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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. When you say we "fizzled" basically it means we lost, and nothing else matters. We had a chance against both Washington and Ohio State late in the game. I wouldn't say that was fizzling. A couple of plays here and there and we win both of those. We didn't, and I understand that's important. But it's not like we played like complete crap. The other team simply played better. It happens. I'd argue something similar happened against Ohio State. Both teams need to improve from their season opener. Ohio State hardly looked like a finished product. But they had a couple of plays go their way and Texas failed to execute on a couple of plays on their end, and that was the difference in the game. In the second game we likely could have just run it down their throats and dominated the game, but it was a glorified exhibition to help work on things. Lots of rotations. Lots of players coming in. A chance for the OL to gel more. And most of all, a chance for Manning to get further down the line in his development - which proved to be a bit of a mixed bag. I know everyone has their opinion on the Ewers/Manning dichotomy, and I'm certainly among them. My feeling with Ewers is that he was a finished product for the most part. What you saw is what you got. I had my frustrations, but I also had quite a bit of gratitude around what he did well. It's my opinion his strengths were constantly taken for granted by people who wanted him to be more than what he was. With Manning, my hope and expectation is there's an upside he hasn't found yet. That's pretty common for a first year starter. But maybe that's not the case? I don't know. Maybe what we have in Manning is a bad mechanics quarterback who is completely unreliable in terms of whether he's going to dot his receivers with incredible throws or he's going to skip the ball to them or completely overthrow them. I understand there are other aspects of the team that need improvement, but Manning is going to be a critical piece for the rest of the season, just like any quarterback would be. Without any insider knowledge, it felt like Sarkisian wanted Manning to stay in the pocket, go through his progressions, and use the game to get more comfortable and confident with more game time reps. Mission accomplished? I don't know. That's not how I feel after that game. I also feel like you can't exactly flip a switch. If utilizing Manning's legs as a bigger part of the offense - not just designed runs but taking off when the opportunity is there - is important, then you should probably do that, rather than waiting for the opportune moment. But we'll see. Look, either Manning improves this year and becomes more consistent and more effective, and this team has a chance to go deep in the playoffs and win the whole thing, or he doesn't, and we're potentially looking at a 9-3 season or worse. Which would be something of a disaster from my point of view. But Manning needs to improve. That's all there is to it. Not that other aspects of the team don't need improvement as well, but I'm not sure how much the rest of it matters if he doesn't get right, while there's a lot of other deficiencies that can be overcome if Manning starts balling out on a consistent basis. I guess my main issue is that the flaws we're seeing in his mechanics when he's throwing his wtf passes seems so fundamental, my question becomes, why is that even there after all the years of high level coaching he's received, and why should I have the expectation it's going to miraculously improve this season? I guess there's a thought if he becomes more of a dual threat - which he obviously has the potential of being - that will ameliorate some of my other concerns. Possibly.
  2. I would be very concerned about the depth chart if I was Jordan Washington or Spencer Shannon. I know those guys are ideal as inline TEs, but both Townsend and Watson look really good as true freshmen.
  3. I guess I was surprised people didn't understand the joke. So I took it to a ridiculous degree, and that was taken seriously as well. I'm on a thread commenting on Parker Livingstone, so I care about the topic. I don't think I'm nearly as obsessed with it as others. I post on here for entertainment, and right now the course of this conversation is entertaining to me. I guess this reply to you is evidence of my asperger's and my strange unhealthy obsession with your comments as well, but it's hard to have conversations with people if that's the first accusation that rolls off people's tongues (fingers) when replying back and forth. It's a forum. I figure the whole point is to be posting and replying to things. Don't you?
  4. I guess I'd just say for anyone who thought Ewers was a poor quarterback, that's an asinine take. He was terrific in the short and intermediate passing game. He was highly accurate. He consistently hit players in stride so they could maximize yards after the catch. He was piss poor on deep balls. He often did not have a good feel for when the pocket was breaking down. It felt like he was often scared of taking a hit. But he often played through injury, and he had 3 classic performances against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Arizona State in the Peach Bowl, including his signature play on 4th and 13. No one should put Ewers in the same breath as all time greats, but he firmly belongs in the category right below that. I'm glad he was a Longhorn, that's for sure.
  5. Really? I see an elite defense that is designed to give up the short passing game in favor of stopping big plays. That's the defense we've had the entire time Sarkisian has been here. I see an offense that is predicated on quarterback play, with a quarterback who is big time risk/reward, much more so than Ewers ever was. I feel like we knew that going into the season. At least I did, and I thought it was blatantly obvious and everyone knew the score. What I will admit is while intellectually I knew the offense was going to be more risk/reward, I did not have my expectations in alignment for what that would actually mean in practical terms. It is hard on my heart to watch Manning not look so good one moment and then spectacular the next. He's not great in the short passing game right now. He misses wildly on some of his throws in ways I did not expect to happen with such frequency. He does not take off running as much as I thought he would - or should, frankly. I feel like Baxter is a huge missing piece for what was available on the roster last year. I feel like the offensive line is a work in progress, but I feel good about where they are right now. I like where we are. I do not agree with the folks taking a dim view of this team. We'll see how it all plays out, but I feel good about the rest of the season.
  6. The players like it, so that's more important than what I think. But I'm with you. I think it's stupid. Overreacting?
  7. It wasn't even a serious comment. You're getting your panties in a wad over a throwaway statement meant to be somewhat ludicrous. Ewers couldn't make a deep throw to save his life so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
  8. We should examine this comparison further. I think the argument over who is the better talent and the better NFL prospect between Adonai Mitchell and Parker Livingstone deserves serious consideration. I'm glad you started this line of inquiry. What I will say, is there are very good receivers that have played at Texas that could be used as a comparison. I also feel like my number one thought regarding Livingstone is that Ryan Wingo needs more touches than he's getting.
