When things go wrong?

Thanks, Jeff!
That’s the first time I’ve heard about Mackovic tossing the gameplan before rout 66. Nice bit o’coaching, there.

Great write up, Jeff!

Whew. Takes some guts to admit you were part of that loss to BU.

Poor McWilliams was the worst Texas coach in the modern era, but I love him anyway.

My fear is that our opponents are smelling burnt orange blood in the water and we will lose 4 or 5 games. Nah. I gotta get a grip.

Jeff – this is phenomenal. Chock full of win.

But I have to say, I feel like the problems we saw on O yesterday have been seen dozens of times. I think we are all fatigued with the Greg Davis / Maxk Brown offensive suicide pact.

Just like to see some competence on that side of the piggy.

“We have the talent on the field needed to win, we have the leader on the sidelines to refocus and reenergize, and we have the backing of the best school and the best fans in the country.”

Not to get into good fan/bad fan ideals, but I think the fanbase hedges this week. If the Horns come out brawling (results be damned), the fans will look like the best in the country. If there is hesitation, the crowd will get taken out of it. No one is going to cheer for a team that doesn’t respect itself. I agree that if there is a staff that can make it happen, Mack has shown he is among those who can.

Nice article. But we’re still going to get our asses kicked by OU, Nebraska, and probably Kansas State. Nebraska saw that UCLA score and was so busy creaming in their pants at the possibility of getting their shot at us, they could barely bring themselves to play against whatever JUCO school they were playing last Saturday.

Good news, though: we’ll probably beat A&M, mostly because it’ll be the last game on our schedule and, hopefully by then, Gilbert and the offense will have learned to ignore everything Greg Davis calls and just play on their own damn selves. Hey, it couldn’t be any worst than whatever Old Man Davis is calling, right?

Nice post, but the problems on the offensive side of the ball have been omnipresent during Mack’s tenure, save for a transcendent player in the backfield who would make diamonds out of coal.

Simply, this is the season where the roosters have come home to roost.

Vince Young also was part of an offenses that had among it’s roster Blaylock, Scott, Studdard, Sendlein, and Hills in the offensive line, Scaife, Thomas, and Finley at tight end, Charles S. Young, Taylor, and Hall in the backfield, and Sweed and Pittman at wide receiver.

Bottom line is that Texas is paying for poor player evaluation and development between 2004-2008 on the offensive side of the ball. Go back and look at the talent Colt was surrounded with in 2006. This is the least talent Texas has had in its starting 11 in Brown’s time in Austin plain and simple.

Davey,
Major found a way to beat a very good ou team in ’99 after a 17-0 deficit in the first quarter with jeremy jones and ryan nunez. Hodges and quame were solid but major did it with the former. This is not the least talented offensive team mack brown has had.

Jeff,

my friend SteveK from Churchill says hi. BTW, how did you ever recover from that brutal facemask in the UH game 1988 was it? That UH big guy just twisted your neck about 270degrees.

good article.

Trahan, Hodges ran for over 1,300 yards in 1999, Major threw for over 3,000 yards, and Cavil had over 100 catches. One big key is that he offensive line was better in 1999 than today. Additionally, Hodges ran for over 200 yards in that game, Cavil had 8 catches, and Flowers went for over 100 yards.

Mike Williams is far better than any tackle currently starting for Texas, Quaye was solid at the other tackle, Mike Jones was a solid blocking tight end, and the fullback was Ricky Brown. At those four positions alone 1999 is better than 2010. Mitchell might not have been Ricky, but he was a more instinctive back than any currently seeing the field, Cavil was a consistent receiver, Flowers was enough of a deep threat to average over 16 yards a catch and score every 6th catch, and a back-up tight was Bo Scaife.

Finally, Major in 1999 was a better quarterback than Gilbert in 2010.

Looking at 2010 the line is not as good as1999, the tight end combo of Smith-Matthews isn’t as good as Jones-Smith-Scaife, there isn’t a receiver as consistent as Cavil, and no back as productive as Mitchell.

Good attitude and good story.

As bad as things looked on Saturday, we do have an amazing record in come back games under Mack. It will probably be an interesting week of practice — including the coaches’ meetings. I think what this team needs is for GG to engineer some 4th Q magic for the win. One of the things we seem to be lacking is the confidence that we can come back and win. Something we have had for many seasons in a row. GG has not shown the ability to do that yet as a starter and so that sort of team-wide confidence is just not there. I think he can do it, but until he does, we will be wobbly.

At the top I want to say I am not an apologist for Mack Brown…he doesn’t need one. Look at his record…speaks for itself.

A couple of points:

1. UCLA’s offense, who’s strength is a powerful inside running game, matches perfectly with our weakness, a small, inexperienced interior defensive line. Add to that the 110-degree/70% humidity on the field and you have the confluence of conditions that created a perfect storm-game from UCLA’s standpoint.

I believe the only thing that surprised Mack and Muschamp was how quickly UCLA has assimilated the pistol. I’d bet they saw things on film from the UCLA – Houston game that made them think “Oh shit!” But were they going to say that to the fanbase? Heck no. But, Mack did tell us, back in March, that the weakness of this team is the interior DL. So now even the most obtuse can say, “No kidding!”

