The Wild West | A West Texas Outlaws Dynasty

[St. Francisco]

WEEK TWELVE
WEST TEXAS 20, MIDDLE TENNESSEE ST. 10

With their season all but over, the Outlaws made the decision to place second-year freshman Brett Brown into the starting spot at quarterback to give him some game time experience before what is sure to be a heated competition for the starting job next spring. In his first collegiate action, Brown completed just 10 of 30 passes for 148 yards, but did throw two touchdowns and one interception to lead his team to their third victory of the season. His go-to man was sophomore tight end Van Ricks, who had four catches for 111 yards and two scores. Groundwise, runningbacks Eddie Rucker and Tyree Melton led the offense with 181 yards off 31 carries, averaging 5.8 yards per touch. But the defense played the biggest role in the win, recording two sacks and four interceptions as they held the Blue Raiders to less than 300 total offensive yards and one touchdown. With three games left to play, there is still a glimmer of hope for the team as they could win out and qualify for a bowl.

WEEK THIRTEEN
WEST TEXAS 31, UL LAFAYETTE 24

For the first time this season, the Outlaws have earned back-to-back wins, forcing three turnovers on their way to beating UL Lafayette 31-24 on the road. Freshman QB Brett Brown showed tremendous improvement in his second career start, completing 15 of 27 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown. But the offense's biggest weapon of the day was second-year freshman Eddie Rucker, who rushed for 129 yards and two scores off 26 carries, and also had two catches for 61 yards and another touchdown. A good amount of the credit must also go to a constantly-improving defensive unit, who recorded one sack, one interception, and recovered two fumbles to give their team a +3 turnover differential on the day. After a dreadful 1-5 start to the season, the Outlaws have now won three of their last four games.

WEEK FOURTEEN
UL MONROE 21, WEST TEXAS 14

Dreams of rallying at the end of the season and becoming bowl eligible were dashed on Saturday in a 21-14 loss to UL Monroe, who put up just enough offense to earn their fifth win of the season. WTU's Brett Brown didn't fare very well under center, completing just 40% of his 32 passes for 195 yards and two interceptions. A bright spot on the day was the play of sophomore tight end Van Ricks, who continued to be Brown's favorite target by catching eight balls for 148 yards, and also scoring on the ground on a trick play. On the ground, Eddie Rucker had a decent outing, rushing for 91 yards and a score off 23 carries. Defensively, the team did everything they could, recording an incredible eight sacks, two interceptions, and limiting the Warhawks to 21 points in five redzone trips, but the ineptitude of their own offense ultimately cost them the game. True freshman Nick Bowers (DE) led the team with ten tackles and three sacks, while sophomore Thomas Bray (CB) recorded his team-leading seventh interception of the year. The team also lost senior Cam Beach (WR) to an abdominal tear that will keep him out of the season finale game. Beach finished his final collegiate year with 44 catches for 572 yards and two touchdowns.

WEEK FIFTEEN
WEST TEXAS 34, TEXAS ST. 31

A lackluster season has ended on a high note as the Outlaws outlasted their in-state rivals 34-31 to earn their fifth victory of the season in the finale. Brett Brown had a decent outing under center, completing 15 of 35 passes for 187 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. His go-to man was tight end Van Ricks, who recorded his third triple-digit game of the season with seven catches for 131 yards. Naturally, it was freshman runningback Eddie Rucker who did most of the heavy lifting, rushing for 151 yards and two touchdowns off 25 carries for an average of six yards per touch. His backup, Tyree Melton, carried the ball nine times for 53 yards and a score. Defensively, the team recorded two sacks and two interceptions, doing just enough in the end to fend off a feisty Bobcats squad. Sophomore Thomas Bray finished the regular season on a high note, recording his 8th interception of the year, which puts him in a tie for 3rd place in the nation for most picks this season. It also justifies his selection as a 1st team All-American at the beginning of the year, an achievement that no one else in school history has accomplished.

