Gotta say, all Cotton Bowl teeth-gnashing aside this was a hella fun season to be a Texas Longhorn fan. Sark has absolutely killed it at rebuilding this program with the vision (and the financial support) to get us permanently ensconced back in the national picture.
A few random thoughts as we enter the dreaded off season:
1. Having Aggy back on the schedule is the first time our season has seemed complete since 2011. Ending with TCU or Tech just wasn’t cutting it. Losing to us at Kyle our first year in the SEC was classic Aggy. I absolutely can’t wait to “welcome” them back in Austin. We need to somehow educate our current students on “Poor Aggies” and shaking car keys as they file out of DKR and hit the wagon train back to College Station and rural Houston.
2. I love Quinn. We’re going to look back on his two epic years (maybe as soon as next season) and be thankful for what his arm and his poise brought to the program. You can spend your time focusing on what he didn’t have or you can thank him for what he did, and recognize that his B12 championship and his record and wins at Ann Arbor, Tuscaloosa and Kyle Field plant him firmly in the top handful of QBs we have ever had at Texas.
3. The Clemson home game four days before Christmas was one of the most fun game environments I’ve been to in 34 years of games at DKR. It felt like the biggest home town atmosphere of all time. Cold weather, Christmas spirit, Santa hats, smiling faces, and a hell of a good game against a former local legend QB with mutual respect going both ways between our two teams. As crazy of a whirlwind as college football has become, that game felt like a throwback. Ironically in the first round of the new playoff system.
4. We need to seriously fix “Texas Fight” on the road. I was at the SECCG, the Peach Bowl and the Cotton Bowl and we 100% lost the loudness battle with opposing fans from all three teams. The simplicity of opposing crowds loudly chanting “U-G-A!!!” Or “A-S-U!!!” as loudly as they could was unmatched by our side. Texas Fight is one of the best things we have going at DKR and I’ve been with or seen plenty of opposing fans remark at how cool it is, but on the road we suck ass at executing it. It’s always a smattering of one random fan saying Texas! And 50 other people within ear shot of that area replying “Fight!” When the cheerleaders on the sidelines finally do attempt to get our crowd doing it in unison with their TEXAS and FIGHT signs, no one knows which one to say or where the dividing line is like the East/West sides of DKR. We either need a more coordinated plan for executing it on the road or we need something else we can do at neutral stadiums that gets our crowd loudly doing something in unison.
5. Spent a lot of time during last night’s title game thinking of what could have been. Like most of you. The Cotton Bowl was clearly the natty. We were that close. So what was missing from our program that could have gotten us to the top? Defense was elite this year. PK had us natty ready. I’ve never loved a DC at Texas as much as I love what PK has built during his 4 seasons here. His game plan against OSU was a masterpiece. Our player acquisition is elite. Whether through NIL, Sark’s vision for the team he wants to build, selling Texas overall on such a dialed-in national scale or whatever other reason we are stacking the roster at a level we haven’t seen since the early 2000s. Dudes like Ant Hill and Simmons are just different level players than we've seen during the Dark Decade or possibly ever. And finally, Sark’s offensive scripts to open games and his ability to exploit matchups (especially against inferior talent) are elite. So what’s missing? Obviously a run game against elite level competition, fixing problems in the red zone, and in-game adjustments along with “live” play calling adjustments that creates more production from our offense in the middle of games. Great coaches always say 4 minutes in and 4 minutes out of halftime are crucial in winning games and too many times we lose those 8 minutes.
6. Don’t let it be lost that we went 7-1 in our first year in the SEC regular season. Suck it doubters.
7. Arch mania is about to hit the 40 Acres. No denying it. Quinn did an admirable job holding off the hype but it’s coming strong now. I know we just spent a lot retaining our current roster, but I think it would be a disservice to the Arch Years (or year) as QB1 at Texas not to reload this Offense with more veteran weapons around Arch in the Spring Portal window. Given Quinn had X, Whittington, AD, Golden and Bond (when healthy) to throw to you’d have to think Sark is in the market for at least one WR1 in the portal who can take the lid off the defense for Arch’s deep throws. Our young receivers are talented as hell but it’s too much to expect then to come in and be game ready, be able to block veteran DBs on the perimeter, be able to make the in-game audible adjustments like Golden made on 4th and 13, etc right from the jump.
8. Our schedule sets up nicely next season with the big rematch against OSU early and then three games to work out the issues here at home. It’s not the best home schedule we’ve had but November at DKR will be fun. And road games in Athens and the Swamp are bucket list type games to attend for any college football maniac.
9. After being pretty neutral about them over the course of my college football watching life, I'm starting to hate Georgia. We need a W next year in Athens to knock them off their horse.
10. My early prediction for next season is currently 9-3 while the offense grows up, setting up for another run at the natty in 2016. The spring portal window could swing that as much as two games in the right direction if we hit on starters at DT, RB and WR1.
