*****GAME THREAD: #15 Texas Longhorns vs. TCU Horned Frogs*****

[dillohorn]

Jake Smith has got to stop thinking and just play.

And this O-line has got to get better.

We have not had an OL in over 10 years. 

 

[North Texas Golfer]

a little help here....I must have dreamed there was a new rule in NCAA football that said a kick off could be fair caught and the play would start from the 25 yd line. Why would I think that? It must not be so since we seem to always start inside our 20 yd line.

Admittedly I may be missing the sarcasm here but here goes anyway.

In the Kansas and TCU games, we received 16 kickoffs. We started at our 20 or inside our 20 exactly 3 times. Not exactly "always" unless they changed the definition of "always". Now, the OU game was a different story.

 

[Rotty22]

If I were hired as AD at Texas tomorrow, this would be my agenda day 1:

1.  Find that sledgehammer Herman used to break up the locker room and take it to every LHN camera on campus.  

2.  Walk into Herman's office for a sit down.  Bullet points for this meeting:

A.  D coordinator goes immediately.  Replace him with someone on staff who knows how to run a traditional defense.  New coordinator is to be hired at season's end and he can bring some staff with him.  I have VETO power.  

B.  Offensive staff is your discretion - but choose wisely because....

C.  Next year you're coaching for your job.  Year 4 of your regime ought to have Texas where we think it should be..... elite.  Anything short of a conference title and a playoff birth and you can start packing before I step back in this office.  

3.  Slam the door so hard that the window breaks. 

I didn’t say I was qualified for such a role. 

Step 0:  Deposit my 7 figure salary into my account.

 

[Captain Hookem]

Going back to the next defense discussion... After watching other teams and thinking about our situation, it still doesn't appear to be an obvious solution as switching away from a 3 man front. 

For instance, TCU runs a lot of 3 man fronts, but obviously can also generate pressure. In some situations they have 4 down lineman.

The new ou defense worked well against us, but not so well against ksu - which runs more power stuff up the middle. 

My general takeaway from all of that any defense needs the ability to rush 3 or 4 depending on the team that week. Most defenses aren't that flexible, but to be successful in the B12 it needs to be. 

Plus if Orlando is replaced, we can't start 'over'. Meaning whoever is brought in can't run a system that's blind to what's available to him now. That's a recipe for disaster, even if that defense is working well somewhere else. 

Orlando was able to install a new defense once - the first year when he adopted to Iowa State defense. It worked for a while, but maybe he wasn't experienced enough with it to carry it through multiple seasons, and recruiting properly for it.

Either way, it may be best to use these two weeks to change defenses again... It's not like it can get worse. We have to move towards something that takes pressure of the secondary, because man coverage just gets toasted with inexperience (no matter how much talent there may be). 

So my hope is that show up at ksu with a different defensive look. Even if that transition will be difficult, I'm ready to see something different. 

 

[DMAC]

We were doomed as soon we cracked the TOP 10 and Sam was in the Heisman picture.

This team underachieves when its supposed to win and then proceeds to get hopes up with the occasional big game win like Georgia.

Sam, the OL, and the entire defense have not played up to expectations.  Dont even get me started on play calling and the vanilla offense.

Classic bait and switch since 2009

 

[Baron]

I agree 100% with your first statement. It plays directly to my superstitious nature.

I agree with your second statement as well. There have been too many games where we expected a comfortable win and never got it.

The OL has been a major disappointment the last few games, while the defense has disappointed the entire season. The offensive play calling has been vanilla, but it has worked for the most part. It's only been the last three games that the scoring has suffered, discounting Kansas of course, their defense just doesn't have the horses to stop us.

The last statement I disagree with. I'm thinking snake oil salesman.

 

[Captain Hookem]

I remember one of the knocks on Herman out of Houston was that he could beat the likes of ou but then fall to lower opponents. We're seeing some of that now. 

Having said that, I think he's smarter than he is stubborn. That can't be said for all head coaches. Every coach has to learn how to handle success at the next level.

Plus, he's only been a head coach for what... almost 5 seasons now? We hired an up and coming head coach. That comes with a learning curve, whether or not people think the HC job here is a learn-on-the-job position or not.

It's downturns like this that separate the good coaches from the rest. We'll see how he responds. 

 

[oldhorn2]

Parcell's said it......"don't eat the cheese"

 

[Eastexhorn]

Injuries aside there is no earthly reason for Texas to look that bad on the football field.

