Sam Acho hates quarterbacks
[tag]John Chiles[/tag]
The Texas staff stressed getting the best 11 players out on the field this year regardless of class or position. Chiles is clearly one of those players even if he is not the best quarterback on the team. Chiles offers the big play ability that UT severely needs for this offense to be as dynamic as it can be. Offensive coordinator [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] must find ways to get the former blue chip recruit involved, be it in the running game or in the passing game as a quarterback or as a receiver.
[tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag]
This could be McGee’s last week to show the coaches he is worthy of important carries in important games. So far the sophomore has done nothing to warrant a starting job and is not only getting pushed by injured [tag]Foswhitt Whittaker[/tag], but by bruiser [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag]. With Texas wanting big plays out of the running game, expect to see fewer and fewer carries for McGee unless he comes out and impresses this weekend against a SEC defense in Arkansas.
[tag]Peter Ullman[/tag]
Losing [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] for the season is a huge blow for Texas’ offense. Irby allowed the Longhorn offense to lineup in four receiver sets without changing personnel. While Ullman will never scare opposing defenses in the passing game, he will be an upgrade in the running game and if he can add a few catches in the flats or in the shallow middle of the field Texas’ offense will continue to succeed. If the former Round Rock Dragon cannot offer any threat to opposing defenses UT may have to look at a different position for a player to contribute at the tight end position.
[tag]Sam Acho[/tag]
The coaches have been impressed with Acho since fall camp began. In reserve duty behind star [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] Acho has played well. If he continues to outplay [tag]Henry Melton[/tag] (who isn’t playing poorly) and backup [tag]Eddie Jones[/tag], the staff may have to look at getting Orakpo, [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag], and Acho on the field at the same time. Texas wants pressure on the quarterback, and through the first three games Acho has shown more ability to do that on a consistent basis than any other defensive lineman not named Brian Orakpo. If it continues some upperclassmen are going to find themselves standing next to [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] more than they’d like.
[tag]Chykie Brown[/tag]
It is no secret that the weak link on the defense; and the team for that matter is in the Texas secondary. Going into the season most onlookers expected [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] to start next to [tag]Ryan Palmer[/tag], but through the first three games it has been sophomore Chykie Brown. Brown had his struggles tackling in the first game, with every other member of the secondary, but has made good strides in the last two ball games. Texas plays a lot of five defensive back sets with Beasley playing in the slot. Opposing defenses will continue to test Brown until he shows he can make plays. A good game heading into conference play will go a long way in building confidence for the ultra talented corner.
Colt runs over the Rice defenders
Now let’s see how each position fared:
Quarterback – Overall Grade: A+
Finally [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] gets that A+. Colt had all of his talents on display. He threw with great accuracy, controlled the game, and ran with speed and power. Colt threw for 329 yards on 19/23 passing and 4 touchdowns, and added 83 yards and a touchdown on the ground. If you haven’t seen it yet, you must see the highlight of Colt’s touchdown where he ran over two defenders before stepping into the end-zone. You don’t often see that from a quarterback. And if all of that wasn’t enough, Colt also became the new career touchdown pass leader with 62, breaking the previous mark of 60 set by Major Applewhite. All in days work for Colt.
Since the game was a blowout, [tag]John Chiles[/tag] got some decent action rushing for an impressive 72 yards on 10 carries, including a 25 yard run in the 4th quarter for a touchdown. Chiles was only called on to throw the ball once, which he completed for 12 yards.
Running Backs – Overall Grade: B+
[tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] seems to have emerged as the goto back for the Texas Longhorns. We all know Johnson has the power to run up the middle, but against Rice he also showed he has some serious speed on the outside. Johnson ended up with 67 yards on 15 carriers and 1 touchdown. [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] also got a few carriers, but turned out to be not all that effective. [tag]Chris Ogbonnaya[/tag] continues to impress catching passes out of the backfield, breaking one for a 46 yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter.
Receivers – Overall Grade: B+
[tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] had the best game of his career, racking up 155 yards on 5 catches and 2 touchdowns. On Shipley’s second touchdown of the second quarter, he was so wide open there wasn’t a defender within 15 yards. [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] was the consistent player he always is, catching 7 passes for 90 yards and a score, the only issue being the fumble near the end-zone which ended up as a touchback for Rice. Those types of mistakes can’t happen during Big 12 play. Losing Irby for the season is big, but hopefully Ullman and/or Smith can step-up continue to be a safety valve for Colt.
