Texas Tech Opponent Prospectus // Texas Longhorns
by Seth C on Jul 13, 2009 10:00 AM CDT
in Texas Tech Football
22 comments
2009 Texas Tech Opponent Prospectus
Game 1: North Dakota Fighting Sioux // Game 2: Rice Owls // Game 3: Texas Longhorns
The Red Raiders face a daunting task in the third game of the season of going to Austin to face the Longhorns, who no doubt remember 39-33 (how can you not) and are looking to be one of the preseason favorites to play in the BCS championship game.
Join me after the jump for a closer look at the Texas Longhorns.
General Information
| Opponent | University of Texas |
| Nickname | Longhorns |
| Location | Austin, TX |
| Enrollment | 37,406 |
| Conference | Big 12 |
| Head Coach | Mack Brown |
| 2008 Record | 12-1 (7-1) |
| Starters Returning/Lost | 14/8 |
| Blogs | Burnt Orange Nation Barking Carnival |
| Links | 2009 Spring Roster |
Statistics
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| Statistic | Texas | Texas Tech |
| Pass Offense | 308.31 (7) | 413.15 (1) |
| Rush Offense | 167.46 (41) | 117.84 (94) |
| Total Offense | 475.77 (9) | 531.00 (4) |
| Scoring Offense | 42.38 (5) | 43.77 (3) |
| Pass Efficiency | 175.02 (2) | 158.76 (9) |
| Sacks Allowed | 2.00 (65) | 1.00 (4) |
| Pass Defense | 259.38 (104) | 242.23 (94) |
| Rush Defense | 83.54 (3) | 140.38 (61) |
| Total Defense | 342.92 (51) | 382.62 (79) |
| Scoring Defense | 18.77 (18) | 27.85 (74) |
| Pass Efficiency Defense | 124.21 (59) | 130.56 (72) |
| Sacks | 3.62 (1) | 2.62 (18) |
| Tackles For Loss | 6.92 (19) | 4.85 (95) |
| Turnover Margin | 0.15 (49) | 0.62 (22) |
Top Returners
| Category | Player |
| Rushing | Vondrell McGee (88 / 376 yds / 4 TD) |
| Passing | Colt McCoy (332-433 / 3,859 yds / 34 TD / 8 Int) |
| Receiving | Jordan Shipley (89 rec. / 1,060 yds / 11 TD) |
| Tackles | Roddrick Muckelroy (102) |
| Sacks | Sergio Kindle (10.0) |
| Interceptions | Earl Thomas (2) |
A Few Things
- So Good on Offense: I really don't like gushing about opposing programs, but UT looks to be near unstoppable on offense. I know, I'm exaggerating a bit, but the biggest piece to the offensive puzzle is replacing Quan Cosby's 92 catches, but there's obviously plenty of talent on UT's roster to make this happen. Jordan Shipley, Malcolm Williams and a host of other quality receivers return to give Texas lots of options.
- Rushing Forward: I've listed McGee as the leading returning rusher, although the leading rusher is actually McCoy, who was almost 200 yards ahead of McGee. Dr. Saturday espouses on the lack of the UT rushing game better than I ever could, and the only think I could add is that with a healthier running game, McCoy could be even that much more effective. It seems silly to have the cream of the recruiting crop go to UT and your best rusher is McCoy. Just doesn't seem "right". You would seem that you would want to limit the number of hits that McCoy takes, mostly because he's so good in the pocket passing the ball to his teammates, and having a more efficient running game that doesn't rely on him seems like it would benefit McCoy tremendously.
- D-Line Losses: The Longhorns lose quite a bit of talent and production along their defensive line, including Brian Orakpo (40 tackles / 17.5 TFL / 11.5 sacks), Roy Miller (42 tackles / 10.5 TFL / 5.5 sacks) and Henry Melton (26 tackles / 8.5 TFL / 4 sacks). The good thing for Texas is that they're moving Kindle to DE full-time and Lamarr Houston is a true force along the defensive line.
