SB Nation - Foswhitt Whittaker

How Nebraska Will Beat Texas And Win the Big 12 Championship

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

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

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

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

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

- First Quarter Draw

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

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

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

- One On One Excellence

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

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

- Bore America To Death

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

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

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

- No Fear

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

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

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

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

- Special Teams Convergence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Afternooon Brewsky Is Long-Winded

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

More photos » by Erich Schlegel - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's a look at each kickoff return:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's a look at each third down:

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

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

Morning Coffee Loves Malcolm Williams

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:00:10 -0000

by Harry Cabluck - AP

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Running game suffers biggest struggles since Colorado. Not only was it clear that Central Florida was the best team at stopping the run the Longhorns will face until a potential appearance in the national championship game, but the Knights also loaded up to the stop the run, daring the Longhorns to throw the football. So throw the football they did, to the tune of 470 yards by Colt McCoy. The concern, however, is that Texas didn't run the ball successfully after three straight games coming close to or exceeding the 60% success rate the coaches want to achieve. Against Central Florida, Texas rushed for 67 yards on 25 carries, with a success rate of only 50%.

There are certainly a lot of reasons for the lack of success. Much like the Colorado game, the coaches were relatively stubborn about using the basic running plays -- the counter and zone plays with some zone read sprinkled in, while eschewing the Monroe Series after the first play from scrimmage and choosing not to run the actual misdirection counter play and the draw play debuted on the first play against Oklahoma. Though Cody Johnson scored his first touchdown on an inside zone play, all of his other attempts on the play were stopped by the Knights -- it just doesn't make that much sense to have such a big back running laterally down the line of scrimmage. The easy adjustment here is to run the same plays from under center, where Johnson would have the ability to come downhill more on the plays and square his shoulders to the line of scrimmage, though that is, of course, unlikely. In the two times the coaches used the jet tempo package, however, the Longhorns did use play action both times, so they did break tendency there. Congratulations, GD!

The coaches also have to be careful with their substitution patterns when they bring Johnson into the game. As Greg Davis effectively moved between 11 personnel and 10 personnel while alternating Johnson and Whittaker at the running back position, Johnson coming into the game often meant a running play and he's just not good enough in the passing game to establish much of a threat, despite his 14-yard gain late in the game in which he broke several tackles and then moved the pile at the end. Improvement in the passing game and picking up the blitz should be major points of emphasis for Johnson in bowl practices.

It looks like Johnson will get the start against Baylor after Fozzy Whittaker came out with the ones against UCF, with Brown speculating that he may get 20 carries. The question is how those 20 carries come about. The I formation look hasn't been particularly successful this season and it just doesn't make a ton of sense to only have two receivers on the field if Antwan Cobb isn't going to split out at all as a receiver -- recall that there was some speculation in fall camp that he would earn the role of third-down back.

The fact of the matter is that the current scheme doesn't suit Johnson particularly well and if the coaching staff is really intent on giving him more carries, they have to figure out what plays consistently work. With the success of the jumbo package, which debuted some actual runs behind the left side of the line for the first time this year, and the possibility of bootlegs and some play-action passing, that might have to be more of an option on any short-yardage situations like 3rd and 3 or even 4 in the middle of the field.

Another adjustment in the receiving corps. Aren't there ways to get Marquise Goodwin the ball on the move? The freshman speedster had three catches on Saturday, all three of which got him the ball standing still, where he had no chance to use his speed or even avoid tacklers. The first came on an obvious screen pass out of a bunch formation with Shipley and Buckner that quickly got blown up because there were too many players in a small area. No idea what Davis was thinking on that play -- it had virtually zero chance of success.

The Longhorns have not run any slip screens for him that give him more momentum on the catch and also did not appear to run any slants, crossing routes, or deep routes other than clear-out go routes out of the empty set for Goodwin. The crossing route in particular may be intriguing given his ability to run away from virtually any defender -- neither Jordan Shipley nor James Kirkendoll have that kind of speed. It will be extremely disappointing if the coaches aren't more creative and/or assertive in getting Goodwin the ball so he can be effective -- after debuting Goodwin on the jet sweep against Oklahoma State, he did not receive a carry against UCF.

Perhaps the coaches essentially sabotaged Goodwin's ability to produce in order to have an excuse to re-insert Kirkendoll as the starter. The blocking effort from the local product has been much more better since his demotion, so that's great. He's also done a better job of making opponents miss in space to turn short passes into nice gains.

Mack Brown offered a pretty lame excuse for Kirkendoll's struggles after the Wyoming game:

I thought we probably worked James too much in preseason. Receivers run all the time in this heat. Jordan (Shipley) came out and didn't spend as much time out there. I'm not sure that James didn't hit a wall after Wyoming. He just got tired a little bit. We just need to get him some rest and shake it up a little bit. He played great on Saturday. He was one of the great performers during the ball game with his blocking. Our downfield blocking with our receivers was as good Saturday as we've had. We feel like now when Marquise (Goodwin) and John (Chiles) hit a little wall we can give them a little break. I think James is ready now with Malcolm (Williams) to make the stretch run here.

It's a lame excuse because Kirkendoll hasn't even gotten that much rest, as he and Chiles have both played heavily in the three games of their demotion, enough to pretty much call them de-facto starters with Williams and Goodwin. The demotion resulted in better effort from both players, but the questions about their ability to create separation still linger. After all, that was the main reason they lost their jobs in the first place.

The good news is that Malcolm Williams continues to play well. Though he did fail to attack the ball on the post route that should have gone for a touchdown, McCoy did underthrow the ball slightly and the defender did make a nice play to knock the ball loose. In the last two games, though, Williams has not had the type of out-and-out drop that he did against Missouri, catching the ball away from his body well on every play but the one mentioned above. After that play, McCoy went right back to him on a stop route and Williams used a ridiculous big brother-like stiff arm to make it past the first defender before nearly breaking another tackle on his way to 16 yards. It's that type of physical dominance and speed that gives Williams so much potential.

Jordan Shipley. It's difficult to put words to the type of performance that Shipley had against the completely overmatched UCF secondary. About the only thing that is easy to say is that the 53-yard catch he had late in the second quarter would have gone for a 93-yard touchdown had McCoy hit him in the stride after Shipley left a defender trailing and flailing on a double move.

It's probably the proper time, now that Shipley is the all-time single game receiving yards leader in the history of the program, to reflect once again on just how far he's come. After leg injuries kept him out of his first two seasons, Brown advised him that maybe his football career just wasn't going to happen. Though he may not have the pure speed he did in high school, Shipley never stopped working and, in fact, admittedly may have worked too hard coming back from his first injury, leading to some of the hamstring issues he experienced. Tell the guy to take a day off and he would probably look at you like you're crazy.

The bottom line is that Shipley will go down as one of the best receivers, perhaps the best, in the history of Texas football. A tireless worker and true student of his craft, "The Roommate" never seems to run a sloppy route or drop a football and is not only an incredible representative of his university and football program, but tops it all off with a heaping dose of genuine humility.

It's hard to imagine that Shipley will finally end his college career in January, but the good news is that if his younger brother really can run routes as well as his older brother and really does have the hands to match, as all reports indicate, he will have an extremely successful career as well. Let's just hope he doesn't have to endure so many injuries first.

