Flirting with Disaster
There's only so many times you can do it before you're going to get burned - just ask the USC Trojans.
After playing with fire for the past few weeks the mighty Trojans finally took one on the chin, this time to the hands of the Oregon State Beavers. If you guys are like me (and if you watched the game), the moment Oregon State went up by 20 with a punt returned for a TD you were thinking, "I would bet anything that USC comes back and wins this game." - they almost did, thanks in large part to those Beavers.
This loss dropped those Trojans all the way down to number 8 in the BCS. I don’t want to get into this too much now (only because I will below), but man the BCS polls are sure on track for a major screw up – more on this below.
But first, let’s talk about those Longhorns – the range of emotions throughout this game was absurd. It reminded me of the Oklahoma State games from the past 2 years (and look out Horns fans, they’re up next). If I were to tell you that Texas would give up 519 yards of passing and have twice as many turnovers as Tech, but STILL win you probably wouldn’t believe me. Hell, I wouldn’t believe me. But here we are…
First and foremost, let’s get this out of the way. The defensive performance (secondary) of the first half was absolutely inexcusable. It’s as if the defense did not watch one piece of film or spend more than 1 hour practicing pass defense. You know, it’s great to be able to build big comebacks like that, but there is no excuse for being in that position in the first place. Granted, the INT for a touchdown was a gift, compliments of a miscommunication between QB and receiver. But other than that, the secondary was terrible.
Here’s the most baffling thing – the defensive coaches made no adjustments at halftime. I’ll repeat that – THERE WERE NO MAJOR ADJUSTMENTS MADE AT HALFTIME!! The players and coaches decided that they would continue with the same game plan as they had in the first half. If that is the case, then I have one simple question – how do you, Gene Chizik, explain the turnaround. Here are the stats:
1st Half – 364 passing yards and 31 points
2nd Half – 155 passing yards and 0 points
I’ll tell you what it means – it means that yet again, a Texas Longhorn team came out of the gates unprepared and lacking intensity. Now let’s be just a little bit fair here – the entire world knew that Tech would come out hot and going for the big shot. Additionally, I don’t think many of us knew that Harrell would look like Peyton Manning for a half. Granted, there were quite a few passes where the receivers were WIDE open, but there were many times when Harrell threaded a needle and made a perfect pass to his receivers. I don’t think any of us expected that to happen with such ease and consistency for an entire half. I mean, go back and look at his numbers for the first half and tell me if you’ve ever seen a more perfect performance by a QB in a half of football.
And one more thing – if one person tells me “hey, at least we stopped their run”, I’m going to explode. Tech doesn’t run the ball – never has and never will. I expected nothing less than a 0 yard (or negative yard) day on that front. By the way, biggest coaching mistake that Leach made all day was trying a QB sneak on 4th and inches in the closing minutes of the game. You’ve been shredding our defense with short passes all day long and you run a QB sneak? That was dumb. We all knew it was dumb before the ball was snapped and we REALLY know it was dumb now.
I’ll close on this topic by saying this – it’s no secret or mystery anymore. Texas’ secondary is terrible. Yes I said it; they’re terrible. And worst of all, we have ZERO depth in the secondary positions which tells me that this will get worse before it gets better. And on top of that, there’s a better than good chance that we’ll have a new defensive coordinator next year, but we’ll worry about that later. In the meantime, we had better pray that we don’t pull a big-time passing team in our bowl game. I would imagine that after this game (519 passing yards), our passing defense will rank about 105 or so in the country.
Now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s talk about some good news. First and foremost, Colt McCoy is unbelievable. I feel like I’ve said this for the 2nd or 3rd straight week now, but this kid never ceases to amaze me. With exception to the 1 INT, he was in complete charge of this game. He is mentally tough and I think it’s rubbing off on the rest of the team. That scramble he made to secure the victory was so NOT expected – what a hell of a play by this young kid. I still can’t believe he’s only a freshman.
And how about Jordan Shipley – we haven’t talked much about this guy this year, but he is so money. He’s not getting big numbers and catches like Cosby and Sweed, but he’s extremely reliable with great hands and he can run a great route. It’s good to see him healthy and making plays – I’m looking forward to seeing him around here the next few years.
