The Longhorn defense shuts down Colorado State, and debuts a new turnover sword in the process
Late in the first half, Colorado State dropped back to pass and looked deep down the middle of the field. A receiver had gotten past some several members of the Longhorn defense, but Jahdae Barron sprinted from his spot at corner to the middle hash to intercept the football and return it to put the Longhorns in position to score.
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When he got to the sideline, he grabbed a sword and put it through the football.
The Longhorns had stayed away from the turnover prop craze that was started by the Miami Hurricanes a few years ago. That changed when Johnny Nansen arrived from Arizona.
Nansen had a turnover sword with the Wildcats while he was their defensive coordinator. The last time it was seen, the Arizona defense stacked football’s to the top against Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl.
That was a goal Barron and company fell a little short of.
“It’s a turnover sword and we’re supposed to stack balls to the top,” Barron said. “We did not do that, so we have to get more turnovers.”
Two was still a solid number, and two was more than the total number of points the Colorado State Rams scored on Saturday in Austin. Texas shut out the Air Raid team and limited them to under 200 total yards of offense and under 3.4 yards per play in a 52-0 win.
The process goes like this
- The Longhorns record a turnover.
- The player who ended the play with the football brings it to the sideline and is presented with the sword.
- The player then pierces the football with the sword and holds it up in celebration.
Texas has to work out the kinks on that process, but they believe they’ll have the chance to do it often this year.
“We’ve got to figure out how to actually do it, but there’s going to be a lot more turnovers this season,” safety Michael Taaffe said.
There was one more occasion for Texas to test out its new toy. Late in the game with only the shutout on the line, the Rams were driving and had made it into the red zone for the first time all game. CSU backup Jackson Brousseau dropped back and tried to find a receiver in the end zone.
Instead of a receiver, he found true freshman defensive back Wardell Mack. The Longhorn sideline celebrated like they had made a go-ahead score in the national championship game.
Mack went back to the bench and gave the UT adorned sword its second trophy.
Texas was all over the field on Saturday and stifled the Air Raid attack run by Jay Norvell and Matt Mumme in a way that harkens back to when Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski dominated Mike Leach‘s offense while at Washington. Rams starter Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi was a horrid 10-for-18 for 59 yards and one interception. The longest pass play was 12 yards. The longest Colorado State play was 13 yards.
Justin Marshall, CSU’s starting tailback, was shut down for most of the game before he finally eclipsed the 100 mark late in the game when his team was already down 52 points. Star wideout Tory Horton notched five catches for just 31 yards.
All those impressive numbers were the result of improved team speed in the eyes of Steve Sarkisian.
“I thought you could feel our team speed even when a couple of those runs spit,” Sarkisian said. “You could see white hats getting to the football quickly. I think our team showed a real level of physicality today, which is important for us, too. When we tackled, they were knockback tackles.”
The secondary had been the subject of ridicule for most of the offseason, at least as far as ridicule directed to the defense. The Longhorns were dominant in rush defense last season but because of that opponents looked to the air to get their yardage. That resulted in poor raw yardage statistics, for what little that’s worth, but the memory of being torched by Michael Penix Jr. and three NFL wide receivers in the Sugar Bowl is a lot of fans’ lasting memory from the 2023 season.
Texas defensive backs did a lot start the process of proving doubters wrong on Saturday.
“Proud of our secondary to really minimize the explosive plays,” Sarkisian said. “Those guys have been hearing about themselves all offseason, so for them to come out and shut down that passing game the way that they did was good.”
That defense managed to deploy a new feature on the sideline, too, and used it with some level of success. They prefer that their usage of the sword happens often in the 2024 season, and Taaffe thinks that’s likely to be the case.
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I know that’s going to be true. I believe that. I’m confident about that. It’ll be a fun thing to add to the celebration.”
