We Are Exactly That: Do Not Expect Anything Else This Year

Very well said, and my sentiments exactly. Thanks for posting.

I’m afraid I’d have to agree. So what’s interesting to me is where do you from here in terms of salvaging the season for this offense?. The “new look” has been a failure. The O-line still can’t get it done for the running game. The H-back position is basically dead weight on the field. There’s no go-to running back or receiver. Our QB isn’t ready to carry the team on his shoulders. What exactly do you build around? Can you really abandon the things we’ve worked on to this point and go back to the spread? Would you really want to? I’d hate to be Mack right now.

“And no matter what anyone tries to say, whatever e-cheese type sunshine powder puff smoke we try to blow up each other’s asses, UCLA’s offensive line and running backs bitch-slapped Muschamp’s defense all over the field yesterday. 264 yards rushing I believe.”

That’s complete, utter, unfiltered bullshit. When the fucking offense can’t manage to hold onto the ball for longer than 5 minutes at a time (see last week’s 10+ minute drive against Tech for counter example), much less put points on the board, the defense is going to get exhausted in the 96 degree (temperature on the field) heat. They did their job for one half. And got spanked on the opening drive of the second. Had the offense been able to do fuck all, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Davis, McWhorter and possibly Applewhite are the problem, and you have the temerity to come out blaming Muschamp’s defense?

THEY DID THEIR FUCKING JOB FOR ONE HALF OF FOOTBALL.

What did the offense do?

Gideon is annoying as shit. That was ridiculous. He was barking all day at UCLA while we were down 20. Embarrassing.

Thank you for telling what I have been telling everybody for the last year. Malcolm Williams is not going to be the next great Texas receiver and never will be. Every time the kid catches a ball people say, “this is it, he is turning the corner.” He has horrible hands, poor route running, and no focus. I don’t remember the last time our coaching staff turned an underachieving wide out into a great one. Limas Sweed? Even then he was inconsistent throughout his career.

I don’t get the Major hype. Why do people think he is some coaching guru? His stints pre UT have been nothing special. He got fired by Saban? Will Muschamp doesn’t get fired by Nick Saban. Its the same when he was a player. He was an average quarterback. I don’t care if he beat Nebraska, there was a reason he was replaced by Simms. Our offensive coaching staff is dumb, but not that dumb that they will bench the better player. Get off the Applewhite bandwagon. He had some decent games, but a good half against Colorado’s prevent defense and a carving up Washington’s mediocre D does not make a football legend.

the team just doesnt care. its that simple.

It seems clear to me that we don’t have anyone on the staff who understands modern offensive concepts. In an era where teams continue to push the envelope with spread concepts and invent ways to run the ball effectively from spread formations, we’re trying to go backward in time, with hilarious results. Until we bring in some fresh perspectives on that side of the ball, we’re going to continue to see the same results.

In a lot of ways, this reminds me of Carl Reese trying to stop the spread. It’s never going to work, and you just hope Mack Brown is quicker to recognize the need for change this time around.

For what it’s worth, I agreed whole heartedly with everything else you said. It’s just that the rant about the D belongs at the BOTTOM of this post and not at the top.

If the defense had the slightest bit of help from the offense, and didn’t spend the ENTIRE game on the field, they’d have time to make adjustments, rest and do their jobs.

The whole team quit in the second half; it’s just that the offense never started to begin with.

Good points, including the previous run defense problems, but the defense didn’t play ‘poorly’ against Bama. That defense kept UT in the game when our turnover machine was handing them half their points. The fact that a rookie QB could come in and despite all that still be in position to win in the final minutes is a testament to the defense.

The bad news is that Georgia native and former UGA player Will Muschamp will be UGA’s HC next year, unless the Longhorns respond by offering him the HC job. Won’t happen, he’s gone. Though even if he is UT HC next year, I have zero worries that he’ll become the Frito Bandito.

The good news is that Tim Brewster will be available, maybe he can recruit another VY. Because the other bad news is that Mack and GD can only win championships with a VY or Colt overcoming GD. I’m not talking about faux national championships, simply conference titles. Bob Stoops has 6 in 11 years, Mack has 2 in 12. That’s the true measurement.

Nonsense,

Well done. Reading comprehension is not your specialty, is it? My point is this — elite defenses have long played on the other side of the ball from putrid offenses. Without lying down. Our defense got rolled yesterday. Our offense didn’t even do enough to get rolled.

The only time where I was truly disappointed by Muschamp’s D was against A&M. That was bad. They played well against ‘Bama, but got worn out and we just don’t have the personnel to stop that kind of offense. Playing in the Big 12 has forced our hand in recruiting smaller players.

They quit in the 2nd half, but I don’t blame them. That’s what you get when you have 20 year old gets playing. When the game seems over they start thinking about the frat party later that night. That’s college football.

I honestly don’t know what is going to happen next week. After every bad loss Mack gets the team to regroup and play really well. I remember after the K-State debacle in ‘07 we played our best game of the year. If it wasn’t for a Charles fumble in the red zone we win that game. So we should play much better on both sides of the ball. OU is a bad football team like we are. The problem is they have some semblance of an offense and we don’t. I don’t see OU having success running on us, but 14-17 points might be enough for them to win the game. It will be tough.

Toadvine,

Before you get all butt hurt and censor me, maybe you should learn to read for comprehension as well.

Are you implying (expecting, really) that we have a fucking ELITE defense? Elite? Really? How about just a damned good defense with a marginally fucking average offense that can hold onto the ball and move the chains for 5 minutes or so.

