There was just too much today to confine the postgame reaction piece to the usual format. To the bullet points we go: 

Awards? Nu-uh. Not today. How could we fairly decide who was more valuable to the offense among Chris Ogbonnaya, Colt McCoy, Jordan Shipley, and Quan Cosby? Could we reasonably say Earl Thomas was more valuable than Roddrick Muckelroy? What about Roy Miller and Blake Gideon? Forget all that: This was the definition of a team effort, and every guy mentioned below (and those not covered) deserve to share in the glory. No way Texas wins this game unless this Team, capital T, isn't as cohesive and selflessly committed to excellence as it has proven itself to be.

3 out of 4... Wins in this series often come in bunches, and Texas has now won three of the last four. Though Mack Brown and his staff really need to corral this year's win into a Big XII Title Game appearance (at the least) to hammer the success home, Oklahoma remains the Longhorns' lone true rival. For any and all shortcomings that may accompany any given year, the Red River Shootout is the one game that can provide for fans the satisfaction normally reserved for accomplishing long term goals.

The legend of Colt McCoy grows... He's now 2-1 in the RRS, Texas is 6-0 in a year when the Longhorns were supposed to be rebuilding for '09, and based on what I heard watching 12 hours of football coverage today, a--if not the--Heisman front runner. Though neither he nor I could care less about any individual awards, the recognition he's receiving is deserved. And Barking Carnival's EOT is right: No QB in college football is playing better than McCoy right now.

Continue reading this post »

PB: Alright Big Roy. Think back to your summer expectations and compare with your thoughts now. What's changed?

Big Roy: Colt McCoy is better than expected. He looks incredibly strong and fast and he's making quick decisions with the ball. I'm less worried about the defense right now than I was because you can see they are playing with a "won't fail" attitude-particularly the defensive line. The secondary looks adequate, which was a huge question mark. I feel a little bit more confident about the upcoming schedule, but it still looks difficult.

PB: That's about where I am in terms of evaluations, but let's break this down starting with McCoy, because so much of any and all optimism where the next four weeks are concerned is founded on what we've seen from him so far.

True or False: McCoy can play at a high enough level in conference play to overcome Texas' lack of a rushing game from the tailback position.

Big Roy: True. I'm actually confident that Colt can run well in conference. We saw the quarterback draw for the first time against Arkansas and I like it. I was thinking about this yesterday: Colt is 30 pounds heavier than he was when he got here. At 180 pounds, he was the same size or smaller than every defensive player. Now, at 210 or so, he's closer in size to linebackers and bigger than most defensive backs. And he looks fast. I'm thinking that I want Colt running the ball 6-8 times against OU on designed plays. I think he can handle it. Name a big hitter on OU's defense.

Continue reading this post »

DEFENSE

11 -- Net yards rushing gained by Arkansas last Saturday.

16 -- Number of times under Mack Brown Texas has held an opponent to 20 or fewer yards rushing.

2.02 -- Yards per rushing attempt allowed by Texas on the season, #4 nationally.

2005 -- Last year Texas did not finish in the Top 10 nationally in yards per rush allowed #33, 3.69).

6.2 -- Yards per pass attempt allowed by Texas in 2008, 50th nationally.

2005 -- Last year Texas finished in the Top 60 nationally in yards per pass attempt (#1, 5.1 ypa)

4.6 -- Yards per play allowed by the Texas defense in 2008, 27th nationally.

16 -- Sacks by Texas through 4 games in 2008.

28 -- Sacks by Texas in all of 2007.

7 -- Points allowed by Texas' defense in the 2nd half in 2008 (Rice, 3rd Quarter).

Continue reading this post »

Quan Cosby's check-in with the media on Tuesday involved a question on the kick return game, which he said he thought was "real close. Guys are out there working really, really hard. Like always, I have the easy part – just running the ball. Sometimes I don’t hit it right quite where I should. Those guys are going to continue to work and eventually, hopefully we’re able to get one in the (end) zone."

The end zone would be great, but let's start with the more modest goal of bringing the return game yardage above league average: Texas' 22.9 yards per kickoff return is 44th nationally and right in line with the '07 numbers (22.5 yards per return, 34th nationally). Cosby has returned 5 of the season's 8 kickoffs at 23.8 yards per--identical to his season average in 2007 when he returned 42 kicks for Texas, including a 91-yarder for a touchdown against Texas A&M.

