2022 Fall Camp: Drippin'

[Duane Moore 5237]

The choice of QB is not going to affect the outcome of the first three games at all. We are going to be 2-1 regardless of whether Card or Ewers starts them. 
 

Unless Ewers is completely hated and disrespected by the team, put him out there and let him play through it. We’ll be a better team by mid season for it. 

[Longhornlove 4779]

2 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

I

 

I hate saying this, but in the open practice (Tues) Ewers did not look anywhere close to a guy that should start vs Alabama in Wk 2.  

smdh

The problem is, Card didn't either. IMO he was worse.

[kwood4408 756]

If Card is named the starter for Game #1, here's hoping Ewers is on a similar path to the freshman year of Trevor Lawrence.  Trevor became Clemson's starting QB game #5 because he earned it.
 
Trevor Lawrence named Clemson starter after strong showing vs. Georgia Tech
Sep 24, 2018             David M. Hale  ESPN 

A week ago, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he would make a change at quarterback when one player clearly separated himself on the field. That's exactly what happened when Trevor Lawrence looked dominant in a win over Georgia Tech on Saturday, and the school announced Monday that the freshman would be the No. 3 Tigers' new starter.
Kelly Bryant, who led Clemson to the College Football Playoff last season, has started all four games this season, but Lawrence, the No. 2 overall recruit in the nation this year according to ESPN, has been superb coming off the bench, including completing 13 of 18 passes for 176 yards and four touchdowns against the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
"After four games, just looking at it, they've both played well, but this came down to you have to reward productivity. He's taken advantage of [opportunities]," co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said Monday. "Kelly didn't do anything wrong, but it's a situation where he's been in the game and productive, and to be fair to competition, just like we do for every position, Coach decided to name him the starter."
Swinney declined to discuss the quarterback situation Sunday but noted that the win over Georgia Tech was Lawrence's best game to date.
"He really played well," Swinney said. "He was very poised. The game has slowed down for him, and he's making good decisions. ... He made some beautiful throws ... and there's just some technical things to clean up."
Elliott added that the starting quarterback role is still a week-to-week decision but "Trevor has earned the right to run out there first."
A strong performance by Trevor Lawrence against Georgia Tech on Saturday may have pushed the freshman over the top in the race to be Clemson's starting quarterback. 
Through four games, Bryant has led the offense on 21 full drives, while Lawrence has led 23. Clemson has averaged 4.2 points per drive with Lawrence at the helm, nearly double Bryant's scoring rate.
At Cartersville (Ga.) High School, Lawrence was among the nation's most prized recruits, and he broke several state records previously held by former Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. Lawrence enrolled at Clemson in January, with coaches then saying he was already ahead of Watson's pace in terms of development. Watson, too, came off the bench for Clemson's first three games in 2014 before assuming the starting job.
In 2018, Lawrence has completed 65 percent of his throws for 600 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions with a passer rating of 191.8, the eighth-best mark in the country. Bryant has completed 67 percent of his passes for 461 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

 
I hate saying this, but in the open practice (Tues) Ewers did not look anywhere close to a guy that should start vs Alabama in Wk 2.  Still 16 Days till Game #1, so maybe the lights will somehow come on soon for Quinn...
smdh

Problem is Card didn’t either.

[closetohumping 17408]

10 minutes ago, The Deuce said:

Card being QB1 to start the season undoubtedly the single most risky move that Sark can make. It’s the move with the least margin of error. He absolutely MUST hit on it if that’s what the decision is.

Run out a starting 5 OL of freshman, decide to never kick a fg, run a 1-5-5 defense, etc….. literally any other move you can think of to be made would have more wiggle room if it didn’t pan out than the “Card is QB1” option.

 

Fool me once, shame on you……

A scenario in which Card starts as QB1 and doesn’t finish the season as QB1 (barring injury) would portray Sark as completely incompetent.  The better practice QB wasn’t the best Game QB last year. Allow that to happen again this year, and the optics are beyond devastating. 

Hell, Sark could be 100% correct in Card being the best option to begin, and Quinn being the better option a few games in……… he just doesn’t have the luxury to play it that way without criticism coming from almost every angle. 
 

tl;dr - Card at QB1 is a move that ensures heavy scrutiny in every scenario except him starting all year and lighting it up.

