I know this team does not have elite talent. But they sure as hell have enough talent to not lose 4 in a row in the crappy Big 12.... This staff is failing right now.
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (About the quarterbacks... Part III)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
I know this team does not have elite talent. But they sure as hell have enough talent to not lose 4 in a row in the crappy Big 12.... This staff is failing right now.
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You didn’t seem to factor that into your editorial analysis too much last December, when we had just hired 7 new assistants that got shafted from having a full offseason with our team due to a global pandemic. So please, don’t patronize me. If you believe what you just said then why not you act that way moving forward.
You mentioned in your post about finding some of the 100+ Receivers on scholarship that can catch a ball. Yes, I get you are making a jest however you cannot deny that that in itself is emblematic of the lack of talent distribution and depth at the many other positions that have been neglected during the Herman tenure.
How in the Hell can you say this is a talented team when there is such a shitty distribution of talent across the board for this squad? Furthermore, if those receivers leave the program then certainly that impacts the overall talent level of the squad as a whole as well. If the talent level and evaluation was THAT good then tell me why a scrawny Freshman receiver has beaten everyone else out in this group to be THE guy at reciever?
It doesn’t matter how many 5* receivers you have in waiting (by the way, I am not aware that we have a single 5* WR recruit on our roster!) but if you don’t have anyone that can block long enough for a ball to be thrown their way then what good is that? Furthermore, you have weaknesses at a multitude of positions including linebacker, safety, DL, QB, TE, and just about everywhere else on this team.
Face it- as former players have told me, this team has talent, just not very much of it and certainly it is not spread all over the field as you and Anwar are insinutating. The overall talent level of this team is nowhere close to what Mack had even in his latter years. You and Anwar may not think so but former players do.
How in the Hell can you say this is a talented team when there is such a shitty distribution of talent across the board for this squad? Furthermore, if those receivers leave the program then certainly that impacts the overall talent level of the squad as a whole as well. If the talent level and evaluation was THAT good then tell me why a scrawny Freshman receiver has beaten everyone else out in this group to be THE guy at reciever?
It doesn’t matter how many 5* receivers you have in waiting (by the way, I am not aware that we have a single 5* WR recruit on our roster!) but if you don’t have anyone that can block long enough for a ball to be thrown their way then what good is that? Furthermore, you have weaknesses at a multitude of positions including linebacker, safety, DL, QB, TE, and just about everywhere else on this team.
Face it- as former players have told me, this team has talent, just not very much of it and certainly it is not spread all over the field as you and Anwar are insinutating. The overall talent level of this team is nowhere close to what Mack had even in his latter years. You and Anwar may not think so but former players do.
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Ketch, you have to at least admit we are the least talented at the most critical positions for sustained success: OL and DL. That and our wRs can’t hang in to balls that hit their hands.
we aren’t an untalented team across the board but pressure on our QB and Rb has been crippling. And we got no pressure on opponents qBs or r b s.
and Sark did absolutely take over a team minus significant difference makers in Ossai and Cosmi. We do have a HUGE talent/difference maker shortage at OL, DL, LB and S. Our defensive performances show a lot of desire. Not a lot of talent.
Not Ketch but I say sell. Too many red flags already.
Like the last time Herman was there huh? 24-10 loss with our touchdown coming with 1 second left in the game. With a three year starter at quarterback. This was Hermans third year and that game made them 6-5. I think it was his headbutt game too. Be better….you're not being objective this evening.
maybe i'm a simpleton but i don't get the "we are void of talent" narrative. the teams that texas has lost to and the ones texas will lose to and the the dozens of teams in the ncaa that are have better QB/OL/DL/LB/DB, are they more talented? have they recruited better? or have they developed their athletes physically and mentally?
do we really need to look farther than waco? how about stillwater or dallas?
You quoted me earlier and referred to how important the loss of Ehlinger, Ossai, and Cosmi was when I alluded to how much they covered up.
You warned us since the summer there were a lot of holes and a lot of trouble.
