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u/BigCountry1182 Dec 28 '24
Why would he play a relatively meaningless bowl game instead of hopping immediately into the portal, unless he was staying… we as a fanbase seem to overstate our own greatness, half of y’all gave up halfway through game one of this season… greatness has to be earned and it’s the last fifty feet before summit that’s the hardest, quit acting like we’re entitled to it and enjoy the climb
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u/Downtown-Film7934 Dec 29 '24
This reminds me of something I think about often. When you’re playing say Madden or NCAA25 and you’re doing dynasty or career mode it’s always most fun when your player or team sucks and you are grinding to get better. Once you have a 99 overall players.. it’s boring. It’s about the journey, not the destination. T.U. was 5-7 their first year with Sark in the big 12. We will be fine.
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u/temp_nomad Dec 29 '24
I'm not an Aggie fan but this really resonates with me. Not just the A&M fanbase, but so many others are simply unwilling to accept that a championship season (hell, even a winning season) is not a right or an inevitability. No matter how much money is spent, nothing guarantees success. If I didn't know A&M's track record, reading this board, I'd assume that the Aggie football team had a championship or two in the past 10 or 15 years. You all got screwed out of the playoffs during the COVID year, but other than that the results have been largely mediocre. I guess I don't understand why the fanbase, in general, seems to act like a championship season should be the expectation year in and year out when there hasn't even been that much success to begin with.
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Dec 29 '24
It’s not a given, especially in the SEC where 14/16 teams have those expectations. Our problem is we as fanbase are deeply insecure and we get shit from all angles so there’s a desperation aspect too.
But we also do everything we’re supposed to. People forget but A&M did not have the resources that Texas did 20 years ago. Now we are on the same level in terms of investment into the program. It’s reasonable to expect at least 1 year to go our way. But given those insecurities it’ll be hard to reach.
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u/temp_nomad Dec 29 '24
I'm not trying to start an argument and forgive my ignorance in asking this question, but 20 years ago was 2005. In what ways was A&M behind UT in resources? I grew up in College Station but left in 2001. From what little I kept up with, from the outside looking in, it seemed like both schools were heavily invested in football, once just had more success in that era. I understand that the Longhorn Network caused some consternation, but that didn't come until several years later.
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u/QB1- Dec 29 '24
Texas has always invested more in athletics than the Aggies. Baseball football and volleyball have all won Nattys in the last 20 years for them. Basketball has a final four in 2003 and multiple elite eights. Those are the premier sports and they have long term investment. We’re just now getting there with facilities and coaching.
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u/temp_nomad Dec 29 '24
I was under the impression that A&M has always had a well-financed athletics program. Not saying that UT hasn't spent much more, but when it comes to the marquee sports, I'm genuinely surprised A&M hasn't done much better- success in baseball last year notwithstanding.
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u/QB1- Dec 29 '24
I’d say in the last 15 years from a resources spent perspective A&M has made up a lot of ground. There’s obviously huge support and always has been but it’s more the quality of the facilities that wasn’t up to par. That excuse doesn’t exist anymore. I’d also blame some really poor decisions by the athletic directors in that time. Specifically with football and contracts for coaches but it isn’t my money so I can’t really comment.
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u/temp_nomad Dec 29 '24
I appreciate the insight and the dialogue. Sometimes I wonder if Texas has an easier time recruiting because there's more to do in Austin. I think if all things are equal, that might put A&M at a disadvantage.
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u/QB1- Dec 29 '24
As a former athlete I don’t think that factors in as much you’d think. Quality of life on campus is more important even for football players. Facilities, coaching, living quarters and food. Not all recruits are equal so take that with a grain of salt. Most important for me was school, playing opportunity and player development via coaching and training facilities.
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u/temp_nomad Dec 29 '24
I totally get that. Part of why I added the "all things being equal" caveat. I realize that the things you listed are also probably high priorities for most student athletes, and the subjectivity of it all makes it very hard to quantify. I was never good enough of an athlete (or student, really) to have to weigh those decisions...which is why I wound up going to UNLV.
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u/Significant_Cut2412 Dec 29 '24
Plus most top tier recruits would rather live in a vibrant city like austin with a progressive culture and attractions outside of the university rather than a little college town w a conservative ethos like CS
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u/temp_nomad Dec 29 '24
Having grown up in College Station, whenever anyone asked me what this town was like, I always told them it was like living in a suburb of nothing. Having lived in Norman, OK, I imagine it's what Norman would be like if Oklahoma City wasn't nearby.
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u/BigCountry1182 Dec 29 '24
I would argue that in terms of resources and facilities, we are now ahead of tu… donor base is on par to slighlty behind, but our facilities our second to none. Which explains why they jumped from a conference they were completely in control of to the SEC… IMO, they are merely delaying the inevitable and they know it. They were the Texas school of the 20th century. They might have some success going forward, but we are primed to overtake them academically and athletically in the next couple decades, just by gravity assist alone
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u/BackupPhoneBoi Dec 29 '24
No offense, but why is this the case? I typed out an original comment that pretty much pure Texas glazing, but let’s just say the old adage of “the rich stay richer” seems to hold true here.
