Texas Longhorns vs. the Big 12 - Part I
by RolloTamasi on Aug 7, 2011 5:48 PM CDT
in Texas Longhorns and Other Football
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PrintGreetings travelers,
While the introduction of round-robin scheduling led Bellmont to assure everyone that Texas would schedule more interesting games before conference play, in the year 2011 playing the entire league will not serve to lighten the difficulty level of Texas' opponents.
This season we're essentially replacing a Sam Houston St or La Lafayette date with Missouri and Kansas. Opponents that have access to greater resources than do our average non-conference foes and who are far more accustomed to competing against Texas. As we'll see in our examination of the conference, this does not make a return to 10 wins more likely. We have some strategic advantages this year but are facing a league of teams with lots of returning offensive linemen and defenses stocked with defensive backs and pass-rushers.
Some of you may be over-saturated with preseason projections, though I doubt it, but my aim here is to take a glimpse at all of our conference foes and project the following:
What will they be good at? What will they suck at? How do they match up against the rest of the league? How do they match up against Texas?
We're going to get right into the strategies of each team and consider the likelihood of a 10 win season, or bowl eligibility, or being mired in mediocrity...let's start at home.
Texas:
Longhorn Scott has us very well pegged as a Power running team and Mack's early announcement of Chet Moss' position switch to fullback confirms that our primary focus this year will be on 2-back formations and running concepts like Power O.
Our strengths on offense, few as they may be, are these: we have a very talented incoming power-back and a stable of serviceable running backs on campus, we have the best interior Offensive line in the conference with young talents Trey Hopkins and Mason Walters on either side of Snow who is one of the conference's best centers, we have some up and coming wide receivers, loads of fast skill players, and a coaching staff who can scheme raw materials into industrial capital.
The addition of Harsin is the key in that last strength because we had many of these same assets last year and couldn't get out of our own way en route to the end zone. So long as we find a quarterback who can avoid interceptions and who knows where the ball should go (big ifs) we can do a lot building around Power O and the holes smashed by our offensive line. Guys like Mike Davis and DJ Monroe offer big play possibilities if they can be featured in packages that are complemented by a running game that can get 4-6 yards consistently on 1st and 2nd down.
On defense we are loaded with skilled pass-rushers, we have several good open field tacklers in our linebacking corp and in the defensive backfield (Vaccaro, Phillips), and we have one very legit defensive tackle. Whereas Texas fans pull their hair at the thought of fielding someone next to Kheeston Randall the rest of the conference (as you will soon see) is wishing to Cthulhu that they had just one Kheeston Randall on their roster this season.
Our weaknesses on defense are as follows: we don't have a 2nd defensive tackle yet and consequently need a way to flush the pocket down the middle and protect our linebackers from 2nd level blocks, we don't have a between the tackles middle linebacker who can stonewall blocks and plug holes, and we don't have anyone who can play on an island against the likes of Justin Blackmon.
On offense we are missing experience at receiver, a quarterback, and a TE/HB/FB who is an asset in run blocking and a reasonable threat in the passing game. I particularly curse Greg Davis for that last shortcoming as his disinterest in the running game led us to fail to develop a position that is now primarily featured in modern multiple offenses. Sigh, anyway, we are also without reliable offensive tackles which means we need all of Harsin's Boise trickery in moving the pocket, playing Ole' with pass-rushers, and building from the running game because last year's playbook would possibly fail even harder without Kyle Hix, if you can believe it.
Most of that should have been review for totebaggers like yourselves, the more interesting concern is this: which of our conference foes are equipped with the schemes and personnel to exploit our soft underbelly on defense? Or our inexperience outside? Who has the bodies and toughness to plug our running game? I've divided the conference into groupings based on those very metrics.
Certain Roadkill:
Kansas
Turner Gill was that name you always heard when some commentator asked why a school wasn't interviewing more black candidates for head coach. Overlooked in that discussion was the fact that Turner Gill wasn't a worthy candidate for most of those major positions. His Kansas team was held to a field goal opening day against North Dakota St last year.
Neither of their tackles top 285 lbs. and their best end is gone. I don't see any reason our team would struggle to run right over this crew unless we get banged up or are considerably worse than I foresee.
