Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Let's have an honest talk about where things stand...)

[Baguette]

Man, its getting harder & harder to be emotionally invested in Longhorn football anymore.. 10 years is a long time to wait for another round or two of Glory Years a la Vince Young or Colt McCoy. Soon some of the same apathy I've felt for the Cowboys for too many years will settle in. What a damn shame not to feel again the incredible highs of watching a great team in action, mowing down just about any team that gets in their way. Man, I want to feel again the amazing high like I did when VY scampered into the end zone for the game winning TD vs USC and a National Championship, confetti swirling all around him as he stood Texas Tall & Texas Proud. I want to feel again the same high, joy & pride like I did when I saw Colt & Shipley { can't forget Shipley's electrifying kick return for a TD either!} slice & dice OU to pieces.thus taking them down as # 1 team in the country! What a thing of beauty that was. C'mon now God, one more time, please! Hell, make that many more times! After all, Its our birthright is it not!?

 

[Big Bertha]

Pretty good job on the Strait list....never will everyone agree since he’s had 60 number one hits! Not including Amarillo by Morning, which is also my number 1 and I think George’s also, based on comments he made at the Las Vegas show I was at. One I like that hasn’t been mentioned is Baby’s Gotten Good at Goodbye....

Yeah he's had so many it's hard to keep track sometimes. Baby's Gotten Good at Goodbye is a real good one. Cold Beer Conversation, Chill of An Early Fall are a couple more that come to mind.

 

[frink1951]

Coming off an amazing Sugar Bowl victory we are ready to fire Tom? He literally inherited a dumpster fire when Charlie Strong left. We had some major issues.

We win that LSU game early this year...this board would be tripping over itself to give Tom a 5 year extension not the 2 year one that he got. The momentum from an LSU win would have had a spillover effect to the rest of the season. I think we'd be sitting undefeated and in the hunt for a playoff. We have toughness but the program doesn't have the grit yet to get past setbacks. It was a season defining loss.

Go check out the Georgia message board after their seemingly season ending loss. They were ready to fire Kirby and their coordinators. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for UGA they've been in this position a lot and they chose to stay the fight. They had a better response to the adversity of an early season loss than we did. Now they have a chance to make the playoffs. Psychology is huge in sports.

Injuries have hurt tremendously (Does anyone think Sam was healthy this season? Let alone our entire secondary!) but I think we put all of our eggs in that LSU basket and we have not looked like the same team since. And, then the injury bug reared its ugly head. Yes, one game can change the psychology of a program as does losing key players on a very young defensive unit looking to take an even bigger step back after winning a big game over Georgia.

The "We're Back" psychology took a big beating that night. Again, just think about this...one year after a Sugar Bowl victory the entire board is already looking for a replacement to Tom?

Yes, I am disappointed and pissed. Yes, he's arrogant. Yes, I hate not taking the points and going for what seems like every 4th down. And, yes, I question the game management. And, yes, I hate is stupid press conference responses. However, he didn't go from winning the Sugar Bowl to a firing. Was that luck? I suppose we all believe that UGA didn't show up that night?

Throwing Tom overboard on this forum does NOT help our recruiting. Parents and recruits do read this site. Regardless of what we do in terms of coordinators I fully expect that Tom will be gone if he doesn't perform next season.

And, I am pretty certain that everyone on this board will expect 10 wins minimum and a conference championship. Possible with Sam back and a healthy team. However, if he doesn't win 10 games and a conference championship is it the right decision to fire him/buy him out?

I am ready to admit there is smoke but not a fire yet. The recruiting class was on pace to be one for the books and now we have defections. Yes, that is concerning and absolutely sucks. My orange colored glasses and cup full mentality says we can course correct and win out and keep the majority of the commits...and go into next year hungry and ready for redemption. Hook'em!

PS- I am not Tom's ghost writer. Just a blind optimist I suppose!

I don’t want him fired. Just want him to look in the proverbial mirror and think rationally about his and the team’s problems and how he can fix BOTH. If next year sucks again, I want him gone. Like my Longhorn Foundation membership and season tickets will be.

 

[NativeTex]

what is my agenda?

Cause I'll tell you this, nothing makes this site more money than winning and that hasn't happened in a decade. I'd like to see happiness.

Yep, this baffled me. Thought I'd missed something.

 

[HornLegacy]

The banana in the tailpipe is the perfect description of our program
I laughed.

 

[MB-HORNS]

The problem is that if you have actually taken the time to watch the team play all season, you'll know that it's incredibly disingenuous to suggest that injuries have been a bigger problem than the litany of other issues that exist, from terrible game-management to poor preparation to one confounding dumb action/decision after another.