Tracking: special teams play. Headng into the game, it seemed unlikely that the Longhorns would find much success in the return game, given their top-10 national rankings in both covering kicks and punts. Add in the fact that Texas wasn't likely to get many opportunities to return kicks and it seemed that the normal advantage Texas holds in special teams would mostly be negated. It turns out that was mostly the case. On the opening kickoff of the second half, the Texas wedge got blown up, limiting DJ Monroe to a 17-yard return. In the punting game, Texas had a little more success, as Shipley had an 11-yard return and picked up three on another -- his 14 yards nearly matched the 17 Central Florida had given up all season.

However, Shipley was only able to return two of eight kicks and the Central Florida punter, normally one of the worst in the country, managed to average 42.5 yards per kick, including a 70 yarder, and pinned Texas inside the twenty on four different occasions -- on the day, he was probably the best offensive weapon for the Knights, consistently flipping field position.

In the Texas kicking game, Justin Tucker, perhaps finally unleashed to put the ball in the end zone, had touchbacks on each of his last two kicks, while the coverage units played well with the exception of a 27-yard return. Antwan Cobb was the star, making tackles on consecutive kicks, while Aaron Smith also had a nice day in coverage.

On the negative side, Hunter Lawrence had his first bad miss of the season, missing well left on a 44-yard attempt. Certainly one miss isn't enough to cause concern, but it does ruin his otherwise perfect season (his other two misses came on a block and the 52 yarder that hit the cross bar against UTEP) in a week that saw him named a semi-finalist for the Lou Groza Award, given to the best place kicker in the country.

The other major negative was a shanked punt off the foot of Justin Tuckern, raising further concerns about the rugby-style of punting Mack Brown has adopted at the exclusion of John Gold. No doubt it will be something the coaching staff revisits this week. The Longhorns also did not come close to blocking any punts either, though it did not appear that the coaches really sent them after the quarterback, for unexplained reasons.

Overall, Brown sounded disappointed in the special teams as a whole after bragging about them so much over the last several weeks. Of the three phases, the special teams have the most room for improvement going up to Waco.

Behind the numbers. Some notes on the Central Florida game and the season to date. Also here.

EBS not only caught his fifth pass of the season, but also had six knockdown blocks in the game to earn the Boss Hawg Award.
The defense had nine quarterback pressures, 13 hits on the quarterback, and seven sacks, the latter number representing the highest total this season.
The defense gave up only 151 yards on 57 plays (2.6 yards per play), despite giving up 75 yards on the final drive, which came against mostly second-string players. UCF gained only 76 yards on 38 rushes -- 2.0 yards per carry. On the other nine drives by the Knights, it took them 43 plays to gain 76 yards, only 1.8 yards per play.
Over the last six games, the Texas defense has given up 1.092 yards on 360 plays -- 3.0 yards per play. During that time, opponents have scored 58 points (9.7 per game) on nine scoring drives (six touchdowns, three field goals). That means that Texas has allowed scores on only 12% of 75 opponent possessions during that span.
Texas leads the country in total defense (230 yards per game) and rushing defense (55 yards per game), while ranking in the top 10 in pass efficiency defense (94.61 rating/5th), tackles for loss (8.2 pg/6th), turnover margin (+1.0/7th) and scoring defense (12.4 ppg/8th).
Opponents have scored more than 14 points only twice this season. In the last six games, no opponent has scored more than 14.
The Central Florida game marked the fourth time this season the Longhorns have held their opponent to under 200 yards of total offense and the seventh time Texas has held their opponent to less than 100 yards rushing.
The Longhorns also lead the country in scoring differential, having scored 369 points and given up 112. On average, then, Texas outscores their opponents by 28.6 points per game.
After struggling against Oklahoma, McCoy has returned to his 2008 form: Over the last three games, McCoy has completed 75-of-94 passes (79.8%) for 910 yards (303.3 ypg) and six TDs (2 INT) -- a 177.9 pass efficiency rating. Excluding sacks, he's also rushed for 93 yards on 23 carries (4.0 ypc). He's led the Longhorns to scores on 15 (12 TDs/3 FGs) of 25 drives (60%) in those game.
In the 117 years of Texas football, 43 of the 66 500-yard peformances by a Longhorn offense have come under Mack Brown.

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.

Anatomy of Momentum: Drive Before the Half Against OSU

GhostofBigRoy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:41:21 -0000

More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

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The Context

Good offenses and good teams generally respond after the opponent scores a touchdown. That was the task Colt McCoy and the offense faced after Oklahoma State cut into the early Texas lead after Beau Johnson scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge to make it 17-7. Good offenses also operate well in the two-minute drill -- the Longhorns got the ball with 2:16 left on the clock. The game plan for Greg Davis was clearly to spread the field to take advantage of the Oklahoma State secondary, where Davis felt he had match ups favoring Texas -- that game plan meshed well with the two-minute drill Texas had to run with so little time left on the clock, though a switch to 11 personnel would ultimately help the drive find the end zone.

The other thing that good teams do is score before halftime. A score just before the half against Wyoming helped the Longhorns establish momentum heading into halftime and, when combined with Mack Brown's philosophy of deferring to the second half, scoring before halftime can give Texas two chances to score without the opponent being able to touch the football.

The Longhorns would not be able to start with a short field, however, as Oklahoma State kicker Quinn Sharp put the ball went into the end zone for a touchback. Texas would have to drive 80 yards for a momentum-swinging touchdown. Texas begins the drive with two timeouts.

The Plays

1st and 10 Texas 20

Texas, as they did throughout much of the first half, comes out in an empty set, with Dan Buckner in the flex, James Kirkendoll and Fozzy Whittaker split to the bottom of the screen, and Jordan Shipley and John Chiles split to the top:

OSU has three down linemen, with the Sam linebacker showing blitz and two deep safeties. Notice that James Kirkendoll is uncovered in the slot to the bottom of the screen.

Key Shot

Instead of blitzing the Sam backer, OSU brings the Mike and Will backers, causing a problem in the Texas protection scheme that leaves the strongside defensive end unblocked and headed for McCoy. The hot receiver on the play is Kirkendoll, but McCoy throws behind him incomplete -- probably just as well since a complete pass would have gained little yardage and kept the clock running, draining precious seconds.

2nd and 10 Texas 20

Texas stays with the same personnel group, while Oklahoma State stays with two safeties deep, but walks a defender up on Kirkendoll in the slot this time. Notice that Bill Young also dials up press coverage against Jordan Shipley.

Key Shot

Once again, McCoy looks short to Kirkendoll on a hitch and he breaks a tackle before being stood up by Andre Sexton. It's the most controversial play of the game and one that could have swung the momentum of the game considerably -- as Sexton drives Kirkendoll backwards, stopping his forward progress, he rips the ball out of his hands, seemingly giving Oklahoma State the ball inside the Texas 20 yardline.

A touchdown cuts the Texas lead to 17-14 just before the half. Instead, the referees, correctly in my opinion, rule that Kirkendoll's forward progress was stopped and Texas keeps the ball. Oklahoma State calls a timeout, ostensibly to either challenge the play or force the booth to look at it, but the play cannot be reviewed.

3rd and 6 Texas 24

Same personnel for Texas, except the strong side of the field is now at the top of the screen. OSU has two safeties deep and is not in press coverage against Shipley this time. OSU rushes the linebacker in the middle of the field.

Key Shot

Flushed from the pocket by a twisting OSU linemen, McCoy throws on the run, finding Chiles wide open down the sideline -- Chiles either ran a stop route or broke off his route. Either way, it's the biggest catch of his Texas career for the former quarterback, who gains 16 yards and keeps the drive alive.

