It looks like we are doing the Wildhorn formation and rugby punt becuase some other teams are using these successfully without evaluating why we are doing it, when, and whether it works for us. It especially makes no sense to leave Colt in the game on the Widlhorn and then have him run out-of-bounds. Basically you are just playing 10 against 11 then. And since Chiles has not shown he can pass, everyone knows it is going to be a run by Chiles. And being able to kick with either foot while on the run looks neat until he shanks one 5 yards. I am not sure what you are getting at in #4, but I disagree with #1. I don’t believe a team has to be balanced, but a good running game is needed when (1) near the goal and you don’t want to put the ball in the air, (2) when trying to eat up the clock, (3) when McCoy is having a bad day, (4) when playing a team with a great pass defense but poor rush defense, and (5) when the opponent is ignoring the run and playing the pass on every down. Furthermore, the lack of a good rushing attack in recent years is more due to coaching philosophy, not that we don’t have the talent, and is no means an augument that we should just give up on it.

Why don’t the coaches put Shipley in motion more?

Nearly all our offensive problems go back to the receiver alignment. Passing is all about timing and it’s pretty clear, except for that one pass to Ship, that Colt and his receivers have struggled a bit to find the timing. I know some would use stats to refute that because McCoy’s completion percentage has been pretty good. But there’s a stat that back what I’m saying up: interceptions. A reason for the increase in the picks, and I think a big one is that receivers are not were Colt expects them to be. If you read Colt’s face after a pick or a bad miss, he appears to be perplexed at where the receiver was on the play.

I think it all goes back to one guy…Brandon Collins. If he hadn’t screwed up his academics, I think by now he would be in Quan’s split-end position, and Shipley back at flanker, and the somewhat erratic Kirkendoll coming off the bench. Yes, Ship can play the X, but where is he most effective? In the Z (slot/flanker position). That’s where Colt needs him to be. Of the 4 games I’ve seen, Colt looks very tentative going over the middle, except to Shipley or Buckner. I think he lacks confidence in Kirkendoll to make the tough catch time after time. Kirk will catch one or two, then drops one or two…or worse, tips them and they get close to being picked. It looks like some of the defenses are aware of that and are challenging Colt to throw into the middle of the field. It makes the Longhorns a much easier team to defend than last year.

Also, the McGee experiment is over. He is a good blocker, but leaving him in every play makes the offense one dimensional. He lacks the quick first step to be explosive to the hole. So we can’t establish the running game early. I love Davis and Brown’s loyalty to him, but he’s not the man in the running game. Probably never will be. If Whittaker is healthy, he is a decent blocker and a far more effective runner. Use McGee mostly in the second-half.

Why is it that every run play begins with the back receiving the handoff with his shoulders facing either sideline, and not square to the line of scrimmage? If you want to run a successful zone read, the back has to get the ball deep in the backfield, shoulders square to the line of scrimmage, then make appropriate cuts. As it is now, the gap chosen by the back is a guess. And usually the wrong one at that. 46yds?