Colt McCoy – Quarterback for the Texas Longhorns

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

Not the kind of record Colt McCoy was after - 4 interceptions.

Not the kind of ending (walking to the locker room with 4 minutes left in the game) he anticipated, either.

Those picks meant 20 points (the difference in the game) for Kansas State, of course, but a lot of stuff combined for that 41-21 loss.

The Horns were beaten badly on special teams, didn't offer enough protection from the offensive line, looked unfocused in most phases of the game, et cetera, etc.

Also, someone probably leaked to the players (who were already looking ahead to the Red River Rivalry) that Oklahoma (also looking ahead) was upset by Colorado.

Bottom line - UT was outplayed. It happens. The team will shake it off and put full focus on the Sooners. Colt has certainly shown he can do that.

P.S. The most ominous shadow that fell over DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium as the skies threatened to unload as time ran out was the sound of boos. Hey, the fans need to shake it off as well!

Posted by at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

That would be Kansas State, which under no circumstances should be confused with a small university in Houston that has a cool band but not much of a football team.

The Longhorns - with Colt McCoy leading the way - would be the first to tell you that even though the Rice "scrimmage" was a nice way to spend a Saturday evening, it proved nothing.

McCoy's arm got quite a workout, and if Limas Sweed hadn't gotten too casual after a long catch, the young QB would've had four TD passes. Still, 58-14 against the Owls means very little.

What was proven is that the semi-annual ritual in Austin known as the "quarterback controversy" is ready to bloom whenever the first "L" hits the fan. It's nice to know, however, that John Chiles has McCoy's back when and if needed.

That brings us to Kansas State. Their only test so far has been at Auburn, and they failed it, 23-13, in the season opener. If you recall, Texas passed its only test against TCU. The Wildcats also had their own laugher a week ago, pounding Missouri State, 61-10.

The "real" season actually starts with the Wildcats, and this will be the first game where we'll see just how much the Longhorns can focus when it counts.

Can Colt keep his momentum (most TDs in a game and NO picks), can Jamaal Charles hang onto the ball, can Sweed remember to look for the sideline and, most importantly, how will the team clad in burnt orange perform when one of those Big 12 marbles is finally on the line.

Posted by at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Colt McCoy and Rice junior quarterback Chase Clement are both on the official Davey O'Brien Award watch list, but that's about where their similarities end.

Sure, both had similar success in high school, Colt leading his Jim Ned High School Indians of Class 2A deep into the playoffs, while Clement led his Class 4A Alamo Heights Mules to the state semifinals.

I guess the biggest "similarity" is they both have 5 picks so far this season, but the biggest difference (and this is a biggie) is the two athletics programs for which they play.

Here's the "tale of the tape" for the two field generals after three games:

Posted by at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is a sampling of this week's press conference quotes from Colt McCoy:

On being consistent: The consistency needs to come, and we felt like we had a grasp on Central Florida the whole game we just couldn’t finish in the red zone. And when we can fix that, when we can consistently move the ball and make big plays, throw the ball deep and chip away at them all night, then that’s when we’ll become consistent and we’re not there yet. And I feel like I can do a lot better; I haven’t played as well as I should, and I think a lot of guys would say the same thing.

On playing better against UCF: Yeah, we did. We drove the ball and we had almost 500 yards of offense, but when you do that, you need to score more points than we did. I think we’ll be able to (in the future).

On feeling more comfortable: I feel fine but there are still a lot of things that I can improve on. I felt like I threw the ball well, but there were still three or four passes that I make all the time and I feel like I shouldn’t have missed.

On getting WR Billy Pittman back: It will be good having all those guys back -- Sergio (Kindle), Billy (Pittman) and Henry (Melton). Billy is going to help us a lot. I was glad Jordan (Shipley) came back last week because when Limas (Sweed) went down, we had to have somebody else step in. It was hot and we threw the ball almost 50 times, so they were running a lot of routes.

On Rice: They’re going to be prepared for us. We haven’t got a lot of good film on them because the first team they played ran the wishbone and the next two teams spread the ball so we’re going to have to guess a little bit and see what they are going to do to us.

On his 47 passing attempts against UCF: I don’t know that I’ve even thrown 47 passes, not even in high school. And I didn’t even realize that in the game. (The coaches) were giving us a lot of short balls, not very many deep balls, so I felt like we took advantage of it for the most part, but there were definitely a few times I could have completed more passes and done some better things especially in the red zone.

