Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Sark has a lot to do)

[Ketchum]

After 1/3 of the season, Sark’s offense ranks 72nd in the country in Total Offense. This is absolutely shocking to me.

yikes

 

[Ketchum]

Dreams not even in top 15 ???

🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum If you put the coaching staff from 2004-05 with these players we have today is this team demonstrably better?

It ain't losing to teams it should beat.

 

[Malibusmostwanted]

So a new DC next year and new head coach in 2024. Great.

I’m guessing UT brass encourages Sark to hire an OC as their last ditch effort before firing him. So
- 2023 new DC
- 2024 new OC
- 2026 new HC

Seems somehow familiar

 

[BARBLUES]

He can’t catch for shit. Edward Scissorhands has stickier hands.

If this happens this program will never recover.

Please ignore the troll . He's full of caca .

 

[Ketchum]

Good write up. So if we are so good at the scripted plays can we just start scripting more plays? Too simple of an approach?

I think it comes down to adjusting to the adjustments. The script forcoes the other team to adjust.... then what?

It's like going through the order once or twice in baseball. At some point, you have to have more than one or two pitches to keep having success.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum

when Sark was hired, you opined that an NFL coach would be best as the DC. Do you still feel the same way that a young up and comer NFL coach would be our best bet as a DC?

It's not the worst idea.

 

[Ketchum]

We need to try both Burke and Tapp. I know they’ve only played against 2nd and 3rd team players in garbage time, but they’ve passed the eyeball test in the limited action I’ve seen from them. The current starters just aren’t bringing the QB down

You have to try something because what's being tried isn't working.

 

[Ketchum]

Any word on how long Worthy will be out? Seemed like his injury shut the offense down yesterday.

Very hush hush on that front at the moment.

 

[BigGulpHorn15]

Sark clearly is the great coordinator, poor head coach type. His poor head coaching record speaks for itself. So his best shot (and maybe only shot) at big time success IMO is to surround himself without enough elite talent, both players and assistant coaches, that he can’t screw it up. Ed O’s 2019 LSU team is the perfect example.

 

[Ketchum]

Ketch,

Here is my question about your buy sells. It seems you are saying that the team is where you thought they would be at the beginning of the year. You are also saying that you think Sark is gone within 2 years.

So are you saying that you thought Sark would be gone in two seasons before this season started?

I am concerned by areas of improvement in places that isn't occurring... game management among them.

 

[Ketchum]

Not Ketch but he has been saying since day 1 he doesn’t believe in Sark as a championship level coach.

I've yet to see him make his teams better in the second halves of games.

 

[Ketchum]

Panama has always left me cold. But I’m in the minority in that view.

So many great songs in both the Roth and Hagar eras. A testament to Eddie’s greatness.

Just a great band.

 

[Ketchum]

Ok. Just trying to make sure I understand where his head is at. I guess I have read him to be a little more optimistic about the possibility that Sark can be the guy.

I think all the confirmation bias of us wanting it to be so makes for optimism. We want it so bad we can taste it.

 

[Horn On Wheels]

If Sark on the hot seat gains traction over the next year or two and he is fired, is Arch still solid? I understood the primary reason he chose Texas was because of Sark.

 

[Ketchum]

What the **** ever. From the keyboard of a man who drinks the Koolaid and the poison every single season. Where's your own credibility Ketch? You thought Hudson Card was the next Aaron Rodgers. You loved this team after Alabama. Talk about cycles. We're literally one play away in each game from being on top. I get that everyone's pissed, but you @Ketchum fan the flames as bad as any writer I know. And that includes Kirk Bohls. Bi polar has a new face.

@trimmwagon

a. I never said Card was Aaron Rodgers. Ever.

b. I didn't love this team after Alabama. I literally wrote last week that the defense still had some major concerns and was shouted down by a lot of people.

c. Once in the past 11 seasons have I have gone higher than 8-4 with a pre-season prediction for this program.

