View from the Cheap Seats-TT

[echeese]

View from the Cheap Seats-Tech​

Season ending Thud

lots of single words or short phrases to describe yet another game given away by the Longhorns. . . .but thud is a signal for the end of a very short era.   Once again, thanks to a lack of fundamental football we see our Horns snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.   Against an opponent we out talented. . .at home . .on senior night. . we see a combination of poor play calling, poor tackling, lack of containment and blown assignments cost the even a glimmer of hope for much needed extra bowl practices.  

And sadly this overshadows the break out performance of Chris Warren the 3rd who more than doubled his carries for the season on one amazing night.  Best rushing performance by a freshman in TEXAS history, 277 yards and 4 TDs . .. . .and in a very Ricky like. . .most yards coming after contact.   Another wasted performance was Paul Boyette making a statement he was a force to consider going forward.  

Let's stop for a second. . . .a question the Cheap Seats must pose. . . . .what exactly have our offensive coaches been watching in practice and in games?    We saw a "complete back" in Chris Warren who before last night was averaging half a yard more a carry than J Gray (it's not remotely close now).  By "complete back". . . I mean a player with the size of a power back, the speed of a scat back and the ability to break tackles and make people miss.   Even vs players with the angle on them or speedy DBs, neither Warren nor Foreman gets caught from behing.    And Warren is very much a clone of D'Onte Foreman.   TEXAS has 2 outstanding RBs . .. maybe 3 as we saw a glimmer of potential stardom in Kirk Johnson before he tweaked his leg.  Yet up till last night, our "limited by injuries" Senior RB had 25% more carries than Foreman and more carries than the next 3 RBs combined.    Why?

This highlights why the Cheap Seats thinks that our fans screaming for an "Air Raid" OC have no clue about football.   Did they not see what happened when Lincoln Riley tried to install his Air Raid at OU?   We beat their ass, OU's strength is with their RBs.    TEXAS should have built their offense from day 1 around our talented RBs . . .which for some reason, neither Watson nor Norvell seemed to have a clue how talented they are.  Again, what are they watching in practice?  Instead both leaned on the least talented RB of the 4 to "carry" the team.   Now before you counter with "young offensive line". . . .let us remind you that run blocking is much easier than pass blocking.

We have become aggies. . . wait till next year.    Though in fairness, we can look forward to a full season of Foreman and Warren with doses of Johnson thrown in for good measure.   RB is the shining light position group of 2016 . .. it would have been 2015  but like Lincoln Riley's plan. . . we choose to play to our weaknesses not our strengths.   It is no accident that since getting their azzes slammed by TEXAS, OU's offensive scheme has shifted dramatically and suddenly Baker Mayfield is a Heisman candidate.  Air Raid?  nope. . .run baby run. . . which has made Mayfield's passing and scrambling even more effective.

Speaking of not seeing in practice or game film. . . . .what moron had the bright idea that because Swoopes can throw a ball a country mile.  .means he can throw a long ball?    Do we not have tons of film where he proves his best ball is the fast ball.  . .throw an out, throw a curl but throw it on a line. Kid was 9-18. . . .not sure everyone of the incompletions weren't bombs away. . .which were either thrown out of bound (with a receiver running wide open up the sideline) over thrown . .to a WR running open for a TD (twice). . . underthrown to a WR with a step.  .. . or underthrown to an open Beck down the seam.    Oh wait, at least 2 incompletions hit pass catchers in the hands only to be dropped.   Burt's was a tough catch, Daje's highlighted why I have not understood why he is so involved in the passing game.   He's a 50/50 ball. . . .half catches half drops with poor adjustments in the air.  PS, Jerrod Heard throws a much better deep ball.

Now I love Swoopes in the 18 wheeler package. . . kid is a weapon.   But he is NOT a D 1 passer .. . frankly he's not a passer at all.   But in fairness, his OC put him in a position to fail.   And the worst of it, with 3 minutes left in the game. . . 4th and 7. . . we need to move the chains, eat clock and give TT no ability to win the game in regulation. . . what does norvell call?   Bombs away to our weakest WR . ..thrown from a QB who hasn't come close to completing a deep ball yet.   Not outlet routes, nothing in the 8-9 yard range for a 1st down . . .all or nothing.    Sorry, this is simply DUMB FOOTBALL.

