SB Nation - Lamarr Houston

Predicting The Big 12 Bowls

Beergut — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:49:36 -0000

These are just my gut predictions on who will win each bowl game, without doing any serious analysis:

Independence Bowl, Aggies vs Georgia: I think Georgia wins this one by ten. I am worried we will play them tough, but we'll be trailing by a field goal late in the game and they'll tack on one more score to win it by double-digits.
Holiday Bowl, Nebraska vs Arizona: I think this will be a close one, with Arizona possibly pulling it out by a late field goal to win by one or two points. Nebraska simply has to do something with their offense; if they can move the ball at all on offense, they will win easily.
Sun Bowl, Oklahoma vs Stanford: This should actually be a very competitive game, but I think Oklahoma will eventually pull away and win it by 10 points. OU's defensive line will help slow down Toby Gerhart.
Texas Bowl, Missouri vs Navy: Missouri will win this one by two TDs, if not more. Missouri will struggle stopping Navy's option offense, but Navy won't be able to stop Danario Alexander, who will have a monster game.
Insight Bowl, Iowa State vs Minnesota: I like Iowa State to pull the upset in this game. I have nothing to base this on other than the fact that I think Paul Rhoads is an outstanding coach who will have his team ready to play.
Cotton Bowl, Oklahoma State vs Ole Miss: Assuming Zac Robinson is healthy, this one probably won't be close. Dexter McCluster for Mississippi is a helluva player, but expect OSU to win this one.
Alamo Bowl, Texas Tech vs Michigan State: I don't like Leach's decision to start Taylor Potts, and Tech ended the season with a whimper, almost losing to Baylor. However, Michigan State has off-the-field issues that is distracting them, and I think Tech will be motivated by last year's embarrassment in Dallas. Tech wins by 7.
BCS National Championship Game, texas vs Alabama: This game will feature two terrific defenses playing against two competent but not stellar offenses. When you have a game which features two very good defenses, the initial team to pick is the team with the better running game. texas doesn't have a dependable running game, Alabama's offense is their running game, and they have the offensive line to make some holes against Lamarr Houston, Sam Acho, and the other members of texas' defensive front. Alabama's offensive line will wear down texas' defense, and they'll win the game by at least ten points.

Those are my bowl predictions for all the Big 12 teams in bowls. I have us going 4-3 as a conference in our bowl games. What do you think?

A Time to Celebrate, A Time to Reflect

GhostofBigRoy — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:24:57 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

Browse more photos »

The Longhorns may have needed a few lucky breaks to overcome the Cornhuskers and the incomparable Ndamukong Suh and any proper analysis of the game will reveal a litany of complaints regarding every facet of the offense. But with more than a month until Texas faces off against Alabama in Pasadena, there will be plenty of time for to analyze, further analyze, and overanalyze the Nebraska game and everything related to the match up between the SEC champion and the Big 12 champion.

Today, however, is a day for celebration, for reflection. For celebrating a team that accomplished a feat that only the 2005 team accomplished under Mack Brown -- beating both Oklahoma and A&M in the same season while finishing undefeated and winning the Big 12 championship. For celebrating a team that replaced three starters along the defensive line, lost a starting linebacker to injury in the first game, and absolutely counted upon improvement from the entire secondary and role players like Sam Acho, Eddie Jones, Kheeston Randall, and Ben Alexander. For celebrating a team that replaced two starting receivers after the departure of ultra-reliable Quan Cosby and the academic ineligibility of Brandon Collins, who broke out in the final games of 2008.

For celebrating a team that discovered leaders in Sergio Kindle, Lamarr Houston, and Roddrick Muckelroy. For celebrating the effort of Marquise Goodwin against Oklahoma, Colt McCoy's year-saving tackle after his late-game interception, interceptions by Earl Thomas, Curtis Brown, and Blake Gideon against Oklahoma State, exorcising the demons of a certain Halloween past. For celebrating Hunter Lawrence, one of the greatest kickers in Texas history. For celebrating a team the lived up to the highest of standards -- perfection. Losing was not an option and this team did not lose.

Today is a day for reflection. Reflection on the how the seasons ended in 2006 and 2007, with the Longhorns dropping games to Kansas State and Texas A&M late in the season, causing both teams to lose opportunities to play for the Big 12 championship and make it to big-money BCS games. Reflection on why those teams fell apart -- mostly the complete and utter inability of those defenses to stop the passing game and imperfect defensive coordinators. Reflection on the best decision that Mack Brown has made as head coach at Texas in his hire of Will Muscahmp as defensive coordinator and the subsequent decsion to name him the next head coach of the Longhorns. Reflection on the other hard decisions that Brown made to forge this team into a champion -- bringing Major Applewhite back to Austin, moving Ken Rucker into an administrative position, instituting a higher level of accountability, looking hard at himself as a coach.