So, save me with that what the **** ever stuff.

 

[Ketchum]

Really interested in seeing Kelvin Banks Deep Dig grade as Tech DE and high draft pick was not heard from much on Saturday

Good as ever.

 

[Ketchum]

Just a couple of things I saw so far this season. Ewers has very good vision and therefore can make decisions quicker that Card. Quicker can sometimes mean just a half second that makes the difference between a successful pass and a sack. This is a physical trait that can't be taught. It was said that Ted Williams could see which way the laces were turning on a fast ball. This is also a trait of the best of fighter pilots, like Chuch Yaeger, and yes fighter pilot Ted William, USMC.

The way we need to compensate for our young defense is to be aggressive in our offensive play calling. We can't rely just on QB management. We aren't like the old Alabama teams where all the QB was asked to do was not screw it up and the defense will ensure we win the game. We've got to outscore our opponents even if it looks like piling on. Ewers will help, but until he's back, Sark needs to open the playbook for Card.

This isn't a young defense.

 

[Ketchum]

Sorry, but why can't Brenan Thompson be that guy? Nobody is asking him to be Xavier Worthy, but can't we ask him to go deep 8-10 times a game and open up the rest of the field? Were those track times an illusion, or is he still the fastest player on the field every snap he is on the field?

It's not like we didn't see him being used as a legit deep threat in the open fall practice, and it's not like he could do any worse on actually catching deep passes than Worthy and Whittington have done so far this year.

He has the speed without question, but he's barely played.

 

[Ketchum]

In one classroom scene where the teacher is dancing on the desk, a black board is featured with the numbers “20-9-8-19-25-12-15-8”. Each of these numbers corresponds to a letter of the alphabet. If you read the encoded word from right to left, you’ll notice it spells “HOLY SHIT.”

That's awesome.

 

[Keef254]

The 4th quarter issues IMO come down to 3 major issues.

1st - Our OL is just not good enough right now to impose our will on a good/decent defense. I can't count how many times our RBs were getting hit or had to make someone miss in the backfield.

2nd - The 4th quarter is all about QB play. Good/Great teams all have QBs that make the plays in the 4th. Thompson was not that guy last year and Card isn't that guy this year. Card doesn't make the plays to keep drives going.

3rd - The defense can't get stops. IMO that is all PK. We can't get consistent pressure with 4 so you want to just rush 3 on 3rd and 4th downs. Stop.

 

[Ketchum]

So I’m not sold on Sark but if I remember correctly Mack had never won a championship of any kind until the Big12 Championship the year we won the National Championship with one of the greatest college quarterbacks ever. So maybe? Hopefully?

Yeah, but he was pulling off 10-2 type seasons on the regular for more than half a decade before that point.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum wondering if you’d add some perspective on two competing futures.

you say you foresaw 8-4 and a 2-2 start, which seems grounded though a little optimistic maybe given what we’re seeing.

then you say you Buy Texas is looking for a new coach In two years.

and you think Arch makes it to campus.

8-4 keeps him off the hot seat To me. That’s progress. Then year 2 with Ewers looks pretty positive. Then Arch becomes the heir apparent. How would Texas be looking for a coach at that point?

or we go 7-5 or worse and we do wind up with Sark on the hot seat. Arch rattles and jilts Texas and we are looking for a coach. And a QB.

But if Arch comes, Sark’s safe while he’s on campus imo.

I'm just not seeing it from Sark from 30,000 feet up.

He hasn't proven to have the in-game coaching chops through 16 games.

I'm not 100-percent certain he doesn't make it, but if you ask me a question today about it, I'm not going to lie.

 

[Ketchum]

Ya know... I clicked on this to read and it hit me. Who gives a dam. Scrolled down and didn't even read a word. It's getting repetitive over the last 15 years or so. I'm sorry don't kill me. I'm not sure who's fault it is but it's more then coaching for sure. There have been some amazing coaches roll through over the years and result is the same. Tired of excuses, but this I can tell you. This texas team has way more talent then 90% of teams that beat them over the last decade. Sorry just soaking all of it in and trying to figure it all out.

check out the Van Halen list!

