Decoding Bellmont after a convincing win in Stillwater

[Matt Cotcher]

Charlie Strong: “I challenged our players early in the week and said we have two games left and we need to get to a bowl game. We owe it to ourselves and to our seniors for the leadership that they've provided the last few weeks. We've come a long ways and just to get bowl eligible speaks volumes of the hard work that they've put in.”

Reading between the lines – The team and the coaches can say “one game at a time” all they want, but in the end, this quote shows the reality of the situation. The Horns knew how important the OSU game was, regardless of having one more opportunity at a win.



Shawn Watson: “Tyrone (Swoopes) played exceptional tonight. He did a lot of good things and handled a lot of things well at the line of scrimmage. He had good protection and made several good throws throughout the evening.”

Reading between the lines – The OC is always going to say his guy played well. This quote is instructive because of the areas that Watson chose to compliment Swoopes. For frame of reference, this information was delivered in a cool, analytical tone…that’s to say that this wasn’t coachspeak, it was Watson assessing his quarterback’s performance.



Tyrone Swoopes: “These past couple of weeks we didn't play well, and then we come in and play with confidence. This was a good confidence booster.”

Reading between the lines – Interesting to hear Swoopes say he didn’t play well during the team’s two game winning streak. I’ve commented previously that Swoopes really wants to please his teammates. The subtle undercurrent here is a statement that he knew he wasn’t doing enough even though the team won against WVU and Tech.



Quandre Diggs: “We did what we wanted to do tonight, and we played the way we wanted to. It feels good to be bowl eligible.”

Reading between the lines – Context…this wasn’t a Senior leader saying the team executed well – this is a passionate player basically telling the media that the team chose to dictate play rather than react to OSU. The difference is not subtle.



Shawn Watson: “We wanted to get him [Daje Johnson] involved early in this game and get him going. So it was a part of the plan. His speed alone is a factor. You have to account for him. It opens up other things. We use him to open runs.”

Reading between the lines – Johnson impacts a defense even when he doesn’t carry or catch the ball. Everyone likes to watch him tote the rock, and his effectiveness as a decoy will go up proportionally with the number of carries he receives.



Mike Gundy: “When you get whipped, you can't run the ball and you struggle in pass protection, it's really hard to kind of identify things. We tried to move the ball around with some different formations, but they were able to contain us.”

Reading between the lines – This is essentially Gundy saying, “It didn’t matter what we did. They owned us.”



Charlie Strong: “A few weeks ago nobody thought we would be here; everybody just wrote us off. And I tell them all the time don't let outside forces control this football team.”

Reading between the lines – Coaches everywhere use the ‘No Respect’ card as a motivational tool. Now that the team is bowl eligible, and has a three game win streak, Strong will toss in “The Underdog” card. This is perfect timing to play a highly ranked team from a motivational perspective.



Shawn Watson: “We've got to be efficient in the way that we manage ourselves on the field because our defense has played lights out all year. We're growing to become like them.”

Reading between the lines – This is another candid admission…throughout the first half of the season, everyone knew the offense wasn’t playing at the same level as the defense (despite what the team said publicly). Now that the offense is contributing to team wins, Watson admitted that his side of the ball hadn’t carried their weight.



James Castleman (OSU defensive tackle): “They outplayed us today. We came out and hit them, but as you can tell by the score they outplayed us. They had better schemes, they ran the ball really well and we had a tough time tackling. On both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, we had a tough time getting started, and they came out ready to play. That's something that we need to fix.”

Reading between the lines – Read that quote two or three times. Get used to opposing players and coaches saying these kinds of things. Castleman’s statement is a testament to the style of football that Texas coaches want to play. Physical, fundamental, execution…those are words that everyone should get used to hearing.



Mike Gundy: “When you run into guys that have as good of a defensive front as they've got, it makes it difficult.”

Reading between the lines – It’s been said by Texas coaches, players, and the media all year – even without Tank Jackson, the defensive line is the team strength. It’s pretty rare for an opposing coach to single out a specific unit like Gundy did here. Especially when you add this statement to his remarks above, it’s obvious what kind of game the Texas D-line played. 

 

[Matt Cotcher]

Lots of talk out there supporting Gundy to UF. I'm not sure he'd leave home/T. Boone's checkbook....after the comment above, I'm not sure I'd want him to leave.

 

[Bear19]

I have come to enjoy this "decoding" column. Always a good read.

Early in the season people on here and elsewhere said that Strong did not enjoy speaking to the press.Matt, what is your impression of that now.

 

[Matt Cotcher]

I have come to enjoy this "decoding" column. Always a good read.

Early in the season people on here and elsewhere said that Strong did not enjoy speaking to the press.Matt, what is your impression of that now.

It's part of the job description, as far as Strong is concerned. I wouldn't say he dislikes it, but it's definitely not his favorite part of the week.

A lot of people rushed to judgment and miscalculated, IMO. Strong stands at the podium and delivers his view on things. When Strong talks it is 100% football. For lots of folks that were used to Brown, that sounded gruff/unpleasant at first. Hopefully by now folks realize that just Strong's delivery style - it's unfiltered and rough at the edges.