I wasn't at DKR on Saturday. Wasn't part of the 100,00 man army, although it might not have been 100,00 on Saturday cause there were an awful lot of Bruin fans there. No, my money and I stayed 3 hours drive to the north, in comfortable, reclined...despair as the Longhorns went through the motions against what has turned out to be a very solid team. In the process, they pissed away the opportunity to make next weeks match against Boomer Sooner mean something and took themselves out of the bogus national championship picture. But I think the most important thing they lost was leverage with all the recruits they had in the stands. I wonder how many of them still want to go to Texas? How many want to go to UCLA now? And while there is more finger pointing in Austin than drag worms after that embarrassing 34-12 loss, my twisted finger points one way, the schedule.
That's right, I said it, the schedule. Yes, there are other factors, I mean, come on, I'm not stupid(don't say it). Lack of running game, no down field passing game(weren't we promised a down field play-action passing game to go with the reborn i back sets?), poor tackling, careless turnovers, mental breakdowns, Will Muschamp can't stop a real running game, receivers with T Rex arms and oven might hands, rampant malaise and general disinterest. But most of these things come from the fact that Texas doesn't play anybody. When you don't play anybody you don't really face adversity. When a human being faces adversity it brings out their true character. And any good coach knows that adversity is the blacksmith that forges a strong football team. Your boys become battle hardened veterans, like Easy Company after Operation Market Garden. They can keep their cool cause they've been there before. Today I saw a team full of greenhorns that finally got to play somebody with legitimate talent and broke like poorly made steel.
So, you don't believe me. Well, let's just look at a few games from Saturday. Alabama was able to respond from a major deficit on the road against the #10 Arkansas Pig Siouxies. The same Bama team that played Penn State earlier in the year. Boomer Sooner wins a squeaker against Cincinnati after playing Air Force(very good team) and Florida State. Ohio State, notorious for playing Direction Fort Wayne State and Cleveland Institute of Ceramics, played Miami this season. Even little guys Boise State have played Virginia Tech and Oregon State. Texas played Rice and Wyoming, and in the process learned nothing about what it takes to respond to adversity in a football game. It almost caught up to them against those Plains Aggies from Techsterville. But Yosemite Sam shot himself in the foot like he always does. Yesterday there was no almost. It seemed like every mistake was capitalized on. This team flat out doesn't know what it is. Is it a great defensive team? Great defenses stop the run, and this team can only stop the spread run. Is it a power running team? If so, who's your primary back? Like I said about the Cowboys, if you got three backs then you don't have one. Or is it a spread? Right now it seems to be half and half, and that's not even very good in coffee.
The future may hold many bright things for Garret, Mike, Jackson and those boys. The talent on this team is not in question. We all know Mackie Mack can recruit as well as anyone out there. But the present only holds heartbreak, loneliness and anguish. Conference play will be rough this year as Oklahoma and Nebraska look for revenge. Missouri could be OK and Baylor is due to beat somebody at some point, right? Heck, even Okie Noodler State looks to be totally loaded offensively, although they might suffer the same fate as Texas because...wait for it...they haven't played anybody! Could a 4 or 5 loss season down in Longhorn Nation be a reality? This might be a very long season. Keep your head up, though. It could be worse, you could be in Oklahoma! Keep Austin Weird Y'all!
No comments:
Post a Comment