First of all, let me say that it is very refreshing to have the fans, press, and bloggers start to calm down about this years losing trend. Losing does not come easy to the Longhorn brethren, and the trend of losses this season has brought down seemingly the fury of Hell itself.  Orange blood is winning blood, but we do have a newly re-organized team, and plenty of mistakes were made to facilitate the losses with UCLA and Iowa State, especially. 

I thought Mack Brown did a very good job with his Monday evening press conference after the Baylor game.  He was humbled, honest, knew his facts, and was talking like a head coach should speak, instead of showing frustration like he did after the Iowa State game.  He was clear about expectations, that we can now focus on work, instead of worrying about Titles, Championships, school records, or even a Bowl Game.  I’m glad to see him take hold of this situation and realize that it’s up to the coaches now to do the work of fixing some of the mistakes being made consistently.  I think the coaches, trainers, and staff have been a little slow to pick up on the fact that it was time to start earning their pay starting with Spring training.  I think they all thought Garrett Gilbert was going to come out somehow and just be amazing, which makes their job so much easier.  So, I was pleased to see Coach Brown speak like the head coach he is made of.

I thought Texas played a much harder, and more determined game against Baylor, than I have seen all season.  So, at least for that game, the whole issue of morale and commitment to playing their best, the Texas Longhorns showed a great deal of improvement, which means the coaches have already started to get serious about working with things.

Baylor has an explosive offense, having racked up 683 total yards in their previous game against Kansas State, whom we will play this Saturday. In that game, Baylor RB Jay Finley set a new school record of 250 yards on the ground, with 2 touchdowns, and QB Robert Griffin set his career high with 404 passing yards, and 4 touchdowns.

The Texas defense came ready and prepared, and I think Muschamp did his homework well, with his defense holding Baylor to 328 yards total.  That’s half of what Baylor is capable of doing. It’s very hard to criticize the Texas defense, given the fact they held Finley to 116 total yards on 15 carries, and also considering they held Griffin to 239 total passing yards on 39 attempts.  The Texas defense played furiously, for exactly 58 minutes of the game.  During those other 2 minutes of the game, the Texas defense let through 3 touchdowns, (1) in the 2nd quarter, a 59 yard TD pass, (2) in the 3rd quarter, a 69 yard TD run by Finely, and (3) in the 4th quarter, a 30 yard TD pass.

Before that 69 yard run by Finely during the 3rd quarter, our defense had held him to an embarrassing 47 yards on the ground, and without the two TD passes by Griffin we had managed to hold him to a little over 200 yards.  Very, very impressive Mr. Muschamp and team.  However, with an offense capable of racking up almost 700 yards a game, even one mistake can be a costly one.  So, while the Texas defense played better than I’ve ever seen, the 3 TDs that came through, were clearly misreads, or mistakes, with the Texas defense.  That’s the painful part of a game like Baylor played.  They get 62 plays during the game, and 59 of them are met with a top notch defense, then 3 of those 62 plays turn into a Big Play because that furious defense just missed their man.

(1) On a 3rd and 10, outside field goal range, and with 0.43 left on the 1st half clock, Griffin hits Terrance Williams, wide open, who runs in a 59 yard TD pass.  Our defense has one tackle that can’t quite grab him, there was no coverage on Williams, and you can see the footage in the background of about 3 Texas players standing still, watching the ball fly through the air.  They don’t even try to move in the direction where the football is flying.  Who was supposed to cover Williams?  Blake Gideon?  With 0.39 left on the clock, Texas was able to get within field goal range, and Justin Tucker set the half time score to Texas 12 - Baylor10.  If someone would have covered Williams, Baylor would have had to punt, and we would have gone into the half Texas 9/12 - Baylor 3.

(2) Late in the 3rd quarter, the score is Texas 19 - Baylor 17.  We had been struggling offensively, mainly with Red Zone conversions. 12 of our 19 points were from Justin Tucker field goals. On a 1st and 10 after a Texas punt, Finley slips through the Texas defense for a 69 yard TD run.  On a blitz, he split through two linebackers, neither one was there to plug the hole.  The linebackers just didn’t look for the hole, or see it.  Once Finley is clear, he’s gone, you don’t catch him, like our runners can be caught.  Baylor goes for 2 and misses.

(3) With about 8 minutes left to play, on 3rd and 9, on the UT 30 yard line, Baylor 23 - Texas 19, the Texas defense is set to force a field goal, which would have left plenty of time for Texas to tie the game, and push it into overtime, but Kendell Wright slips through uncovered and catches a 30 yard TD pass. Where was the coverage on Wright?  I think that was the play that sealed the game.  It’s feasible we could have caught up to a one touchdown lead, but not 11 points.  Tucker does manage one more field goal for a Final score of Baylor 30 - Texas 22.


The Garrett Gilbert Syndrome

Now that I have all that out of the way, and with very mixed feelings, pointed out where our most excellent defense just messed up on 3 plays out of 62, opening up a whopping 21 points on the board for Baylor, I’d like to address my most serious concern.  I call it the Garrett Gilbert Syndrome.

