SB Nation Dallas - College Football 2012: Talking Big 12, BCS and everything elsehttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48887/dallas-fave.png2012-12-19T07:02:33-06:00http://dallas.sbnation.com/rss/stream/30222632012-12-19T07:02:33-06:002012-12-19T07:02:33-06:00Kliff Kingsbury: A good move
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<figcaption>Mike Stobe</figcaption>
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<p>Tommy Tuberville was never going to be the answer in Lubbock. Texas A&M's offensive coordinator might be. That's good enough for now.</p> <p>Last week was a whirlwind for Red Raider fans. First, Tommy Tuberville bolted Lubbock for beautiful Cincinnati to take over a program without a conference. Then they hired Butt-Spanking Kliff Kingsbury. Either move, taken alone, would have been excellent; together they were potentially program saving.</p>
<p>For the second time in a row, the program found itself scrambling for a new direction after an unexpected departure. Last time it was Mike Leach that left, forced out by aspiring politician and then ESPN commentator Craig James. Back then, Tech decided Tommy Tuberville was the ideal replacement for one of the most beloved coaches in college football.</p>
<p>Tuberville's hire felt flat from the beginning for a lot of reasons. First, he was not a pirate. He was a defensive coach coming to the southern home of the spread. He'd spent a season off the sidelines after Auburn showed him the door. He seemed to be an odd fit in Lubbock, and as an older coach jumping to a lower conference, it appeared to be a man looking for a safe place to fade away. As it turned out, he was a dry hire that would be gone three unremarkable seasons later during a recruiting dinner. This time, the fit feels a lot better, for a lot of reasons.</p>
<p>The first two things bound to come up when people talk about the Kingsbury hire are his age and his time as quarterback at Tech -- and that's a good thing. At all of 33 years old, Kingsbury is all energy and excitement. And if you look around football, at every level, young passionate coaches are the successful ones. They can reach and motivate their players. They know what buttons to push. Furthermore, his history gives him instant credibility with his players for having been there.</p>
<p>But Kingsbury is not a "potentially" good coach -- he was the brains behind the offense that took the SEC by storm this year, as well as the explosive <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/teams/houston-cougars" class="sbn-auto-link">Houston Cougars</a>' before that. His offensive style is an exciting one, even more so than the statuesque quarterback centered Air Raid offense that put Tech back on the map under Mike Leach. That having been said, you have to wonder if he has the guy he needs to run the offense on the roster right now.</p>
<p>Along those lines, the only real unknown about Kingsbury (other than the ability to run a program generally) is his ability to recruit. It's hard to imagine he wouldn't be better in touch with the 18 year old football mind than Tommy Tuberville, but you have to wonder how much experience he has doing it. He might not have the kind of players he wants for his system on the roster, and he needs to have a quick learning curve.</p>
<p>Kingsbury seems like a bright guy, and he's clearly a fine offensive mind. And while his age makes you wonder if he's ready to take over a program, he seems to have a personality players will gravitate to -- both in the locker room and on the recruiting trail. All in all, mark that one more exciting coach in the Big 12, and one more challenge for Texas to overcome in its attempt to regain its place atop the conference.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/2012/12/19/3783376/kliff-kingsbury-texas-tech-head-coachWillie Funk2012-12-18T07:01:06-06:002012-12-18T07:01:06-06:00Previewing the bowl season
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<figcaption>Scott Halleran</figcaption>
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<p>A conversation about Johnny Football, Mack Brown, Manti Te'o and everything else worth watching as the college football season comes to an end.</p> <p><b>Jonathan Tjarks:</b> If there was an over-arching theme to the college football season in this part of the country, it was probably the continuing spread of the Air Raid offense. If you trace the Mike Leach coaching tree, you can find his disciples at OU, OK State, West Virginia, Baylor, Texas A&M and now Texas Tech, where Kliff Kingsbury just became the head coach. That, of course, came as the result of him coaching up "Johnny Football" en route to A&M's first Heisman in 50+ years. Is Manziel's ability to break the pocket and improvise the next step in the evolution of that offense? He'll be at Jerry World for a Cotton Bowl date with the Sooners. How do you think that game will go?</p>
<p><b>Ian Boyd: </b>I think the Air Raid is definitely here to say, particularly after its emphases on repetition and tempo in practices enabled a redshirt freshman to win the Heisman trophy in the SEC. With the easy install of the system, there's really no limit to how Air Raid teams can experiment on offense. The Houston school of the Air Raid (Briles, Holgorsen, Sumlin) are absolutely using that freedom to emphasize the mobile QB more than Humme or Leach did because it creates a run game that kills defenses when they play 2 deep coverages. The Stoops brothers have struggled this year stopping spread teams that can run the ball, but with a month to chart Manziel's tendencies and vulnerability to pressure, I suspect they'll prepare a package for him that is effective enough to get the job done.</p>
<p><b>Tjarks:</b> For all the talk of OU having a down year, a win against A&M and they'll finish at 11-2, with a top 10 ranking and a share of the Big 12 title. If Texas were to pull that off next year, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/115256/mack-brown" class="sbn-auto-link">Mack Brown</a> would be acting like he'd re-invented the wheel. I can't be the only one whose curious to see what the "Belldozer" can do with a bigger role on offense: he was apparently a pro-style QB coming out of high school, which seems hard to believe. I wonder if Stoops will stay in Norman for the rest of his career. It's harder to do these days, given our ADD society.</p>
<p><b>Boyd: </b>I believe that if Oklahoma's two defeats had occured somewhere other than in Norman in front of their home crowd, who are entirely unused to watching their Sooners lose in that building, than the season would have gone down more easily for Sooner faithful. I'm really curious to see what OU does with their offense as well, particularly if OC Josh Heupel leaves as he was responsible for a lot of their QB development AND under-emphasis on the running game. Unless he's edged out or grows tired of coaching I don't believe Bob Stoops will leave Norman until he's ready to take his visor to the Villages in Florida. He's passed on good jobs before and would struggle to find a better place to try and win championships than Oklahoma in the current Big 12. The real question, <a href="http://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/12/14/3764890/mack-brown-texas-rumors">as I've written about a lot lately</a>, is what happens to his old "rival" in Austin.</p>
