echeese
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View from the Cheap Seats-Red River War
Tale of 2 halves + 5 minutes
Or
Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda
If you were not a fan of either team, this was a great game to watch even if a bit lopsided at times. As a TEXAS fan, while we can be "proud of a great effort" . . . .we're not aggies and there are no moral victories. Only the knowledge that we coulda/shouda/woulda be 5-0 in our last five games vs the buglers of dirt. For the first times since the 40's (Blair Cherry/Bud Wilkerson) we saw new head coaches on each sideline and they are 2 of the "hottest" young Head Coaches in College Football and both considered offensive gurus.Save for just under 5 mintues of the 1st half, most TEXAS fans were thinking "oh no, not this shit again". OU would put up 17 points on TEXAS while stiffling the TEXAS offense forcing 4 plays and punt, 3 plays, 3 plays and punt then 9 plays and downs. As speculated pre-game, OU played press man on our WRs, basically daring Sam to beat them with his arm, not unlike the scheme USC used. While the stats finished looking fairly similar passing, Sam would also lead the team in rushing, toting the rock 20 times for 110 yards (I don't count sacks as rushing attempts) In the meantime, OU's offense was getting Baker back on Heisman track while introducing a new freshman RB as they abused the TEXAS defense for an 85 yard drive, a 65 yard drive, then an 80 yard drive on the way to their 17-0 lead. Make no mistake, both sides of the ball were failing and looking bad doing it.17-0Ready to give up? Not so fast my friend. . . .This though is a true rivalry game. This is a game where the term "throw out the records" really has merit. 4:32 mark of the 2nd quarter, TEXAS gets the ball back and at this point it was "just score and make it respectable" was floating through the minds of many fans (dare we say most?). The Longhorns had other plans. Aided by a couple penalties, TEXAS drove to the 16 and on a play that Tim Beck & company would go to frequently, a pass to Porter was good for an untouched TD. After the KO, it appeared the thieves of land were driving again but John Bonney baited Mayfield with a fake blitz and undercuts his throw hanging the 1st INT on the sooner QB of the season. :59 seconds, 69 yards to go, no problem. Sam drives the team down to the OK 17 for a 34 yard FG.20-10 HalftimeLadies and gentleman, we have a ball game2nd half opens with OU driving for a FG. No problem, TEXAS puts together a 13 play 75 yard drive featuring 2 big passes to Chris Warren. Likely the biggest offensive scheme development of the day was seeing the RBs being used heavily in the passing game. Scoring would cease for the next 5 drives as each team would punt twice and TEXAS would turn the ball over on downs. Going for it on 4th and 8 would be the biggest controversy/question mark of the game.
What was coach Herman thinking?
4th and 8 at OU's 27. Certainly he is concerned about the FG game but Rowland had made a longer FG on the road 2 weeks before to close out the ISU game. And you have to think the odds of making a FG insider your kicker's range are higher than 4th and long. Now had it been 4th and short, different call. As we said, coulda/shoulda/woulda. . . .we will never know. Said at the time it's the wrong call. Either kick the FG or pin them deep. End of the day, we needed the 3 points we left on the field. 23-17As we said, tale of 2 halves. Defense bows up and forces a 3 and out.TEXAS proceeds to drive 73 yards including the prettiest pass of Sam's young career, a 22 yard -pass to Hemphill Mapps which was perfectly thrown over the DB to the sideline on 3rd and 10. This was followed by a completion to Brewer down to the 8 then an 8 yard TD run by Sam.23-24 (27 would look better)Sadly, after playing dramatically better in the 2nd half, the secondary would go to sleep and turn OU's TE loose for a 59 yard TD. Somebody blew coverage, no clue who. This coming after Mayfield had been knocked from the game. But the D would stop a 2 point conversion try meaning the game would not end in a tie but TEXAS would needMore coulda/shoulda/woulda29-24TEXAS begins it's next to the last drive giving all evidence early they would use up most of the last 5 minutes of the half on it's way to a win. Then Sam goes down hard. In comes Shane and he plays well, even gaining a 1st down running. But the drive killing play comes on 1st and 10 as Shane is sacked. The internal clock timer didn't go off quick enough.D forces a punt and for some bizarre reason, Reggie fair catches the ball at the 4. Kid has made some amazing plays but that wasn't one of them.
Summation
Woulda been nice if we'd have showed up to play before we went down by 3 scores. Shoulda gone for the points, that difference meant we coulda driven for a FG and the win instead of a TD.Hard to fault the offense, up front we were playing with 2 game 1 starters, a 2nd team OT a 3rd team OG and a true freshman RT. And they would put up 428 yards of O. But not enough points, we needed one more TD. Again, spotting teams a 3 score lead is seldom a recipe for success.Defense, tale of 2 halves again, expect for 1 play losing the OU TE in coverage. To hold OU's O to 9 points in the 2nd half is great work.What coulda happen if Charles Omineho (sp) doesn't let Baker go on the almost sack. What Shoula happened if Sam leads Duvernay 2-3 yards inside on the deep completion which would have gone for an easy TD instead of running DD out of bounds. . . still a GREAT catch but not a TDCoulda the outcome change if Hager catches an INT thrown right to him?Like most close games, half a dozen of those coulda/shoulda/woulda playsAnd having said that, make no mistake, the Cheap Seats is seeing why CTH is one of the best coaches in football and Coach Orlando is a GREAT DC. The future is VERY BRIGHT for the LonghornsEnd of the day we lost. If we weren't TEXAS fans, this would have been a great game to watch.Offensive MVP: Sam (duh) kid played well but have to mention Lil Jordan Humprey, Reggie Mapps and Chris Warren in the passing game.Defensive MVP: Brandon Jones. . .not sure his role on the last long TD but he made several huge pass break ups, 2 on 3rd down and made plays around the line of scrimmage. Hon Mention: Coach Orlando, clearly coaching his guys up Special Teams: Easy .. . Again our Aussie Punter is a true game changer, regularly flipping field position.
Around the BigXII
#1 TCU Smoked KSU, unbeaten#2 OU Outside looking in at a play off berth#3 OSU Smoked Baylor Bedlam looms large, win there and a re match with TCU awaits#4 TEXAS Woulda/shoulda/Coulda be 3-0 in coference#5 WVU Nice win over hard charging TT#6 KSU though they might be sliding #7 ISU Smoked Kansas. . ..the slump buster of teh conference#8 TT Their time in the Top 25 didn't last long#9 Baylor . . .. .The Harvey Weinstein of the conference#10 Kansas . . . . is it basketball season yet?
If I had a play off vote today
#1 Bama #2 Penn St#3 UDub#4 TCU Just a bit outsideClemson, even with a loss, they can win out and I think they are inMichigan, unbeaten but for how longtOSU Whisky unbeaten with the easiest path to the B1G title gameGeorgia, they can afford a loss if they can knock off Bama in the SEC title game. Bigtime tall orderMiami, Clemson Miami ACC title game? Winner goes to the playoffs?
Tale of 2 halves + 5 minutes
Or
Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda
If you were not a fan of either team, this was a great game to watch even if a bit lopsided at times. As a TEXAS fan, while we can be "proud of a great effort" . . . .we're not aggies and there are no moral victories. Only the knowledge that we coulda/shouda/woulda be 5-0 in our last five games vs the buglers of dirt. For the first times since the 40's (Blair Cherry/Bud Wilkerson) we saw new head coaches on each sideline and they are 2 of the "hottest" young Head Coaches in College Football and both considered offensive gurus.Save for just under 5 mintues of the 1st half, most TEXAS fans were thinking "oh no, not this shit again". OU would put up 17 points on TEXAS while stiffling the TEXAS offense forcing 4 plays and punt, 3 plays, 3 plays and punt then 9 plays and downs. As speculated pre-game, OU played press man on our WRs, basically daring Sam to beat them with his arm, not unlike the scheme USC used. While the stats finished looking fairly similar passing, Sam would also lead the team in rushing, toting the rock 20 times for 110 yards (I don't count sacks as rushing attempts) In the meantime, OU's offense was getting Baker back on Heisman track while introducing a new freshman RB as they abused the TEXAS defense for an 85 yard drive, a 65 yard drive, then an 80 yard drive on the way to their 17-0 lead. Make no mistake, both sides of the ball were failing and looking bad doing it.17-0Ready to give up? Not so fast my friend. . . .This though is a true rivalry game. This is a game where the term "throw out the records" really has merit. 4:32 mark of the 2nd quarter, TEXAS gets the ball back and at this point it was "just score and make it respectable" was floating through the minds of many fans (dare we say most?). The Longhorns had other plans. Aided by a couple penalties, TEXAS drove to the 16 and on a play that Tim Beck & company would go to frequently, a pass to Porter was good for an untouched TD. After the KO, it appeared the thieves of land were driving again but John Bonney baited Mayfield with a fake blitz and undercuts his throw hanging the 1st INT on the sooner QB of the season. :59 seconds, 69 yards to go, no problem. Sam drives the team down to the OK 17 for a 34 yard FG.20-10 HalftimeLadies and gentleman, we have a ball game2nd half opens with OU driving for a FG. No problem, TEXAS puts together a 13 play 75 yard drive featuring 2 big passes to Chris Warren. Likely the biggest offensive scheme development of the day was seeing the RBs being used heavily in the passing game. Scoring would cease for the next 5 drives as each team would punt twice and TEXAS would turn the ball over on downs. Going for it on 4th and 8 would be the biggest controversy/question mark of the game.
