SB Nation - Chykie Brown

Upon Further Review: Defense vs A&M (First Half)

Peter Bean — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:30:04 -0000

Even blogging full time, I now fully understand why Brian Cook usually isn't getting these things out until Wednesday, at the earliest. Finishing one half of one side of the ball took me far longer than I anticipated, for a multitude of reasons, some for reasons beyond my control (e.g. technology issues with the torrent file), and plenty that were my own fault -- mistakes and inefficiencies made because I'd never put one of these together before. One look at the monstrous chart and you'll sympathize. (Given that it's Wednesday night and I'm behind on pretty much everything -- behind on Life -- I may not get to do the second half to review the defense's forgettable second period.)

Let me preface the chart with a few key notes, for navigating what you're reading. Columns indicate, from left-to-right: Line of Scrimmage (Line), Down (Dn), Distance (Ds), Offensive Formation (OForm), Defensive Formation (DForm), Type, Play, Player, Yards Gained/Lost (Yds). Within the notes on each individual play, you'll see various +/-s sprinkled in behind player names or to conclude a note. These indicate a notable strong (+) play or mistake (-). Where the team's pressure is implicated, positively or negatively, that gets charted; ditto for coverage (Cover). At the conclusion of the chart is the aggregate chart for each player and the team pressure/cover metrics. There is some art to this particular science, but each play was scrutinized closely, two or more times almost every time. The chart, and the notes embedded within, pretty well captures everything that happened of import in the first half when A&M had the ball. If you have questions, pop 'em in the comments.

FIRST QUARTER

Line	Dn	Ds	OForm	DForm	Type	Play	Player	Yds
O29	1	10	Ace H-Back	4-2 Base	Run	Dive	Michael	3
Ags actually execute picture-perfect zone blocking initially, but LT Grimes can't hold Lamarr Houston (+1), who sheds his block and makes the primary stop, with help from Acho (+0.5).
O32	2	7	Shotgun Trips Left	4-2 Base	Pass	Slip screen	Swope	-2
A&M tries a quick slip screen to the left flat with Swope, but Williams pushes his blocker back and Earl Thomas (Cover +1) comes racing forward to make a strong open field tackle for a loss of 2.
O30	3	9	Shotgun 4-wide	4-2 Up	Pass	Fly	Fuller	70 (TD)
Zone blitz disaster. Gideon comes on a delayed blitz, and three Horns (Chykie, Keenan, ET) triangulate on slot man Morrow in the underneath zone as Fuller streaks past Chykie Brown (-0.5). I'm also tallying this one (Team Cover -2), as it's impossible to tell who among the three is at fault, or, if we take Muschamp at his word, the DC's fault.
DRIVE NOTES: 3 plays, 71 yards, 7 points, 1:16. A busted coverage puts Texas in the early hole. Nothing else to say about it. On the bright side: a mistake that's correctable.

Line	Dn	Ds	OForm	DForm	Type	Play	Player	Yds
O33	1	10	Shotgun Trips Left	4-2 Base	Pass	Out	Tannehill	14
Ags take over after ridiculous, predictable fake punt by UT. Aggies open with the same play as 2nd and 7 from their first drive, but this time, because Texas is blitzing Williams -- easily picked up by the LT (Pressure -1) Tannehill releases upfield on an out as Swope slides towards the sideline. ET charges up (Cover -1), reading another screen, but because Williams has vacated, Tannehill is free behind him on the out. After holding the LBs with play action, Johnson makes the right read and hits him for 14.
O47	1	10	Ace 3-wide	4-2 Base	Run	Sweep	Gray	5 (Pen -15)
The Aggies run a sweep to the right, which would have been a nice first-down gain, but lose 15 yards on a chop block penalty called on Grimes. Keenan (-1) takes a terrible angle on the run, plowing himself into pinned inside position as Gray gets outside.
O32	1	25	Shotgun 4-wide, Trips L	4-2 Base	Pass	Shovel	Gray	0
Texas sends Randall on a stunt and for a moment it looks like Texas is in trouble, as right before Randall arrives (Pressure +1) Johnson flips the shovel pass to Gray right in the area where Randall vacated, but Muckelroy (+1) is there, dodges a block, and makes the tackle for no gain.
O32	2	25	Shotgun empty	4-2 Wide	Pass	Shovel	Gray	6
A&M goes 5-wide from the empty set and runs a quick bubble screen to Gray. Keenan recovers nicely from an initial block to keep Gray from cutting inside, while ET (+1) comes up quick and strong to make the initial hit, with Muckelroy finishing the tackle.
O38	3	19	Shotgun 4-wide, Doubles	3-4	Pass	Scramble	Johnson	0
Texas brings in E-Acho for its first true 3-4 look of the game. Three-man rush gets no pressure on Johnson, who has a huge pocket to throw in, but doesn't like what he sees downfield and scrambles, making Kindle miss before getting run out of bounds by Muckelroy. (Team Cover +1)
DRIVE NOTES: 5 plays, 5 yards, Punt, 2:01. The chop block puts A&M in big hole they don't get out of. Texas D does nice job tackling what's in front of them. Fake punt doesn't hurt Texas on the scoreboard.

Line	Dn	Ds	OForm	DForm	Type	Play	Player	Yds
O34	1	10	Ace 4-wide, Doubles	4-2 Base	Rush	Stretch	Michael	4
Another nice bit of execution by A&M zone blocking, as the guard gets a good block taking Muckelroy (+1) to the ground, but the linebacker nicely absorbs the blow and is on his feet very quickly to make the tackle with ET (+0.5), who avoided the WR block while coming up in run support. Keenan (-0.5), apparently on outside contain, lightly dances (much too far) outside trying to avoid a Tannehill block, and effectively runs himself out of the play.
O38	2	6	Ace 4-wide, Bunch L	4-2 Base	Run	Counter	Michael	3
A&M bunches three WR to the left, then runs a counter to the right with Michael. The blocking is excellent up front and at the second level on the playside, but Keenan (+1) does a good job decisively cutting to cut off Michael before he can make much yardage, slamming him to the ground with a strong tackle.
O41	3	3	Empty, 5-wide, Trips L	4-2 Under	Pass	Dig	McCoy	7
Texas rushes four while playing A&M in man underneath, with Muck spying Johnson in the middle of the field. Johnson has a comfortable pocket and clear lane to zip a pass to McCoy just beyond the LOS. Williams' coverage is strong -- McCoy is smothered as he receives the ball -- but it's just a perfect throw by Johnson, good for a 1st Down.
O48	1	10	I-Form	4-2 Base	Run	Dive	Michael	1
After mindlessly lining up on the wrong side of the field, Aaron Williams (-0.5) is belatedly sprinting across the field at the snap and is lucky Johnson didn't audible to a quick pass to the uncovered slot on the strongside. No harm on the play, however, as Acho and Randall tie up blockers, and Chykie (+1) beats a block and combines with Keenan for a stuff near the LOS.
O49	2	9	Ace, Twin-TEs	3-4	Run	Dive	Michael	6
Hard to see this one very well as ESPN gives us a meaningless Packers-Lions update from six hours earlier, but it's another good job of zone blocking by A&M, although Muck (+0.5) once again does a good job shedding engagement to help ET make the tackle.
UT45	3	3	Shotgun, 5-wide, Trips R	3-3-5	Pass	Drag	Tannehill	INC
Texas rushes three, and drops LBs into zone. Tannehill drags across and is actually open in the zone when Johnson releases the ball, but Lamarr Houston (+1) pushes to JJ with an outstanding rush from the weak end position (Pressure +1) and bats down the pass as it's release.
DRIVE NOTES: 6 plays, 21 yards, Punt, 2:32. No real problems here for the defense; A&M picks up a first down on nice execution, but Texas is solid throughout.

SECOND QUARTER

Line	Dn	Ds	OForm	DForm	Type	Play	Player	Yds
O35	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide, Trips R	3-3-5 Under	Run	Dive	Michael	2
Texas is playing three down, with Kindle upright on the strongside. Lamarr Houston (+1) absolutely destroys Patrick Lewis at the LOS and makes the primary tackle.
O36	2	8	Shotgun Trips Left	4-2 Base	Pass	Screen	Michael	7
A&M shoots both receivers on the right downfield while slipping Michael out on a quick screen. Muck does a great job reading it, but Johnson completes a nifty pass and Muck (-0.5) overruns Michael, whiffing on the tackle. Fortunately, Kindle reads it nicely as well and is able to wrap the RB with Chykie before A&M can get a 1st Down.
O30	3	1	I-Form, Twin-TEs	4-2 Up	Pass	Sack	Johnson	-1
Out of the I-formation with two tight ends, it might be a questionable play call on 3rd and short, except that Texas's tackles (Houston especially) have begun really disrupting the interior. A&M tries Play Action instead, but the short zones are blanketed by Longhorns. Randall (+0.5) and Kindle (+0.5) close in on Johnson (Pressure +1) and get the sack for a loss of 10, as JJ nearly fumbles.
DRIVE NOTES: 3 plays, -1 yards, Punt, 2:20. Texas fans start to relax as it looks like the D is going to do what it always does: shut opponents down after giving up an early score. Horns lead 14-7.

Line	Dn	Ds	OForm	DForm	Type	Play	Player	Yds
O08	1	10	Shotgun, Ace Right-Over	3-3-5 Under	Rush	Zone Read	Johnson	14
Texas is in 3-4 with Kindle upright on the weakside, with Houston line up in 5-technique on the strongside. At the snap Johnson correctly reads Houston (-1), who crashes inside too quickly, pulls the ball back, keeps it, and rips off a 14-yard run before an open field tackle is made by Nolan Brewster, who's in the game because Williams is for the first series this game on the sidelines (ET taking nickelback duties).
O22	1	10	Ace, Doubles	4-2 Base	Rush	Dive	Michael	8
Great zone blocking once again by A&M: the tackles are sealed and Muck can't immediately shed the second-level block this time, allowing Michael to rip it up the gut before Gideon makes the stop with Muck.
O30	2	2	N/A	N/A	Rush	N/A	Michael	1
ESPN misses the entire play while Reece Davis shows a meaningless picture of fans in Boulder while talking about the (not at all breaking) news that Dan Hawkins will return next year. Thanks, guys. Houston and Robinson are credited with the tackle of Michael, who picks up 1 on a rush.
O31	3	1	Ace, Twin-TEs	4-2 Base	Rush	Dive	Michael	3
Keenan had an indirect shot at Michael in the backfield, but couldn't quite knock him down and Michael kept his balance and stumbled forward for the first down. Thomas on the tackle.
O34	1	10	Shotgun, Ace Trips L	3-3-5	Pass	Fly	Tannehill	36
Texas in its 3-4 with Kindle upright. Horns blitz 5 at the snap, Kindle from the weakside and Muck from the strongside, but there's no pressure generated at all (Pressure -1). With Muck vacating, Keenan (-1) has responsibility for the strongside slot, but he's a second slow making his break over and Tannehill, who's running a fly, has a full step edge on him. Johnson lobs a perfect pass that hits the WR in stride as Keenan tackles from behind. (Coverage -1) Absolutely no reason, given Texas' scheme and A&M's alignment, that Robinson shouldn't have been leaning towards Tannehill sooner, in time to be there in coverage.
UT30	1	10	Shotgun, Ace Doubles	4-2 Base	Pass	Scramble	Johnson	8
Texas plays A&M in Cover 2 man and blankets all the downfield receivers nicely (Coverage +1), but the front four can't get anything on Johnson (Pressure -1), who eventually tucks it in, jukes Kindle (-0.5), and is barely tripped up by Acho after picking up 8 yards.
UT22	2	2	I-Form, Twin TE	4-2 Base (?)	Rush	Dive	Michael	8
Texas is scrambling to align itself at the snap, making the job easy for A&M, who easily win the LOS and open the way for Michael to grab 8 and the first down. (Pressure -1)
UT14	1	10	Ace, Double Stacks Gun	3-3-5	Pass	Slant	Fuller	14
Texas aligns in 3-4 (Kindle upright) and blitzes the nickelback ET, dropping the remaining 7 in zone. Problem 1: Absolutely no heat from the four man rush (Pressure -1). Now, take a look at this snap shot. Problem 2: Dustin Earnest (-1) stands like a statue and just watches, opening a gap behind him for Fuller. Problem 3: Nolan Brewster (-1)not only fgails to engage Fuller at the 10, but more or less propels him forward with a light push, meekly releasing him to the second level. Problem 4: As Fuller is released, Curtis Brown (-1) does absolutely nothing about it, instead doubling over the top of the underneath man releasing outside. On TV it looks like Gideon is the one late coming over, but it's not his play to make. There was no way he could get over -- it was Brown's responsibility. (Cover -3)
DRIVE NOTES: 8 plays, 92 yards, TD 14-14, 2:53. Prior to this drive, A&M had 7 points and 70 yards on a busted coverage and nothing else of too much concern -- just 32 yards on 6-7 passing and 25 yards rushing on 8 carries. With Texas' two scores to take a 14-7 lead, this would have seemed the moment when the Longhorns would begin to pull away. Instead, pinned on their own 8 yard line, Jerrod Johnson led A&M on an 8-play, 92-yard scoring drive, 72 of which were all Johnson -- 2 rushes for 22 and 2 passes for 36 and 14. Tempting as it might be to feel modestly assured that all four of the biggest plays featured dumbfounding mistakes by Texas, we have to wonder: how many mistakes did Texas make in the first 11 games this year that teams simply weren't able to capitalize on? There's no question this defense is strong, but the lack of QBs able to capitalize on Texas' mistakes may have made the unit look better than it is. I'll stop now, as we're only in the second quarter here. More pain to come.

