Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Alamo Bowl)

[satyanash 15659]

Collecting all the post-game analysis articles, including those behind paywalls, regarding the Colorado game here:

(Chip Brown) Quick Takes: A lot of fresh faces impact UT's Alamo Bowl rout of Colorado

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When Texas offensive coordinator  Mike Yurcich said Casey Thompson has been consistent all season in preparing for games as if he’s the starter, it probably sounded like a bone thrown to a backup quarterback who has been on campus three years toiling in the background. And then in Tuesday night's 55-23 rout of Colorado in the Alamodome, everyone saw for themselves exactly what Yurcich was talking about.

After Sam Ehlinger was sidelined at halftime with a right (throwing) shoulder injury, Thompson came in and went 8-of-10 passing for 170 yards and four touchdowns. The Texas offense had mostly sputtered on its final six drives of the first half. But Thompson took the field and went 4-of-5 passing for 63 yards and TD passes of 13 and 25 yards to Joshua Moore on UT’s first two drives of the third quarter.

His best throw of those first two drives was a deep out to tight end Cade Brewer in which Thompson juked a defender in the pocket to give himself a little more time to get the ball off. Thompson showed off his wheels on a QB draw for 22 yards on UT’s third straight scoring drive of the third quarter, resulting in a 35-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker that put Texas up 34-10. There’s been a lot of buzz about the upside of freshman quarterback Hudson Card. But Thompson showed Tuesday night, he’ll have something to say about who succeeds Ehlinger if Ehlinger moves on after this season.

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Sam Ehlinger deserved better than the 2020 season. A tumultous offseason thanks to the pandemic, social justice protests and UT's Eyes of Texas controversy - not to mention a new offensive coordinator - led to a less-than-enjoyable start to the season on the field and made Ehlinger the central figure in a ("I Stand With Sam") movement - that he never wanted to be a part of - off the field.

In a season with high expectations - despite all the distractions - much of the fan base turned on coach Tom Herman and on Ehlinger, who played through one injury after another, starting with a knee/quad contusion suffered in UT's second game - a 63-56 overtime win at Texas Tech. Through the pain, Ehlinger went 10 of 11 passing, including three touchdown passes as well as a two-point conversion to pull off a miraculous, 15-point comeback in the final 3:13 in Lubbock.

The stat sheet shows Ehlinger finished Tuesday night's Alamo Bowl 10 of 16 passing for 160 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to running back Bijan Robinson on a screen pass. But Ehlinger, the ultimate warrior, deserved so much better than finishing this year (and very possibly his Texas career) on the bench with his right (throwing) shoulder in a sling.

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The first quarter of the Alamo Bowl was a highlight reel for freshmen Bijan Robinson and Alfred Collins. More on Robinson in a moment. Chris Ash earlier this season compared Collins’ freaky athleticism at 6-foot-6 to J.J. Watt and Joey Bosa (who were both coached by Ash at Wisconsin and Ohio State, respectively). In the first quarter of his first college start, Collins had a tackle for loss that helped force a three-and-out on CU’s first drive; batted a pass on third-and-5, forcing a punt; and then made an insane interception while being held and arching his back to get his hands on the ball.

Again, all in the first quarter. Collins left the game with an injury in the second half on a play in which linebacker David Gbenda also was injured. If you can’t get excited about what Collins is going to get done at Texas the next couple years, you must not have been watching the game. The guy reminds me of a young Tony Brackens and plays with an emotion that is contagious. Can’t wait to watch Collins’ development.

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Bijan Robinson had yet another incredible first quarter for the Longhorns, running for 91 yards on first five carries, including a 50-yard burst off left tackle, as well as a 14-yard, catch-and-run touchdown on a screen pass. Credit Cade Brewer with a great block on the outside to spring Bijan Robinson on his 11-yard TD run in the first quarter. And credit great blocks by Jake Majors and Tyler Johnson on the 14-yard screen pass Robinson scored on to put Texas up 14-0 with 5:28 left in the first quarter.

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With 5:28 left in the first quarter, Bijan Robinson had five carries for 91 yards (18.2 ypc) and a TD with a 14-yard TD catch on a screen pass. Then, the combination of UT's commitment to rotating Roschon Johnson in at running back along with UT inexplicably abandoning the run in the second quarter resulted in Robinson getting one touch on the Longhorns’ final six possessions of the first half. How on earth does that happen? How on earth is the game plan not built around Robinson?

And then surprise, surprise … Robinson gets the ball on UT’s first drive of the second half on a routine run off left tackle and took it 66 yards, setting up a beautiful, 13-yard TD pass from Casey Thompson to Joshua Moore on a post route as Texas regained control of the game - 24-10.

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Vernon Broughton got Texas’ first sack of the game on third-and-8 from the UT 13, resulting in a 9-yard loss and forcing CU to settle for a 40-yard field goal with 43 seconds left in the first half. Credit DeMarvion Overshown for flushing CU QB Sam Noyer right into Broughton’s arms.

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I still don’t know how Colorado running back Jarek Broussard made it into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 2 midway through the second quarter. Texas had the right defense called and had four defenders get their hands on Broussard. Moro Ojomo made an athletic diving tackle attempt at Broussard behind the line, then Jaylan Ford and David Gbenda appeared to have him surrounded at the line of scrimmage. But Broussard spun out of Ford’s grasp and got by Gbenda before running over Chris Adimora to get into the end zone.

Ford, who helped make big-time stops with Alfred Collins and Gbenda on first-and-goal and second-and-goal from the 2, was clearly pissed at himself for letting Broussard spin out of his grasp. But there were other Longhorns there who would’ve, could’ve and should’ve made the play. Credit Broussard, a sophomore from Dallas Bishop Lynch, for an incredible effort on the play. When you see the play unfold from the back of the end zone, you think there’s no way Broussard is going to score.

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Roschon Johnson is good for at least one are-you-kidding-me? run per game. On Tuesday night, it came in the fourth quarter with Hudson Card at quarterback and a bunch of second- and third-team offensive linemen on the field following Jett Bush's forced fumble on a bone-crunching hit on CU back Jarek Broussard.

Johnson took the handoff and headed to the right, where no one seemed to get their blocks, and there was nothing but CU defenders in front of him. Johnson spun out of trouble, started cutting back to his left and somehow found a seam to the sideline and into the end zone, breaking four tackles along the way for a classic, heart-and-soul, RoJo 21-yard touchdown run.

***

Former tight end Reese Leitao finished with six tackles (three solo), including a tackle for loss while playing the Jack/outside linebacker position held all season by Bednarik Trophy semifinalst Joseph Ossai. But there is plenty of room for competition to replace Ossai in 2021.

The Jack candidates next season will include Leitao, Prince Dorbah, Marqez Bimage (as long as he returns as indicated), possibly Jacoby Jones, possibly Moro Ojomo and very possibly incoming freshman J'Tavion Sanders - if Sanders, who wants to play offense and defense, truly understands the opportunity in front of him. Should be fun.

(Taylor Estes) Final: Texas takes down Colorado, 55-23, in Valero Alamo Bowl

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No. 20 ranked Texas is back in action facing former Big 12 foe Colorado in the 2020 Valero Alamo Bowl game. The Longhorns opened the bowl game matchup as a double-digit favorite over the Buffaloes, but the point spread has shifted substantially since the opening line was released. Texas enters Tuesday's game favored by 7.5 points over Colorado, and will look to extend fourth-year head coach Tom Herman's bowl record to 4-0 since he was hired by the Longhorns.

As the Longhorns and Buffaloes make their way towards Tuesday's bowl game, Horns247 is live on the scene for the Alamo Bowl matchup between former Big 12 foes Texas and Colorado.

FIRST QUARTER UPDATES

12:51 left in Q1: Texas is on the board in the Alamodome. The Longhorns got off to a quick start against the Buffaloes on their first offensive possession of the game. The Texas offense put up its first touchdown when true freshman running back Bijan Robinson ran in an 8-yard touchdown to give Texas an early lead over Colorado.

Texas 7, Colorado 0 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 4 plays, 74 yards, 00:50 used)

5:28 left in Q1: Texas has extended the lead over Colorado thanks to QB Sam Ehlinger and Robinson. Ehlinger connected with Robinson for a 14-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter.

Texas 14, Colorado 0 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 6 plays, 89 yards, 2:37 used)

END OF 1ST QUARTER: Texas 14, Colorado 0

SECOND QUARTER UPDATES

6:58 left in Q2: Colorado is on the board for the first time of the 2020 Valero Alamo Bowl. The Buffaloes put up seven points when running back Jarek Broussard ran in a 2-yard touchdown to give Colorado its first points of the ballgame.

Texas 14, Colorado 7 (Buffaloes' scoring summary: 10 plays, 50 yards, 5:11 used)

2:07 left in Q2: Texas has extended the lead over Colorado. The Longhorns took a 10-point lead over the Buffaloes after Cameron Dicker launched a 53-yard field goal through the uprights.

Texas 17, Colorado 7 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 6 plays, 58 yards, 1:57 used)

00:43 left in Q2: Colorado has cut the Longhorns' lead. The Buffaloes added three points to the board after kicker Evan Price hit a 40-yard field goal attempt late in the first half.

Texas 17, Colorado 10 (Buffaloes' scoring summary: 8 plays, 53 yards, 1:24 used)

HALFTIME: Texas 17, Colorado 10

THIRD QUARTER UPDATES

14:23 left in Q3: After Texas QB Sam Ehlinger left the game with a shoulder injury, redshirt sophomore QB Casey Thompson took over and made the first possession for the Texas offense count. The Longhorns extended their lead over the Buffaloes when Thompson connected with wide receiver Joshua Moore for a 13-yard touchdown.

Texas 24, Colorado 10 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 2 plays, 79 yards, 00:37 used)

8:00 left in Q3: The Longhorns are pulling away from Colorado. No. 20 ranked Texas entered halftime with a 17-10 lead, but took advantage of the Colorado defense early and often in the third quarter, with the most recent score coming down on a 25-yard post pass to Moore to give the Longhorns a 21-point lead.

Texas 31, Colorado 10 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 5 plays, 80 yards, 2:10 used)

3:33 left in Q3: While the Longhorns didn't find the end zone, Texas did add more points on the board late in the third quarter when Dicker hit a 35-yard field goal to extend the Longhorns' lead over former Big 12 foe Colorado.

Texas 34, Colorado 10 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 7 plays, 43 yards, 3:19 used)

1:46 left in Q3: Colorado has cut the score in the Valero Alamo Bowl. After Texas took a 24-point lead over Colorado late in the third quarter, the Buffaloes answered when Broussard ran in a 3-yard touchdown on Texas.

