Texas-BYU Preview: Scouting The Cougar Offense

I don’t see them making a lot of big plays from what I saw vs. the Rebels. Missed assignments are the biggest thing that I would worry about for the Texas D. They seem rather pedestrian on O. Of course every cliched announcer will tell you that teams make the most progress between games 1 & 2, so who knows. If it turns into a high scoring game, it will be Texas doing the scoring, unless Gil-bot throws some pick sixes.

Very good analysis, and like your defensive unit write-up, spot-on once again. I was at the BYU - Ole Miss game, and when my wife became despondent in the 3rd quarter I told her, “We’re going to win—we’ve been moving the ball at will all day and just haven’t scored, but it’s bound to happen eventually”. And it did, to our great satisfaction. I’m sure some UT fans had similar conversations when the score closed to 13-9—before the Longhorns finally broke things open.

After watching the BYU - Ole Miss game again on ESPN3.com I was struck by all of the little mistakes that kept us from scoring. The bright spot I see is that they were little mistakes—first game stuff that can be easily ironed out. In this case I don’t think it’s that much of a cliche to say that the BYU offense really will be vastly improved this week in Austin—with the idea in their minds and the chip on their collective shoulder that they have something to prove—to themselves, mainly—about the fact that they are a better offense than the one we saw in Oxford last Saturday.

Completely agree that this will ultimately be a defensive struggle and a question of which QB will step up first. It might simply come down to who wants it more, is willing to show leadership in the huddle, and then throw with confidence.

No way BYU scores more than 14 on the Texas D. Of course most offenses improve a lot between week one and two.

" . . . there are no Austin Collies to be found – unless Bronco Mendenhall stops by the local SPCA."

Atrocious, but in a good way.

I think BYU exposes your secondary. Cougars by 10-13 and Tx fans openly wonder if Diaz is the right guy for DC.

Great read, but like CalHorn (and Kilgore Trout I’m sure), I could have done without the Collie bashing.

Seriously, this is a game where Harsin and Diaz will earn their stripes or we lose. This Texas team has no Knight on a White Horse and we are totally dependent, IMO, on our coordinators outscheming theirs. Very little if anything will come easy and of course the players must execute if/when put in the position to do so by the game plan and play calls. For that reason alone, this game is extremely important to our rebuilding process and I can’t wait to see what we can do.

miketag jumping in there with a well thought out and totally objective opinion, as usual. That’s the spirit!

Good stuff, Scipio. Should be a nice test for Doman and Diaz.

It’s so cute how miketag wants so bad to beat the hell outta tu aaayyyyyyyyyyyy. I feel sorry for him in 2012 and beyond. what will he do with his burning desire? oh well, i’m sure he will get by somehow.

The longer I look at this BYU offense, the more I am reminded of the ‘96 Notre Dame team that came into Austin and handed Mackovic his lunch… which I wouldn’t have minded if Mr. Beautiful Symphony hadn’t been our coach at the time….

I assumed Texas would be able to load up the box and win by virtue of the fact that the Domers were incapable of completing a pass longer than five yards that year, but they proved to me once and for all that it all starts with the big uglies. Superior OL = credible running game, regardless of RB talent. Credible running game = opportunities in the passing game.

Unless a team with superior OL faces a serious talent gap on defense, they ultimately have a huge advantage which will almost always win out.

On paper, Texas can out-athlete them. But I learned after that ’96 Notre Dame game never to trust to out-athleting anybody.

Harsin and Diaz are tasked in this game with overcoming the one factor which, IMHO, is the single most important advantage any team can have. I, meanwhile, will need some sort of liver tonic this weekend, because I’m going to be drinking away whatever is left of that sadly abused organ whichever way this sucker turns.

If we can offset their Oline advantage & the game develops into the "Most Likely Scenario " the outcome probably be based upon which QB performs best under pressure. Shit.

Ok. So time for a few more Mormon jokes…….

If you have more raw wheat stored in your basement than some Third World countries, you might be LDS.

If your relatives make up more than half of your town, you might me LDS.

If you idea of a wild party is a six pack of pepsi and a PG-13 movie, you might be LDS.

If you and all of your friends come to your mom for a haircut in your kitchen, you might be LDS.

If “You’re a 10 cow woman” is a compliment, you might be LDS.

You know you’re a Utahn if:

Your an aunt or uncle before the age of 3.

Your spouse’s mother was pregnant at your wedding.

You have more children than you can find biblical names for.

Your family considers a trip to McDonalds a night out.

You believe you must be 18 years or older to order coffee at a restaurant.

There is a similarity between the L.A. riots and ward basketball.

