Xs and Os....Football Talk

In the world of fandom....We all, myself included, get caught up in all manner of emotion, presumption, assumption, hyperbole, etc etc (you get the idea).

There's alot of people here who really like the Xs and Os and nuts and bolts of plays and talking and analyzing exactly what goes on in the games and much of the oft-unseen or unrecognized specifics as to what exactly takes place on the field.....pure football analysis.

I thought we might try a thread devoted to pure football analysis.
There are alot of knowledgeable and insightful people on HF and a growing number of pundits, insiders, and analysts out there with good (at least some of them) analysis, film breakdown, and insight.

Lets pool our knowledge and insight/observation with theirs and have a running thread talking pure ball.

I'll kick it off with the latest "Winning is Hard" podcast.
IMO these type of resources are worth a listen or read if you desire to go deeper into the game analysis and gain insight.

Winning is Hard Podcast: Final thoughts on loss to Texas Tech, looking ahead to Graham Harrell’s offense - Burnt Orange Nation

 

I haven't coached football, but I'd like to see us get K. Robinson, B. Robinson, and Roschon the ball on swing passes and other passes out in the flats where they can win one-on-one battles in space. With our RB personnel, we have big-time mismatches in space. I think we should do this a lot more--like until they can stop us. Do this several times effectively, and the opposing DC starts to think twice about blitzing LBs.

Maybe send the inside WR on a post pattern and the outside WR on a streak to clear out that side (and possibly tie up a LB as well as a S)--on top of the CB(s) covering those guys. Then our speedy, elusive, and strong RBs will outmatch whatever poor LB is shadowing him in the flats. Average about 10 yards per attempt I'd say.

This sort of play worked well our first two games. We didn't do it much at all versus Tech.

If they spread out their LBs or take other effective measures to counter this, then passes to the TEs, or QB draws could come into play. If they start keeping the CBs shallow in a zone, then streaks and other deep or mid-range passes may work.

 

Send Worthy deep, then about 20 yards into his pattern, have him stop abruptly and come back. Not many DBs could match that sort of speed + change in direction.

More come-back / button hook type passes in general. They're not sexy, and they're not "big plays", but they're tough to defend and they move the chains.

 

Wow, haven’t heard ‘button hook’ in a long time. That’s what it was called when I played some 60 years ago. Didn’t know anyone still called it that. Was my favorite in the day.

 

Bijan behind the counter trey.
Helps with O-line deficiencies,

 

Some notables from the above podcast:

Patterson spent all offseason working on the Bama defensive strategy

Cole Hutson had a very poor game this past Saturday and is struggling in general...he'll get there...just young

Kiwatokoskis scheme protects the back end but relies on great CB technique and quick reads and drops by LBs to cover shorter and inside parts of field.

Apparently, Jaylon Ford played pretty well against Bama but has left quite a bit to be desired since

Oline young, needing growth (literal and otherwise) to be really effective....especially affecting run game

Really missing Anguila and Neyor and likely win both Ls with them (and/or Ewers)

Staff not fully taking advantage of our strengths.....noted getting RBs in space..something I've mentioned multiple times, bunching up in tight negating strengths and exposing weakness, lack of creativity out of wildcat (raised by your wrong or Horns11 I believe), maybe needing to adjust D to better handle short pass and QB runs based on our personell and skill sets

Questions about why some defenders played more vs Bama but not much since

Jtavion Sanders still needing blocking improvement...whiffed on Bijans fumble

Oline technique....young guys still learning

Card being indecisive at times and not taking obvious/quick reads...known as a Ewers strength

Have some WR depth...but really missing Neyor and struggling to identify next best guys who will make plays...losing Worthy for most of 2nd half last week really changed game

Obvious Sark doesnt fully have players needed or lacking trust at the moment to do some things he really wants to do

Besides Neyor and Anguila and Ewers....could really use Billingsley and Hall and had plans to use them more until their issues

West Virginia will be a tough opponent (many reasons given and also see Godz posts in "UT vs WVU" for more insight)

 

Whats great about some of the analysis out there is they watch game film and breakdown specific plays in detail and analyze what took place

 

Agree with 95% of this. Sounds like my rants.