Unfortunately though, we have one more little bit of bad news to talk about. Fumbles. Here’s a little gem of a stat for you – Texas has fumbled the ball 10 times in the last two games and lost 4 of those fumbles. HOW DOES A TOP 5 TEAM GIVE UP 519 YARDS PASSING ONE GAME AND PUT THE BALL ON THE CARPET 10 TIMES IN TWO GAMES!! I hate to say it, but it comes down to discipline with this team. I think Mack Brown, at times, spends more energy and time into making these kids feel good about themselves and less time ensuring they are a disciplined bunch. It has showed in the last few games. I will say this right now – if we continue with this trend of zero pass defense and turning the ball over we will lose one of our remaining 3 games.
And one more thing Horns fans – we are REAL lucky to not be 6-3 right now. This team is in dire need of a blowout victory or two over the next couple of weeks. Any more games like this given our remaining schedule and we’re officially out of the national title hunt (which we may be anyway).
The good news is this – Texas just completed the toughest stretch of their schedule this year without a loss. The bad news is everyone in the free world knows to throw the ball 60 times against us to have a chance to win – including Oklahoma State who can put up some wicked numbers on offense. If you’re not worried about next week’s game you should be.
BIG KUDOS TO...
Graham Harrell and Texas Tech. These guys were absolutely on fire! Harrell was in a zone and I swear he threw every single pass right on the money - who was expecting that?? You never know what you're going to get with this kid and obviously Texas saw the true potential of this young QB. With that said, I do think Tech will slip into a lull and drop 2 of their last 3 (they play Baylor, @ OU and Okie State). It's hard to come off of a loss like that and refocus - just ask Nebraska!
AND ANOTHER BIG KUDOS TO...
Oklahoma. After a year of just unbelievably bad luck the Sooners are starting to kick it up a notch. The win over Missouri on Saturday (in Columbia) was very impressive. Allen Patrick has filled in nicely for Adrian Peterson and the running game hasn’t really missed a beat. He rushed for 162 yards on Saturday to help secure the victory. Anyone want to bet that OU rolls past the remainder of their games with ease? If you’re a Texas fan you sure hope so. It will need to start with a big victory in College Station next weekend. After that they get Tech at home, then they go to Baylor and to Sillwater to play Okie State. Write it down, OU wins all 4 remaining games.
EXPOSED...
How about the entire Big 12 North??? Let's start with Missouri - we should all officially be off of the bandwagon here, this is not a very solid football team right now. Similar to the Longhorns, these guys have become infamous for shooting themselves in the foot, except they don’t find ways to come back and win - we saw it in the aggie game and against the Sooners this past Saturday. Simply put, this Missouri team does not know how to win - at least not against stronger competition. Another thing to consider if you're Coach Pinkel - next year's pressure is going to be sky high. Although expectations were low coming into this season, you've blown them away and fans/boosters now see what this team is capable of. They are going to expect you to win those games next year that you couldn't quite overcome because of mental errors. And yes, I realize that they actually could still win the Big 12 conference, but they won't. The good news is that Chase Daniels will be back - they've got a young team so they should be pretty good next year.
And how about Nebraska? Man, that was a heartbreaker - that really hurt the Texas strength of schedule there (and USC's). But, did I call it or what? After a huge upsetting loss at home, it's hard to bounce back and get refocused. The crazy thing about Nebraska's loss is that they were up 16-0 early on. It's unfortunate that the 2 top dogs in the North division were on a collision course to a great game next week. Now, they're still set to play, it's just not as interesting as we were all hoping. And by the way, I'm betting the house on Nebraska and I have no clue what the line will be.
And yes, you can put USC under this heading as well, but we touched on that. They've been exposed for a while, it's just that their luck just happen to run out.
BIG 12
It just continues to get more and more interesting. It’s too bad you can’t make the argument here that you can for the ACC and Big East – “they just beat each other up because they’re all pretty tough.” No, not really. They’re all pretty mediocre in fact.