<p><b>Tjarks: </b>The biggest thing to me with Mack is his lack of a system or defined philosophy on either side of the ball, especially in comparison to the rest of the Big 12. Is there any way a UT team could have the offensive success Oklahoma State had this year after losing a QB to the NFL and then going through three different starters behind center? He's definitely on the hot seat; my biggest fear is UT squeezes out a 9-3 season next year that gives Mack just enough leverage to stay in Bellmont. With all the turnover on the coaching staff, their bowl game against Oregon State should be an interesting window into where this team goes next season.</p>
<p><b>Boyd:</b> Texas actually almost approached the success OSU had this year rotating different QB's in and achieving good results when the physically limited <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/114961/case-mccoy" class="sbn-auto-link">Case McCoy</a> was at the helm for the Kansas win and gave Texas a chance to win against both KSU and TCU. Continuing to build the run game into a dynamic force that can carry the day against the league's better defenses has to be a priority for new OC Major Applewhite in the offseason. By the way, when I say OSU I mean Oklahoma St., or do I? Oregon St. has also had success rotating two different QB's this season. Texas could struggle dealing with Mike Riley's pass-heavy, but still pro-style offense in the Alamo Bowl. The Pac-12 seems to be the home of several potent offenses and teams in their own right.</p>
<p><b>Tjarks:</b> It kind of reminds of the Big 12, in that there's one dominant recruiting area (California) that all the other schools need to poach to stay competitive, while the other states don't really have great pools of talent, especially on the lines. That dynamic is probably why both conferences have embraced the spread. The Pac-12 seem to be doing a good job of turning the revenue streams from the Pac-12 network into quality coaches: Mike Leach (Wash State), <a href="#" class="sbn-auto-link">Rich Rodriguez</a> (Arizona), Todd Graham (AZ State), Jim Mora Jr. (UCLA) and Sonny Dykes (Cal) have all been hired there in the last year. You have any hot sports opinions on how Baylor will do against Mora and the Bruins in the Holiday Bowl?</p>
<p><b>Boyd:</b> The Pac-12 really is becoming as prolific an offensive conference as the Big 12, but they aren't there yet. UCLA dodged Oregon on the schedule this year, which would have been the only Pac 12 comparison for the way Baylor spreads you out and hammers your weaknesses. The Bears have been playing brilliantly since they added <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/113650/lache-seastrunk" class="sbn-auto-link">Lache Seastrunk</a> to the mix (7.6 yards per carry). UCLA's only hope is to grind it out with their power run game and keep the Baylor offense off the field. Even then I don't envision the Bears scoring less than 30 points. How do you think the Big 12's other rising program will do in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl against Michigan State?</p>
<p><b>Tjarks:</b> Michigan State might be 6-6, but they're a lot better than their record. They lost to Notre Dame and then lost five Big Ten games by a total of 13 points, which is pretty insane. There's a lot of talent on that defense and RB Le'Veon Bell is a monster; they just haven't been able to replace Kirk Cousins. This could be a game that sets offense back 40 years; if you don't have a rooting interest in this one, hard to see it having too much appeal. On the national level, what bowl games intrigue you besides the BCS title game?</p>
<p><b>Boyd: </b>There are a few national games I'm intrigued by. After predicting that Iowa St. would win 7 or 8 regular season games only to fall short (they took 6), I'm curious to see them play again. I'm not sure another team in the country does more with less than the ISU D. The Capital One and Outback bowls should give us a pretty good idea of exactly how bad the Big 10 was this year when Nebraska plays Georgia and South Carolina takes on Michigan. The BCS draws were a mess with the terrible structure allowing teams like Louisville, Northern Illinois and Wisconsin into the mix. However, the Fiesta Bowl matchup between Oregon and Kansas St. is a game between teams that could have been playing for a shot at the title had we been able to apply the 2014 playoff system now.</p>
<p><b>Tjarks:</b> Honestly, a part of me is going to miss the BCS; the more teams you add to the playoffs, the less important the regular season becomes. I know everyone is acting like Alabama is a shoe-in to make it 7 in a row for the SEC, but I'm not *that* high on them this year. Take a look at their schedule -- not a lot of great games on it. They should have lost to LSU and Georgia could have easily beaten them if <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/78599/aaron-murray" class="sbn-auto-link">Aaron Murray</a> had spiked the ball. They don't have any elite pass rushers and they've let guys like Zach Mettenberger do work on them. The defensive front seven is the strength of Notre Dame's team; if they can hold up against the Crimson Tide's run game, this could be an upset ala Miami-Ohio State or Ohio State-Florida. I guess the real question is what conference would Notre Dame fans chant afterwards?</p>
<p><b>Boyd: </b>The Notre Dame defense of 2012 reminds me of the Alabama defense of 2011. Running up the middle against 340 pound nose tackle Louis Nix and Heisman finalist Mike linebacker <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/84654/manti-te-o" class="sbn-auto-link">Manti Te'o</a> is an immensely difficult task. Alabama will take it on with the strength of their 2012 team, the run game anchored by two All-Americans (Barrett Jones and Chance Warmack) that sprung two different thousand yard running backs for the Tide. It's strength on strength, irresistible force meets immovable object. The Notre Dame run game against the Alabama defense won't be a pillow fight either.</p>
<p>Ultimately the question is, can Notre Dame beat Alabama at their own game? It probably comes down to which of the QB's, Everett Gholston or AJ McCarron, avoid the turnovers and make the big plays that throw a close, defensive struggle one way or the other. I tend to think the Saban-taught McCarron will be better prepared for that challenge, but I'm hoping it comes down to a Notre Dame goal line stand.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/12/18/3778768/bowl-games-2012-predictions-previewIan Boyd2012-12-07T07:30:30-06:002012-12-07T07:30:30-06:00Johnny Football: What could have been?
