Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 1)

[satyanash 14281]

Collecting post-game analysis articles regarding the Louisiana-Monroe game here:

Chip Brown: Instant Analysis of Texas' feel-good 52-10 season-opening win over ULM

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Texas’ 52-10 victory over Louisiana-Monroe was very much the feel-good season-opener the Longhorns paid ULM nearly $1 million for as Steve Sarkisian’s team now turns its focus to a home date next week with No. 1 Alabama. But on Saturday night Texas learned it has a quarterback in redshirt freshman transfer Quinn Ewers who could shake off an interception on his very first drive as a Longhorn to finish 16 of 24 passing for 225 yards, including two fourth-down completions and two touchdowns.

The Texas offense appears to have a new weapon in redshirt freshman tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, who had a breakout performance with six catches for 85 yards and a 19-yard, catch-and-run touchdown as well as a brilliant 25-yard catch down the seam that set up a 9-yard touchdown run by Bijan Robinson in the third quarter. Robinson was his usual electric self, running 10 times for 71 yards (7.1 ypc) and a jaw-dropping, 9-yard TD run while also catching three passes for 40 yards, including a 16-yard, catch-and-run TD.

The Texas defense, which struggled against the run and struggled to generate a pass rush last year in a 5-7 season, did well on both fronts Saturday night. The Longhorns held the Warhawks to 92 yards on 41 carries (2.2 ypc) - giving up a garbage-time, 23-yard TD run - and got some heat on the quarterback, led by sophomore defensive end Barryn Sorrell's 1.5 sacks and freshman nickel Jaylon Guilbeau’s QB hurry that led to a pick-six by cornerback D'Shawn Jamison.

On special teams, Jamison broke through ULM’s line to block a punt that Keilan Robinson picked up and ran into the end zone for Texas’ first points of the 2022 season.

There was a lot to like on Saturday night while still having a ton to prepare for in facing the Crimson Tide next week. Ewers completed eight straight passes at one point in the first half, including a fourth-and-4 completion to tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders for 5 yards; a 19-yard catch-and-run touchdown to Sanders; and a 7-yard completion to tight end Gunnar Helm on third-and-3. But Ewers’ two best passes of the night might’ve come on back-to-back plays in the third quarter — on a third-and-5 completion to Jordan Whittington in a tight window for 11 yards, followed by a 25-yard completion down the seam to tight end Sanders in an even tighter window.

***

The throw to Sanders gave Texas the ball at the ULM 9 and set up a, 9-yard touchdown run by Bijan Robinson. Robinson took the handoff from Ewers and headed behind freshman right guard Cole Hutson; made ULM nose guard Caleb Thomas miss; juked ULM safety Tre Odom at point-blank range and then stiff-armed a linebacker on his way into the end zone, giving Texas a 38-3 lead.

***

The Texas defense then got in on the scoring as D'Shawn Jamison — with TWO huge assists from freshman nickel/spur Jaylon Guilbeau — picked off a deflected pass and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown that put Texas up 45-3. Guilbeau, who got the start at nickel/spur and had a stellar freshman debut, helped pressure ULM quarterback Chandler Rogers into a hurried throw that tipped off the hands of his receiver right to Jamison. And then Guilbeau supplied the block that allowed Jamison to get into the end zone.

***

There were plenty of nitpicks for Steve Sarkisian and his staff to correct, including a poor-decision throw into traffic by Ewers that was intercepted on his first drive as a Longhorn, a few missed tackles and a couple dropped snaps by punter Isaac Pearson (including one as the holder on a missed field goal, resulting in backup quarterback Hudson Card holding the rest of the game).

***

Seemingly every available Longhorn got into the game except for defensive end Alfred Collins (injured), Alabama transfer tight end Jahleel Billingsley (suspended) and Alabama transfer receiver Agiye Hall, who is working his way back from suspension.

***

Roschon Johnson is a beast for Texas. His first carry was a 16-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Johnson finished with five carries for 34 yards (6.8 ypc), and backup Jonathon Brooks had six carries for 32 yards (5.3 ypc), including a 19-yard touchdown in the second half.

***

Nine different Longhorns caught passes, including Casey Cain, who had the longest play of the game on a 43-yard, catch-and-run reception; Troy Omiere (1 for 9 yards) and freshman Savion Red (1 for 5 yards).

***

Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown led Texas in tackles with eight, including two tackles for loss. Overshown rushing off the edge should happen more and more. Sorrell was second on the team in tackles with six and looks like part of the solution in UT developing a pass rush.

***

Keilan Robinson barely missed a punt block early in the third quarter after arriving split-second late.

***

Texas squandered a chance to put points on the board on the final play of the first half. On a 38-yard field goal attempt, Texas punter Isaac Pearson struggled to handle the snap from Zach Edwards and was late gathering the ball and getting it down for kicker Bert Auburn, who ended up squibbing the ball badly to the left, leaving the Longhorns with a 24-3 lead at halftime. The snap and hold were spot on for a 41-yard field goal hit by Auburn with 3:14 left in the second quarter.

