Connect with your Facebook Account

• Contact

Football Articles

12

The defense today, etc

Posted by ChrisApplewhite on September 27th, 2008 under Football

That switch finally flipped. The moribund group that was so emotionally beaten down from sucking for two straight years looked like they remembered how much fun you were supposed to have. All season long the only regular displays of enthusiasm came from Blake Gideon and Muschamp himself.

That’s what sacks and big hits do. You can’t get the latter if you can’t anticipate, and you don’t anticipate as a freshman. No matter how many points are scored on this group this coming month, the important thing is that they get better every single week — something they’ve done so far.

They are a long way from ready, in fact I’d be surprised if OU gets less than 30, but you cannot look at the young talent on the team and not be excited for this season and the next couple after it.

More:

- Thanks to whoever convinced Orakpo that he’s not a speed rusher. The guys rip move is off the charts good thanks to his relative strength and that’s where his success will come from. 4+ years too late, but late is better than never. Watching slow pocket QBs outrun the guy isn’t fun though.

- The interior of the OL is soft. DL manhandle them regularly. I still think we move laterally too much.

- Told you Jordan Shipley was fucking good.

- Keenan Robinson, Aaron Williams, Sam Acho, Curtis Brown and Ben Wells are all future superstars. Frankly, I’m surprised Acho doesn’t play more now as it is. If we make even a half decent post-Muschamp hire we are in great shape.

-  Watching Jimmy Clausen outplay half the NFL today reminds me not to be too harsh on young John Chiles. But man, Sherrod Harris must’ve deleted all the DMX off Mack Brown’s iPod or something. If Chiles can’t run, which he can’t, I’m not sure what he is supposed to bring to the table. He’s a poor man’s Reggie McNeal right now.

Article Tags:

, , ,

More from this Barker


Share This

  • StumbleUpon

12 Responses

  1. RolloTamasi said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    I’m ready fo the Cody Johnson era to begin. He runs behind blockers, finds creases and keeps his legs churning. I’m all for Fozzy and seeing what he can do but Johnson is a legit runner.
    Thumbs up to Sam Acho’s celebrations with the other DL.
    I was curious to see how Miller would do against Arkie’s rimington center, I still think OU has big trouble with our DL. Particularly Kindle’s rushes.

  2. Evil E said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 5:20 pm

    Ain’t good defense fun to watch? I almost forgot what it looked like at DKR. However, now may be a good time for a reality check: Watching OU wax the Frogs 35-10 right now, I think I am most worried about their WRs getting isolated on our CBs. If their O-line gives Bradford and his two amigos time, they are going to pick on Ryan Palmer like an itchy scab.

  3. BrickHorn said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    Arkansas put up a pretty high YPA – around 10, if I recall correctly. But we played the run about as well as is possible. Overall it was one hell of an effort, and even more impressive when you consider the two awful pass interference calls.

  4. Huckleberry said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    Brick -

    Like we discussed on the other post, though, their yards per passing play was probably lower. 180 passing yards on 28 attempts. I think you’re thinking of average per completion.

    But the seven sacks for -58 yards leaves our overall pass defense pretty salty for the day. Admittedly against a terrible team, though.

  5. DBH said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    The performances of McGee and Chiles have been most disappointing, thus far. But then I’m reminded of the Mack/Davis ineptitude at managing backup QBs and designing a running scheme, so it’s not surprising.

    Agreed on Cody Johnson.

    Once again, if Colt goes down, we’re totally screwed. But Jevan Snead beat Florida, today!

  6. ChrisApplewhite said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    Yeah, don’t get fooled by the pig on the helmet — that was an flat out awful team we beat today. Casey Dick is horrible. Too horrible to deserve an obvious dick joke.

  7. Ransom Stoddard said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    Chiles is not, to date, deserving of the playing time or press he is getting. Time to see what Harris can do.

  8. DrkBgrk said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    Dick’s ypa drops below 4.5 when you figure in sacks as pass attempts with negative yards, which i think you should. his replacement’s numbers fared worse, but at least he had gotten rid of the ball before he got plowed by a longhorn instead of after.

  9. srr50 said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    I’m ready fo the Cody Johnson era to begin.

    If we continue to insist on giving him the ball from a standing start the era won’t look so good against OU’s defense.

  10. BrickHorn said:

    September 27th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    Huck – no, I was actually referring to midgame stats. Dick went 7/13 for 138 yards – more than 10 YPA. I stopped following the stats when he went out. It still concerns me that we gave up that many YPA to the Pigs’ first team QB.

  11. Kafka said:

    September 28th, 2008 at 8:52 am

    This game concludes the preseason. What have we learned?

    Colt, Quan, and Shipley have all torn up the admittedly inferior competition.

    If Colt goes down, the horns’ offense is in profound trouble. Chiles has improved his passing a bunch but his running did not look great (the O line wasn’t doing him any favors). Colt was no good at running for his first year and a half (and look at how well he runs now). Way too early to give up on Chiles.

    The horns have two receivers who are catching a significant number of passes (Ship and Quan). Shipley may even draw a double team from OU. Or not (it is hard to tell how good these guys are until they play a decent D). We always knew Quan and Ship can catch the ball, run clean patterns, and find the hole in the zone (i.e. good possession receivers).

    The question was (and is) can they separate quickly from a good DB (i.e. before Colt is flushed from the pocket by a good pass rush)? Can either one of them force OU to double them? We’ll see in a couple of weeks.

    TE went from being an outstanding pass catcher (Irby) to not much of a receiving threat. Huge step backwards.

