Must have been horrible luck and officiating last year vs OU. I hope we are more concerned about how the game started last night. We looked like we didn't come out ready to play.
I think Rick Barnes had a good point. He said you don't want your team to peak now, just get better. Last night, the offense got better. BTW, Houston came to play. They have D-1 athletes also, and it showed. Texas D did look lost at times.
If Texas plays in future games as they did in the 2nd half, they're a national title contender. If they play as they did in the 1st half... they're 9-2 again. Either one is possible. Simms had a very nice game. Texas' receivers dropped at least two big plays. Add those on, and he had more than 400 yards and 4 TD's. Biggest problems for Texas: 1. Receivers: These guys were supposed to be the strength of the team. Yet they drop passes, don't dive, and fail to elevate over decent DB's. Roy Williams looked lackadaisical. The most shameful play of the game was when he fumbled the ball, then didn't even try to dive for an easily recoverable ball. Just stood there. Is he just trying to stay healthy for the draft, or something? 2. D-line: They got a couple of sacks late in the game on blitzes. But a four man front should get penetration against a mediocre O-line, and they didn't. No way Robertson should have been able to throw with 5 seconds all day like that. No way Reynolds should have been able to run up the middle like that. Strengths: 1. Simms - Criticize all you want, but except for a few minutes in the 2nd quarter, his passes were frozen ropes on target. As much as you may like Applewhite, Texas can't win a title with the guy. He might be better right now, but some of those throws, he just isn't capable of. 2. Texas' running backs - Ivan Williams and Cedric Benson both looked good against an albeit tired Houston defense. Two questions: 1. The team did better when they figured out the right order: pass first to set up the run. When they tried to run-first early in the game, they didn't get to far. Later in the game, Simms opened up the field, and Williams got some room to run. 2. When the hell is Derrick Johnson going to start?
Must have been horrible luck and officiating last year vs OU. Really? I don't remember the officials taking away a clear touchdown from us in that game, I don't remember a horrible pass interference call against us, and I don't remember OU scoring a touchdown off a batted ball that should've been an interception. We played fine in the first half, but things didn't go our way. We will beat OU by more than two touchdowns.
Even that weasel Dean Blevins said Simms made some plays only a handful of qb's would even think about trying. Also,Chris is a bit more mobile than I gave him credit for. Roy was responsible for two alone. Also, on one of the bombs, it looked like if he would have extended his arms, he may have caught that one also. I still think that TJ's 1st catch was definitely a touchdown. I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed the D was alot better with DJ in there. That guy just makes plays. It's incredible. BTW, that interference call on Jammer was atrocious. Being in perfect position does not mean it was interference. Even that weasel Dean Blevins said it was offensive interference if anything. Horrible call that set up one of their TD's. Texas still hasn't played a complete game yet. I give credit to UH for making this a game. But, the Texas D was sloppy in the 1st half. Still, I have not seen a faster college defense. This is the 1st time UT has been 3-0 in a loooonnnggg time. This game could have been last year's Stanford, and it may have been if Mack was rotating quarterbacks. Give credit to Mack for sticking with his guy.
Seems like Mack is quite angry per the Dallas Morning News. Houston couldn't capitalize. Texas Tech can. And Oklahoma most certainly will. "We won't stop Tech at all if we give up that many big plays," Brown said. "It scares me to death. You give up that many big plays and you won't win in this league." "They've been bragged on the first two weeks," he said. "Maybe because they shut Houston out last year, I don't know that they showed them much respect. It's a disease we have that we're trying to correct." "Tech can do about all of the things Houston did, and more," Brown acknowledged. "We better play better against Kliff Kingsbury or he'll light us up. We let their running back get excited and get some confidence. Then their quarterback got hot." So, for the third time in the same conversation, he said: "We've got to play better than that to have a chance to beat Tech." --- Again, if we come and play like we did in the first half Saturday night, OU is gonna cream us. I cut and pasted the quotes from an article I found at hornfans. here
Smokey, I'm actually encouraged by Mack's comments. He sees a problem, and he's addressing it. He said he was gonna open up the offense against UH, and he did. I thought Simms looked really good. If Roy comes down with a couple of those catches, Simms throws for over 400 yards. I look for a much better effort against Tech.
<B>1. Simms - Criticize all you want, but except for a few minutes in the 2nd quarter, his passes were frozen ropes on target. As much as you may like Applewhite, Texas can't win a title with the guy. He might be better right now, but some of those throws, he just isn't capable of. </B> One of the reasons for the shorter dropped passes is that Simms has little/no-touch. Applewhite, on the other hand, has the touch but not the cannon. The short passes are getting dropped to some extent because they are being rifled in there instead of just looped in. One example of this was that roll out where the TE was wide-open but the pass got batted down. Instead of just lobbing the pass in, Simms tries to throw a dart (no angle) and thus the defensive end can just raise his arms and block it. He needs to learn to slow down some of the passes. Simms can make the spectacular play better, but Applewhite can move down the field in little chunks more effectively. Last year, we had tons of 10 yard passes that went for 30-50 yards because Applewhite could get those in stride. To get 50 yard passes, Simms actually has to throw 30-40 yards.
Smokey, not surprised at all. There was also a cheapshot on Simms out of bounds and who can forget what happened to Shawn Rogers last year. That injury prevented Shawn from being a 1st round pick. I guess that's just the way UH plays the game. BTW, it's not like that play was an accident. #62 was very persistent and deliberate on that play.
From the Sporting News: The game was WAY over when Major got in the game. Ivan, Chris, Mike Williams, or BJ (among others) would have gotten my vote before Major for the Uh game.
