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Contact Austin to book your trip today!
(985) 264-5003
saltysouthfishingcharters@gmail.com
It was the look on the faces of Steve Sarkisian and the Texas players that I may remember the most after last week’s win over Kansas State.
That’s not just joy on their faces, it is so much more than that. That, my friends, is the look of extreme relief.
Steve Sarkisian and his Longhorns finally got the monkey off their back and won a game on the road.
Now we learn whether that moment was a catharsis capable of propelling the Horns to bigger and better things, or a temporary reprieve from the naysaying fans who still don’t believe. That’s because a much tougher challenge awaits Texas this weekend.
TCU is coming to town.
RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT THE GAME
The truth is, I have written and rewritten this section of my column multiple times. I have not been able to formulate my thoughts about this game into a narrative. The previous attempts ended up reading like a dry book report citing stats and quotes. So, I’m abandoning that effort and giving you my thoughts about TCU in a slapdash style.
====================
I think Texas being seven point favorites over TCU is crazy, for several reasons.
- TCU is a really good offense, tied for third in the country at 43.1 points per game.
- Every time I hear about a seven point spread I flash back to the same spread against Oklahoma State.
- Texas’ pass defense has been troubling recently. The communication among the DBs has left the middle of the field wide open for receivers.
I’m not saying that Texas won’t win, but I do think it will be a close game either way and if I was a betting man, I’d take the points with TCU.
====================
Kansas State was basically a coming out party for Bijan Robinson last week. While Robinson is obviously the best running back in the country, he hasn’t had one of those crazy stat line games until he got to Manhattan. That being said, I don’t expect him to have the same type of game this week.
TCU is, undoubtedly, going to make stopping Robinson its number one goal. The Horned Frogs run the same basic defense as Kansas State runs, which at first blush, should mean Mr. Mustardson will go off. However, if you go back and re-watch last week’s game, you’ll see Bijan got most of his big gainers early in the game when K-State was sticking with their 3-3-5 defense meaning he was facing a six-man box. In the second half, the Wildcats sold out with eight and nine man boxes in an attempt to stop Bijan and it worked pretty well. Just watch this play.
I don’t know how much TCU will mimic that (they too run the 3-3-5), but I don’t think they’ll stick to the six man boxes all that often.
====================
That leads me to my thoughts about the second half. I’ve heard time and time again that Sark needs to hand off to Bijan in the second half in order to avoid the third- and fourth-quarter doldrums. Well, the truth is, Sark relied too much on Bijan last week. As I mentioned above, Robinson’s biggest gains came in the first half when K-State was so twisted around trying to cover him, Worthy, JT Sanders and Whittington, it had no choice but to stay in its 3-3-5 defense, which left plenty of room for Bijan to operate. But in the second half, Kansas State coaches knew Sark was going to milk the clock so they sold out to stop the run and it worked.
Sark, as has been mentioned thousands of times, needs to do a much better job of making in-game adjustments. When you see the defense lined up en masse to stop the run, why not spread them out vertically and horizontally?
====================
The other thing that killed every bit of momentum in the second half last week was the rash of drive-stalling penalties. Those same penalties led to their loss against Oklahoma State. I can live with penalties of aggression, but pre-snap penalties is just sloppiness and it is pretty damn unacceptable.
====================
Ok, so I don’t think Bijan is going to key a win Saturday night. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t see a path to victory. If last week was Bijan’s big game, I think this week it will be Quinn Ewers’.
Ewers started off slowly last week missing some of the early deep shots. However, I thought Sark did a good job calling some short passes to Ja’Tavion Sanders to calm his young quarterback down and get him into the flow of the game.
This week, I think Ewers is going to connect on those deep balls and he is due for a breakout game.
====================
Speaking of second-half disappearance acts, Ja’Tavion Sanders was absolutely nails in the first half against Kansas State last week but nowhere to be found in the second half. This is another complaint of mine about Sark’s play calling. He frequently goes away from plays that are working before the defense has proven they’re even capable of stopping them. You don’t stop playing when the slot machine is paying out.
====================
Kelvin Banks keeps getting tested week in and week out and he keeps rising to the challenge. Just take a look at Mel Kiper’s latest Big Board.
Banks has faced, and shut down:
Kiper’s #1 prospect: Will Anderson Jr.
Kiper’s #15 prospect: Tyree Wilson
Kiper’s #6 DE prospect: Felix Anudike-Uzomah
There isn’t another offensive tackle in the country that can boast that resume this season … much less a true freshman.
