In the winter of 1980, a hardscrabble group of kids – college kids – came together and pulled off an upset that would etch their names into the history books. The U.S. hockey team defeated the mighty Soviet hockey team, made up of grown men, 4-3.
Many people tend to forget that the “miracle on ice” did not seal the gold medal for the Americans. They had to come back and defeat Finland a few days later to win gold.
Ahead of the matchup against the Fins, Herb Brooks, the hard-nosed coach of the American team, walked into the locker room and delivered a short but poignant speech.
“If you lose this game, you will all take it to your f’ing (expletive deleted) graves,” said Herb Brooks while pacing the room. “Your f’ing graves.”
No, I am not comparing Texas’ win over Michigan as being like the U.S. win over the Soviets. Texas was the better team before the game, during the game and after the game. Heck, the Horns were 7.5 point favorites and even that was way too low. But Brooks’ quote ahead of the Finland game is just as relevant for the Longhorn players ahead of the UTSA game.
If the Horns f around and find out about UTSA this week … after all of the hard work they have put in since the disappointing loss in the college football playoffs semifinal last year … they will take it to their f’ing graves.
Ok, even that’s a little dramatic. But it will blunt all of the momentum Texas has coming out of Ann Arbor and it will put question marks about this team in the minds of the fans, CFP selection committee and probably even raise a few doubts in the minds of the team as well.
The point is, Texas can not afford a letdown this week.
I am not just talking about coming out and losing to UTSA (which nobody truly believes will happen), I’m talking about a letdown in how this team is supposed to play.
“The opponent is irrelevant if we prepare to the standard that we have created for ourselves,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “There is a style of play and a brand of football which we take a lot of pride in playing. When we get ourselves to that point and then we go do it, the challenge for us is to then go recreate it again next week, regardless of the opponent.”
The style of play that Sarkisian is talking about involves being physical on the line of scrimmage, fast on the edges and smart in how they play.
That style of play was on display for three quarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan last Saturday. The Horns jumped out to a big lead on big blue and coasted to a victory. But there was a letdown in the fourth quarter.
Michigan outscored Texas 6-0 in the fourth quarter. The Wolverines gained 132 yards of offense in the 4th compared to 16 yards for the Longhorns. All 16 of UT’s yards in the final quarter came in the ground game (7 carries for 16 yards).
The last quarter was not up to Texas’ standards.
“We need to go to another level with our killer instinct. We need to be more relentless in the fourth quarter of those types of games,” said Sarkisian. “I want to play 60 minutes. I want to make it 60 minutes of Hell for our opponents and we have a roster that can do that. But that’s also a mentality that we’re striving for, that we’re working towards and I think we can get better.”
Sark said he showed the team plays from the Michigan game where he said some players turned down the physicality against the Wolverines and said that’s not acceptable in our program.
He also mentioned the team’s run game drills that the Horns practice every week.
“Tuesdays and Wednesdays we do team run and we do good-on-good team run,” Sarkisian said. “There’s no passes. We’re going to run the ball, everybody is going to strike, we’re going to have lower pads, we’re going to have our hands inside, we’re going to run our feet. We’re going to do those little things.
“We do tackling drills to start Tuesday and Wednesday practices and ball security drills where everybody’s punching at the ball. I just think over time, the repetitions add up. But also, there’s a mentality that the guys need to play with.”
Let me tell you, that is the formula for success … not just in football but in life.
Do the little things right … repeatedly … and it becomes a mindset.
Beating Michigan was nice, but what Sark is talking about going into the Cotton Bowl to face a Sooner team whose season will probably be on the line. This is about the week after that when Georgia comes to town. This is about facing Arkansas in Fayetteville who, as Sarkisian has pointed out, Hogs fans probably hate Texas more than they love their own team. It’s about being prepared to dig deep on Thanksgiving weekend when you’re playing A&M for the first time since Justin Tucker stole their hearts. It’s about the playoffs and making sure you don’t fall 12 yards short again.
“Yeah, it (beating Michigan) is definitely a good feeling,” said Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers. “But, I mean, at the end of the day, it's only week two. I want to continue to have this feeling all the way through January.”
In order to be playing in January, Texas will need to lean on the culture of physicality and hard work that Sark has tried to build in this team … and not just on Saturday, but on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ….
“I feel like we've done a good job of following what he says and fully buying in, believing what we're what we're fully capable of,” Ewers said. “The way we practice allows us to bring up that physicality, and usually the most physical team in a game wins.”
