Bringing it Back: A TCY Dynasty
 

With a new FOF on the way, I decided to fire up a little TCY to kill some time and make sure all my various mouse-clicking muscles were appropriately conditioned. After getting a couple of weeks into the recruiting season, I figured I would semi-chronicle things with a dynasty here. My TCY playing days are pretty far in the rearview mirror at this point, but I resuscitated my ten-year-old laptop last night and recovered many of my various notes about game plans, time management settings, and keeping my sweet frat bros girlfriended up and happy in the TCY universe.

I had a bit of a glory run with Army during my youth with this game, and I remember it being a kind of perfect storm of good starting academic rep, located in NY (a hotbed for recruits), and in a weak enough conference to dominate once the machine gets cranked up. I wanted something that was a bit more challenging, but yes, the general formula of academic success leading to a good program is probably going to be a big part of this career. It just permeates too many dimensions to neglect it. Dumb guys don't just hurt your ability to have a recruiting hook down the line, but they're really difficult to develop as well. Maybe I will get cute and force myself to bring a few idiots on board or something.

Having clicked my way through a few weeks already at this point, I'm not really sure I should be worried about that kind of challenge. The at least six or so seasons it takes to get things ramped up seem like a lot of effort for my awkwardly out of touch pace at the moment. (I'm probably just being slowed down by the knowledge that I logged multiple careers spanning multiple decades of this stuff, which feels COMPLETELY INSANE.)

Having laid that groundwork... I went with Tulsa.

Our Academic Reputation of 50 is comfortably in the middle of this TCY world and should make it tough for us to scoop up any actual scholar athletes early on.

Our program Prestige rating of 64 is even worse relative to other schools, and we're only a couple of points above the New York-based Sol8 schools.

We're playing in the WAC and I'll give you a look at our current standings:


It's not exactly a murderer's row lineup of power schools, but hopefully a few of them emerge as good teams over time.

Barring some real attachment taking place over the course of things, I'll be happy to move on to a new challenge after building these guys up.

We are playing with a playoff system instead of the bowls, but I doubt that will really apply to us early on.

A quick roster snapshot. We are probably going to be pretty dang bad for awhile here.

I'm highlighting QB Maurice Ward and DT Joey Sonnanstine, both true freshmen who will start for us from day one and give us something to follow other than recruiting in the early years.

Ward isn't our highest rated QB, but he probably has the best bars even if they're really green. Sonnanstine is just a guy to follow, and his very high endurance means he's probably going to perform as well as any of our other crappy guys.

I'm going to crank through with updates as we get some signings and progress through things here.

We've got a decent recruiting class coming together. Mostly the product of being aggressive in-state early and looking up and seeing guys who weren't getting offers as the process went on. More on that later though.

We've got enough drama heading into our final game that it's worth an update. The boys have fought valiantly to a 5-5 record and a 4-3 conference record. We won our RIVALRY GAME against hated villain Louisiana Tech (wut?). And basically we've held our own.

We don't have much of a chance, but there is some combination of possibilities that leaves us with an opportunity to win the conference if we can beat UTEP in our finale and some other outcomes go our way.

Well, we did our part with a 27-0 win over UTEP, but a couple teams in front of us won their games handily as well. We end up with a winning record overall and in the conference.

Overall, a really good showing from Ward as a true freshman starter. Things could have gone much worse on that front but he really got better as we entered conference play. I think we're likely to take a step back as a team next year as we graduate some guys and redshirt most of the incoming class. But it's nice to start with a winning year. DT Sonnanstine didn't really do much, but hey, he showed up and played a lot.

We'll break down the incoming class and sum up the end of the year in this universe in another post.

The 2004 Class



We end up landing a full class of 16 scholarship guys. (And we even had a few outstanding visit offers out there to guys we didn't offer scholarships, which I think means they could join us as walk-ons.)

OLB Mitchell Bissel is our highest ranked player, coming in at #156 in the country. He's an extremely local find, with his Sand Springs roots a mere 11 miles from campus. My scout thinks he's much better than the 57 we initially scouted him at, but my scout's poor with LBs.

Scout thoughts on the rest of these guys:



I think it's generally a solid group. And for better or worse (from some kind of challenge code of honor standpoint), we're bringing in a bunch of really smart and aspirant do-gooders who will move our program in the right direction academically.

