Connect with your Facebook Account

Contact

19

Surviving the Surge

Posted by BRAGGonUT on September 8th, 2008 under Football

I had hoped that Brown would at least change it to “Rolling (with the) Tide” in deference to his colleague, Mike Price, but no luck there.

“Give El Paso credit; this place was electric,” Brown said. “They surged at the first of the game. Then our guys stood up and handled it.”

It is nice to see that Bill Little is into surges as well.

One of the defensive players mentioned it too, but I can’t find that quote anywhere.

Muschamp did utter these words, which do not meet HenryJames’ standards: “You take away the first series and the last series of the first half, and we played a pretty good football game.”

More from this Barker


Share This

  • StumbleUpon

19 Responses

  1. Yes, those Muschamp remarks sound just like a UT fan the evening after another OU loss. Lets hope he was being sarcastic, in which case the words would meet my standards.

  2. Reading that made my bowels surge.

  3. I really wanted to believe that the new blood on the defensive side of the ball was going to provide a visible difference in the 1st 2 games…. I have not seen it… What I saw last night was a defense that at times looked lost and a pass rush that was out of position and frankly looked like they could not tackle a tackling dummy… Don’t believe me watch a replay of the game and see how the unblocked Orakpo or Thomas can miss a sack with just a head fake… Last time I checked closing your eyes keeps you from being able to see. I watched 10 games yesterday and saw teams that had much less talent than ours get sacks against teams that had mach better players see Ohio State vs Ohio or So. Miss vs. Auburn.

    We are on pace with current statistical trends to finish the year with 6 picks and 12 sacks… We were out gained by a team that really was not very good offensively a week ago but I can understand that they played great and we did not in this one.

    Granted we gave up only 13 points but it was UTEP… The BIG XII will not be so forgiving if we play this kind of rubberized defense. Amoeba rating +8 for this game… we bent a lot but due to lack of talent, UTEP could not break the bubble.

    Arkansas will be a good test for us… They remind me a lot of last years horns. Struggling to find an identity.

  4. Ex-pessimist said:

    September 8th, 2008 at 10:57 am

    Though not everything is perfect with the season so far, every team can point to multiple deficiencies. The season is too short to gripe constantly about our team’s problems. We played much worse on defense last year and still managed to beat the majority of our conference opponents and come within a touchdown of OU, so they don’t strike fear in me at this point.

  5. We hate … uh, dislike surges. They just say “Hey look at me and my ample bosoms/crotch”. They’re more evil than motors, electricity, matters of the flesh and fancy buttons combined.

  6. Fake Ken Tremendous said:

    September 8th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    Ah Bill Little…

    EL PASO, Texas — It had been a typical beginning, and every Mack Brown team since he came to Texas has learned to prepare for it. Regardless of how a team has looked on video, regardless of the pundits impressions, they will play Texas with a different fervor — a different scheme and attitude — than they have played others.

    It is called “the surge.”

    I love the unjustified use of the authoritarian claim “it is called…” to describe Mack’s new buzzword, as if Bill Little was recounting an ancient Navajo legend instead of merely parroting the coaching staff’s blame-deflecting propaganda.

    No one calls the highly-specific phenomenon (excuse?) of a perceived increase in effort or improvement in strategy by Texas’s opponents during Mack Brown’s tenure as the head football coach “the Surge.” Well, maybe not no one. But only three people use this term with a straight face. And only one of those three people is not provably retarded.

    And so it was that the Texas Longhorns came to El Paso to play the University of Texas at El Paso Miners.

    And so it was that William Sunshine Pappadapolis Little came to the precipice bordering the Interwebs intent on penning an awkwardly-written, laborious sentence that would seemingly provide a useful transition between the first paragraph and the second paragraph of his latest tome but, upon closer inspection, does not truly fit in the context of the surrounding text.

    Not since 1933, when Clyde Littlefield was still coaching football at Texas — before Jack Chevigny’s 1934 team beat Notre Dame and Dana Bible became a legend and Darrell Royal a treasure…well, you get the point. It had been 75 years since the Longhorns had played what was then called “Texas College of Mines.”

    Wait. What happened there? Did Grampa Bill just type out and publish an episode of senility? He went to the trouble of beginning a meandering thought, only to get lost, openly declare defeat, and finish with a dismissive “you get the point.” Someone missed his afternoon nap.

    Since the game was announced a couple of years ago, the city that hugs the border between New Mexico and Texas, as well as the international juxtaposition of the United States and the Republic of Mexico, had looked forward to this night.

