaign tonight in spectacular fashion.If you didn’t know – now you know. Jonathan Coachman

The Cotton Bowl was a one-point game at the half. aTm’s halftime adjustment was to open up a can. Michael Smith

The “SEC” chants have given way to “Johnny” chants. Richard Durrett

This is one of the greatest individual bowl performances I’ve ever seen. Johnny Football is living up to his nickname and his Heisman. Skip Bayless

I hope next year is better than this one, although I’m not looking forward to it yet. I’m too busy enjoying the end results of this season. A winning program with an 11-2 record and a Heisman winner returning to play quarterback next season.  That is a dream season, especially for Aggies every where. We have had such a long draught when it comes to being successful. Hopefully it will be a long time before we taste the draught again.

Aggies Picking Cotton

AndyTEX011I have to admit that when the announcements were made concerning the Texas A&M Aggies Bowl for the season, I was disappointed. After all, the Texas Aggies have had plenty of trips to the Cotton Bowl. Well, perhaps not plenty, but I was hoping for something a bit more exotic. Not sure what, but I wasn’t expecting the Aggies in the Cotton Bowl.

However, as Wade pointed out to me, the Aggies going to the Ma Bell Cotton Bowl is actually better than what his LSU Tigers were getting: a trip to the Chick Fil-A Bowl against the Clemson Tigers on New Year’s Eve. That is not when you want your team playing because it is only one of four bowls for the day.

The Texas Aggies are playing on January 4th, at 8 p.m. on Fox. That is the only game of the day, in prime time, when all the minor bowls have already played out and people really start paying attention. Most people ignore the minor bowls, like the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. (I’m not making that up. It’s played on December 20th). So it is good that Aggies are picking Cotton, and even better they are playing the Oklahoma Sooners. It should be a great game to watch. Hopefully the Sooners will feel the full effects of Aggies offense led by Johnny Manziel and rejoice that we have left the Big 12 for greener pastures in the SEC.

Johnny Football Manziel SEC Freshman??? Offensive Player of the WEEK… Again!

Once again, Johnny Football Manziel has been named the SEC Freshman of the week. This is the 9th time this season that he has won the honor, and it ‘s a record for the honor. The most any other freshman has won it is three times, by multiple players. News sources are so not impressed with those freshmen who have won the award three times that they failed to give their names. Maybe that is because most of us would be hard pressed to know any of the freshmen to do so.

The sad note about this honor is that Manziel should be named Offensive Player of the Week, without the freshman designation, given that his numbers and performance outranks the “co-offensive players of the week” honors given to Mike Gillislee of Florida and Donte Moncrief of Ole Miss. Gillislee and Moncrief combined for a total of 313 offensive yards  and five touchdowns between the two of them.

Our freshman passed for 373 yards, threw for three touchdowns, added 67 yards rushing and ran for two touchdowns as well. Which means, Freshman Johnny Football Manziel is better than the best two SEC players combined this week. He should have received Offensive Player of the Week without the freshman designation.

His numbers also improved for the season. He combined for a total of 4,600 yards on offense, which is an SEC record. The previous holder of the record was Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton who had 4,327 yards in 14 games instead of the 12 games in which Manziel accomplished the task. In other words, just to be clear, Manziel set the record with two-fewer games than Newton did. There should be no arguments left as to who is the best football player of the season. Hands down it’s Manziel and he should get the Heisman Trophy to go along with it.

As for what some are saying about Manziel, here is a quick reminder:

Tom Rossley, then A&M’s quarterbacks coach who recruited Manziel to College Station two years ago, compared Manziel to Brett Favre, whom Rossley coached at Green Bay. Alabama coach Nick Saban said Manziel reminded him of Doug Flutie. Now, Missouri coach Gary Pinkel added another great to the semblance list.

“Johnny made most of his plays running around back there,” Pinkel said, “just like John Elway used to do for Stanford.”

BTW, for those of you who did not watch the game on Saturday night, Manziel was injured at one point. It became so quiet in Kyle Field that the announcer actually shut up so you could hear how quiet the stadium was. 86,000 people have never been so quite. But in classic Manziel fashion, he came back into the game on the next drive and continued playing superbly even with the minor injury to his knee.

The Aggies went on to defeat the Missouri Tigers 59-29 and improved to 10-2 for the season. This is the first time since 1998 that the Aggies have had a 10-win season.

One more note: I was listening to Colin Cowheard on ESPN radio this morning and he said that A&M is playing the best football in the nation right now. He made the point several times. He added that Alabama is not the best team right now, as we saw two weeks ago.

One MORE note: Last week I read an article in which the players from t.u. were actually pitying A&M because the Aggies didn’t … and I’m not making this up… didn’t get to play them on Thanksgiving Day for the first time in years. Actual players were feeling sorry for the Aggies. This shows you the unsurpassed arrogance that people in the great state of Texas have had to put up with when it comes to t.u. They truly believe the world of college football revolves around them. Of course, you couldn’t tell that by their performance against TCU on Thanksgiving Day. The t-sips lost to the Horned Frogs 20-13.

