Texas shows a spine in ugly victory over Houston
The game was ugly. Pure and simple.
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Old problems reared their heads.
The inability of the offense to move the ball against a three-high safety look, the offense going just 1-of-5 on 3rd-and-4 or shorter attempts, communication breakdowns in the secondary, poor coverage from safeties and linebackers alike, a lack of a consistent pass rush, etc.
The list of inadequacies is long. Too long for my taste and for that of most discerning Texas fans.
However, down their starting quarterback, their secondary resembling a MASH unit and looking completely lost for two full quarters, this Texas team showed a spine on Saturday afternoon. It’s a spine we haven’t seen often enough the last several years.
And what’s most important, the effort came from all aspects of the team.
To visualize what I’m describing, let’s dissect the final 7 and a half minutes of the contest after Houston had tied the game, 24-24.
First, Keilan Robinson made a stellar return, getting the ball out to the Texas 47-yard line to start the go-ahead drive. Hats off to the entire special teams group for coming through in the clutch.
Just how important was the good field position? No one would have liked to seen Maalik Murphy starting inside his own 20 with the game on the line. We’d possibly be talking about an entirely different outcome of that drive specifically and the game overall. The return was key.
Next, the offense, without their starting quarterback, took the field and ran the ball five of six plays, punching the ball in on a nice run from Cedric Baxter.
The running lanes absent earlier in the contest finally materialized when it mattered most. The team came together despite its offensive leader being sidelined with injury. Furthermore, the offense scored a touchdown (not three points!).
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After a kickoff through the back of the end zone, the defense then took the field with more than five minutes remaining. On the Cougars’ final drive, other than the first play from scrimmage – a 24-yard slant to Matthew Golden – the Texas defense largely stiffened, not allowing anything of note in the run game, while clearly defending the pass much tighter.
The Texas D caused two third-down attempts and then two fourth-down attempts. While Donovan Smith made a great play on the first fourth down. He didn’t on the second one. And that was the ball game.
When all the chips were on the table, the Texas “team”, all parts of it, played hard, smart and together.
There will be many critiques of this game. As there should be.
But it should be well remembered that Texas is 6-1 this morning, not 5-2, because they made the plays when it mattered. They showed a spine.