Texas 34, Colorado 16 (Buffaloes' scoring summary: 5 plays, 75 yards, 1:47 used)

END OF 3RD QUARTER: Texas 34, Colorado 16

FOURTH QUARTER UPDATES

14:42 left in Q4: Robinson has continued to show his dominance against Colorado when the true freshman running back caught a screen pass from Thompson and took it 23 yards for a touchdown.

Texas 41, Colorado 16 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 5 plays, 75 yards, 2:04 used)

11:48 left in Q4: Colorado is staying in the ballgame. The Buffaloes answered the Longhorns' last score with a touchdown of their own when QB Brendon Lewis entered the game and ran in a 2-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Texas 41, Colorado 23 (Buffaloes' scoring summary: 7 plays, 75 yards, 2:54 used)

11:01 left in Q4: Thompson answered Colorado's touchdown with a TD pass of his own. The redshirt sophomore QB connected with true freshman wide receiver Kelvontay Dixon for a 73-yard touchdown to extend the Longhorns' lead over the Buffaloes.

Texas 48, Colorado 23 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 2 plays, 75 yards, 0:47 used)

7:40 left in Q4: The Longhorns are rolling in the fourth quarter. The Texas offense found the end zone once again when sophomore running back Roschon Johnson ran in a 21-yard touchdown to go up by 32 points over Colorado.

Texas 55, Colorado 23 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 1 play, 21 yards, 0:43 used)

END OF GAME: Texas 55, Colorado 23

(Cody Daniel) No. 20 Texas overwhelms Colorado for 55-23 Alamo Bowl win

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Bijan Robinson feasted. Casey Robinson took a seat at the table and starred in his own right in place of an injured Sam Ehlinger. And what was once a mere single-score halftime edge for the No. 20 Texas Longhorns exploded after the break, as 17 unanswered points from the Longhorns effectively decided the outcome before the fourth quarter got underway. Texas kept cruising from there, even as Colorado found points of its own en route to a 55-23 Longhorns win in the Alamo Bowl to capture their fourth consecutive bowl win.

Robinson finished with mind-boggling numbers, turning his 10 carries into 183 yards and one touchdown, and adding another 37 yards and two scores on just two receptions. A right shoulder injury ended Sam Ehlinger night at halftime after he tallied 160 yards and one touchdown, and in his place, Thompson provided a possible glimpse of the future at quarterback in Austin, completing 8-of-10 attempts for 170 yards and four touchdowns in a little over a quarter of action. This is your post-game celebration thread.

Sam Metivier: Colorado loses to Texas in Alamo Bowl as backup QBs take over

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Playing in just their second bowl game since 2007, the Colorado Buffaloes were happy to be here in the Alamo Bowl. They were faced against a Texas Longhorns team loaded with talent, even with a number of opt-outs, and didn’t quite have enough to keep up. It was 55-23 loss for the Buffs, but that shouldn’t discount the success they had this season. The Buffs got off to a dreadful start. Not just slow and sluggish, or even overmatched — it was 70-3 kind of bad.

With an injured Sam Noyer scuffling, the Buffs had two three-and-outs in the first three minutes of the game, all while giving up a 4-play, 75-yard scoring drive in between. Then the moment they had a chance to get even, Noyer underthrew a potential touchdown and was intercepted by DeMarvion Overshown (!). Of course Texas followed up with a 6-play, 89-yard touchdown drive. Things looked even worse when Noyer was intercepted on a screen pass, but on the brighter side, it was a phenomenal play by Alfred Collins, and Texas ended up missing their field goal.

As the Colorado offense sputtered, the defense stood strong and had three straight stops to keep the game in reach. Big plays notwithstanding, the run game held true when they needed a stop even as they were missing Nate Landman, Terrance Lang and Jalen Sami. The secondary was even better, as Mekhi Blackmon and Christian Gonzalez made some outstanding plays to force stops. Early in the second quarter, Karl Dorrell made the change at quarterback, going with freshman Brendon Lewis.

The freshman from Texas found Dimitri Stanley on a gorgeous throw, then Jarek Broussard spun in for the score on 4th-and-goal. It looked like Lewis energized the team and gave them a puncher’s chance in the ballgame. Right after the Buffs got on the board, Texas gashed them for 72 yards on two plays. But just at it looked like they would score another touchdown, the Buffs stopped Robinson in the backfield, then Carson Wells and Mustafa Johnson sacked Sam Ehlinger on consecutive plays. It was a terrific defensive stop, even if Cameron Dicker made the 53-yard field goal.

Trailing 17-7 with 2:07 left in the half, Noyer trotted back out on the field to lead the two-minute offense. He found Daniel Arias for a 16-yard pass, scrambled for a 15-yard gain, then connected with Dimitri Stanley for a 28-yard gain. The Buffs ended up settling for an Evan Price field goal to cap an encouraging drive. To trail just 17-10 at halftime was a huge win considering how poorly the Buffs started this game.

Just like clockwork, right when CU scored, the Longhorns gashed them again. Just two plays and 36 seconds into the second half, Texas scored another touchdown. This time it was Bijan Robinson getting loose again — putting him 156 yards on just 7 carries — and backup QB Casey Thompson finding Joshua Moore in the end zone.

Colorado’s ensuing drive was marked by head-scratching decisions. After overthrowing Maurice Bell on a would-be touchdown, Noyer scrambled, slid to the ground, and was hit by a diving Overshown. The refs called a targeting call — instead of a late hit and a targeting, as they should have — but the targeting was overturned, meaning the Buffs didn’t gain the 15 yards and a first down. The Buffs converted the first down, but stalled out and settled for a 37-yard field goal on 4th-and-2. Evan Price missed, but Colorado should have gone for it.

5 plays and 80 yards later, the Longhorns were in the end zone again. The Buffs were called for two 15-yard penalties on the drive, gave up a wide open chunk play to a crossing Cade Brewer, and Thompson found Moore in the end zone on a gorgeous pitch and catch. Whatever defensive strength they had in the first half went out the door when Ehlinger left the game with a shoulder injury. After a Texas field goal following a CU three-and-out, Dorrell made the final move to go with Lewis full-time. Naturally, Lewis found Stanley over the middle for 25 yards, then scrambled for a 44-yard gain to the 3-yard line.

Broussard punched in the touchdown on the very next play, cutting the deficit to 34-16. Texas’s following drive featured yet another missed opportunity for the Buffs. The Longhorns were moving the ball yet, but just as they reached the red zone, Thompson threw it right to Christian Gonzalez, only for the interception to be dropped. Unfortunate for Gonzalez — the freshman played a fantastic game — Texas scored on the following play, thereby putting the game out of reach.

After that it was moral victories in a blowout loss. Lewis led the Buffs down the field on a bevy of sharp throws, then rushed in for a one-yard touchdown. He showed off that ‘it’ factor that we were so excited about when he committed to CU. He has such a high feel for the game and made the right play every time. Lewis looks like the QB of the future, perhaps as soon as 2021. It’s tempting to wonder what could have been if Lewis had started, but the Buffs gave up 55 points and didn’t have the depth to keep up with so many players inactive. It was a tough game all around and we’re looking for silver linings here.

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by satyanash

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(Ian Boyd) Five Quick Thoughts: Recall the Alamo Bowl

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Colorado wasn't a great team this season. The Pac-12 is really approaching a sad state of affairs these days, last year's 10-win league runner-up was squashed by Texas. This year's 5-1 Colorado drew a Texas putting three new starters on the offensive line and still got smoked. Make no mistake, Colorado was quite bad this year despite their relative success in the Pac-12. Texas handled them like a Longhorn squad should handle an opponent of this caliber, by burying them 55-23.

This was perhaps the last time we'll see either Sam Ehlinger or Tom Herman for Texas, which likely stirs a wide variety of emotions for Texas fans. For the most part though this game was fascinating for the future of Longhorn football. Texas played new starters across both sides of the ball and the youngsters looked terrific.

Quick thought no. 1: Bijan Robinson goes off

In the first half, Bijan had five carries for 91 yards at 18.2 ypc with a rushing touchdown and then a catch for another touchdown. The big question was why he wasn't touching the ball more, particularly given Roschon Johnson's .5 ypc on seven carries while looking slowed up. Later in the game, Roschon would get his chance, breaking tackles to find a cutback lane on an outside zone run for a 21-yard touchdown.

Bijan finished the game with 10 carries for 183 yards at 18.3 ypc with a touchdown and then two catches for 37 yards and two more touchdowns. During the broadcast they revealed his absurd 17 ypc totals last year in high school out in Arizona, but Bijan must be feeling like the supposed step up in competition isn't coming after absolutely obliterating old Big 12 North squads Kansas State and Colorado in succession. It's obvious to everyone Texas will need to build the offense around Robinson next season. He's the most talented back to come through Austin since Jamaal Charles.

Quick thought no. 2: Jake Majors

Late in the first half the announcers shared an anecdote from their time with Sam Ehlinger in preparation for this game. They quoted Ehlinger as saying that Majors was pretty good about getting the line calls right and he normally let it go but occasionally would come up and help him out. This begged for an obvious question, if Sam Ehlinger can make sure all the line calls are right than why didn't Majors play earlier??

The kid's knack for reaching defensive tackles in Texas' outside zone scheme is unlike anything we've seen at the position in quite some time. So what was he doing all season while Derek Kerstetter was leaving the right tackle position dangerously manned by Christian Jones? For that matter, Andrej Karic has been good in every snap he's played now this season. Where was he when Texas was struggling to protect the right side at offensive tackle?

It really looks like Texas went into the year coming off a pandemic with some new blocking schemes the younger players were better equipped for and Sam Ehlinger could have helped guide them through but neglected to use those players. On the bright side, Majors' knack for outside zone clearly pairs well with the skill set of star offensive player Bijan Robinson.

Quick thought no. 3: Casey Thompson guarantees a real quarterback battle

Texas played four quarterbacks against the Buffaloes and will have at least three of them back next season to compete for the starting job. Personally I was intrigued by that nifty quarterback draw from Matthew Ballard late in the game but others may have found the play of Hudson Card or perhaps Casey Thompson to be more inspiring. This throw was frankly shocking:

The big question with Thompson is his ability to reset while going through progressions in order to deliver accurate throws. He's always been pretty dangerous throwing to the first read, dating back to his days at Newcastle HS in Oklahoma. On this throw he doesn't have to get through progressions but the way he evaded that pass-rusher, reset, and then fired off that dime was truly eye-opening.

He'll be looking to make Hudson Card fight and overcome his years of experience now in Austin in order to seize the scepter Sam Ehlinger is likely to pass on in the coming weeks. You don't want to make too much of some (mostly) garbage time snaps in a bowl game against an overmatched opponent, but Thompson was definitely terrific and threw a few really good balls.