1st and 10 Texas 40

Texas keeps the same personnel on the field. Notice that OSU is once again pressing Shipley at the line of scrimmage, with two safeties deep and three down linemen.

Key Shot

Two seconds into the play, seeing no one open downfield, McCoy bails from the pocket and breaks a tackle to pick up two yards. Texas calls a timeout to stop the clock, leaving them with one remaining in the half.

2nd and 8 Texas 42

Texas changes their personnel grouping for the first time on the drive, bringing in EBS and keeping Whittaker in the backfield. Malcolm Williams comes in at split end, while Marquise Goodwin takes over the flanker position. Notice that OSU keeps two deep safeties, while walking the nickel back up close to the line of scrimmage over Shipley.

Key Shot

Since McCoy got a little antsy in the pocket on the last play, Davis calls for max protection, keeping both EBS and Whittaker in to block.

Kyle Hix gets beat on the right side of the line, but McCoy still has a perfect pocket to deliver the football downfield. Given that only three receivers are in the route, McCoy probably knows that Shipley will create enough separation on his out route to be able to deliver the football. Shipley gets the necessary separation and McCoy throws a strike for a 16-yard gain. The OSU safety on that side of the field got so much depth on the snap that he never even got close to Shipley on the play -- it's understandable that OSU didn't want to give up the big play, but the deep coverage should have been close enough to at least make it a smaller window for McCoy to throw into.

1st and 10 Oklahoma State 42

Texas stays with the same personnel, while OSU keeps two safeties deep and three down linemen -- the same look they have shown throughout the drive. Notice that the Mike and Will linebackers are showing blitz.

Key Shot

The linebackers both drop into coverage and EBS and Whittaker both release as a result.

However, none of the receivers gain enough separation for McCoy to deliver a pass, so he heads out of the pocket and towards the sideline, getting out of bounds after picking up two yards, preserving the final Texas timeout.

2nd and 8 Oklahoma State 40

Texas stays in 11 personnel, while Oklahoma State blitzes both the Mike and the Will backers.

Key Shot

With six men on the line of scrimmage to pick up five defenders, the Longhorns pick up the blitz and allow McCoy time to throw downfield to Shipley, who beats Perrish Cox in one-on-one coverage -- the safety deep on that side of the field comes up the first-down marker and stops.

Shipley is open, but McCoy overthrows the pass by several feet -- another replay shows that Shipley cut farther inside than McCoy anticipated, leaving the pass thrown too long. Had McCoy and Shipley been on the same page, the play would have gone for a touchdown.

3rd and 8 Oklahoma State 40

Texas substitutes for the 3rd and long play, taking out EBS and bringing in Dan Buckner to play the flex tight end position, while inserting Chiles at flanker. As usual, Oklahoma State has two deep safeties and three down linemen.

Key Shot

Oklahoma State drops back in man coverage and although no Texas receivers can gain separation, since the defensive backs arent facing McCoy, after he eludes a defensive lineman, he has open field once he leaves the pocket:

McCoy picks up 19 yards on the play and slides down at the 21, avoiding a hit -- McCoy has done much better at avoiding unnecessary hits this season.

1st and 10 Oklahoma State 21

The clock starts after placement of the ball and McCoy gets to the line of scrimmage quickly and spikes the ball to stop the clock.

2nd and 10 Oklahoma State 21

Texas lines up in 11 personnel, with Chiles at split end and Williams at flanker. OSU has three linebackers on the field and three down linemen, with the nickel back lined up well inside of Shipley and a safety over the top.

Key Shot

Oklahoma State blitzes the nickel back and the Sam backer. The line picks up the blitzers well, but Michael Huey and Chris Hall don't communicate well, as Hall picks up the Sam backer and Huey helps out Hix on the defensive end, leaving the defensive tackle free to come through, with only Whittaker standing between him and the quarterback. The tackle sheds Whittaker quickly and forces McCoy to throw the ball away, but picks up a personal foul pentalty for hitting McCoy in the helmet after he released the football:

1st and 10 Oklahoma State 11

Texas keeps the same personnel on the field, while Oklahoma State rushes four and drops back in man-to-man coverage.

Key Shot

The play is designed to go to Shipley on a double move -- a curl and go -- but Malcolm Williams breaks open running the back of the end zone and McCoy finds him as the pocket begins to collapse.

It's not an easy catch for Williams, who had to fully extend while making sure that he got his foot down, but McCoy helped by throwing an extremely catchable ball -- had the Texas quarterback really zipped it, the ball might have gone through the hands of the talented receiver.

Final Totals

Ten plays for 80 yards, 2:09 expired. Four of seven passing for 47 yards by McCoy, who also added 23 yards on three carries. One potential touchdown ovethrown on the slightly miscommunication by McCoy and Shipley. One catch for four yards by Kirkendoll. One catch for 16 yards by Chiles. One catch for 16 yards by Shipley. One catch for 11 yards and a touchdown by Williams. One 10-yard roughing the passer penalty on Oklahoma State. One miscommunication on the offensive line between Huey and Hall that allowed the defensive tackle to get in the backfield and hit McCoy.

The Verdict

Texas dodged a major bullet early in the drive when the officials ruled Kirkendoll's forward progressed stopped, negating the potential fumble and recovery by Oklahoma State. However, Kirkendoll must do a better job of protecting the football with both hands in traffic and have a better understanding of when he can no longer pick up yards on a play and is better off just going down.

The drive also featured a smart adjustment by Greg Davis. After getting little out of the empty set and having McCoy leave the pocket relatively quickly, he went back to 11 personnel to give McCoy more protection and allow him to stand in the pocket longer. It almost paid off with the pass to Shipley before eventually resulting in the touchdown pass to Williams.

The other key element of the drive was the scrambling of McCoy. Even though he did leave the pocket early on his two two-yard scrambles, he avoided potentially drive-killing sacks that would have also forced the Longhorns to use their last timeout, preserving it in the case of emergency. More importantly, though, it showed just how difficult it is to defend the Longhorns when McCoy leaves the pocket, especially in man coverage -- his 19-yard run was probably the biggest positive play of the drive before the touchdown pass to Williams.

Scoring before the half is also a major swing of momentum and it virtually put the game out of reach at that point, as the Longhorns went up 24-7 -- there was no way that defense was going to give up 17 points in the second half. By scoring the touchdown, Texas demoralized Oklahoma State going into halftime and completely took the biggest crowd in Oklahoma State history out of the game for the remainder of the contest. There's also something about Texas running the two-minute offense, as McCoy has seemingly found his rhythm several times this season just before halftime, notably against Wyoming to finally jumpstart the Longhorn offense.

Five Things to Watch Against Oklahoma State

GhostofBigRoy — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:25:54 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

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Can Texas get off to another fast start? This was a key last week and is something that is basically a key every week, but considering the wild history of Texas-Oklahoma State games, it becomes even more important. A breakdown of scoring since 2002 by quarters shows the trends of the match up:

Quarter	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Texas	33	73	134	78
Oklahoma State	75	66	27	16

Clearly, Oklahoma State gets off to much faster starts historically than the Longhorns, who come then roaring back, particularly in the third quarter. In fact, from 2003-2006 Texas dropped 121 unanswered points on Oklahoma State in the second half, a streak not stopped until Grant Jones returned a kick 89 yards for a touchdown in 2006 and was highlighted by the 49 straight points Texas scored in 2004 after going down 35-7.