Seriously, we should enjoy him while we can. It is an absolute blast to see him in action.
====================
As much praise as Sonny Dykes is receiving for having his team undefeated and in the mix for the college football playoffs, he’s still the guy who benched Max Duggan prior to the start of the season.
====================
By the way, we should have all seen this season coming from Duggan. He has made steady progress every season of his career. Just look at this stat line and pay attention to the completion percentage and QB rating.
====================
As much praise as Sonny Dykes is receiving for having his team undefeated and in the mix for the college football playoffs, he’s still the guy who benched Max Duggan prior to the start of the season.
====================
By the way, we should have all seen this season coming from Duggan. He has made steady progress every season of his career. Just look at this stat line and pay attention to the completion percentage and QB rating.
====================
Duggan is a pretty good running quarterback too. Dykes is not afraid to call QB keepers and Duggan is not afraid to take advantage of busted plays to salvage something on the ground. The Texas defense is going to need to be on their toes to guard against Duggan’s mobility.
====================
The one good thing about jumping out to a big lead is that it usually forces teams to become one dimensional. I actually thought the UT defensive line did a pretty good job of getting pressure against a very good Kansas State offensive line last week. Still, not everyone was impressed with the pass rush … and the need for more.
====================
Speaking of TCU’s running game, it’s almost as good as their passing game.
TCU can run the ball just as well, if not better, than K-State.
“That’s been a big part of us being able to close out ball games is our ability to run the football in the second half of games,” TCU Head Coach Sonny Dykes told ESPN after it was announced that the Horned Frogs are now the 4 th ranked team in the country according to the College Football Playoff rankings.
Dykes says a lot of the credit for their run game goes to Kendre Miller. The tailback has already surpassed the 1,000 yard mark this season to go along with a dozen touchdowns.
“He’s, I think one of the best running backs in college football,” Dykes said. “He’s a great blend of power and strength and balance. But at the same time, it’s a credit to our offensive line. It’s a good group, it’s a veteran group, it’s a physical group and those guys take pride in their play. It’s been a blast to watch those guys because they’re going to compete every time we get on the field and that group just gets better as the game goes along.”
====================
As good as Duggan and Miller are, the real star of TCU’s offense is wide receiver Quentin Johnston. I have no idea if Johnston is going to be able to play or not. He’s been dealing with a sprained ankle which forced him off the field against Texas Tech last week. Dykes says Johnston is expected to practice today (Wednesday) and see how he progresses during the week. We’ll see how he does.
If Johnston is able to play (at even close to full speed) then he is going to be a big, big problem for the secondary. I’ll refer you back to the top of this column in which I bemoaned the play of the secondary the last couple of weeks. The DBs need to learn how to handle crossing routes without leaving the WR’s open at or beyond the first down sticks.
====================
While my gut says this is going to be a very, very tough game for UT, I think one of the biggest things going for Texas is the fact that this is a home game. The crowd at DKR for a night game against a top-4 team is going to be absolutely insane. That has to be worth a couple of points.
GARY PATTERSON...
You can expect to hear a LOT about Gary Patterson during the week and even during the game Saturday. I’m sure ESPN is even doing some kind of feature for Gameday.
Patterson has obviously had a tremendous impact on Texas’ defense (although I don’t think Pete Kwiatkowski gets the credit he deserves).
And while Patterson had plenty of experience gameplanning against Dykes when he was still at TCU and Dykes was at SMU, this is still a new year and that means plenty of work left to do.
“Gary works 24-7 to beat anybody,” Sarkisian said with a laugh Monday when asked if Patterson was staying up to stop the Frogs. “He's got an unbelievable work ethic about him … This week hasn't been any different. He does a great job of advanced scouting for us, of getting ahead for opponents that are on the come. He does a great job of relaying his thoughts and information to the defensive staff.”
Burying yourself in your work has to be a good tonic for what must be a complicated emotional week. I mean, the man does still live outside Amon G. Carter stadium in statue form.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but this tweet from Patterson on Sunday tells me he’s all-in on this game.
HUGE WEEKEND FOR RECRUITING…
Texas needs a big week on the field in order to keep the off field momentum that we’ve seen in recruiting this week.
It is just crazy to see the recruiting developments that have taken place this week.
Anthony Hill’s decommitment was a big surprise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not surprised THAT he decommitted from A&M, but the timing caught me off guard. You have to think Hill has been seeing everything that Jaylan Ford has done this season and think that he could have the same, or bigger, impact in this defense.
Colton Vasek’s flip just made all of the sense in the world, but that doesn’t diminish just how important it was for Texas to pick up a guy who could step in on day one and contribute as a pass rusher. I finally watched his senior film after the announcement Tuesday and was very impressed with his technique and skill at getting around linemen. And talk about fast! He is so quick off the ball.
Peyton Bowen is another huge name that’s reemerged on the radar. I’ve already talked about some of the struggles the UT secondary is having this season. That is happening because there is little to no depth in the back end of the defense. Bowen could provide depth early on in his career, or he may just come in and do the damn thing as a freshman.
I will leave it to @Suchomel to run through the rest of the big names that will be on hand this Saturday for the game, but the list is almost jaw dropping.
What would be even more jaw dropping is if Texas is able to win over the biggest fish they have left on the hook this season.
GOING BOWLING...
Now that Texas is bowl eligible, I thought it might be fun to track the bowl projections from pundits each week. (I thought about doing this earlier this season but I didn’t want to jinx anything.)
www.espn.com
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach each have TCU going to the playoffs with Texas filling their spot in the Sugar Bowl against Tennessee. UT vs. UT in New Orleans wouldn’t be a bad way to end the season.
theathletic.com
The Athletic also has TCU in the playoffs but they have Texas headed to San Antonio for a matchup with UCLA in the Alamo Bowl.
www.si.com
Sports Illustrated has Texas filling in for TCU in the Sugar Bowl as well, but they have the Horns slated to take on LSU in New Orleans.
www.cbssports.com
CBS Sports also has Texas playing LSU in the Sugar Bowl (with TCU in the playoffs).
Contact Austin to book your trip today!
(985) 264-5003
saltysouthfishingcharters@gmail.com
It was the look on the faces of Steve Sarkisian and the Texas players that I may remember the most after last week’s win over Kansas State.
That’s not just joy on their faces, it is so much more than that. That, my friends, is the look of extreme relief.
Steve Sarkisian and his Longhorns finally got the monkey off their back and won a game on the road.
Now we learn whether that moment was a catharsis capable of propelling the Horns to bigger and better things, or a temporary reprieve from the naysaying fans who still don’t believe. That’s because a much tougher challenge awaits Texas this weekend.
TCU is coming to town.
RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT THE GAME
The truth is, I have written and rewritten this section of my column multiple times. I have not been able to formulate my thoughts about this game into a narrative. The previous attempts ended up reading like a dry book report citing stats and quotes. So, I’m abandoning that effort and giving you my thoughts about TCU in a slapdash style.
====================
I think Texas being seven point favorites over TCU is crazy, for several reasons.
- TCU is a really good offense, tied for third in the country at 43.1 points per game.
- Every time I hear about a seven point spread I flash back to the same spread against Oklahoma State.
- Texas’ pass defense has been troubling recently. The communication among the DBs has left the middle of the field wide open for receivers.
I’m not saying that Texas won’t win, but I do think it will be a close game either way and if I was a betting man, I’d take the points with TCU.
====================
Kansas State was basically a coming out party for Bijan Robinson last week. While Robinson is obviously the best running back in the country, he hasn’t had one of those crazy stat line games until he got to Manhattan. That being said, I don’t expect him to have the same type of game this week.
TCU is, undoubtedly, going to make stopping Robinson its number one goal. The Horned Frogs run the same basic defense as Kansas State runs, which at first blush, should mean Mr. Mustardson will go off. However, if you go back and re-watch last week’s game, you’ll see Bijan got most of his big gainers early in the game when K-State was sticking with their 3-3-5 defense meaning he was facing a six-man box. In the second half, the Wildcats sold out with eight and nine man boxes in an attempt to stop Bijan and it worked pretty well. Just watch this play.
I don’t know how much TCU will mimic that (they too run the 3-3-5), but I don’t think they’ll stick to the six man boxes all that often.
====================
That leads me to my thoughts about the second half. I’ve heard time and time again that Sark needs to hand off to Bijan in the second half in order to avoid the third- and fourth-quarter doldrums. Well, the truth is, Sark relied too much on Bijan last week. As I mentioned above, Robinson’s biggest gains came in the first half when K-State was so twisted around trying to cover him, Worthy, JT Sanders and Whittington, it had no choice but to stay in its 3-3-5 defense, which left plenty of room for Bijan to operate. But in the second half, Kansas State coaches knew Sark was going to milk the clock so they sold out to stop the run and it worked.
