Greg Davis Gets Creative

At least according to Orangebloods.com columnist Chip Brown. It turns out Mack Brown is actually one of the main reasons Texas has looked vanilla on offense in some big games in recent memory.

From the article:

anyone has wanted to push the envelope offensively, it's Davis, who drew up game plans for converted slot back Hines Ward to play quarterback at Georgia in 1995. Ward stepped in when the team's top two quarterbacks went down with injuries. Ward ended up setting a school bowl game record by completing 31-of-59 passes for 413 yards in the Peach Bowl that year.

If anyone's been tapping the brakes, it's Brown. What you've seen on offense at Texas the last 10 years is what Brown is willing to permit. Brown's philosophy has essentially been to opposing defenses, "You know what we're going to run, but we have better talent and we will out-execute you."That was reiterated by former UT quarterback Major Applewhite, who helped pull off one of Brown's three signature wins at Texas - at Nebraska in 1998 (at Ohio State in 2005 and USC are the others).

"Greg has plenty of creativity," Applewhite said. "As a coordinator, having been one, you can get as crazy as you want to get. But when you've got great players, you've got to toe the line on that. If you've got great players, you can beat most of the teams if you execute.

"But we're going to add wrinkles as we need to feature our players, as Coach Davis has done. But at the same time, we do a good job recruiting, and we need to trust our scheme and what we do and execute and not just be a team with a bunch of gadget and trick plays. I think we can line up and beat people, but we also have those wrinkles to add some multiplicity to what we do."

Brown has final say over each play called by Davis.

"Greg and I discuss every game plan," Brown said. "I hear every play, and one of the things I can do because he's tough and not sensitive at all - if I don't like something he's doing I can tell him and he'll listen. He's got an opinion about it, and if he doesn't like it he'll tell me. But if it needs to be changed, he'll change it."

I'd have to think there have been more than 3 signature wins under Brown, but that's just me...


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