I had the pleasure of watching the game in person, the atmosphere was electric and the emotion after the Ty-dive for the win was palpable. But, it made it difficulty to get a feel for some of the X-Os during the game. I rewatched it today and made note of some interesting things. I'll break it down by quarter mostly with some general thoughts mixed in.
1st Quarter
- Man, there was a legit fear that things were going to turn ugly fast as ND drove down quickly to score an opening TD. The big running play to get them close featured Nashon Hughes losing outside contain and whiffing on a tackle attempt and Wheeler getting caught up on the inside and to late to get back out and make a tackle. Malik with the chase down was impressive.
- I thought DDavis had good coverage on the TD pass. The back shoulder fade is probably the hardest route to cover, the ball was thrown perfectly, and the WR had a very savvy push-off that created the late separation.
-Our opening drive was extended with a 4&1 conversion at the 20. CS coulda kicked the FG but went aggressive and it paid off. Buechele dropped in a beautiful ball to A Foreman who made an incredible catch.
Buechele's deep ball - Leaving the game I was saying how impressed I was with SB deep ball. By my count he threw 6 during the game. The Foreman TD mentioned above, an early pass to Warrick that was a bit long but thrown in a "only the WR can catch it" spot, a short one to A Foreman that became an interference call, a short one to burt, and then the two dimes to Burt. He also had a 30 yard pass to Foreman at the sideline at the end of the 4th that was just barely out of bounds. Teams will be forced to respect the deep ball this year.
Buechele's Decision Making - In the 1st quarter he threw a ball away on 3rd and 5 on the only play where ND really got much pressure. He repeated the same later in the game. His only bad decision was the throw that was almost picked off in the 4th qtr.
2nd Quarter
- 1st Swoopes drive - when Swoopes first trotted out there, the announcer commented that the fans were booing. He wasn't privy to the Swoopes chant at that point. People were very excited to see him trot out there. In that regard, I think the order of QB play was perfect. Fans were excited to see SB start but still excited to see TS go as well. I think half the fans would have been disappointed with TS starting the game. Also, ending the drive with a TD was nice.
- This 2nd TD had some other huge moments as well. A 4th and 2 at the 40. Oliver with a nice catch and broken tackle on 3rd and 7, on 3rd and 8 Buechele saw the blitz coming, stood in and found a wide open Oliver. Tempo was huge on the QB sneak that followed.
- ND responded with a 30 yd TD pass of there own. A clear break down in the secondary that led Dylan Haines to try and cover up the mistake late. I'm not sure who was in the wrong but either DDavis or J Hall should have been going with the WR who ended up wide open.
- Texas punched right back with a TD of their own. Heard showed how much of a threat he can be as a WR (also had a nice catch on a comeback so not just a deep threat).
- Coaching Miscues - Here is where I had issue number 1 with the coaching staff. 1st and goal at the 1 with 2:30 on the clock. We run hurry up and snap quick. Effective in that they get a 12 man penalty. After the penalty we continue to go fast and run 3 plays over the span of 1 minute. ND gets the ball back with 1:12 remaining. We could have easily run the clock all the way down (or forced ND to use Timeouts) but we did neither. Fortunately, ND did not get any points.
- The second iffy call was a 4&1 at the 50 where CS took the holding penalty to give them 3rd and 13. This one is less clear cut. They got the 1st down on the 2nd 3rd down attempt so it looks bad but I think you force them to make a tough call on 4th down. Heck, they might have chosen to punt. If not, you have a chance to stuff them and get the ball at the 50.
3rd Quarter-4th quarter
- John Burt for 68 yards. Dime by SB, nice catch and run by JB to take it to the house. This will happen again.
- A defensive stand (sack by Vacarro) and then a drive with two 15 yrd penatlies against ND and it's starting to look pretty good for the home team. A FG makes it 31-14
- The collapse: You might have been scratching your head after we blew the lead, wondering, what happened? Well, here it is:
- After the FG, poor kick coverage yields a return to the 40.
