Just re-watched the game. If I was a boxing judge and scoring the game without looking at the score I would say split decision to KU in the first half and a knockout to Texas in the second half. Going back and looking at the game KU out-played Texas in the first half.
Going back and watching it saw some really good things. In the first half the front seven (well front six with KU scheme) played well. They were physical and flowed to the ball well. Going into the game I was scared Heard was going to get the zone read rocking with Gray. Dorance Armstrong really pursued to the ball and held contain on the edges. They held Heard to 38 yards rushing on nine carries and Gray to 22 yards on seven carries.
The problem was big #33 Foreman. One of the most concerning plays was when he broke a long TD run and nobody could catch him. Foreman shouldn't be breaking 93-yard runs against anybody.
While the front played well in the first half the secondary just can't keep up. The Jayhawks are going to have to get more athletic in the back end. When you watch the game over there were several times they were in the area or in position to make plays. Although Smithson had a lot of tackles he still missed some tackles. A big one was on the long run where he whiffed on a so-so juke at best by Foreman.
"That’s one that I wish I could have back," Smithson said. "I was playing deep middle, he came down and gave me a little move and I shouldn’t have gone for it. I should have just done as we’ve been coached – running through and keeping my leverage. He gave me a little move, I missed the tackle, and they scored.”
The second quarter was encouraging because you could see the momentum building. But it still comes down to taking care of the ball and getting past the little moments that kill what you have built.
Texas scored on two short fields on the punt by Neal and the pick that was returned inside the five. On the flip side KU had the ball inside the 10, twice in the second quarter and got nothing on the scoreboard. The chip shot missed before the half is uncalled for. It really is. That's where you buckle down and get the ball through.
"We’ve got to be able to convert that field goal right there," Beaty said. "We have got to convert those two drives and maybe the game is a little different. There is no excuse for it. We have to get in the end zone, especially when we are in the red zone."
Once again the OL was up against a solid DL and someone with a lot more experience. Cottrell and Ridgeway are juniors and Desmon Jackson is a senior. Those guys are good players. They are just stronger than the KU OL. But a lot of the pressure was caused by blitzes up over the middle. Those guys are tough contain enough but the pressure from the blitzes had the OL off balanced and confused at times.
Maybe I just don't pay close enough attention but I have never seen the right guard look back to the quarterback and then tap the center. The guard would tap the center and one second later they would snap the ball. In the second half they changed the cadence from Willis who started going with the hand slaps but the guard kept giving the tap to the center.
The offense looked solid in the first half. It was the first half all year they have out-gained an opponent at half....236-190. I really liked the slip screens and traditional screen passes they installed in the plan. They worked and had room to run.
On the first drive Beaty was going for it but a false start forced them to punt. They did well with three penalties for 15 yards but it seems like the penalties come at such a bad time.
There are two guys that really stood out and that was Willis and Crawley. Wills took a beating. I don't know the exact injuries but it almost like he pulled both hamstrings. He was holding both hamstring in the second half and limping pretty bad. That impressed me he kept going and I love the toughness he showed.
Crawley got whacked on a slant early in the game. Shortly after he made a nice one handed grab and got smacked on that one. He went off on the sidelines and almost slumped into Murphy Grant's arms (the lead trainer). Then he got hit again in the third quarter and I thought he was done. But he came back in and caught a TD pass from Keaton Perry.
It is good to see some of the young players gut it out (this is not a knock on the older players) but these are the kids that need to change the culture at KU over the next 2-3 years.
After watching the game it is 100% without a doubt KU never quit. They just got worn down and Texas started to smell blood. Texas had six QB sacks and six more hurries. The thing that concerns from here on out is the health of the players. A lot of true freshmen haven't gone thorough a season like this. It takes a toll.
Texas scored the first 35 points of the second half and three of those drives had four plays or less. That's not good.
I don't know what they will do with special teams in the off season. Finding kickers is so tough to judge. If they do change and decide to offer a kicker I think you have to find the elite ones or get a juco kid who has already proven they can kick in college situations and without a tee.
There is kid named O'Brien at Navarro CC who is 55-of-57 on extra points and 15-of-18 on field goals with a long of 48. There is a kicker at Mississippi Gulf Coast who is 16-of-19 on field goals and made all 44 XP tries. The top five high school kickers in the country are already committed somewhere. That will be interesting to watch. Chip shot field goals need to be made.
This is almost like a time machine. You need to fast forward to where the young kids who are there playing get stronger. I don't know what Jackson can do with speed increase because that would be tough to do in a short amount of time. Plus you can either run or you can't. Watching film recruits like Mayberry and Stephan Robinson would make the secondary faster just be stepping on campus. Mayberry will be the fastest corner once he signs. I watched him run 4.48 and he slipped.
Right after the game I just felt somewhat negative because of the final outcome. But if you go back and watch the game you see good things they didn't sustain them. There are some young players that show promise like Duckworth. He runs well. DJ Williams got in the backfield a couple times by beating his man. The hard thing to watch is just trying to be patient because you want to see progress right now.