***

 

The DKR crowd gasped with 1:17 left in the second quarter when freshman left tackle Kelvin Banks was slow to get up and helped off the field after having his right ankle rolled up. But after redshirt sophomore Andrej Karic came in for one play, Banks returned to the game. A few plays later, on fourth-and-7, Banks and Hayden Conner did a nice job of picking up a stunt, giving Quinn Ewers just enough time to find Ja'Tavion Sanders for 10-yard gain to the ULM 31.

***

 

Xavier Worthy picked up three nice blocks on a 21-yard punt return in the second quarter - from Michael Taaffe, Keilan Robinson and Gunnar Helm.

***

Redshirt freshman receiver Casey Cain had the longest play of the first half, taking a screen pass from Quinn Ewers to the left side, making a defender miss and then running for 43 yards to the ULM 16. That set up a 16-yard touchdown run by Roschon Johnson on the next play that put UT up 21-3 with 10:50 left in the second quarter. Texas overcame a false start by Jake Majors on the drive, and Ewers converted third-and-3 in Texas territory with a 7-yard completion to tight end Gunnar Helm.

***

Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense was rotating players from play-to-play in the first half with Jahdae Barron and Jaylon Guilbeau rotating at nickel/spur; Jamier Johnson subbing for boundary corner Ryan Watts; J.D. Coffey subbing for Jerrin Thompson at field safety; Kitan Crawford subbing for Anthony Cook at boundary safety; Jett Bush subbing for middle linebacker Jaylan Ford; freshman Ethan Burke and sophomore Prince Dorbah subbing for Barryn Sorrell; and freshman Justice Finkley subbing for Ovie Oghoufo.

***

Quinn Ewers settled in on his second drive of the game with the help of Bijan Robinson runs of 21, 2, 7 and 1 yards. On fourth-and-4 from the ULM 37, Ewers found tight end J.T. Sanders for a 5-yard gain and a first down. After a Robinson run for 13 yards to the ULM 19, Sarkisian ran an RPO to the right side of the field in which Ewers had tight end Gunnar Helm available in the flat and Sanders open behind helm along the right sideline. Ewers floated a perfect pass to Sanders, who ran the final 7 yards into the end zone, putting Texas up 14-3 with 1:47 left in the first quarter.

***

DeMarvion Overshown as a rusher paid off big on third-and-goal from the 2 following Ewers’ first-quarter interception. After ULM picked off Ewers and took possession at the Texas 42, the Warhawks drove the ball and had first-and-goal from the 5 and third-and-goal from the 2. But Overshown rushed off the left edge with the defense in a heavy, four-man line of Moro Ojomo, Keondre Coburn, Byron Murphy and T'Vondre Sweat. Overshown rushed inside and blew past ULM right guard Tellek Lockette.

Overshown was draped all over ULM quarterback Chandler Rogers’ back - just as Rogers was coming out of his play-action fake. Overshown was credited with a 6-yard tackle for loss, and limited the damage from Ewers’ interception to a 25-yard ULM field goal that cut Texas’ lead to 7-3 with 5:11 left in the first.

**

The Texas defense rotated between a three-man and four-man line in the first quarter — getting a 10-yard sack by Barryn Sorrell, when Sorrell was lined up as the left end in a three-man front with Byron Murphy at nose, T'Vondre Sweat at right end and Ovie Oghoufo lined up as a stand-up linebacker next to Jaylan Ford. Sorrell went inside on ULM right tackle Stacey Wilkins and dropped ULM quarterback Chandler Rogers for a 10-yard loss, forcing a punt.

***

Quinn Ewers’ first drive as a Longhorn ended with an interception.

After Bijan Robinson ran for 3 yards on first down, Ewers attempted a deep ball to Xavier Worthy, who had to adjust to try get in front of ULM safety Keydrain Calligan, who broke up the pass. On third-and-7, Ewers got flushed to his right and threw the ball into a sea of defenders with Worthy, Jordan Whittington and Ja'Tavion Sanders all in the area. ULM nickel corner Jabari Johnson came up with the interception at the Texas 42 with 9:35 left in the first quarter.

***

Credit special teams coordinator Jeff Banks for flooding the middle of ULM’s line on the Warhawks’ first punt attempt on fourth-and-13 from their own 22. While blockers were preoccupied with Jamier Johnson, D’Shawn Jamison got through and nearly took the ball off punter Devyn McCormick’s foot. Keilan Robinson picked up the ball and ran it into the end zone for UT’s first points of the season on a 12-yard return, putting Texas up 7-0 with 13:12 left in the first quarter.

***

Jaylon Guilbeau got the start at nickel/spur for Texas and came up with a big pass breakup on third-and-13, forcing a ULM punt that Texas ended up blocking and returning for a touchdown.