To me card is a two game get out of jail free card.  Quin is one year.  

[perfectchaos007 6596]

20 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Oh honey, it’ll be epic and entertaining regardless.  No one does QB controversy and picking sides like Texas fans. 

I don’t think anyone here has chosen Card’s side. There’s a been a contingent of people here that believe Ewers should start, and there’s a contingent of people here that are so adamant that Ewers will start, they've attacked other posters for even suggesting the possibility of Card getting the nod. Watching posters in the latter have to eat crow would be entertaining if Card is announced to be the starter. 

[Pam Cummings 9596]

5 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I don’t think anyone here has chosen Card’s side. There’s a been a contingent of people here that believe Ewers should start, and there’s a contingent of people here that are so adamant that Ewers will start, they've attacked other posters for even suggesting the possibility of Card getting the nod. Watching posters in the latter have to eat crow would be entertaining if Card is announced to be the starter. 

[BurntOrange&White 39717]

1 hour ago, closetohumping said:

It was me and ctj but we decided to just vanquish it

You don't think CTJ will let you out of it that easy if he wins, right? haha

[closetohumping 17408]

Just now, BurntOrange&White said:

You don't think CTJ will let you out of it that easy if he wins, right? haha

He’s a gentleman.   Yes.  

[DaysOff 7855]

Save us Arch; you're our only hope.

[NoName 16330]

1 hour ago, TheMailBox357 said:

Ian Boyd just dropped a breakdown of the open practice footage on YouTube

  Reveal hidden contents

Scouting the open practice

Ian Boyd•8/18/22

Open practices are often like spring game scrimmages. Steve Sarkisian knows he can’t count on discretion from observers, or that it won’t be spied out by opposing teams, so they keep things really simple. However, you can’t hide how well your team executes the most basic concepts of their playbook.

It’s also not really worthwhile to go out and practice many things which aren’t fundamental components of your system. If a defense is running a pattern-matching coverage in an open practice, you can safely assume they plan to run it during the season. Doesn’t make much sense to practice something complicated you don’t plan to count on during the season.

As it happens, Texas did run some pattern matching coverages during the open practice and ran them with a degree of precision which would lead you to believe they weren’t throwing them out there for the first time. There were definitely moments where you had to feel sympathy for the quarterbacks trying to compete with each other against tight coverage.

A careful watch of the open practice, such as I was able to get, revealed a number of interesting things about the passing offense and defense for the 2022 Longhorns.

 

Diverse defense

I was struck by how the defense played the 7on7 segments almost strictly in quarters. The first few snaps featured pretty basic quarters and then they mixed in a few different varieties, including Gary Patterson’s favorite trips coverage. Their execution was pretty tight as well, like one of TCU’s teams before they melted down at the end of Patterson’s tenure.

The single-high coverages I’ve expected to see play a greater role were also present in the full team drills. They’d spin the safety down over the tight end pretty often, especially against 12 personnel formations geared toward the run. It looked like a more holistic, complete defensive package with multiple single-high and two-high options to keep offenses guessing and allow the defense to disguise and play to different matchups.

There was a good deal more match quarters than I would have expected though and it appears to be the main base defense. Their execution of the coverage is unquestionably making life difficult for the quarterbacks. They’re matching everything pretty tight, save perhaps for the field corner who will play off, and the safeties are definitely employing the Patterson approach of lining up with depth and playing flat-footed until the offense has committed (don’t go until you know).

The linebackers look pretty mobile and comfortable as well, overall this defense looks miles from where they were a year ago trying to execute modern pass defense.

A potential hang-up for fans is that their approach isn’t particularly aggressive against the run. The Stars (nickel position) are emphasizing coverage and the solution to the run game is to hang on up front and hope the cavalry (safeties) don’t allow anything to get out of hand. However, the safeties aren’t backpedaling near so often so they do arrive before long. The defense also has plenty of single-high coverages which drop a safety down and can outnumber the run game.

