Capitulating to the Cowboys

We’re looking for competence in the mental part of the game as well as the physical.

Pattern recognition iow, and not just location but body language as well. Frosh QB who exhibit this ability are virtually nonexistent. Ash has floundered a bit, but appears to be profiting from the experiences.

Could be better, but nothing unexpected (other than the magnitude of the Sooner Fail).

We are running the ball so far up OSU’s ass that they are going to have to use four come alongs and two trucks to pull it out. OSU’s defense is gassed, their offense is off the field. We have it first and four from the four. And Harsin got cute.

He better thank God that people in the Longhorn nation are still on a hate Greg Davis binge to prove to each other how much they know about football because he blew this one.

We had their ass, their defense could not stop us if they had taken baseball bats with them on the field. You could SEE that OSU was just about to throw in the towell on this one. And our OC thought it was time to show everyone how smart he was.

He better be careful. A couple of more efforts like this where the kids did not lose the game, the coaches did and all of the experts out there will stop ripping Greg Davis at the water fountain. They will start in on Harsin.

And once that happens it does not matter if you average 400 yards a game and 40 points and win more games than any other University in the country, the facts and reality are irrelevant. People will start pulling rationalizations that would be laughed at on Texags out of their ass about how the wins the yards the points don’t REALLY mean that much. The OC is clueless because “Ted in Accounting agrees with me on this”.

Just sayin.

Great as usual, LHS.

In your voice over you note that the film does not support Harsin’s comment about the alignment of OSU’s defense against the run. Do you have an opinion about why Harsin either perceived the numbers in the box incorrectly or why he stepped away from the run game?

Even a football idiot such as myself knows you must attempt some passes to keep the run game working, but the imbalance late in the game was puzzling. Harsin is a smart guy, so he must have had some reason.

Yassir,
Harsin is not above reproach by any means, but some perspective is in order. In just under half a football season, Harsin has managed a more fundamentally sound run game install than his predicessor ever did. And he’s done it with an equal mix of unrefined talent and spare parts on offense. He’s also shown an ability to adjust to his team from week to week. I think he missed the mark a little bit at times with Oklahoma State but I bet he would probably tell you the same… the question is will he make the same mistakes over and over again? Greg Davis doesn’t really have a place in the college football conversation any more.

RomaV,
I think he was afraid of a tackle for loss on a first down on a run blitz and didn’t feel like we had the time to go deep into the play clock to get out of a call. That’s why we went predominantly with the quick game because you can call the quick against pretty much any defense. In retrospect I’m sure he would have a called a little bit of a different game in the red zone and in the 4th. But who really knows? The answer to that question will be in the play calling mix we see in the next few weeks.

Makes sense. Thanks.

Great stuff LS.

Yassir, your inability to use critical thinking skills and realize Harsin has created an upper echelon rushing attack with a true frosh TB, QB, WR, and LT in literally 6 months time is fucking mind blowing. You really should sit this one out or at least can the Greg Davis 40 point inanity. Vince Young and Colt McCoy ain’t walkin’ through that door.

Just sayin…

Yassir, not to pile on here but I think we were watching a different game. OSU was not sharp on O in that game. They had a lot of uncharacteristic drops by the WR’s and were off in general. They are a top 10 team and they won the game as expected but not by as much as expected. Like a lot of games there is ebb and flow and during some critical stretches had things gone differently the Horns could have been in the game at the end. With Greg Davis opposing teams could figure out where you were going to run by the way you lined up and thus could overwhelm you at the point of attack. Are you really pining for those days again so soon? The good news is that you’ve played the 2 toughest teams on your schedule. The rest of your games are winnable, but several of them are losable as well. Your team is going through a transformation process and like making sausage it isn’t always pretty. If you trust the cooks, you’ll be on an upward trajectory in years to come but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to take some lumps on the way. Hell Saban was 6-6 with his 1st Bama team. Previously your schemes on O were an impediment to your success, you only won because you out-athleted the others guys (+ 2 very good Qb’s). Poor recruiting and development has made it where you just can’t line up and roll over 90% of the teams on your schedule. Better recruiting analysis and player development will get you back to the fanbases collective expectations (10+ wins), but it’s going to take a few years. Be patient or get off the bandwagon, cause there are still some bumps ahead.

