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Hey PK -- What would you say you do here?


LTtxfan

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That's a weird metric to evaluate talent with, but...sure? Their WRs are plenty good for this level, they generally eat against zone, but guys like Bradley and Price have had success for much of the year in key situations.

We've definitely been abused by worse.

Shit, Savion Williams went for nearly 200 against us and he only has 525 yards on the season.

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13 minutes ago, Atticus said:

That's a weird metric to evaluate talent with, but...sure? Their WRs are plenty good for this level, they generally eat against zone, but guys like Bradley and Price have had success for much of the year in key situations.

We've definitely been abused by worse.

Shit, Savion Williams went for nearly 200 against us and he only has 525 yards on the season.

Savion Williams would be Tech's best WR by a mile. Without Price, this is probably Tech's 2nd best WR. This guy. They are devoid of talent right now at WR. This white (no racism) FR is their 2nd best WR right now. 

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8 hours ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Tech's WRs are complete ass (especially without Price). This should surprise no one. I was shocked to see people saying Tech's offense was going to throw for 300+ yards on us. 

Price was a big loss for Tech (and the DT). Just looking at the bigger picture. The DL dominated. PK took the opportunity to be more aggressive on the secondary. That hasn’t always been the case, so I am going to take it as a win 

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Any comments or indication what the catalyst for the sudden aggressive play from the DBs?

I think it is pretty unanimous here. We have all been waiting for that kind of play from the secondary for 3 years now.

I hope it sticks. Feels like we should be able to do the same to OkState with great success.

Edited by pacman
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Tech is not a big play passing offense that was missing Price. Morton goes deep 14% of the time and completes 34%. 24% of passes behind the LOS. 60% at 9 yards or less. His yard per attempt is 6. Brooks has 24 catches for 72 yards. None of those reflect positively for an explosive offense.

We just attack differently based on opponent. They don’t pose much of a passing threat. Our pass rush was decent and they couldn’t break us down escaping the pocket.

And from an unprovable standpoint, it was just going to be our night. Brooks wasn’t going to beat us himself.

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4 hours ago, pacman said:

Any comments or indication what the catalyst for the sudden aggressive play from the DBs?

I think it is pretty unanimous here. We have all been waiting for that kind of play from the secondary for 3 years now.

I hope it sticks. Feels like we should be able to do the same to OkState with great success.

Maybe it was Sark publicly bitching. Hard to explain, it’s not like Texas hasn’t played shitty QBs and mediocre WRs before. Texas even played some inside leverage 

Edited by Codaxx
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On 11/26/2023 at 12:58 PM, Codaxx said:

Maybe it was Sark publicly bitching. Hard to explain, it’s not like Texas hasn’t played shitty QBs and mediocre WRs before. Texas even played some inside leverage 

IMO I think maybe he thinks us running it more often would lead to more film against 

Unleashing it (with our DL manhandling) had pure shock factor. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Decent article...        Still FKB  🙄

There's no quit in Texas defensive boss Pete Kwiatkowski, and no shouting either 

image.png.9a0374a6f0760b20e9f0ef5666ba6838.png

Story by Kirk Bohls,  AAS • 1d

Quote

NEW ORLEANSThe Texas defensive players hang on Pete Kwiatkowski’s every word.

The T’Vondre Sweats and Jaylan Fords soak up all of their defensive coordinator’s insights they can and then apply the wisdom from this detail-obsessed coach each and every Saturday. 

With a caveat.

The delivery of Coach PK, as he’s known in Longhorn circles, sometimes leaves much to be desired. In a humorous sort of way, if you will.

“He’s such a low-key guy,” said Ford, Texas’ senior linebacker and a mainstay on one of the best defenses in college football. “I mean, he’s trying to be a rah-rah guy, but we’d laugh at him sometimes.”

But in the heat of the battle, does PK ever lose it?

“Oh, no. No,” Ford said, smiling. “That is not him. He’s too chill.”

He’s also one of the top minds in college football and a boss whose players revere him. And they admire his calm, calculating style because it’s genuine for this 57-year-old career assistant, who has been a defensive coordinator or co-coordinator for 20 of his 35 years in college.

Hey, this is a coaching lifer who knows who he is and isn’t always looking for the next big thing. In fact, some were shocked he chose to leave the Pacific Northwest after serving as a loyal aide who spent 15 seasons with Chris Petersen.

Maybe he speaks softly, but he coaches loud

Kwiatkowski gets his points across with raising his voice. He’s anything but a screamer, but he gave a little inside peek at his style in only his second interaction with the media this season since Steve Sarkisian allows his coordinators to talk only once, in August. Ford said his boss, however, doesn't tolerate lazy effort and not running to the ball. "That sets him off."

But the Longhorns rarely put that to the test.

image.png.f2868f3eaa57690efb9e3c006032090e.png

Pete Kwiatkowski 

“I’m more of a reserved guy on the staff,” Kwiatkowski said at a Thursday press conference in advance of Monday’s Sugar Bowl matchup with his former employer, Washington. “But when I do speak, I think maybe it resonates more because everybody is looking around like, ‘Where did this come from?’“

This Texas defense has been one of Kwiatkowksi's best

It comes from a confident, secure man who knows his stuff but has never longed to be a head coach. He gets his needs fulfilled by connecting with young players and developing them into their best versions as he has with 17 NFL draftees at Washington. Ten of those were chosen in the first two rounds.

This Texas unit compares favorably with some of the best he’s ever coached.

“Yeah, we had some good ones at Boise and Washington,” Kwiatkowski said. “And this is definitely right up there with them for sure.” 

And why wouldn’t it be?

The defense starts with Sweat, who has teamed up with Byron Murphy II to form college football’s best interior tandem and became the fourth Longhorn to win the Outland Trophy. 

