SB Nation - Malcolm Williams

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

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

More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

Texas Stats

Passing

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

Rushing

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

Receiving

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

Kicking

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

East Carolina Stats

Passing

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

Rushing

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

Receiving

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

Kicking

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

Poll

Who wins?

Texas Longhorns

37 votes

East Carolina Pirates

11 votes

48 votes | Poll has closed

Morning Coffee: Sunshine Pumping Edition

GhostofBigRoy — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:24:37 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

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As mentioned in Sunday's Celebration and Reflection post, there is plenty of time for worrying about what went wrong against Nebraska and what could possibly go wrong against Alabama. In that spirit, here's a sunshine pumping edition of Morning Coffee focusing on the positives.

Eyes on the prize. For the Texas football team, there were three goals for the season -- winning the Big 12 South, winning the Big 12 championship game, and then making it to Pasadena to play for the national championship. With the weak schedule, each goal became absolutely necessary to reach the next. A loss in conference play might not have kept Texas out of the championship game for the Big 12, but it would have kept them from having a chance at Pasadena.

My oponent preview for The Eyes of Texas magazine this summer was entitled "Expect Perfection" -- that's been the narrative the entire season. In fact, that was the narrative even stretching back to last season, the reason why all that success seemed like such a bonus. Texas fans are famous for outsized expectations, but how could there be more pressure than for a fanbase to expect a berth in the national championship game for two full seasons? For anything less than perfection to be a monumental disappointment?

Even though this post will focus on the positives of the Nebraska game and future posts will analyze the numerous breakdowns, ultimately the eyes of Texas rest on the ultimate prize -- that crystal football. The parallels to the last Texas appearance in the Rose Bowl are significant and could grow even more pronounced if Colt McCoy loses the Heisman to Mark Ingram this weekend. Like USC, Alabama is highly favored in the game, with pundits across the country writing off the chances of the Longhorns, just as they did in 2005. Like the 2005 team, these Longhorns are led by an experienced quarterback, one of the greatest in the history of the program, and backed by defenses filled with future NFL players. The visit to Pasadena will seemingly complete the cycle, as McCoy will fulfill the trust that Vince Young put in him when Young told McCoy he would be the next quarterback at Texas before trotting onto the field to win the national championship. The symmetry is perfect, just like this season.

The bottom line is this -- in the only two close games this season, Texas found ways to win, the ultimate mark of a champion. There was no room for imperfection, the disappointment of a loss too great to even fathom. So they did not lose and now have a chance to win it all.

The clutch kicker. Throughout most of the season, the reliability of Hunter Lawrence seemed like a bonus, a luxury even -- just a way to keep putting points on the board even if the offense stalled on a long drive, the guy who would maintain momentum with his solid kicking. Against Oklahoma, he hit all three of his field goals, including twice from 42 yards, each kick crucial to the eventual win. For Texas fans, it was heartening -- proof that the kicker would be reliable in a big game in the distant future. Most believed that if Lawrence was going to kick a game-winning field goal, it would be on the biggest of stages in the Rose Bowl.

Except fate wrote a different script -- the struggling Texas offense, stymied all evening by Ndamukong Suh and a swarming horde of defensive backs, used two big Nebraska penalties to move into field goal range down by a single point, then nearly ran all the time off the clock because the four-year starter at quarterback didn't know that the clock doesn't stop on a ball thrown out of bounds until it hits something. Hardly a chip shot, the subsequent kick was the most pressure-packed of Lawrence's life. To top it all, the senior kicker would attempt the first game-winning kick of his collegiate career.

A miss would mean a lifetime of ignominy, known as the sorry kicker who cost the Longhorns a chance at a crystal football. A make would mean a place in Longhorn lore among the all-time greats, a lifetime of congratulations from strangers and free drinks at the bar. Only this wasn't a chip-shot field goal, it was a 46 yarder, a distance from which even the best kickers in the NFL are not automatic. Hell, the Redskins lost to the Saints this weekend because their kicker, now unemployed, shanked a 23 yarder, the type of kick random fans make at halftime promotions every weekend across the country.

Not only that, but the big Nebraska line stood in the way, responsible for five blocked kicks on the season, with Suh repsonsible for three himself. Perhaps cognizant of their position on the right side of the Texas line and despite kicking from the left hash, Lawrence angled the kick left, wide of the beefy hands raised to deflect it, to destroy the Texas title hopes. Left just far enough, but not too far, with just enough draw to bring it back right to sneak through the left upright with only inches to spare.

