SB Nation - Michael Huey

Anatomy of Stagnation: Second and Short Failures

GhostofBigRoy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:31:17 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

It doesn't take much imagination to envision a Longhorn guard laying on the ground helplessly as Suh makes this play. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

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The Big Picture

Even though play-action passing has become a much bigger part of the Longhorn offense since the coaching staff decided to uset the 11 personnel package much more often, Greg Davis continues to eschew play-action passes on second and short. The reasons for this are relatively unclear, though the most common belief is that Davis much prefers 1st and 10 to 2nd and 2, causing him to run the ball at an extremely high rate in such situations. In some ways, it's a bit paradoxical, as Davis will often eschew the running game entirely for long stretches and comes under criticism for abandoning the running game at times, with some believing that the running game has suffered over the last few years because Davis would rather pass on every down. Call it Jason Garrett syndrome with a dash of reflexive conservatism, in this case similar to a bad twitch.

Situation 1

Context

On the fifth drive of the game, Texas came out running the football after dropping back for passes on 11 of the first 12 plays (including the first play of the game, the chop block call against Chris Hall. Tre' Newton picked up four yards running power on the first play, Colt McCoy picked up 14 yards on a zone read on the second play, and then Newton picked up eight yards on a jet tempo run, most likely an inside zone play.

The Play

2nd and 2 Texas 36

For the second straight play, the Longhorns rush to the line of scrimmage in their jet tempo look with McCoy under center. Notice how Nebraska is playing this look by Texas -- with two deep safeties to take away big plays downfield on a bootleg, with both linebackers extremely close to the line of scrimmage and the nickel back walked up close to the tackle box to put pressure on McCoy in the event of a bootleg (Nebraska would later force a throwaway on a bootleg with such a look). In other words, Nebraska can effectively cover the two plays that Texas runs out of this look -- the zone play and the bootleg pass. Notice also that Ndamukong Suh is playing a two technique just over the inside shoulder of the guard, Michael Huey.

As Nebraska likely expects because EBS is on the left of the formation, the Texas line blocks left for the inside zone play. Since Suh is on the backside of the play and over the inside shoulder of Huey, there's no double team as the center Chris Hall steps playside. Suh uses his hands better than Huey, who seems to lose his balance as he gets into the big defensive tackle's body. Seemingly within a split second, Suh is into the backfield, forcing Newton to make a quick cut. Hall and Tanner get a good combo block on Crick, driving him back off the line of scrimmage, but Tanner can't get off the block quickly enough to stop the penetration of Dejon Gomes, a cornerback who played linebacker on this play and for much of the game. The violence of the cut Newton must make causes him to lose his balance and he slips well behind the line of scrimmage, losing two yards. The final aspect of the play is that McCoy doesn't execute a bootleg fake to freeze defenders in the secondary.

The Verdict

Clearly, Texas went jet tempo once too often in this sequence and Nebraska was ready for both permutations of the play. In addition, since the defensive tackles knew they were likely facing a zone run, Suh aligned to make it difficult for Huey to block him and that alignemnt allowed him a head start in shooting the gap. In addition, Huey used his hands extremely poorly on the play, letting Suh get into his body and then easily into the backfield. The lack of deception on this play allowed the playside "linebacker" Gomes to slice into the backfield before Tanner could get off the combo block.

Basically, the jet tempo might be good for one play to catch a team off guard, but going to it twice in a row, when Nebraska probably only had to spend several minutes scheming for it in practice to shut down the two plays that Texas runs, just won't work against good teams. In other words, to remain effective the jet tempo look must include a new wrinkle every week for which the defense is not prepared or there's very little point to it unless the opponent is Baylor.

The Following Play

As a result, the Longhorns go from 2nd and 2 to 3rd and 4, an obvious passing down for Texas. McCoy actually gets good protection on the play and has a chance to look downfield before checking down to Newton flaring into the flat. The Nebraska linebacker reads the play and hits Newton as the ball arrives for a loss of four yards. The Longhorns magically turn 2nd and 2 into 4th and 8. Impressive.

Situation 2

Context

Following Aaron Williams' interception in the end zone, the Longhorns move the chains by converting a third down on a crossing route to Jordan Shipley, one of the few times this season that Texas has been able to pick up first down yardage with a route that was extremely successful last season. Dan Buckner stays in the game at flex tight end and McCoy hits him on a pivot route inside for an eight-yard gain on first down.

The Play

2nd and 2 Texas 41

The Longhorns go with their 11 personnel package, bringing EBS into the game. Could it possibly signal a running play? Stay tuned. Notice that Nebraska stays with two deep safeties on the play, confident that they can win the six-on-six battle in the box.

Davis calls for the zone read. The read man stays at home, telling McCoy to give the ball. The Texas offensive line manages to control the Nebraska defensive tackles on the play, but neither David Snow nor Charlie Tanner get off their combo blocks in time to stop the linebackers slicing through the gaps. It's a race to the ballcarrier and Dejon Gomes wins, stopping Newton for no gain.

