Implications of Ewers/Card information. Psychological warfare?

[curveball1]

So, we all had a fun time at @Ketchum & OB staff's expense - while a good ball busting experience is fun, I wanted to seriously take some time to think more in depth about the issue and my conclusion and questions going forward are as follows.

All three major sites that cover UT got it wrong. My guess is that a lot of the assumed sources overlap. I honestly try to have a positive outlook, but in this case, to @Anwar Richardson 's opinion in the YouTube video's point of "the Mexican cartel's belief that there are no such thing as consequences" - what is really going on here? My thought process is that this is psychological warfare. The implication is that Sark, as good as he is on the offensive side of the ball as he is, isn't sure about the season outcome and likely thinks expectations are over inflated. The story is pushed rather than pulled as one poster has suggested in another thread in order to erode media confidence to buy Sark time.

Why would you do this? How much time are you trying to buy? Are these related to the impending move to the SEC? Was this done because Sark knew about the Herman comment about orangefans prior to his dismissal? All interesting questions.

Discuss.

 

[westx]

So, we all had a fun time at @Ketchum & OB staff's expense - while a good ball busting experience is fun, I wanted to seriously take some time to think more in depth about the issue and my conclusion and questions going forward are as follows.

All three major sites that cover UT got it wrong. My guess is that a lot of the assumed sources overlap. I honestly try to have a positive outlook, but in this case, to @Anwar Richardson 's opinion in the YouTube video's point of "the Mexican cartel's belief that there are no such thing as consequences" - what is really going on here? My thought process is that this is psychological warfare. The implication is that Sark, as good as he is on the offensive side of the ball as he is, isn't sure about the season outcome and likely thinks expectations are over inflated. The story is pushed rather than pulled as one poster has suggested in another thread in order to erode media confidence to buy Sark time.

Why would you do this? How much time are you trying to buy? Are these related to the impending move to the SEC? Was this done because Sark knew about the Herman comment about orangefans prior to his dismissal? All interesting questions.

Discuss.

Please remind me what Herman said about orangefans.

 

[curveball1]

Please remind me what Herman said about orangefans.

Don't have the exact quote but I believe is was either a post game presser or a week day follow up presser after a loss speculating about his job security - it was right after he told the media he had CDC's confidence and support.

 

[Belldozer1]

The bottom line is Texas has, what, 2 Five stars in Ewers and Malik and a Four star in Card, if Sark can't find a way to make one of them step up then the problem may not be with the players.

 

[Texasguy115]

Or maybe he thinks Ewers has more upside and gives the team a better chance to win?

 

[GuaranteedFresh!]

The bottom line is Texas has, what, 2 Five stars in Ewers and Malik and a Four star in Card, if Sark can't find a way to make one of them step up then the problem may not be with the players.

I get what you're saying but I disagree. Our problems have stemmed from subpar to atrocious play on the line. Put Tom Brady behind swiss cheese protection and you'll have mediocre QB play at best.
We've simply not matched our line to our QB skill set since VY & Colt were here. Shore up the line and the QB will excell.

 

[curveball1]

I get what you're saying but I disagree. Our problems have stemmed from subpar to atrocious play on the line. Put Tom Brady behind swiss cheese protection and you'll have mediocre QB play at best.
We've simply not matched our line to our QB skill set since VY & Colt were here. Shore up the line and the QB will excell.

Well based on early reporting, it sounds like the newbs are going to fix a portion of that.

 

[GuaranteedFresh!]

Well based on early reporting, it sounds like the newbs are going to fix a portion of that.

We can only hope. Everyone says they are intimidatingly huge humans so that's a good step forward.

 

[westx]

Or maybe he thinks Ewers has more upside and gives the team a better chance to win?

I only care about there ability in the present and not their speculated upside in the future. I am not being a smart ass, jmho.

 

[Texasguy115]

I only care about there ability in the present and not their speculated upside in the future. I am not being a smart ass, jmho.

Well we saw what Card was made of last year. He sucked. I still think Ewers is the better option.

 

[Hoookem722]

So, we all had a fun time at @Ketchum & OB staff's expense - while a good ball busting experience is fun, I wanted to seriously take some time to think more in depth about the issue and my conclusion and questions going forward are as follows.

All three major sites that cover UT got it wrong. My guess is that a lot of the assumed sources overlap. I honestly try to have a positive outlook, but in this case, to @Anwar Richardson 's opinion in the YouTube video's point of "the Mexican cartel's belief that there are no such thing as consequences" - what is really going on here? My thought process is that this is psychological warfare. The implication is that Sark, as good as he is on the offensive side of the ball as he is, isn't sure about the season outcome and likely thinks expectations are over inflated. The story is pushed rather than pulled as one poster has suggested in another thread in order to erode media confidence to buy Sark time.