In the ensuing celebration, Lawrence found himself at the bottom of a exultant dogpile, then lofted on the shoulders of his teammates as the Longhorn nation let loose with a hearty exhale. Though the game may have ultimately been unsatisfying, there could be no doubt that Lawrence had proved his mettle in the most clutch of situations, making sure that if there is a next time for such a kick, it will be on the biggest of stages. And the anxiety for Texas fans will be much less pronounced -- after all, Hunter Lawrence has done this before.

Malcolm Williams and a double move. The big sophomore receiver didn't have a particularly high number of catches against Nebraska, but each of his three was important in the context of when they occurred -- the first catch, for 16 yards, picked up a first down to move Texas deep into Nebraska territory on the drive that resulted in the only touchdown of the game, the second catch came as McCoy was under pressure on the long drive that ended with Dejon Gomes taking the ball from Dan Buckner, and the final catch came on 3rd and 16 on the same drive with McCoy under pressure again. All three catches came with a defender in his face and all three were difficult. In pressure moments, Williams made the catches.

In a game when the Longhorn receivers had trouble getting separation, it was Williams who most consistently was able to beat press man coverage by getting inside releases on two of his catches. On the third, he paused in his stride and gave just enough of a shake to get the defender to bite on the hitch and, had McCoy had time to set his feet and deliver the ball downfield, beat the defender enough to pick up a huge gain on the play. The concern on the part of the Nebraska cornerbacks to match his physicality with physical play of their own also led to a pass interefence penalty, as the Husker corner had his hands on Williams trying to push him towards the sideline after McCoy had released the ball.

And it could have been an even bigger day -- Williams got behind a Nebraska defender on another third-down play, but McCoy threw the ball out of bounds, failing to give his open receiver a chance to make a play on the ball. Unlike the smaller Texas receivers, Williams is better suited to beating press coverage, using his strength to get off the line of scrimmage and when he does get an inside release, he can screen defenders with his size. When McCoy is under pressure, the ability to throw the football up for Williams to go get it makes him a security blanket for the senior quarterback almost on par with Jordan Shipley.

Shovel passes, quarterback draws, and a zone read. It was an astounding sight. On the second play from scrimmage, following a terrible chop block penalty on Chris Hall (one of two such terrible calls on the night), Greg Davis dialed up a shovel pass to Tre' Newton and it worked, picking up 25 yards, perhaps the first time in years that Davis not only called it at the right time, but that the Longhorns executed it correctly, with Hall getting downfield and delivering a block. Twice more Davis called the play and twice more it worked. Against a defense with aggresive defensive tackles trying to get upfield, using the shovel pass was some of Davis' best work in the game.

Likewise, with the Nebraska defensive tackles getting upfield and the linebackers either bailing out into coverage or not on the field at all, the quarterback draw was also an effective play for Texas, as McCoy scored the only touchdown of the game on the play and picked up positive yardage every other time the Longhorns called it with the exception of the final drive when the Texas was already in field goal range. Besides the shovel pass, one of the few other positive plays early in the game was a zone read McCoy kept for a 14-yard gain, but only called one other time. In fact, besides an eight-yard run by Newton, all the other runs of eight yards or more came from McCoy.

Looking back, Davis probably should have called the quarterback draw and used the zone read more often because the zone play and counter were not particularly effective in the game and power was only slightly better. One of the benefits of running the zone read is that the inside zone play becomes more effective because it puts doubt into the mind of the defenders, particularly the backside defensive end and linebacker and giving the offensive line better numbers and an extra combo block. Since Nebraska contained McCoy in the pocket on passing plays, the called runs were the only way use McCoy's legs and his legs were the most effective weapon for the Texas running game.

Playmaking defense. It's been a theme all season, so it's no surprise that the Texas defenders were able to make plays in big moments, particularly the secondary. The Nebraska offensive plan revolved around setting up play-action passes downfield with their running game and mixing in some screens, but the Longhorns never sold out to stop the run, instead controlling the line of scrimmage with the front four and strong play from Keenan Robinson, Roddrick Muckelroy, and Emmanuel Acho, while keeping the secondary back to take away deep passes.

