Daily Short #75, October 6th, 2017: Biggest Worry About Kansas State
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The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
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As I think about how I'll be crafting my prediction for the game later today -- and struggle with the idea of possibly picking against Texas in a stance that is sure to be unpopular -- my mind keeps creeping back to a worry that has manifested over my five years of charting Longhorns offensive line play here at Orangebloods. One of the constants, you might say. One thing around here that you can set your clock to is Old Man Purple whisping into town or the Longhorns having to visit the Little Apple around the first signs of the cooler weather. And rest assured, the chapped-lipped, beady-eyed Wizard will, without fail, dial up twist and stunt games to take advantage of inexperienced Texas offensive linemen.
I talked about this in the newest podcast which will be out later today, but another thing you can count on is Kansas State boasting older, physical players who play like grown men. They are not always of the future NFL ilk, but they seem to always be bruising college players who just look a little older and more physically developed somehow. While most many are JUCO retreads and castaways from other programs, they are coached up to be physical and to play smart. The Wizard runs a tight ship and one of the keys is having his players play like full-grown men.
In 2016, both Tristan Nickelson and Brandon Hodges both had their worst games of the entire season versus Kansas State as they formed a leaky rotation based on rotating one guy out once he made a horrible mistake, then rotate the new guy back out 6 plays later when he committed a busted play of his own. Vicious cycle. The right side of the Texas offensive line could not, for the life of it, handle what Kansas State was bringing. Granted, the 2016 unit featured future 2nd round draft pick and Senior Bowler Jordan Willis, but Willis didn't spend his whole game on that side by any means and saw plenty of action versus Connor Williams. In all, between Tristan Nickelson, Brandon Hodges and RG Kent Perkins, the group committed a shared false-start penalty, allowed 3 sacks, 4 pressures, a QB hit and 2 TFLs.
In 2015, the right side of the offensive line featured Kent Perkins at RT who allowed 2 TFLs on run-stunts. On the other side of the line, Connor Williams held up fine, but Sedrick Flowers simply could not find the positioning to handle defenders that Williams would pass off after crossing his face to pick up outside twists which resulted in Flowers giving up 3 stuffs and a TFL in the run-game. In short, all of the Texas offensive line's weaknesses were picked at painfully like fresh scabs by the old man.
If we look back even before that, we see the 2014 line got the right side picked on as well with Donald Hawkins and Trey Hopkins having reasonable games, but with the rest of the group who played (Dom Espinosa, Mason Walters, Kennedy Estelle and Sedrick Flowers) combining for 7 run-stuffs allowed, 3 TFL and 2 QB hits.
So, I think it's clear that the pattern has been to identify the weakest link and attack with blitzes designed to not only get pressure on the QB, but also to stuff the run and get Texas off-balance. The question that now haunts the back of my mind is -- where does the old man attack now?
Where does he even start? Texas has weaknesses in a lot of spots.
I don't think Tristan Nickelson will start versus Kansas State. But even if Denzel Okafor does at left tackle, it's not like Okafor hasn't shown some warts as he continues to develop on the job as a young sophomore. Lord knows that Derek Kerstetter is very likely to have his hands full at the right tackle after having as impressive a performance in his first start versus Iowa State as could reasonably be expected. That is a freshman going up against the types of old-man-strength JUCO roughnecks that Snyder has built a program mining the talent and physicality out of. It's a prime letdown-spot for a player like Kerstetter who has a bright future ahead.
The biggest worry is that Snyder's defenses have exposed more experienced and better offensive lines than this one, and that the Wildcats may come out smelling blood in the water early if they can get a few of those tackles off-kilter from the jump.
While most of the Eyes of Texas will be upon Sam Ehlinger, who looks to be making the start at QB, these -- within my dome -- will be squarely on the edges of the Texas offensive line where a very familiar battle is set to take place once again.
presented by the Dental Offices of Wendy Swantkowski, DDS
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
As I think about how I'll be crafting my prediction for the game later today -- and struggle with the idea of possibly picking against Texas in a stance that is sure to be unpopular -- my mind keeps creeping back to a worry that has manifested over my five years of charting Longhorns offensive line play here at Orangebloods. One of the constants, you might say. One thing around here that you can set your clock to is Old Man Purple whisping into town or the Longhorns having to visit the Little Apple around the first signs of the cooler weather. And rest assured, the chapped-lipped, beady-eyed Wizard will, without fail, dial up twist and stunt games to take advantage of inexperienced Texas offensive linemen.
I talked about this in the newest podcast which will be out later today, but another thing you can count on is Kansas State boasting older, physical players who play like grown men. They are not always of the future NFL ilk, but they seem to always be bruising college players who just look a little older and more physically developed somehow. While most many are JUCO retreads and castaways from other programs, they are coached up to be physical and to play smart. The Wizard runs a tight ship and one of the keys is having his players play like full-grown men.
In 2016, both Tristan Nickelson and Brandon Hodges both had their worst games of the entire season versus Kansas State as they formed a leaky rotation based on rotating one guy out once he made a horrible mistake, then rotate the new guy back out 6 plays later when he committed a busted play of his own. Vicious cycle. The right side of the Texas offensive line could not, for the life of it, handle what Kansas State was bringing. Granted, the 2016 unit featured future 2nd round draft pick and Senior Bowler Jordan Willis, but Willis didn't spend his whole game on that side by any means and saw plenty of action versus Connor Williams. In all, between Tristan Nickelson, Brandon Hodges and RG Kent Perkins, the group committed a shared false-start penalty, allowed 3 sacks, 4 pressures, a QB hit and 2 TFLs.
In 2015, the right side of the offensive line featured Kent Perkins at RT who allowed 2 TFLs on run-stunts. On the other side of the line, Connor Williams held up fine, but Sedrick Flowers simply could not find the positioning to handle defenders that Williams would pass off after crossing his face to pick up outside twists which resulted in Flowers giving up 3 stuffs and a TFL in the run-game. In short, all of the Texas offensive line's weaknesses were picked at painfully like fresh scabs by the old man.
If we look back even before that, we see the 2014 line got the right side picked on as well with Donald Hawkins and Trey Hopkins having reasonable games, but with the rest of the group who played (Dom Espinosa, Mason Walters, Kennedy Estelle and Sedrick Flowers) combining for 7 run-stuffs allowed, 3 TFL and 2 QB hits.
So, I think it's clear that the pattern has been to identify the weakest link and attack with blitzes designed to not only get pressure on the QB, but also to stuff the run and get Texas off-balance. The question that now haunts the back of my mind is -- where does the old man attack now?
Where does he even start? Texas has weaknesses in a lot of spots.
I don't think Tristan Nickelson will start versus Kansas State. But even if Denzel Okafor does at left tackle, it's not like Okafor hasn't shown some warts as he continues to develop on the job as a young sophomore. Lord knows that Derek Kerstetter is very likely to have his hands full at the right tackle after having as impressive a performance in his first start versus Iowa State as could reasonably be expected. That is a freshman going up against the types of old-man-strength JUCO roughnecks that Snyder has built a program mining the talent and physicality out of. It's a prime letdown-spot for a player like Kerstetter who has a bright future ahead.
The biggest worry is that Snyder's defenses have exposed more experienced and better offensive lines than this one, and that the Wildcats may come out smelling blood in the water early if they can get a few of those tackles off-kilter from the jump.
While most of the Eyes of Texas will be upon Sam Ehlinger, who looks to be making the start at QB, these -- within my dome -- will be squarely on the edges of the Texas offensive line where a very familiar battle is set to take place once again.
