I'm not a UT grad, so I don't have as much invested in this as some of you do. But I have to say a few things. How many championships did Applewhite win? Didn't he 'lead' the team to several memorable blowouts (defined as when UT got blown out)? Has Simms had a decent rushing attack since he's been playing? Did Simms play alongside Ricky Williams? Did Simms get blown out in games with Ricky Williams? Did Simms have a back gain 245 yards in a Bowl, like Applwhite did? No. Did Simms have receivers drop so many passes in a bowl game that its now referred to by the national media as the 'Drop Bowl?" Yes. "Well, Ol Benson is a damn fine RB" you might say... How many carries did he get against OU? 1? How often has Simms been let loose to move beyond dink and dunk? Not often. Does dink and dunk contribute to interceptions for TDs? Sure does. Didn't Applewhite pass for 53 yards in a loss to A&M? Yep. Has Simms (seems to be recently corrected) often looked only at one receiver? Yes. Has he made mistakes? Yes. Has Applewhite? Most definitely. Should UT fans feel lucky to have Simms? You are damn skippy.
I'm not going to get into another Simms vs. Applewhite debate, but <B>Applewhite had his best season with a mediocre Hodges Mitchell as his running back.</B> We are rushing more this year than any time in recent UT history. Please stop using Ricky Williams as a crutch to argue Simms v. Applewhite.
Major won Big XII Co-Offensive POY in 1999 with Hogdes at tailback, not Ricky. Major was a freshman when Ricky played tailback. Major has set about 50 UT passing records. His legacy at Texas is secure. I will forever remember him for his games against NU and A&M (1998). Simms is the future, but he's got a long way to go. Terrible field vision, and sometimes questionable decision making. Tremendous physical skills. Gifted athlete. Tendency to stare down his intended receiver, resulting in an INT. And, yes, I am drunk.
Terrible field vision? Go back and look at a tape of yesterday, or practically any game this season. Simms does not lock in on a receiver, as many of you claim. He does an excellent job, imho, of scanning the field and finding the open man. If no one is open, he shows brilliant decision making by throwing the ball away, instead of trying to force it into a tough spot like most quarterbacks would do. By the way, if they often result in an INT, why has Simms thrown almost none the entire season with the exception of the OU game? The OU game should've been 2 interceptions, had not Vasher caught the punt on the 3. One obviously came on the hit, and the other came on essentially a desperation Hail Mary when we were down 14-3. Many of the complaints about Simms (not necessarily Baqui) are what people said last year when he and Major both played in the first couple of months of the season. Those are not applicable anymore. Simms has made tremendous strides this season, and the game tape and stats show that. I wouldn't trade him for anyone else in the country.
I think Simms is close to those players now, and will be better by the time his season and/or college career is over. I know that sounds hard to believe to a Canes fan, but if you look at all the UT games objectively, you should love what you see from Simms. However, most people don't appreciate him enough, including his own fans, because of either their ties to Major Applewhite or the disappointment of the OU game.
<B>Simms does not lock in on a receiver, as many of you claim. He does an excellent job, imho, of scanning the field and finding the open man. </B> Yesterday was the first time this season he has done that. It was also the first time this season he hasn't been under too much pressure at all. Not coincidentally, it was his best game this season. It will be interesting to see if continues this or reverses back to picking his primary receiver. A perfect example of this was the TD pass to Roy Williams in the front corner of the endzone. If you watch him, he <I>really, really, really</I> wanted to throw to his tight end. The TE was covered and he finally threw to Roy. That was a huge sign of progress in his development, I think.
Granted, I don't get to see many Texas games because of where I live, but I think the reason so many people give Simms a hard time is several: 1) He was a highly recruited, Parade All-American QB coming out of high school. As a matter of fact, I think he originally committed to go to the other UT - Tennessee but changed his mind. I can't remember because I hate the Vols with a passion. The point though is that everyone wanted him. 2) He has good bloodlines. His father Phil is argubably a future Hall of Famer. Notice I didn't say he was a shoe-in. If anything Phil Simms was a solid pro like Archie Manning, whose son Peyton is sorta similar to Chris in many ways. 3) He is playing at a school that has always had a rich and proud tradition in college football. Remember Ron Powlus at Notre Dame? Didn't the "God of College Football", Beano Cook, say that Powlus would win 2 or 3 Heismans? The point of bringing Powlus up is that he too was a high school All-American who went to a school with a storied tradition. So, naturally there was alot of hype about him, sorta similar to Simms. The whole thing about Simms reminds me of Peyton Manning. There was always lots of hoopla about the Vols football team, but even more so when Peyton was there. However, UT never won a national championship with him there and he never won the Heisman. Does that mean that Manning was a failure? No, because he's doing pretty well for himself in the NFL right now with the Colts. Texas was picked to do really well because they have a good team but there's also this hoopla about Simms that is similar to the Vols with Peyton Manning. One good thing if you are a Horn fan is that the year after Manning, the Vols won the National Championship with the rather unheralded Tee Martin. So, maybe the same thing will happen for the Horns once Simms goes into the NFL. I think that Chris Simms is fine and that there's has been unrealistic pressure and expectations thrusted on him. Remember, Texas hasn't been a consistent national champion contender since the early '80's under Fred Akers. It would be different if Simms was playing at Florida or Florida State.
