Willie Earl Has Questions
I have some questions for Coach Strong and his staff as we get ready for the Iowa State game on Saturday. Just because I write a bunch of stuff about Texas football every week during the season doesn’t mean I’m less superficial in my analysis of the team than the average fan who spends an inordinate amount of time watching and thinking about the Longhorns and college football in general. That superficiality means that most of my questions are about offense. So here goes.
- Have you specifically coached Jerrod Heard about throwing the football into the tuba section when possible, instead of taking a sack, or running out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage? If not, why not? If you have please do so more emphatically with threats of bodily harm if Mr. Heard continues to be noncompliant.
- Are you going to insert Tyrone Swoopes and the short- yardage package every time it’s third and one no matter the field position? I think the development of this package was innovative and gives the offense a great option to go to some of the time. I think it becomes unimaginative and limiting when you go to it on every short-yardage situation. The third and one on your own 29-yard line in the fourth quarter against Kansas State illustrates my point. Yes, the play would have been successful had Swoopes thrown a better pass and Andrew Beck had caught the ball, but the ceiling of that play was about a 10-yard gain at best. I suggest leaving Heard and Daje Johnson in the game. They are the most dynamic offensive weapons Texas has had since Vince Young and are threats to go all the way on any play.
If you put Swoopes in and sucker the defense into thinking the play is going to be a Swoopes plunge or a short pass, and Swoopes throws the bomb to a wide open receiver for six, then of course I would approve.
- Speaking of Daje Johnson, he’s averaging 10.4 yards per touch in 2015, and you’ve only put the ball in his hands 25 times in the five games he’s played. I’ll give you credit for four more touches on passes he’s dropped. Anyway, why not flip him the ball on that jet sweep at least 10 times a game? I promise if you do that he’s going to break at least one for 50+ yards. Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers ran the power sweep over and over and over again until his opponent stopped it. That’s what you should do with the Daje jet sweep.
- In the Kansas State game, what happened to the counter draw play that worked so well in every game this season, including the 81-yard run by D’onta Foreman against Oklahoma? You are going to run that play against Iowa State and the rest of your opponents this year, aren’t you?
- Jonathan Gray has 94 carries this season with a 4.1 yard per carry average. D’onta Foreman has 62 carries for the season with a 5.9 yard per carry average. Foreman is clearly bigger, stronger, and faster. Why does Gray get 50% more carries than Foreman? I mean, what gives?
Those are all the questions I have for now Coach Strong, which means things are going pretty well on the offensive side of the ball, in my opinion. Keep up the good work.
Iowa State
At a glance, I can see that Iowa State is giving up 187 yards a game on the ground. That includes wins over Kansas and Northern Iowa where they gave up only 38 and 126 yards respectively. The Horns should rack up another 300+- yard rushing yards, and I have a feeling Daje Johnson will break a long kick off or punt return against Iowa State in route to a 34-16 win.
If Texas doesn’t win, I’ll have a lot more questions.
Keep an Eye On
Oklahoma State goes to Lubbock at 7-0 this weekend to face the mighty Red Raiders. Smells like the Cowboys first loss of the season to me. I almost made Texas Tech + 2.5 my lock of the week.
Lock of the Week
Last week, with OU coasting to a 63-27 over Texas Tech, Willie Earl’s lock of the week moves to 3-0. This week, I may be a sucker, because but Houston giving only 12.5 at home versus Vanderbilt seems like a sure thing. I’m taking our former foe and giving the points anyway as my “Lock of the Week.”
HooK ‘eM,
W.E.
[gravityform id=”23″ title=”true” description=”true”]