On the first attempt downfield, Blake Gideon intercepted a Zac Lee pass thrown too far inside and with too much air under it. Then, after Nebraska blocked Justin Tucker's punt at the start of the second quarter, the Huskers took a shot at the end zone, but unfortunately decided to pick on Aaron Williams, who intercepted another pass with too much air under it, perhaps keeping points off the board -- Nebraska needed only a handful of yards on that drive to reach field goal range. In the third quarter, Muckelroy's interception, only the second of his career, helped the Longhorns win the field position battle over the next several possessions that eventually led to a field goal, as Texas needed no more production than a 12-yard run from McCoy and a pass interference penalty to get into range.

Those were the big plays, that ones that show up in the box score as turnovers. However, there were other plays equally as important, ones that don't show up in the box score. At the start of the fourth quarter, Nebraska had the ball at the Texas 38 yardline, right at the edge of Alex Henery's field goal range -- he hit one early in the game from 52 yards that looked like it had enough distance to have been good from nearly 60. On second down, the Huskers went downfield to their best deep threat, Niles Paul, who had worked behind Curtis Brown just enough to be open. Lee finally delivered an accurate pass and Paul went up over Brown to make the catch. But just as he secured the football, Earl Thomas launched his body into the Nebraska receiver and jarred the pass loose, a play that might have saved the game for Texas. The type of play that only the best defensive backs in the country make. Still, Henery would have had a good chance at making the 55-yard field goal, but the Longhorns defense made another play on third down -- Keenan Robinson read the screen pass from the start of the play and beat a blocker to take down Rex Burkhead and knock the Huskers five yards back and out of field goal range, forcing a punt.

Then, the Nebraska offense got the ball at the Texas 10 yardline following the long punt return by Niles Paul, the defense stopped Burkhead twice and on third down Chykie Brown's defense was just good enough to force Brandon Kinne to catch the ball out of bounds. Nebraska kicked a field goal when a touchdown probably would have won the game.

With the offense providing the defense with almost no margin for error, the defense made no errors and came up with big plays with the game on the line. Without having to load the box, the front six and seven of the Texas defense stopped the downhill rushing game of Nebraska, holding the line and disengaging from blockers to make plays. Ben Alexander played more snaps than he ever has and effectively plugged the middle, while Sam Acho led the team in tackles. Nolan Brewster rebounded from a poor game against A&M to blow up two plays by submarining Suh -- excellent work by a safety taking on a big defensive tackle. And all that makes the struggles against A&M seem like a thing of the past.

How Nebraska Will Beat Texas And Win the Big 12 Championship

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

More photos » by Nati Harnik - AP

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

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

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

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

- First Quarter Draw

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

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

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

- One On One Excellence

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

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

- Bore America To Death

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

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

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

- No Fear

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

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

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

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

- Special Teams Convergence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Five Things to Watch Against Nebraska

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

by Jeff Roberson - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Under The Hood: Nebraska vs Texas Statistical Comparison

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

More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

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

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

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

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

Can our offense score seven points against Texas?

Statistics include national and conference rankings in parentheses.

Offensive Statistics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Defensive Statistics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Opponents

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

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

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

Afternooon Brewsky Is Long-Winded

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

More photos » by Erich Schlegel - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's a look at each kickoff return:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's a look at each third down:

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

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

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.

View full size photo »

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.

Thoughts on Kansas and Texas A&M

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:48:57 -0000

There isn't a whole lot to talk about with the Kansas game that hasn't already been said here in the last couple of days or earlier in the season, so I'll just do it bullet style:

Before the Baylor game, I said that the two best receivers Texas would face this season on one team were David Gettis and Kendall Wright. Somehow I forgot about Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe and that was just stupid. Meier didn't have a huge game, but Briscoe did, showing the combination of size and speed that should make him one of the top receivers in the draft if he decides to come out this year. Much like he did against Michael Crabtree last season, Curtis Brown really struggled against Briscoe, for a variety of reasons. Briscoe's speed was a problem, as was his size. Mostly though, Brown struggled because he kept on getting in between trying to break up passes and trying to make the tackle, often ending up doing neither. Blake Gideon didn't help him much by consistently being late getting over the top as well, though in fairness to Gideon, he was the single-high safety on several of those coverages, giving him a lot of ground to cover.