But you expect an “ELITE” defense. That says way more about you than it does about anyone else.

You aren’t getting censored. Just mocked for not reading all the way through before posting.

Good observation on most points. But I doubt there are many calls for Mack Brown to step down immediately, I for one, wasn’t for that. Pretty sure there are a large chunk of fan base who are fed up with the poor coaching and idiotic play calling on Offense, and that comes down to accountability. With the consistent failures on the similar issues over the years, only overcome by great talent like VY, the accountability needs to go to the OC, Greg Davis needs to go.

Many of us just hope Mack Brown has the courage/balls/conviction to carry through with what logic dictates. But who will replace GD? Don’t ask me, I’m just a raving fan who’s pissed off at the lack of accountability.

Why recruit talents if we can’t train them well? We are wasting good talents with bad coaching, and that is irresponsible to the team, to the school, and to the kids that we make promises to.

Hey man. Like I said, I agree with the rest of your post in its entirety – and its incisiveness.

By ranting about the defense laying down, justified though it may be, the real problem – the elephant in the room, albeit one that IS acknowledged, is the HORRIBLE coaching on offense that has been an ongoing problem.

This year we don’t have Colt or Shipley. Their athletic ability alone managed to mask the festering wound that is Greg Davis’ ability to adapt to a real football power centered university program. That last phrase sounds like bullshit, but really; isn’t that what we ALL have come to expect? Unless we can recruit another Vince or find a real offensive coordinator, we’ll be having these annoying, fruitless discussions into infinity. And I think we’re all sick of yanking each others’ chains.

“Our defense got rolled yesterday”

Sigh. I think I need to take a break from Texas message boards for awhile.

Alabama gave up 420 yards yesterday, about 120 more than we did. Think they’re sitting around bitching about Kirby Smart?

nordberg —

I hear your frustration. And I understand fatigue. But we gave up 264 rushing yards against a mediocre offense on our home field. There is no other way to look at it.

FWIW, I don’t blame our defense for the loss at all. If we take an early lead, like if Gilbert hits the easy throw to Kirkendoll in the end zone, then the game probably turns out much differently. Our offense did not give us a chance to win yesterday.

Nordberg,

While I apologize for taking up an inordinate amount of space here this morning, I think you’re onto something. Yes, I’m Captain Obvious.

At this point (to me, anyway) it’s DEEPLY irresponsible to lament our defensive issues. They simply wouldn’t exist if we had a semblance; an iota of a DI university offense.

But they ran the ball 60 times. And a good portion of that came after the outcome was decided and we said ‘fuck it’ (which sucks, and I feel sorry for what’s coming their way from Muschamp because of it).

Look, it wasn’t a great day for the defense either, but if I’m assigning grades, the offense gets an F and the defense gets a B-.

Eh, make that a C+.

“By talking smack in the second half after tackles (Blake Gideon).”

It should be pointed out that most of this smack came after tackles he didn’t make. His smack-talking and constant need to cheerlead has gotten really old.

I agree 100% with what you said. Especially about Gilbert. People want to excuse his play by saying he has nothing around him. I agree he has shitty skill players to throw to but when they get open he misses them. Kirkendoll in the endzone was terrible. Even the long completion to Goodwin in the 4th was so poorly thrown that he had to turn around. Has he hit one receiver in stride all season? He has no touch and I don’t know how you teach that. He has no pocket presence. He plays scared. Not impressed.

“He plays scared.”

Wonder why.

Amen. But yesterday was actually a relatively good day for Gideon, since he’s usually responsible for giving up at least 30 yards per game in penalties.

Agree with everything except the parts about muschamp. No, we don’t know if he’s ready to be a head coach. We do know he is an elite defensive coordinator.

Look, the game would have been closer if the offense had punted on first down every possession. The 13 pts in the first half all came from turning the ball over inside our own 30. 3 of our pts were a gift, not earned by the O. That means our offense was worth, at best, negative 4 points in this game. That’s worse than an abortion.

Their offense pounded it up the middle (where we lack depth) all game, and we wore down because our offense couldn’t stay on the field. Our d is elite. Yesterday highlighted just how bad the O is – so bad they bring the D down. Greg Davis must go.

The defense was facing an offense that had personnel advantages over us, and they did lack effort in the second half, but like others have said the offense is much, much, much, more culpable here.

We aren’t built to stop teams like UCLA, we don’t have the personnel for it. Even then, the defense did a fantastic job in the first half when we were committing turnover after turnover (just like in the MNC). However, the first drive of the second half was inexcusable on their part and it is very worrisome of things to come.

You are simply putting monumental amounts of pressure on a defense by committing five turnovers while also not being able to burn any clock whatsoever.

Also, like others have mentioned, the game passed our offensive brain trust by twenty years ago. We are prehistoric on that side of the ball and it shows. What’s worse is that the most culpable person on the staff has his position due to being buddies with the HC, and not out of merit, so we can’t get rid of his dumb ass.

nordberg,

I know why but he needs to be tougher. He’s just as at fault as the rest of the offensive unit.

Re the fatigue issue, I can almost read Greg Davis’ mind.

“I’ll cleverly call predictable plays designed to exploit all our weak points on offense. That will force us to turn over the ball many, many times. In this way, I will keep the UCLA offense continually on the field and wear them out. And we will win.”

Great post. I said all these things to people who refused to listen in the preseason. I said this team could go 6-6 if nothing went its way or 12-0 if everything went its way. Split the difference and call it a 9-win team.

We look closer to the 6 wins after Saturday’s game. Nebraska will run all over that defense. Can UT limit NU to 17 points like a I-AA team did on Saturday?

