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2024 Season Thread and all the shit in between games

BurntOrange&White

By BurntOrange&White
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Steamboat1874

Steamboat1874 4391

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5 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

Here is an incredible stat: the Texas defense has more Interceptions than TDs allowed

Texas has 18 interceptions against 13 TD's allowed. 

Next best is Ohio State with 9 ints to 13 TDs allowed.

Of those 13 TD's that Texas has allowed, only four were passing TDs, so Texas has 18 ints to 4 passing TDs, a ratio of 4.5 to one. 

I remember games against the Sooners when our defense gave up more than four passing TDs in one game.

Georgia's defense, conversely, has given up 26 TDs --- twice as many as has Texas.

I'm thinking that, in the modern era, those kinds of numbers/ratios might be historically good. 

Wow

Was not aware of that.

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 50037

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In a physical game of football that saw the No. 2 Texas Longhorns exert their will over the now unranked Texas A&M Aggies, the Longhorns secured a 17-7 victory. With the win, Texas heads to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game and a rematch against their lone defeat to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Before jumping ahead to the highly-anticipated rematch, it’s important to evaluate where Texas performed well and where the Longhorns failed to meet the standard. Particularly in games where the message is “win by any means necessary,” revisiting key areas can illuminate critical moments that swayed the outcome and paint a more accurate picture of the game itself.

In this week’s rendition of Crunch Time, we’ll analyze how Texas performed on third downs and in the red zone against Texas A&M, something we haven’t been able to do for 13 years.

Third downs

7-of-15 (46.7 percent)

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Texas was highly successful on third downs, converting 46.7 percent on 15 attempts. In the second quarter, the Longhorns put 10 points on the board. As expected, the second quarter happened to be the best quarter for Texas on third down, converting three of four attempts.

Despite being held scoreless in the second half, the third-down performance didn’t drastically change. After going 4-of-7 in the first half, the Longhorns converted 3-of-8 third downs in the second half. Not great, but undoubtedly good enough to score points.

The most important third down early in the game, perhaps even the biggest third-down conversion of the entire game, came on Texas’ second offensive series after safety Michael Taaffe made a fantastic interception on a deep crossing route to set up the offense with 1st and 10 deep in their territory.

At this point, the Texas offense still hadn’t gained a first down. A facemask penalty moved the chains, but the offense itself hadn’t found its footing by any means. After two short completions, the Longhorns needed 10 yards for a first down.

Texas A&M lined up with seven defenders on the line of scrimmage. This diabolical defensive look is intended to confuse the offensive line and make it difficult for Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers to discern what defenders will be in coverage and where they’ll be located.

At the snap, two defenders dropped, creating a five-on-five matchup in the trenches. However, A&M didn’t just rush five, they added an interior twist that gave JACK linebacker Rylan Kennedy a free shot on Ewers.

Untouched.

Unblocked.

Free.

It did not matter. As Kennedy tried to tackle Ewers, the underratedly nimble but frequently criticized Texas signal caller just shrugged him off. With the subtle shake, Ewers was off to the races.

Ewers needed 10. He gained 26.

His gallop down the sideline will be replayed in history. It wasn’t the prettiest run by a quarterback, but somewhere in Longhorn Country, Case McCoy had to be smiling.

This part of Ewers’ game is vehemently important. His ability to navigate the pocket and deliver strikes on the run or simply take off add a dimension that makes him elite. Given his injury history, his ability to do either of these things has been limited.

Perhaps the worst part about this aspect of his game being reduced to keep him healthy is the metaphorical box it puts him in. Ewers at his worst gets antsy in the pocket. He loses his footwork and makes bad throws or incorrectly navigates the pocket. Either way, he gets rushed. In my opinion, part of that jumpy energy is due to his mobility limitation especially given how much more magnified these factors become while dealing with the aftermath of an injury.

Ewers knows that taking hits has the potential to sideline him. He also knows his ability (when injured) to scramble is inadequate. Suddenly, the pass rush feels a little bit closer because he can’t escape as effectively.

This is all to say, Ewers creating a missed tackle on a potential third-down sack from a free rusher is huge. And, it’s is an aspect we haven’t seen this season due to injury after Ewers flashed his upside as a scrambler early in the 2023 season with long touchdown runs against Baylor and Kansas on scrambles.