Basically, history shows that if the Longhorns can get off to an early lead, Oklahoma State doesn't have the depth or athletes to compete with Texas in the second half. Last season, the Cowboys nearly came back against the Longhorns after Texas established a lead in the middle of the game, so the depth advantage probably isn't what it was a few years ago, but it's probably safe to say that if Texas gets off to a fast start and takes the crowd out of the game early, there is an extremely strong chance they win this football game.

Will Colt McCoy take care of the football? After throwing eight interceptions all of last season, McCoy is currently one of only two quarterbacks in all of Division I to have thrown an interception in each game. Four of those passes were tipped balls and Greg Davis believes that only two were poor decisions by McCoy, but no matter how or why the interceptions occurred, the result remains the same. McCoy also fumbled twice against Oklahoma, and among his three turnovers, two of them occurred in the red zone. Add in three dropped interceptions by Missouri and Oklahoma and the numbers could be much worse.

How well will the Texas linebackers play? Since Oklahoma State not only runs the football well, but also uses play-action passing effectively, as well as the screen game to the running backs, the Texas linebackers must play a good game for the Longhorns to win in Stillwater. Last week, during Missouri's only successful drive of the game, Roddrick Muckelroy and Keenan Robinson consistently found themselves either out of position or unable to get off blocks, failures that led to Muckelroy being benched for a portion of the game.

This week, they must consistently do a better job of not only getting off blocks, but also reading their keys to avoid being sucked in on play-action fakes and reading and reacting quickly to screen passes. On those play-action fakes, they must be conscious of their coverage responsibilities on the running back out of the backfield or the tight ends, who may not be playing on the level of Brandon Pettigrew, but have been a pleasant surprise nonetheless, particularly Wilson Youman.

Since Oklahoma State uses a great deal of 11 personnel with three wide receivers, it's possible that Will Muschamp may play three linebackers more often this week, while using only four defensive backs, leaving Blake Gideon as the only deep safety. It's also possible that Sergio Kindle could see more time as a linebacker this week, one of the adjustments Muschamp made last week to the Missouri running game. Or Muschamp could play with three down linemen and three linebackers, leaving five defensive backs on the field and maintaining more flexibility in coverage. Whatever the case, the play of the linebackers may be the key for the whole defense this week.

How will Bill Young choose to use his defense? Oklahoma State has not been a team that blitzes much this season, but opponents generally buck their season-long trends when playing against Texas. If Oklahoma State does choose to blitz, one thing that Young has always done well in his time as a defensive coordinator is study the hot routes opponents run against blitzes and take that away. Can the Longhorns still complete passes in the face of blitzes, then?

The other question mark is how Oklahoma State chooses to defend the Texas passing game. Generally, the Cowboys have played zone defense, with cornerback Perrish Cox often playing man-to-man against the best wide receiver for the other team. Will Cox line up against Jordan Shipley man-to-man, even in the slot, where teams generally prefer to give the receiver a cushion? If Oklahoma State plays zone, can players like Malcolm Williams and Marquise Goodwin, who don't have a lot of game reps with Colt McCoy, be on the same page with the Texas quarterback when they settle into holes in the zone? In the game against Texas Tech, McCoy and Williams weren't quite on the same page when McCoy slightly overthrew the ball and Williams had it go through his hands for crucial interception. Can Williams and Gooding, as well as Shipley at his new/old position, punish Oklahoma State if they sit back in soft coverage in a way that James Kirkendoll and John Chiles could not earlier in the season?

Last season, Oklahoma State worked hard to disguise their coverages wtih a lot of pre-snap movement -- McCoy is at his best when he knows where he's going with the football before the play even begins. Oklahoma had success with a similar strategy, but one of Young's hallmarks this season has been a return to fundamentals and an emphasis on making sure that defenders are aligned correctly, eschewing disguised coverages. If McCoy can read the coverages easily pre-snap and Oklahoma State sits back in soft coverage like Missouri, the Oklahoma State secondary could be in for a long evening, especially since the front four for the Cowboys has done a poor job this season of getting pressure on the quarterback.

Can Texas continue to run the ball effectively? Using Greg Smith more often in the offense has greatly helped the Texas running game over the last two weeks, but Oklahoma State has been one of the better teams in the country at defending the run, allowing opponents only 99 yards per game, good for 18th in the country. Granted, the only strong rushing team they have faced was Texas A&M, ranked 33rd in the country. However, taking out from their per-game average the contest against Oklahoma State, the Cowboys held the Aggies to 56 yards below their average against everyone else.

For the Longhorns, the running game has improved in rushing the ball successfully -- defined now as picking up four yards, gaining a first down, or scoring a touchdown -- 61% of the time against Oklahoma to 67% against Missouri. With the offensive line now healthy for the first time the end of fall practice, there may be fewer breakdowns by individual linemen and better misdirection and more running plays to choose from should help as well. Add to the fact that the Longhorns now have some continuity at the position with Fozzy Whittaker and Cody Johnson firmly entrenched as the one-two punch for the offense and Texas has a much better chance of running the ball well than they did earlier in the season.

Snap Shots: The Monroe Series

GhostofBigRoy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:11:11 -0000

More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

Get this man the ball. Now. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

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The Big Picture

Pretty much everyone in Longhorn Nation lambasted the coaching staff for the running performance put on against Colorado. It was terrible. During the week leading up to the Oklahoma game, Mack Brown apparently had to bite his tongue to keep from informing the big mean media that he and Greg Davis did indeed have some new wrinkles saved for the Sooners.

Over at BC, LonghornScott correctly pointed out the flaws of having one package that isn't working and trying to fix it with another separate, completely different package -- it's a somewhat simplified summary of the post, but enough for the purposes here. It's a valid point, and certainly one that Davis would be well served to understand better, but there is something to be said for series-based football. For example, the three plays Dan Lee ran at Arkansas in the Wildcat formation qualify as a series of plays that generally look similar, but can catch the defense overpursuing in anticipation of one play, in this case the stealer, then take advantage of that overpursuit by running the play in the series that punishes the defense for that decision -- the power. Once the defense adjusts to that play and takes it away, then the third play comes in, in this case the counter. In other words, series-based football.

Instead of using that series-based approach with the WildHorn (it was not used against Missouri), which probably would have kept it from dying, Davis decided to use it for another set of complementary plays -- what I've chosen to call the Monroe Series. After Monroe played well enough to earn the inaugural, but yet-unnamed Flavor of the Week award for the Louisiana-Monroe game, one of the first things I wanted to see with him was the jet sweep, putting him in motion across the formation to take the hand off -- it doesn't exactly take a football genius to figure out that it's better to get him the ball at speed rather than standing still, even if he does have elite acceleration. Davis finally answered that call with the Monroe Series.

The Context

Before Davis completely abandoned the run in the first half of the Oklahoma game, he sought to gain some momentum for the Longhorns by breaking out several running plays Texas had not shown to that point in the season. For instance, the first play from scrimmage was a draw play to Fozzy Whittaker that picked up 16 yards. On the second series, after knocking out Sam Bradford and forcing a three and out by the Sooners, Davis unveiled another new play, but this one was different -- it had other complementary plays along with it, a series if you will.

Stealer

The play the Longhorns run is not exactly like the stealer run by Dan Lee because the original stealer had a pulling guard from the backside attempting to lay a block in front of the runner. In some ways, the design the Longhorns use is more effective, because judging from the plays included in the instructional video, it was extremely difficult for that pulling guard to ever get in front of the running back to actually throw a block -- think about, a guard is trying to catch up with a running back who already has a head start.

