Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 7)

satyanash · October 12, 2019

Collecting post-game analysis articles from the blOU game here:

Cody Daniel: Jeffrey McCulloch, Chris Brown among Longhorns injured in loss to Oklahoma

Bobby Burton: Snap Judgments

Can’t pass protect. Can’t stop the run.

That’s the bottom line.

Anything else said might as well be window dressing.

The Sooners featured a two-back shotgun set that looked more like an old wing T formation. The Texas linebackers and defensive front never could get the hang of it and poor tackling by secondary members Brandon Jones and Chris Brown in run support certainly didn’t help.

The Texas offense played behind the chains almost all day. The Sooners sacked Sam Ehlinger nine times. Some of those sacks came on twists not picked up by the line or Cade Brewer, while others were the fault of the running back. For the second consecutive week, Junior Angilau seemed to have real problems in pass protection.

Yes, Texas still had a chance to win the game despite the poor run defense and the inconsistent pass protection. But the Sooners always had an answer.

At the end of the game, Texas couldn’t even get a hand on the QB on either a simple QB power keep on the goal line or on a zone read keeper on a second down to seal the game.

**

Texas also didn’t help itself.

There were multiple dropped passes. There was poor field position, too often it was self-inflicted. And the missed open field tackles were numerous.

**

The Texas offensive gameplan was sorely lacking early in the contest.

Texas scores just three points in the first half. And couldn’t run the ball.

It wasn’t until Roschon Johnson broke off two big gains in the third quarter that the Horns could muster any semblance of a rushing attack.

Part of that is thanks to OU linebacker Kenneth Murray who spied Sam Ehlinger effectively.

But it was more than that. Outside of Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson, no Texas receiver really struck much fear in the OU defense.

Cade Brewer continues to be a conundrum of sorts. He played nearly every offensive snap but wasn’t necessarily very good as a blocker and didn’t do much as a receiver either.

**

On defense, Texas was rarely able to force Jalen Hurts to become a passer. Yet when they did, the Horns were reasonably successful.

If the Horns ever score a rematch with the Sooners, Texas is going to have to stop the run first and foremost.

That’s not what you’d expect with a Lincoln Riley offense but that is what was proven this afternoon.

**

Cameron Dicker and Ryan Bujcevski were relative bright spots for Texas.

**

Texas fought.

The score, theoretically, shouldn’t have been as close as it was given just how much more offense OU was able to produce.

If not for the two turnovers in the first half, there’s no telling what the score might have been.

But at least Texas hung in there.

**

Devin Duvernay obviously wanted to establish some physicality by bringing out the kick returns.

But that should have stopped after the first or second one.

**

CeeDee Lamb makes people miss. He made some Texas DBs look bad in the open field.

Some of that is on Lamb and some of that is on the Longhorns’ DBs.

**

Losing to the no. 6 team in the country is not a surprise.

What was a surprise is just how poorly Texas stopped the run and how poorly Texas protected Sam Ehlinger.

satyanash · October 12, 2019

(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: Outfoxed by Riley once again

For the second time in a row, Lincoln Riley successfully out-coached Tom Herman in this series and in particular caught him with his defensive staff's gameplan. Texas understandably went into this game intending to work over Oklahoma on the perimeter with the screen game early before circling back to the run game later. That didn't work out, for reasons we'll come back to later in this post, and the Longhorns were easily turned into a one-dimensional team that Oklahoma teed off against with pressures that resulted in 9 sacks over the course of the game.

The Texas defense didn't really cover themselves with glory either, capitalizing on a couple of Jalen Hurts' errors to kill otherwise dominant Sooner drives. Oklahoma's starting tackles managed to make it on the field and not only picked up pressure well but paired up with some double tight end sets and Hurts' own special running ability to power the Sooner run game for 268 rushing yards.

Herman is going to have to make some tough evaluations about how they have been getting out-coached in this contest. On the one hand, the main goal for the Longhorns this season is well within sight. They can still win the Big 12 championship, which has been the key step for this team to take for a decade now, but they've wasted the potential of this season. In a year when the Longhorns leave the state of Texas twice and face what may prove to the most limited passer that Oklahoma fields in the Riley era, they are a near lock to miss the playoffs now and will need to battle to get the elusive Big 12 championship.

Quick thought no. 1: The gameplan for the Oklahoma defense was off

I imagine there was a great multitude of Longhorn fans who were comparing the early Texas gameplan to the efforts common to the Greg Davis era in the 2000s that also yielded some thwarted attacks in the Cotton Bowl. Heading into the game though, that did seem like the right call. Brendan Radley-Hiles lacked physicality at the point of attack in most every previous game this season for Oklahoma so scheming up a few ways to try and bully him on the perimeter in order to loose Devin Duvernay and the RBs in space seemed a good idea.

Instead Boo Radley played effective run-force against WR blocks and was able to keep the ball contained where Kenneth Murray, who ran to the ball all day like he'd hacked Herman's email, was able to make tackles on the perimeter. The Sooner cornerbacks played a lot of press coverage outside and Texas wasn't able to force enough flags to really punish them effectively for it, they also missed on a few deep shots either due to bad placement by Ehlinger or drops from the receivers.

Overall the Sooners played a lot of press-quarters, playing the safeties at depth but flat-footed on the hash marks and trusting their defensive front to hold up against the run game without a lot of quick run support. Texas ran the ball to their RBs only four times in the first half and Roschon Johnson finished with only eight carries for 95 yards and a score at 11.9 ypc as the Longhorns failed to be patient and try to build some drives with the run game.

Finally, the Sooners' predictable use of "bear fronts" to help their DL apply pressure and use their speed and athleticism to help them out worked very well and generated a lot of pressure on stunts. It helped the Sooners considerably that Texas' failure to establish the run game allowed them to turn to page after page of their blitz package. None of this was really new, other than the quality of play from the Sooner defenders who'd clearly been well prepared for this game, so Texas' struggles to pick it all up were certainly surprising.

Quick thought no. 2: The Texas D didn't execute job 1

Jalen Hurts could have been had in this game if Texas had done a better job in contain. An early reliance on man coverage cost Texas badly and Hurts picked up three early first downs with scrambles before Texas finally adjusted. Also notable, Texas couldn't even force Oklahoma into a third down conversion at the end of the game because they got outnumbered on the perimeter by a zone-read play with a lead blocker from a two-back formation that was obviously intended (and had been used all afternoon) to give Hurts lead blockers on keepers.

Texas picked off Hurts once and nearly twice when they successfully contained him on a scramble and he tried to make something happen throwing the ball without sure footing or a good sense of who was where in the defensive backfield. The book has been out there for a long time on Hurts, he has this same weakness at Alabama and it's why he was ultimately replaced by Tua Tagovailoa. Many believed that OU had cured him but if anything, he might be worse in some respects because Riley gives him a lot of easy hand holds and also seems to have loosened his style up with the consequence that he doesn't protect the ball like he did for Nick Saban.

But Jalen Hurts has always been a phenomenal runner who has a strong arm to make some throws if you allow him to hit his reads. He ended up throwing for 235 and three scores, thanks largely to the game's MVP CeeDee Lamb, while also rushing for 131 yards on 17 carries with a fumble and a touchdown. Kennedy Brooks also added 100 rushing yards, much of it coming in the fourth when Texas was worn down and without Roach on the defensive front.

The Texas D was able to keep the offense in the game for a while, but when they needed to make stops they couldn't and their overall approach made them luckier than great on the day. Holding the Sooners to 250+ rushing yards when you have Brandon Jones, Joe Ossai, Keondre Coburn, and BJ Foster on the field isn't a great accomplishment, the run defense was supposed to be better. The red zone defense was good, but that's where scheme and planning give way to sheer athleticism and physicality.

Quick thought no. 3: Texas got beat up by field position

Texas was JUST able to turn this into a lower-scoring, ball control kind of contest and then they were defeated at that very game. Beyond the struggles to ever really stop Oklahoma except via turnover or red zone defense, the special teams also had a few miscues in this game. Coverage was effective, but Duvernay seemed to be forcing the issue quite a bit with some of his return decisions and things really went sideways when he called for a fair catch and then muffed the punt.

Texas started six drives inside their own 20 yard line while Oklahoma was nearly perpetually at midfield. The first drive after halftime was one where the Longhorns really needed to assert a different approach in order to start making headway on offense and at least finally flip the field. Instead the following happened:

-Duvernay returned the kick to the 13 yard line and was tackled.
-Texas took a shot on play-action with Ehlinger looking for Johnson before coming back to Eagles late and throwing short when he had a step. Not a good throw, hat tip to Oklahoma for taking away the preferred read.
-Texas tried to throw to the perimeter again and Boo Radley played the block well enough to limit the RB swing screen to a 3-yard gain.
-Ehlinger scrambled for a first down on 3rd and 7.
-Texas hurries to the line of scrimmage, obviously to run the ball, and OU brought a safety blitz to make a stop after three yards. This one really recalled the Greg Davis era where lightning tempo almost always meant a zone dive was coming.
-Double slants play to Eagles is broken up.
-Texas is caught in 3rd and 11, OU's bear defense gets Murray up the middle on a stunt for a sack.

Texas has to punt.

There were a lot of little things that went consistently wrong for Texas in this game. A failure to establish the run, bad decision-making, and the Sooners being able to anticipate and jump all over the Texas calls.

Quick thought no. 4: CeeDee Lamb really made Texas pay

Texas' open field tackling in this game certainly left something to be desired. CeeDee Lamb's work in their offseason program has clearly paid off in a big way and despite taking some real shots in the punt return game and then the illegal one from Malcolm Roach that got Texas' DE tossed, he was still breaking tackles and tight-rope walking the sideline like DeMarco Murray in big moments.