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Before that 26-yard charge, Ewers didn’t have a run that went longer than nine yards all season. Zero runs of 10 yards or more.

For context, Ewers had six games with a rush of 10 yards or more last season. Four of the five games when he didn’t meet this mark occurred either in the Houston game when he was injured or in the direct aftermath once he returned to the lineup.

The lack of health needed to scramble this year is tough — scrambling has been a crucial part of Ewers’ game, especially on third down as witnessed on Saturday at Kyle Field.

After the scamper, Texas continued moving down the field. Facing fourth and short, head coach Steve Sarkisian opted for a quarterback run. This time, redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning carried the ball and scored.

As the saying goes, Ewers scrambled so Manning could run.

The dual-threat performance by Ewers didn’t end on that drive, though.

With the score 17-0 and roughly nine minutes left in the third quarter, Texas faced 3rd and 8. Ewers evaded another blitz and beat defensive back, yes defensive back, Marcus Ratcliffe to the edge. With the help of a slide, Ewers was able to extend the ball past the sticks and secure a first down.

Unfortunately, this drive ended in a tipped interception on 3rd and 4 that was returned for a touchdown.

Along with his scrambling ability, Ewers delivered three third-down conversions with his arm, accruing 60 yards on those three completions, including two electric throws to tight end Gunnar Helm.

On the first, Ewers fit the ball into a window that barely existed. With a defender on his back and a safety breaking downhill on the ball, Helm found a way to hold on in traffic and secure the catch.

The second completion helped to convert 3rd and 14. Ewers once again moved outside the pocket and pulled in a defender, which freed Helm. Ewers made a throw on the run that hit Helm on the run for a gain of 22.

Texas made a 28-yard field goal to conclude the drive.

Texas has now converted third downs at a rate of 44.9 percent, good for 28th in the country. This is a noteworthy improvement from the 38.4-percent conversion rate and 70th national ranking last year.

Red zone

5 attempts, 2 TDs, 1 Made FG, 1 INT, 1 fumble

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The red zone for Texas had a mixed bag of results, many of which were not good.

Let’s start with the good. Texas scored two red zone touchdowns, one rushing and one passing.

As previously mentioned, the rushing touchdown was scored on a fourth and short by Manning.

Texas only had two plays in the red zone on this drive, a 3rd and 2 at the 15-yard line followed by a fourth down at the same spot.

On third down, Ewers stood in the pocket for an extended period of time before forcing an ill-advised throw to wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr., who was covered by multiple defenders and had few options to free himself. The ball shouldn’t have been thrown.

With the incompletion, Texas faced 4th and 2. Sarkisian opted to run a wildcat package with Manning, a wrinkle that hadn’t been showcased before the game. With running back Quintrevion Wisner and H-back Juan Davis in the backfield, Manning pulled the ball and took it up the left sideline for a score.

The play call showcases the trust Sarkisian has in Manning. Fourth down in the red zone. In a hostile environment. It’s a pressure-filled situation and Manning rose to the occasion.

The next Texas red-zone touchdown was set up by a roughing the passer call that moved the ball to the A&M 11-yard line. Facing first and 10, running back Jaydon Blue collected four yards up the middle to set up 2nd and 6.

With the ball on the right hash, Sarkisian used 21 personnel with Wisner and Blue offset on either side of Ewers. Wide receiver Matthew Golden was split to the field between the hash and the numbers while wide receiver Isaiah Bond was aligned at the top of the numbers into the boundary.

From the snap, Ewers immediately looked to Bond’s side while Blue looped out that direction. Bond faked a tunnel screen creating the appearance that Blue was leaking as a blocker.

While A&M didn’t completely fall for it, the safety did come down, consequently creating a one-on-one matchup for Blue on his wheel route.

The speed of Blue coupled with the head start of moving from the backfield created separation. However, the end line served as an added defender for the Aggies. With the shortage of space, the window for Ewers to drop in the ball was small.

Thanks to a marvelous catch by Blue, the small window proved to be big enough. Contorting his body back to the ball, Blue fought through the defender to secure the catch and plant a foot in bounds for a huge touchdown.

In their three remaining red-zone possessions, Texas scored just three points on the made field goal set up by Helm’s 3rd and 14 conversion.

