SB Nation User Blog: notsofst

Let's talk about someone else's problems....

notsofst — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:51:01 -0000

Biggest problem I have with this season so far... is that we've got so much going right for us, it's hard to find what to talk about. Queue another GD bashing session in 3... 2... 1...

Well, we're not the only team with woes. Our counterparts over in the SEC have troubles of their own, and they're not too far removed from ours.

From an article on the Palm Beach Post regarding Florida Gators lack of offensive production:

Meyer said factors holding the Gators back include:

* The transition from Dan Mullen to Steve Addazio at offensive coordinator - plus introducing two other new coaches on the offensive staff - has not been as smooth as expected.

* Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy, who are playing in the NFL, have been difficult to replace.

* The losses of both starting tackles, Jason Watkins and Phil Trautwein, were underestimated.

* Opposing defenses are using formations and alignments UF has never seen

Florida is down to 6.6 yards / play, down from 7.1 last year... 10% down.

They're scoring 35 points per game, instead of 43.6... 20% down

In conference, their scoring is even more down... They're producing at 65% of the points that they did last year.

They're allowing on average, 1 more tackle for a loss per game and 1 more sack per game.

Who's having more trouble with their offense this season, Florida or Texas?

Poll

Which offense has taken the biggest step backwards?

Scott may be eligible for post season / Championship

notsofst — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:18:20 -0000

Scott may be eligible for post season / Championship

Looks like after the semester is over, Christian Scott should be clear in the eyes of the NCAA. That means he may get reps in any BCS game that we're in.

For the losers, some stats

notsofst — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:59:45 -0000

Now we're across the hump of our season, and have had a good look at our guys for the season, let's go over some numbers.

Let's look at what we're good at, and what we're not so good at...

What we do well on Defense:

Limiting Opponents From Scoring

Stopping Opponents on 3rd Down

What we dont' do as well:

Sacks

Verdict: Since we don't have high Sack stats, that means our Run Defense stats are for real. It's hard to find any statistical category where Texas is not in the top 10 in the country on Defense. We've got a good argument for being the #1 defense in the country based on a number of stats.

What we do well on offense:

Make First Down

Coming away from the Red Zone with points

What we could do better:

Running the Ball

Passing the Ball

Give up less Sacks

Verdict: Ugh... I didn't expect that to be as depressing as it was. There's a lot of room for improvement on offense. Let's hope that our Post-OU revival is for real. I would imagine the numbers from Missouri/OSU would be much improved compared to before OU. We trail Texas Tech and A&M among others in almost every purely offensive statistic.

What we're good at on Special Teams:

Having Shipley Return Punts for TD's

Kickoff Returns

Having D.J. Monroe Return Kickoffs for TD's

Kick Field Goals

What we're not as good at:

Punts

Opponent's Kickoff Returns

Verdict: Nothing surprising here. We've had some issues with our Rugby style punting and our kickoff coverage has been spotty. Otherwise, we're solid with an exceptional Field Goal kicker who can be credited with helping us over OU. Noteably absent is Blocked Kicks, which we were somewhere in the 30's in the ranking, but I think both of our blocked kicks have gone for TD's. So we're kind of good at that, but could be better. If we block 1 or 2 more, we'd be near the top of the nation.

There you go.

Poll

How are we doing?

New Depth Chart... adjustments made

notsofst — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:58:36 -0000

New Depth Chart... adjustments made

There's some promise on the depth chart this week. Williams and Goodwin have bubbled to the top.

The OU game is a catalyst for change in our program, and I hope we'll see some better things from here on out.

A new longhorns offense?

notsofst — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:57:32 -0000

I barely was able to attend the RRS due to a barely functional DART transit system. Thanks, DART, for sending me one and a half hours in the wrong direction before bringing me back around to the fair ground..

A few things that I observed from the stands that I'm sure PB and and GoBR will cover along with others after the jump.

There were new revelations in the UT offense:

1. The hurry-up to the I formation... I don't think we saw this so far.

2. I think I saw men in motion. Incredible. GD reads some message boards.

3. Did EBS catch some passes for some big gains? Or did I hallucinate?

4. Goodwin was in the game tearing it up. That's new and awesome.

5. Fozzy is our top runner AND possibly a top receiver?

6. All of the above are offenseive notes, but are completely overshadowed by a defense that won the game with two final interceptions.

GD held back, and put out. We're undefeated. We have all the players, and from now on, the scheme is wide open.

Also, we left 21 points on the field with 1 special teams, 1 offensive and 1 defensive fumble inside the red zone on the ground. 37-13 was as easy as 16-13, and we lucked out at getting the latter.

Win. and move on.

If our offense fires, we can beat anyone. If not... well, we can just beat OU.

Hook 'em.

USC is in bad shape at QB for Washington game

notsofst — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:18:26 -0000

USC is in bad shape at QB for Washington game

USC has about 4 quarterbacks and none of them are 100%. They're saying that Barkley, the golden child, probabaly won't start against Washington as he's been unable to practice so far this week.

So basically they're down to second / third string guys who both are recovering from injury as well.

tOSU v. USC

notsofst — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:23:55 -0000

tOSU v. USC

Nice article that rips into Tressel's game plan against USC, and tries to make the case that Pryor isn't terrible, just put into a position to fail.

