We played pretty well. I thought we were pretty slow in the 3rd down, but overall it was a solid performance. Colt played an above average game except for the third quarter. I would give him a A-, B+ game. Fozzy really impressed tonight and he could be making a case for the number one job.

I thought defensively we had a good game. We held them to 13 points and pitched a second half shutout. The one complaint so far is that we are not really forcing enough turnovers. Against better opponents we need to create some more turnovers. Some of you guys are expecting Muschamp to turn this defense into the ’85 Bears instantly. I, personally, have already seen the improvement right away. Last year we would have given up 20+ to this team and been in a dog fight. The defense may not be creating havock but its shutting down offenses and not giving up the big plays.

By the time the OU game rolls around I think this defense will be really good.

Side notes: I don’t know but it seems like we only have about 20 plays in our playbook, maybe it is because we only run about three or four formations, but our offense since VY has seemed really simple. Maybe it is because I liked alot of the pro-style offense that we ran with Simms and Co. a couple of years ago.

Solid victory on the road.

is that the fake wr screen to quan that colt lobbed to shipley in the end zone was the most beautiful damn thing i’ve seen in a long time from a texas offense. Bob Davie made a good comment about it, saying utep bought it and even has the receipt to prove it.

But Texas could have played better

3 Things i saw tonight

1. Our secondary needs to improve a lot if we want to hang with the likes of Tech and Mizzou. Along with that, I don’t know if it is coaching adjustments but as the night went on it got harder for them to move the ball, that’s something that we haven’t seen as much in the Last couple years is second half adjustments.

2. Our young receivers need to step up, you may be able to hit Cosby half the Time against UTEP but against a better they will adjust and actually cover him. Saying that, Cosby was a stud tonight, I just think it will help the offense out a lot if he isn’t the only one opposing defenses had to worry about.

3. Fozzy looked really good. Mcgee was a little off. Chris O. was great in the passing game. A good group of running backs, if you put all there strengths together you have one amazing back. I would still like to see more I-formations with Mcgee.

Just my .2

But not great… we let’em hang around too long. But this game was a definite improvement over last year. Additionally, this game was not against a Sunbelt conf. team, this was a C-USA team, and so I count the Miner’s as a cut above FAU in talent and the coaching is probably better too. Overall, a solid win. Nice to see a couple of sacks.

Best action on defense tonight: Muck’s INT and Kindle blowing through the LOS and knocking a much larger OLineman on his butt fives yards back while pursuing the QB. That was beautiful.

Solid win, but not spectacular. I partially attribute it to the late start time + the Sun “Super” Bowl atmosphere. On to the performance:

- Looks like the same two problems that cropped up the first week: run O and pass D. Fozzy looked good out there, but I thought GD abandoned the run way too much in this game. He had the two drives which were all run (one of which resulted in a TD, the other stalled after McGee didn’t hit his hole fast enough). Based on what I saw tonight, I’l be surprised if Fozzy isn’t starting by the end of the year.
- The pass D had its growing pains again. I don’t think Earl Thomas had his best game. Gideon still has his nose from the ball, though I didn’t see much from him in pass coverage. Not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing.
- The line play is still bothering me a little. There’s a lot of penetration, but not a lot of finishing. That’s fine when you’re playing FAU or UTEP, but it’ll be more troublesome when you get to the OU’s and MIzzou’s of the world. There’s still too many plays when our line is close, but the QB still gets it off for a sizeable gain.
- Those two factors lead to a less than stellar run defense. They didn’t give up a lot of big gains (strong linebacker play), but there were too many solid 5 yard pickups by UTEP in my opinion.
- Defensive helmet stickers: In my opinion, Orakpo, Miller and Kindle had the biggest impacts.
- Funny how Colt had quite a few bad throws, but still had an amazing stat line. That’s a player right there. Not sure why anyone is calling for Chiles at this point. Speaking of Chiles, the Q package disappointed me. Gotta try to get it in his hands.
- Curious playcalling with McGee. Looks like Fozzy is much better at running the zone read than McGee. Not sure why you don’t just let McGee take it straight into the heart of the defense rather than dance around the tackles.
- It looked like the line had problems with the speed of the 3-3-5. Colt definitely felt more pressure this week than last. I did like how on his scrambles, he was looking more to throw than to pass (unlike last week). Nice to actually see a RB lead the team in rushing yards.
- Quan Cosby, showing some breakaway speed this game. Nicely done. Buckner got abused on Colt’s INT. That’s a freshman mistake right there.
- And lastly, John Gold looks like some punter.

