Texas fans nervous after watching NU vs. K-State

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

I hope that Watson continues using the K St formula of bash, smash and gash. Let the OLine establish themselves and get Rex and Roy going. Then that frees up Martinez to do his thing!!

[junior4949]

Yep. We narrowly missed a national championship in 1983 because we lost our bowl game by one point. Then we fell off the map due to a combination of a horrible coach (McWilliams), the rampant cheating and purchasing players at SMU and Texas A&M, and U of H hitting its all-time peak at the same time. We were downright bad for several years until U of H came back to earth and SMU got the death penalty and A&M got their second Lack Of Institutional Control violation in 1993 and started playing it straight. And even then, we were only good, never great, throughout the 90's. I was in school from 94-99 and we started getting really excited any time we got to about #15 in the rankings. And it was worse than that for about ten years before that when I was growing up. None of us would have believed what Mack and DeLoss have put together back in 1998.

 

I remember all those years of mediocrity for Texas. The Red River Rivalry was little more than a local show, not the national-interest game it's become in the last decade-ish.

 

What I cannot fathom, though, is how Texas can ever become "bad." You guys have more five-star players within a stone's throw of your campus than any school outside of Florida and SoCal. There is absolutely no excuse for poor players on your roster, yet here we are, watching this team fuddle its way around the field. It's baffling to me how Mack can underperform like this.

 

After watching Mack Brown bench by far his superior QB and replace him with big donor daddy Sims, watching him underperform has become normal for me. They won the NC in spite of Mack Brown. The scariest thing about next week's game with Texas is the sheer amount of athletic talent Texas does have. This will be the most talented team we face this year during the regular season and possibly the entire season.

[Moiraine]

my biggest worry is that it's a home game

[TexArcher]

I remember all those years of mediocrity for Texas. The Red River Rivalry was little more than a local show, not the national-interest game it's become in the last decade-ish.

 

What I cannot fathom, though, is how Texas can ever become "bad." You guys have more five-star players within a stone's throw of your campus than any school outside of Florida and SoCal. There is absolutely no excuse for poor players on your roster, yet here we are, watching this team fuddle its way around the field. It's baffling to me how Mack can underperform like this.

 

I think a lot of it is on the position coaches. Mac McWhorter is a terrible O line coach. We're just now realizing it because these past two years are the first time in forever that we haven't had multiple future NFL guys, including some first rounders, on our O line. Now that the talent level is a notch lower, the line went from a strength to a huge liability. That screams coaching to me, specifically that a coach's defects were covered up for years by simply having better athletes than the guys on the other side of the ball most of the time.

 

And WR coach Bobby Kennedy should be on the hot seat, too. Malcolm Williams, John Chiles, and DeSean Hales were all highly regarded 4-stars that haven't developed at all. Our routes are sloppy and there are way too many drops. Freshman Mike Davis looks to be better right now than guys that have been in Kennedy's system for two or three years.

 

And then there's the playcalling. See avatar.

 

But as bad as it is, we're not heading back to the 80's by any stretch. Worst case this year looks to be about 7-5, and we hardly lose anyone to graduation (Curtis Brown is the only one worth anything), plus we've got a 5 star tackle coming in along with Malcolm Brown next year. This is a dip in the road, not a decline, we'll be contenders for the conference again next year (not that y'all will care, lol).

[Lonestar_Husker]

I remember all those years of mediocrity for Texas. The Red River Rivalry was little more than a local show, not the national-interest game it's become in the last decade-ish.

 

What I cannot fathom, though, is how Texas can ever become "bad." You guys have more five-star players within a stone's throw of your campus than any school outside of Florida and SoCal. There is absolutely no excuse for poor players on your roster, yet here we are, watching this team fuddle its way around the field. It's baffling to me how Mack can underperform like this.

 

I think a lot of it is on the position coaches. Mac McWhorter is a terrible O line coach. We're just now realizing it because these past two years are the first time in forever that we haven't had multiple future NFL guys, including some first rounders, on our O line. Now that the talent level is a notch lower, the line went from a strength to a huge liability. That screams coaching to me, specifically that a coach's defects were covered up for years by simply having better athletes than the guys on the other side of the ball most of the time.

