Hey PK -- What would you say you do here?

[HtownHorn 14573]

1 hour ago, victory88 said:

What about watching Malcolm Roach cover a jet sweep as a MLB?  Remember that?  Man we hired some straight stupid fucking coaches.  

Who was the LB that 3rd and Orlando had chasing CeeDee Lamb all over the cotton bowl field?

[Codaxx 5627]

23 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Who was the LB that 3rd and Orlando had chasing CeeDee Lamb all over the cotton bowl field?

Ossai

[Jkwellborn 6666]

The defense hasn't been tested much to this point.  The back end is improved and much faster, that is plain to see.  There is a monster coming off the edge now, that much is plain to see.  Once we get to OU and Georgia, we will know a lot more.  Not that they are great offenses but you'll have to play sound against both.

I don’t think Ou is going to show a bunch, they aren’t that good right now.

[LTtxfan 49053]

Why the Texas defense is flying around like hungry dogs | Cedric Golden

KEY POINTS

• The Horns have given up only 19 points through three games, the stingiest start to a season since 1983.  
• The 1983 team came within one win of a national title.
• Safety Michael Taaffe: "“Our standard this year is to not let anybody get in the paint. That's who we are now.”

Ethan Burke is one of the most talented young defensive ends on the Texas football roster, but there are limits to this.

He’s an emerging pass rusher who led the team in sacks last season, but that doesn’t make him a candidate for "Dancing with the Stars."

Burke’s 30-yard interception return for a touchdown was one of many highlights in the 56-7 blowout of UTSA, yet his end-zone belly flop celebration was what everyone was talking about Monday.

“Seeing my guy get a pick-six was great, but we definitely need to work on his celebration,” defensive end Barryn Sorrell said.

Others likened him scoring to Adam Sandler’s legendary "Waterboy" character Bobby Boucher, who was easily the biggest hitter in the history of football movie-dom.

What we’re witnessing is a defense having a real blast laying the wood to the opposition. Playmaking is infectious and with the roll Texas has been on to start the season, it’s starting to feel like this Austin avalanche is picking up speed with nonconference play coming to a close Saturday against ULM.

Coach Steve Sarkisian said during his Monday media availability that he can’t remember his team celebrating one another more than he’s witnessed this year, whether it’s with the turnover sword or unique end-zone displays like Burke’s, but the fun is noticeable.

He and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski are especially happy with how they have reacted in the all-important third-down conversion area. Georgia is the only team better in the nation than the Longhorns' allowed conversion rate of 26.55%. And there’s an obvious uptick in the quality of tackling, particularly in the secondary; Michael Taaffe and LBJ product Andrew Mukuba have been stellar in the open field.

As with most coaches, Sarkisian will continue to harp on takeaways. Texas has six — five interceptions and a fumble recovery — which puts the Horns on pace to come close to what one of the stingiest defenses in program history accomplished back in the day.

“Our whole deal is if we can stop the run and we can minimize the explosive pass plays and then (we can) create turnovers,” he said. "Turnovers get created a lot of different ways: getting pressure on the quarterback, forcing errant throws, sack fumbles, things of that nature, short fields. Those are always areas that you want more of, right? Then any times we can get our hands on the ball, the better.”

Depending on which poll you follow, the Horns are ranked either first or second in the country, but there is very little separating them from the Georgia Bulldogs, who will be venturing into the 512 on Oct. 19. Texas is getting most of its headlines because of an ultra-talented offense and the emergence of young backup quarterback Arch Manning, but let’s not get it twisted.

The Horns are dominating because of a defense that’s taken its share of lumps over the years.

Points are hard to come by against the Horns 

Texas has allowed only 19 points over its first three games, which is the stingiest defense since the 1983 team that was awash in All-Americans such as defensive backs Jerry Gray and Mossy Cade and linebacker Jeff Leiding (RIP).