Beyond the 10 catches for 171 yards and three touchdowns, Lamb also had one carry for four yards and a ton of jet motions that helped clear the picture for Jalen Hurts and helped trigger rotations from Texas on defense that was effective in opening up the run game for the Sooners. Oklahoma gameplanned Lamb very effectively in this game to be able to have a big impact in all three phases of the game.

Conversely, Devin Duvernay made mistakes on kickoff returns, was turned into a RB in a 21 personnel look Texas utilized in this game to minimal effect, and was unable to best Radley-Hiles. He finished the day with eight catches for 54 yards and three carries for five yards. This contrast really tells the story of the game. One team was able to attack an opponent's weak spot with one of their best players who rose to the occasion and the other was not and didn't.

Quick thought no. 5: There's a lot coming up next for Texas

Technically next on the schedule is the Kansas Jayhawks and the TCU Horned Frogs but really Texas has a few things to figure out. They've played what almost amounts to a different defensive package in every game, this week abandoning inverted Tampa 2 for a lot of single-high coverages despite missing Caden Sterns to play deep safety. Dropping Foster, Jones, and Brown into the very deep middle at the snap against an opponent like Oklahoma might have helped eliminate killer big plays over the top (or not entirely, as it turned out) but it doesn't really play to any of those player's strengths to make them backpedal so much at the snap.

Collin Johnson took a big shot and looked very woozy, I think it's a good guess that he might be in the concussion protocol. A good rule of thumb is that players with concussions are a near lock to miss the next week because the normal healing rate for concussions combined with the specifications of the protocol make it very difficult to be cleared within seven days. Texas has been mixing in Brennan Eagles more and more at the X and while he didn't have an amazing day he's showing a knack for doing some of the things they need at that position. If nothing else it'll be interesting to watch Eagles if he plays heavily or starts at the X next week since he'll be in the running for that position in 2020, which is the new target for Texas to try and build a national championship contender now that the hopes for a title in 2019 are officially dead and buried.

The Longhorns will probably also come out looking to run the football after foolishly abandoning the run game in this contest. After allowing Ehlinger to take as much punishment as though he'd run the ball on 15 or more designed carries, they'll need to build the gameplan against Kansas around controlling the ball on the ground and leaning on Roschon Johnson or Keaontay Ingram behind this OL.

The Longhorns need to regroup, go re-establish their physical dominance in the trenches against the lowly Jayhawks, and try to build an identity on defense that better mimics what makes them effective in the red zone: great, physical athletes playing with sound positioning and running to the football. There's still a shot for a Big 12 title in the rematch but this team has some work to do after blowing a good chance at a win in round one.

satyanash · October 12, 2019

Yesh · October 12, 2019

http://www.barkingcarnival.com/2019/10/12/20911515/final-oklahoma-34-texas-27-football-sooners-longhorns-cotton-bowl

satyanash · October 12, 2019

(Jeff Howe) Instant Reactions: Texas falls to Oklahoma, 34-27

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DALLAS — Ahead of the 115th meeting between 11th-ranked Texas and No. 6-ranked Oklahoma, the Longhorns talked the talk. Head coach Tom Herman has built a program rooted in physicality and toughness and while it was expected Texas would have no problem taking the fight to the Sooners, Longhorns weren’t able back up the bravado they showed prior to arriving at the Cotton Bowl.

For Texas, a 34-27 loss to Oklahoma in the AT&T Red River Showdown is one that essentially eliminates the Longhorns from consideration for the College Football Playoff. What’s more important to Texas (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) earning a potential rematch with the Sooners (6-0, 3-0) in the Big 12 championship game in December is the fact that the Longhorns looked unable to match Oklahoma’s intensity, physicality and, at the end of the day, playmaking ability.

Whether it was shoddy tackling on defense, quarterback Sam Ehlinger being under pressure seemingly every time he dropped back to pass (nine sacks allowed) or an unusual amount of gaffes in the kicking game that put the Longhorns in unfavorable position throughout the game (average starting field position if their own 17-yard line), Texas looked out of sorts from the start. When Herman’s squad was able to get it together and put stack one good play on top of another, either quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Oklahoma offense or a Sooner defense that’s miles better the same group Texas shredded twice last season came up with clutch plays to keep their distance from the Longhorns. With the game in the books, Horns247 has the plays and moments to take away from a loss that’s the eighth of the decade Texas has suffered at the hands of Oklahoma.

It was over when …

Oklahoma running back Kennedy Brooks pulled away from the Texas defense on the first play from scrimmage for the Sooners after the Longhorns cut their deficit to a touchdown, 27-20, on a 32-yard Cameron Dicker field goal with 6:43 to play in the game. The Longhorns had been able to withstand multiple surges by Oklahoma throughout the game, but when the Sooners needed to salt the game away they were able to get the job done.

The run by Brooks was the first play of 5-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Hurts scoring on a 3-yard run on third-and-goal, allowing him some redemption after turning over the ball twice deep in Texas territory. Hurts (16-for-27, 235 yards, three touchdowns, one interception; 131 rushing yards, one touchdown) led an Oklahoma attack that came close to evenly splitting their 511 total yards with 276 yards on the ground and 235 through the air.

Top Offensive Performer

In his return to the field after missing three games with a hamstring injury, Collin Johnson delivered in a big way. Playing in his final Red River Showdown, Johnson recorded 82 yards on six receptions, bringing the total over the senior team captain's last three meetings with the Sooners to 20 receptions for 340 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson also drew two critical penalties on a third-quarter touchdown drive before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with an injury.

Top Defensive Performer

Joseph Ossai was all over the field and has clearly established himself as the most valuable member of the Texas defensive front. Ossai finished the game with a team-high eight tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. He also recorded three hurries when trying to get after Hurts, one of which resulted in a turnover in the end zone. It’s unfortunate the Longhorns don’t have another linebacker like Ossai because he can only be in one place at a time on the field.

Reason to Feel Optimistic

Defensively, the Longhorns couldn’t have asked for a much better effort in the red zone. To hold the Sooners to 20 points on five trips inside the 20 (not counting a possession where Texas forced a Hurts fumble at the 17-yard line) is the kind of effort that allowed the Longhorns to stick around. For as much gruff as the cornerbacks have gotten throughout the first half of the season, Anthony Cook (two tackles, one tackle for loss, forced fumble) and D'Shawn Jamison (four tackles, fumble recovery) held their own. There’s not enough space to do justice to it here, but Roschon Johnson was huge in his first game against the Sooners.

Reason to be Pessimistic

Ehlinger finished with solid numbers (26-for-38, 210 yards; one rushing touchdown), but the first half was the worst he’s played over a sustained period of time since 2017. With that said, a lot of Ehlinger’s issues had to do with an offensive line that couldn’t handle Oklahoma’s pressure, regardless of whether the Sooners were blitzing or not (15 tackles for loss in addition to the nine sacks on Ehlinger). Defensively, poor tackling led to most of the big blows Oklahoma landed in terms of explosive plays, of which the Longhorns gave up too many to recover from at the end of the day.

Modest Proposal

Roschon Johnson is clearly the team’s best running back and needs to be treated as such moving forward. It’s not just the production he had (95 yards, 11.9 yards per attempt, one touchdown; four receptions, 23 yards) on Saturday compared to Keaontay Ingram (two carries for nine yards; two receptions for no yards), but after looking like he belonged on the field in the LSU game, Johnson didn’t blink in a game that can move insanely fast for a player in their Red River debut. As was the case in the LSU game, the moment wasn’t too big for a player who started preseason practice as QB3, but who now is clearly RB1.
Drive of the Game

The 5-play, 60-yard drive that ended with Ehlinger powering his way into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown on the final play of the third quarter. To that point in the game, a drive that started at their own 40-yard line was the best starting field position of the game for the Longhorns and the offense took advantage. Roschon Johnson had the longest play on the series with a 23-yard run and the presence of Collin Johnson was felt in a big way as he drew a defensive holding call and a defensive pass interference in the end zone, the play that set up Ehlinger’s touchdown run. Ehlinger’s score cut the Oklahoma lead to a field goal, 20-17, entering the fourth quarter.

Drive of the Game

The 5-play, 60-yard drive that ended with Ehlinger powering his way into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown on the final play of the third quarter. To that point in the game, a drive that started at their own 40-yard line was the best starting field position of the game for the Longhorns and the offense took advantage. Roschon Johnson had the longest play on the series with a 23-yard run and the presence of Collin Johnson was felt in a big way as he drew a defensive holding call and a defensive pass interference in the end zone, the play that set up Ehlinger’s touchdown run. Ehlinger’s score cut the Oklahoma lead to a field goal, 20-17, entering the fourth quarter.

Best Offensive Play

A 57-yard third-quarter run by Roschon Johnson wasn’t only the first real sign of life from the Texas offense on the day, it got the Longhorns right back in the game with Johnson punching the ball across the goal line one play later on a 4-yard score to tie the game, 10-10. Johnson’s run where he started up inside, hit a crease and burned off on the Oklahoma defense all the way down to the 4-yard line showed he’s the one back the Longhorns have in the stable right now who’s maximizing runs and getting the job done at a high level on a consistent basis.

Best Defensive Play

The honors get split between Cook for his forced fumble Jamison recovered at the end of a 27-yard run by Hurts and an interception in the end zone by Brandon Jones one possession later. The Sooners were going up and down the field on the Texas defense, but the secondary made two huge plays that allowed the Longhorns to head into the locker room down a touchdown with a chance to take control of the game rather than have them trailing by multiple scores with little to no hope at intermission.

