Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 4)

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Collecting $9.95-er postgame articles on the Baylor game here:

(Gerald Goodridge) No. 3 Texas 38, Baylor 6: Three things we learned

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Despite coming into the game undefeated, the No. 3 Texas Longhorns had some questions to answer about their ability to achieve their goals to win the Big 12 in its final year in the conference. The Longhorns came out and finally did what elite teams do against overmatched teams, leaned on the Bears and came away with a 32-point win in the process. A dominant win over the Baylor Bears in Waco answered several of the questions about the Longhorns’ ability to lift the trophy, but a new question emerged under the lights of McLane Stadium.

Special teams has to tighten up:

Normally a drama-free experience for the Longhorns from Jeff Banks’s unit, the Longhorns struggled with routine plays in special teams and gave the Bears second chances after getting stops. Keilan Robinson, normally an ace, recovered his own muffed kickoff in the first, which was a portent of things to come. After the defense came up with a big stop in the second quarter, Xavier Worthy’s muffed punt turned into a Baylor recovery and three points, cutting the lead to 22 points. Texas adjusted its punt scheme later in the game and went to a safe punt, moving the sure-handed Jordan Whittington back with Worthy. But in the trend of the night, Whittington’s concentration broke and Baylor recovered in their own red zone again and put the defense back on the field.

Another uncharacteristic miscue from Banks’s unit, the consistent Burt Auburn was called on twice on the night, but missed his second attempt from 26 yards, marking his third miss this year. A year ago during his first time taking on the place kicking duties, he missed just five in the whole year. The Longhorns got away with those struggles against a clearly outmatched Baylor team, but if they are going to achieve their goals this season they will need to tighten up those corners.

The defense can cover most wounds:

The Texas defense was elite in every area of the game, keeping the Bears behind the chains regularly and putting them in unenviable positions regularly. Baylor averaged just 2.2 yards per rush on first downs. However, the biggest impact for the defense is how they recovered from quick changes from special teams miscues.

Baylor recovered the first muffed punt on the Longhorns’ 21-yard line and the defense, after forcing a punt had to get back on the field and deal with the quick change. They allowed just two yards on three plays and held the Bears to a field goal, minimizing the damage and keeping them from making a more significant dent in the lead. Texas gave up more yards following the Whittington punt, but a fourth-down sack by Justice Finkley ended the threat and kept them out of the end zone once again. At this point, it’s fair to say that Pete Kwiatkowski’s unit is elite and will continue to be a strength for Texas as they work through conference play.

Texas can start quickly:

One of Steve Sarkisian’s talking points heading into the week was that Texas needed to match its big finishes with fast starts and the team did just that. Heading into the Baylor matchup, Texas was averaging just 12.6 first-half points and had scored just three touchdowns in the first halves of its first three games. Texas clearly outdid themselves in this game, scoring 28 of its 38 points in the opening 30 minutes of the game. Jonathon Brooks was once again a big part of the plan for the offense, scoring two of those touchdowns — including his 40-yard burst in the first quarter to kick off things for Texas. If Texas has truly found an answer to its first-half offensive woes, its ability to achieve its goals for the year becomes even more tangible heading into the second week of Big 12 play.

(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: Farewell to Baylor

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Texas is now 81-28-4 against Baylor in the all-time series, which is probably a surprise to anyone who started following college football in the last decade, but this season saw a regression to the mean in this series. In what’s likely to be Texas’ last trip to Waco for a long time, the Longhorns blasted the Bears 38-6 in a game more reminiscent of the ’90s or 00’s than the more recent history in this series.

This was a brutal loss for the Bears, who had the chance to play a primetime contest with the Longhorns in their 113th and final (for a while at least) battle with Texas. Instead, a decade of positivity was erased as the Longhorns dispatched the Bears in a fashion more akin to this series in the years prior to 2011.

For Texas it was a strong win, despite a few hiccups, where they demonstrated the “John Wick mentality” they’ve talked about since Big 12 Media Days in which they hunt all the Big 12 teams who are hunting them for big farewell wins.

Quick thought no. 1: Texas’ D-line dominated

Texas had one surefire path to eliminating any chance of a Baylor upset or competitive showing, which was to dominate the Bears on 1st down. If Baylor couldn’t run the ball and use up clock there was virtually no chance of them remaining competitive in this contest. In the first half, where the game was basically decided, Baylor mostly attempted passes on 1st down because their run game had nothing. They had five 1st down runs in the first half which yielded a total of four yards at 1.3 ypc. Multiple plays yielded negative yardage. On the day the Bears ran the ball 31 times for just 60 yards at 1.9 ypc with zero touchdowns.

It looks slightly better for Baylor if you remove the sack yardage from Texas’ five sacks, but it certainly doesn’t make the performance of the Longhorn D-line look worse. Byron Murphy paced the effort with two sacks and another tackle for loss but T’Vondre Sweat was prominent on a big 4th down stop and both Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton gave the Bears fits in their 12 personnel (two tight ends) packages by setting hard edges with help from Sam linebackers Jett Bush and Morice Blackwell in his first appearance.

This Texas D-line is one of the very best in the nation and is essentially spotting the Longhorns a big advantage in every game they play this season. There simply aren’t many offensive lines on the schedule (if any) who can prevent Texas from seizing sizable advantages from the play of their defensive front.

Quick thought no. 2: Another clean performance on offense

Quinn Ewers came awfully close to throwing a pick-6 at one point in this contest when he pump faked to the running back, looked down field, then came back to a covered running back. Baylor’s defense couldn’t quite snag the interception though and on the next play everyone watching witnessed impressive feats of athleticism and strength from left tackle Kelvin Banks and Ewers himself on a 29-yard touchdown run.

Make sure you watch Banks on the replay, who turned an outside rusher inside and threw him into the path of a blitzing linebacker, effectively taking out two Bears and freeing up the scramble path for his quarterback.

Ewers was 18-23 on the day for 293 yards at 12.7 ypa with one passing touchdown, zero picks, and his third rushing touchdown on the season. The RPO game continues to be a big bread-winner for this offense as well, demonstrated on this amazing one-hander by Ja’Tavion Sanders running down the seam on the backside of a sweep play.

