10 Thoughts On The Oklahoma Loss
1. Greg Davis called a B+ game today. We still don’t show much imagination in the passing game, but the playcalls were good enough to win. Receivers were open enough, and we adjusted after we couldn’t run up the middle on normal zone plays. I would’ve called more counters, and naturally, JerMichael Finely was nowhere to be found in the second half, but Davis wasn’t a problem at all.
2. Here are some plays we’ve been saving for OU for no good reason:
- A sprint out counter. We’ve run it before and I have no idea why we don’t run it more, considering how good a play it is and how often we sprint out.
- A draw. Only took a year and a half, but we finally installed the first basic building block of a shotgun run offense. This play killed and we needed to run it 5 more times overall.
- Finally, a playfake out of our goalline package. I don’t know why we don’t do this more. It’s the best play in football. It doesn’t matter if teams know you do it, it has a stunningly high success rate. Look at the Patriots, they do it half the time, and to the same guy, and it almost never fails. Ours went for 50 yards because every OU LB has his mind blown simultaneously.
- A crazy, rocket pitch counter of some sort. I can’t wait to see how rpongett labels this. It’s going to be high comedy. I’ve seen us run it once before, but I thought the FB messed up a normal rocket pitch. Otherwise, I have no idea where this play came from because I’ve never seen it before. Worked pretty well.
3. Vondrell McGee should be the starter until Jamaal Charles learns to take care of the ball. That fumble cost us the game. Let Charles earn back his starting job by giving him 5-10 touches a game. Until then, let him know we’ve got another pretty good player behind him who won’t drop the ball every single game.
4. As much as Allen Patrick sucks, Demarco Murray doesn’t suck. He has that rare body lean that makes him a bitch to arm tackle. And since our greatest strength as a defense is off balance arm tackling, Allen Patrick dying in the 2nd quarter might have been the best thing to happen to OU since Bomar got kicked off the team. I have no idea why everybody suddenly got so lukewarm on him late in the recruiting game that he ended up at OU. USC wanted him at CB, and he’s better than anyone they’ve got at RB.
5. On OU’s last, long TD drive, we had Derry, Bobino, and Killebrew in the entire drive. Their slowness added yardage to at least 5 plays. Congrats to Bobino, who whiffed in the backfield by diving for no reason for the 100th time on Murray’s long TD run. He’s like that LB in Tecmo Bowl that dives as you run right around him. Or, even better, a Madden gamer who always presses the dive button to tackle and ends up taking some crazy angle and whiffing completely. I wonder if he goes low on tackling dummies too. Derry missed about 7 tackles today. I’m not even sure Killebrew did anything. I sure never saw him. Kindle played exceptionally well, which makes it official that all three starting LBs have somebody twice as good behind them. I’m looking forward to May’s graduation ceremonies.
6. Lokey and Okam dominated in the run game. They were pushing OL all over the place. It was often wasted by a missed tackle or two, but it was nice to see. I’m sure they are big fans of our starting LBs.
7. My biggest fear going into the game was the cushion our corners give opponent WRs because the safeties need to be up for run support, and it bit us hard in the second half. OU took 7 yards whenever they wanted it. Most teams that do what we do change it up with cover 2 to keep offenses honest, because it keeps both corners short and able to jump those out routes. We should. It’s an amateur mistake not to, especially when Colorado just beat OU by staying in cover 2 all game last week and especially when our safeties so rarely make plays in the run game.
8. Colt’s fine, but the Chiles era needs to begin. I know it won’t, so I won’t bother wasting many words on it. We need a runner at QB, and Colt has a ton of bad habits.
9. We handled DeMarcus Granger. He had a few plays but overall he didn’t do squat. Credit to Tanner and Griffin. The rest of the DL didn’t do anything either, other than a few coverage sacks.
10. This was our best game of the year and we still lost. It’s October 6th and our season is over. We have a 4 game conference losing streak for the first time in 50 years. Time to play the youngsters, Mack.
October 6, 2007 at 11:00 pm
I agree, but I think we can salvage a 10 win season still. We dont play anyone worth a crap, and even in a loss, I think we grew up some and maybe we’ll find an identity. Probably just wishful thinking though…
October 6, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Pretty good summary. Tell me — are you as disenchanted with the shotgun + 1 back formation as I am? It just seems so ineffective. Obviously, Colt isn’t Vince, and we’ve discussed that to death, but even if it isn’t a true zone read, it just seems fraught with problems for both our running game and passing game.
Play action from under center is a thing of beauty, though. I wonder if Greg Davis invented it.
October 6, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I think our 10-win streak ends this year. I said after Arkie State that we’re a 4-loss team, and I haven’t seen anything to dispute that yet.