Biggest question heading into next week’s game

Win or lose, the Oklahoma game for Texas is always one where the Longhorns have to hit the reset button and basically treat the rest of their remaining games as a new season. With next weekend’s return to Royal-Memorial Stadium to face Kansas starting the second half of the regular season, the biggest challenge for Texas will be cleansing themselves of the most physically and mentally taxing game of the season, especially since the Jayhawks are far from the toughest opponent left on the schedule.

(Chip Brown) My Take: What went right and wrong for Texas in loss to OU

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DALLAS, Texas — If Texas and Oklahoma end up in the Big 12 title game, the Longhorns should have a ton of motivation after being outplayed and outcoached by a far more physical OU team in Saturday’s 34-27 Sooner victory. An OU defense that Texas left tackle Samuel Cosmi questioned - sacked Sam Ehlinger nine times (for minus-53 yards) among 15 tackles for loss by the Sooners.

Texas got the benefit of a questionable roughing the passer call on third-and-8 in the final two minutes to extend a drive to an Ehlinger 4-yard touchdown that cut OU’s lead to 34-27 with 1:49 left. But the only thing in doubt at that point was whether Texas would cover the 10.5-point spread in this one. Freshman quarterback-turned-running back Roschon Johnson (eight carries for 95 yards, 11.9 ypc; four catches for 23 yards), was a bright spot on the UT offense.

On defense, Joseph Ossai (eight tackles, TFL, PBU and three QB hurries) played his ass off to the bitter end. Forced turnovers in the first half by Anthony Cook (forced fumble recovered by D'Shawn Jamison) and Brandon Jones (interception in the end zone) kept this game from getting out of hand. At halftime, Texas had run 28 plays for 83 yards with two, three-and-out drives that both went for negative yardage. The Longhorns had run the ball 17 times for 12 yards (.7 yards per carry).

Oklahoma was running wild - literally - averaging 8.3 yards per carry (165 yards on 20 carries), including Jalen Hurts exceeding 100 yards on the ground by halftime (107 yards on 12 attempts, 8.9 ypc). Kennedy Brooks ran it four times for 43 yards (10.8 ypc) in the first half. The Texas offense looked completely lost as Ehlinger kept getting hit over and over again. The Longhorns (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) return home next Saturday to face Kansas.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR TEXAS

DICKER FIELD GOAL CUTS OU LEAD TO 27-20: Despite Ehlinger suffering his seventh and eighth sacks and Collin Johnson leaving the game injured after a critical, 12-yard catch on third-and-9, UT drove 61 yards in 13 plays, taking 5:03 off the clock, to a 32-yard Cameron Dicker field goal with 6:53 left, cutting OU’s lead to 27-20.

EHLINGER TD RUN CUTS OU LEAD TO 20-17: After a fourth-down stop by the Texas defense, the Longhorns needed only 1:30 to go 60 yards in five plays for an Ehlinger, 2-yard touchdown run that cut OU’s lead to 20-17 on the final play of the third quarter. The drive was fueled by Todd Orlando gambled and brought a zero blitz on fourth-and-1 from the UT39, and it paid off as Jalen Hurts felt the heat and threw incomplete to CeeDee Lamb.

ROSCHON F’N JOHNSON GIVES TEXAS LIFE: Freshman quarterback-turned-RB Roschon Johnson gave the Longhorns life on three straight monster plays:

* 9-yard catch on third-and-8 (on a Patrick Mahomet-type flip from Ehlinger)

* 57-yard run to the #OU 4

* 4-yard TD run

And just like that, the Red River Shootout was tied 10-10 with 8:48 left in the third quarter. Todd Orlando blitzed Joseph Ossai and DeMarvion Overshown with OU facing third-and-7 from the Sooners’ 38, and the pressure got to Hurts, who threw the ball away, forcing a three-and-out punt on OU’s first drive of the second half.

DICKER HITS 49-YARD FIELD GOAL ENDS FIRST HALF: After three timeouts to ice Texas kicker Cameron Dicker, including one called just before Dicker made the attempt, Dicker hit a 49-yard attempt (for the second time) and cut OU’s lead to 10-3 at halftime. My take: Those points were so desperately needed for an inept Texas offense that Dicker’s kick felt almost as important as his game-winner last year - if the Longhorns had any hope of a comeback. OK, maybe not that big- but big!

Texas finally moved the ball in its two-minute offense after OU took a 10-0 lead. With 1:44 left in the half, Texas moved the ball to the OU 31, highlighted by an 18-yard pass from Ehlinger to Duvernay, who also had a 7-yard run out of a two-back set, as well as smart, 4-yard run by Ehlinger to get out of bounds at the OU 36 with 14 seconds left and no timeouts. Texas was also aided by a defensive holding call on OU. All of that set up the desperately needed 49-yard field goal by Dicker.

Keondre Coburn brought down Jalen Hurts at the Texas 2 on third-and-goal from the 4 with 1:54 left in the first half, forcing a 19-yard field goal that put OU up 10-0 with 1:49 left in the half. Anthony Cook, who forced a fumble earlier in the game, dropped CeeDee Lamb for a 6-yard loss on first down after Lamb took a direct snap and ran to his left midway through the second quarter.

SECOND TURNOVER FORCED BY TEXAS ON INT BY JONES: Jalen Hurts made an ill-advised pass into the end zone on third-and-8 from the UT 11, and Brandon Jones made him pay for it with an interception returned to the UT 10. Great punt by Ryan Bujcevski with 1:40 left in the first quarter. It hit at the OU 1 and bounced back to the 5.

TURNOVER FORCED BY COOK: Cornerback Anthony Cook made a great hit on OU quarterback Jalen Hurts, knocking the ball loose, and it was recovered at the Texas 7 by D’Shawn Jamison with 6:20 left in the first quarter - stopping a sea of OU momentum up to that point. Devin Duvernay had a 31-yard kick return after OU’s opening-possession TD drive. Chris Brown drew OU left tackle Swenson offside with 13:51 left in the first quarter by showing blitz.

BIG PLAYS BITE TEXAS (AGAIN) AS OU WENT UP 34-20: After Texas cut OU’s lead to 27-20 and needed a big stop by the UT defense, OU ripped off runs of 42 and 24 yards to the Texas 9 to open the drive. Jalen Hurts scored on a third-and-goal from the 3, putting OU up 34-20 with 4:19 left. And Texas safety Chris Brown was injured on the 24-yard run attempting to tackle Rhamondre Stevenson.

With Texas driving in OU territory, Derek Kerstetter was flagged for failing to line up on the line of scrimmage (illegal formation), negating a 4-yard, first-down run by Roschon Johnson. (Texas ended up kicking a 32-yard field goal on the drive.) Collin Johnson made a great catch for a 12-yard gain on third-and-9 in the fourth quarter but was knocked out of the game on what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit by OU safety Patrick Fields. But no targeting was called.

BIG PLAYS BITE TEXAS AS OU WENT UP 27-17: Jalen Hurts hit tight end Brayden Willis for a 25-yard gain after Chris Brown vacated his area at safety on a run fake. And then Hurts hit CeeDee Lamb for a 27-yard, catch-and-run touchdown in which Lamb broke tackle attempts by Brandon Jones and Chris Brown in the final 10 yards, putting OU up 27-17 with 11:56 left to play.

Anthony Cook left the game with what looked like a shoulder injury after attempting to tackle OU’s Kennedy Brooks at the 2:44 mark of the third quarter. Kobe Boyce came in to replace him. After a quarterback pressure by Moro Ojomo forced an ill-advised pass by Jalen Hurts, D'Shawn Jamison nearly had an incredible, layout interception in the end zone on third down, but the ball slipped through his hands, leading to a 34-yard field goal by Sooners’ kicker Nate Brkic with 4:44 left in the third quarter, putting OU up 20-10.

Collin Johnson dropped a pass on a crossing route that would’ve gone for a big gain as Texas was trying to come off its goal line midway through the third quarter. Then, Texas was flagged for two straight, false starts, moving the ball to UT’s 1, and Ehlinger threw a perfect deep ball up the left sideline to Brennan Eagles, but Eagles couldn’t hang on to the ball. Devin Duvernay waved for a fair catch on OU’s kickoff, but he muffed it, and then had to go backward to the UT 5 to recover the ball, where it was whistled dead because he had signaled for a fair catch (and eliminating the possibility of picking up the ball and running with it).

Two plays after Malcolm Roach was ejected for targeting against CeeDee Lamb, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound receiver who gave himself up and slid with Roach closing in, Jalen Hurts hit Lamb on a flea flicker for a 51-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Lamb juked Joseph Ossai and Brandon Jones before out-running B.J. Foster into the end zone, putting OU up 17-10 with 7:45 left in the third quarter.

After a three-and-out forced by the Texas defense, OU punter Reeves Mundschau, who shanked one earlier, booted on 55 yards, rolling dead at the UT 7 with 11:28 left in the third quarter. OU linebacker Kenneth Murray lined up on the line, outside the offensive tackle, and stunted inside, where Zach Shackelford missed him, and Murray got OU's fifth sack of Ehlinger, forcing a punt on UT’s opening possession of the third quarter.

One play after Ehlinger was flagged for intentional grounding (a 6-yard loss), Ehlinger was sacked for a 7-yard loss on third-and-9 from the UT 25 on safety blitz (Pat Fields) with 4:17 left in the first half. At that point, Byron Vaughns was flagged for holding on a shanked punt by OU, costing Texas field position - from UT’s 34 back to its 24 with 5:56 left 2Q.

