Back From Europa; Weighing in on Things Longhorn - David Ash, Rankings, Freshmen

I keep saying SOMEDAY I’m going to get to Scandanavia. Your travel report nudges me further in that direction.

Agreed on the “play the freshmen” theme. I think we have 3-4 who can help on defense, now — but they aren’t critical to us staying afloat. Different story on offense.

I think one of the rookie wideouts has to contribute for the passing game to move forward.

But I’m more intrigued with the variety and trickeration possibilities of Ash, Shipley, Harris, Monroe/Daje Johnson, three stud running back sets Harsin can dream up and turn loose. Lots of misdirection opps, one-on-one matchups that (wait for it) actually favor our offensive player over their defensive player.

Wins us 10 games, maybe more.

If he actually is any better than that, we will “be Texas” again a year early.

Again, I am not so much focused on outcomes this year as the process. And process-wise I really LOVE what I see across the board.

We have made what I think are gigantic elite-level upgrades to staff and approach everywhere. Whether that bears a lot of fruit this year is almost immaterial to me. It was rotten in Denmark [lame as shit I know] and it takes a while to fix it.

Not fat = more attractive. I’ve made similar statements. Yes, Europe is catching up, with Germany and the UK leading the pack. I was surprised regarding your affinity towards Danish cuisine. Haven’t been there but may go this winter. What should I ask for?

Could UT’s run game be so efficient and elegant as to mask the Horns passing woes? I think that is the key question for projections that UT will win up to 10 games.

This is because, assuming Ash does morph into Greene, Mack should also have reserved cocoons to morph Mike Davis into AJ Green, and Nameless-OT into Jon Stinchcomb (revered Geogia OT)? The deficiencies in the passing game start with McAsh but, as you know better than I, extend elsewhere, and even a logarithmic improvement in QB play will be negated without improvements in these other areas.

Chris Brown has a piece on packaged plays up at Grantland. Basically, every team other than K-St and UT, should be running them.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8287610/packaged-plays-rethinking-concept-modern-play-calling

If OU doesn’t run a packaged concept by 2nd down in Dallas, then OU fans should ask for the OC head.

Tempo + packaged plays largely negates the defense’s ability to adjust to the defender that is being keyed. If teams run a packaged concept on 1st/2nd down, then they have a good idea how the D is protecting the defender that is being read. On 1st or 2nd down after a first down, they’ll run the same packaged concept with an adjustment to punish the defense’s adjustment.

College defensive coordinators that try to adjust their reads on teams playing with tempo will be taking great risk of busted coverages. The only way to get around it is to be so creative or lucky that the offense don’t have a package to make you bleed for your protection of read.

I would anticipate OU won’t show this prior to Dallas because it is so obvious. If they do show it, then it will likely be a carbon copy of OSU’s or WVU.

And spot-on observations. Drop-dead gorgeous women abound in Copenhagen, the food is actually good, the beer excellent, the airport gorgeous and easily navigable, the Danish people friendly and generally better English-speakers than most Americans, and Copenhagen itself clean and enjoyable with great nightlife. (Watch the Danish version of “The Killing” – which was the original show – for great shots of Copenhagen).

Oh, and did I mention the spectacular beauty of their women?

Glad to see that you didn’t decide to stay and enjoy the"cuisine" permanently. I’m sure you get playboy for the articles too.

I’m just going to point out to those of you who think we roll Wyoming by 5 touchdowns, they will put a significantly better QB out on the field than we will. I expect the game to be fairly close going into the second half.

That said, between the heat, and Wyoming’s relative lack of depth we should pull away in the third and fourth quarter. I also expect half the impatient Texas fans to start booing Ash midway through his first drive.

As to the packaged play concept, I don’t see any reason (excepting QB inexperience) why Texas would not adopt some of those principals, nothing says they will only work in no huddle spread offenses.

Thank you!

I would prefer to have questions about the WR core. All we need out of them is to block, catch the easy passes, and make someone cover them. If we can keep teams in a 7 man box we will win a lot of games.

Thanks for the sanity on the QB situation. I didn’t respond but Wescott on BON flipped out when Harsin said both would play. If it’s a 50/50 system, I could get a little concerned, but I too want McCoy mentally ready if Ash implodes. I believe Mack is handling it this way based on his stated goal of not having the whole team’s success so dependent on the starting QB’s success.

If Ash plays well, he will get more and more time on the field as the teams get better. At the same time McCoy needs to be comfortable with the offense within his window of capability. I agree with the tactic. Now let’s see how well they execute it.

I guess I haven’t seen much True Freshmen drama. Maybe I just don’t remember it. It seems to me like the discussion is not about a positional savior but undeniable talent that will get a chance to contribute some. None on the OL are being called for. Duke Thomas news is reminiscent of Earl Thomas news, “Wow, this guy is really talented!”. Jonathan Gray noticeably has the best speed of the RBs but no one is calling for him to be a 30 touch per game guy. Daje and Jalen are probably the closest to being Freshmen heart throbs. Daje because we do need help at WR. Jalen because most think there was supposed to be an heir to the Ash package.

I do admit, I am really hopeful one of Daje, Kendall, or Caleb demotes an upperclassman though.

will not be 4th or 5th receiver, dude should be #2 or #3.

My sister lives in Copenhagen and I had similar impressions on my visit there. Stunning women, good food, and a very sane, grown-up vibe from the Danes.

I agree on the naming of a starter at QB—tempest in a teapot. In addition to the coaches keeping Ash and McCoy motivated, I thought Monahorns hit it with his comment on our move to a less QB-centric offense. Ash has clearly won the job but the coaches just as clearly want to keep McCoy prepped in case Ash gets hurt or plays poorly. I suspect both will play in most games with a similar snap distribution to what we have seen in fall camp when conditions allow.

Not sure if you saw SI’s college football pre-view issue last week featuring an article on the Sabanization of the game. Saban’s “process” was reminiscent of this blog’s discussions from two years ago of Mack needing to be more focused on that approach. Our program is clearly trying to re-make itself to compete with ’Bama and other SEC beasts with fast, physical defense and power-running/play action passing offense. Accordingly, the obsession with a savior at QB is out of date as we look to Ash to be more like McElroy/McCarron than VY/Colt..

In the past… not too distant past I might add. There were rumors of a Case Mccoy transfer. Methinks there was too much smoke surrounding those rumors to be vacuous. Fast forward one year. Lets make sure we wait til last possible moment to declare that Case isn’t starter. Because last year when it was known Gilbert was starter, Mccoy was one healthy game away from Gilbert away from transferrring.

With so much youth at QB we’re stringing the Mccoy’s along to keep him in tune and not with his head elsewhere.

Hey, its a theory.