Football Articles
Well, things in college football are beginning to shake out a little earlier than usual, aren’t they? I mean, most years we have to wait until the last week or two of the season to really know who the best 3 or 4 teams in the country truly are. Most years, you don’t have a single shake-out weekend that separates the pretenders from the contenders. This year is different.
Today, we know beyond any real doubt that the best 4 teams in the nation are Texas, Alabama, Florida and TCU, most likely in that order. All the pretenders are basically gone at this point. Sure, there are other undefeated teams still left standing, but Boise State and Cincinnati both had opportunities this weekend to make their respective cases for inclusion in the nation’s elite teams going into the post-season (such as it is), and failed miserably.
Boise had to struggle mightily to finally sneak past a poor Louisiana Tech team on Friday night, leaving the field as the fans still in the stands chanted “Over-rated! Over-rated!”. Truer words were never spoken by a mass of drunken Cajuns.
The La. Tech Fan base had fun even in a losing effort.
Cincinnati had even more trouble with the mediocrity that is UConn, squeaking out a 47-45 win despite putting up 700 yards of total offense. Boise and Cincy may both finish 12-0 and get invitations to BCS and other major bowl games, but no one will any longer labor under the illusion they actually belong there.
It’s been obvious for weeks that Iowa was a 6-6 team walking around in undefeated clothing, and the Hawkeyes finally played down to their true capabilities, sucking their way to a 17-10 defeat at Northwestern, of all places. The Oregon Ducks also proved to be an illusion, going down to ignominious defeat to the school with a Christmas tree for a mascot a mere week after pounding a Southern Cal team that is proving to be a mediocrity in its own right (see CloseToJumping’s prescient article: USC Reloads, Right? Wrong.).
Penn State might have stood to move up significantly in the rankings after all this collateral carnage, but they also lost, to an Ohio State team that already has two losses of its own. LSU had its shot to move into the Top 5 nationally, but let go of a halftime lead and lost by 9 to Alabama.
And so the dust has settled, and Texas, Florida, Alabama and TCU are the last true men left standing.
Things are falling into a pretty clear order in the awful Big 12 Conference after yesterday as well. In the North, you have Nebraska and Kansas State as the only remaining contenders after KSU beat fading Kansas and Missouri got mugged by….wait for it…the Baylor Bears! YESSSS!!!
In the South, you have Texas. That’s all. Oh, there was still some nagging worry that Texas A&M might be pulling things together a little bit and might present some manner of a challenge to the Longhorns on Thanksgiving day. But then, Sherman’s March arrived in Boulder intending to burn the place down and left with its horses having been shot and its women raped by a horrible Colorado team.
This Sherman would not have been happy with Saturday’s effort by the Aggies. The other Sherman probably wasn’t, either.
So Texas will play either Nebraska or Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship game. If you don’t already have your tickets to attend the event in Jerry World – plus an extra $60 for parking, and $12 for a beer – you might want to get them now.
Them napkins is three dollahs extra.
Let’s go to the Good, Bad and Ugly:
Good: It was the season’s first Quadfecta, as Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma all lost on the same day. Folks, it has been a long, long time since that happened. In fact, I’d truly love to know when the last time was. I’d bet it was decades ago. Despite already having lost twice and having to struggle to beat weak sisters like Purdue, the Fading Irish were still being mentioned in the mix for invitations to BCS bowl games. After dropping another game to Navy yesterday, one would hope that hype would stop. But you know, I’m not just going to assume that will be the case. We’ve already discussed and celebrated the other teams and their losses. But what a great Saturday it was in this regard.
Ugly: Not being able to watch the Texas game live because I was attending the wedding of a friend of the family. It’s terrible when real life intrudes on football fantasies. I did get to listen to the radio call, and was as always impressed with the coverage provided by Craig Way and Keith Moreland. We really have it good as Texas fans in so many ways, and this is one of them.
