SB Nation - Jordan Shipley

If College Football Had a Playoff: #15 East Carolina Pirates @ #2 Texas Longhorns

Jeremy Mauss — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:02:43 -0000

More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

Before we get to game four the previous matchup of #13 LSU against #4 TCU was a back in forth matchup with LSU leading by as many as 60 votes early this morning, but then the TCU fans came out and won by 150 votes. This matchup has the most votes with just under 800.

For the previous results go check out the section "If College Football had a playoff."

This should be as simple as the Troy vs. Alabama matchup with Texas mopping the floor with the Pirates. Had Houston won C-USA then they would at least make this game interesting.

Who knows maybe East Carolina could get a good pass rush on Colt McCoy and make this game interesting for a half. I would expect Colt McCoy to have a field day over ECU.

Now for the somewhat scientific view by using What if Sports to simulate this fine matchup. As expected What if Sports predicts a 43-14 blowout in favor of Texas. Texas was able to run and throw all over ECU with a balanced attack with 304 passing yards and 273 rushing yards.

Stop by to vote and comment on this matchup. Light hearted trash talk is highly encouraged.

Texas Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Garrett Gilbert	8	60.0	15	26	57.7	124	15.5	4.8	0	0	6	11	1.4	1.8	1	-	-
Colt McCoy	13	103.0	330	468	70.5	3512	270.2	7.5	27	12	128	348	26.8	2.7	3	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
John Chiles	11	7	29	2.6	4.1	0	34	319	29	9.4	3
Antwan Cobb	2	1	3	1.5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Garrett Gilbert	8	6	11	1.4	1.8	1	0	0	0	0	0
Marquise Goodwin	11	2	8	.700	4	0	25	209	19	8.4	1
Sherrod Harris	1	1	4	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jeremy Hills	2	9	86	43	9.6	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cody Johnson	13	84	333	25.6	4	12	7	42	3.2	6	0
Colt McCoy	13	128	348	26.8	2.7	3	0	0	0	0	0
Vondrell McGee	9	56	300	33.3	5.4	2	8	37	4.1	4.6	0
D.J. Monroe	9	20	110	12.2	5.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tre' Newton	11	102	513	46.6	5	6	12	106	9.6	8.8	0
Jordan Shipley	13	1	0	0	0	0	106	1363	104.8	12.9	11
Foswhitt Whittaker	10	52	207	20.7	4	4	13	51	5.1	3.9	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Dan Buckner	12	44	445	37.1	10.1	4
John Chiles	11	34	319	29	9.4	3
Marquise Goodwin	11	25	209	19	8.4	1
DeSean Hales	1	1	2	2	2	0
Cody Johnson	13	7	42	3.2	6	0
James Kirkendoll	12	48	461	38.4	9.6	6
Vondrell McGee	9	8	37	4.1	4.6	0
Tre' Newton	11	12	106	9.6	8.8	0
Philip Payne	1	1	7	7	7	0
Jordan Shipley	13	106	1363	104.8	12.9	11
Foswhitt Whittaker	10	13	51	5.1	3.9	0
Malcolm Williams	12	38	546	45.5	14.4	2

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Hunter Lawrence	13	-	-	-	-	-	22	25	90.0%	62	63	100.0%	128

East Carolina Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Josh Jordan	3	70.0	5	7	71.4	61	20.3	8.7	0	0	4	6	2	1.5	0	-	-
Rob Kass	3	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-
Patrick Pinkney	13	60.0	242	407	59.5	2738	210.6	6.7	14	10	41	101	7.8	2.5	3	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Darnell Ballard	2	2	4	2	2	1	2	18	9	9	0
Justin Brockmeyer	2	2	23	11.5	11.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Darryl Freeney	10	2	2	.200	1	0	42	622	62.2	14.8	3
Dwayne Harris	13	31	149	11.5	4.8	5	79	914	70.3	11.6	6
Brandon Jackson	8	84	316	39.5	3.8	3	6	75	9.4	12.5	0
Josh Jordan	3	4	6	2	1.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dominique Lindsay	11	206	1029	93.5	5	5	18	138	12.5	7.7	1
Patrick Pinkney	13	41	101	7.8	2.5	3	0	0	0	0	0
J.R. Rogers	1	5	6	6	1.2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Justin Ruffin	2	15	95	47.5	6.3	1	0	0	0	0	0
Giavanni Ruffin	10	56	169	16.9	3	4	5	26	2.6	5.2	0
Norman Whitley	2	3	2	1	.700	0	1	9	4.5	9	0
Jonathan Williams	5	14	38	7.6	2.7	0	3	7	1.4	2.3	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Darnell Ballard	2	2	18	9	9	0
Andrew Bodenheimer	3	4	72	24	18	0
Jamar Bryant	7	21	200	28.6	9.5	2
Darryl Freeney	10	42	622	62.2	14.8	3
Dwayne Harris	13	79	914	70.3	11.6	6
Brandon Jackson	8	6	75	9.4	12.5	0
Jacobi Jenkins	2	2	12	6	6	0
Dominique Lindsay	11	18	138	12.5	7.7	1
Korey Reynolds	1	1	12	12	12	0
Giavanni Ruffin	10	5	26	2.6	5.2	0
Alex Taylor	11	35	367	33.4	10.5	0
Norman Whitley	2	1	9	4.5	9	0
Jonathan Williams	5	3	7	1.4	2.3	0
Reyn Willis	6	6	107	17.8	17.8	1
Joe Womack	6	12	141	23.5	11.8	0

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Ben Ryan	3	-	-	-	-	-	0	2	0	4	4	100.0%	4
Ben Hartman	12	-	-	-	-	-	19	25	80.0%	32	32	100.0%	89

Poll

Who wins?

Texas Longhorns

37 votes

East Carolina Pirates

11 votes

48 votes | Poll has closed

We're All Americans, But We're Not All All-Americans

Oops Pow Surprise — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:51:28 -0000

by Charlie Neibergall - AP

Iowa's Pat Angerer (43) celebrates with teammates Allen Reisner and Dace Richardson, right, after Iowa blocked a Northern Iowa field goal on the final play. Iowa won 17-16. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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As is usually the case after a 10-win season, the accolades are beginning to pour in for the Iowa Hawkeye football team. Everyone and their mom has an all-conference or All-American team, but the two that actually matter--Walter Camp and the AP--are now out. And for the 33th year in a row, the unanimous selection for player of the year is Frank Stallone*.

More importantly, the AP named three Hawkeyes to their All-American teams. While nobody made it onto the first team, thanks to Ricky Stanzi's ankle injury--come on, you know if he stays healthy and Iowa goes 11-1 and finishes at #5 or so, even the guys on defense get a little bit more of a bump--both Bryan Bulaga and Pat Angerer made it to the second team, while Tyler Sash made third-team AA as a sophomore. A fine moment for all three players (two of whom, as we insular and provincial types are quick to point out, are native Iowans).

Meanwhile, the Walter Camp Foundation agreed with the AP, naming Bulaga and Angerer to their second team as well and effectively establishing the two as the de facto MVPs of their respective sides of the ball. We have a little beef with each designation, but for wholly different reasons.

First, though Bulaga is by far the best pro prospect on the line as of right now and was utterly dominant in 2008, the reality is that even notwithstanding the 3-week absence as he recovered from thyroid issues, he struggled in 2009. Brandon Graham and O'Brien Schofield manhandled Bulaga. And while those are two very good defensive ends, so was Aaron Maybin, the 11th pick of the 2009 by the Buffalo Bills and Bryan Bulaga's personal prison bitch after Iowa-PSU 2008. There was a substantial dropoff in play by Bulaga in 2009, and voters just didn't notice it when it came time to hand out awards.

Meanwhile, Dace Richardson was actually very good in his return to the line, and he got a fair amount of media attention when mid-season awards were being handed out. Then his ankle was rolled up on against Michigan State, and he disappeared from both the depth chart and voters' attention. But why should he have been punished for an ankle injury while voters looked past Bulaga's absence of a similar length? It's all past reputation, and that's not really fair to guys who come from nowhere and work their butts off--especially in their senior year, where there's no chance for any payoff in the "rewarded in Year X for play in Year X-minus-1" system that's come to be when it comes to honoring offensive linemen.

What this comes down to is that if the AP were to select an Iowa lineman for All-American this season, we'd have preferred it be Dace--though we'll certainly "settle for" Bulaga instead. If both men are playing their last game for Iowa next month, as lots of speculation suggests, then they've both had stellar careers in the black and gold and we wish them well.

