Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (The glass is still half-full...)
- Thread starter Ketchum
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Remember in 2011, Bryan Harsin was doing good work with a young offense and a true freshman quarterback until they lost Fozzy and freshman Malcolm Brown vs Missouri and KState and they couldn’t do anything on offense. They barely scrapped by vs A&M, but most of that night was ugly too.
Everyone mostly agrees that Harsin was a good coordinator for the most part. But when his had unit had key injuries, even with his bevy of trick plays, he wasn’t able to just magically create offense. There were plenty of games in two years of Harsin where they struggled to score.
Our OL has to be able to pass block or run block decently. They stink at both right now.
That said, yes, some criticism is valid. The weird personnel rotations and the refusal to give the young backs more carries. Colin Johnson has to have been benched for something else other than performance? Is Armanti a bad influence on these receivers? I’m not saying but just wondering.
Otherwise, man, I honestly don’t think there’s too many coordinators that can do appreciably better. I really don’t.
TCU last year with Cumbie and Meatchum were awful on offense because of Kenny Hill’s poor play, youth and some injuries. They were awful. Dana Holgerson’s offense struggled in 2013-2014 as he worked to build up the talent.
This offense is young, injured and needs more experience and frankly a lot more talent and playmakers. Oh, and some OL that can actually push opposing DL back. Something that hasn’t been seen at Texas since the mid 2000’s.
How fvcking hard is it to find and develop five quality lineman?!?
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Not real sure if you were optimistic or pessimistic in your column...looked like it could go either way.
Tom MUST evaluate his assistants at the end of the season.
Start Shane on Saturday and give Sam a much needed rest and time to rethink the last pass he has made in the last two games. Freshman or not, that is clearly NOT having your head in the game and fully understanding the situation. In both cases, it’s simply not fair to the defense having put it all out there to kick them in the teeth on the last play of the last two games.
Kudos and appreciation to a defense that refuses to quit!
Take a bow Mr. Orlando!
Tom MUST evaluate his assistants at the end of the season.
Start Shane on Saturday and give Sam a much needed rest and time to rethink the last pass he has made in the last two games. Freshman or not, that is clearly NOT having your head in the game and fully understanding the situation. In both cases, it’s simply not fair to the defense having put it all out there to kick them in the teeth on the last play of the last two games.
Kudos and appreciation to a defense that refuses to quit!
Take a bow Mr. Orlando!
We've had some bad quarterback play over the years and yes Simms had some bad games and bad moments .Ehlinger plays his heart out , but that pass he threw in overtime , given the circumstance and the way overtime works , was the single dumbest play I have ever seen from a quarterback.
I guess I was just talking about the interceptions. I had (conveniently) forgotten about the fumble.
So if we lose against 0-7 Baylor due to offensive performance, which is entirely possible, you believe that Shane gets the starting job back and I would have to agree with you. Man this season is starting to feel just like last season and the year before that. There is not a gimme game when this team plays.
Can someone please post that gif of the baby running in the room and leave abruptly turning around and leaving... with a caption of Ketch backing away from his tweet??? LOL
It's as if Klopp hired Vance Bedford to train Lovren (it really is shocking Lovren starts for a team of Liverpool's quality).
From The Guardian:
"Liverpool’s Croatian centre-back produced the worst half-hour on the pitch in recent memory, during which he appeared to have completely forgotten he was actually playing in a football match, in the 4-1 hammering by Tottenham"
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/oct/22/liverpool-tottenham-dejan-lovren-undefending
From The Guardian:
"Liverpool’s Croatian centre-back produced the worst half-hour on the pitch in recent memory, during which he appeared to have completely forgotten he was actually playing in a football match, in the 4-1 hammering by Tottenham"
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/oct/22/liverpool-tottenham-dejan-lovren-undefending
Your write up points directly at the offensive coaching staff which it should. That points directly at Herman which it should. He needs to look at Saban's approach. At the end of August he has his 11 offensive and defensive starters with a few key subs and that is what he rolls with. He is not concerned about some to the 4 and 5 stars sitting on the bench as backup, he plays the ones he feels he can win with. STOP the participation ribbon substitution at WR and RB, and play the play makers, who by the way are pretty good-Johnson, Foreman, L'Jordan, Mapps (if not badly hurt), Warren and Carter. When running the ball go with a power run game, not this zone read shit. Bama has an excellent running QB and runs power run 80% of the time. It is easier to block. Minimize the QB running. Rely more on short quick passing game. Finally, if Herman brings back the same offensive staff, he is an utter fool not worth $5.5 M a year.