- They drive down easily against, a def full of back-ups. Long TD run by Kizer due to Hager following RB inside instead of sticking with his outside assignment. Vacarro tries to fly in full speed to make the tackle and whiffs. 31-21
- Porter returns the kickoff after the TD despite catching ball deep in the Endzone. Silly penalty after the play. After 18 wheeler stalls, SB throws high to an open Warrick on 3rd down and it gets picked. The read was good by SB but with some pressure coming I don't think he fully stepped into this one. Kick ND TD ensues. 31-28
- SB throws high again on the next possession, missing Burt and leading to a 3 and out.
- ND drives again, misses an open Kizer on QB throwback (whew), targeting is not called on the big hit by the Kraken (whew), and Hughes blocks the FG (whew).
- Our next drive ends after 3 plays. On 2nd and 1, A Foreman is called for false start. I don't think it was on him though. Blueitt motions and then steps up to LOS. Seeing this, Foreman steps off the line but the ball is snapped right as he is moving. I think the tempo was just a bit too fast this time.
- Another booming punt by Dickson but he out kicks coverage, we miss 5 tackles, and Dickson is forced to drag the returner down. (he was fired up after the tackle BTW)
- On a third down play, while Kizer is being sacked, Antwan Davis wraps up the WR and is called for holding. A perfect pass to the RB out of the backfield drops in just over Wheeler who had good coverage. Of note, he was faking a blitz so was up on the LOS, gave the RB a few extra steps on him from the get go. 31-35
- Another 3 and out for us, a bad snap slips by SB and we are looking at 2 and 31 deep in our territory. We play it safe and live for another day.
The Comeback: Not much time remains and it feels like ND has all the momentum and Texas is crumbling.
- The first positive play is an absolutely booming punt from Dickson. Credited for a 64 yarder, he was standing on the 12 and kicked it to the other 12 (thats 76 yards in the air). Good coverage to tackle return man at the 25. Dickson was incredible all day, averaged 55 yards. The other highlight was a 54 yard punt he placed OOB at the 13. He could be in the Ray Guy conversation with that leg.
- A good stand by the defense (great tackle to stop a 3rd down play 1 yard short) and a shanked punt gives us the ball at the 35.
- Shane is given permission to keep the ball on read options and spouts off a few good runs. D'onta Foreman keeps punishing ND. He was stuffed on a 2nd and 3 and bounces off for a 5 yrd gain. He caps the drive with that great TD run. 37-35
- Before I get to the extra point, D'onta Foreman really showed why he is the starter. He shows great patience in finding the right hole to run through and then burst throw it with power. Warren looked pretty pedestrian other than a few times when he steamrolled people.
The Extra point: What wasn't shown on TV (reported by Holly Rowe afterwards) was that Texas was missing a linemen on the extra point. With the multiple injuries on the OL, there was clearly some confusion. Connor Williams got sent out with about 10 seconds on the play clock. I don't think the OL was ready when the ball was snapped which allowed some push and eventually the block. This one is on the coaches. 1. With 10 seconds left, just hold Conner on the sideline and take the delay of game 2. If he runs out either call a timeout or signal the kicker to just take the delay. Basically this 3 point swing cancels out the FG block from earlier.
- Closing out the 4th, we had great kick coverage after the 15 yrd sideline penalty to stop them at the 30. They easily could have run out to at least the 40. Defense did its job to prevent a game winning drive for ND. Shane had the boys driving in what would have been an incredible game winning drive for a true freshman in his first game. We got down to the 34. The chop block penalty and bad snap by Zack gave us 2nd and 33. Shane nearly missed the sideline thrown to Armanti that would have put us back in FG range. Dickson bounced his punt at the 5, a better bounce and we pin them deep.