On defense, on the other hand, Pat Angerer didn't really establish himself as the most dominant player for that Iowa defense, but that's hardly through any fault of his own. After all, one usually does so by being simply better than his teammates, and the talent level on the Iowa defense this year was both so high and so consistent that it was hard to see Angerer as someone who was the best player on defense. After all, you could always come back with, "well why not Sash? Or Adrian Clayborn? Or Amari Spievey? Or A.J. Edds? Or, hell, Jeremiha Hunter?" We're not saying that Angerer was the 6th best player on the Iowa defense by any means--just that ranking the top 5 or 6 or so would be impossible, because the gaps would be so miniscule that personal preference could easily mean a 3- or 4-spot swing here or there and it wouldn't even be objectionable.

Angerer's accolades, then, come from two areas: 1) his name, which is everything you could ever hope for times infinity; 2) and his stats, which sort of sneak up on you for the same reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph. As mentioned before, he was 5th in the nation in tackles at 11.3 a game. That's pretty outstanding, especially since--as TRE noticed during the season--Angerer's real strength might have been in pass coverage, not run support.

Still, absent game-changing plays, it's somewhat difficult to notice the overall impact a player has on a game. And all of those game-changing plays seemed to happen to other players--most notably Sash and Clayborn, and to a lesser extent Spievey.

Thus we have a weird ambiguity about how we look at Angerer's standing as the most highly-lauded member of the 2009 Iowa defense. It's not that he didn't deserve it--far from it--but with a defense like Iowa's, you could basically pick a name out of a hat and feel relatively confident that you made a good choice. It was that kind of year. Effectively singling out Angerer for praise, then, seems unusual and almost a little unfair. Oh well. There are worse problems to have.

Full AP All-American teams are after the break.

First team
Offense
	   Quarterback -- Colt McCoy, senior, 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Texas.
	   Running backs -- Toby Gerhart, senior, 6-1, 235, Stanford; Mark Ingram, sophomore, 5-10, 212, Alabama.
	   Tackles -- Russell Okung, senior, 6-5, 301, Oklahoma State; Trent Williams, senior, 6-5, 318, Oklahoma.
	   Guards -- Michael Johnson, senior, 6-6, 305, Alabama; Mike Iupati, senior, 6-6, 330, Idaho.
	   Center -- J.D. Walton, senior, 6-3, 305, Baylor.
	   Tight end -- Aaron Hernandez, junior, 6-2, 250, Florida.
	   Wide receivers -- Golden Tate, junior, 5-11, 195, Notre Dame; Jordan Shipley, senior, 6-0, 190, Texas.
	   All-purpose player -- C.J. Spiller, senior, 5-11, 195, Clemson.
	   Kicker -- Leigh Tiffin, senior, 6-2, 212, Alabama.
Defense
	   Ends -- Jerry Hughes, senior, 6-3, 257, TCU; Derrick Morgan, junior, 6-4, 272, Georgia Tech.
	   Tackles -- Ndamukong Suh, senior, 6-4, 300, Nebraska; Terrence Cody, senior, 6-5, 365, Alabama.
	   Linebackers -- Rolando McClain, junior, 6-4, 258, Alabama; Greg Jones, junior, 6-1, 228, Michigan State; Eric Norwood, senior, 6-1, 252, South Carolina.
	   Cornerbacks -- Joe Haden, junior, 5-11, 190, Florida; Javier Arenas, senior, 5-9, 198, Alabama.
	   Safeties -- Eric Berry, junior, 5-11, 203, Tennessee; Earl Thomas, sophomore, 5-10, 197, Texas.
	   Punter -- Drew Butler, sophomore, 6-2, 201, Georgia.
Second team
	   Quarterback -- Tim Tebow, senior, Florida.
	   Running backs -- Ryan Mathews, junior, Fresno State; Dion Lewis, freshman, Pittsburgh.
	   Tackles -- Bryan Bulaga, junior, Iowa; Chris Marinelli, senior, Stanford.
	   Guards -- Rodney Hudson, junior, Florida State; Mike Pouncey, junior, Florida.
	   Center -- Maurkice Pouncey, junior, Florida.
	   Tight end -- Dennis Pitta, senior, BYU.
	   Wide receivers -- Mardy Gilyard, senior, Cincinnati; Danario Alexander, senior, Missouri.
	   All-purpose player -- James Rodgers, junior, Oregon State.
	   Kicker -- Kai Forbath, junior, UCLA.
Defense
	   Ends -- Von Miller, junior, Texas A&M; Brandon Graham, senior, Michigan.
	   Tackles -- Gerald McCoy, junior, Oklahoma; Jared Odrick, senior, Penn State.
	   Linebackers -- Pat Angerer, senior, Iowa; Brandon Spikes, senior, Florida; Sean Weatherspoon, senior, Missouri.
	   Cornerbacks -- Perrish Cox, senior, Oklahoma State; Kyle Wilson, senior, Boise State.
	   Safeties -- Taylor Mays, senior, Southern California; Rahim Moore, sophomore, UCLA.
	   Punter -- Zoltan Mesko, senior, Michigan.
Third team
Offense
	   Quarterback -- Kellen Moore, sophomore, Boise State
	   Running backs -- LaMichael James, redshirt freshman, Oregon; Jacquizz Rodgers, sophomore, Oregon State.
	   Tackles -- Dennis Landolt, senior, Penn State; Ciron Black, senior, LSU.
	   Guards -- Brandon Carter, senior, Texas Tech; Jeff Byers, senior, Southern California.
	   Center -- Chris Hall, senior, Texas.
	   Tight end -- Dorin Dickerson, senior, Pittsburgh.
	   Wide receivers -- Freddie Barnes, senior, Bowling Green; Demaryius Thomas, junior, Georgia Tech.
	   All-purpose player -- Dexter McCluster, senior, Mississippi.
	   Kicker -- Hunter Lawrence, senior, Texas.
Defense
	   Ends -- Jeremy Beal, junior, Oklahoma; Brandon Sharpe, senior, Texas Tech.
	   Tackles -- Brian Price, junior, UCLA; Dan Williams, senior, Tennessee.
	   Linebackers -- Sergio Kindle, senior, Texas; Cody Grimm, senior, Virginia Tech; Navorro Bowman, junior, Penn State.
	   Cornerbacks -- Brandon Harris, sophomore, Miami; Alterraun Verner, senior, UCLA.
	   Safeties -- Tyler Sash, sophomore, Iowa; Mark Barron, sophomore, Alabama.
	   Punter -- Matt Reagan, senior, Memphis.

*Did you know he was in Tombstone, a.k.a. the SINGLE GREATEST MOVIE IN HISTORY? And in a phenomenal scene, to boot.

Undeserving Winners Of National Awards Announced

Beergut — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:06:08 -0000

The winners of the Maxwell, O'Brien, Walter Camp, Outland, Lombardi, Nagurski, Butkus, Thorpe, and just about every other individual college award were announced yesterday at the ESPN Awards Show. Ndamukong Suh, the incomparable defensive tackle from Nebraska, won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior lineman, the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation's best defensive player, the Lombardi Award as the nation's top lineman, and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation's top defensive player. Suh winning all of these awards was somewhat predictable, because they were well-deserved.

What was somewhat surprising was that texas QB Colt McCoy won the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's top QB. McCoy isn't even the best quarterback in his own conference, forget the nation. I'm very surprised the O'Brien didn't go to Case Keenum of Houston. Keenum has led the nation's top offense all season long, passing for 5,449 yards and 43 TDs against only 9 interceptions. Compare this to McCoy, who had 3,512 yards passing and 27 TD passes with 12 interceptions, to go along with 3 fumbles, and the decision to give the award to McCoy is a head-scratcher. McCoy averaged over a turnover per game, but we're supposed to believe this is the nation's best quarterback? McCoy also won the Maxwell Award for the nation's best all-around player. The Maxwell really should have gone to C.J. Spiller of Clemson, the multi-talented RB who is equally dangerous as a runner, receiver, and returner. Spiller rushed for 1,145 yards and 11 TDs while averaging 5.7 yards per carry, had 33 receptions for 445 yards and 4 TDs, AND finished fourth nationally in kickoff returns, averaging 33.7 yards per return while taking 4 of them all the way back for touchdowns. Those stats are a little more impressive than a QB with whom there is a better than 50% chance he'll turn the ball over than pass for a TD.

McCoy also won the Walter Camp Football Foundation's player of the year award, but that was somewhat expected because he won the same award last year.

The Biletnikoff Award for the nation's best wide receiver went to Notre Dame's Golden Tate; that award should have gone to texas' Jordan Shipley. Tate had 93 receptions for 1,496 yards and 15 TD receptions. Shipley has 106 receptions for 1,363 yards and 11 TDs, and still has one more game to play. Shipley built his stats against the Big 12 Conference, not against a padded schedule with the likes of Navy, Nevada, and Washington State. Tate is a phenomenal receiver, but no moreso than Shipley. Given the opponents Shipley faced, and the game-by-game production, the best wide receiver in the nation this year is Shipley.