I remember when Herman was hired stating that the best players would play, no matter the experience or the rep. What a lie that was. I recognize bullshit when I see it because the last ten years have made me an expert. It would be refreshing to see some invention. Some young blood. But no. Some ego driven dude knows best because he makes the millions and we have to sit still and take kicks to the gut because we're just fans. As I said after the Maryland depantsing, we are starved for wins. This bullshit on offense is unacceptable. It's losing us games while Foreman and Carter and the rest of us have to watch our offense crater in less than mediocrity. Would be happier to lose with at least risking something new. Same shit, new name. Not cool. Not happy.
LOL, Shane looked a whole lot better with a 2000 yard rusher next to him and the starting OL intact.
You do realize that sam is being held out for concussion? I believe he was concussed at ou which explains him being a little off for okie lite. Our play calling is going to get both of our qb’s killed.
Like Coach Mike Gundy said 10 years ago in his famous rant (re Longhorns have their QB): "That ain't true!!!!!!!!"
So you think the doctors were just wrong or were lying when they cleared Sam during the OU game and then again Sunday after that game? (Caveat: I'm just assuming you made your diagnosis from the stands or television. If you evaluated Sam in person and you're a doctor, then I totally defer to your diagnosis).
Amen, Ketch!
What do you think is going on? It's impossible that Herman and Beck can't see the obvious. . . .
CTH the CEO needs to look at his process of putting the offense together. It appears that we still call plays that don’t take into account the skills of the players on the field. You don’t call an east/west run with warren, have your 2nd strong receivers in for a potential game winner in Ot, etc...
Herman is being hard headed and not changing his system to the personnel in the game. Warren is a good back BUT you need to line him up deep and let him get a head of steam. We rarely call those type of runs. I could rant over the whole offensive roster but you get the point. Call the plays to the skill set on the field and I think our success rate goes up and we get over the hump.
Herman is being hard headed and not changing his system to the personnel in the game. Warren is a good back BUT you need to line him up deep and let him get a head of steam. We rarely call those type of runs. I could rant over the whole offensive roster but you get the point. Call the plays to the skill set on the field and I think our success rate goes up and we get over the hump.
I don’t think they were lying, I don’t think a concussion can be determined in 5 minutes in a tent. That is my opinion. I am not a doctor and I generally would get 3rd-4th opinions as I have seen too many mistakes.
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I doubt that's true. I'm convinced he's only a better fit because our O-Line is so bad.
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It could be if when CJ is on the field DO fails at pass protection and SE doesn't have a chance to get CJ the ball.
Let's not lose sight of the fact that the OL is by far the biggest weakness on the offense, just to try to spread the responsibility around. Yes CJ needs to step up. Yes I hope Carter and Young would perform if CW came off the field.
Yes I hope some scheme innovations would be helpful (air raid OL splits? more quick slant plays? something?).
Sure, some have noted the OL has sucked for a decade.
But what concrete resources have been devoted to / added to solving the problem? Like finding and signing 5 legitimate blue chip OL every year. Even if they are in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, or Ohio. I'd sign a strength athlete from Sweden if he was 6'5" #310 and could move like a ballerina.
Great write-up Ketch, but this was your best line:
Ladies and gentlemen of Orangebloods, the glass is still half full.
In the aftermath of this Longhorn team falling into Charlie Strong territory in the win/loss department, it's important to not lose sight of the bigger picture.
This program is making tangible strides forward, even if it hasn't learned how to finish opponents and win games.
As I wrote a week ago in this very column, the Longhorns have their guy at quarterback, which is the most important check mark that needed to be made in this entire season.
It's important to state these truths from the start because some folks lose track of the nuance of a discussion any time it gets a little critical of components inside a college football program. It's just too personal for some, which means they react like a mom protecting her baby.
All things considered, Tom Herman and his staff have done a very good job in year one, especially when you consider all of the areas inside this program that needed addressing.
It's one of the reasons why 24 hours after writing that members of the Texas offensive coaching staff were stealing money on Saturday that I regret it. In retrospect, there was a better way to point out that there are a number of areas on that side of the ball that are major concerns for very important reasons without writing something that might feel personal, especially when there are a lot of ways to judge a college football coach's work outside of what happens on Saturdays.
What I'm going to attempt to do in this column is address the areas of concern that continued to emerge on Saturday in a way that goes a little deeper than the initial discussion on Saturday afternoon.
No. 2 – The elephant in the room ...
Let's start with the offensive line.
This team currently is living out its worst-case scenario from a personnel standpoint and we run the risk of mutilating a dead horse if we emerge from every game singing to the rafters about the state of this position.
That being said, let me defend this group's play a little yesterday.
While it wasn't good, it was competent in spurts and this offense still didn't have anything going for it outside of living and dying off of its freshman quarterback's ability to create on the fly.