  9. The whole conversation is absurd. Red Five does not literally think Livingstone is faster than Mitchell. But here we are because you and others are demonstrating an admirable lack of sarcasm detection.
  10. Jesse Palmer reads Surly Horns.
  11. Maybe not over the first 10 yards, but they've done radar gun tests over 100 yards and Livingstone was significantly faster. Livingstone was also considerably faster in the ultramarathon they competed in together. Red Five is too nice of a poster to cite his sources and make you look bad. I'll say this. If I was in a tribe that depended on the two of them to hunt gazelles for survival, I'm taking Livingstone's speed over Mitchell's speed. Better able to chase down the stragglers.
  12. It might be Livingstone. I'm saying that's not ideal if he is. Moore/Wingo are #1/#2. Moore is out right now, so that changes things. Malcolm Williams was the 2nd receiver behind Shipley. That worked out fine. Billy Pittman was Vince Young's #1 target in 2005. Livingstone can do very well at Texas. I'm not rooting against him. I'm just saying there's a different level of talent out there that Livingstone simply doesn't possess, and we can't just fandom him into it. It's still a fun story to follow, for sure. I like the way he plays, and I like what he brings to the team. But if he was the most talented wr on the roster I'd be concerned.
  13. This guy is going to get overrated due to overreaction to his McJagginess. I'm glad he's on the team, but I'm not seeing Jordan Shipley out there. He's a really good WR3, though.
  14. Personally I think it's too late. There's some serious expert embalming work going on with the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards started it a couple of decades ago, but they farmed the guy out to the rest of the band. Weekend at Mick's.
  15. When you type the @ symbol then start typing a list of usernames comes up based on what ever letter you typed. So if you type @ then "a" your name is the second on the list. @ApocalypseTexas No reason to know it, but once you know it's pretty easy to utilize.
  16. So we're pretending this recruitment isn't transactional? Okay. I love Cooper. I hope to goodness we get him. I don't care if he's looking for a big pay day or not, the guy is an effort dude. But let's not pretend we've suddenly warped into a day and age where he might pick Miami because they have a better season. That's not how this recruitment is going to play out. Not to mention I think we're going to have a better year in any case. Unless we pull our NIL payday or fail to match what other teams bring, I assume we're going to get him in December.
  17. OU made it clear they were going wherever Texas was going. I do not believe OU needed Texas to get into the SEC the way Baylor and Texas Tech needed Texas and Texas A&M to get into the Big 12. But they let Texas take the lead on that move. OU's bigger long term issue is how they're going to handle NIL. Not whether the SEC is favoring Texas or not. The problem is, staying in the Big 12 wasn't really an option. The Big 12 is going to be perpetually filled with all the programs that can't get into the SEC or Big 10. I assume once the SEC/Big 10 carve up the ACC, there will be some kind of merger for the teams that weren't invited. The money will be a lot less. The ability to be a factor in the future of college football will be a lot less. They didn't really have a choice but to enter the SEC as second fiddle to Texas. Saban told Sarkisian he wouldn't recommend the Texas job based on his clusterfuck of an experience when he thought he would replace Mack Brown. He understood the appeal. Basically told him to check his 6. Frankly, Kalen DeBoer was a heck of a hire. He still might work out. His biggest issue right now is following Saban. But everyone knew that when he took the job, including DeBoer. The biggest issue with Texas versus some other programs is that sometimes it doesn't make winning at football the same kind of priority other programs do. We're blessed to have Eltife as the chairman of the board of regents and Greg Abbot as the the governor (not being political - simply saying for football purposes). If we go through a number of years where someone who is anti Texas is making board of regents appointments it might get a little more dicey.
  18. The success of it also rewards poor decision making. I thought it was dumb at the time, and I think it's even worse in retrospect.
  19. Red zone issues are a noted problem. I think even the most rabid Sarkisian fan can acknowledge that. I think the most optimistic feel like it might be a Ewers issue, but I am not one of them. I guess my feeling is that we'll have to win even with Red Zone issues. I think our team motto should be, "Nobody scores from the one yard line. Not even us!"
  20. I don't think of going for it on 4th down as chasing points. I think of going for a 2 point conversion early in a game to create a certain point differential as chasing points. I didn't have a problem with either Texas or Ohio State going for the touchdown on 4th and goal. I didn't like the early 4th down conversion Sarkisian went for with Manning's QB sneak that worked. I didn't like the next 4th down conversion after crossing the 50, especially with this new punter and his ability to get the ball inside the 10 (a bit of a segue, but man I love our punter - why are we recruiting Americans for that role?). I didn't like the 4th down attempt by Ohio State that they would have converted if Max Klare hangs on to the ball. I am of the opinion that settling for field goals can get you beat. Obviously they have a time and place. 4th and short on the goal line is not it. BTW, on Ohio State's play where they converted for the touchdown Hill has an unblocked path through the hole, but he fell down without making contact with anyone. If instead he's able to standup the lead blocker or even make the tackle that doesn't get converted. Not trying to blame the play on Hill. It's bam bam and he's just trying to be disruptive in the backfield. But that play could have easily failed for them, too. It was still the right call on their part, IMO. They were wise not to call a quarterback keeper, unlike Texas.
  21. I don't want to jump to conclusions here, but what's the verdict, then?
  22. No active coach. Jim Tressel and Jeff Fisher both would.
  23. Yeah, there were other things going on. What we saw against UTSA and MSU was translatable. He was terrible today. My hope and expectation is that he'll get better. But it was still disappointing. I'm sure for him more than any of us. He's not going to be able to watch the film of that game and think, "if only my teammates had given a little more effort, we win that game!"
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