Is Bedord part of the problem?

Agree with Htown on reality check perspective. Like the last two sentences for sure.

Add this interesting note by Ced Golden in Sunday Statesman (online edition)...

"Oklahoma gave up 38 points to Tulsa on Saturday. TCU gave up 37 to SMU. Lamar scored 31 at Baylor."

Add to Golden's comments, K-State gave up 33 to La Tech, including 451 yards, and won in triple overtime. Ok-State will be a good test. They have not given up much in their three wins.

It may take 6 games into a 12-game season to begin to sort things out. For Big12. For everyone.

What I see up to now is Heard accomplishing more in two games than many players and teams get done in an August camp. Either he was ready to play Sept 1st, or he figured everything out in two weeks.

Probably more interest in this next game than in a long time. Expectations are high now.

 

The good news is if Heard can maintain this level of play, and Norvell continues to do what so far has been a great job, we appear (again it's early, so I do not say this confidently) to have a great shot at scoring on Big 12 defenses. Like I said earlier, our defense steps up and we can win games and make it a good year from a 1-2 start like Mack did in 2013. There is some hope now for everyone.

This is very, very true. Would love to start Big 12 play with a victory over Gundy... especially since we have lost 3 home games (all by double digits) to oklahoma state in a row! This is not a beat up, injured, crippled oklahoma state team like last year either. A win this week would be huge for the team and coaches (especially with the lawsuits). It would really give us momentum going into the back to back DFW trips. I think we are all ready for some tangible progress with a solid victory.... and let's hope that progress does not have to rely on our kicker again this week!

 

I don't think our DL coach is the issue. Guy has plenty of experience and did really good last year at LSU with some young DTs:

http://www.texassports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=983&path=football

The interesting thing is Bedford is relatively new DC. He only had that role for a few years at Louisville and was a DB/Secondary coach for most of the 20 years before that. He played DB in college.

And then you look at our DB coach and he played LB in college but has coached DBs for the last several years. Is that his natural coaching position though?

 

Except it's not "fans" saying this about Cal. For the record, BYU's QB was lighting everyone else up until he got hurt, but I don't remember anyone watching that game and thinking our defense was anything more than a disaster.

As for Arkansas, they actually were pretty good last year - a lot of close losses to a lot of good teams. They appear to have ditched that approach this year in favor or losing comfortably to mediocre teams.

 

I SPECIFICALLY mentioned BYU's DEFENSE we scored 6 points against in your quote.

I brought this up to avoid a QB conservation because the telling thing last year about our offense was we could not score on that defense. Then you went and brought up the QB anyway....

As for arkansas, the SEC west went 2-5 in bowls with only arkansas and a&m winning their games. They also did not have close losses to Auburn and Georgia. They only beat Texas, UAB, Nicholls State, Northern Illinois, Texas Tech, LSU and Ole Miss. That's it. They were not that good.

 

Bedford was the defensive architect of our games against OK State in 2005-06. Those games alone show how he came in with a plan and blew it all to smithereens once things got tough. Granted, it's been 10 years since then, and he probably came a long way under Strong's watch, but I haven't seen anything this year to show how he planned to scheme for losing guys like Hicks and Diggs. What we saw against ND (2nd half), Rice (2nd/4th quarters), and Cal (31 straight points) strongly parallels Bedford's shortcomings at OK State and the occasional Louisville game in which his defense would go into panic mode and never recover.

In 2005, we staked OK State to a 28-9 lead before scoring 38 consecutive points. I'd like to think it was all VY, but if it was, wouldn't Bedford have been able to do what worked against him in the first half? Bat down passes, strange blitzes, etc. Ramonce made them look silly. Hell, Neale Tweedie made them look silly. That TD pass to take the lead at the end of the 3rd quarter looked eerily similar to the one that ND did that opened the scoring against us this year. Safeties sitting behind the play in the end zone.

2006 was a foregone conclusion. Bedford was already on notice for the sake of his job, and they didn't come through for him. Colt had something like a 90 percent completion rate until the 4th quarter. They had roughly the same lineup as the 2005 team, so it was obvious what was going to happen.

I thought Strong bringing an older, wiser Bedford to the table in 2014 was his best personnel move at the time, but I don't think our current players are responding as well to his rhetoric as I had hoped.

 

Think you mean UGA, not Bama. They lost to Bama by 1.

 

^ i did and fixed it. Thanks!

 

Feels strange on a Monday late in Sept far worried about the defense than the offense.

Fascinating aspect to the whole thing is that Charlie Strong is a defensive guy. And now finds this defense maybe the biggest problem he has. So here is a $5 million coach with the reins of the Longhorns handed to him, and a new AD with solid burnt orange roots all the way back to playing for Royal.. the fan base rejuvenated in part due to that and then what they saw on the field Sat night from Heard.. and here's the defense the big issue just getting run all over most of the night.

Embarrassed by ND, comes back, makes a huge change in offense. Results... what you see. Lesson learned.

