Horns247 Board

Lots of nerdy numbers...

Since the 7:16 mark of the 2nd quarter against Kansas, the Texas defense has allowed 167 yards rushing on 57 carries (2.9/rush).

Eight of Kansas' 28 rushes went for zero yards, or negative yards.
Eleven rushes were for one yard or less.
Fifteen rushes were for two yards or less.
Nineteen rushes were for four yards or less.
Twenty rushes were for five yards of less.
Twenty-two rushes were for six yards or less.
Texas allowed only three rushes that gained fifteen or more yards, six rushes went for ten or more yards.

Kansas' rush log.... (1Q_4, 4, 1, 1, 0, 2, 25. --2Q_0, 4, 0, -8, 4, 16, 6, 1, 5, -4. --3Q_10, 2, 4, -3, 2, 2, 15. --4Q_-1, 10, -1, 11.)

First quarter offense....

Johnathan Gray, DJ Monroe, Marquise Goodwin, Daje Johnson, David Ash and Joe Bergeron all had rushing attempts in the first quarter.

Johnathan Gray, Jaxon Shipley, Joe Bergeron, Marquise Goodwin and Mike Davis all had receptions in the first quarter.

I was critical of the usage of the Texas skill position players (not getting Texas' speed guys touches in space) and the overall gameplan on offense against Kansas (mostly first half--a bit pass happy and running Bergeron in the most predictable downs). That was not the story against Texas Tech, and the playcalling on the first drives is a prime example.

Gray rush -- 26yds, Goodwin rush -- (-7yards), Ash rush -- 3yds, Ash screen to Gray 34yds, Gray rush -- 2yds, Hawkins false start -- (-5), Bergeron rush -- 0, Ash pass to Shipley -- 6ydTD

Ash's first half...

First quarter...
34 yd. screen to Johnathan Gray (1/1 34yds)
6 yd. TD off wheel route to Jaxon Shipley {(2/2 40yds TD) Great rub route working w/ Goodwin}
5 yd. checkdown to Joe Bergeron (3/3 45yds TD)
6 yd. jet sweep pitch/shovel pass to Marquise Goodwin (4/4 51yds TD)
54 yd play-action post to Mike Davis (5/5 105yds TD)

Second quarter...
75 yd. play-action post to Mike Davis (6/6 180yds 2TD)
7 yd. screen to Johnathan Gray (7/7 187yds 2TD)
INC to Marquise Goodwin on a go route, Ash was blitzed and he threw the ball up to avoid a sack. Good incompletion--he put it only where his guy could get to the ball (7/8 187yds 2TD)
17 yd. play-action, three yard out to Bryant Jackson (8/9 204yds 2TD)
24 yd. out-and-up/wheel route to Shipley {(9/10 228 2TD) Shipley ran this pattern without a rub route, instead Mike Davis ran a post to occupy the safety which allows Shipley on-on-one coverage down the sideline}
INC to Shipley on an out-and-up
INC on checkdown to Hills (was looking for Shipley)

Johnathan Gray rushing numbers...

1st Q.... 3 rushes for 30 yards, reception for 34 yards
2nd Q... 3 rushes for 3 yards, reception for 7 yards
3rd Q... 4 rushes for 8 yards
4th Q... 10 rushes for 65 yards (4 for 29 on the TD drive, 6 for 36 on the final drive which ran out the final 5:15 of the game)

Texas has ran to the boundary/weak side quite consistently with their speed backs. What I really liked about the Tech game was that Bryan Harsin stuck with what he knew would work.

Texas was stopped late in the third quarter on back-to-back three and outs. On those two series, Texas ran to the boundary/weak side on three of the four rushing plays. On those plays, Johnathan Gray ran for four yards and then two yards, and Daje Johnson rushed for three yards. Instead of ditching the gameplan, Harsin stuck with what he believed in.

He wants his speed guys to have the quickest opportunity to find themselves in a one-on-one match-up, and running to the weakside allows this type of match-up most frequently.

