Here for the Wins

You win upfront. Pretty simple. Maybe those skill guys will you to victory on occasion, but that’s where you need the most consistency. We have lost to OSU twice in the past year. It wasn’t the WRs that gave us the most issues.

Many believe Guilbeau had a better year at nickel over CB. Jahdae Senior CB was better than his junior year at nickel. But i haven’t seen anyone better at blowing up the WR screen game than sophomore Jahdae. There are a number of factors as to why that may be. Is one more difficult than another? I’d say the skill sets are a bit different so it depends on the player but also the defense.

We were told McDonald could play nickel this year yet he never did. What does that tell you?

Believe PFF had him with the most missed tackles forced.

I believe it is an indicator that loyalty is a non-factor. And we’re just getting started so loyalty will mean even less over time. For my fandom, that is not a positive. One reason I care nothing about college basketball anymore is because of the roster turnover. Maybe there aren’t many that care anything about loyalty, I don’t know. Heres the thing, there will be days when those guys you mentioned would be more effective football players than their replacements.

For a few years, I tried to buy some Longhorn rookie autos but got away from that. Maybe need to get back to it.

That wasn’t my point, but I’ll address it for fun. Yes. First game. At Miami. Brand new QB versus Veteran QB. They kicked a FG in the last minute to win. At a neutral site, that’s a toss up. And if the concept of improvement is lost , see Bama versus Georgia. Bama versus OU. Miami played 8 home games, never left home until October. They played quite a few same opponents. Two examples. Syracuse, Stanford. Nd was up 84-3 at halftime. Miami was up 14-0 and tied at 7 half against those two . Nevermind that Miami allowed a mediocre Duke into the championship game. That was advantage Miami but very slight. In game 1. At home. An advantage that Miami gave up when they lost to Louisville at home. And further lost when they lost to SMU. If someone argues that Texas is out because of the number of losses, then to argue that Notre Dame and Miami comes down to a single data point from game 1 because of total losses is interesting. ————————————————— But my point is that it’s off base to whimper about a #12 ND getting invited to a 12- team party. The top 12 should be in. I don’t particularly view that as favoritism. Then overall this year Miami, ND, and Old Miss all had similar strengths of schedule. All better than Techs. The wow of a conference schedule for this particular year was not impactful given that metric. Ole Miss and Miami both played 8 games at home. This year is merely an example to show that being in a conference does not guarantee a more difficult schedule.

I find it a bit humorous that there’s frustration allowing a 12th ranked Notre Dame into a 12 team playoff. And as long as the committee is in charge they can always rank them 13th or worse. Some people weren’t smart enough to realize they could manipulate the old BCS when they had the human voting component. Each year is a bit different but Miami and Ole Miss schedules were comparable this year.

Who exactly was one and done other than the QB? Upfront they had several multi year OSU guys. Same on offense. Tate, Smith, Egbuka were OSU guys. Many of the Oline guys were OSU guys. Ransom, Burke. Other than Downs, Howard, Judkins, I suppose Gee Scott, who was there?

Hutson is the only one with substantial experience. Lots of factors that go into whether someone is maxed out. I’d say few college football players are maxed out. Bo Nix and Michael Penix may be as good examples as any to say there’s room to improve. Um T Sweat, Vernon Broughton as recent examples. Going back in time, there’s a reason there’s a Gaskamp award.

None of the freshmen can do this? If not, why have we not recruited this role?

Then he had them against A&M. Because again, 3 of his top 10 worst throws all year were in that game. Maybe 3 of the 5 worst. Steve Sax, Chuck Knoblauch, Rick Ankiel. Those were the most known in baseball. Basically ended their careers as they were. “The "yips" are a sudden, involuntary loss of fine motor skills in sports, causing an athlete to mess up routine actions, often due to extreme performance anxiety or neurological issues, manifesting as twitches or loss of concentration, common in golf (putting) and baseball (throwing) but seen in many sports. It's a psychological and physiological phenomenon where the brain-muscle connection gets disrupted, leading to poor performance under pressure, sometimes linked to overuse or stress.” Per our friend AI. When Arch underthrows his first throw of the season, with pressure in his face no less, then hits his second on the money. I’d never say the first was a yip. The misses on the short crossers to Wingo at Ohio State were part poor throw based on finding the passing lane, part pressure. The first one he threw a nice ball to Parker on the very next play. One underthrown ball to Wingo versus SJSU when his adjusted completion percentage is near 80% is not really a yip. Golf is a completely different game. What we saw from Arch was called quarterbacking. But, yeah, I suppose we have different definitions and the connotation of the term is more extreme than he made some poor throws.