Mack and Will saw this coming from way back in the ‘08 Fiesta Bowl (until Wells got hurt), with the point driven home in the ’09 NCG. Our interior DL, by design, is created specifically to stopping Big-12 spread offenses. Otherwise you wouldn’t see 260lb linemen like Acho and Okafor taking straight on the big boys on UCLA’s OL…everyone of between 300 – 339. It’s like putting a welterweight boxer in the ring with a heavyweight. The stick-and-move game may work for a while, but the scenario of the bigger boxer getting tired and swinging at air until he collapses is the stuff of cartoons. In reality, the big guy is gonna connect, and when he does, LIGHTS OUT!

They recruited Taylor Bible, Ashton Dorsey, and Deaires Cotton for this very reason. Yeah, maybe they saw it a little late, but they certainly didn’t count on the misfortune of Jarvis Humphery getting sick and having to quit football and Derek Johnson crying wee, wee, wee all the way home. They hoped, as we all did, that Higgins and Howell would come on and at least be able to hold up long enough to cover the gap (no pun intended). And now we know they can’t.

2. We have guys, looking at you Curtis Brown, who are glory-seekers trying to be Jordan Shipley without the judgment Shipley possessed. Who in the bloody hell fields and returns a high punt inside their own 5?

And though I’m exhausted trying to talk some of my UT buddy/fans off the ledge and counter the idiot Mack Brown-haters…but I’ll continue to carry on.

Thank you for sharing the person story Jeff. Very enjoyable. I am not sure I can predict a win or anything else for this team. But I will say this is where recruiting the total athlete comes in to play. If we truly have focused on outstanding leadership, characteristics (think Sam Acho), in addition to the obvious talent – I do think the game will serve as motivation for OU and the bad game will not impact our psyche negatively at all.

I was at that Baylor game: It was Eagle Scout Recognition day, so I got to go down to the field with all the other local Eagle Scouts. Last game I ever attended with my Grandfather. Bittersweet, to say the least.

“Add to that the 110-degree/70% humidity on the field and you have the confluence of conditions that created a perfect storm-game from UCLA’s standpoint. "

Wait a minute…are you saying it was too hot for our kids? We play and practice in those conditions every day. Normally it’s just breaking the low 80s in LA this time of year. This is like playing in Boulder – it should have been to OUR advantage, what with our Buck Rodgers AquaVests on the sideline.

Of course, there is this point regarding our “Strength And Conditioning Coach”…

Jeff -
 
I sat through every minute of that Baylor debacle and it was as brutal a game as I’d ever watched. Sang the Eyes at the end and walked home without saying a word to anyone.
 
If we beat OU in Dallas, it certainly will not be pretty (I’m thinking 14-13 with eight turnovers between the two teams) but it will tell me that we’re going to fight out the year. If we lose badly, we’re going into uncharted territory and who knows what will go down.
 
The offense and special teams need to stop cutting the defense’s throat though.

What I’m saying is that the Texas interior DL normally faces spread passing offenses prevalent in the Big-12…and up to the UCLA game, both OOC games. In those schemes, the offensive linemen backing up into pass protection and the momentum of the play is initiated by the DL. In the case of the UCLA game, our DL, especially the interior linemen, were sustaining the brunt of activity at the point-of-attack. Combine heat and humidity with being pounded on play after play by 300 – 339lb offensive linemen and it makes for a long afternoon. Seemed like it began making a difference in the 2nd half.

All I’m saying is the DL was in a circumstance not normal for them. Maybe it was frustrating. Maybe it was tiring. Whatever. No excuse…not making one. Just stating the obvious.

UCLA was pretty well matched up to take on our D, and even after that game we’re still the #2 D in the country. What UCLA was able to avoid, though, was the D winning the game outright… which they are capable of doing.

We match up better with OU, and easily can come out of Dallas with a win, especially if our offense / special teams are able to rebound and put at least 10+ points on the board more than they give away.

The NU game I’ve already chalked up to being a loss, they’ve got the homefield advantage and have some of the same matchups against us that UCLA had. If we win it’ll be an upset.

I haven’t ruled out that we could get a second shot at them in the CCG though.

Not buying the talent argument for one second. Texas is one of the very few schools in the country that can truly cherry pick who they want. Talent is not the issue when you have schools like Boise, TCU, among others who win with inferior talent. Gary Patterson would give his right arm for our roster.

Our coaches are doing a lousy job devloping our players and putting them in spots to succeed.

Why is the issue of talent and recruiting such a sacred fucking cow to Texas fans? Go back and look at the offensive recruiting classes between 2005-2008 and notice something. A great deal of those players aren’t on campus. Notice that in certain key positions such as offensive line Texas didn’t take enough.

No way Gary Patterson trades his offensive line for the Horns. I am not so sure he trades his group of wide receivers nor backs. Why? His fit his system. There are the issues of player development, but Texas flat out has made some bad recruiting decisions.

Mack opted to only take Whaley when Michael was there for the taking. His running back coach begged him, but Mack stuck on his promise to a kid who you could see as a senior wasn’t going to be the back Texas projected him to be in Austin. Stonum could have been turned if Texas were to show the kid some love and make a fucking effort. That would of course require the wide receiver coach to get of his ass. JB Shugart could have been turned, but that would have meant some effort and not picking low hanging fruit. Three players who would be starting and make a significant impact on this team had different decisions and efforts been made.

Things have started to turn around, but it won’t be an immediate fix.

Benny Blades -

I’m sure I would have made the Dean’s List at Texas a few more times than I did were it dot for that hit in the ‘90 UH game…….at least that’s my story!

Check the tape though…..I take solice in the fact that was gaining on David Klinger. Probably could have caught him in another 40 yards or so were it not for those pesky peelback blocks!!

Hook ’Em

Nice post