SB Nation User Blog: owenh

Are cosby/shipley NFL material?

owenh — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:07:48 -0000

Both are fan favorites, and for good reason. The number of clutch catches Cosby has come up with is ridiculous. We can always count on Quan to get that first down if a pass comes his way. He even returns kicks pretty well. As for explosiveness, Quan doesn't have much of that. The 4.4 speed of his youth is a bit diminished I guess, but that doesn't take away from what he does best. He even has somewhat of a baseball career in the waiting perhaps. Will Cosby be drafted though? A slow, short receiver doesn't open talent-scouts' eyes. But his body of work is very strong. Will it be enough?

As for Shipley, he's just had a ton of bad luck with injuries. He has nice hands, and is pretty fast, although, not anything jaw-dropping. He's finally a senior, and this could be his break out year. Some have said that he might be our "deep-threat" this year. Not trying to hate on him, but I'm skeptical. It seems we still haven't seem his true potential unleashed.

In short, both are great college players, especially Cosby but will a team at the next level take either?

Other teams like Texas

owenh — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:17:53 -0000

There's no denying the impressive number of wins Mack Brown has brought to Texas. His win percentage is well over 70%, and he's had 10+ wins for seven consecutive seasons. Year in and year out, Texas is probably viewed by most fans as a "good" team.

However, despite the numbers, the trophy case is not exactly full. One NC and one conference championship (with 2 CCG appearances) are all Texas has to show for its achievements.

But Texas is still percieved as a good, sometimes elite team. It's hard for me to rank Texas as far as its achievements go. What other teams do ya'll place comparable to Texas? The criteria would be:

-A team that wins consistently

-A team thats viewed as "good"

-A team that has little or nothing to show for a good season other than its wins, year after year.

Off the top of my head, Wisconsin comes to mind. Others?

Orakpo, workout freak

owenh — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:39:50 -0000

ESPN has another list up, this time about college football's most ridiculous athletes. Our our Brian Orakpo comes in at numero uno. Not surprising look at some stats:

Bench: 515 lb

Clean: 380 lb

40 time: 4.6 s

vertical: 42 in

Hopefully he'll be destroying some QB's next season! This year is gonna be huge for him, I know it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=feldman_bruce&id=3420212

VY redshirted, JC didn't...

owenh — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:50:41 -0000

A lot of us have criticized Chiles passing ability (or lack there of) as a true freshman. VY had a whole year to get into the system, Chiles didn't. How much does a redshirt year help as far as quarterbacking I wonder. Also, did Chiles have a strong arm in HS and just hasn't shown it, or is he too raw for anyone to know yet?

Also, we talk a lot about how bad a passer Chiles is, but we tend to forget how mediocre the passing game was as a whole (receivers, O-line, playcalling) in 2007. Would VY have torn it up like he did when he debuted had he been given a shaky O-line, and decent but not explosive receivers?

VY had Benson, Roy williams, Limas Sweed, a veteran O-line throughout his career. All Chiles has gotten to work with is Mcgee (good, but unproven), freshman and true freshman receivers, a lousy o-line and every other play called is a draw or handoff.

I guess what I'm asking for, aside from general comments is your current opinion regarding Chiles. Can he be good, great, dare I say Vince Young-esque? okay, forget the last part, nobody will ever be VY.

2006 or 2007?

owenh — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:50:58 -0000

The better team is....

2006 offered a surprisingly efficient offense through most of the season. However there were several stalled 3rd downs and enough goalline frustration to last a lifetime, (and cost us 1, maybe 2 games). The 2006 defense was top 5 against the run and decent through the air except for a tendency to get burned deep or on trick plays.

2007 offered a wildly inconsistent team on offense, yet notably more explosive than in 2006. The run game steadily improved, QB play stayed about the same except for more turnovers. The defense remained strong against the run, top 15-ish, and Texas didnt improve upon last year's pass defense, but it also wasn't horrible.

Now obviously, on talent alone, 2006 takes this one easily, but the talent didn't seem to make a huge difference. 10-3 in 2006, 10-3 in 2007.

What do you think, now that both seasons are in the rearview mirror?

Unexpected flaws

owenh — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:14:45 -0000

Going in to any football season, typically we have anaylzed and reanalyzed both the strengths and weaknesses of the team, trying to get a better idea of what to expect. However, every year there have been supposed weaknesses that never really had a big impact, and in addition our proported strengths turned out not to be so strong.

(Examples from 07)
Strengths Preseason:
D-Line->Turns out the defensive line was pretty average. Okam was a good kid, but was not the dominating force everyone expected. Run stoppage was good, but overall the line was just average.

Wide Receivers->Remember how we kept talking about the depth and skill of our receiving corps? Well they can't be called lousy, Quan and Nate certainly gave everything they had but let's be realistic, we thought we'd be bombing away. Sweed, while injured became a nonfactor.

Quarterback->Ok everybody has their opinions on McCoy. He was basically the same quarteback as his freshman year with about triple the turnovers (int+fumbles). I'm not calling for his head, but I am pointing out that there was a dropoff. As for Chiles and Harris, they didn't get a whole lot of work, especially Harris.

Weaknesses Preseason:
Secondary->Ok I might get a little heat for saying the DB's weren't a problem, but let me explain myself. We lost Griffin, Brown, and Ross. We brought in Brandon Foster, Ryan Palmer, and Marcus Griffin. We were all worried. Turns out they were ok (not fantastic), but overall they were ok. Say what you want about yards and such, this group of DBs was solid. They didn't give up huge plays very often and were constantly doing the dirty work for our buffoon linebackers.

-------------------------
So now I ask you. What supposed strengths are actually overrated (O-line anyone?) and what weakness might not be as bad as we think? Opinions, facts, wild speculation all welcome.

A&M 08

owenh — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:14:44 -0000

I've been thinking a lot about next year's game against the ags. As backwards as it sounds, I like Texas's chances against a Mike Sherman team over any Franchoine team.

My reasoning is that Mike Sherman runs a pro-style offense (west coast?), and as far as our defense goes, we are able to deal with that sort of attack for the most part. However Franchoine's gimmick read option offense has given Texas fits for three years in a row. So who else thinks that the coach whom the Ags kicked out the red carpet for will fail to achieve what a bumbling-run-out-of-town coach did twice in a row? And in addition, what other factors play a big role in getting the rivalry back on track (steamrolling some aggies)?
Theres a poll too.

Poll