Hudson Card wasn't asked to do much but he did fire off a beautiful looking fade to a defender that appeared to have the receiver beat until a flag revealed the tricks of his success. You can see why they call him "the natural" seeing how smooth the ball comes out of his hand. Card also mixed in a highly impressive and perhaps ill-advised option pitch just before falling to the turf. Texas has a pair of skinny but very talented athletes in the quarterback room. The playbook for the run game should change, perhaps give Bijan those carries Ehlinger was taking, but these guys can spin it.

Quick thought no. 4: Errbody is coming back

DeMarvion Overshown showed off a few things in this game, snagging an interception on a deep drop (and bad read by Buffalo quarterback Sam Noyer) and later finding a fumble in his lap. His athleticism is a game changer around the box and in coverage, the more he works out how to play the position the more he's going to look like a potential star. Younger linebackers Jaylan Ford and David Gbenda flashed as well, both made some scrapes and tackles on power-option schemes of the sort you want to see from a modern linebacker.

It took Texas an awfully long time to change their linebacker room to reflect the realities of defending the Big 12 so it's worth Texas fans taking some time to celebrate the gradual evolution of the unit into a potential team strength in 2021. Speaking of 2021, Alfred Collins is different.

Schools like Texas often have an advantage over other schools for their ability to recruit and maintain a pipeline of guys that are legitimate, coordinated athletes at 300 pounds to play on the defensive line. Being able to trot out good defensive tackles every year is a major advantage, but Collins is something different. This kid is another level of athlete, it's imperative that his injury in this game not be serious and that Texas can pair him with another dangerous threat up front in 2021. Pair Collins with great nose play and Texas will be nearly impossible to run on. Pair him with a good edge-rusher coming off his outside hip and this defense will struggle to be less than very good.

Andrej Karic, Jake Majors, and Tyler Johnson all looked promising in their first (or second with Majors) starts. These guys are good athletes who are a great fit for the outside zone scheme. It appears the situation on the offensive line isn't quite so dire as feared, the Longhorns have quicker linemen than we've seen in Austin in a while. The outside zone scheme is a good fit for their skill sets, particularly for Majors.

Texas has a lot of talent coming back next year, an awful lot. The only question is whether the head coach can get everyone in the right positions to maximize. This game cemented how the 2021 roster has not been maximized. The departing players were not badly missed, youngsters stepping in for struggling veterans who opted out flashed, and the team has an obvious identity point for 2021. A new head coach should find the situation attractive and fairly intuitive to quickly weaponize.

Quick thought no. 5: Farewell to Sam Ehlinger

Ehlinger hurt his shoulder in the first half and after getting checked out in the locker room at halftime, was done for the day. It seems likely he could have kept playing were it necessary, but given it was a bowl game and Texas had a nice lead while only giving Bijan the ball six times, the senior was finally able to make a selfish decision and sit the rest of the game out. Casey Thompson and Bijan Robinson quickly made it safe with a terrific touchdown drive coming out of the half.

The big question will be whether Ehlinger comes back or not, I suspect he will not. Texas is ready to enter a new era and dinging his shoulder in a bowl game like this is one more reason for Ehlinger to consider hanging it up after a bruising and exhausting four years in burnt orange for the local hero. Texas had him carrying the ball downhill on inside zone in this game, there was no need to endure any more.

He quietly went 10-16 for 160 yards at 10 ypa with a score before the half and will graduate just short of some of the records and marks left by Colt McCoy, a fitting place for him to end on given the lack of breakthrough success for Texas under Ehlinger comparable to what McCoy achieved. If this is the last time we'll see him, it's hard to know exactly how to feel about such a finish. We could at least say this, he left Texas in a much better place than he found it and fought hard to restore the winning tradition for the Longhorns. 2020 is over, time for a wild offseason.

 

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(Bobby Burton) Snap Judgments: Bijan and CT

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With Texas clinging to a 17-10 halftime lead, the Horns got the ball to start the second half. Two beautiful plays later, the Horns extended the lead to two touchdowns and never looked back. The first play came on an outside zone running play that saw Bijan Robinson break a tackle and then accelerate down the sideline. On the very next play, Casey Thompson, subbing for an injured Sam Ehlinger, threw a dart to Josh Moore for a touchdown. Both players provided life to a Texas offense that sputtered to four straight three-and-outs in the second quarter after jumping out to a 14-0 lead.

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The start of the game felt like Iowa State redux. The Texas offense couldn’t be stopped on the first two possessions of the game, only to bog down almost the entire rest of the half.

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Alfred Collins’ interception was highlight worthy. You just don’t see guys that big do that kind of thing very often. Furthermore, as a freshman, he actually realized what was happening and put himself into position to make a play. Let’s hope his fourth quarter injury isn’t as severe as it might have looked.

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I’ve mentioned the offense bogging down in the second quarter. There’s little doubt that some of that was due to the lack of touches from Robinson. The team’s most explosive player didn’t touch the ball on four consecutive possessions.

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The Texas OL stepped up again tonight. As in the Kansas State game, the insertion of Jake Majors at center makes a world of difference on outside zone runs because unlike either of his predecessors, Derek Kerstetter or Zach Shackelford, Majors is quick enough to get just enough leverage on a reach block to set it all up. Tyler Johnson started at right guard and performed extremely well. Enough so that it’ll clearly be a battle for the starting spot next year with Denzel Okafor who is expected to return.

**

But the real stars of the night on offense were Thompson and Robinson. Thompson threw perhaps just one bad pass in his five possessions. He also led the team to 31 points (four TDs and one field goal) on those possessions. Particularly impressive were two throws to me, a connection to Cade Brewer where Thompson was forced to reset his feet yet still deliver a ball in tight coverage and a deep ball on the money to Kelvontay Dixon. While Thompson didn’t run much, his one QB draw was highly effective. He showed a real burst on the second level.

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Chris Ash’s defense had a clear game plan. Stop the run. And the Horns succeeded. Texas corralled a really nice running back for most of the night.

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T’Vondre Sweat and Keondre Coburn ate up the middle of the field. Collins made multiple plays. And Jacoby Jones also got in on the action. However, DeMarvion Overshown was likely the defensive player of the game. Overshown’s interception was a combination of him getting excellent depth and a poor decision by the QB. But Overshown’s rocking of the ball carrier, causing and recovering the fumble afterward, was my second favorite defensive play of the game, behind only Collins’ interception.

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The Texas corners had some issues on deep balls. CU receivers were overthrown multiple times and drew interference or holding calls in other situations. But I didn’t feel like Texas felt much of an effect from losing its two starting safeties to opt outs.

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It’s going to be a long off-season for the Horns. And as Gerry Hamilton texted the IT staff as the game drew to a close, “is anyone who made a play tonight not coming back next year?” There was a lot to like about this win. Texas looks like they have at least one QB, if not two, that can take the reins from Sam Ehlinger. And both sides of the line look really solid, if not spectacular in the case of Collins. Then there’s Robinson, who is clearly a heartbeat from breaking a big gain every time he touches the ball.

**

P.S. It was a great individual effort by Roschon Johnson on his TD. He never quit on the play.

 

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(Jeff Howe) Instant Reactions: Texas runs roughshod over Colorado, 55-23

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If the 2020 edition of the Alamo Bowl was supposed to be a preview of what’s to come for Texas in 2021, the Longhorns are going to be just fine based on talent alone after what they showed in a 55-23 dismantling of Colorado. With all due respect to the Buffaloes, No. 20 Texas (7-3) looked like the superior team on the hoof and even with several starters opting out of the game or and other key contributors unable to play for a variety of reasons, including a pair of All-Americans in Samuel Cosmi and Joseph Ossai, the Longhorns played like the better squad after a sluggish second quarter and put Colorado away (4-2) with authority.

Texas opened the third quarter by putting the ball in the hands of Bijan Robinson and the true freshman ripped off a 66-yard run, a small sample of what he did on a night where he looked like the next great Longhorn runner. Robinson’s 183 yards rushing and three touchdowns (one rushing, two receiving) paced an offensive onslaught (a school bowl-game record of 638 total yards with the offense averaging 9.4 yards per play), most of which the Longhorns achieved at the expense of the Buffaloes with Casey Thompson leading the way after Sam Ehlinger (10-of-16 passing for 160 yards and a touchdown in perhaps his final game with the program) was unable to return to the game after halftime due to a shoulder injury.

Bowl victories under Tom Herman have become teases that probably don't paint an accurate picture of the program's trajectory. There's a wide swath of the burnt orange faithful that won't fall for what feels like an annual postseason escape from reality, but there's no denying Texas was dominant in burying a Pac-12 foe for the second year in a row inside the Alamodome with a lot of young Longhorns contributing to the trashing.

It was over when...

Thompson capped a 5-play, 80-yard drive in the third quarter with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Moore (86 yards on five receptions and two touchdowns) for a 31-10 lead with eight minutes remaining in the period. Colorado's Evan Price missed a 37-yard field goal try at the end of a 10-play, 61-yard drive by the Buffaloes and three plays after Thompson broke free from the Colorado pass rush to find Cade Brewer (two receptions for 59 yards) for 21 yards on third-and-6 from the Texas 39-yard line, the sophomore quarterback put a ball up high over the middle of the field to allow Moore to climb the ladder and come down with his second touchdown of the game.

Top Offensive Performer

On a night where Thompson (17 yards on four carries) was nearly perfect with an 8-for-10 effort throwing the football in relief of Ehlinger with 170 yards through the air and four passing touchdowns, the honor goes to Robinson for his Alamo Bowl Offensive MVP performance. After running for 172 yards on nine carries in a 69-31 win over Kansas State on Dec. 5, Robinson topped those numbers by shredding the Buffaloes for 18.3 yards per rushing attempt to end his true freshman season with 703 yards on the ground and a blistering 8.17 yards per carry (a new school record, breaking the previous mark 7.9 yards per attempt set by James Saxton in 1961) with four touchdowns on the ground.

Top Defensive Performer

DeMarvion Overshown put an exclamation point on a season where he made marked improvement throughout while dealing with a difficult transition from safety to linebacker with six tackles (four solos), half of a tackle for loss, an interception, two quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery en route to Alamo Bowl Defensive MVP honors. Overshown's interception in the first quarter not only ended a Colorado scoring opportunity at the Texas 33-yard line, but it also created momentum for the offense, which covered 89 yards in six plays and scored on a 14-yard screen pass from Ehlinger to Robinson.

