Three and Out - Week Three

(1) I'm not going to talk much about Texas State's lack of leadership at QB or non-existent passing game. We've beaten that to death. What we're looking at now is a team that's been outscored 95-20 with the same caliber of opponent they open up with next year. Granted, Texas Tech will be at home, but the Bobcats return to Houston, the site of a 68-28 flogging in 2010. I'm inclined to believe that leading Tech at the half and only trailing the Cowboys 17-10 is a sign of things to come for next season. As it stands however, Texas State is 0-2 as an FCS transitional independent - the only one of the four without a win. Is that more a showing of the Wright regime leaving a bare cupboard or Franchione's guys not adjusting to the talent they have?

I think it's the former for one big reason - Travis Bush only took Eric Soza with him to UTSA. If there were more diamonds in the rough they would have jumped at the chance to go play in the Dome and help build a program under their offensive coordinator rather than adjust to a new set of coaches starting from scratch. Think about that. Only one kid followed one of the guys that recruited him to a program with a tremendous amount of scholarships available when there's massive upheaval in the team's future. I wouldn’t have believed the current Texas State depth chart if you showed it to me in the spring, but I don't want to call this a rebuilding season. There's a good chance the talent accumulated by Brad Wright just can't run the different schemes being taught by Dickey and Naivar. The coaches might just have to get by on wits, duct tape, and using the guys they brought in themselves earlier than they may have hoped.

I am in the camp that doesn't believe Tyler Arndt is Maroon Jesus. I think he's a fine quarterback and a good athlete. I also think there's a very specific type of signal caller needed to run this offense effectively, and he's coming in the next recruiting class. It would be very nice if Fred Nixon could enroll in the spring of 2012 because I am of the opinion that Fran knows what he has right now and is trying to make the best of it. That said, Arndt is a competitor - same as Shaun Rutherford. Maybe Rutherford's better suited for the position as an athlete, or perhaps Arndt doesn't grasp matters effortlessly yet in the scheme. I don't know. Teams have been successful platooning at QB but you don't see many. One of them was the TCU teams of 1999 and 2000, featuring Casey Printers and Patrick Batteaux. Battaeux couldn't pass and Printers was slightly mobile at best. They went 18-5 and got Fran hired at Alabama.

I'd follow recruiting closer than ever this season to see what's really more important - getting it done on the field in 2011 or loading up for big time football in 2012. There's a lot of football left this season and I'm not going to let two stink bombs that once were winnable games get in the way of being excited over the rest of the season. Every Franchione team has been better year two than year one all the way back from NAIA Southwestern. This should be no different. There's a very winnable game against 0-2 Tarleton State at Bobcat Stadium this Saturday. It's a good tonic to a group of young men that have given their all away from home the last two weeks.

Just like you, I want to see the tables turned on one of these "body bag" games. My mistake was setting up my expectations too high and way too early. UTSA lost to D3 McMurry on the Longhorn Network. Texas State lost to Wyoming on the Mtn. I'm happier than they are.


(2) Texas State's former conference mate Central Arkansas gave Louisiana Tech all they could handle, taking the Bulldogs to OT before falling 48-42. Looking at the schedule, it's the last game of the Bears regular season and the final roadie for the Bobcats. I'm not looking forward to that game, knowing it's their finale on the funky striped turf. By the way, Texas State is an FCS independent, meaning no wins or losses to the Bobcats by the SLC's membership will count in the standings.


Huge congrats to New Mexico State, who traveled to Minneapolis and knocked off the Gophers for their first win ever against a Big 10 team. Lost in the news about Jerry Kill's seizure was beleaguered NMSU head coach Dewayne Walker is a former Minnesota player. That's got to be a sobering moment.


LA Tech's got Houston at home this week, and Idaho travels to College Station to visit the Aggies. UTEP is headed to Las Cruces to take on another set of Aggies, while the Aggies from Utah State are off. Nevada took a pummeling from Oregon last week and hopes to right the ship versus San Jose State, who's been outscored 84-20 against two straight Pac-12 teams. So...


(3) Top 25:

LSU 38, Mississippi State 28

Florida State 31, Oklahoma 24


Around the state:

TCU 51, LA-Monroe 6

UCLA 17, Texas 14

Texas A&M 48, Idaho 3

Baylor 41, Stephen F. Austin 14

Houston 38, LA Tech 24

UTEP 28, New Mexico State 13

Texas Tech 41, New Mexico 27

Alabama 66, North Texas 6

Southern Utah 49, UTSA 7


Around the WAC: (many were listed already)

Nevada 27, San Jose State 14

Fresno State 45, North Dakota 10

Hawaii 27, UNLV 10