Five Quick Thoughts: Texas 33 WVU 16
Quandre Diggs. (Will Gallagher/IT)
Texas coach Charlie Strong got his first big win at UT today and it took a senior effort. Here are my Five Quick Thoughts following UT’s 33-16 win over No. 25 West Virginia on Saturday at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium.
1.) Best 1st half of the season. Texas played the best half of football in 2014. 266 total yards. Big-play TD runs. Momentum-shifting hits. Timely interception. UT held West Virginia to 141 yards, seven 1st downs, and 2-of-9 on 3rd down. Texas averaged 7.4 yards per play. If Nick Rose doesn’t miss a field goal out of his range, it might’ve been the perfect half.
2.) Gray and THOSE FEET. The 5-star RB I watched in HS at Aledo four years ago looks back and better than ever. Gray rushed for 101 yards, including two long runs (39, 45) in the 1st half, and showed that cutting ability with tap dance-type feet. Too bad he didn’t see another carry until the 4th quarter. When he did, he clinched it with a 15-yard TD run in the 4th. Backfield mate Malcolm Brown faired nice as well. He netted 90 yards on 20 carries, 4.5 ypc. I think we are seeing signs of Gray being completely healed from last year’s Achilles injury in Morgantown. Poetic justice, Johnny.
3.) Swoopes needs to calms down. On too many passes, he just seemed a little too revved up. He overthrew a half-dozen shots, and underthrew another handful as well. When Texas needed the short, intermediate stuff, Swoopes threw strikes. Anything beyond 25 yards, and it’s likely a prayer with a ton of ass behind it. Swoopes was 10-of-22, for 117 yards after the first 3 quarters. And the 4th wasn’t any better. He completed one pass in the 4th, and finished 11-of-29, for 124 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Texas won today despite Tyrone Swoopes.
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4.) Veterans step up today especially Cedric Reed. The senior from Cleveland tallied three sacks, a FF, and a critical safety midway through the 4th quarter. He needed a big game and delivered. So did the others. Quandre Diggs. Malcolm Brown. Mykkele Thompson. Shipley/Harris. The seniors carried this team today and led Texas to its first win over a ranked opponent at home since beating No. 8 Missouri in 2008. Reed was in the backfield all day. Thompson actually hit. Diggs’ pick was timely at best. And those Hicks back-to-back tackles on 3rd and 4th down on that West Virginia red zone appearance early in the 3rd quarter. Might have gone from a 5th round NFL pick to 3rd round in a matter of minutes.
5.) Tons of recruits attended today’s game. There were a boatload of prospects on hand for UT’s 33-16 win, including the Boyd brothers (Kris and DeMarco), Holton Hill, and a good portion of Florida. What they needed to see was a fiery, inspired performance. Not necessarily a win, just need to show that the players are having fun. The kids can tell when the players are having fun, and showing maximum effort. That matters in their eyes.
At one point, Gilmer 2016 LB/RB target DeMarco, tweeted as much: “@DeMarco_Boyd: Give Strong a chance. He knows what he is doing. #HookEm” Texas got the performance it needed.