The H-back offense was a dud from the outset. Why not line up Cody Johnson at fullback? Do something to give this team a spark and a chance.

I agree with just about everything except for criticizing the D & Gideon so much. The D has, for 3 weeks now, come out and propped up an inept offense. At some point, the D was going to get mentally tired, and I think that happened yesterday. We’ve got to keep in mind that we’re talking about 18-22 year old kids who are still learning how to keep up the intensity no matter what is going on with the other side of the ball. That being said, the offense and defense are a TEAM, so of course they are going to feed off of each other.

I am personally cutting the D some slack. If Mack can get the O fixed, I don’t think we see the D “give up,” as some of you are claiming. And as for stopping the run, I’m going to reserve judgment on that for a few weeks.

As to Gideon, I do have a problem with people saying that the team obviously didn’t care and was complacent, then jump on the kid for showing some fire. I don’t particularly like trash talking, but if the team was as complacent as some of you are claiming, then I have no problem with one of the players trying to get emotions up. Personally, I think some of you just have it out for the kid, and nothing he does will ever be right. I don’t think he’s the best player out there, but some of you are just giddy in your ruthless attacks on him.

Personally, I am most worried about team dynamics right now. The D cannot be happy with the O and that possible animosity could do more to derail this season than anything else. Outside of the obvious play calling problems, this best thing this team could do for itself is to rally around each other and determine to be united.

Then, who exactly, is Texas built to beat?

Stating the obvious, but let’s hit the rest button:

College football has 12 programs – Alabama, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, USC, Florida State and Miami – that have played in both a national championship game and a BCS bowl. It’s an exclusive club. And of these 12, Texas has an inherent advantage in geography and resources. Compare to Alabama, a state with 1/7th the population and probably 1/10th the Alumni ATM Machine. Their offense has a depth of personnel which allows it to attack a variety of defenses. Their defense has a depth of personnel which allows it to attack a variety of offenses. Want to spread out laterally? They can handle that. Down the field? Check. Muscle up and blow them off the ball? Good luck with that. They’re beatable, but you’re going to have to beat them. They’re not going to do it for you.

Watched the Alabama game on DVR last night. Alabama’s first half was abysmal; the second half was sterling. They made their half-time adjustments and started hitting Mallett. By the 4th quarter, he was complaining to the refs after every play and looking like he did not want to be out there. It showed in his passes. Compare to our second half yesterday. You tell me – where was the evidence of coaching on either side of the ball?

To his credit, Mack took the bullet in the post-game, and remember that UCLA – a team with far less physical talent – hit this very cross-roads two weeks ago after being embarrassed by Stanford. Neuheisel turned his kids around. I’ll be very interested to see what kind of execution and effort we bring to DFW and Norman.

I think the only way Mack should step down is if he is unwilling to make significant changes to the offensive staff To be clear, firing the OL coach does not count as significant.

Davis has to go. If Mack sees that and takes action, then he’s still the right guy for the job and I’ll wish Will the best of luck at UGA.

If Mack still refuses to replace Davis, then I think it’ll be time for him to step down. If he’s going to continue to value friendship over what is best for the program, then I think he should move on.

I’d put odds on Davis getting dismissed at 10% or less.

What Sasha said. I just considered the possibility that the D gave up on purpose. Passively maybe? How long can they be expected to prop up the weak, inept, poorly coached offense?

Heck, I’m most definitely not impressed with Gilbert, but I’m not willing to lay the blame at his feet just yet. Greg Davis has been exposed as the fraud that he is and something needs to change. Dropping games like this at home simply isn’t acceptable and MB needs to figure that out – lip service to that effect notwithstanding.

Gideon was showing fire??? We were down by 3 TD’s and he was running his mouth. Inexcusable just like Kirkendoll celebrating a meaningless TD catch.

This article is refreshing, so are the responses. Couldn’t agree more with primetime about Applewhite, he went to the bench for a reason and a good one. All across the board we have offensive coaching problems. Enough of Gideon and his “yeah I targeted him” comment shit. Enough of not having a TE. same with OL and coach and RB and coach. This offensive ineptness problem isn’t going away after this year if we have the same coaching. Hopefully Gilbert is going to get better, there are plenty of better soph QB’s around the country….don’t blame him for having happy feet with this OL though. I believe in Muschamp, hope he stays around but will be surprised if he does, Mack has been quick to change defensive coaching weaknesses, why not offensive issues. I understand and appreciate loyalty but his first responsibility should be to this football program.

UCLA had 260 yards rushing but that was about it, right? I mean they ran the 1995 Nebraska offense. Did they even try to throw the ball?

Our offense sucks so badly it hurts to talk about anymore. The entire offensive staff should be fired if they do not show material improvement starting next week.

The excuse making for the defensive performance is a bit comical. The defense should be anal probed for the piss poor drive to start the 3rd quarter and the missed tackles in the secondary that caused 8-10 yd runs in to 15+ yd runs. I also think Muschamp ran out of options/ideas in the second half. Of course, this stuff looks minor compared to the nuclear waste dump that is the offense.

Don’t even worry about the defense. UCLA hammered our thinnest position on D for every single offensive play they had in the game. The defense holding UCLA to under 100 yards in the first half was the only reason this wasn’t a complete annihilation.

NO ONE wins games when you turn the ball over 7 times ( 4 fumbles, 1 INT, 2 missed 4th down conversions ).

Outside our -5 ( or -3 if you’re not counting 4th down ), turnover margin, the rest of the stats in the game could have pointed to a UT victory.

