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The trite thing to say about a game like we saw last night, with the Longhorns cake-walking over a weaker opponent in the opening contest of the season, is that the team took care of business, did what it was supposed to do, had a workmanlike performance, etc., etc., yada-yada-yada. While I’ve never been opposed to saying the trite thing, yesterday probably deserves a little more of a critical look than that.
First, the Longhorns did take care of business (there I go), which is really a good thing, especially since several Longhorn teams of recent vintage didn’t manage to do that against underdog opponents in opening games. Take the 2007 team, for instance. That bunch struggled mightily against a poor Arkansas State team, letting the game go down to the final minutes before finally squeaking out a 21-13 win.
Then there was the 2002 version of the Longhorns, which did defeat a big underdog North Texas team 27-0, but the offense struggled the entire game, exposing a weakness in the offensive line that would haunt the team all season. I remember telling a friend as I left that game that I could not remember ever having felt so bad about a four touchdown, shutout win.
And of course, the 1999 team had five punts and placekicks blocked and sputtered and spat all night long on offense on the way to losing in a big upset to an out-manned North Carolina State team. What a way to start the season.
So for a heavy favorite, taking care of business in the season opener is not a given, and the results of the opening game often serves as a portent of what is to come for the remainder of the year. A big win is a relief, a narrow win is cause for concern, and a loss can devastate an entire season.
Just ask Jim Tressel how he feels this morning after his highly-favored Buckeyes almost let their season slip away to a big underdog Navy team, only securing a win in the final seconds by stopping a Navy 2-point conversion and returning it the length of the field for 2 points of their own. Final score: Buckeyes 31, Midshipmen 27. Navy exposed the Ohio State defense as a very vulnerable group, and Terrell Pryor looked little improved from last season. Southern Cal is going to slaughter tOSU one more time, this time in the Horseshoe, where wins for the home team at night used to be a given.
”Holy shit. I wonder if we can move the USC game to 2015…”
Les Miles would have been happy as hell for his LSU team to have taken care of business against a Washington team that last won a football game in November of 2007, but that wasn’t in the cards. The Huskies outplayed their SEC opponent all night long, running up 478 yards of total offense to 321 for LSU, but came up just short of pulling off the upset of the night.
“I thought Tyrone Willingham coached this team. Didn’t somebody tell me Tyrone Willingham coached this goddam team???”
Oh, wait, I take that back. The upset of the night had already happened earlier in the evening, hadn’t it?
Oh, my. Oh, my, my, my. How would you like to be Bobby Stoops this morning? My favorite moment of 13 hours of watching college football came when Stoopsie was interviewed by the sideline reporter as he left the field at halftime. Stoopsie had just witnessed his Heisman QB - who he convinced to foolishly pass up the NFL draft and risk millions of dollars to come back for his junior year - go down with a shoulder injury. Stoopsie’s face was white as a sheet. He could barely get the words out of his mouth. He looked like he’d aged ten years in just a few moments.
All I could think was, ‘this guy’s not worried about Sam Bradford’s welfare; he’s worried sick about losing this game.’ And lose the Sooners did, failing to take care of business against a 22 point underdog. Final score: Brigham Young 14, Stoopsie’s Gooners 13. Justice had been served to a coach who cynically convinced three big stars to pass up the draft to come back for one more year and ostensibly play for a national championship.
Two of those big stars are now injured. I feel badly for Bradford, because he seems like a really good kid, and is one hell of a football player. I hope he fully recovers and goes on to a long NFL career. I also hope his family gets him a private doctor who will have Sam’s interests in mind when determining when it’s safe for him to get back into the lineup, because history demonstrates clearly that Stoops and his doctors will have other priorities.
“Just give ‘im a pain pill and put him back in there!”
But I digress.
Back to the point, which is that the Longhorns taking care of business, dismantling an underdog season-opening opponent in a very workmanlike fashion, is a very, very good thing, and beats all hell out of the alternatives.
Let’s go to the Good, Bad, and Ugly before I fall back into another Stoops rant.
First, the UGLY:
Fox’s Pay-Per-View coverage. Ugh. Seriously, we had to pay forty bucks for this shit? I mean, for forty bucks you couldn’t broadcast the game in high definition? You couldn’t hire a competent pair of announcers? Ok, nevermind on that - Fox Sports doesn’t employ any competent game announcers. You couldn’t pay for the cute little sideline reporter to wash her hair? OK, that was a cheap shot - I take it back. But really, for forty bucks a shot, we ought to get a better product than was offered last night. I’m not sure when the Big 12’s contract with Fox Sports expires, but whenever that happens, I sure hope the conference can do better. The rank amateurism of the Fox Sports product has gotten very, very tiresome.
