• Contact
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another sterling episode of PBS’s Bad Football. I’m your host, Richard Burton.

Today we bring you a recap of the game played on October 10, 2025 between the visiting Bisons of Colorado University and those titans of the gridiron, the homestanding Longhorns of The University of Texas. Seldom has the artificial grass of Joseph Jamail Field witnessed the sort of utter and hopeless futility as was seen on this night. Seldom has it seen the offensive carnage which characterized this game on both sides of the ball. Seldom, if ever, has it been blessed with the abundance of yellow flags landing upon its glistening blades as it enjoyed throughout the evening.

Excessive flaggage characterized last night’s game.
A crowd of more than 101,000 witnessed the debacle. The great preponderance of these well-meaning folk came clad in the ghastly Texas color of burnt orange, excited that their heroic Longhorns had been designated the second ranked team in all the land by the frothy and self-important wizards who vote on such things, and hoping for devastating smashing of the sad and forlorn Bisons, who limped into Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium – only a committee of Texans would even contemplate such a long, overblown naming of a simple football arena – considered one of the also-rans of the Big XII Football Conference.
This is a tale of dropped passes. It is a tale of missed assignments. It is a tale of repeated use of the Wild Horn – the most inept play ever designed for the game of collegiate football. It is a tale of horrific blocking by the lumbering behemoths who populate the offensive lines of both teams of men.
But more than anything, it is a tale of coaching and preparation, or an utter, complete, and consistent failure of same, which sets this game of Bad Football apart from so many others, and earns it a place in the great pantheon of bad football contests recorded for posterity by this program. On the one side, you had the Longhorns, whose staff of coaches had had a full two weeks to prepare their team, and entered the contest sporting the most prolific scoring offense in the land. Yet, throughout this evening, this offensive unit looked for all the world as if it had seen neither hide nor hair of a football or a practice field in all that time. On the other side of the gridiron, you had the Bisons, whose offense accumulated 67 yards on its very first possession of the contest, but then managed to gather in just 60 more for the remainder of the evening.
The Colorado coaching staff.
In the end, the Bisons, having lost all hope of prevailing against the superior, if struggling, Longhorns, were engaged in a last minute desperate attempt to gather in more yards of total offensive output than they had been awarded by the hyperactive referees in penalty yardage.
In keeping with the grand tradition of Bad Football, the Bisons failed in the effort, just as they had failed in virtually every endeavor they had attempted to accomplish for the entirety of the 60 minute contest. And it is for their efforts, and for the extraordinarily bad efforts by those who participate on the offensive side of the ball for the Longhorns of Texas, that PBS dedicates this episode of Bad Football.
To these young men, their coaches and the game officials, I say Bravo! Bravo, good sirs!

Bravo! Bravo! Well played, sirs!
And now I turn the remainder of today’s proceedings over to Mr. EyesOfTX, who will escort you through not just the Bad parts of this contest, but the Good and the Ugly as well.
First, the UGLY:
Actual offensive game plan document obtained from Texas locker room.
Next, the BAD:
Whew. Ok, enough. Let’s go to the GOOD:
With Oklahoma coming up next on the schedule, it’s hard to determine just how worried we should be about this horrid offensive performance.

What, me worry?
The Sooners looked solid against Baylor, but nothing spectacular. The OU offensive line is performing no better than ours, and possibly even worse. Bradford is back, but he lacks anything resembling a true WR threat, and the Sooner TE position is basically a non-factor. Sounds familiar. OU’s defense is very good, but looked surprising vulnerable against Miami.
Interestingly, Texas comes into this year’s game with OU having beaten Colorado by exactly the same score they ran up against the Buffs in 2008. If you look back to last year’s 38-14 win over Colorado, you might remember the Longhorns played just as lackluster a game in Boulder as they did in Austin last night.
In fact, take a look at the GBU review of last year’s game with CU, and you will see the team was exhibiting pretty much the same areas of weakness then as it is now: poor kickoff coverage, no running game, poor offensive line play, zero effort to stretch the field in the passing game. The similarities are eerie.