SEVEN turnovers. SEVEN. SEVEN!!!!!

Ask Jim Mora on youtube about what happens if you turn the ball over that much. You don’t make the playoffs, that’s for sure.

Yes. Showing fire. What the hell else do you want them to do? You want our players to just walk away hunched over in defeat? If they have to do something to try to get their teammates to wake-up and start playing with some passion, then they should. Then you’d just be on here complaining about how no one on the team cared that they were down by 3 TDs.

Toss the ball to the ref and get back to the sideline. Sulk? No. Act like you did something great when the scoreboard reads “Ass Kicking”? No fucking way.

Sasha,

There’s a difference between working your own teammates and trying to get them going, and stupidly talking trash to the other team when they are destroying you. The first is passion and desire. The second is a lack of awareness and discipline.

I completely disagree.

Great article, Toadvine !

I share your concern about the perception that the staff has or will lose this team. What do you think caused this – complacent coaches, no player leadership ?

Toadvine, I have to agree with you. Of all the post game articles yours I think best states the place we are at. Some people have disagreed about your comments on the D are off base, but they are not. Is the D better than the O? Yes, absolutely. But do you remember Alabama last year, the team that beat us in the NCG? They have an elite D and they were winning games 12-10 or 13-7 when necessary. They were able to completely trust in their defense until the O was able to make just enough plays to win or the defense scored. The Texas D looks like that about 1/2 the time. The other half not so much. This goes for all the games this year. Against Tech they were great all game but the other 3, no. They take series off. They have done that for 3 years now. I like Muschamp but that is a characteristic of his defenses at Texas. Now the O is completely inept from scheme to technique to execution. Texas has won national championships with running offenses with mobile/running QBs in every case, even 1963. That is how this staff won a championship. Why they would try to create an amalgamation of spread and I haphazardly is beyond me. I held out hope during the offseason but something just didn’t sit right with me about moving away from the spread. I like Garret Gilbert in general but the scheme does him no favors and asks him to run an offense he has never run before. He is a throwing spread QB always has been. He can even run some. I’m all for him running just enough to keep the defense honest but I think yesterday Davis depended on him much too much. Last, if Texas doesn’t start physical practices and keep them in place the offense will never improve. It was a physical month of practice in 2007 which turned the ship around. Why we ever went back to “NFL style” practices confuses me. Texas wants to implement a more physical running attack but no cut blocking no physicality no improvement. This is college football. Let it be college football.

torre —

I think the big problem is that there doesn’t appear to be any clear team leader. No rallying point. No matter how good the coach, he needs a reliable captain or leader on the team itself. You look at our offense and see nothing like that at all.

Sasha: I’m afraid I agree with Toadivine on this one.

Talking trash when you haven’t done a damn thing to try and change the tide but get in the grill of an opponent does nothing to fire up your teammates. In fact it does the opposite.

When you are getting whipped, yapping like a french poodle at a passing bulldog does not instill confidence or will power into anyone. UCLA ignored Gideon — as did his own teammates.

The game really turned after Curtis fumbled on the five. There was a giant sucking sound in stadium after that. I can’t figure out how we have two potential first round draft picks that can’t figure out how/when to field a punt.

But really, it comes down to the offense. First, coach “Pussy” McWhorter has turned a former All-American, national championship calibre line into a bunch of wimps that get pushed around by the likes of Rice, Wyoming, etc. We outweigh most of these DL by 60+ lbs and yet coach Pussy’s line gets blown up EVERY time! Can a line with three seniors seriously not get ONE yard? Coach Pussy’s guys cannot pull, trap, block, or cut anyone! They can’t even run screens, which teams like Baylor, Tech, etc. run with ease. Most decent teams have guys that can pull without falling on their asses or making worthless “lunge” blocks. Good luck hanging onto Westernman with Coach Pussy at the helm.

Next, the RBs, wow, they all suck. I get envious watching ESPN; watching dynamic running backs that can cut, break tackles, not GET TAKEN DOWN BY CORNERBACKS. Despite his fumbles, DJ Monroe still looks like our best back. He was averaging nearly 8-9 yards a carry. We have to fix the Coach Pussy problem before we make any progress here though. Hope we can hang onto Brown, but don’t be surprised if he reopens his recruitment soon. I certainly wouldn’t play for Texas the way our RBs are “developing”.

What else can I say? It was a damn hot day and we got completely dominated. This wasn’t a fluke win – UCLA ripped us apart. Mack better start making tough decisions, because Nebraska and OSU are going to have fun with this team.

One bright spot: I saw Blaine Irby and his family at Cuatros after the game. Simply amazing how this young man can walk around (no limp from what I saw) after the injury he sustained. Not sure if he will ever play again, but props to Blaine for recovering from that injury.

Sasha,

I’m watching the Texans and they just scored a meaningless TD. Nobody celebrated.

yeah, i stopped reading at “i’m not sure how he is a schematic coach” regarding will muschamp

There’s caring and then there’s running your mouth when you’re losing by 3TD’s late in the game. There’s an excellent picture of an OU WR making just such an a** of himself when down 4 TD’s to TTU last year. Our entire team lacks context and discipline. Talking sh*t when getting your butt kicked is ridiculous. So is fielding punts inside the 5 and kickoffs that are headed out of bounds. Or trying for interceptions on 4th down while running back to back dive plays that advertise the snap based on the timing of our reverse action. Or calling any routes short of the sticks on repeated first downs. We are undisciplined and stupid.

Gideon only failed to register a targeting penalty as UCLA didn’t bother with trying to pass it. He’s a non factor in run support, actually a net minus, like half of our secondary.