Pass protection

Things look different when there’s a true left tackle on the edge. Kelvin Banks just moves differently and the geometry and physics don’t care that he’s a true freshman. He cuts off angles, fends off pass-rushers with length, and has the sheer size to avoid being run through. You can’t control the battle with him as a pass-rusher, you have to really set him up and he recovers more easily than a typical tackle.

In general, pass protection is an obvious concern for the Longhorns, but the left side pairing of Kelvin Banks and Hayden Conner is actually better than they’ve had in a while in terms of pure ability. The right side is much trickier and Sark has some interesting calculus to do in choosing his lineup. Christian Jones still gets beat on inside moves and simply doesn’t move naturally going backwards like Banks can. However, he’s a third-year starter and quietly a good run blocker.

You’d think they could move him to guard and get results but have shown zero interest up to this point in doing so. Perhaps because they’d like to leave guard open for promising freshmen who wouldn’t be ready to play tackle. They could replace him with a better pass protector like Andrej Karic or more natural setter like Cam Williams, who like Banks is just a different looking football player. In the former example, they lose some quality in run blocking and in the latter they may be trading out predictable busts for unpredictable busts. If Jones will consistently execute his assignments provided you don’t leave him in 1-on-1s in space, maybe that’s a good thing for this line over a less steady right tackle who’s a better player. Or maybe not. How ready is Williams?

The pass-rush seems a little more hopeful every day. The defensive tackles are pretty solid at pushing the pocket, the coverage is forcing quarterbacks to hold the ball, and they may be able to find a winning player at Edge between Ovie Oghoufo, DeMarvion Overshown, or even Ethan Burke. The Westlake freshman keeps his feet moving constantly, has length to engage with tackles, and some real burst he employs in a few different pass-rush moves.

The quarterback battle

They ran both 7on7 style drills and 11on11 drills in this scrimmage. The 7on7 drills were actually generally 3on2, 4on3, etc. They’d only run them to half the field, giving the quarterbacks reps in reading a single side passing concept and throwing against coverage. At times they’d line up with a running back and a receiver, or two receivers, a tight end and a receiver, etc. It gave them a chance to make progressions on a variety of concepts against a variety of coverages.

The results here were really quite one-sided. After an early pick to a robbing safety, Hudson Card showed a decisive trigger and he clearly knew what he was looking at. Quinn Ewers really struggled to get a clear read and rarely got his throws out with the right timing. He was picked a few times and had few completions.

The 11on11 drills told a similar story but were better for Ewers than the pure passing drills. Just in terms of executing a dropback passing game with a three-step drop and progression, this battle really isn’t close. Hudson Card has the far greater familiarity with these concepts and consequently has better timing and accuracy, provided the pocket isn’t completely demolished.

On the play-action as well, the common narratives of Ewers as a decisive and aggressive passer relative to gun-shy Card don’t really hold up. Ewers has some unreal ability throwing the ball but he’s not consistently on time yet with his reads. Good match quarters with safeties sitting on the hash marks is pretty unforgiving if you’re not throwing the ball on time. Ewers did show the expected knack for executing long throws off single reads and he also seems comfortable with different crossing patterns.

The danger comes when he locks into a read and it isn’t there. Plan B often devolves into a sack or an interception.

In both the 7on7 portion and later in the 11on11 portion, Card hit touchdown passes on post routes off flood concepts.

It’s an awful lot like “spear” but instead of having a deep crosser from across the field, the slot runs a corner route. The quarterback reads the the free safety. If he hangs back on the post route then the corner route is generally there whether the nickel tries to carry it or not. If the safety takes the corner route, or just stays flat-footed long enough, then the post will get behind him if the quarterback throws it well. It’s a great concept for attacking quarters coverage and Card nailed the timing by reading the safety on both scoring strikes.

Card generally knew where to go with the ball even if a read was cloudy, or he could make something happen with the scramble, but his ball security was alarming at times.

Presumably Ewers would be most comfortable if allowed to regularly work off play-action and get a lot of his throws in with concepts drawn up for him and carefully practiced throughout a week. If protected well enough with the gameplan and a running game, you could see his arm doing a lot of damage. However, Card would also be effective within such a friendly context and would allow for a much fuller approach due to his greater comfort within the system.