Why would you do this? How much time are you trying to buy? Are these related to the impending move to the SEC? Was this done because Sark knew about the Herman comment about orangefans prior to his dismissal? All interesting questions.

Discuss.

I’m not so sure that the other sites got it wrong. I think they just ran with what Ketch said because they truly thought he knew. And expectations for this year should be 8 wins. Expecting any more than that is over inflated. They have 57 of the 85 guys on the roster that are underclassmen. Win 8 games and make it to a bowl game and that’s something to build off of for next year.

I feel cautiously optimistic for the future because of the heavy emphasis Sark and Co. have put on the line of scrimmage players.

 

[westx]

Well we saw what Card was made of last year. He sucked. I still think Ewers is the better option.

Again, not trying to be a smart ass, but how did Ewers perform last year?

 

[curveball1]

I’m not so sure that the other sites got it wrong. I think they just ran with what Ketch said because they truly thought he knew. And expectations for this year should be 8 wins. Expecting any more than that is over inflated. They have 57 of the 85 guys on the roster that are underclassmen. Win 8 games and make it to a bowl game and that’s something to build off of for next year.

I feel cautiously optimistic for the future because of the heavy emphasis Sark and Co. have put on the line of scrimmage players.

Thanks for the reply. I have to disagree. I don't think they (the other sites) rely on OB as much as you might have assumed, no fault of your own, but the overlap of sources results in the same decision.

I can't be happy with this, but I would be happy with 8 wins.

The other questions remain um-aneswred.

Why/how/what did you do?

 

[ElDiabloTejano]

Well we saw what Card was made of last year. He sucked. I still think Ewers is the better option.

dumb comment. like people can't improve. i don't know who should be our qb, as i'm not there, but i recall lee corso saying after watching colt as a freshman that we weren't winning anything as long as that dude was our qb. colt improved. card, whether it's here or elsewhere, will likely improve and have a fine college qb career. just like casey. just like the kid at utah that was here.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

dumb comment. like people can't improve. i don't know who should be our qb, as i'm not there, but i recall lee corso saying after watching colt as a freshman that we weren't winning anything as long as that dude was our qb. colt improved. card, whether it's here or elsewhere, will likely improve and have a fine college qb career. just like casey. just like the kid at utah that was here.

I can see missing Mack.

 

[HornInOz]

So, we all had a fun time at @Ketchum & OB staff's expense - while a good ball busting experience is fun, I wanted to seriously take some time to think more in depth about the issue and my conclusion and questions going forward are as follows.

All three major sites that cover UT got it wrong. My guess is that a lot of the assumed sources overlap. I honestly try to have a positive outlook, but in this case, to @Anwar Richardson 's opinion in the YouTube video's point of "the Mexican cartel's belief that there are no such thing as consequences" - what is really going on here? My thought process is that this is psychological warfare. The implication is that Sark, as good as he is on the offensive side of the ball as he is, isn't sure about the season outcome and likely thinks expectations are over inflated. The story is pushed rather than pulled as one poster has suggested in another thread in order to erode media confidence to buy Sark time.

Why would you do this? How much time are you trying to buy? Are these related to the impending move to the SEC? Was this done because Sark knew about the Herman comment about orangefans prior to his dismissal? All interesting questions.

Discuss.

Why would eroding media confidence buy Sark time?

 

[Okie70]

Interesting post. Coming here for years. You know to get some info on OU's biggest rival for the last 90 plus years. Try not stir anything up. MM whacks me upside the head from time to time, like the reply to Bell's question about OU's fall practice. Hey, he's not on the OU board. Anyway, our board blowing up since no intel on the latest scrimmage. Somebody withholding something important. And see this. The psychological warfare about when to announce the QB. Weird. But funniest to me seeing some of the comments that 8-4 would be a pretty good season for Sark. OU has had 3 of those in last 22 years and all were considered disasters. Horns have generally out recruited OU for most of the last 20 years. And have great talent this year. But OU's classes not that bad and better D coaches now. Will see in a couple of months.

 

[curveball1]

Why would eroding media confidence buy Sark time?

Think about it for a minute.

 

[Hoookem722]

Interesting post. Coming here for years. You know to get some info on OU's biggest rival for the last 90 plus years. Try not stir anything up. MM whacks me upside the head from time to time, like the reply to Bell's question about OU's fall practice. Hey, he's not on the OU board. Anyway, our board blowing up since no intel on the latest scrimmage. Somebody withholding something important. And see this. The psychological warfare about when to announce the QB. Weird. But funniest to me seeing some of the comments that 8-4 would be a pretty good season for Sark. OU has had 3 of those in last 22 years and all were considered disasters. Horns have generally out recruited OU for most of the last 20 years. And have great talent this year. But OU's classes not that bad and better D coaches now. Will see in a couple of months.

