Ya thinking it was just a bad throw that never should've been made. Not to bag on Herman for a freshman mistake but no reason why those guys shouldn't have been on the same page. You had the timeouts but wanted to go fast instead, we've seen that a lot in the red zone with not a lot of success. As far as the chicken or the egg question, the available talent is what it is. Good coaches can find ways to mask deficiencies IMO, Herman/Beck have not done well in this department. Think the OT drive encompassed the offense so far this season. 1st and 10 on the 5 and you call 3 straight passes all to the sideline. Didn't even think about running it and even worse IMO, you call a roll out and tightening the end zone that much more.
Sagarin currently has the Texas SOS at #5. That's unlikely to change much. Sagarin's "predator" ranking which uses point totals to factor rankings puts us as the #20 team in the country despite our losing record. His average ranking has us at #25. https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/ Undefeated South Florida has the is ranked 123 in SOS at #31 in his averaged ranking. They would be murdered if we were still in the BCS era. We'll see what the playoff committee does if they are undefeated at the end of the year. It'll hopefully start a dialog for the need for an 8 team playoff. It might have been a throw that you're more likely to make at home in front of a crowd that wants to see that big win. The kid got greedy and wanted to end the game. What I was trying to get at earlier is that we don't necessarily know what the #1 option was for those sideline throws. It's very possible (likely IMO) those were all the backup routes and that's where Sam went. I think those sideline routes are comfortable for Sam and they are all you have left when you scramble out of the pocket due to pressure. Trying to get the ball back in the center of the field requires you throw across your body which is really dangerous for any QB. They are also safer in Sam's head since he's either going to get an incompletion due to WR out of bounds or a completion. It's a low INT throw. It's also easier to track WRs when you are looking for the ones going to the sideline. If Sam is turning around every 3 seconds to get away from a rusher then it's hard to re-eastabslish his eyeliner and figure out where everyone is. In terms of running it, take away Warren's 15 yard carry and he's averaging 1.6 yards for 11 carries. The strength of the Texas offense is the WRs so that's why I think they threw it every down. Good things can happen after the catch if you get those guys the ball. I think that's why you see too many of those WR screens. They are trying to get the ball to where the talent is. I'm not trying to defend Beck. It's not like I was big on the decision to hire him. I'm just saying that there is more going on within the execution of the play calling that complicates how we evaluate the offense. It's just a lot easier to blame the Cordinator.
I'm still kinda excited about the upcoming game lol. It looks like it could be Smith or the true freshman Brewer outta Austin
The problem with calling rollouts as much as Beck did was you're automatically putting Sam on the run making throws that much harder. Moreover, you really only have 2 throwing options with rollouts: Making a tight sideline throw with minimal chance at YAC or throwing across your body which is a dangerous throw at any level like you said. That being said, the rollouts were obviously calls to give Sam more time as the OL wasn't getting the job done. But we're in trouble if that is the only way Beck combats the pass rush, which is my biggest issue. As far as that last call, it was a pick play for Heard to the pylon. It looks like Joe (or both) ran a bad route and Heard had to jump out of the way to avoid running into his own guy. So yes the execution was bad but looking at the replay you can see that Heard was the #1 and only option which is why he still tried to pass to him. Leonard actually had a better chance at a back corner catch had Sam given it more air but don't think he ever saw him. Yes it's easier to blame the coordinator but it's not pulling it out of thin air either. It's for the same reason you weren't big on the hire in the first place.
Few updates: - Ehlinger was held out of practice yesterday. Nothing official but I expect Shane to get the start, hopefully he can get the offense going. - 5* Anthony Cook announcing this Sunday. Everything points to a Texas-LSU battle with LSU surging as of late but Texas in good position apparently. 4* DT Bobby Brown announcing tomorrow but not looking like UT is in the picture. - One last note on the OkSt. loss, none of our Top 4 receivers were on the field for the last play. Hemphill-Mapps was injured but 6'6" Collin Johnson, 6'4" Lil' Jordan Humphrey and Armanti Foreman (leading TD receiver) were all on the sideline.
I think this is a short term vs. long term thing for Herman. He can't install the culture he wants if he lets guys play who aren't doing what he wants them to do in practice. I think the team would be more likely to win game by game but I'm guessing if is looking at it as a difference between winning some games and winning a championship. It reminds me of holdouts in the NFL. You would be better off if this player is on the field but it's not good long term for that type of business to be acceptable. It's the ultimate, "you think I'm joking?. However, that's just my guess.
If you're going to throw a "jump ball" in the corner of the endzone, and you have Collin Johnson sitting on the sideline, you are doing something wrong.
Ya I understand holding out Armanti if not doing what he's being asked in practice but no Collin Johnson and LJH isn't a good call IMO. Those guys have at least 4-6 inches on any of their DBs not to mention both guys have made big time catches for us this season so far. Heard/Joe/Leonard combined have the same number of catches Johnson has had thus far. But oh well...just need to learn and move on. Also, Shane will start as expected. No official word on Ehlinger but looks like there are/were some concussion like symptoms from the game.
I mean, if you agree with benching Armanti then I don't think you can really disagree with benching Collin Johnson if its for the same reason. The fact that you really need Johnson only undercuts the principle that you have to do things the right way in order to play. It's looking at the big picture. The reason that I feel more sympathetic to this stems from one of my biggest problems with Charlie. He benched his upperclassmen for freshmen because he wanted to play his guys. I think it hurt their development in their play on the field and I think it could easily affect their work ethic and generate a sense of entitlement. I can understand why Herman would bench CJ for a senior. I'm not trying to say that Herman is right. I have no clue. I just mean to say that I understand his reasoning and that you can't change a culture and make exceptions. I remember saying in the thread when Herman was hired to expect a decent amount of transfers because of the huge shift he presented from Charlie and I remember getting some pushback here. I think we lost an above average amount of players for a typical coaching change and it wasn't surprising. What I didn't expect then but what I think we will see now is another round of transfers after the season. These are guys that gave it a chance but just can't fit in with how Herman wants to do things. We'll see. The team desperately needs wins to maintain their recruiting strength. I can easily see them dropping out of the top 10 in recruiting classes if they lose a few more games. I know a lot of people don't care about class rankings. I just mean that we'll have more talented guys leave than stay.
Funny I'm actually agreeing with you but still seemed to have taken it a different way. Armanti has been held out of 3 games this season by coach's decision (reportedly due to practice effort). CJ on they other hand has played in every game, is their leading receiver, and just wasn't in the last play due to the playcall/personnel package which was my issue with it. Armanti and CJ are completely different cases which is why I'm okay with one and not the other.
Oh, I thought you were referring to the fact that CJ was moved from a starter to a backup in the official depth chart for the Ok St game.
I kicked a 25 yarder on my 2nd try, barefoot, drunk and high, at Rice Stadium after a game about 10 years ago. I would have tried from longer but security kicked us out. I have eligibility remaining.
