Texas suffered its second consecutive loss, fans and critics are calling for Charlie Strong's job, and there's been yet another in-season shakeup with the UT coaching staff. Never a dull moment in Austin.
We take a look at three things we learned over the last week, two questions that are on our mind and one prediction.
It's time for The 3-2-1 ...
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. This Texas team is probably going to be in some battles week in and week out
As bad as Texas has been of late, the Big 12 is such a mediocre conference that Texas could still stack up a bunch of wins over the course of the season if the Longhorns can get even mediocre play from their defense. Really, there's not a game on the schedule that Texas cannot win. On the flipside, there's really only one game (Kansas) that can probably be considered a guaranteed win.
That's what kind of conference this is, and that's what kind of team Texas is. The Big 12 has what I would call eight teams that are in the range of slightly above average to pretty good (none that are anywhere close to being great). It's a league full of mediocrity, and Texas appears that it fits right there in the middle with just about everyone else.
What that will likely mean is the Longhorns are going to find themselves in some fourth-quarter battles, or contests where a big play or two could be the difference in a win or a loss.
This is a UT team that is good enough offensively that the Longhorns shouldn't get run out of the stadium by anyone (although this week's game is a bit worrisome). Defensively, if the team can start forcing some turnovers, play better in the secondary and actually get some third-down stops, Texas could still pick up several wins in the next eight weeks.
Am I expecting Texas to suddenly start playing well enough that it can get to eight or nine wins in the regular season? Not really, because Strong's teams have done nothing in two-plus seasons to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it's not completely out of the question either thanks in large part to the mediocrity of the Big 12. At worst, Texas should find itself in a lot of close games with a chance to claim victory.
2. The special teams performance on Saturday is inexcusable
Chrarlie Strong and just about the entire Texas coaching staff has been under heavy fire the past three weeks, which is the nature of the beast when a team is losing games. Some of the criticism has been extreme and perhaps a little over the top, but much of the heat directed Strong's way after the Oklahoma State game was absolutely justifiable.
Texas' inability to keep Oklahoma State defenders out of the backfield on kicks should have been an absolute embarrassment for the coaches, but to hear Strong talk about the three blocked PATs on Monday, he didn't sound very concerned at all. Strong noted that Oklahoma State schemed some things to take advantage of what has now been exploited as an obvious weakness for Texas ... basically admitting that the OSU coaches outcoached the Longhorn coaches.
It will get fixed, Strong said. My goodness, how many times have we heard that, in every way imaginable? Whether it's been the offense last year, the defense the last two years or the inconsistency with the special teams, there's been way too much talk about fixing the issues with very little action.
Strong also mentioned that Texas won't be making any changes at the deep snapper position. Jak Holbrook, according to Strong, is the only person on the team who can deep snap. Holbrook goes 5-10 and 204 pounds, so you can expect more teams to test Texas up the middle.
I don't know what the solution is, but I'm also not paid $5 million a year to have what should be a very simple answer to an issue that really should never be an issue at all.
3. Charlie Strong's hiring of assistants has been a disaster
After Vance Bedford's reassignment on Monday, only one coach who Strong brought with him (Brian Jean-Mary) remains in the same capacity in which he started. In a little more than two seasons. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it, and that is not a good reflection on the head coach at all.
Look at some of the names who have moved on - or in many cases completely flamed out - over the past 2 1/4 seasons ... Bruce Chambers, Les Koenning, Tommie Robinson, Chris Rumph, Chris Vaughn, Shawn Watson, Joe Wickline and Jay Norvell. Three offensive coordinators in three years. Two coordinators reassigned during the season, on consecutive years. It's really pretty remarkable, and certainly not in a good way.
It's one thing when Mack Brown was seeing assistants leave to take promotions, but that has not been the case with any of the Texas departures aside from maybe Rumph, who pretty much made a lateral move to Florida but couldn't get out of Austin fast enough. All the others have been fired or encouraged to leave, which is an alarming pattern over the course of Strong's brief time in Austin.
A couple weeks ago, when the idea first came up that Strong might have to fire or reassign Bedford, I wasn't sure he'd go through with the move. Not because Strong didn't know it was probably necessary, but I thought he'd just offer more help behind the scenes because having to demote yet another coordinator in-season would look incredibly bad for Strong. Well, here we are and Strong has had to make yet another move within his staff that will add more ammunition for those wanting to force the head coach out the door.
TWO QUESTIONS
1. Will Charlie Strong taking over the defense make much difference?
I'm not expecting any miracles to happen. This Texas defense just lacks playmakers and elite talent, and I just don't think it has the manpower to suddenly keep Big 12 offenses in check.
Having Strong call the shots may give the team some much-needed confidence. It may give the players an extra boost in their step in the short-term. But to think this defense is going to turn things around in the matter of a week isn't a realistic expectation.
Texas doesn't have dominant players along the line of scrimmage. The linebacker play has been very average. The secondary has been atrocious. That's a lot for Strong to fix, especially with some high-powered offenses still left on the schedule.
