Articles
How We Win: Offense
Posted by Scipio Tex on October 7th, 2008 under Uncategorized
This is counterpoint to my OU Analysis which focused on providing a sober assessment of the Sooners, premised on my delusion assumption that Longhorn fans were already aware that Colt McCoy is playing a like a certified badass, Cosby and Shipley have hands sweeter than pixie sticks, our DL is arguably the country’s best, and our defense is several orders of magnitude better than any of us could have predicted. However, this is OU Week and feelings are testy. Anything less than a sloppy kiss for Texas is met with suspicion of treachery from Texas faithful.
I understand. You are still my people. No one will be happier than me if we win 38-7 and you get to mock me for even suggesting a close Sooner victory.
So how does Texas win on Saturday?
On offense, it’s throwing the ball. That’s it. More specifically, the way we throw the ball .
Let’s not fall in love with 2nd and 11 early because we feel some need to establish a running game. That’s coaching by the numbers and it defined our performance in this game from 2001-2004. “Keeping them honest” works when Ricky Williams or VY is lined up in your backfield. Our running game will come as a consequence of our ability to throw. It won’t create it. I’ll explain.
Open the game with Chris Ogbonnaya at HB with four wides. Motion him out. Does OU blitz our empty set automatically? If so, that’s good knowledge. File it away for the counterpunch. Do you they leave five defenders in the box as they do against a Texas Tech? If so, that’s an audible to a QB draw and a first down. When Chris O is in the backfield, is he respected? Does a LB have him in the flat? Wheel route.
It’s time to throw & that means Chris O
What does 4 wide do for us?
When you open up the field against OU, you make them declare their intentions. By alignment, by disposition, by intent. Kirkendoll, Collins, Williams, Buckner may not be game changers yet, but they are receiver eligible. Oklahoma can’t ignore them as they will our TE personnel and any RB other than Ogbonnaya. The game is reduced to a pretty simple calculus – spread the field, count the men in the box, get us in the right play. Colt can do that.
The more receiving personnel you put on the field, the less ability OU has to double Shipley or Cosby. In fact, they really can’t unless they go dime (6 DBs). Suddenly we’ve just created a viable running game running zone read. Ta-da! Say they outnumber us at the LOS and blitz but stay in dime to eradicate a running game and pressure Colt. Fine. Now two of the most canny receivers in college football can operate in space while a mobile QB buys time. Jordan Shipley has a double move that drops jocks. I’ll throw those dice with you.
How dare you dictate my personnel!
4 wide opens running lanes for Colt. Run your inside WRs on outs and your outside receivers deep and it’s amazing how the grass can open up in front of a QB. Suddenly pass rush discipline becomes important and OU pressures a bit more methodically.
OU needs to hide Nic Harris. Great player within his competencies, but they want him crushing people in run support or waaaay back watching things develop in front of him and punishing a receiver over the middle. Potentially manned up or with solo deep pass responsiblity in Cover 1? No sir. Bring in your dime, Venables. A nickel won’t do. Unless you’d like Travis Lewis on a slot receiver.
Trust Colt. We should put the game in his hands. There comes a time in a player’s development when they’re ready and you hand them the keys. This game isn’t too big for Colt McCoy and he’ll play with confidence. He’s 1-1 as a starter against Oklahoma and his combined passing stat line is:
44-30-432-4-1
That’ll work. That doesn’t mean it’s predictive of his performance since those two OU defenses he faced no longer exist, but it certainly suggests that the guy is not going to crap his bed because 47,000 people in crimson overalls whose highest life aspiration is to own a jet ski are yelling at him.
In Colt We Should Trust
Finally, realize that our good defense is a gift to the offense. For far too long in this game, it has been Mack’s philosophy that if we play good defense then our offense can lay up and wait for something good to happen. That has reaped losses in Dallas to the tune of 0-12, 3-14, 13-65 – need I go on? In fact, conservatism creates the very situations – 3rd and long – that creates the turnovers we’re pretending to mitigate. A good Texas defense allows you to take chances on offense because there’s a good possibility that a mistake won’t kill you. A good defense isn’t a prison. It’s a get out of jail free card.
