This is the one I've been excited about. As I pointed out in the previous post on the defense, Texas football was in relative turmoil at the end of the 2010 season with a veritable Help Wanted sign hung outside of Belmont. Although losing and replacing the defensive coordinator is a Big Deal at any program, my attention was far more fixed on the search for an offensive coordinator. All great football movies end on a victorious offensive play in which our masculine (or occasionally canine) hero hurdles over the unwashed masses of the defense on his/her/its way to the game winning touchdown. Very few end on a perfectly executed defensive line stunt and a missed blitz pickup that leads to a sack (did Air Bud even play defense?). So, I was particularly excited to examine the data on the offensive side of the ball for Texas. Let's take a look.

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What an internet meltdown looks like. It's easy to forget, sometimes, the uncertainty surrounding the Texas football program in December of 2010. At one point, attrition of the staff left the program lacking: both offensive and defensive coordinators, offensive and defensive line coaches, defensive back and linebacker coaches, a quarterback's coach, a wide receiver's coach, and I suppose if you care to count it, a special teams coordinator. In the midst of the rumor mill, Texas feared losing Major Applewhite, losing Jerry Gray, and losing Mack Brown himself.

All of this uncertainty makes analysis of the last year particularly interesting; we as fans get to vet the new coaches with the results on the field. To that end, I've recently begun compiling a database of every play Texas (and for that matter, every other team) logged for the last several years. I hope to use this dataset to write a few posts on last season in the context of how Texas has performed historically as well as relative to the college football landscape as a whole. Consider the next couple of articles preliminary; I'll delve into more advanced and (hopefully) interesting analyses later.

After the jump, let's take a look at the defense.

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Will Muschamp is gone, right?  We can be losers again?  While I’m as guilty as any of you of the unfettered adulation of Muschamp, as a soon-to-be professional loser myself, I definitely bristled when he proclaimed "stats are for losers."

Four games into the 2011 season we have a useful opportunity on our hands to compare the 2011 Texas offense with the much-maligned 2010 version.  With three of our first four opponents in 2011 also being 2010 opponents, we have about 200 offensive plays run against the same three teams -- Rice, UCLA, and Iowa State.  I went through the grueling task of cataloguing every 2010 and 2011 offensive play from these three games and – voila, data.

Undoubtedly, the worst part was having to read and acknowledge "G. Gilbert passes to the left to G. Smith for no gain" a handful of times per game.... but more on that later. Let's get to the results, which were actually pretty interesting. My key takeaways are in bold:

2010 Texas and 2011 Texas rushing offenses were basically equally productive per play against these three teams, after adjusting for sacks.   In 2010, Texas averaged 4.6 yards per carry (YPC) to Texas’ 5.3 YPC in 2011.  These sack-corrected* numbers demonstrate that while we have been slightly more effective on a per-play basis this year, the real difference is in volume of rushes (see next paragraph).  Another difference between 2011 and 2010 is in long runs (I refuse to use the word explosive).  About one-third of all rushes are going for 7+ yards this year, whereas slightly less than a fourth did last year.  This seems to agree with what we see on the field each week: running backs finishing their runs hard.  Finally, I did try to see if our running game was more consistent this year than last, but that just does not appear to be the case -- it's a wash.  Thus far the big difference thus far is big plays and more rushing attempts. 

*In box scores, sacks on passing plays are tallied as rushing attempts and negative rushing yards. By "sack-corrected" numbers I mean that such plays are not included in the rushing tallies.

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Based on what I saw in the gamethread for the national championship game, and with baskeball season ramping up, I think I'd like the ability to ignore posters who are here strictly to troll.  I'm not asking for a "ban" or "downvote" button, but if this is something the editors of this site have any control over, I'd like to be able to flag posters that I no longer care to hear from.

Also, while I'm asking, can we have an ignore button for Musberger?  No?  Thanks anyways.

I was reading through this Michael Lewis (author of Moneyball, Blind Side, among others) about Mike Leach and his transformation of the offensive side of college football.  Lewis tends to dramaticize things a bit, but still, this article is a pretty insightful look at the Tech offense, and Leach in general (he wants to start a student pirate army, for example).  

