And KU getting to the Orange Bowl due to fortuitous circumstances does not equate to Kansas being the better team last year. How many BCS games and B12 championship games would UT have reached if they were in the north and played the schedule Kansas played last year. If they had met each other, UT would have been favored, Orange Bowl or no Orange Bowl. Not saying UT would have won cause last years Kansas was pretty stout but we still would have been favored. This year, Kansas is not quite as good as they were a year ago and Texas happens to be better, I do not see how you could say the Texas and Kansas this year would be anywhere near 50/50, more like 70/30 in our favor I would say.

But I do know that a VERY good Texas team came into Memorial Stadium in 2004 with VY and Ced Benson to play an awful (4-7) Kansas team and even then they needed some late officiating help and a hideous (beautiful) scramble by Vince on 4th&18 to pull the game out. So suffice it to say that while texas still holds a clear advantage at most positions on the field, they will likely have a tough time winning in lawrence this year.

For all the criticism of Texas’s secondary, Mizzou’s appears to be worse and without the upside, they are not going to be getting better with experience. What would you be saying if we had Mizzou’s backfield? You’d probably have a seizure or something. Also they don’t seem to have much of a running game making them too one dimensional and this may become a big handicap when they actually run into a quality defense. Texas will be favored in this game.

And Kansas? Get real. What has Kansas done to earn so much respect aside from beating up on a bunch lousy teams last year along with one decent team in Va. Tech and even they showed how mediocre they are by getting beat by E. Carolina. While Kansas still has a disciplined team and a solid QB, last years team was better than this years version. Kansas lost just too much in the draft. Kansas just does not have enough horses to keep up with the UT’s and OU’s of the world. They have no running game and their slow as molasses defensive ends could not mount a pass rush to save their lives. Texas will be favored in this game.

Tech, now they could present a problem because they always play Texas tough up in Lubbock and they tend to play much better at home but until their atrocious pass and run D improves, I don’t know how anyone can say that Texas is not favored here as well.

Again both CU and OSU have not shown that they will have any semblance of a defense this year. Now of course an upset can spring up here and there but just to go and say that one will happen every week is just silly. So from your posts, I will bet you that you are not a bettor and if you just happen to be one presently, I can only infer that you will not be one for long. Certainly not past this season.

* comfort zone (i.e. the HJ theory)
* stubborness/hubris: we’re Texas and we can run any offense we want to because we have superior talent/schemes
* GD is not a realtime kind of guy. It is difficult to know what is going on in realtime (i.e. most of us understand the game much better after we have studied the video).
* it is a tremendous amount of work to devise a game plan that takes into account all the individual matchups in an actual game. Huge amounts of video study required but the payoff is significant. Speaking as a 59 year old guy, you work a lot harder when you are in your 30s and 40s than in your 50s.

Regarding running attacks, I’m starting to think that, if you don’t have a primo all around TB (like Adrian Peterson or DeMarco Murray), then maybe the TB should be optimized for inside running and blocking/dump pass receiving. The guys like Bush, Ramonce, and Fozzy are always going to do better (in terms of performance and injuries) in space so it is best to get them the ball via a short pass or endaround or pitch. Play both guys at the same time. The bruiser plays TB and the Bush type guy plays in the slot (but is moved around a lot).

I don’t get the idea of zone blocking all the time. Why not be multiple in your blocking approach and sometimes zone block and sometimes down block (i.e. traditional blocking with its inherent mechanical advantage compared to zone blocking)? Maybe they already do that.

Good point about all the backs running the same plays but I think the horns also have some good specialization going on. 3rd and 1 is now pretty automatic with Cody running the ball. Ogbonnaya is a good 3rd and long guy with his ability to block and receive. the talents of Vondrell and Fozzy are quite different and they should be utilized differently.

Sign that the offense was not crisp and methodical: the media is asking Colt, Quan, and Ship about how they practise broken plays and those guys are talking about how that is their favorite part of the offense. Quan’s advice to the young receivers: when Colt is scrambling, go long. Why do you want to go for the most difficult to execute pass play under chaotic conditions?

GD/Colt still seem bewildered about how to respond to aggressive blitzing. There are known, proven approachs to responding to blitzes:
* get the ball away faster (implies shorter routes and timing patterns)
* provide more blocking/fewer receivers to simplify the QB’s decision making process
* checkoff passes to backs and TEs who initially block and then make themselves available for dump passes
* move the pocket
* rollout

I don’t get the impression that Mack and GD are quick to notice when Colt is starting to get out of rhythm (and adjust the play calling to more short passes/runs).

Finally:
* Mike Price (UTEP coach) being Mack’s friend probably discouraged Mack from putting the pedal to the metal
* Mack would like to cloak the offense in secrecy as long as possible