Play the card, let Colt throw the rock, and show off your brazen brass clackers. It’s Texas/OU.
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explain…
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Scipio Tex commented on the blog post Now THAT’S Taking One For The Team 7 hours, 15 minutes ago
He played for New Mexico State.
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He played for New Mexico State.
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admin commented on the blog post Final Four Prediction 8 hours, 51 minutes ago
Baylor scares me. They have no idea what the bright lights feel like.
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Bingo.
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Travis,
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lowery said:
October 8th, 2008 at 2:50 am
Amen. I have hope, but I wouldn’t be surprised with fetal position coaching.
dedfischer said:
October 8th, 2008 at 3:53 am
“…the guy is not going to crap his bed because 47,000 people in crimson overalls whose highest life aspiration is to own a jet ski are yelling at him.”
fuck man, that’s funny.
Vasherized said:
October 8th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Sounds like a plan. But do we actually see Davis trot out 4 wides on Saturday?
Collins has been hurt a lot of the year; Kirk, Williams, and Buckner still haven’t taken off the kid gloves. And it’s not really their fault, we just don’t throw to them.
Big Dan only seems too appear in the red zone. Williams hasn’t been seen since it was 104 degrees in late August. Other than Kirk’s nifty move down the sideline against Arkansas, he’s too been MIA.
Colt looks for Ship & Cosby on his first reads for a reason – he knows exactly where they’ll be and they catch everything in sight. As you mentioned in the initial preview of the game, if we just try to win with those two guys in the passing game we’re toast.
Davis actually called a good game last year in Dallas, so here’s hoping your prescription for victory gets filled and we get # 4,5,9 and 11 involved quickly.
uthookem said:
October 8th, 2008 at 5:01 am
“fuck man, that’s funny.”
seconded
Nordberg said:
October 8th, 2008 at 5:12 am
This is somewhat frustrating to me. Roughly 20% of our team is made up of receivers, and we seem to only really trust two of them. I don’t know, maybe that changes this Saturday.
someone said:
October 8th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Scipio, do you think we’ll also try and manage the game with a no huddle offense or will we try and run some additional clock to protect the defense?
LonghornScott said:
October 8th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Agree that our best bet is to spread them and let Colt scramble as our main rushing attack early in this one.
Double tights seems like idiocy to me with our current personnel; it begs for double teamed wide receivers and easy pressure on Colt. Based on our repeated use of it thus far, I’d be surprised if that isn’t our main approach to this game though.
We absolutely cannot afford to waste 15 plays in this game on a zone read that will be completely ineffective. We need to get them obsessed with pass rush and then punish the backside with a zone read or option (if we are going to use it).
Scipio Tex said:
October 8th, 2008 at 6:17 am
someone:
We’ll stick with no huddle. We have the depth on defense to cope.
Hippie Killer said:
October 8th, 2008 at 6:21 am
One is bigger than the other.
jc25 said:
October 8th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Does Greg Davis know how to access the internets to read this?
Uncle Rico said:
October 8th, 2008 at 7:37 am
“fuck man, that’s funny.”
thirded
kevwun said:
October 8th, 2008 at 7:38 am
The only thing Greg Davis does on the internet is post on his blog. It can be found at: http://www.gregthoughts.gov.www\gregthoughts
Mack said:
October 8th, 2008 at 8:53 am
We don’t let Greg on the internets, for the same reason we don’t allow him to counterpunch.
Somebody might get hurt.
NBMisha said:
October 8th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Yes, the game of their lives from Colt and the O are what will be crucial here. And now it looks at least theoretically possible. Thanks for painting that picture.
Let me stretch out of that fetal position.
Dave said:
October 8th, 2008 at 9:41 am
You. You light up my life. You give me hope – to caaaaaaaaaaaaaaarry ooooonnnnnn…
Scipio for President.
Huckleberry said:
October 8th, 2008 at 9:54 am
The way we will win will be by surviving the surge. This is a very emotional game every year and you have to realize that those kids on the other side are going to come out real fired up and their fans are going to be real behind them. So you know, you have to expect that surge and be able to deal with it and get into the flow of the game a little bit after that. As long as our kids are able to withstand that initial surge, I think we’ll be fine. We’ve got great kids but this atmosphere is always something the young guys haven’t seen before so how they react will be a big key, so you have to hope that they also understand that surge is coming but are able to keep their wits about them.
Nordberg said:
October 8th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Huck you could have cut and pasted that from Texassports.com and it wouldn’t surprise me.
HenryJames said:
October 8th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Serge?
Vasherized said:
October 8th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Just got a text from Mack:
Splsvs, trnvrs, kckng….
ponderos said:
October 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Has Bill Little’s pre-game gem come out yet?
NateHeupel said:
October 8th, 2008 at 11:19 am
A perspective from someone on the other side:
1) Attack the safeties whenever possible.
Yes, I mean both. Nic Harris is a known liability in coverage on a good receiver. It’s less known that Lendy Holmes isn’t as comfortable in coverage as a safety as he is as a CB. Watch the Cincinnati game, and you’ll see Mardy Gilyard and a couple of other Cincy receivers getting behind him more than once. The spread attack that Scip proposes will work, but OU will keep their safeties lined up on UT’s 3rd and 4th options. As he well put it, someone else needs to step up.
2) Move the pocket, move the QB.
I am not impressed with UT’s pass protection. From what I’ve read, no one here is impressed, either. OU will probably run a 3-3-5 if UT goes 4 wide, allowing for multiple blitz angles to send 4 or 5 guys while still leaving 5 or 6 in coverage and probably will leave one LB free to spy on McCoy if needs be. Using bootlegs and rollouts can put McCoy in space away from the pass rush with only one guy to beat or, even better, able to force the DBs to stay home or gamble on run support.
3) Do not use McCoy as your first running option, and don’t let him do anything stupid like lowering his shoulder.
Everybody knows UT has decent, not great, RBs, but OU has knocked the other team’s QB out of the game 4 out of 5 times. The one who made it through was an Olympic sprinter, and he had to be helped up half a dozen times after big hits. McCoy is a great passer, and UT needs him in that role first. An OU DB or LB isn’t going to bounce off McCoy on a QB draw.
R.C. said:
October 8th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Not to nitpick, Nate, but Griffin is a hurdler.
Vasherized said:
October 8th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Has Bill Little’s pre-game gem come out yet?
No, but last week’s closing sentence was so profound we’re just going to run with it all year:
What I have always noticed about the mountains, and what really makes them so cool, is that when you reach one peak, there is another higher one just beyond. Texas and Colorado will play in the foothills Saturday. The peaks are out there, if you choose to go and get them.
A moment of silence please…
Horncasting said:
October 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
This is somewhat frustrating to me. Roughly 20% of our team is made up of receivers, and we seem to only really trust two of them.
Thank You! I’ve been saying this since the spring. I can’t believe more people aren’t criticizing our WR talent evaluation/recruiting, development or both.
Bob in Houston said:
October 8th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Maybe I’m just numb to it all, but that thing about 2nd-and-11 had me thinking that Stoops’s DC seems to coach the first quarter like Davis dropped the script on the hashmark while heading for the press box.
Please, Lord, no LOS flings to the WR, no straight handoffs on first down. Anything else, I can live with.
steven said:
October 8th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Without the ability to run the ball consistently, Colt is going to have to have a whale of a game, both running and throwing, in order for us to have a decent chance to come out on top. I sorry but I don’t see this happening, at least not a good chance it will happen throughout the entire game. I just believe that in order for Texas to come out on top, Fozzy is going to have to be a surprise factor in this game. But one way or the other, if Texas somehow comes out on top in this game, Colt will probably end up being the leader for the Heisman.
p said:
October 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Last year Finley exploited OU’s weaknesses. If you had asked me before the game who would be our game plan, his name wouldn’t have come up. That being said, I think GD called a good game, and I hoped he watched both the OU-WVU and ILL-OSU games last year. Both teams spread the other out so they could reduce the amount of people in the box………Then they ran all over them.