Line	Dn	Ds	OForm	DForm	Type	Play	Player	Yds
O33	1	10	Shotgun Ace Trips R	3-3-5 Under	Pass	Curl	Nwachukwu	13
Another soft zone by Texas, another country afternoon for JJ to survey the field (Pressure -1). The Aggies send Swope from the slot towards the sideline, occupying nickelback ET near the LOS, send Fuller deep to draw the safety, and hit Nwachukwu on a 10-yard curl, who Beasley (-1) is only nominally covering. (Coverage -1) Second straight series without A-Williams and it's showing.
O46	1	10	I-Right Wing	4-2 Base	Rush	FB Dive	McCoy	-1
Johnson hands to the fullback on a quick dive play that A&M's blocking right; if McCoy heads for the B gap on the right side, there's a big hole and 6-8 yards waiting for him, but he hesitates and steps left, where Sergio Kindle (+1) is crashing down the line. Kindle wraps up for a 1-yard loss.
O45	2	11	Shotgun, Ace Right	4-2 Base	Rush	Zone Read	Gray	3
Seeing Kindle staying home this time, Johnson hands to Gray, who's got nothing to his right and is forced towards Kindle for what looks like will be a no-gainer, but Kindle (-0.5) can't finish the tackle as Gray makes a spin, allowing him to scamper forward for 3 yards, where Muck (+0.5) is in position to clos him out.
O49	3	7	Shotgun empty 5-wide	3-3-5	Pass	Sack	Johnson	-10
Texas aligns in 3-3, man under, with Keenan hovering near the right guard. At the snap, Robinson retreats and drifts to his right while Curtis Brown comes on a corner blitz. Brown approaches Johnson's blindside, but feels the pressure at the last moment and spins as Brown (-1) arrives -- another missed tackle. But as he looks down the field for somewhere to go, Sam Acho (+1) pursues with tremendous speed and snags Johnson from the backside for a 10-yard sack. (Pressure +2, Coverage +1)
DRIVE NOTES: 4 plays, 6 yards, Punt, 2:21. Having scored the drive previous, Texas again looked like it might be building momentum, now up 21-7, but an atrocious 25-yard punt by Ryan Epperson fluttered down amidst traffic, ricocheted off Vaccaro, and into the Aggies arms at the UT 36 yard line.

Line	Dn	Ds	OForm	DForm	Type	Play	Player	Yds
UT36	1	10	Ace Right	3-4 Under	Pass	Fly	Fuller	INC
3-4 alignment with Kindle upright. Aggies play action the stretch left and bootleg Johnson rolling out to his right, but the DL isn't fooled a bit, with Houston (+1), Kindle (+0.5), and Alexander (+0.5) all breaking through the Aggie OL to pursue the QB. Seeing Fuller covered well by Gideon (+1) deep, Johnson throws it away. (Pressure +1, Coverage +1)
UT36	2	10	Ace Right	3-3-5	Rush	Option Dive	Michael	2
3-4 with Kindle upright. Ags swing Fuller towards the ball, with the option going to Michael on the dive. Despite being brutally held by the lineman he's just beat, Sam Acho (+1) makes the tackle for only a 2-yard gain.
UT34	3	8	Shotgun, Ace Trips L	4-2 Base	Pass	Drag	Gray	15
Texas in base nickel defense, playing man under, with Muck and E-Acho at LB. At the snap, A&M sends both the left slot and split end deep, while crossing Tannehill left-to-right, vacating the flat where the receivers began. As Gray slips from the backfield and drags into the open area, Johnson rolls left as Houston (+0.5) and Eddie Jones (+0.5) break through and pursue. (Pressure +1) However, Muckelroy (-2) makes a huge mistake -- staring at Johnson and losing track of Gray, leaving him sprinting to make up ground when Johnson's ball is delivered. Racing up at full-speed, he overshoots Gray, misses the tackle, and frees the tailback to dart upfield for extra yards -- 15 in all, and an enormously important 3rd down conversion with 1:49 left in the half. (Coverage -2)
UT19	1	10	Shotgun empty 5-wide	3-3-5	Pass	Dig	Fuller	5
Texas aligns in 3-4, playing zone underneath with nickelback ET blitzing from the strongside. Johnson's hot read is to Fuller on a dig, good for a short completion of 5 with Okafor on the tackle.
UT14	2	5	Shotgun empty 5-wide	4-2 Base	Pass	Flag	Morrow	14 (TD)
Texas rushes 4 in Cover 2 man under, with E-Acho lined up on Morrow (weakside slot). Five yards into his route, the Aggie receiver makes a one-step break outside before jamming hard inside on the slant. Acho's (+1) position is perfect (walling off the inside), the coverage is excellent, and he's got safety help over Morrow's back-outside shoulder. As Nolan Brewster sees Johnson stepping into a throw to Morrow, he begins to close and, as the ball is released, is in excellent position: as shown here and here. Johnson's pass is as perfect as can be, giving Morrow the best chance possible to make the play, but given Brewster's positioning, it's a shocking completion. It's the kind of play our young safeties were (not) making early last year; this time, it's Brewster, who tackles Morrow as he makes the reception, but doesn't make a play on the ball. Touchdown Aggies and we're tied 21-21.
DRIVE NOTES: 5 plays, 36 yards, TD 21-21, 1:21. Each time Texas tries to separate, the Aggies bounce back, capitalizing this time on the muffed punt return. Credit for the short-field touchdown to Johnson -- again excellent -- but also again, Texas has a hand in it, Muckelroy's mental lapse the most critical mistake.

CHARTIN'

PLAYER	PLUS	MINUS
E. Jones	0.5	--
L. Houston	4.5	1
S. Acho	3.5	--
K. Randall	0.5	--
S. Kindle	2	1
B. Alexander	0.5	--

K. Robinson	1	2
R. Muckelroy	2	2
D. Earnest	--	1

B. Gideon	1	--
Cu. Brown	--	2
E. Thomas	1.5	--
A. Williams	--	0.5
Ch. Brown	1	0
N. Brewster	--	1
D. Beasley	--	1

PRESSURE	7	7
COVERAGE	5	11

Postgame React: Texas Buries Kansas 51-20, Improves To 11-0

Peter Bean — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:33:20 -0000

More photos » by Erich Schlegel - AP

24 days ago: Texas quarterback Colt McCoy (12) walks a victory lap after the Texas Longhorns beat Kansas 51-20 in the NCAA college football game in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. McCoy also set a NCAA Division I record for most wins as a starting quarterback (43). (AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

Browse more photos »

The outcome was: fantastic. Though Texas has for some time been locked into "win and they're in" territory, even now not all wins are created equal. We're 11 wins deep into this thing, and tonight's punishing win over the Jayhawks might be my favorite to date (OU excepted, always).The offense turned in its most encouraging performance, the defense got a healthy test from Kansas' strong receiving corps, and -- I'm damn happy to say -- the seniors walk out of DKR one last time, having played well, won impressively, and remaining on track to achieve all their goals.

As noted in the celebration thread: this is as good as I've felt about the team all year. Join me after the jump to discuss.

COLT MCCOY

We can't say what his final legacy will be until the season ends, because the only thing he's missing are rings. First and foremost, I hope he gets the conference championship he was robbed of last year. And of course, if he leads Texas to a national title in Pasadena, he joins Vince Young atop the Texas pantheon -- the absolute best of the best.

Even if the team falls short of that goal, it is remarkable to reflect on just how many games he's won; if his predecessor were anyone else, we would by this time have forgotten what it is like to be quarterbacked by anyone other than Colt McCoy. An NCAA record 43 career wins, 3 of them against Oklahoma. Every passing record in the books. He's a great kid and fine representative of the university and football program. And he's earned everything that he's accomplished.

Fittingly, I thought tonight's performance was his best of the season. He completed 32 of 41 passes for 396 yards, 4 TDs, and 0 INTs. Though he fumbled once and took three sacks, they were the result of McCoy having his most active game of the season -- the good kind of chaos, in which he uses his feet to scramble, extend plays, and break down defenses. Removing the 3 sacks and 11 yards lost on them, he rushed 9 times for 40 yards. He wasn't his most accurate throwing the ball tonight, but he was absolutely at his best as a playmaker, mixing short, intermediate, and long passes across multiple receivers: 10 completions to Shipley (108 yards), 6 to Malcolm (103 yds), 8 to Kirkendoll (86), 3 to Newton (36), 2 apiece to Goodwin (34) and Chiles (16), and 1 to Buckner (13).

It was his best performance of the year. Congratulations to a damn fine quarterback.

OFFENSE

Texas racked up 532 yards of total offense on an outstanding 6.5 yards per play, picking up 29 first downs overall and converting 9 of their 15 third downs. The Horns rushed 37 times for 151 yards (sacks excluded), led by Tre Newton's impressive 12 carry, 66-yard (1 TD) performance. The ground game was modest, but it was sufficient: Texas needn't be a strong running team, but it must commit to rushing the ball for the good of the passing game. We've been seeing much more of that in the five games since OU, and it's no accident that McCoy's numbers have improved:

Colt McCoy, first 6 games: 156-223 (69.9%) for 1,537 yards, 11 TDs, 7 INTs
Colt McCoy, last 5 games: 130-169 (76.9%) for 1,477 yards, 12 TDs, 2 INTs

In this regard, the commitment to rushing the ball isn't even about doing so successfully -- the 3-4 yards per carry the staff apparently seeks is actually fine. So long as Texas runs with sufficient purpose that defenses cannot completely ignore it, the mission is accomplished. The real prize is the boost that commitment provides to the passing game -- in particular, with play action. Whether he was saving his good stuff for mid-season, or just slow to figure it out -- an indictment either way -- Greg Davis has gone bonkers using play action the past five games. And it's working. Well. More, please.

On a related note: Davis is doing some really nice things in this belated diversification of the offense. In focusing on the need to improve the vertical passing game, we mostly focus on it as an end unto itself, but there are ripple effects from regularly attempting intermediate and long passes, including an opening up of enough space to strategically use short passes as runs. Without the deep passes, there's no room for it to work, but as the field gets stretched and defenses align to cover larger swaths of the field, there are opportunities to hit designed passes that have little-to-no big gain potential but are valuable as a boost to a mediocre rushing team.

McCoy's not the only one who's gotten it together since OU: what about the performances we've seen from James Kirkendoll the past three weeks? The junior wideout contributed 5 catches for 40 yards and a TD against UCF, 6 catches for 43 against Baylor, and 8 for 86 and 2 TDs tonight against Kansas. For a guy whose season-defining moment had been his Killebrew imitation, he's clearly gotten his head on straight and done what he needed to in practice. Most of us groaned when it was announced Kirk would replace Goodwin as a starter, but he's made the most out of the opportunity. That's all you can ask, and it's great seeing him out there working well with McCoy.

I'm almost afraid to say it because I'm terrified I'll jinx it, but Malcolm Williams is... emerging. Ignoring the Baylor game (in which we barely tried to pass at all), the outrageously athletic wideout has been consistently productive: 5 catches for 53 yards against Missouri, 2 for 55 (1 TD) against the Pokes, 5 for 67 against UCF, and 6 for 103 (1 TD) tonight. It's taken awhile, but as the passing offense diversifies to involve Goodwin, Kirkendoll, and Williams, the offensive attack is starting to have some real bite. For all the deserved criticism he's received this year, Greg Davis' extreme increase in the use of play action passing has this offense approaching its potential. If that trend continues, Malcolm will continue to find the end zone.

The season-long game of musical running-backs has been hilarious, and makes ridiculous any attempt to discuss it meaningfully. We opened the season with McGee, went to Newton, dabbled with Fozzy, changed to Cody, and now return to Newton. Would you even blink if Jeremy Hills was announced as next week's starter?

All that said, it looks like the coaches are settling in on Tre Newton as The Guy. While for the most part it still seems like Texas can plug-n-play with anyone and get roughly the same results, I like the move. Newton has the speed and agility to break runs Big Cody will not, and a toughness and downhill running style that separates him a bit from Whittaker. The bottom line is that Newton is the only tailback who is proving solid in all four aspects of the position: downhill running, speed to break a run, pass blocking, and receiving. He's like my boy Ogbonnaya with slightly better top-end speed: not particularly flashy, consistently productive, versatile, and strong as a finisher. Given our modest aims as a rushing team, that's the guy we want.