@Herman2Texas I assume you disagree with this?

 

[Ketchum]

Fair or not, we need him to be the best quarterback on the field to win. In our four loses, he wasn't the best quarterback on the field. I am a big fan of Sam's leadership and qualities as an individual. We could and have done a lot worse at QB position over the last several years. The scheme holds him back some - like a late game sack in the Iowa State game where the receivers ran no patterns - just go past the first down marker and turn around. When both on the left side were totally covered, they both just stood there. That's not even junior high good. That's not on Sam. There were also drops on good throws - again not on him. But IMO, there are too many passes that require the receivers to make circus catches, turn 360 degrees or inhibits YAC. Go back and look at the ISU game and you'll count several. Again, it may not be fair to expect him to be great every game - that's a big ask.

IMO, specials teams have played a huge part in our four loses. That's on TH and he must get it fixed. I am not sure about TH's logic of putting the coach he demoted from offensive line coach to be the special teams coordinator. I don't know the background or his experience or how he was doing in this area prior to this year. I think all of us can agree that the kick off return and punt return teams have been wretched. The kick off coverage team is close to the same (in a "hold your breath and pray" way). That's on the coaches to put the right guys out there and instill the discipline for each player to do their assignment. I see too many cases where one or more players try to play the hero and a breakdown the teamwork/coordination needed to do the job happens.

good stuff

 

[Ketchum]

Pretty good job on the Strait list....never will everyone agree since he’s had 60 number one hits! Not including Amarillo by Morning, which is also my number 1 and I think George’s also, based on comments he made at the Las Vegas show I was at. One I like that hasn’t been mentioned is Baby’s Gotten Good at Goodbye....

I left out You Can't Make a Heart Love Someone, but it's in my personal top 10.

 

[MB-HORNS]

He's a Hall of Fame football coach and an abortion of a human being.

He'd win a national title at Texas.

And his tenure would end in scandal.

Well sign me up...


And I will wear the hat of bad person for wanting it...

 

[Sark2Texas]

@Herman2Texas I assume you disagree with this?

The injuries are just to one side of the ball and yes I disagree with it. No one can expect multiple 3rd string players to run a scheme well. That same scheme is now doing well with its starters. Yet we are still doing some of the things people complained about before, only this time, it’s working more.

 

[HornHeel]

We've lost 4 games, all within 1 score. We've had lots of injuries to the secondary and to key players. Ehlinger not performing? With a 150 QB rating?

Great Scot! Tap the brakes on the panicky, negative Chicken Little stuff, please.

A brighter day is ahead.

 

[Mike.Tip]

In thinking about the recent past recruiting years, it seems to me the only players we are seeing plus play from, among the upper class-men, are Ehlinger, CJ and Duvernay. The two that were expected to be great were CJ and Duvernay as they entered their Freshman year. I can’t think of many more players that were stud recruits that are still playing for this team other than a couple of those getting snaps on the underwhelming secondary.
We can win more games than we lose playing significant snaps with freshmen and sophomores, BUT, not when they represent the greatest percentage of the team’s best talent. I am not sure Lincoln Riley or Sagan and his staff could do much better with this team. I hear the pleas of scheme flaws and adjustment failures. I can’t explain every complaint and agree with some of them. I just don’t think the coaching is the one major flaw of this team. We have a talent deficit in depth and overall play quality. I’m not saying that we have starters that are backups at best. I am just saying we have players that are not quite as good as the person across from them on most weeks. Elite programs do not split the matchups on paper with the likes of Iowa State or Kansas State (not to mention making Kansas and TCU look like contenders). If we want to be in the same discussion as Alabama, Georgia, ohio state and the swamp boys (not to even mention zero u to the north) - we will have to recruit deeper and top-ten every year. Just doing it a couple of years will not cut it. Especially as we enter the ”age of the transfer portal”!

 

[Troyboy8ball]

because Urban is a goddamn scumbag

Are we sure Herman is much better? He did hire Casey Horny, and he was Zach Smith's boss and good buddy for a couple years, he certainly had to have known Smith was an abuser or at least a really awful person. Do you think Herman wouldn't have recruited Aaron Hernandez if he knew exactly as much as Urban knew. Am I forgetting other really bad things Urban did?

 

[Baconbeard]

Herman is supposed to be a Big 12 type of OC.

I would contend his needing to hire an OC is the biggest reason why you'd have to label his hire as a mistake.

HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE ELITE OC!

And what part of his resume suggested that he was, other than working for Urban Meyer?

