Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea discusses the difficulty of defending Texas' speed

As Vanderbilt prepares to face the Texas Longhorns, head coach Clark Lea is cognizant of the challenges his team will face. In his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Lea emphasized the speed and versatility of the Texas offense, highlighting how these traits make the Longhorns a very difficult team to defend.

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“The speed on the field… it’s unique,” Lea said. “It feels like every offensive skill player was somewhere sub 10.5 seconds in the 100-meter dash in high school. That is what it is. They all have home run potential.”

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, known for his offensive creativity, has built a system that leverages speed in a variety of ways, making it difficult for opposing defenses, typically less talented defenses, to keep pace.

Lea explained how Sarkisian’s offense thrives on pre-snap movement designed to create space for UT’s speed merchants. “He’s got a way to use shifts, motions, and formations to create space for those guys,” Lea noted. “Sometimes those ‘overs’ can become runaways in man coverage. We have to be really disciplined with our leverage and our depth.”

Texas’ ability to create mismatches in coverage is just one part of the equation. Lea also pointed to the importance of team defense, emphasizing that Vanderbilt must work together to avoid leaving defenders isolated in open space. “The key is we’re never one-on-one in space,” he said. “We’re always compressing blocks on the perimeter and vicing the ball… One seam and they can hit the gas and score.”

In addition to their speed, the Longhorns’ quick-passing game poses another challenge. Lea highlighted how Sarkisian’s offense not only stretches defenses vertically with deep routes but also horizontally with quick releases.

“They have multiple ways of doing that and when they do it they’re getting it to someone that’s very capable of breaking it,” Lea said. “When you see chunk plays, it feels like they come in waves.”

Another aspect of Sark’s approach that Lea respects is his ability to increase tempo when he senses blood in the water. This forces defenses to remain alert and patient, as Lea emphasized.

“He does a nice job of tempo, too,” Lea remarked. “When it feels like he’s getting momentum, he’ll kind of push the gas down and try to seize it. That’s where we have to be super patient defensively.”

For Vanderbilt, the key to slowing down Texas lies in making the Longhorns work for every yard. Lea’s strategy hinges on forcing Texas to string together multiple successful plays without allowing big, explosive moments. “Every time that they snap it and they’re not in the end zone, that’s actually playing into our strategy,” Lea said. “We’re trying to force them to snap it over and over again… That’s part of limiting the total number of points they can score.”

However, controlling the game also depends on Vanderbilt’s ability to sustain offensive drives of its own. Lea noted that his team must stay “on schedule,” avoiding mistakes and capitalizing on opportunities to keep possession of the ball and limit Texas’ offensive chances.

“When we’ve done that this season, no matter who we played against, we’ve been able to find our way into a competitive game,” Lea said.

This was the key to upsetting Alabama. The Crimson Tide only ran 45 plays the entire game!

Facing Texas is never easy, and Vanderbilt will have to be at its best to keep the Longhorns’ offense in check. Lea acknowledged the Horns have “so many ways they can get the ball to the end zone in an explosive manner.”

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“We’re going to have to be really, really on our game,” Lea concluded.

Texas is going to have to be on its game, too. Vanderbilt is a confident bunch riding a three game winning streak, including SEC wins over Alabama and Kentucky.