We have 57 of our 85 scholarship players that are underclassmen. Also starting a QB who hasn’t played a down of football in 2 years. There’s a ton of talent on this team but there’s also a lot of unknowns. 8-4 and a bowl win to get to 9 wins would be a step in the right direction.

The culture of this program was in bad shape when Sark took over. It was always going to be a 3-4 year turnaround I thought. We were paper thin on the offensive and defensive line, and those are the positions that matter. We could end up with as many as 4 true freshman starting on the offensive line before the end of the year.

I think Sark has it headed in the right direction but I’m cautiously optimistic.

 

[HornInOz]

Think about it for a minute.

Uh yeah... that didn't really clarify anything.

I'm pretty sure that Sark and CDC have discussed this season and how it's projected to progress in detail. I also think from the outset Ewers was going to be "the guy" because he's a much better fit for Sark's system. So the implications from this "youth movement" are already pretty well known.

We're going to make mistakes, especially early on... and some of it might be ugly. I guess in terms of setting expectations, you might be right... but I don't think the press has much to do with it. If you're not developing your team and showing signs of tangible improvement, butts won't get in the seats.

That's when you have a problem on your hands.

 

[Belldozer1]

I’m not so sure that the other sites got it wrong. I think they just ran with what Ketch said because they truly thought he knew. And expectations for this year should be 8 wins. Expecting any more than that is over inflated. They have 57 of the 85 guys on the roster that are underclassmen. Win 8 games and make it to a bowl game and that’s something to build off of for next year.

I feel cautiously optimistic for the future because of the heavy emphasis Sark and Co. have put on the line of scrimmage players.

I think most teams deal with this most years. We have seniors on our team that don't start nor should they because they've been beat out by underclassmen. Texas, OU should be competing for the CC this year based on talent alone. OU lost their qb's and a few players but that's not an excuse to not be in the thick of the CC hunt imo, we replaced the lost talent the best we could and now it's up to coaching.

Sark and Venables make too much money to be finishing anywhere other than at the top of the division. Accountability

 

[SoberByGrace]

Again, not trying to be a smart ass, but how did Ewers perform last year?

How did a HS Senior perform?

 

[Hoookem722]

I think most teams deal with this most years. We have seniors on our team that don't start nor should they because they've been beat out by underclassmen. Texas, OU should be competing for the CC this year based on talent alone. OU lost their qb's and a few players but that's not an excuse to not be in the thick of the CC hunt imo, we replaced the lost talent the best we could and now it's up to coaching.

Sark and Venables make too much money to be finishing anywhere other than at the top of the division. Accountability

If Ewers comes out and is as good as advertised and the defense takes a big step forward this team could easily compete for a conference championship. I just don’t feel comfortable predicting that because a lot of things have to go right.

 

[curveball1]

Uh yeah... that didn't really clarify anything.

I'm pretty sure that Sark and CDC have discussed this season and how it's projected to progress in detail. I also think from the outset Ewers was going to be "the guy" because he's a much better fit for Sark's system. So the implications from this "youth movement" are already pretty well known.

We're going to make mistakes, especially early on... and some of it might be ugly. I guess in terms of setting expectations, you might be right... but I don't think the press has much to do with it. If you're not developing your team and showing signs of tangible improvement, butts won't get in the seats.

That's when you have a problem on your hands.

When they come out and tell us later that it's time to look for a new coach they have eroded their credibility to the point no one listens.

 

[westx]

How did a HS Senior perform?

How did Ewers, a college freshman, perform against D1 last year? Yes, that is my question. While Card was getting his teeth kicked in behind an inept line and learning a new offense, Ewers was not. He was on a practice squad. This is a rhetorical question to put the comparisons between the two in proper context.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

How did Ewers, a college freshman, perform against D1 last year? Yes, that is my question. While Card was getting his teeth kicked in behind an inept line and learning a new offense, Ewers was not. He was on a practice squad. This is a rhetorical question to put the comparisons between the two in proper context.

Mr Webster might not be clear with his definition of rhetorical with this one. 😉

 

[westx]

Mr Webster might not be clear with his definition of rhetorical with this one. 😉

Well, I always made A’s in English, but definitley not a word wizard.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

Well, I always made A’s in English, but definitley not a word wizard.

My plight indeed.

 

[Hoookem722]

How did Ewers, a college freshman, perform against D1 last year? Yes, that is my question. While Card was getting his teeth kicked in behind an inept line and learning a new offense, Ewers was not. He was on a practice squad. This is a rhetorical question to put the comparisons between the two in proper context.

