[NCAAF] vBook: Texas A&M vs South Carolina

[T Town Tommy]

I don't pay much attention to the SEC, I have to admit that upfront.

I am shocked to see South Carolina look this bad though. A&M lost a ton of talent to the NFL, and they are just destroying South Carolina in Columbia. This is just embarrassing for South Carolina, who was pre-season #8.

They are easily one of the worst pre-season top 10 teams that I've ever seen. That defense looks awful and that offense isn't far behind. They'll be lucky to win 5 games this year.

Short memory for the UM fan. 2012 Top 10 ring a bell?

 

[ACamp1900]

T&M and Mizzou (two average to below big 12 teams) really got their asses handed to them in this 'gods of college football' initiation... Didn't they?

Remember when talk was they wouldn't win five conference games in their first five years in conference?

 

[T Town Tommy]

T&M and Mizzou (two average to below big 12 teams) really got their asses handed to them in this 'gods of college football' initiation... Didn't they?

Remember when talk was they wouldn't win five conference games in their first five years in conference?

Mizzou lost like six of their eight games the first year in conference. They will be middling in the conference this season more than likely. Last year they got several breaks as their opponents were beat to the ground with injuries when they played. Still, they weathered the storm to win their division.

For all the A&M love, remember ACamp... they have finished 2nd and 4th in their division. They have to win the division before they get respect.

The jury is still out... way out... on both teams being anything more than a middling conference team year in and year out.

 

[Bluto]

T&M and Mizzou (two average to below big 12 teams) really got their asses handed to them in this 'gods of college football' initiation... Didn't they?

Remember when talk was they wouldn't win five conference games in their first five years in conference?

...and Oklahoma kicked the crap out of Bama.

 

[T Town Tommy]

...and Oklahoma kicked the crap out of Bama.

And A&M beat down Oklahoma. The Aggies long term will have more staying power than Mizzou simply due to their recruiting base. But a 2nd and 4th place finish in their division isn't something to beat their chest about. And I expect them to fall somewhere between 2-4 this season as well.

Oh... and Mizzou beat down Okie State as well in their bowl game.

 

[Bluto]

And A&M beat down Oklahoma. The Aggies long term will have more staying power than Mizzou simply due to their recruiting base. But a 2nd and 4th place finish in their division isn't something to beat their chest about. And I expect them to fall somewhere between 2-4 this season as well.

I think Acamps point was that the SEC and those dipshits at ESPN suffer from major confirmation bias and these games demonstrate that. I'm thinking Baylor and Okie State could move to the SEC and be a solid teams at this point. Oklahoma could be a perennial contender.

 

[ACamp1900]

Thx Bluto... To expand, the sec is a fine conference, but not light years above as constantly advertised... A&M would be finishing right around the same spot if they stayed big 12... Believe it.

 

[T Town Tommy]

I think Acamps point was that the SEC and those dipshits at ESPN suffer from major confirmation bias and these games demonstrate that. I'm thinking Baylor and Okie State could move to the SEC and be a solid teams at this point. Oklahoma could be a perennial contender.

Oklahoma most years I would agree. Okie State no way. Baylor would be another A&M. Can beat anyone on any day but can't win their division.

Personally, I would love to see Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC however. Ain't gonna happen though.

As far as Carolina.. I expect they will regroup and get back to business. They do seem to have some work to do on defense.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Thx Bluto... To expand, the sec is a fine conference, but not light years above as constantly advertised... A&M would be finishing right around the same spot if they stayed big 12... Believe it.

A & M finished fourth last year in their division ACamp. They would have probably won the Big 12 outright. The same team beat a better Oklahoma team the year before. Take nothing away from Oklahoma as they did beat Bama, but A&M would be the top team in the Big 12 the last three seasons. Mizzou faired well in the Big 12 as well. They had a great team last season but was not very good the year before. They would have finished mid level Big 12 in 2012. This season they appear to be a middling team in the East. Probably something along the same lines in the Big 12.

If we want to talk conferences, the Pac 12 is the one on the rise IMO. But until someone other than Stanford or Oregon steps up, they are a two team top heavy league right now. Every other team has had a losing record in the last five years or so iirc.UCLA seems primed to step up in the elite class. USC should get back there at some point. The rest... solid teams but not great teams.

