SB Nation User Blog: GhostofBigRoy

Morning Coffee Loves Malcolm Williams

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:58:08 -0000

by Harry Cabluck - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cobbs visit seals commitment ($)

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:08:42 -0000

Cobbs visit seals commitment ($)

After committing to Texas a little more than a week ago, all DeMarco Cobbs had to do was finally make it down to Austin to speak with Mack Brown and confirm his intentions to sign with the Longhorns. While that sounds pretty simple, given his history of being unable to make it down to Central Texas, it was hardly a given that Cobbs would come through this time.

Fortunately for Texas fans excited about seeing the playmaker in burnt orange, Cobbs did make it into town. After leaving Tulsa late Friday night after his final regular season game, Cobbs and a friend stayed in Dallas overnight and left for Austin. Following the Texas victory over UCF, Cobbs sat down with Brown, telling him that he does not plan to keep in contact with any teams. Barring any unexpected developments, then, Cobbs will officially become a Longhorn in February.

A. Williams Questionable For UCF

GhostofBigRoy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:10:29 -0000

A. Williams Questionable For UCF

While it's disappointing that he's not completely ready to play, if he's not completely healthy, there's no reason for him to play. Earl Thomas fits quite nicely into the nickel back position and Nolan Brewster needs the reps. Just get all the way healthy, A-Will.

Five Things to Watch Against Central Florida

GhostofBigRoy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:06:02 -0000

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brief Thoughts: Why Greg Davis Does What He Does

GhostofBigRoy — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:49:29 -0000

More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

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At different times, there have been a bevy of complaints leveled against Greg Davis. For the purposes of this (relatively brief) post, it's not worth getting into all of those. The two prevalent complaints that are important here are as follows: 1) Davis does not run a variety of formations -- the base offense in most years is 11 personnel with the tight end and two receivers on the strong side of the field, and 2) Davis does not put players in motion before the snap.

Before delving into the possible reasons for those two systematic decisions, it's worth further clarifying the complaints against Davis. As for the first complaint, Mike Leach famously said in the Michael Lewis article that he likes to run the same concepts from different formations to confuse the defense and affect their coverages because it's harder to teach different plays than it is to teach players to stand in different locations -- teaching them where to stand is easy. Leach sees and, quite possibly, has experienced, no problems in lining receivers up all over the field but running the same plays from those new positions, doing so helps disguise the basic concepts he runs over and over.

The second complaint mainly centers around the fact that putting a man in motion helps the quarterback with his pre-snap read by forcing the defense to show either man or zone coverage. If a defender follows the man in motion, it's man coverage, but if a defender does not follow, it's zone coverage. One of the major takeways from this current Texas season is that Colt McCoy is an infinitely better quarterback when he can determine where he wants to go before the snap -- of course, this is also surely the case with virtually any other quarterback as well.

Back, now, to the original point. Chris Brown just posted an extremely interesting article over at Smart Football in which a friend of his ("Hemlock") who coached the run and shoot both at the high school and collegiate level provides some insights into why Davis almost always uses the same alignment and almost entirely eschews motion.

The most probable reason for Davis only using the same basic alignment is simple -- it keeps his own players from becoming confused. Though Leach apparently has few problems with his multiple formations, personal and anecdotal evidence from Hemlock suggests that it isn't as easy as the head pirate suggests:

I've coached both high-school and D-I football and I've learned the hard way that it is either impossible, in the case of high school, or or so difficult to the point of being prohibitive, as in the case of college ball, to effectively implement a multiple-formation intensive system and to consistently succeed with it. At my last D-I school we ran the true west coast offense, as my head coach was a legitimate disciple of Bill Walsh. Not only was it difficult to install all of our formations, but it made our players hesitant; they were so worried about getting lined up correctly that they were not able to concentrate on running the play. Another unintended consequence was that the different looks we installed confused our players more than the defenses we faced. It sounds odd, but our players, despite all our efforts to the contrary, deep down believed that every time we ran a route concept from a new formation we were in fact running a different play. This problem reinforces a point that June Jones made once about his former quarterback Colt Brennan. Even though they ran their "Levels package" primarily from one formation ("Early"), Brennan, for nearly a year, believed that the different level distributions constituted a different individual play. It took a year, according to Jones, until Brennan basically understood that regardless of who was the over and who was under runner that they were running the same play. Now, remember, this was all being run from one formation; imagine what it is like when you have literally a dozen different formations from which to run that one play. We found out the hard way: We had a lot of formations and our players thought we were drawing up all kinds of new plays.

