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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014
OPPOSING SIDELINE
Kansan football beat writer talks football with Wescott Eberts, a co-editor of Burnt Orange Nation blog
UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley (17) goes down on a tackle by Texas defensive tackle Malcom Brown (90) and defensive end Cedric Reed, left rear, during the first half the game on Sept. 13 in Arlington, Texas. Texas linebacker Jordan Hicks (3) and defensive end Caleb Bluett (42) help on the stop.
DAN HARMSEN
@udk_dan
Kansan football beat writer chats with Wescott Eberts, a co-editor of Burnt Orange Nation blog, to get a closer look at Saturday's opponent.
DAN: There's no debating the fact that Mack Brown had a good run at Texas. He did in 16 seasons was win 158 games, he went to 15 bowls, notched three BCS bowl victories, and took home the 2005-2006 National Championship. But for a tradition-rich program like Texas, that has historically won 70 percent of its games, Brown's last four years fell well short of the mark, going 30-21. Now, 30-21 over four years would be good by many school's standards, excellent by Kansas', but, as we all know, that kind of performance is subpar at UT. So after the 2013 season, a season in which Texas was playing for the Big 12 Championship in the final week, Brown and Texas parted ways after the bowl game on apparently good terms. How have Texas fans handled Brown's resignation after he spent almost two decades on the sidelines?
WESCOTT: I think the fan base was pretty divided at that point. There were a lot of old-school people who would look down at the younger Texas fans that wanted Mack gone and would say, 'You didn't know where the program was before Mack Brown,' and they were still living off of what Brown did from 1998-2009 and then that 11-year stretch that was so good in the Big 12, they probably ignored the last four years and acted like it didn't happen. I think they kind of believed that Mack could turn it around.
For those people paying really close attention to the program, they were familiar with how concerning it was with what was being said about the program and the information that was leaking out of it, and very concerned about the day-to-day operations and the things that it took Texas to be successful. For instance, Texas was very late to add a director of player personnel on the recruiting side, while Nick Saban added a lot of different football analysts on that side to help out with recruiting and all the logistics with that, and when Mack Brown announced the hire of the director of player personnel he kind of joked that, 'Wed been running a mom-and-pop operation here for a while' as if it was funny that Texas wasn't actively leveraging their resources.
In 2010, after that poor
season when he hired his football-specific strength and conditioning coach, many other programs had already had one for some time. Texas hired a nutritionist that year, so there are a lot of ways that Texas had fallen behind other programs in college football and weren't keeping up that kind of made it seem that Mack Brown was a little bit asleep at the wheel — like he was going through the motions. I would say the discerning fan, the ones that really knew what was going on wanted Mack gone and were happy with it.
DAN: So insert Charlie Strong, a tough, defensive-minded disciplinarian. In four seasons at Louisville, Strong went 37-15, including 23-3 in his final two seasons with a win over Florida in the 2013 Sugar Bowl. When it comes to coaching, he's got the chops, but, just from an outsider's perspective, a lot of the question marks on the hiring have been whether Strong can recruit in Texas with a lack of familiarity with the area. Now, Mack Brown did have past Big 12 experience at Iowa State before being hired, so he had
some pipelines to tap into. My question is this: what were the initial feelings in Austin on the Strong hiring on the day of the announcement, and have they changed or not now with non-conference play is in the books?
WESCOTT: You get a segment of the Texas fan base that was disappointed that the Longhorns didn't make a splash hire. Obviously there were a lot of rumors about Nick Saban possibly coming to Texas, there were other guys like Jimbo Fisher, Jim Mora, Art Briles, who would've been perhaps more splash hires than Strong. I think Strong's track record and as a defensive coach at Florida all played pretty well with Texas fans in the end.
Looking back on it, what may not have been the best thing for the long-term health of the program was the fact that new athletic director Steve Patterson made the hire basically on his own, he did have a search committee but he didn't really reach out to very many of the big-name boosters and always let them know what was going on. And
certainly that was another segment of the Texas fan base that wields a lot of power and perhaps shouldn't be making the personnel decisions, but long-term as the longhorns look to facelift, fix or upgrade their facilities, which really need to be done in a number of ways for a number of different programs.
