I must be insane or watching a different team from many on this board. This is far and away the best offense Texas has had since the invention of the wishbone. Sure the Vince Young national championship team I would chose over this offense, but that had superman and 5 future NFL offensive linemen who were juniors and seniors. I do not think the play calling had a lot to do with its success. Do you people want Bill Walsh?
I think Warren being out greatly affect the game plan. Dropped passes also. Johnson dropped one in the end zone. The game lived up to its name we just didn't get the win. I
Screen pass ? Jet sweep ? Reverse ? Traps ? etc. etc.etc ????? WTH ...Where are these plays ??? .Why don't we have some snap to our offense ?????
I must be living in a parallel universe... We scored 40 points and lost. We had the ball only 24:40 minutes. In other words, in addition to scoring quickly, OU controlled the game and dominated on offense. The defense gave up 672 net yards. They ran for 282 yards. And we are wringing our hands about our offense?
A few tweaks: fewer WR screens - but at least there was a blocking on a couple this week Swoopes needs to pass every now and then to keep D honest throw more than one crossing pass per week - I'd throw it until they stop it use TEs as receivers - it has worked a couple times this year Disclaimer - I am not an Xs & Os guru. I know they are trying to protect Shane. But there is a need to mix the play calling up more.
Some bad play calling and personnel decisions contributed. I'm not personally wringing my hands. Just calling out a contributing factor. Texas Gameday crew did the same. Everyone on the staff shares in the blame.
I can't stand Mike Stoops but he had plenty on the line today as did his brother. Lose to Texas and Mike Stoops might have been brother Bob Stoops' Vance Bedford. I thought that the OU D had quite a bit to do with holding us to 40. They squashed almost all of the bubble screens, a play that in the past 10 years we have executed successfully only one of two times. (Yes, that is an exaggeration but doesn't it seem like it?) Then there was # 7 who for the most part played one heck of a game for them. And finally, no one is discussing Buechele's ribs but perhaps that was a factor... True, Gilbert made some poor calls but his unit played well enough for Texas to win the game.
Gilbert probably did the best he could under the circumstances. The issue has been the OL all season and that falls on Mattox as much as Gilbert. Foreman had a good game, but he was (and will be for the remainder of the season) the only RB. Porter doesn't have the heft and who knows the issue(s) with T. Houston. However the less than 60 second on the clock drives are going to have to stop, and someone is going to have to get imaginative to revive the 18 wheeler package without exposing Swoops inability to pass.
I agree. I was at the game and glad to see this topic on here. The defense is hopeless. We all know that. I, and most everybody else sitting around me, kept wondering why we called about three plays today (run up the middle, wide receiver screens and long throws to nobody in particular). I'm definitely not sold on Gilbert. One year at Tulsa may not be enough to warrant being the OC at a big time school. Sure, 500 yards and 40 points ought to win most games but the play calling just didn't seem to make any sense. Swoopes came in at weird times. He should only come in when we're inside the 10. This team is a mess. Unorganized from top to bottom. A five point loss that very well could have been a win. The game was over when we had the last possession. We weren't going to go 90 yards in 20 seconds but why have a RB in the backfield instead of having 5 wide outs. I know he was probably there to help block but Boo even faked to Foreman before running for his life. It didn't work. We needed to go downfield but had 4 WR against 6 or 7 DBs. I'm perplexed, confused and frustrated. I think Charlie and Gilbert are too. 6-6 may be the best we can expect now.
I know this is counter intuitive but, I actually would have tried a draw play on first down. Yes, no kidding. There's no way we have any shot at a miracle unless we can get the ball to midfield and with their prevent defense and one of the best backs in the country, it's not unreasonable to think that Foreman would have broken one to the 50 or beyond. Had that happened, we run to the line (if he doesn't get out of bounds), spike the ball once it's placed ready for play, and then try a Hail Mary to Johnson with one or two seconds left on the clock. Yes, that's a real long shot. But, throwing the ball in that situation is also a real long shot. Now, if we had recovered Special Snowflakes' fumble a few plays earlier, we would probably be discussing a W today. Man was he lucky.
It's not that the offense is getting a pass, it's that people are tending to just concede that the defense sucks and are expecting superhuman performances offensively. You say they "should have scored 60," but that's so close to Mack Brown's yammering about how the defense needed to collect 3 turnovers a game in 2010 to "have a chance to win." It comes off as an attempt to deflect attention away from the real problem. Again, 425 yards and 40 points is more than adequate to win and failing to do so falls on the give-up-45-points-and-nearly-700-offensive-yards defense.
I agree with you on this. I have unequivocally stated that the defense sucks. I agree, too, that scoring 40 SHOULD win this ball game. But, you must admit that turning 4 turnovers into only 3 points and passing on a 3rd and 2 when, like the Texas Gameday crew pointed out, Foreman had been a beast, is a bit suspect. I have stated over and over I don't blame the offense, I just don't think Gilbert should get a pass. I think the offense is obviously improved. If he is as good as we hope, Gilbert himself will take a deep look at what he and his staff could have done better on the offensive side. I hope that clarifies my thoughts on him and the offense.
Every Longhorn I talked to in Dallas last night was content with the offense and entirely focussed on the defense. Just about everyone said something like "Did you see the Texas Bowl against Arkansas? Gilbert has improved our offense so much! Fire everyone associated with the defense!"
