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On Texas Football: Tough matchups for the Longhorn defense

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook05/11/23

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The Texas defense tries to wrangle Baylor (Cupp Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

In the latest episode of On Texas Football, Inside Texas’ Joe Cook and Ian Boyd discuss a recent article detailing the three toughest matchups for the Longhorn defense in the 2023 season before diving into Steve Sarkisian’s comments about the new NCAA football clock rules.

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In this episode, Joe and Ian discuss…

Ian recently posted an article detailing the three toughest matchups for the Texas Longhorns defense this year, and chose Alabama, Texas Tech, and Kansas State as his options.

With regards to Alabama, Ian and Joe dive into what first-year Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and presumed starter Tyler Buchner would present to Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense. They go over the strength of the Bama offense — the right side of the offensive line and a strong stable of running backs — and how those will test a Longhorn defensive front that lost three players to the NFL draft a few weeks ago. They note JC Latham and Jase McClellan will present considerable matchup issues for Texas if they get going.

Then, the two turn toward the Big 12 champions, the Kansas State Wildcats. Even without Deuce Vaughn and Malik Knowles, the ‘Cats return most of their interior infrastructure including quarterback Will Howard and a few standout offensive linemen. Again, this team is built to try to run opponents over to set up the play-action pass. Joe and Ian then wonder if K-State offensive coordinator Colin Klein and Bama OC Tommy Rees are cut from the same cloth.

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They conclude with a look at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders got the best of the Longhorns last year thanks to a devil-may-care attitude on fourth down, plus some successful deep shots. They look at the quarterback situation in Lubbock that includes returning starter Tyler Shough and backup Behren Morton and how they can unlock Zach Kittley’s offense in Joey McGuire’s program.

Then, a discussion about recent clock rule changes in college football takes place. Outside of the last two minutes of the half, the clock will run even when a team achieves a first down. Ian and Joe assess what that might mean for Steve Sarkisian, who has experience in these types of situations thanks to his time in the NFL as an offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.

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