Googlology Football: Week 1

Ground Rules

Wake Forest vs. Baylor: (316,000 to 407,000)

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State: (321,000 to 295,000)

Oklahoma State vs. Washington State: (533,000 to 482,000)

Kansas vs. Florida International: (538,000 to 404,000)

Kansas State vs. North Texas: (336,000 to 413,000)

Nebraska vs. Western Michigan: (593,000 to 347,000)

Oklahoma vs. Chattanooga: (618,000 to 176,000)

Texas vs. Florida Atlantic: (394,000 to 329,000)

Texas A&M vs. Arkansas State: (377,000 to 345,000)

Texas Tech vs. Eastern Washington: (449,000 to 290,000)

Missouri vs. Illinois: (3,060,000 to 741,000)

Colorado vs. Colorado State: (649,000 to 335,000)

Winners: Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Missouri, and Colorado.

Loser: Kansas State

Googlology Football: Ground Rules

With only two days left until most of college football begins its season, I figured it was a good time to start up something I really enjoyed doing during March Madness, Googlology. If you are looking for tips from the ultimate-turbo-omniscient-probably-creepy-but-who-cares supercomputer that is Google, you have come to the right place. My take is that knowing and analyzing every single stat on every single team in the NCAA will only provide so much insight into the outcome of each game. If this season turns out anything like last season, even the most rigorous statistical analysis won't stand up to teams like Appalachian State, Stanford, and Kentucky. That's why, just like every other situation in my life when I can't figure out an answer, I'm turning to Google.

Ground Rules:

1. Each Big 12 "game" will be simulated two days before the actual game. Non-Saturday games do not apply.
2. Each game is played by individually searching the name of the two universities' football programs (i.e. "University of Texas Longhorn Football").
3. The team with the most total search results is the winner.
4. New result numbers will be found before each game.

Spring Scrimmage: Defense

I had to take a basketball break between writing up my reviews, but now I'm ready for more thought spewing.

 

Pom Girls: I feel that these girls are an integral part of every single sports success the University of Texas enjoys. I wonder if opposing teams practice ignoring our sirens? While I was taking notes on the scrimmage I wrote down "Pom Girls are hot" at least three times. Let's just say that if there was a cheerleader Final Four, they would be perennial contenders.  

Defense

Line: I noted before that Texas needs to make some moves on the defensive line to be successful next year, specifically a couple of our defensive ends need to be moved to tackle. The skill of our defensive tackle starters was apparent as they harassed both our running backs and quarterbacks all game long. The second team defensive tackles got pushed around with ease and looked like they were wearing roller skates at times. Roy Miller and Ben Alexander looked really solid and got to the quarterback more than once each. At defensive end the rotation varied greatly but the extreme level of talent was apparent. Senior Brian Orakpo is undoubtedly going to be a starter in the fall, but the coaches made an effort to give other players an opportunity to shine. Big Henry Melton started today, and it should be noted that he is no longer the fleet footed running back-slash-defensive end he used to be. He has clearly put on an immense amount of weight, and isn't nearly as agile as he was two seasons ago. Based on what I saw today, our best players all play defensive end. 

Linebackers:  My personal favorite (for no real reason) linebacker, Sergio Kindle, watched from the sideline today, but he wasn't missed much. Coach Muschamp had the defense in a Nickel formation most of the time, starting Rashad Bobino and Roddrick Muckelroy. Jared Norton and Keenan Robinson both split time between the first and second team defenses. I cannot express how much better our linebacker corps looks now than the one featured in last year's lackluster defense. I think Coach Boom has already, and will continue to make an incredible impact on our defense's performance. Specifically, the blitzing schemes I saw at this scrimmage were interesting, stunning, and actually variable. I noted blitzes from the cornerbacks, any or all of the linebackers, a safety or two, and sometimes none at all. The "sometimes not at all" is what made all the difference for me. The offense clearly had a much harder time adjusting to the blitz when they weren't 100% sure that it was coming every single time. 

Cornerbacks: Chykie Brown, Curtis Brown, Deon Beasley, and Brandon Foster all saw time with the first and second team defense. I was most impressed with Deon Beasley, who had the diving pass deflection, not Curtis Brown like I said earlier. The cornerbacks' experience was most easily spotted in their confidence in zone coverage. They played aggressively and purposefully not only in the zone, but in man coverage too. Most impressively of all, they allowed only 99 yards through the air in all. I said before that the aerial coverage would be paramount to a successful 2008 campaign, and I think today was a step in the right direction.