On offense they don't know who their quarterback is and lack a Dezmon Briscoe or Kerry Meier that would alarm you in the passing game while their OL gave up multiple sacks against any defense with a pass-rushing pulse last season. Let's not filter through the mess in Lawrence, suffice to say that they are a work in progress and we will defeat them.
Iowa St.
We get them at home this year, we always win that one right? Seriously, if we lose to this team in Austin again Mack's career will be in serious jeopardy. That said, they do pose a few problems.
One is that they are actually still built to defend teams that like to run the ball and their 2 outside linebackers combined last year for 241 tackles, 13 TFL, 7 INT and 6 PBU. They return a fairly competent noseguard in Stephen Ruempolhamer as well. Against a Greg Davis run game they would absorb it along with his sideline passing game for 400 total yards and 17 points.
However, even if they could do the same to this year's crew the odds of this offense reaching 28 points again on Diaz's defense are pretty poor. Last year's effort was made possible mostly due to turnovers and the success of the zone-read featuring Arnaud and Robinson against our frustrated defense. Both of those players are now gone.
Potentially Dangerous:
Baylor
Briles has done a markedly better job in the last few years in developing OL than has Texas and the fact that Baylor is routinely putting more big guys in the NFL draft than us should be a source of fantastic motivation for Searels. This year they return 4 starters to block for the famous Robert Griffin III and a cast of very fast receivers and backs.
They list a TE on the depth chart but this is a 4 WR spread team that lives by the improvisations of Robert Griffin, 4 verticals plays, and your shotgun-spread arsenal of zone-runs, QB draws, and screens.
Where this fails is against a zone-defense such as Diaz employs with guys like Hicks, Acho, and Vaccaro on the field. Baylor caught us last year by getting Kendall Wright isolated on Blake Gideon, Jay Finley finding a huge crease and easily outrunning Gideon and Scott in the open field, and landing some turnovers that gave them awesome field position.
Against Gideon+Vaccaro and a zone defense those iso-situations will be tougher to come by and in general I expect our back 7 to be 5x less vulnerable to big runs and yards after catch thanks to the zone scheme and Vaccaro's constant presence.
Their defense has perhaps one credible pass-rusher, a small nickel lineup featuring Ahmad Dixon in place of a 3rd LB, and one remaining 300+ pound DT. This is a group begging to get pounded by Johnson and Malcolm Brown.
The fact that Texas handled Robert Griffin quite competently last year should give you confidence that his "Heisman" skills won't enough to make a difference. A difficult task to be sure, but they are designed to get fast players in space and handle the same strategy from opponents and consequently the 7 or so legitimately good athletes on their team won't be of much use in standing up to a Walters-Snow double team or trying to truck-stick Keenan Robinson.
Texas Tech
Lonnie Edwards is probably the best guard in the conference and every OL, while Tuberville has been trying to slim them down to make zone blocks, is 300+ pounds and a returning starter. That lot is blocking for Eric Stephens who had over 800 all purpose yards last year and Aaron Crawford. On the outside they have their usual cast of experienced possession receivers who used to cause everyone fits back when 4 and 5 receiver sets overmaxed everyone's capacity to defend the forward pass.
Now that everyone is stockpiling pass-rushers and defensive backs the name of the game for the Red Raiders is running over people on hitch screens and zone runs slowly but surely. Not particularly frightening but they were pretty efficient at it against everyone but us and OU. They have a new quarterback this year who isn't the beneficiary of Leach tutoring so we'll see how that goes for them.
Their OL could lean on our front pretty heavily over the course of 4 quarters which makes them fairly dangerous, but I imagine that a new starter against Diaz blitz schemes with little in the way of a home-run threat at the skill positions could be a recipe for disaster, this team is no longer the litmus test for whether a coordinator can handle the Air-Raid.
On defense they lose Colbe Whitlock, at freaking last, and start two tiny defensive tackles in front of the TCU coverage schemes brought from Ft. Worth by former Horned Frog DB coach Chad Glasgow. Whitlock gave us fits the last 2 seasons and his departure should be celebrated by us all, not least of all because he left no protege to follow him. Glasgow does have quite a lot to work with in the defensive backfield with Cody Davis (a freshman All-American) and some experienced corners and safeties, I think he'll put together a pretty strong unit.
