It was 2021 all over again for the Texas football program on Saturday.
Holding a two-score lead in the second half and a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter proved to be beneficial as a dead man having a date scheduled with a supermodel a week after his final breath.
The defense couldn't make plays or get off the field.
The offense stopped doing pretty much anything that worked until the final 21 seconds of the game.
The coaching didn't help.
You add it all up together and you've got yet another loss in a game that Texas should have won.
Texas Tech 37 Texas 34 in OT
It was a day when the program needed someone... ANYONE... to make a monumental play and it just didn't happen (although Hudson Card and Tarique Milton tried), while Texas Tech's Donovan Smith always had one more rabbit to pull out of his hat. Who could have guessed that it would be Smith that would finish as the game's best player?
From my perspective, it's a complete team loss. I've got bones to pick with all phases of the game and the coaches responsible for them. One team seemed desperate to win, while the other seemed to hope that the other team's desperation would work against them.
You want to know how 7-5 or 8-4 seasons happen? Just look at today. Dropping games just like this.
It just wasn't good enough in any shape, form or fashion.
(Other thoughts on the game)
* I don't have words for Bijan Robinson (of all people) fumbling on the first play of overtime.
* I can't believe Hudson Card pulled that rabbit out of his hat in setting up the field goal that sent the game to overtime. I didn't think he had it in him, but the job he did in the three plays that set up the Bert Auburn field goal.... wow.... it doesn't get better than that from an execution standpoint.
* Joey McGuire out-coached Steve Sarkisian.
* The story of this game was the inability of the Texas defense to consistently get off the field or create turnovers against a quarterback that was giving them away like candy on Halloween night coming into the game. I talked all week about how the underlying numbers of this defense were worrisome and that the results from the first three games amounted to a little fool's gold. That reality was revealed the hard way on Saturday.
* Tarique. Freaking. Milton. Where did that come from?
* Hudson Card didn't lose this game, but he was outplayed by Smith and really didn't play well in the second half outside of the one scoring drive when he was quite excellent and the throws he made in the last 21 seconds. He just couldn't bottle it up and go back to it whenever he wanted to.
* The loss of Xavier Worthy for the second half was monumental. The passing game couldn't get a damn thing going in the final two quarters of the game with Worthy out and the coaches puzzled by how they would get the ball into the only other wide receiver weapon it has (Jordan Whittington).
* Whittington in the second half: zero catches.
* 16 total carries for Bijan Robinson. Not good enough.
* A big moment in the game was keeping Tech out of the end zone early in the fourth quarter with a couple of run stuffs on Smith. Kudos to Byron Murphy, DeMarvion Overshown and the rest of the players that stepped up big there.
* It's asking a lot of Cole Hutson to play week-in and week-out without it being a problem, but it was most definitely that in the third quarter. At one point, he flat out whiffed on a block in pass protection and nearly got Card killed.
* I did not expect this to be Baylor Cupp's breakout party. Color me shocked.
* On the drive that ended with Bijan Robinson scoring from 40 yards out, I thought we saw a lot of maturation from Card, as he did a great job of climbing the pocket to complete passes, while also showing a lot of guts to run for a first down on third and long. It wasn't a sexy drive from a statistical standpoint, but the coaches will love what they see from Card on film.
* The Longhorns might want to mix in something with the Wildcat formation besides Roschon JOhnson simply faking the read and trying to bulldoze his way through 27 defenders. Will they ever let Roschon throw the ball out of the Wildcat?
* Pretty, pretty good first half.
* Roschon Johnson messing a dude up in pass protection and then catching a 24-yard pass was pretty much the perfect Roschon play.
* We had an Agiye Hall sighting with his first career catch with the Longhorns in the second quarter.
* Barryn Sorrell is going to be upset when he's that D'Shawn Jamison was credited for a sack of a scrambling Smith when it was Sorrell who created the majority of pressure that led to the sack, only to see Jamison cut in front of him and closest to Smith as he ran out of bounds.
* It was a big response by Card on the drive following his second quarter interception to complete a big throw to Whittington for a first down and then to climb forward in the pocket to hit Xavier Worthy with a 39-yard touchdown pass.
* Speaking of that interception, it was just a terrible decision/throw by Card on the deep ball to Casey Cain. That just can't happen. Props to the defense for getting Tech off the field in a way where the play didn't hurt the Longhorns and to Card for putting it behind him.
* As bad as that interception by Card was, it wasn't as bad as jumping offsides on third and 26 on defense, only to compound the problem by committing a pass interference that gave Tech a first down. That turned out to be a 7-point mistake.
* The offensive line giving up a sack on third and 8 when Tech only rushed three players was a cardinal sin. Jake Majors just got bullied on the play and couldn't stay with his man, who got the sack.
* Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey has to make that stop on Donovan Smith on 4th down near the goal line. Smith just ran through his tackle attempt in what turned out to be a seven point play. There haven't been many times when Tucker-Dorsey's size has been as issue this season, but it was on that play.
* Tech's first two offensive drives: 31 plays, 159 yards, 14 points and 12:41 in possession. Woof.
* The Horns have a habit of starting quick on offense under Sarkisian and that was definitely the case on the opening drive when the offense scored in three plays, with the touchdown coming on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Hudson card to Keilan Robinson. It felt like one of the easiest touchdowns in the history of the program, as Robinson just walked into the end zone after stumbling untouched for about 15 yards. Well done, Sark.
