Football Articles
Texas Post-Mortem: Not Done Yet
Posted by Hiphopopotamus on November 23rd, 2009 under Football
First things first, we’ll update the Mangino saga. Apparently (and this isn’t from quite as reliable a source as we had last week, but trustworthy no less), we were all set to cut the chord on Thursday as initially speculated by many. However, at that time, the NCAA swooped in to investigate Lew and things were put on hold (which further explains the Chancellor’s comments in support of him) for the time being. Oh yeah, and there’s a $6mm buyout negotiation still being nailed down. Moving on…
Despite what the final score indicated, I loved what we saw on Saturday. Our corners still have no clue and Danario Alexander is probably going to eat us alive this week, but everything else was extremely encouraging. Some thoughts, in no particular order…
Eyes with his Good, Bad & Ugly
Jones with his Top Ten
And the BC open game thread, and all of its 660 comments as of right now
Toben Opurum going out hurt us quite a bit. As we all know, he’s been our best back this year, particularly near the goal line. Not having him – or at least the threat of him – really hurt us in both first and goal situations that eventually led to FGs (Kerry was agonizingly close to getting that foot in). And as I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, he will again be out against Missouri this week.
If it makes you feel any better, we probably weren’t going to run the ball much anyway. And if nothing else, at least this forced them to re-discover Rell Lewis. I won’t pretend I’ve been calling for him all season (mostly because I’ve wasted my energy on Opurum), but from what we saw out of him in the spring game and in mop up time Saturday (5 for 43) I really can’t explian his non-existence this season. Very confusing and I’d expect we’ll see him get at least a series or two on Saturday.
On the even brighter side, we seem to have rediscovered our passing game. Todd missed a throw here and there, but he was pretty consistent, mixed in some absolute beauties (39 yarder to Dez, in particular) and he took care of the ball (late INT didn’t bother me, mostly because Earl shoved Kerry down at Todd’s release). If he does the exact same things this week, we’ll be in position to score a lot of points on a defense that isn’t even in the same stratosphere as the Longhorns.
Isn’t it interesting how much it helps a QB to have a TE to dump the ball off to. For whatever reason, we’ve ignored Tim Biere all season. Until Saturday, when we threw his way 5 times, resulting in 3 catches for 17 yards. Nothing flashy, but kept the chains moving. Similarly, Bradley McDougald (3-22) and Jonathan Wilson (3-64) got into the act and helped take some attention off Kerry and Dez. Of course, just as soon as Wilson went up the sideline for 47 yards and gave us 1st and 10 at the Texas 22, he decided to piss down his leg and miss the next playcall (WR screen pass), resulting in a loss of 8 yards and eventual missed 50 yard FG. Sure, the game was over already (34-13 at that point), but a TD there sure could have made it somewhat interesting.
But since I’m trying to concentrate on the positive takeaways, how about our return units. Never in my wildest imagination did I think we’d win the special teams battle against Texas, but without a doubt we did. Even with a tipped early one, Rojas punted well and we covered fine (sans Mack throwing Earl Thomas out there to attempt to garner some award attention with a late game 50 yarder). And even Daymond got into the act with a nice 32 yard return of his own. But the bigger surprise was the kickoff units. As big a culprit as any in our loss last week, the kick coverage was very nice all night. On four kicks, neither Shipley nor Goodwin ever got much going, with a long of 27. On our side, Stuckey had 5 returns for 109 yards, with a long of 36 and Dez had three tries, going for 144 yards, with a 98 yard TD mixed in. Eventually, Mack would decide that instead of working on a weakness and trying to get better (in a blowout, no lees) they were better off to kick it short to Springer rather than risk things getting too close. After all, style points count and this win needed to be dominant.