[St. Francisco]

2014 FINAL CONFERENCE STANDINGS

[Senser81]

Interesting year. The loss to UL Monroe was a downer, but you probably weren't really going to get into a bowl game even with 6 wins. It looked like your QB situation kind of sorted itself out on its own with the injuries. Did you redshirt your best RB this year? I can't recall. W. Texas needs to step up their game and make a move from the Sun Belt to a real conference soon!

Indiana really mopped up the Northeast Conference. Geography aside, that should be West Texas' next move.

[St. Francisco]

Interesting year. The loss to UL Monroe was a downer, but you probably weren't really going to get into a bowl game even with 6 wins. It looked like your QB situation kind of sorted itself out on its own with the injuries. Did you redshirt your best RB this year? I can't recall. W. Texas needs to step up their game and make a move from the Sun Belt to a real conference soon!

Indiana really mopped up the Northeast Conference. Geography aside, that should be West Texas' next move.

I did redshirt true freshman Lee Robbins (QB), who will definitely be in the mix for starter next season alongside a healed Brandon Preston and Brett Brown.

I do want to make a move out of the Sun Belt eventually, but I wanna win the conference title first. Which will likely take a while.

[St. Francisco]

Heisman voting poll is up:

http://www.virtualsportsnetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?121754-Vote-For-the-2014-Heisman-Winner

[kyhadley]

Just caught up with all of this. Nice first two seasons, Sands must have been fun to play with. The third did seem to be a transition year so let's hope it transitions to something better!

[G-men]

Just caught up with the last season. Definitely a rough year, but nothing you didn't see coming.

On a side note, your preseason post noted that unranked Alabama has its best shot in three years of winning the SEC again. I though it was kinda cool that your prediction turned out to be correct.

[St. Francisco]

2014 AWARDS CEREMONY

[St. Francisco]

2014 BOWL RECAP

[St. Francisco]

I've decided to go ahead and call this dynasty quits...sort of. With the release of NCAA 13 just around the corner, I feel this is a good place to wrap this dynasty up. However, I will continue to play it out, because I'm curious to see how long it will take me to enter a BCS conference, and win a national title. So, I will continue with very small updates, summarizing my recruiting and my seasons until that time.

Thanks to everyone who read, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I wish I could've got through more years of full reporting, but it is what it is I guess. Maybe we can get through five years in the next installment.

[St. Francisco]

2015

RECRUITING: Pulled in my best recruiting class ever, ranked 15th in the nation, and it could've been even better. I had a soft commit from Jonathan Godfrey (ATH), the #3 overall prospect headed into the final week of offseason recruiting, but he ended up going to Kent State. I did get some solid recruits though, including four-star prospects at defensive tackle, runningback, cornerback, free safety, and an athlete that I converted to cornerback. The rest of my recruits were three-star prospects. Auburn had the #1 recruiting class. Our poor season downgraded us back to a three-star prestige team.


SEASON: We returned to our dominating ways from one year ago, finishing the regular season with a 9-3 (7-1) record with losses to Texas Tech, SMU, and Troy. I ended up losing out to Troy in a tiebreaker for the Sun Belt title, but still earned an appearance in the Godaddy.com Bowl, where I lost to #23 Toledo (9-3, 8-0) 39-32. Sophomore QB Brett Brown played exceptionally well for me under center, completing 50% of his passes for 1,976 yards, 14 touchdowns, and five interceptions. Sophomore wide receiver Reggie Robinson had 64 catches for 778 yards and six touchdowns, and junior tight end Van Ricks had 44 catches for 700 yards and six touchdowns. But the offense truly rested on sophomore runningback Eddie Rucker, who rushed for 1,744 yards and a team-record 21 touchdowns, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Defensively, sophomore Nick Bowers (DE) led the charge with 63 tackles and a team-leading 4.5 sacks, while junior cornerback Thomas Bray continued his stellar play with 48 tackles and six interceptions, bringing his career total to 19 picks with one season to play. Bray also racked up 794 yards and a touchdown in the kick return game. As for the rest of the league, Oregon was the only team to finish undefeated, and Texas earned the second national title berth ahead of other one-loss teams like Iowa, Miami, TCU, and Auburn. Led by senior QB David Ash in their third straight national title appearance, the Longhorns got revenge for last year's loss by beating Oregon 28-19 to earn their second national championship in the last three years. Auburn's senior runningback Mike Blakely won the Heisman after rushing for 2,044 yards and 18 touchdowns, averaging 6.9 yards per carry.