Our defense sucks, no doubt! But, everyone was content with having to punt 6 times and not taking advantage of 4 turnovers? Yep, it is a parallel universe for sure.
Offense isn't the problem, has Gilbert made mistakes? sure but we have still scored no less then 31 points a game this year against decent competition all while allowing more then 40 in all but one which leaves less time to score cuz the opposing team has apparently had the ball a lot too......what if the defense stopped each team just twice more in a game? 31 points is enough to beat every team on this schedule.
It's a new world with spreads and accurate QB play. 31 points is nothing and is NOT going to win games against TT, OU, OSU, Cal, maybe TCU although the Trill has a penitent for throwing pics. Even if we played solid D, not sure 31 will beat these teams. You need to get into the 40s to win against these good spread teams. Gilbert needs to understand the value of a possession and not stick in the 18 wheeler on 3rd and 4. Good grief what a stupid thing to do. I like Gilbert's O. We run the ball effectively, hit passes down the field, move the chains. All things that are awesome. But damn, don't give away possessions. BTW, I have no problem throwing on 3rd and 2. You aren't going to complete every 3rd down, but the 18 wheeler with 4 yds to go is not a percentage play.
The offense wasn't as efficient as it needed to be against an awful secondary yesterday. The output off turnovers - in plus territory, no less - was inexcusable. As bad as the Texas defense is, and it is historically tragic, the offense cannot go 7-18 on third downs against that unit yesterday. Of course, when you're the one yielding nearly 700 yards, other problem areas tend to take a backseat. I would agree that both sides of the ball were culpable.
True, but the D/ST also gave the offense the ball in good field position off of turnovers 3 times and our offense turned those into exactly 3 points. The playcalling wasn't the main issue - IMO, the Oline being dominated and the top WRs not stepping up were. However, watching the Dallas Cowboys it's pretty obvious that you can trust a first-year QB to throw over the middle too instead of keeping on some of the training wheels and reducing how much of the field the D has to worry about.
I guess some of you saw a different game than I sat through. I was on Gilbert like white on rice for the play calling. All the cutesy plays previously mentioned were probably in Gilbert's arsenal for this game, but if he had pulled that crap out, I likely would have missed the end of the game in back of a DPD patrol car. Gilbert's slow developing plays were getting people killed. Our OL was overmatched by the OU defense. Seemed every time we went misdirection or counter, it was blown up. OU was not undisciplined, so I doubt gadgets would have worked particularly since we couldn't block it. For years I have said, "It's hard to finesse a really dumb player". Next, I would love to know how many yards our RBs had after first contact. Lastly, a message to Gilbert - when you are facing perhaps the best shutdown corner in college ball, you may want to not throw his direction - see also Deion Sanders.
Are you talking about #7 for OU? He had a great first half and got torched on two deep touchdowns later iirc. I could be wrong... there might have been some alcohol involved in my game watching.
Then you will need to explain to me how a failing Landry score, in fact less than 50%, can be considered "More than Adequate"? I know it certainly wouldn't have been acceptable to Tom Landry and I certainly don't know in what world it should be acceptable to us. Again, every single person that has stated the offense was adequate has failed to admit the offense was gifted 4 TURNOVERS, MULTIPLE PENALTY EXTENDING DRIVES AND A COMPLETELY DEPLETED DEFENSE. On top of that we're damn lucky there weren't 2 pick sixes it's so obvious where the ball is going. When/if Gilbert can put up 35+ and 425+ yards given 1 or fewer turnovers against KSU and WV then I will certainly give him his credit, but thus far he's done nothing but beat up on horrible defenses.
Run, 40 points by the offense should be enough in any game. Gilbert's play calling is not the big issue at the present. Assuming he is still around next year, if the same play calling issues are still present you will have an argument.
Yes, Viper and I said early on in this thread I would have been happy with 40 under MOST circumstances. However, that game was not MOST circumstances. The offense was given too many gifts for it to not have been better. You simply can't look at one variable such as points to do an evaluation. That's why we have a grading system such as the Landry system with multiple variables, and I'm sure there's many more. The fact is the offense received a failing score, plain and simple.
This is ridiculous. I'm not sure what's a tougher job to keep fans happy, the Texas Head Coach or being the Texas OC.
Good gosh. Gilbert is hired and takes the talent on hand including a freshman QB, has one spring practice, one fall practice and after 4 games goes into the Cotton bowl and puts up 40 points against OU. OUTSTANDING!!!!!. On the other side of the ball, we have Strong. Strong after three spring games, three fall practices, and 29 games, takes over the defense and goes into the Cotton bowl and gives up 45 points and 700 yards. NOT OUTSTANDING!!!!! There is nothing in this loss that falls at Gilberts feet. Two or three more defensive stops in the second half after defensive halftime adjustments and this game would have belonged to Texas. Oh wait, I didn't see any defensive halftime adjustments. Just the three man DL scheme that resulted in no pressure on the OU qb and allowing the OU rbs to run free.
I cannot concur with that...three points off of, what, four turnovers is NEVER acceptable even if you did manage 40 points on the day. 18-wheeler on first and second down that go nowhere, leaving the defense to tee off on Shane is inexcusable. Failing to include a number of plays that include passes over the middle to players answering to Tight End or to include things like a jet sweep when we have speed just makes no sense... Continuing to throw deep to Stone Hands (Burt) in the hopes that MAYBE he finally catches one makes no sense.