As Hemlock mentions, coaches at the college level have much less time than professional coaches to spend practicing installing plays or watching film with their players. No doubt the level of maturity and brain development (the frontal lobe does not function at peak capacity until the early to mid 20's) also impacts the ability of college-age players to grasp different formations with the same route concept. When combined with the talent advantage that Texas enjoys in nearly every contest and it becomes apparent why Davis prefers keeping his formations simple -- the opposing defense often can't stop the Longhorns even when they know the play that's coming.

Hemlock also provides a possible answer for the second complaint -- not putting players in motion. While the motion man does provide the quarterback with a better pre-snap read on the surface, an original intent of using motion nearly every play in the original run-and-shoot offense pioneered by Mouse Davis, Houston's John Jenkins realized that defenses were catching up:

But, one result of the 'shoot's success was that coverages became more advanced in response. Jenkins stayed ahead of the curve and saw it happening before it actually did. He understood that that motion could actually lead to false keys that would hamper his offense's ability to execute. Consequently, Jenkins began to use leverage as a way of decoding a defense's intentions. Another reason he abandoned motion was that he understood that it could lead to sloppy route running. A big key to the run and shoot is to "stem" your route correctly - i.e. begin off the line in a particular direction to set up the routes. Motion can be a lazy man's way of dealing with press coverage. Great technique though is better and will result in a better stem, which lead to a better route. One other point in regards to this is that stemming your route means identifying who in the coverage structure you are running your route off of. Again, motion can muddy the waters.

Without the key advantage of putting a man in motion, what's the point?

Texas fans have often complained in the past about the Longhorns running the same play over and over again -- it works great, they say, against overmatched defenses, but what happens against teams with equal or greater talent level? As the Cotton Bowl match ups against Oklahoma in the early part of the decade clearly demonstrates, the results ending up being poor.

However, repetitions are extremely important at the collegiate level. With limited practice time, focusing on several key plays and concepts to make sure that each player executes his assignment well is much more important than having a complex playbook similar to those used in the NFL. Coaches jumping from the NFL to college who have experienced recent struggles include Bill Callahan, Charlie Weis, and Mike Sherman, all of whom had to simplifty their schemes in college. Well, perhaps Callahan never did, but that goes a long ways towards explaining why he was such a complete and abject failure at Nebraska.

Relatedly, Hemlock levies the complaint against Florida State head-coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher that his offenses don't do anything particularly well, citing that his concepts do not blend together to create a systematic whole. It's also possible that Fisher tries to be too many things at once -- instead of doing several things well, he tries to do many things well. Since I haven't watched enough of LSU or Florida State to know if that is true, I'm simply making a supposition here that supports my next point. For Texas, it's always been much more important to do several things well, like run option routes with inside receivers, the iso play with Ricky Williams, or the zone read with Vince Young, than it is to try to incorporate many disparate elements into the offense. Once again, execution reigns supreme.

After all, would Marquise Goodwin be able to contribute this season if he always lined up in a different spot on the field? A remarkably mature and quick-learning young man, it might be possible, but if the experiences of Hemlock serve as a guide, then perhaps not. The crucial late interception against Oklahoma that could have been returned for a touchdown without McCoy's saving tackle was a result of Goodwin running his slant route behind the receiver, something he should never under any circumstances do. Would motion help McCoy more often make the correct pre-snap read? Perhaps not. The struggles of the Texas offensive line this season also illustrate just how important it is that every player execute their assignment and receivers being out of position, especially on "trust' throws, where the quarterback expects a player to be in a certain place, results in a high probability of the quarterback turning the ball over.

So while the Smart Football post mainly discusses these issues within the context of a run-and-shoot offense, the problems are universal and provide excellent explanations for why the Texas offense does not make use of multiple formations or put players in motion -- for Davis, on the college level if just makes more sense to run things the way he does. And, for once, it's hard to criticize Davis for that.

Morning Coffee Belatedly Discusses the Oklahoma State W

GhostofBigRoy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:59:27 -0000

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

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Flavor of the Week at running back: Cody Johnson. After the game against Missouri, I speculated that the Flavor of the Week award was possibly nearing retirement with Fozzy Whittaker and Cody Johnson seemingly entrenched as the preferred one-two punch of the coaching staff. However, after another game of punishing, physical running by the 240-pound Johnson, the bruiser from Waller is now listed ahead of Fozzy Whittaker in their co-starter relationship.

The coaches are increasingly emphasizing consistent running, keeping the offense ahead of the chains by picking up positive yardage on every play. With Johnson's ability to break tackles and a slimmer figure that helps maximize his speed, the coaches believe that he provides the team with a greater ability to grind out that positive yardage. No doubt the coaches are looking ahead towards a possible national championship appearance against a strong defense, a game in which the Longhorns may have to run the ball effectively not only to run, but also to hold any late lead may have.

This weekend, Central Florida, ranked ninth in the country in run defense and giving up only 3.56 yards per carry, provides a stiff test for Johnson this week and may determine whether he earns the starting job or if the coaches return to using Whittaker early in the game and then turning to Johnson to spell the smaller, speedier back.

Tracking: special teams. Kenny Vaccaro. Kenny f'ing Vaccaro. Wow. The true freshman for Brownwood, perhaps better known for throwing punches than for his contributions on the field, earned his scholarship against Oklahoma State covering kicks. Vaccaro made tackles on the first two Texas kickoffs and provided a hit on another that allowed his teammates to rally to the football and stop Perrish Cox. On Oklahoma State's best run of the night, Vaccaro was in position to make the play, but should have drawn a penalty when he was clearly pushed in the back. The kickoff coverage has been much improved since the Colorado game and the addition of Earl Thomas to the unit has made an impact, but nothing has been larger than Vaccaro's return to the lineup. If his work on special teams is any indication of his ability as a safety, he could be a major contributor sooner rather than later. With Vaccaro's help, Texas now ranks a respectable 38th in the country in covering kicks.

Hunter Lawrence continues to be excellent kicking field goals, having missed only two all season -- the 52-yarder that came up just short against UTEP and the blocked kick against Colorado. He hasn't had to kick a game winner yet this season, but there seems little doubt at this point that he is up to the task. Way to finally earn that scholarship, buddy.

On the negative side of things, Jordan Shipley made a terrible decision to attempt to advance the first Oklahoma State punt, fumbled the ball and took a brutal hit in the process. It was the first really poor decision he has made on special teams, but the bigger problem may be the poor work blocking of the punt return unit. On the play, the coaches called for the punt return, but two Oklahoma State players got down the field and into position to stop Shipley -- he had no chance on the play. In fact, since the touchdown return against Colorado, Shipley has three returns for -4 yards.

Since then, Texas blocked a punt against Missouri that Malcolm Williams recovered in the end zone -- it may be that the coaches need to try to block more kicks earlier in the game to slow down the opposing coverage units by making them stay in longer to block. The benefit is that even if Texas doesn't block the kick, it may set up a better return later in the game. Shipley fair catches plenty of punts anyway, as he should, so there is basically little to no risk and great opportunities for reward if the Longhorns go after more kicks early in the game. Mack Brown clearly has a lot of trust in his sixth-year senior, but may have to listen to Duane Akina when he requests more opportunities to go after the punter.

Tracking: playmaking defense. Some time in the Wyoming game, Curtis Brown became a football player with a vicious form tackle on a screen pass. Then, in the Colorado game, he blocked the punt near the goalline that Williams recovered, earning a coveted membership in the block party. Against Oklahoma State, he finally converted his great positioning in coverage into his first career interception, which he returned 77 yards for a game-changing touchdown and effectively finishing off the Cowboys in the second quarter. The shy kid from Gilmer with the tough background had transformed himself from an exceptional athlete playing football into a bona-fide playmaker and tough football player worthy of playing on Sundays. What a transformation and congratulations to the kid -- it's been beautiful to watch.