Joe Cook: Quinn Ewers' first start got off to a rough beginning, but he finished strong in Texas' rout of ULM

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The day Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers had dreamed of arrived on Saturday. The mulletted redshirt freshman from Southlake took the field for Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns in a moment that was several years in the making. When he ran out of the tunnel before kickoff, it was the culmination of a unique process that saw him take a sabbatical in Columbus, Ohio before making his way to Austin. Ewers had to wait a bit longer than usual to take his first snap. The Longhorn defense and special teams gave him an early 7-0 lead to work with thanks to D’Shawn Jamison blocking a punt and Keilan Robinson scooping and scoring.

Then, the moment arrived. Ewers, one of the highest-rated quarterback prospects in the recruiting era, took the field with the Longhorn offense. His first pass was an incompletion. His second pass was an interception. “Coach Sark pulled me aside and said it’s all good, and sometimes we have to punt,” Ewers said. “Sometimes it’s a win for us. I just stayed calm and focused on the next drive.”

Ewers prides himself on his even-keeled demeanor. It shone through in the rest of the game. He settled in after the two problem throws and completed 16 of his next 22 passes, tallying 225 yards and two touchdowns in the Longhorns’ 52-10 rout of the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

It took a small reset of sorts for Ewers to play like the quarterback who won the starting job over Hudson Card in camp. It may have appeared that Sarkisian was keeping things simple for a young quarterback against an overmatched Warhawk team. According to Sarkisian, that wasn’t the case. “You can’t expect him to ride this bike and do it with training wheels on,” Sarkisian said. “I’ve got to let him go, and we did that tonight. I thought some guys made some nice plays around him.” Said Ewers: “I think that was pretty important. I don’t want to be halfway into anything. I want to have the full experience.”

There were some nice throws to open receivers, like one to Ja’Tavion Sanders. The sophomore tight end was on the receiving end of Ewers’ first career touchdown. Ewers added another touchdown later on a 16-yard pass to Bijan Robinson early in the third.

There were also throws indicative of his lofty prep ranking, like his last throw of the night. Ewers found Sanders over the middle despite a Warhawk defender draped all over No. 0 in the third quarter. Ewers’ throw on the run was placed where only his teammate could get it. Sanders gawked on the field after seeing the throw on the big screen. “Seeing the replay, I was like ‘oh my God,’” Sanders said. “I was like ‘Quinn, bro, that was a dime.’ He’s like, ‘I told you, I’m going to put it where it needs to be every time.'”

Ewers’ version of the story? “I stepped up into the pocket, saw a little bit of color, and tried to put it in the playmaker’s hands,” he said. The next play, Bijan Robinson found the end zone from nine yards out, his second score of the night, and Ewers’ outing was done.

There were some missed opportunities for the young quarterback. Ewers targeted Xavier Worthy six times, several on throws deep downfield. The duo only made two connections for a total of 24 yards. While Ewers did well on short to intermediate throws, including some on his third or fourth read, he admitted there was room for improvement on the long ball. “It’s going to get fixed this week, for sure,” Ewers said. “Just need to throw it to green grass when it comes down to it.”

But overall, Ewers did well in his first start. He fought through early adversity to play at a good level and offer contributions to his team’s winning effort. Sarkisian thought similarly. “I didn’t feel for a second where he got flustered or was out of whack by any means,” Sarkisian said. “I thought he was very composed. Even the throws that he missed, he almost signaled to me ‘I should have done this.’ That part was encouraging.”

Sarkisian mentioned he wants Ewers to rely on the talent around him instead of trying to do everything himself. He had plenty of teammates contribute to the Longhorns’ dominating season opening win. Sanders finished as the leading receiver, hauling in six catches for 85 yards and a score. Roschon Johnson and Jonathon Brooks got in on the scoring as part of a strong night for the Longhorn running backs.

Texas’ defense kept quarterback Chandler Rogers, wideout Boogie Knight, and the rest of the Warhawks out of the end zone for most of the contest, save for a rushing touchdown late in the fourth with backups in. Jamison returned an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter after blocking a punt on the game’s opening series. Other defensive standouts included senior DeMarvion Overshown, who had eight tackles including 2.0 for loss, and sophomore Barryn Sorrell, who had six tackles, 2.0 TFL, and 1.5 sacks off the edge.

The only blemishes were Ewers’ interception and a couple of bobbles from punter Isaac Pearson. Ewers’ debut behind a O-line that featured two to three freshmen was a confidence booster. Though UT parking might have tried to ding that confidence by towing his car after the game, Ewers is ready for the challenge that the Alabama Crimson Tide will bring to Austin next week.

He plans to review and learn from his early mistakes before then, but overall he couldn’t have asked for a better first game. “It was a great experience, and I’m so glad to be on a great team like what we have,” Ewers said.

(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: Texas crushes ULM

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The ULM Warhawks were 38.5 point underdogs in this game for a reason, but Texas still covered the spread in a dominant Week 1 win. The game was most everything Texas wanted, sans the exciting deep shots by Quinn Ewers to star receiver Xavier Worthy. Much like in 2021, the Longhorns are seeing some delays in connecting down the field but the rest of the offense got humming and the defense smothered the Warhawks in this commanding win. Some initial impressions…

Quick thought no. 1: An inauspicious start on offense

The opening drive can’t have been how Ewers wanted to start his Texas career. First he missed a deep throw to Worthy which was nearly picked by the deep safety. Then on 3rd down he rolled out of the pocket and hurled another ball into coverage which was intercepted.

