Witnessing Game One

Isaw much of the same. Some promise, some peril.

I think the key is to not become so enamored with the shiny toy that is Gilbert that we lose the fundamentals we need to allow him to truly thrive. And that’s going to be awfully hard to do as he develops this season.

CJ did not impress me.

 GG is developing a real relationship with Goodwin and the coaches need to exploit it. The rest of the WR and GG are still a little off.

I see dead people, aka offensive tight ends for UT.

crikey, that offense is vanilla.

Cody’s hesitation was troubling. While it’s great that he’s not giving up negative runs, he’s not so much better than Newton that we can afford to have him turning 4-yard runs into 1-yarders. He’s not helped by calls such as the toss sweep on 4th and goal, but at least we have the cold comfort of GD conceding it was a bad call.

VERY pleased with Chiles’ catch. That might have been the only time we went to him (?), he made a good adjustment and held on despite a solid hit.

Chykie played like a dimwit.

My head tells me we didn’t show much on offense. My memory then reminds me that our first-game issues are harbingers of things to come more often than I like to consider …

Scott,

Good write-up on the game, I generally agree with you on what we all saw today. Below are my thoughts:

Offense: Very disappointed that the line didn’t look crisp. Maybe it is muscle memory from the last two seasons, but I would have loved to see some more desire in them. As it’s the first game, I really wouldn’t have minded seeing a few whiffs, so long as they were really firing off. I didn’t notice any protection problems when we did throw the ball, either from under center or out of the shotgun. I really liked the way Newton read the holes, though, and made some good cutbacks in the lane. Plus, Cody loves to hit people – so I really don’t understand the 4th and goal run. I haven’t been to any open practices, tough to do so from Virginia, so I haven’t seen the different running plays, but I just have to think that they were held back. We didn’t need them to beat Rice.
I definitely liked the way Gilbert played. He showed me that he’s okay between the ears. Yes, the ball did seem to stick in his hands a few times, leading to skipped balls, but he didn’t seem to get hung up on those and let them affect him. More than the lack of touchdown passes, I was pleased that he made good decisions and didn’t turn the ball over. His biggest errors were those skipped passes and a few thrown behind the receivers. Like you, I wish he had at least sent something towards Matthews. Not impressed with the receiving corps. Malcolm Williams needs to learn to stay on his feet – he had a touchdown on one if he kept running through the ball.

Defense: Apart from being unable to stop Rice on their first drive, I thought the first team did well. Chykie Brown is still making mental errors, though, particularly on the one long pass in the first quarter when he peered into the backfield and stopped for no reason. I would love to have seen Aaron Williams and Chykie turn those dropped interceptions into TDs. We eventually figured it out, but the fact that the zone read caused so much trouble is very disappointing, particularly as it’s not like we’ve never run that play. Randall is an absolute beast in the middle, and I was very concerned when he went down early. On the positive side, once they settled in, the D looked really good. The only legit points the first stringers gave up were the field goal on the first drive.

Special Teams: Aaron Williams should be blocking punts, not returning them. He made 1 boneheaded move on a bouncing kick and muffed another off his face. Punting was very good, with lots of hangtime – enough that we repeatedly overran the ball on coverage. However, I thought the kickoff coverage team needed work on tackling.

Overall: A few too many mistakes, but I’m taking it with a grain of salt. We did enough to win, but not win big and not give away much of anything. I think next week will be a better view of where we are because we will have had a game under our belts and some video to correct the o-line with.

One other item – while Gilbert had a couple of curiously weak throws, he mostly showed the kind of arm that we expected. Couple of his sideline throws were things of beauty, as was the toss to Chiles (even though a little behind him).

I saw what a GD offense looks like when it doesn’t have a QB that can improvise or convert first downs with his legs when the poorly designed play breaks down. VY and Colt would keep at least 4 drives a game going this way.

I saw a coaching staff that doesn’t seem to have enough confidence in their QB to let him use the middle of the field very often. Those across the field passes from one hash to the opposite sideline are likely to be pick sixes against good defenses.

On several drives I swore I was watching Simms and Benson against UNT circa 2002.