Sure, limited experience will always lead to some hesitation. And that’s what good to great defenses like Ohio State will do to you. Even veteran QBs. It’s possible that a Caleb Downs can make that more difficult. Indiana with a very experienced QB that ran up lots of points against a number of teams struggled to finish drives and get points against OSU. It was not because guys were never open. And they had 12 games of tape whereas we went in blind. It’s speculative on my part, but there are reasons to believe Arch knows the game, how to read a defense, etc. You can use that against a guy. Give him the read that dictates where you want him to go with ball, but that false read was never the actual defense. And their pass rush is good enough, consistent enough so that it’s harder to go pre-snap read to post -snap because you don’t have tons of time for the post snap element. I am not a big mechanics guy. It’s not that I don’t understand the value of repeatable movements. But so many big plays are off schedule that’s it’s as much instinctive as anything. It’s difficult to get those mechanics learned because practice is almost always controlled. The more reps you get in live fire the better you potentially get instinctively and mechanically because you know what works and what doesn’t. As an individual player rather than what the coaching book says. i am a big fan of what he brings to the table. It’s still a team game. For his game, I just want him to progress. There will always be chances to pick apart plays here or there. Just make enough so that the end result is in our favor.

Yips as it’s been referenced historically is guys that have had career altering issues. There was absolutely none of that here. Not close.

Sorry, I get fired up about stuff. Your second paragraph here is a big deal. Get him in a rhythm. I think Vandy is a great example of this and look at those results. To me, it was like we spent the first half of the season trying to be a different offense every week. That ties into a QB not being in a rhythm. You can attribute that to the entire offense really.

This yips discussion is ridiculous. Arch versus A&M had as many poor throws as any game. The rollout right that was nowhere near the WR. The ball well short of Endries in the left flat. The early second half ball in the dirt after leaving the pocket to a wide open WR in the end zone. Even the TD to Wingo was a little off. That’s 3 balls in one game that were as bad as any in any game. Yet not a single, solitary yips discussion. Sometimes a QB just throws a crappy ball. Sometimes the QBs rhythm is off because of pressure. Sometimes a QBs timing is off for a myriad of reasons - maybe it’s inconsistent route running, maybe the play calling hasn’t gotten him into the flow of the game or maybe that’s not the QBs strength. It is merely speculation but yeah I’m sure he was nervous at OSU, but Sark and the run game fell short of making a difference. I’d wager OSU gave him some looks that were not anticipated then they made some good plays. The pressure was pretty constant too. Nevermind it was game 1 and as Bobby told us the QB and WRs really had limited work together thru the spring and into summer. Arch was pretty solid versus SJSU yet I’ve read numerous times on boards that was not the case. Or maybe just think real hard at the ball at Wingo’s feet and think “that’s the yips” as if that’s indicative of how the game played out. Nevermind if you watch closely the route is questionable but the effort is poor on attempting to catch the ball. Ignore those plays he evades the rush and hits the receiver in stride because of a penalty or a drop. UTEP. Sark screwed this one up. I don’t remember how I calculated it, but it was 70/30 run pass ratio. For the previous 16-ish games that I reviewed only 3 were greater than 50/50 with only 1 at 60/40 in favor of run. Given the run game struggles to that point, it was clear the preparation for the week and the gameplan was work the run game. Nevermind that Wisner was out. Baxter got 1 play. Moore didn’t play. Moseley still was out. And on drive 1, on 4th and 4, Arch “yips” it into the ground. Or the truth is that when your QB is moving left you as a WR do not keep moving to his extreme right. Arch anticipated reasonably well. Wingo did not. As a result the pass looked terrible. Watch it again. If Wingo sits, it is right there. Then against OU we saw a great example of how Wingo should have responded in such a situation. First down. Then we had a sequence of poor Arch plays, but there are only 3 of real significance. Two were overthrows and one non-throw. The ultimate failing was on Sark here with the gameplan. It’s quite possible that if we get a normal plan with respect to run/pass, that we score more, the QB gains confidence and the arm chair QBing wanes sooner. Yeah the QB needs to hit the throws but I’ve watched two-three games of football and those misses happen. Just yesterday I saw Beck completely miss a wide open deep throw and on his first 3rd down throw it was well behind the receiver. Even the throw that Toney fumbled was on his back shoulder. Let’s get some Film Guy review of this game. How about it Benkert.

