Part 1 of 3 Parts

Jerry Scarbrough's True Orange
The Newsletter for the True Texas Longhorn Faithful

Volume 11, No. 23, September 10, 2001

 Defense, Vasher-Led Special Teams Bail Out
Anemic Offense in 44-14 Win Over Tar Heels

The Longhorns have two-thirds of an outstanding team  as they showed Saturday
before another sellout home crowd in a 44-14 rout of North Carolina.
Coach Mack Brown's defense and special teams, led by Nathan Vasher's
school-record punt returns, were simply too much for Brown's old team.
But be thankful it wasn't a powerhouse across the line of scrimmage Saturday.
The Tar Heels might have the second-best defense the Longhorns will see this
year, but their offense is as bad as their defense is good.
The Texas offense, after two games, simply isn't hitting on all cylinders.
There are way too many three-and-outs and way too many drives that end almost
as soon as they start.
To stay in the top 5, or even in the top 10, the Longhorns must develop an
offense that moves the ball on most possessions, even when it fails to score.
An offense like that pays huge dividends in two ways. First, it helps win the
all-important field position battle. Second, it gives a team's defense time
to rest.
But this game, while it was a nail-biter for a half, turned into a runaway
primarily because of the tough UT defense, Vasher, DE Cory Redding and the
find of the year - freshman walk-on kicker Dusty Mangum.
The Longhorn defense held North Carolina to 211 yards total offense and
Redding scored the game's first touchdown on a 22-yard pass interception
return that included an awesome dive into the end zone to avoid two tacklers.
Vasher broke a 96-game Longhorn drought in touchdown punt returns, set up
another easy TD with a 59-yard punt return to the Tar Heel 5 and  kept the
crowd on its feet regularly with exciting punt returns. He also gift-wrapped
a touchdown for North Carolina when he bobbled a bouncing punt at the UT 17.
Mangum, the gritty young kicker from Mesquite, booted a 49-yard field goal
into the wind on the last play of the first half to send the Longhorns into
the dressing room with a 20-14 lead and some momentum.
He later kicked a 51-yarder and a 36-yarder and is perfect this season on
eight extra points and five field goals. Not bad for a walk-on.
Coach Brown said after the game a 30-point victory is to be enjoyed not
critiqued, but the Longhorns need to use this open date to figure out a way
to run the ball better and be more consistent on offense. A bunch of
three-and-outs in a row will get them beat pretty soon if they don't.

Here, briefly, is how the game went

First Quarter
Texas won the toss and deferred. Just like last week, that decision paid off
because most of the first quarter was played in North Carolina territory.
After an exchange of punts, Tar Heel QB Ronald Curry's pass in the right flat
was intercepted at the 22 by Redding, who ran it back to about the 5 and then
leaped over two would-be tacklers into the end zone. Mangum kicked the extra
point to give UT a 7-0 lead with 10:04 left. The Longhorn defense forced
another quick punt and Vasher got loose on a 59-yard punt return to the 5. He
almost scored but lost his balance tip-tooeing down the sideline after
leaping over one Tar Heel. An offside penalty moved it inside the 3. TB
Victor Ike ran to the 1, then QB Chris Simms scored. Mangum kicked the extra
point for a 14-0 lead with 6:45 left. The Longhorns had no first downs at
this point. After the kickoff,  Curry led the Tar Heels on an impressive
77-yard scoring drive to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 3:44 left. The Lo
nghorns ran only nine plays and had just 17 yards offensively in the quarter,
while North Carolina ran 23 plays and had 105 yards offensively.

Second Quarter
Vasher tried to scoop up a low bouncing punt at the UT 17 early in the period
and North Carolina scored in two plays to tie at 14-14 with 12:40 left. He
came right back with a 31-yard return to the Tar Heel 18. Three plays later
the Longhorns were on the 19, facing fourth-and-11, so Mangum kicked a
36-yard field goal for a 17-14 lead with 5:48 left. Simms led the Horns on a
51-yard drive in the final 45 seconds, connecting on four passes for 46 yards
to set up Mangum's clutch 49-yard FG into the wind on the final play for a
20-14 lead at the half. The Longhorns had 122 offensive yards in the period
to the Tar Heels' 54.

Third Quarter
UT went 3-and-out to start the second half, and the Tar Heels went deep on
their first play after the punt, but CB Quentin Jammer, after being burned on
a couple of long passes in the first half, made a lunging interection at the
UT 14. After an exchange of punts, UT put together its only long TD drive,
going 89 yards in 12 plays to take a 26-14 lead with 2:25 left. Simms tried
to pass for the two-point conversion, but it failed. RB Ivan Williams had a
31-yard run and Simms completed four passes for 31 yards. Freshman RB Cedric
Benson got the score on a 7-yard run. Texas had 121 offensive yards in the
quarter and the Longhorn defense gave the Tar Heels fits, allowing them to
run only seven plays for minus 5 yards.

Fourth Quarter
Mangum's 51-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter gave Texas a 29-14
lead. Then the UT kickoff team forced the Tar Heels to start their next
possession at the NC 5. Curry tried to pass on first down and DT Maurice
Gordon sacked him in the end zone for a safety and a 31-14 lead just 27
seconds deep in the quarter. Vasher's 44-yard punt return for a touchdown
with 9:06 left put UT on top, 38-14. Longhorn LB Reed Boyd's interception at
the North Carolina 14 set up TB Brett Robin's 12-yard TD run with 36 seconds
left, then backup QB Major Applewhite took a knee on the extra-point play,
leaving the score at 44-14 to honor Cole Pittman, the UT player who was
killed in a vehicle accident in February.