Good: The miracle of the DVR. Thanks to this technology, I was able to watch the replay of the game when I returned home on Sunday. I just love these boxes – other than sporting events, I virtually never watch live television anymore, and don’t have to sit through those annoying ASPCA ads featuring the insipid Sarah McLachlin.
Somebody, please stop the madness.
Good: Jordan Shipley. The greatest day for a wide receiver in UT history. 25 years ago, such a day would not have been all that impressive. But after the procession of great players we’ve seen come through this program at this position since then, it’s a hell of a day.
Good: Colt McCoy. The second highest yardage game in UT history. Again, 25 years ago, that would not have been much of a game. Things sure have changed. Does this get Colt back into the Heisman discussion? Probably, but it’s still an uphill battle, and might take three more games even better than this one.
Good: Throwing the ball down the field, for once. It was sure nice to see the Longhorn offense come out and try to actually throw the ball vertically from time to time. The decision to put about 50% of this offensive playbook in hibernation for the first five games of the season remains a mystery to me, but what’s done is done. It’s nice to see it finally happening now.
Good: The Texas Defense. This unit is like a vise – it starts out each Saturday giving a little, but just keeps tightening its grip on the opposing offense as the game goes on. This game was a classic example. On its second and third possessions, the UCF offense managed to move the ball a little, totaling up 77 yards on 17 plays, and consuming a good deal of clock time. From that point forward, until the final few minutes of the game, the Knights had six possessions on which they totaled 36 yards in 24 plays and never even thought about scoring. For the game, UCF did not run a single play in the Texas Red Zone until their final failed possession against mostly Texas backups, with under 2 minutes left on the clock. The intensity shown by the Texas players in that final defensive stand was just a joy to watch. These guys never let up.
This might make a better nickname than the Goon Squad…
Good: For the game, the Texas defense allowed ZERO “explosive” plays. In other words, they played 60 minutes of football and did not surrender a single play of 12 yards or more. Folks, I don’t really care who we’re playing, that stat is almost unbelievable. Muschamp sounded like a proud new papa in his postgame interview when discussing that.
Good: Red Zone and short yardage run game. The Texas offense and Cody Johnson were lights out in these situations, putting up 20- and 13-yard TD runs in the first half, and several 3 to 5 yard gains in short yardage situations.
Ugly: The run game at all other times. Other than Johnson’s 2 TD runs for 33 yards, the Texas run game accounted for 34 yards on 23 pops. Yes, I know UCF has a legitimate defense, and yes, I understand that UCF stayed in its base defense most of the day and focused on stopping the run. Still, even given all of that, this was a horrible performance. We have simply got to get better in this phase of the game before whatever bowl game we end up going to. It will be a long day trying to beat Alabama or Florida with zero real running threat to take some heat off of Colt. This running game is a pig, and no amount of lipstick can cover up that fact.
It ain’t pretty.
Bad: No turnovers produced by the defense. For the first time this season, the Texas D failed to put the offense in short field situations via turnovers. Hey, Muschamp had to have something to work on improving in practice this week, right?
Good: Malcolm Williams had another very nice game. Love that stiff-arm in the 2nd quarter that set up the first Texas TD.
Good: Big offensive drives. The offense responded to the lack of short fields by mounting TD drives covering 80, 72, 87, 99, and 51 yards. That is a hell of a performance.
Defensive Badasses of the Week: I can’t decide on a defensive player of the game, because there were too many great performances in this one. So we’ll just call out the following badasses who led the D to 6 sacks, 13 tfls, 3 points and 151 total yards: Sergio Kindle, Lamar Houston, Keenan Robinson, Emmanuel Acho and Rod Muckelroy. The overwhelming speed at the Texas linebacker and defensive end spots becomes more and more of a factor with each passing week.
Special Teams Player of the Game: This was not an especially productive game for the STs, but Antwan Cobb had two straight big hit tackles on kickoffs in the first half.
Offensive Player of the Game: Jordan Shipley. Another unbelievable stat from this game: This was the 20th straight game in which Shipley has had at least not one, not two, not three, but FOUR catches. Unreal.