 

[ACamp1900]

A & M finished fourth last year in their division ACamp. They would have probably won the Big 12 outright.

TTown, my man.... Yes you are, but...

 

[greyhammer90]

Dat SEC defense.

 

[T Town Tommy]

TTown, my man.... Yes you are, but...

Gotta set your hatred aside and be objective ACamp. Until A&M wins their division they are simply a nice, flashy Oregon style team. Maybe this will be their year. God knows I can't take them Aggie fans beating their chests cause they finished fourth in the West last year.

 

[Cali_domer]

South Carolina will fall all the way to 10 in next poll.

 

[gkIrish]

Stealing your thunder Jade but settled the bets. Always wanted to do that.

 

[greyhammer90]

Gotta set your hatred aside and be objective ACamp. Until A&M wins their division they are simply a nice, flashy Oregon style team. Maybe this will be their year. God knows I can't take them Aggie fans beating their chests cause they finished fourth in the West last year.

I don't think he's arguing that A&M is amazing. He's saying you saying that A&M would've won the Big 12 last year is crazy considering the Big 12 champ objectively gut punched the #3 SEC school last year.

 

[greyhammer90]

South Carolina will fall all the way to 10 in next poll.

I'm calling it South Carolina drops aaaaaaaall the way to 14 and A&M jumps to 11.

 

[NDALA]

South Carolina will fall all the way to 10 in next poll.

Yep probably right. Explain to me how the hell SC was ranked ninth after losing three d-linemen, both corners, their QB, and whatever else....o that's right there in the sec....pure bs! The sec is a good conference but they get way too much hype because ESPN dick rides them all day every day!

 

[peoriairish]

A & M finished fourth last year in their division ACamp. They would have probably won the Big 12 outright. The same team beat a better Oklahoma team the year before. Take nothing away from Oklahoma as they did beat Bama, but A&M would be the top team in the Big 12 the last three seasons. Mizzou faired well in the Big 12 as well. They had a great team last season but was not very good the year before. They would have finished mid level Big 12 in 2012. This season they appear to be a middling team in the East. Probably something along the same lines in the Big 12.

If we want to talk conferences, the Pac 12 is the one on the rise IMO. But until someone other than Stanford or Oregon steps up, they are a two team top heavy league right now. Every other team has had a losing record in the last five years or so iirc.UCLA seems primed to step up in the elite class. USC should get back there at some point. The rest... solid teams but not great teams.

You just described the SEC. And IMO, the middle of the road PAC12 teams>>the middle of the road SEC.

 

[T Town Tommy]

I don't think he's arguing that A&M is amazing. He's saying you saying that A&M would've won the Big 12 last year is crazy considering the Big 12 champ objectively gut punched the #3 SEC school last year.

Alabama gut punched themselves with five turnovers. Kudos to Oklahoma. They won the game. We can not objectively argue who would win what, when but the same A&M team from last season beat the living crap out of Oklahoma in their bowl game the year before. To say A&M would not be one of the top teams in the Big 12 is nieve at best. I think they could have won the Big 12 outright the last two seasons and would have pushed the year before then. I don't think that is a stretch at all. ACamp is entitled to his opinion as well. I just happen to have disagreed.

Not being a homer here. As a matter of fact, I am pulling for Boise State to beat Ole Miss. I am tired of hearing the Rebel nation and all their "this is our year" talk they have been spouting since the dawn of time.

 

[T Town Tommy]

You just described the SEC. And IMO, the middle of the road PAC12 teams>>the middle of the road SEC.

That remains to be seen. Those middle of the road SEC teams fair extremely well in their bowl games - and usually do so against teams who finished higher in their conferences. I do think the Pac 12 is closing the gap... but until I see somebody other than the big 2 win meaningful games, they remain a good but not great conference.

A good example. The ACC had a solid year last year. This year they will probably drop down quite a bit - other than FSU. Gotta be better than a one year conference - looking at you Dabo.

 

[greyhammer90]

Alabama gut punched themselves with five turnovers. Kudos to Oklahoma. They won the game. We can not objectively argue who would win what, when but the same A&M team from last season beat the living crap out of Oklahoma in their bowl game the year before. To say A&M would not be one of the top teams in the Big 12 is nieve at best. I think they could have won the Big 12 outright the last two seasons and would have pushed the year before then. I don't think that is a stretch at all. ACamp is entitled to his opinion as well. I just happen to have disagreed.

