Big 12 Standings after Week 9.
The transitive property does not work in college football.
Baylor loses to West Virginia. Texas Tech destroys West Virginia. Baylor destroys Texas Tech. The Baylor-Tech and Oklahoma State-Kansas State games were crazy out of the expectations.
On paper, Tech was a bad match up for Baylor. They were at home, night game, coming off a rousing victory, and had Patrick Mahomes coming back in the house. I don't even know what to think about Oklahoma State, except they did a great impression of Amber Heard last week, if you get my drift.
If Baylor looks at one game with regret this season, it will be West Virginia. They goofed it away, and if they hadn't, they'd be tied with K-State. As of now, they have to win out and hope someone else beats Oklahoma State.
This game was important for Aranda, in terms of fan perception. Joey McGuire applied for the Baylor job. If the Red Raiders had won this game, there would have been a lot of fan discussion about whether Baylor made the right choice. Hey, McGuire was on staff for Baylor's championship last year, and he went to Tech, who had underperformed ever since Mike Leach took his sideshow press conferences to Washington State. They bopped Texas, in a game they shouldn't have won, while Baylor gave away a game they should have won to West Virginia. I'm not saying there would have been a "fire Aranda" movement, but a lot of people would have been looking at Joey like they look back on the girl they dated in high school, and thinking, "what if?"
A lot has been made of Baylor not winning in Lubbock since 1990, and yeah, considering that in 1990 Tom Brady was in middle school and Emmitt Smith was a rookie, it has been a long time. In context, after Grant Teaff retired, the Baylor coaches were Chuck Reedy, Dave Roberts, Kevin Steele and Guy Morriss. It was not the golden age of Baylor athletics. Texas Tech had Spike Dykes followed by Mike Leach. They may not have had Tech on a roll, but they at least had them on a stroll. Art Briles took over for the Bears in 2008, and the series moved to Dallas in 2009. Since then, Baylor's won consistently.
Bill Parcells said, "You are what your record says you are." Iowa State's bad.
What to say about Texas A&M? As a Longhorn, I tend to say this:
Beyond the fact that Longhorns are genetically required to hate aggy, when I attended UT in the 70s, Marty Akins was the qb. I lived in the same dorm as the athletes, and Akins was coming off a knee injury when they played A&M. Ed Simonini nailed him right in that knee well after a hand off, putting him on crutches. On top of that, Simonini ended up marrying Playboy playmate Karen Christy, totally ruining my chances with her.
A&M shows the dangers of spending money on NIL and coaching salaries like Nicholas Cage in a strip club.
On the podcast, we talked about Jimbo Fisher, and how it would end up costing the Aggies 92 million to fire him, but even after that, they'd have to let his staff go and hire all new. Total replacement costs could be up to 150 million. Even if they get rid of Jimbo, they can't just bring in Clyde from the mail room. They have to get a name coach.
Now about that #1 2022 recruiting class, with something like eight five stars and twenty four stars. It's falling apart. Several have been suspended, and others have entered the transfer portal. Art Briles said, the hardest part about coaching was teaching players to be team mates. "All these guys were the best players on their teams. They didn't have to get along with anybody. Everybody had to get along with them." For the most part, three star players are happy to get an offer and have something to prove. Four and five stars HAVE to be handled differently. There are a lot of things Nick Saban has done right, but one of his signature talents is getting those four and five stars, who tend to be prima donnas, to be team members. NIL has accelerated this differential. Bijon Robinson has a Lamborghini and his own brand of mustard. These differentials are guaranteed to create chaos if not handled properly. With A&M, we're watching a school spend itself into a mess that even that big SEC TV contract can't cover. They won't be the only one.
Stupid thought: Coaches have signature looks. Art Briles NEVER wore a short sleeve shirt. I've always suspected he got some tattoos in his wild and younger days, and later regretted them (no, I don't know for sure.) Mike Gundy and Lane Kiffen wear visors instead of caps. They're just flexing on those of us with bald spots. Matt Rhule wore a smock, either to cover up his dad bod or maybe he had a ceramics class after the game. I've never seen Dave Aranda in a hat. I thought about this because I just had surgery to remove (another) skin cancer from my face, cause I've spent most of my life outside and only started wearing a hat after the skin cancers started popping up. Hope he doesn't end up with the same problem I have now.
