View from the Cheap Seats-Roadrunners
How sweet it is, to be ranked #1
How sweet it is, to be ranked #1
AP polls have moved TEXAS into the #1 spot in the land, which is great news. The bad news is nowhere to go but down from here. Dawgs were punished for a lackluster game on the road at a weak Kentucky. The warning here, it’s the SEC, even the weak teams can bite you. It should be noted that the Wildcats boast the #8 defense in the nation which was a factor in the game. For today, we shall ride on the Kool-Aid wave of our #1 ranking, at least in the AP poll. The Coach’s Poll showed TEXAS leapfrogging the idle tOSU into the #2 spot. It’s still too early to really know but it sure is fun.
Of course, not everything is rainbows and lollypops in Longhorn land. Halfway through drive #4 on the night, Quinn Ewers goes down with an abdomen strain. No idea what that is but it sounds painful. This opens the door to Arch Manning receiving his first significant playing time and he put on a show. He flashed not only his arm but his running ability as he scored a TD on a 67 yard run which included breaking the ankles of a UTSA defender. The future is very bright under Arch but make no mistake, barring more significant injury, this is still Quinn’s team.
If there was ever a “good” time for an injury, it is now. TEXAS faces another tomato can this week in Louisiana Monroe then opens against Mississippi State, a team battling for the SEC cellar before we have a bye week then face OU and Dawgs back to back. At this time, have not read anything about Quinn’s timeline to return so we shall see. Important to note one thing. UTSA brought pressure against young Arch, lots of pressure. Generally, he burned them but there were 2 drives that ended in 3 and out punts as well as a 5 play and punt drive. We opine that our future opponents see this and try to exploit it with Arch in the game and in the future, our opponents will have much more talent.
Explosive plays were the order of the day. The biggest, a 75 yard 1 play drive to true freshman and budding star Ryan Wingo. The funniest, Arch’s 67 yard scamper. The one which should scare opponents the most, a zero yards in the air wide receiver screen to Isaiah Bond and a 51 yard run down the sideline. The “don’t forget me for the John Mackey (best TE) Award” 49 yard catch by Gunnar Helm, our “blocking TE”. Nor should we overlook the biggest run by a walk-on when Colin Page took off for 23 yards late in the game.
The defense played well on most drives. UP 21-0 they seemed to fall asleep and gave up UTSA’s only points in the game with a long TD run. They were aided by 2 missed field goal attempts, one of them the oddest coaching call of the night. Jeff Traylor called time out to ice his own kicker who made the 52 yard attempt only to miss when he was forced to do it over. No clue what jeff was thinking.
Heisman Watch
Going deep into the playoffs is TEXAS’ #1 goal. Winning a Heisman for Quinn would be great. Not sure what the injury does to his chances, likely little even if he’s only back by OU. 14 for 16 185 and 2 TDs with an INT is not a bad night on less than 2 quarters of play. This one on hold for now
How do I love Sark, let me count the ways
Last year we did not realize that Sark’s son is a walk-on LB for the team till we noticed him getting a hug from Dad after the Bama game. Brian Davis posted this on X/Tweet/whatever and it speaks volumes about Sark the man.
Sark on watching his son LB Brady Sarkisian: "When he got in tonight, I took my headset off and I played dad for about three plays. I just watched my son play football at the University of Texas. That was really awesome."
Offensive Player of the game
Arch Manning- what can you say about a 5 TD (4 passing 1 rushing) night in about a half worth of play? 9-12, 233 yards but a sack he will not soon forget. Have we mentioned the future is bright on the 40 yet?
Honorable Mention
Bond, Isaiah Bond, Lead all pass catchers with 5 grabs, 2nd with 103 yards and 2 TDs. What a weapon TEXAS has.
Baby Rhino. No kidding that is what his teammates call Jerrick Gibson who lead all rushers and finished with a 5.8 ypc average. A well earned nickname. Very important he is coming on strong as the RB room lacks depth 3rd quarter fumble will be a learning moment for the young man.
