Five Takeaways Following a Late Night Loss to Cal

[Grandpa Zorro]

Looking at the big picture...most of us would have been happy with a 2-1 start, although we probably thought the loss would be to ND not Cal.  I think it is a great time to have a bye week and then we can make a run at our next two big games.  I'm OK with letting things play out and see what the coaches can accomplish during the off week.

And regardless of what anyone is tired of hearing, this is a young team and that will bring inconsistency.  That's just the way it is.  in any college sport and for that matter any high school sport, experience is a commodity.  Juniors and Seniors with 2-3 years of experience are an advantage.

 

[Randolph Duke]

Again, which times did Texas throw the ball on drives that they should have run outside of the two I mentioned above? I thought they mixed run/pass pretty well

Texas had two QBs, one a good passer and the other experienced, but not a good enough passer to be the starter. The passing quarterback was injured. The defensive secondary showed it was unable to perform.
And your strategic vision was to have either the injured QB or the poor thrower sling it around and hurry up to get the defense back on the field, instead of moving the ball 6.6 yards per snap and running the clock.

I understand why you are a big Charlie Strong fan. You certainly think alike.

Texas football is an ugly, steaming mess right now. Every Big 12 offensive coordinator is licking their chops for the week they get to destroy UT. Charlie couldn't even see the mess that was right in front of him leading up to the Cal clusterf##k. He isn't capable of fixing what he can't comprehend.

Charlie's stewardship of the program has been one rolling clusterf##k after another. He is in over his head. The staff has never been coherent. The team has always been young because player development under Charlie sucks.

UT football will continue to struggle to win games and roll over to lose games badly. Once again, the defense is among the worst in the history of the program. We all know how this is going to end. The only question is when it will end. I will be happy if it ends after Charlie gets his ass handed to him in blowout fashion after the next two games, not because I want to see the team Lise, but because Charlie needs to go.

I have seen nothing to make me think Charlie Strong is on the verge of joining Saban, Meyer, Shaw, Stoops or Harbaugh as coaches who have proven themselves at a high level. Charlie needs to go back to the mid-major level where his skills are a better fit. He doesn't deserve the opportunity to continue to drag UT football down to the level of a mid-major program.

The team has been exposed and I have no confidence Charlie has a clue what to do. It's a staff problem, not a player execution problem. The staff isn't getting the job done, for the third year in a row.

 

[drgilbert]

Mike, I can't give specific plays or down and distance when I thought we should have run but we passed. I read on Twitter or here, I'm not sure which but it said we threw on first downs more in this game then we did against ND. That struck me as odd since ND dline was considered pretty darn good.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

I totally understand the whole idea of running the ball, especially when it was having the success it was having against Cal. But that's not always a sure fire thing as illustrated by our next to last possession. 

Texas gets the ball back with 10:39 left in the game down 43-40. Perfect time to pound the ball down the field, eat up a bunch of clock, and take the lead. And here's what happens.

-We start the drive with a D. Foreman run of 11 yards and he carries the ball 5 more times during this 12 play drive.

-Of those 5 carries, 4 are on first down and they go for 2, 2, 0, and 4 yards. His other run goes for 1 yard on a 2nd and 16.  

-Tyrone rushes 1 time for 6 yards but it gets called back on a Beck holding penalty.

-Even though this was the extent of our rushing on this drive, we still manage to get a FG out of this mess to tie the game.

-Probably had something to do with 3 pass completions of 10 yards each and another for 19 with only 1 incompletion.

-BTW, this was also the most time consuming drive we had for the entire game at 5:10. 

 

[Mike Roach]

Texas had two QBs, one a good passer and the other experienced, but not a good enough passer to be the starter. The passing quarterback was injured. The defensive secondary showed it was unable to perform.

And your strategic vision was to have either the injured QB or the poor thrower sling it around and hurry up to get the defense back on the field, instead of moving the ball 6.6 yards per snap and running the clock.

I understand why you are a big Charlie Strong fan. You certainly think alike.