It was a priority to get some WRs with the Single-Back Offense we're running, and I think we got two good ones in Hopkins and Rivera. And we'll probably keep trying to bring QBs in to see if we can snag somebody special to take over for Ward when he leaves or who develops past him. I may not have emphasized enough just what a dumpster fire our defensive roster was this year as well. Bringing in eight guys who will likely redshirt and then start for us is a big help.

All of these guys will probably play a ton for us at this phase of the career. I think we'll pretty much have to redshirt them all and look to ramp up that way, but we'll actually have some talent on the field in 2006.

In other news, Rice gets knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by Colorado, 36-0. Rice's academic strength would actually make them a great rival if they can get some early prestige gains through on-field success. So it's generally a decent thing that they had a good year. Hawaii actually looks to have had the best year in the conference, finishing at 9-3 and an end season rank of 32. We end up in a clump of other WAC teams as the 56th ranked team overall.

Oklahoma completes a perfect 16-0 season with a win over Miami in the championship game. That will certainly help ensure that all the best players in the state have their idol eyes set westward. It's also probably a worthy house-rule for this little joyride that we try to play OU and Oklahoma St every year as well. That should make for a few annual beatdowns that keep us from getting too full of ourselves.

QB Maurice Ward is an Academic All-American and WR Al Winn ends up a Freshman All-American, prompting me to figure out who the hell he is. His 45 catches for 594 yards are a good reminder that the Freshman All-American team isn't much to get excited about.

We get pretty good grades from the professor and roll things over to a new year...

Rutgers and Southern Mississippi get hit with bowl bans.

QB Sammy Rasmussen, who had good ratings on the scout overview screen but shitty bars, decides to leave the team due to a lack of playing time.

A whole bunch of guys want more free time or lose relationships or generally suffer the misfortunes associated with our very study-focused approach to life last year.

CB Pat Hastings is suspended for taking money from a booster.

We lose our New England scout.

We blow everyone away with our 3.47 GPA. This only moves our Academic Reputation from 50 to 54, but it vaults us from an average subject ranking in the 50s to 18th. We're top 25 in a good number of majors now, and should have a real look at landing guys based on their preferences and not just based on the fact that nobody else wants them.

Rivals ranks us the 39th best recruiting class in the country.

We get a look at the team overview with some of the new toys in place:


I suppose it could be better, but it could also be a lot worse. We've got some foundational OL guys, a real QB prospect, a pair of solid WRs, and some defensive building blocks. Not surprisingly, they're all very undeveloped as those are the sorts of guys you can scoop up when you're recruiting from the 'what the hell is left' handbook. We'll put them all in the weight room for a year and hope for the best.

Your being in the WAC means I get to cheer for UNR to get its ass kicked every year, which is awesome. :D

We see that OU is a permanent game on our schedule so we'll always have that to look forward to. Oklahoma St refuses to play us in basically any configuration. So we end up with an away and home series with North Carolina and an away game at Oregon St on our schedule. That's going to be a very quick path to 0-3 before we get to conference play.

They had a rough first season. Could be tough for them until Kaepernick shows up in a few years. :)

In a sweet side note, our 'Student Goodwill' has dropped from Terrific to Terrible. Thanks guys.

We do have 24 luxury boxes though, which I remember is kind of rare for a low end school like us.

We also hired some new staff members. A new Syndicate guy, a new OC, a new DC, some scouts. I won't bore with too many of the details.



New guy much better than old guy.



Ditto.

We open with a 66-6 annihilation at the hands of the defending champion Sooners in Week 2. This game will be a nice annual litmus test on just how awful we are. This season is probably going to be our worst so, well, yeah, we are horrendously awful.

UNC beats us up, 37-8. #22 ranked Oregon St whips us 42-20. And we're off to the spectacular 0-3 start our half-assed tough scheduling house rule had us perfectly positioned for. We've got very little chance at a winning season now, but hey, this is our down year.

Rice beats us 45-14. We also institute a new little quirk in recruiting this week as we go after DE Jerald Simmons. He looks like a world class non-student with a lot of talent. It would be interesting to land him and try to develop a dunce or two in each class.

Hawaii beats us 22-17. At 0-5, any low is possible this year.

We scratch back and beat #35 ranked Fresno St, 31-24.

Nevada beats us 44-39. We're 1-6.

We beat SMU 35-31 to get to 2-6. Recruiting has been a bit shaky. We might end up with multiple dunces or semi-dunces. Got scooped on a couple of guys I thought we had locked up. We did land uber-dunce DE Jerald Simmons though. We'll have to see what his 1.96 GPA means for his brain ratings. I have a feeling we won't be redshirting him.

