Crimson Red Sports

                                             UT vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the win. Bama did everything they could to lose this game.  It was poorly played mentally and physically.  They are fortunate to come out with a win.  These notes will be brief as the mistakes are what actually kept UT in the game, in my opinion.  I really hated the television angles because I hardly ever saw the routes or downfield to see why the pass plays weren’t working.  The announces credited the coverage.   

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 374yards of total offense which included 213 rushing yards and 161 passing yards.  Many of the offensive drives were stopped by penalties or dropped passes.  Especially, when Bama had good field position.

Negative plays:  5 tackles for losses and 2 sack

3 and out: 4

10+ plays:  10 passing and 3 running, penalties again negated running plays that went for first downs.

Red zone:  2 trips in and 1 touchdown and 1 field goal. Outside the red zone, 2 scores, one a touchdown and 1 a field goal

QB:  Young played well and wasn’t helped in some instances.  There were at least 2 drops that would have been first downs and kept drives alive.  Also, he was hurt by a receiver not sitting down in the hole and continued his route into coverage, Young expected him to sit and the ball was thrown a little behind.  Young did his best work when Bama went down 16-10.  After this, if my stats are correct, he was 15 for 18 for 153 yards and a touchdown.  He also ran for 41 yards on 3 carries.   

RB: They ran hard when given the opportunity.  They also caught the ball for big plays.  A couple of things stood out and not both were good, the long run by McClellan and the missed block by I think Gibbs on a sack.  I really don’t know their blocking schemes.

Rec:  These were hard to judge because of the tv angle.  I do know there were key drops and most of them were on 3rd down where they would have kept a drive alive.  I know they are young, and they will have to get better.  I guess a couple of bright spots, 5 different receivers made catches and Latu was back.

OL:  The OL they got a good push many times, but their mistakes/penalties help put Bama behind the sticks several times.

Def: The defense had a strange day.  They make a big stop and then a penalty to extend the drive.   Every scoring drive, except the last by UT, was aided by penalties.   They also missed more tackles this game than they did last week.  I do know the competition was better.  They held their running backs to 79 yards on 33 carries. 

Negative plays:  4 tackles for losses and 3 sacks

3 and outs:  3 three and out. This was also affected by the penalties.

10+ plays:  11 passing and 2 rushing

Red zone:  They got in the red zone 5 times and scored 1 touchdown, kicked 3 field goals, missed a field goal.  They also kick one field goal from outside the red zone.  As you see, holding them to field goals was huge.

DL:  Overall they did a good job on the running game. However, again, they got out of their rushing lane and allowed big runs for first downs.  On one play it was 2nd and 19 and the QB gets 20 yards on a scramble. They also lost contain when the defender went inside and missed the tackle.

LB: I know, many times, Anderson was either chipped or double teamed.  He did make a big play on a late sack.

DB: They were beat deep more than once and were called for several penalties.  Fortunately, they didn’t always connect on the deep balls.  Again, the tv angle didn’t allow for a great assessment of what happened and coverages.
Special teams: Special teams were good.  No major mistakes that led to points.  Also, it looks like Reichard leg is stronger this year.

Penalties:  This was the worst part of the game as, in my opinion, kept UT in the game. Like I said earlier, Bama had penalties which allowed UT to keep drives alive and all but one of those drives they scored on.  Penalties helped stop Bama drives.  I have Bama for 16 penalties, but one was declined.  Eleven penalties were in the first half alone and 5 in the second half.  Two were on special teams, 4 were on offense where one was declined, and 9 were on the defense. 

Finally, if they are a number 1 team, they need to play like it.  They didn’t yesterday. They were fortunate to come out with a win.
Feel free to comment:

18 and Counting

Thanks Coach. A LOT of teaching opportunities available after this game.

Thanks, Coach. 

Not sure I remember a college game whose refs allowed so much contact between DBs and receivers.  Like you, I was disappointed that the tv coverage didn't show it often enough.

Were these Big 12 refs?  Bama didn't play well, and almost all of the penalties I saw were deserved, but the calls were so inconsistent, and the refs took over the game with timeouts for reviews.

One analyst said (paraphrased), "Texas showed the blueprint of how to beat Bama".  I'm not sure that's true, unless the blueprint includes Bama beating themselves.  Texas played well with no turnovers; maybe that's the blueprint (duh, who didn't know that!).

Thanks again.  Hope we play better from here on.

Thanks Coach.

I'm still trying to process this one.  I'm wondering if we've lost some team speed or it was just that we were up against a good group of athletes playing above themselves. 
I'm not sure the cause of our running backs slipping so much.  Through my crimson glasses it seemed one sided  8).

Texas is a proud program and Sark had them prepared.  They are now 7-2-1 against the Tide and we not only beat them in their house we ripped their hearts out.  I'm already looking forward to next years game at Bryant Denny.

