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The importance of the Texas rushing attack is greater than ever

by:Justin Nash•01/03/25
Quintrevion Wisner
Quintrevion Wisner (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

The Texas Longhorns are one win away from the National Championship game for a second year in a row, and the offense needs help from the rushing attack to get there this time. With all three teams left possessing real-deal rushing defenses, Steve Sarkisian may need to work some real magic through his gameplan to beat Ohio State and then to win the program’s fifth national title.

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Texas is exiting a game where it ran the ball for 53 yards total (3rd lowest in 2024), 1.8 yards per rush attempt (3rd lowest in 2024), and the longest rush on the day was for seven yards (Quinn Ewers rushing TD was six yards). This was the first game in the 2024 season that Texas did not record a 10-yard rush from a running back and that is a large reason why Arizona State clawed their way back in the game. All of this should include understanding that Texas earned a season low 57.0 run blocking grade from PFF against an Arizona State front that didn’t have a single 300 pound player that Texas sees regularly in the SEC.

Now the scary part is, Sark has known this is an issue and knew it at halftime too. To give them some sort of credit, the next couple of drives the Longhorns averaged about 4.0 yards per attempt. However there was also a safety in the middle of those rushes.

When you juxtapose the PFF run blocking grades with the opposing team’s run defense strength, it is clear that Texas struggles to run the ball well versus stiff rushing defenses.

The correlation sort of continues when you add in the yards per rush.

However the thing that stands out the most is the fact that every one-score game or loss that Texas has played in, the Longhorns’ rushing total hovered right around 100 yards if it even eclipsed it. The next lowest rushing total was 139 yards against Arkansas in a 10 point victory. It is clear that Texas needs to run the ball well in order for the offense to separate away from the opponent.

(From top to bottom: Georgia, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Arizona State)

With remaining opponents ranking in the top 15 defending the rush against highly-ranked teams, Texas and Sarkisian will need have to have their best week of preparation so far in order to make it to the National Championship.

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If Texas cannot sustain drives by running the football, then it will need to rely on Ewers to win like he did against Arizona State.

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