The Peach Bowl thread (CFP Quarterfinal) 1/1/2025 11AM AZ time

[Ronin]

Former Longhorns with ASU itching for chance to face Texas

The former Longhorns now making an impact with ASU can't wait for the chance to get back at Texas in the Peach Bowl.

arizonasports.com

 

[AZ Native]

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[Devilmaycare]

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I want one!

 

[Absolute Zero]

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Wow great shirt!

Here's what Santa brought me....

 

[Absolute Zero]

This guy does a "great job" of pouring cold water on ASUs chances...

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Stacked secondary, including 2 All Americans, playmakers all across the defense, stuffed Clemson's two attempts to go for it on 4th and 1, only gave up 30 points once this year, think (?) he also said that they only gave up two TD passes in games twice this year.

If the prognosticators are right, ASU's path to victory is a very narrow one and it runs thru Ewers.

Will be interesting to see if the ASU offense will still take the same aggressive approach on 4th downs, and on defense whether Brian Ward will dial up a bit more magic with blitz packages trying to force Ewers to make some mistakes.

 

[Trainwreck20]

(Longhorn here) Ewers isn't the problem or the solution for Texas - he is a very good short- to medium-range passer with very inconsistent deep throws. His TD/INT ratio is 26/10, I think, with three or four of those INTs being due to the receiver hot-potatoing the ball to the defender or a WR falling down. He is actually pretty good at not throwing bad throws and is more likely to eat a sack or throw it away too early, if anything. Not sure on his mobility with his banged up ankle, but he is not really a threat to beat anyone with his legs on a regular basis. More of a 'oh, you vacated the middle, I can run straight for 10 yards' type of QB.

The most success people have had against Texas was shutting down the run and forcing lots of short throws that eventually result in holding calls or illegal motion that end up killing a drive. Neither RB was projected to be a starter this year but were forced into the role due to injuries. They are not bad by any means, but not world-beaters. Blue (no. 2 back) has had a rash of fumbles earlier this year but has been better the last few games. Both do run 'with passion', though, with Wisner (no. 1 RB) sort of breaking out later in this season.

Anyway, if you can limit the run and gamble a bit on the long ball, the game is very winnable for ASU. Against Clemson, Ewers was actually on-target downfield. He is very hard to beat in that situation, but it is not a regular thing.

On defense, the secondary is good but not awesome. Clemson QB was dropping perfect passes into good coverage with receivers dotting the sideline and not much you can do about that. The biggest difference this year has been a much better oline, especially in pass protection.

 

[Dback Jon]

(Longhorn here) Ewers isn't the problem or the solution for Texas - he is a very good short- to medium-range passer with very inconsistent deep throws. His TD/INT ratio is 26/10, I think, with three or four of those INTs being due to the receiver hot-potatoing the ball to the defender or a WR falling down. He is actually pretty good at not throwing bad throws and is more likely to eat a sack or throw it away too early, if anything. Not sure on his mobility with his banged up ankle, but he is not really a threat to beat anyone with his legs on a regular basis. More of a 'oh, you vacated the middle, I can run straight for 10 yards' type of QB.

The most success people have had against Texas was shutting down the run and forcing lots of short throws that eventually result in holding calls or illegal motion that end up killing a drive. Neither RB was projected to be a starter this year but were forced into the role due to injuries. They are not bad by any means, but not world-beaters. Blue (no. 2 back) has had a rash of fumbles earlier this year but has been better the last few games. Both do run 'with passion', though, with Wisner (no. 1 RB) sort of breaking out later in this season.

Anyway, if you can limit the run and gamble a bit on the long ball, the game is very winnable for ASU. Against Clemson, Ewers was actually on-target downfield. He is very hard to beat in that situation, but it is not a regular thing.

On defense, the secondary is good but not awesome. Clemson QB was dropping perfect passes into good coverage with receivers dotting the sideline and not much you can do about that. The biggest difference this year has been a much better oline, especially in pass protection.

Welcome!

 

[Lorenzo]

(Longhorn here) Ewers isn't the problem or the solution for Texas - he is a very good short- to medium-range passer with very inconsistent deep throws. His TD/INT ratio is 26/10, I think, with three or four of those INTs being due to the receiver hot-potatoing the ball to the defender or a WR falling down. He is actually pretty good at not throwing bad throws and is more likely to eat a sack or throw it away too early, if anything. Not sure on his mobility with his banged up ankle, but he is not really a threat to beat anyone with his legs on a regular basis. More of a 'oh, you vacated the middle, I can run straight for 10 yards' type of QB.