Texas’ skill talent was putting on a show in their opportunities in this game as the Longhorns compiled 503 yards of total offense at 8.5 yards per play. Steve Sarkisian clearly had a plan for the Baylor offense designed to give the Longhorns a chance to dominate on offense if they’d needed to. They didn’t, but it was a strong performance all the same.

Quick thought no. 3: Jonathon Brooks‘ time to shine

Texas has a number of talented running backs on campus and two players not named Jonathon Brooks who were blue chip recruits out of high school in Cedric Baxter and Jaydon Blue. Both of those former blue chips ran well in this game, combining for nine carries, 38 yards, and a touchdown, but Brooks ran the show.

For the second straight week the Hallettsville produce went over 100 yards with 106 total on just 18 carries at 5.9 ypc with two rushing touchdowns and another 18 yards when he corralled a lofted throwback screen from Ewers and took the ball down inside the 10 yard line. He’s bringing some toughness and balance on inside runs this season to accompany his pre-existing ability to glide and accelerate across the field for big plays.

Texas liked this misdirection Duo run, which hearkened back to how they manhandled Baylor a year ago with the scheme, and this run by Brooks was the first they put on the board in this blowout win. Baxter and Blue give Texas great depth but Brooks is a star player this season and has a chance to put together an All-Big 12 season if he can maintain his current pace.

Quick thought no. 4: A good game to be bad on special teams

Texas had an embarrassing outing on special teams which limited the extent of Texas’ margin of victory. They gave away two possessions on muffed returns, both on punts, and also missed one of the easiest field goals you’ll ever see from 26-yards out after an 11-play, 74-yard drive.

Their coverage and returns were otherwise strong, the punting game from Ryan Sanborn was solid, and “Sideshow” Bert Auburn made a 37-yarder earlier in the contest. However, to waste a 74-yard drive and give away two possessions deep in your own territory with muffed returns are all pretty egregious offenses for a special teams unit.

It didn’t matter in this contest as Baylor couldn’t make anything of those opportunities with their own woebegone offense, but it was still unbelievably sloppy. The Longhorns will need to clean some of those mistakes up in future contests or risk giving away a game they shouldn’t with poor play.

On the other hand, if Texas was going to have a day where their special teams were poor enough to throw a game this was a good day for it to happen. Baylor was completely outclassed in this game and the degree of errors here simply didn’t matter for anything other than whether Texas could get time to put Arch Manning on the field late.

Quick thought no. 5: A symbolic win

This was a really big win for Texas from a narrative sense. Texas hasn’t been ranked this high since 2009 and have endured a decade-plus journey in the wilderness trying to find their way back to nationally competitive football.

This program went into the tank during the 2010 Rose Bowl when a revitalized Alabama program in their third year under head coach Nick Saban knocked Colt McCoy out of the Rose Bowl and seized the National Championship. Texas reversed that outcome when they defeated Alabama in Tuscaloosa and gave Nick Saban his first non-conference home loss since 2007.

In the following decade, Baylor emerged as Texas languished and the Bears won a Heisman Trophy in 2011 and Big 12 Championships in 2013, 2014, and 2021 while playing for another in 2019. Over that period of time until now, the Bears also went 6-7 against the Longhorns head to head. Not great, but a lot better than they’d traditionally done in this series.

A “Texas is back” season should necessarily include saying farewell to the Bears with a final crushing defeat on their own turf in primetime. Anything less than that would have been unbecoming for Texas if they’re truly re-establishing themselves as the kings of the Lone Star State. This was another big win for Texas in setting a proper tone for the 2023 season and their imminent departure to the SEC.

Next up on the farewell and good riddance tour? Kansas...

 

[TucoRamirez 30]

https://x.com/rgiii/status/1705778563922690397?s=46&t=QCVoNOouGBS_o2nCOzlzig

Edited September 24, 2023 by TucoRamirez

[satyanash 14281]

Joe Cook: Everything Steve Sarkisian said after Texas' 38-6 win over Baylor

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WACO — Here’s everything Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said following No. 3 Texas’ 38-6 Big 12 Conference win over the Baylor Bears at McLane Stadium.

Opening statement: “First of all, just proud of our guys with the week of work and the focus that they brought into the stadium tonight. They came ready to play. We had been talking about how much we had finished the last couple of weeks and we wanted to start really well. I think obviously, defense we really set the tone. I think we had three sacks right there early on in the first couple of drives to create some really good field position. I thought our red zone defense was really incredible tonight. I think they were inside the red area five times and came away with two field goals.

Offensively, it felt really good because we got back to being explosive. It wasn’t just the passing game, we got some explosive runs right off the bat with Jonathon Brooks — the long touchdown run right there. We found different people to create explosive plays. (Ja’Tavion Sanders), another 100-yard game with explosive plays. Johntay (Cook) with a really big play on third and long there. I thought Quinn (Ewers) was efficient, we ran the ball well. Obviously there’s always room for improvement everywhere we look. Tonight, it happened to be on (special) teams. We muffed three kicks: two punts and one kickoff. You get back to it. Those are three really reliable guys for us.

We’ve just got to make sure we continue to work. As I touched on with the players, championship teams get better during the season. I thought we got better this week and we got better tonight. We played better football, but we still have room for improvement for things we need to work on and will work on because the games are only going to get more and more difficult as we move forward.”

On what was working to create the fast start: “It’s like anything. It’s execution. Part of that was having poise on the road. We were really clean at the line of scrimmage until late there when we were going to go for it on fourth down. I thought our guys were just really poised. They were communicating really well on the field. I thought they were taking in really good information from us on the sideline, and then they were applying it on the field. Ultimately when we had opportunities, we took advantage of it. When we blocked the run, the runners were going where they were supposed to go. When we were throwing the ball and we were creating some one-on-ones, Quinn was taking advantage of it. He used his legs again tonight. I just think early on, it came down to execution and executing the plan.”

On tight ends and backs and being extremely multiple and how that gives him options as a play-caller: “I’ve said it all along. We’re at our best when the more we can do really well, the tougher we are to defend. We never want to be a one-dimensional team. We want to really be versatile on offense, whether it’s the style of runs, the personnel groupings, the formations, the motions, the shifts, and I credit our coaches and I credit our players. We don’t go into games with just simple, simple game plans and simple formations. We tax our guys because we know it’s going to tax our opponents if we execute it right.

