Where we stand..

centexorange

centexorange

1,000+ Posts
I have been following UT football for forty years now. Ouch showing my age here. Have been through the glory days of Royal. Hung in there through the Aker and Mcwillams years. Suffered through the Macovic dillema. And with all this said I must admit this is one team I fail to truly get a grasp on. Meaning how are we going to match up with the meat of the Big 12. Sitting here at work i thought i might just throw out a few thoughts. I can normally get a fairly good grasp by week 3 of how things stand but this year still has me preplexed. Looking over the offensive side of the ball i feel we match up with anyone. Of course the Irby loss is a big blow but i still feel we can move the ball on anyone barring injury. Defense is still the big question mark that of course is a no brainer. Are we going to be able to get the needed pressure without leaving our young secondary vulernable. We have been able to wear down these less talented teams in the second half but what worries me is were not getting the pressure early on in these games. Leading me to believe when we go up against stronger compettion were not going to have that luxury. I hope im wrong in that aspect. But im hoping with every game played these guys will gel. In my opinon they have improved. And honestly you can't knock a group who is only giving up 10 points a game plus a 11 play goal line stand. The kicking game is great no worries there as well as special teams. And the way this team has protected the ball is pormising as well. I guess the big key is going to be ball control. Hit the big plays when needed but be able to sustain some drives late in the game to protect a lead. I think after going into hostile territory in Boulder will give us a better grasp on where this team stands. But i must say i feel a hell of allot better about things now then i did at this time last year. Anyone else like to throw there thoughts out here?
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I agree with pretty much everything you said. Except I haven't been watching UT football for 40 years
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Part of the reason I don't know what to expect is that at first glance, our team (great passing offense, potentially shaky defense) looks a lot like Mizz and OU. All 3 of these teams have QBs playing lights-out. OU and Mizz have had teams move the ball on them, and UT has an extremely young secondary. I'm not sure how to predict either of these matchups. Maybe somebody with better knowledge of the players in the trenches can give some insight. To me, they all look like shootouts, and nobody knows how those will turn out.

Thinking back to how last year started, this team is clearly better. More disciplined and motivated, and probably more talented too. That makes me feel good.
 
Yeah you are right in that aspect. Comparing defenses we have done better in the points allowed category. I think these games will come down to who wants it more. Plus the ever dreaded turnovers. I haven't taken the time to see how we match up in that stat. As far as the trenches i feel we win these battles with Missouri and Tech and are even with Ou.
 
I'm not a stats genius, but here are some quick numbers I was able to put together by looking through rivals.

2007 pass defense-
att/g-38.9 compl/g-24.1 comp %-61%
passing ypg-275
ypa-7.01

2008 pass defense-
att/g-44.1 compl/g-24 comp%-54%
passing ypg-274
ypa-6.22

Granted this is comparing an entire season v. three games, but it is nice to see that we are holding opponents to quite a significant lower completion percentage. Especially considering teams are throwing the ball almost 10% more on us so far this year.
 
Yeah that is a big plus. I think you can contribute that to a hell of allot better pass rush plus a much better defensive scheme and better halftime adjusments.
 
yes.....but that is against 3 scrubs instead of averaged over an entire season.....so that is actually a bit alarming to me.
 
yes.....but that is against 3 scrubs instead of averaged over an entire season.....so that is actually a bit alarming to me

Yeah but compare it to what we did last year basically against the same level of competition it's sits a bit better..
 
Finding out "where we stand" is a major part of the fun of watching the entire season. If I already knew now exactly "where we stand," I would just turn off the TV and wait for next year.
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Finding out "where we stand" is a major part of the fun of watching the entire season. If I already knew now exactly "where we stand," I would just turn off the TV and wait for next year.
Well half the enjoyment of football season is discussing and giving opinons on where the team is at. Watching the games and seeing how things pan out. Without it we would just move on to the offseason..
 
My first Texas game was in the 50's so we will leave it at that. Of course I remember the Royal years and going four years and losing only three games. One of those a one point loss to Arky could have been another MNC.
The glaring stat during those years is that the horns gave up about 70 points a year. Yes the game has changed but defense wins games and we really had a defense.
I love the offense this year and Colt is putting on a great show. I do fear that the Defense must improve against the pass to make this season memorable. The offense will have a bad game or two down the road and the crystal ball says without a perfect season offensively a couple of losses will be a great season.
 