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<figcaption>Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>A lot of stars had to align for a redshirt freshman QB to captivate the nation and possibly become the second Aggie to bring home a Heisman Trophy.</p> <p>Another year of college football has come and gone, turning dozens of young, muscle bound college students into heroes and legends in the process. But one such transformation stands alone as the most improbable and captivating: the phenomenon known as Johnny Football.</p>
<p>It started simply enough with a kid named Johnny Manziel from Kerrville Texas. With natural athleticism far beyond his peers in the town of just over 22,000, he became a local hero. After parlaying his athletic prowess into a scholarship at Texas A&M, he hid from the college football world as a redshirt his first year in College Station. Then this season happened, and the rest, as they say, is well documented history. But what if that story were a little bit different?</p>
<p>What if Johnny Manziel became Johnny Football before college? What if he grew up embarrassing kids in Dallas or Houston instead of Kerrville, Texas? What if programs like the SMUs and Texases of the world had recruited him as a quarterback instead of a defensive one? Or what if his coach hadn't been so desperate to win in his first season that he forgot about suspending Manziel for his brawl/fake ID incident?</p>
<p>As with any surprise, come-from-nowhere story, the stars had to align. It all starts with where Manziel is from. As an athlete in a rural town, he was still able to generate a good deal of recruiting hype -- just not always as a quarterback. After Manziel called the state's flagship team to inform them of <i>his</i> interest in <i>them</i>, they decided to recruit him as a defensive back. Evidently they were good to go with an impressive duo of Case McCoy and David Ash. But what if they hadn't been so sure of those two?</p>
<p>On one hand, a move to A&M's old conference would appear to supercharge Manziel's already gaudy stats. The conference features some of the worst defenses in the country (Baylor, West Virginia) and the majority of Big 12 teams feature pass heavy offenses -- meaning a lot of possessions and a lot of points. However, UT was far from an ideal fit.</p>
<p>Most of the Horns' offensive talent is concentrated at tailback -- Malcolm Brown, Jonathan Gray, D.J. Monroe and company are all starting-caliber athletes. Accordingly, the Horns run the ball. A lot. Combine that with Manziel taking over as a freshman (assuming he won the job) and it's a recipe for an overly conservative gameplan i.e. no Johnny Football.</p>
<p>With Texas uninterested, Manziel decided to take his talents to Eugene to play for the Nike Ducks. If it had happened, it would have shifted the balance of power in college football for the next 3-4 years. Oregon runs the ideal system for Manziel -- an explosive, wide-open offense featuring playmakers at every position around him. In addition to the offensive fit and overwhelming talent around him (KenJon Barner, DeAnthony Thomas), the Pac 12 is littered with defensive units just as toothless as its Big 12 counterparts (with the notable exception of Stanford and Oregon). The stats and the wins would have been there, but blue collar folk hero Johnny Football may not have been.</p>
<p>In the end, fate had other plans. The small-town hero from Kerrville was struck by homesickness during his senior season and decided to head to College Station, where Ken Sumlin's offense helped him become Johnny Football, savior of Texas' new dominant football program.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/2012/12/7/3738346/johnny-manziel-heisman-watchWillie Funk2012-11-29T11:04:58-06:002012-11-29T11:04:58-06:00June Jones and SMU: A portrait of mediocrity
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<figcaption>Jim Cowsert-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>While the former Hawaii coach has brought the Mustangs to four consecutive bowl games, his inability to recruit the DFW Metroplex is preventing the program from taking the next step.</p> <p>Last Saturday, the Mustangs pulled out what would be generously termed a thrilling victory over Tulsa to lock up a bowl game of little significance. After yet another season that saw the Mustangs cling to their status as a mediocre football program, it's time for a change at the top for Dallas' Team.</p>
<p>At the center of the middling program on the Hilltop is the man once heralded as its savior, June Jones. Coming off a year in which he took a Colt Brennan-led Hawaii team to the Sugar Bowl, SMU lured Jones to Dallas with a hefty contract and anointed him the program's savior. Five years in, he's been as much a savior as he can be.</p>
<p>Much has been made of Jones' 4-year bowl streak and how far the program has come to consistently win around 7 or 8 games, but the luster of his accomplishments is not so bright. The hard truth is that Jones has ridden a schedule padded by a mediocre at best conference slate to his 6th and 7th Hawaii Bowls as a coach during his time in Dallas. If that's not enough to get you excited, he also managed to sandwich trips to the less scenic Armed Forces and BBVA Compass Bowls in between.</p>
<p>That's not to denigrate what Jones has accomplished during his half a decade at SMU. After a 1-11 first year on the job, he's made the Mustangs consistent bowl participants and a competitive outfit in the conference. He took what was left from Phil Bennett's 1-11 group and took them to a bowl in two years. But since then, the program has leveled off.</p>
<p>The reason the program is stuck in neutral, and more importantly why it will remain there, is simple: recruiting. As with all college sports, winning is more about talent than coaching. Jones' 2011 class was headlined by 11 3-star recruits, followed by a 4-star and 16 3-star players in the 2012 class. But after continually mediocre results and Jones' failed attempt at the Arizona State job, the incremental improvement came to a screeching halt with the 2013 class that boasts all of 9 3-star recruits.</p>