Aaron Williams actually got beat a couple of times. Astounding -- I didn't even know if that was possible. Apparently he is mortal.
It's really heartening that the Longhorns are looking down the field more often, especially when using play action. The deep post to Williams went for a long touchdown and McCoy targeted the big receiver on two other plays downfield, with Williams for some reason stopping on one route that would have been a touchdown and McCoy missing outside and long on another that would have gone for a score. The fact that they aren't quite on the same page with those throws illustrates what a crime it was not to have played Williams more early in the season. Had the coaches put him on the field, he and McCoy might have already worked through those problems. The good news is that Williams hasn't dropped any passes in the last two games and continues to block extremely well downfield. On the pass into the flat to Tre' Newton after faking the jet sweep, Wiilliams absolutely leveled a linebacker.
James Kirkendoll contines to come on as well, working harder on his blocking downfield, but more importantly, showing the precise route running Texas fans expected to see all season. McCoy is seemingly gaining more trust in him every week and it's clear that the benching after the Oklahoma game really lit a fire under him. Great to see.
The offensive line had two breakdowns in pass protection again, once by Tray Allen when he let a defensive tackle come free on McCoy's fumble early in the game when Kansas showed blitz with one linebacker on the edge, then the other, clearly confusing Allen with the protection scheme. The other came when Kyle Hix left Maxwell Onyegbule unblocked on the edge, leading to a hit on McCoy. Frustrating.
I can guarantee that since Justin Tucker fancies himself a real football player, he hated the fact that he couldn't catch Briscoe on the kickoff return. He'll probably be angry about it the rest of his life.
John Gold's punting effort was extremely poor, meaning that both the traditional and rubgy punting have struggled the last two weeks. They need to figure it out. Kickoff coverage as well, which was terrible at times.
After Jordan Shipley's fumble on a kickoff return, Marquise Goodwin should be given every chance to win the job until DJ Monroe comes back -- he didn't look quite as explosive, but Shipley's fumble was inexcusable and the second fumble he has had on special teams in the last month.
Texas struggled to get pressure on Todd Reesing during long stretches of the game -- a lot of credit should go to the Kansas offensive line, which probably played their best game of the season against Texas, doing a particularly good job picking up on the twists the Longhorns ran consistently. Part of the problem may have been that the defensive linemen were worried about staying in their lanes, but the lack of pressure helped lead to a lot of the breakdowns in the secondary.
The jet tempo package worked as well as it has all season, with the Longhorns running several bootlegs off of the play, one that resulted in a scramble for a first down by McCoy and one that resulted in the 38-yard touchdown to Shipley on a drag route. It's a good thing that Davis didn't abandon the jet tempo when it wasn't working like he did the Q package and the WildHorn, because it's giving the Longhorns an advantage right now.
The Longhorns ran power a couple of times against Kansas and it's a great addition to the playbook.

Some thoughts on the game against A&M:

The skill position players on offense are good for the Aggies, but the offensive line has struggled mightily at times this season and Jerrod Johnson often holds the ball too long in the pocket, a recipe for disaster against the Longhorns.
The key to stopping the Aggie offense may be limiting their ability to run the ball, putting them in third and long situations where Texas can put pressure on Johnson. However, the defensive linemen must stay in their lanes as they did against Kansas and Oklahoma State to limit the scrambling ability of the Aggie quarterback -- when Johnson is running the ball effectively, the Aggies are a dangerous team offensively.
Defensively, Texas A&M has virtually nothing besides Von Miller. Early in the Arkansas game, Miller was extremely disruptive until Arkansas started double teaming him and sliding their protection away from him. As long as the offensive line can keep track of him, possibly using a running back to chip him at times, Colt McCoy should have plenty of time to stand in the pocket and throw down the field against an extremely poor Aggie secondary. However, because of the need to slide the protection away from Miller or double team him, the empty set may not be the best choice this week.
The Aggies are one of the most heavily penalized teams in the country, getting flagged an average of about eight times per game -- something they cannot afford to happen against the much more talented Longhorns.
Unless several catastrophic things happen, the Aggies don't have a chance in this game. The Longhorns need to come out with focus and intensity and Colt McCoy needs another strong game to help his Heisman campaign. In other words, he needs to play better than Vince Young did against the Aggies in 2005. If you want to feel better about the game, just read this.

