Five days post aTm and I finally have a chance to review game tapes of the worst, by a factor of 2, defensive performance of the season by the Longhorns. PB's in-depth defensive analysis of the first half suggests that the injury to Aaron Williams was a major factor, and that Muschamp's decision to use a lot of new zone coverages with two slow safeties (Brewster and Gideon) was instrumental in giving up the second two touchdown drives in the first half.  However, as when someone (Horns) gets a diagnosis of cancer (Nebraska thinking they have a chance against Texas' defense), a second opinion can be valuable.

The theme for today focuses on the often ignored domino effect in football: when a problem arises in a hidden or misunderstood area of play, like the offensive or defensive line, the problem is often manifested in a much more visible area, such as poor cornerback coverage, an ineffective running back, or (lack of) interceptions. There are two areas for considering the domino effect for the Horns: understanding the abysmal defense last Thursday night and anticipating potential trouble with the offense against Nebraska in the upcoming Big 12 championship game. Today I deal with the post-game analysis of the Aggie game, and later this week, I will visit the critical issues in the trenches for the Nebraska game.

For the first time this year, I felt that the lack of depth among Texas defensive tackles and safeties reared its ugly head in the A&M game, and with dire consequences. It was a short week, made shorter by the post senior day celebrations following the late Kansas game. The defense was on the field a long time in the second half of the Kansas game due to a few stumbles by the offense. So I believe the Horns came into the Aggie game tired and this created a domino effect that was manifested in a number of ways, including the overall lack of intensity, weak-sister tackling, and lack of mental sharpness across all positions.

After the jump, I discuss in more detail the series of dominoes that led to the collapse of the Texas defense by the end of the A&M game.

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July 30 2009 - In a pre-season fanpost, I expressed the following concern for the upcoming season

As evidenced in last year's games against  Oklahoma State and Ohio State, Texas's defense, which is increasingly designed to emphasize speed and quickness in order to match up with spread offenses, is vulnerable to power rushing attacks.

Numerous pre-season posts expressed anxiety about Texas' defensive tackles behind Lamarr Houston, who was an unknown commodity himself, such as perceived journeyman Ben Alexander and green redshirt sophomore Kheeston Randall. Visions of helpless collapses against power running teams in critical games filled everyone's heads. 2009 could be the year of Motown's Lamarr and the Space-Eaters against the blitzkriegs of Chris Brown, Kendall Hunter, Christine Michael, Tim Tebow, or Mark Ingram. The Horns might even have to use, gasp!, true freshmen Calvin Howell and Derek Johnson. The call went out by anxious UT fans for anyone, anyone to step up.

The Space Eaters - Ben Alexander (92) and Kheeston Randall (91)

Sure, UT could win 10 and maybe even make a BCS bowl (little did we know that there might be as many as 6 undefeated teams after 9 weeks in the 2009 season), but if it was the 2009 mythical national championship the Horns wanted, these guys had to step up.

Jimmy Hoffa, from the grave, "I need some nasty, beefy guys up front, and not ya cousin Guido. Whatevah it takes, capisce?!"

November 1, 2009. Basking in the glow of 41-14, the report is in: The call was ANSWERED!

For the  details and more on the offensive line, Will Muschamp, and other tidbits, make the jump!

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

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

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

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Wow, what a strange game. After re-watching it, I came away reminded of the Texas-OU clashes from the mid-1970's, in which neither team could do anything for 3/4 of the game because the defenses were so amped up. The media looked on the game as sloppy because of all the turnovers and penalties, but the speed and power on both defenses was the root of most of the miscues (more about that later). As Mack noted, it was like a prize fight, but one in which neither team could do much more than jab without being counterpunched. Both team's collective faces look like this charming visage

via img.skysports.com

Only Texas' players are smiling

Some lessons from the game:

Greg Davis - bureaucratic loser or offensive investor?

The Colorado and Oklahoma games, coupled with strangely slow offensive performances in the first halves of ULM, Wyoming, and Texas Tech, have the fanbase in a mob mentality. Greg, you'd best not be seen at Walmart this week. Frustration with the offensive philosophy and playcalling was eloquently discussed in PB's postgame react. But I have to wonder, is the ineptitude all on GD? Or did multiple players simply not execute? Or is the lack of execution created by poor playcalling? And round and round we go.

Davis the Bureaucrat

In his excellent post-mortem, ScipioTex, who's depth of understanding of the game exceeds that of any member of the press by two orders of magnitude (that's 100 for you English majors), had this to say about GD:

In an alternate universe, Greg Davis is employed as Process Manager Grade 3 at the Port Arthur DMV. This is the guy who goes on break when you’re next in line and sits staring at you at his desk slicing up an apple during the noon hour rush knowing full well that he could take a longer break one hour from now when no customers are in line.

via positivesharing.com  Add some glasses, 25 pounds, a golf shirt and a gentle twang, and call me when Mack retires.

