2011 Texas-Texas Tech Post Mortem: Offense

Oh hell, yes! Thanks, Scip!

Great read. I watched the game again and saw one clip of Coach Searels , over with the Big boys grinning ear to ear. I love all the coaching hires, but this coach has made a huge difference in our play. We are almost back

Great read. Particularly encouraged with Ash’s growth over last 3-4 weeks:

“Ash had one bad throw, several good throws (including two veteran throwaways that made me tear up – our boy is growing up) and he looked comfortable throughout.”

“Most encouragingly, he’s now consistently demonstrating the ability to audible us into the proper run play when the defense shows him something he doesn’t like. That’s a huge deal and an underrated aspect of QB play. It’s not enough to outnumber us – you have to outnumber us correctly or you’re just going to hemorrhage where that safety was.”

I hope we don’t “abandon” this style of play because of what we think the upcoming opposition will do to stop it. Pound the ground until the D proves they can stop it:

“Our OL made Tech’s DL look like an anal prolapse.”

This:

…brought a tear to my eye….

That fois gras literary dalliance was masterful.

Great write up. Not much more to add.

Darius is blocking too. Noticed him in the 2nd getting involved in the run game. Me thinks he’s going nowhere. He’s raw, but it looks like he’s buying in which would is in his best long term interests.

Woo hoo! That’s my video! Thanks for making my day, Scipio!

Fine write-up that hit all the right notes:

-the satisfaction of running the ball (I got another dose yesterday watching the Texans run for 268 on Cleveland with two 100 yard rushers)
-Bergeron’s coming out party
-Fozzy’s surprising power
-competent scheme utilizing angle blocking and constraint plays
-Harsin’s genius use of Poehlmann

Of all of those, my favorite is the scheme. Those that worry about our becoming “one-dimensional” aren’t seeing how diversified this offense is. You worry about “one-dimensional” when your tendencies allow the defense to cheat and overload the point of attack. This offense doesn’t allow that with the jet sweep action that holds back-side defenders lest they get burned by our fastest players (Monroe, Goodwin).

“When the process is right, the results will come.”

Looking forward to your defense/ST post-mortem because I think our defense is starting to “get it” in a similar way.

Nice write-up. Thanx.

I think my favorite part of the game is that we’re really starting to do what we’re supposed to do against sub-par teams. Since I’ve started paying attention to Longhorn football, we’ve had a frustrating knack for playing to the level of our competition. These last 2 weeks, we were supposed to be able to run the ball right down the other teams throat, and that’s exactly what happened. I can’t believe how much fun it is to watch us dominate like that, especially on offense.

You hit the nail right on the head.

For a long-time Texas fan, nothing is more satisfying on a primitive level than the power running game, like Germans occupying Paris and milkmen squeezing their nuts, it’s what we do.

Good read, thanks.

Nice post, Scipio. I, too, wondered what was taking so long to sub in Hills for Bergeron. Maybe they were going for a 200 yard performance birthday gift?

I believe this offense is a temporary solution Harsin is employing while striving for an offense that can both run and pass on all manner of defenses in the future. However, it is a sight for sore eyes in contrast to the run devoid offense Davis oversaw the past few years. Great to see the new coaches adapting to their new conference, learning the strengths of the current roster, meshing with the holdovers, and turning on light bulbs in their players’ minds.

Can you imagine what we could have been with this offense when we had Colt, Big Ship and Quan. That would have been nasty

I love nothing more than the “impose your will” mentality of a downhill running game. It is that kind of offense that makes the other team quit. Passing is fun and cute, but I’d rather leave that to the Techs of the world. The University of Ricky and Earl should be able to do exactly what happened on Saturday.

Fozzy is rocketing up the charts of my favorite Longhorn list. Really hoping that guy gets a shot and makes the most of it in the NFL. He is in the Obagnayya (sp?) category of late bloomers I love.

Harsin is finally getting comfortable and digging deeper in the toy box to find hidden gems like Poehlman. Great to see it all coming together. My hopes were for exactly what is happening, but they were derailed by the humiliating defeat to OU.

I like where this is headed. Kudos to Mack. I was happy with the offseason changes, then cringed and had my blood pressure rise after OU. But now we are on the cusp of having exactly the team that I have always wanted at UT.

Try calling a team that rushed for 440 in back to back games soft!!!!

monday morning wood

It pleases me to see our less successful running plays pick up two yards. Of course, I prefer the 9 and 12 yard runs, but over the Davis years we had so many running plays that either lost a few yards or got nowhere. Even if we run two tough run plays in a row, we’re in 3rd and 5 or 6 instead of the dreaded 3rd and 11.

My expectations had become so low for our rushing “attack” over the last few years. HarsinWhite are renewing my older expectations that the Texas offense will move forward almost every play, it’s just a matter of how far.

Life seems better. Thanks for another great analysis.

Any of the experts have an opinion about the impact of Wylie on Foz’s strength and durability this season?

" And we know that every rule change of the last thirty years in football was to promote the forward pass. Teams now routinely line up hybrid small forward-track sprinters at wide receiver, this is the Golden Age of the pass catching TE, the proliferation of 7 on 7s and passing instruction has created a surfeit of classy passers, and the sophistication of the passing game in most Texas high school spread offenses surpasses what most colleges were doing a decade ago."

Anyone who is familiar with markets will tell you that when everyone is going one way, the smart money has already shifted to going the other way.

Many of us hope to see a wishbone package in the future, as a homage to DKR and the greatness of our heritage.

“Advanced statistics tell us that – should we have to choose – efficiency throwing the ball is generally better for your win column.”

Maybe but if you can run inside with power, everything else (running outside, passing short, passing long) gets a lot easier. The D is forced to play bigger, slower run stopping defenders and focus more on stopping the inside run. Every time rookie QB Ash threw long, he was throwing into single coverage because a safety had to focus on stopping the run. Another big advantage, shown with your example of Luke’s TE blocking, is that it is easier for an OL to run block than pass block because the target of the block is constrained in his movement because he is protecting territory. The OL tends to have an advantage run blocking because it can more fully use its size and strength. On pass blocking the DL tends to have an advantage because of its speed.

To me, the single biggest reason for the 2011 Texas OL resurrection is the emphasis on inside running rather than intermediate passing that was emphasized in the previous regime.

Before the season started, I said I’d be content with a record of 7 to 9 wins, as long as we showed overall improvement. I’m still good with that kind of record, leaning toward the high side, because the improvement is definite and obvious.

I am very, very gruntled at the position change of Big Luke Umlaut and the apparently immediate impact of that one player whose control of the edge opens up so much of the offense. I don’t expect to see any 80-yard TDs to him, but I am looking for a couple of two+ yarders down the stretch.

What impresses me most, I think, is the side-line behavior of both players and staff. In stark contrast to the last couple of years, everyone looks involved, everyone seems upbeat.

Captain America! Fuck yeah!

“Major Applewhite: love you, dude, but a running back, just like a race horse, will show you when he’s done running. For the second straight week, you left our stud RB in during a blowout win when they were starting to lather. Injury ensues. I understand statement. I understand finishing. I understand toughness. Now cut it out. Thank you.”

This

I just looked up Bergeron’s picture to jog my memory and am wondering if this guy is actually 18?

In a few of those high school headshots, he’s got the 1000-yard stare, appropo of somebody who signed up for an extra tour because he found snapping Charlie necks in the tunnels outside Da Nang to be a more engaging career path.

On one of the Ash throw aways I remember thinking, damn the man is paying attention. This season could get real interesting. I’m holding out hope for a three way tie atop the Big 12, I know we lose v OSU and OU but wouldn’t that bring us a real nice bowl game.

I suspect passing efficiency is better for the win column because that means the game is not over if you are down two scores with five minutes to play. I could not have been more satisfies with the “death by a thousand runs” whoopin’ we put on the Tech D; however, I sure would like to know that should we find ourselves needing a couple of scores late against A&M, we have the fire power to take advantage of their signature late collapses.