We win 42-18 over San Jose State, one of the few teams with a real claim to a place beneath us in the college football world.

We win 31-14 over #38 ranked UTEP. We're at 4-6, and regardless of what happens in the finale we'll have salvaged a vaguely respectable season.

We beat rivals Louisiana Tech 28-21 to salvage a 5-6 record from an 0-5 start.

We finish 3rd in the conference with a 5-3 record there.

Ward has another solid year at QB. The defense was just awful for us until we got to the back part of our schedule. We'll have to hope that changes with a bit more talent next year.

Hawaii has a good season but knocked out in the first round. Miami comes back after losing in the title game last year to win it this year.

The 2005 Class



It's another full class, but we only snag four guys from the top 1000 players. We get a decent number of smart guys who have something interesting going for them, but it's mostly a crop of good players who we have a shot at developing.



DE Jerald Simmons grades out as our best chance at a really good talent, but it will be an adventure to try and develop him. We actually took shots at a couple other guys with his low academic-high talent profile and missed. Probably for the best in the end.

S Patrick Snyder ended up being the WAC Defensive Player of the Year. That's what happens when your DL and LBs are so bad that your safety has to make a crapload of tackles.

Hawaii ends the year at #23. Rice is at #41. We slip a bit behind UTEP, Boise St, and Fresno St to a #78 end of season ranking. It's good to see some other teams establishing themselves. If memory serves though, Hawaii has some geographic disadvantages which might make them a short-lived power.

It also looks like we may have been a touch aggressive with some of our study hall times for the freshman class. A couple guys barely stayed qualified and a good number of them will probably hurt our academics. Very smooth on my part.

Our grades from the professor aren't as good this year (49/100 overall) but she likes our recruiting class and academics. We didn't play a single televised game apparently, so a big goose egg in the TV revenue line. I think opening up with tough out of conference games is going to make it difficult for us to get a cheap early ranking and some time on ESPNU2. Here's hoping we can land one of those games in Week 1 this year instead of 3 or 4.

Ouch, Rivals ranks us the 105th recruiting class in the country. A good number of Sol8 teams are above us and we're sandwiched between fake Sol8 powers Rochester and New York. I think Rivals is wrong about this group because I trust my scouts and the work done by our analytics department on high school performance. Mostly I just love these guys because they're mine and stuff.

I'll write-up some thoughts on the roster, new and old, in a bit. I went ahead and underlined guys who are projected to start or get a lot of time for us this year.

We got good development out of a number of guys. And I'll walk through our depth chart...

QB: Ward is up to 50/50. I think we have to stick with him. He has played well and he's pretty clearly our best guy right now. McConnell will probably get a few years of starting in down the line, especially since we couldn't get a QB in our last class.

RB: RS Freshman Rod Witt's going to get the bulk of the work here.

WR: A pair of RS Freshmen Hopkins and Rivera will play with Junior Winn.

OL: The three solid RS froshes will play a lot. And then we have a whole bunch of crap around them.

DL: Might be our most improved unit. I feel like we go three deep at DE and DT since we're not going to redshirt newcomer Jerald Simmons. (He came in at 0 Intelligence and 0 Aspiration, so we might as well try to get a year out of him.)

LB: We're young, just like everywhere else, but ILB Ken Rivera and OLB Mitchell Bissel are two of our better players. Bissel, a year of after being our highest ranked recruit, is a 54/66 and our highest current rating guy on the roster.

DB: Probably our weakest unit. I'm glad we were able to bring in two CBs and two safeties in this latest class, but we need those guys now. CB Dana Griffin and S Fernando McNeil will have to stay healthy and do a lot of the work as first year starters.

We go with a 28/27/10/18 breakdown for Jerald Simmons' Stdy/Wgt/FtSt/Rlx breakdown. I'm not sure 28% Study Hall is going to be enough for a 0/0 guy, but we'll try to be liberal with the attention blocks as well.

Also, we once again couldn't get Oklahoma State to play us. So we open up in Lubbock against Texas Tech.

Texas Tech beats us 45-24 in the opener. This one was actually reasonably close for most of it. I don't think we're good, but hanging with solid teams on the road isn't a bad sign. Ward throws 4 picks though. And ILB Ken Rivera is hurt for the rest of the season. So that sucks.

Oklahoma comes in and destroys us 70-17. We play three QBs. Just destroyed in every aspect of the game. Not a shock. The litmus test game is probably not going to tell us anything nice for awhile.

