Game Thread: Texas Longhorns @ Iowa State Cyclones

[TexCoyote]

Good post. Honestly, I don't expect Beard to win it all or even get to the final four this year. But I think we'll see a team that plays hard, plays great defense, and plays to win.

I hope the team proves me wrong and lands in the final four though.

But the meat of this roster is full of people from everywhere else. Even with the time they've had, they need more time together to become the team they can be.

Yea I agree but Abliene Christian sure ain’t going to beat us.  Beard is what I said about Patterson…….a freaking no nonsense hard ass, I’m sure he learned that from Bobby.  Players, parents, and fan base love Beard.  We are going to win and in a year or two we’ll probably be playing Monday Night.  Beard’s got it figured out.  

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Yea I agree but Abliene Christian sure ain’t going to beat us.  Beard is what I said about Patterson…….a freaking no nonsense hard ass, I’m sure he learned that from Bobby.  Players, parents, and fan base love Beard.  We are going to win and in a year or two we’ll probably be playing Monday Night.  Beard’s got it figured out.  

I'll give you this . . he is driven. Even when thing are going good, he's looking to make it better. I feel for his wife, if he's married.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

There are a bunch of examples of coaches improving their teams drastically.  That’s what makes this hard at Texas.  We want to see improvement. Good toughness,  fundamentals,  and play hard for 4 quarters. 
 

Y’all may not agree but here are some examples:

Pittman- Arkansas

Kiffin- Ole Miss

Heupel- Tennessee 

Fischer- A&M

Aranda- Baylor

Smart- Georgia 

Gundy is Gundy which is pretty freaking good 

Wells Iowa St- See Gundy 

There are more but these come to mind without even having to think about it.  
 

I know most of y’all would crap your pants but Sark ought to give Patterson a call to come be an analyst—-We need a hard ass.  Same with Orgeron- Recruiting.  We don’t need all nice guys.  

I think Patterson would do a year as an analyst if the right coaching opportunity wasn't there. But I don't think he'd ever be our DC. I think he'd want another HC gig.

 

[TexCoyote]

I think Patterson would do a year as an analyst if the right coaching opportunity wasn't there. But I don't think he'd ever be our DC. I think he'd want another HC gig.

Yes that was just wishful thinking.  We could pay him up to be an analyst but he’s going to have several offers I would imagine.  

 

[Eastexhorn]

Sark needs his own players and time?

Then how can an intrem coach start a freshman QB ( his first start) put a offense to beat Baylor and make it look easy?

Some coaches has the it factor, can bring out the best in players football baseball or what ever sport!          

 

[longhorn_mig]

Iowa State recruited Charles Wright. Maybe we should give him a shot at QB. Kidding…I guess…maybe not…I don’t even know anymore.

 

[longhorn_mig]

Maybe PK just needs his buddy back.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

This team has regressed from the start of the season 'til now. The players are talented enough that this should not have happened. It is both a player and a coach issue. 

There is no reason this team shouldn't be 6-3 right now.

 

[Austin Horn]

I’m in a very bad place with Texas Football right now. We’re just not good. The team is lacking leadership. It’s not a player lead team. The culture is bad. The soft culture and self entitlement needs to end at some point. 

 

[Eastexhorn]

I’m going to be patient…….and patience isn’t my strong suit.  I’m going to see what this staff does with the roster.  It’s easier to reshape a roster than it used to be.  He got a good recruiting class and I see alot of the kids and several parents saying they like Sark’s vision for the program.  It’s way different but look what Chris Beard did to shape his roster.  It’s going to be interesting moving forward to see how this shakes out.  

So you are waiting for December too.

 

[83Dee]

I agree with most everything you've said above, except I think you left out our core problem – the OL.

You cannot coach up the bunch we have now. They are at their ceiling already. Over and over, game after game, you see our OL getting tossed about like rag dolls. You see them making mistake after mistake. 

Yesterday, I saw Kerstetter back peddle right into Card before he decided to engage his rusher. This is a 3-star we thought had been coached up to an NFL draft level. lol

Where we have sucked in recruiting is at OL. We have a 5-star OL on the roster who never plays well enough in practice to actually see the field. Tyler Johnson. He came for the free education and a 4-year vacation in the football program.