Very nice. I am more encouraged after this. As everyone, all hope is on Ash making good progress from week to week and Harsin learning his lessons too.

I will make one comment about the film. That play where Hopkins doesn’t seal the backside DE, I don’t think that is as hard of a block as you describe. I of course could be wrong but if Hopkins focuses on blocking pursuit down the LOS, the DE doesn’t make that play. Having to read one action or another is too much to ask on that play. If the DE rushes up field he runs himself out of the play and Brown is off to the races.

At least on the plays you show Cochran looks really good. Very mobile and smart but needs strength and weight that will come as he matures in a S&C program.

Concerning is Mason Walters. Is he hurt? First, he isn’t quick enough for OT now he can’t physically handle DTs. What can he do? Of course these are only a few plays, so maybe he did much better during the rest of the game.

muchos gracias.

Any common theme that you saw for the times when OSU was easily able to beat our blocks.

Loved Cochran on the MalBrown TD. Think he got a piece of at least 3 guys, helped his teammate dominate those blocks and then moved downfield.

Monahorns,

It’s often the backside assignments that are the toughest to consistently execute but you pay that price since it gives you advantages playside and the backside defenders are less like to affect the play. In a lot of circumstances the backside hinge on the power play isn’t very tough. What makes that hinge block tough in this instance is the huge amount of space for the defensive end to operate. That’s why it’s critical that tackle close the gap with the center first. If you watch the defensive end on that play though he’s basically operating on the defensive side of the LOS and that means Hopkins would almost have to fire out to get control of him. Normally that wouldn’t work for the defense but we got such good vertical displacement on that play on the DT that the lane was open for the DE to crash right into the gap. Another way to solve that problem is to focus more on creating horizontal displacement on the down blocks which would take away the defensive end’s ability to affect the play down the line.

With regard to Walters: he’s been struggling at times with controlling his initial contact but he’s the most physical linemen we have. He and Hopkins just didn’t have their strongest outings against OSU. Gotta remember that in most programs they would just be getting worked into the rotation this year.

I hear what you are saying. I guess my only point is that the only way the offside DE makes the play is by running straight down the LOS. First priority for Hopkins should be to cut that off. I don’t think the DE would be able to make the play running up field first.

With Walters part of his problem too was that he was blocking the quicker DT on those plays you show. So his issue could have been more handling the quickness than the strength.

As usual, this post with video illustration is gold, LHS. This kind of post makes this site the best for UT football.

The other asset this site brings is the intelligence of most of the commenters. Kilgore, that was as succinct a summation of the recent history and current state of our program as I have seen. Well done, Your contributions to this site are appreciated.

Great stuff as usual. Thanks for posting.

All I am saying is that we were running the ball very well and stopped.

We shouldn’t have.

LS: did you read Harsin’s quote this week about using Poehlmann as a TE in the Big formations and how Poehlmann was better at “base blocking”. Do you take that to mean that our TE’s are being taught to base block when they should be sealing instead? It seems consistent every week from your breakdowns that we are attempting base blocks where seal blocks would have been better.

Ian,

No, I hadn’t read that. I couldn’t know for sure what the assignment is without hearing a coach specifically talk about it. From my perspective it would certainly be better to seal on the Flex outside zone and we often seem to end up base blocking on it. I think the idea is that really the play could go inside or outside the end and by base blocking you prevent penetration from the end which could disrupt the pulls. However, the pulls aren’t worth a damn, imo if you don’t get a good seal on the end. Physically our TEs just are not capable of base blocking a defensive end (although Poehlmann may be). A nice compromise might be to block down but to use a club technique with the inside arm to prevent the defensive end from shooting the C gap. The the problem is that the club is one of the hardest blocking techniques to master :]. Never simple solutions but I do think that the base block from a tight end on the flex play is a losing proposition right now.