Our running game was awful pedestrian coming into this game last year, so I am not as worried as some. We got 74 yards from our running backs vs KSU, and 80 yards vs OU. It wasn’t until later in the year that Charles broke out of his shell. The difference this year is Colt is running. Last year coming into the RRS he had 118 yards. This year he already has 346.
MIA said:
October 8th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Pucker. I predict the pucker offense,with Mack and Greg coaching not to lose rather than to win. It will be obvious their philosophy for the game will be to keep it a non embarassment.
Our only hope is Muschamp, and turnovers for TDs.
Jim said:
October 8th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
A little 1 back set with Obie picking up the blitz a few times should result in him finding himself behind some sack-happy backers who can’t run with him anyway. The softest places on OU’s D appear to be behind the backers and behind the safeties. If the backers have to back up, then sic Cody Johnson on their asses.
okichi said:
October 8th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I really miss Irby. :(
NateHeupel said:
October 8th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
“I hoped he watched both the OU-WVU and ILL-OSU games last year. Both teams spread the other out so they could reduce the amount of people in the box………Then they ran all over them.”
Horrible analogy, and I do mean HORRIBLE. Both teams had QBs that are FAR better runners than McCoy (Juice Williams and Pat White). Hell, they’re better runners than any member of the present UT RB corps.
Scipio Tex said:
October 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Juice Williams is the next Dan Fouts.
exuLt said:
October 8th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Damn your eyes, Scip. You deliberately used the brazen brass clackers imagery as a closing argument, knowing full well that those are mutually exclusive with Greg Davis in any known universe that we inhabit, and thereby ensuring my complete sense of hopelessness and profound depression. Thanks alot.
I won’t be able to even watch the game now.
RomaVicta said:
October 8th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Please write an article every day. Somebody really should be paying you big dollars to write.
I always learn something and I always laugh. Bravo, sir.
Macanudo said:
October 8th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
We win this game IF Colt calls the right game. Not Davis.
Scipio Tex said:
October 8th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Ah, some old friends posting in succession.
ExuLt:
You’ll be breathing fire by Friday night.
Roma:
Thanks, man. Someday The Economist will wake up and hire a college football writer.
Mac:
That’s an interesting take and I hope we empower him sufficiently to do just that.
srr50 said:
October 8th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
I want to believe Scip, Dear Lord I want to believe.
p said:
October 8th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
“Horrible analogy, and I do mean HORRIBLE. Both teams had QBs that are FAR better runners than McCoy (Juice Williams and Pat White). Hell, they’re better runners than any member of the present UT RB corps.”
Hmmmmm…. I guessed you must have missed the OU-WVU game last year because it wasn’t that far-fetched. OU kept blitzing the run gaps, and WVU checked at the line, and audibled into outside runs.
To beat OU you have to use their aggression against them. It’s what WVU did, Boise did, and anyone else OU has lost to recently. We don’t have to run it as effectively as those teams, we just need to run it well enough for OU to respect it, and it doesn’t matter who’s doing the running. Get them to show intent, and punish them for it. I believe you will see us line up early, and look to the sideline for the play a lot more this week than before.
UTfan1 said:
October 8th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
So you’re saying we got a chance.
I can sleep better now. Amen brother.
Hook’Em
ChrisApplewhite said:
October 9th, 2008 at 4:37 am
We can run the ball if we rely heavily on the same plays we did last year, the draw and the counter stuff. OU is trained to make a quick read then attack, it’s why they are so vulnerable to play-action and what not.
We need to pass first, draw about 50% of the run game, and we’ll be OK. Their DL is much better than our OL, so we can’t just run the zone. We’ll get slaughtered. We didn’t rely on it last year, and we have a few new plays this year. I’m not optimistic but I wouldn’t be surprised to see us actually move the ball decently on the ground.
