Texas-OU 2010 Post Mortem- Offense

4. When 15 TE check down completions on 3rd and 4th down for the year are 0 for 15 on conversions, all short of the sticks, perhaps you should consider that you’re being played like a fiddle.

I’m going to pretend that you’re making that up.

You took what the GD gave you and made a nice article about it. Good job.

The check downs to Smith are infuriating. Do we ever throw to the TE down the seam? What kind of routes was Mathews running when he was being raved about all Summer?

Scip, I admire your persistence in continuing to spell out how inept our OC and his offense really are. I’m getting the definite feeling that those who are going to get it have long since done so. I really appreciate your doing so with wit. Satirical comedy is all that is left to say at this point. Thanks for continuing to fight the good fight.

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one laughing when Davis opened with what he considers vertical routes directed at the sidelines. Unfortunately it’s not getting any better. I’m convinced without a QB that can make off script plays than Greg Davis and Mack Brown are 3 or 4 loss coaches a year…minimum.

If Mack won’t make the change with Davis than I’m ok with a change at the top.

Accountability is sorely lacking from top to bottom on this side of the ball. It’s a young man’s game with fresh concepts dominating the future. The offensive game has passed for the two that matter.

Great analysis (as is usual for you) and (as usual for you) witty as hell. I see nothing to disagree with regarding the season to date, and probably the season in the future. Stranger things have happened, but I don’t see GD experiencing a visit from the ghosts of viable offenses of the past and suddenly stringing together a modest run of coherent play calling. But I do know that if I had a son who was a potential pro-style quarterback for FBS football and beyond, I sure as hell wouldn’t let GB coach him (down).

Keep it up. Mack Brown will never fire GD, but he can be shamed into quiting. If the cry is vociferous enough, and consistant, from all angles; there may exist a scenario where GD has some pride and retires. Your articles can contribute to this. I feel it is building pretty well in the online community. If teh media will do its job and start asking the obvious, tough questions, this could really catch steam.

Its all we can do from where we are.

Water coolers! Ha! Ha! Priceless, Scipio. Funny and sad at once. But so true.

When you say that Gilbert’s a “system QB without a system,” what exactly do you mean by that. Is it that the playcalling seems like darts thrown at a board rather than situational? Or is it that 8 or 9 plays run over and over aren’t enough to comprise a system.

Sitting in the stands and having no real idea of what I’m talking about, it sure did look like the old 2000-2004 “it seems like they have more players than we do” scheme is back.

Greg Davis has no clue

Everyone points to VY and Colt as exceptional talents that made something out of nothing in order to find success in the GD offense. I rarely see The Major lumped into the group of something from nothing, due to his lack of athletic talent. I think people (like me) look to The Major as a future OC because he seemed to do it when he was our QB. The bomb to BJ in the B12 CG after consistent sideline passing from Simms is my best example of the “fuck that play call, here’s what we’re gonna run” mentality that The Major displayed.

I see Gilbert as similar to Simms in that he needs plays to be called for him to succeed. He does not seem to have the athletic or (to this point) mental capacity to turn chicken shit into chicken fajitas yet.

We ran a beautiful play action post corner to Kirk. The very next time we were in that formation, we ran the exact same play action pass, with the exact same patterns. As they lined up, I leaned over to my friend and predicted the same play. OU did as well as the routes were well covered.

That was the time to either run the running play that was faked, or a complimenatry pass play…perhaps a post route with a corner fake step. Or some other route combination. Not the same exact play. So sad. 10 years olds playing Madden, set things up better, and play off tendancies with more thought put into it.

There was one 3rd and long where they replayed it to scan the field and NOT ONE single receiver was beyond the imaginary yellow line. I was admittedly pretty beered up by that time and refuse to watch the replay on DVR, so you’ll have to tell me what play that was. But I was pretty infuriated.

I did like that Gilbert went deep on one play early (2nd quarter maybe?). It didn’t pay off, but came in handy again when he was finally able to connect deep with Malcolm late in the 4th. Takeaway #1: Why don’t we do that more often? Takeaway #2: God, my memory sucks.

I, too, chuckled after the double negative to Kirkendoll to start the game. After all the pillow talk from Mack about how this week was different, we get…the same old GD. Aren’t the first fucking plays scripted? Thanks for the accountability, Mack.

DJ Monroe not knowing the playbook is fucking retarded. If he doesn’t know play 16, make do with plays 1-15. Or stick fucking Cody Johnson back there with Ryan Robertson or your fictitious H-back and run isos until Tom Wort keels over from exhaustion.

The BC tech/IT guy (Huck?) should create an app/program where we can predict the offensive play while watching the game. Most accurate wins a BC tote bag.

One more thought on this.