The first three plays to start the fourth quarter all used the weakside of the offense and Texas moved the ball from their own 41 yard line to the Texas Tech 32. Texas got 12 yards on the first play of the drive on a run from Johnathan Gray. On the second play of the series, Texas faked the jet sweep to Marquise Goodwin on the weakside and ran Johnathan Gray up the middle. I especially liked this because I think Harsin was hoping their defense had keyed in on the weakside rushes and he thought Gray may be able to bust a big play off of a quick hitter up the middle. Gray then rushed for 12 yards before Joe Bergeron checked into the game.

Some individual notes...

Mike Davis had two receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown in the first half. Davis' 19.1 yards per reception is good for sixth in the FBS. Davis needs to average 69 yards per game (including bowl game) to be the first 1,000-yard receiver at Texas since Jordan Shipley in 2009.

Johnathan Gray needs to average 117 yards per game (including bowl game) to hit the 1,000-yard mark. The last1,000-yard rusher at Texas was Jamaal Charles in 2007. Currently there have been twenty-two 1,000 yard rushing seasons in Texas' school history.

Alex Okafor leads the Big 12 with eight solo sacks. His eight solo sacks rank him tied for eight nationally.

And some team notes...

Texas' fourth quarter numbers on offense were great...
14 - 86 rushing
1/1 25 yard TD

Texas is tied for the lead in the FCS in blocked kicks with seven (Blocked FG and deflection v,TT). Phillips, M. Thompson & T. Jackson nearly had another block if R. Erxleben didn't avoid the block by somehow kicking it off the right side of his foot.
Texas' eight turnovers rank tied for the seventh best nationally (Zero turnovers v.TT).
Texas' 52.4 Third Down Conversion Rate ranks fifth nationally (5/11 v.TT).
Texas' defense has forced a three and out to start the past three games.
Texas' offense has also began the last three games with a touchdown drive.
Texas is now 121-7 when outrushing their opponent under Mack Brown.

Offensive notes....

Dominic Espinosa did a great job sealing the edge on Gray's first run of the game. Josh Cochran also did a good job pulling. He engaged his man five yards downfield and didn't disengage until he was fifteen yards past the line of scrimmage.

Espinosa also blew up his man on the first screen to Gray. Trey Hopkins also had a really good block and M.J. McFarland did a good job of blocking downfield.

I only noticed one play where Espinosa wasn't ask to make a block in space. He played a really good game and the coaches did a great job of putting him into situations that fit his skill-set.

Defensive notes....

The Texas defense set the tempo of the game on the first play when the entire front four pushed the Texas Tech offensive line at least eight to ten yards behind the line of scrimmage. Brandon Moore came out of the gate looking really good.

Kendall Thompson played a great game. I hate to point out a few plays I noticed he missed an assignment because I am mentioning him solely because he played so well, but he got sucked in the wrong gap on Texas Tech's longest run of the game which went for twenty-six yards, and he looked confused in coverage a couple times.

Steve Edmond looked great in the open-field in on-on-one situations. He had a great string of plays in the second quarter. He also had the great PBU when he extendeding like a center fielder robbing a home run to bat down a huge 3rd and 3 situation in the fourth quarter.

Cedric Reed also played well. He got pressure on the quarterback and was solid against the run. He also had a PBU. The one glaring omission was on Tech Tech's 4th down conversion late in the game.

On that play, Reed overpursued and didn't stay home on his edge allowind SaDale Foster to take the reverse from the wild-quarterback. It was a tough situation because he may have keyed in on the initial ball carrier, but if would have recognized the flow of the play he could have had a huge TFL. Conversely, Alex Okafor was the DE on the other side where the wild-quarterback was running and he recognized the situation allowing him to be the first Texas player to have a chance to make a play on Foster in the backfield.

Texas' defensive line also played the running back screens very well in the second half compared to the first half.

Brandon Moore and Desmond Jackson got most of the snaps in the first half at defensive tackle. Desmond Jackson and Malcom Bpown were the pair I saw the most in the second half. Chris Whaley was in on every three-man line, except for one play which contained Malcom Brown.

I loved that Texas brought seven on the fourth-and-six stop.

It was good for Texas that Carrington Byndom was able to play so well after getting up gingerly early in the game.

There was a false start penalty and a few other penalties that put Texas behind the chains. Texas also had a penalty for twelve men on the field and they had to call a timeout coming out of the half.