Then, I got to page six, where Leach talks about Tech's play during the 2006 Texas Tech-Texas A&M game.   Excerpt:

On another [play], a [TTU] touchdown was nullified by a holding call on the receiver Robert Johnson far away from the action. If you are the captain of a pirate ship, you cannot complain too much about lawless behavior - and Texas Tech is one of the most heavily penalized teams in college football - but still it's painful to watch a crew member drop treasure overboard. (Later, watching a videotape of the incident, Leach actually says, "Johnson's got to do a better job holding.")

I suppose its possible he means that he's got to do a better job by not holding, but I think this can be taken as read.  Lewis' article's premise is that the genius of Leach is on the cusp of being discovered (as of 2006 anyways) and that his offense exploits inefficiencies in college football defenses.  While I can't argue against that, maybe it would help out opposing defenses if, you know, penalties were called the way they're supposed to be. 

That said, this a great read and worth a look.

I had a professor recently that used to give verbal pop quizzes in class.  He would joke that the winner of the quiz would receive a free trip to Lubbock.  The loser would get two free trips to Lubbock.  In spite of these and other dire warnings, I'm planning on taking the trek upstate to Lubbock, TX to watch our  beloved Horns play the Raiders. 

Now, I've heard some terrible things about the environment there, including:

1. D-Cell batteries being thrown onto the field.

2. Fans verbally and physically abusing opponent fans.

3. Cars being keyed and otherwise vandalized that displayed opponent team logos.

In a word, Lubbock is a unique place to watch a football game.  Lubbock also is shitty place to do anything else. 

So, I appeal to you, fellow BONers, to give me some help in things I should do to make the trip as enjoyable as possible, and also to ensure that I make it back. 

Might I start with a question:  Do I wear burnt orange to the game?

And to any Red Raiders reading this, if the rumors that I hear of your behaviour at  games is true, you should truly be ashamed.  Elite programs exhibit class.  To join the discussion among the rest of the Big XII elite, you need to grow up.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=AoTUs5a7ANjqdREvzIqbkPUcvrYF?slug=jn-mccoy101708&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Absolutely amazing article about McCoy's life before Texas back in Tuscola, TX.

A lot of neat facts in here, like where he goes to church, that he wasn't born in Texas (but on Texas soil, read to find out more), and that he and Jordan Shipley are roommates (amazing, I know!).

This is basically a cheesy Disney piece, but its a good cheesy Disney piece.

So, if you're keeping score at home,

Colt - Good Guy

Oklahoma - Sucks

I've been to Dallas for the OU game only once before, and it was a hellacious experience, with rain, mud, $50 parking, and crowded bars and irritating OU fans. 

In hopes of alleviating the stress for myself and others, I'm asking for all and sundry to post any helpful tips you might have, including, but not limited to:

1. Hotels/accomations

2. Eateries, refreshment establishment (read: "bars"), etc.

3. Parking (oh my god how I loathe the lack of parking)

4. Charms, amulets, shields, etc. to use against rabid Sooners

5. Anything else?

If we can condense this post into a nice big list of things to do / not to do, then that would fantastic.

I was talking to a friend of mine recently about Colt McCoy's draftability.  He thought he was lock to get picked by some NFL team looking for a reliable passer out of the pocket, but I don't think so. 

Over the years, there have been many, many, QBs whos talents in college just do not translate to the NFL game.  A long string of Texas Tech quarterbacks comes to mind, but there are Heisman Trophy contenders in there too (Troy Smith, Ken Dorsey, Eric Crouch -- who went undrafted, and Charie Ward) whose professional careers either did not start or failed to take off. 

It seems like the skilset necessary to succeed in college differs greatly from that necessary for professional success.  Lets take Jay Cutler for example.  In 2005 he had a good but not great senior season at Vanderbilt. 

His statistics for his senior season:

273/462 for 59.1% and 3073yd , with 21 TD to 9 INT

106 rushes for 215 yds, 1 TD

McCoy is going to destroy these numbers against similar opposition, with a squad that's maybe more talented than Cutler's, but McCoy has better numbers to go with that.  On top of which McCoy can run. 

Here's my question -- given McCoy's emergence as an elite college quarterback, does he get drafted into the NFL?  I distinctly remember talk as McCoy entered UT that he was not a pro-style (or pro-ready) quarterback, but I have no idea on what this is based or who decides this.  Anything you have to add to the discussion would help.