Georgia’s pre-season ranking. As always seems to be the case, it was too high.
Next, the BAD:
The Texas running game - same song, 11th verse. If we don’t have a world beater at tailback, we will not run the ball effectively in this offense against anything better than a decent defense. Period. Every off-season, the staff talks about improving the running game, and every season, Davis trots out the same old stuff. Zero misdirection. Zero attempt to create any indecision whatsoever in the defense, unless one counts the zone/read, which every defense in the country figured out how to stop 3 years ago. We don’t have a world beater at tailback, so we will not be running the ball effectively against any defense better than ULM’s defense this year. Hell, we didn’t run it effectively against ULM until their D-line was worn out and DJ Monroe came in and did his jitterbug act. That won’t work against the OUs and OSUs of the world.
Oklahoma’s offense, pre-Bradford injury. It was not good. Had nothing going on against BYU’s defense. Some might call the OU offensive line a work in progress. The Obama Administration might soon call it a national disaster area.
Turnovers - after the team going all of 2008 without losing a single fumble, Vondrell loses two in the opening game of the season. Ouch. Lets hope he got that out of his system.
Finally, the GOOD:
Defensive End Play - WOW. We have been hearing from the coaches how well Acho and Okafor have been performing in the off-season, but seeing it on the field of play for the first time was almost shocking. Throw a monstrous Sergio Kindle as the veteran presence into that mix, and you have a phase of the Texas defense that is just going to devastate opposing teams week after week. The TV guys kept saying that a sprained AC joint injury typically keeps a player out for 2 to 4 weeks. Sam Bradford might want to make sure his keeps him out of action for at least 5 weeks after he sees what he and his offensive line will be facing in the Cotton Bowl next month.
These are the faces of devastation to be visited upon opposing quarterbacks in 2009. Fear them.
Linebackers, linebackers everywhere - Speaking of defensive devastation, we give you the new and improved Roddrick Muckelroy. All Muck did last season was lead the team in tackles. If he plays the entire season like he played last night, he’ll be getting named to All-American teams come December. Norton and Robinson also stood out. This may be the best overall set of linebackers we’ve put on the field in the Mack Brown era.
Dan Freaking Buckner - so, who needs a traditional tight end, anyway? Not Texas, with this kid on the field. Big-time potential weapon here.
Forced turnovers - the Texas D counteracted the offense’s uncharacteristic 3 turnovers by forcing 3 of its own. Coming into the year, my single biggest key to the Longhorns’ chances of going undefeated was whether or not the defense could begin forcing a significant number of turnovers and put the offense in more short field situations than it enjoyed last year. Last night was a very good beginning.
McCoy to Shipley - to quote Dick Enberg, Oh, my. How will teams stop this pair this year? Even with Colt being just a little off in the first two quarters, these guys had teamed up for 165 yards by halftime. It’d be one thing if Shipley was our only high-quality receiver. But when the team is able to put guys like Chiles, Kirkendoll, Buckner, Collins (whenever he comes available) and Williams out there as well, who do other teams focus on? You got me.
Garrett Gilbert - Was that fun, or what? Praise to the coaches for letting the kid come in and actually run the damn offense, something they have seldom let young backup QBs do over the years. It’s always encouraging when a true freshman hits the field and doesn’t play like a true freshman. This kid is going to be just fine.
Offensive Player of the Game: Jordan Shipley. 8 catches for 180 yards and a long, beautifully thrown TD from Colt. Nice.
Defensive Player of the Game: Lots of candidates here, but I have to go with Muckelroy.
Special Teams Player of the Game: DJ Monroe, of course. On a night when the return teams were otherwise very pedestrian, his 89 yard kickoff return obviously stood out.
So, another successful beginning to what is likely to be another stellar season for Mack Brown’s juggernaut football program.
Just a few additional observations from what we saw around the country yesterday…
One takeaway is that, while OU looked extremely vulnerable even before Bradford’s injury, the rest of our schedule looked tougher than we might have imagined. I caught about half of the Missouri/Illinois game, and the Tigers looked much stronger than I had expected them to look, on both sides of the ball. QB Blaine Gabbert doesn’t look to be much, if any, of a dropoff from Chase Daniel, and Danario Alexander looked like another world beating WR. Baylor also looked stronger than most had expected, and could give us some problems. Kansas won’t be a walkover, and even the Aggies significantly exceeded expectations, covering a 15 point line by 35. The Big 12 looks strong.
