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Play calling was not our problem last year even though it is easy to single it out when the offense sucks.

When your o-line can't block worth a shit, you have very average running backs, and QB's that are young and inexperienced, any offensive coordinator would look shitty. 

I say 9 wins minimum and more likely we win 10 and haters will have to find something else to bitch about.

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17 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

I will be shocked if there's more than 25K this Saturday. Longhorn fans are notriously chill / lazy as fuck. Throw in the possibility of rain, and there could be 10K

This is very true. The a large portion of the current student body has little interest in football. The kids who are currently seniors have nothing to get excited about over the performance of the football team over the last 4 years.

 

The only passion for the Texas football is from alumni and t-shirt fans.

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39 minutes ago, Steamboat1874 said:

Play calling was not our problem last year even though it is easy to single it out when the offense sucks.

When your o-line can't block worth a shit, you have very average running backs, and QB's that are young and inexperienced, any offensive coordinator would look shitty. 

I say 9 wins minimum and more likely we win 10 and haters will have to find something else to bitch about.

Remember when it was 3rd and 2 and we were ahead against Tech with 2 minutes left and we ran the Ehlinger interception play instead of running the ball? I remember.

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17 hours ago, UT Lawnghorn said:

Once GJ gets back, Roach likely moves to starter at B-Backer. Although, I'll be curious to see if GJ and Roach become the two backers when we do our dime package. Last year it was GJ and Malik and training Roach at Rover makes me think the staff might be looking to put Roach in that spot this year. I'd like to see us find a replacement for Wheeler in that dime package. He just can't read/move fast enough to play in that much space.

I think most likely Roach is the second "linebacker" in dime, but will basically function as a 4th DL who comes from different angles and holes, and drops back every once in awhile. I don't think he'd be used the same way as Malik, but spending time at Rover should help him with his drops

Four DL, flood the secondary with 6 DBs, GJ spies and robs 

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1 minute ago, Fud said:

I think most likely Roach is the second "linebacker" in dime, but will basically function as a 4th DL who comes from different angles and holes, and drops back every once in awhile. I don't think he'd be used the same way as Malik, but spending time at Rover should help him with his drops

Four DL, flood the secondary with 6 DBs, GJ spies and robs 

Yeah, I could definitely see that, but even then, he'd basically be functioning as a B-backer. I think lining Roach up with his hand in the ground wastes a lot of his natural ability.

One of the nice things about Orlando is I trust him to maximize our personnel each every game.  

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Just now, UT Lawnghorn said:

Yeah, I could definitely see that, but even then, he'd basically be functioning as a B-backer. I think lining Roach up with his hand in the ground wastes a lot of his natural ability.

One of the nice things about Orlando is I trust him to maximize our personnel each every game.  

I don't think he'll be pigeonholed to the boundary side OLB/DE spot, I think they'll use him as a guy to move around and confuse the OL, but will be going forward the vast majority of the time 

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1 hour ago, Steamboat1874 said:

Play calling was not our problem last year even though it is easy to single it out when the offense sucks.

When your o-line can't block worth a shit, you have very average running backs, and QB's that are young and inexperienced, any offensive coordinator would look shitty. 

I say 9 wins minimum and more likely we win 10 and haters will have to find something else to bitch about.

Actually, it was one of our many problems on offense and tended to highlight the others. It’s easy to say we couldn’t block anything. We didn’t consistently block anything very well , but some concepts were executed far and away better than others. And some things were destined to fail based on which players we were asking to perform them. Things they continually failed at all season long, and we kept calling it anyway. 

That’s playcalling. Not just plays that are better executed than others, but having some semblance of awareness of who’s in the game and what to call in light of those personnel packages. 

Interestingly, we usually called about 2-3 drives per game actually focusing on our relative strengths, and those drives tended to be productive compared to the rest of our efforts. Rocket science and shit. 

Edited by Bobby_Batronic
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So what are the possibilities or likely outcomes for Sat’s game as it pertains to weather?  I’m coming down with 11 others - mostly kids.  I know a cancellation is possible.  Would they move the game to earlier in the day or even to Sunday?  
Know how I know you didn't watch Herman's Tuesday presser linked above?

