Here are the highlights of Texas offensive coordinator Tim Beck’s media availability after Wednesday’s practice:
- Beck said from the second drive in the second quarter until the fourth, Texas’ offense played well. However, Beck said a team cannot turn the ball over late and expect to win on the road against a good football team.
- When asked about Sam Ehlinger, Beck said, “First of all, all of this is a journey for him and for us. We’re not a one-game team by any means. Obviously, you don’t plan or prepare or expect to lose any ball game, but somewhere along the road, you’re probably going to have some setbacks. The idea is to continue to improve and get better. I thought as a quarterback, Sam did some really good things. I was really pleased with some of the things he did. It was tough. The team rushes two and drops nine, had a guy spying for him in the run game, and covering everybody down, it’s not going to be a great passing day. Most teams don’t when those kinds of things happen, but he did do some good things at some times Obviously, at the end, he forced a play maybe he shouldn’t have. Fourth down, maybe. He’s got to do it on fourth-down. Third-down, just gather your thoughts. I think what happened a little bit, in our conversations, it was third-and-10, and I have to make a play. It wasn’t third-and-3, or third-and-4, and we can get it. It was, hey man, I got to make something happen here. And LJ (Lil’ Jordan Humphrey) was open initially, and I think he was going to throw it. The guy spying him kind of got around him. He had to a little bit more, and by that time they covered him. If he had threw it earlier, on time, maybe he could have had him. In the end, it wasn’t a very good decision by him.”
- Beck thought Tre Watson did some good things for Texas, but said Watson had two critical errors. On Ehlinger’s first interception in the fourth-quarter, Watson missed a block that resulted in a Maryland player hitting the quarterback’s hand. Obviously, the second error was Watson’s fumble. Overall, Beck believes Watson played a good game, especially after a year layoff due to his knee injury.
- Running back Keaontay Ingram will get more touches each week, according to Beck.
- Beck was very pleased with the performance of his offensive line. He said left tackle Calvin Anderson, center Zach Shackelford and guard Elijah Rodriguez played well. In addition, he was also pleased with Samuel Cosmi and expects him to play more at right tackle this season.
- Here is Beck on his in-game interaction with Herman after the coach took a more active offensive role in the second quarter: “I thought it was great. We communicate things I see up there to him. Things that this might be good right here, or hey, what about this? So does he. He sees the same things. One thing that he has that I don’t is got the feel of them. He can look in their eyes and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to run it here because I can tell the o-line is ready. We’re going to mash them right here. Let's do this. I think it was a great adjustment. It was awesome. We kind of do that anyway. It’s always been that way. You get Drew (Mehringer) and Derek (Warehime). Herb (Hand) is going to say, ‘Run the power here.’ Okay, we’re going to run power. We’re kind of all in that together. As I mentioned before, we game plan, we have a list – here’s third down, here’s what we’re going to call. That’s what we kind of go off of.”
- Beck believes the offense beat themselves against Maryland with turnovers. He noted that during the two-minute drill, Texas began on its 9-yard line and drove down to Maryland’s 30-yard line. Beck is not sure this offense could have done that last year, which is why he believes this year’s team is different.
- Beck said the team has always been capable of going up-tempo, but they are mindful of when and how it is used.
- Here is Beck’s answer when I asked about his confidence level in being the offensive coordinator after the Maryland game: “I still feel great about it. I got the back from coach (Tom) Herman, which is awesome, and the players. The people that are here, they know. They understand. When you watch the tape … I thought we had a good plan. I thought we attacked them well. In fact, even in the second half, we had a couple plays here and there, and you’re like, ‘We got them.’ Same thing. We misread it, a guy comes off and makes a play. They had some guys do some things. [Maryland defensive back Antoine Brooks] had a great game. Number four [Maryland defensive back Darnell Savage Jr.]. Those guys came up and made some plays. They got good players over there, too. They did some nice things and would come off a block, dive and grab our guy by the shoes [who] is about to go 15 or 18-yards, and we get four. Give them credit. They did some things in the course of the game, too. I think it’s been a good week us. I think we’ve identified a couple of things that we need to do to help our guys. We got to keep creating depth to play all those guys. That’s what we’re trying to do right now, get the best chance to win.”