The Jim Thorpe Award for the nation's best defensive back went to Tennessee safety Eric Berry. While I think a good argument could be made for texas safety Earl Thomas, who finished tied for second in the nation in intercepions, with 8 on the season, Berry was dominant playmaker on a top twenty defense for Tennessee. Berry also garnered more national attention early on because of his stellar play against Florida and Heisman-hopeful Tim Tebow early in the season, while Thomas was coming off a season on one of the worst pass defenses in the nation in 2008, so that probably played into consideration for the award.

Overall, with the exception of the defensive awards which went to Suh and Berry, a lot of these national awards went to the wrong person. It seems some of these committee's make up their minds early on who the winner is going to be during the season, and don't let other candidates or other information sway their opinion, and that is a shame.

Notre Dame Coach Watch 2009: Ignorance Is Not Bliss, Silence Certainly Not Golden

CW — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:47:13 -0000

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

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I think there are two ways to look at what is going on in the Irish coaching search. Number one, and the most likely candidate, is that this is just your typical Notre Dame football cluster. The favorite candidates turned it down early and somehow we're screwing things up with the perfectly acceptable* back-up so that your next Irish coach is going to be CJ Keeler because he's available, a winner, and wears sunglasses at night.

*Unless you are a crazy person, at which point this search failed the minute Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer didn't leave their four million dollar salaries, happy families and comfortable homes to move to a place where the high is 13 degrees today. If you feel that way, please head on over here and meet with your support group.

The other candidate for what is going on is that save for the Brian Kelly tweets - which were hacked, then not hacked, then not on Twitter because seriously, Brian, pull yourself together -Swarbrick is actually doing a great job of keeping things locked down, and the desperate journalists, message boarders and bloggers are just creating their own echo chamber of news to drown out the voices in their heads. Pete Thamel wrongly reports Harbaugh is interviewing. ESPN is pushing Edsall, perhaps just because he's the nearest somewhat believable hire to Bristol and a fun story to tell with the win at Notre Dame and how he rallied the team following some very tragic circumstances. All the while the "program insiders" just wildly speculate about time tables, and when you couple that with ESPNews mentioning Edsall every half hour, everyone online just loses their damn mind. There have been multiple times over the last couple days where a friend or I would step away for work or class for an hour or two and return to sheer chaos across the entire Irish internet. The people - they are desperate.

Now, we do know one thing for absolute certain, and that's that Swarbrick is talking to Kelly. Kelly tweeted it, and for that reason alone, we're going to assume it's true. There's no point in saying that the New York Times or ESPN also reported it, because they'll report anything at this point for clicks and eyeballs. (I don't blame them, but don't take anything they say seriously, either.) I wouldn't be totally surprised to find out that Swarbrick was using this as a teaching opportunity for the Notre Dame fanbase and for Brian Kelly. For the crazier segment of Irish fans complaining about Kelly, this is Captain Jack reminding them that it could get a whole, whole lot worse. For Kelly, it's just a reminder that there are other options and that if he's asking for too much, he can kindly spend another year with the robust facilities in the Queen City. Does Kelly call Swarbrick's bluff on Edsall, or the so-called mystery candidates (Tuberville? Urban again? Riley? Ferentz? Leach? Charlie Strong, who now has head coaching experience?)? Or is Kelly just waiting the Bearcats' end of season banquet tonight to say his goodbyes and then moving on to South Bend, bringing his old coordinator from Grand Valley with him?

Hopefully this is cleaned up by the end of the week, but honestly, anyone who claims to say that for certain probably said this would be locked up by last weekend, so let's just hold on for the ride. The next time someone gives you a nice piece of rumor that seems legitimate, just remember that the same person was telling you Stoops name was on a contract a week ago and that Kelly was going to be announced in an afternoon presser earlier in the week. No one knows anything, and that's okay, but keep that in mind at 12:37pm today when everyone freaks out because a very legit-sounding Mark Mangino rumor pops up.

On a more pleasant note, Golden Tate should be receiving a shiny new Biletnikoff Award this evening in New York City, honoring him as the best receiver in college football. Now there's a chance that Jordan Shipley wins it, meaning two things: 1) I will curse very loudly and 2) Colt McCoy is most definitely your Heisman winner. When McCoy and Shipley start stealing awards, just remember they deserve it their great performance against Central Florida (Shipley had 11 catches for 273 and a touchdown, McCoy threw for 470). Just give them the courtesy of not looking at their combined numbers against Oklahoma and Nebraska, otherwise known as the only two good defenses they played all year.

(In case you're curious, McCoy had 311 yards passing, one touchdown and four picks combined in those two games, while Shipley lit up the stat sheet for 11 catches and 93 yards.)

If Freddie Barnes wins it, I'll be confused but accept it. Barnes had 138 catches and 16 TDs this season, which is patently absurd. He still, however, does not deserve it over Golden. Good luck tonight, #23.

Saturday NFL Draft watch notes: Texas/Nebraska

Mocking Dan — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:00:18 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

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Colt McCoy, QB, Texas: McCoy might be the most polarizing figure among draft followers. Those who like him point to his accuracy, leadership, winning ability and football intelligence. Those who don't wonder about his throwing motion, size and arm strength. McCoy will have to be put in the right offense or he could struggle at the next level.

Jordan Shipley, WR, Texas: The senior has been electric this season. He's fifth in the nation in catches per game and sixth in receiving yards per game. Most impressively, other than the Oklahoma game, he's been consistent. Shipley shows good hands, runs nice routes and has good speed. A comparison to Reggie Wayne might be a stretch, but only a slight one.

Sergio Kindle, DE/OLB, Texas: If one thing has been proven this season, Kindle should play at linebacker in the NFL. While he hasn't had a bad year, he hasn't played great. As a linebacker, he can use his strength and quickness to get after the ball. Off the line, he can be blocked too easily.

Roddrick Muckelroy, OLB, Texas: Where Kindle has struggled, Muckelroy has excelled. He leads Texas in tackles and has nine tackles for loss on the season. He's emerged in his senior season as a reliable linebacker who always seems to be near the ball. Muckelroy can struggle in coverage, and could start his career as a backup.

Earl Thomas, SS, Texas: Thomas has overtaken Tennessee's Eric Berry as the best playmaking safety in the nation. Although he's only a redshirt sophomore, don't be shocked if Thomas goes pro and becomes a first-round draft pick. He has great instincts and good speed and agility.

Lamarr Houston, DT, Texas: A converted high school running back, Houston has developed nicely as a defensive tackle. Houston makes a lot of players in the backfield and really gets after the quarterback. He plays low and gets good leverage. Houston is a very good sleeper prospect to keep an eye on.

Adam Ulatoski, OT, Texas: Although he plays on the left side for Texas, Ulatoski is almost exclusively a right tackle prospect. He's strong, but a little slow off the snap. He struggles against speed rushers, but can mirror players in front of him.

Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska: Much like Rolando McClain, there's not a lot to say about Suh that hasn't been said already. He's bar none proven to be the best player in college football this season. He's dominant and single and double teams and looks like he can play in any defensive scheme.

Jared Crick, DT, Nebraska: A redshirt sophomore, Crick has certainly benefited from playing next to Suh. But don't sell his ability short. He's big and strong and holds up well against double teams -- when he faces them.

How Nebraska Will Beat Texas And Win the Big 12 Championship

Jon Johnston — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:42:01 -0000

More photos » by Nati Harnik - AP

Bo Pelini has done an incredible job in getting his Husker team this far. Now we get to see if they can be champs.

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The odds are stacked against Nebraska so much to the point that it's doubtful you'll find a single paid pundit pick the Huskers in this game. If they do, their colleagues might think they're mad.

It's a given that Nebraska will have to play mistake-free football. They can't give up the big play (Virginia Tech), they must minimize turnovers (Iowa State) and they can't afford to have drives killed by silly false starts or holding penalties (too many games this season). There's little margin for error.

To win, Nebraska will require a perfect game in all areas. It can happen, and here's how.

- First Quarter Draw

It's imperative that the Huskers to keep Texas off the scoreboard in the first quarter. The Blackshirts could give up a touchdown at, but if Nebraska goes down by two scores, the task will become nearly impossible.

Expect Nebraska's first series to be an experiment to see how Texas is going to line up. It'd be nice if we got a drive going right away, but don't get too worried about initial results. Expect that Texas will want to get on the board right away, although look for short passes from them in the hopes that the Blackshirts will miss tackles. We haven't seen much of that this season, and as long as we're tackling well, we should handle the one-on-one match ups with their receivers. It's time that Texas found out just how well Alfonzo Dennard and Prince Amukamara can cover and Larry "Assasin" Asante can hit.