 

[83Dee]

I agree 100% with your first statement. It plays directly to my superstitious nature.

I agree with your second statement as well. There have been too many games where we expected a comfortable win and never got it.

The OL has been a major disappointment the last few games, while the defense has disappointed the entire season. The offensive play calling has been vanilla, but it has worked for the most part. It's only been the last three games that the scoring has suffered, discounting Kansas of course, their defense just doesn't have the horses to stop us.

The last statement I disagree with. I'm thinking snake oil salesman.

I would submit that the head scratching / vanilla play calling in 2017 and 2019 are a direct result of an offensive line that cannot block.   It’s pretty difficult to call a play that works with three or four turnstiles in the trenches.  

In 2017 it was simply personnel.  In 2019 it is a line that is confused if they see anything other than a bull rush coming at them.  As much as I like C Hand, his unit doesn’t look like they are well coached. 

 

[83Dee]

Furthermore, the quick sideways pass is a blue ribbon play when there’s a jail-break pass rush at every snap. 

 

[83Dee]

As much as I like C Hand, his unit doesn’t look like they are well coached. 

If you think I'm being a bit harsh, try this on for size:    

Since OU sacked our QB 9 times - they have had a total of 1 sack to this day.   ?

 

[PleaseDeleteUser]

Furthermore, the quick sideways pass is a blue ribbon play when there’s a jail-break pass rush at every snap. 

Slip screen is a good play, but don't remember us ever running it. 

 

[83Dee]

Slip screen is a good play, but don't remember us ever running it. 

I was referring to a lot of the criticism the play calling received for the short / backward- diagonal passing against OU.  What else are you going to do if you simply cannot block a 4 man pass rush?

 

[PleaseDeleteUser]

I was referring to a lot of the criticism the play calling received for the short / backward- diagonal passing against OU.  What else are you going to do if you simply cannot block a 4 man pass rush?

Got it. Yea, if you can't block a 4 man rush, not much is going to work as it essentially gives the others D an extra guy. 

 

[Drb522]

Admittedly I may be missing the sarcasm here but here goes anyway.

In the Kansas and TCU games, we received 16 kickoffs. We started at our 20 or inside our 20 exactly 3 times. Not exactly "always" unless they changed the definition of "always". Now, the OU game was a different story.

Raise your hand and wave it before catching the ball and you start at the 25.  Automatically better field position than inside the 20 right?  That’s not sarcasm.

special teams coach should teach.  Heels on the goal line, over your head throw your hands up.  If you come up to the 10 fair catch it.  If you come up between the 10 and 20 take a shot and go.  Anybody not a deep man fair catch it.  Pretty simple

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Raise your hand and wave it before catching the ball and you start at the 25.  Automatically better field position than inside the 20 right?  That’s not sarcasm.

special teams coach should teach.  Heels on the goal line, over your head throw your hands up.  If you come up to the 10 fair catch it.  If you come up between the 10 and 20 take a shot and go.  Anybody not a deep man fair catch it.  Pretty simple

I was just making the point that we started at our 25 or better 13 out of 16 times. That's kind of the opposite of the statement that "we always seem to be starting inside our 20". 

Personally, I think we have taken the aggressiveness out of our return people. I much prefer putting someone back there and telling them to make something happen. It's an attitude that we need to instill in our return men. Of course, that also requires the special teams coach to teach the other 10 players to block someone. Which I think we are very poor at. 

 

[Drb522]

I was just making the point that we started at our 25 or better 13 out of 16 times. That's kind of the opposite of your statement that "we always seem to be starting inside our 20". 

Personally, I think we have taken the aggressiveness out of our return people. I much prefer putting someone back there and telling them to make something happen. It's an attitude that we need to instill in our return men. Of course, that also requires the special teams coach to teach the other 10 players to block someone. Which I think we are very poor at. 

I dont think I made that statement.

i was just saying what should be taught by the special teams coach under the current rules. 
 

Texas has been bad in the KO return game this year thoug

 

[North Texas Golfer]

I dont think I made that statement.

i was just saying what should be taught by the special teams coach under the current rules. 
 

Texas has been bad in the KO return game this year thoug

My bad. It was not you that made that statement. But my point still stands in response to the poster who did make the statement 

 

[jrcruz1026]

Kill this thread