 

[Ketchum]

And how is that any different than Worthy and Whittington dropping just about every deep ball thrown to them this year?

The goal is to take the top off the defense. Whether he can catch or not, the defense has to defend him down the field against his speed and open up the rest of the field. And I'm sure he can fair catch a deep pass if they completely ignore him.

That's fair.

 

[jtesq]

I really think we should go 5 wide more. We need to pass to run.

 

[ColladorUT]

My 2 biggest quibbles with Sark are:

1) The defense is bad since he took over. They are also a veteran unit. I do give some leeway for basically not playing anyone he recruited, but overall it feels like he has the Jimbo offense problem but with the defense.

2) Lack of offensive success when limited. I think we all believe that when all the toys are healthy Sark is amazing, but he hasn't shown he can drive the Kia when necessary.

Maybe Ewers is the key to the Ferrari and the offense goes, but if the current offense rolls out does anyone really think Sark will have it fine tuned?

 

[Williamhill2034]

Even Charlie beat Ou in year 2. Maybe if we stop running the ball up the middle behind our weakest OL we will have more success. Run it outside and dump the ball to players in space. The playcalling on offense in the second half was just bad. Have to be way more aggressive pressure wise on defense too. We can’t rush 3 and drop 8, they torch us every time

 

[gpc75238]

Sark is on the way to being the Wade Phillips of College Football. Great coordinator, mediocre to bad HC.

 

[TX_HORN]

It's season nine for him as a head coach. Isn't that like trying to pass the bar on your 9th time?

I mean... you might eventually pass, I guess.

You come across as though you believe Sark is a dead man walking in 2 years. If that's the case, is there a coach out there that you think is a better option that we could actually get? Is there a home run hire out there that would actually take the offer knowing what has happened to the previous 3 staffs, and knowing how quickly the fan base will turn on them?

 

[drag worm]

The list of issues needs to include pass rush and why coming out of last season when Sark claimed it was one of the two biggest issues in the program along with OL, he did nothing to address it for this season.

His portal strategy almost has shades of Mackovic stealing Kwame Cavil from the defensive coaches to it. There seemed to be so much more focus on acquiring Hall, Billingsly, Milton, etc than edge rush war daddies. And don't tell me there weren't any options. You make options happen if it's a priority. Like he did with Worthy, K Rob, Billingsly, etc.

 

[Buda Horn]

He has the speed without question, but he's barely played.

It's not rocket surgery. Put him on the field, tell him to run towards the end zone as fast as he can, and look back for the ball after 3 seconds.

I know what you're saying. I'm just pushing back against the narrative/excuse that we have nobody other than Worthy who can take the top off the defense.

 

[Ketchum]

agree to disagree on that opinion

Say what you want about Herman, but his teams generally played hard. They were never beat down.

 

[Ketchum]

This x100. Tech’s QB has been susceptible to pressure all season and what do we do? Play squishy soft until our D is exhausted (A week after showing that shit put us in a hole against UTSA). If this game planning is PK’s best, demote him. If Sark is telling him to plan this way, PK should tell him to GFY and scheme better 2nd half offense. It pisses me off that our defensive players are having their aggression taken away from them like they‘re in a f-ing toxic masculinity clinic. Blitz and go for it - we’ve proven that playing passively is a recipe for a shit sandwich.

Those fist two drives set the stage for the entire game. 30+ plays and 12 minutes of game time.

You knew the defense was going to be gassed by the 4th.

 

[Ketchum]

I chose to focus on the most important facet of TTFTW— the Van Halen list. Pretty solid. But that sh!tty Pepsi comercial jingle has to go. Replace it with I’m the One which kicks ass

fair enough. pepsi out here ruining songs!