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No matter what happens in our game with Missouri tonight, I think everyone with the cognitive abilities of a 2 day old tadpole understands that this year’s version of the Texas Longhorns represents a dramatic upgrade from the teams Mack Brown and staff put on the field in 2007 and 2006. This is no accident, and in my opinion, it all began with the program’s second straight embarrassing loss to an out-manned Texas Aggie team at Kyle Field last November. We’ll call it EAK for the sake of brevity.
Y’all all remember that game, right? It was a game for which our offense took the field completely unprepared to play football, and farted around for more than three quarters before finally getting the ball into the endzone with about 7 minutes left to play and the outcome already determined. It was a game in which our defense couldn’t slow an Aggie offense that had been sporadically decent throughout the 2007 season, but was certainly no world beater. It was a game against our supposed secondary rival, for which our players were unprepared, uninsipired, poorly conditioned and disinterested.
With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that EAK was the game that broke the camel’s back, the camel of course being one Mack Brown. Had it been just that one game for which the team exhibited the attributes and deficiencies described above, it might not have produced the reactions from the head coach that we ultimately saw. But that was about the 8th game in 2007 for which the offense showed up unprepared to play, and pretty much the 11th in which the defense appeared to underperform its talent level.
Mack’s post-EAK reaction was one of embarrassment and apology to the team and Texas fans everywhere. You can say what you want about Mack, but he knows full well when the program has been embarrassed, and has generally reacted honestly to such events.
But his reaction to this particular embarrassment was more than just apologetic, it was swift and aggressive. Because he realized that many of the pathologies his team was exhibiting were the result of post-national championship complacency and poor coaching decisions. Poor discipline, poor game preparation, poor conditioning, lack of in-game adjustments - these were all signs that the staff was not getting the job done, and that his players were taking advantage of lax coaching diligence.
His first reaction to EAK was to ream his staff out the day after the game, letting them know their jobs were all on the line and largely dependent on the team’s performance in the upcoming bowl game. His second reaction was to implement a new, more aggressive, more punishing practice regimin designed to eliminate mistakes and reinforce discipline. These two reactions led directly to an outstanding team performance and Holiday Bowl pummeling of the second best team in the PAC 10 last year, Arizona State.
So far, so good.
Mack’s third reaction to EAK was to end the failed experiment at defensive coordinator with Duane Akina. Akina was reassigned to coach the DBs, where he has shown good aptitude. To replace him as DC, Mack made the truly inspired move of hiring Will Muschamp away from Auburn. Tommy Tubberville wasn’t too pleased at Mack’s second poaching of an Auburn DC in four years, but Longhorn fans damn sure were.
Mack’s fourth reaction to EAK was to shore up the offensive staff by bringing in Major Applewhite. Applewhite’s official job was to coach running backs, but he has obviously revived Greg Davis’s energy for actual game planning and game preparation, facets of the OC’s job that were blatantly missing for too many games in 2006 and 2007.
The remaining question was whether the post-EAK focus on discipline and tougher practice regime would carry over into the 2008 season. The results and team performance of the first six games demonstrate conclusively that they have. When was the last time a Longhorn team beat an OU team due largely to superior conditioning, after all?
So, thank you Texas Aggies. Losing to your inferior teams the last two years was the shits, I admit, but there is little question that the net result of those losses was to reawaken what had become a sleepy, underperforming and complacent Longhorn football program. If EAK was what it took to do that, then it was a small price to pay.
Hook ‘em!!!
Maroon Jesus said:
October 18th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Wow, imagine what losing to our shi**y team 3 years in a row will do for you.
EyesOfTX said:
October 18th, 2008 at 6:56 am
You just keep thinking that. Payback is going to be pure hell. :)
Gringo said:
October 18th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Embarrassed by Aggie at Kyle?
Gringo said:
October 18th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Endocrine Anemia Kills!
Aggies giving Tech defense fits right now, 2 turnovers by the Pirates not helping their cause either…
Bob in Houston said:
October 18th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I can’t figure out why he wasn’t sufficiently embarrassed by having OU hang 60 on him twice.
EyesOfTX said:
October 18th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
It’s a cumulative thing, I guess.
Scipio Tex said:
October 18th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Maybe it’s easier to handle a good team blowing you out than a terrible team edging you out.
Huckleberry said:
October 18th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I can’t figure out why he wasn’t sufficiently embarrassed by having OU hang 60 on him twice.
Carl Reese “retired” after the second one. The Greg Davis thing is obviously interesting, but I have to give the man credit. It looks like this year he has finally repaid Mack’s decades of faith and second chances.
KilgoreTrout said:
October 18th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Is the difference between last year and this year coaching (Muschamp, Applewhite)? After losing all your home run hitters from last year I thought you would regress this year.
absolut said:
October 18th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Just saw herb cul-de-sac at the 4 seasons with a Nike longhorn hat Asked if all he got for calling the game was a lousy hat, and he responded that he and his buds received a bunch of cool UT stuff. Life is good. Bring on the “Man” and his boys from the U of Pickens…………….