The hand wringing over the rush yardage given up by our D is laughable. What did you think would happen when our offense and special teams were out there exhaling suck with every breath? By halftime you you could tell this was a classic MB implosion game. If we had managed even 14 points in the first half, much like the MNC game, UCLA would have been forced out of their game plan and would have been federally fuck*d. We’d be lauding our D’s ability to keep UCLA under 125 yards of total offense with minimal rushing yardage due to repeated sacks. Instead we served up the exact game they were hoping for.

The D quitting after getting gashed in the 3rd quarter was depressing. Ofcourse, the other two phases of the game had sucked all emotion from the crowd and their teammates and caused Mack/Greg to wonder if those lumps in their throats were their testes.

We’re in for a 7-5 type of year that OU has so recently endured. I think McWhorter will exit stage left in January, and Applewhite will discover a WR coach opening in the WAC or other alphabet laden conference. Greggo is going nowhere. Will is gone. Let’s hope that Kirby Smart can be persuaded to leave hell and come to the 40acres. Next year will not be fun either.

I think the hardest part of all this is the interminable wait during the offseason for football, and the realization halfway through the season that you won’t even be allowed to enjoy a youthful team finding it’s way. Just great gobs of suck and a good defense for this conference.

We should get our kneepads out and pray to any deity available for a split in the next two weeks. That or Taylor Martinez becoming inextricably entwined in a cast off wad of Bo’s gum.

i expect the defense will bounce back and be great against ou. the offense will be worse becuase everyone knows exactly how to stop it.

Look, you guys are bitching about the team not caring. As I said in my first post, for those of you that have reading comprehension, I don’t like trash talking. But at least SOMEONE was showing some emotion out there. That was my ultimate point. I’m glad someone took the initiative to do something that resembled being pissed about the situation. So you guys make up your mind. Do you want the team to just bend over? Not show anything when they are getting beat? Fine. I tend to think his teammates should have fed off of his intensity. The fact that they didn’t is on them.

But ultimately, I think some of you just enjoy tearing down a kid that usually plays his heart out, all based on a mistake he made while a true freshman 2 years ago. Again, as I said in my first post, he isn’t the best player out there. But to nitpick on him when so many other things went wrong yesterday is just ridiculous. Gideon trash talking is, literally, the very least of the worries on this team.

That’s the beauty of this offense. You don’t have to stop it. It stops itself.

I think Gideon’s trash talking shows how intelligent he is. If he wanted to yell at someone there were plenty of people on his own team that deserved it. Talking shit to someone that is kicking your ass shows no class or brain. But he’s a coaches son so he should get a pass.

I don’t get the excuses for our poor run defense. “They were tired. They were discouraged. UCLA was being mean.” Seriously? If Muschamp’s defenses can get their ass kicked because of these excuses, I’m pretty sure we don’t want him in charge of the entire team.

Moreover, none of these excuses flies for the opening drive of the second half. UCLA just lined up and ran right up the middle for 80 yards. Nothing can excuse that.

Gideon getting trucked by Coleman on the 19 yd run in the third quarter summarizes his career at UT in one neat package. Watching him trying to catch Prince on that TD run was comical.

Theory of constraints. You cannot expect the D to be perfect on every drive and fault them for a few failures when the O gets with far more mistakes. The D has been consistently getting the ball back for the O, an O that just pisses away those opportunities with idiotic play calls and misexecutions.

TV – your post is 98% brilliant and 2% retarded. Basically, your football analysis to be the metaphorical photonegative of Greg Davis’s offensive coaching (which is 98% idiotic with the occasional accidental competence).

Finishing the thought. Offense is by far the bigger constraint, and need to be focused upon. When the O gets rolling enough that the D becomes the bigger constraint, shift your focus back to D.

Brick,

I’ll take it.

All,

I am not by any means saying that the defense caused the loss. I am merely stating that a truly elite defense never quits. The defense was strong in the first half. The second half left me with my head shaking. Apparently it’s become heresy to question Muschamp’s omniscience?

Let me be clear — our offense is hopeless and is likely to continue to be for the entire season. Our defense is not hopeless, but they have problems against smash-mouth football teams, particularly in the second half of games, and those problems are severely exacerbated by our offensive anemia. Or bulimia, when we turn the ball over like we did yesterday.

A handful of random thoughts:

If both programs continue on their current tracks for the season, why would Georgia alum Will Muschamp be more attractive than Georgia alum Kirby Smart? Coaching hires tend to go to who’s hot, not who has the longer resume.

Call me an idiot, but I believe that who’s in the trenches is just as important if not more important as playcalling. (That’s probably a result of having my head kicked in during high school in the late 60s by a team running the single wing.) Texas’ only 5th year OL is a converted tight end. The only other OL with 3 or more years in the program are Hix, Huey and Snow. None of them is going to make us forget Jerry Sisemore, Dan Niel or Justin Blaylock. Compare the resumes of those with 3 or more years of experience to the freshmen, sophomores and commits for next February. . . . Also compare quality and quantity of DL recruited in the upper classes vs. the lower classes.

Third, yes the Horns got pushed around yesterday. When teams get ambushed in trap games, that’s what it looks like. When Spurrier was at Florida, he ruled the SEC . . . . yet the Gators lost by double digits twice (92 and 00) to Mississippi State . .. They also lost by 20 to one of Jim Donnan’s crummy Georgia teams. It’s always ugly and turns your guts, but it happens.

