Nov 11, 2017 by [ "James R. Miller" ]
Categories: football Tags: football longhorns tim-beck wescot-eberts

Apparently, I have an abject lack of understanding about the Longhorn's O

Wescott Eberts is again defending Tim Beck and placing the blame for our inept offensive performances on injuries.

Here’s a link to the article. In Mr. Eberts defense, the article decently lists the injury woes and then provides some context about how we lost more depth due to transfers. (Conveniently not discussing whether or not our staff encouraged the transfers or fought to keep the transfers.)

However, his article concludes like this:

…And so instead of understanding why the offense consistently fails to show improvement from week to week, a difficult task due to the changing levels of competition and the challenges of a difficult schedule, fans are instead reflexively blaming Beck.





In doing so, those fans demonstrate an abject lack of understanding about why the offense is where it is.





Sad.

Before Connor Williams went out, he had four quarters of him in the Maryland Game, 4 quarters of him in the SJSU game, a 1 quarter in the USC game. And, despite my abject lack of understanding about the offense, he, along with the rest of the O-line) had regressed from last season, in my opinion.

To my eye, it looks like we may be running a blocking-scheme that’s too complex and need to simplify it. Maybe they’re just too green or not strong enough to properly zone block. We can’t force our O-line to be the offense that Herman and Beck wish for right now. They can go out and recruit for that over time. Although I hope they will make good uses of redshirts if they can.

One of my favorite comments (and the source of my anxiety / fear over Beck) was this comment by Mr. Hudabega:

Well done chronicle of the injury situation on offense.

Now let’s all hold hands, sing Kumbayah, and give Tim Beck another season to prove to us that he’s a shitty OC while hoping that recruiting and the rest of the coaching staff doesn’t fall apart around him.

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I’m firmly in the camp that if you’re questioning whether or not to keep your OC in the system, it’s better to fire in the off season and replace him with the best OC available, instead of getting stuck in a mid season firing and scramble to replace the duties.

I’m just getting vibes of the 2014 season over again. (And to a lesser extent the 2013 defense; even though Diaz has cleared his name due to recent successes at Miami.) A strong defense able to make adjustments barely keeping us in games while our offense sputters about doing nothing.

With an OC that was utterly unable to adapt to the players he had right now. Not in the future. With a head coach that was sincere and well intentioned, but still made the wrong choice to retain the OC whether it was for loyalty’s sake, continuity, or whatever other buzzword you want to use.

Anyone remember what the 2015 and 2016 seasons were like? Anybody remember the “errbody” meme when Charlie Strong was lighting it up recruiting and lauded as a genius recruiter?

Do you not remember the hype? The “Texas is back” BS that ESPN so desperately wanted to be true so they could milk the Longhorn Network cash cow?

I’m also getting really tired of hearing, “Well Herman currently has the #2 recruiting class.” Charlie had good classes too; and look where we are. It matters much less on your recruiting ranking if you are not able to successfully develop players and design a system around the assets you have.

Has Herman suffered a Kansas-level embarrassment yet? Thankfully no, not yet. But every week, I keep bludgeoning myself over the head having to watch an offense digging a hole in the sand and sticking their head in it. And saying, injuries notwithstanding, “why did he call that play…”

To be perfectly clear: I am not calling for Herman’s head or for the school to be looking to fire him. He needs 3 seasons minimum. But I don’t feel that way about under-performing assistant coaches. You show the fans your ability to adapt to adversity and adjust over the course of a season. I see that in Todd Orlando. I see that in our TE coach. I’m really struggling to see that with the offense as a whole.

And to me, that’s why I’m sad about the offense, and I don’t think it’s due to an abject lack of understanding about our offense.

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