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Also, see the Post Mortem from Scipio.
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One of the best moments from Saturday’s game came after it was over. As the Oklahoma State Cowboys football team slowly left the field and moved single-file into the visitor’s locker room at the northwest corner of Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, the crowd at that end of the field stood and applauded. We applauded what was one of the outstanding performances ever turned in by any visiting team in the stadium’s 80+ year history, a performance in which the visiting Cowboys stood toe to toe and traded blows with the top-ranked Texas Longhorns, taking the game to the final play in which quarterback Zac Robinson lofted the ball 60 yards intonear the Texas endzone where it was finally, at long last, batted down as the clock ticked down to zero.
If anyone doubted the Cowboys deserved their lofty national ranking coming into the game, those doubts should no longer exist. Kirk Herbstreit suggested after the game that, if anything, OSU deserved to move up in the polls, not down, after taking Texas to the wire in Austin. That’s a pipe dream, Kirk, because the pollsters just do not operate in such a rational manner, but I fully agree with you.
Folks, if you have not enjoyed the last three weeks of Texas Longhorn football, then I just honestly don’t know what to say to you. On the last three Saturdays, Texas fans have been treated to the following:
The best college football game I’ve ever seen in person, in which Texas twice overcame 11-point Sooner leads to ultimately defeat #1 ranked Oklahoma, 45-35;
The finest all-around two quarters of football ever played by any Texas Longhorn team, in which Texas ran out to a 35-0 lead against a highly-ranked Missouri team; and
An extraordinary, hard-fought game with the sixth-ranked team in the nation that went down to the very last play.
As if all that wasn’t enough to satisfy any football fan’s need for stress and elevated blood pressure, next Saturday the Longhorns get the pleasure of taking on a Texas Tech team that will likely be ranked 7th in the nation under the lights in Lubbock in a nationally-televised game on ABC. Tech treated 23rd ranked Kansas like a cheap rag doll up in Lawrence Saturday, rolling up a 63-21 score that wasn’t really that close. Oh, boy.
So, had enough yet? If your answer is ‘no’, that’s good, because things aren’t getting any easier next week.
Let’s go to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
First, the UGLY:
Officiating. Referee Tom Walker’s crew generally calls a pretty representative game, but in this game, they had a few problems. They allowed OSU to run a key play that put them in scoring position with a long completion to Dez Bryant even though the play clock had reached zero about 2 seconds before the ball was snapped. They called phantom pass interference pentalties on both teams. Walker himself failed to run the game clock on OSU’s next to last play of the game. And a missed blatant pass interference - or at the very least, defensive holding - call denied Texas the chance to keep its initial drive alive. Not a horrible game - certainly not remotely in the same league as the atrocity we saw in Dallas a couple of weeks ago - but a pretty ugly game nonetheless.
Playcalling in the running game. Just when you think Greg Davis has grown as an offensive coordinator, he manages to regress, especially in the running game. It appeared that about 98% of our running game consisted of either the straight zone/read with zone blocking, or the shotgun sweep with the offside guard pulling. We haven’t seen such a rudimentary, monotonous running attack since the 2002 game with Oklahoma. The second half of this game offensively was a pathetic display of utter and complete lack of coaching creativity and imagination.
Kickoff coverage. Dear God, can it get any worse? Please say no. Because if it gets any worse than this, then I don’t want to be around to see it. This has been a chronic weakness the entire season - it is just ridiculous that a program stocked with the raw athletic ability that Texas has cannot adequately cover the routinely high and deep kickoffs provided by Justin Tucker.
Next, The BAD:
The TE is indeed an eligible receiver. Someone please notify the Texas linebackers and safeties. Thanks. In all seriousness, OSU TE Brandon Pettigrew is one hell of a talent, but he was left completely uncovered repeatedly in the first half of the game, which is just inexcusable.
Colt McCoy’s comparing his playing style to Tony Romo’s earlier this week. Unfortunately, Colt kind of had a Romo-like second half, throwing the ball up for grabs a couple of times and fumbling it away at the OSU ten to end a drive that would have salted the game away. If you’re looking for a role model, Colt, Tony Romo is not the ideal guy, ok?