Turning to the O-Line: To be honest, I've been too busy (and maybe a little fat and happy with our commanding position) to sit down and re-watch our last three games, so I can't offer much more than just general observations picked up from live viewing. But this much I'll say: things are better than they've been all season.

As for rush blocking, there's no question it's better. You wouldn't put it on a video and try to sell it, but it's better. Last week I had to do a double-take when a replay revealed Michael Huey and Chris Hall perfectly executing zone blocking -- doubling the tackle at the snap before Huey quickly released upfield to get his hat on a linebacker. Our pulling guards on misdirection are finding guys to block. If this is the line performance Texas will get at A&M and, especially, against Nebraska, I'll feel great about not having to worry that the offense could suffer some sort of season-spoiling meltdown.

[Edit: Most everyone I've talked to since the game thought the line played poorly. As noted in the comments, I watched at a bar with friends and didn't watch terribly closely, so take my observation with a grain of salt. I'd have to re-watch to offer anything substantive. --PB--]

DEFENSE

Though they didn't dominate the stat sheet like they have of late, let's start with a salute to the two senior starters on the defensive line -- Sergio Kindle and Lamarr Houston. Though Kindle gets most of the attention, as the career of Lamarr Houston draws to a close, he's not only my favorite Longhorn on the team (that's been true for a long while now), but he joins Casey Hampton as my favorite Longhorn defender of all time. While I'm certain that loving an average defensive tackle might not be the most rewarding fan experience, there is nothing I enjoy more than watching a great one wreak havoc -- and especially when the big guy is someone you also admire as a person. The best DTs can uniquely impact a game and utterly destroy the strength of the opposing offense. I've watched Hampton do it for 15 years with the Longhorns and Steelers, and I couldn't be more pleased with the exceptional quality of Houston's senior season. That he was perhaps the team's best defensive end as a sophomore just makes it -- and him -- all the more amazing.

No fanboy salutes for Kindle and Rod Muckelroy, but no less fond a DKR farewell. They're both guys who had to battle to get to this level of senior success, though in different ways. Kindle arrived on campus overflowing with athletic talent, but raw as a football player -- a weakness that was only compounded by ankle trouble that slowed his development. But by all accounts he is a humble, hard worker, and when the perfect coach showed up his junior year, he had put himself in a position to take advantage of it. Amazingly, he's still pretty damn raw, but no one plays harder, and whatever short-term setbacks he faces as the difficulty elevates in the pros, that room to grow will prove a good thing. If he stays healthy, he can get there as a Sunday starter.

For his part, Muckelroy all but had to have his finger amputated when early in his sophomore season he severed a nerve. It is practically unfathomable to imagine an athlete that good having to sit on the sidelines because of a numb finger, but he bode his time, kept preparing, and closed his career fulfilling the promise he showed early on. A string of nagging injuries have held him back from having the gaudy senior season he's capable of, but as he returns to full health, he'll be as important as anyone on the entire defense if/when Texas matches up with Alabama or Florida.

It's hard to be anything but sappy about all of these guys, because everyone's so clearly worked so hard and contributed to the team so selflessly, and that goes for Deon Beasley, as well. It was Beasley -- not Chykie Brown -- who got put on the fast track as a freshman, but after he struggled with the big play as a sophomore and underestimated the importance of physical play as a junior, he lost his starting job to younger talent. Aaron Williams, Chykie Brown, and Curtis Brown haven't relinquished those spots, yet the demotion wasn't the death knell for Beasley, either. It would have been easy for Beasley to look at his impending graduation and his diminished role and coast to the finish line, but he clearly did just the opposite: though his role is more limited, when he's been out there he has played physically and hungry. It not only says something good about his character, but if Texas suffers an injury down the stretch, Beasley has shown he's ready to play. Heavy applause, sir.

Last but not least, I hope Ben Alexander is as proud of himself as we the fans are of him. When asked over and over on radio interviews this summer about the defensive line (the unit's presumed Achilles' heel), my go-to line that I repeated time and again was that "Alexander isn't much more than a situational space eater." But when the season started, there was Alexander, regularly rotating into the line, visibly slimmer and demonstrably quicker. And he has now played in all 11 games this season -- including one start -- accumulating 27 tackles and 7 tackles for loss. Texas needed Ben Alexander this year, and he put in the work to ready himself to contribute. Congrats, big fella.

He's not a senior, but the way he's playing football, I think we have to ask whether Earl Thomas is NFL-bound. Earlier in the season, I hung my hat on his diminutive size masking from scouts just how good he really is, but he's been so utterly exceptional over the past six games that it's becoming harder and harder to believe the secret's not out. I trust that Muschamp will help him make the decision that's best for him, but if the pro scouts are on to his excellence, "what's best for him" may, gulp, mean "going pro after this year."

Thomas was brilliant again tonight, whether shedding blocks to make a tackle before the marker, smothering Kerry Meier in coverage (5.1 yards per reception), or making another great play with the ball in the air to snatch a turnover. Again, he's just playing too well to be a secret. This is not a complaint.

Curtis Brown got his first taste of an NFL-caliber receiver since whats-his-name caught that pass at the end of regulation last year, and it wasn't terribly pretty tonight. I mentioned at the outset that I thought Kansas' success in the passing game was healthy: as thoroughly as this defense has dominated almost every opponent this year, I'm not opposed to a challenge providing a spark to keep everyone focused on improving. Curtis is so quick and athletic that he's capable of defending 98% of college receivers without worrying too much about technique, but Briscoe is not among them. The senior wideout repeatedly worked Brown with inside moves and then surprised him with his professional grade strength and speed. For the team and for Curtis: a good lesson and motivation to keep working.

SPECIAL TEAMS

I was away from the television for the kickoff return so I haven't had a good look at what went wrong, but kickoff coverage had been solid the previous five games and outside Briscoe's touchdown we held Jayhawks returners to a perfectly acceptable 19 yards per return. Texas only punted twice, one of which was returned for 32 yards, so I'd expect that'll be a point of emphasis in the coming week of practice. Given the overall strength of the kickoff and punt games on the season, I'm not going to lose much sleep over it, at least until there appears to be something systemically wrong. I didn't get a good look at either return live.

The big story on special teams to me was Hunter Lawrence, who buried kicks from 49, 47, and 35 yards out, raising his season totals to 8-of-9 from 40-49 yards and 7-of-7 from 30-39 yards. All told, Hunter has knocked through 20 of his 23 kicks, and among the three misses, only one is his fault -- a 28-yarder he jerked to the left; the other two were a miss from outside 50 yards and a block. Lawrence is 52-of-53 on PATs. Bottom line: if Texas finds itself in a game that comes down to a Lawrence field goal try, I like our chances. The senior has been absolutely nails all year long.

And with that, I'm out, with a short week before us until the final regular season game at A&M, who cost me a bottle of whisky by whipping the Bears today. I hope we beat 'em by 50.

Five Things to Watch Against Central Florida

GhostofBigRoy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:51:09 -0000

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

Fozzy Whittaker and Adam Ulatoski have the privilege of carrying the flag into the stadium because their brothers are both readying to deploy to the Middle East. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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How well does Cody Johnson run the ball? The two strengths of the Central Florida defense are the Knights' ability to stop the run and similar aptitude for sacking the quarterback. Starting Cody Johnson, or at least featuring him early in the game, is a direct attempt by the coaches to test Johnson -- can he succeed at efficiently running the football against a team that stops the run well? Ross Lucksinger calls it "four yards and a cloud of dust," which aptly describes the current emphasis of the Texas running game.

The Texas running game just isn't going to make big plays unless the defense is completely worn out, that much is exceedingly clear, but consistently picking up yardage is the main priority, even if it is only four yards. A lot of that falls on the offense line to perform better and more consistently, but the coaching staff probably hopes that Johnson's ability to break tackles and move the pile can increase the number of successful runs.

There are also strategies in football for getting running backs the ball while they're already moving. Pretty revolutionary idea, I know, especially for a bigger back like Johnson. And no, I'm not talking about running to the line of scrimmage and then running the ball after a hand off from under center -- that was getting ridiculous by about the third game of the season. Now it's just stupid. Why is it, GD that only two times this season have the Longhorns thrown the ball after going jet tempo and then quick-snapping the ball? Why only once with McCoy, a screen pass that ended up getting a holding called on Kirkendoll because he didn't have time to get lined up and figure out who he was supposed to block.

Of course, there's also the pistol. How I pine for Texas to use the pistol. Call it the Colt .45. It's just too perfect, yet Davis and Brown -- might as well throw him in there, too -- ruin the beautiful opportunity.

The point, of course, is that the coaches want to see Johnson run the ball well, and more often than he ever has in a collegiate game, and maybe, just maybe, he can finally earn himself a nickname if he's successful.

Can Texas exploit the secondary, the weak link of the UCF defense? All the talk about Johnson means there will be an emphasis on the running game, but that's going against UCF's strength. Their secondary is the team's weakness, as they give up plenty of passing yards every game. With that being said, Texas probably will not and should not come out with a bunch of empty sets and four-wide packages given the good edge rushers for UCF -- with good protection, someone should be able to get open, even if there are only three or four players out in the route and one of them is EBS in the case of four receivers.

Here's the key though, play Malcolm Williams and Marquise Goodwin early -- they need the quality game reps for an extended period of time. Play them exclusively the first two or three drives with Shipley and EBS, using Buckner on passing downs or for a change of pace. Note: that's change of pace, GD. Along with Shipley, those are the players most likely to break big plays for the Texas offense.

Hey, and while you're at, GD, how about giving the ball to Goodwin two or three times on the jet sweep, then maybe throw a pass off it. Just for fun. LIke a little experiment, see if anything good happens. Considering that Longhorn running backs have carried four times for 33 yards on the jet sweep, even though several of the plays weren't even particularly well blocked, the play works. And works well. That's an average of 8.3 yards per carry!

Here's how the experiment works, GD -- you commit to running the play four times a game. Just four -- not that many, we're just talking every once in a while, then see if the other team can stop it. Because no one has yet. In fact, it's more that the Longhorns have stopped themselves by failing to block more consistently on the offense line to avoid early penetration. On the edge, I like the chances with Johnson taking a safety or nickel back, then Williams and Shipley blocking on the perimeter. Those are the more important blocks, anyway. Put I'll take that every time, against any defense until it doesn't work.

You can even keep it really, really simple. GD, you don't even have to run the counters off of it against UCF. That's fine, save those for the magic moment.

Oh yeah, back to the issue here. About the receivers -- it was nice that Chiles had a third-down catch against Oklahoma State and that Kirkendoll turned a short pass into a nice gain early, but save them for later in the game or just put them in if Goodwin and Williams get winded. They lost their starting jobs for because they weren't producing -- treat them like back ups.

Can the defense shutout the Knights? George O'Leary's general offensive philsophy is to run the football, then run the fooball some more until they can hit some play-action to a group of receivers even Scipio Tex seems to like. You know, for Central Florida. Since Will Muschamp lives to stop the run on first and second down and Lamarr Houston, Ben Alexander, and Kheeston Randall performed extremely well against Oklahoma State, the best running team Texas will face all season, particularly inside, that strategy may not work well for the Knights, forcing them either out of their normal gameplan, common for opponents against this Texas defense, or into third-and-long situations. The second scenario will give the Longhorn defensive ends plenty of opportunities to get after the quarterback, something they weren't able to do much of last week because of concern over Zac Robinson's scrambling abilities. Personally, I'll be disappointed if I don't see a "freaky leg plant" sack, UTEP-style.

In any case, pressure on the quarterback will give the secondary chances to make plays on the football. Perhaps another pick six there might help the ol' Thorpe Award candidacy, Earl. Or a ridiculous strip like you made near the goalline against Oklahoma (one I forgot to mention, somehow, when I was discussing the playmaking defense the other day). Maybe Blake Gideon even makes another play and gets a better chance to return an interception, to shut his teammates up about being tackled by an offensive lineman last week. After all, Gideon admitted this week he hasn't had much practice with the ball in his hands, having not carried it since high school.

How do the special teams perform against strong UCF coverage units? Jordan Shipley has gone the last three games without picking up any positive yardage on punt returns. UCF has only given up 17 punt returns yards all season, perhaps because their punting ranks 113th in the country at just more than 36 yards a pop. Those aren't the type of punts that are easy to return, leaving a lesser chance of Shipley actually breaking one. If the Longhorns elect to place an emphasis on returning punts, can that unit block better?

Or will Mack Brown opt to go after the punter more often, which also means more fair catches and fewer hits on Shipley, while giving the someone a chance to join the block party. How about DJ Monroe? Chykie Brown perhaps? The special teams star from the Oklahoma State game, Kenny Vaccaro? Malcolm Williams, even? C'mon Mack, go after a couple.

Even if the defense doesn't play lights out and gives up a touchdown or two, Texas isn't going to have many chances to return kicks, unfortunate because good things happen when DJ Monroe has the football. In fact, in the last five games, the Longhorns have received only 14 kickoffs, of which Monroe has returned seven, good for 240 yards -- more than 34 yards a return. UCF is fith in the country in covering kicks, giving up an average of only 16 yards. The Knights will have to kick off at least once in the game -- can the Longhorns return it if it's not well into the end zone?