What was coach Herman thinking?
4th and 8 at OU's 27. Certainly he is concerned about the FG game but Rowland had made a longer FG on the road 2 weeks before to close out the ISU game. And you have to think the odds of making a FG insider your kicker's range are higher than 4th and long. Now had it been 4th and short, different call. As we said, coulda/shoulda/woulda. . . .we will never know. Said at the time it's the wrong call. Either kick the FG or pin them deep. End of the day, we needed the 3 points we left on the field. 23-17As we said, tale of 2 halves. Defense bows up and forces a 3 and out.TEXAS proceeds to drive 73 yards including the prettiest pass of Sam's young career, a 22 yard -pass to Hemphill Mapps which was perfectly thrown over the DB to the sideline on 3rd and 10. This was followed by a completion to Brewer down to the 8 then an 8 yard TD run by Sam.23-24 (27 would look better)Sadly, after playing dramatically better in the 2nd half, the secondary would go to sleep and turn OU's TE loose for a 59 yard TD. Somebody blew coverage, no clue who. This coming after Mayfield had been knocked from the game. But the D would stop a 2 point conversion try meaning the game would not end in a tie but TEXAS would needMore coulda/shoulda/woulda29-24TEXAS begins it's next to the last drive giving all evidence early they would use up most of the last 5 minutes of the half on it's way to a win. Then Sam goes down hard. In comes Shane and he plays well, even gaining a 1st down running. But the drive killing play comes on 1st and 10 as Shane is sacked. The internal clock timer didn't go off quick enough.D forces a punt and for some bizarre reason, Reggie fair catches the ball at the 4. Kid has made some amazing plays but that wasn't one of them.
Summation
Woulda been nice if we'd have showed up to play before we went down by 3 scores. Shoulda gone for the points, that difference meant we coulda driven for a FG and the win instead of a TD.Hard to fault the offense, up front we were playing with 2 game 1 starters, a 2nd team OT a 3rd team OG and a true freshman RT. And they would put up 428 yards of O. But not enough points, we needed one more TD. Again, spotting teams a 3 score lead is seldom a recipe for success.Defense, tale of 2 halves again, expect for 1 play losing the OU TE in coverage. To hold OU's O to 9 points in the 2nd half is great work.What coulda happen if Charles Omineho (sp) doesn't let Baker go on the almost sack. What Shoula happened if Sam leads Duvernay 2-3 yards inside on the deep completion which would have gone for an easy TD instead of running DD out of bounds. . . still a GREAT catch but not a TDCoulda the outcome change if Hager catches an INT thrown right to him?Like most close games, half a dozen of those coulda/shoulda/woulda playsAnd having said that, make no mistake, the Cheap Seats is seeing why CTH is one of the best coaches in football and Coach Orlando is a GREAT DC. The future is VERY BRIGHT for the LonghornsEnd of the day we lost. If we weren't TEXAS fans, this would have been a great game to watch.Offensive MVP: Sam (duh) kid played well but have to mention Lil Jordan Humprey, Reggie Mapps and Chris Warren in the passing game.Defensive MVP: Brandon Jones. . .not sure his role on the last long TD but he made several huge pass break ups, 2 on 3rd down and made plays around the line of scrimmage. Hon Mention: Coach Orlando, clearly coaching his guys up Special Teams: Easy .. . Again our Aussie Punter is a true game changer, regularly flipping field position.
Around the BigXII
#1 TCU Smoked KSU, unbeaten#2 OU Outside looking in at a play off berth#3 OSU Smoked Baylor Bedlam looms large, win there and a re match with TCU awaits#4 TEXAS Woulda/shoulda/Coulda be 3-0 in coference#5 WVU Nice win over hard charging TT#6 KSU though they might be sliding #7 ISU Smoked Kansas. . ..the slump buster of teh conference#8 TT Their time in the Top 25 didn't last long#9 Baylor . . .. .The Harvey Weinstein of the conference#10 Kansas . . . . is it basketball season yet?
If I had a play off vote today
#1 Bama #2 Penn St#3 UDub#4 TCU Just a bit outsideClemson, even with a loss, they can win out and I think they are inMichigan, unbeaten but for how longtOSU Whisky unbeaten with the easiest path to the B1G title gameGeorgia, they can afford a loss if they can knock off Bama in the SEC title game. Bigtime tall orderMiami, Clemson Miami ACC title game? Winner goes to the playoffs?