Old West Saying: A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

He did, and it worked. For this round he's gonna have to hold the entire defensive staff equally accountable, and it starts with Coach Bedford. Just kidding a little, but I'd tell him this: "Don't you go on TV and roll your head around and drawl out a bunch of Will Rogers country dog tales and 'I tell you whats' and all that -- not until you can stop a running back and sack a quarterback and stop looking like you never heard the word defense. You're coaching for your job, same as me. My job depends on you doing yours. I don't plan on losing mine. Do you?"

 

I believe that Bedford moved Diggs out of the slot last year where Greg Robinson had him, especially against TCU he was over matched on the outside against that WR. I question if Bedford is ready for this level......

 

You have to stop one or the other. I haven't seen that yet this year. Nobody should be able to run the ball like the way Cal did most of the game. I think Greg Robinson could come in tomorrow and those runs would stop. Getting torched by a good qb happens, those runs by Cal shouldn't.

 

I think we need to be taking a look at brick haley he is the d line coach and that is our worst area. Those guys are getting no push up front

 

Remember last year how our D held Baylor's offense to 7 points through the first 3 1/2 quarters before finally tiring out?

Either Malcom Brown and Quandre Diggs made everyone else look a lot better than they were, or Bedford was riding Greg Robinson's coattails, not sure which.

 

The most concerning part of the poor defense is certainly the complete mush of a DL. The same DL that Strong and Bedford bragged time and again about being 8-deep and a major strength.

How could they not see this group may not have the stones to be a force? It's one thing if they were just playing decent and the coaches were slightly wrong. But these guys are getting manhandled often, and by Rice for crying out loud. That's not something dialed in coaches should misread enough to brag about.

 

Kirk Bohls said something about Cal played the game with its second string running back. Notre Dame played a lot of that game with the second stringer after the first stringer got injured. Oklahoma State is 74th in the country in rushing offense averaging 178 yards per game having played Central Michigan, Central Arkansas, and UTSA. If we cannot stop their run.... we are in trouble. (If anyone is wondering, we are 119th in rushing defense allowing 240.7 yards per game. We are 86th in rushing offense averaging 165 yards per game. Oklahoma State is 34th in rushing defense allowing 115 yards per game.)

Also for comparison:
Notre Dame is currently 29th in rushing offense averaging 227 yards per game.
Rice is 11th in rushing offense averaging 272 yards per game.
California is 43rd averaging 209.7 yards per game.

It is early for everyone. There are only 3 games, at most, of data per team. We were in the 120s in total offense and have jumped to 99th after the Cal game. We have a long way to go but that is serious improvement in a two game stretch! Now defense needs to start improving.

 

Nope, Bedford is not the main problem. He lost about 65% of his tackles from last year due to graduation and the draft. That's a HUGE amount of defensive talent and production. It may take awhile to replace that sort of production.

It's definitely frustrating (last year it was the offense and "spacial" teams that were the problems) and this year, it's the defense.

The strength of Strong's 2016 recruiting class will determine whether Charlie is here long term or not. Right now, Charlie sucks at 2016 recruiting. I hope he pulls a rabbit out of a hat, but I'm worried.

 

What part is he sucking at specifically? He isn't like MB and tries to get his recruiting class by the end of the summer. Wait until February and then make your case.

 

Times have changed. A commitment means absolutely nothing anymore. (Yes a sorry state of affairs, but it is what it is.)

Let's see what it looks like on the evening of the first Wednesday in February before criticizing Strong.

 

If the D can get it together this team can be dangerous. Heard is legit and has the players believing. Even if you have a undersized or over matched line you should still be able to hit the right gaps and not let running backs get almost 7 yards per rush. Strong said something about that yesterday and I hope this gets fixed. Once you fix that then they will be off the field more often and have more energy to pass rush.

 

I do like the way Bedford tries to take QB out of his comfort zone by getting after the QB. He wants to hit the QB and make him pay for every pass, I like this philosophy. and agree, lets "#$%#" him up... ..Lets get Bedford some top recruits to go with his philosophy and I think future opposing QB's will know they are in for a long night/day when Texas game week comes up on schedule.

 

But graduations and the draft are pretty much predictable, unlike serious injuries or team rules violations (such as a serious event with arrest), which are not so predictable.

Part of the job is not only to coach this year's players, but to start the training of THIS year's underclassmen who are expected to be NEXT year's contributors.

It's not like Bedford and crew are just coaching the starters in the spring and summer, and then when the season is over they look up and go: "Well, f**k me, we don't have anyone to play left defensive tackle for next year."

Or if that IS what they're doing, they're doing it wrong, IMHO.

 

DL, for one.

It may take Sumlin screwing up again this year like last year (or some such miracle)
to get a top ten class (one that in retrospect is now probably a top twenty class with all the defections since signing day).

I don't think Strong had any clue regarding the level of coaching experience and expertise that was required at Texas (or else he couldn't attract that level of coaching talent). The three replacements he's made on offense would certainly suggest that.

Maybe Heard and Co. can do such a good job that good defensive players will want to come play for this coaching staff.