Can the offensive line protect Colt McCoy? The two best players on the UCF team are probably also their sack leaders -- of UCF's 22 sacks, good for 17th in the country, tied with Alabama and a host of other teams, edge rushers Jarvis Geathers and Bruce Miller account for 12.5 of those. Can the offensive line avoid the complete breakdowns in protection that seem to occur once or twice or more every game, particularly of the kind where no one decides to block an edge rusher? Those are kinda dumb. Also annoying. And dangerous. Maybe Texas could even use some constraint plays like the draw that Texas used to start the game off against Oklahoma or the screen pass that has been successful two out of three times in recent games? That would help slow down Geathers and Miller, which is one of the highest priorities for the Texas offense and an early in which they cannot afford to fail.

Central Florida Depth Chart

GhostofBigRoy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:52:05 -0000

OFFENSE
Position	No.	Player	\|	No.	Player	\|	No.	Player
Flanker (Z)	8	Jordan Shipley	\|	11	James Kirkendoll		6	DeSean Hales
Sub B	84	Marquise Goodwin	\|	7	John Chiles
Tight End (Y)	83	Greg Smith	\|	13	Ahmard Howard	\|	89	Barrett Matthews
	Flex TE: Dan Buckner
Right Tackle	64	Kyle Hix	\|	72	Britt Mitchell
Right Guard	63	Michael Huey	\|	56	Tray Allen	\|	54	Mark Buchanan
Center	71	Chris Hall	\|	78	David Snow	\|	75	Steve Moore
Left Guard	52	Charlie Tanner	\|	56	Tray Allen
Left Tackle	74	Adam Ulatoski	\|	77	Luke Poehlmann
Split End (X)	9	Malcolm Williams	\|	4	Dan Buckner
Tailback	31	Cody Johnson	OR	28	Fozzy Whitaker	\| OR	2 23	Vondrell McGee Tre' Newton
	Specialty Back: D.J. Monroe
Fullback	24	Antwann Cobb	\|	31	Cody Johnson
	Short Yardage: Lamarr Houston
Quarterback	12	Colt McCoy	\|	3	Garrett Gilbert	\|	17	Sherrod Harris
Place-Kicker	15	Hunter Lawrence	\|	39	Ryan Bailey	\|	19	Justin Tucker

DEFENSE
Position	No.	Player	\|	No.	Player	\|	No.	Player
Buck	2	Sergio Kindle	\|	80	Alex Okafor
Tackle (Nose)	91	Kheeston RAndall	OR	92	Ben Alexander
Tackle	33	Lamarr Houston	\|	96	Calvin Howell	OR	93	Tyrell Higgins
End	81	Sam Acho	\|	32	Eddie Jones	\|	95	Tevin Mims
Strongside LB	18	Emmanuel Acho	\|	1	Keenan Robinson
Middle LB	38	Roddrick Muckelroy	\|	42	Dustin Earnest
Weakside LB	1	Keenan Robinson	\|	18	Emmannuel Acho
Right CB	3	Curtis Brown	OR	8	Chykie Brown
Right Safety	21	Blake Gideon	\|	27	Nolan Brewster	\|	5	Ben Wells
Left Safety	12	Earl Thomas	\|	27	Nolan Brewster
Left CB	4	Aaron Williams	OR	3	Curtis Brown
Nickel	12	Earl Thomas	\|	7	Deon Beasley	\|	4	Aaron Williams
Punter	19	Justin Tucker	\|	47	John Gold	\|	17	Trevor Gerland

SPECIAL TEAMS
Punt Returns	8	Jordan Shipley	\|	12	Earl Thomas	\|	3	Curtis Brown
Kickoff Returns	26 9	D.J. Monroe Malcolm Williams	\| \|	6 84	Jordan Shipley Marquise Goodwin		4	Aaron Williams
Kickoffs	19	Justin Tucker	\|	15	Hunter Lawrence
Holder	8	Jordan Shipley	\|	17	Sherrod Harris
Deep Snapper (PAT/FG)	83	Greg Smith	\|	72	Britt Mitchell
Deep Snapper (Punts)	58	William Harvey	\|	48	Alex Zumberge

Some brief analysis after the jump...

The big news here is obviously that Cody Johnson is now listed as the co-starter at running back, but in front of Fozzy Whittaker. It's hard to say if the coaching staff is upset with Whittaker, who missed open holes twice against Oklahoma State while bouncing his runs outside and also went out of bounds without contact again, a bad habit that was particularly damaging against Oklahoma, when Whittaker left 10-15 yards on the field. More likely, it's a result of Mack Brown's infatuation with larger backs and Johnson's tough running the last several games. He's still not a great fit in the scheme, but he does look quick and is a better blocker both on quarterback draws and in blitz pick up. It's also possible that he could see time as the lead blocker in the Monroe Series, where he could be much more effective than Whittaker.

Besides that, not a whole lot else worth parsing, although the coaches continue to list Shipley at flanker even though he has been playing in the slot almost exclusively since the Colorado game. Marquise Goodwin is now the starter in the slot in front of John Chiles. Malcolm Williams is also listed as the starter on kickoff returns with D.J. Monroe.

Notice that Curtis Brown is listed in front of Chykie Brown in their co-starter relationsihp, no surprise as Curtis has significantly outplayed Chykie for most of the season.

Postgame React: Texas Routs OSU 41-14 in Stillwater

Peter Bean — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:02:16 -0000

More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

If Malcolm Williams can regularly make difficult catches like the two hauled in Saturday evening, Texas officially has one of college football's most dangerous downfield receivers.

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The outcome was: exceptional. Heading into this game, I felt good about Texas' chances, but I figured the 'Horns wouldn't pull away until the 4th quarter, when the difference between the two defenses would be most pronounced. Instead, for the second straight week the outcome was all but decided by halftime. Not only did Texas's score with 9 seconds left in the half give them a commanding 24-7 lead, but the touchdown was a beautiful 11-yard strike to Malcolm Williams in the back of the end zone.

Maybe best of all, the 'Horns didn't win 41-14 on the back of a "perfect performance" or anything like that -- Texas was just the better team, with the better roster, and with sufficient depth of excellence that even on a "merely good" day, the 'Horns blew out Oklahoma State on their own field.

If we say that this season contains three big goals -- winning the Big 12, getting to Pasadena, and winning the national title -- tonight's performance was tremendous in service of the first two; with the win, Texas is in commanding position to get to both the Big 12 title game and, assuming no truly monumental upsets, the national title game. After the jump, where this week's Postgame React focuses on the less-than-great aspects of tonight's performance, the motivation will be to think about how to achieve that third goal. The current version of the Longhorns can and should win the remaining games on the schedule; but even if they do, beating a team like Florida is a different story altogether.

The Offensive MVP was: Colt McCoy (16-21 passing, 171 yards, 1 TD; 11 rushes, 34 yards; 0 turnovers). If the early season offensive struggles were equal parts Bad McCoy, Bad Greg Davis, and Bad Offensive Line, the past two weeks have been a great sign that the quarterback portion of the problem is behind us. He threw two incompletions that were simply bad throws of his own fault, but the other three were the result of pressure/nowhere to go; the other 16 passes were, of course, completions.

McCoy's 10.7 average yards per completion and 8.6 per attempt were markedly up from the rank pile of mess we were seeing early in the season, his distribution is improved, and his scrambling/decision-making on the fly is once again providing a big boost to an offensive system that depends upon it. If we take away the 2nd quarter blindside sack for a loss of 10 yards (identical, by the way, to the Austen English sack that resulted in a fumble -- pretty clearly a problem with our blitz pick up scheme), McCoy's legs chipped in an important 44 yards rushing, while at other times his scrambling was enough to avoid costly sacks, or to buy his receivers time to drift open. When your offensive design is as pedestrian as is the current Texas model, success literally depends on the quarterback's ability to make yards on broken plays. I think it too charitable to call that part of the "grand design" of the offense -- McCoy's strengths could be similarly leveraged, but in a systematic way, as opposed to serving a rescue function -- but things being what they are, it's good to see that Texas has succeeded in getting McCoy back to being McCoy.

Alongside the scrambling playmaking, the two things I most liked about McCoy's performance were the improved distribution and, not unrelated, the increased willingness to throw the deep ball. Eight games in, we've now seen why McCoy-to-Shipley can be both problematic and an enormous asset: as a near-exclusive element of the passing attack, the tendency can be troublesome, but when, as tonight, McCoy-to-Shipley is simply the highlight of a more comprehensive passing distribution, the value is easy to appreciate. While Shipley's team-best 6 catches were incredibly important, the evening easily could have turned out to be a bittersweet one had McCoy not also found a half dozen other receivers -- none more important than the two completed to Malcolm Williams: the 11-yard touchdown before half and a 44-yard gain early in the third. Both were good throws but made for difficult catches, and if along with getting Good Colt back there is any single offensive bright spot on which to focus, it's surely that Texas looked to its enormous split end down the field, and on both occasions he came through. My cries to move Shipley back to the slot were in part about how best to use the Roommate, but the other big focus was the potential upside of Williams succeeding at split end. Things are looking up.

The Offensive offensive LVP was: Greg Davis. I don't want to spend too much time on this today, since the offense is improving overall, there are several trends to like, and so forth. See above. However, it'd be intellectually dishonest not to say a few words about certain aspects of the offensive approach.

To his credit, Davis correctly thought that McCoy could exploit the Cowboys' zone defense both through the air and with his feet; to that end, the five-wide, empty set playcalling was not entirely senseless. That being said, there's an obvious and important difference between timely using such a formation as a component of a broader game plan and, as we saw tonight, exclusively deploying the formation for entire drives at a time -- the former is a strategic deployment, the latter a pretty sad concession that there exists nothing else of value in the offense that could allow for well-rounded-ness. Put another way, while the five-wide, empty backfield stuff had its value as a weapon with which to attack OSU, that Davis went with it so early, so often was a depressing confirmation either that Texas doesn't possess the ability to execute in the running/play-action game, or that Greg Davis is simply disinterested in it altogether. In either case, the culprit is the OC.

What frustrates me the most is the overwhelming evidence that the problem is primarily Greg Davis disinterest. If Texas was simply grossly incompetent, it'd still be on Davis but there would at least be the silver lining that such knowledge could be helpful to optimizing a game plan. However that is not what appears to be the case here: for one thing, there is reason to believe that Texas can run the football with modest success, certainly enough to be useful and off which play action can be utilized. Moreover, just when it looks like Greg Davis may have abandoned the run altogether, he haphazardly turns to it at predictably inopportune times. Call it the Token Run Play game plan -- limit your offensive package with disproportionate passing, and then make the challenge even harder by wasting a dozen plays a game on token rush plays called at the wrong time, and to which you're not meaningfully committed.

With Good Colt showing up this week, the offense had enough punch to be solid, but again, to the extent the goal is to win the national championship, the obvious concern has to be whether it will succeed against another elite defense. If Good Colt shows up, and if Texas continues to get more from its full set of receivers (Williams especially), it might be just enough to win alongside a dominant performance from this defense. For Texas' title chances to be greatest, however, the offensive approach will need to evolve and improve between now and January. After tonight, I'm convinced what we see is what we're gonna get; any meaningful recalibration would be a pleasant surprise.

The Defensive MVP was: All. No fair to single out any one or two guys when the entire unit stepped up to deliver such a thrilling performance -- all told, 4 picks, 1 fumble, and 2 touchdowns scored, while limiting the Cowboys to about 3 yards per play while the outcome was still in question.

The secondary will get most of the attention for this one, but hopefully fans noticed just how good was Texas' defensive line for most of the game. Sergio was Sergio, but my lunch pail would go to Kheeston Randall for his brilliant first half -- whether blowing up double teams, destroying any semblance of an inside running lane, or making Robinson throw the ball a half-second sooner than he wanted, Randall's impact was outstanding.

Moving back from the line, Texas got its best game of the year from its linebacking corps, who were physical in the run game and disciplined in support of the passing attack. Muckelroy was a human missile, Keenan Robinson was a bull, and Emmanuel Acho was just plain unfair -- he's going to put up junior-senior seasons that would make Derrick Johnson proud.

Finally, then, the secondary -- last year's goats not only aren't giving up anywhere near as much yardage, but are, as a second-year unit, turning the ball over at an amazing pace. Four more picks tonight for the DBs, with one each from Curtis Brown (TD), Earl Thomas (TD), Chykie Brown, and Blake Gideon. So long as Aaron Williams' injury doesn't linger, his absence tonight gave Texas fans a nice chance to see how far along Nolan Brewster has come; the sophomore safety knew what he was doing out in coverage and was encouragingly physical in run support (still a weakness for Blake Gideon).

