Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 10)

satyanash · November 4, 2018

Collecting all the post-game analysis articles, including those behind paywalls, regarding the WVU game here:

(Bobby Burton) Snap Judgments: Missed Opportunity

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Texas had it. They had it. But then they didn't. The throw and catch by West Virginia for the final TD was an outstanding play by a future NFL QB. And, anyone could sit here and say that Caden Sterns should have never let anyone behind him in that situation. But that stuff happens. And that was a perfect throw under duress. It was a hell of a game. But it's definitely one that Texas let slip away.

**

There wasn't a sole in DKR that couldn't tell you that the Horns scored their final TD too soon. Yes, it was a great throw and catch by Sam Ehlinger and Devin Duvernay. And, yes, you have to take the TD if it's there. But I'm sorry if I've seen this song and dance too many times before, especially when the other team has a great thrower at QB and half of the Texas starting defense is sidelined with injury.

**

For the second week in a row, the Texas run defense was exposed in its base defense. Jeff McCulloch simply could not get much accomplished and Anthony Wheeler's lack of foot quickness was exposed time and time again. Furthermore, Ta'Quon Graham, who played the most snaps of his career because of injury to both Breckyn Hager and Marqez Bimage, got pushed around with regularity. The Texas front six simply could not get off blocks enough.

**

The Texas offense played very well for most of the game, returning to their pre-bye week form. Ehlinger, outside of the first couple of drives, became more and more accurate as the game wore on. Of course, Ehlinger also missed Andrew Beck twice for what would have been TDs.

**

Beck made a heck of a catch to keep the final Texas drive alive on a third down. LJ Humphrey made multiple contested catches and it might have been his best game overall this season. Tre Watson earned his keep with a strong game, making lots of yards and a pretty catch-and-run. The Texas OL gave Ehlinger enough time to throw and limited its penalties.

**

Drops: Jerrod Heard and Tre Watson both had one. I still don't understand why Heard plays as much as he does.

**

Kris Boyd had an up and down which is to be expected when you're playing against an elite receiver. Boyd made one touchdown-saving pass brake up. One of the reasons, the Horns couldn't put more people in the box was because Todd Orlando decided to put a safety over the top of Sills the entire second half and limited him to just one catch after intermission.

**

The Texas defense continues to have problems stopping the run. I've mentioned the group up front but it's more than just them. Caden Sterns is over-running his run support. PJ Locke continues to miss tackles - three by my count. Josh Thompson blew one missed tackle that WVU took for a long TD in the first half. BJ Foster not being in the game cost Texas some speed on defense. Josh Thompson also allowed one TD but it was also a great throw and catch.

**

Texas getting just three points on two trips inside the WVU five in the third quarter ended up costing the Horns dearly. The QB sweep on the goaline may have been the worst play call of the game for the Horns. Texas went from 2nd and goal from the 1 to third and goal from the 5. But Texas had more good offensive play calls than bad ones today.

**

Todd Orlando will be vilified for his D's performance. And he shoulders some of the blame. Texas gave up 42 points at home.

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The penalties were ridiculous. And it came on both teams. Just bizarre ones. The call on Malcolm Roach alone cost Texas seven points, not to mention the defensive holding call on Gerald Wilbon.

**

Where does Texas go from here? Well, it's gut check time. The Horns are either a team on the rise or they aren't. At 6-3, the Horns go to Lubbock next weekend. That is going to be no easy place to win. And I know this much: It's going to take a better defensive effort than what we saw today to get out of there with a win.

Chip Brown: Good, Bad and Ugly from Texas' 42-41 loss to WVU

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AUSTIN, Texas — With one defensive player going down after another - first Brandon Jones, then Davante Davis, Breckyn Hager and Marqez Bimage - the Longhorns couldn’t hold onto a 41-34 lead with 2:34 left. After a 48-yard touchdown pass from Sam Ehlinger to Devin Duvernay put Texas up 41-34 with 2:34 left, West Virginia went 75 yards in seven plays before scoring on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Will Grier to Gary Jennings Jr. in the back of the end zone with :16 left to play.

Dana Holgorsen, sensing the Texas defense was vulnerable — probably because the Mountaineers ran nine times for 67 yards (7.4 ypc) in the fourth quarter en route to 232 yards on the ground — went for two. And after three timeouts, Grier found room to run on the left side, where Texas defensive end Ta'Quon Graham had been pinned, and raced into the end zone for a 42-41 lead that would hold up. The Longhorns have now lost two in a row to fall to 6-3 (4-2 Big 12) and will now need help to have any hope of reaching the Big 12 title game with Oklahoma and WVU the only teams with one Big 12 loss.

As always, here’s the GOOD, BAD & UGLY from Texas’ 42-41 loss to the Mountaineers …

The Good

Sam Ehlinger played another gutsy game for the Longhorns, completing 25 of 36 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns. He also came up with one big run after another (11 carries for 52 yards, 4.7 ypc), including a 1-yard TD run that put Texas up 7-3. Ehlinger has now attempted 246 passes without an interception, extending his own school record. Lil'Jordan Humphrey led Texas with nine receptions for 143 yards and a touchdown, followed by Devin Duvernay, who had six catches for 100 yards, including the 48-yard touchdown catch with 2:34 left.

The Texas offense converted 6-of-11 on third down, and Cameron Dicker was 2-of-2 on field goal attempts (22, 38 yards). Anthony Wheeler, who was suspended for the first series of the game for being late to a weight-lifting session, led Texas with eight tackles. D’Shawn Jamison came back from a sprained foot and had a 29-yard punt return.

TEXAS TAKES 41-34 LEAD WITH 2:34 LEFT: Sam Ehlinger found Andrew Beck on two crucial plays - a 19-yard catch-and-run on second-and-10 and a 3-yard pass thrown slightly behind Beck on third-and-2 from the UT 49. That set up a double move by Devin Duvernay in man coverage, and Ehlinger threw a perfect strike to Duvernay for a 48-yard touchdown with 2:34 left. On second-and-2 from the Texas 43 with 7:30 left in the game, Will Grier threw deep for David Sills and Kris Boyd broke up the pass in the end zone. Anthony Cook also broke up a pass in the end zone on the same drive. (Unfortunately, WVU would ultimately score on a 13-yard run to tie the game 34-34 with 5:40 left.)

DICKER FIELD GOAL PUTS TEXAS UP 34-27 IN FOURTH: Facing third-and-15 from the WVU 35 (thanks to a Patrick Vahe holding penalty), Ehlinger ran for 14 yards, setting up fourth-and-1 from WVU 21. Even though Longhorns’ fans wanted Texas to go for it, Herman sent Cameron Dicker into the game for a 38-yard field goal that put Texas up 34-27 with 9:38 left to play. A 14-yard run by Tre Watson had 10 yards added on thanks to WVU’s 13th penalty of the game - for defensive holding - giving Texas the ball at its own 45 with 13 minutes left to play.

Dana Holgorsen went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Texas 20 on the final play of the third quarter, and Joseph Ossai was credited with stopping Kennedy McCoy for no gain, giving the Longhorns the ball at their own 20 to start the fourth quarter, up 31-27.

TEXAS GOES UP 31-27 ON DICKER FIELD GOAL: Ehlinger was dropped for a 4-yard loss on second-and-goal from the 1 and then overthrew an open Keaontay Ingram in the end zone on third-and-goal with just under three minutes left in the third quarter, leading to a 22-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker with 2:55 left in the third quarter. On the drive to Dicker’s 22-yard field goal late in the third quarter, Texas was facing third-and-6 from the WVU 38, and Ehlinger, with three WVU defenders in his face while being flushed to the right, threw a jump-ball pass to Humphrey for a 29-yard gain to the WVU 9. Ehlinger then hit Duvernay for an 8-yard pass to the WVU 1.

D'Shawn Jamison fielded a punt at the Texas 17 and zig-zagged for 29 yards, giving the Longhorns great field position at the Texas 46 with 6:44 left in the third quarter — one possession after Ehlinger’s reversed-upon-further-review fourth-down run inside the WVU 10. West Virginia was credited with 12 first half penalties for 95 yards, which the Longhorn Network reported is the most first-half penalties by any team in college football this season.

TEXAS GOES BACK UP 28-24 ON TD PASS TO WATSON: Texas converted third-and-10 from the UT 25 on a defensive holding flag on WVU (the Neers’ 10th penalty of the game at that point). Sam Ehlinger then completed five straight passes of 6 (Beck), 6 (Humphrey), 6 (Duvernay) and 19 (Humphrey) before connecting with Tre Watson on a 32-yard catch-and-run in which Watson took a 5-yard swing pass and did the rest, breaking a tackle at the WVU 5, putting Texas up 28-24 with 2:40 left in the half.

TEXAS REGAINS LEAD 21-17 AFTER FOURTH-DOWN PASS: On fourth-and-3 from the WVU 43, trailing 17-14, Tom Herman went for it, and Sam Ehlinger paid off the decision with a 26-yard pass completion to Collin Johnson to the WVU 17. Tre Watson then ran for 12 yards and followed up with a 5-yard TD run, giving Texas a 21-17 lead with 10:04 left in the second quarter.

TEXAS REGAINS LEAD 14-10 LATE IN FIRST QUARTER: Because of two penalties on WVU, the Mountaineers kicked off from their own 10 following David Sills’ 60-yard TD catch. Humphrey returned the kickoff 29 yards to the WVU 39. After a 6-yard run by Keaontay Ingram and a 12-yard pass to Devin Duvernay, Ehlinger hit Humphrey for a 21-yard TD that put Texas up 14-10 with 1:50 left in the first quarter.

After scoring on a 60-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter, WVU receiver David Sills was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for doing Horns down. On the extra point, WVU starting left tackle Yodny Cajuste was kicked out of the game for throwing a punch at Jeff McCulloch. Texas got lucky that officials missed Charles Omenihu throwing a punch at WVU center Matt Jones, which caused Cajuste to retaliate.

TEXAS TAKES 7-3 LEAD IN FIRST QUARTER: On third-and-4 from the WVU 24, Sam Ehlinger, with four rushers in his face threw a perfect corner route to Humphrey for 23 yards to the WVU 1 with 4:51 left in the first quarter. That set up a 1-yard run by Ehlinger behind a block from Cade Brewer, putting Texas up 7-3 with 4:36 left in the first quarter. Gary Johnson came up with a huge pass breakup on third-and-8 from the WVU 14, forcing a punt that went only 39 yards and was downed at the UT 47. (Texas then parlayed that field position into an 8-play, 53-yard touchdown drive.)

Honoring the legendary Frank Denius, one of the most decorated soldiers in World War II and an incredible supporter of Texas football, before the game. Well deserved and well done.

The Bad

Texas had a fourth-and-1 run by Sam Ehlinger at the WVU 5, initially called a first down, overruled upon review when it was ruled Ehlinger's helmet popped off before making the first down. Tom Herman also called a timeout just before WVU kicker Evan Staley missed a 44-yard field goal in the second half. After the timeout, Staley made the field goal. Texas didn’t register a single sack in the game and failed to create a turnover for the second straight game. Texas gave up a season-high for rushing as WVU ran 33 times for 232 yards (7 ypc).

WVU SCORES TOUCHDOWN WITH :16 LEFT: Will Grier threw a perfect 33-yard strike to Gary Jennings Jr. in the back of the end zone just ahead of Caden Sterns’ coverage with 16 seconds left. After a timeout by WVU and then one by Texas, Herman called a timeout just before the ball was snapped on a two-point conversion pass from Grier to David Sills on a slant against Anthony Cook. After UT’s timeout, WVU again went for two, and this time Grier looked to run and found room around the left end where Ta’Quon Graham got pinned as Grier found the end zone, giving WVU a 42-41lead with :16 left.

WVU TIES GAME 34-34 AFTER 11-PLAY TD DRIVE: Despite a couple nice pass breakups in the end zone by Kris Boyd and Anthony Cook, WVU converted third-and-2 with a 19-yard run right up the gut and allowed the Mountaineers to score on a 13-yard run that tied the game 34-34 with 5:40 left to play.