The Aggies continue to be the most quiet 8-1 team in the land – and hell, they’ve even climbed into the BCS standings. I guess Fran’s job is safe after all. But let’s hold on, Texas A&M is heading into the toughest stretch of their schedule – last 3 games against OU, Nebraska and Texas. Lucky for them they get 2 of those at home. These next 3 opponents are (should be) far better than the best team they’ve seen all year. Should be interesting.
I touched on OU above, but these guys are clicking at the right time. Look for them to win out (including at College Station next Saturday) and finish very strong heading into next year.
I said it before and I’m saying it again – if Texas continues to flirt with disaster here they will drop one of these last games – probably against OSU this weekend or A&M in 4 weeks.
BCS MADNESS
OK, we all know how ridiculous the BCS polls are, but let’s just take a quick looksie at things as we head into the final month of the season. Can you believe we’re so close to the end again???
• OK, so W. Virginia moves up to #3 after the USC loss – no big deal and probably justified.
• Texas stays put at #7 – most times I would say this is a crock given USC’s loss. BUT, I did say this out loud after the Tech game – if I were a pollster, I would not move Texas up after this game, I wouldn’t move them down, but they’re not moving up
o Notice that Texas did move up in the 2 human polls (AP and Coach’s polls) – humans are smart enough to calculate a tough rivalry and a tougher road game.
• Someone please explain to me how USC is STILL ahead of Cal?
• Someone please explain to me how Cal is ahead of Tennessee – head-to-head matchups is the easiest way to settle these things… or so we thought.
• I’m officially off of the Auburn band wagon – I had them going to the national title game and winning over Ohio State, but they are looking less and less impressive each game. They should win out, but they’ve got Georgia and the Iron Bowl remaining.
OFFICIATING NIGHTMARES
2 things I want to touch on around officiating from this weekend. First off, in the college game, what was with the officials in Lubbock reviewing every single play? I know it’s what they’re supposed to do, but come on man! Given all of the times the booth officials got involved, I will say that the guys on the field got it right every time – except for once. They reviewed one play (can’t even believe they reviewed it) when a tech receiver clearly caught the ball and when he hit the ground, the ball came out. OK, we’ll put up with another booth review. But, they overturned it and called it an incomplete pass. Probably one of the worst calls NOT in Eugene, Oregon I’ve ever seen. Until Sunday in the Tennessee/Houston game that is.
Tennessee is driving down trying to run out the clock and secure the victory. 3rd and long and VY throws a beautiful strike to somebody (forgot who it was) for about 20 yards. Ball was clearly caught with 1 and then 2 feet down in bounds. Refs review it and… overturn it???!!!
Sans for the Oregon/OU game, never have I seen 2 more blatant missed calls in my life. The bad thing is that they were overturned to the incorrect call. There will be a little bit of hell to pay for these I’m sure. Good thing it didn’t cost anyone a game.
NFL HIGHLIGHTS
• And so the Tony Romo era begins in Big D. And not a bad beginning at all.
• Can you remember an NFL game that has lived actually lived up to its hype like the Colts/Broncos game? What a great football game that was – especially if you’re a Colts fan.
• And speaking of the Colts – go check out the box scores, that’s why Peyton Manning makes the big bucks (NOTE: his and Harrell’s stats are quite similar are they not?)
• You have to wonder if the Saints will slowly slip back down in the NFC after taking one on the chin at home against Baltimore – I guess getting rid of Jim Fassell at O-Coordinator was a good thing.
• And where was this Reggie Bush guy I keep hearing so much about?
• Did anyone see Vince Young scramble 40+ yards for the TD? Reminded me of the Rose Bowl.
• So I was pumped up yesterday because I had won all of my early games in my NFL pool yesterday – I thought I had 100 smackers in the bank – then I lost every late game. DOH!
• Put a fork in the Steelers - they are done.
• Right it down, Vikings with the upset tonight.
After playing with fire for the past few weeks the mighty Trojans finally took one on the chin, this time to the hands of the Oregon State Beavers. If you guys are like me (and if you watched the game), the moment Oregon State went up by 20 with a punt returned for a TD you were thinking, "I would bet anything that USC comes back and wins this game." - they almost did, thanks in large part to those Beavers.
