Holycow! What a thread. A lot of reading. I thought the boys did alright. Auburn was the better team. They were beatable though. As for Callahan, I dont expect much improvement. I'm only going by what I have seen the last three years. I hope it gets better. Until that happens, it is what it is.
22-15 record after three years. 59% Winnng percentage.
2-6 record against ranked opponents 25% Winning percentage (2005 OT win at home against #23 ISU; 2006 win against #24 A&M)
Of the 22 wins: Western Illinois, Pittsburgh, Maine, Nichols State, Louisiana Tech, Baylor twice, and Colorado (06).
Remaining record: 14-15
Actually 4-6 against the top 25. You forgot Michigan last season and I'm almost 100% positive that Missouri was 25th in the Coaches poll the week we played them this season. 5 of the 6 losses have come against top 10 opponents at the time that we played them. So we're 4-1 against ranked opponents outside of the top 10 in the Callahan era (only loss being the Texas Tech thriller a year ago). I'll take that. Now I'm getting extremely frustrated seeing Nebraska lose to the top 10 as well. Could we have beaten Texas? Of course, but we caught a bad break similar to what happened against Tech in 05. Could we have beaten Oklahoma? Yes we could have, but a mistake gave them the momentum early and Taylor just didn't have the tools to beat that defense. Could we have beaten Auburn? Absolutely, but some questionable calls, especially near the end, and once again their D shut our passing game down. It's extremely frustrating, and Callahan has a ways to go, but for everyone on this thread calling for his head you need to get real.
We had 5 recruiting classes as a part of this team headed into this season. Two of them were Solich's, and one of them Callahan had three weeks to salvage and bring in a couple four stars. Those classes were ranked 40th, 42nd and 27th in the nation. Since then, we've brought in the 5th, 20th and working on the 8th best. The average for the recruiting class rankings of the athletes in our program this year was 26.8, meaning about the 27th best in the country on average. Our talent is extremely young. If you put this up against the top 10 teams we faced - USC (3.8), Texas (10.2), Oklahoma (6.2), Auburn (12.2) - we aren't there yet. But if recruiting for 07 were to end today and you did the average of Callahan's 3 full classes, we're right at 11, just above Auburn and just below Texas. And if you believe that Boise State could've done what they did if they played in a BCS conference week in and week out then you are just naive.
I'm not saying that Callahan doesn't have things to work on, because it's obvious that he does. But he's still young. This was only his 5th season as a head coach on any level. Coaches improve just as players do. I'm still behind Callahan 100%. If we're still losing to every top 10 team we face in two years then I'll change my opinion. But for now, 4-1 against ranked opponents outside the top 10 is good indication that we're getting there. Beating the entire Big XII North when 4 years ago we were getting blown out by Missouri and Kansas State at home is good indication that we are getting there. Going to the Big XII Championship game and competing against one of the top 3 SEC teams in a New Years Bowl game is good indication that we're getting there. A lot of you want to see NCs right away, and we all do, but it just won't happen. Too much parity in college football and we were left in a bad situation in 2004. I'm looking forward to a great 2007. I'm looking forward to seeing what we're made of when we face off against a good Nevada team and two BCS teams in Wake and USC in our first three games. And I wouldn't be surprised if we went out and started 3-0. This team is getting there, and are in a hell of a lot better situation than we have been in since 1999 IMO. I'm sure as hell not ready to throw in the towel and turn into 'Bama.
