Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (The glass is still half-full...)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
numbers don't tell the entire story.
a. He played very uneven in the first three quarters against USC. It wasn't until the final 6 minutes that he did play well. I thought he was pretty much the same player for four quarters against OSU.
b. He took much better care of the football against OSU.
c. He didn't have a single receiver help him against OSU the way Collin Johnson and Armanti Foreman stepped up against USC.
Come on...
1. The SC game was his first start. He subsequently started the 2 games coming into last Saturday.
2. Took much better care of the ball? His TOs against SC were an underthrown deep ball, and a TERRIFIC strip by SC. His one TO against Okie Lite was simply a bonehead throw. And while not a TO, his bonehead failure to protect the ball when he was clearly being sacked resulted in a 34-yard loss and DAMN near was a full out disaster.
Sure, numbers don't "tell the entire story," one has to be a damn fool to simply dismiss such atrocious numbers.
I don't think we seen enough yet to claim that Ehlinger is emerging as a passer. Without doubt, his running has been about all the offense we've got. But, until we have consistent pass protection that allows a QBs all-round passing skills to be evaluated, it's impossible to claim he's truly emerged in that key area.
This is damning but true. Tom needs to prove himself here at Texas. I still believe he's our guy but he has to show us why before the luster wears off. Let's not forget Saban was 6-7 his first year at Bama.
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I don't see CJ making a lot of plays. I don't know what percentage of it is him not producing when he has a chance, or WHY he doesn't produce when he has a chance.
CTH has discussed CJ in terms of his view of CJ's limitations. I view RHM and LJH as more explosive WR threats even if not quite the (seeming?) megatron bodies of CJ.
So could OL be a factor, in my view? Yes. Is it the sole explanation? I don't know and I'm not saying that. You seemed to be dismissing it as relevant. I don't agree with that if you are.
Alibi is a pejorative characterization that really only begs the question by implication. Make a strong argument if you are persuaded of an explanation. No offense intended.
I got to sit in a presentation with Nolan Ryan’s son a few years ago who literally told us the Astros are building a team based on the St Louis Cardinals model. He predicted we would contend for the WS this year. It’s pretty shocking how precise his prediction ended up
Stros fan here, not insulted at all. Not tanking on the field with our play, but building slowly through the farm system, amassing young talent, and staying away from high priced free agents is now called "tanking". This is the way we have to build.
The Stros are not the Yanks, Red Sox, or Dodgers, we cant just "buy" the best players. Hopefully though, we beat all those teams for our first W.S.
True. I stand corrected.
He had one receiver make one real play for him against OSU.
1. USC was his second start.
2. He had zero turnovers in four quarters of football against OSU. He had four against USC.
3. You can't ask the kid to be Superman on every play and not expect a Clark Kent moment or two. His ability to escape pressure and extend plays has been critical all month, but that moment was a near disaster.
Yes, at the lower levels. He's a big believer in playing and developing youth at all costs,
Its more Jeff Luhnow's the G.M.'s model. His approach and analytics was key in building the Cardinals last championship team. Thats why the Cardinals where found guilty of hacking his computer when he left for Houston.
"truly emerged" is different than "emerging"
He probably won't "truly emerge" until 2019.
Great, so I failed to remember a glorified scrimmage against SJSU. But I assume you got my point.
Of course you can't the kid to be Superman. But if Buechele has the same game with the same final play, you would have eviscerated him. Without ANY consideration for the same excuses you make for Sam (WRs/OL/whatever).
Coming in to the season, only the most optimistic thought the upside of this team was better than 7 wins. With the exception of the Maryland game, virtually everyone had USC, OU & OSU in their predicted loss columns. In other words, instead of being 4-3, Texas is 3-4. 7-5 is still a very real possibility, with only TCU left in the 'very good opponent' category. The Texas offense will look much better down the stretch facing defenses in the 'meh' to 'atrocious' categories. Sweeping the rest is very possible, but even assuming another loss I will gladly take 6-6 this season in order to get bowl practices. We need the reps.