Here in Houston, the NFL Texans are providing a vivid contrast to GD’s follies with their well-designed offense. Their base play is a stretch play with zone blocking that GD has tried unsuccessfully to copy. The main difference is that the Texans have drafted and signed players that fit the scheme and execute it competently. They have smallish, athletic OL and backs adept at seeing creases and exploiting them. Arian Foster is leading the NFL in rushing off this play primarily. He is particularly good at back-side cutbacks exploiting the flow of the defense in the direction of the play.

The other difference is the Texans employ a number of QB bootlegs off that base play that open up their passing game. They typically have a WR deep and a TE shallow for Schaub to choose from on this bootleg action. The threat of the bootleg as well as cutbacks by the RB’s slow defensive pursuit and prevent over-loading at the point of attack.

These concepts playing off of each other seem completely foreign to Greg Davis. I watch the Texans each week and think, “so this is what a competent offense looks like.”

UCLA only ran about 8 plays against us the whole game. Just smashed the ball with a big OL like alabama and didn’t give up. Kept it simple and executed.

1. We really are lacking in the talent we are used to seeing on the field this year, whether you are willing to admit it or not. Catching a punt and returning it is a talent as well as a craft.

2. The coaches have really gotten used to that talent bailing their schemes out and are acting lazy and entitled much the way they don’t want their team to act.

3. They need to put the best 11 on the field for a given scenario and not worry about scheme or traditional mindset. WE HAVE NO TE’S SO DON’T PUT ONE ON THE FIELD GODDAMMIT!
If we have third and short put in three tackles. Mix in a fullback every now and then and this could also be a big athletic type, regardless of position, who is willing and can block very well.
If we want to spread the field, align 4 wideouts including davis, goodwin, kirk, and williams. give white some pt and put chiles stirring the gatorade.

4. With a simplified scheme on offense we can put the younger OL, Hopkins for instance and perhaps not get someone killed.

5. When I say simplified scheme I don’t mean fullback dives all day. I mean exactly what Scipio refers to as a base offense with a play tree off of it. Plays that out their basic construct, you have to defend all branches of the scheme or risk getting beaten badly by one. This team can’t line up and play smash mouth as it was recruited for the spread. It also doesn’t have the talent to take the horizontal game and bail it out. This team could be coached in the spread if it had a game plan and utilized the players and not the scheme.

6. GG will do well in an under center offense if coached properly and schemed properly. It is in his best interest to get the under center snaps at this level as the pros look at this in great detail when evaluating. He may not be Vince or Colt, but he can win. He’s only played 4 games with no help from the upper class on the field. It is now an almost expansion-like product….that is scary.

Jinx-

Get over the Applewhite myth. He is not going to be a good offensive coordinator. Good offensive coordinators don’t get fired by Nick Saban whose offenses have zero imagination and creativity. He is not going to be the savior of the offense.

Also, get over Applewhite as some quarterback legend. He was a nice player who had some moments, as a result of play action from Ricky Williams. Did you watch him play in ’99 and 2000? Remember he started the 2000 Red River Shootout? He started against Stanford, he started against A&M in ’99.

Our coaching staff is dumb, but not dumb enough to not play the better player. There was a reason he was benched. Simms was the better player and the correct choice.

The Colorado game was a fluke. They went into a defensive shell and played prevent defense the whole time Applewhite was in there. Applewhite actually struggled for a while until that pass to BJ. By the way, it was a blown assignment not some brilliant play call or decision by Applewhite. I don’t think that was his primary target on the play.

People remember the Holiday Bowl, but seem to forget that Applewhite was partially to blame for the deficit. Its not like Washington had a stout defense heading into the game. Applewhite played poorly for a while. Then our receivers started making plays on poorly under thrown balls and we won the game.

Applewhite was a nice player, but this Applewhite legend/myth needs to be put to rest. If Simms’ last name wasn’t Simms and instead just Jones or Smith there would never have been a QB controversy and everybody would have said “play Chris.” People hate silver spoon kids and kids from famous parents. They think its nepotism. Simms had no chance win over the fan base from the beginning. Its a shame ’cause he was a fine quarterback who played well most of the time. The coaches gave him no chance to succeed against OU, though.

Oh good, an Applewhite/Simms discussion. Shouldn’t that belong in the “It’s the year 2000” thread?

I swear that Davis and Mack sat down before the game and said, “What opening plays would piss off our dumbass, ignorant, never coached before fans the most? Lets go with sideways and backward left, sideways and backward right then throw 8 yards short of the sticks to the least athletic skill player on our roster. That will show those stupid motherfuckers who’s boss around here!” There is no other logical possibility. It was the ultimate f you from Mack and Greg to all of us.

I appreciate their honesty and am glad to know how they feel. As a huge Brown fan and one that is extremely appreciative of where he has brought the program, it is time for him to step down. If he can’t see the Davis problem, then he doesn’t need my support and based on the opening of that game, he doesn’t want it.