Ndamukong Suh and Jared Crick must get going early. Texas will double-team Suh, single Crick and hope to run their zone read plays with that combination. If Suh and Crick can occupy space in the middle with an upfield surge (not an all out rush), while Barry Turner and Pierre Allen contain the edges, the Huskers can negate the zone read. If Crick can play well enough to demand a double-team, getting to the edge will be that much more difficult. Offensive coordinator Greg Davis will take time to adjust his offensive scheme, and with each series failure, the Huskers confidence will grow.

- One On One Excellence

Any offense looks for the match up to get their best player in a one-on-one situation. Defense counters by doubling that player, and by default that leaves an offensive player to be accounted for. Texas has too many weapons on offense for Nebraska to double any one player. Take McCoy out of the zone read, and Tre Newton or Fozzy Whittaker will burn you. Double-team Jordan Shipley and you take your chances with James Kirkendoll and Malcolm Williams.

Move that concept to a defensive zones and the thought remains the same. The game will be a chess match of Texas trying to maneuver their receivers into a one-on-one situation in the hopes that the Blackshirts miss a play. That is the biggest key to this game - defenders consistently making plays in one-on-one situations. A single missed tackle or assignment in a low-scoring game means you lose.

- Bore America To Death

Americans hate games that end 10-3, or 16-13. There just isn't enough scoring. You could chalk it up to the need for constant excitement, but whatever it is, Husker fans have to hope most of American is bored by watching this game. If it turns into a track meet, it's going to be a one-sided affair in favor of the Longhorns.

Don't expect many gimmicks in this game. The Huskers are not going to go to a no-huddle. They're not going to try to spread out the Texas defense and run the zone read as a core part of their offense. Fans will see the same approach the Huskers have used throughout their winning streak - a conservative offense that tries to pick up first downs on the ground and takes occasional shots down the field.

The long shots are the key to offensive success. Niles Paul has been the recipient of most of the long balls, while tight end Mike McNeill has largely gone unnoticed this season. McNeill has the speed and game awareness to pull in the big play - and his lack of production may leave him ignored by the Texas defense when it counts the most.

- No Fear

Quarterback Zac Lee has had problems when running zone read and option plays. He hasn't held the ball long enough to make the unblocked defender commit, a key to making those kinds of plays work properly. Lee must play this game fearlessly. If he's not a threat to run the ball when it's called for, he's given the defense a huge edge. Example - if Lee runs an option pass, the defense won't respect his feet enough to not cover his receivers.

Having no fear doesn't mean that Shawn Watson whips open his whole bag of tricks to see what might fool the Texas defense. It means he must commit to the running game, even if it isn't working early. The downfield shots will only work if the Huskers can establish something on the ground with Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead.

Before this season started, Husker fans heard plenty of rumors about Ricky Henry's "fiery nature" and Jacob Hickman's longevity. Put Tyler Legate at fullback behind them, and smash that ball right into the center of the Longhorn defense.

The Huskers don't need an offensive explosion, but an implosion will kill any hope this team has of winning.

- Special Teams Convergence

Alex Henery had a 76 yard punt against Virginia Tech. He leads the Big 12 in punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line. Niles Paul has had some big special teams plays, including his punt return against Colorado. Adi Kunalic can negate any chance of a kick return with his touchbacks. Ndamukong Suh and his counterparts have the ability to block kicks. Add to these the fact that Nebraska's special teams haven't given up a touchdown yet this season.

Bring great special teams plays all together in one game and we've got a shot.

- Leave It All On The Field "Bo's Way"

The Texas A&M game didn't tell us as much about the ‘Horns defense as we think. Turn the table and ask yourself if the Colorado game was an example of how well the Blackshirts have played, then look again at the Longhorns' performance. Chalk both teams poor performance up to a short week and lack of incentive. Add to that that we're coming down to the end of the season - both teams had to be a little exhausted.

The teams have had over a week off, which has given time them time to heal and rest. That's good news, especially for the Blackshirt defense that's had to carry a heavy load this season. They've seen more plays than any other top 25 defense in the nation, and they'll see it again in this game.

Husker fans have seen Ndamukong Suh take over a game. He'll have to do it again, early and keep making plays throughout the entire game. His brothers-in-arms will have do the same. The effort must be solid on every play. Double the effort for the offense, particularly on the line.

Bo Pelini has taken a group of players who were left for dead two years ago and gotten them to a shot at the Big 12 title and a BCS Bowl. It wasn't just the genius of understanding defense that got them this far. It happened because Pelini demands consistency of effort, settling for nothing less. It's "Bo's Way".

It's time to see how his team responds when not many believe they can be champions.

Five Things to Watch Against Nebraska

GhostofBigRoy — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:54:20 -0000

by Jeff Roberson - AP

This is what happens when you enter a House of Spears, Blaine Gabbert. Colt McCoy hopes he doesn't befall a similar fate.

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How well will the interior of the Texas line play? Obviously, the big match up here is Chris Hall and a guard against Ndamukong Suh, the massively athletic "House of Spears," literally -- that's what his name means. Hall and Charlie Tanner have been much maligned around these parts at times, but their play has been more consistent as the year has gone on and they've played a big role in the improvement in the running game. The other offensive linemen who will have shot at helping Hall with Suh will be Michael Huey, another inconsistent performer this season whose problems resulted more from the ankle injury he suffered early in the year than any technical or athletic shortcomings. He's finally healthy and playing well.

The double team on Suh will leave Huey or Tanner consistently on Jared Crick, a player known for using his hands well, but one who doesn't always play with great pad level -- not overly surprisingly for a young defensive tackle with his height (6-6). If the Longhorn guards can get under his pads and into his body, they should be able to handle them, but if they allow Crick to get his hands on them and get extended, the other big Husker could make some plays inside as well.

All three interior linemen struggled against Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy, but because Huey was hobbled during the game with his injury and Tanner and Hall have taken their play to a higher level, it's probably safe to say the Longhorns have a better shot of slowing down Crick and Suh than they did McCoy. However, it's a big question whether or not David Snow can help out in this game because he was absolutely destroyed by McCoy and is probably still suffering from some lingering PTSD after his nightmare in the Cotton Bowl. If Tanner or Huey need a blow at some point in the game, Snow will have to play better than he did against Oklahoma and it's possible that he may only be asked to help out Hall with Suh, which should be easier than going one-on-one with Crick.

The double team on Suh will have a trickle-down effect on other aspects of the line's play, most notably having only one combination block at the line of scrimmage even with EBS (unless they leave the backside end unblocked), putting a lot of pressure on the outside linemen, Kyle Hix and Adam Ulatoski, to make their plays in space and get off the combination block quickly -- not always a strength of Ulatoski in particular.

How will the Longhorn gamplan work around Suh in the middle? Not only is Suh tremendous at putting pressure on the quarterback, but he also has the elite ability to knock down and/or intercept passes, having broken up 10 on the season and intercepted one other. Last season, he returned both of his interceptions for touchdowns. Suh's rare ability to play in space as a 300-pound defensive tackle allows him to drop back into coverage over the middle when Nebraska zone blitzes. Just like Colt McCoy has to know where linebackers dropping off into zone coverage are heading, he must also recognize Suh dropping back into coverage, particularly on any throws over the middle, whether short to a running back or to a receiver running a shallow cross.

Of course, devoting more resources to Suh means leaving all the other linemen one-on-one. As a result, the Longhorns will need an extra blocking surface to even have one other combination block and get anyone to the second level -- fortunately, Texas has a more than adequate Extra Blocking Surface. Woo, Greg Smith! In all seriousness, Smith has been blocking as well of late as he ever did when he was heavier last season and perhaps even better, an impressive accomplishment.

Since the weakness of the Nebraska defensive is their linebacking corps, the Longhorns might be well served to exploit the perimeter. One obvious way is to bring back the Monroe Series that was not used against A&M, the group of plays based around the fly sweep to get the ball to a fast player in motion to take the edge on the Nebraska linebackers and avoid having to move players off the defensive line. The danger here is having Suh bust through the line if the center has to reach to make the play, but the need to have help on every play should decease the chances of that occurring. The latest addition to the Monroe Series, the pass to Tre' Newton out in the flat, provides good misdirection and isolates Newton against a linebacker in the open field -- a desired match up for Texas.

