Never Retreat, Never Surrender | A Texas Longhorns Dynasty
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WEEK FOUR
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WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS (1-0, 0-0)
VS.
#4 TEXAS LONGHORNS (3-0, 0-0)
SECONDARY STIFLES MOUNTAINEERS IN 28-10 VICTORY
THE OFFENSE WAS HELD TO A SEASON-LOW 28 POINTS, BUT TEXAS STILL EASILY WON THEIR CONFERENCE OPENER
Through the first three weeks of the season, Texas' high-powered offense averaged 45 points per game. Up against West Virginia in their Big XII conference opener, they were decidedly less impressive with just 28 points, but an inspired defensive performance helped to ensure that the Longhorns increased their unbeaten streak to four games. Daniel Pratt was impressive under center, completing 15 of 24 passes for 230 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, and also rushing for 65 yards off 12 carries. Pratt was pulled from action in the fourth quarter after taking a big hit, but coaches have stated that it was just a precautionary measure, and he will not miss time. Connor Brewer wrapped up the game, completing 2 of 7 passes for 27 yards and throwing an interception. Leading the receiving corps was Cayleb Jones, who had four catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns. As for the ground game, Jonathan Gray only carried the ball 12 times, but rushed for 80 yards and a score. Defensively, the Longhorns allowed nearly 300 passing yards, but also recorded two sacks and three interceptions in an outstanding effort on Saturday. West Virginia converted less than half of their fifteen 3rd down attempts, and only managed one field goal in three redzone trips. Next week, the Mountaineers will return home to host rival Maryland (2-0, 1-0) before jumping back into their conference schedule the following week with a big road game against the Seminoles. As for the Longhorns, #6 Florida State (3-0, 3-0) is on tap for them next Saturday in a clash of top ten teams. The Seminoles have made it look easy so far, beating #24 Baylor, TCU, and #23 Oklahoma by double digits to open the season. Leading the effort is senior quarterback Jameis Winston, who is averaging over 300 passing yards and three touchdowns in his first three games of the year.
West Virginia Mountaineers at #4 Texas Longhorns Sep 17, 2016 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH SCORE West Virginia Mountaineers (1-1, 0-1) 0 3 7 0 10 #4 Texas Longhorns (4-0, 1-0) 7 14 7 0 28 Team Stats Comparison WVU TEX Total Offense 371 441 Rushing Yards 77 184 Passing Yards 294 257 First Downs 18 22 Punt Return Yards 2 8 Kick Return Yards 75 69 Total Yards 448 518 Turnovers 3 2 3rd Down Converstion 7-15 (46%) 8-11 (72%) 4th Down Conversion 1-2 (50%) 0-0 (0%) 2-Point Conversion 0-0 (0%) 0-0 (0%) Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals 3-0-1 (33%) 3-2-0 (66%) Penalties 5-45 9-68 Posession Time 28:40 31:20
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WEEK FIVE
#6 FLORIDA ST. SEMINOLES (3-0, 3-0)
VS.
#3 TEXAS LONGHORNS (4-0, 1-0)
Junior quarterback Daniel Pratt completed 8 of 17 passes for 129 yards, and also rushed for 47 yards off 14 carries...then it happened. Constantly hassled by Florida State's front seven, Pratt went down in the third quarter on his third sack of the day, and suffered a tear to his throwing shoulder that silenced a sold-out crowd in Austin as they watched their undefeated season, and quite possibly their national title hopes, lie still on the grass. One quarter later, the Longhorns' valiant comeback effort fell three points short as the team lost their first game of the season as well as their star quarterback for at least six weeks.
Following the game, coaches confirmed that Pratt had suffered a tear to his throwing shoulder, and the early prognosis will see him sidelined for the majority of the rest of the season. If his rehab goes off without a hitch, Pratt could return in November for the team's final three games against Baylor, Clemson, and TCU. But for now, the offense is in the hands of senior quarterback Connor Brewer, who completed 6 of 9 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown in the loss. Leading the effort in the receiving corps was the ever-present Cayleb Jones, who had six catches for 110 yards and a score. As for the ground game, Jonathan Gray rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns off 23 carries for an average of 5.4 yards per carry, and promises to see even more action in the upcoming weeks as the team focuses their attention on establishing a dominating rushing attack with Pratt sidelined. Defensively, the Longhorns recorded three sacks and two interceptions, but also allowed 465 total offensive yards in the loss.
