Closing out the 2022 regular season following Texas' Alamo Bowl loss

Texas finished 8-5, and we witnessed history in the process.

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All five losses were by a single score.

I can’t find a season in Texas history where the Horns lost 5 or more games in a season, and all of them were by one score.

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There were some promising things that happened last night though.

– Quinn Ewers. And it’s more than about his stat line. He seemed to have regained some composure in the pocket and better game understanding.

He ran for two first downs, evaded the rush and wisely threw the ball away a couple of others, he moved up into the pocket to deliver another first down to Worthy. Ewers is not a finished product, but improvement is nice to see.

Of course, he also delivered a couple of passes others simply couldn’t make. A quick-armed pass to JT Sanders in the flat against a heavy rush was one of those.

I also felt he distributed the ball to various receivers better, not honing in so much on Xavier Worthy.

It will be a “process” with Ewers to extract his best play. But I felt like last night was a move in the right direction, one that is very important as we head into the off season.

– Some young guys on defense got quite a bit of run. And they could become regulars next year: Terrance Brooks, Morice Blackwell, Ethan Burke, Austin Jordan and Justice Finkley each saw extended action last night. Brooks and Blackwell looked particularly good. Brooks’ break on the out route was elite. He just has to haul that in next time.

– Texas continued to work DJ Campbell into the game at right guard. Campbell played a lot of the second and third quarters while fellow true freshman Cole Hutson played most of the first and fourth quarters while starting his 13th game of the season.

– Jonathon Brooks was not the feature back we expected. But as he often does, he found the end zone when called upon. Brooks’ 34-yard catch and run on a throwback screen, where he used his blockers and then peeled down the sideline? was the offensive play of the game for the Horns. He can and will be a weapon for the Horns next season.

– After the drop against Iowa State, Casey Cain redeemed himself in San Antonio. He made a nice fourth-down catch early and was generally reliable the rest of the way. He provided another outlet to Ewers.

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For the record, I don’t take much solace in this loss. It was a winnable game. Texas didn’t execute when needed the most.

If Worthy doesn’t drop the ball, it stays a one-score game and Texas has plenty of momentum.

Winning teams make those plays.

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I also felt like the defense, at times, was a microcosm of what it was most of the season.

They played well, but too often yielded long, time-consuming drives.

And the Horns are still missing a “disruptor”, someone who puts the other team in bad down-and-distance situations two or more times a game.

Last night, the Horns routinely applied pressure to the Washington QB up the middle. But not from the edge.

As a result, Texas had no sacks and zero tackles for loss (not one!).

Yes, Washington has a good offense with a veteran QB and they move the pocket around quite a lot. The Horns need a playmaker, a disruptor, on defense in the worst way.

Can that be Anthony Hill as soon as next season? Or maybe Ethan Burke continues to develop. Or perhaps Texas strikes gold in the portal.

This defense, it seems to me, is truly just one difference maker away from being more than just “good” and “solid”.

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One final note: you win as a team, you lose as a team.

Pinning this all on a Xavier Worthy drop (or two) doesn’t tell the whole story.

Jordan Whittington, who had a solid game overall, had a third-down drop that stopped a second-half drive. Brooks could have come away with that interception. Jaylan Ford guessed wrong on the long touchdown run and let a runner slip through his grasp on what would have been a third-down stop.

Football, as much as any sport there is, is a team game. And it’s one of the reasons I love it so much.

So don’t pin this all on Worthy, on the defense or whoever.

It’s a team loss and the better team won last night.