Mythical Fozzy creature returns. Overshadowed by the emergence of Chris Ogbonnaya, who has secured the starting tailback role, was the return on Saturday of the mythical Fozzy creature, oft-rumored but rarely seen. To the chagrin of many, he did not sprout wings and fly over the Missouri defenders, but did pick up 20 yards on his first carry. When the running game struggled early in the season, Whittaker's return was of paramount importance to jump start the ground game. Now, with Ogbonnaya firmly entrenched, running behind his pads with power, making quick, decisive cuts, and with the offense clicking, a healthy Whittaker deepens the running back corps to provide a change of pace back.
With the precision passing game wearing down opponents with its efficiency and an increasingly effective offensive line, Whittaker can provide the depth to take advantage of worn-out defenders. And that makes this team beyond scary. Add in an increasingly healthy Vondrell McGee breaking long runs against Missouri and the Longhorns have clearly established their identity as a team that passes to soften up the defense enough to run the ball.
Vindication about Daniel, et al. In the dark days after losing Vince Young early to the NFL, many fans and media members questioned Mack Brown's decision to pursue Ryan Perrilloux and Colt McCoy. I think it's apparent how lucky Texas is that Perrilloux never set foot on campus. Any lingering remnants of those questions were buried at DKR on Saturday like the Longhorns buried the OU game ball last week. Mack Brown was right in pursuing Perrilloux and McCoy instead of the pint-sized Daniel, who has never led a second half comeback in his career. Being Texas means you only have to offer the prototypes, and Daniel wasn't. Neither were Stryker Sulak and Sean Witherspoon, who were simply blown off the field by the immensely superior Texas offense. Brown made the right decisions in each case and came away with the real Heisman contender.
I love this football team. It was a perfect, cool October night for Texas football on Saturday. And the Longhorns responded by playing the perfect half, leaving stunned Texas and Missouri fans alike. Walking around the concourses during halftime, Texas fans moved around in a stunned euphoria, attempting to contemplate the destruction they had just witnessed, unlike anything they could have hoped for or imagined. It was a raucous crowd, more than answering calls for a true home field advantage in the new stadium.
More than anything else, though, it was a day to believe. A day to accept that this football team has not only the talent to win, but the intangibles to win. The chemistry, the desire. Many mocked the team's motto for the season: "Consistently good to be great." Understandable, certainly, but it might be the best way to summarize the season so far and where it will lead. If the team continues their consistently good play, they will be a great football team. I'm ready to live the dream again. And I believe in this football team. Deeply. The best news in all this? According to Roy Miller, the Longhorns are still looking to play their best game. You can find me next to the cooler of Burnt Orange Kool-Aid drinking my fill. Then maybe a little more.
Stats are for losers. I don't help myself and neither can BRAGGonUT. We just can't quit those stats. Even if we are losers. He has some interesting ones up over at Barking Carnival. Of note are the measly 10 turnovers forced, for an average of 1.43, good for 10th in the Big 12 conference. Last year's team averaged 2.07 a game, but the numbers this season don't account for the 12 turnovers on downs forced. Several of which have come deep in Longhorn territory. Add in the inexperienced secondary and some dropped interceptions and it's easy to understand why the raw numbers don't support a ballhawking defense. Earl Thomas has been close on some balls (did you see Chase Coffman rip that ball away from him in the second half?) and I think as he gains more experience he will find himself in a better position by the half step that he needs to start picking off more balls.
Dez sez, "Gimme the rock!" A significant amount of ink will be spilled this week talking about the strength of the OSU running game, which is legitimate considering it poses the biggest threat yet to the Texas front seven, which may or may not have injured Jared Norton available (please, please, no kamikaze Bobino). But HenryJames breaks down why Dez Bryant is so scary. How about representing a significant majority of Zac Robinson's completions (48%), yards (54%), and touchdown passes (78%)? Guy's a stud. The million dollar question is whether Muschamp can devise a scheme to slow down Bryant without allowing the OSU running backs and tight end Brandon Pettigrew to run free. My thoughts? In Muschamp I Trust.
0 recs | 6 comments
Earl should have hacked that ball, not tried to catch it.
However, that is a mistake of inexperience: when it’s a goal line play, you knock the ball down first unless you have the best shot – or your only play is the interception. All the young DBs are just trying to play their position. Muschamp has stated several times he is feeding them new info only to the limit they can absorb all of it: “I was them to react not think” is his mantra. INTs at the goal line are worth their weight in gold but they’re not the first responsibility.
