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On Texas Football: Where Do the Longhorns Need to Improve?

Steve Habelby:Steve Habel•01/07/23•

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In the latest edition of On Texas Football, Inside Texas’ Bobby Burton and high school state champion coach Bryan Erwin talk about the Longhorns’ performance in their 27-20 loss in the Valero Alamo Bowl and trends that they picked up from the 2022 season.

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Erwin said Washington is one of the best offenses in the country and saw a lot of good things from Texas’ ability to limit it to just 27 points in the Alamo Bowl.

“I thought it was a very, very difficult matchup for us,” Erwin opined. “But I was very pleased with where our defense played and the way we prevented the deep ball, the long ball, the explosive plays. The defense kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity to win it.

“Offensively. I think that came down to three series in a row in the first half where we just didn’t convert any points.”

Erwin said that Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers played well in the bowl game but pointed out that there were plenty of the areas where improvement is needed.

“I think Ewers grew as the season went on, and hey, we’ve got to be happy with the way he played in the bowl game,” Erwin said of Ewers. “He developed over those 2, 3, 4 weeks before the bowl and played well. He played well enough for us to be in the game against a very, very good Washington team.”

“Consistency” and “balance” are things that Texas needs to work on as it heads to the 2023 season and beyond. There were times that the Longhorns took two steps forward but then would take two steps back.

“We look like a physical team on offense and a physical team on defense, but we need to continue to grow and be consistency,” Erwin said. “It would have been nice to become a nine or 10 win team with some balance and be able to hit those shots down the field but you’ve got to have the playmakers outside in order to do that.”

Erwin talked about Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy’s difficulty in tracking the ball, especially on deep passes and throws that come in from a high trajectory.

Both Burton and Erwin talked about how much better Texas played on defense in season two from season one under Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.

Burton said the Longhorns were able to “flip the script” from a 5-7 season in 2021 to 8-5 and a bowl game appearance this year and praised the defense for their improvement through the season.

“The defense went from the outhouse to not necessarily the penthouse but definitely made a lot of improvement,” Burton explained. “The issue the defense needs to improve on is getting off the field on third down.”

Erwin said the most improvement was up front, where the Longhorns “looked like a SEC team.”

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