Revisiting the 10 key ingredients needed to upset Alabama

I’m confident the program has moved on from the Alabama game but I’m not ready yet, and not because I’m dwelling on the outcome. I just remain so impressed with what I saw on Saturday and the improvement year-over-year within the program. 

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On the same weekend last year, Steve Sarkisian and Texas had a very poor performance against an SEC upstart. In every way but the final result, this past weekend was a 180.

Early Saturday morning I wrote 10 ingredients needed for the upset. In an effort to highlight some exceptional efforts I’m going to revisit it. 

New content is in brackets and bolded.

1. Crowd: I don’t care if the game starts at 11:00 a.m. I don’t care if it’s hot and I don’t care if it rains, the fans need to arrive and be loud. The fan base needs practice for hosting SEC games, what better time to get quality reps? After seeing Friday itinerary and Saturday tailgate plans from a number of friends, I have reason to believe it will feel more like 11:00 p.m. for many in attendance. Get loud and go bonkers. Conjure Mizzou ‘08.

[Conjure Mizzou they did. Many left DKR saying it was the wildest environment they’ve seen at a Texas game. It was right there with Mizzou for me, but that was a night game. Recruits basked in it and players fed off of it while Saban burned a timeout or two]

2. Steve Sarkisian had to have already won the game plan: In his Monday press conference Sark mentioned both coaching staff’s game plans were probably done three months ago with Week 1 serving to fine tune. It’s imperative that Sark nails the opening chess moves to at least get Alabama a little off-balance and respecting secondary elements of the offense in order to open up the primary elements. You can bet Sark’s fine-tuning was geared towards the Quinn Ewers he now knows, not the one he theorized about three months ago. Ewers has to settle in quickly and only Sark and a couple of playmakers can help him do that. Quinn needs easy throws, but fortunately for him, most of them are if properly set up.

[He absolutely did win the game plan, and had Quinn Ewers not been hurt it would have become even more obvious. Quinn was ready to go from the first whistle. I don’t care how talented he is, that’s not easy to accomplish in a quarterback’s second start against a near mythical opponent. The drive to answer Bama’s long touchdown run was a real tone-setter. Ewers was lost before that drive was completed but Texas still scored on a short run. Not only was Ewers ready to go, but so too was his replacement Hudson Card. Card played well before getting hurt, then he played admirably. Sark’s game plan helped keep his quarterbacks composed]

3. Defense needs to play with the effort and cohesion it had in the opener: If they have ‘it’ on this day it will show up early in the game. This doesn’t mean they won’t give up some big plays or make some mistakes, but Alabama needs to earn every yard. A shorter game, one with less plays in it, benefits Texas keeping things close and going for the 4th quarter victory. A couple of physical plays early will go a long way.

[Pete Kwiatkowski deserves a lot of praise, too. There was one play that reminded us of last year, and in an odd way it gave me an appreciation for how far defense has come as a unit. They played hard and fast and at one point forced six punts in a row. The safeties are the most improved group on the team, other than maybe quarterback. We saw coverage sacks or pressures against Alabama]

4. Space heaters and space eaters: This ties into No. 2, but Bijan Robinson and Xavier Worthy need to be placed in fortuitous positions to pick up YAC. They are the two best skill players on the field. I don’t think that needs a qualifier, but if so, they’re the two best matched to scheme. Ja’Tavion Sanders needs space, too. On the flip side, DeMarvion Overshown needs to play the game of his life. That will be dependent on defensive play calls.

[Texas didn’t quite get what it needed in this department but Worthy was schemed open a few times, hauling in one big deep ball. Overall he had a good day, but it could have been great. Bama did a good job getting hats on Robinson but they were also aided by the turf monster a couple of times. Sanders had a quiet day as a receiver (he blocked well). When I mentioned him in this section I had the TE screen in mind. I think we only saw that once and I expected to see it a bit more in order to slow down the Bama Edges. I thought Overshown was solid. Here’s the difference with him so far this season, if we’re hearing his name it’s for good reasons. If we’re not hearing his name, he’s still playing all right. I’m not blaming him one bit for the BS call in the end zone. The refs really showed up to play in the 3rd quarter]

5. D-line push up front: If this game is close you can bet the Texas defensive line had a big game. This is not the Bama O-line from Kyle Flood’s time in Tuscaloosa. Correlation, causation, don’t know, don’t care. This is UT’s best opportunity to match physicality and announce this is going to be a 60-minute game.

