CFP Semifinal: Texas vs Washington - 7:45pm on ESPN

[bullet 1596]

On 1/2/2024 at 11:00 AM, vandergriff said:

Michigan is going to win next week for 2 reasons:

They will run the ball all night and control TOP.  And they will generate an effective pass rush.

Penix will still put up good numbers.   But not even close to his game last night.

Does Michigan have more overall talent than Texas?  Nope.

But they have a much better coach who will scheme a winning game plan with one week to prepare as opposed to Sark who had 4 weeks and still looked unprepared.

I'm sure its been mentioned in these 120 pages, but our pass defense scheme was awful.  I guess we were scared of the deep ball so we played soft on the corners.  They had a 5 yard gimme every play.  And somehow, even though we rarely blitzed, we had one on one all over the field.  So 5 receivers vs. 7 defenders, but it was always one on one.  Maybe our linebackers were covering the middle with no receivers in the area.

On offense we could score at will, but bogus penalties killed our drives in the first quarter and helped theirs.  Two bogus holding calls.  Then I had never seen a block below the waist called on the defense before.  We should have run more.  But Ewers was just out of sync.  Too much adrenaline.  Still had a chance if he could have executed on one of those last 4 plays.

 

[bullet 1596]

21 hours ago, Schulz2.0 said:

We had 15 seconds to run the 4 plays. You can't sit back with your thumb up your ass taking 8-9 seconds on a play.

It was 20 seconds.  We had plenty of time as long as we don't get tackled in bounds.

[Tex Long 4392]

17 minutes ago, bullet said:

 Still had a chance if he could have executed on one of those last 4 plays.

 

Chance, my ass. That was a win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assuming Auburn wouldn't miss an XP...

[Codaxx 5738]

15 minutes ago, bullet said:

I'm sure its been mentioned in these 120 pages, but our pass defense scheme was awful.  I guess we were scared of the deep ball so we played soft on the corners.  They had a 5 yard gimme every play.  And somehow, even though we rarely blitzed, we had one on one all over the field.  So 5 receivers vs. 7 defenders, but it was always one on one.  Maybe our linebackers were covering the middle with no receivers in the area.

On offense we could score at will, but bogus penalties killed our drives in the first quarter and helped theirs.  Two bogus holding calls.  Then I had never seen a block below the waist called on the defense before.  We should have run more.  But Ewers was just out of sync.  Too much adrenaline.  Still had a chance if he could have executed on one of those last 4 plays.

 

Just not true first TD, you can see the CB on the LOS. 

[bullet 1596]

5 minutes ago, bullet said:

It was 20 seconds.  We had plenty of time as long as we don't get tackled in bounds.

I remembered it being 20.  Video here shows 15.  Maybe I was thinking about the previous play.

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

The more I watch the replay the 1st down play with the weird fake toss to Blue and throwing it to Blue I feel like Whit may have ran the wrong route. Especially considering the comments from Sark that he was 1st read. I think Whit was supposed to run a speed out and if he does that's an easy completion to potentially inside the 5. 

 

Edited January 3 by BurntOrange&White

[bullet 1596]

14 hours ago, troph said:

This is really an important point. If red zone offense was better the game is much different. How many times this year did we have cause for concern. Most games. Well here too. Score a TD on the penultimate drive we need a FG to WIN. It might have changed WA calculus but I don’t think so they played expecting to give Texas 15 seconds not 45.

I really thought we should have gone for it on 4th and 4.  Then we only needed a FG to win if we make it.  We knew we were only going to have 10-15 seconds if we didn't get the onside kick.  But we got lucky with the injury timeout.

[bullet 1596]

11 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Just not true first TD, you can see the CB on the LOS. 

We had one guy covering tight and the other 10-15 yards back, often not even in front of him, but closer to the center of the field.  So they could pass to the soft coverage and get a block from the other guy. When they sent 3 receivers wide, it would be 3 on 3 with only one playing tight.

[TexasGolf 4902]

wish we would have tried that whip route to worthy on one of the 4 plays at the end. guess he was not 100% to run that unfortunately.  

[Beau Vine 54219]

My postscript is that I ended up sleeping in my clothes after the game, then just got up and immediately left early the next morning.  We stopped at the Katy Bucee's, and when I walked out of the bathroom, I heard someone say, "Great job, Washington!"  I looked up and there was a guy with an A&M hat holding his hand out to shake my hand.   I just glared at him and kept walking and muttered, "fucking aggy."  