And if Sark needs a little extra emphasis, maybe he can show the team the movie “Miracle” as motivation to the team to continue to work hard - regardless of the opponent.
I suspect Sark has seen the film because at least one of the things he regularly says sure sounds like a quote that Herb Brooks told his team back in 1980.
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
UTSA COMES TO AUSTIN …
The last time Jeff Traylor came to Austin, the Road Runners were favorites to win the Conference USA but left town with a 41-20 loss. For the record, UTSA went on to win the rest of the games and claimed the Conference USA before losing 18-12 in the Cure Bowl.
Oh, how we all look forward to those classic Cure Bowl matchups every year.
But that was then and this is now.
The Roadrunners no longer have Frank Harris under center. It’s a team that head coach Jeff Traylor described as being “in transition,” despite the fact that he’s returning eight starters on offense and six on defense.
But it’s the quarterback play where the transition label is most noticeable.
Owen McCown – of the Jacksonville McCown’s – started out strong in week one completing 28 of 38 attempts for 340 yards and three touchdowns. But that was against Kennesaw State.
And when Traylor pops on the Texas tape, he sees a team that is not only better than Kennesaw State, but is also better than the Horns team he faced in 2022.
“We thought when we played them two years ago and they had six to seven really good players on each side of the ball and now all of their starters are really good and their backups are really good too,” said UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor. “They’ve done a really good job.”
McCown was benched for the second half of last week’s 49-10 loss to Texas State. Junior QB Eddie Lee Marburger stepped in and looked about the same as McCown – but he did lead a touchdown drive.
I said it last week and I was wrong so I’m doubling down on it this week. THIS is the week that the Texas pass rush finally wracks up some impressive sack numbers.
Trey Moore is taking on his old team this week. He knows exactly how these offensive linemen operate. He also knows how to beat them. Moore should have multiple sacks this week against his former team.
In case you’re wondering, there are no hard feelings on the UTSA side about Moore’s decision to leave San Antonio and come to Austin.
“We still stay in communication,” Traylor said when asked about his former edge rusher. “I have a lot of respect for Trey, he handled everything right. It was a tough decision for him. He came to my office with his father, they did it right. He did what he thought was best for him and his career. I would hope he has the same admiration back for what we do for him.”
And Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian thinks Moore will be in the right frame of mind to take on his old teammates.
“He’s got a really good head on his shoulders,” said Sarkisian. “He’s focused on what he needs to do.”
When Moore finally gets taken out of the game at some point in the second half, his replacement should be equally impressive.
Colin Simmons had a coming out party last week accounting for five QB pressures and one sack. If he can do that against Michigan, just imagine what he can do against UTSA. I’m predicting a multiple sack day for Simmons as well.
Part of the reason for that is UTSA will, in all likelihood, be playing from behind and need to pass the ball.
Traylor, much like Sarkisian, wants to run the ball. However, it’s his passing game that is in most need of work right now and he knows the Texas secondary will be a good test of his quarterbacks and receivers.
“You need to play big games because the lights come on and you get exposed,” Traylor said Tuesday while discussing scheduling hard teams early in the year. “When I was an AD, early in my career, I found every easy game I could get because I like padding stats and winning games early and everybody thought I was great. As you progress through life, in order to win championships you’ve got to play really good teams and sometimes you’ve got to take your medicine to figure out where you really are.”
“We’re a team in transition, we had to replace quite a few players,” said UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor. “He’s (Sarkisian) is in a spot where his guys are returning and solidified and he’s got his guys where it needs to be right now so I would say that’s the biggest difference.”
The mood of the Traylor press conference was pretty morose Tuesday. The Roadrunners were coming off that 49-21 loss to Texas State and they’re now facing a UT team that even Traylor admits will be tough to beat.
“You’ve got to play at a level that may be above what you possibly are capable of and they’ll have to play a notch below in order for us to have a chance,” said Traylor.
But he added that it’s not about what Texas does that concerns him, it’s all about UTSA. He wants his guys to play to their standards.
Sound familiar?
RANDOM THOUGHTS:
Texas played a vanilla defense in week one because they were playing Colorado State and didn’t need anything other than base defense to win the game.
Texas played a vanilla defense in week two because they were playing Michigan and didn’t need anything other than base defense to win the game.
Texas will play a vanilla defense in week three because they are playing UTSA and don’t need anything other than base defense to win the game.
Texas will play a vanilla defense in week four because they are playing ULM and don’t need anything other than base defense to win the game.
