All I want to do is go out and not think about this right now, but... let's get this out of the way.
The outcome was: Disastrous. Before we talk about Texas, though - a congratulations to Kansas State. They were prepared, focused, and poised. Texas got outcoached and outplayed in every phase of the game, and Ron Prince and his staff deserve credit for coming to Austin and whipping the Longhorns senseless. Literally, in some cases.
The Offensive MVP was: Honestly, no one played well. The line got beat. Colt struggled. Charles never got going. The receivers were only so-so. I'm not being dramatic here; it's just that no one played very well.
The Defensive MVP was: I'm pretty sure every single Longhorn missed a tackle at some point. K-State didn't exactly rack up huge numbers, but they outplayed the Texas defense far too often.
The offensive Offensive Player Of The Week was: Greg Davis. The temptation for fans will be to rip on McCoy, and though he didn't have a good day, the offense as a whole was hung out to dry by Texas' coaches. Those who've read this site for any period of time know that I'm pretty patient with this staff, but there is no cause for patience tonight. Greg Davis had his worst game in years.
The offensive Defensive Player Of The Week was: Duane Akina and Larry MacDuff. Again, those kids deserved better than they got today. Texas' players got whipped, but this one goes right to the top. The staff is accountable for a performance like this, and there's no sense in trying to rip the players when they were barely given a chance. I'll put it this way: Jordy Nelson owes Akina a Christmas card.
John Chiles Watch: 7 carries, 28 yards. 1-4 passing, 17 yards. We got little teases of Chiles, but the pattern of usage was pretty silly. The thing that really bothered me was that Texas would throw a dinky pass underneath on first down, incomplete. 2nd and 10? We'd bring in Chiles. And everyone knew what play Davis was gonna run. And KSU had no trouble stopping it. 3rd and long. Just a waste. (More on Chiles usage in a separate post.)
Vondrell McGee Watch: 3 carries, 2 yards, 1 TD. Vondrell was brought in to punch the ball in the end zone, but not used otherwise. Greg Davis was more content to throw dinky passes short than try to use this talented running back. Just sad.
Oklahoma Fear Factor: 10 out of 10.... (5) is the baseline. (-1) for Oklahoma got tripped up in Boulder. (+6) for we just got whipped silly by K-State in Austin.
Heading into next week I feel: A little relieved? Admittedly, I'm speculating a bit here. Right now, I'm pretty damn disappointed and pissed off. But I think most of us didn't watch the first four games and think that this team was going to survive the year without at least a loss or two. Texas' weaknesses were exposed in the first four weeks. They were brutally taken advantage of on Saturday.
The upside, then? We enter OU Hate Week without having to worry about a loss to the Sooners costing us something grand. We can just hate OU. We can also talk honestly and openly about the problems without having to tiptoe awkwardly around the fact that we're still undefeated.
No, this team is flawed and troubled in a number of ways, and today put everyone, who wasn't already, on notice. There's enough exciting talent in this program to feel really good about things overall, but there have been some obvious roadblocks which haven't been adressed. Sorry, Mack - the Vince Young honeymoon is officially over.
--PB--