I think Patterson may have hurt himself, but I think for the most part once Texas fans got over the disappointment of not getting a bigger name coach, I think Charlie Strong, with his sincerity, and how much he really cares about the development of players as people, plays pretty well for Texas fans.
DAN: Three years ago when Charlie Weis was hired to toughen a football program in the midst of a steady nosedive, Weis's first plan of action was to separate the wheat from the chaff. He dismissed 29 players from the roster he inherited, largely for academic or behavioral reasons. Charlie Strong has had to do some housecleaning of his own this year, but to a lesser degree: 9 players have left the program so far, and David Ash retired from football due to a bad history of concussions. All things considered, have expectations been a little tempered this year given the attrition this team has undertaken?
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So based on the expectations coming into the season, it was definitely a disappointment as things developed. It wasn't really surprising, I think the BYU game hurt. Strong said the players weren't ready to play, which was a major disappointment, especially after the blowout against BYU last year. Heading in, even though defensive coordinator Vance Bedford said that this wasn't something he was looking at as revenge game, I think everybody else, some of the players at least, were looking for revenge.
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Harrison, a couple of guys that were the few tackle options on the team. Not having Daje Johnson, some of the dismissals before the season, really, in looking at a worstcase scenario for Texas, a lot of those things came to pass very quickly. Against UCLA, they lost junior defensive tackle Desmond Harrison who has been a major contributor on the defensive line.
The UCLA game was more encouraging especially from an offensive standpoint. The offense opened up a little bit more, showed a bit more variation and misdirection and the ability to put the defenders in conflict, but the ability to finish still isn't there for Texas and that's a concern moving forward as they have the opportunities to play some close games.
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WESCOTT: I think those expectations changed really quickly. In assessing the outlook for the season heading into it, what ended up happening, especially in losing Dominic Espinosa, the senior center, who had a great majority of the starts on the offensive line, really he had about 80 percent of the starts, he got injured the first game, and David Ash suffered that concussion against North Texas and subsequently had to retire, Texas had to suspend Kennedy Estelle and Desmond
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DAN: Kansas and Texas have only met up on the gridiron 13 times. Texas leads the series 11-2, having won the last 11. KU's last victory over the Longhorns came back around the Great Depression in 1938, and no, I did not say the Great Recession of 2008. Rather, the Great Depression. Singer/Songwriter Bill Withers was born in 1938. For the most part, the games have not been evenly contested. However, it took a high-wire act from Vince Young to escape Lawrence in 2004, and Case McCoy pulling one out of the
fire in the waning seconds in 2012, to keep the streak alive. I'm not sure how keen Texas fans are to those memories, but if anyone mentions 4th and 18, or offensive pass-interference on Charles Gordon, Kansas fans will shudder and likely throw something. This year may be different, as Texas really has no reason to take anything for granted, but is it fair to say that the Longhorns tend to sleepwalk their way into Lawrence more times than not?
I don't think this Texas team is good enough to underestimate anyone. Going to Lawrence is a much different case than Kansas coming to Austin. The longhorns haven't really struggled with any of those games but they surely have those difficulties in Lawrence. It's a more difficult place to play than having a home matchup. Kansas does have a better record than Texas going into this game, and that may be the first time it's ever happened.
Texas also sometimes struggles to play in earlier games. This game is going to be a 3 o'clock game, 11 o'clock is the time that Texas seems to struggle with the most.
WESCOTT: Is Texas sleepwalking into Lawrence? I think it is fair to say that some of those Longhorn teams may have underestimated what it takes to win in Lawrence. I would say it can make it difficult to play in later-season games for Texas teams that aren't used to playing in the cold and in that environment. Both of those games you mentioned, the 2004 and the 2012 games, both came later in the season.
DAN: The Texas offense ranks 103rd in passing yards, 101st in rushing yards, and 107th in points per game. What should Kansas fans expect from quarterback Tyrone Swoopes
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