I’ve been going to Texas Longhorns football games for quite a few years now, and I can’t remember a season opener with such comfortable weather. The temperature was mild, and the little bit of rain we got felt nice and wasn’t enough to actually wet anyone down.
Prior to the game, the Wife and I watched the Longhorn players and coaches enter the stadium. Then it was up to the University of Texas Club for some pre-game food.
As for the game, we’ve certainly had worse season openers. As one of the national powers, you really want to have a cream puff for your first game. It gives you time to shake off the rust from the off-season, without having to worry about being upset by BYU. Or being a two point conversion away from being tied with Navy late in the fourth quarter.
A rusty Colt McCoy is still better than most, and he got better as the game went on. Didn’t like the interception, but the long TD to Shipley was a thing of beauty. I suspect we’ll see a few of these this season.
The running game is as sketchy as we feared. Vondrell McGee had a mediocre night against sub-par competition, and lost a pair of fumbles. He got better as the night wore on, but that’s not getting it done.
D.J. Monroe showed amazing speed on his kickoff return for a touchdown. His top speed may be higher than Shipley’s, although he doesn’t seem to get up to speed as quickly as Shipley. It remains to be seen whether he can handle the punishment a running back receives.
Our linebackers are amazing. They were all over the field blowing plays up. Roddrick Muckelroy will be winning some awards if his play continues like this.
Overall, the defense was solid, although they broke down at times. Muschamp certainly has a few things to work on this week, but nothing that gives a reason to panic.
I’m glad they went ahead and burned Garrett Gilbert’s redshirt. And I’m even happier that they let him run the real offense. We’re only one bad roll of the dice from his being the leader of this team, and we need him to get meaningful, full-speed snaps.
Gilbert has a great velocity and accuracy on his throws, and showed some great wheels as well. It’s clear that he’s the real deal.
John Chiles solid performance at receiver was a nice surprise. I just wish we’d made that move previously. Or, if we couldn’t afford to not have him backing up McCoy (prior to Gilbert’s arrival), we could have given him some snaps at receiver last year.
All told, it was an enjoyable game and a good return to college football. As a bonus, here’s a video I took with my Flip Video UltraHD of the team running in to the stadium: