Don't want to turn this into a Sam Houston discussion but Sam Houston was ranked #3 in FCS. For reference, South Dakota St (who lost to Kansas by a couple TD's if memory is correct before our game w/ Kansas) was ranked #6. The A&M game had A&M up 35-0 at half and Sam Houston scored 21 points in the 4Q garbage time against the Aggie third team so the score was not representative of anything. Johnny Football was pulled very early b/c SHSU defense had some penalties on cheapshots on him so Sumlin was taking no risks.....So while Sam Houston is a really good FCS team, reality is that they should not be mentioned in same sentence as us....maybe a UTSA or NMSU but I made that point b/c I had seen Aggie fans put us together like we were the same game for them..just two warm-up scrimmages before Alabama.

Thus, I was trying to make the point we are not Sam Houston..but of course on TexAgs.com, it was shot down w/ flaming replies. As evidenced by recent rankings of our program, that Alabama/Sam Houston mid-point comparison holds but on TexAgs.com, everyone but maybe Alabama and LSU are not worthy of any discussion or respect.

The ultimate irony and twist will be if they finish-up playing-us in the Liberty Bowl later in the year...Their team is over-hyped..especially if JFF (as they call him) is out. Could easily see them going 3-5 in the SEC this year. Sumlin has not shown he can win anything w/out a dominant QB. His record w/ Johnny Football and Keenum is 44-12. His record w/ any other QB starting is 2-7 and his record against Rice is 2-2.

(08-21-2013 08:47 AM)owl40 Wrote:  So while Sam Houston is a really good FCS team, reality is that they should not be mentioned in same sentence as us....

SHSU was ranked 20 spots higher than us in Sagarin. I have little doubt they would have had at least a .500 record in CUSA last year.

Thanks owl 40. There were a few positive remarks to your post there, but mostly the Zoo is hit and run smart ass remarks. Probally at the "Pay" forum you could have gotten a little better discussion. Give em a couple of losses and they will get a dose of some humble pie.

Let's play aTm closer than 47-28 before we go conjuring up any major difference between us and Sam.

And Sam led Baylor 20-10 at the half, and trailed only 24-20 after three.

We have much better talent than Sam, schemes are similar, Sam is better prepared and executes better. From the aTm perspective, we probably look about the same. We could change that perception. Will we?

What needs to be changed is to have our preparation and execution better than Sam. We should figure how to do it better than a FCS school.

(08-21-2013 10:40 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Let's play aTm closer than 47-28 before we go conjuring up any major difference between us and Sam.

And Sam led Baylor 20-10 at the half, and trailed only 24-20 after three.

We have much better talent than Sam, schemes are similar, Sam is better prepared and executes better. From the aTm perspective, we probably look about the same. We could change that perception. Will we?

(08-21-2013 10:33 AM)At Ease Wrote:  

(08-21-2013 08:47 AM)owl40 Wrote:  So while Sam Houston is a really good FCS team, reality is that they should not be mentioned in same sentence as us....

SHSU was ranked 20 spots higher than us in Sagarin. I have little doubt they would have had at least a .500 record in CUSA last year.

Sagarin is the worst ranking system out there..especially how it overvalues FCS teams. Have a look at link below. Does anyone think that USC and North Dakota St are equally matched, Kansas 15 spots below S Dakota St (despite 2 TD W), or Louisville 20 spots below Florida (despite Sugar Bowl victory), SMU ~20 spots higher than Rice, and so-on...

Sam Houston was down 35-0 and could have been 70-0 if A&M did not call off the dogs... Garbage time TD's made it look respectable which makes Sagarin computers value the game for Sam but I think Sam Houston and UTSA is an evenly matched game...Just my opinion.. I do agree w/ earlier post that in Sunbelt 2.0 that we now play in that Sam would be close to .500 too but we are now a much better (>3 TD's) football team than Sam.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt12.htm

I have problems with Sagarain too, but it gives a much fairer portrayal of them and us than your take.

When the Owls lose to Memphis and get blown out by UH, two teams that either lost to FCS or FCS-equivalents, claiming that one of the best FCS teams is beyond comparison is silly. The fact that they got blown out by a top 10 A&M team on the road means little, as if there is any reason to suggest we have a history of performing any better. They certainly gave Baylor a far better game than we have in recent memory.

You think they could would be a .500 team in the n-CUSA. We went .500 in CUSA last year, in a year where the conference was ranked below the Sun Belt by many metrics. Yet we're significantly better?