Still. . .as crappy as the offense was. . . our defense squandered a GREAT 1st half effort which saw Tech shut out in the 1st quarter, first quarter they have been shut out all year and pretty much shut down one of the best RBs in the nation.    Only to lift their skirts in the 2nd half, blow tackles, blow assignments and see Tech with a pretty balanced night, 300 yards rushing.  . .360 yards passing.  If you look at the stat sheet, you see our D holding Tech to 4 of 13 on 3rd down. . .generally you think that is great.    Except 3 of those were 3rd and long to VERY long as part of TD drives.   Our inability to break down and make a simple tackle or to keep contain on a very mobile QB has haunted us all season.   From making Zaire look like a Heisman candidate in game1 to Goff to Rudolph to some ISU QB making his first start.   Oddly the ONLY QB we've contained all year is Mayfield. . . .

I am reminded of the locker room scene in Bull Durham. . . ."We're 6 and 19. . . how'd we ever win 6 . ..  ..It's a miracle".

This leads the Cheap Seats to it's biggest concern.   While Vance Bedford is the DC, our defense is Charlie's baby.    Our defense has not been good from week 1.   Yes I get we have some injuries.   Injuries do not impact the lack of fundamental football being played. . .the inability to tackle/wrap up. . . the lack of contain by our DEs.    We saw yet another game where the opponent made better half time adjustments than we did.   

Overall, one would have thought the OU game would have sparked the 2nd half of the season and buoyed the team.   Facing 5 straight opponents TEXAS outtalented, they have gone 2-3.   CFS will take his young charges into Waco with nothing to play for but pride . . .and if they cannot pull off the upset . . ..the dubious distinction of finishing with the WORST season in TEXAS Football in 60 years.   Yep, you have to go back to Ed Price's 1-8 finish in 1956 to find a worse year.    And spare us the "talent" argument. . . .the talent on this team is pretty good.  The cupboard was not as bare as many claim.  It's simply not been utilized very well .. . and that's on the staff.    While the focus of our fan base will be on replacing the OC (which we should. . .sorry Jay, you suck as a play caller). . . .we should be hiring a quality DC (Greg Robinson. . .you up for a 3rd tour at TEXAS . . .we need you. . . . BADLY) .. . we saw in 2013 the impact of a real DC on a team.  it was immediate and dramatic.

I love CFS. . .I love the values he brought to our program.   But the #1 thing I thought he could do was restore TEXAS to being a high quality D.   There are no excuses on the O side, we clearly have the talent to be a power rushing team, a chain moving clock gobbling offense with some decent deep strike weapons.   We failed to build that O. . . . in fact we squandered an entire offseason with the wrong QB which only further hampered the growth of the right QB . ..as least in a battle between Swoopes and Heard (since the plan was always to redshirt Kai).    Honestly. . .I hope texlarry is right. . .that we have already identified our next HC and we will make that move on 6 Dec.   If I were a betting man, I'll bet he is wrong and that we have CFS in 2016.   And winning 7 in 2016 is very possible. . . . will that be enough for CFS to get a 2017?   I don't know but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.   Barring a change of both OC and DC. . . I don't see us making a quantum leap in production today.   Guess that means I'm off the bandwagon and that sucks cuz I really thought CFS was going to be the guy.

Ranking the BigXII-pre-weekend

OU

Baylor

OSU

TCU

TT

WVU

KSU

ISU

TEXAS

Kansas

 

[tejasrulz]

Agree with the 4th down call, worst call of the year or maybe ever. I was livid.

Heard was 2-5 but I believe 2 of them hit the WRs right in their hands, one of them being Daje.

I liked Swoopes being a RB last night, we should use him more next year in short yardage situations. He throws a nice looking long ball (ie spiral) but his accuracy is bad, very bad. He missed a wide open WR that would have been 6.

