Decoding Bellmont after the TCU loss

[Matt Cotcher]

Charlie Strong: “Whenever you play a football team like that, you have to play clean football. We didn't do it tonight. The guys have to understand that they've got to finish their game no matter what happens. We just gotta go out and finish and make plays and we weren't able to make plays and just continue, just be consistent with our drives. We have to make it a physical game. We weren't physical tonight.”

Reading between the lines – These are the main points in Strong’s opening statement. Notice it isn’t X’s & O’s – these remarks were foreshadowing. Strong spent the better part of the next 15 minutes reverting back to things like attitude, mentality, want-to, focus, and will-to-win.

“Protect the football.” “Be physical.” We've heard the same sound bytes all season. Strong seemed extremely disappointed that the team played the way they did.



Shawn Watson (on if he considered playing Heard): “No, because in order to play you've got to be ready to play. And we weren't at that stage yet. I mean, fellas, we've gotten in the situation that's dealt us. Our job is to manage it, fix it, make it better. That's what we're trying to do.”

Reading between the lines – There isn’t much to interpret in this statement. It’s direct, and truthful. Notice the unspoken comment on Heard’s readiness.



Tyrone Swoopes: “I knew I wasn't playing well. Turning the ball over is never good, so it just kind of got to me a little bit. I couldn't really get back up and get going again. It's just something I've got to work on.”

Reading between the lines – There it is…bluntly honest. Almost too honest. I cringed a bit when he said this. Realistically, he doesn’t have to say something like this - it’s even possible he shouldn't say something like this.



Charlie Strong: “I just told him [Tyrone Swoopes] he has to play. You can't turn the football over. You can't get down on yourself. It's all about his demeanor. I said let me tell you this: The only way we're going to drive the football, we're going to score, is you have to make it happen, and you have to play well.”

Reading between the lines – As my young niece likes to say, “That’s real.” Clearly Strong is about tough love with his guys. Swoopes will respond, or he won’t. He did not during the game, but that doesn’t mean he won’t moving forward. Either way, Strong is not going to change his style, regardless of the situation or player.



Shawn Watson: “Are we what we want to be? No. We've had to tweak ourselves based on the people we've played, based on the people we're playing with, and we have a much different vision of what we are and who we want to be, and again we gotta get people in here to compete for those jobs and help us grow this team and become the team that we see ourselves becoming.”

Reading between the lines – Like Watson’s other comment, this is very direct, and leaves little need for interpretation. I included it in case there’s any doubt whether this coaching staff and offense will continue to evolve.



Charlie Strong: “They went forward and sacked us, they brought a lot of pressure and it was all about locating the pressure and getting a hat on it.”

Reading between the lines – For the most part, Strong has not been overly critical of the offensive line all season. After the TCU game, he was as direct as he’s been about their play. The message here is that the OL did not do a good job of identifying where TCU was going to bring pressure.



Gary Patterson: “There wasn't a lot of people open but they did a nice job. We really had to carve out some yardage and carve out some drives. They did a nice job. That's a good defensive football team. But that's what quarterbacks are supposed to do. In general I think we did a pretty good job of protecting him tonight, there was just not a lot of people open. They did a nice job of changing up their coverage, blitzing, showing the blitz, dropping out…they did a nice job.”

Reading between the lines – Gary Patterson knows good defensive football. If he’s giving credit to the Texas defense, the secondary, and the scheme, I’m taking him at his word.



Charlie Strong: “We have to get better. You can't look at 6-6 and say it's the best…it's really good…you made improvement. We have to get better. We know this. We have to do a better job of coaching and with our players, we just gotta play better. And just making sure that when you do go out to recruit that guys understand that what is expected of this program, the expectations here, the standards here, the pride, tradition, it's all a part of it. That's where – and I've told them when we start up again January, that's what it's always going to be about. Some guys may not like it. They may not want to be here. That's fine.”

Reading between the lines – This statement was delivered by a coach that is building for long-term success. Charlie Strong was extremely disappointed last night – that was evident in tone, demeanor, and body language. When he spoke these lines, it wasn’t coachspeak. For Strong, it’s the truth…and he just had a three-hour reminder of the truth.



Quandre Diggs: “We have nobody to blame but ourselves. I feel like I let my team down tonight. It definitely hurts.”

Reading between the lines – In 3 months of listening to Diggs talk to the media, I’ve never walked away not knowing what he’s feeling, and thinking. In his opinion, he played poorly. In his opinion, his play hurt his teammates. Those are both cardinal sins in Diggs’ book and he was very emotional after the game.



Charlie Strong: “Competition is going to help you with confidence. When you go compete for a position and understand it, you can't have those mistakes and make those mistakes, you're out of the game. Right now it's the issue because you don't have – if you compete -- somebody else that is ready to go in and go compete with him.”

Reading between the lines – Competition on a football team is akin to food and water for Strong. Having four scholarship quarterbacks in a meeting room watching film, and on the practice field is the norm. Having daily competition within the team is how things are supposed to happen. Water is wet. 1 + 1 = 2. Football players compete.

The way Strong and Watson both referenced what competition does for a team and for individuals offers insight into the type of personalities they will recruit, as well as their vision for the team. 

 

[joeywa]

Thanks Matt.  The comment by Swoopes was very surprising. 

 

[HornEsch]

Reading between the lines – Competition on a football team is akin to food and water for Strong. Having four scholarship quarterbacks in a meeting room watching film, and on the practice field is the norm. Having daily competition within the team is how things are supposed to happen. Water is wet. 1 + 1 = 2. Football players compete.

The way Strong and Watson both referenced what competition does for a team and for individuals offers insight into the type of personalities they will recruit, as well as their vision for the team.

This season has been a disaster as far as records go. However if they hold true to this, I think we will get where we want to be in the future. Right now the problem is we had no one to go to if the starter failed.

 

[CCausey11]

Thanks Matt.  The comment by Swoopes was very surprising. 

Very interesting comment indeed.  I think it points to the crux of the challenge for Swoopes, on some level he still thinks like a backup.  Will he grow out of this...that's the real question.  I'm not real hopeful.

 

[HornEsch]

Very interesting comment indeed.  I think it points to the crux of the challenge for Swoopes, on some level he still thinks like a backup.  Will he grow out of this...that's the real question.  I'm not real hopeful.

That comment may be one of the most telling about Swoope's mentality in general. I have, for the most part, defended Swoopes. Not so much because I thought he was the best option moving forward, but because I did not think we really knew what his future held. Honestly, we still don't, but judging by this comment, I have a lot more doubt than even such a poor game, as last nights, could have brought.

 

[Matt Cotcher]

Very interesting comment indeed.  I think it points to the crux of the challenge for Swoopes, on some level he still thinks like a backup.  Will he grow out of this...that's the real question.  I'm not real hopeful.

The subplot here isn't his mindset as a backup, IMO. It's as the starter....as in the only option the team has.

The competition is going to start as soon as the bowl game is over. How Swoopes, Heard, and the entire team handles it is going to be the storyline of the Spring.

For 5 months, the coaches, Swoopes, and each player have all known that Swoopes was the only option. Right or wrong, that has an inherent effect on how they treat/handle Swoopes. Come February it's a whole different ballgame.

Anybody that tells you what is going to happen is guessing.

 

[Lukus Alderman]

Good stuff.

These offensive coaches were given a tough hand to play with. They've done as good as they could so far.

 

[dillohorn]

Swoopes needed to grow an attitude. May be too late.

 

[bcherry168]

Swoopes does not have the proper mentality to play quarterback at this level. Can he attain it? He could. But will he? That is his challenge. Can you change a beta to an alpha?

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Good stuff.

These offensive coaches were given a tough hand to play with. They've done as good as they could so far.

The hammer meets nail squarely on the head.

 

[armadillo slim]

repeatedly calling a second down draw after an incomplete pass on first down just drives me absolutely nuts.  my solution is to fit watson with a shock collar and zap his silly ass every time he does it.  g'damn, Gus learns faster than that guy.

stupid, stupid, stupid.

honestly, i am absolutely dead certain i can call better plays than sean watson.  and i'll do it for free.

 

[Worster1]

CFS has to be very frustrated and perhaps exasperated with TS.  Everything I have read since the TCU game makes me think that privately coach has lost a great deal of confidence in Swoopes as QB now and possibly for the future.  Listening to Swoopes post game TCU was just dreadful and sad.  He looked & sounded like a beaten down player, a broken man with no confidence.

CFS has to leave the door open in case TS comes around, develops an attitude, steps up, speaks up, leads, etc. but I have seen little to nothing make believe he wants or thinks he really can.

 

[Matt Cotcher]

Listening to Swoopes post game TCU was just dreadful and sad.  He looked & sounded like a beaten down player, a broken man with no confidence.

To be fair, most 19-year olds that turn the ball over 5 times and are personally blaming themselves for their team losing a huge game is going to sound like a beaten down player.

How he responds is the interesting part.

 

[pringlelake]

What happened to Jerrod Heard that caused such a reverse in his outlook? All I read these days seem to be quotes (or opinions) from "someone" about how far away he is from being able to help us. Just slightly more than one year from today, Heard led to Denton Guyer to its 2nd consecutive state title, and Scipio Tex wrote the following:

"Texas is getting a special QB - the most exciting prospect in the Longhorn 2014 class and the sort of dual threat QB we should be scouring the state (or country) for every year.

