View from the Cheap Seats-Dawgs Part Deux
Opportunity lost
Opportunity lost
No way to sugarcoat it, TEXAS lost and it doesn’t feel good. Old demons once again reared their ugly head to eventually doom the Horns’ bid to win the SEC in year 1 in the conference. In any football game, especially one featuring 2 very good defenses, there are 2 time proven general indicators of success. Outrush your opponent and win the turnover battle. TEXAS failed with both of those. We saw another of Sark's bugaboos with penalties and the failure to win the 2nd half of games. Which would not be an issue if TEXAS had put the game away in the 1st half when it had the chance. The opportunities were there for TEXAS. The plays were there to be made, Georgia fumbled 4 times but only lost one. Quinn would have 2 picks, the 1st when he hit our WR in the hands but the 2nd was ugly pick late with TEXAS driving. Sadly Quinn has become the lightning rod and is taking the blame for the team's collective failures in so many areas. Penalties again were a major problem, frequently keeping Dawgs drives alive or putting the Horns behind the chains. The failure to stop a fake punt deep in their end could have ended the game. A late interception coulda/shoulda/woulda been a game winning pick 6 for Jim Thorpe award candidate Jahdea Baron but a microcosm of the game as his teammates could no execute a simple block. The pick did lead to a tying FG and overtime but again, we kept trading touchdowns for FGs.
To paraphrase Cool Hand Luke, what we had here was a failure to capitalize.
Despite knocking Carson Beck out of the game, the defense could not stand up in the 2nd half giving up 3 long scoring drives to allow the Dawgs to not just get back into the game but take a lead. And this with a back up QB playing in his 1st SEC game. End of the night, the offense failed to put Georgia away when it had the chance. Really that simple. Did not help that we would miss 2 normally makeable Field goals, even if one of those were successful, TEXAS wins without overtime. 11 penalties, 2 off sides by the D to keep drives alive and both snuffed out interceptions, 4 or 5 holding calls (only 1 on the OL) on mostly our WRs, and taking 1st downs off the board.
Frustrating game vs the best team on our schedule and on a huge stage. Unlike October, the Horns did show up to play but Sark has to figure out how to put teams away. Georgia tackles much better than we do in space and our offense is built around making guys miss. TEXAS can only blame itself for this one. While they acquitted themselves far better than they did at DKR, this is a game TEXAS let slip through their hands.
For all the frustration, hand wringing, and finger pointing, TEXAS will be hosting a home playoff game in December, pretty awesome consolation prize. And the best way to ease giving away the SEC title in year one is a deep playoff run.
Glass half Full
News flash, TEXAS will be playing a Home playoff game at DKR, vs #12 seed Clemson. That’s right, this team’s season is not over. Not even close. If you watched the other games today, none of these teams should scare TEXAS. We are in the playoffs and have a chance to make a nice run. Get hot, a good chance to win a National title. Our offensive line did not win the Joe Moore award tonight though they played better than the 1st match-up with the Dawgs. Jahdea Barron’s late interception might have earned him the Thorpe Award but a great play by the Georgia TE prevented him from taking it to the house for a pick 6. The defense played well enough to win.
We had TEXAS at 10-2 so TEXAS exceeded our expectations and we suspect every TEXAS fan would have taken 11-2 and the 5th seed pre-season so it's still a GREAT year.
Glass half Empty
TEXAS snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. No one to blame for this loss than ourselves. Penalties were the most glaring “glass half empty” item of the evening. This is followed closely by our failure to convert 3 Red Zone trips into touchdowns, our #1 issue coming into the season which was holding TEXAS back. The run game was largely stuffed making TEXAS one dimensional. Despite a dominant 1st half, TEXAS failed to put the Dawgs away, only scoring 2 FGs. Smart called a better game, again than Sark. Kirby ran a fake punt from his own end (30 yard line) that the TEXAS punt D completely whiffed. The defense would give up 3 long 2nd half drives (9 plays + of 62 yards or more) leading to 13 points and Georgia taking the lead in the game.
Where in the wide wide world of sports was our #1 receiver, Gunnar Helm??? Dawgs can be beaten over the middle.