You can trust me on this, I am an expert because I can almost see Oklahoma from my house.
HenryJames said:
October 9th, 2008 at 5:03 am
I can almost see Oklahoma from my house.
That’s Del Valle.
ChrisApplewhite said:
October 9th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Well when Del Valle rears it’s head, where do they go, it’s Austin also, though.
Texoz said:
October 9th, 2008 at 7:18 am
It has been my suspicion (and hope) that we have been sandbagging our receivers not named Cosby/Shipley. That we’ve been waiting for this weekend to unleash the hounds. We’ve seen flashes of reliable performances from those not named Cosby/Shipley. Unfortunately, the best of that bunch (Irby) won’t be there.
I’m hoping that either Williams or Kirkendoll might have a break out game.
C&CDean said:
October 9th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I’m kinda with you Scip, however, any mistakes (especially mistakes that are taken up to the hizzouse for 6) by Colt will make the mountain damn near unscalable for your boys. We are going to get our points, the question is, will y’all get yours? If McCoy makes a bad read or two, and he gets slobberknocked or picked for 6, it’s going to be damn difficult to overcome.
Throwing dice baby, throwing dice…
Doperbo said:
October 9th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Somebody text dfl to put up a mudhole post to ensure victory. I’ve swung back to manic certainty again.
Dean you are way too confident, but it’s expected. At least I know you’ll be around if you lose. You, MarvelousMarvin and SoonerWop were the only Sooners present on HF in any form whatsoever prior to 2000. I always kinda respected that, abject Sooner hatred notwithstanding.
ponderos said:
October 9th, 2008 at 8:24 am
“If McCoy makes a bad read or two, and he gets slobberknocked or picked for 6, it’s going to be damn difficult to overcome.”
OU’s put 4 out of 5 opponents’ QBs out of the game this year. Texas is a Colt-earholing away from having to sub in a poor man’s Robert Griffin III.
ChrisApplewhite said:
October 9th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Remember after the Sooner MNC how many fucking sooners showed up out of nowhere with insightful posts like “Bob Stoops has his players breath oxygen so they can live.”?
I do. Those were not good times.
8straight said:
October 9th, 2008 at 9:14 am
OR it could go the other way and you could be one “slobberknocked” or “earholed”,or both, away from your back up guy.
stabone said:
October 9th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Thanks, man. Someday The Economist will wake up and hire a college football writer.
haha. One can dream. Thanks for the writeup.
Vasherized said:
October 9th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Dean,
How does the same not hold true for OU?
Neither QB has turned the ball much over this year or faced any real adversity. The level of competition steps up big time for both QBs, so if Chykie Brown takes one back for six and on the next play Orakpo fixes Bradford’s teeth while forcing a fumble, he’s facing the same ostensible Mountain Colt would. Either team would be pretty fucked.
The typical high pressure front bringing OU’s air of invincibility is arriving right on schedule.
I learned that from Bill Little today at the Longhorn Club luncheon. Pretty sweet, eh?
Horncasting said:
October 9th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Vasherized – “so if Chykie Brown takes one back for six and on the next play Orakpo fixes Bradford’s teeth while forcing a fumble, he’s facing the same ostensible Mountain Colt would.”
Except for the fact that OU has a much better chance of being able to score points through its running backs. OU only relies on Bradford for it’s passing game. If Colt goes down we lose almost all of our offense.
Kafka said:
October 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Running a no huddle offense does not impair an offense’s ability to run clock. Once the O comes to the LOS, it can wait until the play clock is almost gone before actually snapping the ball.
The no huddle O does impair the D’s ability to substitute since (in the no huddle O) the O is at the LOS ready to snap the ball very early in the play clock.
UT only has 1 Roy Miller. It wuld be a great idea for the UT O to run as much clock as possible. The underdog should always shorten the game by running clock.