Texas football is an ugly, steaming mess right now. Every Big 12 offensive coordinator is licking their chops for the week they get to destroy UT. Charlie couldn't even see the mess that was right in front of him leading up to the Cal clusterf##k. He isn't capable of fixing what he can't comprehend.

Charlie's stewardship of the program has been one rolling clusterf##k after another. He is in over his head. The staff has never been coherent. The team has always been young because player development under Charlie sucks.

UT football will continue to struggle to win games and roll over to lose games badly. Once again, the defense is among the worst in the history of the program. We all know how this is going to end. The only question is when it will end. I will be happy if it ends after Charlie gets his ass handed to him in blowout fashion after the next two games, not because I want to see the team Lise, but because Charlie needs to go.

I have seen nothing to make me think Charlie Strong is on the verge of joining Saban, Meyer, Shaw, Stoops or Harbaugh as coaches who have proven themselves at a high level. Charlie needs to go back to the mid-major level where his skills are a better fit. He doesn't deserve the opportunity to continue to drag UT football down to the level of a mid-major program.

The team has been exposed and I have no confidence Charlie has a clue what to do. It's a staff problem, not a player execution problem. The staff isn't getting the job done, for the third year in a row.

Answer the question man. When specifically did you have a problem with it? Or maybe we just agree to disagree since you keep going off on other tangents.

 

[Mike Roach]

Mike, I can't give specific plays or down and distance when I thought we should have run but we passed. I read on Twitter or here, I'm not sure which but it said we threw on first downs more in this game then we did against ND. That struck me as odd since ND dline was considered pretty darn good.

Overall the run/pass mix was 51/39. I'd have to take a look at the drive charts, but I can see attacking a team deep after you've hit them for some big runs. I know everyone looks at this that or the other as a reason they lost, but this was a case of untimely penalties, turnovers, and most of all pathetic defense.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Answer the question man. When specifically did you have a problem with it? Or maybe we just agree to disagree?

I asked the same thing in post #33 and he hasn't answered me either. 

The run to pass ratio was just about dead even in the first half and we put up 31 points on offense. 

It was about a 60-40 run to pass ratio in the 2nd half and we scored 10 points.

 

[TexExSpur]

I would have taken a 1 point victory, but this defense needs something and a loss may very well bring that to fruition.  They're consistently out of possession.  We saw it against ND as well.  I'm thankful we now have offense, but the lack of push at the point of attack, the lack of speed at safety and the utter ignorance I have seen at corner have me screaming WTF at the television.    

The offense sputtered a few times, but stupid/untimely penalties didn't help that.  All in all, the offense and scheme did enough to win the game.

The turnovers were F'n huge because they lead to points after the defense had just taken care of business!  Looks like a young ass team to me.

 

[TXHorns99]

I completely understand everyone's patience being very, very thin at this point. We haven't had anything resembling a top tier football team in this decade. Perspective is needed sometimes to get people to step back from the ledge. Remember, before '05, it had been 35 years, 35 years, since our last natty. I followed my beloved horns for most of my life without ever experiencing them getting to the pinnacle of college football. We are all still living with the monster that Mack created. Everything, including the success of football teams, ebbs and flows. We all need to step back from the ledge, and understand that we all want the same thing...our football team back on top of the mountain. I have never been, and will never be a fair weather fan. I've bled burnt orange since birth, even when our football team was nothing to write home about. Of course, I'm not saying I enjoy being a fan of a "s@&t show of a football team, but I truly believe that throwing Charlie out on his ass won't do anything but set the team further back on the path to greatness. Hook 'em Horns! #Believe

 

[Royal 60]

I really really want CS to stay but he has to man up and bring in someone that can give us at lease a Average defense

 

[Randolph Duke]

After looking over the Cal game again and reading some comments of a few particular individuals, I admit I have lost all confidence in Charlie Strong as a head coach and want to see him gone. I just can't support him any longer. The players deserve better program leadership.