Fire Mike Yurcich

[jinx 2635]

It don’t make a shit.  
 

the guy calling the offense on Saturday, whoever’s offense it was, scored 45 points on over 400 yards passing in a half of football.  That’s impressive 

[stork642 4498]

I think both of their offensive philosophies are pretty similar but Yurcish having the time to focus solely on every little detail of the offensive scheme created a better outcome.  Oh and having a 4th year veteran QB doesn’t hurt.  

[touchthemonolith 646]

2 minutes ago, jinx said:

It don’t make a shit.  
 

the guy calling the offense on Saturday, whoever’s offense it was, scored 45 points on over 400 yards passing in a half of football.  That’s impressive 

I should be clear: I think Yurcich is likely to succeed here. He couldn't have gotten off to a better start and it'll be hard for him to be unproductive with Ehlinger under center, behind an offensive line anchored by a first-round caliber LT, with that stable of running backs, and with good--if unproven--WRs. But I'm now just naturally wary against declaring any coordinator as "the guy" after a few impressive early showings. We were singing praises about Todd Orlando until teams figured him out. The wunderkind Tom Herman got predictable with his playcalling and teams seemed to figure him out. Hell, I remember after watching us hang up 50 points on Notre Dame thinking that we'd found our guy in Sterlin Gilbert (who to be fair was trash and didn't have a resume at all like Yurcich). 

So I have to think it's reasonable to temper expectations from a coordinator after one (albeit great) game against a bad Conference USA team, when no one is exactly sure what this offense is going to look like.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1 hour ago, touchthemonolith said:

I should be clear: I think Yurcich is likely to succeed here. He couldn't have gotten off to a better start and it'll be hard for him to be unproductive with Ehlinger under center, behind an offensive line anchored by a first-round caliber LT, with that stable of running backs, and with good--if unproven--WRs. But I'm now just naturally wary against declaring any coordinator as "the guy" after a few impressive early showings. We were singing praises about Todd Orlando until teams figured him out. The wunderkind Tom Herman got predictable with his playcalling and teams seemed to figure him out. Hell, I remember after watching us hang up 50 points on Notre Dame thinking that we'd found our guy in Sterlin Gilbert (who to be fair was trash and didn't have a resume at all like Yurcich). 

So I have to think it's reasonable to temper expectations from a coordinator after one (albeit great) game against a bad Conference USA team, when no one is exactly sure what this offense is going to look like.

This is a very reasonable take.

however, this is how I choose take Coach Yur-my-bitch’s first outing:

 

 

[texasstrong12 4668]

1 hour ago, touchthemonolith said:

Then I'm probably misinformed. I was under the impression that he'd kinda been brought in to put his 'spin' on Tom Herman's offense while taking over playcalling duties for the offense rather than installing an offense that was all his own.

The offense was definitely different from a scheme perspective. 

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by texasstrong12

[texifornia 56993]

Look at us, doing OU things on offense. So proud.

 

[RollLeft 5045]

46 minutes ago, texifornia said:

Look at us, doing OU things on offense. So proud.

 

Is he also shocked at how often holding isn't called?

[WBT 20609]

Damnit, we need to not do that.  Otherwise I might feel a little twinge when bitching about ou dong it.

[Burt Macklin 19038]

8 hours ago, touchthemonolith said:

Then I'm probably misinformed. I was under the impression that he'd kinda been brought in to put his 'spin' on Tom Herman's offense while taking over playcalling duties for the offense rather than installing an offense that was all his own. I was also under the impression that Mike Gundy has a significant voice in OSU's offense. But I could be dead wrong.

Both Gundy and Herman obviously have input because they’re offensive HCs, but the schemes for both teams changed when Yurcich got there and he’s the one calling plays. Those are his offenses even if influenced by the HCs some. 
 

I think it was somewhat of an open question when he was hired about how much reign Herman would have him, but what we saw on Saturday night was all Yurcich’s offense. There were a ton of concepts and formations we’ve basically never seen under Herman in three years, and I’m extremely encouraged by that. Herman was an elite OC and play caller, but he obviously loses that when he’s trying to do that and be a HC week to week (he was still able to conjure up great game plans and performances when he had more time to prep for bowl games). 
 

8 hours ago, touchthemonolith said:

I should be clear: I think Yurcich is likely to succeed here. He couldn't have gotten off to a better start and it'll be hard for him to be unproductive with Ehlinger under center, behind an offensive line anchored by a first-round caliber LT, with that stable of running backs, and with good--if unproven--WRs. But I'm now just naturally wary against declaring any coordinator as "the guy" after a few impressive early showings. We were singing praises about Todd Orlando until teams figured him out. The wunderkind Tom Herman got predictable with his playcalling and teams seemed to figure him out. Hell, I remember after watching us hang up 50 points on Notre Dame thinking that we'd found our guy in Sterlin Gilbert (who to be fair was trash and didn't have a resume at all like Yurcich). 