Defense – Overall Grade: B
Allowing 301 passing yards is obvious cause for worry with our young secondary. We still have a few games left before we hit the meat of our schedule, so hopefully that will be enough time for [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] to work his magic. Thankfully the Texas front seven is looking strong. They recorded seven sacks and dominated the line of scrimmage. [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] ran around like a mad-man disrupting many a play, and [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] proved why he is one of the better defensive ends in the nation recording 2 sacks for 29 yards lost and 1 forced fumble. If the young secondary can improve by the beginning of October, Texas will have a very formidable defense.
The highlight of the day for the defense had to be the goal-line stand from the 2 yard line. Texas endured 11 plays and 2 pass interference calls, ending with a interception in the end-zone. Not often you see something like that.
Overall Grade: A-
Colt looks like he is on a mission and has this offense on a roll that cannot be stopped. The defense continues to look a little shaky, but luckily right now the greatness of the offense is outweighing the weakness of the defense. I actually feel pretty good right now about how things are progressing.
Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during tonight’s game versus [tag]Rice[/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!
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.
Texas heads into this week’s game against [tag]Rice[/tag] off an unexpected bye week thanks to Hurricane Ike. Going into this game, the emphasis will not necessarily be on winning (that should come from just showing up), the emphasis will be on setting a tone for the upcoming Big 12 season.
When Texas has the ball
Through the first two games, one thing has become unmistakably obvious: this is Colt McCoy’s football team. This year’s Longhorns will go as far as he takes them, and so far that seems to be a good thing. After a sophomore slump that saw McCoy’s interceptions jump up significantly from his freshman year, McCoy has started off his junior year in spectacular fashion, including only throwing one interception.
On top of his improved passing game, McCoy is also leading the Horns in rushing. He is the only Longhorn to have over 100 yards on the season. This needs to change, and luckily for UT the Rice Owls are just what the doctor ordered for the Texas running game in the past few years.
New running backs coach [tag]Major Applewhite[/tag] has stressed ball security and pass blocking over explosive plays in the running game, but if Texas wants to get to their yearly goals of playing for the Big 12 championship and reaching a BCS game both need to happen. Texas ranks 23rd in the nation in pass offense, but sixth in the Big 12. The good teams in conference will be able to put up points, and with the youth in Texas’ secondary, UT’s offense must find a way to control the ball and shorten the game. This offense will not be able to score with the likes of [tag]Missouri[/tag] and [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]. In games like this weekend’s versus Rice, the running game needs to start asserting itself.
Texas’ offensive line should be able to physically dominate the smaller Rice defense. Expect the line to come out and quiet the naysayers after being out rushed by [tag]UTEP[/tag].
The receiving corps has been solid with [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] and [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] being the go to guys. Against Rice look for Texas to try and get [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] and [tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] deep, these two flankers need confidence heading into the upcoming schedule. So far, the biggest surprise has been the play of tight end [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] who has scored in the first two games.
When Rice has the ball
Another week, another spread offense for Texas’ young secondary to deal with. The preseason schedule has worked out perfectly in terms of giving this group practice seeing the types of offense they will in the Big 12. The talent will obviously be a step up once conference games begin, but don’t be surprised if the Owl offense presents a challenge for the defense. Quarterback Chase Clement and wide receiver Jarrett Dillard are no slouches, especially Dillard who could be the best player to come out of Rice in recent memory.
Texas ranks 98th in the nation against the pass so look for defensive coordinator [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] to start bringing more pressure as the season wears on. In a game like this one where the outcome isn’t in much question UT may play close to the vest on offense and defense, but if Rice has success early look for [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] to be unleashed. Texas has worked on a “Buck” package with Kindle coming off the edge. This should become more and more a staple of this defense.
Rice offers no real threat to Texas on the ground. The linebacker corps has played as good as it ever has under [tag]Mack Brown[/tag]. Texas’ emphasis moving forward in the season is to create more turnovers and to create more pressure. With offenses running the way they do now, sacks are not as easy to come by. Muschamp keeps track of pressures and hits on the quarterbacks each week. He would like the number to continue to go up.
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.
Position Rating: C+
Starters: Rashad Bobino, Roddrick Muckelroy, Sergio Kindle
Reserves: Jared Norton, Keenan Robinson, Emmanuel Acho
Linebacker has been a position of much consternation for the Longhorns since Derrick Johnson left the 40 Acres. A good way to ruin a perfectly good time last season was to bring up linebacker play around a bunch of Texas fans. This year might be different as there are guys all over the depth chart that have fans excited.
Probably the player the Texas fanbase is most excited about is starting strongside linebacker [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag]. Fans have been awaiting his arrival since the moment he committed to the Horns back in 2005. Injuries have slowed down his career so far but now as a junior he may be ready to explode on the scene. Backing him up is [tag]Keenan Robinson[/tag], a redshirt freshman who coaches are incredibly high on.
At middle linebacker [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] is entering his fourth year starting for the Horns. Bobino isn’t the biggest or most athletic guy but he’s smart and plays well in space. Despite Bobino’s experience he’s being pushed hard by his backup, sophomore [tag]Jared Norton[/tag]. Officially listed as a co-starter, Norton is the prototypical middle linebacker who had to lighten up to be able to run with the many spread offenses in the Big 12. Norton will knock your block off and may play more than Bobino against certain teams and in certain situations.
Starting on the weakside is [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag]. Muckelroy was a starter back in his redshirt freshman season and has finally earned his spot back late last season in the Holiday Bowl. He moves well but also isn’t afraid to knock your lights out. His athletic potential had Texas fans screaming that he should be in there all last season. Behind Muckelroy is true freshman [tag]Emmanuel Acho[/tag]. Some questioned his recruitment but Sam’s little bro definitely is making the jump from TAPPS to the big leagues look easy.
If I was grading purely on potential this group would be much higher. Bobino is the only player we truly know what he’s capable of, but the talent is most definitely there and if Muck and Kindle come on like they should this unit could actually be a team strength by midseason. This has been a position of weakness for years and a big improvement here would solidify the Horns against both the run and the pass.
Related Links
Posted August 26th, 2008 by Brian
Filed under: Depth Chart, Football
Football season is so close you can smell it. Less than a week from now the Longhorns will finally take the field for the 2008 season against FAU and today [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] and Co. released the first official depth chart of the year. We wouldn’t be true Texas fans if the first thing we did wasn’t overanalyze and complain about it, so of course we’ve done that below:
General Thoughts
- Lots of OR‘s all over the place like every year. Harder to complain this year because there’s a ton of youngsters on at least one side of the conjunctions.
- Looks like there will also be a lot of situational players as well. There are several places where players (e.g., [tag]Aaron Lewis[/tag]) are listed as co-starters with very different complementary players.
- Lots of youth in general, including several true freshmen. There may be some games this year where you’re yelling at the television set because of the mistakes but 2008 and 2009 should be exciting.
Offense
- No [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] anywhere at wide receiver. Not in the top 3 at either flanker or split end. True freshman [tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] right behind [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] is encouraging but overall no Williams seems like bigger story. Let’s hope the light comes on.
- Former tackle [tag]Greg Smith[/tag] has been back at the position for less than two weeks but he’s already listed ahead of [tag]Peter Ullman[/tag] as the blocking tight end.
- [tag]Michael Huey[/tag] vs. [tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag] vs. [tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag] at guard. Everyone has been raving about Huey throughout fall camp but most believed he’d be cutting into Tanner’s reps not Dockery’s. The general opinion (and we all know that’s never wrong) is that Dockery is the better of the returning guards but Huey is listed behind him. Is there a strategic reason the coaches believe Huey should stay at right guard?
- The 12 names and 5 OR‘s confuse me at running back. What exactly is going on there?
Posted August 21st, 2008 by Brian
Filed under: Football, Quick Hits
Sergio Kindle determined to fulfill lofty recruiting promise. “The quarterback is going to be my prey. I’m the predator.”
Update: Download named rosters for NCAA Football 10. (7/23/2009)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [tag]Buck Burnette[/tag] | C #66 | Soph(RS) | C | 78 |
| C #60 | Fresh | C | 72 | |
| [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] | CB #7 | Junior | CB | 85 |
| [tag]Ryan Palmer[/tag] | CB #13 | Senior(RS) | CB | 84 |
| [tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] | CB #3 | Soph | CB | 83 |
