who is irritated at consistently not breaking any long runs from punt returns/kick offs or even getting remotely close to mid-field. And when was the last time we blocked anything?

Cosby's a great WR, but a mediocre PR. He just doesn't have that speed to bust a long one.

No way we're going to try this on the last game, especially considering how critical it is, but try anyone else! Charles, Chiles, McGee, Ogbannaya, Shipley, Jones...

It just seems like we're always starting from the 20-30 yard line.

Particularly point one.  What was so encouraging about the Tech game was that we put up points early and made Tech play catch up all day.  I hope those gritty, nigh-impossible fourth-quarter comebacks -- thrilling as they were -- are behind us for this season.  I also hope Mack and Davis have engineered a creative opening series that will set an aggressive tone for this game.  

Dixon, their best cover man is suspended the first half of the game. Fran has already been forced to play a back-up corner, due to injuries -- and he is maybe the worst corner in the entire conference.
The OU TE abused his side of the field the entire game.

They should go to Finley and Shipley early and often.

If Texas wants to win this game they can put it away with ease by throwing all day. Just like Vince Vaughn, Colt needs to make it rain baby. Make that football eclipse the sun and bring darkness to College Station.

You won't need it. A&M's defensive strategy is to play zone all day, give up the short stuff, and hope in vain that you make a mistake. If it is 3rd and long, don't worry, we'll be five yds off the first down marker.
We don't get any pressure on opposing QBs, and we don't press the receivers, so the QBs have all day long to find the open receivers.
Against our passive zone scheme, the short and middle routes are open all day. Crossing routes to Finley, slants to Cosby should be open ALL DAY LONG.
We're not a hard defense to shred; we're coached by Gary Darnell after all.
Just mix in runs with Jamaal and short passes to Finley and your WRs, and you'll be fine. We play 10 yds off the WRs when they're on our ten yd line (no, that is not a typo; our secondary coverage schemes are illogical, and I've given up trying to understand them).

A&M's hope to win is that Akina will stick with your senior linebackers, who struggle stopping any type of running game, especially a zone read option like we run, and we'll be able to run the ball early and often, and hopefully put up some points.

If we do move the ball on texas, hope you can stop us for the field goal try; we can't hit FGs to save our lives.

As for special teams, our KO return team is pretty solid, but our punt returns are marginal. We don't stop opposing offenses enough for it to matter, though.

Great 3 part summary PB and hope your mom is OK.

As a group we've talked a lot about our offense, probably because we may need to win 35-28 or something, as bad as our defense has been. But I think it's worth talking about the defense anyway because they still need to get the Aggies off the field. So I'm going to do this in 3 parts: the running game, the passing game, and trick plays.

Running game. Not getting A&M off the field last year contributed to the depressing feeling the whole team seemed to have, even if the fact that McCoy couldn't throw really accounted for the loss. This year the Horns have at least two things going for them they didn't have last year:

1. Sergio Kindle, who I assume should be approaching full strength again after his shoulder injury. In the few games I've seen, he has the speed and aggressiveness at outside LB (which UT really hasn't had for many years) to take away the outside pitch or the zone read edge runs to Goodsen, especially if Goodsen is dinged up. That leaves McGee to the DE's and safeties. Have fun, boys. We all know we won't know how much Kindle will play, but he gives UT the ability to make key stops in the game if needed.

2. A healthy Frank Okam and Derek Lokey. Last year with Lokey out and Okam in pain, the LB's had to pinch in to help out on Lane's inside runs, which is always a bad deal when there is real speed on the field in Goodsen. This year, both those guys are healthy and can keep Lane to 2-3 yard gains instead of 5-6.

Passing game. As atrocious and tired as the defense was in the second half against Texas Tech, don't forget they made plays when they needed to against both Tech and Oklahoma State. For this game, let's think about weakness versus strength:

1. Coverage. The safeties' weakness is that they seem to not understand zone coverage and can't seem to quit biting on play action, which forces Akina to have his cornerbacks so far off the line they might as well eat hot dogs with the fans. The result? Lots of free receivers in the 6-12 yard area and, with one or two missed tackles, it's off to the races. A&M simply does not have the offensive scheme or skill players to exploit that weakness. I watched A&M a few times and they like to throw sideline curls and go routes on play action. On third down, they usually end up throwing to tight ends, backs or a slot receiver on 5 yard drag routes to the sideline or over the middle, hoping that they will break the tackle for a longer gain. This is something the Horns can attack by playing man-to-man defense. UT didn't dare do that against Adarius Bowman or Michael Crabtree, but they could do it in this game.