The big boys up front for Texas picked up the blitz on third-and-11 from the UT 9, but Ehlinger left the pocket anyway, moving to his left where he had no protection and ended up getting pressured into running for a 3-yard gain, bringing up a punt on fourth-and-8 on UT’s third possession of the game.

With the Sooners facing second-and-7 from OU’s 8 at the end of the first quarter, Todd Orlando sent Juwan Mitchell on a blitz, but Jalen Hurts handed the ball to Kennedy Brooks on an outside run, and Brooks ran for 14 yards. Roschon Johnson completely missed a blitzing Kenneth Murray on third-and-6 from the OU 44, allowing Murray to sack Ehlinger for a 2-yard loss and force a punt on UT’s second drive of the game.

My take: That’s where having a converted quarterback at running back might’ve been a detriment - lack of situational awareness. Keaontay Ingram went down easily on an outside zone running play and then dropped a pass on a crossing route on UT’s second possession. My take at the moment: Can’t afford “Bad Keaontay” today.

Sam Ehlinger was sacked for a 10-yard loss by Neville Gallimore at the UT 20 on third-and-12, leading to a three-and-out punt by Texas on the Horns’ opening possession of the game. The play before, Kenneth Murray tackled Devin Duvernay by the neck on a screen pass for no gain. Duvernay caught a screen on first down and was tackled for a 2-yard loss. Jalen Hurts completed a touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 9:54 left in the first quarter, putting OU up 7-0 after a 10-play, 66-yard drive that took 5:06 off the clock.

B.J. Foster went down with an injury with 10:10 left in the first quarter during OU’s opening drive after a tackle attempt on CeeDee Lamb on third-and-goal from the 9. Nate Basquine juggled the ball but caught it and then slipped a tackle attempt by D’Shawn Jamison for a 16-yard completion on second-and-10 on OU’s first drive. Jalen Hurts ran for 11 yards on third-and-6 in Texas territory on OU’s opening drive. Kennedy Brooks ran for 18 yards on OU’s first offensive play. Cameron Dicker’s pooch kickoff on the opening kick resulted in OU starting its first drive at the OU 34.

satyanash · October 12, 2019

satyanash · October 12, 2019

Neonmoon · October 12, 2019

If he refuses to adapt, face reality, or make changes. It’s Mack Brown all over again.

totallynotabuttpirate · October 12, 2019

Scares you to death....

Nowhichski · October 13, 2019

Thanks for posting these.

Monahorns · October 14, 2019

This is my go to post-game thread. Thanks for your work.

Any chance you will post Scipio's post-mortems? I admit I am addicted and searching for another hit.

Mdhorn · October 14, 2019

see double post below

Edited October 14, 2019 by Mdhorn

Mdhorn · October 14, 2019

1 minute ago, Mdhorn said:

https://insidetexas.com/coach-vs-grades-oklahoma-2/

Most teams like to make a statement with their first offensive play. We threw a five yard backward pass to a WR in motion where he had to fight to limit the loss due to the ineffective cupcake blocks provided by his fellow wideouts. We kept in script for the remainder of the first half by stumbling, bumbling, and basically hoping to prevent injury. I was reminded of the famous DKR talk when he told his squad there was one helluva fight going on in the Cotton Bowl—too bad we hadn’t gotten in on it. Here are the grades:

1—Burt—pass. Good tackle on punt.

2—Johnson—pass. Proud effort but needs work on pass pro.

6—Duvernay—pass. Tried to do too much with poor decisions on kickoffs.

9—Johnson—pass. Pretty much held up his end except for one drop.

11—Ehlinger—borderline. Frustration led to bad decisions, poor throws, late underthrows, and early pocket departures.

13—Eagles—borderline.

16—Smith—didn’t play enough snaps.

26—Ingram—borderline. Sad to see the finger-pointing with Sam after pass in flat.

52—Cosmi—pass. Very average game but showed flashes of very good.

56—Shackelford—fail. Nose penetration and stunt pickups were below average efforts.

68—Kerstetter—fail. Pass pro, penalty, and loss of contact weren’t up to par.

73—Braun—pass. Pass protection lacked crispness.

75—Angilau—fail. Pass protection and penetration mistakes needed better effort.

80—Brewer—fail. One nice catch but not good blocking assignments.

85—Epps—pass. Only because he caught two passes.

The best two running plays (Rojo—3rd Q) were the only two plays we ran with Cosmi shifting to a TE alignment outside of Derek K. This unbalanced look might have been a needed shot in the arm but we chose to avoid using it again.

I’m curious how effective we might be running two slots (6 and 16) where we would have option routes against opponents 3rd and 4th best cover guys. We sure aren’t getting spit from a three wide plus TE handyman that isn’t a receiving threat and isn’t a strong blocker. Maybe Herman needs a TE but this offense isn’t exactly a proving point.

I’m hoping we left our spizarinkum on the practice field preparing for OU because we definitely didn’t provide rivalry effort to these eyes. I just didn’t see busting ass to get another piece of the action. What I saw resembled running in quicksand. I hope we bounce bad because this wasn’t a good look for us.

It’s really a gut check watching our defense this year. OU was able to move three of our defenders with a single WR motion and I find that overkill to the third degree. I am accustomed to our lack of positioning a defender in a contain alignment but this week took the cake for me. Watching OU turn the corner untouched and unchallenged time after time in order to have eight bodies preparing for air tackles and body blocking ground hits sank my ship. I thought the typical Diaz defensive plan was unsound at best until I saw whatever one might call this abortion.

Our players didn’t play well or even close to it. We can’t tackle with the approach we are taking. Either we need to change our teaching technique or get a new bunch of starters ready for action. It’s not like a one game poor effort. We aren’t seeing any better production or performance from too many full time players and that’s not the usual way of life. Something’s wrong somewhere. Here are the grades:

4—Cook—pass. One of the few that made plays with solid effort.

5—Jamison—pass. Coverage was acceptable.

6—Mitchell—fail. Too many plays where he lost the ball or made poor decisions.

15—Brown—fail. You just can’t miss this many tackles nor make this many bad decisions.

19—Jones—fail. Too many poor plays.

25—Foster—fail. Too many missed tackles—too many bad decisions.

31—Overshown—one good blitz—why doesn’t he get more snaps along with 11—they can’t be ANY worse.

32—Roach—fail. bad decision (target) and bad play on first play (he must take the RB).

36—Jones—borderline in limited action.

38—Boyce—pass.

39—Estelle—pass.

40—Adeoye—borderline. Why is Dele covering Lamb twenty yards deep on the boundary? Plays hard but very limited.

42—Bimage—pass. next man up.

44—Owens—good tackle on ST’s. Why isn’t he playing?

46—Ossai—pass. Best player but why can’t we get him in his natural position (WDE) making plays instead of meandering in space. Unbelievable.

49—Graham—fail. Doesn’t make plays as a 4i—wonder how many plays he makes as a penetrating three technique?

50—Vaughns made a solid tackle on punt team.

91—Chisholm—pass in limited role.

93—Sweat—pass—wonder how many plays he makes as an off-set nose?

98—Ojomo—borderline. Would make one heck of a three technique with his quicks.

99—Coburn—pass. Makes more plays as an off-set nose.

OU had one helluva center—he’s a difference maker.

We aren’t a smart defensive football team. We haven’t learned that the sideline boundary is a 12th tackler—much less that it’s never missed a tackle.

We don’t understand that contain means maintaining outside leverage on the football without “ducking” inside.

We damn sure don’t understand lane integrity on our pass rushes—especially when we bring blitzers.

We don’t understand “breaking down” nor “grab hold and holler help” when tackling in space. We tend to whiff on air tackles and bounce off the ground when attempting to “body block” a receiver down.

Wrapping up is a foreign language.

I would settle for a single defensive alignment (with adjustments to formation) that we could play sound right now. We play confused too much and that means slower.

We have too many more worried about adjusting than our responsibility and that’s not a good thing.

It wasn’t fun to watch either side of the ball this week. Hope that changes next Saturday against Kansas.

satyanash · October 14, 2019

(Scipio Tex) Oklahoma Post-Mortem: Offense

Quote

I laughed when I heard that Tom Herman had Greg Davis in the building last week consulting on the game plan and made the expected jokes, but damned if I didn't see Texas rolling out a classic Longhorn circa 2000-2004 GD game plan on offense this Saturday. 3 points at halftime, 3.5 yards per play, and no ability to game plan pressure defense told the tale. The opposite of deceptive is apparent. We ran apparent offense.

Despite knowing that Alex Grinch's trademark defense plays downhill with constant stunts, twists and blitzing safeties and linebackers to inflict negative plays, even at the expense of conceding the short passing game, getting hit by misdirection in all of its forms, and some solo deep shots, the Longhorns came out running (well, walking) predictable offense that screamed obvious keys to Sooner players already coming downhill; our game planning's greatest ambition was apparently to hit Devin Duvernay on a slow swing pass to set up 2nd and 12 or running inside zone into the blitz path of Kenneth Murray and a twisting Gallimore.

Offensive game plans that allow defenders to come downhill and not question their instincts are never going to work in an emotional rivalry game. Texas seemingly spent the entire game in 3rd and long. The statistic that showed that 46 plays into the game, Texas had 20 plays for 0 or negative yards is proof of that.

While the Texas OL played poorly and the Texas staff might rationalize that player execution undermined their solid game plan, aggression and competence flows from the game plan. The way you take the initiative from a downhill, shamelessly stunting and over-pursuing defense is to install counters, misdirection, constraint plays, rollback screens and fly sweep motion to punish their excesses and make them think and hesitate. And do it fast. Hurry up, no huddle. Texas-Ex Kyle Shanahan put on a clinic against the Browns aggressive D on Monday night doing all of that. Maybe ask him for a Skype session.