<p>But the numbers aren't the most troubling part of the story. While Jones has centralized his recruiting efforts to Texas, he hasn't done much in the city of Dallas. If the Mustangs want to live up to their self-proclaimed title as "Dallas' team," that would be a good place to start. The talent in the Mustangs' back yard is their best, and likely only, place to begin cultivating an elite program to compete with the BCS conference schools throughout the state. Scouring the rest of the state for hidden gems is far from a surefire way to build a top-tier program when you share that state with Gary Patterson, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/115256/mack-brown" class="sbn-auto-link">Mack Brown</a> and Art Briles. In order to make it happen, they need a coach who can recruit the area, not a guy who had a cult following in Hawaii.</p>
<p>In a tough transition period, it's time to bring in a coach that knows how to recruit the area as well as coach. Jones has done an admirable job returning SMU to respectability, but he has consistently demonstrated he can take a program no further. Throughout his career he has done a phenomenal job taking teams from the gutter to the street, but aside from a single year of glory at Hawaii, he hasn't taken a program to the penthouse of college football. For a program with deep pockets in the heart of talent-rich Dallas, struggling against Tulsa and Rice for bowl bids cannot be good enough anymore.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/smu-mustangs/2012/11/29/3706682/june-jones-smu-job-securityWillie Funk2012-11-26T07:00:24-06:002012-11-26T07:00:24-06:00The Big 12 has passed Mack Brown by
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<figcaption>Brendan Maloney-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>It's one thing for Texas not to have as good a coach as the one at OU. It's quite another if he can't compete with the coaches at TCU, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and the other eight schools in the Big 12.</p> <p>Even <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/115256/mack-brown">Mack Brown's</a> staunchest defenders admit his record against Bob Stoops is a black mark on his resume. Very few Texas coaches would be able to survive a 5-9 stretch against Oklahoma, especially considering how uncompetitive many of those losses have been. What's kept Mack afloat has been his success against the rest of the Big 12. <br><br>In 2000, Texas rebounded from a 63-14 beating in the Red River Shootout to go on a 6-0 run and sneak into the Big 12 Championship Game. It was the same story in 2003: a 65-13 shelling in Dallas followed by 6 consecutive wins against the rest of the conference. From 2000-2004, Brown went 34-7 in Big 12 play: 0-5 against Stoops, 34-2 against everyone else.<br><br>But in the last three years, there has been a sea change in the conference. Re-alignment has sent four programs (Colorado, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Missouri) that struggled in the Big 12 away and brought in two rising powers (TCU and West Virginia). Bill Snyder has found a second wind at Kansas State, while Iowa State, Baylor and Oklahoma State have dramatically improved their coaching staffs since Mack's glory days. <br><br>Regardless of what happens in Manhattan on Saturday, the last three seasons can be spun as an upwards progression -- 5 wins in 2010, 7 in 2011, at least 8 in 2012. However, while the Longhorns have improved since bottoming out in 2010, so has the rest of the conference. Let's enter the realm of fantasy and pretend Mack defeats Stoops without Vince Young or <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/8525/colt-mccoy">Colt McCoy</a> next season; there's still no reason to believe he can win a Big 12 title given the coaches he'll be facing in UT's other eight conference games.<br><br>In the last three years, Art Briles has gone 2-1 against Mack. You could write off the 48-24 debacle in 2011 due to the presence of a once-in-a-generation talent in RG3, but Briles plugged in a three-star QB this season and his offense hasn't missed a beat. If the Longhorns hadn't survived a 56-50 nail-biter in Austin this year, Briles would have been the first coach in Baylor history to win three straight against Texas. He's been a QB guru for over a decade at the FBS level, losing <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/75553/nick-florence">Nick Florence</a> shouldn't significantly affect the Bears momentum as a program.<br><br>Just like Briles, Mike Gundy has built an offense at Oklahoma State bigger than any one player. The Cowboys offense has thrived despite losing <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/8399/brandon-weeden">Brandon Weeden</a> to the first round of the NFL Draft and playing three different QB's (two of them freshman); compare that to how Texas imploded after Colt's graduation. You can throw away recruiting rankings when these two teams meet: Gundy knows how to find players that fit his system; Mack doesn't have one. Bryan Harsin has been a marked improvement on <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/6388/greg-davis">Greg Davis</a> at offensive coordinator, but tactical ability won't make up for strategic deficits, especially when it comes to identifying offensive lineman who best fit your scheme and developing them over a 2-3 year period.<br><br>Gundy took over in Stillwater in 2005 and won four games in his first season. Six years later, the Cowboys won their first conference title in over four decades and were one 2OT loss from playing for a national title. Mack has had a career's worth of escapes over the Cowboys, <a href="http://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/9/30/3431640/texas-vs-oklahoma-state-david-ash">including a memorable 41-36 win this year</a>, but Gundy has been steadily shrinking the gap. Thanks to T. Boone Pickens, Oklahoma State has as many resources as anyone in the conference. They aren't going anywhere.<br><br>Iowa State, located 1,200 miles away from the Texas recruiting grounds that sustain most of the conference, has a fairly low ceiling as a program. But after bottoming out under Gene Chizik, it looks like they've found a keeper in Paul Rhoads. They're going to their third bowl game in four years, something only one other coach (Dan McCarney) in school history has accomplished. The Cyclones will never have the talent to beat the Longhorns consistently, but Rhoads has piled up some impressive scalps in the last 4 years -- Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma State and TCU -- despite taking over a program that had won 9 games in the 3 seasons before he arrived. They play Texas in Ames in next season; that's not an automatic win anymore.