Most of all, it's a day for reflection on just how far the Longhorns have come since last season. Reflection on the feeling of complete and utter lack of control, having relinquished all power to determine the ultimate destination of the team with the last-second loss in Lubbock. Reflection on the 45-35 campaign, all the politicking and arguments about the meaning of head-to-head victories and resume ranking, planes with banners flying over stadiums, accusations of whininess directed towards a heartbroken fanbase. Reflection on the hatred of Bob Stoops after risking the health of his starters to string together 60-point scoring games. Reflection on how karma can be a bitch, can't it Big Game Bob? Reflection on how 0.128 is now in the past, just a small wound now healing, a footnote to history. Reflection on just how hard this team worked to avoid a repeat of last season, how hard they worked to keep their BCS destiny in their own hands.

Yes, today Burnt Orange Nation must celebrate and reflect, look back upon the road now traveled, full of victories and nary a defeat. The cycle is now complete -- Texas returns to the Rose Bowl four years after Vince Young stood there in confetti, having won one of the greatest college football games ever played. After the loss by Florida, the Longhorns have the nation's longest winning streak, now standing at 17 games. Not only that, but Tim Tebow's college career is all but finished, with the lasting memories an impotent speech to his defense and him crying on national television like a six-year-old Sooner fan. After a long season, Texas is undefeated and headed to Pasadena. There is time in the coming month for all the worry a Longhorn fan desires, so what is there to do today but celebrate and reflect, with a strong emphasis on the former?

Saturday NFL Draft watch notes: Texas/Nebraska

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

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

Browse more photos »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FIRST QUARTER

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

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

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

SECOND QUARTER

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

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

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

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

CHARTIN'

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

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

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

PRESSURE	7	7
COVERAGE	5	11

Thoughts On All-Big 12 Football Team

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

by Jerry Larson - AP

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

View full size photo »

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

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

texas Preview

Beergut — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:09:48 -0000

Here we are again, with the annual A&M-texas game back on Thanksgiving night, where it belongs. The 6-5 Aggies will face the 11-0 longhorns Thursday night; the longhorns are playing for an undefeated regular season, and to keep their national championship dreams intact; the Aggies are playing for their third win over texas in the last four years, and to guarantee an overall winning season by defeating their archrival.

texas leads the Big 12 in scoring offense (42.5 points per game), and is second in scoring defese (13.3 ppg), while A&M is third (33.5) and last (31.2), respectively. Where texas is really outstanding is on run defense, giving up only 55.1 yards per game. That will make anyone one-dimensional on offense, but texas is also outstanding in pass defense, giving up only 188.6 yds per game. Will Muschamp has done a phenomenal job with his defense in Austin.

Offensively, the star of this team is WR/PR Jordan Shipley. I know the media loves to fawn all over quarterback Colt McCoy, but Shipley is really the player who makes this texas offense go. He is McCoy's security blanket on offense, and normally his first option on most pass plays. (Coincidentally, they are also roommates and best friends who like to go fishing together. Their fathers were also roommates when they played together at Abilene Christian years ago. ROOMMATES!!! Bet you didn't know that.) Shipley has 91 receptions for 1204 yards and 9 TDs on the season so far, and he still has at least three more games to play. Shipley also leads the Big 12 in punt returns, averaging 13.3 yards per return, with two taken back for a TD. If we hope to contain texas' offense on Thursday, we need to find a way to control Shipley.

QB Colt McCoy has had a solid but not spectacular season, completing 286 of 392 passes for 3024 yards, 23 TDs, and 9 interceptions. After leading texas in rushing a season ago, McCoy has only 193 yards rushing on 93 carries and 1 TD. Because our defense is so mediocre as stopping the run, I expect texas to call the zone read quite often, and also call designed QB runs for McCoy to hopefully boost his Heisman candidacy. We need to force the give to the RB on every zone read and punish McCoy, because the RB is the lesser threat of the two when carrying the ball. McCoy can scramble to avoid pressure, run to the LOS to bring the cornerbacks and safeties up, and then pass over them for a big gain. We need to get pressure on McCoy and force some turnovers; he averages over a turnover a game, and we need to keep him on track and get him frustrated. If Von Miller, Matt Moss, Spencer Nealy & Co can rattle his cage a little, that would help immensely.

Running the ball has been something of a mixed bag for texas; they don't have a single rusher ranked among the Big 12's top 12 runners, and they rank 5th in the Big 12 in rushing, averaging 152.2 yards per game. Part of texas' problem running the ball seems to be their offensive line, which has been average at best this season, failing to become the dominant unit many expected. texas doesn't have a single back who has rushed for over 400 yards this season, but they have three at 300 yards or more (Vondrell McGee, Tre Newton, Cody Johnson). Their leading rusher, Tre Newton, who should start against us Thursday, has carried the ball 67 times for 370 yards (5.5 ypc average), and 5 TDs. Newton is a solid back with good balance and decent speed; the reason he doesn't have better numbers has to do with texas' running-back-by-committee approach, a mild concussion he had earlier this year that cause him to miss some playing time, and poor execution by the offensive line. Newton should get the bulk of the carries on Thursday, with Cody Johnson coming in for short yardage situations. When texas goes to their 21 or 22 personnel for short yardage or inside the red zone, you will see fullback Antwan Cobb enter the game. Cobb rarely carries the ball (1 carry for 3 yards on the season so far), but he is a very dependable blocker, and does his job well. If any texas running back is close to 100 yards rushng by the end of the third quarter, you'll know we are in trouble.