 

And WR coach Bobby Kennedy should be on the hot seat, too. Malcolm Williams, John Chiles, and DeSean Hales were all highly regarded 4-stars that haven't developed at all. Our routes are sloppy and there are way too many drops. Freshman Mike Davis looks to be better right now than guys that have been in Kennedy's system for two or three years.

 

And then there's the playcalling. See avatar.

 

But as bad as it is, we're not heading back to the 80's by any stretch. Worst case this year looks to be about 7-5, and we hardly lose anyone to graduation (Curtis Brown is the only one worth anything), plus we've got a 5 star tackle coming in along with Malcolm Brown next year. This is a dip in the road, not a decline, we'll be contenders for the conference again next year (not that y'all will care, lol).

 

 

Hey TexArcher, nice to have a reasonable Texas fan here.

 

I haven't lived in Austin for a couple years, so I don't have a finger on the pulse of UT anymore. Do you think there will be a staff shake-up after this year? Is there speculation that Muschamp is interested in the Georgia job? It's not open, yet, but could very well be open by the end of the year(month).

 

On another note, Mack likes to clap....A LOT. Ze deal?

[TexArcher]

Do you think there will be a staff shake-up after this year?

 

Yes, but I don't think it'll be Davis. He's literally Mack Brown's best friend, was in his wedding, etc, so I think he's safe, as maddening as that is.

 

I suspect McWhorter will be the fall guy.

 

Is there speculation that Muschamp is interested in the Georgia job? It's not open, yet, but could very well be open by the end of the year(month).

 

Widespread speculation and fear. Will has stated publicly that he'll wait for the Texas job for as long as Mack wants to coach, and his wife loves Austin and wants to raise their boys here. But how do you keep working for $900k for what could be several more years when your alma mater calls and offers you a promotion and 3 or 4 times that much? I would rather lose every game the rest of this season than lose Muschamp at the end of it, but it's a very real possibility. Supposedly it would cost Georgia something like $8 million to buy out Richt, though, so they may be stuck with him.

 

On another note, Mack likes to clap....A LOT. Ze deal?

 

Dunno the deal, but we've been making fun of that for years. It's the same clapping whether we just threw a TD or an INT. The other thing we poke fun at is that whenever asked about a player, any player, the first words out of his mouth are almost always, "Well, so-and-so's a good kid, from a good family." I like that he never calls a player out, but that first line comes out every time as if he's one of those old dolls from the 80's where you pull a string out from behind its back and he says one of 7 pre-programmed things.

[austintxhusker]

I sure hope the players don't read their own hype, because believe me, Texas is coming to play, they are not going to just lay down. I have a feeling that this game will still be a good game, thought I fully expect NU to pull it out and win in the end. Would l like I to see them make a statement to Texas - absolutely. I hope we smash them in the mouth and take the value of their TV market down even more than it has come down already this season. Nothing would make me happier. But I also fully expect Texas to come to play, and do whatever it takes to win. They have their own statement to make to Nebraska fans...

My thoughts exactly. This is the perfect opportunity for Texas, coming off a bye week, to get a huge upset and put themselves right back in the thick of things. The last thing NU, especially Martinez and the offense, can afford to do is believe the hype 'cause we've already seen what that can do to us. This is still Texas, and this is the game we've put on a pedestal since 00:01. IMO this is still the biggest hurdle we gotta face this entire season. Texas has had our number regardless of which team was ranked higher entering the game.

 

So, even though it's fun to see Horns fans have these reactions, it will only matter when they're having these reactions during and after we play Texas next Saturday.

 

 

Bo and Co. will have the team ready for TexAss. Count on it. There's no way we lose this game, it's just a matter of by how much. If any one offers you even odds or better, book it and I'll guarantee your money. This game means too much to the team and to Bo and Co. TexAss and their lucky streak will officially end once and for all on 10/16. We're going hunting on 10/16 and we're having fresh Bevo steaks for supper that night. And we're not throwing away the bones, we're going to eat them too...

Just like we were ready for SDSU? F****d something up on previous post!

[knapplc]

I remember all those years of mediocrity for Texas. The Red River Rivalry was little more than a local show, not the national-interest game it's become in the last decade-ish.

