The turnaround the Texas Longhorns have made the last few weeks has been nothing short of remarkable. The team is player faster and stronger, and has the confidence that only comes from knowing what your job is, and that you can get it done.
Most of that credit should go to Greg Robinson. He’s simplified things for the defense, and is putting players where they can succeed. And all the sudden we seem to know how to tackle.
The offense seems to be feeding on this. The o-line has played lights out for the last two games and the rest of the offense is clicking as a result.
This turnaround is also incredibly frustrating. The team we’ve seen the last two games could beat anyone outside the top ten teams in the country easily. They certainly would have been able to beat BYU and Ole Miss by solid margins.
Instead, we were given a team that limped through the first four games with little effort, and less heart. Some of that blame falls on Manny Diaz and his Kabuki theatre defensive schemes, but the ultimate responsibility falls on Mack Brown
He chose to keep Diaz around after fielding the worst defense in Texas’ long history. It was a stick in the eye for the big money donors and the average fans alike.
Mack Brown’s time at Texas is done, and he will be forced to retire after this season, even if he should somehow win out.
Case McCoy is a study in contrasts. He seems to bring heart to the team, but he’s also guilty of partying in San Antonio two nights before a bowl game, and of telling everyone he was leaving the team the year before. That’s not even taking into consideration the reports that he refused to go into the OU game a couple of years ago (a rumor I’ve not been able to verify, but that I feel is likely true).
His passing is also erratic. The first quarter touchdown to Marcus Johnson against TCU was a thing of beauty. Then a bit later (well, a lot later after the weather delay), he hits Mike Davis with a pass off his back foot. If he’d stepped into the throw, it goes for six.
Even later, he makes two incredibly stupid throws that are intercepted, but don’t really hurt us. We got lucky on those.
He’s managed to develop something of a deep ball. Not consistent, but dangerous enough to force defenses to play us honest.
Yet, he’s passes to the flat are absolutely horrible. Did that somehow become the more difficult throw?
This weekend, we play Kansas. They’ve given us trouble in Lawrence, but we get them at home this year. Should be an easy win, even if the bad team shows up.
Then we get West Virginia in Morgantown. If the game is in Austin, it would be easy for us. Still, we should win, although it’ll probably be ugly.
Okie Lite and Texas Tech are both in Austin, and are both probably coin tosses. Don’t really see how we get by Baylor.
So, most likely outcome is two more losses, Baylor and one of either Okie Lite or Tech, giving us an 8-4 record, and a likely return to the Alamo Bowl.
In theory, we could win out and go to a BCS game. More likely is that we lose to Baylor, win the rest, and head to Cotton.
Or, the wheels could come off, and we end up in the toilet bowl. Just don’t know with this team.