Texas-Wyoming 2010 Post Mortem- Offense

I too have noticed the glaring lack of backside blocking, especially on the inside zone. If we are trying to emulate the Shanahan Broncos offense, we need to allow for cutbacks, which for runners like CoJo and Tre are their bread and butter.

If I had my druthers Kirkendoll would never see the field again. Malcolm and Quise on the outside with Davis in the slot and Chiles the first sub for any of them. I can abide Malcolm because I at least know he is busting his ass out there, but he just doesn’t have natural catching ability. But Kirkendoll is a entitled dick head who adds nothing to the team.

i thought the offense was very different from rice in that when we decided we needed to score we went back to spread slinging principles. I was shocked in the rice game when there was not a single wr screen a la 2008-9. But it came back! I don’t understand why everyone hates the screen game, it has consistently given us more yards/play than the run game.

Excellent evaluation.

“looks to be playing with the joylessness of a North Korean athlete”
Greatness on multiple levels.

Yeah, I’ve been wondering a bit about Bobby Kennedy, too. The WRs appreciate that he is a laid back coach but if there is any position that needs extra motivation to block, it is WR.

I cut Goodwin some slack because he was not right after he got his bell rung (i.e. might have had something to do with the drop).

What did Capt. K bleed? Obviously, not on the field.

The 2 QB sneaks on 2nd and 1 proved GD is as retarded as we all think he is!

Mike Davis is already our best option at WR. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Darius White make his way into more playing time at the expense of the others ahead of him on the depth chart.

I get the idea that the play action/running game emphasis is just more Brown/Davis sophistry. We will continue to rotate the running backs until we hit the wall at OU, then it will be back to 5 wide spread and Gilbert will be throwing 40 times a game. And this is fine, he will excel at it. But why we are wasting our time with this “new” approach to the running game has more to do with alumni/fan appeasement than actually accomplishing something on the field.

Keen observation of GG’s demeanor, Scip. He does look like somebody shot his puppy. Is he trying to shoulder too much of the load too soon? He doesn’t have to be Colt just yet. Someone needs to find him a cheerleader girlfriend and get the boy laid…preferably during halftime of the TTU game.

I know it was a rhetorical question, but, to steal your line, yes, blocking down playside at advantage with man-specific responsibilities paired with downhill inside running behind our best players was primarily responsible for creating the gap Fozzy ran through. More please.

One other point I’d want to corroberate with you on is the unengaged safeties that have done too much damage to our running game in both the Rice and Wyoming games. At Rice it was #35 who kept helping stuff runs at the LoS, while against Wyoming, #12 had a good day against our running backs. If the Horns get better effort by the receivers and TE to get a hat on the SS we can have a sustainable rushing attack.

But why we are wasting our time with this "new" approach to the running game has more to do with alumni/fan appeasement than actually accomplishing something on the field.

The new approach, I think, it has more to do with making sure we attract the type of players in the future, that we actually can run it against good teams. We have to show that we at least want to move int hat direction philisophically.

re: kirkendoll et al
Maybe I played football (pop warner & high school) in a different universe, but on offense we were taught to put a helmet on someone until the whistle blew. Anything less was not doing your job.

I called Davis’ very first catch. The very second I saw them line up, intuition took over. Why it took so long to get him involved is beyond me.

Anybody who saw Mike Davis abuse LaMarcus Joyner in the Army All American game could see this coming. While his physical skills are apparent, it’s his mindset that separates him. I see a Shipley/Ochocinco hybrid with more in the phonebooth explosion. I love him.

Calls for D. White are a little premature. He’s good for stretching the field a la Plaxico Burress, but has anybody seen him run a real bonafide college route? His route maturity and Mike Davis’ are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a player.

Two years from now: M. Davis, D. White. J. Shipley, and fingers crossed….Cayleb Jones. Have fun with that America.

Scip,

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand all the hand-wringing and panic about your offense? I’m clearly missing something, as I see no cause for panic. UT has played no one of any value whatsoever, and with Landry Jones threatening to be competent, I would see no reason or value in tipping any more of my hand than I had to. The first time I’d expect UT to actually get lively in playcalling would be against Tech. Everything you tip now is something that OU has that much more time to prepare and gameplan for. I’d imagine Will Muschamp’s favorite home movie at present is likely a copy of the OU-FSU game.

