So Texas Won...
Alright, by this time you should know Texas beat Nebraska 28-25.
After trailing 17-3 in the third quarter Ryan Bailey kicked a couple field goals. Then Jammal Charles went insaned, rushing for 216 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He ended the game with 290 yards on the ground.
If you read this week's Double Coverage you'd have read half my column on how Charles is pretty good and how he should be getting the ball more. Unfortunately, half of it was lost... I'm still not sure how.
Anyway, it's only fair — to myself — to post it here, so everyone can see my genius.
By Ryan Killian
Daily Texan Columnist
It’s time to stop saying Jamaal Charles needs to regain his confidence while limiting his carries and taking the ball away from him in crucial situations.
Hand him the pigskin and give him the chance earn it back.
Sure, that popping sound you’ve grown almost accustomed to during Texas games is the sound of 88,000 exasperated fans slapping their foreheads as the Longhorns fumble away an opportunity, but it’s not always Charles.
Vondrell McGee fumbled twice against Baylor, including once with the scrimmage line at Baylor’s one-yard line.
I know he wasn’t entirely to blame for that bungled pitch that resulted in a 14-point swing for the Bears, but if it had been Charles in his cleats the furor would have been palpable.
Brown’s coaching staff has given up on the run too early in almost every game this season. How can the running backs be effective when you make Colt McCoy throw it all the time?
How can Charles perform like the national-championship-winning junior he is when he can’t get the ball.
Despite the coaching staff’s insistence that the running game isn’t where it should be, Charles is the conference’s second-leading rusher. He’s somehow managed to average a touchdown every game even though McGee and Chris Ogbonnaya are getting more and more goal-line opportunities.
Last week marked the first time this season that Charles failed to average at least four yards per carry. Along the way he averaged seven yards per carry against UCF, over six yards per carry against TCU and another six yards per carry against Iowa State.
And he’s fumbled four times.
By this time in that magical 2005 season one Texas player had fumbled six times. His name was Vince Young, and you didn’t hear too many complaints about it.
At this point in 2005 Young also had already notched pair of two-fumble games.
When you’re given a football and told to run up the field while eleven guys (the smallest of which is about 200 pounds) try to hit you as hard as you can, the ball is going to be knocked from your grasp from time to time.
Charles isn’t blameless, but he’s trying and he’s not doing as bad as everyone is acting — or overreacting as the case may be.
The Cornhuskers have the Big 12’s worst rushing defense and this is the week to for Charles to make like Forrest Gump and run and run and run.
A field of corn would be harder to run through than the Husker’s defense, which is giving up 227.38 yard per game on the ground. Only four teams in the whole Bowl Subdivision are doing worse.
After three games this season, Charles had rushed for 100 yards in each one. Against Rice that streak came to an end when he rushed for three touchdowns but only 72 yards. His last carry came in the first drive of the third quarter.
I’m not saying you should keep players in just to reach milestones, but when you take Charles out at that point and then talk as if he isn’t being as productive as he should be, something’s fishy. When he scored a touchdown during the next game against Kansas State it was his ninth game in a row with a touchdown.
Since then he’s only scored once more.
I don’t get it.
Brown keeps saying he needs to get Charles out in space. I haven’t seen it happen. I’ve seen him run the counter and get pulled down in the backfield time and time again. I’ve seen the zone read fail over and over, but I haven’t seen Charles get out in space much.
At least twice this year Brown has confessed getting away from the run game too early. You can credit offensive coordinator Greg Davis for that.
He’s got the same view I do. We’re both up above the field tucked behind a glass wall watching the game play out like it’s a play and we’ve got box seats.
And he sees something totally different than I do.
Most of that can be credited to a lifetime spent studying football. Compared to him I’m less nearly clueless about what’s going on right in front of me.
So how doesn’t he see that the running game would be fine if he showed the determination to let it tire out defenses?
Over five yards per carry ain’t bad. Eight touchdowns in eight games ain’t bad. Four fumbles in eight games? Not that bad.
While McCoy’s been unholstered this season and allowed to make plays, the offensive coaches at Texas have stuck a dunce hat on Charles and put him in the corner.
McCoy’s also thrown 12 interceptions, accounting for more than his fair share of Texas’ turnovers.
Keep praising McCoy and let him do his job, that’s fine with me. But give Charles a break, and give him the ball.