An 11-yard run by Tre Watson, full of spin moves, was negated by a holding call on Patrick Vahe with just under 12 minutes left to play, bringing up first-and-20 from the WVU 40. Back-to-back missed tackles by Gary Johnson and P.J. Locke allowed West Virginia to get off its own goal line midway through the third quarter. (But the drive ultimately ended in a punt.) After Texas was initially given a first down on a fourth-and-1 run by Sam Ehlinger from the WVU 5, the call was reversed on review because the official said Ehlinger’s helmet came off before making the first-down yardage, causing the play to be dead at that point and awarded West Virginia the ball at its own 5 with 9:53 left in the third quarter. Texas announced at the start of the second half Marqez Bimage (shoulder) wouldn’t return to the game.

WVU CUTS TEXAS LEAD TO 28-27 ON FIELD GOAL: Texas coach Tom Herman apparently tried to ice WVU kicker Evan Staley, calling a timeout just before Staley missed a 44-yard field goal attempt wide right. After the timeout, Staley made the 44-yard attempt, cutting Texas’ lead to 28-27 with :09 left in the half. There two incredibly questionable calls on Texas on WVU’s field goal drive at the end of the half: a holding call on Gerald Wilbon, and a defensive pass interference flag on Kris Boyd on third-and-3. Texas announced at the end of the first half DE Breckyn Hager and CB Davante Davis wouldn’t return to the game after leaving injured.

WVU GOES UP 24-21 IN SECOND QUARTER: P.J. Locke threw a shoulder at WVU RB Martell Pettaway instead of wrapping up, allowing Pettaway four more yards on a 9-yard run on second-and-10 from the WVU 40. Will Grier ran for a first down on third-and-1 on the next play, setting up a 55-yard touchdown run by Pettaway right through the heart of the Texas defense, putting the Mountaineers up 24-21 with 7:36 left in the second quarter. It marked the sixth lead change of the game.

Lil'Jordan Humphrey was flagged for offensive pass interference on a pick play to free Collin Johnson after Humphrey collided with the WVU defensive back (and then threw his arms up as if to say not me), negating a 45-yard touchdown pass to Johnson (and negated a wicked stiff-arm by Johnson at the WVU 7 before he scored).

WVU TAKES 17-14 LEAD ON SILLS’ SECOND TD CATCH: The Mountaineers converted third-and-4 and third-and-15 (on a horse collar flag on Malcolm Roach), setting up an 18-yard TD pass from Will Grier to David Sills against coverage from Josh Thompson — Sills’ second TD reception of the game — putting WVU up 17-14 with 14:49 left in the second quarter.

WVU GOES UP 10-7 ON LONG TD PASS TO SILLS: WVU was flagged for its second illegal block on the back call of the game with 3:29 left in the first quarter, negating a 5-yard pickup and giving WVU second-and-6 from its own 40. On the next play, Will Grier found David Sills wide-open for a 60-yard touchdown on a switch route in which Caden Sterns failed to stay with Sills. After the score, which put WVU up 10-7 with 3:08 left in the first quarter, Sills was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for doing Horns down.

On second-and-4 from the WVU 24, Sam Ehlinger missed a wide-open Andrew Beck on a seam route for a touchdown with 4:58 left in the first quarter. (Fortunately, Ehlinger hit Humphrey on a corner route for 23 yards on the next play, setting up a 1-yard TD run by Ehlinger.) DE Marqez Bimage left the game with 7:36 left in the second quarter holding his left wrist/hand. He wouldn’t return to the game. DE Breckyn Hager left the field with 7:49 left in the first quarter with what appeared to be a right arm injury (his right forearm slammed against the shin of running back Leddie Brown on a second-and-8 stop for no gain) - with UT already playing without starting safety Brandon Jones (ankle) and CB Davante Davis (shoulder/stinger).

Calvin Anderson was called for a false start that brought up second-and-13 on UT’s first offensive possession. Sam Ehlinger’s pass to Humphrey on a crossing route on third-and-11 was slightly off target, forcing a punt.

WVU TAKES 3-0 LEAD ON OPENING DRIVE: The Longhorns’ defense gave up points on the opponent’s opening drive for the seventh time (in nine games) this season - a 45-yard field goal into a swirling wind by Evan Staley with 11:03 left in the first quarter. Cornerback Davante Davis left the game with what appeared to be a shoulder injury or stinger just two plays into the game - 14:28 left in the first quarter. Texas was offsides on the opening kickoff (Joseph Ossai). Texas announced before the game starting safety Brandon Jones “aggravated an ankle injury at the team hotel this morning and will miss today’s game” against West Virginia.

THE UGLY

West Virginia running wild on the Texas defense, especially in the fourth quarter.

(Ian Boyd) 5 Quick thoughts: Holgorsen lands the jab

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A gut wrenching loss in Austin. Dana Holgorsen predictably took the Mike Gundy gameplan on offense, made a few tweaks for his own team and personnel, and then went out and took it to the Texas defense for 578 yards of offense, 42 points, and most devastating of all for 232 rushing yards. Meanwhile, the Texas offense continued their growth that has been brewing since they stomped Oklahoma in Dallas and put the team in position to pull out a win with 2:34 left on the clock. But Dana Holgorsen was playing for keeps and had TWO brilliant calls in his back pocket for that two point conversion. We'll break that down in a minute.

Overall it was a tough loss that wrested control over their own destiny from the Longhorns' hands and played spoiler to Todd Orlando's reputation as a spread-busting DC. It's probably not worth totally breaking down the scenarios from here until the day is done but Texas is obviously in precarious position given OU's likely strength down the stretch and West Virginia's possession of a tie-breaker advantage. Even as I write this, Kyler Murray is throwing an INT from deep within OU territory. The bigger concern though is the deteriorating play of Texas' defense with Kliff Kingsbury and Matt Campbell still looming on the schedule. Both of those guys can watch film too.

Quick thought no. 1: Tight officiating. Nothing goes in that game.

It wasn't to the detriment of either team, in my estimation, and it wasn't all wrong but it was VERY tight. Texas took seven penalties for 64 yards while West Virginia racked up 14 for 120, maybe half of that on "horns down" taunts. The "holding" penalty on Elijah Rodriguez on Texas' final FG drive was a tough for the Horns, forcing them to throw the ball around when they had the West Virginia defense completely whipped for 5-10 yards on any run call they wanted to send in. That was one of many calls that showed up in this game that you'd normally see ignored even if twice as egregious.

Will Grier and friends' insistence on coming over to taunt the Texas student section after their game-winning two point conversion nearly cost them the football game when they had to kick off to Texas from 15 yards back off the normal placement. Kris Boyd got called for DPI on one play that looked like textbook pass defense, the officials were working the defensive holding penalty on DL trying to grab jersey as a means of spoiling combo blocks. And of course, Yodny Cajuste got sent to the locker room for throwing a punch that didn't come close to landing. There were the reviews or non reviews on spots, usually after Sam Ehlinger runs, that hurt Texas.

Just one of several things that made this game into a roller coaster. This is the sort of game that makes B12 officials into a negative for the league brand, even if many of the calls were correct. It was like an NBA finals game where all of a sudden calls that aren't made are being enforced up and down the field. Eventually both teams adjusted and we moved on from this as a major distraction to the game.

Quick thought no. 2: Texas has a massive problem on defense

I think that's obvious enough. West Virginia forced Texas out of their dime package in this game because Texas couldn't do the one thing that makes the dime package such a deadly answer to these Air Raid attacks...stop the run. It wasn't a schematic issue, although B.J. Foster wasn't bringing enough size to the edge on the Mountaineers' stretch runs. Texas is going to keep seeing that play every week because it picks at their biggest weakness, lack of either lateral agility OR decisive play from Mac LB. This was Anthony Wheeler's worst game as a Longhorn and I say that knowing that

A) By all accounts he's a great kid who's giving everything he can for the program and
B) Saying this was his worst game is really saying something because he's been a sieve much of the year.

It was bad though. Texas kept getting creased on stretch runs as WVU would double the nose AND the play side DE because they knew that Foster wasn't strong enough to set a hard edge and because they knew they didn't need to block Wheeler if they could get a stretch by blocking up the DL. If you tried that on an Iowa State LB or that Garrett Wallow kid at TCU you'd be watching him run through the line to inflict TFL after TFL.

Eventually Texas moved to nickel so that they could free up that play side DE to avoid the double and that limited some of the damage but the double team of the nose still gave Wheeler fits. Then the Mountaineers had this little formation, which was good for about 10 yards whenever they wanted it: Texas started playing a lot of two deep coverage over the slots because they couldn't trust the Anthony Cook/Josh Thompson duo to hold up down the field in man coverage without help over the top...you saw that on their final score. Boyd didn't need help, he was outstanding all game and lived up to what I expected from him coming into a big game. But two deep coverage means that the Mac has to match up on a #3 receiver and this formation ensured that said matchup would take place in as much space as possible.

This is untenable, you can't bleed yards in the middle of the field with someone that is easily exploited on both standard and passing downs. I bet you anything that Wheeler feels terrible, knowing that he was targeted while his team was gashed. The solution? I dunno. Shark was pretty bad in his limited snaps at Mac (good at B-backer) and God only knows how things are going at practice. But they have to figure something out because these spread teams don't allow you to "comb over" a glaring bald spot, especially if you have to do it with a freshman-filled secondary because your top safety goes out just before the game.

Quick thought no. 3: Ehlinger is jinx proof

Another big game from the sophomore signal-caller. 25-36 passing for 354 yards at 9.8 yards per attempt with three TDs and zero INTs or turnovers of any kind. Texas continues to never turn the ball over at QB, which is normally an ingredient for big success. It would be, if opposing QBs weren't able to play free from doubt about where the ball should go because they're just going to the same ATM on every other play call.

Ehlinger added 11 carries for 52 yards and a score, 10 for 61 if you remove the sole sack that the Mountaineers inflicted upon Texas. They should have had more Ehlinger rushing scores as well but we're still building to that point. The prayer off his back foot to Lil'Jordan Humphrey was unbelievable, then he hit him again on a similar throw under pressure, placing the ball in just the right spot. They kept coming back to the TE POP pass to Andrew Beck until it finally yielded a pair of big conversions on the final scoring drive.

Ehlinger is managing the game at a very high level but more than that, he's executing some truly high level playmaking. I'd take Ehlinger over his counterpart in this game, Texas lost this one elsewhere. I know they flashed the infographic of how many consecutive passes that Ehlinger has thrown without an INT not to jinx him but to celebrate him now being the record holder across the entire league, but it still feels like a jinx every time. Instead he responded by throwing a long TD pass to a wide open Devin Duvernay for what should have been the winning score.

Remember when the narrative after last season and then again after the Maryland game was that Ehlinger couldn't be trusted in big moments because he makes risky decisions and fails to protect the football while playing hero-ball? Now he holds the record across a league known for elite QB play for throwing the most consecutive passes without an INT. You could have made an argument that Texas should have tried to take more time on that drive but Herman really played it pretty smart and on defense they were determined on that final drive to make West Virginia work their way down the field against mostly two-deep coverages.

It should have worked but then they got caught failing to get lined up and ready and Caden Sterns lost eye discipline in single high on a blitz while Marcuss Simms blew by Josh Thompson for the score. That's two games in a row where Texas wins if they can put their QB in position to win the game late that they instead lost because the game-winning possession featured their defense on the field instead. Pretty bizarre in light of last season.

Quick thought no. 4: Texas lost that game with goal line calls

The first QB stretch call that West Virginia was deemed to have stopped after a review was a very tough break for Texas. Johnson could only have been a few inches short and it's remarkable that Ehlinger didn't pick that up. Perhaps his helmet should have been strapped on tighter but credit to West Virginia for being the first team to solve that scheme. The second QB stretch call that West Virginia stopped on second and goal from the 1 for a three-yard loss was also defensible. Who'd have thought they'd blow it up again? But at that point you start to maybe wish you'd gone back to that QB power package from a double TE set that produced the first score of the game and looked as unstoppable as the old Belldozer scheme.

You had to be concerned coming off that sequence that Texas had just dominated the quarter and only added three points to their lead. Meanwhile, West Virgina decided to put the entire game on their ability to execute from the three yard line. First they came out in the 4x1 set, and drew the timeout from Texas. Then they lined it up again on the hash and flipped the strength of the set so that David Sills V would be lined up on the right cornerback (Anthony Cook) rather than the left cornerback (Kris Boyd). Tom Herman barely got a timeout off before the inevitable slant route on an isolated freshman produced the inevitable conversion.