Less patience for development these days.

Those decisions on Reed and Mateer should be based on dollars. A&M needs to restock the Oline. Not sure on OU, but they need to improve there though. How much will they cost? How much do the alternatives cost? It’s pretty simple. You win upfront. People will soil their drawers about an aggressive defense, but the more often you can win upfront with 4 you’ll be far better off. Collin Simmons, Ethan Burke, Barryn Sorrell are the types you need. You need those guys that are multifunctional that need not be schemed free. There aren’t just a ton of those guys out there. There was quite a bit of hype on the WRs in today’s game, but their impact was modest.

BMD?

Yep. Jacoby Jones, decent player, got hurt after the OU Wr ran himself out of bounds.

2021. The defense had some struggles, but that was a very stout conference schedule. Repeatedly ignored by message board posters. Every board I’ve been on. Rinse and repeat. I also repeatedly read discussions on officiating errors. Since 2021, the poor officiating pales in comparison to the examples set from the Big 12 that year. So, yes, the 2021 defense faded in 2nd halves, the offense struggled to make the plays too. Sark, while deserving considerable credit for many aspects as to where the program stands today, in terms of wins and losses in his 5 years has underachieved more than he’s overachieved. Now, this move. He wanted Muschamp from the get go so it’s understandable he’d bring him on board when ready. There are legitimate questions about what has Muschamp done lately. Per Georgia’s website, he was Co-DC in 2022-23. Also per their website, Schumann was co -Dc in 2019 and promoted to DC with play calling duties in 2022. Here’s a little reminder that Kyle Flood is listed as our OC. I doubt many here would be comfortable with him calling plays for Texas. The trajectory shows Schumann is their primary DC with Muschamp in potentially an advisory role. There is legitimacy to questions about what Muschamp has in the tank and how much he’s been engaged recently in spite of him being Co-Dc in 2022-23. I’ve yet to read any insight into what he did in this role but rather assumptions that it’s significant. And that those who question that are to take it as gospel. If Schumann was the defensive play caller, then that makes those questions legitimate. As to Muschamp, I like him. I also like Pk. That doesn’t mean that certain things didn’t frustrate me, but you’ll get that with every single coach. On its face, I don’t like this move. Not because of Muschamp so much but because of PK and all we’re left with is perception of how it went down.

I’m a little curious how in 2023 we were 2nd in 3rd down defense and 8th in 2024 but that is indicative of “bend but don’t break defense.” That’s counterintuitive.

Too many teams, too few games, too many unbalanced schedules. This discussion has centered entirely around the number of teams. The inequality of seedings is impactful. Ole Miss and Oregon are getting gifts this year due to seeding. Tech is the #4 because of their weak schedule. Tech and Ole Miss were gifted their seeds and to a lesser degree Oregon. OU was fortunate to get a spot yet gets a home game. Miami played what 8 home games? They never left home until October. We played as many games away from home in October as they and Ole Miss did the entire season. Also due to imbalanced schedules you have to address whether you want the best X number of teams or the x best seasons. It’s a legitimate case that Texas and Notre Dame were top 6-ish teams at the end of the year. They’re actually two teams that could impact things. If you want to chase a system for playoff purposes, you have to limit the teams so you can balance the schedules. Even within a divisional structure you’ll still have unbalanced schedules, but you have some defined structure.

Let’s not confuse Wingo with a 2nd year broke hand Worthy, particularly after Worthy put up the freshman year he did.

That is not Pff. Overall, pff had Campbell higher with Robertson not too far off. Think they had Hutson as higher graded in run blocking. PFF had one Olineman that was a disaster for us, which is probably a reasonably accurate depiction.