It isn’t the standard high brow content you’d expect from Bevo Sports, but a guy getting hit in the groin with a football will never stop being funny. [tag]UTEP[/tag] was having major issues getting the ball back to the punter so they were working out new guys on the sideline. Apparently one of them was very accurate, because he absolutely nailed his target. Watch and enjoy:
Mack Brown’s Monday press conference video is now up for your viewing. Talks about some of the key players from the [tag]UTEP[/tag] game, who they want to get on the field more, and what the team has to continue to improve on before the [tag]Arkansas[/tag] game. Watch it below:
Some quick notes on three former Longhorns…
Adam Schefter Reports Titans Think Vince Young Has a Torn MCL
Schefter is reporting that the Titans think [tag]Vince Young[/tag] tore his MCL. I am not really sure what that means. He is expected to have an MRI tomorrow. We will just have to wait and see what the MRI reveals.
Now it gets interesting. PFT is reporting that the Titans have contacted Chris Simms. If the Titans don’t have confidence that Ingle Martin, who is on the practice squad, can step in if Kerry Collins were to go down, they absolutely have to bring in another quarterback. Simms is probably the best guy available, but I would also put a call in to Daunte Culpepper to see how serious he is about retirement.
(Source)
Tom Brady done for the year, Chris Simms to work out for Patriots
The Patriots are resigned to the fact that Brady likely suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and perhaps other damage in his left knee during today’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss Brady’s condition publicly. Brady exited the game after taking a hit to the knee and was replaced by backup Matt Cassel.
Free agent quarterback [tag]Chris Simms[/tag], released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their final round of roster cuts, is scheduled to work out for the Patriots on Monday and could be signed by day’s end. The Patriots also could consider free agent Tim Rattay, a source said.
(Source)
Saints, Texans showing interest in Cedric Benson
Former Bears running back [tag]Cedric Benson[/tag], released by the team June 9 after two alcohol-related off-season arrests, said Saturday he has a tryout with the Houston Texans this week.
Benson also said by phone he’d had a workout with the New Orleans Saints two weeks ago and that it “went well.” Benson believes teams are waiting for his legal matters to be cleared up before signing him.
(Source)
Quan Cosby had a career night
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
- [tag]Jared Norton[/tag] got the start. [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] 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 [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] 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, [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] and [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag].
- 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 [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] 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 [tag]Fozzy Whittaker[/tag]. It might take a few more weeks, but it looks like we may have found our next starting running back.
- [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] 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
- [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] 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.
- [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] 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 [tag]John Chiles[/tag]? 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.
Chykie Brown nails the UTEP QB
Local Media
- UTEP game notes
- Video Highlights
- Texas turns aside UTEP 42-13
- Longhorn defense starts slowly, grows stronger
- Whittaker sends running game in a new direction
- Photos: Texas Longhorns vs. UT-El Paso Miners
- Texas passes first road test, routs UTEP
- Longhorns Overwhelm UTEP
- Horns take care of Mack’s business in El Paso
- Postgame React, Week 2: Texas at UTEP
- UTEP Miners get hooked: Texas just too much for UTEP defense
- UTEP didn’t break
Texas media
- UTEP gets ‘A’ for effort; UT gets the ‘W’
- Colt McCoy leads Longhorns past UTEP
- Texas’ Whittaker finds his groove in El Paso
- Longhorns, McCoy too much for Miners
National media
Tennessee quarterback Vince Young just left the game with a possible knee injury. He was hit as he attempted a pass and the defender then rolled up on his leg.
Team doctors are done looking at him and he is currently resting on the bench. Worse news for Vince, backup Kerry Collins looked much sharper in his one series so far.
Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during tonight’s game versus [tag]UTEP[/tag]. 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!
Update: Game is over, use the viewer below to read through the entire game or view a plain HTML version here.
Notes: Comments on the article itself will be turned off till after the game. The Writer can view all comments sent to them but only they can publish your comments for everyone to see. The “autoscroll” feature ensures you’re always shown the newest content without having to refresh or scroll your screen. Subtle sound effects alert you to new content as the writer publishes it. You can turn these features on or off by using the controls at the bottom of the Live Blog.
Comments now open.
Jorvorskie Lane, Nose Tackle
At 6-foot-0, 285 pounds Lane is 4 inches shorter and 25 pounds heavier than Bennett the defensive end. Lane might be the slower of the two as well. Maybe the two should switch positions?
(I’m kidding, Lane is actually a solid back who should be getting more carries. Did he get any touches last week?)
UTEP QB Trevor Vittatoe
Las Vegas has the Horns as 26.5 point favorites, but read on below to see how we see tonight’s game shaking out:
Matt – I think last week [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] proved to a lot of people that he is going to be a different player this year. He ran with purpose and threw with amazing accuracy. Colt and the Longhorns offense rolled over FAU and racked up 52 points pretty easily. They will probably score at least that much this week and it might be just as easy. UTEP’s defense is not what you would call impressive, and their offense isn’t much better. I will be interested in seeing how the young safeties respond this week after struggling a little in their first game. This one shouldn’t be close.
Texas 55 – UTEP 16
Brian – This looked like a tougher game before UTEP got blown out by Buffalo last week. The Miners might not be that bad and were simply been looking ahead to this week’s game, but the Longhorns should still crush them. I fear the late start means Texas comes out of the gate a little slowly but things should be rolling by the start of the second quarter. [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] and [tag]John Chiles[/tag] both have huge games tonight on the ground as the Horns gash them with their running game.
Texas 45 – UTEP 17
The [tag]UTEP[/tag] 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.
[tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] and [tag]Chris Ogbonnaya[/tag] were both solid last week but the longest run of the game came on a 25-yard scamper from QB [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]. 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 [tag]Fozzy Whittaker[/tag] 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 [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag], [tag]Henry Melton[/tag], and [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] Saturday night.
Loading ...
