Horns247 Board

I wrote on the message board two weeks ago that this could be a 5-6 loss Texas team. I stand by that today.

This loss – this effort - was not a fluke.

Texas is a mediocre football team because they are inconsistent on offense, they lack playmakers on offense, their quarterback looks like a deer in headlights too often and they have inconsistent special teams.

Yes, they played well against Nebraska.

But they were bad against UCLA and they were mediocre against OU.

Today, they were simply bad.

On offense, the issues are multiple.

The quarterback is a mess. The receivers are not impressive. The running backs never got on track - Texas quit the running game way too early. But the quarterback was the key. He played a bad football game on Saturday.

I’m going to save an entire additional post to all of the issues with the quarterback play because it’s impossible to write them all down and not lose sight of the team loss today.

The team loss all started in the first half IMO. It set the tone for the game.

I counted no fewer than 11 mental mistakes by Texas in the first half. That is unacceptable.

Here they are:
* Texas makes a block in the back on Aaron Williams’ first return. Instead of getting the ball at the Texas 27; it’s at the Texas 9. (Of course, that is followed by a three-and-out by the offense but that’s another story.)

* Kirkendoll takes a pass, inexplicably reverses field for a 4-yard loss. This occurs the very play after Texas takes over inside the Iowa State 40. One good play followed by a bad mistake.

* Texas drives anyway and gets down to the 1. It’s 4th and 1 and Kyle Hix moves early. That’s the third mental mistake so far.

* After the field goal, Texas holds and Iowa State punts. The mistake: Aaron Williams lets the punt sail over his head and Iowa State downs it at the Texas 2. It costs Texas 20 yards and field position, because;

* After a three-and-out, Texas makes its next mistake. A horrible punt gives Iowa State the ball at the Texas 37.

* The defense wasn’t immune to mistakes. The defensive is misaligned on the option play to the weak side of the field. Alexander Robinson walks in for a touchdown.

* Later in the 2nd quarter, with a chance to get back into the game, Garrett Gilbert short arms a throw to Tre’ Newton on a wheel route. Result is an interception in the end zone.

* Texas gets the ball back deep in its territory. First play is a reverse to Goodwin. Britt Mitchell with a senseless block in the back.

* Gilbert, later in the second, airmails an INT to the safety. The safety somehow doesn’t catch it, but it’s still a mental mistake to make that throw in the first place.

* Then John Chiles makes a catch on a ball that was actually thrown to the Iowa State linebacker. Still not sure how that catch was made, but it was a bad, bad pass.

* With the first half drawing to a close, Texas is forced to take a field goal. The mistake is not the kick as much as it is yet another high snap (there were two on both field goals against Nebraska, too).

You can’t win football games with these types of mistakes. One or two are expected even of national championship caliber teams.

But 11 mistakes like this will get you beat every time, much less 11 mistakes in the first half alone.

It’s hard to be a good team when you beat yourself like this out of the gate.

As for the second half, it was just as bad even though the die was already cast.

But the two things that stuck out to me about the second half were a) the extremely poor play of the quarterback and b) the abandonment of the run game even when Texas was down just two scores and in the third quarter.

Gilbert ended up with just three interceptions, but it easily could have been six. Yes, he made some good throws, but he also continued to telegraph balls, continued to be late with the ball and started throwing balls up for grabs (like the last interception).

Here are my other thoughts on the game:

* This is the same Iowa State team that lost to Utah 68-27 and to Oklahoma 52-0 the last two weeks.

Many people will say “yeah, but everybody gets up for Texas”.

There is some truth to that, but Texas was horrible today. The offense and the miscues set the tone for the rest of the team.

* The pinpoint passing game that worked so well under Colt McCoy doesn’t work as well with Garrett Gilbert. Why not?
Gilbert is slow to the deliver the ball. He has a long delivery. He is not nearly as accurate as McCoy. Short passes must be accurate.

That sort of offense also relies on the receivers to make small amounts of yards after the catch.

Yet the receivers, with the exception of Mike Davis, are not good at gaining small amounts of yardage after the catch. James Kirkendoll actually loses more yardage than he gains after the catch. At least he did in the first half. He lost 1- and 3-yards, respectively.

* The lack of a true second defensive tackle was exposed again today. Anytime you see big gaping holes up the middle, it’s because the defensive tackle is getting beat or not holding the point of attack. Alex Okafor is a high effort guy, but he’s not a ready-made defensive tackle.

* Gilbert had three tipped balls at the line of scrimmage in the first half. Linemen are picking up his eyes and he’s delivering it low when he overstrides.

* Keenan Robinson made a sterling interception. But while that was a great play, he was beat too many times at the point of attack one-on-one by an offensive lineman. I saw an article on ESPN saying he was strong at the point of attack. Nothing could be further from the truth. He gives great effort, but he’s an outside linebacker and to ask him to play inside the tackles is not his best game.

* With Emmanuel Acho out, I was surprised not to see more of Jordan Hicks instead of Dustin Earnest.

* Lots of people were calling for this to be a week for coaches to play more freshmen. Perhaps they should have.

* Sam Acho had a nice game, again. He knifed in and made a great play on a run play early in the third quarter that I thought might change the game for Texas. But it did not.

* After the interception by Keenan Robinson, the sack-fumble was as much on Gilbert as anyone. He never even looked to his right, he set too deep and didn’t move up into the pocket. He has below-average pocket presence right now.

* Malcolm Williams made a nice catch on the last touchdown for the Horns. John Chiles made a couple of good grabs and had a nice block.

* Baylor will be tough for Texas. Any team that can score much will be tough for Texas because Texas is so bad on offense.