On the other side of the ball, the Seminoles improved to 4-0 (4-0) on the season, making them the early favorite to take home the Big XII crown in 2016. Senior quarterback Jameis Winston completed 16 of 28 passes for 299 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions, and also rushed for 44 yards and another score in the win. His go-to man was senior Marvin Bracy, who had seven catches for 84 yards and a score, while sophomore tight end Ryan Yates caught five balls for 85 yards and a touchdown. Groundwise, junior runningback Charles Clark led the effort with 94 yards and a touchdowns off 17 carries, averaging 5.5 yards per touch. Florida State's defense allowed nearly 500 yards of total offense and recorded no turnovers, but did sack Pratt three times, and limited the Longhorns to just one successful conversion on four 4th down conversion attempts. Ranked as the 3rd best team in the country, the Seminoles will return home next week to host West Virginia (1-2, 0-1) before hitting the road again to face off against Kansas (2-2, 0-1).
Minus their star quarterback, the Longhorns will gratefully head into their bye week which will give them a good amount of time to adjust their offensive gameplan before hitting the road to face Iowa State (1-2, 0-0) in what should be a morale-boosting victory for the team before their showdown with Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry.
Florida State Seminoles at Texas Longhorns Sep 24, 2016 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH SCORE Florida State Seminoles (4-0, 4-0) 7 14 3 7 31 Texas Longhorns (4-1, 1-1) 3 10 0 15 28 Team Stats Comparison FSU TEX Total Offense 465 465 Rushing Yards 166 230 Passing Yards 299 235 First Downs 26 24 Punt Return Yards 8 10 Kick Return Yards 97 127 Total Yards 570 602 Turnovers 2 0 3rd Down Converstion 4-8 (50%) 7-14 (50%) 4th Down Conversion 0-0 (0%) 1-4 (25%) 2-Point Conversion 0-0 (0%) 1-1 (100%) Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals 6-4-1 (83%) 5-3-1 (80%) Penalties 4-56 6-40 Posession Time 27:28 32:32
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2017 CLASS UP TO TEN PLAYERS WITH LATEST WAVE OF COMMITMENTS
We're only at the midway point in the 2016 regular season, and already the Longhorns have secured commitments from ten of their eighteen targeted recruits. The latest batch of four players added a wealth of talent to the offense, as well as a solid addition to the defensive secondary. First up is four-star prospect Steven Haynes out of Oak Ridge, Florida, ranked as the 7th best tight end available. Haynes isn't excellent in any particular area, but he's very good in all aspects of the game, including blocking and branching out as a receiving target. Unfortunately for Haynes, the road to the top of the depth chart will be a long one with third-year sophomore Anthony McDonald and freshman Chris O'Connor already on the roster. On the offensive line, Texas picked up their third commitment in tackle Corey Walker, a four-star prospect out of Graham, Texas who is rated as the 4th best tackle available, the 7th best prospect available in the state, and the 76th best player overall. Walker is a proficient pass blocker, and will likely be redshirted in his first season in anticipation of taking over the starting spot at left tackle once current junior Shelton Fisher graduates. At fullback, the team grabbed the 2nd best player available at the position in two-star prospect Doug Ashley. Luke O'Neal and Alex De La Torre will both graduate at the end of the this year, opening the door for Ashley to join the starting lineup as a true freshman next year. Finally, the team welcomed four-star prospect Justin Turner, who was ranked as the 7th best cornerback available, and the 7th best prospect coming out of Alabama. Turner is the second cornerback to commit this season, and with five of the team's seven players at the position graduating over the next two seasons, he'll have every opportunity to climb the depth chart in a hurry.
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WEEK SEVEN
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#5 TEXAS LONGHORNS (4-1, 1-1)
VS.
IOWA ST. CYCLONES (2-2, 1-0)
GRAY CARRIES OFFENSE IN DOMINANT 42-19 WIN
JONATHAN GRAY CONTINUED HIS HEISMAN CAMPAIGN WITH 219 ALL-PURPOSE YARDS AND FIVE TDS
With star quarterback Daniel Pratt sidelined with an injury to his throwing shoulder, the Longhorns turned to their other superstar to carry the offense...and he did not disappoint. As the focal point of the team's offensive attack, senior runningback Jonathan Gray rushed for 155 yards and four touchdowns off 22 carries, and also led the receiving corps with three catches for 64 yards and another score as #5 Texas easily handled Iowa State 42-19. Senior quarterback Connor Brewer was decent in his first collegiate start, completing 12 of 23 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown. Aside from Gray, his go-to man was Cayleb Jones, who had three catches for 63 yards. Jonathan Gray dominated the carries on the ground, but backup runningback Ken Fogle did add 83 yards off just nine carries, and senior fullback Luke O'Neal carried the ball three times for 22 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, the Longhorns allowed nearly 400 total offensive yards and forced no turnovers, but they did record four sacks, and limited the Cyclones to just 13 points in three redzone trips. Meanwhile, Texas was perfect in their redzone visits, scoring touchdowns all five times. With three losses in their last four games, Iowa State will look to right the ship over the next few weeks with games against underachieving conference foes Baylor (3-2, 1-1) and TCU (2-4, 1-3). As for the Longhorns, the time has come to face off against #15 Oklahoma (4-1, 2-1) in the annual Red River Rivalry. Stay tuned for our full preview of the game.