Watching Oregon makes me want to throw up. They have taken the Vince offense and multiplied it. Makes me sick to think what we could have been had we stuck with it and recruited to it. Instead, we have a future NFL qb that doesn’t play in a pro-style system, that can make all the throws on the route tree but we stick him with digs, flares and checkdowns to self-admitted extra blocking surfaces.

I think Scip is right, all we can do is laugh maniacally at the shear madness of it all.

The only solace I take from the offensive performance was the one turnover was an end-of-half Hail Mary. If the O can perform like this the rest of the season and the D can get back to playing like they did in Lubbock and in the second half of this game, then I can go back to thinking that this team will win all but one or two of their remaining games. But at this stage I am not feeling confident that either will happen as consistently as we need them to, especially when you add to it the Special Teams being in the net-negative column.

I confess that I started chuckling.

Horizontal left, loss of 2. Horizontal right, loss of 2. Short pass to TE halfway to first-down marker. Fourth and 7. Punt. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PASS COMPLETION! The Anti-Boom takes stats over scoreboard… again.

I confess that I, too, laughed like the afore-mentioned maroonee(?), but only after repeating an unknown number of times at increasing volume my 2010 mantra: I. Don’t. FUCKING. Believe. It.

No, wait. I DO Fucking Believe It. Monroe breaks outside and scoots for 60 and 6. I couldn’t even celebrate that, because the maroonee in me was thinking “we’ll try that another time or two – no fake, no reverse, no contraflow pass – they’ll stuff it, and that’ll be the last time we’ll see D.J. carry the ball today.”

Looking over the results in other games, a new fear gripped me. Not Georgia, because Georgia will can Richt, but instead of Boom, they go for Smart – he turned down DC, but he’ll take HC. So, no, I’m not concerned about Georgia. I’m concerned about agy… they can the Sherminator, hire Boom, who brings in Leach as Co-HC for Offense. But that’s okay, because Mack hangs ‘em up, and GD becomes our new HC, picking up right where he did at Tulane, following Mack’s 6-6 record down the tubes…

I don’t even have a glimmer of hope for Lincoln, now. I see the cornshuckers bbq-ing Bevo, harvesting the rest of their schedule, ironing out zero-yew in the CCG and giving us all one last, eternal, finger as they slide off into the frozen north.

Marooned, resigned to waiting for the crabs to begin nibbling my toes – it no longer bothers me that we’ll probably lose to Baylor, too.

I don’t know what to make of GG so far. Its obvious the coaches have no idea of how to play to his strengths and hide his weakness, which is coaching football 101. Put your players in a position to succeed. Do what they are good at and minimize what they are bad at.

His release is too slow, yet the coaches keep throwing short passes. Its obvious he is most comfortable throwing deep from play action. He throws a great deep ball. The problem with GG is that he doesn’t know what to do once his first read isn’t open. ? Maybe that is the coaches fault and they tell him to keep dumping it off to the TE or they don’t tell to him to stop doing that. But you gotta be able to understand basic football concepts if you are a QB.

I don’t understand why don’t we keep pounding with CoJo even if it gains nothing and then run some play action of that

He seems to robotic for me. Maybe its is ‘cause we are too used to the natural football instincts of Young/McCoy. It seems he has really poor pocket presence and doesn’t know what to do once the play breaks down. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Gilbert play for a glorified college team in Lake Travis. Don’t they have great facilities, coaches and players? He probably never was in a position where the game got tough. His primary target was almost always open and when he handed it off they gained substantial yardage. He was always in a comfort zone.

Compare that with Vince Young. He played for a poor inner city HISD school with poor coaching and poor players around him except Courtney Lewis. Their offense consisted of like 5 plays. It was some quasi veer/wishbone/spread offense. It was pee-wee football like. Young got no real offensive coaching and pretty much had to do everything him self. It was pure instinct. If you have real coaching you never do a pump fake after you cross the line of scrimmage. That is what you do when you play on the street.

McCoy was in a similar situation. He probably got better coaching, but he played for some 2A outfit in some middle of nowhere town. He didn’t have great teammates around him and had to learn how to do things himself.

I think our coaches expect natural improvisation from QBs after all these years. The fact is GG does not know what to do once his primary target isn’t there. That’s why they run all these roll outs/sprint outs. Its easy reads for him.

After that first offensive play to Kirkendoll, I instantly recalled Scipio’s Alabama preview. Plenty of Texas fans were playing the “intangibles” angle, figuring that Alabama had shot its wad against Florida and arguing that UT, after all, owned the Rose Bowl.

Scip’s response was something like, “I propose that ‘intangibles’ will mean a lot less the first time we hit Kirkendoll for -2.”

If one play can suck the life out of UT fans and players alike, it’s that one. And we used it two straight times to open Texas-OU, helping us stumble into an always-manageable 3rd-and-14. Just perfect.

We’ve got 2 weeks to practice the Fumblerooski. They’ll never see it coming! (Should I have used the hidden font?)