The battle still comes down to whether or not Sark feels Ewers can be hurried along in the missing pieces of development to be a consistent starter or if he’ll need to start building the gameplans around a more developed player in Card. Overall this practice made clear Texas has certainly added some talent to the roster, but being in year two in the system may prove to be the biggest boost for the coming season.

 

Based on Ian's open practice breakdown, seems like Card is the guy. Especially after just reading Chip Brown's report.

if the coaching staff are on the same page as Ian Boyd, we are...once again...megafucked.

[TankedBevo 2482]

16 minutes ago, Duane Moore said:

The choice of QB is not going to affect the outcome of the first three games at all. We are going to be 2-1 regardless of whether Card or Ewers starts them. 
 

Unless Ewers is completely hated and disrespected by the team, put him out there and let him play through it. We’ll be a better team by mid season for it. 

I'd like to agree, but absolutely do not sleep on UTSA. Let's hope their secondary is as bad as it was last year, but they still won a ton of games regardless and bring back their starting QB and 4 of 5 starting OL.

[Humble Beast 258]

53 minutes ago, futureman said:

Sark has coached Heisman trophy winners and 1st round picks and is paid millions to know more about this than you.  So, yes, it’s absolutely time to trust the coaches. 

I can see it now. 
 

Sark is starting pant soiling Hudson Card over the #1 recruit we paid large amounts of money to come here.  
 

Cmon guys, Trust the corches!

Edited August 18, 2022 by Humble Beast

[MirrOlure 14645]

1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

Suchomel just said on the OB youtube show that multiple people have told him that veteran leaders on the team think Card has outplayed Ewers in camp and believe as things stand today that he should start.

See...this is bullshit, because we don't HAVE any veteran leaders not named Bijan Robinson or Roschon Johnson, and I'll bet a dollar to a donut they don't give a shit either way.

Edited August 18, 2022 by MirrOlure

[MoJames 8241]

1 minute ago, MirrOlure said:

because we don't HAVE any veteran leaders not named Roschon Johnson

What you don't trust this guy?

[LTtxfan 49017]

 

[Hornius Emeritus 12428]

[closetohumping 17408]

8 minutes ago, Humble Beast said:

I can see it now. 
 

Sark is starting pant soiling Hudson Card over the #1 recruit we paid large amounts of money to come here.  
 

Cmon guys, Trust the corches!

I mean Day had QuInn ar 4th string at some point

[turtlepond 176]

3 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

If there’s not a cross-promotion with Earl Cambell’s hot links, a new marketing position needs to be opened 

[The Deuce 1094]

11 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I don’t think anyone here has chosen Card’s side. There’s a been a contingent of people here that believe Ewers should start, and there’s a contingent of people here that are so adamant that Ewers will start, they've attacked other posters for even suggesting the possibility of Card getting the nod. Watching posters in the latter have to eat crow would be entertaining if Card is announced to be the starter. 

As far as a “side”, I simply want the guy who gives Texas the best chance of becoming a successful program again. For that to happen, multiple facets have to be in alignment (coaching stability, recruiting, development, W/L record, optimistic trajectory, etc…). This seasons QB will play a part in all of this. Whether it be Card or Ewers who provides the step forward, I don’t care……. I just care that the step is forward. 
 

If I look at things from a statistical probability POV,  the “Quinn starting” model appears to have a greater allowable error vs the “Card starting” model. Now this is merely my opinion, but I just want the option that involves the lesser risk in derailing the path to success 

[ztejas 43287]

Is anyone in here entertaining the possibility that maybe the defense is pretty good and maybe the running game is a problem for other teams and maybe we just need pretty good QB play to win 9 games? 

So maybe it's not going to be the biggest fucking deal in the world if Quinn needs to watch from the sidelines for a couple games?

[Duane Moore 5237]

 

2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Is anyone in here entertaining the possibility that maybe the defense is pretty good and maybe the running game is a problem for other teams and maybe we just need pretty good QB play to win 9 games? 

So maybe it's not going to be the biggest fucking deal in the world if Quinn needs to watch from the sidelines for a couple games?

