Matt Cotcher
Under Contract
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2014
- Messages
- 4,968
Quarterback – Tyrone Swoopes completed 58% of his passes, and that is the best part of his stat line. Over 1/3 of Swoopes’ passing yardage came from Armanti Foreman racing up the sideline. Even worse, Texas’ quarterback threw 4 interceptions and fumbled once. When he doesn’t play well, Swoopes must be able to put it aside, and learn to focus on a positive.
Between not protecting the football, not being comfortable in the pocket, and not being able to overcome his own poor play, the only thing fans can hope for out of Swoopes’ performance is that he grows as a result of it.
Grade: F
Running backs – Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray combined for 21 carries and just 44 yards. If you subtract lost yardage, the duo averaged 1.3 yards/carry. There were TCU defenders in the backfield all night, but neither back showed the individual effort needed to kickstart the ground game.
The highlight for Brown and Gray was their work in the screen game. The pair combined for 8 receptions and routinely made the first defender miss in the flat. Screen passes were almost the only effective offensive plays all night and Brown and Gray deserve credit for their work in that aspect.
Grade: C –
Wide receivers/Tight Ends – Jaxon Shipley missed the game due to injury, and John Harris was never able to ignite the passing attack on his own. Harris finished with 5 catches and enough yardage to break 1,000 for the season, but there wasn’t enough help from the rest of his position group.
The highlight of the night was Armanti Foreman exploding up the sideline for a 73-yard touchdown. Other than that, Jacorey Warrick, Daje Johnson, and Marcus Johnson all had one catch apiece for a combined net of 7 yards.
Grade: C -
Offensive line – A quick look at the grades of the skill positions tells fans everything they need to know about what kind of night the OL had. Between not giving Tyrone Swoopes any time to look for receiver, and failing to get any push in the ground game, the offensive line did nothing to help their teammates.
All of the blame shouldn’t be placed on the OL - they are dealing with plenty of personnel issues, and TCU’s defense deserves credit, but the unit needed to build off prior week’s success. They did not do so in any respect.
Grade: F
Defensive line – TCU’s scheme and offensive line did an effective job of neutralizing Malcom Brown with double teams and chips, choosing to leave the rest of the Texas defensive line to make plays. Cedric Reed answered the challenge with a sack, two TFL’s and a hurry; but the rest of the unit did not make many impact plays.
Solid execution from the Horned Frogs kept this Texas unit from starring like it has throughout the season. The DL’s play was not bad, but they also did not provide enough momentum changing plays in a game where they were desperately needed.
Grade: B –
Linebackers – Based on how TCU chose to account for the Texas defensive line, the Texas linebackers were left free to make plays. As a group, the ‘backers responded well, limiting TCU to just 368 yards of total offense. Steve Edmond played a steady game, which has become the norm this season; and Jordan Hicks provided a sack and several big stops. Add in limited contributions from Peter Jinkens, and Demarco Cobbs and this was the most consistent unit of the night for Texas.
Grade: B
Defensive backs – With the front 7 on defense playing a solid, but not spectacular game, the Longhorn defensive backs were left in coverage longer than almost any point in the season. While the DB’s played well for four quarters, they misplayed several jump balls that resulted in big gains for the Horned Frogs. Quandre Diggs was responsible for 2 of those miscues, blemishing an otherwise sterling game.
The safeties, Mykkele Thompson and Duke Thomas all performed well, especially considering the task of stopping Boykin and his wideouts. But again, like other units, when the opportunities came for plays to change the game’s momentum (dropped interceptions and misplayed jump balls), the unit was unable to do so.
Grade: C +
Special Teams – Without many scoring chances, the place kicking and field goal teams were mostly a non-factor in the game. The coverage teams (both punt and kickoff) left a lot to be desired, and allowed a big punt return early in the game that set up a TCU field goal. Punting was average, with only one kick traveling more than 50 yards, and none being downed inside the 20-yard line.
While they failed to produce any true positives, in a season that has repeatedly seen the Texas special teams units make critical errors, any night where they go unnoticed is a win.
Grade: C +
Coaching – Simply put, Vance Bedford and Shawn Watson put effective game plans together. While some portion of a 48-10 thrashing is the responsibility of coaching, the TCU result was mostly due to players failing to execute, or simply not having as much talent as their counterpart.
The biggest coaching mistake was poor clock management and timeout use at the end of the first half. Only trailing by 10, the Texas coaches seemed to make up their mind that they wanted to head to the locker room to rally the players. Instead, TCU scored another touchdown and Texas was unable to manage the clock and take advantage of a few gains by the offense at the end of the half.
Grade: B –