I chuckled when after Monroe busted the 60 yder. On not only the next offensive series, but the next 2 series, we ran the same play to start the drive. Lost yards both times. The offensive game plan for the first half was pretty awful.

I’m going to laugh when Davis rolls out some pistol looks against Nebraska. It will just be window dressing for the same crappy plays.

Its sad that as bad as we played, it was actually good enough to beat UCLA. That speaks to how bad we played against UCLA.

I was encouraged to see Kirk throw a few aggressive blocks. He was called for holding on one, and it was complete bullshit. I hope that doesn’t discourage him from future blocking.

It is depressing that when the broadcast pans out a little, you can see why people don’t have to defend in between the hashmarks 4-6 yards beyond the LOS. The one play that I remember hitting in the middle was to Kirk, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t there because it his route sent him there. I think he just moved into the open space when GG started to dance around in the pocket.

I think the argument that we don’t have the talent is complete crap. Maybe we don’t have elite talent on the O with a few possible exceptions, but I think we are much above average. You can see flashes of what is possible, but our scheme and play calling are killing us? So are penalties (is it Hixs who has jumped offsides EVERY game?).

Does anyone know why we didn’t try Cody whe we had 1st and goal at the OU 8 in the 3rd quarter? Why would we run once with Fozzy and then throw it twice?

“Its sad that as bad as we played, it was actually good enough to beat UCLA. That speaks to how bad we played against UCLA.”

UCLA has a better defense than OU.

Opening with those two plays just sends the message: "come and take anything in the house because we are a bunch of pussies. "

Letting any Texas coach turn Texas football into a bunch of pussies is grounds for execution.

Heres the main stat: you arent going to beat ANYBODY that is decent with 4 yards per attempt. Not gonna happen.

Its like there is a damn force field at the sticks. The defense just camps their backs at the sticks and our guys stop in front of them. Apparently going beyond the markers just isnt polite.

I think now people are starting to get what I have been saying for a long time. Chris Simms wasnt the fucking problem and neither is Gilbert.

We need a “day in the life of an Applewhite cultist” for the Davis apologists.

Devasting. Well done.

I’m trying not to hate the GDGD apologists in a similar fashion that I utterly despise GDGD. The mentally challenged cement heads of the world need out love and support, not our back hands.

Ok, fuck that. I hate them just as much. They give other retards a bad name.

I can’t decide what’s more infuriating. Is it the fact that our offense is a grab bag of non interrelated plays called by mouthbreather who’s more interested in completions than first downs, or the fact that we probably win our last two games despite the above statement if we don’t step on our dicks at every opportunity in all three phases of the game.

I’ve checked out on this team emotionally. There’s not even the joy of watching a young team develop and make headway towards a strong showing next year. This isn’t a young team. There is only the implosion of watching our guys struggle in the system as it was designed. Well, plays as they were designed. It’s apparent that there is no system.

excellent takes. particularly about Monroe. we play “big boy” football and the bottom line is that we should be able to build/install an entire package for Monroe to make things work. counters, fakes, variations, etc.

I think there is a lot of validity to what was said by Primetime and the poster talking about the Texans offense.

Why on God’s green did we come out in the hurry up right after OU opened with a long drive? What’s the rush, Greggers?

He consistently refuses to make the football good. If I’m Muschamp, I’m putting a for sale sign in front of that house near Bergstrom and heading for Athens. Muschamp will be the choice over Smart.

Prime Time,
Applewhite didn’t start the ’99 aggy game. Food poisoning. And Simms did meltdown in plenty of big games. It was on him as much as the coaches.

I am pleased that we play U of Bye this week.

When the Chimp opened up with those two mirror image swing passes to Kirkendoll, I laughed so loudly after the second one that my wife came into the room to see if I was OK. Past that point, nothing bothered me again. After the 13th, 14th and 15th efforts to turn Greg Smith into a “go-to-guy” I was smiling and laughing in earnest. The dump-off to Smith on 3rd and 22 was the pinnacle. I don’t blame any of this on Gilbert, but it’s sad, because we are observing the neutering of one of the most heralded QBs to ever play Texas HS football.

The Chimp now has this kid convinced that throwing an outlet pass on 3rd and 22 to a guy who probably couldn’t run 22 yards without tripping over his own feet is the smart option. I have no problem with having an outlet receiver, and throwing him the ball as a last option, but that guy ought to be someone with the ability to make people miss. More than that, 3rd and 22 is a defined low percentage down, so why not send 4 guys deep, and heave the ball down field 40 or 50 yards. The worse that could happen is that an OU guy intercepts, but you were going to punt the next down anyway. If you draw a penalty or make the catch, then something good happened. If you throw the ball the Greg Smith 20 yards short of the first down marker, what good can possibly happen? If you have a slow-footed TE like Smith, there’s only one way to get any good out of him, and that’s just releasing him off the LOS and running him straight up the field. He only has one thing going for him, and that’s bulk. If he catches the ball with his feet moving he might actually run over some poor DB. However, the downside to that is that he also can’t catch very well, and I’m not sure he’s ever caught a ball while moving. Frankly, the whole Chimp scheme vs OU in 2009 and 10 has been insanity in action. Two years ago, he had no TE, miraculously realized that, and went to the flex TE 4 wide, attacked the middle of the field, and killed OU with it.