I am just fine with this game. This is the kind of game that championship teams put together at this time of year. While chaos involving other highly-ranked teams was taking place all over the rest of the country, these Longhorns calmly and methodically went about the business of dismantling a team they were supposed to dismantle.
Four more games just like this one, and we can all make reservations for Pasadena. I’m not sure there’s much more to say at this point.
Hook ‘em!!!
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Tangent Orange said:
November 8th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Hey Eyes, come on now! Those aren’t La Tech fans, that’s a pic of you picking up babes at the ‘79 Texxas Jam.
nimrodxi said:
November 8th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
The willful refusal of this coaching staff to address the shortcoming of the running game is baffling. One of the problems is that the staff will cherry-pick “success” in the running game to deny there are any issues. It is still the case that any success in the running game is the result of either 1) individual talent overcoming schematic and execution issues or 2) superior depth taking over when the opposition is fatigued.
Case in point on Johnson’s first TD: he was hit in the backfield by an unblocked player, but was able to shrug off the tackle, turning what should have been a small loss into a 20 yd TD. Fozzy’s TD would fall into the same category. In fairness, Cody’s 2nd TD seemed to be well-executed, though I haven’t re-watched it to see if he bounced an inside play outside.
nimrodxi said:
November 8th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Oh, it would be a nice bit of SOS and perception insurance to beat a top 25 9-3 Nebraska in the CCG.
Horncasting said:
November 8th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Actually, what’s baffling is that this coaching staff HAS tried to address the shortcomings of the running game.
Eyes - great writeup as always.
EyesOfTX said:
November 8th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Greg Davis does not value the running game, and his efforts to “address” it are half-hearted and do not even begin to address the real schematic issues.
norberg said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Is Vondrell McGee still our leading rusher with 275 yards? Christ.
nimrodxi said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
@Horncasting
Their efforts to fix the running game have never been anything more than “trying harder.”
See common definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
nimrodxi said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
@Eyes
It amazes me that 70+ schools have more productive running games than Texas does, especially considering more than half of those schools would trade their OL and running backs for ours straight up.
You would think Davis would appreciate the boost a consistent running game would provide to the passing game, maybe not in terms of per game productivity, but certainly situationally.
Sailor Ripley said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Actually, this is wrong thanks to Bob Stoops.
blackscholes said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
The caption under the Jerry Jones pic is greatness.
nimrodxi said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Maybe bad: I’m admittedly nit-picking, but I wonder what explains Colt’s fairly consistent late/short throws yesterday? Missed 2 or even 3 TDs because of this.
Or is this just a case where the rest of his game was so good that his miscues stand out?
(I’m thinking of the PBU to Malcolm, the underthrown interception to Kirkendoll, and there was a late throw to Shipley as well that gained great yardage but may have gone the distance if thrown sooner.)
Texoz said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Missed 2 UT games due to weddings? Eyes, admit it. You’re a rented-tux, blue-ruffled cummerbund -wearing wedding singer.
Fyi, never ask for a Detroit cumberbund.
As usual, thanks for the great write up.
bocephus said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Nimrod - according to Mack, the wind was blowing hard against the longhorns in that direction which may have caused the underthrows (as well as a long-ass punt by UCF….and a 15 yard flying turd of a rugby punt by the longhorns)
ghostofagroundgame said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Heh. Cody Johnson is a man. I’m convinced that our offensive line is too bad for us to consistently run it. And I don’t buy the theory that a line that usually pass blocks can’t comfortably switch to run blocking. Some of it is surely scheme — who the hell knows how to block a zone read — but some of it is bad offensive line technique. I don’t know if it is pad level, poor coverage audibling at the line, bad blocking assignments, or just physical mismatches.
ransomstoddard said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
That raucous noise you hear is uncontrolled laughter coming from the Fla and Bama film rooms as they watch Greg Davis’s offense
ghostofagroundgame said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
@ransom,
If I were them I’d be worried about how to cover Williams, Goodwin, and Shipley at the same time on the 25% of snaps we’ll be smart enough to have them on the field together.
t1climb1 said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Fyi, never ask for a Detroit cumberbund.