#5 Texas Longhorns at Iowa State Cyclones Oct 8, 2016 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH SCORE #5 Texas Longhorns (5-1, 2-1) 7 21 7 7 42 Iowa State Cyclones (2-3, 1-1) 7 3 3 6 19 Team Stats Comparison TEX ISU Total Offense 462 391 Rushing Yards 268 111 Passing Yards 194 280 First Downs 23 18 Punt Return Yards 13 44 Kick Return Yards 72 141 Total Yards 547 576 Turnovers 0 0 3rd Down Converstion 8-12 (66%) 6-14 (42%) 4th Down Conversion 0-0 (0%) 1-1 (100%) 2-Point Conversion 0-0 (0%) 0-1 (0%) Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals 5-5-0 (100%) 3-1-2 (100%) Penalties 7-50 10-68 Posession Time 32:18 27:42
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I decided to go ahead and end this dynasty since it's nearly summer now, and the new games are right around the corner. But I didn't want to leave you guys hanging, so I wanted to give you a quick recap of what happened.
We finished the current year with a 9-3 (6-3) record, missing out on the Big XII conference championship game, but beating Missisippi State as an at-large team in the Fiesta Bowl. Pratt returned from his injury twice during the season, but was re-injured both times within the first 15 snaps of the game. Pratt returned for his senior season, giving us a stacked roster for 2017.
With a 99 rating in every facet of the game, we pretty much tore through the competition in 2017. Our only hiccup of the season came in week nine when we were stunned by Texas Tech 35-31 on our home turf thanks to a late TD with less than a minute to play. The Red Raiders finished the season ranked 10th in the country with a 10-3 (6-3) record. Other than that we suffered no other losses, and beat all of our regular season opponents by double digits. We met Florida State in the conference title game for the second time in 2017, and beat them 42-35 to secure our #1 spot in the polls, and advance to the BCS national championship game for the third time in this dynasty, hoping for our first win. We faced off against #2 LSU (11-2, 8-2) in the BCS National Championship as the respective champions of the Big XII and SEC. Those poor Tigers never stood a chance, falling 48-28. LSU actually led the game 28-21 at halftime, but we scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to safely put the game away. Naturally, it was Pratt who led the charge, completing 21 of 31 passes for 280 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception, while Travis Foster had 25 carries for 176 yards and a score on the ground.
Daniel Pratt had an INCREDIBLE year. He won the Heisman trophy in a landslide, taking home 603 first-place votes and 2,141 total votes. Gary Williams (QB) of USC came in 2nd with 101 first-place votes and 1,191 total votes. Pratt also won the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Award, and the Davey O'Brien Award. Seth Williams (WR) won the Biletnikoff Award, Ronnie Moss (C) won the Outland Trophy and the Rimington Trophy, and Blake Paris won the Lou Groza Place-Kicker Award. All in all, Texas players won 8 of the 17 available awards, and we also had eight players on the first team All-American team, including four of our five starting offensive linemen.
Pratt finished the year with one of the most impressive stat lines I've ever seen, completing 75% of his 390 attempted passes for 4,177 yards, 50 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He also rushed for 733 yards and another 8 touchdowns. Pratt set a new school record for passing yards (4,177) and passing TDs (50) in a season. On the ground, Travis Foster and Ken Fogle combined for over 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Seth Williams was by far the most active wide receiver, reeling in 96 catches for 1,574 yards and 16 touchdowns. For comparison sake, Paul Ellis (WR) was 2nd on the team with 693 yards and 8 touchdowns. Seth Williams set a new school record for receiving yards (1,574) and receiving TDs (16) in a season. As far as team stats go, we ranked #1 in the nation in points per game (46.2), #1 in total offense (551.7 yards per game), #4 in pass offense (330.8 yards per game), and #6 in rush defense (140.3 yards per game).
I'd like to thank all of you for reading my dynasty, I put a lot of work into it every year, and it means a lot to me. See you in a few months!Comment
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