Game Week 4 – Okie State

I played a little football (in the last century) and have watched a whole lot at all levels. Talked to a few coaches and players and have found a constant in those discussions. The role of revenge and emotion plays a somewhat limited role after the first few minutes of the game. The adrenaline, cortisol, and other assorted stress hormones that raise the emotional intensity start to wane for both sides, and what determines the outcome is which team is more talented, and which team is better coached: more prepared, better schemed, better conditioned, etc. And then a little luck: tipped balls, weird calls, etc.

Revenge is especially overrated (reference Cal game). This team is playing for now. For this season. Last season, in fact last week's game, is gone. Our team is loaded with incentive to win, but for reasons related to right now. And if our defense is better prepared, better coached, better schemed than osu's then we will win. (and certainly better coached than we saw in the Cal game)

I have seen enough of our offense to have confidence in the offensive coaching staff, team prep, and focus of the players to believe it will play well enough, score enough to win if the defense shows up.

 

Agree.

Revenge is a general notion leading to a game with an opponent.

Having played through HS what you stated is exactly right.

As a player you are coached to be very focused on the player on the other team in front of you, your assignment and then the next play - not revenge. After that the secondary focus on the O is the series when you have the ball again or if your the D, the next series / stopping them.

You condition yourself to tune out the the fans / crowd, the cheerleaders, the rivalry, last year, etc.

 

Looks like Elliott and Jones will be seeing a lot of action this week. http://www.burntorangenation.com/20...lliott-brandon-jones-texas-longhorns-starters

 

For some reason, I could never tune out the cheerleaders.

 

Watching Colt to Quan and Ship in the 08 game. Damn that was fun to watch.

 

I apologize for my lack of updates the past 10 days. I recently found out that my father was a Sith Lord and I've been attempting to bring him back from the dark side. That, and having a biomimetic anthropomorphic hand fitted to my arm has hampered my participation here.

 

– Starting RG: After his DWI incident, starting RG Kent Perkins won’t play vs Oklahoma State this weekend. The first thought from most was that Alex Anderson will start in his place, as he did vs UTEP when Perkins was injured. However, based on what I’ve heard this week it sounds like Jake McMillon could very well be in line to get the start at RG.

McMillon started his career at Texas as a guard, before moving to defensive tackle and coming back to the OL. All the other OL seem to be healthy coming out of the bye week.

– Defensive Backs: Going off of what Super K mentioned earlier in the week, it sounds like multiple guys will get chances to play at safety. That includes Brandon Jones, DeShon Elliott, Kevin Vaccaro, PJ Locke, and possibly even Davante Davis to go along with Dylan Haines and Jason Hall.

Right now I haven’t heard if the staff plans to throw the young guys out there to start the game or allow some guys with experience to handle the first series or two to take some pressure off the young guys. Bottom line is there will be other guys getting a chance to make an impact at safety this weekend.

[TFB]

 

– Coaching Heat: I know there has been a lot of talk about the struggles of the Texas defense. Defensive coordinator, Vance Bedford has received his fair share of the heat.

I would just caution people about drawing the conclusion that some of the same defensive results we see this year and saw last year share causation. Last year the Texas secondary, at times, included two freshmen cornerbacks, a walk on safety and a linebacker who has struggled with his eye discipline (Jason Hall). This year, the secondary is more experienced on the outside. However, as we’ve noted this week, they are clearly not yet comfortable with their experienced safety options. But bottom line is, the secondary is more experienced.

So what has changed this year? Something to keep in mind is that Texas hired a new secondary coach this year. Based on what I’ve heard, some of the guys in the secondary may still be getting accustomed to the coaching style of their new coach. And while folks may be quick to pounce on Bedford, Bedford was calling the defense that was shutting down spread offenses in Strong’s first year at Texas.

Again, the cause of the ills in the secondary the past couple years may not necessarily be the same. I’m not yet convinced that Vance Bedford is the connection to last year’s struggles and this year’s struggles.

[TFB]

 

First time watching Texas gameday this season and im not liking the crew

 

I actually prefer Dan Neil to VY. Sorry, VY is just hard to listen to. Echo has been a good addition, too. Very honest, not much, if any, homerism. Ricky is usually there, not sure where he was, but I think Babers is a very good analyst.