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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

Colt McCoy 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.

John Chiles 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

Chris Ogbonnaya 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. Vondrell McGee 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. Cody Johnson 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 Fozzy Whittaker going to return? We need him stat.

Wide Receivers - Overall Grade: B-

Of course Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley 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 Blaine Irby injury is looking more and more costly.

Defense - Overall Grade: A

The defense was the main bright spot against Colorado. The defensive front-seven controlled the game and spent most of the game in QB Cody Hawkins‘ grill. The defensive MVP had to be Roy Miller, 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 Chykie Brown 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!

I wouldn’t say that I ever thought the game against UTEP was in jeopardy, but I will admit I was a little worried and/or disappointed that we only carried a 15 point lead going into the 4th quarter. It seemed pretty obvious that Texas was dominating the game, but they just couldn’t put it away until late in the game. And once again we showed our weakness lies in the young secondary, which didn’t really show much improvement from the previous game against Florida Atlantic. Luckily we still have some time before we have to face OU.

Now let’s see how each position fared.

Quarterback - Overall Grade: A-

Colt McCoy had another outstanding game, throwing for 282 yards and 4 touchdowns. Colt’s one interception came in the 3rd quarter when wide receiver Dan Buckner was not able to get off the line against the smaller cornerback. I can’t really blame Colt on that one. Colt spread the ball around well, completing passes to 7 different receivers. I really like the confidence Colt is playing with so far this year and it doesn’t look he will be slowing down anytime soon.

Backup quarterback John Chiles did make a brief appearance in the game, but did not attempt any passes. He did run twice for a measly 5 yards. He was a total non-factor. Greg Davis needs to get him more involved.

Running Backs - Overall Grade: B+

The highlight of the running back group is the emergence of a possible future star, Fozzy Whittaker. Fozzy missed the first game with a knee injury but showed no signs of that against UTEP. Fozzy showed off his great lateral speed and ability to get around the corner in a hurry. He is the perfect compliment to the downhill slasher, Vondrell McGee. Fozzy ended up with 72 yards on 12 carries for an impressive 6.0 yards per rush average. Vondrell ended up with only 6 carriers and 18 yards. He better watch out, the way Fozzy ran Saturday, he better improve his production if he wants to see more action on the field.

Receivers - Overall Grade: A-

If you remember last week I was a little disappointed with Quan Cosby’s performance. Well you can throw all of that away, because this week he had the game of his life against UTEP. Quan caught 8 passes for 154 yards, including one where he completely burned the cornerback for an easy touchdown. Tight end Blaine Irby found the end zone again with a nice leaping touchdown up the middle in the second quarter. Dan Buckner also scored a nice touchdown off of a Colt scramble, but his inability to get a push off of a much smaller corner ended up with Colt’s only interception. Dan has the size, he just needs to learn to be more physical around the goal line. Chris Ogbonnaya continued to show he is always a threat coming out of the backfield and is definitely a nice luxury to have on 3rd downs.

Defense - Overall Grade: C+

So how do you give up only 13 points and still get a C+? By letting a team move the ball on you the whole game. Well ok, maybe not the whole game, but at times UTEP moved the ball down the field with ease. Texas allowed 3 drives over 65 yards, 4 field goal attempts, and 1 touchdown. The young secondary again looked average at best. Earl Thomas is supposed to be the one all of the coaches were impressed with in practice. Well somehow he needs to figure out to translate his success in practice to the field.

The defensive played a decent game, but only started to dominate late in the game when they had finally worn out the UTEP offensive line. Brian Orakpo did end up with 2 sacks, but with their size and speed they should have dominated the whole game. Linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy had a ridiculous game, racking up 14 tackles and returning a fumble 26 yards for a touchdown. Overall the linebackers played pretty decent.

Special Teams - Overall Grade: B+

Quan Cosby had an impressive game at the wide receiver position, but he also made an outstanding play on special teams. Quan caught a missed field goal right on the edge of the endzone and alertly returned the ball all the way to the UTEP 35 yard line. Texas scored easily and basically put away the game right there. The kick-offs were much improved from last week, but that is probably due to the high altitude in El Paso. We’ll see how that goes next week.

Overall - Overall Grade: B+

I give Texas the same rating as last week. Not too great, not too bad. They definitely need to sure up some things in the secondary, but luckily there is some time for them to improve. And besides, right now Colt is on fire and the offense is rolling, so let’s save the worrying for a few more weeks.

The Texas Longhorns have moved to 2-0 on the season with a win Saturday night over the UTEP Miners. A little closer than most expected in the first half but they eventually pulled away late in the third quarter. Overall it was a good, but not great performance by the Horns.