So, worry or not worry? Well, I’m a fan, so of course I’m going to worry until I see reason on the field next week in Dallas to convince me otherwise. That’s what fans do. It’s damn sure what I do.
Last year’s Texas/OU contest produced a high-scoring, 45-35 outcome. Last year’s Texas and OU offenses were performing at a significantly higher level than this year’s have been. Last year’s Texas defense was not up to the same level as this year’s is.
Additionally, pretty much the only thing OU really does well on special teams is fake roughing the punter, so you have to figure the Longhorns are likely to score points in that phase of the game.
It all looks to me like about a 24-10 win for the guys wearing Burnt Orange. But I’ll keep worrying until I see it happen on the field. I know you will, too.
Hook ‘em!!!
Duke of Ohio said:
October 11th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I think Cooper Castleberry is Clipper Cooper in disguise.
National Pleather said:
October 11th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Eyes - Thanks for your critical assessment of this game and literally calling a turd, a turd.
Mr Burton - Your liver and johnson are deserving of lifetime achievement awards and I salute you for your excellent work on both fronts, sir..
whoopspat said:
October 11th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Good write up as usual. Chiles loafing is nothing new. Kirkendoll has been extremely disappointing. I’m surprised we haven’t goneore to Goodwin on the underneath screen that Collins ran so well at the end of last season.
Did Monroe see the field on non-ST action?
Sasha is a Longhorn Dog said:
October 11th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I pointed out Ship using the ref as a blocker on that punt return to the girls that I was watching the game with. They didn’t seem as impressed with it as I was. I guess that makes me a football dork, but that is a title I am OK with having.
And now that I have the full BC take on yesterday’s game, I will refuse to read anything further on it. I can’t afford to stress myself out any more this week. I swear, I don’t know which is more stressful: my first year of law school or our offense (except McCoy and Shipley). The combination of the two might just do me in by December.
EastSideHorn said:
October 11th, 2009 at 10:16 am
The worst thing about the Wild Horn (and there are so many bad things, I use the superlative here only for effect) is that John Chiles never ever hands it off. Hindsight is 20/20, but it always looks like DJ Monroe runs untouched 10 yards up the field without the ball in his hands while Chiles runs into a swarm of defenders. Pathetic.
And how sad was the TV coverage admitting the blatantly obvious when they interviewed Colt about his role in the play, and he admits his “job” on these plays is to run immediately out of bounds. Great, a play where we intentionally play 10 against 11.
ransomstoddard said:
October 11th, 2009 at 10:39 am
ou’s o-line is performing worse than ours? Is that even possible? How Greg Davis can keep his job for another hour is absolutely amazing.
jdlooneyii said:
October 11th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Thanks, Eyes. Bad theater indeed.
Clearly, the absence of a rushing attack is not for want of talented athletes. That typed, I’d like to think that there’s some equally rational explanation. In that spirit, would someone who knows please tell me: what is the opportunity cost of coaching up an effective rushing attack? Will pass blocking inevitably suffer? Do the quarterback and wide receivers miss valuable reps? Is there an inordinate risk of injury during practice?
Also, is our inability or unwillingness to run the football all on GDavis, or is Mac McWhorter just Tim Nunez redux? I guess more to the point, is it inability or unwillingness?
Scipio Tex said:
October 11th, 2009 at 10:45 am
You know, I actually struggled to name my Defensive MVP: Muckelroy, both Achos, Earl Thomas.
Then I realized that this was a very good thing.
Love this defense.
EyesOfTX said:
October 11th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Scipio: true dat. We had a bunch of guys out there playing hellacious defense. The contrast in scheme and preparation between our defense and our offense is as breathtaking as it is depressing. A trained chimpanzee could have produced as good an offensive game plan as our OC did yesterday.
Disgraceful.
Vasherized said:
October 11th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Chykie Brown also had a nice game.