So I have to think it's reasonable to temper expectations from a coordinator after one (albeit great) game against a bad Conference USA team, when no one is exactly sure what this offense is going to look like.

And this is fair. I was just giving you a hard time with my first post. But like I said above, Yurcich has already proven himself in this conference and we have elite offensive minds in this conference, not defensive ones. A DC getting figured out happens way more often than an OC, so that’s a huge distinction. Gilbert knee how to install the Briles system but didnt really understand how to run it and had no counters. We already know from years of experience that’s not the case with Yurcich. 
 

I think the biggest factor that could affect our offense isn’t really whether teams will figure out the scheme but how our OL holds up against better competition. They didn’t have a great performance against UTEP and if they struggle more against better teams, it could certainly bog down the offense. 

[RollLeft 5045]

59 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

I think it was somewhat of an open question when he was hired about how much reign Herman would have him, but what we saw on Saturday night was all Yurcich’s offense. There were a ton of concepts and formations we’ve basically never seen under Herman in three years, and I’m extremely encouraged by that. Herman was an elite OC and play caller, but he obviously loses that when he’s trying to do that and be a HC week to week (he was still able to conjure up great game plans and performances when he had more time to prep for bowl games). 
 

....

No.  Both are on record as saying its 50/50 of each.  Not just because of overlap rather they didn't want Sam to have to learn 100 % new system in his senior season.  Now it was 100% Yurcich calling plays, rhythm and flow and that is what we want. There was plenty of Th's offense that Beck just wouldn't run.  One could speculate for many reasons but let's keep it simple and just say he sucks.  

LIke you said Herman as an OC, prior to being infected about worrying about the time defense spent on the field, was a all about yards and points and gnf's about what the defense had to do.  Now as a young HC he knee jerked the other way and has worried too much about it so an anemic Beck was ok for him. 

I'm sure the % of Yurcich's offense will grow as it should, if it works.   We just need Ash to recruit and coach enough dudes to stay on the field more.  

Edited September 15, 2020 by RollLeft

[crash_davis 23113]

I remembered watching OSU and thinking how the fuck are so many receivers open and why the fuck can't Texas get an OC who designs plays to creates routes to stress the D leading to open receivers. 10 fucking years later, Texas finally hired an OC worthy of being on the staff at Texas. Yurcich, a Senior QB, and a stable talented QB room is going to change the direction of this program. We can now win track meet games if needed, which is something that we could never say in the previous 10 years.

Who'da thunk it? Coaching matters.

Fuck Mack, Strong and Herman's last few years for having fucking shitty ass coordinators. 

[DanTheHorn 4933]

1 hour ago, crash_davis said:

I remembered watching OSU and thinking how the fuck are so many receivers open and why the fuck can't Texas get an OC who designs plays to creates routes to stress the D leading to open receivers. 10 fucking years later, Texas finally hired an OC worthy of being on the staff at Texas. Yurcich, a Senior QB, and a stable talented QB room is going to change the direction of this program. We can now win track meet games if needed, which is something that we could never say in the previous 10 years.

Who'da thunk it? Coaching matters.

Fuck Mack, Strong and Herman's last few years for having fucking shitty ass coordinators. 

There is no way Mack can be included in the level of screw up Strong and Herman exhibited. Strong hired a guy which we made fun of for years for sucking at Nebraska and Herman hired a guy that got fired at Ohio State for sucking. No one here thought those guys had a chance of becoming successful. Mack hired Harsin which many here wanted and Applewhite which quite a few here thought could do fine.  Mack was the issue and not his coordinators, he put the handcuffs on his coordinators because he decided to run an offense for which the talent was not available. Most of all Mack became complacent toward the end. Yurcich is much better than those Mack guys and I am glad to see a guy that does not throw the ball behind the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 6, yet I do not agree on the Mack OC comparisons to Watson and Beck.

[shakahorn 1645]

Meant to post this earlier when Yurcich is showing off his plays but it sure seems like all of those plays need excellent pass pro to work well.  Or a weak opposing D. Nothing in those plays says 'assume all of a sudden the DE is in the backfield, or they blitz, here's what Sam does.'  I get it, it's hard to put that in a post, and you can't give everything away, but still.  Well, that's what we got Saturday night, Sam had all day to figure out where to throw it.  Sure would like to see what happens against a stronger D.

[Sleepygrad 1029]

goddamn, Mack deciding to completely switch things up after our loss to Alabama in the rose bowl is still one of the most perplexing decisions I've ever heard of....especially given the offensive style suited to our current players at the time

[taybo20 2877]

It’s all about the OL and it has been the last decade. This isn’t new and it’s been a big complaint. It shouldn’t be a surprise ousux has done so well, they always have the best OL. I wasn’t necessarily impressed with the OL against utep. They need to be better ultimately for us to win. 

[Hiphopopotamos 20875]

10 minutes ago, shakahorn said:

Meant to post this earlier when Yurcich is showing off his plays but it sure seems like all of those plays need excellent pass pro to work well.  Or a weak opposing D. Nothing in those plays says 'assume all of a sudden the DE is in the backfield, or they blitz, here's what Sam does.'  I get it, it's hard to put that in a post, and you can't give everything away, but still.  Well, that's what we got Saturday night, Sam had all day to figure out where to throw it.  Sure would like to see what happens against a stronger D.

I understand your concern - but how many strong defenses do you expect this team to face this year?

TCU, maybe?  Baylor?  Maybe Iowa St improves from that truly awful debut?

And if/when they do face a tough defense in the playoff they'll be 11 games into this new offense and will have plenty of game reps for just about every situation.

[Valmy77 13240]

8 minutes ago, taybo20 said:

It’s all about the OL and it has been the last decade. This isn’t new and it’s been a big complaint. It shouldn’t be a surprise ousux has done so well, they always have the best OL. I wasn’t necessarily impressed with the OL against utep. They need to be better ultimately for us to win. 

Yep. Watching the Oline collapse while Mack did nothing 2006-2009 was so painful. 

[crash_davis 23113]

43 minutes ago, DanTheHorn said:

There is no way Mack can be included in the level of screw up Strong and Herman exhibited. Strong hired a guy which we made fun of for years for sucking at Nebraska and Herman hired a guy that got fired at Ohio State for sucking. No one here thought those guys had a chance of becoming successful. Mack hired Harsin which many here wanted and Applewhite which quite a few here thought could do fine.  Mack was the issue and not his coordinators, he put the handcuffs on his coordinators because he decided to run an offense for which the talent was not available. Most of all Mack became complacent toward the end. Yurcich is much better than those Mack guys and I am glad to see a guy that does not throw the ball behind the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 6, yet I do not agree on the Mack OC comparisons to Watson and Beck.

Harsin was the only coordinator worthy of being at Texas. Everyone else was meh or sucked. It took Vince saying leave me the fuck alone for Texas to win a Natty for Mack. Mack almost won with Colt, but Colt was the most accurate college passer in history and had 2 NFL receivers to throw to. 

[Burt Macklin 19038]

37 minutes ago, shakahorn said:

Meant to post this earlier when Yurcich is showing off his plays but it sure seems like all of those plays need excellent pass pro to work well.  Or a weak opposing D. Nothing in those plays says 'assume all of a sudden the DE is in the backfield, or they blitz, here's what Sam does.'  I get it, it's hard to put that in a post, and you can't give everything away, but still.  Well, that's what we got Saturday night, Sam had all day to figure out where to throw it.  Sure would like to see what happens against a stronger D.

Huh? We ran plenty of quick hitters, Including screens, RPO slants, and crossers. we have hot reads if a team shows blitz, but UTEP didn’t do it much. I do specifically remember Sam calling a hot read on one UTEP blitz though. Yurcich has a lot of options routes and route combos that use a hi-lo, So some of the reads are dictated by the defense.
Ultimately, if Sam has time, why wouldn’t he go for the deep shots? I’m not sure why the team would get the ball out quick on hot calls or short reads when we don’t have to. 

[DanTheHorn 4933]

12 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

Harsin was the only coordinator worthy of being at Texas. Everyone else was meh or sucked. It took Vince saying leave me the fuck alone for Texas to win a Natty for Mack. Mack almost won with Colt, but Colt was the most accurate college passer in history and had 2 NFL receivers to throw to. 

Your post was the "previous 10 years." Now we go back to Vince and GDGD? Mack was the issue when he changed the offense after losing to Alabama. You tried to put Mack in the same category as Strong and Herman's hires. Now you say Harsin was worthy? You have made my point for me.

[LTtxfan 49245]

47 minutes ago, shakahorn said:

Meant to post this earlier when Yurcich is showing off his plays but it sure seems like all of those plays need excellent pass pro to work well.  Or a weak opposing D. Nothing in those plays says 'assume all of a sudden the DE is in the backfield, or they blitz, here's what Sam does.'  I get it, it's hard to put that in a post, and you can't give everything away, but still.  Well, that's what we got Saturday night, Sam had all day to figure out where to throw it.  Sure would like to see what happens against a stronger D.

Wonder what the average length of Sam's throws were vs UTEP -- tons of YAC Saturday lead to the the 400+ yard day for Sam??

Watching UTEP game reminded me of an offensive pass route concept much closer to what Joe Brady was running at LSU --  Should be much more effective against blitzes...

[maninblack 7974]

17 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Wonder what the average length of Sam's throws were vs UTEP -- tons of YAC Saturday lead to the the 400+ yard day for Sam??

His YPA was 12.9 which if that holds would be a significant increase over previous years.

[Thermos H. Christ 478]

On 9/13/2020 at 6:40 PM, Neonmoon said:

We all thought Manny Diaz and Todd Orlando were godsends their first season. Which just shows you we are all idiots. 

To be fair, they were... in their first season. Greg Robinson was also a godsend when he took over for Manny Diaz in 2013. And Vance Bedford's defense was pretty amazing in 2014, at least until they would finally give out from lack of depth and always being on the field. For whatever reason, whenever we bring in a new DC we instantly have a kickass defense and then it falls apart in year two, and after year three when it doesn't get  fixed we repeat the cycle. Clearly the answer is to get rid of the DC every year even though we had an amazing defense because it was their first year. I think we can pay them enough to make it worth their while, especially since it barely even seems to matter who it is as long as they're new.

I'm sure part of it is the opposing coaches just figuring a defense out after a while, and probably a new DC is more likely to focus on getting the fundamentals sound and keep things simple than a DC who is in year 2-3 and thinking more about getting their whole schematic system up and running. But even accounting for that it's weird how consistent it is.

[jinx 2635]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

Wonder what the average length of Sam's throws were vs UTEP -- tons of YAC Saturday lead to the the 400+ yard day for Sam??

Watching UTEP game reminded me of an offensive pass route concept much closer to what Joe Brady was running at LSU --  Should be much more effective against blitzes...

While I was reading your first sentence I was thinking your second sentence.

Joe made a ton of yardage beating the blitz by connecting quick and watching his guy run.  Anyone remember 3rd and 17?

Edited September 15, 2020 by jinx

[Jack Wilson 313]

2 minutes ago, jinx said:

While I was reading your first sentence I was thinking your second sentence.

Joe made a ton of yardage beating the blitz by connecting quick and watching his guy run.  Anyone remember 3rd and 17?

It's now referred to as "third and Orlando."

[WBT 20609]

1 hour ago, DanTheHorn said:

Your post was the "previous 10 years." Now we go back to Vince and GDGD? Mack was the issue when he changed the offense after losing to Alabama. You tried to put Mack in the same category as Strong and Herman's hires. Now you say Harsin was worthy? You have made my point for me.

Why are you defending Mack?  Neither gdgd nor Applewhite are good enough to be oc at Texas.  Harsin was here for 2 of Mack's 16 years and even then was only a "co-"

[Lerka Lerka 1087]

31 minutes ago, jinx said:

 Anyone remember 3rd and 17?

Too soon, bro. 

[DanTheHorn 4933]

24 minutes ago, WBT said:

Why are you defending Mack?  Neither gdgd nor Applewhite are good enough to be oc at Texas.  Harsin was here for 2 of Mack's 16 years and even then was only a "co-"

I am not defending Mack, I am just saying the Strong's and Herman's hires of Watson and Beck were in their own stratosphere of incompetence. Mack's hire of Harsin and Applewhite cannot be compared to be in the same neighborhood. Applewhite was not a proven terrible hire at every stop at the time or even now the way Watson and Beck were known to be before they got hired here.

[RollLeft 5045]

3 hours ago, taybo20 said:

It’s all about the OL and it has been the last decade. This isn’t new and it’s been a big complaint. It shouldn’t be a surprise ousux has done so well, they always have the best OL. I wasn’t necessarily impressed with the OL against utep. They need to be better ultimately for us to win. 

Our oline was better last year and they still beat us.  The oline has been an issue but the oc, imo was a bigger issue.

[Happy Gilmore 1001]

3 hours ago, taybo20 said:

It’s all about the OL and it has been the last decade. This isn’t new and it’s been a big complaint. It shouldn’t be a surprise ousux has done so well, they always have the best OL. I wasn’t necessarily impressed with the OL against utep. They need to be better ultimately for us to win. 

I'm gonna assume you weren't impressed with OU's Line on Saturday either then. Not sure they broke 100 yards rushing against Missouri State. (without Brooks and Stevenson but still its Missouri State) 

Edited September 15, 2020 by Happy Gilmore
It was over 120 but still meh considering the competition

[RollLeft 5045]

1 hour ago, DanTheHorn said:

I am not defending Mack, I am just saying the Strong's and Herman's hires of Watson and Beck were in their own stratosphere of incompetence. Mack's hire of Harsin and Applewhite cannot be compared to be in the same neighborhood. Applewhite was not a proven terrible hire at every stop at the time or even now the way Watson and Beck were known to be before they got hired here.

Mack's decision to change our offense set us back a decade and imo is worse than all three scenarios.  It was this great mistake that lead to his demise.  I was not on the Harsin bandwagon but only now can i see how egregious that move was.  I'm not saying Harsin was bad, he just wasn't good for us.  Frankly Watson was a head scratcher and i'm sure Harsin, though not my choice, would have done better given time.  Again, we were ahead of the curve with zone read/spread offense.  Tech, Baylor, Aggie, Okie st, Ou all went to those types of offenses we were already dominating at.  At that time they were trying to keep up with us.  Then Mack f'd us.  We are just now getting back to the type of O we won a championship with.   Furthermore, for all his faults GDGD at least learned to adapt the offense to his personnel, ala VY and Colt.  He was a pro style offense guy who for the most part put his old crap system aside, except when he didn't (see  3rd and 5 old shitty habits), and called a hell of a zone read/spread play games.  We averaged some points in those days.  Unbelievably it wasn't enough.  The masses called for his head and mack went, need to run like Bama, Harsin offense.  Ugh.    