As Texas fans we’re spoiled and were expecting more out of the offense in the second half and a better showing from the defense. Despite the final score the game didn’t go as many predicted, and the team didn’t seem nearly as sharp as in the opening week. It is important to remember that at this time last year Texas had squeaked by Arkansas State and needed a second half comeback to beat TCU.

The team is definitely not playing its best football, the young secondary and the offensive line are only going to get better with each game. However, to win two games by large margins while so many youngsters learn on the job has to be encouraging for later in the season and certainly 2009.

Read on for some additional quick thoughts on the game:

Good

• Jared Norton got the start. Rashad Bobino got plenty of playing time but the fact that Norton started ahead of the senior linebacker is a sign that playing time is based on performance and not seniority.
• Quarterback Colt McCoy was incredibly sharp again in the first half. He completed 14 of 16 passes in the first half for 187 yards and three TDs. He finished the game with 282 yards and 4 TDs. He seems to always be on the same page with his top wide receivers, Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley.
• Speaking of Cosby, he played his best game as a Horn against the Miners. In addition to his 8 catches for 154 yards he also made a huge play by returning a UTEP missed field goal for a momentum-changing 74 yards.
• Tight end Blaine Irby made another appearance in the offensive gameplan. After the loss of Jermichael Finley to the NFL there was expected to be a big drop off in performance at the position but Irby has been great so far. He only had one catch but it was a nice 23-yard touchdown grab.
• Welcome Fozzy Whittaker. It might take a few more weeks, but it looks like we may have found our next starting running back.
• Will Muschamp coaches angry. The defense has been far from perfect, but the effort and attitude is definitely there and that can be directly credited to Muschamp. The team hasn’t allowed a second half point yet this season.

Bad

• Earl Thomas needs to step it up at safety. The talent is there but he needs to improve with every game.
• The offensive and defensive lines did not look like they were overpowering UTEP’s inferior players until the Texas depth started to wear on them. Texas should be capable of dominating the trenches from the opening snap against a team like UTEP or they could struggle against Big 12 opponents.
• Greg Davis showed no interest in getting the running game going. Whittaker was ripping off big chunks of yardage every time he carried the ball but despite that there wasn’t much effort to get him the football. There were only 18-20 rushing attempts before garbage time.
• Colt McCoy was far from sharp for most of the third quarter. It may have just stood out after three nearly perfect quarters of QB play but he missed several open receivers and threw a couple of ducks into the dirt as well. His tendency to abandon the pocket too quickly also reared its head a couple of times in the second half.
• Where is John Chiles? He hasn’t gotten a ton of plays and when he’s in there as part of the “Q package” he appears to largely be being used as a decoy. He had no catches and only two carries for five yards. Even worse, when he got in there to replace McCoy in the fourth quarter it was purely to hand off the football and he didn’t look too excited about that.

Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during tonight’s game versus UTEP. Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ‘em!

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Comments now open.

The UTEP fans and players have likely had this weekend circled on the calendar for months. Their match-up against the Longhorns might be the biggest game they’ve ever played in the Sun Bowl. After the Miners’ loss to lowly Buffalo last week this game lost a little luster, but the Texas team still has plenty to work on both for this game and the rest of the season.

Read below for the Longhorns’ keys to beat the UTEP Miners:

1. Don’t sleepwalk to start the game.

A 9:15pm game time is not normal for the Texas players but they can’t let it affect the way they start the game. There’s going to be a lot more downtime for the team on gameday but the players need to find a way to get into their routine and be ready for the opening kickoff. If it takes Texas two quarters to wake up, UTEP will gain confidence and start believing the upset is possible.

2. Secondary play must improve.

The young secondary certainly looked inexperienced in the first half against FAU before they settled down a bit. UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe had a rough season opener but was great in 2007 and will test the pass defense. There have to be fewer mental mistakes and fewer missed tackles this week and the safeties in particular need to improve quickly. The passing defense may not hurt the Horns this week or even against Arkansas, but when the team travels to Colorado in October they better not be playing like freshmen anymore.

3. Get more big plays out of the running game.

Vondrell McGee and Chris Ogbonnaya were both solid last week but the longest run of the game came on a 25-yard scamper from QB Colt McCoy. The offense was near perfect but not explosive, this week it would be good to see McGee take one 30+ yards to the house. Getting the speedy Fozzy Whittaker back will certainly help but he’s still not full strength yet.