I think crux of the problem is that either the Chimp by himself, or with Mack Brown in full agreement, has(have) decided that having Smith in the game adds extra blocking for the run game. The craziest thing about this is the fact that Smith may be a worse blocker than he is a receiver, and that takes some doing. The run game has prospered with a TE in the game has it not? Yeah, right. Opposing DCs must absolutely salivate when it comes to defending Texas this year. It’s not often they get to defend an offense that’s playing a man short. I can’t wait to see the next chapter in Lincoln of the “feature Greg Smith” offense. Pelini is going to eat that crap alive. Oh well, I reached the “don’t give a shit” point last week vs UCLA, so from now on, I’m just going to have a good time watching the train wreck develop. The only thing I have to look forward to now is the day that MB retires, and takes his pet with him. It can’t come soon enough.

One of my favorite stats of the day was flashed on screen at some point. Texas was 1/12 on 3rd down at that point. Gilbert was something absurd like 7/7 on 3rd down.

Also, the average 3rd down distance at that point was 9.8 yards. 9.8. Average.

@Scipio: I admit I am often saddened when reading your take on our offensive woes. Not because your insights are accurate and scathing, but because some part of my little monkey brain believes Greg Davis is reading or has heard of your suggestions for improvement and is taking them into consideration. I quickly realize this is not true and die a little inside.

Hook ’em!!

What’s amazing is reading the various accounts of the game by posters (here and elsewhere) who say that they laughed at the first offensive series. I did the same.

The 1st and 2nd down passes were designed plays (not check-downs), so the intent was clearly there to run plays parallel to the line of scrimage. The coverage was not terribly loose, there’s no obvious reason to call those plays, and certainly not back-to-back. I’d like to think that Davis can’t possibly be that dense (his track record notwithstanding), but that was just asinine.

I know it may sound silly, but there’s a part of me that wonders whether the first drive was called to send a message to the critics – screw you, I’m the coach and I will not accept criticism or dissent. We know that no one with media credentials will have the balls to ask Mack about it.

Like I said earlier, Lavender, that is exactly what it was. It was a loud and clear message. “Do not question us. You do not know when the football is good. You have never coached nor graduated from McNeese St. We won a national title with 19 NFL players and the best player at history at qb. We also one one other conference championship in our 12 years. Dumbasses have the gall to question us!”

Spot on as always. I appreciate your work.

From our very own texassports.com website (I seriously can’t believe they posted this up):

“Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables:
. . .
On the game overall: I felt in control of the game. The yardage comes on a couple big plays, but it felt like we were in control the whole game.”

Let me interpret this for any of the remaining Davis apologists (seriously, are there any??):

“Greg Davis (AGAIN) made my job this year so fucking easy!”

Fear the cow, regarding Davis having the pride to retire, that won’t happen. I seriously don’t think he knows of the criticism. They say they don’t listen to radio or read the media and it’s probably true with him. I don’t think he has any idea of the fan base’s displeasure with his horozontal bop. If he did I don’t think it would stop him from calling it but I don’t think he would come out in his presser after UCLA and say what he said.

I didn’t laugh at the first two plays, I just mumbled, “We’re going to get killed.”

I also wondered if Greg was shaking his head and mumbling in his phlegmy voice, “Their linebackers were in the wrong place on both plays.”

This is nightmarish. I’m a football idiot and I can see that this timid, non-sensible offense is essentially anti-football in mentality and effect. Reading cogent detailed analysis confirming my casual observation was gratifying at first. Now we fans are like Prometheus awaiting the Monday eagle to come tear out our collective liver and eat it in front of us.

At least it’s a witty eagle, but I begin to despise truth.

Primetime:

Your comments on the Madison Marlins’ playbook when Vince was there:
Their offense consisted of like 5 plays. It was some quasi veer/wishbone/spread offense. It was pee-wee football like.
-—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I am not meaning to be a nitpicker, but the Air Raid passing offense consists of like 5 plays. The meat of the Pistol rushing attack that seems to be working for UCLA ,and is most definitely working for Nevada, consists of like five plays. Running “like 5 plays” can be really effective when you are good at them and the plays compliment one another. That is having an identity. That is what we don’t have.

Also, “quasi veer/wishbone/spread” offenses are doing pretty well these days. Oregon has one. Auburn has one. Michigan has one. All of these teams have offenses that actually move the ball and umm…score. Again, it shows what can be accomplished when an offensive coaching staff recruits players to fit a system, coaches to that system and sticks with that system. I swear I will scream the next time I hear somebody denigrate offenses like that as “gimmicks”. The point of an offense is to move the ball and score. I will even be willing to concede that they are gimmicks…in the same way that the forward pass was a gimmick at first. And the West Coast offense was a gimmick. And the wishbone was a gimmick.

