Positives Outweigh Negatives

The general consensus among local and national media is that Texas earned a mixed review Saturday against Rice. While we agree with the consensus, B.O.R. says that the positives outweighed the negatives yesterday and urges Horn fans to maintain their sanity and trust that all is well.

Every big time program knows there is room for improvement after its opener, and Texas is no exception. The downhill running game will be a work in progress for a few weeks most likely, and the guess here is that Tre Newton will be the starting tailback by the Tech game in two weeks. Cody Johnson can still be a great bruising change of pace and we're confident he'll still have a good year.

The defense had a mixed first half, looking sluggish for at least two drives and needing two great momentum plays by Keenan Robinson that allowed them to breathe easier and play loose by mid-2nd quarter. Kenny Vaccaro was all over the field, making plays and just being an-out ball hawk. The secondary looks great with Curtis Brown, Aaron Williams, Christian Scott and Blake Gideon, but we would rather see Vaccaro on the field in place of Chykie Brown, with Williams taking Chykie's spot at corner and Kenny taking Aaron's place as nickel back. I think Muschamp will do this.

The downhill running game (if we can call it that), would benefit from a two-back set, either I-formation or pro-set split backs. The lone back running into ostensible "holes" created by our O-line just doesn't look like it's going to work, and we've seen Davis use two backs effectively back in the day.

Gilbert looked comfortable out of play-action, but straight drops with a TE and RB contributing to "max protect" pass plays will yield the greatest results. Garrett doesn't need four or five targets but should be able to deploy the ball downfield with only three receivers. Think of the USC passing offense under Palmer, Leinart, Sanchez.

The Wyoming game Saturday will be tinged with further emotion (there was already a 9/11 tribute planned), as a Wyoming linebacker was killed in an auto accident last weekend when he fell asleep at the wheel. Mack will likely call the Wyoming coach and offer condolences and advice on how to cope with this kind of tragedy. Remember, Mack dealt with a similar situation with Cole Pittman middle of last decade.

We should have a preview podcast (episode 2) up tomorrow or Friday, so stay tuned. Also let us know your thoughts about episode 1 by leaving comments here or on our facebook page.