For the second straight year Cosby also handles the majority of punt returns, and for the second straight season he is averaging less than 10 yards per return (8.0 so far this year; 9.3 in 2007). For as solid a receiver as is Cosby, when watching him return punts it's very obvious he's a below average punt returner, so much so that one wonders whether Mack Brown is just consciously choosing to give up the chance of big plays on the punt return by making sure no big plays go against Texas on punt returns: Not only is Cosby limited as a punt returned, but he fair catches the ball like few others in college football.

Texas has forced 22 punts through four games, but only 6 have been fielded and returned. A year ago, the Longhorns forced 70 punts and only returned 20, 84th fewest in the country and down in the cellar with teams which can't return punts because their defense can't force punts.Though that was also true of Texas too often last year, the percentage of total punts returned was far below most other teams; Oklahoma, for example, returned 45 of 89 punts in 2007, 9 of 29 so far this year.

To be fair, Quan hasn't had too many great chances yet this year, but last year's performance combined with what we can see with our own eyes, unmistakably suggests a passive approach to this element of the game. I was curious how Texas' punt return numbers since Quan assumed the job compare with a handful of other teams. Quick and dirty a small sample as it may be, the results do suggest our eyes aren't deceiving us:

Is Mack Brown making a mistake? I don't think there's any doubt, for all of these reasons:

1. The risk-to-reward calculus favors taking yards where you can. Though circumstances will at times mandate a non-return (e.g. ball kicked out of bounds or hazardaously close to the goal line), where one is available, those extra yards gained justify risking a fumble. I can't prove it mathematically without data on how often players punt fumbles, but looking at the value-added of even 10 extra yards per return (helpful reference: RMN's Points Per Play chart), I'd be shocked if players fumble punt returns enough to cancel out or exceed in (negative) value that gain. Assuming that's true, Mack Brown isn't giving himself the best chance to win with the current strategy.

2. It's a wasted advantage.  At least in theory, one of the benefits of being a recruiting-rich school like Texas should be on special teams, where the sheer volume of top-end talent should assure those units are stocked with playmakers--be they starters or four-star athletes who do not. Though as Texas fans we're at times silly in how much we obsess over whether the roster goes three and four deep at every position, a strong two-deep is out of most school's reach. But Mack's wasting that advantage here by trotting out a white surrender flag. It's nice that Quan doesn't fumble, but it'd be nicer if someone like Brandon James or Trindon Holiday was back there instead. (If DeSean Hales' redshirt comes off, I'd love to see him get a look.)

3.Game 5: Still paging playmakers. The offense has crushed the weak thanks to Colt's superhuman performance, but the uncomfortable companion question has to be: What if Colt gets hurt or has an off game? Most Texas fans will answer: "We're screwed." Probably true, but that of course doesn't mean we shouldn't be hunting for help at every turn. Sticking someone dynamic on punt return to see if they take to it would be worth the effort.

Relatedly, sometimes you just don't know what you have until you see it in live action. If replacing Quan meant risking losing his solid production, we might think differently, but as is, we're just conceding the punt return game as a non-factor, rather than giving other guys opportunities to shine. Mack should be more aggressive.

Following up from my mid-August conversation with an equally Texas-obsessed friend in Austin, we had a long chat about Texas football. Here in Part 1: Blake Gideon’s surprising role as the secondary’s anchor… My Guys are slow out of the gates… and a reminder that Mack Brown should be focused on titles and titles alone.

SEE? I TOLD YOU SO. (SORT OF.) ((NOT REALLY.))

PB: Looking back at our earlier conversation, do you know what stands out as funny?

TS: Blake Gideon?

PB: Exactly! We both said, essentially, "I doubt he plays much this year, but, you know, I really kinda like him."

TS: Earl Thomas got all the hype, but Gideon's been the freshman godsend back there.

PB: Nothing flashy, but he clearly gets what's going on and what he's supposed to do. I can see why Muschamp went with him as a starter.

TS: I wonder if Muschamp sees some of himself in Blake.

PB: Maybe, but I'd wager Gideon's a significantly better athlete than Muschamp was when he walked on at UGA.

Continue reading this post »

0 -- Second half points allowed by the Texas defense through two games.

14 -- Minutes longer than Texas the Miners had possession of the ball.

2 -- Weeks in a row Texas' opponent has converted just 2 of 4 trips to the red zone into points.