<B>I think that Chris Simms is fine and that there's has been unrealistic pressure and expectations thrusted on him. </B> The pressure and expectations were thrust on him because he replaced the the Big12 offensive player of the year, and Texas' best passing QB in history. Thus, he was expected to be better than the best passer in Texas history -- if he isn't, then there's a better player on the bench. I don't think the expectations are at all unfair or unrealistic. Simms finally broke the Top 50 in QB Efficiency nationally: 46. Chris Simms, Texas 134 229 1551 221.0 58.5 6.77 14 7 129.5 For comparison purposes, Applewhite was #18 last year.
<B>fwiw, Simms had a higher rating than Major last year and actually led the Big 12 in efficiency.</B> True, but he only played something like 3 games. Small sample sizes can distort those kinds of things quite a bit. He didn't have anywhere near enough attempts to be considered for official rankings. Given that, I still thought he did a good job last year, and I had no problem with him getting the start this year. However, he did not show me that he was the better QB this year, and the Oklahoma game exposed his weaknesses. As such, I thought he should have been benched at that point. With the last two games, I think they are pretty even. It's amazing, though, that we look at 200-250 yards as a phenomenal performance. I don't see anything that Simms has done yet being truly amazing -- good, but not spectacular. Applewhite used to routinely throw for 300 yards -- of course, he also had more passing plays in general.
Shanna, You're now trying to prove Major by QB rating? Come on now. Is it Simms fault that Texas goes out and tries to establish the run every game, thereby limiting his passing attempts? It it Simms fault that Texas has Cedric Benson? Is it Simms fault that Greg Davis calls short passing routes every time? Is it Simms fault that two if his interceptions in the OU game came directly from Nathan Vasher's mistake, thus lowering his rating?
<B>You're now trying to prove Major by QB rating? </B> Well, Major already has the better everything else -- yardage, per-game averages, TD/INT ratio, yds/completion, better yds/attempt, etc. QB rating is just one of many things. What more can I use if you ignore all the real-life results? What exactly are you arguing Simms is better based on? <B>Is it Simms fault that Texas goes out and tries to establish the run every game, thereby limiting his passing attempts? </B> We did that with Ricky too. Applewhite performed both with the good running backs and without. <B>It it Simms fault that Texas has Cedric Benson?</B> Was it Major's fault we had Ricky Williams? <B>Is it Simms fault that Greg Davis calls short passing routes every time?</B> Do you watch those plays? There are receivers going deep/middle routes on almost every play. Simms is the one choosing the short routes. We running the same plays we have the last couple of years. We have the same coaching staff with the same basic offense. Every position on the team -- except one -- has been improved from last year. Better TE, better O-Line, better WR's, better RB. Yet, we're averaging far less yardage than the last couple of years. <B>Is it Simms fault that two if his interceptions in the OU game came directly from Nathan Vasher's mistake, thus lowering his rating?</B> WTF? He threw one in the endzone. He threw one deep on the sideline. He threw another down the middle of the field. None of those came under pressure. One INT wasn't his fault -- I've never blamed him for that one. Besides that, this isn't a one-time thing. He's thrown more INT's than Major in far fewer career games. Why is it that you are willing to blame everyone from Vasher to the coaching staff to the running game for Simms' performance, but he never seems to be at fault?
I don't think that 200 yard games are spectacular, but 8 td's and 1 int. over his last two games is efficient, if not spectacular. We're winning, and that's all I really care about. BTW, I hope they hang 60 on Mizzou for not putting the game on PPV. Also, there's a recruit we're fighting with Mizzou for.
There isn't a weakness in the offense. Simms has been the man in every game except one and Opie did worse last year. When the Horns score less than 40 points against a team outside the top 5, I'll consider the pro Applewhite arguments. We should have redshirted Applewhite this season. Simms hasn't done anything to warrant Applewhite cheers except for leading the horns to big wins.
On the running game isssue, Mack has all but said that he regrets not establishing the run last year. This year, he will not abandon the run. I think that's good coaching. Also, fwiw, Hodges was 1st team all big 12 after Ricky left.
<B>I don't think that 200 yard games are spectacular, but 8 td's and 1 int. over his last two games is efficient, if not spectacular. </B> Agreed, I haven't had many complaints about him the last two weeks. <B>We're winning, and that's all I really care about. </B> Here's the problem, though. We were winning before the OU game, too. With either QB, we're going to win 9-10 games so we're always going to be winning. The question is which QB is more likely to win the close game against a good team -- and I still think Major is the one. The biggest reason being Simms has never won a close game before, and I don't think he's ever been a good "under pressure" decision maker. To be honest, I hope Simms never has the chance to prove me wrong, because it will mean we're consistently blowing out opponents.
Chris Simms has two major weaknesses : 1) He tends to stare down recievers. 2) He has to run Greg Davis' offense. Other than that, he's a good QB, and in my opinion, is the best QB for Texas.