That team, coached by late Longhorn legend Fred Akers, went 11-1 and would have captured a national title had it beat Georgia in the Cotton Bowl. We all remember Craig Curry’s tragic muffed punt that led to Georgia quarterback John Lastinger scoring late to give his team a 10-9 win, but what is often overlooked is how overpowering the Horns were on that side of the ball that year.

The 9.5 points allowed per game stands as the second stingiest allowance in the modern era, behind only the 1979 club that gave up only 8.2 points per game. Six opponents scored in double digits and only one (Baylor) reached 20 points.

In addition, opposing quarterbacks in 1983 completed a scant 40.2% of their passes. How about allowing only 2.3 yards per rush and 3.3 yards per play? In the takeaway department, the Horns nabbed 13 interceptions and recovered 13 fumbles.

Now the current team has a long way to go to reach that level of dominance, especially with the knowledge that they’re about to take a large step up in competition, but this start in the SEC debut season is promising.

To Texas' credit, what we’re seeing through three games is a historic start. Can they keep it up? Remains to be seen, but even Woodsy the Owl without glasses can see that this is a heavy improvement over the 35th-ranked defense that Washington shredded in the Sugar Bowl eight months ago.

I suspect we won’t learn a whole lot about the Horns in Saturday's game, but it will be interesting to monitor how they continue to deal with the status of being an early title contender.

The leadership and locker room culture has been put in place to ensure Texas doesn’t enter into any contest sleepy. Sarkisian put it best after the UTSA game when he said the Horns aren’t entitled to anything. 

The best teams make their own breaks and it usually starts with the defense. If the Horns continue to play like a bunch of famished dogs jumping up for a juicy steak that’s just out of their reach, complacency won’t be an issue.

There’s a reason Sarkisian and Taaffe still bristle when they think of the 53-yard touchdown run allowed against the Roadrunners, which prevented them from becoming the first team to shut out consecutive opponents since 1982.

“Our standard this year is to not let anybody get in the paint,” Taaffe said. “That's who we are now.”

A team that knows who it is should be comfortable in handling adversity. The Horns aren’t a finished product on defense, but an ascension is happening.

They’re hungry.

 

Edited September 19 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 49053]

Great rip/strip fumble caused by CORN LB just now vs Illinois...

Please PK teach our defense this !!! 🤘

[Lhorn 4903]

This defense kinda fucks.

[Fastbreak 3962]

5 points a game average.  Not our standard...

[Reese Bennett 3606]

Still only one shutout this season, but the game did bring our points allowed average down to 5.5.

I guess PK is safe for another week.

[Elmer_Fudd 22139]

Is this good?

 

[coachherman'sgrill 2043]

1 hour ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Is this good?

 

We’ll let PK stay for now…..

Edited September 22 by coachherman'sgrill

[Elmer_Fudd 22139]

 

[Dahobbs 17497]

26 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

 

What is the first real offense we are going to face? Maybe Georgia (although statistically it actually isn't that good)?

Current total offense rankings of our opponents:

Colorado State - 107th (328.5 ypg)

Michigan - 109th (327.5 ypg)

UTSA - 79th (382.2 ypg)

ULM - 192th (247.7 ypg)

Mississippi St - 67th (401.8 ypg)

OU - 119th (299.5 ypg)

Georgia - 65th (402.3 ypg)

Vandy - 97th (354.2 ypg)

Florida - 46th (424.2 ypg)

Arkansas - 8th (524.0 ypg)

Kentucky - 115th (318.0 ypg)

A&M - 53rd (417.8 ypg)

Edited September 23 by Dahobbs

[Guadaloopy 10936]

3 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

ULM - 192th (247.7 ypg)

Glad we performed well against the one hundred ninety two-th ranked offense

[hornian 5207]

4 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

What is the first real offense we are going to face? Maybe Georgia (although statistically it actually isn't that good)?