This is not a good roster. If it was we wouldn't be here at 4-4. There are no difference makers outside of X and Bijan.
At some point the carousel of coaching staffs has to stop.
I think the only reason Charlie didn't get to four straight losses is because he was fired on a three game losing streak. 🤣
Let's be clear Ketch, this program was heading off of the rails last year and recruiting was tanking faster than Biden's polling numbers. Herman left a mess that will take years to sort out. You seem to imply this team is better than it really is. Considering this team from a pure talent perspective, maybe we shouldn't be 4-4 and maybe our QB situation wasn't handled very well..
But bottom line is that this team is awful. They aren't tough, they don't compete, and they have no pride. And the most glaring thing is that there is no leaders on this roster. Sarkisian inherited this debacle of a program and now he's expected to fix it in year one. You need to move over to Aggie Yell or TexAgs with that kind of perspective..
But bottom line is that this team is awful. They aren't tough, they don't compete, and they have no pride. And the most glaring thing is that there is no leaders on this roster. Sarkisian inherited this debacle of a program and now he's expected to fix it in year one. You need to move over to Aggie Yell or TexAgs with that kind of perspective..
it is beyond frustrating to see player after player leave the state or head to aggy. its like the last texas staff and this one just can't get out of their own way.
The Biden thing will get you banned..... I'd delete
How many years do you give them if they keep losing? Maybe they should start winning some games.
Strong deserved to fired
Herman deserved to be fired
If Sark does not win more then they did in years he will deserve to be fired...
What will the excuse be when Texas has more players drafted in the NFL then the teams they are losing to?
- Jan 14, 2011
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Gideon, Becton, Coleman and maybe Terry Joseph. Our secondary is ass, so getting rid of the CBs and Safeties coaches makes sense.
It’s more “when” does the buck stop, not where.
I’ve seen a lot that I like from Sark, and it’s to early to panic.
I’m in favor of continuity in the coaching staff if possible. As long as there is progress in player development and recruiting over the next couple years, I am rooting for Sark.
I think there is an argument that it’s much better for a college programs recruiting if the coach isn’t on the hot seat.
The fact that UT had NFl caliber QB, LT and DE lost to the league covered up a lot of Herman sins and are things Sark is missing this year.
I would be shocked if we didn’t land a starting QB in the portal. There’s no way Sark doesn’t hit the portal pretty hard in the off season.
But doesn't everyone know what winning looks like? Any loser can watch Tom Brady and see what it looks like. Anyone can watch the Michael Jordan documentary. It's not that they don't know what it looks like. It's rather that they don't have a mentality that produces winning habits.
The Morning Show on Apple TV+ is worth a watch and will move the app up one or two slots.
I'd put my YouTubeTV app as #1.
I'd put my YouTubeTV app as #1.
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@Ketchum with all due respect. This team has 2 war daddies on this roster. Worthy and BJ. Maybe Collins. So let’s say 3. I don’t care about rankings. Hermans evaluations were way off on 85% of this roster. The fact you and @Anwar Richardson thinks the new staff inherited a good wealth of talent is mind blowing. Texas might have 3-7 kids max that’s A&M would want on their roster. Rankings, stars ⭐️ by their names mean NADA when your in the arena of college football.
Ketch, I’d bet you don’t have enough time to watch all the high-quality stuff on the various apps/streaming platforms (who does?), but two series to consider on AppleTV+: “For All Mankind” (sci-fi … and the second season is superior to the first) and “Servant” (something Stephen King might have cooked up). They have ratings on IMDb of 7.9 and 7.5 respectively. And for something really different, “Losing Alice”; however, that won’t be errbody’s cup of tea, as it’s in Yiddish, so you have to put up with subtitles, and it‘s a slow burn with kind of a David Lynch vibe. I liked it a lot, but it has a more pedestrian 6.6 rating on IMDb.
Steve Sarkisian has a quarterback problem.
Oh, don't get it flipped, Sarkisian has a lot of problems with this 4-4 Texas Longhorns team that has lost three straight games. His defense is one of the worst in school history. His offensive line is constructed with Band-Aids. His healthy receivers outside of Xavier Worthy are just as likely to drop a ball as they are to catch it. Recruiting momentum has stalled. The heads of his pets are falling off.
Believe me, there are a lot of problems in play right now and none of them are mutually exclusive from each other. On the contrary, all of them are co-existing together in a universe of disappointment and confusion.
Mixed inside of these problems, somewhere in between the worst problem he's currently dealing with and the brilliance of true freshman Xavier Worthy is what's happening at the quarterback position.
Before this season began, I was quite vocal in stating that the evolution of the quarterback position on the current roster was the most important single development of the entire 2021 season. Regardless of anything else, it was imperative that Sarkisian finish this season in a place where this non-championship outfit could potentially springboard into championship conversation in Sarkisian's second season behind the brilliance of Bijan Robinson in his final season and a quarterback position that could emerge as a team strength after a year of development under UT's quarterback coaching wizard.
It's not happening.
Before I go any further, don't confuse this as a cry from the president of the Hudson Card Fan Club for a change at quarterback. Believe me, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I definitively know what the right answer is, but I can do the easy part and identify a major looming issue.
Since posting video game numbers in his first two games as a starter against Rice and Texas Tech, an achievement that everyone agreed in real-time would have been possible for Card had he also been able to cut it loose on the two worst teams on the Texas schedule at this point, Thompson has been regressing to the mean at an incredibly concerning rate.
Consider the following ...
* Thompson is 1-3 in his last four starts against TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor with a very average 144 passing efficiency.
* If you eliminate the first quarter against Oklahoma's Big 12-worst pass efficiency defense (kind of an unfair thing to do), Thompson has posted an abysmal 127 rating in his last 15 quarters of football, which is only narrowly better than what Tyrone Swoopes posted in his first season as a starter in 2014 under Charlie Strong.
* After losing the starting job to Hudson Card in the pre-season, in part because of a tendency to turn the ball over too much, Thompson is set to enter November with the worst interception percentage (3.43) in the entire conference outside of KU's Jason Bean (3.46).
* In the last four games, Thompson has played at least one completely brutal half of football in three of them and only a fourth-quarter bomb to Worthy in the Oklahoma game saved him from a perfect four for four in this department.
* In the fourth quarters of the last three games, all of which came down to plays made or not made in the final 15 minutes of those games, Thompson has a 109.8 efficiency rating.
* In true road games, Thompson has posted a 126.7 efficiency rating.
Thompson is far, far away from being the worst problem that Sarkisian is dealing with, but he is not playing good football and hasn't been playing good football for the last month or so.
When this season ends, regardless of this team's record, the quarterback position simply cannot be a question mark going into the 2022 season, but it feels unavoidable at this point.
What is Thompson as a quarterback through six starts? An above average player? Average? Below average?
What does it mean that he's been below average in more games than he's played well and looks like a player that needs to be replaced from a statistical standpoint if you take games against Rice and Texas Tech out of the equation?
What is his upside as a player? Is he a guy that you're putting all of your eggs into going into the 2022 season?
All of these are questions that I don't completely have answers to and it's beyond a worrying issue with four games to go because even if he performs very well against the likes of Kansas, West Virginia and Kansas State down the stretch, what are we supposed to make out of improved performances in games that barely matter?
Again, I don't have an answer.
The elephant in the room is Sarkisian's decision to bench a younger, more talented Card after a dismal performance against Arkansas, only to never really give him another shot through eight games, all in the name of hitching his wagon to a player that may or may not be someone he can invest the 2022 season with. It's hard to argue that Texas would be worse than 4-4 at this point in the season with Card as its quarterback, which means the switch to a more turnover-prone quarterback who has struggled significantly in almost every late-game situations he's played in feels like a potential mistake.
If you were going to have a 4-4 season, where should the investment at the most important position on the field have been made? With a guy that two different staffs have agreed has serious NFL upside or the guy that two different staffs weren't sure about after extended off-season evaluations?
