Q&A with Longhorn Bloggers - Part I

We cornered three of most prolific Texas Longhorn bloggers for a Q&A session. Matt Berg from Bevo Sports, Peter Bean from Burnt Orange Nation and Katy Agnor from Horn Fans weight in with their thoughts.

There was so much ground to cover that we broke it into two parts.

In Part I, we hear UT perspectives on traveling to Lincoln, Colt McCoy's development, and how best to defend the Longhorn attack.

How do Longhorn fans feel about visiting Lincoln? Any excitement there for traveling to Memorial Stadium, or is it just another road game?

Matt Berg - Bevo Sports: Going to Lincoln and coming out with a win is always a tough proposition. For some reason they have a huge home-field advantage up there in Nebraska. I still remember back in the days when Nebraska never lost at home, with what seemed like a 5 year home winning streak. Though I wouldn't really say there is any added excitement to traveling to Memorial Stadium though, just that we really want to come out of there with a win in order to help our ranking in the BCS.

Peter Bean - Burnt Orange Nation: The excitement is there, in that Lincoln's got a great football history, and an excellent reputation in terms of a welcoming fan base. That said, we're not pleased with the 11:00 a.m. start time. The Horns haven't fared well historically in these morning games. It's a point of concern. Still, our resident road warrior 54b is trekking to Lincoln. We'll be sure to share his trip report when he returns.

Katy Agnor - Horn Fans: This will be my third trip to Lincoln. Robert and I have been both times that Texas has played Nebraska up there since the beginning of the Big XII. We've also had the opportunity to go to every Big XII venue (except Norman, thankfully!) as well as some other great stadiums such as the Shoe and the Rose Bowl in recent years. Memorial Stadium is absolutely one of the "don't miss" venues in college football. The stadium itself and the Sea of Red is impressive enough, but the quality of the fans is what puts it over the top. They are passionate, but always hospitable and some of the most knowledgeable football fans in the country. It is a pleasure and honor to come to Lincoln.

How would you say NU matches up with UT? Are there any players on NU's team that give Horn fans pause, or does your talent overwhelm?

Burnt Orange Nation: The unit that gives me pause is Nebraska's defensive line. We're big believers that these games are won and lost in the trenches, and the Huskers man a mean D-Line. If the two defensive ends put our freshman quarterback under pressure all day, we could have some real trouble.

Horn Fans: No team can come into Lincoln and expect to win with their "overwhelming talent." We've got great talent, maybe we even have more talent than Nebraska, but not overwhelming. Not by a longshot with a team like yours.

As to matchups, I simply haven't seen enough of Nebraska myself to say. I don't like to assess things off of ESPN highlights or some print media's version of things. I got to see part of your game against USC and some of your game against Iowa State (although that doesn't much count since I was enjoying a few beers at the State Fair after we beat OU). I haven't seen enough to try to break things down and I don't want to bore your readers or embarrass myself by trying to pretend otherwise.

Bevo Sports: Zac Taylor is definitely a player that you have to look out for. He is having an impressive season throwing the ball, already racking up 14 touchdowns. And after seeing what Baylor's passing offense did to us this past weekend, I am a little concerned about stopping Taylor and Terrence Nunn.

Assess Colt McCoy's development as a quarterback thus far. NU fans obviously see the highlight packages on ESPN. But, how has he looked and developed overall?

Bevo Sports: Colt McCoy has steadily matured throughout the season and showed off his development with 6 touchdown passes against Baylor. It is amazing to me to see a freshman remain so calm when playing in big games such as Ohio State and Oklahoma, and I think games like that only help in preparing him for tough road environments such as Nebraska and Texas Tech. I still don't see Colt winning games for us by himself, but I feel much more comfortable that he won't lose them.

Burnt Orange Nation: He's way, way, better than I thought he could be at this point. He's just so steady, quite accurate, and guttier than most kids his age. With that said, he's still raw at times. Last week he had a devil of a time with Baylor's zone blitz packages, frequently bailing out of the pocket at the first sign of pressure. I'd guess Nebraska's coaches noted.

Still, overall, he's doing as well as you could ask any young quarterback to. He's managing the game exceptionally well, and though he's far from perfect, you couldn't reasonably ask a freshman to be better.