Last week, the return of the zone read and extensive use of the quarterback draw helped McCoy run roughshod over the Aggie defense. The zone read options off a defender and makes McCoy a threat in the running game, which may be the best way to pick up yards on the ground against the Nebraska front four, by far the best Husker defensive unit, while also providing another combination block or a free release to the second level, allowing Texas to account for six players in the box even with a double team on Suh. Running the quarterback draw can punish the interior defenders if they get too far upfield and was a play that Kansas used to good effect. Expect to see it three to four times in the game.

Can Texas get off to a strong start? Conventional wisdom says that Nebraska wants to come into this game and "run, run, run, then play action," as Earl Thomas put it this week. In fact, that's been their plan in every game since the eight-turnover debacle against Iowa State and it's been successful enough to make it to the Big 12 Championship and earn the coveted honor of tallest midget (sorry, tallest vertically challenged person) in the Big 12 North. So congratulations on that, Huskers.

A fast start by the Longhorns on offense could radically change the complexion of the game -- this Nebraska offense isn't built at the moment to come back from deficits. Now, starting fast has been a key for the Longhorns all season and the offense seems to have overcome the slow starts that characterized the beginning of the season and led to weekly Screaming Lady appearances, but it's extremely important in this game because it's not clear how the Huskers would respond when forced to adjust their gameplan so much.

Would Pellini simply continue running the football in hopes of eventually breaking a play or setting up a deep pass off of play action, or maybe even just try to minimize the damage and avoid a blowout while hoping that the defense comes up with a big turnover or two? Would the offense revert to pre-Iowa State form with some attempts to spread the field and pass the ball, with the possibility of disastrous results and numerous Zac Lee interceptions? Or would Pellini insert true freshman and native Texan Cody Green to run the zone read and provide another rushing threat?

Will the special teams recover from a mostly disastrous performance against A&M? This one goes mostly to the kickoff coverage unit. Nebraska isn't a great kick returning team, ranking right at the bottom of the top third in the country at 23 yards flat and Texas spent much of the week working on covering kicks, so the visit to JerryWorld will give the beleagured unit an opportunity to demonstrate improvement. Kenny Vaccaro in particular must return to making positive plays instead penalties and miscues as he did in that strange vortex called Aggieland.

For the kickoff return team, it's not nearly as much about Marquise Goodwin as it is the blocking in the wedge and, to a lesser extent, on the edge by players like Vaccaro, Jeremy HIlls, Fozzy Whittaker, and Nolan Brewster. Cody Johnson, Aaron Smith, and Eddie Jones, the wedge blockers, struggled for most of the game in College Station before getting their blocks. Nebraska covers kicks well and probably won't kick off many times during the game, so the Longhorns need to take advantage when they can. When the Huskers do kick, however, nearly 40% of them go for touchbacks -- it's unlikely that Goodwin will even have half of the six attempts from last week.

Along with solid units on kickoffs, the Huskers have the biggest opportunity to impact the game in blocking field goals and essentially taking points off the board, as Suh has blocked three kicks and the rest of the team two others, with opponents having trouble kicking field goals even down close to the goalline. In addition, the punter Alex Henery, who also handles field goals and kickoffs, has done an excellent job of pinning teams deep near the goalline, with 26 punts downed inside the 20 and another 15 inside the 10.

Field position may play an important role in this game as it did last week against A&M, as the Aggies repeatedly had short fields due to long kick returns, failed fourth-down attempts, and the single turnover when the punt hit Vaccaro. If Texas can at least force Nebraska to move the ball the length of the field, the chances of a comfortable victory increase dramatically. If there continue to be breakdowns on special teams and the Huskers can keep points off the board and give their offense a short field, the game could come down to the fourth quarter. Likewise, whenever going against a defense as strong as that of Nebraska, shortening the field is a major priority because long drives become so difficult. Long fields for the Longhorns could keep the Huskers in the game late.

Are Malcolm Williams and Jordan Shipley healthy? Last week, Jordan Shipley incurred a foot injury that forced him to the sideline to have his ankle wrapped. After that point, he didn't catch a single pass in the game. Malcolm Williams missed several series in the second half with an apparent tightening of the hamstring, throwing off the rhythm of he and McCoy. Then, Chip Brown mentioned this morning on the radio that a source close to the Texas program indicated an injury to an offensive playmaker that may impact the game on Saturday. Brown wouldn't disclose the name, but the most likely candidate is Shipley unless another injury occurred during practice this week.

If Shipley isn't at full speed, the comfort level McCoy has developed over the last several weeks with Kirkendoll and Williams, assuming the latter is healthy after what only seemed like a minor injury, will become even more important, as will the play of Marquise Goodwin, who might have to play in the slot some to allow Kirkendoll to remain outside where he has been most successful.

Under The Hood: Nebraska vs Texas Statistical Comparison

Jon Johnston — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:39:22 -0000

More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

Most of the talk will center around Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley. Husker fans need to know the name Sergio Kindle, though, as he's a disruptive force on defense.

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One piece of advice - don't bother defending Nebraska's offense to anyone. You don't need to - people aren't expecting us to win so that pressure is on Texas. In fact, just consider our offense a zero, and then make the case for why we won't need an offensive touchdown to beat them.

Next question is - can you make that case? Answer = you can if you're delusional and that describes my relationship with Nebraska football. Most of the predictions I see from Texas people (reasonable Texas people, is that an oxymoron? Just asking...) are in the 20-point range.

Let's figure that Texas scores 21 points. Obviously we'll need 21 to match or better. If you give us a big play on special teams, blocked punt or kick, there's one-third. Our defense should be capable of a big play, say a Ndamukong Suh interception return (or Matt O'Hanlon, I'm not picky) for a touchdown (where he runs over Colt McCoy like a rag doll), there's another third.

Can our offense score seven points against Texas?

Statistics include national and conference rankings in parentheses.

Offensive Statistics

	Nebraska	Texas
Rush YPG	147.42 (64/6)	163.92 (47/5)
Rush YPC	4.12 (69/6)	4.40 (50/3)
Rush TDS	18 (61/7)	27 (8/1)

Pass YPG	187.3 (93/9)	287.7 (13/3)
Pass YPA	7.0 (67/8)	7.5 (43/2)
Pass TDS	15 (75/10)	27 (10/3)
Pass Efficiency	128.95 (62/8)	148.5 (15/1)

Total Offense	334.8 (93/11)	451.6 (11/3)
Scoring Offense	25.6 (72/8)	43.0 (3/1)

- Move along, there's nothing to see on the left side here.

- On the right side, it's interesting to note that Texas is eighth in the nation with rushing TDs. In fact, it's somewhat shocking with all the negativity about their run game. 14 of their 27 rushing TDs came against their non-conference opponents, leaving 13 for eight Big 12 games. That sounds better, doesn't it?

- 10 of Texas 27 passing TDs came against non-conference opponents.

- Texas longest rush of the season was that 65-yard run last week against the Aggies. McCoy had another long rush of 43 against the Aggies as well. Against Big 12 opponents, they've had only six rushing plays over 20 yards.

- Texas looks like they've gotten their running game together, largely because they've found a productive back. Running out of time, I'll expound on this later, hopefully this afternoon.

- The Longhorns longest pass of the season was an 88-yard pass against Central Florida from McCoy to Jordan Shipley (surprise, surprise). The pair hooked up for a 78-yarder against UL-Monroe. The longest against a Big 12 opponent was McCoy-Malcolm Wiliams for 68 yards. Against conference opponents, they've had 12 passes longer than 20 yards. Of those, only two were to Shipley. Four went to Williams, two to James Kirkendoll, and one to John Chiles.

Defensive Statistics

	Nebraska	Texas
Rush YPG	101.08 (14/5)	61.75 (1/1)
Rush YPC	2.98 (12/5)	1.99 (1/1)
Rush TDS	6 (5/2)	5 (2/1)

Pass YPG	189.5 (17/2)	201.4 (39/3)
Pass YPA	5.4 (7/2)	5.6 (9/3)
Pass TDS	7 (3/1)	14 (34/4)

Total Defense	290.6 (11/3)	263.2 (5/1)
Scoring Defense	11.1 (3/1)	15.4 (9/3)

- Oklahoma's defense is comparable to the Longhorns, so we've played a defense of this caliber before.

- We gave up three touchdown passes to Colorado, yet remain first in the nation in defending touchdown passes. It'd have been nice to have kept that number lower and remain in the "that's incredible" category (maybe we're still there, I'll look at that stuff after the season is over), but this is one key area between both these teams.

- The longest pass and run plays by our opponents both came in the Virginia Tech game, with a 46-yard by Ryan Williams and the disappointing 81-yard pass by Tyrod Taylor that helped them when the game.

- The 1.99 yard per carry given up by Texas defense is astounding. They've given up only six plays of over 20 yards all season. If that sounds awesome, the Blackshirts aren't far behind with eight. In passing plays of over 25 yards, Texas has given up 13, while Nebraska has given up 18.

