View from the Cheap Seats-Wyoming

[echeese]

View from the Cheap Seats-Wyoming

 

Sore backs

 

 

Sark quoted Mack from 2005 during his post game presser.   "We went into the game with sore backs from people slapping our backs and telling us how great we are".   On a weekend where it seemed most of the top teams started slow, TEXAS was no different.  Did you really think there wouldn’t be a hangover after Bama?  Facing a well coached, highly experienced team, the Longhorns came out of the gates stumbling bumbling and not doing much rumbling for 3 quarters.  It has been said that TEXAS is the game everyone circles on their schedule pre-season.  Wyoming certainly treated this like TEXAS treated Bama the week before.   They came in with nothing to lose, played well but by the end of the night, simply did not have the Jimmy’s and Joe’s to get it done.   They started their back up QB who did his best Josh Allen, big kid big arm, impersonation. 

 

Ewers and the offense came back to earth after the great performance vs Bama in the 1^st 3 quarters.   Between dropped passes, mistimed throws and false start penalties, TEXAS’ offense was stuck in low gear to open the game.  Shades of the Rice game though instead of sleep walking for 2 quarters, TEXAS sleepwalked for 3 quarters on offense vs the Cowboys.    Then Xaiver Worthy said. . .ENOUGH. . .and he took a WR screen 44 yards to the house.   Simple quick pass where X used his toughness quickness and speed to break an arm tackle, juke the safety covering over the top and take that 0 yard pass and add 44 yards of YAC (yards after catch   4^th quarter was owned by TEXAS as they pulled away for the win.   And credit Sark with the play design.   X was wide right with an overload to the left leaving Wyoming with only 2 defenders on that side of the field.  

 

For all the grousing and grumbling, let’s talk about what went really well for the Horns.  To kick off the walk on the positive side, we have to start with Coach PK and his defense.   Don’t look now but TEXAS seems to have built a championship D.   We’d hate to jinx things but through 3 games, TEXAS D has been suffocating.   Yes, Wyoming gashed them on a 60 yard run on their 1^st drive to take a 7-0 lead and connected with a FG on their 1^st drive of the 2^nd half.     Other than that, nothing.  After the opening drive TD, TEXAS forced 5 straight punts to close out the 1^st half.  You can win a great many games behind a D like this.  

 

We have long been fans of Sark but also critics.  He’s a 1^st rate recruiter, a great schemer of the plays but he hasn’t always been great on game day.  TEXAS is 3-0 and in all 3 games, have clearly won the 2^nd half of games.   This is an area where Sark has dramatically improved in our eyes from his prior 2 years.  We liked the play calling, which hasn’t always been the case, there was clearly a lack of execution in the game early.   And guess what, that happens.   There was no wavering from the plan on the part of the team or the staff.    And like good teams do on bad nights, we closed out the game and won the 2^nd half.    Team win and this is the kind of win teams can build upon.   

 

Two offensive tweaks worth mentioning.  Byron Murphy in as an HBack to block on the goal line, slips out into the flat for a touchdown to the big man.   Love this. And Savion Red on 4^th down as the wildcat QB not once but twice.   Picked it up both times.   Something else for teams to worry about.

 

Did we mention Coach PK and his defensive charges?   So far this is our biggest take away from our young season.   TEXAS has a defense that the team can lean on to win games/keep us in games.   And it starts upfront with the pass rush.  Pass rush leads to jumping routes and for the 2^nd week in a row, Jerrin Thompson with a 4^th quarter interception, this time taking it to the house, to put a nail in the coffin to seal the win.  

 

Offensive player of the game

 

Johnathan Brooks     Announced his presence with authority.   21 carries, 164 yards including a 61 yard run to set up TEXAS’ last offensive Touchdown in the game.   Take that run out, he still averaged 5 yards per carry.  

 

Defensive player of the game

 

Jahdea Barron  6 solo tackles including 2 on 3^rd down that stopped WRs short of the chains and 9 total tackles.   Playing his way into the Thorpe award mix

 

Special teams player of the game

 

Ryan Sanborn     in a defensive struggle, field position is key and he made sure TEXAS won the field position battle.  48 yard average on 4 punts, 2 over 50 yards and the biggest, pinning Wyoming inside their 5.    He might be TEXAS’ most valuable transfer of the off season.