- Looking Out for Sergio: I really have no business commenting on this, but this is more about Kindle as a person and not as a player. If Kindle has some sort of problem, and I know there's no evidence that alcohol was involved in his latest incident, but if he does have a problem, I hope that there's someone on the UT staff that insists/demands/requires that he get professional help. I don't care if no one knows a thing about this, and honestly, no one should. Kindle has too much to lose, both from a human being perspective and from a professional perspective to simply push this under the rug. I know, this is all a bit to sappy, but we're still talking about a 20 or 21 year old guy that's really talented and for whatever reason is still trying to figure it out. I also can't help but think that if UT suspends Kindle, folks could imply that he's done something wrong, although as of right now he's done nothing illegal, but if they do nothing, then the staff might come under criticism for not taking the reins on the issue. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
- Improving the Pass Defense: I'm thinking that UT finds a little better balance this year and the 104th ranking will improve, although I don't think I'm jumping out on any limbs to write that the general perception is that the rush defense will be worse this year. I'm not sure what the balance is and how successful UT will be stopping the run, but with the infusion of the spread offense, fewer teams are relying on the running game it may be more important to get a rush on the opposing passer and then stopping the run is somewhat of an afterthought.
- Improving TO Margin: If you would have asked me, I would have certainly said that Texas would be one of the top turnover forcing teams, but that wasn't the case at all. In fact, the Longhorns only had 6 interceptions for the year, 3 of which were from graduating CB Ryan Palmer, but the defense as a whole did force 10 fumbles. With such a big, talented and hard-hitting defensive front, I would have expected more than 10 gained fumbles for the year and now that most of them have graduated or moved on, I'm thinking that this number might decrease. Because UT doesn't turn the ball over much, I don't know how much of an issue this really is, but I have to think that increasing that turnover margin is going to be a point of emphasis with Will Muschamp this year.
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interceptions
thank goodness they didn’t have that 7th interception last year. I remember coughing up my stomach when that interception went through the hands of that freshman on the last drive!
off topic. It says that the enrollment at UT is 37,000 I thought they were more along the lines of 55,000
UT
does have over 50,000 students. See page 3 of this report. It’s not allowing me to link some reason, so here’s the whole URL.
I think maybe that was only Undergrads? Tech has about 30k, but I think there are only 24-26K in undergrads.
Yep
I used the first big number that I saw on the UT Wikipedia page. I’m lazy, but I’m trying to be consistent.
Go Raiders . . .
Double-T Nation
Are we getting money for moving this game up? I think it would have been much more in our favor to have kept it where it originally was. Texas would have been in the middle of their difficult streak of opponents. Potts would have found his rhythm. I realize being on national tv is a big deal, and I am not saying we can’t pull this off, but there is no way we would not have been picked up for tv later in the season, and we would have had a much better chance. Make me understand why moving this game up was a good idea.
Leach
I’m making this up, but there could be some validity to it:
First, we need all the money we can get to cover his new contract as well as the raises his staff got. But more importantly maybe Meyers thinks it is worth setting Leach up for a huge disappoint on nat’l tv so that the annual competitors that try to lure him from TTU will take a year off. It does get old hearing about him interviewing every December with a host of suitors. I realize that no AD in his right mind would actually trade a loss, especially to UT, to not have to deal with Leach’s wandering spirit (hence the note at the beginning of this reply)… I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.
Seriously...
I don’t think moving this game this year would have made any difference with the way our schedule works out. Most would predict we lose regardless and yes a little more play time for the QB would probably be advantageous. I look at this as though nobody really knows what we have this season including us. It could be a huge surprise for UT or it could be a meltdown. Normally, I would prefer to play this game late but this season I’m open to it as my expectations are lower and I can honestly see Tech keeping this game interesting. I don’t think the captain wants another nationally televised game to result in what happened in Oklahoma. I think he will pull out all the stops to win this one. I’m not saying it’s going to happen but I do have a sense it can happen. Special teams will be completely revamped this season with a great coach. Freshman are going want to shine on national television if given a chance to play. The tech running game will be a huge factor in ’09. If tech can make things happen in the secondary I believe we are in this game. Lastly, my prediction is OU and UT will both suffer loses to lesser ranked teams this season. Tech and OSU could be in a horse race for 2nd in the south. Sound crazy???
I don’t see how playing early in the year helps Tech more than UT. If anything, I think it puts at a distinct disadvantage. Tech never comes out of the gate of a new season with all pistons firing. Plus, we are the team breaking in a bunch of new guys and former part-timers at critical positions. UT is a national title contender and loaded everywhere but RB.