So, West Virginia had to go back out there with their go-to play call for that situation taken away and Texas totally matched up with Boyd moved over to deny the slant to Sills and everything else doubled up. But Holgorsen did a simple calculation, "if Texas is doubling up our four receivers and in tight man on Sills to the boundary...who's accounting for the QB?" Draw for Grier, West Virginia wins.

Quick thought no. 5: Season in the balance

Texas needs to win out and that's it. The road game to Lubbock has been circled as the danger game, coming after the rest of the Raid bro gauntlet, but Texas' sins on defense gave up two other games they could not afford to yield. That may or may not be enough to fulfill the goal of putting Texas into the Big 12 championship but they need to figure some things out.

Breckyn Hager went down in this game, as did Davante Davis. They had inexperience and holes across the defense in that game and there's just too many to cover up. Meanwhile the offense is on a roll with a hot hand at QB, all four of the WRs in the base offense clicking now (Devin Duvernay is giving great effort, as is Andrew Beck), and a run game that nearly forced West Virginia to tap out if not for an unfortunate holding penalty and then a quick strike offense in the fourth quarter.

Todd Orlando is making a lot of money to try and figure out how to get Texas back to a level on defense where they can make enough stops to give themselves a chance to win the game. I don't envy him the pressure or begrudge him the cash, but that's it for the rest of the season. Fix the defense or Texas will not only miss the Big 12 title but may take additional losses that really put a damper on the successes of this season.

satyanash · November 4, 2018

(Bobby Burton) Texas-WVU Grades: Offense puts up solid effort

Horns247 publisher Bobby Burton delivers his grades on the Texas offense in the Longhorns' 42-41 loss to No. 13 West Virginia.

Quarterback

Sam Ehlinger was far from perfect. He overthrew a couple of balls early, and had some problems with accuracy here and there. But he was 25-36 for 354 yards, with three TDs and no INTs. He also rushed for another score. Ehlinger put the Horns in a position to win this game.

Grade: A-

Running back

Tre Watson was the unexpected workhorse in the fourth quarter. Watson made several hard runs and gave the Horns some momentum on the ground. Watson also had a nice TD catch-and-run in the first half. Keaontay Ingram played well but he never really seemed to get on track.

Grade: B-

Wide receivers

It’s a shame that the best game of the year for the Texas WRs ultimately went for naught. Lil'Jordan Humphrey made two circus catches and a nice TD catch. Collin Johnson had a huge grab on a fourth down. Devin Duvernay had his best all-around game as a Horn, and Duvernay’s TD catch late in the fourth quarter gave Texas the lead. He also had a couple of nice catches to set up other Texas scores.

Grade: A

Tight ends

Andrew Beck made an incredible catch on a low ball to keep a Horns drive alive in the fourth. He also blocked extremely well. Beck will end up being the most missed senior next season. He’s a steadying presence who gives the Horns a complete player at the position.

Grade: B

Offensive line

Ehlinger played most of the game with a clean pocket. Perhaps the Horns didn’t open up enough holes in the run game but the team had more than 500 yards of total offense. The offensive line was led by the two tackles, Calvin Anderson and Samuel Cosmi. Cosmi continues to prove to be a revelation of sorts this season. His ability to pull effectively from the tackle spot gives the Horns another option in the run game.

Grade: B+

Offense

Forty-one points will win most games. But not on Saturday. Perhaps the biggest shortcoming for the O came in the third quarter. On two trips inside the five of West Virginia, the Horns managed just three points. There’s little doubt that the Horns’ failure on that fourth down put some doubt in Tom Herman’s head and led to the decision to kick the field goal on the next fourth down possibility in the fourth quarter. But that’s nitpicking. Texas scored 41 points, owned the time of possession, didn’t turn the ball over until the final play of the game and dominated much of the game.

Grade: A

LTtxfan · November 4, 2018

Burton quote: "BJ Foster not being in the game cost Texas some speed on defense."

Anybody know why Foster was not in the game??

LTtxfan · November 4, 2018

8 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Burton quote: "BJ Foster not being in the game cost Texas some speed on defense."

Anybody know why Foster was not in the game??

Just saw answer in one of other write-ups..... (below)

Quick thought no. 2: Texas has a massive problem on defense

I think that's obvious enough. West Virginia forced Texas out of their dime package in this game because Texas couldn't do the one thing that makes the dime package such a deadly answer to these Air Raid attacks...stop the run. It wasn't a schematic issue, although B.J. Foster wasn't bringing enough size to the edge on the Mountaineers' stretch runs. Texas is going to keep seeing that play every week because it picks at their biggest weakness, lack of either lateral agility OR decisive play from Mac LB. This was Anthony Wheeler's worst game as a Longhorn and I say that knowing that

A) By all accounts he's a great kid who's giving everything he can for the program and
B) Saying this was his worst game is really saying something because he's been a sieve much of the year.

It was bad though. Texas kept getting creased on stretch runs as WVU would double the nose AND the play side DE because they knew that Foster wasn't strong enough to set a hard edge and because they knew they didn't need to block Wheeler if they could get a stretch by blocking up the DL. If you tried that on an Iowa State LB or that GarrettWallow kid at TCU you'd be watching him run through the line to inflict TFL after TFL.

Eventually Texas moved to nickel so that they could free up that play side DE to avoidthe double and that limited some of the damage but the double team of the nose stillgave Wheeler fits. Then the Mountaineers had this little formation, which was good for about 10 yards whenever they wanted it:

Edited November 4, 2018 by LTtxfan

Sejjr · November 4, 2018

Watching Wheeler get abused time after time was just fucking depressing. This defense has no quick fix available, unfortunately.

satyanash · November 4, 2018

InsideTexas Offensive Report Card---WVU

Over 500 yards, 41 points, and zero turnovers makes for a winning performance of offensive football regardless of opponent. Unfortunately, we scored our last go-ahead td too early. Thems the breaks when you have our lack of defense closing the game. We made more five star plays than we made clinkers. We broke down a few times in our OL but they remain miles ahead of average. It's hard to determine which group is our best offensive bunch and that's a good thing. Sam missed a couple (Beck) but with LJH's help he made big plays with only a few bad decisions.

I guess I would have to rank the WR's first yesterday. LJH had one interference call. Everything else was top notch. DD pitched in with his best game as a Horn. Collin had one called back (LJH) but moved the chains with clutch catches. The RB's had some nifty gains mixed with a few outnumbered. The OLine was efficient and in some instances were dominant. TE (Beck) had some dandy down blocks but missed a pass block and a couple of edge blocks.nHere are the grades:

11---Sam---A-

5---Watson---A-

26---Ingram---B+

6---DuVernay---A-

9---Johnson---A-

13---Heard---B

84---Humphrey---A-

47---Beck---B+

52---Cosmi---A-

56---Shack---B+

66---Anderson---B+

72---Rodriguez---B

77---Vahe---B

Notable notes:

Rodriguez (72) had a tough holding call but had two terrific pull blocks. Vahe (77) had a pass block and one pull that came up empty---also several big drive blocks. Cosmi is playing as well as any OT in the league. Anderson was his usual good playing self---we struck gold here. Shack played very well---one missed communication block with Rodriguez where both released the NT on a switch situation. Good snaps and strong effort against the nose.

Duvernay made plays plus the big one at the end. He's gaining Sam's trust which is vital to add a third option in our WR passing game (limits the coverage vs. CJ and LJH). LJH had two circus catches that keeps padding our throw it up and our guys will get it plays.

We finally played someone that schemed our QB keep on the GL. It's time to find another gem to keep them honest. It's maddening that we take so much time getting the audible from the sidelines sometimes. We aren't doing Sam any favors with this strategy. Sometimes either/or is the best bet for a time limit decision. Sam (11) broke the Big 12 record for consecutive passes without an interception yesterday. His play has been highlight stuff mixed with above average production and zero turnovers. Murray and Grier are first class QB's but Sam's play ranks him pretty high on the totem pole.

Watson (5) had his best game in a while. Watson and Ingram (26) are very good blockers. They are underrated blockers in my opinion. We cost ourselves points with a few badly executed plays. Finally, we played much better offense than that group of zebras officiated the game. Sad. Really sad. Buddy Holly country next week.

immortal13 · November 4, 2018

Coaching D-

Refs F

Knoxtnhorn · November 4, 2018

The f is Heard a "B" in Satyanash's post? Only thing he did was drop a pass.

satyanash · November 4, 2018

Chip Brown: What's happened to the Texas defense?

AUSTIN, Texas — What the hell happened to the Texas defense during the bye week? On Oct. 13, after a 23-17 victory over Baylor, Texas was alone in first place in the Big 12 at 6-1 and 4-0 in league play after a six-game winning streak that included a 48-45 win over then-No. 4 Oklahoma. Then came a bye week, which meant two weeks for the Longhorns to rest up and heal while coaches made any adjustments needed for the stretch run as the sudden favorite to reach the Big 12 title game.

Instead, a nightmare on the defensive side of the ball has played out the last two weeks in back-to-back losses — in winnable games — including Saturday’s home sellout against West Virginia in which Texas never trailed in the second half until there were 16 seconds left. Since the bye week, three senior starters have been suspended (cornerback Kris Boyd and Davante Davis for the first quarter at Oklahoma State; and middle linebacker Anthony Wheeler for the first series against WVU). Texas’ problems Saturday were compounded by injuries to four defensive players — safety Brandon Jones (ankle), cornerback Davante Davis (shoulder/stinger), defensive end Breckyn Hager (dislocated elbow) and Marqez Bimage (shoulder).

After last week's 38-35 loss at Oklahoma State, I thought the suspensions to Boyd and Davis were the primary culprit — just like suspensions (for targeting) to Wheeler and Gary Johnson in the first half of the Maryland game were a primary reason for defensive struggles in that game. But after Saturday's 42-41 loss to penalty-prone West Virginia in front of a sellout crowd at DKR, the injures and suspensions aren’t the only reasons Todd Orlando’s defense has given up more than 1,000 yards, 80 points and 17 of 32 third-down conversions (53 percent) without a single forced turnover in back-to-back losses.

Orlando seems to have abandoned the Lightning Dime Package that gave the Big 12 fits the second half of last season (and resulted in a nice raise for Orlando from $1.1 million per year to $1.7 million). The Lightning Dime puts more speed on the field by removing a linebacker in favor of speedier safety B.J. Foster. It’s in the Lightning Dime, defensive ends Hager and Charles Omenihu are used as pass rushers instead of defensive tackles. It’s in the Lightning Dime, Orlando brings pressure from every angle and also gets a swarming mentality to the ball to stop the run.

Bottom line: The Lightning Dime seems to make the best use of the Longhorns’ talent. On Saturday, as the Texas defense struggled to stop West Virginia's running attack (33 carries for 232 yards, 7 yards per carry, including touchdown runs of 55 and 13 yards), Orlando stayed in a 3-3-5 alignment. Instead of bringing pressure from all angles the way Orlando does in the 3-2-6 Lightning Dime, Texas’ second-year defensive coordinator seemed to be trying to impersonate Iowa State’s rush-three, drop-eight, “cloud” coverage, which flummoxed WVU in the Cyclones’ 30-14 upset of the Mountaineers.

But rushing three and dropping eight isn’t what Texas does best. Have the Longhorns lost their identity (and some confidence) on defense? They had an entire bye week to figure it all out. Texas went ahead 41-34 with 2:34 left thanks to a 48-yard touchdown pass to Devin Duvernay from Sam Ehlinger, who played brilliantly (25 of 36 passing for 354 yards and three TDs as well as 11 carries for 52 yards - 4.7 yards per carry - and a rushing TD).

West Virginia answered with a seven-play, 75-yard drive to the game-winning touchdown - a 33-yard strike from Will Grier to Gary Jennings Jr. - and two-point conversion with :16 left and never faced a third down. Not one third down faced. That’s because Orlando never made any adjustments. He stayed in the 3-3-5 and tried to play coverage. Orlando applied no pressure. West Virginia quarterback Will Grier, who was sacked seven times by Iowa State in WVU's only loss this season, was never sacked by Texas and was hit only once. Once.