Bob in Houston said:
October 11th, 2009 at 11:00 am
So, I basically missed the game. Should I watch the DVR or delete?
EyesOfTX said:
October 11th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Bob: Do your blood pressure a favor and fast forward through all Texas offensive possessions. The D and Special Teams are well worth the watch.
bigdukesix said:
October 11th, 2009 at 11:11 am
A trained chimpanzee could have produced as good an offensive game plan as our OC did yesterday.
For 425k a year you could hire an entire army of chimpanzees to work as offensive coordinator. Some could specialize in film study, others in strategy, and still others in picking bugs off of other members of the staff’s backs. It would be worth it just to see them jumping up and down and shrieking on the sidelines after each failed running play. The only real question is would an army of chimps suffer from the problem of too many cooks spoiling the broth? Or would the alpha chimp rule them with a hairy fist? Let’s find out.
Also, let’s find out whether chimpanzees can coach the offensive line while we’re at it.
Cricketslayer said:
October 11th, 2009 at 11:30 am
The only thing I hate about our national championship season is that Greg Davis got a ring. They should revoke it based on Saturday’s game alone.
thirtyand0 said:
October 11th, 2009 at 11:55 am
John Chiles is not a WR. Not in any shape, form, or fashion. Literally I told those around me that if Malcom Williams and Fozzy would just get in the game and throw it deep 1 time I would be quite. Chiles never and is not capable of running a pass route. I am of the opinion that this decision is payback for changing positions. Williams did more in the Missouri and Tech game last year then Chiles will ever do in his career. If I hear one more drone write or say that Williams is just too inconsistent I will point to the play of Chiles and Kirkendoll last night. Really is the goal to destroy every shred of Williams’ confidence?
Williams did have a penalty on the long punt return. But the guy goes all out on special teams. Plus he can run a route and is a threat to extend the field.
Horncasting said:
October 11th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
SA Paper said Newton left the game with a concussion.
The whole M. Williams thing has got to be a huge joke by Brown and Davis on the fans. Kirdendoll is guilty of the same shit that we keep hearing is keeping Williams off of the field (drops), but isn’t half the blocker Williams is. And now Williams apparently lost his job as one of the starting KR.
Also, the goal line Jumbo package failed to pick up a first down on 3rd and 2 on at least 2 occasions last night. Colt was nails on 3rd downs last year and Davis takes these opportunities to take the ball out of his hands?
Horncasting said:
October 11th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
One other gripe. It is time to scrap the hurry up offense. It seems to fuck up the execution of our offense more than it affects the defense.
Let’s just go back to what was working the second half of last year and quit trying to make all of these cute adjustments (hurry up and Wild horn).
EyesOfTX said:
October 11th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Ok, I get that Newton left with a concussion. What I don’t get is that he did not see the freaking field of play until midway through the 3rd quarter, when this week’s “starter” was stinking the place up all night.
Also, we should never, never, never, ever try to gain more than 1 yard out of the Jumbo formation. Our line simply is not capable of moving any other defensive line any further than that from that formation. It’s just a waste of a play to try to pick up 2 yards from that set.
Kosciuszko said:
October 11th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
There’s a good excuse for the weak offensive game calls.
As some of you know, I actually text the play calls to Greg from the comfort of my home.
Normally, I watch the game while I do this. But it was raining really hard, and Direct TV wasn’t working. That really limited my understanding of the Buffs defensive scheme.
It wasn’t until after the game that my 12 year old explained to me that the non-HD channel works even in the rain. I’ll remember that if it’s raining next week.
hopefulhorn said:
October 11th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Thanks for the explanation, Kosciuszko. Otherwise, we would be forced to conclude that Greg Davis re-defined the term “inept.” The running joke where I was sitting was us rooting for Texas to kneel three times and punt with each possession in the second half so the defense and special teams could keep scoring.
Question said:
October 11th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Is it possible we are holding back a little offensively? I’m not GD’s biggest fan but he called a solid OU game last year. And perhaps Wild Horn exists only to make OU plan for it? Maybe we’ll pass out of Wild Horn during the OU game and if it works, wonderful, if not, it will be shelved.