My brother and I generally watch the games together. It’s gotten so bad with Charles that anytime he touches the ball, we reflexively flinch and suck in our breath now. I think he’s a net liability at this point.
Colt’s getting to the same level. His happy-feet are getting totally out of control. I’m on board with increasing playing time for Chiles, but it just won’t happen without injury to McCoy. Mack’s just too married to seniority and continuity.
When I watch Bobino play, I’m reminded of that Mike Myers SNL skit where he played the kid who had to wear a helmet and was tethered to the jungle gym.
Mack’s regime has won us a national championship and garnered some impressive aggregate records (e.g., won-loss record, offensive yardage numbers, etc.). But he’s also presided over some of our worst moments: Record loss margins to OU, getting shut out for the first time in two+ decades, losing four straight conference games, etc. I guess if you stick around long enough, those sorts of things happen.
Still.
October 7, 2007 at 12:16 am
I have a bad feeling that 2-3 other teams are going to jump up and bite us in the ass. Tech scares the hell out of me now that we know what kind of pass D we have. A&m is going to bring the jihad simply because that’s what they do against Texas. Fortunately Okie State is coached by a moron and Nebraska sucks. Baylor and ISU have no shot, right?
October 7, 2007 at 1:31 am
“Baylor and ISU have no shot, right?”
Well, you could ask Stanford that question. Or, for that matter, USC.
Of course they have a shot.
I think the Tech game is going to be a lot like our game with them in ‘98 or last year. Just utterly insane, with the victory basically coming down to who has the ball last.
The A&M game, IMO, will come down to whether or not we’re still starting the Derry/Bobino/Killebrew combo or not. If we are, we lose. If we aren’t, we win.
October 7, 2007 at 5:09 am
I agree with just about everything listed above. The new guys should get more time on the field now since the year is basically over. I saw more talent in the ‘backups’ than the ’starters’. Also, let’s not make Chiles the Brett Robin of this team. I think teams are starting to figure out the play he will run when he’s in. Be more creative with him and let’s watch him replace Colt.
October 7, 2007 at 6:48 am
i was a card carrying member of the charles fan club until he conclusively established that he drops the ball once per game but didn’t do something magical to make up for it. i was gonna rip up the fan card but i dropped it and a sooner caught it on the run.
October 7, 2007 at 9:16 am
I think I saw a RB screen pass as well? Don’t see those too often.
October 7, 2007 at 9:43 am
“Well, you could ask Stanford that question. Or, for that matter, USC.
Of course they have a shot.”
Hence, the apprehensive “right?”
October 7, 2007 at 10:03 am
Bobino does not graduate this year. He will be the “heart and soul” and “leader” of the defense. His future video blog on Texassports.com is probably already in production.
October 7, 2007 at 10:49 am
i swear to god that mack brown is the most stubborn coach in the history of college football. it takes a nuclear meltdown before he even considers changes in the starting lineup much less changes to his coordinators. how in hell can he keep this starting linebacking trifecta intact? what exactly must take place for him to make a change? how bad must their play be?
well ill tell you had bad they have to be, there is no limit how bad they can play and still keep their job because that obviously has no bearing on whether they start or not. the only thing that apparently matters is if you are an upperclassman, if the coaches like you as a person and if you follow instructions in practice.
to put this in perspective, reed boyd, our former starting linebacker, in his whole career he had 1 fucking tackle behind the line of scrimmage. lavar arrington, in his senior year alone at penn state had 72 tackles, nine sacks and 20 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, he also blocked two kicks, thats in 1 fucking year.
i’ve never been after macks job, always GD and some other coordinators but i have had it now with this bullshit loyalty crap that he shows towards certain players and coaches. VY isn’t here anymore to help justify this crap. it’s time for a change all over the place. until it happens i’ve just thrown in the towel and my interest level has now dropped lower than it ever has in 40 years of texas football for me.
all of you better hope mack isn’t hired to be the athletic director here after he retires from coaching. can you imagine him EVER making a head coaching change regardless of the won-loss record? what if he hires greg davis as the head coach whom he would NEVER fire regardless of our record. that last thought gave me chill bumps, and i’m not talking about good goose bumps like the ones i get when i watch neve campbell and denise richards in “wild things” but rather the bad ones like i get when i watch the original “texas chain saw massacre”.
this year is gone, we will be lucky to end up in a bowl game of any kind this year, my prediction, unless there are major changes to the lineup is that we finish out of the top 25 and no bowl game.
October 7, 2007 at 11:11 am
Good stuff - I’m so pissed at Jamaal I can’t see straight!