This loss dropped those Trojans all the way down to number 8 in the BCS. I don’t want to get into this too much now (only because I will below), but man the BCS polls are sure on track for a major screw up – more on this below.
But first, let’s talk about those Longhorns – the range of emotions throughout this game was absurd. It reminded me of the Oklahoma State games from the past 2 years (and look out Horns fans, they’re up next). If I were to tell you that Texas would give up 519 yards of passing and have twice as many turnovers as Tech, but STILL win you probably wouldn’t believe me. Hell, I wouldn’t believe me. But here we are…
First and foremost, let’s get this out of the way. The defensive performance (secondary) of the first half was absolutely inexcusable. It’s as if the defense did not watch one piece of film or spend more than 1 hour practicing pass defense. You know, it’s great to be able to build big comebacks like that, but there is no excuse for being in that position in the first place. Granted, the INT for a touchdown was a gift, compliments of a miscommunication between QB and receiver. But other than that, the secondary was terrible.
Here’s the most baffling thing – the defensive coaches made no adjustments at halftime. I’ll repeat that – THERE WERE NO MAJOR ADJUSTMENTS MADE AT HALFTIME!! The players and coaches decided that they would continue with the same game plan as they had in the first half. If that is the case, then I have one simple question – how do you, Gene Chizik, explain the turnaround. Here are the stats:
1st Half – 364 passing yards and 31 points
2nd Half – 155 passing yards and 0 points
I’ll tell you what it means – it means that yet again, a Texas Longhorn team came out of the gates unprepared and lacking intensity. Now let’s be just a little bit fair here – the entire world knew that Tech would come out hot and going for the big shot. Additionally, I don’t think many of us knew that Harrell would look like Peyton Manning for a half. Granted, there were quite a few passes where the receivers were WIDE open, but there were many times when Harrell threaded a needle and made a perfect pass to his receivers. I don’t think any of us expected that to happen with such ease and consistency for an entire half. I mean, go back and look at his numbers for the first half and tell me if you’ve ever seen a more perfect performance by a QB in a half of football.
And one more thing – if one person tells me “hey, at least we stopped their run”, I’m going to explode. Tech doesn’t run the ball – never has and never will. I expected nothing less than a 0 yard (or negative yard) day on that front. By the way, biggest coaching mistake that Leach made all day was trying a QB sneak on 4th and inches in the closing minutes of the game. You’ve been shredding our defense with short passes all day long and you run a QB sneak? That was dumb. We all knew it was dumb before the ball was snapped and we REALLY know it was dumb now.
I’ll close on this topic by saying this – it’s no secret or mystery anymore. Texas’ secondary is terrible. Yes I said it; they’re terrible. And worst of all, we have ZERO depth in the secondary positions which tells me that this will get worse before it gets better. And on top of that, there’s a better than good chance that we’ll have a new defensive coordinator next year, but we’ll worry about that later. In the meantime, we had better pray that we don’t pull a big-time passing team in our bowl game. I would imagine that after this game (519 passing yards), our passing defense will rank about 105 or so in the country.
Now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s talk about some good news. First and foremost, Colt McCoy is unbelievable. I feel like I’ve said this for the 2nd or 3rd straight week now, but this kid never ceases to amaze me. With exception to the 1 INT, he was in complete charge of this game. He is mentally tough and I think it’s rubbing off on the rest of the team. That scramble he made to secure the victory was so NOT expected – what a hell of a play by this young kid. I still can’t believe he’s only a freshman.
And how about Jordan Shipley – we haven’t talked much about this guy this year, but he is so money. He’s not getting big numbers and catches like Cosby and Sweed, but he’s extremely reliable with great hands and he can run a great route. It’s good to see him healthy and making plays – I’m looking forward to seeing him around here the next few years.