The offensive Defensive LVP was: Oklahoma State receivers. Just a quick reminder that football is about preparation, and football is about execution, but it's also a bit about plain old luck, too. A year ago, Texas caught very little luck -- be it the brutal schedule, the Gideon gimme, or the terrible outcomes from other games that hurt the 'Horns in the BCS. This tear's team is better, but also to this point a good bit more fortunate: the schedule has been helpful (including, especially, the move of the Tech game), Texas won the Red River Shootout despite the offensive no-show (thanks, in large part, to two dropped pick-sixes by OU defenders and a game-saving tackle by Colt McCoy), and now last night in Stillwater, an early assist from Oklahoma State's receivers, whose bumbling first half performance spared the Longhorns the pressure of another tight contest in the early going.

This is not to say that the Texas defense was lucky, or the team's win fortunate... Just a nod to Lady Luck, who has to this point in 2009 smiled kindly upon the Longhorns. It can only help.

On the Milk Carton: Rushing the football. Because of the Shipley fumbled punt and the Curtis Brown run-back for a score, Texas only had four offensive drive in the first half, but as discussed above, the effort to rush the football was sparse and sporadic. On the team's opening drive Davis passed his way down to the red zone before token running his way into a field goal; the three-and-out second drive included one rush for a loss of three yards; the third drive opened with three straight pass plays, before 4 of the drive's final 6 plays were called rushes (Texas' first touchdown drive of the game); the fourth and final drive of the half was all passes in the two-minute drill.

Let us pray that this week's overwhelming number of five-wide, empty set formations were mostly about Davis thinking he could particularly drill an OSU weakness with them; the game's rhythm being what it was, the sample size of offensive drives when the game was in question was notably small. There's not much to dislike about a 41-14 win, but for the reasons discussed at length above, the five-wide, empty backfield as a primary emphasis of the offense has concerning long-term implications.

Central Florida Fear Factor: 2 out of 10. (5) is the baseline. +1 for Texas's potential to start flat from being in letdown mode; -1 for the near-certainty that any flat start could be overcome; -1 for the home field; +1 for UCF's defense looking respectable so far this year; -3 for Texas' defense looking like one of the two best in the country.

Heading into next week I feel: Excited. At the very least, Texas is a very good flawed team that has an excellent chance to battle through the rest of the regular season undefeated. At best, Texas is a great team coming into its own -- already there on defense, and with time to work on optimizing the offense.

Either way, the nightmare scenario is behind us (I was fearing my ability to blog the rest of the season after a loss to OU or OSU) and the season's three big goals are all very much in play and, increasingly, within reach. I'll drink to that...

Hook 'em

Afternoon Brewsky Digs the "New" Receivers

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:59:58 -0000

Flavor of the Week at running back: Fozzy-CoJo one-two punch. Given that Fozzy Whittaker and Cody Johnson have now gone two straight weeks (two!) as the top two running backs in the rotation, this feature may need to retire prematurely. However, there are always concerns about Fozzy's health (knock on wood) and giving a few carries to Tre' Newton or trying to get the ball to DJ Monroe five times per game could be beneficial to the offense.

Right now, though, Whittaker and Johnson compliment each other well and have each brought their particular strengths to bear against Oklahoma and Missouri. Johnson, in particular, has looked more impressive than ever, running with determination and a combination of quickness and power that Mack Brown obviously appreciates in a running back. Last week, I wrote that he was settling into a role as a fourth-quarter bludgeon, but the first drive against Missouri proved that he can do it early in the game as well, picking up a critical third and short, as well as pounding his way for seven yards after running through the tackles of four Missouri players. Has he even taken a hit in the last two weeks or has he given out all the hits on his tough runs?

As for Whittaker, he's no savior for the running game, but he does have good if not great speed. He's capable as a wide receiver, giving Greg Davis some flexibility in using him in empty sets and he ran harder against Missouri than he did against Oklahoma, seemingly trusting his body more and showing a greater willingness to pick up some tough extra yardage instead of leaving it on the field. The greatest asset that he brings to the table is his vision, allowing him to see the cut-back lanes, a point that isn't exactly a revelation at this point, but is still fundamental to understanding why Whittaker can be more successful in the Texas scheme than other running backs on the roster. It is, perhaps, simply a matter of time before he breaks a long running play.

New receivers pay early dividends. Missouri certainly didn't make it overly difficult for Texas to complete passes and pick up yardage early in the game by playing so far off the Texas receivers, but Marquise Goodwin and Malcolm Williams provided noticable upgrades over James Kirkendoll and John Chiles, while Jordan Shipley seemed to thrive in his return to the slot position, which allows him to catch more short passes, especially screens, while also having to ability to work inside or outside.

Despite predictably dropping an easy pass, Williams also showed that he deserves to be on the field with his combination of size and speed -- he's simply an extremely difficult player to tackle and on several of his catches, it looked like he was only one broken tackle or one step away from breaking a long play. At the end of the night, he totaled five catches for 53 yards and the first time that he's caught that many passes in a game -- against Tech he had only four catches and has had three catches on several occasions. If the coaches continue to play him, it's only a matter of time before he makes the same type of plays he did against Texas Tech last season.

The drops are a problem, but protecting the football is a larger issue, as Williams fumbled once and several times had trouble maintaining possession of the football after the play. Back to the problem with drops -- Greg Davis believes that Williams simply needs to do a better job of consistently attacking the football with his hands because he gets in trouble when he lets the ball get in on him.

In fact, with all the parallels between the Tech game last season and the upcoming trip to Stillwater, the game on Halloween night is the perfect time for Williams to finally fulfill the lofty expectations of Texas fans enamored with his physical gifts. Put the man on the field and get him the football.

Marquise Goodwin had an excellent night blocking, showing not only determination, but also an understanding of how to get up into defenders. Obviously, he doesn't have great size, but it never seemed to hurt him against Missouri, putting on a blocking performance that should have put James Kirkendoll to shame -- Goodwin probably gave better effort in one half than Kirkendoll has blocking all season.

Catching the football four times for 24 yards, Goodwin looked natural as always and didn't seem to have any moments of miscommunication with McCoy as he did at least twice against Oklahoma -- no doubt he is learning quickly, a remarkable ability of the young receiver. The biggest remaining question about Goodwin is just how much shake he has in his hips and if he has the ability to make defenders miss in space, but those questions will surely find some answers in the next several weeks if he continues to receive significant snaps.

Ultimately, it's difficult to separate how much the changes at receiver made a difference and how much of the first-half success was directly a result of Dave Steckel seemingly having little idea of how the stop the Texas passing game. For now, it's enough to say that the results speak for themselves and that players like Williams and Goodwin have a chance to grow with the offense as the season progresses and are major causes for optimism and a renewed belief that this offense can start clicking and put up the gaudy yardage and point-scoring numbers of last season.

Tracking: the "new" offense. It was probably not the best choice of words to say that the Texas offense was about ready to take a "complete 180," but that description does work in several ways. Last season, the coaches clearly committed to the four-wide offense and when Greg Davis went to EBS in the Texas Tech game, it was because he got scared, flat out. He felt like the offensive line wasn't protecting well, so he basically went to max protection, but the problem was that Smith didn't do well in some of his one-on-one opportunities, giving up a sack and obviously not providing the same threat in the passing game as the extra receiver. Overall, the decision was a net loss for that game.

Defensives started taking away what Texas was doing in four wide and the running game was struggling mightily, so Davis and Mack Brown decided to go back in the other direction, realizing that putting EBS in the game for more snaps would help the running game, particularly with misdirection, counters, and the possibility of using play-action more often and more effectively. The running game has improved with those decisions, but it was perhaps the play-action game that helped the Longhorns the most against Missouri. Starting out the game, Texas used play-action to get the linebacker covering Shipley a step out of position for a big gain and John Chiles had his first success down the field on a play-action pass. It's been some time since the Longhorns have so effectively run play-action fakes consistently in a single game. Perhaps several years -- the lack of a good play-action game has been a serious problem for some time, but at least for one game worked well. That's promising.

The other major change was supposed to be throwing more downfield -- how teams have played the Longhorns with two safeties deep and the effectiveness of the controlled passing game last season lead the coaches to eschew many long passes downfield, despite a player in Malcolm Williams who can go up and get the football using his size and athleticism. On that front, the Longhorns didn't attack down the field much, but they didn't have to because of MIssouri's softer than soft coverage. Brown said on Monday that there were some new wrinkles for the game the coaches didn't have to show because the first half went so well -- those plays could have been longer passes or they could have been new additions to the running game.

For the game, Texas played 11 personnel for around 80% of the snaps. EBS missed two pass blocks and one run block -- not a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination, but the coaching staff needs to be careful about how many times he gets matched up one-on-one on the edge, especially against an extremely talented edge rusher like Aldon Smith -- he wasn't great in those situations last year at about 30 or more pounds heavier and that's just not his strength right now. It's not necessarily his fault, much like last season -- the coaches just need to put him in a situation to more consistently be successful.

In the running game, he didn't dominate, but he was effective, providing a nice extra blocking surface and forcing the linebacker to have one extra gap for which they are responsible. The other aspect, of course, is his pass catching and he caught the only ball thrown at him for nine yards, but the surprising thing was that he was often open in the flat. Wide open. So were many other receivers on the same plays, but if other defenses deal with him the same way, there might be some chances to pick up yardage with EBS in the passing game if the defense isn't going to pay attention to him.

Overall, it's safe to say the offense will continue to head back in the direction of using 11 personnel at roughly the same 80% clip and it should continue benefiting the running game. To make the next step in improving the running game, the individual players on the offensive line need to perform better, but putting EBS on the right side of the line almost exclusively seemed to help Hix, who probably had his best game since ULM. At receiver, the changes clearly made a big difference, at least in blocking and should continue to help the offense improve moving forward. That should be a scary thought for the rest of the teams on the schedule.

Tracking: playmaking defense. After forcing five turnovers against Oklahoma, including three fumbles (two on special teams) and making two interceptions, the Longhorns only intercepted two passes and had the blocked punt by Curtis Brown. "Only" three turnovers because Texas didn't knock any balls loose, a similar performance to the Colorado game in that respect. It may have been mostly a result of Emmanuel Acho not getting a ton of playing time when Missouri was actually moving the football in the running game on their only touchdown drive, as neither Keenan Robinson nor Roddrick Muckelroy have shown the ability to relieve ball carriers of the football, but to be fair to Robinson, his sample size is pretty small. Muckelroy's is not. The bottom line is that the coaching staff is probably going to emphasize ball-stripping techniques again this week and the defense could really help the offense by forcing a fumble or two.

In the department of intercepting passes, the Longhorns continue to do a good job, but the biggest difference between now and earlier in the season is that players are finishing plays right now instead of dropping easy or relatively easy interceptions. Perhaps the biggest surprise in that department is Blake Gideon, who now has three interceptions after failing to pick off a pass all last season. Late in the game against Missouri, he read the quarterback's eyes and came off his man to intercept a pass intended for a receiver behind him along the sidelines, an excellent heads-up play. As long as he can make the plays he puts himself in a position to make, his athletic limitations aren't as much of a problem.

Chykie Brown also intercepted a pass, the first of his career, showing off his ability to react quickly by catching a tipped pass that ended up basically hitting him near the chest on a slant. While it wasn't an extremely difficult play, it's really his reward for having been around the football on so many short passes this year -- he's had his share of mental breakdowns, but his play this season has only been a disappointment compared to the high level of play turned in by Aaron Williams, Curtis Brown, and now Deon Beasley in limited opportunities. How about Beasley, though? It looks like coming so close to having his football career taken away from him has finally made him turn it up a notch on the field. He's actually a physical presence out there now. Good for him.

It's worth noting that both interceptions came off of back-up Jimmy Costello, but it's not like Blaine Gabbert was gashing the Longhorns in the passing game, though he did deliver an incredible pass to Danario Alexander into good double coverage by Robinson and Gideon. The Longhorns managed to knock Gabbert from the game on a sack by Eddie Jones, who continues to make the most of his snaps and continues to be a major success story for this team. Sergio Kindle was Sergio Kindle, disrupting plays. Missouri tried to run at him on the second play of the game and that's just a bad idea. That's just making it easy for him. Lamarr Houston was extremely disruptive and showed no ill effects from the OU offensive lineman trying to end his college career with a dangerous blow below to the knee in the Cotton Bowl. It's clear now that he is a defensive tackle through and through. It's hard to say enough about how well this defensive line has played and it's comforting to know that Ben Alexander can give the team some really good snaps up in Stillwater.

The bottom line -- right now it's dangerous to be an opposing quarterback facing the Longhorns.

Up on the high horse. The Tim Tebow love is sickening. Absolutely sickening. It was sickening when Thom Brennaman kept going on and on during the national championship game about how five minutes with Tebow would change your life. Hey, it's true -- if you've got some extra skin on your genitalia, Tebow will happily remove it for you. That's life changing right there. But what Tebow does with young Phillipino children isn't the point here.

The point is what Tebow did after his worst collegiate game, throwing two interceptions returned for touchdowns against MIssissipi State -- clearly, Tebow decided to channel his inner Jarrett Lee and that's just never a good idea. Instead of being a man, being the so-called greatest leader in the history of people leading people, and facing the media after his struggles, Tebow was nowhere to be found at the post-game press conference. Urban Meyer offered some lame, bullshit excuse about his quarterback visiting with his former offensive coordinator, current Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullens. Trash.