2. Pass rush. This is a game wher Texas does not need to blitz much, but faking it would work wonders (some have complained that Akina never does this, but this would definitely be the time). The strategy here is to corral McGee so he can't get big scrambles and make him look for the quick "hot" read, drop into coverage and then make the tackle or, heaven forbid, jump the routes. Pressure from Orakpo and Okam or Miller and Houston should be enough to make McGee jittery on any third and long situations. McGee simply isn't accurate enough to drive down the field with six-yard passes.

Clearly the Horns aren't good enough to make McGee look bad, but if they don't give up long plays and generate field goals instead of TD's. If the Horns make most of their tackles, they should hold A&M to less than 20 points, which should be enough to win.

Trick plays. Teams seem not to have run very many trick plays on UT this year, maybe because the regular ones seem to have worked just fine, or maybe last year's disasters made the Horns so wary that coordinators can see that the trick plays won't work. But I think the Horns should be extra on their guard in this game, because it's Franny's last game, a rivalry game, and all that.

Prediction : Horns 31 A&M 20
Hello Fiesta Bowl

I don't know how much faith I have that GD will be able to come up with another great game plan in his second straight game, so I'm just hoping he took the week off and we come out with the same plan we had against Tech.  And if we do get a solid lead, I want to see Chiles.  This is like passing kindergarten.  If he needs help with his passing game, dear God put him in.  This is like passing confidence steroids.  Especially if they pass on not third and long.  Why does that poor kid only get to throw passes when they know he's not going to run?

Ranting...

My point is, we should be looking at this game as a chance to put a big boot print in A&M's face.  Otherwise, you'll see more of the boring offense designed to win the game slowly and safely.  If Mack treats this as some kind of crucial game, we'll play the no-fun offense that gives Colt too much time to think and throw stupid passes.  If Mack tells Greg to put a hurtin' on them, Colt will be smiling from right after the first drive until they pull him for Chiles, and we'll have a very nice day.

I never thought we'd beat you guys last year, in the least.  And this year, I don't really have a great feeling.  If us ags actually show up and the horns don't(basically last year) then the game could be interesting.
    But, it Texas is on the ball, there's just nothing A&Ms defense can do.  One of the main shocks this year is how bad the offense has been playing lately.  I mean, everyone knew the defense would be pretty shaky, but not goodson and the train.  The main thing I think about is, it's a rivalry game, the last of the season, and strange things happen under certain psychological conditions(mich. app state, kansas undefeated, ect.)
    I'll be at the game, but I'll also have a large liquor supply at home awaiting the defeat(or the upset).

Mack Brown in post-practice report:

"The most important thing for us is to get our 10th win and win this game regardless of what happens after that because that is all we can control. We have not even discussed anything else other than winning on Friday."

Mack is the master of spin, but it looks like HC is spinning the truth here. I didn't actually watch the interview (perhaps HC did), but I'm getting this quote from MB-TF. For some reason, this reminds me of the Cedric Benson quote where he said (paraphrasing) winning the Heisman was more important than beating OU, when any PR major would've told him that it would be more PC to say that the best way to win the Heisman would be to beat OU.

In Mack's case, while losing to A&M still leaves UT with a chance to advance to the conference championship, it would make beating the North winner a long shot at best. Thus, the best way to win that conference championship is to beat A&M first, whereby they'd pick up that 10th win. That doesn't mean that Mack doesn't want to win the Big XII, or would rather win that tenth game rather than the conference championship. It more so means that Mack is giving the PC answer and attempting to focus his team on the upcoming game because a Big XII championship is largely academic at this point; until we actually see OU drop their last game to OSU, we're not even sniffing the championship game.

But that doesn't mean to discount that (and yes, I'm with you on this HC) Mack really, really wants that number 10 in the W column.

"It’s a rival game and it’s another 10th win (season), seven in a row, this senior class can win two more games and be tied for the winningest class in school history."