He said "all options are on the table, including possibly playing earlier in the day, moving to the bubble or having the whole thing Sunday"
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40 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

So what are the possibilities or likely outcomes for Sat’s game as it pertains to weather?  I’m coming down with 11 others - mostly kids.  I know a cancellation is possible.  Would they move the game to earlier in the day or even to Sunday?  

It sounds like the most likely option if they move it is to Sunday. There are thunderstorms all day, so I doubt they'd move it earlier in the day. I'd be very surprised if they cancelled it entirely. 

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1 hour ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

Interestingly, we usually called about 2-3 drives per game actually focusing on our relative strengths, and those drives tended to be productive compared to the rest of our efforts. Rocket science and shit. 

Our scripted plays definitely worked better than our non-scripted plays.

I was actually going to respond to the execution vs. play calling thing by pointing out that it's easier to block on a play that makes conceptual sense than it is on one that's pulled out of one's nether regions, but I think you probably answered a little more concisely.

I don't think play calling was our only major problem last year... but you'd have to be so OD'd on kool aid as to make a diabetes doctor blush in order to think it wasn't a major problem.

Is it correctable, even without changing play caller? I dunno, but I tend to believe that things are fixable until proven otherwise, so I'll believe that Tim Beck 2018 can be better than Tim Beck 2017, right up until after the first unscripted series against Maryland.

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TFB Spring Game | Texpectations: http://texas.thefootballbrainiacs.com/2018/04/tfb-spring-game-week-texpectations/

 

Guess what? It’s Spring Game Week, y’all! It’s time to discuss some ‘almost football’. Does it seem like it took forever for this year’s spring game to come around? It did to me. I’ve had to seek counseling (only kidding). There will be a lot to see this Saturday evening. There are plenty of spots players are fighting for and between departures and injuries, the guys will be intent on ‘showing out’. It will also be the day fans get their first glimpse of the Tom Herman-Herb Hand offense, something I happen to be very excited about, if you’re wondering. You’ll also see a ‘new’ defense, of sorts, because as personnel changes, so does the unit’s capabilities. Long story short, while it’s only a spring game, there’s plenty of tidbits to help you understand some subtle and maybe not so subtle changes.

Offense

Herb Hand is here. He’s kind of a big deal. You’ve read right here at ‘TFB’, about what changes you might see because of Hand’s influence. I won’t go into too much detail, but I’ll share with you a few thoughts.

Pace – Texas doesn’t have to go fast all the time. What’s more important is urgency and controlling the tempo, up to and including burning rubber pellets and snapping the ball before the defense is set. Don’t forget, even Too Smart Todd had some trouble with tempo last season. Let’s see the offense test Todd’s ability to get his defense aligned.

Procedure – If you’re also hoping Hand influences the offense more, then you’re looking forward to ‘hurry up huddle’ coupled with quick snaps. Again, it’s all meant to control tempo and challenge defensive alignment and assignment. A spring game Hand-Orlando match-up is worthy of your time.

Align & Move – You also might see a few more novel alignments and a heavier use of speed motion across formation (especially ‘jet’ motion). On top of that, if a new motion series is built-out, expect the quarterbacks to take some snaps under center, with motion behind it. Whether at high or low tempo, Texas may use it’s speed to the perimeter more often.

Personnel – Texas has injured players. You may not see Kirk Johnson, Tristan Houston, or Cameron Townsend (recent switch). What you will see are some usual suspects. What to look for at each position will depend somewhat on adopted new scheme. Let’s go position by position.