They do a really good job in their preparation to get ready for a ball game. I felt good this morning in our walkthrough. They were really dialed in to what we wanted to do. It is helpful when you can use a multitude of personnel groupings and still formation people and do different things. Hopefully it creates some issues for our opponent. Ultimately we can get back to doing what we do and that’s just getting down to execution.”

On if the win was businesslike and if that indicates maturity among his players: “That’s a great way of saying it. I had to remind the guys ‘let’s not take winning for granted.’ It was almost like ‘okay, let’s get ready for Kansas.’ They do have a great mentality right now, but like I said to them in the locker room we have a bunch of guys who endured 5-7 a couple of years ago, that came into this stadium and lost a really tough ballgame. I wanted to make sure that we appreciate these wins. Going on the road in a hostile environment at night, blackout game, and our guys just showed such great composure. It was very businesslike. It was, this is what we came here to do. Let’s go do it. Then, okay, the game is over. Let’s get ready for next week. I want to make sure we appreciate these wins. These are tough wins to get on the road in conference play. To kick off conference play 1-0, that’s a big deal.”

On the depth at defensive line that makes it five-deep: “It’s huge. We rotated a lot of guys tonight on defense again. That’s a credit to the defensive staff of getting all those guys ready, the defensive front most notably. David Gbenda played well to go along with Anthony Hill (who) had a really good game. Derek Williams was in there and had a couple of really nice third-down stops. Playing multiple people is going to be beneficial for us, not only in game but for the long haul. The fact that we can do that up front, that’s huge that our guys can be fresh when they’re in there and they can make plays in critical moments.”

On Ja’Tavion Sanders’ five-catch, 110-yard game: “We don’t think like that. It wasn’t something predicated off the week before. Every game plan, every game takes on a life of it’s own. We call plays, and a lot of times the defense dictates where the ball is going to go if the quarterback reads it properly. The ball went his way today. Gunnar (Helm) at tight end as well, both those guys made some nice plays for us. The beauty of our group right now, I think they love the fact that multiple people are making plays. I think they love that Johntay made a really big play down the middle, and that Gunnar made some plays, and that Jonathon is running the way he is then Cedric (Baxter) came in and did his thing, then Jaydon Blue came in at the end and did his thing. AD Mitchell had some plays early on. The ball is getting spread around. Next week, I don’t know who will end up being what you want to call the featured guy. What I do know is we have a guy or two on our team — Xavier (Worthy) most notably — who garners a lot of attention. When that happens, the other guy’s got to make those plays. The quarterback has got to find those guys predicated off the coverage. I think we’re doing that well. That’s what I was hoping coming into the season, that we were going to have an array of players and an arsenal to where if you really wanted to take No. 1 out of the game, these other guys can hurt you. I think that’s shown up, especially in our two road games. I go back to Alabama in the fourth quarter when AD makes two big plays, Ja’Tavion makes two big plays there. If you want to double (Worthy), these other guys hopefully can hurt you and continue to hurt teams down the road.”

On the stout defense: “I just think we’re pretty good. It’s been three years in the making of putting a staff together, putting a scheme together, making adjustments to that scheme from year one to year two and now year two to year three. I think we’ve added depth to that roster on the defensive side of the ball on all three levels. I think we have really good veteran leadership on defense from front to back. Then what comes with that is confidence. Our offense and defense, we do a lot of good on good. They have to defend us every day in practice and throughout training camp. There probably wasn’t many days where I went into a press conference in training camp and I didn’t say ‘our defense had a really good day today’ (or) that ‘our front had a really good day today.’ They’re pretty good. I think we can be better. That’s the beauty of it. We gave up a couple of deep balls tonight that we knew was a point of emphasis, so we’ve got to get that cleaned up. I did love their resiliency, especially in the low red in getting those stops tonight.”

On defending the end zone and keeping the Bears out of it: “I think there’s some mental fortitude that goes into it. Just give us one more snap, and let’s keep them out of the end zone. We do a thing called red zone lockout that our team on offense and defense takes a lot of pride in. It’s a competition, good on good, and when teams get down there you can hear our players on the field saying red zone lockout. They just take practice right to the game. I think there’s a lot of trust in our defense that the calls are going to come in and they can execute it. Ultimately, we’ve been doing that all year though. We’ve played really good red zone defense all year. I think tonight was another example of that, especially when you have a turnover. You muff a punt and they get the ball short field, and you can step up and play defense like that? That’s a huge bonus for us.”

On Kansas, next week’s opponent: “I love the challenge. That’s why we play. I’m fired up to be back home. I know it’s not a night game, but man, the last time we were in DKR it was an awesome environment. Looking forward to seeing our fans. It should be electric Saturday at 2:30. Kansas is a very good team. Really, really versatile offense. Jalon Daniels is a heck of a quarterback. They’ve got a lot of experience on the defensive side of the ball and we’re going to need a good week of preparation to get ready to play that team.”

Steve Habel: No. 3 Texas uses balanced attack, stifling defense to dominate Baylor 38-6 in final Big 12 opener

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WACO, Texas – Texas’ final run through the Big 12 Conference got out to a rousing and successful start when Quinn Ewers passed for 293 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score as the No. 3 Longhorns dominated throughout in a 38-6 win over Baylor on Saturday before a capacity crowd of 49,165 fans at McLane Stadium. The game was the 113th meeting in the all-time series and the final scheduled between the two longtime Southwest Conference and Big 12 rivals as Texas moves to the Southeastern Conference beginning next season.

Ewers hit on 18 of his 23 throws as the Longhorns (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) have started the season with four victories for the first time since 2012.  Jonathon Brooks rushed for 106 yards and two TDs on 18 carries and Ja’Tavion Sanders caught five passes for 110 yards for the Longhorns.  The Texas defense was a story as well, allowing just three points on three Baylor possessions in the red zone over the second and third quarters, turning over the Bears on downs twice and Jaylan Ford intercepting a pass in the end zone on the third.

Sawyer Roberston, playing his third game in relief of injured starter Blake Shapen, threw for 203 yards and Ford’s aforementioned interception. Monaray Baldwin, one of 11 Bears to catch a pass, had a team-high three receptions for 81 yards.