Speaking of springer getting the ball, our end of the 1st half play calling was simply horrendous. We got the ball back with 1:21 left at our own 22. I’m perfectly fine with running it three times at the risk of punting it back. After all, the chances that we’re scoring without a timeout are slim to none. But if that’s the case (and it was), why in the world are we calling a short-side option on 3rd and 13?! Should Jake have just gone down? Absolutely. But why make it that damn difficult? Run up the middle for no gain and we’re still giving at back with a minute to play, but now they don’t have a timeout to set up before they kick. as it were, they got to our 35 (moved it to the 30 on a substitution penalty), called a timeou at 12 seconds and nailed a 47 yarder. In a 31 point final, it hardly made a difference, but it was 3 free points.
Worth noting, we also gave them 3 free points after Branstetter’s pathetic attempt at an onside that only went six yards. But in that case, the defense actually stepped up and made a big stop. And I actually liked the call – just so long as next time our kicker remembers to kick the ball instead of just tripping over it as he ran by.
Back to good news, how about Jeff Wheeler. 2 sacks and a forced fumble. Add in Thornton’s sack and we held our own in that department as well. The Horns better shore up that line in a hurry, because if we’re getting pressure with four (and we had several other hurries and forced scrambles), they’re gonna have their hands full with Von Miller this week and the Nebraska DL next week. Not to mention what they’ll see from Alabama or Florida. I’ve wanted to call them the best team in the country for a while now, but with that OL play and lack of running game, they’ve got some serious flaws to overcome. Then again, so do the others.
And though he was far from perfect, you had to love how active Thornton was out there. 8 solo tackles, the mentioned sack, a fumble recovery and a very nicely deflected ball in the end zone (even if he did find it luckily at the very last second).
I did find myself a little worried about Stuckey. He remains far and away our best defensive player, but he looked hobbled as he chased Malcolm Williams on that 68 yarder to bend us right back over after we tried to make it a game.
Huldon Tharp just wasn’t ready this year. He took a horrible angle on Helu that ultimately cost us the game last week. And his angles/block recognition on those WR screens this week were just atrocious. Going into the year, I reasoned that our lack of experienced LBs was being overblown, but as the year has gone on I’ve been proven more and more wrong each and every week. He’s a true freshman and the game will be incredibly slow for him by the time he’s a senior, but asking him to be an every down LB for us this year was down out of necessity, rather than ability (that one I did actually predict).
Random note here, but just in case any of you missed it…Mike Leach had Taylor Potts honor Jayhawk Nick Reid this week, by wearing the name “Nick” across his jersey instead of “Potts.” Said Leach,
I thought Nick played really well. I never had the opportunity to meet a guy named Nick Reed[sic] who was a linebacker for Kansas. And I always felt like he personified what a football player is and what a football player should be. I’d actually like to have a picture of Nick Reed[sic]. But anyway. We decided as Potts was going through his tough times, we decided all of our players, we’d like them to be more like Nick and led by Nick would be even better. We figured it wouldn’t hurt us to have a Nick, so now we do.
Nice gesture by the Captain.
And nice words from Mack in the postgame, not only about Mangino, but Todd, Dez and Kerry as well. The way he waved around his 4th quarter fingers like a pommie and the Earl Thomas punt return pissed me off, but I was glad to hear some of that stuff from him later on. Good guy and a good coach, even if he hasn’t figured out how to run the ball without an all-league guy in the backfield.
On that note, congrats to Colt for the win record. Just because it’s David Greene’s record he’s breaking doesn’t make it any less impressive. Maybe a little, but still (…it’s a bad sign when they have to put up #3 to make it credible). Win the next three and it might be his to keep for a long long time.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. We made some costly mistakes and Texas made some great plays. But we seemed to have our rhythm back a little bit and we battled all night long. If we had semi-respectable corners, we may have really made a game of it, despite their many other advantages. But more than anything, it showed me that despite the six game losing streak and the Mangino siutation, this team won’t go down lightly. It’s anyone’s game Saturday, but I haven’t felt this confident going in since Colorado week.
