Back away from the ledge!! It's not as bad as you think ....yet.

[Rockethorn1978 6203]

My first thoughts as I watched how horrible the line play was all night wasn’t the coaching but how fucking bad are the guys behind these “starters”. Like all I could picture was the 2nd and 3rd stringers eating glue and digging in their ass on the sideline. 
 

How does a line that’s returning a ton of experience as far as games played come back a year older yet play like freshmen in high school being asked to play their first game against real college players?

[ztejas 44114]

17 minutes ago, Lat22 said:

I’ve become more of a “watch them on TV” guy, but I was there last night. Receivers were breaking open and Card was not delivering the ball to them. It happened a bunch. You can’t see that stuff on TV. He looked really timid. 

Thanks. Just statistically - it doesn't make sense for the plays where he missed Whit and Worthy/Moore to be the ONLY plays they were open. That would be an incredible coincidence.

[ztejas 44114]

3 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

How does a line that’s returning a ton of experience as far as games played come back a year older yet play like freshmen in high school being asked to play their first game against real college players?

Because these guys weren't great last year and the best piece of that line by far is gone.

[bullet 1628]

1 hour ago, longhornmatt said:

Not knowing their assignments is both a player and coaching issue.  That part actually reflects worse on the coaches than if we were in position and just getting physically manhandled.   Of course, that happened plenty, too (cue the image of Christian Jones being pushed to the ground by an edge player with only one arm on the bull rush).

I don’t agree with the thought process being attributed to Pete K on defense, if that was his thought process.  Not loading the box against a team who can’t reliably throw and is in the process of running for 300+ yards on 7+ yards per carry on us really has no justification.   We’re just going to let them run at will even though that’s all they can do because … maybe they’ll get bored and try to force a throw into coverage?  Yeah, that didn’t seem to work.  Go figure.

Arkansas ran 47 times for 333 yards.  Nobody got more than 75 yards and 6 players averaged over 6 yards a carry.  D line got their asses whipped.  Y'all are focusing on the wrong side of the ball.  Texas couldn't run, but Card often had ALL day to throw.  Their defense focused on stopping the run and was vulnerable to the pass.  Card badly overthrew 3 different wide open players beyond the defense.

[nunna yo bizness 1690]

So basically the way I understand the OP is that our OL was completely incompetent in every aspect, but furthermore all the other aspects of our O and D gameplans were based off of what we need them to do but they can't.  So what's the silver lining in that?

Someone point me to the nearest ledge please.

[bullet 1628]

28 minutes ago, Lat22 said:

I’ve become more of a “watch them on TV” guy, but I was there last night. Receivers were breaking open and Card was not delivering the ball to them. It happened a bunch. You can’t see that stuff on TV. He looked really timid. 

I saw at least 3 wide open TD passes he missed by a mile on TV.  And the game was so bad I was doing more talking than watching.  Receivers completely behind the defenders.  And Card wasn't particularly pressured on any of those throws.

[Eggo 4026]

15 minutes ago, bullet said:

Arkansas ran 47 times for 333 yards.  Nobody got more than 75 yards and 6 players averaged over 6 yards a carry.  D line got their asses whipped.  Y'all are focusing on the wrong side of the ball.  Texas couldn't run, but Card often had ALL day to throw.  Their defense focused on stopping the run and was vulnerable to the pass.  Card badly overthrew 3 different wide open players beyond the defense.

Sark suggested that offensive ineptitude allowed Arkansas to wear out the D line. I don't necessarily disagree, but it's worth noting that ToP was 31:00 vs 29:00 favoring them. 

[NeverMarryAStripper 22247]

33 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

Obligatory:  “you can’t find open receivers when you only have 2 seconds before you get hit”

There were plenty of times he had all day to throw and missed a wide open receiver by 5 yards

[phdhorn 6225]

31 minutes ago, bullet said:

Y'all are focusing on the wrong side of the ball. 

Well, besides offense, defense, and special teams, I thought we played pretty well.

