re: Better 1st SEC Season? A&M or Mizzou?

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I bet TAMU finishes closer to 6-6 than 9-3. Guaranteed losses to Bama, LSU, Arky, and Auburn next year. Toss up with Miss State and will lose to a team from the SEC east. This is also assuming TAMU doesn't play anyone good from the Big 12.

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Agree.

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How informed is making the claim that your o-line will be the best in cfb?

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I'll say both of your comments were equally uninformed.

And the OL that LSU faced in the CB was 2 true freshman, two sophomores and a senior. Even still Cyrus Gray rushed for 100 yards in a game we were behind and passing a lot. Those 4 starters will be junior and seniors next year. They are very good. Joekel was a freshman all-American and Matthews is the son of the greatest OL of all time.

I haven't double checked but during one of our games the announcers said we have the largest OL in the nation. They average about 310 and are athletic (Joekel's twin is our 3rd string QB and Matthews played QB through his soph year of HS)

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And the OL that LSU faced in the CB was 2 true freshman, two sophomores and a senior. Even still Cyrus Gray rushed for 100 yards in a game we were behind and passing a lot.

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LSU went to mostly nickel package and plenty of dime to counter the spread. Even in those packages, they were able to generate a lot of pressure. Notice Tannehill's poor passing peformance of 3 int's to 2 TD's. With your reasoning, the best o-line in the country is good on run blocks but cannot pass protect.

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Those 4 starters will be junior and seniors next year. They are very good.

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TAMU isn't the only team out of 120 division one schools that could make that claim.

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Joekel was a freshman all-American and Matthews is the son of the greatest OL of all time.

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Nick Montana is the son of Joe Montana. I guess he is a lock to be the best QB in the country then.

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I'll say both of your comments were equally uninformed.

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Explain why claiming that LSU and Bama have better o-lines than TAMU is uninformed? Jarrett Lee has been sacked 4 times this year and has only thrown 1 int. It has already been proven that any decent runningback is capable of having a good game running behind that line. Bama's o-line is very likely to produce another Heisman RB with a first year QB. LSU and Bama returns most of these players next season. You tell me how TAMU has a better line than any team in the SEC let alone the entire country.

With a quick google search (this is from preseason and I'm not claiming it is fact. But proving that claims of A&M having a great OL aren't baseless or blatant homerism)

LINK

Now take that we already have a good line and figure in that all the 2 deep returns and it's not hard to conclude they will be the strength of our team the next couple years and match up well with anybody

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Bama's second string o-line is bigger than your starters

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That may be, but their first string is not.

SO Luke Joeckel - 6'6 310
FR Jarvis Harrison - 6'4 317
JR Patrick Lewis - 6'2 306
JR Brian Thomas - 6'3 315
SO Jake Matthews - 6'5 305

JR Barrett Jones 6'5 311 (shorter 1", heavier 1lb)
JR Chance Warmack 6'3 320 (shorter 1", heavier 3lb)
SR William Vlachos 6'1 294 (shorter 1", lighter 12lb)
SO Anthony Steen 6'3 303 (lighter 12lb)
SO D.J. Flunker 6'6 335 (taller 1", heavier 30lb)

Bama still averages more across the entire line.


LSU's current starting line outsizes both TAMU and Bama:

76 Chris Faulk OT 6-6 325 So.

53 T-Bob Hebert C/OG 6-3 304 Sr.

64 P.J. Lonergan C 6-4 305 Jr.

60 Will Blackwell OG 6-4 290 Sr.

72 Alex Hurst OT 6-6 340 Jr.



This guy is supposed to be a starting OG in place of Hebert but a knee injury sidelined him for the year. He will get a medical red-shirt and start next year:

68 Josh Dworaczyk OG 6-6 301

Length of the player doesn't matter in the interior as much as on the outside where the OT's have to stop the edge rusher from getting around them to get to the QB. You don't want a guy in the middle too tall compared to the DT. The lower center of gravity wins in the pushing contest. Size-wise, the guy who is 6'3" 300 pounds is actually bulkier than the guy who is 6'5" 300. 6'6"-6'7" guys only matter at the tackle positions.

The problem is that you are exaggerating my statements. When I said we are loaded at QB, obviously I meant talent wise since none of them could have any significant amount of experience. We have a very good QB coach, as evidenced by how well Tannehill was able to step in mid season last year, and I was inferring that our starter next season should fare reasonably well. Your insistence that we are guarenteed to lose at MSU just because we have a new starter at QB has far less facts to back it up than anything I have claimed.

As far as our OL goes, I said top 5. I did not say it WOULD be the #1, I said it COULD be. Obviously lsu and bama both have outstanding lines and its very possible they could be #1 and #2 next year with us elsewhere in the top 5. Before this past Sat, we were tied 3rd for fewest sacks allowed at 3 and are averaging well over 200 yds per game on the ground. Given how young the OL, it is pretty reasonable to assume they will be one of the best next season.

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Your insistence that we are guarenteed to lose at MSU just because we have a new starter at QB has far less facts to back it up than anything I have claimed.

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I said MSU will be a coin flip. You WILL lose to Bama, Arky, and LSU no matter the field. Auburn will be dependent on location and whether or not Malzahn leaves them for a HC gig. If I had to put money on it right now, it's Auburn. You are going to lose to an East team unless you somehow draw Vandy and Kentucky out of the hat.

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What a weird season Arkansas had. They went 3-4-1 in the SEC but lost all 3 OOC to The Citadel, Memphis and SMU. WTF?

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There was a lot more going on with us during that time than merely changing conferences. Kenny Hatfield left for Clemson at the end of the '89 season and Jack Crowe was beginning his 3rd year as head coach, with a hot seat accompanying him. Crowe is fired after the first game with Citadel, Joe Kines is named as interim coach and Kines brings in Danny Ford as a consultant. Subsequently, Ford is hired at the end of the season.

A&M is nowhere close to having the type of problems we were having with our program during that time.