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Hiphopopotamus said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:32 am
Just found a nice quote from Todd:
“This was really the first time that we played a better team,” quarterback Todd Reesing said. “They outplayed us, and they were more talented today. So it doesn’t make a loss any easier, but when you lose those games we did the past weeks because of mistakes and poor play, it’s a much worse feeling in your stomach than when you come out and play as hard as you can and give great effort and you just get beat by a better team.”
Pretty much sums up exactly how I felt (and have felt all year).
Phenomenal Smith said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:04 am
Hiphop, nice writeup. I noted on AT that I was hoping to see signs of KU quitting on the season, but there wasn’t any of that. It’ll likely be a tight game at Arrowhead again.
Losing Opurum probably doesn’t hurt you guys much against the Tigers – if KU is going to beat the Tigers it’ll be through the air. The secondary is the Tigers’ soft underbelly, which is not a good thing against Briscoe and Meier. I’m having flashbacks…. Hopefully Gabbert and DA can keep this insane level of production up to keep the Tigers out in front. Should be fun. Weather’s looking good, too.
Triston27 said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 am
Saturday was the first time all season that I thought Todd threw the ball well. He wasn’t always accurate but the passes that were accurate actually looked nice. These were some of the first spirals I’d seen all year from him.
kuoirad said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:04 am
Hiphop:
First I’ve heard about Lew being investigated. Can you give any insight as to why?
And I put some thoughts of my own about attending the game in a response to someone else’s post over on KUSports. Not trying to drive traffic, just figure it’s easier to point to that post. More observations about being there than specifically about the game.
http://lnk.nu/boards.kusports.com/12z9.php
Ben F said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:24 am
Is there a tie to Texas Tech that I’m missing? Obviously Nick Reid is a great former player to model one’s NCAA football career after, but doesn’t TT have it’s own Nick Reid? Is Nick Reid just TT’s Michael Jordan? Maybe they should just hang his jersey on the wall like the Miami Heat did with Jordan’s.
Not to dog on TT for doing it, since the more recognition Reid gets for being a great player and football personality the better, but it just seems odd.
Ben F said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:31 am
(of course I could just go to the source material that was linked in the write-up, but) I found this 30 seconds later expanding on the ‘opotamus quote above, at HawkDigest http://hawkdigest.ning.com/profiles/blogs/inside-the-tent-texas-51 which I have quoted here (since everyone’s interested in me answering my own question):
Leach expands on why he chose Reid:
“He had good games against everybody. There wasn’t anybody he didn’t have a good game against. They went through some hard times and he was always just gritty and tough, and would hit anything that moved. Always a handful. A factor on every play that you played against him. Not one play stands out. Part of it is just the simple fact that in preparing for other teams you end up watching Kansas a certain amount and what not, and, you know, he’s right in the thick of it.”
Hiphopopotamus said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:32 am
Ben – I don’t think there’s any specific tie to Nick Reid, but my guess would be that Leach heard that Nick came out to publicly defend Mangino and he was sticking up for his old colleague.
Triston27 said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
kuoirad- Glad you had fun. Or so it sounds at least. It’s nice to hear someone’s perspective of an away game. As for some of your observations:
Pretty cool that their band was playing our music. Can’t say that I’ve ever heard that, but then again I’ve never really paid attention.
Meier was clearly out of bounds. Made a very nice effort though.
That hit on Colt was pretty borderline. Not sure if you got to see replays but it looked to me like McCoy was just starting his slide as he was hit. Where, when TR was hit last week, he was well into his slide. I’m glad they didn’t toss a flag, but wouldn’t complain too loudly if they did.
kuoirad said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Triston:
Thanks, it was fun.
Playing the visitor’s alma mater is something that’s done at UT. Either the UT Band plays it, or the visitor’s band plays it if they’re there. Same place time wise, iirc. Classy move. Something I think we should do at Memorial.
Oh well on Meier.
I don’t remember getting any replays on Colt’s slide, but I can’t be sure. I thought we got away with one when it happened.