Current total offense rankings of our opponents:

Colorado State - 107th (328.5 ypg)

Michigan - 109th (327.5 ypg)

UTSA - 79th (382.2 ypg)

ULM - 192th (247.7 ypg)

Mississippi St - 67th (401.8 ypg)

OU - 119th (299.5 ypg)

Georgia - 65th (402.3 ypg)

Vandy - 97th (354.2 ypg)

Florida - 46th (424.2 ypg)

Arkansas - 8th (524.0 ypg)

Kentucky - 115th (318.0 ypg)

A&M - 53rd (417.8 ypg)

I have some notes. 

First, pretty sure there's not 192 FBS teams. Did you mean 92nd?

Second, it's 92nd, not 92th. 

Third, maybe the first 4 teams on this list are so low because they played our D already?

 

[Dahobbs 17497]

12 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Glad we performed well against the one hundred ninety two-th ranked offense

 

11 minutes ago, hornian said:

I have some notes. 

First, pretty sure there's not 192 FBS teams. Did you mean 92nd?

Second, it's 92nd, not 92th. 

Third, maybe the first 4 teams on this list are so low because they played our D already?

 

Ha, should have been 129th. Just flipped the numbers when typing I guess, but I did have the appropriate number suffix!

And yes, maybe they are lower because they played us. But that doesn't explain the rest of the schedule. It is seriously devoid of offensive fire power (statistically). 

[Park Gothic 5005]

13 minutes ago, hornian said:

Third, maybe the first 4 teams on this list are so low because they played our D already?

I'm not sure if you're being tongue in cheek, but there's some validity to this last point. It's still early in the season and these rankings are as much a product of who these teams have played as what their offenses can do. Arkansas at 8th and Miss. State at 67th are the biggest indicators of this issue. I expect those offenses to struggle as the season goes on and people remember how to play Petrino's and Lebby's systems. 

All of that being said - the offenses we'll face this season are pretty below average. How weird is it that we moved to the SEC and it seems like our schedule got easier? 

[Jkwellborn 6666]

Yeah, the defense looks better, but don’t suck each others dicks too deeply yet.

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

1 minute ago, Jkwellborn said:

Yeah, the defense looks better, but don’t suck each others dicks too deeply yet.

You’re no Winston Wolf. 

[Dark Horse 2270]

Total offense is not a great metric for evaluating an offense. 
 

Georgia is ranked 4th in Brian Fremeau’s OFEI and 7th in Connelly’s Offense SP+.  We are ranked 5/1 respectively. Fremeau seems to be giving Georgia a lot of credit for the strength of Kentucky’s and Clemson’s defense. 
 

No one else cracks the top 30 in both. 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10184]

I feel this thread might need to be closer to the top today....

[TheRealRonWeaver? 1258]

[Jkwellborn 6666]

It’s gonna take more than beating up on a bunch of JV squads to make me believe in this guy.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10184]

22 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

It’s gonna take more than beating up on a bunch of JV squads to make me believe in this guy.

Yeah, maybe he's just smarter than me, but can we force MSU to throw. Like take away the run and force a true freshman QB to beat us with his decision making and arm.

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

18 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Yeah, maybe he's just smarter than me, but can we force MSU to throw. Like take away the run and force a true freshman QB to beat us with his decision making and arm.

According to Sarkisian, that was exactly the plan. He wasn’t scared they were going to drive the field for points four yards at a time. He didn’t want to be RPO’ed with quick throws. He wanted passes to be drop backs. 

Take away the TD on which there was holding and they scored six. None in the second half. 

It was frustrating to watch, as was some of the tackling, but they made Mississippi State do exactly what they wanted them to do.

[Reese Bennett 3606]

Welp, our points allowed average increased greatly this week--we are now all the way up to 7 points per game.

Let's just hope the offense can keep pace.

[Bodacious Bevo 3576]

On 9/15/2024 at 10:07 PM, Rickylovesweed said:

 

Thompson is just bad. He had a crazy interception last night but other than that it's the same issues. 

Thompson is the safety that couldn't close on Michael Hawkins on his long TD run (coming from the top of the screen). I don't miss that. 