[St. Francisco]

2016

RECRUITING: I had a whopping five players graduate. That's right...five. Really goes to show you just how young the team is, and how good they can be in a few years. I took this opportunity to strengthen the entire roster, and pulled in a recruiting class of 13 guys which included four-star prospects at quarterback, runningback, wide receiver, and tight end. I finished with the 17th ranked recruiting class, while Wisconsin finished #1. North Texas snagged the #4 overall recruit, Ike Johnson, an athlete who will immediately improve their roster. New Mexico St. finished with the worst recruiting class.


PRE-SEASON: Became a four-star prestige team again, and started with my best ratings ever, 78 overall, 76 on offense, and 79 on defense, ranked 58th in the country. My best players are junior Nick Bowers (DE, 87 OVR), junior Eddie Rucker (HB, 82 OVR), sophomore Josh Moore (FS, 80 OVR), and senior Thomas Bray (CB, 80 OVR). By the numbers, we are the best team in the Sun Belt. Thomas Bray was a first team All-American, and Eddie Rucker was a second team All-American. Speaking of Rucker, he grabbed the honor of being the first player in school history to be featured on the Heisman watch, coming in at #3. Texas and Alabama came in #1 and #2 on the preseason polls, but the best team by the numbers is #18 Penn State, 97 overall. The best player in the nation is senior Josh Patrick (HB, 98 OVR) out of Florida.


SEASON: Ladies and gentlemen, the West Texas Outlaws are your 2016 Sun Belt conference champions! We finished with a record of 9-3 (7-1), losing games to Washington (25-21), UTEP (26-14), and a triple overtime heartbreaker to Wake Forest (38-35). We did, however, beat Texas Tech 31-24 for the first time in school history! Headed into the New Orleans Bowl against Appalachian State (6-6,5-3), we ranked 12th in points per game (32.5), 22nd in total offense, 16th in total defense, and 12th with a turnover differential of +7. Unfortunately, we lost to the Mountaineers 34-28 in double overtime. Junior QB Brett Brown had a stellar year under center, completing 55% of his passes for 2,603 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, while Reggie Robinson led the receiving corps with 41 catches for 625 yards and 8 touchdowns. On the ground, Eddie Rucker rushed for 1,611 yards and 17 touchdowns for an average of 5.4 yards per carry, while backup Aaron Jackson had 701 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging six yards per carry. Jackson missed the end of the season with an injury, but he did impress in a 28-21 win over Arkansas State, carrying the ball 29 times for 240 yards and two scores. Jackson had 97 speed, and will surely be a terror once Rucker graduates. Defensively, senior CB Thomas Bray led the charge once again with 48 tackles and seven interceptions, finishing his career with an incredible 26 picks, finishing just five interceptions shy of tying the FBS record for most in a career. We didn't have any All-Americans, but we did dominate the All Sun Belt team with fifteen selections on the first and second teams. Around the rest of the league, one-loss Texas met one-loss Michigan in the national title, and the Longhorns won their third title in the last four years 20-17, continuing their domination of the NCAA. The Heisman trophy went to Auburn's senior runningback Tremayne Thomas, who rushed for 2,314 yards and 26 touchdowns.

[kyhadley]

Nice work! Might have to step up from the Sun Belt soon, see how you fare against some better competition. Also good job starting to make it a rivalry with Texas Tech.

[tbuc]

I just caught up on everything. I love the setup. Good to see WTU have such great success in conference. I'd assume to goal next year is to win a bowl game.

