Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 13)

[satyanash 15355]

 Collecting post-game $9.95-er analysis articles from the Kentucky game here:

(Gerald Goodridge) No. 3 Texas 31, Kentucky 14: Three things we learned

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The No. 3 Texas Longhorns had opportunities to make it a more decisive win in the second half, but did enough to hold off the Kentucky Wildcats 31-14 to reach the 10-win plateau. The Longhorns head to College Station in a week with an opportunity to win their way into the SEC Championship, but need to learn from this win to do so.

The ground game can end games

The Texas offense sputtered in the second half, thanks in large part to Quinn Ewers’ ailing ankle, a lack of mobility hampering the offense and forcing turnovers. After three bad drives that opened up opportunities for Kentucky to attempt a comeback, the Longhorns leaned on the ground game — and the Wildcats — to put the game away. On the final drive, Texas went 15 plays, all runs, for 86 yards and a touchdown, taking more than 8 minutes off the clock.

Despite the fumble issues earlier in the game, Steve Sarkisian leaned into the running backs on the final drive — converting two third downs and punching in for a touchdown on 4th and 1 to take a three-score lead. The pair finished with 254 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both averaging more than six yards per carry.

The defense can hold if need be

For the second consecutive week, the Longhorns played a team that wanted to run the ball and took away their preferred method of moving it. Going into the game, the Wildcats averaged 157.1 yards per game — with 437 rushing yards in the previous two weeks — finishing with 21 yards in Austin. They played much of the game in the Kentucky backfield, bringing down Wildcats runners behind the line 11 times and turning in a season-high six sacks.

Sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill led the charge with three tackles for loss and two sacks, while fittingly on Senior Night Barryn Sorrell was not far behind with 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack. Texas forced the turnover-prone Kentucky offense into two turnovers, including senior Andrew Mukuba with the game-ending interception as the Wildcats tried to score late.

Quinn Ewers needs to be better

Maybe not a new learning, but quarterback Quinn Ewers struggled late in the game again in-part due to his mobility issues. After the injury, Ewers attempted just six passes, one of which turned into a turnover and score, completing just three in the second half for 14 yards.

With the Aggies as the lone barrier between Texas and its goal of reaching the SEC Championship, the Longhorns need more from their signal caller to come away from College Station with a win. The Aggies’ defense is opportunistic and tough, playing a style of football fitting head coach Mike Elko.

Justin Wells: Longhorns humble Wildcats, 31-14, on Senior Day

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Texas Longhorns fans were worried the No. 3 team in the country might overlook Kentucky in anticipation of the matchup with in-state rival Texas A&M next weekend. There was no reason for that worry. Behind a limping Quinn Ewers, the two-headed backfield of Jaydon Blue and Tre Wisner, and future All-SEC tight end Gunnar Helm’s two touchdown catches, the No. 3 Longhorns thumped Kentucky 31-14 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Texas wasted little time after the fireworks of Senior Day. Ewers hit Helm for a three-yard touchdown pass to start the scoring day, converting on fourth down during the Horns’ opening drive. Texas went 75 yards in 11 plays and grabbed the early 7-0 lead.

Ewers finished 20-of-31 passing for 191 yards and two touchdowns, with one turnover as a result of a fumble returned for a touchdown. Helm collected 51 yards receiving on five catches with two scores. Matthew Golden led all receivers with 86 yards on seven receptions. Kentucky responded to open the second quarter. Brock Vandagriff hit Josh Kattus for a 4-yard scoring catch on fourth down after a 9-play, 73-yard drive that covered 4:08 to tie the game, 7-7.

Texas answered yet again. Behind a heavy dose of carries from Blue and Wisner, the Horns hit paydirt after Blue stretched across the goal line and gave UT the lead back, 14-7, after an 11-play, 65-yard march covering almost five minutes. Blue and Wisner combined for 254 yards rushing on 41 carries with two touchdowns.

Minutes after that score, Jelani McDonald had a superb interception that featured full extension and athleticism from the redshirt freshman from Waco (Texas) Connally.

That set up Ewers hitting Helm for the second time in the end zone This time it was a 17-yard strike to create a two-possession lead. It made the contest 21-7 with 3:52 left in the first half. The teams traded punts to open the second half, but the Wildcats got back on the board late in the third quarter after Ewers’ fumble was caught by Jamon Dumas-Johnson and returned 25 yards for the score. It got Kentucky within 10, 24-14.

