I guess when the ref asked OSU during the coin toss “Hey Spencer, what would you like to do?” We we’re screwed. I’m not well versed in coin toss educate, but the optics of that coupled with the penalty results are bad. If I was CDC I might be making a phone call to Yormark on Monday
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Time to stop braking)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
Texas was ahead by 7 at the end of the 3rd qt. You’re going to pull your star Freshman QB with the lead? Really?
I think Sark should script his first 15 or 20 plays of the second half. What happened to the misdirection plays (such as the one Worthy scored on) in the 2nd half?
None of this is rocket science.
Twenty games into the Steve Sarkisian era in Austin has provided us with a snapshot of what must improve in order for his tenure to ultimately be viewed as a success.
* Texas must play better on the road (1-6 record in true road games).
* Texas must learn how to win close games (3-8 record in games decided by one score).
* Texas must learn how to truly be all gas, no brakes (5 blown double-digit second half leads in 20 games)
Typically, when one of these issues pop up, all three of them pop. At the same time.
Too often under Sarkisian, the Longhorns start extremely fast, build up a multi-score lead and then slowly lose its grip of the game in the second half, before fading off into the sunset.
Teams go into games against Sarkisian's Longhorns knowing that if they can drag them into the deep waters of a fourth quarter game, they'll be able to drown Sarkisian's players. Don't take my word for it. Just look at what Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire told his team after they overcame a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat the Longhorns in overtime.
"I told you they were going to break and they did," McGuire told his team in the locker room immediately following the win over Texas.
It's easy to imagine that Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy offered a similar speech to his players on Saturday in Stillwater when the Cowboys trailed at halftime and were down by 10 points with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter.
Through a very narrow prism, it would be easy to blame the players for what happened on Saturday in allowing the Cowboys to close the game on a 17-3 run in the final 17 minutes of the game. After all, Quinn Ewers did not play well. The defense stopped tackling. The special teams success faded after a fantastic start.
Yet, the further you expand the prism through which we look at these defeats, the more and more that it becomes obvious that this is a trend that falls at the feat of the team's head coach... the likable Sarkisian.
Through the first 20 games of his coaching tenure in Austin, Sarkisian has mostly looked like a Major League starting pitcher that can give you five innings and two trips through the batting order, but if you ask him to go through the line-up a third time... the results are rarely good.
Consider the following trend
2021 Oklahoma: Texas scored 38 points in the first half and held a three-score lead, only to ne held to 10 points in the second half.
2021 Oklahoma State - Texas scored 17 points in the first half and held an 11 point lead in the third quarter, only to be held to seven second-half points.
2021 Baylor - Texas took an 11 point lead with 8:49 left in the third quarter, only to score three points in the final 23:49 of the game, while the Bears closed the game on a 21-3 run.
2022 Texas Tech - The Longhorns scored 24 first half points and held a 31-17 lead with 4:27 left in the third quarter, only to allow Tech to run off a 20-3 run to close out the game.
2022 Oklahoma State - The Longhorns scored 31 points and led my multiple scores on three different occasions, but were held to 3 second half points and were outscored 24-3 over the final 32:41 of game time.
These are the games that have defined Sarkisian's career thus far and the storylines are all the same. How different might last season have looked if the Longhorns had been able to close out any of those three games? How different might this season's run for a spot in the Big 12 championship game look if the Longhorns hadn't been outscored by a combined 54-6 after reaching its zenith in both games.
It's all gas, no breaks for Sarkisian and his teams right up until the moment when a head coach like Lincoln Riley, Mike Gundy, Dave Aranada or McGuire makes an adjustment to what is happening to their teams against the Longhorns and then Sarkisian rarely displayed the ability to make an adjustment to correspond with the opponent's adjustment.
That's where we are right now.
Until Sarkisian can start making second half adjustments after the opposing teams have made its adjustments, this is going to be the story of his tenure.
Closes losses... on the road... after holding big first-half (and sometimes second-half leads). The ability to finish games isn't just a player issue. It starts at the top with Sarkisian.
Of course, you don't have to believe me.
You can listen to McGuire. You can look at the box scores. You can just use your eyes.
Again, none of this is rocket science.
No. 2 - About pulling Ewers for Hudson Card on Saturday ...
This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I wouldn't have pulled Ewers in favor of Hudson Card on Saturday.
I'm a subscriber to the belief that young quarterbacks learn the most from extreme adversity and if you believe that Ewers is going to be the player that leads the program out of the woods in 2023, you've got to let him weather a few storms, even if it means losing an occasional game.
Yes, I know that Dabo Swinney pulled starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei on Saturday in the third quarter in favor of my guy Cade Klubnik, a decision that Klubnik rewarded his coach with by helping lead a second-half come back win.
I'm just not sure I view the two decisions that Swinney and Sarkisian were forced to make are apples to apples. Maybe apples to bananas. Two things stand out about comparing the two situations.
1. You can make the case that Klubnik is truly the long-term answer for the Tigers at the quarterback position. As much as I'm a fan of Card, he's not the long-term answer at the quarterback position for the Longhorns. That would be Ewers.
2. Swinney made the call in the third quarter when the Tigers were losing by two scores. Despite Ewers' struggles, the Longhorns had a double-digit lead with 2:41 left in the third quarter. Are you really going to pull your starter in a road game that you're winning when going to the fourth quarter, especially when that player is in the middle of his first career road start?
This isn't the same situation as Card making his first career start at Arkansas last year when the Longhorns were getting run out of the stadium.
I'd argue that when Oklahoma State tied the game with 9:54 remaining in the fourth quarter that it was exactly the moment that you needed Ewers to experience as a young player, regardless of the final outcome.
Michael Jordan once said, "My failure gave me strength, my pain was my motivation."
It won't make the sting of Saturday's loss feel any better, but Ewers will be a better player in the future by learning and growing from this failure and the pain that comes with it. Taking him out of the game would have robbed him of a valuable teaching moment.
How else is he going to thrive in these situations moving forward if you take him out of the very first one he experiences?
No. 3 - Just for the record...
There was quite a bit of hyperbole on the message boards and on social media following last night's 94.7 efficiency rating that Ewers posted over four quarters in Stillwater.
A lot of people seemed to think that Ewers' performance was the worst quarterback performance they had ever seen. Frankly, I'm shocked that some of you have forgotten some of the Mom's-spaghetti-vomit-on-your-shirt performances at the quarterback position for the Longhorns over the years, but in reality the Longhorns have had 18 sub-100 efficiency rating performances (minimum 15 pass attempts) since 2012.