After trailing 17-3 in the third quarter Ryan Bailey kicked a couple field goals. Then Jammal Charles went insaned, rushing for 216 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He ended the game with 290 yards on the ground.
If you read this week's Double Coverage you'd have read half my column on how Charles is pretty good and how he should be getting the ball more. Unfortunately, half of it was lost... I'm still not sure how.
Anyway, it's only fair — to myself — to post it here, so everyone can see my genius.
By Ryan Killian
Daily Texan Columnist
It’s time to stop saying Jamaal Charles needs to regain his confidence while limiting his carries and taking the ball away from him in crucial situations.
Hand him the pigskin and give him the chance earn it back.
Sure, that popping sound you’ve grown almost accustomed to during Texas games is the sound of 88,000 exasperated fans slapping their foreheads as the Longhorns fumble away an opportunity, but it’s not always Charles.
Vondrell McGee fumbled twice against Baylor, including once with the scrimmage line at Baylor’s one-yard line.
I know he wasn’t entirely to blame for that bungled pitch that resulted in a 14-point swing for the Bears, but if it had been Charles in his cleats the furor would have been palpable.
Brown’s coaching staff has given up on the run too early in almost every game this season. How can the running backs be effective when you make Colt McCoy throw it all the time?
How can Charles perform like the national-championship-winning junior he is when he can’t get the ball.
Despite the coaching staff’s insistence that the running game isn’t where it should be, Charles is the conference’s second-leading rusher. He’s somehow managed to average a touchdown every game even though McGee and Chris Ogbonnaya are getting more and more goal-line opportunities.
Last week marked the first time this season that Charles failed to average at least four yards per carry. Along the way he averaged seven yards per carry against UCF, over six yards per carry against TCU and another six yards per carry against Iowa State.
And he’s fumbled four times.
By this time in that magical 2005 season one Texas player had fumbled six times. His name was Vince Young, and you didn’t hear too many complaints about it.
At this point in 2005 Young also had already notched pair of two-fumble games.
When you’re given a football and told to run up the field while eleven guys (the smallest of which is about 200 pounds) try to hit you as hard as you can, the ball is going to be knocked from your grasp from time to time.
Charles isn’t blameless, but he’s trying and he’s not doing as bad as everyone is acting — or overreacting as the case may be.
The Cornhuskers have the Big 12’s worst rushing defense and this is the week to for Charles to make like Forrest Gump and run and run and run.
A field of corn would be harder to run through than the Husker’s defense, which is giving up 227.38 yard per game on the ground. Only four teams in the whole Bowl Subdivision are doing worse.
After three games this season, Charles had rushed for 100 yards in each one. Against Rice that streak came to an end when he rushed for three touchdowns but only 72 yards. His last carry came in the first drive of the third quarter.
I’m not saying you should keep players in just to reach milestones, but when you take Charles out at that point and then talk as if he isn’t being as productive as he should be, something’s fishy. When he scored a touchdown during the next game against Kansas State it was his ninth game in a row with a touchdown.
Since then he’s only scored once more.
I don’t get it.
Brown keeps saying he needs to get Charles out in space. I haven’t seen it happen. I’ve seen him run the counter and get pulled down in the backfield time and time again. I’ve seen the zone read fail over and over, but I haven’t seen Charles get out in space much.
At least twice this year Brown has confessed getting away from the run game too early. You can credit offensive coordinator Greg Davis for that.
He’s got the same view I do. We’re both up above the field tucked behind a glass wall watching the game play out like it’s a play and we’ve got box seats.
And he sees something totally different than I do.
Most of that can be credited to a lifetime spent studying football. Compared to him I’m less nearly clueless about what’s going on right in front of me.
So how doesn’t he see that the running game would be fine if he showed the determination to let it tire out defenses?
Over five yards per carry ain’t bad. Eight touchdowns in eight games ain’t bad. Four fumbles in eight games? Not that bad.
While McCoy’s been unholstered this season and allowed to make plays, the offensive coaches at Texas have stuck a dunce hat on Charles and put him in the corner.
McCoy’s also thrown 12 interceptions, accounting for more than his fair share of Texas’ turnovers.
Keep praising McCoy and let him do his job, that’s fine with me. But give Charles a break, and give him the ball.
posted by BurntOrnge at 11:28 PM
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