My first perception of the media's love affair with Martellus Bennett came after he appeared at a men's basketball game where, as a high school senior, he lead yells, sang the war hymn, and was the target of countless inappropriate Aggie Angle advances. For the next few years the media ate up everything he said. Who am I kidding, we all did. If something happened in the state of Texas, everyone wanted to know what Tellus would say about it. His atmospheric ego was somehow charming.

Then, a few weeks ago, he stopped talking to the media. He bit the hand that fed him. His punishment was typical, the media waited until he made his next public comment, then rolled it up and popped him on the nose. Now Tellus's tail is between his legs. He claims that he isn't the waiting for the NFL combine to show off his talent. In fact, he does "whatever it takes for [his] team to win" and doesn't do "selfish acts or anything like that." Strangely he doesn't think the misrepresentation it is "the media's fault, really" Yep, he has learned his lesson. Don't get on the media's bad side.

So you know already know that D-Kirk will probably start at point over the obvious successor, D-Sloan. What you might not know is that "if we played a game today, [Jordan] would not start", Bryan Davis would. Apparently Davis is "way ahead" of DJ and "fits our system perfectly." I think this sort of thing has been hinted, so we shouldn't be that surprised. When someone is called "raw", that means they are big/strong/fast, but can't really play within a structured defense/offense and won't start right away.

Two more things, 1) will someone please tell Davis to shave his head and 2) when did Davis pick up the number "0"?

The odds I am giving for Auburn's head coach Tommy Tuberville to become the next head coach at Texas A&M are now at 51%. The increase in Tommy's odds are a result of his reaction to the rumor mill. He is "sure there'll be some discussion over the next few weeks" and believes all the rumors are "just part of the business." That is coach speak for, "I am out of here bitches."

Aggies remember this sort of reaction. Billy G would never come right out and say (to the media, everyone knows he lied to his players), "no, I am not leaving for KU" or "yes, I will be coaching here next year" because, well, he was leaving for KU and would not be coaching the Aggies in the following season.

Tommy's odds are not higher because there is no connection between $Bill and Tuberville, and recent history shows $Bill likes to hire his guys. We should look back at Oregon and Nebraska to see what the coordinators of those teams are doing now. That is a lot of research, good thing I took the day off work...

Is Butch Davis in $Bill's sights? Stealing North Carolina's coach worked for Texas, who is to say it wouldn't work for us?

I think I am going to look into head coach hopping trend. I have a feeling that stealing a coach from another BCS conference has a NEGATIVE impact on a program. Maybe it is just the fact that the only coach I can think of two coaches hopped major conference (Fran, SEC -> Big 12 and Makie Brown, ACC -> Big 12) who cancel each other out, and there 349732 coaches that went from coordination positions at big programs or head coaches in non-major conferences to head coaches and did well (Stoops, Myer, Leach).

Where has Mike Goodson gone?
At the beginning of the season he was given all sorts of nicknames: beauty (beauty and the beast), lightning (thunder and lightning), and run (hit and run), but now he is barley mentioned. With under 500 yards and only two touchdowns so far, Mike is way under his goal of 1,300 yards and 44 touchdowns. The lack of production is a "combination of various factors", but mainly our inability to get the "ball as well to the perimeter as many times as we were last year."

For whatever reason, we simply cannot do what we want to do. To be trite, we cannot force our will on anyone. Fortunately, we have three great runners, so we can actually win a few ball games by taking what the defense gives us.

With $Bill "giddy" as a school girl in Lincoln on Saturday, it seems Fran may still be able to save his job. All he has to do is win out, or come close to winning out. Unfortunately we will finish out the year against four top 25 teams: Kansas, @Oklahoma, @Missouri, and Texas. We have never played four straight Top 25 teams to end the season.
First up Kansas, who is 7-0 and playing out of their minds. They are No. 2 nationally in scoring defense, No. 3 in scoring offense, No. 1 in kickoff returns and No. 4 in turnover margin. KU owes its new found success to head coach Mark Mangino (pictured above) who owes his success to other big time coaches. He learned about organization from Tressel (Ohio State), about X's and O's from Snyder (K State), about attitude from Stoops(OU), and about eating from Joey Chestnut (hot dot eating world record holder, 66 dogs and buns in 12 minutes, pictured lower left).

No way my boy Brent Z just did a period piece of TexAgs.com in the 1957. This reads like a really corny 5th grade play.

The always honest, and usually funny (but not this time), Martellus Bennett will go pro if he can get picked up in the 1st or 2nd round of the draft. Seems that Bennett feels underrepresented in our run 1st offense, so he will work out at the NFL combine to "[show his skills] somewhere”.

Stephen McGee was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.