-Zack's snap issues - It was strange in that he had no problems until the 4th quarter. I was looking for even slightly off snaps and didn't see any. He then had the 2 that got fumbled and one at SB feet. I imagine this hasn't been a problem for him. Was it the pressure? Who knows but it killed two drives for us. I was a center in high school, it's not easy to snap while also trying to get out and block. I'm sure he will spend a lot of time on it.
Overtime 1:
- Shane came out and made some very poised throws. The kid was not shaken by the circumstance. Swoopes scores on Ty-Dive number 1.
- After the TD, you could hear a pin drop during the extra point. Some serious nervous energy in that stadium.
- The screen by ND was a perfect call. We blitzed off that side. Kizer did well to pump fake and then lob it over the blitzers.
Overtime 2:
- Great plays by Malik on 1st down and Boyette on 2nd down. The 3rd down incompletion was due to pressure on the blitz (Malik again) and good coverage by Holton Hill who would have made the tackle short anyways (did they complete anything on him all day?).
- Swoopes takes over and runs through 6 people, injuring one, to get a first and goal. A great run by him to shake an unblocked linemen and score on Ty-Dive #2.
- The collected cathartic response from the fans was incredible. It was more than cheering for a win but feeling a sense that Texas is back.
Other thoughts:
Young but not that young: I was surprised to not see more freshmen in the game. Those who played included Shane Buechele, Zach Shackelford, Brandon Jones, Kyle Porter, Malcolm Roach, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jordan Elliott, Chris Daniels. Jones and Porter were on special teams only (not sure about Fitz). Still a big number but there could have been more. No Duvernay or Collin Johnson at WR. No O-linemen came in for injured players. Probably a good sign that we have older guys stepping up. I'm sure we will see more young guys as the year goes on.
Crowd Surf Charlie : So many people want to hate on the response from the players after the win (even some Longhorn fans). First off, realize you are critiquing teenagers on how they celebrate the biggest win they have experienced (it's not like the fans rushed the field). I loved it personally. These guys love CS and they play and want to win for him. You don't see that everywhere. Also, he's tiny so it's hilarious when they throw him around.
TL: DR - great game by the horns with some interesting things that happened both good and bad. If we consistently play like this we will win a lot of games this year.
1st Quarter
- Man, there was a legit fear that things were going to turn ugly fast as ND drove down quickly to score an opening TD. The big running play to get them close featured Nashon Hughes losing outside contain and whiffing on a tackle attempt and Wheeler getting caught up on the inside and to late to get back out and make a tackle. Malik with the chase down was impressive.
- I thought DDavis had good coverage on the TD pass. The back shoulder fade is probably the hardest route to cover, the ball was thrown perfectly, and the WR had a very savvy push-off that created the late separation.
-Our opening drive was extended with a 4&1 conversion at the 20. CS coulda kicked the FG but went aggressive and it paid off. Buechele dropped in a beautiful ball to A Foreman who made an incredible catch.
Buechele's deep ball - Leaving the game I was saying how impressed I was with SB deep ball. By my count he threw 6 during the game. The Foreman TD mentioned above, an early pass to Warrick that was a bit long but thrown in a "only the WR can catch it" spot, a short one to A Foreman that became an interference call, a short one to burt, and then the two dimes to Burt. He also had a 30 yard pass to Foreman at the sideline at the end of the 4th that was just barely out of bounds. Teams will be forced to respect the deep ball this year.
Buechele's Decision Making - In the 1st quarter he threw a ball away on 3rd and 5 on the only play where ND really got much pressure. He repeated the same later in the game. His only bad decision was the throw that was almost picked off in the 4th qtr.
2nd Quarter
- 1st Swoopes drive - when Swoopes first trotted out there, the announcer commented that the fans were booing. He wasn't privy to the Swoopes chant at that point. People were very excited to see him trot out there. In that regard, I think the order of QB play was perfect. Fans were excited to see SB start but still excited to see TS go as well. I think half the fans would have been disappointed with TS starting the game. Also, ending the drive with a TD was nice.
