Sr. Running Back Fozzy Whittaker

#22 Texas lost to #6 Oklahoma State 38-26 yesterday in Austin. But it was a competitive game and Texas looked significantly improved week-over-week.

Highlights:

• Fozzy Whittaker returned a kick-off for a touchdown for the 2nd week in row. He also looked good running the ball from the RB and wildcat postions.
• Texas went with one QB for the entire game – David Ash. He looked improved over last week, but still made some freshman mistakes. He doesnt’ seem real comfortable with the deep ball.
• Malcolm Brown continues to look great with 138 yards rushing and 2 TDs.
• CB Carrington Byndom looked good against a great set of OSU receivers.
• The defense was able to get lined up against the extremely fast-paced OSU offense and looked good short of 2 huge mistakes that resulted in 2 easy, long runs for touchdowns by OSU. The defense also scored a safety.

After watching the Texas A&M/Baylor game yesterday, this is looking like at most a 3 loss season for Texas. Texas should be able to take Baylor despite it being a road game. They may have a hard time with A&M on the road.

All-in-all, Texas is a significantly improved team over last year. With all the youth and talent they have, next year looks even brighter.

#1 Oklahoma beat #10 Texas 55 – 17 today. OU looked great and Texas looked very ordinary, primarily due to inexperience at the quarterback and corner back positions. The Longhorn QBs turned it over and the CBs gave up big plays. Not a good combination. Next up is OSU. Hopefully Texas can step it up.

#17 Texas redeemed last year’s loss to Iowa State with a 37 – 14 victory on Saturday night in Iowa. Texas dominated getting up by 34 – 0 at halftime. They looked good on offense, defense, and special teams. They created turnovers and had plenty of big plays. Texas plays #1 OU next week in Dallas. Hook ‘em Horns!

Junior TE DJ Grant catches one of his three TDs.

Texas continues to improve each week beating UCLA 49 -20. This avenges a loss at home last year to UCLA.

Case McCoy started the game at quarterback, sharing snaps with David Ash. McCoy went 12 of 15 for 168 yards and 2 TDs. Ash went 3 for 3. Neither threw an interception.

I’m really looking forward to watching Texas become a contender in the Big 12 as their young players gain more experience.

Key Takeaways:

• McCoy looks like the real deal at QB.
• Freshmen Malcolm Brown and Jaxon Shipley continue to look good at RB and WR. These guys will be stars.
• D.J. Grant is emerging at TE with 3 TD catches.
• The defense grabbed 4 turn-overs and applied lots of pressure on opposing QBs.

Sophomore QB Case McCoy

#24 Texas squeaks by BYU 17-16. Texas looked horrible during the first half. But the defense played good enough to keep them in the game holding BYU to 13 points despite QB Garrett Gilbert’s 2 interceptions. He was booed out of the game by the hometown fans.

David Ash and Case McCoy (Colt McCoy’s younger brother) shared snaps during the second half to rally Texas to a come-from-behind victory. It sounds great to hear “McCoy to Shipley” again. Receiver Jaxon Shipley is Jordan Shipley’s younger brother. Both the older McCoy and Shipley are now playing in the NFL. McCoy has the most wins of any Texas QB and Shipley is the leading receiver. Perhaps we’re going to see a repeat.

Key takeaways:

• Garrett Gilbert has regressed. Neither the team, nor the fans are behind him. His time as starting QB should be at an end.
• Case McCoy looks like a viable replacement for Gilbert.
• The Texas running game continues to improve. The combination of Cody Johnson for short yardage and Malcolm Brown for explosiveness looks good and should only get better.
• The Texas defense is still be settling into the new system, especially in the secondary. But they showed signs of improvement in the 2nd half. They got stops when they needed them.

Sophomore Mike Davis

Texas beat Rice last night 34-9. While they probably should have won by more points, there were a few bright spots:

1. Quarterback Garrett Gilbert seems to have improved over last year throwing for 1 TD and no interceptions.
2. Texas appears to have 2 legitimate threats at wide receiver – Mike Davis and Jaxon Shipley.
3. The Texas running game finally showed signs of life with the highly anticipated debut of freshman Malcolm Brown running for 87 yards in just one half of action.

I can’t wait to actually seem them play. I had to listen to the radio broadcast for this game.

Hook ‘em Horns!

Big 12 Championship Game - Nebraska's in red, OU's in white.

I went back to Dallas to see the final Big 12 Championship Game. It was definitely worth it – got to see the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington and saw a very exciting game, not to mention getting some of my favorite local eats.

After going up 17-0 in the first half, #13 Nebraska loses a close one to #9 Oklahoma by a score of 23 – 20. This was the second straight year that Nebraska lost a close one in the Big 12 Championship Game. This is Nebraska’s final year in the Big 12. They move to the Big 10 starting next year.

There were about 80,000 people at the game. There seemed to be slightly more Nebraska fans. The place was really, really loud. I’ve never been to a football game with that much crowd noise. Though loud and passionate about their teams, everyone was well behaved. I was a little surprised by this. I was sitting in the lower level around a bunch of Nebraska fans. It was a great experience.

Baylor RB Jay Finley scores past Texas safety Christian Scott.

This week Texas falls to #25 Baylor 30-22. I don’t know what else to say. There’s always next year. Hook ‘em Horns!

How do you beat Nebraska one week and then lose to lowly Iowa State the next week? This is the worst Texas team that I’ve seen in a decade. It’s embarrassing. I’m too disgusted to write any more.

C’mon Horns, you can do better!

Soph. QB Garrett Gilbert scores one of his two rushing TDs.

Finally something good to write about Texas after 2 straight loses to UCLA and OU. Unranked Texas upset #5 Nebraska 20-13 on Saturday on the road in Lincoln. Nebraska receivers dropped just enough TD passes to allow Texas to hang on to an early lead. The Texas defense was good enough to have Nebraska’s Heisman Trophy candidate QB yanked in the 3rd quarter. The Texas offense opened up the playbook early allowing QB Garrett Gilbert to make things happen with his feet. Clearly Nebraska was not prepared for this as Gilbert scored 2 rushing TDs early. Hook ‘em Horns!