 

[Codaxx 5738]

4 minutes ago, bullet said:

We had one guy covering tight and the other 10-15 yards back, often not even in front of him, but closer to the center of the field.  So they could pass to the soft coverage and get a block from the other guy. When they sent 3 receivers wide, it would be 3 on 3 with only one playing tight.

 

That is the screen shot of the defensive alignment on the first TD. I am not sure what you are seeing, but the corners are not playing off

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

2 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

 

That is the screen shot of the defensive alignment on the first TD. I am not sure what you are seeing, but the corners are not playing off

 

Clearly off, jk

[Cairn Horn88 8262]

Remember the 3rd and 1 when Wash had the ball, and we held them to no gain…then they came to the line and tried to draw us offsides, then called timeout.  They came back out, went for it and got the first down?  Well, Sweat and Murphy were not on the line.  Wash went on to score.  Hmmm.

[Cairn Horn88 8262]

Wash has won 20 straight games.  They won the last 10 straight by 10 points or less.

[troph 24789]

28 minutes ago, bullet said:

I really thought we should have gone for it on 4th and 4.  Then we only needed a FG to win if we make it.  We knew we were only going to have 10-15 seconds if we didn't get the onside kick.  But we got lucky with the injury timeout.

it's hard to argue against ensuring the mathematical possibility of winning remains after that drive but if we score there, to your point. man. 

again, this game was a game of inches. truly.

that's what makes it heart breaking, then I realize many of these guys will or already are making millions and I think, fuck it, they'll be fine.

[Tex Long 4392]

It would be good if our OC for Run Game would teach his OL to pass block as well as they run block. Or maybe our OC for Pass Game is responsible for that? 

[Dennis Taylor 18818]

Not sure if mentioned but can't read all these damn pages...when UW had 4th and 1 late in the 2nd quarter, lines up and goes hard count/timeout then after the timeout runs inside and picks up the 1st down, Sweat and Murphy were not in the freaking game...no idea why we didn't get them in especially after the timeout. That drive ended with the tipped ball touchdown i believe...I know there's a rotation but in that situation they've gotta be in there especially if there was a timeout for a little extra rest. They were at their own 33 yard line and that field position would have been huge. If i'm calling plays and see those guys out and I need a yard I know where I'm going with it. If they're in maybe I rethink it and punt.  

 

Edit - just saw @Cairn Horn88 post

Edited January 3 by Dennis Taylor

[Dennis Taylor 18818]

26 minutes ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

Remember the 3rd and 1 when Wash had the ball, and we held them to no gain…then they came to the line and tried to draw us offsides, then called timeout.  They came back out, went for it and got the first down?  Well, Sweat and Murphy were not on the line.  Wash went on to score.  Hmmm.

This was actually the play after the horrible spot that gave them a 1st was reviewed and changed to 4th and 1. But yeah didn't make sense 

[Dahobbs 17534]

12 minutes ago, Tex Long said:

It would be good if our OC for Run Game would teach his OL to pass block as well as they run block. Or maybe our OC for Pass Game is responsible for that? 

Our pass blocking has been better than our run blocking all year. And our pass blocking was fine in this game. Quinn mostly had time. As it was all year, at least one of those sacks was on him holding the ball. I think he'll get better at making those quick reads with another year. 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

1 minute ago, Dahobbs said:

And our pass blocking was fine in this game.

DJ Campbell and Christian Jones were getting worked all game.

[Codaxx 5738]

4 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Our pass blocking has been better than our run blocking all year. And our pass blocking was fine in this game. Quinn mostly had time. As it was all year, at least one of those sacks was on him holding the ball. I think he'll get better at making those quick reads with another year. 

Washignton got pressure, mostly Trice. Texas did not have an answer for him. Jones may have PTSD from that game.  He single handily had 8 pressures, 2 sacks, 3 TFLs. and a forced fumble

Edited January 3 by Codaxx

[troph 24789]

17 minutes ago, Tex Long said:

It would be good if our OC for Run Game would teach his OL to pass block as well as they run block. Or maybe our OC for Pass Game is responsible for that? 

2 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Washignton got pressure, mostly Trice. Texas did not have an answer for him. Jones may have PTSD from that game. 

I thought Trice normally lined up opposite the left tackle, he was lined up on the right side all night. 

[Codaxx 5738]

7 minutes ago, troph said:

I thought Trice normally lined up opposite the left tackle, he was lined up on the right side all night. 

He got a sack lining up at Dt also,, They avoided Banks.. good game plan

[Chuckie Finster 22694]

1 hour ago, BurntOrange&White said:

The more I watch the replay the 1st down play with the weird fake toss to Blue and throwing it to Blue I feel like Whit may have ran the wrong route. Especially considering the comments from Sark that he was 1st read. I think Whit was supposed to run a speed out and if he does that's an easy completion to potentially inside the 5. 

 

Tough to draw any concrete conclusions from a screenshot, but that first image sure makes it look like Quinn wanted Jordan first.  That hurts.

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

 

[Irish Wrist Watch 1359]

Couple of other mentions: IIRC, in the last ten min or so, we actually increased our numbers of blitzers, and it gave Penix some problems. WE saw a bad pass or two, maybe a drop. We got the ball back. Think maybe we should have been doing this sooner.

And the other thing: What a shitty onside kick. How in this day and age can experienced coaches not have taken a good look at all of the onside kicks that have worked and not concluded that kicking the top of the ball and making it take a short hop then a big hop is the way to go. Furthermore, dammit, whenever anyone does an onside these days, it looks as if they've never practiced it in their lives. If practiced enough, I gotta believe that you can up the odds significantly of getting one of those sucker. Sadly, UT's OSK sucked.

Edited January 3 by Irish Wrist Watch

[MIkeHoncho 1911]

32 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Tough to draw any concrete conclusions from a screenshot, but that first image sure makes it look like Quinn wanted Jordan first.  That hurts.

 

1 hour ago, BurntOrange&White said:

The more I watch the replay the 1st down play with the weird fake toss to Blue and throwing it to Blue I feel like Whit may have ran the wrong route. Especially considering the comments from Sark that he was 1st read. I think Whit was supposed to run a speed out and if he does that's an easy completion to potentially inside the 5. 

 

Tough to guess form one screenshot, but it certainly looks like Sanders is about to break open, and QE had the protection to back up to the hash marks and hit him.   With such little time on the clock and a sack ending the game, I understand him taking the quick out, but oh what might have been there.   

[sunset87 240]

There wasn't very many if any times that the pass rush had more than one rusher with a shot at Penix.  He easily escaped the single free rusher every time.  Probably need multiple rushers to really affect him.

[troph 24789]

46 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Tough to draw any concrete conclusions from a screenshot, but that first image sure makes it look like Quinn wanted Jordan first.  That hurts.

the other thing to see is two downfield blockers for Blue if he makes one guy miss. all the talk about a terrible play or check down are not understanding the nuance there. That's actually set up nicely for a possible TD run. It's also consistent with Texas passing game - short passes, YAC. Get the ball to the sideline and either fall out as your tackled or juke the guy to the boundary and turn up for TD. I'm sure that's happened hundreds of times in CFB, it's happened plenty for Texas.

and I still think #5 is too close to the passing lane to throw to JW in the first frame. 

Edited January 3 by troph

[LonghornSean 3994]

Finished rewatching the game, 1st half last night after I got back and 2nd half today.

Third quarter was bad but overall the game was actually closer throughout than it felt like in person (guess that’s obvious for the first half 21-21). Penix was just incredible with pinpoint passes over decent coverage a number of times and just perfectly evading pressure again and again.

The final four plays leave me with a lot of what-ifs and wish we could have one or two better chances at the TD. But it was awesome to have the team fight back into that position.

We were damn close against a really good team, so the game itself I have no real regrets about except the unforced penalties. My disappointment primarily lies with the fact that the path to a national title will never be this favorable again, no matter how good of a team we are.

I hope UW wins Monday.

Edited January 3 by LonghornSean

[troph 24789]

outside of a few anomalies like Nick Saban (even he doesn't win them all), teams have to mill around the championship environment to win it all. The greatest coach to ever walk the 40 and arguably the greatest college coach of all time didn't win every time (Augie Garrido). Now baseball is even more prone to happenstance than football but all sports have that 'luck' element. DeBoer may be the next Saban (if he is I'd be shocked to see him stay in WA) but even still, this was a great out come for Texas after 15 years in the desert. The 2023 team was young, even too young in critical spots and WA was one of the most experienced and older teams you will ever see in CFB. But keep building the roster and program and Texas will be hanging around the trophy a lot in the coming 10 years and I'd be shocked if we don't hoist 1-2 of them in that time frame.

