HOW DID UCLA STEAMROLL TEXAS? EASY...
By mark rogers
September 29, 2010
I've heard a lot of talk this week about how UCLA was able to beat Texas in Austin. Reasons ranging from the ineptness of the Texas' offense to Mack Brown's coaching skill. While those things may have played a role in the outcome of the game, in my opinion (and keep in mind that it is an EXPERT opinion) there was really only one reason for the upset.
They did it by completely changing the identity of their offense. Let me explain (for those of you who hadn't figured this out already).
UCLA started the season 0-2 with a loss at Kansas State and a blowout home loss against Stanford. In those games the Bruins' rush to pass ratio (run:pass) was fairly balanced. Offensive Coordinator Norm Chow had his unit running the ball about 1.5 times as often as they passed. A 1.5:1 rush to pass ratio.
They lost the time of possession battle badly in both losses.
Now, let's look at the first win for the Bruins, at home against a floundering Houston team. The run:pass ratio increased dramatically to 3:1 (three rushes for every pass attempted). They led in the game 31-3 in the second half and easily won the TOP battle (Time Of Possession).
Against Texas? That ratio doubled yet again to a staggering 6.2 rushes for every pass thrown (6.2:1). An absolute and complete turnaround from their first two games, which were the games the Texas Longhorns coaching staff probably watched in preparation for what would become the most embarrassing home loss in the Mack Brown era.
The Texas defense is loaded with talent and future NFL stars. Add to that talent pool a great deal of experience, speed, and intelligence and you get one of the best defenses in the country...against spread offenses.
The Texas coaching staff has done an amazing job at building a defense that will dominate the Big 12, which is a conference loaded with pass-happy, spread-it-out offenses (see: OU, OSU, Tech, A&M, Kansas, etc.)
But what the Texas defense is absolutely not built to do is stop a line-it-up-and-run-it-straight-down-your-throat offense, which is what UCLA brought to the table on Saturday.
A genius move by Chow since they had not done that all year. At least if the Longhorns had expected that kind of offensive scheme they could have made some pre-game adjustments and prepared for it.
But when you take an offensive line that averages 317 pounds and come straight ahead against defensive lineman averaging 50 pounds a man less than that, you come up with an inferior team wearing down its more talented opponents late in the game for a big, job-saving win (Neuheisel's job to be exact).
Of course there were many other factors in the game like turnovers, TOP, play-calling, intensity and endurance, but if UCLA had come with the expected balanced offensive attack, the Longhorns would have been able to overcome all the mistakes.
It was exactly the right call and execution by the UCLA coaches and players. Does it mean that Texas is out of the Big 12 race? No, that will happen with a loss on Saturday in Dallas.
Remember, Texas is built to win against Big 12 teams so look for them to win this Saturday and play Nebraska again for the Big 12 crown (a game I think Nebraska would win at this point of the season...but that's another story).
So that's what happened. UCLA's coaching staff and offensive execution won the game for the Bruins on Saturday, but it sure didn't help that Texas showed up to the game thinking that just by showing up, they had already won.
That's what happens when you get cocky...and that's why they play the games.
Please blame my excessive use of ratios in this post to the Financial Accounting class I'm currently taking...I see them in my sleep.
Previous Entry:
« QUICK HITS FROM WEEKEND OF FOOTBALL
Next Entry:
OCTOBER 2 PREDICTIONS »
Comments
This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below.