Despite the offensive shortcomings in the OSU game (against a far more experienced and pretty damn talented ball club, I might add), if you can't see that this team is significantly more competitive than the shit show of the last 3 years, I don't know what to tell you.
Despite the offensive shortcomings in the OSU game (against a far more experienced and pretty damn talented ball club, I might add), if you can't see that this team is significantly more competitive than the shit show of the last 3 years, I don't know what to tell you.
I have yet to hear an explanation of what Jerrod Heard was doing on the last play of the game. He certainly deserves to ride the pine for that play alone. It certainly makes you question his abilities at WR... I was at the game and haven’t seen a replay but it looked like he was in the end zone where the ball was thrown and ran away from the area about the time the ball was released? He was 4-5 yards out of bounds at one point. Complete head scratcher...
If you were told before the season that we'd have 3 or more injuries on the O-Line, but we'd have a chance to win at the end of the game against USC, OU, and OSU there isn't anybody on this board who wouldn't have been excited about that.
What we didn't know then was:
1) How good our defense would become
2) How stagnant our offense would become
3) Maryland
What we didn't know then was:
1) How good our defense would become
2) How stagnant our offense would become
3) Maryland
I was a little surprised @Ketch didn't write:
"Our defense held the #1 offense in the country to 10 points in regulation despite countless 3 and outs by our Offense." Let that statement sink in... And unless I'm mistaken, they got that TD on a drive where they got a first down on a punting situation because of a personnel penalty.
"Our defense held the #1 offense in the country to 10 points in regulation despite countless 3 and outs by our Offense." Let that statement sink in... And unless I'm mistaken, they got that TD on a drive where they got a first down on a punting situation because of a personnel penalty.
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.
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Since the USC game I've never wavered on these two points...big picture and tangible progress, and I won't, even if we lose 2 or possibly 3 (I don't think that will happen) more games this year.
Last year, after an off week, we played an OSU team that was doubtfully any better than this one and probably not as good. The game was over at halftime and our defense looked like a completely unorganized mess that had never even practiced together.
That was the point where I stopped putting all of my support behind Strong and Co. I wasn't ready to call for a change but that is when support ceased and I was ok with keeping him if it turned around but also ok with a change if it did not.
After this week I am even strong in my support of this staff. Figure out the problems and recruit talent that can fix them. Keep doing the same things that are working. Also, look at bringing in another guy from Australia to punt in a couple of years.
This program is making tangible strides forward, even if it hasn't learned how to finish opponents and win games.
=============================================
Since the USC game I've never wavered on these two points...big picture and tangible progress, and I won't, even if we lose 2 or possibly 3 (I don't think that will happen) more games this year.
Last year, after an off week, we played an OSU team that was doubtfully any better than this one and probably not as good. The game was over at halftime and our defense looked like a completely unorganized mess that had never even practiced together.
That was the point where I stopped putting all of my support behind Strong and Co. I wasn't ready to call for a change but that is when support ceased and I was ok with keeping him if it turned around but also ok with a change if it did not.
After this week I am even strong in my support of this staff. Figure out the problems and recruit talent that can fix them. Keep doing the same things that are working. Also, look at bringing in another guy from Australia to punt in a couple of years.
That pass made me wonder if wasn't concussed on the previous play. It was that inexplicable.
The elephant(s) in the room (from my view anyway) is why if Texas has found their QB are they risking his health by calling more QB runs than running back runs? Why the odd personnel formations leaving our TE split out wide instead of getting a true WR on the field? Why can't they get reps to the RB (in this case Carter) after specifically saying he needed more reps (same with Warren earlier this season)?
OL is absolutely a problem but the staff isn't doing enough to put the players in a position to succeed. It starts with the staff.
OL is absolutely a problem but the staff isn't doing enough to put the players in a position to succeed. It starts with the staff.
I really DGAF if Heard was headed into the stands to get kettle corn. It was a bonehead thread. Hopefully our frosh QB learns from it, but simply put, it was a bonehead throw.