[softlynow 1893]

4-1? The chances of that are only a tiny bit better than being 5-0. TCU is a loss and Tech is a pick ‘em.

Casey is an upgrade over Card, but those fixes don’t exist at OL. If it’s not knowing assignments well enough, maybe they get better in the second half of the season. If it’s anything else, buckle up. 5 wins is the o/u and 3-9 is very much in play. I’m not sure how anyone saw last night’s game and thinks anything but disaster lies ahead. 

[ztejas 44114]

1 minute ago, softlynow said:

3-9 is very much in play.

Negged for being a fucking idiot. 

[NeverMarryAStripper 22247]

Hey we didn't kick off to start both halves, and we made all three extra points.

[Horn Dogg 4278]

2 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

It looked to me like you could have pulled 5 random Texas fans from the stands and had just about the same level of OL play.  That has to fall at least somewhat on the coaching.

Hell, you could have pulled the drunk ass Surly RV guys and ad equal or better protection!

[TexArcher 38824]

2 hours ago, David Dennison said:

Our OL probably isn't getting fixed this year.

We need different players.

Unfortunately, this is probably right.  I'm hoping for improvement, and fast, but I think mediocre is the ceiling for this group, and they've got a ways to go to get there.

On the bright side, we should be able to get just about every OL we want for next fall's class.  You want a chance to play immediately, in the SEC, be on tv all the time, and block for a Heisman candidate?  If we can't recruit the best linemen in Texas with that pitch, it's time to worry about the next several seasons.

[Had Enough 2109]

Uh, we were a 10 win team last year
 
we lost our best DL, OL, 2DBs, and one of the best qbs in school history. And we play a harder big 12 this year than last
 
 
no clue how/why people thought we were winning more than 9 games this season

No other team lost dudes. Never happens in college.

We averaged over 50 points in two games since that olineman opted out. One of those teams gave up 10 to the Ags this weekend.

As for QB and DB, we have as much experience as you could want.

If our coach was crappy, then we should expect 9 wins.

[ClubWhatever 12277]

14 minutes ago, softlynow said:

3-9 is very much in play.

Idiotic.  We are not losing to Rice or Kansas.  That’s 3.  So we would have to lose to all of Baylor, Tech, Ok State, and WVU in addition to OU, KSU, and ISU.   Just stupid. 

[TexArcher 38824]

6 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

As for QB and DB, we have as much experience as you could want.

Bro, what?

 

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by TexArcher

[6th Street 6655]

8 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Unfortunately, this is probably right.  I'm hoping for improvement, and fast, but I think mediocre is the ceiling for this group, and they've got a ways to go to get there.

On the bright side, we should be able to get just about every OL we want for next fall's class.  You want a chance to play immediately, in the SEC, be on tv all the time, and block for a Heisman candidate?  If we can't recruit the best linemen in Texas with that pitch, it's time to worry about the next several seasons.

No O lineman worth a shit will be picking Texas over NFL factories Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Oregon, A&M etc. We will get some medium tier 3 stars and hope one of them can turn into Connor Williams.

[GTX Horn 1725]

24 minutes ago, softlynow said:

4-1? The chances of that are only a tiny bit better than being 5-0. TCU is a loss and Tech is a pick ‘em.

Casey is an upgrade over Card, but those fixes don’t exist at OL. If it’s not knowing assignments well enough, maybe they get better in the second half of the season. If it’s anything else, buckle up. 5 wins is the o/u and 3-9 is very much in play. I’m not sure how anyone saw last night’s game and thinks anything but disaster lies ahead. 

We’re not going 3-9 you fucking dumbass. 

[Surly Bevo 25660]

1 hour ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

How does a line that’s returning a ton of experience as far as games played come back a year older yet play like freshmen in high school being asked to play their first game against real college players?

My freshman in HS is a LT.  He immediately looked at that play and pointed out where every lineman was supposed to go against that three man front on that play.  He would get blown the fuck up but he wouldn't have been running into all his buddies like those jackasses were.

[softlynow 1893]

26 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Negged for being a fucking idiot. 

