Old Coach U had already told the board Texas was overrated. Then he wrote “Keys to the Win,” a Tennessee–Texas briefing available to every Longhorn with a browser.

By midweek, LWSVOL and Old Coach U were working the board. Neither needed to predict disaster. A matchup concern here, a number there, and a Texas lurker could draw his own conclusions.

It looked like ordinary game-week analysis. That was its chief advantage.

If it was an operation, it was an unusually elegant one: no secret channel, no password, just two men posting where Texas fans could see them.

LWS was not briefed, paid or consulted. We found the thread the same way any Texas visitor could: in public.

LWSVOL Seeds the Cloud

LWSVOL, a retired IT specialist, brought a bevy of spreadsheets. Anybody can type “Texas is really good.” Put it in a cell and it starts to look like intelligence.

Texas had weapons. Tennessee had vulnerabilities. A Vol fan saw a sensible warning; a Longhorn lurking in the thread saw confirmation.

The Old Man Moves In

Old Coach U, retired to Tellico after a stint on Mack Brown’s staff, took the floor.

“Good morning folks,” he began, before explaining that he had tried to evaluate the game “like I would have as a coach and not as the fan I am now.”

That is how you know the projector is coming on.

Old Coach conceded the obvious: Texas has talent. Then he went directly after the Longhorn offense. He saw inconsistency, an Arch Manning who can look out of sorts, and the possibility that Steve Sarkisian is giving his quarterback too much information before the snap. His prescription for Tennessee was not exotic: play sound coverage, stay in the receivers’ hip pocket and make Manning hesitate long enough for the pass rush to matter.

Then he moved to the other side of the ball. Texas is stout inside, he said, but Tennessee can attack the perimeter, get the big bodies moving and find yards outside. He liked Tennessee’s speed. He liked Arion Carter. He liked the pass-rush matchup inside and at right tackle. He liked Radarius Jackson in what he predicted would become a “good old fashion street fight.”

By this point, Old Coach was installing, not posting.

The Board Requests More Slides

Matt4RockyTop was first through the door.

“Reading my mind, coach.”

The board should have stopped the clock. Matt and Old Coach had been feuding; now they agreed on something. Texas had managed a diplomatic breakthrough before kickoff.

Matt liked the Dye/Weathersby matchup against the Texas right tackle and saw a noon kickoff in Neyland as the perfect setup for an underdog to arrive “salty AF” and shellshock the Horns. Then came the part every visiting Texas reader needed to see: “The horns nor their fans have ever seen anything like a wild Neyland. They can’t even fathom it.”

Myocytedr reduced the game to quarterback efficiency and mistakes. Matt answered that quarterback play would be “a direct result of who can run the ball consistently for 4 qtrs.”

Old Coach had written the keys. The board was now adding annexes.

Then lilgman56 asked Old Coach if he had read a Texas-site preview.

“No I have not, but I will now.”

Open-source collection never sleeps.

The Spotlight Finds Tellico

This is where things became dangerous for the Old Coach. People were listening — and worse, they were asking follow-up questions.

Matt tagged him again for thoughts. Old Coach responded with another three-paragraph installation. He expected an “old fashion slobber knocker.” Texas could stack the box and bring pressure on Faizon Brandon, but if the Longhorns failed to get home there would be nobody at the second level. Bishop, he argued, could gash the defense if the tight ends held their blocks.

Then he returned to Arch Manning.

Old Coach’s hunch was that DC Jim Knowles would give Manning enough looks to make Sark over-communicate before the snap and “muddy the waters for him.” The earlier suspicion had now become a working theory, and the board treated it accordingly.

VirginiaVol brought supporting data: Manning’s time to throw had climbed to 3.19 seconds while his explosive plays had not increased, with 6.8 yards per attempt. His conclusion lined up almost perfectly with Old Coach’s: cover well, force Manning through his progressions, and let the pressure arrive.

A retired coach made the case. VirginiaVol supplied numbers. Matt supplied the atmosphere. The board now had enough exhibits to brief a battalion, although nobody had asked it to.

Nobody Briefed the Whole Board

Not everyone had access to the program.

ChowChow found a hole in the briefing: Old Coach had left out the board’s new “good luck charm.” No one explained what it was. For all the Texas lurkers knew, it was a possum with a sideline credential. Old Coach did not flinch.

“You know I don’t believe in luck 🙂”

Of course he doesn’t. Luck does not survive film study.

Tasteslike865 asked whether Tennessee would be favored with Joey Aguilar at quarterback. Evidently the briefing now had a question period.

All of it happened in public: Arch Manning’s reads, the right tackle, the run game, Neyland noise, and one unidentified lucky animal. Texas fans were free to take notes.

From the outside, it looked completely authentic.

Which may have been the point.

Keys to the Win

Old Coach’s keys were clear enough: make Manning work through his reads, cover well, bring pressure, attack the perimeter and run for four quarters. The board contributed its own key: make Neyland loud enough that Texas forgets all the others.

Old Coach supplied the film-room voice. The board supplied numbers, noise and a possum of uncertain provenance.

Texas only had to keep reading. The board was happy to supply the rest.

Editor’s note: The quoted material in this series comes from real board threads and real posts. Usernames are retained. LWS merely observes the wildlife.

Related

Part I: Old Coach U Throws Up the Hook ’Em

Tennessee–Texas Score Predictions: The Board Is Expecting the Worst