Nice.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=detroit+cumberbund
Dutchie said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Didn’t we have a fumble recovery?
EyesOfTX said:
November 8th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Dutchie: No. At least, not according to the box score.
November 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Personal foul by Randall ruined a very nice forced fumble and recovery that would have been our only TO recovery.
The Tres Leches said:
November 8th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Great read as always.
But I contend that Louisianians from Shreveport and Northern Louisiana are not Cajuns. In culture and temperament they are closer to the teetotallers from surrounding states. Northern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas are pretty much the same.
Jamal said:
November 8th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Detroit Cumberbund: The act of dumping on one’s partner’s stomach post coitus, and then wrapping Saran Wrap around their stomach several times as to seal it in. May be left in place for up to 3 days.
Monifa: What’s that smell LaShonda?
LaShonda: Oh, Jamal gave me a Detroit Cumberbund last night and is making me wear it until Sunday.
huge said:
November 8th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
its cummerbund, but whatever
lurkerinthedark said:
November 8th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Griping about the running game is the main hobby for a Longhorn fan. But this team is what it is. It is a passing team which uses the run mostly to say, “I made you look!”
Every so often a run actually works because we have some talented runners. It’s really just icing on the cake of the passing game (which is another hobby topic when Chiles and Kirk are out there instead of Williams).
As for this game, it went almost exactly as you would expect: not much on the ground against a pretty good run defense; ripping a new a-hole in their substandard pass defense. The only thing unexpected was the amazing efficiency of UCF’s punter, who consistently gave Texas LONG fields. The offense responded admirably on a day the defense could not buy a turnover against a team determined not to win, but beat the spread (largely due to the lack of some important cogs in their ‘offense’ for lack of a better word).
I no longer worry about Florida or Alabama being able to run the ball better than we do, because they can’t throw it worth shit, as we have seen over and over and our defense will prove in Pasadena.
I love this team. It ain’t always pretty, it may look like a pig sometimes, but it KICKS ASS!
WWGDD said:
November 8th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Nimrodxi, great point.
“It amazes me that 70+ schools have more productive running games than Texas does, especially considering more than half of those schools would trade their OL and running backs for ours straight up.”
Again, like Davis not getting a single offer after the OC award winner of the year and NC coordinator, this speaks volumes. Great point. I would actually place money more than 70+ would trade straight up.
norberg said:
November 8th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
lurker, the offense as a whole would be so much better with an actual running game. Not Nebraska ‘95, but an actual running game.
We were a cunt hair away from losing the OU game because of this.
nordberg said:
November 8th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Also, more importantly, I’ve always kind of had a thing for Sarah McLachlin. I’d, like, adopt pets and shit for her.
WWGDD said:
November 8th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Ahhh cunt hairs. Also known as High School floss.
Eskimohorn said:
November 8th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
The question I have is why cajuns are wearing sweaters already this time of year.
nordberg said:
November 8th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Sorry, I forgot that SizzleChest has a copyright around here on the word cunt.
java said:
November 8th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Eyes, good job, as always. This team is fun to watch, and the guys don’t make my heart palpitate like the 2005 team. (Didn’t we have several games in which we had to come from way down with heroics from Vince to win.)
I don’t know how much more we could ask from this defense or from special teams. The offense in the last few games has proven itself to be pretty reliable, as well, even without a consistent running game.
I watched almost every snap of the Florida and Alabama games. I think we are better, maybe not, but it certainly seemed that way. Those teams have flaws, glaring flaws.
I guess it’s normal to be concerned about the competition we could face if we don’t slip up and we do make it to Pasadena, but dammit, those teams look vulnerable. I’m personally hoping to play Florida. I’ve wanted to play them for years, long before we were ready (Mackovic was still here ), but we are ready now, and I want Florida.
