Reeling after a Texas loss
I’m still in a bit of shock. Texas lost a game it shouldn’t have.
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They lost a game after being up by more than two scores in the second half.
I’ll start with the defense…
The opponent converted 6 of 8 fourth down attempts. The pass rush didn’t get home. The defense created no turnovers.
Void of any real disruptors on defense, Texas allowed an opposing team to dink and dunk their way down the field almost all game long.
What’s more concerning for the remainder of the season, dink and dunk is exactly how almost the entire rest of the Big 12 tries to play, and it’s exactly what occurred to the Horns a year ago, too.
So if the Horns couldn’t handle it last year and yesterday from Tech, who is decidedly not supremely talented at receiver or along the OL, what are the Horns going to look like when they play teams who are better?
Is it going to be a death by a thousand cuts? Again?
In this league, the best defense is to keep your offense on the field. The Texas defense apparently couldn’t help itself much. And that’s a problem for which there are no easy solutions, unfortunately.
As for the Texas offense, the Horns never really got the run game going in large part because Texas Tech never respected the deep ball.
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The Red Raiders routinely crowded the box. Running lanes were sparse and open only sporadicly.
Sure, Hudson Card played admirably at times, including a pair of third down conversions in the third quarter. But he was also late on a couple throws, too, especially one to Jordan Whittington along the sideline that would have been a huge conversion in the fourth-quarter.
The offensive line appeared overwhelmed by blitz after blitz and Tech’s interior guys gave the Horns more problems than the edge rushers.
The loss of Xavier Worthy for the second half surely hurt. Bijan Robinson’s late fumble was deadly.
But at least on offense, there might be solutions on the way.
Worthy’s x-Ray was negative. Quinn Ewers is on the mend.
On the other hand, all the defense was missing was Moro Ojomo, a solid player but not exactly a disruptor.
This morning, I have no answer for what we saw in Lubbock. Not on defense at least. And I’m unsure if Steve Sarkisian does either.