Anatomy of Explosion: Four Plays, 76 Yards Against Kansas

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:39:10 -0000

More photos » by Darren Abate - AP

Browse more photos »

Context

After a three and out on the first possession offensively highlighted by John Chiles running onto the field late on the first play, causing an offensive linemen to false start after being set for far too long and another mistake by Chiles when he failed to run the proper route, earning himself an earful of criticism from his quarterback, the Texas defense forced a three and out by the Kansas offense, highlighted by Chykie Brown's sack on third down. Then, Clark Ford earned himself a membership in the Block Party by deflecting the subsequent punt, but Kansas was fortunate enough to get a big bounce after the block, with the ball rolling all the way down to the Texas 24 yardline.

With nearly half the first quarter already expired, the Longhorns needed to establish some offensive momentum and begin gaining separation from the Jayhawks. The first order of business -- banishing John Chiles to the bench after his poor performance on the first drive. The second order of business -- continuing to throw the football against an overmatched secondary and getting the ball in the hands of offensive playmakers. Surprisingly, James Kirkendoll should now be included in that group after solid play of late.

The Plays

1st and 10 Texas 24

The Longhorns open their second drive of the game in the empty set. For the purposes of this play, the important players are at the top of the screen -- Jordan Shipley in the slot and Marquise Goodwin split wide. Kansas is playing nickel with two deep safeties and the boundary corner at the top of the screen well off Goodwin -- the perfect time for a screen pass.

It is indeed a screen pass to Goodwin. Notice that the four Kansas down linemen all sold out on their pass rush, while three Texas offensive linemen released into the flat to block for the freshman speedster, setting up a 4-on-3 situation with the three Kansas defenders on that side of the field -- the cornerback, safety, and Will linebacker. If Charlie Tanner can block the linebacker and Chris Hall can block the safety, the play should work.

Tanner doesn't get a great block on the linebacker, but does well enough to allow Goodwin to get past him. Notice #90, Maxwell Onyegbule, the older brother of potential 2011 target Miles Onyegbule, who may well become one of the first members of the 2011 recruiting class, pursuing Goodwin with an angle on the world-class athlete. Notice, as well, the safety Justin Thornton just in front of Dan Buckner, who will also take an excellent angle on the play. However, the most important player at this point is Chris Hall, who must lay the block on the safety to spring Goodwin. Hall does, doing a good job of cutting the safety and knocking him off his feet.

There's Onyegbule, who almost catches Goodwin, with the advantage of a running start and the angle -- still, though, extremely impressive for a 250-pound defensive end. Ultimately, though Onyegbule can't bring Goodwin down, he probably slows him down just enough for the cornerback Shipley blocked earlier, Daymond Patterson, and Thornton to eventually catch up with him.

Patterson catches up Goodwin first -- and Goodwin may have picked up more yardage on the play had Shipley held his block longer, though he did his job more than adequately, but Goodwin stiff arms the defender behind him while still maintaing his forward momentum to help him pick up 34 yards by the end of the play.

The stiff arm is my favorite part of the play and it's worth saying again, even though it's just about played out now -- Marquise Goodwin is a football player, not a track guy playing football. A quick aside -- re-watching part of the Oklahoma State game the other day on the airplane, Goodwin came in on a crack-back block that probably wasn't even called by the coaches since it's something Texas rarely if ever does, and laid a lick on a linebacker to allow Cody Johnson to get the edge. Kid will mix it up.

1st and 10 Kansas 42

The Longhorns bring in Cody Johnson and EBS in their 11 personnel grouping, while Malcolm Williams also comes on the field as the split end. Notice that Kansas has a linebacker matched up against Shipley in the slot and is walking the safety on Williams' side of the field up into the box expecting a run from Johnson.

In all likelihood, there was a running play called, especially since Texas hadn't called a run on any of the first four plays from scrimmage. McCoy probably checks out of the run when he sees the safety walking up to the line of scrimmage and the cornerback well off of Williams. Notice that the Texas offensive line still run blocks on the play, which may slow down the cornerback going against Williams if the cornerback is pattern matching and reading the EMLOS (End Man on the Line Of Scrimmage), a common tactic in that coverage. In this case, though, the cornerback is watching Williams all the way and comes up to make the play, but not before Williams picks up almost three yards.