OL

A total failure at the unit level, compounded by Zach Shackelford, Junior Angilau and Derek Kerstetter all getting beaten repeatedly by T/E stunts and twists. Shack repeatedly gave up penetration to Neville Gallimore or got hard set by him, allowing a slightly delayed blitzer to sprint untouched through interior gaps. Angilau did the same. Braun allowed one late in the game when the wheels were fully off, but was generally passable. Cosmi didn't give up anything individually, but this was a confused, passive OL that clearly would have liked a little help from the booth in getting OU's DL and LBs out of their track stances. They also weren't synced up at all with our RB and TE in protections. It even bled into our running game, where big plays were available when OU guessed wrong, but the OL never got synced up. On the positive side, for the second straight week I'm able to fill in my All Big 12 1st Team DL ballot with permanent marker. Gallimore, you're my NT.

QB

26 of 38 for 210 yards passing is an awful demonstration of Texas inefficiency in the passing game. 23 carries for -9 yard rushing is proof of how much offense Sam had to shoulder while carrying an ineffective game plan. No turnovers in the face of 9 sacks and multiple hits on scrambles and on release is a positive and one of the subtle reasons that the game was kept deceptively close, no thanks to Longhorn headsets.

The QB always get a lot of flack anytime the offense fails, but on review, Ehlinger made a number of good throws that should have gone for big chunk gains, but WR drops (Johnson, Eagles x 2, Smith) in combination with Oklahoma PI's - some called, most not - erased about 125-150 air yards and an end zone visit or two. Several of these throws were perfect strikes. If the receiver can't make a play with nothing but green in front of him, you can't allow frustration to pin that on #11. Similarly, I'm not in the "Sam shoulda done something!" camp that expects him to do much of anything besides take the sack when protection breaks down and 1) no Longhorn WRs have separated or 2) they're mindlessly running routes with their backs to him instead of adjusting to the actual game.

Over time, Ehlinger deteriorated as he got banged up and faced relentless pressure. That's what all QBs do - from the kid at your local high school to Tom Brady. There was no release valve in the short passing game, no creative screen game, nor anything to punish OU's sprints to the QB. QBs are aided by game plans that attack the known tendencies of an opponent. #coaching

WR/TE

A TE who adds no value as a receiver vs. a WR replacement and who is a subpar blocker against real defenses is a net negative. Any debate on this anymore or can we move on?

Collin Johnson played well (6-82 yards) except for one big drop that could have gone for 50+ yards and a possible TD on a 2nd half RPO. Sam's throw was money and CJ had nothing but green, but he lost focus. He made a terrific catch when he was sandwiched (and targeted) by Sooner defenders on 3rd down and had several other excellent routes, while drawing 2 (flagged) PIs. He made himself a problem, but the Texas staff couldn't scheme his wins outside into better production anywhere else. Epps had 3 catches for 29 yards replacing him, which is good for Epps, but also some demonstration of what was available. One has to wonder what a HUNH quick set spread passing game full of motion, fly sweeps, counters, and constraint screens would have yielded in setting OU's defense on their heels.

Devin Duvernay was minimized by OU tackling and our obvious play development into a mild irritant (8-54) rather than a chain mover. Brennan Eagles played small all game against a small Sooner secondary. Multiple drops in key moments and passive when he was PI'd - hoping for a flag bail out instead of forcing the issue. Needs to play his size. Jake Smith had a drop on a Sam dime while being PI'd. Otherwise, a non-factor.

I emphasized in the preview that the Sooner DBs would hold - that this is coached, not an accident, and all over their film - and that it was crucial for the staff to coach the receivers through it, prepare them mentally so that OU didn't get in their heads, while simultaneously lobbying the Big 12 office during game week, the officials during pre-game, and throughout the contest. I'll let you judge how effective we were on that coaching point.

RB

Let's end on a good note. Roschon Johnson came to Dallas to play football. He caught 4 balls for 23 yards and had 8 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown. He also ripped off a 58 yarder.

On the 58 yarder, he broke through pathetic contact by the OU defender at the LOS, which is unremarkable, but makes a lovely explosive cut to the right to find the massive seam. He made another solid move on the sideline. We didn't see that decisive run maximizing cut from him last week and it popped that run wide open. When he realized he wasn't going to house it and was surrounded, he valued ball security, knowing that the Sooner DBs would try to stand him up and punch the ball. Two arms on the ball. Veteran stuff.

On the ensuing goal line TD carry, he ran through Deshaun White closing down from the edge like he was dooky Charmin. Good power through contact. RoJo has dog in him. He may be quiet and polite, but he's that friend you want in a dark alley.

Final

Texas needs to coach better.

Edited October 14, 2019 by satyanash

satyanash · October 14, 2019

(Scipio Tex) Oklahoma Post-Mortem: Defense/Special Teams

Quote

The Texas defense forced two first half turnovers (forced fumble by Cook, interception by Brandon Jones) in the deep red zone and held Oklahoma and Jalen Hurts to 3 of 12 on 3rd down conversions. In combination with those turnovers, Jalen's third down struggles highlighted his weaknesses as a QB and were largely responsible for OU's 10 point halftime total. Those were the defensive unit level highlights of the game.

When Lincoln Riley was able to get the joystick hooked back up to Jalen Hurts' brain and operate him on single reads - with the aid of some poor Longhorn defensive fundamentals - OU rolled the Texas defense to the tune of 511 yards at 7.7 yards per play and made their second half yardage pay off in points. Mostly by schematically woodshedding Texas in the running game and exposing poor Longhorn tackling and recognition in the passing game. Hurts is secretly a very average QB when he has to do real QB stuff, but when he's sprinting through inviting fields of green on scrambles, or tossing it to a wide open CeeDee Lamb, who adds another 10-25 yards to the play on missed tackles, the old stat line comes out pretty nice. OU had only 11 legitimate offensive possessions (I'm not counting kneel-downs) and only ran 66 plays. They drove for 49+ yards or more on 7 of those possessions.

Most disheartening was the fact that Oklahoma ran at will, totaling 276 yards from scrimmage. In the first half, it was Jalen Hurts exploiting poor Longhorn containment for long scrambles. In the second half, it was OU mercilessly exploiting the Longhorn inability to set the edge. Both emanating from the same wellspring: the Texas defense hasn't set or contained the edge in the running or passing game since 2017. Given that OU's offensive tackles looked vulnerable all game, this is particularly surprising. Their starters played, but they gave up pressures when we chose to align men on them and presumably that would have also helped in in setting the edge. No dice.

OU broke off several long runs by simple alignment. They won before the ball was even snapped. Maybe Orlando intended the short side edge to be held by two DBs (one at depth) and a playside LB in our tite front (3 man DL inside the OU tackles) vs. two pulling OU OL, a lead back and a WR, because that seems reasonable.

The Texas defense:

1. Did not set the edge. This was a failure by scheme and personnel. OU repeatedly outflanked us by alignment and instructed their RBs to bounce the counter trey outside. Find me a more fundamentally poor defense at setting the edge in FBS. This has been going on for 1.5 years unabated. Kennedy Brooks averaged more than 10 yards per carry. Rhamondre Stevenson more than 7.

2. Did not contain. Hurts had 107 yards rushing at halftime. Mostly on scramble gimmes. Texas got pressures from Longhorn defenders lined up over the Sooner tackles, but reverted to the true tite front or a 3 + Ossai look on most downs. Longhorn edge defenders repeatedly gave up their outside shoulders or ran past Hurts on pass rushes. A big no-no. "The most useless place on a football field is two yards past the QB" - Bill Parcells. That goes double for a mobile QB whose second read is run. Hurts averaged 8.9 yards per carry in the first half. 7.7 for the game. And not a single negative run.

3. Did not tackle. I counted nine missed tackles in the second half by just the Texas DBs. I tally that number very conservatively. They have to make contact and be in a reasonable position to make the play for me to count it. Chris Brown missed five tackles for the game. Brandon Jones challenged my missed tackle tally by being so out of place multiple times in the second half that I'm struggling with understanding if he was instructed to do so or was just overwhelmed. Can you miss a tackle if you don't attempt it? In the woods with no one to hear. With one hand clapping.

4. Did not establish any defensive identity. Six opponents, six defenses. We remain a defense of "looks." Want to tell me our base defense? I mean in actual practice - not in theory. An alignment is not a defense. A defense encompasses some shared understanding of roles and responsibilities. Cohesion. How about you just give me your best guess as to how Joe Ossai will line up on 3rd and 7? On the edge? Off the ball hovering around? At nickel? Fifteen yards out of the box on CeeDee Lamb?

5. Continues to get injured making (and missing) tackles, draw personal fouls, and target. Are we teaching tackling? Eyes up, don't lead with your crown is instruction that happens in junior high. What do we teach? Why does a team captain get kicked out of the game for a target after the clear learning points from last week and the bowl game? We bitch about our tough breaks like it's bad luck, but look around college football. This isn't happening anywhere else. Not like this. Why do we appear to lead college football in stingers and shoulder injuries?

6. Lost by formation. If you're outnumbered at the point of attack when the ball snaps, your players don't matter. Football is a numbers game. Concentration of force. If you're screwed repeatedly on the same soft edge run alignment or a casual CeeDee Lamb flip pass for 21 yards that I could complete because he <gasp> went in motion and no defender followed while Texas had eight in the box, that isn't kosher in Game Six of the season.

Special Teams

Dicker the kicker drilled a 49 yard field goal after Riley tried to ice him with three consecutive timeouts and his onside kick was money. Buj had a nice punt that downed the Sooners at the 5, but his others lacked leg. That's the extent of Longhorn highlights. OU won special teams. Mostly because our guys made poor decisions. Oklahoma State was lost as a teaching point.

