Potpourri
Thin Skin
Driving home from the game late last night Helen and I caught Mack Brown’s post-game press conference on the radio. It was vintage Mack. He couldn’t resist talking about the negativity heard from some quarters after last week’s Oklahoma debacle. Of course in his mind he was accentuating the positive by pointing out that judging by the large and supportive crowd he didn’t think any of the “negative people” were at the game. In my opinion when things have gotten bumpy for Brown in the past he expended way too much energy whining about criticism. In 2010, after the Nebraska game which was a nice win on the road, a win that looked like it would turn the season around, Brown’s very first public comments came when he was interviewed briefly by the sideline reporter immediately after the game. The very first sentence out of his mouth was to talk about all the criticism his team had been receiving after two straight losses. To me it seemed petty and not the first thing that should be on the head coach’s mind. There has been much talked about and written over the past week about the type of program Brown runs in terms of physical and mental toughness and accountability. I read into Brown’s post-game comments last night and in 2010 that he doesn’t like the concept of accountability and maybe that has filtered down through his entire team and coaching staff. After the win against Nebraska in 2010 Texas lost four straight and five of their last six games, the lone victory coming at home against Florida Atlantic. I may be stretching to try and tie Brown’s 2010 Nebraska’s post-game mind set to the disaster the season turned into but I’m not sure that I am. Maybe Brown should spend more time critiquing his players and less time critiquing fans, the press and the bloggers.
Just Play
Do you think the Oklahoma game might have gone any differently if Texas’ first play from scrimmage had been the Daje Johnson sweep they ran on the first play against Baylor instead of a Joe Bergeron line plunge? If Texas had run the sweep or something else a little more aggressive on the opening drive against Oklahoma what’s the worst thing that could have happened? That they might have failed against OU in a big way? Maybe Mack Brown’s Horns aren’t ready for Al Davis’ “just win baby,” but how about “just play baby?” Play like you think you can win not like you hope you can win.
Wally Pipp
Malcolm Brown is in danger of becoming Texas’ version of Wally Pipp the N.Y. Yankees first baseman who was replaced by Lou Gehrig in the starting line up on June 2, 1925. Gehrig went on to play in 2,130 straight games for the Yankees at first base. Pipp was traded at the end of the season. Brown is a very good player but Daje Johnson or Jonathan Gray are game breakers and from now on should be getting a lion’s share of the carries. What about Joe Bergeron? Can you say Cody Johnson?
Spinning the Defense
If my life depended on putting a good spin on the performance of the defense against Baylor here’s what I’d say. Baylor had to go only eight yards to score their first touchdown after the snap sailed over Alex King’s head on Texas’ first punt attempt. Baylor’s last touchdown came against a prevent Texas defense that forced a long time consuming drive at the end of the game when they needed two touchdowns to win. So you see, to be fair, the D only gave up 36 points which these days in the Big 12 is very respectable. Not only that Texas gave up 13 fewer points this week than last so they are improving. Muy bueno?
Wrap Up
Unless Kansas turns into Appalachian State Texas will be 6-2 at this time next week with visions of being involved in a four way tie for the conference championship come December 2.