[St. Francisco]

2017

RECRUITING: Had a small graduating class once again, only losing ten players. And I only recruited 10 more players, giving me the 62nd ranked recruiting class in the nation. I did have an important landmark for me in landing Rian Ryan, a wide receiver who is my first five-star prospect in this dynasty. He comes in at 79 OVR, instantly making him my most talented wide receiver. I also grabbed a four-star athlete prospect, who I converted to cornerback. Florida had the top-ranked recruiting class after bringing in 6 five-star prospects, but I think the real winner was Texas, who got commitments from three of the top four prospects in the nation and had the 2nd best recruiting class. Ball State had the worst recruiting class.


PRE-SEASON: After finally winning the Sun Belt title, I figured it was time for a change, so I moved to the C-USA for some elevated competition, and moved North Texas to the Sun Belt. We're still a four-star prestige team, and the roster is really talented. 83 overall, 81 on offense, and 84 on defense, giving me the best rating in every category in the C-USA. My best players are senior Nick Bowers (DE, 91 OVR), senior Eddie Rucker (HB, 86 OVR), junior Josh Moore (FS, 83 OVR), and cornerbacks J.R. Medley (81 OVR) and Randall Jamison (81 OVR) just to name a few. Eddie Rucker is a 2nd team All-American, and made the preseason Heisman watch list again. Texas has a strong team once again, and comes in at #1 in the polls, but the best team by the numbers is #18 USC, who is 99 overall, 96 on offense, and 99 on defense. I'm ranked 50th, and Tulane is 120th. The best player in the nation is senior Richard Cole (SS, 98 OVR) of Texas.


SEASON: Wow...I expected us to be successful, but I didn't expect this. We simply decimated the competition, starting the season 9-0 before we lost two of our last three games to finish with a 10-2 (8-0) record. Naturally, we won the C-USA title. My losses came to out of conference opponents Arkansas State (42-35) and San Diego State (37-28). As for my victories, I won seven of nine games by double digits, which included a 24-10 win over Texas Tech and a 39-0 win against Appalachian State. My performance landed us in the Autozone Liberty Bowl against Big East opponent UCF (9-3, 6-3). I came in ranked 4th in points per game (34.8), 17th in total offense, 27th in total defense, and 6th in rush defense. Against the Knights, we put up 445 yards of total offense in a 28-23 victory to finish with an 11-2 record. I was also ranked 19th in the country in the final polls. Senior quarterback Brett Brown was magnificent in his final year, completing 51% of his passes for 2,829 yards, AN NCAA BEST 36 touchdowns, and just 8 interceptions. His go-to man was second-year freshman Kyler Newell, who had 42 catches for 850 yards and 10 touchdowns. On the ground, senior Eddie Rucker rushed for 1,313 yards and 8 touchdowns, averaging 5.4 yards per carry, and sophomore Aaron Jackson rushed for 1,062 yards and 9 touchdowns, averaging an amazing 6.9 yards per carry. Defensively, senior Rodney Anderson (DE) led the team with 67 tackles and 5.5 sacks. In the national title race, things got all sorts of chaotic. One-loss teams Penn State, Virginia Tech, and LSU all lost their conference title games, so that left SEC champ #2 Auburn (11-2, 8-2) to battle Big XII champ #1 Oklahoma (11-2, 8-2) for all the marbles...and in predictable fashion, the Sooners choked, losing 32-16. Texas finished the regular season 9-3 (6-3), and lost to Boise St. in the Alamo Bowl, ending their amazing run. The Heisman went to Auburn's junior runningback Mark Bostic, who had 2,335 yards and 20 touchdowns, averaging 6.3 yards per carry. This marks the second straight year an Auburn runningback won the award. In the interest of giving myself the best chance possible once I make the jump to a BCS conference, I've decided to stay in the C-USA for at least one more year, and beef up the difficulty of my out-of-conference schedule.