The Verdict

The substitution pattern here clearly signals a run and the Texas tendencies support it. A play-action pass would seem like a good play call, but there are two safeties deep on the play -- clearly the Huskers feel like they can stop the Texas running game with a minimum of help from the secondary. Rather than a problem with the playcalling in this specific intance, because the zone read is a good call, as it options off a defender and allows three combo blocks on the line of scrimmage, the problem is one of execution.

The failure of this play falls on the offensive line, as neither Tanner, Snow, nor Adam Ulatoski are able to get off their blocks to even contact either linebacker. David Snow had a terrible game and this play is just one example -- his failure here is no surprise. Charlie Tanner had the most difficult combo block, as he was essentially one-on-one with Jared Crick for several steps before being able to hand him off to Hall, by which point it was too late. Ulatoski is perhaps a bigger culprit than Tanner, as he could have gotten off his block with EBS much more quickly to attempt to at least slow down Gomes.

As it has been often this season, the major problem here is execution by the offensive line. They have nearly every advantage that a line could hope for in this situation -- the play options off a defender from an even match up in the box in the first place, allowing the line three combo blocks. The inability to run against a six-man box with a defender optioned off with six linemen is just pathetic. It doesn't get any easier than that in football.

The Following Play

Texas substitutes for EBS, bringing Dan Buckner back in the game and splitting out Tre' Newton. Nebraska doesn't have the personnel package they want on the field and run off a player late. Instead of hiking the ball and running the play against a defense that is confused and isn't set, McCoy allows the Huskers to call a timeout, essentially bailing them out.

Following the stop in play, the Longhorns opt for the 11 personnel package, them motion James Kirkendoll into a stack with Jordan Shipley. It's a max protection roll out with essentially two players out in the route (Malcolm Williams on the other side of the field gets an inside release and heads straight downfield) and Nebraska takes them away with four defenders, leading to a coverage sack and the injury to McCoy's left wrist. Suh and others knock McCoy into the Nebraska sideline while the Texas offensive linemen walk dejectedly across the field to the Texas sideline like a group of whipped puppies. Not a single one goes to help their quarterback.

Situation 3

Context

The Longhorn defense held Nebraska to a field goal following the long punt return by Niles Paul, but the poor call on Marquise Goodwin's slip near the end zone pinned Texas against their own goalline. Though the coaching staff finally decided to eschew a long-developing I-formation run on the first play, choosing to sneak instead, Davis reprised his bad habit by calling such a play on second down and Suh nearly caused a safety. Fortunately, McCoy completed a third-down pass to Shipley and later completed two more passes for Malcolm Williams for big first downs, the second coming on 3rd and 16. On the next play, a quarterback draw picked up eight yards.

The Play

2nd and 2 Nebraska 42

The Longhorns stay in their 11 personnel package from the previous play with Dan Buckner in the flex tight end position. Nebraska plays the single linebacker to the strong side of the formation, while walking a safety up towards the line of scrimmage, indicating a blitz.

It's the counter read play of WildHorn fame (infamy?), except run this time without a tight end, though the lack of a tight end isn't a problem in the scheme, as the defensive end is optioned off. On this play, the end stays at home, giving McCoy a give read. The play has a chance for success and may in fact go for a big gain if Suh doesn't blow it up, except for the blitzing linebacker on the play, who happens to run right into Newton as McCoy makes the handoff, leading to a two-yard loss.

The Verdict

It's easy to blame Davis for this play, as he seemed to get a little too cute in this situation by calling a running play from a formation the Longhorns probably haven't run out of since the Oklahoma or Colorado game -- there was a reason the coaching staff abandoned any and all 10 personnel running plays. No one provides an extra blocking surface like Greg Smith, basically. The Longhorns really have good match ups on the line of scrimmage though because the play options off a defender -- it just seems like poor luck that Nebaska happened to be blitzing on the play. In terms of the defense anticipating the call, there's little chance of that since the Longhorns hadn't run this play from this personnel grouping probably at all this season.

The Following Play

The Longhorns go five wide on 3rd and 4 and run a double slant concept with Jordan Shipley and Goodwin on the weak side. It's the same play that scored the touchdown against Oklahoma and it works again here, as the safety goes with Shipley and Goodwin gets enough separation to make a tough catch on a ball thrown behind him a bit and pick up a big first down to continue the drive.

The Final Verdict

The fact that the Longhorns only had three second-and-short opportunities in the entire game speaks to poor production on first down, while the complete lack of success on second and short illustrates a combination of poor execution, poor playcalling, and bad luck. The three plays combined lost a total of four yards and led to difficult third-down conversions each time, with Texas only converting one of the three, which is completely unacceptable.

On the first play, the call was relatively beyond reproach, but the execution of the offensive line was terrible. Given the opportunity for three combo blocks, none of the three offensive linemen got off their blocks to get to the second level, allowing both linebackers to slice into the backfield and stop the play for a loss. The scheme doesn't exactly make things easy for the linemen, but the fact is that a ton of teams in college football run the zone read and the good ones consistently execute the play at a much higher level than Texas. Despite the abject failure of this play, it was one of the least egregious examples of the type of terrible execution and individual suckitude that characterized an experienced line that should be much better than this. One would think.

