It's the option. You have to be sound against the run and UT is not. Notice that Texas could not stop Williams either, so the big fast guy at QB was just extra icing and butter. If Texas could stop the run, the QB would not kill them on option keeps/zone read keepers. Most of his yards, including the 50 yard run were on designed run plays off the zone read. Mahomes will be the guy that scramble for first downs, if he is healthy.
The rest of the season and the rest of Charlie's time here
- Thread starter obviouslyZRH
- Start date
The ONE thing that has been consistent about Strong's Texas teams since the first moment he arrived is the inconsistency of his team. Texas will play great then dud...dud...great....dud etc.
Beat an ou then get shutout by Iowa F'n St....so excruciating.....
Beat an ou then get shutout by Iowa F'n St....so excruciating.....
This is pretty much what I suspected that boosters are hell bent on making a change even to the point of hoping for losses. The thing is if your that sick of it go get someone that has done something. Stop messing around with Tom Herrman. I'll tell ya even if Strong wins out I think the two sides should find a way to part. The relationship just isn't gonna work
Yeah. I think the WVU is huge. I think if they can get that W the Strong chatter has to stop. Let him coach and continue to build this program.
Agree,WVU, I think will come down to Strong coming or going,we should take Kansas,however even with Vince tough in Lawrence.Today TCU gave Baylor a real butt-kicking and looks like Patterson has got his young team back on the track. I have no doubt practice with Patterson when they lose is pure Hell since I have seen him at work.He teaches the fundamentals of defense as good as any coach in America.
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If Strong goes 8-4 and doesn't crap the bed in the bowl game (is competitive and without coaching blunders), he should be back. But, he will remain under scrutiny because he will have had only 1 winning season of 3.
That's why I think the two sides need to separate. Charlie basically came in to this year fired and had to save his job. You have boosters basically roitimg for losses so they can get rid of him. 2-3 wins and a non disaster of a bowl game isn't going to fix that. It's also not good for recruiting or the future of the program to go in to 2017 with Strongs future the #1 topic... again. I firmly beleive that although it hasn't been as quick as we all would of liked or maybe as fast as someone else would of done Strong has us headed down the right path. Not sure the relationship will ever work though.
At the beginning of the season I thought we had 6 easily winnable games and 6 lose-able games.
Winnable games were Kansas, Iowa state, UTEP, Baylor, Cal, and KSU. Any loss to any of those would be an upset.
Losable games were Notre Dame, OSU, blOwU, TCU, Tech, and WVU.
My belief was Texas would finish on the high end at 10-2 and on the low end at 8-4.
So with 3 games left he needs to go 3-0 to keep his job. 2-1 is a toss-up and anything less and he is done here.
I have seen improvement in the defense since he took over, and that tells me he needs a overhaul of his defensive staff, he needs to get rid of Bedford, whoever his DB coach is and maybe even BJM. I'd like to see Texas go after a few of the defensive coaches at LSU, they have more than proven to be good enough to defend spread offenses.
As a OC, I think Gilbert is still learning, but he needs to develop discipline in his play calling. He needs to learn to stick with the run especially when it's working. A talent like D'onta Foreman doesn't come around often, we need to use him while we can.
I am a firm believer that you get what you deserve, if Charlie is fired, then he deserved it, Texas isn't going to just fire a successful coach, three years is enough to prove your worth. Even if he is fired, he will land on his feet. I personally would like to see him succeed here, but the ball is in his court, win and stay or lose and move on.
Winnable games were Kansas, Iowa state, UTEP, Baylor, Cal, and KSU. Any loss to any of those would be an upset.
Losable games were Notre Dame, OSU, blOwU, TCU, Tech, and WVU.
My belief was Texas would finish on the high end at 10-2 and on the low end at 8-4.
So with 3 games left he needs to go 3-0 to keep his job. 2-1 is a toss-up and anything less and he is done here.
I have seen improvement in the defense since he took over, and that tells me he needs a overhaul of his defensive staff, he needs to get rid of Bedford, whoever his DB coach is and maybe even BJM. I'd like to see Texas go after a few of the defensive coaches at LSU, they have more than proven to be good enough to defend spread offenses.
As a OC, I think Gilbert is still learning, but he needs to develop discipline in his play calling. He needs to learn to stick with the run especially when it's working. A talent like D'onta Foreman doesn't come around often, we need to use him while we can.