Again, it's a team that is fairly well built to handle a spread passing game but has no answer for lead blocks by fullbacks or future NFL guards save for dusting off their 8-man fronts and hoping their 200 pound backfield doesn't get tired of tackling Brown and co. Remember that Nebraska struggled doing this last year with Jared Crick and Lavonte David so...
Kansas St.
Really most of the danger from K St. from year to year is that they consistently match up well against us and seem to have coaching staffs who know exactly how to befuddle us every season. Greg Davis wasn't their only victim either as they have consistently found ways to attack our defenses as well. Then there is their towering dominance over us in the other sports which I can't explain in this space or any other.
I'm sure Mack is hoping that our staff overhaul will cause Snyder and co. to be forced to finally throw out their "how to clown Texas" cheat sheet and that will certainly help but this team will still be fairly well built to challenge our weak spots.
They lost Daniel Thomas, around whom they focused their offense like a West Texas HS around the black athlete on the team, but replace him with transfer Bryce Brown from Tennessee who is next to go into the Snyder meat grinder.
The interior OL is gone but this was already a patchwork job by Snyder of mixed running/option schemes, JuCO and 2nd tier Texas athletes, and mental toughness...essentially all the things that give a finesse team fits.
I'm betting that Randall has a stronger performance in this game and that the team will have more toughness overall to take advantage of their sizable talent gap in a scrap against this lot.
On defense they have several guys back in the secondary and lose only a few pieces from a front 7 that the league absolutely ran over last year for over 6 yards per carry. It's an improved unit though that has been infused with JuCo talent and a Miami transfer at linebacker (Arthur Brown) who was apparently the best LB last year playing on the scout team. DE Meshak and co. will pass through the fire of easy Div II schools and be in far better form when we meet again. We get them late in the year before A&M at home and it would be the easiest of these games to drop.
This one tells us if the cultural transformation is complete or a work in progress because Snyder turns non-qualifiers and cast-offs into smashmouth teams of the sort we want to become.
Next post we'll get into the ranked teams.
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Not that is should affect your analysis, but we play ISU in Ames. I only know that because I’m married to an ISU alum and that is the only game within driving distance for me that is on our schedule. And if we lose to them again, I’m getting divorced.
by stuckinmn on Aug 7, 2011 6:02 PM CDT reply actions
I know the young guy competing for the ISU quarterback job, and I think they are, again, much better than expected.
I could see that coach taking them to a bowl game this year, and moving on to greener pastures, or staying for three more years and taking a very nice job at a top 20 school.
Weird to have two ISU comments on a UT board, but they could surprise another big school this year. Hopefully OU and not us. We shall see.
by uttuck on Aug 7, 2011 6:32 PM CDT reply actions
Apparently Nickel blacked out the painful memory of last year’s loss in Austin to the fighting Contemplative Tornado-Burping Skeletors. Or he is into the company ether stockpile. Or both.
Also, Ames is a snake pit. And Paul Rhoads is a mad bastard:
by Drew Dunlevie on Aug 7, 2011 6:40 PM CDT reply actions
Excellent two-tiered analysis right at dinnertime, NR. Now, I can digest this while I eat dinner then come back and digest dinner while I chew my cud over this again. Maybe then I’ll be able to come up with a quibble or query for you.
by OldTimeHorn on Aug 7, 2011 7:16 PM CDT reply actions
I’m not sure I understand what Tubberville is doing at Tech. They’re shifting to a zone read offense and a base nickel defense? Very strange.
I can’t believe Paul Rhoads punched the moose at WallyWorld.
by Mano Cornuda on Aug 7, 2011 7:22 PM CDT reply actions
Can never have too many Cthulhu references.
by Spawn of Cthulhu on Aug 7, 2011 8:34 PM CDT reply actions
What kind of road team do you think the Horns will be this year? You played well at Nebraska last year, but not so well at Kst. I think playing Tech early in the season last year was a benefit, as if you’d played them late in the year you would have probably lost. I’m also interested to see what happens when you face some adversity.
by Kilgore Trout on Aug 7, 2011 9:54 PM CDT reply actions
Kansas St. will probably give us fits. I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose to them. But Texas probably wins a way-too-close game.
