echeese
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View from the Cheap Seats-Mad Miners of UTEP
Could not have scripted it better.
In a year where we have been deprived of sports, spring football etc, the 2020 college football season is finally here and with it a degree, of a return to normalcy. Coach Tom clearly has done a good job getting the team ready for the opener and TEXAS dominated an outmatched UTEP team of mad minors (miners?) from start to finish. On a day when the BigXII teams SERIOUSLY stubbed their toes, TEXAS, OU and WVU represented well against each’s respective tomato cans. ISU Kansas and KSU all were all beaten, a couple soundly, while TT eeked out a victory of Houston Baptist.(insert WHO? Gif here) No offense but we didn’t realize HB had a team. But props to them for playing great. Tuna (HoF coach Bill Parcells) had an expression. . .”don’t eat the cheese”. ISU CLEARLY ate the cheese, they were not just beaten but soundly beaten by the ragin' cajuns. CTH has moved to 2-2 in TEXAS openers, hopefully the days of Maryland like performances are gone. We could be here all day listing positives in what amounted to a controlled scrimmage and we will try to focus on the positive. It was a record setting night before a crowd that an average spring game would put to shame.
Let us start with the negatives and this will not take long. Since we have not read any other evals or notes on the game (so we remain completely unbiased), we can only hope the biggest negatives are not that big a deal which were injuries to Defensive Player of the Game Josh Thompson and wunderkind recruit Whittington. And for as well as Tarik Black played, disaster was averted when Cade Brewer stole a ball at the bottom of the pile after Black fumbled fighting for more yardage. We LOVE Black’s fight but TUCK THE BALL SON. Only other negative from our view was Dicker The Kicker missing his 1st FG attempt of 2020.
Sorry, one more negative. Andre Ware might be the worst announcer in football. Good lord his voice is the Michael Franks (jazz singer who makes elevator music sound exciting) of color men. Soft, bland, no inflections. So enough with the negatives, let’s get to the really good stuff.
One cannot ask for a better start to a season than scoring off the 1st play. A 76 yard slant to Joshua Moore back from having to sit out a year due to a violation of team rules. With Jake Smith sitting out due to a hamstring concern (100% the right call), someone needed to step up. Many questioned the wisdom of adding not one but 2 transfers at WR to what maybe the most talented room on the team. Tarik Black wearing number Zero (loved it) has brought leadership, direction and more than a bit of talent. He would finish the night our #2 WR behind Mr Moore’s TEXAS debut of 127 yards. Brende Schooler a former Oregon transfer to Arizona (to play with his brother) only to have the PAC cancel football so then to TEXAS only 2 weeks ago, finished as the #3 WR and showed some nice moves leading to his 40 yard TD. In all 7 different pass catchers would long 1 TD each from 2 different QBs.
This is how you kick off a Heisman season. Sam the Man kicked off his senior season with the finest football of a half of any QB in TEXAS history. 24 of 32, 429 yards and 6 TDs to 6 different pass catchers. Those were his 1st HALF NUMBERS. 1st half!!!! We fear this will be a bit of a broken record this year and that’s fine. Casey Thompson came on in relief after 1 series in the 3rd for Sam and was very efficient. 4-7 for 55 yards and 2 TDs. And he had one drop.
We would be remiss if we did not mention the running back by committee room. As the season wears on, we expect to see the Horns run the ball more. All of the backs looked good. There were 2 plays where Bjion showed how elusive he is and why there is so much hype. He caught a swing pass and made a defender completely miss. It seemed effortless. Then on a running play, he changed direction again, effortlessly and gained another 5 yards. No RB had 10 carries but the RB by committee looked good.
The best “human interest” story of the night was put on by walk on Kai “Show me the. . “ Money, a dual threat QB out of Brownsville. He would close out Sam’s 1st half with a very nice reception for a 1st down then follow it up with a TD catch, his 1st at TEXAS. Though he was not alone, Tarik Black, Joshue Moore, Brende Schooler and Marc Washington would also log their 1st TD grabs while back up Casey Thompson threw for his 1st two TDs at TEXAS.
Not to be outdone, we should not lose sight of the performance of the D. Under Chris Ash’s new defensive scheme, TEXAS would hold UTEP to 233 total yards, 3.2 per play and only 3 points. And true freshman Alfred Collins would record TEXAS’ 1st sack of the season, in a minor quibble, not till the 4th quarter. He did so blowing up a double team, this young man will be a PLAYA for us, he’s good. And one change we noticed from last year, the TEXAS D actually tackling. It is a welcome change
Josh Thompson was having a spectacular night and added the lone turnover of the game, an INT to snuff out a potential UTEP drive. He would head to the locker room with an injury, we only hope he’s OK.
We can combine our praise of the new COs into one paragraph, the new schemes looked great. Again, tempering our excitement. But players seem to be in positions to make plays and on defense, what a pleasure it was to only see 2-3 missed tackles instead of a dozen. TEXAS played fundamentally very sound which is impressive given the off season restrictions. We welcome our new CO's to the 40.
Offensive player of the game:
Duh, Sam the man. Suspect he wins 10 of these out of 12 games (BigXII title and playoff/bowl)
Honorable mention: Joshua Moore, way to start your TEXAS career, 76 yard slant for a TD on our 1st play of the season
Defensive player of the game
Josh Thompson, INT pass break up, generally all over the field till he left with injury
HM: Joseph Ossai, lead team in tackles and half a TFL
Stats that matter
7 7 different pass catchers caught 7 TD passes
7-8 8 1st half drives lead to 6 TDs a FG and a missed FG
6 In a great sight to see, Sam was only #6 in total rushing for TEXAS, we like him not getting beat up
8 Ash’s D held UTEP to 8 drives (12 total) of 5 plays or less.
Conclusion
Outside of 2 injuries, game could not have gone better if it were scripted. Before anyone gets too excited, it was a controlled scrimmage for all practical purposes against a tomato can. But you can only play who’s on the schedule and it could not have gone better. Sam off to a Heisman worthy season with a record 1st half and Casey Thompson showed 2 things, not yet Mr Card and if Sam gets hurt, we have a solid back up in 2020. It was good to see TEXAS allow him to run the offense, suspect it pays dividends down the road. TEXAS now has a week off before it faces Texas Tech.
Prediction
No one seemed to care about the eyes, but there were not many fans so end of the day, one of the great traditions in college football is gone. At least till next year. We suspect that next year, the players and fans miss it and it returns. Already beyond sick of ESPN trying to jam this SJW shit down our throats. Call me when someone starts backing solutions and ways to make ALL AMERICAN LIVES BETTER. Otherwise STFU
Ranking the BigXII
Tier I
TEXAS, we know Sam can produce in a big game.
OU beat up their Football Championship (FCS) tomato can
Tier II
WVU Beat up their tomato can
OSU No game
Tier III
Baylor
TCU Both in the same boat, didn’t play anyone so they couldn’t get embarrassed.
Tier IV View attachment 2709View attachment 2710View attachment 2711View attachment 2712View attachment 2713
TT eecked out a win over Houston Baptist????? Well they won which is more than we can say for . ..
ISU caught eating the cheese, early favorite for most over rated in the conference
KSU you lost to Arkansas State
Kansas Coastal Carolina, seriously???? By 2 touchdowns no less
Fighting Mack Brown’s
Nice win over Syracuse.
Way too early playoff projections
#1 Clemson
#2 Bama
#3 Georgia
#4 TEXAS