While yes, we have racked up some 4-5 star talent, we have been deficient, criminally deficient in evaluating the talent of those players, not just the measurables. In the secondary, you see this in Tyler Owens. Great physical traits, a freak of a specimen . . but a piss poor football player.

I don't think Sark is a bad coach. I don't think coaches suddenly suck when they get to UT. I don't think any of us can put a finger on the "one problem" because there is no "one problem." There are many. And this is what Sark walked right into.

We have a fan based that has been fooled into thinking we should be an 11-2 or or program right away. I'm not surprised to learn it is not.

Hell, what are you going to do? Disown the Horns? I don't think either of us can do that. I'll simply hope for the best for the rest of the year. I think we'll get a better idea of what kind of coach Sark is next season. He will have a full year to prepare and organize this team and will have knowledge of what he has among them.

Part of the reason Herman's teams played the easy win games so close is because his talent wasn't much better. I think Sark's play calling has been bad at times, but still a helluva lot better than Herman's ever was.

I think we were prepared to see immediate results and thats just not what was going to happen.

Good post.... here are a few things that bother me:

- We are measurably worse than last year in just about every aspect of the game. If we are developing players, I certainly don’t see it.

- I have a hard time attributing a weekly second half / fourth quarter collapse to anything other than coaching.  I have a hard time believing we are that poorly conditioned or that OU / TCU / Baylor / OSU / Iowa St have way more depth than Texas. 
 

- I cannot get over Sark cutting Ash and every other defensive coach loose (the one area of the team that was actually moving in a positive direction) and holding onto two offensive coaches... one of which was under quite a bit of scrutiny under Herman. 
 

These things and a few others (including 10+ years of frustration) make me very pessimistic that things will be turned around with this current regime.  

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Good post.... here are a few things that bother me:

- We are measurably worse than last year in just about every aspect of the game. If we are developing players, I certainly don’t see it.

- I have a hard time attributing a weekly second half / fourth quarter collapse to anything other than coaching.  I have a hard time believing we are that poorly conditioned or that OU / TCU / Baylor / OSU / Iowa St have way more depth than Texas. 
 

- I cannot get over Sark cutting Ash and every other defensive coach loose (the one area of the team that was actually moving in a positive direction) and holding onto two offensive coaches... one of which was under quite a bit of scrutiny under Herman. 
 

These things and a few others (including 10+ years of frustration) make me very pessimistic that things will be turned around with this current regime.  

These players haven't been with Sark long enough for development to happen. Plus we lost Cosmi, the best OL we had last year.

We have OL who can't break the 2-deep who have been here a while. All ranked 4-star or higher.

But a lot of this has to do with the players. And I'm not sure it has anything to do with physical conditioning. Mental conditioning, yeah. That takes time to remedy.

I can't blame him for not retaining Ash. He was told to get one of the best in the business and thats what PK was.

I do understand your frustration and share that with you. I just think this time is different, but looks much the same right now.

 

[83Dee]

These players haven't been with Sark long enough for development to happen. Plus we lost Cosmi, the best OL we had last year.

We have OL who can't break the 2-deep who have been here a while. All ranked 4-star or higher.

But a lot of this has to do with the players. And I'm not sure it has anything to do with physical conditioning. Mental conditioning, yeah. That takes time to remedy.

I can't blame him for not retaining Ash. He was told to get one of the best in the business and thats what PK was.

I do understand your frustration and share that with you. I just think this time is different, but looks much the same right now.

I hope you’re right.

I think Ash is / was one of the best in the business.  
 

 

[NEOkHorn]

- I cannot get over Sark cutting Ash and every other defensive coach loose (the one area of the team that was actually moving in a positive direction) and holding onto two offensive coaches... one of which was under quite a bit of scrutiny under Herman.

I struggle with the Ash decision as well. Especially when he was closer to the scheme Sark was familiar with at Alabama. Then again, I've always been an Ash and 4-2-5 fan. Think our personnel was a better fit for that scheme as well. 

