Initial Thoughts: Texas Longhorns @ Wyoming Cowboys

I really hate the 8 ) coding. I have always hated it. I hate it more than Carl Reese or Mike Haywood.

our line play was porous for long stretches on both sides of the ball at times today given the competition. makes me nervous for when we play teams with talent (OU).

Good write up. I share a lot of your sentiments, especially about Greg’s play calling in the first half. In the end, we kicked their ass and missed the spread by only a half point. We did what we were supposed to.

Oh.. and fuck Dagny. Hank Rearden was the man, can’t believe she blew him off for wonderboy.

I’ve had to survive on the open threads for the last two games. Here are my observations of our fans/commenters.

Before the Wyoming game:
“Our receiving corps is SO deep! They’re all playmakers. John Chiles is the real deal!”
After the Wyoming game:
“Besides Shipley, this is the most mediocre group of receivers ever. John Chiles obviously isn’t ready for this move.”

Before the Wyoming game:
“Our o-line is top 5 in the country, no doubt. They’re juggernauts.”
After the Wyoming game:
“This is the worst o-line we’ve had in years.”

Before the Wyoming game:
“The season looks good. We’re firing on all cylinders, we’ve got lots of fresh talent, and depth.”
After the Wyoming game (well, up until the 3rd qtr):
“OH NO THE SKY IS FALLING!”

I swear the altitude affected the fans’ heads more than the team.

Also, Mizzou barely squeaks one out against Bowling Green, and Dan Snyder’s triumphant return to K. State requires sacrificing one to UL-Lafayette (yeah, that team that the 2005 Horns blew out 60-3). Also, OU is wishing they had switched their first home and away games.

Would Gideon be a candidate to add some weight and move up to LB?

I can’t really define it very well, but Colt looks just odd somewhat this season with some of his throws/decisions. He’s looked awkward to me, tossed some floaters, tried to finesse shit when it wasn’t called for, had some significant overthrows (the conditions today probably explain that to at least some degree). I’m wondering if it’s either a case of too little confidence (in his WRs?) or too much confidence. Just does not look to me yet like the kid we saw last season.

Really like the comments re the WRs. Spot on. The Buckner limping routine is getting curious.

I’m lumping forevermore McWhorter in with Davis in terms of performance. Just awful. And with virtually the pick of the litter for a number of years now he has no one to blame. Tanner and Hall were the kids he chose – Tanner so early in the cycle it was head-scratching – and they are back-ups at best. I think I better understand why Bruce Matthews could not in good faith send his kid to us. Aggy is still an atrocious choice, but that’s not the point.

If we can put Ogbannaya in the league, after today I’m of a mind that Newton is looking like a much better option. Hitting the hole, following your blocks, catching the ball out of the backfield – sometimes that’s just enough.

Davis serving in a Muschamp administration? I really hadn’t thought about that. Maybe as a bridge, but I’m hard-pressed to think he’d be the guy long-term. Not to mention he brings absolutely nothing – nothing – to recruiting, and with Muschamp not yet showing the ability to close that could be a concern.

Davis, McWhorter and Tolly are all in the 59 – 63 age group. In the next few years, the staff will start getting notably younger.

Newton looked almost like this in HS- unexceptional physical talent, but extremely well-coached (knew how to hold the ball, make his blocks, square his shoulders, i.e. all of the fundamental stuff). The world would have been a better place if Jamaal Charles knew the fundamentals of RB as well as Tre Newton. I see Newton as the guy who should play when the more talented backs have holes in their games, but not the guy to count on for elite performances in league games.

“Think what you want about Gideon, but he doesn’t think about the ball at all when he’s playing. This will continue to be a problem. Gideon is not alone in the secondary on this issue. Luckily, the secondary is pretty damned good anyway, Gideon included on some level.”

Watch the tape of both games and you’ll see Gideon not only telling Earl Thomas what to do but the linebackers as well. I think I"ll go with Muschamp’s judgment on Gideon.