Ford and nickel back Jahdae Barron have also been the backbone of this team that is the nation’s third-best run defense allowing a paltry 81 yards a game and that gives up a meager 17.5 points a game to rank 13th in the country.

The Longhorns are about to face a big challenge: stop Washington

Of course, forcing Washington to pass isn’t exactly a blueprint for success since the Huskies do that better than any other team. Getting Michael Penix Jr. off the field may be, however, and only Georgia has been more effective on third-down defense than Texas. 

Sweat will be a huge factor in that, especially against the Huskies smaller, undersized center, 275-pound redshirt freshman Parker Brailsford, who gives up almost 100 pounds to the Longhorn.

Kwiatkowski has helped enrich Sweat’s career and helped the senior believe in himself.

Does he think PK believed the 362-pound defensive monster could be this good?

“Uh, no,” Sweat said frankly. “I’ve surprised a lot of people, and it took me a couple of years, but I did it.”

Getting the most out of people has been a hallmark for Kwiatkowski, who has been doing that his whole life.

"PK coaches from his heart," Ford said. "We were used to Tom Herman, Chris Ash, Todd Orlando, who were definitely rah-rah. PK's a defensive mastermind."

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Kwiatkowski shaped his career as a defensive stud at Boise State where he was a Division I-AA All-American defensive lineman. He built stout defenses there before moving on to Washington and eventually Texas with Sarkisian, who had zero relationship with Kwiatkowski aside from being on losing sidelines against PK’s defenses.

“This guy has really been a kind of a thorn in my side over about the past decade — every time we’ve butted heads with him, whether it was at Boise State or at the University of Washington,” Sarkisian said when he made arguably the biggest hire on his staff. “I think he’s a really good leader of men. I think he does a tremendous job of working from a collaborative effort with the staff.”

Sarkisian considered others before landing on Kwiatkowski. He checked in to see if former Longhorns DC Will Muschamp had any interest in returning to Austin. He did not. He kicked the tires on Barry Odom then at Arkansas and then-Georgia DC Dan Lanning, but both were on the fast track to becoming head coaches. He even called his former Atlanta Falcons boss Dan Quinn, but he was en route to calling defensive signals for the Dallas Cowboys.

But Kwiatkowski was anything but a consolation prize. He’s highly regarded nationally and was a Broyles Award finalist this season. 

Not that it started all that hot at Texas.

Like the program, his defense is on the rise

In fact, it was such lean times when Sarkisian and his staff arrived in Austin for that 2021 season that some openly wondered if Kwiatkowski would survive that initial year.

Despite his outstanding reputation, results were poor in a 5-7 season when Texas’ defense regularly melted down in the second half. A team picked to finish third in the Big 12 slumped to a 3-6 record and a seventh-place showing in the league when it was trapped in a six-game losing streak.

A fourth-quarter collapse against Oklahoma triggered the longest losing skein since 1956, and a defense ranked 100th nationally that allowed 31 points a game was a major culprit. PK wasn’t exactly Mr. Popular in the 512.

“I've been doing this for 35 years, and there's great seasons and there's tough seasons,” Kwiatkowski said. “And then it always comes back to football is football. Don't make it more than it is and stick to the process of growing and getting better.”

The defense got better and better and emerged into one of college football’s premier units this season. Progress was slow but steady.

Pete Kwiatkowski's simple rules to play by

Kwiatkowski’s mantra hasn’t changed. Play fast. Be physical. Run to the ball.

Barron was a starter on that 2021 team, but eight other backups off that club have started or played significant roles in this championship season.

“We obviously like to make practice harder than games for when the games come,” Barron said. “Also, just following coach Pete Kwiatkowski’s plan, knowing that this is his third year, we put our trust in him. And the results have been showing.”

Unlike that meltdown against the Sooners in 2021, Texas followed up this year’s bitter loss to OU in the final 15 seconds this October with a seven-game winning streak.

Not that there haven’t been some anxious moments.

The Longhorns surrendered the winning drive to OU in just over a minute with a soft prevent defense that prevented a victory. So, too, did they almost cough up wins against Houston, Kansas State and TCU when big leads evaporated only to see Texas hold on to narrow leads in those three games.

The defense may not be able to relax like that against Penix, Washington’s Heisman runner-up and the leading passer in the nation, and arguably the nation's best receiving corps.

Texas will need to add to its 16 interceptions, the eighth most in the FBS, and decipher head coach Kalen DeBoer’s penchant for pre-snap motions, a tactic he once used a staggering nine times before one play.

“We've tweaked some things in the back end that have helped them. But then they're going to catch the ball,” Kwiatkowski said. "We've got to get them on the ground, right? When we try and force these offenses to drive the length of the field, we're pretty good. But it's all about control — tackling and controlling the explosive plays.”

Those without question will be the biggest keys to this game for Texas.

Kwiatkowski has liked what he’s seen all season and told his players he’s encouraged about his defense’s chances on Monday.

Even if it’s in his quiet, understated style.

 

 

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Just now, Ghost of Shag said:

Had a feeling we would be calling for a new DB coach, at a minimum, after this game.

Its flat embarrassing.

Yep.  If you'd told me UW would be completely 2 dimensional, I'd be hyped.  But, this is ridiculous 

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Our secondary sucks too because of our scheme. We have 4/5 stars across the board and can’t play any bump coverage. Pk loves to drop everyone off to keep them in front. Bend don’t break. Blah blah. We need an aggressive DC. Yall think Washington has more talent and speed in the secondary to cover up all our receivers all game? Not me. It’s the pussy scheme we run.

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I think PKs called an ok game, Washington just making all the plays and Texas offence keeping the defense on the field majority of game. Twice as long after 3.

Washington best offensive team and QB we've faced all year.

Edited by MonkeyDoughnut
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