As for the offensive ones, I'm guessing Coleman is the one to whom you are referring. I had the impression that there was another candidate Sark had in mind but was unable to get them to come so maybe opted for someone who was reputed to be a good recruiter. Just a guess. Either way, it does not appear to me that Coleman has had much success developing WRs over the past couple of seasons.

 

[david ficken]

Wow. Our OL, 3 super seniors that are 3 stars or low 4 stars. 1 OL at center that is a 4 star backed up  by 2 4 star players, but for some reason neither  can be guards. Yet one was a guard in HS and 1 should have learned both guard and center position as that was what he was sold on by Herman and Hand. 

Won't even go into the other 3 or 4 players in the fold.

Even if we get the 4 ir5 guys that the staff feels good about even if the rest of us are questioning it. They need 3 guys in the portal that can come in a fill the needs of 1 guard and 2 tackles  or 2 guards  and 1 tackle.

As for defensive needs:

Even if half the linebackers leave, so what. Half are as good as going from LG to RG, or LG to RT, or RG to LT, but very few are sideline to sideline like what PK likes or needs. Only 1 true DE currently plays, but we do have some freshmen that may start playing.

We only have 4 safeties currently. 2 recruits, but may look at the portal for a couple of GT safeties. Corners should be fine depending upon who is back and who isn't , but one must decide at the end of the year, if Coach Joseph is the right cornerback coach or is Lake available,  or the guy from Florida, or the guy from LSU? To go back to more man to man with PK using better  type blitzes when needed and a higher 4 man front to get pressures.

The issue that most of us don't get is that ISU, TCU, OU, and OSU haven't  gone through the coaching changes that we have had over the last decade plus. We get the talent, but are they listening and understanding the differences from the Offensive and Defensive coaches from one change to another. 

The only change happening is at TCU.  Patterson does the ESPN or FOX Saturday morning pregame  stuff for 1-2 yrs then someone comes calling for a D.C. or a small college looking for a HC comes calling.  It would take something special to get him to change his mind before that.

 

[Eastexhorn]

How long does a coach need to develop players? Spring, fall practices and several games should show improvement. Where is it?

Get a great DC and that is what PK WAS. What about whathe is now.

Every one was down on Oakfor. Is the OL better or worse

without him? 

Jury is still out on defensive coaching staff to me.

Several coaches arefiring some of thier staff after weekend .Job save attempt?

Has Texasgotten better or worse since first game?

Food fot thought.

 

[DMAC]

19 hours ago, Sirhornsalot said:

Ouch. 

Here it is we all trying to figure out what is wrong and then something like this comes out.  Good for him for calling them out.  Someone on the team has to

 

[Austin Horn]

Ehlinger, Cosmi, and Ossai were great leaders a year ago.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

How long does a coach need to develop players? Spring, fall practices and several games should show improvement. Where is it?

Get a great DC and that is what PK WAS. What about whathe is now.

Every one was down on Oakfor. Is the OL better or worse

without him? 

Jury is still out on defensive coaching staff to me.

Several coaches arefiring some of thier staff after weekend .Job save attempt?

Has Texasgotten better or worse since first game?

Food fot thought.

Development occurs over years, not months, with most athletes.

PK is the same coach he's always been. Unless you're willing to believe he had some aneurysm and lost his knowledge. What changed? The players.

PK gained a reputation at Washington for great defenses. Defenses which outperformed other defenses against the same offenses. That didn't happen overnight or with someone else's recruits.

Okafor was horrible at pass blocking. Decent at run blocking. Still better than what we had. He's from Lewisville, where I saw him in high school ball. He's a great athletic specimen then and now. He's just not very talented and has no mean streak at all. We're worse without him, as the OL has clearly shown since his departure.

The jury SHOULD be out on all coaches. There's only so much you can do with a shit sandwich. End of next year is when an assessment/evaluation should happen. But anything this year is just knee-jerk.

Texas has probably gotten better since the first game. The competition in the last four games is much higher than it was for the first four-five games. We were Arkansas' decade game of the year super bowl. We never seem to get up for them, no matter the year or team we have.

 

[HORNfromETX]

The defense has looked better, especially in the 1st half of the last few games, but why not in the 2nd half? Lack of adjustments? Players not executing? Conditioning? Other team is better?