The Longhorns then went on a 15 play, 86 yard drive full of rushes that ended in the end zone and took 8:22 off the clock. That put the Longhorns up 31-14. Kentucky could not score in response. Texas travels to College Station next Saturday for the first battle with the Aggies in 12 years. Kickoff is set for 6:30pm (CT) on ABC.

Danny Davis: Longhorns hold off Wildcats to set up seismic showdown with Texas A&M

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In the race to the Southeastern Conference championship game, the Texas football team cleared its second-to-last hurdle Saturday. Boosted by a strong second quarter, No. 3 Texas overcame several second-half gaffes in a 31-14 win over Kentucky at Royal-Memorial Stadium. With one game left in the regular season, Texas (10-1, 6-1) remains atop the SEC standings and in control of its own fate as a handful of teams look to secure the two spots in the conference's championship game.

Kentucky won Saturday's coin toss and deferred, which meant that UT opened the game with the football. For the Longhorns, first impressions have been a problem all season. Over its first 10 games, six of UT's first drives had ended with either a punt or turnover. Two of those first possessions were spoiled by a missed field goal. But against Kentucky, Texas did what it had previously done on first drives against just UTSA and Mississippi State: It scored a touchdown.

Over the course of an 11-play drive, Texas drove 75 yards. One of Matthew Golden's five first-quarter catches was a 19-yard reception that helped UT convert a third-and-11 on the game's opening possession. Texas was later facing a fourth-and-2 at the Kentucky 3 when Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers remained patient in the pocket before he scrambled and found the reliable Gunnar Helm in the end zone.

Kentucky tied the game in the second quarter with a fourth-down conversion of its own, but the Longhorns took a 24-7 lead into halftime. Texas responded to Kentucky tight end Josh Kattus' touchdown catch with a Jaydon Blue scoring run. After Jelani McDonald intercepted Brock Vandagriff on Kentucky's ensuing drive, Texas drove 34 yards and scored again on Helm's 17-yard snag. With 10 seconds left in the first half, Bert Auburn hit a 49-yard field goal.

Texas stalled during a third quarter that featured just 72 yards for the offense and a four-play sequence in which three different Longhorns fumbled. Kentucky recovered two of those fumbles, and linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson returned an Ewers giveaway for a touchdown. Auburn missed a field goal — which would have tied him with Cameron Dicker for the Longhorns' all-time record — in the fourth quarter, but Kentucky was unable to take advantage as backup quarterback Cutter Boley sailed a third-down pass to an open receiver in Texas territory.

The Longhorns then put the game away with a lengthy drive that ended with a Quintrevion Wisner plunge into the end zone with 3 minutes, 10 seconds left. Texas will close out the regular season next weekend when it travels to College Station to face Texas A&M (8-2, 5-1). The Longhorns and Aggies, who had a game scheduled at Auburn on Saturday night, have not played since 2011.

 

[satyanash 15355]

(Scipio Tex) 2024 Kentucky Postmortem: Offense

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Sometimes the post mortem is easy to write. The Texas offensive line dominated. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. The big boys took care of business against a healthy Kentucky defense with a history of playing up to elite competition. Coming into the game, UK had held a combination of Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee to 58 combined points. 19.3 points per game allowed to that bunch isn’t too shabby. The Texas OL saw to it that there wouldn’t be any playing up and they spent most of the game punching down.

Texas racked up 441 yards at 5.7 yards per pop, but none of that was bolstered by explosives or big plays. Texas longest play of the day went for 21 yards (a run by Blue) and the longest toss of the game went for only 20. That’s irregular with that kind of stat output. It means that Texas grinded out Kentucky’s defense 3-10 yards at a time, while dominating time of possession by 10 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, the Horns were successful on money downs, converting 9 of 17 on 3rd and 4th down against a defense with a reputation for getting off of the field. The Texas offensive line dominated the strength of the Kentucky defense (and team) with nearly flawless pass protection and by consistently controlling the Kentucky front in the run game.

After whipping Kentucky in the first half with 295 yards of offense and four scoring drives in six possessions, Texas experienced a bizarre 3rd quarter where Longhorn skill players flirted with various ways to make the game more interesting. Texas ended two drives ended with fumbles, including a Wildcat defensive score; Texas skill players would put the ball on the grass six times overall.

