You Bet Your Ash

To say there was chatter about the woes of the Texas quarterback situation in the off-season would be an understatement.  At the conclusion of the 2011 Holiday Bowl it started and it progressed, even after Mack Brown publicly named David Ash the starter in a press conference on August 22.  The worry continued among Texas fans, and the blasting from those not so fond of the Longhorns kept on.  On August 3^rd ESPN’s David Ubben released his Big 12 quarterback rankings on his blog and ranked the Ash/ McCoy duo the 10^th & 11^th best quarterbacks, respectively – in a league with 10 teams. Fair?  Who the hell cares?  Even with the pseudo-coronation of David Ash as the starter there is fear that the coaching staff will turn to McCoy if things show the slightest indication of deep-sixing.  Ain’t gonna happen.  Why?  This team belongs to David Ash.  Texas fans are sick and tired of hearing about the quarterback competition and how great this team and the season could be if we only had…… If we only had what?

From what I saw last Saturday night the quarterback play was the last thing we need to worry about.  Ash showed up with confidence and rendered efficiently good quarterback play against Wyoming.  20-27 for 156 yards and a touchdown aren’t Heisman candidate stats but David Ash is not supposed to be RG3 this year – he’s supposed to be David Ash.  Sure he needs to work on his touch with the long ball, but he only attempted a few passes over 20 yards.  His longest pass of the night went for a 16 yard touchdown to Texas wide receiver Jaxon Shipley.  The rest of them were crisp and on-target, moving the chains for the team – THAT is what was expected of the sophomore against Wyoming.  Will that type of play carry the Horns all year?  Depends.  Looking at the gargantuan offensive numbers West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Baylor put up last weekend, probably not.  But the Longhorns need to worry about that when the time comes.

At the conclusion of a game coaches and critics alike are inclined to grade performance by position.  While it is necessary because it helps identify the areas in need of improvement collectively and individually, sometimes just focusing on the strengths is good enough. For David Ash that’s exactly what needs to be done.  He needs to build on the victory and smart play and continue to show improvement in his command of the offense.  Ash is undoubtedly the best option for Texas at quarterback, but the question his teammates, coaches and fans have is, can he do it?

You bet your Ash.