Events

Season Recap: Week 2

by Peter Bean on Dec 18, 2005 10:58 AM CST in Events Comment 0 comments

I think most of us remember this game pretty well. In the game that may very well change the way coaches schedule their nonconference season, the Horns went in to Columbus at night and pulled off an unprecedented victory. Our gameday report card is below:

Texas 25 Ohio State 22

Gameday Report Card

Passing
Vince Young completed 18 of 29 passes for 270 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He completed passes to six different receivers, including two beautiful touchdown strikes, one to Limas Sweed and the other to Billy Pittman. His only mistakes came in the middle portion of the game when he tried to do too much. He'll learn from that and emerges this week better than before. Wow, that's scary.
Grade: A-

Rushing
Between Vince Young (20 rushes, 100 yards), Selvin Young (5 rushes, 11 yards), Jamaal Charles (10 rushes, 37 yards), and Henry Melton (2 rushes, 2 yards), Texas managed 150 rushing yards against the vaunted Ohio State defense. But most of that came very early in the game. After Ohio State packed in the box, the Texas running game was largely contained. Still, the early running success eventually paid off, as Texas was able to pass down the field in the 4th quarter for the winning score. RIP Selvin Young. When he wasn't fumbling, he was running straight into the pile at the line of scrimmage. The coaches said he injured his ankle. I say he's just not very good. Welcome to your new starting role, Jamaal Charles. Charles wasn't enormously effective, but he was a lot better than Selvin, he protected the football, and he impressed me with his toughness, despite being relatively undersized. Charles will make a fine feature back, and a very nice platoon partner with Hank the Tank.
Grade: B-

Receiving
Well, well, well. Texas has a passing game. The questions lingering about who, besides David Thomas, could catch a pass were answered on Saturday as Billy Pittman and Limas Sweed caught Vince Young touchdown passes and helped balance the offense as Ohio State shut down the run. We've been very skeptical/critical of Limas Sweed at ATL, but he earned his keep on Saturday night, hauling one of the biggest catches in Texas football history. Pittman was outstanding, showing good hands and speed and racking up 130 yards in receiving. Equally impressive was Jamaal Charles, who caught 6 passes for 69 yards. David Thomas didn't have his best game, but he'll be fine. A great job by the receivers all around.
Grade: A

Defense
Give Vince Young a game ball, for sure. But the true heroes of this one were on the defensive end of the field. Gene Chizik's crew were outstanding, making tough stand after tough stand after the offense went to sleep. Without their heroics, Texas certainly loses the game. Rodrique Wright was a force in the middle, the linebackers were ferocious and disciplined, and the secondary did a great job keeping Ohio State's two big playmakers from breaking open the game. The lone touchdown scored by Ohio State was simply a perfect pass and catch--virtually impossible to defend. You simply can't overstate how good the defense was on Saturday.
Grade: A+

Special Teams
An unmitigated disaster, and nearly the difference in the game. Six kickoff returns for 191 yards? The difference in average starting field position was nearly fatal. Again, without the defense's otherworldly performance, this game could have gotten out of hand. The punting game was decent, though not great. Only David Pino saves this crew from getting an F, emerging as a reliable kicker in as pressure-packed a situation as he'll ever face. A tremendous job.
Grade: C

Coaching
We've covered this pretty exhaustively now. Gene Chizik did a great job. Greg Davis had his spots. Overall, the coaches had a good day, save the special teams coach, who ought to be fired. Mack Brown should get some much deserved credit. He's not a brilliant game day tactician, a la Bob Stoops, but he continues to field nationally elite teams, and he's finally winning some big games. He reminds me of Bobby Bowden, serving as a sort of Godfather of the program. He's very, very good at it, and I'm very, very thankful that he's our coach.
Grade: B+

Overall
Overall, you can't say enough about this win. Texas wasn't perfect, but that's simply an unrealistic expectation in a game of that magnitude, in that hostile an environment. They weren't perfect, but they were victors. For that, you simply can't give them anything less than an A+
--PB--

Hopefully you were able to watch the replay of the game on ESPN Classic on Saturday. It was a thrilling game and, along with USC-Notre Dame, one of the two best games of the year. We can only hope the Rose Bowl will be as exciting. And rewarding.

