First Games as Harbingers
First Games as Harbingers
From where I was sitting Texas’ over whelming advantage in depth versus Wyoming was the only thing separating the Longhorns from a 31-24 nail biter and an embarrassment of a home opener. If the Longhorns had lived up to the pre-season hype emanating from the practice bubble on I-35 and the bloggers we would have seen a trio of running backs running through gaping holes from the get go. We would have seen a smothering defense led by a dominating front line and a take no prisoners secondary. What we saw was three and out by Texas on its first possession and a 10 play 56 yard drive culminating in a field goal for Wyoming on their first possession. Wyoming’s second possession ended with an 82 yard touchdown on a pass where two Texas defensive backs knocked each other out of the play. Bring on West Virginia!
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Okay. The final numbers look good for Texas especially the 280 yards rushing with a six yard per carry average. Joe Bergeron, Malcolm Brown and D.J. Monroe were terrific. Keep in mind though that Wyoming was 115th in the country defending the rush in 2011. Texas’ defense held Wyoming to 345 yards which would be impressive against any Big 12 rival but is just so so against an opponent who had only the ball for 24:48. Most disturbing to me was Wyoming’s 276 yards passing and Texas’ defense didn’t get a three and out until the 4thquarter. Texas fans should also be worried by Mike Davis’ drops and the failure of Texas receivers to get open. When Jordan Shipley did get wide, wide open on a post pattern Ash was still holding the ball and when he finally threw it he threw it short and to a well-covered Davis. Sorry folks but in my opinion David Ash is not the answer we’re hoping for. When Texas faces Big 12 opponents they’ll need more than a game manager. They’ll need a quarterback who can make plays and Ash hasn’t shown that he can. Shouldn’t we have had at least three or four “wow moments” from Ash by now? I can’t even remember one. Anybody remember Peter Gardere? He certainly won’t be mentioned when talking about great Texas quarterbacks but even he had many“wow” moments running and passing during his freshman year. In his sophomore year Gardere was a very good “game manager” and led Texas to a conference championship and a 10-2 record. “Mr. Ash, I watched Peter Gardere , Peter Gardere was a friend of mine, Mr. Ash, you’re no Peter Gardere.” So I lied, I’ve never even met Peter Gardere but you get the point.
So I guess you can call me a glass half empty guy but I’ve been closely following one football team from seasons start to finish for about 39 years and every great year they’ve had started off with an exciting blow out win with many “wow” moments. Afterwards the coaches may have said we want to improve in this area or that. They weren’t saying we need to fix this and we need to fix that. Texas versus Wyoming looked like the 14th game of the 2011 season. At this point I’m calling 2012 8-4.
HooK eM,
W.E.
Over/Under Results
The ever popular growing by leaps and bounds Willie Earl’s Longhorn Blog fielded a near record 13 entries for the season opener with several regulars on the sideline. Jerry Smith the all time leading money winner starts of the season with yet another win with 8 correct picks. A rookie known only as “Keegan” takes second with 7 correct. There was a six way logjam at third place highlighted by Willie Earl’s nod to diversity player Helen Frink. Keep up the good work Helen. If you expect to win the 2012 championship you’ll need to play as many games as possible. A minimum of four games must be played to earn a letter.
Points are awarded thusly:
First place – 10 points.
Second place – 6 points
Third place – 3 points.
W.E.