Defensively, it all starts up front for texas, where they are led by DT Lamarr Houston and DE Sam Acho. Houstn has 43 tackles on the season, 19 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, and 2 fumbles recoveries. Acho has 41 tackles, 11 TFL, 7 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 4 fumble recoveries. These two are a deadly inside-outside combination up front, and do a good job wreaking havoc on opposing offensive lines. Acho and Houston are backed up by a very capable linebacking corps in Roddrick Muckelroy (72 tackles, 9 TFL, 2 sacks), Keenan Robinson (51 tackles, 3 TFL, 1 sack), and Emmanuel Acho (43 tackles, 10 TFL, 3 sacks); if you get past the defensive line, those three are waiting to clean up. texas' secondary is led by safety Earl Thomas, who has 57 tackles, 4 TFL, and a ridiculous 7 interceptions on the season. Blake Gideon is solid, but unspectacular (49 tackles, 1 TFL, 4 PBU), while CB Aaron Williams is a playmaker (33 tackles, 6 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles). Against good defenses, you run right at them, and I think we would be most effective running Power right at WDE Sergio Kindle, who has been a disappointment this season when you look at the preseason predictions. In the passing game, I would try to attack Blake Gideon as much as possible, and try use the short passing game a lot, dinking and dunking our way down the field. If we can be balanced on offense, running and passing the ball effectively, we have a chance to control the tempo of the game, and give ourselves a chance to win. If we can have a good game on the ground, add around 20 yards or more to their season average of per game rushing, we'll win the game.

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

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

More photos » by Erich Schlegel - AP

about 1 month ago: Texas quarterback Colt McCoy (12) walks a victory lap after the Texas Longhorns beat Kansas 51-20 in the NCAA college football game in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. McCoy also set a NCAA Division I record for most wins as a starting quarterback (43). (AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

Browse more photos »

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

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

COLT MCCOY

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

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

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

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

OFFENSE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DEFENSE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPECIAL TEAMS

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

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

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

Afternoon Brewsky Sees Progress Along the Offensive Line

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:33:49 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

Browse more photos »

Simplified running game makes progress. Cody Johnson may have had only the second 100-yard rushing game of his career, but the big story coming out of the victory over Baylor was the job of the offensive line. Before going into that, let's get one thing out of the way -- Baylor is not a good team at stopping the run. They rank 89th in the country at stopping the run; UConn gained 235 yards against them and Iowa State had 240, while even Kent State averaged well over six yards a carry against the Bears. So yeah, they're not any good.

However, several things were heartening about the running game, starting with Johnson. Though he doesn't always hit the hole as hard as he could and keep his legs driving on contact, Johnson did make his normal yards after contact and did avoid dancing around in the backfield. On a day the coaches wanted to give him 15-20 carries, Johnson responded with 109 yards on his 19 attempts, without ever looking like he tired as the game went on. Losing 20 pounds and getting into the best condition of his time at Texas has really helped him

More impressive, however, was the work of the offensive line. Even against much weaker units like the Colorado defensive line, the unit struggled, but the big guys in the trenches for Texas had one of their best performances of the season, generally avoiding the individual meltdowns that have characterized nearly every other game this year. Greg Davis attributed the improved execution to focusing on specific plays during practice last week:

We said these are the runs that we're going to focus on - weak side zone play, the counter play, the one back power and they really came out and did a good job. Across the board I thought Adam Ulatoski, Charlie Tanner, Chris Hall, Michael Huey and Kyle Hix along with Greg Smith at tight end really came up big and gave Cody and Tre' some great creases to get the ball into the secondary.

While the zone and the counter have been staples for some time, the most interesting play they worked on was the power, a downhill, man-blocking running play extremely popular in the NFL and college football. Without going through and charting every single running play, from what I recall the Longhorns ran the power mostly out of the jet tempo and from under center, although I do remember one instance of a guard pulling on a gun run that might have been the power. The consistent execution was impressive and giving the offensive line a chance to drive blocks is a breath of fresh air -- there's something beautiful about seeing the line of scrimmage moved down the football field. There's also a strong chance that it helps their overall aggressiveness by giving them a chance to fire off the ball.

Besides the execution, the effectiveness of the jet tempo was also a major positive from the game, as the production from those plays had decreased drastically throughout the season. Since FSN managed to catch only brief parts of most of those plays, it's hard to say exactly what worked so well, but breaking tendency at times in recent weeks surely helped. Davis said this week that there are only a handful of passing plays they can run since they have so little time to call the play before getting the snap off and that group of plays changes every week, but as long as they can bootleg and throw enough screens to keep the defense from selling out on the run, the jet tempo may continue to be effective, particularly as a way to add some drive blocking to the Texas offense.

Defense failed to finish. One of the first things that Will Muschamp mentioned after the game was that the second- and third-team players who gave up the two late touchdowns to Baylor did a disservice to their teammates by not finishing the game well. For young players, every repetition is important on the field, regardless of the score. In fact, since they are trying to earn more playing time, they should approach those plays with every bit of the intensity of the starters. Unfortunately, the end of the game was characterized by sloppy tackling and some missed assignments. Muschamp talks about having a lunchpail, hard-hat mentality throughout the entire game and the back ups played reasonably well, but didn't finish in the same way that they did against UCF, when they rose up to keep the Knights out of the end zone late.

