Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Time to stop braking)

[samthehorn]

The simple fact of Texas football life is that we hired a coach with a proven winning record percentage .556. Why on earth should we be surprised that he is not winning at higher clip? We knew what we got and now we must face the fact that we got what we paid for. I drank way too much KoolAid before I came to the realization that we are just another team in a middling situation. Look for the worst and hope for the best just doesn’t work. This is akin to a baseball team bringing in a guy with a .250 lifetime average, then getting pissed off that he’s not hitting .300.

 

[jefakin]

I am all for letting the young quarterback experience adversity but there was no objective reason to think Ewers’ play was going to improve late in the game as he seemed completely disoriented. Make the change and then state loudly and clearly after the game, as Dabo did, that Ewers is still your starting quarterback.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum could you argue that Ewers missing all of September contributed to his play Saturday…as in we knew he was gonna have a game like this but wished the growing pains occurred 6 weeks ago???

It definitely didn't help. I noted almost as soon as he got hurt that missing the Tech game was a killer because it meant Stillwater would be his first road start.

 

[Ketchum]

Great write this week. Thanks!
@Ketchum

 

[Ketchum]

I am all for letting the young quarterback experience adversity but there was no objective reason to think Ewers’ play was going to improve late in the game as he seemed completely disoriented. Make the change and then state loudly and clearly after the game, as Dabo did, that Ewers is still your starting quarterback.

except it did.

He led the team down the field with 5 minutes to go and should have had a touchdown pass. They end up with a missed field goal. The next drive he gets them in scoring position, but a flag flips the field and puts them way behind the chains.

 

[Dillionaire23]

Be prepared to morn the loss of your Phillies cause the Astro's are gonna spank that azz

Why do so many Astros fans keep adding a rogue apostrophe to the name of the team?

 

[Cure4BizCancer]

I am all for letting the young quarterback experience adversity but there was no objective reason to think Ewers’ play was going to improve late in the game as he seemed completely disoriented. Make the change and then state loudly and clearly after the game, as Dabo did, that Ewers is still your starting quarterback.

Disoriented is an accurate assessment.

 

[Ketchum]

Disoriented is an accurate assessment.

He wasn't so disoriented that he couldn't throw a perfect ball to Xavier in the end zone or run the ball down into the near red-zone on the last drive.

 

[dfechtman]

It definitely didn't help. I noted almost as soon as he got hurt that missing the Tech game was a killer because it meant Stillwater would be his first road start.

Thoughts on KState start?

 

[Rex Tex]

The simple fact of Texas football life is that we hired a coach with a proven winning record percentage .556. Why on earth should we be surprised that he is not winning at higher clip? We knew what we got and now we must face the fact that we got what we paid for. I drank way too much KoolAid before I came to the realization that we are just another team in a middling situation. Look for the worst and hope for the best just doesn’t work. This is akin to a baseball team bringing in a guy with a .250 lifetime average, then getting pissed off that he’s not hitting .300.

Not that cut and dried - not that simple. Sark inherited 0-12 team at Washington, got them turned around to the extent that USC hired him away; and he then only coached 18 games there. It’s well documented the struggles he dealt with in 2015. There are a lot of football experts that think highly of Sark and what he will do here (Mannings, Saban, the staff he brought in). He’s flipped the roster 50%+. Patience - I still believe ut is on the right path.

 

[Ketchum]

Thoughts on KState start?

Por que?

 

[Ketchum]

Not that cut and dried - not that simple. Sark inherited 0-12 team at Washington, got them turned around to the extent that USC hired him away; and he then only coached 18 games there. It’s well documented the struggles he dealt with in 2015. There are a lot of football experts that think highly of Sark and what he will do here (Mannings, Saban, the staff he brought in). He’s flipped the roster 50%+. Patience - I still believe ut is on the right path.

To be fair, he's almost in double digit years as a head coach and he's a guy with a limited resume as a head coach.

 

[dfechtman]

Por que?