Also unacceptable is the fact that the Longhorns didn't take any shots downfield on any of the three plays -- most analysts and fans know that such situations are the best time for calling play-action passes. Greg Davis seems to have a different philosophy than most in these circumstances -- he just wants to move the chains as quickly as possible to get another set of downs. Perhaps that would be acceptable if his choice of plays actually picked up the first down instead of moving backwards.

Davis also deserves criticisms for not staying with the advances in the zone read. Many times now make it a triple option play, incorporating a bubble screen on the outside of the play, giving defenses more to think about it and making it more difficult to cover. In college football, it's not necessary to be on the leading edge of innovation, but simply to keep up with and copy and integrate successful plays. One of the problems is that Davis simply isn't doing that enough. It's not about trying to incorporate everything and putting in too many plays at the risk of execution, it's about adding things that can easily be integrated like the bubble screen on the zone read, which would only require a handful of repetitions to install.

Five Things to Watch Against Nebraska

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

by Jeff Roberson - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anatomy of Momentum: Replying Against A&M

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:19:06 -0000

by Dave Einsel - AP

If Aggies were smarter, they would know that horns go up. Of course, if they were smarter, they might not be Aggies.

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Context

Momentum is a fickle mistress, willing to switch sides at the drop of a hat, to follow the most recent success, to abandon at the first sign of distress, cresting and surging along with a raucous home crowd and abandoning the poor road team in distress. However fickle, though, our lady is, perhaps more than anything, she is ready to abandon a mentally fragile team, whether they are playing at home or not, whether they are going against a meaningless non-conference patsy or playing in the most heated rivalry game. Yes, a fickle mistress indeed.

The Longhorns took a 35-21 lead midway through the third quarter and it looked like momentum was on the side of the road team, with the notoriously fragile psyche of the young Aggie team appearing ready to collapse at any moment. A methodical drive into Texas territory re-energized the crowd and gave the A&M offense confidence again, but an Earl Thomas interception in the end zone threatened once more to swing momentum firmly to the side of the visiting Longhorns, who had a chance to blow the game open. An incomplete pass by Colt McCoy, however, followed by a short run and a sack, killed the Texas drive and gave the ball back to the Aggies. No momentum swing after all.

This time, Jerrod Johnson gashed the defense with his feet on the first play for 38 yards before the Longhorns stiffened to hold the Aggies to a field goal. Three incomplete passes by McCoy on the next series gave the ball right back to the Aggies with great field position, while the home team caught a break by recovering Jordan Pugh's fumble on the return. With the Longhorns defense coming back onto the field after only a short break, momentum was firmly back on the Texas A&M sideline, no doubt ready to make out with a goofy member of the Corps with a bad haircut -- so yes, just about any one of those silly, homely, wanna-be members of the military.* Christine Michael took advantage of poor tackling by the Longhorns to finish the drive with an 18-yard touchdown run and Ryan Tannehill easily beat the coverage of Blake Gideon to convert the two-point play, bringing the Aggies to within 35-32 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. And that would be our fickle mistress getting tongue thrashed on national television by a redneck who was made to drink his own urine the night before as part of ritualistic hazing. And that would be people of taste all over the country vomiting up their turkey onto their living room floor.

After all that, Marquise Goodwin returned the kickoff 19 yards to the Texas 22 with 13:38 left in the game.

*Note: if you want to be like someone in the military, join the military -- dressing up is for little girls.

The Plays

1st and 10 Texas 22

Texas comes out in an empty set on first down with five wide receivers and the camera angle makes it difficult to see who is on the field. Regardless, A&M shows blitz at the line of scrimmage, with six defenders against the five Texas offensive linemen.

McCoy reads blitz prior to the snap and probably decides at that point to go to his hot read, Jordan Shipley on a quick out. Perhaps because the offensive line knows the hot read is to the right side, the protection slides in that direction, leaving the backside defender free, even though A&M drops two of the defenders who showed blitz into coverage in an attempt to take away any hot reads by McCoy in the middle of the field. The backside defending coming free forces a quick and inaccurate pass from McCoy, as the ball hits near Shipley's feet.

2nd and 10 Texas 22

It wasn't a great decision by Greg Davis to start the drive in an empty set that allowed A&M to show blitz and force the quick throw, so Davis takes out a receiver and puts Tre' Newton into the game at running back. Notice that the Aggie defense is still spread out and has only one safety deep in bracket coverage on Malcolm Wiliams at the top of the screen, with the defensive back over Shipley in the slot showing blitz, then retreating into coverage.

The weakside linebacker comes on a delayed blitz, while McCoy drops back showing pass.

McCoy sells the pass well, something he doesn't always do well on quarterback draws, then heads towards the line of scrimmage, while Chris Hall and Charlie Tanner release upfield to block. Michael Huey can't maintain his block and the defensive tackle appears to have a play on McCoy.