Turnovers are critical in this game. Over the last 10 years, almost always the team with fewer turnovers wins the game. That is one reason we probably don’t see Chiles touch the ball too much on Saturday. Fumbling is my biggest fear about Buckner, Collins, and Kirkendoll. All three are not as strong as the guys they will be competing with so I fear they are more likely to fumble than the older, stronger horns.
Colt running a bunch is a very risky strategy. It is a long season and neither coach should put his QB at unnecessary risk to win this one game. If colt is injured, UT’s season is ruined. If Bradford is injured, OU’s season is ruined.
Mack is fine with risking colt’s health by running him, indeed the UT running game makes no sense without colt’s running. Colt doesn’t even try to avoid contact. It makes no sense to me.
I would roll out colt a bunch both to the left and right. I’d like to see that play where colt rolls to the left, turns it up field and then forward passes to the option man. I hope somebody is ordering Colt to get down or out of bounds whenever possible. The mantra has to be: Colt takes no unnecessary hits.
Stoops, on the other hand, tries to have Bradford run as little as possible, makes him wear a knee brace as a preventative measure and is going to try to protect this precious resource (i.e. Bradford).
Stoops realizes that this game poses a big risk to Bradford’s health. My guess is that Stoops makes sure that UT’s DEs are getting chip blocked so they can’t just run around the OU OTs. This means the OU TEs will be mostly running shorter patterns and catching little dump passes rather than running long patterns. That is, unless OU’s OTs can block UT’s DEs without help. Then UT is screwed.
Stoops can afford to be conservative in his game plan because his O has so many weapons. Stoops is no brainiac but he is smart enough to protect his Heisman candidate QB. Mack isn’t.
UT runs well in this game only if the UT attack is primarily passing (i.e. pass to set up the run, short pass to set up the intermediate and long pass). Chris Applewhite is right that draws and counters are the way to run. I would also add reverses to that play list. I would love to see some draws and reverses off of Colt’s rollout action.
The passing has to be primarily short passes including lots of screens. That is the best way to defeat a blitz. UT ran screens well in the first game of the season. I am hoping that we see a wide variety of effective screens on Saturday.
The longer passes need to be strategic (i.e. pick your spots carefully). Again, pass short to set up the long pass.
I would like to see UT keep a couple of backs in to pick up blitzes and do chip blocking on the DEs (Colt can call the blocking scheme). No TEs. One of these backs can go in motion and return to the backfield to make OU declare its intentions. UT can easily go 4 wide with this personnel (i.e. just split out Ogbonnaya) when desired. If Malcolm Williams is your H back (assuming Ogbonnaya is the TB before splitting out wide), UT can go 5 wide with the same personnel.
Besides the obvious choices of Ogbonnaya and Cody to perform the H back/TB duties, Malcolm Williams could also be valuable as an H back. He is a strong 235 pounder who blocks well and is a threat for YAC after he gets a dump pass.
I expect to see quite a few new offensive wrinkles this Saturday. GD got to spend the summer doing nothing but brain storming offensive strategy (i.e. no recruiting duties at all) so he must have come up with something useful.
The previous paragraph was not a joke but I appreciate (in advance) all the laughter it is sure to generate.
Hippie Killer said:
October 9th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Kafka-
3 things:
1- I don’t think Malcolm Williams is 235 pounds dude. You are hoping my friend. He’s probably closer to 210.
2- Greg Davis may have spent the summer brain storming, but unless you just moved to Texas or became a Longhorn fan, you are conveniently forgetting that Davis likes to run the “Pucker” offense against OU. Because if he goes conservative and loses, it’s a lot less painful than going all out and losing. Davis is going to pull some crazy shit out on Missouri.
3- Can I have some of what you are smoking?
I like the idea of Orakpo fixing Bradford’s teeth. As a native Oklahoman, he’s sure to need some dental work.