--PB--

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T.J. Ford to the rescue?

by Peter Bean on Dec 15, 2005 1:30 PM CST in Events Comment 0 comments

Following the Horns' embarrassing 800 point loss to Duke last Saturday, Rick Barnes got a call from the player that put UT hoops on the map, T.J. Ford. The lightning quick point guard reportedly told Barnes to put Daniel Gibson on the phone and a 20 minute conversation ensued.

This is as welcome a news story as I've seen all week, frankly. I don't care if Texas played and lost to Duke 10 times out of 10. They shouldn't have lost by double-digits in any game, let alone by the horrific margin of Saturday's massacre.

I think Rick Barnes does a lot of things well, and one of his strengths is making adjustments after losses. There's no room for that in March, though, so it's imperative that he gets the Longhorns peaking before more adjustments are needed. The Horns return to action on Saturday with a game against Tennessee. We'll have a full preview of the game soon.

Oh, and F Duke.

--PB--

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Positional Breakdown: USC Receivers

by Peter Bean on Dec 14, 2005 3:04 PM CST in Events Comment 0 comments

A look now at the USC skill players. Like we did with Texas, after each player's main statistics, we'll have a rating for each receiver in categories we're labeling as "Hands" (sure-handedness), "Possession" (ability to be a possession receiver), "Explosiveness" (big play threat), and "Importance" (importance in the Rose Bowl). Each rating is on a 1 (worst) to 5 (best) scale.

Dwayne Jarrett: 81 catches, 1153 yards, 14.2 Average, 15 TD
Hands: 4
Possession: 4
Explosiveness: 4
Importance: 5

Jarrett is Leinart's Go-To Guy, and he's a receiver that can do everything. He has the size and hands to be a possession receiver and the big play ability to take you deep. One of the most intriguing matchups of the Rose Bowl will be underrated Texas CB Cedric Griffin trying to contain him. Jarrett reminds me of Mike Williams in a way. He's not the fastest guy around, but he's awfully good at using his big frame to be a lethal collegiate receiver. I think the USC receiver coaches know what they're doing.

Steve Smith: 57 catches, 928 yards, 16.3 Average, 5 TD
Hands: 4
Possession: 3
Explosiveness: 5
Importance: 4

Oklahoma is still having nightmares about this guy from last year's Orange Bowl. Smith was the recipient of three Leinart touchdown bombs in the title game rout. Smith is the guy that you can forget about when you're keying in on all of USC's other weapons. It's not an accident that their offense is as prolific as it is. It's easy to forget that Smith and Jarrett are just a junior and sophomore pair, respectively.

Dominique Byrd: 25 catches, 274 yards, 11.0 Average, 2 TD
Hands: 4
Possession: 3
Explosiveness: 2
Importance: 3

Leinart doesn't use his tight end much, but can you blame him? When you've got such explosive guys like Bush, Jarrett, and Smith to throw to, why nickel and dime your way down the field? If the Texas secondary is doing a good job on the wideouts, though, Byrd may need to play a larger role in the offense.

Reggie Bush: 31 catches, 383 yards, 12.3 Average, 2 TD
Hands: 4
Possession: 2
Explosiveness: 5
Importance: 4

Mr. Heisman doesn't just run the ball. While his kick returning skills get overblown a bit, he's a real threat as a receiver. Bush is at his best when he's got open field in front of him and he can do that Gale Sayers thing. Just another reason why this offense is so hard to slow down.

--PB--

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Big test for Texas D-Line

by Peter Bean on Dec 6, 2005 12:17 PM CST in Events Comment 0 comments

Watching the Trojan D-Line blow UCLA's smaller defensive line off the ball was impressive, and scary. It's going to be vital that Wright, Orapko and the rest at least hold their own against USC's massive (and physical) line. Gene Chizik's defense is keyed around clogging up the blocks and letting speedy linebackers and DBs make the plays. That will be instrumental in trying to slow down You Know Who.

--PB--

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