I think the decision to go hurry up on the first drive was a bad one. It seemed like it tired Cody out after carrying the ball 4-5 straight times.

I saw Malcolm Williams concentrate on making the catch above all else. Baby steps.

“One other item – while Gilbert had a couple of curiously weak throws, he mostly showed the kind of arm that we expected.”

This. Could not have possibly phrased it better. I was like, “What the hell was that?” multiple times during the game. It’s like his arm just said “no” and died a few times on him, a la an old bus going up a steep hill.

Nice writeup, and I generally agree with your take. I suppose I’m just eager to know where this offense actually is on the development curve.

I’m also eager to learn what the rest of the offensive playbook looks like.

I was watching it live too, but saw it different.

I saw at least one package that had 3 real plays (inside run, sweep, QB rollout), that gave me some hope that we wouldn’t be completely inept on O.

GG didn’t impress me as much as I had been expecting from what I saw in practice. I thought he made a bad decision on his roll-out, and started out under-throwing passes.

Cojo underwhelmed.

On the bright side, I didn’t really see anything wrong that couldn’t be chalked up to nerves. Hopefully the guys settle down, and we’d be able to play that game 52-3 just by executing better.

Pretty solid analysis.

My Summary takes:

Defense was really strong. Vaccaro is Really Special. Reminds me of a cross between Derrick Johnson, Westbrook# 30, and Michael Griffin. Him and Kheeston, and # 1, will the guys that will make you proud to be a horn fan.
Defense was well prepared and very athletic. 3 steps ahead of the offense. They really only gave up 3 pts , for the starters and remove the fluke play.
Offense:
Overall I thought everyone played well. The backs ran hard, I like the rotation but thought Cody was pulled too early- let him lather up. Fozzy has the big play cutabilIty. Cody will go through you and move the pile and wear out defenses. Tre is very solid and runs hard, and I

think is your best back overall. However in the big games I think I feel a bit better with Cody on
 3rd and 3.

 
Line: They played really well. Made holes and gave Gilbert a lot of time.
Reiceivers: Great- caught everything.
Gilbert: Looked like a

The replays in the stadium were horrible. So I didn’t see everything I wanted.

The game might have been a little less explosive offensively than we were hoping for, but that happens with new QBs and offenses. Check out the first half of the UF game.

Or how about OU? Did anyone really think Utah freaking state was going to hang with them?

And then there was Kansas. I’m glad I didn’t watch that game. I thought it was going to be a rough first year for Gil, but wow.

Gilbert looked like a Starter at a major college program.

Agree with Scipio on his assessment on our offensive personality and schemes . Need identity.

2 major points.
1. Get used to less points being scored in a run establish O. Time gets eaten quickly. But recall
That the SEC teams control clock, pound, beat you by scores like 28-17 , but win rings.
2. That was the most physical Rice team I’ve seen in 30 years

I definitely got the feeling that they are holding back offensively more now than they have been the previous seasons. I’m not sure this is out of secrecy, to build confidence, or just to see what works so they know what direction to go in. The offense could never get into a rhythm because GD was forcing the run game so much that it felt more like a situational practice than a real game. Tech will be the first time we will really see what this offense has.

I think I saw Malcolm Williams catch everything thrown his way well which is encouraging.

I saw an offense called by Greg Davis, which has never been encouraging.

I saw Gilbert make the wrong decision on where to go with the ball a few times, but that should improve and I don’t recall hardly any in any danger of being picked. I think some of the short throws may have been him trying to make sure and keep the ball down as most seemed to be where the receiver was stopped with defenders behind him moving toward him, not with the receiver moving. I also saw him getting good time on play action, but we have to stay committed to a real running game for that to continue (also it was just Rice).

I didn’t see any important replays as Rice was running the board and showed none (two plays were reviewed and on neither was a single replay shown in the stadium).

I saw an offense that will encourage the uninitiated to say “We’re saving all the good plays for the (insert your choice, i.e. OU, Tech, UCLA, Nebraska) game as we don’t want them to know what we’re going to do” (and by extension we don’t want our offense to know how to run them in a game situation). These folks will not see the light until we lose that game running the same plays and don’t make any needed changes until after that game, if then.

