2023 Texas -Houston
CURTAINS FOR THE COUGARS
by Larry Carlson for TLSN https://texaslsn.org
“Out, damn spot! Out, I say.”
So said Lady Macbeth, famously.
I don’t know if Billy Shakespeare was ever required reading at the University of Houston, but Lady Macbeth and Cougar coach Dana Holgorsen are now intertwined in cursing that damn spot.
Texas got a good break and Houston a bad one on a late spot by the officiating crew, deep in Longhorn territory Saturday evening. It set up a fourth and short and the Steers managed to successfully defend a poorly planned, poorly thrown pass.
The foreshadowing had Texas up 21-0 early in the game. Ahh, this would be a comedy!
But Holgorsen and his team adjusted.
The secret is out now.
The Horns can certainly stuff the run game. But there’s no apparent pass rush which leaves receiving targets wide open. Pretty sure UT’s remaining opponents, all expected to be double-digit underdogs, will read up on the Cliff’s Notes of Steve Sarkisian’s offense.
Those teams will also understand that Sark has a penchant for the offbeat, slapstick play call.
Saturday’s was a pass from the holder to the kicker on a fake field goal with the Horns holding a healthy lead. Curious call. Another one.
And BYU, next weekend in Austin, will likely prepare for a Longhorn team severely weakened without the presence of QB Quinn Ewers. He went out after dishing and absorbing a big hit on a failed third-and-long in the fourth quarter. The Mighty Quinn is not short on guts and moxie. But he needs to learn to slide.
Here’s hoping this isn’t a replay of ’22, when Ewers’ shoulder injury against Alabama kept him out four weeks.
It would appear that the Horns now will choose from the M&M boys, Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning, to fill in next week. Murphy finished things up Saturday, successfully handing off to CJ Baxter for the winning touchdown. According to Sarkisian, in post-game comments, Texas should get a health report on Quinn’s shoulder on Sunday.
So it was a win. A scary one, ten days before Halloween, but a win all the same.
Can Texas ever learn to put a team away, to step on the throats of less talented teams?
We still don’t know.
But we know that the Longhorns are 6-1 and still control their destiny in UT’s last roundup with the Big XII.
And to gripe about an ugly win any further right now….well, Billy Shake might call it “Much Ado About Nada.”
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Billy Dale says:
“We won barely to a mediocre team. We are not a great team yet and neither is OU so maybe we need to face the reality that our Kool-aid has been spiked.