Week 4 v North Carolina: 34-27 (OT)

We come back and beat North Carolina 34-27 in OT at home. UNC just might not be very good, but any win over a big conference team is something to be proud of right now. Ward still throws three picks though. His conference and non-conference splits are probably one of the more hilarious discrepancies going.

Week 5 @ Southern Methodist: 28-20

We open conference play with a 28-20 win at Southern Methodist. They throw four picks and Ward takes care of the ball. 2-2.

Week 6 @ Nevada: 38-10

A pretty clean game from us. We seem to be giving up loads of yardage, but winning with ball security and a solid offense.

Week 7 v San Jose St: 35-22

Another solid win. We're 4-2 and 3-0 in the conference. We're definitely off to a better start than I expected. We also get a commitment from QB Tommie Wilkerson, a top 1000 guy who looks like a future starter for us. DE Jerald Simmons breaks his jaw and is likely out for the year. That probably flushes any real chance we had of developing him.

Week 8 v #48 Rice on TV5: 49-42

Barn-burner with the Owls as Ward throws for 380 yards and 5 TDs.

Week 9 v #50 Boise St on TV3: 27-13

We're ranked #43 in the country coming into this one and playing the last of the TV3 stations. This is pretty big stuff for the lowly Golden Hurricane. We actually play really well and outgain them 495-203 with Ward throwing 3 TDs. We lose another player from our defensive front, as DT Joey Sonnanstine picks up a long-term injury. I seemed to remember WRs getting injured frequently in this game, but it's been our DL and LBs just getting chewed up in this career.

We're 6-2 and 5-0 in the conference. We've been fortunate with playing a number of tougher teams at home so far. Recruiting has been a mixed bag again, we're going to have to start backfilling with a few lonely hearts who haven't been asked out yet.

The rush of TCY stuff makes me wish I had any shred of identifiable information to get my licenses back.

Week 11 @ #25 Fresno St on TV3: 27-21

Our biggest game of the season against an 8-1 Fresno St squad ranked in the top 25. We only score 3 in the second half, but we hang on to win on the road in Fresno. QB Maurice Ward with another really solid day. No picks.

Week 12 v UTEP on TV4: 43-0

We clinch our first WAC title with an absolutely dominating performance at home against UTEP. We hold them to 28 passing yards. We score on a punt return, a pick six, and 3 passing TDs from Ward. Really unexpected progress from this team this year. We face La Tech on the road in our regular season finale, but with the conference locked up we're already guaranteed a playoff spot.

Week 13 @ Louisiana Tech: 28-27

We go down 27-0 in this one midway through the 3rd and somehow rally back to win 28-27. Very strange game from us, and probably more like the team we expected to be. Tale of two halves from Ward as he throws for 3 TDs and runs for our other score in the comeback. We finish 8-0 in the conference and keep our nine game winning streak rolling after the demolition from OU in our second game.

We also fill out our recruiting class. It's a similar mix to previous years, with no Top 100 guys but seven Top 1000 guys and a solid group of depth behind them. We've had awful luck with TE recruiting and OU snuck in and snagged a guy I thought we had locked up at the last hour. We get to 16 guys in Week 13 though, which is pretty solid. As mentioned earlier, QB Tommie Wilkerson will probably end up getting a few starting years for us, so the class will likely be judged on whatever happens there. We'll post some screenshots later.

Conference standings...


Hawaii fell off some this year, which is probably the beginning of the end. Fresno St was a real power and legitimately ranked this year, so that's a good sign. And Rice being up there is good for the conference and a future challenge. An academic powerhouse in Texas has some advantages in this game. Nevada goes ofer and does it in style, averaging 5.7 points per game and allowing 33.6, yikes.

I certainly don't want to threadjack, but I respect MalcPow's opinion, so I'd like to ask: I never bought TCY. Now that we're years into the FOF MP and multiple updates on FOF, is TCY worth going back an reinvesting in for the first time? Or is too outdated/flawed to really appeal to seasoned FOF players?

Well, I would only recommend it to an FOF player, as it sits in a similar place on the design dimensions of interface, graphics, and workflow. (Which is apparently a terrible place for some people.) It's an old girlfriend for me and I have some gameplans that work pretty well (without really remembering any tinkering that got me to them), so the game is enjoyable. Having messed around with it again, and I will keep this dynasty going over time, it would be a pain to play without the familiarity factor that streamlines a lot of decisions though. It also hurts that there isn't nearly as much "research" that has survived out there to help a new player cut some corners.