Facing a San Antonio Brennan team with the best defense in 4A Football (they allowed 51 points in 14 games - their first team defense had allowed only two touchdowns all year), Heard led Guyer to a convincing 34-14 win on the strength of 23 carries for 146 yards and two touchdowns along with a hyper-efficient 9 of 9 for 97 yards with 1 touchdown passing day.  He accounted for 243 of Guyer's 314 yards.

It's worth mentioning that Guyer scored more points on Brennan in one game than they'd surrendered in the entire regular season.

http://www.barkingcarnival.com/2013/12/20/5232054/jerrod-heard-leads-denton-guyer-to-another-4a-state-title

Personally I think the outlook for Heard would be substantially better if Watson would create an offensive scheme geared more toward Heard's strengths. Obviously he's not a drop back passer...his strength is running. Create something to take advantage of those strengths instead of trying to force him into something he can't excel at doing.

 

[echeese]

repeatedly calling a second down draw after an incomplete pass on first down just drives me absolutely nuts.  my solution is to fit watson with a shock collar and zap his silly ass every time he does it.  g'damn, Gus learns faster than that guy.

stupid, stupid, stupid.

honestly, i am absolutely dead certain i can call better plays than sean watson.  and i'll do it for free.

I went back and looked. . . . . .. 

Sorry Slim. . . . .we only ran the ball 2 times after 1st down in-completions. . . 1st one was stuffed, second one went for 4 yards . ..  .

 

[echeese]

What happened to Jerrod Heard that caused such a reverse in his outlook? All I read these days seem to be quotes (or opinions) from "someone" about how far away he is from being able to help us. Just slightly more than one year from today, Heard led to Denton Guyer to its 2nd consecutive state title, and Scipio Tex wrote the following:

"Texas is getting a special QB - the most exciting prospect in the Longhorn 2014 class and the sort of dual threat QB we should be scouring the state (or country) for every year.

Facing a San Antonio Brennan team with the best defense in 4A Football (they allowed 51 points in 14 games - their first team defense had allowed only two touchdowns all year), Heard led Guyer to a convincing 34-14 win on the strength of 23 carries for 146 yards and two touchdowns along with a hyper-efficient 9 of 9 for 97 yards with 1 touchdown passing day.  He accounted for 243 of Guyer's 314 yards.

It's worth mentioning that Guyer scored more points on Brennan in one game than they'd surrendered in the entire regular season.

http://www.barkingcarnival.com/2013/12/20/5232054/jerrod-heard-leads-denton-guyer-to-another-4a-state-title

Personally I think the outlook for Heard would be substantially better if Watson would create an offensive scheme geared more toward Heard's strengths. Obviously he's not a drop back passer...his strength is running. Create something to take advantage of those strengths instead of trying to force him into something he can't excel at doing.

I think what is happening is over reactions . .. . Colt was not ready for the speed of CFB in 2005 . ..but was fine by 2006 . .. .

Heard will be more than fine. . . he'll need an offense that focuses on his ability to run more than pass.  .. . .but I think he'll be fine. . . 

This is why OL and QBs should shirt .. . . . .

 

[DMAC]

I think what is happening is over reactions . .. . Colt was not ready for the speed of CFB in 2005 . ..but was fine by 2006 . .. .

Heard will be more than fine. . . he'll need an offense that focuses on his ability to run more than pass.  .. . .but I think he'll be fine. . . 

This is why OL and QBs should shirt .. . . . .

While I agree it helps a young QB, not all true freshman QB's have to be shirted.  

Look at Mahomes in his 3rd game at Tech broke the freshman passing record in the big 12 with 600 yard and 6 TDs.  

Each QB is different.  James Brown in the OU game was memorable.

 

[Johnstark23]

repeatedly calling a second down draw after an incomplete pass on first down just drives me absolutely nuts. my solution is to fit watson with a shock collar and zap his silly ass every time he does it. g'damn, Gus learns faster than that guy.

stupid, stupid, stupid.

honestly, i am absolutely dead certain i can call better plays than sean watson. and i'll do it for free.

Holy cow I haven't seen you this fired up since BBCOR became part of the lexicon. What are you going to do the first time AG bunny's the leaf off double

 

[echeese]

While I agree it helps a young QB, not all true freshman QB's have to be shirted.  

Look at Mahomes in his 3rd game at Tech broke the freshman passing record in the big 12 with 600 yard and 6 TDs.  

Each QB is different.  James Brown in the OU game was memorable.

James Brown Redshirted in 1993

Just FYI. . . .