RTR

Thanks for mentioning the slipping, RE.  Both teams were slipping, but worse on us.  What was that, plastic turf?

Also, I posted separately about Texas turning off the air conditioning in our locker room.  That plus the crap where they offered only upper-deck seats for the band (so ours didn't go) is chickenship.

As always, thanks for the analysis coach.

We almost, but not quite, beat ourselves.  I'm confident that the coaches will be doing significant teaching this week.  Hope the players do some learning.

Yes, the officials took any rhythm out of the game.

The AC and band seating stunts were pure bush league.  I thought better of Sark.

ROLL TIDE!!!

Well I have less respect for Sark than I did after what they pulled to try and hurt us. Thanks hscoach as always great job. If a CNS coached team can't stop these kind of mistakes in the players Georgia will kill us. RTR!

Did I hear one of the other game's half-time shows quote Sark saying that they "didn't lose, they just ran out of time" on Saturday?

Yes sir. It was his postgame interview. RTR!

I wasn’t going to get this detailed, but here you go:
On the first scoring drive by UT:
Field goal:
First and 10, offside Bama
Third and 2, offside Bama 1st down
Touchdown:
Personal foul, 1st and 3
Roughing the passer:  1st down at the 1
Field goal:
2nd and 4, play was for a 5-yard loss, personal foul ball goes to the Bama 23
Field goal:
1st and 10, Bama 37 offsides, now 1st and 5 at the 32
2nd and 5 at Bama 24, personal foul, ball now on the 12
Missed field goal:
2nd and 5, offside, automatic 1st down
2nd and 9 at the 19, Pass interference 1st down ball now on 15
1st and 10 Pass interference, ball moves to the 2, I really didn’t think this was a PI call because there was hand fighting and McKinstry had established positioning.
Overall, the defense did a pretty good job holding them to field goals
Now, some calls that should have been made against UT:
1.    Looked like a block in the back on a punt, but it knocked the Bama player into the return man and he made the tackle.
2.   It looked like 65 tackled our 42 on a run to the offensive left side.
3.   A possible targeting call on the first hit on Young as it looked as if the defender lead with the crown of the helmet.
4.   Also, a low hit on the QB, that I thought was now a roughing call.
5.   I didn’t see this, but the announcers said, on a ball overthrown by Young, that UT got away with a hold. If not held, that play may have been a touchdown.  I think it was #3 that got held.  I remember thinking when I first watched, why did he stop running.
6.   I didn’t notice during the game, but someone posted a picture  on one of my Facebook groups I follow, a facemask on the crucial 4th and 1 or either the 3rd and 2 play late in the game.
7.   The was an obvious pick play run down near the Bama goal line when UT was trying to score and McKinstry came up and made a big stop.

Chechem, I never heard where the officials were from.  Also, the blueprint they were talking about was the quick passing game, is how I understood it along with taking your shots at the appropriate time.  They should have said hope Bama hurts themselves like they did this game.

Coach -- I read (or heard) before the game started that the ref's were a Big XII crew.  Now you would think the XII conf would put their best crew on a game of national interest like this one.  Was that their best crew??? Sheesh.

Excellent job hscoach. Thanks. RTR!

One I left off from above.  Before the 4th down attempt.  Should there have been a hands to the face call on the defense as the OL helmet was somehow removed and went about 3 to 5 yards up the field.  I don't see how that happens without hands to the face/head area.

Another point I want to make on the "safety" call. The play before Bama throws the ball deep and the receiver was held on the route according to the announcers.  He said UT got away with one there.  If he wasn't held, it may have been a touchdown as the receiver got behind the defense.  If the penalty was called the "safety" play would have never taken place as Bama would have had a 1st down after the penalty.

My opinion here there should have been several more penalties on Texas and it might have been a better game. Sark got away with stupidity and I have lost what respect I had for him. RTR!

Great job as always. I have major concerns about the offensive play calling. When you compare how BoB does with Sark on the other sideline, the difference is astounding. Might not be a fair comparison but it is true.

On the other hand, I think one aspect of the game that hasn't been discussed much is Gary Patterson being on the UT sideline. After leaving TCU, Sark hires him as a defensive consultant. He probably spent months working on the Bama plan and it showed - dude can flat out coach. Doubt Bama will see any more exotic plan and package unless they play UGA later.

Not real pleased with the play calling either.   That being said it would have looked better without the drops, better route running,  and without penalties to help stop drives.

I agree with you wholeheartedly about Sark being a far better play caller than BOB, and my brother-in-law also brought up the Gary Patterson influence on the game (my BIL is a high school coach).

Sark is beginning to use the CNS way of bringing in outside coaches for help. RTR!