Is Davis a bureaucrat of a coach? In manner, yes. The Davis way is to follow the formula, stay within the "rules," and cover your ass with excuses. This is the guy who is shocked when the other team blitzes more than expected, or which blitzes less than expected. A man that gets excited when a back runs for 7 yards or a receiver catches a pass for 3 yards. A guy with a perpetually clean desk and color-coded files, and who has to go to the restroom when a receiver drops a pass.

It seems clear now that not only does GD not anticipate well, he fails to consider that others might anticipate his own anticipation. Such was the case with the OU game. Texas read for the last month about how teams were attacking OU over the middle, by golly, just like the Horns did in the RRS in 2008. So here we go boys - we get to get'em where we got'em last time. News flash. Brent Venables read the same articles, and looked at the same tape and said to himself and his team, "Whatever they might do, Texas is NOT going to beat us by throwing short stuff over the middle or that bubble screen crap." So Brent dials up blizes up the middle, stacks coverage in the middle and trusts that Chiles and Kirkendoll cannot beat his corners in single coverage. Furthermore he instructs his charges to forget covering the actual receiver, and run instead to all of Colt's favorite spots to throw. Result, Colt is flabbergasted that there was nothing available in the middle. The flex TE has 0 catches. Jordan Shipley has 4 for a paltry 27 yards. Colt gets blasted back to the Stone Age, minus a fingernail. Self-flagellation by the fanbase ensues, while GD just blinks and points out the three good plays and talks about "how hard our kids played" on his "from the film room" expose.'

For an alternative view and observations about offensive and defensive line play, make the jump.

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After reading over 100 comments in PB's postgame react and completely reactionary articles such as this one, the fanbase is screaming for an explanation about why Texas rushed for 46 yards on 25 carries while Toledo rushed for over 300. Our very own dimecoverage, in response to a comment in her postgame Daily Roundup responded:

My mother would like our o-line to get their s&%$ together.

So what was the deal? Is it evidence of a soon-to-be-fatal weakness, a warning klaxon for a complete system failure?

via www.stsci.edu Reactor meltdown at Chernobyl. A metaphor for the Texas running game?

Or is it a case of hubris and overconfidence, causing the players to play like they had their head firmly inserted into a sunless area

via 4.bp.blogspot.com - The Extra Blocking Surface? Anyone? Anyone?

In this week's rendition of In the Trenches I'll explore these and other questions. But here's a hint : hold off just yet on reaching for that morning cocktail, the Vallium, or even the Tylenol.

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As the Longhorn fanbase wakes up from a sleepy off-week and prepares for Colorado, I thought I'd use this week's version of "In the Trenches" to address some questions about the Longhorn offensive line and that mysterious thing we've all heard about, called zone blocking. For experts like ScipioTex of Barking Carnival or our very own GhostofBigRoy, much of this may be old hat, but comments from many suggest that it's new hat for many BONers.

Let's see, where to begin... I recall overhearing a conversation on a London train that went something like this...

via xtrvaluedvds.com

"By jove, Holmes, that Newton's a right quick little roger!"

Two gentlemen, decked out in tweed and hats, sat cross-legged on the bench.

The one with the cap exclaimed, "Dear God, Holmes, what on earth are you reading!"

Nonchalantly sucking on a pipe (since there's no smoking on the trains nowadays), the porkpie-hatted one rustled his newspaper and replied, "My dear Watson, this is a snappy little rag known as the Austin American-Statesman. I never had much use for those newfangled internet sites, however fiendishly cleverly they're linked to the great library of the world. I much prefer the feel and rustle of newsprint beneath my fingers."

"Well, what's so fascinating about that provincial outpost," pressed Watson.

"It's quite fascinating, really. Seems there's quite the mystery  about this raucous game called American football. Some team in a rather heat-blasted colony called Texas has a football team with all the ingredients for a smashing ability to hand the ball to a quick bloke and let him run with it. Yet somehow the populace is quite fervent in their disbelief about its efficacy and extremely dispossessed in their lack of understanding of it."

"Well, it must be quite the story to be wresting your attention away from all the nefarious crime here in our fine city of London," said Watson doubtfully.

"Indeed, Watson, indeed... Seems there's this bizarre phenomenon called 'zone blocking' that's got everyone titillatingly frightened and frustrated. A mystery worth solving by any standards, I'll warrant."

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Another superb bit of analysis on Texas' line play from burnt in ny. --PB--

It's like Thanksgiving afternoon on the UT blogs today, as fans sit satiated with great plays and haul in their bloated bellies from a 64-7 smacking of UTEP.  I'm digesting the last icing on the final cupcake of the afternoon for the Horns, thinking on what we learned about play in the lines this week.

The human metaphor for the Longhorn fanbase at the moment

Yes, there were astounding plays by Kindle, Houston, Sam Acho and Ben Alexander on defense. Yes, the Horns rushed for more than 300 yards for the first time in a coon's age, and yes Colt was smiling on the bench for the first time this season. But hey, this was UTEP, a team that largely gave up after Colt McCoy's 16-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Shipley's back shoulder made it 33-7 with 7:08 left in the second quarter. You always have to wonder about how much you learn from a game like this, so let's go to class after the jump.