I agree with most of the original post. My question is what will our offense look like against OU. Against a team of that quality I am worried about trying to pass 40+ times a game without having one or two go the other way. For a game like that I like to be able to get some first downs on the ground. This is my main offensive concern about playing with anybody.

On D what can you say except we can't be worse than last year in pass D, so bring it on. To go along with our (at least marginally) better pass D, our front 7 are better than last year so over all we should be a better defensive team.

So better on O and better on D. We are better than last year but I wonder if that will be enough to overcome our rediculous schedule.
 
For some reason as I sat and watched that eleven play goal line stand against Rice I really felt like I was watching the D unit grow up right in front of us. It may be Rice we were playing but I just have this sneaking suspicion that that stand is going to prove to be a turning point for this defense. 11 plays at the goal line without points is hard against ANY team. Our D will continue to get better especially over the next two games. I think a pick-six is going to be in the cards against CU which will be another turning point.

As far as big games go I tend to think that our D will step up and play for Muschamp more than they have any other D coordinators in the past. OU is a great team but it's also a rivalry and our guys will be juiced- again Muschamp brings attitude and energy. Attitude and energy play a big part in rivalry games when the talent level is pretty even.

Our offensive gameplanning is going to be key against the good teams. We simply have to be able to sustain long drives (and score every once in a while) or we will lose. Plain and simple. This Q package better freaking work after all the pub Mack and GD have given it.

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I, too, have been watching (and knowing what is going on) for forty years. First, my friends from the age of typewriters and teletypes, use the "Enter" button on you keyboard every two or three sentences. It makes a post easier to read.

Second, we have done to weak teams what strong teams are supposed to do to them. What I conclude from that is that we are much better than last year's team that struggled with everybody. TCU looked like a big win, a gutsy win, but they just weren't very good either last year.

We had a fierce game against OU last year where the difference was a fumble on a would-be td run. We have a team who has beaten OU twice and lost a third game by a narrow margin. The OU mojo over Texas is gone. Does that mean an automatic W? Of course not, but it does mean that Texas takes the field with confidence and a chip on their shoulder. Should be a hell of a game.

I jumped to OU because they are the cream of our schedule. I think they should be ranked above us. Bradley may kill us. Colt may kill them if given a little time.

We stand on the edge of greatness, a preview of next year's national monster.
 
The nature of college football today a defense is going to give up a lot of yards. It's what you do inside the 20's that count. If you can make offenses settle for field goals instead of touchdowns, your defense is doing its job.
 
This team is a year away from a BCS game. Texas has the talent to beat anyone on the schedule, the odds aren't there, but it isn't out of the realm to think as this particular team matures it could be much like the 04 team in that they finish very strong, maybe-maybe an at large BCS bid, or simply winning out including whatever bowl and going into next year with the wind at their backs. This team is still very young, so this year is going to be filled with growing pains, some of them very ugly, but look at our skill positions on offense, and the chunk of our defense...they are young, hell we still have 1 more year of Colt! I look at this year's team like my new puppy, love them, love watching them grow, but half the time they're pissing all over the place, chewing **** up and I want to scream, but I know next year the pup will be my kick *** bird dog.
 
Biggest concern for me is our running game. The DB's will grow. Hell, we've only given up 7 total points in the second half this year.

The running game scares me. Remember last year? If not for the amazing 4th qtr of Jamaal Charles vs Nebraska And okie lite, we lose. Colt was healthy then. A one dimensional team CAN be stopped by the Kansas & Colorado's of the world.

RTDB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The key point for me with our team versus blow-U and Mizz is this:

Given the youth on our team and the seniority of Mizz & blow-U it is unlikely they will improve anywhere near as much as we improve week to week.

If our stars develop in time, we are not nearly the underdog the media would have the world believe.

Advantage us.
 
As someone above mentioned, there's almost no possibility we can be worse on pass D this year than last. Bradford had a good game against us last year, but it's not like he dominated. They had 21 points halfway through the 4th, at which point our D collapsed and gave up a long pass TD.
 
This group is gonna shock the nation. They're gonna teach everyone the meaning of the word respect.
 
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