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Texas Bye Week 2023


immamac

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Are we dealing with a derailed momentum train or a small bump in the road to glory? 
Texas is 6 games into the season with a 5-1 record that includes a bitter last minute loss to our biggest rival in a game full of mistakes and is still in the AP and coaches top 10. There are some significant injuries that happened in the game, namely the starting center Jake Majors with a potentially season ending injury. Jaylon Catalon with another injury that kept him out.
What are the expectations going into the rest of the season? What are some predictions and what would you like to see coming out of this week and going into the 2nd half of this season?

 

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While this loss suck and still stings, I think it may help the team refocus and stop coming out so flat on offense. Other than really that last drive our defense played winning ball and our offense just continued to shoot themselves in the dick drive after drive. I could still see ousux dropping a game in conference maybe even two. Our goal is to make it to  and win the conference championship so we need to come out with our hair on fire the next few weeks and put any doubts to rest. We are still the best team in conference, use this week to get healthy, get Robertson settled in at center, and for the love of God get the safety rotation settled and quit switching them out constantly.

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i find it hard to believe that saturday was anything other than a small bump in the road to the big 12 championship game in december.  i realize that anything can happen but i just don't see this team losing to anyone left on the schedule.  

definitely think the bye week is coming at a good time both in terms of injuries and just a mental reset heading into the second half of the season.  looking forward to destroying houston in 12 days.

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I think we’d all take 5-1 before the season started. The Big 12 is as bad as I can remember, so I could see us winning out. But I could also see a TCU or Tech catching us on a bad day. I don’t fully trust Sark yet, so there’s some uncertainty. 
 

I’m also a little disheartened to see what happened to the defense on Saturday, talk about exposed. 

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6 minutes ago, LonghornSean said:

Sark is holding a presser right now

 

Just now, LonghornSean said:

Sark:

Team is banged up, get healthy during off week

Need to cause more turnovers, fix red zone offense, work on 2 minute defense, and improve the return game

damn.  thought they didn't do a presser during the bye week.  my bad surly.

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3 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

I still got the sads 

Yeah, it is going to take a little while. The RRS is the one game that still gets a major reaction out of me when we lose. Winning that game is always one of the benchmarks for a successful season and you never get that back.

Even if you win out, get a rematch, and win, there's always going to be a bit of an asterisk on that conference championship unless OU manages to drop a couple of league games; otherwise it is just a stupid football version of double jeopardy. I attended the 2018 Big 12 championship and without a doubt the Cotton Bowl is the one that feels like it matters more, even if it doesn't on paper.

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I'd like to see us not lose the hard turnover battle 0-3 and the soft turnover battle 0-5 (the RITK and the failure at the one are essentially turnovers)

Execution in the red zone.  It ended up working out because we got the blocked punt TD but that drop/pick by 0 can't happen and of course there is the failure at the 1. Yea it ain't gonna be 100% TD every time but this has been a nagging issue all year.  

We need to figure out the middle of the O line.  Between injuries and talent it's been rough all year and QE just isn't the type of mobile QB to be able to consistently get around pressure right up the middle in his face. Not to mention what it does to our running game. I don't know how fixable this is. 

Defense needs to get a bit healthier and never stop attacking.  They attacked all through the second half after that opening OU TD and it was working extremely well.  Then they stopped.  Don't do that.

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2 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Even if you win out, get a rematch, and win, there's always going to be a bit of an asterisk on that conference championship

Eh, not really.  There's no "mid-October championship"

Rematches happen, winner gets the title.  No asterisk on it.  The Bengals beat KC in December 2022 and KC beat them in the AFC championship.  I don't recall anyone declaring a "bit of an asterisk" for KC. 

Edited by Js1
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1 minute ago, gmr548 said:

Yeah, it is going to take a little while. The RRS is the one game that still gets a major reaction out of me when we lose. Winning that game is always one of the benchmarks for a successful season and you never get that back.

Even if you win out, get a rematch, and win, there's always going to be a bit of an asterisk on that conference championship unless OU manages to drop a couple of league games; otherwise it is just a stupid football version of double jeopardy. I attended the 2018 Big 12 championship and without a doubt the Cotton Bowl is the one that feels like it matters more, even if it doesn't on paper.

