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Thanks! The three versus seven is a good point.

Nice meeting you. Thanks for stopping by. BTW - he met his wife at UT many moons ago and they're still causing trouble together. 😉 She's the one taking the picture.

Ole Miss did a great job offensively of getting out ahead earlier. It took Mizzou out of their desired game plan of sticking with the run and feeling like they had to force the throwing game to get back in it. What was interesting, the Mizzou offense had four red zone trips result in three points vs. Ole Miss in that game. Additionally, they are 115th in the country red zone TD %. So holding to three instead of seven is paramount for Texas on Saturday.

Gotcha had high hopes for both but if they can’t cut it they can’t cut it.

Yeah, the Freshmen are burners. They've got the ability to run away from defenders, and have done really well on special teams. Definitely a sign when the younger guys get more mentions by the coach.

I hate this stuff. I didn’t like it for Mikey Lewis and I hate it for all teams and players.

I just noticed that he wasn’t even mentioned in Sarks press conference when he was talking about the young receivers.

If we haven't seen Filsaime or Mack to this point, I have no reason to think their number will be called on the road vs. a top 25 team. Warren Roberson will be the first off the bench if Littleton is out (Mascoe moves to nickel). If Phillips is also out, it will be Smoke, with Mascoe still at nickel. Those guys are going to have to carry the load because have seen nothing to suggest Texas is hoping to put Filsaime or Mack on the field so far this season.

Doesn't really have any elite traits. A well rounded B/B+ player, but not a difference maker. Depth or transfer IMO.

I’m hearing you say Roberson and Smoke will get more reps this week. Does Kobe get back into the CB mix at all? What about Filsaime or Mack at nickel to keep Mascoe outside?

What happened to Daylan McCutcheon? He showed promise as a freshman and has since disappeared.

Injuries hitting Illinois hard right now

I really liked Olugbode out of HS. He was in the class below Jerrick Gibson and Jordon Johnson-Rubell at IMG Academy and played two seasons with them. A few other real difference makers were also on those teams like David Stone, Jayden Jackson, Ellis Robinson, Jordan Seaton, etc. I watched them play Lipscomb Academy in Nashville when Olugbode was a junior and Gibson and JJR were seniors. LA's QB was Deuce Knight, who is the QB2 for Ole Miss but will be their starter next year.

@CJ Vogel CJ, in your analysis of Mizzou's losses to Ole Miss and Mississippi State, would you say stopping their run game was the key? In Mizzou's win over Florida, Florida struggled to stop Mizzou's 1st- and 2nd-down run game, and then their 3rd-down pass plays. I'm confident we can stop their run game, but I'm worried about stopping that 3rd-down pass play. We can't play soft.

I am upset I missed you @No13Seed Jim! You have been a tremendous member of our OTF community, hope to see you around the OTF HQ or on campus here soon!

Great meeting you and your wife, Jim! Thanks for stopping by!

The interior line and the linebackers are probably the safest bet to the Who Shows Up Saturday question. They have been ultra reliable this season and I don't think their performance reverts on Saturday. Continuing to generate pressure is going to be the key, especially with a few backups set to see time this weekend in the secondary.

I’ll be interested to see if they try and break tendency and use ag beaters to push us back off the run game. Not having Littleton and or Phillips is going to make things much harder to shut their main options down. If we have Simmons back hopefully we’ll be able to dial up enough pressure, IF we stop the run effectively, to force some bad throws. We’ve done it to the 2 best in CFB let’s got get Simmons this week!!

Yep it's perplexing. My main contention is that our offense is a reflection almost completely of one person, Steve Sarkisian. When Sark is having a good day, we look amazing. I don't think anyone else's minds are really involved enough to balance out one person's ups and downs.

The entire team was ice cold against UCLA, a mixture of both UCLA's defense and just everyone being off . . . maybe their legs were shot by then which affects shots.

Several times over 2 years but refuses to replicate. He seems routine adverse at the expense of successful habit forming. This is a very sharp human that knows football extremely well. That’s what makes his resistance to change so head scratching.

I think Jeff is right that Sark has FINALLY adapted the passing offense to what Arch and OL can execute - a short passing game with occasional deep shots. We probably beat OU with that formula on offense. Our defense is pretty elite so if the offense can just avoid turnovers and score 20-24 and go 6 of 14 on 3 and outs then we are probably playing net winning football. I'd like to see a similar effort to hone in on a basic running game. Losing Smothers (which is tough) might help us to focus and feed one back and tailor the run offense to his skill set. There is a positive way forward for this team this year. It's not what it should be and we really shouldn't have two losses to wounded Florida and OU but we do have the potential to make a run here.