Texas will play a vanilla defense in week five because they are playing Mississippi State and don’t need anything other than base defense to win the game.
Texas will play a vanilla defense in week seven because they are playing OU and don’t need anything other than base defense to win the game.
Texas won’t have to unveil any exotic schemes or defenses until Georgia comes to town on October 19th.
That’s bananas.
It was good to see Jake Majors get recognized for his play against Michigan.
Usually when you talk about someone paying their dues, you’re talking about a player who has put in time as a reserve and continued to work hard before earning their opportunity to start.
Majors is a four year starter … but he has paid his dues in a very different way.
Majors took a lot of flack from many on this board (including me) for his play early in his career.
You always knew the guy had the mental ability to play the game or he wouldn’t have been starting as a freshman. The coaches always like that they could trust him to make the right calls along the offensive line to put his teammates in position to make plays.
The question mark, at least for me, was always his size. Majors got out-physicaled at the point of attack many times throughout his freshman and sophomore seasons.
But, I also knew (and wrote) that he would get bigger and stronger and that his time was coming.
Boy howdy has it come.
Majors was named the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week and also the co-offensive line player of the week in the SEC for what he was able to do against Michigan. Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant will play in the NFL. It’s not hard to find their names high up on just about every mock draft you can find. You know where it is hard to find their names? On the stat sheet from last week. Graham finished with two solo tackles and one assisted tackle and Grant had one assisted tackle.
When you combine all of Majors’ experience with the game film he produced last Saturday, you can be sure that Majors will find his way to an NFL team next year as well.
“It’s cool to see that towards the end of my career it’s all coming to fruition,” Majors said Monday. “Those two defensive tackles are great players, and they were fun to go against. And I think it was a real, true challenge for the interior guys to see how we played. And like you said, it's on film. All you have to do is go watch and that will tell you the story about us.”
Notice how he deflected credit to the other members of the offensive line? That’s part of the reason why, as it always is with Majors, it’s his leadership that stands out the most.
“Jake is a dog,” Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner told reporters Monday when asked about Majors. “There’s plenty of dogs on many o-lines, believe me. The difference about Jake is that he’s a dog who is going to bring dogs with him. He’s not a dog that’s just standing out there on his own, he’s going to make sure he brings everybody with him.”
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
Speaking of the interior offensive line, check out this block from left guard Hayden Conner.
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It’s not just Majors who received a lot of praise following the Michigan game, Quinn Ewers really announced his presence with authority last week.
I mentioned on Twitter that the praise for Ewers is well earned … but sometimes I don’t think that even those of you who follow UT every day understand just how good Ewers has been.
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The Texas vs. Michigan game drew the largest audience of the season so far … and the numbers could have been much higher if it was a good game. I’m sure plenty of viewers dropped out and tuned into other games.
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This is an EXCELLENT breakdown of one of Sark’s favorite plays. (Casey is also a great Twitter follow.)
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You’ve all heard about Sark showing the Northern Illinois film to the UT players this year to warn them against complacency. This play is exactly the kind of reason Notre Dame lost. Honestly, I don’t see this kind of brain fart happening with Texas.
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I mentioned the Sooners may be fighting to save their season when the UT/OU game happens in October … and I kind of believe that. Their offense is ATROCIOUS. The offensive line is an absolute sieve and their quarterback is playing like a freshman (which he is). In short, they’re turning on their own in Norman.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PROJECTION:
There is not a lot of change in my playoff projections.
I continue to project Texas to be the SEC champs and the number one seed. I wanted to say, I have Texas beating Georgia, even though I have Georgia ranked higher in Orangebloods’ SEC power rankings. I think it’s perfectly valid to say that even though Georgia may be the top team in the league, that Texas will be able to win at home and then not face Georgia again in the SEC Championship Game.
I did drop Notre Dame out of the projections (for obvious reasons). But I’ll be honest, their schedule is soft enough that if they can figure their offense out then they could easily make it back to the 12-team playoff by the end of the year.
Replacing Notre Dame is yet another SEC team. I have Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Alabama and Missouri all making the playoffs. Some of this is based purely on talent and some of it is on opportunity (like Missouri which has a very manageable schedule).
A lot of you are sleeping on Tennessee. That defense is LEGIT!
Oregon had better get their stuff together or they will fall out of the projections.
I’ve put a new G-5 team in the 12 seed spot every week and I’m doing that on purpose. I’m cycling through the contenders early in the year before we start narrowing it down later in the year. This week, it’s Texas State getting the nod due to their win over UTSA.
