In the wake of the Longhorns consecutive home losses for the first time in like, 13 years, I thought it only appropriate to finally get around to volume 2 in what was supposed to have been a weekly series. Oh the mighty ambitions of meager men. Those same ambitions were present at the beginning of the Longhorns season, which seems like ages ago, after losses in 3 out of their last 4 games. Those ambitions are as dead as Uncle Rico's dreams of playing high school quarterback. If you are Texas, when you lose at home to UCLA, who hasn't been decent since the 90's, and Iowa State, a running punchline in Iowa, in back to back home games it means your program has hit the bottom. There are many directions you can point the bony finger of hindsight, here are just a few.
The first place I always point my finger when my football team is playing like North Texas is the head coach. Mack Brown is ultimately responsible for what goes on during a game. The offense, defense and special teams all have their own coaches and coordinators, and they all report to Macky Mack. If these guys are making the wrong decisions or are in situations that they can't handle, Brown needs to see this and have the backbone to do something about it. I know you hired these guys and are very loyal to them, but it's obvious that, even with the talent on Texas' roster, they can't get the job done. In particular, I'm talking about Greg Davis, Will Muschamp and Major Applewhite. The latter coaches the running backs, which may explain why they aren't that good and haven't improved much. Major Applewhite would probably serve the team better as quarterback coach, a position Greg Davis seems reluctant to give up, no matter how much it would help this team.
I was under the assumption that this team recruited as good or better than anyone in college football. Maybe they do recruit some of the best high school talent, but more often than not, these guys don't develop at the college level the way the university thinks they will. It's a reflection of the scouts and the recruiting talents of Mack Brown. People think he can recruit with the best of them, I beg to differ. I think the school recruits for itself because there is so much talent in the state. They get a lot of 4 star good old boys who grow up loving the school and would go there even if my Grandma was the coach. The same theory works for FSU, Miami and Florida. They will always have guys. But unlike those schools, who manage to keep most of their 5 star, blue chip guys, the most elite players in Texas seem to end up somewhere outside the state. If Macky Mack is so great, you would think he would be able to keep more of those guys, eh?
Where in the world is Chris Whaley? Did aliens abduct him and project some hologram of him on the sideline to fool us? Why wouldn't a team that has been crazy inconsistent at that position try to take advantage of a human battering ram? He's built like Brandon Jacobs, he could run over most Div. 1 lineman. Besides that rant, these backs we have are doing the best they can. Most all are 3 star recruits who have maxed out their ability. Recruiting some o-line guys from high schools that don't run the spread might help also. These spread guys usually have to learn how to run block because they haven't done it since pee-wee ball, if at all.
Our quarterback is showing his experience, or lack of it. maybe we were all a little bold to predict such great things from him after 3 quarters against Alabama. But they took place on the biggest stage, against what was definitely the best team. Garrett Gilbert is a sophomore, plain and simple, with less than 10 starts under his belt. He's being asked to do a lot of things, and he just isn't ready yet. I hope he can develop into that guy, but as of right now, he's hurting the football team. 300 yards doesn't mean anything when you throw three picks while doing it. On the bright side, he has shown the ability to run he displayed in high school. And although these runs aren't pretty, so far they have been very effective.
And lastly, I blame the field turf at DKR War Memorial. The only thing that's worse was when they had that God awful AstroTurf in there. Go back to the real stuff you cheap bastards! And, as always, Keep Austin Weird Y'all!
No comments:
Post a Comment