You lost me at “maybe the defense is pretty good”

Edited August 18, 2022 by Duane Moore

[Hermanator 6970]

1 hour ago, The Deuce said:

Card being QB1 to start the season undoubtedly the single most risky move that Sark can make. It’s the move with the least margin of error. He absolutely MUST hit on it if that’s what the decision is.

Run out a starting 5 OL of freshman, decide to never kick a fg, run a 1-5-5 defense, etc….. literally any other move you can think of to be made would have more wiggle room if it didn’t pan out than the “Card is QB1” option.

 

Fool me once, shame on you……

A scenario in which Card starts as QB1 and doesn’t finish the season as QB1 (barring injury) would portray Sark as completely incompetent.  The better practice QB wasn’t the best Game QB last year. Allow that to happen again this year, and the optics are beyond devastating. 

Hell, Sark could be 100% correct in Card being the best option to begin, and Quinn being the better option a few games in……… he just doesn’t have the luxury to play it that way without criticism coming from almost every angle. 
 

tl;dr - Card at QB1 is a move that ensures heavy scrutiny in every scenario except him starting all year and lighting it up.

Maybe this is why this we can't have nice things. This fan base and the reactionary money donors with too much influence sabotages everything

Edited August 18, 2022 by Hermanator

[Hermanator 6970]

29 minutes ago, Humble Beast said:

I can see it now. 
 

Sark is starting pant soiling Hudson Card over the #1 recruit we paid large amounts of money to come here.  
 

Cmon guys, Trust the corches!

That number 1 recruit hasn't played in 2 years at any level and could very easily look completely lost.  We don't know. 

[Tex-19 2869]

9 minutes ago, The Deuce said:

As far as a “side”, I simply want the guy who gives Texas the best chance of becoming a successful program again. For that to happen, multiple facets have to be in alignment (coaching stability, recruiting, development, W/L record, optimistic trajectory, etc…). This seasons QB will play a part in all of this. Whether it be Card or Ewers who provides the step forward, I don’t care……. I just care that the step is forward. 
 

If I look at things from a statistical probability POV,  the “Quinn starting” model appears to have a greater allowable error vs the “Card starting” model. Now this is merely my opinion, but I just want the option that involves the lesser risk in derailing the path to success 

Isn't it worse long-term if you start Ewers before he's ready, he struggles mightily, and you have to switch to Card? Now you're rolling with Card all year or flip flopping like last year. Worst case scenario.

The reverse situation is you start with Card and then either A) he struggles and you can roll with Ewers all year without any more back and forth, or B) Card balls out which solves the problem. 

5 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Is anyone in here entertaining the possibility that maybe the defense is pretty good 

Not really. Better than last year? Sure. Pretty good? Doubtful

[BigOrange1 6422]

4 minutes ago, Duane Moore said:

 

You lost me at “maybe the defense is pretty good”

yeah i don't see any scenario where the absolute ceiling for the defense is any higher than completely average.

[Hookem2147 20935]

24 minutes ago, Humble Beast said:

I can see it now. 
 

Sark is starting pant soiling Hudson Card over the #1 recruit we paid large amounts of money to come here.  
 

Cmon guys, Trust the corches!

Removing Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card from this discussion, I would hope that as a coach you aren't just playing someone because they are getting paid a lot of NIL money.

Part of the reason we have been shit the last dozen years is there hasn't been a meritocracy at Texas. Too many years where crappy players played too many plays because of their high school ranking or what they accomplished before they got to Texas. Too many years where guys who gave shit effort continued to play.

So in all honesty I could give a rats ass who is being paid what. If the donors are pissed off then we are probably losing games anyway. 

If Juan Davis outperforms Jahleel Billingsly, play him.

If Jamier Johnson shows he is better than Ryan Watts, play him.

If Casey Cain is better than Tarique Milton, play him.

This was always the problem with crowning someone who had never taken a practice snap here. What if he doesn't perform well? What if he isn't ready? What if he needs time to d-e-v-e-l-o-p, like 98% of freshman do? God forbid a player gets better over the course of a season and earns a job.

[Hookem2147 20935]

1 minute ago, BigOrange1 said:

yeah i don't see any scenario where the absolute ceiling for the defense is any higher than completely average.

Well we would have won 9 games last year with a below average defense and Casey Thumbson at QB.

