The Finest Burnt Orange Kool Aid: Just Play Ball

[thatdude2]

As a former Little League football coach, the toughest thing for me to teach my players was how to overcome their fear of contact. Then I realized something: it’s not necessarily about eliminating the fear of contact. It’s about not allowing that fear to dictate how you approach a collision with another player. When something is coming at you full speed, you have to meet it with full speed, but with the proper leverage, mechanics, and focus.

That’s not just football. That’s life.

Another thing I learned as a coach is that development is a process. Life is a process.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that this game against OU wasn’t disappointing or frustrating. I hate OU. I hate them so much that I paid for a membership to a site just to watch how their fans would react when things went wrong. I hated them to the point that I wanted their football program to become so bad that there would be no reason to continue playing the Red River Rivalry in Dallas. I wanted the games to return to Norman and Austin because the Sooner faithful had stopped showing up in Dallas.

Just this past week, there were people on that site who usually attend the game every year but were actually considering not going this season. They were frustrated with Brent Venables, upset with Ben Arbuckle, and had lost so much faith in John Mateer to the point that they wanted the backup to start.

I wanted Texas to do more than beat them. I wanted the Longhorns to annihilate them, send them to 2–3, and end their season. It’s playoff or bust for them. They’re starving for championship No. 8, and they believe they should be competing for national championships almost every year.

They also believe Texas fans are some of the worst people on Earth. They hate us to our core.

That’s why I wanted us to bury them.

But I also take every Texas loss hard. Sometimes, I take it so hard that I’ve considered stepping away from being a spectator of the game altogether. I know realistically that Texas isn’t going to win every game until football is no longer played, but that doesn’t make losing on a Saturday any less miserable.

Despite the disappointment, though, I enjoyed today’s game.

I decided to step away from the hate. I don’t know whether the Oklahoma program will fall off the face of the earth, but I do know I no longer want to spend my time obsessing over their football program. I canceled my membership. I can’t keep wasting time reading about OU football every day out of pure hatred while neglecting other things that deserve my attention.

Now, let’s get back to why I enjoyed today’s game.

The way OU won was exactly how everyone said they would have to win it. OU media, Texas media, and the national media all pointed to the same formula: a defensive touchdown, a special teams touchdown, and Texas making mistakes.

That’s what makes this rivalry special.

I know this loss sucks for us, and I’m sure they feel like they’re on top of the world right now. But I don’t believe this game changed the trajectory of either team.

I don’t think OU is suddenly going to win eight straight games and make the playoffs. And I don’t think Texas is going to give up a special teams touchdown and a defensive touchdown every week.

Some will say, “Well, Texas will face better offenses.”

But will we face better defenses?

We don’t know.

I’m not going to speculate, and I’m not going to predict what happens next. What I am going to do is enjoy the process of this season.

There were some positives to take away from today.

Derek Cooper looked really good. Cam Coleman had a good game against one of the top-rated pass defenses in the country. Bishop scored a touchdown. Wingo had an explosive touchdown catch.

The Texas defense allowed only 10 points, but there are still areas where they still need to improve, particularly limiting penalties and creating turnovers.

Even Arch had some really good moments. He delivered that throw to Coleman by getting himself ready to throw instead of just winging it. And after the pick-six, he battled back and led Texas down the field to tie the game at 24.

Hopefully, this loss loosens this team up a little bit and allows them to play more freely and attack.

I know some of you didn’t enjoy Steve Sarkisian’s press conference, but after listening to Sark, Hero, and Arch speak, I’m encouraged.

People want to see them frustrated, angry, self-deprecating, and acting as if all hope is lost. They want to see the emotional fallout. But this is a process. It’s not a beauty pageant.

When you treat football like a beauty pageant, you can end up with teams that look fantastic during the first few games but struggle later because they haven’t developed the other areas of their game they need when opponents start figuring them out.

I honestly think this team needed to lose to help it transition to the next phase of its development. That thought has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks.

Now that this team has experienced the fear of losing, hopefully, it can move past that fear, stop pressing, and just go out there and play ball.

I’m not happy about the loss. I’m not going to pretend it didn’t hurt. But I’m choosing to focus on the process, the development, and what this team can still become.

I’m still 10 toes down in this, and I’m still sipping the finest of the burnt orange Kool-Aid. I know @Bobby Burton is with me. Hook ’Em!

[tmataya]

Well said sir, well said. I didn’t think we were really the best team right now but we had earned #1 with the wins. But you could see the loss coming eventually. Look at Florida. Looked invincible and now? Same with LSU and Ole Miss. will it be easy? No. But can we run the table? Maybe, and with another loss we still get in. I do think the offense is a chronic problem and won’t be fixed by just “working on it” as part of a process. Sark needs to own up to the offensive woes that aren’t new and aren’t going away. Maybe if he wasn’t burdened by that responsibility he could address penalties and such. Special teams has chronic problems. Lack of attention to detail. Without the limitation on coaches, there is no reason to not have a focused special teams coach. Banks can recruit I get it but our TEs could use more attention anyway. If these issues  arent addressed it will prevent a natty. Watching Bama and Georgia go at it I certainly see daylight between us and them and it isn’t that we are ahead. Good news is Florida looks beatable, Muschamp is probably beyond pissed as are most of the guys. Have to just win the next one and not let this linger. It could be worse, look at the dumpster fire in College Station.