Would the program have been better off going into the 2022 season by letting Card grow up on the job? The need to be good immediately is what forced Sarkisian to give up on his starter after 2 1/2 quarters, but with the team currently at 4-4 and struggling to become bowl eligible under another struggling quarterback, at what cost has the hasty decision come with?
One way or another, Sarkisian has to come out of this season with good answers to all of the questions posed above. Not us ... HIM.
Eight games into the season, that's not happening.
So, yeah. Inside of all the other issues he's juggling in season one, the quarterback position remains one as well, whether he cares to admit it or not.
No. 2 - Casey's last four games ...
There are some worrying trends inside of these numbers.
1st quarter vs. Baylor - 5 of 5 for 101 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 401.7 rating
2nd quarter vs. Baylor - 7 of 11 for 55 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 69.3 rating
3rd quarter vs. Baylor - 4 of 8 for 54 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 106.7 rating
4th quarter vs. Baylor - 7 of 14 for 70 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 90.0 rating
1st quarter vs. OSU - 7 of 11 for 119 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 154.0 rating
2nd quarter vs. OSU - 4 of 8 for 34 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 104.1 rating
3rd quarter vs. OSU - 3 of 7 for 26 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 75.3 rating
4th quarter vs. OSU - 1 of 2 for 0 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, -50.0 rating
1st quarter vs. OU - 6 of 8 for 176 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, 383.6 rating
2nd quarter vs. OU - 4 of 8 for 68 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 162.7 rating
3rd quarter vs. OU - 4 of 6 for 30 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 108.7 rating
4th quarter vs. OU - 6 of 12 for 114 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 155.9 rating
1st quarter vs. TCU - 4 of 7 for 36 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 100.3 rating
2nd quarter vs. TCU - 2 of 7 for 9 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 10.8 rating
3rd quarter vs. TCU - 3 of 4 for 57 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 194.7 rating
4th quarter vs. TCU - 3 of 4 for 40 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 241.5 rating
No. 3 - Sark's path to future success ...
Part of the reason that Sarkisian was hired was out of the hope that his ability to recruit at an elite level with an all-star recruiting staff combined with his reputation as an offensive wizard would lead the program into the rest of the decade with a perfect blend of coaching and elite talent.
With all due respect to a recruiting class that currently ranks 5th in the Rivals recruiting team rankings for the 2022 recruiting year, but only features two borderline elite recruits at the top of the commitment list, it's likely that the ability to bring in prospects like Xavier Worthy by the bucketloads isn't going to happen.
Standing at 4-4 through eight games at a time when every remaining elite prospect has said he wants to wait to see Texas show something on the field before daring to consider a commitment to the Longhorns, it's time to acknowledge that it's going to be hard for Texas to climb out of the bridesmaid position in the chase to marry the very best prospects in the country.
Not impossible, but definitely hard.
When Arch Manning and the rest of the big-time 2023 prospects make their decisions in the next 8-9 months, they will do so with the only football they've ever seen from Sarkisian in the head coaching position at Texas being the football played in the 2021 season. Frankly, it's an ominous recruiting truth.
From my perspective, it means that very few of the current problems facing the program are going to be solved with the kind of recruiting that makes Kirby Smart orgasm in delight.
You can make a case that the future of Sarkisian's tenure at Texas now ultimately depends on two things:
a. This staff's ability to develop talent (and ability to do it quickly)
b. This staff's decision-making in team-building with the portal
Kyle Flood is going to have to develop his ass off with the group of guys he currently has to work with. Pete Kwiatkowski is going to have to develop a pass rusher or two, along with some linebackers. The secondary is going to need to be completely rebuilt. Some of the 100 scholarship receivers on campus other than Worthy need to be trusted to catch a pass.
Immediate answers to these riddles won't be found in recruiting. Maybe a couple of answers will immediately come from the 2022 class, but the majority are going to need to be found via the current roster.
Or the Portal.
