Bear8084 said:
iarelevy said:
Bear8084 said:
Mitch Henessey said:
iarelevy said:
HarryMehre said:
He told the Houston Touchdown Club that he was going to beat Alabama's A** while Saban was still there. He also said that he respected Bama and Saban, but the Aggies can do everything as well as Bama, if not better.
One thing that you have to admit about the Aggies, they have never suffered from a lack of confidence.
A&M finished 4th in the country, won the Orange Bowl, have recruited multiple top 10 recruiting classes, and are poised for another big class this year. The schedule favors A&M this year but will have a tough slate against Bama and will have to play an improved LSU team away. It is by no means a guaranteed 10 win season, but A&M should be favored in most of the games. It will really depend on OL play, but I believe King is going to do well once he settles in. He has a good arm, knows the system, and is dangerous on the run. He's apparently the second fastest guy on the team behind Achane.
They'll have a 3-4 headed monster at RB with one of the best RB's in the nation in Spiller, then they have Achane, Ainias Smith (when needed), and true freshman LJ Johnson; one of the best TE's in the country in Wydermeyer, a healthy Baylor Cupp at TE, along with Ainias Smith out wide, an improved Chase Lane, and Demond Demas should see the field a lot more.
A&M will also bring back just about everyone on defense. DT Bobby Brown and LB Buddy Johnson we're the two main guys that left, but McKinley Jackson is going to be better than Bobby was, and there are some up and coming LB's that will fit in nicely.
So the main question is going to be OL and filling in 4 starting spots. There is plenty of talent on the OL but it is fresh for most of them. The OL haul this past class was filthy for A&M and it looks like 2022 will have a lot of big time OL in the class as well.
So A&M has a lot to be optimistic about. Jimbo has his system in place and is playing with just about all of his players now - specifically at QB.
I think you missed a turn on your way to the TexAgs circle jerk, bud
It reads like every other aggy pre-season post that I have been reading for decades. Just replace the current names with past coaches and players.
That's somewhat of a fair assessment. I think pre-season hype is easy to generate for a lot of teams. However, I think most Ags that follow college football typically have a realistic view of how the team will do - just like most fans of teams. There will always be the outliers on sites that think A&M is going to win the national championship every year, or will beat Bama soundly.
The difference, though, is that A&M hasn't consistently recruited the way that they have been the last few years. Sumlin had a few good classes thanks to Johnny, but he had a LOT of attrition with kids getting in trouble off the field, or transferring out, or just completely mishandling the QB room to where (2) 5* QB's left in the same season - one that happened to go on to win the Heisman and get drafted #1 overall. Sumlin also didn't do well in the trenches. A&M didn't have the DL or LB's to stop anyone on the ground, and A&M's DB's weren't good enough to keep up with Bama and LSU's WR's. Sumlin did okay on the OL, but without that 2012 OL group he inherited from Mike Sherman it would have looked a lot worse overall.
Jimbo is one of the best recruiters in the game. There's no denying that. You can dislike him for your own reasons, but he had 5 top 5 recruiting classes at FSU, 8 top 10 classes, and only 1 class outside the top 10. At A&M he pulled A&M from the 36th-ish class in the nation to being ranked 17th a week out from signing day. Since then he has pulled in 3 top 10 classes (1 of them being a top 5 class). He's on track for another too 10 class in 2022.
So while it may sound like the same old, same old you read every year, Jimbo is getting his pieces in place just like he was doing at FSU. I'm not saying A&M is going to be in the CFP this year (though they were snubbed last year), but a 10 win season is not out of the question. The biggest question mark is the OL, but other than that the defense should be elite and the offense should be a little more exciting with the weapons that will be on the field.
They weren't snubbed last year.
And ask FSU fans how much they like Jimbo and how he left that program.
Agree to disagree.
In my opinion, Notre Dame beat a Clemson team (in OT) without Trevor Lawrence. The second time they played, which was in the ACC Championship, they got absolutely smoked by Clemson, who had their starting QB back. This was a few days before the playoff selection.
A&M got smoked in week 2 against Alabama, on the road, when Alabama had their full roster - including Waddle.
A&M won every game from there by at least 2 scores, minus the Florida game, which they won by a FG in regulation.
The reason Notre Dame got the nod over A&M is because they're Notre Dame. Their brand is bigger and they've been a major college football program. They got blown out the week before the selection but all the talking heads wanted to hang on to was that A&M got blown out in week 2 against one of the best teams in CFB history.
It is what it is - they still went on to win the Orange Bowl and have their best season in a long time.
As for FSU and Jimbo, it doesn't really matter what their fans say. They're mad at Jimbo because he left and they hired a coach that was absolutely terrible in Taggert, and another coach who had a poor first season in Norvell. They should be mad at their own administration for not assisting Jimbo in what he needed to keep up with everyone. Jimbo couldn't get the financial support that was needed to keep up in the CFB arms race with facilities and support staff. A&M had the money to lure him away and the administration support to get him what he needed.
No one thought A&M could pull a national championship head coach away from the school that coach won it at. When they did everyone just believes that they just threw an absurd amount of cash at a coach that was going to fail. He left FSU with top 10 recruiting classes and as one of the top teams in their conference. He led them to 3 conference championships and a national championship. If they are mad at him because of the state the program was in then they're just mad that he left for another school.