 "Photo: Caleb Miller/TheDaily Texan")
 "Photo: Caleb Miller/The Daily Texan")
There have been two sides to Texas quarterback Colt McCoy this season: first-half Colt and second-half Colt.
But the senior has given some convincing arguments for his struggles.
Blame any mistakes during the Louisiana-Monroe game on opening-day jitters.
Wyoming? That thin air can cause a pass or two to sail on even a Heisman-caliber quarterback.
It took a halftime binge on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Pedialyte to combat his case of the flu to jump-start McCoy and a struggling Texas offense against Texas Tech.
“I just felt like I had no gas in the tank,” McCoy said.
But for Saturday’s game against UTEP, McCoy doesn’t plan on offering any excuses. He knows that he and the offense need to start playing four quarters well sooner rather than later.
“I’m getting more and more confident every week,” McCoy said. “We’ve got so much room for improvement, and that’s the exciting thing about this. We never have a doubt we’re going to pull it together, but let’s start playing four quarters. That’s the bright side of this whole deal.”
The problem could be just because McCoy was too good in 2008 when he finished as the runner-up in the Heisman race.
His numbers through three games this season would be taken by any team in the country: 859 passing yards, six touchdowns, 68.2 completion percentage. He actually has more passing yards this year than he did at the same point last season (833).
The difference has been in touchdowns and interceptions. He already had 13 total scores, 11 passing, after three games last year. He has four interceptions this season after having just one last year, again, through three games.
There seems to be no doubt that McCoy is pressing. Both Texas head coach Mack Brown and offensive coordinator Greg Davis have said they feel McCoy has put too much pressure on himself to be perfect. That can happen when you complete 70 percent of your passes in a year.
“We’ve got an expectation that him and [Florida’s Tim] Tebow and [Oklahoma’s Sam] Bradford have never thrown an incompletion,” Brown said. “That’s really unfair to those kids.”
McCoy knows he can’t be perfect — but that’s not going to stop him from trying.
He has looked like the 2008 McCoy at times during this year. That just happens to be in the second half.
His first-half struggles have permeated the offense. McCoy ended up with 337 passing yards and three touchdowns at Wyoming, 166 of which came in the first half. Take into account his interception, 12 incompletions and it was disappointing showing.
His production was even worse last week. He completed just nine of 16 passes for 70 yards. McCoy also overthrew multiple receivers in both games, although a couple tipped off receivers’ hands — one resulting in an interception.
“Overall, I feel like I’m throwing the ball as good as I ever have,” McCoy said.
His take on his first-half performances?
“Pretty poor,” McCoy said. “But it’s OK. We’re coming back and playing strong. There’s never a doubt in anyone’s mind that we’re not going to come out and get in a rhythm and start playing well. We’ve just got to come out and be more consistent and play at the same kind of tempo at the beginning that we do when we’re in a rhythm.”
Davis put the blame on himself for the offensive struggles against Tech and not calling plays to get him in rhythm.
“I did a poor job of getting Colt started,” Davis said.
But if McCoy gets out to another sluggish start Saturday, there won’t be any excuses.
There just aren’t that many left.
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