The first question I wanted to answer was: What changed offensively between the first and second half? Not all that much, it turns out.
The big things that stood out to me were that (1) D’Onta Foreman had just three touches in the first half, (2) the offense didn’t score when playing a combination of the backup offensive line in the first half, and (3) minor penalties (block in the back and a false start) disrupted a couple of drives in the second quarter.
I thought there may have been more production in the split back sets with Johnathan Gray and Foreman both in the backfield, but I’m not sure the increased production wasn’t more because Foreman got most of those carries. (It still may be Texas’ best formation and run package.) I also thought there were more quick throws in the second half, but Jerrod Heard threw them at nearly the same rate from first to second half.
Before making a big deal out of the game being close on the scoreboard at the half, it’s important to note the coaches treated this like a scrimmage. Texas ran 12 plays before putting backups in on the offensive line. They were also experimenting in the passing game, calling concepts they’d never or rarely run before. It was frustrating because I think they were trying to give the backups reps, air it out for recruits and show recruits that there’s potential for early playing time, but it came at the cost of making the game appear closer than it was. With the fragile psyche of the team, I would argue it was more important to win via beatdown, but that was the final result anyway.
Another thing I was thinking was that the coaches can tell the team to take an opponent seriously all they want, but the players can see through the words to the coaches’ actions. It’s hard to stay focused and motivated when your backup is in before the first quarter is over and the game plan is so vanilla.
Anyway, let’s get to the action.