Orlando took away his defense’s attacking mindset and now you have to wonder if this defense is having an identity crisis. After the game, senior defensive tackle Chris Nelson seemed to encourage playing more backups in games, so they have experience when called upon like they were today with four players getting injured. Nelson was also the one who said after UT defeated Baylor that guys on defense were hoping Orlando would turn Omenihu loose to rush the passer on the final drive instead of lining him up at tackle.

And then Orlando finally did, when Baylor had three plays for a go-ahead touchdown from the UT 17 in the final minute. Omenihu pressured BU quarterback Charlie Brewer on all three pass attempts, which all fell incomplete. Omenihu and Hager were rarely lined up outside the offensive tackle against West Virginia on Saturday. They have held their tongues this season whenever asked about being pinched inside instead of lining up outside the offensive tackle like they are when Orlando uses the Lightning Dime.

“We do whatever is called,” Omenihu said earlier this season. Omenihu sounded frustrated after the West Virginia game. “The quarterback was hit once,” he said. “I’m not used to that.” Hager has a dislocated right elbow, which could keep him out a while. The Texas defense has looked slow to the ball the last two weeks, especially on the outside zone, which Oklahoma State and WVU killed Texas with.

Is that because there are three linebackers on the field, when only one of them — Gary Johnson — has elite speed? Did players get enough rest during the bye week? Or are players starting to lack confidence because they’re not playing the defense they feel gives them the best chance to win? Whatever the reasons, Texas now has one week to figure it out before heading to Texas Tech, which lost a 51-46 shootout with Oklahoma in Lubbock Saturday night despite 12 catches and 199 yards receiving by Antoine Wesley and a 21-of-26 passing night by Tech QB Alan Bowman.

“I put this on myself,” said Texas’ P.J. Locke, who was forced to move from nickel back to safety after Brandon Jones suffered an ankle injury at the team hotel Saturday that caused him to miss the game. “I didn’t have my guys ready in the back end to get takeaways. We’ve go to do a better job of that. Got to tackle better. Gotta do a better job of stopping the run. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and correct these mistakes.” When asked what bothered him most about the loss, Locke said, “That we didn’t do more to help our offense, which played great.”

In the second quarter, Locke threw a shoulder at WVU running back Martell Pettaway instead of wrapping up, allowing Pettaway four more yards on a 9-yard run on second-and-10 from the WVU 40. Will Grier ran for a first down on third-and-1 on the next play, setting up a 55-yard touchdown run by Pettaway right through the heart of the Texas defense. That score put the Mountaineers up 24-21 with 7:36 left in the second quarter. It marked the sixth lead change of the game.

Guys throwing shoulders at ball carriers has been a problem the last two weeks. Tired legs? Not enough fast guys on the field to swarm to the ball? Switch routes have been a problem, too. Caden Sterns, who has struggled the second half of a remarkable freshman season, failed to stay with West Virginia receiver David Sills on a switch route, possibly thinking he had help over the top, and Sills walked in for a 60-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter.

Texas gave up 12 explosive or “chunk” plays to WVU (runs of 10-plus yards or passes of 15-plus yards), including FIVE for touchdowns: TD passes of 60, 18 and 33 yards as well as TD runs of 55 and 13 yards. That comes one week after the Texas defense gave up touchdown passes of 40, 16 and 36 yards as well as a TD run of 10 yards at Oklahoma State, which lost at Baylor Saturday.

“I think any time you go through a couple-game stretch the way that we’ve gone through, you’re concerned,” Tom Herman said when asked about his defense Saturday. “I’m concerned we gave up a sack, and we didn’t convert on fourth-and-1. I mean, there’s a lot to be concerned about on both sides of the ball.” But there’s a lot more concern on the defensive side of the ball.

satyanash · November 4, 2018

(Bobby Burton) Texas-WVU Grades: Defensive struggles cost Longhorns

Horns247 publisher Bobby Burton has watched the tape and delivers his grades for the Texas defense in the 42-41 loss to West Virginia.

Defensive line

The Horns gave up more than 200 yards on the ground and WVU averaged seven yards a carry. While the Texas front three is expected to occupy lanes and blockers for the LBs to clean up, the Texas DL largely failed in its efforts. They also couldn’t create much, if any, pressure on the QB all game long. Breckyn Hager’s early exit was mitigated somewhat by Malcolm Roach’s return but the Horns needed more. Even back-up Marqez Bimage was lost to an injury. Ta’Quan Graham played but was less than effective more often than not. True freshmen Keondre Coburn and Moro Ojomo saw action in a couple of series. Charles Omenihu flashed at times but was far from enough.

Grade: D-

Linebacker

The insertion of Jeffrey McCulloch to replace B.J. Foster and shore up the Texas run defense didn’t work. Not even close. McCulloch was out of position and too often failed to be physical when called upon. Anthony Wheeler continues to get reached at the second level and simply isn’t getting off tackle quickly enough. It’s the second week in a row where Wheeler has been victimized off tackle. Gary Johnson did not play poorly but also didn’t make any big plays.

Grade: F

Secondary

Most will remember the final WVU touchdown. And they probably should. But up until that point, Texas hadn’t really allowed the Mountaineers to beat them over the top. And that was with Anthony Cook’s insertion into the lineup after Davante Davis sustained a game-ending injury and Brandon Jones out for the entire game, too. Josh Thompson played reasonably well even though he was beat once for a TD. Kris Boyd played very well, limiting WVU’s David Sills. Caden Sterns and P.J. Locke both got confused more than once and the final play by Sterns, letting a receiver get behind you, proved fatal. But it wasn’t the secondary that cost Texas this game.

Grade: C

Defense

Almost 600 yards of total offense. A game-ending drive that goes the length of the field. Multiple big plays allowed in the run game. No forced turnovers. It was a poor performance for the Texas D. But, hey, at least the Mountaineers didn’t score a TD on the game’s first possession. Outside of a single three and out and a fourth-down stop, the Texas defense was woeful. The defensive front got beat over and over again. When the opponent drops 42 points and you couldn’t make that one play to win the game, you get the grade you deserve.

Grade: F

Special teams

Cameron Dicker was solid on field goals. Kickoff coverage was largely unneeded with the kicks into the end zone. Ryan Bujcevski continues to improve, although he saw limited action because of the stout Texas offense. Special teams were the not the Horns’ problem on Saturday.

Grade: B

satyanash · November 4, 2018

(Scipio Tex) Texas-West Virginia Post-Mortem: Defense

The defensive debacle you saw live on Saturday in Austin was even worse in review. I enjoy writing for all of you and relish my decades of connection to the Longhorn community, but you all owe me a Go Fund Me page to pay for my psychiatric care after being forced to watch this Longhorn defense play football again. A Texas defense down three starters and a reserve failed in every phase of the game. Starters down isn't a good thing for any defense, but the truth is that Anthony Cook played at replacement level in lieu of Davante Davis, Roach and Graham were largely passable and probably duplicated what Hager gives us and Josh Thompson failed at the nickel position in ways that we are accustomed (he surrendered a long TD pass) and novel (he was constantly bullied at the point of attack and had a couple of no mas surrenders, as opposed to PJ Locke's propensity for aggressively whiffing tackles). It's unknown what effect Brandon Jones might have had on the game, but what is crystal clear is that West Virginia targeted our scheme and old familiar faces in ways so identical to what Oklahoma State did (with 'neer upgraded personnel) such that the injury excuse rings hollow.

Tom Herman will lean into the injury excuse, but it's only one of my several contributing factors. And if we're playing the bad luck card, West Virginia lost their best offensive tackle early on an arguably over officious call on the push/punch by Rodney Cajuste and somehow overcame 14 penalties for 120 yards. A lot of those penalty yards were deserved, but we repeatedly turned winning down and distance into abject failure.

Generally, in a shootout where both offenses dominate (1098 yards of combined offense), the final score is decided by a last second two point conversion, and the scoreboard reads 42-41, you would expect that both teams needed anywhere from 14-16 possessions to create those points. West Virginia only had ten possessions.They scored points on 7 of those 10 possessions. Their three "failed" possessions totaled 16 plays for 82 yards - so not exactly shutdown D even when we guessed right or WVU self-destructed with penalties All five of their touchdowns covered 75 yards. So no short fields. The hard truth is that had the Texas offense not performed very well, ran clock and reduced WVU possessions by 30%-40%, West Virginia would have very easily put 50+ points. It certainly felt that way at halftime.

Like Oklahoma State, West Virginia banked about 300 yards and 21 points in the film room before they even flew to Austin. It's now familiar: show pass personnel, get a five man box, run football at will. Want to convert 3rd down? Hunt for Wheeler, Locke, whoever we line up at nickel. Or just hand it off on 3rd and 5 or less. The Mountaineers were 7 of 12 on 3rd down. A sizzling 58.3%. Worried about pressure or turnovers? Don't be. If Texas blitzes, it will be at a halting half jog from depth where you can simply throw to the area vacated by the safety of linebacker. Zero sacks and few pressures against a quarterback who showed some pocket insecurity the few moments we came near him. West Virginia routed us and I actually came away slightly less impressed with Grier.

In the first half, they gained 348 yards at 7.9 yards per play and scored 27 points. While some might contend that our defense "buckled down" in the second half and "held" them to 15 points and 230 yards, reality is that they only had four second half possessions and averaged 7.2 yards per play, while scoring on back-to-back 75 yard touchdown drives and consecutive game winning two point conversions (the first was canceled by a Tom Herman timeout when they realized WVU had Sills singled up on our true freshman cornerback) to end the game. So let's pump the brakes on any notion of improvement or halftime adjustments (though we did play more four man fronts in 2H).

Once you factor in WVU's efficiency and our pathetic display of tackling, angles and overall coordination, in my opinion, this was one of the most futile defensive efforts I've ever seen at Texas. And I've seen a lot. Here, I typically break down positions. There's no value in that when the entire defense is broken. I will point out who played passably to well.

Kris Boyd can hold his head high. As I predicted in the preview, he matched up on Sills beautifully. Unfortunately, he didn't travel with Sills and West Virginia was able to isolate him on Thompson for an easy TD by formation and then on Sterns for a long TD when they forced a cross switch. That Texas had to call a time out to match Boyd on Sills on the game-deciding two point conversion is revealing. Roach, Omenihu and Graham played OK for long stretches. It's nice to have Malcolm back. Playing at his actual position. Anthony Cook competed out there and I like him as a short side cornerback. He's young and not strong enough to be as physical as he'd like but you can tell he's prideful and takes the game seriously. That's it.

I'm not interested in picking on the rest, but PJ Locke had five missed tackles and some bizarre reads on 3rd down where he jumped short routes and didn't double a man at the sticks. Anthony Wheeler didn't miss as many tackles because that requires proximity to the ball. I thought Oklahoma State was a new low in his career, but this might be the worst performance I've ever seen from a Longhorn linebacker. He's a walking target. Note that I said walking. Watching him in the second half on the West Virginia 18 yard run on 3rd and 2 and on their TD run (along with #29 getting drive blocked 10 yards play side) that evened the score at 34 is incredible.

We now understand why McCulloch doesn't play traditional LB. A lot of brutal stuff playing out of his natural position and he didn't play very well in it. He's good at some stuff and we do none of it. Scheme-f'ed. Josh Thompson, the answer at nickel? Right now, a resounding no. He was slightly better in coverage than Locke (I write this knowing he gave up a TD) but his run support was on life support. Gary Johnson has been neutered by the scheme. I have no idea what he's doing. Neither does he. Watch him on Grier's 2 point conversion draw. Watch him on his jog delay blitzes. Watch him struggle to identify his gap responsibility on a clear running down. Scheme-f'ed.

From a coaching perspective, Todd Orlando is embracing sunk cost fallacy at several positions and in his overall scheme, he has several talented and capable guys playing slow and tentatively, it's glaringly apparent that we're sacrificing practice time for practicing "looks" at the expense of fundamental football, and our DC is in the Manny Diaz Year 2 mode of thinking he can play call his way out of bad position coaching, bad scheme, bad football. He can't. And it was written all over the scoreboard. Hell, the scoreboard was deceiving and generous - 42 points doesn't adequately capture how thoroughly WVU's offense dominated Texas.

While our head coach has done Orlando no favors in his staff resource allocation, this is a staff that prides itself on big picture optimization and individual player development. Is that happening on the Texas defense?