 

Stats that Matter

 

·       30      TEXAS has not been 3-0 to open a season since 2012

·       0-5     TEXAS on 3^rd down in the 1^st half.    Not good

·       4-12   TEXAS on 3^rd down overall

·       1            TEXAS lost it’s 1^st offensive turnover of the season on a J Blue fumble in the 4^th

·       6          straight games where TEXAS recorded an interception

·       5        Punts force by the TEXAS D in a row in the 1^st half after Wyoming’s 1^st drive

 

On Deck

 

TEXAS opens BigXII play on the road at Baylor.    Baylor is not a great team this year though they feature 2 good RBs.    Be ready for it every week, every team in the conference knows this is their last shot at TEXAS for some time and the Horns will see teams get up for us as their biggest game of the year.    Embrace the hate.

The goal is still to win the conference, leaving the BigXII in our rear-view mirror with a big caca sandwich.    The best way to assure a ticket to Dallas in December is to win all the games in front of them.    We’d welcome a fast start by the Horns.

 

Fighting Mack Brown’s

Behind 2 Drake Maye interceptions, a pesky Minnesota pushed UNC for 3 quarters before the Tarheels finally put them away.  Maye still threw for 400+ and 2 TDs.  

 

Around College Football

 

TEXAS wasn’t the only team to start slow this weekend, in fact it seemed to be the story of the weekend.

 

#1 Georgia had to come from behind vs the Gamecocks

#3 Florida State hung on late to defeat Boston College

#11 Bama was 3-3 at half in a monsoon before a 17-3 win.  WE BROKE THEM

Florida knocked off #11 Tenn

#15 Kansas State fell to Mizzu

Okahoma State was run by South Alabama for the ugly loss of the week

ISU lost to a good MAC program in Ohio 10-7 before their coach went after a fan post game.    Wonder how much he regrets turning down Detroit and NFL millions now?

Washington turned in a dominating performance on the road vs Michigan State (a team TEXAS has never played).   Our dark horse pick to secure a playoff spot opposite (dare we say it) TEXAS.    And in more blasphemy, they may have the best corps of WRs in the nation.   We’ll start ranking the BIgXII after the 1^st week of conference play.

 

 

Game highlights

 

 

Jimmy Buffet Tribute

 

 

[UT1983]

Good stuff as always.  Thank you.

[Hiwood]

Thank you for posting the highlights , I was relegated to SiriusXM and their 30second+ delay, but I always like listening to Craig Way and the homer version broadcast. I just wish their version was a simulcast

dont like that QE was 11-23, especially after the Alabama performance

dont know what's up with Jaylin Ford, last year he was all over the place , this season after 3 games his number hasn't been called often, I just dont think ILB is his best position, I think he is better on the edge or even in a roaming/monster back

I liked that they gave Brooks a chance to shine and he delivered

what happened to CJ Baxter did he not suit up

 I love that we are 3-0, the scoreboard say we won by 21, but we all know we let Wyoming hang around too long. I know Im like many on here and expect us to hang 40 on people by half time, but at least we aren't jumping out to leads like last year only to lose the game. I still think we haven't seen the dominant game where they call the mercy rule

Payback starts in two weeks

[Soldierhorn]

7 hours ago, Hiwood said:

what happened to CJ Baxter did he not suit up

CJ was hurt during the previous two games and the ankle was still not 100% so Sark had him sit out this week.  

[Soldierhorn]

Good writeup.

Some quick thoughts. I hope they make sense.  haha

-- Dejavu all over again. This game just had that feeling that Texas might not come out of the funk, but they did... finally.  

-- Wyoming coach, Bohl (sp?), had a great game plan.  They're tough & experienced and are going to win some games this year.  It wouldnt surprise me if Wyoming wins the MWC this year. 

-- Steve Sarkisian: "This is now two out of the three weeks where we have gotten a different defense than they have put on tape...."  This should be the last time we hear this. They get paid a LOT of money; why should it take a whole half to figure out what the other team is doing?  I dont get it. A 3-man front is a 3-man front regardless of what the secondary is doing. Supposedly, the 3-man secondary did something unexpected. Then RUN THE BALL on an undersized 3-man DL until y'all figure out the secondary. 

