Miscellaneous

2009 Texas Longhorns Football Preview

By Chris Stevenson

One play.  One play prevented us from playing in the Big XII Championship Game and the BCS National Championship last year.  We were that close.  Don't get me wrong - I'm not dissatisfied with the season.  11-1 and Fiesta Bowl Champions, a final #4 ranking, it doesn't get much better than that.  The fact is that we are in a golden age of Longhorn football and I'm swimming in it. 

The one play was actually two plays, both in the Tech game; one where Blake Gideon dropped an easy interception that would have sealed the game and another where Gideon and Earl Thomas did their best version of "I thought you had it" as they each missed easy tackles on Michael Crabtree as he walked into the end zone for the winning touchdown.  Who here is happy to see Crabtree sucking it holding out with the 49ers?

There are maybe 5 or 6 teams out there who are good enough, with all of the elements in place, to compete for the national title this season.  Who wins it all isn't going to come down to better talent or coaching or facilities - it's going to come down to a bounce of the ball.  It's going to be one play.  We're one of those 5 or 6 teams again this year.  Let's hope we make that one play this year.

Offense

Is Colt McCoy for real?  Seriously.  NCAA record for passing efficiency?  Second in the Heisman race?  Led the team in rushing?  Wow.  Colt just needs to do what he did last year, if that's even possible.  As for the rest of the offense, losing Quan and Ogbannaya will hurt because of their leadership and poise.  But there's certainly no talent dropoff.  The receiving corps is one of the best in the country and really, really deep.  I like the Chiles move.  Dude is hungry to make a statement and show what he's got.  With G. Gilbert coming on board he knew he had no chance to see the field as a QB anyway.  You gotta feel for Sherrod Harris, but he wears the unspeakable's number 17, so I don't feel too bad about it.  Shipley is a stud at No.1 and you can't coach the chemistry he's got with McCoy.  Kirkendoll, Collins and Mal ("Mal!") Williams should assert themselves as truly elite weapons.  Other talented players could make big plays throughout the season - Dan Buckner and DeSean Hales are a couple that come to mind.

We enter the season again without a proven No. 1 running back.  Vondrell McGee takes the starting spot, and word is he's worked hard in the offseason and gotten stronger, but until he has a breakout game or is able to show consistency over a couple of games with a lot of touches, he's still not going to be the featured back.  Right now, we've got situational backs in a rotation, which is fine, just not traditional or ideal.  Cody Johnson is the big, powerful goal line back.  Fozzy is the shifty guy.  I don't expect the coaches to get much farther down the depth chart into Tre Newton, Jeremy Hills or Chris Whaley territory unless there are injuries.  The main issue with the running back is that they need to take some of the rushing pressure off of McCoy so that he doesn't take as much of a pounding this season.  I laid some of the blame for apparent indecision on who got reps at running back at the feet of Major Applewhite, but I'm not sure he was wrong.  He might've just done the best he could with the mix of personnel he had.  If I'm learning anything about football strategy is that you've got to be "multiple," which means that you've got to be flexible and effective and you've got to react quickly and effectively in changing situations; you can't get locked into a scheme or a philosophy or a player.

The O-line returns a lot of experienced guys, but we're not very deep.  They should be a steady, consistent group unless they get depleted by injuries.  If that happens, they're probably the weakest unit on the team.

The worst enemy the Horns could have on offense is injuries.  If McCoy goes down or two or three other key offensive players we're going to be looking for younger, unproven players to step up.  Mayhap they will; mayhap they won't.

Defense

It's very hard to recover from losing players like Orakpo, Melton and Roy Miller off the the front four to graduation, but Muschamp has reloaded with Kindle, Kheeston Randall and Sam Acho.  Not sure yet if they'll be as good as last year's group, but they could be.  Kindle is the next Longhorn defender to go in the first or second round of the NFL draft (and my choice for galactic gladiator representative from planet Earth).

I'm most excited about the linebackers and secondary.  Let's just hope that Dustin Earnest doesn't turn out to be a Scott Derry clone.  (I thought coaches watched a lot of film.  How does a guy that ends up chasing the ballcarrier from behind on EVERY play keep getting reps?)  Muckleroy, Norton, Emmanuel Acho and Keenan Robinson make a formidable group of headhunters.

As freshmen, Earl Thomas and Blake Gideon did about as well as you could have expected their first year (with the exception of one very, very big play).  I expect them to be even better this year.  The corners we have aren't NFL caliber, but they are fast, athletic and have shown good consistency.  Maybe one of them makes a name for themselves this year; my pick would be Aaron Williams.

Prediction

UT 56, Louisiana Monroe 10

UT 38, Wyoming 14

UT 42, Tech 28

UT 52 UTEP 13

UT 41, Colorado 17

UT 35, OU 31

UT 30, Mizzou 17

UT 42, OK St. 38

UT 52, UCF 20

UT 41, Baylor 27

UT 34, Kansas 13

UT 49, TX A&M 18

Big XII Championship:  UT 40, Nebraska 21

BCS National Championship:  UT 17, Florida 16

Other College Football

• The only start to a coaching tenure that has been worse for a major program than Rich Rodriguez's has been Lane Kiffin's.
• That last sentence was horrible.
• Charlie Weis will not be the head coach of Notre Dame next season.  Any man with a front butt that large doesn't deserve to be the head coach at America's most storied program.
• Unless he gets injured, Colt will win the Heisman.
• NFL draft order for the top three Heisman vote getters - Bradford, McCoy, Tebow.

Full post as published by Cursed With Ambition on September 03, 2009 (boomark / email).