Wandering Reveries

Texas Longhorns Postmortem

Now that the season is officially over for the Longhorns - a short retrospective. The defense this year was absolutely atrocious, and frankly, Manny Diaz should be on his way out the door. Instead, the offensive coordinator bailed for a job at Arkansas State.

There’s also this tidbit from Mack “Scared to Death” Brown, who said - after the bowl game - that we have to figure out who we’re going to be on offense, as well as saying, “We went no-huddle and decided to spread them out. After all, that’s the Big 12 way.” So, are we going to mimic the SEC power game or not; if not, then why the frak did we engage in this experiment in the first place?

On a positive note, 9-4 is a better than last year’s 8-5 record, so here’s hoping that next year is even better.

Kirk Bohls Finally Right About Something

I won’t link to Bohl’s column, because he doesn’t deserve the links, but he’s finally right about one thing: the time has come to let Mack go.

Mack Brown’s got it down pat by now. Lose by a lopsided margin to Oklahoma, this time by 63-21.

Pretty much. In 15 seasons, Mack is 6-9 against ou; 4 of them blowout losses. This is Texas’ biggest rival in a game that has usually determined conference and national championship appearances, and too often, the team comes out flat like they did yesterday.

Brown soft-pedals his grievances out of fear of offending mommas and high school coaches. It filters down to the players.

Can’t say I disagree with any of this.

Mack’s program has spiraled out of regular Top 10 contention as Bobby Bowden’s did during his final, sad years at Florida State.

Ouch, but yeah, so it appears.

Through the last 2 ½ seasons, Texas is an unimpressive 17-14, and has now lost nine straight games to teams ranked in the AP’s Top 25. That’s not just a problem; it’s a pattern.

Preach on Brother Bohls!

I’ve never considered Mack to be a coach on the level of Saban, etc. He’s a manager and for several years he did a decent job of managing the program. The 2010 season was downright awful, but it looked like things were getting turned around last season, and this year, I thought the team had a chance to go 10-2. Apparently, I was seriously deluded, particularly about the defense.

I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the early games against Wyoming and New Mexico, but we saw the issues there that have become apparent in later games, though I figured we would work them out. We haven’t. The Oklahoma State game happened, then we couldn’t stop a W. Virginia team that was stuffed by Texas Tech. I don’t have an issue with Manny Diaz’s overall scheme (I like it actually), even if he doesn’t always make the right call, but it’s becoming apparent, the players can’t execute it, and if they can’t execute the scheme, I don’t understand why we don’t try something they can execute (of course, they would still have to tackle which seems to be a problem).

After 15 seasons, it’s time. Hopefully, Mack can just retire, because he has done a lot of good for the program (a Rose Bowl win, 1 national championship and another national championship appearance), and overall, is a good representative for the school.

But Mack isn’t the only one that needs to go. I seriously fear watching the games the rest of this season with the way this defense is playing.

If you want to read the whole thing, you can read it here.

Texas Longhorns 2012

The season begins on September 1st for the Texas Longhorns, and I’ll probably be in bfe (it’s Labour Day Weekend, which means Church auction), so I’ll probably have to listen to the game online, if I get any coverage of it at all.

The Longhorns are coming off an 8-5 season (including a Holiday Bowl win over Cal), which was an improvement over 2010, and it’ll be the second year under Harsin’s new offense. The offensive side of the ball is where many of the concerns lie: quarterback and offensive line particularly. However, the running game should be even better than last year, with the addition of Jonathan Gray, as the team continues the transition from a spread offense to a power running game. The defense played well last year under Manny Diaz, and I look for continued dominance on that side of the ball.

So looking forward, I see 7 sure wins (Wyoming, New Mexico, Ole Miss, Baylor, Kansas, Texas Tech and Iowa). That leaves 5 games that could go either way. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have lost several players on the offensive side of the ball, through the draft or injury, which should give Texas the upper hand. TCU was a strong team last season, but given all their off the field issues, as well as the loss of key players, this is another game Texas can win. West Virginia is a team that worries me. If the offense at all falters, particularly the quarterback play, this is a game that could get away from them a la Baylor last season. Then there is Kansas State. I don’t know what kind of deal with the devil Bill Snyder has made, but it’s worked over the years, because I have watched more soul crushing losses at the hands of KSU than I care to remember.

Provided the quarterback position holds up (and all this team needs is for David Ash, preferably, to progress in the system and be a good game manager. In other words, make good decisions and rely on a strong run game), this team should be able to go at least 10-2 this season.

You can see the full schedule here.