 

[MEP1992]

8 & 10 on straights list should be like 2 &3

 

[Tex51]

He wasn’t an elite QB last year. He WAS, however, an elite single-wing runner. He’s not that anymore.

Hey last year his passes were much more on target than this year and with no interceptions. I agree though his running was much better last year.
Like I said I don't understand why he has regressed this much this year unless he is not disclosing an injury otherwise this should not have happened.
This is partially Beck and Herman but also falls on Sam not getting ready himself. You can't baby sit a QB that is a junior he has to take accountability also.

 

[oakforest horn]

Texas is still as good a job as any of the others. You have to keep something in mind.

when we hired Charlie we didn’t have an AD, so any top guy we faked to had no idea who he worked for. That is a factor here.

When we hired Herman again we didn’t have a true AD. Mike Perin was a successful guy, and very good man but everyone knew he was a placeholder and really not made for the job

Also we didn’t really have a search everyone in the country went in to Herman’s last year at Houston knowing he was 80-85% chance he was going to Texas. Had he shocked the world and went to LSU we had no plan B. It was Herman or oh ****. So in short we don’t know who would or wouldn’t take the job because we haven’t had a real search since Mack Brown.

Charlie was hired by the worst AD in the history of mankind, Steve Patterson. Patterson treated Texas Athletics as if it were in need of money management skills.

 

[txfight]

How can I answer it? There are so many unknown variables?

That's the whole point of the B/S! We ask a question, you make a crazy prediction, and then we hold you accountable for it weeks, months, or years in the future! C'Mon Man!

 

[txfight]

I think it's a 60-40 game, so it wouldn't be that much chaos. Baylor should have lost to Tech at home.

... and Iowa State... and OU

 

[Rocky Mountain Horn]

I Can Still Make Cheyenne.

 

[Rocky Mountain Horn]

Pretty good job on the Strait list....never will everyone agree since he’s had 60 number one hits! Not including Amarillo by Morning, which is also my number 1 and I think George’s also, based on comments he made at the Las Vegas show I was at. One I like that hasn’t been mentioned is Baby’s Gotten Good at Goodbye....

I left out You Can't Make a Heart Love Someone, but it's in my personal top 10.

I Can Still Make Cheyenne is probably my favorite other than the obvious classics.

 

[Dualthreat]

It's not as far as the accountants are concerned.

Studies by psychologist have demonstrated that beyond meeting your basic financial essentials, more money does not correlate with more happiness.

I'll bet you dollars to donuts a much better on the field success record and a better coach MAKE Texas more money. Not lose it.

My accountants aren't persuaded by your accountants' argument.

 

[TexSon74]

And I have a new off-season policy. I'm not reading another word about any recruit who is listed as an Athlete, WR, or DB. I'd like to know how many sacks our front 7 has? Name a successful college program that doesn't have someone who can pressure a QB without an all-out blitz? We need a Cory Redding or Tony Brackens.

Won't happen playing a three man front.

 

[Dualthreat]

I meant the traditional, run the ball and make them use their timeouts book.

It's the traditional reaction.

I didn't say it was a good book.

The book I read said calling plays predictably guaranteed to fail is NEVER justified by an idea like run the ball and make them use their timeouts. It didn't work, and it didn't produce that outcome.

The book I read integrates all the ideas into a larger picture so that a coach implements a successful formula, not a random idea.

 

[Ketchum]

Studies by psychologist have demonstrated that beyond meeting your basic financial essentials, more money does not correlate with more happiness.

I'll bet you dollars to donuts a much better on the field success record and a better coach MAKE Texas more money. Not lose it.

My accountants aren't persuaded by your accountants' argument.

It's not me you have to convince.

 

[Ketchum]

The book I read said calling plays predictably guaranteed to fail is NEVER justified by an idea like run the ball and make them use their timeouts. It didn't work, and it didn't produce that outcome.

The book I read integrates all the ideas into a larger picture so that a coach implements a successful formula, not a random idea.

again, it's not me you need to convince.

 

[jrobinson147]

Whatever changes have to occur need to be made ASAMFP.

1 - 3 vs OU, 0 - 2 vs Maryland, recent faceplants in Fort Worth and Ames, etc...none of that shit is OK and it's gonna have intermediate-term implications on the recruiting trail.

 

[boernefan]

I'll buy the OOS recruiting. Keep going.

I don’t have time to explain everything in a detail and comprehensive manner so that posters on here can understand. Mod rules on here.

 

[shinerman]

View embedded media

My wedding song. Approaching 20yrs.

 

[Big Bertha]

I read on another site that the Iowa State players were taunting our guys because they knew what plays we were going to run. Awesome.