The Big 10 looked like packed panther shit from top to bottom. Iowa had to block two last second FG attempts to squeak past Northern Iowa. Michigan looked mediocre as expected. Penn State looked pretty legit in the first half, however, before calling off the dogs.
Alabama really just wore Virginia Tech out. My personal opinion is that the Tide was underrated coming into this season, and Ole Miss is highly overrated. We’ll see.
God, I love College football. It’s so nice to be writing these on Sunday mornings again. See you next week.
Hook ‘em!!!
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kilgoretrout said:
September 6th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Week 1 observations - South Carolina still doesn’t have an offense, but neither does NC State. If UW hadn’t had 2 key fumbles they have a chance to win that game. LSU usually starts slow but they should have had a lot more talent on the field than UW but it didn’t show. OSU has a better defense or Georgia’s offense has jelled yet. tOSU won’t necessarily get rolled by USC but they won’t win either. I think it will be a low scoring game. If Miami is improved, blowU might have 2 loses prior to the RRS. My Aggies look new and improved. Real grades won’t be handed out until we play Arky Oct 3rd. Va Tech should win the ACC if they can find some offense. The bad news Bears look like they will go bowling this year as long as they stay healthy.
EyesOfTX said:
September 6th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Kilgore: did you actually get to watch the A&M game? I couldn’t find it on anywhere. I’d be interested in your detailed takes on how they looked.
jimmyjazz said:
September 6th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Any word on Norton’s injury? Michael Huey’s is very concerning, too. Ankle injuries and offensive linemen aren’t a good mix. That looked like what could effectively be a season-ender. I thought he was about to puke.
texoz said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Great write up as usual. One of my favorite things about last night was seeing Chiles get plenty of action. This guy sucked it up, changed positions, and worked hard to get serious playing time and he got it. If Chiles keeps this up, our offense becomes more versatile. Teams will have to respect him as a receiver, then BAM! You get him to run a reverse, or have him line up as QB, or throw him a lateral that he then throws deep downfield to Colt? Buckner? Monroe? Shipley? Etc etc. Having Chiles as a legit offensive threat makes us a lot more dangerous.
Seeing McGee fumble twice was not reassuring. If he drops any more over the next couple of games he will lose his starting spot.
dick said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Chiles stepping up will make Collins’ loss easier to take.
texoz said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:11 am
One more thing. Depending on today’s game with CU vs CSU, the Big 12 could be 11-1 on opening weekend with OU being the one loss.
LOVE THAT.
Jumbo Package said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Jake Locker is a great college QB.
The Big 10 is every bit as bad as it has been the last few years.
Bill Snyder has a bunch of work cut out for him.
Texas, you better beat Oklahoma this year. I don’t want to even have to have the debate as to which Big XII team belongs in the BCS championship game with Oklahoma as an option.
CU vs CSU is going to be a GREAT way to spend a Sunday!! Who needs the stupid NFL?
kilgoretrout said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I saw highlights on the Aggieathletics website. The screen size was kinda small but here’s what I saw.
1. They had no answer for Von Miller.
2. Young linebackers were fast and tackled well.
3. Run defense was good. Not too many busted coverages on pass plays.
4. UNM isn’t a good team but they are a Senior laden team. They gave us a game last year.
5. Christine Michael is the real deal. Needs to improve his pass protection.
6. Jeff Fuller continues to impress. 10 guys in total caught passses including 3 of the new freshman.
bigdukesix said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:53 am
If he drops any more over the next couple of games he will lose his starting spot.
Why wait?
dick said:
September 6th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Michigan actually looked a lot better than mediocre. They were up 31-0 in the middle of the 2nd quarter against a decent W. Michigan team. They played a lot of freshman and they looked a lot faster and more comfortable in RichRod’s offense. Greg Robinson looks to be someone that needs to be a DC bc Michigan’s defense looked a lot better too. I think the Mich/ND game in Ann Arbor next week might be as good as the one in Columbus.
South06 said:
September 6th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
“did you actually get to watch the A&M game? I couldn’t find it on anywhere. I’d be interested in your detailed takes on how they looked.”