On putting pressure on himself: I think we’ve got to have a little bit more fun. When we had (UCF) down 23-10, we should have just put it away. That’s what we’re talking about when we say we’ve got to be more consistent and we’ve got to finish. So I think we need to relax, we’ve got to have fun and we’ve got to get back to the basics.

On the offense being more complex than last year: I don’t think it is more complicated, but I think that (other teams) are doing different things defensively than they did last year. Other teams are doing a great job of blocking on running downs and dropping a lot of guys back on passing downs so we’ve just got to figure out the combination of those and make this offense click a lot better. I think overall, this offense can do a lot better job.

Posted by at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

The Longhorns supposedly had all kinds of trouble OFF the field as well against the University of Central Florida over the weekend.

Mechanical problems with the plane and one of the buses led the list, but now they're back in the bosom of the Lonestar state.

Here's what Colt McCoy said after the hard-fought victory over the Knights:

"It was a tough environment for us to play. I give them credit, they stuck with it ... There were a lot of opportunities and chances for us to score points. We have to figure out a way to get the ball into the end zone when we are down in the red zone."

Everyone's talking about how Colt's stats aren't as good as they were last year, but compared to the first three games last season, he's doing pretty good. Of course, Ohio State skews the numbers somewhat.

UT was 2-1 after three games last year, and 3-0 now. Colt rushed for 29 yards on 12 carries during the first three games of 2006 and now he's totaled 85 yards on 22 rushes.

He was 38-of-69 (64.4%) for 456 yards last year, while going 79-of-118 (66.9%) for 721 yards so far in 2007.

That sounds better than last season, right? But the numbers everyone's pointing to are not - 6 TDs and only one INT last year after three games, while he has 4 TDs and 5 picks so far in 2007.

I think the cure for that is a heaping helping of home-cooked Rice.

Mack's Monday Press Conference

"Colt [McCoy] made a (UT) record 32 completions for the ball game. The best we ever had."

"We were behind them twice and they pulled us down both times and those don’t count as deep balls. Limas' [Sweed] catch was really close and it was overruled. There was another deep ball to Nate [Jones] and he jumped up and had a chance and they intercepted it. We will keep throwing it deep."

Posted by at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Longhorns win a squeaker, 35-32, against the feisty UCF Knights.

Colt McCoy, was 32-of-47 (69%) for 259 yards, with one TD pass and a pick ... plus 40 yards rushing on 10 carries.

Another game where the Longhorns fell behind (24-23), and Colt led them back into the lead - thanks in part to a 38-yard connection to his long-time buddy Jordan Shipley in the fourth quarter so that Ryan Bailey could kick another one of his school record 5 field goals.

The game was delayed in the first quarter because of lightning.

Maybe that is a sign for next week. Burnt orange fans have been waiting for lightning to strike for an entire Longhorns game this season ... maybe next Saturday against Rice.

Although you really can't argue with 3 Ws in three games.

Posted by at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

He may be a little bleary-eyed, but Colt McCoy's father Brad will see his son play in Florida Saturday.

That's after his Graham Steers host the Abilene Wylie Bulldogs tonight. Getting to Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando, Florida, from Graham, Texas, in time for the 2:30 p.m. kickoff with UCF is not going to be a breeze, but Brad has never missed one of Colt's games.

"Debra and I are catching a plane early-early in the morning," he said Friday morning.

THE Arm: I also asked him about the gauze wrap seen on Colt's arm earlier in the week and he confirmed it was just covering a cut.

"He had two cuts last week, one on his arm and one on his leg," said Brad. "I told him he looked like he had been in a car wreck. He was beat up pretty good."

Chance Encounter: Brad also answered the question from Mary in our chatroom about the whereabouts of Chance McCoy who is a freshman at Abilene Christian University. Chance is going to red-shirt and that's why he's not on the roster. "We were hoping for that. He's doing really well at workouts."

Back to Tonight: The undefeated Steers will face "the best team we've played so far," said Brad.

"They (Wylie) are definitely ahead of what we've seen so far. It's going to be a battle. Our kids are fired up and so are theirs. It'll be a close game, pretty evenly matched."

I've seen both teams play, and I agree with his assessment. Case McCoy is twice as good at the quarterback position as he was last year, but the Bulldogs have a ground game that is impressive.

FYI: This will be the first game UT has played in Florida in 34 years.

Posted by at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

Colt McCoy will again get serious consideration for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award this year.

Fans are already voting for their favorites at the official site - http://www.daveyobrien.com/index.asp

So far, the two hotshot QBs named Colt (Hawaii's Brennan is the other) aren't in the top three which show up on the home page. As of noon Thursday, McCoy is fourth in the voting with 231 votes.

Tech's Graham Harrell is in third with 311 votes. Florida's Tim Tebow and Air Force's Shaun Carney are first and second, respectively.

Looks like the good people of the Hill Country of Texas haven't taken the time to vote.

Extra Point: Here's what Mack said yesterday about McCoy's leadership against TCU:

"The hardest thing to do for a college football player is put the last play behind him, good or bad, and go to the next one. In both of those cases, we thought they were tough breaks and great plays by TCU, but at the same time, he takes things personally. He is really hard on himself. He walked into the dressing room like he couldn't believe either one of those, but let's go on now; we're going to win the game.

"I don't think I have ever been more impressed with him than the first half at Texas Tech, a place where he knew most of their players, and he has a lot of friends there that are in school in West Texas. It was really important to him. For it to start wrong and him turn it, and I thought the same thing the other night.

"There won't ever be any more pressure on him than throwing two interceptions in the last three minutes of the half and for him to play a near perfect second half. We are really impressed with the way he turned it."

Posted by at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

I've updated the stats and the slideshow.

You have to see the Associated Press slideshow photo of Mack Brown holding his head as the talks to Colt McCoy after a second quarter interception against TCU. It's priceless. If Colt wasn't already a God-fearing person, that look would put the fear of God in him, for sure.

Colt has now played in 15 games for the Longhorns. Of the 13 he was playing in at the end of the game, 6 of those were contests he led his team back from a deficit. There may be someone out there right now with a better "come-from-behind percentage" (46%), but I don't know who it is.

Here are some quotes from Colt found at mackbrown-texasfootball.com:

On coming out in second half: I have to give credit to our defense and our offensive line. They hung in there and they fought. TCU is a great football team. One of the interceptions was a great play and that’s exactly where I’m supposed to go with the ball. They blitzed from the weak side and I had a sight with Limas (Sweed) and they started blitzing all the way and jumped up and took my ball. I have to give him credit; that was an amazing play.

On the reverse call on the fumble: That reverse was big. I knew I was down. TCU brought a blitz again, they were in my face and I had to run and get out of it. I’m glad the referees overturned it because that was a big turning point for us. We were inside the 20 and we had to get points on the board.

On the TCU defense: They have some great players and they came in here ready to play. They gave it all they got and I give them the credit.

On Texas’ offense line: I felt comfortable in the pocket. I felt like they really meshed and really jelled. And I give them the credit because without them, the comeback wouldn’t have happened.

Also, here's what Mack said about Colt:

"I thought he played well and read behind his pads. Anytime you play a team that is doing as much blitzing that we have seen in the last two weeks, really, one game is going to be a little bit of hit or miss. I told the TV people on Thursday that what I thought one of the keys to the game was to be able to stay to two-dimensional throughout, no matter what was happening, and we were able to do that. As the game wore on and our guys got into a better rhythm, you have to mention Chris Hall. He played every offensive position tonight on the line except left tackle. When [Adam] Ulatoski went down, we took Chris Hall and said very limited snaps during camp on left tackle and he went out there a did a heck of a job. I think it was really important for us to stay two-dimensional."

Posted by at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

Looks like the Longhorns can rebound from a "disappointing" win against a "lesser" opponent and come from behind to handily beat a "quality" opponent.

Get back on that bandwagon, whiners!

Nice 34-13 victory.

Unofficially, Colt McCoy was 25-of-38 for 239 yards with one TD pass (a 33-yarder to Nate Jones) and two picks. He also gained 34 yards on the ground on five carries.

The fact that sticks out is that he overcame that 45-yard interception for a TCU touchdown in the second quarter.

Actually, it seemed to have given him some sort of spark that really lit the fuse in the second half for the UT scoring explosion.

His father Brad was listening to his son answer questions during the press conference after the game when I reached him on the phone. Colt had just responded to a question concerning that interception.

In his answer, Colt talked about his Bible study class earlier in the week and verses about being "tested" and being "blessed," said Brad.

Here's Colt's actual quote: "You didn't want to touch me in the second quarter, I had some bad luck there. I had Bible study the other morning (and) you're going to get tested. You get tested, then you're blessed."

"When you're tested, you need to come back with your best," said his father. "I've always told him that mistakes happen, but Colt has always been able to play better after them. That (interception return for TD) definitely got his attention."

I think Colt got some attention back himself.

Posted by at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

Wow, I don't know why UT should even bother showing up Saturday for their game with TCU.

Judging by the bloggers, the wags, the pundits, the "experts," the AP pollsters, the moon and the stars, the Longhorns are doomed to suffer defeat at the hands of the Froggies.

I don't see it that way. They'll actually be awake for Saturday's game. The cobwebs will be gone. Any "arrogance" (as Mack Brown put it) will definitely be gone. I think they'll win.

Not to mean that the Horned Frogs won't be looking for blood. They will, and they are good. They shut out Baylor last Saturday, 27-0. I'm not sure how good Baylor is this year, but it's hard to skunk anyone these days in college ball.

Hey, just another challenge for the young leader of the team. I think his batting average against challenges is pretty good.

Here are some of pared-down quotes from Colt McCoy from Monday's press conference. He's never been one to panic.

The TCU defense: We have to play better than we did on Saturday. We have to handle certain situations better, like converting when we have our chances. They're a good defense, they're a good team, and they're going to come in here ready to play. They play some mixed coverages, they play a lot of zone, and they throw in a lot of zone blitzes. We're going to have to find the open points, just pinpoint where their weakness are and try to take advantage of our opportunities.

His feelings after the ASU game: I was pretty frustrated Saturday night, but it's a win and that's the most important thing. There are a lot of teams that are 0-1 right now and trying to fix a lot of things. We're 1-0 and trying to fix a lot of things at the same time, but we looked at the positives on film and the positives during practice, and we're moving on. There are a lot of things we can correct, that we can fix, but that's behind us and everything is focused on TCU now.

Offensive "repairs": Offensively, I think that we need to be more physical. We have to get after them more and convert when we're in the red zone. We had three downs inside the 5-yard line that we didn't punch it in. When I looked at the film I felt like we played a lot better than I had thought. I thought there were a lot of good things we did, there is just little things that we can fix. .

On being prepared for ASU: I felt like we were really focused and prepared. We really started the game off strong. We came out firing and doing everything right and then a frustration level set in because we couldn't continue to do that and we have got to get out of that mentality. We have got to understand that everyone is going to do little things different, they're going to do some things to stop the run or stop the pass, and we have got to handle them and figure out –what they're going to do as an overall scheme.

On his leadership: I felt like I didn't play in the second quarter at all. I felt like I made some poor decisions and poor reads and did a lot of things that didn't help our football team that I could have done that would have. Overall, I felt like there are so many things at each position and especially at mine that we can improve on. We don't point fingers, that's something that we don't do, we looked at the positives and that's all we're going to focus on.

On making ever play: I think that is hard, it's something as a second year guy you have so much more freedom than you did the first year, and you have to stay with the basics, stick with thing that got you to where you are. When you know the offense, it's easy to try and throw in some different routs that you think will work, and those things got me into some trouble during the first game. I have got to go back and understand what this offense is based on. Coach Davis and I are going to work really hard this week to figure that out. Nothing is wrong, everything is fine, but there are a lot things that I can do better that I didn't do on Saturday.

Posted by at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, it was sloppy, but at least it wasn't Appalachian-State-beats-Michigan-34-to-32 sloppy.

The big underdog can sometimes dig deep and almost sneak by while the big dawg in the hunt has trouble staying focused. Well, not counting OU and UNT, of course.

Just take the 21-13 victory and move along ... nothing to see here.

Colt (shown in this great photo from mackbrown-texasfootball.com) was 22-of-33 for 223 yards, two TDs and two picks. Not an especially good day for him, but did I mention Appalachian State?

Better watch out for those ASU schools.

P.S. Speaking of watching, click here for the texassports.tv video highlights of the game (takes a while to load).

Posted by at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)