Jump to content

Duane Moore

Burnt Ends
  • Posts

    3598
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Duane Moore

  1. When we hired Sark, I was immediately disappointed. Then my fan powers of rationalization kicked in and I worked to come up with the rationale for being optimistic to get me through the next few years. What I came up with was that Sark has shown he can put together some formidable offenses when he has a talent advantage over everyone else like he did at Bama. I thought, “Texas is always able to recruit a talent advantage relative to the rest of the Big 12,” so if he is able to recruit reasonably well and hires a competent DC, we could win a lot of games with that formula, even if we would likely lose a majority when the talent was even with our opponents. Basically, the Mack Brown, Phillip Fulmer, Mark Richt formula of winning 9-10 games a year by getting the best Jimmies and Joes on campus. You do that long enough, and every once in a while you get lucky and break through. Two years in, I think that optimistic scenario is still on the table. Sark has recruited better than I had expected, and is building the team the right way, by stacking up blue chips on the lines and at QB. These are also the positions that take the longest to mature and develop, so we should all expect (and insist upon) improvement next year and 2024. Sark seems to have the disposition that will serve him well in the portal era, his players seem to like him, and his approach should attract and retain talent in a way that a Harry Hard-Ass like Tom Herman would not. We are stepping up in competition going to the SEC, but with that comes access to better athletes in recruiting who want to play in that league. I don’t have much hope of consistently beating teams like UGA and Bama at their current levels, or LSU or Florida if those programs get things rolling again. But a Texas program winning 10 games a season will almost always make a 12 team playoff field, even if we don’t advance beyond the first or second round very often. Maybe Arch or some generational player down the road comes in and takes us further. IDK. TLDR: last night didn’t crush all my hopes and dreams, which weren’t stratospheric to begin with.
  2. The more I think about last night, and the offensive approach going in to “throw the ball extensively” as Sark said in the post-game, last night seems like the transition game from Bijan/Roschon’s team to Quinn’s team. It seems clear Sark believes we aren’t going to be able to lean on the running game next year as our team’s identity, and that our future is as a QB-led passing offense. With that assumption, Sark thought we needed to start establishing this identity a game early because he knew there would be some growing pains and the result of this game didn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things.
  3. Might be the time to educate the players on the harsh realities of a free market system and how it works both ways for buyers and sellers. If Worthy has any sense, he will keep quiet and hope whatever current deals he has roll over into next year.
  4. This was my biggest disappointment as well, and it apparently wasn’t a function of how the game was going and what wasn’t working, Sark said after the game that “the game plan was to throw the ball extensively.” (from the AP Recap) Let me say that I always expected a loss in this game, Washington is a very good team who was much more motivated about this game than us, and that matters so much in non-CFP bowl games. I never understood why we were favored, even by a little. That said, it surprised me that Sark had so little faith in Brooks to carry the load I expected 25-30 carries from him, and for us to try and grind them down like we did Baylor. Sark at times seems to call a game plan for the team he wants to have, rather than the team he actually has. On paper, maybe we matched up well in the passing game against UW’s defense. There were a lot of plays that seemed open that didn’t conn. But that’s not a new development this season, Ewers and his WR’s, particularly Worthy, have been an unreliable connection all season. Maybe Sark just recognized the exhibition nature of this game and took the long view that it was more important to get Ewers on track for next season than actually winning the game. With the recruiting class nearly done and the vast majority of it signed and locked in, he may be right about that. Bottom line, this loss sucked, but it really doesn’t mean anything. Next year will give us a much better idea of our long term trajectory under Sark.
  5. They’ll never expect Casey Cain!
  6. Our pass pro looks very confused
  7. I truly wonder whether he’s ever had his eyesight tested.
  8. Wow, PK breaking out the good stuff
  9. The mod apparently came back and said he was confused about who they were talking about and says Tennessee is still in on Gibson.
  10. Gerry Hamilton had a stat in one of the IT YouTube shows that the Washington QB Penix has only been sacked 5 times all season in 500 pass attempts. Just keep that in mind tonight when we get frustrated because our defense can’t get him on the ground.
  11. If I am reading this correctly, tackling is an area of opportunity for development with our new CB Holmes
  12. Don’t know about PFF, but 247 downgraded him from a .986 as a recruit to .900 as a transfer prospect.
  13. Glad I didn’t stay up late waiting for Tyler Johnson’s cryptic emoji tweets to pan out.
  14. Gerry said he has heard Hunter may have a medical reason not to follow Deion to high-altitude Boulder, but didn’t think Texas was in on him.
  15. I will never again begrudge Jeff Choate a trip to Hawaii
  16. So Moore was planning on Texas as of the time he told St. John Bosco to prepare the card with the Longhorn logo on it.
  17. I know he reaffirmed his commitment yesterday but getting Williams in the boat this early takes some stress out of the day.
  18. Well that rules out the Aggies
  19. Per Vol message boards, Tennessee is going to make a late push for Tyler Scott since one of their DB commitments just decommitted, likely to Auburn.
×
×
  • Create New...