The Details

	Nebraska	Texas
3rd Down Conversions (Pctg)	39.52 (59/6)	47.70 (13/2)
Red Zone Conversions (Score %)	80 (71/8)	92.86 (9/1)

Turnover Margin	+4 (39/5)	+12 (8/1)
Sacks	33 (12/5)	36 (5/3)
Tackles for Loss	74 (38/7)	103 (2/1)
Sacks Allowed	18 (40/5)	22 (61/6)
Punting (Avg)	41.98 (38/4)	38.94 (87/9)
Punt Returns	10.95 (37/5)	13.45 (14/2)
Kickoffs (Avg)	68.32 (1/1)	63.47 (34/5)
Kickoff Returns	23 (38/5)	28.31 (3/1)
Penalties (Yds/G)	64.6 (100/7)	57.9 (81/3)

- I hate to say this, but it continues to bug me. Remove the eight turnovers from the Iowa State game (as if you could) and Nebraska's turnover margin would be one of the best in the nation. There. Done with that.

- Texas kickoff return man D.J. Monroe is ranked third nationally with a 35.79 yard average. He's scored two touchdowns, both against non-conference opponents, where his kickoff return average is 52 yard per return. Against Big 12 opponents, it's 26.78. Niles Paul is ranked 43rd, with a 25.36 average. Good news, though as Paul has gotten better. Against the Big 12, his average is slightly higher at 26.83 yards per return.

- We will need to pick up some third downs (Captain Obvious). We were 1-for-14 against Oklahoma, but kept them out of the end zone because they had a freshman quarterback. Colt McCoy - no freshman. Against Kansas and Kansas State, we were 7-for-16, and then digressed at Colorado where we went 3-for-10 (and played like crap). I don't know what you're thinking of as a solution, but I'm thinking of Rex Burkhead and Brandon Kinnie.

- I double-checked the penalty stat on Texas. Hey, perhaps we will pick up some holding calls this weekend.

The Opponents

Total Offense Rank	Nebraska Opponent	Total Defense Rank	Total Offense Rank	Texas	Total Defense Rank
21	Florida Atlantic	113	51	UL-Monroe	47
90	Arkansas State	49	112	@Wyoming	83
56	@Virginia Tech	13	7	Texas Tech	48
72	UL-Lafayette	95	23	UTEP	111
33	@Missouri	55	104	Colorado	59
7	Texas Tech	48	29	Oklahoma	7
75	Iowa State	100	33	Missouri	55
86	@Baylor	96	62	Oklahoma State	32
29	Oklahoma	7	84	Central Florida	45
25	Kansas	74	86	Baylor	96
83	Kansas State	38	25	Kansas	74
104	Colorado	59	6	Texas A&M	107
56.75	Average	62.25	51.83	Average	63.67

- Both sides averages are nearly equal, which is expected when you play a lot of common opponents. I wasn't going to include this chart this time, but I really wanted to know about how their non-conference opponents, mostly because I could then do a little more smack talking.

- Funny that Texas A&M's defense is so horrible.

Thoughts On All-Big 12 Football Team

Beergut — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:25:36 -0000

by Jerry Larson - AP

Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year Christine Michael. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune-Herald, Jerry Larson)

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I thought Jordan Shipley should have been named Offensive Player of the Year instead of Colt McCoy. McCoy had a poor first half of the season; Shipley was remarkably consistent game-in and game-out this year, and I thought that should count for something.
Mack Brown getting Big 12 Coach of the Year is something of a joke, in my opinion. texas was favored to win the Big 12 South and the conference in the preseason, and they....won the Big 12 South and will play for the conference championship this weekend. What about Paul Rhoads, who took a team picked to finish last in the Big 12 North to a fourth place finish and bowl contention?
I don't agree with the pick of Jeron Mastrud for all-conference TE over Jamie McCoy at all. McCoy had better numbers (31 receptions, 328 yards, 1 TD vs. 21 receptions, 233 yards, 1 TD), and was versatile enough to play some H-back and FB.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Christine Michael make Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year. I thought he had a terrific season, but I figured the coaches would take the easy way out and give it to Landry Jones, who did receive some votes.

I think it is interesting that outside of Earl Thomas, texas had no other players make the first team defense. I thought Lamarr Houston deserved some serious consideration, although I can't argue against including Jared Crick, Ndamukong Suh, or Gerald McCoy at the DT position.
It was a surprise to see Michael Hodges receive some votes for Defensive Newcomer of the Year.
I am also happy some coaches think Jerrod Johnson deserved to be Offensive Player of the Year.
Von Miller received votes for both Defensive Lineman of the Year AND Defensive Player of the Year. With a freak of nature like Suh in this conference, you knew he wouldn't win either award, but the recognition of his performance this year is nice.
This conference is ridiculously loaded at wide receiver; show me another conference that can name a talented trio like Ryan Broyles, Kerry Meier, and Brandon Banks as their SECOND team.
I think Trent Hunter should be on the first team over Larry Asante, but I guess I'll have to be happy with a second-team selection. I think Asante had an easier job, since heplayed behind Suh and Crick, and just had to clean up on a lot of play. Hunter had to be a playmaker for us a lot more often, as attested by the 87 tackles he had on the season.
It is baffling to me that Sergio Kindle makes second team DL while Sam Acho did not. If you look at their play on the field or their statistics, Acho is obviously a better player, and this while playing on the strongside, so often facing double-teams.
It is nice to see that Uzoma Nwachukwu received some consideration for Offensive Freshman of the Year.

Afternooon Brewsky Is Long-Winded

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:33:15 -0000

More photos » by Erich Schlegel - AP

Your Flavor of the Week at running back: Tre' Newton.

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Flavor of the Week at running back: Tre' Newton. It's been quite a season for this feature -- numerous running backs stepping into and out of the starting role in the Texas offense, but never able to hang onto the job. In all, my biggest regret is not giving Jamison Berryhill the Flavor of the Week Award after his performance against UTEP -- I just couldn't do it because of his fumble. Just in the last month and a half, Fozzy Whittaker looked like he earned himself the job with a strong game against Oklahoma, then it looked like Whittaker and Johnson were a strong one-two punch before Johnson carried 19 times for only the second 100-yard rushing game of the season against Baylor. Then, Johnson had a mediocre eight carries for 15 yards against Kansas and perhaps the coaches felt like his coming into the game too strongly signalled a running play -- probably because it did. Combined with his lack of ability to split out in the passing game and Johnson fell by the wayside with Vondrell McGee and Whittaker, carrying the ball only once against A&M.

The star of that game at running back was Tre' Newton, who received his first extended action since the Texas Tech game against Baylor when he broke off a 45-yard touchdown run and then came back with 12 carries for 66 yards and three catches for 36 yards against Kansas. Fully recovered from his concussion, Newton showed the ability that had some calling him the perfect fit for the Texas scheme after his strong performances against Wyoming and Tech early in the season.

What is it about Newton that makes him so valuable to his team? Perhaps his most valuable skill is his ability to pick up the blitz. It's obvious at this point that Texas is a passing team first and foremost, sprinkling in just enough running to keep the defense honest at times. Newton has been as good picking up the blitz as he was advertised to be in the spring -- his work in that respect by have been the most underrated part of the Texas win on Thursday, as he did not appear to miss an assignment at all during the game. At a solid 6-0, 200 pounds, Newton has the build that Whittaker does not to pick up blitzing linebackers and stop them in their tracks.

Combined with his blitz pick up abilities, Newton can also catch the ball, as he showed against Kansas, but there is still room for growth in that area and it will probably have to happen with Garrett Gilbert because McCoy clearly does not have the same trust with Newton that he did with Chris Obgonnaya, hardly surprising since Newton has gotten little work with the first team, while McCoy worked with Ogbonnaya for three years.

Running the football, he's hardly spectacular, but he has an excellent sense of when to be patient and when to hit the hole hard, as evidenced by his 16 carries for 107 yards and touchdown, only the third 100-yard game by a Texas back this season. What sets him apart from Fozzy Whittaker is his vision -- where Whittaker tries to bounce everything outside, which probably cost him his job, Newton doesn't get caught stretching plays horizontally when he can get up the field. And while he isn't the fastest running back around, he hasn't been caught from behind and his size makes his speed somewhat deceptive, which is just about as effective for blowing up angles as is a pure, 4.4 burst. After the Baylor game, Mack Brown probably expressed it as well as anyone could -- he said that Newton simply plays fast in pads, he has football speed.

