Maryland Film Review (by Ryan Bridges)

[DBut82]

As Daniel stated, if Heard was truly that great of a quarterback, he would be starting right now. No question about it. But he's not because in reality, he's really not a great QB.

As noted, he wasn't even given a look when the new staff arrived. I guess my point of it all is that he could be just as good if not better than Shane and Sam if given the opportunity.  He was injured while competing for the starting job a couple of seasons ago, switched positions, and has never really been given a look since.  And considering the type of athlete he is, I think that's a shame.  Especially considering what Herman has done at the position with similar athletes...

 

[longhorn_mig]

As noted, he wasn't even given a look when the new staff arrived. I guess my point of it all is that he could be just as good if not better than Shane and Sam if given the opportunity.  He was injured while competing for the starting job a couple of seasons ago, switched positions, and has never really been given a look since.  And considering the type of athlete he is, I think that's a shame.  Especially considering what Herman has done at the position with similar athletes...

Just to play devil's advocate a bit, I'm assuming to get that look, Heard would've had to pursue it with the new coaching staff. For all we know, he might want to pursue his future as a WR. For all we know, he sees WR as his best chance to play in the NFL.

BTW Dbut, not saying this to pick a fight with you. Just to toss out another perspective with respect to the staff not giving him a look when they came in.

 

[DBut82]

Just to play devil's advocate a bit, I'm assuming to get that look, Heard would've had to pursue it with the new coaching staff. For all we know, he might want to pursue his future as a WR. For all we know, he sees WR as his best chance to play in the NFL.

BTW Dbut, not saying this to pick a fight with you. Just to toss out another perspective with respect to the staff not giving him a look when they came in.

You good with me bro.  I don't take anyone's opinion on a message board personally.  And you could be 100% correct.  And I'm not even saying Heard is the "answer" at the position.  I do think that with Sam being a true frosh, Shane apparently being asked to play injured for the 2nd straight season, and Jerrod having played the position, that this new staff should exhaust all possibilities at the most important position on the field.  I just don't think they've done that.

But there's a reason TH is paid 5mil per and I'm sitting behind a computer screen commenting on message boards 

 

[noonan05]

I'm glad when Ryan's breakdowns confirm what I saw with my eyes..

I thought after the game Malik played better he still isn't as physical as I would like but he was coming down hill more and not making tackles 5 yards in the defensive backfield like last year.

Wheeler seems lost and Johnson has to supplant him soon I would think.

Also I'm finally glad someone on this board supports my assersion that Buechele didn't play poorly!!

Good review as always Ryan

Onto the heard qb thing. Has anyone thought that Maybe the kid doesn't want to play QB. It doesn't take a rocket  scientist to realise that even though he maybe an adequate college QB he will never be a NFL QB. Maybe heard knows this and wants to play WR over QB

 

[NLeininger]

Onto the heard qb thing. Has anyone thought that Maybe the kid doesn't want to play QB. It doesn't take a rocket  scientist to realise that even though he maybe an adequate college QB he will never be a NFL QB. Maybe heard knows this and wants to play WR over QB

Heard as little shot at the NFL at WR at this point, either.

 

[longhorn_mig]

I postponed posting any thoughts following the Maryland game because I was admittedly way too unreasonable following the game. After having time to calm down, some thoughts:

1. Shane didn't play a great game, but he is far from the most glaring issue with this team. He had some terrible reads, but the O-Line didn't help him. I'm sure that didn't help with his reads and progressions.
   
2. Heard had his moments in the past, but the passing limitations he showed as time went on tell me that he's not the answer. If you ultimately want more mobility to cause headaches for the D and open up the run game, then Sam is your answer. It's not ideal to once again throw a true freshman out there, but sadly, that's starting to become an ongoing theme with the program.
   
3. For now, as long as Shane is healthy, start him. Work Sam in with some packages, and if he's shown you enough by mid-season, re-evaluate the situation.
   