The back ups who came into the game owe it to their teammates to finish games well because the final score reflects on the starters as much as it does on the back ups. For a team trying to stastically rank as the best defense in the country, the two touchdowns scored count against the starters in terms of perception, as most of the members in the national media won't realize that Baylor didn't score until late in the game. In recent weeks there has been more talk about the strength of the Texas defense, but it still lags behind Florida and Alabama in national perception and 47-0 looks a lot better than 47-14.

It's also disappointing because those players are only an injury or two away from having to contribute. Since there aren't many games left in the season, that's less of a concern right now than it would have been early in the season, but the fact remains that Ben Wells is a couple nicks away from having to play meaningful snaps in the secondary and he clearly isn't ready, despite the fact that he's one of the hardest hitters on the team. The defensive tackle position is even a bigger concern, as Tevin Mims and Tyrell Higgins aren't ready and they are probably only one injury away from having to take some snaps with Calvin Howell still sidielined after his concussion.

The bottom line is that the coaching staff expects all the players to play to a standard for 60 minutes every Saturday and the defense didn't do that. The coaching staff expects players to finish the game and they didn't do that. Is it unrealistic to expect that the back ups for Texas can stop the first team for Baylor? Given the fact that Texas recruited very few of those players, the answer is no.

Tracking: playmaking defense. The Acho brothers. Talk about a feel-good story -- it's just hard to overappreciate what those two smart, articulate, and mature young men bring to the Texas football program. Blessed wtih immense physical skills, it's their understanding of the mental part of the game that sets them apart. Matched against a wide receiver on Saturday, Emmanuel recognized the route, jumped it, and intercepted the first pass of his collegiate career. Earlier in the game, matched against Kendall Wright, probably the single most talented player on the Baylor team after Robert Griffin, Acho ran stride for stride with him across the middle of the field and forced an incompletion. Given his high level of play this season, his missed tackle on Baylor's last touchdown was a huge surprise. As for Sam, he continues to play with an incredible motor, hustling downfield to make the stop on a pass play and coming from his defensive tackle position to force the fumble on the speed option Baylor tried to run on third and long late in the first half. More so than almost any other players on the defense, the Acho brothers have had the awareness to strip the ball free.

Then there's Aaron Williams. The kid is so good he has to pray for opposing quarterbacks to test him. After Baylor marched down the field on their first drive, Williams demonstrated why he has had so few balls thrown his way. With Muschamp bringing max blitzes on second and third down, Baylor anticipated the blitz and called a blitz beater on the first play and a man beater on the second. On the first, Williams broke up the slant in the end zone and on the second, ran stride for stride on the corner route before showing his athleticism by leaping to make a touchdown-saving interception. Later, Williams broke up another pass on the only other time Nick Florence tried to test him. I love me some Aaron Williams and he proved on Saturday why no one wants to throw at him.

As great of a story as the Acho brothers are, the story of perseverance by Eddie Jones is almost as unique and inspiring. Sidelined with ankle and shoulder injuries throughout most of his first two seasons, there were rumors late in the summer that he might never step on the football field for Texas. Given his injury history, that didn't seem like a stretch. Well, Jones is back and is finally fulfilling his five-star promise. In the fourth quarter against Baylor, Jones saw the offensive tackle in front of him attempt a weak chop block and read the flare pass into the flat, stepping in front of it and showing off his speed by taking the interception 60 yards for the touchdown -- Jones is good enough to start at defensive end for any other team in the country.

Since Texas is intercepting just about every possible pass now, the only area for improvement is forcing more fumbles. The Acho brothers are stripping the ball well, but other players just aren't quite taking the techniques that they work on in practice and transferring them to the game. One play stands out in particular -- on Chykie Brown's cornerback blitz, he had a free shot at the unsecured football, but never attempted to strip it as he brought Florence down, leading Duane Akina to yell for him to strip the football from the sidelines. There aren't many areas in which the defense can improve, but forcing more fumbles is one of them.

Tracking: special teams. Welcome to the block party, Kenny Vaccaro. The biggest question on special teams after Curtis Brown picked up his block against Missouri was who would become the next player to join the block party. Vaccaro was one of the names I threw out there and he made it happen against Baylor, partially deflecting a punt to set up a short field for the Longhorns and take a 28-0 lead. Not only that, but his work on special teams continues to be excellent, as he made another tackle inside the 20. An unsung hero on the kickoff coverage team is fullback Aaron Smith, a walk on who has done more to deserve a scholarship than several players who have a free ride at Texas and is consistently around the football on kickoff coverage after greatly helping the unit last season when he got on the field.

The kickoff return game was not particularly impressive, as DJ Monroe had a 27-yard return in what will be last effort there for some time, while Malcolm Williams was only able to get 16 yards on his return. The coaches need to go back and look at the return game this week in an attempt to figure out what is keeping Texas from breaking the same type of long returns they enjoyed early in the season. Jordan Shipley, on the other hand, had his best day returning punts since the Colorado game, taking one back 25 yards and another 11-yard return. With Monroe's suspension, he will once again return kickoffs.

