Cotton Bowl: Horns-Buckeyes Game Thread
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And next year when Arch isn't God people realize why Quinn was the starter this year. Despite his shortcomings Quinn has been a very good QB. A VY that can take the game over and win despite the coaching is a once a generation player. Even Colt is a once in a decade.
For not being a running QB Quinn has a great run to get close enough for a 1st down last night He was also able to escape enough to make an incredible pitch for a 1st down.
Sark let down the players and the fans with his ignorance on 1st and goal from the 1.
Such a tough loss, yet the Horns had a great season. But the "what ifs" will haunt us for a long time. At the beginning of the season I had a bad feeling that our kicking game would end up costing us at least one game and by mid season it was apparent we had an issue. As the season progressed I felt this was the biggest area Sark must address for next year.
With the season over, I've now concluded that a more critical change needs to take place for the Horns to truly compete for a national championship which means bringing in a proven and innovative OC. If anyone objectively analyzes Sark's play calling during his tenure here, at best you would grade him a "C". The stunning calls he makes (particularly in the red zone) more often than not fail and that's on him. He turns points into turnovers and in close games the momentum change is sometimes fatal (e.g. last night). My wish list for next year.
-Bring in a top notch OC who will use the endless supply of skill players we have. I know he was dinged up but where did Isaiah Bond go?
-Fix the kicking game (a new kicker plus renewed focus on kick coverage and return teams).
-Can we not find a true short yardage back? If there is none, go get one.
-Our Oline ended up being a bit overrated, but some of that is due to QE being one dimensional. Bring in a few linemen to hopefully improve our performance.
-Bring in 1-2 more defensive line men as we should not assume that any of the incoming freshman will be ready to compete against championship competition.
All that said we made it to the semis for the second year in a row and its far, far better than the ten plus years of mediocrity beginning at the end of MB's tenure.
With the season over, I've now concluded that a more critical change needs to take place for the Horns to truly compete for a national championship which means bringing in a proven and innovative OC. If anyone objectively analyzes Sark's play calling during his tenure here, at best you would grade him a "C". The stunning calls he makes (particularly in the red zone) more often than not fail and that's on him. He turns points into turnovers and in close games the momentum change is sometimes fatal (e.g. last night). My wish list for next year.
-Bring in a top notch OC who will use the endless supply of skill players we have. I know he was dinged up but where did Isaiah Bond go?
-Fix the kicking game (a new kicker plus renewed focus on kick coverage and return teams).
-Can we not find a true short yardage back? If there is none, go get one.
-Our Oline ended up being a bit overrated, but some of that is due to QE being one dimensional. Bring in a few linemen to hopefully improve our performance.
-Bring in 1-2 more defensive line men as we should not assume that any of the incoming freshman will be ready to compete against championship competition.
All that said we made it to the semis for the second year in a row and its far, far better than the ten plus years of mediocrity beginning at the end of MB's tenure.
Horns had a great first year in the SEC. Reminds me of the early 2000’s where they were good, but couldn’t get over the hump of OU. Sark needs to mature as a head coach with in game decisions and continue to build on the talent. The team is poised to be dominant over the coming years.
Unlike the early 2000s, Texas can now get bailed out with a ridiculous 12 team playoff format and go further than the very team they couldn't beat twice.
Pretty much. Helm under fing center would of been nice.
Like most elite championship athletes, the pain of losing is worse than the joy of winning….and gives his all when in the game.
Great young man, there. Wish we had 25+ with that fire and desire.
In addition to the bonehead decisions of Sark at the 1 yard line; and K in the final seconds of the first half blitzing the osu QB and losing containment, there was one more glaring reason the Horns were stymied.
That is the referee's refusal to call holding on osu. Their offensive linemen were holding almost every play. Simmons had arms draped around him all night. Seriously. And on our final drive their D backs practically tackled our receivers twice to prevent them from getting open and catching the tying TD pass. It was called twice. It could have and should have been called all night as our receivers were breaking open and their D backs grabbed our receivers jerseys repeatedly .
Our receivers were mauled all night and osu should have had to pay all night.
That is the referee's refusal to call holding on osu. Their offensive linemen were holding almost every play. Simmons had arms draped around him all night. Seriously. And on our final drive their D backs practically tackled our receivers twice to prevent them from getting open and catching the tying TD pass. It was called twice. It could have and should have been called all night as our receivers were breaking open and their D backs grabbed our receivers jerseys repeatedly .
Our receivers were mauled all night and osu should have had to pay all night.
Well, I know we were excited and expectant, because this forum doesn't get so personally negative with each other.
I was surprised/disappointed/disagreed with two play calls. The long TD before halftime, and the pitch out from the 1 yard line. They were the difference imo.
I actually thought the refs did pretty well but agree the refs missed on 1) the no call on Simmons and 2) the no call PI on the sideline in front of the ref and Sark.
Other than the one play before half, I thought our defense played great. Jeremiah Smith with 1 for 3? GTFO with that awesomeness.
I thought QE did pretty well, but he's no VY. We needed great, but his slinging throwing motion really hurts our offensive efficiency. I don't fault him for the last fumble TD...it happens.