I admit our rushing was abysmal.
EyesOfTX said:
October 11th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I think hopefulhorn must’ve been sitting in the same part of the stadium I was in.
psychotherapy said:
October 11th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
the q package (let’s call it what it is) is garbage and it is unfortunate that it worked for 40 yds a few games back…prior to this one success against a bad team, the play has been averaging 2 yds in the 30 or so times it’s been used in the past 2 years. last year it was used to appease chiles’ ego for becoming a qb and i’m not quite sure what it’s purpose is this year. i’m not buying into a plan by davis to set up some trickery with ou. i’m guessing ou is a little brighter (yeah, i know, too much credit) than only thinking we will run if the formation is called…they’ll be ready for a pass.
i’d love to be wrong and have our ineffectiveness on offense be an artifact of a vanilla game plan that manifests as an offensive blitz krieg by davis next week, but i’m not holding my breath.
Hoop said:
October 11th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I think our only real hope for the rest of the season is that we will tell Colt to scramble for yardage more on busted plays instead of throwing it underneath for a gain of 3. Last year this seemed to relax some of the strain on the offense since we could actually punish the defense for crashing too hard at the point of attack. I think someone said that on one of the Cody runs on 3rd and 2 that Colorado used one DB to guard 3 of our receivers since they knew absolutely what we would run.
I also think GD will have to abandon some of this bullshit out of necessity, yesterday he could get “cute” with the running game since he knew our D would destroy them. I expect much less stubbornness during the OU game and more of us doing what we do well. Hell, maybe he will run some play action on 3rd and 2 instead of letting our RB get tackled a yard behind the line of scrimmage because our blockers are outnumbered by defenders 2 to 1 at the point of attack.
3 MNC in a row said:
October 11th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
“Also, let’s find out whether chimpanzees can coach the offensive line while we’re at it.”
I’m up for the task. Let me know when I can start. Oh, but I only accept bananas and cheap, chimp looking, hairy prostitutes for currency. Got any of those over there in Austin.
ransomstoddard said:
October 11th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
According to the AAS, Greg the Moron is going to “look at the running game”. Whew, for a minute I thought we were just going to shit out a turd against ou and hope it gains some yardage. I feel much better
Newy25 said:
October 11th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
“According to the AAS, Greg the Moron is going to “look at the running game””
It is kind of late for that now. We simply need our defense to stone OU on Saturday. No pressure, Will.
uthookem said:
October 11th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
“It is kind of late for that now. We simply need our defense to stone OU on Saturday. No pressure, Will.”
Somehow, I don’t think Will feels the pressure, and that is a good damn thing. I expect our D to amaze me on Saturday.
Yeah, I wish GD and the gang have been setting up OU with the inept offensive looks, but I’ve been watching too long for that. The only thing that can help is if they take the reigns off of Colt and allow him to scramble.
Hook ‘em!
Blueshorn said:
October 11th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I drive 320 miles to attend each home game and I’m getting goddamn tired of watching a crappy offense struggle with a crappy opponent. I pray that Mack retires at season’s end and takes his personal buttboy with him. Twelve years of this incompetence is enough.
Blueshorn said:
October 11th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
“According to the AAS, Greg the Moron is going to ‘look at the running game’. ”
Part of the problem is that the dipshits at the AAS won’t hold Mack and Greg accountable for this shit. They’ve heard that statement a thousand times and never follow-up with the tough questions that demand to be answered.
dantheman said:
October 11th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
You mean Greg “sideways play” Davis might say he screwed the pooch calling plays during this game? Time to get this site up and running again: Firegregdavis.com
If the Horns come out pulling this same shit against OU….I’m going to streak the field in protest!
ponderos said:
October 11th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Additionally, pretty much the only thing OU really does well on special teams is fake roughing the punter, so you have to figure the Longhorns are likely to score points in that phase of the game.