2nd and 7 Kansas 40

Texas stays with the 11 personnel group, with Cody Johnson on the left side of McCoy. Notice that Kansas has once again walked their safety up into the box with the three linebackers, giving Kansas an 8-on-6 advantage against the run.

For whatever reason, McCoy doesn't check out of the run this time and Johnson gets the hand off on the pseudo counter. Hey, let's play a fun game! It's called, "Where's Cody?" Much like "Where's Waldo," this game involves finding Johnson in the teeming mass of players at the line of scrimmage. Give up? Yeah, I don't really know where he is either, but he didn't get far, losing one yard on the play.

3rd and 9 Kansas 41

Surprisingly, the Longhorns stay in with their 11 personnel grouping, even keeping Johnson out on the field. For Kansas, it should be an indication that the Longhorns plan to throw the ball down the field, as this is basically a maximum protection look in a situation where they normally bring Dan Buckner into the game at flex tight end. Notice that Kansas is in nickel, with two deep safeties, while the cornerbacks give James Kirkendoll and Shipley big cushions.

Kansas only brings four, so both Greg Smith and Cody Johnson release on their routes, but the important player here is Kirkendoll at the bottom of the shot. It's hard to see in a picture, but Kirkendoll is chopping his feet, selling a hitch route or comeback and the cornerback comes out of his backpedal and begins breaking on the play, jumping the route. Here's another look a split second later:

That's Kirkendoll at the bottom right, accelerating past the flat-footed defender.

The defender attempts to recover, but Kirkendoll has the necessary separation and McCoy hits him in stride for a 41-yard touchdown pass and the lead, 7-0. Notice that the safety stopped backpedalling as soon as Kirkendoll began chopping his feet and took away the inside route, but didn't stay deep enough to remain over the top against the double move, leaving only fake plastic grass in front of Kirkendoll after he beat the cornerback.

Final Totals

Four plays, 76 yards, 1:34 expired. McCoy completed three passes for 77 yards, one to Goodwin for 34 yards, one to Williams for two yards, and one to Kirkendoll for 41 yards. Cody Johnson ran the ball once for a loss of a yard. Two good blocks on the screen by Charlie Tanner (less so) and Chris Hall (more so).

Final Verdict

The drive generated momentum for Texas and got the Kansas defense on their heels, setting the stage for future dominance. Long, sustained drives may tire a defense, but a drive featuring one or more explosive plays demoralizes the defense and highlights the separation in terms of talent between the teams. Though Kansas commendably didn't give up, as they could have given the circumstances surrounding their head coach, a team with less mental toughness, like, say, Texas A&M, might have started to doubt and started to give less then full effort.

The drive also highlighted some excellent playcalling by the much-maligned Greg Davis, who made an excellent call on the screen to Goodwin, then saw something on film ($) against Kansas he exploited with the pass to Kikendoll:

We called it third-and-medium. They were really down-and-distance conscious, so we wanted to call a pump-and-go the first chance we got on third-and-medium. We called a pump route for Kirkendoll. He ran a great route, and Colt really laid it in there.

From the sound of it, Davis was just waiting to call the play, knowing it was almost guaranteed to be a success. It was and the play got the Longhorn offensive juggernaut rolling on the night and it wouldn't slow down much until the late stages of the game, after the outcome had long been decided.

Back to the Goodwin play -- not only did the Longhorns have favorable match ups with the cornerback and safety on that side of the field well off the ball, but it got the ball to Goodwin in a position to make a play, something the Longhorns haven't done enough of in recent weeks. And guess what, it worked. Later in the game, McCoy took a shot downfield to Goodwin and though the pass wasn't completed, it's still the type of play Texas should run to Goodwin once or twice a game. He hasn't hooked up yet with McCoy on a long pass this season, but when he does, it will probably go for a touchdown regardless of where on the field the ball was snapped.

Since Greg Davis believes in taking what the defensive gives him, it's no surprise that Texas didn't run the ball much early in the game, as Kansas often loaded up the box, as they did on two plays on this drive. Combined with what Davis saw as a susceptible secondary and it resulted in a lot of throws early in the game. It's not clear why Kansas was so worried about the run, but if teams sit back with two safeties deep in a nickel, the Longhorns should be able to run the football enough against anyone to keep the chains moving.