Offensive Player of the game
Matthew Golden and DeAndre Moore, they combined for 17 receptions, 274 yards and a Touchdown. Golden has taken over as the yardage leader for the Horns in the last 2 weeks.
Defensive Player of the Game
Andrew Makuba- led the team with 11 tackles, 10 of them solo and 2 tackles for loss. Still our vote for Best Portal Player of the Year.
Honorable Mention-Jahdea Barron with a interception that led to a FG putting the game into overtime. Sadly with one block, he has a pick 6 and wins the game but such was not to be tonight for the Horns.
Special Teams Player of the Game
Silas Bolden with a 25 yard punt return to set TEXAS up with excellent field position. This made up for his boneheaded decision to bring the ball out of the endzone to open the game, putting TEXAS in poor field position at our own 11.
Coach who has not gotten enough love
Torre Becton. It is odd, in the past, our Strength & Conditioning coach has gotten far more notice than Coach Becton has yet we argue TEXAS has not seen better player development in decades. Now Becton is not alone in players coming to TEXAS and getting much better/much more NFL ready. Sark has made a point of hiring coaches who are excellent teachers of their positions. But the heart and soul of development is S&C, players physically becoming bigger, stronger and faster. Players who are less likely to be injured yet when they are injured, they come back faster. Off season workouts are also where teams bond, they grow as a unit. This is where the “culture is built”. Perhaps the biggest thing Sark learned from both Pete Carroll and Nick Saban was staff building. Sark is really good at staff building and Coach Becton is a key part of this TEXAS team.
Stats that Matter
- 11-94 Might be the biggest stat of the game, penalties, and lost yardage. TEXAS continues to shoot itself in the foot.
- 24 Quinn’s streak of consecutive games with a passing touchdown.
- 3-6 3 red zone trips, 2 FGs One of the key concerns coming into 2024 was red zone TD scoring.
- 14/6 Dawgs recorded 14 tackles for loss and 6 sacks.
- 10/3 TEXAS D recorded 10 tackles for loss and 3 sacks
WOW, did not think this would happen but the committee slotted TEXAS with the #5 seed facing #12 seed Clemson. Not sure the matchup and path could be more favorable with BigXII champ (remind me, didn’t we win that conference last year? Time to win it again this year) Arizona State up next when TEXAS wins in round 1. The biggest surprise of the seeding, SMU getting into the playoffs over Bama. Bama only has themselves to blame, that ugly loss to a weak Land Thief team might have been the key. This also might be some appeasement to the ACC for last year when Florida State was left out. Now this does send a message that strength of schedule and playing tough teams is not being rewarded.
Let’s talk Clemson. As the tale of the tape shows, they are a high scoring team led by Austin’s own dual threat QB Cabe Klubnik who now starting to live up to his recruiting hype. An interesting re-match as he and Quinn Ewers faced off in the Texas HS playoffs before. On the season, Quinn and Cade have almost identical QBR ratings. This will be the best QB TEXAS faces so far this year. They feature an 1100 yard rusher in Phil Mafah and a talented and balanced WR corps led by All ACC soph Antonio Williams. TEXAS will be the best defensive team Clemson has faced since their opening week rout at the hands of Georgia. Tale of the tape shows two teams evenly matched on paper offensively with TEXAS biggest advantage being the strength of their defense.
Texas Tale of the Tape Clemson
#25 33ppg Scoring Off #16 35ppg
#2 12.4 ppg Scoring Def #33 22 ppg
#13 281 ypg Passing Off #17 274 ypg
#64 164 ypg Rushing Off #42 180 ypg
#25 33ppg Scoring Off #16 35ppg
#2 12.4 ppg Scoring Def #33 22 ppg
#13 281 ypg Passing Off #17 274 ypg
#64 164 ypg Rushing Off #42 180 ypg
Our projection:
Our defensive line feasts on the Clemson OL. Cade’s return to Austin will not be great. We should be able to run which sets up play action. Suspect we see more of Gunnar Helm. Sark with 2 weeks to prep, sees a much better offensive game plan. TEXAS needs to play clean TEXAS wins 31-17
The biggest surprise of the seeding, SMU getting in over Bama. Bama has themselves to blame, that loss to a weak Land Thief team might have been the key. Now this does send a message that strength of schedule and playing tough teams is not being rewarded.
Game Highlights