4. All that said, I don't think Shane is the leader that Sam will eventually be at QB. Shane comes across as a quiet guy (even if he was yelling in practice), and with a team like this and a program in this state, you need a vocal leader at QB. Teams often take on the persona of their QB. Sam may have lost the Maryland game too, but from what I've read and seen, I'm pretty sure he would've gone down swinging. And for the Heard contingent on this message board, I'll give you that he'd probably be a stronger, more vocal leader than Shane too. Admittedly I have no hard proof, but I believe this team desperately needs that leader...and it's not Shane.
   
5. I have seen enough of Tristan Nickelson. Just stop. Find someone else. Rotate the line around if you need to. Just no more Nickelson.
   
6. I have seen enough carries from Kyle Porter. Just stop. Give Warren and Johnson 15 touches each. Injury concerns be damned. Make them prove to you they can make it through a game without getting hurt.
   
7. I need to see some more playing time this week for Hager, Shark, and Johnson at LB. If Tom sees from them the ability to actually fill a gap and be fundamentally sound, then make the tough call and sit your "blue chipper." That's what you're being paid to do.
   
8. Finally, please put Reggie in on kick returns as well as punt returns. Duvernay is not the answer on kick returns.
   

There are clearly other issues that make you want to reach for a whiskey drink, but no one has time to read that much text on this board.

 

[longhorn_mig]

BTW, in response to a post I read on Saturday, yes, a lot of fans repeatedly threw debris on the field. Most of the debris was Southwest Airlines fans they handed out at the doors. We should be better than that, and I found the behavior depressing.

Also, I could be wrong, but I believe some, if not all, of the booing was directed at the team. I was pissed about the game, but booing these kids isn't going to help anything.

Finally, there were unfortunately multiple fights in my area of the stadium, including fights between older Longhorn fans. Another low point of the day.

 

[okiehorn]

^^^ that's more depressing to hear than actually losing. Hope our fan base doesn't stay that shallow. As of right now the UT fan base is somewhat respected around here but that will change in a hurry with this bs

 

[NLeininger]

Also, I could be wrong, but I believe some, if not all, of the booing was directed at the team. I was pissed about the game, but booing these kids isn't going to help anything.

The booing coincided with the 2nd holding penalty on WIlliams, that nullified the 4th down conversion. That's when the fans hit turf.

 

[longhorn_mig]

The booing coincided with the 2 holding penalty on WIlliams, that nullified the 4th down conversion. That's when the fans hit turf.

Good deal. I couldn't remember the specific order of things since the dumpster fire was really burning at that point.

 

[dillohorn]

I booed my tv loudly and often Saturday..

 

[longhorn_mig]

That said, Maryland fans were far from class acts themselves. I wouldn't condone UT fans hurling half full beers at them (yes...it happened), but considering everything they said and did throughout the game...I understand.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

As Daniel stated, if Heard was truly that great of a quarterback, he would be starting right now. No question about it. But he's not because in reality, he's really not a great QB.

Here is a synopsis of the 1 season he played QB.

He played very little in the first game of the year and was hurt in the final two games of the year although the did try to play. In between, he started 8 games and in 5 of them was somewhere between effective and all-time great. And he was 4-1 in the games where he played well including wins over OU and KSU and you know what happened in the one loss. In his other 3 games, he absolutely crapped the bed.

Considering the total ineptitude of the offensive coaching staff that year, that is not too shabby. 

I guess I'm not understanding the thought process that a player cannot improve after his first year. Can someone please explain that to me?

 

[Adferrum]

After some more distance to Saturday's game and today's presser, a couple more thoughts from my side on the OL/DL and D situation. I tried to make some sense out of what TH said before/after the game and the actual game film. So here's a couple of conclusions I came up with. And let me just state upfront that I think that TH is pretty smart, which I think most of y'all would in general agree with.

TH has said a couple of things last week, most notably a ) that the OL is only second to the tOSU OL in their natty year, b ) that we're going to win with great defense, and c ) that the trenches look like the premier position group on both sides of the ball.