<br><br>There just aren't many breathers in the Big 12 schedule these days. Tommy Tuberville at Texas Tech and Charlie Weis at Kansas are the only two coaches in the conference without significant skins on the wall at their schools. The conference is no longer Texas, OU and "everyone else". Four of those schools have left, replaced by TCU and West Virginia, both coming off conference titles in 2011 and both of whom defeated the Longhorns in 2012. Gary Patterson is well on his way to becoming the next Bill Snyder while Dana Holgorsen is one of the most respected X-and-O coaches in the country.<br><br>When you take a step back and look at the forest through the trees, the results are breathtaking. How many schools would trade their head coach for Mack? Snyder and Stoops are future Hall of Famers, while Patterson, Briles, Holgorsen and Gundy are rising stars. At best, Mack is a middle-of-the-pack coach in a 10-team league. I'm a Texas alum, so maybe I'm biased, but I don't see any reason why Texas fans should have to settle for that. <br><br>None of this is meant to denigrate what Mack has accomplished in Austin. He brought the program to heights it hadn't reached in over thirty years and his run from 2000-2009 will go down as one of the most successful in school history. However, no run of success lasts forever, especially in college football. The game catches up to even the greatest coaches. At this point, you would have to blink hard not to see how Brown's flaws as a coach are killing this program. Ian Boyd's <a href="http://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/11/22/3674018/texas-vs-tcu-preview">preview of the TCU game essentially called everything that happened</a> on Thanksgiving beforehand. As Scipio Tex wrote in a must-read piece at Barking Carnival, <a href="http://www.barkingcarnival.com/2012/10/15/3504670/when-you-write-a-piece-like-this-Mack-Brown-resignation-fire-Texas-football">the writing has been on the wall for awhile</a>.<br><br>The new breed of head coaches aren't "CEO's"; they're guys who have made careers out of out-scheming people. The Purple Wizard is the only coach in the Big 12 older than Mack. Patterson and Briles are in their early 50's; Gundy, Holgorsen and Rhoads are in their 40's (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZU5AnxwIAg">Insert I'm a Man! I'm 40! Joke Here</a>). Mack has outlasted most of the guys in his generation, but his tricks just aren't working against the new generation of coaches.</p>
<p>In a way, he's the victim of his own success. Along with OU, Texas was so dominant in the 2000's that it forced their competitors to clean house and remove most of the dead wood that had accumulated. Three of the schools farthest outside the state's recruiting imprint -- Colorado, Nebraska and Missouri -- left. Almost every remaining school in the Big 12 can recruit the state of Texas, which gives them a chance to be competitive, if they have the right people in place. TCU opened a new stadium this season and Baylor is opening one up in 2014, along with Oklahoma State, they are well positioned to take advantage of a direction-less Longhorns program going forward.</p>
<p>This is where not playing Texas A&M hurts. There's a scenario where Collin "Optimus" Klein wins the Heisman based on his play against the Longhorns this weekend. It's one thing for that to happen for two consecutive years; it's quite another if one of those QB's had played in College Station. One game against Kevin Sumlin and Johnny Football would have been the healthy dose of medicine every Longhorn booster needs right now. <br><br>So what happens from here? I'm hardly in the position to give Mack Brown much advice, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTeq3klVZY&feature=related">so I'll hand it off to Marcellus Wallace</a>:<br><br><i> I think you're gonna find, when all this shit is over, I think you're gonna find yourself one smiling motherfucker. The thing is, right now you got ability. But painful as it may be, ability don't last. And your days are just about over. Now that's a hard motherfuckin' fact of life, but that's a fact of life your ass is gonna have to get realistic about. See, this business is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with age, it don't. Night of the fight, you might feel a slight sting. That's pride fuckin' with you. Fuck pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps. You fight through that shit. 'Cause a year from now, when you kicking it in the Caribbean, you gonna say to yourself, "Marcellus Wallace was right."</i></p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/11/26/3688452/mack-brown-job-securityJonathan Tjarks2012-10-29T07:00:48-05:002012-10-29T07:00:48-05:00College football rankings: Texas teams fading fast
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<figcaption>Jamie Squire</figcaption>
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<p>After a rough slate of road games on Saturday, once promising seasons for Texas, TCU and Baylor are rapidly circling the drain. The Wildcats, meanwhile, could be in the driver's seat for a berth in the BCS title game.</p> <li>It was a road test weekend in the Big 12 for the three local teams -- Texas, TCU and Baylor -- and all three failed that test in one way or the other. The Longhorns were the only one to pull out a win, but given who they were playing, it was probably the most disappointing performance of the three. Kansas had a freshman QB making his second career start who completed only 3/9 passes for 39 passes, yet Texas STILL couldn't stop the run, giving up 234 yards and 2 TD's on a healthy 4.2 YPC. <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/134590/david-ash" class="sbn-auto-link">David Ash</a>, meanwhile, had maybe the worst performance of his career, as <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/114961/case-mccoy" class="sbn-auto-link">Case McCoy</a> had to come off the bench and generate some late-game magic for the Longhorns to escape Lawrence with a win. </li>
<li>And for all the progress TCU and Baylor have made as programs under Gary Patterson and Art Briles, all of a sudden, each has an uphill fight just to reach bowl eligibility in 2012. The Frogs, at 5-3, have to find at least one win in their next four games -- at West VA, vs. Kansas State, at Texas, vs. OU. The Bears, at 3-4, will probably defeat Kansas at home next week, but they still have to find two wins out of their last four games -- at OU, vs. Kansas, vs. Tech (at Cowboys Stadium), and vs. Oklahoma State.</li>