Instead, the Longhorns use Fozzy Whittaker, or Tre' Newton when the Longhorns ran the play with Garrett Gilbert at quarterback late in the MIssouri game, as the lead blocker on the play. The blocking scheme is the same as the speed option play -- the offensive line blocks down the line of scrimmage in the direction of the play, while the running back heads into the playside flat to block the first player he comes across, in this case the nickel back lined up over Malcolm Williams. Notice that both of the OU linebackers line up well inside the tackle box.

Kyle Hix has a tough task in this play -- Jeremy Beal lines up well outside the left shoulder of Hix, forcing him to cut Beal. Since Beal is a badass, he doesn't allow that to happen, forcing Monroe to take a wider angle to get around him. Fortunately, since Monroe is ridiculously fast, Beal never really has a chance to tackle him, but he does allow his teammates an extra step or two in pursuit of the Longhorn ballcarrier, far from insignificant with Monroe. If Hix can get a good block on Beal, Monroe turns the corner much more quickly and has a ton of open field in front of him. Notice also that Whittaker is about to take an the OU nickel back.

Whittaker also cuts the OU defender, with a slightly higher level of success, while Monroe, now seven yards behind the line of scrimmage, avoids Beal.

Now by Beal, Monroe can finally turn upfield with the football, while the nickel back has to regain his balance after hurdling Fozzy. Notice the other highlighted OU defender taking a terrible angle on Monroe. In fact, one of the foremost reasons for putting Monroe on the field is on obvious one -- his elite speed changes the geometry of the game. In other words, he can blow angles up.

Since Beal forced Monroe to take such a wide angle approaching the line of scrimmage, the pursuit catches up with him only a yard or two downfield. Had the timing of the play been more optimal, the excellent downfield blocking by Williams and Shipley might have led to a big play. Instead, they allow Monroe to gain a little bit of extra yardage.

After his speed, the most endearing aspect of Monroe is how hard he fights for extra yardage at his size. Instead of meekly going out of bounds after picking up only two or three yards, Monroe manages to pick up six yards on the play -- an excellent gain on first down that easily could have resulted in more yardage.

The Verdict

The good news is that this play provides some evidence that Davis is not a complete idiot. Putting Monroe in motion is an obvious move, but it's also a smart one and it pays dividends on the first play, even though Kyle Hix fails to execute his block. Keep running it, GD, it's hard to stop!

Running Back Counter

This is where Davis doesn't quite understand series-based football, even though it's pretty simple -- on the next play, instead of running stealer until the Oklahoma defense adjusts and takes the play away, difficult because of Monroe's pure speed, Davis dials up the counter to stealer, the running back counter:

The Longhorns stay with the same personnel in the same formation and the play starts out looking like stealer, with Monroe coming in motion across the formation. Notice that Oklahoma stands up the defense end on the opposite side of the field from Monroe to make it even more difficult for the left tackle, Adam Ulatoski, the cut the defensive end, Auston English. Perhaps Davis doesn't trust Ulatoski with that assignment running the stealer, so both Charlie Tanner and Chris Hall pull on this play. Notice that EBS has the assignment of blocking Jeremy Beal this time.

Here's another example of why Davis fails by calling the running back counter here. Perhaps the linebackers read their keys well -- the movement of the offensive lineman -- but the point here is that they don't flow to the play or take any bad steps in the direction of Monroe coming in motion, indicating that stealer should work again. Notice also that Kyle Hix is matched up with Gerald McCoy on the play -- so far so good, but there's a problem developing, as Hix allows McCoy to get into his body.

Once again, Hix allows penetration into the backfield, as McCoy quickly sheds the Longhorn offensive lineman, and, once again, the running back must take a wider angle, allowing more time for the pursuit and forcing the the blockers to hold their blocks for a difficult extra split second. Notice that EBS hasn't allowed Beal to get into his body and is holding the block well, except for the fact that he hasn't managed to seal him inside, a difficult task considering the opponent.

Whittaker avoids McCoy and finally has a chance to start heading upfield and into the boundary on the short side of the field. Notice that Beal is about to shed EBS, who can't hold his block for the extra split second needed as a result of Hix allowing such quick penetration by McCoy. However, the play still has a chance for success if Hall and Huey can make their blocks in space. Notice that Hall could have stopped to chip Beal, but instead heads for the pursuing defensive back. Or does he?

Beal has now completely disengaged from EBS, creating a fair amount of separation. Huey is still locked in on his target, while Hall inexplicably overruns the play, failing to put himself in a position to block either Beal or the defensive back.

In the realm of positives, Huey gets a good cut block on the defensive back. Back in the realm of Texas offensive line realities, Hall has now completely run himself out of the play without having even gotten in anyone's way. To be fair, it's difficult for a lot of offensive lineman to block in space, but this is just not good enough. Beal is now locked in on Fozzy.

Does the Mythical Fozzy Creature like contact or will he meekly head out of bounds, short of the first down?

Instead of laying out, which puts him in little danger because the defenders aren't close enough to pick a big hit on him anyway, Whittaker opts to go meekly out of bounds short of the first down.

The Verdict

But it's 3rd and 1, any good offense should be able to pick that up, right? Wrong, not when Greg Davis infamously calls for an empty set and has every receiver run a route of less than five yards, culminating in McCoy throwing an incomplete pass to Shipley after Brian Jackson grabbed his jersey. Fail. Thanks Fozzy.

As mentioned earlier, Davis clearly doesn't quite get series-based football, as he should have run stealer until Oklahoma stopped it -- that's how series-based football works. Sometimes an offensive coordinator has to sacrifice one play in order to hit a big play on the next. However, even though it wasn't the optimal time to call for the running back counter, it still would have picked up a first down if Hall could have thrown a block on someone, if Hix could have held his block on McCoy for a split second more, of if Fozzy had simply laid out for the first down. Monroe would have.

Quarterback Counter

As much as Davis failed in going to the first counter too soon, he makes an excellent play call in the second quarter after completely abandoning the run for much of the first half. It's the third play in the series, the quarterback counter:

It's the same personnel, the same formation as the previous two plays (with the exception of Kirkendoll in at wide receiver instead of Malcolm Williams), with Monroe coming in motion across the formation to the wide side of the field. It also has an extra misdirection built in -- McCoy will fake the running back counter to Whittaker before taking the ball himself behind the two pulling linemen, the left tackle Ulatoski and the left guard Tanner. Notice that OU now has greater separation between their linebackers, with one farther off the line of scrimmage on the short side and the other now almost outside the tackle box to deal with Monroe's speed to the outside.

The OU defenders get a little bit undsiciplined on this play -- both the nickel back and Ryan Reynolds key on Monroe, attempting to stop stealer. On the other side of the field, Travis Lewis isn't quite as undisciplined, as he only takes a little hop forward to deal with Whittaker, while the cornerback on that side of the field and English both also key on Whittaker. Instead of watching their keys -- the movement of the offensive linemen, they get caught up in both fakes.

EBS has the toughest job on this play. Though Chris Hall tries to cut Gerald McCoy, it's a long way for the center to go to block such a good defensive tackle -- he has little chance. After taking a step or two to his left, Smith must now block the dangerous McCoy for the play to succeed. Smith gets a good seal on McCoy and even helps out Michael Huey behind him by getting in the way of the other defensive tackle attempting to get into the backfield -- Huey has allowed the defender to get across his body. The play has set up extremely well to this point, as the nickel back takes himself out of the play by following Monroe, while Tanner and James Kirkendoll are both set up to make their blocks and Ulatoski heads into the open field with no one currently in the picture to block -- that's a good thing.

Ulatoski makes a good decision to help Tanner the linebacker, Reynolds, while Hix gets an excellent seal on English inside, allowing a big running lane for McCoy to head through.

Ulatoski's footwork could have been a bit better to seal Reynolds and keep the running lane open longer, but he still does a good enough job to allow McCoy to eventually pick up 12 yards on first down.

The Verdict

Had Davis called either stealer or the running back counter, OU probably had them well defended with several offensive possessions to talk about adjustments to the first two plays. Instead, Davs dailed up the counter to the first two plays and picked up 12 yards on first down, giving the Longhorns an excellent start to a drive on which they would eventually kick a field goal, an important three points in a game decided by that margin. It's also important to note that the Longhorn offensive line executed this play to near perfection, much better than some individually poor efforts that limited the first two plays. Yay, execution!

Stealer, Redux

Of course, these plays don't mean much if Davis isn't willing to call them again or if defenses make adjustments to take them away. Yet, that's the beauty of series-based football -- the defense should always be wrong. Here's another look at stealer, this time run with different personnel against Missouri:

It's the same play run against Oklahoma, except with Gilbert as the quarterback, Newton at running back, and Howard at tight end, with Williams and Kirkendoll as the blockers. However, the most important player here, Monroe, stays the same. Notice that the only real adjustment Missouri makes versus what Oklahoma did is to walk up a safety behind the outside linebacker covering slot, while keeping two linebackers well inside the tackle box and at the same depth, unlike OU defended the quarterback counter.

A Missouri defender slices through a gap against the second-team Longhorn offensive line, but, like the first stealer play, Monroe just takes a wider angle while using his speed to beat keep his opponent from having a chance to tackle him. Notice the unblocked Mike linebacker running down the line of scrimmage in pursuit. The question then, is that a good enough angle?

Newton throws a nice block on the outside linebacker, while the MIke backer heads right towards that pile -- that probably won't be good enough, son. Monroe sees the running lane to the outside.

The Mike backer did indeed take a poor angle on the play and has no chance at a tackle. Notice that both Kirkendoll and Williams are throwing good blocks downfield, allowing Monroe to still have a nice running lane to pick up more yardage after turning the corner.

Both defenders eventually get off the blocks of Kirkendoll and Williams, who both do a good job of not getting a holding call on the play, and have a chance to tackle Monroe, who can go down with a nice gain or do what he normally does -- keep fighting for as much yardage as possible.

Monroe does not go down easily, picking up another five yards in the process and turning a seven-yard gain into a nice 12-yard gain.

The Verdict

The beauty of the stealer play is that the offensive line doesn't really even have to block that well for it to work -- the important blocks are by the running back and the receivers outside. An offensive lineman allowed serious penetration on the play, but Monroe's speed kept that defender from being able to make the play. This play also illustrates, once again, just how often Monroe can blow up the angle of a defender and how well he does at his size making himself difficult to bring down -- there's some power in that small frame. The bottom line -- this play seems to be good for at least five yards a carry.

The Takeaway

The three main Wildcat plays made me a believer in series-based football and the early succes of this group of three plays -- the Monroe Series -- confirms that belief. Even though this package doesn't represent a serious leap forward for Davis in being able to put together a coherent offense that includes a more systemic approach, that really doesn't matter here.

What matters is that the Monroe series can significantly help the running game and gives the ball to one of the two most explosive offensive players on the team -- that's good, especially since Mack Brown talks all the time about how difficult it is to get carries for more than about two running backs. Even though it appears that those two backs are Fozzy Whittaker and Cody Johnson, this package still allows Monroe an opportunity to touch the ball. Davis should run these plays up to about 10 times per game -- once again, the beauty of series-based football is that as long as the offensive coordinator can correctly see how the defense is defending each play, the defense should always be wrong.

To make sure the defense is always wrong, Davis could make one important adjustment to increase the effectiveness of the plays. Instead of calling the play before the defense lines up, Texas could look back to the sideline after the defense shows their coverage to get the play. If a team overloads the wide side of the field or separates their linebackers in the box significantly, as Oklahoma did on the quarterback counter, Davis can get the offense into the proper play. A similar solution is to allow McCoy the ability to call the play at the line of scrimmage and it's possible that Davis already does give him that freedom, though it's impossible to tell.

It's worth noting that defenses continue to play this formation with two safeties deep, concerned about the pass. If defenses do begin adjusting, the Longhorns need to have two or three passing plays out of the formation, either keeping Monroe as the split end in the formation or having him run a route after coming in motion -- a wheel route would work well, a play the Longhorns have only tried to hit with Monroe once this season, against Oklahoma. Basically, the idea is to add another constraint play by passing the ball to keep that extra eight defender out of the box or close to the line of scrimmage on the wide side of the field. Texas has now had two full weeks to put in those passing plays, so they have had plenty of time for installation if they need those plays this weekend against Oklahoma State.

The other adjustment is less likely, but could allow the Longhorns more flexibility in the formation. By using Marquise Goodwin as the motion man in the formation, Texas could run all the same passing plays they normally do with Goodwin at split end, a position he played for several snaps against Missouri, while putting Monroe at running back, a player who can more quickly take the edge on the running back counter than Whittaker, critical since there is so little space on the short side of the field. The only downside is that Monroe would be responsible for blitz pick up on the throwing play and would also have to block on stealer. However, given his ability to pick up extra yardage, it's not inconceivable that he could cut a defender about as well as Whittaker and picking up the blitz isn't a problem until the Longhorns actually decide to throw out of the formation. Obviously, putting Goodwin and Monroe on the field at the same time for the Monroe Series is a long shot, but it does get the two fastest players on the team on the field in a formation other than the empty set.

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.

Anatomy of Success: First Drive Against Missouri

GhostofBigRoy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:00:33 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

Missouri made this way too easy. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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The Context

Throughout the entire season, the Texas offense has struggled to get off to quick, early starts. Against Missouri, in a nationally-televised homecoming game in front of the biggest crowd at Faurot Field in 25 years, getting off to a quick start was even more important than usual. In addition, the Longhorns are in the process of re-tooling the offense, or at the least, re-adjusting priorities and personnel.

After losing the coin toss, Missouri elected to defer to the second half and kicked off the ball to Texas to start the game. DJ Monroe returned the kick 30 yards to the Texas 39, putting his head down and picking up difficult yardage at the end of the game -- Monroe is far from the biggest guy on the field, but he's willing to do the dirty work for extra yards. Love that toughness and effort from him.

Big Roy's breakdown is after the jump. Interestingly, the outstanding Mizzou blog Rock M Nation posted a similar breakdown earlier today. View their take on the same drive here. --PB--

1st and 10 Texas 39

As expected, Texas opens up in 11 personnel with EBS on the right side of the line to provide help for Kyle Hix, though Jordan Shipley and Marquise Goodwin are reversed from their positions on the depth chart -- Shipley is in the slot and Goodwin is the flanker. Malcolm Williams starts at split end:

Notice that defensively, Missouri is giving the Longhorns big cushions on wide side of the field and Shipley draws coverage from a linebacker.