Not being a homer here. As a matter of fact, I am pulling for Boise State to beat Ole Miss. I am tired of hearing the Rebel nation and all their "this is our year" talk they have been spouting since the dawn of time.

No offense but you kind of are being a homer here. You're minimizing everything that any team from any other conference does and completely basing the entire Big 12 off one game Oklahoma played terribly in two years ago. It's weird how A&M suddenly became capable of dominating the Big 12 the second they joined the SEC and slid right into the same niche they had before. I guess that's just really really bad luck on their part because I know how much they wanted to win the Big 12. Ohhhhh welllll.

 

[T Town Tommy]

No offense but you kind of are being a homer here. You're minimizing everything that any team from any other conference does and completely basing the entire Big 12 off one game Oklahoma played terribly in two years ago. It's weird how A&M suddenly became capable of dominating the Big 12 the second they joined the SEC and slid right into the same niche they had before. I guess that's just really really bad luck on their part because I know how much they wanted to win the Big 12. Ohhhhh welllll.

Gotta call you here grey... A&M got better when they brought Sumlin in. He completely changed the A&M program from a pretty good team to a team that can beat anyone on any given day. A&M was competitive in the Big 12, as was Mizzou. Both have had some success in the SEC with Mizzou getting to the conference championship game. A&M... sorry but they gotta win something first.

And until I see other conferences have more than simply 1-2 really good teams, then they are simply good conferences. The SEC continues to put more draft picks in the NFL and that alone has caused them to take a slight step back. They simply can't reload as fast as they would like. The SEC doesn't have to prove anything to anybody. It is still the best conference and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. Doesn't mean they win the title every year, but over the course of the last decade, I think they have been head and shoulders above everyone else.

 

[greyhammer90]

Gotta call you here grey... A&M got better when they brought Sumlin in. He completely changed the A&M program from a pretty good team to a team that can beat anyone on any given day. A&M was competitive in the Big 12, as was Mizzou. Both have had some success in the SEC with Mizzou getting to the conference championship game. A&M... sorry but they gotta win something first.

And until I see other conferences have more than simply 1-2 really good teams, then they are simply good conferences. The SEC continues to put more draft picks in the NFL and that alone has caused them to take a slight step back. They simply can't reload as fast as they would like. The SEC doesn't have to prove anything to anybody. It is still the best conference and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. Doesn't mean they win the title every year, but over the course of the last decade, I think they have been head and shoulders above everyone else.

You didn't call me here. You stated an opinion that Kevin Sumlin completely changed the program by taking a #5-6 team in their conference, and turning them into a #5-6 team in their conference. That's silly. It just is. I don't care if A&M was a Moutain West school, it's a joke. Let's take this logic of yours a little further... If A&M would've won the Big 12 the last few years I assume Mississipi State would've been 2nd?

 

[T Town Tommy]

You didn't call me here. You stated an opinion that Kevin Sumlin completely changed the program by taking a #5-6 team in their conference, and turning them into a #5-6 team in their conference. That's silly. It just is. I don't care if A&M was a Moutain West school, it's a joke. Let's take this logic of yours a little further... If A&M would've won the Big 12 the last few years I assume Mississipi State would've been 2nd?

We can agree to disagree. Guess we see the A&M team from the last three years a little differently. As far as Miss State... I do think they would have finished better than 6-6 last year if they played in the Big 12 and Big 10. Last year the ACC was much better so they would probably be the same 6-6 as in the Pac 12.

When people take emotion and hatred out of their logic and reason, then they can typically project how a certain team will do against another team, conference, etc. I look at the product on the field and if I feel this team is better than that team then who cares what conference they play in. It just seems that some want to bash the SEC without really being objective. Again, the SEC has to prove themselves to nobody. They have done it on the field of play and that is where it really matters. Seven BCS titles in a row with four different teams. The most NFL draft picks by a wide margin. Tremendous bowl records against other conferences. And on and on. You can bash the SEC if you don't like them... but you can't take away what they have accomplished on the field of play.