 

And here's the recent 247pod

Horns247 Podcasts: Longhorn Blitz, The Flagship, and State of Recruiting

Notables:

Cole Hutson struggling in place of Anguila...needs time

Youth on oline hampering Sarks favored stretch plays

WRs not making aggressive plays on ball enough (Jwhitt excluded)

Worthy not currently living up to Sophomore expectations

Really missing Neyor

Sark showing continued tendency to play it too safe, take foot off gas and oversimplify when having "late" leads

Not utilizing TEs enough

Tech showed blueprint to beat Texas

That fumble was only 3rd in Bijans lifetime?

Card struggling with reads

******As expected....Ewers likely back in starting lineup this week

Didnt get to hear it all but not much said about defense to the point I listened other than Techs exploitation of our D on 4th down (6/8) with most being 4+ yards. Also noted ability to shred D with crossing routes and WVUs propensity for utilizing them

One item of note on D I pointed out to my son as early as the first series was lack of D swarming to ball which has been a point of emphasis and growth. Just wasn't there from the jump and for most all of the game...looked very different...almost like they were jetlagged, tired, hadnt slept or were unmotivated/unispired
Makes me wonder if they got some poor treatment by the Lubbock concierge or something.
Were they prepared for a road stay and midday game in Lubbock and how was it?
Going back to last year, this team really has looked mostly poor in away games.

 

I just went back to look....

Going back to the beginning of the Sark era and 2021 season, UT has won 1........that's 1 away game....by 5 points at TCU last year.

It would be interesting to go back and look at all of Sarks teams and their away results during his former coaching tenures

 

I don't believe tech showed the blueprint on how to beat Texas. AL did in the 4th Qtr. Others just copied it and UTSA just had too much of a talent deficit.

It's amazing our coaches can't realize our competition knows exactly what we're going to do, except for the offense in 1st Qtrs.

 

Here are some team offensive grades and ranks nationally.

Hint: Scroll down to the bottom and look at our run blocking and you will find one of the primary reasons we haven't thrived more this season as a team

Where the Texas offense ranks nationally per Pro Football Focus

 

Merely a poor boys opinion but when I watched from dvr there appeared to me times when our defenders looked to ‘hold’ back on a hit and my thought was they looked like they feared a penalty as in another targeting call. That’s not good.

 

All you need to know for the offense.

 

I’m to the point of not being rational about Card in response to my perception of the bs standard applied to him. Again, that’s from multiple sources and not just here. So y’all cut me off or deal with it.

Exactly what reads is he missing? Exactly when was he slow in those reads versus Tech. He was 20-30. Four others could have or should have been caught. One could have easily been a TD. Two were throw aways. He read properly and took off timely on his runs. So that’s 24 of 28 that his guys had their hands on the ball. Seems like an incredibly high standard. 4th start by the way. Two of the others a year ago. And probably didn’t get a full week of reps in start #3. Tough crowd.

But on topic, more jet sweep action type stuff, more early down play action to short areas of the field, and in short yardage more “button hook” stationary type targets. Sark does a great job designing the screen game/plays at or behind the LOS, but he seems limited in the 5-15 yard range, which could be part of his dislike of the stationary guys. You know something that might be perfect for a 3rd and 3.

 

Hmm, I tend to agree with you on this Wrong, don’t think for a long shot that Card was why we lost this game. He did his job, and did it well. It wasn’t his job to stop Smith.

 

I think part of what is going on with Card is a lot has been made about how quickly Ewers can read and release the ball...and it is fast for his age/station.
So much attention has been given to this and the fact that Sark factored this in w his QB decision due to having a young, inexperienced oline only adds to it.
Throw in Cards initial reputation (which I personally think he is getting better and starting to alleviate) of holding the ball too long or not being more decisive within the pocket and that is likely why he is under such scrutiny.
So...Wrong is probably right...the standard or at least perception may be altered or skewed. On the other hand...you saw a little of what Ewers can do in the first few games and the contrast is noticeable. So, if one is judging comparatively, perhaps the standard is not so unfair...this assuming Ewers comes back and proves the measuring stick accurate.

