View from the Cheap Seats-Red River War

[echeese]

[SIZE=16pt]View from the Cheap Seats[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=16pt]Sark Snatches defeat from the Jaws of Victory[/SIZE]​

No other way to say it.   In the history of the Red River War, neither team has ever overcome a 21 point deficit, that is until TEXAS took a 21 point lead in the 1st quarter.     In a game that saw lots of records set, the Longhorns will be stuck with coulda/shoulda/woulda for another year .    This game was a nut kicker/gut punch and Sark faces a huge coaching challenge this week as the Oklahoma State Cowboys come into Austin  and they will arrive enjoying a bye week to get ready.   Now win or lose, this would be a big coaching challenge but the Horns confidence took a beating on Sat.  Can Sark get his young charges ready?

It was a tale of two halves.    TEXAS jumped out to a 14-0 lead behind a 75 yard pitch and catch to Xavier Worthy on the 1st play of the game.   TEXAS D, not to be outdown, bows up and forces OU to punt after a 3 and out and Overshawn blocked the punt giving TEXAS the ball at the 2.   TEXAS would take a 38-20 lead  into halftime behind   three 3 and out drives forced by our defense which included an INT and a Spenser fumble recovered by you guess it Overshown.    Casey Thompson looked very good in the 1st half, pitching 3 TD passes    OU would get an important TD drive thanks to a horrid missed review where the OU WR ran out of bounds and illegally caught a long 3rd down pass to keep a drive alive.    Oddly, that blown call may have been the most significant of the day.

One of the marks of great coaching is the ability to make adjustments at halftime to counter what the opposition is doing.    No other way to spin this one sports fans, Sark & Company failed badly while dirt his burgler counterparts gave our coaches a lesson on how to make adjustments.   After taking a  38-20 leat halftime, TEXAS would be outscored 35-10 in the 2nd half.   TEXAS could not sustain drives in the 2nd half nor could it score another touchdown till their last drive of the game.   It was a combination of very “turtle like” play calling and the ugly penalty bugaboo rearing it’s ugly head.   TEXAS simply could not get ahead of the chains, leaving themselves in 3rd and long regularly in the 2nd half.    That’s 2 games now, both loses where Sark has gone away from what created his offensive success.   A trend we don’t like

Worst loss in RRW history?    Interesting point of discussion

Despite the pressure on Casey getting worse in the 2nd half,  the game plan seemed to be to turn him into a pocket passer and throw deep.    In our pre-game keys to victory, two were quick passing to blunt their pass rush and getting BiJan the ball in space as a pass catcher out of the backfield.   He would record only 1 reception and it’s clear Sark does not read the Cheap Seats.   We also thought this would be a big game for our TEs but they only had 3 receptions.    It is clear that our offensive line is not a team strength but to expect them to hold up under pressure and to not counter with better play calling is a major question mark.    The good news in the 1st half, we ended any faint hope Rattler had at a Heisman season.   The bad news, we made his true freshman back up (who played part of the 2nd quarter and all the 2nd half) look like a star.   

Note to J Sanders.    Pass rushers get drafted much higher and make MILLIONS more in the NFL than TEs and we don’t use TEs anyway.    OTOH, we have a deep need for a pass rusher.   After a great 1st half of pressuring OU, our D failed to get pressure and effect play from our front 6/7 in the 2nd.     

TEXAS would win the turnover battle 3-1, scoring 21 points.   This is an oddity in that the team winning the turnover battle generally wins the RRW.   Of course another long time trend in winning is rushing over 200 yards.   OU rushed for 339, most in the 2nd half.

Our keys to the loss:

·        Poor 2nd half play calling by Sark/failure to sustain drives and score TDs

·        Poor offensive line play

·        Poor tackling in the 2nd half

·        OU ran 81 plays to our 61, our defense (really no defense) can hold up to that but ours isn’t the team strength.

Now we have seen thread titles where fans are blaming the D.    Before you get the pitchforks out, be reminded that on 5 OU drives inside the red zone, the D bowed up and forced 3 FGs.   Given our half time lead, that should have been enough.  Of course we should have controlled the clock  in the 2nd half but we constantly found ourselves behind the chains.    We hate going deep on 1st down.   We love going deep on 2nd and 2-4, 2nd and short.    Anyone who did not realize this D is not the strength of the team is simply not paying attention.     Sadly in the 2nd half, the old problem of missed tackles became more pronounced.

Glass half empty

Potential to be a season wrecking loss.  Sark’s honeymoon was a short one, zero margin for error.

Glass half full

Every team goal still on the table.    And win out, guaranteed shot at the conference title, most likely with a RRW re-match

Offensive players of the game:

Casey Thompson, even without the 75 yard opening play, he still threw for 300+ yards.  He also threw 5 TD passes, tying the RRW record (Sam Bradford 2008) and setting the mark for TEXAS QBs.    We had said pre-season he had some James Brown in him, he backed that up.

Xavier Worthy, after having a “less than sterling” day vs TCU, the young man almost went completely beast mode.  9 receptions, 261 yards and 2 TDs.   Top game EVER for a TEXAS freshman WR.   He did have a major blunder which was a significant factor in the outcome of the game.   5 yards deep he decided to run back a kickoff which resulted in a fumble.   OU would score a TD almost immediately.     Have to say, we LOVE the way Sark handled him.

Defensive player of the game

DeMarvion Overshown   Outstanding 1st half which included a punt block, fumble recovery.  He would finish the day with 2 TFL and a sack.   And largely he was making plays all over the field.  Why one should never take Brian Jones seriously, shock jock who doesn’t have a clue.