October 7, 2007 at 11:14 am
I’m off the Charles bandwagon too — there has to be consequences to fumbling the ball. Mack said it was fixable after UCF, but Charles has been nearly costing us games since his first year — remember the incomplete screen on the last drive against USC?? If the refs call it a catch and fumble, it wouldn’t be reversed in replay. We lucked out then and he’s been dropping the ball since.
He might be the best on the team running the ball sans fumbles, but it just isn’t changing. Mack, fixed it. Bench him until he learns.
October 7, 2007 at 11:27 am
You know I think the Titans suck harder at special teams than we do.
October 7, 2007 at 11:43 am
ha ha - watching that right now too, MH.
October 7, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Doperbo should live blog Titans games for us. Lazyass. We’re paying good money here.
October 7, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Great post, Mileslong. Also remember that Reed Boyd started while Marcus Wilkins rode the pine and only played special teams. Who ended up being a starter in the NFL? That all is all you need to know about this program.
The team played hard yesterday and for that we can be proud, but we wasted the senior years of two great defensive tackles who will be tough to replace next year. Roy Miller will be very good but who else? We need to start playing our young db’s for experience, our young OL for experience and god forbid play the right linebackers.
October 7, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I did notice Ben Alexander got a lot of playing time. Why, I don’t know, but I’m hoping he’s beginning to come on.
October 7, 2007 at 3:48 pm
No offense, but Colt is not fine. He is hurt, his questionable arm strength that we had been bull-shitted into believing was improved is in fact less and he is fuzzy-headed from his concussions.
YOU NEVER, EVER, have a delay of game penalty after a time out.
He is a great kid, but the Colt that we all knew before K-State last year and is probably gone forever.
That is the opinion of a professor and trauma specialist in the University of Texas Medical School. He simply cannot believe that Colt is being allowed to play.
October 7, 2007 at 4:41 pm
The fact that we didn’t even call a TO after he stood up and almost lost balance was more puzzling. The kid needs to lose an arm before he will be sit. And I fully expect to see Michael Bennett with a chainsaw the day after Thanksgiving.
October 7, 2007 at 4:42 pm
His arm is good. His head might not be. But I have no way of knowing that.
October 7, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Chris, not meaning to get into a pissin’ contest, but his arm is not OK. He does not have the strength to throw the deep ball. Colt consistantly underthrows deep receivers.
As to the post-concussion “fuzziness”, let me attest from personal experience. I had a head injury in July and I still cannot drive; I have headaches every day and I cannot make decisions. I correspond almost excluively by email because I can go back and correct errors before I hit send. Sometimes I am fine and sometimes I cannot speak coherently.
As explained to me, concussions are not independent events, they are cumulative. It is not as if two people may have a head injury, because any blow to the head feeds off any prior concussion.
I, like you, cannot tell what is happening inside Colt’s head, but in observing him I notice that he just does not seem to have the confidence nor does he make quick precise decisions.
I wish Colt the best and I hope I and my MD friend are wrong. That said, Colt should at the very least be rested.
October 7, 2007 at 5:12 pm
If our season were judged by moral victories, we’d be 1-4; and the lone victory is a defeat.
Recalling A&M’s victory over Oklahoma, at Kyle Field in 2001 or 2…
OU’s cornerbacks jump the routes, so McNeal began pump faking to the receivers on little hitch and go’s, thus exploiting OU’s over-pursuit.
Who’s are QB coach? Is it Davis as well?
October 7, 2007 at 5:16 pm
We’re on the same side, Bigg. I don’t think Colt is the guy and we should move on until we find him.
October 7, 2007 at 6:16 pm
“YOU NEVER, EVER, have a delay of game penalty after a time out.”
This has been an issue for years. I remember Simms getting delay of game penalties after we’d taken position. Dead ball delay of games are stupid.
October 7, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Are you all really that surprised that Colt was allowed to play as much as he did? This is EXACTLY like OU’s situation in the 2003 Big 12 CCG and, later, the Sugar Bowl. Jason White at 50% with a concussion and a broken bone in his throwing hand was STILL a more viable option than Paul Thompson.
Don’t kid yourselves. Colt McCoy at 50% with a hurt throwing arm and a mild concussion is still a better option than Chiles. Chiles doesn’t have the command of the offense or the passing game necessary to keep UT within 14 of OU.
That said, I, too, have a hard time believing UT is still playing McCoy. He’s hurt, and he was very evidently not ready to be back. There’s no reason whatsoever to play him against ISU or Baylor these next two weeks.
October 7, 2007 at 9:27 pm
The LB’ers aren’t the problem. If our DL and DE’s especially would play at the level it needs to play at, the LB’er “problems” would pretty much go away. Crappy play on the DL makes LB play look crappy. The pass rush is the most pathetic aspect of their play, but it isn’t the only thing wrong with it.