“If we want to spark continuity we have to pair play calling with game context.”

I think we all know this will never happen.

why didnt the cosbys have another son?

“why didnt the cosbys have another son?”

They did. His name is Quincy and he played at Baylor I believe.

I’m by no means an optimist when it comes to the offense, but I agree with Nate.

I do wish the UCLA and Tech games were flip flopped however.

“why didnt the cosbys have another son?”

Quan’s son should be finishing graduate school by now. Shipley’s first grandson is on the way.

I was at the game and haven’t seen a replay on dvr, yet. Did Darius White get a foot down with possession on the play in the end zone? Sure looked to me like a catch on my one viewing on adzillatron.

If we want to spark continuity we have to pair play calling with game context. We’re not doing enough in favorable game situations to foster confidence in a our QB, who, at times, looks to be playing with the joylessness of a North Korean athlete.

I expect his joylessness is for the exact reason you noted. He’s got a fucking bozo calling his plays and there is no rhyme or reason to it.

Blues,

I don’t think it was the foot that was in question, it was whether or not he had control of the ball when he hit the ground. I initially didn’t think he did.

Second and short has always been an automatic run play, (or two), for Greg Davis. Move the chains , first and foremost. Second and short at the 45 should be the place to try your gadget, play action, home run play. It’s a free down.

But don’t hold your breath. Not until Gilbert can audible at the line will you see this change.

Beautiful job as ussual, Scip.

The one glaring thing I see with Gilbert is his tendency to throw every ball as hard as he can. Chris Simms had a lot of the same issues in short passing situations. This may be the result of trying to hard or being young and inexperienced. If he would just get a little more touch on his passes I think the YAC will creep up, especially with Goodwin, Williams and Davis possessing such excellent game speed.

As I recall, Young and McCoy also started their QB careers somewhat zombified. I’ve wondered and opined about Davis being a good QB guru whose ultimate payoff comes the day the QB shakes off the coddling Davis shroud and starts making his own decisions. The QB operates within the Davis framework of scheme and playcalling but executes with a flair and aggressiveness beyond Davis’ heart and imagination.

If I’m right, we’re waiting for the game when Davis’ moist, phlegmy whispers in the QB’s head become instincts rather than considerations. At that moment, the star is born. For Gilbert, I think this metamorphosis manifests itself in looking for a killing play downfield rather than too quickly executing the more conservative play near the line.

At least that’s my amateurish observation.

“Random Screen Generator” would be a lot more funny if it weren’t true.

Scipio or anyone else -

This has probably been addressed here at some point in the past, but is there a good reason to leave the RB on the field, splitting him out wide, when we go empty set? I assume the coaches think it takes too much time to run the back off and replace him with a receiver, and that seems lazy to me. Am I wrong?

I also think it is laziness to settle for DJ Monroe spending the whole game on the sideline because, hey, the other team knows what plays we run for him. Weak.

Thanks Scip, enjoyed the review.

Regarding Kirkendoll…I am most irritated when a player actively demonstrates disinterest and malaise during competition. My opinion is that he’s a me-first player and has supplied ample evidence that he’ll crater against stiff competition.

I believe you can improve a team by removing a malcontent from the mix; I would not miss him if he never saw the field again and would certainly prefer any of Kirk’s snaps to go to one of the talented freshmen. Time to move forward with someone who gives a shit.

Roma, any chance this metamorphasis takes place in the next four days? I really don’t want to lose a 20-17 game in Lubbock.

blues,

It took FIVE years of losses at the hands of the hated Sooners, including two prison rapes and a shutout, before Mack changed his philosophy about his staff and got a new DC, rotating through a number of respectable candidates over a few years before settling on Muschamp. I would expect it would take either back to back losses to OU due to offensive failure or for Muschamp to take over before Greg Davis sees a much-deserved pink slip.

Quarterback sneaks on 2nd and 1 should result in a beheading.

MBV:
Yeah, Darius did not look that great on the end of the pass that should have been a TD. He rounded the route, reacted late to the ball, and definitely bobbled it. Difficult to tell whether he stopped bobbling before he touched the out of bounds line but it should never have been close. The pass was beautiful.