 

9 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

Idiotic.  We are not losing to Rice or Kansas.  That’s 3.  So we would have to lose to all of Baylor, Tech, Ok State, and WVU in addition to OU, KSU, and ISU.   Just stupid. 

Piggy was 3-7 last year and tied with Rice through three quarters week one and at no point did we look like we belonged on that field with them. Stop shrugging off how bad that was.

Losing all the winnable games is unlikely, but y’all honestly think we’re so much better than any non-rice/Kansas team on our schedule that we can’t lose? Like I said, I see 5-7 as most likely. 

[softlynow 1893]

9 minutes ago, GTX Horn said:

We’re not going 3-9 you fucking dumbass. 

I don’t think so either, which you’d know if you understood English. 

[El Squared 1838]

3 hours ago, David Dennison said:

Our OL probably isn't getting fixed this year.

We need different players.

How many years/ decades has this been the refrain? Is someone actually going to do something?

[MaverickHorn 10]

It’s Sark’s first year. Even the mighty Saban struggled his first year at Alabama.

Give the man time to get through a couple of recruiting classes. Once he does I have no doubt we will put up Alabama 2020 type of numbers. Hook’em!

[MaybeACoordinator 8350]

Firing Mack was a kindness to that asshole. He should have been forced to stay here for the last ten years. 

[Michael Knight 13195]

Surly highs are too high and their lows too low

[Had Enough 2109]

A couple things.

The second play has nothing to do with talent or lack of physicality. 2nd play and we’re clueless how to block?

The center is covered. The right guard pulls. Left guard blocking down? I’m assuming someone screwed up but who? That assumption is not based on the outcome but based what you’d assume the d tackle would do. Of the considerations, all are negative on the coaches. I’d go with The call was wrong but how can we be so unprepared for our second play call. You turn that defender loose you are asking for failure. We’re we unprepared for that front? Are we blocking it in that manner? Certainly not.

Unless I’m looking at the wrong Bama play, there’s is different. The left guard is covered. He blocks that man rather than turning him loose to kill the play.

Second thing was the talk of Sark having limited QB runs. Go back and watch that play. Now imagine Zone action with Bijan. QB pulls it. The defensive alignments and reactions would lead to easy blocks and yards to the left side. They were shifted to our right and the ultimate play side backer takes a read step, which would be two to three chasing Bijan. Break a tendency early. Get a 1st or 3rd and short. Slow the Pig hype train a bit. We’re not on the same page enough to man up on em so we need to mix in some confusion.

[ClubWhatever 12277]

3 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

Surly highs are too high and their lows too low

Surly is a place to say Hi.  

[El Squared 1838]

1 hour ago, bullet said:

Arkansas ran 47 times for 333 yards.  Nobody got more than 75 yards and 6 players averaged over 6 yards a carry.  D line got their asses whipped.  Y'all are focusing on the wrong side of the ball.  Texas couldn't run, but Card often had ALL day to throw.  Their defense focused on stopping the run and was vulnerable to the pass.  Card badly overthrew 3 different wide open players beyond the defense.

Not pulling Card after several boofs and inability to run as well as getting passes swatted down is a real problem, decreases trust for the the rest of the team.

Edited September 13, 2021 by El Squared

[ztejas 44114]

16 minutes ago, softlynow said:

 

Piggy was 3-7 last year and tied with Rice through three quarters week one and at no point did we look like we belonged on that field with them. Stop shrugging off how bad that was.

Losing all the winnable games is unlikely, but y’all honestly think we’re so much better than any non-rice/Kansas team on our schedule that we can’t lose? Like I said, I see 5-7 as most likely. 

I'm not sure you understand how easy winning 5 games at Texas is. Especially for what is on paper the most competent staff we've had in over a decade. If you think players aren't getting blasted for that game and coaches aren't burning it at both ends watching film I don't know what to tell you. I'm also not sure why you think anyone in this conference is worth a shit or any better than us through 2 games. TCU edged Cal last week. At home. ISU got boned by Iowa again. At home. Baylor beat Texas State by 9 week one. Kansas is a fucking joke. We get Tech and K State both at home this year and neither of them should beat us. WVU lost to Maryland week one. Okie Lite is always beatable. 