It’s just crazy to think he can’t improve as well. I don’t understand writing him off after a few bad games a freshman. He didn’t turn ball over but once in like 16 quarters.

I think he has a ton of potential. Unfortunately for him Ewers is more talented.

 

[clob94]

Some serious over thinking up in this thread......

 

[Belldozer1]

Some serious over thinking up in this thread......

You are the first person to ever accuse me of over thinking anything.....

 

[Drtxhorn]

How did Ewers, a college freshman, perform against D1 last year? Yes, that is my question. While Card was getting his teeth kicked in behind an inept line and learning a new offense, Ewers was not. He was on a practice squad. This is a rhetorical question to put the comparisons between the two in proper context.

it's been almost 3 years since Ewers has taken a full hit. He's going to have to learn quickly how to adapt to the speed and strength of CFP caliber football.

 

[clob94]

So, we all had a fun time at @Ketchum & OB staff's expense - while a good ball busting experience is fun, I wanted to seriously take some time to think more in depth about the issue and my conclusion and questions going forward are as follows.

All three major sites that cover UT got it wrong. My guess is that a lot of the assumed sources overlap. I honestly try to have a positive outlook, but in this case, to @Anwar Richardson 's opinion in the YouTube video's point of "the Mexican cartel's belief that there are no such thing as consequences" - what is really going on here? My thought process is that this is psychological warfare. The implication is that Sark, as good as he is on the offensive side of the ball as he is, isn't sure about the season outcome and likely thinks expectations are over inflated. The story is pushed rather than pulled as one poster has suggested in another thread in order to erode media confidence to buy Sark time.

Why would you do this? How much time are you trying to buy? Are these related to the impending move to the SEC? Was this done because Sark knew about the Herman comment about orangefans prior to his dismissal? All interesting questions.

Discuss.

I guess I missed something-- so if I did, someone please fill me in.

About a week ago we were having a conversation about QBs throwing and dropped balls and guys that could make throws and guys that couldn't.
It was clear to me (and I thought most of you agreed) that Ewers was making throws that nobody else could make. He was spotty at times with decision making, but that's to be expected from a teenager.
Then a few days later Ewers is named the starter and everybody has their minds blown.

I know Ketch (and I assume others) said Card would be starting. (I guess Ketch didn't get my memo--good to know he doesn't slum it down here with us pleebs)
But why is everybody so surprised? Are we just banging on Ketch because he was wrong?
Is this another example of us having more/better/accurate info about Texas football than the $9.95ers have access too?

What gives?

 

[DHHorn]

I guess I missed something-- so if I did, someone please fill me in.

About a week ago we were having a conversation about QBs throwing and dropped balls and guys that could make throws and guys that couldn't.
It was clear to me (and I thought most of you agreed) that Ewers was making throws that nobody else could make. He was spotty at times with decision making, but that's to be expected from a teenager.
Then a few days later Ewers is named the starter and everybody has their minds blown.

I know Ketch (and I assume others) said Card would be starting. (I guess Ketch didn't get my memo--good to know he doesn't slum it down here with us pleebs)
But why is everybody so surprised? Are we just banging on Ketch because he was wrong?
Is this another example of us having more/better/accurate info about Texas football than the $9.95ers have access too?

What gives?

I think there were multiple 9.95ers from different sites claiming up to this point that the competition was close and that Card was slightly ahead. Then it was reported late last week that the veteran leaders on the team thought it should be Card, and if the decision was made that day it would be Card. They painted the picture of Card being more consistent and would likely win the job. They were slow leaking that it would be Card. Not sure where they were getting their info.

 

[westx]

I guess I missed something-- so if I did, someone please fill me in.

About a week ago we were having a conversation about QBs throwing and dropped balls and guys that could make throws and guys that couldn't.
It was clear to me (and I thought most of you agreed) that Ewers was making throws that nobody else could make. He was spotty at times with decision making, but that's to be expected from a teenager.
Then a few days later Ewers is named the starter and everybody has their minds blown.

I know Ketch (and I assume others) said Card would be starting. (I guess Ketch didn't get my memo--good to know he doesn't slum it down here with us pleebs)
But why is everybody so surprised? Are we just banging on Ketch because he was wrong?
Is this another example of us having more/better/accurate info about Texas football than the $9.95ers have access too?

What gives?

I don’t think anybody is surprised on here. I am a little frustrated that Card isn’t starting, but, I am not surprised. I even stated in a previous post that Sark is delaying naming the starter because he is hoping Ewers pulls ahead. I know a couple others prefer Ewers, but are just defending Card from being labeled as worthless based on his freshman year. Apparently, it has been a hard fought battle as it should be. Let’s hope the QB whisperer made the right choice.