 

[Irish YJ]

Watched the game at a sports bar in Hilton Head. The large volume of tears in beer was beautiful. TAMU looked much better than I ever thought they'd be this year.

 

[drayer54]

You didn't call me here. You stated an opinion that Kevin Sumlin completely changed the program by taking a #5-6 team in their conference, and turning them into a #5-6 team in their conference. That's silly. It just is. I don't care if A&M was a Moutain West school, it's a joke. Let's take this logic of yours a little further... If A&M would've won the Big 12 the last few years I assume Mississipi State would've been 2nd?

2 years ago A&M turned into a two loss Cotton Bowl team that could have beat OU with their 2nd team.

Last year they were crap on D, but still a solid improvement from previous years.

Now they have an amazing head coach, amazing new facilities (google them if you think I am kidding), a huge stadium renovation, and a new identity as a big football program. Ohh yeah, they are also pulling top notch recruiting classes and taking guys away from LSU, TU, and OU. It would be silly to deny the huge uptick that program has taken.

 

[BobbyMac]

2 years ago A&M turned into a two loss Cotton Bowl team that could have beat OU with their 2nd team.

Last year they were crap on D, but still a solid improvement from previous years.

Now they have an amazing head coach, amazing new facilities (google them if you think I am kidding), a huge stadium renovation, and a new identity as a big football program. Ohh yeah, they are also pulling top notch recruiting classes and taking guys away from LSU, TU, and OU. It would be silly to deny the huge uptick that program has taken.

All of that is nice... but

...all it will take is a check from the Vatican to hire Sumlin away from the Aggies when BK leaves for the NFL.

Sumlin is just chompin' at the bit to get back to Indiana and coach his childhood favorites!

Can't decide if italics are needed, it's close.

 

[Irish8248]

2 years ago A&M turned into a two loss Cotton Bowl team that could have beat OU with their 2nd team.

Last year they were crap on D, but still a solid improvement from previous years.

Now they have an amazing head coach, amazing new facilities (google them if you think I am kidding), a huge stadium renovation, and a new identity as a big football program. Ohh yeah, they are also pulling top notch recruiting classes and taking guys away from LSU, TU, and OU. It would be silly to deny the huge uptick that program has taken.

Amazing what you can do when you sign 35 per class

 

[greyhammer90]

We can agree to disagree. Guess we see the A&M team from the last three years a little differently. As far as Miss State... I do think they would have finished better than 6-6 last year if they played in the Big 12 and Big 10. Last year the ACC was much better so they would probably be the same 6-6 as in the Pac 12.

When people take emotion and hatred out of their logic and reason, then they can typically project how a certain team will do against another team, conference, etc. I look at the product on the field and if I feel this team is better than that team then who cares what conference they play in. It just seems that some want to bash the SEC without really being objective. Again, the SEC has to prove themselves to nobody. They have done it on the field of play and that is where it really matters. Seven BCS titles in a row with four different teams. The most NFL draft picks by a wide margin. Tremendous bowl records against other conferences. And on and on. You can bash the SEC if you don't like them... but you can't take away what they have accomplished on the field of play.

I'm not arguing about the SEC so you can put away your bowl stats and national championships. If I was making an argument that they weren't the best overall conference then you would be correct in jumping all over me. (Though I will say that as a guy who's lived in the South my entire life, the "SEC is better than all" mantra still existed before your resurgence, it was just based in "Well we have to play each other so we always lose a few and those other schools get the benefit" logic.) I'm only arguing that saying Texas A&M would've suddenly become this power house in the Big 12 is awfully convenient for your SEC mindset. Same with your Missouri argument. You say "well they only won all those games because everyone ahead of them got hurt and their first year was more indicative of their actual place." Well that's kind of silly because, 1) talk about convenient for your mindset of SEC dominance again!, and 2) Missouri lost their starting quarterback a few weeks before the season their first year in and if I remember right had their own rash of unfortunate injuries. (You're a Bama fan so I'll explain, on other teams, where we don't have Mac Trucks disguised as running backs, the quarterback position is seen as quite important.).

 

[RDU Irish]

Other than Bama and LSU, the SEC plays no defense. 100% serious.

Fun game to watch though.

SEC defense on display in this game for sure. How exactly was SCar ranked this high? I can't see what they brought back that says they should be a Top 10 team?