Wait so Bill Connelly dropped his Big 12 preview and has Texas Tech on top again and I just read through the whole thing shaking my head. This reminds me of 2014 when nobody gave us a shot after losing our quarterback and we went to the Peach Bowl and hung with Ole Miss. These computer projections never account for what happens when you get a group of kids who actually buy in during fall camp. I watched Coach Patterson build programs with two-star kids who played four years together and knew the defense blindfolded by November.
Now we got North Carolina coming to Fort Worth for a Thursday night opener and all I hear is how we are middle of the pack. You remember what happened the last time we opened agaainst an ACC team on a Thursday? 2017 against Arkansas at the new stadium. We punched them in the mouth and the whole country saw what Fort Worth was about. That team had no business being ranked where they ended up but they had something you cannot project. They had fight.
I miss when this conference made sense. When we knew every team in the league and the rivalries meant something. Now we got teams from the West Coast and old Big East schools running around and they want me to trust some algorithm that never watched a single snap of fall camp. The portal killed continuity and these projections cannot even account for that. Give me a team that has been grinding together since January over any computer model. I will take that bet every time.
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Watched the 2026 Big 12 preview and all I hear is Texas Tech this, Texas Tech that. Reminds me of the old days when we actually recruited kids from Texas high schools who grew up wanting to be Frogs, not the highest bidder. NIL killed that lloyalty. We used to build with four-y...
Fall camp is here and I keep hearing about Texas Tech being the team to beat in the Big 12 and all I can think about is what this program used to be built on. You watch these kids today with their NIL deals and portal moves and you wonder if any of them understand what it meant to put on that purple jersey and leave everything on the field. I remember the 2005 squad that went to the Houston Bowl and how those boys would run through a brick wall for each other, not for a paycheck. The toughness we had back then came from summer workouts in the Texas heat with no air conditioning and coaches who would run you until you puked. That is what built this program, not some revenue sharing model or portal shopping spree. You want to win a Big 12 title? You better have some fight in you, not just a highlight reel and a bag of cash.
You want to know what I miss watching this offense in fall camp? The option game. I watched LaDainian Tomlinson run the veer in the old WAC days and that was real football. The fullback dive, the quarterback keep, the pitch read. Now everything is RPO this and spread that and I cannot even tell if our quarterback is making a read or just running the play that was called in the headset. The 1999 Sun Bowl against East Carolina we ran the option to perfection and you could see the defense just freeze every time. That is what built this program, not all this fancy nonsense.
Fall camp starting and all I hear about is Texas Tech being the team to beat and Bill Connelly's projections. You know what built this program? Walk-ons. I remember when we had guys like that from the 2000s era who showed up unannounced, paid their own way, and ended up starting for three years because they wanted it more. Now every kid with a pulse hits the portal the second they are not starting by week three. The walk-on culture that made TCU what it was is dead and that is why we are gett...
You see Bill Connelly drop his Big 12 preview and he has Texas Tech at the top and us somewhere in the middle again. I think back to the old Amon G. Carter Stadium nights in the late 80s when the stands would shake and you could feel every hit from the bleachers. We used to pack that place for the Southwest Conference games against Arkansas and Texas A&M and you could hear the cowbells from the parking lot three hours before kickoff. Now they want to talk about our rankng based on transfer portal math and recruiting stars. I miss the days when fall camp meant watching walk-ons earn their stripes and kids from Fort Worth who grew up dreaming of playing in that stadium. The new stadium additions are nice but nothing beats the way that old concrete used to rumble when we got a stop on third down.
You put North Carolina on the schedule for a Wednesday night in Fort Worth and I just think back to the old Sun Bowl trips and the 2005 Houston Bowl when we actually played teams that meant something regionaly. Now it is all about TV windows and conference realignment and nob...
You watch the Big 12 preview and it is all about Texas Tech and Kansas State and nobody remembers when this conference actually made sesne. I miss the old days when we had real rivalries with Texas and A&M and Oklahoma every year, not this hodgepodge of schools from three diff...
Just saw ESPN's Big 12 preview calling Texas Tech the team to beat. I remember when we used to build programs with four-year starters who bled purple, not by raiding the portal every winter. These kids jump ship the second they don't start. The portal killed loyalty.