 

Stats that Matter

·        103   Most points scored in the RRW history by both teams

·        4 of 12    TEXAS on 3rd down.   The most telling stat of the 2nd half

·        39    Yards by BiJan in the 2nd half on 8 carries, includes a 33 yarder

·        339/129   OU rushing yardage/TEXAS rushing yardage

·        5    Touchdown passes by Casey, tied for most in RRW history with Sam Bradford

·        90  number of prospect TEXAS had at the game.  The good news, every OL has to know he walks on campus as a potential starter

On Deck

Sark faces a tough task this week.    His team just had their guts ripped out.   They know they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.   He will need to get his team focused on Okie Lite and not let 1 loss become 2.    The good news, TEXAS has 100% of it’s season’s goals in front of them.    They are better than everyone else on the schedule and they can face OU again in Dallas if they run the table.  Plenty to play for.    But it all starts Sat.   Beat the Pokes, head into a bye week then emerge a week later to face a vastly improved Baylor team.    

Fighting Mack Brown’s

Mack/UNC’s season might be circling the drain after he goes 0-11 vs his alma mater, FSU.   With ND, Wake Pitt and UNCst still on the schedule, it’s a crap shoot if Mack can even take the Tarheels bowling. 

Ranking the BigXII

#1  OU, alone on top.   Riley now owns Sark. 

2nd tier teams, today you can rank in pretty much any order

#2   Okie Lite on the strength of their 2-0 confernce record.

#3  Baylor   Drubbed WVU today

#4  TEXAS   

#5  ISU   Bye week

3rd tier all fighting to go bowling

#6   KSU   bye week  CU   pounded TT

#7   TCU  pounded TT

#8   WVU   pounded by Baylor

Mutts

#  9  TT  back to back beat downs, Matt Wells time in Lubbock circling the drain

#10   Kansas

Playoff projections

#1  Georgia    , Georgia looks like the best of the SEC

#2  B1G champion    Winner of the Iowa vs  Mich/tOSU game?   Unless PSU pulls an upset along the way

#3   OU, sucks to type.   

#4  SEC runner up as long as they have one loss?  4th spot pretty open right now

On the outside looking in:

Is this the group of 5 year with Cincy?  

1 loss PAC winner?  Arizona State or Oregon?

Wake unbeaten but still must face Clemson, then likely Pitt in the ACC title game

Still a good deal of football to play.

 

[Eastexhorn]

Great as usual.Coaches should tell KO returners do not return any kick in side 5 yd. line. Stupld if you do.

Lost quite a bit of faith in coaching staff during this game. Beat the Cowboys.

 

[tejasrulz]

Fair catching a punt inside the 10 yard kills you every time yet Texas has been doing it for decades. 

Field position killed the Horns in the 2nd half, starting at their 8, 24 (FG), 25, 18, 25 and 40 (TD), where as in the 2nd half ou started the ball on Texas' side twice, both resulted in scores.

 

[dillohorn]

Always a great read. ..........UT is stuck in a flytrap of mediocrity that might not be fixable...ever

 

[echeese]

Fair catching a punt inside the 10 yard kills you every time yet Texas has been doing it for decades. 

Field position killed the Horns in the 2nd half, starting at their 8, 24 (FG), 25, 18, 25 and 40 (TD), where as in the 2nd half ou started the ball on Texas' side twice, both resulted in scores.

Excellent observation

 

[dillohorn]

Fair catching a punt inside the 10 yard kills you every time yet Texas has been doing it for decades. 

Field position killed the Horns in the 2nd half, starting at their 8, 24 (FG), 25, 18, 25 and 40 (TD), where as in the 2nd half ou started the ball on Texas' side twice, both resulted in scores.

I just shake my head every time the Horns do this.

 

[Basis Points]

Deja vu.  I was at the Cotton Bowl this weekend and when I saw Worthy running out of the end zone on the kickoff and fumbled it, all i could think of was a prior experience when I went to the New Year's Cotton Bowl in 1984 against Georgia.  Texas was ranked #2.  Late 4th quarter and Texas up 9-3 and we tried to fair catch a punt around our own 10 and fumbled it.  Georgia scored.   Lost the game 10-9  Had we won, we would have been the National Champions as the team ahead of us lost.  Was the beginning of the end for Akers.  Luckily, I feel better about Sark, but it is frustrating

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Deja vu.  I was at the Cotton Bowl this weekend and when I saw Worthy running out of the end zone on the kickoff and fumbled it, all i could think of was a prior experience when I went to the New Year's Cotton Bowl in 1984 against Georgia.  Texas was ranked #2.  Late 4th quarter and Texas up 9-3 and we tried to fair catch a punt around our own 10 and fumbled it.  Georgia scored.   Lost the game 10-9  Had we won, we would have been the National Champions as the team ahead of us lost.  Was the beginning of the end for Akers.  Luckily, I feel better about Sark, but it is frustrating

I remember that like it was yesterday. So depressing.

 

[Eastexhorn]

Why Akers did not call a time out will always be a mystery to me.

On another note TFB open post for tueaday is up and has a good takeon OU game.

 

[dillohorn]

Deja vu.  I was at the Cotton Bowl this weekend and when I saw Worthy running out of the end zone on the kickoff and fumbled it, all i could think of was a prior experience when I went to the New Year's Cotton Bowl in 1984 against Georgia.  Texas was ranked #2.  Late 4th quarter and Texas up 9-3 and we tried to fair catch a punt around our own 10 and fumbled it.  Georgia scored.   Lost the game 10-9  Had we won, we would have been the National Champions as the team ahead of us lost.  Was the beginning of the end for Akers.  Luckily, I feel better about Sark, but it is frustrating

Please don't remind me of that ?fumble to Ga.