Losers

We lack killer instinct, edge, chip on our shoulder… whatever you want to call it. Entitlement has likely set in as well. Texas has won 77 games over the last 10 years. We aren’t even the 4th best program in the Lone Star State. There’s nothing for guys coming here to to be entitled about.
Yes, O line development has not occurred thanks to the fact we’ve had 5 offensive line coaches, 4 different OC’s and 3 HC’s. It takes it toll in the trenches the most.
It makes my burnt orange blood boil to see the difference in effort and playmaking when it counts compared to the upper crust of the rest of the conference. Flashes in the pan show potential is there, but it never turns to a grease fire and we don’t really know why yet. Give the staff its shot. If Xavier Worthy is any indication of Sarks evaluation and recruiting ability, we have a chance in a few years. Aggy friends already texting me asking who’s next. Don’t be Aggy.
 
By any reasonable measure, even given possible cultural issues, lack of continuity, unrealistic expectations, impatience and perhaps talent (although I don’t agree that talent is the issue), this Texas team should not be 4-4, and only have beaten one quality opponent. It’s basically a worst case scenario.

I’m about as bummed as I can remember, and attempting to make sense of it. I think it boils down to three factors: Underwhelming coaching, lack of leadership on the team, and the absence of players making plays at critical times.

Leadership often emerges, and that appears not to have happened with this team. At least not yet.

Winners make plays in crunch time, and arguably only once this season, against TCU, have we seen a breakthrough performance at the end of a game, when we needed it. (That was Bijan against TCU.)

And finally, I never dreamed that I would be saying on October 31st that Sark and Kwiatkowski have been repeatedly out-coached, but that reality seems self evident. And therein lies my biggest concern going forward.

This team and this coaching staff needs to show us something in November, and I hope they do. But based on what we have been watching, I can’t say that I am expecting anything different.

That is the biggest bummer, and the reason for my lack of enthusiasm going forward.
 
Sangre Naranjada said:
True, Sark has done much better in his first year than Dave Aranda did.
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I 100% disagree. Sark took over an entire team of blue chip players and has choked away every big game unless you consider U La a big game. Arranda took over a bunch of 2 & 3 star players and turned them into *** kicking athletes. Sure he only won two games, but what he built that year significantly improved this years team. We'll see if anything changes next year here...I hope it does.
 
Vol Horn 4 Life said:
I 100% disagree. Sark took over an entire team of blue chip players and has choked away every big game unless you consider U La a big game. Arranda took over a bunch of 2 & 3 star players and turned them into *** kicking athletes. Sure he only won two games, but what he built that year significantly improved this years team. We'll see if anything changes next year here...I hope it does.
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Sark is going to be 2 or 3 games below where Herman had us.

Aranda was 9 games (NINE!!) below Rhule's win total the prior season. Same athletes. His second year is looking significantly better, we can all agree. Maybe Sark and staff need more time to turn our guys into *** kicking athletes, or replace them with better options?
 
Sangre Naranjada said:
True, Sark has done much better in his first year than Dave Aranda did. Let's see if the year 2 turnaround is equally significant.

(Aranda took an 11-3 team to a 2-7 record his first year. WTF would this board do if we had a new head coach with that type of first season results?)
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Who out coached who yesterday?

Who had the best players?

Sark's been coaching for years, he doesn't need to be here for 25 years to have success
 
I think all of us are also dealing with the absolute euphoria that was the OU game and the thought we were about to get our 60 burger on OU and avenge the past 20 years and then the absolute crash and burn/failure to launch in 3 straight games. That was a big high to come off of and then do it this way.
 
Sangre Naranjada said:
Maybe Sark and staff need more time to turn our guys into *** kicking athletes, or replace them with better options?
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What better options? If we end up with a top 5 class, how will they be different from the other top 10 classes we've signed that are on the field right now. I keep reading generalized posts about better recruiting and lack of talent but it's hard to get better than what's on the team right now....except o-line, that sad recruiting is probably what has kept us from having the #1 recruiting class twice in the last 4 years.
 