This was never going to be as strong a season as fans wanted it to be.

More than we’d like it to, the team’s success is going to depend on in-game coaching. That first half we had a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card, because it was Wyoming. The staff won’t have that luxury later in the season.

We are clearly badly missing the talent of Miller, Cosby and some others. I don’t think this team will be as good as last year’s and certainly not in the class of Florida, if not also USC. More: 1. the defense is fast but the complete lack of turnovers and Kindle’s disappearing act are puzzling. Wyoming was not double-teaming him, they were easily handling him one on one. Maybe we got too excited too fast about him. 2. Colt has no confidence in anyone but Ship. That is a problem. 3. Our running back by committee has turned in to ‘we don’t have a decent Division I back so here is some clutter.’ 4. Not surprisingly, Greg Davis can’t figure out how to put all these parts together. 5. At this point of the season, Nebraska is the most impressive Big 12 team.

I didn’t have a problem with Davis’s play calling in the first half. The problems started when the WR’s started dropping catches they normally make, getting Colt out of sync, and then the entire offense went downhill with more drops, poor passes from him, drive killing penalties and a sack. Poor first half was more on the players execution than play calling.

This offense would miss Cosby alot less if Collins were playing.

Gideon may not be creating any turnovers, but he sure is always there to clean up the missed tackles being made by the other guys who seem more concerned with stripping the ball or making a highlight hit than making a solid tackle. Should we start talking about the lack of turnovers being created by everyone else in the secondary not named Williams or Brewster?

Buckner tweaked something early but never went out of the game and he kept producing. I’m not sure how that equals being terrified and constantly looking for the sidelines. It reminded me of the WR (Collins or Kirkendoll) in the Fiesta Bowl that got hurt and sucked it up on the last drive than a player afraid to be out there.

Newton looks like a bright spot in the running game and doing all of the things Chris O. did for us last year. Monroe can continue to give the homerun threat if they can figure a way not to telegraph he is getting the ball ever time he is in.

Chalk this game up as similar to the UTEP game last year and don’t read too many things into it. This team can still be as good or better than the 2008 team.

“I don’t think this team will be as good as last year’s and certainly not in the class of Florida, if not also USC.”

Florida I’ll give you for now, but USC? You must think their defense is better than ours because there is no way Ohio State holds our offense to 17 points and only 1 real drive with a TD.

Personnel issues aside, I will again point out that everyone was pulling the “we’re not going to be good” refrain last year at about this time. The 2008 team didn’t click until the ou game. Give these guys a little benefit of the doubt. The D played outstanding. McCoy just has unearthly expectations. Chill. Start to worry in a few games.

We sure did turn it on in the second half. Any chance we were just working on some precision short stuff, knowing that the intermediate stuff would be there in the second half?

Tech is the first real test. If we pass it and stay healthy, we’re looking pretty good heading into OU.

Yep, I’m tapping the brakes on negativity. This team is right now the second best team in the country, by far, and we are still getting our shit together.

Let’s cruise by 20+ next week against Tech and we’ll know whether or not we really have something.

Hook ’em!

Why were you pretty sober at a sports bar? I couldn’t get past that.

Some of you people are unbelievable in just how quickly you go from “we’re the best in the country” to “we suck”. That Mack has survived as long as he has is a amazing. He must have the patience of a saint.

TTR said: “Newton looked almost like this in HS- unexceptional physical talent, but extremely well-coached (knew how to hold the ball, make his blocks, square his shoulders, i.e. all of the fundamental stuff). The world would have been a better place if Jamaal Charles knew the fundamentals of RB as well as Tre Newton. I see Newton as the guy who should play when the more talented backs have holes in their games, but not the guy to count on for elite performances in league games.”

