View from the Cheap Seats-Horny Toads

[echeese]

View from the Cheap Seats-TCU​

Ho Le Fuc​

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              While the Cheap Seats mapped out a plan to beat the Frogs (win turnover battle, contain their offense etc), we'd be lying if we said we expected it.  CTH and crew turned in by far their best performance on a big stage in CTH's 16 game career at TEXAS.  Make no mistake, from the missed FG early in the 2nd quarter until Collin Johnson laid out for a magnificent TD grab to take a lead the Horns would never relinquish, there were 4 drives of 3 and out book ended by a nice drive ending in another another missed FG.   How many fans were thinking . . .. .oh no, here we go again.   But this isn't the same Longhorn team as last year where we would have folded in the 2nd half.   Nope, this team put a boot on Horny Frog throats and closed out the 2nd half with a 21-0 run.

              In back to back weeks, CTH has turned his TEXAS team into a 2nd half machine.    Went on a 34-0 run to close out USC then this week, goes on a 21-0 run in the 2nd half after TCU had taken a 16-10 lead with a FG on their 2nd drive of the 2nd half.     SLAM. . . .that is the sound of the TEXAS defense which basically suffocated TCU in the 2nd half.   Now in fairness, the TEXAS offense only scored 14 as the D set Sam & Company up at the 3 yard line for TEXAS' turnout the lights . .the party's over TD, making the lead 8 points.   TCU would then miss a FG and TEXAS would go on it's best drive of the game, 10 plays 76 yards sucking 6 minutes off the 4th quarter clock and sucking the life out of the Cockroaches hearts.   The last 38 yards covered by Lil Jordan Humphrey on another athletic catch and run.   Over the past 4 years as TCU has been on their run, they have outscored TEXAS 38-8.   

              Now keep in mind, this was an offense TEXAS faced which had put up over 500 yards on tOSU.   Coach Todd and crew would hold them below 400.   More importantly, they would create 4 critical turnovers leading to 14 TEXAS points to go along with holding the Frogs to 6 of 16 on 3rd down.  In fact it would be the 2nd half before TCU would convert a 3rd down.   Gotta give it up for Defensive Player of the Game Kris Boyd.    He went mano-a-mano all night with TCU's future NFL draftee Jalen Raegor and broke up at least 2 TD passes.    In fact the TD caught on him easily could have been offensive pass interference as Reagor clearly pushed off to create separation.   While the D would not record a sack, they certainly disrupted Sean Robinson's timing and by the end of the night he would record an abysmal 37.0 QBR. . . .

STARS/STATS

              Offensive MVP  Sam Ehlinger in his best game as a Horn.    He is becoming a better QB each week.   He's a "baseball" QB, the throws the fastball far better than he throws with touch.  Good decisions.   Runner up-Collin Johnson in his best game since USC last year.   Honorable mention Lil Jordan and our offensive line.   OL looked gassed late in the 3rd but came on to finish strong in the 4th.  Lil Jordan's 38 yard TD was a thing of beauty and talent.

              Defensive MVP  Kris Boyd.  Basically took away TCU best WR by himself.   Runner up-Caden Sterns with a 2 interception night, one he returned to the 3 setting up an easy offensive score.   This young man is going to be very special before he leaves in the 2021 NFL draft.

3 games in a row for the 1st time under CTH and for the 1st time since 2014

3 straight wins over the ranked teams TEXAS faced

2 straight game with a rocking stadium

3 of 4 in the redzone. 

4-0 in turnovers, scoring 14 points

Zero   see above.  No turnovers for TEXAS and few penalties.   TEXAS' most complete game of the year.

NitPicks

              Beck has Shaun Watson disease; he thinks the space between the hash marks is a toxic wastelands to be avoided at all costs.  And it's pretty scary when the color bobble head is pointing out our tendencies simply by formation.   And oh does our running game need Ingram.   Night and day difference when he is in the game.   If we had a vote, we'd tell CTH to sit him vs KSU so he's ready (or more ready) for OU.  

              Watching Texas Tech's offense vs a decent (though not TCU or OU) OSU D is simply night and day vs the TEXAS scheme.  Sorry, shouldn't harp after a big win but the Cheap Seats will always give you our unfiltered opinion.   TEXAS has not come close to such playcalling/schemes since Greg Davis was in the booth.   Given how poorly our WRs block, go get an OC/WR coach this off season and let Beck coach QBs and recruit.  

             
              WR/TE blocking.    Lil Jordan with some YUGE plays but on a WR screen, he was blown up/pancaked by a DB.  Beck on 4th and 1 wide completely whiffs on his block and his man stuffs Young for a 1 yard loss.   We simply can't run a simple WR screen because our pass catchers can't block

              Field goal lack of kicking. . . .nuff said

              4 turnovers but only 14 points, including a set up at the 3.    Be Better.

              1-3 in FGs    Be Better

What lays ahead

              This was a YUGE test for the Horns at home but this week let's see how they handle success and an always scary place to play, Manhattan Kansas.   TEXAS will be big favorites and in danger of looking ahead to the Thieves of Land in the Red River War.  And it doesn't get much easier after that.  Now Baylor should be a win but they are followed by an explosive OSU on the road, a dangerous WVU in Austin then a trip to. . .don't look now but a TT team that seems to have figured it out.  At this point, they are leading OSU  31-17.   

              One of the big questions about a team that before USC had blown 5 2nd half leads was could they learn to win?  Pretty sure that question has been answered.   This is a team which has had great reason to be confident in the D but now we have seen the Horns go on long sustained drives to close out games.   One nice scheduling quirk is our bye week is before OSU & WVU.    Of course if the Cheap Seats had a vote, we'd bye week before OU.  . .funny, BigXII office must have lost our ballot in the mail.

              Bit early to be talking about BigXII title game but TEXAS has put itself in great shape going 2 games up on one of the BigXII favorites.   1 game at a time as Coach Herman is fond of saying.

Ranking the BigXII-Big Movement this week

#1  OU  28-21 vs Army.   Not impressive.

#2   WVU   Will Grier with 5 TD passes vs KSU as he tries to win the Heisman

#3  TEXAS    On the strength of the Horns biggest win in the CTH era. 

#4  Texas Tech   Kliff with a dominating upset in Stillwater to save his career. Next week's matchup with WVU                                           will be interesting. 27 unanswered points in the 2nd half behind a true freshman QB

#5   TCU    Did one loss become 2?

#6   OSU   You can flip a coin between 5 and 6.   Big XII is going to be very interesting this year.  

#7  Baylor   F Baylor

#8   KSU   2 blow out losses to the 2 teams they played with a pulse

#9   ISU   

#10  Kansas

 

[primal defense]

I'm just nick picking here, but I thought Collin Johnson was the offensive MVP and Caden Sterns was D MVP. I watching a CBS video and they named Caden as the national defensive player of the week.

Herman couldn't answer on how many elite players he had on the team before the season. At this point I can see we have at least three, Collin Johnson , Caden Sterns, and Keaontay Ingram. I believe we can beat Kansas State without Keaontay, but we need him fully healthy for OU.

 

[tejasrulz]

Agree with Primal on the MVPs. Stearns is a pure stud, nuff said.

The Shark played big tonight. He's filling in nicely for Roach.

The D was solid and was hitting!

The O-line did a good job. I saw Vahe pancake a guy yards off the line!

On what to do better, Tom needs to learn when to punt. Your D is playing lights out, pin em back.

The punt returner should stand at the 10 yard line and NEVER go backwards. Fair catching the ball on the 5 yard line?

On kick-off returns, it's OK to start at the 25 yard line when you catch the ball in the end zone.

Sam needs work still on when to throw the ball away.

 

[oldhorn2]

Echeese....you are wrong.I DO agree with your comments.....n fact, I really agree....Great writeup.

FWIW...I never said the play calling was perfect. What I was tryin g to say was that I did not think it was as terrible as was being discussed given how we moved the ball and how much we left on the table.

 

[joeywa]

Nice job Cheese. Thanks for contribution. 

 

[dillohorn]

We need a place kicker that is reliable...............still.

 

[hookemhorb]

Nice write up. Texas is a work in progress. I think we are now a good team, not a great team but one that can be in the top 25. No more apologizing for Texas being ranked.

As for Big 12 rankings, hmmm. I'd put ISU at #7 and push everyone else down. I think ISU and OSU could be an interesting game. No sold on TTech. They are a streaky team that will probably end up around .500.

 

[MikeV73]

We need a place kicker that is reliable...............still.

I’m betting he will rebound from this performance.

 

[echeese]

Echeese....you are wrong.I DO agree with your comments.....n fact, I really agree....Great writeup.

FWIW...I never said the play calling was perfect. What I was tryin g to say was that I did not think it was as terrible as was being discussed given how we moved the ball and how much we left on the table.

While I'm glad we won,  our play calling lacks creativity and often fails to get stars/key players in the best position to succeed.   

Our offense is bottom half of the BigXII (though in the 6-7 range) despite more talent than everyone but OU.

I'm just nick picking here, but I thought Collin Johnson was the offensive MVP and Caden Sterns was D MVP. I watching a CBS video and they named Caden as the national defensive player of the week.

Herman couldn't answer on how many elite players he had on the team before the season. At this point I can see we have at least three, Collin Johnson , Caden Sterns, and Keaontay Ingram. I believe we can beat Kansas State without Keaontay, but we need him fully healthy for OU.

CBS looked at 2 INTs.   While I was impressed with Sterns play, he was my runner up, I simply think Boyd going mano-a-mano vs an NFL quality WR was more impressive.   Had we been forced to double Reagor, defense looks much different.

Just the humble opinion from the cheap seats.

 

[primal defense]

While I'm glad we won,  our play calling lacks creativity and often fails to get stars/key players in the best position to succeed.   

Our offense is bottom half of the BigXII (though in the 6-7 range) despite more talent than everyone but OU.

CBS looked at 2 INTs.   While I was impressed with Sterns play, he was my runner up, I simply think Boyd going mano-a-mano vs an NFL quality WR was more impressive.   Had we been forced to double Reagor, defense looks much different.

Just the humble opinion from the cheap seats.

It looks like Kris disagrees with you.

“I give myself a C, C-minus,” Boyd said. “You don’t get no good grade if you get scored on at all. I don’t care if you’re beating a team 41-7.

And there’s freshman Caden Sterns, who followed up his USC performance with another star turn against TCU. Sterns had two interceptions and five tackles and will be a strong candidate for Big 12 defensive player of the week honors.

With Texas secondary swarming the field, 18th-ranked Longhorns gaining steam, confidence

https://www.hookem.com/story/texas-secondary-swarming-field-18th-ranked-longhorns-gaining-steam-confidence/

 

[83Dee]

While I'm glad we won,  our play calling lacks creativity and often fails to get stars/key players in the best position to succeed.   

Our offense is bottom half of the BigXII (though in the 6-7 range) despite more talent than everyone but OU.

CBS looked at 2 INTs.   While I was impressed with Sterns play, he was my runner up, I simply think Boyd going mano-a-mano vs an NFL quality WR was more impressive.   Had we been forced to double Reagor, defense looks much different.

Just the humble opinion from the cheap seats.

Every play looks creative and genius when it is executed.  I'd say that execution is a much, much bigger issue than play calling.  Criticizing a play call after it doesn't work is kind of like criticizing an investment AFTER the stock drops. 

I agree with you that our offense average at best.  However, it is improving..... primarily due to better OL play. 

If Beck is moved from OC to QB coach as suggested and TTech goes .500 as suggested.... there's your new OC - COACH BRO!

 

[echeese]

It looks like Kris disagrees with you.

“I give myself a C, C-minus,” Boyd said. “You don’t get no good grade if you get scored on at all. I don’t care if you’re beating a team 41-7.

And there’s freshman Caden Sterns, who followed up his USC performance with another star turn against TCU. Sterns had two interceptions and five tackles and will be a strong candidate for Big 12 defensive player of the week honors.

Cheap Seats has never been one to go with the crowd.  That Sterns or another DB wasn't needed to bracket Reagor in fact aided the 2 INTs.

Every play looks creative and genius when it is executed.  I'd say that execution is a much, much bigger issue than play calling.  Criticizing a play call after it doesn't work is kind of like criticizing an investment AFTER the stock drops. 

I agree with you that our offense average at best.  However, it is improving..... primarily due to better OL play. 

If Beck is moved from OC to QB coach as suggested and TTech goes .500 as suggested.... there's your new OC - COACH BRO!

When the announcers are calling our plays based on formation, you pretty much have the definition of "predictable".

Coach Bro has saved his job and don't look now but he's got TT playing defense.  I'm predicting today, he finishes a game or 2 above .500.

 

[83Dee]

Cheap Seats has never been one to go with the crowd.  That Sterns or another DB wasn't needed to bracket Reagor in fact aided the 2 INTs.

When the announcers are calling our plays based on formation, you pretty much have the definition of "predictable".

Coach Bro has saved his job and don't look now but he's got TT playing defense.  I'm predicting today, he finishes a game or 2 above .500.

I guess I missed the announcers predicting our plays.  In any case.... do you think Patterson had time to look at the formation, and adjust his defense before the ball was snapped?  Serious question.... I’m not trying to be argumentative. 

By the way, I thought it was established that Herman has been calling plays?

 

[echeese]

I guess I missed the announcers predicting our plays.  In any case.... do you think Patterson had time to look at the formation, and adjust his defense before the ball was snapped?  Serious question.... I’m not trying to be argumentative. 

By the way, I thought it was established that Herman has been calling plays?

No idea who is calling plays.

I do know it won't be Beck this week so it will be interesting to see how the offense looks though we hold advantages in every position group match up with KSU (Pass v pass D, run O v run D etc).