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The Texas Longhorns' third- and fourth-down emphasis

On3 imageby:Bobby Burton•09/30/22•

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Texas Longhorns (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Steve Sarkisian mentioned in yesterday’s meeting with the press that his staff and the team had worked specifically on third- and fourth-down situations this week in practice.

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Not just on defense, but on offense, too.

It’s not something I had ever heard a football coach or team really do before, focus so much on those types of situations.

Yes, I’ve heard of working on third and long specifically for offense and similar for defense. And short-yardage packages on both sides of the ball as well.

But Sark hinted at something more.

Curious, I called a long-time college coaching friend of mine who is now retired to ask him exactly what that sort of work might look like.

“Every so often, we’d work third-and-five and third-and-three in camp, good on good,” the coach told me.

“It’s not something that has a great drill because each situation is unique. I’d be interested in what they did myself. Sounds interesting.”

How did his former teams work on those money downs during the season?

“For the defense, it’s really an every week thing,” he said. “What are their hots (QB reads against pressure), their tendencies. So that’s just part of the weekly scout stuff.

“Offense is a little different. It’s about (personnel) match-ups. So that’s part of the call sheet and what you work on all week.”

His take on the second half malaise that Texas suffers from?

“Someone needs to make a darn play. They had opportunities. They didn’t make the plays.”

I wrote earlier in the week that, according to a high-placed University official, it would be unlikely for Texas to schedule an annual match-up with Texas Tech once the Horns enter the SEC.

Well, I received further confirmation of that yesterday.

Tech’s cavalier attitude toward player safety is partly responsible. Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt has no one to blame but himself.

I’m sure many of you saw quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s head injury last night.

If you didn’t, you’re probably the better for it.

It was both sickening and irresponsible. It should have never happened.

Dolphins coaches and officials started Tua just four days after he experienced what clearly was a head trauma incident on Sunday.

The result?

Tua is hospitalized. And much of the football world now knows what the “fencing position” means after being concussed.

This is so much worse than the Joe Theismann Monday Football injury of years ago because I think negligence played a role.

I know this topic has nothing to do directly with Texas football.

But if the University of Texas were to ever put a player in that position, given what is now known about head trauma injuries, I’d be utterly ashamed.

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