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This all feels like a trap, doesn't it? Seems like the best time to face an opponent is when they're making in-season coaching changes in a desperate attempt to fix a glaring issue.
Last year, Texas struggled on offense, to the tune of just 21 points/game (109th in the country) and 4.9 yards/play (110th). Then the Longhorn scored just 3 points against Notre Dame, while averaging just 3.1 yards/play. The Texas offense appears to be flat lining, and Charlie Strong figures that an electric shock couldn't make things worse.
What do Texas fans think? Burnt Orange Nation says that this move is an accurate reflection of how dire the situation on offense is for Texas:
It's the second major admission by Strong of his mistakes when hiring his first offensive staff -- after the Texas Bowl blowout against Arkansas, Strong fired tight ends coach Bruce Chambers and wide receivers coach Les Koenning. Now he has a new play caller after Watson spent the offseason attempting to install an up-tempo, spread offense.
Strong disagreed with the notion that he wasted the spring, summer, and fall camp by failing to remove Watson from that position earlier, but the timing of the decision one game into the season is a clear admission of how bad things are currently.
Barking Carnival isn't really sure if Watson is to blame for these issues or not:
We also have bad OL and QB play. That tends to impact an offense. This is where various blowhards will comment that Team X scores 40 a game with an OL of Filipinos and a QB recruited from a United Way fundraiser, but I'm not as smart as they are and I truly have trouble sussing out the percentages of causality. What's on Watson? What's on Swoopes? What's on the OL? What's on talent level? What's on our S&C regimen and overall offensive teaching? Do we have any player leadership at all? We have a reciprocal cycle of suck, where each tendril of inadequacy feeds and somehow magnifies its other component parts. Whatever the opposite of synergy is, that's Texas.
All I know is that Cal has been given a golden opportunity to claim a road win over a traditional power, even if that traditional power is unplugged at the moment. This is a can't miss opportunity.