Of course, Brown wasn't the only player to return an interception for a touchdown. Lined up as the nickel back, Earl Thomas showed man coverage on the slot receiver, but, with safety help over the top from Blake Gideon, was really pattern reading and jumped the slant run by the Oklahoma State flanker and took it 31 yards for a touchdown to end any hope at all of a Cowboy comeback. Will Muschamp mentioned at some point this season that Thomas has worked hard to not only understand the total defensive philosophy on each play, but also to understand opposing offenses and no play better illustrates that incredible jump than his pick six last weekend -- he baited Robinson into throwing that pass.

The interception was the sixth on the season for Thomas, good for second in the country and a play that vaulted him into strong consideration for the Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back. After the game, Mack Brown relayed the story of how the coaches tried to get him to come out of the game after he tweaked his knee in the collision that sidelined Aaron Williams for the rest of the game, but Thomas simply turned his back on them and walked away, unwilling to leave the field. At this point, his play has moved beyond superlatives.

Remember when it seemed like Blake Gideon couldn't catch the football to save his life? It wasn't that long ago -- in fact, Gideon picked off his first career pass against UTEP barely more than a month ago and has since added three more to tie for ninth in the country. The problem for Gideon has never been being in position, but he has made the leap to know making plays -- good for him. He also recovered an early forced fumble.

That forced fumble brings us to Sam Acho -- seemingly tired of only recovering fumbles, the elder Acho finally forced one, stripping the ball from Hubert Anyiam after an excellent hustle play catching up with the Oklahoma State receiver downfield on a slip screen. Even though the Texas defense forced two fumbles against Oklahoma and benefited from a poor quarterback/running back exchange to recover another against the Sooners, Texas had not had a defender strip the ball loose since Emmanuel Acho took advantage of poor ball security by Tech running backs on several plays. Stripping the football loose remains a priority and talking point with the coaching staff and one of the few areas for improvement defensively.

Tracking: third down conversions. After ranking third in the country last season by converting 54% of their third downs, there seemed little change the Longhorns could match that number again this season, particularly after converting so many third and longs in 2008. Texas has indeed fallen off the ridiculous pace of last season, converting 44% this season, a number that is somewhat unhelpful given that they have only played one close game the whole season, but still good enough for 31st in the country.

Against Oklahoma State, the Longhorns converted five of 12, good for 42%, slightly lower than their season average. That number includes two drives in the fourth quarter when the game was clearly out of reach. In the first half, Texas converted four of seven third downs, including two on the momentum-swinging touchdown drive just before the half.

On that drive, no play was bigger than McCoy rushing for 19 yards on a 3rd and 8 to move Texas deep into Oklahoma State territory and field goal range. On the previous drive, which went for a touchdown, Texas converted a 3rd and 11 when McCoy completed a 16-yard pass to Jordan Shipley on an out pattern perfectly fit between the cornerback and the safety by McCoy -- an excellent pass. The unheralded play in that sequence was a nine-yard scramble by McCoy on 2nd and 20 following Ulatoski's blown assignment that led to a sack, leading to the much more manageable down and distance.

Texas probably will not ever operate this season at the same almost impossibly high level of last season without reliable targets like Chris Ogbonnaya and Quan Cosby, but this season's team is certainly respectable in that category and the offense still seemingly has room to grow with four games left in the regular season. As the Longhorns head down the final stretch, if McCoy can develop the confidence to throw to receivers like Marquise Goodwin and Malcolm Williams on third down, the Longhorns could begin to at least approximate their production from last season and, therefore, begin to produce offensively at a much higher level than they have most of this season.

Randomness. Random is good and so are bullets.