Eventually a pissed off Sark saw his hobbled QB and told his offensive line to rip the souls out of a Wildcat defensive line and linebacker corps that doesn’t want for NFL draft prospects. That they did.

The 4th quarter coup de grace was delivered with a brutal 15 play, 86 yard touchdown drive that took over 8 minutes off of the clock and featured 15 consecutive handoffs to Tre Wisner and Jaydon Blue running behind a mission-focused OL. Behold the beautiful sequence in its entirety:

1st and 10 at TEX14    (11:29) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 7 yards gain to the TEX21 (Lovett,Jordan).
2nd and 3 at TEX21    (11:07) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 2 yards gain to the TEX23 (Dumas-Johnson,Jamon; Walker,Deone).
3rd and 1 at TEX23    (10:27) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 4 yards gain to the TEX27 (Afari Jr.,Alex), 1ST DOWN.
1st and 10 at TEX27    (09:58) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush left for 16 yards gain to the TEX43 (Dumas-Johnson,Jamon; Fearbry,Tyreese), 1ST DOWN.
1st and 10 at TEX43    (09:24) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush left for 13 yards gain to the KEN44 (Hardaway,JQ), 1ST DOWN.
1st and 10 at KEN44    (08:51) No Huddle-Shotgun Blue,Jaydon rush right for 8 yards gain to the KEN36 (Rybka,Tre’vonn).
2nd and 2 at KEN36    (08:15) No Huddle-Shotgun Blue,Jaydon rush middle for 1 yard gain to the KEN35 (Afari Jr.,Alex).
3rd and 1 at KEN35    (07:32) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 2 yards gain to the KEN33 (Childress,Zion), 1ST DOWN.
1st and 10 at KEN33    (07:06) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 6 yards gain to the KEN27 (Oxendine,Octavious).
2nd and 4 at KEN27    (06:32) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 4 yards gain to the KEN23 (Dumas-Johnson,Jamon), 1ST DOWN.
1st and 10 at KEN23    (05:56) No Huddle-Shotgun Blue,Jaydon rush middle for 13 yards gain to the KEN10 (Afari Jr.,Alex; Hardaway,JQ), 1ST DOWN.
1st and 10 at KEN10    (05:19) No Huddle-Shotgun Blue,Jaydon rush middle for 3 yards gain to the KEN07 (Smith II,Jerod).
2nd and 7 at KEN7    (04:39) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 5 yards gain to the KEN02 (Fearbry,Tyreese).
3rd and 2 at KEN2    (03:52) No Huddle-Shotgun Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 1 yard gain to the KEN01 (Afari Jr.,Alex). The previous play is under automatic review – “Short of the goal line”. PLAY STANDS.
4th and 1 at KEN1    (03:11) No Huddle Wisner,Quintrevion rush middle for 1 yard gain to the KEN00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 03:10, 1ST DOWN.

No run went for more than 16 yards and Texas converted two 3rd and 1’s and a 4th and 1 for a touchdown. 31-14, Texas. Souls collected? 1-0.

Quarterback

Somehow senior day was a mini-encapsulation of Quinn Ewers’ career. Crisp and commanding first half, an injury, a weird turnover, gutting through discomfort, and ultimately, a win. Ewers had strong command in the opening stanza, hitting 17 of 26 for 177 yards and two touchdowns. He had perfect protection, but he was decisive and threw cleanly to the right spots. He even converted a 3rd and 5 with his feet. The best encapsulation of the half was this throw.

Perfect protection, good call, perfect ball placement, good catch. No defense for it unless you can disrupt Helm’s release at the line of scrimmage. Kentucky’s post safety can’t get to that spot. Ewers got dinged up and gutted through the second half while clearly compromised. He only attempted five more throws for the rest of the game and finished 20 of 31 for 191. His only turnover was costly and fairly weird.

He struggled on deep throws again (1 of 4 for 17), but was 5 of 6 for 67 yards in the intermediate game, including some very nicely placed balls. That part of his game – a reliable strength throughout most of his career – must have a renaissance if Texas wants to beat the Aggies in College Station and hoist some trophies.

Running Back

Effort, tackle breaking, reads, pass pro? A-. Ball security? F.

Wisner proved the most reliable and least fumbly of the Longhorn runners, so he was rewarded with 26 carries for 158 yards at over 6 yards per carry. Tough competitor and he’s a much better tackle breaker than he should be at his size. Loved how he saw the blocking. He had it all timed up and understood when to bury it in there and take a hard three and when to wait patiently and break off a 13 yarder.

Blue did some terrific things, but he put the ball on the ground twice. Fortunately, one of those fumbles was discounted by the end zone. Newsflash: Blue has bad ball security. I love that he gave us 15-96 yards and he’s regained most of his dynamism, but possession of the football outweighs almost any RB’s upside.

Jerrick Gibson was inserted in the second half to close out the game running gap schemes downhill. He immediately put the ball on the ground. A big part of football is understanding your role. “Fumbler” is incongruent with no-nonsense closer and power runner. Unless that’s addressed, he’s useless to us in the high stakes matchups that define the season’s remainder.

I was very pleased with Blue and Wisner’s pass blocking. Kentucky has massive linebackers and they come with intent. Blue and Wisner held up to athletes 40-50 pounds north of them all game.

Offensive Line

Awesome. Texas ran for 250 yards at over 5 yards a carry, but the key to that stat is that no Texas RB had a run longer than 21 yards. Subtract out the longest run and Texas is still averaging over 5 yards a carry. The Horns also converted multiple 3rd and 4th downs by simply handing off the ball and moving bodies. Texas runners had 7 runs between 10-21 yards and the Texas OL consistently got bodies where needed against Kentucky’s massive front and physical linebackers.

Pass protection was outstanding. Less than 10% of Ewers drop backs had any pressure (if less than a quarter of drop backs have any pressure, you’re doing well) and DJ Campbell was responsible for most of them. Some of that was because he inordinately drew Rybka and Walker, who are capable of pushing pockets when they’re frisky. DJ had some solid run game snaps though.

Banks, Conner and Williams were excellent. Williams had a down block that caved half of the Kentucky front. Texas ran both gap and zone schemes on their 45 standard rush attempts and four things jumped out to me:

1. I thought the OL lingered longer on double teams. The goal was to get the second level defender to fire up field (you’ll see several plays where Texas RBs evade UK linebackers who are trying for a tackle for loss and miscalculate the angle) or get them caught up in the wash of line displacement. We’d been too focused on screening over push.
2. Better timing. OL and RBs sharing a feel and pace for blocking and where the lanes are going to show up against certain fronts is important. The passing game isn’t the only timing based part of the offense.
3. More down blocking. Zone concepts consistently ask OL to reach and then have the RB read the reaction of the defender. Against more predictable fronts, it’s fun to pull someone backside, down block front side and let Cam Williams drive a defensive tackle six yards and pancake him. This also turns Helm into a move blocker, where he’s much better against small defenders or screening big ones.
4. Fewer dumb derails. Texas had one bullshit holding call on Majors and a false start on Wingo. UK had one tackle for loss against our standard running game for -1 yard. That’s it. That’s cleaner than an OCD’s shower before their mother-in-law visits. It’s easy to call runs on 1st and 10, 2nd and 5 and 3rd and 1. Not so much 2nd and 14.

Terrific unit effort. They won the game.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Matthew Golden was the star of the first half with 6 catches for 85 yards. With Bond hampered by an ankle, 007 was reduced to decoy status for much of the game while the passing load went to Golden and Helm. Helm had 5 catches for 51 yards and two big touchdown catches. Bolden had a great catch and run on a crosser and promptly fumbled out of bounds.

Texas struggled to connect on much downfield, but Helm and Golden were sufficient to carry the first half passing game load. Helm also had one of his better blocking games in a while. He’s a screener, not a drive blocker. Blocking effort from every receiver not named Golden and Wingo was poor. Texas drops a couple of longer runs with better aggression on the perimeter.

Final

 

 

(Scipio Tex) 2024 Kentucky Wildcats Postmortem: Defense/Special Teams

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Another game, another subpar offense crushed. This time the Longhorns featured a withering pass rush and excellent money down defense (2 of 12 on 3rd down) to limit the Wildcat offense to only 7 offensive points and one meaningful drive allowed over ten Kentucky offensive possessions. When the Kentucky offense has had success this year, they’ve done it with ball control, but Texas didn’t consent to that game plan, limiting the Cats to only 55 plays from scrimmage and 25 minutes of time of possession.