Vol Horn 4 Life said:
What better options? If we end up with a top 5 class, how will they be different from the other top 10 classes we've signed that are on the field right now. I keep reading generalized posts about better recruiting and lack of talent but it's hard to get better than what's on the team right now....except o-line, that sad recruiting is probably what has kept us from having the #1 recruiting class twice in the last 4 years.
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Aside from the O-line the lack of development of our adequate talent is the problem. There’s a reason we don’t have the NFL draft resume from the Mack Brown Era
 
Horn2RunAgain said:
Who out coached who yesterday?

Who had the best players?

Sark's been coaching for years, he doesn't need to be here for 25 years to have success
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Sark had Aranda's defense burned multiple times, but stone handed receivers and an inaccurate QB ruined those plays. I think Sark had the right coaching plan to win the game handily.
 
Yeah, a TD towards the end of the 2nd Quarter, that would have put Texas up by what, 17, would have been big. One pass was overthrown to a wide open WR, another perfect pass was flat out dropped.

Mix in a fumble at the 30 of Baylor and so, and execution, not coaching, hobbled Texas in the 1st half of the game.
 
HTownBevo said:
The AD is the person responsible for establishing the Culture, from the top down. Evidently, he’s a great finance guy. But he is not the right guy for the AD slot at UT.
Someone want to pull together the winning percentage of the major sports since his hire in 2017? That’s the obvious stat that demonstrates the issue. What that doesn’t reveal, are the underlying systemic losing mentalities that have developed under his leadership. But make no mistake, the results are the most important.
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Texas won the Lear Cup last year as the best athletics program in the nation. Yes, the results are important.
 
Bill Parcells said your record is who you are. That's who we are.

The main thing to me is this: Do we look like we belong on the field in our losses or did the other team know they were in a brawl with us?

At times. Each of our losses other than Arkansas was a highly winnable game. We were in position to do it. But then we had the aforementioned failures ON THE FIELD (I wasn't thrilled with the fake punt call but that's what happens when the momentum has swung I guess). We are very close in spite of a bad offensive line, an ok QB (inexperienced) and highly inconsistent receivers. There are many things we can pick on but overall, we just don't have players on the field who rise to the occasion as we saw from OU.

Winners make plays when the ball is in their area. If you are open and drop the ball or have it overthrown, then it's real simple; we don't have what it takes. Winners exploit the advantage at hand. Others do not.

We are others... maybe the word, "Others" is less harsh than, "Losers," but the record is what it is.

I definitely want to give Sark more time before I bang the drum.
 
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bystander said:
Bill Parcells said your record is who you are. That's who we are.

The main thing to me is this: Do we look like we belong on the field in our losses or did the other team know they were in a brawl with us?

At times. Each of our losses other than Arkansas was a highly winnable game. We were in position to do it. But then we had the aforementioned failures ON THE FIELD (I wasn't thrilled with the fake punt call but that's what happens when the momentum has swung I guess). We are very close in spite of a bad offensive line, an ok QB (inexperienced) and highly inconsistent receivers. There are many things we can pick on but overall, we just don't have players on the field who rise to the occasion as we saw from OU.

Winners make plays when the ball is in their area. If you are open and drop the ball or have it overthrown, then it's real simple; we don't have what it takes. Winners exploit the advantage at hand. Others do not.

We are others... maybe the word, "others" is less harsh than, "Losers," but the record is what it is.

I'm definitely want to give Sark more time before I bang the drum.
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^^^^THIS right here. Well said.
 
Sangre Naranjada said:
Sark had Aranda's defense burned multiple times, but stone handed receivers and an inaccurate QB ruined those plays. I think Sark had the right coaching plan to win the game handily.
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Sark certainly entered the Baylor game (and the OU and OSU game) with the right coaching plan to win. Our halftime, and late game, adjustments lagged significantly behind those of our competitors. Couple that with a trend towards conservatism during the 2nd half. This is an area that needs much improvement.
 
SabreHorn said:
Yes, I hope the "resume" of soft & entitled does not return.
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Do you think it ever left? Is the promotion and hero worship in Austin bad for keeping athletes grounded. Having grown up there is the 40’s and 50’s and returning to see family multiple times a year I have noticed the promotion of star status of Texas athletes in a protected unique environment called Austin. Maybe a little old school hard nosed coaching and some time riding the pine is needed for a season that has found it’s way into the gutter, Find the ones who want it the most.