    I can think of at least two crappy Mexican restaurant chains that managed to conjur up a more elegant, concise way to describe the geography of El Paso than “hugs the international juxtaposition of the United States and the Republic of Mexico.”

    And at the end of two spectacular sun-splashed days, the Sun Bowl Stadium was packed with the bright orange of UTEP and the burnt orange of the flagship university of the System from Austin.

    Wait, we played two nights in a row? That’s flat-out confusing. Why the end of two days? Why not the end of the week since the last game? Or the end of the 75 year-span since these two teams last played? Or the end of the ancient pre-surge era, when sun splashed wildly across the international juxtaposition and … oh you get the point…

    And I’m sure that crack team of writers for Taco Bell could come up with a description of the University of Texas that is slightly zippier and less confusing than “the flagship university of the System from Austin.”

    Conference television packages are tremendously important, and ratings dictate their success. So when a non-BCS league like Conference USA gets a chance to enhance a television partner like ESPN2, they’ll play the thing at midnight if they have to, and they darned near did. That is why the start time — 10:30 p.m. on the east coast — kept fans who watched the game to conclusion up almost as late as some of the Olympic events from Bejiing.

    Topical! Nice. But most of the Olympic events were telecast during primetime. Not that Bill Little would have seen them, as the NBC Olympics coverage conflicted with reruns of Matlock on the Hallmark Channel.

    To frustrate the TV viewers who wanted to see the game even more, ESPN2 got caught with an overtime game with South Florida and Central Florida which prevented joining the party in El Paso until 26 minutes had expired.

    I wanted to see that game even more than some unspecified baseline comparison. No doubt about it.

    That was a shame, because the set-the-scene pre-game had to be ditched, along with most of the first quarter. And if you missed that, you missed the surge.

    The Surge is like the Chupacabra. It’s there. You didn’t see it? I did. It happened. It was amazing. I don’t know how we survived, but it must have been sheer will. One day, we’ll capture the surge on video and you’ll see. It’s not poor preparation. It’s not lack of effort or intelligent scheming on the Horns’ fault. It is a supernatural force of Fate driving the opponents of the University of Texas under Mack Brown to overcome all natural limitations and inexplicably outplay the Longhorns. Only the sheer will of our heroes can overcome the awesome power of the surge!

    You didn’t see it? Too bad. Trust me, it’s real.

    The Miners, who had been embarrassed in their season opener at Buffalo, started the game with two crisp drives and a defensive three-and-out stop. But to the Longhorns’ credit, both drives were limited to field goals, giving UTEP a 6-0 lead.

    But before the quarter had ended, cooler heads had prevailed.

    Huh? Did the two coaches sit down and negotiate the outcome, settling on a Texas blowout only after calming down and realizing that this was the level-headed thing to do?

    The turning part of the game came, however, on successive drives in the second quarter with the Longhorns leading, 14-6.

    The turning part of a car is the wheels!

    In many ways, this was what is commonly referred to as a “trap” game — an easily overlooked opponent with better than advertised talent, on the road in a really late game, and coming after they’ve looked bad and you’ve played well.

    This is what is commonly called a pile of cliche and largely immaterial excuses for a poor performance by the Longhorns. How could they expect to dominate UTEP, when Texas had to play at 9:15? That’s an unfair advantage for the Miners.

    Game two was far from perfect. The statistics even favored the Miners. What was effective, however, was the efficiency.

    That’s an interesting point. However, what I took away from the box score was that the effectiveness to be efficient. In any case, it is clear that the Longhorns of the System in Austin were able to leverage efficiencies in core competencies resulting in a win-win scenario.

  7. A must listen

    God help us all.

  8. Brilliantly done, Ken Tremendous.

  9. Phenomenal Smith said:

    September 8th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    Ken Tremendous, that was tremendous.

  10. Poor Bill sure is getting picked on around here this week.

    Wonderful stuff, Ken Tremendous. :)

  11. Ken, you acquitted yourself nobly……er, you done good, man!

  12. “A must listen”

    Damn you.

  13. “The Surge is like the Chupacabra.”

    Quite simply, perhaps one of the better lines ever typed here.

  14. My aunt once saw the surge when she was a little girl. The memory haunts her to this very day.

    You fear it, yet it’s power only grows!!

