The comparisons between Colt McCoy and Shane Buechele are pretty easy to make.
Some of the comparisons are natural.
From the boyish good looks and charm to natural skill sets that run more parallel than perpendicular to the desire that runs inside both to be great football players, it’s easy to look at Buechele as he gets ready for his first season as a college player and think of the former Texas great.
Some of the comparisons are forced.
Because so many similarities exist, there’s a conscious or unconscious desire to project the type of success McCoy enjoyed onto Buechele, especially when discussing the upcoming season. The general line of thinking is to conclude that McCoy’s 2006 success, which included 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions, is potentially repeatable because … well … there are just so many other similarities, so why not?
This is the part where I have to step in and remind everyone that McCoy’s 2006 season is one of the great all-time forgotten could-have-been seasons. Before the injury in Manhattan, McCoy was not only on the way to leading the No. 4 ranked Longhorns to a second consecutive Big 12 title (and a potential rematch with Ohio State for the national title), but he seemed like a mortal lock for a reservation in New York as a Heisman finalist.
Up until the quarterback sneak gone wrong that took McCoy out of the game against Kansas State and left him a shell of his normal self against Texas A&M, the redshirt freshman was living one of the most charmed seasons these eyes have ever seen. Surrounded by one of the best offensive supporting casts in the history of the program, McCoy had an answer for every challenge that didn’t have a Buckeye decal on it through the first 10 weeks of the season.
That included beating Oklahoma in Dallas, winning a game in Lincoln that needed to be pulled out of the jaws of defeat and overcoming a 21-0 deficit in Lubbock.
You’ll have to forgive me for having so much respect for the magic carpet ride that was that season for 10 weeks that I can’t nonchalantly project such a season for a player who has not so much as played a single down of college football against anyone other than a group of players that went 5-7 last season.
The good news is that there are three things that Buechele can attempt to mimic this season that are absolutely achievable and would go a long way towards at least approaching McCoy levels of success.
No. 1 - You don’t have to single-handedly win games, just don’t single-handedly lose them.
It’s easy to look at the seven interceptions McCoy threw in 2006 and conclude that he did a great job of taking care of the football, but I’m not sure the final numbers do him full justice.
Up until he was forced into the season-finale against A&M when he wasn’t 100-percent healthy, McCoy had thrown only four interceptions in the first 11 weeks of the season and at no point did he throw more than one interception in a game.
With one of the Big 12’s best running games leading the way, there were games when McCoy was nothing more than a steady bus driver that thrived on making one or two huge plays each week, while almost never putting his team in a bad position.
If Buechele is able to start 12 games this season, his chief goal has to be repeating this aspect of McCoy’s game. If you could tell me right now that Buechele throws 10 or fewer interceptions over the course of a 12-game schedule, I’d feel twice as good about the chances of the 2016 Longhorns winning nine games.
Protection of the ball is paramount.
No. 2 - Trust your teammates.
Take a look at the talent with which McCoy worked that season …
RB: Jamaal Charles, Selvin Young and Henry Melton
WR: Limas Sweed, Quan Cosby, Billy Pittman and Jordan Shipley
TE: Jermichael Finley
OL: Justin Blalock, Lyle Sendlein, Kasey Studdard, Tony Hills and Cedrick Dockery
That’s 11 NFL players who played significant roles in the 2006 season as a supporting cast for McCoy and most of those 11 played significant roles in the 2005 national title season.
While you could in no way compare the 2016 supporting cast with that of the 2006 team, the reality is that the 2016 Longhorns do have one of the best skill position groups in the Big 12. Running backs D'Onta Foreman and Chris Warren make for a hell of a 1-2 punch, while the Texas receiving unit is dripping wet in raw ability.
McCoy understood that he was a caretaker of the offense as much as anything else, a fact Buechele would do well to accept willingly. With the talent that’s around him, Buechele doesn’t have to be Batman, just be Robin and set up those around him for caped crusader opportunities.
No. 3 - Throw the deep ball well.
McCoy didn’t always have a high volume of passing game reps from week to week (he was 7 of 8 passing in a win over Rice), but week in and week out he seemed to have a penchant for making the big passing play down the field.
There might not have been a lot of weeks when he had a flurry of bombs down the field, but he seemed to have at least one or two each week (mostly to Limas Sweed) that helped create a path to victory.
With game-changers like John Burt and Collin Johnson set to be on the receiving end of his passes this season, being able to connect on a few vertical throws each week will go a long way towards pulling out wins instead of losses all season.
No. 2– Speaking of the 2006 season ...
The top play from that season might bave been this play against Oklahoma. This is a reminder of what it looked like when Blalock, Sendlein and Studdard were in charge of things.
No. 3 – Things little birdies tell me ...
a. Collin Johnson is a better player right now with camp approaching than he was this spring when he was the best receiver in the program in his first 15 practices of his collegiate career.
b. Deandre McNeil needs to step it up a notch or three.
c. Don’t be shocked to see a “Heard package” to go along with the “Swoopes package” within the offense. It’ll be all hands on deck on offense this season and Heard’s versatility/desire to get on the field in any capacity has a lot of people believing he could carve out a nice set of situational plays for himself.
d. Sheroid Evans is one of the few seniors I’ve heard listed as a true leader within the locker room. I’m told the young players on the defensive side of the ball have as much respect for him as a voice as any other upperclassmen on that side of the field.
No. 4 – UConn a lay-up into the Big 12 ...
I had a chance to speak with someone deeply connected to the UConn athletic department about that program’s desire to enter the Big 12 and after a half-hour of conversation, it seems pretty clear that those affiliated with the Huskies feel very good about their chances of joining the league.
Here’s a look at the primary reasons, the Huskies are confident.
Despite a sluggish decade in football, there’s a feeling from those inside the program that there’s a much higher ceiling available if it can get into a power five conference and extend its own natural resources in recruiting. Those inside the UConn program believe it can make a strong case that no school under consideration has a higher future ceiling than the Huskies.
No school being considered brings a better 1-2 punch to the table in terms of national success than the men’s and women’s basketball programs.
From an academic standpoint, UConn would rank behind only Texas in the most recent US News college rankings. Of the other candidates, only BYU ranks with UConn as a Top 100 university.
The proximity to New York City is seen as a major feather in its cap. There are so few quality road trips currently in the Big 12 that the ability to drive or jump on a train and be in a different kind of Manhattan in just a few hours will make for enhanced travel for the fans who travel.
The Huskies will be willing negotiating partners. Basically, I was told the Huskies are prepared to enter the league at almost any financial commitments required. “Whatever it takes,” the source told me this week.
No. 5– Big 12 Expansion Power rankings ...
Depending on who you talk with, this list can change by the minute, but I think things looks like this at the moment:
1. Cincinnati (seems like a potential slam-dunk, as everyone seems to have them in)
2. UConn (checks off a lot of boxes)
3. Central Florida (my personal favorite)
4. Memphis (I’ve been surprised by the love Memphis seems to be getting)
5.Houston (Lot of positive rhetoric, but getting eight yes votes will be tricky)
6. BYU (Depends on who you talk with, but some are very cool on the Cougars)
7. Colorado State (a sneaky school to watch)
No. 6 – Buy or sell …
(As always, all of these questions were submitted by actual Orangebloods subscribers.)
BUY or SELL: Shane Buechele walks out as the starter against ND?
(Buy) Go ahead and write it in ink.
BUY or SELL: Texas will be good enough to avoid the truly embarrassing performances they have been prone to (down 35-0 to TCU after 1 quarter, getting shut out by ISU, double digit total yards, etc)?
(Sell) I just can’t give the program the benefit of doubt yet that there won’t be an awful stinker in the mix at some point this season.
BUY or SELL: Texas will have a new AD and new head coach in 2017?
(Sell) I believe a new athletic director will be in place by next football season, but I think Charlie is back next season.
BUY or SELL: With an 8 win, or better, finish for the Horns in 2016 season, three Texas assistants, being Sterlin Gilbert, Brian Jean-Mary, and Jeff Traylor, will all receive head coaching or coordinator role job offers, representing significant promotions, at other P5 schools during the off-season?
(Sell) I just don’t see that happening off of eight wins, but I’ll buy that one of the three could emerge as possible head coaching candidates next season.
BUY or SELL: Texas lands four of the following six: Anthony Hines, Baron Browning, Walker Little, Marvin Wilson, J.K. Dobbins and Omar Manning next February?
(Sell) I think Texas gets Hines, Browning and Manning at this point.
BUY or SELL: John Burt and Collin Johnson combined catch 18 or more TDs this season? The Texas defensive backfield will have 15 or more INTs this season? Whoever the kicker is for Texas this year, he makes over 83% of his FGA?
(Sell, sell and sell) I at least paused for the final two for a few seconds.
BUY or SELL: Texas and Oklahoma leave the B12 after the GORs are over?
(Buy) The Big 12 we know it is a dead conference walking.
BUY or SELL: At least one of the players recruited by Charlie will have a statue made of him?