You think Jack Daniels is a country western singer.

You negotiate prices at garage sales.

miketag, that is one of the dumbest predictions for this game. It figures that it’s coming from a waste f space like you.

Regardless of the final score this will be a chance for our lines to get tougher. BYU will attempt to pound us on the ground and dink us through the air. We need to show that we can plug the middle and put pressure on a QB. If our lines play well we win. If BYU “out muscle us,” it will be a long night. We need to complete some long passes and those start with having the time to throw them. If we can connect to Mike Davis et al early, I don’t think BYU is an offense designed to play catch-up.

BYU’s recievers are not THAT good. They look like they are because they are going up against UTEP and UNM. Every one of our starting LB’s is faster than their WRs and will be able to handle all of the underneath stuff.

Should be interesting to see how many Aggie jokes the Mormons have for comebacks, Trout. They do have the Utah State variety for practice, I suppose.

Kilgore! The BYU folks are our guests this week, and they’ve been very polite. No making fun!

Terrific write-up, Scip - great to see both this and the Defensive preview corroborated by in-the-know Cougar fans as well. Amazing that there are still a few people out there who pretend that we don’t know what we’re doing over here…

A few things I’ll be interested to see on Saturday as our D and their O square off:

- How well will our front 7 trust the system and stay in their gaps?

- How much will Diaz blitz to bring pressure? On the one hand you have his avowed desire to ‘get upfield and put pressure on the offense’, and on the other you have his post-Rice comments that indicate a desire to not give up big plays and beat ‘em in the red zone. I bet we’ll see selective pressure - especially early to test their skill guys’ recognition capability - but I think Diaz biases towards protecting a young secondary again against a team that doesn’t figure to have a lot of explosive play ability.

- How much will we see of Dez Jackson and Steve Edmond? It seemed like they each solved a problem against Rice with their unique skillsets, and I’d personally like to see how BYU’s OL can handle two plus athletes inside like Randall and Jackson while we have a classic thumper like Edmonds back their to clean up any messes should the wrong gap be shot. Two of the Robinson/Acho/Hicks troika on the outside should be sufficient for sideline pursuit, selective blitzing and short/intermediate passing lane disruption - I’d like to bias towards an MLB that can help keep us from being behind the sticks at 2nd and five all day. I also want to see if Jackson can be disruptive in the pass game since we may not blitz a ton and our ends look to be facing some very capable tackles.

Should be a very interesting if not constantly enjoyable contest. I am in love with the under here and VK over at gameanalysts.com seems to be as well. My wretched bookie STILL doesn’t have game totals up - time to re-launch my account with Bookmaker/CRIS.

Will this game be televised? If not, I’ll be watching my second favorite team, Boise St. The Longhorn Network really wasn’t a good idea, huh? Weren’t they the ones that stop televising the gladiators in Rome in the 4th or 5th Century AD and look what happened to the Roman Empire. Yikes!

I rewatched part of the Rice game on Longhorn Overdrive last night. Gilbert had some nice plays where he was pressured, side-stepped or escaped pressure and then rifled the ball to an open receiver for a nice gain. It’s not like he goes fetal every time there is pressure. I’m saying he’s Colt McCoy, but the glass is not bone dry when you look at Gilbert.

I, too, am enjoying the contributions of the Cougar (no MILF) fans to these threads. Thanks to Miketag for providing contrast to make them even look better.

I’m not saying he is Colt McCoy although if I could speak that into truth, I would.

My answer to Scipio’s final question: Sadly, byu wins due to better QB play. A close game, but GG falls short, again.

Good to see Apo doing well for them. I was afraid he’d be GregMontreTimmonsPhillipWebberPayne here.

Nobis60, I live and work with a lot of Mormons - and those were all from an LDS site. Turn about is fair play however, so they can fire at will. My Mormon neighbor’s wife gave my son many haircuts, so I know that one is true.

nobis60:
No worries about Kilgore’s jokes. Pretty harmless as far as they go, and a few were actually pretty funny.

As a BYU fan I had originally pegged this game as a sure L in the preseason. Now I think it’s practically a coin toss. The BYU offense had no problems moving the ball last week, they just couldn’t seal the deal. (Perhaps they thought they had to wait until marriage to go all the way.)

Their defense on the other hand was outstanding, surrendering only two field goals. Given that kind of performance in week one, I think they only get better in week two. Running outside on sweeps and options could be a weakness I expect Texas to exploit, and I could see us getting burned at the corners.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the Cougs playing on the national stage at the amazing Texas Memorial. Even more excited that it’s not on the LHN. (As someone who had to endure years of The Mtn, I feel your pain.) Here’s to a great game Saturday!