Reason to feel optimistic

Listing off a true freshman in Robinson, a redshirt sophomore in Thompson and a true junior in Overshown only scratches the surface of the talent that lifted Texas to a fourth bowl win in a row under Herman that's due to return next season. The most significant sign of a promising future might be along the offensive line where the Longhorns started two true freshmen (Andrej Karic and Jake Majors) and a redshirt freshman (Tyler Johnson) alongside two redshirt sophomores (Junior Angilau and Christian Jones) who started each of the team's 10 games in 2020.

Of the 11 offensive starters in Tuesday's win for Texas, Ehlinger is the only one who isn't guaranteed to come back for another season. With that said, Thompson's performance provides more hope for what's on the horizon behind center than there was before his breakthrough outing.

Defensively, Alfred Collins (five tackles, half of a tackle for loss, an interception and a pass breakup), Jaylan Ford (four tackles) and Jerrin Thompson (six tackles, five solos) were true freshmen starting in a bowl game at three critical positions (defensive tackle, middle linebacker and safety, respectively). With the likes of Overshown and starting cornerbacks D'Shawn Jamison (two tackles and one pass breakup) and Josh Thompson (three tackles and one pass breakup) locked into coming back in 2021, Texas should bring back all 11 starters from the bowl win for the 2021 season, a total number of returning starters that doesn't include Juwan Mitchell (three tackles, all in the second half after serving a suspension for the first half due to a targeting ejection in the K-State game), Jacoby Jones (a senior who's expected to return but hasn't announced his decision yet and had four tackles and half of a tackle for loss in the victory), Jalen Green (moved to safety for the bowl game and finished the night with two tackles) or Vernon Broughton (two tackles and one sack).

If there's anything worth buying regarding Texas for next season, it's stock in a defense with a full offseason to dive into Chris Ash's system potentially being the Big 12's best in 2021.

Reason to feel pessimistic

We've been here before, haven't we? It's hard to buy into the hype about Tuesday's win being anything other than Texas taking care of business as an eight-point favorite and beating a team it should've defeated convincingly.

It's not so much a pessimistic feeling, but how can anyone with an interest in the program believe this bowl romp will lead to something other than what the other wins have led to, which were disappointing 2019 and 2020 campaigns? It's a win worth celebrating, certainly, but there's no reason to treat the beatdown of Colorado as anything more than a good win to end a long, drama-filled season.

Modest Proposal

The offense has to find a way to be more consistent, especially since the quality of the pieces returning doesn't suggest there's going to be a decline in production in 2021. Assuming Herman and Mike Yurcich are back, consistency (or lack thereof) on offense played a huge role in Texas not winning a Big 12 title in 2020 and needs to be resolved in their second season together.

As impressive as it is to watch the offense when it was as explosive and productive as it was for the second game in a row, the lulls on that side of the ball are every bit as frustrating. Texas had a stretch of four first-half drives in a row where nine offensive snaps netted 10 yards of total offense with one of those possessions ending in a missed field goal.

The rotations on that side of the ball remain maddening (Robinson, for instance, got one carry in the first half after a 50-yard run at the 8:05 mark of the first quarter) and while not every starter can play every snap and not every drive is going to lead to points, the Longhorns have the goods to be more consistent than showed to be over 10 games. As robust as the final numbers for a season-long body of work are (a Texas bowl game-record 55 points contributed to a scoring offense that averaged 42.7 points per game, good for No. 4 in school history), it feels like that side of the ball left some meat on the bone after 10 games.

Drive of the Game

A 2-play, 79-yard drive to open the third quarter. Making a quarterback change in a one-possession game can be a dicey situation, but Robinson's 66-yard jaunt probably went a long way toward settling Thompson down.

Thompson's first pass of the game was a 13-yard strike to Moore one play after Robinson's touchdown. Coming off of a largely forgettable second quarter offensively, for Thompson to come in and lead a scoring drive that took only 37 seconds off of the clock is more than anyone could've asked of a backup quarterback who played sparingly throughout the season.

Best Offensive Play

Thompson bookended his night with touchdown passes with his fourth and final scoring toss of the game a 73-yard strike to Kelvontay Dixon. The cherry on the sundae for Thompson gets the nod over Robinson's 8-yard touchdown run to open the game, Thompson's off-schedule completion to Brewer on a critical third down in the third quarter and a 21-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter by Roschon Johnson where he broke four tackles on his into the end zone, including two from the same defender.

Best Defensive Play

Collins made an incredible interception, snagging an attempted screen pass by Colorado's Sam Noyer out of the air as he was falling to his back late in the first quarter. The offense couldn't turn the theft by Collins into points, but the 247Sports five-star prospect from the 2020 cycle (No. 32 overall in the Top247) once again played with veteran savvy and flashed the kinds of skills that can allow him to earn a living playing football in the not-too-distant future.

Biggest question heading into the next game

Did Herman do enough down the stretch to keep his job?

Has a school ever fired a head coach after his squad scored a combined 124 points in two games to end a season, won those games by an average of 35 points, rolled up 600 yards of total offense in each of them and can tout 21 of 22 starters in a bowl game due to return the following season from a team that's going to finish the season winning seven of 10 games and likely to be ranked in the final Associated Press Top 25? That's a decision the Texas brass has to make, but it's clear after the flirtation with Urban Meyer in October and November that if a clear upgrade from Herman can be found, the Longhorn power brokers are willing to pony up the money to make it happen.

Can an upgrade be acquired, or are the folks who were willing to replace Herman a few weeks ago going to let him try his hand and getting Texas over the top in a fifth season on the job if down-the-line options aren't palatable? Even if that's possible, is the relationship between Herman and the university (more importantly with the power players behind the scenes who've openly voiced their displeasure with the current regime) strained to a point that everyone would be better served to go their separate ways in 2021?

For those who've exercised patience waiting for a final call on Herman's future one way or the other, the rubber is about to meet the road. With the season in the books, the time to think about the future of the football program has arrived.

(Bobby Burton) The Day After

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It is perhaps heretical to consider the notion that the Texas offense was not helped by Sam Ehlinger in 2020 as much as it was actually hindered at times. I know that thought went through the minds of more than just a few Longhorn fans last night. In Casey Thompson’s first extended action, the sophomore racked up 31 points in five drives, all of this just two series after Ehlinger had overseen his fourth consecutive three and out. It was a level of sustained proficiency and success at the QB position the Horns haven’t seen this season.

Yes, there were other important differences with the offense last night other than just the quarterback, including the unleashing of a running back the Horns somehow dared to use too little for the first three quarters of an abbreviated season. Yet the scoreboard doesn’t lie. Thompson put more points on the board than Ehlinger with the very same personnel. Thompson was also more accurate downfield, seemed to get through many more progressions in the passing game, took fewer sacks and scrambled as well or better, too.

Was Ehlinger just off on Tuesday night, or did the injury play a role in the offense sputtering in the second quarter? Perhaps, or even probably. You have to remember the deep ball that Ehlinger shot-putted at one point in the second quarter. He threw it so high I thought it might hit an Alamodome speaker. Ehlinger was clearly injured during other parts of the season, too. But the offense sputtered nonetheless last night as it did that in just about every game this season with Ehlinger at the helm. Yet no back-up QB was ever called upon.

Here’s the deal: Ehlinger will go down as one of the best QBs in Texas history. As he should. But that doesn’t mean he’s perfect, or that his play could not be improved on. For Thompson, or whoever succeeds Ehlinger, the real test will be one we didn’t see last night. And that’s the test of mettle. When the chips are down, when the game is on the line, when your team needs you most, how will you perform, how will you step into that role?

Ehlinger did that time after time in his Longhorn career. Some times he came through with the win, others he fell short. But you never, ever questioned his desire or competitiveness. Let whoever takes the reins at QB next year be both a capable player and ready for the mental ups and downs, too.

 

[satyanash 15659]

(Brian Davis) Texas 55, Colorado 23: Horns have bright future with RB Bijan Robinson leading the way

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SAN ANTONIO — In this unpredictable season, it figures that the most exciting and confusing moments of the Alamo Bowl happened in just 37 seconds. That’s how long it took for the Longhorns’ future to eclipse its past. Texas got the ball to start the second half at the Alamodome, but senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger didn’t jog onto the field. That sure seemed noteworthy. No worries, though, as freshman Bijan Robinson exploded for 66 yards.

Then, reporters’ phones began buzzing with news that Ehlinger would miss the rest of the game with a shoulder injury. Was his UT career suddenly, abruptly over? Worry about that later as Casey Thompson was out there throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Moore. “I smiled and said, ‘You’re up kid,’” Texas coach Tom Herman said. “Go do you.” Said Thompson: “It felt like practice, honestly, I just felt like I was ready.”

And just like that, in two fantastic plays, No. 20 Texas blasted its way into 2021 with a 55-23 blowout win over Colorado. The Longhorns set new school bowl records on Tuesday for points (55) and total yards (638) and finished the season with a 7-3 record. Herman may have an Oklahoma problem, recruiting needs to firm up and he hasn’t won a Big 12 title yet. But he's also 4-0 in bowl games with the Horns.

“We literally had guys out there that were playing their first snap of college football in the Valero Alamo bowl,” Herman said. “It’s always a good thing to end your season with a win, to send the seniors out with a great taste in their mouth and start the offseason with a lot of positivity.”
Texas head coach Tom Herman is doused with Gatorade after Tuesday's 55-23 Alamo Bowl win over Colorado. The Longhorns are 4-0 in bowl games during the Herman era.

Robinson was simply sensational. The freshman had 183 rushing yards on 10 carries and 37 receiving yards on two catches — both touchdowns. He scored three touchdowns in all and was an easy pick for offensive MVP. He finished the 10-game season averaging 8.2 yards per carry, setting a new school record, better than Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams or anyone else.

The UT coaching staff stopped Robinson better than Colorado did. On four consecutive drives in the first half when Robinson didn’t touch the ball, the Horns went three-and-out every time. “My smile’s pretty big right now,” Robinson said. “My team, we worked so hard to get here, and get to this point. But I just feel that God has blessed us and we have a lot of work to do for next season.”

Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown was the game’s defensive MVP. He had six tackles, a fantastic interception while drifting into pass coverage, two quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. Colorado (4-2) had 378 total yards but standout running back Jarek Broussard managed just 82 on the ground and was frustrated all night. "2020 was a weird season, but like I said, we got a great group of guys that woke up every day to grind and get better every day,” Overshown said.

This was a weird season, mostly because of the pandemic. Texas players were subjected to COVID-19 tests three times a week, online course work and endless Zoom calls, much like the rest of us. But they were still expected to show up each Saturday and perform. Ehlinger, UT’s undisputed leader, bore the brunt of carrying all those fan expectations. He was the one that led sizzling comebacks against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. He was the one that fans focused on for standing virtually alone for “The Eyes of Texas” after the Oklahoma game.