“The running game. It’s so freaking…satisfying. Throw a receiver eligible number on a 6-7 295 pound Brenham sasquatch mullet wearing cleats on his ropers and call him a TE, line up a 230 halfback with bad intentions and a prison stare behind a 250 pound fullback, run a bunch of fleet midgets on end arounds and out of the Wildcat to keep ‘em guessing, and then tell your offensive line to pick a fight for four quarters.”

In the famous words of somebody…“and thats all she wrote”!

Anyone else surprised by Bergeron’s speed on that long run? Not going to be confused with Charles, but holy shit, that was our fullback recruit.

Scipio – you think the long-term plan for Joe is still fullback? He looks like a top-shelf running back in the last 2 games, but how dangerous could our offense be if he was on the field with Brown/Gray/Monroe every play.

Really looking forward to the defensive post-mortem. The DL really showed up big, and put together an impressive pass rush.

We got the privilege of a dedfischer preview . . . is some ded postmortem analysis too much to ask for?

This is an SEC style offense in a pass-happy league. It’s good to be different. There will be teams that stuff this offense for about 2 1/2 quarters and about the time I start to type a post bitching about Harsin on a game thread, the opposition db’s and safeties will be hearing ringing in their ears from being pounded on and will say "forget this crap’ and lay down.

coyote-

That strategy works fine if you time the market perfectly. Otherwise you just get run over and go MF Global on everyone.

The players coming out of high school and the structure of the rules favor the forward pass. We cannot go BCS with the triple option.

Great writeup as always, Scip – these things are a little more fun to write when they’re 90% exultation vs. 90% excoriation, ain’t they?

I’m really looking forward to watching some more film on this one, as well as to basking in LHS’ dulcet tones on Youtube. Harsin pretty much has unlimited cred with me right now – there’s a lot of good to say about a lot of things like RB talent, improved conditioning and more refined OL technique, but the simple truth is that you’re going to win most of your battles when you’re getting to block down on somebody. The hallmark of any great run scheme is a large number of your guys going into their blocks with an angle advantage and sweet, sassy molassy do we have that in spades.

Your praise of Espinosa’s mobility is also a key point – having a play piece that mobile and able to hit targets in space lets you do a world of nifty, nasty things with runs to the edge. Consider that we’ll basically be watching the play YouTubed above for three more years with:

A) More physically developed and stronger editions of Cochran at LT and Espinosa at C
B) Probably a G and TE even more suited to road grading in Hopkins and maybe McFarland? (Not to bag on Snow or Grant, both of whom graded quite well on that play)
C) Either an older, faster and stronger version of Bergeron, a more rested and explosive Brown or a Rick James Superfreak-level Superback in Gray

The special sauce in that play is the mobility of the LT and C to hit those targets in space, and those guys are mere freshmen. It warms the heart.

We seem to be developing an identity as a ‘mobile to the left, mauling to the right’ offensive front, particularly when Allen and Poehlmann come in for the formation that I’ve dubbed Fuckstomp Right. My only real heartbreak is that Poehlmann has lost the mullet – seeing that thing stream behind him while catching a play-action pass all alone in the end zone would have brought a tear to my eye.

No question that the pass game took a back seat in this one, but Ash did take some big steps forward as a run threat and a passer. I can’t help but think that someone like Harsin is ideal for teaching a quarterback how to think about to attack a defense by understanding its component parts and how they are put in conflict by good scheme and play design. Even knowing how DEs, LBS and safeties react to our run plays has to be good for developing that kind of mental processing, which in turn makes Ash better equipped to get us into the right plays and attack when it’s play action time. Kafka’s point about throwing into single coverage is a good one – right now it’s an offense designed to pick its spots with the pass and do so at defenders whose help is occupied elsewhere (and who’ve hopefully been gulled by play action or some other conflict-inducing movement to boot). If you’re reasonably accurate (which Ash certainly seems to be) and your receivers help out to the degree that they should (which, once Mike D stopped quitting on GG underthrows, they have been) then you’re not going to throw too many interceptions attacking single coverage.

Can’t wait to see the next step of the evolution against Mizzou.

Celebrate! List of things that are awesome.
1. Josh Cochran.
2. Formerly dinged up line players (Espinosa, Jeffcoat) approaching 100%.
3. Career backup finding his niche, especially when that niche perfectly embodies the player’s aggressive hairstyle.
4. Fozzy truck treatment.
5. Darius White adjusting to the ball, making the catch, splitting the defenders, getting the score, and finishing what will be a successful college career at Texas.

BREAKING NEWS… TRAYON SHEAD IS TRANSFERRING…

Okay, Scip, now I’m a bit confused. Prior to the Kansas game, I was the one, who suggested that we needed to see the other running backs get some playing time. You, yourself Scip, sarcastically said something about why should we have to develop our other running backs. Remember that exchange Scip? That’s when I was asking for more playing time for Hills and Shead. You and no one on this forum agreed with me. Oh, but now that Malcolm has turf toe and then the latest cramping/hamstring issue with Bergeron and NOW several people here are demanding to have these boys taken out earlier and replaced by the same players(Hills and Shead) THAT I WAS SUGGESTING A FEW WEEKS AGO. So, damn-it, I was right all along. Now, who will be the first to admit that Fanatico was right about playing Hills and Shead. Hills has shown he deserves to be out there playing and Shead might have stayed, but that’s too late now.

It’s Traylon, not Trayon.

We shouldn’t be surprised with how well Joe B. is playing. The kids senior year of HS he rushed for nearly 1600 yards. There’s no way he would’ve had a shot toting the rock witht he GDGD but this is a new era

Let the records show, here is proof of that aforementioned exchange:

on the following article: Texas-Kansas Football Preview: Scouting The Kansas Defense/Special Teams

Fanatico said:

October 26th, 2011 at 3:31 pm

“I say, let the bench warmers play in this one. I wanna see Hills, Shead, and the rest of them. Heck, it’s now or never for some of these fellas.”

Scipio Tex said:

October 26th, 2011 at 3:49 pm

“Fanatico -

Not surprisingly, you’ve honed in keenly on our biggest area of need for development: 4th string RB."

What impresses me most, I think, is the side-line behavior of both players and staff. In stark contrast to the last couple of years, everyone looks involved, everyone seems upbeat.
This! I haven’t seen RBs thanking their OL in a long time (well, I guess for a long time they haven’t had much to thank them for), and then you’d see Searles come by to give props as well. Lots of teamsmanship out there.

On one of the Ash throw aways I remember thinking, damn the man is paying attention.

No kidding. Watching the Giants – Patriots last night, the commentators excoriated Manning for throwing a terrible ball into traffic off his back foot because there wasn’t anything else out there. Our man Ash could’ve made a better decision than that.

Fanatico – you might want to hold off on the self-awarded internet cookie. There is a significant difference between your demand to have 4th-string backs get meaningful PT (which is what I assume you meant by you “wanna see” them) vs getting them in a few plays earlier to spell out the principal backs (which is Scipio’s point). The departure of Traylon Shead is only a benefit at this point, to him and to us.

This year is tied with our 2005 championship year for my all-time favorite.
Here is my post mid-term report card.
Coaching hires – Harsin, Duaz, Wyatt, Searles, Wylie, Bo Davis, – A+
Retaining coaches – Applewhite, Giles, Chambers – A+
This tear’s recruiting class – Shipley, Brown, Bergeron, Cochran, Ash, Edmond,Jackson, Reed, Scott,Thompson,etc – A+
Schemes – A+
Usage of talent – A+
Team chemistry – A (a couple of points off for QB controversies)
Team attitude – A+
Team progress – A+ (6-2 already more wins than all of last year with opportunities for more)

Tech actually tried to commit numbers to stopping our running game in their gameplan by playing soft man to man coverage often without over the top help. We 1)Still managed to consistently create numbers advantages in the run game 2) made them tackle from the secondary 3) threw vertically and used the draw to punish their man coverage. Gave them a Fozzy Bear Hug and collapsed both lungs.