- This 2nd TD had some other huge moments as well. A 4th and 2 at the 40. Oliver with a nice catch and broken tackle on 3rd and 7, on 3rd and 8 Buechele saw the blitz coming, stood in and found a wide open Oliver. Tempo was huge on the QB sneak that followed.
- ND responded with a 30 yd TD pass of there own. A clear break down in the secondary that led Dylan Haines to try and cover up the mistake late. I'm not sure who was in the wrong but either DDavis or J Hall should have been going with the WR who ended up wide open.
- Texas punched right back with a TD of their own. Heard showed how much of a threat he can be as a WR (also had a nice catch on a comeback so not just a deep threat).
- Coaching Miscues - Here is where I had issue number 1 with the coaching staff. 1st and goal at the 1 with 2:30 on the clock. We run hurry up and snap quick. Effective in that they get a 12 man penalty. After the penalty we continue to go fast and run 3 plays over the span of 1 minute. ND gets the ball back with 1:12 remaining. We could have easily run the clock all the way down (or forced ND to use Timeouts) but we did neither. Fortunately, ND did not get any points.
- The second iffy call was a 4&1 at the 50 where CS took the holding penalty to give them 3rd and 13. This one is less clear cut. They got the 1st down on the 2nd 3rd down attempt so it looks bad but I think you force them to make a tough call on 4th down. Heck, they might have chosen to punt. If not, you have a chance to stuff them and get the ball at the 50.
3rd Quarter-4th quarter
- John Burt for 68 yards. Dime by SB, nice catch and run by JB to take it to the house. This will happen again.
- A defensive stand (sack by Vacarro) and then a drive with two 15 yrd penatlies against ND and it's starting to look pretty good for the home team. A FG makes it 31-14
- The collapse: You might have been scratching your head after we blew the lead, wondering, what happened? Well, here it is:
- After the FG, poor kick coverage yields a return to the 40.
- They drive down easily against, a def full of back-ups. Long TD run by Kizer due to Hager following RB inside instead of sticking with his outside assignment. Vacarro tries to fly in full speed to make the tackle and whiffs. 31-21
- Porter returns the kickoff after the TD despite catching ball deep in the Endzone. Silly penalty after the play. After 18 wheeler stalls, SB throws high to an open Warrick on 3rd down and it gets picked. The read was good by SB but with some pressure coming I don't think he fully stepped into this one. Kick ND TD ensues. 31-28
- SB throws high again on the next possession, missing Burt and leading to a 3 and out.
- ND drives again, misses an open Kizer on QB throwback (whew), targeting is not called on the big hit by the Kraken (whew), and Hughes blocks the FG (whew).
- Our next drive ends after 3 plays. On 2nd and 1, A Foreman is called for false start. I don't think it was on him though. Blueitt motions and then steps up to LOS. Seeing this, Foreman steps off the line but the ball is snapped right as he is moving. I think the tempo was just a bit too fast this time.
- Another booming punt by Dickson but he out kicks coverage, we miss 5 tackles, and Dickson is forced to drag the returner down. (he was fired up after the tackle BTW)
- On a third down play, while Kizer is being sacked, Antwan Davis wraps up the WR and is called for holding. A perfect pass to the RB out of the backfield drops in just over Wheeler who had good coverage. Of note, he was faking a blitz so was up on the LOS, gave the RB a few extra steps on him from the get go. 31-35
- Another 3 and out for us, a bad snap slips by SB and we are looking at 2 and 31 deep in our territory. We play it safe and live for another day.
The Comeback: Not much time remains and it feels like ND has all the momentum and Texas is crumbling.
- The first positive play is an absolutely booming punt from Dickson. Credited for a 64 yarder, he was standing on the 12 and kicked it to the other 12 (thats 76 yards in the air). Good coverage to tackle return man at the 25. Dickson was incredible all day, averaged 55 yards. The other highlight was a 54 yard punt he placed OOB at the 13. He could be in the Ray Guy conversation with that leg.