  15. I second the chupacabra reference…allsome!

  16. Shoot, where I grew up there were surges all over the place…..some of ‘em big as horse turds!

  17. Bill Little has become over-impressed with his own competence.

    He also seems to be addicted to adjectives and adverbs.

    Say what you want about Dave South, at least he doesn’t subject us to this crap.

  18. Beergut, has it come to this for the Aggie nation- “Our idiot is smarter than your idiot?”

  19. I’ve damaged my helicopter and I’m not sure what the repair procedure is? We will always offer as much help as possible to assist you with your repairs, please contact us via email. Always allow battery to cool after use before re-charging. Failure to do so can damage cells and reduce battery life.

Leave a Reply

Related Articles

Activity

  • Ag_in_TX wrote a new blog post: Utah State Post-Mortem   17 minutes ago

    Have You Read the Gospel According To Mark? – Sign hanging in Spokane last night.

    At some point, you have to ask if A&M is the best coached team in the Big XII. All due respect to Mr. Self in Kansas – but to use a poker analogy – Self is trying for a flush

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Trips Right wrote a new blog post: Second Round Bets   32 minutes ago

    Since my leans are hitting at a better rate than my wagers I’m going to go back to basics and post every thing I like but down to half a unit. We’ll see if that works.

    Here goes:

    Villanova -4.5: After a scare against Bob Morris, time for the ‘Cats to wake up. Too

  • Ibas water bottle commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   3 hours, 51 minutes ago

    At what point do A.Ds stop hiring Duke people? At a certain point former coach K players stop being successful college players and start being coaches with shady recruiting results right?

    Oh and God bless the crime rate in Stillwater. The simple odds keep the shit from hitting the fan regularly for us.

    Who

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Oklahoma Sooners – Recruiting So Far   7 hours, 34 minutes ago

    BOC: Neither has visited, yet we hold ’ships open for both.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nate Heupel wrote a new blog post: Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   7 hours, 43 minutes ago

    TMZ reports that Tiny Gallon took a $3000 payout from an agent. My God, Capel has no control over this team whatsoever. This is 2007 offseason Texas football levels of embarrassing. You can’t let a half dozen bad apples spoil a bushel of 10 apples…that analogy sucked balls, but you get my

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Previewing Jimmer and the Cougars   8 hours, 54 minutes ago

    Great stuff, bear. really looking forward to this game.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   8 hours, 54 minutes ago

    06_UT: you are probably right. I thought about changing the post description to “least favorite Barnes team” because that’s more accurate but I didn’t feel like it.
    That said, I’m not sure this team would beat those other two. They would lose Abrams and let him go 7-15 on 3s and the Abrams team played better

  • admin commented on the blog post Nike U in Turmoil   8 hours, 59 minutes ago

    Aren’t they building some sort of super duper hoops arena? Most expensive ever bilt or something?

    Who will the get? Mark Few?

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Nike U in Turmoil   8 hours, 59 minutes ago

    Aren’t the building some sort of super duper hoops arena? Most expensive ever bilt or something?

    Who will the get? Mark Few?

  • srr50 wrote a new blog post: Nike U in Turmoil   9 hours, 16 minutes ago

    10 weeks ago, Oregon played in the Rose Bowl as Pac 10 champions. Since their loss to Ohio State, the program has been in some kind of bizzaro parallel universe where every headline concerns a player arrest, a firing, or now a resignation.

    Mike Bellotti, the Duck AD and former head coach earlier this week

  • Luke commented on the blog post First Round: Clemson Tigers   11 hours, 27 minutes ago

    Prescient comment, Doc.

    I think we learned today that no team is really a mirror image of Missouri, even if Clemson is about as close as it gets. Unless you have significantly better/more talented athletes, if you try to run with the Tigers, you will lose. This team is so much fun to watch in games

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   11 hours, 41 minutes ago

    Good to see that Tom Penders still believes in the weave offense. Maryland finally figured out that if you pass quickly, the middle is always open.

    37-29 Maryland late in the first half.

  • Luke wrote a new blog post: Previewing Jimmer and the Cougars   11 hours, 42 minutes ago

    Kansas State is going to be under a lot of pressure tomorrow night in primetime at the Ford Center.

    Not only are the Wildcats the favored #2 seed going against #7 seed BYU, but if the Wildcats lose, they may sentence hundreds of boys to nonstop harassment from all the kids who think that “Jimmer” was

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Ibas water bottle wrote a new blog post: Georgia Tech post mortem   11 hours, 54 minutes ago

    We came up short.

    Credit to Georgia Tech they worked the ball inside where they had the advantage and played great D on the perimeter. Matt Pilgrim is the most athletic big man we’ve had in years around here and he was irrelevant. When we tried to drive they collapsed like Chris Farley on a

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Phenomenal Smith commented on the blog post First Round: Clemson Tigers   12 hours, 30 minutes ago

    Doc, the turnovers seemed to do the trick – there were great big chunks of time when Mizzou didn’t even have to get into a half court offense.

    Great to see Ramsey have such a good game and pretty stifle Booker. As Euclid said during the game, even when Mizzou doesn’t play well

  • dick commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   13 hours, 9 minutes ago

    “Also because those other teams gave great effort almost every game. This team’s effort was questionable. Dumb and lazy, not a good combo…..”

    This is what made this season so bizarre for me. This has never been a problem for Barnes’ teams. But I actually questioned this team’s heart and desire to play together

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   13 hours, 23 minutes ago

    Travis Ford spent the 2nd half channeling his inner Rick Barnes — lot’s of standing around on offense while one player tries to generate something off a ball screen — then taking a forced shot.

    So the Big 12 goes 5-2 in Round One.

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   13 hours, 28 minutes ago

    This is the worst coached team ever in Barnes era. Period.
    Worst defense over the whole season,
    Offense sucked big time and the bench coaching was horrible, ransom’s attitude was better then the coach’s overall this season.
    Trips write up pre and post better then the game plan and O schemes.
    Hell we could have

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   13 hours, 31 minutes ago

    advertisers think they will probably get some deals for the additional 32 games that would be added. The feeling is that an ESPN would disount rates somewhat, since they already have a dual revenue stream — advertising dollars and subscription fees.

    It’s all about content for ESPN — even mediocre content.

  • dick commented on the blog post FLV March Madness First Round Bets   13 hours, 33 minutes ago

    a great first round of the tournament from an excitement standpoint, very mediocre from a gambling standpoint.

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   13 hours, 49 minutes ago

    Ga. Tech — last in the ACC in free throw shooting at 64% — 13 for 13 tonight.

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   13 hours, 58 minutes ago

    A poll of media buyers from the major agencies overhwhelmingly showed that advertisers believe that the NCAA will expand, and the tournament will join the BCS on ESPN.

  • whiskey wrote a new blog post: The week in news- Pariahs, Malcontents and Power Hour   14 hours, 1 minute ago

    In the midst of March Madness, St. Patrick’s Day, house guests, nice weather outside and a host of other distractions I still managed to come across quite a few interesting college football stories this week. Here we go.

    Mike Leach and Craig James were apparently in the same room this week and nobody wrestled.  Bummer.  Leach

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   14 hours, 13 minutes ago

    Anderson finds out what going to the paint is like when there is a big who knows how to defend the low block.

  • srr50 wrote a new blog post: March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   14 hours, 22 minutes ago

    So far on Day Two, no buzzer beaters, but there was the obligatory #12 over #5 with Cornell thumping Temple 78-65, but the Ivy League school was everyone’s “inside” pick for an upset. Still the day hasn’t come close to generating the action that Thursday had.

    Today
    #5 Texas A&M 69 #12

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   14 hours, 47 minutes ago

    I wasn’t trying to say they quit. They just didn’t play hard a lot of the time. Lazy = lack of effort. Example, our transition defense was about 75% effort and 25% stupidity. We loafed down court a lot. The kids didn’t like to lose so they would fight back,

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   16 hours, 20 minutes ago

    This the most disappointing team because our talent level is higher than those others.

    The DGib/Buckman team was the least talented, barely, after the injury to LaMarcus and Tucker’s suspension.

    Last year’s team was the hardest to watch. Just watching AJ Abrams, who I don’t hate as much as most, run around like a

  • uthookem commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   16 hours, 27 minutes ago

    Agreed on Damo being my favorite Longhorn basketball player, I wish him all the best.

    This was definitely the worst, by far.

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest: Post Mortem   17 hours, 40 minutes ago

    Don’t have time to address each and every comment now, but I wanted to say thanks to everyone for contributing to the site this season. It’s made it a lot of fun to follow a team that’s tough to watch at times.

    Also, I wanted to thank you for the kind words as

  • Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Big Dance: Day Two   17 hours, 41 minutes ago

    And that’s all she wrote…relatively boring day so far. A&M out to a nice early lead.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });