Here are a few thoughts about, and reactions to Steve Sarkisian's bye week press conference, coming off a Top-25 SEC road win in Nashville where -- most importantly -- the Horns got away with a W, but certain questions about the offense continue to linger:
- Sark starts out by remarking about the team's ninth-straight road win. Said it was not always perfect, but was proud of the team's mental fortitude and toughness to get the win. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I'll take it over what happened to Alabama, for sure.
- Sark talked about 10 penalties in the game and 7 of them were really impactful. Four on offense that negated 4 explosive runs, the holding on the KO return and you have to start inside your own 10, 2 penalties on defense -- DPI on Manny on 4th and 7 that resulted in 7 points and then Broughton's roughing the passer that negated Kobe Black's pick six. 18 penalties in the last two ball games. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I'll have more about this in the Deep Dig but even outside of the would-be pick 6, he played really awesome on limited snaps. Future looks good at outside CB as far as immediate depth.
- "Thought Quinn had a tremendous game," Sark said. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I thought he played pretty well, but I'm not sure I'd call it "tremendous." I still need to watch back the offense and will have better thoughts about it after the offensive Deep Dig.
- Sark says that nobody is operating at 100% at this point in the season, so the bye comes at a good time before the last four-game stretch. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: It comes at a good time for me too with no Deep Dig to do next week and whitetail season opening up
- Danny Davis asked about Deandre Moore: "I thought Deandre did something very mature last season." He realized he was not a front line guy and literally just tried to emulate J Whitt every day. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: You can see it in Deandre Moore's blocking effort. Probably the WR room's biggest asset in that area. Johntay Cook could probably get on the field more often if he was as good at doing the dirty work as Moore is.
- Joe Cook asked about recruiting to a 105-scholarship player class. "I think we have to operate as if things are as they are." Doesn't want to over-offer and then have to turn kids away. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Man, that's an interesting take. I think it's honorable but not all schools will take the high road here I'm 100% sure.
- Anwar asked about eliminating OL penalites in practice: Sark said that sometimes the simulated noise in practice is louder than the stadium. Said it wasn't just the OL, it was OL, TE and RB issues in protection. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Yeah, but the OL, especially the right side, really need to clean it up.
- On Bond: He said giving him that time, 3 weeks to get healthy for UF, that's a lot better than 2. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: He mentioned Wingo starting for him and that Wingo was "nicked up" in pregame which is interesting to know.
- On Jelani McDonald: "His best football is ahead of him. He was a HS QB who moonlighted on defense." ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I'll never forget him at the Army AA practices at corner. That guy can play anywhere and he played his best game on defense yet at Texas on Saturday.
- Josh Newman asked about QE changing plays mid-motion: "we give the QBs tools to alter route combinations, some games more than others. In practice, we'd practiced him signaling that, in the game, he just voiced it to him as he was running by. Which was a pretty veteran move." ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Man, that's crazy. For both Quinn and Moore. High level communication on the fly.
- On the support staff: "We're going through that now, there's a lot bigger supports staffs in the SEC than our is now. More man power and money allocation, more doesn't always mean better, but we're going through a bit of a self-audit. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Everything is bigger in Texas, CDC will get that fixed if it is being looked at I'm sure.
- Jeff Jones asked about the screen game: Quinn is elite, he can get the ball out of his hands so quickly and so accurately. Screen game, shallow cross game, checkdowns are so big to what we do. We don't throw it deep all the time but all the teams we play think we do so they back up and give us that underneath space." ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Makes Cody's X post today about QE's lowest average depth of target in the Power 5 make a little more sense.
- Ced Golden asked about Marcel Reed and the Aggie offense (great question Ced!): Sark said he napped during the game. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Man, I don't know if Marcel Reed can keep it up like THAT as a starter and not just an in-game-spark-type but he sure looks like a major upgrade on Weigman.
- On the first bye versus second: Today meetings only, weights, light practice TUES, practice WED, THU in game plan mode for FLA, weight workout friday, then the rest of the day off and the weekend. About getting the younger players up to speed will be a priority. Will hit the road Friday for recruiting. A lot to get done this Friday as a staff. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Sark said they're going to be very intentional with their visits, so pay close attention to what high schools they head to this week.
- On the Wingo collision pre-game, Roger Wallace says "it was crazy." Sark didn't see it. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: This is wild to just now be hearing about this. Is there video out there of it?
- Kirk Bohls asked if you can have two losses and get to the playoffs and how far off from "the standard" he's set that the team is: "We're so close. This past game, if you would have said the game was 45-10 it didn't surprise me, yet we have things that are happening to have it closer than you would have liked." Said Texs will have to play "closer to perfect" to get to where they want to eventually get, though. He said he doesn't know about the losses because things are so crazy in CFB and there's so much time that it's hard to tell. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: It's also about who that second loss would be to and when it happens. Impossible to predict.
- On all the sub-5 yard passes against Vandy - they played man-to-man underenath on one snap not in the red area and that was a TD pass. Tell teams to move up and we'll throw over them. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Hey I mean I guess it's fair, but people will point to the fact that in the same offense where Quinn Ewers is ranked last in aDOT among the Power 5, Arch Manning is in 27th place with nearly double the average target distance. It's an interesting disparity.
- Chip asked about players maybe being banged up who are not playing much? Gibson: you're the third RB with how the game goes you just don't get the carries you'd like. Johntay getting him back rolling hopefully will be good for him, good for us. The 2 DL (Mitchell and Bledsoe) is about consistency. I used to say those same things about Alfred Collins. Assignment, effort, consistency day in and day out. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: That's true. Sydir Mitchell doesn't seem too engaged when you see shots of him on the sidelines. He's a talented guy, I hope he can turn it on.
- On Trey Moore and Colin Simmons: Trey actually had a heck of a game this weekend. We're asking a lot of him, I thought he pressured the QB in this game. Colin has had a good year so far, but this was not a drop back game. Uncommon stuff, sprint outs, etc. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: This was never going to be a Colin Simmons game. Wait until we see more traditional dropbacks in a game and he'll pop back on the map big time.
- Brian Davis asked about NFL experience and a 16 game season: beneficial to play the NFL schedule, I also tried to tap into Belichick, Reid, McVay, guys accustomed to the playoffs. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Man, Sark has some heavy hitters in his iPhone contacts list.
- Sark starts out by remarking about the team's ninth-straight road win. Said it was not always perfect, but was proud of the team's mental fortitude and toughness to get the win. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I'll take it over what happened to Alabama, for sure.
- Sark talked about 10 penalties in the game and 7 of them were really impactful. Four on offense that negated 4 explosive runs, the holding on the KO return and you have to start inside your own 10, 2 penalties on defense -- DPI on Manny on 4th and 7 that resulted in 7 points and then Broughton's roughing the passer that negated Kobe Black's pick six. 18 penalties in the last two ball games. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I'll have more about this in the Deep Dig but even outside of the would-be pick 6, he played really awesome on limited snaps. Future looks good at outside CB as far as immediate depth.
- "Thought Quinn had a tremendous game," Sark said. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I thought he played pretty well, but I'm not sure I'd call it "tremendous." I still need to watch back the offense and will have better thoughts about it after the offensive Deep Dig.
- Sark says that nobody is operating at 100% at this point in the season, so the bye comes at a good time before the last four-game stretch. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: It comes at a good time for me too with no Deep Dig to do next week and whitetail season opening up
- Danny Davis asked about Deandre Moore: "I thought Deandre did something very mature last season." He realized he was not a front line guy and literally just tried to emulate J Whitt every day. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: You can see it in Deandre Moore's blocking effort. Probably the WR room's biggest asset in that area. Johntay Cook could probably get on the field more often if he was as good at doing the dirty work as Moore is.
- Joe Cook asked about recruiting to a 105-scholarship player class. "I think we have to operate as if things are as they are." Doesn't want to over-offer and then have to turn kids away. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Man, that's an interesting take. I think it's honorable but not all schools will take the high road here I'm 100% sure.
- Anwar asked about eliminating OL penalites in practice: Sark said that sometimes the simulated noise in practice is louder than the stadium. Said it wasn't just the OL, it was OL, TE and RB issues in protection. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Yeah, but the OL, especially the right side, really need to clean it up.
- On Bond: He said giving him that time, 3 weeks to get healthy for UF, that's a lot better than 2. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: He mentioned Wingo starting for him and that Wingo was "nicked up" in pregame which is interesting to know.
- On Jelani McDonald: "His best football is ahead of him. He was a HS QB who moonlighted on defense." ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I'll never forget him at the Army AA practices at corner. That guy can play anywhere and he played his best game on defense yet at Texas on Saturday.
- Josh Newman asked about QE changing plays mid-motion: "we give the QBs tools to alter route combinations, some games more than others. In practice, we'd practiced him signaling that, in the game, he just voiced it to him as he was running by. Which was a pretty veteran move." ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Man, that's crazy. For both Quinn and Moore. High level communication on the fly.
- On the support staff: "We're going through that now, there's a lot bigger supports staffs in the SEC than our is now. More man power and money allocation, more doesn't always mean better, but we're going through a bit of a self-audit. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Everything is bigger in Texas, CDC will get that fixed if it is being looked at I'm sure.
- Jeff Jones asked about the screen game: Quinn is elite, he can get the ball out of his hands so quickly and so accurately. Screen game, shallow cross game, checkdowns are so big to what we do. We don't throw it deep all the time but all the teams we play think we do so they back up and give us that underneath space." ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Makes Cody's X post today about QE's lowest average depth of target in the Power 5 make a little more sense.
- Ced Golden asked about Marcel Reed and the Aggie offense (great question Ced!): Sark said he napped during the game. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Man, I don't know if Marcel Reed can keep it up like THAT as a starter and not just an in-game-spark-type but he sure looks like a major upgrade on Weigman.
- On the first bye versus second: Today meetings only, weights, light practice TUES, practice WED, THU in game plan mode for FLA, weight workout friday, then the rest of the day off and the weekend. About getting the younger players up to speed will be a priority. Will hit the road Friday for recruiting. A lot to get done this Friday as a staff. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Sark said they're going to be very intentional with their visits, so pay close attention to what high schools they head to this week.
- On the Wingo collision pre-game, Roger Wallace says "it was crazy." Sark didn't see it. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: This is wild to just now be hearing about this. Is there video out there of it?
- Kirk Bohls asked if you can have two losses and get to the playoffs and how far off from "the standard" he's set that the team is: "We're so close. This past game, if you would have said the game was 45-10 it didn't surprise me, yet we have things that are happening to have it closer than you would have liked." Said Texs will have to play "closer to perfect" to get to where they want to eventually get, though. He said he doesn't know about the losses because things are so crazy in CFB and there's so much time that it's hard to tell. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: It's also about who that second loss would be to and when it happens. Impossible to predict.
- On all the sub-5 yard passes against Vandy - they played man-to-man underenath on one snap not in the red area and that was a TD pass. Tell teams to move up and we'll throw over them. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Hey I mean I guess it's fair, but people will point to the fact that in the same offense where Quinn Ewers is ranked last in aDOT among the Power 5, Arch Manning is in 27th place with nearly double the average target distance. It's an interesting disparity.
- Chip asked about players maybe being banged up who are not playing much? Gibson: you're the third RB with how the game goes you just don't get the carries you'd like. Johntay getting him back rolling hopefully will be good for him, good for us. The 2 DL (Mitchell and Bledsoe) is about consistency. I used to say those same things about Alfred Collins. Assignment, effort, consistency day in and day out. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: That's true. Sydir Mitchell doesn't seem too engaged when you see shots of him on the sidelines. He's a talented guy, I hope he can turn it on.
- On Trey Moore and Colin Simmons: Trey actually had a heck of a game this weekend. We're asking a lot of him, I thought he pressured the QB in this game. Colin has had a good year so far, but this was not a drop back game. Uncommon stuff, sprint outs, etc. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: This was never going to be a Colin Simmons game. Wait until we see more traditional dropbacks in a game and he'll pop back on the map big time.
- Brian Davis asked about NFL experience and a 16 game season: beneficial to play the NFL schedule, I also tried to tap into Belichick, Reid, McVay, guys accustomed to the playoffs. ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Man, Sark has some heavy hitters in his iPhone contacts list.