Safeties: Surprise! It's Blake Gideon! At one point, a guy sitting behind me said "I don't think that white safety has been out of the game yet," and he was right. Blake "the caucasian invasion" Gideon wins my most surprising player of the game award. At strong safety, this guy was in on literally 60% of the tackles, whether he was just support or not. What really struck me was his ability to sniff out the play before it even came to fruition. The best player on the defensive end of the field, however, was Earl Thomas by a long shot. He led the team in tackles with 6, played superior pass coverage, and just about never stopped charging. He was lined up at cornerback most of the day, but he is listed as a safety, so that's why I'm mentioning him here. Thomas also managed to be really disruptive in the backfield as Coach Boom's number one blitzer. My least favorite defensive player of the game was free safety Christian Scott. If Scott wants to make an impact next year he absolutely has to get more comfortable in zone defense. Just about every receiver was able to get open on him when the defense was in the zone. I can't imagine the panic he felt as he watched from 20 yards down field as his man, Jordan Shipley, dove at a deep pass he was supposed to be at the very least in the neighborhood of. 

Spring Scrimmage: Offense

Now that I've had some time to think about the game, I'm all ready to give my real-life thoughts.

Stadium: The new changes to the stadium are phenomenal. Our stadium is going to be a very imposing place to play when it is completed and full of Longhorn fans. The horseshoe is going to be two decks high the whole way around, with two lines of boxes in between. I really believe we are going to have one of the loudest stadiums in the nation at the beginning of next season.

Offense

Line: The first team offensive line stunned me, but not in a good way. The defense managed at least one sack on every single drive. If we want to run the spread style offense this year with Colt as our starting QB, we are going to need a lot more accountability from the linemen. Tray Allen really struggled against Roy Miller, and definitely gave up a few sacks that would have left Colt looking for his marbles. 

Running backs: With all the youtube highlight reels I keep stumbling across, I was expecting this crew to go to work today. After re-watching the game I've come to realize that the running backs were impressive, just not in the same way we're used to. With Jamaal Charles as our running back, success was measured by the number of 40 yard runs he completed in a game. With our current set of running backs, the success measuring-stick might have to be altered to include tough five and six yard runs that move the chains but aren't on Sport Center's nightly Top 10. Fozzy Whittacker and Vondrell McGee consistently hit the holes hard and ground out the short yardage situations, but had few dazzling explosive runs like we've come to expect from our running backs. Tre' Newton and Jeremy Hills had a few carries too, but both were plagued with the fumbles and are unlikely to get much playing time this fall. Vondrell was the acting starter, and in my opinion rightfully so.

Receivers: I can't say that any of the receivers had an outstanding day. Jordan Shipley, James Kirkendoll, and Quan Cosby were the acting starters, but none of them truly impressed me. Jordan Shipley had the most exciting performance with a 20+ yard reverse, a deep fingertip miss, and a number of solid possession receptions. I vote Quan Cosby for my preseason first-team highlight machine after the acrobatic show he put on today. I'm not sure if it's that the QB's think he is faster than he is, or if he just loves diving for catches, but Quan was flying all over the field (but not making many catches unfortunately). Cosby most likely would have held on to a deep heave he dove at had his catch not been interfered with. The backup wide receivers looked much improved from their showing at the Spring practice I attended. True freshman Dan Buckner's lower body strength and center of gravity control looked much improved, as did his overall speed and confidence on the field. I would love to see Buckner crack the starting lineup due to the fact that he is a big tall receiver that reminds me a whole lot of our last #4. Philip Payne has a great frame for a receiver and tons of potential, but has a very long way to go in terms of ball skills. 

Quarterbacks: I can tell already that today's quarterback performances are going to be the center of many off-season internet discussions. Predictably, Colt McCoy was the acting starter, John Chiles led the second team offense, and Sherrod Harris and G.J. Kinne traded snaps in the fourth quarter. I'm sure the coaches were hoping from a public relations standpoint that Colt would be awesome, John Chiles would be a little worse, and so forth in order to publicly validate all the hard work they've done analyzing every play of every practice. Unfortunately for them, the performances were all over the board. Colt had some great deep looks to a few different receivers, but didn't connect on any of them. John Chiles looked explosive running the ball, completed a few passes (he only completed one last season, so that's good enough for me), but had major misfires trying to hit Fozzy on an out route and Dan Buckner on a drag route. Sherrod Harris's passed well and ran the ball even better, but only received a handful of snaps. G.J. Kinne had the longest pass of the game deep to Dan Buckner coming across the middle of the field, but unfortunately it was probably the wobbliest pass of the day. Sherrod Harris is clearly over his injury, as he had no problem scampering up the field for a 30+ yard touchdown. Chiles had his own long run, but came up short of the touchdown. Interestingly, the team with the scrambling quarterbacks and the second string running backs outran the starters by over 100 yards, even though the majority of the ground work was done by the actual running backs. I'm a strong proponent of scrambling quarterbacks not just because of their ability to get out of sticky situations, but because the added running threat in the backfield puts a great deal more pressure on the defense. I think that the lopsided rushing stat shows just that. Final evaluation: Colt is our main guy for now because he is the more accurate passer and can run enough to get out of sticky situations, but it would be a travesty if both Chiles and Harris didn't get meaningful playing time next season. 