Horn Fans: Colt has done really, really well all year, particularly given the high profile games that he's been asked to play at such a young age and experience level. In the OU game, he showed that he is already a much better QB than he was towards the beginning of the year. Interestingly, and this is no knock on Colt and he would be the first to tell you, he actually had a difficult game last week. It is funny seeing as how he set a record for the most TD passes in a single game and got an ESPN helmet sticker and all that, but frankly, he was a bit off and never looked comfortable in the game. His receivers really did a lot to help him out. We threw the ball a LOT, for whatever reason, which contributed greatly to what ended up being a pretty gaudy score, although Baylor is a much improved football team over the last several years. If Colt is still off this week, I think we'll be in trouble.

If YOU were a UT opponent, what aspect of UT's game would you say is the most vital to contain or shutdown in order to win? My instincts say stopping the run and containing your fearsome pass rush. Is that way off?

Horn Fans: I agree with your instincts. I would sell out to stop our running game -- no small task there. But it forces our young QB to pass and get the ball to the receivers. The passing game hasn't really settled into a strong rhythm yet. I hope to see Colt and our TEs, either Tweedie or Jermichael Finley (who is just a beast who will manhandle his way to the ball), find that synergy where you feel like, even if nothing else is working, a quick dump pass to the TE is going to get the yards you need. I don't think we are there yet.

Burnt Orange Nation: You're absolutely right. We beat teams because we have better offensive and defensive lines than almost everyone we play. If you can neutralize those two units, you'll have every chance to compete in the game. That's easier said than done, of course. Both lines are elite.

Bevo Sports: If possible, stopping the run would probably benefit a UT opponent the most. If you can keep the Texas running game at around 3 yards per carry, you have a much better chance of winning the game. Like I said before, I don't really see Colt McCoy carrying this team, so if the running game is shut down and everything is put on his shoulders, it will be tough for Texas to win.

Jammal Charles versus Ted Ginn Jr. in a 40-yard dash. Who ya got?

Bevo Sports: Honestly, I would take Ted Ginn Jr. Jamaal Charles is obviously fast, but Ginn looks like he just takes it to another level. I heard the announcers say last week that Ginn can sustain speeds upwards of 27 mph. That is just crazy!

Horn Fans: Yikes. I don't guess I can do a "no comment." The thing about 40-yard-dash type questions is that football isn't always a footrace, particularly for RBs. Most folks saw our LB Drew Kelson go stride-for-stride with Reggie Bush, for example. Jammal has some great moves and he's a slippery runner, a quality at which Reggie Bush excels. That isn't just speed. Nothing against Mr. Ginn, but of course, I'll keep Jammal.

Burnt Orange Nation: Jamaal. He's unreal. But they're different players, with different skill sets. Ginn's developed a lot more than I thought he would. You have to credit the Buckeye staff for the job they've done with him and Troy Smith both.

Does Limas Sweed have the potential to be as good or better than Roy Williams was?

Burnt Orange Nation: Yes, and no. Roy Williams is more physically gifted, but he was also a slack-ass at times. I'm seeing a fire and leadership from Limas that you didn't see as much in Roy. Limas may be the team leader on offense right now. It's been impressive watching him grow into a man. I'm proud of him.

Bevo Sports: He definitely has the potential to be as good, and when you look at him compared to Roy Williams they have a similar build and athleticism. Sweed's stats aren't quite what Roy did here at Texas, but Texas has so many options at receiver now it is hard to put up those kind of numbers.

Horn Fans: Another tough question. I think Limas has the potential to be as productive or more than Roy was in his collegiate career. Better? That's hard to say. Roy Williams was simply the most incredible physical specimen that I've seen at Texas. Watching him in practice was a thing of beauty. He would do all this acrobatic stuff simply to amuse himself because just catching the ball got boring. Sometimes I think that may have hurt his game performance, but when Roy is on, I don't think there is anyone better. Back to Limas, the light has come on for him and he is very, very good. He's a hard worker and he has all the physical attributes of a top receiver. He's been dominant in practice since he was a freshman and now we are seeing that productivity on the field. The game-winning catch against OSU last year just did a world of good for Limas' confidence and he is now the kind of team leader and playmaker that he is capable of being. I'm so proud of him.

Read Part II of this interview, Corn Nation's UT Q&A and our take on the game over at Burnt Orange Nation.