The Longhorns struck first when Brooks got loose around right end for a 40-yard TD run at the 5:15 mark of the first quarter. It was the 10th touchdown of Brooks’ career, the eighth via the rush. Baylor answered via a 22-yard field goal by Isaiah Hankins at the end of a 70-yard, nine-play march that was highlighted by a 39-yard pass from Robertson to Ketron Jackson Jr. and aided by a pass interference penalty on Texas’ Michael Taaffe.

Ewers used his legs to expand the Longhorns’ lead. He got loose around left end on a scramble and tight-roped the sideline for a 29-yard TD and a 14-3 advantage with 9:07 to play in the second quarter. Texas uncorked a trick play to begin its ensuing possession when Worthy caught a backward pass from Ewers and heaved the ball downfield to Ja’Tavion Sanders at the Baylor 7-yard line. On the next snap freshman CJ Baxter found clear sailing around left end for a 7-yard score TD that pushed the Longhorns’ advantage to 21-3 with 7:03 remaining in the first half.

Brooks banged into the end zone off the hip of left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. for a 2-yard TD with 2:26 remaining in the second quarter. The drive featured a 16-yard pass from Ewers to Gunnar Helm and an 18-yard completion to Brooks.  A muffed punt by Worthy late in the quarter at the Texas 21-yard line resulted in a 36-yard FG by Hankins with 44 seconds remaining, pulling the Bears to within 28-6 at the break. The Longhorns outgained Baylor 256-121 in the first half and scored 28 points on 32 snaps. More than half (62 yards) of the Bears’ total output in the half was on two pass plays.

Texas tacked on a 37-yard field goal from Bert Auburn on its first possession of the third quarter. Ewers then found Worthy for a 21-yard TD pass with 5:36 to play in the third quarter that capped off a 95-yard, 7-play drive and pushed the advantage to 38-6. The Longhorns return home to host Kansas next Saturday at 2:30 CDT in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

 

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Justin Wells: Top PFF grades from No. 3 Texas' 38-6 win over Baylor

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After the No. 3 Texas Longhorns’ 38-6 win over Baylor on Saturday at McLane Stadium in Waco, we take a look at the Pro Football Focus grades on offense and defense after the Horns moved to 4-0 for the first time since 2012.

OFFENSE

QB – Quinn Ewers, 77.0

Ewers was cool and calm on Saturday night in Waco. He went 18-of-23 with 293 yards passing and two total touchdowns, including a 29-yard scamper in the first half. It was his fourth consecutive game without a turnover in 2023.

RB – Jonathon Brooks, 83.5

On a night when five different running backs toted the rock, Brooks was the best of the bunch. His 106 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 18 carries were keys to the Horns’ hot start in the first half. This grab might’ve been his play of the game.

WR – Johntay Cook, 78.6, Adonai Mitchell, 63.2, Xavier Worthy, 64.3

The trio of Worthy, Mitchell, and Cook combined for 128 yards receiving and one score on seven total catches. Cook’s 51-yard catch was the biggest play of the game.

TE – Ja’Tavion Sanders, 89.6, Gunnar Helm, 69.2

The production at tight end was huge on Saturday night. Sanders recorded his second career 100-yard receiving game with 110 yards on five catches. He’s the only tight end to do that in program history. Helm snagged two catches for 37 yards as well. But it was Sanders’ night for the offense.

OL – Kelvin Banks, 61.8, Christian Jones, 76.7, DJ Campbell, 64.4

Jones led all the offensive linemen with a 73.1 on 55 snaps. Banks added 69.2 on 59 snaps, and Campbell led the team with a 86.6 pass-block grade on 61 snaps.

DEFENSE

DL/EDGE – T’Vondre Sweat, 89.7, Alfred Collins, 78.6, Byron Murphy, 81.9

Sweat (29 snaps) and Murphy (31 snaps) led the stout defensive interior, holding Baylor to 1.9 yards per carry and combining for five tackles for loss. Collins notched a 78.6 grade on 31 snaps.

LB – Jaylan Ford, 85.4, Anthony Hill, 67.5

Built Ford tough, the senior linebacker was tremendous on Saturday. He notched a team-high eight tackles and added a key interception on a Baylor fourth-and-goal on 64 snaps. Hill Jr. tallied six tackles on 47 snaps.

CB/N – Malik Muhammad, 70.4, Gavin Holmes, 73.6, Terrance Brooks, 64.5

Holmes and Muhammad led the corners with four tackles each. Muhammad logged a season-high 48 snaps and added a pass breakup. Brooks was solid in 33 snaps as well.

S – Jalen Catalon, 69.6, Derek Williams, 67.7

Catalon led the safeties with 69.6 on 17 snaps, while true freshman Williams was huge with three tackles and one pass breakup in a season-high 54 snaps.

Coach V: Accolades aplenty after Texas' 38-6 win over Baylor

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By Mike Venable: The most impressive aspect of the Baylor game was the attitude of a squad of players having fun making good to excellent plays on both sides of the ball. Sacks, TFLs, and forced errors are contagious for a bunch where all 11 are balling out in the opponent’s backyard. Everyone wants in on the good times. I counted in the neighborhood of 30 different defensive players making at least one solid play each and most had several where they made themselves proud. The game is fun when you see hard work and preparation guide the entire squad for four quarters.

I enjoyed Pete Kwiatkowski’s game plan very much. We had our heavy (95 Collins and 45 Broughton) at the edges with stout (90 Murphy and 93 Sweat) inside to justifiably eliminate the BU ground game with multiple penetrations. Our regular edges (91 Burke, 88 Sorrell, and 1 Finkley) supplied the heat with (43 Bush) getting home in our heat the kitchen alignments. We get a ton of mileage out of (0 Hill) playing instinctive out of his first move assignment. Tapp (17) adds athletic ability and Ross (97) will be back soon.

Ford (41) gives us our strongest position player at the second level. Gbenda (33) has played much better than I anticipated and seems to feed off others success. Hill (0) just needs reps—he’s a future star once he understands the nuances of the position in our packages. Lefau (18) has played sparingly for Ford but we are definitely short in proven returnees at the backer alignments. Blackwell (37) came back this week but appeared rusty in limited action. We need to find more snaps for Ford’s backup period. Good young’uns coming but getting zero game experience snaps now.