I am not afraid of Texas Tech anymore. What do they do well? Maybe that changes this year.
Of these teams I was most concerned with Baylor but the article changed my mind. I would rank them in terms of probability of beating Texas this year:
KSU – Snyder’s special sauce
Baylor – Still have a dangerous offense
Iowa St. – On the road with a well coached team that is defends power running better than spread, but not much talent
Texas Tech – Not sure where they are going or how fast Tuberville’s vision can come about
KU – Basketball school
by Monahorns on Aug 7, 2011 9:58 PM CDT reply actions
Other than K-State, none of those opponents scare me. Baptist Aggy & ISU barely won against one of the worst teams in Texas football history. Tech couldn’t even beat said team in Lubbock. And KU shouldn’t have gotten rid of Fat Bastard.
We need another Hex Rally to get rid of the KSU voodoo.
by Joetx on Aug 7, 2011 10:09 PM CDT reply actions
Wow, everyone seems concerned that I underrated Iowa St. Maybe because I called them future roadkill.
I’m sure they will be a solid team but there is really no reason we should ever lose to them. It took a historically bad Texas offense and atrocious game planning for that to occur.
Kilgore: I kinda don’t pay that much attention to whether we play teams on the road or at home because it seems to make very little difference to Mack Brown teams where they play. In fact, playing at home sometimes to infect the team with the entitled mindset of us the fanbase. That said, playing in night environments in Lubbock or Manhattan hasnt been real fun.
by Nickel Rover on Aug 7, 2011 10:27 PM CDT reply actions
Good stuff, Nickel
KSU is gonna have a spread option offense that is going to give a lot of teams fits this year. I really like what they are doing there.
by LonghornScott on Aug 7, 2011 11:17 PM CDT reply actions
Cud-chewing time!
I don’t know, NR… a season front-loaded with home games for the first two-thirds couldn’t hurt. If we emerge with a QB, confidence and two or fewer losses… Katie, bar the door. Other than that, I applaud all that you say.
by OldTimeHorn on Aug 7, 2011 11:18 PM CDT reply actions
Regarding our anemic offense from last season, note that the 2010 squad ranks 105th out of 108 rated Texas teams all time according to my ratings. This rating is for the entire team’s point-scoring performance so includes defensive and special teams scores. I obviously don’t have play-by-play data back to 1869.
by Huckleberry on Aug 7, 2011 11:46 PM CDT reply actions
Just watched that video Drew, I can’t even begin to understand what is happening there.
OldTimeHorn: I’m sure you are right, the transformation we are all hoping for this year is gonna take off quicker if we beat UCLA, BYU and get some confidence going. I’m hoping our victory in off season workouts over the summer heat instilled a sense of accomplishment in our players.
LS: Snyder and even Prince have always seemed to focus KSU on schemes and strategy that is fairly timeless in nature. I’m not at all excited that we get to play them every year now unless it helps remove the mystique of longhorn slayer that they have been building the last decade.
by Nickel Rover on Aug 8, 2011 5:39 AM CDT reply actions
“we don’t have a 2nd defensive tackle yet”
Sounds as if we check this one off the list. Now, let’s hold hands and mentally will our offensive tackles to be awesome.
by il Cattivo on Aug 8, 2011 8:16 AM CDT reply actions
“Why did the angry man punch the talking moose?”
“He was angry. And the moose was talking.”
by parlin on Aug 8, 2011 8:31 AM CDT reply actions
Joetx: I was at the ISU game from start to finish, and at no time did I feel like they “barely won.” It wasn’t that a ball bounced the wrong way in their favor, they came out and won that game straight up. We were out coached on both sides of the ball. Garbage points scored in the final quarter don’t tell the full story of that game. But what was most disappointing for me was our defense; Muschamp’s crew just didn’t have it.