Neon said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
This just needs to end…
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/nov/23/manginos-communication-perkins-has-been-practicall/
Big Head said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
So 100%, Opurum is out this week? Hell. Yes.
Now if Meier and Dezmon could grab some swine flu, that would be great.
Hiphopopotamus said:
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
oirad: I actually have no idea. My best guess would be to make sure he’s following protocol, etc…but again, I can’t even confirm it’s truth. Does hold some ground though when you couple it with the Chancellor’s comments.
BH – Opurum is out. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear the same about Lubbock Smith.
As of now, Kerry and Dez are still planning to go for about 300 plus. I’ll let you know if that changes.
Earmuffs said:
November 24th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Wow what a stupid fucking write-up. Did you miss the part where KU was buttfucked on the field or is Kansas football in such a pathetic state that you have to celebrate small victories inside of a thorough ass kicking.
Saying that Mack put in Earl Thomas to pad his stats shows you don’t know shit. First of all how much influence would late season punt return stats(against a dogshit team) have in the Thorpe voting? What was Mack supposed to do, keep Shipley in? Now that would be padding stats. In addition to running through the the gayhawk defense like shit through a goose Shipley was also returning punts and kicks. In a blowout like that he has to get off the field. When you get your number one guy off the field you generally put in your number 2,, whouldn’t you think? That happens to be Earl Thomas.
BluManGrp said:
November 24th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Wow, Earmuffs, you’re an effective writer. You really painted an image for me as I read that. It was an image of me continuing to beating the sh!t out of your lifeless body, long after you breathed your last wasteful breath. Go ahead and never come back. Better yet, if you are a Misery fan as I suspect, name the time and parking lot coordinates and we can make that image a reality on Saturday. Happy Thanksgiving!
kuoirad said:
November 24th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
BluMan:
Sounds more like a Whorn than a Methzurian.
Hiphopotamus said:
November 25th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I’ve long since operated under the assumption that no less than 90% of people are functionally incompetent. The fact that we have so few of them stray over here really has been an anomaly. It’s only fair that we get an occasionaly visit, given what other blogs/boards have to endure regularly.
As to the questions, I’m not sure how you celebrate, but writing what amounted to a bullet point review of some high and low points that had a semi-positive tone isn’t my standard celebration. To me, thta tone was justified as we were the first team since Tech, over 2 months ago to put up 20 points and 300 yards on a very good Texas team. After the tailspin we’d been in for the previous five weeks, especially the last one, that was pretty encouraging.
And if you don’t understand how returning a punt may help get a defensive player some publicity, then perhaps I’ve overrated you by labeling you functionally incompetent.
Texas Wahoo said:
November 25th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Mack has been trying to figure out what to do with the punt return situation all year. Obviously Shipley is the main punt returner, but he now has so many duties that it seems like it’s hurting his return games. He has had a bit of a fumbling issue in the return game recently. I support trying Earl out returning punts, especially in a game like this where it’s that or just send in someone who will never return a punt in the Bowl game. Plus, Earl has probably been begging to get the ball in his hands a little more.
I think it’s a little hypocritical of you to say Mack should be kicking deep to work on the teams kick coverage, but he should have scrubs back there fair catching punts.
Hiphopotamus said:
November 25th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Wahoo – Fair enough. I didn’t realize it’s a position you guys had been tinkerng with lately. As soon as I saw him back there, though, it just felt like he was being tossed in to hopefully break one. As i said above, I’m a Mack fan – it just pissed me off at the time, but I probably over-reacted.
Earmuffs said:
November 25th, 2009 at 9:52 am
If you don’t think that write up was a tone of celebration then I don’t know what to tell you. Perhaps since I don’t follow the Jayhawks I don’t know just how bad it’s been but I still don’t agree with celebrating a loss in that manner. If someone read your recap and never watched the game they would have never guessed it was a 31 point loss. It’s really hard to dress that up. I was at the game and I commented to several people that the Jayhawks had a lot of fight in them and they are much better than their record so I’ll give you that. But the fact is it was a 31 point defeat and the offense only scored 13 points.