Marquise Goodwin gained eight yards running the jet sweep in place of DJ Monroe and picked up seven yards against Oklahoma State. Monroe did not receive a carry in the game. Why the coaching staff doesn't run that play five times a game is beyond me.
The sack numbers are not impressive for Sergio Kindle -- two fumble-forcing efforts against Texas Tech and UTEP, but those numbers do not even come close to telling the whole story. The senior defensive end/linebacker will be a top-15 pick this season because of his ability to play the running game and execute his assignments. The pass rush overall wasn't as effective as normal against Oklahoma State, but a big part of the reason was that Muschamp played Kindle more at linebacker, where he appeared responsible for the flat and had contain on Zac Robinson and the defensive line as a whole was more conscious than usual of maintaining their lane integrity.
It's worth saying again -- Texas is an extremely dangerous team offensively when Colt McCoy runs the football.
The Texas defense only missed three tackles on Saturday, a truly phenomenal number -- it's hard to ask much more than that.
The linebackers were a key to the game and did an excellent job of making plays in the running game and keeping Oklahoma State from being able to utilize the screen game to Keith Toston. Emmanuel Acho probably turned in the best play, chasing Trevor Miller down the line of scrimmage on a jet sweep and stopping him for no game. Extremely impressive. I have a problem with Sonny Acho, though, and it's that he only had two boys. More, please.
The two catches by Malcolm Williams were excellent and should have gone a long way towards complete earning the trust of Colt McCoy. His play could be the difference in a close game this season and it's great to finally see him on the field doing the things of which he is capable.
The UCF game will be an interesting test for the Longhorns because they place so much emphasis on defending the football and defend the running game and sack the quarterback so well. In fact, after Oklahoma, the Knights might have the best defensive line Texas will face in the regular season -- the offensive line needs to show up ready to play and demonstrate that they can play well with everyone healthy. Avoiding missed assignments on the edge will be particularly important and represents a significant area of concern -- it would be an absolutely travesty to have McCoy get injured against a team overmatched in nearly every other area.

Central Florida Depth Chart

GhostofBigRoy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:44:38 -0000

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

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

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

Some brief analysis after the jump...

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

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

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

Anatomy of Momentum: Drive Before the Half Against OSU

GhostofBigRoy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:15:12 -0000

More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

Browse more photos »

The Context

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

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

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

The Plays

1st and 10 Texas 20

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

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

Key Shot

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

2nd and 10 Texas 20

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

Key Shot

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

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

3rd and 6 Texas 24

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

Key Shot

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

1st and 10 Texas 40

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

Key Shot

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

2nd and 8 Texas 42

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

Key Shot

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

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

1st and 10 Oklahoma State 42

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

Key Shot

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

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

2nd and 8 Oklahoma State 40

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

Key Shot

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

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

3rd and 8 Oklahoma State 40

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

Key Shot

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

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

1st and 10 Oklahoma State 21

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

2nd and 10 Oklahoma State 21

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

Key Shot

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

1st and 10 Oklahoma State 11

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

Key Shot

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

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

Final Totals

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

The Verdict

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

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

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

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

Texas-Baylor Set For 11 am Kick

GhostofBigRoy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:01:29 -0000

Texas-Baylor Set For 11 am Kick

Texas and Baylor will play at 11 am on FSN on November 14th.

Friday Night Lights: Week 9 Wrap

GhostofBigRoy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:53:18 -0000

Week 7 Wrap

Week 8 Wrap

2010 Commits

Connor Wood, Second Baptist quarterback: The Eagles stayed hot in district play, trouncing Kipp Academy 57-12. As usual, Wood led the way, completing nine of 12 passes for 158 yards and four touchdowns, while adding 29 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. Second Baptist is now 7-3 and Wood's completion percentage is up to 55%.

Case McCoy, Graham quarterback: The Steers got back in the win column against third-ranked Abilene Wylie team, prevailing 13-10, aided by eight Bulldog turnovers. Wylie had not trailed this season until Graham took the lead near the end of the third quarter. McCoy completed 19 of 37 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown and an interception, also gaining 21 yards on 13 carries.

McCoy had this to say after the game:

After the game my dad said in the SEC this would be considered a hard fought battle and in the Big 12 this would be considered a sloppy game. Our defense played unbelievable. I had to play defense almost the entire night. I played covered 2 safety because they had a good receiver. Our offense we moved the ball on them really well and then we'd get to the redzone and just couldn't convert. But we put enough points on the board to win the game. But Wylie's defense is unbelievable. It's the best defense I've ever played against. They're just something else.

John Harris, Naaman Forest quarterback: Naaman Forest traveled to Garland on Homecoming night for the Owls and fell, 21-14 ($). Harris did his part, gaining 121 yards on 21 carries, finding the end zone twice, once on a 30-yard touchdown run on a big 4th and 3 and again on another fourth down, this time 4th and Goal from the three. He also completed three of eight passes for 18 yards and an interception.