Coming out flat on defense. This makes three straight weeks that the Texas defense has come out of the halftime locker room and played flat-footed on the opponent’s first possession. A timely holding call on OSU enabled the Longhorns to avoid giving up a score, but this is becoming a very bothersome trend.
The OSU band’s tribute to Journey at halftime. Or was it Foreigner? Or Kansas? Those of us in our section were left hoping the Longhorn Band would follow up with its own tribute to Styx. Or perhaps Uriah Heep.
Texas Linebacker and Safety Play just was not very good all day. It was, in fact, borderline bad.
Paul McGuire. A new contender for the Al Derogatis Memorial Award for special achievement in annoying color commentary in college football games. The guy is a worthless clown.
Special teams in general. From the horrible kickoff coverage to really mediocre kick returns to the inexplicable missed punt block by Aaron Williams, this was the first game all year that the Longhorn special teams were significantly out-performed by an opponent. Justin Tucker’s rugby-style punt - the Longhorns’ only punt of the day - was the sole highlight for the Texas special teams. Much, much work is needed here.
Finally, the GOOD:
ABC’s blurb on Manny Gammage’s Texas Hatters. ABC, after reviewing my tape of the game, did a heck of a job of giving their audience a feel for Texas Longhorn football. That they would take the time to get some footage in the kitchen at Salt Lick and at Texas Hatters was, I think, impressive and worth noting.
OSU tailback Kendall Hunter. This guy made extra yards on his own pretty much every time he touched the ball. I think Fozzy Whittaker possesses the same qualities. Not sure any other Texas RB does. Unfortunately, Fozzy never saw the field in this game.
Penn State and Alabama. Both overcame tough opponents - Penn State certainly moreso than Alablama - on the road and came up winners to retain their high national rankings.
Stacy Dales. Yowzah. What is she - about 6′3″? I know Boone Pickens is near 6 feet tall, and she towered above him in their sideline interview. Definitely the high point of the ABC crew.
Lamar Houston’s stop on Dez Bryant on 4th down with 3 minutes to go. Great recognition, great tackle. Play of the day for the defense.
Offensive line - they weren’t particularly effective in the running game, but did an outstanding job of accounting for the wide variety of blitz packages OSU threw at them.
Quan Cosby. His TD catch was pretty much the highlight play of the game. His stat line of 8 grabs for 76 yards is excellent, but has become pretty much par for the course for one of the team’s most valuable players.
Jordan Shipley. A career-high 15 grabs for 168 yards, and a TD catch that was only marginally less impressive than Cosby’s. This was an All American performance.
Colt McCoy. At one point in this game, Colt completed a program-record 18 straight passes. At another point, he had completed 29 of 32 passes on the day, the same amazing line he accomplished last week against a very good Missouri defense. He finished the day with a stat line of 38 of 45 for 391 yards and the aforementioned two touchdown passes to Shipley and Quan. The Heisman campaign continues apace.
Excellent moment in the game: James Kirkendoll drops a first quarter pass from McCoy that hits him right in the hands. On the very next play, Colt drills an 18 yard slant to Kirkendoll. What a great confidence-builder in a young guy with a lot of talent.
Special teams player of the game: I got nothing.
Defensive Player of the Game: Brian Orakpo. Rak had six total tackles, 2 tfls, a sack, and a big play in which he once again stayed at home and stuffed a reverse. If Orakpo is not first team All Big 12 and consensus All American at season’s end, then there is no justice in the world.
Offensive Player of the Game: Jordan Shipley.
Man, what a year. Not just for Texas, but for college football in general. Joe Paterno has finally gotten his program completely turned around, Alabama is back in the national picture for the first time in a long time, Southern Cal is dominating that pissant little conference out west, Florida and Tim Tebow are likely to provide a huge challenge to Alabama in the SEC Championship game, and the Longhorns are providing week after week of exciting football and big TV audiences. The only thing that could make it better for the poobahs who run the NCAA would be if Notre Dame were fielding an outstanding squad.
Luckily, however, the Irish suck. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all.