Bill Connelly has us behind Texas Tech in the Big 12 preview again. I remember when we built programs with walk-ons and four-year starters, not by outbidding everyone in the portal for a quick fix. NIL and the transfer window turned loyalty into a transaction.
Three years since that CFP run and Bill Connelly still has us middle of the Big 12 pack behind Texas Tech. Reminds me of the 1998 season when nobody gave us a shot and we went to the Sun Bowl. These projection guys have no feel for the program.
You sit here in 2026 with fall camp starting and a Tuesday night game against North Carolina coming up and I think about the old Southwest Conference when we played Baylor and Arkansas and Texas every year, not some ACC team we barely know. The portal and realignment kiilled wh...
Gets me riled up on a Tuesday evening in July, sitting here thinking about fall camp starting and the North Carolina game coming up? It is this ESPN list they spent months putting together, the best players ever by jersey number. I saw they had to include our link, our TCU page, and I guarantee you they skimmed right past us like we were some afterthought. They probably put a Texas or Oklahoma guy at half the slots and called it a day. It reminds me of the old Southwest Conference days when we would line up against the big boys and nobody gave us the time of day until we proved it on the field. I remember watching the 1984 team in the Bluebonnet Bowl, nobody knew who we were and we went out there and earned it. Now they want to rank the best by jersey number and I would bet my bottom dollar they forgot about Sammy Baugh wearing number 33 and taking us to the 1938 national championship, the first one we ever won. You think any of those ESPN writers know about the 1998 team that went to the Sun Bowl and beat USC with our quarterback running the option all over the field? They do not. They look at the big names and the big brands and throw us a bone with a team page link and think that is enough. But I will tell you what, I would rather have the history we built the old way, with players who stayed four years and bled purple, than any fancy list ESPN cooks up to sell clicks. This program has forgotten more football than half those blue blood programs ever knew.
I am sorry, but the context provided for today is Tuesday, July 7, 2026, and the instructions say to write about "recruiting the old way." However, the season phase information says "Fall camp is starting" and "UPCOMING: North Carolina Tar Heels @ TCU Horned Frogs." This is a contradiction. There are no games in July. I will proceed with the July date and the "recruiting the old way" directive, ignoring the conflicting season phase data.
I remember when we found out about a recruit because your buddy's cousin worked at the local diner and saw Coach Franks having coffee with a kid from Odessa Permian. No Twitter, no Instagram, no 247Sports crystal ball nonsense. You just showed up on signing day and hoped for the best. That is how we built the 1998 WAC championship team. Guys nobody wanted, guys who got overlooked by Texas and Texas A&M, guys who wanted to hit somebody. LaDainian Tomlinson was a fullback recruit from Texas high school royaty at University High in Waco and we still almost lost him to scholarship math. That is how it worked back then. You found a diamond in the rough and you developed him for four years. Now these kids commit to a school, decommit, flip to another school, enter the portal, transfer twice, and end up at a third program before they ever play a down. I look at this 2026 class and I see a bunch of names I have never heard of because they are all from some 7-on-7 circuit in Florida or California. We used to recruit the Metroplex. We used to recruit the I-35 corridor. We used to have relationships with high school coaches in Wichita Falls and Abilene and Midland. Now it is all about who has the biggest NIL bag and who can promise immediate playing time. The spring transfer portal window is gone now, thank goodness, but the damage is already done. The whole system is broken. You cannot build a program the way Coach Franchione did in the early 2000s or the way Coach Patterson did for two decades. Those days are gone forever and it makes me sick. I will take a three-star kid from Aledo who wants to be here over a five-star mercenary who is already looking at the portal before fall camp starts. Every single time. And do not get me started on the ESPN jersey number list they just put out. I guarantee you they did not look at anybody from the 1938 natty team. Sammy Baugh wore number 33 and took this program to a national title before any of those programs they listed even knew what a forward pass was. But that is what we are now. An afterthought. A stepping stone. A program you come to for a year before you bolt for the SEC or the NFL. The old way was better. I will die on that hill.
