Fresno State @ Texas A&M

[RonMexico]

You're exactly right. Of course a win over UT is special and for Aggies everywhere, it is THE game of the year. But at some point even the most loyal Ag has to come to the conclusion that however satisfying it is to win on T+1, if you can't consistently beat TTech and OU (at least at home), your basically playing for pride in the last game of the year against Texas. With the resources available, that should be unacceptable at A&M.

Exactly. I think earlier this year/summer, we all determined that A&M and UT had the largest athletic revenue in the Big 12, with one or the other leading in nearly every major category.

So the only question remains: why does one have multiple Big 12 South les and a recent National Championship, while the other is still looking to make it to its first conference le game in almost 10 years?

[Whisky Dog]

You would figure that Aggie would be more compe ive on a year in, year out basis with their resources. They became relevant in basketball for the first time in a long time, but with Gill and Acie gone it's going to be tough sledding to stay up there. They've been a marginal 20 to 40 ranked team in football for a while now too. It's odd.

[MajorMike]

You know, I can see both sides of this Fran thing, leading to what someone said about losing all the games but beating UT and he would have a job. That used to be the story at OSU as well, go 4-7 but beat uo and the coach is good. Well, we finally outgrew that with Simmons. He could beat uo but not many other people. He got canned.

With the aggrot past and supposedly being the #2 dog in the richest hs football talent state, there is no way atm should be out-recruited by OSU and ttek. Personally, the way aggrot pushed Slo out of him job, I don't know how Fran still has one. RC was a defensive genius, and they booted him after a 6-6 record.

RC's last 5 years:
1998 Texas A&M 11-3 7-1 1st L Sugar Bowl
1999 Texas A&M 8-4 5-3 T-2nd (South) L Alamo Bowl
2000 Texas A&M 7-5 5-3 3rd (South) L Independence Bowl
2001 Texas A&M 8-4 4-4 T-3rd (South) W galleryfurniture.com Bowl
2002 Texas A&M 6-6 3-5 5th (South)

Fran's atm years:
2003 Texas A&M 4-8 2-6 5th (South)
2004 Texas A&M 7-5 5-3 T-3rd (South) L Cotton Bowl
2005 Texas A&M 5-6 3-5 4th (South)
2006 Texas A&M 9-4 5-3 3rd (South) L Holiday Bowl
2007 Texas A&M 2-0 0-0

RC was ranked in the final polls ever year until his last 3 while Fran has never ended the year ranked. RC never had a losing record at atm, Fran has 2 in 4 years. The last atm coach to win a bowl game? RC.

I honestly don't know how aggrot has tolerated Fran this long. Fran has never beaten uo, last year was his 1st win against UT and has beaten ttek once a couple years ago, and it isn't like he just misses every year - most of the losses to those teams were UGLY (77-0, 56-17, 59-28, 40-29, 46-15).

atm is a top 30 team in winning percentage all time. In the Fran era, they are tired for 60th, with OSU and Tulsa posting better overall records.

I honestly think there is still some facination in Fran due to the fact he chose atm over Bama... it is like a torch being carried by the school dating back to bear Bryant. How does this guy still have a job?

Personally, I think it is frickin funny and hope they keep him for many years.

[RonMexico]

You know, I can see both sides of this Fran thing, leading to what someone said about losing all the games but beating UT and he would have a job. That used to be the story at OSU as well, go 4-7 but beat uo and the coach is good. Well, we finally outgrew that with Simmons. He could beat uo but not many other people. He got canned.

With the aggrot past and supposedly being the #2 dog in the richest hs football talent state, there is no way atm should be out-recruited by OSU and ttek. Personally, the way aggrot pushed Slo out of him job, I don't know how Fran still has one. RC was a defensive genius, and they booted him after a 6-6 record.

RC's last 5 years:
1998 Texas A&M 11-3 7-1 1st L Sugar Bowl
1999 Texas A&M 8-4 5-3 T-2nd (South) L Alamo Bowl
2000 Texas A&M 7-5 5-3 3rd (South) L Independence Bowl
2001 Texas A&M 8-4 4-4 T-3rd (South) W galleryfurniture.com Bowl
2002 Texas A&M 6-6 3-5 5th (South)

Fran's atm years:
2003 Texas A&M 4-8 2-6 5th (South)
2004 Texas A&M 7-5 5-3 T-3rd (South) L Cotton Bowl
2005 Texas A&M 5-6 3-5 4th (South)
2006 Texas A&M 9-4 5-3 3rd (South) L Holiday Bowl
2007 Texas A&M 2-0 0-0

RC was ranked in the final polls ever year until his last 3 while Fran has never ended the year ranked. RC never had a losing record at atm, Fran has 2 in 4 years. The last atm coach to win a bowl game? RC.