Only seven more days til the next one. Hook ’em!

that mountain and awesome free seats :]

I would have liked to see more of Fozzy. Note to GD: when a RB is hot, you don’t take him out after a run of 17 yards. He wasn’t tired dip shit.

And thanks GD, for playing Chiles with the 2nd and 3rd team offense again. It makes him look GREAT!

GD = my hero

F’n A!

Last night while watching the Miam/Florida game and then watching the Horns game I kind of thought about something. I do not believe Muschamp has even dipped into his bag on defense. I believe we will see that come Colorado. With Texas’ young secondary he is trying to keep it simple, there were some blitzes last night, but not really a whole lot. With just 4 down lineman rushing Texas was able to get good pressure. I give Vittatoe a lot of credit. I played against his high school and I know the system. Nothing, but option, so the guy knows how to run and scramble. He was running for his life a lot last night and made some good throws on the run. I believe Muschamp does not want to let the hounds loose, and show the rest of the Big 12 what he is up to. Miami last night with an even younger D had all-world cry baby ( I still hate Tebow to this day, still think he is completely overrated and still thinks he does not deserve a heisman trophy) acting like his true self. One thing as Longhorn fans we are going to have to accept, qb’s in the Big 12 are going to get their yards. That is a fact, but what I see out of this D is that they do an amazing job of keeping the opposing team out of the end zone, whether it is with a turnover or just buckling down and holding a field goal. I read someone’s post earlier that if this was last years game, Texas D gives up 25 pts. That is probably true. But even though the D gave up some yards in the air and on the ground. I did not know UTEP had that good of a rb, they still held a good prolific offense to 13 pts. Vittatoe passed for over 3,000 yds last year as a freshmen, and we know what FAU’s Rusty Smith did last year. So even though I know we want the passing yards to decrease. Let’s just accept it that with the great qb’s in our conference that yards are gong to be thrown. What we need to be happy about right now is that right now the offense is averaging roughly 47 pts a game and the defense is holding opposing offense’s to around 11 pts. I honestly believe in 3 weeks in Boulder, that this defense is going to be bringing some major heat.

Previous comments….
1. We let them hang around too long – True, when we went up 28-6, it should have been over. But then our offense became inept for a while, 2 or 3 strait punts, and they marched down the field in an uplifting drive for their team and fans and scored a touchdown to make it 28-13 just before the half. We can’t let a good team do that.

2. Our defense played pretty good – I don’t know what to think about that. Check out the box score.

    
1st Downs 23
3rd down efficiency 7-17
4th down efficiency 0-1
Total Yards 412
Passing 267
Comp-Att 25-46
Yards per pass 5.8
Rushing 145
Rushing Attempts 31
Yards per rush 4.7
Penalties 11-97
Turnovers 1
Fumbles lost 1
Interceptions thrown 0
Possession 36:41

They out gained us in total yards (over 400!!!), killed us in time of poss (mostly because of some quick strikes that I am pretty proud of vs. their grind it out run game and dink and dunk passes), but we only caused 1 turnover…. this is UTEP?

3. And a comment that no one has made (and I am not sure needs to be) but it bothered me so I will. From middle 2nd quarter thru late 3rd, we were not very good. Colt threw a pick, they marched up and down the field. I was throwing my hands up in the air.

I went to sleep b/c I had to be up early today with my daughter, but I wish I had gotten to see the 4th quarter. Maybe I would feel better if I had gotten to see us pull away in a second half shutout……. But this game made me as nervous as a 42-13 game could.

The mos frustrating part of the game was UTEP’s touchdown ending half, and the third quarter. This is where I was yelling for Davis’ head. I believe the defense was our saving grace in the 3rd quarter. I just thought in the 3rd the offense got lazy and just kept calling the same play over and over and over again. Davis has got stop calling the same run play 25-30 times a game. That stupid draw read play, I hate and am beyond sick of seeing it called numerous times. It almost seemed as if Davis was happy being up 28-13 and wanted to run the clock out. I am not a fan of pouring it on teams, but everyone knows that a 15 pt lead is not exactly comfortable. If the O had come out and scored two quick td’s then they could have coasted the rest of the way. i honestly believe they put on the brakes to early.