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Bumped. Another quality take from burnt well worth reading. --PB--

This is the second installment of a weekly series on perhaps unappreciated key play along Texas' offensive and defensive lines.There are many things happening in the lines that may not be noticeable to some fans, so perhaps these posts can provide some insight.

Last week I opened the series by suggesting that Sergio Kindle, while playing positionally very well, seemed a step slow and might be injured. So today I'll begin with a breakfast of Kindled Crow, complete with feathers, feet, and beak. Sergio is NOT injured and is NOT slow. Beyond the celebrated obliteration of Taylor Potts leading to the fumble (recovered as usual by Sam Acho) that set up the Horns' last touchdown, was a steel-jacketed bullet all night long. He mixed speed and power in a unique way and made critical plays all night long. It was a Kindle pressure that led to Earl Thomas' interception, and at least two other pressures led to bad incompletions. On another play, he lined up as a LB as if to cover the inside slot receiver on a trips left formation for Tech, but instead blitzed and bulled Tech's 300+ lb LT like he was pushing a wheelbarrow right back into Potts. He was monster against the run, as he seemed to make the tackle on Tech's little draw plays no matter where he lined up. My favorite play was his erasure of TT runningback Eric Stephens on a 3rd and 1 draw play. Kindle came on an inside stunt, sniffed the run, and completely stoned Stephens, who otherwise was running out of tackles all day. Perhaps most telling, Muschamp gave him a rest after the Horns went up 24-10 with 5:25 left in the third quarter, and Potts drove Tech 84 yards in 8 plays for a touchdown in a series that looked a lot like 7-on-7 against a high school team. Sergio has been found, and after I wipe that last feather off my lip, I will be happy to tell you how much I am enjoying eating bird way before Thanksgiving.

Now, for the other important news, check out the new kids movie "Snowing Newtons" after the jump, featuring an unusually powerful offensive lineman and visionary running back, after the jump.

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Entree with an Italian troubadour tenor and lute strolling the sidelines of DKR...

"Where oh where is Sergio... where oh where can he be?....  

We're looking for sacks from our favorite beast, we're not impressed in the least!"

via www.recorderhomepage.net - Wherefore art thou Sergio?!

(lute strums violently)

After two games of mostly dominant defense and All-American performances from Lamarr Houston, Sam Acho, and Earl Thomas, much of UT fandom is asking, "Where is Sergio Kindle?" We fans were expecting a one-man wrecking crew to roll up the line and obliterate the first and second-string quarterbacks of both ULM and Wyoming...Okay, maybe get a couple of sacks and have the quarterbacks looking for stray prairie dog burrows to hide in two seconds after every snap.  Well, maybe just a constant steaming presence in the backfield. Still no? Alright, so maybe he was triple teamed, and we haven't seen him because he's been surrounded by offensive linemen. What's that? We can see Sergio's #2 clearly on every play?

How to explain this phenomenon of the disappearing Sergio? Take the jump.

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As the daily countdown to the UL-Monroe game begins, I started thinking about how this Longhorn team, with so many apparent pieces in place, will be different and need different things than last year's to achieve an undefeated season. The coaches have already alluded to the need for new leaders, as Roy Miller, Chris Ogbonnaya, and Brian Orakpo, 3/4 of the heart and soul of the 2008 Horns with Colt McCoy, have journeyed on to the NFL. And that made me think about who on the 2009 burnt orange needs to STEP UP.

As a point of reference, the 2008 team was all about players "stepping up." In fact, watching players of purported talent but little experience blossom is one of the things I like best about college football. In 2008, Texas had Roy Miller emerge from the third guy in a 3 DT rotation in 2007 to All Big 12, Fiesta Bowl Defensive MVP, and third round NFL draft choice. There was Brian Orakpo, the oft-injured Mad Dog creation, who emerged from perceived threat to consensus All-America and winner of three national defensive player awards. How about Henry Melton, who emerged from his spectacular failure at running back as a sophomore and obscurity as a junior to lead the team in quarterback hurries and become a 4th-round NFL draft choice? Earl Thomas rose from virtually unknown redshirt freshman to be a pre-season All Big 12 safety for 2009. On offense, Jordan Shipley rose from a valuable third receiving option in 2007 to the biggest offensive impact player on the team.

So who will be the "Step Up Guys" in 2009? I really don't know. But I do have a wish list. And this list is related to what I see are the biggest weaknesses on the Horns, especially relative to their two toughest opponents Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Here are my top 6, ranked in order of need for the biggest improvement. Clearly all would need to improve over their 2008 performances, in terms of production and playing time. Several of these players have been discussed at length in different threads, but some, as expected, are still under the radar.

1. Jared Norton

2. Kyle Hix

2. Christian Scott

4. David Snow

5. Lamarr Houston

6. Malcolm Williams

I explore the reasons in more detail after the jump

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