Edited January 3 by troph

[Skipper 6135]

3 minutes ago, troph said:

outside of a few anomalies like Nick Saban (even he doesn't win them all), teams have to mill around the championship environment to win it all. 

I tend to agree this is definitely how it is going to be going forward.   With NIL spreading the wealth around, Bama and UGA can't just stack a roster with 5 stars at every position where anyone else is at a massive talent disadvantage.   I think most years will be a lot more similar to this year where any of the final 4 teams can win and it's all a matter of who plays their best game on any given day.  It sucks to come so close and lose (particularly knowing we didn't play our A game) but our roster should FINALLY be back in the position that we should be in the 12 team mix most years which is all you can really ask for as a fan.  

[Irish Wrist Watch 1359]

4 minutes ago, Skipper said:

I tend to agree this is definitely how it is going to be going forward.   With NIL spreading the wealth around, Bama and UGA can't just stack a roster with 5 stars at every position where anyone else is at a massive talent disadvantage.   I think most years will be a lot more similar to this year where any of the final 4 teams can win and it's all a matter of who plays their best game on any given day.  It sucks to come so close and lose (particularly knowing we didn't play our A game) but our roster should FINALLY be back in the position that we should be in the 12 team mix most years which is all you can really ask for as a fan.  

The most positive thought to come from this massive thread. Accurate and uplifting

 

Edited January 3 by Irish Wrist Watch

[nbmishoid 949]

Recalling the earlier back and forth with a few WA fans, I have to admit to being self deluded about Penix vs our D.  First observation concluded we were his perfect foil, and that he could very well light us up.  Much better than any previous opponent.  From there, I welcomed arguments that seemed to point to some UT defensive prowess, like the line.  
But the obvious 1st look turned out to be reality.   Penix’ best game ever. 
Yes we were miraculously close.   Give it to the players for that huge effort.

I just need to be more honest about our team.  This was not a game the defense could “win”.  It was on the offense.  Oh, and Sushi did point out how their D was better than the numbers suggested.   He was right.  It was tough sledding for our O.  
 

Then there are the matters of fumbles and penalties.  One can say the game was won /lost on that front, given what Penix and company were doing.

Next year.

[troph 24789]

9 minutes ago, Skipper said:

I tend to agree this is definitely how it is going to be going forward.   With NIL spreading the wealth around, Bama and UGA can't just stack a roster with 5 stars at every position where anyone else is at a massive talent disadvantage.   I think most years will be a lot more similar to this year where any of the final 4 teams can win and it's all a matter of who plays their best game on any given day.  It sucks to come so close and lose (particularly knowing we didn't play our A game) but our roster should FINALLY be back in the position that we should be in the 12 team mix most years which is all you can really ask for as a fan.  

I actually think the next 5-7 years we will have a better chance than this year. WA is stacked with too many sixth year senior guys at key positions. 2 on the OL, Trice at EDGE, and Penix at QB. Odunze is a 5th year senior too. jesus.

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

I think in 2025 we will have an elite team top to bottom

[Hookem2147 21217]

54 minutes ago, Irish Wrist Watch said:

Couple of other mentions: IIRC, in the last ten min or so, we actually increased our numbers of blitzers, and it gave Penix some problems. WE saw a bad pass or two, maybe a drop. We got the ball back. Think maybe we should have been doing this sooner.

I mean, Washington had 2 possessions in the final 10 minutes.

Possession 1: 10 play, 65 yard drive that Penix went 5 of 6 for 58 yards. Ended in a chip shot FG

Possession 2: 3 runs up the gut to try to run out the clock

The possession before those two was the one with the Brooks PI that ultimately ended in a punt.

Edited January 3 by Hookem2147

[Beau Vine 54219]

9 minutes ago, troph said:

I actually think the next 5-7 years we will have a better chance than this year. WA is stacked with too many sixth year senior guys at key positions. 2 on the OL, Trice at EDGE, and Penix at QB. Odunze is a 5th year senior too. jesus.

