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This is who Steve Sarkisian is.


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Just now, Surly Bevo said:

The "script" IS a flow chart.  It isn't "run this place first, run this play second, run this play third, run this play fourth" it is a set of plays for down and distance.  The script thing is so overblown.  

The "set of plays for down and distance" IS a script... or at least call it a scriptlet. Maybe it's just that there are so many parameters beyond merely down and distance. 

No problem. We'll have tablets on the sideline soon, and we can just put he entire binder in and add code to update and use every parameter we can find and let it select plays for us.

 

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15 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Convenient to attribute the good things that happened to the "football gods" but then blame Sark and QE for coming up short at the end.   

Texas was outplayed last night and had a very fortunate set of events occur along with some great plays to have a chance at the end.  It took a damn good/borderline PI play by the DB to keep that pass out of Mitchell's hands.  The other team has a say in the end result and the better team last night won. 

This game isn't close to the pain of '01 Colorado/'08 Tech/'10 Bama.  Those are games we should have won and didn't.  This is one that we could have won and didn't  Huge difference.

Don't wallow in what could have happened.

high quality post right here.

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4 minutes ago, USNALonghorn said:

 

Sark's next big leap as a play caller will be realizing when it's time to deviate from the script.   

 

The dreaded script rears its head. Okay, then: Game Plan, more like. 

But, yeah, when the plan isn't working, it needs to be at least modified. And mostly it eventually has been.

As long as Sarkisian is convinced that he is able to be both OC and HC, we're going to see difficulties there, and at least occasionally they'll lead to an unfortunate loss. I don't think the problems are so much in recruiting, training, and Game Planning as in game management. Someone pointed out that we don't ride the refs enough, and that is a function for the HC to carry out... but he is already busy being OC.

 

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1 hour ago, gmr548 said:


The only two teams that have run through the SEC at consistent 10+ win clips are Bama and Georgia. Recruiting at a top 5-10 level hasn’t stopped A&M or LSU from failing to hit that mark plenty of times. Especially adding a ninth league game (I’m assuming this happens here in the next couple years), when these elite recruiting programs are going to play each other more often and simple math tells you there’s more Ls to go around, I would not expect to be the Bama and Georgia of recent history. That much more so with the likes of Ohio State and Michigan on non conference schedules, and I’m sure more upper tier programs to come. If you expect consistent 10-win seasons that’s great but that’s on you when you’re disappointed.

And that’s okay The sport is changing man. 9-3 is going to be a coin flip for a playoff appearance. If one of those Ls is to a marquee OOC opponent you’re in the mix for a CCG spot. Competing for championships is the bar for me.

It's the dismal tide.

I'm going to enjoy this matchup of undefeateds Monday.  It may become more and more rare in the nfl lite.

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1 hour ago, BevoAbyss said:

The football gods lined up the stars for Sark, Ewers, and Company. Sadly, they blew it at the end. 

1. Title game in Houston, making it like a de facto home game.

2. Bama chokes, meaning Horns don't have to beat Saban twice in a season (not impossible, but surely a tall task).

3. Washington's massive gaffes on last drive literally gift us a chance to snatch the game.

4. The football gods then give us two epic completions, followed by 4 shots from inside the 15. None even close to being a score. Mind-boggling bad calls from Sark, bad passes from Ewers. We all saw it.

-- If we score a TD pass, Sark/Ewers are instant eternal Longhorn legends. If we score, I think the title game would be in the bag vs. Harbaugh's crap offense in Houston. The UT crowd energy would have been through the roof after a miraculous comeback.

That's why this game had a f*cking catastrophic ending! 

The ending of this game will trigger misery for Longhorns for decades. I think this game exceeds the Simms collapse/Colorado loss in 2001 Big 12 title game, when the stars lined up for a title chance and Mack/Simms blew it. 

It is what it is. A lost chance to play for CFP title in Houston. And title game chances are rare and must be taken when presented, especially when given by the football gods.

(And a chance to inflict apocalyptic Aggy misery!)

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1 hour ago, Guadaloopy said:

a very fortunate set of events occur

This is a friendly reply everyone.

Exactly. I used the term "football gods" as a metaphor for fortunate or random events in the universe that often seem inexplicable. It's a metaphor! This is not making an excuse for Texas losing or going aggy. Repeat: It is a metaphor! Did y'all not take a literature class at UT? Never listened to rock music? Metaphors galore.

1. I never said Washington was not the better team. They clearly were last night. 

-- Sometimes the "best team" wins, despite the football gods or random strange events (Washington did). Sometimes the "worse team" wins (Tech in 08) due to strange, fortunate events (Gideon dropped INT followed by Crabtree catch). That's what are also often called "upsets."