The primary Wildcat running backs were limited to 80 yards on 20 carries and 18 of those yards came on Wilcox’s first run of the game, exploiting a bad read and improper fill by Lefau. The Texas defense played a good portion of the game on the Kentucky side of the line of scrimmage, limiting the Cats to 232 yards of offense while racking up a season high 13 tackles for loss, two interceptions, six sacks and 19 pressures on 32 Kentucky drop backs.

PK brought an aggressive game plan and it paid dividends. Getting sacked or intercepted on 25% of drop backs and getting pressured on another 60% isn’t a great formula for winning offense.

From a developmental perspective, backup QB Cutter Boley had some success in the second half when he wasn’t being sacked and we saw the highest coverage bust rate that the Texas secondary has had this year (Kentucky had pass game explosives of 43, 42 and 25 yards). The primary culprits were playmaking greed, a straight up uncovered receiver and not following some basic coverage rules when the QB gets out of the pocket.

All fixable. And it will need to be with Marcel Reed likely running around like a madman in College Station trying to improv big plays. If Texas can prevent cheapies, the odds of the Aggies putting together multiple methodical drives is very unlikely.

Defensive Line

Longhorn edges, take a bow. They dominated Kentucky’s tackles and the Wildcats’ #3 OT Malachi Wood did not enjoy his trip to Texas. Poor guy. I honestly felt bad for him on the rewatch. Simmons, Sorrell and Moore performed the task that so few edges can: bringing intense pressure without sacrificing run defense. They did a terrific job of playing honestly until it was time to get after the QB. Dominant play from all three. Six tackles for loss and four sacks between the three of them.

That’s as good as it gets from Trey Moore when an offensive tackle overplays a small edge’s speed rush. Make him thinking you’re going to go around, spear him, keep your feet moving and run through him. Moore also had the best play of a naked bootleg in the first half that I’ve seen from any edge this college football season.

Perfect combination of technique, hustle and recognition on that sack of Vandagriff. Lole had a terrific run stuff on a 4th and short and he continues to be our second best interior DL. Alfred Collins played extremely well against the run and did a lot of dirty work that allowed us to fire our edges and Anthony Hill. He also drew a hold. Broughton was fine and Bill Norton got in ten decent snaps. A Sydir Mitchell sighting! He had one tackle in his three snaps.

Linebacker

This was Anthony Hill’s kind of game. Texas decided early that Kentucky wasn’t going to ball control them and they certainly knew Brock Vandagriff’s pressure statistics that I detailed in my preview, so the staff let Hill sprint downhill on run and pass blitzes to disrupt the Wildcat offense. When they inserted a freshman signal caller, that plan didn’t change.

11 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble later, I deem this operation successful for #0. Hill’s closing speed in space is elite and his motor is terrific. Mo Blackwell had a great give-up-your-body kamikaze stunt that set up the Lole 4th down stop. Lefau added 4 tackles and played acceptably beyond one run game gaffe.

Defensive Back

They did a great job limiting #1 Cat receiver Dane Key to 3 catches on 7 targets for 29 yards and Brown only caught one ball, but below is a good example of how trying to do too much can bite even a great veteran like Jahdae Barron.

Barron peeked inside for some reason because he thought he could play robber on a shorter route, but doing that against a 4.3 40 guy doesn’t allow for recovery. Just cover your guy, Mr Thorpe. It’s 2nd and 23 and your teammates have the short stuff well in hand. On this play:

Ja’mori Maclin is never covered! He somehow runs invisibly without any attention across the entire field and if I can guess the culprit, it might be squatting safety Jelani McDonald. We’re in zone, so perhaps the “someone next to me or behind me has him” assumption kicked in. Jelani made up for it later:

That kind of body control in a 210 pound safety is ridiculous. What a great example of pursuing the ball in the air. Taaffe was brave in run support, but lost a couple of physics battles. Beyond some rare-for-this-crew busts, the secondary was pretty good down-to-down. Mind you, Texas was a bit more aggressive blitzing and bringing numbers, so there is a trade off there and perhaps our guys needed a little training wheels time to understand the implications of not always having a couple of guys behind you.

Special Teams

Auburn went 1 for 2 on a 47 and 49 yarder, respectively. The Texas coverage teams were excellent. Silas Bolden is insane. Bold is in the name, I guess. Has Jeff Banks ever…coached him on any punt return rules? Or do we operate off of Silas House Rules? I’m not even mad. It’s more like wonderment. Silas operates with impunity. Dude is Jason Bourne.

Final

Let’s do this.