I cringe every time I see an Aggie post on one these otherwise respectable BYU threads. It’s like having uncle Eddie from Christmas Vacation meet your classics professor.

Their excellent O-line vs our front seven.
Our decently good but not great O-line against their front seven.
QBs with similar experience levels—ours not yet inspiring in his play.
Our team speed which may best show up on special teams.
Our multiplicity on offense under Harsin’s philosophy.
Our home field advantage—not so hot last year, at least.
BYU has already played a tough road game.

Tough game to call.
We win IF:
Malcolm Brown can tough out some yards.
Gilbert keeps his head and can hit something down the field.
Our special teams come through with a big play or two.
Our defense doesn’t get frustrated or TOO aggressive.
Turnovers even out (always a wild card factor).

Should be a very good test on both sides of the ball.

FUNNY, milksteak.

This is really great. There are fanbases of other schools that would appreciate similar analysis, like OU. Now that you are under the SBNation umbrella, could you identify fans of other schools that could provide a similar service?

“Di Luigi is best described as nifty and I love him in Super Mario Brothers.”

They have, have, have to schedule Maryland so we can see him jump on some of those tortoise shell helmets!

I dunno - I’m kinda thinking that if Ole Miss can hold BYU to one TD on O, we should be able to scheme our way into something similar. Edmond Mike to help runstop. Off-schedule pressure and hammer the QB and WRs. It could happen.

“Perhaps they thought they had to wait until marriage to go all the way”

Hah!

Lurkerinthedark - I think this game rests on Gilbert’s ability to hit the 2-8 yard pass more than downfield. Can we bring Colt back for just one game (or even just 3 qtrs. to make up for the MNC game)?

27-21 Texas …tough game start to finish. Miketag commits suicide.

Longhorn Fanatico, you’re not really bringing much to the thread. Maybe you should link up with Ransom Stoddard, you two would get along famously!

I think this game rests on Gilbert’s ability to hit the 2-8 yard pass more than downfield. Can we bring Colt back

This probably belongs in the “Cougar Defense” thread, but…

If Gilbert is not able to throw the short/intermediate ball well enough to make the O work (think: TE and slot either over the middle or in front of wherever the QB rolls) then we will see Ash at QB and much more of the ‘Cat with quite possibly an inside option to attack both DE and OLB at the same time. The insider can be either a handoff or a short-handled shovel - but if it’s not needed, it won’t be used - Harsin seems to want to keep this sort of thing in his pocket.

I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be seeing yet another player taking snap(s) in the ‘Cat. This sort of thing is going to have DCs sweating blood by the fifth game of the season, since they know everything that’s already been seen is too much to prepare for, and they’ll also have to be trying to figure out what the wrinkle/contradiction is for all of the stuff that’s been shown.

I think this game will all depend on how many completions Harris makes and how well Ashcroft runs the wildcat.

I think if we clog up their power running game with an honest front often enough to get some 3rd and longs (like against just about everyone) we are going to generate some game changers with blitzes or max-coverage schemes.

As far as clogging them up, I’m optimistic. I think Randall-Oak-Jackson-Jeffcoat may be a more athletic and talented run-stopping DL than anticipated already and our speed in the back 7 prevents them from breaking enough long runs to get six.

Could see a lot of Edmond and Brewster mixed in to spell starters and for their tackling ability.

Oooooooh. So manly. Somebody hug me, quick!

Indeed Roma. I say we have a vote right here! All those in favor of electing Longhorn Fanatico as our resident BC tough guy say, Aye!!!!!

Longhorn Fatastico, are you sure your not an Aggie? Those reading comprehension skills seem a lil’ aggie’esque. Never did I say anything about GG or Fozzy or you taking it easy on them. Your assessment of each seems mildly premature, but then again, it’s probably not the only thing premature about you… You keep you chin up, we’ll all be pulling for ya in the election. ;)

Anyone else find it odd that Aggy fans are the first ones to respond to a blog about a game between BYU and Texas?

I mean, what will you do with your obsession when we are no longer rivals?

Another great write-up. A few thoughts.

Josh Quezada: Towards the end of last year, Quezada became our primary back in terms of carries and really started to blossom as a true frosh. He’s more of a combo back compared to DiLuigi (scat back) and Kariya (bruiser). Last week he was ailed by a migraine, which kept him from seeing any significant reps. Look for BYU to use him much more than last week. I’m predicting over 100 yds rushing for the Cougs.

