Some random thoughts after watching the agony (of defeat) in Austin.
The Good
Good? Seriously? We saw something good during that game? The best we could come up with was that it was good to see Frank Broyles and Darrell Royal together again for the pre-game coin toss. (Last week the ‘good‘ was the weather and the halftime show. Sheesh.)- Oh…and John Pelphrey’s basketball Hogs begin practicing in two weeks.
The Bad
- Alex Tejada’s first quarter missed field goal may have been his last for a while. His replacement, Shay Haddock, kicked a 30-yard field goal, but was shaky in his only extra point attempt. As if this team didn’t already have enough holes to plug. And to think placekicker was a position that most felt comfortable with before the season. (Of course, when you’re getting beat by 40+ points, do you even need to try another field goal?)
- As bad as the offensive line was in allowing seven sacks, as a quarterback, you can’t just sit back there forever and wait to be tackled. We’ll cut true freshman Tyler Wilson some slack…but senior Casey Dick should know by now how to throw the ball away or scramble away from pressure. As much as anything, negative plays are killing this offense right now.
The Ugly
- Hmmm…let us count the ways. When it’s the most lopsided loss to Texas in over 90 years, quite frankly, there’s more ‘ugly’ than we’d care to go through. Let’s just say that it was a miracle that they didn’t run out of ammo for that cannon they shot off all day.
- One ugly moment late in the game, however, did stick out. Guard Wade Grayson’s failed attempt to block (or even slow down) a Texas defender — lined up directly in front of him — causing Tyler Wilson to throw a fourth quarter interception returned for a touchdown. It was certainly a fitting end to a frustrating day.
Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.
We might as well get used to it for a while guys. It isn't going to change for the better any time soon. The Nutt lovers will get to talk trash, and we will have to grin and bare it for a couple of more years. I'm a patient man. I didn't give up on the Nutt for 9 of the 10 years he was here, so with that being said, the short few years we'll have to wait for Petrino to turn this mess around will be a piece of cake. GO HOGS!!!!!
Alabama is on a serious mission. Saban is the real deal if there was any doubt. Although, the Alabama tradition is also powerful for the Alabama kids who play there. Colt McCoy, also, the real deal. Texas would be hurting without him. I had hoped we might catch Florida looking ahead to LSU.
What will we have left after the beatings? This is a buzz saw.
You can't call for Casey's head. You can't throw a freshman to the wolves. But, Casey has never liked to go downfield. He doesn't throw the long ball well. This is not the west coast offense.
And, Petrino said it well. When you have no defense you always play from behind and you can't establish balance. It is a recipe for disaster.
We couldn't blitz McCoy, he was too good. We might have a little better success against Florida.
No disrespect meant to Wade Grayson but hasn't he been one of the biggest issues? I realize that we are missing a number of key players (for lots of reasons), it just seems that Wade's play is a big issue for our team right now.
As for good, I still say that a fumble recovery for TD (even under the late play of the game) is a good. We just haven't had many turnovers on the plus side.
I think Grayson has potential…just a bad time to be young and learning on the job. He'll get there, but like some of the other newbies, he's taking some lumps now.
I knew the cuboard was a little thin but gosh I didn't realize that it was almost empty. I know we lost guys to the NFL but how in the world do you have a major collage program end up not rebulding but actually building from what seems to be from scratch. This is embarrassing and not since the Jack Crow days have I felt this way. What I thought would be a two to three year process to winning has now become a 5-6 year process. Our freshmen our not as good a Alabama's and our red shirts are not as good as Ole Miss's so I don't know that this class is going to help in the future. It will be the next class and beyond, and that takes years to develope and winning to insure it continues. And winning I dont see us doing for years. Gosh I hope I'm wrong.
Mike, at this point, I'm hoping that the players we get will be coachable and that we will get considerable influence in the area of "coaching up". IMO, this is something that I don't think we got from Houston. If Bobby can acquire some talent by showing the recruits that they will get considerable playing time as freshmen/sophomores vs. the competition, this will help immensely with increased talent.
We really need to keep our top in-state recruits and supplement them with outstanding national talent.