A win is a win. I’ll take it.

However….

I think that when you see your team struggle with a team that couldn’t hang with BUFFALO the week before, there is cause for concern.

THE POSITIVES:

*Lots of pressure with simply four rushing D-linemen. I love the defensive line and Brian Orakpo is going to be our best player on that unit

*Sergio Kindle. He looked like a smarter player out there. Still not what he was billed to be but better than before

*The Colt. I’m still miffed that he threw the interception but he looks more like “Freshman Colt” than “Sophomore Colt”. He managed the game very well. His cadence gained us some offsides penalties. Most of his throws were well-timed and well-thrown. He is one hell of a scrambler.

*Foswhitt! Oh my. I really did like to see how effective this kid was especially late in the game. I especially liked his ability to keep from getting ankle tackled (a JC specialty).

*OL- This group could have throttled the opponent and taken over the game if Greg Davis wouldn’t have abandoned the run so early in the second half. Hell, if Mark Jones and Greg Davie can point that out…then it MUST be true.

*Tackling. I thought that the tackling looked much better than last year. Granted, a lot of it was downfield but still…I thought they wrapped up better and I thought that the recovery and tackle on the reverse was exceptional.

THE NEGATIVES:

*Third Quarter Colt- Did anyone else notice that Colt turned into sophomore Colt when he tried to do too much? Colt started pressing. He started to get that look of frustration. At times, the momentum turns against the Horns and when he tries to take it all on his shoulders…no good.

*Vondrell McGee- I was disappointed with his ineffectiveness. Still a powerful back whom I trust not to fumble but he really didn’t beat anyone to the corner on that sweep play and that’s bothersome. He looks a little slower. I hope that I’m wrong.

*LBs- When I saw that roughing the passer penalty against us, I wondered “Is Killebrew still playing?”. While the front four was giving them fits, the LBs still looked as though none of them wanted to dominate.

*Pass Defense/DBs- Y’all knew it was coming. We have the unfortunate problem of having a weak secondary in a conference that is not only “pass happy” but “pass insane”. You could say that the receivers were open because of play design and hot routes but let’s be honest…they were OPEN. Far too many guys open too far downfield. I can cut a break to our bevy of freshman safeties but the corners are mostly guys that have played. As an aside, how the hell did we wind up with only freshmen safeties? Isn’t that called “planning” Mack?

I thought that defensive pass interference against (?Ch. Brown) us in the first half was bogus.

Were we at a considerable height disadvantage last night? Beasley didn’t seem to be that far out of position…he just looked too short. Did anyone have a comment on Ryan Palmer? He came close to that pick. Did anyone else notice him for better or worse? He’s a guy that needs to step up and improve this year. I thought that E. Acho had a nice play in run support late…but I don’t think that he got in until garbage time.

Just my .02

quan “stop calling me crosby” cosby was unstopable tonight. he came to work and did everything for us including returning the 100 yard field goal attempt. i was for sure that he was going to the house on that. so now we just need a third reciever to step up.

the young WR looked pretty promising. buckner got his TD, collins showed some moves on his touches. we need to start hitting them on the slants and quick strikes to get these kids some YAC. buckner got introduced to college db punch and couldnt get separation from it causing a turnover but i can live with that. hey where is DJ grant?

muckelroy is a special player. he was everywhere tonight. he stood out more to me than kindle and norton. excelent tackler and a ballhawk he is going to score at least 5 more TDs this year and now we have it in writing.

will muschamp is fun to watch and love the fact that he is at Texas. man he is a crazy sum-bitch. this is our second game where we shut down the other team in the second half and that is after the offensive took a nap in the 3rd quarter. we were only a few missed tackles away from having 5 -6 sacks. didnt know that utep qb had that escapablility but he made orakpo miss a few, but what i am happy with is that our front 4 was getting in the face of the qb. more tip balls and sacks will come soon enough.

Come on guys with the doom and gloom… What should OSU be saying right now following their shocking performance AT HOME against Ohio U?

It is very early days, and I am as sure as I can be that Muschamp/GD are not showing everything we can do in terms of playcalling. Why would they, when they can get away without it?

The objectives for the first half of the season remain to improve on D (on a game by game basis) and keep the morale/confidence high for the game that really matters against OU. I think that so far so good…

The big positives are Colt and the mere presence of Muschamp on the sidelines. I have a good feeling for this year, a BCS game???