Here for the Wins

864 defensive snaps. 13 defenders over 400, 15 over 200, and 17 total players over 100 defensive snaps. That includes last night.

Not really. Willie Fritz another old guy with history of success. People are arrogant.

I’m with you on much of your discussion here. This year is different. Feels a bit desperate. I’m not sure the all in mantra was necessary. We were pretty damn close this year. I’m pretty confident one or more of the guards we lost will be decent elsewhere. The roster number will be interesting. You can get lower level guys to fill it out for virtually nothing. Do we want them though?

From what I gather, you seem a loyal and rather amicable fan. I commend you for that. This week I’ve watched half this seasons games. Particularly the offense. With attention to the blocking aspect. Here’s what I’m confident in saying. Singling out Stroh beyond the oddity of season long coaching decisions is wrong. A few observations about the guys upfront. The two biggest hits to Arch during my half season review were at the hands of Goosby versus UTEP and likely Brooks versus Kentucky. Hits that easily could result in injury. Believe in the first 5 games, Campbell and Baker accumulated 12 penalties combined. At least two of Arch’s picks versus Ohio State and UF but thinking all 3 were after penalties put us behind the chains with resulted in impatient play calls and impatient QB decisions. Hutson/Robertson were never clean themselves. And oddly enough, Stroh didn’t play versus Kentucky. I’m sure our worst offensive performance was because of him though. The final offensive play of the OSU game sure as hell wasn’t off his side. Now, Campbell and Baker got tagged with 9 penalties the remainder of the season. Stroh had none incidentally. But there’s evidence that Baker improved over the last half of the season. We want to attribute the improvement to the Robertson/Hutson combo. Because that means Stroh was the problem. You might also think to which game, which seem to turn the offensive tide. 4th quarter MSU, right? You might watch that quarter and see how that combo worked together. And note who it was. Now, I’m not speaking to Strohs ability, but I’m pointing out some of the things that occurred rather than making him the scapegoat, which has been done repeatedly. He certainly loses his feet too much. He does make an effort to initiate contact. He’ll gladly start on a double in pass pro then peel and help elsewhere. I saw multiple instances that he was clearly using his head to get things done. And I sure as hell saw another player who had more plays in which that player never engaged a defender. That wasn’t Stroh’s approach. Stroh probably had fewer negative plays than a few others for that matter. I am damn curious about decisions surrounding the choices regarding the offensive line. We will never know, and it sure doesn’t make sense. But the story that is told and the finger pointing is misguided and inaccurate regarding how things went down on the field. Unfortunately all the parts contributed to falling short.

Oline discussion always is interesting for several reasons. For one, run and pass blocking generally ignore the impact of the non-Olinemen. Most people don’t have a clue about individual responsibilities on a given play. And unless you run it in slow motion and rewind every play multiple times, a person cannot see it all. So when you say inexcusable, how often over the years have you rewatched games? And over that time, was it just the Horns?

Am I remembering correctly that your dad and brother coached Oline?

I’ve read elsewhere we offered $400,000. That is mid six figures. It’s also substantially below $800,000. Now, I’ve read references that this past year our frosh wideouts were paid well, particularly given their production. True? No idea. How much? No idea. We are undoubtedly trying to add a big time WR. More money, more targets than PL. As for Livingstone, he may have been offered a substantial increase to leave. Had he stayed here, he may be 6th or 7th on the WR payroll. He could have been 4th or worse on the list of targets. People on this website lament the use of 12 personnel. We added a guy for potential use of 12 personnel. So no 4th WR, which we didn’t use a ton anyway. I have no idea on specifics. There is enough to question his future here, from his viewpoint. People are bitching about his comment. Imagine how pissed he might be getting a lesser payday than guys who haven’t produced much of anything. Maybe even having opportunities reduced in favor of guys that have done nothing. Guys that have been here less than him. As a fan, I can’t stand OU. That should be the last choice for anyone. The only reason I can see him not considering OU is my disgust for things OU.

I looked up some Rod stats. Did he really have 5 interceptions?

Solves many an issue.

You’re thatdude “2.” Try to understand your place.

Bijan has 372 touches/targets this year. Thats more than plenty for his longer term preservation.

This is reasonable. We have no idea how Arch would have done last year because he didn’t play. He could have been better or worse. It is very likely that he was more prepared for this season had he played this season.

It’s an interesting dynamic. Peoples way of thinking. So many QBs issues can be tied to protection.

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.