<li>Texas Tech, which rose as high to No. 14 in the country after wins over West Virginia and TCU, showed how far they still have to go after a 55-24 drubbing in Manhattan against Kansas State. Now they have an intriguing home date against Texas this weekend in a game that may tell us a lot about the direction of these two programs. The Red Raiders run a more traditional passing-heavy Air Raid offense, which is good news for the Longhorns porous run defense, but Texas is going to need the Ash from earlier in the year if they're going to have any chance in Lubbock. </li>
<li>The big question surrounding the Longhorns going forward is, of course, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/115256/mack-brown" class="sbn-auto-link">Mack Brown's</a> job security. He'd better hope Ash can recover, because with the way <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/116750/manny-diaz" class="sbn-auto-link">Manny Diaz</a> defense has been playing, they could easily lose their next four games -- at Tech, vs. Iowa State, vs. TCU, at Kansas State. DeLoss Dodds, whose been too busy orchestrating conference realignment to supervise the football program, would obviously like to keep Brown, which a 10-2 regular season record would allow him to do. A 6-6 record would be just as easy a decision, but my guess is the Longhorns split their last four and go 8-4, which should make for a very interesting December in Bellmont.</li>
<li>It doesn't help that UT's last game of the regular season will be in Manhattan, against a Kansas State team almost perfectly designed to roll the Longhorns. Let's say the Wildcats need some style points to impress the voters -- an Optimus Klein run-based ground attack (unstoppable force) will be going against a UT run defense (movable object). At this point in the season, we can start looking at the various undefeated teams and the Wildcats have very little in their way: vs. Oklahoma State, at TCU, at Baylor, vs. Texas. The real question will be how they'll hold up against a possibly unbeaten Oregon or unbeaten Notre Dame team in the race for No. 2.</li>
<li>Both those two teams were dealt real blows to their schedule due to USC losing this weekend to Arizona. If either went undefeated, a victory over USC would be one of their signature wins, now, all of a sudden, the Trojans look like they could have 4 losses at the end of the season. Oregon State, one of the other unbeatens, lost late on Saturday to Washington, which doesn't leave the Ducks with many chances to impress voters (or the computers). Hard to feel bad for a team that schedules Arkansas State, Fresno State and Tennessee Tech in non-conference though. </li>
<li>The whole discussion could be for naught if Alabama loses to LSU in Baton Rouge this week, but it's hard to feel confident in that given how well AJ McCarron has played this year and how poorly Zach Mettenberger has. The Bayou Bengals have had two weeks to prepare for the game and playing in LSU at night is not easy, so who knows. The big key for Les Miles bunch is going to be to win the turnover battle and get some short fields for their offense, maybe even pull a return. McCarron hasn't thrown an INT all season; he's good, but no one is THAT good. Maybe this is the week the Crimson Tide's luck turns? It has to happen eventually.</li>
<li>The SEC East title race, meanwhile, may have been decided with Georgia's ugly, turnover filled victory over Florida in Jacksonville. If the Dawgs couldn't win a game where they got 6 turnovers from the Gators, you had to wonder whether Mark Richt's program would ever reach the next level. <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/78599/aaron-murray" class="sbn-auto-link">Aaron Murray's</a> utter implosion is worrisome, but with the way Jarvis Jones is playing, Georgia's D should be enough to get them to Atlanta in a one-game scenario against the SEC West champ. Remember, last year, the Dawgs were hanging tough with LSU before Honey Badger had two big punt returns to swing that game.</li>
<li>Next week, besides the two huge late-night showdowns -- Alabama/LSU and USC/Oregon -- the most intriguing game might be Texas A&M at Mississippi State. Both programs have taken advantage of Arkansas and Auburn's struggles to have surprisingly good seasons, and they're the two SEC teams who play a more Big 12 style of spread football. The winner may end up in Dallas playing in the Cotton Bowl.</li>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/10/29/3568090/college-football-rankings-week-10-bcs-standingsJonathan Tjarks2012-10-22T07:10:04-05:002012-10-22T07:10:04-05:00NCAA football rankings: Separation in Big 12, SEC
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<figcaption>Justin K. Aller</figcaption>
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<p>A look at all the most important developments in a busy weekend in college football, as the wheat begins to separate from the chaff with the stretch run of the season upon us.</p> <ul>
<li>After watching Texas and Baylor play "defense" on Saturday night, it might be time to re-evaluate the Geno Smith phenomenon and the West Virginia offense in general. The bulk of his Heisman hype came from his lights-out performances against the Bears and the Longhorns, but it's no exaggeration to say that any halfway decent D1 QB could look a No. 1 overall pick against those two defenses. <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/36403/collin-klein">Collin Klein</a>, who still has both teams on the schedule, has got to be licking his chops. </li>
<li>At the same time, now that half of the season is in the books, we have more of a sample size to evaluate the respective strength of teams. The Texas Tech defense that looked like world-beaters against the Mountaineers last week? They gave up 53 points to a decent but not great TCU offense on Saturday, albeit in 3 OT. We'll have a much better feel for Tommy Tuberville's program after next week's game in Manhattan. If the Red Raiders are going to be successful in the new-look Big 12, they might want to start looking at Bill Snyder's program as a model.</li>
<li>Speaking of TCU, close home losses to Tech and Iowa State may end up haunting them at the end of the season. They're still one win away from bowl eligibility and they won't be favored in any of their last five games -- at Oklahoma State, at West Virginia, vs. Kansas State, at Texas, vs. Oklahoma. On the bright side, the continuing development of <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/135251/trevone-boykin">Trevone Boykin</a> is a reason for optimism and it may give Gary Patterson a big dilemma in 2013 if (and I suspect when) <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/77347/casey-pachall">Casey Pachall</a> returns. Pachall has the size and arm-strength to be a big-time NFL QB, but Boykin gives TCU an added dimension on the ground.</li>
<li>Baylor, after dropping to 0-3 in the conference, is in a similar boat as their Big 12 counterparts in the Metroplex. A bowl appearance is essential to maintaining the momentum from the RG3 era, which means they're next two games -- at Iowa State, vs. Kansas -- are absolute must-wins. Their season could come down to a Nov. 24 showdown in Cowboys Stadium with Texas Tech, in what could become the biggest game of both team's seasons going forward as Dallas becomes the Atlanta of the new-look Big 12.</li>
<li>Texas A&M, the school that got away, continues to thrive in the SEC, despite their late loss to LSU on Saturday. Just from an entertainment perspective, the Aggies have had home games against LSU and Florida already, marquee opponents fans in Austin never get a chance to watch. Johnny Football and Kevin Sumlin have received most of the hype so far, but the key to their early success has been the two NFL-bound bookends on the offensive line -- 6'6 310 <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/115454/luke-joeckel">Luke Joeckel</a> and 6'5 305 <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/115453/jake-matthews">Jake Matthews</a> -- Sumlin inherited. Mike Sherman left behind a pretty stacked cupboard: A&M could compete for a national title in 2013 if Sumlin can convince the two to return to College Station for their senior seasons.</li>
<li>In other SEC news, the hot-seats under two coaches -- Gene Chizik at Auburn, Derek Dooley at Tennessee -- couldn't be any warmer after Saturday. Auburn lost to Vanderbilt, moving their record to 1-6 and getting off to their worst start since 1952. At least Chizik can point to the Cam Newton season; Dooley hasn't done much of anything in his three seasons in Knoxville, as the Volunteers are no closer to competing on the Third Saturday in October. In their last seasons before coming to the SEC, Chizik went 2-10 at Iowa State and Dooley was 4-8 at Louisiana Tech. If you can't succeed in the Big 12 and the WAC, how are you going to do it in the SEC?</li>
<li>Along with Arkansas, that means three SEC schools looking for a new head coach in the off-season. To me, the key is getting a coach who can recruit in the South and who can develop a unique identity on one side of the field. There's no way you're going to out-vanilla and out-recruit Nick Saban; what Dan Mullen has been able to do with the spread at Mississippi State should be a model. Here's a few names I expect to be in hot circulation: Art Briles at Baylor, Charlie Strong at Louisville and the head coaches at Western Kentucky (Willie Taggart), UL-Monroe (Todd Berry), UL-Lafayette (Mark Hudspeth) and Louisana Tech (Sonny Dykes).</li>
<li>Around the country, the other big story lines were Oregon and Oregon State continuing to build towards what could be an absolutely epic Civil War game at the end of the season, as both teams remain undefeated. Notre Dame, meanwhile, continued to survive by the skin of their teeth with a 17-14 win over BYU. Right now, that leaves four teams -- the SEC champ, Kansas State, the Oregon champ and Notre Dame -- with roads to a possible undefeated season, but let's cross that bridge before we get to it. Every year people worry about more than 2+ undefeated teams and it's happened only the once (2004).</li>
<li>The ACC could sneak back into the national title picture as well, as long as Clemson and FSU keep winning. Both schools will have a chance to make a statement with home games against their in-state SEC rivals (Clemson/South Carolina and Florida/FSU) in the last week of the regular season. If either team can make it to 12-1 with a win in the ACC championship game, they'll have a case to sneak into the BCS title game if chaos happens. Knowing both schools track record though, they'll probably drop another ACC conference game at some point before late November.</li>
<li>Spinning it forward, the three most intriguing games next week are Georgia/Florida in Jacksonville, Alabama/Miss State in Tuscaloosa and OU/Notre Dame (Now there's an interesting non-conference game, DeLoss!) in Norman. Landry Jones has a lot of career records at OU, but this could be his last stand in terms of becoming a legend in Norman. It will be fun to watch <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/84654/manti-te-o">Manti Te'o</a> against a Big 12 offense. The Crimson Tide might be caught thinking ahead to their game at LSU on Nov. 3, although, realistically, probably not.</li>
<li>The Dawgs have slipped under the radar after getting whomped by South Carolina two weeks ago, but they've still got a lot of NFL-talent on their defense as well as <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/78599/aaron-murray">Aaron Murray</a>, who just broke the career TD record at Georgia, behind center. If it's ever going to happen for Mark Richt, it might be need to be this year, especially with the way their conference schedule set up. The key is going to be the play of the Dawgs offensive line, who got ravaged by Jadaveon Clowney and Co. and will need to hold up against an aggressive Florida defense (Texas fans die a little inside every time they watch Will Muschamp). If Georgia can pull off the upset, they've got the tie-breaker with Florida and a clean road to the SEC Championship Game.</li>
</ul>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/10/22/3535692/college-football-rankings-week-9-bcs-standingsJonathan Tjarks2012-10-15T07:01:16-05:002012-10-15T07:01:16-05:00College football rankings: Mack Brown's downfall
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<figcaption>Tom Pennington - Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>A conversation about Mack Brown's lowest moment in Dallas, Tommy Tuberville's moment of glory in Lubbock and everything else that mattered (and some stuff that didn't) in Week 7 of the season.