From there Steve Sarkisian slowed things down and fed Ewers a manageable diet of rollouts, screens, and a few RPOs. After the bad 0-2 start, he finished 16-24 for 225 yards at 9.4 ypa with two touchdown passes and the aforementioned interception.

The start was really bad, but once he settled in and you saw Sark guiding him through the game with play-action underneath and easier reads like he did Casey Thompson early in 2021, you could also see the talent slowly start to bloom. The ball simply explodes out of his hand which makes it very easy to scheme up ways to spread the ball around the field and open up room for the run game.

As he started to move around later in the game and make things happen on the move you could see some of his game-changing ability to deal damage off-schedule as well. He’s going to have growing pains like all the Horn quarterbacks before him, but the talent is evident. Some of Ewers’ connections to Sanders on the move were really eye-opening.

Quick thought no. 2: They’ve got a lot of defense installed

Texas is still a base 3-4 defense which plays most of the time in a 2-4-5 nickel package. Barryn Sorrell has emerged as the Jack linebacker who plays to the field and helps set the edge but they’d sub him out in base defense for another defensive tackle while sliding DeMarvion Overshown out to Sam linebacker. It’s a good base defense which will be useful for games this season where opponents play with bigger personnel.

The 2-4-5 made a lot of sense for this game on those snaps where ULM tried to spread the field only to run zone-option in the box. It was difficult for ULM to attack the edge against those Edge linebackers.

On 3rd downs they’d play Overshown as an Edge OR they’d play with a 3-down line and have Overshown drift around into different gaps as a blitzer. On one of Sorrell’s sacks they had Overshown prowling around inside only to drop in coverage so they could blitz both of the inside linebackers. This left Sorrell some space on the edge to go 1-on-1 with the right tackle, a battle he won decisively.

Texas played well on defense, the safeties were pretty aggressive and Cook looked comfortable opening the game at field safety and closing ground on plays in front of him. The Warhawks had only 259 yards of total offense and were 6-16 on 3rd down. It appears Pete Kwiatkowski has a lot up his sleeve for this season and the players look comfortable in it.

Quick thought no. 3: The edges are upgraded

On both sides of the ball, Texas is better on the edges of the line of scrimmage than they were a year ago. Kelvin Banks is clearly a natural tackle and simply capable of more there than Texas got in 2021. Pairing him with Hayden Conner (who stepped in for Banks at left tackle for a play when he tweaked the ankle) on the left side gives Texas a ton of size, athleticism, and power in the tandem.

Texas’ Edge positions are also clearly upgraded. Ovie Oghoufo was solid, they got good snaps from multiple players including the freshmen, Overshown got into the mix, and Barryn Sorrell was a revelation. 1.5 sacks by the Jack with some really nice work with his hands.

You’ll recall from the preview that ULM is a zone-option team with a mobile quarterback who wanted to run zone-option plays in this game. Well, the Edges contained them and sent the ball inside to die. The Warhawks ran the ball 41 times for 91 yards on the day at 2.2 ypc with a late touchdown against the 3rd string defense. The Longhorns only ran the ball 29 times but picked up 134 yards (sack yardage included) and scored three touchdowns.

Quick thought no. 4: Ja’Tavion Sanders has a massive role in this offense

Quite a game for the sophomore, six catches for 85 yards and a touchdown, Ewers’ first. The touchdown play design was nice, Texas was giving that look from double tight end and double running back sets, releasing one back or tight end to the flat and bringing the other across to block on split zone. There was a lot of intentional design within the offense geared around involving Sanders in the passing game.

They flexed him out, they kept him on the field in 11 personnel, they played him off-ball in 12 personnel so he could motion around, and he ran routes.

Beyond those factors though, Ewers also has a lot of comfort with him. The deadly gunslinger vision of Ewers appeared most real when he was freelancing and finding Sanders on the move. Especially on the connection up the seam when Ewers stepped up in the pocket.

Thus far in his development, Ewers is probably most comfortable throwing on the move and finding his running backs and tight ends underneath. As it happens, Texas has a lot of NFL talent at those positions. Many of the great Texas quarterbacks of yesteryear also had strong connections with great tight ends to guide them through their first seasons.

Quick thought no. 5: Very strong team win

Texas covered the point spread quite easily while playing virtually everyone on the roster. Special teams were a little mixed. They opened the game with special teams points obviously and Xavier Worthy had several long returns while ULM generally conceded decent field position on kickoffs with pooch kicks.

Isaac Pearson mishandled a punt snap and a field goal hold so there were certainly some problem spots to be sorted out. You can see the upside though, Jeff Banks is aggressive with special teams opportunities. D’Shawn Jamison scored 12 points in this game with the punt block return and pick-6. The defense smothered ULM all night until they emptied the bench late in the game.