Amen to that shit on a Sunday morning..
At some point in the second quarter I thought we had stumbled into a tent with Jake Gyllenhaal and the ghost of Heath Ledger. And it was starting to really hurt, but we survived.
We survived epic failure on a fake punt, blocked punt and a fake FG. We survived our robo-QB not being his sharpest and receivers dropping some balls. We survived our O-line not doing anything particularly well. We survived Greg Davis…
It was 41-10 with no major injuries and this morning I didn’t wake up in fuckin’ Stillwater..

Agree with the mostly optimistic take. There was a day when Greg would have continued with what was obviously a bad game plan for all 4 quarters. Credit to him for adjusting at halftime. As much as some of us hate to admit, he has gotten much better at that.

Colt is missing Quan, but we will get it figured out with the WR situation. This is not an average group of WRs. They are better than that from a talent standpoint. We just have to figure out how to better use their skillsets. In my older age, I have mellowed and tend to not melt down over one bad half of football. We will figure it out.

The D was quite good. All 10 points came off the special teams mistakes. Can’t ask for much more. The pressure was constant and came mostly from our front 4. We still haven’t showed much in the form of blitz packages these first two games. I’m curious as to what we will see against Tech. Of course, blitzing Tech with regularity is a bad idea too in my opinion.

Flamingmonkey, uthookem, Sasha,

I have to tell you, I can’t figure out if these “Oh no, negativity!!!!” posts are being tossed at the original post, or some of the responses. If at some of the responses, I get it. At the original post? It is a headscratcher. I don’t feel like I typed anything very controversial out there in the original post and I closed it with how I think we need to approach things so we can play for it all.

I looked at what I saw and took a relatively innocuous set of positions. Moreover, those thoughts revolved around one game, not a conclusion on what is going to happen for the rest of the season. If the original post was a bit much for you, I’ve got nothing for you in my posts, I don’t think.

horncasting—

Buckner got up limping after dropping a pass and pulling himself from the game for a while. He ran aggressively at the sidelines last week. I’d like to see the guy just play, antics aside. It doesn’t change that I believe he looked good and we’ve got a good find with him at his spot, as I posted in the original post.

As to you having no problems with Davis’ playcalling in the first half, I guess we see games like this differently, I don’t know. There looked like a whole lot of “let’s not risk too much on the road here” going on.

beatendeadhorse—

I was as complimentary as I’ll be on Gideon in the first post. He’s a “coach on the field” and such, but the free safety has to make plays. He’s also not alone right now in solid secondary productivity without the big plays that we’ll need in a big game. I am not handwringing, but we need more.

blackscholes, TaylorTRoom—

I felt like what I typed out there indicated something akin to the bridge concept, as opposed to what seems like a lot of people think, where there’s a housecleaning of some sort for a top 5 program.

GeneClaude—

Relatively sober is fundamental for enjoying the entirety of a fall Saturday in my book.

Thanks for the thoughts on the thread, guys. I feel pretty good about what lies ahead, myself.

Mine was dircected more at the ransomstoddard type than you CTJ.

I’m certainly no sunshine pumper and I’m in agreement with you on almost all of your points. We defintely have things that need to be addressed by the coaches, but I think we’re sill a damn fine football team.

Colt frequently looked angry on the sideline. He frequently did not throw on rhythm which leads to all kinds of problems. Colt should check down to his dump receiver more quickly and more often.

Could you be more specific about GD’s bad play calling? What specifically was wrong and what should he have been doing? I thought the horns threw too much intermediate stuff and should have been throwing under the zone (when Wyoming was playing zone) more often.

Chiles is the horns’ number 4 receiver this season:
Ship

“Also, Mizzou barely squeaks one out against Bowling Green, and Dan Snyder’s triumphant return to K. State”

How Dan Snyder finds the time to own the Redskins and coach K. State, I’ll never know..

Colt frequently looked angry on the sideline, Wyoming was confusing him a bit. He frequently did not throw on rhythm which leads to all kinds of problems. Colt should check down to his dump receiver more quickly and more often.