BYU OL: If you think they’re beefy now, you should have seen them last year. The bigger boys are coming off an incredible off-season in terms of conditioning where they’ve lost around 20 lbs. This has really improved their mobility in the run game w/o sacrificing the needed largess in pass protection. They completely dominated the “more athletic” DL at Ole Miss. Another reason I’m predicting a successful day on the ground for the Cougs.

Passing game: You couldn’t tell in our game vs. Ole Miss, but Heaps really likes to sling it downfield, and has the arm to do so. The first half of last year our OC really held him back. Second half of the year they opened up the playbook to him and he started finding our guys down field much more (granted against weaker competition). I’d be interested to see his YPA in the last 5 games. My guess it would be much higher than 6. Also, Coach Doman, our new OC, has a very aggressive mindset and will take every opportunity to throw down field. Look for Doman to adjust to last week’s performance vs Ole Miss, where we saw good man coverage, to try to open things up more. That said, my assumption is that the Longhorn DBs are better than the Rebels. So, though I’m predicting increased down field attempts, I’m less confident they’ll bare a lot of fruit.

Hopefully, the game will go down like this one:

http://byutv.org/watch/24e81963-4eca-4589-8aad-fe6a75d15528

I look for the D to play better this week since Manny must be banging it into their heads to “play the system” this week. Nobis60 said it all.

Newy, so you feel I should let some Horn posters chime in before I post anything? How many posts should I allow before attempting to derail the thread? I like college football. I am interested in your game this weekend (we have a bye). I’m not obsessed about your team, as I wouldn’t sign up for the LHN if they paid me.

Trout: at least Newy cares. Very few others do. Feel free to contribute, but whining about being agy ill becomes you: ignore him, as most here do you.

I’m just ahead of the curve in regards to GG. Just give him a couple of games and then the onslaught of fan criticism will began. The guy just doesn’t have it. He seems like a good kid, but has mediocre QB skills that was enough for high school, but not for this level of play. Ash, on the other hand, is the real deal. If it were solely up to Harsin, Ash would be starting right now. But, sadly, Mack will not allow that and will stick with GG no matter what. Come on Mack, give this one up, the kid will never be among the Longhorn great QB’s, never. And, the same go for Fragile Whittaker. He’s been with Texas something like 6 years and he only rushes for 33 yards against Rice. Cut to the chase and start M. Brown.

“I’m not obsessed about your team, as I wouldn’t sign up for the LHN if they paid me.”

Irony at its best

“I’m just ahead of the curve in regards to GG”

Yes, so few brave souls are down on him. The kid’s had a cake walk for the last year. Good work in the avante garde there, Ace.

KilgoreTrout-

You have a pet nickname for our QB.. You post early and often on a thread about our Big Cigar and ask questions about Aggy recruits. It smacks of obsession.

Again, since we apparently are no longer going to be rivals, what will you do?

And if you are a fan of college football, are you on the blogs of other schools inquiring about their games? You posting questions about the Missouri/Arizona State game on the Tiger blog?

“I’m just ahead of the curve in regards to GG. Just give him a couple of games and then the onslaught of fan criticism will began”

You are such a pioneer. The only person on the Internets critical of young Gilbert.

Longhorn Fanatico = stupider, more obnoxious version of poo.

Who’d a thunk that was possible?

Hey Roma, are these the same kinda of remarks and posters that Scipio alluded to here:
http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2011/09/05/2011-texas-rice-post-mortem-offense/

to quote Scipio:

“We were treated to such trenchant observations as:

"Same offense as last year!"

"I don’t see any difference!"

"HA HA! GiGi sucks."

"Wow, is that Ash? I thought he was redshirting. Why would the coaches do this?"

"Why is Rice running the ball? I thought they were a spread team!"

"Brown should get 30 carries a game – the coaches are political!"

"Our defense is being destroyed – Rice may finish this game with 9 points and 224 yards!"

I actively loathe 20% of our fan base on game day."

Yes, I’m glad you guys agree that Ash is the better QB. Some of you are holding on hoping that GG will get better, but he won’t. Let’s wait a couple of games and then we’ll pick up this discussion again and I’ll say, “See I told ya so.” But, I’m a patient man. I’ll wait. We’ll see how many of you GG fans will switch to the Ash camp. Hook’em

I think that number just rounded up to 21%

People are getting so good at their sarcasm these days that I am not sure if Longhorn Fanatico is real or not.

Like the Rice band his routine could be a real high wire act. Or he really could be that stupid.

