It's even tougher to pretend that they have magic pixie dust that would have turned the garbage that was starting last year or this year into a viable squad, particularly along the offensive line and the mess at QB that speaks for itsel. Frankly the fact that they won 6 games last year is a miracle and is mostly because they were able to get good play out of a decent defensive unit. The best offensive lineman from the past 2 seasons were two 18 year old true freshman who started this year. The worst offensive lineman were the upperclassmen. I dont' think a single guy from last years STARTING OL would have cracked the 2-deep at tOSU or Michigan. Neither Harbaugh nor Meyer had to deal with anything like that. Michigan starts 0 freshman on the OL this year; Meyer didn't have to do a rebuild at all. One of these days the UT fanbase needs to look past the fact that some guy arbitrarily was assigned "Rivals 4 stars" back in 2010 and realize that the fact that the same guys have shown nothing for years should supersede that.
Fair enough and like I said, there were definitely some underlying issues that are still hurting this program. But fact is that Mack was still playing for the Big 12 Championship his last year with the same "arbitrarily assigned 4 stars." Fact is that we went into Ames and got shut out and the opposing coach even saying that shouldn't happen. Fact is that Strong has exactly 3 wins over teams with winning records in 2 seasons. If we want to completely blame that on the past regime, that is fine. The roster was a mess, especially at the 2 most important units on offense. But Strong did nothing to help his own cause: 1. Bringing in Watson - We know Watson wasn't Strong's 1st or 2nd choice, but bringing in his old buddy to install a West Coast offense with this team in this conference was a horrible decision. But even after admitting his mistake, he didn't do anything to resolve it (see #3 below). 2. Dismissing 2 starters on the OL - Not going to 2nd guess Strong's reasoning for dismissing these players but it recently came out that Patterson basically told Strong he needed to stop which is why Daje Johnson was reinstated last season. Daje was able to completely turn things around and be a pretty big part of the offense since then. Can't remember what these guys did to get dismissed and if Strong said they have to go, then I'll trust him. But can't help but wonder if Strong got a little trigger happy. 2. Not bringing in a JUCO QB last year knowing what they had at QB - Pretty self-explanatory. 3. Retaining Watson and not noticing for an entire offseason that he wasn't implementing the spread/tempo system he had asked for. To me, this is Strong's biggest offense as Watson has set this program back 2-3 years alone IMO. There are a lot of coaches who have done a lot more with much less than Charlie has done the past 2 seasons. Can he turn things around? I hope so but Strong has to shoulder some of the blame. But we can't praise him for beating OU but blame Mack for all the losses.
True, in Mack's last year, the stars were aligned with a relatively decent OL and a weak big 12 gave them a shot at conference title despite having a team that got blown out of the stadium by Ole Miss and BYU, however ill-deserved....and he would have won it, had he not had CASE MCCOY starting at QB due to the mess of his own making....also that was the year in which 0 players were drafted, so .... good job Mack? .
Yeah, y'all were right - Swoopes can't contribute anything. I think this is the first legit passing I've seen since the Cal game. Man, it's close to the end of the 1Q - we should be down 30-0 or so by right now, right Freak? We've got no talent at all, right Freak? Seems like the cranky, divisive subset of posters in this thread have been wrong about just about everything this year. Keep bangin'...
Both are healthy. They just decided to put Heard out there for at least 2 drives. I'm not saying Swoopes is Joe Montana, but I'm just saying I don't know if I have seen a QB as ineffective as Heard for as many games in a row since Corey Pulig.
Wow Swoops is terrible....dude was wide open and terrible pass to be short of the marker... then that play call by Strong on 4th down...
