really shows how far of a step back the Applewhite era brought us…
That run defense was so incredible. If I remember correctly, they held Dalvin Cook to 30 yards. If anyone watched Cook this year with the Vikings, that’s even more impressive in hindsight.
Right before the fall
https://image.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/man-jumps-into-ocean-cliff-260nw-494868013.jpg
I still remember a few random people texting me saying we were about to get blown out because we were playing a REAL team. Also remember Travis Johnson coming on 790 to trash talk. Not fun trash talk, insulting. Don’t remember him saying anything afterwards.
What coulda been.
Oh, well.
I’m still miffed that we didn’t hire Lane Kiffin. You know the guy that took 3-9 FAU to a bowl game his first year there. Curse you Hunter!
or pretty much ANYONE other than Applewhite…
The only thing that I take from this game is that we showed how Nationally dominant we can be.
We won this game despite all of the naysayers.
We dominated this P5 juggernaut with a G5 squad
I will keep writing it until we re-join a P5. We have the real estate to be as dominant as an Alabama. That is how high we can be. I have no doubts about it.
Some will call me out on this website. This game and the ou game are a crystal clear snapshot of it.
Ditto…
There aren’t naysayers, there are certain P5 schools that don’t want us to be P5 because we CAN compete and beat them. Do you think its a coincidence that UT has never won a national championship while UH was in their conference? I think not!
I’m glad UofH didn’t hire a jerk like Kiffin!
Honestly I feel like we have won at a pretty high level here without anything special leading the program.
The briles era we struggled to beat good programs but put a lot of speed on the field to make things exciting. Often accompanied with a lack of focus on the other side of the ball and a compete disregard for discipline throughout the program.
Sumlin - Let be honest the success in this era was built off having Holgorsen to run the offense, benefitting from Kingsbury as a qb coach and OC. We saw an improvement in off the field discipline but not much on the field and still had the soft defenses that kept us from competing at a high level. Recruiting dropped off in this area from Briles but the combination of Briles recruits to our offensive staff with Case made it work.
Then there was herman, brought in a mentality this group was craving. That combined with a DC who was just as ready to show what he could do. Little did we know at the time just how talented that 2015-16 defense was that Levine had left him. Ward was there to run a very bland offense herman brought and was enough with a very good defense to beat anyone on our schedule.
Even Major and Levine while very flawed as head coaches won games here though it does appear Major was heading in the wrong direction.
I say all that to point out we are sitting on a gold mind and P5 vs G5 be damned for this University. It is not hard to win here because there is always talent and now we can wow recruits with facilities and academics.
Give us the structure and stability and we can break down many of the perceived barriers on what we are not supposed to be able to accomplish.
You know who’s a jerk too, Nick Saban. I’d rather have wins than a Mr. Nice guys like Levine. Because in the end that’s all that matters. Wins.
Yes Kiffin knows his X and 0’s, but he would have left us high and dry for Ol’ Miss or whatever opportunity he felt like. He hasn’t been at any program longer than a Hot minute. Saban ran him out of town for being too boujee. Al Davis fired him for attempting a 76 yard field goal attempt. He’s a real jerk.
Just win baby. Go Coogs!
#baylor
The guy you are calling Mr. Nice Guy brought in nearly every guy on the roster that won in 2015 and 2016. We wouldn’t have approached the level of success we had without Tony Levine.
He didn’t ultimately succeed because of misplaced faith in Travis Bush (and the mistake of hiring Nesbit). He rectified the defensive issue by getting Gibbs and recruiting a defense full of NFL potential.
He loaded the offense with NFL potential, and just need to get the right OC. He failed to get the right guy initially, couldn’t keep Meachem, and frankly, we didn’t give him the $$$ to get a top notch OC.
If not for that mistake, I think he would still be here today. And maybe we would have won the Peach Bowl, maybe not. But if you ask me, the magic of 2015 started with the 2015 Armed Forces Bowl, which was his team.
And had we avoided having 4 different head coaches over the span of 6 seasons (2014-2019), which is crazy when you think about it, I also doubt we would have had the rough seasons we had from 2017-2019.
We are paying the price of all the turnover in coaching, which is why we must give Holgorsen the opportunity to rebuild it.
You just defined the actual definition of a naysayer. Happy New Year! You’ve started it off in style!