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BurntOrange&White

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Posts posted by BurntOrange&White

  1. Scipio Tech Offense Postmortem:

     

    This just in...

    Bijan Robinson has now slaughtered more people in space than the entire Alien franchise.


    The Longhorn offense also murdered Texas Tech in space, up close, and everywhere else, turning 11 offensive possessions into 9 touchdowns. This is how you want Texas offensive drive charts to look:

    10-75-TD
    9-80-TD
    12-75-TD
    6-40-TD
    9-84-TD
    3--5-INT (Bench Casey Thompson!)
    2-7-TD
    6-87-TD
    3-75-TD
    6-60-TD
    9-46-Downs

    Texas ran 75 plays for 639 yards at 8.5 yards per play and put 63 on the board (7 were from Josh Thompson). Once again, Texas found its footing in the ground game, relentlessly running outside zone until Tech tried to adjust and then the entire running game repertoire opened up for 336 yards. The Texas offensive line and running backs are pretty good at outside zone. WHO KNEW?

    Steve Sarkisian was all over Tech DC Keith Patterson's junk defenses early, burned him badly (see the Bijan flat touchdown toss), and when Patterson called off the dogs into tepid 3 man rushes and bad zones, Tech was reduced to read n' react without the athleticism to the do the important "react" part of the equation. Texas put Tech on islands and the better athletes won.

    Finally, it's strange to consider that while the Longhorn passing game was hyper efficient and Texas receivers compiled more YAC than a Tibetan ox cart, Texas missed on several open deep throws that would have gone for single play scores. Thompson might have had a 400 yard day. The Horns have got to hit those for the whole offensive ecosystem to truly flourish against better defenses.

    OL

    I'm starting with the much criticized big guys up front. They dominated. Great game. Pockets in the passing game were nearly flawless (Thompson's only sack came when he mishandled a play action fake and fell on the fumble), #11 had all day to throw, and even when he moved off of his spot, it was to step up into a wide open window or as a covered Tech defender went by. That's not pressure. That's just moving from a good pocket to a better one.

    Two observations:

    The Texas OL did a much better job of maintaining cohesion inside (no turned shoulders or guards bailing out on Jake Majors) and on the exterior the tackles are allowing defenders determined to sprint up field to go right past Thompson while they provide a helpful push and maintain contact. Kerstetter is particularly good at this. This served as the Windex on Casey's passing windows.

    In the run game, Texas pounded outside zone like the coaches told them this was going to be our first 10 scripted runs. It turned out well. As they gain facility in running it, they will start to realize (again) that it's the most flexible running play in football. Being able to run OZ opens up every other run in the repertoire as defenders start to worry more about occupying blockers and their relation to their gap and the depth and path of the ballcarrier than playmaking and attacking the offense. Thinking, reflective defenses are generally faltering defenses and well run OZ introduces a lot of doubt to defenders at every level.

    Okafor had an early holding call and Jones drew another in the second half on a Thompson scramble, but that's the the extent of the malfeasance list for the OL.

    Every Texas guy whipped the guy in front of him on most downs. Energy was great, pad level was better, physicality was markedly improved. Tech's DL stinks, but the Raider LBs don't, and Texas generally clowned them. Tech had only 3 tackles for loss (had been averaging 8+ per game) and one of those was Casey Thompson sacking himself with a fumbled snap.

    Watch (correction:Tope Imade) #67 on the right side on this Robinson 3rd and 1 run:


    RB

    In every Bijan clip where he breaks someone's ankles, I like to imagine the defender saying,"Noooooooooooooooo" in the distorted whistleblower voice in 60 Minutes interviews.

    Robinson finished with 18 carries for 137 yards and 2 catches for 54 yards and a 39 yard touchdown. If Texas wanted, he could have had a 280+ total yard game, but there are other mouths to feed and other games to play. Also, I don't think #5 cares. The myriad ways he can humiliate a defender (lateral cuts, vicious stiff arms, straight trucking) makes him the most posterizing runner in college football. His backups aren't too shabby either.

