My Thoughts Following The Maryland Debacle

[NLeininger]

Really? That's too bad. He played his ass off for UMD.

Maryland starting quarterback who beat Texas out for the season with torn ACL

 

[dillohorn]

UT has a habit of making opponents look like supermen.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Aggy got hit hard by the injury bug, too. Lost starting QB and Safety. Now their HC is being shadowed by sheep molesters in charge. 

I look at their schedule and see Nicholls State is next. And I have to admit, I do spend a second or two thinking "could that happen?" lol After last week, I refuse to answer that question. lol

 

[Epictetus]

My stream of consciousness no longer seems relevant... edit/cancel/undo.

Edit note: just learned the Terp's starting QB is out of the season. I had been working on this in the background and posted before reading thread updates.

 

[NLeininger]

Just re-watched the game compressed to 30 minutes, I really love the people who do this, it's really good. I do feel a little better about things. The breakdowns were made over and over again by the same few people. There is not a systemic issue with the personnel on both offense and defense.

Anyway, my $0.05 thoughts.

Buechele was awful in the 4Q. After the TD to cut it 37-34, Buechele was 3-9 for 28 yards, until the final drive of the game, allowing Maryland to put the game away, both TDs came after Texas failed on downs. During this span he nearly threw 4 picks. 3 dropped by Maryland defenders, think aggy against UCLA, and the 4th was called back due to off sides. This is why I say his stats were deceiving, when the team needed him to step up and lead he shit the bed.

The 1st holding call on Williams was legit, Buechele was going to sacked without it. The 2nd holding call was a function of Shane bailing out of the pocket instead of stepping up into it. Burt(who quietly had a nice game with no drops) made a great athletic play to pick up a would be 4th down conversion. During those 9 drop backs he faced real pressure 0 times. He was given enough time to work through his progressions, nearly every throw was to a WR double covered with most passes being outside the catch radius of some of bigger WRs. I will say when he's in a rhythm the quick game will work because of his WR core, but he definitely struggles with progressions and reads. Take away his primary read and it takes too long for Shane to process where to go next.

Shane also sacked himself 3 times. The 1st play of the game, the audible call where it appears McMillon blocked no one, and on the TD drive to cut it 37-34 he ran out of bounds for a 2 yard loss when he easily could have thrown it away. On the key 4th down call at midfield, the entire left side of the field is open, expect Shane isn't athletic enough to get there, and on top of it, he has his head down and has no idea where his WRs are.

Leonard is horrible at blocking, so much so that he should not get playing time, until he shows more effort. He completely whiffed on a block on the pass to Gray inside the 5. There was another play where Porter had a seam, but there was a miscommunication between Leonard and Gray. Neither blocked the play side cb, who recognized run early and tackled Porter for no gain.

Garrett Gray is easily the worst offensive player to get PT in the last 10 years. As bad as he is at blocking and getting open, he's worse at knowing his assignments.

Anthony Wheeler is just bad. Most of the big runs occurred when he filled the wrong gap.

The Safety play was bad, and on the key 3rd an 19,  I don't know what the defense was called, but if Elliott had been at least 5 yards deeper on his drop. he could have had a game changing pick 6, the lane needed to throw that ball was created by Elliott.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Just re-watched the game compressed to 30 minutes, I really love the people who do this, it's really good. I do feel a little better about things. The breakdowns were made over and over again by the same few people. There is not a systemic issue with the personnel on both offense and defense.

Anyway, my $0.05 thoughts.

Buechele was awful in the 4Q. After the TD to cut it 37-34, Buechele was 3-9 for 28 yards, until the final drive of the game, allowing Maryland to put the game away, both TDs came after Texas failed on downs. During this span he nearly threw 4 picks. 3 dropped by Maryland defenders, think aggy against UCLA, and the 4th was called back due to off sides. This is why I say his stats were deceiving, when the team needed him to step up and lead he shit the bed.

The 1st holding call on Williams was legit, Buechele was going to sacked without it. The 2nd holding call was a function of Shane bailing out of the pocket instead of stepping up into it. Burt(who quietly had a nice game with no drops) made a great athletic play to pick up a would be 4th down conversion. During those 9 drop backs he faced real pressure 0 times. He was given enough time to work through his progressions, nearly every throw was to a WR double covered with most passes being outside the catch radius of some of bigger WRs. I will say when he's in a rhythm the quick game will work because of his WR core, but he definitely struggles with progressions and reads. Take away his primary read and it takes too long for Shane to process where to go next.