But Ehlinger didn’t look all that great in the first half against Colorado. He was 10-for-16 passing for 160 yards and was sacked twice. He found Robinson for a 14-yard touchdown reception early in the first quarter that gave Texas a 14-0 lead but also missed on some deep balls. Herman said he didn't know when Ehlinger suffered his shoulder injury. It's impossible not to think that's how Colt McCoy's UT career also ended, with a shoulder injury against Alabama in the 2009 national championship game.

Ehlinger has not made his intentions known, toying with the idea that he might return in 2021, as allowed by an NCAA rule change. If this was the end, Ehlinger will finish with 11,436 career passing yards, 94 touchdowns and 923 completions — all second-best totals in UT history behind McCoy. If Ehlinger does leave, as many within the program quietly expect, then Thompson seemingly has the leg up over Hudson Card going into spring ball.

Thompson’s first touchdown to Moore was just the beginning. He threw touchdown passes of 13, 25, 23 yards, but the fourth one was the most impressive. He just unloaded a deep ball to Kelvontay Dixon for a 73-yard score that gave Texas a 48-23 lead. Dropped it right in the breadbasket, too, just like quarterbacks dream. Thompson ended up tying Major Applewhite’s 2001 Holiday Bowl record with four touchdown passes. All of it came on just 8-of-10 passing for 170 yards. Card did get some mop-up duty and impressed with a quick fling to Malcolm Epps.

But the real battle won’t be until spring. “Tonight it feels surreal,” said Thompson, who has spent three years working and preparing for when he would be a starter. “It feels good for preparation to finally meet opportunity.”

Texas had youngsters all over the field, including five underclassmen on the offensive line. Freshman defensive lineman Alfred Collins made the game’s most impressive play with an interception where he snagged it out of thin air while falling back. Freshman safety Jerrin Thompson also had six tackles, tying Overshown. There was so much ballyhoo about all the seniors and juniors, six starters in all, that opted out. But as Overshown said, “We recruit players for this. People leave. It’s the next guy up.”

Indeed, the Longhorns march on. This year wasn’t how anyone inside the football complex drew it up, but 2021 looks constructive, if you choose to see it as such. And if athletic director Chris Del Conte has any say, Herman will still be steering the battleship. “It’s definitely going to be scary next year," Overshown said.

Kirk Bohls: Thompson, Card ready to accept quarterback torch from Ehlinger

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SAN ANTONIO — The torch has been passed. And so were a whole lot of footballs on some very nice throws as Casey Thompson — at least for half of one game — showed Texas' quarterback position in the future just might be in very good hands. So is the entire team, if one bowl game serves as evidence. That outlook may hinge on Thompson, an elusive, dual-threat, third-year sophomore who’s been waiting in the wings and demonstrated both a good arm and quick feet in his first meaningful action as a Longhorn. Or Hudson Card, who likely won’t concede the starting spot without a fight.

"I felt very comfortable in the moment," said Thompson, a former all-state high school quarterback out of Oklahoma. "No disrespect to the other guys in the room, we can be great just pushing each other. As for the quarterback battle, I have no say in that. I just control what I can control." Thompson’s yet to start a game in college, but he just tied Major Applewhite for most touchdown passes in a bowl game with four, all over the course of just 20 minutes in the second half. Who knows what he might do with four quarters.

Of course, Texas’ whole team passed this most recent test, demolishing an average Colorado team 55-23 in the Alamo Bowl on Tuesday night for Tom Herman’s fifth consecutive bowl win, four of them with the Longhorns. But when has talent ever been the question, even during that decade of drought since Texas last appeared in a national championship game? I mean, this is a team that scored a whopping total of 122 points in its last two games, and even Shaka Smart is envious.

Decision-making has been the issue, whether it’s recruiting the wrong quarterback or making the right gamble or not using screen passes until a bowl game or not going for two against Oklahoma or not having a team ready to play a Maryland or a TCU or not playing the next Ricky Williams enough. Herman brings a lot of abuse on himself, whether it’s parsing out carries to Bijan Robinson, a monstrous talent who’s ready to explode onto college football, like they are Amazon stock, or stockpiling enough talent on both lines.

But deciding on the right quarterback will be Herman’s main priority. He handled it just fine Tuesday, letting Thompson and Card share second-half snaps after Sam Ehlinger’s shoulder injury that restricted him to the first half in what was likely his final game in a Longhorns uniform. Heck, even redshirt freshman walk-on quarterback Ben Ballard got in the game, playing the final three minutes.

In short, Thompson was spectacular, lighting up the Buffaloes for four touchdown passes — two of them on acrobatic catches by Joshua Moore — in just over a quarter and scooting through the Colorado secondary on a nifty 22-yard draw. He was calm and ruthlessly efficient. By the time Card arrived on the scene in the fourth quarter, the game was in command, and he was relegated to handing off the ball.

But will they start the offseason dead-even? “Ask me again when spring ball starts,” Herman said. "I have no idea." Pressed to elaborate on Thompson’s performance, he said, “I mean, nobody was surprised. Maybe all of you were because he hasn't played a whole lot. But we’ve seen him in practice for three years. ... Casey delivered, Hudson delivered. Everybody around them delivered. That's a really good sign of a cohesive team that knows how to prepare.”

Of course, no one does bowl games better than Herman. Even with eight starters out because of opt-outs or injury or illness, the 20th-ranked-and-climbing Longhorns finished strong with four wins in the last five games to complete a respectable 7-3 season that included three losses by 13 points. Texas responded with a school bowl-record 638 yards of offense. Even with seven freshmen starting — three of them on the offensive line — Texas was impressive from Moore to defensive tackle Alfred Collins to linebacker and defensive bowl MVP DeMarvion Overshown and beyond.

“We’re really excited about the future,” Herman said, “and these last two games, playing so many young guys, shows the trajectory of our program and what we’re capable of.” Herman clearly grasps the expectations. He has to do something with the talent on hand with potentially 13 returning starters, beat Oklahoma and win the Big 12 or the Urban Meyer rumors will return with a vengeance.

That is Herman’s task. It almost always starts at quarterback, and Herman has some reassuring options after pretty much squandering a beautiful Ehlinger career with four losses to OU in five tries and nary a conference title. Ehlinger threw for more than 11,000 yards and 94 touchdowns, seared his name into the hearts of fans forever and deserved a better fate. But he’ll be long remembered for his spirit, his grit and his intangibles as much as his solid 27-16 record.

He didn’t return Texas to national prominence. Assuming he leaves for the NFL, that task will fall to Thompson and Card. With Ehlinger restricted to only a first-half performance in his likely swan song because of a shoulder injury, he had his arm in a sling the second half. Meanwhile, Thompson was slinging it all over the Alamodome, throwing crisp passes — including a deep one of 73 yards to Kelvontay Dixon — for his four touchdowns.

Splitting the reps may have been by design. A quarterback can’t win the job with one nice quarter in a bowl game. That’ll take consistency in spring and summer drills, the trust of their teammates, the look they have in their eyes in the huddle and meeting rooms, the ability to understand and execute the game plan. For all he did Tuesday, the older Thompson will still have to hold off the hot-shot true freshman in the offseason to secure the job.

And Ehlinger himself said teammates constantly razz Card about being the “golden one,” a naturally gifted quarterback from Lake Travis who was “throwing spirals out of the womb.” There’s always a possibility Ehlinger could pull a reverse and announce he's returning for a fifth season, but the expectation is he has played his last game for Texas. But it’s OK to say goodbye, Sam. Your work is done. And Thompson’s and Card’s — and Herman’s — is just beginning.

 

[HenryJames 67468]

7 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Your work is done. And Thompson’s and Card’s — and Herman’s — is just beginning.

Negged.

[satyanash 15659]

Eric Nahlin: An Alamo Bowl Stream of Consci_ _sness (Offense)

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Given the infusion of youth that was surely excited for the chance to play I was expecting an entertaining blowout but still got more than I bargained for. I was expecting to see Casey Thompson for a series or two and got way more than I bargained for. Colorado is bad, just like Kansas State, but other than the offensive malaise (redundant) in the late 1st, early 2nd quarter, Texas did what it should have done in this contest.

For someone who likes to evaluate talent, and has known full well that talent isn’t what’s holding Texas back, it’s good to see talent avail itself in such obvious ways. Sadly, in the back of my mind, I know when UT struggles versus the Ragin’ Cajuns in the first half next year, talent will be the first thing questioned. You know who was surprised to see raw talent doing what it does last night? Apparently Tom Herman, Herb Hand, and maybe Andre Coleman.

QB

Sports can be cruel, and Sam Ehlinger going out due to injury instead of being called to the sidelines mid-series in the 3rd quarter to a standing Texas ovation is a reminder of that. If that bothers him too much he can always call up Colt McCoy to feel better about his own situation.

It’s possible to appreciate strengths while acknowledging weaknesses of a player. It’s not all one way or the other. My concern with Sam has been that he leaves yards and big plays on the field and Casey Thompson highlighted that in about the best apples-to-apples comparison you can make. The only way to better compare players is if they alternate by the series and that just wasn’t going to happen with the fourth-year team leader. The case can be made it should have happened at various times throughout the year when Ehlinger struggled noticeably, likely due to injury.

Yeah yeah yeah, Colorado isn’t anywhere close to a good football team, but just as you can analyze a high school player versus poor competition you can do it in college too. Casey was cool, calm, comfortable, and composed. His arm impresses me every time I see it, and that dates back to a deep out he threw in his first spring game. We know he’s a good athlete which he showed on his one run. What I liked most was his accuracy. The ‘reset’ throw had us going wild in the IT group text. That was maybe the throw of the year. It registered as Triple Lindy on the degree of difficulty scale. His downfield incompletions were placed where his receivers could make a play on it. His touchdown passes were things of beauty. He had good timing with his receivers.

Hudson Card has been called the most accurate passer on campus. If you watched him in high school that’s not far-fetched, but based on what I saw from Thompson his accuracy is quite good as well. I have admired Sam Ehlinger’s game since even before his junior year of high school. He has been a great Longhorn but the smart decision for him is to go to the NFL. He can take solace in having done what he could for the program. He moved the program forward.

RB

The easiest position on the field to assimilate a young talented player is running back. The more talented the player the quicker that assimilation should occur. I think it’s fair to say Texas was a little too cautious here while at the same time noting that Bijan Robinson is a vastly different back now than he was in September. This would have been a 1,000 yard season if it wasn’t a shortened schedule. Hell, he might have hit the landmark if the Kansas game wasn’t cancelled. I love his initial burst and the power with which he runs through half-hearted contact. He doesn’t decelerate through trash.

