Rece Davis calls Texas' lack of running success vs. Arizona State 'borderline inexcusable'

ESPN analyst Rece Davis is worried about Texas‘ rushing attack after the Longhorns’ performance in their 39-31 win over Arizona State. After the game on Wednesday, Davis weighed in on Texas’ concerning lack of rushing yards against the Sun Devils.

“Texas got 1.8 yards per carry against Arizona State. I mean, that’s borderline inexcusable,” Davis said. “Sometimes it’s hard to quantify when a team is playing with that much aggression and hair on fire, nothing to lose, being counted out, motivated all about that, emboldened by the brilliance and the competitive fire of Skattebo.

“… Desmond [Howard] said in the post-game day after the Rose Bowl that it was one of those games where — you didn’t mean this as a slight at Texas at all, but I agree with him in this regard — [it was] one of those games where you came out of it feeling better about the loser than you did the winner.”

For many fans, this point rang true for the result of the Texas-Arizona State game. Texas entered the game as a 13.5-point favorite over the Sun Devils. It took the Longhorns two overtimes to escape victorious.

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In the win, Texas recorded just 53 total yards on 30 rushing attempts. For reference, teams averaged 112.8 rushing yards per game against the Sun Devils this season. UCF, which finished with a losing record this season, rattled off 177 rushing yards against ASU.

While this is undoubtedly concerning for Texas, it’s not necessarily damning. As Rece Davis mentioned, there’s something to be said for the amount of energy Arizona State played with in the CFP game.

Moreover, the Sun Devils had been recovering from the regular season for over three weeks while Texas had pulled out a hard-fought victory over Clemson only a week and a half ago.

Although Davis was far from blown away by Texas in its win over Arizona State, he believes the Longhorns deserve credit for escaping with the win.

“You got to give Texas credit for making enough plays to win the game,” Davis said. “So many times when a big favorite squanders — and that’s what they did, Arizona State fought back and they squandered the lead — a lot of times, panic sets in. Texas maintained composure and won the game, and now they’re two games away from the national championship.”

Texas will square off against Ohio State at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday in the Cotton Bowl. The game will air live on ESPN.