So, frankly, they’re not quite to the ball hawk stage. But that will come as they become complete in their knowledge and become more experience, where they get to the point of understanding the blitzes and where the hot throws will be. This team is really so unselfish I don’t think INTs are big motivation at this point, but in the last half of the season I predict they will get more than their share.
I agree about the sentiment concerning recruiting vindication. Those athletes without heavy emotional baggage or great egos seem to learn and develop their skills much more quickly and more thoroughly.
whills - October 21, 2008
Recruiting
Not to mention the fact that they are actually able to stay eligible and contribute for 4-5 years.
Good point on the INT’s. It has actually seemed like this defense has caused quite a few fumbles, but just haven’t recovered many of them. I seem to recall at least 3 in the OU game that either rolled out of bounds or OU was able to get on them.
Horncasting - October 21, 2008
Schemes
I’ve been trying to channel my inner Muschamp on how we slow down the OSU attack. Up until now, I’ve done a decent job of taking what I know about Will and predicting what he will do against OU and Missou. I keep going back to the same few things as the key to his successful schemes – patience, pressuring the receivers, and taking away the opponent’s big play ability.
With that in mind, Okie State poses some new challenges as well as some not so new challenges. First, Okie State has tremendous big play ability on special teams. This is not so new for us given that we’ve faced OU (Murray/Iglesias) and Mizzou (Maclin). Maclin was still able to pick up yardage after pooch kicks and I expect we will need to do a better job against Bryant because Okie State will have likely prepared themselves for the pooches and may use different personnel as the up guys to field the kick. Winning special teams on Saturday will give the ’Horns the upper hand.
The new challeges posed by OSU are numerous and Gundy has built what I would argue is just behind Texas’ due to its balance. First, they’ve been able to run the ball hard with a tandem of backs. Second, Robinson is a decent threat in the running game as well. Third, Bryant is a skillful, big target and he’s a deep threat. Lastly, Gundy has been able to turn an opponent’s focus on Bryant against them (Damian Davis 3 recs, 76 yards, 2 TD vs Missouri).
So how would you defend it? Balance is a killer for defenses because of the ‘damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t aspect, so the first thing to you is decide what you want to take away, run or pass? The Horns’ want to make a team one dimensional, and would probably prefer to take the run away like they have all year. The key though, is that they won’t sacrafice a safety to do it (which is what Akina & McDuff did last year). Our front 6 or 7 should be able to slow down the RBs and Colt and the offense ought to be able to score at a good clip. If OSU is able to run on us, depth may begin to be an issue in the interior line and at MLB with Norton’s injury. Because of this, we have to focus on the run first in order to mask our weakness.
In the passing game, just like the Mizzou game you want to take away the quick reads and force Robinson to think instead of react. When we actually were trying to play defense in the 1st half, we consistently bumped guys at the line and mixed in help over the middle from a variety of LB positions. This helped confuse Chase by taking away the hot route receiver. Inevitably this lead to hurries, hits, sacks, and a pick. I suspect the same approach will be taken against Robinson. Another thing we saw against Mizzou were the option/delayed ‘blitzes’ on obvious passing situations. On these plays Norton or Bobino sat in a zone initially and once Chase read the coverage and looked elsewhere they blitzed him. This accomplished two things – first, Chase felt the pressure constantly, and second by running guys at him constantly we limited Chase’s running ability.
Robinson is a decent QB but like we saw last year when we came back from 24 down, he failed to make the big plays when his team needed him. He doesn’t have the mettle that McCoy or even Daniel has but he can definitely steer the offense when they are ahead. The key for the ‘Horns will be jumping out in front, taking away the run, and wearing out OSU’s defense.
BMG - October 21, 2008
Dez Bryant
Was he the guy Okie State were throwing fade routes to in the middle of the field against Washington State? I had never seen anything like that before. Wazzu simply had noone atheletic enough to jump with the guy!
brentmcd - October 21, 2008
where are the Longhorn logos on the side!!..nt whills
vy til i die - October 22, 2008
Thanks...
…for reminding me to finally join the SBN and re-claim my old BON nickname!
Drinking the Orange Kool Aid - October 23, 2008
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