 

Alex Dunlap's defensive deep dig. 

Spoiler

Defensive Snap Counts By Week and Percentage of Total Defensive Snaps Played - Through Week 5
 

 

Defensive Productivity Market-Share Percentages and Snaps per Production Caused Metrics *Through Week 5* (snaps per disruption caused is colored coded from blue/best to white/median to red/worst; movement up or down the rankings from last week in parentheses after player's name)

 

 

Snaps per Production Caused Trends by Week (Season/Cumulative - Post Week 5)

 

 

Snaps per Production Caused Historical Context Chart Post-Week 5 (2024 starters and key contributors; historical comparison to former players -- former players on the list need 200 snaps played in a previous regular season dating back to 2015 for inclusion)

 

 

Quick Hits and Thoughts

- Alex January came in on the first series of the game? Well, that was certainly something new. He didn't do much, but the simple fact that January even entered the game among all the starters on the first series is very telling about how the staff views how he is coming along, especially given the fact that guys like Tia Savea and Sydir Mitchell didn't see the field at all.

- Remember when the Texas offensive line would make plays like this? We do. Ahh, the bad old days.



- We really like the idea of getting Trey Moore and Colin Simmons on the field at the same time in nickel. They do it in the dime package, but it's cool to see those two on the edges in more of a base-like package. We saw this in the third series on 3rd down and 11 and we figured that after MSU converted (on a random catch of a batted pass by the TE) that on first down the grouping would be subbed out as it seems more like a passing-down grouping, but both players stayed in on the edges for the first and 10. On that play, Moore got good enough pressure to draw a holding penalty.



(Shoutout as always to @Nash Talks Texas for his excellent cutups of the game)

- Jermayne Lole with a much more active-than-usual game against Mississippi State, despite some rough reps and generally looking/playing a little bit small against the run. He had a great QB hit and for the first time this season registered multiple run-stuffs.

- Color us surprised at how much better Vernon Broughton has been than Alfred Collins so far this season. Collins has the brighter flashes, but Broughton, despite still not being perfect, really just has been much more efficient on a down-to-down basis. It's as simple as that.

- Colton Vasek got in the game much earlier versus Mississippi State than we've seen this season, although it was in the 2nd quarter, it seems to make it more meaningful that it came at a time when Texas was only leading 7-3. It wasn't like the Longhorns were at a point in the game where they could afford to play backups just for the heck of it. Colin Simmons overtook Justice Finkley long ago, but now it appears that Colton Vasek has as well. Finkley would play both the buck end and the jack end at times in order for the staff to sort of give him two-deep-ish reps and not having to have him focus on one spot. He could move from side to side after backing up Sorrell last year and knowing that JACK spot very well. In this game, those two-deep-ish jack end reps went to Vasek, whose "emergence" Steve Sarkisian pointed out at his Thursday availability. And, most importantly, Vasek made something happen with his extra work on the field, generating a sack, while Finkley -- for the first time this season -- failed to log a snap on defense.

- Colin Simmons is doing what he's doing despite getting held constantly. The holding on Simmons had our dusty basement in an absolute tizzy during our work this week. If we were on the staff, we'd let the officials know to keep an eye on it prior to the next game. Gosh, his burst off the edge is just so explosive and fast; it's rare to see a prospect's elite-level traits from high school highlights translate so seamlessly to the college game. He's an alien. The historical chart above shows you the kind of productivity we're getting from Simmons, and as you can see, his snap percentage is ticking up. With that, you'd expect the efficiency to come down, but as of now, it just isn't. In just this one game: 4 solo tackles, on more TFL, 2 sacks, a caused fumble (unfortunately Texas didn't recover it), and a run-stuff. We'd say this is going to be impossible to keep up, but we would have told you after Week 2 it would be impossible to keep anything CLOSE to this up until post-Week 5 and ... welp ... here we are. We may just have a complete outlier on our hands.

Never seen anything like it.