The biggest beef I have is about the Earl Thomas comment. It’s just stupid to try and blame Mack for that. Earl has been the back up punt returner all year long yet Mack always leaves Shipley in the whole game so Thomas essentially has no game experience returning punts. It’s been a criticism of Texas fans all year. He finally did the smart thing and got Shipley out of the game when it was a blowout and some blogger accuses him of playing unfair or something. So basically you rave that KU did better than a lot of opponents against Texas yet complain that Mack played unfair by putting the 2nd team punt returner in. Are you saying it’s an unfair advantage? Is Earl too good to be put on punt team? I guess I just don’t understand what your beef is there. It’s not really a common practice to go to your 3rd punt returner because you’re 2nd punt returner might be too good and might be portrayed as running up the score or padding stats.
Hiphopotamus said:
November 25th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Earmuffs: Being that I’m not a beat reporter, I write these assuming anyone taking the time to read an obscure blog has also taken the time to actually watch the game.
And just as you commented at the game, I was simply pointing out that we showed some good stuff out there. Given how things had gone lately, that was encouraging. We’ve concentrated plenty on the bad this season and since this game was crossed off even back when we thought we might be good, it was good to see us play hard and do some things well.
Re: Earl Thomas – I’d suggest you simply re-read the comment above yours.
UGAhorn said:
November 25th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Earmuffs: Please stop being a whorn. There are far better ways to get your point across than slinging insults like “gayhawk”, “buttfucked”, “dogshit team” and the like. Maybe do a teensy tiny itty bit of research about the team you are so vehemently defending and realize that we have had issues with the return game all season. Mack is still tweaking that and trying to find the best way to approach it.
Shipley is good, no doubt about it, but as you (rudely) put in one of your posts, he can’t do everything. Perhaps instead of spewing shit with every syllable, you could have said it like Wahoo did. That Mack is still tinkering. Shipley has had fumbling issues. And it’s a good idea to get more people used to returning balls before a major game.
Stop being a whorn. Act with a little more class, would you?
Earmuffs said:
November 25th, 2009 at 11:07 am
uguhorn get off your high horse. None of what you said is even true. There was no “tinkering” and especially not because of Jordon fumbling. Look at the score and the time left in the game when Earl was in. Do your own research.
And this is a blog site. I don’t have to be all eloquent like you suggest. And pick a fucking team why don’t you. Nobody on Orangebloods gives a damn about Georgia.
Earmuffs said:
November 25th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Hippo,
Sorry I had already started responding before you typed the comments about Earl. I guess I understand your point a little better about the season you’re having and how it must have been encouraging. I guess since I live here in the middle of all these moronic Aggie’s I’m a little hypersensitive about moral victories because they are the king of them.
Like I said earlier, KU put up a helluva fight despite the score and they are much better than their record. Usually when a losing streak like this happens to a good and talented team you have some internal non-football problems and obviously those seem to be coming to light.
My apologies for the rant from last night and if I could delete I would. I think I was just so happy to be on a forum that doesn’t censor that I got carried away:)
UGAhorn said:
November 25th, 2009 at 11:46 am
I guess you haven’t been watching the same team I have all season. I’ve seen multiple return men and an ever shifting group in an attempt to tweak and get things better. And I never knew that asking someone to not fling insults was getting on high horse. I just thought it was low class and showing massive disrespect. Forgive me if I prefer people to be treated with respect and courtesy. Even on the Internet.
And UGA is my graduate school. BS in Biochemistry from Texas in 2005. At Georgia in grad school working towards my Ph.D in Molecular Genetics. You may not care about Georgia, but you aren’t me. And I can pay respects to my graduate school in my username if I damn well please.
Not that you know anything about respect.