A winning display of poise and composure from Trevor Goosby and the Texas Longhorns offense
Texas’ Outland Trophy finalist left tackle Kelvin Banks was in the game versus Texas A&M for just seven snaps before he left with what Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian described on Saturday night as an ankle injury of unknown severity. In his place stepped redshirt freshman Trevor Goosby, and there was no drop-off.
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Goosby, playing against a stout A&M defensive front for the first extended action of his career, delivered a performance reminiscent of the ones Banks has put on throughout his three-year stint in burnt orange. Goosby was assessed one false start penalty, but aside from that one slip-up emerged from College Station as the Longhorns’ highest graded pass blocker and a critical piece of the O-line that helped Texas net 458 total yards versus the Aggies.
“I really thought we controlled the line of scrimmage tonight,” Sarkisian said postgame. “I was really proud of Trevor Goosby when Kelvin went down. Stepped in for his first real action and I thought performed well in not an easy environment to do that.”
Sarkisian harps on poise and composure on an almost weekly basis with the media and more than likely every day with members of his program. Goosby, seeing action for the first time in his career away from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, was the embodiment of that poise and composure in a Kyle Field looking to make things as difficult as possible for the Texas offense.
And there was no utilization of the silent count by the Longhorn offense. Like it does at home in Austin, Texas went on the clap count against the Aggie defense and turned the 109,028 in Kyle Field, the third largest crowd in Texas A&M history, into a non-factor. Texas has used similar strategies over the past two seasons in 100,000-plus seat stadiums at Michigan and Alabama. Like in those two games, the Longhorns’ plans were successful at Texas A&M.
Overall, Goosby’s false start was the only one the Longhorns committed while in standard down offense. The other false start as part of a five-penalty performance from Texas was committed by Malik Agbo on an extra-point attempt converted by Bert Auburn. By no means was Goosby bringing up the rear when it came to O-line play. As mentioned, there was barely a drop-off for the entire group when No. 74 took the field. All five members of Texas’ O-line played with the traits Sarkisian and offensive line coach Kyle Flood seek on a game-to-game basis.
And for Jake Majors, the leader of the Longhorns O-line, it was a performance he expected but was still proud of.
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“Just speaks to our culture and what we expect from the guys who travel,” Majors said. “Someone goes down, we don’t expect the level to go down or anything. We expect everybody to keep that same level. I’m super proud of Trevor. I see the way he works every week when we prepare for opponents. Just to see him go out and execute at a high level makes me proud because I’ve been able to help him continue to get better and better.”
The Longhorns allowed just one sack on Saturday night and, according to Pro Football Focus, the responsibility was not on any member of the Texas O-line. Goosby, standing in for a future first-round pick, earned the highest pass-blocking grade with a mark of 87.1 according to PFF.
To have the night Goosby did in a setting with the stated goal of making showings like that near impossible was impressive, and a significant reason behind why the Longhorns were able to leave College Station with a 17-7 win.
It was one of many games from Longhorn offensive players on Saturday that exemplified the aspects Sarkisian desires on a snap-to-snap basis.
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“Them handling the environment was something that was critical to us, and having poise and composure in this arena and owning the arena, and I thought we did that,” Sarkisian said.
