Strategic Incompetence

Mack’s loyalty to Greg Davis is his biggest flaw. I don’t want to hear about his offensive numbers from Mack. If we had an OC of Muschamp’s caliber, Mack might have 2 or 3 National championships. Any competent OC could put up the numbers that Davis has with the level of talent that has come through the 40 acres on his watch. I only cringe at the thought of how much of Malcolm Brown’s talent Greg Davis will waste next year.

Can Joe Jamail fire Greg Davis?….. because Mack will not.

Good stuff.
 
The toughest thing we have to deal with now is that any new direction we go in will involve execution at a level most teams see in Spring football. We’re way behind the curve. We’ve repped a lot of stuff that’s worthless.
 
Additionally, we don’t do a single thing well. Not one. So what do you do build on?
 
As for going spread, that’s fine, but we’ll be a poorer executing version of last year’s offense, which, objectively, sucked against every D with a pulse. Without Colt and without Shipley. No one is going to be covering our slot WRs with LBs a la 2008.
 
Davis is going nowhere, obviously.
 
It’s a tough deal all around and I don’t see an easy answer.

Yeah, plus I tend to think that Davis might have been saving a lot of power stuff and 2-back sets for OU and Nebraska hoping to pound their tackles and pick on the corners deep, or at least OU’s corners.

I do think last year’s offense minus Jordan but plus the actual use of screens and draws can be a much better product than what we’ve seen so far, fwiw. Not that Davis will necessarily utilize them correctly but we seem aware of how to run them.

Really if this offense could just avoid turnovers we would have a chance in every game, going spread, sticking with the “new offense” or whatever.

Much as I dislike GDGD and agree that the UCLA thing was an icky loss, we would all do well to remember that Mack and GDGD have a pretty good track record of coming back for a big win after a mid-season loss. I’ve watched ou when they’ve been on TV, and they aren’t good. I think the situation sets up nicely for us to surprise them (and ourselves, too).

Then we get a week off before Nebraska, who suddenly looks mortal after their less-than-inspiring victory over Directional Dakota State Saturday. That looks like a tough game, but I’m not buying the “they are a defense perfectly designed to beat Texas” argument; that was the same thing Scipio said about Texas vs. UCLA: “Our defense was designed to destroy one-dimensional teams.” Maybe so, but their one dimension pretty much ran us into the ground. (BTW – not criticizing Scip, just pointing out that just because it seems like one is a perfect match for the other don’t always make it so.)

I haven’t lost all hope yet. I like our chances in Dallas, which is the most important game on the radar. If we can pull out a win there, a conference championship is still in the mix.

Every team has flaws, OU and NU included. Exploiting those flaws seems a bit ambitious. At this point, I would simply like to see us avoid self-destruct. We simply lack the playmakers to mask GD’s flaws.

There isn’t a good option here—going under center vs. spread both have big problems. I think under center may be the least bad option in terms of avoiding turnovers and resting our defense. However, I feel like Carl Reese in his first game as DC in 1998 when he reportedly threw down his headset and said, “I’m open to suggestions.”

“For now Mack should embrace it, and quietly set things up for his replacement in the spring.”

Greg’s replacement, or Mack’s?

Hook ’em!!!

If we had simply avoided those 5 turn overs, I think we would have been in position for the D to win the game for us. Obviously, the punt return turn over gave UCLA a TD. The DJ fumble gives them 3 pts. We had 2 other turn overs in the first half that gave them the ball back around the 50. If we’d been able to punt instead we might have won the field advantage game and been able to get a fg. We go in 6-3 at the half in stead of 3-13. Even if they get the opening TD drive, we’re still in the game.

I think we either need to go spread AND be willing to run GG out of it, or we need to line up under center and run 70% of the time. Either way, we need to pick something and stick with it. If we can keep DJ from dropping hand offs (not entirely his fault) I think the under center scheme is safer but less explosive with our players and OC. At least when we throw picks they will be down field and more like punts. That would put the entire game on the D; that is how Bama won last year though. I see less 3 and outs with the spread, but I also see more picks and more blind side QB sacks turned fumbles.