Edited September 15, 2020 by RollLeft

[LTtxfan 49245]

Great start...

 

[Jkwellborn 6708]

Huh? We ran plenty of quick hitters, Including screens, RPO slants, and crossers. we have hot reads if a team shows blitz, but UTEP didn’t do it much. I do specifically remember Sam calling a hot read on one UTEP blitz though. Yurcich has a lot of options routes and route combos that use a hi-lo, So some of the reads are dictated by the defense.
Ultimately, if Sam has time, why wouldn’t he go for the deep shots? I’m not sure why the team would get the ball out quick on hot calls or short reads when we don’t have to. 

What’s Sam’s completion % on deep balls? He needs to be smart picking what to throw.

[taybo20 2877]

16 hours ago, Happy Gilmore said:

I'm gonna assume you weren't impressed with OU's Line on Saturday either then. Not sure they broke 100 yards rushing against Missouri State. (without Brooks and Stevenson but still its Missouri State) 

I didn’t watch that game because who gives a fuck. It doesn’t takeaway the fact our OL needs to be better. Not the fact that largely it has sucked for 10 years

[LTtxfan 49245]

Saw this on 247.  Yurcich as OC at Okie Lite vs Patrick Mahomes and Tech. 

Okie Lite scored 70pts.

Washington scores on reverse play like the one JWhitt ran vs UTEP at 40:45 mark

 

Yurcich sighting at 45:24 mark.  Yurcich used 2QBs in this game...

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by LTtxfan

[El Squared 1802]

On 9/15/2020 at 11:32 AM, shakahorn said:

Meant to post this earlier when Yurcich is showing off his plays but it sure seems like all of those plays need excellent pass pro to work well.  Or a weak opposing D. Nothing in those plays says 'assume all of a sudden the DE is in the backfield, or they blitz, here's what Sam does.'  I get it, it's hard to put that in a post, and you can't give everything away, but still.  Well, that's what we got Saturday night, Sam had all day to figure out where to throw it.  Sure would like to see what happens against a stronger D.

True, but Sam was also getting the ball out quick on many plays and this succeeded because receivers were actively trying to get open, the TE was actually used and had to be accounted for, and there were few dropped passes.

Being consistent with multiple weapons can compromise even the best defenses.Lastly, going out on a shaky limb here but there  are not many strong defenses in the league .

[Happy Gilmore 1001]

On 9/15/2020 at 11:46 AM, Hiphopopotamos said:

I understand your concern - but how many strong defenses do you expect this team to face this year?

TCU, maybe?  Baylor?  Maybe Iowa St improves from that truly awful debut?

And if/when they do face a tough defense in the playoff they'll be 11 games into this new offense and will have plenty of game reps for just about every situation.

Baylor may have Aranda but it's gonna take him a year or two to get the defense where he wants it. They lost ALOT on the defensive side of the ball. Really wanna skull fuck them in Austin. I have to put up with Waco people almost everyday. 

[satyanash 14529]

(Ian Boyd) Inside the gameplan: The Longhorns show off their schematic makeover

Quote

After a tumultuous offseason, we finally got to see the Longhorns take the field on Saturday night. Following the hiring of new coordinators on both sides of the ball, Texas received what proved to be a fairly extensive makeover and finally gave the reveal to their fans. The new look was striking.

Mike Yurcich has finally dragged Texas all the way into the world of pass-first offense, eschewing the option of trying to establish the run against a UTEP team clearly anticipating that approach and instead empowering Sam Ehlinger to fling the ball around. When Texas threw the ball on a vertical RPO to the wide side of the field for a touchdown on the first play of the game they broadcast a loud message to the rest of the Big 12.

Chris Ash’s defense wasn’t quite what I envisioned but was certainly in line with practice reports. They rarely gave the quarterback a clean pre-snap look but used a lot of clever, well-timed coverage shifts, achieving the “look complicated but be simple” model Ash emphasized in the offseason. After reviewing the game I was able to get a solid sense of how the base schemes work and what to expect from Texas in 2020.

Ash’s base defense

I was thrown off by how much cover 3 Ash played early in the game. They’d start from a two-high/quarters look but then always roll into a single high coverage. It was typically one you wouldn’t guess from the initial alignment.

I’ve been watching how teams rotate coverages for years now and sometimes you can tell pre-snap what’s really coming because of the offensive formation and alignment rules out all but one option. Not so with this unit, they’d show a coverage that would make sense against the formation only to shift into another one (that also made sense). Here’s an example:

Before the snap it looks like the sort of trips coverage in which the boundary safety helps rob the post from the boundary receivers while the nickel has to play like a corner to the field. Instead, the field safety rotated down late to help the middle linebacker with the slots and the boundary safety rotated deep, leaving the boundary corner in man coverage.