So for Texas, it’s on to Lubbock, where pirates await and weird stuff tends to happen, especially when the game is played at Jones Stadium under the lights. As mentioned earlier, the Red Raiders put a hell of a hurting on a pretty decent Kansas team on Saturday, and will no doubt be pumped up and ready for the Longhorns next week.
Good for them. As Darrell Royal might have said in 1963, “We’re ready.”
For any challenge. Bring ‘em on.
Hook ‘em!!!
Be sure to check out our own dedfischer for the Texas Tech perspective over at The Tortilla Retort.
CrazyJoeDavola said:
October 25th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
What weird things happen at Lubbock?
Do you mean in the stands or on the sidelines? Because, yeah. Hola, Bell Ringer.
But on the field? My memory fails more with each passing moment, but I don’t recall anything particularly otherworldy happening to us on the gridiron.
For the record, I don’t consider occasionally losing to good Tech teams to be worthy of an X-Files episode. Nor do cheap shots from the likes of Derrick Dorris.
Now, if you were to say that weird things happen to the Aggies in Lubbock, then yeah. Or that weird things happen with regularity on the floor of the Cotton Bowl, oh hell yeah.
Jeff said:
October 25th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Sorry to be so picky, but the final pass wasn’t anywhere near the endzone.
Nice writeup, and I especially agree regarding Ms Dales. If memory serves, she used to be a Dales-Schumann, right? So…divorced? That means she’s done it lots of times [/butthead]
I’d like to eliminate Griese and Maguire and Nessler and go with Dales, Andrews and Kiebler.
Chunk Daniel Truffle Shuffle said:
October 26th, 2008 at 12:28 am
I would add into the bad section:
The crowd. We were a bit lackadaisical (hungover?), and for a decent part of the first quarter, the student section was not as full as it should have been. I heard rumor they were not allowing anyone with a print at home ticket in because of all of the “counterfits” that were circulating, but the east side lacked some punch.
The chants were ridiculous (in a bad way). After the touchdown that put us up 14-0 I heard the “over-rated” chant, and actually told the people doing so to shut up and fuck off. As the #1 team in the land, what does it reflect when you bust out the overrated chant? Especially to be so cocky to do so when up only up by 2 touchdowns in the second quarter…classless, and overconfidence at its worst.
4th and 1 playcalling: I was 100% for the decision to go for it on 4th and 1. I may even agree that giving it to CJ after he failed to execute in the jumbo for a few plays (actually, I think at a minimum he is good for 1 yard every play), but to call a pass of any sort on that play is foolish. There are too many risky possibilities to attend to in a situation such as that. If you don’t make it on the run, chances are you give the ball to OSU on the 99-99.5 yard line. The pass could result in a sack, pick, pick 6….whatever.
To the good: Second chances. I believe there were a couple of moments in the game where a botched play is redeemed on the very next play. I think an incredibly rare drop by Shipley was followed up by one of his largest gains of the game, in addition to Kirk’s drop then huge gain.
Hook’em.
lowery said:
October 26th, 2008 at 2:22 am
This is all very interesting Eyes, but you’ll understand if I am waiting for Stevens take.
RansomStoddard said:
October 26th, 2008 at 3:47 am
The bad: anything to do with our horrible defense. Is Muschamp earning his pay?
BTW, the missed punt block was Aaron Williams, number 4 on defense. I watched the replay several times and I still can’t figure out how he missed it.
bat said:
October 26th, 2008 at 4:13 am
The offense had two drives of over 90 yards, and over 300 yards in touchdown drives.
EyesOfTX said:
October 26th, 2008 at 4:16 am
Ransom: thanks for the correction. I couldn’t tell from the stands and for got to double check on the tape.
hopefulhorn said:
October 26th, 2008 at 4:18 am
After two games against highly ranked teams in which we played about as well as we could play, you could argue that struggling a bit was in the cards. OSU might also be the best team we have played this season.
Hard to complain about 8-0 and ranked #1 even if this win was a little ugly.