Basically, every quarterback that has started for the Longhorns in the last decade has at least one. Most of them had multiple such performances. Everyone's favorite Longhorn Sam Ehlinger had two... in his junior season.
It happens, especially to young quarterbacks on the road.
Here's the gruesome list:
2019 Sam Ehlinger at Baylor (99.5) - 22 of 37 for 200 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2019 Sam Ehlinger at TCU (99.1) - 22 of 38 for 321 hards, 2 TD, 4 INT
2017 Sam Ehlinger at Texas Tech (96.5) - 26 of 47 for 239 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT
2016 Shane Buechele vs TCU (82.9) - 16 of 39 for 218 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2015 Tyrone Swoopes at Notre Dame (67.3) - 7 of 22 for 93 yards, 9 TD, 0 INT
2015 Tyrone Swoopes vs. Texas Tech (63.2) - 9 of 18 for 52 yards, 0 TYD, 1 INT
2015 Jerrod Heard at TCU (60.2) - 8 of 20 for for 48 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes vs. Baylor (70.9) - 16 of 34 for 144 yards 0 TD, 2 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes at Kansas State (87.6) - 13 of 25 for 106 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes vs. West Virginia (78.3) - 11 of 29 for 124 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes vs. TCU (94.4) - 20 of 34 for 200 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes vs. Arkansas (63.2) - 13 of 25 for 57 yards, 0 TS, 1 INT
2013 Case McCoy vs. Oklahoma State (98.9) - 26 of 39 for 221 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT
2013 Case McCoy at Baylor (46.6) - 12 of 34 for 54 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
2013 Case McCoy vs. Oregon (47.3) - 8 of 17 for 48 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2012 David Ash vs. Oklahoma (63.8) - 13 of 29 for 113 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2012 David Ash at Kansas (58.1) - 8 of 16 for 63 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2012 David Ash vs. TCU (70.2) - 10 of 21 for 104 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
I know that's not going to make you feel better, but I hope it gives some perspective and context.
Hell, even the best quarterbacks in the history of the sport had some amazingly bad clunkers early in their college careers. Consider the following games as evidence.
2018 Joe Burrow vs. Miami (94.8) - 11 of 24 for 140 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
2018 Joe Burrow at Florida (91.6) - 19 of 34 for 102 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2018 Joe Burrow vs. Mississippi State (88.7) - 16 of 28 for 129 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2017 Josh Allen at Iowa (84.0) - 23 of 40 for 174 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2017 Josh Allen vs. Oregon (51.6) - 9 of 24 for 64 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2017 Josh Allen at Boise State (82.6) - 12 of 27 for 131 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
2016 Patrick Mahomes at Iowa State (99.2) - 18 of 36 for 219 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
2016 Josh Allen at Nebraska (78.7) - 16 of 32 for 189 yards, 1 TD, 5 INT
2015 Kyler Murray at Auburn (68.8) - 13 of 23 for 104 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT
2010 Russell Wilson at East Carolina (86.8) - 26 of 52 for 322 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT
2010 Russell Wilson at Central Florida (73.7) - 10 of 30 for 105 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
2009 Russell Wilson vs. South Carolina (79.2) - 12 of 23 for 74 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
2009 Russell Wilson vs. Clemson (99.9) - 12 of 32 for 183 yards,, 2 TD, 1 INT
2008 Russell Wilson at Clemson (74.9) - 10 of 21 for 92 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2003 Aaron Rodgers vs. Oregon State (33.4) - 9 of 34 for 52 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
1998 Tom Brady vs. Syracuse (95.9) - 13 of 24 for 104 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
1994 Peyton Manning vs. Alabama (97.7) - 10 of 18 for 138 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
No. 4 - Big 12 officiating dumpster fire ...
I'm still kind of at a loss about the one-sided nature of the penalties in Saturday's game more than 24 hours after it all happened.
In my mind, as soon as the officials got back to their locker room at halftime, a conversation like this HAD to occur.
Lead official: "Fellas, I don't think we're doing a bad job at all, but we've called 10 penalties on the Longhorns and none on the Cowboys. The optics of that are pretty terrible."
Official No.2: "Sir, Oklahoma State had committed the fewest penalties in the Big 12. Is it our fault Texas is so undisciplined."
Lead official: "No, it's not your fault, but I don't want to get a phone call from the league office on Monday because of the appearances of bias."
Official No.3: "We understand, boss. What do you want us to do?"
Lead official: You know how it is. You can pretty much call a holding penalty every time Oklahoma State runs the ball or throws it to the boundary. Just make sure and throw a few flags in the second half, so we don't get called out."
Official No.4: " We hear you loud and clear."
Apparently, that conversation did not take place. How do we know? Because the game ended with the Longhorns being called for 14 penalties, while the Cowboys played the cleanest game in the history of college football.
I just don't know how that happens. If there's a one-sided set of fouls in an NBA game at halftime, you better believe the other team is going to be in the bonus three minutes into the third quarter. The last thing that can happen is that the one-sided appearances continue for four quarters to such a degree that the integrity of the contest gets called into question.
The officials in Stillwater scoffed at appearances and integrity, seemingly yelling "YOLO!" while running back onto the field for the third quarter.
We all knew that Big 12 officials would eventually give Texas the old' Grant Teaff screw-job before the Longhorns left the conference for good, but this wasn't something that even the biggest conspiracy theorists could have seen coming.
I said it right after the game and I'll say it again, that was some absolute bullshit.
How important was it to the outcome of the game? Just ask Mike Gundy.
No. 5 - Updating the freshmen participation board ...
You can not add deep snapper Lance St. Louis and wide receiver Savion Red to the list of players that have played in 5+ games this season, thus eliminating any chance at a redshirt season for both.
The current list of freshmen that have played in 5+ games this season includes the following: K Will Stone, DS St. Louis, OL Cole Hutson, OL Kelvin Banks, OL Cam Williams, WR Savion Red, RB Jaydon Blue, CB Jaylon Guilbeau, DE Justice Finkley, CB Austin Jordan and Edge Ethan Burke.
Interestingly enough, cornerback Terrance Brooks wasn't listed in the participation chart for the game in Stillwater and is still stuck on four games, which means that his redshirt option still exists.