4. Hit UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe.

The best way to help out the secondary is by getting after the quarterback. The defensive line did get decent pressure on FAU QB Rusty Smith but didn’t record a single sack. That has to change this week. Against UTEP the Horns will likely stay pretty vanilla on defense but the team should still be able to get to and hit Vittatoe repeatedly. I want to see at least one sack each from Brian Orakpo, Henry Melton, and Sergio Kindle Saturday night.

Position Rating: C+
Starter: Vondrell McGee
Reserves: Foswhitt Whittaker, Chris Ogbonnaya

Going into spring practice Vondrell McGee was the clear number one guy at running back but freshman Fozzy Whittaker’s big play ability has earned him a share of the job. The talent is there but the lack of experience brings down the group’s preseason grade.

McGee was the top running back in the state in the 2006 class and has been solid so far in his short career. He’ll be expected to carry the bulk of the load especially early in the season. Whittaker doesn’t have Jamaal Charles’ top end speed but does have the quickness and elusiveness to break big runs. Neither player has much experience, McGee’s 75 carries last season are the duo’s only career touches, but together they have the ability to make up for the loss of Charles to the NFL.

Senior Chris Ogbonnaya is a reliable backup who will again contribute as the team’s third down back. As a former fullback and wide receiver Chris is perfect for the role, providing blitz pickup help and a sure-handed outlet receiver out of the backfield. His experience and versatility bring stability to the running backs corps but he likely won’t be relied on to provide much offensive output.

Related Links

• Quarterbacks preview
• Wide Receivers preview
• Tight ends preview
• Offensive line preview
• Defensive tackles preview
• Defensive ends preview
• Linebackers preview
• Cornerbacks preview
• Safeties preview

Update: Bevo Sports is giving away NCAA Football 09, enter to win!

NCAA Football 09 is less than a month away, the demo is up on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, and player ratings are starting to make their way on to the Internet. EA Sports released the team top 25 and player ratings for all those teams.

I went through the list and put the players’ real names in where possible. I had trouble with a lot of the true freshmen in the game so if you know who any of the blank names are or if I made any mistakes please let me know in the comments. It really looks like EA did a poor job this year on the roster and depth chart. Hopefully it’s a little more accurate when the game is released.

You can download Excel files of the player ratings at the bottom of this post or check out the overall ratings for the Texas team below:

Real Name	Name	Year	Position	Rating
Buck Burnette	C #66	Soph(RS)	C	78
	C #60	Fresh	C	72
Deon Beasley	CB #7	Junior	CB	85
Ryan Palmer	CB #13	Senior(RS)	CB	84
Curtis Brown	CB #3	Soph	CB	83
Aaron Williams	CB #26	Fresh	CB	80
Chykie Brown	CB #8	Soph(RS)	CB	80
Earl Thomas	CB #12	Fresh(RS)	CB	78
DJ Monroe	CB #27	Fresh	CB	76
Roy Miller	DT #99	Senior	DT	90
Jarvis Humphrey	DT #96	Fresh	DT	80
Brian Ellis	DT #90	Soph(RS)	DT	78
Ben Alexander	DT #92	Junior	DT	76
Kheeston Randall	DT #88	Fresh	DT	76
Chris Ogbonnayya	FB #3	Senior(RS)	FB	93
Cody Johnson	FB #31	Fresh(RS)	FB	72
Ben Wells	FS #5	Fresh(RS)	FS	84
Christian Scott	FS #6	Fresh(RS)	FS	77
Blake Gideon	FS #21	Fresh	FS	77
Vondrell McGee	HB #2	Soph(RS)	HB	85
DeSean Hales	HB #30	Fresh	HB	80
Antwan Cobb	HB #24	Soph(RS)	HB	79
Fozzy Whittaker	HB #22	Fresh(RS)	HB	78
Jeremy Hills	HB #32	Fresh	HB	76
Tre Newton	HB #23	Fresh	HB	73
Hunter Lawrence	K #15	Junior	K	82
Justin Tucker	K #9	Fresh	K	69
Lamarr Houston	LE #33	Junior	LE	91
Aaron Lewis	LE #95	Senior	LE	85
Henry Melton	LE #37	Senior	LE	80
Charlie Tanner	LG #52	Junior(RS)	LG	86
Tray Allen	LG #70	Soph	LG	82
Chris Hall	LG #71	Junior(RS)	LG	81
Aundre McGaskey	LG #76	Fresh(RS)	LG	74
Sergio Kindle	LOLB #2	Junior	LOLB	85
	LOLB #16	Fresh	LOLB	80
	LOLB #57	Fresh	LOLB	76
David Snow	LT #78	Fresh	LT	78
Britt Mitchell	LT #72	Soph(RS)	LT	78
Rashad Bobino	MLB #44	Senior(RS)	MLB	90
Jared Norton	MLB #11	Junior	MLB	85
Trevor Gerland	P #17	Junior(RS)	P	83
Colt McCoy	QB #12	Junior(RS)	QB	89
Sherrod Harris	QB #17	Soph(RS)	QB	81
John Chiles	QB #7	Soph	QB	79
Eddie Jones	RE #32	Soph(RS)	RE	92
Brian Orakpo	RE #98	Senior(RS)	RE	90
Russell Carter	RE #97	Fresh(RS)	RE	77
Cedric Dockery	RG #55	Senior(RS)	RG	89
Michael Huey	RG #63	Soph	RG	81
Roddrick Muckelroy	ROLB #38	Junior(RS)	ROLB	87
Keenan Robinson	ROLB #53	Fresh(RS)	ROLB	82
	ROLB #4	Fresh	ROLB	75
Adam Ulatoski	RT #74	Junior(RS)	RT	85
Mark Buchanan	RT #54	Fresh	RT	74
Ishie Oduegwu	SS #19	Junior(RS)	SS	88
Nolan Brewster	SS #36	Fresh	SS	79
Peter Ullman	TE #86	Senior(RS)	TE	81
Ahmard Howard	TE #13	Fresh(RS)	TE	74
Blaine Irby	TE #19	Soph	TE	73
Quan Cosby	WR #6	Senior	WR	89
Jordan Shipley	WR #8	Senior(RS)	WR	84
Montre Webber	WR #14	Soph(RS)	WR	83
Dan Buckner	WR #4	Fresh	WR	79
Malcolm Williams	WR #9	Fresh(RS)	WR	78
DJ Grant	WR #80	Fresh	WR	75
Antoine Hicks	WR #81	Fresh	WR	75
James Kirkendoll	WR #87	Soph	WR	74