For the record, and I know it’s based on the NFL not college, but a quarterback sneak for a first down on 2nd and 1 lowers your expected points on a drive and your win probability as you can see for yourself with this calculator.

I would imagine that it’s only worse for college where big plays are more common.

I never thought a Sooner blogger would be smarter than all of these Texans, but Nate’s got it right…

We are saving our offensive wrinkles for OU. We do it every year (except when we start out playing tOSU). Unless Tech takes the lead, expect to be bellyaching this time next week about our offense. If you aren’t complaining it’s because our defense has failed to keep Tech under control and we have tipped off our playbook. See OU’s past two games for an example of this strategy.

Someday I hope that reading one of these won’t depress me.

Huckleberry – you’re a monster, with a completely different brain than mine, but much respect.

The QB sneak on 2nd and inches is a Davis staple that has long frustrated me. You don’t need to be Huckleberry to just intuitively know how stupid it is. Kind of like doubling down on 11 against the dealer’s 6- sure something bad could happen, but the odds are so much in your favor you would be stupid not to do it.

Scip- interesting analysis about who wants to shorten the game and lengthen the game. I remember some article (Huck’s, I think) showing that the better team usually wants to lengthen the game while the weaker team wants to shorten it. The better you are the more possessions you want for both sides in order to decrease the chances of random fluctuation. Strange we are going against that since you would think we would be confident that we are the more talented team, but then again we do QB sneaks on second and short so who knows what the hell we are thinking.

The only time a QB sneak on 2nd and short makes sense is when its for a TD. Even then, why not just have Cody run it and not risk injuring the QB.

I keep trying to rationalize why someone would ever do it. I got nothing. Maybe, just maybe we want to practice it in a real game situation???

Um doubling down on 11 with a dealer 6 is poker 101. QB sneak on 2 and 1 agains WYOMING is chicken shit pee wee football

Scip another crisp write up.

Captain Kirk is in deep space. Kirk gives us almost nothing out there. If this was the NFL, Texas cuts him this week. How the hell did Kirk have the best summer and fall of any receiver? Not possible. Mack’s spinning has uneffective. Kirk there’s a nice warm spot for you on the bench, channel your inner Shanahan.

Poehlmann’s injury hurts the depth and Luke’s development, but it does give Luke another year to add weight and get his body where it needs to be. It will be nice to have Poehlmann and Allen with another year on campus.

I really hope the coaches will open the play book against Tech. Yep, GG is playing joylessly. Open it up and let GG do his thing Greg Davis. GG is a sophomore, but we already learned this with VY, just let the kid play and do his own thing. GG has the talent to make plays and win us games. Take the training wheels off Mack and Greg.

mysterious- perhaps I did a poor job with my analogy.

Doubling down on 11 versus a 6 = playaction fake and going intermediate to long pass. Low risk and something very good has a decent chance to happen.

Not doubling down= QB sneak on 2nd and short . Even lower risk (unless you consider an injured QB a risk but we all know that never happens, right Greg?) but all you get is a first down/your original bet.

I hope that GD’s randomness frustrates opposing DC’s as much as it frustrates me.

“What’s Texas going to do with this situation?”

“Fuck if I know. GD is random.”

http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/2007/01/rock-paper-scissors-edgar-allan-poe-and.html

We can hope?

Texas Football would be so much better if posters on Barking Carnival at Fan Take brought to you by YES Sports could decide who plays and what plays are called. I just know it. Dammit it frustrates me.

On defense? No. We have a real master of his craft working there.

On offense? Probably.

“Here’s where one of you chimes in asking for Traylon Shead or Jeremy Hills and I throw my laptop out of the window, praying that a gust a wind of wind will carry it to your forehead.”

Yes! Yes! Yes! Greatness.

I have one question. Is there any chance that Greg and Mack reconsider their “no cut blocking in practice” rule? It takes a lot of practice to perfect. If you don’t know what you are doing you end up jumping on top of the defenders shoes or completely wiffing. I am speaking from experience.

Yep, no need to wring our hands just yet, Nate nailed it.

I rubbed my twat a little after the Rice game until I accepted that we are an entirely different team that will rely on defense, special teams, and the occasional ‘holy-shit-what-just-happened-did-you-see-that-block-at-the-end-he-was-murdered-OMG-LOL-he-is-so-fast’ wow type of play.