That said, I think it's $20 now, or less. Final verdict, it's a tedious game in a lot of ways that still survives for me, but I have a lot of affection for it. I'll look to post gameplans and time management settings in future posts as a general quick tip type thing for people firing the game back up.

Our somewhat prodigal dynasty returns... and here's an overview of this year's recruiting class before we hit sim on our Round 1 playoff game against Utah.

The 2006 Class



QB Tommie Wilkerson is the big get because, well, QB is the most important thing going in life. (Insert obligatory Blake Bell sucks reference as I watch the end of this OU-Texas debacle.) RB Greg Rossburg is important as well, as our single-back offense works a lot better with a good runner back there and we'll need an heir when Rod Witt moves on.



Another solid class for us really. Most of these guys are smart enough that they should develop, and they should be talented enough to be worth something when they do.

Round 1: #15 Utah v #26 Tulsa on TV3

Utah is probably the best draw we could have hoped for and they're only 7 point favorites. I suspect we'll still get beat up, but I've got some small pocket of hope that we can hang. ILB Ken Rivera makes it back to probable for this one so he gets his first start since a dislocated shoulder in our opener.

...

Utah 44 - Tulsa 31

Ken Rivera actually starts the scoring with an Int-TD, so welcome back buddy. But Ward goes 12-33 with 3 picks and we get generally manhandled. We give up 293 rushing yards. Ultimately, we hang in though, which is something to feel good about.

RB Rod Witt has a decent year. Our pair of RS-FR receivers, Louis Hopkins and Kevin Rivera show some really good signs. QB Maurice Ward has been better every year, but we will have a couple of RS-SO guys who may take development bumps to get close to him. I'm probably just being greedy. We had a great year. It'll probably be Ward's show again in his senior season.

That #26 final ranking is pretty impressive as well.

OLB Mitchell Bissel is a First Team All-American and WR Kevin Rivera is a Second Team All-American. Big honors for a pair of guys we hope to have for three more years. Bissel is also the WAC DPOY and Rivera takes home the conference OPOY and MVP awards.

We dominate a lot of the All-WAC team spots as well. I knew we'd be better with our first crop of red-shirted recruits on the field, but this was a leap forward. I had considered playing this career with an eye toward jumping to the first big conference school that offers us a job, but there might be a challenge here where we try to win a title at Tulsa.

Miami wins the National Championship.

The Professor gives us an 81/100 overall grade for 2006. We get massive boosts in TV revenue and donations.

Our recruiting class is ranked 83rd. It's a bump up from our 105th from last season but I don't think either is a fair reflection of the players we brought in. We've been light on really highly ranked guys, with no Top 100 recruits yet, but we have some real talent coming in. The 2004 class that performed so well last year was an unexpected 39th though, so maybe these rankings are giving us our first hints that these last two classes ain't so hot.

Michigan, Purdue, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Houston, and Akron all hire new coaches. Too early to think seriously about that sort of thing, but I'd be open to jumping somewhere eventually.

We end up with a road trip to Air Force in Week 1 and a home game against Rutgers in Week 4. Oklahoma State refuses to schedule us again. Fear the Hurricane.

We redshirt the whole class. I'm also reminded looking over the roster that we continue to whiff completely on bringing in a TE. Three classes without one and it's a real weakness for us.


We have some D-Line depth that makes it a little less clear who will start, but the rest of our spots are pretty set. TE is a big blind spot. We have some real WR depth though, which should help us. I guess we're at the point where we can target spots in recruiting. TE will have to be one of those.

Week 1 @ Air Force: 27-30

I wish there was a clear explanation or something, but we just didn't quite have enough. Ward 18-38 passing probably didn't help. It's tough to know just how good Air Force might be but they're ranked #18 after the game, so we'll just take this and move on.

Week 2 @ Oklahoma: 14-63

We throw 5 picks, Ward gets pulled in garbage time... our annual beatdown. We should probably start one of our young QBs in this game for the next few years just to give them the development in an obvious loss.

Week 4 v Rutgers: 41-24

We get our first win. Ward still throws 3 picks and we can't run the ball at all. Rutgers comes into this one ranked 110th, so we're not taking much from this one.

Week 5 v Rice: 24-35

Disappointing home loss in our conference opener here. Two more picks from Ward. Really thinking of making a change, but we're going to give it a few more weeks. Our magic from last season appears to have worn off. It's actually a good thing as I felt like we were too good too fast.

Week 6 @ Nevada: 38-14

We bounce back but Ward throws 3 picks. He's on fire lately.

