Week 7 - (L) UT 10 vs OSU 13

Turds on turds on turds.

Okie Light was trying to give it to us. They wanted us to win. But nope, another one down the drain.

I don't think the fact that we lost is what is so bothersome, instead it's how we lost (again). It's not surprising either that our D played well and our O played poorly again. There are plenty of excuses that can be made, (mainly the o-line), but no excuses should be made. Our coaches (or coach - Beck) didn't coach well, and our players didn't execute when they had too (mainly players on offense, and unfortunately, Sam played his worst game).

It is cool watching a good defense, but that doesn't make up for losing a game at home when our defense holds the other team (and a good offensive team at that) to 10 points in regulation.

I think the most frustrating thing is that it felt like we could maybe get to 8-4, but now 7-5 feels like our ceiling. Let that sink in - again, hoping for a winning record. We have to beat every team from here on out except for TCU. It's doable, but I just don't know what to think about this team. After the K-State win, it felt like maybe this team had something different from the Strong teams that would pull out the W in the close ones. Sigh.

Anyway, as always I have a few thoughts on the game and about our team overall. Maybe a few less GIFs than others, but a 13-10 game really doesn't warrant many in my opinion.

My thoughts:
- We actually would have lucked out to win that game
- Weekly Beck blows thoughts
- Hager and Shark sightings
- Our few actually good (healthy) players did their job

- We actually would have lucked out to win that game
While I do feel like we should have won the game with the way it was going at the end, I would have felt more like they gave it to us than us earning it. 
     - OSU clearly moved the ball on us way easier than we did on them
            - In fact, they pretty much beat us in every facet of the game (yards, penalties, etc.)
     - They missed a field goal and fumbled deep in our territory
     - Our one touchdown drive was a fluke/amazing play by Burt
     - Sam miraculously recovered the idiotic fumble when their d-lineman should have at least recovered it, if not scored a TD on it

- Weekly Beck blows thoughts
You can basically read similar sentiments anywhere you can find Longhorns content. Apparently, Drew Mehringer is going to help out with play calling - AWESOME! (I guess). Sadly, Herman is standing by Beck. I just hope Herman is posturing for the sake of not firing a coordinator mid-season of his first year, but already has his mind made up that he'll do it at season's end.

I could write a laundry list, but a few recurring themes: too many QB runs (Sam in concussion protocol), not having best WRs/players on the field at all times, too many sideways plays, etc.

Rewatching the game this week, I saw just how bad our o-line really played. There's no doubt, the backups are not as good as the starters. Regardless, he's not putting the players he has in a position to succeed. End of story.

Example: the first drive of 3rd quarter that got us deep in the redzone and ended in a field goal consisted of 6 RB runs for 17 yards. Not that impressive. But, our RBs only ran it a total of 13 times in the game - nearly half our RB runs came on 1 drive in a close game!

Not only that, but 4 of those runs were on 1st down, and went for 3 yds, 3 yds, 1 yd, and 4 yds. Again, not that impressive, but those are all positive yardage plays, and 2nd and 7 is better than 2nd and 10.

Here's an example of one of those runs (not a 1st down run, but a run from that drive). Guess what, Warren is too slow to run to the outside or make cuts (and again, I'd like to see more Toe Nail), but guess what, Warren is 250+ pounds. Run him straight up the middle - it just might work!




Ok, so nice drive to start the second half. Maybe we figured things out, and will at least try some runs with RBs to limit the hits Sam takes and open up some passes. Nope...

First play of the very next drive. Basically a fake to Heard out of the back field to take a shot deep (you can tell by the wr's not blocking). Why call a long developing play when you know you're o-line can't block?! Sure, take some deep shots, but maybe on 2nd and short and around midfield.



As I just mentioned Warren is slow and is basically only good for runs up the middle. These outside runs just rarely work with Warren... MORE TOE NAIL! Or even Young, Porter, but not slow-mo Warren.




- Hager and Shark sightings
We've only seen Breckyn Hager in limited capacity this year, but he played quite a bit more against OSU, and quite frankly, showed that he deserved to be on the field. It was also nice to see Shark make some plays in the pass rush game as well. I wish we got more results out of the motor they can provide, but it was nice to seen nonetheless.

This was actually a pretty big play by Hager as they were moving the ball right before the end of the 1st half. If he doesn't get it, I think they put themselves in position for a field goal. Great move by him.



Here's Shark showing his motor. Never quits on the play. (Granted, a fast QB probably would have made it a positive play - hence why we've struggled against true dual-threat QBs)




- Our few actually good (healthy) players did their job
Told a friend during the game. I think we only have a handful of actually good players - players who have a decent shot at the league:
- Malik Jefferson
- Deshon Elliot
- Holton Hill
- Poona Ford (Helluva play on the forced fumble)
- Reggie Hemphill Mapps
- Colin Johnson (didn't do much, but not his fault - Beck's fault!)
- Malcolm Roach
(Obviously Connor Williams if healthy)

Here's Malik doing his think. When he makes up his mine, he's like a missile. Love it.



Hill not only covered Washington really well, but he makes plays in the run game too. I expect to see him on Sundays at some point. Wish we had a second corner close to his level, but I'm not sure Boyd is.



We're going to miss Hemphill-Mapps pass catching abilities and run-after-catch. That knee sprain sure doesn't help our already very limited O. This play below is simple, but we don't have many guys as reliable as him to get positive yards. Get well soon, RHM.



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