I was surprised/disappointed/disagreed with two play calls. The long TD before halftime, and the pitch out from the 1 yard line. They were the difference imo.
I actually thought the refs did pretty well but agree the refs missed on 1) the no call on Simmons and 2) the no call PI on the sideline in front of the ref and Sark.
Other than the one play before half, I thought our defense played great. Jeremiah Smith with 1 for 3? GTFO with that awesomeness.
I thought QE did pretty well, but he's no VY. We needed great, but his slinging throwing motion really hurts our offensive efficiency. I don't fault him for the last fumble TD...it happens.
Agree with a majority of that. Sark has been an amazing mad scientist with his play calling, but I think good coaches and teams are on to him now. Don’t get me wrong, he and the players are darn good enough to get us 10 win seasons, but we’re talking Natties here. We’re talking next level. I’m leaning towards Sark hiring a play caller but he may do better with a mobile QB. We’ll see I guess. I was at the game too, and noticed their QB making passes over our defenders…Quinn has struggled with that. Quinn is a bad dude and we couldn’t have made it this far without him. I get there are a few here that don’t allow for any critique whatsoever of him…they blame the O-line, D-line, or any coach not named Sarkesian, but everyone needs to do better if we want another Natty. I’m sure most on here aren’t satisfied with Semi-finals.
This is where a QB like VY, Gabriel, Mayfield, Daniels, Howard, etc - high threat dual run/pass athletes are worth their weight in gold. RPO, roll the pocket, scramble, designed QB run….another dimension for the D to handle. QE is a great QB but does not have the respect of the D as a run threat, so it takes something off the table for them to game plan for.
You need this to win a NC.
Quick Q for the Board: how/what does Sark do to get feedback and work on his game? Does he go get with Saban, Carroll, Meyer- great game day coaches - and get mentored, tough love, advice so he can continue to make adjustments and raise his game to NC breakthrough levels?
Serious question - not a lot of folks you can turn to for this. I’d think Saban would be ideal for Sark.
Serious question - not a lot of folks you can turn to for this. I’d think Saban would be ideal for Sark.
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During one of the Cowboy games this year, Babe Laufenberg said 'It's easy to sit 200' above the field or watch on TV and criticize everything you 'see'.' He went on to say what you don't see is the speed of the game. You don't see all of the preparation that a coaching staff and team goes through, the strengths and weaknesses, the tendencies in particular situations. You don't see that a coach spends over half of each day with his players, he knows their strengths and weaknesses too.
Had we scored to tie it at 21 and went on to win last night this board would've been crowning Sark as the 2nd coming of Saban this morning. But we didn't score and suddenly Sark is an idiot.
We as fans should always expect better. I still think Sark is exactly who this program needs and nights like last will make him better too. If that opinion somehow makes me a sunshine pumper, I plead guilty. And I will be a repeat offender.
Had we scored to tie it at 21 and went on to win last night this board would've been crowning Sark as the 2nd coming of Saban this morning. But we didn't score and suddenly Sark is an idiot.
We as fans should always expect better. I still think Sark is exactly who this program needs and nights like last will make him better too. If that opinion somehow makes me a sunshine pumper, I plead guilty. And I will be a repeat offender.
it was a great game, but that wide toss on the goal line when you only need 1 yard puts a sour note on this game - I thought the team did everything they needed to give themselves a chance to win - hung around, answered their scores and had a chance to tie it with a couple of minutes left - Ohio St is playing very well right now - our receivers have been held and interfered with all season - at least we had a couple of calls go our way tonight - the holding on Simmons was so obvious.....However, lets not let this diminish how far we have come in 3 seasons - it's nice to be complaining about losing a semi final game instead loss number 5 or 6 -now we have to continue to improve and get over the hump
The biggest issues the staff have to address next year are running back, forming an offensive line that doesn't run block like ******* p-ss--s, and finding/developing defensive backs who can mostly compensate for attrition in the secondary.
Stop pumping sunshine darlin.
Amen, GB. I’m so glad that a few million people don’t critique me in my every day job. That would suck donkey nuts. Of course I don’t get paid $5M+, but still the comment applies. Also, I’d wager that far less than 1% of us have never played or coached at the elite D1 level, so we are the people Teddy Roosevelt defers to in his famous speech.
I’m a fan and love Sark and what he’s done. Love QE for what he’s done. How both represent our school with dignity and class. And hope we continue the march towards the ultimate prize.
Sleeping on it and my take is that our weak spots were up front on offense. Without that, you can't run a great offense and a great quarterback will not look the part. In my view, Quinn is not a top five pick due to his accuracy issues. But he keeps his cool and what he did in OT against Arizona State was like Joe Montana.
Ohio State has a great offensive and defensive line. We were stressed at that point. Even so, some questionable coaching decisions on two plays (TWO PLAYS) was the ball game. They are too good to give them an opening. So the pressure was enormous. It was trying to outbox Thomas Hearns. You know if he gets on in, it's lights out.
We weren't that far off.
