And this is what bothers me. At the start of the season I said I thought we could win 9 games but if we won as few as 7 games, I would be happy as long as we are showing progression and ending the year on a high note. Instead our offense started off badly and has only grown worse. The defense has been stout but there is only so long they could sustain that intensity in the face of The Negatice Suck of the offense. I know we have injuries but this happens to every team and they use it as an opportunity to build depth. We lost Connor Williams 7 games ago and not one player has stepped up and we're still using it as an excuse. The coaching staff has to take some heat for that as it is their job to coach the kids up. I won't even get into the ineptitude of tom Herman and Tim beck's game planning. That is s dead horse so let's just say its debatable that he understands the talent he has on hand or how to problem solve for it's shortcomings. I guess we should be happy we beat Kansas. We all know this squad is capable of losing to them as we all saw it last year. The difference as I see it: That coaching staff knew they were fired at that time and the players knew it too. All other things from this year to last are equal.
I had high hopes that Tom Herman could take something mediocre and make it a little better than that, at least.
I was saying that to myself last night. It seems like we're regressing when it seems like with all the PT these young players are getting we should be seeing some improvement. I don't know how a running game could be worse, well maybe if Porter got every carry. Every time he gets the ball I think this is going to be a 3 n out and sure enough it is. Sam E should be getting carries at RB before Porter. Our only back that's been able to get tough yardage all season gets moved to HB and only has 1 carry for the night. Daniel Y certainly isn't the answer. Of course a lot of it is playcalling and scheme too. It even seems like Shane may be having a bit of a sophomore slump. I'll still take Sterlin back in a heartbeat. And Orlando got exposed by Canzez last night. Think about that.
I disagree. Orlando is the shining light of this program. Missing H. Hill was obvious. And the D still scores twice. We may not win this game without the defensive effort. Was it a lesser performance than we have become accustomed to? Yes. But the D is carrying this team and they were certain to have a letdown at some point.
Wasn't the same defense I saw against USC, ISU, OSU. Even with Hill gone there shouldn't have been that much of a drop off. What happened to the pass rush? And, BTW, I think Davis has been playing better than Locke.
For some reason both sides play at the level of competition. Maybe they don't like to dominate, maybe we are too scared of losing. At Texas losing is hell and winning is expected and not that fun because it's not enough. We are a bit worn out. Our offense has been filmed a lot now and we haven't added new packages. It is important to get the energy back like we had when we almost beat OSU and OU. Get Ehlinger back at starter and fire up the team. And let it rip. If Herman can get this team out and win these next 2 games I'll be impressed. These next 2 games are very big for the program's psyche.
We keep talking the "young players." The o-line that played last night is not "young." With the exception of Kerstetter and Shackleford (for the few downs that he played), we were playing juniors and seniors. Clearly all of these upperclassmen have topped out and are not going to get any better. They couldn't even block KU's D-line. Boo seldom had time to do anything except release ball the almost immediately. We are not even all that young at WR, where juniors and seniors played a lot.
i coached jr high and freshman high school football twenty years and had less rotations than Beck has! players can never get into the flow of the game. Texas cannot have this many rotations!!
imo, Boyd cost us 14 points. I'm not angry at him. He's a hard working Horn, but he screwed the pooch several times yesterday. I put no blame on Orlando. Seemed like the safeties played a soft zone, but that's about it from the upper deck. but the offense is not improving. the line might be a bit more solid, but it seems like this line and shane are not an ideal combo together.
Boo is a great kid but he is not a championship level QB. He lacks awareness and we need a passionate leader at the position, imo.
Boo is a more than adequate QB. It's a miracle he could walk away after that game. Heck even on the first play bomb he was within a half second of getting killed. No telling how good he'd be given a line that could provide protection - and what is the killer - this was mighty KU. I fear I am starting to see David Carr syndrome, i.e., darn wood QB that has gotten hit so often and so frequently it has pervaded his thinking process, "get it out quick and duck" or start looking for a gap to run in order to preserve your life. I have admired how quick he releases those sideline throws now but heck, when it's life or death decision to get out of the pressure I see why he's gotten so good at it.
We will never know if David Carr could have been at least a servicable QB. The Texans ruined him. I still cringe when I think of some of the hits he took.