I was there, Eyes. Very solid game. I’ll give a quick rundown, but let me preface this by saying the UNM is bad. Really bad. So, I’m pleasantly surprised but not getting ahead of myself just yet.
Good:
Our D played with an intensity I haven’t seen in a long time. They made mistakes but they were flying all over the place. Especially our LBs. You could tell they were coached up really well. Very confident.
Von Miller was in the backfield the entire game.
Jerrod had a damn good game and is noticeably better at protecting the football.
Pass protection was good. Our RBs picked up blitzes very well.
Our receivers are the best we have had in a looooooong time. Uzoma Nwakrjeaionbahdsfah will start his whole career.
Christine made (UNM-level) defenders look stupid. If he gets to the second level, he makes people whiff big time. Cyrus got outshined a little but he had some great blocks.
The thing I liked the most last night was that our players were very ready to play. They were EXTREMELY confident and it showed every play. They looked excited and intense. They were aggressive. They attacked early and often. They celebrated and congratulated each other. They pumped the crowd up. It was shocking considering how young they are and how low the expectation level is for them.
Bad:
PENALTIES PENALTIES PENALTIES. We’re young and it shows.
Our O-line will get eaten alive by a Big 12 D-line in run protection unless they improve considerably.
Our starting freshman CB got burned a few times. He will be a good one, but we need our JUCO guy to get game-ready very soon.
Until Jerrod hit his stride in the 2nd quarter, he floated a few that would have been picked had they been to anyone but Fuller (who is just fucking strong… he will come down with a jumpball, period).
Our punter is inconsistent. We only punted 3 or 4 times but he shanked one pretty bad early on.
Our return game wasn’t great. Both our KRs and our PR are freshmen, so they aren’t very confident in their cuts. But they have good hands, so that’s an improvement in and of itself.
Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised. We aren’t a great team by any stretch but I really felt like these guys were coached up very well for this game and they completely dominated. Hard to draw many conclusions on how the season will play out because I have NO idea how bad UNM will be this year. But I completely agree with the quote from the Chronicle writeup this morning that said we look so much different than last year’s team that the comparison is almost laughable.
Art Vandelay said:
September 6th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
“Michigan actually looked a lot better than mediocre” Must be all the extra practice time.
Good work Eyes. I was a little disappointed that Malcolm Williams was a non factor last night. Any ideas? Also, regarding no fumbles last year…. Colt fumbled in the 4th Q against OSU. I think the stat is no fumbles by running backs.
lowery said:
September 6th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I went to the Uga Osu game and the final score really doesn’t tell the tale. Georgia qb had the flu and traveled seperate from the team. He was clearly not 100 percent, which makes my next point all the more strange. After the first quarter Uga inexplicably went away from a working rushing attack, finishing with somewhere around 20 total rushing attempts. Were outscored 24-3 in the final 3 quarters. Weird deal. A questionable call negated a great uga punt return, and a plain bad call (unsportsmanlike) extended an Osu drive.
Beautiful stadium by the way.
Woody Bombay said:
September 6th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Bad: That awful Kenny Chesney crap we’re apparently going to be subjected to all season.
richut said:
September 6th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
A-fucking-men, Woody. What the shit is with all of the god awful country music that has been contaminating college football for the past 5 years?
This crap has got to stop.
horncasting said:
September 6th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
If the staff can bench Jamal freaking Charles for a few fumbles when he was clearly a difference maker and the best RB on the team, I don’t know why McGee should get any more chances. He has had his opportunities and he is what he is in this system, a 4.0 ypc runner. You know what you are going to get out of him. Same with Cody Johnson. Time to go to the next wave and see if Newton, Hills and now Monroe can perform better.
doback said:
September 6th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
If only Kenny had bought his own tampons, that marriage coulda worked… Renee, you’re a hard woman to please…
jimmyjazz said:
September 6th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
lowery, are you implying Mark Richt made a boneheaded coaching decision? No way.
lowery said:
September 6th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
That, or he allowed it to happen. Maybe their OC Bobbo took too many earhole
shots back in the day.
