Texas Longhorns Football 2010: The Narrative

There is a thin fine line between what we say we are expecting and what we are actually expecting in the secret confines of our thoughts. While we truly are satisfied with nothing short of a National Championship each year, you have to admit that our expectations for 2008 paled in comparison to those for last year. It was as you said, “Pasadena or Bust.” I feel that the excitement surrounding our team this year stems from the fact that we have a new captain in GG who is leading a new team in a new direction. Surely there will be a few growing pains along the way, but I rest confident in my belief that despite our achievements this year, the motto plastered across our blog and social networking posts throughout 2011 will be “New Orleans or Bust”.

Interesting take. Your offense is going to be pretty nasty next year. Who will most likely be gone off the D?

I can’t decide if OU should have higher expectations this year or next…

of our opponents. It’s great to understand your points of our new O and signal caller with our thin front line. For me, at least expectations wise, it would depend on our opponents and our schedule and a complete look at our schedule with matchups would be helpful to analyze our narrative.

Should this team beat the 2010 NU or OU teams? Are they having “rebuilding years” as well? Is Aggy on the rise and catching us so to speak, at what should be our weakest point in the next 3-5 years? If we’re talking about expectations it also depends on the opposing teams in relation to ours not just what our team’s expectations should be.

Do we want to get there a year early? I mean, obviously we do—anytime you can play for a National Championship, it’s gravy. And this year is a wide-open race.

Maybe a better question is, do we want to get there a year early if we’re not completely prepared to play for the Championship? What happens if we make it and lose? Is there a perception that we’re an “Ohio State” or “Oklahoma”—strong regular seasons followed by continual post-season losses?

When you consider that:

A. IF Muschamp stays, the defense is likely to suffer no significant drop-off (except potentially at the CB position); see my response to Jon above.

B. IF Gilbert develops as expected, 2011 will be “his year.”

C. We likely lose no “skill position” player of significance (with potentially the exception of John Chiles), and would likely have an influx of talent in Malcolm Brown and developing Mike Davis and Darius White
.
D. The offensive line will likely increase in talent and experience, as the Mason Walters, etc. class will have had a chance to develop, and the depth will be built back up with the past two classes (Hopkins, Espinosa, and likely Westerman and/or Greenlea).

Given that the narrative lines up favorably for 2011, would a loss in a 2010 National Championship game make it extremely difficult to build up to a 2011 National Championship win?

My immediate gut reaction is no. I think if we can have the opportunity to play for one this year, it makes much more sense than “hoping and praying” for next year (see: 2008 OU to 2009 OU). Second, the negative perception of Ohio State and OU hasn’t really hurt their pre-season ranks (see: 2010 OSU and OU).

But I’d like to hear some thoughts from the crowd.

I see this team nearly as talented as the ’08 squad but with slightly higher expectations the national scene. On a side note I saw a great post earlier that said if we had to lose one game, we should lose at Nebraska and then rematch them again at the Conference Championship Game for old times sake.

Sure, a title run in 2010 would be great, but how much are you willing to invest that could go to 2011? Would you break a critical redshirt? Would you stick with ‘proven’ senior talent at the cost of developing freshmen? Do you spend your practice time developing your system or preparing for key opponents?

In my view 2010 looks more likely for a title run.

We lose 3-4 starters on the OL. It may be that the younger players are more talented, but the OL is still going to be primarily manned by lower classmen, including some true freshmen. And it is not like all of the young guys are going to get a ton of PT in 2010, because of the 4 seniors. I agree with HJ’s take on Barking Carnival:

The only thing that makes me feel good about the tackle position this year is comparing it to next year. See? Don’t you feel better already?

How many dominant soph OL have we seen in the Mack Brown era? Blalock and….?

Same issue at CB. Akina does a great job of molding NFL caliber corners, but the learning curve under him has generally been about 2-3 years. Aaron Williams and Aaron Ross are the only ones that have really gotten it in their second years – and Ross was 4 years removed from highschool when he was a true soph at Texas. (Sidenote: maybe we should recruit more DB’s named Aaron?). And again, PT for young guys will be limited by the Browns and Williams.

DL will be primarily underclassmen and true freshmen, though I’m less concerned here if Randall stays and because of the DE recruiting and coaching, but that is still projecting greatness for a ton of unproven guys.

We also lose Justin Tucker and John Gold.

Should see net positives for 2011 over 2010 at QB/WR/TE/S/LB (if both return). RB and the running game in general are true wildcards.

Nice take on it.

I have found myself repeatedly wavering in my confidence for the 2010 season. Some days, I’m feeling Glendale, others maybe 2 or 3 losses. I don’t really think it matters one way or another coming into the season because 1) my level of confidence most likely plays zero factor in the performance of the Longhorns, and 2) I like the suspense in the unknown, in a sick, semi-masochist kind of way. But this is a healthy way of looking at it. All realms of success are possible this year, but the most important aspect being the preparation for 2011. Good thing about that, is Mack’s general philosophy of winning a National Championship being the goal every year.

I think there’s a lot of resentment/anger/determination on the team, that was exercised in the weight room over the summer.

The guys who were at that game are coming into this season hungry, and I think the expectation, from themselves, is to make it back to the NCG this year and to win it.