EyesOfTX said:
October 26th, 2008 at 4:27 am
Hopefulhorn: I think OSU was the best team we’d seen this year. They’re as explosive on offense as OU, and better in the running game. And they’re better on defense than OU. The Sooners are in for a long day in Stillwater.
rocha said:
October 26th, 2008 at 5:11 am
Before the game, i saw Muschamp walking away from practice, and simply told him “What you have done with the defense is phenomenal coach”. Without even thinking, he responded, “we need to learn how to play a second half”. While we struggled on defense this week, I thought we came through when it counted, with the stand on fourth down, and the batted down pass on the hail mary. However, this is college football, and I’m confident that OSU will not lose another game this season.
Oh and Muschamp hit me on the head with his clipboard, because he said it was “his thing”.
kevwun said:
October 26th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Penn St is going to get slaughtered in their BCS game, be it the national championship game or one of the others.
Horn_of_Plenty said:
October 26th, 2008 at 5:49 am
I think that we all consider Gundy to be a retard, as his teams have folded against us. And his crazy press conference last year did not help. But I think that Gundy called a great game against us, and he did things to exploit our weaknesses: a young secondary and slow linebackers. Give him credit.
Ransom: I agree, I don’t understand how Aaron Williams missed the punt block. After the couple of body slams early in the season, I so want Aaron to be a star.
Lets hope that Shipley and Cosby are not banged up. They took some huge hits. We need them for Tech.
Other than the run play calling, I though Davis called a good game. Again, I think we need to give some credit to the OSU defensive line, which seemed much stronger and deeper than the OU line.
Aggie Lurking said:
October 26th, 2008 at 6:14 am
If Gundy is freaking brilliant why did he quit running Hunter at your defense in the 2nd half. If he would have stayed with that and Robinson scrambling or throwing to Pettigrew you might have lost to those retards.
Mike the Pirate pistol whipped KU yesterday. It wasn’t even as close as the score indicated. In fact he actually pulled Harrel out at the start of the 4th quarter.Clearly those ass clowns will be gunning for you.I can only hope they choke because they are more insufferable than sooners and horns when times are good.
caradoc said:
October 26th, 2008 at 6:55 am
The good thing about McGuire is that when he is here, Brent Musburger is somewhere else.
p said:
October 26th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Got a chance to really comb over a replay. Here is my take…………
OSU looked to be the real deal. Their running game starts with Pettigrew. On just about every big run play we were either in nickel facing 6 hits including Pettigrew on the edge, or 4-3 facing double tights. At the 2:10 mark of the third, they were in double tights, and brought a big receiver in motion to the edge. I see why they run the ball so effectively. When you get a hat on a hat, or outnumber your opponents up front you are gonna run the ball well. It doesn’t help if your RB has talent either.
OSU threw the kitchen sink at our offense. Last year we would have struggled mightily against such a showing. They came out in a 3-3-5. They showed us a nickel, and even a 3-2-6. They changed it up quite a bit. There were stunts of all kinds, and even DTs dropping into coverage. I see why Mizzou struggled blocking them up front. For the most part Colt showed patience. We had a little trouble with UTEP and their multi-look D for a little bit in that game. Hope we won’t see one like it from here on out!
Going back and watching our running game, boy do we whiff on blocks. Their were many times where we could have gotten a positive gain but somebody just flat out missed! There were quite a few times where we blew a big hole open but our backs didn’t see it. The first play of the second Qtr our o-line blows a canyon up the middle, but Chris is dead set on hitting the edge………… no gain!
Somebody please cover 1 and 87!! Robinson completed 17 balls…….. Bryant and Pettigrew caught 14 of them.
We have to find a way to get off the field on 3rd and long. I can’t say that enough!
Sergio Kindle is a freak of nature. Earl Thomas, and Rak aren’t far behind……They are everywhere!
All in all, the Pokes are a damn good football team, and I’m not just saying that because my Fiance got her degree there.
Dalton Robicheaux said:
October 26th, 2008 at 7:20 am
OSU was full of big, fast, guys headed to the NFL. They were extremely talented on both sides of the ball.
It was a tough ballgame, the type of game you give the home team a slight edge in. I’m not sure Texas would have won had the game been played at OSU. But it wasn’t, and Texas moves on…
I’ve long thought the Tech game would be the most difficult test. They’re explosive, it’s on the road, and it’s the last game in a stretch of games that’s almost unbelievable.
