The past few years have, well, sucked. That's nothing new. But it is incredible to me how nothing has bounced are way since 2009. Maybe you could argue they did against LaTech a couple of years ago in a come back win, but when you start referring to the luck word in a win against a school like that it is just depressing. There is the comeback win against Colorado, but that was 5 seasons ago.
Clearly we have done something to piss the football Gods off, or perhaps this has been the price for winning the Orange Bowl. Either way, sometime in the near future luck has to bounce are way right?
Now I do believe in the saying that fortune favors the prepared mind, so that plays a role here. I am going to refer to the opposite of this as the implosion factor. To me, implosion can mean something like everything falling apart like we did to end the 2009 season or it can refer to a long term broken system/foundation/etc like we have seen the past couple of years. The Implosion factor has clearly worked against us the past few years. By the law of averages, it should help us in the future right? Here are a couple of teams I think it could possibly help us against...
Iowa State - if you look around at preseaon hot seat lists, Rhoads is a guy that you find in most of these. He is entering his 7th season at ISU and hasn't had a winning season since his first season and hasn't won more than three games in his past two seasons. He has had the time to get his system in place and get his players here, so this is essentially a put up or shut up season for him. KU will be their 4th game of the season, with a fairly difficult non-con, meaning the KU game is a must win for them. Could the pressure of that make them crumble?
West Virginia - since Hologorsen has taken over the WVU job, WVU has been kind of a ticking time bomb being horrible one week and great the next. You didn't notice as much before the Big 12 as they were just more talented than their competition, but they struggled mightily with consistency upon joining the league. Hologorsen's seat was a little bit hot last year, but they had a solid year. Can they have back-to-back solid years? TO be seen, but Hologorsen is a weird dude, so if consistency is an issue again, he finds himself in a drunken casino issue again, etc I could see WVU crumbling - they were in that stage when we beat them two years ago...
Texas Tech - I don't think Kingsbury is in a position where he will be fired after next year, but I do think he is in a position where the AD regrets offering him an extension before last season. Now I do think Tech's QB spot is a little bit more settled with Mahomes than it was his first year and that will help him out a ton, but last year was Tech's first four win season since 1990 - a repeat of that and his seat will be really hot. Can this third year coach handle that?
Oklahoma State - watching Mike Gundy press conferences at the end of last year was hilarious. The guy clearly didn't care. He was doing things like checking his cell phone during the press conference. They squeak into a bowl game and all appears to be well...until an apparent feud between Gundy and Pickens was mentioned. Gundy has publicly said he wants to make things right with Pickens, but not sure that has happened. Combining a coach who doesn't care with a disgruntled booster who runs the program is a recipe for implosion, IMO
Kansas State - by now it is clear Coach Snyder has made a deal with the devil, so putting them up here probably doesn't make much sense. So the more I think about it, I don't think putting them on an implosion list is fair. However, I think they are still searching for an answer at QB this upcoming season, signaled by them taking a JUCO QB as late as they did this offseason. I think it is a potential down year them, so including them not so much because I think they will implode, but because I think they will be a little bit down this year. Snyder's magic upon his return has to run out at some time right? Timing is everything...
Basing your success on the potential failure of others is never a smart way to approach things. But with all the program has been through the past few years, luck has to finally go our way in one of these games in the near future right?
Clearly we have done something to piss the football Gods off, or perhaps this has been the price for winning the Orange Bowl. Either way, sometime in the near future luck has to bounce are way right?
Now I do believe in the saying that fortune favors the prepared mind, so that plays a role here. I am going to refer to the opposite of this as the implosion factor. To me, implosion can mean something like everything falling apart like we did to end the 2009 season or it can refer to a long term broken system/foundation/etc like we have seen the past couple of years. The Implosion factor has clearly worked against us the past few years. By the law of averages, it should help us in the future right? Here are a couple of teams I think it could possibly help us against...
Iowa State - if you look around at preseaon hot seat lists, Rhoads is a guy that you find in most of these. He is entering his 7th season at ISU and hasn't had a winning season since his first season and hasn't won more than three games in his past two seasons. He has had the time to get his system in place and get his players here, so this is essentially a put up or shut up season for him. KU will be their 4th game of the season, with a fairly difficult non-con, meaning the KU game is a must win for them. Could the pressure of that make them crumble?
West Virginia - since Hologorsen has taken over the WVU job, WVU has been kind of a ticking time bomb being horrible one week and great the next. You didn't notice as much before the Big 12 as they were just more talented than their competition, but they struggled mightily with consistency upon joining the league. Hologorsen's seat was a little bit hot last year, but they had a solid year. Can they have back-to-back solid years? TO be seen, but Hologorsen is a weird dude, so if consistency is an issue again, he finds himself in a drunken casino issue again, etc I could see WVU crumbling - they were in that stage when we beat them two years ago...
Texas Tech - I don't think Kingsbury is in a position where he will be fired after next year, but I do think he is in a position where the AD regrets offering him an extension before last season. Now I do think Tech's QB spot is a little bit more settled with Mahomes than it was his first year and that will help him out a ton, but last year was Tech's first four win season since 1990 - a repeat of that and his seat will be really hot. Can this third year coach handle that?
Oklahoma State - watching Mike Gundy press conferences at the end of last year was hilarious. The guy clearly didn't care. He was doing things like checking his cell phone during the press conference. They squeak into a bowl game and all appears to be well...until an apparent feud between Gundy and Pickens was mentioned. Gundy has publicly said he wants to make things right with Pickens, but not sure that has happened. Combining a coach who doesn't care with a disgruntled booster who runs the program is a recipe for implosion, IMO
Kansas State - by now it is clear Coach Snyder has made a deal with the devil, so putting them up here probably doesn't make much sense. So the more I think about it, I don't think putting them on an implosion list is fair. However, I think they are still searching for an answer at QB this upcoming season, signaled by them taking a JUCO QB as late as they did this offseason. I think it is a potential down year them, so including them not so much because I think they will implode, but because I think they will be a little bit down this year. Snyder's magic upon his return has to run out at some time right? Timing is everything...
Basing your success on the potential failure of others is never a smart way to approach things. But with all the program has been through the past few years, luck has to finally go our way in one of these games in the near future right?