We will not show anything against Tech unless we get behind by more than one score. Expect lots of running, lots of punts, and hope the wind isn’t blowing too hard near the end of the half. We will not show anything against UCLA.

Hook ’em!

No reason to keep anything to the vest against Tech. That’s conference play.

Greg Davis likes first downs. I’ll never forget Greg’s reply when asked why we ran so many FB dives during the 2003 season on second and short. “I like first downs.”

I like them too Greg, but I like putting six points up on the board even more. And given that we’re not going to be a team that churns down the field 4 yards at a pop, or have a QB who can consistently move the chain with his legs and bail us out of your grab bag play call, I suggest we take the opportunity to use PA and pop one downfield. There’s a reason why all those PA passes to Limas worked following a sudden change of possession a few short years ago. We had the defense at a disadvantage. Kinda like 2 and 1. And here’s the kicker. Complete a few of those passes in that situation and you’ll find the sledding much easier for our JAG RB committee.

In addition to the lack of situational awareness, opponent’s tendencies, or refusal to give our boys a competitive advantage via motion, alignment or formation, this has got to be what keeps Greg in the good category and out of the elite grouping. He wants first downs when the best are trying to score. We can work on shortening the game after we’re up by 3 TD’s and want to chew clock while forcing the opposing offense to throw into the face of Boom’s defense.

2nd and 1 is a classic playcaller’s down. A QB sneak or a dive is the OC equivalent of squatting to pee. It pretty much demonstrates to me that you’re out of ideas.
 
And giving up free hits on a QB whose health is the most important single factor in our team’s success is asinine. Pretty much indefensible.

magnusbleuveigner: “Anybody who saw Mike Davis abuse LaMarcus Joyner in the Army All American game could see this coming.”

Fuck, oh my! I’ve been preaching this kid since I saw that game (by accident, at that)… moves, discipline, catch-ability and (maybe most important) Burning Desire.

Yes!

GD’s randomness is an oxyMORON

and the freshman WR Kennedy passed on in our camp evaluation and who fell into our lap later is the best player in the group (Posted by ScipioTex)

Scip – Please forgive my not knowing, but Kennedy passed on Davis ?

Broadly speaking, our most tenured WRs don’t block, they’re not catching the ball, creating nothing after the catch, and the freshman WR Kennedy passed on in our camp evaluation and who fell into our lap later is the best player in the group.

I know that since everything worked out and we’ve got Davis I should really let it go, but it boggles the mind that Texas almost passed on that kid.

torre, yes. Davis had heavy interest and couldn’t believe he wasn’t offered at the first Jr. day. In all likelihood, he committed to LSU out of spite. Thankfully he’s smarter than our staff and had a change of heart. Then, ALL it took was him to absolutely destroy Desoto (and Adrian Phillips) for the UT staff to go, “y’know, maybe we have another Kirkendoll on our hands.”

Every year they do their best to pass on somebody that no staff in their right mind would. This year they were doing their best to ignore Diggs. That failed, so we’re going to gift wrap Brandon Williams to OU.

Scip – Please forgive my not knowing, but Kennedy passed on Davis ?

Someone passed on Davis initially. He wasn’t offered until December, after Texas already had commitments from Harris, Jones, and Terrell, and had an offer out to Darius White. Texas chose Apo over Davis as well.

This year they were doing their best to ignore Diggs.

Diggs committed in March, 11 months before NSD. Neither Diggs nor any Texas fans have any legitimate complaint there imo.

He destroyed AJ White, not Philips.
 
And yeah, the offensive staff is pretty lazy on the recruiting trail with the notable exception of Applewhite.

bigduke -
 
Our recruiting cycle is our own. And they were definitely debating whether Diggs was a take.

bighorn -
 
Good thoughts all around.
 
wisconsinhorny -
 
The screen game vs. running game is a false choice. You can do both. And our screen game tended to eat up the little guys and falter against real defenses. Check Colt’s 2009 statlines against OU and NU. Not pretty.
 
fear the cow -
 
We’re trying to get better in the running game because we want to be better at it. Mack hasn’t guaranteed a number of runs and we’re not putting in the Veer. He just wants to run better. Not only for its own sake but as a way to reopen the deep passing game and prevent teams from playing 6-7 DBs against us at once. There are real reasons for it and the conspiracy theories around it are silly.
 