Before Saturday, when was the last time Michigan picked up a game on Texas in the all-time wins column? They have Indiana, Michigan State and Iowa the next couple of weeks so they may well pick up more. Lookin’ like a long season.

Some personal takes on the current state of the program:

There are no difference makers on our offense.

I can only surmise that our recruiting over the last 4 years has not been as good as advertised.

Our RBs are pathetic and our RB coach is an abject failure by any standard of measure you care to name. He should resign as MB will never have the guts to fire him.

Coach Boom is in danger of becoming Coach Swoon as we have no run defense. That was ok when all we were facing were passing system QBs. Not so good to look at against the likes of UCLA and Bama.

Our pending opponents are smelling blood and we will lose several games this year.

We will not lose GG to the NFL early. He is barely good enough to play on an FBS team.

Thanks Toadvine. I agree with your analysis.

I also agree with Ransom.

There is a difference between getting tired for being on the field too long (think Alabama last year) and allowing an 80-yard drive right-of-the-bat after halftime. The defense being tired cannot explain that.

Like Skippy said, that drive changed the complexion of the game and I think broke the will of our team.

Todavine, logic you DO NOT get. Either that or you struggle with the vision thing. What part of -6 yards allowed after Q1 do you not understand? Or what part of less than 100 yards allowed through two quarters do you not get? And how do you get the idea that Alabama destroyed Muschamp in the MNC just a couple sentences after asserting Texas was one offensive play away from winning the game? Nothing like destroying your own arguments in the same piece, eh?

Actually, even though you don’t realize it, there are some valid parallels between the Alabama and UCLA games from a defensive perspective: in both cases, the offense could do nothing for large stretches of the game forcing the defense to stay on the field far more than they deserved. In both cases, we were undersized at DT. In both cases, Muschamp dialed up the right game plan which would have yielded damn impressive results if Texas’ offense could have split time with the other offense. You can have the argument that the defense is not great because it can’t spend a full 60 minutes on the field against a power running team if that’s the metric you want to use, but your bullshit about Muschamp not dialing up the right scheme or not coaching the defense properly is an insult to anyone actually capable of using logic. Maybe Muschamp is overrated, but YOU certainly don’t know that.

The other writers on here that you credit with actually knowing football disagree with you on your absurd opinion of the defense. Opining with such gross error brings your entire analysis into question. And apparently your logic gets bitch-slapped by the obvious facts or your own contradictory logic.

Logic is not your strong suit, bud. But don’t take it from me, re-watch the game and re-read your article.

Frozen,

Wipe the froth off your mouth. Put that helmet that your mom makes you wear around the house back on and tighten the chinstrap. Now breathe. Good.

Now re-read what I wrote. The Alabama game turned on a single play in the first quarter, a point in the game at which Alabama was trying to pass the ball on us, attempting to do what A & M had just done to us. We were killing the quarterback on the blitz. If we had gone up 2 TDs and Bama had been forced to pass all day then the defense would have looked immaculate.

That’s not what happened though. What happened was we stumbled until half-time offensively. Then our offense fought its way back in the game. But our defense couldn’t get Bama off of the field. The difference between the two games is that Gilbert got better during the Bama game. He got worse during yesterday’s game. In both games the defense got gouged by power running in the second half.

I don’t think that’s even mildly controversial. And it is a by-product of inept offense. But it’s also a recurring, predictable issue.

I’d love to hear what happened in the locker room at halftime. That might explain why the defense played so poorly the second half.

And for those of you who think Mack is going to do anything about Greg Davis, you’re living in fucking Dreamland. He should have been fired when Reese was, after the Washington State fiasco (which followed another OU fiasco) in 2003. There were deep pockets telling Mack to jettison his sorry ass and Mack refused. We’ll never get rid of that shithead until Mack is gone, which is why I want Mack gone, yesterday. I’ll happily take my chances with Muschamp in charge. The reason we are in this fix is Mack Brown. Period.

There is hardly a defense in history that wouldn’t get tired and give up a very occasional (like one in this case) drive in a game against a halfway decent opponent when your offense continually puts them in the position that ours does.. The fact that it happened isn’t really interesting. It’s unavoidable. The fact that it didn’t happen in the first half is remarkable.

You give up less than 300 yards with absolutely no help from your offense the way our defense did against alabama and ucla, you don’t deserve to be called out. You deserve a damn medal. I don’t care if they run for 400 and pass for -100. Get over the rushing yards, look at the total yards. You give up less than 300 yards like we did and that is nothing short of a miracle given our inept offense. Seriously.

Toadvine, the Longhorn defense totally dominated Bama for the ENTIRE 3rd Quarter of the MNC. I’m not sure Bama did better than a 3-and-out for any drive in the 3rd Q. And the D kept kicking ass until Gilbert’s fumble at our own 10 yard line with about 5 minutes left to play in the game. Pretty damn impressive given the DT size disadvantage. Maybe not elite since Bama had a very weak passing attack, but still a very good effort.

Are you sure you’re talking about the 2010 Rose Bowl?

I’ll never forget that fumble. And you’re right about the 3rd quarter. It was the 2nd quarter I was thinking of. The 49 yard run up the gut in particular. The last two touchdowns were just gratuitous.

Blueshorn

I don’t disagree with your assertion that Mack will never fire GD, but we have never had an offense that has been this bad.

Usually GD’s offenses have stunk up the joint against defenses with a pulse and against good teams. See OU from 2000-2004. His offenses have usually let us down for one or two games a season. Other than one or two games the offenses have been good. Lets not kid our selves. There have been productive offenses under Greg. Mack has been okay with the offense messing up against teams with a pulse, but never against Rice or Wyoming. The worst team Mack has fielded was the ’07 season and that was a really good offense that moved the ball against everyone. That team put almost 60 against Tech we needed penalties to put 24 this year. This offense has had trouble moving against air.