The most success people have had against Texas was shutting down the run and forcing lots of short throws that eventually result in holding calls or illegal motion that end up killing a drive. Neither RB was projected to be a starter this year but were forced into the role due to injuries. They are not bad by any means, but not world-beaters. Blue (no. 2 back) has had a rash of fumbles earlier this year but has been better the last few games. Both do run 'with passion', though, with Wisner (no. 1 RB) sort of breaking out later in this season.

Anyway, if you can limit the run and gamble a bit on the long ball, the game is very winnable for ASU. Against Clemson, Ewers was actually on-target downfield. He is very hard to beat in that situation, but it is not a regular thing.

On defense, the secondary is good but not awesome. Clemson QB was dropping perfect passes into good coverage with receivers dotting the sideline and not much you can do about that. The biggest difference this year has been a much better oline, especially in pass protection.

I agree. and I think you make a good case for Ewers being the solution for the success of the Texas offense if he can hit those deep throws. That’s his main weakness. That’s the reason so many Texas fans went nuts when manning played and hit on a handful of deep balls that were perfectly thrown. Ewers has had some bad interceptions when throwing the ball in the flat. Often it’s because of a double clutch and he doesn’t look confident. Those are the ones that he can eliminate. I think playing with confidence is the most important aspect of Ewers game. I personally feel ewers is their scape goat and I’ll admit that I have blamed him as well.

It’s clear that wisner is the longhorns best overall rb and blue is their home run threat. Some of blue’s problems stem from not going down when he should, but he also has had some really bad ones where he’s too lazy with the ball. Wisner has been a great surprise for them. The OU game was his most memorable game and that’s when you could tell that he became the best option as he blew that game open when Ewers was struggling. Wisner is very tough and is also fast enough to break away. By all accounts Wisner is also a great leader.

 

[Trainwreck20]

[...]That’s the reason so many Texas fans went nuts when manning played and hit on a handful of deep balls that were perfectly thrown.[...]

Manning throws an absolutely beautiful long ball. BUT he has shown he would much rather throw the long one every time instead of reading the defense to see what the best balance between yardage and chance of success. He also rarely decides that he doesn't have a throw and has shown a tendency to try to fit it into bad coverage. The news coverage makes Ewers sound awful sometimes, but he has really been steady through bad and good games. I suspect Manning is as likely to lose the game as win it, while Ewers does a job over leveraging overall talent of the team by letting the defense do its job or letting the RBs do their job.

Historically, UT has often tried to wear a defense down via ToP. UT has almost always had excellent backups and rarely has much of a drop off in quality, while opponents often have hd a more significant drop; however, in the era of NIL, I am not sure that is the case anymore and ToP is more important than ever. The really good backups move on as starters elsewhere.

 

[Lorenzo]

This guy does a "great job" of pouring cold water on ASUs chances...

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

Stacked secondary, including 2 All Americans, playmakers all across the defense, stuffed Clemson's two attempts to go for it on 4th and 1, only gave up 30 points once this year, think (?) he also said that they only gave up two TD passes in games twice this year.

If the prognosticators are right, ASU's path to victory is a very narrow one and it runs thru Ewers.

Will be interesting to see if the ASU offense will still take the same aggressive approach on 4th downs, and on defense whether Brian Ward will dial up a bit more magic with blitz packages trying to force Ewers to make some mistakes.

Yeah they gave up 30 to Georgia in the first meeting. Statistically last week was probably the worst performance for the defense. But I thought they played well overall and made all of the winning plays that were needed. Dabo also probably should have thrown the ball at the goaline on that final drive. Georgia is the only team that has been able to run the ball on Texas at the goaline this year. So it can be done, but they are stout.

 

[ajcardfan]

(Longhorn here) Ewers isn't the problem or the solution for Texas - he is a very good short- to medium-range passer with very inconsistent deep throws. His TD/INT ratio is 26/10, I think, with three or four of those INTs being due to the receiver hot-potatoing the ball to the defender or a WR falling down. He is actually pretty good at not throwing bad throws and is more likely to eat a sack or throw it away too early, if anything. Not sure on his mobility with his banged up ankle, but he is not really a threat to beat anyone with his legs on a regular basis. More of a 'oh, you vacated the middle, I can run straight for 10 yards' type of QB.

The most success people have had against Texas was shutting down the run and forcing lots of short throws that eventually result in holding calls or illegal motion that end up killing a drive. Neither RB was projected to be a starter this year but were forced into the role due to injuries. They are not bad by any means, but not world-beaters. Blue (no. 2 back) has had a rash of fumbles earlier this year but has been better the last few games. Both do run 'with passion', though, with Wisner (no. 1 RB) sort of breaking out later in this season.

Anyway, if you can limit the run and gamble a bit on the long ball, the game is very winnable for ASU. Against Clemson, Ewers was actually on-target downfield. He is very hard to beat in that situation, but it is not a regular thing.

On defense, the secondary is good but not awesome. Clemson QB was dropping perfect passes into good coverage with receivers dotting the sideline and not much you can do about that. The biggest difference this year has been a much better oline, especially in pass protection.

Thank you. Aggie/ASU alum here. Even though the first game didn't go the way we wanted, it is awesome that the greatest rivalry in college sports is back.

My main concern is ASU oline holding up against that awesome front 7 you have. I think if Skattebo is shut down ASU is toast. Texas wins this game 8 or 9 times out of ten. ASU will have to be able to run for 150 at a minimum and win the turnover battle to have a shot.

 

[Lorenzo]

Manning throws an absolutely beautiful long ball. BUT he has shown he would much rather throw the long one every time instead of reading the defense to see what the best balance between yardage and chance of success. He also rarely decides that he doesn't have a throw and has shown a tendency to try to fit it into bad coverage. The news coverage makes Ewers sound awful sometimes, but he has really been steady through bad and good games. I suspect Manning is as likely to lose the game as win it, while Ewers does a job over leveraging overall talent of the team by letting the defense do its job or letting the RBs do their job.

Historically, UT has often tried to wear a defense down via ToP. UT has almost always had excellent backups and rarely has much of a drop off in quality, while opponents often have hd a more significant drop; however, in the era of NIL, I am not sure that is the case anymore and ToP is more important than ever. The really good backups move on as starters elsewhere.

Agree on manning. He’s not the better option today. But if he needs to play he can still be effective.

Thank you. Aggie/ASU alum here. Even though the first game didn't go the way we wanted, it is awesome that the greatest rivalry in college sports is back.

My main concern is ASU oline holding up against that awesome front 7 you have. I think if Skattebo is shut down ASU is toast. Texas wins this game 8 or 9 times out of ten. ASU will have to be able to run for 150 at a minimum and win the turnover battle to have a shot.

That game at Kyle field this year was something else. It was cool to see that and Texas go back to Fayetnam.

 

[AZCB34]

Thank you. Aggie/ASU alum here. Even though the first game didn't go the way we wanted, it is awesome that the greatest rivalry in college sports is back.

My main concern is ASU oline holding up against that awesome front 7 you have. I think if Skattebo is shut down ASU is toast. Texas wins this game 8 or 9 times out of ten. ASU will have to be able to run for 150 at a minimum and win the turnover battle to have a shot.

I think there should be concern with the ASU DL holding up against the Texas OL as well. ASU appears to be at a huge disadvantage in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

This feels like the 1980 USA v USSR hockey game

 

[AZ Native]

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I saw a guy wearing the same shirt at Safeway today. He was about my age. I was wearing my maroon Pat Tillman jersey. I pointed at his shirt and said, "Nice shirt." He said, "You too". GO DEVILS!

 

[SeattleCardinal]

I think there should be concern with the ASU DL holding up against the Texas OL as well. ASU appears to be at a huge disadvantage in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

This feels like the 1980 USA v USSR hockey game

Yeah, I'm actually more worried about the Texas OL. It includes two first-round-caliber draft picks (one of them the Lombardi award winner) and a TE who will also be drafted high.

 

[AZCB34]

Welcome @Trainwreck20

 

[AZCB34]

All the pressure is on Texas. They are supposed to win. They are supposed to dominate the plucky upstarts from Tempe. Nobody outside of Tempe thinks ASU has any chance whatsoever.

Nerves will still be there for the Devils but they can and should play very free without the yolk of expectations around their necks. I hope and expect the Devils to play as if they have nothing to lose at this point. Feel free to go deep into the playbook and bust out a trick play or two. Fake punt ? Sure, why not? ASU is kind of playing with house money, especially after the preseason thoughts most had about them.

I generally hate all the nonsense motivational things players latch onto but in this case I hope their bulletin board is full and leaking into the walls surrounding it. Grab hold of everything including the idiot BYU QB running his mouth

 

[ajcardfan]

Yeah, I'm actually more worried about the Texas OL. It includes two first-round-caliber draft picks (one of them the Lombardi award winner) and a TE who will also be drafted high.

Yeah, it's tough for us on both sides of the ball as far as matchups up front. Texas doesn't have to do fancy stuff. They are so good they just come straight at you and dare you to beat them man on man. It can be done, they are not invincible.

I think one thing about this format is if the "bye" is really an advantage one you get to this point? I kind of have my doubts. It's been a long time for ASU to sit around and hear a lot of "attaboys" and get pats on the back. It's going to be interesting to see how sharp they are. If we are the team getting presnap penalties then the bye was not good.