 

[tinman]

Its the lack of fundamentals that pisses me off the most about this program...the entire staff is on the hook for the product put on the field!!!

 

[echeese]

Agree with the 4th down call, worst call of the year or maybe ever. I was livid.

Heard was 2-5 but I believe 2 of them hit the WRs right in their hands, one of them being Daje.

I liked Swoopes being a RB last night, we should use him more next year in short yardage situations. He throws a nice looking long ball (ie spiral) but his accuracy is bad, very bad. He missed a wide open WR that would have been 6.

He missed 5 or 6 of those and I'm not going back to re-watch to count . . .

Johnson had one or 2, Daje 1 or 2 and Burt had 2. .  .

 

[bcherry168]

Have to agree with you again, echeese. The offense sucks....the scheme, the play calling and the execution....except for the run game. The next OC hire is going to determine Charlie Strong's longevity, and it should.

Am also beginning to agree with you about the defense. The kids are making the same mistakes now that they did at the beginning of the season. One would think that the coaches could cure that.

Neither Heard nor Swoopes has shown anything that would make me think we can reach championship caliber with them at quarterback. That is going to mean breaking in a new one with what must be our new offense next year.

We need to recruit some defensive linemen capable of controlling the line of scrimmage. Right now it is hit or miss.

We need to recruit some offensive linemen. Particularly some that can pass protect. It is nice to see the improvement since the beginning of the season, but we need better in order to compete.

We have a bright future as our freshmen and sophomores mature, but we need another really good recruiting class to get to the level we want.

But mainly, we need a better offensive coaching staff and a high quality quarterback.

 

[tejasrulz]

Neither Heard nor Swoopes has shown anything that would make me think we can reach championship caliber with them at quarterback.

Respectfully disagree. I believe Heard will be very good before he leaves Texas. Remember, he is/was a red-shirt freshman who was slated to be the backup this year and his best teammates are young too.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Respectfully disagree. I believe Heard will be very good before he leaves Texas. Remember, he is/was a red-shirt freshman who was slated to be the backup this year and his best teammates are young too.

Agree. Would love to see what a real offensive coordinator/QB coach could do with Heard.

 

[echeese]

Respectfully disagree. I believe Heard will be very good before he leaves Texas. Remember, he is/was a red-shirt freshman who was slated to be the backup this year and his best teammates are young too.

I'm going to sit squarely on the fence. . . 

Think Heard benefits in a HUGE way from being QB #1 all offseason, spring summer and fall.

Having said that, I sit Swoopes down and tell him he's the 18 Wheeler guy for 2016. . .but he'll get few reps with the #1s in practice.

I have a real QB competition with JH, Kai, Shane and Merrick. . . .#1 is QB #1. . .#2 is QB #2 and I run practices that way. . . hopefully Shane isn't #1 or #2 and can shirt but if he's the best QB. . . we roll him out there .. ..Kid is GOOD.

I get at least one more and maybe 2 JUCO OLs who can enroll in the spring. . . . 

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

Good write up, eCheese, but IMO Warren's running style more closely resembles Butch Hadnot - not Ricky.

This highlights why the Cheap Seats thinks that our fans screaming for an "Air Raid" OC have no clue about football.

Not me. I want a Tom Herman-like "power spread" similar to what tOSU ran last year

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Good write up, eCheese, but IMO Warren's running style more closely resembles Butch Hadnot - not Ricky.

Not me. I want a Tom Herman-like "power spread" similar to what tOSU ran last year

I want Tom Herman and whatever he wants to run. And I don't really care what it's called. 

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

If Charlie doesn't go offer Jerod Evans then I really won't know what to say. Can't risk hoping Heard or Swoopes will improve for 2016 and Buechele needs to redshirt.

 

[DMAC]

If Charlie doesn't go offer Jerod Evans then I really won't know what to say. Can't risk hoping Heard or Swoopes will improve for 2016 and Buechele needs to redshirt.

Vernon Adams would have been nice last year.  After watching Herman's cougars, I tend to think he could turn one of our existing QB's into a good QB.  Their 3rd String QB was decent and he was a WR when the year started.