[I was pretty confident this group could hold its own. They’re physically mature and do have ability, plus Bama’s O-line has declined since Kyle Flood was there. Each guy made plays. Being six-deep at defensive tackle really helps in the heat and the coaches feel good about playing a number of different combinations. They’ll even play the big boys outside in some bigger looks. This needs to be a stepping stone performance. These guys can dominate in the Big 12]

6. Surprise efforts: Cody Johnson had three hard earned touchdowns in the 2008 RRS. I will never forget it. If Texas is to pull off the upset, a surprise hero or heroes will emerge. It could be a red zone touchdown to Casey Cain; a huge pick by Jerrin Thompson; or many other things. If Texas is to win it will require more than just the stars playing well.

[Where to begin? Both safeties played with brass truck nuts you could hear clanging despite the crowd noise. Anthony Cook made a couple of tackles for loss where a three yard gain would have been a really good outcome. Thompson is fired out of a gun this year in run support and is laying his body on the line. These guys are “seeing it” before it happens. Another DB, Jamier Johnson came in and played well for an injured D’Shawn Jamison. Admit it, you thought the game was over when Ewers went out? If you did, then Card belongs in this section. Christian Jones take a bow. I’m very, very slow to write players off but I was not expecting that performance. It should be implied in this section the players are being properly developed and deployed]

7. Net neutral on special teams: Texas can go toe to toe on coverage units and returns, but Texas is playing from behind on field goal and punting. The third phase could turn into the third rail rather quickly. Play clean.

[The missed field goal at the half was unfortunate. That always seems to foreshadow heartache. Other than that, good game. Daniel Trejo had two exceptional punts. Throw him and Bert Auburn in the previous section, too. The 49-yarder with 1:30 left was a massive kick for Auburn. Imagine the Auburn beats Alabama headlines. Would have been legendary]

8. Two NFL tight ends: An underrated component of this game is the return of Cameron Latu for Alabama. He’s a good blocker and receiver and will have a good NFL career. Reference his 5 reception 100 yard effort versus Georgia in the National Championship game. Fortunately for Texas, he’s the second most talented tight end in the game. Sark will need to lean heavily on Ja’Tavion Sanders, a true do-it-all tight end with special receiving skills. Sanders gives Texas a hole card Bill O’Brien either won’t use, won’t need to use, or wouldn’t know how to use. Either way, advantage Texas.

[Given his previous week and the way this game set up, I thought for sure Sanders would play a bigger role as a receiver. But he did block well. One player who really stepped up and I should have mentioned in the original post was Jordan Whittington. He was instrumental in moving the chains, particularly early in the game]

9. Familiarity could benefit Texas: Saban the game planner is tough to compete against. He’s the best head coach of all time and the best head coach who is also involved with defensive backs. But, in this century, who is the second best head coach who also coached DB’s? Gary Patterson, right? Gary’s been game planning Bill O’Brien and Bryce Young all offseason. Patterson could offset some of Saban’s familiarity with Sark. Further, Kyle Flood’s protections should be well suited to whatever Alabama D-line coach Freddie Roach dials up. If Roach relies on pure talent, I doubt that will work because Flood will have calls for that.

[Texas was the more prepared team across the board]

10. Last, and certainly not least — hit the deep ball: Sark mentioned earlier in the week we’ll get this right just like he has everywhere else. Saturday would be a great, if unlikely place to start. The deep ball can be set up by more than just the run game. Sark will find a way, imo.

[“The deep ball can be set up by more than just the run game.” That was in reference to a trick play I figured we’d see but Sark said after the game we played them straight up, didn’t need to run trick plays. Even though the deep ball wasn’t hit as often as it could or should have been, Bama respected it. Unfortunately, they were also able to contain Bijan Robinson in the run game. Most teams won’t be able to cheat the run]

Overall I felt good about those ingredients and finished with “It’s go-time. I don’t know what will happen. On Thursday I predicted 34-17 in favor of Alabama. I can’t in good faith pick UT to win, but if pressed I think this game will be compelling into the 4th quarter.” 

Boy, was it.