Most of those old coaches of my time are underground. Don’t know about how this coach does that and I understand the difference in today’s athletes. But then again there is the problem.? Need some red neck farm boys.
 
I submit that any errant throws by CT were no more numerous than by Baylor. That plus the pressure he faced was measurably more than we put on Baylor. The dropped passes were killers. Only fault I have with Casey is his determination to throw the ball under pressure, and even without, instead of run for the first down. Maybe that is something he can learn maybe it hasn’t been taught, don’t know.
I have to say with remorse we remind me of Vanderbilt in the late 80’s early 90’s when they could hang with anyone for 2, sometimes 2 1/2 qtr s, then it was over. Sad but it’s true.
 
Re Parcells: I was in law school at Tech when Sloan came to lubbock with Parcells as defensive coordinator. The first year they stumbled so bad the fans booed them when they lost to A&M

they finished 6-5

the next year they reeled off ten wins in a row and tied for first in the conference.
We have lost four games this year and in three of them we win if one or two plays turn. We are that close to being OU good.
We have good coaches and a lot of good players. We are short a couple in the O line (where games are won or lost). Next year will be much better

from 1965 to 1967 we sucked. We started 0-1-1 on 68 and then reeled off 30 in a row. I expect something along those lines next year

in the meantime we need to do like the jackrabbit in the hail storm and just hunker down and wait it out
 
Wrote my post before seeing chinstrap’s post and I have to say I’m in agreement with the ‘ride the pine’ sentiment. As I said previously let the current pine sitters play some - there has to be some talent there, either run blocking or pass protection. Give them a shot and show the ‘starters’ they’re under the gun. For goodness sakes give our qb more than 1 second in the pocket!
 
Chinstrap said:
Need some red neck farm boys.
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Bryan Millard immediately comes to mind. I remember being in Lubbock and local TV televised the Tech pep rally. Millard was so incensed by what was being said that his fellow OL (Reuther & Schrieber) had to stop him from throwing the TV set out of the upstairs window of the Holiday Inn (IIRC).

See that fire from anyone on this team?

How about David Thomas & Casey Studdard asking AL Dowden verification of the # of OU player that took the cheap shot at VY?

That would be the same pair that asked Steve Urachek (sp) in the CCG against Colorado.

Complacency doesn't wear well in a Burnt Orange jersey.
 
ProdigalHorn said:
Our issue is that we talk about our "culture" and how it needs to be fixed. And one year into the regime, we're telling him he needs to fire people. What is the longest that we've maintained a consistent coaching staff here? How long has it been since we went two years without firing a coach? You don't develop a culture in one year. You generally don't develop it in two years. So if our problem is, in fact, culture, then we need to sit back, shut up and give the staff a chance to put that culture into place.

Maybe the reason we have done such a garbage job of developing an O-line is that we're constantly changing offensive schemes? I'm curious how much that plays into how you teach a lineman to perform his assignments and how much they change from coach to coach and scheme to scheme.

Anyway... I'm saying the same thing I've been saying all year. We don't have the pieces in place on either side of the LOS to be elite. We have coaches coming in trying to coach us like we're an elite team and this is the result. They're going to have to fix that problem in recruiting and transfers, and sadly, o-linemen don't typically blossom overnight. We might see some real improvement on the d-line more quickly, but right now they have to decide whether they're going to commit to this identity or if they're going to figure out a way to win in the short term with what we have.

This is in many ways like when Mack decided we were going to magically become a power running team...
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I think this is a great point. Someone mentioned Denzel Okafor, a denizen of the much maligned O-line. He has played for 4 head coaches and, I believe, 5 OCs. So, in the twilight of his college career, when he should be enjoying his mastery of a scheme he's been practicing for years, instead he's having to learn yet another scheme, under a new coach. Here's hoping the hyperventilators don't engender another precipitous coaching change. Not arguing that TH needed to go, but am advocating that we need to give Sark a chance.
 
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