12 -- Scores in 13 trips to the red zone for Texas.

0 -- Fumbles by Texas this season.

14 -- Team high number of tackles by Roddrick Muckelroy Satuday against UTEP.

7 -- Tackles by Texas' second leading tackler, Blake Gideon.

19 -- Official Quarterback Hurries applied by Texas' defense.

2 -- Number of same by UTEP.

4 -- Number of times in the last three years the Longhorns have drawn an opponent's largest-ever home crowd: UTEP 53,415 (2008),  Texas A&M 88,253 (2007),  Nebraska, 85,187 (2006),  Texas Tech 56,158 (2006).

9 -- Consecutive non-conference road wins for Texas, a school record (UTEP '08, UCF '07, Rice '06, Ohio State '05, Arkansas '04, Rice '03, UNC '02, Tulane '02, Houston '01)

2 -- Punts partially blocked by freshman DB Aaron Williams at UTEP Saturday.

50 -- Blocked punts kicks by Texas since 2000, tops in the nation.

8 -- Receptions by Quan Cosby at UTEP.

131 -- Career receptions by Cosby after Saturday, moving him to fifth all time at Texas, ahead of Limas Sweed (124) and Eric Metcalf (125).

17.1 -- Yards per reception by Cosby in '08, up from 11.3 in 2006.

185.2 -- Quarterback Rating of Colt McCoy after two games.

4 -- Big 12 quarterbacks with an even higher QB Rating than McCoy (Freeman, KSU 209.3,  Bradford, OU 189.4,  Arnaud, ISU, 187.6, Griffin, BU 187.1)

82 -- Wins for Texas under Mack Brown, against 2 losses, when accumulating 400 or more yards of total offense.

0 -- Turnovers forced by the Arkansas defense in 2008.

3 -- Turnovers lost by the Razorbacks' offense.

2.5 -- Average Arkansas margin of victory in two games over W. Illinois and LA-Monroe.

7.14 -- Yards per rush for Arkansas' junior tailback Michael Smith.

37.5 -- Pass attempts per game in 2008 for Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick, up from 20.2 per game in 2007.

The outcome was: Unimpressive. I started the summer thinking this team's likely deficiencies would net  2-4 losses. The annual end-of-summer surge of optimism combined with our season opening beatdown of FAU to make me think heading into El Paso that this team might challenge for the conference title. After last night... I'm back where I started.

On the one hand, it was a night game against a funky opponent whose fans thought they were in the Rose Bowl. On the other hand, the '05 Longhorns would have beat those Miners by 60. And this year's Sooners might have, too.

If there's a silver lining, I thought last night's contest was just plain strange, lacking any semblance of the normal flow of a football game--like a night visit to Lubbock or something. Of course, that's not much of a silver lining to hang your hat on: Texas gets Tech on the road this season in a time To Be Announce. Odds we'll kick off at 7 pm? 99 percent.

The Offensive MVP was: Fozzy Whittaker. The night on offense really belonged to Colt McCoy (20-29, 282, 4-1) and Quan Cosby (8-154-1), but the sparkling debut of Fozzy was most important. In terms of long-term value, his emergence was the story of the night.

When asked on the radio this summer about the offense, Whittaker was always the wild card I cited as the potential game breaker, and I always described his running style as "looking like he was being controlled by a joystick in a video game, his fluid hips and quick feet allowing him to change direction laterally with remarkable smoothness." He certainly looked the part last night, but I think the analogy can be extended a little further: Whittaker also emerges from piles of bodies without being tackled just as only happens in the NCAA Football video game series, in which brushing shoulders with defenders who don't secure the tackle is commonplace. The little dude's like a pinball, with a low center of gravity and strong legs.

I'm calling right now for at least two 50+ yard touchdown runs this year in which he appears lost in a pile of bodies before squirting out the other side to burst through the second level and gone.

The Defensive MVP was: Roddrick Muckelroy. Again. Christ, looking back at last week's piece, I needn't change much of anything:

Fellow linebacker Sergio Kindle was the most fearsome athlete on the field today, but Muckelroy was the only Longhorn  in the back seven who played consistently great football. Not only did Muck lead the team with six fourteen tackles (including one for a loss), but he was one of the only defensive players who was always right where he needed to be, whether it was backside contain or manning a zone in pass coverage or picking up a fumble to return for a touchdown.

