The 5th Play Turned The Tide(s)

Aloha!  Been a while.  Let's get right to it:  The 5-7 campaign for the Texas Longhorns was dealt a final death blow over the weekend as coach and defensive coordinator, Will Muschamp, left the 40 Acres to replace Urban Meyer as the Head Coach for the Florida Gators.  Texas did their best to prevent this by naming Muschamp their "Head Coach in Waiting."  One glaring problem, no timetable was ever given to Muschamp on Mack Brown's decision to turn over the reins to the program.  Did I mention that Muschamp just tripled his salary?  Yeah, that's a thing.  While $900,000 goes a long way in Austin, TX, $2,700,000 goes a bit further in Gainesville, FL.  So, what happened here?

You will recall on the 5th play of the BCS National Championship game last January, Colt McCoy was injured and knocked out of the game on a hit by Marcell Dareus.  Enter Garret Gilbert, whose inexperience contributed to a 24-6 deficit for the Longhorns at the end of the first half.   However, Alabama became ultra conservative in their offensive game plan with an 18 point lead, and the Texas defense held their ground very well in the second half.  On the offensive side of the ball, Gilbert was becoming the leader of this program.  By connecting with Jordan Shipley for a pair of 2nd half touchdowns, he was leading this unimaginable comeback against the vaunted Crimson Tide defense on the biggest stage in college football.  Indeed, the future looked bright in Austin, TX with Gilbert at the helm.  No matter how this game turned out, Texas fans across the country were excited about the possibilities of 2010 for Longhorn football and the true beginning of the Garret Gilbert era.

Fast forward to 3 minutes left in the game, the Horns trailed 24-21.  The Longhorns had the ball deep in their own territory and on what would be the game deciding play, Eryk Anders sacked Gilbert, forcing a fumble which Alabama would recover at the Texas 3 yard line.  Mark Ingram quickly made the deficit 31-21 as he scored a couple of plays later.  On the very next series, Gilbert would toss his 4th and final interception (two bounced off of Texas receivers) which would seal Texas' fate and give Alabama their first victory over Texas in the 9th meeting between the two storied programs.  Final score: Alabama 37 Texas 21.  National title hopes were crushed and doubt began to creep into the coaching circles. 

What if Texas had won that game?  Does Mack hand over the program to his HCIW at that point?  My answer is yes he does.  The rumor around Bellmont is that Mack was going to step down after this season, but a 5-7 campaign would tarnish his legacy a bit, therefore Mack is going to return as HC for 2011.  But, who was mainly responsible for the Longhorns' switch from a spread style offense to the pro set?  Was this Mack's idea solely?  Did he seek input from the HCIW Muschamp as to the type of offense he would prefer?  A comment of importance was made at Muchamp's press conference yesterday as he was introduced at Florida:  He was asked about the offense they would run there and he answered that it would be a pro-style offense.

This is the offense that the Longhorns tried to implement for the 2010 season which went over like a lead balloon.  The Horns did not have the personnel to effectively implement the offense which gashed their number one ranked rush defense for the 2009 season.  The question is simply, how much influence did Muschamp have with this decision?  I say plenty.  Without evaluating the talent on the roster at Florida, Coach Boom has already decided that the offensive scheme needs an overhaul.  Do they have the personnel to pull it off?  The "We Are Texas" mantra was not enough to get it done for the 'Horns this past season.  I doubt that "We Are Florida" will be enough either.  It might be a rough couple of years in Gainesville with Coach Boom at the helm.  It should be noted that Florida has won two BCS championships running the spread offense.  I wonder if Gator fans are excited about this planned switch?  I'd be apprehensive to say the least. 

The 5th play of the BCS Championship Game turned the Tide(s).  It convinced Coach Muschamp that implementing a pro-style offense was of paramount importance as his defense could not stop Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson.  Never mind the fact that the Big 12 is a passing league and the statistics alone skew the rankings of a top-notch rushing defense from that conference.  The fact is the Longhorns under Coach Muschamp never had to face a team with Alabama's offensive style.  I wish they would have so the 'Horns would still be running the spread offense.  This is the offense that Garret Gilbert has run five out of the last six seasons.  This is the offense that VY, McCoy, Tebow, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, et al. captained to the pinnacles of success.  Abandoning it was a reactionary move rather than a proactive one.  Those types of gut reactions deliver 5-7 campaigns, complete with coaching overhauls and a myriad of questions as to who is to blame.  The Longhorns will find out soon enough if it was indeed Coach Muschamp who was to blame.