Ian Boyd Archives - Inside Texas

Inside the Gameplan: Herman attempts rocket surgery

Postseason play is always valuable for offering a sense of what the highest level of football looks like in a given year. Texas obviously gave LSU a game earlier this season but it was interesting to watch the Clemson vs LSU finale, which was in some ways an extension of the battle between Ed Orgeron’s new look Tiger offense and Todd Orlando’s sub-packages. There’s a picture emerging of what a modern, National Championship team looks like that you can pretty easily use as a barometer for the Longhorns.

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Inside the Gameplan: Yurcich + Herman = ???

Tom Herman’s biggest decision this offseason was deciding what steps to take on offense. Was he going to overhaul the approach with a hire like Graham Harrell? Tweak things with another power-spread assistant such as Rhett Lashlee? He basically split the difference between those two options when he poached Mike Yurcich from Ohio State.

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The schematic choices ahead for Chris Ash

Texas fans finally got their wish in the 2019 bowl game against the Utah Utes. Star linebacker Joseph Ossai, who’d spent much of the season playing as a nickel or weak inside linebacker, was finally able to play on the edge and produced six TFLs and three sacks in a dominating performance.

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Five Quick Thoughts: Things to remember from the Alamo

The conventional wisdom going into this game was that 11-2 Utah who always plays with a chip on their shoulders was going to pound disappointing, coordinator-less Texas in the Alamo Bowl. The problem with that wisdom was that Utah has feasted on teams that don't have the athleticism or skill of Texas and have been able to live between the tackles. Go watch them against Oregon or USC this year and you'll see something similar to the team that showed up in San Antonio.

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Inside the Gameplan: The Utes

Tom Herman’s teams really seem to make the most of bowl games. It’s perhaps a testament to his culture that his players rarely fail to show up in games of any magnitude.

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Inside the Gameplan: Scouting offensive coordinators

The 2020 season will hinge on what Tom Herman does with the vacant offensive coordinator office. This team has a few cornerstone pieces to build around on offense in QB Sam Ehlinger, LT Sam Cosmi (and two other returning starters on OL), RBs Keaontay Ingram and Roschon Johnson, and a deep collection of young skill talents at receiver of which several could breakthrough with a good offseason.

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Texas’ 2020 personnel in a Chris Ash, 4-2-5 Under

I'm not totally sure if Chris Ash will cling to the quarters coverages he's played in the past (probably yes) but even if he does, the sort of personnel packaging you've seen from the Pittsburgh Steelers could still work for the 2020 Longhorns if they did something like this: