Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 13)

[Ricky Butler 2,809]

When did everyone get so soft?

[Jkwellborn 7,097]

Missy of this is correct. All air all the time is not. There is a reason we recruited and featured great runners.... And run blocking OL...

I think that was more Mack and wanting to be conservative.

When did everyone get so soft?

About 5 minutes after busting.

[gmr548 16,704]

40 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Oof. Damning stuff from BON

 

That is an exhibition in cherry picking data points, not to mention some that are conflicting. 

That said, the overarching theme is one worth talking about, even if the article is kind of trash.

[Fozzz 152]

13 hours ago, satyanash said:

Oof. Damning stuff from BON

 

I think what the Charlie and Herman eras have made clear that a mediocre coach can still struggle to build a quality program even with the relative advantages Texas provides in recruiting.  Even if you recruit well, if you trying to build out from a smoking crater with a mediocre coach even good recruiting will not save you.  The situation might have been different had Brown left before the program totally imploded as I imagine it's a much easier job to act as a caretaker over a still healthy program.  However, I don't think this is a Nebraska-type situation where previous program advantages have evaporated - Texas is still Texas and once a good coach is in place I think things will turn around.  

[Bobby_Batronic 1,994]

17 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think a big part of that was Mack forcing GDGD to run.

He grudgingly stuck run plays in there to appease Mack.  And accidentally on-purpose sabotaged the offense a bit. Left to his own devices, GDGD would have been all air almost all the time.

 

Separate issues. What Greg Davis was forced to run has no bearing on the fact that he never understood constraints and window dressing in either the passing or running game.  

Tim Beck would love to air it out all day too. It doesn’t mean he gets the subtleties of luring defenders into attacking things that end up not happening. 

[satyanash 15,778]

The 2010s: The decade of trying to recapture former glory for the Texas Longhorns

Quote

AUSTIN, Texas — Things have changed drastically for the Texas Longhorns during the last decade. The Longhorns ended the 2000s on a bittersweet note, closing the 2009 season undefeated under the direction of coach Mack Brown. UT played Alabama in the 2010 BCS national championship, where quarterback Colt McCoy, a Heisman Trophy finalist, suffered a pinched nerve in his throwing arm and was forced out of the contest. The injury was perhaps a precursor of the misfortune the Longhorns were due to suffer in the near future. UT lost the game, then suffered through much more turmoil.

In 2010, the Longhorns went 5-7 under Brown, marking the program’s first losing season since 1997. Brown was able to register two eight- and nine-win campaigns during the next three seasons, but never recaptured the success he enjoyed across the previous decade, when he led the Longhorns to a national championship in 2005 and nine consecutive 10-win seasons. UT moved on from Brown after the 2013 season, marking the end of a legendary 16-year tenure.

The Longhorns hired Charlie Strong, hoping the former Louisville head coach could serve as an adequate replacement. However, under Strong, UT not only struggled to find the same success it did under Brown’s regime but also sank further. The Longhorns failed to produce a winning season.

Strong was fired in November 2016. He was replaced by Tom Herman, who had enjoyed success at Houston. Herman was able to get off to a decent start at UT, registering a 7-6 record in his first season. He followed it up with a surprising 10-4 season that featured wins against Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. The success of the 2018 season, in tandem with the emergence of quarterback Sam Ehlinger, has provided UT fans hope that the program can again be a national power. As the decade concludes, it’s clear that there are still steps UT needs to take to attain such status, but the Longhorns have hope as the decade comes to an end.

Texas all-decade team

Offense

QB Sam Ehlinger

RB D’Onta Foreman

RB Malcolm Brown

WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey

WR Mike Davis

TE Andrew Beck

OL Donald Hawkins

OL Kent Perkins

OL Trey Hopkins

OL Connor Williams

OL Samuel Cosmi

Defense

DL Alex Okafor

DL Malcolm Brown

DL Poona Ford

DL Jackson Jeffcoat

LB Keenan Robinson

LB Jordan Hicks

LB Malik Jefferson

CB Quandre Diggs

S Kenny Vaccaro

S Aaron Williams

CB Carrington Byndom

Special teams

K Justin Tucker

P Michael Dickson

A/P Marquise Goodwin

Memorable moments

Texas tops Notre Dame in double-OT thriller (2016)

Coming off back-to-back losing seasons under Charlie Strong, the Longhorns opened their 2016 slate with a highly anticipated, nationally televised game against Notre Dame, ranked 10th in the nation. The blueblood programs produced a doozy of a matchup, as UT pulled out a thrilling 50-47 win in double overtime. For the first time since Bobby Lane in 1944, UT started a true freshman quarterback in Shane Buechele, who answered the call in a big way, throwing for 280 yards and two touchdowns. However, it was Tyrone Swoopes, the senior whom Buechele beat out, who helped give the Longhorns the victory in the end, when he plowed into the end zone for a game-winning 6-yard run in the second extra period, a play that led ESPN’s Joe Tessitore to declare, “Texas is back, folks!”

Texas loses to Kansas (2016)

It’s almost impossible to mention the recent plight of the Longhorns without bringing up their defeat at Kansas. The 24-21 overtime loss marked the first UT had suffered against the Jayhawks since 1938, and it underscored the disappointment of the Charlie Strong era. Despite running back D’Onta Foreman’s 250 yards and two touchdowns, KU pulled off the stunning upset behind six takeaways, including three interceptions of Buechele. The Jayhawks rallied from an 11-point deficit in the early fourth quarter to force overtime. UT’s defeat prevented Strong’s squad from attaining bowl eligibility with one regular-season game remaining, and the elation from the win against Notre Dame had long dissipated.

Texas hires Tom Herman (2016)

On Nov. 26, 2016, the Longhorns hired Herman, the former Ohio State offensive coordinator before he took over at Houston. UT went 16-21 in three seasons under Strong but landed Herman, considered one of the top possible hires at the time, in hopes of returning the program to glory. “What is important,” UT president Greg Fenves said at Herman’s introductory conference, “is in the end, we got our man.” The Longhorns managed to gain Herman’s signature after fending off interest from LSU. In his first season, Herman led UT to its first winning season since 2013. In his second year, he notched the program’s first 10-win campaign since 2009, in addition to capturing a Sugar Bowl win.

Sam Ehlinger proclaims Texas is “baaaaaack!” (2019 Sugar Bowl)

As ESPN’s broadcast flashed a pair of Longhorns making snow angels out of burnt orange confetti on the field, Holly Rowe asked Sam Ehlinger how UT’s Sugar Bowl win against Georgia would serve as a springboard into the next year. When the screen cut back to Ehlinger, smirking as he held his hands behind his back awaiting his turn to speak, the quarterback couldn’t help but respond with, “Longhorn Nation, we’re baaaaack!” The statement, one drawn out of pure exhilaration, would ring through the ensuing offseason and into the next year. It perhaps inadvertently put greater scrutiny on the immediate state of UT’s football program, for better or worse.

Top games

Texas vs. Texas A&M (2011)

The 2011 meeting at Kyle Field served as the final installment of the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry through at least this decade, but it lived up to the hype. The Longhorns won 27-25 on a 40-yard winning field goal by Justin Tucker. UT used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to come back from a 9-point deficit, before the Aggies rallied in the fourth. Quarterback Case McCoy’s gutsy 25-yard scramble on the final possession helped set up Tucker’s winner and gave the Longhorns what continues to be the last word on the rivalry.

Texas vs. Oklahoma (2018)

The Longhorns halted a two-game losing streak to archrival No. 7 Oklahoma with a thrilling 48-45 win in the 2018 Red River Showdown. Cameron Dicker’s game-winning field goal gave UT its fifth consecutive victory of the season, and its first win against the Sooners under Herman. Ehlinger outdueled OU’s Kyler Murray, throwing for 314 yards and two touchdowns, in addition to 72 yards on the ground and three rushing touchdowns. The Longhorns’ victory served as a defining moment for their season, one that proved they were capable of potentially playing at the level of the elite.

Texas vs. Georgia (2019 Sugar Bowl)

After falling short in the Big 12 title game, the Longhorns bounced back, putting an exclamation point on an encouraging 2018 season —Herman’s second as head coach — with a 28-21 victory against SEC powerhouse Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. UT outmuscled the Bulldogs en route to capturing a monumental New Year’s Six Bowl win. It also notched the program’s first 10-win season since 2009. They dominated a UGA squad touted as one of the best teams in the country behind Ehlinger, who rushed for three touchdowns, and a sturdy defense that limited the Bulldogs to 284 total yards and forced two turnovers. The victory instilled hope that the Longhorns were ready to compete at a top level again as a program.

Player of the decade

Sam Ehlinger

The great recent eras of Texas football have been best characterized by program-changing quarterbacks. Vince Young was responsible for ushering in a national championship under Mack Brown and is considered one of the great signal callers in school history. Colt McCoy was deservedly held in similar regard. While Sam Ehlinger may not have captured a national championship or led the Longhorns to an appearance to the College Football Playoff — yet, at least — Ehlinger is responsible for the thought of a potential return even being a possibility.

Ehlinger arrived in 2016, following a years-long stretch of underwhelming quarterback play at UT. Leading into and throughout the decade, the Longhorns passed or whiffed on signing several high-profile in-state quarterback recruits — including Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M, 2011), Trevor Knight (Oklahoma/Texas A&M, 2012), J.T. Barrett (Ohio State, 2013), Kenny Hill (Texas A&M, 2013), Patrick Mahomes (Texas Tech, 2014), Kyler Murray (Texas A&M, 2015) and Jarrett Stidham (Baylor, 2015) — while struggling to find a standout signal caller. Surprisingly, after usurping Shane Buechele as the starter, Ehlinger emerged from the 2016 class as a star under Herman’s tutelage.

Similar to the progression of Ehlinger’s own stunning maturation and rise, the program has undergone a promising transformation through the final years of the decade, with high points suggesting an upward trajectory that is best personified and guided by Ehlinger. His career has coincided with a time the Longhorns needed on-field salvation to rescue the program. He took that role on, willingly, and has mostly thrived, helping raise expectations and reinstituting a championship standard around the Forty Acres that was absent before his arrival.

 

[Red Five 41,814]

This is your busy season, gash.