I have high hopes for our team this year, and I think we beat ISU in Ames. But I think teams continue to underestimate what Paul Rhoads is able to accomplish with lesser talent.
by noone on Aug 8, 2011 9:37 AM CDT reply actions
You maintain disinterest, but feel uninterest. GD was uninterested. Yes, I graduated from Texas.
by Alan Wrongagain on Aug 8, 2011 10:05 AM CDT reply actions
I plan on re-reading Scipio’s “Post Mortem” series from last year. I’ve been married long enough to have developed the appropriate level of masochism. Coaching changes aside, I think it will be instructive to review the limitations of this team and some of their past matchups with future opponents.
Rice: Defense and Special Teams, Offense.
Wyoming: Defense and Special Teams, Offense.
TTech: Offense, Defense and Special Teams.
UCLA: Offense, Defense and Special Teams.
OU: Offense, Defense and Special Teams.
Nebraska: Offense, Special Teams, Defense.
Baylor: Defense and Special Teams, Offense.
KSU: Offense, Defense, Special Teams.
After this point in the 2010 schedule, the Scipio manuscript (BM MS Cotton Caligula IV, 142v. & ff.) is obscure. The last entry reads “They have taken the Bridge and the second hall: we have barred the gates…but cannot hold them for long…the ground shakes…drums in the deep…we cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. Will no one save us? They are coming.”
by spider on Aug 8, 2011 10:08 AM CDT reply actions
His uninterest in the running game? I don’t think so.
by Nickel Rover on Aug 8, 2011 10:24 AM CDT reply actions
He was uninterested, his disinterest led to him not giving two craps about finding run-blocking tight ends and trying to turn tall, slow, possession WR’s into TE projects.
by Nickel Rover on Aug 8, 2011 10:31 AM CDT reply actions
uttuck said:
August 7th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
I know the young guy competing for the ISU quarterback job, and I think they are, again, much better than expected.
I could see that coach taking them to a bowl game this year, and moving on to greener pastures, or staying for three more years and taking a very nice job at a top 20 school.
Weird to have two ISU comments on a UT board, but they could surprise another big school this year. Hopefully OU and not us. We shall see.
ISU plays in Norman on Thanksgiving weekend.
Next.
by Bob Stoops on Aug 8, 2011 10:39 AM CDT reply actions
Am I reading your rankings wrong or is 2009 Texas Offense > 2008 Texas Offense?
by pleaseplaykindle on Aug 8, 2011 12:59 PM CDT reply actions
pleaseplaykindle: Huck noted above that those numbers include ALL scoring. So special teams and defensive points are counted to the glory of the 2009 unit. In other words, Earl Thomas was our 2nd best receiver.
by Nickel Rover on Aug 8, 2011 1:09 PM CDT reply actions
NR: Gotcha that makes sense. No doubt in my mind that ET (how did this nickname never stick?) playing defense was a better WR than any of our WR not named Shipley playing offense.
by pleaseplaykindle on Aug 8, 2011 1:19 PM CDT reply actions
@ noone – You’re right – the Horns were outplayed (& certainly outcoached) by ISU and the game wasn’t as close as the score indicated . However, I think it’s safe to say that, by that game, the coaches had lost the players. No way does a well-coached & motivated Texas team gets beat by ISU, certainly not in Austin.
by Joetx on Aug 8, 2011 1:41 PM CDT reply actions
We don’t play Kansas State until the 10th game of the season. If we don’t have it together by then we are screwed anyway.
by jerryw on Aug 8, 2011 1:50 PM CDT reply actions
Games 4, 5 and 6 are the problems. ISU, OK, OK State. Most people seem to think we can’t be better than 4-2 through the first 6 games and would settle out of court for that right now. Fortunately, we go to the field instead of court.
by jerryw on Aug 8, 2011 1:56 PM CDT reply actions
Looking at the box score for the ISU game, we had a hundred more yards than them, and 0.2 more yards/play. We were simply atrocious in the red zone, which was the same story for many of our losses last season.
An offense consisting of all 3 yard passes isn’t too great in the red zone? Inconceivable!
by Mad Clapper on Aug 8, 2011 2:03 PM CDT reply actions
Reading this made me realize the extent to which last season’s debacle and the coaching changes have made me inward focused. Our team has had so much to change and improve that I haven’t paid any attention at all to the rest of the league.