NateHeupel said:
October 9th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
OU’s front 7, even with Granger out, is damn near as good as UT’s. Both have faced equally strong schedules (equally weak may be a better description), and have comparable stats in every defensive category except pass defense. UT leads in sacks, OU is 3rd. OU is 3rd in tackles for loss, UT is 17th. UT is 4th in scoring D, OU is 15th. And so forth and so on.
Kafka, while I expect to see OU keep Brody Eldridge in against Orakpo in obvious passing situations, neither Henry Melton nor any other UT DE impresses me as a guy who requires extra attention in the form of a chip block. Trent Williams will win that battle 10 times out of 10.
Phil Loadholt said:
October 9th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Henry who?
Duke Robinson said:
October 9th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I crap bigger’n Texas DEs.
Vasherized said:
October 9th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Nate, Sam Acho deserves that attention. He should be starting over Melton.
Godot said:
October 9th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
“Last year Finley exploited OU’s weaknesses…..”
That was true in the first half only. We stopped throwing to Fin in the second half, and for most of the rest of the season. For some reason.
Very unfortunate about Irby. Hope he has a full recovery. Ian Harris seems to have the most promise as a pass-catching TE now, but he’s hurt plus they have not seemed determined to work him in.
I also second the “new wrinkles” theory. GD brought out some new stuff last year, and was more aggressive. While we only seem to throw to two WRs this season, our OL pass blocking is much better. And Colt is playing better than he ever has, is healthy and stronger.
I like our chances.
steven said:
October 9th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Sam seems to look better at DE on some occasions and seems to have better technique, but Melton is more physical and is the better athlete, and that has to count for something, especially against an extremely physical OU O-line. If Sam can bulk up a bit more without losing what he has already, then he could be something to watch in the future, but probably not now. He shows alot of promise, but I am guessing that, right now, he would be overmatched physically if he was put out there as an every down DE.
p said:
October 9th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
“I’m kinda with you Scip, however, any mistakes (especially mistakes that are taken up to the hizzouse for 6) by Colt will make the mountain damn near unscalable for your boys.”
This goes for both guys!!
The difference to me is that Bradford rarely gets tested, but when he has it’s been bad. In both the CU and WVU games last year he couldn’t seem to get his head on straight once he got rattled.
Kafka said:
October 9th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Nate:
You are asking a lot of an OT to keep up with a speedy DE (and Melton is a very fast DE who runs a 4.6 40). The DE has all the advantages: he is much faster and can use his hands to propel himself by the OT.
The OT may be able to block the DE if he gets to him but the OT is much slower and can’t always get to the DE. Depending on the OT to bat 1.000 against top flight DEs is not prudent, especially when your QB’s health depends on it.
OU has enough weapons that they don’t need to take unnecessary risks on O. A chip block permits the OT to fairly engage the DE and does not stop the TE from getting out on a pass pattern (just slows him down). It is a small price to pay to neutralize the opposition DEs.
Sam Acho is also really good at rushing the passer at DE. Sergio Kindle also plays DE quite often and is going to be a handful for any OT.
BTW, Mack Brown said that OU runs the no huddle faster than UT does (which is kind of amazing since UT has been doing it for years) so good on you. It just shows you that you don’t have to be an innovator or even an early adopter of technology to succeed in football, you just have to execute that technology well when you do adopt it.
Kafka said:
October 9th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Hippie Killer:
IIRC, I got the 235 pounds from some comments that I read during pre-season (I’ll see if I can find them). I just looked his weight up on the web and the NFL pro prospect sites all list it at 225 pounds. That is still about 8 pounds bigger than Ogbonnaya (who Mack has said will play some H back).
I’m actually a long time fan (I attended UT in the 70s). My guess is that pucker originates more with Mack (since Mack looks so tight on the sidelines) than GD but who knows for sure. Last time I saw GD in the press box, he looked pretty relaxed, even a bit sleepy.
If Greg’s 3 months of brain storming produced anything useful, there is a good probability they will use it against OU. We would much prefer to beat OU than Mizzou (if forced to choose) so there is no point in holding onto that strategy.
Fritz said:
October 10th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Violent, heated agreement. Great stuff.