Hunter Lawrence continued his campaign for the Lou Groza Award with his clutch field goal before the half, though it could hurt him that he hasn't had to win any games late. Of course, his performance against Oklahoma was the difference between the Texas victory and a devastating loss, so that will definitely help his candidacy. With the wind at his back, Justin Tucker kicked two balls into the end zone for touchbacks against Baylor and he also made a tackle at the end of a 35-yard Baylor return. The punting game was not as impressive, though, as Tucker continues to struggle killing kicks inside the 10 yardline and John Gold, in his first early appearance in some time, kicked a ball well into the end zone with an opportunity to give Baylor a long field. In the end, it makes more sense to use Gold with a long field where he can use his big leg to boom punts than to have him try to punt it inside the 10, a skill at which Tucker's rugby punt should be much more successful.

Randomness. As always, done bullet style:

Kenny Vaccaro can lay the wood, as he knocked 200-pound Baylor receiver Ernest Smith back about 10 yards on a fourth quarter hit, earning himself the weekly Hard Hat Award in the process. With the depth in front of him, he may not get a lot of time at safety next season unless Earl Thomas leaves or he can beat out Nolan Brewster, but Vaccaro will contribute significantly before his Texas career is over.
Marcus Davis can lay the wood as well and looks like an extremely sure and physical tackler. He's probably not as far along as a freshman as Aaron Williams was last season, but it's hard to tell because Davis hasn't had to play as Williams did -- but even in limited action, it looks like Davis has the chance to be the next great nickel back at Texas.
After coming under fire last season for his hands, EBS hadn't dropped any passes this year. Until Saturday, that is. On the second possession of the game, Smith dropped a third-down pass that would have gone for a third down and extended the drive. Instead, the Longhorns went three and out. Then, on the last possession of the first half, he had a ball go through his hands and was lucky that it deflected to a waiting James Kirkendoll for an important gain to set up Hunter Lawrence's 41-yard field goal. It wasn't exactly a Peter Ullman volleyball set, but it was the worst performance in the passing game for EBS this season and it sets him back in his efforts to lose his nickname. With the two dropped passes, he now needs to score two touchdowns or have a 30-yard reception (up from one touchdown or a 25-yard reception) to rid himself of the EBS label. The good news is that he continues to be a major factor in the resurgence of the running game, so he is a very good Extra Blocking Surface.
Um, where was Malcolm Williams? The big receiver barely saw the field against Baylor, mostly in favor of John Chiles, who played early and often and failed to get out of bounds on the drive before the end of the first half, costing Texas a shot at the end zone and then dropped a third-down catch that would have given Texas a first down midway through the third quarter. The coaches are clearly working hard to give Chiles every possible chance, but the fact remains that Williams gives Texas the better chance to break a big play in a possible national championship game and needs the repetitions more than Chiles.
Dan Buckner saw him action at split end and just doesn't look explosive enough for the position -- he's probably going to remain at flex tight end until he improves his burst off the ball and after the catch. However, he still has the best hands on the team, as evidenced on his 22-yard snag on the first possession to convert a 2nd and 17 and his one-handed catch to convert a 3rd and 6 in the second quarter.
Kheeston Randall and Ben Alexander continue to play exceptionally well on the interior of line, as well as Lamarr Houston, who is close to becoming the same type of disruptive force that Roy Miller was last year. He doesn't quite have the same pure strength, but he's probably quicker. On the third-down play that set up the fourth-down stop of Nick Florence on the quarterback sneak, Houston engaged the Baylor offensive lineman, then threw him down to set up in the hole to stop the running back. Ridiculous. I mean, he literally just threw the guy to the ground. As good as Sergio Kindle has been this year, especially in stopping the run, Texas will probably miss Houston more because he won't be as easy to replace.
The Texas linebackers gave a look at what a post-Muckelroy future will look like, performing admirably in the game, paritcularly Dustin Earnest, who is now contributing at a level most probably thought wasn't possible after his first two mediocre years in the program. His fourth-down stop of Florence was particularly critical in the game.

Five Things to Watch Against Baylor

GhostofBigRoy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:40:23 -0000

by Harry Cabluck - AP

View full size photo »

How does Cody Johnson respond to his start? Last week was supposed to be Johnson's first collegiate start, but Fozzy Whittaker ended up coming out with the ones. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter which player steps out on the field first -- the more important aspect is how many carries a back receives. Mack Brown was talking about Johnson receiving 15-20 carries this weekend again to in an attempt to gain an understanding of how much he can improve or wear down the defense as the game goes on.

As mentioned earlier in the week, the problem is that Johnson doesn't really fit what Texas does offensively that well. When he's in the game, teams aren't going to be worried about him splitting out wide as a receiver or gashing them with flare passes into the flat. Teams now also load the box a bit more or at least anticipate run when the big back comes into the game. Johnson also isn't a great fit in the horizontal running scheme Texas employs, being better served getting his shoulders squared to the line of scrimmage and heading downhill, much as he does in the short-yardage situations in which he excels.