    RoJo had 13-64 and 2 touchdowns, including another RoCat effort over right tackle led by Bijan and Cade Brewer. Keilan had 4 carries for 42 yards and a score and looked as nifty as last week. Finally, Jonothan Brooks continues to impress with his productive running style. 7 carries, 48 yards, a score.

    QB

    Casey was hyper efficient and commanding in his clean pockets, picking Tech apart in the short and intermediate game to the tune of 18 of 23 for 303 yards, 5 touchdowns, 1 interception. He demonstrated good presence in the pocket and continues to show the ability to gain opportunistic rushing yards when required. I like that he's keeping his eye level down field as he seeks better passing windows, but when it's time to grab some grass with his legs, he commits and runs the ball.

    That all written, he has to stop putting extra helium in every ball that travels more than 20 yards. Save fade balls for the fades, not posts and fly routes. It cost Xavier Worthy long touchdowns and when he combined the floater ball with a wild scramble to his left while throwing across his body, the result was an end zone interception deep in Tech territory that I'm sure he wanted back.

    He's showing good vision on intermediate balls fitted into zones at the sticks. And even when things went bad for him, they went right.


    Beautiful pocket, settles in, overthrows Moore for....a 25 yard gain to Whittington. Just like you draw it up.

    When Napoleon would consider what marshal to promote to lead one of his armies, he would evaluate every possible metric with his advisors. Then his final question was always,"Yes, but is this man lucky?"

    Not lucky enough to invade Russia in winter, but could probably handle Spain in a bowl game.

    WR/TE

    Desean Jackson freshman Cal film.

    Xavier Worthy:


    Just sayin'. 5 catches, 100 yards, 3 touchdowns. Football speed for days, scrappy as hell, and clearly smart to process Sark's offense as a freshman.

    Whittington had an early drop that irritated me given his recent run of same, but he was great after that, grabbing 5 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown. Great YAC play here on a composed Casey toss on 3rd and 6:


    Marcus Washington had a catch for 22 yards and cost himself a likely touchdown tripping up on his own feet.

    Cade Brewer blocked well and has done so all year.

    Final

    A dominating offensive performance. It began with the coaches emphasizing the team's strengths and then giving the offense several beater plays against Tech's defensive tendencies. The offense executed and you could see the confidence, physicality, and speed of play increase with each success. That will encourage Sark to put even more on their plate. Positive feedback loops and all of that.

    The Texas offense will be a confident bunch heading into Ft Worth.

    • Hook 'Em 1
  2. 7 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

    Can someone please explain to me why bob cole is the PA announcer? Isn’t bill little still alive? He wasn’t great like Wally but he was good enough and more importantly not annoying.

    The same reason as anything else around our program, $$$$

  3. 2 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

    Count me on team “whatever it takes to never schedule the game when it’s 95+ outside”.

    Hiring charity volunteers to run concession stands is stupid.

    I don’t have a problem with Bob Cole, but won’t shed tears if he is replaced.  I just fear they’d replace him with some loudmouth to appeal to the students.

    I remember in high school working concessions at UT game and percentage of the money earned at your concession area went to our senior class. It’s been that way for a long time. 

  4. Just now, Wulaw Horn said:

    Totally and completely right- the rankings don’t matter at all. I mean, the CFPB selection committee is a bunch of logic living Vulcans who would never let the fact that team A is ranked 4th while team B is ranked 7th influence their perception at all. 
    Look, I’m not saying it’s dispositive but being behind the curve in the rankings all year long is a handicap and not a benefit. 

    But it really doesn’t matter unless you’re a Baylor, g5, or similar. Teams like Texas, USC, and etc shoot up polls fast when they start ripping off wins.  If we win the next 3 we’re likely top 10

    • Hook 'Em 2
  5. 6 minutes ago, Zeus said:

    The rankings don't make a shit until the very fucking end, even then it only matters for the teams trying to get into the playoff.

    Win the big12, everything else will fall into place.