Key Shot

The Longhorns start out the game with a play-action fake to the short side of the field. All three linebackers bite on the play action, with Shipley's man caught taking a bad step towards the line of scrimmage, leaving McCoy's roommate plenty of room to catch the short pass. McCoy delivers the ball and Shipley turns upfield, breaking a tackle and finding the open field before tripping on the turf for a 31-yard gain on the first Texas play from scrimmage.

1st and 10 Missouri 30

Texas stays in 11 personnel, with Smith once again on the right side of the line. Notice that Missouri remains in soft coverage with the cornerbacks providing huge cushions for the Longhorn receivers:

Key Shot

Texas runs the zone play to the right, but Fozzy Whittaker, always aware of the cut-back lane, finds it and manages to get past the backside defender on the play:

The defender brings him down from behind, but the combination of vision by Whittaker and his understanding of the scheme allows him to pick up six yards without the offensive line having to execute at a high level.

2nd and 4 Missouri 24

The status quo established on the first two plays remains -- Texas is in 11 personnel with EBS on the right side and Missouri has two safeties deep and the cornerbacks well off the Longhorn receivers:

Key Shot

Ah yes, this looks like the Texas offensive line -- notice that EBS misses his block, Hix attempts to cut his defender, missing, Huey attempts to cut Weatherspoon, missing, and, just for good measure, Charlie Tanner whiffs in space, as usual. Somehow, despite four blocks that fail in varying degrees, Whittaker picks up two yards on the play, setting up third and short.

3rd and 2 Missouri 22

Greg Davis dials up the Jumbo package on third and short, bringing in Lamarr Houston, Ahmard Howard, Antwan Cobb, and, of course, the blunt object, Cody Johnson:

Key Shot

Given the overwhelming tendencies of the Texas offense, which runs behind the right side of the line with the Jumbo package nearly every time, Missouri probably expects the ball to go right, which it does. Houston gets a nice block and Hix and Huey get some drive, but this play is mostly made by Johnson, who is rarely stopped in these situations. Guess who wins this little battle shown above? That's right, the irresistible force, the bludgeon known as Cody Johnson, wins over the quite-movable Missouri defender and picks up the necessary two yards with an extra foot or two thrown in for good measure.

1st and 10 Missouri 20

Johnson stays in the game, but otherwise the same 11 personnel package from earlier returns, with the only adjustment being Malcolm Williams at flanker instead of Goodwin, who moves to the split end position. Notice how far off the Missouri cornerback is playing Malcolm Williams -- around eight yards:

Key Shot

McCoy runs a play-action fake to Johnson as two linebackers come on a blitz, leaving Shipley free to make the block on the cornerback for Williams, who catches the short pass and picks up an easy seven yards before fumbling the ball out of bounds on the hit.

2nd and 3 Missouri 13

Same personnel as the previous play, with Johnson lined up to the left of McCoy. Once again Missouri is in soft coverage, but appears to have brought a nickel back on the field:

Key Shot

It's a simple zone play right, but the offensive line does an excellent job of making their blocks, particularly EBS, who sets the edge for Johnson by getting to the second level and sealing the safety. Johnson has a huge expanse of open field to the outside and uses his speed to take the edge before using his power to punish Missouri defenders and pick up yards after contact. All told, Johnson breaks four tackles on his way to a seven-yard gain.

1st and Goal Missouri 6

Texas brings in DJ Monroe to run the Monroe series in 11 personnel with Fozzy at running back, Williams and Shipley to the top of the formation, and Greg Smith on the right side of the line once again:

Key Shot

Monroe comes into motion, drawing the attention of the safety coming on the run blitz, who attacks up the field and takes himself out of the play. It's not the jet sweep, but rather the quarterback counter:

The play sets up well, as pulling tackle Hix only has to block the playside linebacker. That's Hix there on the left of the line of scrimmage, looking at the aforementioned linebacker he just whiffed on. Instead of a successful play and a possible touchdown, McCoy loses two yards.

2nd and Goal Missouri 8

Texas goes back to their base 11 personnel grouping, with EBS on the right side of the line of scrimmage and Fozzy in the backfield with McCoy. Notice that Missouri now has all three linebackers in the box, with Shipley matched up against a safety lined up seven yards deep:

Key Shot

In looking at the picture above, it's not hard to imagine that this play will be a success -- Missouri seems to have no desire to adequately defend Shipley on this play. The roommate heads out into the flat as the Missouri defender takes several steps back in coverage, leaving Shipley wide open:

As a result, Goodwin is able to block both his own man and the safety "assigned" to Shipley, leading to an easy walk into the end zone and the first score of the game.

Final Totals

Eight plays for 61 yards, 3:35 expired. Three of three passing for 46 yards and a touchdown for McCoy, as well as one carry for a loss of two yards. Two catches for 38 yards and one of the easiest touchdowns Shipley has ever scored. One catch for seven yards and a fumble by Malcolm Williams. Two carries for eight yards by Fozzy Whittaker and two carries for nine yards by Cody Johnson. Two missed blocks by Kyle Hix, as well virtually the entire line on the second running play. Several other good efforts by the offensive line, though, particularly on the run of seven yards by Johnson, which included a strong effort by EBS

Final Verdict

In terms of establishing momentum, taking the crowd out of the game, and punching Missouri in the mouth early, this drive was a complete and total success. In fact, given the circumstances and the previous slow starts by the offense, this drive was exactly what the Longhorns needed.

Honestly though, Missouri provided extremely little resistance defensively, particularly with the decision of Dave Steckel to play such soft coverage and give Shipley so much room to operate one week after Oklahoma shut him down by man-handling him at the line of scrimmage. No idea what the Tiger defensive coordinator was thinking.

The running looked solid, with Smith providing a big help to Hix and Huey on the right side of the line. Despite Scipio Tex deriding the running back personality cult that exists among Texas fans, Whittaker does provide more than Vondrell McGee, particularly with his ability to see and anticipate the cut-back lane opening up, something McGee struggles with mightily. Johnson, for his part, now looks as quick as he ever has at Texas and is running with pure, unbridled anger -- it's a vicous, but beautiful thing to behold.

Even without having run the football yet, the first play demonstrated that the emphasis and talk about the running game the last week or so caught the attention of Missouri players, as the play-action fake made sure the outside was wide open for Shipley to catch and run. Malcolm Williams looked fast and strong on his catch, though he needs to work hard on ball security this week -- that could have been a reason, along with the obvious problem with dropping the football, that has kept him off the field. Goodwin did not have a catch on the drive, but did an excellent job blocking downfield, as he did the entire evening. More, please.

All in all, an excellent start to the game and a indication of things to come, as the Longhorns reeled off 21 points before the Tigers really knew what hit them and by that point, with the strong play of the Texas defense, the game was effectively over before it had really even begun. On a night that featured huge struggles by Florida and Alabama, particularly offensively, the Longhorns showed conclusively that they absolutely deserve mention with those two teams as the best in the country.

Anatomy of a Deflating Start: A look at Texas' first drive against Missouri

RPT — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:15:23 -0000

Is it safe to say that quite a bit went wrong in Missouri's 41-7 loss to Texas? It all started on the first drive of the game by Texas, which appeared to come far too easy. When Cody Johnson wasn't pounding away on the ground, Texas put the ball in the air three times, taking advantage of the Missouri pass defense. Did Missouri's defensive scheme open the doors to Texas' offensive revival? Here's a look at the three passing plays and what they might say in response:

PLAY 1: 14:53 remaining in 1st Quarter, 1st and 10: Colt McCoy pass complete to Jordan Shipley for 31 yards to the MU 30 for a 1st down.