Huey ends up releasing his defender just long enough to avoid a holding penalty, then gets him to the ground as McCoy goes by. Chris Hall cut blocks a linebacker in the open field, leaving McCoy with only a defensive back to beat to make a big play.

MCoy takes a glancing blow from the defensive back as three other Aggies converge on him -- perhaps the most underrated part of McCoy's game right now is his combination of strength and balance. There aren't many ways in which comparisons between McCoy and Vince Young are valid, but McCoy's ability to pause and gather himself for a minute to use an opponent's momentum against him is positively Vince Young-esque and it makes McCoy extremely difficult to take down in the open field, as the Aggies learned on Thursday night. Notice as well the fine blocking of Malcolm Williams at the top of the screen.

As McCoy escapes the group of Aggie defenders, there is nothing but open field in front of him for 25-30 yards or more.

Unfortunately, Malcolm Williams works too hard blocking on the play, catching Justin McQueen in the back relatively unnecessarily. On the broadcast, Chris Fowler notes that Williams didn't need to block McQueen at all on the play because he wasn't going to catch McCoy, but that is questionable. In the end, it isn't a terrible block in the back by Williams, as he has one hand on the front of McQueen's shoulder and his other hand barely in McQueen's back -- a good call, but a close one. McCoy gets inside the 25 yardline on the play, which would have made it a 54-yard run by McCoy, but the penalty brings the ball back to the Aggie 45, reducing it to a 43-yard run by the Texas quarterback.

1st and 10 Texas A&M 45

The Longhorns bring EBS onto the field in their 11 personnel package to do what he does best -- provide that nice blocking surface. Of course, bringing him onto the field at this point also telegraphs a run.

The Aggies don't necessarily anticipate the run though, as one of the two deep safeties sells out down the field without even reading his keys. The Longhorns run what looks like the power play (though it isn't blocked like most power plays) they've begun using in recent weeks but that familiar, oft-bumbling duo of Hall and Charlie Tanner rear their ugly heads, as both miss badly on their blocks, leaving two free defenders in the backfield. Newton avoids Tanner's man, but gets forced outside where the pursuit of the Aggie defense stops him for a two-yard loss.

2nd and 12 Texas A&M 47

After the failed running play, the Longhorns bring Dan Buckner back onto the field in an obvious passing situation. Annoyingly, the bottom receiver is not on the screen once again because of the poor angle the cameras have at Kyle Field. Notice that the Aggies have only two down linemen, with Von Miller and another Aggie standing at the line of scrimmage. Notice as well that the linebackers are playing only three yards off of the line of scrimmage.

The reason for the linebackers' proximity to the line of scrimmage becomes immediately apparent -- they're both blitzing. The Longhorn offensive line does a good job of picking up the blitzers, as does Tre' Newton, but the two Texas tackles do a poor job with the speed rushers off the edge, particularly Adam Ultatoski matched against Von Miller, who gets by the big senior before Ulatoski can really even get his hands on him.

McCoy steps up in the pocket and attempts to deliver the pass to Shipley as he gets hit, but the pass comes out just as Shipley is coming out of his break -- too late on this play. Had McCoy read the depth of the linebackers at the snap as a blitz look, he might have made the adjustment with Shipley to run his route with less depth. Instead, it's third and long for the Longhorns.

3rd and 12 Texas A&M 47

The Longhorns stay in their 10 personnel look, with Dan Buckner remaining on the field for this crucial third down. Notice that A&M once again has their linebackers extremely close to the line of scrimmage, signaling another blitz.

This time, Ulatoski gets his hands on Miller and the rest of the line does an equally good job of picking up the blitz. Tre' Newton deserves special mention once again for his effort. McCoy has time in the pocket to scan the field.

The good protection allows McCoy to hit a relatively slow developing route -- a seven-yard in by Kirkendoll, who has one defender, known on this play as RAS #1 -- Random Aggie Scrub #1 -- to pick up the first down

Since McCoy hits Kirkendoll on time and in stride, he allows his receiver to make a spin move up the field and elude RAS #1, who apparently thinks he is playing flag football and tries to grab Kirkendoll's towel. Unfortunately for RAS #1 and all the military wanna be's out in the crowd, RAS #1 is not playing flag football, but rather football of the tackling variety. Oops!

Kirkendoll takes the edge against RAS #2, seen here trailing the play, while RAS #3 tries to cut off his angle as the Longhorn receiver heads inside of the Buckner "block." I'm using the term block here loosely.

RAS #3, seen here convingly playing the role of a slow white linebacker, flails about helplessly against the much faster player as RAS #4 tries to catch Kirkendoll flat-flooted. Hmm, doesn't look like he has the hips to be a cornerback. Oops!

Having left nearly half the Aggie defense, random scrubs all, in his tracks, Kirkendoll has an easy jaunt to the end zone to complete his 47-yard touchdown catch. One thing though, Kirk -- could you throw your horns up when you score a touchdown instead of just pointing at people/things?

Final Totals

Five plays, 78 yards, 1:34 expired. One of three passing for McCoy for 47 yards and a touchdown, with both incomplete passes intended for Jordan Shipley and neither one catchable. One catch for 47 yards and a touchdown for Kirkendoll, along with four Random Aggie Scrubs beat on the play. One carry for a loss of two yards by Tre' Newton, who also had two excellent blitz pick ups on the drive. One missed pass block each for Adam Ulatoski and Kyle Hix. Two good blitz pick ups by the interior line and good pass blocks from Ulatoski and Hix on the same play. One missed run block apiece by Chris Hall and Charlie Tanner. One good cut block in space by Chris Hall.

Final Verdict

As mentioned in the lengthy Context section, this was an extremely important drive for the Longhorns. Not only had the Aggies roared back from the earlier 35-21 deficit, but the Longhorn offense had struggled in the second half with the exception of the second drive on which Texas ran every play. On the other three drives, the Longhorns had been stopped on downs and had two three and outs. Not good enough.

The major point here is that Texas responded, giving themselves some breathing room and, though they didn't allow the defense much of a break with such a short drive in terms of time elapsed from the clock, it did give the defense more margin for error, which they quickly proved they neeed.

In terms of playcalling, the run on first down was obvious after bringing in Greg Smith and the empty set on the first play begged the Aggies to bring a blitz and force a quick pass -- the empty set doesn't seem to have any advantage over the 10 personnel package with Buckner in the flex tight end role, especially since Tre' Newton does so well picking up the blitz. Ditch it. The quarterback draw was an excellent playcall, however, and caught one linebacker bailing out in coverage and the other an a blitz.

The touchdown pass to Kirkendoll was certainly an effective call, but the offensive line and Newton deserve most of the credit on the play for picking up the blitz and giving McCoy a perfect pocket from which to throw. As expected given the time, McCoy delivered the pass perfectly and Kirkendoll showed yet again why the coaching staff did an excellent job challenging him after the Oklahoma game with his benching and forcing him to earn his playing time. Challenging him, along with switching him to his more natural position outside, has lit a fire under Kirkendoll and has led to the break-out performances over the last several games that everyone expected much earlier in the season. The junior from Round Rock is now a serious threat and McCoy's confidence in him seems to grow every week -- that's extremely encouraging for the offense moving forward.

Combine that with emergence of Malcolm Williams as a downfield threat and this offense is hitting on just about every cylinder right now, although the struggles early in the second half illustrate that there is still room to grow with more than a month of practice left to do so. If Alabama and Florida fans aren't a little bit scared by that thought, they should be.

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

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

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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.

Anatomy of Momentum: Scoring After the Fourth-Down Stop

GhostofBigRoy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:38:31 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

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The Context

Will Muschamp talks a lot about his defense responding to sudden-change situations, calling his players "firemen" when coming onto the field after an offensive turnover. For the offense, the idea is similar, though instead of stopping the opposing team from generating momentum by scoring after a sudden change, the offense intends to consolidate momentum established by the defense with a turnover or a fourth-down stop.

Taking a calculated risk on his own 44 yardline, Art Briles went for it on fourth down on Bayor's second possession, hoping to establish some momentum for the Bears, down 7-0 10 minutes into the game. The Texas defense, having game-planned for the Baylor quick snap on fourth down -- they had seen it on film against Missouri -- did an excellent job of stopping the quarterback sneak, with the defensive line winning the battle at the point of attack to allow Dustin Earnest, who played well replacing the injured Roddrick Muckelroy, to make the first-down saving tackle, giving Texas the ball at the Baylor 44, seeking to consolidate momentum.

The Plays

1st and 10 Baylor 44

Texas lines up in 11 personnel, with EBS on the right side of the line and Cody Johnson on the right side of Colt McCoy. John Chiles is the split end, while James Kirkendoll and Jordan Shipley are at the top of the screen at the slot and flanker positions, respectively. Baylor has two deep safeties, three down linemen, three linebackers, and five defensive backs on the field. Since the Bears are worried about not giving up deep passes, Texas has favorable conditions to run the ball.

Key Shot

Greg Davis dusts off the counter read play that was the staple of the now-defunct WildHorn formation. Once again, the strange thing about this play is that the pulling guard, in this case Michael Huey, seen on the ground here, tries to block the read man, the linebacker standing on the left side of the Texas line. McCoy pulls the ball, as the read man gets upfield and Huey tries to block him instead of leading into the hole, where Adam Ulatoski and the pulling tackle, Kyle Hix, both get their blocks. Once again, the pulling guard tries to block the read man -- the guy optioned off on the play, the point of option football. The end result is that the backside linebacker Joe Pawelek, who could have been blocked by Huey had he led into the hole, ends up making the stop for a two-yard gain.