We all have been conditioned to believe the kids are simply not ready or believe they are not good enough.  I call Bullshit on this staff.

Get a better OC/QB/HC and we might see Heard or Locksley come to life.

You have to take into consideration this coaching staff believes Gray should be the starter in front of Foreman or Warren.  That says it all.

 

[dillohorn]

We just went through this season without a QB. Same as last year. Probably be the same next year.

 

[SpCozer]

It's hard to believe that our starting QB for next year is on campus. Seems to me that we should go after Evans and get him to start your two years. Then we bring in a quality OC as well. This would allow Shane to RS for a year and have no pressure to start. Maybe Locksley will also benefit from another year sitting. Evans get two years to start, we may be able to have a good quality QB competition going into Heard's RS Senior season, Shane's RS-Sophomore, and Ellingher can RS that same season. I know it may seem like an outlandish idea, but we have to win next year. At the very least, win 8 games and compete in the other games. Not having a quality QB is what has killed the last two seasons.

 

[DMAC]

It's hard to believe that our starting QB for next year is on campus. Seems to me that we should go after Evans and get him to start your two years. Then we bring in a quality OC as well. This would allow Shane to RS for a year and have no pressure to start. Maybe Locksley will also benefit from another year sitting. Evans get two years to start, we may be able to have a good quality QB competition going into Heard's RS Senior season, Shane's RS-Sophomore, and Ellingher can RS that same season. I know it may seem like an outlandish idea, but we have to win next year. At the very least, win 8 games and compete in the other games. Not having a quality QB is what has killed the last two seasons.

Watson will not start True Freshmen.  They always think they are not ready yaddi yadda.  

Funny Mahomes, Stidham, Rudolph all started as a true freshmen.  True freshmen benefit from RS.  Makes sense so it must be true.  

Someone tell Baylor, Tech, and OSU.  

Its not like they have top 3 offenses in the NCAA right?

 

[Danny Hale]

my biggest complaint about this staff is continuing to play the same players no matter how poorly they play or the amount of mistakes they make every game. Doyle and Flowers have been horrible for 2 years possibly the 2 worse OL in Texas history with penalties,blown assignments,and no ability to hold L.O.S.

playing Gray over Foreman and Warren makes me question if this staff was really trying to win.

playing Hall as a deep safety as he clearly struggles against the pass and then playing alongside Haines leaves the corners with no help. Elliott and Locke showed enough more in their very limited playing time yet they got to witness how not to play safety at college level.

watching the 2 WR`s named Johnson being the featured WR`s when neither can catch or run routes consistently and then compound that because it keeps Foreman,Joe,and Newsome on the bench.also throwing to Beck was an incompletion waiting to happen.

Charlie showed in 2015 class he could identify talent but he also showed his staff has no clue how to use the talent i.e. DeAndre McNeal where are you. this team hasn`t gotten better as season went along which is coaching.

 

[DMAC]

my biggest complaint about this staff is continuing to play the same players no matter how poorly they play or the amount of mistakes they make every game. Doyle and Flowers have been horrible for 2 years possibly the 2 worse OL in Texas history with penalties,blown assignments,and no ability to hold L.O.S.

playing Gray over Foreman and Warren makes me question if this staff was really trying to win.

THIS^^^

How much you want to bet is Gray if healthy for Baylor he starts?

 

[DMAC]

Charlie showed in 2015 class he could identify talent but he also showed his staff has no clue how to use the talent i.e. DeAndre McNeal where are you. this team hasn`t gotten better as season went along which is coaching.

Bad teams find a way to lose.  A bad coaching staff goes for 25 on 4th and 7.

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

Starting true freshmen QBs isn't wise. Just because some have success doesn't mean it is the ideal situation by any means. Stidham walked into a situation with a great run game, solid OL, and ballers at wide receivers. He is also pretty talented so that helps.

I will say I would like to see the guys on campus under a decent QB coach because I honestly don't know if they are getting coached up at all right now. Either they aren't getting coached up, they aren't taking the coaching, or a combination of both.

That said, I still think Jerod Evans needs an offer and I would have had that to him in writing yesterday.