Longhorns Update: Pre-South Showdown

It’s been a while since I posted anything about the Horns. Why? I have been waiting to assess the fall-out after the Wyoming game. We’re now 5 – 0 and are heading to Dallas for the showdown with Oklahoma. Everyone thought that this weekend’s match-up would be a battle of top 5 teams, and, well, only one top 5 team is heading to the State Fair this weekend. Sorry, Sooners.

After Wyoming, we faced Texas Tech. 2008. Enough said. This time around, the game shouldn’t have been close – but it was. Quarterback Taylor Potts was simply - amazing. Another diamond that has been mined by coach Mike Leach. What is even more amazing is that since then, Potts sustained a concussion and Leach brought in third string QB Steven Sheffield – who threw for 490 yards in his first start. It’s time to start investigating “quarterback performance enhancement” out in Lubbock, because somehow Leach is a genius when it comes to finding quarterbacks that can throw the ball. Wow. But nonetheless, the Tech game wasn’t a game the Longhorns were going to lose. Reason? Once again – 2008. It might have been close, but there were too many people that couldn’t forget the sting of 2008 and had to exorcise it from memory.

Mission accomplished.

Since then, we’ve had “the other UT”, UTEP (who, after being thrashed by us, went and took it out on Houston – a nationally-ranked Houston, that is) and Colorado (who thought they were the #2 team in the country for about 40 minutes, while the Horns were playing like the #102 team in the country).

Over the first 5 games, there are some obvious conclusions to be drawn about the ‘Horns. They have a  great passing attack – and no running game. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The running game is either inconsistent, injured, or just plain predictable. If Colt is under center, good money says Cody Johnson is in the backfield – which means he’s getting the ball. If I can see that from the stands, what does a defensive coordinator do when he sees it? He licks his chops!!! They have a great offensive line, as long as their primary task is to protect Colt McCoy. The Longhorns have a great defense – and although they gave up 400+ yards to Texas Tech, they tended to bend but not break.

The 2009 Longhorns are much like they were last year - a little bit Jekyll and a little bit Hyde. Consistency is lacking. To me, that has to be an issue of coaching. Obviously the players are capable of making the plays – the coaches have to instill the mindset of doing it EVERY play. I think Will Muschamp is well on his way to establishing this – just please blitz more! The results against Tech – for one series when they were up against their own goal line – were tremendous. Send the dogs! Sam Bradford needs to run a bit this weekend.The Wild Horn formation looks like a great idea – as long as you have the guts to pass out of it as well. Colt McCoy lining up as a wide receiver with John Chiles at QB is great – assuming you let Chiles pass, maybe even to McCoy. As it stands right now, the defensive back just starts cheating toward the center of the field, because you KNOW Chiles is not throwing to McCoy’s side of the field.

And the true Heisman candidate this year for the Horns is – Jordan Shipley. He sat out his first two years on campus due to injury. But the value to his team over his career – and especially this year – is beyond words. He is on track to be only the second Longhorn receiver to break 100 catches in a season. He is scoring regularly. His special teams efforts are superhuman. Sadly, with talk of both McCoy and Shipley for the Heisman , it will water-down both of their chances, leaving the 2009 Heisman to …

Tim Tebow? Please! Sure, he means a lot to his team. And yes, he knows how to win. But, having 100 yards passing and 50 to 100 yards rushing in a game just aren’t good enough statistics. Period. Go ahead Gator fans, let me have it on this one.

Speaking of the SEC … why all the SEC love? Florida, Alabama, and Texas all have great defense. But who actually scores points? This past weekend – Florida 13 (LSU has even less offense), Alabama 22 (Ole Miss had more interceptions than completions, or so it seems) … and Texas continues to put up 35+ a game.

And now, we are ready for a tough stretch for the Horns: Oklahoma (at Dallas), Missouri (at Missouri) and Oklahoma State on Halloween (at Stillwater). See you on November 1 … fingers crossed in the meantime. Let’s hope the Horns play consistently well – and not consistently bad, especially in the first half of any of these games. Otherwise, the Big 12 championship may no longer be within our grasp – let alone the Big Dance in January.