I would really love this to be a 17-3 type game at halftime, so the staff can work in someone like Cruz and give Simon/Clark an audition in the 2nd half.
This is a teaching problem
You need to work together on zone. You are asking your LG to block a 0 tech over the center, that is a big ask. For the LG to get there he needs the center to give the 0 tech a good punch to allow the LG a chance to make that block, instead the center just vacates the area and moves straight to his assignment
Hutson makes 0 attempt to help Baker. Baker is an extremely athletic Guard and he has 0 chance to make this block. There are strength and athleticism issues, especially when they asked Stroh to block OZ. The bigger issues are fundamental technique. Lot of what I see is guys focusing strictly on their assignment. You are not seeing everyone consistently work together on zone. You also see it on pass pro with stunts. Someone will stunt around an OL and that OL stands there, allows him to cross his face, and does not give him a solid punch to at least slow him down. I remember a play in pass pro, where Wisner is one on one with DE. There are 2 OL standing like scare crows blocking nobody. Technically they did nothing wrong. The stood in their slide area and nobody showed up, but in reality the LG/LT (forgot which) should have had his head on a swivel and helped Wisner.
I believe Wisner got 9 yards on his first 7 carries vs OU. The run game tends to get better as the game progresses. Sark completely abandoned the run vs Florida. Florida teed off on a 1-dimensional offense. That is a stark contrast to the OU game, where Sark kept running the football. I did not think anyone would have a disagreement with that, but here we are.
Ahmad Hardy is the bigger miss. I remember watching him vs Texas last year and he looked good, despite not a lot room to run. That was guy Texas was familiar with and probably didnt cost a ton.
I believe Wisner finished with 94 yards after contact and 94 yards in total yards, so a lot of the yardage was on individual effort. The biggest difference was Sark stuck with the run vs OU. He didnt really get going until the 37 yarder on carry 8 or 9. Wisner only had 8 carries vs Florida. Tip your cap to the defense for allowing that to happen. I think it has been mentioned by several that Brent's scheme is susceptible to OZ. The OL gave up 25 pressures also, which was on par with the Florida game if you adjust for drop backs. Pass pro was still very leaky. Sark adjusted the game plan vs OU. Much less max protect and shortened the routes. That helped get the ball out faster. He coached more Saban/Kirby like in this game. Very conservative early, especially when the offense was behind the chains. Felt like the 1st 2 drives the offense was practicing their screen plays. One positive was the lack of OL penalties after the fiorst 2 drives.
I like Baxter. He showed signs of being a good back as a freshmen. There was also a lot of "meh" in there also. To be honest, I am not sure what to make of Baxter. He is a very good football player. He blocks at a high level, has good hands, and by all reports has a great attitude. The issue is health. Even as freshmen it felt like he left half the games at some point for some kind of minor injury. I am not sure we have ever seen him at 100% (remember him leaving in the Rice game). No reason to write him off, but at the same time it is really hard to write his name with pen on the depth chart. Kind of view him as a call option for this season.
Niblett is poor man's Blue, but with a great attitude. He is great if your OL is dominating and his speed becomes a huge asset. Outside of that fairytale, he is going to struggle. Texas has to find someone outside of Wisner that can fall forward and has the vision to find holes vs legit defenses.
The staff has to figure out a solid #2 in this group for this year. I like Baxter, but its just hard to depend on him this year. Simon is leading the team in Yards/Rush, but he has 3 carries the last 2 games, so you cannot make any kind of judgement based on that. He looked vs UTEP and SHSU, but I would like to see it vs a P4 opponent. Might need to use this UK game to figure out/develop the #2 RB. Clark seems to have the best cutting ability of the group, but he tends to cut to nowhere. He has 2 carries the last 2 games. Wisner wore down last year. They need to find someone to help carry the load. I wouldnt mind seeing Wisner getting a light workload vs UK (assuming the score allows it). HE probably could use it after OU.
"Yet, Oklahoma was able to accumulate 25 pressures on Arch Manning. That is down 10 total pressures from the trip to Gainesville, but remains a level of pressure that is borderline unsustainable for the Texas quarterback to find functionality on a given snap."
That is classic lipstick on a pig, since Texas had at least 12 more drop backs vs Florida. OU is a better pass rushing group, if you are looking for a positive. MSU and Kentucky are 14th and 15th in sacks in the SEC, so there is some time to improve until Texas sees a team that can bring pressure. Vandy 4th, I did not expect that.
Love Brooks' motor. Even when he misses blocks he keeps looking for work. I hope it becomes contagious, and we see this kind of effort from the entire OL all year.
I think the Florida game was on the staff. Defensive game plan was just as bad. No idea what was with all the man coverage and contain rushes vs a hobbled QB. Manny being out hurt, which made the man coverage stuff even more perplexing. Lot of max protect and deep routes vs Florida, which I think I saw only 1 vs OU and that led to a sack.
Manning was 15 of 17 for 155 yards when throwing from straight drop back. He was 14 of 15 when kept clean vs OU..
He is actually eally good in straight drop back.
can we stop bringing up Quinn in this thread? That goes to more than Derka. Not sure why anyone felt this was an appropriate time to delve into this again.