echeese
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View from the Cheap Seats-USC
Coulda . . . .Shoulda. . . ..Woulda
It was the best of times. . ..it was the worst of times. There is something about the feel of a later afternoon game from the West Coast. It's something in the cool air and the electricity of the crowd that just screams COLLEGE FOOTBALL. TEXAS traveled to a sold out coliseum (first sell out since 2013) and put on the type of defensive show that lived up to the hype of both players and Coach Orlando. In a game billed as a blow out, it was the defenses that made the most noise. USC's high flying offense was lead by Heisman hopeful and likely #1 pick in the NFL draft, Sam Darnold and they were expected to put on a dazzling display. Instead, Sam D spent the evening rattled by a relentless TEXAS defense which completely shut down the vaunted Trojan rushing attack. Keep in mind Darnold would throw for almost 400 yards and 3 TDs. Most QBs would kill for those stats and USC would need every yard by the end of the evening but the truth was, the TEXAS D had Sam rattled. Well except for a 19 second end to the 1st half drive leading to a TD and a 43 second end to the 2nd Half drive putting the Trojans in position to force OT with a FG. On those two drives, Sam showed why he is touted to be the first name off Roger Goodell's lips in April, leading the Trojans to the scores that would put USC into overtime and eventual victory.
If you are a fan of great defense, great college football and nail biting excitement, this was an incredible game. We wondered how many fans thought it was over late in the 4th quarter when our young QB threw his final interception. .. . "well, never thought we were going to win but we showed up to play and didn't embarrass ourselves on a National stage". Have to confess, this was what the Cheap Seats were thinking. Already thinking about the litany of self inflicted wounds TEXAS still needs to fix to close out games vs quality opponents. However TEXAS wasn't having any of the doom and gloom, simply put, they weren't finished. After forcing a punt, the offense took over at their own 9 with 5 minutes on the clock. 91 yards to go, best OL in the locker room, behind an up till now unsteady true freshman QB and without scoring an offensive touchdown yet on the day, the Longhorn faithful wondered if there was any shot at stealing victory from the jaws of defeat? And Coach Orlando asks, if it's not too much to much to ask, can we eat up the rest of the clock? Can young Sam Ehlinger lead the team on the type of drive one expects from the Vince Young's and Colt McCoy's of the world?
So how do the Horns start? By proceeding to lose 4 yards on a swing pass then incur a false start penalty. 2nd and 17, hope dwindling , now it's 96 yards to go. Lil Jordan Humprey for 17, a 47 yard pass to Collin Johnson flips the field taking TEXAS from it's 25 to the USC 28. . .hope is alive. Incomplete, Incomplete Incomplete. ..Time out TEXAS. 4th and 10. . .last chance, Sam to Armanti Foreman for 11 to the USC 17. Then with less than a minute, Sam forced out to his right he hits Armanti Foreman in the end zone for TEXAS 1st lead of the night. On a rough night for the true freshman, REDEMPTION and the glory of the game winning drive. . .on the road. . .national stage.
As Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend.
Well you know the story from here, Sam would put together another less than a minute scoring drive, putting USC in FG range to tie the game. TEXAS would fumble the ball at the half yard line in the 2nd overtime period and USC would kick a long FG despite the defense allowing them exactly 1 yard.
Coulda . . . .Shoulda. . . . .Woulda
Our defense was the star of the evening, lead by Poona Ford and his defensive line mates, they would dominate their side in the battle of the trenches against a very talented USC OL (though they were forced to start a freshman at RT). They shut down McKinney's Ronald Jones who entered the game rushing for 137 yards a game, holding him to 50 yards and holding a USC rushing attack averaging 270 ypg to less than 80. They kept constant pressure on Sam Darnold, forcing him into errant and hurried throws, harassing him at every turn. Yes, he still put up almost 400 yards and 3 TDs but he was intercepted twice while TEXAS played bend but don't break. You kept thinking they would eventually wear out, that they could not keep up the intensity but it never happened. Instead they flew to the ball, played assignment football and did everything they could have to produce Coach Tom's 1st signature win. Well, expect for 2 drives under a minute each at the end of each half. Still it should have been more than enough. It was still the finest defensive performance seen on the 40 since the 2009 title run season. DeSean Elliott with 2 picks including a pick 6 giving TEXAS 4 D/STs TDs in 3 weeks. Malik Jefferson with a game living up to his 5 star potential and this was easily his best outing as a Longhorn. This is the defense TEXAS fans have been longing for though it does bring up the question, where has it been? Is this a one time/on the National stage performance or is this the beginning of a return to TEXAS defensive glory? Time will tell but until proven otherwise, the Cheap Seats thinks the light switch turned on for the D.
Let's begin with the shining star on offense. Collin Johnson is simply a beast. He registered an All American level game starting from the very 1st play finishing with 7 catches for 191 yards on a night were he would make one spectacular catch after another. It got to the point where we ALMOST felt sorry for USC's DB who they left in man coverage much of the night. Armanti Foreman and Lil Jordan Humprey both had nice nights as well. Foreman's TD catch at the :43 second mark in the 4th a thing of beauty.
Well from there, the offensive story pretty much turns to crap. Playing against a defense which was venerable to the run, what is TEXAS' gameplan? Put the game on the back of a true freshman and ask him to throw it 40 times, 43 really as he was sacked 3 times. Keeping in mind this wasn't Maryland where the Horns were behind by 2 scores, the USC game never had a lead of more than a TD. You have a Top 25 RB so you give him all of 4 carries????? . Instead you give 5 carries to a back who averaged 1.8 ypc. Sorry, we think Porter is a great kid and maybe he can block but he is not a great or even good D1 RB. WTH? Yes, USC was stacking the box and daring the TEXAS to beat them throwing the ball. A play we hope we see TEXAS borrow from USC was their WR screen. What a play. Features an easy throw to a very talented WR who gains 5 yards pretty much every time. And with the size of TEXAS' WRs (Collin Johnson John Burt Lil Jordan) as well as the running ability of WRs like Heard, Duverney or Mepps after the catch, this is a no brainer. Not to mention, sets up the deep ball really well.
Joe Klatt is becoming one of the Cheap Seats favorite announcers and he pointed out that it seemed every time Sam E would get in a rhythm, the coaches would break the rhythm by bringing in the Heard package. Of course the Heard package added nothing to the offense, averaging 2.8 ypc.
Fairly early in the game you lose your All American LT so you move your RT over, a player many fans claim should be benched. So if play calling and scheme isn't enough of a question, your offense records 10 penalties while your center can't get on the same page with your QB and the snap counts. Including the uber embarrassing, everyone else has the snap count and takes off but the center doesn't snap the ball. There were 3 or 4 "bad snaps", not sure if it was freshman QB or C at fault and frankly that's for the coaches to work out, you just can't give plays away like that.
TEXAS just does not have an offensive identity right now and will point out, if TEXAS wants to succeed at the highest levels, our offensive line has to become one of the strengths of the team. We certainly have the WRs, we seem to have depth at RB if we can get Porter out of the way, we have talent at QB, certainly the best talent since the elder McCoy left but can we develop the OL? A major concern as this staff seems more intent on recruiting DBs and WRs, though the offer to the JUCO OT this week a welcome sign.
And we'll go out on a limb and infuriate some of the Tiger Beat fans, if Shane was 100% and everything else being same, we beat USC. Too many passes missed by Sam on throws Shane would have made. Too many mistakes. And with a few more competitions, USC cannot stack the box. Shane was not 100% and the staff made 100% the right call and Sam ALMOST delivered. However almost doesn't count though he showed why he is the future (and I have no doubt he is). Of course I do not blame Sam for the loss either, the loss not on any one person. He played about what I expected. Collin Johnson bailed him out with some catches, though have zero issue with him throwing CJ a 50/50 ball in single coverage. But his teammates mistakes, his staff messing with his rhythm or a really odd scheme and at the end of the day, the D not being able to tackle Ronald Jones at the end of the 1st or stopping USC at the end of the 4th. . . all those combined lead to the loss.
NO MORAL VICTORIES
Sorry, the Cheap Seats doesn't do moral victories, we'll leave that for the ags. We let a game we coulda/shoulda/woulda won get away. That's on us. Does not mean we're not proud as hell at the effort. Kids went out being told they would be blown out and they acquitted themselves very well.
Player of the game
Clearly Collin Johnson, nuff said, All American Effort. Have to give Tristen Nickleson some love. Flips from right tackle to left mid game (that's not easy) and his play seemed to have improved. Though our runner up on offense is Armati Foreman.
Poona Ford on the defense with DeSean Elliott a very close runner up though the entire D deserves to take a bow.
Around the BigXII
#1 Ho Hum, OU, another week, another top ranking.
#2 OSU, who can stop their offense? Bedlam will be interesting, today these 2 the class of the BigXII
#3 TCU They let SMU hang around for a half but took care of business
#4 WVU Beat up a Tier III team
#5 TT Won a shoot out with the ASU sun devils. See TT falling in the rankings soon
#6 TEXAS With this defensive play, TEXAS going to make some noise
#7 KSU Thought they would roll Vandy, clearly not the case
#8 ISU Next up for TEXAS in Ames on a Thursday night. Glad we have a bye before the game not a short week
#9 KU Beaten up by a MAC team, of course it seems everyone will beat them up this year
#10 Baylor F Baylor
Week 3 playoff projections
#1 Clemson They don't seem to be missing a beat
#2 Bama Better than last year? Maybe, a Clemson/Bama title re-match of the re-match doesn't shock us
#3 Penn State Class of the B1G?
#4 OU that sucks to type.
Outside looking in,
OSU win bedlahm and BigXII title, they are in, split and bigXII is out
USC TEXAS highlighted some issues
UDub Schedule sets up very favorably