They were facing an overmatched opponent, but Texas showed explosive play-making potential in all three phases tonight. Bijan Robinson quietly had 111 total yards and two touchdowns on just 13 touches and the team has some NFL talent across the roster. They’ll need it next week.

 

[Post Oak 20184]

Thanks Satya

[BigHorn'13 3355]

12 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Thanks Satya

This. I appreciate it and always look for it Sunday morning.

[Had Enough 2057]

It was Logan Parr coming in at left guard when Banks went out with Connor bumping to LT. I’d assume #92 couldn’t convert to #69 quick enough.

[BrazilHorn 6576]

If Ewers really got towed like his tweet says LHN may have to run some more Parking Enforcement features like they did repeatedly last night. 
Jeez

[Gidnik 3251]

who the fuck is huskerhorn?

 

[satyanash 14281]

(Eric Nahlin) Horns up, horns down: Texas vs Louisiana-Monroe

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The return of Texas football didn’t disappoint from the fan or critic angle. This looks like a team that will be fun to grow old with, even through trials and tribulations. Or maybe especially because of them. If Steve Sarkisian is the right coach for Texas, you’ll want to sit back and enjoy week to week growth. As mighty Alabama comes to town we’ll likely see more trials this Saturday, but for now I think the program had a successful opener. If last night was a leading indicator, Sark and Pete Kwiatkowski seem to have had a useful offseason.

Horns Up

Team pursuit: Team pursuit tells you a lot about where a program is. Throughout August we heard the defense was exemplifying more effort and team speed. That consistently showed up last night with gang tackling from all three levels. Guys were showing up and guys were finishing tackles through the whistle. Texas was clearly the more athletic team, but they also seemed to want it more. That will become increasingly important as talent disparity dissipates. Effort level travels well. If it’s consistent, it raises the program’s floor. Last night was illustrative of program buy-in from the players. The big caveat is the level of competition, but last night was promising and a big improvement over last year.

Defensive cohesion: There were a couple of times where the players were not on the same page. This became evident through their animated communication. But overall, the defense played fast. That stems from confidence in their understanding of assignments. As Ian wrote, there is a lot already in the defensive playbook. If PK knows what he’s doing, that is a good sign of where he thinks his defense is. We heard about improved football IQ but last night appeared to be evidence of it. This appears to be another big improvement over last season.

Edge: I know Barryn Sorrell is going to be good (he’s one of the best mental evals on the entire team), but last night he was fantastic. He won’t always hold a stark talent advantage, but even when he doesn’t he has complementary traits that will make him good, namely strong hands, good leverage, and old school effort. He may be a bit ahead of where I expected him to be. From a wide alignment he can gain steam and press the pocket. He also plays with low pads against the run. He’s going to be a player. If Edge is improved over last year, the whole defense will be better for it. Let’s give it some more time but there seems to be a theme developing on the defensive side of the ball.

DeMarvion Overshown and D’Shawn Jamison: Sourcing extolled the virtues of these two elder statesman throughout August but we were somewhat tepid. Their talent has always tantalized but we’ve yet to see consistent output from them. UL-M doesn’t make for a great sample size but these two undoubtedly talented players balled tf out. You know Jamison is not happy about losing punt return to Xavier Worthy. So what does he do? Eliminate the first punt return of the season with a block that was returned for six by Keilan Robinson. That’s buy-in. Later he did what has apparently become muscle memory to him and pick sixed the quarterback. Overshown looked by far the most comfortable he’s ever been on the field. While I still don’t have a great understanding of how improved he is as an off-ball linebacker, PK seems to know how to play to his strengths. Overshown coming from different angles is going to be a real thing this year. Him knowing where to direct his immense talent could become one of the storylines for the year.

Ja’Tavion Sanders: When Isaiah Neyor went down, Sanders’ ability as a receiver became that much more important to the season. We know he has elite ability as a receiver and last night showed Sark thinks the same. Has Sark ever had a TE who will be this productive? I don’t know, but I do know last night was just the tip of the iceberg for what they have planned for Sanders. He will be a feature receiver this year and I bet he plays a prominent role in trying to slow down the Bama pass rush.

Cleanliness: There were not a lot of penalties or assignment busts. Generally speaking, this was a clean effort that inspires confidence in coaching and player buy-in. If this same teams shows up versus Bama they’ll keep it competitive.

Horns Down

There’s not a lot to put here and I’m not including a freshman quarterback in his first start. I thought he showed growth throughout the game. He’ll take some lumps next week and come back better for it. He is Horns Neutral as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to knit-pick just to make the title work, but the offense could have operated at a higher level. They didn’t run a lot of plays, they missed some opportunities, etc. Last year the defense being better than the offense in August was pyrite. This year appears different.

There will be plenty to discuss this time next week, but based on last night I expect a spirited Texas to show up and fight. Good job, Sark. That was the start you needed and apparently deserved.