With that group of players, a coaching staff that ranks among the highest paid in all of college football will need to create some water out of wine. If the Longhorns can do that, maybe the five-star level prospects will finally arrive in large numbers at the end of the 2023 class or the beginning of the 2024 class. In my estimation, it's slightly naive to believe otherwise based on what we've seen in recruiting since Sarkisian arrived.
UT's decision-makers believe that Sarkisian and his staff represent a significant upgrade to the staff they replaced.
They will need to be right if this thing is ever truly going to get off the ground.
No. 4 - Rejecting a growing narrative ...
Give me a break with this notion that Sarkisian took over a program that needed to go through a massive culture change because the roster was full of losers.
That's horse poop.
Sarkisian inherited a program that averaged 8.33 wins per season, which includes a short-season in 2020, and finished ranked as high as 9th, 25th and 19th in the last three seasons. All of last season's losses were of the one-score variety.
Texas made a change at the head coaching position, partly because Sarkisian was seen as an upgrade over Herman, which might have been the big difference in a sport decided by fine margins. The objective of his hire was to take the program from very good to great, while boosting recruiting (which had significantly sagged).
There might have been an issue with finishing close games under Herman, which has remained under Sarkisian, but this notion that some have invented that he's having to replace Charlie Strong levels of a created losing culture is simply wrong.
No one was saying this during the summer when dreams of competing for the Big 12 title existed and I won't tolerate it being said in front of me now simply because it would somewhat absolve Sarkisian's 4-4 record if it were true.
No. 5 - Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...
... Pop-quiz: Which player leads the secondary in pass breakups (see below)?
... Bijan Robinson's yards per carry dropped to 5.9 after the Baylor game, which ranks 11th in the Big 12.
... D'Shawn Jamison leads the Big 12 in punt return average after the weekend.
... After struggling against the Big 12's top two pass defenses in terms of pass efficiency defense, Casey Thompson will play the Big 12's No. 3 pass defense efficiency unit in Ames.
... At the end of the day, the Longhorns still rank 2nd in the Big 12 in scoring offense and 7th in scoring defense.
... Baylor's run defense was so good against Bijan Robinson on Saturday that UT's average rushing yards per game dropped nearly 20 yards in the aftermath.
... I still don't understand why involving Keilan Robinson in the running game, especially when it struggles, has proven to be so difficult, especially if Stan Drayton and Steve Sarkisian are two of the best in the sport at what they do. Maybe that 7.3 yards per carry and all that speed is just a mirage.
... Speaking of Keilan Robinson, he received one carry in four games in the month of October, despite averaging 7.3 yards per carry.
... Iowa State running back Breece Hall leads the Big 12 in rushing and all-purpose yards. That feels incredibly ominous.
... My brain can hardly process the fact that the co-leaders on the team in sacks are Ovie Oghoufo and Alfred Collins, both of whom have two in eight games.
... B.J. Foster leads the Longhorns in pass break-ups with four.
No. 6 - Saying the quiet part out loud ...
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) Yes, but that's a very low bar to aiming for.
(Sell) First of all, when Bijan is the best running back the school has seen in at least 14 years, Worthy is the best young receiver the school has ever had and Overshown might be one of the best defensive talents the school has produced in the last decade ... that's a hell of a three-player disclaimer. Texas has been much worse at quarterback in the last decade. Much, much worse. On top of that, Mack's final team had no players drafted from it, while the 2016 team had only D'Onta Foreman, who isn't as good as Bijan Robinson. I'll even go so far as to say that 5-6 pros will come from the current starting defense.
(Sell) It's a huuuuge factor, but so is finding guys that can get to the quarterback and make plays on defense so that you're not among the worst units on that side of the ball in the history of the school.
(Buy) I believed that before the season started.
(Sell) There are no biggest games of the season left on the schedule.
(Sell) It's not a guarantee, but it would be a monster-sized warning sign.
(Sell) He has three. This program can't go into the SEC in a floundering state any more than it could go into a new basketball arena with Shaka Smart.
(Buy) This hasn't become a problem yet, but eventually the best players from average programs are going to normalize upgrading programs in the off-season.