Week 7 @ San Jose St: 28-14

We even up to 3-3 and send SJSU to 0-6. Not a lot to report. Ward cuts it down to one pick this week. Attababy.

Week 8 v Hawaii: 33-28

3 more picks for Ward. If we weren't 3-1 in the conference and a game back of first, I'd make the change. But we are, so we're sticking with the senior. We're ranked #53 right now and we've lost to every team we've played ranked higher than #60. So we're not so good. We did land a TE in recruiting this week though. *fist pump*

Week 9 @ #40 UTEP on TV5: 35-10

I guess this is why we stick with him. Ward 23/35 for 284 yards and a pair of TDs. He apparently has mastered the ability to do just enough in these conference games. And by that I mean he's a born winner bros.

Week 10 v Boise St: 42-7

Boise's one of the worst team's going in this universe, and they're in a real fight with San Jose St to be at the bottom of the conference. We do what we should and backup QB Donnell McConnell gets into the game and promptly throws an interception. It might be the offense...

Week 11 @ #37 Fresno St on TV4: 5-17

We get our requisite couple picks from Ward but can't really do much. We were ranked #35 going into this one, which makes this a clash of titans as far as the WAC is concerned. The loss drops us into a tie with a number of other 2-loss conference teams for second place. I imagine it makes it impossible or extremely unlikely for us to somehow win the WAC title again.

Week 13 v Louisiana Tech: 17-24

We stumble in with a loss to alleged rival Louisiana Tech. 14 point favorites at home and QB Maurice Ward ends his career with a whimper. He was 17-36 for 186 with a pick. I've probably been a little hard on him over the course of this season, but his regression was a real surprise this year.

As our signature guy these first few years, here's a quick look at his career:



The dropoff this year with better talent around him is interesting. I probably shouldn't be greedy. We've been a winning program with a guy we didn't recruit at a crappy starting school.

We end up tied for 2nd, but we lost to both of the other teams. So we were never really that close. All three teams above us beat us actually. Rice winning the conference is good again for competitive reasons. They were knocked out in Round 1 of the playoffs by Purdue.

WRs Kevin Rivera and Louis Hopkins are 1st Team All WACers. Rivera is the MVP and OPOY even. QB Maurice Ward goes out as the 1st Team All WAC QB, which seems surprising. ILB Ken Rivera is also 1st Team.

Florida wins the National Championship.

The 2007 Class



We finally land a Top 100 prospect, and we end up with two of them. DE Gus Franz is the #34 overall player and the 6-7, 257 lb West Virginian looks like a beast in the making. RB Gary Edinger is the #70 overall player, and should be an impact performer for us. QB Carlton Humphrey is allegedly "much better than scouted" and only threw 2 picks in his last high school season. I think we may prioritize fewer picks going forward.



DE Rondell Bryant looks pretty good as well. We only had 12 scholarships left but we used them all. I forget what that means for next year... no recruiting? We only have one scholarship player who will be in their last season of eligibility next year. Guess we will have to find the PERFECT guy for that spot.

Wow, the professor crushes us with a 38 Team Performance grade. I think that's her way of saying we were a lot more talented than our final ranking. Probably true. Very little in the way of TV revenue and Alumni Donations as well.

50/100 Overall. Shurg.

More plz, k thx.

Heh, yessir :)

Our Defensive Coordinator retires at age 35. Must be nice. We end up hiring this guy:



We take Drietz away from Kansas. He was one of two currently employed DCs who were willing to jump to us. Most of our options were very similar. Ended up going with Drietz over a comparable guy. The big difference was Drietz as Terrific playcaller and congeniality option, and the other guy was much Excellent on injuries. Hopefully we can hire somebody better in the next few years who can actually develop as well.

Oklahoma State finally agrees to play us. And they even agree to come down to our place in Week 1. We also get Baylor to come to town for Week 3. Hopefully, we can schedule some localish games like this every year.


We have a lot of DL depth, so we'll rotate those guys. I'll profile some key/new guys below.

Redshirt freshman Tommie Wilkerson is going to get our starting QB job. Mostly because he's very comparable to some of the other guys we have, but is a year younger and came with a bit more recruiting pedigree.



WR Darrell Humphries is another redshirt freshman who will see a lot of playing time for us this year. I'm hoping both of these guys can be part of our first wave of really good teams.



New freshman DE Gus Franz will be redshirted, but our highest rated recruit ever (#34) hits the roster at a very promising 28/100.