Random self-assessments from Longhorn fans after their 42-27 win over Kansas in Austin:
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Good and bad.
Bad first: OL is still bad, Kris Boyd should never be allowed to return any kind of kick and, frankly, should just immediately go to the ground after any interception he catches, Buechele got hit way too much, and Beck needs to be thanked for his service and replaced at the end of the year, he just hasn’t been able to call a consistently productive game this year.
The good: we won, we have two freshman studs at RB, our best healthy linemen are underclassmen, and we have a ton of options at WR. We also might have a superb H Back in Warren, which we might be able to say with more confidence if we hadn’t ditched the formation after the first quarter and a half.
Overall, an improvement over last year, but last year sucked. Shane has potential if we can get substantial improvement on the line next year. Everything revolves around improving the line and the play calling. I don’t know, maybe Beck could stay, but somebody else has to call plays. Having Warren as a lead blocker was excellent planning, but it was working well enough to even open up the passing game briefly and then they stopped doing it. Frustrating.
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Kansas is absolutely terrible and yet we were unable to put this game away until late. Our offense borders on Shawn Watson bad. It may actually be worse. Our defense really misses Holton Hill. Big drop off after him. Yeah, we got turnovers but the Kansas QB gifted most of those. I think it is honestly a toss up whether we even qualify for a bowl game. We will not beat WVU in Morgantown playing like this. At least we have Tech at home but we need a complete game to beat them too. Waiting until next season is starting to get old.
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Not having Holton Hill
Really hurt the defense. They were attacking Davante Davis all game and having success doing it.
On the other hand, I’m kind of disappointed that we’re just now seeing Antwan Davis. That guy is playing lights out football. Think the coaches loved PJ Locke in practice and ran with him without giving A. Davis a real shot in games. Trend for the year.
Very optimistic about our young RBs. Those guys are promising. Excited to see them with a competent o line in the future.
Shane Buechele. God damn it it’s frustrating watching him play. He NEVER throws the ball away. The most infuriating plays this season for me have been those where Buechele drops back to pass and then runs STRAIGHT into a defender at or behind the line of scrimmage when no one’s open. Run toward the damn sideline and throw the ball away if you have to! Damn it. Also hate these rollouts to the short side of the field. WRs run out of room to run in about 3 seconds.
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I watched every play of this game. I watched every play from last year’s game against Kansas. Texas played better than Kansas only by virtue of capitalizing on 4 VERY timely KU turnovers, all of which either produced points for Texas or prevented KU from scoring (the interception in the end zone). Statistically, the game was close as KU held the ball for an equal number of minutes. Had Texas not gotten off to a 14-0 lead early in Q1, it’s likely Texas might have been beaten by a one win Kansas team. Frankly, I saw no improvements in this game over previous games aside from Texas having an RB that was able to accumulate more than 50 yards rushing……on……what……50 carries??? Texas will not beat WVU, regardless of QB, if we play as we did tonight. That’s just the cold, hard truth. A 6-6 final regular season record will require a miracle plus much better defensive play than this team offered tonight.
............................
Good and bad.
Bad first: OL is still bad, Kris Boyd should never be allowed to return any kind of kick and, frankly, should just immediately go to the ground after any interception he catches, Buechele got hit way too much, and Beck needs to be thanked for his service and replaced at the end of the year, he just hasn’t been able to call a consistently productive game this year.
The good: we won, we have two freshman studs at RB, our best healthy linemen are underclassmen, and we have a ton of options at WR. We also might have a superb H Back in Warren, which we might be able to say with more confidence if we hadn’t ditched the formation after the first quarter and a half.
Overall, an improvement over last year, but last year sucked. Shane has potential if we can get substantial improvement on the line next year. Everything revolves around improving the line and the play calling. I don’t know, maybe Beck could stay, but somebody else has to call plays. Having Warren as a lead blocker was excellent planning, but it was working well enough to even open up the passing game briefly and then they stopped doing it. Frustrating.
.................................
Kansas is absolutely terrible and yet we were unable to put this game away until late. Our offense borders on Shawn Watson bad. It may actually be worse. Our defense really misses Holton Hill. Big drop off after him. Yeah, we got turnovers but the Kansas QB gifted most of those. I think it is honestly a toss up whether we even qualify for a bowl game. We will not beat WVU in Morgantown playing like this. At least we have Tech at home but we need a complete game to beat them too. Waiting until next season is starting to get old.
...................................
Not having Holton Hill
Really hurt the defense. They were attacking Davante Davis all game and having success doing it.
On the other hand, I’m kind of disappointed that we’re just now seeing Antwan Davis. That guy is playing lights out football. Think the coaches loved PJ Locke in practice and ran with him without giving A. Davis a real shot in games. Trend for the year.
Very optimistic about our young RBs. Those guys are promising. Excited to see them with a competent o line in the future.
Shane Buechele. God damn it it’s frustrating watching him play. He NEVER throws the ball away. The most infuriating plays this season for me have been those where Buechele drops back to pass and then runs STRAIGHT into a defender at or behind the line of scrimmage when no one’s open. Run toward the damn sideline and throw the ball away if you have to! Damn it. Also hate these rollouts to the short side of the field. WRs run out of room to run in about 3 seconds.
.....................................
I watched every play of this game. I watched every play from last year’s game against Kansas. Texas played better than Kansas only by virtue of capitalizing on 4 VERY timely KU turnovers, all of which either produced points for Texas or prevented KU from scoring (the interception in the end zone). Statistically, the game was close as KU held the ball for an equal number of minutes. Had Texas not gotten off to a 14-0 lead early in Q1, it’s likely Texas might have been beaten by a one win Kansas team. Frankly, I saw no improvements in this game over previous games aside from Texas having an RB that was able to accumulate more than 50 yards rushing……on……what……50 carries??? Texas will not beat WVU, regardless of QB, if we play as we did tonight. That’s just the cold, hard truth. A 6-6 final regular season record will require a miracle plus much better defensive play than this team offered tonight.
