'We've just got to attack it': Texas looking for success in back-to-back weeks against the flyover defense

Texas’ trip to Ames, Iowa last season to face the Iowa State Cyclones marked the offensive low point of Steve Sarkisian’s first year in Austin. Against ISU defensive coordinator Jim Heacock’s signature 3-3-5 “flyover” defense, the Longhorn offense put together nine three-and-out drives and turned the ball over twice. Texas wasn’t shut out, but the seven-point total was the team’s only single-digit showing of the year.

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Digging deeper into the statistics only paints an uglier picture. The Longhorns had 207 total yards, 104 on the ground via 35 carries and a paltry 103 through the air. Hudson Card was not effective. Casey Thompson could not throw. Bijan Robinson somehow amassed 126 total yards but coughed up the ball twice. Xavier Worthy scored Texas’ only touchdown, but had just 22 yards on the day.

To make things worse, it was the fourth loss in a row in a streak that would span six games.

“I think a lot of our guys on our team, there’s a lot of bad taste in their mouth in the way some of those games went last year, the opportunities that ultimately fell on us that we let go of.” Sarkisian said Monday. “I think our players are really buying into the idea of let’s go play the way we’re playing and let’s go finish the way we’re capable of finishing.”

Of all the bad tastes, this one was likely the most repugnant for the offense. In no other 2021 contest did Texas fail to score at least 20 points. With that in mind, here’s plenty of motivation to succeed against the ISU defense this year.

“They handled us pretty well,” Robinson said Monday. “We’re never going to forget that.”

The challenge in Austin on Saturday might be greater than the one faced in Ames last season. Iowa State is No. 1 in the conference in rushing defense, passing defense, scoring defense, and total defense. Despite their 3-3 record, the Cyclones have held 5-of-6 opponents to under 14 points with Baylor as the lone exception.

“They play great defense, probably the best defense in our conference,” Sarkisian said. “Really sound, really disciplined, keep the ball in front, play good against the run. We’ve got our work cut out for us there.”

Like most Matt Campbell-coached teams, the Cyclones are fundamentally sound. They also provide great effort on a down-to-down basis, highlighted by Will McDonald and O’rien Vance.

Those players succeed in a unique system. Sarkisian noted the 3-3-5 flyover defense, which ISU and Arkansas both used last year to stifle the Texas attack, is utilized in many different ways by the Cyclones. He mentioned they do “a lot of really cool things” in their look and also mix up what they show offenses pre-snap.

Christian Jones called it “one of a kind,” and said having to stop the “joker” defender in the run fit was a challenge last season. But both Robinson and Roschon Johnson had an air of confidence when speaking about facing the flyover.

“They’ve got to be honest on defense,” Robinson said. “I can’t wait to see how we’ll attack their run defense, attack their pass defense. We have a lot of threats on offense. They’ve got to stop so many people.”

Said Johnson: “It revolves around us sticking to our gameplan and making sure we execute.”

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers said Monday he never had to study the system last season at Ohio State since no one in the Big 10 ran it consistently. Flyover was something he perceived to be a Big 12 thing, even though more and more defensive coordinators around the country are running it.

Although he heard it was tough to go against, Ewers believes his team will find ways to move the ball.

“There’s holes in every defense,” Ewers said. “We’ve just got to attack it.”

How might Ewers know this? He found plenty of holes against Oklahoma, who runs an extremely similar version of the 3-3-5 flyover defense.

Ewers was 21-of-31 for 289 yards and four touchdowns with one interception against the Sooners. Though Brent Venables’ defense is feeling plenty of Year 1 growing pains running the system, it provided a look for Ewers, Robinson, and the rest of the offense that will help them against a stiffer challenge this week.

Sarkisian mentioned he tries to throw several different defensive looks at his team during training camp, but camp was over two months ago. What they were able to go against in the Cotton Bowl proved extremely valuable heading into the matchup with Iowa State.

“It’s hard to replicate certain schemes in practice from a scout team perspective, so when you can get real, live reps in some of those things it’s always helpful,” Sarkisian said.

Not only does it help the players, it helps the coaches, too. Dating back to his time at Alabama, Sarkisian had his ups and downs versus the flyover.

After last week’s dominance, Texas hopes players and coaches alike can make it two in a row against the revolutionary system run this week by a stout Cyclone unit.