Longhorns bring consistency and focus to Iowa State, and leave Ames with a win
We all know that consistency and lack of focus has plagued this Texas program for years.
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At 10-1, it’s even plagued the Longhorns this season.
But last night, we saw one of the more complete full-game efforts in quite some time for the Horns.
First the offense: Texas scored on two of its final three possessions to end the first half – it likely would have been three for three had Xavier Worthy not had the ball punched out by a helmet inside the ISU 10.
But the end of the second quarter merely set the stage for a dominant second half performance.
Texas got the ball five times in the second half. The Horns scored on three of those drives, had just one three and out, and then on the final drive, Texas milked the last 3:20 on the clock (and three Iowa State timeouts) by running the ball with a pair of back-up running backs.
Quinn Ewers threw to a variety of receivers, every single weapon of the offense was activated last night.
Now the defense: We’ve seen second-half swoons. We’ve seen teams crater under the momentum of an opposing offense. But not last night. Sure, the Cyclones hit a couple of big plays. But there was no let-up, the defense was not starting to bend at the end of the game.
Instead, they were just as dominant at the end of the game as they were from the beginning. After the busted coverage on the long Iowa State pass play, the Cyclones only managed 22 yards the remainder of the game.
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For the entire night, the Horns allowed just nine yards rushing on 21 carries. That’s an absurd figure!
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What we saw last night was a team grow in confidence because they grew in execution. They tackled Iowa State running backs to the ground with force (thank you Jaylan Ford and Anthony Hill), they opened holes for the running backs (thank you offensive line) and they kept moving the ball down the field on offense (thank you Quinn Ewers and Steve Sarkisian).
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Earlier this week, I mentioned that I thought this game would be won in part on the headsets.
I feel like that was definitely a contributing part of the equation last night.
Sark may have had one of his best games as a play-caller at Texas, and he did so in a clutch, must-win situation. That’s no small task to outwit Jon Heacock, the veteran Iowa State defensive coordinator.
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I don’t know if the Horns will keep this focus and consistency – and level of execution – heading into Texas Tech.
But if they do, I know this much:
They will be playing in the Big 12 championship, because that was a terrific, team-wide performance.
P.S. Bert Auburn deserves a scholarship.