Don’t feel so sorry for t.u. I’m sure they have already convinced themselves that A&M left the “superior” conference when they departed the Big 12 and now reside in South’s equivalent of the Mid-American conference. But then again, they are fooling themselves. After all, their coach boasted that they were the SEC team of the Big 12 earlier in the year. I guess they are right there above… Auburn.

Texas Aggies Roundup That Matters

A&M Out of League? 

I found this at The One-Point Safety, by Travis Normand. Apparently, Alabama fans were so confident that A&M would be waxed, that they had the following T-shirts made up proclaiming that A&M, being the newest member to the SEC, was out of it’s league.

This is way too funny. I’m sure the T-shirts will have plenty of value for Aggies, since the Aggies beat Alabama 29-24 and knocked them out of contention for the BCS National Title game. Can anyone say: pride goeth before the fall?

Johnny Football and the Hunt for the Heisman

After Johnny Manziel’s excellent performance against Alabama in the Aggies 29-24 victory over the number one ranked Crimson Tide, he is seriously being considered for the Heisman Trophy. Some have made the point that he is only a redshirt freshman, but since those who award the Heisman gave up on the unwritten rule that it should only go to upper classmen, by awarding it to Florida’s Tim Tebow in 2007, and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford in 2008, then there is not reason that Manziel should be restricted from winning the award. If he is the best player, this year, in college football then it should go to him. That is what the award is for.

For those of you who don’t know much about him, watch the following video. It’s quite good.

Texas Aggies Football Schedule Thus Far!

I love all the “W‘s!”

BTW, the win against Alabama was head coach Kevin Sumlin’s 12th-consecutive road win dating back to his time with the Houston Cougars. For Aggie fans, you know that the number 12 is significant!!!

Let us hope that the Aggies add two more “W‘s” to the schedule for the regular season and another one in the bowl game to come.

Thu, Aug 30
  • Postponed
Tickets
Sat, Sept 8 0-1 (0-1)
Sat, Sept 15 1-1 (0-1)
Sat, Sept 22 2-1 (0-1)
Sat, Sept 29 3-1 (1-1)
Sat, Oct 6 4-1 (2-1)
Sat, Oct 13 5-1 (2-1)
Sat, Oct 20 5-2 (2-2)
Sat, Oct 27 6-2 (3-2)
Sat, Nov 3 7-2 (4-2)
Sat, Nov 10 8-2 (5-2)
Sat, Nov 17 3:30 PM ET ESPN 3 Tickets
Sat, Nov 24 7:00 PM ET Tickets

I’m hoping that A&M takes care of Sam Houston State today quickly in order to give the first-string players a rest. But you can never tell for these smaller teams. They have nothing to lose in leaving it all on the field and can surprise you if you do not take them seriously.

Texas Aggies Beat Miss. State 38-13 and Go 7-2 Overall.

It was fun actually watching the game today as Texas A&M beat Mississippi State 38-13. So many of the games I’ve had to listen to on the internet because we do not get ESPNU on cable or internet. So it was good to see them play and watch the explosiveness of Johnny Football Manziel and company. Yes, he is a legit Heisman Candidate and should be even though he is a red-shirt freshman. The award goes to the best player in college for the year, not the best player who just happens to be an upper class man.

A&M ran more than 90 plays with their hurry-up offense, passing for a total of 357 yards, rushing for 361 yards and a total for 718 yards. Manziel was the leading rusher with 21 carries for 129 yards, and 2 TDs on the ground. He was also 30-36 for 336 yards and no picks. The only turnover came when Manziel dove for the end zone, breaking the plane, but fumbled once in, and the ruling on the field stood, even though it was obvious that he scored. O, the breaks of the game. But it didn’t matter as the number 16 Texas Aggies beat the number 15 Mississippi State Bulldogs.

We can expect A&M to jump up in the rankings sometime tomorrow as they improved to 7-2, over all and 4-2 in SEC play. They also moved into second place in the west, tied with LSU.

The Aggies face the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa next week. Just an interesting stat there. Head Coach Kevin Sumlin has an 11-game winning streak on the road going back last year when he was coaching for Houston. Let’s hope he turns that into a 12-game winning streak next Saturday.

I had several people ask me about the uniforms during the game, with MSU wearing all white, and the Aggies wearing all black with maroon trim. The Bulldogs were wearing the all white in honor of the last two times these teams met in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA. The Bulldogs came from behind to win in overtime 43-41 in a blizzard, literally. The entire field was covered with snow, which is quite unusual for the Independence Bowl. The Bulldogs were trying to recapture that magic, but you can see from today’s score that wearing all white did nothing for them.

The Aggies, wearing all black, played as good as they can and controlled the game pretty much the entire time. Just for the record, I like the new unis, especially the helmut (see above). I wouldn’t mind the Aggies using these unis again.