5 quick thoughts: Texas cooks Rice

Texas was aiming to get back on track against a bad Rice team after the debacle in Fayetteville, and they certainly did so.

58-0.

There was so much that went wrong for the Longhorns on the road in Arkansas, but everything quickly corrected in Austin where they enjoyed home-cooked Rice.

The Owls were down to their third-string quarterback before the half due to injuries and had zero firepower to match what Steve Sarkisian and his staff drew up for this game. Casey Thompson got the start and deftly managed the offense to an explosive first half with only a few, albeit costly, hiccups by the line.

With the win Texas finished non-conference play 2-1 and will stay home to host Texas Tech next Saturday as Big 12 play begins.

Quick thought no. 1: Casey Thompson had a great debut

There was a moment in this game which caught my eye. Casey Thompson had already taken a few shots while trying to hang in the pocket to hit some downfield throws and he was scrambling for a first down. He got to the line to gain, looked to the sideline and saw he was there, and went ahead and took a slide with more potential yardage (and hard-charging Owl defenders) still on the field.

It was a wise calculation, smart management from a player who hasn’t had to worry about protecting himself for a full season at Texas while backing up Sam Ehlinger.

Smart management was the name of the game today. Early on, Texas tried to dial up some deep shots but they were done in by Owl pressure, a remarkably uncalled defensive pass interference, and also some nice play by the Rice defensive backs. They did land several throws underneath with a lot of efficiency.

Thompson left the game after an early drive in the third quarter having completed 15 of 18 pass attempts for 164 yards at 9.1 ypa with two touchdowns and a pick. Thompson needed a better timer on a few of the play-action shot attempts where he ended up taking the shot, but he’s clearly comfortable and dangerous in the spread passing concepts. His back shoulder fade to Xavier Worthy for a touchdown was a highlight with great timing and placement.

He’ll be hard for Hudson Card to unseat so long as he continues to guide scoring drives and is able to find playmakers like Xavier Worthy.

Quick thought no. 2: Texas got the run game going again

Texas returned to outside zone this week and in a related story, they ran the ball very effectively on the day. Some of their best runs came on the more straight ahead inside zone/duo schemes but outside zone was a mainstay, including a quarterback keeper option. Texas was able to get the ball rolling on the ground early and didn’t stop when the third and fourth string entered the game at running back.

For the day Texas ran the ball 41 times for 427 yards at 10.4 ypc with six rushing touchdowns.

They had a decent amount of variety in the outside zone run game. A few times they lined up in the 4×0 set college football loves right now and ran outside zone to the strong side, often seeing the ball cut back to the weak side for massive gains as the Owls’ defense was overextended by the unbalanced formation.

Bijan Robinson’s nice early stiff-arm came on this play, as did the long Keilan Robinson score later in the contest.

Then there was the wild RoJo play me and Joe will break down later. The Roschon Johnson long scoring run came on a “duo” scheme from 13 personnel. Jared Wiley and Gunnar Helm double-teamed an Owl defensive end into oblivion while Cade Brewer, initially lined up in the slot, motioned back and picked off a cornerback on the edge. Rice actually still got a safety unblocked to the point of attack but the hole was too big and Roschon too tough, he shook him off and went 72 yards for a score.

Texas imposed its will in the trenches in this game, which wasn’t necessarily terribly difficult but still important to accomplish. Given the depth of talent they have at running back (check out Jonathan Brooks!) this is essential for this season.

Quick thought no. 3: Texas established the tight ends

Everyone was getting some action in this game, especially on the aforementioned 13 personnel set which included all three of Texas’ “starters” at tight end.

Jared Wiley was able to get back in the action and worked to shed the “but can he block?” questions about his play as an inline tight end. Wiley mauled the Owls for as long as he was given snaps in this game, then was rewarded with a touchdown target on a fake bubble screen play in the red zone.

Cade Brewer continues to be very sound executing split zone blocks and also got some work in the passing game. Later in the game Juan Davis threw some great blocks and Jatavion Sanders received some snaps.

Texas clearly wants to head into Big 12 play with a healthy Jared Wiley and the capacity to attack nickel defenses with big bodies across the line of scrimmage. If you can overextend fronts, the defense may have to sub in linebackers who don’t normally play or else you can get some smaller, less “about it” defensive backs into positions where they have to take on blocks or tackle backs in the hole.

Quick thought no. 4: Pete Kwiatkowski tested the base defense

Texas continued to rotate through tons of bodies across the defense at every position. I expect this will slow down once conference play arrives, although having the ability to sub multiple defenders is definitely an advantage in up-tempo games, especially while it remains hot.

The gameplan included heavy doses of base defense with Ovie Oghoufo playing at Sam linebacker in lieu of a nickel, while getting spelled by Ben Davis. The Sam linebackers were aggressive on the edges, regardless of the coverage behind them, and Texas dared Rice to either try and work their run game with edge defenders chasing backs from behind the line or to find their way down the field throwing to the flats.

The interesting quirk to this approach is the extent to which it could be valuable in Big 12 play. There are teams like Iowa State and Kansas State who will try to play with multiple tight ends against whom it makes a lot of sense to use base defense. There may also be teams against whom Pete Kwiatkowski would like to test the quarterback and receivers’ ability to work in space against Texas’ defensive backs throwing underneath the sticks. It could also be a tool for forcing throws to protect the clock if Texas gets into a situation where they need to stop an opponent from running clock and sitting on a lead.

Quick thought no. 5: Some of these young players…

Xavier Worthy is the best big play receiver on the roster despite being just a true freshman (at least pending Troy Omeire playing). Jordan Whittington is a favorite for picking up third downs but Worthy is your deep threat receiver and Sark made it a point to get him the ball early and often in this game.

Andrej Karic came in with a second line of himself, Hayden Conner, Logan Parr, Tope Imade, and Isaiah Hookfin, and made some statement blocks. The first team line had a great day but the second unit came out looking to maul people. Kyle Flood needs to think long and hard about why Karic isn’t somewhere in the starting lineup.

Finally Jonathan Brooks was a revelation in his late game snaps. He has some lateral agility and natural ease for finding space only one other back on the roster can match. Keilan Robinson is the fastest running back on the team, Roschon Johnson might be the toughest, but Jonathan Brooks is smooth and should be something special with time as he adds strength and learns from Stan Drayton.