Scip, we’ve been talking about this transformation since Spring. We saw the early indications that things were headed in the right direction: that there was a clear vision for building a new identity. Still, there is simply no replacement for seeing the tangible result on the football field. It is incredibly satisfying to watch the lights flick on for the Longhorn Offense one after another after years in darkness. We don’t have the tight end we really want so we problem solved and came up with a way to stretch with our undersized guys at the position and maul with an oversized guy at the position. Yet again, we see that we have a staff that sees possibilities instead of limitations.

Great write up. I don’t think anyone can capture the salient perspective on our team as cleanly as you always do.

It says a lot, in a good way, that I spent most of the game not just watching the line, which was pure joy, but specifically Luke Poehlman. His edge blocking was stupendous, maybe enough to get him into the league someday as a blocking TE.

I really want to know which booster’s wife Jeremy Hills sexed up, ala Edwin Simmons, to get himself so deep in the dog house.

Question for the cognoscenti: On Ash’s long run, I have heard some refer to it as a “QB draw”. Didn’t look like one to me — instead, it looked like he checked a target, recognized a large swath of empty grass and took off.

If so, then should we add it to his developmental checklist? Seems to me some of Ash’s sacks have resulted from him trying too long to find a target. If he’s honing his recognition of when to hang in vs when to go, it’s going to help tremendously (along with his improved recognition of when a toss into the seats is actually a good idea).

This is what talent optimization actually looks like.

Not all that surprised with the results. Very surprised they have come so soon. This is what happens when you lay out an expectation and wont accept anything less.

That is coaching and a new S&C program starting to make an impact. And no one who has watched Boise over the years should be surprised at the power running game. Everything builds off that.

Not drinking the Kool-Aid quite yet but I am sure staring at it with intent.

“Shead might have stayed, but that’s too late now.”

Addition by attrition. Guys that transfer are better off elsewhere. Giving them pity reps aren’t gonna help anyone. With Shead’s departure, we might find space for someone who fits what Major and Harsin want to do.

BEHorn,

There were two nice runs from Ash. The first was a pass play but I’m pretty sure that the idea was to make the primary read and the run if it wasn’t open (so no that 40+ yarder wasn’t a draw play). I get to it in breakdowns but the route structure and slide blocking were designed to open up the middle of the field and since they were playing predominantly man coverage the likelihood of something opening up was high. The second was a lead draw play with Fozzy lead blocking for Ash. That one was beautifully designed and we had run it once before with MB as the lead blocker. We also ran the fold draw play that MB scored on UCLA with in this game and Fozzy picked up 10+. All three plays are important reminders for teams that want to try to play man coverage against us.

Watching the end of the OSU-KSU game is really bothering me now that our identity is fully set as a running team. The OSU game was ours if we had just run the ball on the goal line at the beginning of the 4th Q and then kept running it. OSU was couldn’t stop KSU on the ground…they were beaten, it was the same look we saw when we played them. Had we scored that TD, the momentum would have been fully in our court and their D would have laid down just like they did against KSU. The biggest difference between the KSU-OSU game and our game against them is that we were stopping them on D regularly.

Yet again, we see that we have a staff that sees possibilities instead of limitations.

LS summed up perfectly the distinction between the former offensive coaching staff and what the new coaches have brought. I love what these guys are doing.

I don’t know how high Big Luke can jump – the fade’s prolly not gonna happen, but I’ll tell you what: I don’t think any DB – or even LB, for that matter – are going to rassle the ball away from him. It’ll be controversial when a DB is called for PI after running into Luke’s arm and winding up unconscious.

Fanatico,
Shead wasn’t given reps at RB because our coaches didn’t want him at RB. If he wasn’t going to be satisfied as an H-back then he needed to transfer. 4th quarter carries after the game is decided probably wouldn’t have made Shead that much more satisfied than the move to H-Back did. We at least gave the guy a chance to make a difference elsewhere, since it was apparent he was never going to make a difference running the ball.

Fanatico – you wouldbe right if not for:

MB
Mean Joe B
Wild Fozz
DJ

And…

Hills and Cody

With Gray coming next year,

Let him go play somewhere, we have plenty of depth.

Ash completed 14 of 18 passes vs KU. He completed 4 of 7 passes vs Tech. The difference is that vs Tech he did not throw the quick short passes that he threw vs KU (presumably because there was no need). Mizzou defends the run better than Tech and KU so Ash will probably throw at least 18 (mostly short quick) passes vs Mizzou. It will be really interesting to see how well Texas runs and passes on Mizzou, a nice measuring stick showing how far the Texas O has advanced.

When the team is so young and so new to the new O and D schemes and coaches, it improves rapidly from game to game. This means that each game has a set of presents for the fans, the presents being new offensive or defensive schematic or personnel improvements. You can’t wait to see what is going to be unwrapped in the next game.

LHS – thanks, don’t have the expertise to recognize it from the blocking schemes, but the routes and Ash’s body language sure indicated the first (long) run was one-read-and-go. And yes, the QB draw was terrific both by its design and for that particular play call. After so many years of worrying about Fozzy getting injured from landing on grass, it’s nice to see him putting the hammer to guys (running AND blocking) and still getting up strong.

Perhaps my favorite play from the game:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J2wgY6HFsg&t=4m13s

What I like:
1) The LB flying in unblocked just glances off of Joe B.
2) For the second game in a row, we see a lineman making it to the second level, and in a scrum, literally GRABBING the RB and pulling/pushing him forward (last game, it was on the goal line – Fozzy got tripped up but his knee didn’t hit, and one of the lineman grabbed him by his shoulder pads and dragged him forward a couple of feet).
3) After the hearty “go get ’em” heave from the lineman, Joe B still churns out a few more yards.

Everything on that play is heartening to see.

What you guys fail to realize is that there are some players that might not necessarily shine in practice, but during a game the lights come on and they produce. Wouldn’t it be a shame if Shead might have been one of those players. We will never know now. I hope Shead gets HIS CHANCE somewhere else and proves you unbelievers wrong and me right, AGAIN. Hook’em Shead! That said, I’m still waiting on Scip to reply…tick…tock…

i drank the kool aid after all the coach hires were settled (hence the avatar). After watching BYU get crushed by a few teams, I started to think the good preacher had added a secret ingredient, but after the last few games, nope, it’s just delicious!

http://i.imgur.com/kshdd.gif

BEHorn,

Harsin told Ash that if all his receivers are covered that means that Ash is not covered (i.e. Ash has an opportunity to run when all his receivers are covered).

Jinx said:
“but they were derailed by the humiliating defeat to OU.”

One also might argue that the Sooner enema the team received cleaned out some blockages. It may have been humiliating, but possibly necessary to current health, as in: “You’re feeling pretty good about yourselves right now, but you have a long way to go. Let me show you.”

I would love to be able to get another shot at Sooner—and Pickens Okie, too—right now.

We are a solidly run oriented team. That does NOT mean one-dimensional, however. This is a MULTIPLE run offense. We have weapons to hit you all over the field: outside, inside, quick, delay, straight ahead, misdirection, you name it. Who needs triple option? Alabama and LSU can stop us, through sheer physicality, but nobody else can. (I love seeing the kind of pass stat line we had Saturday. That’s OU ’71 type of stats, but with higher completion %. Look that team up sometime. When you pass only when you WANT TO, you get that.)

These were two horrible run defenses, but the Horns did what great offenses do to horrible defenses. No time off, full speed, no mercy. Nice.

The statue to Harsin should be ordered now. His ability to identify what a player can bring to the table and maximize it is spooky. Statues to the other coaches are pending.

As stated in another post recently, Bergeron’s high carry total may have been a way of testing his limits. Perhaps the same with Brown before.

Where is Tim’s Bleeding Vagina right now?

“What you guys fail to realize is that there are some players that might not necessarily shine in practice, but during a game the lights come on and they produce. "
4th quarter carries in a blowout don’t tell the coaches any more about a player than does their play in practice. What’s the point in practice and hard work 24-7 if everyone gets to play on game day because of the off-chance they might be better in games than in practice?