This syndrome manifests itself in the thinking process of sports writers, bloggers, and many Longhorn fans.  Characteristics of the Syndrome appear to be a sort of fixation that Garrett Gilbert is somehow responsible for the success or failure of the entire Texas Longhorn team.  The syndrome had mutated to infectious proportions between the UCLA game and Baylor game.  It does appear to be calming down some after the Baylor game, but still very prevalent.

The underlying premise with this Syndrome is that Garrett Gilbert is young, still maturing as a QB, and does not demonstrate much leadership ability, which has had a negative effect on the performance of everyone on the team.  This syndrome began to manifest itself after the UCLA game, where Gilbert’s lack of offensive leadership and performance, demoralized the Texas defense to the point where they just couldn’t play, if Gilbert’s offense was going to keep making mistakes.

I did not say this syndrome was based in reality, but victims of the Syndrome are plagued by this fixation that every problem somehow can be traced back to Gilbert himself.  In the above scenario, note that Gilbert doesn’t even play defense, and so he’s not even on the field. He’s over on the sideline, sitting down, with headphones on talking to Greg Davis, but those afflicted with this Syndrome can easily see that just looking at Gilbert’s facial expressions, or maybe the way he holds his head, can infect all 11 players on the defense to where they just can’t even play anymore.

Likewise, with the Baylor game mentioned above, sports casters could not refrain from mentioning that Gilbert just doesn’t have the leadership that he needs to win games.  Again, probably not based in reality, since the 3 big plays our Texas defense let through, was completely unrelated to anything Gilbert could have done.   Nevertheless, the Syndrome tends to see Gilbert as responsible for losing the game, even though he doesn’t coach the defense, or wasn’t on the field.  With more leadership Gilbert should have made up for those 21 points our defense put on the board, but he didn’t.

We had a real problem with Red Zone conversions with the Baylor game. Those with the Garrett Gilbert Syndrome translate this into Gilbert just not making the right decisions.  Case in point. Opening drive for Baylor, where Sam Acho forces a fumble, and eventually recovers it on the Baylor 39.  Within 4 or 5 plays Gilbert has us at 1st and goal, on the Baylor 9 yard line.  He attempts two passes.  I can’t remember which one it was, the first to Matthews or the second pass to Kirkendoll, but he made the pass under tight Red Zone pressure, with the receiver under very tight coverage inside the end zone.  It was probably one of the best throws I’ve ever seen in college football.  It hit the receiver dead center of his chest, and he had both hands touching the ball, then he just drops the ball.  A beautiful TD pass, but for one with the GG Syndrome, the pass was thrown too hard, or had the wrong spin, or the receiver didn’t like the way Gilbert looked when he threw it.  That was 7 points my man, instead of the 3 we had to settle for.  The pass was ruled incomplete.

The very next Texas drive, it’s 3rd and 11, we’re in field goal range on the Baylor 40, Gilbert throws long to Kirkendoll, who had both hands around the ball, but doesn’t keep it.  The pass was ruled dropped. We settle for 3 points.  Those afflicted with the Garrett Gilbert syndrome clearly see that Gilbert’s timing was off, or too much spin again, or maybe Gilbert forgot to wipe the ball and it was slippery with sweat from Gilbert’s hands, all possible consequences of someone who is lacking leadership.  Again, we settle for 3 instead of 7.

I thought it was the quarter back’s job to deliver the ball to the receiver, then it was the receiver’s job to catch and hold onto the ball.  Considering that the previous two passes were thrown perfectly, and hit their targets with total accuracy, I fail to see how the loss of those two touchdowns can be Gilbert’s fault.

Also, Kudos to the officials.  They really got a workout this game.  Heck, Curtis Brown put them through two official reviews that probably took overall 15 minutes.  Brown fumbled not one, but two, punt returns.  Somehow, that is Gilbert’s fault, although Gilbert doesn’t play on special teams.  To Brown’s credit, neither of the fumbles were game changing events.  Texas recovered each time.  Brown even ran back a punt return to the 50 yard line at one point.

You can credit Baylor’s defense with our lack of Red Zone conversions, and low 3rd down conversion rates.  They basically took 6 Red Zone opportunities, a possible 42 points of touchdowns, and turned them into 6 field goal attempts, of which Justin Tucker made good on 5, giving us 15 points, instead of the possible 42.  If Tucker had not stepped in to save the day, those with the GG syndrome would have had some way of pointing out Tucker’s performance was infected with Gilbert’s lack of leadership.

We also recovered only one of five Baylor turnovers.  One of those 5 fumbles resulted from sacking Baylor QB Griffin, where our Texas man falls completely on the ball, his whole body covering the ball, the ball pops out, and is recovered by Baylor.  Even when we’re laying right on top of the ball we can’t seem to hold onto it.  A Texas recovery would have left us on the Baylor 20 yard line.  Again, kudos to the Texas defense, forcing 5 fumbles to our 1.

Mid 3rd quarter, Griffin pass intercepted by Christia Scott, with only small return, but left us with good field position on the Texas 40 yard line. Flags thrown, two penalties against Texas, block in the back, and personal foul, result is 25 yard loss.  We’re now on the Texas 15, when we should have been mid field.  Again, Gilbert wasn’t even on the field, but he now has to start a drive from the 15 instead of the 40, and not from anything he did, both penalties preventable.

Also 3rd quarter, 4th down and 3, on the Baylor 33.  This late in the game I guess Brown decides to go for it.  Nice throw, complete pass to Williams, who promptly steps out of bounds.  We have the first down, except there’s a flag on the field, pass interference against Williams, 15 yards.  We’re now at 4th and 18, so going for it is out of the question.  Another game changing penalty against Texas, Williams pushed his coverage down, then caught the ball.  I fail to see how Gilbert made Williams do that.

Texas was set back by over 100 yards of penalties, several of them were game changing penalties.  None of them committed by Gilbert.  One of the false starts was costly.

The only interception Gilbert is being credited with is seriously questionable.  Late in the 3rd quarter, Gilbert throws about a 15 - 20 yard pass, I think to Greg Smith, which hits his target so perfectly in the chest, and he has both hands around the ball, but Smith is hit, and forgets his job is to hold the ball tightly after catching it, the ball pops up in the air and lands in the hands of an all-too-willing-to-catch-it Baylor Bear.  That was clearly a someone-didn’t-hold-onto-the-ball, not an interception.  That was a game changing play, as it set Griffin up on the Texas 11 yard line, and an eventual touchdown resulted.  Nevertheless, Gilbert is credited with an interception, even though his accuracy was perfect, and the receiver caught the ball.

Gilbert is being credited with one sack as opposed to Griffin’s five.  I suppose that’s Gilbert’s fault though, even though that’s why he has an offensive line in front of him to hopefully keep him from being sacked.  Bad decision making, he just didn’t get out of the way quick enough.  To Gilbert’s credit, I’ll point out that in the Baylor game he took more than a few hard hits, waiting for the last 10th of the second to throw the ball, which is the mark of a quarterback that deserves some respect.

We’re under the 2 minute marker on our own 19, 3rd down, a false start moves us back to the 14.  Gilbert throws a nice 21 yarder, 1st down stuff, to Goodwin who catches it, he just forgets to hold it. Goodwin get’s slightly bumped for the tackle and the ball goes flying out of his arms.  Baylor recovers.  I’m thinking wtf, even when we catch the ball we can’t hold onto it.  He didn’t get hit hard, just bumped a little.  Gilbert’s fault.

Now, I’m not saying Gilbert is Heisman material, or that he’s perfect.  He did overthrow one pass, and under throw another pass.  He attempted a very difficult end zone TD pass to the side line, and was about 6 inches too long.  The receiver was well covered, and those 6 inches could have meant a deflection.  The receiver had his left hand on the ball, just couldn’t real it in.  Officially 6 passes were dropped, 2 of those were TD passes.  A few of his passes were tipped, some just covered too well, and others ruled incomplete when they were catchable. He threw away one, maybe more.

What I’m trying to clear up with this Garrett Gilbert Syndrome going around, is that Mr. Gilbert is not the problem with the Texas Longhorns.  The 22 points Texas put on the board against Baylor were put there by Justin Tucker and Garrett Gilbert.  Not one of our receivers, or one of our runners put a point on the board.  And then, our defense, for as well as they played, they did help put 21 points on the Baylor side of the board.  Garrett Gilbert did not lose the game to Baylor, his teammates did.

I see this as a year of re-organizing and training, which means the work that needs to be done lies at the doorsteps of the coaches.  I am glad to see Mack Brown taking that seriously.  We will continue to gain some experience as a team, since Kansas State, Oklahoma State University, and even A&M are playing good football this year, and any one of, or all of those, teams could be another potential loss for the beloved Longhorns.  The losses show us what to work on, and now that the coaches are taking their jobs more seriously, with the work we do this year, and the recruits coming in next year, we will be back on top very, very soon.  Hopefully all of our 2011 5-star recruits will stick with us.


The University of Texas Longhorns
* 161 consecutive games on the AP top 25
* 9 consecutive years with 10 or more wins
* 4 Time National Champions (almost 5)
* The most 5-star recruits for 2011 than any other NCAA team
* Playing Orange Blooded Football since 1893
* 2nd most wins in the NCAA (849)
* Number 2 in all time NCAA Bowl Appearances (49)
* Number 5 in all time NCAA Bowl Wins
* From 2000 - 2009 we won 114, lost 21 Games
* That period, Mack Brown, has the highest win percentage (0.844)
* Darrell K. Royal holds the next highest win percentage (0.810)
* Season 2005 we scored 652 points in 13 games

(Source: golonghorns.wordpress.com)