Just when you think this team may find itself, Gilbert botches a zone read hand off due to indecision, defense gives up a big play, special teams lets ags average field possession around the fifty, Cody Johnson hits the wall after running 30 yards, Gilbert throws an easy pick, linebackers and safeties dissappear on runs up the middle, ESPN shows another video of how great MD's training techniques are with pulling on a tire, Mack claps hands after another score-killing turnover, etc., etc., etc. It's early in the morn, cold and raining, & Gabriel blows taps.
Good riddance to this bungled year. Let's watch for better days ahead though. Mack will make changes.
I still can't get over A. Williams falling down by himself on that kickoff return. Did he also hit the wall after running just 30 yards or was he just clumsy?
God Bless the young man, but he just does not have "it". There have been other can't miss superstars before him that were similar: Todd Dodge Chris Simms Shea Morenz We need to find the Rob Moershel, Major Applewhite, or James Brown who may not have the same pedigree, but who does have "it".
There is no freaking way Simms' name belongs on that list. That is ******* ridiculous. He had an .812 winning percentage as a starter here, behind only Vince, Colt, James Street, and Bobby Layne (and better than the three other QB's you hold up as examples of winners). His career passer rating is second only to Colt's.
Simm's shouldn't be on the list. But after all we are all extremely interested in picking scabs here.
Oilfield is correct. The problem with Simms is that he was 1-3 against ou (including the 63-14 game), and he lost the one game he had to win (Colorado Big XII Championship game). This year's Texas team was a mess so Gilbert probably deserves a pass. The Defense never, never stopped the power rush up the middle, and until the aggy game the secondary could not cover squat so there was no way the offense was ever going to score enough points to win more than 5 or 6 games. The ugly truth is there is no other option at this point. McCoy and Wood obviously do not impress the coaches, and Mack isn't going to start a rebuilding year with a true Freshman at QB. 2013 appears to be the next championship year after 7 or 8 wins in 2011 and 10 in 2012.
Oilfield is correct that some highly-touted blue chips do not have "it." That is true at every position-- not just QB. However, any of you who want to put Simms in that category either never watched him play, or (more likely) you have a 10-year old beef with Mack Brown's decision-making at QB that prevents you from admitting what a solid player Simms was for us. He was MUCH more accurate than Gilbert. He didn't routinely force balls into triple coverage -- He made much better decisions than Gilbert. Did he have a few bad games here? Hell, yes. No doubt (we're all thinking of the Colorado meltdown). He also had a whole bunch of solid games. Even in a few of his losses he played well enough to win-- like scoring 38 in Lubbock in 2002. In that game, Simms was 24-37 with 4 TD's, 345 yards, and one pick that came on a desperation throw with time running out. Unfortunately, the defense gave up 42 that night. Another loss was when he was benched in College Station in 1999 while Texas had the lead against an aggie team with a top-10 defense (Simms: 10 for 21, 130 yards, one TD, no interceptions). Another was the 2000 Holiday Bowl where Simms had BJ Johnson and Roy Williams drop THREE perfectly thrown TD passes with 2 minutes left that would have tied the game. Those were 3 of his 8 career losses as a starter. To repeat myself, he's the 5th all-time UT QB in winning % and second in career QB rating behind Colt. I really wish that all the comparisons of Gilbert and Simms were accurate. We'd at least be bowl eligible right now.