I think the “destroying one dimensional teams” was predicated on forcing them to play from behind.

I’m puzzled by the clamor over Gilbert as well. I don’t think he looks rattled, he is just not executing up to the highest expectations after the bowl game. The expectation that he would be a Colt+ in his first year as a starter.

Colt had a better team around him and was lucky his first year. He made bad throwing decisions where the ball bounced out the hands of defensive backs. He was also in the same phase of QB development we’ve seen with everyone since Applewhite: “safely” cocooned in a coddled, pupal offensive plan designed to retard or destroy the development of wings. The gnawing of predators on the pupal barrier forces the pupa to either fly or be devoured.

Gilbert appears to have strong wings. I see big things in the coming years and, hopefully, this season as he becomes the next Texas QB exceed his master’s limitations.

Pretty sure he means Greg’s. While we all want to keep Muschamp, only fools call for Mack to resign to ensure we retain Muschamp. Nickel doesn’t strike me as one of those.

“Gilbert could eventually punish defenses better deep than did McCoy.”

But you have to be willing to go deep, which involves occasional messiness like incompletions. Far better to chuck it to the sidelines, where the completion – if not the yards – is assured.

Although in fairness (and I can’t believe I’m trying to be fair about this), the one time I clearly remember a pass play designed to attack even the center of the field, Gilbert didn’t see the underneath coverage (an LB I think) and hit the Bruin in the numbers. Which I suppose encourages further “safe” passes, even though “safe” generally = “unproductive”.

5 TOs will lose you most ballgames, but in order even to have a hope of playcalls that will attend to his arm strength, we may have to give up an INT or two — which in turn means that we must have 0 turnovers in all other elements of the game, or the collective O-sphincter will tighten up and we will not take any risks … other than the risk of wearing the paint off the sidelines.

Sorry, that we my incoherent comment – Brent was from another thread.

Nickel Rover,

I think that going more spread is exactly what is going to happen but it’s not reallly what I want to happen. If we do go more spread it is essential that the draw become our #1 running play. People keep saying that we have to be willing to run the QB out of the spread but that’s not really true (other than a very occasional play or two)… as long as we are willing to draw and screen (just as you say).

My issue with going spread is that I don’t think it particularly plays to Gilbert’s strengths and it gives us less protection options. I know he played out of the shotgun in high school, but his delivery and stare down’s are going to make it hard for him to deliver the ball to all of the 10-15 yard routes we’re going to need him to. That’s actually my fear against OU is that we are going to see their linebackers and dropping linemen from zone blitzes sitting in those short passing lanes while they overload inside gaps to get pressure right up the gut on Gilbert. OU will be able to pressure and force us into out hot routes without actually bringing more than 4 and then give Gilbert no where to go with the ball.

I think we’d fair much better with our under center offense and work play-action and draw plays extensively on first down. Do that and all of the overplaying of tendency that we are seeing from linebackers and safeties really starts to go away or be punished. We have shown that we can run block reasonably well (for those that are watching)… if we start getting a lot of play action passing going, it would actually help negate some of the problems we are having with wide receiver blocking.

Running a spread offense is about the worst thing UT could do against OU with present personnel. As I said over at Boomer and Sooner, the best comparator for UT’s present personnel running a spread offense is Florida State. Except UT’s offensive line is far inferior to FSU’s group. Christian Ponder to Garrett Gilbert is a wash.

I think Greg Davis and UT would be surprised at the results if they just ran downhill at OU repeatedly. We lost one of our starting DT’s, and we’ll be playing a true freshman in the 2 deep rotation along with the still hobbled Adrian Taylor. Tom Wort was WAY oversold at MLB. Even with UT’s mediocre OL group, the holes would open up over time. Just ask Cincinnati. They have a mediocre OL, and they gashed us in the 2nd half with a stretch play that Wort couldn’t defend and left a huge cutback lane for 15 yards a pop. Would it work in the first half? No. OU would go into the tunnel with a 10-6 lead. In the second half, OU would get worn down, and UT could plausibly win the game 20-16.