The cult of personality surrounding Tebow has gotten completely out of control over the last several years, but it's something that Tebow has more than embraced. He's allowed it to become what it is. His stupid speech after the Ole Miss loss last season that is ridiculously enshrined at Florida already. Congratulations -- as a quarterback, Tebow accepted responsibility for losing after failing to convert the crucial play of the game. Incredible! Has a quarterback ever taken responsibility for a loss they were responsible for in the history of football? Apparently not. The talk of how great of a leader he is all the time, yet his teammates visibly tune him out on the sidelines when he's giving them a tongue-lashing. Blah blah blah. Man up, Tebow -- you act like the second coming of Jesus, but then can't talk to the media after a bad game?

Colt McCoy, who obviously has no love lost for Tebow, saying several weeks ago that he has no relationship with the guy, had this to say ($) about avoiding post-game press conferences:

First of all, (Texas football communications director) John (Bianco) and them wouldn't let me do that if I wanted to. But I think it's your job as a leader, as the quarterback, no matter what, win, lose or draw, if you play good or you don't, you've got to go talk to the media. You're the voice for the fans to let them know what happened, and that's your job as a quarterback to do that.

That's right, Tebow, not only is Colt more of a man and a leader, but your SID is a weeny, too.

There were some murmurs last week about McCoy making excuses for his poor play against Oklahoma with talk of him being sick for the hundredth time this season and the thumb injury he said made it hard to hold onto the football and led to him fumbling near the goalline. Yet, McCoy still went and spoke to the media about it, manning up for his poor play. Not so Tebow.

It's certainly interesting to wonder why it is that Tebow and McCoy don't have some sort of friendship, given that both have deep religious beliefs and are seemingly cut from the mold. Perhaps McCoy feels resentment that Tebow gets such wide-spread adulation for snipping foreskins, while McCoy receives relatively little acclaim for travelling on two separate mission trips to Peru. Maybe it's frustrating to McCoy that he's a much better quarterback, but comparatively receives so little love for it. Of course, as Longhorns fans, it's actually beneficial that McCoy doesn't receive the same attention, as it would surely become just as sickening for the rest of the country as Tebow-love has become.

Given this last performance by Tebow, though? McCoy is not only a better leader than Tebow, which he showed, but he's also a much better quarterback than Tebow and every bit the runner, ably filling the unbelievably huge shoes of Vince Young, handling that pressure with aplomb. I'll take McCoy any day. You can buzz off, Tebow, I'd just as soon never hear from you again.

In the Trenches - Anatomy of a Muschamp Adjustment

burnt in ny — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:59:28 -0000

So there were the Horns, having a 21-0 lead on the road, with the ball and all the momentum. Three plays later, Texas comes up a yard short and has to punt. Missouri then takes the ball down the field with a series of running plays, eventually scoring a touchdown when Missouri's offensive formation resulted in Chykie Brown having 1 on 1 coverage of Jared Perry. An excellent throw by Gabbert yielded 6 for the Tigers. OK, it's 21-7, and the offense had looked weak again on the previous series. In days gone by, the track meet would be on, with the opposing offense marching up and down the field and the Texas offense would have had to keep pace. Think Texas Tech 2007. But not in 2009. Not with Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator. First the offense did their part, overcoming a dropped pass by Malcolm Williams with a brilliantly executed screen to Fozzy Whittaker and then once again using Marquise Goodwin as a decoy to free Shipley for a TD pass. Then it was back to the defense, and, as we fans have become almost spoiled to experience this season, came the MUSCHAMP ADJUSTMENT.

Exactly as I planned, men, exactly as I planned!

As the offense, and ergo the offensive line, finally found itself in the first half, I decided to focus the majority of this week's column on the defense. And the epitome of the defensive effort in this game was a subtle but critical change in defensive strategy that largely shut down the MU running game. As an example of many such adjustments Muschamp has made over the past 19 games for Texas, I'll analyze it in detail along with a few comments about the offense after the jump.

In one drive, Missouri outrushes Texas' four previous opponents combined.

So what happened? Missouri got an extra "tight end" on the field in the form of starting left tackle Elvis Fisher (72). Fisher was replaced by backup center J.T. Beasley (67). This effectively put six offensive linemen on the field with three wide receivers still to spread the field. They lined up Denario Alexander in the slot to the opposite side of the two tackles, whilch pulled Earl Thomas to that side of the field. At the same time, Texas lined up Kheeston Randall and Lamarr Alexander in gaps 1 (between the center and guard) or 2 (over the guard) (see purple circles in diagram below). During the drive, Missouri shifted their strong side with Elvis Fisher as tight end. The coupling of these formations left Texas in an unbalanced defense with their arguably four best defensive players (circled in yellow) on one side of the field and allowed Missouri to exploit mismatches on the opposite (strong side)

On the drive, Missouri mostly ran away from Kindle and pulled either guard Kurtis Gregory (78) or tackles Dan Hoch or J.T. Beasley to provide extra blockers at the point of attack. No play epitomized Missouri's success, and the source of it, more than Derrick Washington's 13 yard run for a first down to the Texas 14 yard-line with about 8 minutes left in the first half. The formation allowed MU to double team Sam Acho (81), put a tackle on Rodderick Muckelroy (38), let center Tim Barnes (62) push Kheeston Randall out of the play and pull J.T. Beasley (67) to block Keenan Robinson (1). Sergio Kindle is never blocked on the play.

Note how the play looks defended because of Randall's penetration and Robinson flying in to fill the gap behind him. Instead (see below), because of the mismatches on Acho and Muckelroy, Washington cuts inside Randall into a huge hole created by Dan Hoch (77) doing a niceuncalled infant grip on Sam Acho (purple circle) and Kurtis Gregory getting off the initial block on Acho to double team Robinson. Blake Gideon, for some reason is late getting over and has to take a deep angle on Washington to avoid giving up a TD.

So the next series, Muschamp ADJUSTS by essentially shifting to a 3-4 alignment, with Randall at the nose (0 technique) and Kindle as an extra linebacker. Houston is now the strongside defensive end playing over the 4 or 5 gaps, with no one outside him. Perhaps anticipating Muschamp's adjustment, Pinkel changes to a 20 personnel, with an extra back, Matt Davis (35) in the backfield, and two WR to either side. The only (apparent) advantage MU has in this formation is the ability to double team Randall in the middle.

Note the more balanced distribution of Texas best players (although part of this is the placement of Denario Alexander in the slot opposte the tight end, which puts Earl Thomas behind Kindle).

The example play from this ultimately ill-fated drive is on second down, a sweep with MU's speed back De'Vion Moore (26). The idea is for Alexander to crack back on Kindle and for Davis (35) to block upfield on Earl Thomas, and for Dan Hoch (77) to seal Lamarr Houston. As you might suspect, all these matchups favor Texas, especially now that Kindle is not playing DE and can turn to face Alexander's block rather than being hit from the side.

The result? Houston blows by Hoch like Hurricane Katrina, Randall ties up three (!) MU blockers in the middle (purple circle). Kindle abuses Alexander, and Thomas just runs by Matt Davis for a joint collision and a loss of a yard. All three plays on the drive were disrupted by Houston, who could no longer be double-teamed. On every play, Randall stood up Missouri's double teams, freeing Acho and Houston and Robinson to fill gaps or harass Gabbert. In retrospect, one wonders what Pinkel was thinking in his playcalling and why he got away from the 3-tackle offensive line formation that produced the success on the previous drive. Perhaps, because of the poor field position and only 1:45 left in the half, he thought he needed a more pass-friendly formation but regardless, Muschamp's adjustments shifted the advantage from Missouri to Texas, with immediate results.

Missouri is pinned inside their 10, decides to rugby kick, and Curtis Brown blocks the punt, Malcolm Williams recovers, and it's Texas 35-7. Game. Set. Match.

The Screen Game

Now that Fozzy Whittaker is the #1 RB and is playing well on all 3 downs, including pass blocking, Texas has added the screen to their arsenal in a big way. This puts new expectations for the offensive line, and over the past three games, we've learned a bit about how successful these screens are likely to be. Against Missouri, the Horns ran two screens. One went for 17 yards, following excellent downfield blocks by Michael Huey and Chris Hall, and a solid block against a defender chasing from the rear by Charlie Tanner. The other screen went for one yard even though it was equally well set up and timed because Charlie "Tunnel Vision" Tanner didn't see the nearest and most threatening defender, who sliced in behind the blocking to stop Whittaker. Against Oklahoma, the screen was moderately successful (7 yards), but again, defenders sliced in behind Tanner to make the tackle. Texas also ran a screen against Colorado out of the flex TE formation, but Dan Buckner's missed block caused the play to be stopped for a minimal gain.

Prognosis: The screen pass to Whittaker could become an excellent component of the newly diversified Texas offense, but perhaps it needs to be run to the right behind Michael Huey instead of to the left behind Tanner.

Offensive Line Report

After six games, the "sick child" of the 2009 Longhorns is officially the offensive line. It is the leading cause of sleepless nights for fans and lost thumbnails for Colt McCoy. Against Missouri, they earned these grades.

Adam Ulatoski A- An absolute rock in the run game, number 74 is still showing vulnerability to bull rushes followed by quick inside moves from defensive ends in the passing game.

Charlie Tanner B+ Tanner seems to have gotten over the hurdle of picking up blitzes but still struggles at times with picking out the right defender to block on downfield runs and screens (see above).

Chris Hall B- Struggled with his snapping all night - Colt made him look good with a couple of athletic grabs, but one bad snap led to a sack. Chris still struggles with the cut blocking needed for effective double teams in the Horns' zone blocking schemes. Nevertheless, his blocking calls are usually on and the whole line plays better when Hall, as opposed to David Snow, is in at center.

Michael Huey A- Slowed by a high ankle sprain since the ULM game, Huey was replaced by David Snow after a miserable Colorado game, but came back in to start and play well in the second half against Oklahoma. Huey blocked magnificently on several running plays and was solid in pass protection except for one play where Terrell Rosonno (I believe it was) blew him 5 yards backward. Huey should become stronger as his ankle continues to heal.

Kyle Hix C Texas' largest lineman seems to get physically dominated early in every game, and it's not clear why. Perhaps being matched up against future NFLers Gerald McCoy and Jeremy Beal of OU is too much for Hix, but redshirt freshman Aldon Smith of Missouri? His early failures can make Colt have a short clock in his head before he feels like he has to throw, which can lead to an inefficient passing offense and an over-reliance on short looks to Jordan Shipley. The domino effect of Hix being dominated early in the game may even affect the playcalling, although Greg Davis' eclectic portfolio prevents any real analysis. But early game failures, which fortunately had no impact on the outcome in this game, start sending the message about what you can't do rather than what you can.

Greg Smith Saga

The player who easily leads the team in fan groans over the past two seasons is Greg Smith, an offensive lineman converted from a high school TE to a guard and then back to a TE. Known misaffectionately on the site as the "Extra Blocking Surface" or EBS, Smith is now the favorite son of Greg Davis, who lauded what having Smith enabled the Horns to do once again on his "From the Film Room" report (now up on page 2 videos on the main page of MB-TF). Greg had a typical game against Missouri: decent but somewhat inconsistent run-blocking, and a presence that allowed Texas to block well on zone read and counter plays in the first series. He also caught the only ball thrown to him, and seems to have improved speed in escaping the desultory linebacker usually assigned to him. In some big game in the future, Smith will make a couple of key first down catches.

On the other hand, Smith is still a liability in pass protection. Against the Tigers, he was manhandled by Aldon Smith, on one play that led to one of Colt's two sacks on the day. In some big game in the future, Smith will get overwhelmed again leading to pressure or a sack on McCoy and a turnover.

That's a risk the Horns are just going to have to take, because Smith's presence on the field shifts the blocking schemes to allow the offensive line to have two initial double teams up front, a greater likelihood of the backdoor cut for Whittaker, and greater opportunities in the zone read. It is clear that the Horns want to be able to run the ball up to 5-6 plays in a row, and that's just not possible without a true TE on the field.

The Man in the Middle

Kheestion Randall and Ben Alexander have been incredibly pleasant surprises this year at defensive tackle (see the section above on the benefits of putting Kheeston Randall at the nose. Kheeston has emerged as the clear starter over Alexander in the last two weeks, largely because he has become the first DT since perhaps Frank Okam who is big and strong enough to take on two gaps. That is he lines up in the nose or directly in front of the center and stands him up, and then shifts to the right or left if a running back tries to come through either hole. Randall has shown outstanding quickness on slants, and has gotten close enough to the opposing QB enough times to draw 3 personal foul roughing the QB penalties. Randall is just a sophomore, and if he keeps developing, he could remove worry about the center of the Texas defence and free playmakers like Eddie Jones, Alex Okafor, and Reggie Wilson for the next two years.