Here, we see the first play from scrimmage, which will be indicative of most of the evening. Texas comes out in the Gun with the strongside to its left. Texas begins the game with 11 personnel (1 TE, 1 RB). McCoy has Foswhitt Whittaker to his left in the backfield, Malcolm Williams split wide to the left and Jordan Shipley in the slot. Missouri is in its base 4-3. There are two things of note as the players line up that are constant themes for the evening:

1. Shipley is highlighted in the slot, but across from him are Andrew Gachkar and Kenji Jackson. Jackson is 10+ yards removed from Shipley, and Gachkar is going to be hard pressed to close out on any outside routes because of his responsibilities in the running game.

2. When we heard Missouri was going to go a soft zone, I wasn't sure it would be THIS soft. The corner (Kevin Rutland?) is ten yards off the line of scrimmage. If this is a Cover 3, that makes a lot of sense. But if it's man coverage, then it's pretty clear that Dave Steckel REALLY doesn't trust his corners to not get beat deep.

A playaction by McCoy causes Gachkar to take one step to his left before having to recover and sprint to his right. At the top of the screen, Williams runs off the cornerback and opens up the flats for Shipley. Even before the snap, McCoy knows he's going to Shipley. The distance between Shipley and a linebacker, even one as good in pursuit as Gachkar, is too much of an advantage to pass up. If nothing else, he knows he's going left, as he can always audible into a screen for Williams.

Shipley makes the catch 2-3 yards past the line of scrimmage. The game is nine seconds old and, already, we have a test of Steckel's philosophy. If you're going to play a bend-but-don't-break soft zone and preach pursuit and tackling, you better pursue and tackle. Missouri has three players in position to minimize the gain, with Gachkar, Jackson, and the corner all stepping up. Also, on the left side of the photo, you see Lambert reengaging from behind the line of scrimmage.

With one plant of the foot, Shipley cuts inside and Gachkar flies right by him like he's a MIG from Top Gun. Now, all three of the primary pursuers are both outside of Shipley and not in the best position to angle him into other defenders. Lambert flies back into the screen, and sadly for Missouri, becomes the Tigers' best hope at preventing the first down.

Lambert dives and misses, taking out Jackson in the process and springing Shipley to the second level. Shipley rumbles for another 21 unpictured yards and the Horns have the ball at the MU 30.

EXAMINED PLAY NO. 2: 12:55 remaining in 1st Quarter; 1st and 10: Colt McCoy pass complete to Malcolm Williams for 7 yards, fumbled, recovered by Texas at the MU 13, out-of-bounds.

Texas comes out again with 11 personnel with the same formation and same look as it did in the play above. Again, Williams is uncontested by a distance of 10 yards (indicated by the gold overlay) at the line of scrimmage by the Missouri cornerback. Will Ebner and Sean Weatherspoon have stepped up closer to the line of scrimmage, with Gachkar playing at normal depth. Kenji Jackson steps up behind Gachkar, perhaps tipping off that A) Gachkar is bringing the blitz, B) Jackson is eyeing Shipley, or C) Both. In this case, it's option C.

For an offense, everything about this defensive look just BEGS for a screen or quick throw to the strong side. With that kind of cushion, you're basically daring the defense to play pitch and catch on every play and have the receiver run straight forward for a free 4-5 yards. The open slot and the deep corner means its an easy call and an easy read for the Texas offense. (All of the reasoning used here is exactly why Terrelle Pryor and Jim Tressel got absolutely REAMED after the loss to USC.)

Williams steps back behind the line of scrimmage as Shipley runs out of the slot to challenge the deep corner (not pictured). Highlighted on the left is Gachkar, who does indeed come on the blitz, which vacates the strongside of the field when he is unable to reach McCoy in time. The other highlight is Jackson, who will be left free, surprisingly, by Shipley.

Despite the quick throw, Missouri doesn't appear to be in horrible position. Shipley bypasses Jackson to go after the corner, perhaps trying to seal him off to free Williams down the sideline. Ebner hustles back from being upfield near the line of scrimmage to try to force Williams back out. Now it's a race to a spot. How far upfield can Williams get before he runs into Jackson and/or a wall of other defenders?

The answer is about 4-5 yards, as he's contacted by Jackson and Rutland as Shipley fails to hold his block. Williams eventually fights forward for another 2-3 yards. Again, I stress that by playing the secondary so deep, the Tigers dared the Horns to take those free yards.

Just to rub salt in the wound, Williams fumbles, only to have it go out of bounds. There's nothing to say here other than it'd be nice to have some bounces go Missouri's way one of these days against one of the "big boys" in the Big 12. With Williams' seven-yard reception here, the Longhorns have now gained 38 yards on passes that traveled a net of one yard downfield (3 yards downfield to Shipley, 2 yards behind the LOS to Williams).

EXAMINED PLAY NO. 3: Colt McCoy pass complete to Jordan Shipley for 8 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.

Once again, Texas comes out in the 11 Gun, this time with the strongside to the right, with the back on McCoy's right and Shipley in the right slot. In a nice change of pace, Missouri actually puts its corners near the line of scrimmage to contest the wideouts, especially now that Missouri has an extra defender in the form of the endline. Shipley remains largely uncontested at the LOS with Jasper Simmons nine yards away.

The line helps facilitate McCoy's roll to the right by turning the Mizzou D-Line. The wideout at the bottom of the screen runs off the cornerback to free up the sideline for Shipley. Highlighted is Simmons, who has an absolute no-win of a situation developing. Without knowing the details of the play call, Simmons appears responsible not only for Shipley flaring out, but also the back coming out of the backfield if he comes available for a pass. You can make the case that Shipley was the bigger threat and therefore should have earned Simmons' attention, but either way, he's going to be in some trouble.

By taking one step upfield toward the back, Simmons frees up the easy pass to Shipley. Simmons is out of position simply by circumstance, and is left hoping that the corner can help him out.

No dice. The corner is sealed, and Shipley struts in. Simmons is left asking, "What the hell was I supposed to do?"

The sad, sad result.

The Takeaway: Dave Steckel took over defensive coordinator duties hoping to simplify the defense and minimize the potential for the back-breaking long plays that were on loop in 2008. On this drive, Missouri looks incredibly paranoid about the athletes in the Texas receiving corps beating the Tiger secondary deep. All week, we'd heard that frustrating Texas was a matter of doing exactly what Missouri had tried to do all year -- sit deep, force short throws, hustle to the ball and tackle well. We'd also heard that Missouri felt comfortable enough with its base 4-3 to leave its backers in the slot instead of opting for another defensive back, even if it meant a favorable matchup for Jordan Shipley.

But before we try to make grandiose statements about this first drive, I should reiterate: These are isolated incidents on selected plays. Furthermore, it's not hard to come to the conclusion that Texas was the physically superior team. I still need to go through the rest of the game and see how/if Mizzou adjusted, but if Missouri is systemically opening itself to surrendering a minimum 5-6 yards a play with a simple audible or check down, that could certainly cause some issues down the stretch.

All in all, trust in Dave Steckel. Somewhere in between ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK and Bend But Don't Break is a happy medium. I sure as hell don't know where it is, and here's to hoping true football minds (which I'm certainly not) get it figured out for the next five games.