- A good stand by the defense (great tackle to stop a 3rd down play 1 yard short) and a shanked punt gives us the ball at the 35.
- Shane is given permission to keep the ball on read options and spouts off a few good runs. D'onta Foreman keeps punishing ND. He was stuffed on a 2nd and 3 and bounces off for a 5 yrd gain. He caps the drive with that great TD run. 37-35
- Before I get to the extra point, D'onta Foreman really showed why he is the starter. He shows great patience in finding the right hole to run through and then burst throw it with power. Warren looked pretty pedestrian other than a few times when he steamrolled people.
The Extra point: What wasn't shown on TV (reported by Holly Rowe afterwards) was that Texas was missing a linemen on the extra point. With the multiple injuries on the OL, there was clearly some confusion. Connor Williams got sent out with about 10 seconds on the play clock. I don't think the OL was ready when the ball was snapped which allowed some push and eventually the block. This one is on the coaches. 1. With 10 seconds left, just hold Conner on the sideline and take the delay of game 2. If he runs out either call a timeout or signal the kicker to just take the delay. Basically this 3 point swing cancels out the FG block from earlier.
- Closing out the 4th, we had great kick coverage after the 15 yrd sideline penalty to stop them at the 30. They easily could have run out to at least the 40. Defense did its job to prevent a game winning drive for ND. Shane had the boys driving in what would have been an incredible game winning drive for a true freshman in his first game. We got down to the 34. The chop block penalty and bad snap by Zack gave us 2nd and 33. Shane nearly missed the sideline thrown to Armanti that would have put us back in FG range. Dickson bounced his punt at the 5, a better bounce and we pin them deep.
-Zack's snap issues - It was strange in that he had no problems until the 4th quarter. I was looking for even slightly off snaps and didn't see any. He then had the 2 that got fumbled and one at SB feet. I imagine this hasn't been a problem for him. Was it the pressure? Who knows but it killed two drives for us. I was a center in high school, it's not easy to snap while also trying to get out and block. I'm sure he will spend a lot of time on it.
Overtime 1:
- Shane came out and made some very poised throws. The kid was not shaken by the circumstance. Swoopes scores on Ty-Dive number 1.
- After the TD, you could hear a pin drop during the extra point. Some serious nervous energy in that stadium.
- The screen by ND was a perfect call. We blitzed off that side. Kizer did well to pump fake and then lob it over the blitzers.
Overtime 2:
- Great plays by Malik on 1st down and Boyette on 2nd down. The 3rd down incompletion was due to pressure on the blitz (Malik again) and good coverage by Holton Hill who would have made the tackle short anyways (did they complete anything on him all day?).
- Swoopes takes over and runs through 6 people, injuring one, to get a first and goal. A great run by him to shake an unblocked linemen and score on Ty-Dive #2.
- The collected cathartic response from the fans was incredible. It was more than cheering for a win but feeling a sense that Texas is back.
Other thoughts:
Young but not that young: I was surprised to not see more freshmen in the game. Those who played included Shane Buechele, Zach Shackelford, Brandon Jones, Kyle Porter, Malcolm Roach, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jordan Elliott, Chris Daniels. Jones and Porter were on special teams only (not sure about Fitz). Still a big number but there could have been more. No Duvernay or Collin Johnson at WR. No O-linemen came in for injured players. Probably a good sign that we have older guys stepping up. I'm sure we will see more young guys as the year goes on.
Crowd Surf Charlie : So many people want to hate on the response from the players after the win (even some Longhorn fans). First off, realize you are critiquing teenagers on how they celebrate the biggest win they have experienced (it's not like the fans rushed the field). I loved it personally. These guys love CS and they play and want to win for him. You don't see that everywhere. Also, he's tiny so it's hilarious when they throw him around.
TL: DR - great game by the horns with some interesting things that happened both good and bad. If we consistently play like this we will win a lot of games this year.