Crossfire Q&A: Texas

RPT — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:00:34 -0000

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Fear this man. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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The game against Texas this week has given us the chance to collaborate with one of the best sites in the business, as we welcome GhostofBigRoy from Burnt Orange Nation here to RMN to give us a better idea of what to expect from the Texas Longhorns on Saturday.

RMN: Before the season, my colleague Bill said he expected a regression from Colt McCoy's numbers, and the stats so far seem to have vindicated him in many respects. What's been the difference between Colt '08 v. Colt '09?

BON: It's not a simple answer, so I'll go ahead and divide it into a couple of points. First, the major change is defensive adjustments. OU blitzed a lot during the first half and so did Wyoming at times, but most teams have sat with two deep safeties and forced Texas to complete passes underneath.

Last season, Texas did that well and could move methodically down the field with the controlled passing game, but the failure to do so this year relates to the second factor, which is the loss of Quan Cosby and Brandon Collins, two players McCoy relied on to complete third-down passes, in the case of Cosby also the hitch passes that he could turn into solid gains and Collins as his hot receivers on blitzes. McCoy has not established that level of comfort with the current receivers, who have struggled to create separation and, frankly, McCoy didn't help much early in the season because he was uncharacteristically inaccurate at points early in the year.

Those struggles have passed now, but the bottom line is that the receiving corps, notably John Chiles and James Kirkendoll, has been a disappointment overall and defenses have caught up with the Texas offense unveiled last season against Oklahoma, particularly in defending the crossing routes Texas used to convert many third downs last season and either disguising coverages to confuse McCoy's pre-snap reads or also using their coverage look to manipulate his read into something easily defensible.

RMN: The Texas defense is giving up an absurdly low 3.6 yards per play, tied for tops in the nation. How is the credit divided here? Has Texas amassed enough talent that schemes don't matter, or does Will "Boom" Muschamp get a lion's share of the credit too?

BON: Dividing the credit equally doesn't seem to be fair to the job that Will Muschamp has done at Texas. The recruiting has played a big part of it - guys like Sergio Kindle and Eddie Jones were the bluest of blue chips coming out of high school, but the staff did an excellent job identifying underrated talents like Roddrick Muckelroy, from a school East Texas school, and the Acho brothers, who played at a private school in Dallas. Don't underestimate, then, the collective recruiting the staff has done.

There is a ton of talent on that defense and none of those players were recruited by Muschamp. That being said, what Muschamp has turned this defense into is completely of his own creation, particularly Kindle, who was unbelievably lost in the shuffle during his first two years on campus - Muschamp took his talent and maximized it in a way the previous defensive coordinators had not. The previous coaches wanted to make him into a linebacker who could drop into coverage. Muschamp unleashed him on opposing quarterbacks because he recognized that Kindle is best served playing downhill, the skill that made him so highly regarded coming out of high school in the first place. In that way, Kindle is perhaps a perfect example of the overall effect Muschamp has had - players are now in a position to succeed and they are doing so.

RMN: The benching of James Kirkendoll isn't much of a surprise after his Zidane-esque headbutt in Dallas, but what gives on the benching of John Chiles (who looks like a freak athlete) and Dan Buckner (who I thought was a mismatch nightmare and one of UT's biggest weapons)? Is Texas deep enough at receiver that it really doesn't matter, or is Mack Brown just trying to send a quick message?

BON: The issue for Chiles is simple - he hasn't been producing and can't consistently get separation in his routes. Unfortunately, whatever athleticism he has, and it was certainly of great repute coming to Texas, it just hasn't translated onto the field for whatever reason. As for Buckner, Mack Brown said that he's concerned about his knee, but really Buckner is going to lose some snaps to Greg Smith because the coaching staff seems to desire a greater emphasis on the running game. That's the short answer. If anyone is interested in the treatise I wrote about the issue, it's here.

Basically, the answer to your question is both. Brown is trying to send a message (if it's a message to Buckner it's to block better), but the main thing to take from this is that the coaching staff finally decided it was time to let talented players like true freshman and two-time Junior Olympic long-jump champion Marquise Goodwin, who can certainly create separation with his blend of incredible speed and ability to get into and out of cuts, and Malcolm Williams, the star of last year's Tech game who has had trouble getting into the field this season, reportedly because of a combination of dropped balls and less-than-ideal work ethic at times in practice.

RMN: Can ANY team expect to run on Texas this year, much less a Missouri team that's been struggling on the ground all season?

BON: Looking down the line, Oklahoma State is a concern because they racked up more than 200 yards last year against a unit that didn't get run on much, just like this current one, and Alabama and Florida are both concerns, for slightly different reasons in a possible national championship game appearance. Other than that, the flat answer is no. Texas has given up 29 yards rushing in the last four games. Muschamp puts a big emphasis on stopping the running game on first and second downs to create tough situations for the offense, but still manages not to give up many big plays in the passing game on early downs. Missouri will have an extremely difficult time running the football against Texas, I don't think there's any doubt about that.

RMN: Seeing what you've seen this season, if you were the opponent (in this case, Mizzou), how would you go about attacking the Texas defense? How would you defend the Texas offense?

BON: Can I pass on trying to formulate a plan to attack the Texas defense? Thinking about this question makes me extremely glad that the Longhorns won't ever have to face a Muschamp-coached defense. Teams haven't had much success at all this season doing much of anything. Colorado had success on two touchdowns isolating a tight end on a linebacker in coverage, but Muschamp adjusts so quickly I'm not sure he's going to allow that to happen again and I don't know anything about Missouri having a threat in that aspect of the game like the two excellent tight ends they've had recently.

Other than that, Tech had some success with double moves against Chykie and Curtis Brown, but on one of the plays I'm thinking of with Chykie giving up a touchdown, Muschamp blamed the blitz not getting there fast enough. In fact, if Texas sends a couple blitzers and the Mizzou line can hold for a second, Gabbert could be able to find something downfield and that is probably their best chance for a big play. Really though, other than a couple breakdowns in concentration by Chykie, the secondary hasn't given up much this season, a huge change from last year. As for as defending the Texas offense, I think I would blitz some on early downs to try to get the Longhorns behind the chains and then sit back in coverage in obvious passing situations and keep everything in front. In my opinion, that's pretty much the book on the Texas offense, but it may be changing now with an increased emphasis on the running game and downfield passing off of play action. If I'm an opposing defensive coordinator, though, I would just play by the book until Texas proves that it can run the ball consistently.

RMN: Bonus -- Should we hide our women and children when Sergio Kindle lines up across from the Missouri offensive line?

BON: Kindle is a beast, but I'm not going to predict any serious threats to the health of Blaine Gabbert just because the two times I've done that this season, Kindle was effective, but had relatively quiet games in terms of massive, Taylor Potts-like hits on the quarterback. Don't get me wrong, it's safe to say that Tiger fans should be afraid of Kindle, but with the way that the rest of the Texas defense is playing right now, it's really the whole unit that should be downright terrifying.

Morning Coffee Is Still Irritated and OU Still Sucks

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:44:50 -0000

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Flavor of the Week at running back: Fozzy Whittaker. Given the performance of the Texas running backs on Saturday, it might make sense to put this feature to rest for the week. Although, as Scipio Tex would remind us all, the running backs aren't the problem with the Texas running game.

Part of the problem is that the two running backs who received most of the carries against Colorado have little in the way of tools to make something out of nothing. There is at least one running back on the team, however, who does have the ability to make the most out of broken plays and has the vision and quickness to find the cutback lanes -- the Mythical Fozzy creature his own self. Last week, I wasn't really drinking the Kool-Aid along with PB about Fozzy, but I'm starting to re-assess a little bit after the cutback run for a touchdown on Saturday on his only carry. At 12 yards, it was more than twice as long as the longest runs by Cody Johnson and Vondrell McGee of five yards.

The question is, why did it take so long for him to get his first carry after McGee and Johnson were so clearly ineffective? It's not that he wasn't on the field prior to receiving that first opportunity running the football -- he played at least 10 plays on offense prior to that, several times lined up at wide receiver. He's been healthy for two weeks, but he could take a helmet to a knee in practice and then could find himself out again extremely easily. It's happened three times already in barely more than a year. Davis would be well served by using him more when he's available.

It's not clear how much McCoy trusts him in the passing game, but he is known as one of the better receivers at the position on the Longhorn team, so it's not like he's a liability in that aspect of the game. Picking up blitzes has supposedly been a problem for him at his size, but he definitely looks jacked this year and as able to handle it physically as he ever has. It's something the coaches see in practice, so it's hard to speculate on.

Since McGee and Newton may be out for the Oklahoma game this weekend, could this be the time for the Mythical Fozzy creature to break out and take on legendary status? Coul he earn repeat status as the Flavor of the Week, an unheard of honor?

Bipolar special teams return. Much like the Wyoming game, the special teams were both good and bad on Saturday. First, the bad. The kickoff coverage is increasingly becoming worrisome and Justin Tucker isn't helping much by failing to get the ball into the end zone when given the opportunity, but the major issue is the coverage, which allowed kick returns of 34 and 48 yards against Colorado, the latter of which by Darrell Scott was way too easy, as he just ran up the sideline unobstructed until he was tackled without ever having to change direction. For the game, Colorado averaged 24 yards per return, a number brought down by returns on sky kicks by a linebacker and the fullback. Texas now ranks 75th in the country, behind Ball State, Central Michigan, and Florida Atlantic. As much as Mack Brown wants to talk about how difficult it is to cover kicks, there are still 74 teams in the country that do it better than Texas, which is inexcusable given that Brown allows Duane Akina to select any player on the roster besides Colt McCoy to use on special teams.

One of the other bad aspects of special teams was the work by Justin Tucker with his rugby punt. His attempt with the right foot was fine, as it went for 40 yards, but the second kick, from the Texas 32 no less, was a bit of a shank and only traveled 25 yards before going out of bounds. It was difficult to tell exactly what happened on the play, but there was a bit of pressure and he may simply have been trying to be too fine with it and put it right down the sideline. His second left-footed attempt went for 45 yards, with the only potential issue with it being that he may have kicked it too far, as the Colorado return man was able to field it on the fly. The third attempt presented the biggest issue, however, as Tucker really shanked it out of bounds only five yards past the line of scrimmage.

The bottom line is that it's great that he can kick with both feet, but if it happens again, then the coaching staff needs to seriously re-evaluating using the left-footed punts, which means they should really evaluate the use of the rugby punt at all, since teams can now hit the punters outside the tackle box and can also use two return men to make it less effective if Tucker only kicks right footed.

It appears that the coaching staff did re-evaluate this weekend, as John Gold is now listed first with an 'or' on the new depth chart. The coaching staff shouldn't forget that Gold is an excellent punter in his own right and it probably makes more sense to use him when Texas is in their own territory because he has the ability to kick it 50 or more yards.

The final bad aspect was the blocked field goal, clearly the fault of Ahmard Howard, as described here. It's likely his first year on the unit, so he may not have realized how important it was with the ball on the left hash to block the edge rusher, but it should be an easy fix in practice this week and shouldn't happen again.

With the bad out of the way, there were some excellent aspects to the special teams play once again this week. The Longhorns brought pressure on three punts by Colorado, with Marquise Goodwin finally getting his hands on the third punt early in the third quarter and after Ben Wells scooped it up and took it three yards for the touchdown, Texas took a 17-14 lead that it would not relinquish. Give credit to Duane Akina for using Goodwin on the unit -- the remarkable thing about it was that Goodwin came unblocked on two prior punts and nearly blocked them, but Colorado never adjusted and tried to block the guy who was clearly the fastest player on the field. Expect OU to make that adjustment next week.

Of course, the punt block can't be on all the time, especially with a returner like Jordan Shipley back there. Impressively, Goodwin did just as well blocking, according to Brown:

For him [Akina] to be able to take a guy like Marquise Goodwin, who is a freshman, who has not played defense, who was not around in the spring, not around in the summer, and to have him be part of two great plays Saturday, one, blocking the punt, but number two, he had the best block on Jordan's punt return because he took his guy, he knocked him to the ground, and as the guy got up, he stays on him. If you go back and review that, it is one of the great plays of the year, and I am really really happy for Marquise because he is getting involved in the kicking game in a lot of ways.

Blake Gideon also threw a nice block on the play to help Jordan Shipley return the punt for a touchdown, taking it back 74 yards, by far the longest of his three career punt returns for touchdowns. It also made four out of five games that Texas has scored a touchdown on special teams.

It did not appear likely last week, but Shipley is now back with Monroe on kick returns and will will get some chances against Oklahoma, particularly since Colorado kicked away from Monroe with the exception of a ball kicked into the end zone and most teams will probably follow that formula for the rest of the season. Two returns for 38 yards is far from exceptional, but it's unlikely that anyone needs to be reminded about what happened last year in the Cotton Bowl with Shipley. Brown mentioned that there was a little bit of confusion on Saturday, with Monroe trailing Shipley on one of the returns, so they should continue to get a better feel for each other as they work in practice this week and have more opportunities in the game against Oklahoma.