- Anthony Hill missed four tackles in this game and it is sort of indicative of how this game went for the defense. When the heart and soul of your unit is playing in an uncharacteristically sloppy manner, it just has to be a sign that there is some level of discord within the unit. In the end, it's like Sark said post-game: the scoreboard shows that the defense held up its end of the bargain ... but it was little things like this from your best player in Hill; two blown contains by Trey Moore, the defense in general letting MSU have a first possession like they had as far as chewing up time of possession, rock-solid players such as Manny Muhammad letting guys get behind them for would-be coverage burns only to be bailed out by receivers making inexplicable drops. David Gbenda wasn't really missing tackles, but he was struggling to fit up his gaps at times and getting out of position with his leverage. Let's call a spade a spade: the defense -- at times, not all the time -- had some sloppy moments against MSU.

Here's a random sloppy play among a handful of them:



- Speaking of coverage burns, Gavin Holmes received a coverage burn for the long completion in the second half and the good news is it was the first one registered in the Deep Dig this season. It goes to show the improvement we've all seen on the back end thus far.

- In the end, it's the scoreboard that matters as Steve Sarkisian has said, but the Texas defense can take away from the Mississippi State game a valuable lesson that was not accompanied by a loss.

Sometimes teams need these kinds of games. Look, it was a convincing win against an SEC opponent on one hand. It was a W, and a big one. However, everyone from the coaches to the everyday Joe in the stands noticed a few things on defense that can be improved upon. The players know, the coaches know. To be able to get that kind of motivation to get better and make up for it usually isn't the type of mindset that comes in the wake of a win.

Survive and advance -- now into an undefeated bye week headed into the Red River Shootout.

Onward to the offense.

 

The defense strikes me as a top 25-ish unit so far (stats are better than that, obviously). Which is good, of course. And, importantly, they fit really well with an offense that will put up points, thus forcing the opponent to play from behind and letting our pass rush do its thing. I just want to see us play against a competent passing offense, preferably with Derek Williams back, and get more consistent with run fits and compressing space. 

[BurntOrange&White 39815]

On 9/23/2024 at 12:33 PM, Dark Horse said:

Total offense is not a great metric for evaluating an offense. 
 

Georgia is ranked 4th in Brian Fremeau’s OFEI and 7th in Connelly’s Offense SP+.  We are ranked 5/1 respectively. Fremeau seems to be giving Georgia a lot of credit for the strength of Kentucky’s and Clemson’s defense. 
 

No one else cracks the top 30 in both. 

[D3zii 3670]

I wasn't to sure why we played Dime as much as we did, especially when we see Lebby just wanted to sit on the ball.

More than ever we just had to tackle better than we wouldn't have had all those long runs. I think that was the biggest issue was the missed tackles. 

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

1 hour ago, D3zii said:

I wasn't to sure why we played Dime as much as we did, especially when we see Lebby just wanted to sit on the ball.

More than ever we just had to tackle better than we wouldn't have had all those long runs. I think that was the biggest issue was the missed tackles. 

There were too many annoying runs, but I don’t remember a lot of long ones. Did they ever go for more than 15 or so?

[Dahobbs 17497]

1 hour ago, Doc Daneeka said:

There were too many annoying runs, but I don’t remember a lot of long ones. Did they ever go for more than 15 or so?

Their longest run was 17 yards.  I believe the second longest was 12 yards (the TD). It just seemed worse than that because so many of those 5-10 yard runs should have been stopped at or behind the line. 

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

Just now, Dahobbs said:

Their longest run was 17 yards.  I believe the second longest was 12 yards (the TD). It just seemed worse than that because so many of those 5-10 yard runs should have been stopped at or behind the line. 

Yeah. Not defending the missed tackles. The TD should’ve been called back.

It was frustrating to watch but it was exactly what they wanted to happen, just with better execution. There was no need to anything. Sarkisian basically did the Lucius Fox “good luck” for driving four yards at a time to win. 

