Let's Email

Every now and again, enough reader emails come in on topics worth exploring publicly that I'll put a post together for the site. This is one such time. As always, you can email me any time with questions.

I noted after the Nebraska game that it was wrong for the media to characterize the situation as fans booing the players and that it was directed at the coaches. With that said? I generally frown upon it as an instrument of voicing displeasure.

My preference would be for fans to stick to cheering on our players during games, and, should they find themselves dissatisfied with the coaching, choose an appropriate vehicle for voicing that afterwards. Call the radio. Write a diary here. Pen a letter to the Statesman. Hell, pen a letter to Deloss Dodds. If you're that unhappy, just quit giving the athletic department your money. That speaks much louder than anything else.

I do empathize with the frustration, which may have peaked in the third quarter this past Saturday. If ever there was an appropriate time to boo the coaching staff, that was it. Still, it's unfair to the kids and doesn't serve its intended purpose. I'm not gonna evangelize on the matter, but if it were up to me, there'd be no booing.

The primary reason Chiles is not the starting quarterback is because he's not a developed enough passer to be a viable full-game option. With that said, it's no big secret that this staff is doing a poor job of two things:

1. Preparing the backup with adequate playing time.

2. Using Chiles creatively as a complement to Colt.

Either goal would be comendable; neither has been a priority. Meanwhile, Colt McCoy is getting beat like a rag doll, the lack of a legitimate deep threat in the passing game has rendered us alarmingly impotent on offense, and the run game has floundered with no quarterback threat to keep the ball.

At least, that was true until the 4th quarter Saturday. It's useless to harp now on why the coaches were so slow (and perhaps lucky) to figure things out against Nebraska. All that matters now is that we see some adjustments going forward. I wouldn't blame a fellow for being skeptical, but there's at least a mountain of fourth quarter video for the coaches to watch and build from.

It's a good point, Gabe. At some point, you gotta recognize patterns. And there's certainly been one with Texas' opponents since the KSU game last season - blitz McCoy, knock him around, disrupt what we want to do.

Oklahoma State blitzes on something like half of their plays - a statistic Mack noted in his weekly presser - so we know the staff's going to be aware of it at least this week. The problem heretofor has been that teams know they can stop our running plays while blitzing, and we so rarely run screen passes that there's little for the defense to account for - we've seen time and again teams press their corners and try to jump our hot routes as McCoy gets blitzed. We've been depressingly ineffective.

I think one of the fairest criticisms of this staff is how slow it is to make changes. That trait serves a man well in many regards - dance with who brung ya and all - but there's a real danger in failing to adjust when the opposition adjusts to you. As someone recently put it, it's the George Bush syndrome. In the face of criticism and failure, dig in your heels, stick with the plan, and hope for the best.

That doesn't always work out.

--PB--