Longhorns Update: Ten Months Later

It seems like just yesterday (make that January) that the University of Texas Longhorns were in the 2010 BCS National Championship game. Longhorn fans watched in virtual horror as Colt McCoy left the field with an injury. Those same fans watched with great excitement as Austin’s very own Garrett Gilbert, a freshman, put the Horns back in contention with a tremendous second half performance. Gilbert almost pulled off the impossible as a freshman in what truly amounted to his first significant playing time all year. What a way to start your college football career.

Now, it is ten months later. The fans are now officially out of their misery, with the season ending with a record of 5 – 7 and no bowl in our future. There have been very few teams in college football history that have plummeted this far, this fast, after a national championship appearance. And, lest any Longhorns fans need reminding, it’s the first losing season in Mack Brown’s tenure, and the first losing season since, yes, John Mackovic’s final season in 1997. If the thought of that doesn’t make you squirm, I am not sure what would.

For those who missed it, we managed to beat Nebraska this year, sending them to the Big 10 with a farewell that UT faithful truly enjoyed. That was on October 16. From there, it was all downhill. Losses to Iowa State – the first time ever – and Baylor – the first time in almost forever – followed. There was a loss on the road at Kansas State. Better yet, call that a drubbing. Let us not forget the loss at home to Oklahoma State – another first – and follow that up with a loss to Texas A&M, again at home. October 16 was truly a long time ago in a football galaxy far, far away.

So with the demise upon us, where does Mack Brown start to find the answers?

The problem does not lie with the players, or specifically the talent of the players. The Longhorns have had a number of top 5 recruiting classes in the past 5 years since their last National Championship. With the vast majority of recruits coming from the football-rich state of Texas, I highly doubt this is where the problem starts. There are plenty of good players, great players, that can be developed on the Forty Acres.

That assumes, of course, that the coaches can develop and refine their skills so that they get better as they progress through their playing days at Texas. It assumes that the coaches can emphasize discipline – so that costly penalties at inopportune times become non-existent. It assumes that the coaches can then formulate a game plan to take advantage of those skills. And it assumes that the coaches can revise and tweak that same plan on the fly, mid-game, to adjust for their opponents’ game plan. It assumes that the coaches can foster leadership.

That is one hell of a lot of assumptions. And guess what? They were all exposed this year. Why now?

Texas didn’t have a Vince Young or Colt McCoy or Jordan Shipley or Ricky Williams who could put the team on their shoulders, regardless of the game plan. These special players would make any offensive coordinator look like a rocket scientist. Instead, Texas had – as expected, I might add – an inexperienced quarterback who had national championship experience and a great high school football pedigree. Somehow, he didn’t develop within the scheme of things this year. Is it any coincidence that the horrendous play calling of his offensive coordinator coincides with that same person being his position coach?

If it wasn’t the bubble screens, it was the downfield passes that were always deep sideline. Those are tough for anyone to make, let alone a quarterback trying to find his way. There were plenty of dropped passes. And we won’t even get into the running game. After telling us that he was going to play DJ Monroe – the Horns most explosive running back – on more plays, he responded with games of zero, zero, and one carry. If that is what Davis considers “more carries”, I would hate to see what happens when he says “fewer carries”. Monroe might have been shipped off to a camp in Siberia.

Sadly, the defense also showed signs of weakness. Will Muschamp is suddenly not the saving grace he was once viewed as in Austin. Muschamp’s defense, thought to be “one of the best in the Mack Brown era”, was full of more holes than swiss cheese. Blitzing? Non-existent. The secondary, thought to be a strong point, gave up big play after big play. The adjustments were certainly not forthcoming mid-game.

It all came down to a chilly night in November. The Lone Star Showdown. The game was, rightfully so, a perfect microcosm of the season as we know it. And here we sit at 5 – 7, with Nebraska and Oklahoma going to the Big 12 Championship.

There will be plenty of questions to be answered between now and August 2010. I can only hope that Mack Brown comes to his senses and makes the hard decisions that need to be made for this program to really grow and develop, and not just float from season to season on the back of some supernatural quarterback that won’t take losing for an answer.

Ah yes, what a crazy 10 months it has been. And the next 10 look to be even crazier.

Photo credit: Svenneman