If GG is having a rough game, will he be replaced early if at all? And what I mean by early is after a quarter? Do teams really need to even rush GG except to keep him guessing? If it’s his decision making, I might would bring pressure on a few plays early and see if he begins to second guess himself. When GG gets flustered/pressured his tendency seem to be to throw low. When people are discussing receivers for jump balls for UT, who is throwing them? This will be an interesting game. In fact, each of these first few games seems to present a different wrinkle and an opportunity to get some valuable experience before the heavier portion of the schedule.

I see this game as a toss up and a real good early test for the Horns.

In many ways, BYU and Texas have similar strengths and weaknesses, their O-line is probably better, our d front seven is more athletic.

I’m very glad this game is at home. I think we would be in a bunch of trouble playing in Utah. As it is, DKR will be loud, it will help us out and may decide the game.

All in all if we played this game with last years coaching staff, I believe we would lose, but I’m optimistic that home field, a limited “book” on our new O and D and general team excitement for a big game will carry the day.

If I were betting I would jump all over BYU+7

Just read this whole thread, one of the biggest things i took from it? longhorn fanatico needs to shut up.

You might be right about some of what your saying, but you seem to be making an effort to present your opinions in the dumbest, most annoying/obnoxious way possible.

Newy, Gil-bot is Scipio’s nickname so if you have a problem with it talk to him. Looks like an Internet Tough guy has high jacked this thread anyway. Good luck vs. the Cougar’s. It’s a game you should win, but could possibly lose. I’m interested to see your O & D perform against better competition.

I need to raise my previous [MCAT] score of 34. I can do this.

Not unless they give points for being a chicken-fucker, then you’re golden.

Hope you’re shooting for a career in proctology Fanatico, because you know what being an asshole is all about.

I don’t trust GG. If they score twice before we put points up, Gilbert will cue his mind screw Rose Bowl montage in his head again. He’ll begin the turn overs under pressure to come back.

I do not see this as a defensive game because we both posess the exact tools to burn each others D, not vice versa. We cannot fall behind more than one score or it could get ugly real quick. BYU will run up the middle, set up play action, and burn Gideon.
    
Our execution becomes much more critical, and I expect much more risk taking from Harsinwhite that will end drives while going for the big gains. The team is young and so is the system. Pressing the accelerator too hard will result in punts.

BYU will move the ball on us hard, and not miss those red zone opportunities that Rice did. If Diaz fails to disrupt Heap’s rhythm, they will score often and hush the crowd.. This is likely the first of the five games we lose this year. Sorry guys, it’s a rebuilding year.

As a Cougar fan, I always hold my breath during the first 10 minutes of big games, because that is typically where the game unravels for BYU. If we give up an early turnover, sack, or other catastrophe in front of 101,000 fans, it may be really hard for our confidence and we won’t play well for the rest of the game. If the Cougars can go toe to toe with you through the first quarter and 1/2, we will be tough to beat.

Also, I think y’all might be underestimating BYU’s ability to take it down the field - especially with a guy that no one has mentioned - Mackay Jacobson. Apo also can turn on the speed. Our offense was very conservative last week, just trying to figure things out, I guess

Hate tosay it as a Longhorn, but taking BYU 7 is the right play in vegas. Odds lines aren’t completely efficient as they balance the true difference between teams on the field with the amount of betting by fans of both teams. As there are presumably far more pro-Texas bettors than pro-BYU bettors this will cause the line to move to say current Texas7 from the “true” value say Texas+4 just so the bookies can balance their bets and make money either way. In general betting against poular teams in vegas is a good idea. Can’t imagine the mormon supporters of BYU are lining up to bet.

As a non-bettor, I hope Texas will beat BYU regardless of margin but we’ll see soon enough…

Hate tosay it as a Longhorn, but taking BYU +7 is the right play in vegas. Odds lines aren’t completely efficient as they balance the true difference between teams on the field with the amount of betting by fans of both teams. As there are presumably far more pro-Texas bettors than pro-BYU bettors this will cause the line to move to say current Texas-7 from the "true" value say Texas-4 just so the bookies can balance their bets and make money either way. In general betting against poular teams in vegas is a good idea. Can’t imagine the mormon supporters of BYU are lining up to bet.

As a non-bettor, I hope Texas will beat BYU regardless of margin but we’ll see soon enough…

(corrected version)

I might be a little late adding my comment, but from a BYU fan I find it hilarious how similar the dynamic is between Loghorns and Aggies vs. Cougars and Utes.

It’s nice to know you have a little brother with an inferiority complex too.

BTW - I thoroughly enjoyed these write ups. Some of the best I’ve read and HILARIOUS (yes, even the Mormon jokes)

BYU’s McKay Jacobsen - Carroll Dragon

If BB’s suggestions somehow comes true, will the main character perhaps be called “Squirtnatius Perrish”, Joe?