We gave up two big play passes but zero TD’s in a solid effort. Catalon (11) is a jewel period. Williams (2) is the next star and it’s starting to pick up steam already. Crawford (21) has played extremely well as he has definitely improved. Barron (23) is the stud. Taaffe (16) is a hitter with smarts. Jordan (4) has flexibility in position experience. Guilbeau (3) is rounding back into shape as he recovers from injury. Allen (13) never plays. Thompson (28) is the leader but has limitations. Those are our safeties. They play well every week except for a coverage or two.

We have outstanding corners period. Watts (6) is the big corner—very good in run support but lacking in coverage this last game. Brooks (8) is the field corner—very good game against BU. Holmes (9) had a good outing against the Bears this week. Muhammad (5) is a star in the making. Good game yesterday—good tackler, good cover, and good leader.

Notes that I mention to myself as time goes by:

• Collins (95) is our most under-appreciated defender this season. He is worth watching from tee to green
• Catalon (11) makes us a completely different defense when he’s on the field.
• Ford (41) is just getting better and better but running out of the end zone (after his oskie) wasn’t a good move for ole Speedy.
• Broughton (45) has a few bad plays (driven off LOS mainly) but his contributions have been off the charts from his projection.
• Williams (2) is really good right now. You can bet your lunch money on that and eat regular for the next week.
• Our edges — Burke (91) Sorrell (88), Finkley (1), and Bush (43) — are playing much better than we’ve seen in two years of not so much’s.
• Gbenda (33) and Hill (0) have given us decent mileage out of the other backer spot—the real plus is the big play ability they have added.

We scored 38 points yesterday without a bunch of big plays dominating the action. We gave up three sacks (two Quinn’s fault—empty). We muffed two punts inside the red zone. We muffed a kickoff return. We used both TE’s in the passing game. We hit a bomb to one of our freshman WR’s. Our QB sprinted 29 yards for a touchdown with a Justin Blalock type block by Banks (78) (VY in the Rose Bowl, anyone?) against two defenders. Brooks (24) has turned into our lead back period. Baxter (4) can’t stay on the field. Blue (23) keeps denying the blocking scheme. Robinson (7) is too valuable on special teams to carry a major role. Red (17) might expand his role but doubt he does this year.

Majors (65) had one bad snap in an otherwise good outing. Campbell (52) has really improved this week. He has definite potential to become our lead horse in the future. Conner (76) has to become more aggressive and finish more plays. Too much standing around and reaching to help a teammate off the ground. Jones (70) has been our most consistent lineman this fall and maybe best short yardage bet since he’s aligned next to (52) Campbell. Banks (78) hasn’t gone downhill but Jones has definitely improved.

You gotta love Sanders (0) going over 100 yards again but the real surprise is old Gunner Helm (85) chasing 50 in the receiving department. Both blocked better but then again it’s against that good old Baylor line so we will see. Speaking of blocking better, Worthy (1) and Mitchell (5) had much better results this week blocking.

The WR’s caught the ball well this week. It was good to see the freshman (2 Cook) bring one home in the 4th quarter. Whittington (13) made good plays, blocking was excellent, and he muffed a damn punt in the red zone. Worthy (1) also muffed a punt inside the 20 and this will cost us a game if we continue to set up the opponent offense inside our 20. That must improve now. Sanborn (27) punted suburb. Auburn (45) missed a gimme. Wisner (26) had a great big hit tackle on a kickoff. Stone (15) had good end zone kickoffs. Worthy (1) had two good punt returns.

Ewers (3) had a good game driving the bus. He hit most targets and missed a couple of late decisions. Quinn must realize when the set is empty he must get rid of the ball quick. There is no pump fakes in empty—step and throw good or bad. It was good to see Sark finally utilize our power back (3) on that 30 yard run for six. He’s dialing up our best weapons (90 last week and 3 this week) when the chips are down.

Hell, I guess old Kansas is up sport—maybe they will work on their jump shots and leave us to our own practice. Glad it’s at home.

Mike Venable is a retired coach who had a 30-year career coaching football at Lancaster, Duncanville, Gladewater, Pasadena Sam Rayburn, R.L Turner and The Colony.

(Scipio Tex) 2023 Baylor Post Mortem: Defense & Not-So-Special Teams

Quote

The big guys up front must have skipped breakfast and lunch because they had an appetite for destruction on Saturday night. The game was over when the two teams ran out of the tunnel, but probably the most critical in-game moment came in the 1st half with Texas leading 21-3 and Baylor facing a 4th and 2 at midfield. The Bears elected to go for it and…ran at T’Vondre Sweat. Stuffed. No gain. Texas ball at midfield. And now it’s time to start figuring out what guys you want to get snaps in the 2nd half. Observe:

If the Texas offense had installed the wishbone during the Friday walk through and the Longhorn special teams would have agreed not to field kicks, Texas would have still won on Saturday due to defensive domination. Good things happen when superior Jimmys and Joes meet well taught X’s and O’s. The decline in Baylor program talent was as apparent as Pete Kwiatkoski’s excellent decision that outside zone and the easy screen game weren’t going to be on the Saturday menu for the Baylor offense.

Pete is 4-0 on his opponent game plans this year. Texas is 4-0. Coincidence? Texas played its big edge group liberally (Broughton and Collins), flirted with some 5 man front and 6-1 looks and gave the interior defensive line carte blanche to worry less about gap integrity and concern themselves more with kicking the person’s ass lined up across from them.

Texas held Baylor to 365 garbage yards on 84 plays – a terrific 4.3 yards per play average – and then held firm twice when Texas special teams gifted the Bear offense field position on the Texas 21 and 19 yard lines, respectively. The net result of those red zone offerings? Bearly 3 points.

The Horns also held the Bears to 6 of 23 on money downs, including a terrific 1 of 5 on 4th down. Texas registered 5 sacks overall, but more importantly pressure on Baylor QBs was withering and constant, even with 3 man rushes. Baylor threw for 305 yards, but the 53 attempts needed to make that happen isn’t good offensive math when you also factor in sacks and QB scrambles.