Finally, the offense that most resembles pee-wee football of the ones we have discussed is the current iteration of the Texas offense. It features predictability and poor execution, two hallmarks of offensive football as coached by fathers of nine year olds.

Sorry for the rant. I wasn’t really arguing with you. Some of your comments just reminded me of assinine things that I have heard others say and incredibly disappointing things I have recently seen on ABC telecasts.

Good teams dont take what the defense gives them.

They fucking take whatever they want.

It bugs me that GD seems to think deception only matters on play fakes. Deception is a huge part of good offense unless you have an overwhelming talent advantage.

The football world better hope to God that Boise doesnt get Texas level players or they wont lose for another decade.

Broadcasters as a rule have backed off criticism in any form, Danielson’s forays into SEC officiating last year being a rare exception. The thinking seems to be, “If you’re going to pay a billion dollars for broadcasting rights, don’t taint the product.” But that can be a good thing.

Because message boards have become the gathering point of disaffected fans, and that’s where the foundation of dissent – the themes, language, arguments – emerge. See: Houston Nutt, Arkansas, and fans blasting their season tickets with shotguns on youtube. How long will it be before some Longhorn immolates his season tickets on Youtube in front of a “Fire Greg Davis” sign and gets 1.2 million hits on Texas or gets a host of imitators?

That will convince a few columnists that an anti-Davis mantra might be good for building an audience, and once those appear, it’s over for Davis.

In other words, I think this has become inevitable. It’s just a matter of when. The faster this builds, the sooner it happens.

Two critical questions – one long-term and one short-term:
1) Which would you rather see – an offensive explosion against Nebraska for the upset, or a real defense putting an historical hurt on a Greg Davis game plan?
2) Reviewing Mack’s offensive philosophy and performance at UNC and Texas, what direction do you think he would go if fans force the matter?

The utter inability of the UT WRs to even attempt to block was hilarious to me. The whole point of the screen game is to give the ball to a WR in space and, at worst, force him to make a DB miss and create. Every time UT ran it, there was a LB and a DB coming in free. Even if the WR makes the first guy miss, the second guy brings him down.

“The Kirkendoll post corner was a great example [of using surprise/deviation in the passing game]”
Agreed. Beating Colvin on a double move wasn’t entirely surprising, and I’m surprised UT didn’t try it more. He was a true freshman starting his first game. I’m not entirely convinced that play/tactic works as well on Jamell Fleming, but I won’t argue if you think it would.

Call me crazy, but I can kind of see why UT was so hesitant to put the ball downfield. What’s the risk? Well, OU only blitzed three times, and they had success at least two out of three. One of those was a sack and strip where Gilbert was fortunate to get the ball back. On another sack, Gilbert held the ball too long and got digested. With UT’s pass protection being just barely adequate as is, and Gilbert’s pocket presence being just average, getting Gilbert sacked at least three more times and losing one fumble (at minimum) seem probable assumptions with a downfield attack. If Brent Venables sees UT commit to a downfield offense, it wouldn’t be three blitzes for the game, it would be two or three blitzes per possession. Based on what I’ve seen, I have no reason to believe UT’s OL and RB corps would’ve been able to deal with that kind of blitzing.

What’s the reward? For starters, Gilbert’s arm hasn’t been the pinpoint laser OU fans were threatened that it would be. Follow that up with the buttered frying pans attached to the hands of the UT WR corps, and you’ve got a recipe for mediocrity and tip drill interceptions.

I remember that Pi Phi, Jamarkus McFarland. She was hot.

And if you’ve noticed, Andy Staples’ (SI) last two blurbs on Texas borrow heavily from Scipio’s post-mortems in their criticism. So maybe we’ve already reached the (cliche alert) “tipping point.”

Scipio, your on-point analysis is going to new hights. Awesome analysis. Your point on using DJ is key and fundamental. Would you run with a 4Wr set or would you consider using Cody (as half RB half FB) and DJ in the back field with 3 wide? I haven’t heard too many people call for these two specific backs but I would think they would play off of each other pretty well.

I am starting to put the blame on Mack 100% at this point. The buck stops there. And why doesn’t Mack sit down Davis and say something to the effect of, “Look good buddy, you are going to have some strict limits moving forward. You get 3 screens/flares per half and no more, so use them wisely. Also, don’t use the TEs anymore but run 4 wide or 2 back 3 WR, whichever you prefer.”

I fault Mack for not getting it done. I am unwilling to blame Greg Davis for Mack’s ultimate responsibility.

“Also, I’ve been critical of Gilbert for self-sacking behaviors when he panics with a good pocket, but Colt did the same. I’m starting to think our QBs are looking at a lot of covered WRs. And bailing out is their best worst option. Unfortunately, Gilbert isn’t athletic enough to get away with it.”