[D3zii 3670]

12 hours ago, Doc Daneeka said:

There were too many annoying runs, but I don’t remember a lot of long ones. Did they ever go for more than 15 or so?

Honestly we’re really nic picking cause it wasn’t any long run over 20. We’re just not use to getting ran on is the thing

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

1 hour ago, D3zii said:

Honestly we’re really nic picking cause it wasn’t any long run over 20. We’re just not use to getting ran on is the thing

I mean, it ended up being 3.0 a carry. 

[LTtxfan 49053]

On 9/13/2024 at 3:46 PM, tbone_ said:

I wouldn’t change the title. It seems to be working. Never fuck with a winning streak.

Yeah, PK still has more work to do -- especially with our run defense. 

Interesting that so far, PK has not been blitzing much... 

[Burt Macklin 19000]

2 hours ago, Doc Daneeka said:

I mean, it ended up being 3.0 a carry. 

It was 3.0 per carry when you include the 6 sacks. It was a little over 4 YPC when you take out the sacks. Both of their RBs were right around their season avg for YPC, which isn't great. I think PK prioritized limiting the passing game and was willing to give up some yards in the run game, so it's not the end of the world. It will be something to monitor against OU and UGA though. It's hard to say if our defense is more susceptible to the pass or the run at this point, because we've yet to face even a P5 average offense.

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

Just now, Burt Macklin said:

It was 3.0 per carry when you include the 6 sacks. It was a little over 4 YPC when you take out the sacks. Both of their RBs were right around their season avg for YPC, which isn't great. I think PK prioritized limiting the passing game and was willing to give up some yards in the run game, so it's not the end of the world. It will be something to monitor against OU and UGA though. It's hard to say if our defense is more susceptible to the pass or the run at this point, because we've yet to face even a P5 average offense.

Yeah, because that’s how the stats work. For every team. Not just Texas. 

Sarkisian literally said the defenses goal was to take away RPO passes, force passes to be dropbacks, and good luck driving the field four yards at a time. And that’s what they did. 

Some of the tackling was poor. Some of the execution was poor. But Texas’ defensive strategy was “fuck it, you can’t beat us that way, so have at it.” There was no reason to do anything different. 

So, like you said, it’s not the end of the world. Texas played the run differently than they’re likely to against a team that’s more of a threat and, even in a situation in which it got no priority, MSU got six points and a TD on a hold. 

[Park Gothic 5005]

Another element to the defensive playcalling may have been that we were holding back some of the wrinkles we want to use against OU and UGA. If what we were doing (taking away the RPO and deep ball) was working, why change it? Why go deeper in our bag and show the good teams on our schedule what we can do? We still beat MSU by three scores. 

That may just be me telling myself what I want to believe, but it seems like the decision to not adapt our game plan to MSU's offense was intentional. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18526]

It's exciting that this is what we get to bitch about -- some sloppy defensive play out of a vanilla gameplan in an otherwise dominating win against a team that they clearly weren't amped up to play.

I'm not overly concerned about the rushing defense. They held up fine against Michigan. If Blue doesn't fumble and the team goes on to score there, MSU has to throw that gameplan out the window and pass the ball. Instead, they got to play keep away and milk the clock for a bit. Complementary football, as it were.

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

6 minutes ago, Park Gothic said:

Another element to the defensive playcalling may have been that we were holding back some of the wrinkles we want to use against OU and UGA. If what we were doing (taking away the RPO and deep ball) was working, why change it? Why go deeper in our bag and show the good teams on our schedule what we can do? We still beat MSU by three scores. 

That may just be me telling myself what I want to believe, but it seems like the decision to not adapt our game plan to MSU's offense was intentional. 

You’re telling me what I want to believe, too, so I like to see it. 

If I can get the bottom of the order out without showing the top of the order that I have a curve, why wouldn’t I? 

With my burnt orange glasses on, the appearance that Texas had the confidence to stick with the generic plan is encouraging in that they didn’t see MSU doing anything that was going to threaten the outcome even against a defense that was designed to encourage them to do what they were doing. 