Fanatico,

You are not right about playing Shead at TB. Mack played 5 TBs vs both KU and Tech, i.e. the 5th string TB played. It does not make sense to criticize Mack for not playing the 6th string TB.

They decided that Shead was not going to work out at TB and were working him out at H back. It is completely normal for running backs to get transferred to other positions, they are great athletes who are useful all over the field. Not everybody makes it at their chosen position. Texas would have been happy using Shead somewhere else than TB but could not use him at TB right now because they are loaded at TB. Shead would rather transfer to another school than not play TB. It is ok, it happens all the time.

Favorite GuJo moment of the game: “Bergeron…breaking tackles…BEGERON! HA HAAAAAA!!”

You had me at “fleet midgets”.

Props, Scip, as always.

slick writeup per usual, scip.

my favorite part of all of this installation and progress is that it’s not nearly done yet. we haven’t even started throwing the ball outside of keeping teams honest. the deep ball every once in a while is cool, but when harsin and major feel like they can really cut ash loose is when we start scoring 70 in games like these.

rs is right. (my god):
the sec style thing rings true except that our oc isn’t some stuffy uber-conservative pussy. hey jim mcelwain!

I’m glad to say it was all the coconuts writing on this site that got me thinking more about the process this year than specific results. In fact, a large part of what we’ve seen develop was hinted at, predicted or foreshadowed. What have you got for stock market predictions – I’d like a few stocks with Bergeron and Cochran like upside.

I was trying not to get too caught up in the early success or too down with the defeats. Now that we’ve beaten the bottom and lost to the top, it is going to be great to watch the results of the process and our new found identity against the middle.

Next year, screw the process and expect the wins and have fun watching the next batch of difference makers.

Lurkerinthedark said: “As stated in another post recently, Bergeron’s high carry total may have been a way of testing his limits. Perhaps the same with Brown before.” That may be the reason why Major left Joe in. Very Plausible. I still think Shead could have been a contributor; but, I’m willing to put that to rest. Sorry Shead, best wishes. And Scip, you don’t have to respond anymore. We’ll just leave it as is.

Scipio:

Great write-up to capture the emotionally satisfying essence of this game. I was compelled to repeatedly shout, “you can’t stop us!” at the television. You just don’t get that feeling with the potential to break a wide receiver screen down the sideline.

Hope springs eternal in the hearts of horn fans.

a dominant running game – which is key for a Harsin offense to work – helps to hide many other worts, not the least among them being lack of experience on defense (a wort we are quickly removing).

but it also puts us at an extreme advantage in the pass happy Big 12. In addition to keeping these other offenses off the field, we represent an attack that d-coordinators have to revamp their practices entirely for. It is really an enormous thing.

But let’s put away the anointing oils until we see how we play against the remaining opponents on our schedule that are better than the last two, but worse than the two okies. Our schedule did us a ton of favors though- we got the two sure fire losses done in a timely fashion, which helped the learning curve.

Missouri, in Columbia, will be a huge test – a road game at 11am. But what is the best tonic for a trap road game?

Running the rock.

“a 6-7 295 pound Brenham sasquatch mullet wearing cleats on his ropers”

Good stuff. Having worked his way onto the field, Luke is making the most of it. I love stories like that. After last year’s “DJ Monroe doesn’t know the plays so we can’t use him” crap, it’s nice to see an OC busting his ass to use what’s available to him. Thanks for the writeup.

Guess Fanatico’s last name must be Shead? As a former coach, the statement about shining in games but not in practice is the most asinine thing you can say about a player. If they don’t shine in practice, they don’t see the field period! Granted there are people that take it to another level in games but they also lead by example in practice. Plus the Big Cigar had already informed everyone on this board about his impending transfer last week. Nice call!

Here’s a couple of questions for our experts: Would this new scheme utilizing Poehlmann as a blocking TE have worked against OU and OSU? If so, why did we wait until Kansas to unveil it?

“The proliferation of 7 on 7s and passing instruction has created a surfeit of classy passers.”

I see what you did there and raise you a “David Ash is a quality, classy quarterback. He’s a passer, not a thrower, and if the Horns surround him with the right pieces, he will take them to where they want to go, the SUPER BOWL!”

Saturday was the most complete performance by the team since Missouri ’08. While the leverage/numbers game on many of the runs was fantabulous, watching Walters/Hopkins perform perfect combo blocks and slipping to the second level seemingly at will resulted in a horrible case of priapism for at least one fan at the game. Yeah, I know. My pops is a weird guy.

Watching our battering ram offense was extremely satisfying.

One of the things I liked was the attempt to build progression through the plays, but being so successful running the same play over again, we just said “f it, let’s run it again.”

The FozCat (Wild Fozz?) was a great example. We did the one hand-off to DJ on his TD, but basically just took Fozzy and ran inside the right tackle because they couldn’t stop us. Loved it.

Blueshorn,

The simple answer is that coaches aren’t soothsayers. Sometimes they feel like they have something that’s going to work, the game is a live experiment. They learn about their team from week to week and problem solve.

Thanks, LS. I was just curious because it seems like a common theme of Mack Brown coached teams is that they don’t find their identity until about the sixth or seventh ball game. I guess I don’t follow anyone else closely enough to know if that’s common.

Blueshorn,

Cochran’s 1st start was against OSU and that is when we 1st started being successful running. Until then we did not have the luxury of moving Poehlmann because we needed him for depth at tackle. I warn everyone not to read to much into this last game as we caught a very soft defense that was tired and depleted. I am thrilled that we did what we did but this game was to be expected. We are seeing improvement weekly and great signs for the future are showing but we have by no means arrived where we want to be. Stay patient with this team as they will continue to get better but remember they still have lots of growing to come.

The FozCat (Wild Fozz?)

FozzyBearCat, imo.

Many thanks for the youtube videos. Can’t watch those enough.

Scip, I think you wrote what we are all thinking. The last stretch of the year could get really exciting.

Thanks Scip, good read. Now, how do we get Heath Hohlmann more snaps?

Would this new scheme utilizing Poehlmann as a blocking TE have worked against OU and OSU? If so, why did we wait until Kansas to unveil it?

It sure as hell would have HELPED to make something work.

I reckon we waited because someone nixed the move, not because HarsinWhite didn’t think of it – and want it. Maybe they were waiting for Irby or Grant to come around, but I doubt it.

I personally like the 400 Lineman personnel… Our new Power formation vs the Greg Davis Cluster Jam I formation…

I bet there will be a more somber atmosphere next year when the OU coaches watch the gametapes. With GD at the helm it was like the fraternity rush scene from Animal House.

The spread and having an Xbox offensive game plan may attract AA QB and WR talent, but a punshing run game wins championships.

Well done Scip.

I’m not sure why the coaches didn’t install Poehlman at blocking TE earlier in the season!

It was obvious from his 8-catch, 101 yard 3TD performance vs. UCLA that DJ Grant was not the answer!.

outstanding write-up and great interplay in the comments. much appreciated to all. between the writers and commenters on the two sites here and on bon, longhorn fans are among the luckiest in college footballdom.

great game and so rewarding for the team and for us.

one thing. icehead, i know you unintentionally left duane out of your a+ list for retained coaches (assuming we ignore the brief time he was away). as great as the new hires and old hires have been, i’m not sure the greatest accolades shouldn’t go to duane. i mean, just think back to when we were hoping – just hoping – that our secondary wouldn’t hang us out to dry. then look at us today. wow. not that we are a finished product, but i don’t think any of us had faint hopes of our playing like we are playing.

also. In the famous words of somebody…"and thats all she wrote"! you might be talking about tex ritter. ritter and aubry gass wrote the hank williams song dear john, and that line figures prominently in that song. very well might have been when the expression took hold in common vernacular. ritter was clever and might have handled the lyrics there. dunno.

hxttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcNnyjpTZ1Q (remove the x from hxttp).

Lines opened up today with Texas (-1.5) at Mizzou — anyone else think that seems low? I thought we’d be at least a 3 point favorite.

In case it’s not obvious Harsin is to the run game what Holgerson/Leach are to the passing game. The fun thing is that unlike Holgerson/Leach I have a feeling that Harsin really wants to use the other half of the playbook too.

I admit, I was one of the people at the beginning of the year that thought the 10-2 predictions for this team were ridiculous. I still think that is a pretty long shot, but if you can’t see the creativity in our schemes and the improvement from week to week you don’t know what your watching.

For a long time we were a line up and out talent the other team offense. Now we are a line up and outsmart the other team offense with more talent than most teams too.

Fuckstomp Right Featuring Joltin’ Joe Bergeron is now my favorite reality TV show, not that I had one to begin with. Greatness, nobis!

Scip, that dead leg move combined with his kind of power and speed is almost cruel to would be tacklers. Joe reminds me of a bigger version of Ray Rice. I am intrigued by the fact that he is rumored to be an excellent pass receiver as well and wonder what evil lurks in harsin’s head with that scenario ala whell routes, etc. There’s some fun stuff to watch in the other You Tube features on Joe that are included with the one in Scip’s piece, especialy the one with him and Mom on the day he signed his LOI. Prison stare, indeed!

Also, I thought David’s first pass completion to Mike Davis on third and five on our first drive may have been as important as any he’s had this season. It was an obvious passing situation, and their defense was still fresh. Mike ran a crisp route and Ash put a bullet right on the numbers. At that point I felt like the game was ours and that that Ash had arrived.

Finally, I just wonder if our staff is aware of the silver transfer bullet they dodged when they had the audacity to move Whaley from running back to DL. Man, that was a close one!

I saw a little bit of Colt in those Ash’s runs and he has that “it” factor about him and we are looking at our next great Texas QB. wont have the godly passing numbers that colt had, but then again he wont have to, but Ash can and will do something that Colt never did and thats winning a Natl Title. That pass to hit Goodwin on the sideline was his best pass so far this season and if it werent for all of the reports and work that you guys do on this site, i would be suprised. But as it stands right now, i am satisfied and all i ask is to kill the aggies.

Question: what exactly does it mean to “dead leg” a defender? Thanks

I love what the coaches are doing. It was fun to watch.

But I had a Yassir Sanchez moment when our fourth TD drive was momentarily interrupted by a Foz pass attempt out of the wildcat. We were literally stomping a mudhole in their butts on our way to a 31—6 lead, and only a stupid Tech penalty bailed out the drive and kept it going.

I know it is important to keep the D thinking about lots of things, but I hope that in the future we let the big dogs hunt when they are filling up our game bag.

Kosciousko said, “But I had a Yassir Sanchez moment when our fourth TD drive was momentarily interrupted by a Foz pass attempt out of the wildcat. We were literally stomping a mudhole in their butts on our way to a 31–6 lead, and only a stupid Tech penalty bailed out the drive and kept it going.”

The Tech penalty came on a throw away on a screen pass from Ash…

Fuckstomp Right it is, and Fuckstomp Right it shall forever be. Immensely gratifying win, best attitude I’ve seen from a Texas team in a long time. This power running game is the corner stone, but imagine what this offense is going to look like when Harsin has the whole offense implemented. Savor this season, people. Thanks for the write up, Scip.

LonghornScott said:

“The simple answer is that coaches aren’t soothsayers. Sometimes they feel like they have something that’s going to work, the game is a live experiment. They learn about their team from week to week and problem solve.”

Agreed. The coaches are human, they make plenty of mistakes. The key thing is that they are correcting those mistakes rather than stupidly and stubbornly refusing to adjust to reality.

Many of the adjustments that the coaches make (eg: simplifying the O and reads for Ash, playing a 6th OL who was previously underused, getting Bergeron on the field, using the short quick passing game to reduce stress on Ash and the OL and make the D pay for packing the box) were obvious improvements that had already been suggested in comments on BC before the coaches made those changes.

The coaches aren’t strategic geniuses but they are reality based problem solvers.

Great weekend, great game. I was pleased to see Bergeron tear it up.

We enjoyed a great weekend in Austin, and the game was stress free.

With the Mizzou move to the SEC just announced, this might be a good week to catch Mizzou (maybe they will be distracted).

The last piece of the offense is the passing game and that looks like it is taking shape. We will know when someone with good athletes decides to sell out to stop the run. It will be interesting to watch when they try that. When Ash is totally comfortable with the passing game this team will be unstoppable.

AF Horn, there are many here who can better explain it but it’s a move where the RB is in full stride but is able to rotate his hips in such a way that the defender makes contact with his leg on the side of the tackle as that leg is being “relaxed” and effectively taken away as a tacking surface. It is, IMO, instinctive and God-given to a large extent and many have used it to success. If you remember Gayle Sayers and Leroy Kelley (who replaced Jim Borown in Cleveland), they were two of the ultimate practicioners of the art, as is Rice. Ricky had it too, of course. Being able to flat run over guys (like Ray and Ricky) while having it, is a pretty nifty tool box for a RB.

As I said, there are probably several others on here who can improve on that description.

jerryw,
“The last piece of the offense is the passing game and that looks like it is taking shape. We will know when someone with good athletes decides to sell out to stop the run. It will be interesting to watch when they try that. When Ash is totally comfortable with the passing game this team will be unstoppable”

Yeah, it is really looking promising. Ash did a great job in the short passing game that they introduced vs KU. Somebody said that he ran a similar short passing O in HS. He is getting more accurate on his long passes and is completing some of them (would Darius be able to convert some of those near misses to completions?). Mizzou is a lot better defensively than Tech or KU, so it will be a reality check for just how far the Texas offense has advanced.

THE FOOTBALL IS GOOD AGAIN.

Very satisfying game that matched the weather.

As much as I loved seeing Joe B.‘s skills match the practice reports, my greatest take away is Ash’s steady maturation. It’s pretty obvious to me what I’m looking at with him, but not sure I’m ready to say what I’m thinking regarding his upside.

Per Shead: The staff was split on his offer. Basically, Davis and Mack wanted him and that’s all there was to it. We know about the Seastrunk fiasco. The staff also rightfully passed on Dontae Williams. The out of state guys we could have at least looked at were Lattimore, Dyer, Dilon Baxter, Silas Redd, Brennan Clay, Roy Finch, and Mack Brown.

Silas Redd probably could have been had, or at least we had a shot with him. The differences in the staffs are as obvious on the field as they will be on the attrition side of things.

To be fair, Shead has the talent to contribute at Texas, just not in the capacity he’d like. I always liked him at OLB myself. Good luck to him.

Thanks, Jake

I can see why Mack offers to the big TBs like Shead, if they don’t work out at TB, they are going to be useful somewhere else (can’t have enough big athletes with fast twitch muscles).

Shead may be making a mistake. If he can’t make it at TB at Texas, he is probably not going to make it at TB in the NFL. Better to understand his career path as soon as possible and make the switch to the position that he’ll play in the NFL so he is well trained in that position by the time he graduates.

How strange is it that Tech’s defense under Tubberville looks worse than under Leach? (The OU game excepted).

I can see why Mack offers to the big TBs like Shead, if they don’t work out at TB, they are going to be useful somewhere else (can’t have enough big athletes with fast twitch muscles).

Alternatively, they just evaluate really poorly at the position.

Horncasting:

I don’t think it’s strange at all. Tubberville is trying to implement his system with Leaches guy’’s. I’m betting Techs d gets better as he gets his personnel to run the system.

if the Tech folks give Tubberville time to get it done… he is a good coach…

bigdukesix said: “Alternatively, they just evaluate really poorly at the position.”

Maybe but that big fast TB is going to be useful even if he doesn’t work out at TB. It is like recruiting a big fast dual purpose QB; he may not end up at QB but he is going to play somewhere. Lots of awesome athletes play TB in HS that end up playing other positions in college. Would you not recruit these big, fast TBs just because they might end up playing a position other than TB? Lots (most?) of college coaches recruit TBs and convert them to other positions. In football you can’t have enough big athletes with fast twitch muscles.

DKR used to recruit all the qb’s he could get on the theory that they were usually the best athlete on a high school team.

I’m on record, again, as being so glad that Tubbs replaced Leach.

Tech, as a conventional- ish (compared to Leach) team is not near as scary to me as they were with Leach. All that being said, what we did in scoring 8 out of 8 possessions, including TD’s on the last 7, was simply breathtaking, especially when you consider that we threw, on average, 1 pass per possession.

Just never in my wildest dreams did I think I"d see this kind of offense at Texas. I’m a passing guy at heart, having grown up as a fan of the Pac 10 and the SF 49ers in the 80’s, so I’ve never really been exposed to a big time rushing attack. What I like about ours is it isn’t the 3 yards and a cloud of dust bullshit that predominates in Big 10 country, but rather explosive and looking for an edge and to gash you for 40 or 50 yards at a time (kind of like Nebraska used to be, and GA Tech a little bit now).

Props to Ash, the offense, all our guys running the ball, the line, the EBS, fullback, S&C staff, water boy etc. What’ we’ve seen the last 2 weekends has been extraordinary- even if it is against lousy defenses.

Not when the position coach and everyone else (except a coach who doesn’t loave his office to recruit) is telling you he is not the right guy, you don’t pursue any other options and you don’t consider whether or not he might accept the change.

Excellent read Scipio!
The authors on this site are second to none!
One thing that really impresses me is our ability to play smart football. Ball security, not jumping the snap count, missed assignments, bonehead plays, etc. with an abundance of true freshmen and sophomores says tons about our new coaching staff and what they have truly accomplished this year. Factor in the seemingly complex schemes that Harsin and Diaz have cooked up each week and Wow….just wow. Hook ’Em!

I read Scip’s analysis, and the comments by Kafka and others on here, and am reminded of why this blog offers so much more intelligent insight, than say the going on 7+ page argument over on hornfans as why Case should start over Ash, after Case’s 1 for 1 performance for a 31 yard touchdown on Saturday.

Ditto on Kilgorehorn,“Super Bill” Bradley QB to defensive back then "Slick "Street now in the cockpit. Of course, he had a little company back there with Wooster, Bertlesen, & Koy.

I agree that recruiting big TB’s is a good gambit because they offer other possibilities if they don’t work out. But, when the ONLY TB you recruit is a big guy lacking wiggle, that’s an evaluation miss.

I really enjoyed pounding Tech into submission. The OU game still stings because we did not match their intensity, and that has been a consistent theme under Mack. However, it is getting a lot easier to put that game into perspective as a salutary wake up call required to get to where we are now.

What can I say? I am really happy with the product we put out on the field this Saturday and running the table now looks to be on the table. We have made tremendous strides and there is just no good reason for me to continue to ruminate about the past when the present is so satisfying and encouraging. My hat is off to this team and the staff.

Is Texas going to force Mizzou to frequently put 8 in the box or will Mizzou defend the run ok with 7? My guess is that Texas succeeds in forcing Mizzou to frequently put 8 in the box. Texas has 6 OL plus a TE plus a very big FB for a total of 8 big blockers. The 8 big blockers from Texas should be able to block the 7 Mizzou players in the box (I hope).

OTOH, if Mizzou can defend the run ok with only 7 men in the box, Texas is in trouble.

TxPride: many thanks!

Link to Mack’s Monday presser. pretty good read:

http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110711aaa.html

Tipsy,

Will you tell me privately what you see as Ash’s upside? I promise not to share it with anyone or ever call you on it it doesn’t come true. I’m just curious because I’m a pretty new evaluator and analyzer of football skills, so I don’t really have the confidence in my own evaluation to make a projection.

I’m going to guess Andrew Luck upside, though. That’s just complete and utter homeristic ignorance offered up with less than a modicum of shame.

Jake Lonergan:
“Not when the position coach and everyone else (except a coach who doesn’t loave his office to recruit) is telling you he is not the right guy, you don’t pursue any other options and you don’t consider whether or not he might accept the change.”

In case your comment is aimed at me..things that I have not argued:

• Didn’t say that Shead should be the only recruit at TB
• Didn’t say that Shead was a great recruit for the TB position but that he would be valuable somewhere because he is big and fast

As far as considering whether Shead will accept playing another position, Mack is super honest with his recruits. Any recruit has to realize that he may end up at another position when he changes levels.

In my junior and senior years in HS, I went from NT to DT to DE to MLB, 4 positions in 2 years. Nobody asked for my opinion before I was switched to a new position. On offense I started out at OT and switched to TE during the same two year period. Again, no consultation.

My point is that if you are going to miss on an evaluation, miss big and fast.

Great stuff, Kafka. Agree strongly with everything you typed there.

My point is that if you are going to miss on an evaluation, miss big and fast.

That’s the sort of recruiting philosophy that would lead to Whaley over Christine Michael and Shead over Silas Redd, and ultimately give you a team that would go three years without an above-average player at the position.

If you’re choosing between two kids to play running back for you, the fact that one of them could make a better OLB if he doesn’t make it at RB shouldn’t factor in at all. You sign the kid who will make the best running back. The idea that you might miss on the evaluation isn’t a consideration.

Whaley and Shead should have been signed as athletes in classes with at least one other pure RB.

So do I. My comment was specific to Shead, which was a botched exercise and a lesson in when to listen to your staff and not recruit a RB who I doubt Mack was considering using elsewhere when he overrode their advice and took him as our only RB and pursued no others in that class.

Solution: Always recruit a skilled position player that you think is good enough to become a starter. Recruit all-around athletes for depth, but don’t rely on them turning out. Never ever pass on someone you want because another commit doesn’t want competition. Example: Recruit Gilbert AND Sheppard. If that makes one of them chicken out and not want to come then just find someone else.

TXPride:

“7+ page argument over on hornfans as why Case should start over Ash, after Case’s 1 for 1 performance for a 31 yard touchdown on Saturday.”

Seriously? Wow. No need for anyone to subject themselves to that.

ScipoT or other Expert Staff:

1. In the event Foz is injured, who is his backup to run the WildCat?
2. Is Shipley expected to be available for Mizzou? If not, how about Kansas State?
3. Knowing that UT has two 100+-yard per game rushers sharing duties (15-25+ carries per game), is Jonathan Gray’s verbal commitment still strong?

Thanks — and also thanks ScipioT for the Post Mortems.

I checked Texags for news on C. Michael. They are reporting an ACL tear, requiring surgery. I feel really bad for that kid. If that kid didn’t have bad luck, he would have no luck at all.

Hook ’em!

(he keeps trucking people every week – anyone else noticing this?)

Oh hellz yez!

My favorite part of the game is that Tech came out with 8- players up to stop the run and Texas pressed their physical and schematic advantages and not immediately started throwing the football and in effect let Tech stop their running game purely with alignment and not actual execution.

I realize I might be a bit old fashioned, but when one team has the physical advantage and their opponent tries to counter that advantage they aren’t challenging you to throw the ball, but challenging you to run the ball.

Texas had the advantage and Harsin basically told Glasgow he didn’t care what he did on defense the Horns were going to run the ball and there was little the Raiders could do about it. I had said before the game I hoped that Texas would line up and pound their Horns into oblivion and take advantage of the smaller Tech defensive line. Watching them physically pound Tech to me set the tone for the game.

What Texas has done offensively the past two weeks is to set the tone for the way they are going to play out the rest of the year. I don’t anticipate Texas running the ball 85% of the time, but what I do expect is that defenses going forward must first and foremost prepare to stop the run versus Texas. This isn’t the days of the Greg Davis/Mack Brown offense where the Horns would talk about running for 6 days and then on game day give-up the ground game based solely on the defensive alignment.

Forcing the defense to focus on the running game as Scott and Kafka have brilliantly explained opens up the other offensive options that Harsin has built off the running game. Funny what happens when you build a real offense off a base series of plays and an identity and not just call a random grouping of plays that don’t really build off each other.

l think the most unsung aspect of the bruising TT victory was Ash’s passing game. There may only have been 4 completions in 7 tries, but talk about strectching the field. These are 3 of the completions, plus two notable misses (distances in the air not los):

1) 25 yard bullet to Davis. First drive, first series, first down. Ash got sacked on 3rd down, but he moved up into the pocket nicely. TT just got a terrific speed rush.

2) 55 yarder that just led Davis too much by about 18 inches. Nice arm, even if a miss. On the very next play, Ash did a look and go, and ran for 47 yards — the longest run from scrimmage for Texas on the year.

3) 43 yards. Texas led 17-6, and it was 2nd and 7. Mike Davis was well-covered and hemmed in on the sideline, but the throw was on the money, caught, and MIke added another 10 yac.

4) 41 yards. Coming off Ash’s poorest pass of the day — a ball that fell between 2 Texas receivers — it was 3rd and 7. Ash throws a 41 yarder perfectly, just over the outstretched arms of the TT defender, to Goodwin, who added 8 yac.

This kind of field-stretchign passing is what Harsin has in mind for the future. We got a bit of the taste of it against TT. Two 40+ balls in the air, and one barely missed.

If the defense can continue on its current trajectory, with a strong-armed Ash, a nails OL, and a totally overpowering running game, Texas looks like its back, right on schedule. The future is blinding.

It’s okay. The Kool-Aide tastes great.

What, no one misses GD’s dancing-bear, zone blocking OL and shotgun-QB handoffs to a standing RB, who would start running towards the sideline (hoping to get around the edge) before being swarmed and tackled in the backfield for a 4-yard loss? Hard to believe so few appreciate the sheer elegance of those plays.

“The casual power, the little steps before the burst, the ability to dead leg defenders while still moving, and, most of all, the hip flexibility to get his legs up when safeties and linebackers try to paint his shins.”

Add “long fluid stride” and that’s where the comparison with Ricky breaks down.

That’s why I’m sticking with Joe “Bigger Dickerson” Bergeron.

Watch Poehlman on Fozzy’s second TD in the 2ndQ. He makes an initial block as the TE, then following through on second effort takes out 2 defensive players simultaneously with his outstretched trunk. That’s entertainment.

Watch Pöhlman on Fozzy’s second TD in the 2ndQ. He makes an initial block as the TE, then following through on second effort takes out 2 defensive players simultaneously with his outstretched trunk. That’s entertainment.

The Force is Strong with this One.

Just a couple thoughts…
As much as o appreciate how ho mighty Joe B is, Malcolm Brown is the better of the two… better balance/better vision.
Texas tech was ripe for the run with all their injuries at DB &the linebacker. Along with the undersized D line..
That being said, great work by our O-line and running by Joe.
Funnything.. if you were at thehigh school all American game y’all would have seen Joe B house a 47year yard pass. That part of his game is yet to be displayed as is Malcolm’s

Been saying for a while Texas in the Cotton Bowl.(since the UCLA game). I’m surprised some of you folks haven’t weighted in on bowl predictions.
aTm beats K-State this weekend &the we beat the cats at home the following week with a turkey day send off at aggie land and then all we gotta do is beat the bears and it’s off to Dallas for a January bowl game…
as Jesus said recently… what a difference a year makes.

Rio,

I’m no expert, but I saw Mack’s presser on LHN. He announced that all injured players are expected to be ready to play on Saturday in Missouri. Brown and Shipley are practicing according to Mack.

no, guv. dickerson was similar height but ran straight up and faasst. that stride joe has and his relentless running behind his pads reminds of earl. i don’t mean to say joe is another earl but to say he does definitely remind of earl. when i read early on that he was looking more like a running back than a fullback i had no idea he looked like this. very impressive.

the thought of having joe, malcolm, johnathan, and dj next year must have harsin thinking he woke up in a candy store. and i bet foz would trade a few years off his life for another year of eligibility. he doesn’t look like the same man this year. this offense was made for him.

malcolm may be the best of the four, jet. he is amazing. but all four are special.

great news on the injured guys, roma. thanks for that. i can’t get the vids there.

To yeh: I wasn’t knocking anyone &the I even mentioned Joe’s ability on a pass play butttttt I think what has impressed me the most is the difference in the look Malcolm has vs his senior year…. no more bad weight…. he will get faster &the quicker as he continues to excellent in the conditioning program…. part of it is a (in my thinking) that he comes with the discipline of being raised in a military family..
we could very well be in a BCS Bowl in January 2012bowl and the final 4 in B-Ball later that March … now wouldn’t that be sweet.
Hook’Em

To yeh:I Malcolm is probable, Jason is? ….
This is from a site that showed neither would play against Tech on Saturday morning of game day…
excellent site, here’s the link:
 http://www.statfox.com/cfb/injuries.asp

I typed jaxon. But my smart phone is too smart for me sometimes

Dickerson is taller than Joe by a couple of inches and in the open field had a stride very much like a sprinter. He was the best tall back I can remember watching as he could shorten that stride close to the line of scrimmage and then burst through and really eat up ground with those long strides.

There seems to be a bit of Ricky in Joe and the other name I would throw out is Butch Hadnot.

Thanks Scipio — I agree with most everything, including Applewhite needing to watch carries.

I said during the Game Thread that Bergeron might turn out to be a better back and I will stick with that. Brown may be a little better at following blocks and eliminating the possibility of negative plays but Bergeron seems to have more speed and better open field shake. Whatever, I’m just pleased as hell to have such a loaded backfield.

ACE said:

Favorite GuJo moment of the game: "Bergeron…breaking tackles…BEGERON! HA HAAAAAA!!"

Mine was:

Fozzy……..LAYING WOOD!!!!!!

Jinx,

You sure you don’t want to change your phrasing about Fozzy?

I have to admit, on one particular Bergeron run to the left for a TD, I wasn’t celebrating. I was in deep contemplation that a freshman snapped the ball to a freshman, who handed it off to a freshman, who received a block by a freshman to rip off 20 yards on the ground for a TD. This was the UT that I’ve longed for, a pounding ground attack, but to think it was executed mostly by freshmen……left me in a wondrous stupor of joy.

… freshman … freshman … freshman … freshman …left me in a wondrous stupor of joy.

Roger that, Cap’n. Already anticipating alternating “…freshman …sophomore…” next season.

Can someone who still spends money on OB tell me if echeese has spent the majority of the season defending Greg Davis? That would almost be worth a free trial subscription.

T. Shead I wish you the best in your future and hope to see you in the NFL soon. On Mack’s recruiting RBs the past couple of years, I think that he only took big, fast backs in order to force Davis’ hand into running the ball with bruisers. Anybody else think that as well?

Oh well at least Mack finally has the style of play and now he knows what it takes to win. Do we pass up the OU or OSU loser if we win out?

Only if we had lost 35-45 to either team.

why you got to bring up those memories abe? u know for all the conference dominance that OU has had in the past, they lucked into about 3 of those championship games. but i guess you still have to win the Big12 championship game and we couldnt do it a couple of times when we were favored.

From Mack’s presser on Monday:
“Concerns. We need to continue to grow and develop in our passing game. The next four defenses that we play, and three of those games on the road we probably will not be able to line up and run the ball like we have the last two weeks.”

“Up front on defense, they (Mizzou) are so good. There’s three seniors that are all pro prospects. [Dominique] Hamilton, [Terrell] Resonno and [Jacquies] Smith are 6’5”, 305 senior; 6’5", 295 senior; 6’4", 255 senior. and Luke Lambert, No. 33, is a great linebacker. He’s a 6’3", 230pound senior, as well. So it’ll be much tougher to run the ball against those guys this week. We’ll have to be balanced. They’re not a big blitz team"

“We’re really working so hard on our passing game in practice…We were able to get four explosive plays off of the passing game and only threw it nine times. So we feel like that we’re making some progress. Our protection is getting better. But obviously the next four games we’re going to have to be more balanced.”