Thanks for the quick overview.
by hoyahorn on Aug 8, 2011 3:15 PM CDT reply actions
Joetx, we’ll get into that tomorrow when I post pt. II.
by Nickel Rover on Aug 8, 2011 3:26 PM CDT reply actions
Huckleberry said: August 7th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Regarding our anemic offense from last season, note that the 2010 squad ranks 105th out of 108 rated Texas teams all time according to my ratings. This rating is for the entire team’s point-scoring performance so includes defensive and special teams scores. I obviously don’t have play-by-play data back to 1869
Well that is obviously a failure on your part then.
Can we expect another round of excellent week-to-week statistical analysis from you this year?
by ut-06 on Aug 8, 2011 3:43 PM CDT reply actions
Mad – we also had 4 turnovers to their 1. And the last turnover set them up with a short field that we quickly gave up.
It was an odd game for the defense. We had a terrible punt out of our endzone that left them with about 35 yards to go in addition to that int mentioned above. Very bad spots for the D to be in. I’m not sure that I fault the D too terribly much for those 2 TDs. But then there were the 2 ~80 yard, ~10 play drives that resulted in TDs. I don’t know if it is a matter of the D givving up, because after the 4th TD on the GG INT, they forced ISU to punt 3 times (2 of which were 3 and outs) to at least give the offense a chance to score. The offense of course returned the favor by Getting 1 TD, throwing an INT, getting a 2nd TD, and going 3 and out.
by ut-06 on Aug 8, 2011 4:05 PM CDT reply actions
Re the ISU loss: bad safety play and poor gap filling by linebackers led to a lot of their better runs that really cost us. Also, their center was awesome and they were working the cutback lanes.
by Nickel Rover on Aug 8, 2011 4:10 PM CDT reply actions
Waiting for Part II is like waiting for Obama’s press conference this afternoon. What’s the hold up?
by Jackie Ging on Aug 8, 2011 4:11 PM CDT reply actions
pleaseplaykindle – You are reading it correctly. However, what’s important to remember is that this is an overall point scoring rating, so defensive and special teams scores are included in the totals. Also field position, etc.
In the best offense only stat, adjusted yards per play, the 2008 offense was nearly a full standard deviation better than the 2009 offense.
by Huckleberry on Aug 8, 2011 4:24 PM CDT reply actions
Admins: I have a comment “awaiting moderation” because it’s full of links to BC’s writeups on the past season, which your readers might find handy for the purposes of review.
I wouldn’t bug you, but it’s been “awaiting moderation” all day.
by spider on Aug 8, 2011 4:27 PM CDT reply actions
ut-06 -
I am working on my motivation and time management to put those posts out again this year. Hopefully I can continue to do it.
In all seriousness, if there is anyone out there that would like to assist with data acquisition, let me know. That is by far the most time-consuming aspect of my stats work. Probably about 3 hours per weekend on average.
by Huckleberry on Aug 8, 2011 4:28 PM CDT reply actions
Huck if I find time I’ll volunteer, your stats are arguably the best content on the site.
Ching: I’m glad anyone is interested in reading anything I write. Today I’m working a 12 hour shift, tomorrow I’m off and Pt. II will be transcribed from my notes into something hopefully coherent.
by Nickel Rover on Aug 8, 2011 4:35 PM CDT reply actions
“On defense they lose Colbe Whitlock, at freaking last, and start two tiny defensive tackles in front of the TCU coverage schemes brought from Ft. Worth by former Horned Frog DB coach Chad Glasgow. Whitlock gave us fits the last 2 seasons and his departure should be celebrated by us all, not least of all because he left no protege to follow him.”
This made me laugh pretty hard because it’s obvious you have no clue what you’re talking about. Tech’s D-line will probably be the second or third best unit for Tech this season. You’re going to hear the names Simmons, Mackey, and Wesley, a lot this year, and you already have been introduced to Scott Smith. Smith was completely unblockable against UT last year, and he’ll only be the 2nd or 3rd best guy on the D-line. Our LB’s and CB’s are the weak links, the D-line is the most talented D-line unit Texas Tech has ever put together, and they are deep.
by Tim on Aug 8, 2011 11:20 PM CDT reply actions
Tim – I’d heard about Delvon SImmons but didn’t hear the names Mackey and Wesley. And they’re not on the two-deep preview listed by Scout either. Then I thought, hmm…he couldn’t be talking about JC guys, could he? Yup. Three-star, baby. A 6-5 265 DT and a 6-2 310 guy. Can’t say those numbers sound anything but average, especially for kids who’ve had a couple extra years to develop after high school. But eh. I suppose, maybe that’s something. But probably not.
Also: Scott Smith’s game was a result of going one-on-one with Britt Mitchell, who (bless his heart) was a stubby tight end who backed into a starting tackle gig. With Duncan and Whitlock commanding due attention, Mitchell was left on an island and he isn’t built to handle rangy athletes like Smith alone. Our scheme this year is predicated on avoiding that situation; our tackles may still be weak but they won’t be isolated in a bad matchup again. And as a side note, based on today’s practice report Smith could be lined up against Mason Walters, who has NFL tackle size and wingspan. That’s a very different outcome.
Also: smugly declaring that a true frosh and two new three-star JC guys will ably fill the role of Duncan and Whitlock, your two best defensive line players in I dunno, ages? You might want to see the new kids in pads first.
Also: scoreboard.
by Dagga Roosta on Aug 9, 2011 12:46 AM CDT reply actions
The Daggatech™ Triple-Flanged Butt Plug! What the well-dressed Raider is sporting this fall!
by spider on Aug 9, 2011 8:51 AM CDT reply actions
I have actually seen the kids in pads already. I have also heard our multi-year starting SR RT say that Leon Mackey is one of the best DE’s he’s ever gone against and he’ll be new comer of the year in the conference. I’ve also seen Wesley go one-on-one against All-Big 12 Lonnie Edwards and completely dominate him. I’ve also seen UT’s O-line in action and Mason Walter is an inside man and a POS traitor. Whitlock and Duncan both had the heart of lions, but neither one will see an NFL roster for a reason, and honestly I know that Brian Duncan wouldn’t start for the 11’ Tech D-line, and it would be close for Whitlock. It’s funny you claiming how much we’re going to miss Whitlock and Duncan and then make fun of their 3-star replacements, but I’m guessing your dumbass didn’t realize that Whitlock and Duncan were 3-stars.
Never-the-less, our D-line will be a strength this year, and they will once again completely dominate UT’s O-line like they have for the last 3 years in a row. I just pray that the refs don’t determine the outcome again.
by Tim on Aug 9, 2011 9:08 PM CDT reply actions
spider – Remember gents, the third flange is for comfort.
Tim – Of course I realized that Duncan and Whitlock were three stars…because ALL your Leach-era defensive recruits were 3 stars. Duh.
First point is, if you hear anyone connected to the program talk a kid up, you should really take it with a grain of salt and not immediately assume that an unproven off-the-radar 3-star will produce out of the gate just like the proven commodity that just left.
And as for your testimony? Well, dude…you’re Tim. Don’t get me wrong, you seem alright. But nonetheless you are the eternal shit talking sunshine pumper of the Red Raider universe. So maybe you see why I take your word with a grain of salt.
But I’ll tell you what: if the Tech DL turns out as well as you promise, I will go OUT OF MY WAY to make sure you get credit around here for saying as much in August. Fair’s fair.
by Dagga Roosta on Aug 9, 2011 9:43 PM CDT reply actions
You’re right that one can’t automatically assume that “unproven off-the-radar 3-star” players will produce right out of the gate. The difference in this years D-line is that they don’t have to produce right out of the gate in order for Tech’s D-line to be one of the top units for Tech because the D-line is stocked deep with 4-star players(not that I care that much about stars, but it’s a decent reference point for a conversation).
I don’t really care what you take my word for, I have a pretty good record for calling games on here, I called the 08’ game when everyone else laughed and I still get “I take your word with a grain of salt”. My record speaks for itself, I don’t need anyone to go out of their way to do shit. Tech won’t have a top 50 defense because the LB’s and CB’s still need a lot of depth, but the D-line will be good, there are playmakers 2 and 3 deep. At this point I have no clue if Tech will beat Texas, but I’ll put my record on the line when it gets closer to kick-off once again.
by Tim on Aug 9, 2011 11:22 PM CDT reply actions
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