Bring on the mighty SEC and let’s settle it on the field. Greg can stay up late and work out a game plan that works, hopefully with a little help from Boom and Applewhite. Time for GD to earn that salary.
uthookem said:
November 8th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
“Ahhh cunt hairs. Also known as High School floss.”
I remember shaving my first cunt on prom night. Sort of like an additional “graduation” if you will.
DougNTexas said:
November 9th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Mr. Houston had a good game on Defense also.
Bob in Houston said:
November 9th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Add Michigan to that Quadfecta. And Iowa lost at home… just sayin…
Not adding anything to the discussion, really said:
November 9th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Quietly…methodically…Kheeston has put himself in very good position to take a crack at Killebrew’s UT season record for personal fouls. I think that’s at least 4 so far this year. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but that kind of charge out of the gates puts the career record in jeopardy.
j.r.69 said:
November 9th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Given GD’s intransigence in creating a respectable running game, what I can’t understand is why MB doesn’t overrule him and force the issue. This has gone on for years, and makes no sense at all.
BEHorn said:
November 9th, 2009 at 8:29 am
“But then, Sherman’s March arrived in Boulder intending to burn the place down and left with its horses having been shot and its women raped by a horrible Colorado team.”
Actually, Chalky & Co shot the women and raped the horses … but the overall effect was the same.
BEHorn said:
November 9th, 2009 at 8:35 am
Nimrodxi -
”
Maybe bad: I’m admittedly nit-picking, but I wonder what explains Colt’s fairly consistent late/short throws yesterday? Missed 2 or even 3 TDs because of this.
Or is this just a case where the rest of his game was so good that his miscues stand out?
(I’m thinking of the PBU to Malcolm, the underthrown interception to Kirkendoll, and there was a late throw to Shipley as well that gained great yardage but may have gone the distance if thrown sooner.)”
Each of those passes was more behind the receiver than anything else. And my opinion, the answer is simple: When you don’t do something very often, you’re apt to be not very good at it.
p said:
November 9th, 2009 at 8:58 am
BeHorn-
What you are seeing is Colt’s arm strength. We throw the intermediate to deep throws so infrequently, that most people forget he doesn’t have the strongest arm in the world.
There is a reason we run the routes we do.
Colt McCoy is Chad Pennington 2.
Confused and Dazed said:
November 9th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Great write up, as always. Glad to see you giving props to Cobb. This kid is a terrific blocker in addition to being a special teams demon. I’m glad he’s a Jr., but I would not be at all surprised to see him playing in the NFL in two years as a fullback ala Ahmad Hall. I believe we could build a really good I formation game around him and CJ, or Fozzy for that matter, but I know we won’t.
Did anyone notice the high, deep kicks their punter made that kept us from beating them about 52-3? Are those legal? I thought punts weren’t allowed to be more than eight feet off the ground and aimed at the nearest sideline marker. What’s up with that?
Ray Guy said:
November 9th, 2009 at 10:27 am
“Did anyone notice the high, deep kicks their punter made that kept us from beating them about 52-3? Are those legal? I thought punts weren’t allowed to be more than eight feet off the ground and aimed at the nearest sideline marker. What’s up with that?”
I don’t get it either, especially considering we have a conventional punter with a huge leg, great hang-time, and a stable of thoroughbreds covering punts. You’d think that that combo, over the course of a season, would cause a few turnovers resulting in short fields.
If we get to the Promised Land and Tucker-Fucker has a five yard punt I’ll probably punch myself squarely in the balls…
Art Vandelay said:
November 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am
“It was the season’s first Quadfecta, as Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma all lost on the same day.”
Followed by a Sunday where the Giants, Redskins, and Eagles all lose???
Great weekend…. Great Great Weekend.
Capt. Obvious said:
November 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
“If we get to the Promised Land and Tucker-Fucker has a five yard punt I’ll probably punch myself squarely in the balls…”
I lol’d
Minka Kelly said:
November 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
p said: “Colt McCoy is Chad Pennington 2.”
He might be Chad Pennington, but he’s thrice more athletic, and he’s Pennington pre-18 shoulder operations.