Beat OSU.
See y’all at the Spring Game.
Hook’em!
A few random thoughts as we enter the dreaded off season:
1. Having Aggy back on the schedule is the first time our season has seemed complete since 2011. Ending with TCU or Tech just wasn’t cutting it. Losing to us at Kyle our first year in the SEC was classic Aggy. I absolutely can’t wait to “welcome” them back in Austin. We need to somehow educate our current students on “Poor Aggies” and shaking car keys as they file out of DKR and hit the wagon train back to College Station and rural Houston.
2. I love Quinn. We’re going to look back on his two epic years (maybe as soon as next season) and be thankful for what his arm and his poise brought to the program. You can spend your time focusing on what he didn’t have or you can thank him for what he did, and recognize that his B12 championship and his record and wins at Ann Arbor, Tuscaloosa and Kyle Field plant him firmly in the top handful of QBs we have ever had at Texas.
3. The Clemson home game four days before Christmas was one of the most fun game environments I’ve been to in 34 years of games at DKR. It felt like the biggest home town atmosphere of all time. Cold weather, Christmas spirit, Santa hats, smiling faces, and a hell of a good game against a former local legend QB with mutual respect going both ways between our two teams. As crazy of a whirlwind as college football has become, that game felt like a throwback. Ironically in the first round of the new playoff system.
4. We need to seriously fix “Texas Fight” on the road. I was at the SECCG, the Peach Bowl and the Cotton Bowl and we 100% lost the loudness battle with opposing fans from all three teams. The simplicity of opposing crowds loudly chanting “U-G-A!!!” Or “A-S-U!!!” as loudly as they could was unmatched by our side. Texas Fight is one of the best things we have going at DKR and I’ve been with or seen plenty of opposing fans remark at how cool it is, but on the road we suck ass at executing it. It’s always a smattering of one random fan saying Texas! And 50 other people within ear shot of that area replying “Fight!” When the cheerleaders on the sidelines finally do attempt to get our crowd doing it in unison with their TEXAS and FIGHT signs, no one knows which one to say or where the dividing line is like the East/West sides of DKR. We either need a more coordinated plan for executing it on the road or we need something else we can do at neutral stadiums that gets our crowd loudly doing something in unison.
5. Spent a lot of time during last night’s title game thinking of what could have been. Like most of you. The Cotton Bowl was clearly the natty. We were that close. So what was missing from our program that could have gotten us to the top? Defense was elite this year. PK had us natty ready. I’ve never loved a DC at Texas as much as I love what PK has built during his 4 seasons here. His game plan against OSU was a masterpiece. Our player acquisition is elite. Whether through NIL, Sark’s vision for the team he wants to build, selling Texas overall on such a dialed-in national scale or whatever other reason we are stacking the roster at a level we haven’t seen since the early 2000s. Dudes like Ant Hill and Simmons are just different level players than we've seen during the Dark Decade or possibly ever. And finally, Sark’s offensive scripts to open games and his ability to exploit matchups (especially against inferior talent) are elite. So what’s missing? Obviously a run game against elite level competition, fixing problems in the red zone, and in-game adjustments along with “live” play calling adjustments that creates more production from our offense in the middle of games. Great coaches always say 4 minutes in and 4 minutes out of halftime are crucial in winning games and too many times we lose those 8 minutes.
6. Don’t let it be lost that we went 7-1 in our first year in the SEC regular season. Suck it doubters.
7. Arch mania is about to hit the 40 Acres. No denying it. Quinn did an admirable job holding off the hype but it’s coming strong now. I know we just spent a lot retaining our current roster, but I think it would be a disservice to the Arch Years (or year) as QB1 at Texas not to reload this Offense with more veteran weapons around Arch in the Spring Portal window. Given Quinn had X, Whittington, AD, Golden and Bond (when healthy) to throw to you’d have to think Sark is in the market for at least one WR1 in the portal who can take the lid off the defense for Arch’s deep throws. Our young receivers are talented as hell but it’s too much to expect then to come in and be game ready, be able to block veteran DBs on the perimeter, be able to make the in-game audible adjustments like Golden made on 4th and 13, etc right from the jump.
8. Our schedule sets up nicely next season with the big rematch against OSU early and then three games to work out the issues here at home. It’s not the best home schedule we’ve had but November at DKR will be fun. And road games in Athens and the Swamp are bucket list type games to attend for any college football maniac.
9. After being pretty neutral about them over the course of my college football watching life, I'm starting to hate Georgia. We need a W next year in Athens to knock them off their horse.
10. My early prediction for next season is currently 9-3 while the offense grows up, setting up for another run at the natty in 2016. The spring portal window could swing that as much as two games in the right direction if we hit on starters at DT, RB and WR1.
Beat OSU.
See y’all at the Spring Game.
Hook’em!
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