It also looks like Newton has a nice stiff arm, as well:

That stiff arm delivered to an Aggie defender segues into the next point -- since Newton doesn't necessarily have breakaway speed, he does have to break some tackles, which he accomplishes by running with good pad level and finishing by driving his legs. He's a tough guy to bring down, as several Aggies got taken for a ride late in the game (with an assist from EBS):

In other words, Newton is basically a bigger, faster, stronger version of Chris Ogbonnaya and that's an excellent sign for the future of the running back position.

Return of the zone read. While Colt McCoy picked up some serious yardage on scrambles and quarterback draws, his Heisman moment on Thursday night came on his 65-yard touchdown run on a zone read, that staple under Vince Young that McCoy struggled running early in his career because he wasn't making the proper reads and was rarely used this season as the coaches sought to protect their star quarterback. Well, it's back and in a big way.

At least for the Texas A&M game, that is. It's hard to say how effective it will remain for a major reason -- the Aggies didn't seem prepared for it. During the game, they eventually adjusted by having the read man get upfield and force the handoff, but Nebraska and Florida/Alabama if the Longhorns win on Saturday may use the now tried-and-true technique of forcing the quarterback to keep the ball by crashing the read man down the line of scrimmage, then scraping a linebacker to that side to cover the quarterback -- basically the way that teams stop the zone read these days.

Doing that, however, may take a scraping linebacker out of the play on the straight inside zone, which could open up holes for the running back and allow a lineman to even get to the third level of the defense. Basically, running the zone read should open up the running game for Texas because the defense has to decide where to commit resources -- to stopping the running back or stopping McCoy by scraping a linebacker and leaving the Longhorns with even better numbers on the inside zone.

Here's a perfect example from the A&M game -- obviously the Aggies were caught off guard with the zone read, most likely just thinking the Longhorns were running the inside zone, but adjusted at halftime by sending the read man upfield to force a handoff:

The read man on the play gets upfield, giving McCoy a give read. The Aggie player on the right end of the line of scrimmage runs himself out of the play for some reason, perhaps concerned with McCoy, while the offensive line does an excellent job of sustaining their blocks and getting to the second level to take out the linebackers. It's a perfect example of how the threat of McCoy running can open up the running game -- Newton picked up 20 yards on this play extremely easily.

if teams get lazy and forget about McCoy, the Texas quarterback will gash them for big plays with his feet. If teams focus too much on McCoy, it opens up the inside zone for Tre' Newton. In other words, using McCoy in the running game is the best way for Texas to run the ball consistently and with him becoming a threat in recent weeks, it puts a ton of pressure on the defense and elevates the Longhorn running game from inconsistent and sporadic to a serious threat.

Malcolm Williams continues his emergence. Rivals has a scouting report ($) up from an opposing Big 12 coach about the Longhorns, from the context probably an Oklahoma coach because he talks about being physical with Shipley and Texas not having another dangerous receiver. Clearly, that coach hasn't watched the Longhorns over the last several weeks as Malcolm Williams and James Kirkendoll have emerged as excellent no. 2 and no. 3 options for McCoy. Of course, the same coach also said that McCoy "doesn't look like a substantial guy," so he clearly doesn't really know what he's talking about. Have you seen his guns the last two years, dude? The guy is ripped and has been for some time.

The bigger point here is that Texas is at a much different point right now with their receiving corps than they were a month and a half ago after playing Oklahoma, a game in which every receiver other than Marquise Goodwin had a bad day and Goodwin even made a huge mistake late by going behind the defender on a slant. Since then, Williams has accounted for 27 of his 35 catches, 411 of his 494 yards and both of his touchdowns. In the last two games, Williams has caught 15 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown -- nearly half of his receiving yards on the entire season and the second and third games of his career with more than 100 yards receiving. So, for that coach who hasn't been paying attention -- check out what Malcolm Williams has been doing, because it's pretty impressive.

More than pure numbers, though, Williams has opened up the Texas offense by providing a threat down the field, as well as a physical presence in the short passing game who has the ability to break a tackle and pick up big yardage. On one play in the second quarter, the Aggies failed to put a safety over the top of Williams and tried to jam him with Justin McQueen. As soon as McCoy saw him walking up on Williams, he pointed and made eye contact with his big receiver, perhaps making a sight adjustment on the play. Williams did an excellent job using his hands to get the inside release and then ran by McQueen, catching the pass at the first-down marker and accelerating downfield.

The play would have gone for a 75-yard touchdown had McQueen not made a shoestring tackle on Williams to limit him to a 28-yard gain. A productive play, but one that ended up essentially costing the Longhorns points because they were not able to score on the drive -- had Williams recognized that McQueen was right behind him and done something that a lot of running backs do well in chopping his feet high and hard, he might have broken the tackle and scored on the play.

Even with that small complaint, the play illustrates just how close Williams is to breaking big plays consistently. In fact, had McCoy hit him on several targeted deep passes, the Garland product and former track star may have easily eclipsed 200 yards receiving on the day -- it's clear that he and McCoy aren't quite on the same page consistently on deep passes. Part of the problem is that Williams seems to get caught up in hand fighting with defensive backs instead of trusting his speed to get him downfield, something that has caused McCoy to overthrow him twice in the last two weeks on plays that could have gone for touchdowns. If the Longhorns can get past Nebraska this week, then McCoy and Williams will have a little more than a month to get ready for a national championship game and connecting on deep passes. With how far they have come in a month and a half, that extra time could lead to some big plays even against good defenses like Alabama and Florida.

One key for McCoy might be to not try to lead Williams so much, but rather to make sure that he has a chance to make a play on the ball, even if he has to slow down to do so. Slight underthrows also make it more likely that a defensive back will interfere with the play and though that isn't as big in college football as it is in the NFL, 15 yards is still much more helpful to a drive than an incomplete pass. A perfect example of his came on the first drive of the third quarter when the Longhorns tried a play-action pass off their jet tempo look -- McCoy had some pressure in his face and had to get rid of the ball a little early, but overthrew Williams to the inside instead of giving him a chance to make a play on the ball.

Tracking: special teams play. For the second straight week, covering kicks was an abject disaster. The first problem is that unless he has some wind behind him or is in the thin air of Wyoming, Justin Tucker can't seem to put the ball in the end zone, forcing the Texas coverage kickoff unit to cover every single kick. The reasons for the other problems -- failing to fill lanes, missing tackles, not getting off blocks -- are harder to explain, but they need to get fixed and soon.

Virtually everyone on both the kickoff coverage unit and the kickoff return unit are to blame for the poor performace against the Aggies. Outside of the touchdown return from Goodwin, the Longhorns averaged a paltry 15 yards per return on the first six Aggie kicks -- that's a terrible average that would rank dead last in the country over the course of a season.

Here's a look at each kickoff return:

1st return: An Aggie player comes completely free from the right edge of the Texas return team, while Aaron Smith and Malcolm Williams both fail to get blocks inside. Shipley never has a chance on his 13-yard return.
2nd return: A high, short kick by the Aggies gives the coverage excellent time to get down the field. Goodwin fields the ball at the 14 yardline and heads up behind the wedge of Eddie Jones, Aaron Smith. and Antwan Cobb. The blocks are good initially, but as Goodwin tries to get arond Jones' man, the Aggie defender disengages and makes the play. If Jones could have help the block longer and done a better job of sealing the defender inside, the return might go for a big play. However, it was destined to come back because Kenny Vaccaro absolutely tackled his man on the right side of the unnecessarily.
3rd return: Another high, short kick by the Aggies field at the 14 by Goodwin and the wedge never forms because Aaron Smith gets absolutely blown up and Nolan Brewster gets beat on the edge, keeping Goodwin from getting quickly upfield. He does manage to take the corner and picks up 22 yards, a good return on this evening.
4th return: Goodwin fields the ball at the 6 and heads upfield, but has no chance to get up into the wedge because Nolan Brewster misses his block on the edge so badly that the Aggie hits Goodwin in the legs at the 16, a tackle the speedster escapes before he gets hit on the left side of the field at the 22 by an Aggie who was unblocked on the play. Had the blocking been better on the edges, Goodwin still wouldn't have had much of a chance, as Cody Johnson missed his block and Aaron Smith didn't manage to block anyone. The Longhorns start at the 22 after a 16-yard return.
5th return: This was a really bad play for the Texas running backs. Cody Johnson misses a block in the wedge that forces Goodwin outside after his catch at the 2 yardline, while both Fozzy Whittaker and Jeremy Hills miss blocks on the right side of the return. Kenny Vaccaro also misses his block early in the coverage, so basically everything on the right side broke down. Goodwin bounces it outside left, then tries to cut back, eventually getting to the 17. Unfortunately, Hills, in his attempt to get back into the block, gets a cheap, unnecessary block in the back call at the end of the play that didn't even help Texas. The Longhorns end up backed up inside their own 10.
6th return: Goodwin catches the ball at the 3 yardline, then heads upfield into the wedeg. Oh wait, there is no wedge on this play because Cody Johnson and Aaron Smith both fail to block the single Aggie coming at them. Guess who eventually collapses the play? Yeah, that guy who didn't get blocked. Goodwin gets 19 yards out to the 22.
7th return: Ah yes -- the seventh time is the charm, apparently. This time, Cody Johnson and Aaron Smith knock down an Aggie trying to split their block, then keep him on the ground. On the other side of the wedge, Eddie Jones blocks one Aggie, while getting in the way of another -- looks like one of them got out of their lane pretty badly to allow that to happen, while Vondrell McGee walls off another Aggie behind Jones. Meanwhile, Nolan Brewster gets an excellent block on the edge, despite getting a hand to his throat and facemask. An unblocked Aggie comes from the right edge, but Goodwin blows up his angle with his speed, as the Aggie slips trying to make the tackle. At this point, Goodwin is up in the wedge with a beautiful running lane and needs only to get a block from Malcolm Williams and beat the kicker. Williams overruns the last Aggie in hole, but recovers to get a piece of him as Goodwin sprints by. Now, it's just Goodwin and a short, fat, dumpy kicker in the open field. Goodwin cruises for the last 30 yards of his game-changing 95-yard touchdown return, the 11th non-offensive touchdown for the Longhorns this season.