- Beck said from the second drive in the second quarter until the fourth, Texas’ offense played well. However, Beck said a team cannot turn the ball over late and expect to win on the road against a good football team.
- When asked about Sam Ehlinger, Beck said, “First of all, all of this is a journey for him and for us. We’re not a one-game team by any means. Obviously, you don’t plan or prepare or expect to lose any ball game, but somewhere along the road, you’re probably going to have some setbacks. The idea is to continue to improve and get better. I thought as a quarterback, Sam did some really good things. I was really pleased with some of the things he did. It was tough. The team rushes two and drops nine, had a guy spying for him in the run game, and covering everybody down, it’s not going to be a great passing day. Most teams don’t when those kinds of things happen, but he did do some good things at some times Obviously, at the end, he forced a play maybe he shouldn’t have. Fourth down, maybe. He’s got to do it on fourth-down. Third-down, just gather your thoughts. I think what happened a little bit, in our conversations, it was third-and-10, and I have to make a play. It wasn’t third-and-3, or third-and-4, and we can get it. It was, hey man, I got to make something happen here. And LJ (Lil’ Jordan Humphrey) was open initially, and I think he was going to throw it. The guy spying him kind of got around him. He had to a little bit more, and by that time they covered him. If he had threw it earlier, on time, maybe he could have had him. In the end, it wasn’t a very good decision by him.”
- Beck thought Tre Watson did some good things for Texas, but said Watson had two critical errors. On Ehlinger’s first interception in the fourth-quarter, Watson missed a block that resulted in a Maryland player hitting the quarterback’s hand. Obviously, the second error was Watson’s fumble. Overall, Beck believes Watson played a good game, especially after a year layoff due to his knee injury.
- Running back Keaontay Ingram will get more touches each week, according to Beck.
- Beck was very pleased with the performance of his offensive line. He said left tackle Calvin Anderson, center Zach Shackelford and guard Elijah Rodriguez played well. In addition, he was also pleased with Samuel Cosmi and expects him to play more at right tackle this season.
- Here is Beck on his in-game interaction with Herman after the coach took a more active offensive role in the second quarter: “I thought it was great. We communicate things I see up there to him. Things that this might be good right here, or hey, what about this? So does he. He sees the same things. One thing that he has that I don’t is got the feel of them. He can look in their eyes and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to run it here because I can tell the o-line is ready. We’re going to mash them right here. Let's do this. I think it was a great adjustment. It was awesome. We kind of do that anyway. It’s always been that way. You get Drew (Mehringer) and Derek (Warehime). Herb (Hand) is going to say, ‘Run the power here.’ Okay, we’re going to run power. We’re kind of all in that together. As I mentioned before, we game plan, we have a list – here’s third down, here’s what we’re going to call. That’s what we kind of go off of.”
- Beck believes the offense beat themselves against Maryland with turnovers. He noted that during the two-minute drill, Texas began on its 9-yard line and drove down to Maryland’s 30-yard line. Beck is not sure this offense could have done that last year, which is why he believes this year’s team is different.
- Beck said the team has always been capable of going up-tempo, but they are mindful of when and how it is used.
- Here is Beck’s answer when I asked about his confidence level in being the offensive coordinator after the Maryland game: “I still feel great about it. I got the back from coach (Tom) Herman, which is awesome, and the players. The people that are here, they know. They understand. When you watch the tape … I thought we had a good plan. I thought we attacked them well. In fact, even in the second half, we had a couple plays here and there, and you’re like, ‘We got them.’ Same thing. We misread it, a guy comes off and makes a play. They had some guys do some things. [Maryland defensive back Antoine Brooks] had a great game. Number four [Maryland defensive back Darnell Savage Jr.]. Those guys came up and made some plays. They got good players over there, too. They did some nice things and would come off a block, dive and grab our guy by the shoes [who] is about to go 15 or 18-yards, and we get four. Give them credit. They did some things in the course of the game, too. I think it’s been a good week us. I think we’ve identified a couple of things that we need to do to help our guys. We got to keep creating depth to play all those guys. That’s what we’re trying to do right now, get the best chance to win.”
