Steady, Colt!

by DMCHorn on Oct 27, 2008 2:58 PM CDT Comment 8 comments

For the first time ever, I actually decided to head on over to another team's blog to see what they were writing about the Horns. In this case, I decided to visit Double T Nation where I found this post. Although I don't really care about the Vegas odds on Tech beating us (or vice versa - I expect it to be close and don't care to try to quantify it), I did take exception to the author's statement that Colt can be neutralized with pressure --> "Tech crushes Texas because simply, McCoy can not (sic) perform under high pressure."

I'm writing here because I am an admitted UT homer and my reflex response to this statement was that Colt is not nearly as flappable as this submission seems to suggest. As I've watched him throughout this season, I've seen a QB who can easily roll out of trouble and make plays (just remember the fumble/pass play two games ago) when under duress. I'll readily admit, though, that I am not a football technician and may be missing something. So, I open it up to you BON... disabuse me of this notion if I'm wrong or just add fuel to my fire if I'm not. Either way, I will read on with interest!

Hook 'Em! DMC

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The Truth

The truth is probably somewhere in between. Things about Colt that I think are true but am uncomfortable admitting:

1. Colt does not look off safeties. He totally dials in on one guy and throw straight at him. When he does have time in the pocket to check down, Colt is impeccably perfect with his throws and is frightening to any DC. But, he doesn’t do this often enough.

2. Colt and Shipley are a boon to the offense. This is a fact. But Colt needs to be able to find other receivers in key situations, because teams are going to start doubling Ship all day. For example, Ship was out of the game for one play yesterday, and Colt looked lost and scrambled for a short gain. Small sample size and hardly damning, but I think this deserves some worry.

In any case, however, Colt is a freak of nature who has a free throw percentage for a completion percentage. Props.

by pleaseplaykindle on Oct 27, 2008 3:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Disagree

Shipley has 58 of Colt’s 198 completions for 29% of the completions.

Lets look at other quality Big 12 teams and their top options to put it in perspective.

Kansas – Meier 30%
TTech – Crabtree 23%
OKState – Dez Bryant 46%
Mizzou – Coffman 29%
OU – Iglesias 24%

So as far as first options go, Shipley is on par with the leagues top teams. We dont throw it to him as much as some, and he gets it more than others.

Point is, we aren’t any more out of whack than anyone else. Good teams get the ball to their best receivers as often as possible, and we aren’t limited by that at all. If it were as easy as just to cover Shipley, dont you think someone would have done that after the OU game? If you double Shipley, what are you going to do about Quan? If you are committing that much to coverage, who is going to put pressure on Colt to throw the ball quickly? You cant leave the middle of the field empty else Colt will gouge the defense for his 7 ypc, and the Collins and Kirkendolls have shown how effective they can be if all of that fails.

Part of why we work so well on offense is because we play in college. You have to realize that no team has two lockdown corners. No one is going to be able to cover Quan and Ship without devoting extra man power to it. And no one does that, because they know that Colt would destroy them with all day to throw, capable 3rd and 4th receivers (and Chris O), and his legs.

by BoddickerIsClutch on Oct 27, 2008 3:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was unduly influenced by the last game where Colt threw a third of his passes to Shipley — not that there’s anything wrong with that he catches them all. But I think combined with my first point of not looking safeties off, Shipley could start getting the Dez Bryant/Jeremy Maclin treatment.

And I totally agree with you that he’s got the WR talent to ensure that no good team can shut down both Quan and Ship, but man I see his eyes track a receiver from the line of scrimmage and that’s scary to me.

by pleaseplaykindle on Oct 27, 2008 4:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Colt is "cool as a cucumber" under pressure.

The moment I saw the line “Tech crushes Texas…” I immediately disregarded it as a fan post from a homer that looks at stats and doesn’t watch the games. As it so happened, I followed the link and sure enough it was a Tech homer who believed that TT was a 1 point favorite in the Vegas line and saw the stat that Colt had 2 TOs in the game, ergo “Colt is a turnover machine once you pressure him!”

Colt is asked to do a lot, and all he did on Saturday was show that he is still indeed human. Don’t listen to Tech homer hyperbole regarding Colt, just watch the film… Or listen to the national pundits that put him first in the current hypothetical heisman ballots…

"Like I said, I'm going to bleed orange until the day I die." -V.Y.

by 4th and 5 on Oct 27, 2008 3:24 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Homers

I know that I shouldn’t be looking for “balanced” UT critique from Double T homer posts, but it did get me thinking. I appreciate the insights (from all comments above). I’m still of the opinion that he can handle some adversity, though I’ll have to pay closer attention to how he does it this weekend.

by DMCHorn on Oct 27, 2008 4:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Colt

Colt just led us to victory against 3 straight top 10 teams (2 of them belonged there), throwing an 85% completion rate and having 1 pick. In the last game he had to carry the offense by himself. I think it’d be hard to argue he’s anything but a cool customer. Against our best competition, he’s played better than he did against our weakest, which is pretty remarkable.

by jw4425 on Oct 27, 2008 4:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

O Who?

Colt has stared down all the pressure that opposing teams can muster for eight games this season.

TTech and their upstart defense are not going to be able to produce any better of a defensive push than OU. Sorry, it’s just the facts. Anyone that mouths that TTech is going to show our offense something new is just homering.

Coversely, I feel like our defense will be more comfortable in this game than last week. We’ve already seen the big splits, high power spread attack and beaten it a number of times this year. I admit that Tech’s yards per rush attempt are also very solid, but it’s not a featured part of their game, like OSU. I’m willing to cede five yards a carry because we’ll be in permanent nickel. That’s fine, because I’ll eat my shoe if Leach runs the ball three times in a row saturday. I’ll give them a little on the run to have a better shot a stopping the passing and/or making turnovers.

by Tackchevy on Oct 27, 2008 4:18 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs