echeese
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There's a new Sheriff in town .. . .and his name is Charlie F Strong
The Charlie Strong era has officially begun with what amounted to a scrimmage with UNT. Up front disclaimer: UNT is NOT a very good football team so everything that happened must be tempered with that knowledge. Nor am I sure there were any real surprises. As the opening weekend showed, it was week 1, expect teams not to look sharp.
And btw, Charlie's middle name is actually Renee .. . .
Defense was stout and clearly the strength of the team, offense was up and down and there are some special teams questions.
The funniest moment of the game came on a play with penalties on both sides. . .then Randy Chrystal did his best to challenge Red Cashman and in his best East Texas Good Ole Boy drawl made this call:
"We're going 5 yards this way (with a hitch hiking jerk of his thumb) then 'come back' 15 for a net of 10" OK, it was one of those 'you had to be there moments' but I laughed.
We'll start with the defense that pitched a shut out as UNT's only score came off a turnover in the end zone. Shut out does not tell the whole story. This D forced 9 punts through 3 quarters, 6 of them off three and outs. UNT was held to 94 total yards of offense, 60 plays averaging just 1.6 per play. Cedric Reed and the DL showed why they are considered the strength of the D, pressuring UNT all night and recording 4 INTs including one pick 6. . . welcome back Mr Cobbs. The 1st Int of the year recorded by walk on starter at Safety, Dylan Haines.
The defense clearly picked up where it left off last season. Hicks and Cobbs showed their athleticism at LB and a healthy Cobbs means we have some experienced depth assuming both stay healthy. My only real concern is how the secondary will hold up vs real passing teams.
I think the Shawn Watson offense surprised some people. . .no, we didn't run tempo but neither did we appear to be milking every second off the clock. Have to say I liked the use of misdirection and generally thought the play calling was good. Good mix of rushing and passing (40 rushes 34 passes), liked rolling Ash out to escape pressure. As the O gels and we return players like Daje and Harrison along with the development of new players like Foreman, think the offense (from a schematic standpoint) is going to be a good one.
The offense OTOH. . .well about like we expected. To say they struggled at times would be an understatement. 4-15 on 3rd downs is not the offense that CFS wants to keep his defense off the field. There were 14 offensive drives in the game not counting the victory formation drive resulting in 4 touchdowns a FG and a missed FG. The target for scoring drive efficiency is 35%+ . .. we were less than 30%. More disturbing was after a text book drive to open the 2nd half, 9 plays 75 yards 4:25 minutes burned off the clock resulting in a TD. . . the offense would only generate another FG and would not put the game out of reach allowing Swoopes some needed reps. Worse, 2 drives would end with fumbles.
Offense in the 1st half did much better. Out of 7 drives, TEXAS would score 3 touchdowns and miss a makable FG. It is a concern we were not more dominate but plenty of good coaching points for the week.
This is not to say there were not some bright spots. Thought Ash was very good. He showed an excellent feel for escaping pressure in the pocket and of rolling out. His accuracy was very good and his stats hurt by some drops. He slide several times on runs but still showed he is athletic enough to make a team pay for not spying him. After 2 early drops, both of which would have resulted in 3rd down conversions, John Harris came on to have a career night highlighted by running over a UNT DB on his way to a touchdown. Shipley was. . . .well Shipley. . when he was targeted he caught the ball and usually for a 1st down. Brown & Gray had good nights, each finishing with 5 yards per carry plus but in both cases, those figures added by a long stat padding run. I really expected to see our RBs dominate the game more.
#1 concern post game, Special teams. . . a missed FG, punting wasn't great, why is ship back on punt returns? I cannot fault Diggs for not fair catching the ball near the 10 .. .standard thinking is let it roll into the endzone, just bad luck they downed it at the 2 Inch line. Of course that would be the time for Ash's worst throw of the night, missing Swaim around the 15 which if nothing else would have dug us out of a hole.