So completely average works for me.

[Texasrocks 2125]

37 minutes ago, The Deuce said:

A scenario in which Card starts as QB1 and doesn’t finish the season as QB1 (barring injury) would portray Sark as completely incompetent.  The better practice QB wasn’t the best Game QB last year. Allow that to happen again this year, and the optics are beyond devastating. 

Another losing season would be devastating. If Card is ahead, he should start. If he shits the bed again, he should be benched. It's that simple. If Ewers comes off the bench for a few games and goes on a tear, no one will care that he didn't start the first game.  

[JBJ 3649]

It was a handful of plays each.  Card looked slightly better.  Not by enough to make anything out it.  There's another scrimmage right around the corner.

[Tex-19 2869]

2 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Removing Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card from this discussion, I would hope that as a coach you aren't just playing someone because they are getting paid a lot of NIL money.

Part of the reason we have been shit the last dozen years is there hasn't been a meritocracy at Texas. Too many years where crappy players played too many plays because of their high school ranking or what they accomplished before they got to Texas. Too many years where guys who gave shit effort continued to play.

So in all honesty I could give a rats ass who is being paid what. If the donors are pissed off then we are probably losing games anyway. 

If Juan Davis outperforms Jahleel Billingsly, play him.

If Jamier Johnson shows he is better than Ryan Watts, play him.

If Casey Cain is better than Tarique Milton, play him.

This was always the problem with crowning someone who had never taken a practice snap here. What if he doesn't perform well? What if he isn't ready? What if he needs time to d-e-v-e-l-o-p, like 98% of freshman do? God forbid a player gets better over the course of a season and earns a job.

To play devils advocate, keeping the donors happy now has a pretty direct correlation with the roster/winning. It was counterproductive before NIL but the game has changed.

[Hookem2147 20935]

1 minute ago, Tex-19 said:

To play devils advocate, keeping the donors happy now has a pretty direct correlation with the roster/winning. It was counterproductive before NIL but the game has changed.

Of course you want to keep donors happy. But what keeps them happy more than anything is winning games. And from the sounds of it it sounds like the majority of the donors who matter aren't dabbling in NIL yet so it's especially important to win some damn games if we do want them to open up their wallets.

[Hookem2147 20935]

It is pretty frustrating that one of the first things Sarkisian said when he took this job is he wouldn't have accepted it if he didn't feel like he was inheriting an elite QB room.

Now 18 months later we still have more questions than answers.

[crash_davis 23088]

1 minute ago, JBJ said:

It was a handful of plays each.  Card looked slightly better.  Not by enough to make anything out it.  There's another scrimmage right around the corner.

We better have a QB named after this Saturday scrimmage. 

[UncleSonny 6564]

5 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

That number 1 recruit hasn't played in 2 years at any level and could very easily look completely lost.  We don't know. 

I keep seeing people say this. It’s 1 year. He played his junior year at SLC, then enrolled at OSU and held a clipboard.

1 year without playing a competitive snap, just like Card last year when he started game 1 as a RS Freshman 

[CastHorn 799]

Just now, crash_davis said:

We better have a QB named after this Saturday scrimmage. 

Or what hoe?

[Hookem2147 20935]

1 minute ago, UncleSonny said:

I keep seeing people say this. It’s 1 year. He played his junior year at SLC, then enrolled at OSU and held a clipboard.

Didn't he miss a good chunk of his junior year at SLC with an injury?

[UncleSonny 6564]

Just now, Hookem2147 said:

Didn't he miss a good chunk of his junior year at SLC with an injury?

He missed some games, but he finished the season (played in the state title game). 

[conVINCEd 21468]

1 minute ago, Hookem2147 said:

Didn't he miss a good chunk of his junior year at SLC with an injury?

I believe he had a sports hernia and came back earlier than expected to, as mentioned already, lead them to the title game.

[Hookem2147 20935]

1 minute ago, UncleSonny said:

He missed some games, but he finished the season (played in the state title game). 

Just looked it up and he played in 8 of the 14 games his junior season. 

[JFKFC 4878]

1 minute ago, Hookem2147 said:

Just looked it up and he played in 8 of the 14 games his junior season. 