Holding a two-score lead in the second half and a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter proved to be beneficial as a dead man having a date scheduled with a supermodel a week after his final breath.
The defense couldn't make plays or get off the field.
The offense stopped doing pretty much anything that worked until the final 21 seconds of the game.
The coaching didn't help.
You add it all up together and you've got yet another loss in a game that Texas should have won.
Texas Tech 37 Texas 34 in OT
It was a day when the program needed someone... ANYONE... to make a monumental play and it just didn't happen (although Hudson Card and Tarique Milton tried), while Texas Tech's Donovan Smith always had one more rabbit to pull out of his hat. Who could have guessed that it would be Smith that would finish as the game's best player?
From my perspective, it's a complete team loss. I've got bones to pick with all phases of the game and the coaches responsible for them. One team seemed desperate to win, while the other seemed to hope that the other team's desperation would work against them.
You want to know how 7-5 or 8-4 seasons happen? Just look at today. Dropping games just like this.
It just wasn't good enough in any shape, form or fashion.
(Other thoughts on the game)
* I don't have words for Bijan Robinson (of all people) fumbling on the first play of overtime.
* I can't believe Hudson Card pulled that rabbit out of his hat in setting up the field goal that sent the game to overtime. I didn't think he had it in him, but the job he did in the three plays that set up the Bert Auburn field goal.... wow.... it doesn't get better than that from an execution standpoint.
* Joey McGuire out-coached Steve Sarkisian.
* The story of this game was the inability of the Texas defense to consistently get off the field or create turnovers against a quarterback that was giving them away like candy on Halloween night coming into the game. I talked all week about how the underlying numbers of this defense were worrisome and that the results from the first three games amounted to a little fool's gold. That reality was revealed the hard way on Saturday.
* Tarique. Freaking. Milton. Where did that come from?
* Hudson Card didn't lose this game, but he was outplayed by Smith and really didn't play well in the second half outside of the one scoring drive when he was quite excellent and the throws he made in the last 21 seconds. He just couldn't bottle it up and go back to it whenever he wanted to.
* The loss of Xavier Worthy for the second half was monumental. The passing game couldn't get a damn thing going in the final two quarters of the game with Worthy out and the coaches puzzled by how they would get the ball into the only other wide receiver weapon it has (Jordan Whittington).
* Whittington in the second half: zero catches.
* 16 total carries for Bijan Robinson. Not good enough.
* A big moment in the game was keeping Tech out of the end zone early in the fourth quarter with a couple of run stuffs on Smith. Kudos to Byron Murphy, DeMarvion Overshown and the rest of the players that stepped up big there.
* It's asking a lot of Cole Hutson to play week-in and week-out without it being a problem, but it was most definitely that in the third quarter. At one point, he flat out whiffed on a block in pass protection and nearly got Card killed.
* I did not expect this to be Baylor Cupp's breakout party. Color me shocked.
* On the drive that ended with Bijan Robinson scoring from 40 yards out, I thought we saw a lot of maturation from Card, as he did a great job of climbing the pocket to complete passes, while also showing a lot of guts to run for a first down on third and long. It wasn't a sexy drive from a statistical standpoint, but the coaches will love what they see from Card on film.
* The Longhorns might want to mix in something with the Wildcat formation besides Roschon JOhnson simply faking the read and trying to bulldoze his way through 27 defenders. Will they ever let Roschon throw the ball out of the Wildcat?
* Pretty, pretty good first half.
* Roschon Johnson messing a dude up in pass protection and then catching a 24-yard pass was pretty much the perfect Roschon play.
* We had an Agiye Hall sighting with his first career catch with the Longhorns in the second quarter.
* Barryn Sorrell is going to be upset when he's that D'Shawn Jamison was credited for a sack of a scrambling Smith when it was Sorrell who created the majority of pressure that led to the sack, only to see Jamison cut in front of him and closest to Smith as he ran out of bounds.
* It was a big response by Card on the drive following his second quarter interception to complete a big throw to Whittington for a first down and then to climb forward in the pocket to hit Xavier Worthy with a 39-yard touchdown pass.
* Speaking of that interception, it was just a terrible decision/throw by Card on the deep ball to Casey Cain. That just can't happen. Props to the defense for getting Tech off the field in a way where the play didn't hurt the Longhorns and to Card for putting it behind him.
* As bad as that interception by Card was, it wasn't as bad as jumping offsides on third and 26 on defense, only to compound the problem by committing a pass interference that gave Tech a first down. That turned out to be a 7-point mistake.
* The offensive line giving up a sack on third and 8 when Tech only rushed three players was a cardinal sin. Jake Majors just got bullied on the play and couldn't stay with his man, who got the sack.
* Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey has to make that stop on Donovan Smith on 4th down near the goal line. Smith just ran through his tackle attempt in what turned out to be a seven point play. There haven't been many times when Tucker-Dorsey's size has been as issue this season, but it was on that play.
* Tech's first two offensive drives: 31 plays, 159 yards, 14 points and 12:41 in possession. Woof.
* The Horns have a habit of starting quick on offense under Sarkisian and that was definitely the case on the opening drive when the offense scored in three plays, with the touchdown coming on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Hudson card to Keilan Robinson. It felt like one of the easiest touchdowns in the history of the program, as Robinson just walked into the end zone after stumbling untouched for about 15 yards. Well done, Sark.