2. But, somehow Texas had 4 shots to win the game with the Huskies, through the gaffes/fortunate events that gave Texas a shot. Pick what ever metaphor you want: Washington opened the door or failed to close the door, random luck, fortunate events, football gods, tossed a bone. (Switzer called OU's continual lucky plays "Sooner Magic." Grrrrrr!)

3. Last night, it was as if the football gods (or random chance in the universe) reached out to Texas, as if to say, here is your chance to make up a bit for 2008 (Tech) and 2009 (Bama). 

The Longhorns blew the chance to play for a very winnable title in Houston. 

I get it, we are all happy with the Big 12 title and Sark this year has done way more than the previous two dudes and late Mack. That's great. 

But history shows "title chances" are generally rare and you have to seize chances (especially the unlikely chances) when presented, and especially when you are not the best team on the field. That's why the loss was "catastrophic" and will remain so, no less than 08 Tech, 09 Bama, 01 Colorado.

Just my take, using some book learnin' from UT (and elsewhere). 

Carry on. Have a good year! 

Edited by BevoAbyss
clarity
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2 hours ago, Tex Long said:

Was just looking for an opportune place to make this point.

Sark needs to learn the difference between a script and a flowchart.

He has a Surly reputation for being stubborn, and it is pretty well deserved. The question is, is it purely so or is it a steadfast following of a Game Plan Script regardless of results?

 

it's scripted based on down and distance, the 40 play thing is being way overblown.

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Sark has made a name for himself as a fantastic playcaller, and for his game-starting "script"/"flowchart"/whatever.  And regardless of whether we all agree he deserves that acclaim, the fact is: it got us to the CFP.  So, I'm not sure expecting him to deviate from that is realistic, or a good idea.

That being said, serious question...how would we even know if he did deviate from the script?

[edit] Also, "fuck yeah, Steve!!!!"  Great season, way exceeding expectations!!

Edited by morehornsepower
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1 minute ago, tbone_ said:

Well maybe you’d see him run a play that worked over and over until it got stopped, like stoops used to do with that little midget running back back in the day.

Too soon.

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57 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Well maybe you’d see him run a play that worked over and over until it got stopped, like stoops used to do with that little midget running back back in the day.

Legit this is truly one of the things Stoops was a master at. When he found something that worked, he used it until you stopped it. The fucking stretch and the toss to Adrian Peterson in 04 is another example of this.

 

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So much has to go right for you to be in position to win it all. You have to have some coin flip moments go your way, get some luck and receive a favorable bounce or two. 

That’s what sucks about this journey being over. This team was right there with a chance. And while I am no doubt excited about the future, there are no guarantees in football. I’d like to think this program will be back in this position soon but damnit each season takes on a life of its own and this one felt special.

Sark seems to be building this the right way. All you can ask for is a chance to get in the playoff and let the chips fall where they may. I’m hopeful we won’t have to wait long for our next chance. 

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29 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

Another example of this was losing BCS bowl games.

Thats kinda what happened though. People started to figure out that if you make them have to continually adjust they struggle on both sides. It started with Leach who has notoriously a guy who ran very few different plays.

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On Sark overall….I’m a big fan of the direction of the program. The roster construction has been impressive and he’s a fantastic offensive coach. I thought he improved a great deal in situational football this season. 
 

I like the improvement down the stretch in our RedZone offense. I like that backups are ready to play and usually play very well.  I don’t like that he has to repeatedly remind his DC to play tighter coverages. 
 

We’ve been a young offense the last two seasons. I’m excited to see an older QB and OL

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32 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

Washington was better and deserved to win last night.  Even though it hurts to get those chances at the end and squander them, we all know it was a total fluke that we were almost able to steal it based on the UW RB getting hurt to stop the clock.  That takes the sting out of it.

2001 Big 12 Championship Game was Murphy’s Law represented in football form.   That was probably the worst.  We should have destroyed CU if not for the meltdown of all meltdowns. Then you had the rollercoaster of everything breaking our way to give us a spot in the national championship game if we won, the Simms/Applewhite schism blowing up in the worst way, almost coming back to win only to rough the punter and not even get a chance.  That’s hard to top.

The Gideon/Crabtree Tech game was brutal.  

The BCS Championship against Alabama might have been the only game in college football history when a team went from the best QB in college football to the worst QB mid-first quarter, and then we had to listen to those mongoloids proclaim that the QB injury really didn’t change the outcome.  Oh, ok.  Because Colt McCoy was also going to go 15-40 with a billion turnovers  (and still have a chance to win the game down 3 with the ball late in the 4th quarter).  Right.

I wouldn't say it was a total fluke that we had a chance at the end. They basically had 2 things not go their way.  The fumbled punt and the injury.  we had to overcome some ref fuckery which they did not and we had 2 fumbles that gave them 3 and kept us from getting 4 more.  

We had almost 500 yards on them and once we got Derek Williams back we started holding them to field goals and making them punt some too.

we don't fumble twice or get the block in the back called correctly maybe they are chasing us. As with most close games a couple of plays determined the outcome.

 

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1 hour ago, longhornmatt said:

 

The Gideon/Crabtree Tech game was brutal.  

 

Is it unfair to blame Gideon for our inability to defend the pass this year? Between his drop in ‘08, intercepting the fake punt pass on 4th down in the 1Q of the ‘09 game, this years secondary… he may just be cursed and need to be sacrificed to those “football gods”

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the... script.... Yikes! Terror! 

The reason Sark scripts the plays early is... wait for it... 1) he can.  2) to try to assess tendencies, and hopefully see the ones you are looking for! As the genius of Sark's offense and quite frankly his offensive mind is try to simply try to take advantage of natural defensive tendencies. Find something that defenders tend to do natually, no matter who is coaching and take advantage of whatever that might be. 

Think of something as simple as a stop and go route. The goal is to get the defender to "bite" and slow down for half a step, which then gives the receiver a half a step on the defender with a greater degree of acceleration.  It's about trying to identify tendencies.  And if you see one then call another play later to try to confirm it.  It's about gathering data in real time.

It's not perfect, but it's a methodology, to confirm or refute what you thought hours and hours of watching tape showed you.  

 

But either way, you have to admit that you would take a bite out of this... only if it wasn't the first one! (out of respect).

LonghornPigsinblanket.thumb.jpeg.eff1bae3e977e46ab532f5157a491cbc.jpeg

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3 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Well maybe you’d see him run a play that worked over and over until it got stopped, like stoops used to do with that little midget running back back in the day.

Re-entrant code for the win...

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7 hours ago, USNALonghorn said:

After taking some time to digest last night's loss, and the whole season at large, there are a few things that seem very clear. 

Steve Sarkisian is a great head coach.

He is a Saban/Smart level roster builder. He has proven to be incredibly savy in not only recruiting, but also the rapidly evolving transfer portal era. Twenty five months prior to hoisting the Big-12 trophy over Yormark bitter bitch ass, we were getting buttfucked by ISU and losing to Kansas at home. At the time, we had a roster full of losers and JAGs like J Moore, Casey Thompson, BJ Foster, and Brockermeyer, all sandbaggging on the field. Sixteen football games later, Sark fielded a roster that walked into Bryant Derry Stadium and spanked his old boss by ten points, winning in the trenches on both sides of the ball. That is a legendary roster turnaround.

I don't know Sark personally, but he genuinely seems like a good person, leader, and role model for the players. This isn't the over inflated "gud guy Charlie Strong" and a far cry from Tom Herman's idiotic clown show. Sark understands what a good organization culture is and his players believe in it 100%. We are very lucky to have him as our head coach and our trajectory looks very promising as we head into the SEC.

He, of course, still has a few weaknesses.

What got him this far in his career and in his recovery, is his ability to self-asses and make the changes that will him better. This is critical to remember as we dissect his weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Sark is an absolute genius when it comes to play design and attacking a defense's vulnerabilities in the pre-game planning phase. The isn't a single poster on this message board that can challenge him at this skill, unless LR or Shanahan have accounts the we don't know about. However, as neutral observers, we can see how this gets him into trouble during games. 

Going into last night's game, everyone knew that Washington's deep passing attack, combined with the speed with which Penix gets the ball out was the absolute worst possible match up for our defense. There was a chance that we could lean on our stout front six to bring pressure and get him to throw under duress, but it became very evident early on that we weren't going to get to him in time to make a difference. It also became very evident that their defense was going to take away Worthy and Mitchell with numbers in coverage, while taking advantage of Quinn's low throw angle at the LOS. Washington's defensive staff knew that we have a running game more than capable of beating them. They also knew that Sark likes to script the first 40 plays of his offense and to distribute the ball to all four of X, Mitchell, Sanders, and J Whitt. While Sark isn't directly responsible for Baxter's and Blue's untimely fumbles, there are things he could have done to place more pressure on Washington early in the game. He had to deviate from his script and commit to the run game. Doing so would have helped both the offense and the defense. The best defense against Penix and his WR corps is to keep them on the sidelines for 6-8 minutes of play clock at a time. The best advantage we could have given our front six is to have to be on the field for less than 25 minutes of the game. Our big DL and LBs desperately needed every ounce of their strength and endurance to slow Washington down. In a game with match ups like we had last night, there was very little time to experiment offensively. Losing the coin toss and not scoring on the first possession put us behind, but we could have recovered from it by committing to the run and sticking with it until they stopped it. 

Sark's next big leap as a play caller will be realizing when it's time to deviate from the script.   

 

This.  So much this.  Would have loved to see more of the run game last night since success there was coming more frequently than in the passing game.

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10 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:


Really? So you see Majors make an illegal snap (how many times has he done that, anyway?) and you think it's because Flood's not effectively teaching him? Perhaps Majors is just not effectively learning?

I guess this captures it for me.  Penalties like these are not the product of rational thought, of reliance on teaching, knowledge, or even habit.

They're lizard brain things.  Can you really teach not having lizard brain in tense moments?  Can you learn not to have lizard brain in tense moments?

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14 hours ago, hookem48 said:

it's scripted based on down and distance, the 40 play thing is being way overblown.

Is that why we always throw on first down since we need 10 yards?  If you always throw on first down it no longer becomes a surprise.  And is then compounded by the inevitable run on second and long.  
 

Personally I’m not against the script or flow chart presumably they are plays that the players have shown they execute well in practice.   My issues are not going back to the well for plays that actually worked in game and the predictability.  
 

Sometimes you don’t need to out scheme your opponent you just need to find the personnel advantage and exploit it.  

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1 hour ago, GTJ1982 said:

Is that why we always throw on first down since we need 10 yards?  If you always throw on first down it no longer becomes a surprise.  And is then compounded by the inevitable run on second and long.  
 

Personally I’m not against the script or flow chart presumably they are plays that the players have shown they execute well in practice.   My issues are not going back to the well for plays that actually worked in game and the predictability.  
 

Sometimes you don’t need to out scheme your opponent you just need to find the personnel advantage and exploit it.  

we throw on every first down?

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Is that why we always throw on first down since we need 10 yards?  If you always throw on first down it no longer becomes a surprise.  And is then compounded by the inevitable run on second and long.  
 
Personally I’m not against the script or flow chart presumably they are plays that the players have shown they execute well in practice.   My issues are not going back to the well for plays that actually worked in game and the predictability.  
 
Sometimes you don’t need to out scheme your opponent you just need to find the personnel advantage and exploit it.  

This is my issue with the current trend of Madden-type offensive minds and I believe overreliance on scheme and “neat-o” plays. The belief in the whiteboard over the actual field of play. I believe at its root football is about imposition of will on the team and individual across from you. It can come from better stamina in the fourth quarter, executional excellence, scheme, or coaching or lots of other things.

Maybe this is from my football days playing single wing ball and watching Texas destroy folks running basically a set of 3 or 4 plays out of the Wishbone. There was no scripting. It was pure power football. We’re going to run Steve Worster straight up your ass over and over until you stop it. Nothing fancy but executional excellence combined with an ingenious concept. A lot of the folks calling plays today don’t test this part of the game anymore.

This past weekend was full of this. Mike McCarthy with endgame playcalling so brain dead it nearly costs a game. Texas failing to use the run to neutralize Penix, Bama simply bamboozled into dumb plays thru a game to lose. Several instances of prevent defenses used to basically lose games. The explanations for these overcoaching decisions usually are shaken off with coaching gobbledygook.
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On 1/3/2024 at 7:55 AM, Texzilla58 said:


This is my issue with the current trend of Madden-type offensive minds and I believe overreliance on scheme and “neat-o” plays. The belief in the whiteboard over the actual field of play. I believe at its root football is about imposition of will on the team and individual across from you. It can come from better stamina in the fourth quarter, executional excellence, scheme, or coaching or lots of other things.

Maybe this is from my football days playing single wing ball and watching Texas destroy folks running basically a set of 3 or 4 plays out of the Wishbone. There was no scripting. It was pure power football. We’re going to run Steve Worster straight up your ass over and over until you stop it. Nothing fancy but executional excellence combined with an ingenious concept. A lot of the folks calling plays today don’t test this part of the game anymore.

This past weekend was full of this. Mike McCarthy with endgame playcalling so brain dead it nearly costs a game. Texas failing to use the run to neutralize Penix, Bama simply bamboozled into dumb plays thru a game to lose. Several instances of prevent defenses used to basically lose games. The explanations for these overcoaching decisions usually are shaken off with coaching gobbledygook.

I think the fact that we went down early and were playing catchup all first half, only for Washington to effectively stay on offense the entire 3rd quarter, meant that we didn't get a chance to fully deploy the run game. Had we scored first and held Washington, I think you would have seen more of it.

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