[Game Thread] GO HORNS!!! BEAT THE CLONES!!!

Led the team in tackles

 

Well shucks.

 

Just noticed this on the halftime show of Oregon / Oregon State: when they showed a clip of Dicker after missing the kick. Somebody (I think it was number 21) on Iowa State was talking to him and it looked from the expressions and body language like he was saying something like "That was one hell of a good kick at that distance". If so, classy gesture.

 

Could not watch the game live but followed game tracker today and called others watching along the way.

Now watching game recording...

So Horns go up 20-10 in third quarter with 7 + minutes and we dont score again and the clones gone to score 13 to win 23-20.

Guess I will see why TH screwed up two 4th and shorts that could have made a big difference in the game and very possibly saved his job ...

 

Stats are for losers...

 

Yep! I couldn’t have said it better.

 

It was a helluva kick. Plenty of distance, just tailed away at end.

 

Anyone who says we are 3 plays from being undefeated is a moron.

 

BMD have already committed the money.

 

Why don't the BMDs enforce some incentives on coaching contracts instead of guaranteed money which is an irresponsible use of funds?
These are presumably smart business people who would never make terrible deals like that with their money
If someone thinks they can do the job, they can prove themselves and get paid
Incentives matter

 

You would never hire a proven coach with that idiotic approach. BMDs don't sign the contracts, admins do

 

In the world of corporate sales we signed a contract each year with objectives to be met. Income was tied to that objective. And failure to perform in any year, or several years in a row, was grounds for dismissal.
In the world of academia, egg heads do things like giving a professor tenure and coaches 5 year contracts. Some even extend a 5 year contract at the end of 2-3 years (without a championship) making it a 5+ contract. Are they that afraid of not being able to keep talent, or find new candidates? No confidence in your brand?

All contracts should be measured and renewed on performance. Not so in academia. They not only do not understand how to do performance based contracts, they are afraid of them. And that is why the old man said “Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.”

 

BMDs provide the $ and can have a say in the matter or withhold their support

 

This kind of stuff drives me nuts....it is part of our new world/reality. Everyone gets something for nothing....and more than they earn, justify, or rightly deserve.

 

This^^^^^^
Is so true.
I have noticed Ive been waay more wracked with nerves....use to be just fun and cool and entertaining. whatever. Do I care more? No.
It is the manner of our play and performances that lets me know. ..even before the game begins....the 90% of the time we are just a couple plays, ref calls, a fumble, dropped pass or bad play call, or execution from winning or losing.
To me. This is the best argument for any talk of coaching change. Is this^^^^ true for most teams, too? To a great degree...yes. But it isn't true for the better/best teams, and if we are going to pay big time money for big time coaching and big time performance, we should at least see more games won by larger margins, a team good enough to overcome bad luck, or a few plays or calls or whatever more times than not, etc.
We shouldn't be on razors edge every single time we take the field at this school, this program, with these resources, this money, and "these" players. It has, for me, become more trouble than its worth...getting real close...

 

An accomplished coach (say Meyer) has nothing to prove. Throw performance money at him and he would laugh and walk away.

 

Although my analogy was oversimplified, it does expose how ludicrous these contracts are in todays world of college football. The arrogance of Meyer may rear it’s head and he walks. But then again, his ego that accompanies his arrogance would say that incentives are good for those who CAN DO. And he can be the first to win the ring at three schools. Why walk? Are you insulted, or afraid? The risk of insult can be handled by creative contract design. (Pay crazy bonus for B12 and NC.) The fear of failure...good riddance?

Back to my oversimplified analogy. I once managed a collection of “commission only” reps and salaried reps. The most productive were the commissioned reps. And they sold at a higher profit; because, they made more. One group was seasoned, proven producers. The other, “a works in progress”.

Truth is, colleges have let the cat out of the bag. It is a bidding war for long and expensive guarantees for coaches and they are all betting on the come, not knowing what else they can do.

 

Duke, I love Sam but I cannot see how one could say with a straight face that he was "excellent" against ISU.
He was an average B12 QB today. We needed above average to win.

His coach did not help Sam's cause; he was hurt by bad play calling for sure.

But the last two drives he missed receivers, made poor decisions re: which receiver to throw to, was late on throws resulting in the defender having time to recover and break up the pass, and finally he took a sack which was the worst thing a QB could do.

 

I agree and UM is on a very short list of coaches who have earned the benefit of the doubt, so to speak
All others should prove themselves

 

Here’s why I thought he was excellent:

A number of his long passes to Eagles were spot on. Had Purdy been as accurate down the field the game would not have been as close.

I thought that in general his passing was good. Remember that ISU was dropping eight and only rushing three. It’s not easy to throw into that scheme. Further, Sam can only work with what Yurcich gives him. I saw no jet sweeps, no screens or pitches, and the running game was only average. If we possess a speed advantage, why didn’t we use it? Point being, we did little to loosen up the secondary although we have the roster to do so.

I also thought that Sam was highly proficient when he ran. To me his timing and elusiveness was the best I have seen all year. Except for the last play, ISU couldn’t contain him.

I will agree that a 20 point performance makes winning unlikely in this conference unless your defense is stellar...and for the most part it (the D) was good. I just believe that the play calling and player utilization on offense yesterday left plenty to be desired.

 

Yep. Coach Campbell did the same. And rightly so...that kick would have been good from 60!

 

I will tell you what I saw. On both the long passes to Eagles the WR had to slow down and take it away from the DB. A great throw is like the one he threw to Eagles during the OSU game where Eagles didn't have to break stride and was able to walk into the end zone.

And to your point about ISU not being able to contain him, well what some of are saying is that's our point, why is he throwing into double coverage and throwing a pass with a DB draped over the WR, throwing it over Jake's head, when he could've easily run for a first down making it a pretty easy FG for Kicker?

Inaccurate long passes and poor decision making the last 2 drives is what I saw. Although even more to blame were an OC has no idea what Sam's skillset is, nor how to mitigate the other teams strengths.

Even with his weaknesses though I'll still take him over most of the players who don't truly understand what being a longhorn really means and put their selfish motives before the team.

 

First touchdown by Iowa State (passing), he needed to run over and knock the TE out of bounds. Gingerly went over and whiffed. I'm telling you Caden Kapernick does NOT like one on one contact when the ball carrier is headed downfield. Sideline to sideline, he'll engage, but coming at him, doesn't want anything to do with it.

 

Duke,
I respect your points. All good ones. One weird thing about the passing scheme yesterday that i really don't get is that one of our two best receivers was not a part of the game plan, or so it seemed. Eagles was targeted often but Josh was not. In fact, he seemed awol. I think Josh and Eagles could/should have cleaned up all game. Any idea why Josh was so seldom targeted?

 

Problem is, you have to offer guaranteed, because that's what everyone else is doing. So if you don't, why would someone take your offer and not the other offer ("Because we're Texas" won't cut it)?

That's how it works at the top. Why can some CEOs get tens of millions to make idiotic decisions and run their company into the ground, and even get paid with a cushy retirement payout if they get tossed for ethics and corruption issues? Because if don't offer them a sweet deal like that, everyone you want to hire will instead pick a different company who does offer them such a deal.

 

Moore had a hot start at the first half of the season, then it was like he was in the doghouse in the second half. I wonder if he said something or if his attitude got bad but something happened.

 

Wonder if we learned how important a TE can be?