Trey3216 · November 4, 2018

Lulz. That first article says “there wasn’t a sole in DKR that....”

who edits this shit

El Hornarino · November 4, 2018

7 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Lulz. That first article says “there wasn’t a sole in DKR that....”

who edits this shit

There were a lot of shoe-less hillbillies though.

BigHorn'13 · November 4, 2018

5 hours ago, satyanash said:

Chip Brown: What's happened to the Texas defense?

Reveal hidden contents

AUSTIN, Texas — What the hell happened to the Texas defense during the bye week? On Oct. 13, after a 23-17 victory over Baylor, Texas was alone in first place in the Big 12 at 6-1 and 4-0 in league play after a six-game winning streak that included a 48-45 win over then-No. 4 Oklahoma. Then came a bye week, which meant two weeks for the Longhorns to rest up and heal while coaches made any adjustments needed for the stretch run as the sudden favorite to reach the Big 12 title game.

Instead, a nightmare on the defensive side of the ball has played out the last two weeks in back-to-back losses — in winnable games — including Saturday’s home sellout against West Virginia in which Texas never trailed in the second half until there were 16 seconds left. Since the bye week, three senior starters have been suspended (cornerback Kris Boyd and Davante Davis for the first quarter at Oklahoma State; and middle linebacker Anthony Wheeler for the first series against WVU). Texas’ problems Saturday were compounded by injuries to four defensive players — safety Brandon Jones (ankle), cornerback Davante Davis (shoulder/stinger), defensive end Breckyn Hager (dislocated elbow) and Marqez Bimage (shoulder).

After last week's 38-35 loss at Oklahoma State, I thought the suspensions to Boyd and Davis were the primary culprit — just like suspensions (for targeting) to Wheeler and Gary Johnson in the first half of the Maryland game were a primary reason for defensive struggles in that game. But after Saturday's 42-41 loss to penalty-prone West Virginia in front of a sellout crowd at DKR, the injures and suspensions aren’t the only reasons Todd Orlando’s defense has given up more than 1,000 yards, 80 points and 17 of 32 third-down conversions (53 percent) without a single forced turnover in back-to-back losses.

Orlando seems to have abandoned the Lightning Dime Package that gave the Big 12 fits the second half of last season (and resulted in a nice raise for Orlando from $1.1 million per year to $1.7 million). The Lightning Dime puts more speed on the field by removing a linebacker in favor of speedier safety B.J. Foster. It’s in the Lightning Dime, defensive ends Hager and Charles Omenihu are used as pass rushers instead of defensive tackles. It’s in the Lightning Dime, Orlando brings pressure from every angle and also gets a swarming mentality to the ball to stop the run.

Bottom line: The Lightning Dime seems to make the best use of the Longhorns’ talent. On Saturday, as the Texas defense struggled to stop West Virginia's running attack (33 carries for 232 yards, 7 yards per carry, including touchdown runs of 55 and 13 yards), Orlando stayed in a 3-3-5 alignment. Instead of bringing pressure from all angles the way Orlando does in the 3-2-6 Lightning Dime, Texas’ second-year defensive coordinator seemed to be trying to impersonate Iowa State’s rush-three, drop-eight, “cloud” coverage, which flummoxed WVU in the Cyclones’ 30-14 upset of the Mountaineers.

But rushing three and dropping eight isn’t what Texas does best. Have the Longhorns lost their identity (and some confidence) on defense? They had an entire bye week to figure it all out. Texas went ahead 41-34 with 2:34 left thanks to a 48-yard touchdown pass to Devin Duvernay from Sam Ehlinger, who played brilliantly (25 of 36 passing for 354 yards and three TDs as well as 11 carries for 52 yards - 4.7 yards per carry - and a rushing TD).

West Virginia answered with a seven-play, 75-yard drive to the game-winning touchdown - a 33-yard strike from Will Grier to Gary Jennings Jr. - and two-point conversion with :16 left and never faced a third down. Not one third down faced. That’s because Orlando never made any adjustments. He stayed in the 3-3-5 and tried to play coverage. Orlando applied no pressure. West Virginia quarterback Will Grier, who was sacked seven times by Iowa State in WVU's only loss this season, was never sacked by Texas and was hit only once. Once.

Orlando took away his defense’s attacking mindset and now you have to wonder if this defense is having an identity crisis. After the game, senior defensive tackle Chris Nelson seemed to encourage playing more backups in games, so they have experience when called upon like they were today with four players getting injured. Nelson was also the one who said after UT defeated Baylor that guys on defense were hoping Orlando would turn Omenihu loose to rush the passer on the final drive instead of lining him up at tackle.

And then Orlando finally did, when Baylor had three plays for a go-ahead touchdown from the UT 17 in the final minute. Omenihu pressured BU quarterback Charlie Brewer on all three pass attempts, which all fell incomplete. Omenihu and Hager were rarely lined up outside the offensive tackle against West Virginia on Saturday. They have held their tongues this season whenever asked about being pinched inside instead of lining up outside the offensive tackle like they are when Orlando uses the Lightning Dime.

“We do whatever is called,” Omenihu said earlier this season. Omenihu sounded frustrated after the West Virginia game. “The quarterback was hit once,” he said. “I’m not used to that.” Hager has a dislocated right elbow, which could keep him out a while. The Texas defense has looked slow to the ball the last two weeks, especially on the outside zone, which Oklahoma State and WVU killed Texas with.

Is that because there are three linebackers on the field, when only one of them — Gary Johnson — has elite speed? Did players get enough rest during the bye week? Or are players starting to lack confidence because they’re not playing the defense they feel gives them the best chance to win? Whatever the reasons, Texas now has one week to figure it out before heading to Texas Tech, which lost a 51-46 shootout with Oklahoma in Lubbock Saturday night despite 12 catches and 199 yards receiving by Antoine Wesley and a 21-of-26 passing night by Tech QB Alan Bowman.

“I put this on myself,” said Texas’ P.J. Locke, who was forced to move from nickel back to safety after Brandon Jones suffered an ankle injury at the team hotel Saturday that caused him to miss the game. “I didn’t have my guys ready in the back end to get takeaways. We’ve go to do a better job of that. Got to tackle better. Gotta do a better job of stopping the run. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and correct these mistakes.” When asked what bothered him most about the loss, Locke said, “That we didn’t do more to help our offense, which played great.”

In the second quarter, Locke threw a shoulder at WVU running back Martell Pettaway instead of wrapping up, allowing Pettaway four more yards on a 9-yard run on second-and-10 from the WVU 40. Will Grier ran for a first down on third-and-1 on the next play, setting up a 55-yard touchdown run by Pettaway right through the heart of the Texas defense. That score put the Mountaineers up 24-21 with 7:36 left in the second quarter. It marked the sixth lead change of the game.

Guys throwing shoulders at ball carriers has been a problem the last two weeks. Tired legs? Not enough fast guys on the field to swarm to the ball? Switch routes have been a problem, too. Caden Sterns, who has struggled the second half of a remarkable freshman season, failed to stay with West Virginia receiver David Sills on a switch route, possibly thinking he had help over the top, and Sills walked in for a 60-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter.

Texas gave up 12 explosive or “chunk” plays to WVU (runs of 10-plus yards or passes of 15-plus yards), including FIVE for touchdowns: TD passes of 60, 18 and 33 yards as well as TD runs of 55 and 13 yards. That comes one week after the Texas defense gave up touchdown passes of 40, 16 and 36 yards as well as a TD run of 10 yards at Oklahoma State, which lost at Baylor Saturday.

“I think any time you go through a couple-game stretch the way that we’ve gone through, you’re concerned,” Tom Herman said when asked about his defense Saturday. “I’m concerned we gave up a sack, and we didn’t convert on fourth-and-1. I mean, there’s a lot to be concerned about on both sides of the ball.” But there’s a lot more concern on the defensive side of the ball.

Wanna know how I know you didn't watch the game, chip?

BigHorn'13 · November 5, 2018

1 hour ago, satyanash said:

(Scipio Tex) Texas-West Virginia Post-Mortem: Defense

Hide contents

The defensive debacle you saw live on Saturday in Austin was even worse in review. I enjoy writing for all of you and relish my decades of connection to the Longhorn community, but you all owe me a Go Fund Me page to pay for my psychiatric care after being forced to watch this Longhorn defense play football again. A Texas defense down three starters and a reserve failed in every phase of the game. Starters down isn't a good thing for any defense, but the truth is that Anthony Cook played at replacement level in lieu of Davante Davis, Roach and Graham were largely passable and probably duplicated what Hager gives us and Josh Thompson failed at the nickel position in ways that we are accustomed (he surrendered a long TD pass) and novel (he was constantly bullied at the point of attack and had a couple of no mas surrenders, as opposed to PJ Locke's propensity for aggressively whiffing tackles). It's unknown what effect Brandon Jones might have had on the game, but what is crystal clear is that West Virginia targeted our scheme and old familiar faces in ways so identical to what Oklahoma State did (with 'neer upgraded personnel) such that the injury excuse rings hollow.

Tom Herman will lean into the injury excuse, but it's only one of my several contributing factors. And if we're playing the bad luck card, West Virginia lost their best offensive tackle early on an arguably over officious call on the push/punch by Rodney Cajuste and somehow overcame 14 penalties for 120 yards. A lot of those penalty yards were deserved, but we repeatedly turned winning down and distance into abject failure.

Generally, in a shootout where both offenses dominate (1098 yards of combined offense), the final score is decided by a last second two point conversion, and the scoreboard reads 42-41, you would expect that both teams needed anywhere from 14-16 possessions to create those points. West Virginia only had ten possessions.They scored points on 7 of those 10 possessions. Their three "failed" possessions totaled 16 plays for 82 yards - so not exactly shutdown D even when we guessed right or WVU self-destructed with penalties All five of their touchdowns covered 75 yards. So no short fields. The hard truth is that had the Texas offense not performed very well, ran clock and reduced WVU possessions by 30%-40%, West Virginia would have very easily put 50+ points. It certainly felt that way at halftime.

Like Oklahoma State, West Virginia banked about 300 yards and 21 points in the film room before they even flew to Austin. It's now familiar: show pass personnel, get a five man box, run football at will. Want to convert 3rd down? Hunt for Wheeler, Locke, whoever we line up at nickel. Or just hand it off on 3rd and 5 or less. The Mountaineers were 7 of 12 on 3rd down. A sizzling 58.3%. Worried about pressure or turnovers? Don't be. If Texas blitzes, it will be at a halting half jog from depth where you can simply throw to the area vacated by the safety of linebacker. Zero sacks and few pressures against a quarterback who showed some pocket insecurity the few moments we came near him. West Virginia routed us and I actually came away slightly less impressed with Grier.

In the first half, they gained 348 yards at 7.9 yards per play and scored 27 points. While some might contend that our defense "buckled down" in the second half and "held" them to 15 points and 230 yards, reality is that they only had four second half possessions and averaged 7.2 yards per play, while scoring on back-to-back 75 yard touchdown drives and consecutive game winning two point conversions (the first was canceled by a Tom Herman timeout when they realized WVU had Sills singled up on our true freshman cornerback) to end the game. So let's pump the brakes on any notion of improvement or halftime adjustments (though we did play more four man fronts in 2H).

Once you factor in WVU's efficiency and our pathetic display of tackling, angles and overall coordination, in my opinion, this was one of the most futile defensive efforts I've ever seen at Texas. And I've seen a lot. Here, I typically break down positions. There's no value in that when the entire defense is broken. I will point out who played passably to well.

Kris Boyd can hold his head high. As I predicted in the preview, he matched up on Sills beautifully. Unfortunately, he didn't travel with Sills and West Virginia was able to isolate him on Thompson for an easy TD by formation and then on Sterns for a long TD when they forced a cross switch. That Texas had to call a time out to match Boyd on Sills on the game-deciding two point conversion is revealing. Roach, Omenihu and Graham played OK for long stretches. It's nice to have Malcolm back. Playing at his actual position. Anthony Cook competed out there and I like him as a short side cornerback. He's young and not strong enough to be as physical as he'd like but you can tell he's prideful and takes the game seriously. That's it.