I do agree that we’re showing it to recruit, but it’s not some act of sophistry.
 
Nate Heupel -
 
None of my comments have anything to do with wrinkles, special plays, or anything else. I’ve been painstaking in describing that, in fact. It has to do with a basic execution of offense and pairing your play calling with some sort of plan and understanding of game context. If you think Davis is deliberately sabotaging our offense in that regard, then there’s not much to discuss. These are the same habits in him that have us reach blocking out of the end zone running the I in a game we had to win in Lubbock back in ‘08. These are consistent strains.
 
Same goes for the rest of the sandbagging theorists. No shit we’re not running our entire playbook. That has zero to do with anything I’ve written. I can’t spell this shit out any more plainly.
 
I’m an advocate of running your offense fully with a new QB. He needs to execute these plays in real games, not run them his first time on national TV full of adrenaline. As for game specific, team specific plays that we believe give us advantage, clearly we should prep OU for weeks prior to that game, but that doesn’t mean playing with handcuffs on and shitting on your QBs game reps.
 
gkp -
 
Exactly. Notice the down and distance on Wyoming’s big pass play? 3rd and 1.
 
RomaVicta -
 
Lots of merit to your view. Improvisation and running an offense Davis doesn’t really want are pretty much key to our best offense.
 
Bobby -
 
We do it to keep a LB on the field. And we use the motion to help determine what their coverage is. It’s not laziness, but good practice. I detest empty sets in general, but that’s different talk altogether.

bill -
 
Good thoughts. Though I don’t doubt Mack that Kirkendoll looked good. Kirkendoll is just not a gamer. He’s exactly the guy you’d expect to eat up your young scholarship players and then wilt when he faces a quality DB. That’s what he did in every game last year.

Monahorns -
 
We should do it on the scout teams if we don’t want to injure scholarship players. There’s definitely an art to cut blocking, as Blake Brockermeyer described in our OL podcast a week ago.

as Blake Brockermeyer described in our OL podcast a week ago. (posted by Scipio)

Scip – Will there be anymore halftime podcasts ? Great job during the Rice game.

Also, thanks to everyone above for the answers on Davis’ recruitment.

torre -
 
I don’t know about the 1/2 time podcasts. They’re a pain in the ass and turn the game viewing into a bit of a chore.

Scipio, Monahorns – Serious question, what do you know about Shead that I don’t know? Putting him in the same sentence with Hills is like comparing Kirkendoll and Davis because they are skinny. Hills = 3rd year fumble-issue, can’t quite get there RB who seems to have asked for a redshirt. Shead = ????

All I know and have seen about Shead is that he was an All American for a reason. Davis and White weren’t the only ones that looked good in their allstar games. I think Shead has some vision, can cut back, can break tackles. Which one of our RBs can do that right now? I understand your laptop tossing response should be kicking in right now. I understand the feeling and have it when someone mentions Hills. But what am I missing with Shead?

Trent Richardson benches 465. I like the fact that Shead is over 400 too.

Scip,

I’m not saying he’s “sandbagging” necessarily. If you’ve got a D like the ones Boom puts out annually, why go any further than necessary? My line of thinking is “If he’s that good already, no need to show it off.” Your line seems to go “We might be assuming he’s that good, but it’d be a real bitch to be facing a 10 point, 4th quarter deficit in Dallas with 2 minutes to play having found out he’s not ready yet.” It makes sense.

All I know is that if I were Shead, I wouldn’t be too fucking crazy about being in the same class as Malcolm Brown. I’d be begging them to let me play this year.

Loved this…‘He is Black Shipley’

Balltastic -
 
Shead would be the #6 rated back in the state if he’d come out with year. And when I look at our running game, I rarely think – what if our RB benched more? – as a solution.
 
We’ve not been shy about trying different guys at RB. If the coaches thought he could help us, he’d be out there.

I’m pretty sure some of our linemen can bench 500+ (I’m also pretty sure Halls could not last year). I think we should give one of them a shot at RB of the week.

Thanks, Scipio. I’m guessing we’re not going to see as much empty set this year since we’ve only run a few plays from it in the first two games. In that case, any issues to be found with it become pretty unimportant. But I’m also kind of reminded of the scene when Walter tells The Dude their troubles are fucking over.

