Horns247 Board

For perspective, KU gave up just 20 to Oklahoma State today.

Bobby,

Seems to me there are at least 4 key areas to consider when looking at our problems with tackling, and blocking.

1) Do the players have adequately developed individual technique?
2) Do the players have sufficient physical talent (strength, speed, conditioning, mental, size) to overcome resistance by a trained opponent?
3) Do the players have the scheme to set them up to successfully employ their skill/talent advantage/s?
4) Are the players sufficiently motivated to maximize their skills/talent in game situations?

Re tackling in practice: this tries to address a problem in #1. It's a legit concern. It may or may not explain all the issues which are visibly observable in games. I think we also have some issues in #2 (plain beat) and #3 (out-schemed). We could be on the verge of also having problems in #4.

The first 3 areas need addressing for sure, and #4 if we lose it there too.

#1 is all about practice
#2 is mostly about recruiting and then S&C
#3 is all about OC and DC plus whatever HC overrides with
#4 is mostly about HC and how players respond to HC

just some thoughts out loud. Still trying to process this thing that has become so different than expected.

The KU game is not guaranteed unfortunately. Charlie Weis is no slouch and all he has to do is watch the last 3 games to prepare for us. It's no secret how to beat UT: Run it down their throat.

Sometimes good things come out when I'm drunk. Been a long day.

I'm still very doubtful it will be seen, the vacating of seats, much less of Season Ticket Sales-Holders, such as during
the Mac1 era.

gordosan,

I completely disagree.

In all of those years, Mack had an excuse. Maybe it was turnovers, maybe it was a great OU team, maybe it was a young QB.

None of those excuses ring true today.

Furthermore, Texas, at those times, could take solace in still being the second best team in the league. Now what are the Horns? 6th to 8th best out of a 10-team league?

Feels a lot different to me. No excuses to be had.

yea, it's become obvious by now that Mack Brown needs to out talent other teams to win. When he's facing a team with equal to or better talent, it's a struggle and execution breaks down exponentially it seems to where they can't even do the basics.

Texas needs to find a coach who has proven that his teams can consistently execute and play sound football regardless of talent or opponent. Preach it, make your players and coaches accountable, infuse elite Texas talent, and watch the wins pile up. Every game is a war. That's what the coaches and players mentality should be.

There are multiple noteworthy differences.

1. Those OU teams were great.This one is good.

2. Mack was still winning games in those early years. This year Texas was supposed to be back, after 5-7 and 8-5.

3. A&M was a joke back then. They have legit momentum on the recruiting trail, and the Texas loss just amplifies that, to go along with what Oklahoma now has. The 2014 class will be a battle to assemble.

I know but I am referring to other games as well not just this game. when it comes to run blocking, tackling, and stopping the run. Some of that is not scheme that is plane on practice and teaching.

Well game planning, practice, scheme all of that is still lies on Mack Brown

Interestingly, #3 is 100% in coaches control. #1 and #4 are about 50% coaches and 50% players, #2 is about 75% players and 25% coaches. Depending on where you see the issues can give you a little sense of where the responsibility lays most. If you think it is equally #1 thru #3, then that would be about 2/3's on the players, and 1/3 on the coaching. That's a bit different than the general sentiment tonight towards blaming the coaches and giving the players a "pass" for the most part. For example, I think Searles is doing a good job with what he has to work with on the OL. But I think the OL is especially troubled by #1 and #2. At LB, I think it is mostly #1, except for Cobbs, who I think is a big #2 issue since he is too undersized for LB. At Saftey (AP and MT) it seems to be #1 and #2 as well, similar to OL. Similiar to Cobbs, they both seem out of position.

The question becomes how many players can you hide who are a liability.

A lot of coaches can hide 1 position that is a liability. On our offense, we have at least 2: C and TE. Sometimes our FB is also liability. That is too many to hide. On defense, we also have 2 or 3 (LB and S). Again, too, too many to hide. Would a change in coach/scheme fix our tackling/blocking problems? That's a tall order...or should I say, a slow process.

I'm trying to say there is more to tackling than just tackling someone one on one. There are pursuit angles, there is shedding blockers and maintaining leverage.

It's not just about openfield tackling.

That being said, it's the coaches job to pick out players who can do these things, to train them, etc.

In my opinion, the scheme is the biggest issue. Trying to tackle someone when they haven't touched in the first 20 yards straight on is difficult.

Bobby,
I'm of the opinion that many of the players (especially defensively) are tuning out the coaching at this point. Much like we heard rumors about in 2010. We've also heard whispers of finger pointing.

Any thoughts on locker room issues? I find it puzzling and troubling that the least little bit of adversity (losing to WVU) would cause a completion implosion of the program and a complete quit job this afternoon. Something else must be rotten in Denmark, right?

This one does seem different to me, but I think it is because we had false hopes that this team was further along in the re-building process than it really was. This game proved otherwise.

Don't get me wrong, I am still ticked at what happened today but I have to remind myself that we are in year 2 of a rebuilding project. After the disaster in 2010, Mack canned some long-time assistants, hired several hot-commodity assistants that injected new energy into the program (hires applauded by the pundits nationwide), and essentially installed new offensive and defensive schemes using players recruited to play in other systems. Going into the season, most thought the offense would be mediocre (still learning a new system, sub-par offensive line, questionable skill position personnel other than Shipley and at RB, etc.) and the defense would be this team's strength and that 2014 was the year everyone thought it would all come together. Turns out everyone was wrong on the first part--the offense started out like gangbusters but sputtered last week and hit a brick wall this week while the defense has completely sucked. What happens in 2014 remains to be seen.

This team still should've performed better today but, going into the season, I did not expect them to be hitting on all cylinders in all phases of the game by now. It will be interesting to see how both sides of the ball respond to this beat down and what Mack does to generate the response, especially since he typically relies on his coordinators to handle/teach their respective units. My guess is that Harsin will be fine. Diaz, however, may not recover. Time will tell. If this season turns into another 2010, then Mack should be held accountable.