-- Texas experienced receiver corps still having the dropsies.  Ewers still missing open receivers. I dont get it. 

-- Why doesnt Sark have a good receiver rotation?  seems odd. the first three games are when you would want to get some new blood on the field.  They seem to have a good rotation on just about every other position but receiver. 

-- Red did a good job on the wildcat and I like watching him run but I dont like the formation. Why not use a running QB that at least has a threat to throw the ball. I would like to see Murphy in those situations. all it would take would be for murphy to throw a pass (safe pass) to get it on the tape so that teams have to scheme for a dual threat 4th down package. 

-- Taking Ant Hill out for the most of the game for hitting the wrong gap on the play Wyoming RB ran for the TD. THANK YOU.  PK is showing some accountability with that move. It should pay dividends later.  Hopefully gone are the days players like Anthony Wheeler continued to bull rush the wrong gap and open up huge holes for the opposing offense. 

-- I love Sanders as a receiver. He's a matchup nightmare. I'd like to see him develop into a possession receiver that can go second level esp in the seam. However, I hate to say it but, again, Texas has a slower BIG receiver target that is called a tight end that is not a tight end. If you cant block or have no desire to block, then you are not a TE. I focused on Sanders on a couple of running plays and he showed no real desire to block. 

-- Brooks. Man, he looked good.  he ran hard with good vision and when he was being tackled, he covered the ball. If he keeps that up, he's going to be hard to keep off the field. 

getting late; I need to get some stuff done

 

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Good stuff as always echeese. Appreciate it!

[Soldierhorn]

Forgot to add something I thought was funny...

Worthy was asked a great question after the game:  who has better hands, Worthy or Byron Murphy?  hahaha

Worthy responded, “No, no. I got better hands.” 

[BWilk55]

15 hours ago, Soldierhorn said:

Then RUN THE BALL on an undersized 3-man DL until y'all figure out the secondary. Sark did pivot to 21 personnel and even the 6 o-line package. That is why we started running the ball so well. Some have speculated that this is part of his answer to the 3 high safety defense and that he was potentially not wanting to reveal it this early in the season.

-- Why doesnt Sark have a good receiver rotation? Sark does not rotate WRs. He tends to keep his top 3-4 guys out there at all times.

-- I would like to see Murphy in those situations. all it would take would be for murphy to throw a pass (safe pass) to get it on the tape so that teams have to scheme for a dual threat 4th down package. Murphy is not a dual threat QB, he may be the least likely to run of the top 3 QBs (Arch then Quinn then Murphy)

 

 

 

[oldhorn2]

6 hours ago, Soldierhorn said:

Forgot to add something I thought was funny...

Worthy was asked a great question after the game:  who has better hands, Worthy or Byron Murphy?  hahaha

Worthy responded, “No, no. I got better hands.” 

Murphy has caught every single pass thrown in his catch radius....I cant say the same for Worthy....

[UTfish]

7 hours ago, Soldierhorn said:

Forgot to add something I thought was funny...

Worthy was asked a great question after the game:  who has better hands, Worthy or Byron Murphy?  hahaha

Worthy responded, “No, no. I got better hands.” 

I don't know about that. Murphy has never dropped a pass in a game. 

[UTfish]

56 minutes ago, oldhorn2 said:

Murphy has caught every single pass thrown in his catch radius....I cant say the same for Worthy....

Sorry oldhorn2, I'm just catching up and didn't see your post. 

[Soldierhorn]

2 hours ago, oldhorn2 said:

Murphy has caught every single pass thrown in his catch radius....I cant say the same for Worthy....

Worthy missed a great chance at a one-liner; something like: Murphy should get a Stay Puff marshmallow NIL contract for his hands.

[Soldierhorn]

7 hours ago, BWilk55 said:

 

Good comments.  

Then RUN THE BALL on an undersized 3-man DL until y'all figure out the secondary. Sark did pivot to 21 personnel and even the 6 o-line package. That is why we started running the ball so well. Some have speculated that this is part of his answer to the 3 high safety defense and that he was potentially not wanting to reveal it this early in the season.

That's what happened but I dont see wasting a whole half before changing to running\OL packages; that's trying to be too smart.  IMO, change to the running game immediately and put some points on the board, get Wyoming out of sync, and then work on passing efficiency. 

-- Why doesnt Sark have a good receiver rotation? Sark does not rotate WRs. He tends to keep his top 3-4 guys out there at all times.

yep. He's smarter than I am but I'm not a fan of sticking with a few receivers esp when they dont exactly have the hot hands all the time.  

-- I would like to see Murphy in those situations. all it would take would be for murphy to throw a pass (safe pass) to get it on the tape so that teams have to scheme for a dual threat 4th down package. Murphy is not a dual threat QB, he may be the least likely to run of the top 3 QBs (Arch then Quinn then Murphy)

You're probably right. I'm just not a fan of the wildcat telegraphing what you are going to do. Ewers at flanker? meh. When they run a flanker pass, then it will mean something.  If they are going to telegraph what they are going to do, then bring in a the most athletic 300+ pounder with a jumbo package. I like Red as an change of pace RB but he's not going to knock anyone over to get that extra yard.  Obviously, I'm not a big fan of the wildcat and never have been unless deception or passing is an option.  Get a ground pounding RB that can throw then maybe there is something

[BWilk55]

2 hours ago, Soldierhorn said:

Good comments.  

Then RUN THE BALL on an undersized 3-man DL until y'all figure out the secondary. Sark did pivot to 21 personnel and even the 6 o-line package. That is why we started running the ball so well. Some have speculated that this is part of his answer to the 3 high safety defense and that he was potentially not wanting to reveal it this early in the season.

That's what happened but I dont see wasting a whole half before changing to running\OL packages; that's trying to be too smart.  IMO, change to the running game immediately and put some points on the board, get Wyoming out of sync, and then work on passing efficiency. 

-- Why doesnt Sark have a good receiver rotation? Sark does not rotate WRs. He tends to keep his top 3-4 guys out there at all times.

yep. He's smarter than I am but I'm not a fan of sticking with a few receivers esp when they dont exactly have the hot hands all the time.  

-- I would like to see Murphy in those situations. all it would take would be for murphy to throw a pass (safe pass) to get it on the tape so that teams have to scheme for a dual threat 4th down package. Murphy is not a dual threat QB, he may be the least likely to run of the top 3 QBs (Arch then Quinn then Murphy)

You're probably right. I'm just not a fan of the wildcat telegraphing what you are going to do. Ewers at flanker? meh. When they run a flanker pass, then it will mean something.  If they are going to telegraph what they are going to do, then bring in a the most athletic 300+ pounder with a jumbo package. I like Red as an change of pace RB but he's not going to knock anyone over to get that extra yard.  Obviously, I'm not a big fan of the wildcat and never have been unless deception or passing is an option.  Get a ground pounding RB that can throw then maybe there is something

Red played QB in HS so he may be able to throw a pass on occasion. That said, did Roschon Johnson ever throw a pass (yes 1 his junior year) so it would be a new wrinkle for Sark.

Red is also one of our better power backs. Between him a Baxter based on training camp reports.

[oldhorn2]

I would like to see Red with the ball in his hands more often. Something about that kid makes me see greatness about to unfold...

 

[83Dee]

"Ewers and the offense came back to earth after the great performance vs Bama in the 1^st 3 quarters."

 

I've never seen the Texas fanbase be kinder to a QB.  He has great arm talent... (minus accuracy).  I think that is 13 starts, and 3 of them have been really, really good:  BAMA, OU, BAMA. 

Bobby Burton and the Sunshine band keep reminding us that "he's not a finished product."  I'm not saying he is terrible... he can look "really, really good."  But how many starts until we can expect a starting QB at the University of Texas to not misfire on open receivers, mistime throws... and get footwork down?     

[83Dee]

On 9/18/2023 at 10:14 PM, oldhorn2 said:

I would like to see Red with the ball in his hands more often. Something about that kid makes me see greatness about to unfold...

 

I agree.  He's a competitor.  He showed up a bit chubby... and this put him in the doghouse.  But the kid has a fire to him when the lights come on.