Ok, I liked this a lot better than last week, and it's not because of the Grand Total either. As a coach, you want to see a lot of balance across the board and that's what we've got here. You multiply the ST by 2, it becomes 12, 13, 14. Now I know comparing UTEP to UND is like comparing your wife's cooking to Gordon Ramsay, but still, we saw the improvement that needed to be seen on the defensive and special teams side. I'm not worried about the offense having a "drop off" because they had a slow start (predictable when you're coming off a big win and a short week), and the "drop off" wasn't all that steep anyways. I'm every bit as confident about this unit as I was 6 days ago. I did not get to see much of the game as I was at a 2-game watching party and I was pretty much restricted to the room that was playing the other game (will not say what it was because the end result pissed me off to no end). Added input regarding how the team looked is definitely welcomed.
Young guys looked great. Brandon Jones will be a beast and already is on ST. Too many penalties- Kris Boyd is a penalty machine. And Elijah Rodriguez looks horrible... How he still holds a scholy is incredible.
Yeah the penalties looked mostly defensive and a lot of them looked stupid. Regarding being a legit top 15, yes, I have no doubt they are.
No argument there, and based on these first two weeks I think it's fair to say that several of the top 10-15 teams could be ripe for a loss any week. Even Bama took a while to pull away from Western Kentucky yesterday.
90% red zone success? So unless we have 10 red zone opportunities, we have to be 100%? Why not just say that? How many games do we have 10 or more red zone possessions? Just asking
Unless time expires at the end of the half or the game, there is no excuse for not getting some manner of a score once inside the 20. Obviously things change if the metric is touchdown percentage in the red zone, but I thought the 90% metric included field goals. And if that is the case, we should be scoring in every instance down there with the obvious exception of time expiring and we are not looking to pile on points...
Exactly this. It does not say "90% red zone TD's," just red zone scoring. Fumbling through the end zone has the potential to be an extremely game-altering play. Luckily UTEP sucks and wasn't able to do anything, but Texas did something similar against OU in 2007 and it cost them the game. Red zone turnovers are horrendous.
I think what @X Misn Tx was saying is that if you don't get into the RZ at least 10 times, it's impossible to achieve a 90% success rate. 4 outta 5 or 7/8 doesn't equal 90%. My guess is he was being a bit tong-in-chick.
Warren seems to have lost some quickness with the weight he put on, and he does not know how to use the weight. Get Warren to lose 5-10 lbs. and the rushing totals will go up.
It is kind of hard to watch the secondary on tv but it seems that the fundamentals of proper angles, tackling and coverage are not as good as they need to be. Some of this is just bad habits. In fairness, they did create a couple of coverage sacks, but they also got lucky because of bad throws when coverage was not good. And the angles on the td run were just plain bad. I keep hearing they are young, but they create visions of the Rice Band in my mind. I don't see an Akina type secondary emerging any time soon and that is not good for Big XII play. I like Bedford, but he needs help in this area. Youth is no longer a valid excuse, even if they are freshmen.....been hearing that for three years. Can't be freshmen forever!
I agree. How do you get recruited to Texas without a fundamental understanding of angles? I last played organized football in high school and I understand it.
I am not highly discouraged by the secondary's performance so far although I would agree that it has been less than stellar. Hill seems like a shutdown corner and the talent level of the unit is impressive. Remember that the leader of that unit so to speak, Haines, has only played a portion of one game. While he lacks the talent of an Elliott, Jones, Vacarro, etc., at this point he understands the position better than they do. Let's see how they do over the next three games. I expect a steady progression with this caveat: Any decent QB will shread the best secondary if given the time. We will need to pressure the QB in the next three games or it could be a problem.
That's a good question. I am assuming that because they knew UTEP couldn't throw, they may have held him back intentionally. But I really don't know.
I still don't understand why so many teams in college run the 7-3-1 punt formation. It's like asking for someone to break though. Better to block a guy on the line than waiting until he has a full head of steam to try to stop him with a stationary guy. The Brothers Griffin used to regularly tear that 7-3-1 lineup a new one.
My feelings exactly. Until we get some pressure a good qb is going to give us problems - serious problems.
It's also a really dumb and inconsistent rule. The ball should go back to the offense where it lost the fumble, like it does if it goes forward out of bounds anywhere else on the field. The defense should not get a free turnover for a fumble they fail to recover.
Yeah I never understood why you lose possession on an unrecovered fumble. What does the end zone have to do with it? It's just a fumble.
We will know after week 5 or 6 if this team merits a top 15 ranking. I would like nothing better that to see us in the legit top ten in the 6th week. This team has the mind set, the talent, desire and confidence to do it, but are a bit lacking in experience. As long as they continue to work hard and eliminate mistakes, this group can get there.