“And now what we’ve got to do is keep developing our young quarterbacks but be able to throw the football better.”

On QB David Ash: “Confidence. I thought he ran faster. It’s really funny, when you look at a mental block that players have and you put so much on them that they’ve always said there’s paralysis with analysis in football. And if you get too much off them, they get so they can’t think. They look like they’re slower, and I thought Saturday he knew where to throw the ball. He threw it accurately. He threw the ball away, and he was conscious about this isn’t Belton [Texas]. I can’t run around back here for 30 minutes and probably get loose and make a big play down the field. I’m going to have to be able to let us punt some or throw a ball away and try and make it up on the next down. But the two or three times he ran the ball he was tough. He was quick. He was confident. The burst of emotion he showed after the 47yard run was really telling, I think, that he’s feeling better about himself.”

On the team finding an identity: “It’s really helping us. We felt you need to be known for something, and last year we weren’t. We just were all over the place, and when you’re in your seventh game of the season trying to figure out who you are, that just means you’re not very good, very honestly. That’s what happened to us. And then I thought the inability on offense started affecting our defense, and then all of a sudden all of those kids that are on your special teams don’t feel like they’ve got their chance to win. It affects everything, and what the offensive staff and I talked about early in the year and then about fourth, fifth game, even after Oklahoma, we still didn’t know for sure who we were. We had a few trick plays, and we were running it and trying to throw it. Right now we need to do whatever it takes to win, and right now our best chance is to run the football and be physical and try to get some deep shots off of a trick play or some deep pass off play action. And I’m really proud that the players and the offensive staff have said, "Hey, this isn’t who we want to be, but it is who we are right now." We’ve got to grow. We’ve got to develop, but at least we’re doing something now that everybody understands.”

So Mack and Harsin realize the passing side of the offense needs to be improved asap to win in the last 4 games of the schedule (and are working on it very strenuously) but for now the horns are a run first team with some play action passing thrown in.

Kafta, im glad they are working on it and hope they dont have to use it.

55f100tx,

If you read Mack’s comments, he is convinced that the horns will not be able to run on Mizzou’s big, talented DL like they ran on KU and Tech (no surprise to me). I just hope most of the increased passing is the short kind (mostly to backs) that looked so good vs KU and not the intermediate kind that looked so bad vs OU. Ash probably runs more vs Mizzou, especially when their secondary is playing man.

for now the horns are a run first team with some play action passing thrown in

And will be until we throw 40-50% of the time not because we have to, but because it’s what works, and for the same net per attempt that the run game brings. Passing from the FozWilder – successfully and without undue trickery – will be required. When the D shows predictability in its response to formation X, there’s gonna be a major hole and someone’s got a chance to run through that hole or run to that hole to get a pass. Once all the RBs and WRs and the QB are on the same page in that part of the playbook… hooo, boy! Hide the wimmen ‘n’ kids, there’s gonna be some fireworks.

Returning to earlier games, you can see plays where someone – sometimes multiple someones – found themselves on the wrong page, and ugliness resulted. Sure, there’s a correlation between the quality of opponent and results, but… there are not as many people off the page; sure, there apparently aren’t so many pages, but it looks to me like we’re seeing a team with a lot of pieces of structure that have been fairly well learned, so that the game planning is going to get easier and easier, picking various pieces and spending practice time honing those to perfection.

When does the Hook and Ladder come out of the closet? We’ve seen the halfback pass, and I saw a pseudo Statue – Ash was only a three-step drop, I think, and it wasn’t hugely overt, but he did fake the pass to a motion man on the right and hand it backwards to the RB… wish I could recall which game, but I’ll bet some of you noticed it, too.

Mack’s point seems to be that the team was floundering for an offensive identity and that it was starting to affect the whole team, not just the offense. Reading between the lines, I think Mack encouraged Harsin to run, run, run, and then run some more vs KU and Tech. So now the team has an offensive identity. Hats off to Mack, Harsin, and the horns.

The problem is that against Mizzou, KSU, and ag, that offensive identity is likely not going to work anywhere close to how well it worked vs KU and Tech. So the offensive identity has to be modified at least slightly for the final four games. The modification has to be small enough that it can be implemented in the one week between the Tech game and the Mizzou game.

The obvious choice (to me) is that Texas supplements their mainstay run game with the short quick passing game that was used some in the KU game to bypass the Mizzou DL and help keep the chains moving. Ash looked good running the short quick passing game vs KU and the horns already know how to run it.

Mizzou is a veteran D that doesn’t take a lot of chances, trick plays may not be that effective vs them.

I have my doubts about Foz passing, his passing form looks bad.

Given that Mizzou does not blitz much, it will be difficult to predict when they are going to blitz. Screen plays may not be that effective vs Mizzou.

I am trying to temper my increasing optimism with the recognition that we just beat a couple of the worst teams in college football. Who was the know it all here that proclaimed the Big12 to be so deep in great teams this year? A gang of wimps is more like it.

“lowest risk-high reward option was running the ball up their asses until a breeze made it whistle”

LOL – See, this is just wrong!

I don’t think that anyone truly believes that Texas would run for over 400 yards a game in the next 4 games. The key to me is that Texas run the ball effectively enough that the next four defenses have to truly focus on stopping the line and that in turn takes the pressure of Ash and opens up the opposing secondaries to the Texas passing game.

It is good that they say they are working on improving the passing game as long as they simply don’t shift to a game plan that emphasizes the pass because they are playing better defenses.

OK, I have several burning questions:

1. Who was the genius that looked at Pohlman and said “There is a tight end if I have ever seen one”?
2. What team in the Big XII has better running backs than UT?
3. What team in the Big XII has better DB’s than UT? I said BETTER, remember.

I dont know, but 6’7" 295 looks like a Texas size tight end.

none, at least not 3 of them.

none.

Luke playing tight end is really nothing more than Texas running tackle over with the second tackle on that side wearing an eligible number.

Davey – That is true and I understand where he came from and what he originally was. But, SOMEONE, had to say “Let’s power up the strong side and…hmmmm, who could we use? When we do, let’s throw an end number on him because, hell, we might even throw a pass him sometime”.
It was a brilliant move, regardless, and I know Mack didn;’ figure this out – could it have been Searles?

Davey O’Brien said:
“I don’t think that anyone truly believes that Texas would run for over 400 yards a game in the next 4 games. The key to me is that Texas run the ball effectively enough that the next four defenses have to truly focus on stopping the line and that in turn takes the pressure of Ash and opens up the opposing secondaries to the Texas passing game.

It is good that they say they are working on improving the passing game as long as they simply don’t shift to a game plan that emphasizes the pass because they are playing better defenses."

No worry that Texas will emphasize the pass, the horns are definitely a run oriented team. My guess is that the Texas offense vs Mizzou is something like the KU game where Texas mostly ran with Ash throwing mostly short passes 18 times and completing 14.

The most important question is whether Texas can run well vs the Mizzou front 7 and force Mizzou to dedicate a safety to stopping the run. If so, Ash will have lots of opportunities to throw deep into single coverage. My understanding is that Mizzou is not strong in defending the deep pass.

Pinkel must be conflicted: if he brings up a safety to support the run D, then he forces rookie Ash to throw more but Mizzou is also vulnerable to the deep pass. If he keeps the safeties back, then maybe Texas runs efficiently and Mizzou does not exploit the Texas QB’s inexperience. Mizzou looked vulnerable to the big play vs Baylor.

Of course all bets are off if Texas can not run efficiently vs 7 in the box.

Kafka,

That is the beauty about establishing a true offensive identity. As I said in my earlier post teams not must spend the week focusing on what they must stop against Texas if they want to win the ball game.

As you deftly point out if Missouri can’t stop the run with just their front seven they now must decide between keeping the safeties back or bringing them up for run support. Either which way it is the Missouri defense reacting to the Texas offense instead of the other way around.

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