 

[satyanash 14281]

Bobby Burton: Where my head's at after the Longhorns' win

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It was an uneven start, but the Texas Longhorns eventually cruised to a win. Quinn Ewers’ first two passes looked like those of a doe-eyed freshman making his first-ever start. But then, Ewers settled into the game, thanks to a heavy dose of Bijan Robinson on the game’s second drive. After Bijan and the run game got rolling, Ewers became more and more confident.

While far from perfect the rest of the way, Ewers generally made the easy plays look easy, like the one to Jordan Whittington just before half to put the Horns in legitimate field goal position, as well as numerous passes to the outside in the quick game. He also made a couple of sublime ones; the dump-down to JT Sanders that neatly suckered a defensive lineman into no-man’s land resulted in long gain on third down and another pass to Sanders down the seam was threaded into a tight window most quarterbacks don’t even see.

Yet there were other plays Ewers likely wishes he had back. He was just a tad late on a throw to an open Xavier Worthy that went out of the back of the end zone. Yet for those worried with Ewers’ deep-ball performance in this game, I’d tap the breaks on those concerns. It may not have shown it on the TV angles, but ULM was playing a deep safety on almost every play to attempt to take that away. And the threat of that deep pass held the safety back and led to Bijan carrying the ball just ten times for 71 yards.

I know it’s only ULM, but in his first game, Ewers looked like someone who can grow into being a difference maker at QB. And that’s really all we needed to see. At the same time, we know will be ups and downs this season as he learns at the college level, but Texas fans should be enthused this morning because he is exactly the type of QB that is tailor-made for a Sark-led offense. He can make the easy throws look easy and he can make the improbable ones, too. If Ewers stays healthy, he is as advertised.

**

Let’s briefly discuss the defense. Prefacing once again that this was against a ULM squad that was not on par with the Horns from a talent standpoint, the Horns’ D slightly exceeded my expectations last night. And they did so in a way that I believe will be make a difference in the long term.

The Horns played both smarter and tackled more surely. They produced a pass rush, consistently. They clogged up the run game much, much better than a year ago. The ULM quarterback was not great (he was decent), yet the Horns’ never let him get his timing. He was also a good scrambler and the Horns only let him loose for one first-down run.

What’s more, we saw a wider variety of looks from Pete Kwiatkowski. The veteran defensive coordinator did not take the off-season off. Instead, PK has found a way to get DeMarvion Overshown into a position more suitable to his talents and is clearly toying with the idea of a true spy on the QB in third-and-long situations that will allow the Horns to mix coverages behind a pass rush.

All of these things were improvements from a year ago. Taken individually, they may not amount to much because does not have a future first-rounder on its starting defense. But it’s the answer Texas fans most needed to see. The Horns’ defense will be better this year, the question now is by just how much.

**

Jaylon Guilbeau is such an interesting player. As Rod Babers said last night in the post-game show, Guilbeau is “decisive”. Add his surprisingly elite acceleration to that decisiveness, and Guilbeau has a chance to become a real player on the 40 Acres. And Guilbeau was far from the only freshman making a difference.

Kelvin Banks and Cole Hutson both started. Banks, in his first start, flashed plays of pure dominance. Hutson looked great in pass protection while teaming with Jake Majors on the first team. I really like Hutson’s long-term trajectory because he’s a smart player who blocks to whistle and initiates contact in pass protection; linebacker cross blitzes will not work as well against him as they have other Texas guards in the past.

Then there’s Ethan Burke. I was literally super surprised with how PK deployed Burke. The confidence in a true freshman to do that tells me all I need to know about what this staff thinks they have in him.

**

Isaac Pearson found out just what it’s like to play in front of nearly 100,000. And the results weren’t good. He not only muffed a snap on a field goal, he did the same with a punt snap. Here’s hoping he overcomes those issues and settles in to become the punter Texas coaches think he can be.

**

A QB with talent who should grow into the position, a RB who is special and a defense that looks improved and plays more like a team. It’s a solid win with some really nice bright spots.

 

[NorLa Horns 1458]

Stacey Wilkins?  Theres a blastbfrom the past. 

[Red Five 40663]

Scipio Tex Postmortem Offense.

The Texas offense only ran 58 plays, but still managed 52 points on the strength of two non-offensive touchdowns, minimal penalties and 6.6 yards per play. Texas left a lot in the tank. Bijan Robinson notched only three touches in the second half, Quinn Ewers ran a stripped down offense after two shaky opening throws and couldn't connect deep with Worthy, and most of the starters were phased out in the mid 3rd quarter. Steve Sarkisian pulled Ewers a little early in my view. I'd have preferred Ewers have one more 3rd quarter drive with the starters, particularly after a couple of Sanders throws where he started to show comfort, but Sark saw enough.

Pummeling teams you should pummel is good. However...in my preseason preview, I pointed out that ULM was a really terrible football team. In fact, I wrote:
 

Nonetheless, if Texas struggles too much with the Warhawks in their season opener, turn this preview into a fireplace log and take up another hobby.

and
 

Breaking down the Warhawks player by player is not a particularly useful exercise. This game will be determined more by Longhorn energy, focus, and effort than anything Louisiana-Monroe does.

