Texas Football: Picking Up the Pieces and Reconstructing the Longhorns

Austin, we have a problem! Any Longhorn fan paying any attention at all knew that several games ago. The 2010 Texas Longhorns are a mess and it's not going to get better any time soon. The worst team in  Mack Brown's tenure has three painful games to go and then the rebuilding begins. 

So where do they go from here? The problems seem so many and the answers so few. Let's start with the problems.

The Offense

For years, Texas fans have enjoyed a potent offense but have never embraced offensive coordinator Greg Davis. The argument has always been that Davis has rarely gotten the most out of the tremendous talent he has to work with. When blessed with a great QB, the offense has been excellent and even unstoppable at times. 

However, absent a gifted signal-caller, the offense tended to beat up on poor competition and struggle against quality teams. His game-day play-calling has been a particular problem over the years. Texas has had a tendency to bottle up against good defenses and try not to lose games.

2010 has accentuated every criticism Davis has endured over the years.

Garrett Gilbert is not the quarterback Texas hoped for and perhaps he won't ever be. The running game and offensive line continue their struggles and have seemingly hit rock bottom this season. A change in philosophy brought hope for an improved running game, but instead exposed major deficits in the offensive line and running back talent.

The scheme has been a disaster and the blame falls squarely on Davis' shoulders. Each week he continues to answer questions about personnel decisions and play-calling and every week his answers get more tired. It seems that Davis has finally been exposed as an average coordinator living off of above average talent.

The Defense

The defensive woes have been much more surprising for the Longhorn faithful.  Let's not forget that Mack Brown declared this potentially his best defense since he's been on the Forty Acres. 

Unfortunately, it is not to be. While many of the problems on defense fall directly on the impotent and turnover-prone offense and special teams, the defense earns plenty of blame.

The middle of the defensive line is very thin and outside of Kheeston Randall, no other play-maker seems to exist. The pass rush has been decent, but teams haven't needed to throw often, as stopping the run has been an issue most of the season.

The missed tackles and lack of effort have been fairly consistent issues and the secondary has been burned seemingly at all the wrong times. Will Muschamp has been at a loss for answers and it seems that there may be none coming this season. The shame is that players like Keenan Robinson and Sam Acho have played well, but it is not enough. While I believe Muschamp is a good coach, he has a lot of work in the off-season to shore up his side of the ball.

The Special Teams

This unit has been particularly bad for the entire season. The turnovers, lack of explosiveness and horrific fakes have plagued the team all year.

Special teams has usually been a strength for Texas, but it may be the weakest unit in 2010.

The punting and place-kicking have been solid most of the season, but the return units and kick coverage teams have been awful. It took the coaches an amazing eight games to finally decide to pull Curtis Brown and Aaron Williams off of punt returns. Special Teams Coordinator Mike Tolleson can not feel too good about his job security at this point.

Solutions

I understand these problems seem insurmountable at this point in the season and they are. But I don't believe this has to be a long-term slide for the Longhorns. It's time for new blood in the coaching ranks. Most fans understand that Mack Brown is safe no matter how the season ends, but the rest of the coaches should not be so lucky.

Obviously, Greg Davis has to go. It's time for a fresh offensive mind to take over and start using the immense talent available at Texas. Ask Oklahoma State whether a new coordinator can make a difference.

Speaking of OSU, Dana Holgerson would be my choice to fix what ails the Texas offense. He runs a very innovative and explosive spread offense that incorporates both running and passing. With the young talent at wide receiver and a big time running back like Malcolm Brown coming in, life would sure look different in Austin fairly quickly.

As for defense, I think Will Muschamp will turn it around in due time. The young talent coming up, especially on the defensive line and at linebacker, should plug the holes that plague this current version of the Longhorns. No change seems forthcoming on that side of the ball.

As for special teams, a shakeup is probably in order here as well, but only time will tell. The question now remains, will Mack Brown make these changes or will he stick to his guns and trust the coaches who got him to top in the first place? 

Unlike many pundits, I believe Texas is in a position where the stakes are so high that change is inevitable. Mack has stuck with Davis for years despite the critics, but I don't think he can afford to be stubborn this time around. His salary and impending retirement put more pressure on him to finally cut the cord. I may be wrong, but remember, we are sailing into uncharted waters for the Mack Brown era.

If he doesn't make changes, I'm sorry to say his days may be numbered.