In one of the most glaring examples of Game Thread Man in recent memory we were treated to contempt for Roschon Johnson early in the game as if we don’t have 20 plus games of him being a resounding positive for the program. I think it’s likely his brother calmly read some of those comments into his helmet on his grown man touchdown run. Bodies are thin at running back. Texas really needs to land LJ Johnson but I just don’t think that’s likely unless Stan Drayton is retained (which is possible). Absent that, they need Keaontay Ingram to return. They may have to go find another Tre Watson.

WR

It was a weird season for the position. During games the quarterback was on, receivers were off. In games where receivers achieved separation, the quarterback was off. Josh Moore would disappear during long stretches then re-emerge as a key playmaker and down field threat. Ditto Jordan Whittington, often because of injuries but not always. That crossing route should be thrown to him once a quarter.

Jake Smith was wildly inconsistent and not as noticeable as Kai Money on the field last night. This stable of quality complementary parts, and they are that, needs a clear #1 and outside of Troy Omeire I don’t think that guy is on the roster. You can still put up a lot of points with this group, especially when the run game is churning and the quarterback is taking advantage over the top.

TE

Where’s Jared Wiley??? He has an injured shoulder. Where’s Brayden Liebrock??? That’s a better question. It’s a good thing they didn’t play him more because it would probably be another example of someone they underestimated the readiness of. They’ve done a poor job of forecasting this position.

OL

The message Herb Hand sent this year is if you’re not a starter in August/September you might as well wait until next year, or until Sam Cosmi declares early and Derek Kerstetter is injured. I understand that some of these guys weren’t ready at the start of the season, but I refuse to believe they were coincidentally ready when they were forced into playing time. Andrej Karic should have competed with Christian Jones at right tackle rather than backing up Cosmi at left tackle.

Jake Majors should have been starting at center earlier in the year, which would have put Derek Kerstetter at guard or right tackle. How are the prospects better for the offensive line next year than this year? That’s arguably the case with Karic looking like the clear successor at left tackle, Jake Majors’ emergence at center, Tyler Johnson starting to look like the prospect he was in high school, Isaiah Hookfin returning, and Christian Jones with another year to develop.

 

[satyanash 15659]

(Scipio Tex) 2020 Texas-Colorado Alamo Bowl Postmortem: Offense

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The Longhorn offense dominated the Buffaloes, scoring 55 points, dropping 638 total yards (303 rushing, 335 passing), and averaging a spectacular 9.4 yards per play. All while playing three new OL starters, a backup QB in the second half, without their most experienced wide receiver, while also limiting Bijan Robinson to 12 total touches (that he turned into 220 total yards and three touchdowns).

Pretty good stuff. Even if Colorado's defense was poor. I can assure you that they were no worse than three or four other defenses in the Big 12. The odd second quarter drought that combined no Bijan Robinson touches with four three and outs was probably more causal than correlative, but let's not dwell, shall we? Texas was a much deeper, more talented team than most Texas fans suspected. Unfortunately, this team was also much more talented than our own coaches suspected. Since they coach the team, that's not ideal. Nowhere was that more apparent than on the Texas offense.

QB

Sam hurt his shoulder in the mid to late 2nd quarter, gutted it out for an indeterminate number of snaps, and then passed the reins to Casey Thompson, who proceeded to look like a gunslinging mini-Mahomes crossed with Russell Wilson. Ehlinger's 1st half 10/16 for 160 yards and a touchdown stat line was nothing to sneer at and he'd certainly like to have played one of his sacks differently, but Casey absolutely went off. Thompson threw for four touchdowns in only 8 completions while going 8 of 10 for 170 yards. He was throwing strikes all over the field as Colorado opted for single coverage outside to clamp down on Bijan Robinson. To the offensive staff's credit, they let him sling it around didn't do the "Oh no, he's a backup, let's quit running the offense" fetal retreat. He also did this:

#8 shakes an unblocked pass rusher, and actually gets BACK INTO THE POCKET instead of bailing. Then the under control perfect reset. Look at how he's holding the ball as he squares his shoulders and keeps his eyes downfield. Then a pinpoint Level 10 difficulty throw. Holy cow. In the interest of full disclosure, I will also point out that he felt his oats a little too much and threw a ball right off of the freshman CU's CBs hands, but what's one bad throw among friends?

Thompson looked terrific and the Hudson Card coronation may want to hold off on the tinsel and ribbons orders. We've got a Spring fight brewing. Walk-on Ben Ballard's late 7 yard QB draw demonstrated that he deserves a goal line package at minimum. Lamar Jackson-esque.

OL

Dominant. As I've held all year, this unit was far deeper and better than Texas fans or their own position coach believed. Jake Majors is exactly what we needed at center, Karic and Johnson would have been at minimum fantastic depth (and a spur to the starters) who should have been playing a role in the OL rotation, and it's abundantly clear that the entire unit would have elevated with Kerstetter playing his natural position outside.

Texas ran left all game. Junior Angilau was a big reason. #75 played his best game at Texas. He crushed at the point of attack and repeatedly drove Colorado defenders and then sealed them creating an easy cutback for Bijan in space. He was also great in the screen game. Freshman LT Andrej Karic has sweet feet and a big motor. He repeatedly out-quicked Colorado edge defenders to the point of attack and kept those feet moving. Good technical OL given his age and I suspect personal coach Donald Hawkins can be apportioned much of that credit.

Center Jake Majors repeatedly reach blocked CU's big interior nose tackle and then got to the second level to cut off pursuit. CU's nose tackles were corpulent scrubs and Majors kicked their asses for four quarters anytime we let him use his superior quickness. Absolutely vital piece in realizing the outside running game. Held up OK as a pass blocker. Little used but highly recruited Tyler Johnson was good at the point of attack replacing Okafor and he demonstrated better baseline pass blocking ability.

It also helps that Texas got rid of a couple of asinine play action protections that we'd been trying to run unsuccessfully all season. Christian Jones was good outside with only one hiccup and did a nice job against Colorado's edge rushers. This athletic OL had tremendous potential and should have, hands down, been the most dominant unit in the league and a Top 12-15 unit nationally. A poor job of personnel management, recognition, scheme marriage, and utilization.

Injury did the work in December that Reason should have done in August.

RB

Q: Who is the only man that can keep Michael Jordan from scoring 20 points? A: Dean Smith.

A similar quip might soon apply to Bijan Robinson and the Texas staff. #5 has compiled 12 touches in each of his last two games while totaling 356 yards rushing and 88 yards receiving and 6 total touchdowns. That's 18.5 yards every time he touches the ball and a touchdown 25% of the time there's leather in his hands. I'm not a coach, but that's good. I'm not down for breaking a freshman with 30 carries, but can we inch him up to, I don't know, 15-17 touches?

Bijan makes a guy who overran his gap miss and runs through another tackle with contempt, but please look at the work the Longhorn OL and TEs did at the point of attack. A thing of beauty when good blocking marries up to a special runner. The runner runs the OL better and the OL gives the runner clean goes.

Supposed to be outside zone but Junior murders, Majors gets a lovely reach block on the CU 350 pounder, and Bijan reads instantly and explodes through the gaping hole. Bijan was phenomenal. 10-183-1 td, 2 catches, 37 yards, 2 touchdowns on perfectly set up screens. He has elite acceleration, good feel, power, sweet feet, and he shrugs off arm tackles. OK, so his straight line speed isn't absolutely elite. Can't win 'em all. Not to be completely overshadowed, RoJo did this.

I just submitted that clip to Webster's for the entry under Indomitable. He should take a three yard loss there, but he breaks four tackles, including the same guy twice and scores a touchdown. When they made Roschon, they forgot to put in the quit. Nice seeing Gabe Watson late. Good, no-nonsense upfield running.

WR/TE

Joshua Moore looked good on his trademark red zone post pattern, grabbing 5 balls for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Texas attempted to kill Jordan Whittington with two early screens that were about as disguised as Shaq with a fake mustache, but he survived a vicious knee level strike, grabbed a nifty 34-yard catch after totally shaking a guy in space and then notched a 20-yard reverse. Nice to see Jordan healthy. Can't wait for him to get an offseason under his belt.

Al'Vonte Woodard saw his most play of the season in the Brennan Eagles role and caught 3-28. Cade Brewer had a big catch open in the seam from Ehlinger for 38 yards and then another for 21 on the impressive Casey Thompson toss. Brewer blocked really well on Colorado's smalls and the adjustment to move him from engaging big guys on the edge to hunting safeties and linebackers was good for him. Good game, Brewer. You can use scheme to help a dude out.

Epps had a 20 yard run on the very nifty Card option play, but this was also his best blocking performance at Texas. Same reasons as Cade. They didn't ask him to block defensive ends or root out linebackers heads up. A lot of stalk blocks and screening.

Kelvontay Dixon showed us why he'd been the talk of Longhorn practices with a lovely 73 yard touchdown catch. One subtle thing he did on that play is that when he saw he'd broken free, he didn't push the accelerator to the floor, but dialed it back a tad and presented himself with a better angle to allow Thompson's ball to get there accurately. Thompson made a decent throw, but Dixon's subtle adjustment made it look like a perfect one. I'm officially intrigued. Texas may have their much needed deep ball threat.

Final

Texas dominated the Buffaloes and demonstrated that the Longhorn locker room has talent and depth. I wish we would have seen more of that ability deployed correctly earlier in the year.

(Scipio Tex) 2020 Texas-Colorado Alamo Bowl Postmortem: Defense/Special Teams

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The Longhorns destroyed the Buffs 55-23, a result that, much like Kansas State, suggests that Texas was capable of much more than their season results. Doing it down 1/3rd of their regular season starters is further proof of that point. This was a deeper, more talented Texas team than conventional wisdom - or apparently some Longhorn coaches - realized. Texas fans watched last night's game with a lot of elation and more than a little of "So, where's THAT been?" Current Texas fan mood? Irritated optimism.

The Texas defense largely dominated at the line of scrimmage while the Horn cornerbacks prevented easy single read strikes from an offense looking to exploit run game overplay. Buffalo star running back Jarek Broussard was treated rudely, totaling 82 yards rushing on 27 carries -- less than half of his season per carry average - and was eventually knocked out of the game late by a huge shot from Overshown. Chris Ash did a nice job of setting the edge with average exterior players against Colorado's staple outside running game while Coburn, Sweat, and Collins repeatedly dominated the Colorado interior OL with their penetration and playmaking.