Eventually they played more of the press-quarters we expected, but they showed more in this game than just one base coverage. The apparent diversity and commitment to disguise should be encouraging to Texas fans. Philosophically it’s much closer to the approach by teams like 2019 Kansas State, putting an emphasis on having multiple options to leverage receivers rather than using valuable practice time to nail down a gazillion pressure packages. In the Big 12 you need options to clamp down on top receivers, if you’re utilizing a four-down front then you’ve already made a lot of concessions to the needs of the pass-rush. You don’t double down against an ace.

The big question every team faces is how to handle trips formations, a topic we’ve covered here extensively in the offseason. When the offense loads three receivers to one side of the field, then another (maybe the best one) alone on the boundary, how do you handle the spacing? Texas had three answers in this game. The base approach in their press-quarters scheme was “solo,” a coverage which asks the field safety to help the nickel over the top, the boundary safety to help over the top for the middle linebacker, and then leaves the boundary corner in man coverage on the backside.

If the boundary safety isn’t occupied by the need to catch that third receiver going vertical, or if he’s really good with his eyes, he might be able to help the boundary corner on a post route. He’s not helping on fades or comebacks though, that’s all on the corner. You’ll notice in both of these instances Texas had Josh Thompson on the boundary (he stays on the left side) and he made plays. UTEP took a shot on Thompson when he was left alone on a deep post to the wide side of the field as well. The boundary safety (B.J. Foster) wasn’t aware and didn’t get depth to help him out, but Thompson still shut it down.

Texas had two other trips coverages in this game. One was “cover 3-buzz mable,” which has the strong safety rotate down to help the middle linebacker, the boundary safety drop to the deep middle, and the corners and even nickel potentially isolated. Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” made this one famous, buzzing down Kam Chancellor and dropping Earl Thomas deep while asking Richard Sherman to hold up in man coverage on the backside. The other trips coverage was a more extreme version of the same thing, fire zone coverage with man or match coverage everywhere and then a single deep safety over the top. Texas brought a fire zone on the first defensive snap of the game, perhaps to troll me.

Those blitzes will be useful in attacking the Big 12 offensive lines that can’t handle 1-on-1 matchups. As defensive mastermind Bill Belichik says, you blitz bad lines and you drop eight against good ones. You want to attack the enemy on the worst possible turf for him. I’m sure Sun Tzu has some quote or another expressing this concept. You don’t want to blitz the better lines as much. I think we’ve all seen enough now to understand why not.

The next big question on defense should be pretty well answered by the Texas Tech game. The coverages Texas showed against UTEP usually gave corners help on the post route but they would concede the slot fade to the nickel in the single-high coverages (see the near touchdown against Chris Adimora) and they trusted Thompson and Jamison to hold up against fade routes. Texas Tech is going to go after those defenders and coverages with those exact routes executed by a big, dangerous receiving corps. We’ll see if Ash has some coverages in the playbook to help Thompson out or if the redshirt junior is simply good enough to play on an island regardless of the opponent.

Mike Yurcich’s offense

This was my favorite play of the game.

They hurried into this set, and you can see the UTEP strong safety struggling to figure out where he’s supposed to be. A now screen to the bottom might have been easy yardage for Texas, or at least it would be if they’d executed it properly. They’re also running inside zone and it’s right on the edge of being called for “ineligible man downfield” (Kerstetter). So Ehlinger has three options on the play, throw to the bottom, hand off, or throw to the top, based on where the defense aligns numbers.

What makes this design so effective is the three receivers loaded into the boundary. They create a lot of space for the single side receiver to the field, like an isolation clear out in a basketball game. UTEP, as most teams would in this situation, gives Brenden Schooler a lot of space to avoid getting beat over the top. Schooler runs a hitch route and then after a nice ball and a stiff-arm he’s running all alone with the rest of the Miners on the other side of the field. The better answer from UTEP would have been to surrender an easy run, but that wasn’t their gameplan.

We’ll call this one “touchdown play 2.0.” It’s an unbalanced sort of formation they can easily get into while moving at “warp speed,” just like they can with the 4x0 tight zone/bubble screen RPO they ran so often in 2019 (and used twice in this game). The defense has to figure out how to align to it very quickly and then Ehlinger is in position to make quick decisions and distribute the ball in space to playmakers.

There’s no reason Texas couldn’t mix in such schemes regularly and have a half dozen or more “touchdown plays” with wonky, perhaps unbalanced formations and multiple options attached to runs for Sam Ehlinger to choose from. Don’t be surprised if they do, what else is a senior quarterback for?

It’s hard to overstate how deadly such a dimension to the offense could be this season. Texas has never had an offense designed to use spread formations and tempo to generate space and options for their quarterback to distribute the ball to playmakers with room to make something happen. There are diminishing returns against top defenses with time to gameplan all your favorite “touchdown plays” but then Texas can fall back on the pro-spread, “isolate the top receiver” schemes they’ve been uniquely good at in recent seasons.