 

What I cannot fathom, though, is how Texas can ever become "bad." You guys have more five-star players within a stone's throw of your campus than any school outside of Florida and SoCal. There is absolutely no excuse for poor players on your roster, yet here we are, watching this team fuddle its way around the field. It's baffling to me how Mack can underperform like this.

 

I think a lot of it is on the position coaches. Mac McWhorter is a terrible O line coach. We're just now realizing it because these past two years are the first time in forever that we haven't had multiple future NFL guys, including some first rounders, on our O line. Now that the talent level is a notch lower, the line went from a strength to a huge liability. That screams coaching to me, specifically that a coach's defects were covered up for years by simply having better athletes than the guys on the other side of the ball most of the time.

 

And WR coach Bobby Kennedy should be on the hot seat, too. Malcolm Williams, John Chiles, and DeSean Hales were all highly regarded 4-stars that haven't developed at all. Our routes are sloppy and there are way too many drops. Freshman Mike Davis looks to be better right now than guys that have been in Kennedy's system for two or three years.

 

And then there's the playcalling. See avatar.

 

But as bad as it is, we're not heading back to the 80's by any stretch. Worst case this year looks to be about 7-5, and we hardly lose anyone to graduation (Curtis Brown is the only one worth anything), plus we've got a 5 star tackle coming in along with Malcolm Brown next year. This is a dip in the road, not a decline, we'll be contenders for the conference again next year (not that y'all will care, lol).

 

That quote you're responding to is mine, not Junior's.

 

But the rest of your post speaks to what I'm talking about. It just makes no sense that with all of those four- and five-star kids on your roster that you would EVER have a dip in talent level. Your coaches are smack in the middle of prime prep football country, and should have zero problems diagnosing talent properly. I cannot fathom how they could be the flagship school in a talent-rich state, the school that all the Texas kids originally want to go to (A&M/Tech being fall-backs, and on down the list), and yet still have that kind of underperformance.

 

There are only two explanations I can see: 1) Your coaches simply are not that good at gauging talent, and recruit the wrong kids (see: Rex Burkhead), or 2) Your coaches are not very good at teaching football to these kids once they get them. I think what you're saying is it's the latter, which begs the question, why are they still at UT?

[skersfan]

Two totally different games.

 

The Texas game has to be won, it is a matter of pride, for the state, the university and the athletic department. If Bo loses the Texas game, with what has happened so far this year, there will be questions about his ability and there will be many unhappy fans

 

There is no chance that this team will not be ready to play next weekend, whether they beat Texas or not will not be for lack of effort on concern.

 

Texas has loads of talent, their defense is solid. They will spy Martinez is my guess, so Helu and Rex have to be ablet to get yards.

 

Dennard and Amukamara may have a great game. David may spend more time in their backfield than we have seen up to this time.

 

I think we win this game, but never count Texas out. Too much talent and too much heart and love of state to not give 110% every down.

[Cob Mob]

I remember all those years of mediocrity for Texas. The Red River Rivalry was little more than a local show, not the national-interest game it's become in the last decade-ish.

 

What I cannot fathom, though, is how Texas can ever become "bad." You guys have more five-star players within a stone's throw of your campus than any school outside of Florida and SoCal. There is absolutely no excuse for poor players on your roster, yet here we are, watching this team fuddle its way around the field. It's baffling to me how Mack can underperform like this.

 

I think a lot of it is on the position coaches. Mac McWhorter is a terrible O line coach. We're just now realizing it because these past two years are the first time in forever that we haven't had multiple future NFL guys, including some first rounders, on our O line. Now that the talent level is a notch lower, the line went from a strength to a huge liability. That screams coaching to me, specifically that a coach's defects were covered up for years by simply having better athletes than the guys on the other side of the ball most of the time.

 

And WR coach Bobby Kennedy should be on the hot seat, too. Malcolm Williams, John Chiles, and DeSean Hales were all highly regarded 4-stars that haven't developed at all. Our routes are sloppy and there are way too many drops. Freshman Mike Davis looks to be better right now than guys that have been in Kennedy's system for two or three years.

 

And then there's the playcalling. See avatar.