There's no misdirection in the play, so the offense must account for the backside linebacker, but fails to do so because of the strange obsession with blocking a player already eliminated from the play. Add to it the fact that since Texas started using his play, the pulling player has never sucessfully blocked the read man and it just doesn't make any sense to design the play that way -- Texas might as well just take an offensive lineman off the field, because the scheme effectively eliminates them from having any chance at success.

2nd and 8 Baylor 42

Texas stays in their 11 personnel look, with Kirkendoll and Shipley now at the bottom of the screen and EBS on the left side of the line, with Johnson moving to the left side of McCoy. Notice that Baylor stays in the same defensive look, with two safeties deep and big cushions on the Texas receivers, as well as three down linemen and three linebackers.

Key Shot

Texas runs at the weak side of the Baylor line, where they have only a defensive tackle and a linebacker. It's the inside zone play and notice that Chris Hall moved the defensive tackle three yards off the line of scrimmage, but lost his balance and is now being shed by the defensive tackle, who will eventually make the play. Notice also that the play is pretty well blocked, except that Tray Allen, on the ground in front of the linebacker Pawelek, failed to execute his cut block in space. Johnson picks up three yards.

3rd and 5 Baylor 39

As has been the case for the last several weeks, Dan Buckner enters the game on obvious passing downs, coming in for EBS. Notice that Jordan Shipley is now at split end, with the Baylor defensive back coming up in press coverage. In their two-deep safety look, it appears that Baylor has bracket coverage on Shipley.

Key Shot

Actually, the Baylor cornerback is one-on-one with Shipley, as the left safety turns his shoulders to look inside at the snap -- a strange call by the Baylor defensive coordinator. Shipley beats the cornerback at the line of scrimmage and McCoy delivers a perfect strike to his long-time friend, giving him the opportunity to go up and get the football, which he does. The play goes for 21 yards and a first down.

1st and 10 Baylor 18

This is the only screenshot available, as FSN misses most of the play as the Longhorns go jet tempo. Texas did, however, appear to substitute, as that looks like EBS at the top left of the screen. It also looks like the Longhorns were man blocking on the play, as the offensive line moved the line of scrimmage about 4-5 yards downfield, allowing Johnson an easy gain of five yards on the play.

2nd and 5 Baylor 13

The Longhorns stay in 11 personnel, with EBS on the right side of the line and Shipley and Kirkendoll split wide at the top of the screen, with Chies at split end. Johnson is on the left side of McCoy. Baylor shifts out of their two-deep safety look for the first time on the drive, with a single-high safety on this play. The Bears do stay with their three-down look and a linebacker standing at the line of scrimmage, with either three other linebackers on the field or a safety lined up as a linebacker.

Key Shot

Given the nature of the Texas offense, it's highly possible, and in fact highly probable, that Texas comes to the line of scrimmage with a running play called. Since Baylor has seven men in the box, a look they haven't shown much in the early part of the game, McCoy probably checks into a quick throw outside, as there is no safety on the wide side of the field. The pass goes out to Shipley, who simply has to beat his man and receive a good block from Kirkendoll to pick up a nice gain. Shipley doesn't exactly beat his man, but gets by him enough to pick up seven yards. Much maligned for his blocking earlier in the season, Kirkendoll demonstrates the blocking effort that has helped him regain his starting role.

1st and Goal Baylor 6

Once again, the Longhorns go jet tempo and under center, while the FSN production crew misses the start of the play. It's the inside zone play and Baylor doesn't look like they were able to get set particularly well.

Key Shot

The Longhorn offensive line wins at the point of attack, as Hall does an excellent job of turning the shoulders of the defensive tackle in a combo block with Huey, then gets to the second level to block Pawelek. Johnson has a gaping hole to run through and simply has to knock Jordan Lake backwards, which he does, to find the end zone. Six yards on the touchdown run for Johnson and the Longhorns go up 14-0.

Final Totals

Six plays, 44 yards, 2:08 expired. McCoy completed two passes for 28 yards, both caught by Jordan Shipley, while picking up two yards on one carry. Three carries for 14 yards and a touchdown by Cody Johnson. Two good blocks by Hall and one good block on the perimeter by Kirkendoll.

Final Verdict

The Longhorns did an excellent job of consolidating momentum by marching down the field after stopping the Bears on fourth down. At this point in the game, after scoring on two of their first three possessions and stopping Baylor twice, once at the goalline on the interception by Aaron Williams and the second time on the aforementioned fourth-down stop, any hope of springing an upset is essentially gone from minds of the Baylor team. In fact, Art Briles commented after the game that this group, being relatively young and inexperienced, just doesn't respond particularly well to adversity.

The offensive philosophy of Greg Davis was also apparent on this drive -- take what the defense gives you. Last week, Chip Brown and Sean Adams were discussing Davis on their radio show and Adams commented that all of the coaches he had played for generally tried to attack opponent weaknesses: any weak players, back ups who came in to replace injured starters, etc. Davis, however, places a higher value on letting the defense dictate where the ball should go, hence all the short passes out to wide receivers that operate as part of the running game. On this drive, Davis ran the ball some against the three down linemen of Baylor, but also took advantage of single coverage against Shipley to throw a pass farther down the field. The other pass on the drive was most likely a checkdown by McCoy once Baylor started to run the ball. Though the philosophy may let opponents dictate what the offense will do at times, this drive shows just how successful it can be to run the ball against weaker fronts and pass the ball against stronger fronts.