I am a firm believer that you get what you deserve, if Charlie is fired, then he deserved it, Texas isn't going to just fire a successful coach, three years is enough to prove your worth. Even if he is fired, he will land on his feet. I personally would like to see him succeed here, but the ball is in his court, win and stay or lose and move on.
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Yeah watching that Bama/LSU game I could tell that both of those teams played with a lot of pride on defense. I can't speak for Texas but I know in OU's games there may be one or two plays tops where one of our defensive players lays a pretty good hit on the other team and of course our guys act like they just accomplished the greatest thing ever. In the Bama/LSU game, every series someone got lit up. It's just a different mindset. OU used to be like that in the early Stoops years. The fire is gone in our coach but by God we're gonna compete for that CC! BTW, LSU should make every other team feel good about their qb situation, I realize he was getting pressured but man I don't know.
As a Longhorn person, all I ask for is improvement. Are we seeing improvement? Yes, we are. I have my orange sunglasses on. I always think we are going to win every game but the reality is that we were not. I'm just glad to see them playing with heart. Did you see the Holton Hill sighting? If they can finish the rest of the season strong, watch out next year. I think UT will beat WV if they play the scout (Malik) on the QB.
Charlie continues to make questionable in-game decisions. He doesn't appear to be a smart game manager, strategist, or brand manager. Looks like that'll never change. With him, we will have to simply out-athlete other teams to win.
Yep. The tech game should've been over for a long time. It shouldn't have come down to the final play to get a win.
I had the cal game as a loss. Only because freshman QB, first road game, 2nd game in a new system. Kinda figured we'd drop that one. If we were to play that game today I think we win.
That's how it goes at every big time football program. Win or get fired. Strong was a hero in Austin after beating Notre Dame. It's not personal, its business.
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I disagree. When you have boosters saying "well I'm not rooting against them but I'm hoping for a loss so this can be over". That's not buisness that is kind of personal.
People were saying the same when it was time for Mack to go.
I'm fine with Strong getting another year (8-4 and avoid a bowl game embarrassment). I want to see him coach like he wants another year, and not like one is owed to him. I go to work every day and out compete my previous day's work. I want Strong to keep the trend up to 8-4.
I've never heard Strong say anything is owed to him. I've never felt like he was acting that way either. He'd get another job. Weather you agree or doing the outside perception is he's gotten kind of a raw deal here st UT.
$5 million per year, he picked his staff, and he knew the situation coming in - he got a great deal. Bottom line, he underestimated the Big 12 offenses, his QB need, and how bad his staff was. If he is let go, it will be due to bad judgement, leadership, and loyalty to poor performing assistants - all leading to losing. The Texas alumni, students, players, and fans have gotten a raw deal.
I don't think he underestimated his QB need. I think they knew it was a problem. Just wasn't a ton he could do about it. A lot of people say "well grad transfer". It sounds simple but being that you can't really recruit those guys it's not as simple as go get one. I do know that Gohlston wanted to come and Kelly blocked it. Who knows.
Now I think the error came in not going to Heard and the spread style out of the gate. Might of netted them another win(probably not much more) maybe kept the blowouts under control. I know many disagree but I just don't think there was the talent here in year 1 or two to expect more than that. Has Charlie made mistakes? Yes. Has he corrected those mistakes? Yes. Has he underperformed the talent on the roster? To this point I don't beleive so. I think 5-7 wins is the roster he had in year 1 and 2. I think he had an 8 to 9 win roster this year and looks in decent shape to win 8
If it was as much about talent, then he would have his original staff.
Additionally, Watson recruited 4 star QB Kai Locksley (enrolled at UT in June 2015). He was moved to WR and transferred from UT. Poor coaching and talent evaluation.
Watson also recruited QB Matthew Merrick (redshirted in 2015). True freshman QB Shane Buchele is our starter. Once again, it appears that Merrick was a miss at the QB position.
Did I say Watson was a good hire? No that would be one of the mistakes. And by the way Texas has been missing on the QB position for much of the last decade. A big reason Strong is here to begin with. I also disagree that if it was about talent Strong would still have his same staff. Unlike most I don't see coaching staff changes as some kind of weakness. Needs change, styles change, maybe what you thought would be a good fit wasn't. Especially after the first year. Now if you continue to get staff hires wrong that's an issue. It appears though that Charlie has made the right changes. It will be interesting to see what he does at DC. I'd like to see him keep calling it and maybe bring in a young guy/good recruiter to maybe do the gsme planning.
