I never said anything about our DLine. Read it again, and this time pay attention. I said Derrick Johnson. You know...the best linebacker in the nation?
Tommie Harris was overrated. He never did anything other than crap a helmet on the cover of SI. Look up his stats.
I'm not making a "we will win" declaration. But I'm sick and tired of all the doom and gloom coming from Texas fans, and espcially the cocky *******s from north of the Red. Texas has a better chance this year than last year for sure. Running game, tight ends and an aggressive, pro-style D are what helps.
In the past, we couldn't run consistently. Sure, Benson would usually put up big numbers against the patsies, but would disappear in big games. Why? Because our OLine would get dominated. We had good size and strength up front, but until last year our blocking schemes were awful. We ran all these zone blocking plays. Last year we got a new OLine coach, and his smash mouth style has finally taken hold. We're #1 in the nation in rushing this year with 370 yds/game. Benson, for the first time, didn't play baseball this summer. He concentrated on football and getting stronger. He lost 10-15 lbs and has regained a lot of his mobility, balance and speed he once had. I know you'll say we've only played weak teams. Which is true, but take this into consideration. In 2002, under the old scheming, we played North Texas in the season opener and were held to only 27 yards rushing. This year against North Texas in the opener, we had 513 yards rushing. Just a slight difference.
You may notice our defense has been so-so, and isn't generating any sacks. You'd be right. You'd also be right if you said we've run the base D the entire season so far. Against UNT, we didn't respect their passing game. They had 2 good RBs, so we stuffed the box. Few blitzes = few sacks. Arkansas' Matt Jones is a beast to handle. He's tall, fast as hell, and strong. The D concentrated on contain all night. If we blitzed too aggressively, he'd go by us and be in the secondary. He's 6'5, 225 lbs or so and runs a 4.4. He's sickening. Rice is an old school wishbone team. They rarely pass. Our D concentrated on assignments and stopping the option. No real chance to blitz or mix up our coverages. Under our old scheme, we almost never ran zones. We'd be man-to-man, we'd walk our LBs up to the line of scrimmage (where they could get mauled by the OLine), and hope for the best. We're going to run a lot more zone this year, which will give us more looks to blitz out of. Our linebackers are no longer getting mugged at the LOS, so they're making more plays. Oh yeah...DJ will be blitzing a lot more this year. Best LB in the nation...we should use him right for once.
