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A couple of quick observations on the OSU game

Posted by Trips Right on October 30th, 2008 under Football

First, defensive coaches are starting to get desperate in an effort to slow down the Colt McCoy train. Kid’s dealing right now and opposing teams know it. For proof, look no further than the Cosby TD. In a 3 man front look, the Cowboys decide to bring all four linebackers on a blitz while dropping the 3 down linemen into shallow zones. Nothing too exotic about that. For Dick Lebeau, that’s Andy Griffin Show vanilla.

But the secondary’s got some ’splainin’ to do Lucy. Corners are manned up with the strong safety lined up over Shipley in the slot. At the snap, the nose tackle drops into coverage underneath Shipley with an over the top safety, which is designed to dupe Colt into thinking the Cowboys are in a bracket look. Given the windows Colt has been throwing to all year, a dropping DT with an over the top safety must look like the Atlantic Ocean to McCoy as far as windows go. But wait, the Free Safety is a “robber” on the play and jumps in front of Shipley for what would have been an easy pick. Instead, Colt elects to hit Cosby on the fade for an easy score. The OSU defensive staff was doing everything in its power to take Shipley and the middle of the field away from Colt with what amounts to multiple layers of deception. And instead, it gave up an easy six.


Not just a pretty face.

Defensively, with 6 and a half minutes left in the first quarter, the Horns really dodged a bullet. On third and ten out of a 4 wide look, the Cowboys ran a little slip screen to Bryant from the boundary side, that would have probably gone to the House had it not been poorly thrown. Texas’ DT’s and DE’s had sold out to get to Robinson, Bobino had vacated the middle of the field to chase the running back to the field side flat, and Texas’ corners were giving a large cushion. And make no mistake about it, Gundy filed it away for a rainy day. Fast forward to fourth and 6 with 2 plus minutes to go, and the game on the line, same formation, same personnel, same side of the field. Except this time, Lamarr Houston doesn’t rush but instead stays on the line of scrimmage, Curtis Brown is in press coverage on Bryant and comes underneath the screen, and Blake Gideon is balls to the wall all over Bryant as soon as the wideout makes the catch. No less than 3 players could have made the defensive play of the game. It wasn’t dumb luck or a lucky call. Guess who else filed away that first quarter play for a rainy day.

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17 Responses

  1. HenryJames said:

    October 30th, 2008 at 11:24 am

    Akina has a good memory.

    Everyone saw Lamarr Houston’s tackle of Dez Bryant on a crucial fourth-and-6 screen pass that helped preserve victory for the Longhorns on Saturday.

    What wasn’t seen was Duane Akina’s role in foiling that fourth-down play. Mack Brown credited his secondary coach with making the play behind the play. Here’s how Mack described it:

    “Duane Akina is screaming, ‘Screen!’ because of the formation. He really did a good job on that play. Curtis Brown forces Dez Bryant a little deeper and Lamarr Houston, in a zone blitz package, stepped back and was right in position to make the play. It was a really good play by our defense, but it was also really good coaching. The guys had our guys in the perfect spot.”

    I thought Gundy screwed up by calling a screen on the play before that both Houston and Orakpo read.

  2. Trips Right said:

    October 30th, 2008 at 11:33 am

    Dude.

  3. beowulf said:

    October 30th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    Fine analysis, Trips.

    I would disagree with the idea that it was an easy six by Cosby, however. Sports Center type reception. But your point remains the same.

    Colt is the Son of God. One of my good buddies that has sat just behind me for the last 20 years or so said that to me after that play. He’s Jewish, so it carries a bit more weight.”>)

  4. zyzzybalubah said:

    October 30th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    Who the hell is Andy Griff-in?

  5. RansomStoddard said:

    October 30th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

    I didn’t realize until the SI story that Tech’s pass D is ranked 98th. Against the pansy schedule they have played? 98th? I feel much better.

  6. RRR said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 4:47 am

    Great read Trips,

    Looking forward to the Leach-Muschamp chess match.

    Ransom - UT is 110th against the pass. I wouldn’t feel too special. You could mention OU (3rd) and Mizzou (4th) as skewing your numbers, but then we’ve played KU (8th), NEB (12th), KSU (13th), and SMU (14th). No Big XII defense is coming out of this season without some shit on their shoes.

  7. NateHeupel said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 5:33 am

    First of all, if you’re not on the Colt McCoy for Heisman train at this point, you’re either retarded or mildly retarded. I wasn’t on board early in the season and for good reason. UT hadn’t played anyone of note. After Colt McCoy played like a superhero against OU, Mizzou, and OSU in consecutive weeks, I’m fully on this bandwagon. He’s not 40, but he is a MAN.

    That said, Tim is voting for Graham Harrell or Michael Crabtree. Mike Leach is voting Nate Scarborough. Nate is the last OU player that David Boren couldn’t leverage, bribe, threaten, or blow somebody to get out of prison. The OU-Oregon fiasco forced him to miss Nate’s parole hearing in 2006.

    The problem with OSU running the middle screen is that, unlike OU, they don’t have 4 guys you legitimately have to worry about taking it to the house from anywhere on the field and they don’t have a QB who will make that pass every time.

    RRR does have a good point. There isn’t a Big 12 defense that’s coming out of this conference clean.

  8. Minnesotahorn said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 5:38 am

    Never go full retard.

  9. Trips Right said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 9:49 am

    Nate, OSU also catches the ball behind the line of scrimmage on their screens.

  10. NateHeupel said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 10:21 am

    OU and OSU QBs don’t flop when running out of bounds. The little differences make life great, don’t they, trips?

    As I’ve said a thousand times on this board, UT fans are dead last in line on people who should ever complain about bad calls. No Big 12 team has received greater benefit from zebra incompetence than your beloved Longhorns.

  11. sinless1 said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 10:33 am

    Beware the BOMC!

  12. Trips Right said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 11:01 am

    Okay, Nate. Thanks for stopping by.

  13. Loadholt's Lost Money said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 11:15 am

    Heupel, how can you even claim that McCoy “flopped” when going out of bounds? Ever notice the slippery tarps that they have on the sideline? He lost his balance and fell and the zebras made some bad calls. Boo hoo. Orakpo got held about 20 times during that game. OU repeatedly ran illegal slip screens. How is it that you figure that officials repeatedly favor Texas? Aren’t those type of conspiracy theories pretty stupid? Who are you, as an OU fan, to tell Longhorn fans what calls they can complain about? Colt McCoy didn’t do anything illegal on the calls the Longhorns got. But yet, everything the Longhorn fans complained about from that game was ACTUALLY ILLEGAL. It’s a free country, buddy, and I will complain about what I want to complain about.

  14. Ohio State - Miami Pass Interference Call said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 11:25 am

    Hi!

  15. RRR said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 11:35 am

    How did this turn into a whine session on officiating? I should have brought my John Bible/Randy Crystal notes.

  16. Huckleberry said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 11:36 am

    God dammit, the Ohio State-Miami call was 100% correct.

  17. The OU Punter said:

    October 31st, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    I flops in bounds

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