Sark, as has been mentioned thousands of times, needs to do a much better job of making in-game adjustments. When you see the defense lined up en masse to stop the run, why not spread them out vertically and horizontally?
====================
The other thing that killed every bit of momentum in the second half last week was the rash of drive-stalling penalties. Those same penalties led to their loss against Oklahoma State. I can live with penalties of aggression, but pre-snap penalties is just sloppiness and it is pretty damn unacceptable.
====================
Ok, so I don’t think Bijan is going to key a win Saturday night. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t see a path to victory. If last week was Bijan’s big game, I think this week it will be Quinn Ewers’.
Ewers started off slowly last week missing some of the early deep shots. However, I thought Sark did a good job calling some short passes to Ja’Tavion Sanders to calm his young quarterback down and get him into the flow of the game.
This week, I think Ewers is going to connect on those deep balls and he is due for a breakout game.
====================
Speaking of second-half disappearance acts, Ja’Tavion Sanders was absolutely nails in the first half against Kansas State last week but nowhere to be found in the second half. This is another complaint of mine about Sark’s play calling. He frequently goes away from plays that are working before the defense has proven they’re even capable of stopping them. You don’t stop playing when the slot machine is paying out.
====================
Kelvin Banks keeps getting tested week in and week out and he keeps rising to the challenge. Just take a look at Mel Kiper’s latest Big Board.
Banks has faced, and shut down:
Kiper’s #1 prospect: Will Anderson Jr.
Kiper’s #15 prospect: Tyree Wilson
Kiper’s #6 DE prospect: Felix Anudike-Uzomah
There isn’t another offensive tackle in the country that can boast that resume this season … much less a true freshman.
Seriously, we should enjoy him while we can. It is an absolute blast to see him in action.
====================
As much praise as Sonny Dykes is receiving for having his team undefeated and in the mix for the college football playoffs, he’s still the guy who benched Max Duggan prior to the start of the season.
====================
By the way, we should have all seen this season coming from Duggan. He has made steady progress every season of his career. Just look at this stat line and pay attention to the completion percentage and QB rating.
====================
As much praise as Sonny Dykes is receiving for having his team undefeated and in the mix for the college football playoffs, he’s still the guy who benched Max Duggan prior to the start of the season.
====================
By the way, we should have all seen this season coming from Duggan. He has made steady progress every season of his career. Just look at this stat line and pay attention to the completion percentage and QB rating.
| COMPLETIONS | ATTEMPTS | COMP. PERCENTAGE | AVERAGE | TOUCHDOWNS | INTERCEPTIONS | QB RATING | |
| 2019 | 181 | 339 | 53.4% | 6.1 | 15 | 10 | 113.6 |
| 2020 | 146 | 240 | 60.8% | 7.5 | 10 | 4 | 134.1 |
| 2021 | 145 | 227 | 63.9% | 9.0 | 16 | 6 | 157.6 |
| 2022 | 161 | 244 | 66% | 9.9 | 24 | 2 | 179.7 |
====================
Duggan is a pretty good running quarterback too. Dykes is not afraid to call QB keepers and Duggan is not afraid to take advantage of busted plays to salvage something on the ground. The Texas defense is going to need to be on their toes to guard against Duggan’s mobility.
====================
The one good thing about jumping out to a big lead is that it usually forces teams to become one dimensional. I actually thought the UT defensive line did a pretty good job of getting pressure against a very good Kansas State offensive line last week. Still, not everyone was impressed with the pass rush … and the need for more.
====================
Speaking of TCU’s running game, it’s almost as good as their passing game.
TCU can run the ball just as well, if not better, than K-State.
“That’s been a big part of us being able to close out ball games is our ability to run the football in the second half of games,” TCU Head Coach Sonny Dykes told ESPN after it was announced that the Horned Frogs are now the 4 th ranked team in the country according to the College Football Playoff rankings.
Dykes says a lot of the credit for their run game goes to Kendre Miller. The tailback has already surpassed the 1,000 yard mark this season to go along with a dozen touchdowns.
“He’s, I think one of the best running backs in college football,” Dykes said. “He’s a great blend of power and strength and balance. But at the same time, it’s a credit to our offensive line. It’s a good group, it’s a veteran group, it’s a physical group and those guys take pride in their play. It’s been a blast to watch those guys because they’re going to compete every time we get on the field and that group just gets better as the game goes along.”