The offensive Offensive LVP was: Greg Davis. Games don't just "lack flow" on their own. Generally, either the players are bumbling or the coaches are lost. In this case, we saw a version of the latter, especially on offense in the third quarter, when Texas time traveled to 2007, complete with the "We're gonna pass with McCoy whether it's a good idea, a bad idea, or a wholly nonsensical idea" game plan. Such incompetence doesn't ding a team like Texas A&M in the loss column against a squad like Arkansas State or UTEP, but if you're looking for reasons why losses may await the 'Horns against Missouri, OU, Texas Tech, Pokie State, or Kansas look no further than last night's disappointing stretches of offensive football.

Whereas Texas had no trouble picking apart the oh-so-soft zone Florida Atlantic sat in last Saturday, the chaotic blitz party from UTEP at times gave Greg Davis fits. I say Davis, instead of the players, because it was so clear that when whatever UTEP was doing on defense was what we expected, the result was a hugely successful play for the 'Horns. For example, the O-Line''s ability to open up enormous holes by pushing around the smaller Miners was apparent... but only when UTEP was doing something basic with their defense. As they mixed it up, our ability to dictate a play was mystifyingly neutralized.

Not only shouldn't that happen, but it provides our far more competent upcoming opponents with the game plan for defensive success. Brent Venables filled with drool at least two cheat-wagons last night.

The offensive Defensive LVP: MLBs. Both Jared Norton and Rashad Bobino were disappointments last night. I don't wanna talk about it. 

John Chiles Watch: 2 carries, 5 yards / 0-0 passing. He simply was not a part of the game plan, so the question is: Should he have been? In my mind, absolutely.

Greg Davis has this mistaken notion that when Texas is facing a hyper-aggressive defense, the only possible solution is to heave everything on Colt McCoy's shoulders and try to pass our way out of the pressure. Again: nightmare flashbacks to 2007.

Dear Greg: there are alternatives. They involve misdirection and using the defense's aggression against them--not just by trying to complete a deep heave (EPIC FAIL), but by, oh let's say... a reverse! Or a naked bootleg. Or any of a number of other things which John Chiles could have done to calm the UTEP defense. Part of the reason they so fearlessly blitzkrieged our offense is because we weren't giving them any reason to pause and consider alternatives.

Colt McCoy is doing a mostly great job with everything so far. But you know what? Chris Leak did a mostly great job with his offense as a senior, and Urban Meyer didn't conclude, "We can't use Tebow where he can help us. No." Gregory, please try using that which you have on hand. Thanks.

The Q Package: Non-existent. There was one neat play, in which Chiles came around on a fake reverse and was starting to turn down field on a wheel route which would have been wide open, but our line couldn't hold off the Miners and Colt threw the ball inside before Chiles could move into his peripheral vision. This package has potential, but we haven't seen it yet.

Cerberus Watch: McGee: 6-18-3.0, 0 TD / Ogbonnaya: 1-1-1.0, 0 TD / Whittaker: 12-72-6.0, 0 TD. The game plan sucked and the stretch plays to McGee were painful to watch, but I'm taking the Fozzy debut as my point of focus because I don't want to cry in my beer any more than I have already.

Foz-zy! Foz-zy! Let's just hope he's our central point of attack for the rushing game heading forward. He needs 15-20 touches per game, period.

Arkansas Fear Factor: 2 out of 10   (5) is the baseline. (-1) for this; (-1) for this; (+1) for Greg Davis' UTEP performance; (-1) for Fozzy's debut; (+1) for the distance between our secondary and Good; (-1) for Casey Dick's inability to throw a ball out of a wet paper bag; (-1) for improvement when Texas' coaches see the film and realize they crapped the bed.

Heading into next week I feel: Fine. If I weren't so locked in on this year as a training ground for 2009, I'd conclude from the above that my hopes in a Big XII title were depressingly far-fetched. As is, I see the potential of this team and I'm fine with bumps in the road to whatever extent they serve as lessons for improvement.

That of course requires the coaching staff to do their part, and you can't blame a Mack-Davis pessimist for seeing last night's game as a bad sign for the times ahead. I'll wait for more data to draw any long-term conclusions, noting only my to-do list for Greg Applewhite:

• More Chiles to keep defenses honest
• Whittaker to the starting spot and majority rush weapon
• Steady development from Williams, Buckner, and Collins

96 -- Season opening wins in Texas program history.