Frankly, it's lazy to simply point at the offensive line as the source of this unit's offense because it willfully ignores so many other issues that require inspection.
We're seven games into this season and I don't see a single player that is emerging in the home-stretch outside of the quarterback, who is still going to have freshman moments in his freshman season. That's just science.
Is it Denzel Okafor's fault that Collin Johnson, a player that Tom Herman claimed he was taking responsibility over when it came to getting him more involved, has fallen off a cliff? Is it Zach Shackelford's fault that Armanti Foreman leads the team in touchdown catches, but can't get game reps over guys with no touchdown catches? Is it the fault of Connor Williams' injury that the idea of an added wrinkle by the Texas coaching staff seems to be running more power runs with a quarterback that it claims it needs to ask less of?
Yes, the offensive line is a war zone, but don't let it cover your eyes for everything that is and isn't going on.
No. 3 – The improvement on offense across the board is missing ...
Seriously, name a single offensive player other than Sam Ehlinger who is emerging more than halfway through this season.
Not a running back. Not a wide receiver. Not really a tight end, although Cade Brewer might be low-key emerging.
However, if the only player we can come up with is a freshman, who caught one pass for 15 yards on Saturday, I feel like we're indirectly making my point stronger in the process.
When Texas takes the field next week, I don't know of a single running back that can be trusted. I used to think Collin Johnson could be trusted, but with Reggie Hemphill-Mapps banged up, is there a receiver that anyone can count on to make a play against Baylor?
There are five games left for progress to be made, but it's lacking everywhere nearly 60-percent into the season.
No. 4 - Playing time questions ...
What's happening in the area of snap distribution is borderline maddening.
Armanti Foreman is in the top two at his position in terms of snaps against USC and Iowa State, but can't get on the field at the expense of players making almost zero plays in the next three games?
Collin Johnson was a top five player on the field against USC, but has been rendered moot and is losing snaps, even after Herman claimed he was so important to the offense that he was personally getting involved more in his development?
Chris Warren hasn't earned the trust of the staff through seven games, but the running backs that Herman claims he wants to see more of are barely playing at a position begging for more help.
Meanwhile, the team's best offensive players often aren't on the field in the game's biggest plays.
These are absolutely the things that a well-paid staff is supposed to have a handle on, but I see more guessing than anything. In fact, Tom Herman has admitted that he doesn't have the answers because if he did, the problems would be fixed.
No. 5 – About that offensive identity ...
This killed me yesterday.
The Texas coaches seemed to have quit on running the football with the backs after not using any of them in the running game until ... they get into a first-and-goal situation at the 10-yard line and then use the banished position on consecutive run plays, which left the team facing a third and goal from the five-yard line, which was not converted.
I suppose the argument can be made that the coaches were trying to catch Oklahoma State off-guard by tricking their way into the running game, but to this naked eye it looked like the offense didn't know who it wanted to be as the field got smaller.
It's funny to think that there were people wondering if the staff was saving all of the imagination in the offense for the Oklahoma game when it seems pretty clear that this team doesn't really do imagination on the offensive side of the ball in 2017. The same Wildcat package that jump-started the offense earlier in the season has seemingly disappeared forever. Meanwhile, the Texas passing game seems limited to playing in a 15-yard phone booth by design, which is understandable because of the line, but gives this group no wiggle room from play to play because it's too sloppy to think that it can go 80 yards over a dozen plays very often.
This team is dying for big plays and after John Burt made a monster play after-the-catch in the first half, how many times did they repeat the process of getting him in that same type of space again?
Again, some of this stuff can be attributed to the war zone offensive line situation, but an elite offensive coaching staff finds a way to help its team score points.
That isn't happening most weeks.
No. 6 - Where this leaves Tom Herman going into 2018 ...
Obviously, the last five games of the season will matter significantly, but it seems like we're heading into an off-season that could look similar to the one we all lived through in 2015.
Tom Herman is going to stand by all of his assistants. Period. Ride or die, baby.
That means the fan base will go into next season wired exactly like it was when Shawn Watson returned for his second season as an offensive coordinator, which means that if there's a single performance from the offense like yesterday's played in year two, folks won't be kind.
I'm of the opinion that when this season ends, Herman needs to audit his coaching staff very seriously and make sure he feels like he has the best possible coaches in all areas of this team, comfort through association be damned. Strong failed to do so and it proved to be a fatal flaw.
Herman was hired to make history at Texas, not repeat it.
No. 7 – In case that felt like too much negativity …
Here are things to feel really good about going into Baylor week ...
* Todd Orlando has been everything everyone thought he would be. Texas has one of the top five defensive coordinators in the country in control of that side of the ball. He gives Texas a chance to win in every game it plays the rest of the way out.