Actually, the punt returns have gotten better with Broyles out. Franks has ripped off a 50-plus return in each of the last two games.
blackscholes said:
October 11th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
This would have been a great weekend for a wedding, Eyes.
blackscholes said:
October 11th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
“It would be worth it just to see them jumping up and down and shrieking on the sidelines after each failed running play. ”
That would be awesome.
lurkerinthedark said:
October 11th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Read the entire thing with Richard Burton’s voice in my head.
I tried to sing some of it with his “Camelot” voice, but my imagination can’t sing that bad.
lurkerinthedark said:
October 11th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Don’t know Eyes’ voice. Is it anything like Liz Taylor’s?
jinx said:
October 11th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I’m with Black Scholes and Big Duke on the chimps. Let’s make that happen.
hopefulhorn said:
October 11th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Alan Trubow reports in today’s Statesman that the offense spent the last two weeks working with special emphasis on the running game. GD pointed to the CU game to put on a show.
Focus on UT running game doesn’t produce results against Colorado
Greg Davis has not only proven to be a greater threat to stop our offense than most of our opponents, he has left me speechless.
admin said:
October 11th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Sweet Creeping Jesus.
Newy25 said:
October 12th, 2009 at 4:25 am
“Alan Trubow reports in today’s Statesman that the offense spent the last two weeks working with special emphasis on the running game”
I wonder what it takes to lose your job on the offensive line. The entire second unit is out performing the first team. If he is “not happy” how about sitting 2-3 of those guys against OU and play someone else?
What is going to happen? Are they going to miss their block, put Colt under pressure or get a penalty? That’s already going on.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:29 am
I figure of the 5 TD’s that OU scored last year we can turn about 3 of them into FG’s. So that’s about 10-14 pts less than 35. I see them scoring about 21-24 pts. Bradford was a Heisman for a reason, they’ll still get some points off of us.
The question then is, can we score 24 or more pts to win??? OU’s D appears to be better & our O appears to be worse. However, the middle of the field should still be open.
I see a 27-21 type game
BatesHorn said:
October 12th, 2009 at 7:29 am
I finally found a bar after reading the quips online and caught most of the 3rd and 4th quarter.
I never thought I’d see the day were I’d actually say the phrase “Please don’t run the ball”
I said it Saturday night.
Blueshorn said:
October 12th, 2009 at 11:21 am
“I wonder what it takes to lose your job on the offensive line. The entire second unit is out performing the first team. If he is “not happy” how about sitting 2-3 of those guys against OU and play someone else?”
I wonder what it takes to lose one’s job as an offensive coach when we turn this crap out year after year. I think Mack/Greg/Mac still apply the “spilled blood” criteria for awarding playing time. Apparently, the obvious improvement on the other side of the ball and the reasons therefore have gone unnoticed.
LosHorn said:
October 12th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Anyone know why Tre Newton did not see the field? Is he is the doghouse or are Mack and Greg just completely opposed to anything that looks like it might work?
Scipio Tex said:
October 12th, 2009 at 11:50 am
So Newy, seeing David Snow, Michael Huey and Kyle Hix struggle in our system doesn’t make an impression on you that personnel aren’t the only problem? The notion that Snow is in there dominating is comical at best if you break down the games. He does when he gets to fire out on someone, but that happens about ten times a game.
We’re coaching to fail in the running game.
The idea that all of our guys are soft and that we can recruit our way out of the problem is exactly the mentality some of our coaches have.
blackscholes said:
October 12th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
“The idea that all of our guys are soft and that we can recruit our way out of the problem is exactly the mentality some of our coaches have.”
I was late to it, but I finally get it. If Greg Davis is the AntiChrist, then McWhorter is his willing helper. I’ve beat up on Tanner and Hall quite a bit, but closely watching the rest of the line tells me it’s unfair to pin it on these two journeymen. It takes a special kind of coach with a special kind of plan to neuter young talents like he’s been given. Mission accomplished, Greg.