Texas got off to a strong early start again (no Texas opponent has more than 7 points at half so far this year) holding Baylor’s 1st half run game to 11 yards on 17 carries and Sawyer Robertson to 13 of 24 for 110 yards. In the first half, 17 Baylor plays went for no gain or a loss. The Texas defense wasn’t just motivated. They were disciplined. They were only penalized once (a questionable PI on Taaffe) and they repeatedly sniffed out Baylor screens without sacrificing pass rush.

Angry and focused is a devastating combination for a defense and props to Pete K and the Longhorn position coaches for getting them into that headspace.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Byron Murphy, T’Vondre Sweat, Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton totally dominated while Ethan Burke and Barryn Sorrell played disciplined and physical ball on the edge. Look at this terrific display of a 3 man pass rush:

Byron Murphy rightfully gets sack credit with elusive power and motor inside, but please observe Sorrell at the bottom of the screen. He absolutely demolishes the Baylor tight end and places him in a twisted broken heap at the QB’s feet with a perfect bull rush while Alfred Collins does the exact same thing to Baylor’s offensive tackle up top. Both edges are in exact depth alignment, neither cheats to try to run around someone, there is no place to escape and that allows Murphy an easy finish inside. That’s a mesmerizing symmetry of violent coordination. With eight men in coverage.

What about when Baylor tried personnel disguised play action for a big “gotcha” play?

Note that Baylor is in 13 personnel (3 tight ends) and their goal is to lure Texas into a heavy box and take a max protect shot downfield with a two man route vertical. Show power, throw deep. The problem is that they can’t block it because Jett Bush comes off of the edge like a bat out of hell, making the 250 pound tight end’s cross block ineffective. At the same time, Alfred Collins splits a double team and that’s who Robertson is feeling as Bush suddenly appears on his right.

Big Motor Murphy finished with 3 tackles for loss and 2 sacks and a great goal line block. Sweat had a batted pass, two huge run stuffs, 4 tackles and utter domination at the point of attack. Four games in, Sweat is probably my B12 defensive MVP. Alfred Collins had several nice plays on outside zone and drew a hold on the goal line. Here’s some violence being Broughton on Baylor’s poor TE while Murphy whips the guard like he talked about his mama:

Broughton was incredibly disruptive and this game plan and matchup spoke to him. #45 was swim moving dudes on run downs and he was absolutely destructive playing edge on the Baylor tight ends. He can manhandle smaller guys and has enough quickness not to get exposed against most offenses. Burke had a really nice sniff out on a screen and he’s a major plus on pass drops. Good lateral quickness and his 6’6″ frame really interferes with sight lines.

He had a light load of snaps and that was anticipatable by game plan as Collins, Broughton and even Tapp got major play vs. Baylor’s run game. J’mond Tapp showed nicely in place of the injured Kris Ross. He’s being more physical and he looks to have practiced himself into better shape. Big QB hit in the 2nd half. Bryant, Bledsoe and Carter each got the most snaps of their season.

LINEBACKER

Best total unit game of the year. Anthony Hill drew 47 snaps and had six tackles, including a terrific effort in the 2nd half when his Spidey sense tingled and he cut off his pass rush to sprint through the trash across the field and make a tackle for no gain on a well-designed TE screen. I screamed “That’s a freaking linebacker play!” while hitting my coffee table violently which made my dogs leave the room. Jaylan Ford did stuff like on this 4th and goal gem:

Psst Jaylan, take a knee there, bud. He led the Horns with 8 tackles. His best game of the season against the run by a large measure. Very decisive. Eric Nahlin pulled this highlight featuring Gbenda and it illustrates his closing speed beautifully:

Jett Bush owes Gbenda a beer for the CYA there on the contain break. Great location of the ball and decisive action by Gbenda. Bush continues to be really violent at the point of contact on blockers. His position change has been great for him and Texas. I understand that nothing I write about Bush or Taaffe will change minds or lazy assumptions, so we’ll move on. Morice Blackwell got back into the mix and looked rusty at times, particularly in coverage.

DEFENSIVE BACK

Baylor’s WR corps is pretty fast and they have competent tight ends. Baylor’s offense isn’t good but they have shown a facility for deep shots and the Texas brain trust was comfortable singling up the Longhorn defensive backs so that Texas could bully the run game and hit the QB. They acquitted themselves well overall, though Ryan Watts (5 targets, 100 yards) and Malik Muhammad (9 targets, 74 yards) were the most effectively targeted Horns by the Bear passing game.

Watts had a tough job covering some legit sprinters without safety help while also having to be cognizant of coming up hard when Baylor ran or screened to the boundary. Muhammad had a nice PBU on the boundary attacking through the receiver’s hands on a Baylor 4th and 5 on the Longhorn end of the field. It’s crazy how technically advanced he is in some areas. Once he’s filled out and more seasoned, he’s going to be a problem out there.

Speaking of good problems, it’s very notable that freshman safety Derek Williams drew 54 snaps and logged the most time of any safety. #2 looks and moves different. The reasons for our safety rotations are now starting to crystallize. Want to see a cool hustle play? Note #16 at safety on the backside of this play.

I wish I had the clip of Catalon coming downhill when Baylor tried a toss sweep on 3rd and 5, but ouch.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Well, that was atrocious. Against a higher-quality opponent, a missed chip shot field a goal and two dropped punts in the red zone probably means a loss. Keilan Robinson also dropped a kickoff return but recovered it on the 12. Still, I have to praise the human missile launch tackle by Tre Wisner on kickoff coverage and some more excellent punting by Ryan Sanborn.

FINAL

Texas played dominant defense on a day where 31 different Longhorn defenders logged snaps. Playing the three deep extensively is a huge program win and a developmental boon for freshmen like Hill, Williams and Tapp. For the year, Texas is surrendering only 12.5 points per game and opponents average a scant 4.5 yards per play while converting 30.5% of 3rd downs. The Horns already have 13 sacks and 7 turnovers in 4 games and Longhorn opponents have converted only 1 of 10 red zone visits into touchdowns. If these numbers continue against higher order offenses, the Longhorns are going to be a hard out.