Mack has never had an offense this bad and so we don’t know how he will react. Its the same thing with the defensive coordinators. Mack stuck with Carl Reese for a while until the ‘03 season when the defense couldn’t stop anyone. I think if the bottom falls out from this season GD will go. Just like Akina got dumped in ’07, GD will get demoted to QB coach and somebody else will be brought in.

Whistling,

You already admitted that you are an aggie, right? Why do you now pretend to be a Texas fan?

Greg Davis is the Obama of college football

Prime Time,

The jury is still out on how “bad” this offense will be over the course of a season. We’ve lost numerous games over the years because of crappy offense and they weren’t all against good defenses. The same Washington State team that got Reese fired also made Davis look like a complete buffoon. Reese wasn’t Mack’s best friend.

“1. This team was one play away from the national title last year. That play was an option. It was a terrible play-call. Sure, yes, on the one hand we might have had more speed on the outside than Alabama. However, and this is one big fucking however, we only had one Colt McCoy and his back-up was a completely untried freshman. And that one Colt McCoy was fairly brittle. Also, we were moving the ball effectively with our own offense and didn’t need to try a gimmick. This kind of mindless play-calling IS a hallmark of the Mack Brown era (as will be discussed below). "

And what’s more, if the same damn thing didn’t happen in 2006 at KState, the next best thing to it did. Those who ignore the past are condemned to repeat it.

“I’ll forewarn you that I lack the analytical and technical football mind you’ve come to expect from the writers working here.”

Clearly.

Suggesting that Muschamp struggles with schemes is like suggesting that Ghandi struggled keeping the weight off. It’s fucking stupid

Greg Davis’ stupidity is clearly shown by the fact he keeps calling QB draws this year. He learns nothing from failures.

Any chance we could hire Leech as OC for the rest of the year?

Toadvine, I mean no disrespect, but don’t see your point. If you really want things to change you have to be willing to let go of Brown. If you regard Mack as too valuable, then you don’t have a reason to complain, THIS is what you signed up for.

Mack Brown has made it quiet clear that the only way Davis goes is if he goes as well. I suggest we make him think about whether or not he wants to reconsider such position. Unless, of course, you’re willing to tolerate what you saw yesterday. Which is the vibe I’m getting from your post.

On whether or not Muschamp is ready to take the reigns. Well, if we don’t think so someone else will. Also you seem to underestimate the fact that he has learned from the best, not just Mack, that should mitigate much of his inexperience.

That said, I agree that Mack shouldn’t step down effective immediately. But if he’s stubborn about his allegiance with Davis, then he should set a retirement date in the near future. Unfortunately, there’s no easy solution.

This defense is very good but… they are really missing the DTs patroling the middle of the line that we have had the past several years. Randall is good but not dominant and he is all we got. So against a power running team, we got exposed. Everyone knew going into the season that would be a weakness.

Imo, in the second half it looked like a combination of the D wearing down, giving up, and trying to tackle the football instead of the RB, in desperation to cause turnovers to help turn the game around. Overall they are the strength of the team (duh) but aren’t bullet proof.

Couple of big mistakes made in some of your assumptions.

First, that Muschamp’s defense isn’t built to stop power running teams. That statement seems to be built upon the assumption that he was involved with the recruitment of the players on his defense which is completely the case. My I suggest you take a look at the Texas depth chart and count the number of defensive tackles that have been in the program at least three years. It won’t take you long as that number is exactly 1, Kheeston Randall who just so happens to be the only effective true defensive tackle has this year. Last year that number was 2 in Houston and Alexander.

Bottom line is some bad luck (i.e. Jarvis Humphrey), bad decisions (i.e. Andre’ Jones), and recruiting misses (i.e. Jamarkus McFarland for one) have left Texas with no real depth and very few choices to play at defensive tackle. Scipio and others have talked about this issue for months and UCLA was able to do what a good offense does, use their strength which was a big and experienced offensive line against a smaller Texas front.

Give Texas one average defensive tackle and they can play Okafor and Acho outside more which completely changes the front. It also means the Texas linebackers are protected and aren’t having to work on reading keys and fighting blockers.

While you are counting the defensive tackles on the Texas depth chart you might want to also check the hometowns of the depth chart for the offensive line. The starting line-up consists of two guys from Kilgore, one from Gilmer, one from Aledo, and one from Wolfforth. Not exactly suburbia. In fact, the only two guys who look to be from the stereotypical definition of suburbia are the two kids from Austin. Maybe Cedar Hill, but Odessa and the Ship Channel area of Houston don’t exactly scream strip malls and soccer moms driving SUV’s.

Here is an idea, why not actually recruit kids who have similar skills in the offensive line and that might require going out and actually working on kids instead of taking low hanging front. J.B. Shuggarts would look damn good at tackle right not, but I guess a little effort and few tanks of gas were too much to ask from some on the staff.

As far as the rest, Gilbert looks like a quarterback in his 4th start and the problem is that he isn’t surrounded by the talent Colt was his first year starting. This didn’t happen over night and the changes Mack wants to make won’t happen either.

Davey,

Depth chart as it is, the defense struggles with a power running game. Which was my point.

As for the line, I was using “suburban and exurban” as euphemisms. Guess what I meant?

I agree about Gilbert. Jury is still out. But he isn’t there yet.