 

Analyzing every Texas play from the Wildcat formation this season - Burnt Orange Nation

 

I don't have any specific play design suggestions, but we've had some success in short yardage situations bringing Karic in as an extra T/TE and caving in that side of the opposing DL. Maybe do this some more and use Roschon as a tough lead blocker for Bijan behind the extra tackle/Karic. Push them back/move the chains on short yardage downs.

 

Agree with Your Wrong (great handle btw) and McHammer regarding Card. He is playing very well and much improved on his reads and timing.
I think he got an undeserved reputation in some limited playing time in bad circumstances last year.
Even if it was deserved, Sometimes 19 to 20 year olds improve drastically from one year to the next.
Just takes time for some to see it and forget.

 

This is a truth that many anonymous internet posters either choose to ignore, or flat out disbelieve.

 

I still screw up too often. That doesn’t mean I’m not wiser or at better than I was at 20.

From reading multiple sites, it feels there are more internet experts than ever for football. It’s funny and annoying that some of these experts now view clips multiple times and find Helm was open. Try processing all that in 2 seconds. Yea, I include myself in this bunch.

On the 3rd and 3, I’ve just in the last day heard it’s likely Whittington was the primary. if I was QB, I’m looking Sanders first (easier, quicker throw) maybe run second then Whitt then Helm. But I don’t know his actual progression. I’m certain the everyday fan has no understanding of how that play dynamic changes because it was an all out sprint rather than an easy rollout. On this one and the Bijan throw on drive 2, I can see the mindset on both having somewhat lived the it playing the position in a previous life. QBs miss stuff, but it’s not always why we think it’s missed. On QB drops, we have timing throws right. Same thing here. I’d be surprised if we ever practice it at that speed so the timing is possibly off due to that. Or maybe the timing was ok but the throw was off a title. And by the way, speed could impact timing of the throw - the mind may have decided but the body needs a split second extra split second. Anyway, was that complete or not?

Generally speaking, rollouts are less than ideal particularly when you flood the area, which brings defenders to limit the QB run. And notice here, pretty sure Helm was the only weakside pass catcher. Then we left two backside defenders unblocked.

 

Real good points there in the first parts of this^^^^^ post, Wrong.
Glad it is on the thread

 

So what would you like me to delete so only the good stuff remains?

I’m a sensitive guy so let’s protect all our Longhorns “kids.” I’m joking on that although they are all “one of us” with that Longhorn connection. I believe in these dudes on the field. They just need to put it together consistently on the field. And over the past year, it’s almost never the same guy making critical mistakes or missing the play. It’s all of them at one point or another. In a way it is somewhat amazing as to what happens differently each game. Yeah, we do make similar mistakes throughout games, but the most critical play or three is always something different.

 

Get 'em pissed off, keep 'em pissed off.
"Only angry people win football games."

 

In the back of my mind I felt like he was hired to gameplan one game a month. Alabama. Ou. One in November. I doubted in this stage of his career he would sign on to grind out week after week as an assistant.

 

I don’t know the wishbone from a chicken bone, but it’s obvious to me that Sark has little trust in Card. Sark has got to let him figure it out, though. My understanding is Card has great practices. Not sure if Sark gives up on him too soon in games. Heck, idk.

 

Doesnt matter....I expect to see Ewers back tomorrow...at least at some stage in the game.
(Though I agree and it will matter again if and when another injury occurs)
Keep in mind it isn't just Sark. Apparently the team is a little more fired up and confident with Ewers at the helm. We saw something similar with Sam vs Shane...

 

Nah, there was nothing wrong with the second part ..just thought the first part was particularly needed and important to point out.
As for this^^^^^^post...
Amazingly, I know what you are saying here...

This is one of the primary things Sark is suppose to fix.
Time will tell...

 

I think this stat reflects one of the biggest issues with our offense. We dont have long sustained drives. It results in our D which is thin on depth not being able to stay fresh. When coupled with PK bend don't break scheme it's a bad mix that has led to the blown leads.