QE since missing TT and coming into OSU as first road game - thoughts on how he handles KS since at least having one road game under his belt

 

[Ketchum]

QE since missing TT and coming into OSU as first road game - thoughts on how he handles KS since at least having one road game under his belt

I have no idea. These are the moments that make guys who they ultimately become.

It's an early moment of truth.

 

[Rex Tex]

To be fair, he's almost in double digit years as a head coach and he's a guy with a limited resume as a head coach.

7 full seasons. I rate the first 3-4 at UW HIGH cuz the program was wrecked when he got there and he turned it positive. You gotta give a coach at least 3 years in a situation like that. USC was how you want to judge it and the jury is out on UT. It’s not as simple as he is .566 so he sucks and we deserve better. And again, a lot of folks who know more about him and the game than most of us believe in him.

 

[SSHornTXA14]

FWIW - my sources are telling me that Cook has a fracture of his forearm bone. He had a plate put in with some screws. More than likely to be held out of practice for the week and hopefully back at practice next week based on similar recoveries for like-kind procedures. Would imagine that’s in a cast or protection of some sort. Pray that holds true.

 

[SailorDave]

Why do so many Astros fans keep adding a rogue apostrophe to the name of the team?

Many people seem to think that an apostrophe is a warning that an s is coming at the end of the word.

 

[swlonghorn]

No. 4 - Big 12 officiating dumpster fire ...

I didn't read through all the comments, so SIAP.

But this has been happening with OSU for years. As in, every single year we play OSU, for at least eight years, the refs have screwed us over. And while this year shows up as the most egregious, 2015 and 2017 are just as bad.

2015 was, of course, the year everyone remembers for the awful defensive holding and penalty on Charlie after the ref bumped into him.

But in 2017, Texas had 8 penalties for 73 yards, and OSU had ZERO...until the refs called a false start with 36 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. They called a PI on them in overtime to give them 2-20 in the end. But, it was ridiculous, and nothing has changed.

I don't understand why our administration has continued to put up with that BS for a decade.

 

[lbaumer]

Why do so many Astros fans keep adding a rogue apostrophe to the name of the team?

It's an Astro's fan thang

 

[lbaumer]

Very possible. We're playing with found money at this point, though.

Found money is your pitching???

 

[Ketchum]

FWIW - my sources are telling me that Cook has a fracture of his forearm bone. He had a plate put in with some screws. More than likely to be held out of practice for the week and hopefully back at practice next week based on similar recoveries for like-kind procedures. Would imagine that’s in a cast or protection of some sort. Pray that holds true.

Interesting.

 

[Ketchum]

Found money is your pitching???

 

[UTforMe]

I'm not sure that putting Card in means Texas wins. far from it.

But we are sure now that we lost the game because Ewers played every series, every down. the loss wasn’t all his fault, but I can’t subscribe to the desire to lose any game just so any player can hopefully be better developed.
so I guess those who care more about player development over winning will be okay if the same results occur next game, and the next. under what circumstances would replacing Ewers be justified?

 

[Ketchum]

But we are sure now that we lost the game because Ewers played every series, every down. the loss wasn’t all his fault, but I can’t subscribe to the desire to lose any game just so any player can hopefully be better developed.
so I guess those who care more about player development over winning will be okay if the same results occur next game, and the next. under what circumstances would replacing Ewers be justified?

You can make a case that he played well enough in the last 5 minutes to win the game and his teammates/officials failed him.

 

[BrobaFapp]

@Ketchum any chirping you hearing out of the lit station?

all those indefinite suspensions we are hearing about. And kids quitting and possibly hitting portal soon. LJ is a name there.

 

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum any chirping you hearing out of the lit station?

all those indefinite suspensions we are hearing about. And kids quitting and possibly hitting portal soon. LJ is a name there.

The same stuff I've been hearing for months. Lots of unrest.

 

[BigGulpHorn15]

"Seven Win Sark" is who he is. That won't change and he is clearly in the bottom half of the conference as far as coaching ability - particularly in the 4th quarter.

Is he worth keeping around for 2-3 more seasons though just in case Ewers and/or Arch go "super nova" and lead Sark to unprecedented success? As tempting as it is to completely tune out this program, the hope that elite QB talent will overcome Sark's 2nd half adjustment issues keeps me on board.

 

[Ketchum]

"Seven Win Sark" is who he is. That won't change and he is clearly in the bottom half of the conference as far as coaching ability - particularly in the 4th quarter.

Is he worth keeping around for 2-3 more seasons though just in case Ewers and/or Arch go "super nova" and lead Sark to unprecedented success? As tempting as it is to completely tune out this program, the hope that elite QB talent will overcome Sark's 2nd half adjustment issues keeps me on board.

I think that's fair and probably where most people are.

I mean... Gene Chizik won a natty. All he needed was elite quarterback play.

 

[Mmo457]

I wouldn’t have pulled QE for the rest of the game, But maybe that was a game where you pull him for 1 series and just kind of calm him down on the sideline. Run some wildcat and do some non traditional stuff with card for that 1 series. have QE take a second to breath, maybe talk to one of the coaches about what he is seeing and what he needs to do. Gives him a chance to process and see it from a distance for a second

 

[teflojr]

confirmation bias is better than sex

Then you're doing it wrong brother.

 

[BiggdanTX]

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.

I’m not totally sure this is true. Here is where I think arguments could be made that Sark has been better so far:

1. Recruiting
2. Offense design
3. Offense game planning
4. Game management in terms of clock, substitutions, at least on offense
5. OL development

Areas where there has been apparent decline:

1. On the fly adjustments, especially in second half (not halftime adjustments, it’s adjusting to the second half adjustments of the other guy)
2. Overall consistency - Both offense and defense has been really good at times and very poor at times. And sometimes both things within the same game. OU game is great example of very good on both sides of ball and Tech game good example of poor on both sides. OSU is an example of both, imho.

overall, while I wasn’t a big fan of firing Herman, I’ve been impressed with Sark. But no way have we seen enough to know for sure.

 

[txfight]

who is more talented?

Anybody with a pass rush?

 

[txfight]

1. It was the first time in his career he was in a tied or close game in the fourth quarter. You don't bench the future of your program and undermine his success in that situation.

2. Card almost certainly wouldn't have run it any better than Ewers did in getting the ball near OSU territory. Holding killed the play.

3. Sark is Sark. What you see is what you get.

4. What ruined Card as much as anything was the lack of support he received 7 1/2 quarters into his tenure as a starter. He was thrown under the bus and driven over several times. It was good not to repeat that.

1) Undermine his success? What success? He looked absolutely lost for the entire 2nd half. I think leaving him in such a bad situation undermined his success as much as anything. Plus I don't think he's mentally week enough that getting pulled for a series or two is going to do long term damage.
2) I don't know if Card is healthy so maybe you're right. And I'll agree that one particular play it wouldn't have mattered because of what I think was a phantom holding call. All I'm saying is Card should have a package where he can come in and run some zone read, option, QB draw, etc that we can use as a change of pace, in extreme weather, or simply to give the other teams more to have to think about.

I actually don't think we should have pulled Ewers the rest of the game. I just think giving Card a series or two would have shaken things up. But I'll also admit, better playcalling (short passes to backs in the flat or quick hits to Sanders) would have helped quite a bit too. Just my opinion...

 

[BiggdanTX]

And I still love Ewers but I think it looked like he was hesitant to play with conviction and instead played like he was fearful of getting hit hard.

This exactly. And I don’t know if he’s being coached to do this to protect himself or if he’s just reacting to being afraid of getting rehurt. I’m prone to the former as he didn’t play like this in either of the last two games after his injury. But a cautious QB isn’t going to be successful at this level.

 

[Ketchum]

Then you're doing it wrong brother.

Sex ends. Confirmation bias never does,