DeMarco Cobbs, Tulsa Central quarterback: Limited by the flu, Cobbs had to come out of the game in the third quarter of a 18-7 victory over Coweta. Cobbs completed three of nine passes and rushed 16 times for 129 yards, scoring on a 51-yard touchdown run. On the defensive side of the ball, he recorded six tackles and sacked the quarterback for the first time in his high school career.

Traylon Shead, Cayuga running back: The first 48 minutes weren't enough to gain separation between Cayuga and Alto. Both teams were ranked in the top 10 coming in the game, but Cayuga ultimately prevailed in overtime, 43-36, as Shead clinched the game with an interception in the end zone. Of course, he did most of his damage with the ball in his hands, catching two passes for 69 yards, both going for touchdowns, and carrying the ball 21 times for 113 yards and two more scores. Shead also kicked extra points for Cayuga.

Chris Jones, Daingerfield wide receiver: Daingerfield rolled a completely overmatched Ore City squad, 58-0. Jones took a kickoff 57 yards for a touchdown and scored on a six-yard touchdown run, finishing with three carries for 19 yards and one catch for 14 yards.

Darius Terrell, DeSoto wide receiver/tight end: DeSoto won a shootout with Mesquite Horn, 50-37. Terrell had 10 catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Bryant Jackson, Sulphur Springs cornerback/wide receiver: Sulphur Springs fell to Marshall, 48-13. Jackson caught four passes for 104 yards and made five tackles, including one for loss.

Adrian Phillips, Garland jack-of-all-trades: Nursing a high ankle sprain, Phillips only had one carry for two yards and two catches for 31 yards in Garland's win.

Tevin Jackson, Garland linebacker: Jackson returned a block punt 11 yards for a touchdown, but sprained his ankle late in the game and did not return. With a bye week before begining playoff action, Jackson said he should be fully recovered for Garland's next game.

2010 targets

Darius White, Fort Worth Dunbar wide receiver: Dunbar beat Western Hill, 38-6, but White caught only one pass for -11 yards with close friend Dominique Sanders now playing quarterback.

Ross Apo, Arlington Oakright wide receiver: The former Texas commit caught four passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns in a victory over Dallas Episcopal, 64-34.

2011 targets

Malcolm Brown, Cibolo Steele running back: Though Seguin slowed Brown early, forcing a fumble and holding him to two yards on his first five carries, Brown eventually broke out, picking up 139 yards on his next five carries and scoring two touchdowns in the process. Steele beat Seguin, 48-0.

Herschel Sims, Abilene running back: Abilene stayed undefeated with a 45-14 win over Richland. Sims rushed for 281 yards and four touchdowns (41, 59, 18, 78) on 19 carries, while adding one catch for 12 yards.

Aaron Green, Madison running back: Madison lost to Roosevelt, 31-14, but Green picked up 153 yards and scored two touchdowns on 21 carries.

Jaxon Shipley, Brownwood wide receiver: Shipley caught touchdown passes of 32 yards and one yard to help Brownwood stomp Sweetwater, 42-0.

Trey Metoyer, Whitehouse wide receiver: Metoyer caught six passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-14 win over Nacogdoches.

JW Walsh, Denton Guyer quarterback: Guyer dropped Wichita Falls, 54-21. Walsh completed 11 of 18 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns and needed only three carries to add 47 yards and two touchdowns (19, 22) on the ground.

2012 prospects

Cayleb Jones, Austin wide receiver: Austin High fell to Westlake in a 49-42 shootout, but the Maroons' star receiver caught 17 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns in a 49-42 loss to Austin Westlake. In talking to some local coaches at a Halloween party on Saturday night, I asked them about Jones and they said he's the real deal -- the best receiver they've seen at that age.

Johnathan Gray, Aledo running back: Gray rushed for 278 yards and five touchdowns on 31 carries in a 34-9 win over Mineral Wells

Trent Jackson, Cuero running back: Jackson rushed for 292 yards and four touchdowns on 14 carries in a win over Gonzales.

Stats from Rivals here ($) and here ($).