And, as I've said previously, you're going to have a hard time convincing me that Strong wasn't heavily involved in the defensive game planning in every game he's coached in Austin. Yes, it was Bedford making the in-game calls, but Strong had more than enough input that this thing would have been corrected a while ago if it was ever going to be corrected at all.
This isn't like when Greg Robinson was brought in to replace Manny Diaz in 2013. In that situation, Robinson came in with completely fresh ideas and ran basically the polar opposite of what Diaz was running, simplifying the defensive assignments and focusing on executing fundamentals. With Strong taking over for Bedford, there will certainly be some tweaks in the schemes, but it's not going to be a night and day shift. Basically, I'm expecting some improvement but I'm not sure it will be significant enough to make much of a difference.
2. Could Strong actually get fired mid-season, possibly as early as next week?
I'm just not seeing any moves happening in the immediate future. If Texas goes out on Saturday and gets embarrassed by Oklahoma, which isn't out of the realm of possibility, that could certainly speed things up.
More likely, the decision makers will continue to evaluate Strong's performance and any final decision about his status won't be made until much later in the year. Does that mean the wheels won't be put into motion prior to the end of the season, should Texas continue to struggle? Not at all. I just think in a perfect world, the power people at UT would prefer to wait until late in the season, or immediately after the season, to make an official decisions.
Plus, I'm expecting Texas to play just well enough to NOT make it an easy decision to have to pull the plug during the season.
ONE PREDICTION - Texas plays well enough on Saturday to keep the game competitive into the fourth quarter
The Longhorns are currently sitting as 10.5-point underdogs this week in their annual grudge-match against Oklahoma. Based on the comments I've read on this board, I would guess that most Texas fans are expecting their team to get demolished, with Oklahoma likely to put up a point total that easily reaches the 50s. Makes sense, I guess, since everybody else is having that kind of success.
Maybe it's because Texas has played over its head in this game the last two years, but I'm expecting another competitive game. More than the history of 2015 and 2014, I'm expecting Texas to rally around its head coach with the hopes that a win could get things turned around enough to get the team on a roll and ultimately save Strong's job.
It's a rivalry game, and last year showed us that anything is possible in this match-up, but I just don't think Texas will have enough gas in the tank over four quarters to get the win. Oklahoma will not take this game lightly, as it did last year, and the Sooners are the better team on paper.
My gut tells me Texas surprises even some of its own fans by keeping this game close into the second half and maybe even into the fourth quarter before Oklahoma gradually pulls away for a win that'll be close to the Vegas odds.
We take a look at three things we learned over the last week, two questions that are on our mind and one prediction.
It's time for The 3-2-1 ...
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. This Texas team is probably going to be in some battles week in and week out
As bad as Texas has been of late, the Big 12 is such a mediocre conference that Texas could still stack up a bunch of wins over the course of the season if the Longhorns can get even mediocre play from their defense. Really, there's not a game on the schedule that Texas cannot win. On the flipside, there's really only one game (Kansas) that can probably be considered a guaranteed win.
That's what kind of conference this is, and that's what kind of team Texas is. The Big 12 has what I would call eight teams that are in the range of slightly above average to pretty good (none that are anywhere close to being great). It's a league full of mediocrity, and Texas appears that it fits right there in the middle with just about everyone else.
What that will likely mean is the Longhorns are going to find themselves in some fourth-quarter battles, or contests where a big play or two could be the difference in a win or a loss.
This is a UT team that is good enough offensively that the Longhorns shouldn't get run out of the stadium by anyone (although this week's game is a bit worrisome). Defensively, if the team can start forcing some turnovers, play better in the secondary and actually get some third-down stops, Texas could still pick up several wins in the next eight weeks.
Am I expecting Texas to suddenly start playing well enough that it can get to eight or nine wins in the regular season? Not really, because Strong's teams have done nothing in two-plus seasons to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it's not completely out of the question either thanks in large part to the mediocrity of the Big 12. At worst, Texas should find itself in a lot of close games with a chance to claim victory.
2. The special teams performance on Saturday is inexcusable
Chrarlie Strong and just about the entire Texas coaching staff has been under heavy fire the past three weeks, which is the nature of the beast when a team is losing games. Some of the criticism has been extreme and perhaps a little over the top, but much of the heat directed Strong's way after the Oklahoma State game was absolutely justifiable.
Texas' inability to keep Oklahoma State defenders out of the backfield on kicks should have been an absolute embarrassment for the coaches, but to hear Strong talk about the three blocked PATs on Monday, he didn't sound very concerned at all. Strong noted that Oklahoma State schemed some things to take advantage of what has now been exploited as an obvious weakness for Texas ... basically admitting that the OSU coaches outcoached the Longhorn coaches.
It will get fixed, Strong said. My goodness, how many times have we heard that, in every way imaginable? Whether it's been the offense last year, the defense the last two years or the inconsistency with the special teams, there's been way too much talk about fixing the issues with very little action.
