Ketch's Thoughts From the Weekend (Notre Dame game is everything)
Game 1
We’re 41 days from the biggest opening game in the last quarter-century for the Texas Longhorns.
That’s not a hyperbole, it’s fact.
Not since the Longhorns took on child abuse enabler Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions in State College back in 1990 in what would turn out to be the “Shock The Nation” campaign has the Texas program played in a season-opening game of this magnitude and with this much on the line. Just like Charlie Strong, former Texas head coach David McWilliams entered the season with his job hanging in the balance after posting a 16-18 record in his first three seasons as coach and the result of that season-opener against Paterno and Co. would either serve as a springboard or a hangman’s noose.
Of course, the Longhorns won that game, had a historically memorable season and then watched McWilliams give all of the goodwill away in his final season a year later when the Longhorns went 5-6. Who knows? Maybe history will show that the importance of this game was overplayed, but there’s no questioning the optics of this game entering the season.
Only once in the last two decades has Texas even played a ranked team to open the season and that was last season’s disaster in South Bend, so it’s not like there’s a crowded competition in this discussion. Yet, more than the ranked opponent are the stakes involved in this one.
Everyone knows that Strong has failed in his first two seasons. F-A-I-L-E-D.
“There is no reason for us to go 6-7 and 5-7,” Strong said this week in Dallas on Tuesday of the Big 12 Media Days.
Strong knows. This isn’t rocket science.
While Strong might not be coaching for his job this season, he is coaching for the right to control the narrative moving forward. If he skates by with another .500ish record this season, he’ll return for another year because of the $10 million left on his contract as much as any other reason and every recruit in the nation will know that he’s walking on thin ice.
All of the recruiting momentum Strong and his staff have cultivated in the last 18 months has a chance to turn sideways if real progress on the field isn’t made this season and that starts with the game against the Irish. With games in Stillwater against Oklahoma State and in Dallas against Oklahoma lurking in the next four games, it’s critically important that Texas gets off to a good start this season so the negative narratives stay grounded in the dungeons from which they come.
With the Marvin Wilsons of the world watching intently, Strong’s program has a chance to shoot itself into the stratosphere with a win. Win that game, win one of two against the Oklahoma schools and a 4-1 record in the first five games of the season would likely see Strong’s rear end removed from the hot seat.
In a 12-game season, some games matter more than others and I can make the case that the Notre Dame game ranks as the most important game of Strong's coaching career to date. On paper, he’ll have a team that should be able to stand toe to toe with the Irish in a way that it never could a season ago.
With less than six weeks to go until kickoff, the size of the stakes involved seem to get bigger with every passing day. The program might be stocked with some of the best young talent that it has seen in its history and Strong deserves an immense amount of credit for that truth, but at some point the apologies have to stop and the program-lifting wins into the stratosphere have to begin.
Go ahead and buckle your seat belts now because one way or another, what happens in 41 days is going to send us on a ride.
As far as season-openers go, it’s kind of a big deal.
A kicker falls from the sky to answer UT’s prayers ...
Who cares how it happened?
Who cares if Les Miles airballed a free-throw with his own place-kicking situation?
The only thing that matters is that hours ago, the place-kicking situation at Texas was a major question mark heading into the 2016 season and after Sunday, the Longhorns have a 2015 Lou Groza Award Semifinalist handling the duties. In the blink of an eye, a profound weakness is now a strength for Charlie Strong’s football team.
In addition to being near automatic last season between 30-49 yards as a place-kicker, Trent Domingue can also handle kickoffs and fake field goals if needed.
Honestly, for Charlie Strong, this is a dream come true. When he puts his head on his pillow on the eve of the Notre Dame game, the ability to call on someone to convert a 40-yard field goal in front of 100,000 people will be among the least of his concerns. He’s got a guy who has made one from that distance at Alabama. He also suddenly has someone who prevented a run-back on more than half of his kickoffs in the 2014 season.
Oh, and about those fake field goals … enjoy.
Things little birdies tell me ...
Here’s a smattering things I’ve heard in the last week regarding the Texas program ...
1. Former Baylor signee Patrick Hudson continues to be the most talked-about freshman in the program. “I wish all of our linemen looked like him,” one source said this week.
2. A former NFL/Longhorns player told me this week that Collin Johnson has been the most impressive receiver he’s seen in offseason workouts this summer.
3. The same former NFL/Longhorns player told me that Davante Davis is a three-year college player. “He’s a little different than the rest of the guys they have. Tell Orangebloods to enjoy him now.”
4. Another former player told me this week that expectations for the incoming freshmen defensive tackles should be tempered quite a bit for this season. “I don’t really see anyone like Patrick Hudson (in the group),” the source said.
5. Don’t expect any movement on the school hiring a new athletic director until 2017. It’s not anything specific that anyone told me, it’s just a vibe I’m picking up. I don’t expect to see progress towards a full-time hire until after the football season.
Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...…
… The most under-the-radar important player to the 2016 season is sophomore defensive end Charles Omenihu. His play in the spring and work in the weight room give hope that he has a chance to be an impact player at end this season and if he doesn’t emerge, I’m not sure the Longhorns have an impact player at a position in which they so desperately need one.
… If Shane Buechele doesn’t take off this season as the starter, I don’t think Charlie Strong will have any reservations about throwing Sam Ehlinger into the mix next season. Strong loves him some Ehlinger.
My nit-pickest nit-pick of the week …
I thought Charlie Strong missed a chance to fully promote his program this week by not having Malik Jefferson at Big 12 Media days. The program has no better ambassador, no better leader, no better player and no more interesting figure than Jefferson and it took three guys who aren’t in his ballpark in any capacity.
I know … I know … I know … stop nit-picking!
Buy or sell …
(As always, all of these questions were submitted by actual Orangebloods subscribers.)
BUY or SELL: Texas wins at least one extra game with the addition of LSU grad transfer kicker?
(Sell) I’m not sure I look at the schedule quite like that, but the good news is that Texas might not lose a game it would have otherwise won because of the kicking position.
BUY or SELL: The Big 12 expands, new members only get a fraction of the money, the others rake in the rest and a few teams (UT included) bolt at the end of the GOR?
(Buy) That’s exactly how I see it going down.
BUY or SELL: Texas will sneak into the top 25 some time during the season?
(Buy) I spent about five minutes thinking about this question and I’m very much on the fence. A win over the Irish gets Texas there pretty quickly.
BUY or SELL: UH gets into the Big 12?
(Sell) It’s going to take eight of 10 schools to vote yes and I believe there are enough schools in the conference that believe the league is already too saturated with Texas schools and doesn’t need a roadblock into Houston high schools in recruiting.
BUY or SELL: Colin Cowherd is wrong about Texas not being in "Tier 1" of the Top 6 college programs?
(Buy) Texas is first all-time in money, third in all-time wins, has played in two national title games in the last 11 seasons, has its own network and plays in one of the top three talent-beds in the nation.
BUY or SELL: With only two weeks to go, Erick Fowler is in a Texas Longhorn practice uniform on the first day of Fall camp.
(Buy) I’m all-in at this point.
BUY or SELL: While not ideal personally, the fact that you are not doing radio for the time being will be a plus for OB?
(Buy) The middle part of every day of the week for the last eight years has been hijacked by radio and suddenly that time belongs to Orangebloods, exclusively. That’s a major win for OB.
BUY or SELL: You stick strictly to OB and don't do anymore radio ....... for-ev-er?
(Sell) Forever is a long time.
Jerrod Heard “in WR meetings”
I’d mentioned previously that Heard had been getting a little bit of work with the receivers in 7-on-7 drills, but was told by a good source over the weekend that Heard is now also going to WR meetings.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Heard is moving to WR immediately or even that one is imminent, but it’s sure starting to sound like he has a foot or so out the door.
Charlie Strong said at his availability during Big 12 media days that he doesn’t make players change positions, and that he leaves it up to them to change positions if that is what they want to do.
With this understood, it would be hard to believe that Strong would be as welcoming of a move from QB to WR from Heard as he would be one from … say … Kai Locksley. Strong would have Tyrone Swoopes and a freshman as the only somewhat-reasonable QB options next season in the absence of Heard.
My guess is that Strong will tell him to get back in the QB room for at least one more year.
. . .
“Kyle vs. Kirk” will determine Porter’s redshirt outlook
There’s been a lot of talk about redshirt freshman RB Kyle Porter, and it’s understandable after seeing him again at Under the Lights camp. He’s an impressive-looking athlete and always has been.
However, Kirk Johnson is a player who people close to the program say the players call a “beast” and a “freak.” Some people with inside knowledge feel like the Texas Tech/Chris Warren monster in the absence of D’Onta Foreman and Johnathan Gray was all set up to be the Kirk Johnson monster had Johnson not gotten injured early on.
The indication I’ve gotten in a conversation this week is that it’s going to be tough to come in and slice into much if any real playing time on offense when you have to account for the touches of Foreman, Warren and a healthy Johnson. If you have a potentially special future runner in Porter, why burn a year of his eligibility to play in garbage time?
. . .
“If Shane is starting versus Notre Dame, it’ll be because he beat out Ty”
Some of the things sources say about this football team might be called epic trolling by the board’s standards, but this is a real quote. Whether the world of Orangebloods can understand it or not, there are people very close to the program who still believe that there truly is a competition at quarterback between Shane Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes.
. . .
“Watch out for Jeffery McCulloch”
We hadn’t heard a ton of news about freshman LB Jeffery McCulloch over the course of the summer, but in speaking to one person this week, he’s the number one player to watch out for. “If anyone can take (Anthony Wheeler’s) job it’s McCulloch,” the person said. Apparently, the team will look at McCulloch at the weak-side linebacker to start if his competition for immediate snaps is indeed Wheeler.
. . .
Donovan Duvernay wasn't prepared for Moorer
One person said that recent Baylor transfer and true-freshman DB Donovan Dunvernay was “struggling bad” in his first few workouts at Texas. “He wasn’t ready for (strength coach Pat) Moorer.”
I don’t know if he fell out or puked or what, but it seems clear he wasn’t very comfortable at first with the intensity of the workouts versus what he likely expected might come at Baylor.
It’s more of an illustration of how tough Moorer’s workouts are than an indictment on Duvernay. The source acted like this was certainly not a new phenomenon for some guys to have a little trouble adjusting to a Moorer workout routine at first.
. . .
Patrick Hudson momentum picking up
He’s one guy who, by all accounts, has had no problem keeping up. Hudson’s hype around the program and in the fanbase is picking up at a rate that may lead to disappointment, but what a pleasant surprise it would be if it didn’t.
We’d been told how strong the freshman OL was — and about his being so impressive in the weight room — but then to see the player in person at Under the Lights camp was just extremely eye-opening.
He’ll have every chance to earn a spot on the starting offensive line, most likely at left guard.
. . .
“Closest Team” in a long time
I asked one person if anything felt different coming into this fall camp versus the last few years. “It’s the closest team in a long time,” the source said.
I know it sounds like every offseason for every team about the ‘newfound energy’ and the ‘multiple’ nature of the offense and coachspeak-this and coachspeak-that because we’re all undefeated. However, it’s not hard to see how this team should truly be the “closest” in recent memory for a lot of reasons.
They’ve had to spend summers in dorms together with the coaches going on three years. They’ve gone through the hellish experience that is a Moorer workout together near-daily through that time and they generally continue to coexist in what is a fairly strict and disciplined Charlie Strong world. In short, the “culture change” is over. The team is devoid of senior leaders for the most part, but the new, uniting heartbeat of the group through the freshman, sophomore and junior classes makes up for it.
This is the kind of intangible that is hard to account for, but somehow generally ends up leading to a few random bounces going the right way for the good guys.
Lord knows the Horns would love to have a bounce or two actually go their way this season.
They’re certainly due.