We better find a way to run the ball more effectively against Texas Tech. It almost killed us yesterday, and it’s the only way to keep the ball out of their hands.
Minnesotahorn said:
October 26th, 2008 at 7:46 am
steven I really want to encourage you to stop. It’s not funny. It’s not interesting.
McBrown said:
October 26th, 2008 at 8:26 am
“You all are fools,” Brown said. “Absolute fools.”
Brown said he even heard some people talking during the week about a burnt orange blowout.
“It’s really an advantage when you don’t watch film,” he said. “Because then you can be stupid.”
Bob in Houston said:
October 26th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Let’s not turn into Nebraska here.
AeroHorn said:
October 26th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Under bad category: pooch kick-offs. They are odious. Why give 10-15 yards for free? We did better in the second half when we kicked to the goal-line and limited them to 30 yard line, instead of 40-50 yard line they were making in the first half.
Horn_of_Plenty said:
October 26th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Aggie Lurking: I am not sure, but I think Gundy was trying to keep us off balance. I think that our D got better in the 4th quarter, just as they did against OU.
And for the record, I think that we could have chosen to stop their run, but we picked our poison and we won and they lost.
I shouldn’t have called them retards, even in jest, as OSU played a fucking great game.
8straight said:
October 26th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
There were some complications at the student gate and a near riot when they held them out as the game started.
Orangechipper said:
October 26th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Was I the only one who thought the Lacey interception was a blatant push-off? I guess I can understand the refs not calling it live, but on the replay there was a pregnant pause by the announcers. They didn’t want to mention it. It was clearly pushing off and not just a great play by a defender.
DBH said:
October 26th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Eyes,
Speaking of playcalling and the regressive running game, I’m curious about your thoughts on our inability to get two yards when we needed seven points at the end, and the subsequent call on fourth down that led to Okie State taking a shot at our endzone with a chance to win the game.
EyesOfTX said:
October 26th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
DBH: our final play call mystified me as much as it obviously did you. I had no doubt that if they had simply run a QB sneak or handed the ball to Cody Johnson one more time, we score and win the game by 11.
That said, I thought we had trouble pounding the ball in at the end because OSU’s defense is very good up the middle. The best we’ve seen all year, and are likely to see all year.
DBH said:
October 26th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Several guys around me were bitching that we didn’t take the field goal so that we would at least force overtime if they scored. I was all in favor of going for it, but I wanted to ram big Cody into the endzone. Fortunately, we dodged a bullet, there. But it still underscores our ineptitude in short yardage situations, and that’s maddening.
XOVERX said:
October 26th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Looks like Zac Robinson’s maximum range is 55 yards. He threw that last ball from our 40 to his 5. Even if OSU had caught it, game over.
Mack Brown's 10 win season streak said:
October 26th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
“DBH: our final play call mystified me as much as it obviously did you. I had no doubt that if they had simply run a QB sneak or handed the ball to Cody Johnson one more time, we score and win the game by 11.”
I was trying to explain that on another thread; who gives a shit if it didn’t work on the first 3 downs, you run it again with big boy blocking (it looked like he got in on 3rd down though)
DougNTexas said:
October 26th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I also thought he got in on third down. i wanted to see Cody get a second shot at it. The kicking game needs to get fixed as in yesterday. We can’t cover a kick, and Quan I love you as a receiver, but it takes You ten seconds to get to the 20 on a kick return. I want to see one of the fast young guns take a shot at it.
EyesOfTX said:
October 27th, 2008 at 3:30 am
Doug: I thought he was in on the 3rd down play as well while in the stadium, and still believe it after reviewing my Tivo of the game. Even though the OSU defense was very strong, we were moving them back each play in the Jumbo, and would almost certain have scored had we just given the damn ball to Cody one more time.
Saturday was not Greg Davis’s finest hour.
TaylorTRoom said:
October 27th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Another good- the crowd now seems to understand that when making noise against a spread, no-huddle offense, you aren’t going to get a break while they huddle up. The crowd noise was much more continuous this game, as opposed to the Mizzou game.