I'm not interested in picking on the rest, but PJ Locke had five missed tackles and some bizarre reads on 3rd down where he jumped short routes and didn't double a man at the sticks. Anthony Wheeler didn't miss as many tackles because that requires proximity to the ball. I thought Oklahoma State was a new low in his career, but this might be the worst performance I've ever seen from a Longhorn linebacker. He's a walking target. Note that I said walking. Watching him in the second half on the West Virginia 18 yard run on 3rd and 2 and on their TD run (along with #29 getting drive blocked 10 yards play side) that evened the score at 34 is incredible.

We now understand why McCulloch doesn't play traditional LB. A lot of brutal stuff playing out of his natural position and he didn't play very well in it. He's good at some stuff and we do none of it. Scheme-f'ed. Josh Thompson, the answer at nickel? Right now, a resounding no. He was slightly better in coverage than Locke (I write this knowing he gave up a TD) but his run support was on life support. Gary Johnson has been neutered by the scheme. I have no idea what he's doing. Neither does he. Watch him on Grier's 2 point conversion draw. Watch him on his jog delay blitzes. Watch him struggle to identify his gap responsibility on a clear running down. Scheme-f'ed.

From a coaching perspective, Todd Orlando is embracing sunk cost fallacy at several positions and in his overall scheme, he has several talented and capable guys playing slow and tentatively, it's glaringly apparent that we're sacrificing practice time for practicing "looks" at the expense of fundamental football, and our DC is in the Manny Diaz Year 2 mode of thinking he can play call his way out of bad position coaching, bad scheme, bad football. He can't. And it was written all over the scoreboard. Hell, the scoreboard was deceiving and generous - 42 points doesn't adequately capture how thoroughly WVU's offense dominated Texas.

While our head coach has done Orlando no favors in his staff resource allocation, this is a staff that prides itself on big picture optimization and individual player development. Is that happening on the Texas defense?

"Anthony Wheeler didn't miss as many tackles because that requires proximity to the ball. I thought Oklahoma State was a new low in his career, but this might be the worst performance I've ever seen from a Longhorn linebacker. He's a walking target. Note that I said walking. "

Damn...

MonkeyDoughnut · November 5, 2018

47 minutes ago, BigHorn'13 said:

"Anthony Wheeler didn't miss as many tackles because that requires proximity to the ball. I thought Oklahoma State was a new low in his career, but this might be the worst performance I've ever seen from a Longhorn linebacker. He's a walking target. Note that I said walking. "

Damn...

That's where coaching has to come in to play, we have other players and its not like it would hurt to try them. We need less "athlete" more "player". Too many players making wrong reads or going to wrong spots.

Monahorns · November 5, 2018

Since Muschamp, what Texas DC hasn't looked bad in year 2? Is this because in year 1 he has to teach fundamentals and basics to install his system? Then, in year 2 he can teach all his exotic looks and completely confuse everyone?

LTtxfan · November 5, 2018

5 hours ago, satyanash said:

(Scipio Tex) Texas-West Virginia Post-Mortem: Defense

Reveal hidden contents

The defensive debacle you saw live on Saturday in Austin was even worse in review. I enjoy writing for all of you and relish my decades of connection to the Longhorn community, but you all owe me a Go Fund Me page to pay for my psychiatric care after being forced to watch this Longhorn defense play football again. A Texas defense down three starters and a reserve failed in every phase of the game. Starters down isn't a good thing for any defense, but the truth is that Anthony Cook played at replacement level in lieu of Davante Davis, Roach and Graham were largely passable and probably duplicated what Hager gives us and Josh Thompson failed at the nickel position in ways that we are accustomed (he surrendered a long TD pass) and novel (he was constantly bullied at the point of attack and had a couple of no mas surrenders, as opposed to PJ Locke's propensity for aggressively whiffing tackles). It's unknown what effect Brandon Jones might have had on the game, but what is crystal clear is that West Virginia targeted our scheme and old familiar faces in ways so identical to what Oklahoma State did (with 'neer upgraded personnel) such that the injury excuse rings hollow.

Tom Herman will lean into the injury excuse, but it's only one of my several contributing factors. And if we're playing the bad luck card, West Virginia lost their best offensive tackle early on an arguably over officious call on the push/punch by Rodney Cajuste and somehow overcame 14 penalties for 120 yards. A lot of those penalty yards were deserved, but we repeatedly turned winning down and distance into abject failure.

Generally, in a shootout where both offenses dominate (1098 yards of combined offense), the final score is decided by a last second two point conversion, and the scoreboard reads 42-41, you would expect that both teams needed anywhere from 14-16 possessions to create those points. West Virginia only had ten possessions.They scored points on 7 of those 10 possessions. Their three "failed" possessions totaled 16 plays for 82 yards - so not exactly shutdown D even when we guessed right or WVU self-destructed with penalties All five of their touchdowns covered 75 yards. So no short fields. The hard truth is that had the Texas offense not performed very well, ran clock and reduced WVU possessions by 30%-40%, West Virginia would have very easily put 50+ points. It certainly felt that way at halftime.

Like Oklahoma State, West Virginia banked about 300 yards and 21 points in the film room before they even flew to Austin. It's now familiar: show pass personnel, get a five man box, run football at will. Want to convert 3rd down? Hunt for Wheeler, Locke, whoever we line up at nickel. Or just hand it off on 3rd and 5 or less. The Mountaineers were 7 of 12 on 3rd down. A sizzling 58.3%. Worried about pressure or turnovers? Don't be. If Texas blitzes, it will be at a halting half jog from depth where you can simply throw to the area vacated by the safety of linebacker. Zero sacks and few pressures against a quarterback who showed some pocket insecurity the few moments we came near him. West Virginia routed us and I actually came away slightly less impressed with Grier.

In the first half, they gained 348 yards at 7.9 yards per play and scored 27 points. While some might contend that our defense "buckled down" in the second half and "held" them to 15 points and 230 yards, reality is that they only had four second half possessions and averaged 7.2 yards per play, while scoring on back-to-back 75 yard touchdown drives and consecutive game winning two point conversions (the first was canceled by a Tom Herman timeout when they realized WVU had Sills singled up on our true freshman cornerback) to end the game. So let's pump the brakes on any notion of improvement or halftime adjustments (though we did play more four man fronts in 2H).

Once you factor in WVU's efficiency and our pathetic display of tackling, angles and overall coordination, in my opinion, this was one of the most futile defensive efforts I've ever seen at Texas. And I've seen a lot. Here, I typically break down positions. There's no value in that when the entire defense is broken. I will point out who played passably to well.

Kris Boyd can hold his head high. As I predicted in the preview, he matched up on Sills beautifully. Unfortunately, he didn't travel with Sills and West Virginia was able to isolate him on Thompson for an easy TD by formation and then on Sterns for a long TD when they forced a cross switch. That Texas had to call a time out to match Boyd on Sills on the game-deciding two point conversion is revealing. Roach, Omenihu and Graham played OK for long stretches. It's nice to have Malcolm back. Playing at his actual position. Anthony Cook competed out there and I like him as a short side cornerback. He's young and not strong enough to be as physical as he'd like but you can tell he's prideful and takes the game seriously. That's it.

I'm not interested in picking on the rest, but PJ Locke had five missed tackles and some bizarre reads on 3rd down where he jumped short routes and didn't double a man at the sticks. Anthony Wheeler didn't miss as many tackles because that requires proximity to the ball. I thought Oklahoma State was a new low in his career, but this might be the worst performance I've ever seen from a Longhorn linebacker. He's a walking target. Note that I said walking. Watching him in the second half on the West Virginia 18 yard run on 3rd and 2 and on their TD run (along with #29 getting drive blocked 10 yards play side) that evened the score at 34 is incredible.

We now understand why McCulloch doesn't play traditional LB. A lot of brutal stuff playing out of his natural position and he didn't play very well in it. He's good at some stuff and we do none of it. Scheme-f'ed. Josh Thompson, the answer at nickel? Right now, a resounding no. He was slightly better in coverage than Locke (I write this knowing he gave up a TD) but his run support was on life support. Gary Johnson has been neutered by the scheme. I have no idea what he's doing. Neither does he. Watch him on Grier's 2 point conversion draw. Watch him on his jog delay blitzes. Watch him struggle to identify his gap responsibility on a clear running down. Scheme-f'ed.

From a coaching perspective, Todd Orlando is embracing sunk cost fallacy at several positions and in his overall scheme, he has several talented and capable guys playing slow and tentatively, it's glaringly apparent that we're sacrificing practice time for practicing "looks" at the expense of fundamental football, and our DC is in the Manny Diaz Year 2 mode of thinking he can play call his way out of bad position coaching, bad scheme, bad football. He can't. And it was written all over the scoreboard. Hell, the scoreboard was deceiving and generous - 42 points doesn't adequately capture how thoroughly WVU's offense dominated Texas.

While our head coach has done Orlando no favors in his staff resource allocation, this is a staff that prides itself on big picture optimization and individual player development. Is that happening on the Texas defense?

Dang Scipio's crushing it.....

"Once you factor in WVU's efficiency and our pathetic display of tackling, angles and overall coordination, in my opinion, this was one of the most futile defensive efforts I've ever seen at Texas. And I've seen a lot. Here, I typically break down positions. There's no value in that when the entire defense is broken."

"might be the worst performance I've ever seen from a Longhorn linebacker. "

"We now understand why McCulloch doesn't play traditional LB. A lot of brutal stuff playing out of his natural position and he didn't play very well in it. He's good at some stuff and we do none of it. Scheme-f'ed. Josh Thompson, the answer at nickel? Right now, a resounding no. He was slightly better in coverage than Locke (I write this knowing he gave up a TD) but his run support was on life support. Gary Johnson has been neutered by the scheme. I have no idea what he's doing. Neither does he. Watch him on Grier's 2 point conversion draw. Watch him on his jog delay blitzes. Watch him struggle to identify his gap responsibility on a clear running down. Scheme-f'ed."

"From a coaching perspective, Todd Orlando is embracing sunk cost fallacy at several positions and in his overall scheme, he has several talented and capable guys playing slow and tentatively, it's glaringly apparent that we're sacrificing practice time for practicing "looks" at the expense of fundamental football, and our DC is in the Manny Diaz Year 2 mode of thinking he can play call his way out of bad position coaching, bad scheme, bad football. He can't. And it was written all over the scoreboard. Hell, the scoreboard was deceiving and generous - 42 points doesn't adequately capture how thoroughly WVU's offense dominated Texas. "

While our head coach has done Orlando no favors in his staff resource allocation, this is a staff that prides itself on big picture optimization and individual player development. Is that happening on the Texas defense?

Edited November 5, 2018 by LTtxfan

Valmy77 · November 5, 2018

3 hours ago, Monahorns said:

Since Muschamp, what Texas DC hasn't looked bad in year 2? Is this because in year 1 he has to teach fundamentals and basics to install his system? Then, in year 2 he can teach all his exotic looks and completely confuse everyone?

I know man. I was thinking we seem to have this pattern where we have a great defense for one year and then two years of total garbage and then back to having one great year. But come to think of it, they just come together whenever we get a new DC. Maybe we should fire the DC at the end of each season.

jinx · November 5, 2018

12 hours ago, Valmy77 said:

I know man. I was thinking we seem to have this pattern where we have a great defense for one year and then two years of total garbage and then back to having one great year. But come to think of it, they just come together whenever we get a new DC. Maybe we should fire the DC at the end of each season.

Rod Babers has been preaching this point all off season. It hadn't really shown up until the last 2 games, but wow, this team couldn't look any more clueless on defense. Completely pathetic. I am pretty worried that we could be looking at 6-6, and 7-5 looks very likely.

Maybe we can start playing some freshmen like Adoye and that will make a difference. But damn, they look like hammered dog shit out there.

Sejjr · November 5, 2018

The real issue here that is concerning is the reality that we don’t have upgraded replacement bodies for our two glaring weaknesses, and the last two opponents have smartly abused them. Add the fact that Caden Sterns has hit the freshman wall and we already had a weak pass rush and you have a downward spiral without a real fix in sight. The fix (if any) will have to come from a complete schematic adjustment; it won’t come from the personnel level.

What really annoys me though is how easily opposing teams are able to take advantage of our specific player weaknesses, yet we never seem able to do the same thing. Do we suck that badly at film study? I think Herman needs to start hiring some of those recently fired head coaches as QC coaches like Satan always does.

Barry_McCokiner · November 5, 2018

Always score when you can, as nothing is every guaranteed. But this is the third big game where clock management killed us right? Tech in 08, UCLA vs Charlie, and now this one. I feel like I'm missing one.

Machinator · November 5, 2018

(Scipio Tex) Texas-West Virginia Post-Mortem: Offense

The season's best performance by the Longhorn offense was a fun watch, not just because it highlighted the supreme growth of Sam Ehlinger, the OL in pass protection, the wide receivers, and Tre Watson being possessed by tackle-breaking demons, but it also showed once again what the Longhorn offense is capable of operating without an imposed governor on its upside. When we throw to set up the run - and those throws are actually substantial, intended to grab chunk gains and exploit obvious coverage opportunity (Duvernay in permanent single coverage, RBs out of backfield, the big boys on untraditional throwing downs) really good things happen for us. It's also worth noting that in a game where Ehlinger threw the ball 36 times (but we actually called 40+ passes when you factor scrambles/sacks) Texas actually held a 8 minute TOP advantage and significantly shortened the game. Just run good offense.

The Longhorns had only nine effective offensive possessions (two offensive possessions came with 9 seconds on the game clock) and scored on seven of them. One of the "failures" was a 12 play, 70 yard drive that failed on downs on the West Virginia 5 yard line where the officials retrospectively determined the exact moment Sam Ehlinger's helmet came completely off off despite all available replay angles making that determination an impossibility. The other fail was our opening drive possession.

Here were the nine Longhorn substantive possessions:

Plays, Yards, Result

6-10, punt
8-53, TD
3-39, TD
11-75, TD
9-75, TD
12-70, Downs
9-49, FG
9-59, FG
6-78, TD

That's terrific offensive football.

The timing of the final possession score seems to upset some Longhorn fans. Specifically, the 48 yard TD throw to Duvernay. West Virginia was cheating their defense badly. The reason Duvernay was in single coverage with with more green around him than an Irish golf course was WVU doubling our big boys and ganging up on the run. We couldn't run the ball. And our only successful throw prior to the Duve bomb was the third rendition of our Andrew Beck play action up the seam. The idea that Texas should disallow opportunity for a certain score in favor of grinding 9 on 11 and hoping for a positive result is - what's a diplomatic term I can use so as not to offend anyone? - stupid. It's also confusing the very real idea that an offense can and should manage clock in certain game-deciding drives with the ball deep in enemy territory with a 48 yard touchdown throw with 2:34 on the clock at midfield against a Mountaineer defense in gamble mode. You'd prefer that we score slower from midfield? Great. Wish in one hand and crap in the other and see what fills up first.

"Scored too fast" is certainly true in that we wish that pass would have happened with 21 seconds on the clock, but that wasn't the game situation, that wasn't how WVU was playing us and the idea that a TD or a FG was a gimme against that Mountaineer defense overplay by purposefully holding down our opportunity ignores the previous five plays and wildly overestimates the dominance of our offense to decide the moment it would score on 3rd and 10 after running clock on consecutive inside zone plunges. That view just isn't reality-based.

The only game management issue I had in real time with the offense - and it is highly debatable - was kicking the 38 yard field goal on the preceding 4th quarter possession on 4th and 1 from the WVU 21 yard line. Dicker had a 80% make likelihood (and he did make it) and it put us up one touchdown (34-27). That's chalk football and 90% of coaches would do that. I think we had a high conversion probability and a very high likelihood of a touchdown after that, which would have put us up 11 and made it a two score game with a two point conversion. It can be argued either way and it really depends on your perspective on game theory. What Herman did was perfectly defensible, but I have a different view which may be too aggressive.

QB

Sam Ehlinger's best game as a Longhorn. He totaled 406 total yards and was 25 of 36 for 354 yards passing and ran 11 times for 52. He accounted for four touchdowns and his bad throws can be counted on two fingers of one hand - the most notable being missing Andrew Beck for a TD on the nice little seam route call. He hit the other two of those - Beck dropped one and the other went for 19 yards on the Duve drive. He exhibited wizardry twice with LJH converting long 3rd downs against all-out Mountaineer blitzes.

Ehlinger is a really good QB and we're lucky as hell to have him. His growth from last year is awesome. He's in command and his pocket poise looks like a guy who plays on Sundays. I'm also pleased that the staff has modified some of our routes to play to his strengths. The medium risk/low reward stuff is being pruned out, though I'd argue some of it should have been gone back in August.

RB

Tre Watson's best game as a Horn. He had one drop, but made up for it with a wide open 32 yard TD catch and he had 14 hard carries for 80 hard fought yards. He blew one blitz pick up, but had some terrific pick-ups on other downs. I counted seven broken tackles for the game and he runs hard as hell for a 195 pound RB with a blown knee. Give me a grad transfer like him every year. Ingram never got going, largely because he didn't exhibit Watson's tackle breaking inside. Ingram is a gifted runner, but he really needs cutbacks and counters to sparkle against that kind of front, with the threat of Sam acting as a backside constraint.

WR/TE

LJH dominated with 9 catches for 143 yards and a TD and one drop. He's headed to a 1,000 yard receiving year. CJ played well (4-47), but his stats were held down by his long TD pick play on the WVU blitz getting called back by LJH's OPI. All #84 has to do was run a real route and impede the defender's angle and we would have had the same result. Instead, he blew the guy up like it was a running down and drew the mandatory flag. Obvious coaching point and it's clear Texas had that specific play set up for that exact situation. Odd that a staff with two WR coaches couldn't impart this. Let's add a third!

This was Duvernay's best game of the year. Texas made WVU pay for putting him in constant single coverage and Duve responded with 6-100-1. He's not exactly fluid in his routes, but some of the intermediate stuff he was running on the sideline seemed to work for him. Before his TD, he was our 10.2 100 meter possession receiver. I guess he should have run out of bounds at the 5 yard line on his 48 yard TD so Texas could burn some more clock? Selfish!

OL

Terrific job of pass blocking. Depth of penetration from the WVU DL was non-existent and the jailhouse blitzes were managed by Sam's feet and LJH's ball-winning capabilities. Through nine games, the Texas OL has only given up 12 sacks. In 324 passing attempts. I can take a 3.6% sack percentage. They only gave up one sack in this game and I put that on a lucky WVU David Long blitz call that caught E-Rod by surprise on his boot pull.

We're not ever going to get great displacement inside in the run game with this unit, but Cosmi and Anderson were particularly good outside and blocking down.

Sam Cosmi is, in my opinion, the best all around OL on the team. I doubt the media will notice in the postseason, but he's deserving of honors. Tremendous building block for the future.

I'd be remiss if I didn't applaud Herb Hand again for his OL turnaround (with a big nod to Calvin Anderson providing the final piece). These guys aren't dominant, but they're pretty damn competent and compete with a lot of pride.

Final

Probably the best Texas offensive performance of the season ends in a loss. That's bittersweet, but I hope the staff views high scoring efficiency, downfield throws and aggression as positives and doesn't opt for some Kansas State/Baylor game self-limiting under the idea that it protects the defense.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Machinator

Machinator · November 5, 2018

Of note:

Quote

The timing of the final possession score seems to upset some Longhorn fans. Specifically, the 48 yard TD throw to Duvernay. West Virginia was cheating their defense badly. The reason Duvernay was in single coverage with with more green around him than an Irish golf course was WVU doubling our big boys and ganging up on the run. We couldn't run the ball. And our only successful throw prior to the Duve bomb was the third rendition of our Andrew Beck play action up the seam. The idea that Texas should disallow opportunity for a certain score in favor of grinding 9 on 11 and hoping for a positive result is - what's a diplomatic term I can use so as not to offend anyone? - stupid. It's also confusing the very real idea that an offense can and should manage clock in certain game-deciding drives with the ball deep in enemy territory with a 48 yard touchdown throw with 2:34 on the clock at midfield against a Mountaineer defense in gamble mode. You'd prefer that we score slower from midfield? Great. Wish in one hand and crap in the other and see what fills up first.

"Scored too fast" is certainly true in that we wish that pass would have happened with 21 seconds on the clock, but that wasn't the game situation, that wasn't how WVU was playing us and the idea that a TD or a FG was a gimme against that Mountaineer defense overplay by purposefully holding down our opportunity ignores the previous five plays and wildly overestimates the dominance of our offense to decide the moment it would score on 3rd and 10 after running clock on consecutive inside zone plunges. That view just isn't reality-based.

Slacks · November 5, 2018

"Scored to quick" isn't even a real thing. You score when you can, if you can.

Unless you prefer punting.

Brock Sampson · November 5, 2018

47 minutes ago, Snacks said:

You score when you can, if you can.

My Friday night mantra back in college.

Now I'm married with a kid so it's my everyday mantra.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Brock Sampson

gmr548 · November 6, 2018

I know man. I was thinking we seem to have this pattern where we have a great defense for one year and then two years of total garbage and then back to having one great year. But come to think of it, they just come together whenever we get a new DC. Maybe we should fire the DC at the end of each season.

Each of those recent first year defenses have come with the coach inheriting a collection of talented veterans, particularly in the front seven. The drop offs have come in year two when those guys leave. It's natural to an extent.

Now, while I expected to see a significant step back on D, the past two weeks are atrocious and do speak to coaching issues. The problems with getting lost in coverage/ surrendering big plays, and lacking a pass rush have been there all year. Teams like Baylor and TCU masked that by leaving TDs on the field due to unforced errors. Getting pushed around in the run game is a bit of a new wrinkle but the DL has been nowhere near dominant. That we're ten weeks in and haven't improved or at least adjusted to mask this deficiencies is a scathing indictment of the defensive staff.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Valmy77 · November 6, 2018

5 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Each of those recent first year defenses have come with the coach inheriting a collection of talented veterans, particularly in the front seven. The drop offs have come in year two when those guys leave. It's natural to an extent.

Now, while I expected to see a significant step back on D, the past two weeks are atrocious and do speak to coaching issues. The problems with getting lost in coverage/ surrendering big plays, and lacking a pass rush have been there all year. Teams like Baylor and TCU masked that by leaving TDs on the field due to unforced errors. Getting pushed around in the run game is a bit of a new wrinkle but the DL has been nowhere near dominant. That we're ten weeks in and haven't improved or at least adjusted to mask this deficiencies is a scathing indictment of the defensive staff.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

You seem to be contradicting yourself here. They were brilliant last year because they had the talent. So why wouldn't they be brilliant again with more talent? It kind of makes sense if you are just barely holding it together talentwise that after injuries have taken their toll and offensive coaches have had time to scout out your tendencies that it would be worse at the end of the year.

Or not, and maybe you are right. Orlando will be here at least one more year so I guess we will see.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Valmy77

gmr548 · November 6, 2018

7 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

You seem to be contradicting yourself here. They were brilliant last year because they had the talent. So why wouldn't they be brilliant again with more talent? It kind of makes sense if you are just barely holding it together talentwise that after injuries have taken their toll and offensive coaches have had time to scout out your tendencies that it would be worse at the end of the year.

Or not, and maybe you are right. Orlando will be here at least one more year so I guess we will see.

The talent level this year is not the same as it was last year. Active NFL players gone from every level, two in the secondary. Not to mention Dickson (field position is overlooked in the discussion of defensive performance this year, IMO). None of those guys were replaced by anyone remotely as impactful. Some of them have had their time filled by downright bad football players. There weren't serious injury issues until this week. My point is that the same mistakes made in September are being made now. That is the sign of a serious issue with coaching. Despite that, I am not passing judgement on Orlando and company yet because of what you mentioned. This unit just isn't that talented. Still, it could be performing better. What scares me is that it isn't about to get a whole lot better next year in terms of talent.

Edited November 6, 2018 by gmr548

Machinator · November 6, 2018

9 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Not to mention Dickson (field position is overlooked in the discussion of defensive performance this year, IMO).

While I agree with this generally, our two worst defensive performances have come in games where we've barely had to punt, and when we have, Bujcevski has done a very good job.

Skipper · November 6, 2018

51 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

You seem to be contradicting yourself here. They were brilliant last year because they had the talent. So why wouldn't they be brilliant again with more talent? It kind of makes sense if you are just barely holding it together talentwise that after injuries have taken their toll and offensive coaches have had time to scout out your tendencies that it would be worse at the end of the year.

Or not, and maybe you are right. Orlando will be here at least one more year so I guess we will see.