| [tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] | CB #26 | Fresh | CB | 80 |
| [tag]Chykie Brown[/tag] | CB #8 | Soph(RS) | CB | 80 |
| [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] | CB #12 | Fresh(RS) | CB | 78 |
| [tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] | CB #27 | Fresh | CB | 76 |
| [tag]Roy Miller[/tag] | DT #99 | Senior | DT | 90 |
| [tag]Jarvis Humphrey[/tag] | DT #96 | Fresh | DT | 80 |
| [tag]Brian Ellis[/tag] | DT #90 | Soph(RS) | DT | 78 |
| [tag]Ben Alexander[/tag] | DT #92 | Junior | DT | 76 |
| [tag]Kheeston Randall[/tag] | DT #88 | Fresh | DT | 76 |
| [tag]Chris Ogbonnayya[/tag] | FB #3 | Senior(RS) | FB | 93 |
| [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] | FB #31 | Fresh(RS) | FB | 72 |
| [tag]Ben Wells[/tag] | FS #5 | Fresh(RS) | FS | 84 |
| [tag]Christian Scott[/tag] | FS #6 | Fresh(RS) | FS | 77 |
| [tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] | FS #21 | Fresh | FS | 77 |
| [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] | HB #2 | Soph(RS) | HB | 85 |
| [tag]DeSean Hales[/tag] | HB #30 | Fresh | HB | 80 |
| [tag]Antwan Cobb[/tag] | HB #24 | Soph(RS) | HB | 79 |
| [tag]Fozzy Whittaker[/tag] | HB #22 | Fresh(RS) | HB | 78 |
| [tag]Jeremy Hills[/tag] | HB #32 | Fresh | HB | 76 |
| [tag]Tre Newton[/tag] | HB #23 | Fresh | HB | 73 |
| [tag]Hunter Lawrence[/tag] | K #15 | Junior | K | 82 |
| [tag]Justin Tucker[/tag] | K #9 | Fresh | K | 69 |
| [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] | LE #33 | Junior | LE | 91 |
| [tag]Aaron Lewis[/tag] | LE #95 | Senior | LE | 85 |
| [tag]Henry Melton[/tag] | LE #37 | Senior | LE | 80 |
| [tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag] | LG #52 | Junior(RS) | LG | 86 |
| [tag]Tray Allen[/tag] | LG #70 | Soph | LG | 82 |
| [tag]Chris Hall[/tag] | LG #71 | Junior(RS) | LG | 81 |
| [tag]Aundre McGaskey[/tag] | LG #76 | Fresh(RS) | LG | 74 |
| [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] | LOLB #2 | Junior | LOLB | 85 |
| LOLB #16 | Fresh | LOLB | 80 | |
| LOLB #57 | Fresh | LOLB | 76 | |
| [tag]David Snow[/tag] | LT #78 | Fresh | LT | 78 |
| [tag]Britt Mitchell[/tag] | LT #72 | Soph(RS) | LT | 78 |
| [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] | MLB #44 | Senior(RS) | MLB | 90 |
| [tag]Jared Norton[/tag] | MLB #11 | Junior | MLB | 85 |
| [tag]Trevor Gerland[/tag] | P #17 | Junior(RS) | P | 83 |
| [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] | QB #12 | Junior(RS) | QB | 89 |
| [tag]Sherrod Harris[/tag] | QB #17 | Soph(RS) | QB | 81 |
| [tag]John Chiles[/tag] | QB #7 | Soph | QB | 79 |
| [tag]Eddie Jones[/tag] | RE #32 | Soph(RS) | RE | 92 |
| [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] | RE #98 | Senior(RS) | RE | 90 |
| [tag]Russell Carter[/tag] | RE #97 | Fresh(RS) | RE | 77 |
| [tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag] | RG #55 | Senior(RS) | RG | 89 |
| [tag]Michael Huey[/tag] | RG #63 | Soph | RG | 81 |
| [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] | ROLB #38 | Junior(RS) | ROLB | 87 |
| [tag]Keenan Robinson[/tag] | ROLB #53 | Fresh(RS) | ROLB | 82 |
| ROLB #4 | Fresh | ROLB | 75 | |
| [tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag] | RT #74 | Junior(RS) | RT | 85 |
| [tag]Mark Buchanan[/tag] | RT #54 | Fresh | RT | 74 |
| [tag]Ishie Oduegwu[/tag] | SS #19 | Junior(RS) | SS | 88 |
| [tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag] | SS #36 | Fresh | SS | 79 |
| [tag]Peter Ullman[/tag] | TE #86 | Senior(RS) | TE | 81 |
| [tag]Ahmard Howard[/tag] | TE #13 | Fresh(RS) | TE | 74 |
| [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] | TE #19 | Soph | TE | 73 |
| [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] | WR #6 | Senior | WR | 89 |
| [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] | WR #8 | Senior(RS) | WR | 84 |
| [tag]Montre Webber[/tag] | WR #14 | Soph(RS) | WR | 83 |
| [tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] | WR #4 | Fresh | WR | 79 |
| [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] | WR #9 | Fresh(RS) | WR | 78 |
| [tag]DJ Grant[/tag] | WR #80 | Fresh | WR | 75 |
| [tag]Antoine Hicks[/tag] | WR #81 | Fresh | WR | 75 |
| [tag]James Kirkendoll[/tag] | WR #87 | Soph | WR | 74 |
Downloads
Posted June 3rd, 2008 by Brian
Filed under: Depth Chart, Football, Quick Hits
Sergio Kindle to get snaps at DE? Muschamp has big plans for Longhorns’ defense.
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