Like many of you, I recorded the game and watched it again early this morning. There was one play in the third quarter where Utah tried a simple hand-off and, as soon as he took the ball, the Utah back was overwhelmed and smothered for a loss by three of our defensive linemen (with another one close by), all of whom had beaten their blocks. It reminded me of the early-season, non-conference games in Mack's best years when we would play some sacrificial lamb and just overwhelm them so badly I would be hoping their little players wouldn't get hurt. Haven't seen very many of those kinds of plays in quite awhile. Glad to know it's still possible.
I recorded the game and watched it for the first time this AM. Three bowl games in a row, a favored team has lined up against our Longhorns and has been outplayed, out coached and out hit. Now, wouldn't it be nice to see that become a regular occurrence during the regular season? Clearly Utah came into this game expecting to win. They ran headlong into a buzz and their frustration in the second half was evident. Their lone touchdown was a gift resulting from a hustle penalty on Coburn. At the least, that should have been offsetting PF's. The Ute player ripped his helmet off intentionally. The automatic first down was a gift.
In my mind, this was the best defensive performance since back in 2008 when we had Rak. I'm really hoping the coaches make putting Ossai on the edge a regular thing. Man I'm hoping to see Alfred Collins in this defense with Broughton and maybe Umanimen. That would be pretty scary. Dear 8 lb 6 oz new born infant Jesus, don't even know a word yet, so infant and cuddly, yet still omnipotent, we thank you for all the games we won, and would ask that you make these new Texas defensive coaches run a 4 man defensive front next year. And please use your Ninja skills to make Kelee Ringo a Texas Longhorn. Amen.
There is nothing wrong with the 3 man front. Baylor ran a 3 man front fairly successful wouldn't you say? The 3 man front executed fairly well against Utah. Ash prefers a 4 man front, this is his call I guess. The 3 man front executed fairly well against Utah.
You are correct, when you have the right players, there is nothing wrong with a 3 man front. Right now, Texas doesn't have the right people. Check out our roster and look closely at the guys we have playing the defensive line. We have a bunch of DTs and a few DE thrown in. Our roster screams that we need to run a 4-3 in order to take advantage of all the quality DTs we have. If we were lacking in Dts and had quality DEs, I'd say we need to run a 3 man front, but we are opposite. Next I would point out that our best Dline recruit is Vernon Broughton and he is not a DE nor is he a Nose guard, he is 100% a DT and put him anywhere else and you diminish his effectiveness. As a 3 tech, he is going to destroy everyone, he is too tall to be an effective Nose and too slow to be a 5 or 7 Tech. Put him as a 3 or a 4 technique and you have an All Conference player.
That TD was a gift in three different ways. Missing the facemask on them. An idiotic rule that penalizes a guy for something it shouldn't (I can't blame the ref for calling it, he'll get downgraded if he doesn't). And then their touchdown didn't even get reviewed even though the guy obviously bobbled the ball and didn't secure it until he was out of bounds.
After re-watching without beer or wine, what became apparent to me is that we won the game with the first two possessions of the 2nd half. Kick off and shut them down on 4th and short followed by Jam it down their throats (via air and ground attack) for a soul crushing touchdown Whatever motivational coach speech was given in the locker room at halftime vaporized right there. The Utes body language after that TD spoke to the truth of Mike Tyson's quote "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth".
The only leeway seems to be if the player stops playing when the helmet comes off or continues to play. Does Coburn's making his way over to the tackle to celebrate the stop qualify as "playing on"?
If you watch it again, Colburn was running toward the Ute player before the tackle. I hate the rule but really left no option for the ref. Only thing for Colburn to do is run away from the play completely. Who can have that level of awareness.
That was not a 3 man front vs Utah. Learn to count. Baylor lost twice to OU and lost to a depleated UG team with their 3-3-5 defense. Baylor also nearly and should have lost to both Tech and TCU this year with that 3-3-5 defense.
If he makes his way over AFTER the whistle, he is fine....He continued toward the ball before the whistle.
Colburn did not attempt to participate in the play - no call The Utah defender ripped off Colburn's helmet which is the same as facemask. That would have been the correct call. We are from the Big XII, where we should be used to Walt Anderson and his hand picked cronies (except for two) blowing the correct call. We should be happy that they didn't call Colburn for targeting or throwing his helmet at the defender.
I've re-watched the game 3 times now. And yeah, I'm working on getting a life. In the meantime, looking at some of Duvernay's catches. The throws were to the outside. Duvernay was not wide open - the DB was right there. It looks to me like DD stayed on a course more toward the middle, shielding the DB and giving himself the option to reach outside for the ball. How much was pass placement and how much was receiver positioning? I think he's ready for the NFL.
Yes, it was as much Duvy controlling the DB on his path toward the ball as it was E’s ball placement. He is a strong dude.
The TD catch in particular demonstrated his ability to out-muscle his defender without drawing a flag.
I’m just into the 2nd half in the re-watch. Of course I am impressed like everyone else, with this — probably unpopular — observation: Ingram still lacks vision big-time. Take a look at two plays: 2nd Offensive play of the game: He runs into the back of his OLs instead of cutting back. Lanes are there. First play after the Jamison return: Same thing. If he cuts back left there is one player to beat, about five yards back, and he probably scores. He has the physical skills. If he could somehow develop vision, the kid would be unstoppable. I suspect that BR won’t have the same issue.
Take a look at two plays: One where he hurdles the tackler. The tackler literally says WTF before he turns around to go after him. The last touchdown run of the game. It was designed to go inside between the tackles but was clogged. Keontay sees this and cuts to his left 2 yards from the line and turns on the speed.Outrunning the contain he cuts up field and stiff arms the last tackler and continues to the midfield crossing the goal line because if they are not there, they cannot tackle you. No he is not perfect. but nit picking his best effort yet is pinché.
As I anticipated... Sounds like you are disputing my observation that his lack of vision has prevented him from becoming an elite back. Guess we are each entitled to our own opinions.
Key words "within striking distance of an attempted tackle". Correct, but does this qualify as "participating in the play"? If he just stood there after his helmet was ripped off his head, and a Utah player clocked him would that have been participating in the play? This is one of those rules that had good intentions, but unintended consequences and in need of a definition of what "immediately stopping participation" means. It appears that no one thought through the consequences of just stopping while the play is ongoing.
You neglected to throw in that Baylor was the best defensive team in the conference. Believe that is more relevant that what you threw out. I can list a lot of teams running the four man fronts too.