Texas won’t take us lightly, especially with revenge on their minds. They will do everything they can to lay 60 on us. I hope we can get a few bunch of lucky breaks and keep it close going into the fourth qtr. If that happens, we have a great chance. But I think it will be a long shot. We’ll obviously improve as the season goes along and the new guys settle in, so I wish this game was where it originally showed up on the sked.
So nobody seems to know why Tech allowed this change to happen, but we are all in agreement that this does not look like a good idea? We better be getting a lot of cash out of this.
Well, we did have this conversation like 6 months ago and I’m sure we’ll have it again the week of the game, but as I recall, alot of the people on here were thinking, early loss doesn’t hurt as much???Maybe, and ABC/ESPN has a contract to show ALL conference games, so it would have been on ABC that night in Nov. had we still been highly ranked. But I’m guessing they had to sweeten the pot quite a bit to get us to change our schedules and sensing there are not too many barnburner match-ups that time of year, ABC might have been more than willing to pay big bucks to get the ratings. So for me, and I’m taking a page from JdeeTTU, here, If we HAD gotten straight-up paid big bills, and we were going to be in the hostile confines of the whorns anyways, with a new QB, and it pays to keep the best coach/asst. coaches, maybe that was their reasoning.
I’m not saying it’s my reasoning though. But it is very easy for me, who is by no means a million dollar donor, to demand that we hire this guy, keep that guy, and while you’re at it, build us a new stadium, etc…I can honestly see why they would have done that just as I can understand why we get to play ULaLa, and a directional,international, atlanctic team from Florida from time to time. Texas can afford to turn down that deal, maybe we are not to the point where we can. All of my reasoning hinges on money being the reason and I just don’t know. (I know I was windy in that comment, but cut me some slack, it’s a long Summer)
speaking of the stadium
Anyone in Lubbock have any recent pics of the east side they could share?
"56,000 screaming crazies in The Jones rockin' as it has never rocked before" - Terry Bowden
If you not having fun....then your not playing the game right.
Houston game was a condition
from what I can remember, part of this deal was that the Tech/Houston game was also going to be televised, but I can’t find a story to back that up. That made two feature games in a row for Tech and more dough. Anybody remember that?
Yes, this is right
The deal (although I can’t find it anywhere this morning) is that TT gets on the television on ESPN/ABC for both games.
Go Raiders . . .
Double-T Nation
No chance
We went from underdogs to a LOCK to lose. We’re just gonna get smoked. And it’s not even gonna be close. Agreeing to be on national tv does nothing for your school if you just get owned. This is just going to re-assert the belief that last year was a fluke, and Tech Football is a joke compared to the real Big 12 powers.
imagine if we came out of the gate
4-0 it really unlikely but i think we can do it, we beat texas in 02 when we were bigtime underdogs
by houstonrockets1313 on Jul 13, 2009 6:45 PM CDT reply actions
Maybe the toughest game the Raiders play
Playing in Stillwater or Lincoln is without a doubt a test. But playing in Austin that’s a going to be a real hell hole. The thing is we are overdue for win in Austin. As has been said the Longhorns will be viewing this as a payback game . So be it. The emerging Raider defense is going to play well. The offense is going to be fine. Might be two three plays we want back but over all I’m betting it stays close and we get chance to win it in the 4th quarter. Again the harsh glaring light of reality says we face off against the best team in the Big 12. Doesn’t mean we won’t compete. I just don’t see the Horns having their collective game any more "in tune" than we are at that point in the season. So if we get a great game from our 2 deep D line rotation, a couple of pass break ups or an interception then it’s a toss up. The Potts arm is going to shred the Longhorns. The Batch, H. Jeffers duo will rush for over 100 yards. We are in this game to the end. Special teams play figures to swing the result – perhaps a punt return, a blocked kick, a field goal is very likely the deciding play in this game. I feel good about our chances.Think about the boost the team gets from a win in Austin.
Won't be pretty...
I would love to be optimistic but I have been to the last several games in Austin and, with the exception of 2003, they have spanked us pretty badly…especially when they have good teams, which this year’s version certainly is. Someone mentioned “hanging 60” on us. That could very well be the outcome.
I think we’ll be up for it and I think Leach will have us (and himself) prepared, but we are just going to be too green, too early in the season, in too many areas on the field to keep up. I just hope we can turnaround with a good performance against Houston. That game scares me because we’ll be expected to win that one.
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