Ohio State has a great offensive and defensive line. We were stressed at that point. Even so, some questionable coaching decisions on two plays (TWO PLAYS) was the ball game. They are too good to give them an opening. So the pressure was enormous. It was trying to outbox Thomas Hearns. You know if he gets on in, it's lights out.
We weren't that far off.
What makes it silliest is pretty much the same thing could be said about Colt, but nobody would throw it out there as a means of insulting him. Only the guys they dislike.
Should have been a fake pitch out to left, Ewers pivot to right and look for receiver in the flat or hit a crossing pattern on the right side. Or RUN if there?
If your receiver is running fast to right, you put the ball out in front of him and DB cannot get to it. We've run similar plays for TD's all season.
So a team who is terrible at run blocking should make it harder by making the runner go ten yards instead of one?
Might I suggest a fake up the middle and a bootleg to stretch the defense a little? If it doesn't work you maybe lose one yard instead of 9.
Agreed. Some people have gone full aggy thinking the backup QB is really all we need to attain salvation, and the starter is the antichrist.
Arch is going to be an outstanding QB, but he won't be perfect. How long before all we hear from some quarters is a ***** and moan fest over his imperfections?
I don't know why Colt was more popular than Quinn. Maybe Quinn being a 5-star made him an underachiever and Colt being a 3-star made him an overachiever. Bill Bates. People like that. Colt also had that aura of being a Texan. Quinn is a bit of an enigma personality wise. I don't have anything against him.
As for a bootleg, maybe the problem was Sawyer was sitting over there on the side Quinn would roll to. That dude needed to be double-teamed. We left our RT on an island on the strip fumble/TD.
As for a bootleg, maybe the problem was Sawyer was sitting over there on the side Quinn would roll to. That dude needed to be double-teamed. We left our RT on an island on the strip fumble/TD.
I've also learned that there's a lot of Sooners and Aggies who get maximum vicarious pleasure over seeing us lose even though this victory might make Ohio State an even bigger player in Texas recruiting. The hatred in our two rivals is so bad that "SEC SEC" will never be heard. The vicarious pleasure of our downfall is almost sexual to them. And the pathological Aggies all say, "Texas DOES buy their success. There is no doubt about it." That's how paranoid and delusional they truly are. I don't know if the Sooners believe it to that level; they just hate us.
For nearly 60 yrs I have been a longhorn fan. We are one of the final 4 teams, 2 years in a row. Quinn is not a runner and never will be but he is an excellent qb. He is not VY or Colt but no one is. We live a very charmed life to complain about Sark or QE and realize we were a couple of plays away from the final game. How often does a fumble bounce right into a guys arms, really? The fact that we were in the game with 3 minutes to go speaks for itself. Tough loss but how great it is that we dont have binder boy or the social experiment running the program any longer. We are loaded with talent and will be back next year at or near the same spot. Lots of next morning coaches and qb's on here and the bottom line is we had a shot and didnt get it done. Next year is already cooking!!!
Sark is not an idiot, but on that one play call he was.
I like Sark, I like his approach to the team and game, I like how he explains thing in his pressers, he's practically a genius at planning the game. I like a lot about him.
What I don't like and think he needs to improve is his in game offensive adjustments and occasionally on the spot offensive decision making. It just seems like he's stubborn because he knows his game plan should be working. It takes him too long and we sacrifice at least 20-25 game minutes in practically every game.
We are going to win A LOT of games with Sark, but if he doesn't learn to adapt to the flow of the games sooner we'll be losing games like Georgia, Washington and OSU every year.
Because I have this opinion doesn't mean I think he's a bad coach and I don't like him. I'll be happy to have Sark here as long as he wants to stay.
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Sure. There are ways to work around not being able to run inside on anyone other than kids at the little red schoolhouse. Texas did that well, at times, this year. However, sooner or later, especially when you get to a major bowl or the playoffs, you won't be able to compensate enough to beat a really solid football team. The lack of a strong, complete running game was a FATAL FLAW for Texas this year, as far as winning a championship was concerned. Barring a generational, once every quarter century offensive talent, you MUST be a complete, well-rounded team to win a championship. 2024 Texas was not a complete, well-rounded team. It was very close to being one and might have been almost unbeatable without a certain pre-season injury, but it was not one. As Saban used to say, start planning and building for next year NOW.So a team who is terrible at run blocking should make it harder by making the runner go ten yards instead of one?
Might I suggest a fake up the middle and a bootleg to stretch the defense a little? If it doesn't work you maybe lose one yard instead of 9.
Ha, this board used to revel in the Bob Stoops moniker of Big Game Bob because he could beat Texas, win the Big 12, but not win more than the 1 NC. Now, we are supposed to be giddy over making The Top 4 in consecutive years. Lol
It's like PGA golf. Rickie Fowler is a good golfer. Rarely wins. That is what matters. Texas wins ball games. Texas rarely, since the SWC days, wins titles and hardware.
Maybe, this time, this coach, it will be different. We'll see.
It's like PGA golf. Rickie Fowler is a good golfer. Rarely wins. That is what matters. Texas wins ball games. Texas rarely, since the SWC days, wins titles and hardware.
Maybe, this time, this coach, it will be different. We'll see.
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