Offense with a Capital O

[caryhorn]

Just watched the 1996 B12 championship game between Texas and NU. Man, could Mackovic call a good game! What a great offensive team that was. That and the teams with VY were the Halcion days of great offense.

 

[SabreHorn]

Man, could Mackovic call a good game!

Occasionally. He is also the coach that would leave his team, clutch his clipboard like a teddy bear, and pace alone behind the bench when things didn't go his way. He did it in the loss to Rice, the loss to TCU, and the loss to UVA.

His plan was always infallible. It was never his plan, it was the kids fault for not executing. He NEVER made a halftime adjustment - he didn't need to because his plan was always perfect.

Two quotes to me from Rick Lantz, whom I consider second only to Leon Fuller as the best DC ever:

"Why doesn't the guy ever make an adjustment?"

I went into Rick's office at the McCue Center at UVA to get my tickets for the game. "Here you go, 50 yardline behind the Texas bench, because I want you to have a really good view of the *** kickin comin your way"

He was our gift from Willie Cunningham inspite of warnings from the "committee of 300", as well as former players that played for him in KC, where the players went to Lamar Hunt and said if Mackovic came back, they would sit out the year.

 

[Godz40acres]

Man, could Mackovic call a good game! What a great offensive team that was. That and the teams with VY were the Halcion days of great offense.

I'm going OT here, but your post inspired me to ask....

When did it become OC coaches' axiom to "Take what the defense gives you"? Seems to me that Royal and others had the mindset that said, "Here's our offense; we're going to run it 'till you stop us. Then we're going to run it some more." (Of course, there were always exceptions when it was getting down to wire.)

With many coaches today, including our own Hermbeck, because they're so concerned about how the D is lined up on every play, they spend most of their time trying to guess what the D will do so that they can counter it. This, IMHO, projects a lack of identity and allows defenses to dictate the game.

I don't know... I haven't had my meds today so maybe my thinking/communicating is a bit skewed. I just wish we had an offensive system that we were proficient at and could/would run at will.

 

[ViperHorn]

Godz, I will go one further. With all of the money involved (including their own earnings) HC's are taking the position of "it is my a$$ on the line so I am going to call the game, and "you" (the QB) are going to run the call I made or I will find one who will. Then the HC goes off and tries to show his next employer how smart he is.

 

[Buck-Horn]

I was not a fan of John Mackovic the head coach, but was a fan of his offensive philosophy & schemes. He tutored under the greatest & most creative football coach in my lifetime, Tom Landry. JM just couldn’t get out of the way of his own ego, thus his *******ishness leading to his demise!! But, I would take his O any day over Beck, Watson, GD’s later years....and so on. He may have had some ugly losses (Route 66!), but name a UT coach after DKR that did not. I’m in no way defending his HC performance which sucked, but I still give him credit for being the 1st coach since DKR’s wishbone era for installing a multi-dementional offense that could move the chains & score points.

 

[caryhorn]

Occasionally. He is also the coach that would leave his team, clutch his clipboard like a teddy bear, and pace alone behind the bench when things didn't go his way. He did it in the loss to Rice, the loss to TCU, and the loss to UVA.

I did not start this thread to discuss the merits of J Mc as a human being or even as a head coach, or as a head case.

He called an outstanding game against Nebraska that day. No question. Period.
Guess that was too much of compliment of that dastardly villain for some.

Let your blood pressure calm a bit, and read the post again. You'll see that it was a complement to the TEAM as much as it was J Mc. They executed their offense that day about as well as it could have possibly been done. That's why they beat a team favored by 21.

Our defense played well. But our offense kept the Nebraska O off the field more than they were use to.
Nebraska had a great defense that year but we were able to score on long drives as well as quick strikes.

 

[Horns11]

We caught the ****-end of the poop stick in 1997 in terms of the perfect storm of bad things that could happen to a program:

1a. Injury to Casey Hampton, who was basically playing at an All American level his freshman year.

1b. Injuries to arguably our best skill position players not named Ricky Williams (James Brown, Wane McGarity, Kwame Cavil once he switched full time to WR, Hodges Mitchell when he ran into the wall at OK State, Bryan White).

2. Running into the angry buzzsaw that became UCLA after their opening season losses. I think they went on to win like 20 straight starting with our 66-3 game.

3. Moving Wright to DC. Jesus.

4. Special teams doomed us against Mizzou, Baylor, and A&M.

5. Opponents putting 9 in the box once they realized that Brown was hurt and we were using all freshman/sophomore WRs... and Ricky still piling on yardage... AND Mackovic refusing to keep running the ball even though he was singlehandedly keeping us in all the games.

I honestly believe that with health and a little more luck, that team probably could have finished with a similar record to the 1996 team (around 7-4). But that also means that Ricky Williams probably would have bolted for the NFL with no Mack Brown around and Mackovic's inability to garner player support would have led to an abyssmal 1998 and beyond.

 

[Galvestonhorn]

JM also beat number 1, mighty Nebraska that day and they were very mighty. A 3 touchdown favorite and were well on their way to winning another NC. Texas comes trotting out on the field like they knew they had the perfect game plan and they did.

They had nothing to lose and like Dick Vermeil said about JM...You don't ever, ever guess with him. And he was 100% correct.

 

[Run Pincher]

We caught the ****-end of the poop stick in 1997 in terms of the perfect storm of bad things that could happen to a program:

1a. Injury to Casey Hampton, who was basically playing at an All American level his freshman year.

1b. Injuries to arguably our best skill position players not named Ricky Williams (James Brown, Wane McGarity, Kwame Cavil once he switched full time to WR, Hodges Mitchell when he ran into the wall at OK State, Bryan White).

2. Running into the angry buzzsaw that became UCLA after their opening season losses. I think they went on to win like 20 straight starting with our 66-3 game.

3. Moving Wright to DC. Jesus.

4. Special teams doomed us against Mizzou, Baylor, and A&M.

5. Opponents putting 9 in the box once they realized that Brown was hurt and we were using all freshman/sophomore WRs... and Ricky still piling on yardage... AND Mackovic refusing to keep running the ball even though he was singlehandedly keeping us in all the games.

I honestly believe that with health and a little more luck, that team probably could have finished with a similar record to the 1996 team (around 7-4). But that also means that Ricky Williams probably would have bolted for the NFL with no Mack Brown around and Mackovic's inability to garner player support would have led to an abyssmal 1998 and beyond.

Seems like that list could be duplicated for the last 4 years in a row with only changing the names.

 

[ProdigalHorn]

Just watched the 1996 B12 championship game between Texas and NU. Man, could Mackovic call a good game! What a great offensive team that was. That and the teams with VY were the Halcion days of great offense.

And then laid an egg against Penn State. As some suggested, if you could figure Mack out by halftime, you were in good shape. As I recall, most of the bad losses and particularly the bowl losses happened when the game spun out of control in the third quarter. (i.e. Penn State and Va Tech.)

When did it become OC coaches' axiom to "Take what the defense gives you"? Seems to me that Royal and others had the mindset that said, "Here's our offense; we're going to run it 'till you stop us. Then we're going to run it some more." (Of course, there were always exceptions when it was getting down to wire.)

Royal played in an era when offenses were not sophisticated. It was a lot more about lining up and beating your guy. And to be honest, wishbone has always been about repetition. Keep doing the same thing and eventually someone makes a mistake.

But on the other hand, Royal beat Navy in 63 precisely because he DID take what the defense gave him.