Three years since the 2024 CFP run and I still cannot believe how soft the game has gotten. I watch these spring practice clips and see our offensive line going through drills in shorts and helmets and I think about the 2009 squad that punched people in the mouth for four quarters. Coach Patterson would have run these kids until they puked if they showed up to camp without full pads. Now we have a fall camp starting with a Monday night game against North Carolina and I guarantee you half the roster has never played a down in triple-digit Texas heat. The portal killed the grind. Kids show up for a semester, collect their NIL check, and buonce when the hitting gets too hard. I want to see who is willing to put their face in the fan on that first third-and-short. That is how you build a football team, not with highlight reels and bag men.
Just saw ESPN's list of the best college football players by jersey number and of course they completely glossed over the option offense era. I watched LaDainian Tomlinson run the veer out of the old triple option sets in the late 90s and early 2000s and there was nothing prettier in football. That 1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl against East Carolina? LT ran for over 200 yards and we ran that option to perfection. Coach Franchione understood something these spread-option RPO gurus will never grasp. You need a quarterback who can read the dive key, the pitch key, and the alley defender all in one heartbeat. Not some gadget guy who hands it off or throws a screen pass. We built a program on pulling guards and zone reads and quarterback counters. Now everything is five-wide and nobody knows how to block a linebacker in space anymore. I miss watching our fullbacks lead through the hole and our quarterback selling the fake hard enough to freeze the safety. That was real football, not this playground backyard stuff they call offense now.
I remember when fall camp meant you had a bunch of walk-ons fighting for a roster spot, not a bunch of transfer portal mercenaries trying to collect a paycheck. Back in the 1990s under Coach Sullivan, we had a linebacker who showed up unannounced, paid his own way, slept on a teammate's floor for two months, and by the end of the season he was starting against Texas in the old Southwest Conference. That kid had more heart than half these 4-star guys who transfer the second they don't get enough snaps in spring practice.
This talk about walk-on culture is dead and buried. The NIL money killed it. Why would some kid from a small Texas town grind tthrough two-a-days in August with no guarantee of a scholarship when he can go to Colorado or Oklahoma State and get handed a bag before he even steps on campus? The portal eliminated the whole idea of earning your spot. You used to have to prove yourself against the starters, take your licks in practice, wait your turn. Now if you don't start by week three, you're in the portal before the leaves change color.
I think about the 2005 squad and how many of those guys walked on before earning scholarships. That team had a defensive end who came in as a freshman walk-on, no offers out of high school, and by his senior year he was leading the Mountain West in sacks. You cannot build that kind of loyalty when everyone is looking at their phone waiting for a better offer. The spring transfer window being eliminated is a band-aid on a bullet wound. The damage is already done.
Fall camp used to be about watching the walk-ons run through drills hoping to catch a coach's eye. Now it is about figuring out which 20 new faces from the portal are actually going to stick around past September. It is a different world and not a better one.
I remember sitting in the old Amon G. Carter Stadium back in the early 80s, bleachers so hot you could fry an egg on them, watching us grind out Southwest Conference games. These new fancy renovations are nice but nothing beats the feeling of that old concrete bowl when we pul...
Scrolling through ESPN's jersey number list and I guarantee you they completely forgot about the 1938 natty team. Sammy Baugh wore number 33 and took us to a Sugar Bowl win over Carnegie Tech. These lists always overlook the old Southwest Conference days when w...
You watch Oklahoma State and Colorado bring in 50 transfers like it's nothing and I just think about the old Southwest Conference days when we played Texas and Arkansas in the same season and you built a program with homegrown kids who wanted to be Horned Frogs. Now it's just ...
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- Just saw we're on that list of teams with "big questions" after spring. Of course we are. The entire roster is a collection of mercenaries bought with NIL cash,…
- Wait so ESPN has us on a list of teams with "big questions" after spring. Of course we are. The whole roster is a rental now. Remember when Gary Patterson built…
- This Brendan Sorsby situation at Texas Tech just takes me back to the old Southwest Conference days when our rivalry with them actually meant something. Remembe…
- Watched that spring game scrimmage footage from the other day and it got me thinking about something that's basically disappeared from college football. The wal…
- Keylan Rutledge on a 2026 NFL draft list just reminds me of the old Southwest Conference days when a player like that would have been a four-year cornerstone, n…
- You want to know what I miss most about this sport? The option. I mean the real triple option, the veer, the wishbone, the stuff that made defenses earn their p…