As for receivers, there are a few obvious options for getting looks on third-and-six. Tarik Black had a fantastic opening game, catching a few shallow crosses and hitch passes while narrowly missing a touchdown when Ehlinger slightly overthrew him on a post. Brenden Schooler hasn’t done much yet, except demonstrate great technique on his two hitch route catches and break tackles in both instances (one captured above). After another two weeks he might be able to greatly expand his role. Josh Moore is not only blazing fast but also went up for a catch in the seam on a four-verticals play and accepted the punishment that came from exposing his small body. Very promising showing from Moore. We’ve still yet to even see Jake Smith, who was reportedly developing a great connection with Ehlinger before the injury.

Brennan Eagles made a fantastic touchdown catch but also struggled with his assignments and once ran into another receiver while trying to run a snag route. Texas notably diminished their emphasis on RPOs when Eagles replaced Collin Johnson at the X a year ago. If he’s still not reliably in the right spots there’s more competition to keep him on the bench this year.

Texas also made some use of 12 personnel. This time instead of using it as a way to guarantee enough hats in the box to run the ball regardless of what the defense did, Ehlinger was empowered to throw the ball outside when the defense loaded the box and gave him 1-on-1 matchups outside.

There was very much a 2017 Oklahoma vibe to the Longhorn offense against UTEP. Those Sooners also had a senior quarterback executing a wide array of schemes designed to help inexperienced wideouts. Texas will need to find 1-2 players who can beat man coverage against top defenders and command extra attention to reach their ceiling as an offense, but I think the days of Texas struggling to blow away weaker Big 12 opponents are over.

Really the only significant concerns from this game were on the offensive line, where Texas wasn’t able to consistently impose their will against a loaded box. This offense isn’t necessarily designed to do that, which should be seen as a mercy for Texas fans, and the run blocking wasn’t really so bad anyways. Some of it was even a touch different than a year go. It seems Yurcich didn’t allow a pandemic to stop him from putting more emphasis on outside zone blocking like he had at Oklahoma State and Ohio State:

Texas’ lighter offensive line looked pretty comfortable moving laterally, was that the plan all along? At 6-foot-5, 310 pounds with enough athleticism to stick at tackle, Derek Kerstetter is a center in the mold of a Barrett Jones or Ryan Kelly who powered some terrific stretch blocking schemes at Alabama, or Josh Myers who did so a year ago at Ohio State. Denzel Okafor and Junior Angilau are also quick laterally and Texas’ tackles are much more athletic and powerful than two years ago when their quarterback stretch play with an extra lead blocker was the only way they could count on winning the edge. Outside zone is also a more effective way to run zone-read and Texas mixed in some midline reads (leave an interior D-lineman unblocked and release the tackle) on the play for their younger quarterbacks and ran it as a triple option scheme with the pitch/toss to the tight end twice.

On rewatch Christian Jones was better than it appeared live, most of the issues to his side related to Texas losing hard-charging defenders while trying to trade off blocks on these zone concepts. When you load the box you can cause problems for zone schemes with aggressive linebacker play, but you also might see your opponent house hitch routes. Wait and see how this looks against a team that prioritizes stopping Ehlinger and the passing game before getting overly fretful. Isaiah Hookfin was terrific off the bench. When he hit people there was a noticeable shock and displacement. Andrej Karic looked like the premier athlete Texas needs in the tackle pipeline.

It doesn’t appear Texas will lack for quality athletes on the line this season. Stay tuned for how well they can handle stunts and inside pressure.

The schedule sets up quite favorably for Texas. Texas Tech will test the defense with run/pass conflicts and outside receivers matched up on the cornerbacks, but their own defense will leave them overmatched against the Longhorns. Then TCU will stress test Texas’ offense and their ability to beat good coverage outside or handle well executed pressures. But the Frogs don’t have the offense to really challenge Texas. The upshot is a series of useful tuneups before round one in Dallas. This time Texas will be bringing more firepower into the shootout.

 

[LTtxfan 49245]

Saw this on 247.  Yurcich as OC at Okie Lite vs Patrick Mahomes and Tech. 

Okie Lite scored 70pts.

Washington scores on reverse play like the one JWhitt ran vs UTEP at 40:45 mark 

 

 

Yurcich sighting at 45:24 mark.  Yurcich used 2QBs in this game...

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by LTtxfan
Sorry for DP, but leaving on this page anyway

[LTtxfan 49245]

Thanks for this @texifornia  

 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

It’s Yurcich’s offense using Herman’s verbiage for continuity (which probably wasn’t much of a stretch since Yurcich likely had the same issue at Ohio St as they transitioned from the Herman/Meyer offense to the Ryan Day attack).  

If the Okie St. offense is any sort of harbinger of what is in store then I’m not overly concerned with hot reads and route adjustments when defenses finally manage to bring some heat. The low number concept number approach paired with numerous formations looks complex to defenses, but results in the same reads being made time and again. And things like that Mesh/wheel play we ran has a lot of quick and dangerous answers available if the defense asks the wrong pressure question at the wrong time. Especially as our WR core returns to full health. 

My two cents anyway. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Bobby_Batronic

[LTtxfan 49245]

On 9/17/2020 at 1:06 PM, satyanash said:

(Ian Boyd) Inside the gameplan: The Longhorns show off their schematic makeover

 

Here's some more breakdowns from UTEP game...

 

[Burt Macklin 19038]

26 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Here's some more breakdowns from UTEP game...

 

Good find. My biggest takeaway from the UTEP game was how many easy yards Yurcich created through alignment and scheme.  Pre-snap movement makes the defense declare their coverages (and possibly screw up assignments), we saw a ton of trips and overload formations, which create some easy 1 on 1s for the backside WR or 3 on 2 screens if they don’t roll help,  and the mesh and RPOs create some really easy yards. We no longer have to rely on Sam playing hero ball or contested catches to gain yards. 
 

It reminds some of the the Packers transition from McCarthy to LaFleur. Rodgers doesn’t have to play hero ball anymore and he’s now getting the ball out quicker and playing way more within the offense. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Burt Macklin

[LTtxfan 49245]

16 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Good find. My biggest takeaway from the UTEP game was how many easy yards Yurcich created through alignment and scheme.  Pre-snap movement makes the defense declare their coverages (and possibly screw up assignments), we saw a ton of trips and overload formations, which create some easy 1 on 1s for the backside WR or 3 on 2 screens if they don’t roll help,  and the mesh and RPOs create some really easy yards. We no longer have to rely on Sam playing hero ball or contested catches to gain yards. 
 

It reminds some of the the Packers transition from McCarthy to LaFleur. Rodgers doesn’t have to play hero ball anymore and he’s now getting the ball out quicker and playing way more within the offense. 

Yeah, Bijan missed a protection block on one of those plays causing a scary/unnecessary hit on Sam... Yurcich is gonna need to watch playcalling while #5 continues to learn the ropes...

[LTtxfan 49245]

 

[LTtxfan 49245]

 

[GoldAppleCorps 619]

It should be obvious by now that one of the main principles of this offense is that every play, starting from the players who report between the numbers to alignment to pre-snap motion to post-snap reads, has multiple places the ball can go. It's designed to create one on one match ups before the play, and then to exploit those where the offense player wins his match up.

A given formation and a route might look and go one direction in the 1st quarter, but then go a different direction in the 3rd or 4th. It's a ridiculous amount to keep up with. I'm grateful that the head coach ceded authority to a dedicated assistant.

One thing I always admired oSu for that I hope Texas replicates is the willingness to let their best athletes play. By that, I mean they may only have one dominant receiver, and he may have drawn tight coverage, but the Cowboy offense still would throw the ball over and let him out-battle the defense. I've seen either Sam's or Yurcich's quote to that effect.

Another feature of this offense is that it's tough to turtle. Even with a lead, you can only run it in mathematically favorable conditions. If you send a "run first" group on the field, and the defense loads the box to stop it, you still are basically obligated to make the easy pass. The backups only know this scheme, too, so they don't really stop the onslaught when they enter.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out that the receivers coach is evidently doing something in practice besides saying, "Uh, get open!". Our big bodies and speedy guys are now differentiating themselves to the defenders.

[Burt Macklin 19038]

18 minutes ago, GoldAppleCorps said:

It should be obvious by now that one of the main principles of this offense is that every play, starting from the players who report between the numbers to alignment to pre-snap motion to post-snap reads, has multiple places the ball can go. It's designed to create one on one match ups before the play, and then to exploit those where the offense player wins his match up.

A given formation and a route might look and go one direction in the 1st quarter, but then go a different direction in the 3rd or 4th. It's a ridiculous amount to keep up with. I'm grateful that the head coach ceded authority to a dedicated assistant.

One thing I always admired oSu for that I hope Texas replicates is the willingness to let their best athletes play. By that, I mean they may only have one dominant receiver, and he may have drawn tight coverage, but the Cowboy offense still would throw the ball over and let him out-battle the defense. I've seen either Sam's or Yurcich's quote to that effect.

Another feature of this offense is that it's tough to turtle. Even with a lead, you can only run it in mathematically favorable conditions. If you send a "run first" group on the field, and the defense loads the box to stop it, you still are basically obligated to make the easy pass. The backups only know this scheme, too, so they don't really stop the onslaught when they enter.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out that the receivers coach is evidently doing something in practice besides saying, "Uh, get open!". Our big bodies and speedy guys are now differentiating themselves to the defenders.

One of my favorite plays of the game was when we threw the bubble to Josh Moore to concert a 3rd and 1. They tried to cover 3 with 2 so we took the easy yards. The video above did a good job of pointing out that Moore actually screwed up his run after the catch and could’ve gained a lot more, but even still it was an easy conversion.  Last year we ran into a ton of stacked boxes on 3rd/4th and short. 

[LTtxfan 49245]

 

[jw4381 3080]

Homina.