</p> <p><b>Willie Funk: </b>Now that was a revealing Saturday. The real highlight of course was Oklahoma steamrolling an overmatched group of <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/teams/texas-longhorns">Texas Longhorns</a>. <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/134590/david-ash">David Ash</a> was David Ash in his first game against a legitimate defense. I had a feeling Texas would struggle facing their first real defense of the year, but not like that. Even <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/161325/johnathan-gray">Johnathan Gray</a> struggled to get loose. They were completely shut down, save for <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/114961/case-mccoy">Case McCoy</a> in garbage time. On the other side of the ball, the defense was a joke again -- they can't tackle or cover or much of anything else. The defense came into the year with a lot of hype, as usual, but have failed to live up to expectations, which is becoming a theme with UT teams of late. At this point, it's becoming pretty clear Mack Brown is the problem. He's made a habit of turning top ranked recruiting classes into middling teams in the Big 12.</p>
<p><b>Jonathan Tjarks: </b>It's hard to overstate what an absolute debacle that was on Saturday. Since the year 2000, Mack Brown has lost to Bob Stoops by 35+ points four times. It's not too much to ask not to get blown off the field in the biggest game of the year. Nor, for that matter, has OU been some unstoppable powerhouse in that time span, just check Stoops' record in BCS games. Say what you want about David Ash, but he's a hell of a lot better than Case McCoy, whose going to have to play the next few weeks. I'm sure Texas will rebound, because Mack's made a career of taking his head out of his ass after Bob Stoops removes his foot from it. You have to give him credit for bringing Texas back as a national power, but it looks it's time to give him a golden parachute. I'd money whip Chris Petersen at Boise, but if he doesn't want to leave, I'm not sure who the Longhorns go after.</p>
<p><b>Funk:</b> Case McCoy barely has a high school arm; Point to the Sky Ash is clearly the better option. I think Mack'll just ride the run game to a decent record, but the most damaging aspect of the Ash injury is the long term effect on his development. That's an excellent point about Chris Peterson. I always thought he was evil, but, as they say, "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_vlLKA6xeU">evil is good!</a>" But on a serious note, I wonder how he would adapt to big-time recruiting world -- he coaches up sleeper prospects, but can he recruit the big time players and get them to buy in? In other Big 12 news, Geno Smith and his Mountaineers looked pretty terrible in Lubbock. It wasn't just the defense either, with Geno leading them to only 14 points. I thought they were vulnerable against that pass attack, but I didn't expect to see them struggle to put points on the board. All of a sudden it looks like OU is in the driver's seat in the big 12.<img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif"></p>
<p><b>Tjarks:</b> I see you've been watching too much Vampire in Brooklyn. Have you forgotten about <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/36403/collin-klein">Collin Klein</a> and the fighting Bill Snyder's? They tackle extremely well and they have a 6'5 QB/RB who can get first downs at will against Big 12 defenses. They've got a big game at West Virginia next week, but even if they lose, they've got the tie-break against OU. The way the Red Raiders blew out Geno and Co. was pretty eye-opening; Tuberville has been recruiting pretty decently at Lubbock, so maybe he's got a chance to turn that around. They've got a big game at TCU this week, who gave Baylor the business. There's still a lot we don't know about this conference halfway through the season: Oklahoma State barely beat Kansas this week! <img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif"></p>
<p><b>Funk: </b>I have not. I am not impressed by eking out victories against Iowa State. Klein still looks like the star of a powder-puff game with the way he throws, and that's the main reason I refuse to buy in. <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/36657/arthur-brown">Arthur Brown</a> is a monster on that defense but their win over OU makes even less sense after this weekend. Tech looked pretty damn good, but they were embarrassed by OU at home. OU really established themselves as the class of the conference. TCU will be up and down with an inexperienced quarterback, but they'll be liable to pull an upset on any given weekend. In non-Big 12 news, South Carolina saw their national title hopes fade, and the Notre Dame train kept rolling.<img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif"></p>
<p><b>Tjarks:</b> I don't think a close loss in Death Valley knocks them out of the national title picture. A one-loss SEC champion is going to make the BCS title game, especially if Oregon picks up a loss at some point. You can say the same thing about LSU, which is what makes South Carolina/Florida and A&M/LSU such interesting games next weekend. I'm really looking forward to see Johnny Football go up against the Bayou Bengals defense. A&M let LaTech score 57 points, so if Mettenberger and Co. can't get it going next Saturday, it's just not going to happen. Speaking of LaTech, is it time for Sonny Dykes to start getting moved up the food chain? Dykes and Todd Berry at UL-Monroe seem like logical fits for Arkansas and Auburn, who are both going to be looking for coaches in the off-season.<img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif"></p>
<p><b>Funk: </b>You're right, those guys are probably movers this offseason to take advantage of their years. No sense in holding on thinking you can be the next Gary Patterson. I'd say A&M is probably the best team in Texas this year with Pachall out and UT UT-ing around. Sumlin is turning out to be quite the hire, and he has transitioned the program into the SEC about as well as possible so far, about the opposite of Gary Pinkel's squad in Missouri. If A&M wins convincingly, at what point can we mention them as possible title contenders?<img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif"></p>
<p><b>Tjarks: </b>When they don't have a game at Alabama in a few weeks. It's hard to see a freshman QB beating Nick Saban's defense in a night game in Tuscaloosa. The real question is how long Saban can sustain the current run the Crimson Tide are on. I remember people though Miami in the early '00's and USC in the mid 00's would win indefinitely, but they unraveled pretty quickly after a loss in the national title game. Realistically though, Alabama is probably more FSU in the early 90's. Saban's got <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/115256/mack-brown">Mack Brown's</a> ability to recruit while also being able to develop and coach up his players too. Do you think Alabama makes it three titles in four years?<img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif"></p>
<p><b>Funk: </b>I think they'll slip up at some point this year actually, even after that display they put on in Columbia. I have absolutely no basis for that, especially with how strong the running game is and how impressive <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/78259/a-j-mccarron">A.J. McCarron</a> has been so far this year. If they do end up slipping, though, I guarantee it won't happen against Oregon in a national title game. I still have zero respect for that whole conference in relation to the powers of the SEC. Plus, Arizona State on a Thursday night could put a scare into them. It should be an interesting week, and I'd look for more shake-ups at the top of the polls with K-State in Morgantown and Head Ball Coach visiting the Swamp.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/10/15/3504264/college-football-rankings-2012-texas-ou-mack-brownWillie Funk