Mizzou Links, The Morning After

Bill C. — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:00:22 -0000

Photo via Bill Carter. Full gallery coming later in the day.

Mizzou beats Iowa State

Clone Chronicles: Week 12: Missouri 34, ISU 24
The Trib: MU blasts away in second half, tops Cyclones in home finale
The Trib: Tigers on verge of satisfying season
The Trib: Receiver finally catches on
The Trib: FOUR QUESTIONS
The Missourian: Long drive pushes Missouri past Iowa State
The Missourian: Missouri's Senior Day an emotional time for Weatherspoon family
The Missourian: Rolandis Woodland provides glimpse of Missouri's young talent
KC Star: MU storms to victory over Iowa State
KC Star: Danario Alexander stars in Missouri's 34-24 win over Iowa State
KC Star: MU-Iowa State game report
KC Star: MU notebook
KC Star (Upon Further Review): Big 12 Bowl Analysis
Post-Dispatch: MU wins one for seniors
Post-Dispatch (Bryan Burwell): MU youth show promise
[Jerrell] Jackson is the answer to Pinkel's offensive prayers, the dangerous compliment to Alexander. Think of him as Matt Holliday to Alexander's Albert Pujols. Jackson is emerging as the receiver who can line up either next to Alexander or on the opposite side of the field and force defenses to pick their poison.

"As he continues to mature, you see how good he's going to be," said Pinkel, who has spent the last month or so challenging him to raise his game to this level and become the next link in the receiving superstar chain that began with Maclin and has moved on to Alexander. "Even after last week's game in the locker room I said 'You can do better.' I don't know if he wanted to hear that ..."
He can do much better. He can not drop or fumble passes. Start to remedy that, and he's a helluva player.

Post-Dispatch: Blaine Gabbert shines vs. Iowa State
PowerMizzou: Second-half send off
PowerMizzou: PMTV: Lucky #7
PowerMizzou: PMTV: From the Interview Room
PowerMizzou: Sunday Grade Card
Des Moines Register: Tigers rally past 6-win Cyclones
Des Moines Register: Cyclones confident of bowl berth after loss
Des Moines Register: One bowl scenario would pit ISU against Chizik's Auburn
Ames Tribune: MU beats ISU 34-24
Ames Tribune: Playing the waiting game
Ames Tribune: A guide to ISU's bowl possibilities
Ames Tribune: Lineman Scott Haughton scores on trick play
Palestra.net: Mizzou Seniors Leave Home Triumphantly

Galleries

Big 12 Links

Nebraska 17, Kansas State 3
ESPN.com: Nebraska earns spot in Big 12 conference championship game
Corn Nation: Nebraska Ends Kansas State's Season and Wins the Big 12 North
Double Extra Point: Sunday Morning Quarterback
Texas 51, Kansas 20
ESPN.com: Colt McCoy sets NCAA record with 43rd career win as Texas claims title
Burnt Orange Nation: Postgame React: Texas buries Kansas 51-20, Improves to 11-0
Austin American-Statesman: From tiny town to big hero for UT quarterback
Austin American-Statesman: James Kirkendoll, Malcolm Williams complement Jordan Shipley
KC Star: Kansas shows some fight, but not enough, in loss to Texas
Texas Tech 41, Oklahoma 13
ESPN.com: Texas Tech earns most lopsided win over Oklahoma
Double-T Nation: Post-Game Thoughts :: Oklahoma Sooners Edition
Crimson and Cream Machine: Absolutely Pathetic
Dr. Saturday: Raiders knock staggering Sooners' rebound hopes out for the count
Daily Oklahoman: OU suffers worst loss since 2005
Daily Oklahoman (Barry Tramel): Sooners have to be red-faced over loss to Texas Tech
Tulsa World: Will role as Cowboys' spoiler be OU's spark?
Tulsa World: Passing the blame around
Texas A&M 38, Baylor 3
ESPN.com: A&M bowl eligible with bashing of Baylor
Oklahoma State 31, Colorado 28
ESPN.com: OSU clips Colorado
Tulsa World: QB injury a bruise; 50-50 for Bedlam

BASKETBALL!!

The Trib (Steve Walentik): What to watch for: Texas-Pan American
The Trib: Summer work pays for Bowers
KC Star: Big Steve steps up for Mizzou after slimming down