Unfortunately though, we have one more little bit of bad news to talk about. Fumbles. Here’s a little gem of a stat for you – Texas has fumbled the ball 10 times in the last two games and lost 4 of those fumbles. HOW DOES A TOP 5 TEAM GIVE UP 519 YARDS PASSING ONE GAME AND PUT THE BALL ON THE CARPET 10 TIMES IN TWO GAMES!! I hate to say it, but it comes down to discipline with this team. I think Mack Brown, at times, spends more energy and time into making these kids feel good about themselves and less time ensuring they are a disciplined bunch. It has showed in the last few games. I will say this right now – if we continue with this trend of zero pass defense and turning the ball over we will lose one of our remaining 3 games.
And one more thing Horns fans – we are REAL lucky to not be 6-3 right now. This team is in dire need of a blowout victory or two over the next couple of weeks. Any more games like this given our remaining schedule and we’re officially out of the national title hunt (which we may be anyway).
The good news is this – Texas just completed the toughest stretch of their schedule this year without a loss. The bad news is everyone in the free world knows to throw the ball 60 times against us to have a chance to win – including Oklahoma State who can put up some wicked numbers on offense. If you’re not worried about next week’s game you should be.
BIG KUDOS TO...
Graham Harrell and Texas Tech. These guys were absolutely on fire! Harrell was in a zone and I swear he threw every single pass right on the money - who was expecting that?? You never know what you're going to get with this kid and obviously Texas saw the true potential of this young QB. With that said, I do think Tech will slip into a lull and drop 2 of their last 3 (they play Baylor, @ OU and Okie State). It's hard to come off of a loss like that and refocus - just ask Nebraska!
AND ANOTHER BIG KUDOS TO...
Oklahoma. After a year of just unbelievably bad luck the Sooners are starting to kick it up a notch. The win over Missouri on Saturday (in Columbia) was very impressive. Allen Patrick has filled in nicely for Adrian Peterson and the running game hasn’t really missed a beat. He rushed for 162 yards on Saturday to help secure the victory. Anyone want to bet that OU rolls past the remainder of their games with ease? If you’re a Texas fan you sure hope so. It will need to start with a big victory in College Station next weekend. After that they get Tech at home, then they go to Baylor and to Sillwater to play Okie State. Write it down, OU wins all 4 remaining games.
EXPOSED...
How about the entire Big 12 North??? Let's start with Missouri - we should all officially be off of the bandwagon here, this is not a very solid football team right now. Similar to the Longhorns, these guys have become infamous for shooting themselves in the foot, except they don’t find ways to come back and win - we saw it in the aggie game and against the Sooners this past Saturday. Simply put, this Missouri team does not know how to win - at least not against stronger competition. Another thing to consider if you're Coach Pinkel - next year's pressure is going to be sky high. Although expectations were low coming into this season, you've blown them away and fans/boosters now see what this team is capable of. They are going to expect you to win those games next year that you couldn't quite overcome because of mental errors. And yes, I realize that they actually could still win the Big 12 conference, but they won't. The good news is that Chase Daniels will be back - they've got a young team so they should be pretty good next year.
And how about Nebraska? Man, that was a heartbreaker - that really hurt the Texas strength of schedule there (and USC's). But, did I call it or what? After a huge upsetting loss at home, it's hard to bounce back and get refocused. The crazy thing about Nebraska's loss is that they were up 16-0 early on. It's unfortunate that the 2 top dogs in the North division were on a collision course to a great game next week. Now, they're still set to play, it's just not as interesting as we were all hoping. And by the way, I'm betting the house on Nebraska and I have no clue what the line will be.
And yes, you can put USC under this heading as well, but we touched on that. They've been exposed for a while, it's just that their luck just happen to run out.
BIG 12
It just continues to get more and more interesting. It’s too bad you can’t make the argument here that you can for the ACC and Big East – “they just beat each other up because they’re all pretty tough.” No, not really. They’re all pretty mediocre in fact.
The Aggies continue to be the most quiet 8-1 team in the land – and hell, they’ve even climbed into the BCS standings. I guess Fran’s job is safe after all. But let’s hold on, Texas A&M is heading into the toughest stretch of their schedule – last 3 games against OU, Nebraska and Texas. Lucky for them they get 2 of those at home. These next 3 opponents are (should be) far better than the best team they’ve seen all year. Should be interesting.