If that's the case I certainly feel for the guy.

The games that shouldn't matter, but do because of the BCS, Roundup

notsofst — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:58:20 -0000

We'll all be frothing at the mouth from a mixture of football frenzy, revenge, and jagermeister come 7:00 PM this Saturday when the Texas Tech Red Raiders and their moustached captain come to town. In a world where people are judged on their merits, we could concentrate solely on this game and continue to pick apart our longhorn's performance in position by position and play by play.

However, in this imperfect world of college football that we live in, it's not enough to analyze your own team and its games, it matters who you play and who they play and who played them the week before.

This travesty that makes college football a sport AND an election, turned Lonhorn fans into Colorado fans for a nail biting kick at the end of last season.

So what's in store for us this week? Where should we be proxy fans?

Well let's start with a response to espn's accusation that the Big 12 isn't living up to the hype. Anything that's good for the Big 12 in general, is good for Texas. Nebraska will have a chance to clean up some of the Big 12's good name with this one:

9/19

@ No. 13 Virginia Tech

2:30 PM

For the uninitiated, Alabama posted a big win over VT ( 34-24 ) and now is currently ranked #4 in the country. If Nebraska can post a larger than 10 point win over VT, they might have some top 5 credibility as well, and possibly might build themselves up to give Texas a prominent opponent in the Big 12 championship game. Any win from in conference over an out of conference foe, has to be good for us. Right?

Well what about this game:

Colorado hosts

Wyoming

2:30 PM

Here's a scenario where the black buffalo of the Big 12 family hosts our spritely OOC high altitude Cowboys. Sometimes we wish that both teams lose a game, and I think this scenario is the opposite. If both these teams can pull a win out of this one, while somehow beating a team from Oklahoma by 10, we'd be better off.

Oklahoma hosts

Tulsa

2:30 PM

Oklahoma hosts Tulsa ( 2-0 ) while nursing a constipated O-Line with the greatest freshman QB Stoops has ever coached at the helm. Terrible for the Big 12 if Tulsa wins, but also hilarious at the same time. So this one's a wash for me, but OU still has a chance to pull itself together and become a quality opponent that we can whip in the RRS. After the pasting that Oklahoma gave the Idaho State, they should be ready to go against a Tulsa team that might be every bit as difficult as the Houston team that OSU faced.

Baylor hosts

Connecticut

4:00 PM

Go Bears! With Colorado strongly bringing up the rear, the Bears are in a position to... provide strength to the big 12? With their win over Wake in week one, the Bears are doing their part, and let's hope they continue to do so.

If you're itching for football and can't wait until Saturday, then check out this one this Thursday:

Georgia Tech at Miami

6:30 p.m.

ESPN (HD)

Miami pulled a close one out at the end vs. Florida State, and is next up at bat against a reeling OU. A solid performance in this game will give the Sooners a big target to take down next week with their rebuilt team.

And if you're up early enough, check out this one:

California at Minnesota

11:00 a.m.

ESPN (HD)

Cal's got the best chance at knocking out #3 USC who's claim to fame is a last minute victory over a comically inept Ohio State. An undefeated USC might jump UT, but I doubt an undefeated Cal does. Take a look at them trying to best Minnesota (2-0) and you can size them up for yourself.

There's a lot of other games , so feel free to follow up with what you're going to be watching on Saturday while we're waiting for the Horns to kick off.

BC Commentary on SEC TV Deal and Big 12 Consequences

notsofst — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:39:40 -0000

BC Commentary on SEC TV Deal and Big 12 Consequences

I know everyone here probably reads BC anyway, but I thought I'd link this as it's a good read. I know money doesn't make good teams, but it sure doesn't hurt.

Elite Texas Secondary? Can we hope?

notsofst — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:05:11 -0000

What stood out to me during the NC game last season is Florida's secondary doing a heck of a job disrupting OU's pass game. To give Florida credit, I hadn't seen any defence like that at all during the season, especially not one that was able to keep pace with OU's receiving corps.

To bring this around back to Texas, we've got a lot of sophmores in our secondary, just like Florida did last year, and they're under possibly one of the best defensive coordinators out there right now, what's the likelyhood that our secondary is not just good, but *great*?

With the Big 12 being so pass happy, I think having an elite secondary / linebacker setup could be even more useful to us in pulling in wins than having the monster pass rushers on the line we had last season.

Florida held OU to 14 points... So here's hoping for a Texas 45 - OU 14 score for this years RRS game. I think our secondary holds the key to the NC this year.

"After listening to defensive coordinator Will Muschamp spend the spring preaching the importance of forcing turnovers, a young secondary picked off two passes on the first five possessions.

Earl Thomas returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown after stepping in front of a Colt McCoy pass. Nolan Brewster also had a pick on a deflection. The Longhorns had just six interceptions in 13 games last season.

"We've got to make more big plays," Muschamp said. "We've got to make more turnovers and cash in our opportunities. Anytime you have an opportunity to pick off Colt McCoy, you've done something right because he's very accurate and he goes with the ball in the right places.""

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/04/secondary-stars-at-texas-spring-game.html