* Malik Jefferson is playing the second-best brand of linebacker that this school has seen in the last 30 years. Only Derrick Johnson has been better than the Jefferson we're seeing impact every single game. He played like a wild-man against Oklahoma State.
* Gary Johnson staying in the line-up makes this defense even better.
* The much-maligned Texas secondary won its match-up against a much-loved on Oklahoma State wide receiver unit in a big, big way. That includes Kris Boyd, who Oklahoma State wanted to attack, but couldn't find any business on Boyd's side of the field. Meanwhile, Holton Hill is having the best season of any Texas cornerback since ... Aaron Ross in 2006? Seriously, think about it. Only Carrington Byndom has been a first-team All-Big 12 player at cornerback for the Longhorns since 2006.
* Michael Dickson is so good that it's a shame he wasn't on the 2005 team. He's worthy of it.
No. 8 – Buy or Sell …
BUY or SELL: Tim Beck will be the offensive coordinator in 2018?
(Buy) I just don't see Tom Herman pulling the plug on the guy, given the circumstances of this season.
BUY or SELL: Sam's interception against OSU and fumble against USC collectively are the worst turnovers by one player in the history of Texas football?
(Sell) Chris Simms had at least a half-dozen in his career.
BUY or SELL: Texas is a legitimate threat to lose to 0-7 Baylor this week?
(Buy) Texas is a team learning how to win. It should not be taken for granted.
BUY or SELL: A realistic expectation for next year is eight wins. Why? Because our offense is the worst ever and it won't turn around in one year.
(Sell) I have no earthly idea what is reasonable going into next year at this point.
BUY or SELL: My liver survives the 2017 season unscathed?
(Sell) The TCU game looms in two weeks.
BUY or SELL: Sam is the starter if we lose against Baylor due to offensive performance?
(Sell) Apparently, it's What Have You Done For Me, Yesterday Week in Austin.
BUY or SELL: You miss the days of Greg Davis?
(Sell) YOU miss the days of Greg Davis. Tell the truth.
BUY or SELL: Holton Hill is playing his final season at Texas?
(Sell) I reserve the right to change my mind on this.
BUY or SELL: All things considered this is the best 3-4 team you can remember. Man, that hurt to type.
(Sell) I don't remember any 3-4 teams.
No. 9 – If I had a vote that counts ...
1. Alabama
2. Penn State
3. Georgia
4. TCU
5. Wisconsin
6. Clemson
7. Oklahoma
8. Ohio State
9. Oklahoma State
10. Notre Dame
No. 10 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
* Nothing is more big-boy in baseball than beating the Yankees in a game seven. Congrats, Houston. Go finish the deal and show everyone that tanking for a few years can be a winning strategy. Here's hoping the Sixers can pull off what the Astros are.
* Jose Altuve is just incredible. That is all.
* James Franklin is the guy Texas thought it was getting in Charlie Strong. What he's done at Penn State is nothing short of amazing.
* Posted without comment:
* Joe Thomas' streak of consecutive plays stretching back to his rookie season in 2007 ended at 10,363, which might be the greatest stat in the history of the NFL. Just wow.
* I have no idea what to think of Zeke Elliott the person, but he is some kind of football player. The question I was asking myself on Sunday was whether he is better than Herschel Walker in his prime? I think so, but man, it's close.
* I miss the days when beating the 49ers meant something as a Dallas fan.
* I've lost my touch as a fantasy football manager. It might be time to hang up the cleats.
* I'm in a little bit of a funk as a Liverpool fan right now. I love Jurgen Klopp, I absolutely love him. However, the team's decision to not improve its back line in the transfer period is maddening. As it stands, this team lacks alpha-males.
* Until proven otherwise, Gary Patterson remains the best college football coach in the state of Texas. The Horned Frogs are getting better each week.
* With its season on the line, Oklahoma scored 32 second-half points in Manhattan to win coming from behind. That's impressive.
* Man City and Tottenham are a different level of class than the rest of the EPL.
* The end of the MLS season was a hell of a lot of fun. Sorry, FC Dallas.
*I'm #TeamEricWynalda for the head of USA soccer.
"Herman was hired to make history at Texas, not repeat it."
Hookem
I wonder if both Johnson boys, Kirk and Collin, transfer to a California school? They are both healthy but not playing. Very curious. I do applaud their dad, the great Johnny Johnson, for not getting into a Twitter war like Mr Foreman has done
I guess so, but I'm not completely sure. Probably, but maybe. I think. Then again, who really knows? Anyway, that's my take on things.
It's probably a good bet someone had a little talk with the OP.