Strong also mentioned that Texas won't be making any changes at the deep snapper position. Jak Holbrook, according to Strong, is the only person on the team who can deep snap. Holbrook goes 5-10 and 204 pounds, so you can expect more teams to test Texas up the middle.
I don't know what the solution is, but I'm also not paid $5 million a year to have what should be a very simple answer to an issue that really should never be an issue at all.
3. Charlie Strong's hiring of assistants has been a disaster
After Vance Bedford's reassignment on Monday, only one coach who Strong brought with him (Brian Jean-Mary) remains in the same capacity in which he started. In a little more than two seasons. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it, and that is not a good reflection on the head coach at all.
Look at some of the names who have moved on - or in many cases completely flamed out - over the past 2 1/4 seasons ... Bruce Chambers, Les Koenning, Tommie Robinson, Chris Rumph, Chris Vaughn, Shawn Watson, Joe Wickline and Jay Norvell. Three offensive coordinators in three years. Two coordinators reassigned during the season, on consecutive years. It's really pretty remarkable, and certainly not in a good way.
It's one thing when Mack Brown was seeing assistants leave to take promotions, but that has not been the case with any of the Texas departures aside from maybe Rumph, who pretty much made a lateral move to Florida but couldn't get out of Austin fast enough. All the others have been fired or encouraged to leave, which is an alarming pattern over the course of Strong's brief time in Austin.
A couple weeks ago, when the idea first came up that Strong might have to fire or reassign Bedford, I wasn't sure he'd go through with the move. Not because Strong didn't know it was probably necessary, but I thought he'd just offer more help behind the scenes because having to demote yet another coordinator in-season would look incredibly bad for Strong. Well, here we are and Strong has had to make yet another move within his staff that will add more ammunition for those wanting to force the head coach out the door.
TWO QUESTIONS
1. Will Charlie Strong taking over the defense make much difference?
I'm not expecting any miracles to happen. This Texas defense just lacks playmakers and elite talent, and I just don't think it has the manpower to suddenly keep Big 12 offenses in check.
Having Strong call the shots may give the team some much-needed confidence. It may give the players an extra boost in their step in the short-term. But to think this defense is going to turn things around in the matter of a week isn't a realistic expectation.
Texas doesn't have dominant players along the line of scrimmage. The linebacker play has been very average. The secondary has been atrocious. That's a lot for Strong to fix, especially with some high-powered offenses still left on the schedule.
And, as I've said previously, you're going to have a hard time convincing me that Strong wasn't heavily involved in the defensive game planning in every game he's coached in Austin. Yes, it was Bedford making the in-game calls, but Strong had more than enough input that this thing would have been corrected a while ago if it was ever going to be corrected at all.
This isn't like when Greg Robinson was brought in to replace Manny Diaz in 2013. In that situation, Robinson came in with completely fresh ideas and ran basically the polar opposite of what Diaz was running, simplifying the defensive assignments and focusing on executing fundamentals. With Strong taking over for Bedford, there will certainly be some tweaks in the schemes, but it's not going to be a night and day shift. Basically, I'm expecting some improvement but I'm not sure it will be significant enough to make much of a difference.
2. Could Strong actually get fired mid-season, possibly as early as next week?
I'm just not seeing any moves happening in the immediate future. If Texas goes out on Saturday and gets embarrassed by Oklahoma, which isn't out of the realm of possibility, that could certainly speed things up.
More likely, the decision makers will continue to evaluate Strong's performance and any final decision about his status won't be made until much later in the year. Does that mean the wheels won't be put into motion prior to the end of the season, should Texas continue to struggle? Not at all. I just think in a perfect world, the power people at UT would prefer to wait until late in the season, or immediately after the season, to make an official decisions.
Plus, I'm expecting Texas to play just well enough to NOT make it an easy decision to have to pull the plug during the season.
ONE PREDICTION - Texas plays well enough on Saturday to keep the game competitive into the fourth quarter
The Longhorns are currently sitting as 10.5-point underdogs this week in their annual grudge-match against Oklahoma. Based on the comments I've read on this board, I would guess that most Texas fans are expecting their team to get demolished, with Oklahoma likely to put up a point total that easily reaches the 50s. Makes sense, I guess, since everybody else is having that kind of success.
Maybe it's because Texas has played over its head in this game the last two years, but I'm expecting another competitive game. More than the history of 2015 and 2014, I'm expecting Texas to rally around its head coach with the hopes that a win could get things turned around enough to get the team on a roll and ultimately save Strong's job.
It's a rivalry game, and last year showed us that anything is possible in this match-up, but I just don't think Texas will have enough gas in the tank over four quarters to get the win. Oklahoma will not take this game lightly, as it did last year, and the Sooners are the better team on paper.
My gut tells me Texas surprises even some of its own fans by keeping this game close into the second half and maybe even into the fourth quarter before Oklahoma gradually pulls away for a win that'll be close to the Vegas odds.
