***The Official Texas vs. KSU Game Thread***

[streettopeschel]

Negative. Heard talk comes from "what have we got to lose" department. We're not getting anywhere and if you're content with that, then you have a point.

I'd just like to show something, anything, offensively that would give a team hope, a recruit a reason.

See what he'll do. That's all. We know what Swoopes will do. What else do you need to see?

what we have to lose is a year of eligibility in what is going to be a losing season regardless who plays qb. that's a bad ROI.

'see what he'll do' is fan talk. you read the same sites i do. the coaches 'see what he'll do' and i've yet to read anything that says he's ready. you?

if they had decided from the get-go to play him, fine. they didn't. 2/3 thru the season is no time to change direction.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Sha...plenty of people thought VY didn't have it in his RS FR year. Move him to Wr, remember? That's what this is for swoopes and he has a helluva lot less talent around him then we did in 2003.

I don't know how anybody could say at this point he definitely does or does not have it.

Did you seriously just compare VY to Swoopes? Swoopes couldn't carry VY's jock on his best day.

I only remember hearing about the "move him to WR" coming from Texags.

You're now 3-5 and not improving. Your offense is the definition of stagnate and ineffective. The OL can't be blamed as they're getting better and when we run, we're successful. But your OC can't throw the pass or make the decisions on the fly. That's killing us.

I think you most certainly can say he doesn't have "it." We knew VY had "it." We saw that in his 5A competition in HS. We've never once seen that in Swoopes, not even in his AA clips.

It's not fan talk. It's common sense. There's a brick wall there. You can continue to walk into it. Or you can figure out another way to get to the other side of it.

 

[Agmaniacmike]

Mack was trashed for his inability to get a good backup QB in case of injury. Breaking the redshirt of Heard gives you 2-3 more years with him still. If you can't get another 1-2 capable QBs on the roster to take over for Swoopes/ Heard in that time, maybe you shouldn't keep your job just like Mack didn't . My biggest point is that Charlie is on a 3 year timeline, would you rather bank on a QB that hasn't been a proven winner in high school or his short stint in college, or the guy with two state championships in 4A ball. I doubt he terrorizes the Big 12, but he may provide a spark and having 4 games to prove himself seems fair. At some point, you have to hold these guys accountable, if one guy isn't getting it done then the next guy in line gets his shot, why does this never seem to apply to QBs?

 

[Dieselprime]

Also, behind this OL may be setting him to fail. I hope they recruit a Juco QB or transfer and we will have three quarterbacks to fight it out for starting QB next year. Hopefully, behind a better OL next year.

The guy runs at least a 4.4. If he sees the same running lanes that Swoopes is then those 10 yd+ Qb keepers are going to be turning into 30yds. If we keep doing the same thing we are in danger of losing all the rest of our games. For anyone who had doubts, go back and watch the game. See how many times Swoopes could have kept the ball  and had a big gain but was too hesitant. A guy(Heard) that's more confident and faster is going to expose those opportunities.  I have no doubt Swoopes is a better passer, but what good does it do us if our offense is doing nothing at all unless we play some of the worst defenses in the nation i.e. N. Texas, Iowa State, etc. We need a spark, we need to give our defense some hope, we need to give recruits on the offensive side of the ball a reason to want to be on this team. Everyone knows Texas is one of the best schools in the nation, but a 17-18 year old 4-5 star offensive stud who has thoughts about going pro is going to choose a school with respectable academics and a great offense over us every time. We have to do something.

 

[drgilbert]

If Heard comes in and stinks it up then you pursue a juco QB If he comes in and lights a spark and shows some promise then you don't have to chase a juco QB.

 

[primal defense]

Mack was trashed for his inability to get a good backup QB in case of injury. Breaking the redshirt of Heard gives you 2-3 more years with him still. If you can't get another 1-2 capable QBs on the roster to take over for Swoopes/ Heard in that time, maybe you shouldn't keep your job just like Mack didn't . My biggest point is that Charlie is on a 3 year timeline, would you rather bank on a QB that hasn't been a proven winner in high school or his short stint in college, or the guy with two state championships in 4A ball. I doubt he terrorizes the Big 12, but he may provide a spark and having 4 games to prove himself seems fair. At some point, you have to hold these guys accountable, if one guy isn't getting it done then the next guy in line gets his shot, why does this never seem to apply to QBs?

If you had the same access to John Heard in practice as Coach Strong and Coach Watson then I may agree with you. Since you don't I trust our coaches with that decision.

By the way, if Sumlin has a defense that gives up 59 points to their biggest rival then maybe he shouldn't keep his job like Sherman didn't.

 

[streettopeschel]

Of course I didn't compare the two and you know I didn't. You're better than that.

The gist of my point was declaring someone doesn't have 'it' at this point is silly. And yes, people thought VY didn't have 'it' at this point in his career. Most around here thought swoopes did as recently as a week ago.

Hopefully the coaches aren't as reactionary as you and other fans.

 

[utisdabomb12]

Playing Heard this season wouldn't be smart. That O-line will get him killed. There's no need to rush him this year, we aren't winning anything. Let him learn the playbook and get reps in practice while the O-line develops. 

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Of course I didn't compare the two and you know I didn't. You're better than that.

The gist of my point was declaring someone doesn't have 'it' at this point is silly. And yes, people thought VY didn't have 'it' at this point in his career. Most around here thought swoopes did as recently as a week ago.

Hopefully the coaches aren't as reactionary as you and other fans.

I think you did. You did it again in your second graph.

Maybe you thought VY didn't have "it," but I wasn't one of those and didn't see you having much company.

Hopefully, the coaches want to win next week. If Swoopes stays, we lose. Lubbock at night with no offense. Even as bad as Tech is this year.

 

[MikeV73]

Your mistake was you came back before the game was over.

True that my friend.

 

[MikeV73]

Playing Heard this season wouldn't be smart. That O-line will get him killed. There's no need to rush him this year, we aren't winning anything. Let him learn the playbook and get reps in practice while the O-line develops.

Agree, this season is a wash and no need to burn a redshirt for just a few games. Need to sit back, take our punishment and build to next year. Oh, and of course get fired up for basketball and baseball season.

 

[streettopeschel]

I think you did. You did it again in your second graph.

Maybe you thought VY didn't have "it," but I wasn't one of those and didn't see you having much company.

Hopefully, the coaches want to win next week. If Swoopes stays, we lose. Lubbock at night with no offense. Even as bad as Tech is this year.

let me state loudly and clearly before you, God and everybody. i do not think swoopes is comparable in ability to VY. better? can we get off of that?

you stated swoopes doesn't have it. maybe, maybe not. there WERE people wanting to move VY to WR because he was so erratic early on. i KNOW you remember that. declarations on 19-year olds is risky.

does swoopes have it? no idea. burning heard's RS at this point is shortsighted and foolish and guarantees nothing other than burning a year of eligilbility for 4 games in a lost season.it certainly doesn't guarantee a win in lubbock. that's sillyness. THAT'S my main point.

it's fine for fans to be shortsighted and foolish. hopefully we hired a coach smarter than the average fan. 

 

[Agmaniacmike]

The whole "coaches know best" argument is lazy. I work with drgilbert and he can attest to how critical I have been with the coaching across the board for the Aggies since the Arkansas game. There are so many issues involved with that team right now that I couldn't fit them into a 5-page essay. I'm a film junkie when it comes to analyzing A&M and I have found about 3 plays on either side of the ball where everybody did their job correctly in the last 4 games. Back to this situation, as someone interested in the direction of the Longhorn program, I would find it tough to take a coach seriously who prides himself on accountability but continues to let a player make mistake after mistake without giving the other guy a chance. Some people play better with the lights on, but you won't find out until you give them a chance. Where would Mississippi State be this year if they didn't elect to hold Tyler Russell out last year despite him being cleared to play. Dak Prescott was given a shot and seized the job, gained valuable experience last year and is now considered a Heisman frontrunner. Also, somebody running 2nd string for 5/6 of the season should never be redshirted IMHO, they should be getting reps given they are one play from taking the job.

 

[streettopeschel]

'coaches know better' is lazy but fans who've never seen a practice are better resources. ? ok.

 

[MikeV73]

The whole "coaches know best" argument is lazy. I work with drgilbert and he can attest to how critical I have been with the coaching across the board for the Aggies since the Arkansas game. There are so many issues involved with that team right now that I couldn't fit them into a 5-page essay. I'm a film junkie when it comes to analyzing A&M and I have found about 3 plays on either side of the ball where everybody did their job correctly in the last 4 games. Back to this situation, as someone interested in the direction of the Longhorn program, I would find it tough to take a coach seriously who prides himself on accountability but continues to let a player make mistake after mistake without giving the other guy a chance. Some people play better with the lights on, but you won't find out until you give them a chance. Where would Mississippi State be this year if they didn't elect to hold Tyler Russell out last year despite him being cleared to play. Dak Prescott was given a shot and seized the job, gained valuable experience last year and is now considered a Heisman frontrunner. Also, somebody running 2nd string for 5/6 of the season should never be redshirted IMHO, they should be getting reps given they are one play from taking the job.