Simple physics Toad when a 255 lb man runs into a 320 lbs man the larger mass wins more times than not. To deny that fact as well as the lack of any defensive tackles who are ready to play and that impact on the effectiveness of Muschamp’s scheme basically makes the rests of your argument comical.

As far as what you meant on the offensive line who knows and in all honesty who the hell knows. Once again look at the depth chart and you will send an offense line made up of two seniors recruited as offensive lineman, on senior who was a tightend and never really played until this year, one junior, and a sophomore. Much as the case on the defensive side of the ball Texas did a piss poor job recruiting in the offensive line and it is time to pay the piper. Why do you think I mentioned JB Shuggart. Texas never made a big push on the kid and he could have been turned, but instead they opted for easy targets.

Next time why don’t you write a discourse on the ineffective use of armor in support of infantry by Patton and Rommel. Has a much basis as the comments on Muschamp when you refuse to recognize Texas has one defense tackle who has been in the program for three years just might leave the Horns vulnerable to a power running team.

What’s next? Hannibal was overrated as well?

There’s just very little about this argument that’s fresh. This exercise was almost an annual thing after the OU game until VY.

At the time the issue ultimately stonewalled because no one was really willing to sacrifice Mack to get the other necessary changes.

What’s different this time is people are looking at our program post-Mack. Not a question now of if, but when. Mack may or may not get a say in how that goes down. He knows what he has to do, although frankly it may already be too late. I don’t believe he has it in him to make the tough decisions regardless.

Davey O’Brien has become one of the must-read posters on this site. Good analysis and spot-on points.

Yeah Davey, you’re right. Size is everything and explains it all. Except when it comes to our line.

But yeah, Muschamp cannot ever be criticized at all (although my criticism of him is muted) and physics explains everything except that it doesn’t. Got it.

Hannibal also made mistakes. Everyone does.

“UCLA’s offensive line and running backs bitch-slapped Muschamp’s defense all over the field yesterday. 264 yards rushing I believe.”

That doesn’t sound like muted criticism. The big picture is that Muschamp’s D held UCLA to less than 300 yards total offense. A lot of those yards were after the UT D had to gamble in the 2nd half, leaving themselves open to big plays. A lot of those yards were after the undersized UT run stoppers were exhausted from having to stay on the field so long against bigger guys. UT turned the ball over 5 times, putting the UT D in a terrible situation. The UT D did a great job for a half.

Size makes a huge difference when it comes to stopping the run. It is extremely common (basic football strategy) for an larger O to physically wear down a smaller opposing D as the game progresses. BTW, physics is a huge part of football. There’s a reason there are weight classes in MMA, boxing, and wrestling, size makes a big difference.

It takes a while for most big guys (on both O and D) to get physically ready for college football. Muschamp has had 2 recruiting classes that are playing (i.e. no juniors or seniors) so it is not his fault that there is so little upper classmen DT talent on campus. Unlike Tech and OU, Texas won’t recruit juco players, so there is no quick fix to the lack of run stopping DTs at UT.

“Buddy Ryan’s defenses don’t lie down like that. Neither do Jim Tressel’s. Get off of Muschamp’s tip. He’s the tooth-fairy. Santa Claus. He’s never been the head coach. He’s the back-up quarterback. He’s an average sized dude on a coaching staff of midgets (right now).”

That isn’t muted criticism. Saying Muschamp is the average sized dude among midgets is your way of saying Muschamp is a mediocre coach. Seriously? Muschamp is way beyond mediocre, he is an outstanding DC and we’re glad to have him.

i enjoyed that report/update. and i am not even a texas fan.

my only question: how do you really know texas would have beaten alabama last year ‘without that play?’

i’m looking forward to another good texas/ou game saturday.

I hesitate to bring this up so far down on a stale thread, but I think this should be kept in mind when considering our O-line:

Buck Burnette
J’Marcus Webb
Roy Watts

That’s the vast bulk of your 2006 O line recruiting class and a possible major reason why we are starting a converted TE at Tackle.

We don’t have a tight end on the roster. Period. There are no players with true TE dimensions and skills. I would argue for putting the best 11 on the field at this point, regardless of position, for the task at hand.

If it is short yardage, put in three tackles. We used to run the elephant backfield and had lots of success. Everyone knew it was coming.

If we need 10 yards put in 4 wides including davis, white, goodwin and kirkendall and run a couple downfield.

If it is red zone throw a ball up for malcom on first down. Or a deep ball occasionally. Might get an interference penalty. Just make the fucking DB turn and run every once in a while.

Put a fullback or DL or maybe the one person who can block, whoever that is, in the backfield on a running down.

The other reason to institute, and substitute for a running game in the OL is to give young players a chance to get their feet wet without risking killing the QB. Put Hopkins in on some of the running calls.

Kafka,

A valiant effort, but your are bailing a tsunami of overgeneralization, failure to acknowledge basic fact, and exageration of a fan’s emotions with a a teacup.

Well, I’m bored with y’all’s mindless defensiveness. My criticism was muted compared to what I think about the rest of team.

The drive to open the second half was bad. So was the run defense for most of the rest of the second half. There’s lots of reasons for that and many of them went back to the offense. But not all.

No one knows how Muschamp schemes offense. And no one knows how he’d be as a head coach. I was being slightly hyperbolic about the midget thing, but my point is that he looks great next to the rest of the staff and maybe that makes it hard to objectively evaluate him.

I had no idea so many people would take that so personally. C’mon Davey, let your nuts swing without lashing out personally. It’s feeble.

But keep on believing. We need hope in something.

The offense sucks. We know that.

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