Defensive player of the game
Collin Simmons showed off his explosiveness with 2 tackles for loss and a sack. He is lighting fast off the edge. Granted, this is against Tier 3 level talent but the speed is mind bottling. The future is bright for this true freshman.
Honorable mention
Ant Hill was all over the field. Lead the team in tackles including adding a TFL.
Ethan Burke. Late in the game he showed off his athleticism by intercepting a pass near the line of scrimmage and taking it in for a TD.
Special Team Player of the Game
Michael Kern (who?) TEXAS’ punter had 4 punts averaging 45.8 yards per.
Joe Moore Best Offensive Line in College Football watch
Outside of a nasty sack on Arch from the blind side, the OL played very well and the backups logged some excellent time. TEXAS is the front runner this year and did nothing to change that status. The real test comes mid-Oct when they go back to back with the Thieves of Land and the Dawgs.
Stats that Matter
- 4-5 Red Zone TD scoring. Only blemish was Baby Rhino’s fumble in the 3rd. A learning moment for the young man
- 1 UTSA’s trip into the Red Zone, ended with a missed FG attempt. That’s some pretty good D.
- 2 TEXAS with an INT and a Fumble, things to clean up
- 614 TEXAS offensive yardage. Yes, they played a tomato can and likely face one this week. But TEXAS took care of business.
- 13 Number of drives where the D held UTSA to 5 plays or less, none ending in a scoring attempt. Impressive
Conclusions
TEXAS did pretty much what it needed to do against a weak opponent, and went up 21-0 on 1st 4 drives. Set the tone, All Gas No Brakes. The pre-game goal they missed, stay healthy. It is amazing you have a Heisman leading QB who goes down and you don’t miss a beat. Dare we say it, the back up may have played better.
On Deck
Louisiana-Monroe. Coming from a city named for the most under-rated of our Founding Fathers and the man personally responsible for the Louisiana Purchase, ULM is off to a 2-0 start. Like UTSA and several other Group of 5 programs, they are a defacto minor league for the Power 4 teams. They were hit hard in the portal, much like UTSA yet have managed to get off to a 2-0 start against a pair of G5 teams. We project Arch gets his 1st start as a Horn as Quinn kept on ice for SEC play. Yes, this does Quinn’s Heisman bid no favors but the goal is going deep in the playoffs. Sark has to keep his guys from “eating the cheese” (a Bill Belichick/Nick Saban expression) and reading their news clippings. Goal for the next tomato can, execute and no injuries.
Fighting Mack Brown’s
They faced an instate “we’ll let you beat on us for a paycheck” opponent and they did just that rolling North Carolina Central 45-10.
Dallas Cowboys
A venting comment, Jerry signed a QB who after getting beaten badly said “no big deal”. Dude got paid and honestly we don’t think he give a damn about winning even if he is liked in the locker room. Of course if JJ wanted to sign him, he could have gotten him for $50 million a year last year but waited till just before the season to sign him for $60 million. Why? Did the same nonsense with CeeDee and ended up overpaying. They have a big test this week vs the Ravens and we are not optimistic.
Our way too early 12-team CFB Playoff projections
Top 4 get byes
TEXAS Yes we are drinking the Kool-Aid, predicting a loss in Austin to the Dawgs but beating them for the SEC title
tOSU Still think they are the class of the B1G
Miami Looking good right now.
Okie Lite They ride Ollie Gordon to the conference title
The top seeds get a 1st round-home game
#5 Georgia vs #12 Memphis
#6 Bama vs #11 Utah
#7 Tenn Vs #10 ND/USC winner
#8 Ole Miss vs #9 Oregon
Game highlights
Apologize for the delayed publishing. Mrs. Cheap Seats and I were attending the Young Marines Golf Tournament in Virginia. Enjoyed watching the game and sipping some Horse Soldier Bourbon. If you saw 12 Strong, the whiskey was distilled by 4 of the 12 Green Berets who literally rode into Afghanistan on horseback, and the bottles were cast from steel from the WTC site.
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