How many of those teams lost two starters, and an additional three or four off the two-deep? The attrition on the o-line has been well beyond what a team typically has to overcome. It took a systemic issue and turned it into a train wreck. As some said, we're relying on juniors and seniors who wouldn't be starting at other places, whether it's because they topped out or simply haven't been cultivated. It's not about experience, it's about talent or ability to mentally process assignments. I don't know that I've ever seen a situation that compares to this, and while I'm hopeful it will improve somewhat next year, I'm skeptical that our luck is somehow going to turn good after almost a decade. I do think we've hit rock bottom in that regard, the only question is how much better can we get with what's on campus next year? I think we can be "adequate."
Texans got Carr killed, Cowboys got Romo killed, we're getting Shane and Sam killed. I said before the season started it doesn't matter how good Shane is if he's running for his life all game. Unfortunately that turned out to be an omen. Why can't coaches understand it all starts and stops with the OL? When I look at OSU it amazes me that for a team that doesn't get nearly the star recruits we do they ALWAYS have a good OL. Seems like Rudolph can stand back there for hours to find a WR. Hell, with that OL even I can be a decent QB. Sad thing is I just don't see TH doing a while lot to correct the problem. Hope he proves me wrong.
I am not here to defend Herman or our offense, but on this one issue, I do not think there was a quick fix for the line year 1, especially after the injuries. For starters, we rarley seem to have false start penalties this year, so they may actually be coaching up what we got. I would agree that I do not know if we have employed the best schemes to work around the lacking line to the greatest extent possible.
yes we have no bananas! LOL ... Great point on the discipline of the players in the line ... but I also remember Shack committing a couple blocks below the waist downfield which were blatant .. as if he didn't know those blocks beyond 5 yards (3 yds?) were illegal. broken record ... err mp4 ... alert ... base block from a 3 point stance. HUT HUT.
My impression has been that that's going to be Shack's MO. He did a lot of that as a freshman and I figured that's just being a freshman. But he continues to make bafflingly bad snaps and poor decisions. Maybe I'm just remembering selectively, but I don't feel like he's progressed in the mental aspect of the position.
There is something to be said about how the player respond to Sam better than Shane. TH tried to work with Shane to make it his offense and be more vocal and it just wasn't Shane's personality. Sam took over the offense and his leadership as a true Freshman was incredible. I think Shane slightly edges Sam out on accuracy, but Sam puts the zip on the ball and gets it to the WR/RB much faster. Sam hands down can run the ball better, which has to be why he's been on the sideline with lately. I agree with this. David held the football longer than any QB I've ever seen. His OL wasn't horrible like everyone thought because when Carr came out the back up came in and the sacks dropped dramatically. David was indecisive and would hang on to the ball until he he got sacked. Be it 3 or 10 seconds, he would get sacked.
David Carr is dumber than a bag of hair. His NFL career was doomed when the Kirby Kretin Korp hired Chris Palmer as OC & QB coach. His offense requires so many reads at the line that Carr could have sent out for pizza, had it delivered, and served it to the pass rush. Few are able to understand Palmer's offense, much less run it. That coupled with Carr's mental midgetry doomed Houston to also rans in the NFL.
Hmmm. I don't remember things getting better when Carr's backup came in. In fact, I can't remember any backups other than Matt "pick-six" Schaub. Schaub had some minor success at first with a pretty good OL that was built on draft picks and trades. By the time the Texans finally built a decent team, Carr was brain damaged from all of the abuse.
We're dangerously close to never getting back. Maybe a good season here or there but folks, we in trouble.
I totally disagree with most of the posts on this thread. I am optimistic that this team will win at least one more if not win out. That will be a vast improvement on the last couple of years here. Bueschele is way more accurate than Sam and makes better decisions. I think I maybe see things differently because I moved to Arizona and no longer have access to constant sports talk coverage in Austin. I think it helps to take a step back. The sky is not falling and things will work out as they should.
The sky is only falling on fans message boards. Nobody else believes that **** including nationally top ranked 4-5 star recruits. ( #1 or 2 2018 recruiting class coming up). TH stepped into a complete mess. There is a reason sports books in Las Vegas had Texas win total at 7-7.5 games last August. Put a few of these recruiting classes together like he is doing and watch. Go back and read message boards, press articles and billboards Saban's first year at Alabama when they totally tanked if you want a good laugh.