Pittman Ceremony

The Longhorns gave Cole Pittman's family an honorary T-Ring before the game
Saturday. In a tradition started nearly 50 years ago by Darrell Royal,
T-Rings are presented to every Longhorn football player who graduates.
Pittman was killed in an automobile accident last February while returning to
UT for spring football practice. He was a junior defensive tackle.
When the Longhorns scored late in the game to reach the 44-point plateau,
redshirt freshman quarterback Chance Mock, who was Pittman's best friend on
the team, told coach Mack Brown the score matched Pittman's jersey number.
Texas did not try to kick the extra point after the score, electing to take a
knee to preserve the final score in Pittman's honor.

900 Number Updated Daily

I update my 900 number every day with football and football recruiting news.
The number is 1-900-288-8839. It costs $1.59 a minute. You must be 18 or
older to call.

Coach's Corner

Coach Mack Brown said Sunday he wants the Longhorn offense to develop more
consistency, but he also said he isn't worried about much of anything when
his team posts a 44-14 win.
"We're stressing the team, not individuals and stats, this year," he said.
"I'm not into statistics, how much we run it,  or how much we throw it."
"I'm not as concerned about all that as I am about is time of possession, the
number of plays we have as compared to them, the kicking game and turnovers."
But he said, "We haven't had as many explosive runs or passes as I would like
to see."
The UT staff defines explosive plays as runs of 12 yards or more and passes
of 16 yards or more.
In two games this season, both lop-sided victories, the Longhorns have run
the ball 80 times and they have had only six runs of 12 yards or more. They
have thrown 75 passes and have completed six of 16 yards or more.
Brown said the Longhorns have been very conservative offensively and have
forced the run in situations where the defensive formation normally would
cause a pass to be called.
"We're still not clicking on offense all the time," he said, but said one
reason "is we're forcing the run some now in situations that we probably
won't later in the year."
He said he wants the team to be able to run the ball when it wants to run it
at times because a solid running game is necessary to pick up short-yardage
first downs, keep some pressure off the quarterback and run the clock to
protect a lead late in the game.
But, as a whole, Brown said he was very happy with the victory over his
former school.
"After studying the film, I'm really pleased about almost everything. There
are still a lot of things we can improve but nearly everything was positive."
"The special teams were very exciting and really helped us win the game, but
(the fumbled punt) gave them a touchdown," he said. "We've got some things to
work on."
Brown said the offense "had 326 yards against them and they were giving up
only 255 yards a game against Oklahoma and Maryland. The Carolina defensive
line is very good. I think they have six or seven pro prospects on their
defense."
True freshmen LB Derrick Johnson led the team in tackles and had two sacks,
and Brown said he "has the ability to play as good as anybody in the country.
He's tall, he's fast and he likes to hit. I think he's got a chance to be
really special."

Sooners Still Outlaws

I normally don't write a lot about the other teams in the Big 12 unless I am
previewing their games with Texas.
But the University of Oklahoma issued an interesting press release about 10
days ago. Here's how it went, in part:
"Lynn McGruder, who began his college football career at Tennessee, is
enrolled at Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma athletic officials said today.
According to head football coach Bob Stoops, McGruder has yet to join the
football program."
"Stoops said that McGruder is not practicing or participating in any football
team activities and will not be until a past off-the-field incident is
resolved."
"OU expects its student-athletes to represent the best values of the
university both on and off the field," Stoops said. "We have set very high
standards of excellence, and we are not going to compromise them in any way."
"Our process of evaluating Lynn McGruder has included intensive conversations
with him and members of his family and those who worked with him in previous
athletic programs."
"While we have not yet made a final decision about whether or not he will
ultimately be allowed to participate in our football program," Stoops
continued, "we believe in looking at the whole character and background of a
person in deciding whether or not he deserves a second chance.  We recognize
that it is only human to make an isolated mistake and the important thing is
whether or not we learn from that mistake.  If we end up deciding that he
will join our football program, we will hold him very strictly to the highest
standards of behavior.  Not a single deviation from that standard will be
tolerated."
That's what the press release said, and, coming from OU, I guess I shouldn't
be that surprised.
McGruder was kicked off the Tennessee team after he was charged with felony
possession of marijuana with the intent to sell and deliver.
The charge said there were marijuana plants, a scale and other things the
police report described as drug-related material in his room.
Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer sometimes gives scholarships to kids other
schools won't touch.
 Do you remember the offensive lineman a couple of years ago who was charged
with raping a student at Florida while he was on a recruiting visit to the
school? Florida dropped him, but Fulmer signed him.
In other words, when Fulmer boots a kid for character reasons, you know
something is really wrong.
The odd thing about Stoops taking him is that, if convicted, he might do some
serious prison time.
Stoops didn't say whether McGruder is on scholarship, but I think he would
have stressed that he was walking on if that was the case.
I wonder what parents of top recruits will think of Stoops' decision.
Perhaps he can tell them that, if their sons come to Oklahoma and want to buy
some dope, at least they won't have to leave the athletic dorm to get it.
We shouldn't be surprised. After all, the original Sooners were the crooks
who cheated on the land rush back in 1899. They didn't participate in the
rush, but hid out along the way and grabbed choice pieces of property.
That's kind of like the marathon runners who get caught hitching a car ride
part of the way.
Of course those runners get disqualified and don't get the race named after
them they way the Sooners did. Oklahoma is, after all, the Sooner State.

Corrections

* I wrote in a recent newsletter that the University Interscholastic League
(UIL), the governing body for high school sports in Texas, had a rule against
recruits taking paid visits to colleges while they had eligibility remaining.
That rule was repealed five years ago and there is no such rule now.
* I wrote in my last issue that Victor Ike and Ivan Williams ran behind the
first-team line and Cedric Benson ran behind the defensive line. That should
have been the second-team line.

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