The Five Biggest Disappointments Of 2007: #5 Limas Sweed

by Peter Bean on Jan 7, 2008 3:04 PM CST in Texas Longhorns Football

Continuing this feature from last season, in which we review the five biggest disappointments and surprises of the season.

Some may object to having an injured player on this list, but of all the disappointments in the 2007, Limas' wrist injury may have been the most painful. Though this list kicks off with a player whose disappointment was no fault of his own, his presence on this list is appropriate.

The fact is that Texas entered the season with an offensive gameplan revolving around Colt McCoy. And the viability of that strategy depended in large part on McCoy being able to stretch defenses with deep passes to Limas Sweed. At the least, Sweed occupied safeties deep. At its best, Sweed presented a mismatch for most every cornerback and, if left in single coverage, became a touchdown machine.

By October, both of those threats were out the window as Texas limped along on offense. This isn't to say that a healthy Sweed would have guaranteed different results, but his absence certainly guaranteed the failure of our offensive gameplan.

--PB--

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Huge

Before the season, if you told me Sweed wouldn't play, I never would have guessed the cataclysmic effect it would have on our offense. Without him, the other WRs were exposed as no better than solid role-players and teams were able to play us totally differently. It would have been interesting to see how different things would've been with a 100% Sweed.

by SaintBevo on Jan 7, 2008 3:12 PM CST reply actions

A little bit better

I'm guessing things would have been only slightly better than they were. You can have the best receivers in the country running routes, but you still have to have a QB who can find the open man, then get the ball to him. Colt doesn't have much of an arm, and he doesn't make good decisions. Sweed would have helped, but not a great deal.

by Texas Our Texas on Jan 8, 2008 4:08 AM CST up reply actions

Don't you think...

A healthy Limas would have occupied more time from opposing DB's though, instead of allowing them to blitz? If that were true the passing game would have been better.

I think Limas as a deep threat takes some pressure at times off Colt... with no Limas, the DC's we face are less worried about the deep ball and can blitz safeties/CBs more. Just a thought.

1 Peter 2:17

by HornsFan87 on Jan 8, 2008 11:00 AM CST up reply actions