Unplug the toaster and maybe get some fresh air. I doubt we win 10 games but fuck man we aren't losing 8 or 9. Texas hasn't done that in 65 years. 

[Had Enough 2109]

Bro, what?
 
 

Sorry, a little clarity, transitioning from a multi year starting QB to a dude who’s in his 4th year on campus and a dude who’s in his 2nd is a pretty solid transition. Should be anyway. Game experience is limited sure.

Life experience bro. College living experience.

[softlynow 1893]

3 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I'm not sure you understand how easy winning 5 games at Texas is. Especially for what is on paper the most competent staff we've had in over a decade. If you think players aren't getting blasted for that game and coaches aren't burning it at both ends watching film I don't know what to tell you. I'm also not sure why you think anyone in this conference is worth a shit or any better than us through 2 games. TCU edged Cal last week. At home. ISU got boned by Iowa again. At home. Baylor beat Texas State by 9 week one. Kansas is a fucking joke. We get Tech and K State both at home this year and neither of them should beat us. WVU lost to Maryland week one. Okie Lite is always beatable. 

Unplug the toaster and maybe get some fresh air. I doubt we win 10 games but fuck man we aren't losing 8 or 9. Texas hasn't done that in 65 years. 

So it comes down to “we’re Texas?”

We all thought this was a great coaching staff. But here we are wondering how they arrived at both their offensive and defensive game plans, and whether their efforts at multiple positions are actually any good.

Casey in at QB is probably enough of a change to, by itself make 5 or even 6 wins a worst case scenario. But if he misses significant time? 

[El Squared 1838]

Hope the team had a good Sunday workout....it helped a lot last year

[softlynow 1893]

27 minutes ago, MaverickHorn said:

It’s Sark’s first year. Even the mighty Saban struggled his first year at Alabama.

Give the man time to get through a couple of recruiting classes. Once he does I have no doubt we will put up Alabama 2020 type of numbers. Hook’em!

Bama’s worst loss margin that year was 7 points, 4 times. 

[Beau Vine 55836]

2 hours ago, futureman said:

that first play you broke down is wrong. angilau wasn’t “soundly whipped.”

Yes he was.  All of them were soundly whipped.

[Beau Vine 55836]

1 hour ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

My first thoughts as I watched how horrible the line play was all night wasn’t the coaching but how fucking bad are the guys behind these “starters”. Like all I could picture was the 2nd and 3rd stringers eating glue and digging in their ass on the sideline. 
 

Edited September 13, 2021 by Beau Vine

[Tex Long 4624]

1 hour ago, ztejas said:

Negged for being a fucking idiot. 

You spelt "cunt" incorrectly.

[6th Street 6655]

12 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

He would’ve been much better than your buddy Strong. At least on par with Herman. We made a mistake with Mack and I’m okay admitting that. 

Not ready to judge Sark after 2 games. My gut says he’ll turn it around. 

We'd be better off with Mack than this bum Sark.

[taybo20 3008]

16 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

A couple things.

The second play has nothing to do with talent or lack of physicality. 2nd play and we’re clueless how to block?

The center is covered. The right guard pulls. Left guard blocking down? I’m assuming someone screwed up but who? That assumption is not based on the outcome but based what you’d assume the d tackle would do. Of the considerations, all are negative on the coaches. I’d go with The call was wrong but how can we be so unprepared for our second play call. You turn that defender loose you are asking for failure. We’re we unprepared for that front? Are we blocking it in that manner? Certainly not.

Unless I’m looking at the wrong Bama play, there’s is different. The left guard is covered. He blocks that man rather than turning him loose to kill the play.

Second thing was the talk of Sark having limited QB runs. Go back and watch that play. Now imagine Zone action with Bijan. QB pulls it. The defensive alignments and reactions would lead to easy blocks and yards to the left side. They were shifted to our right and the ultimate play side backer takes a read step, which would be two to three chasing Bijan. Break a tendency early. Get a 1st or 3rd and short. Slow the Pig hype train a bit. We’re not on the same page enough to man up on em so we need to mix in some confusion.

