40 Acres Sports

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Buffs.

The Whole Game WTH Davis?! – I know that execution has a lot to do with our running game. I can see that it is difficult to sell to a UT offense lineman that firing out and hitting your man at the snap of the ball can be as successful as back pedaling and protecting the quarterback who is completing 73% of his passes. But Coach Greg Davis needs to stop falling in love with solving a non-existent running game (62 yards with an average 1.8 yards/carry) with throwing more. Texas was up against the 111th ranked run defense in the country with Colorado which does not bode well for our next meeting against OU. If we cannot stop the opponents’ interior run blitzes (thanks for trying with the shovel pass), we will not be going very far this season.

2nd Quarter (2:55) WTH McCoy?! – I know that you are not supposed to pull on Superman’s cape, but I do not like the trend that I am seeing. This scenario is occurring way too much with Colt McCoy giving up an early turnover for the opponent to jump on for a score. I now that he was rushed out of the pocket on this play but his handling of the football caused the fumble to end up in the Buffs hands. He cannot continue this type of results if the team wants to contend for the title.

3rd Qt & 4th Qt. (13:37 & 14:13) WTH Tucker?! – I know the coaching staff loves that fact that you’re ambidextrous with your feet, but Justin Tucker (28.8 yards/avg.) you have to be able to punt better than the 25 yard & 5 yard efforts respectfully that you gave on your rugby style kicks. I know that our lack of covering skills on kickoffs makes you feel that much better about your style.

3rd Quarter (12:32) WTH Muckelroy?! – Your tip of QB Cody Hawkins pass early in the 3rd quarter ended any type of momentum that the Buffs were trying to establish in the second half. Roddrick Muckelroy was clearly the defensive MVP with 11 total tackles and 1 crucial sack to start the fourth quarter.

The Whole Game WTH Shipley?! – Not only did you single handily put your stamp on the Horn’s offense ( 11 catches for 147 yds.) with incredible catches (1st Qt. 7:33 & 2nd Qt.:46) but you changed the momentum again with your ability to take it to the house (3rd Qt. 12:29) on a 74 yard punt return (thanks for blocking referee Cooper Castleberry) to end the Buffs hopes. You can start talking about Jordan Shipley in the same breath as Michigan’s Desmond Howard when he was starting his Heisman run back in 1991.

3rd Qt. & 4th Qt. WTH Punt return unit?! – Great job by the Longhorn punting unit to set up a back breaking return for at touchdown by Jordan Shipley and a crowd raising punt block by Marquis Goodwin that resulted in Ben Wells running it in for the score. We need more great special teams next week!

4th Quarter WTH Hawkins?! – Coach Dan Hawkins changed his Colorado family and his nuclear family at the same moment with the pulling of his son Dan Hawkins for redshirt freshman Tyler Hansen. The move came along with 5 false start penalties in the quarter which added to the Buffs accumulating 20 penalties for the game which resulted in 140 penalty yards. Thanks Coach Dan for pulling the plug on your season with your son who will definitely want to join you for Halloween festivities at your house later this month.

Next up for the Longhorn football team is Oklahoma at 11am at the Cotton Bowl on October 17th.

Texas did beat beat a decent conference opponent on the road by 24 points, but did we really look all that good? I would say the defense probably had their best all-around game, but there are still some areas of concern. The offensive line had one of their worst games of the season and is anyone going to step up at the receiver position so Colt can throw to someone else besides Cosby and Shipley? And our running backs? Obviously Chris Ogbonnaya had a great game, but we need some more consistency from Cody Johnson and Vondrell McGee. It’s pretty scary to have to rely on Colt to do everything.

Now with all of that said, Texas is 5-0 and you really can’t ask for much more heading into OU. I guess we will really get to see what Texas is made of with their tough upcoming schedule (OU, Mizzou, OSU, @Tech).

My favorite stat of the game? QB Cody Hawkins threw for only 13/33 and 118 yards. I bet he is going to have nightmares this week of the Texas defense. Now let’s see how each position fared:

Quarterback – Overall Grade: B

[tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] probably had his worst game of the season. Colt’s stats aren’t horrible, 23/30 for 262 yards and 2 touchdowns. The concerning part is the two interceptions. One of them was just a poor decision and had Tony Romo written all over it. Luckily Colt is having his off day in a game that wasn’t ever in question. I expect Colt to bounce back and have a great game against Oklahoma.

[tag]John Chiles[/tag] seems to be looking more and more lost out there on the field. And now when he is running and seems to be reluctant and has no purpose. Hopefully this isn’t the future of the Texas QB.

Running Backs – Overall Grade: B

[tag]Chris Ogbonnaya[/tag] had a career game. Chris O started off the game with a 65 yard touchdown and reception and later added a 51 yard run. His performance on Saturday deservedly earned him the starting nod against OU. It’s the other running backs that have me a bit worried. [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] did show a little speed, but ended up with only 30 yards on 8 carries. I was expecting big things from McGee this year and he has yet to have that breakout game. [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] did score two touchdowns, but had only 27 yards on 11 carries. It looks like Cody Johnson will be useful for short-yardage situations, but probably doesn’t have the fitness for much else. When is [tag]Fozzy Whittaker[/tag] going to return? We need him stat.

Wide Receivers – Overall Grade: B-

Of course [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] and [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] had great games, but I am docking the receivers because someone else needs to step-up and give Colt a solid target. Only 3 catches were made by receivers other than Cosby and Shipley (not counting RBs). That just won’t cut it against Oklahoma this weekend. Man that [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] injury is looking more and more costly.

Defense – Overall Grade: A

The defense was the main bright spot against [tag]Colorado[/tag]. The defensive front-seven controlled the game and spent most of the game in QB [tag]Cody Hawkins[/tag]’ grill. The defensive MVP had to be [tag]Roy Miller[/tag], who had a monster game in the middle with eight tackles, a fumble recovery, three QB hits, and two pass breakups. The play of the game goes to [tag]Chykie Brown[/tag] when he knocked down a long pass attempt early in the game. If he doesn’t make that play and Colorado scores, the game could have been totally different.

Overall Grade: B

The offense was decent and the defense showed signs of greatness. So how am I feeling going into next week? Pretty nervous. But luckily no matter what happens, OU will still SUCK!