It's hard to say that the return unit made up for the consistently poor blocking the rest of the game with one good effort, but considering how much that one play changed the game, it's probably not out of line to say that. However, it doesn't excuse the poor effort by some of the same players on the coverage unit, particularly Kenny Vaccaro. A special teams standout since the Oklahoma State game, Vaccaro had by far his worst game as a Longhorn, with only one good block that was close to being a hold on kickoff, while committing another holding penalty and a late-hit personal foul on the return after Goodwin's touchdown when he jumped way late into Ryan Swopes and the two Longhorns pushing him out of bounds.

Vaccaro clearly walks a fine line between playing with near-reckless abandon and playing out of control. Against the Aggies, he was clearly out of control and he needs to reign himself in if he wants to keep playing on special teams because both of those penalties were extremely harmful to the field position in the game -- after his personal foul, the Aggies started their drive at the Texas 36 yardline, an extremely short field. Add in the penalty on Jeremy Hills and the special teams accounted for three of the six Longhorn penalties on the evening.

In the punting game, Justin Tucker was adequate, averaging just over 43 yards on his two kicks and Colt McCoy continued his streak of killing the ball inside the 20 on his pooch punts, punting for 33 yards and pinning the Aggies inside their own 8 yardline. The Longhorns also ran a fake punt, hiking the ball to Antwan Cobb, who pitched it to Malcolm Williams, who ran the option with Justin Tucker. The Aggie forced the pitch and Tucker got within two yards of the marker, but Nolan Brewster missed his block and Keenan Robinson could get not outside fast enough to get his block. The timing and position on the field of the call were questionable, but the Longhorns would have made it if it had only been 4th and 4 instead of 4th and 6 or possibly if Brewster could have made his block.

The special teams has disturbingly trended downward throughout the latter part of the season, as the kickoff return game has stalled at times, Jordan Shipley has fumbled twice, Justin Tucker's punting has been inconsistent, and the kickoff coverage has cratered over the last two weeks, giving up around 25 yards per return, which would put them in the bottom seven in the country over the course of a whole season. As it is, ranking 63rd in the country, right behind North Texas and Ball State, is hardly something to brag about. The Longhorns have some serious work to do if they can escape the Big 12 championship game against Nebaska before they move on to a possible national championship game, as both Florida and Alabama both rank in the top 15 in kickoff returns and Alabama ranks sixth in punt returns.

Tracking: third-down conversions. The Longhorns rank second this year in converting third downs, picking up nearly 48% of their attempts. Against the Aggies, Texas was slightly below their season average in conversions at 42% or five of 12.

Here's a look at each third down:

3rd and 11 Texas A&M 41: Texas A&M brings a linebacker, a safety, and a standup end or linebacker and though the Texas offensive line mostly holds up well, Adam Ulatoski allows enough pressure on McCoy and the coverage downfield is good enough that he has to throw the ball short of the first-down marker to Jordan Shipley for a five-yard gain. The Longhorns ran their unsucessful fake punt attempt on the next play and came up short.
3rd and 10 Texas 45: After dropping back to pass and scanning the field without finding a receiver open, McCoy heads heads towards the line of scrimmage and pumps fakes one A&M defender before breaking the tackle of another to get close to the first-down marker. The Longhorns sneak the ball on fourth and short to pick up the fourth down -- the third-down scramble doesn't go down as a conversion, but basically works as such since the Longhorns couldn't have gone for it and fourth and long.
3rd and 5 Texas A&M 40: The Longhorns line up in 10 personnel with Buckner as the flex tight end. A&M brings a blitz from the defensive back lined up over Buckner and there isn't a safety close enough to stop Buckner after McCoy finds him on a short route over the middle. Buckner does a nice job of planting his foot and making one defender miss to pick up 12 yards on the play.
3rd and 2 Texas 35: Ah yes, the Heisman moment: Texas lines up in 11 personnel and the Aggies bring a blitz from the weakside. McCoy does an excellent job of waiting just long enough for a defender coming free from his left to get too far upfield, while another defender coming on the blitz bites hard on the running back. Adam Ulatoski and Charlie Tanner both get good blocks and then McCoy simply outruns two defensive backs to the end zone for a 65-yard touchdown.
3rd and 4 Texas A&M 41: This is the possession where Malcolm Williams nearly broke the short pass for a long touchdown, but got taken down from behind. McCoy drops back and scans the field, then checks down to Tre' Newton over the middle, who can't hand onto the catch just short of the marker -- the only real mistake from Newton on the evening. Had he caught the ball, the Longhorns might have gone for it just over midfield. The second-down play also led to the lack of a third-down conversion, as McCoy misfired on a short pass that Shipley couldn't hang onto that would have been about a yard and half short, setting up an easier third down.
3rd and 8 Texas 39: The Longhorns are in 10 personnel with Buckner as the flex tight end. The Aggies blitz and Williams runs a hitch, pushing McQueen well off the ball, then using his superior size and a stiff arm to get the last several yards to pick up the first down. A perfect example of the physical dominance Williams possesses over 95% of college cornerbacks.
3rd and 8 Texas A&M 50: This looks like almost the exact same play as the previous third down: the Aggies blitz and McCoy hits Williams on a hitch. This time, McQueen does a better job of making the tackle and Williams appears to be inches short, but gets a poor spot nearly a yard from the first-down marker. The Longhorns go to the quick-snap sneak one time too many and get stopped -- it would have been a perfect time for the Jumbo package.
3rd and 1 Texas A&M 13: Chris Fowler calls this a zone read on the broadcast, but it's really power, with Davis Snow pulling into the hole and picking up a good block for Tre' Newton, who picks up six yards on the play.
3rd and 8 Texas 22: Aganst an 11 personnel look from the Longhorns, the Aggies bring both linebackers and though Tre' Newton does an adequate job of picking one up, the defender collapses the pocket, forcing McCoy to step up into the rush of a defensive tackle who knocked Charlie Tanner onto his back and Von Miller, who used a nice inside move that knocked Ulatoski off balance. McCoy is sacked for a loss of six yards.
3rd and 10 Texas 8: This one really comes down to poor plays on first and second down. On first down, Williams dropped what would have been a five or six yard gain, making playcalling on the next two downs much easier. Then, on second down, McCoy gets himself in trouble by stepping up in the pocket, which helps a defensive lineman disengage and nearly takes a safety before overthrowing Malcolm Williams downfield. On third down, the Longhorns go to empty and the Aggies drop nine into coverage to take away any scrambles by McCoy, who forces a pass to a covered Buckner and overthrows him on the play.
3rd and 12 Texas A&M 47: This is the touchdown pass to James Kirkendoll. See here for analysis.
3rd and 7 Texas A&M 50: This is the final play of the game -- victory formation for the Longhorns.

Taking out the final play and putting the two fourth-down sneak attempts in, the Longhorns finished at 46% for the game, close to their season average. The major blemishes were the two three and outs in the third quarter, which had more to do with more plays on first and second down than poor playcalling or execution on third down. Those two drives illustrate just how important it is to pick up yardage on first and second down -- this is why Greg Davis doesn't mind callilng short passes -- two short passes to set up third and short end up being extremely effective. What stands out here is that McCoy targeted Williams on two consecutive third and long plays and Williams converted the first and nearly converted the second, as his size and strength makes him difficult to stop when the cornerback has to respect his ability to go deep.