- Duvernay returned a kick off with no time outs when Texas was trying to score before half. That ran clock and was net -4 in yardage vs letting it roll through the end zone. This after Texas took their final timeout before the OU field goal. Bad situational football.

- Duvernay repeatedly returned deep kickoffs with poor results. On all returned Longhorn kick offs, the Horns started on average at the Texas 17 yard line. Simply starting those possessions at the Texas 25 with fair catches would have yielded Texas +40 yards in field position over the course of the game.

- Duvernay misplayed the fair catch rule and caught the ball at the 5.

- Duvernay fielded a perfect OU kick off that pinned him right on the sideline. If he fair catches, it's ball on the 25. More creatively (assuming the college and NFL are the same) you can field the ball while standing out of bounds and take the ball on the 35. Not sure on that one though - couldn't find a clear resource.

- Jamison let a straightforward punt drop in front of him and roll inside the 10.

DL

The contrast in how OU attacked us when we tried to play downhill defense vs. our own offensive approach was a stark contrast. OU effectively negated their impact in the second half by running around the pure 3 man front and we too frequently let their OL off the pressure hook. Coburn, Roach and Graham all had multiple good plays, but the OU coaches realized they didn't love this match-up and crafted a game plan to limit their impact. Let me illustrate one example of how we schemed ourselves out of a play:

In one sequence in the first half on OU's field goal drive at the 3:24 mark, Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 14 yards on 1st and 10 through a gaping hole behind a wall of crimson down to the Texas 17 yard line. On review, I watched Ta'Quon Graham sprint laterally down the Texas DL at the snap because he was...following CeeDee Lamb on a fake fly sweep. A down interior DL anchoring the point of attack just vacates. Obviously instructed to do so. OU ran a simple inside zone handoff right into that vacated hole. I guess it was just "a look." 4D chess. Fun stuff. That probably wasn't a game-changing play. But I see multiple instances of stuff like this every week. It's Laminated Playsheet Battleship.

LB

Joseph Ossai or as I call him "Oh **** Maybe Joe Can Fix That Bad Call Ossai" had a tipped ball, 6 pressures, 3 QB hits, 8 tackles and a tackle for loss. Terrific effort and play for a guy we ask to play edge, off ball LB, nickel, sell popcorn. He missed one tackle about 25 yards from the LOS, so I guess he's human.

Adeoye had 8 tackles, but was poor as a blitzer (he repeatedly ran past Hurts) and was consistently slow in his reads and flow. Juwan Mitchell was also slow in seeing the play develop and was way too slow flowing outside when OU was bouncing every run wide. So much for spill and kill. #6 had a nice tipped ball that saved an easy 4th and 1 conversion to a wide open Sooner receiver covered by Boyce. McCulloch had some ineffective run before injury.

DB

Anthony Cook had his second straight good game. Physical. Good TFL. Good form tackle. Good fumble force on Hurts. Hurt himself making a tackle. Give him a safety cover in a sane coverage, he can be a very effective football player. As for the rest of the DBs, just watch this:

Here's the participation portion of the postmortem:

1. How many total missed tackles on Lamb? What was the result of those missed tackles in terms of points and yardage?
2. In your opinion, how open is Lamb in general?
3. Rate the difficulty of each throw Hurts made to Lamb. 1-10. Average them. 1= backyard toss with junior. 10 = very difficult. It's not a high number, is it?

That's how OU's best receiver goes 10-171-3 tds (on 12 or 13 targets) while the rest of OU's team totals 5-65 yards (on 15 targets). There's an imbalance there, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Texas defense wins this game - our awful display of offense included - if it sets the edge, contain Hurts on scrambles, and game plans CeeDee Lamb more effectively. But there is one nagging problem...

Final

You need positional and philosophical fundamentals to run a defensive game plan. Any game plan or defense. 3 or 4 man front. Nickel, dime, zone, man. Tampa 2. Buddy Ryan 46. Double Eagle Flex. Setting the edge, tackling, lining up correctly, and basic containment principles aren't approaches to defense. Or theory. Or negotiable. They are fundamental to any and every defense we want to run.

If they are not taught, the rest doesn't matter. Does it?

Nowhichski · October 14, 2019

Devastating criticisms of TH and staff. Does the coach have the wherewithal to make changes?

ClubWhatever · October 14, 2019

11 minutes ago, Nowhichski said:

Devastating criticisms of TH and staff. Does the coach have the wherewithal to make changes?

You are still waiting for this answer in year 3?

Nowhichski · October 14, 2019

3 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

You are still waiting for this answer in year 3?

Well, first couple of years had to be devoted to upgrading personnel.

Monahorns · October 14, 2019

Thanks!!

TwiceHorn · October 14, 2019

Man, Scipio may be full of shit (history shows he's anything but), but his writing style and articulation of problems is something to behold.

Skyline · October 15, 2019

(Jones)Texas Takeaways: On breaking down Oklahoma’s sack fest and figuring out the why in the Red River loss

Spoiler

DALLAS — With the State Fair of Texas as the backdrop, the Oklahoma defense made the Texas backfield its personal playground on Saturday afternoon in the Cotton Bowl. The Sooners sacked Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger nine times, matching a record for most sacks allowed in a single game in UT history. Seven different Sooners registered a sack en route to handing the Longhorns a discouraging 34-27 defeat in the Red River rivalry.

UT, which dropped to No. 15 in the AP poll, will get a chance to rebound this week when it hosts Kansas back home inside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns will hope to put the bitter sting of Saturday’s result behind them quickly, with the second half of the season set to begin.

Although the Horns have dropped both games against competition in the top 10, there’s still plenty to play for, including the proposition of reaching the Big 12 title game for a second consecutive season.

Below are five takeaways following the Longhorns’ loss to Oklahoma.

1. Texas’ offensive line didn’t play well, but shouldn’t shoulder all the blame for Oklahoma’s sacks

There is no mincing words: the Longhorns offensive line had a brutal day — just look at the Sooners’ first sack of the game, where center Zach Shackelford was badly beaten by nose tackle Neville Gallimore.

Or consider that 14 of UT’s first 34 plays went for one yard or fewer. However, the offensive line was not aided by Ehlinger’s performance and, in some instances, UT’s play calling.

“I think every time you see sack numbers, everybody wants to blame the offensive line,” UT coach Tom Herman said. “But you know, I said it before: It’s on everybody. It’s on the play caller and the protection that’s called. It’s on the receivers to get open at the right time. It’s on the quarterback to deliver the ball. It’s on the running back to handle his assignment.”

Credit OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. His group was well-prepared. Rewatching the contest, it was clear that the Sooners planned on mitigating the Longhorns quick-pass game, and that started with limiting senior receiver Devin Duvernay to catching the ball near or behind the line of scrimmage. Whenever Duvernay motioned around in the backfield and executed a swing route and almost every time he turned to look for the ball, he was covered up by a Sooners defender. For example, nickel back Brendan Radley-Hines and safety Delarrin Turner-Yell tracked him during some of these instances.

That decision seemed to severely hamper UT’s offense Saturday, preventing it from ever really finding a rhythm. Grinch trusted his defensive backs in coverage, most often appearing to leave them in man-to-man coverages with Cover 1 and Cover 2 shells behind them. As Ehlinger noted after the game, what Grinch dialed up often wasn’t complex; OU’s players executed it to perfection and hindered the timing of UT’s passing game.

Up front, the Sooners mixed and disguised their rushes, shifted and slanted their defensive linemen and opened up lanes for blitzers from the second level. At times, it overwhelmed UT’s protection.

The play calling, by Herman’s admission after the game, left more to be desired. For example, this sack of Ehlinger in the fourth quarter occurred when the Longhorns lined up with trips on the boundary side of the field. They dialed up a run-pass option, which takes a while to develop.

Duvernay was taken out of the play by a defender, while the Sooners created traffic in the backfield during the play-action. UT’s offensive line appeared to be setting up a zone run to the right, but OU’s four-man rush mostly flowed in the opposite direction, with one defensive lineman executing a stunt. It freed up a Sooners edge defender to break up the potential handoff while two more defensive linemen entered UT’s backfield. Ehlinger has nowhere to go with the football, and he gives himself up.

https://media.giphy.com/media/d7Bh0fJpgo2erPCpiu/giphy.mp4?_=1

Ehlinger only suffered a three-yard loss on that play, but it’s fair to suggest that he could have — and perhaps should have — gotten rid of the ball. It was a common occurrence Saturday. On some plays, Ehlinger was given enough time to make a decision, but didn’t determine what to do until an OU defender was in his face. The best example of this occurred in the second quarter on a third-and-9.

The Sooners lined up with five players along the line of scrimmage, and all rushed the passer. OU’s cornerbacks pressed UT’s outside receivers, affecting the timing of their vertical routes, which already took long to develop. As the play continued, OU’s safeties formed a Cover 1 shell, with one defender occupying the deep middle of the field. The other, Pat Fields, sprinted 10 yards from his deep safety depth at the snap. The Longhorns receivers were unable to get enough separation and Ehlinger didn’t even eye his checkdown target, running back Keaontay Ingram. Instead, Ehlinger waited for receiver Brennan Eagles to get open downfield on the left, and it didn’t happen, enabling Fields to reach him almost untouched.

https://giphy.com/gifs/f6J9lrQ2kxU1lWfH9u

Situationally, Ehlinger must understand UT can’t afford a sack on its own side of the field and present the OU offense a shorter distance to score. Additionally, on the play itself, the mental clock should have gone off for him to understand Fields was closing in, nonetheless from such a deep depth. The offensive line did well on the play handling a five-man pressure that featured an interior stunt. The sixth blitzer came free. That was on Ehlinger to identify, or at least get rid of the ball more quickly. It was rough day for Ehlinger in terms of displaying comfort in the pocket.

For example, during a third-quarter sack by Jalen Redmond, Ehlinger unknowingly ran into a sack instead of stepping up into the pocket or sliding to the right where Redmond had beaten right tackle Derek Kerstetter. However, the reason why Ehlinger never got rid of it was because all of his receivers were covered up, yet another common occurrence Saturday.

As Herman mentioned: the sacks UT surrendered weren’t solely on the offensive line. It was on everyone involved in protection, the receivers and the play callers. It was also a result of the talent that the Longhorns faced Saturday. And perhaps the best, all-encompassing example of that is OU linebacker Kenneth Murray’s sack in the early third quarter.

https://giphy.com/gifs/KBUVNXBt9oZIQuw4vA

Facing third-and-11, Ehlinger dropped back facing a five-man rush. The Sooners line flowed left, as Murray stunted behind from a wide-9 alignment on the right tackle’s outside shoulder, all the way back through the A-gap, where the center is positioned. The flow of OU’s line pulled UT’s Shackelford just far enough from his interior spot to give Murray a crease. Murray burst through. The Longhorns had an extra protector in running back Roschon Johnson, but as Murray breached the line and Shackelford got a hit on him, Johnson couldn’t react quickly enough to stop him from getting to Ehlinger, whose receivers hadn’t gotten open.

Even as Murray fell to the ground, he was able to take down Ehlinger.

2. Don’t blame UT’s defense for the OU loss

Yes, the Sooners moved the ball down the field somewhat easily, but Texas managed to produce two turnovers against one of the most efficient offenses in the nation. The surprise of the day was UT’s offense never finding its groove.

In the week leading up to the game, Longhorns coaches had expressed an understanding that it was highly unlikely they were going to stop the Sooners offense. Well, for a while, UT did. The problem is that the offense didn’t show up. It produced four three-and-outs.

Offense was the side of the ball that the Longhorns had relied on throughout the early stages of the season. It boasts experience. It possesses talent. But that didn’t translate. Although there’s something to be said about UT’s average starting position at its own 18, its inability to move the ball falls on both player execution and the coaching staff, which Herman acknowledged following the game.

“We knew how good they were,” Herman said Saturday. “There was no taking them lightly. We knew what we were up against. We knew that their defense had improved, and we certainly saw the things that they were doing offensively.

“We didn’t play well, and we’ve got to figure out — everybody knows the ‘what,’ right? The ‘what’ is that we didn’t play well and we pressed and we’ve got to figure out why. That’s our job as coaches is to get to the root of the issue and make sure that we correct those things and they don’t happen again.”

The question: When will those issues be rendered? There are two losses on the Longhorns’ ledger, both against top-tier opponents. In each defeat, their offense took too long to get going. In both losses, their rushing attack was mostly lifeless, aside from a few bursts. In both contests, their tackling in space left more to be desired.

In recent games, UT has struggled in the return game, too. Devin Duvernay’s dropped fair catch on a kickoff Saturday pinned the Longhorns inside their own 5-yard line in the third quarter. That was followed by costly consecutive false starts by UT, effectively preventing it from potentially tying the game at 17. Instead, the Longhorns punted and OU started with the ball at UT’s 41. Six plays later, the Sooners scored a field goal to go up by 10.

Finally, there’s the matter of the pass game, which had carried the Longhorns, grinding to a discouraging halt against the Sooners defense. Receivers dropped passes, yes, but Ehlinger often held onto the ball too long when his targets were unable to get open. Where Ehlinger has displayed the most growth as a passer this year has been in his ability to read the game, seemingly knowing where and how defenses have lined up. He appeared at least a step behind against OU’s defense Saturday, just as he did for a good portion of the matchup against West Virginia’s defense the previous week. The Mountaineers are solid enough. But against a top opponent, without proper adjustments, it proved too much.

3. OU DC Alex Grinch clear victor in Round 1 vs. Tom Herman/Tim Beck

Nine sacks. Ehlinger wasn’t decisive enough on several of those plays and the offensive line struggled, but Herman and offensive coordinator Tim Beck appeared to be outcoached. Safety blitzes. Corner blitzes. Linebacker blitzes. Twists and stunts. Grinch pulled out all the tricks against UT, and it allowed his defenders to fly around freely and make plays. The Longhorns adjusted in the second half, finding more success as the game went on, but in big games this season, slow starts have prevented them from completing comebacks. They must show the ability to adapt sooner in future contests.

4. Could this be the wake-up call the Longhorns needed?

After the game, Ehlinger made an interesting comment. “We’re going to find out who’s really about it,” he said. “When times get hard, you can either come together or you can separate. And we’ll figure out who really wants to win and who’s really about it.”

Senior safety Brandon Jones offered a similar comment when discussing UT’s missed tackles: “We’re there a lot of times, I think a lot of people just get caught up in wanting to make that big hit. Situationally, sometimes the easiest thing to do is get the guy on the ground. I think as a whole defense, myself included, we’ve got to do a better job of that.”

The Longhorns have fostered a culture in which players provide much of the leadership. In fact, Jones said that Ehlinger delivered an inspirational postgame speech following Saturday’s loss, though he declined to share what the signal-caller told his teammates.

That said, perhaps Saturday’s punch in the mouth and the gutting feeling of walking off the Cotton Bowl field while watching the Sooners celebrate could be the spark the unit needs to play up to the “Texas standard” that players have sworn enables them to compete with any team in the country when performing at their best. There’s still plenty of season left, after all.

5. The atmosphere during the Red River Showdown doesn’t disappoint

At the State Fair of Texas’ epicenter stands a giant man about 55-feet tall, dressed in a khaki cowboy hat, Dickies blue jeans and boots. Below Big Tex, the spectacle is as fun as advertised.

For a first-timer, it can be as pleasant as it is overwhelming. (However, not as overwhelming as the powerful fumes emitted from fryers inside of the Food Court, one would come to learn.)

Smackdab in the heart of a state fair stands the Cotton Bowl, one of college football’s most historic stadiums, where two of the game’s most historic programs travel to square off every year.

Shortly after Texas kicker Cameron Dicker netted a 32-yard field goal with just under seven minutes left Saturday, reporters were allowed to venture down to the field. And the scenes both on the field and in the stands were undoubtedly unique to the Red River rivalry in particular. It was surreal standing near the end zone on UT’s side as OU marched down the field to deliver a final scoring drive. The Longhorns fans yelled with fury as the Sooners neared the goal line, then just as quickly fell silent as Jalen Hurts scored on a 3-yard run with 4:19 minutes left. Though the OU half of the stadium erupted, the hush of Longhorns fans cast its own spell.

Hurts, who caught flak earlier in the week for his comment comparing the magnitude of the Iron Bowl between Auburn and his former school, Alabama, and the Red River game, was asked again about his thoughts on the contest. The first words out of his mouth: “To each their own.”

He’s not wrong. That said, the Red River rivalry, the venue it takes place in and the dedication of its fans makes it tough to top.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Skyline

ClubWhatever · October 15, 2019

Who is (Jones)?

bschoolprof · October 15, 2019

We are?

NoName · October 15, 2019

2 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

Who is (Jones)?

The Athletic's Texas beat writer

https://twitter.com/kaelenjones

Fozzz · October 15, 2019

17 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

You are still waiting for this answer in year 3?

Herman took a Charlie Strong coached squad and turned them into a top 10-15 team in three years.

ClubWhatever · October 15, 2019

58 minutes ago, Fozzz said:

Herman took a Charlie Strong coached squad and turned them into a top 10-15 team in three years.

I'm glad. I wish he would optimize the staff and take us to top 5.

SwanderedTalent · October 15, 2019

this is what you get when you hire mercenaries

Hurts, who caught flak earlier in the week for his comment comparing the magnitude of the Iron Bowl between Auburn and his former school, Alabama, and the Red River game, was asked again about his thoughts on the contest. The first words out of his mouth: “To each their own.”

hornhorn · October 15, 2019

39 minutes ago, SwanderedTalent said:

this is what you get when you hire mercenaries

Meh they(the press) were just baiting him into it. This is also what he said:

“I wouldn’t rather do it with any other group,” Hurts said. “You talk about emotional ties that I have to this university. They are there now. For sure. OU DNA in me.”

4th&Five · October 15, 2019

On 10/12/2019 at 5:32 PM, Neonmoon said:

If he refuses to adapt, face reality, or make changes. It’s Mack Brown all over again.

He'll need to stockpile so much talent that it overshadows his deficiencies as a coach, like Mack. Better assistants would help a lot too.

jinx · October 15, 2019

5 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

We ~~are?~~ were

FIFY

hornian · October 15, 2019

1 hour ago, hornhorn said:

Meh they(the press) were just baiting him into it. This is also what he said:

“I wouldn’t rather do it with any other group,” Hurts said. “You talk about emotional ties that I have to this university. They are there now. For sure. OU DNA in me.”

Hurts really said “OU DNA in me“?

Sounds like the hazing is pretty bad, even for grad transfers.

pacman · October 15, 2019

Quote

When he realized he wasn't going to house it and was surrounded, he valued ball security, knowing that the Sooner DBs would try to stand him up and punch the ball. Two arms on the ball. Veteran stuff.

Nowhere near enough football intelligence like this on the roster.

If anything, most of the players seem to get worse as the years progress as we seem to kill any football instinct they come here with.