Quarterback – Ehlinger is the likely starter, for better or worse. Tom has depended on a more mobile quarterback to bail his scheme out for a long time. Why would he change? After all, he’s not a spread Air Raid guy. Sam’s issues were multiple. He didn’t see plays develop well, he wasn’t as accurate as you’d like (short and long), and when he ran, he put himself at risk for injury far too often. If the offense is to take a big step forward, it will have to be running the football, with Sam’s help. Odds of Sam improving by a good margin as a passer aren’t on his side, but as Han Solo might say, ‘Never tell me the odds!’ The hope for fans, with Hand present, is that the Texas offense will not be dependent on throwing the ball much in 2018. As far as Buechele goes, he’ll need to be constantly ready. Odds are high that Sam gets hurt again. Shane is more than serviceable, but offers other strengths, some that can still be taken advantage of if Hand has his way. The other quarterbacks, it’ll be interesting to see where they are at this Saturday. Don’t be surprised if Rising looks better than Sam at this point last season. Thompson, he’s a guy with the most upside, in my opinion, because he can be developed as a passer and no other quarterback on the roster moves nearly as well as he does. Enough about these guys.

Big Uglies – If Will’s practice reports are correct, expect an unimpressive bunch of Okafor-Vahe-Shackelford-Rodriguz-Kerstetter. Four of these guys weren’t getting the job done last season, at all. Look for improvement up front. Then you’ll know Hand is worth the money. That said, they have good competition in the trenches, that’s what you should pay attention to the most. Texas will zone block, but what I’d look for if I were you is a a bit more Power and maybe Sweep. Texas should run more gap schemes under Hand and it’s my opinion the Texas offensive linemen are better suited to them.

Receivers – This also fits in with the pass game. Last season, Texas ran things I liked, things I didn’t. They didn’t build on concepts much. That tended to make the pass game predictable. This may have been due to the revolving door at quarterback. I don’t expect much more complex this season, what you want from the receivers are better routes and better separation. Then, add in options for them to work against leverage. For the most part, most will stem from the screen and quick game, as Hand will want to see a healthy amount of each. That means fierce blocking (no divas). A couple quick concepts I’d like to more are Hitch in the alley and Curl from both inside and outside receivers. Lastly, I got tired of Tom’s baby last season, 3-Level passing, as dividends were low. I’d much rather a more vertical and direct path against deep coverage with Seam, Streak, Dig, and comeback routes, inside and outside, respectively. From there, you can still scheme in Drag from the opposite side and Arrow (flat route) from the third receiver in or the back. If going vertical, routes need to attack quickly, forcing safeties to turn and run right away.

Backs – I won’t say much here. You saw what Young, Carter, and Porter were capable of last season. While they’ll all need to make good reads (zone and gap schemes), the offensive line will be tasked with creating lanes. I don’t think Kirk Johnson will play, yet. So, not much is changing on this front.

Punter – Since Tom is in the business of making punters famous, the new guy deserves mention. That’s all.

Defense

The 2018 defense will be a very interesting story because of the loss of 43% production (per footballstudyhall.com). That’s quite a bit to replace. The players, Poona Ford, Malik Jefferson, DeShon Elliott, Holton Hill, and Jason Hall all produced. Replacing that production will be a difficult task for Too Smart Todd. How he’ll do it and with what personnel will be veiled somewhat, for now, because of injuries. You may not see Chris Nelson, Gary Johnson, Edwin Freeman, Montrell Estell, Josh Thompson, Anthony Cook, and Davante Davis. That’s a large part of the depth chart. On the other hand, other players will see more time, especially second and first year players trying to earn spots on the ‘two-deep’. Exactly how Todd patches up the holes will be interesting and because of the spring game setting and current injuries, it will be difficult to tell what the plan is going forward. On another note, the replacements and injuries are why I’m not paying attention to recent reports of the offense gaining the upper hand more often in practices. Right now, especially, that matters little.

Alignment & Assignment – Typically, spring ball is vanilla, you don’t often see a lot of variety on either side of the ball. That said, each side will be put through its paces, likely challenging each other with pace and physicality. It’s not likely Todd will call anything complicated beyond Cover Four, Cover 1, and Cover 2. The blitzes will likely be few as well. That doesn’t mean either side shouldn’t be effective. After all, keeping and taking away initiative, space, or angles isn’t complicated, and both sides will fight to keep all three on their side no matter how vanilla the schemes are. You still want to see the defense quickly align and hitting their proper gaps in run defense and playing zone and man principles well against the pass. Be consistent.