Well it’s clear that it’s Majors’ fault. The left side is mashing down right and the RG (Angilau) is pulling to lead for Bijan. It’s a simple counter play. Now with Majors affectively running into Okafor and also not blocking the guy that blows up the play, as can be seen it was fucked from the beginning. 
 

In terms of QB run, I was calling for that after the 3rd series of the game when it was clear Arky was selling out to stop Bijan at all cost. They were never conflicted and it allowed them to basically run down hill to fill every gap. When a defense drops 8 and you don’t take the 5 yard QB run, it’s a problem. Casey took what he could get and he was able to lead 2 scoring drives, and I put that on his quick decision making and his ability to tuck and run. 

[tbone_ 14413]

It’s Sark’s first year. Even the mighty Saban struggled his first year at Alabama.
Give the man time to get through a couple of recruiting classes. Once he does I have no doubt we will put up Alabama 2020 type of numbers. Hook’em!

Was married to a gator for the last 20 years. Watched a bunch of sec football. Bama wasn’t all world the day Sabin showed up, but they did crack skulls from day one.

What we saw in the trenches last night shouldn’t even be mentioned on the same breath as Sabans first year at Bama. That was some putrid fucking football. Just horrible.

No on knows if sark will get it done or not. But goddamn that was bad. I’m guessing he never expected that level of play in the trenches was even a possibility. Wouldn’t surprise me if that level of pussy was something he’s never had to deal with before.

Hope he has a fix. But the last dozen years lead me to highly doubt it.

[Loather 128]

2 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

  

  If you watch this play you will see an Arkansas player flying through the air a la Roy Williams doing his Superman on Chris Simms. Other teams consistently play with more intensity than Texas players. There are maybe five players on this team that play with that kind of heart. That is how MEN play the game. Texas plays like frightened little girls, no offense to little girls. This game calls their personal integrity and manhood into question. Forget about championships, you just need to clear your names. You need to get your dignity back. I would ask everyone associated with this program - When does your simple pride as a man kick in? Nobody would have complained if you lost I think the fans might be happy with a loss at this point - If you played your hearts out. If you are going to half-ass it, why bother? You may not know where to go or what to do on the field, but you can still knock the shit out of someone - like these proud Razorbacks were doing all night. Watching the Longhorns is the first time I have ever been personally embarrassed by just watching a sporting event. This isn't just losing, this is humiliating yourselves, the school, and everyone that supports you. We will know this week what kind of coach Sarkisian will be. If he doesn't sit some players for lack of effort and focus, he is not going to make it. Championship coaches like Jimmy Johnson DEMANDED effort if nothing else. It is inconceivable that he would let some of these players start this week. I actually enjoyed watching Arkansas play as painful as it was. Why? Because that's why people watch football, to see men play a game with heart, with everything they have

 

[Had Enough 2109]

Well it’s clear that it’s Majors’ fault. The left side is mashing down right and the RG (Angilau) is pulling to lead for Bijan. It’s a simple counter play. Now with Majors affectively running into Okafor and also not blocking the guy that blows up the play, as can be seen it was fucked from the beginning. 
 
In terms of QB run, I was calling for that after the 3rd series of the game when it was clear Arky was selling out to stop Bijan at all cost. They were never conflicted and it allowed them to basically run down hill to fill every gap. When a defense drops 8 and you don’t take the 5 yard QB run, it’s a problem. Casey took what he could get and he was able to lead 2 scoring drives, and I put that on his quick decision making and his ability to tuck and run. 

It’s dumbfounding how we could screw that up. You’d think we’ve repped that play a ton. And chances are it was a solid play if we get that guy blocked. Jones actually blew his guy up. And Okafor. And Majors too.