The Colorado passing game was awful. Some credit goes to the the Texas cornerbacks, who were good in coverage against pedestrian receivers, but the Texas safeties and linebackers were vulnerable once Colorado made a QB change. Scatter-armed starter Sam Noyer was an atrocious 8 of 23 for 101 yards and 2 interceptions, but 2nd teamer Brendon Lewis gave Texas problems with his feet, totaling 73 yards rushing on 9 carries while going 6 of 10 for 95 yards passing. Most of the Lewis drives ended in points, but Colorado kept trying to resuscitate the lifeless Noyer throughout the game. Thankfully, Karl Dorrell had Lewis on the Bijan Robinson pitch count.

Colorado was only 4 of 17 on 3rd down, averaged less than 5 yards per play (4.8), and picked up some cheap yardage late against the Longhorn 3rd team defense. Texas held up very well considering that several key components of the starting defense were wearing street clothes.

DL

#95 was mayhem incarnate. That's one of the most athletic, instinctive plays you'll see from a player of any size, much less a 305 pound true freshman defying the Matrix. Earlier in the game, he landed a huge hit on Noyer that seemed to take some wind out of his sails for several plays afterwards. Later, he penetrated and notched a deflected ball on 3rd down to force a Colorado punt. Alfred was money against the Colorado running game and seeing him dip his 6-5 frame to take a gap was eye opening. He finished with 5 tackles, 1 highlight reel interception, 1 pass break up, and several running game disruptions. Praying for good injury news.

Keondre Coburn probably recorded his best game of the year. 5 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 batted ball, excellent against the run. If he'll work on his conditioning and weight this offseason, he's poised for a strong 2021. T'Vondre Sweat didn't quite fill the stat sheet like Collins and Coburn, but he repeatedly ate up double teams and bounced Broussard into the waiting arms of unblocked edge defenders and linebackers. Excellent play before being shaken up in the late 2nd quarter.

Vernon Broughton notched a flush sack in the red zone and had two tackles. He has a great first step, but he lost some battles at the point of attack after initial contact. Needs an offseason in the weight room and technical work, but the raw ability is intriguing. Sawyer Goram-Welch played most of the fourth quarter at nose tackle and it wasn't good. Poor pad level and can't anchor. Trying to swim guys on the interior is best left to Warren Sapp and John Randle. He needs to contemplate playing guard or center, where he'd be a pretty high level athlete with upside.

The edge players were tasked with playing the run first, second, and third. However, they didn't bring much on clear passing downs. Reese Leitao struggled to pass rush for most of the game, but he did a nice job against the run, particularly when matched against CU's athletic tackles. He's good at locking out bigger players and keeping leverage. 6 tackles and a tackle for loss on an excellent play on Noyer on a sprint zone read. Jacoby Jones was also active against the run, notching 4 tackles. Ash did a nice job of giving them bite-sized tasks. Jett Bush has motor but is miscast outside. Let's get him back inside, depth chart allowing. The pass rush was largely poor outside of Collins and that'll be a key question in 2021.

LB

 

The One Armed BANDit strikes.

Overshown logged six tackles, had two QB hits, grabbed a gimme pick from Noyer on a rangy 25 yard drop, and logged a forced fumble hit that knocked Broussard out of the game. He also narrowly avoided ejection for targeting after dipping his head and going in blind on a tackle on Lewis. See what you hit, Agent Zero. DMO will be one of the premier hybrid and coverage linebackers in the country next year, but he needs to improve at the point of attack and not just rely purely on "see ball, chase ball." Overshown is an aggressor and box score filler. Keep him focused on ball and he'll be good to go.

David Gbenda played some very good snaps. He finished with 4 tackles in limited time and did a nice job of flowing downhill. He has the necessary characteristics for spread LB - now he just needs to marry it to experience and good habits. Jaylan Ford (4 tackles) had some rocky moments getting caught standing and looking, but he also had some classic scrape and fills that we haven't seen here in some time. Coburn, Sweat and Collins offered the linebackers a nice shield on 80% of their snaps. Ford has a big offseason ahead of him. He is more football player than SPARQ freak and his upside will be determined by the degree to which he can add strength and speed to his feel for the game. Notably, Gbenda and Ford combined on a couple of goal line stuffs that looked like real linebacking.

DB

Jerrin Thompson is going to be good. Plays the ball well in the air and he covers a lot of turf. Six tackles. He had some less than exemplary snaps in zone coverage, but expecting a coherent back end playing zone with green linebackers and safeties is hopeful at best. Based on two games, we certainly lost nothing with Thompson replacing Caden Sterns. BJ Foster played a lot of deep free and zone. Adequate. Five tackles. Appreciate him gutting through some pretty serious injuries without complaint.

The Buffs lacked a playmaking slot receiver and that's a nice vacation for the task-saturated Texas SPUR. Chris Adimora had some quality edge sets on the weak side, but he overran Broussard on the goal line and lost the leverage battle when he couldn't keep his feet under him on the cutback. Five tackles. He remains chippy in a good way and while I see his value at nickel in Ash's scheme, it's worth experimenting with a more pure coverage guy at nickel while he slides over to dime safety against high level passing teams. Anthony Cook had an egregious missed tackle late, but he did hustle to get back into the play rather than pout about it.

Josh Thompson was very good in coverage. The highlight was a picture perfect tipped ball on a vertical route. The lowlight was getting juked by Broussard while coming clean off of the edge on a 3rd and 3. Overall, good stuff. Jamison was also very good. He had a gorgeous PBU of his own and Colorado wisely avoided him. Poor game from Jalen Green. Can't get worked by a 4.9 40 tight end on an option route in the middle of the field and he missed a couple of reads. I still like his eventual upside at safety as he gets used to a different field view and set of responsibilities.

Kitan Crawford got burned by three steps on a vertical route that Noyer overthrew by five yards, but I like Crawford's willingness to hit. He brings contact through the blocker rather than waiting and accepting contact. Individual play was decent to good, but unit play was inconsistent when Colorado inserted the more dynamic Lewis at QB. They need to communicate better. That's to be expected given their experience levels. The Texas CBs taking away early reads to the CU WRs helped create some of Noyer's inaccuracy.

Special Teams

Sloppy execution. I counted four Longhorn special teams penalties, most of them stupid. Dicker also missed a 45 yard field goal and Jamison gave up ground on a punt return, which rarely works outside of Houston Lamar. On the plus side, Dicker redeemed himself with a 53 yard dead center field goal that would have been good from 60+, drilled a 35 yard gimme, and punted well. His best punt of the night combined distance and hang time and pinned the CU returner on the sideline, allowing an easy tackle. Field flipper. Jaden Hullaby snatched a CU returner's soul on a kickoff return and punt coverage was on point.

Final

The Texas defense overcame key losses of experience and talent to largely have their way with a physical (albeit talent spare) Colorado offense that plays a brand of straightforward football that Texas particularly excels at stopping. The emergence of DMO and Collins along with good cornerback play provides a foundation for this defense in 2021. How Texas develops and fills out the other components will determine their upside. I had a blast watching the young players and it was an enjoyable way to close the season. But I'm left wondering what might have been.

 

[satyanash 15659]

(Bobby Burton) Thursday: The Whales Are Still Coaching

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Following a resounding defeat of Colorado in the Alamo Bowl Tuesday night, the Texas football program and its administration must now answer the single question that has been lingering for a couple of months. Who will be the head coach of the Longhorns in 2021? Despite a statement of support for coach Tom Herman from Chris Del Conte earlier this month, Inside Texas has continued to report - and never wavered - that Tom Herman’s job remained in jeopardy.

The landslide wins over Colorado and Kansas State did nothing to change the opinions of the decision makers of board of regents chair Kevin Eltife, university president Jay Hartzell and athletic director Del Conte. That group of decision makers was also first reported and identified by Inside Texas. A week ago, both Eric and I mentioned “patience” as a word that we had heard from high-ranking officials and influential donors.

That remains the case, and is perhaps more elucidated by the following text I received yesterday. “The whales are still coaching,” a high-ranking official texted, referencing the coaches in the college football playoffs as well as possible NFL coaches.

(Ian Boyd) Inside the gameplan: Four years of dissipation

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It was a little bit difficult to enjoy Texas’ 55-23 thrashing of a bad Colorado team in the Alamo Bowl. It would have been harder for the Longhorns to draw an easier matchup than a team from a league that barely put together a season and who barely even played anyone from said league. No disrespect to Colorado, who honorably made the most they could of their season, but if you thought the 11-2, 2019 Utah Utes or the 9-3, 2012 Oregon State Beavers were a bit overmatched athletically…

Overwhelmed opponent aside, it’s frustrating to watch Texas figure out key identity pieces in concept and personnel with the season’s goals already lost. In retrospect, the story of the 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes perhaps should have been less about Tom Herman’s expertise in adjusting to a “third string quarterback” and more about a failure to use the deep threats at receiver to open rushing lanes for Ezekiel Elliott until forced to when an injury to J.T. Barrett scuttled Herman’s preferred zone-option attack.

For the 2020 Longhorns the biggest frustration was in watching the offensive line, which struggled all year, come alive despite losing some of the best players on the team because those injuries forced the coaching staff to rethink and ultimately optimize the lineup. For four years this has been the story in Austin for Tom Herman regardless of staff changes. With the season resolved in resounding fashion, I thought it’d be a nice time to overview the many personnel catastrophes of the Tom Herman era.

2017: Year “zero”

Herman and the staff justifiably got a mulligan for the 2017 season. Crucial mistakes diminished the possibilities for the team but Texas also dealt with a rash of injuries at key positions which would have made life hard on any staff. They lost prospective right tackle Elijah Rodriguez and tight end Andrew Beck just before the season started when they were already counting on both. They lost left tackle Connor Williams during the USC game in week three to complete the crippling of their offensive edges. They had to shuffle back and forth between Shane Buechele and Sam Ehlinger at quarterback as they took turns missing time with injuries playing behind a bad offensive line.

However, we can still nitpick at a mistake here and there. An obvious one is the tight end problem, which has been a recurring issue for the Longhorns. When it’s essential to your scheme that you can block a six-man box in your run game with a movable tight end you need to make sure you have some options there on your roster. They inherited Andrew Beck, who’d been well developed for the role by Charlie Strong’s staff in the “veer and shoot” offense which sprung D’Onta Foreman for over 2k rushing yards. They supplemented him by moving 6-4 wide receiver Garrett Gray over and taking Syracuse transfer Kendall Moore. They also had two freshman tight ends in the recruiting class in Reese Leitao, who took to the position like a fish to the desert, and Cade Brewer, who came in at around 215 pounds with a background as a receiver in Lake Travis’ spread offense.

None of these people aside from Beck could block, which made the situation untenable when the tackles were taken out by injury.

On defense it’s been long forgotten that Breckyn Hager was a really strong edge-rusher who’d had 13.5 tackles for loss and six sacks the year before Herman arrived operating as an outside linebacker. Todd Orlando observed his lack of lateral agility combined with fierceness in the box and endless motor and determined his optimal spot was middle linebacker. The position most routinely attacked with run/pass conflicts by Big 12 spread offenses. This experiment didn’t last long and Hager was reduced to sulking on the sideline most of the year until finding a role as a pass-rusher from defensive end in the dime package.

When the dime package proved to be not only Texas’ best defense on third down but every down, Hager ended up getting the starting nod as a 3-4 defensive end. The problem? He was 6-3, 245 pounds and survived inside mostly due to sheer will rather than natural fit. Hager still forced his way into the backfield enough to pick up four sacks in 2017 and 2.5 more in 2018, but Texas was robbed of a good jack linebacker over those two seasons.

2018: Maybe things are coming together?

With Hager established as a 4i defensive end alongside Charles Omenihu, it was time to determine how to best utilize high energy, 6-2, 270 pound Malcolm Roach and smart, physical, but not super explosive 6-3, 250 pound Jeffrey McCulloch.

Roach started at middle linebacker, to replace Hager I suppose, before giving way and getting injured. Todd Orlando then spent the rest of the year infuriatingly leaving big Anthony Wheeler out to dry as the middle linebacker isolated in space while 4.4 sprinter Gary Johnson (weakside linebacker) would be left in the box to try and bullrush offensive guards. To the credit of Orlando, this all worked out well enough because while he did a disservice to Hager’s skill set, Orlando did make good use of Omenihu off the edge on passing downs and utilized some concepts I called “the combover package” to drop safety Brandon Jones around the box where he could serve as an extra linebacker.

They’d end up rotating McCulloch in and out while making good use of freshman safety B.J. Foster as a dime linebacker in the 3-2-6 “lightning package.”

On offense Texas had their best season under Herman, points per game totals be damned, due to some precise roles and fits for the starters. Lil’Jordan Humphrey was moved inside to be a full-time flex tight end and lead the team in catches and yardage. Collin Johnson commanded safety attention in the boundary. Devin Duvernay did occasional damage flexed wide. Andrew Beck was a terrific ancillary blocker. Sam Ehlinger thrived at protecting the ball and picking up third downs throwing to Humphrey or bowling over defenders. They also made good use of the grad transfer market, adding Rice’s three-year starter Calvin Anderson to solidify left tackle.

You won’t find another season in the Tom Herman era where the pieces all fit together this well, even though natural 3-technique and jack linebacker Malcolm Roach and Breckyn Hager were never effectively paired.

2019: Texas is BAAAAC….wait. Oh not again....

The 2019 season is when it all came crashing down for Tom Herman. The continuity and patience from 2017 that paid off in 2018 didn’t leave anything at all in the bank for 2019.

One of my favorite pet theories on 2019 comes from our own Coach Venables, who pondered whether the well coordinated, sticky-fingered, and physically tough Jeff McCulloch was the tight end Texas needed. Two of Texas’ best tight ends over the last half-decade were converted linebackers/ends, Andrew Beck and Caleb Bluiett. But the staff had a hole at middle linebacker and an impulsive need to try and fill it with the heaviest, stiffest defender they could find with Hager graduating and Roach now established back on the defensive line. So McCulloch got the tryout there and then was quickly moved when he inevitably couldn’t handle the space.

Roach was finally on the defensive line again and poised for a long-expected breakout year, he needed only to play as a 3-technique or 4i with a really good edge rusher outside of him to run stunts and games with in order to wreak havoc. Texas had just the guy! Joseph Ossai was an obvious natural as a pass-rusher at 6-4, 240 who’d already flashed the year before. But Orlando’s insistence on using weakside linebacker for speedy pass-rushers rather than outside linebacker meant Ossai moved there and eventually out to nickel when injuries crippled the Longhorn linebacker corps and secondary.

While Ossai played inside linebacker and nickel, obvious linebacker transition candidates B.J. Foster and DeMarvion Overshown took turns playing the edge/outside linebacker position Ossai was born for. Defense didn’t go well in 2019 and Orlando was terminated at the end of the year. On offense, they couldn’t figure out that McCulloch-shaped hole at tight end. Devin Duvernay benefited considerably from moving inside to the slot but Collin Johnson’s regular injuries left them short of reliable outside receivers.

They tried to address this by playing obvious tight end Malcolm Epps as a full-time X receiver but remarkably failed to teach the 6-7, 240 pounder how to beat press coverage. Additionally, the move of Duvernay to the slot along with poor roster management at running back forced the team to first move twitchy and highly skilled 5-star freshmen Jordan Whittington to running back and then, when he was inevitably injured, do the same with 4-star freshman quarterback Roschon Johnson.

They went back to the grad transfer offensive line well but this time misplayed things by emphasizing run blocking with Georgia Tech’s Parker Braun. Braun was a boost in run blocking but coming from Georgia Tech’s flexbone, triple-option offense was a novice in pass protection who occasionally combined with redshirt freshman right guard Junior Angilau to turn the middle of Texas’ pass protections into a sieve.

Despite all those issues, things went okay (aside from humiliating pass protection breakdowns against Oklahoma) until solid if unspectacular Cade Brewer was injured and the team was left without a decent tight end against the best defenses on the schedule (Iowa State and Baylor). Back to back losses by scores of 23-21 and 24-10 knocked the Longhorns out of the Big 12 title hunt and effectively ended the season.

2020: Prove it year?

On a normal Tom Herman timeline the team would presumably be due for a solid bounce back in 2020 but a few more bizarre personnel decisions thwarted the season.

Herman hired his old colleague Chris Ash of 2014 Ohio State fame to come fix the defense and Ash did a credible job. He moved big safety DeMarvion Overshown to linebacker and cleared up the “how do we play all these blue chips?” questions in the secondary. He also played Ossai as the boundary edge playing off 3-technique Ta’Quon Graham and nose tackle Keondre Coburn (with meaningful contributions from Alfred Collins and T’Vondre Sweat). The team finished the year still needing to make strides at linebacker and playing sound defense but Ash at least got everyone in natural roles and positions and emphasized fundamentals. They could be due for another leap in 2021.

On offense things got ugly. Tom Herman had the chance to hire Graham Harrell and unleash Sam Ehlinger’s ability to run a spread passing attack and supplement with scrambles and power runs with the Air Raid but Herman wasn’t comfortable with the philosophical change. So instead he hired Mike Yurcich to bring some fresh ideas to the existing offense to spruce up the Longhorns’ often stagnant approach.

The two big changes Yurcich brought were to emphasize the outside receivers in the passing game and to change the dependable if unspectacular inside zone running game to feature more outside zone. The obvious lack of reliable outside receivers had two potential answers, the addition of outside receivers who couldn’t start at their old schools in Tarik Black (Michigan) and Brenden Schooler (Oregon) and then freshman Troy Omeire who looked like the answer until tearing his knee in fall camp.

They didn’t work the transfer wire for the offensive line, which will now go down in infamy along with another move we’ll get to in a moment. With Sam Cosmi and Derek Kerstetter back, Texas could have had the best tackle tandem in the Big 12 but instead they moved Kerstetter to meet the need at center none of the older interior linemen could meet. Finding a solid center in the transfer wire isn’t terribly difficult and it was revealed during the Alamo Bowl broadcast that Sam Ehlinger was very capable of helping the center make all the right calls when Texas had to play true freshman Jake Majors.

The result of this offseason decision-making was a complete disaster. Many of us assumed Kerstetter’s move to center meant the young tackles on the roster were ready to go on the right side but this proved wildly inaccurate when Christian Jones was routinely embarrassed off the edge in big game after big game. All of this came to light when Texas was forced to move Kerstetter back to tackle because Sam Cosmi quit and declared for the NFL and freshman center Jake Majors was thrust into action. A demonstration…

This is earlier in the year. Kerstetter was solid at covering up defenders on the outside zone play but he wasn’t going to reach a guy too often, instead the Longhorns needed to double and use movement on the combo block and often a lead insert from Cade Brewer. The concept works fairly well here but Keaontay Ingram goes outside when both Cosmi and Brewer were creating a cutback inside behind the double team. Later in the year…

Bijan Robinson is obviously more fluid and explosive than Keaontay Ingram but check out here and elsewhere how Texas blocks this scheme with Majors at center. The shorter, quicker freshman can reach tackles Kerstetter can’t reach and seal them back inside without requiring a long double team, which frees up the guard to go cause problems down field.

Texas looked more natural running outside zone with Majors at center than with Kerstetter. Then there’s Andrej Karic, who barely worked into the rotation only to show athleticism and ability as a pass protector beyond perhaps even Kerstetter and certainly anyone else not named Sam Cosmi. What if Texas had played Majors at center earlier, perhaps a few weeks into the year if not the onset? Or what if Karic had received snaps at right tackle over struggling kick-stepper Christian Jones?

The emphasis on throwing to the outside receivers, who were not strong, and running outside zone made for a tough time on offense this season and a lot of wear and tear on Sam Ehlinger. Texas misused Ehlinger quite a bit over the years, particularly in 2020. His main weaknesses are inconsistency pushing the ball down the field (sometimes he's throwing NFL darts, other times he's missing) and a tendency to hold onto the ball and take sacks while trying to bring Texas "back" on every other play-action call. Rather than focusing him on his strengths in reading defenses and distributing underneath in the spread, they often played into his penchant for heroic attempts.

For year after year the staff has struggled to find the right personnel and lineups with Texas’ talent to create a strong identity and get the best players in position to dominate. The Alamo Bowl was ultimately just further evidence of the untapped potential of the program.

 

[Burt Macklin 19230]

31 minutes ago, satyanash said:

(Bobby Burton) Thursday: The Whales Are Still Coaching

(Ian Boyd) Inside the gameplan: Four years of dissipation

 

Anyone who hates themselves enough to read that entire Ian Boyd article should go seek psychiatric help immediately.

[Brothahorn 10100]

1 hour ago, Burt Macklin said:

Anyone who hates themselves enough to read that entire Ian Boyd article should go seek psychiatric help immediately.

My appointment is for Monday.

[Zeus 6879]

$0.00ers

 

[Tex48 852]

1 hour ago, Burt Macklin said:

Anyone who hates themselves enough to read that entire Ian Boyd article should go seek psychiatric help immediately.

I just read both.  He had some good points but it just reminded me even more that Herman cannot be our head coach next season.  

[satyanash 15659]

 

[ClubWhatever 12324]

On 12/31/2020 at 2:52 PM, Tex48 said:

I just read both.  He had some good points but it just reminded me even more that Herman cannot be our head coach next season.  

No, he cannot