Please don't bring facts in to this conversation. That conflicts with the narrative of the crazies that Ewers hasn't thrown a pass under pressure since leather helmets. 

[closetohumping 17408]

2 minutes ago, JFKFC said:

Please don't bring facts in to this conversation. That conflicts with the narrative of the crazies that Ewers hasn't thrown a pass under pressure since leather helmets. 

I still remember that time he threw for 3 tds vs port O’Connor 

[Eskimohorn 5621]

To play devils advocate, keeping the donors happy now has a pretty direct correlation with the roster/winning. It was counterproductive before NIL but the game has changed.

Winning keeps donors happy. Catering to anything besides a grand strategy to win football games is counterproductive and leads to more losing.

We go 3-9, you think sucking up to some blue hairs will help fund NIL?

[ztejas 43287]

We've been shit for over a decade and we still print money. Who gives a fuck what the donors think. Bijan is cashing checks left and right and none of it is coming from "donors". Let the coaches do their jobs. 

[BurntOrange&White 39717]

6 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:

Winning keeps donors happy. Catering to anything besides a grand strategy to win football games is counterproductive and leads to more losing.

We go 3-9, you think sucking up to some blue hairs will help fund NIL?

According to CTJ, we need Ewers and these young guys to play early and often to show said donors that power of NIL so said donors who aren't currently contributing with net worths over 1 million will fucking start to contribute to NIL and we can actually have the fucking death star. 

 

If we plan to pay all football players(I assume this will include walk ons) 100k then we will need 12.5 million annually to achieve that. Then that doesn't include basketball. 
 

 

Tech/SMU are already paying 25/36k a year to football programs. We are doing 50k to linemen, 10k to tight ends. We need that full team payout to be well north of 50k to make a statement IMO.

Edited August 18, 2022 by BurntOrange&White

[CowtownHorn 5126]

[Hornlover 8824]

2 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

That's if Jaydon Blue is on the team for Spring Game 2023

[Droopy 2624]

I hate everything right now. We can haz 2018? 

Fuck it. I'm planning on fishing during our games. Being on the water and hearing Craig scream, either way, should make for a more enjoyable experience than watching us shit the bed again this season. Whatever it is I did, sweet Lord, please forgive me. I repent. I ask for forgiveness. I really want to look like we know what the hell we are doing on a football field and start kicking some ass again. 

Fuck.🤘

[RollLeft 5040]

49 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:

Winning keeps donors happy. Catering to anything besides a grand strategy to win football games is counterproductive and leads to more losing.

 

Winning keeps everyone happy.  It also hides a myriad of things.

Regarding the grand strategy, last year's team says hello.  Neither side of the ball adjusted to the talent we had.  Hence one could argue the grand strategy of winning is a longer-term play and does not come at the cost of how they win.  Sark and PK ran their system and expected for the players to adjust.  That is what happened, and we saw the outcome. 

Sark, prior to the season, confirmed this strategy when he told the story of Pete Carroll telling him there are two ways to run a program.  Complete overhaul/stick to what you know or build upon someone elses base which often leads to short term wins.  While i wouldn't go as far as to say that Sarks grand strategy isn't about winning he has clearly, if every so subtly, stated that his grand strategy does not place winning in the short term above how/what he feels is best for the long term.   Bold strategy cotton, with this bunch, lets see how it works out.  

Also they won't go 3-9.  8 wins, sadly, is sufficient for hope that we are headed in the right direction. 

Edited August 18, 2022 by RollLeft

[burdine 522]

Playing anybody but who you think gives you the best chance to win that game is just counterproductive.

Reasonable folks can disagree on who that might be.

Sark may have quite a few faults as a head coach yet if there is one area he is about as proven as they come it would be as a QB coach and evaluator.

I guess I trust Sark to maximize that as best as humanly possible.

Now the defense and young OL, those worry me.

[BurntOrange&White 39717]

37 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Of course you want to keep donors happy. But what keeps them happy more than anything is winning games. And from the sounds of it it sounds like the majority of the donors who matter aren't dabbling in NIL yet so it's especially important to win some damn games if we do want them to open up their wallets.

We aint winning with Card brother