"Fifty-two years! Fifty-two years!" That is how long it has been since we won in Lincoln. Back then we had a man's man coach, and now we have a man's man QB. McGee ran the ball a record 35 times for 167 yards. The previous record was 27 (1977, David Walker). J Train had a similar super man-like game against Fresno State, so believe him when he tells you "it takes a lot of man to do that." The effort left McGee limping and in need of two post-game IVs. Calling number seven 35 times is "probably not exactly" what Fran wants, but McGee doesn't care, "whatever [Fran] calls I want to run it to the best best of my abilities." This kid might not be on a Heisman short list, but I would take him over any other QB in the country. I am really looking forward to him coaching us in about 25 years.

Fran's dirty laundry has now cost us a recruit. Craig Loston, a junior at Aldine Eisenhower, is backing out of his oral commitment because he knows "there are going to be new coaches coming in" and doesn't "want to be no part of whatever's going on there." Great. At least we didn't really need any help at safety.

I would not be surprised if this is the first of many.

How many assists did Acie have last year? At home against Texas he recorded 15. But did he really? A look at the number seems to indicate that the scorekeeper at Reed Arena was a little generous. At home we recorded assists on 78.5% of our made field goals, on the road we were credited with assists on just 45.2% of our made baskets.

To summarize: At home, Texas A&M was one of the best assisting teams in college basketball history. Away from home, we were the worst major conference team in sharing the ball.

To further summarize, who cares? We are talking about assists here.

If the men's basketball team played today "Dominique Kirk would be our starting point guard." The previously obvious choice to pick up where Acie left off, Donald Sloan, will start at shooting guard and mix in a little point. This is a bit of a shock. Dom Kirk had a better assist-to-turnover ratio than Acie (2.62-1.92), but he is not as explosive as either Acie or Don Slo. If you remember, Don Slo had some amazingly athletic moves to the basket in the NCAA tournament. While watching the Penn game, a Duke guy (no I am not friends with anyone that went to Duke, I was at a bar) yelled to the TV, "now that is the kind of athlete we need at Duke." He was right. Duke bowed out of the tourney later that day.
Turg has said that we should expect a more creative offense this year (i.e. some thing besides high low ball and spacing). That creativity should now include Don Slo pealing off double picks and taking it to the rack.

A decade ago Texas A&M played Nebraska for the Big 12 title, and the winner won the national championship. 10 years is a long time. Today the Wrecking Crew is gone, the Black Shirts have been put away, basic analysis shows new coaches didn't advance the program, an AD has been fired, and two coaches might be gone in a few months.

The game this weekend will not be for a conference title, but it might show which one of the following is true:
That is, which team is going down the tubes the fastest.

I am upset; but not so much because we lost, or because we wasted the better part of a decade with Fran. I am upset because yesterday proved that we will have to wait another five years before we can compete in the Big 12 again. I am tired of waiting.

This was not a great week for fans of Texas A&M football, hopefully this cheers you up... taco meat

Ugh. Vick' Em shirts have now been followed up by Sick' Em shirts. Sick' Em? Really? If only that lawsuit would have put Aggieland Outfitters in bankruptcy, then the world would be a better place.

ABC's TV coverage map. I am in a green state, crap.

We were picked to finish 3rd in the Big 12 in the preseason coach's poll. Kansas topped the list and Texas was second. The gap between us and Texas was only 4 points (101 to 105), that is a 0.03% gap, and we received 2 first place votes where as Texas received none.
Joe Jones was named to the preseason All-Big 12 team and Josh Carter and DeAndre Jordan received honorable mentions.

The women's team also cleaned up in the preseason awards: Tyra White was named freshman of the year, A'Quonesia Franklin and Takia Starks were named All-Big 12 players, and Morenike Atunrase and Danielle Gant receieved honorable mention.

Here is a summary of $Bill's investigation:

What WAS a violation:
NCAA: Coaches must disclose income.
Fran: Come on man. I was spending more than I was making on that deal. Look in my wallet, nada, so what the hell do you want me to report?
NCAA: Dude, you totally have to report that. Don't be shady

NCAA: You cannot comment on recruits.
Fran: Ya I talked about recruits, but I never said about WHICH recruit.
NCAA: Weak.

Big-12: You cannot bitch about us or our refs.
Fran: I still stay you guys are idiots and you blew that call.
Big-12: Your brain has a shell on it.

What now?

CoachFran.com is gone. VIP Connection author Mike McKenzie is gone. Fran gets a "letter of admonishment" (wtf?). Fran has to reduce his contact with any recruit mentioned in a newsletter

$Bill has called a 9am press conference to release the results on an investigation into Fran's VIP Connection. The VIP Connection is so last week.

More one tech's fan base "nastiness"...
This? They are just throwing paint, what is wrong with that? Now that slice of pizza (I think it is pizza) that may have crosses the line. Have you ever tried to get dried cheese off a car? Exactly.

Why can't we win in Lubbock? A fourth quarter pick returned of a TD in 95, a missed field goal in 97, an inability to stop the run in 99, turnovers in 01, 8 TD passes in 03, and another 50+ points given up in 05. Following that trajectory, we should lose by about 100. But why?