 

But as bad as it is, we're not heading back to the 80's by any stretch. Worst case this year looks to be about 7-5, and we hardly lose anyone to graduation (Curtis Brown is the only one worth anything), plus we've got a 5 star tackle coming in along with Malcolm Brown next year. This is a dip in the road, not a decline, we'll be contenders for the conference again next year (not that y'all will care, lol).

 

That quote you're responding to is mine, not Junior's.

 

But the rest of your post speaks to what I'm talking about. It just makes no sense that with all of those four- and five-star kids on your roster that you would EVER have a dip in talent level. Your coaches are smack in the middle of prime prep football country, and should have zero problems diagnosing talent properly. I cannot fathom how they could be the flagship school in a talent-rich state, the school that all the Texas kids originally want to go to (A&M/Tech being fall-backs, and on down the list), and yet still have that kind of underperformance.

 

There are only two explanations I can see: 1) Your coaches simply are not that good at gauging talent, and recruit the wrong kids (see: Rex Burkhead), or 2) Your coaches are not very good at teaching football to these kids once they get them. I think what you're saying is it's the latter, which begs the question, why are they still at UT?

 

Don't forget, another reason UT dropped off the planet for nearly two decades was because they ALSO got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. When the rest of the SWC got tired of being held down by the State Legislation, they started cheating to try to do anything to beat UT. UT started getting lit up by SMU and some other programs, so they started cheating as well. The whole conference got caught. Rumor has it that when UT ratted SMU out, SMU turned around and did the same to UT. At one point in the mid 80's EVERY team in the SWC was on NCAA probation.... not investigation, probation (except Rice, Baylor, and Arkansas).

 

Remember Broadrick Thomas? He wanted to go to UT, and was on his way but said all the NCAA investigators were calling him day and night to ask if he'd been offered or taken money from UT... he said he got tired of it and just decided to go to Nebraska instead. So I'm sure that being put on NCAA probation also helped put a dent in all the resources that UT had at it's disposal.

[TexArcher]

There are only two explanations I can see: 1) Your coaches simply are not that good at gauging talent, and recruit the wrong kids (see: Rex Burkhead), or 2) Your coaches are not very good at teaching football to these kids once they get them. I think what you're saying is it's the latter, which begs the question, why are they still at UT?

 

Well, the talent evaluation is a bit hit or miss for everyone. Sometimes 5-stars don't pan out for a variety of reasons, maybe their work ethic sucks once they get to college and have all the distractions, or maybe they simply peaked early and at 18 were just about as good as they were ever going to be. A perfect example is Ryan Perrilloux, a "can't-miss" 5-star who never did anything and couldn't stay out of trouble, while Colt McCoy was only a 3-star. I think Texas evaluates talent as well as anyone and the problem is moreso in developing it, at least on the offensive side of the ball. It seems like we've been fortunate to get some guys who maybe don't need a whole lot of coaching. VY, Cedric Benson, Jamaal Charles, and Selvin Young were all freakishly good athletes - just give em the ball. And guys like Colt and Shipley just get it, they have very-good-but-not-exceptional talent and their minds are very sharp and they live in the film room. But when we got a group of raw talent, they've stayed raw for way too long.

 

As for why those position coaches are still there, I think it's just because Mack is a really loyal guy, maybe to a fault. Even when Duane Akina ran our defense into the ground as the DC, Mack didn't fire him, he moved him to coaching the DBs.

 

But changes will have to be made after this fiasco of a season. Davis isn't going anywhere, and I have to give him credit for being an excellent quarterbacks coach, so that at least partially offsets his ineptitude at playcalling. But I'd like to see McWhorter gone and a new O line coach brought in, and I'd like to see Kennedy replaced as WR coach. I think it would make sense to move Major Applewhite over to WR coach. I love having him on the staff because he's a future OC, and probably a good one, but he's got to have more that he could teach the WRs than the RBs, then we could bring in a proper RB coach. I think those changes would go a long way.

 

Or... None of these changes will happen and Malcolm Brown will make them all look like geniuses again. Either way, it can't be this bad two years in a row. Right? Seriously, right?

[HuskerTrucker]

This team needs to remember last year, and use that as motivation. We should have/could have won that game. I hope we go in and run the score up on TexASS, because....well just because.

[shyndy]

Two totally different games.