Going back and watching it saw some really good things. In the first half the front seven (well front six with KU scheme) played well. They were physical and flowed to the ball well. Going into the game I was scared Heard was going to get the zone read rocking with Gray. Dorance Armstrong really pursued to the ball and held contain on the edges. They held Heard to 38 yards rushing on nine carries and Gray to 22 yards on seven carries.
The problem was big #33 Foreman. One of the most concerning plays was when he broke a long TD run and nobody could catch him. Foreman shouldn't be breaking 93-yard runs against anybody.
While the front played well in the first half the secondary just can't keep up. The Jayhawks are going to have to get more athletic in the back end. When you watch the game over there were several times they were in the area or in position to make plays. Although Smithson had a lot of tackles he still missed some tackles. A big one was on the long run where he whiffed on a so-so juke at best by Foreman.
"That’s one that I wish I could have back," Smithson said. "I was playing deep middle, he came down and gave me a little move and I shouldn’t have gone for it. I should have just done as we’ve been coached – running through and keeping my leverage. He gave me a little move, I missed the tackle, and they scored.”
The second quarter was encouraging because you could see the momentum building. But it still comes down to taking care of the ball and getting past the little moments that kill what you have built.
Texas scored on two short fields on the punt by Neal and the pick that was returned inside the five. On the flip side KU had the ball inside the 10, twice in the second quarter and got nothing on the scoreboard. The chip shot missed before the half is uncalled for. It really is. That's where you buckle down and get the ball through.
"We’ve got to be able to convert that field goal right there," Beaty said. "We have got to convert those two drives and maybe the game is a little different. There is no excuse for it. We have to get in the end zone, especially when we are in the red zone."
Once again the OL was up against a solid DL and someone with a lot more experience. Cottrell and Ridgeway are juniors and Desmon Jackson is a senior. Those guys are good players. They are just stronger than the KU OL. But a lot of the pressure was caused by blitzes up over the middle. Those guys are tough contain enough but the pressure from the blitzes had the OL off balanced and confused at times.
Maybe I just don't pay close enough attention but I have never seen the right guard look back to the quarterback and then tap the center. The guard would tap the center and one second later they would snap the ball. In the second half they changed the cadence from Willis who started going with the hand slaps but the guard kept giving the tap to the center.
The offense looked solid in the first half. It was the first half all year they have out-gained an opponent at half....236-190. I really liked the slip screens and traditional screen passes they installed in the plan. They worked and had room to run.
On the first drive Beaty was going for it but a false start forced them to punt. They did well with three penalties for 15 yards but it seems like the penalties come at such a bad time.
There are two guys that really stood out and that was Willis and Crawley. Wills took a beating. I don't know the exact injuries but it almost like he pulled both hamstrings. He was holding both hamstring in the second half and limping pretty bad. That impressed me he kept going and I love the toughness he showed.
Crawley got whacked on a slant early in the game. Shortly after he made a nice one handed grab and got smacked on that one. He went off on the sidelines and almost slumped into Murphy Grant's arms (the lead trainer). Then he got hit again in the third quarter and I thought he was done. But he came back in and caught a TD pass from Keaton Perry.
It is good to see some of the young players gut it out (this is not a knock on the older players) but these are the kids that need to change the culture at KU over the next 2-3 years.
After watching the game it is 100% without a doubt KU never quit. They just got worn down and Texas started to smell blood. Texas had six QB sacks and six more hurries. The thing that concerns from here on out is the health of the players. A lot of true freshmen haven't gone thorough a season like this. It takes a toll.
Texas scored the first 35 points of the second half and three of those drives had four plays or less. That's not good.
I don't know what they will do with special teams in the off season. Finding kickers is so tough to judge. If they do change and decide to offer a kicker I think you have to find the elite ones or get a juco kid who has already proven they can kick in college situations and without a tee.
There is kid named O'Brien at Navarro CC who is 55-of-57 on extra points and 15-of-18 on field goals with a long of 48. There is a kicker at Mississippi Gulf Coast who is 16-of-19 on field goals and made all 44 XP tries. The top five high school kickers in the country are already committed somewhere. That will be interesting to watch. Chip shot field goals need to be made.
This is almost like a time machine. You need to fast forward to where the young kids who are there playing get stronger. I don't know what Jackson can do with speed increase because that would be tough to do in a short amount of time. Plus you can either run or you can't. Watching film recruits like Mayberry and Stephan Robinson would make the secondary faster just be stepping on campus. Mayberry will be the fastest corner once he signs. I watched him run 4.48 and he slipped.
Right after the game I just felt somewhat negative because of the final outcome. But if you go back and watch the game you see good things they didn't sustain them. There are some young players that show promise like Duckworth. He runs well. DJ Williams got in the backfield a couple times by beating his man. The hard thing to watch is just trying to be patient because you want to see progress right now.