Miscellaneous notes: The OL is a work in progress, Doyle and Flowers both gave up sacks. Thought the OT's played well. Worst news of the night was Dom going down late with a high ankle sprain. Ash took some hits with no ill effects and slide on runs instead of taking shots. Lorenzo Joe and the Formanti brothers all burned their shirts on offense. Andrew Beck is on the participation chart but did not notice him. What was a bit surprising is that none of Poona Ford, Nelson or Robinson played. Jason Hall did play but that was expected.
It's Week 1 . ..lots of teams struggled. We will be better which segues us into next week:
. On Deck
Early debate was whether OU or UCLA would be the toughest team we face this year. We had better not overlook our next opponent or we might be in for a LONG evening. BYU showed they will be no slouch next week. I realize some need to dismiss Hill as a gimp. . . but that would be fool's thinking. He is one of the 4 best QBs we'll see this year and has added much improved passing to his formidable running skills. His outside WRs are both 6'3" and talented which creates mismatch problems right away while his slot receiver is a poor man's Jaxon Shipley. We will not be facing UNT this week. BYU has some talent on it's D as well, will be an interesting test for our OL.
Ranking the Big XII. . .
Again with the standard,. . .it was Week 1 caveat ...how I see if from the Cheap Seats.
#1
Trashed a mutt. . .interestingly a defense lead by Manny Diaz.
#2 Okie Lite. . .if not for a foolish late fumble by Walsh, they might have beat defending champ FSU. . . .they get a 1 week boost for making the BigXII look good.
#3 Baylor. . .they play SMU today to open their new stadium
#4
Our Horns. . .next two weeks will tell whether they move up or down
#5
Another program getting a boost for looking good while losing to a much higher ranked team. Dana has him some offensive weapons
#6 KSU Beat up on a good D II team .. .
#7
Horned Frogs leap over TT since they actually beat the dog out of a Tier II program
#8
Gave up a ton of points to Central Arkansas
#9 Kansas opens next week with a mutt
#10 Would rank ISU lower if I could. . . .North Dakota is a very good program but come on, run out of your own stadium?
Cheap seats is a tad short this week, face it, it's a controlled scrimmage. Don't get too high or too low about anything that happened. Next two weeks will go much further to defining this team. Having said that, over all, I like everything I saw. Always good to have coaching points for the week. We will not go into BYU too cocky.
BTW, if you don't know the "new sheriff in town" line. . . . .
The Charlie Strong era has officially begun with what amounted to a scrimmage with UNT. Up front disclaimer: UNT is NOT a very good football team so everything that happened must be tempered with that knowledge. Nor am I sure there were any real surprises. As the opening weekend showed, it was week 1, expect teams not to look sharp.
And btw, Charlie's middle name is actually Renee .. . .
Defense was stout and clearly the strength of the team, offense was up and down and there are some special teams questions.
The funniest moment of the game came on a play with penalties on both sides. . .then Randy Chrystal did his best to challenge Red Cashman and in his best East Texas Good Ole Boy drawl made this call:
"We're going 5 yards this way (with a hitch hiking jerk of his thumb) then 'come back' 15 for a net of 10" OK, it was one of those 'you had to be there moments' but I laughed.
We'll start with the defense that pitched a shut out as UNT's only score came off a turnover in the end zone. Shut out does not tell the whole story. This D forced 9 punts through 3 quarters, 6 of them off three and outs. UNT was held to 94 total yards of offense, 60 plays averaging just 1.6 per play. Cedric Reed and the DL showed why they are considered the strength of the D, pressuring UNT all night and recording 4 INTs including one pick 6. . . welcome back Mr Cobbs. The 1st Int of the year recorded by walk on starter at Safety, Dylan Haines.
The defense clearly picked up where it left off last season. Hicks and Cobbs showed their athleticism at LB and a healthy Cobbs means we have some experienced depth assuming both stay healthy. My only real concern is how the secondary will hold up vs real passing teams.
I think the Shawn Watson offense surprised some people. . .no, we didn't run tempo but neither did we appear to be milking every second off the clock. Have to say I liked the use of misdirection and generally thought the play calling was good. Good mix of rushing and passing (40 rushes 34 passes), liked rolling Ash out to escape pressure. As the O gels and we return players like Daje and Harrison along with the development of new players like Foreman, think the offense (from a schematic standpoint) is going to be a good one.
The offense OTOH. . .well about like we expected. To say they struggled at times would be an understatement. 4-15 on 3rd downs is not the offense that CFS wants to keep his defense off the field. There were 14 offensive drives in the game not counting the victory formation drive resulting in 4 touchdowns a FG and a missed FG. The target for scoring drive efficiency is 35%+ . .. we were less than 30%. More disturbing was after a text book drive to open the 2nd half, 9 plays 75 yards 4:25 minutes burned off the clock resulting in a TD. . . the offense would only generate another FG and would not put the game out of reach allowing Swoopes some needed reps. Worse, 2 drives would end with fumbles.
Offense in the 1st half did much better. Out of 7 drives, TEXAS would score 3 touchdowns and miss a makable FG. It is a concern we were not more dominate but plenty of good coaching points for the week.
This is not to say there were not some bright spots. Thought Ash was very good. He showed an excellent feel for escaping pressure in the pocket and of rolling out. His accuracy was very good and his stats hurt by some drops. He slide several times on runs but still showed he is athletic enough to make a team pay for not spying him. After 2 early drops, both of which would have resulted in 3rd down conversions, John Harris came on to have a career night highlighted by running over a UNT DB on his way to a touchdown. Shipley was. . . .well Shipley. . when he was targeted he caught the ball and usually for a 1st down. Brown & Gray had good nights, each finishing with 5 yards per carry plus but in both cases, those figures added by a long stat padding run. I really expected to see our RBs dominate the game more.
#1 concern post game, Special teams. . . a missed FG, punting wasn't great, why is ship back on punt returns? I cannot fault Diggs for not fair catching the ball near the 10 .. .standard thinking is let it roll into the endzone, just bad luck they downed it at the 2 Inch line. Of course that would be the time for Ash's worst throw of the night, missing Swaim around the 15 which if nothing else would have dug us out of a hole.
Miscellaneous notes: The OL is a work in progress, Doyle and Flowers both gave up sacks. Thought the OT's played well. Worst news of the night was Dom going down late with a high ankle sprain. Ash took some hits with no ill effects and slide on runs instead of taking shots. Lorenzo Joe and the Formanti brothers all burned their shirts on offense. Andrew Beck is on the participation chart but did not notice him. What was a bit surprising is that none of Poona Ford, Nelson or Robinson played. Jason Hall did play but that was expected.
It's Week 1 . ..lots of teams struggled. We will be better which segues us into next week:
. On Deck
Early debate was whether OU or UCLA would be the toughest team we face this year. We had better not overlook our next opponent or we might be in for a LONG evening. BYU showed they will be no slouch next week. I realize some need to dismiss Hill as a gimp. . . but that would be fool's thinking. He is one of the 4 best QBs we'll see this year and has added much improved passing to his formidable running skills. His outside WRs are both 6'3" and talented which creates mismatch problems right away while his slot receiver is a poor man's Jaxon Shipley. We will not be facing UNT this week. BYU has some talent on it's D as well, will be an interesting test for our OL.
Ranking the Big XII. . .
Again with the standard,. . .it was Week 1 caveat ...how I see if from the Cheap Seats.
#1
#2 Okie Lite. . .if not for a foolish late fumble by Walsh, they might have beat defending champ FSU. . . .they get a 1 week boost for making the BigXII look good.
#3 Baylor. . .they play SMU today to open their new stadium
#4
#5
#6 KSU Beat up on a good D II team .. .
#7
#8
#9 Kansas opens next week with a mutt
#10 Would rank ISU lower if I could. . . .North Dakota is a very good program but come on, run out of your own stadium?
Cheap seats is a tad short this week, face it, it's a controlled scrimmage. Don't get too high or too low about anything that happened. Next two weeks will go much further to defining this team. Having said that, over all, I like everything I saw. Always good to have coaching points for the week. We will not go into BYU too cocky.
BTW, if you don't know the "new sheriff in town" line. . . . .