Former TAMU lineman Hunter Goodwin thinks it it the fans, they are "nasty" and "a lot of Aggie don't want to deal with that." Nasty? I guess, if you think "the tortillas, the batteries and the 100 DPS troopers", goal posts in the stands, and Vick' Em Shirts (Note: these have been baned by the University, something about the shirts being "derogatory, inflammatory, insensitive, or in such bad taste that it reflects negatively on this fine institution, its students, athletic teams, alumni or faculty") is nasty.
Any expectation this year will be different? J-Train thinks so, according to him "we're going to win in 2007. That's a guarantee. I promise you." J-Train likes our chances against a one armed pirate, and so do I.

The same school that ripped down their own goal post and threw them into the stands is now selling these shirts for Saturday's game....
Way to keep it classy Lubbock.

Texas A&M 24, Oklahoma State 23

(Yes, that is Marquis Carpenter, Adarius Bowman, and an open field tackle all in the same picture.)

"Another road game, another meltdown." For the first time in what feels like ages, that was headline was in their newspaper, not ours. Fran described the first half as "atrocious." Laying a goose egg against a team who had not recorded a first half conference shut out in three years and sports the leagues 3rd worst scoring defense is at least atrocious. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, Red Bryant and "the leaders on the team decided the key to the game was 'refuse to lose'." A half-back pass, concussed starting QB, and roughed kicker later, our boys put together a record-matching comeback. The experience was emotional enough to invoke poetry out of a 6'5" +300lb o-lineman (Kirk Elder) who refused "to go quietly into the night" (Note: I am aware the line is "do not go gentle into that good night", but, in my opinion, it is close enough considering the guy can squat 620lbs).

OSU's rushing offense ranks eighth nationally with 241.4 yards per game. To counter this, freshman Billy Chavis (6-4, 226) has been moved to linebacker from safety to provide more depth behind Mark Dodge and Misi Tupe.

Here are the pics from around Texas:
D-Morn News: 27-17, good guys
SA-Express: 31-28, good guys
H-Chron: 35-31, good guys
BCS-Eagle: good guys
FW-Tgram: 38-28, good guys (Note: they steal their game pics from The Sports Network, lame)

The athletic department was quick to point out that collegehoops.net rated DeAndre Jordan, Joseph Jones, Bryan Davis, and Chinemelu Elonu as a top 10 front court. However, they failed to mention that the same website picked us to finish 5th in the Big 12 and make a trip to the NIT. The NIT? Those are pretty low expectations for have a top 10 set of big guys.

There have been rumors about this for a few days now, but it is official, Soulja Boy will headlines Maroon Madness. Get your full length mirror and start practicing your superman, Oct 12 is just a few days away.

A&M officials have reportedly "examined Dennis Franchione's contract to determine if he violated the terms of his deal" (link to a section of his contract). The university investigation has determined that the VIP Connection newsletter did not violate any NCAA rules nor did its earnings violate IRS law.

To the untrained eye, it would seem that the newsletter could be a "business transaction or commerce... that may cause discredit to the UNIVERSITY" and therefore a breach of contract. However, my lawyer says that it would be hard to prove that the newsletter discredited the university. While the newsletter arguably harms the reputation of (discredits) Fran, that harm is not necessarily felt by the university. This clause is "geared more towards making disparaging comments" than dip shit business ventures (the dip shit part is mine, not my lawyer's).

Everyone is doing throwbacks (including the Philadelphia Eagles , wowza). So the question now is will we ever throwback, and which uniform would we pick? There really is not clear favorite because, well, our uniforms remained pretty basic. But here are some samples:
1800s: 1910:
1930: 1950:
1970:

The D-Morn news posted a few more of Fran's VIP Connection newsletters.

Texas Tech linebacker Kellen Tillman was arrested on a marijuana possession charge. Tillman's arrest come on the same day a previous team suspension was lifted. Nothing says "I'M BACK" quite like Class B misdemeanor charge of possession of under 2 ounces of marijuana.

All (most?) of the players showed up at today's weekly press conference to show their support for Fran. Consequently, they are all now "in trouble for missing class." Interim president Ed is has asked the AD to "urgently look into the matter of the VIP email list to insure there are no violations of NCAA rules or regulations." Until that process is complete $Bill is not even going to fart.
Oh ya. There is a football game (on TV, ya!) this weekend. OSU head coach Mike Gundy thinks our "strong tradition" is what makes it "enjoyable" to play in Kyle Field. Our tradition makes it enjoyable for you Mike? Are you sure it is not our bad tackling and shotty coverage? (McGee, please don't yell at me for saying that.)

Baylor coach Guy Morriss reported his team had "10 drops and about a half-dozen bad throws" on Saturday. Considering our defense recorded zero sacks and zero QB hurries in the game, I do not think we can take credit for their offensive woes.