I think if Texas is truly back, then the reason for the turnaround is the leadership we are seeing from guys like Chris Nelson, Brecklyn Hager, Brandon Jones, Sam Ehlinger, Collin Johnson, Trey Watson, and Calvin Anderson. These guys are setting the tone and example for the other guys on this team. I love their grit, determination and example they are setting. They have already made this a very memorable season for me.
Also the o-line is blocking and coming together as a unit. Except for the holding calls in the 4th quarter, they’ve been pretty stout recently.
Improvement in just about every area of the offense, I would say, is the marked difference this season. For the first time in years we have a competent O-Line (Herb Hand, take a bow sir) and Ehlinger is moving the chains with his arm and his feet. In terms of being 'back' we're certainly in that conversation as far as competing for the Big 12 is concerned. More depth across the board and an elite pass rush is what's stopping us from being nationally 'back' imho. I like what's being built here, though, I can tell you that
I'd say running back too. Ingram has the tools but we've had one elite rusher (Foreman) since Charles left. We have to start building that pipeline again. When we won the NC, we had Young/Taylor/Charles. That's a hell of a back field.
No one's mentioned TH?? Shameful. If guys are gonna blame him for everything when things don't go perfect, then you better man up and give him some credit when things go well. In my opinion, he deserves alot of credit for where we currently sit.
Totally agree. But the players have to perform no matter how well they are coached up. All the coaching in the world won’t help if they don’t take it out on the field.
... My clothing change I was second-guessing my game day shirt choice from the very beginning. We had guests over. I even had a bloody mary bar for the 11am kickoff. And then ou takes the ball and immediately drives down the field to score. I'm not prideful. I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong. I went directly upstairs, changed into my solid burnt orange, no Longhorn logo, Nike Victory Polo like I knew that I should have, and went back down to the game watching party. Yes, there were comments and there were looks. But... You're welcome Tom Herman.
I have been a big critic of TH early this season. I owe him an apology as this team has obviously turned a corner. I want to see how they come off the big win this week to make sure the intensity is there. As for your original list, Lil Jordan says hello.
As for the original list, I don't know how anyone could keep Andrew Beck off the list. Dude has been huge this year in all aspects of the tight end position. I would have expected one of the more high profile lower classmen to push him for playing time this year, but they have barely sniffed the field.
...that we've done this good and BETTER for the next 10 years and have three or four National Championships to show for it.....then, WE ARE BACK~~!!!
Um pretty easy answer. Coaching, and recruiting. To say anything else, is just not honest, and biased. We are trending in the right direction, some were all in against Tom Herman, you might be right long term. For now you are wrong. In my opinion how we finish, is not as important as how we finish in recruiting. If we get some of the big 5 stars, it could change our program. VY, DJ, Roy, Ced, Jamaal, etc.
I'm glad Tom Herman is coach, but this year's seniors are mostly from the Charlie Strong's first full year of recruiting. Even after Warren, Jefferson, Hill, Williams and Elliott departed early for a shot at the NFL there are 4 senior starters on offense and 7 on defense that Charlie brought here. His staff did an excellent job of talent identification and recruiting.
You know...when I read your post I was thinking for some reason about the game and one thing stood out to me from the beginning...Seemed like alot of OU players were trying to be tough guys...alot of extracurricular activity and such...I stated they were trying to compensate for deficiencies. I still believe it. We have the better overall players, coach, and team. I agree with your post by the way. You just reminded me of what I saw as deficiencies in alot of OU players that stood out right from the start...and I think some of them knew it.
^^^^ yes, seemed all the tough guy pushing action was taken by the ou D. Players. They KNEW the Horns were better, were outplaying them and errrrbody on their side was ragging on them for poor play in the past.
The one person I do not ever see getting any credit for the team's improvement is Yancey McKnight. People, we finally have an elite S&C coach, and we shouldn't overlook his importance to the program. A team doesn't just consistently go on clock eating, mash somebody's face in the turf, crush-their-will-to-live drives in the 4th quarter if that team doesn't have superior conditioning. And that is exactly what we have done in EVERY game since Maryland. If McKnight is not the biggest reason, he sure as hell isn't far from the top.
Sam's improvement especially regarding decision making and ball security. It seems his accuracy has improved as well, although he still has room for improvement. Remember it was his turnovers that contributed to us losing 3, possibly 4 games last year. That being said, the improvement (and health) of the offensive line is a contributing factor to Sam's performance and cannot be overlooked.
I think the biggest reason is QB play. This team, like just about any other that plays a spread offense, will go where the QB takes them. The defense, while playing very well of late, can't pitch shutouts in order to win if the offense isn't clicking. Sam has obviously improved his decision making and has taken charge of the offense. While being far from perfect, they are at least effective. We still don't seem to have a "go to" running game (getting better but can't count on it to churn out yards late in the game) so the efficiency of the offense lies with the QB. This offense, and this team, is trending up.
Beck reminds me of David Thomas in that he quietly makes clutch catch after clutch catch, is hard to bring down, and hangs on to the ball with guys draped all over him. We wouldn’t have won the Rose Bowl without Thomas, and Beck is a huge part of this team’s success.
Just came on here today for the purpose of saying ^^^this^^^ He gets credit here and there...but not nearly what is deserved. I betcha anything OU player noticed.
Kind of reminds me in a way of Saban calling fake punt off of first drive of game in '09 Championship. He's no dummy. He knew what he had in his secondary wasn't ready for our offense.
Although some referenced the OL on this thread, IMO the OL improvement is THE single biggest reason this team is 5-1 and headed the right direction. So goes the OL execution, so goes Sam and the O. Remember last season him running for his life on many, many designed pass plays? Remember plays not having time to develop and an anemic running game? Not this season. Plays have time to develop, Ingram and Sam have big holes to run through and Sam has time to throw about 80% of the time. Give the OL credit, Coach Hand BIG credit and Yancey McKnight, too.
And this>>>> Alot of good stuff here>>> I'm posting here because some of this illustrates a few key differences between Tom's personality/culture vs Charlie Strong and Mack, as well. There's alot of talk about our "culture" these days. This article offers some more insight and, I believe, a further glimpse at some aspects of it that will continue to pay dividends. (And I've called him/them out before so I will credit Carlton and DMN for this insightful piece... How 197 text messages illustrate what Tom Herman, Longhorns’ win over Sooners means
IMO it's got to be the O-line with nods to Hand and Mcknight for gettting them to where they are at. But frankly, every QB is going to look a ton better when they have time to throw the ball. Russell Wilson looks like a god among men on the rare Sundays that the Seahawks put something out there in front of him that isn't made of wet newspapers. I think the big difference with Sam is finally a sense of confidence and trust that the protection is going to be there. He KNOWS that he is going to have time to set up and survey his reads and so he is (especially this week) not rushing throws, and setting his feet properly. We even saw some on target deep balls! I was frankly amazed with how well he played (best game of his Texas career BY FAR, regardless of opponent) and with how calm he was in directing our offense repeatedly into the correct audible at the line. Now, we just need to not overlook Baylor and we can be to the break with 6 wins? I would have taken some serious longshot odds on that before the season started, I thought 2 losses at this point was almost a guarantee, and that we'd still be on track for a very successful 9 win season. Tip of the hat to Herman and the coaching staff, and hopefully we won't ever schedule Maryland again.
