Texasrocks

A healthy Lagway means Florida will be much better than the team Texas faced this year. But that doesn't mean they'll actually be good. I was trying to think of a coach who had a bad team for three years and then turned it around. You don't really see that pattern with good coaches. It's usually steady progression for a few years and then they reach their level plus or minus a game or two each year depending on players and experience at key positions. Injuries can add some noise too. But you don't generally see wild swings from year to year. Sark, Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, James Franklin, etc. are who they are by year three or four. I'd be shocked if any of them went .500 absent insane injury luck. Similarly, I'd be surprised if Napier all of the sudden went on a tear. Lagway could win some games they might not otherwise win, but Florida's prospects look like Miami with Cam Ward - a really good player masking a very average coaching staff.

Florida is the only team that I'd expect to improve significantly compared to what we saw this year. Ohio State will be tough, but they lose a lot this year. Getting them early in the season is good. Georgia needs to figure out something on offense, though they seem to have Sark's number. OU, Kentucky, and Arkansas will be worse. I'd guess A&M, Vandy, and Miss St. will be about the same.

Next year will be interesting. Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Oregon, Alabama, and Ole Miss will all have new QBs. I'm sure there are others. OSU, Georgia, and Penn State lose a ton of talent and experience on defense. They'll still have talented players, but less experience. Honestly, Texas isn't losing as much as many other top teams assuming Arch is as good as everything expects. Obviously, the portal could change things quickly. As could injuries.

On key downs, sure. But there were 90 snaps and Texas was firmly in control for the first 3 quarters. You'd think he'd get at least a few snaps.

What's up with Alex January not getting into the game? With 90 snaps, I thought we'd see more of a guy we really, really need next year.

I was thinking about how much the injuries at RB and the departures last year at WR hurt this team. Bond was supposed to be the top WR, but that hasn't really been the case the last couple of months. This year, we don't have a Bijan or a Worthy who will turn nothing into something. We all wanted Quinn to be that guy, but it's just not his game. That's not a knock on him - Beck isn't that guy either. Stetson Bennett and Brock Bowers were. They left and now Georgia is just kind of meh on offense. That means Sark has to be the guy. He has to put guys in position to win and he didn't do that enough against Georgia. It's not enough to call the right play. He has to do better at calling the right play that the current players can execute. Georgia lost a lot of leadership with Bennett and Bowers and haven't replaced it. I really hope that trend continues. We know they've brought in talent, but that's not the same as having someone you know is going to make a play when you have to have it.

At this rate, LSU may not be able to field a team for a bowl game.

That's... a take. Georgia's offense was bad. Etienne was their best player and he had 19 carries for 87 yards. Not bad, but he's not exactly going to haunt PK's dreams. Beck was downright bad. Their receivers and tight ends aren't anything special. They don't have a single skill position player that I'd swap a Texas player for. Georgia's defense had their best game in the last two years. If they can do that again, they win a rematch. If Texas' defense plays at the same level they played this game and the offense has even a decent game, I'd pick Texas to win.

It's the Dr. Pepper Fansville curse.

Georgia is loaded with talent and a really good team so this could just be a speed bump. That said, they clearly aren't as good as they were. This is now two years in a row that Georgia hasn't lived up to the recruiting rankings. Which raises questions about Kirby Smart. Only a handful of coaches managed to be top 5 for an extended period. Bobby Bowden and Tom Osborne were really good for a generation, but had 3-5 years where they were the absolute best. Guys like Pete Carroll and Urban Meyer had shorter stretches of dominance before flaming out. Bob Stoops won it all in year 2 and couldn't carry his bag of dicks to the mountain top again. Outside of Saban, history suggests Smart's best years may already be behind him. There's no time like the present to begin the next phase of his career as an "also ran."

Are we sure it wasn't in fall camp?

Dammit! I never thought I'd see the day when I'd compare my body fat percentage to o-linemen.

There's got to be a proctologist out there with a sense of humor.

Can we at least rule out Aggie coaches?