Could you be more specific about GD’s bad play calling? What specifically was wrong and what should he have been doing? I thought the horns threw too much intermediate stuff and should have been throwing under the zone (when Wyoming was playing zone) more often. Maybe the WRs were not sitting down in the holes in the zone very well.

Where is the love for Chiles? I’m amazed that Chiles is the horns’ number 4 receiver already this season (i.e. only two games into his WR career at UT):
Ship 15 catches, 1 TD
Buckner 11 catches, 1TD
Kirk 9 catches, 1 TD
Chiles 8 catches, 2 TDs

It was great to see Chiles getting mobbed by his teammates after his TD (short pass, 26 yard run by Chiles). I also noticed that once on third down and short, GD and Colt thought throwing to Chiles was the surest way to get the first down (which Chiles did by bulling his way for the yardage). Chiles is already doing better than most everybody expected at WR and he is going to get better (he is a smart guy who is a quick learner).

Is there any reason to believe that Buckner is not playing in pain when he is limping? This is another guy who had an amazing first couple of games as a starter.

I would also like to see Malcolm playing more. It is amazing that Malcolm has been so slow to earn the confidence of GD/Colt while Chiles has earned their confidence so rapidly.

Newton has looked great but it might be partially because the holes for running are bigger in the second half (when he does most of his running). By all means play him a bunch in the first half and let’s see how he does.

Our safeties don’t still don’t catch the ball too well.

“As to you having no problems with Davis’ playcalling in the first half, I guess we see games like this differently, I don’t know. There looked like a whole lot of "let’s not risk too much on the road here" going on.”

How was the play calling in the second half any different than the first? (Assuming you were ok with it in the second half). If I am remembering right they actually attempted more long passes in the first half than in the second. I just don’t see the overly conservative playcalling, with the possible exception of the 3rd down pass to Shipley on the very first drive (that ended in a field goal). I see the same play calling that lead to one of the best offenses in the country all of last year.

How’s Kindle been doing? Haven’t heard any negative, but haven’t heard a lot of positive either. Would have thought he’d be making some noise by now.

Context clues, CTJ. Of course I was responding to some of the other posters. How you could get confused on that issue confuses me. But, since I have now been made aware of your propensity to think that everything is directed squarely at you, I will be blatant as to whom I am responding to in future posts.

I like how Mack Brown threw Justin Tucker under the bus in his half-time interview, what a class act.

Would you like Brown to say that his kicker didn’t go batshit crazy, Tim?

Anyone watching the game realized immediately that Justin Tucker must have had a bout of snow blindness when he faked the punt.

It’s an weird punting scheme, that sprint right, rugby style. It almost invites the punter to run as he sees moving blockers in front of him. It definitely sets up nicely for a fake, just not at that particular moment.

Sasha,

Lighten up, Francis.

I’m not overly gung ho on the team just yet, either, but I fail to see how anyone that watched the games can say that Kindle has been a disappointment.

He made the Wyoming QB remember him, according to a guy who attended the WYO post-game press conf.

Don’t let the box score convince you of the quality of his play.

I agree henley. He had some big hits just as the guy was letting go of the ball. And Wyoming was moving the pocket and getting the ball out pretty quickly.

We’re going to kick the ever-living dog shit out of Texas.

I liked what I saw from Alexander.

“Williams is a burner that plays better than he practices.”

Agreed and I’m mystified by the coaching staff’s decision to not feature him at all this year.

It’d be one thing if he had an attitude problem and was lazy in practice. Everything I’ve read mentions that Malcolm is a very hard worker and the players/coaches love him. He’s been inconsistent in practice? Fine. But has he been inconsistent in the actual games? I haven’t seen it.

Release the Kraken, for fuck’s sake.

by all means, release him…

he isnt doing shit for my fantasy team as it is.

Now, the 2nd part: Laying 2/1 odds that my previous post makes a ChrisApplewhite post-game post.