TEXAS-KSU Game Thread 2023

Murphy was really good with the ball early in this game. I was so impressed. Then something changed and he struggled on some pretty basic routes. I don’t know what to make of that.
 
Pomspoms said:
don't doubt that at all that Sark seemed miffed about his gamble. He is hard headed.
I wish he had input from other coaches...."no coach let's take the points"
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Even with his perceived game day coaching shortcomings it was the Houston and the KS coaches making boneheaded decisions on their last play of the game, thereby gifting Sark a win. Horn fans would have gone crazy if Sark was the one making those decisions. Eh?
 
Dionysus said:
Murphy was really good with the ball early in this game. I was so impressed. Then something changed and he struggled on some pretty basic routes. I don’t know what to make of that.
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I read that he had a back injury. I hope not, but If so that could affect everything. Depending on the location and/ or intensity of pain: Posture setting up, balance, accuracy , concentration, etc. l hope that is not the case. Back injury can be lingering and just not good. I would not wish it on anyone.
 
Pomspoms said:
don't doubt that at all that Sark seemed miffed about his gamble. He is hard headed.
I wish he had input from other coaches...."no coach let's take the points"
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It seems that Sark was/is focused on the play call and not the ability of the team to execute. His QB was starting his second game.
 
I get that Murphy has a learning curve, but damn...he is going to get a receiver killed by not hitting the in stride. Turning and having to wait is not a good way to keep receivers healthy.
 
bystander said:
Damn... I was at the game. It was an incredible feeling of collective manic depressive emotions. That last play was unbelievable. It reminded of the time I witnessed Brandy Perriman intercepting the inbound pass that clinched the Runnin' Horns victory over the Dean Smith/Antawn Jamison/Half-man half amazing Vince Carter. The Drum blew up. It's all pure hysteria. We want to win so badly.

As for our play, I'd say we have a very young inexperienced quarterback. Sark acknowledged that Malik needs to understand every play can't be salvaged and you just have to know when to fold 'em (paraphrased). But the pre-snap penalties really hurt us. They killed drives that could have put the game away early. Blocked punt? WTF? It was a total melt-down by the line. Sark said one of the blockers thought it was a play call (the blocking scheme?) that they don't even have. The pass rush was frustratingly stymied. We missed on a couple of sure sack opportunities that would have been huge.

YET... the defense bowed up it's back on their OT possession. HUGE.

I don't know what to think except to say either Tom Herman is correct ("Winning is hard") or the injuries (QB is HUGE. I like that word) or both. The facts are the KSU has played us very tough over the years AND we're 8 - 1. The only reason for the negativity is the the feeling I have that we were very lucky. But...

I'll take the win.
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I say it’s the injuries mostly. Notice we are still winning because we have the depth to compensate. Herman didn’t have the depth. So the correct phrase is that winning is hard without depth.
 
Dionysus said:
Murphy was really good with the ball early in this game. I was so impressed. Then something changed and he struggled on some pretty basic routes. I don’t know what to make of that.
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I think throwing that awful INT to let KSU back in the game made him hesitant.
 
This is a very talented team, but young. That’s why it is imperative to take points when they are there and play field position when they aren’t.
 
Discounting the absence of Ewers, I see two chronic issues with this team:

A. Sark is fixated on play calling — as though he has something to prove — and too often seems not to understand the big picture. When you pass on FGs and insist on going for TDs and fail, you leave critical points on the table, and you emboldened the opposing defense.

B. While Texas is ranked 30th overall in total defense (and possesses an excellent run D), we are number 116 out of 130 teams in pass defense. And we have yet to play a top 10 passing team. No Penix. No Drake Maye. No Bo Nix.

This is a huge issue and I am seeing no progress week to week. At some point, this moves from being a personnel/injuries issue to a scheme issue, and that’s exactly what it is, a scheme issue. We can’t be a championship team IMO unless we make significant improvement in this aspect of our game, and soon.
 
dukesteer said:
Discounting the absence of Ewers, I see two chronic issues with this team:

A. Sark is fixated on play calling — as though he has something to prove — and too often seems not to understand the big picture. When you pass on FGs and insist on going for TDs and fail, you leave critical points on the table, and you emboldened the opposing defense.