(Buy) As Duane Thomas said in the locker room to Tom Brookshire following Super Bowl VI, "Evidently."
(Sell) It has crossed my mind, though.
(Sell) The 2017 season had Trsitan Nickelson, Terrell Cuney, a young Denzel Okafor and a young Zach Shackelford on it.
(Buy) In hindsight, Arch is more of a sure thing at this point because he isn't coming off of a major surgery from his junior season that he wasn't fully recovered from when he arrived at Texas.
(Buy) There are numerous reasons to judge Sarkisian more harshly than Aranda after year one, the fact that he took over a program during a pandemic among them.
(Sell) 2023 IMO.
(Sell) R.E.M. is much-less remembered in 2021 than Cheers. I was literally comparing one of the plots inside of Ted Lasso to Cheers a few weeks ago. I can't remember the last time I listened to Losing My Religion on purpose.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on the sports weekend ...
... Mel Tucker is doing a hell of a job at Michigan State. He took 20 players in the Portal this year, including five from non-FBS programs. Don't let anyone tell you that roster management through the Portal is a waste of time.
... Georgia's defense has more interceptions through eight games than touchdowns allowed.
... Caleb Williams remains a problem.
... Keaontay Ingram rushed for 204 yards in a win over Arizona on Saturday night, giving him 100 yard efforts in three of his last four games. His 6.1 YPC is actually better than Bijan Robinson's this season. Good for him.
... If you had any part of this, just give up gambling forever.
... I'm not even going to comment on the World Series. I'm not happy about it. You're not happy about it. Let's just move along.
... Speaking of things I have zero desire to talk about this week, I give you the Premier League. Bah, humbug.
... Is James Harden done as a superstar?
... Remember when we were all talking about Austin FC?
... Wait, Glover Teixeira is the new light heavyweight champion in the UFC? Serious props to him, even if I find that pretty terrible for the company.
... I bet KD watched this at least 50 times this weekend and I wouldn't blame him. This is the hooper's hoop.
No. 9 - Top 10 TV Apps ...
Someone posed the following question to me last week - if I was forced to choose one app to watch for the next 5 years, which app would I choose to go with?
Like a very good fantasy football trade, I can't make a decision without wincing at what I'm forced to give up.
Here's my Top 10 ranked in order:
10. Hulu - I just don't find myself using this app a ton. Letterkenny is probably the last thing I would have watched and that was at least six months ago. I think I'm keeping it for the ER catalog.
9. Youtube Premium - This one shoots up the list if I'm not allowed to use this on my laptop.
8. Apple TV - Ted Lasso alone might make this an underrated slot. Off the top of my head, it's literally the only thing I've ever watched on Apple TV.
7. Amazon Prime - This is a surprising ranking, but the reality is that is that I really only use this when there are Oscars-bait movies available. The last thing I watched on Amazon Prime was Manhunter a few months ago when it popped up on The Rewatchables Podcast.
6. Paramount+ - The home of all the Champions League football that I watch.
5. ESPN+ - ESPN FC is literally the only show that I watch every single day.
4. Disney+ - I wouldn't say that I'm constantly using this app, but between the original programming and the deep library, it's always got a little something for me on a boring day. This might be too low if my kids get a vote.
3. Netflix - This feels underrated, partially because I just don't watch all of the original content available on the service, but there's no question that it's absolutely loaded.
2. Peacock - If I'm stranded on a deserted island and have no other way of watching Premier League soccer, it probably moves into the No. 1 slot.
1. HBO Max - The champ as far as I'm concerned. In the last few weeks alone, I've watched Succession, Band of Brothers, Gomorrah and Ghosts. This does not include The Departed, episodes of The Closer, The Many Saints of Newark or Sergeant York. I'm telling you, this is easily my No. 1.
No. 10 - And Finally...
This was probably my favorite 51 seconds of the weekend.
- Jan 14, 2011
- 34,001
- 94,911
- 113
We owe him $3.4M after this season, I think Anwar already predicted PK’s get out of jail card, which is that his staff was chosen before he was hired.