Nice analysis, Nate. Since this is entirely possible to actually work, I’m sure we’ll instead see spread shotgun the entire game, with numerous slow-developing WR and RB screens, zero shots downfield, and D.J. Monroe sitting on the bench in wonderment.

Nate is probably onto something.

But the Davis Tortoise would rather lose in its comfort zone than take a chance at winning outside it.

“I think we either need to go spread AND be willing to run GG out of it”

This.

The offense that GD knows and which works, is one where the QB is a legitimate running threat. Last year they didn’t want to run Colt, because they were scared of injury. This year, they’re terrified of running Gilbert, because they’re scared of injury. Both years, the offense has suffered greatly.

Put DJ Monroe or Fozzy in at RB, run the shotgun, throw your lovely sideways passes to spread the field, and let draw plays punish teams for 5-10 yards each time for dropping too many men back into coverage.

GD loves that offense. It’s where he’s comfortable. I bet we see it come out. We’ve slowly been moving closer to it every game up until now.

We all need to remember that Colt in 2006 didn’t look good until the 2nd half of the OU game, when down at halftime Mack told David to “take the training wheels off”. I’m pretty sure that is an exact quote.

I would be very surprised if we didn’t come out in the spread against OU. Zone read would be a plus.

I am continually stunned by Mack and Davis’s lack of understanding of risk. Going back to the Alabama game and Mack asked for something “safe that could break” and Davis give us the shovel pass to Monroe. So executing a shovel pass between two players that haven’t played, one with bad hands, in traffic, is safer than say a max protect post to Malcom Williams? Bama wasn’t going to return an INT for TD from their own 20.

Again, against Tech and UCLA these long horizontal pass plays, they have pick six against OU written all over them.

after reading all this and drawing from past experiences with Coach Davis , I will not be able to watch the first half of OU. I will turn onTV at half then maybe chastise myself for the remainder.

adt2 -
 
That’s funny, because that’s not what I wrote at all. I said one dimensional PASSING teams. You omitted a fairly key word there. You know – passing, running. They’re different.
 
I wrote that the UCLA running game represented our first interesting challenge of the season and that’s why it was so crucial to play with a lead so that they’d abandon their strength, one we’re ill-suited to deal with.
 
In other words, I wrote pretty much the opposite of what you thought you read.
 
Feel free to go back and read it again.

All of this and the thought of watching UT play OU this weekend makes me want to vomit.

maybe we’ll get lucky and a key injury will force us into a new scheme that works (OU-UT ‘98). not sure what that injury would be. Perhaps an anvil to GD’s head. (not that I truly wish anything bad on the man.)

wb

Nate, there’s the ideal offense for attacking OU and there’s the offense that Texas actually knows how to run that can have a chance against OU. The ideal offense exists in Alabama, not in Austin.

The only thing I’ve seen from the offense that has a reasonable chance against OU is the draw and spread game. Gilbert and the offense don’t look comfortable in the jack’n’jill schemes and it has not reduced turnovers from the spread sets. In general, turnovers come from the defense forcing you into what they know is coming.

Anyways, Texas’ line has some strength inside and some tackles that can get downfield, which would match the draw and screen scheme and still punish OU’s weakness at tackle (the draws).

LonghornScott: The entire state of Texas high school football enthusiasts would strongly disagree with your assertion that the spread doesn’t play to Gilbert’s strengths.
I mentioned protections, they can use the 4-wide and leave the back in for blitz pick-ups or send him out for draws and screens or they can use a 5-wide where Smith or Matthews stays on the line to aid against a particularly good end.
There are ways to protect in the spread that will work as well as anything else.

As for everyone calling for the zone-read, no.

It is a rep-intensive scheme that we haven’t repped at all. And, if Gilbert goes down any number of losses are in play. The season is over.

nobis60 -

“But … Davis … would rather lose in (his) comfort zone than take a chance at winning outside it.”

Spot on.

Hey but the patriots throw it east and west… To randy freaking moss when the corner is playing twelve yards off and welker is running a crossing rout or when the defense is in a very soft cover two and it’s a given 5 yard play. Greg Davis is an idiot