Tracking: playmaking defense. For the third game in a row, the Longhorns brought their playmaking ability on defense, as Earl Thomas finally got the pick six that seems to have been coming with him ever since he jumped a route in the spring game and took it to the house. Midway through the third quarter, Shipley had failed to haul in a pass from McCoy and it turned into an interception deep in Texas territory. Reading Cody Hawkins all the way, Thomas jumped in front of the pass and went 92 yards untouched to stretch the Texas lead to 24-14.

For the second game in a row, Blake Gideon got in on the action, intercepting the second pass of his career deep down the middle with an extremely athletic catch, battling the receiver for the football, then managing to secure it after it hit his stomach as he fell. His limitations are still painfully apparent, especially on the first CU touchdown when he was too late to react to the throw and failed to make a play on the ball when he got there, as well as taking three bad angles and completely whiffing on two tackles. Gideon probably simply is who he is at this point, but he's going to need to consistently force turnovers to help the team because he's a liability tackling in the open field, a huge problem for a free safety -- and that's a massive understatement.

On the negative side, Roddrick Muckelroy missed a sure interception, as Cody Hawkins pretty much threw him the ball and all he had to do was jump a little bit and bring it in, about the easiest interception a linebacker will ever get. After the play, it occurred to me that Muckelroy hasn't forced many turnovers at Texas and looking back through his stats, that has been the case. Only in 2007 did Muckelroy make an interception or force any fumbles, hauling in one of the former and causing two of the latter. As excellent as he has been at Texas, it's clear that he's just not going to cause many turnovers and Brown specifically mentioned the lack of a forced fumble on Saturday as distressing.

All of the defense deserves a great deal of credit for another dominating performance, but several players deserve individual recognition. Despite a shaky start to the season, Chykie Brown has settled down and played excellently with the exception of several plays against Texas Tech, allowing only one completed pass against Colorado before immediately tackling the offensive player. Opposite Brown, Curtis Brown only allowed two completed passes on the night, both of which were for minimal gains.

On the defensive line, Ben Alexander also had an exceptional game, registering five tackles, including splitting a double team on one play before making the tackle at the line of scrimmage. Simply calling him a space eater at this point may be selling him short. The two starting defensive ends also had strong performances, as Sergio Kindle made seven tackles, including two behind the line of scrimmage. So much more than just a speed rusher, Kindle almost never takes himself upfield out of plays and continues to read and react to plays with incredible speed and accuracy. After doing so, he gets to the football with alacrity and evil intentions and finishes plays.

On the other end of the line of scrimmage, Sam Acho had another strong effort, with three of his five tackles going for loss and a sack as well. One of the tackles for loss came as Rodney Stewart escaped from a group of Longhorn tacklers and reversed field, nearly breaking free for a big gain, except that Acho used his speed to get a hand on Stewart's foot, just enough to get him down for an 11-yard loss.

Time for replacements. James Kirkendoll had a poor game Saturday. He was terrible in the blocking game, picking up a penalty for holding that shouldn't have been called, but resulted from him whiffing on a block, dropped a pass, and cost the Longhorns a touchdown because he went the wrong direction on an option route. At the flanker position, John Chiles has not shown an ability to make plays besides in the screen game. Over at Barking Carnival ~~Trips Right~~ EyesofTX was even more critical in his recap:

I have never witnessed so much pouting, loafing and general cluelessness from a set of WRs than I saw last night. I'm not going call anyone out by name, but a couple of guys whose numbers correspond to the name of a popular chain of convenience stores need to pull their heads out of their asses pretty quick, of their lack of effort is going to cost this team down the road. And seriously, a physical freak like Malcolm Williams can't get on the field for more than a handful of plays when the guys ahead of him are pulling this kind of nonsense? What are the criteria for determining who plays and who doesn't on this team? They're obviously not performance based.

Even after re-watching the game looking for specific instances to support his claim, I'm not sure that I saw the same thing. The bottom line, however, is that the performance between the whistles was not good enough. Whatever problems he may have catching the football, Malcolm Williams can block and would help the running game in the WildHorn or on any other outside running plays.

Marquise Goodwin may also receive more playing time in an attempt to feature his incredible speed more prominently -- he's listed as the co-starter at the sub-B position this week, although he probably won't have much more success blocking there than Kirkendoll. Something to watch though is that Chiles is now listed as the co-starter at that position, while Kirkendoll has moved out to flanker. It could be for blocking purposes, but it might be that the Longhorns are trying to get Kirkendoll more time at the position that he played for most of last season and at which he might feel more comfortable. Beyond those thoughts, it's hard to see how the changes will impact what happens at the Cotton Bowl this weekend, but it is safe to say the coaches weren't happy with what they saw on Saturday from the two receiver positions other than Shipley.

Tracking: the WildHorn. After spending an inordinate amount of time last week hyper-analyzing the formation, it's only fitting that I talk about it some more this week. Most fans are frustrated with the formation and probably about ready to ditch it after two weeks of poor results with it and ~~Trips Right~~ Eyes surely fits into that category:

The Wild Horn, or as we will refer to it from here on out in the GBU for no apparent reason, the Crazy Ivan. We continue to just throw away downs on this thing, and the only apparent reason for doing this is to placate #7. Isn't it kind of time to quit worrying about placating #7, given that his insistence upon keeping the ball each and every time this play is run robs it of any smidgen of hope of distracting or fooling the opposing defense? This play is worthless, it is a waste of downs and energy. It destroys whatever continuity this offense has managed to accumulate, and every time #7 keeps the ball and fails to produce any yardage, he goes into a sulk for several plays afterwards. Stop the damn insanity, please.

Yes, the performance has been disappointing, but ~~Trips~~ Eyes misses several key points in his "hard-hitting" and "in-depth" analysis. The main point above is that the WildHorn is an attempt to "placate" Chiles and that he always keeps the ball. While I can't speak to what happens behind the schemes, I personally can't see him sulking and he has made the correct read on each counter read play -- the problem is that defenses are intentionally taking away the outside to keep Chies inside where they have more defenders to deal with him.

On the only counter read play run against Colorado, the defensive end went hard upfield and another defender scraped behind him to make it an easy read for Chiles. No selfishness on that play and it didn't work because Adam Ulatoski failed to come up into the hole to block the linebacker who eventually made the play while Charlie Tanner did his falling-down act on the play. It may have been an attempt to block someone -- the BON investigative team is now looking into it. So far, the two pulling linemen have not been successful getting blocks after pulling, so the power play makes so much more sense.

Besides the obvious lack of success, the most disappointing aspect of the WildHorn is that the only new wrinkle this week was the WildHorn version of the aforementioned power play. Yes, it's a play that they need to run, but there are several problems with it, One, there's no compliment to the play -- the outside run Dan Lee calls the stealer. Two, if the Longhorns want a lead blocker, take out McCoy, whose chief concern is running out of bounds as quickly as possible on the WildHorn plays and put in another blocker like Antwan Cobb or my personal choice, Barrett Matthews, a kid who has a big-time nasty streak in the blocking game. Two, the play needs motion to make it is as effective as it can be. With that being said, the benefit of the power play is that the pulling player actually heads into the hole to ostensibly block a defender, rather than falling down on the perimeter and generally being of little use.

The other problem is the complete lack of commitment to the play. Greg Davis told color guy Todd Blackledge that the Longhorns want to use the formation 6-7 times a day. Seriously? Was he just lying or does he really intend to do that? Actually doing it has been a complete failure. Through three games, the Longhorns have only used the formation nine times, far short of Davis' supposed desires. In the Wildcat series, some plays won't work at times, but there is always an easy solution -- take what the defense is giving you. Having already missed the window of opportunity for installing the Wildcat series, its extremely unlikely that it will happen and after two failed plays against Oklahoma, the coaches will probably abandon it without every really committing to it. Probably without ever having Chiles throw a pass. And the running game will continue to struggle. And people will wonder about solutions. And it will end up being a wasted opportunity by the coaching staff.

After the Q package, is it any surprise that the WildHorn has been approached in a completely clueless manner with no understanding of what makes the Wildcat work? The answer to that would be a resounding no.

Now let me go bang my head against the wall for 10 straight minutes so I can feel better.

It's 8:45 in Austin and the good news is that at least OU still sucks.

Snap Shots: Discipline and Screen Defense

Peter Bean — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:08:16 -0000

I'll probably bump this up front and center again early next week, since the weekend's live action will shove this down the page pretty quickly. But the post is done, so if you're here and reading it, dive in to the fun.

With the exception of our look at Sergio Kindle's speed rush, the Snap Shots series primarily has focused on the offense. Today, we spend a few minutes with the defense, and in particular the unit's work against the screen. What follows is a frame-by-frame breakdown of Texas' exceptional work disrupting an attempted screen during the first quarter of the UTEP game. The Miners may have been outmatched in this contest one way or another, but this particular play neatly illustrates a host of broadly applicable points about this year's defensive unit.

THE CONTEXT: It's 3rd and 10 for the Miners, who line up in a look the Longhorns will see many, many times this season: shotgun with aces spread wide, a tailback alongside the QB.

TEXAS' DEFENSIVE SET: Texas is in its base nickel package, the alignment of which is telling about how Muschamp wants to defend the spread passing attacks we'll often see. First, note the alignment of the secondary: the corners Curtis and Chykie Brown are in soft-press coverage, the nickelback Aaron Williams is up on the line pressed over the strongside slot receiver, Earl Thomas is eight yards deep over the weakside slot, and Gideon is twelve yards deep behind Chykie and Williams.

Rod Muckelroy and Keenan Robinson are your LBs, Eddie Jones and Sergio Kindle are upright on the ends, while Sam Acho slides inside to flank Lamarr Houston on the interior. You'd have to sub Christian Scott for Gideon to get a faster, more athletic group of 11.

If you're wondering why you should care about this, please recall, first of all, that Chizik, Akina, and McDuff were defending these offensive sets from the 4-3; but second, it's also worth looking at how Muschamp and this young-a-year-ago defense have matured. It's not difficult to see how nicely Texas is aligned pre-snap to handle this set, and we could spend an entire post talking about the niceties of the alignment and personnel alone.

[NOTE: CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE]

At the snap: As Vittatoe receives the snap, Texas brings five rushers towards the line -- tackles Houston and Acho strike to engage on the inside, while the highlighted trio of Kindle, Muckelroy, and Robinson move forward. Note, however, Eddie Jones, shaded in the picture below: he's most likely sitting in a read (taking away the quick pass to the weakside slot) or, possibly, simply disinterested in rushing based on something he sees.

Reading the D: As UTEP's interior receivers start downfield, two potential screen receipients run strongside (green lines below). The observation here is centered on Texas' defensive ends: Sergio Kindle has properly altered his rush to account for the tailback sliding outside while Eddie Jones continues to hold his ground unengaged, watching Vittatoe for his cue.

The match up: It's easy to see from the frame below what factors will control the outcome of the play. As Vittatoe starts to pass the bubble screen, UTEP's left guard (shaded) has what looks like a good line on Eddie Jones, who is making his initial step towards the play as he sees what's coming. Note that if a second from now UTEP's left guard successfully engages Eddie Jones, there's a nice gap in the middle of the field, thanks to a nice seal block from the center on Keenan Robinson (just inside the left hashes).

Heads up: As the ball is released, UTEP still looks to be in good position to make a solid gain out of this: the left guard has what looks like a good angle towards Jones, Acho (shaded) is engaged with a blocker, and Robinson is sealed inside by the center. Look closely, however, at the shaded area (might be helpful to click the image to enlarge): If you peer in close, you can see a small, but crucial detail: Acho has both kept his head up (eyes on the QB) and used his arms to keep separated from the back-pedalling, upright left tackle.

Zooming in: A fraction of a second later, you can start to see why this screen is going to fail. At the left of the image the shaded Sam Acho, eyes on the ball, is disengaging from the left tackle, while Eddie Jones (shaded near the 20 yard line) has begun his close on the play with a quickness that -- in a mere split second -- has turned what looked like a good angle for the left guard a not-so-hot one.

Ball arrival: As the ball arives, Acho is disengaged and lurching towards the receiver, while Eddie Jones is racing past what is now an out-of-position left guard for the Miners.

Might as well drop it: The UTEP receiver drops the screen pass, in all likelihood because he can't help but notice that Sam Acho and Eddie Jones are about to crush him at the same time.

Fail: What looked like a promising play at the outset turns out to be a painful incompletion, thanks to Acho and Jones's discipline and athleticism.

The lesson: Texas is defending the screen game exceptionally well so far in 2009, in a way that highlights a bevy of important points:

Healthy and in his fourth year in the program, Eddie Jones has emerged as a difference-making DE.
Citing Sam Acho's "intelligence" is not a meaningless throwaway line. He's a versatile, strong, quick, and well-techniqued playmaker Muschamp can use on the outside and interior.
Sergio Kindle is not a one-dimensional head hunter. When he's asked to rush the QB, he's thriving; when his assignment requires something else, he's there.
Will Muschamp's intensity is endearing, but it's his ability to coach superior athletes into disciplined, aware defenders that is most encouraging.
The defensive line may be an injury away from being a worry again, but the group that we're seeing is more than just adequate -- it's damn good.