5 -- Times in the last 6 seasons Texas has scored 50+ to open the year.

29 -- Yards covered on John Chiles' first career touchdown pass to James Kirkendoll.

33 -- Consecutive games Quan "Velcro" Cosby has caught a pass.

40 -- Yards on Hunter Lawrence first career field goal.

3 -- Scholarship kickers on the Texas roster (Lawrence, Tucker, Bailey).

4 -- Times out of 4 Colt McCoy has punted and pinned the opponent inside the 20.

98,053 -- People in attendance Saturday night, the largest crowd to watch a football game in the history of the state.

47 -- Consecutive games sold out at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium.

51 -- Number of minutes shorter this year's season opener (2 hours, 23 minutes) was than last year's (3 hours, 14 minutes). [Or not. --ed]

2 -- Trips inside the red zone out of 4 which resulted in points for Florida Atlantic.

0 -- Sacks recorded by Texas and Florida Atlantic.

5.2 -- Yards per carry by Vondrell McGee, 20% above last season's average.

15 -- Blaine Irby receptions predicted by Kirk Bohls in 2008.

7 -- Blaine Irby receptions in the season opener.

54 -- Career touchdown passes for Colt McCoy, moving him past James Brown (53) for 3rd all-time at Texas.

60 -- Career touchdown passes by Major Applewhite, tops all-time at Texas.

13 -- Consecutive completions by McCoy during the opener, two shy of the school record.

1.6 -- Yards allowed per rush by Texas Saturday.

67 -- Yards rushing (2.6 per attempt) by UTEP in their season opener against Buffalo.

3 -- Interceptions thrown by  UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe against UB.

14 -- Points UTEP was outscored by in each of the 1st and 4th quarters against UB.

0 -- Tickets still available for Saturday's game in El Paso.

Especially at this time of year, it's nice when the content comes to you. Admittedly, I wasn't thinking about that when I jumped in this Phil Steele thread with a quick, unsubstantiated assertion that "Lamarr Houston is the best player on the team." But I'm glad I threw it in there, as it quickly led to a great topic for tonight's post.

Reader 'texasfan05' replied:

your kidding....

Right?

Lamarr Houston is a great player, and is a solid D lineman, but “best player on the team”??? I don’t think so. He’s not even the best player on the Defense. Kindle takes that slot. This should be Kindles year, I’ve watched him for 2 years now, and when he’s not hurt, everytime he’s on the field he makes a play. When we kick the ball off, me and my friends just watch Kindle because he always takes someone’s head off, whether it be the ball carrier or a blocker.

Soon thereafter, reader 'BMG' took the topic to its logical conclusion, proposing a discussion of the team's Top 10 players. A grand idea, which we'll run with for a couple of reasons. First, it'll be fun: there aren't any right answers (though maybe some wrong ones). And second, I think you'll find that if you sit down to put together a top 10, it's not so hard to see why this year is such a critical development season for the Longhorns.

TEXAS' TOP 10

In the mix: Apologies now to Jared Norton, Eddie Jones, Jordan Shipley, Ryan Palmer, and the dozen or so young kids oozing with talent who may well take this list by storm before the season's over. And to the offensive line, who I'm just not considering for this particular list. Feel free to do so in your own Top 10, but I'll save my line commentary for another post; it needs to be an integrated set of thoughts.

10. Sergio Kindle and John Chiles - I'll include these two at the back end of the list for their difference-making potential. We've seen flashes of sexy from both, but my own list weights production at least as much as raw talent, which is why I'm not in agreement with texaslonghornfan05's position. For Chiles, it was a fine true freshman debut, but (a) his action was very limited and (b) he wasn't allowed to pass (and when he was he missed).

And Kindle? I absolutely see the beast of a player texaslonghornfan05 so enjoys, but there's an enormous gulf between what we think he could become and what he's been. Even setting aside the DUI and the injuries, his production in 8 games last season wasn't anything special: 32 tackles, 4 tackles-for-loss, 0.5 sacks.

I will say this about these two, though: It might well be that no two players could do more to making 2008 a special season. A healthy, breakout season for Kindle would give Muschamp a truly great trio of linebackers to work with. And Chiles may represent Texas' best bet to give the offense an explosive dimension it's desperately going to need.

Continue reading this post »