Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Let's talk about Tom's game management...)

[IL Padrino]

I don’t consider A&M a quality win. Oregon yes.

It wasn't just the win, it was the way they won, completely dominating from start to finish.

The Aggies have beaten Texas State and Lamar so far...at home.

 

[Ketchum]

“... I think Dallas probably played a C-level game on Sunday against the Dolphins and they still won by 25 points. The naked eye tells me that this is probably the best Dallas team since the 2007 group and I think at the end of the season we might have to have a talk about that one, too.”

It’s entertaining when the Cowboys are winning, but you do realize they may have played the easiest schedule in the league so far..

I do realize that, yes.

 

[IL Padrino]

Re Belichick kicking 100-100, Dicker isn’t Viniateri or Gostkowski (SP on both). He HAS missed what seemed to be likely kicks and it wasn’t a chip IIRC. But the hurry up play call sucked.

I will say I was yelling at the TV when we went for 2. Yeah, we got it but that decision seemed indefensible.

43 yards is basically a chip shot, especially in the conditions he was kicking in.

Let’s put this to bed now....he should have kicked it. Period.

 

[Ketchum]

Terrible game plan? OSU produced 26 first downs and a few yards shy of 500 against our defense.

And it could have been worse if they had played to UT's weakness instead of its strength.

 

[Ketchum]

Here's where the program is at with Herman's 4th down calls.

In 2019 against power 5 opponents, Herman is 1-4 on 4th down conversios, with all three misses taking points off the board. The lone successful conversion was the Duvernay touchdown in the LSU game where the ball was at the LSU 44 and no points were taken off the board.

I'm not sure what's in the binder, but the analytics currently say the offense sucks shit through a straw on 4th down, especially when taking points off the board.​

Good post.

 

[Ketchum]

Another week of limited Cowboy analysis. Ugh

I mean... it was Miami.

 

[Ketchum]

Lulz. They aren't beating their daddy blowU. Our floor this year is losing 2 conference games, and obviously we'd have the tie breaker over them.

bingo

 

[CenTex Horn]

I agree with you that Saturdays, Herman's game management skills can look "sketchy", Ketchy.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum what about John Harris' senior year? Was it deserving of possibly making the list? If I can remember correctly, he had a pretty decent year.

He was No.11. I wanted to get Mike Adams' best season on the list, especially when you consider his quarterback play that year.

 

[Ketchum]

It’s interesting that you say CTH is always aggressive on offense. I disagree. I think he goes into a shell and gets very conservative in the 4th quarter of games he’s leading, instead of putting the pedal to the metal and finishing teams off. We saw it last night, we saw it against ou last October, and many other times. That’s when he should be aggressive, or at least assertive with his play calling. There are ways to be safe with the ball and still try to move the chains and run the clock. Handing off to the RB on a “no read” zone read play is not it, especially when the other team is putting 9+ guys in the box.

He takes big risks at stupid times, but won’t take small risks when he can put the game away. He has a long ways to go as a end of half and end of game manager IMO.

That's more than fair.

 

[Ketchum]

I think the game management thing is a bit of a Sunday morning QB nitpick.

It's consistently an issue, not a one-off.

 

[Ketchum]

Ketch, your game management argument, in this particular game, is null and void if one punt is caught and the other just left to bounce harmlessly while Oklahoma State downs it.

It really wouldn't be, though. This is a constant three-year thing.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum that 1st point was SPOT THE F*CK ON!

Gracias.

 

[Ketchum]

Good stuff, but Ehlinger will not be in New York at the end of this season, nor will he skip his senior season. Tua Tagovailoa and Joe Burrow are the front runners. Justin Fields and Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor are in the conversation. Jalen Hurts and Trevor Lawrence are in the mix. Nobody outside of Austin is talking about Ehlinger for the Heisman.

Nobody was talking about Colt McCoy in September of 2008, either.

A win over OU in October changes everything.

 

[Ketchum]

I remember thinking either they didn’t play Jevan because they knew he was transferring or he transferred because they wouldn’t play him even when colt was gimped.

They plated Colt because Colt was their guy. Mack tended to ride his knowns and not his unknowns. It didn't pay off that day. In fact, I thought Mack endangered Colt that day.

 

[Ketchum]

Gundy went for 3 instead of 7... three times. His 'velvet touch' left him 6 points short. I'll take Tom.

If only it were just that one play...

 

[Ketchum]

Baylor struggled with Rice. Still think Waco is a difficult game?

It was last year.

I think Charlie Brewer could have a big game.

 

[Ketchum]

Gundy was thinking 2 things:

IF he could win the game running the ball it was much preferable to and easier than winning with a passing attack. Just old-school football.

Run-first look, especially if successful, sets up the passing attack for effectiveness, whereas inability to run the ball strongly undercuts it. THEN he's one-dimensional, one of Orlando's goals.

Further, Texas' 3 / 3 / 5 is designed more for a pass defense than run defense, and Orlando's proclivities to experiment with Cowboy (I believe it's called) i.e. 3 / 8 defense shows his willingness to put a pass heavy defense with ability to attack the QB with athletic mobile DB / LB hybrids all over the field, while defending the pass.

Gundy picked his poison, but it wasn't necessarily the wrong poison. Texas managed to get 2 interceptions as it was with the limited passing attack. Imagine how may turnovers result from twice as many passes. 4?

Maybe you are correct. But it's easy to draw that conclusion after losing taking the other approach. But maybe you lose by more taking a pass-heavy approach?

We'll never know for certain. Just my 2 cents.

Montrell Estelle and Chris Brown played pretty damn good games. I'm not certain more passes was the winning formula. JMO.

Hook'em Horns!

It was a better formula than banging his head into the wall with Hubbard at 3.3 yards per clip.

