View from the Cheap Seats-Lousiana Monroe
Arch’s 1st start
Arch’s 1st start
Did you see those Louisiana Monroe helmets? Those are an awesome tribute to Claire Lee Chennault's Flying Tigers from World War II. A variation of the well-known shark smile which was painted on the noses of the P 40 Warhawks who fought with the Chinese Nationalist Army before the US entered the war. They flew as the American Volunteer Group as America was not officially at war. That same paint scheme is used on today’s A-10 fighters, affectionately dubbed the warthogs. If you are ever in Monroe Louisiana, the Chennault Museum is small but excellent. Monroe is named for our “Last Founding Father” James Monroe who might be our most underrated President. Last President to run unopposed for office btw. Yes we are history buffs.
TEXAS did exactly what a team should do to an overmatched opponent, they jumped on them early and built up a 21-0 1st quarter lead, never looking back. Build an early lead? Check Put the game out of reach? Check Get lots of players reps? Check Avoid injuries? Maybe, need to get an update on D’Andre Moore’s status. All boxes were pretty much checked last night. Years from now, when Arch is inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, the trivia question will be “Against whom did Arch make his 1st start in college?” Arch makes his 1st start coming off a 5 TD, SEC Player of the Week performance. Pretty sweet deal for QB2 as this is still Quinn’s team. And we saw why there is no QB controversy in Austin. Arch showed us what he is great at and where he needs work. His deep passes (call them drives from the tee box) were football masterpieces and included passes of 56 yards, 46 yards, and 25 yards. His short game however still needs some work, which makes him like most duffers. Make no mistake though, the experience will produce dividends down the road.
One dividend was seeing how Arch handled adversity as he threw an interception on his 1st drive. Then he would lead TEXAS to 3 touchdown drives on the next 3 series. He would also throw an INT on TEXAS' last drive of the 1st half before leading TEXAS to a TD on their drive following halftime. That would be followed up by back-to-back 3 and out drives. One trait he has is poise which he showed in the game, he never seemed to get flustered. Still, his stat line was a meager 15-29. Now to that, he added 258 yards and 2 TDs but 2 INTs as well. The future is bright but make no mistake, 2024 is Quinn’s team.
The Star of the game was Jayden Blue who had a career night. Most carries 25, most yards 124, and most TDs. He ran the ball, he caught the ball and along the way he logged 3 touchdowns. Sark is playing it safe with his RBs. While Blue was the workhorse, true freshman Jerrick “Baby Rhino” Gibson was limited to 9 carries, and Tre Wisner was placed in bubble wrap on the sidelines. Ryan Niblett was used late in the game and might be a fun change of pace back though Jayden Blue is the fastest or 2nd fastest on the team. Gotta give Colin Page his props. The walk-on ran hard in the 4th, recording 60 yards on 10 carries, leading all rushers with a 6.0 ypc average as TEXAS was running out the clock.
Can we get a HALE YES for the defense? Not only is the team ranked #1, the defense is also ranked#1 (tied with Ole Miss) in scoring D (most important stat) giving up less than a TD a game, 5.5 points per game. Impressive. Yes we understand, TEXAS has only faced 1 solid opponent in 4 games. Stifling, Warhawks held to only 5 1st downs in the 1st half and an INT as TEXAS built a 28-3 halftime lead. The tale of the tape shows TEXAS’ D only gave up 2.2 yards per play and just over 100 (111) yards of total offense. More importantly, Coach K was able to rotate through his side of the depth chart to get reps for a great number of players. As Sark said, going to be a long season, need to get the young guys ready. And the gameplan seemed pretty vanilla on both sides of the ball though Coach K did roll out his NASCAR/dime package several times in the game.
Thanks for the recommendation of Hula’s week long free trial but watching a game on a 17-inch screen sucks (computer). The #1 team in the nation on ESPN+? Just another reason to hate Disney/ESPN but let’s not go political. Fortunately, that is over for this year. Lowell Galindo and Fozzy on the broadcast were not bad, certainly, there are much worse teams out there including the unlistenable Andre Ware.
Left to put a dagger in the heart of the Bugeaters (yes that was Neb’s 1st mascot) to earn TEXAS the 1st BigXII title.
Joe Moore Award Watch (best offensive line in CFB)
Another strong game by the TEXAS Offensive line. The real tally begins now with the start of SEC Play
Heisman Watch
Not sure anyone will care come late November that Quinn missed a creampuff game.
Offensive Player of the Game
Jayden Blue for the 1st time this season, it’s not a QB. A career night with 25 carries, 124 yards and 3 TDs
Honorable mention
The Joe Moore leading offensive line. 3 yards short of 500, 56 points, and 6.1 yards per play is impressive
Defensive Player of the Game
Ant Hill- His 1st quarter, should have been a pick 6, INT drove a nail in the Warhawk's coffin early. And add to that one of TEXAS’ 7 tackles for loss
Honorable Mention
Liona Lefau. The sophomore LB from Hawaii would lead all defenders in tackles and his name was called early in the game. He would also record 2 tackles for loss and a sack. He was lead tackler on the safety as well.
Special Teams Player of the Game
Matthew Golden 3 KO returns for 76 yards added to his single catch for 46 yards. TEXAS has a LOT of weapons.
Stats that Matter
7/7 Red Zone Tries, Red Zone TDs On the season 14 of 16, 88%.
49-0 TEXAS outscoring opponents in the 1st quarter
3-50 Last 3 games at DKR, TEXAS has put up a 50 burger
5.5 TEXAS scoring D, #1 in the nation tied with Ole Miss in ppg
#11 TEXAS scoring O with 42.5 ppg
4 50+ production in our last 4 games at DKR, TT, CSU, UTSA and this week. Can we make it 5 in a row?
NEXT
Enough with the cream puffs though we are pleased to see BigBlue win the Rose Bowl at the Big House vs USC. Makes the TEXAS win look better. Now we are onto SEC play. It’s here, suit up Quinn you are starting. TEXAS kicks off with a team battling for the cellar of the SEC but make no mistake, they will be better than anyone we have faced not named Michigan. They just lost their “battling to not be the worst in the conference” game with Florida but much worse, they lost their starting QB.
Mississippi State loves the up-tempo offense and we assume they keep that with backup Michael Van Buren. Miss State does have a stout rushing game and expect them to lean heavily on that at DKR to try and shorten the game. On the other side of the ball, Quinn might be licking his chops to crank his Heisman campaign back into gear against a D giving up 400 yards+ a game and ranked #111.
TEXAS will have a bye week following Miss State before back-to-back games vs the Thieves of Land and the Georgia Bulldogs, who will be making their 1st appearance at DKR. The fun is just beginning.
Fighting Mack Brown’s
Did you really give up 70 to SunBelt James Madison? Is it time for Mack to head back to the booth where he is excellent? Too many great coaches hang around too long, is this Mack? We love Mack, did AMAZING things for both TEXAS and UNC. 2nd the best HC at one, best at another. Sad.
How we see the playoffs today
TEXAS-defended their #1 ranking in style
tOSU- beat up their cream puff, let B1G play begin
Miami-cream of the ACC crop
Utah-tough road win vs the other BigXII contender
All avove with 1st round byes
#5 Georgia vs #12 James Madison
#6 Bama vs #11 ND
#7 Ole Mis vs #10 Clemson
#8 Tenn vs #9 Mizzu
The teams on the left all play 1st round home games. 6 SEC teams, 2 ACC 2 B1G 1 BigXII, and an independent. Some of this projection and some based on where they stand today.
Game Highlights
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