Odunze and Trice are redshirt juniors.    You did get Penix correct.  

[elguapo 4586]

28 minutes ago, nbmishoid said:

 

I just need to be more honest about our team.  This was not a game the defense could “win”.  It was on the offense.  Oh, and Sushi did point out how their D was better than the numbers suggested.   He was right.  It was tough sledding for our O.  
 

 

No this was not a game that the defense could win for us. But I do think with a better defensive game plan going in we could have done more to disrupt the rhythm of the UW passing game so that it didn't look like they were throwing against air for 1/2 the game.

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

2 minutes ago, elguapo said:

No this was not a game that the defense could win for us. But I do think with a better defensive game plan going in we could have done more to disrupt the rhythm of the UW passing game so that it didn't look like they were throwing against air for 1/2 the game.

We tried just about everything man....idk what more you want us to do other than a house party blitz. 

[elguapo 4586]

1 minute ago, BurntOrange&White said:

We tried just about everything man....idk what more you want us to do other than a house party blitz. 

I'm acknowledging that Penix was always going to put up big numbers against us, but for most of the game he was way too comfortable.  We should have been able to put some hits on him and get him thinking about the rush.

Especially in the first half we went heavy with delayed blitzes which imo was a terrible gameplan against a QB like Penix. You aren't going to confuse him with delayed disguised blitzes, he's too good at recognition for that. Line up some pass rushers in A gaps and see if we can manage to get some immediate pressure in his face, did we do that much?

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

Just now, elguapo said:

I'm acknowledging that Penix was always going to put up big numbers against us, but for most of the game he was way too comfortable.  We should have been able to put some hits on him and get him thinking about the rush.

Especially in the first half we went heavy with delayed blitzes which imo was a terrible gameplan against a QB like Penix. You aren't going to confuse him with delayed disguised blitzes, he's too good at recognition for that. Line up some pass rushers in A gaps and see if we can manage to get some immediate pressure in his face, did we do that much?

He was literally avoiding it by his pocket movement. We had the second most pressures on him all season.

[elguapo 4586]

Just now, BurntOrange&White said:

He was literally avoiding it by his pocket movement. We had the second most pressures on him all season.

Yeah per the college pff team, do you really believe those numbers? I can recall about 3 times we had a legit shot at sacking him.

[kevwun 15783]

He has really good pocket awareness.  I can see that with my eyes.

[elguapo 4586]

Just now, kevwun said:

He has really good pocket awareness.  I can see that with my eyes.

Yes, no shit! I still think could have done more to make him uncomfortable, but I guess maybe our D talent isn't on the same level as Washington St, my bad.

[CoTex 1160]

1 minute ago, elguapo said:

Yeah per the college pff team, do you really believe those numbers? I can recall about 3 times we had a legit shot at sacking him.

I for one would like another shot at that game.  I feel like our A game against what I saw in the superdome, we would whip their asses.  I understand that's not how it works.

[elguapo 4586]

Just now, CoTex said:

I for one would like another shot at that game.  I feel like our A game against what I saw in the superdome, we would whip their asses.  I understand that's not how it works.

Yeah I feel the same way man. I think we played a C level game. If we play our best game I think we win by more than 1 score. That's why I find it very annoying seeing this mentality that "oh well we just lost to a superman level performance". Yes Penix is a fucking beast but that wasn't 2019 LSU that we lost to. If we played our best game we win and we didn't do that. Oh well.

[kevwun 15783]

3 minutes ago, elguapo said:

Yes, no shit! I still think could have done more to make him uncomfortable, but I guess maybe our D talent isn't on the same level as Washington St, my bad.

We didn't have a lot of sacks this year and they have an experienced and good OL with a qb who should be finishing up his 1st or 2nd year in the NFL right now.  It's not shocking that he wasn't running for his life all night.

[elguapo 4586]

1 minute ago, kevwun said:

It's not shocking that he wasn't running for his life all night.

And no one said that it was

[Skipper 6135]

21 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

We tried just about everything man....idk what more you want us to do other than a house party blitz. 

I had been drinking all day but that was where I came out watching the game from a YL seat in the 300 level.  I felt like we tried everything on defense and it didn't really matter.  The Defense actually played well enough to win which is pretty shocking considering how elite Penix and those WR's played.