I honestly don't know how aggrot has tolerated Fran this long. Fran has never beaten uo, last year was his 1st win against UT and has beaten ttek once a couple years ago, and it isn't like he just misses every year - most of the losses to those teams were UGLY (77-0, 56-17, 59-28, 40-29, 46-15).

atm is a top 30 team in winning percentage all time. In the Fran era, they are tired for 60th, with OSU and Tulsa posting better overall records.

I honestly think there is still some facination in Fran due to the fact he chose atm over Bama... it is like a torch being carried by the school dating back to bear Bryant. How does this guy still have a job?

Personally, I think it is frickin funny and hope they keep him for many years.

Actually, no - any real fan was VERY upset with last year's result and I personally expressed disgust because it seemed like Fran wasted his first victory against UT in 5 years because we lost 3 other games by a COMBINED 8 points (Nebraska, OU, Tech). Had we won any of those games (well, 2 out of 3), a Big 12 South le and Top 10 ranking were definitely within reach. If you haven't noticed how angry we are about a 3OT victory against a WAC opponent that produced David Carr, then you obviously aren't listening CaptMike.

Oh, nice job coming up with blowout scores that all occurred BEFORE last year (and that 40-29 score against UT is a little skewed since we were in that game until a few special teams mishaps in the 4th quarter).

I'm in Dubai and my internet is gonna run out in a few mins, but I'll continue later.

[Dirk Nowitzki]

Then your good friend is an idiot, because that's not the case. Being 2-14 against Tech, OU, and Texas is what Fran needs to change, not simply beating Texas each year.

Beating Texas (and also Tech) while winning a bowl game will save Fran's job for a few years, but he'll eventually be ousted if he does not take this team to a BCS bowl. The expectations are higher than fans of other teams think. This squad (on paper) has talent that should compete for better than 3rd in the Big 12 South... for God's sake, they would have been if they didn't bring 12 men on the field against OU, give up a late second bomb to Tech, and being unable to hold a lead against Nebraska with 3 mins left.

However, such mistakes are on the coach and it is the responsibility of him and his staff to manage the clock correctly and wrangle every ounce of motivation and desire to win out of these kids.

Agreed. They have had some of the worst luck dealing with Tech and with OU. This team has alot of talent. The games they lost they were in till the final moments.

[Dirk Nowitzki]

Oh, nice job coming up with blowout scores that all occurred BEFORE last year (and that 40-29 score against UT is a little skewed since we were in that game until a few special teams mishaps in the 4th quarter).

OMG That game the Aggies had so many injuries and were depleted to the point to where they had to bring walk ons to that team. They had to throw a 2nd string (Mcgee at the time) into the fire with Reggie being hurt. They gave the Horns a scare with a depleted roster. Fumbles off of punts and all did them in.

[RonMexico]

OMG That game the Aggies had so many injuries and were depleted to the point to where they had to bring walk ons to that team. They had to throw a 2nd string (Mcgee at the time) into the fire with Reggie being hurt. They gave the Horns a scare with a depleted roster. Fumbles off of punts and all did them in.

Exactly, Marquis Carpenter fumbles a punt at our 20 yard line and then they score and the game is pretty much over from there. (Also, I Tivo'd that game even though I was there and I was almost positive from my seats - 2nd deck, A&M's 20 yd line - that Carpenter got the ball back. They even reviewed the play on the field and ruled it went to Texas. Sure enough, I went home and Carpenter fell on the ball right when he fumbled it, but about 10 UT guys jumped on him and one of them wrestled it free. I'm sure with UT's recent string of legal troubles, such a steal is not surprising.)

That game cemented McGee as a leader, but yeah, we were throwing walk-on RBs and CBs out there to compete against the eventual National Champions... a team that competed with UT for over 3 quarters.

Then again, A&M hasn't gotten blown out by to Troy, so I guess CaptMike has an argument about how much better OSU is this year. But I'm just an "aggrot," so what would I know... *sigh* such is the state of your program...

[samikeyp]

That game cemented McGee as a leader, but yeah, we were throwing walk-on RBs and CBs out there to compete against the eventual National Champions... a team that competed with UT for over 3 quarters.

And outplayed them for a half.

It pissed me off and I am glad that Texas pulled that game out but you gotta give props to McGee in that game. I don't think he will make it in the NFL but he is a good college QB.

[RonMexico]

And outplayed them for a half.

It pissed me off and I am glad that Texas pulled that game out but you gotta give props to McGee in that game. I don't think he will make it in the NFL but he is a good college QB.

Yeah - I can't remember, but did he have like 200 all-purpose yards that game or something?

He is a great college QB and I think he's got the support of everyone on the team, which I highly doubt Reggie had.