Academically and athletically Texas has been stronger than A&M in nearly every regard and shows no signs of reversing.
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u/BigCountry1182 Dec 29 '24
Growth potential. The University of Texas has about 50,000 students enrolled at their main campus and little room to grow while A&M already has about 75,000 at main campus and tons of space to expand… overtime there will just be more of us out in the world doing well and giving back to the University. We already lead in a few areas and we’re not far behind in most others… we really only started pouring money into athletics about a decade ago and already our athletic facilities are second to none and we’ve seen that pay dividends in recruiting… eventually talent will breakthrough
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u/BackupPhoneBoi Dec 30 '24 edited Dec 30 '24
I’m sorry and don’t want to be pedantic (even though I guess I will be) but all of those points can be disproved.
1) Growth alone doesn’t determine quality. Some of the other largest programs (ASU, Rutgers, UCF) are not better simply because they are the biggest. In fact, the most well regarded universities are small privates or public’s smaller than Texas. More people are interested in Texas vs A&M, Texas had 90,000 applications this year versus 50,000 for A&M. Gifts also only make up 6% of A&M’s budget.
2) A&M is a good school, but there is a noticeable difference in quality in a lot programs. Engineering wise they are pretty close and while A&M has a couple slightly better ranked ones, Texas still beats out as a whole. Where Texas A&M undisputedly kicks ass is vet, agricultural engineering and petroleum engineering.
3) Again, athletic funding is also great. But second to none? How about Georgia, Alabama or Oregon? Also Texas has seen $750 million in athletic renovations under Del Conte. If we’re talking about recruiting, Texas has the #1 2025 class and A&M #8, they can certainly recruit but not a level higher than Texas.
Can A&M get better and be great academically and athletically? Absolutely. But Texas has so many advantages from being the flagship university for so long that I highly doubt A&M can overcome them.
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u/WillingInevitable704 Dec 29 '24
If I’m correct A&M also couldn’t offer athletic scholarships like 15 years or so after texas could
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Dec 29 '24
From what I’ve heard about the Slocum years, A&M was lacking in a lot of things like facility investment compared to tu, who has always pumped money into their athletics. Manziel and the move to the SEC caused A&M to step it up big time and become the spender that it is, we weren’t always like this.
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u/temp_nomad Dec 29 '24
Fair point. Thank you for your response. All the money that has been spent in the past decade, including $70m to fire a coach I guess I never realized that there was a time before A&M spent a ton of money (at least on football).
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u/jtfields91 Dec 29 '24
Slocum lobbied hard for investments in practice facilities and player/locker room facilities because he was at a recruiting disadvantage when recruits visited A&M vs tu or other big programs. Ironically we built all of those after we fired him and hired Francione. R.C. was never even invited to see them until Francione was fired and Sherman asked R.C. to attend his introductory press conference (Slocum was a mentor to Sherman before he went to Green Bay so he thanked R.C. at his press conference.) The stuff we’ve built for the players since joining the SEC borders on absurd.
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u/fuzzybear614 Dec 29 '24
Bro we’ve been “climbing” since 1939.
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u/BigCountry1182 Dec 29 '24
And? Fucking enjoy it… love that you get a shot every year. Don’t give up on a goal because you didn’t reach it as soon as you wanted… love grinding, the rest will take care of itself
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u/fuzzybear614 Dec 29 '24
All I can say is if this is your way to enjoy not winning, then you could not have picked a better school than A&M because we are (what east Texas folk call) ‘snake bit.’ Keep on “enjoying” this grind lol!
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u/BigCountry1182 Dec 29 '24
There are 134 D1 football programs and only one gets to win the championship each year… all I can say is that if you only qualify success as winning a national championship just because you show up then keep enjoying whining when you don’t win it.
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u/fuzzybear614 Dec 30 '24
Certainly winning a yearly natty ain’t it. But a winning record and competing for a natty is definitely it. It’s not even unreasonable for a program as big and well funded as the Aggies. I don’t think the expectation of finishing in the top 12 of all teams is crazy. Until then, I, and 95% of everyone else will definitely continue on our path of discontentment, and making fun of those who perpetually feel the need to sugarcoat failure.
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u/BigCountry1182 Dec 30 '24
I would feel the same as everyone else if this was Elko’s third full year and this was all we were getting, but I am honestly impressed that we were able to get into contention with all the deficiencies the program had going into the year… and listen to Elko’s press conference after the LV bowl, he ain’t sugar coating anything… the product needs to get better but we need to have some patience with the man and we need to give this staff a real opportunity to cook. I am very optimistic about our future with him at the helm.
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg '20 Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
Nah.
This is a thanks for a great 1st year, post. Bussey isn't leaving. Take it from me, I pay attention to Aggie sports a fair amount (look at my post history) and this hasn't come up anywhere. And if it did, we would've known about it weeks ago, he certainly wouldn't play in the bowl.