Wide receiver Brenen Thompson played on Saturday and is now sitting on four games played.
The only other freshman that is currently sitting on three games played is offensive lineman DJ Campbell, who saw the most playing time on Saturday than he's seen all season.
No. 6 - Texas Football Scattershooting ...
... After the carnage of flags in Stillwater, the Longhorns now led the Big 12 with the most penalties committed in the conference with 51, which is six more than Texas Tech has in second place. Texas is the only team in the conference with 400+ yards of penalties (408).
... Ewers doesn't have enough attempts to qualify for the Big 12 passing leaderboard, but his season passing efficiency of 143.6 would rank fifth if he did. Hudson Card's 158.3 season rating would rank fourth if he had enough action to qualify.
... Bijan Robinson has taken the lead in the Big 12 rushing title race, as his 920 yards in 8 games (115.0 per game) leads Deuce Vaughn (106.3 per game) and TCU's Kendre Miller (104.4). It's crazy to think, but Vaughn might not make first-team All-Big 12 when you consider that Robinson and Miller have 11 and 10 touchdowns on the ground, respectively, while vaughn only has 4.
... Xavier Worthy leads the Big 12 in touchdown receptions (7), but is fifth in receptions (36), fifth in yards (510) and sixth in yards per game (63.8).
... Bert Auburn is 7th in the Big 12 in field goal percentage (72.2).
... This team is really going to miss Anthony Cook, who you'd think will probably miss the final four games of the season after breaking his arm on Saturday. For my money, Cook has been having an all-Big 12 type of season at safety and you can make a case that this team might be 4-4 right now without him. With his omission from the line-up, Kitan Crawford and Michael Taffe are both going to step up their level of play, something that didn't really happen against the Cowboys.
... A year ago, transfer Ben Davis led all Texas defenders with a pretty pathetic 2.5 sacks for the season. Through eight games, the sack leaderboard looks like this:
1. Barryn Sorrey (3)
2T. DeMarvion Overshown (2.5)
2T. Moro Ojomo (2.5)
4. Jaylan Ford (2)
5T. Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey (1.5)
5T. Keondre Coburn (1.5)
7T. Ovie Oghoufo (1)
7T. D'Shawn Jamison (1)
7T. Byron Murphy (1)
... A year ago, Jaylan Ford led the team in tackle for loss with 6. Through eight games, here's what the tackle for loss leaderboard looks like.
1. Jaylan Ford (7.5)
2. DeMarvion Overshown (6)
3. Jahdae Barron (5.5)
4T. Ovier Oghoufo (5)
4T. Moro Ojomo (5)
6. Barryn Sorrell (4)
7T. Byron Murphy (3)
7T. Keondre Coburn (3)
... Ovie Oghoufo has a single sack and five tackles for loss this season as the starting edge player for this team. That's not remotely good enough.
... I still don't understand the Longhorns not using more jet sweeps, end-arounds, shuffle passes, hitches and short pitches to receivers in the name of helping their young quarterback and getting the ball to their best playmakers. It kind of blows my mind that Xavier Worthy averages a touch in the running game once every four games, while no other receiver even has a single carry.
... UTSA is the only team that Texas has beaten this season that received a single vote in either of the two major polls on Sunday.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I'm not sure it is all hinging on a 7-5 record. If there's a big public sentiment that a change needs to be made, I think Sarkisian will make the change. He'll have 2024 recruiting that he'll need to really consider.
(Sell) The hire of Kwiatkowski wasn't anything like those hires. He arrived with a rep as being one of the best DCs in the entire country. It's just not fully working out.
(Sell) While I believe Texas might have beaten Alabama, the truth of the matter is that the Tide would have made adjustments before or at halftime and I have very little trust that Sarkisian would have adjusted well to their adjustments. What happened in the first quarter wouldn't have happened over four quarters... IMO.
(Sell) I think he's just going through the kind of growing pains that almost all young quarterbacks go through.
(Sell) There's certainly a chance that it could/would happen, but my instincts say that he plays in the bowl game.
(Buy) Yes.
(Sell) He's in danger of losing momentum he might have been able to bring into the off-season, but I don't believe the 2023 class or the locker room is about to fall apart.
(Sell) I don't know that I've ever viewed him as a generational player, even if I rated him as a five-star. Yes, I do believe his arm talent will see him drafted in the first round, but I had several questions about him as a prospect and making plays in the face of pressure was one of them.
(Buy) It's no small thing that almost the entirety of the interior of the defensive line, along with the likes of Demarvion Overshown, D'Shawn Jamison and Anthony Cook will all need to be replaced.
(Sell) The moment the Mannings decided t commit to Texas was the moment I think they made peace with whatever might happen on the field in 2022.
(Buy) He's a smart dude.
(Sell) I haven't heard any rumblings from Camp Ewers that is suggesting he's dealing with issues related to the injury.
(Buy) No doubt.
(Sell) The plan is the plan and the plan has the entire 2022 season being used as a build-up to what is hoped to be a sensational 2023 season.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on anything and everything ...
... Congrats to the Texas soccer team. Big 12 Champions. It's the first time the Longhorns have had a piece of the regular-season title since 2001. Whoa.
... If I had a vote that mattered ...
1. Georgia
2 Ohio State
3. Tennessee
4. Michigan
5. Clemson
6. TCU
7. Alabama
8. Oregon
9. USC
10. Oklahoma State
... Heisman Ballot: 1. QB Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), 2. QB CJ Stroud (Ohio State), 3. QB Max Duggan (TCU), 4. RB Blake Corum (Michigan) and 5. RB Bijan Robinson (Texas)
... At least the Longhorns have this going for them...
... No deficit seems to be too big for TCU to overcome. For the second straight week, TCU was down by multiple scores, only to flip the script in dominating fashion once the "on" button was pushed.
... Tennessee/Georgia is going to be some kind of game in two weeks.
... Is Brian Kelly getting it going in Baton Rouge?
... Kansas State seemingly had a bad loss to Tulane at home, but Tulane is 7-1 and leading the American Conference. Maybe that wasn't such a bad loss.
... Welcome back, Dak. There was nothing about Sunday that really stood out as significant, but the Cowboys moved to 5-2 and didn't have to strain much to get there, primarily because Detroit was pretty terrible on offense. Just pick up the W and move on.
... Christian McCaffrey, who? All D'Onte Foreman did in his first start as the new RB1 in Carolina was rush for 118 yards on 15 carries, while totaling 145 yards of all-purpose offense. Attaboy.
... Devin Duvernay has emerged into a really good NFL player.
... The Astros are a monster of a team. They deserve the label of World Series favorites. I'm not confused at all about the challenge in front of my Phils.
... It hasn't been easy being a Phillies fan for 39 years, but moments like this are what help you get through the lean years. MV3!
... I can't believe the Padres didn't bring in Josh Hader to face Harper. He had been so dominant in the post-season.
... The Spurs are 2-1 and the Sixers are 0-3. What alternate universe have I entered?
... On a weekend when Chelsea, Man United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Brighton all dropped points, freaking Liverpool lost to Forest. Good grief.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Horror Movies ...
It's that time of the year when I end up watching a certain kind of movie (horror) that I rarely watch in the other 11 months out of the year. Just a heads up, I didn't consider Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, Alien, Misery of The Sixth Sense as horror movies. Right or wrong, I chalk these movies up into other movie categories.
10. Friday the 13th
I'm pretty sure this was the first horror movie that I watched as a young kid. I might have been 5. It scared the living crap out of me, especially when the babysitter and her friends left me alone with the movie as a joke.
9. Scream
My favorite horror film from the 90s. A cast that includes Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette and Drew Barrymore goes a long way.
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street
Another movie from my childhood where I remember exactly where I was and who I was with when I watched it for the first time. I was at Shane Barnes' house and my bike was stolen while we watched the movie.
7. Poltergeist
I wasn't afraid of anything in the closet or under my bed until I saw this movie when I was probably 7. Thanks, HBO.
6. Rosemary's Baby
One of the all-time classic slots in just outside of the top 5.
5. Halloween
You knew Michael Myers was going to be somewhere in the Top 10.
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I don't know how you make a Horror Top 10 without Leatherface cracking the Top 10.
3. Psycho
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you arguably the best of Alfred Hitchcock.
2. The Exorcist
I will not argue against anyone that believes Pazuzu deserves the No.1 slot.
1. The Shining
I've probably seen this movie more times than the other nine combined. I don't know if it is because it was a cable fixture of my childhood or if I somehow just end up watching it once every couple of years, but it's probably not good that I've seen this movie at least 25 times.
No. 10 - And Finally ...
I leave you with the best thing I saw all weekend.
Punchline remains the same. One coach had the nerve to make the change needed to win the game, while the other didn't have the nerve and took the whole team down with him.
Welp, cj baxter just announced an official visit to FSU this weekend. Was just there last weekend too. Johntay also posted some cryptic message online, as well as removed texas football from his bio that was there the other day. Not looking good.
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I wanted Sark to mix things up utilizing our RBs and to give Ewers higher probability dump offs and short passes to settle him down and build confidence.
However, if he wasn’t going to do that, then, yes, after watching him overthrow 15 receivers I wanted him to bring in Card to see how he does.
Texas consecutive drives from late-Q2 to final:
3 plays, 6 yards, punt
3 plays, 4 yards, punt
3 plays, 0 yards, punt
4 plays, 27 yards, punt
4 plays, 5 yards, field goal
3 plays, 0 yards, punt
4 plays, 13 yards, punt
8 plays, 50 yards, missed field goal
5 plays, 15 yards, interception
The failure to pull any player for poor performance by a coach has consistently lost more teams than anything else a coach can do. Dabs understands that as do most who have ever had employees. Sark is unfortunately going to learn what double standards produce.
Ok, the 2003 Tech game is a good point on the “replace young QB” argument. However, it’s not like Mock came in at the half and saved the day. He came in on Texas’ last possession after Vince had fumbled which led to Tech scoring and taking the lead. In this current case, on the second to last drive, Ewers was 2 - 4 for 32 yds, had a 35 yd run negated by a very questionable holding call, and a false start. He threw a desperation INT on 4th and 8.
On the last drive, Ewers delivered a perfect pass right into Ja’Tavons hands at the 10 yd line where, if he had held on, he almost surely would have scored. Oh, and there was also a False Start on that drive. Would Sanders have cought that pass if Card had been throwing it instead? Would the refs have kept their flags in their pocket if Card had been at the helm? I think you know the answer.
Ewers wasn’t very good but he is only one of about five reasons Texas lost.
What you’ve seen so far? He’s basically played about 13 quarters of college football.
It's an absolutely INSANE opinion to not want to pull Ewers in that game. He wasn't just struggling. It was a historically bad performance that has to make one wonder if his brain had been swapped out or something before the game. I've never seen someone who can throw really well throw that bad 50 times. Just unbelievable.
QBR isn't the end all be all. I assume his was puffed up by the yardage. Threw a shit ton of balls and some of them were caught and went far. It still sucked more than any of the games of other players you put up there.
If you want to win the game it makes no sense to leave him in the whole game. It's just stupid. If they won out they had a legit chance at the CFP. Winning that game was more important than your QB fighting through adversity. Let him do that in another game when he is playing better than a seven year old flag football QB.
Also I would hope that kind of officials conversation would never happen, although I'm sure it does. The crap of officials trying to even things out is the worst thing about sports. I'm all for integrity, not appearances. Call everything as you see it by the book from the first play of a spring game to the last second of the national championship. Always the same every time. Don't make yourself a part of the game. Mistakes will happen and we have to accept that. No game managing bullshit. No optics. Sometimes one team should have more penalties than the other by a wide margin. That probably should have happened yesterday although the way they called things was still bullshit.
QBR isn't the end all be all. I assume his was puffed up by the yardage. Threw a shit ton of balls and some of them were caught and went far. It still sucked more than any of the games of other players you put up there.
If you want to win the game it makes no sense to leave him in the whole game. It's just stupid. If they won out they had a legit chance at the CFP. Winning that game was more important than your QB fighting through adversity. Let him do that in another game when he is playing better than a seven year old flag football QB.
Also I would hope that kind of officials conversation would never happen, although I'm sure it does. The crap of officials trying to even things out is the worst thing about sports. I'm all for integrity, not appearances. Call everything as you see it by the book from the first play of a spring game to the last second of the national championship. Always the same every time. Don't make yourself a part of the game. Mistakes will happen and we have to accept that. No game managing bullshit. No optics. Sometimes one team should have more penalties than the other by a wide margin. That probably should have happened yesterday although the way they called things was still bullshit.
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“Quinn will learn from this”…..if there ever was sunshine pump speak that’s it. Like Quan said,,, with NIL $$$$ comes expectations
The movie that scared me the most in my life wasn't even considered a horror movie.
Have you seen THE FALL? Scared the shit out of me. I have never squirmed more during a movie.
And as I wrote above, Mock only came in on the last possession of the game once Texas was behind. In yesterdays game, Ewers two drives after Texas lost the lead, we’re not that bad. The two false starts and bs holding call and Sanders dropped pass which would have led to a tying TD, were.
yep. i recall the game you mean, forget who we were playing but Brown brought in Mock to move the team down field quickly because time was running out on the clock. and it worked too. we won that game.
Brown also changed up the passing game to better suit Young the next year, gave him less reads to deal with so he didn't get indecisive even if taking off was always an option for him. there are times you need him to make a throw rather than run.
if Young got past the line of scrimmage on a zone read or got around the edge on a scramble he was a nightmare to opposing defenses.
it's why some teams even today run option football and some even the good old wishbone. GA Tech ran the option for years and did pretty well with it. that was one of the reasons they canned (convinced him to retire) Paul Johnson, to move away from a run based offense.
and they just canned the guy they hired to do that.
Dabo also said in his post game TV interview DJ's the starter. for now at least. he had a difficult first year as a starter and his passing numbers did improve especially his accuracy but he's proving to turnover prone and indecisive in the pocket with his reads.
If they show PK the door does Patterson step in and take the job? If not I’d he still here in the same capacity? Does anybody know what he really wants to do?
Hard for us to accept, but Sark is a downgrade coaching wise over Herman. I think we’ve seen a large enough sample to extrapolate what we’ve got. Of course, there’s always Manhattan.
The fact he couldn’t make this adjustment is why any expectation of an ability to resolve the core issues requires a bit of fantastical thinking.
As you said, none of this is rocket science. That is so because what you say about Sark's inability to finish games is simply true. Sad, but true.
As you predicted, completely disagree that he should have continued with Ewers on an obviously losing path when it was time to try a different approach. Not to say it should not be Ewers going forward, only that we should not lose games without giving Hudson an opportunity to save the game. It was obvious that Quinn was was the main reason we were losing.
Georgia is going to curb stomp Tennessee, although Josh Heupel has done a simply amazing job of resurrecting a moribund program.
As you predicted, completely disagree that he should have continued with Ewers on an obviously losing path when it was time to try a different approach. Not to say it should not be Ewers going forward, only that we should not lose games without giving Hudson an opportunity to save the game. It was obvious that Quinn was was the main reason we were losing.
Georgia is going to curb stomp Tennessee, although Josh Heupel has done a simply amazing job of resurrecting a moribund program.
while i wasn't a big fan of Sark's hire, the correct answer is TBD. recall that Herman went 6-6 (7-6 after the Texas Bowl) so one game was the difference between Herman's first year and Sark's.
now look at Sark and Herman year two. Sark is sitting at 5-3 after 8 games. Herman was 6-2 and fixin' to lose the next game too. of course Herman won out, lost to ZerOU in a rematch which we won in the regular season for the Big 12 title then upset UGA in the Sugar Bowl to ultimately finish 10-4.
9-3 is still doable albeit we'd need to run the table and two games are against ranked teams, TCU and K State. 8-4 is more likely. we win a bowl game and Sark wins 9 games total to Herman's 10.
so the correct answer is ... TBD.
Mock came in vs TT in Austin. He hit Roy Williams for about 50 yards throwing from his own goal line and scored TD 3 plays later. Last minute of the game. Bold and desperate move by Mack that paid off.
But different scenario than this. Card is gonna come in and win the game? Based on what? I don’t see it. Ewers actually performed well at the end - long scramble called back for BS holding penalty, and perfect pass to Sanders that he should’ve grabbed and put us around the 20.
This is my greatest fear. He’s smart enough to know what the problem is but not able fix it. In other words, he is what he is.
- Feb 23, 2013
- 41,738
- 49,432
- 113
Sure there is an overall trend, but the leading reasons for that trend have mostly been to shifts in offensive philosophy to just running out the clock. That was not the case be OSU. Sark tried to continuously attack and it still didn’t work. You have to evaluate each of these games independently. Taking a 10,000 ft view results in you missing the true problems behind each game. Ewers was the problem.
Ketch, I can watch any movie on your list, but I simply cannot watch the Exorcist. That movie had me messed up for weeks after watching it. Also, the Omen (1976) should have been on your list.
Be prepared to morn the loss of your Phillies cause the Astro's are gonna spank that azz
None of this is rocket science.
Twenty games into the Steve Sarkisian era in Austin has provided us with a snapshot of what must improve in order for his tenure to ultimately be viewed as a success.
* Texas must play better on the road (1-6 record in true road games).
* Texas must learn how to win close games (3-8 record in games decided by one score).
* Texas must learn how to truly be all gas, no brakes (5 blown double-digit second half leads in 20 games)
Typically, when one of these issues pop up, all three of them pop. At the same time.
Too often under Sarkisian, the Longhorns start extremely fast, build up a multi-score lead and then slowly lose its grip of the game in the second half, before fading off into the sunset.
Teams go into games against Sarkisian's Longhorns knowing that if they can drag them into the deep waters of a fourth quarter game, they'll be able to drown Sarkisian's players. Don't take my word for it. Just look at what Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire told his team after they overcame a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat the Longhorns in overtime.
"I told you they were going to break and they did," McGuire told his team in the locker room immediately following the win over Texas.
It's easy to imagine that Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy offered a similar speech to his players on Saturday in Stillwater when the Cowboys trailed at halftime and were down by 10 points with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter.
Through a very narrow prism, it would be easy to blame the players for what happened on Saturday in allowing the Cowboys to close the game on a 17-3 run in the final 17 minutes of the game. After all, Quinn Ewers did not play well. The defense stopped tackling. The special teams success faded after a fantastic start.
Yet, the further you expand the prism through which we look at these defeats, the more and more that it becomes obvious that this is a trend that falls at the feat of the team's head coach... the likable Sarkisian.
Through the first 20 games of his coaching tenure in Austin, Sarkisian has mostly looked like a Major League starting pitcher that can give you five innings and two trips through the batting order, but if you ask him to go through the line-up a third time... the results are rarely good.
Consider the following trend
2021 Oklahoma: Texas scored 38 points in the first half and held a three-score lead, only to ne held to 10 points in the second half.
2021 Oklahoma State - Texas scored 17 points in the first half and held an 11 point lead in the third quarter, only to be held to seven second-half points.
2021 Baylor - Texas took an 11 point lead with 8:49 left in the third quarter, only to score three points in the final 23:49 of the game, while the Bears closed the game on a 21-3 run.
2022 Texas Tech - The Longhorns scored 24 first half points and held a 31-17 lead with 4:27 left in the third quarter, only to allow Tech to run off a 20-3 run to close out the game.
2022 Oklahoma State - The Longhorns scored 31 points and led my multiple scores on three different occasions, but were held to 3 second half points and were outscored 24-3 over the final 32:41 of game time.
These are the games that have defined Sarkisian's career thus far and the storylines are all the same. How different might last season have looked if the Longhorns had been able to close out any of those three games? How different might this season's run for a spot in the Big 12 championship game look if the Longhorns hadn't been outscored by a combined 54-6 after reaching its zenith in both games.
It's all gas, no breaks for Sarkisian and his teams right up until the moment when a head coach like Lincoln Riley, Mike Gundy, Dave Aranada or McGuire makes an adjustment to what is happening to their teams against the Longhorns and then Sarkisian rarely displayed the ability to make an adjustment to correspond with the opponent's adjustment.
That's where we are right now.
Until Sarkisian can start making second half adjustments after the opposing teams have made its adjustments, this is going to be the story of his tenure.
Closes losses... on the road... after holding big first-half (and sometimes second-half leads). The ability to finish games isn't just a player issue. It starts at the top with Sarkisian.
Of course, you don't have to believe me.
You can listen to McGuire. You can look at the box scores. You can just use your eyes.
Again, none of this is rocket science.
No. 2 - About pulling Ewers for Hudson Card on Saturday ...
This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I wouldn't have pulled Ewers in favor of Hudson Card on Saturday.
I'm a subscriber to the belief that young quarterbacks learn the most from extreme adversity and if you believe that Ewers is going to be the player that leads the program out of the woods in 2023, you've got to let him weather a few storms, even if it means losing an occasional game.
Yes, I know that Dabo Swinney pulled starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei on Saturday in the third quarter in favor of my guy Cade Klubnik, a decision that Klubnik rewarded his coach with by helping lead a second-half come back win.
I'm just not sure I view the two decisions that Swinney and Sarkisian were forced to make are apples to apples. Maybe apples to bananas. Two things stand out about comparing the two situations.
1. You can make the case that Klubnik is truly the long-term answer for the Tigers at the quarterback position. As much as I'm a fan of Card, he's not the long-term answer at the quarterback position for the Longhorns. That would be Ewers.
2. Swinney made the call in the third quarter when the Tigers were losing by two scores. Despite Ewers' struggles, the Longhorns had a double-digit lead with 2:41 left in the third quarter. Are you really going to pull your starter in a road game that you're winning when going to the fourth quarter, especially when that player is in the middle of his first career road start?
This isn't the same situation as Card making his first career start at Arkansas last year when the Longhorns were getting run out of the stadium.
I'd argue that when Oklahoma State tied the game with 9:54 remaining in the fourth quarter that it was exactly the moment that you needed Ewers to experience as a young player, regardless of the final outcome.
Michael Jordan once said, "My failure gave me strength, my pain was my motivation."
It won't make the sting of Saturday's loss feel any better, but Ewers will be a better player in the future by learning and growing from this failure and the pain that comes with it. Taking him out of the game would have robbed him of a valuable teaching moment.
How else is he going to thrive in these situations moving forward if you take him out of the very first one he experiences?
No. 3 - Just for the record...
There was quite a bit of hyperbole on the message boards and on social media following last night's 94.7 efficiency rating that Ewers posted over four quarters in Stillwater.
A lot of people seemed to think that Ewers' performance was the worst quarterback performance they had ever seen. Frankly, I'm shocked that some of you have forgotten some of the Mom's-spaghetti-vomit-on-your-shirt performances at the quarterback position for the Longhorns over the years, but in reality the Longhorns have had 18 sub-100 efficiency rating performances (minimum 15 pass attempts) since 2012.
Basically, every quarterback that has started for the Longhorns in the last decade has at least one. Most of them had multiple such performances. Everyone's favorite Longhorn Sam Ehlinger had two... in his junior season.
It happens, especially to young quarterbacks on the road.
Here's the gruesome list:
2019 Sam Ehlinger at Baylor (99.5) - 22 of 37 for 200 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2019 Sam Ehlinger at TCU (99.1) - 22 of 38 for 321 hards, 2 TD, 4 INT
2017 Sam Ehlinger at Texas Tech (96.5) - 26 of 47 for 239 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT
2016 Shane Buechele vs TCU (82.9) - 16 of 39 for 218 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2015 Tyrone Swoopes at Notre Dame (67.3) - 7 of 22 for 93 yards, 9 TD, 0 INT
2015 Tyrone Swoopes vs. Texas Tech (63.2) - 9 of 18 for 52 yards, 0 TYD, 1 INT
2015 Jerrod Heard at TCU (60.2) - 8 of 20 for for 48 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes vs. Baylor (70.9) - 16 of 34 for 144 yards 0 TD, 2 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes at Kansas State (87.6) - 13 of 25 for 106 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes vs. West Virginia (78.3) - 11 of 29 for 124 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes vs. TCU (94.4) - 20 of 34 for 200 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
2014 Tyrone Swoopes vs. Arkansas (63.2) - 13 of 25 for 57 yards, 0 TS, 1 INT
2013 Case McCoy vs. Oklahoma State (98.9) - 26 of 39 for 221 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT
2013 Case McCoy at Baylor (46.6) - 12 of 34 for 54 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
2013 Case McCoy vs. Oregon (47.3) - 8 of 17 for 48 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2012 David Ash vs. Oklahoma (63.8) - 13 of 29 for 113 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2012 David Ash at Kansas (58.1) - 8 of 16 for 63 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2012 David Ash vs. TCU (70.2) - 10 of 21 for 104 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
I know that's not going to make you feel better, but I hope it gives some perspective and context.
Hell, even the best quarterbacks in the history of the sport had some amazingly bad clunkers early in their college careers. Consider the following games as evidence.
2018 Joe Burrow vs. Miami (94.8) - 11 of 24 for 140 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
2018 Joe Burrow at Florida (91.6) - 19 of 34 for 102 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2018 Joe Burrow vs. Mississippi State (88.7) - 16 of 28 for 129 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2017 Josh Allen at Iowa (84.0) - 23 of 40 for 174 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
2017 Josh Allen vs. Oregon (51.6) - 9 of 24 for 64 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2017 Josh Allen at Boise State (82.6) - 12 of 27 for 131 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
2016 Patrick Mahomes at Iowa State (99.2) - 18 of 36 for 219 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
2016 Josh Allen at Nebraska (78.7) - 16 of 32 for 189 yards, 1 TD, 5 INT
2015 Kyler Murray at Auburn (68.8) - 13 of 23 for 104 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT
2010 Russell Wilson at East Carolina (86.8) - 26 of 52 for 322 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT
2010 Russell Wilson at Central Florida (73.7) - 10 of 30 for 105 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
2009 Russell Wilson vs. South Carolina (79.2) - 12 of 23 for 74 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
2009 Russell Wilson vs. Clemson (99.9) - 12 of 32 for 183 yards,, 2 TD, 1 INT
2008 Russell Wilson at Clemson (74.9) - 10 of 21 for 92 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
2003 Aaron Rodgers vs. Oregon State (33.4) - 9 of 34 for 52 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
1998 Tom Brady vs. Syracuse (95.9) - 13 of 24 for 104 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
1994 Peyton Manning vs. Alabama (97.7) - 10 of 18 for 138 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
No. 4 - Big 12 officiating dumpster fire ...
I'm still kind of at a loss about the one-sided nature of the penalties in Saturday's game more than 24 hours after it all happened.
In my mind, as soon as the officials got back to their locker room at halftime, a conversation like this HAD to occur.
Lead official: "Fellas, I don't think we're doing a bad job at all, but we've called 10 penalties on the Longhorns and none on the Cowboys. The optics of that are pretty terrible."
Official No.2: "Sir, Oklahoma State had committed the fewest penalties in the Big 12. Is it our fault Texas is so undisciplined."
Lead official: "No, it's not your fault, but I don't want to get a phone call from the league office on Monday because of the appearances of bias."
Official No.3: "We understand, boss. What do you want us to do?"
Lead official: You know how it is. You can pretty much call a holding penalty every time Oklahoma State runs the ball or throws it to the boundary. Just make sure and throw a few flags in the second half, so we don't get called out."
Official No.4: " We hear you loud and clear."
Apparently, that conversation did not take place. How do we know? Because the game ended with the Longhorns being called for 14 penalties, while the Cowboys played the cleanest game in the history of college football.
I just don't know how that happens. If there's a one-sided set of fouls in an NBA game at halftime, you better believe the other team is going to be in the bonus three minutes into the third quarter. The last thing that can happen is that the one-sided appearances continue for four quarters to such a degree that the integrity of the contest gets called into question.
The officials in Stillwater scoffed at appearances and integrity, seemingly yelling "YOLO!" while running back onto the field for the third quarter.
We all knew that Big 12 officials would eventually give Texas the old' Grant Teaff screw-job before the Longhorns left the conference for good, but this wasn't something that even the biggest conspiracy theorists could have seen coming.
I said it right after the game and I'll say it again, that was some absolute bullshit.
How important was it to the outcome of the game? Just ask Mike Gundy.
No. 5 - Updating the freshmen participation board ...
You can not add deep snapper Lance St. Louis and wide receiver Savion Red to the list of players that have played in 5+ games this season, thus eliminating any chance at a redshirt season for both.
The current list of freshmen that have played in 5+ games this season includes the following: K Will Stone, DS St. Louis, OL Cole Hutson, OL Kelvin Banks, OL Cam Williams, WR Savion Red, RB Jaydon Blue, CB Jaylon Guilbeau, DE Justice Finkley, CB Austin Jordan and Edge Ethan Burke.
Interestingly enough, cornerback Terrance Brooks wasn't listed in the participation chart for the game in Stillwater and is still stuck on four games, which means that his redshirt option still exists.
Wide receiver Brenen Thompson played on Saturday and is now sitting on four games played.
The only other freshman that is currently sitting on three games played is offensive lineman DJ Campbell, who saw the most playing time on Saturday than he's seen all season.
No. 6 - Texas Football Scattershooting ...
... After the carnage of flags in Stillwater, the Longhorns now led the Big 12 with the most penalties committed in the conference with 51, which is six more than Texas Tech has in second place. Texas is the only team in the conference with 400+ yards of penalties (408).
... Ewers doesn't have enough attempts to qualify for the Big 12 passing leaderboard, but his season passing efficiency of 143.6 would rank fifth if he did. Hudson Card's 158.3 season rating would rank fourth if he had enough action to qualify.
... Bijan Robinson has taken the lead in the Big 12 rushing title race, as his 920 yards in 8 games (115.0 per game) leads Deuce Vaughn (106.3 per game) and TCU's Kendre Miller (104.4). It's crazy to think, but Vaughn might not make first-team All-Big 12 when you consider that Robinson and Miller have 11 and 10 touchdowns on the ground, respectively, while vaughn only has 4.
... Xavier Worthy leads the Big 12 in touchdown receptions (7), but is fifth in receptions (36), fifth in yards (510) and sixth in yards per game (63.8).
... Bert Auburn is 7th in the Big 12 in field goal percentage (72.2).
... This team is really going to miss Anthony Cook, who you'd think will probably miss the final four games of the season after breaking his arm on Saturday. For my money, Cook has been having an all-Big 12 type of season at safety and you can make a case that this team might be 4-4 right now without him. With his omission from the line-up, Kitan Crawford and Michael Taffe are both going to step up their level of play, something that didn't really happen against the Cowboys.
... A year ago, transfer Ben Davis led all Texas defenders with a pretty pathetic 2.5 sacks for the season. Through eight games, the sack leaderboard looks like this:
1. Barryn Sorrey (3)
2T. DeMarvion Overshown (2.5)
2T. Moro Ojomo (2.5)
4. Jaylan Ford (2)
5T. Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey (1.5)
5T. Keondre Coburn (1.5)
7T. Ovie Oghoufo (1)
7T. D'Shawn Jamison (1)
7T. Byron Murphy (1)
... A year ago, Jaylan Ford led the team in tackle for loss with 6. Through eight games, here's what the tackle for loss leaderboard looks like.
1. Jaylan Ford (7.5)
2. DeMarvion Overshown (6)
3. Jahdae Barron (5.5)
4T. Ovier Oghoufo (5)
4T. Moro Ojomo (5)
6. Barryn Sorrell (4)
7T. Byron Murphy (3)
7T. Keondre Coburn (3)
... Ovie Oghoufo has a single sack and five tackles for loss this season as the starting edge player for this team. That's not remotely good enough.
... I still don't understand the Longhorns not using more jet sweeps, end-arounds, shuffle passes, hitches and short pitches to receivers in the name of helping their young quarterback and getting the ball to their best playmakers. It kind of blows my mind that Xavier Worthy averages a touch in the running game once every four games, while no other receiver even has a single carry.
... UTSA is the only team that Texas has beaten this season that received a single vote in either of the two major polls on Sunday.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I'm not sure it is all hinging on a 7-5 record. If there's a big public sentiment that a change needs to be made, I think Sarkisian will make the change. He'll have 2024 recruiting that he'll need to really consider.
(Sell) The hire of Kwiatkowski wasn't anything like those hires. He arrived with a rep as being one of the best DCs in the entire country. It's just not fully working out.
(Sell) While I believe Texas might have beaten Alabama, the truth of the matter is that the Tide would have made adjustments before or at halftime and I have very little trust that Sarkisian would have adjusted well to their adjustments. What happened in the first quarter wouldn't have happened over four quarters... IMO.
(Sell) I think he's just going through the kind of growing pains that almost all young quarterbacks go through.
(Sell) There's certainly a chance that it could/would happen, but my instincts say that he plays in the bowl game.
(Buy) Yes.
(Sell) He's in danger of losing momentum he might have been able to bring into the off-season, but I don't believe the 2023 class or the locker room is about to fall apart.
(Sell) I don't know that I've ever viewed him as a generational player, even if I rated him as a five-star. Yes, I do believe his arm talent will see him drafted in the first round, but I had several questions about him as a prospect and making plays in the face of pressure was one of them.
(Buy) It's no small thing that almost the entirety of the interior of the defensive line, along with the likes of Demarvion Overshown, D'Shawn Jamison and Anthony Cook will all need to be replaced.
(Sell) The moment the Mannings decided t commit to Texas was the moment I think they made peace with whatever might happen on the field in 2022.
(Buy) He's a smart dude.
(Sell) I haven't heard any rumblings from Camp Ewers that is suggesting he's dealing with issues related to the injury.
(Buy) No doubt.
(Sell) The plan is the plan and the plan has the entire 2022 season being used as a build-up to what is hoped to be a sensational 2023 season.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on anything and everything ...
... Congrats to the Texas soccer team. Big 12 Champions. It's the first time the Longhorns have had a piece of the regular-season title since 2001. Whoa.
... If I had a vote that mattered ...
1. Georgia
2 Ohio State
3. Tennessee
4. Michigan
5. Clemson
6. TCU
7. Alabama
8. Oregon
9. USC
10. Oklahoma State
... Heisman Ballot: 1. QB Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), 2. QB CJ Stroud (Ohio State), 3. QB Max Duggan (TCU), 4. RB Blake Corum (Michigan) and 5. RB Bijan Robinson (Texas)
... At least the Longhorns have this going for them...
... No deficit seems to be too big for TCU to overcome. For the second straight week, TCU was down by multiple scores, only to flip the script in dominating fashion once the "on" button was pushed.
... Tennessee/Georgia is going to be some kind of game in two weeks.
... Is Brian Kelly getting it going in Baton Rouge?
... Kansas State seemingly had a bad loss to Tulane at home, but Tulane is 7-1 and leading the American Conference. Maybe that wasn't such a bad loss.
... Welcome back, Dak. There was nothing about Sunday that really stood out as significant, but the Cowboys moved to 5-2 and didn't have to strain much to get there, primarily because Detroit was pretty terrible on offense. Just pick up the W and move on.
... Christian McCaffrey, who? All D'Onte Foreman did in his first start as the new RB1 in Carolina was rush for 118 yards on 15 carries, while totaling 145 yards of all-purpose offense. Attaboy.
... Devin Duvernay has emerged into a really good NFL player.
... The Astros are a monster of a team. They deserve the label of World Series favorites. I'm not confused at all about the challenge in front of my Phils.
... It hasn't been easy being a Phillies fan for 39 years, but moments like this are what help you get through the lean years. MV3!
... I can't believe the Padres didn't bring in Josh Hader to face Harper. He had been so dominant in the post-season.
... The Spurs are 2-1 and the Sixers are 0-3. What alternate universe have I entered?
... On a weekend when Chelsea, Man United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Brighton all dropped points, freaking Liverpool lost to Forest. Good grief.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Horror Movies ...
It's that time of the year when I end up watching a certain kind of movie (horror) that I rarely watch in the other 11 months out of the year. Just a heads up, I didn't consider Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, Alien, Misery of The Sixth Sense as horror movies. Right or wrong, I chalk these movies up into other movie categories.
10. Friday the 13th
I'm pretty sure this was the first horror movie that I watched as a young kid. I might have been 5. It scared the living crap out of me, especially when the babysitter and her friends left me alone with the movie as a joke.
9. Scream
My favorite horror film from the 90s. A cast that includes Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette and Drew Barrymore goes a long way.
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street
Another movie from my childhood where I remember exactly where I was and who I was with when I watched it for the first time. I was at Shane Barnes' house and my bike was stolen while we watched the movie.
7. Poltergeist
I wasn't afraid of anything in the closet or under my bed until I saw this movie when I was probably 7. Thanks, HBO.
6. Rosemary's Baby
One of the all-time classic slots in just outside of the top 5.
5. Halloween
You knew Michael Myers was going to be somewhere in the Top 10.
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I don't know how you make a Horror Top 10 without Leatherface cracking the Top 10.
3. Psycho
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you arguably the best of Alfred Hitchcock.
2. The Exorcist
I will not argue against anyone that believes Pazuzu deserves the No.1 slot.
1. The Shining
I've probably seen this movie more times than the other nine combined. I don't know if it is because it was a cable fixture of my childhood or if I somehow just end up watching it once every couple of years, but it's probably not good that I've seen this movie at least 25 times.
No. 10 - And Finally ...
I leave you with the best thing I saw all weekend.
