Longhorns Update: A New Game Plan In Town?

It is the time of year for much rejoicing. College football started in Austin this past Labor Day weekend against the Rice Owls. Yes, these are the Owls that are known more for their marching band (the Marching Owl Band, or MOB) than they are for their stellar football program.

With that said, there were a lot of unknowns for the University of Texas coming into this game. Most of the practices have been closed to the media and public. The Longhorns now have two new offensive coordinators (Bryan Harsin and Major Applewhite) and a new defensive coordinator (Manny Diaz). Gone are Greg Davis – he of the oppressively stagnant offensive game plans – and Will Muschamp – long departed for the Florida Gators. Either the coaches didn’t want to show the world all the good stuff they have in store for us this season, or they didn’t want to show us how bad this team is this year.

After last season, either option would be a possibility.

After a first half that was mediocre at best, the Longhorns finally showed us some excitement. The offensive game plan was innovative and truly wide open. The much-maligned Garrett Gilbert was given an opportunity to do what he does best – throw the ball down the field. Mike Davis showed us that he will be the big play receiver for the Horns. Jaxon Shipley gave us signs of the second coming of his older brother Jordan. Hallelujah. DJ Monroe got more action and still looked like he did against OU last year – stellar. Monroe had the highest yards per carry average of any of the running backs. But the coaches still looked past Monroe and gave the majority of the second half carries to freshman Malcolm Brown. Either way, this offense is fun to watch and will only get better with time.

The defense looked solid, but not extraordinary by any account. They did seem to struggle with the Rice offense, but they did more “bending” than “breaking”. The Owls only put 9 points on the board, and any time a defense holds a team to 9 points, it has to be considered a success.  Fortunately, we finally got to see some blitzing, something that seems to have been AWOL on the UT campus for the past couple of years. The upcoming BYU game should give us a much better idea of what the pass defense is like.

The biggest aspect of change – for this fan and pundit – was the attitude of the coaching staff. The new coordinators made good use of the players’ skills. They molded an offensive and defensive game plan around these skills, and not vice versa. That unto itself is a huge change, especially on the offense. I have no doubt that much of Gilbert’s apparent loss of confidence last year can be attributed to being forced into Davis’ “system” and not allowing him to do what he does best. Time will tell if that is the reason for his difficult sophomore season, after almost pulling off the National Championship comeback as a freshman. He certainly looked far more confident this weekend.

Much of what coaches do is to foster confidence in student athletes. I commend the new UT coaches for giving theses student athletes an environment, a game plan, in which they can succeed. Game One was a breath of fresh air. Onwards to BYU!

Photo credits: abesselink