The transitive property does not work in college football.
Baylor loses to West Virginia. Texas Tech destroys West Virginia. Baylor destroys Texas Tech. The Baylor-Tech and Oklahoma State-Kansas State games were crazy out of the expectations.
On paper, Tech was a bad match up for Baylor. They were at home, night game, coming off a rousing victory, and had Patrick Mahomes coming back in the house. I don't even know what to think about Oklahoma State, except they did a great impression of Amber Heard last week, if you get my drift.
If Baylor looks at one game with regret this season, it will be West Virginia. They goofed it away, and if they hadn't, they'd be tied with K-State. As of now, they have to win out and hope someone else beats Oklahoma State.
This game was important for Aranda, in terms of fan perception. Joey McGuire applied for the Baylor job. If the Red Raiders had won this game, there would have been a lot of fan discussion about whether Baylor made the right choice. Hey, McGuire was on staff for Baylor's championship last year, and he went to Tech, who had underperformed ever since Mike Leach took his sideshow press conferences to Washington State. They bopped Texas, in a game they shouldn't have won, while Baylor gave away a game they should have won to West Virginia. I'm not saying there would have been a "fire Aranda" movement, but a lot of people would have been looking at Joey like they look back on the girl they dated in high school, and thinking, "what if?"
A lot has been made of Baylor not winning in Lubbock since 1990, and yeah, considering that in 1990 Tom Brady was in middle school and Emmitt Smith was a rookie, it has been a long time. In context, after Grant Teaff retired, the Baylor coaches were Chuck Reedy, Dave Roberts, Kevin Steele and Guy Morriss. It was not the golden age of Baylor athletics. Texas Tech had Spike Dykes followed by Mike Leach. They may not have had Tech on a roll, but they at least had them on a stroll. Art Briles took over for the Bears in 2008, and the series moved to Dallas in 2009. Since then, Baylor's won consistently.
Bill Parcells said, "You are what your record says you are." Iowa State's bad.
What to say about Texas A&M? As a Longhorn, I tend to say this:
Beyond the fact that Longhorns are genetically required to hate aggy, when I attended UT in the 70s, Marty Akins was the qb. I lived in the same dorm as the athletes, and Akins was coming off a knee injury when they played A&M. Ed Simonini nailed him right in that knee well after a hand off, putting him on crutches. On top of that, Simonini ended up marrying Playboy playmate Karen Christy, totally ruining my chances with her.
A&M shows the dangers of spending money on NIL and coaching salaries like Nicholas Cage in a strip club.
On the podcast, we talked about Jimbo Fisher, and how it would end up costing the Aggies 92 million to fire him, but even after that, they'd have to let his staff go and hire all new. Total replacement costs could be up to 150 million. Even if they get rid of Jimbo, they can't just bring in Clyde from the mail room. They have to get a name coach.
Now about that #1 2022 recruiting class, with something like eight five stars and twenty four stars. It's falling apart. Several have been suspended, and others have entered the transfer portal. Art Briles said, the hardest part about coaching was teaching players to be team mates. "All these guys were the best players on their teams. They didn't have to get along with anybody. Everybody had to get along with them." For the most part, three star players are happy to get an offer and have something to prove. Four and five stars HAVE to be handled differently. There are a lot of things Nick Saban has done right, but one of his signature talents is getting those four and five stars, who tend to be prima donnas, to be team members. NIL has accelerated this differential. Bijon Robinson has a Lamborghini and his own brand of mustard. These differentials are guaranteed to create chaos if not handled properly. With A&M, we're watching a school spend itself into a mess that even that big SEC TV contract can't cover. They won't be the only one.
Stupid thought: Coaches have signature looks. Art Briles NEVER wore a short sleeve shirt. I've always suspected he got some tattoos in his wild and younger days, and later regretted them (no, I don't know for sure.) Mike Gundy and Lane Kiffen wear visors instead of caps. They're just flexing on those of us with bald spots. Matt Rhule wore a smock, either to cover up his dad bod or maybe he had a ceramics class after the game. I've never seen Dave Aranda in a hat. I thought about this because I just had surgery to remove (another) skin cancer from my face, cause I've spent most of my life outside and only started wearing a hat after the skin cancers started popping up. Hope he doesn't end up with the same problem I have now.
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