Shane also sacked himself 3 times. The 1st play of the game, the audible call where it appears McMillon blocked no one, and on the TD drive to cut it 37-34 he ran out of bounds for a 2 yard loss when he easily could have thrown it away. On the key 4th down call at midfield, the entire left side of the field is open, expect Shane isn't athletic enough to get there, and on top of it, he has his head down and has no idea where his WRs are.

Leonard is horrible at blocking, so much so that he should not get playing time, until he shows more effort. He completely whiffed on a block on the pass to Gray inside the 5. There was another play where Porter had a seam, but there was a miscommunication between Leonard and Gray. Neither blocked the play side cb, who recognized run early and tackled Porter for no gain.

Garrett Gray is easily the worst offensive player to get PT in the last 10 years. As bad as he is at blocking and getting open, he's worse at knowing his assignments.

Anthony Wheeler is just bad. Most of the big runs occurred when he filled the run gap.

The Safety play was bad, and on the key 3rd an 19, his effort was abysmal. I don't know what the defense was called, but if had been at least 5 yards deeper on his drop. he could have had a game changing pick 6, the lane needed to throw that ball was created by Elliott.

Very well done. You made some very interesting and true points.

You mention Shane struggled in the 4th. And we've learned that he has a bruised shoulder. Could the 4th qtr performance be indicative of that shoulder issue?

I hate to say it, but Porter is about to earn the nickname "No Gain Porter." He's healthy most of the time, so there's that. 

I agree on Gray, so that wasn't anything new to me. But now you've got me wanting to re-watch and focus on Leonard as well as Wheeler. Wheeler's light should be on by now. Geez.

You mention Elliott when you talk of bad safety play, but Jones took bad angles all game long.

Good stuff!

 

[NLeininger]

Very well done. You made some very interesting and true points.

You mention Shane struggled in the 4th. And we've learned that he has a bruised shoulder. Could the 4th qtr performance be indicative of that shoulder issue?

I hate to say it, but Porter is about to earn the nickname "No Gain Porter." He's healthy most of the time, so there's that. 

I agree on Gray, so that wasn't anything new to me. But now you've got me wanting to re-watch and focus on Leonard as well as Wheeler. Wheeler's light should be on by now. Geez.

You mention Elliott when you talk of bad safety play, but Jones took bad angles all game long.

Good stuff!

Most think Buechele got hurt at the end of the 3Q blocking on the wildcat run that also KO'd the Maryland db. So that does fit the timeline. If so, this infuriates me even more. If Buechele was so injured that it affected his play that much and told no one until after the game, I'd be so pissed off if I was another player on the team. What a selfish act. This was a winnable game and the guy that is supposed to be a team leader of the offense thinks only of himself.

 

[Epictetus]

Watching replay late Tue night... that early series starting deep near our goal..., Shane taking the hard sack, almost a safety.

Watch the replay how Shane protects the ball, tucking his throwing shoulder turned into the oncoming defender -- his forward motion stopped... and taking the hit on his throwing shoulder, crunched to the ground on his left shoulder but with the defender coming down on top of his throwing shoulder.

Prior to the take down, both Shane's feet leave the ground at contact -- hard to see full speed, but stop-action, there's open daylight beneath his feet off the ground -- adding to the "smash" to the surf.

That may have been the first blow of many take downs throughout the game, making the shoulder progressively more susceptible to injury during the game.  A lot of tackles he took were body-punishing tackles, because he was going down as a runner. Durkin coached under Harbaugh at both Stanford and then at Michigan where he was DC and linebackers coach in 2015. Probably learned how to teach punishing tackles on opposing QBs, especially if they become more runners than sliders. Too many of Shane's tackles were with his full body going to the turf, can't remember that many open field scrambles with slides. He may have protected the ball, but not himself.

 

[okiehorn]

Tried to upload a video but it didn't work right and don't know how to delete this so .......

 

[DMAC]

I hate to say it, but Porter is about to earn the nickname "No Gain Porter." He's healthy most of the time, so there's that. 

I agree on Gray, so that wasn't anything new to me. But now you've got me wanting to re-watch and focus on Leonard as well as Wheeler. Wheeler's light should be on by now. Geez.

You mention Elliott when you talk of bad safety play, but Jones took bad angles all game long.

Agree with all of these.  Kirk should get a shot or give Warren more carries.  Last year Warren looked sluggish and he seems to pick up steam as the game goes.  Porter wasn't impressive at all.

Gray's terrible play is the most understandable.  Cant wait til Reese suspension is over with.  Tristans holding call was a screwup by Gray

Jones was really disappointing.  FFS the kid is supposed to be stud of an athlete, hurdle the cut blocks.  

Give Thompson a shot over Boyd.  At the very least if he gets beat then its a freshman mistake.

Now the biggest goat.  Wheeler.  When Herman said the players were trying to hard, my first thought was maybe Wheeler is trying really hard to be in the wrong gap repeatedly.  Gary Johnson is supposedly better against the run yet he NEVER saw playing time on defense.   If Wheeler had been in the correct gap atleast 50% of the time we probably win that game.

This kind of personnel stuff reminds me of Strong pulling Foreman out and putting in J Gray vs K-State for a 4th and 3 which we failed.  After that game I was flamed and booed off BON boards for saying Foreman should have been in there and was the better back of the two.  Haha those guys are so insightful, two years later they were all saying Foreman was the best back since Charles.  Foreman was clearly the better runner even in his freshman year when I saw him rumble through 3-4 guys for a first down.

 

[dmanderson21]

I saw buzz that there was a "Player's Only" meeting in the Longhorn locker room yesterday. I think that makes it at least 3 consecutive years. I'd prefer they stop talking and start actually playing!

Those of you that went back and watched the game are much braver than I. No way I could've done that... 

 

[83Dee]

Herman is getting blasted after one game.... I don't remember another coaching staff ever having a leash this short.  Part of the reason is ridiculous expectations - I am as guilty as any.  I drank the Kool Aid.... seeing what happened at Cougar High, soaking in the MENSA talk; attention to detail talk; urine test talk; special forces (teams) talk.... Yes, part of it is ridiculous expectations.  The other part is just Herman's personality.  He is an alpha - he controls the press conferences.  He is confident - just shy of arrogance.  This is neither right nor wrong - it is who he is.  And, he will be loved for it if he wins.  He will be our precious little Bill Belichick.  If he doesn't win, the flood of criticism will be greater because of it (see John Macovic).  

Yes, I drank the Kool Aid and had ridiculous expectations myself.  I have changed.  I now use Mack Brown as my measuring stick.  He came into a program that was in shambles.  In year one, after beating New Mexico, his team got blasted and I mean blasted by UCLA.  They were outmanned and outclassed.  Not only that but they lost their blue Chip quarterback to injury (Richard Walton) and had to go with redshirt freshman (Major Applewhite).  The point is, by the end of that season, that team was playing about as good as any he had.  They went 9-3 and then blasted Jackie Sherrill's Mississippi State team in the Cotton Bowl.  This is  my new measuring stick.  I want to see week by week improvement and a team playing good enough to compete honorably in a bowl game by the end of the season.  Herman is certainly getting paid like a Mack Brown, I want to see he and his staff perform like a Mack Brown!  I will sit through a rebuilding process with my pom poms if I can see it happening.  But as orange as my blood is, I am getting rather tired of what I have been witnessing for the last 7 years or so!  I have a lot of yard work that needs done. and could use my ticket money for things like putting my kids through college.   

 

[oldhorn2]

Is Maryland a good team?...I really dont know. I thought ND was a good team last year after our game and then watched as they got rolled week after week. I will say that someone knew something because Texas was continually mentioned by the ESPN's and Yahoo sports guys as being on upset watch. Even so maybe they were making their calls based merely on knowing Texas and having no idea about Maryland.

I feel bad the the Maryland QB is now out for the year. He looked pretty good to me. He ran like hell and other than the first pass jitters, he seemed to throw the ball well. I dont care that we had blown coverages, all I know is when he had a man open deep, he could hit him. In stride.

Going forward, I do hope we come out with some different faces in key positions...TE and LB especially.

 

[DMAC]

I will sit through a rebuilding process with my pom poms

Spotted you.

 

[83Dee]

Going forward, I do hope we come out with some different faces in key positions...TE and LB especially.

Don't bête on it.  I am not sure what you need to do at Texas as a LB to lose your starting position?  I don't think it is a merit based system. 

 

[dillohorn]

I saw buzz that there was a "Player's Only" meeting in the Longhorn locker room yesterday. I think that makes it at least 3 consecutive years. I'd prefer they stop talking and start actually playing!

Those of you that went back and watched the game are much braver than I. No way I could've done that... 

I'm with you. I'll never watch that abortion again.