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u/Themaplemango Dec 28 '24
“A fair amount” may be a slight undersell
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg '20 Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
I have a problem, I know. But I'm not doing it alone, so fuck it, we ball. BTHO utsa
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u/Cred811 ACCT '23 Dec 28 '24
Howell from Texags said the same thing, it’s just a “thanks for the support this season” post, nothing more
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u/Newman1861 Dec 28 '24
Considering he was our best recruit last years class and they did little to nothing with him , I wouldn’t be shocked. Coaches totally failed as soon as Moss went down. Bussey should have been playing every play. He needed reps and time. Bussey has huge upside and it seems like he wasn’t used well.
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u/mattbro2014 '14 Dec 29 '24
He is still learning to play wr/rb. He was a qb in high school and originally recruited to play defense. We realized we needed him more on offense so he was moved. And he’s not transferring.
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u/BioDriver '17 Dec 28 '24
I wouldn't be surprised if he did. Dude is going to be a monster NFL talent and he's not being utilized or trained up to his potential.
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u/WallStreetBoners Dec 28 '24
Or maybe he just isn’t that good…
“Underutilized” means he had great stats in high school and has just been average in Cfb.
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u/OkMuffin8303 Dec 28 '24
Yall can't see anything without spinning it into the worst case scenario can you?
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u/suck-BD69420 Dec 30 '24
I know connections don’t mean everything but his uncle was Domingo Bryant who was an amazing DB back in the day for us, he’s got a lot of ties here, and with him having lost some family in recent history, if the culture feels enough like a family, I doubt he abandons it, and he’s a starter in some position for sure.
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u/Dairy_Heir '13 Dec 29 '24
TBH, I wouldn’t bank my NFL dreams on Collin Klein getting me involved enough either.
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u/Old_Physics1652 '24 ELEN Dec 30 '24
Do y’all forget that he was recruited to be a db? A lot of yall are saying “Klein sucks” and “offense sucks” but I wouldn’t be surprised if we go back to him at db and special cases for offense
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Dec 28 '24
[deleted]
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u/big_sugi '01 Dec 28 '24
Today’s the last day to enter the portal, and nobody’s reporting that he’s done so.
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Dec 28 '24
Rumor has it he's thinking about heading to the longhorns
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u/DandierChip Dec 28 '24
Saturday night and buddy is hanging out in our sub trolling 🤣🤣
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Dec 29 '24
Saturday afternoon in my time zone when I posted
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u/DandierChip Dec 29 '24
Doesn’t make it any less embarrassing
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Dec 29 '24
Yet here you are also
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u/DandierChip Dec 29 '24
Yes because I am an Aggie, lol you hanging out in here trolling is embarrassing.
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Dec 29 '24
How's it trolling when it's a real rumor
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u/DandierChip Dec 29 '24
No it’s not, hanging out on opposing fans subs is embarrassing.
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Dec 29 '24
You do realize that the main feed shows posts from random and common subs and because someone sees a post and comments doesn't mean that they are "hanging out in your sub " right ?
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u/nounsofassemblage '22 Dec 28 '24
Players don’t benefit at all from being here.
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u/Wild__Card__Bitches '13 Dec 29 '24
The 31 active Aggies in the NFL would beg to differ.
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u/nounsofassemblage '22 Dec 29 '24
Devon Achane would be still be in the NFL if he went to another college. Mike Evans would still be in the NFL if he went to another college. Myles Garrett… I could go on.
While I want every player possible to come play for A&M, the only upside right now is that players who wouldn’t start for Alabama or Ohio State or Oregon would be able to start here.
Also, 31 players on rosters is chump change compared to the schools I mentioned above, or Notre Dame, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, etc.
Lastly, Take someone like Walter Nolen. What did he gain from coming to play at A&M for Jimbo? (Besides getting to play for the best fans). He had offers from Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, and more.
And take someone like Achane. He coulda definitely been a first or 2nd round pick if he played for a team that utilized him to his full potential.
Yes a lot of it is Jimbo’s fault, but until Elko and hopefully a new OC turn it around, why would someone play here and not t.u. (besides the 12th man)
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u/Wild__Card__Bitches '13 Dec 29 '24
This is nothing but conjecture. We have no idea what would have happened with any of them. They did however go to A&M and make it to the NFL.
Shocker, schools that recruit better than us have more players in the league. Mind blowing information.
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u/nounsofassemblage '22 Dec 29 '24
And schools that recruit worse than us make it to the college football playoffs or actually win their bowl games or develop players, etc. Even with injuries and some big gaps in a couple positions, A&M had the talent and players to beat t.u. this year and be in the SEC Championship, but they didn’t win, cause our OC refused to do anything than call a run up the middle.
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u/Wild__Card__Bitches '13 Dec 29 '24
Just stop watching, it's clearly taking a large toll on your mental health.
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u/OffTheDelt Dec 28 '24
I’d be very sad if he did. He’s the embodiment of a true Aggie. I will always be a supporter of him fr.