This weekend, then, will be a test run for how well Johnson does with the current scheme and an effort to determine which plays are successful with him. Much like the Colorado game, Mack Brown may be stubborn about trying to run the football, so it will be interesting to see if Texas only runs their basic plays, or if they try to incorporate some misdirection as well, which has been pretty absent the last several weeks.

Can Texas exploit the right side of the Baylor line? As kriess does an excellent job of pointing out in his Baylor offensive preview, the right side of the Baylor line -- right guard James Barnard and right tackle Phillip Blake -- are two of the weaker members of the Bear unit, with Barnard struggling in pass protection and Blake coming in undersized at 275 pounds. Barnard in particular could be in for a long day matched up against Lamarr Houston shooting gaps and generally causing mayhem. After his incredible performance against UCF indicating that he is now completely comfortable -- as he has been for a while now -- and able to dominate the interior of the line, look for Houston to have another strong game.

Blake could be in for a long day as well. While he does have good enough feet to keep Sergio Kindle, Sam Acho, et al. from beating him on the edge, watch out for the Longhorn defensive ends using their speed-to-power move, Kindle's best, or simply bull rushing Blake back towards the quarterback. Baylor will probably try to run behind the larger left side of the line, but if they try to run right, the Longhorns will almost surely stuff those plays.

Can the secondary shut down David Gettis and Kendall Wright? The enduring image of the Baylor game last season was Kendall Wright running right past Ben Wells -- that was not an easy thing to recover from for Wells, as that was pretty much his first impression he made on the Texas fanbase. Uh yeah, no do-overs on first impressions, Ben.

In fact, Gettis and Wright may be the most talented pair of receivers Texas has faced this season and the only two players who provide a significant offensive threat to the Longhorns. After a mostly disappointing career, Gettis has come on late in his senior season, racking up more than 100 yards in each of the last two games, including seven catches for 124 yards against Nebraska. Gettis has also scored his first touchdown since his freshman season.

As for Wright, he may have been one of the most underrated players in the 2008 recruiting class, though perhaps the fact that he played quarterback in high school had something to do with that. Wright isn't a big receiver at about 6-0 and 180 pounds, but he has excellent speed and is dangerous in the open field. Last week against Missouri he had 10 catches for 149 yards and two touchdowns.

The Baylor offense is designed around getting their playmakers the ball in the space, so the Longhorns secondary will not only have to cover well, but also tackle well and fight through blockers on the screen plays Art Briles likes to dial up. Missouri missed 18 tackles last week, resulting in an extra 200 yards or so for the Baylor offense, putting solid tackling at a premium for Texas.

Can Colt McCoy post big numbers to help his Heisman campaign? Since most of the drama is gone from the season after the victory over Oklahoma State, the Longhorns simply have to take care of business until the Big 12 championship game, while putting up some style points along the way to keep the human voters happy, as there is little Texas can do to make the computers happy except win. The big storyline, then, is whether or not McCoy can make a late run at the Heisman trophy.

Last week was a good start to re-invigorate his campaign after the poor performance against Oklahoma in front of a national audience knocked him down in the standings. Even for a successful quarterback like McCoy, 470 yards is enough to get the attention of the most skeptical of voters. To have a chance, McCoy needs to keep putting up video game numbers, while keeping his interceptions in check. A highlight reel running play or two might help as well, anything to get on SportsCenter at this point.

The other aspect that will help his candidacy is his run on the all-time wins record for quarterbacks. With a win over Baylor, McCoy will tie David Greene for most all-time wins and a win over Kansas will break the record with several games left to create even more space. It's the type of story that national media outlets will eventually pick up and will help McCoy gain notice.

Can Longhorns fans making the trip to Waco make more noise than the Baylor fans? Yes, I'm now stretching here. Really, this could have been one thing to watch against Baylor -- the Longhorns putting their usual beatdown on the Bears. But hey, I'm trying not to pack this in like John Werner did in his preview for us.

So, back to the point -- Texas fans traditionally travel well to Waco, generally making up a sizable contingent. With Robert Griffin done for the season and whatever hopes Baylor fans harbored coming into the season completely squashed, there could be a ton of Baylor fans dressed as empty seats in this game. Mack Brown specifically asked fans to take over Floyd Casey stadium, since there are few things more beautiful than hearing a heart Texas Fight in an opposing team's home stadium.

Postgame React: Texas Overwhelms UCF 35-3

Peter Bean — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:21:56 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

Not good at celebrating. Damn good at football.

Browse more photos »

The outcome was: solid. If it wasn't before, that an undefeated Texas will play for the national title is officially a certainty after Iowa's loss to Northwestern today. For Texas, then, the only "outcome" that matters is the scoreboard -- narrow wins, big wins, uneven wins, it's all the same in terms of getting to Pasadena. As such, the Horns' 35-3 win over UCF was plenty solid, enough to maintain the second or third spot in the BCS while waiting for SEC elimination to play out. Win, and they're in.