 

[primal defense]

Herman is getting blasted after one game.... I don't remember another coaching staff ever having a leash this short.  Part of the reason is ridiculous expectations - I am as guilty as any.  I drank the Kool Aid.... seeing what happened at Cougar High, soaking in the MENSA talk; attention to detail talk; urine test talk; special forces (teams) talk.... Yes, part of it is ridiculous expectations.  The other part is just Herman's personality.  He is an alpha - he controls the press conferences.  He is confident - just shy of arrogance.  This is neither right nor wrong - it is who he is.  And, he will be loved for it if he wins.  He will be our precious little Bill Belichick.  If he doesn't win, the flood of criticism will be greater because of it (see John Macovic).  

Yes, I drank the Kool Aid and had ridiculous expectations myself.  I have changed.  I now use Mack Brown as my measuring stick.  He came into a program that was in shambles.  In year one, after beating New Mexico, his team got blasted and I mean blasted by UCLA.  They were outmanned and outclassed.  Not only that but they lost their blue Chip quarterback to injury (Richard Walton) and had to go with redshirt freshman (Major Applewhite).  The point is, by the end of that season, that team was playing about as good as any he had.  They went 9-3 and then blasted Jackie Sherrill's Mississippi State team in the Cotton Bowl.  This is  my new measuring stick.  I want to see week by week improvement and a team playing good enough to compete honorably in a bowl game by the end of the season.  Herman is certainly getting paid like a Mack Brown, I want to see he and his staff perform like a Mack Brown!  I will sit through a rebuilding process with my pom poms if I can see it happening.  But as orange as my blood is, I am getting rather tired of what I have been witnessing for the last 7 years or so!  I have a lot of yard work that needs done. and could use my ticket money for things like putting my kids through college.   

The reason you don't remember another coaching staff ever having a leash this short is because this is the first coach to lose his first game against a team that we should have beat and looked like a poorly coached team in the meantime. Unless you think Maryland is going to be the surprise team this year.

I disagree that expecting UT to beat the great Maryland football power is ridiculous expectations. It's sad to hear that a loss to a weak team like Maryland is okay and for the fans who do not think it's okay then they have ridiculous expectations. I have never thrown anything at a game and disagree with those who do, however I do agree with their disgust on Saturday.

It takes a special talent to score 3 non offensive TD's in a game and still lose. I agree with you over the last seven  years and that Herman can still turn it around like Mack Brown did in 1998. 

 

[NLeininger]

The reason you don't remember another coaching staff ever having a leash this short is because this is the first coach to lose his first game against a team that we should have beat and looked like a poorly coached team in the meantime. Unless you think Maryland is going to be the surprise team this year.

I disagree that expecting UT to beat the great Maryland football power is ridiculous expectations. It's sad to hear that a loss to a weak team like Maryland is okay and for the fans who do not think it's okay then they have ridiculous expectations. I have never thrown anything at a game and disagree with those who do, however I do agree with their disgust on Saturday.

It takes a special talent to score 3 non offensive TD's in a game a still lose. I agree with you over the last seven  years and that Herman can still turn it around like Mack Brown did in 1998. 

This was Herman's NC State game. Unfortunately for him it happened to be his 1st game as HBC.

 

[83Dee]

The reason you don't remember another coaching staff ever having a leash this short is because this is the first coach to lose his first game against a team that we should have beat and looked like a poorly coached team in the meantime. Unless you think Maryland is going to be the surprise team this year.

I disagree that expecting UT to beat the great Maryland football power is ridiculous expectations. It's sad to hear that a loss to a weak team like Maryland is okay and for the fans who do not think it's okay then they have ridiculous expectations. I have never thrown anything at a game and disagree with those who do, however I do agree with their disgust on Saturday.

It takes a special talent to score 3 non offensive TD's in a game and still lose. I agree with you over the last seven  years and that Herman can still turn it around like Mack Brown did in 1998. 

I think you misinterpreted.  I in no way am approving of the coaching or playing effort.  I meant what I said, we are blasting him pretty good for week 1.  We had people defending Charlie after year 3..... although that group had dwindled to a significant minority. 

Honesty, I think the "short leash" with a lot of Longhorn fans is because they have real fatigue for the product that has been on the field for about 7 or 8 years now!  I'm not talking about typical disgust at a bad trend, I'm talking about doing other things rather than taking the time to even watch it on TV.  I know several people who fit this category.  I think this might actually be worse for Texas football than other explanations.   

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Honesty, I think the "short leash" with a lot of Longhorn fans is because they have real fatigue for the product that has been on the field for about 7 or 8 years now!  

Don Pardo, show our guest his prize.