[Starfleet Command 441]

I just don't see how they overcome the glaring personnel issues on offense unless Sark is able and willing to somehow retool the offense around Casey mid-season.  It would take a miracle for the OL to function in his scheme at an acceptable level with the available personnel by the end of the season.  I have more hope in the defense and I think our struggles had more to due with a terrible gameplan from PK than glaring, insuperable personnel shortcomings.  

[David Dennison 19441]

1 hour ago, El Squared said:

How many years/ decades has this been the refrain? Is someone actually going to do something?

Someone will. Who is anyone's guess.

[HtownHorn 15243]

4 hours ago, ztejas said:

I thought Saturday was 70% a roster issue. I wish Sark had've pulled Card earlier but long term I trust him to put the right QB out there.

We looked very competent against ULa. We are going to kick the shit out of Rice because it's Rice. We'll see what happens in conference. 

A 10 or 11 win year one would have been nice but not sure we have the horses for that yet. I want to see Sark adjust and learn from this season and get another offseason in. Unless we drop 5 or 6 games I think the real evaluation starts in year 2. 

We aren't going to kick the shit out of Rice. The game will never be in doubt, but Texas will struggle to run the ball in light box formations, because the likely starting OL is that shitty. Robinson should be around a 7-8 per rush average but it will likely be closer to 5. Kicking the shit out of Rice would be what Arkansas did to us. 5 guys with 6+ yards per carry and over 300 yards rushing.

[David Dennison 19441]

1 minute ago, HtownHorn said:

We aren't going to kick the shit out of Rice. The game will never be in doubt, but Texas will struggle to run the ball in light box formations, because the likely starting OL is that shitty. Robinson should be around a 7-8 per rush average but it will likely be closer to 5. Kicking the shit out of Rice would be what Arkansas did to us. 5 guys with 6+ yards per carry and over 300 yards rushing.

No, we're going to kick the shit out of them. We'll cover easily.

[Hermanator 7570]

Unfortunately just going to have to let Flood have time and do work. He and Sark need to be searching Bama and every other good line in the country for young backups who are pissed they're not playing. Try to poach a few transfers and rebuild this line in one offseason as best as possible. We can't take this shit to the SEC. 

[HtownHorn 15243]

4 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Very rational post.

The thing that's getting everyone is that yes, this is just one game.  But with our past two coaching failures, that first bad game basically set the tone for the entire coaching regime.  That first bad game demonstrated themes of inadequacy that would recur for the next 3-4 years.

We have no basis to believe that Sarkisian won't fix things or be able to fix things, but we have a lot of PTSD from coaches who couldn't or wouldn't.

Sarkisian seemed to make better staff hires than Strong or Herman.  Maybe that alone is sufficient differentiator from past regimes.  Meaning if PK or Flood or whoever can't get it done, he'll move quickly to replace them.

This season is going to be an adventure.

Totally agree. The problem is we have seen how similar situated coaches have failed to recover from an ass kicking like this, we know that recruits aren't going to be patient with Sarkisian, and his offense is predicated on certain skill sets that are currently lacking on the 40. For all the great recruiting that Bo Davis and Blake Gideon did in the last few weeks and the win over Louisiana, this game likely torpedoed that effort.

[HtownHorn 15243]

3 hours ago, Thatguy said:

That was my bad. I couldn't see the numbers from the first angle. 65 vs 75. But yes, that's Majors job to do.

It appears it was Okafor that had the assignment to trap the unblocked DT. Angilau was pulling, Jones was down blocking the DE, and Majors was supposed double team the play side end and release to the 2nd level. Okafor instead ran into Majors, and no one touched the DT which allowed him unabated to Robinson.

Angilau was supposed to go block the play side safety, which if done correctly Robinson would have had a huge lane to get upfield especially if Majors could have gotten to the 2nd level and walled off the backside pursuit of either the LB or S.

[HtownHorn 15243]

2 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Uh, we were a 10 win team last year

 

we lost our best DL, OL, 2DBs, and one of the best qbs in school history. And we play a harder big 12 this year than last

 

 

no clue how/why people thought we were winning more than 9 games this season

Harder Big 12? Have you seen the league results through the 1st 2 weeks?