I hear what you’re saying, and the game at the Cotton Bowl has the more “magical” feel, but if you’re holding the Big 12 trophy at the end, that’s gonna matter more, regardless if the qualification for and staging that game itself is silly or superfluous.

I attended as well and still remember OU fans flashing the number four at us as we filed out, indicating the number of consecutive conference titles they had won. Our earlier win in October is the win that felt hollow to me at that point.

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6 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Eh, not really.  There's no "mid-October championship"

Rematches happen, winner gets the title.  No asterisk on it.  The Bengals beat KC in December 2022 and KC beat them in the AFC championship.  I don't recall anyone declaring a "bit of an asterisk" for KC. 

I don't remember an asterisk on OU's conference championship in 2018 after they lost to Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

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I hear what you’re saying, and the game at the Cotton Bowl has the more “magical” feel, but if you’re holding the Big 12 trophy at the end, that’s gonna matter more, regardless if the qualification for and staging that game itself is silly or superfluous.
I attended as well and still remember OU fans flashing the number four at us as we filed out, indicating the number of consecutive conference titles they had won. Our earlier win in October is the win that felt hollow to me at that point.

I agree with this. We will most likely be playing for a spot in the playoff on top of the Big 12 trophy. Kick their ass and it will be sweeter. I like our chances of moving 5 spots. Hell, Wyoming could win out and be a top 20 win.
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2 minutes ago, Red Five said:

I don't remember an asterisk on OU's conference championship in 2018 after they lost to Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

Yeah, it might *feel* like an asterisk, but at the end of that day, the winner holds a trophy and is Big 12 champion.  No asterisk because the result flipped from a game 2 months prior. 

I'd rather win it in December. 

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6 minutes ago, Red Five said:

No we just got our WTF loss out of the way. We're not losing again.

This is where I am.

For all the negatives that happened during the game, early and late, these mofos still had the fight to win the game.

You didn't see this with the last three coaches. 

I think they team grew a lot.

Hopefully the coaches did as well.

5 minutes ago, Hard Times said:

So what's the spread vs bye? Can Texas punch it in from the 1 against bye? Can Texas defend a scrambling bye QB?

Yes.

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It is possible that our remaining schedule is a little tougher than it looked in mid September.

BYU and KSU at home....but we aren't exactly coming out of the chute with our hair on fire at home, so either or both may come down to the second half.

TCU my be sucking shit right now...but we play them away, and they could theoretically put it all together for one big hurrah.

And ISU in Ames...who the fuck knows...could be 40 degrees and 20 mph winds.

Tech has gone from laughable to at least easily handling teams they should beat.  This week will be a barometer for whether they're improving, or fools gold.

Wait...WTF am I trying to say here....we're winning out and slobberknocking OU for a no-asterisk Big XII Championship trophy to make a nice set of Bookends with 1996.

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Eh, not really.  There's no "mid-October championship"
Rematches happen, winner gets the title.  No asterisk on it.  The Bengals beat KC in December 2022 and KC beat them in the AFC championship.  I don't recall anyone declaring a "bit of an asterisk" for KC. 

I hear what you’re saying, and the game at the Cotton Bowl has the more “magical” feel, but if you’re holding the Big 12 trophy at the end, that’s gonna matter more, regardless if the qualification for and staging that game itself is silly or superfluous.
I attended as well and still remember OU fans flashing the number four at us as we filed out, indicating the number of consecutive conference titles they had won. Our earlier win in October is the win that felt hollow to me at that point.

I don't remember an asterisk on OU's conference championship in 2018 after they lost to Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

You guys are leaving out where I said “unless OU loses a couple conference games.”

I don’t think their 2018 title is hollow - quite the opposite. They finished ahead of Texas outright in a round robin format. That the game even existed was stupid money grab/attempt to maximize CFP chances. Conversely, their 2020 title is a joke. ISU beat them H2H and finished ahead. Does anyone feel like losing the Big 12 CCG diminished TCU’s season last year?


If we show up with an equal or worse record in the conference standings and win it fees a bit arbitrary is all I’m saying. You get the title because you won this neutral site game instead of that one. Of course I still want the opportunity for revenge even if that’s the case. I don’t think the NFL is comparable because it’s a completely different structure and level of play. It would be like if the Cowboys got to play the Eagles this year in an 18th game for the NFC east.
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2 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

 

 


You guys are leaving out where I said “unless OU loses a couple conference games.”

I don’t think their 2018 title is hollow - quite the opposite. They finished ahead of Texas outright in a round robin format. That the game even existed was stupid money grab/attempt to maximize CFP chances. Conversely, their 2020 title is a joke. ISU beat them H2H and finished ahead. Does anyone feel like losing the Big 12 CCG diminished TCU’s season last year?


If we show up with an equal or worse record in the conference standings and win it fees a bit arbitrary is all I’m saying. You get the title because you won this neutral site game instead of that one. Of course I still want the opportunity for revenge even if that’s the case. I don’t think the NFL is comparable because it’s a completely different structure and level of play. It would be like if the Cowboys got to play the Eagles this year in an 18th game for the NFC east.

 

 

Hold on while I go put an asterisk on OU's 2008 Big XII Title.....

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3 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Absolutely different scenario due to lack of divisions 

Which ended up being just as arbitrary as would be as declaring the winner of a rematch between 12-0 or 11-1 OU and 11-1 Texas the Conference Champion.

I don't disagree that the whole championship game thing in a conference without divisions is stupid.  But there are a lot of stupid rules we have to follow in life, and if under the rules we walk out of Jerryworld with the trophy, that's the end of the fucking story. 

Hopefully we're having this discussion in early December!

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17 minutes ago, MirrOlure said:

It is possible that our remaining schedule is a little tougher than it looked in mid September.

BYU and KSU at home....but we aren't exactly coming out of the chute with our hair on fire at home, so either or both may come down to the second half.

TCU my be sucking shit right now...but we play them away, and they could theoretically put it all together for one big hurrah.

And ISU in Ames...who the fuck knows...could be 40 degrees and 20 mph winds.

Tech has gone from laughable to at least easily handling teams they should beat.  This week will be a barometer for whether they're improving, or fools gold.

Wait...WTF am I trying to say here....we're winning out and slobberknocking OU for a no-asterisk Big XII Championship trophy to make a nice set of Bookends with 1996.

It coulda also be 20 degrees and 40 mph winds. The weather in Iowa that time of year is like a box of chocolates. 

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1 minute ago, Tex-19 said:

Gotta work on red zone, 2 min defense, and tackling this week. OU's YAC was the silent killer in that game

Agree on tackling.  Been awhile since that jumped off the page watching our defense.  Certainly the first time this year I really noticed our secondary missing a fair amount.

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Biggest impact from this weekend is that we now have no margin for error. We’ll see what kind of program growth has really taken place. For the past 14 years, a loss like this has totally taken the wind out of our sails.

This team has everything it needs, on paper, to run the table and earn a trip to the conference championship. Let’s see if they nut up and take care of business. It’s definitely not a given and we can’t afford any half-ass effort games. The Big 12 can’t possibly want a rematch in the championship game and we are no longer in the driver’s seat.

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The October schedule is set up very well for us. A bye week after the RRS game is huge. It gives us much needed time to heal.
 

While taking a bye after a loss can be painful as a fan, it actually seems like a blessing in disguise for the team. We can learn a lot from what OU exposed of us and eliminates any possibility of us continuing to get drunk off of our own kool aid. We come back to a relatively weak Houston team to tune us up in preparation for BYU. Let’s see how we respond and attack the remaining six games. 

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12 hours ago, gmr548 said:

Yeah, it is going to take a little while. The RRS is the one game that still gets a major reaction out of me when we lose. Winning that game is always one of the benchmarks for a successful season and you never get that back.

Even if you win out, get a rematch, and win, there's always going to be a bit of an asterisk on that conference championship unless OU manages to drop a couple of league games; otherwise it is just a stupid football version of double jeopardy. I attended the 2018 Big 12 championship and without a doubt the Cotton Bowl is the one that feels like it matters more, even if it doesn't on paper.

If we get there and we win it you come back and let us us know which feels better. Thumping them last year or beating them for a conference trophy.

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Time to grow up if Texas wants to be great. 

Start games better, with continued improvement game to game.  Get the secondary and LBs to connect better on pass coverages.  Work on better discipline and consistency from the DL pass rush.  Our defense has to tackle better, and generate more negative plays, sacks and turnovers.  Offense must solve their red zone problems and score 40+ points in each of these 6 final regular season Big12 games!!!

Texas has to grow and become a better team week to week in order to get to the B12 Championship game and then kick ass there. 🤘

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I might sound crazy, but hear me out... I'm happy with where this team is right now and I'm actually glad we lost to OU in that fashion. If we had come up with a defensive stop after our final field goal, most of our team, coaches, and fanbase would have come away from that game thinking we're a gutsy team that found a way to win at the end of a game where we didn't play our best. Of course there would still be concern about the mistakes that were made, but overall the mindset across the board would be positive and we'd be going into the bye week feeling confident and comfortable. Instead, we all came away from the game realizing there are some glaring areas where we HAVE to get better if we're going to win out and take the Big 12 title (pass rush, penalties, red zone offense, etc). I hate to sound like Mack Brown's "winning too much is bad for the kids", but in reality it's true that success is a terrible teacher. Instead of going through the bye week thinking we're good enough and can find a way to win no matter what; we're going to spend it focusing on those weaknesses and finding a way to get better. I'm predicting that the loss to OU is going to be a net positive for our season, and we're going to win out including the rematch in December.

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12 minutes ago, TexasPride10 said:

I might sound crazy, but hear me out... I'm happy with where this team is right now and I'm actually glad we lost to OU in that fashion. If we had come up with a defensive stop after our final field goal, most of our team, coaches, and fanbase would have come away from that game thinking we're a gutsy team that found a way to win at the end of a game where we didn't play our best. Of course there would still be concern about the mistakes that were made, but overall the mindset across the board would be positive and we'd be going into the bye week feeling confident and comfortable. Instead, we all came away from the game realizing there are some glaring areas where we HAVE to get better if we're going to win out and take the Big 12 title (pass rush, penalties, red zone offense, etc). I hate to sound like Mack Brown's "winning too much is bad for the kids", but in reality it's true that success is a terrible teacher. Instead of going through the bye week thinking we're good enough and can find a way to win no matter what; we're going to spend it focusing on those weaknesses and finding a way to get better. I'm predicting that the loss to OU is going to be a net positive for our season, and we're going to win out including the rematch in December.

This is loser talk. Your sentiment about what to improve is correct but the motivation of a loss is not a thing like you think it is. Motivation of a win and never getting close to a loss is far greater. 

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There is not a team left on our schedule that we should not be able to overpower similar to how we broke Kansas. As long as we are running the ball well, we should easily be able to handle all of the remaining defenses on our schedule. All of those defenses are built to stop the spread, but have proven to be vulnerable to the power run game. Kansas State and Tech to me represent the biggest remaining tests, and both of those games are at home. 

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4 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

There is not a team left on our schedule that we should not be able to overpower similar to how we broke Kansas. As long as we are running the ball well, we should easily be able to handle all of the remaining defenses on our schedule. All of those defenses are built to stop the spread, but have proven to be vulnerable to the power run game. Kansas State and Tech to me represent the biggest remaining tests, and both of those games are at home. 

Kansas State was the biggest worry for me a few weeks ago because the interior of their OL is their strength and could potentially negate our DL, but they've looked so bad defensively and Howard has been awful.

BYU is somewhat interesting. They also have a relatively strong OL but I don't think they have the horses to hold up on defense.

Iowa State is Iowa State. The defense is good, as usual. There is probably going to be a game at some point we have to win ugly and it might be this one.

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3 minutes ago, immamac said:

This is loser talk. Your sentiment about what to improve is correct but the motivation of a loss is not a thing like you think it is. Motivation of a win and never getting close to a loss is far greater. 

I think it will tell a lot about our player's mentality and will, as well as the coaching staff's leadership.

I remember Alabama's defense getting lit up by Ole Miss in 2015 (43 pts) and then proceeding to average 11 points allowed per game through the CFP semifinal. 

I'm not saying we're a carbon copy of that team, but we do have great talent and capability.  

I would never say I'm "happy" with a loss like that. That is in fact "loser talk". But now that what's done is done, I do appreciate the opportunity that the team has to grow and bounce back. Having a bye week to physically recover and a "tune up" against one of the easier conference opponents on the 21st also sets us up nicely for the second half of the season. We will see if we have the mental toughness and resiliency that is evident in championship caliber teams.

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