Talent Inertia – A condition in sports (mostly in basketball and football) in which one team is clearly superior to its opponent, but do to the unpredictable aspects of the sport (turnovers, blocked kicks, lethargic play), the score is close at halftime.  In the second half, the superior team asserts itself and achieves a satisfying blow out.

Actually, this may better apply to the UT game in Laramie, but as I got up at halftime for some popcorn, I was pretty depressed about Tech’s offense, and the defense wasn’t doing anything spectacular either.  Fortunately, the light went off in Taylor Pott’s head, and he was suddenly seeing open receivers all over the field.  Meanwhile, the defense finally got a turnover, albeit on a fumbled hand off.  I’ll take anything at this point.  Yes, we’re fundamentally sound.  Yes, we’re tackling well.  Is that enough to beat Colt McCoy in Austin?  I guess we’ll find out.

A few quick thoughts:

1. It was nice to have Swindall back on the field.  He and Leong worked some excellent combo routes on the left side, and were rewarded with five TD’s between them.
2. Speaking of the left side, Potts has done a really good job of attacking the whole field horizontally, and against Rice he even went vertical, throwing to the deep third early and often.  Now, he was inaccurate at times, and some really good throws were dropped, but it was a marked improvement compared to last week.  It will be interesting to see how often we can get free in the deep third against UT.
3. Started Olson and Edwards on the left side, with Carter back to RG.  Later they brought in Okafor and flipped Carter to LG.  Terry McDaniel also got a lot of snaps at LT in the second half, as did Joe King at RT.  The traditional thinking is that offensive lines need time together to be cohesive and so forth, but I’m not sure this applies to Tech, at least not in pass blocking.  Yes, I would like Matt Moore to settle on a starting five, but at the same time, he’s evaluating two RS Sophomores and a RS Freshman.  I’m fine with the weekly competition, as I think the carrot of being a starter will result in maximum practice effort.  How can that be a bad thing?  Well, if we don’t start making some holes in the running game, my opinion will change.
4. I’m very comfortable with Steven Sheffield as my backup QB.  Came in with good tempo, decisive and accurate.
5. Victor Hunter to DT seems to have worked out.  The primary running play for Rice was an inside hand-off up the middle, and Hunter got his four tackles stopping this play.
6. DJ Johnson is going to be a player.  Two pass breakups in limited fourth quarter action, and I like how quick he breaks to the ball.
7. Laron Moore is starting to gain confidence, and probably had the hit of the night, shedding a block and blowing up a screen.  Just stay healthy, Bro.
8. Speaking of healthy, Rajon Henley and Detron Lewis are not.  I expect them both to play against UT, but we’ll see how close they are to 100%.
9. Aundrey Barr’s redshirt might catch fire soon.  Depending on Henley’s condition, you’re looking at trying to chase Colt McCoy with 2-3 DE’s.  Or maybe we’ll just play the whole game in nickel and rotate Bird at DE.
10. But aside from a disconcerting lack of depth, Howard and Sharpe are playing well.  So far they’ve been disciplined, rarely giving up outside contain, and very determined on their way to the passer.  We’ll see how that translates next week.
11. Our secondary hasn’t reached the point where they’re anticipating plays.  They still look pretty reactive.  They tackle well, and the safeties got some good hits in, but I guess I got used to Charb and McBath jumping a route now and then.  To beat Texas, these guys need to react faster…see a formation or the pattern of a route that will take them into a postion to make a big play.
12. Loved the flea-flicker, and from my seat in the end zone, I got to watch Potts launch that thing a good 60+ yards.  This is something you can do with a big arm, and the play was there until Detron’s hamstring gave out.
13. Eric Stephens is for real, y’all.  He had one last burst on that screen to accelerate into the end zone, and he stopped and started on the kick off return before taking it to the house.  Those are the kind of electric things you need in big games against quality opponents.  I was expecting this from Cornelius Douglas, but really haven’t seen it yet.  And now that Swindall has reasserted himself, I’m not sure how many snaps we get from the Corndog.
14. I’ve been really disappointed with the ‘heavy’ package of James and Hale.  Last year that personnel group created some explosive plays, but so far this year it just looks like we’re taking better players off the field.

At this point, I wish this game in Austin hadn’t been moved up.  The O-Line still isn’t settled, Detron and Rajon are hurt, and I’d rather have Taylor Potts get his first start on the road at Aimes or College Station.  But what the hell, let’s get it on.  I’ll put something together in preparation for that game later this week.