October 7, 2007 at 10:08 pm
On Demarco Murray’s 60+ yard TD, Lokey drove the center 4 yards into the backfield, then Bobino made his infamous whiff and Marcus Griffin took a terrible angle.
Our DL, especially the DTs, are destroyers. They are not the problem whatsoever.
October 7, 2007 at 11:43 pm
You have to be joking! The DL isn’t “destroying” anything! How many times was Bradford touched? Okam and Lokey had a good game, but they have been inconsistent. The DE’s are every bit as bad as you think the LB’ers are. The pass rush from this group overall is pathetic. What about last week?
And great, you found a play where the LB screwed up. Guess what, every defender screws up. Defense starts up front, and our DL is not getting it done. Until they do, you can expect the LB’ers not to look that great. I’m sure we can count on you to keep following the herd and blaming them for problems that start elsewhere!
October 8, 2007 at 12:11 am
If you think the problem is the DL then I would love to hear how you think the rest of the defense is playing.
October 8, 2007 at 12:36 am
Explain no pass rush.
It all starts in the trenches. The back 7 always looks better when the DL is making things happen. Ours isn’t. When that’s the case, the back 7 is suddenly deemed to be playing bad. We don’t have the best back 7 in the country, but it’s more than adequate. What it lacks is a DL that doesn’t give the QB a lunch break on every pass play.
The problems on this D start up front and filter down to the rest of the group.
October 8, 2007 at 12:57 am
I will explain no pass rush.
1. OU’s OL is good.
2. Sam Bradford doesn’t make reads so he throws very quickly.
3. Our best pass rusher is hurt.
And anyway, the DL is playing very well against the run. They are getting penetration and not being pushed backwards. They are doing their jobs. The LBs are not in the slightest. The DTs are why Bobino has no many free runs into the backfield in which to mess up.
October 8, 2007 at 12:59 am
Our DL IS making things happen. Any cursory view of the way the DTs are getting penetration and stonewalling inside runs will reveal that. Our DEs are at worst completely adequate - especially given they’re having to cover outside contain in the same way Cory Redding had to back in the day.
The back four are physically inferior to the task, but they play hard and are generally in decent shape = while also giving up the occasional brain fart.
Our defensive issues continue to gestate out of the LB position. I can’t honestly see how someone could come to a different conclusion.
As to Colt: In the next game, if we find he’s decided to check down to allosaurus on particular plays, or audible into a saffron wombat hypersynergy package, then I think we’ll know the concussions are having an effect.
October 8, 2007 at 6:31 am
DEs can’t rush the QB like we all want when they have to first pay attention to the run to the outside. Not sure FSU/Miami DEs are asked to do anything BUT rush the QB.
it’s f’n read-n-react all over again.
October 8, 2007 at 7:47 am
Lokey and Okam are playing better than every DT tandem we have had since Rogers and Hampton. And we have had a ton of good players.
A good MLB would have 75 tackles already thanks to Lokey and Okam.
October 8, 2007 at 7:54 am
Bobino has 31 tackles so far. Norton has the exact same total.
October 8, 2007 at 8:39 am
TLR is consistently the funniest contributor to this site.
October 8, 2007 at 8:53 am
On the cheap-shot by English, why didn’t any of the UT OLine stick up for Colt McCoy or AT LEAST help him up? Watch the video on YouTube, and you’ll see that he gets no help whatsoever.
What’s up with that?
October 8, 2007 at 9:17 am
Our kids are instructed to tell an adult, and that’s what they did. They told the referee.
October 8, 2007 at 9:44 am
If that had been Studdard or Blalock, they would’ve told an adult. But it would’ve gone like this:
“Hey ref, you need to have someone come pull my foot out of this Austin English guy’s ass. It looks painful for him, but he’s just getting crap on my cleat.”
October 8, 2007 at 10:19 am
Nice work boys. All interesting. I would appreciate someone’s take on why we don’t try Sergio in the backfield, especially if we aren’t going to play him consistently at LB.
Video Link
October 8, 2007 at 1:21 pm
echeese sez: “Your analysis is flawed, because you didn’t ignore the evidence that proves your point and focus exclusively on the few scattered events that would prove mine. This isn’t hockey!”
October 8, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Poor echeese. He’s a total tard.
October 8, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Everytime chiles comes in you know whats going to happen. The only way I could see Colt coming out is if for one Chiles proves he can handle the O and if Colt gets hurt. Chiles is the better ath, but far from the better QB. Its hard to ignore numbers like last year from Colt!