Spring Football: Initial Reactions

Oh my God I can't believe how far away more football is. I just got back from the football team's spring game, and I really did my best to just enjoy myself watching the game. I recorded it on TV too, so I'm going to write up a more in depth review once I've watched that. Also, by recording it I'll have something to nurse my sanity with when I'm watching the women's badminton qualifying matches during the summer sports drought. 

Offense:

During the first three quarters, the first team was led by Colt McCoy, and the second team by John Chiles. I was encouraged to see Colt throwing it down field more than what we're used to, but discouraged to see that he wasn't reading the deep routes as well as I would have expected. If Colt gets the majority of snaps this year, Jordan Shipley is going to finish the season with like a hundred billion yards. Spread out over a hundred billion receptions. Colt really seems to favor Shipley, but had some good looks to Quan Cosby as well. I was also expecting a little more out of the offensive line, as our young defensive line had no problem slowing the run and getting a few sacks. John Chiles looked strong, but clearly still has some work to do throwing the ball. I really believe, however, that the best performer on the offense was Sherrod Harris. On the very first snap he took, he threw a 17 yard laser. He followed it up a few plays later with two long runs, and for a touchdown. G.J. Kinne threw the longest pass of the scrimmage, and honestly I thought it was tipped. It wasn't even almost a spiral, but it went for 30+ yars. Also encouraging was the fact that some trick plays were called, but less encouraging was the fact that it was the same reverse. The first time went for a first down and almost a touchdown, and the second time it was picked up by the defense at the line of scrimmage. The running backs did not impress me as much as they did at the spring practices and also clearly have some work to do. I counted three fumbles, but because I was sitting pretty high up they might not have all been legitimate. 

Defense: 

I was expecting a veritable slaughter of the defensive backfield, but what I got instead was a passable performance by some young guys with very real potential. True freshman Blake Gideon actually got saw most of the action at strong safety, and more often than not did a reasonable job covering Jordan Shipley. Considering the huge gap in experience, I was impressed with what Gideon was able to do. Curtis Brown had a major diving pass deflection on Quan Cosby early in the first quarter that got me pretty excited too. The quality of starters at defensive tackle wasn't disparaging, but the lack of depth was apparent. When the starters weren't in, the running backs had a much easier time working it inside. 

Keeping feeding the addiction

It's like football off-season Christmas today; mackbrown-texasfootball.com posted its latest installment of tracking the horns:

Offensive highlight of the interview:
We came back this spring with an attitude that we had some young guys and we had some guys that we needed to get tested, so we're doing a lot more hitting. The scrimmage the last Wednesday before spring break I think we had 125 snaps or something, and all of it was live. I can't remember in the 10 years I've been here that we've had that many live snaps in a scrimmage, but we were able to evaluate a bunch of different things because of it...

Like I said before, I love the idea, but for the sake of Will Muschamp's unreceded hairline I hope there aren't any major injuries like the ones that plagued the Longhorns' lines last year.

Defensive highlight of the interview:
Football really boils down to blocking on offense and getting a hat on a hat, and on defense, getting off blocks and making tackles, and that's what we’re really trying to emphasize and toughness issues.

It's as if Coach Muschamp is actually Big Brother and knows exactly what to say to pacify me. I bet they got Chris Jesse to write a "How not to get fired at Texas handbook." Even though it sounds ludicrously basic, he perfectly illustrates the two main issues I had with the Horns' defense last year. If I see one more Texas linebacker hug-and-slide-off someone with the ball in the backfield I might actually poop in my hand and throw it onto the field. Boom, bet you didn't see that coming Stephen McGee.

AAS on running backs

The Austin American-Statesman has an article up about the Longhorns' running back candidates for next year with some quotes from  the coaches that make me feel reasonably optimistic about next year's offense.

"Maybe we'll be playing by committee for a while," Davis said. "Then we'll play the one who gets hot and we'll be fine."

The part that makes me excited about spending a silly amount of money on non-student season tickets next year is the second part of GD's statement. Not because he's, like, totally calling our running backs hawt, but because it indicates the commitment the coaching staff has taken to implementing the accountability system the Longhorn nation enjoyed so much last season. Furthermore, I've never had a major problem with the "running back by committee" system. Actually, if used properly I prefer it because it gives the opposing defense much more to worry about in terms of preparation and it keeps the backs as well rested (and therefore injury-free) as possible during games. 

Texas is tackling more this spring in an effort to toughen the team. That also allows coaches to scrutinize whether backs can break tackles.

I love the idea not only for its merit in seeing which of our talented but unproven ball carriers can actually play, but also for the sake of knowing which players on defense can actually bring someone down and not just forcefully snuggle offensive players to pieces.