M said:
October 18th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
“Applewhite’s official job was to coach running backs, but he has obviously revived Greg Davis’s energy for actual game planning and game preparation, facets of the OC’s job that were blatantly missing for too many games in 2006 and 2007.”
I doubt that Davis is accepting much input from Major. What you have is correlation, not cause. And unless you are INSIDE the program, you don’t know which one it is.
lowery said:
October 19th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Whatever it is, I’ll take it.
Godot said:
October 19th, 2008 at 4:44 am
there is no such thing as a Texas aggie
steven said:
October 19th, 2008 at 5:29 am
Am I the only one around here who has no idea what EAK stands for. For the life of me, I can’t seem to unravel this mystery. It’s like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube or something.
Stuck in MN said:
October 19th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Embarassing Ass Kicking is what I assumed
wedge said:
October 19th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Aggies have become irrelevant to any serious discussion regarding D1 football.
zyzzybalubah said:
October 19th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Does TAMU still have a football program? If so, I bet they are sweating that Baylor match-up.
J.R.69 said:
October 19th, 2008 at 7:49 am
I’m another who is at a loss to understand why it took Mack that long to figure out that motivating players, making them compete, disciplining poor performers (coaches and players), etc., etc., etc. He’s been a head coach for what, 23 years?? Go figure.
I just hope this is sustained through the remainder of his coaching career. However, deep down I fear that there will be backsliding, much as there was to pre-VY levels in ‘06 and ‘07, after VY left.
zyzzybalubah said:
October 19th, 2008 at 8:12 am
When you were a kid in science class, did your teacher ever demonstrate the power of magnetism?
Remember when she took that big strong magnet and put it in contact with a paper clip? Then she hung another paper clip from the first, then another, and so on, and so on?
Get where I am going here. Don’t get me wrong, Mack Brown loves winning and everything associated with it like the post-game gloat on SportsCenter, big payday, etc. But when push comes to shove, he loves his relationships more. That leads to putting feelings over performance. You can’t change the fact that ultimately, Mack is still just a paper clip.
Will Muschamp is the big bad super-magnet. His personality and shot of mega-testerone has lit-up the defense. This Muschamp Force (MF for short) has imputed to everyone in his sphere including Mack Brown. They are all drunk on the MF and can’t get enough of it. It has transformed them into winning, emotional, animal-like machines. It is thrilling soak-up the electrifying swarm of an emotional defense. It invigorates the offense as well.
There is one other, yet smaller, MF associated with this team. His name is Colt. We can’t say enough of his desire to win. Just look at his frame this year compared to last. You don’t make that transformation without some serious time in the weight-room.
Prediction: Enjoy this year. Soak it up. Get as much of the MF as you can absorb. Next year the source of the big MF will be head-coaching somewhere else. Although Colt will be back for his final season towing all the hardware he will have collected in 2008, it won’t be the same. Without the source of the big MF, the MF will slowly drain and being buddies will again prevail over being champions.
Paperclips will no longer be super magnets. They will be back in the desk drawer being paper clips again until the head paper clip decides once again that he needs to go hire another super MF magnet.
I can’t bear the thought of it, but mark my word, it will happen and this cycle will continue.
Till then Hook’em in ‘08-’09.
Bob in Houston said:
October 19th, 2008 at 9:28 am
“The Greg Davis thing is obviously interesting, but I have to give the man credit. It looks like this year he has finally repaid Mack’s decades of faith and second chances.”
I’ve always believed that Greg Davis was doing what Mack wanted. If not, he would have been gone a long time ago. I assume he’s still doing that.
What Davis has now, IMO, is a QB that both he and the HC trust. That’s not to say that Vince Young wasn’t an incredible physical talent. It’s just that Colt McCoy thinks more like the OC and the HC. He’s built himself up enough to be trusted to (survive a) run, but better, he can throw it where the coaches would want it thrown if they were throwing.
That, and this offense seems to run a handful of plays very well, and they’re going to do it until they get stopped.
steven said:
October 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Thanks, I for one would have never guessed. It’s nice to know for future reference.
Aggie Lurking said:
October 19th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Eyes,you are welcome. In fact since we don’t want you guys to get too good we’ll probably let you win this year.Why should we treat you any different than the rest of the Big XII?
TWC said:
October 19th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Electric Acid Koolaid probably.
Ag_in_TX said:
October 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Let me add that I am glad I could be over service to the Orange Nation in helping focus your team and I believe Sherman should allow y’all to win this year in order to further build self-esteem in Austin.
EyesOfTX said:
October 19th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Embarrassment At Kyle.
E-A-K.
This was just not that hard. Or at least, it shouldn’t have been.