Agree the second string player most likely should get some playing time, but at this point in the season is not worth it. If the RS is burned, should have been in the first few games to allow more game time. All of our recent success at QB has been by redshirted signal callers, of course we had the luxury of good upperclassman QBs on teams the year they took their RSs.

 

[primal defense]

The whole "coaches know best" argument is lazy. I work with drgilbert and he can attest to how critical I have been with the coaching across the board for the Aggies since the Arkansas game. There are so many issues involved with that team right now that I couldn't fit them into a 5-page essay. I'm a film junkie when it comes to analyzing A&M and I have found about 3 plays on either side of the ball where everybody did their job correctly in the last 4 games. Back to this situation, as someone interested in the direction of the Longhorn program, I would find it tough to take a coach seriously who prides himself on accountability but continues to let a player make mistake after mistake without giving the other guy a chance. Some people play better with the lights on, but you won't find out until you give them a chance. Where would Mississippi State be this year if they didn't elect to hold Tyler Russell out last year despite him being cleared to play. Dak Prescott was given a shot and seized the job, gained valuable experience last year and is now considered a Heisman frontrunner. Also, somebody running 2nd string for 5/6 of the season should never be redshirted IMHO, they should be getting reps given they are one play from taking the job.

Your whole I know better than the UT coaches is arrogant. You do not have one clue how Heard would do if we put him in there. Charlie Strong is in his first season and their is a lack of depth at certain positions. If Coach Strong was in his third season like no defense no discipline Sumlin then I would say Coach Strong is not doing a good job recruiting or developing his players.

Heard is listed at 2nd string as far as taking reps. However, Coach Strong has said if Swoopes went out for some plays that he would put in Holtz or Vinklarek,

 

[Agmaniacmike]

I don't know how Heard would do going out there just as well as Strong doesn't because he has yet to be given that shot. It is not arrogant to question what a coach does. If we said "all is well, the coaches always know best" all day long there would be no need for a discussion. Having a sub-300 yard performance for the 3rd or 4th time in 8 games should be disconcerting and deserves questions just as the past 4 games at A&M do. Does this discussion mean much in the grand scheme of what Strong does, no. However, complacency is part of what got Texas into this mess according to the "insiders", falling back into that philosophy under the guise of "rebuilding" does not seem like a fruitful venture. I'm probably partially blinded by my belief that Swoopes was overrated in HS, and thought that Heard didn't get the hype he deserved in comparison, but I'm not impressed with Swoopes thus far and he hasn't done anything to capture the job. I guess we shall see how things pan out.

 

[HornEsch]

'coaches know better' is lazy but fans who've never seen a practice are better resources. ? ok.

LOL, totally agree.

You can be the biggest film junkie in the world, but unless you have the same access day in and day out to practices, etc. you do not really have anything more that a slightly educated guess. While I do agree that some players, play better in a game, there is a reason those guys are rarely found. It has nothing to do with coaching genius or lack thereof, it has to do with a player generally getting a chance because of injury. No coach can afford to just keep rolling players out on the field, when you are trying to win, to hopefully find that 1 in 1000, player that can't show it in practice, but can turn it on in the game.

I am in no way trying to give the coaching a pass. They are adults making a lot of money in a chosen profession. They most certainly deserve plenty of blame for today and where the team is. However there is so much blame to go around we would be here all day. We are not a good team. We can show flashes in one game and then look like a high school team in another. Consistency is the single hardest thing to learn as a team. A lot of that has to do with confidence and the ability to play with a level head. Even with the dearth of talent we have, if we had consistency we would look a lot better.

 

[streettopeschel]

I don't know how Heard would do going out there just as well as Strong doesn't because he has yet to be given that shot. It is not arrogant to question what a coach does. If we said "all is well, the coaches always know best" all day long there would be no need for a discussion. Having a sub-300 yard performance for the 3rd or 4th time in 8 games should be disconcerting and deserves questions just as the past 4 games at A&M do. Does this discussion mean much in the grand scheme of what Strong does, no. However, complacency is part of what got Texas into this mess according to the "insiders", falling back into that philosophy under the guise of "rebuilding" does not seem like a fruitful venture. I'm probably partially blinded by my belief that Swoopes was overrated in HS, and thought that Heard didn't get the hype he deserved in comparison, but I'm not impressed with Swoopes thus far and he hasn't done anything to capture the job. I guess we shall see how things pan out.

no, you don't as well as Strong. you couldn't possibly. 

i love second guessing coaches as much as anybody. i've not seen one minute of practice. neither have you. even if i had and thought 'yes, heard is the future' , now that the decision to redshirt him has gone THIS far, it would be dumb to jettison the plan now.

 

[HornEsch]

We can talk all day about whether Heard should have had a chance this year. Right or wrong decision, it would be absolutely stupid at this point to pull the shirt.