Edited October 15, 2019 by pacman

hornhorn · October 15, 2019

33 minutes ago, hornian said:

Hurts really said “OU DNA in me“?

Sounds like the hazing is pretty bad, even for grad transfers.

I'm sure he's someone's cousin on the team.

Ricky Butler · October 15, 2019

2 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

He'll need to stockpile so much talent that it overshadows his deficiencies as a coach, like Mack. Better assistants would help a lot too.

This ignores one thing. The reason we have a good offense and QB play is because of Herman. He needs to make changes to his staff, but he brings a lot more coaching value than Mack.

BigHorn'13 · October 15, 2019

I've read all these articles and I still don't know what the fuck happened on offense. There were red flags galore in the WVU game that something was amiss. After watching the press conference, I think Tom still doesn't know what the issue is.

The only plausible explanation I've heard outside of this being too big for him is Beck getting play calling duties back. I thought it was conjecture as well but fuck...

Also fucks my mind up how RPOs are designed to get the defense in a no win situation but somehow they still win. Shit's all kinds of fucked up.

hornian · October 15, 2019

2 hours ago, hornhorn said:

I'm sure he's someone's cousin on the team.

I think you missed the joke.

westexhorn · October 15, 2019

is our staff teaching basic defensive fundamentals to the team?

6th Street · October 15, 2019

33 minutes ago, BigHorn'13 said:

I've read all these articles and I still don't know what the fuck happened on offense. There were red flags galore in the WVU game that something was amiss. After watching the press conference, I think Tom still doesn't know what the issue is.

The only plausible explanation I've heard outside of this being too big for him is Beck getting play calling duties back. I thought it was conjecture as well but fuck...

Also fucks my mind up how RPOs are designed to get the defense in a no win situation but somehow they still win. Shit's all kinds of fucked up.

When you keep running the same plays over and over again it becomes easy to scheme for and stop.

The playbook is essentially:

1) run up the middle for 1 yard

2) swing pass to Duvernay for 2 yards

3) badly underthrown heave downfield that falls incomplete

occasionally we fall to 3rd and 12 or some shit and are forced to throw over the middle to Duvernay. Otherwise the defense doesn't need to cover the middle of the field.

Levi · October 15, 2019

14 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

When you keep running the same plays over and over again it becomes easy to scheme for and stop.

The playbook is essentially:

1) run up the middle for 1 yard

2) swing pass to Duvernay for 2 yards

3) badly underthrown heave downfield that falls incomplete

occasionally we fall to 3rd and 12 or some shit and are forced to throw over the middle to Duvernay. Otherwise the defense doesn't need to cover the middle of the field.

Jake Smith says hello

6th Street · October 15, 2019

2 minutes ago, DoneWithit said:

Jake Smith says hello

He was targeted once and dropped it

Levi · October 15, 2019

5 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

He was targeted once and dropped it

True. But it feels like they throw over the middle more than we have in previous seasons.

hornhorn · October 15, 2019

47 minutes ago, hornian said:

I think you missed the joke.

I didn't, I just went all in with incest.

jinx · October 16, 2019

1 hour ago, BigHorn'13 said:

I've read all these articles and I still don't know what the fuck happened on offense. There were red flags galore in the WVU game that something was amiss. After watching the press conference, I think Tom still doesn't know what the issue is.

The only plausible explanation I've heard outside of this being too big for him is Beck getting play calling duties back. I thought it was conjecture as well but fuck...

Also fucks my mind up how RPOs are designed to get the defense in a no win situation but somehow they still win. Shit's all kinds of fucked up.

We ran the ball 10 times with RBs. One almost broke 100 yards on 8 carries. The other continued to look afraid to play the game. Our other 2 healthy backs never saw the field that I noticed.

In a game that has been won 18 out of the last 20 times by the team that runs for more yardage, that is an absolutely unforgivable game plan. Beck calling the plays makes sense based on that stat, since he seems to prefer to throw every down.

Hagbard Celine · October 16, 2019

9 hours ago, Fozzz said:

Herman took a Charlie Strong coached squad and turned them into a top 10-15 team in three years.

That's what the money's for.

ClubWhatever · October 16, 2019

Necessary Change for This Season | Defense
– Super K

Amongst blue blood’s moral victories are rare and against your greatest rival, even more infrequent.

No matter how close or what the spread or what the year, each fan base takes this game very personally.

The game was indeed close on the scoreboard but it didn’t feel like the two teams were as close as they should be on the field.

To win the Big 12 championship, Texas will have taken a big step forward. That goal is still in front of them.

They need to put this game behind them, stop the talking and get to work. They should be favorites in every game the rest of the regular season. Win those, and they’ll likely have a chance to redeem themselves against Oklahoma.

But a few things, in my opinion, need to change right away.

***I know this can’t be helped at the moment, but I have to acknowledge the role that injuries are playing and it will lead me to my next point. Texas is without a lot of players on the defensive side of the ball and the “next man” up mentality is great but the bottom line is there is only so much depth in year three of a rebuild.

I can tell you right now that if OU was missing a starting cornerback, the starting nickel back, a starting safety and then during the game a starting linebacker and a starting defensive lineman, it would have made a difference.

People can say what they want about Orlando but he kept Texas in that game. And, it was his squad that gave up those yards in the first half but it was also his squad that had those key turnovers. There is something about the way he coaches that leads to these turnovers. Four INTs against WVU and then two key turnovers against Oklahoma. Once is luck. Twice is skill.

***But part of the reason Orlando’s guys aren’t healthy seems to be because of something that’s bothered me for a while now.

His guys seem way more concerned with playing like their in the 1980s and laying a kill shot on someone than getting a man on the ground.

I remember when OU hired Grinch, I asked one of our sources if he’d be looking for big-hitting safeties. The past few years under Mike Stoops OU’s defense had been Charmin soft. The Texas defense has had these heat-seeking missiles patrolling the field, ready to strike at any time.

Given Grinch’s fiery temperament, the answer surprised me a bit. Source said, no he just wants guys who will get their guy on the ground.

There is wisdom in that and as much as you love a defense to intimidate their opponents with the kind of hits you can hear all the way in Louisiana, it’s becoming a liability.

Where is the technique? The Texas players aren’t even wrapping up. I saw players launching themselves at OU players, head down and arms tucked to their sides only to hit dirt as the OU player went past them.

This is unacceptable and it needs to be addressed immediately.

The result of this poor technique is not only yards for the opposing team but injuries for Texas.

During the WVU, BJ Foster launched himself at a WVU player and laid a massive hit all while dropping his head. It was a highlight hit. But the result was the WVU player walking off like nothing had happened. Meanwhile BJ Foster had injured himself and I must say, it initially looked scary.

I remember Jalen Green launching himself at an LSU player leading to his injury.

Orlando and co need to make tackling with proper technique (head up and wrap up) a priority this week and the remaining weeks. Your physicality shouldn’t come at the expense of results or safety. It comes from seeing things quickly, closing space quickly, and striking your opponent properly.

As much as OU dominated much of that game and as much as people are complaining about the Texas game plan, there is an argument to be made that just tackling well could’ve won that game for Texas.

In my next post, I’ll address what I see as the most critical chance necessary on the offensive side of the ball.

ShowMeALoss · October 16, 2019

Why does Sam continue to throw swing passes when the DB is standing 2 feet away from the receiver? A QB with his experience should know better. Alabama ran a number of swing passes against Aggy that turned into big gains because they had great team blocking. Our WRs just stand around and watch the guy with the ball get tackled. Lots of poor fundamentals all around. Watching how much better Bama, LSU or Ohio State execute their plays makes you realize how far behind Texas still is. They will win most of their games because of the talent advantage, will put up decent fights against top tier teams, and occasionally win a game or two, but they still are far away from being consistent top tier team.

6th Street · October 16, 2019

13 minutes ago, ShowMeALoss said:

Why does Sam continue to throw swing passes when the DB is standing 2 feet away from the receiver? A QB with his experience should know better. Alabama ran a number of swing passes against Aggy that turned into big gains because they had great team blocking. Our WRs just stand around and watch the guy with the ball get tackled. Lots of poor fundamentals all around. Watching how much better Bama, LSU or Ohio State execute their plays makes you realize how far behind Texas still is. They will win most of their games because of the talent advantage, will put up decent fights against top tier teams, and occasionally win a game or two, but they still are far away from being consistent top tier team.

It's easy to stop when you know it's coming - like in Tecmo Super Bowl. Bama, etc don't use that shitty swing pass as a staple of their offense.

ShowMeALoss · October 16, 2019

I keep expecting Mensa to do Mensa things, and yet he keeps letting me down with his sheer stupidity. Tom, time to show us you are better than the rest of us, and hopefully better than FUPM at game planning.

ClubWhatever · October 16, 2019

Football is a simple game made complicated by men who know better.

Block. Tackle.

NoName · October 16, 2019

12 hours ago, jinx said:

We ran the ball 10 times with RBs. One almost broke 100 yards on 8 carries. The other continued to look afraid to play the game. Our other 2 healthy backs never saw the field that I noticed.

he had two rushing attempts and two catches, how in the hell do you make a decision on a guy based on four touches?

if anything, abandoning the run entirely (10 RB touches? come on!) is a failure in every way.

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1. Texas’ offensive line didn’t play well, but shouldn’t shoulder all the blame for Oklahoma’s sacks

2. Don’t blame UT’s defense for the OU loss

3. OU DC Alex Grinch clear victor in Round 1 vs. Tom Herman/Tim Beck

4. Could this be the wake-up call the Longhorns needed?

5. The atmosphere during the Red River Showdown doesn’t disappoint

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