Horn in Toronto - What I am saying about the youth thing is that I know that is not the only variable. Other teams have won with youth. What I am also saying is this. Every great coach has gone through a time where the product on the field has been dismal because of cancers in the locker room, lack of chemistry, or coaches under performing. OSU does have a young team, but they were also not dealing with what Texas was dealing with last year. Texas coaches did not work well together and it was evident. This was a failure on the part of the coaches, and Mack took 'em to the woodshed this past off season. Also, OSU has had to deal with a situation like this before, as so has every other coach that has had any prolonged experience in the game. My words are not excusing what happened last year, nor do they excuse the state of the team right now. But I am pushing back against your questions about why OSU and other teams are able to perform with youth when we are not. It's not about a failure to perform with youth, like you have said it's about much more than that. But I hope that Texas fans can see that they are much better now than they were at this point last season. The OU game was a miserable failure, but if all a person takes away from the OSU game was the idea that it was a "failure" too then I don't think they are being objective. We could have won that game, but we were nowhere close to being the better team. OSU has a very polished product whereas we are rebuilding foundations in the team not just because of youth but because of many other negatives that were happening last year...and once again, Mack is not the only coach who has had a time like this. Any coach who has been in the business long enough had a season/seasons they don't care to remember. The question is this: Is Mack the kind of coach that should be fired and replaced after coming up against this adversity, or is he the type of coach that can right the ship and instill a new breath and spirit in the team in order to get back on track to national championships again. This remains to be seen, but I truly believe he is the latter. This past off season is evidence to that. And this is why right now I am not posting as many negative/bitter comments on this board as many of the posters are. It's only my opinion, but I don't believe enough people are stepping back to see the entire picture. Yes, the past two games sucked, but I believe that this staff will right the ship.
You want to know who's young? Harin and Applewhite. They're learning as they go too. We'll be okay guys. Trust me.
I think we get a huge upgrade once Gideon is gone. He has a nasty habit of being out of position not only this year but last year as well. Open field tackling was horrible by him last year and although better this season, he's still doing it way too much.
Horn in Toronto, where did you come up with this statement: "OSU had 14 true freshmen in their starting 22 last year. I recall hearing in the Texas game last year that they had more than 20 freshmen and sophomores on their 2 deep. So somehow I don’t think there will be much drop off for them, even with a new QB starting." Even the briefest review of the OSU player participation in OSU's opener in 2010 and the 2010 Texas game show that the OSU starting lineups were upperclass heavy with one true freshman and a couple or so sophomores starting. OSU has done an excellent job of developing depth, but the starters have been and are for the most part juniors and seniors. That is why OSU won 11 games last year and likely will repeat. Meanwhile, Mack Brown and staff did a terrible job of recruiting 2007-2009 and an equally poor job of development and retention. They didn't get the talent UT needed and they didn't improve the talent brought in. That in a nutshell is why the Longhorns are presently a mid-tier team - bad coaching led to poor talent which now requires extended PT for the underdeveloped sophomores and freshmen which means Texas is simply not putting 22 players on the field who are as good as the opponent's 22. That is why OU kicked our asses and why OSU had an easy time winning in Austin. The situation is inexcusable considering UT's resources and Mack Brown should be pilloried for it. That doesn't change the fact that Texas has an overly youthful and mediocre team.
Hornpharmd - I still think we could've beat ou if it wasn't for a few dumb mistakes. I've seen unexperienced teams beat the favorite many times. Hellfire, what was the score after the 1st quarter, 6-7 or something like that? That should've given the Horns a bunch of confidence and think they could win that game. I completely agree about the okie lite game, we should've won that one as well, except the same type of meltdowns. I do have a very low tolerence for losing as I went into every game I ever played thinking I was going to win and it really pissed me off when I didn't (I'm not a bad sport though). Hopefully, I instilled that in my children as well because I can't imagine thinking you don't have a chance to win (my oldest son is on the offensive line for Plano East and that's what everyone thought about them when they played Allen but East almost beat them. I think the gurus at ESPN had East losing by 50 or so). I try not to ***** too much about the team/coaching, I just expect improvement in all facets of the game. The future does inded look bright but I want to win NOW!
People keep sayin that we did a poor job recruiting from 2007-2009. I dont remember that. In fact, I dont remember a year that everyone on this board didnt slobber all over themselves talkin about the next class of Longhorns. I just think that more than these classes have been bust, the staff did a piss poor job of either developing the talent, or adjusting to the talent. You dont recruit John Elway to run the wishbone just like you dont recruit James Street to run the run and shoot. It seems that a great coaching staff adjust to the talent. Not the talent adjusting to the staff. Maybe I missed the boat....I dunno...Does anyboby remember what the 2007-2009 classed were ranked?
Does this mean that tech is going to run all over us since we are a young team and they are more experienced? Or does it mean tech beat okie because they had the more experienced team?