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

3 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

It's exciting that this is what we get to bitch about -- some sloppy defensive play out of a vanilla gameplan in an otherwise dominating win against a team that they clearly weren't amped up to play.

I'm not overly concerned about the rushing defense. They held up fine against Michigan. If Blue doesn't fumble and the team goes on to score there, MSU has to throw that gameplan out the window and pass the ball. Instead, they got to play keep away and milk the clock for a bit. Complementary football, as it were.

Agreed. Blue’s fumbles and Cook’s drop allowed them to stick with the run more than Texas’ defense did. Protect the ball, and catch it, and Texas may have gotten 10 sacks. 

[Bill Lumbergh 7171]

24 minutes ago, Doc Daneeka said:

Sarkisian literally said the defenses goal was to take away RPO passes, force passes to be dropbacks, and good luck driving the field four yards at a time. And that’s what they did. 

Some of the tackling was poor. Some of the execution was poor. But Texas’ defensive strategy was “fuck it, you can’t beat us that way, so have at it.” There was no reason to do anything different. 

So, like you said, it’s not the end of the world. Texas played the run differently than they’re likely to against a team that’s more of a threat and, even in a situation in which it got no priority, MSU got six points and a TD on a hold. 

It was frustrating to watch, but at this point I'm choosing to believe this is why we played it how we did.  If we know they can't beat us like this, we may have been willing to concede some things we could've schemed to stop.  Add in the sloppy tackling and it was kind of ugly, even if efficient points-wise.

We can't take that approach against ou and ga and win, so those games will be telling about our actual run defense.  We did perform well against Michigan, but they also have a terrible passing offense.

[LTtxfan 49053]

Yeah, our defense should have been able to get off the field much faster against MissSt. 

Although Texas doesn't have to win time of possession to win games, the 22min TOP for MissSt in the 1st half was RIDICULOUS. 

If a trend of giving up more long drives continues in SEC play, the number of Longhorn defensive injuries will likely go up significantly. 

Hopefully Texas gets back to better complementary football against blOU and jawja.

 

[BurntOrange&White 39815]

I believe it was either OTF(Lunch with coaches) or 3rd and Longhorn post game where they mentioned that if some miscues on offense don't happen and we go up 14/21-0 on Miss St their entire offensive strategy changes and I assume that is what our defensive game plan was built around considering Sark's comments. Think about it though...you're up 17-0 or 21-0 they aren't going to be running the ball 50 times. Our offense shitting itself caused the TOP to be what it was as well. 

[LTtxfan 49053]

 

Here are three of the most improved Longhorns players after the season's first five weeks.

Liona Lefau, LB

Sophomore Liona Lefau is one of the many talented players on the defensive side of the ball for the Longhorns, who will be "next up" for future starters for the front seven. After super senior David Gbenda, Lefau is probably going to be the next starter for the Longhorns, along with star sophomore Anthony Hill Jr., at the linebacker position for Texas's defensive front

Gbenda and Hill have started every game together at the linebacker position for the Longhorns. But Texas has some younger guys ready to step up and make an impact on the two-deep at linebacker, including Lefau and true freshman TyAnthony Smith.

Lefau has made the most of the defensive snaps he's gotten early this season for Texas's defense. He's made a big impact for the Longhorns front in multiple games during non-conference play, including team-highs in defensive stops in the season opener win over the Colorado State Rams and in the Week 4 win over the UL-Monroe Warhawks.

Whether it's the pass rush, defending the run, or contesting space and dropping into pass coverage, Lefau has impacted multiple areas of Texas's defense in each game this season through five weeks. He even has a safety under his belt from Texas's win over ULM a couple of weeks ago

Vernon Broughton, DT

Senior Vernon Broughton is Texas's highest-graded defensive tackle entering the bye week after five games (per PFF). Broughton has been imperative to Texas's recent success rushing the passer in the past few weeks.