Beyond the victory, if you're eager to see Colt McCoy win the Heisman Trophy then today's outcome was satisfactory on another level as well. If Malcolm Williams had scored Texas' second touchdown instead of Cody Johnson, McCoy not only would have finished with 3 passing TDs instead of 2, but the reception would have been enough to put his total for the day above the 500-yard mark. As it was, the 470 yards set a school record for a regular season game (single-game record set by Major in the 2001 Holiday Bowl, at 473 yards passing), a gaudy number that -- in a wide open year for the award -- will give a big boost to a name familiar to voters. Neither he nor the offense were perfect on the day, but if over his final four games he puts up numbers anywhere near today's, he'll return to New York once again and have as good a shot as anyone to take the trophy.

The Offensive MVP was: The Roommates. We've already started to discuss McCoy's big day (33-46 passing for 470 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT), but there's no way to separate his production from Jordan Shipley, who finished with 10 receptions and a ridiculous 273 yards receiving, including an 88-yard touchdown in the final quarter. Shipley's big day not only shatters the university's single-game record for receiving yards, but improves his season totals to 74 catches and 1,050 yards. If he maintains his current pace Shipley will finish the 14-game season with 115 receptions and 1,516 yards, both of which would leave in the dust Texas' current single-season bests. Three notes on the duo's huge afternoon:

Central Florida's secondary is awful. I say that not to discredit the stellar performance, but to wonder about the Longhorns' empty offensive first quarter, which was an example of opening the game content to "do what we do" rather than scheme to an opponent. To Texas' credit, after the second drive the usual offensive approach was discarded, Greg Davis started taking shots downfield, and the passing party was underway. What's more, I'm not sure about any larger point here, since a week ago I was greatly miffed by Davis' decision to open five-wide particularly to attack a perceived OSU weakness. I think, if anything, the lessons here might center on (1) our offense's standard operating procedure, which teams have been defending successfully since the start of the year, and (2) the encouraging results the offense has seen employing various adjustments to that core approach.
Shipley's production today was a lot like that from the Colorado game, only this time around there's not much about the big day about which to be concerned. Recall that against CU, not only was McCoy-to-Shipley more or less the entire offensive production, but it more or less seemed the entire offensive focus. Not so today, when Texas -- though again paying only lip service to the running game -- featured a much more robust aerial attack that included roll outs, heavy play action, and multiple shots down the field (to multiple receivers). The Malcolm Williams breakout continues, Kirkendoll and Chiles are settling in to minor but helpful roles, and even when Marquise Goodwin isn't making receptions he's affecting the game with his speed, versatility, and superior blocking.
While first and foremost developing diversity in the passing game was essential to countering that which defenses have been doing to frustrate what we wanted to do, there are rich secondary benefits to be had from evolving. Chief among them is the return of Texas' efficiency converting third downs, a healthy 55% over the last three games (22-of-40), up from 42.5% (34-of-80) through the season's first six games. The outstanding McCoy-to-Shipley connection is valuable to the offense in any case, but substantially more so when defenses have to commit resources elsewhere.

Quick hits on other highlights from offense:

* I really like how Colt McCoy is taking an active role in launching a Malcolm Williams breakout party. McCoy's near-touchdown strike to Williams was a great look on its own, but it was the way McCoy went right back to him on the next play that impressed me most. If this is something we wish had begun early in the season, the effort underway now appears genuine and ambitious.

* Other good signs in the passing game include steady niche production from Chiles and Kirkendoll. No longer miscast as a receiver with the ability to separate, Chiles is contributing nicely in the ways he's able, developing into a solid possession guy helpful to keeping defenses honest. As for Kirkendoll, he seems to have gotten his head in the right mental place after a mostly miserable start to the season. He's neither quite fast enough nor strong enough to do much with the underneath crossing stuff we run for him, but as a receiver to send out on a seam route he's plenty capable of finding space and making catches 15 yards downfield.

* Gotta love the effort Texas is getting from Big Cody, whose 10 carry, 44-yard stat line seems like it undersells his overall contributions. It's comical to send him out there for our zone stretch plays, but in all fairness, Barry Sanders would struggle to make yards on those plays, too. I still like Johnson in a situational role, even if that role is a relatively involved one; Johnson isn't a great fit as a primary guy in the zone read or pseudo-counter.

* Illustration by contrast: great a weapon as is Cody for various goal-to-go situations, Texas doesn't score that final touchdown if it's Johnson instead of Whittaker. Speaking of which, Fozzy was limited to just 4 carries on the game, 5 if you include -- as does the box score -- his ridiculous attempt to execute a flea flicker (the fumble of which wound up counting against him for -13 yards rushing). As middling as is our rushing scheme, I'd still like to see him touch the ball 10 times a game; as we've seen two of the last three weeks, he possesses the speed and slipperiness that allow him to get to the end zone where others will not.

* And finally, we're running a lot of play-action all the sudden, a welcome development. With that said, when Texas finds itself facing an elite defense, the play action won't sparkle like it does against terrible teams, unless the play fake is actually credible. We're still running the ball so haphazardly, and generally poorly, that elite defenses can and will be able to ignore the run game as insignificant -- enough so, at least, to scheme to ignore all play fakes and assume that whatever runs we do call won't pop us much, if at all. As noted above, part of the solution to a good defense sitting back on our passing game is to develop and diversify the passing attack itself, but I remain in the skeptics camp that there won't at some point be a price to pay if the offensive approach doesn't better and more systematically incorporate runs.

The offensive Offensive LVP was: The O-Line. I've spent the better part of too many Saturdays this fall hammering out new variations on the same points, and I am at this point disinterested in continuing to do more of the same. This week, we keep it simple: the offensive line struggled in myriad ways, some of which is inadequacy of players, and some of which is inadequacy of coaches. In any case, well-established as are the various strengths and weaknesses of all involved, detailed analyses of substantial changes that might be made are at this point wishcasting. We are what we are as a running team, and I've limited my hopes in that regard to modest improvement in the way our mediocre rushing game is incorporated into a larger strategy, if only to assist the passing game. Beyond that, the story to watch is how far along Texas gets developing a truly dynamic passing attack, such that even an elite defense that can ignore our run will be challenged to deal not just with Shipley, but with Malcolm Williams and Marquise Goodwin. And so forth.

The Defensive MVP was: Lamarr Houston and Sergio Kindle. Nine tackles for Kindle, 7 for Houston, 3 tackles for loss apiece. Another opponent's game plan brutally disrupted by Texas' ferocious defensive line. There's a lot to love about Sergio Kindle, and if you're just watching him as a pass rusher, you'll miss it. To be sure, he's a good pass rusher right now, with an already great speed rush and, in my view, a lot of yet to be realized potential as he adds more upper body strength and some variety to his moves. It's easy to forget that he's still in some important ways relatively green. In any case, there's so much more to what he's giving us than pass rushing, and he's as likely to be the one blowing up a screen in the flat as a linebacker or defensive back. He plays with intensity you can't teach, which on the first series occasionally leads him to overpursue, once he settles into a groove and the game gets going, he's everything you could ask for in a college end.

As for Houston, I've made no secret about how much I love his abilities, over-zealously proclaiming prior to last season that I thought he could be the best player on the entire defense. In year two as an interior linemen, he might well be if not for the outrageous depth of elite excellence on this defensive roster. No one would be wrong to single out Earl Thomas or Sergio Kindle for top honors, but neither do I hesitate to place Houston right there alongside them. The play we're getting from Kheeston Randall and Ben Alexander has been tremendously valuable, but as much of it has to do with the jobs they're doing, a non-trivial amount of it has to do with Houston's dominant season. It's a damn shame he'll likely have to settle for Second Team All-Big 12.

Overall, there's not much to be said about today's defensive performance, given its dominance represents for this group par for the course. George O'Leary's squad did a nice job in the first half countering our pressure, but as has also become par for the course, Will Muschamp made decisive counter-adjustments in-game, shifting to more zone play and steady diets of both run and zone blitzes. After which the Golden Knights did absolutely nothing.

The offensive Defensive LVP was: N/A. I may never answer this again.

On the Milk Carton: Dan Buckner. Briefly now, because I've already said far more about the game than I intended, I want to raise one final point about the haphazard commitment to running the football. One consequence of remaining disinterested in meaningfully committing to rushing the ball is that in so doing the Greg Smith > Dan Buckner proposition loses most, if not all, of its value. That is, if we're not even going to pretend to be interested in rushing, we'd might as well go with Buckner. Alternatively, if we intend at least to enjoy some benefits from conveying to defenses that we're interested in rushing, it's still not clear that there's any reason not to go with Buckner; sure, the run blocking might be a downgrade, but where we're only haphazardly running as a means to an end, and thus only minimally succeeding in any case, what's the real loss?

To the extent that the plan is either to ignore or only minimally engage the run, roughly the same could be done in the run game with Buckner as with Smith, while the benefits to the passing game are obvious. Of course, I'll say once more that the alternative to those two options is the one I'd prefer: meaningful commitment to running the ball not out of naive belief that it can be a centerpiece, or even a strength, but as an essential ingredient to the passing game being all it can be. We can all agree that Texas will or will not win the national title based on -- at least offensively -- what Colt McCoy does on the field for us. It is at this point well-established that the line between his being the focal point of the offense, and his being the only thing in the offense, is the line between the player who will at times struggle, and one who can win us a national title.

I hope we get it right.

Baylor Fear Factor: 0 out of 10. (5) is the baseline. -5 for no Robert Griffin.

Heading into next week I feel: Steady. The team is in the ideal position we hoped it would be, the defense is a dream, and the offense has over the past three weeks begun to round into form -- if not yet to the point where I'll predict great success against Alabama or Florida, at least to the point where it's almost unimaginable the team could fail to reach Pasadena.

For now, that feels good. It feels great, really. 95% of what a college football fan should care about relates to getting to the title game. The other parts related to maximizing your chance to win it are important for exactly the two teams who actually get there. Insofar as we're on track to give ourselves a chance, this season is at this point a success. We can at this point watch the next four games and, firstly, root for the wins to send us to the Rose Bowl, and second, from those performances spend an entire month talking about how well-suited we are to win it.

So long as we're having that debate in December, I'll be happy. And hopefully, I'll be, well, hopeful. So far, so good.

Hook 'em