Uga also punted with 6 minutes left in the game, down a lot.
hopefulhorn said:
September 6th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
also GOOD:
Kenny Vaccaro. He tied Muck for the team lead in tackles with 6 and blew shit up all night on kick coverage. Seemed like he was either knocking wedge blockers back into the returner or making the tackle himself every time down.
yojimbox said:
September 6th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Watching CU-CSU now. Before that, it was Ole Miss and Memphis. Don’t believe the final box score, Ole Miss looked like shit all day until the fourth quarter when Memphis self-destructed. Even that half-time lead was thanks to a pick six. Jevan Snead is playing like last year as a fluke and all those high mock draft positions for him (i.e. ahead of Colt) were entirely too optimistic.
Monahorns said:
September 6th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
I was more or less satisfied with the running game. Vondrell looked good apart from the fumbles. He only averaged 4.7 yds/carry, but while watching the game it seemed he did well. There were a few low/no gains, but none that I remember were negative. There were 2 things I think didn’t help the rushing stats. It seemed like there were large stretches where we didn’t run at all. Second, we ran maybe 2 plays from the shotgun formation, maybe 3 counting the option play and 2 or 3 from under center. Hopefully, and I know this is wishful thinking, there will be more variation as we get into the season.
Monahorns said:
September 6th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
I was more or less satisfied with the running game. Vondrell looked good apart from the fumbles. He only averaged 4.7 yds/carry, but while watching the game it seemed he did well. There were a few low/no gains, but none that I remember were negative. There were 2 things I think didn’t help the rushing stats. It seemed like there were large stretches where we didn’t run at all. Second, we ran maybe 2 plays from the shotgun formation, maybe 3 counting the option play and 2 or 3 from under center. Hopefully, and I know this is wishful thinking, there will be more variation as we get into the season.
texasengr said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I thought Monroe looked like a real weapon. I hope he proves to be reliable in the return game because I want him touching the ball a LOT more. I know this is a real stretch, but does anyone see him as a potential Percy Harvin - type player? He’s just a freshman, after all…
Who was it that blew the coverage on the 75 yard TD pass in the 2nd quarter? What happened on that play?
I’m very happy for John Chiles. I thought it was obvious that he’s lost a little weight and regained the step he had when he arrived on campus.
I’m very disappointed with Oklahoma. Does anyone else see them being Alamo Bowl bound? I suddenly see a mediocre 10-3 or 9-4… And my 11-win prediction for OSU looks a little more realistic suddenly…
bigdukesix said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Who was it that blew the coverage on the 75 yard TD pass in the 2nd quarter?
Chykie.
bighornfan32 said:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I hope that Fozzy can get over his athlete’s foot or whatever it is that keeps him on the sideline so much and that DJ Monroe keeps up the good work, because McGee is just not very good. If he’s not gonna hang on to the ball, he doesn’t really add much, particularly in our shotgun offense. Cody either.
I really liked the hurry up, and this is a place that McGee might add some value because he is better when he can just run downhill and not have to search for holes.
The 5 wide with the RB split wide seemed kind of retarded. Why bother splitting the RB out, where he is obviously a decoy, when you could leave him in to pass protect so Colt doesn’t take clean shots the way he did a couple times.
Flamingmonkey said:
September 7th, 2009 at 12:18 am
“The 5 wide with the RB split wide seemed kind of retarded. Why bother splitting the RB out, where he is obviously a decoy, when you could leave him in to pass protect so Colt doesn’t take clean shots the way he did a couple times.”
Are you seriously asking why Greg Davis, the man who used to make Ricky Williams motion out of the backfield, does anything? Are you wanting a serious answer?
kafka said:
September 7th, 2009 at 4:43 am
The new talent at WR is impressive. New starter Buckner is awesome and new starter Chiles has made a surprisingly good adaptation to WR from QB. Buckner is an awesome combination of size/speed/strength that the horns WRs mostly lacked last season. Chiles also has excellent size and speed and much improved running ability. Goodwin is ultra fast and proved he can catch the ball. The only disappointment at WR was Malcolm (who did not play much). Chiles must be outplaying Malcolm in practice.
Watching DJ in the highlights at the Mack Brown site reminded me of Jamaal the way DJ made subtle moves as he was flowing down the field on his return TD. DJ is another electrifying addition to the horns’ roster of TBs/WRs. At WR you can just throw him a short pass and let him do his thing. At TB, he was great.
Colt ran 7 times. Why run at all against such an inferior opponent? I am all for resting Colt as much as possible and letting Gilbert get lots of PT. This will protect Colt and get GG ready for prime time (GG looked great, BTW). Mack said that Colt was tight in the 1st half and was putting a lot of pressure on himself (maybe because of the Heisman competition?).
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