Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (A heavy dose of "Uh oh")

[FrancoBevo]

Texas finished with 10 penalties for 100, Tech had 3 for 15. Anyone thinking Tech only committed 3 for 15 yards is a moron. The league officials call lopsided games against us regularly and I don’t see how they continue to get away with it. Their o-line held all afternoon and why wouldn’t they when the refs let them. It’s bullshit. Let’s not act like it didn‘t contribute to sand aggy’s ability to score 56.

 

[Ketchum]

I didn’t see the discussion. But I get you.

As soon as the game was over, Herman was asked if this was the kind of game that champions win.

I was thinking.... it's also the kind of game 6-4 teams win.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum on game management, I thought the end of q3 was a disaster also. After first down, we could have let clock run down and gone to q4 with ball. Instead, we end up burning a time out, throwing an INT, and letting tech score a td. Thoughts ?

Was more bothered by execution at that point than the clock.

 

[Ketchum]

Really hope OP is right on. The conference is there for the taking, but we have to take it.

We have to learn a lesson from KSU. Rattler is not good if you hit him. He played badly after they made a point of hitting him every time he dropped back.

Really hope someone gives the OP a hug.

 

[Ketchum]

Herman has always said goal is a 50/50 run pass offense. Seems to me Sam still scrambles more than ideal.

His scrambling helped on Saturday.

 

[Ketchum]

First - shout out to you @Ketchum for answering ALL my B/S questions! Though I am disappointed to find out you still don’t believe we win the conference this year. Second - the French Open IS here, so get your head right! Finally - I Am Legend should at a minimum crack your top 4 of Will Smith movies.

Anyhow, great write up this week.

I think I tend to like movies when Will plays his best character, the cocksure cool guy.

 

[Ketchum]

7 pounds had to be on will smiths top 10

Only watched once...

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum good write up! You need to watch Focus it’s one of my favorite Will Smith and Margot Robbie is fine as hell.

I've never heard anyone give it a thumb s up until you just now. I'll definitely consider it.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum - as a guy who played a lot of special teams, can we chalk up the special teams failures and successes to simply a lack of practice time?

No, Herman swears they spend loads of time on special teams.

 

[Ketchum]

Tom ask you for advice on how to fix his OL for this year and beyond what do you tell him to do?

Oh man,

I'm not sure the answer to the this year part, but they better be active on the grad transfer hunt next year by the bucketloads. Diversify recruiting areas at the position. Hire a war daddy OL coach.

 

[Ketchum]

Clemson won a game recently against a crappy team when Trevor Lawrence got hurt and the backup made a miraculous throw on 4th down and they squeaked out a win On the road. This game felt like that game.

did it?

Or is that some heavy duty confirmation bias to compare this program to Clemson?

 

[Ketchum]

The only positive thing one can say is that they have played the toughest schedule of any team in the league so far. The three teams they have lost to have a combined record of 7-0, including the team with the best record in the league last year and the defending super bowl champs.

I mean.... I guess.

 

[Ketchum]

When does Jared Wiley get on the field?

He was on the field Saturday. I didn't think he played well.

 

[Ketchum]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Hookfin get good action at RG, or possibly RT next week, assuming he is healthy. Possibly starter down the road a few games if nothing improves on right side of OL.

They'll have to do something, even if they believe he's not ready.

 

[Ketchum]

iRobot and Concussion would be on my list.

I've never seen Concussion.

 

[Ketchum]

Site Publisher, you answered 18 questions. However, 73 posters asked questions ;many of them asked multiple questions. I didn't count how many total questions were asked, but I'm positive that the total is well over 100.

Perhaps the job has gotten too big for just one person. If 55 people, all paying customers, didn't get their questions answered.

Are you interested in hearing a proposed solution? If so, skip to the next line.

You should ask Sir Alex Dunlap if he would be interested in helping you ask questions. And if 2 can't get it done, then ask the Honorable Anwar Richardson if he'd be willing to pitch In.

I took 18 of the good questions.

Some were repetitive. Others weren't good.

Maybe stay in your lane and trust that I got this.

 

[Ketchum]

Damn, that sent a shiver down my spine just reading that.

You should have seen my shiver writing it.

 

[Ketchum]

LeBron is great player. Unquestionably. One of top 5-10 greatest of all time.

However, he played in a weak conference for 15 years.

If the Lakers and the Spurs were in the eastern conference from 1999-2014, either franchise might’ve won 7-8 championships, and both won 5 each despite having to battle each other and Dallas, Phoenix, Sacramento, OKC and Golden State later on, year in and year out.

LeBron never had to go through the Western conference gauntlet playing the Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Duncan’s Spurs, Nash and Phoenix and Dirk with Dallas year after years for a 15 year period.

LeBron also had the advantage superstars before him never had - manipulating his situation to his advantage.

He went to Heat, won 2 championships, ditched them when he knew Wade was declining. He went to the Cavs and had Kyrie and Love but lost 3 out 4 times to the Warriors. He knew it was time to ditch them when Kyrie forced his way out of Cleveland.

He went to the Lakers and experienced his first losing season because his supporting cast - the guys he wanted - weren’t any good and he hates playing with younger players, so he got his way again with getting AD to be traded to the Lakers for said young players and a bunch of future first round picks.

With no Golden State superpower anymore, it was a relatively easy road to the Finals.

LeBron’s Finals achievements are a tremendous accomplishment, but he has stacked the deck in his favor in each of the last 3 teams he’s been on.

Hey, more power to him for pioneering that trend of superstars fighting their way into more advantageous situations.

Again, for the record, Im not a James hater. He’s a tremendous player. I’d take him on my team any day, but he did sorta cheat his way into all of those finals appearances imo.

I can't stand the weak East comments. It's excuse making.

No one ever says that about the AFC east when they talk about Tom Brady or the Patriots winning the division...

 

[Ketchum]

Hitch should never be in any top ten list ever. It was terrible when it was released and it is terrible now. Pick again.

It's charming.

 

[Ketchum]

James is 3 and 6 in the finals Russell 11 for 13 Nough said. Great player not the greatest

Russell wouldn't even be notable in today's game as a player.

 

[RLong68]

We're all so damn thirsty for this program to be good that all it took was Texas to whip UTEP and the rest of the Big 12 to put on a horror show for a few weekends and we all started acting like a bunch of dudes hanging out with SheHooksEm when she takes her shoes off around the time rent is due.

Some of us perfectly understood it was UTEP and we still had trouble blocking.

 

[RLong68]

... B.J. Foster led the team in total tackles (seven) and solo tackles (five). Go figure.

He should be up there in @Alex Dunlap's missed tackle list tomorrow. He simply isn't very good right now. Whatever great tackling gene his cousins got, he didn't.

 

[RLong68]

... Sam had a 118 game rating with 5 minutes to go in the game.

Even with the final result, we should probably table any Heisman talk for now.

 

[RLong68]

Caden Sterns totally held T.J. Vasher on the third-down play before the blocked punt. It happens.

Held. P.I. Take your pick. Strips went with none of the above which goes to your prior note about their overall sh*ttiness. That was a huge no-call.

 

[RLong68]

I wonder what would have happened without the penalty.

Given it was clear the intent was to hard count a penalty, my guess is we would have seen a TO or delay taken and a FG.

 

[RLong68]

(Buy) I think we know what Sterns is and isn't at this point. I'd love to see his game evolve a little more, but we keep wishing for something that might not ever happen.

So he's not an upgrade over Elliott?

 

[RLong68]

(Sell) I think Kerstetter stays, but I feel you.

'Member when Kerstetter should have started ahead of Shack? I 'member.

 

[UTMember]

Great column! That was therapeutic

 

[RLong68]

(Sell) The season wouldn't be done with a loss next weekend. Not even close.

We sorta need to define "done." I think if we're being honest with ourselves, a home loss to a below average TCU at home pretty much is a BAD omen for even the most minimal of goals which is a Big 12 title.

 

[RLong68]

(Buy) It really can't be worse.

Tread lightly.

 

[RLong68]

(Sell) Sorry, Charlie.

Yep. Anyone who think CDC has the stones to fire Mensa this season clearly hasn't been paying attention.

 

[RLong68]

... A&M looked a little trashy against Vanderbilt. The Aggies might be headed for a harsh set of results this season.

Isn't that pretty much the norm?

 

[RLong68]

Ojomo is NOT a pass rushing DE, plain and simple, and the fact that he is positioned there makes me questions the coaches even more. I’ve been wondering this since the second it was reported on OBs that he would be moving outside to DE. I just don’t get it.

Remember when we were sold about his "upside?" Sounds like the same thing we hear in every "instant analysis" about the latest 3-star commit.

 

[styrbjorn]

The Longhorns were up 17-7 and had forced the Tech offense off the field quickly at the beginning of the second quarter when Texas got the ball back. That was the moment the Longhorns could have stepped on the neck of the Red Raiders. Instead, the Texas offense went three and out, nearly had a punt blocked and gave the ball back to Tech on the Texas side of the field.

All of that investment in the first half into the running game was wasted once the team completely shut down on offense in the third quarter

Really liked that he went for it on fourth and two from the four-yard line on the opening drive. After going 71 yards in the first 6+ minutes in the opening drive, seven points instead of three points felt imperative, even if there's some thought to scooping up the three points and making sure you don't come up empty. Three points on that drive would have been a letdown and Herman sensed it.

I probably would have put my foot on the gas. I understand why he didn't want to, but I'm just saying for the record my own instincts yearned for a little more aggression, especially with Texas Tech getting the ball back to start the third quarter. There's probably not a right or wrong decision with this one, but it's a strategy decision I noted along the way in real time and felt even stronger about after the third quarter unfolded.

Great stuff Ketch. The key running through this, to me, is that Tom Herman's fingerprints are still all over the offensive gameplan. The word "cutesy" keeps coming to mind. Tom seems OK with going for it on 4th down (aggressive move) but then every damn time we get up by 10 or so he throttles back the whole offense.

I get that CTH dreams of being able to do the Bama thing and just squeeze the juice out of the clock once you have a lead, but we aren't that good and this conference has way too many high-octane offenses. If we had game planned like we'd need 56+ points out of the gate, we most definitely could have rolled Tech in the second and third quarters. Instead we didn't make a real effort to extend the leads when we had them, and we let Tech believe they had a fighting chance.

One universal truth in sports - when you let a team believe they can beat you, then you open the door for them to do exactly that. CTH needs to learn to crush the souls of bad teams, instead of getting wrapped up in stupid mensa games like trying to demonstrate that we can run to the right.

 

[RLong68]

Did our center not play pretty damn well last year at RT.

Not really. I know everyone got jacked about that PFF rating article from the summer, but it's pretty telling most found it a tad surprising. The reality is @Alex Dunlap season long grade on him wasn't terribly impressive.