    Actually they don’t make a shit then either. Only rankings that matter are CFB Playoff committee. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  6. 14 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

    You have no clue if it's a real problem or not. Hell, you didn't even know that most of the big plays were against our starters. None of us know how much of a problem it will be because this was the first passing team we've faced, but it's worth pointing out and discussing. No one's saying TCU will throw for 400 on us, but it's clear we have some flaws in our secondary just like it was clear we had OL and DL flaws after ULL, which were exposed the very next game. 

    If you can't handle people discussing actual football analysis and pointing out the negative and positives of our play, then just don't comment. You parading around the football board and calling anyone who doesn't say we're gonna blow out every team we play a pussy is the dumbest aggy shit ever.  

    Just because a starting corner was in doesn’t mean the starting d line or linebackers were in. Hell our starting corners were in until late while pretty much every other position was backups. 
     

    you don’t know just as well as I don’t but I prefer to give benefit of doubt until proven otherwise. Games like this, especially second halves are indicative of pretty much nothing.

  7. 16 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

     

    You don't know what you're talking about.  This wasn't a depth issue. These deep plays were against our starters, including both Thompsons, Jamison, Schooler and Foster, while they were trying. Similar to our win over ULL, there can still be red flags from a good win that will be exposed later.  Tech was the first team that even tried to pass on us much and they had 3 or 4 passes for 65+. That's a problem no matter how much you try to write it off because you can't handle the reality. 

    Calls from a defense late in a blowout aren’t the same as if the game is close. Yeah use it as learning experience but the sky isn’t falling. 
     

    the one Jamison gave up he had his eyes in the backfield. Game was well in hand and he was playing lazy. 
     

    schooler hasn’t started since Arkansas. 

  8. Tech possession and yards

    1st:

    30 yards

    75 yards  - TD

    2nd:

    0 - Pick 6

    15

    75 - TD

    5

     

    That is only 200 yards of offense in the 1st half with a defensive touchdown. That’s a solid half of football against a offense like Tech. Trying to read into the second half is literally pointless and I’m sure FEI will acknowledge the entire second half as garbage time.

     

    First two possessions of second half with the starting defense still completely in:

     

    Drive 1: Interception

    Drive 2: -18 yards 

     

    We were up 49-14 when tech got their next possession 

    • Hook 'Em 3
  9. Just now, sith_horn said:

    What does that have to do with what I said? Are you talking about Card? If so, I don't see how that changes the complete shit show the OL put on, the game plan or the inane play calling by Sark, like trying to run up the middle for two yards and a cloud of dust at best, or for a loss, over and over. Or for that matter, how long Sark held out for plugging Casey into the game. I'm all for letting a new QB try to struggle through some adversity, but it was clear a change needed making long before it happened.

    Maybe the game plan goes better if card got the ball out sooner to the receivers who were open underneath that he failed to see. 

  10. 7 minutes ago, sith_horn said:

    I wouldn't single out Card on not handling the first road start. I'd put it on the entire team and coaches, but also emphasize the OL just completely shit the bed. They were just as unprepared as Card was. Having been through that trial by fire, I think the entire team, and that includes Card, will play better on the road in hostile environments now. I wouldn't count out Texas beating Arkansas in a rematch.

    Reason for optimism with the offense now, but the defense has a whole lot to work on and the OL really needs to prove itself against better talent than Tech had to offer.

    What about having almost two delay of games in a row?

  11. Casey was named On3’s Big 12 PoTW

     

    Big 12

    QB Casey Thompson, Texas

    The buzz: Thompson and the Longhorns’ offense put up huge numbers in a 70-35 blistering of Texas Tech. Making his second career start, Thompson was 18-of-23 for 303 yards and five touchdowns, and he also rushed for 29 yards and a score as the Longhorns piled up 639 total yards. Thompson threw two TD passes and rushed for a score in the first half, which ended with Texas leading 42-14. Thompson threw three more scoring passes in the third quarter.

    • Hook 'Em 3
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