I touched on OU above, but these guys are clicking at the right time. Look for them to win out (including at College Station next Saturday) and finish very strong heading into next year.
I said it before and I’m saying it again – if Texas continues to flirt with disaster here they will drop one of these last games – probably against OSU this weekend or A&M in 4 weeks.
BCS MADNESS
OK, we all know how ridiculous the BCS polls are, but let’s just take a quick looksie at things as we head into the final month of the season. Can you believe we’re so close to the end again???
• OK, so W. Virginia moves up to #3 after the USC loss – no big deal and probably justified.
• Texas stays put at #7 – most times I would say this is a crock given USC’s loss. BUT, I did say this out loud after the Tech game – if I were a pollster, I would not move Texas up after this game, I wouldn’t move them down, but they’re not moving up
o Notice that Texas did move up in the 2 human polls (AP and Coach’s polls) – humans are smart enough to calculate a tough rivalry and a tougher road game.
• Someone please explain to me how USC is STILL ahead of Cal?
• Someone please explain to me how Cal is ahead of Tennessee – head-to-head matchups is the easiest way to settle these things… or so we thought.
• I’m officially off of the Auburn band wagon – I had them going to the national title game and winning over Ohio State, but they are looking less and less impressive each game. They should win out, but they’ve got Georgia and the Iron Bowl remaining.
OFFICIATING NIGHTMARES
2 things I want to touch on around officiating from this weekend. First off, in the college game, what was with the officials in Lubbock reviewing every single play? I know it’s what they’re supposed to do, but come on man! Given all of the times the booth officials got involved, I will say that the guys on the field got it right every time – except for once. They reviewed one play (can’t even believe they reviewed it) when a tech receiver clearly caught the ball and when he hit the ground, the ball came out. OK, we’ll put up with another booth review. But, they overturned it and called it an incomplete pass. Probably one of the worst calls NOT in Eugene, Oregon I’ve ever seen. Until Sunday in the Tennessee/Houston game that is.
Tennessee is driving down trying to run out the clock and secure the victory. 3rd and long and VY throws a beautiful strike to somebody (forgot who it was) for about 20 yards. Ball was clearly caught with 1 and then 2 feet down in bounds. Refs review it and… overturn it???!!!
Sans for the Oregon/OU game, never have I seen 2 more blatant missed calls in my life. The bad thing is that they were overturned to the incorrect call. There will be a little bit of hell to pay for these I’m sure. Good thing it didn’t cost anyone a game.
NFL HIGHLIGHTS
• And so the Tony Romo era begins in Big D. And not a bad beginning at all.
• Can you remember an NFL game that has lived actually lived up to its hype like the Colts/Broncos game? What a great football game that was – especially if you’re a Colts fan.
• And speaking of the Colts – go check out the box scores, that’s why Peyton Manning makes the big bucks (NOTE: his and Harrell’s stats are quite similar are they not?)
• You have to wonder if the Saints will slowly slip back down in the NFC after taking one on the chin at home against Baltimore – I guess getting rid of Jim Fassell at O-Coordinator was a good thing.
• And where was this Reggie Bush guy I keep hearing so much about?
• Did anyone see Vince Young scramble 40+ yards for the TD? Reminded me of the Rose Bowl.
• So I was pumped up yesterday because I had won all of my early games in my NFL pool yesterday – I thought I had 100 smackers in the bank – then I lost every late game. DOH!
• Put a fork in the Steelers - they are done.
• Right it down, Vikings with the upset tonight.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 9:49 AM
2 Comments:
I agree with you on OU they are hot right now. That Oregon game is huge right now.
However, I think OU will lose 1 more game this year. I think everyone looks good after playing the north teams. OU has 4 more south games and they will lose at least 1 of the 4.
Texas Pass Defense is now ranked at a whopping 112 in the nation. To give you some perspective here - there are 119 teams in Division 1A football. There are only 7 teams worse than Texas in pass defense. I'm sticking with my prediction at this point that we've got a loss looming.
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