The Backbone – If you think replacing Ford, Malik, and Elliott will be easy, you haven’t been watching football. It seems defenses are more sensitive to losses in production than offenses. Making tackles at linebacker and defensive back, along with defending the pass are critical, especially in the Big 12, where offenses look to exploit one-on-one match-ups on a constant basis via spread football. Again, I don’t envy Orlando this season. He was blessed with a mature depth chart last season, one that experienced struggle the 2 years prior and a steady increase in production. Will this season’s depth chart yield results similar to last season’s? My quick answer is, no. This is why it’s critical the offense improves. I suspect the drop-off in defense will require a few more points per game on average. It doesn’t seem like much, but again, I press you. How close were the close games last season? That was because the defense was championship caliber. Will it be next year? The jury is out.

Filling Holes – Replacing the aforementioned players will be tough, especially Jefferson and Elliott. We’ll have to wait until the depth chart solidifies in late August, but I’ll share with you some ideas, some familiar. Ford’s spot concerns me the least because Texas has bodies to attack single gaps up front. Expect Omenihu, Nelson, and Hager to lead the charge this Fall. That is a good group. Where things get interesting is at linebacker. For now, I like that Todd is testing Malcolm Roach at the ‘Rover’ spot. If Orlando chooses, he can scheme the defense more like a 3-3 Stack with ‘Shark’, Roach, and Johnson, weak to strong. That places speed to both sides of Roach while still allowing Roach to plug interior gaps, stunt outside, and chase the flat weak side. Note though, Roach is very athletic for his size and can probably be counted on some to cover underneath and occasionally bracket high, he’s a stud. Moving on, weak safety is of the utmost importance. Orlando counted on Elliott to be an enforcer in coverage and a physical presence against the run. Who can fill that role? He’ll be missed and Orlando will be tasked with approximating that role. What I’d like to see is PJ Locke focus on that position. Lock has good size and speed and may have outgrown the Nickel spot. If he can fill that role, it’s likely Todd can rest easier knowing there’s a player he can trust there. Time will tell. Remember, the closer to the ball, the more experience you want. The weak safety position should be intimate with the ball. Experience is warranted.

Sub-Package – Orlando will likely stick to Nickel and Dime. In that case, Bonney is the likely the sixth defensive back. He’s limited athletically, but also nails assignments. He’s also been through hell in his time in the program. I think Bonney can be an asset there. Against more physical run-heavy teams, Orlando may need a heavier hitter. This remains a mystery. If you’re like me, you’re hoping Chris Brown can play that role. He plays like a linebacker and moves like a safety. He only needs to add consistency in technique and assignment. After that, he’s set. Beyond that, I think freshmen will need to be looked at, not a good thing, as the defense will be forced to further simplify.

That’s a lot of words. That’s that I tried to keep it short. It reflects my current thoughts on the program and what you might expect from the spring game. Overall, I’m positive heading into 2018. It’s just that I’m the type that has to see it first. The spring game will yield little with regard to projecting 2018, because of the current personnel, you and I will need to wait impatiently for the season to begin. 

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There's only a 30-40% chance of rain after 4 pm so hopefully everything will be able to go as planned.
Gonna kinda fuck up all the live music they had planned earlier in the day..

Even if the stages are covered, ain't nobody gonna stand in the rain for anything less than international superstars.
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Play calling was not our problem last year even though it is easy to single it out when the offense sucks.
When your o-line can't block worth a shit, you have very average running backs, and QB's that are young and inexperienced, any offensive coordinator would look shitty. 
I say 9 wins minimum and more likely we win 10 and haters will have to find something else to bitch about.
hahahaaa.... you must be new.
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1 hour ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Our scripted plays definitely worked better than our non-scripted plays.

I was actually going to respond to the execution vs. play calling thing by pointing out that it's easier to block on a play that makes conceptual sense than it is on one that's pulled out of one's nether regions, but I think you probably answered a little more concisely.

I don't think play calling was our only major problem last year... but you'd have to be so OD'd on kool aid as to make a diabetes doctor blush in order to think it wasn't a major problem.

Is it correctable, even without changing play caller? I dunno, but I tend to believe that things are fixable until proven otherwise, so I'll believe that Tim Beck 2018 can be better than Tim Beck 2017, right up until after the first unscripted series against Maryland.

I just shrugged my shoulders when we called things that were within our limited wheelhouse and failed to execute. I mean, sometimes your talent is a real problem. It’s the stuff that was called  ad nauseam that was so far beyond our ability to execute that tragically ended the service lives of a few of my remotes. 

We seemed to come out and start the second halves of games sticking to our limited strengths and often excelled for a drive or two before the “hey, let’s try sumptin’” mentality took over. Beck will look better because our overall talent level will be better and we’ll be more mature in the playbook, in the film room and on the field.

He will, imoho, cost us a game or two and Ben replaced by mid season. I made that call when he was announced and will stick by it. 

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4 minutes ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

I just shrugged my shoulders when we called things that were within our limited wheelhouse and failed to execute. I mean, sometimes your talent is a real problem. It’s the stuff that was called  ad nauseam that was so far beyond our ability to execute that tragically ended the service lives of a few of my remotes. 

We seemed to come out and start the second halves of games sticking to our limited strengths and often excelled for a drive or two before the “hey, let’s try sumptin’” mentality took over. Beck will look better because our overall talent level will be better and we’ll be more mature in the playbook, in the film room and on the field.

He will, imoho, cost us a game or two and Ben replaced by mid season. I made that call when he was announced and will stick by it. 

The Ol'Shawn Watson maneuver. That's my view as well. He'll step on the team's collective dick at least twice in losses through the OU game and then the Hermancipation Proclamation will occur and Beck will be solely focused on QBs and Herman will call plays. He may or may not survive the stupidity of bringing Beck back. Due to rooting fatigue, I'd like to anything work out however it needs to for this regime, but damn the offensive staff is a running fuck-up on Herman's behalf.

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2 hours ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

Actually, it was one of our many problems on offense and tended to highlight the others. It’s easy to say we couldn’t block anything. We didn’t consistently block anything very well , but some concepts were executed far and away better than others. And some things were destined to fail based on which players we were asking to perform them. Things they continually failed at all season long, and we kept calling it anyway. 

That’s playcalling. Not just plays that are better executed than others, but having some semblance of awareness of who’s in the game and what to call in light of those personnel packages. 

Interestingly, we usually called about 2-3 drives per game actually focusing on our relative strengths, and those drives tended to be productive compared to the rest of our efforts. Rocket science and shit. 

This is spot on. I remember being at the Maryland game and watching the staff line Garret Gray up as an inline TE and ask him to make block after block he would never be able to make. They let Gray kill at least 3 drives that game, and I don't even blame Gray for it.  I was sure we'd do mostly a 4 WR set because we had absolutely nothing at TE.  They did not adapt the offense to this team's strengths at all last year, a stark contrast from what we did on defense.

Herman's inability to play to the team's (limited) strengths last year was disturbing. I get Beck is the OC, but Herman has to take control of the situation and it was obvious it was a huge problem in our first game and continued through the course of the year. I still can't believe Herman didn't take over calling plays halfway through last year, and I'm afraid he's going to be stubborn and let it cost us multiple games before he does it this year. Regardless of who's calling plays, this offensive staff, including Herman, needs to show a better understanding of personnel and what this offense can do effectively.  I'm pretty shocked that it was as bad as it was with Herman being an elite Offensive mind.

Play calling was terrible from a personnel standpoint as well as from the concept of building on previous plays. There was no rhyme or reason to what we were doing and often Beck would go away from plays that were working before the defense actually stopped them.  

 

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1 minute ago, Ricky Butler said:

Am I setting myself up for disappointment if I expect Herman to call plays?

Yes, unless we come out against Maryland and shit the bed on offense. Then I could see Herman axing Beck to stem the criticism like Charlie did with Watson. 

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2 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

So what are the odds Beck absquatulates if it becomes apparent he's lost Herman's confidence? I'd think he'd rather take a job elsewhere than take a demotion in place.

Herman admitted to calling plays in the bowl game, so Beck already had his nuts snipped. Regardless of what is said publicly, I think Herman will call plays. I don't think he's protecting Beck out of loyalty, I think he's protecting himself and trying to avoid negative perception of his OC hire. This is all my hopeful opinion. I'm often wrong.

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I’m more concerned about the offense we run, than whether Herman is calling plays. I’ve watched OSU for years and always felt frustrated by their offense. I went and reviewed the scoring stats for OSU over the last several years and for the most part it was good. But, OU’s scheme seems vastly superior. Yet, OU blows it in big games. I has confuzed. Nothing reconciles.

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27 minutes ago, UT Lawnghorn said:

I still can't believe Herman didn't take over calling plays halfway through last year, and I'm afraid he's going to be stubborn and let it cost us multiple games before he does it this year

Has he done this in the past? I think you have what is called PTMB.

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4 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I’m more concerned about the offense we run, than whether Herman is calling plays. I’ve watched OSU for years and always felt frustrated by their offense. I went and reviewed the scoring stats for OSU over the last several years and for the most part it was good. But, OU’s scheme seems vastly superior. Yet, OU blows it in big games. I has confuzed. Nothing reconciles.

tOSU's scheme is better in big games because it is a power running scheme that will wear down opponents. Finesse offenses can be shut down by the right personnel, and OU runs into that at times when they face elite defenses. It is not as sexy most of the time, but you usually look up and see them up over 40 points at the end of the day.

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32 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Has he done this in the past? I think you have what is called PTMB.

Well, let's see. As already established, he let the offense flail all last year without stepping in. Then he kept the dead weight trio of Beck, Mehringer, and Warehime over the offseason. Now, he's said Beck will call plays this year even though he saw enough of an issue to take over for the bowl game. So yeah, I'd say there's a definite track record of stubbornness that is detrimental to the team. 

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I’m more concerned about the offense we run, than whether Herman is calling plays. I’ve watched OSU for years and always felt frustrated by their offense. I went and reviewed the scoring stats for OSU over the last several years and for the most part it was good. But, OU’s scheme seems vastly superior. Yet, OU blows it in big games. I has confuzed. Nothing reconciles.

Let me put it this way, tOSU has a more recent championship than the ring bearer in Collie Station, and that was with our current HC calling plays from the booth with a 3rd string QB. BlowU continues to get to the playoffs (at our expense) and then proceeds to shoot themselves in the dick (or bags of them)...even we have a more recent natty than they do.

 

How's that reconcile?

 

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1 hour ago, Walden Ponderer said:

So what are the odds Beck absquatulates if it becomes apparent he's lost Herman's confidence? I'd think he'd rather take a job elsewhere than take a demotion in place.

What are the odds Snacks absquatulates with your mom?

Seriously, I did abs and squats late yesterday... with your mom.

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45 minutes ago, UT Lawnghorn said:

Well, let's see. As already established, he let the offense flail all last year without stepping in. Then he kept the dead weight trio of Beck, Mehringer, and Warehime over the offseason. Now, he's said Beck will call plays this year even though he saw enough of an issue to take over for the bowl game. So yeah, I'd say there's a definite track record of stubbornness that is detrimental to the team. 

What works for me is alcohol. Plus, I sit in front of the opposing team cheerleaders. Maybe, it is weird that I remember the Maryland female cheerleaders more than the game but whatever it takes. Addressing what you said, though, we brought in Hand and addressed at least a part of the problem last year. As much as I hear about cronyism with this staff, I don't see much of it. Maybe Herman likes to give people a chance to prove themselves, but he doesn't seem to me like he will continue to hold onto dead weight. He is a lot closer to Saban in that regard that he is to FUPM.

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