Obviously, as y'all know, Saturday's game has shown some different results and I don't wanna dive into the details too much. OL was porous against the rush and couldn't protect Boo, run blocking is hard to evaluate because we never established the run effectively but from the YPC stats that we have it didn't look too good as well, especially accounting for UMD's mediocre run defense last year. The front seven missed loads of assignments filling the gaps and stopping the run and also the DBs and, thus, the D as a whole, made a lot of mistakes. 

So I asked myself, what would be the benefit of TH making those 3 statements last week if they weren't true. He basically wasn't force to say any of those things, yet he did. There's ultimately no benefit in stating those things if they were untrue. I mean, if he would have focused on another position group to praise nobody would've cared. So it doesn't make sense to say these things if he didn't have any reasons to believe it would be true. Furthermore, the D won all of the scrimmages during camp. 

So, here is the conclusion that I draw out of that:

The things that showed up Saturday didn't happen during camp as player's fell back into old patterns: This is basically what TH suggested in today's presser saying that he didn't see a lot of the mistakes made on the field, which he attributed as player's trying too much and possibly other mental issues. It would make sense from the analysis above. And honestly, I believe/hope this is indeed the case. This would mean these mistakes might be easily correctable, as the team would 'just' need to bring what their doing in practice to the gridiron on Saturday's. A win against  SJSU with solid defense might inject some confidence into that position group going forward.

 

[DMAC]

I booed my tv loudly and often Saturday..

Its not the TV's fault 

 

[oldhorn2]

NTG....Heard was a red shirt freshman when he got his start....Shane was a true freshman when he got his...big difference. When Heard first started no one had any idea what would happen. He was electric, but soon exposed as one dimensional and became easy to defend. Remember all those 2nd and 2 situations that became 3rd an 8 because Heard ran out of bounds?...I know Shane is no Colt McCoy (accurate and a tough as hell runner) but he was far from the reason we lost that game.

 

[NLeininger]

NTG....Heard was a red shirt freshman when he got his start....Shane was a true freshman when he got his...big difference. When Heard first started no one had any idea what would happen. He was electric, but soon exposed as one dimensional and became easy to defend. Remember all those 2nd and 2 situations that became 3rd an 8 because Heard ran out of bounds?...I know Shane is no Colt McCoy (accurate and a tough as hell runner) but he was far from the reason we lost that game.

Shane was exposed as well. Just sit in a simple cover 2, and make him beat you. You don't have to assign any defender to key on him.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

NTG....Heard was a red shirt freshman when he got his start....Shane was a true freshman when he got his...big difference. When Heard first started no one had any idea what would happen. He was electric, but soon exposed as one dimensional and became easy to defend. Remember all those 2nd and 2 situations that became 3rd an 8 because Heard ran out of bounds?...I know Shane is no Colt McCoy (accurate and a tough as hell runner) but he was far from the reason we lost that game.

Well, in all my posts about Heard I really haven't even mentioned Shane and I have not said in any thread that Shane was the reason we lost to Maryland. I don'think for one minute that he as the reason we lost the game but I also think he didn't play as well as most people think he did. Although his injury and a shaky OL and RB didn't help him. But if you are going to mention Heard stepping out of bounds then you have mention the totally unnecessary sack Shane took on the first possession of the game. Absolutely no difference.

I thought Shane had a very decent year as a true freshman last year. From a stats standpoint, he was very close to Jalen Hurts who was also playing QB at Alabama as a true freshman. And I find that remarkable because Hurts was playing on a much better team. 

As far as Heard being exposed as one dimensional and becoming easy to defend, I think that a lot of that is on the incompetent and dysfunctional coaching staff he was working under. Teams gameplanned to stop Heard and our coaching staff basically had no answer. It was like they threw up their hands and said we don't know what to do in response to other teams making adjustments to stop Heard. Gimme a f...ing break! If it was that easy to stop and neutralize a dual-threat QB then they would all be stopped. But that doesn't happen because there are actually coaching staffs who know what to do and how to make adjustments in response to the other team's adjustments. The coaching staff that year acted like making adjustment was rocket science. 

 

[Take Em]

Nice job Harrison.  Hopefully these new coaches can make the changes and coach on the fly.

 

[oldhorn2]

NTG....I do not disagree with anything you said.