Friday Four Questions: Rice

One: I don't understand why John Chiles has been benched all season so far.  After so many years of seeing Mack take a chance on the "Dueling Quartbacks" rotation, he hasn't had the young Mr. Chiles take a single snap.  It would behoove the progression and growth of the offense to initate this dual-quartback system to an effective usage of offensive weaponry as opposed to the failed attempts (Applewhite/Simms merry-go-round).  I favor the move, but I when I see it, I will believe it (yeah, probably not going to happen).
Two: According to the depth chart (in which has been as close to religious scripture in lieu of who is starting unless you are named Ulatoski), it will be a small wonder if any of these boys get any playing time, especially Henry Melton.  Unfortunately, I have not seen or read any practice reports on the three returning players.  This week, it will be too soon to gauge.  But come OU, if Kindle is not on the strongside when the first whistle blows, we may be in for a very long second half of the season.
Three: How about some Drew Kelson on the nickel package.  They are going to see some decent wideouts against Rice.  Why not see if his cover skills are improving.  A little more Curtis Brown would be nice as well.  Just as long as I don't see Big XII Defense Player of the Week have crumbs on his hands...turning into toast.
Four: Oh, boy.  Here comes the pain.  Grab the ibuprofen.
RICE 22
TEXAS 36
I don't know if I am speaking collectively here, but we need to see some improvement defensively.  Awkward blizting and linebackers that refuse to cover the flat is not injecting any confidence with this prediction.  Thus, the score.
Shabat Shalom, everyone.  I will have to DVR this game.  Bad is Fox Sports Southwest with there C-team broadcast booth.  Worse is not watching it live.

I would like to see the Horns quickly got up three scores and roll in all their back-ups. In light of the upcoming two weeks, they don't need the threat to injuries or the on-the-field time. Linemen go 100 plays? That's a big red flag. Give those legs plenty of rest. Put in the second teams as much as possible across the board on both sides of the ball.

1. I don't expect to see Chiles whatsoever. If they wanted to get him in, they could have. They didn't. It will be Sherrod and hopefully for about 2.5 quarters, enough to be comfortable, to run 10 times and throw 20 passes.

2. Pittman and Kindle will earn their keep the moment they hit the field. Melton has yet to find a home. With his feet and quickness, he may even be an MLB. The first question of the Melton saga is whether he will have the kind of aggression needed on the D side of the ball. The second is whether his high pad level makes him ineffective wherever he may be.

3. The young players, particularly at WR, LB, RB and the O-line.

4. If we leave the starters in, 62-14. If we sub out by second quarter, 42-21. I'd give up the points and giant spread for experience and the knowledge of who can play. The subs may even score more; they're hungry and they will know this might be the only chance for another month.

As conservative as MB likes to be, as much as he likes a pat hand, the hard truth is that there are too many variable out there, too many good coaches analyzing the crap out of any team to make that an advantage, particularly when you have little actual experience in your second units. If you're gonna play pat hands, you better have great hole cards. And in the Horns case, right now they don't.

1. Mack and GD will give reps to Sherrod over Chiles. I can't say I completely disagree with that decision either. Why burn JC redshirt? (Honestly, did you really think they were going to use Chiles this year? Really?)

2. The returning knucklehead with the biggest impact should be Kindle, by a mile. Killebrew? Killebrew tried doing my girlfriend once. That didn't work out. The guy simply can't do anything right. I'm looking forward to Kindle coming back and really getting things going for us on defense.

3. Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing Sherrod get some minutes at the QB position. From what I understand this guy would have been a HUGE recruit coming out of high school had he played on a solid team. Also, I am really looking forward to Beasley and Brown playing some minutes on defense. They have got to get these guys ready to produce.

4. Don't kid yourself folks, this team isn't that great. (At least not right now) This wont be a UCF type of game, but it wont be a blowout like 2005 Colorado, either. Texas wins 45-24

1.  Does it really matter?  Neither one of these guys will play any meaningful time this year anyway...barring injury to Colt.  I say we go ahead and play Chiles.  He has more potential than Harris.

2.  Potential for this week?  I look for Billy to have 3 or 4 catches.  Maybe one of them will be a 40 yard TD.  He should help stretch the field and take some pressure off of Sweed.  For the rest of the season, I figure Billy will have our highest YPC of any WR on the team.  

Sergio...I sure hope he's ready to roll this season.  Maybe his three game suspension will make him work that much harder.  He'll probably play 40% of the snaps against Rice and have more tackles than Kill and Derry combined.  Unless the coaches like the way it feels to have their heads stuck in the sand, Sergio should be a starter by the RRS.

Melton...nothing to see here.  Move along.

3.  Young guys that need minutes?  Chykie Brown, Curtis Brown, Deon Beasley, Hix, Tray Allen, Sergio, Norton, Muck.  They all need minutes and they need them now.

4.  Texas 52  Rice 10

1. Play Sherrod, redshirt Chiles.  The only way Chiles can play is if we actually plan on giving him 5 to 10 touches a game from here on out.  If he doesn't figure into this year's plans, then please save the guy.

2. Pittman should give us a better down field threat as well as improved run blocking downfield.  I like Shipley's hands, but he's not as physical as Pittman.  Kindle will hopefully play his way into a starting role or at least starter minutes. Twinkle toes is buried in the depth chart, I just don't expect any impact from him.

3. Vondrell McGee

4. 52-7

Better get all of them some experience, pronto.  Its really too late already, but better late than never.

Going up against the Sooners with one QB is insane.

In 1977 we had two great QBs going into the OU game. The Sooners broke them both and we had to go with a guy who had never taken a snap. If it hadn't been for Earl and a world-class defense we would have lost badly. Randy McEachern was both inexperienced and weak.

A big time program should have more than one guy ready to go AT ALL TIMES. I say put Colt out there for one series and alternate Chiles, Harris, and Trevor Walker for the rest of the game. If one guy does well, leave him in there.

Ask yourself, what would happen if Colt got hurt? We should pretend that happened while we have the relative luxury of playing Rice instead of OU.

1.  Play Sherrod, the probability of Chiles having a non-negligible impact this season now that Sherrod is almost healthy is almost nil, so why not redshirt him since he still hasn't seen the field?

2.  Pittman is a great mid-range receiver, but it's hard to imagine him making any significant difference what with the depth of talent at receiver and the rise of Nate the Great.  Kindle would be a step up at linebacker if he were to play, but there's no guarantee that will actually happen, so I'm not holding my breath, and Melton will lead to a stable of defensive ends that gains a little more depth after the loss of Orakpo.  Melton in fact might have the biggest impact if Kindle sees more bench than field.

3.  It's hard to go anywhere with this question other than linebacker.  Show me some Norton; show me some Muck; show me some Keenan Robinson (if he's not redshirting); it's long past time to give up on the veterans.

4.  Texas [42] - Rice [-7].  Don't ask me how Rice puts up a negative touchdown.  It'll happen.

1. Yes.

2. None. Almost none.

3. Tray Allen

4. 25-3 (UT offense scores 6 FGs, defense 1 TD.)

1. Depends less to me on whether Harris has practiced as to the long-term intent surrounding Chiles and if Harris is 100%.  This one is complicated.  If Pryor would just commit to UT in 2008, it would be a lot easier!  Right now, I say plan to redshirt Chiles and stick with Harris if Sherrod is 100%.  Sherrod can still be the dual-threat option ... not that Mack will use a two QB attack even if it's a good idea.

2. Pittman = Limited, but at least he'll get some reps before KSU.  Kindle = High hopes but he'll probably hug the bench so we can play inferior LB's instead.  Melton = ???.  Too bad Melton wanted to play RB so badly otherwise he would be in year #3 at DE.  

3. Any young linebacker or cornerback.  It would be great to see Kindle be a monster in this game and force a talent over tenure approach for KSU.

4. 48-28.  Rice torches our secondary a couple of times - could be a good thing.

Just kidding.

4. 66-9

For my sake, I hope the game isn't televised here (in Boone, North Carolina).

I'm with DogTown on this.  Based on what we have seen thus far, I'd say UT 27, Rice 24, as Bailey kicks 9 FG's.  Of course, it will be too close for a back-up QB to play, so late in the season when McCoy is injured again, again we will not have an experienced back-up.