 

[bigcigar 1161]

3 hours ago, satyanash said:

Justin Wells: Top PFF grades from No. 3 Texas' 38-6 win over Baylor

Coach V: Accolades aplenty after Texas' 38-6 win over Baylor

(Scipio Tex) 2023 Baylor Post Mortem: Defense & Not-So-Special Teams

 

The grades pass the eye test. Play cook and Muhammad more. Cook is our #2 receiver

[LTtxfan 48962]

Sunday afternoon,  Sept 24th

GRADING THE HORNS | ON TEXAS FOOTBALL | LONGHORNS DEFEAT BAYLOR, 38-6 

 

Sunday morning

 

[LTtxfan 48962]

Sept 25th

LUNCH WITH THE COACH | IMPROVING SPECIAL TEAMS | EXPLOSIVE IDENTITY |

 

[satyanash 14281]

(Scipio Tex) 2023 Baylor Post Mortem: Offense

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A surgical performance by the Texas offense in Waco put 38 points on the board and gained 503 yards on only 59 plays from scrimmage. 8.5 yards per play can only occur with big plays and the Horns put them on Baylor with completions of 51, 49 and 35 and runs of 40 and 29 yards. Subtract out those big hitters and Texas still averaged 5.5 yards per play. That’s a great combination of offensive floor and big play ceiling. Texas had ten “real” possessions and six of them ended in points, including five touchdowns. Another ended in a missed chip shot field goal.

If there are any nits to pick, Texas wasn’t great on 3rd down, converting only 3 of 9 opportunities. You’d like to see another couple of 3rd down conversions, particularly on 3rd and manageable. An early 3rd and 3 run in two down territory on the Baylor 40 resulted in a tackle for loss that forced a punt. Followed not long after by another failed 3rd and 3 batted ball incompletion at the UT39. Better execution on 3rd and makeable and Texas probably puts 50+ on the board.

Quarterback

Quinn Ewers had a couple of forced throws early and took a questionable sack, but after that he was buttoned up Crewcut Quinn. Ewers finished 18 of 23 for 293 yards and added a 29 yard scamper for a touchdown down a naked Baylor sideline. Note this throw on 3rd and 15 to Johntay Cook:

A seam vertical becomes a very skinny post and that little bit of angle gives Ewers a nice targeting point between the hashes. We like between the hashes deep throw Quinn. Keep those feet Johntay and that 51 yarder becomes a 84 yard touchdown. Great ball distribution overall. On 25 pass attempts with 19 receptions, 9 different Longhorn pass catchers were targeted. Quinn ran the RPO game to near perfection though I question whether all of them involve true reads.

Tight End/Wide Receiver

The tight ends dominated from 12 personnel, combining for 7 catches for 147 yards. 21 yards per toss to the tight ends when defenses are sweating Mitchell and Worthy is a real problem for any defensive coordinator. Too many cracks in the dam. If you read or listened to my previews, I told you that Baylor nickel Bryson Jackson was going to be a target in the passing game and here you see why on play action:

JT’s block created the 29 yard Ewers touchdown scamper after Banks caved down the edge:

This was JT’s most complete game as a tight end in his time at Texas. Gunnar Helm looked very comfortable as a pass catcher as well, snagging passes for 21 and 16 yards.

Worthy played well while drawing a lot of attention. AD Mitchell was good with the ball in his hands, but his oops block on the first play of the game got Worthy blown up for -6. He had a couple of other whiffs later in the game. Great block by Whittington on a 3rd down throw to Sanders.

Running Back

Brooks had a whale of a game, finishing with 106 yards on 18 carries and 2 touchdowns. He ran his blocking better on several plays – though the 40 yard touchdown was well blocked and well run – but it was runs like this one at 1:09 that got me juiced:

When a back turns 2nd and 11 into 2nd and 3, that’s energizing to the offense. It also gives coaches confidence to hand the ball off knowing that Brooks has the potential to make a bad situation right. CJ Baxter ran well, but he’s going to be in and out all season until he learns to protect himself and gets hardened up by an offseason of conditioning. Good effort levels by Red and Blue late.

Offensive Line

LOL by Christian Jones. Everyone gets hit!

Through four games, Jones has been our best OL. Kelvin Banks had an excellent game as well and is a close #2. This line’s floor still needs to be raised inside, but it’s coming along.

OL push wasn’t great early in the running game, but they got it together in the 3rd quarter and did a nice job. Pass protection was excellent save a couple of first half surrendered sacks on creative Baylor blitzes. By the way, Baylor’s Matt Jones is a terrific edge rusher and blitzer. Probably a NFL future there. Naturally, Baylor starts him at Mike LB.

Final

A clean and proficient performance from the Longhorn offense dismantled Baylor’s defense in Waco. They’ll need to carry that turnover and penalty free performance into the Kansas game. Points will be at a premium and any drive where Texas shoots itself in the foot against an improved Jayhawk defense means a loss of game control and a squandering of the opportunity to swamp Kansas early so that the Jayhawks become one dimensional. 4-0. Bring on the Jayhawks.

Bobby Burton: Texas, surging on the field and the trail, arrives at a rising inflection point

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Texas dominated Baylor 38-6 at McLane Stadium in Waco on Saturday evening. Then the Longhorns added On3 Industry Ranking five-star offensive lineman Brandon Baker out of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei on Sunday night. It’s hard to complain if you’re a Longhorn fan right now. That’s because Texas is absolutely rolling, both on the field and on the recruiting trail.

The Horns are 4-0 to start a season for the first time since 2012. And Texas is now ranked No. 11 nationally in recruiting with multiple five-star recruits still on the board. So it’s not only the present that is looking bright for Texas, but the future, too. Perhaps that’s why this moment in time as a Texas football fan feels differently than much of the recent past. It feels not only satisfying, but also more like an inflection point. Why?

Because not only is Texas winning games, but they’re also winning important recruiting battles. And as longtime Texas observers know, doing both of those things successfully simultaneously is what leads to a sustainable high-achieving program. And that’s what Texas fans want. Not a one-hit wonder. We’ve had those. The feeling is just too fleeting. Instead, Texas wants to be good every single year. That’s the current path Texas is on.