Facing 1st and 10 at the A&M 12-yard line with the second quarter running out and a 14-point lead, an injury created an inadvertent timeout for Texas, somewhat derailed the momentum Texas had gained on this drive. It also gave Sarkisian and the staff time to think about how they wanted to attack the red zone.

Each of the next three plays were runs — one by Manning and two by Wisner — for a total of seven yards. Sarkisian opted for a hard count on fourth down before ultimately kicking the field goal.

It’s hard to argue with the play call here. Texas had 87 rush yards in the first quarter alone. While the pass game heated up in the second quarter, the offensive line was still controlling the line of scrimmage.

The criticism for the lack of a touchdown falls on execution. Each of the three plays was bottled up by A&M. Texas has to block better or add more players to the picture. Either way, the execution on this red-zone possession was subpar.

The final two re- zone possessions for Texas ended empty via interception and fumble. While each of those plays has been talked about by everyone under the sun, let’s look at the plays leading up to each.

With the score 17-0, Texas moved to the A&M 13-yard line with 7:23 in the third quarter. Looking for a knockout punch, the Longhorns turned to Manning on first down. Before the ball was snapped, left tackle Trevor Goosby flinched thanks to a defensive line shift, moving the ball back five yards and setting up 1st and 15.

Manning pulled the ball on first down and took a three-yard loss. On second down, Ewers threw a pass to wide receiver Ryan Wingo for a gain of 14 to set up 3rd and 4.

For much of the season, Texas has struggled to overcome long down and distances. Like any team, it creates unfavorable play-calling scenarios and matchups on the field. Setting up third and short after 2nd and 18 is a success.

On the 3rd and 4 from the seven-yard line, Ewers was trying to isolate Wingo on an out route. From the snap, Ewers highballed him and gave the A&M defender a chance to deflect the ball for an interception that was returned all the way to paydirt.

While this outcome was unlucky, the play itself was not going to be successful — Texas was called for holding, so the Longhorns were going to be moving backwards no matter what. Entering into the land of hypotheticals, if Texas didn’t hold and Ewers scanned the field, Helm was breaking open down the seam after fake screen blocking. Key word being “if.”

The final red-zone drive was another turnover, this one a fumble by Ewers. After the pick six, Texas seemed poised to answer. The Longhorns were on an 11-play, 64-yard drive that lasted over five minutes. You couldn’t draw up a better response to the interception.

Unfortunately, it was all for naught.

After moving into the red zone, Wisner ripped off back-to-back six-yard runs to set up 1st and goal at the 7-yard line.

At this point, A&M sold out to stop the run, bringing eight defenders on first down and tackling Wisner for a three-yard loss that set up 2nd and goal from the 10-yard line.

Sarkisian opted for an RPO Arrow with H-back Juan Davis running the route. Ewers correctly pulled the ball given how quickly A&M triggered on Wisner. As Ewers moved outside the pocket, there weren’t many options — run or dump it to Davis. Ewers tried to pick up as many yards as he could on the ground, but before his slide hit the ground, the ball was out and in the arms of the defense.

After first down, Sarkisian relied on the exact same personnel. He likely anticipated that a similar look would induce a similar defensive play call. Given the unlikelihood of Davis being a primary route runner, or the only route runner, Sarkisian perhaps thought he could catch the defense off guard. Not to mention, after last series, the likelihood of this play leading to something catastrophic is low. Unfortunately for Texas, the play didn’t catch the defense off guard and instead left Ewers stranded with Davis running the only route.

All in all, Texas was stymied in the red zone. The Longhorns struggled to run the ball and were unable to take advantage in the passing game. Texas had multiple poor down-and-distance situations caused by a handful of negative-yardage plays. Texas will need to finish drives for the rest of the season or risk going home for good.

With the performance against A&M, Texas has now scored on 82.1 percent of its red-zone drives, which is good for 88th in the country. This is nearly identical to the 87th finish last season. However, this year’s Longhorns have a touchdown rate of 69.6 percent, which is significant improvement over last year’s 50.8 touchdown rate, and ranks 29th nationally.

 

 

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 50037

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Red Zone Issue Reminiscent of Past | Can Texas Win the National Championship? | Lunch with the Coach

 

11-2, beat blOU aggy arky and michigan, and made it to SEC Championship Game.  Currently ranked in Top 5 in just about every poll/ranking system out there.

Definitely a helluva regular season!!! 🤘

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