Downloads

• Texas player ratings
• Full top 25 player ratings

Battle to replace RB Charles highlights Texas’ spring practice. I thought Fozzy Whittaker looked great going against the other twos.

The last scrimmage/practice of the spring is about to get underway on Fox Sports Southwest. The Orange-White Game is most fans’ first look at a lot of players and it’s always interesting to see who is playing where. We won’t see much (if any) new scheme or plays, but it’s football and gosh darnit I like it. The most important thing in this type of event is always that nobody gets seriously injured.

I’ll be posting my live thoughts and opinions below.

First Quarter

Nice to see we tackled more this spring, much more so that we did more full contact drills than in a scrimmage like this.

Here’s the spring roster off the official site. Definitely going to be needed today.

Tray Allen gets the start today at left tackle with Adam Ulatoski out.

I thought Brandon Collins had dropped that pass but on the replay cornerback Deon Beasley made a nice diving play to break it up. Collins probably needs to use his body better though to prevent the defender from being able to do that so easily.

I don’t know about that interference penalty on Beasley. Colt McCoy threw a nice pass but put it over Quan Cosby’s wrong shoulder. He had the position and Colt should have been able to put it in a more catchable position.

Not a good job on the Jordan Shipley reverse by Henry Melton. As the backside defensive end his responsibilities are RCC (reverse, counter, or cutback) and while he held his spot for a moment he started to pursue too quickly. Not a good job by the corner/safety over there either, the moment they saw Shipley going back the other way they should have been screaming at the top of their lungs.

Ishie Oduegwu is in street clothes on the sideline, I didn’t realize he was hurt. I assume that’s why true freshman Blake Gideon got the start at safety for Team Tradition. Okay that’s the last time I’ll mention these lame team names.

John Chiles and Fozzy Whittaker screwed up the hand-off on their first play of the day. Zone read and Chiles tried to change his mind and keep it but they put in on the turf.

On his first pass attempt Chiles makes a decent throw to Collins but he looked like he was tripled covered. The pocket was still holding so I think John could have waited another tick, bought himself some time, and looked for a more open receiver.

Nice run by Vondrell McGee ended with him delivering a blow to Earl Thomas. Good play though by Thomas to hold on despite the big hit and make the tackle.

I hope we’re not planning on playing freshman kicker Justin Tucker. We’ve already got Ryan Bailey and Hunter Lawrence and I want one of them to win the kicking job this year so we can afford to redshirt Tucker.

Russell Carter sure looks like a football player. Big old sucker. Nice play by him bringing down Whitaker.

(more …)

Biggest question for the Texas offense is who will replace Charles. Vondrell McGee, Fozzy Whittaker and Chris Ogbonnaya are main options.