 

The Texas game has to be won, it is a matter of pride, for the state, the university and the athletic department. If Bo loses the Texas game, with what has happened so far this year, there will be questions about his ability and there will be many unhappy fans

 

There is no chance that this team will not be ready to play next weekend, whether they beat Texas or not will not be for lack of effort on concern.

 

Texas has loads of talent, their defense is solid. They will spy Martinez is my guess, so Helu and Rex have to be ablet to get yards.

 

Dennard and Amukamara may have a great game. David may spend more time in their backfield than we have seen up to this time.

 

I think we win this game, but never count Texas out. Too much talent and too much heart and love of state to not give 110% every down.

While I agree that this will be the reaction of most should said event occur, I don't agree that this is how we SHOULD react. sh#t happens and Texas is lucky against us all the time no matter which team is better that year. It football, its sometimes pretty chaotic. We are probably going to lose a game somewhere this year, not necessarily because we are inferior but for a multitude of other reasons.

[JOEY]

Two totally different games.

 

The Texas game has to be won, it is a matter of pride, for the state, the university and the athletic department. If Bo loses the Texas game, with what has happened so far this year, there will be questions about his ability and there will be many unhappy fans

 

There is no chance that this team will not be ready to play next weekend, whether they beat Texas or not will not be for lack of effort on concern.

 

Texas has loads of talent, their defense is solid. They will spy Martinez is my guess, so Helu and Rex have to be ablet to get yards.

 

Dennard and Amukamara may have a great game. David may spend more time in their backfield than we have seen up to this time.

 

I think we win this game, but never count Texas out. Too much talent and too much heart and love of state to not give 110% every down.

While I agree that this will be the reaction of most should said event occur, I don't agree that this is how we SHOULD react. sh#t happens and Texas is lucky against us all the time no matter which team is better that year. It football, its sometimes pretty chaotic. We are probably going to lose a game somewhere this year, not necessarily because we are inferior but for a multitude of other reasons.

If we lose a game in the regular season it will be only because we beat ourselves.

[Ratt Mhule]

There are only two explanations I can see: 1) Your coaches simply are not that good at gauging talent, and recruit the wrong kids (see: Rex Burkhead), or 2) Your coaches are not very good at teaching football to these kids once they get them. I think what you're saying is it's the latter, which begs the question, why are they still at UT?

 

Well, the talent evaluation is a bit hit or miss for everyone. Sometimes 5-stars don't pan out for a variety of reasons, maybe their work ethic sucks once they get to college and have all the distractions, or maybe they simply peaked early and at 18 were just about as good as they were ever going to be. A perfect example is Ryan Perrilloux, a "can't-miss" 5-star who never did anything and couldn't stay out of trouble, while Colt McCoy was only a 3-star. I think Texas evaluates talent as well as anyone and the problem is moreso in developing it, at least on the offensive side of the ball. It seems like we've been fortunate to get some guys who maybe don't need a whole lot of coaching. VY, Cedric Benson, Jamaal Charles, and Selvin Young were all freakishly good athletes - just give em the ball. And guys like Colt and Shipley just get it, they have very-good-but-not-exceptional talent and their minds are very sharp and they live in the film room. But when we got a group of raw talent, they've stayed raw for way too long.

 

As for why those position coaches are still there, I think it's just because Mack is a really loyal guy, maybe to a fault. Even when Duane Akina ran our defense into the ground as the DC, Mack didn't fire him, he moved him to coaching the DBs.

 

But changes will have to be made after this fiasco of a season. Davis isn't going anywhere, and I have to give him credit for being an excellent quarterbacks coach, so that at least partially offsets his ineptitude at playcalling. But I'd like to see McWhorter gone and a new O line coach brought in, and I'd like to see Kennedy replaced as WR coach. I think it would make sense to move Major Applewhite over to WR coach. I love having him on the staff because he's a future OC, and probably a good one, but he's got to have more that he could teach the WRs than the RBs, then we could bring in a proper RB coach. I think those changes would go a long way.

 

Or... None of these changes will happen and Malcolm Brown will make them all look like geniuses again. Either way, it can't be this bad two years in a row. Right? Seriously, right?

 

Will Barney Cotton do?

 

I laughed my a** off at the picture of the Bo Pelini look alike they posted in that thread. Now thats some funny shiot!