    The young WRs (except for Malcolm Williams) look a bit physically weak to compete with OU. Not a single breakout performance by any of them this season.

    The running attack is suspect against OU. Colt is not going to run for 10 yards per carry against OU. Vondrell does not look like the answer at TB. Just how hurt is Fozzy? Injuring both knees in the same season sounds like a problem. Cody is our best healthy back right now. That is pretty astonishing (most people did not even include Cody on their O Big Board before the season).

    The D is improving. The horns are finally starting to get a bunch of sacks. The secondary is still having trouble tackling and covering but is improving.

    My guess is that the horns beat Colorado, lose to OU, and compete well with Mizzou (i.e. tossup).

    On O, OU has much better running backs, better O line, better WRs, and is pretty comparable at QB (except that Colt runs better than Bradford and Bradford may throw the deep ball better).

    I don’t know about the D side but it seems that on D, OU and UT might be of similar quality (i.e. pretty good front 7s, suspect secondaries).

    UT will be forced to play OU straight up when on D. It will be a long day for Palmer if he plays much.

    On D, OU may not respect UT’s running game. This will permit OU to put more speed in the D to deal with UT’s passing game (i.e. OU might do some of the following: replace a DT with a DE, replace a DE with an LB, replace an LB with a safety, play a lot of nickel, lots of zone blitzing).

  12. horncasting said:

    September 28th, 2008 at 4:30 pm

    CA – Keenan Robinson, Aaron Williams, Sam Acho, Curtis Brown and Ben Wells are all future superstars.

    Surprised to see Brown and Wells on your list. Not questioning it, but what did you see from this game that gives you that impression of them?

Leave a Reply

Follow Us

Related Articles

Hot Forum Topics

Activity

  • dick commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   18 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   31 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   36 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   40 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   42 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   58 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   1 hour, 7 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   1 hour, 10 minutes 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   1 hour, 21 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   1 hour, 31 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   1 hour, 56 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   3 hours, 29 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   3 hours, 35 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   4 hours, 48 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   4 hours, 50 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: ”” });

  • Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest: Post Mortem   4 hours, 52 minutes ago

    Trips,

    Great work all year long. Love the passion. The fact that you kept writing these (even around the birth of a child), is fantastic, shows your commitment, and is a little freaky. :-)

    I think you showed great restraint in this post. It would have been easier to “go off” on Barnes.

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   4 hours, 53 minutes ago

    Second awesomest thing — Magnus gets his woman to go to Hooters with him.

  • Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Big Dance: Day Two   5 hours ago

    Missouri going to hang on…

    Sconsin clinging to a 2 point cushion

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

  • BrickHorn commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   5 hours, 13 minutes ago

    Are there any women who are not skanks at any place on 1960?

  • Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Big Dance: Day Two   5 hours, 14 minutes ago

    Make that a 1 point Wofford lead with 4+ to play…

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

  • Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Big Dance: Day Two   5 hours, 21 minutes ago

    Pitt rolling Oakland.

    Purdue holds on against Siena…I missed it in my bracket, but I’m actually happy for them.

    Missouri pulling away from Clemson (68-60) with 7 to play…knew I should have never bet on Oliver Purnell, even if it was against this Missouri team.

    Amazingly, game of the day so far might be Wisco/Wofford – 2

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

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   5 hours, 24 minutes ago

    I ain’t talking about the girls Brick.

  • BrickHorn commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   5 hours, 27 minutes ago

    The girls don’t wear jorts at Hooters. They dress like Richard Simmons.

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   5 hours, 29 minutes ago

    That, by the way, was the best thing that’s come out of this basketball season. Knowledge of Magnus’ intimate familiarity with the service and cut-off threshold at Hooter’s as compared to BWW3. Hooter’s — worse food at a higher price than a titty bar, served with jean shorts, cheaper beer, and more stretch

  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post Arkansas Razorback Football Spring Practice Preview: Running Backs   5 hours, 54 minutes ago

    Who thinks that one back could step up and be the go to this year?

    I still think it is going to be a by committee approach, but someone could separate themselves this spring. You just never know.

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

  • Nickel Rover wrote a new blog post: Barnes worst team   6 hours, 49 minutes ago

    Basketball:

    Texas lost to Wake Forest in the first round last night. Trips Right somehow found the inner strength to do a final post-mortem where he also prescribes a month of defensive drills for baby 2010-11 Texas basketball in order to foster its development into a team that can at least dribble towards the basket.

    PeterBean was

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Weekly Whispers 3/17/2010: Duke and Kentucky Do the Chomping   6 hours, 56 minutes ago

    BigAaron, it’s what Ballerjunkie has been hearing in his circles. The information is certainly not an opinion, but what is out there at this time.

    We’ll have more on a weekly basis.

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

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest: Post Mortem   7 hours, 11 minutes ago

    BiH,

    I actually agree with you. I think the charge and missing the two FTs earlier got in his head a bit. Also, he passed to Mason on the possession earlier which I didn’t think made sense. Mason had his pass knocked out of bounds, thankfully, but it seemed strange to me when

  • P.Drez commented on the blog post Champions League Draw   7 hours, 14 minutes ago

    Inter got the team everyone wanted, which will more than likely set up a great semifinal against Barcelona. I believe Mourinho will be putting everything into the Champs League now, even if it means sacrificing Serie A.

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

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Lucky   7 hours, 18 minutes ago

    Great stuff, Ted.

    Interesting discussion this has sparked about Calahan.

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