A delayed reaction to the Texas debacle

[Sorry for being late to the party, and apologies if I duplicate anyone's comments here. After watching the game from the UCLA endzone I have been off the grid due to work and other factors.] There were many negatives from Saturday; I want to focus on the relative negatives and the systematic negatives.

1) stupid penalties reflect on the coaching staff. No matter the players you have at your disposal, you can coach them to play within the rules, and you can handle your business with personnel/substitutions. Playing at home, there is no way we should commit a raft of such idiotic penalties. This is the single most disappointing thing about our performances in recent years: a sense that we our coaches from CRN down are not being the teachers that Coach espoused. [more after the jump]

2) Prince may be trying to lose the starting job, but Brehaut is doing nothing to win it I saw Kevin Prince try to force balls to receivers that should never have been thrown. I also saw him tuck and run when the O-line failed to provide any protection. I saw Richard Brehaut come in in the first half and avoid interceptions not through superior judgement but through underthrowing the ball towards the eager defensive back. After half-time, Brehaut had obviously had a lecture, and made a point of throwing the ball convincingly out of bounds when pressured early in the second half, but prior to that he demonstrated no superiority of judgement.

 3) I have defended Prince previously - even when seeming disgruntled on the sideline following injury - but his body language is unacceptable I don't know if Richard Brehaut is a leader, but Kevin Prince is convincing me he is not. I genuinely believe his not a demonstrably worse QB, and that his reads, deception and management of the run game are a positive; but I am done sticking up for a guy who seems to let his personal situation get the better of him during games.

 4) line play is (an underrated) key My abiding memory of Saturday is UCLA in posession, 3rd & long; Texas lines up with a Patriot-esque ninja set with one down lineman. Ensuing possession results in a clean hit on our QB by a player running through unblocked. When Manny Diaz dialed up pressure, it was a sack or hurry pretty much every time. When Tresey dialed up pressure, often times they handled us, or got a receiver wide open, or scrambled to safety. I have a hard time working out the relative blame on our two lines, but our O-line seems to be s liability in pass protection for a second straight year.

 5) I'm worried Rick has lost himself along with the team Rick seems dejected. I don't know if he can bring the team back, but he certainly can't if he doesn't believe that he can. I don't need to hear the sunshine; I would like to hear that he understands why this is unacceptable, which things are correctable coaching issues, and which things the players should share responsibility. He doesn't need to shoulder the whole blame - and as an honorable guy, it seems like the weight of the world is on his shoulders - but I want to hear conviction rather than excuses and empty promises.

 6) The attendance was an embarrassment I wonder how many Texas fans were expected, as the far endzone from me was partly Texas and partly empty; but attendance was really depressing. I have been at the Tennessee game and previously the Oklahoma game, the biggest non-conference games in previous years; the contrast - perhaps partly due to both teams - in this game was very unfaorable. Perhaps $60+$10 fees is expensive for the endzone seats I had; but if we can't get a crowd for a home game against Texas our program is in a sorry state.

Apologies for not being more positive. Locke did a fine job in emergency kicking duty, and I enjoyed occasional offensive plays (James wheel route); but really, we lost a game by 30 points to a team that didn't seem to have such superior talent - relying on young guys and a QB described as a 'gamer' rather than a 'stud' or 'elite prospect'. Our coaching seems lacking and our players don't execute. Not much else to say.