I think this was really evident on Saturday. Look at the times he was sacked/hurried. 3 Step drop, pump, pull the ball in, freak out. Negative play.

As always we’re being pattern matched (or whatever) but our short timing routes are getting jumped, and GG has no where else to go with the ball. I saw it 3 times (at least) on Saturday, and I thought it was becoming increasingly evident that our timing stuff was blanketed. And if its not blanketed, the windows are too small for him to be comfortable with. It’s a wonderful combination of being coached not to take risks and handed a scheme where nothing is available. That falls pretty squarely on the coaching.

Prime Time is dead on correct about Simms being a better quarterback than Applewhite, just not beloved. I’m hearing tons of comparisons to that era with Gilbert. There is one particular adjustment that made Simms successful in the offense.

He had two star receivers, a tight end, and a running back that we consistently used to open up play action and passing lanes. We eventually had a committed running attack with Cedric Benson.

Our problem in 2002, was defense, not offense.

Right now, we have no QB improvs, no zone read, no tight end, and no star receivers. No definitive running back, and no committed running game.

We merely try running plays…..we are not committed to the running game.

Couple that with fundamental mental error penalties and the most uninspired, apathetic, bunch of O-Line pacifists we have ever seen since last year, and you have the potential to only win one more game this season.

If we don’t win in Lincoln, we will likely drop almost all of our remaining games. Yes it is possible with the performance we saw in our biggest rivalry against a below average Oklahoma squad.

Tell me I’m wrong Scipio.

If these cats don’t get a grip on this quickly, and pull off an NU win, get ready for the worst days we’ve seen since the nineties.

Our problems on offense are too deep to overcome in two weeks…….we have seniors that false start on 3rd down, consistently. We have defensive linemen that forgot what their JH coach told them about staying on your block for more than two and a half seconds……on 3rd down.

This is why Gilbert self aborts, he’s conditioned because he can’t trust his front 5. It’s actually surprising when they keep on their blocks, but he’s already self flushed.

Scip asking these guys to block while we run actual passing plays (provided they don’t drop the ball thrown to them) with no running game commitment and to stretch the field isn’t reasonable within the next 3 or even 4 weeks.

There are too many fundamentals missing, by the players and coaches.

And so begins the era Post Colt and J Ship……we are bad, very bad.

PrimeTime -

Settle down dude! Believe me, I’m no Applewhite cultist, I was on campus at the time and wanted Simms to be the guy. I hated people that made an issue of it. Met Chris on campus and talked to him briefly, he was a great guy that I always rooted for.

I was trying to point out that the plays seemed different between the two QBs, that’s all. After the CU game, it seemed that Applewhite made better play changes.

Sure Applewhite had his flaws, but Ricky just about fumbled away the 98 A&M game and it seemed like VY needed to throw a pick in every game he played before he turned it on. Even the greatest had faults.

My point was that GG doesn’t have the skills to run from the QB position like VY or Colt (or even Mock). Without the ability to make “off schedule” plays he will need the ability to make changes in play calls to beat the defense (ala my OPINION of The Major’s ability) because GDGD ain’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“Two critical questions – one long-term and one short-term:

1) Which would you rather see – an offensive explosion against Nebraska for the upset, or a real defense putting an historical hurt on a Greg Davis game plan?"

I’m not shy about enduring short-term pain in exchange for long-term improvement, so I’m in favor of as many ass-whippings as it takes to get the problems with our offense fixed. Whatever heads have to roll to make that happen – up to and including Mack Brown – is fine with me.

“2) Reviewing Mack’s offensive philosophy and performance at UNC and Texas, what direction do you think he would go if fans force the matter?”

I don’t believe that fans alone can ‘force’ the matter, unless they somehow can significantly impact the flow of revenue into UT. Does anyone remember how bad it had to get with John Mackovic before they cut him loose? Texas is many times more profitable, valuable, and resistant to change than it was then, and the effort necessary to effect change will be substantial. Fans alone won’t make it happen.

$5 million a year and being surrounded by people who are either enabled by you or scared of you can overcome a lot of “hysterical” fans.

I felt like there was some kernel of a potential offense with Goodwin/Fozzyt coming in motion either over or unde the qb, with DJ in running back as a possible inside/out combination that would help deal with our lack of a running qb, but we shelved the formation, so we’ll probably never know, and GD probably views it as a trick play, but their was a flash of a possible offense to build around.

You could see a nugget of something.

How long will it be before some Longhorn immolates his season tickets on Youtube in front of a "Fire Greg Davis" sign and gets 1.2 million hits on Texas or gets a host of imitators?

This is the only reason I regret that I don’t have season tickets right now.

Somebody make me an offer, and I’ll buy them right now. Maybe not a shotgun, though… I’m thinking they’d be better (ab)used as a target in Cow Patty Bingo…

My biggest fear is a Bobby Bowden phenomenon where our old coaches stay too long and suck the life out of our program. Have you noticed recently how often Mack name drops the true people in power, like Joe Jamail, during interviews? Fortunately, our recruiting moving forward has been excellent and there should be no shortage of playmakers. Truly sad that talent must be used to compensate for scheme.

I agree with whoever said the talent level is low. Honestly, who on this team is a player that people rave about? We may not have anyone make the first two all conference teams.

To make it worse, we have a coaching staff that the game passed by 10 years ago. Fat and lazy, they don’t see or care about the offenses all over the country that are innovative, fast and effective. Incredibly, Mack is going to let McWhorter and Davis define his legacy.

Fans alone? If you mean fans like you and me, you’re probably right.

But what about fans that pay that $5 million a year? No, not “you and me” fans – super-rich fans. But they do read, and they’re currently experiencing the same disconnect between the number of offense recruiting stars on the field and points on the board. Magnified by the size of the checks they write to subsidize the coaching salaries.

Honestly, as angry as you get watching the games, can you imagine the fury had you dropped a five-figure donation to help make it happen?

It takes a village to fire an (assistant) coach.

I felt like there was some kernel of a potential offense with Goodwin/Fozzyt coming in motion either over or unde the qb, with DJ in running back as a possible inside/out combination that would help deal with our lack of a running qb,

Color me blind… I was hoping (if not assuming) that getting DJ involved meant that we were going to go 4-wide with CoJo in the backfield and one of the 4-wides (often DJ) in motion on damned near every play – maybe even motion into set followed by more motion. I had a question in mind: Can CoJo catch? And that was answered in the affirmative, which opens up that particular set of plays even more… but obviously, too much to hope for.

WTF – if nothing else, let’s use the depth and speed and run four verticals every goddamned snap, until the DB’s are gassed, and then light ‘em up. It might not work, but we already know the four horizontals don’t work, either.

“Honestly, who on this team is a player that people rave about? We may not have anyone make the first two all conference teams. "
-——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

On offense: none.
On defense: Randall, Acho Ocho Uno, Robinson, A. Williams, E. Jones

That would work too. A little bit of Paul Johnson’s offense in using a WR instead of a wingback to come across the offense. You handoff/fake to the RB on every play, handoff/pitch to the motion man where appropriate, and build your route trees off the confusion from having two running options on every play. You can use Fozzy/CoJo/Newton/Monroe at RB, Fozzy/Goodwin/Monroe as the motion man.

It’s all academic, I suppose, since it will never happen.

Great write up. GD is a humorist’s best friend.

I am curious…after watching Oregon QB Darron Thomas (a 4 Star from Houston’s Aldine HS) dominate Stanford on Saturday, does anyone else here wistfully pine for his presence on the 2010 Texas Longhorns?

http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3378&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1550474&Q_SEASON=2010

Did we recruit Darron Thomas at all? According to Rivals he only got offers from Oregon, LSU, Florida, Mizzou, Illinois, Northwestern and Okie State. If this impotent, dog-shit zone-read and short/horizontal passing game is all we are going to ever run, wouldn’t you rather recruit a QB that might fit that system (rather than castrate Gilbert and turn him into something that he is not)?

If we are going to be stuck with Greg Davis’ infatuation with Ride. Decide. Divide, it certainly would have been nice to have a mini-Dennis Dixon/Vince Young running the zone-read. Given our underutilized athleticism at the skills positions, at least this offense might have a chance with an athlete like Darron Thomas instead of continuing to nail a trapezoidal peg into a round hole. I know this is pointless to wonder about, but I was just curious about Thomas’ recruiting story and if this crossed anyone else’s mind.

I too, laughed outloud at the consecutive -2 loss rocket screens to Kirkendoll to open the game. But in reality, I was crying inside and died a little bit. It’s been a nice run, this looks like it is going to be a long season.

Right on Texlong

Oh, and for all the people who were raving about Barrett Matthews in spring and summer camps—-what were you drinking? He’s slow, confused, can’t/won’t block, and has horrible hands. Why is he on the team?

As with so many others here, I watched the first three plays and realized that nothing had changed or would ever change.
After watching Stanford and Oregon and longing for EITHER of their offenses, I have shelved all expectations.
Vince and Colt gave us a great run, but it’s over. Gilbert could be a superb QB in another offense with other coaches, but he will never reach his potential here as things are.

THE EMPEROR NEVER HAD CLOTHES, but the masses (including me) failed to notice because they were too busy watching Vince, Colt, Quan, Jordan, and Jamaal.
Also, Mack’s willingness to be “TOUGH” on defense by making changes has continually fostered hope that he might do the same on offense. He keeps promising to—just like a wife-beater keeps promising to stop beating his wife, but can’t because he is what he is.

The utter inability of the UT WRs to even attempt to block was hilarious to me.