====================
As good as Duggan and Miller are, the real star of TCU’s offense is wide receiver Quentin Johnston. I have no idea if Johnston is going to be able to play or not. He’s been dealing with a sprained ankle which forced him off the field against Texas Tech last week. Dykes says Johnston is expected to practice today (Wednesday) and see how he progresses during the week. We’ll see how he does.
If Johnston is able to play (at even close to full speed) then he is going to be a big, big problem for the secondary. I’ll refer you back to the top of this column in which I bemoaned the play of the secondary the last couple of weeks. The DBs need to learn how to handle crossing routes without leaving the WR’s open at or beyond the first down sticks.
====================
While my gut says this is going to be a very, very tough game for UT, I think one of the biggest things going for Texas is the fact that this is a home game. The crowd at DKR for a night game against a top-4 team is going to be absolutely insane. That has to be worth a couple of points.
GARY PATTERSON...
You can expect to hear a LOT about Gary Patterson during the week and even during the game Saturday. I’m sure ESPN is even doing some kind of feature for Gameday.
Patterson has obviously had a tremendous impact on Texas’ defense (although I don’t think Pete Kwiatkowski gets the credit he deserves).
And while Patterson had plenty of experience gameplanning against Dykes when he was still at TCU and Dykes was at SMU, this is still a new year and that means plenty of work left to do.
“Gary works 24-7 to beat anybody,” Sarkisian said with a laugh Monday when asked if Patterson was staying up to stop the Frogs. “He's got an unbelievable work ethic about him … This week hasn't been any different. He does a great job of advanced scouting for us, of getting ahead for opponents that are on the come. He does a great job of relaying his thoughts and information to the defensive staff.”
Burying yourself in your work has to be a good tonic for what must be a complicated emotional week. I mean, the man does still live outside Amon G. Carter stadium in statue form.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but this tweet from Patterson on Sunday tells me he’s all-in on this game.
HUGE WEEKEND FOR RECRUITING…
Texas needs a big week on the field in order to keep the off field momentum that we’ve seen in recruiting this week.
It is just crazy to see the recruiting developments that have taken place this week.
Anthony Hill’s decommitment was a big surprise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not surprised THAT he decommitted from A&M, but the timing caught me off guard. You have to think Hill has been seeing everything that Jaylan Ford has done this season and think that he could have the same, or bigger, impact in this defense.
Colton Vasek’s flip just made all of the sense in the world, but that doesn’t diminish just how important it was for Texas to pick up a guy who could step in on day one and contribute as a pass rusher. I finally watched his senior film after the announcement Tuesday and was very impressed with his technique and skill at getting around linemen. And talk about fast! He is so quick off the ball.
Peyton Bowen is another huge name that’s reemerged on the radar. I’ve already talked about some of the struggles the UT secondary is having this season. That is happening because there is little to no depth in the back end of the defense. Bowen could provide depth early on in his career, or he may just come in and do the damn thing as a freshman.
I will leave it to @Suchomel to run through the rest of the big names that will be on hand this Saturday for the game, but the list is almost jaw dropping.
What would be even more jaw dropping is if Texas is able to win over the biggest fish they have left on the hook this season.
GOING BOWLING...
Now that Texas is bowl eligible, I thought it might be fun to track the bowl projections from pundits each week. (I thought about doing this earlier this season but I didn’t want to jinx anything.)
Matchups for CFP, New Year's Six and beyond after a seismic weekend
With three teams in the top six losing, there's plenty of shuffling up and down our updated picks for every bowl.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach each have TCU going to the playoffs with Texas filling their spot in the Sugar Bowl against Tennessee. UT vs. UT in New Orleans wouldn’t be a bad way to end the season.
CFB bowl projections: Where do Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama go after the weekend?
Projecting the 2022 college football bowl games.
theathletic.com
The Athletic also has TCU in the playoffs but they have Texas headed to San Antonio for a matchup with UCLA in the Alamo Bowl.
College football bowl projections for all 41 games, Playoff - Sports Illustrated
For the first time since preseason, we’re projecting the participants in all 41 contests.
www.si.com
Sports Illustrated has Texas filling in for TCU in the Sugar Bowl as well, but they have the Horns slated to take on LSU in New Orleans.
Bowl projections: Georgia stays on top, Tennessee hangs on, TCU replaces Clemson in College Football Playoff
Jerry Palm's bowl projections undergo yet another shakeup following upsets in Week 10
www.cbssports.com
CBS Sports also has Texas playing LSU in the Sugar Bowl (with TCU in the playoffs).