But, here’s a reminder. The Horns have to stay on that path, one game at a time, and one recruit at a time, because that path can be disrupted at any time. Next up are the Jayhawks. Texas and Kansas face off at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, September 30 at 2:30 p.m. ABC will televise the contest.

 

[Bodacious Bevo 3576]

Dunlap's Defensive Deep Dig

Spoiler

Defensive Snap Counts By Week and Percentage of Total Defensive Snaps Played Through Week 4

 

Defensive Productivity Market-Share Percentages and Snaps per Production Caused Metrics Through Week 4 (snaps per disruption caused is colored coded from blue/best to white/median to red/worst - the number next to the name indicates movement in the rankings since last week):

 

Quick Hits and Thoughts

T'Vondre Sweat has a chance to be a first-round pick - he's back on the top of the rankings, and now, after four games, it's time to start talking about the fact that he's looking like the most complete DL we've seen at Texas since Malcom Brown. Can he keep it up? That is yet to be seen. But let us be clear: if he keeps this up through the season (that is, staying the best player on a really good Texas defense while maintaining elite efficiency) it would be 100% foolish and silly not to think about him among the top players in all of college football.

His snaps/disruption caused efficiency through four games (including one versus Alabama, so it's not a slate of total cupcakes) blows guys like Keondre Coburn out of the water. It's better than Poona Ford as well, and Ford was always an anomaly of a player. He wasn't an easy package to stamp as a surefire stud at the next level. Short with really long arms, Ford was an athlete no doubt, and very, very effective at Texas, but the overall package wasn't there.

With Hassan Ridgeway, it was there physically, and Ridgeway is still earning an NFL paycheck all these years later -- but even Ridgeway had an on/off switch that you don't notice from Sweat. On top of that, Sweat has smoother feet and better general athleticism than you noticed from Ridgeway, who made his hay by simply being a giant, unmovable object with fits and spurts of angry violence.

Sweat is almost 50 pounds heavier than the giant Ridgeway was in his final season at Texas with sweeter feet, more active hands (and eyes) while engaged, an uncanny ability to get up in the air and use hand/eye coordination to knock down footballs, all the while pressing off of blocks to free himself for such a task. He's constantly splitting double teams to make plays, and when he's not, he's usually holding up two players on the line of scrimmage to keep his linebackers clean. He leads the team in run-stuffs by a wide margin while also being tied for the team lead in QB hits.

Ryan Watts comes back to Earth - Everyone saw Watts get burned twice in coverage against Baylor and it certainly exposed something in his game that will need to be accounted for. While he's a big, imposing figure on the boundary, he can find himself in trouble when having to get into the hip pocket of really fast wide receivers on vertical routes and simply run with them.

On the second coverage burn, the one on the TD to the middle of the end zone, Watts' coverage actually looked alright at the catch point ... he didn't seem too far off from making the play and we almost just considered it a completion allowed. Basically, a good catch made in good enough coverage. But if you watch it back, the ball was underthrown and there was no way Watts would have been in any sort of position to make a play had the receiver not had to slow down a little bit to come back to it.

Watts is still a great player, and the team's best outside corner, but it is a kink in the armor that's worth monitoring and keeping in the back of our minds when he's set to face burners who have good enough stem work at the line of scrimmage to get free release on him along with an ability to get vertical fast. In those spots, he's going to need more focused, intentional and better help over the top than he was getting from the safeties versus Baylor.

Byron Murphy is a bulldog - With all the talk about Sweat, it's important to remember this. He's awesome. He has awesome feet and athleticism, too. Just watch the guy on offense, my goodness. Not only the TD catch, just watch how he positions his body and attacks defenders as a lead blocker on kick-outs and leads at the goal line. Sark called him a pit bull at his Monday PC and it made our heart sing because that is exactly how we've always categorized him around here.

Anthony Hill has an evolving role with the return of Mo Blackwell - With Mo Blackwell's return, the staff has a small issue on its hands that's a good one to have, technically: having two players you really want on the field in Blackwell and Hill that have similar if not semi-redundant skill sets as they pertain to the personnel groupings the defense has deployed thus far.

Both players seem best-suited to play the outside or flex linebacker in the second of two sub-packages where the team brings in a third LB. In one of these packages, Jett Bush is the third LB and that is the heavier, run-stopping package. In the passing-down package, that 3rd LB had been Hill to start the season, and he'd been so good in that role that it almost felt like a really good player in Blackwell might get Wally Pipp'ed.

In order to placate both sides (we assume) and certainly in an effort to simply have the best players on the field, the staff seemingly came up with a creative solution. Make sure Hill knows he's still the "starter" in "his" 3-LB package as he was before. The staff deployed the package as we've seen through the first three games twice within the first two series of the Baylor contest. But then, we saw an all-new 3-LB package. Let us explain ...

The run-stopping package looks like this

Jack - usually Alfred Collins instead of Barryn Sorrell
Nose - Usually Murphy
DT - Usually Sweat
Buck - Usually Barryn Sorrell instead of Ethan Burke
MLB: Ford
WLB: Gbenda
OLB: Bush
No Nickel Back

The more speedy, longer down-and-distance package looks like this

Jack - Previously Kristopher Ross, now usually Barryn Sorrell
Nose - Usually Murphy
DT - Usually Alfred Collins
No Buck
MLB: Ford
WLB: Gbenda
OLB: Hill
Secondary stays in nickel

The NEW, also speedy and very interesting sub-package including Blackwell looks like this:

Jack - Usually Sorrell
Nose - Murphy or Sweat
DT - Broughton or Collins
Buck - Burke
MLB: Ford
WLB: Hill
OLB: Blackwell
No nickel back

It can be deployed all over the field in various situations, and relies on Blackwell's very good skills in coverage to handle No.3 receivers, TEs, or RBs out of the backfield, allowing him to be somewhat of a rover, while giving Hill the opportunity to get reps at the inside will linebacker (a base role he'll likely grow into next season once Ford and Gbenda are gone). It also allows the staff to bring Hill down on the line of scrimmage from his off-ball position to be more of an edge or flexed presence.

Handling this situation must have been a tough needle to thread, but we have to hand it to the staff that this is a better solution than those of us here in the dark and dingy basement would have conjured up.

Onward to the offense.