Giving Wallace one target for every 10 minutes of game time is failing as an offensive mind.

 

[Ketchum]

Disagree. As of now their QBs, nix, is not good. Can't hit the broadside of a barn. I think we matchup more than favorably with them and would win by 3 scores. Auburn is overrated. Felt the same way about michigan

You realize Texas is very average on defense and missing key players in the secondary, right?

 

[Ketchum]

Indeed. In context, there is little difference between 12 and 13, but a huge difference between 11 and 12.

I wonder also how long we give TH a pass on game management because he's young, and only in his 5th year as a HC? Sean McVay is a wunderkind, but is only 33; then there's that whole Lincoln Riley thing. At some point, we may be forced to acknowledge that TH may be short on gut instinct under pressure, compared to other young coaches.

It is a possibility for sure.

 

[BigSkyHorn]

It pains me to say it, but you were right @Ketchum Day 2 of draft has Rounds 2 & 3.

 

[Ketchum]

Without the two muffed punts we aren’t even talking about game management because the Horns win by 3 TDs.

well, game management played a role in one of those muffs.

 

[Ketchum]

I agree with you that Saturdays, Herman's game management skills can look "sketchy", Ketchy.

and i KNOW sketchy.

 

[RLong68]

I'd like to offer apologies to those who believe this entire opening section was nothing more than a nitpick from a Sunday morning quarterback working with the advantages of hindsight to build his case.

It's not really "hindsight." Several questionable decisions. Honestly, while bypassing a FG for 4th and 3 is more of a subjective call but still worth debating, there were far more questionable decisions that were less subjective that were head scratchers. Going for 2 on our last TD was odd given it risked having only an 11-point lead instead of 12. There's little to no difference, particularly that late, between 12 and 13. There's a LOT of difference between 11 and 12. Having Jones even back there on the second muffed punt was questionable. Back to the "fg or go for it" decisions for Herman, questions on that have gone all the way back to game 1 in '17 against Terps when he passed up a surefire 3 for 4th and 5. Keep in mind, that was with an offense that was REALLY struggling.

 

[Ketchum]

It's not really "hindsight." Several questionable decisions. Honestly, while bypassing a FG for 4th and 3 is more of a subjective call but still worth debating, there were far more questionable decisions that were less subjective that were head scratchers. Going for 2 on our last TD was odd given it risked having only an 11-point lead instead of 12. There's little to no difference, particularly that late, between 12 and 13. There's a LOT of difference between 11 and 12. Having Jones even back there on the second muffed punt was questionable. Back to the "fg or go for it" decisions for Herman, questions on that have gone all the way back to game 1 in '17 against Terps when he passed up a surefire 3 for 4th and 5. Keep in mind, that was with an offense that was REALLY struggling.

Exactly.

 

[RLong68]

“I know you guys are infatuated with the binder, and the binder says anything under six [yards] to go for it,” Herman said. “I kind of listened to it a little bit. But you know, we were playing pretty good. It was just it was an ill-advised call. It was the right decision. It was a poor call.”

That's arrogant Tom coming out.

 

[RLong68]

His foot is always on the gas, which means he's going to go for it on fourth down, bypass three points in the quest for seven and generally see the game through an aggressive offensive lens.

The irony in that is when Okie State was BEGGING us to knock them out, we went into a shell on offense despite obscenely great field position. Against a team that we were wearing out.

 

[RLong68]

No. 4 - Let's talk about Devin Duvernay ...

As the President of the Quan Cosby Fan Club, I really have to consider if Dev, gulp, isn't a, gulp, better Quan. His transformation from his first 2 underperforming seasons has been quite a joy. What is funny, is you can probably dig up any number of posts dated THIS year where people questioned Dev and were completely blind to the signs of change he showed last season.

 

[TD TX TD VY]

It was a better formula than banging his head into the wall with Hubbard at 3.3 yards per clip.

Giving Wallace one target for every 10 minutes of game time is failing as an offensive mind.

Yep. Double covered or not, given our DBs proven inability to play the ball thus far.

 

[RLong68]

Stop focusing on the few throws he doesn't complete and start focusing on what he is actually doing because we're watching a special player every week.

I'm a little puzzled at some of the "Sam was a bit off but..." type comments this weekend. I thought he played rather well. I mean, he is going to miss deep throws still but it was another typical game from him (in terms of the the type he has been putting up since OU last season).

 

[RLong68]

... Ok, Wisconsin, you have my attention.

Easy. Big Blue is relatively terrible. Not saying Wisky sux, but I'm not going to put a ton of stock into them beating the dog out of a Harbaugh team that is not good.

 

[RLong68]

... Shane Buechele had been on the wrong end of a TCU beatdown, so it was only fair that he deliver a dagger to the Horned Frogs with SMU. I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed it.

Good to finally have a Texas-Ex QB at SMU to pull for.

 

[RLong68]

... Road games in Waco and Ames feel like potentially the two most dangerous games remaining for the Longhorns, not including the Oklahoma game. West Virginia is probably No. 3.

My gut tells me K-State will be tougher than at least 2 of those, even though it's in Austin. Will be interesting to see how they play in Stillwater this weekend off a bye week and Okie Lite off a physically draining loss.

 

[RLong68]

... In the battle of former A&M quarterback transfers, Kyle Allen punked out Kyler Murray in Murray's own crib, playing what amounted to almost a perfect game, while Murray looked completely overwhelmed.

 

[RLong68]

I found it interesting that Snead had been living in Austin at the time of his death. My thoughts are with his family, who didn't deserve to lose a loved one at the age of 32.

Rest in peace, Jevan.

Having experienced my parents grieve the loss of one of their kids, I hate hearing stuff like that. So sad.