I mean it's clear as day that Malik and Poona masked a ton of the deficiencies in this defense. Malik in particular. You slot Malik back into this D and we're probably undefeated right now.

XYZ · November 6, 2018

Nice writeup by Scipio on the offense but...we scored too quick.

jinx · November 6, 2018

33 minutes ago, Skipper said:

I mean it's clear as day that Malik and Poona masked a ton of the deficiencies in this defense. Malik in particular. You slot Malik back into this D and we're probably undefeated right now.

Yep. I texted a buddy this same thought today. The difference between Malik and Wheeler is light years. And Malik combined with GJ masked a lot of errors just due to speed.

BigHorn'13 · November 6, 2018

Gene Chizik did fairly well in 2 seasons at Texas.

ClubWhatever · November 6, 2018

The coaches will never say it but injuries and lack of depth have killed this defense. Now we know why the backups got virtually no playing time earlier in the season. The guys we were playing against WVU not only could not do a simple thing like a take on a block but they were getting blown off the ball. It was bowling pin city for their line pretty much all game (and also for their TE #88, who is very underrated). Losing Brandon Jones really exacerbated it because there was nobody to clean up the mess. The 55 yard TD run was a complete whiff by Sterns. That's a play Jones has made all season. Honestly Sterns had an absolutely awful game. He looked like a scrub against the pass and run. A 100% Nelson, Hager, and Omenihu are not world beaters but they hold the point. Their backups are a walking 10 yard gain.

LTtxfan · November 6, 2018

10 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

The coaches will never say it but injuries and lack of depth have killed this defense. Now we know why the backups got virtually no playing time earlier in the season. The guys we were playing against WVU not only could not do a simple thing like a take on a block but they were getting blown off the ball. It was bowling pin city for their line pretty much all game (and also for their TE #88, who is very underrated). Losing Brandon Jones really exacerbated it because there was nobody to clean up the mess. The 55 yard TD run was a complete whiff by Sterns. That's a play Jones has made all season. Honestly Sterns had an absolutely awful game. He looked like a scrub against the pass and run. A 100% Nelson, Hager, and Omenihu are not world beaters but they hold the point. Their backups are a walking 10 yard gain.

Folks wondering why the Offense has progressed so much more this year should probably credit some of these things:

1) Familiarity of Offense since it's the 2nd Year

2) Better OL and WR coaching in year 2

3) More experience for Sam at QB in year 2

4) Limited amount of injuries on Offense (Knock on Wood)

Remember how Sam and Shane had to rotate starts in 2017 due to injuries that both received. When you have the same QB for 9 straight games it really helps consistency and allows the Offense to grow.

Edited November 6, 2018 by LTtxfan

victory88 · November 6, 2018

This defense will be worse next year. 3/4 years from now we will look back see that the 2017 defense was littered with NFL players similar to the year we had Malcom brown, ridgeways, diggs, Phillips, Hicks.

nfl players and future nfl guys from last years defense.... Jefferson, Ford, Elliot, Hill. Guys that will play in the nfl from this year... Jones, Nelson, Omenihu, Boyd, and Johnson and perhaps Davis. Every freaking starter from last years defense will probably play in the NFL. Strong was shit here, but he could evaluate good defensive players. It’s why Orlando looked so damn good last year. We will look even worse next year. Seems like our best defenses are when we play athletic seniors.... which unlike other elite teams, we only see that on our roster every 3-4 years.

LTtxfan · November 6, 2018

Folks may not give Brandon Jones enough credit for filling some of the holes in this current defense. It's also a shame Gary Johnson hasn't played better this Season to help out more....

Who knows..... if Brandon Jones could have played against West Virginia on Saturday, maybe he breaks another one of Grier's fingers while preventing that Damn 2pt conversion.....

Edited November 6, 2018 by LTtxfan

Machinator · November 6, 2018

6 minutes ago, victory88 said:

This defense will be worse next year. 3/4 years from now we will look back see that the 2017 defense was littered with NFL players similar to the year we had Malcom brown, ridgeways, diggs, Phillips, Hicks.

nfl players and future nfl guys from last years defense.... Jefferson, Ford, Elliot, Hill. Guys that will play in the nfl from this year... Jones, Nelson, Omenihu, Boyd, and Johnson and perhaps Davis. Every freaking starter from last years defense will probably play in the NFL. Strong was shit here, but he could evaluate good defensive players. It’s why Orlando looked so damn good last year. We will look even worse next year. Seems like our best defenses are when we play athletic seniors.... which unlike other elite teams, we only see that on our roster every 3-4 years.

This is why you have to recruit and evaluate well at every position every year.

Not having to make coaching changes every three years also helps.

NeverMarryAStripper · November 6, 2018

This defense will be worse next year.

I’m not sure that’s physically possible

LTtxfan · November 6, 2018

5 minutes ago, Machinator said:

This is why you have to recruit and evaluate well at every position every year.

Not having to make coaching changes every three years also helps.

Yeah, getting a good coach and keeping him around for at least 5 or more years usually does wonders for depth on a team.

Just curious...... On Bama and Clemson, what's usually the average experience for the starters in the trenches and on defense??

Edited November 6, 2018 by LTtxfan

victory88 · November 6, 2018

4 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Yeah, getting a good coach and keeping him around for at least 5 or more years usually does wonders for depth on a team.

Just curious...... On Bama and Clemson, what's usually the average experience for the starters in the trenches and on defense??

I wouldn’t even compare us to Bama. Bama is cherry picking elite players year after year and telling them they better show up every day during their 4 years bc if they don’t, the next 5 star will take their spot. Those guys know that if they go there and follow his demands, they have a good shot at making the NFL. They are so far ahead of any program, I’m not sure they will come back down to earth while Saban is there. Clemson and UGA are trying to replicate that and are seeing success. Honestly, we‘re getting good talent with our skill players but we have huge holes on our team. QB depth finally seems good. We seem to do well with WRs and DBs. But i ntil we can get elite OL and DL to come here, we’ll be a middle of the pack team. Right now, we seem to be struggling with that aspect. Many elite guys don’t want to play in a shit conference. Who was our last 5 star DL prospect? Malcom Brown? Our last 5 star OL? Mason Walters? What worries me is that those elite guys don’t seem to want to play in the big 12. We’re not maximizing our brand/success staying in this conference any longer.

Slacks · November 6, 2018

My Friday night mantra back in college.
Now I'm married with a kid so it's my everyday mantra.

Kids are great defenders...

I suggest the 2-minute drill...

Brock Sampson · November 6, 2018

2 hours ago, Snacks said:

Kids are great defenders...

I suggest the 2-minute drill...

2 minutes!? I’m not a machine.

ClubWhatever · November 7, 2018

If any of you are gluttons for punishment the latest Longhorn Blitz podcast with Rod Babers and Jeff Howe has about a 10 minute diatribe on the complete coaching and player failure that occured on the last WVU touchdown pass. They are (rightfully) pretty brutal to Todd Orlando. It occurs near the end of the podcast.

Edited November 7, 2018 by ClubWhatever

BigHorn'13 · November 7, 2018

3 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

If any of you are gluttons for punishment the latest Longhorn Blitz podcast with Rod Babers and Jeff Howe has about a 10 minute diatribe on the complete coaching and player failure that occured on the last WVU touchdown pass. They are (rightfully) pretty brutal to Todd Orlando. It occurs near the end of the podcast.

So blitzing a corner on a game winning drive is the wrong thing to do? Todd Orlando is going to have to plead ignorance on this whole thing...

ClubWhatever · November 7, 2018

When there’s 16 seconds left and they are on your 33, yeah pretty much. Plus you don’t go with a single high safety look or not call timeout when your DL doesn’t know what the call is.

LTtxfan · November 8, 2018

8 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

If any of you are gluttons for punishment the latest Longhorn Blitz podcast with Rod Babers and Jeff Howe has about a 10 minute diatribe on the complete coaching and player failure that occured on the last WVU touchdown pass. They are (rightfully) pretty brutal to Todd Orlando. It occurs near the end of the podcast.

Post of the Day.....Thanks 🤘

I found it and listened...... Orlando should have called Time Out since the Defense was not even lined up.... Whole play was screwed up.

Listen around 25 or 26 minute mark.... if you can bear it.

https://m.soundcloud.com/longhornblitz/longhorn-blitz-ep-59-another-close-loss

Edited November 8, 2018 by LTtxfan

LTtxfan · November 8, 2018

Offensive Preview: Texas Tech

BY JAMESON MCCAUSLAND

For a defense that is struggling, a Kliff Kingsbury offense is not what you want to see coming up on the schedule. Texas will have to try to go into Lubbock and slow down a Texas Tech offense that will be playing with a backup QB. Despite the key injury, the Red Raiders will still trot out big-time playmakers at almost every position. It will be another tough test for the Longhorns, as they look for a win to keep their hopes at going to the Big 12 championship alive. Let’s take a look at the Texas Tech offense:

Quarterback

The good news for Texas is the Red Raiders will be without QB Alan Bowman, who is dealing with a punctured lung (best wishes for a speedy recovery). The bad news is backup Jett Duffey brings a running dimension to the offense that the Longhorns will be forced to account for. Texas Tech will take a step back in the passing game under Duffey, but rest assured that Kliff Kingsbury is going to have a game plan in place to try to exploit what Texas has shown on film the past few weeks — that they struggle to stop the run.

Duffey has thrown for 627 yards this season with 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. The key for the Longhorns this week will be forcing turnovers. The sophomore will throw the ball to the other team if you let him. Duffey is the second-leading rusher on the team with 297 yards. The Red Raiders aren’t likely to run the zone read directly at Texas like Oklahoma State did, but Duffey will be used as a runner and is elusive in space.

Running Back

Freshman Ta’Zhawn Henry is the leading rusher for the Red Raiders with 346 yards. Henry was at one point last year thought to be on Texas’ radar, but the 5’7 speedster ended up in Lubbock and has broken onto the scene in his first year. Henry is not your typical between the tackles runner, but Kliff Kingsbury is not your traditional play-caller. The Red Raiders will throw the ball to set up the run, and when they do run the ball, they will utilize Henry in space. When Texas Tech gets near the goal line or is in short yardage situations, Da’Leon Ward and DeMarcus Felton will be the go-to backs.

The Red Raiders love to use the running back in the passing game, and Kingsbury has to be licking his chops thinking about Anthony Wheeler going against any of his running backs in the open field. The key for Texas will be recognizing Tech’s personnel and making sure they limit the busted assignments that have plagued them in recent weeks.

Wide Receiver

As usual, Tech has several receivers who can hurt defenses on the outside and in underneath coverage. Antoine Wesley and TJ Vasher are matchup nightmares at 6’5 and 6’6, respectively. Wesley leads the team with 1176 receiving yards and Vasher has added 470. Kris Boyd and Davante Davis will have to bring their best game to Lubbock, or it may be a long night for the Longhorn defense. Ja’Deion High operates primarily out of the slot and will look to cause problems for PJ Locke. High has 615 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns on the season.

Texas has been prone to the deep ball in recent weeks, and while Duffey isn’t necessarily the QB to exploit that weakness, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wesley and Vasher get chances to go up and make plays.

Offensive Line

There is not much that stands out about the Red Raiders offensive line. They have the usual size that Air Raid offenses need and serve more as obstacles in the run game than movers. RG Jack Anderson was a member of the All-Big 12 Freshman Team a season ago and is one of the highest-ranked recruits to ever attend Tech.

Kingsbury does a nice job of scheming around any offensive weaknesses he has. The ball is always coming out of the QB’s hands quickly, and if a team chooses to blitz the QB, he will have an option of getting the ball to a playmaker in space.

Edited November 8, 2018 by LTtxfan

CurlyDumps · November 8, 2018

21 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

If any of you are gluttons for punishment the latest Longhorn Blitz podcast with Rod Babers and Jeff Howe has about a 10 minute diatribe on the complete coaching and player failure that occured on the last WVU touchdown pass. They are (rightfully) pretty brutal to Todd Orlando. It occurs near the end of the podcast.

I was gonna post this same thing. Listened to it yesterday. Jeff Howe’s real time reactions to things he’s seeing for the first time is pretty entertaining.

That play was a coaching atrocity.

Edited November 8, 2018 by CurlyDumps

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