(Sell) We’re so far away from that happening that I couldn’t help but chuckle at your ambition.
BUY or SELL: As yet uncovered secrets about the Baylor football program will come to light before year's end and cause additional football and administrative staff to be terminated?
(Buy) End of the year? Hell, it’ll probably be by the end of August. The stories are just going to keep coming and coming.
BUY or SELL: You and the other mods will move over 150+ threads to corral once the Trump/Clinton race heats up this fall?
(Buy) Once? We probably moved 150 this week alone.
No. 7 – One thing everyone needs to remember about Baylor …
As an institution, transparency is a word that frightens it. At no point in the last few months has the school been honest, open and truly sorry for its role in countless women being treated as nothing more than trash that can pay tuition.
It still has coaches on its football staff who were involved in the scandal and it has coaches in other sports that enabled it because like so many others involved, their own jobs were massively more important than the safety of others.
These truths are important because as the football season approaches, there will be an instinct to turn your attention away from spotlighting the truth and standing up for victims… all in the name of watching football.
However, as the Associated Press reminded us all over the weekend, forcing the truth of what happened in Waco into the light and out of the darkness is more important than any game.
Consider this passage from the AP’s article:
One woman said her case began when she called police to report a physical assault on another woman at an off-campus party. Police demanded to know if she was underage and had been drinking, then arrested and reported her to the school office that investigates conduct code violations, she said. She told Baylor officials her drinking was a result of being raped a month earlier and detailed what happened in person and in a letter.
She received an alcohol code violation and told to do 25 hours community service, and when she tried to appeal, the woman said Baylor officials urged her to drop it. The school never pursued her rape claim.
"I was told by many Baylor staff that they couldn't do anything for me because my assault was off campus, yet they had no problem punishing me for my off-campus drinking," the woman said. Schools are bound by federal law to investigate on- and off-campus sex assault allegations.
The threat of a sexual conduct violation was a "common issue" that Baylor did nothing to dispel, another woman said.
Even when the code of conduct wasn't an overt issue, some women who reported sexual assault said they were grilled about their behavior.
We have to stay woke, folks. The victims deserve that much from us.
No. 8 – The end is near in College Station…
For a while Kevin Sumlin couldn’t control his players. Now, he can’t control his assistant coaches.
Along with the significant lack of control as CEO of the Aggie football program, he can’t win enough games to keep himself off of the hot seat list.
That’s going to end in a few months when he loses his job the way his offensive line coach Jim Turner should have lost his job in the aftermath of one of the most ridiculous cluster-you-know-whats we’ve seen at the college level in a long time. That Turner has his job says a lot about the desperation Sumlin must be feeling going into this season.
Sumlin is out of moves on the chess board at this point. All that’s left at this point is for the season to unfold the way its expected to unfold. Johnny Manziel ain’t walking through that door for Sumlin and I’m not sure it would matter if he did.
No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… Jimmy Walker won the PGA this weekend and I just couldn’t find myself being all that interested at any point this weekend. I’m always glad to see a Texas-boy do well, but this major just lacked sizzle.
… Draymond Green can’t stop taking Ls this off-season. Memo to all of you… never leave yourself one click away from having your junk on the Internet for everyone to see.
… Deandre Hopkins had no choice but to end hi short holdout. When you make 1.9 million and are being fined 40K each day of the holdout, you can find yourself playing a 16-game season for what might as well be the league-minimum if you’re not careful. Rick Smith needs to give Hopkins a new deal because if Smith is going to be cashing in on a new extension, everyone should be getting paid in Houston.
… As a Cowboys fan, I’m already resigned to the fact that 2016 is going to be painful. I see very little reason for hope.
… Charles Barkley hosting a show called “The Race Card” sounds like one of the worst ideas I’ve heard in a while, but who knows, maybe the Chuckster will surprise me.
… Sebastian Giovinco is pretty awesome.
… It took Julian Green 35 minutes to notch a hat trick this weekend for Bayern Munich, which means it might take until he’s 35 before he’s able to carve out a more prominent role with the USMNT. Only 14 more years to go...
… If I’m a Manchester United Fan, I’m not sure I care how much it costs to bring Paul Pogba in, just bring him in. It’s only money.
… Am I crazy for thinking that Dicock Origi needs to be Jurgen Klopp’s first-choice striker ahead of Daniel Sturridge? He’s more consistent, has a higher work-rate and plays with as much pace as anyone in the Premier League.
No. 10 - And finally …
I haven’t watched an episode of The Night Of just yet, but it’s time to get after it. I’ve heard nothing but good things.