This drive also emphasized that the jet tempo offense, which generally features running plays from under center, has a place in the offense, as the touchdown appeared to catch Baylor before they were properly aligned and allowed some rare drive blocking on Johnson's second run. The Longhorns ran a bootleg pass and tried to throw a quick screen from the jet tempo offense, so Davis is also cognizant of breaking tendency at times to keep teams from teeing off on the run when Texas speeds it up and gets under center.

Snap Shots: Abject Stupidity, aka I-Formation From the One, Redux

GhostofBigRoy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:25:23 -0000

by Harry Cabluck - AP

It's a good thing Cody Johnson wasn't an injured Chris Ogbonnaya on this play. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

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Context

The only poor kickoff coverage of the day by Texas resulted in a 27-yard return out to the UCF 46 yardline, giving the Knights excellent field position. Though they were able to pick up a rare first down on an offsides penalty by Ben Alexander following a nine-yard run by Johnathan Davis, Texas forced a punt after a Lamarr Houston sack on third down. On the first play of the fourth quarter, UCF punter Blake Clingan kicked a 50-yard punt downed by the punt coverage unit at the Texas one yardline. Texas starts their possesion after marching 87 yards on 15 plays their previous possesion, culminating in the touchdown pass to James Kirkendoll after holding the ball for over six minutes.

Snap Shots

The play is either 24 or 26 Lead, meaning that the fullback will either go fill the four hole inside the left tackle or the six hole outside of the left tackle, with Johnson following his lead blocker into the hole. The main difference in the two plays is whether or not the playside tackle, Adam Ulatoski, decides to kick out the defender to create a running lane through the four hole, or if he tries to seal the defender inside. Given that the playside defensive end is lined up over the outside shoulder of Ulatoski, the left tackle should kick the defender out, opening up the four hole for Cobb to come through and pick up the playside linebacker, with Johnson following on his hip.

There are several important things to point out on this play. One, there are eight UCF defenders in the box, as they correctly expect Texas to run out of the rarely-used I formation. Second, the tight end is on the right side of the Texas line of scrimmage, the stronger side of the Longhorn line behind which they prefer to run. Predictably, the Knights shade their defense to that side of the field, with the middle and outside linebackers taking the A and C gaps on that side of the field, respectively, with the cornerback providing outside leverage and a safety also providing run support on that side of the formation. Third, notice that UCF defensive tackle Torrell Troup, an excellent player in his own right and one of the better defensive tackles Texas will face all season, is lined up over the left shoulder of Chris Hall, while the left guard, Charlie Tanner, is uncovered, giving him no one to block at the line of scrimmage. Lastly, there is also the fact that Johnson is closer to the back of the end zone than the front, as I-formation plays leave the tailback seven yards from the line of scrimmage.

Let's play a fun game -- it's called "Watch How Far Torrell Troup Can Push Chris Hall Into the Backfield!" Okay, maybe this game isn't so fun for Texas fans, but we're going to play it anyway, dammit. The compact Troup fires off the ball with excellent leverage, getting under the pads of the Texas center, who receives no help from Tanner, headed for the Mike backer. Chris Hall is currently more than a yard behind the line of scrimmage. Notice also that if the Longhorns had run a bootleg, the safety, a converted quarterback, is giving Jordan Shipley 12 yards of cushion.

Chris Hall is now two yards behind the line of scrimmage and comes fairly close to stepping on the foot of Colt McCoy leaving center -- not an entirely uncommon occurrence when a center gets so completely blown up at the snap of the football. Notice also that Ulatoski has just engaged the defensive end and is getting no push.

Returning to our fun little game, Chris Hall is now at least three yards behind the line of scrimmage -- that's nine feet. He's not exactly on the line of scrimmage when he hikes the ball, so it's really only fair to point out that Troup has only moved him six to seven feet backwards. See, it's really not so bad is it? Well, except for the fact that Hall has been pushed almost into Johnson shortly after his receives the football, slowing the big backs momentum and disrupting what little timing still exists with the play.

Notice also that Ulatoski has his shoulders turned, which would be fine if there was still a running lane through the four hole, but since Hall got pushed so far back, there isn't. Notice as well that Cobb doesn't really have an idea of what he's trying to do to the playside linebacker -- he's sort of cutting the guy, but doesn't leave his feet, but also doesn't really block the guy, as his left arm is just kind of dangling by his side, unused for, you know, actually blocking the guy. In fairness to Cobb, his day was otherwise, most notably including his two special teams tackles and a crunching block on Johnson's touchdown run over the left side of the line from the Jumbo package.

Chaos time! The chaos has officially begun on this play, as happens on so many plays when the timing gets off because one player is beat badly at the line of scrimmage. Even though Hall fights back against Troup enough to arrest his backwards movement, it's too late. Cobb, who decided not to use his hands to block the playside linebacker, loses his block, getting shed by the linebacker -- no surprise, since the linebacker didn't even really have to disengage to do so. Ulatoski, who failed to get any push on the playside defensive end, loses his block. Tanner, being Charlie Tanner, loses his block on the middle linebacker.

At this point, it's one on three -- Johnson must fight through the three UCF defenders to pick up a litle more than a yard to get the ball out of the end zone.

Johnson fights forward, nearing the goalline, but appearing just short on his second effort.

Fortunately for Texas, Johnson keeps on fighting, barely getting the ball out of the end zone with his third, and possibly fourth, effort.

Final Verdict

Um, haven't we all seen this movie before? The Longhorns get pinned near the goalline, go I formation, obviously a running package...Chris Hall gets blown up after snapping the ball...The Texas running back receives first contact deep in the goalline...Sounds like the Tech game last year doesn't it? Same situation, almost the same result, except this time the coaches manage to brilliantly avoid putting an injured running back in the backfield, instead using the biggest back they have. Credit them for that, at least.

Greg Davis indicated after the game that the Longhorns did receive the look they wanted as well, with UCF overloading the left side of the line, leaving the Longhorns evenly matched up on the other side. The only problem is that UCF overloaded the other side of the line because the left side does a poor job of getting push on running plays, particularly Ulatoski, who remains much stronger in pass protection than actually moving defenders backwards.

The real problem here is that the coaches didn't learn from their mistakes last season and failed to understand that another I-formation running play was vritually doomed to failure. Mack Brown indicated that the coaches have, after one safety and another near safety, finally learned their lesson:

The one that was ugly coming off the goal line that Cody saved us otherwise it would have been a safety was missed assignments up front.

So we didn't block it right and Greg and I have talked about it, we're foolish from the 6-inch line to take the ball and hand it to a tailback seven yards deep. That's just foolish.

It happened to us at Tech, and we're going to change that. So that's more on us as coaches than on the kids. I thought it was just not smart and we've got some different things we can do.

Obviously, that ends up being a 99-yard touchdown drive. It ended up being effective. But if they are going to wad em all up and we're going to line up a tailback seven yards deep in the backfield, let's learn from it and move forward. That's on us as coaches, even though there was a missed assignment.

Yes, Mack -- foolish, stupid, dumb, and idiotic are all apt descriptions of the play call. Davis, however, has a slightly different perspective on whether or not there was a missed assignment on the play:

We had a missed call on the first play that Cody did such a great job. We got the look we thought we'd get.

The guard (Charlie Tanner) had an option to bang what we call Lock It, and we didn't make that call, which left Chris Hall in a one-on-one situation, and Chris did a pretty good job of maintaining.

And if we weren't on the minus-1 yard line, Cody probably would have taken it back door. But because of where we were at, he just went front side.

The missed call probably falls on Hall himself, as the center is normally responsible for making the line calls. So the responsibility falls both on the coaches were putting the players in a bad position, and on the players for not making the proper call at the line and for failing to execute, as three players essentially missed their blocks, leading to Johnson having to fight through three defenders

The play illustrates the individual breakdown(s) that have occurred all too frequently this season along the offensive line. When it's not Hall, it's Tanner. When it's not Tanner, it's Michael Huey or David Snow. When it's not Huey or Tanner, it's Ulatoski. No player has been immune from significant individual failures at different times. The play also illustrates the major problem with man blocking -- it allows one-on-one that can lead to penetration and highlight individual failures in a manner that zone blocking covers up to some extent. Of course, had the right call been made and Tanner had double teamed Troup with Hall, the play would have had a much better chance for success.

The final point worth making here is that Texas is better served by play-action passing in those situations than running out of the I. Lining up four wide isn't a good idea either, so the compromise here is probably 11 personnel, running play action, and moving the pocket, as the Longhorns did on the following two plays, resulting in a big third-down conversion on a pass to Malcolm Williams.

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.

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.

In the Trenches - Anatomy of a Muschamp Adjustment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Screen Game

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

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

Offensive Line Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greg Smith Saga

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

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

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

The Man in the Middle

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

We Have Our Health

40AS — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:00:29 -0000

More photos » by L.G. Patterson - AP

Fozzy Whittaker: healthy, happy, and running the football. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

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Your Okie State-week injury report is, thankfully, very sparse. Mason Walters remains out, but all the rest of the Longhorns will be ready to roll on Saturday barring anybody getting hurt in practice (we are knocking on wood as we type, don't worry a bit). Michael Huey is back in action, so Texas will be very near full strength for The Season in Stillwater.

The closest thing to an injury in Missouri was team-wide sleep deprivation, as Texas was stuck in the Columbia airport (we didn't know there was such a thing either) until 3:00 AM and didn't arrive back in Austin until 5:00.

Football coaches love the conventional wisdom that playing passive is the best way to get hurt. That should mean good news on the injury front for Will Muschamp's defense going forward.