One might make a case for three things that just might have appeared obvious concerning our offense yesterday if one was so inclined. The lead story is we have a solid group of guys that just play well with each other. Our OLine doesn’t have any world-beaters but they don’t bust assignments and manage to put and sometimes keep a hat on a hat. Our WR’s are happy for each other when one makes a play. Sometimes it even makes them giddy enough to make an effective block on said play. Our RB”s give it the old college try every opportunity. Blocking ain’t their strong suit but they are game with effort which also describes our TE’s capabilities on said maneuvers. This leaves us with QB play and headset play-calling.

Would someone please explain to me how and more importantly why we run a zone based offense without a equality share of QB keeps mixed into the equation? To go one step farther please elaborate why the QB chooses to turn and watch the RB after he gives the ball on inside zone. Does the QB in an option offense stop after he gives the ball? Is it illegal to carry out a fake? I guess I’m just buried in the past but fundamental football still has a place in today’s game if we allow it or better yet actually self scout (thanks Scip) how we could better our own sweet selves.

I’m of the opinion that most of us armchair QB’s realized going into the game that running wide (sideways) just might not be to our best advantage against the TCU relay teams. Did we really believe we could trick their butts by dialing up the old “speed” option and better yet adding a “fresh” formation on 4th down to attack their perimeter? Hell. half of Ft. Worth beat us to the boundary alley but well, it should have worked. Nobody expected us to attack their strength so the plan was to attack their strength?

Here are the grades:

11—Sam—A-

32—Young—B+

5—Watson—A-

26—Ingram—A-

6—DuVernay—A-

9—Johnson—A-

13—Heard—B+

14—Moore—B+

17—Jamison—B

84—Humphrey—A-

47—Beck—B+

80—Brewer—B

52—Cosmi—A-

66—Anderson—A-

72—Rodriguez—B+

68—Kerstetter—B+

77—Vahe—A-

The OL played extremely well against a good opponent. Cosmi and Anderson had excellent games against two good DE’s (Ty Summers and Bandgu) . Vahe had his best game in a long time. Rodriguez had a couple of tough blitzes to pick upwhere he obligated himself and missed the delayed stunts. Kerstetter is technique sound but lacks strength and the power punch as a OG.

Beck makes a few excellent blocks (mostly angle blocks) but always mixes in a few who do I got? misses. Brewer will benefit from a big off season because he’s still a skill player’s body in a big boys position.

Colin started early and delivered quality for 60 minutes. LJH is still the man despite being bracketed on most downs. Duvernay needs more targets period. Moore was active but never had a chance at a touch. Heard is playing the team players role. Jamison might be forcing his decisions.

Sam played clean and well. We can win with Sam not forcing the action. Watson is a blessing from the football gods. Ingram has the sweetest feet and a feel for the game seldom seen in Austin these days. Danny Young is limited as a spare rep—he is used more like a pinch-hitter than a complete series kind of guy.

We played very well. It’s KState week and we must travel to the other Manhattan where football might be the only bright lights available. It’s getting fun again.

It’s fun to watch UT play defense again. We make mistakes and miss tackles enough to make one want to take a dip of snuff but we fly around so carefree that we tend to overlook as many of those bad times as possible. It’s hard to play fast break defense against opponents with blinding speed but if you can loosen the blinders you can see the gold in them thar hills. The game is now made for thoroughbreds and quarter horses—the good news is we have more than our share of those on our menu.

We can take a punch. We took several early before we decided they did indeed come to play. We rolled out our helmet and those devils threw to their speed demons while we were adjusting our pads. Once we figured out they were dead serious we held them to FG’s until right before half. Four turnovers later we had erased that four game drought against Gary Pat’s gnats and brought the bacon home for the cookout.

We pretty much bottled up the frogs ground game with our front and several guest appearances from blitzers—we live and die with our blitzes in case you haven’t deciphered that aspect to Orlando 101. Can I get a witness that we actually practiced against double move routes this past week? I’m so glad TCU quit testing our slant and go coverage after we finally covered one.

Anyone else see Reagor open for an out to practice early td on Brandon Jones’ interception? Wow, just wow on that throw. By the way, Brandon Jones is so much different this year. Difference making player.

Gary Johnson is a streamlined train that’s feeling that loving feeling. I still think Gary’s more valuable “spying” than stunting—he covers for a basketful of weaknesses as a spy. Wheeler, on the other hand, is stuck in mud in coverage and/or reactions once backyard football enters the fracas.

Sterns and Foster will wind up legendary famous in Austin as the best pair of safeties one class ever produced in this great state. We haven’t even seen Overshown yet so there’s that left on the table.

Jeff McCulloch played extremely well as Roach’s backup. It may be selfish of me but I would like to see Jeff stay on the field (in place of Wheeler) on all off schedule situations. He’s a better stunter, he’s a better coverage guy, and since he’s cross trained at all three LB positions he should be ready to play any of the three.

Chris Nelson played extremely well but Wilbon played even better. We have struck gold in that pair. The two freshmen noses should get their shirts but I hope we get their toes wet in the last four games. Bimage made one terrific play but found out playing high against a double team is a losing proposition. Charles and Breck were limited in big plays—Hagers two offsides were costly. Graham probably had his best game—he’s a future big timer.

Davis and Boyd were burned on the double moves but made several nice plays each. We must eliminate jumping routes without over the top safety help after they show they aren’t afraid to test our butts. Chris Brown had two good plays in limited duty. BJ Foster didn’t take long to announce his arrival. I wish I had good news on PJ Locke but that dog didn’t hunt. To be honest PJ is lost and a liability at this time. They can sugarcoat it all they want but the damn film just doesn’t lie. Shame but obvious.

Here are the grades:

90—Omenihu—B+

44—Hager—B

49—Graham—A-

42—Bimage—B+

97—Nelson—A-

94—Wilbon—A-

23—McCulloch—A-

33—Johnson—A-

45—Wheeler—B

2—Boyd—B+

7—Sterns—A-

11—Locke—B-

15—Brown—B

18—Davis—B+

19—Jones—A-

25—Foster—A-

We have KState this week and that means slobber-knocker football. Buckle up, get taped up, and get ready for a road trip. We get another chance to prove ourselves against assignment ball—it hasn’t been pretty to Orlando’s schemes but thistime may be the charm. It’s fun again.