Yes Scip, practice cutting on the scout team. Excellent. But will this coaching staff do it? I don’t know.

I listened to every second of the Brockermeyer podcast. It was awesome. Can’t wait until you do it again. I know he probably doesn’t have the time or interest to do it, but it would awesome to hear him comment on the Horns OL play each week. I could probably listen to 30 minutes a week, easy.

Yeah, the problem is not the fact that we have not tried Shead yet. The problem is blocking execution as dictated by practice time and the overall set of plays and system we run. Your running game is going to work better the more off balance you keep the defense. That is done by counters off of base plays, blocking angles/trapping, and having multiple plays run from the same line and back motion where different backs get it at different times. If you want to see this work go watch a high school run the wing T or one of the colleges running a spread option attack like Michigan or Oregon.

Thanks Scipio. Valid points taken. I would just mention – where would Cody, Tre, and Fozzy rank against those same top 5 RBs this year? I wouldn’t rank them higher than 6 either. I was much higher on our guys when I posted my insanely long breakdown of our RBs during the spring. But now that they are starting to get some real run blocking & holes opening up, I thought we had more than we actually do. (I think we know our guys now — Fozzy could be real good for us if healthy. Cody doesn’t read the cutback very well and he is only at his best when pile driving straight ahead. And Tre has great vision and cutbacks, but everyone can notice Tre going down with first contact.)

This is why I mentioned Shead’s bench number. It’s a relative measure of strength. I don’t think Shead sits around all day getting his max bench up. I just think he is all-around one of the strongest dudes on our team. Huey is suppose to be the strongest at 435, and I like the idea of trying a big back that might have good/great vision while being one of the top 15 strongest guys on our team. If he makes a 3rd of the runs of Lattimore, I would be ecstatic.

I think if we give him a shot, we would see something similar to what we are getting with Mike Davis. Natural, uncoachable talent. Or maybe not. I just don’t see any downside with burning a shirt if he is close in practice. I trust the coaches a ton and if they think he is not ready, then OK. But if you put him in the 4th qrter a few times and doesn’t perform better than our current backs, just redshirt him next year. We will have all of the same guys back, plus Malcolm.

And thanks a ton to you Scip, and Vash and Nickel Rover. I really appreciate some good, intelligent analysis of our team. Sometimes there is not much better. Thanks.

Monahorns -
 
You’re in luck. Another Blake Brockermeyer call is going up within the hour. Very knowledgeable and you’ll hear us bust out laughing on a couple of occasions when he talks about his experience with TEs over the years.
 
Balltastic -
 
I don’t mind playing him. But we’re trying to trim the RB by committee and pass protection from our RBs is paramount. All it takes is one kill shot on Gilbert to effectively end our season. The coaches may not want to put that on Shead if they don’t see a substantial running upside.
 
If Shead were destroying people in practice, he’d be out there.

"We are saving our offensive wrinkles"

I have never understood this – from GD or anyone else… it makes no sense, for two reasons: first, you need game situational reps – simulating in practice won’t cut it (see 4th and Goal vs Rice); second, if your future opponents see it, and know your wrinkle is a possibility, it will slow their reaction while they make the read, and that makes the originals and the wrinkles both work better.

Reminds me of all the Little League coaches who save their best pitcher for the championship game and lose the semi-final.

and

"I think if we give [Shead] a shot, we would see something similar to what we are getting with Mike Davis. Natural, uncoachable talent. Or maybe not. I just don’t see any downside with burning a shirt if he is close in practice."

I agree – I don’t see any downside to burning his shirt regardless. Most think he’ll be passed by Brown next year anyway, so there’s not a huge issue there. And while it’s def the coaches’ call, I have to opine that they are assuming that he’ll perform in games as he does in practice, and the fact is that there are people who just flat don’t show up in practice as they do in games – something about that adrenaline, you know. I also get the pass-pro thing, but hell, at least put him in with McCoy Jr and let’s see what he’s got.

TexLong -
 
Agreed. We’re on the same page re:wrinkles.
 
As for Shead, the coaches just said Hills will travel to Lubbock. So that gives you an idea how the depth chart is currently shaking out.