I saw Rice get lucky/us make mistakes at the end of both halves that lead to 14 unnecessary points.

I saw the defensive ends bite inside on the zone read play several times in a row and let the quarterback run way too far. This is a play we have run for about 7 years now, they should have seen it a few times.

I believe I saw OU sucks only won 31-24, so if that is correct, I feel better about all of the above.

Good thoughts….I saw an athletic defense and one that will be flat nasty once the training wheels are taken off. Vaccaro will end someone’s life this year.

Good contribution from the freshmen. Jackson Jeffcoat was an impact player on 3rd downs and Mike Davis got a lot of snaps in the slot (although not many targets).

One thing I’ve noticed on defense is that you can get to Muschamp at times on the first drive, but after that, it’s as if he’s in the huddle when your qb is calling plays. We gave up some yardage on the first drive, but buckled down and forced a long fg. After that it was pretty much light’s out (long td was a total fluke on good coverage and deflection).

Overall, not sure how to feel, but am confident that the offense will come around a bit once we open up the playbook and the defense will be stout as expected. Looks like Garrett does have a good rapport with Goodwin and I liked what I saw from Malcolm (dude is a physical freak out there and needs to take that final step). Hopefully next weekend we’ll open up the middle of the field and add another weapon to account for in Barrett Matthews.

Given that Wyoming only beat Southern Utah 28-20, I’m expecting a beatdown next week in the home opener. Hook ’Em!

I also wonder how much of today’s game plan — namely, the predominance of the run game despite its somewhat pedestrian output – was designed to complete the erasure of GG’s 4-INT performance vs Bama.

Do Our O Coaches know it is legal to run a crossing pattern or a deep slant?

GG had at least 3 balls that were weak. Two were to the sidelines and the deep one to Williams was underthrown. The pass to Chiles was nice. I hope he was nervous in his first start because I was underwhelmed like some of you.

I saw Cojo run into defenders while not looking for a crease. Fozzy, by far , showed the most wiggle with great burst over Tre. I didn’t see Gilbert go through a progression on his reads,he did, make some very good checkdowns pre snap. Hardly no passes on first down in the first half, I would love to see 50-50 run/pass. McGuffie is very fast (do tattoos do that to you).

Couldn’t watch it. Listened to radio while at work. Missed some plays.

Overall: I HEARD the beginnings of a running game. I’m actually encouraged.
See what happens next couple of games.
Defense is very, very good. Will get better. (“Will”—Get it?)

Davis still has that sign above his play charts that says “THIMK!”
Boy, does he thimk. It makes me want to drimk.
4th and 1 from goal line. TOSS SWEEP????
THIMK, DAVIS! THIMK!

Muschamp seems willing to go vanilla on the first drive to get the opposing OC to reveal a little more of his hand,

After watching tape I came away a little more tempered with my criticism of the playbook in this game. We trapped quite a bit and showed significantly more in the running game than I initially thought we did.

Come on guys !! IT SUCKED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy Hell some of you bastards are tough on Gilbert. He was 14/23 – with one good throw away that could have easily been a sack and two PI-non calls where the officials seemed to shrug their should shoulders and say “hey, it’s Rice…”.

On the out routes, I think at least one of the overthrows was a deliberate chuck into the turf because the receiver wasn’t yet turned around and the DB was. He was definitely keeping the sideline throws FAR from the defenders.

Frankly I thought his showing was very good. I am excited about him.

On the toss sweep that is a TD if the FB/HB turns upfield and gets a body on the free LB. Absolutely terrible blocking. I wasn’t a big fan of the call if it counted, but it was Rice and you want to show stuff you might not otherwise do with CJ in the mix.

WRs looked fantastic.

If folks continue to pooch kick, we should do something funny with the personnel like move the returners up and cede anything kicked over their heads.

Incompletes across the board. It’s kind of hard to tell much when we’re so damn vanilla in every phase of the game. However, even vanilla should get us more than 190 yards rushing against Rice on 47 carries. Jesus.

LonghornScott needs to write more often.

Excellent post however hard to understand due to the fact I am from Ivory coast ;-)