I have stated this before, but I truly believe that for this program to go to the next level, Sark has to become the “head coach” and needs to have an oc/play caller. As his own play caller he is focused on the next play rather than the big picture of taking the points to extend a lead and just give the other team an empty moral victory of just holding us to 3 rather than an emotional uplift of stopping us on fourth and no points. Sark needs to take the advice he gives Murphy that some plays can’t be salvaged and just lessen the damage. Some drives won’t result in touchdowns so take the available points to extend the lead.
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mchammer said:
So many things had to line up for this game to be close:
- 2 bad INT’s and some poor throws to open receivers by MM
- OL motion penalties
- blocked punt
- Brooke’s fumble
- Sark not going for 3 points
- missed PI

Yet the team won, but literally nearly everything had to go south to make it so close. Rather remarkable in my opinion.
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All this is true and yes we are all complaining about a W but we also see a team that has the ability to be dominant but just cant get out of its way to do that. pk's prevent d sucks the sweat off a dead maggets balls and not sure why its even in the playbook. Has the D improved from the abysmal year 1, absolutely. Maybe its players, maybe its familiarity with scheme. I think its fair to say we all want a dominant team and we just dont have it as it stands now. We can see it, just not there yet. Hate being in dog fights when we shouldnt be but again, its a W.
 
moondog_LFZ said:
So what if this trend continues but we continue to win.
We win the conference championship.
We went to playoff game.
Win the national championship.
All by building leads that we lose in the second half yet somehow pull out the win.
Will you still be complaining?
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I will be the first to admit I was wrong.
See my tag line. I don’t know ****.
 
longhornlegend said:
pk's prevent d sucks the sweat off a dead maggets
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This. See my earlier post about being dominant in important stats while barely being able to handle the Houstons of the world in the same game. We’re a conundrum. But our players are executing for the most part. Its our coaches who are terrible on game day.

meet lost to OU because of that miserable prevent defense and they keep putting it out there daring more teams to beat us with it.
 
And the obligatory ref bashing. Two non-calls on PI. The refs were looking right at it. An obvious arm-bar and holding. Killer moments that cost us points on the one (corner route in the end-zone) and a drive killer on the other.
 
ViperHorn said:
This has been going on for years (I remember one oSu game in Austin where the refs just gave the game to oSu.)
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The infamous defensive holding by I think Poona Ford as he was getting pancaked no where near the play (among other egregious calls and non-calls).
 
Walking Boss said:
The infamous defensive holding by I think Poona Ford as he was getting pancaked no where near the play (among other egregious calls and non-calls).
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If I remember correctly that was also the game where Strong got a 15-yard penalty for nothing other than being the Texas coach.
 
And the obligatory ref bashing. Two non-calls on PI. The refs were looking right at it. An obvious arm-bar and holding. Killer moments that cost us points on the one (corner route in the end-zone) and a drive killer on the other.
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Sark on the non-PI calls, "We know we are not going to get those calls so we are not going to talk about that." He gets it.
 
Has any other team in the top 10 played nine games against otherwise egregious OL holders to have them play a flawless game? Officiating is part of the game, per DKR, but the coincidental perfection is questionable. Two weeks in a row we have had no holding, no PI called (against the other team) and two late hit penalties that extended possessions where our player fell over the other or missed him completely. It will get far worse in Ft. Worth and Arlington. Big XII becomes ‘ the dog’s breakfast’ conference next year. Most of the other schools and administrations blame UT for that. Frankly, fairly.
 
our red zone defense isn't bad because the field shrinks and there's less area for the secondary to cover. However, the rest of the field, it's pretty atrocious.

Film won't lie. ISU, Tech and TCU would only need to game plan to become pass happy and we're in for long long days
 
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