In Texas's win over Mississippi State in the SEC opener last weekend, Broughton had one of the plays of the game for the defensive front, coming up with a strip-sack and fumble recovery against Bulldogs' freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren.

Broughton also made a big play in the first half against Mississippi State, taking on a double team and breaking into the backfield to get a big fourth-down stop for Texas when the defense was on their own side of the 50. That fourth-down stop for Texas in the first half last weekend helped the Longhorns keep hold of their lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

Under first-year defensive line coach Kenny Baker, Broughton has developed well as an interior run defender while continuing to be very disruptive as an interior-pass rushing presence.

Last year, the Longhorns had the two highest-graded defensive tackles in the Power Five, with two eventual top 50 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft in T'Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy. Broughton has continued that legacy of success compared to the best defensive tackles in the nation in the P4 this season, ranking in the top three highest-graded DTs after five weeks.

Michael Taaffe, S

Despite having a tough start in the first half against Mississippi State in the SEC opener last weekend, junior safety Michael Taaffe has been really tremendous for Texas's defense. Taaffe has taken on the role of being one of the important communicators in the back end of the Longhorns' defense in the secondary this season.

Taaffe was named one of the defensive players of the week for Texas after the season opener win on Aug. 31 against Colorado State.

His experience and football IQ have been crucial to helping Texas defend the pass and contest space with the opposing team's ball carrier when they're out in space after the catch or running the ball. Taaffe knows where to be, and he's played a really physical brand of football this season to lay some hard hits on the opposing team's skill guys in pass coverage and defending the run.

Not only is Taaffe a much more physical safety than he showed last season for Texas's defense, but he's also making more crucial plays in pass coverage. He had a huge pass breakup late in the first half that kept Texas's lead in tact on a deep ball targeted his way in coverage last weekend against Mississippi State.

Taaffe's physicality, football IQ, and live-game experience playing multiple years in this defensive scheme for the Longhorns under Pete Kwiatkowski since 2022 has helped Texas turn around their play at safety this fall. Senior Andrew Mukuba and Taaffe have been huge staples to Texas's secondary this season, and this duo is a big reason why the Longhorns are performing well in pass defense entering the bye week.

 

 

Edited October 5 by LTtxfan

[BurntOrange&White 39815]

 

 

[LTtxfan 49053]

Is PK ghostwriting as "Jacob Neidig" ?  These grades are definitely too high for some positions.  Wish he graded Edges separately from DT's.

 

 

 

 

 

Long article, so just posting link below.

https://www.burntorangenation.com/2024/10/8/24264717/texas-longhorns-defense-position-grades-anthony-hill-jahdae-barron

 

 

Edited October 8 by LTtxfan

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

1 minute ago, LTtxfan said:

Is PK ghostwriting as "Jacob Neidig" ?  These grades are definitely too high for some positions.  Wish they grades Edges separately from DT's.

 

 

 

 

 

Long article, so just posting link below.

https://www.burntorangenation.com/2024/10/8/24264717/texas-longhorns-defense-position-grades-anthony-hill-jahdae-barron

 

Which ones would you say are definitely too high, and why?

[JOSEYWALES66 1793]

1 minute ago, Doc Daneeka said:

Which ones would you say are definitely too high, and why?

I agree the secondary has played well so far but they have been up against bad QB's.   We will know a lot more after the Georgia game regarding the secondary. 

 

[LTtxfan 49053]

1 minute ago, Doc Daneeka said:

Which ones would you say are definitely too high, and why?

• Split off Edges, and they are at least B+
• DTs are a B
• LBs are either B+ or A-
• CBs are likely a B+ or A-
• Safeties are A-

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

Just now, JOSEYWALES66 said:

I agree the secondary has played well so far but they have been up against bad QB's.   We will know a lot more after the Georgia game regarding the secondary. 

 

I’m not suggesting there isn’t more to learn, but kicking the shit out of what’s been on the schedule so far is about all a hypothetically perfect secondary could have done so far.