I echoed the same sentiments in my weekly preview. A lot of potential for egg on the face with that kind of talk, but I watched their film. It doesn't take many reels to understand bad athletes + head coach padding his retirement accounts. I'm still seeing a lot of "Yeah, yeah, but we won big so...IT'S HAPPENING!" Fan is short for fanatic after all. I get it. Telling folks to cool their jets never goes over well. That second point from my preseason preview does have some applicability. Texas did show energy, focus, and effort. That's a base expectation. That's doesn't earn a letter grade or an Attaboy. It's Pass/Fail. Texas Passed. On to the real season now.

QB

Quinn Ewers had a shaky start, but eventually got it together. On his first throw, he hung up a go route to Xavier Worthy that could have been picked by a better single high safety, then threw a nonsense interception on 3rd and 7 into coverage. On that second attempt, which was from empty set, he had a clean pocket and a wide open Jordan Whittington four yards past the sticks, but chose to leave the pocket and halve the field to make something happen. You'll hear the Longhorn play by play guy say he was flushed. He wasn't. Bad QB play. What should have been an easy 14 yard gain and a new set of downs became a turnover.

Sark had a nice little chat with Quinn on the sideline and then pulled back the reins on the offense for the next three quarters, which is a correct gauge of where the freshman is right now. A lot of simplistic single reads, check downs and a staple RPO. He overthrew Worthy in the end zone twice and also threw behind Keilan Robinson on a swing pass. When he finally nailed the lead on a little swing pass to Bijan, Robinson did the rest for a 16 yard touchdown. That's stuff he'll see in the film room and understand that if he can just distribute cleanly on time, Texas has good enough athletes to make him look good. In the 3rd quarter, Ewers also had a couple of nice connections with Sanders.

The first, a little flip out improv where he felt Sanders trailing him and flipped it to him while pretending to look downfield. The second, a veteran instinctive step up in the pocket to find a streaking Sanders between two defenders (3rd Q, 9:57 mark). Quinn threw that ball effortlessly and the zip on it from a pure arm throw is good stuff. His final stat line of 16 of 24 for 225 yards and two touchdowns with one pick is largely a tribute to YAC (190 of 249 passing yards were gained after the catch) and a couple of Sark set piece gimmes (see Sanders TD throw). Ewers in on a developmental trajectory and Sark will dial up the offense based on what he sees Ewers can handle. The freshman will grow in fits and starts and it won't be a straight line. Fortunately, Texas has some weapons and a very good play caller to help him along.

Hudson Card got a lot of action in the second half. He was sacked twice. One of them suggesting that his internal clock is still too often a sundial. Sark adjusted to his QB and the protection he was getting from the #2 OL and Card was successful on a series of sprint and roll outs, completing 4 of 5 short passes.

The QB position is limited right now. But not by physical constraints. It will be fascinating to see various facets of the O open up as Ewers gains confidence, experience, sees the field better and starts tossing it around like the natural thrower he is.

RB

Bijan touched the ball 13 times for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He looked very good. No reason to take tread off of his tire, even if he could put up 100 yards in the second half running against the ULM defense. Roschon, Brooks and Keilan combined for 12 carries for 73 yards and two rushing touchdowns while Blue handled closing time. The backs are what we think they are and frankly, our quarterbacks needed the work.

In the two back set featuring Keilan and Bijan, I wouldn't exactly describe Keilan as a blocker (see 5:05 mark in Q1). More of a I-got-in-your-way-er.

WR/TE

Ja'Tavion Sanders had a coming out party, suggesting that my prediction that the Texas TE who had not yet caught a collegiate pass would be on All Big 12 teams by year end could come to fruition. Sanders looked good as a receiver (6-85-1) and above average-ish as a blocker. A dual description we haven't seen here in a while. Let's see how it plays out. Gunnar Helm got the TE #2 snaps and was fine in about a dozen snaps.

The Texas receivers didn't put up numbers as the game flow, a couple of missed balls, and some of the constraints on the offense disallowed it, but I was pleased with the blocking effort I saw from Jordan Whittington and Casey Cain. Whittington earned his Lambo like he was trying to eventually play at Lambeau with some absolutely outstanding blocks. He's just stronger than the average corner or nickel across from him, particularly the 170 pound variety. Casey Cain even contributed a pancake on Bijan Robinson's touchdown run. Cain had the best play of the day as a pass catcher, breaking a tackle near the line of scrimmage and then sprinting for another 40+ yards of YAC. Right now, he's WR #3 over Milton. Worthy was quiet with 2 catches, but hopefully he and Ewers get on the same deep ball page soon. Savion Red intrigued me in very limited action. Moves easy for a thickly built 205 pound freshman.

OL

Kelvin Banks has special feet for a 18 year old big guy and you can tell he takes football seriously. I only imagine what he can be once he gets strong and 20 starts under his belt. He and Hayden Conner did a nice job passing off stunts and slants to each other, albeit against weak competition. Jake Majors was alright but he's no stronger now on the field than he was as a true freshman. 3rd year player. There's no shock at contact. Cole Hutson showed good aggression, though he did give up the primary pressure that flushed Ewers into a sack. Hutson did a good job of sealing defenders on double teams a couple of times. A lot of guards want to drive the defender, but that often allows disengagement. Blocking him off and turning him is more valuable and an easy visual cue for the RB. HEY, CUT HERE. You'll see a good example of that on the Jonothan Brooks TD. Christian Jones had some good run blocks and held up as a Big 12 average right tackle. He may be overplaying the inside move given his struggles there and gave up some pressure on a couple of pass rushes that he should have driven past the QB by five yards. He also surrendered a sack on Card while in a double team with Gunnar Helm. That's a weird deal that happens more often than you'd think as both blockers essentially get in each other's way and neither declares definitively who has inside/outside.

All in all, this group looked decently cohesive and focused, but ULM lacks the athletes to test much outside of gross incompetence.

Final

ULM is a bad football team. Have I made that sufficiently clear? The Texas offense will improve as the year goes on and Sark left plenty in the playbook for future opponents. Nothing is static when a team is starting three freshmen at the most developmentally intensive positions in the game. Alabama looms, but it's a mirage as a measuring stick. How the offense performs and grows against UTSA, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma will set the season's upside.

[ztejas 43266]

Good stuff from Scip. I think we saw similar stuff (there are some things he gets at a higher level than I do) difference being he isn't as rosy. 

The QB play and OLine development will set the ceiling on this team. I do think he is underselling some of the obvious differences even just through one game when it comes to how the D looks. Sure it's ULM but it's still an FBS opponent with a shifty* little gamer at QB. We looked more focused, disciplined, gave better effort across the board and tackled pretty well. The secondary is going to have some bad games - we're still giving receivers too much space and leaving the middle of the field open - but I think they're also going to make some great plays. Obviously the DJ pick six - but maybe my favorite play of the game was Watts identifying the play - screaming at everyone which side they were going to - then sealing the edge and making a great solo tackle at the LoS. We don't make that play last season. We just don't. I can understand that ULM is shitty and still make observations like that. 

Assuming we stay relatively healthy - 7-5 would be hard to stomach. And I felt that way before we kicked the ball off Saturday. 8-4 feels about right - but this roster is plenty capable of stumbling into 9 or 10 wins - just like we kind of stumbled into 7 losses last season. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by ztejas

[gmr548 16513]

Scipio pretty much nailed my thoughts on the OL. Banks is really impressive, was hoping for more out of Majors. Jones didn't look that bad but ULM is not a good gauge for how well he's going to hold up at RT.

[Red Five 40663]

Defense postmortem. 

 

I hope I've offered sufficient ULM is terrible caveats for all of you by now. Despite that, I also know that some of you will still reply,"I saw the 2013 Seattle Seahawks out there. Might Saban sensibly forfeit to prevent exposing his Heisman hopeful QB to our withering pass rush?"

Don't stop believin!

Opponent weaknesses aside, Texas looked like a defense that had received an offseason of coaching attempting to impart the basics of the game. ULM did very little to test the Horns by assignment, conflict or pure talent, but the 2021 Texas defense earned failing grades in some pretty basic criteria of defensive aptitude, so even competent team play where defenders look like they're honoring assignments is salutary. Despite Texas emptying the defensive bench early in the 3rd quarter, ULM's two primary runners combined for 36 yards on 19 carries and Chandler Rogers finished an ineffectual 14 of 19 for 108 yards and a pick six. The Warhawks last 10 plays went for 100 yards and while that's irritating if you want to see Texas youngsters play their assignments and value their opportunities, it means ULM's modest final output of 64 plays for 259 yards was also deceptively inflated. They couldn't do much on offense.

I was also really pleased to see Texas understand pursuit and gang tackling better. That's largely effort, but doing it correctly is also a skill. If a DB or LB is getting off of a block, they shouldn't run to where the ball is, but to where it's going. I saw several instances where Texas defensive backs played this properly instead of cutting off a fellow teammate pursuing. College running backs are good athletes. Don't give them a two way go.

The most striking thing about the larger Texas philosophy was how Kwiatkowski deployed personnel when the game mattered. No Texas defender in the front 7 played more than 30 snaps (safety and nickel also alternated heavily) and the 1s and 2s (such as they are - I prefer the #2 interior DL group) were more or less played interchangeably throughout. Will this approach hold over the course of the season? Is Texas trying to figure out who will play in games after being fooled by practice All-Stars last season? Is this the solution to developing depth and guaranteeing effort? When does Texas shorten the bench? We'll find out as the season plays out.

Defensive Line

The interior DL was a constant rotation of Ojomo/Coburn and Sweat/Murphy with Vernon Broughton brought in as the 5th interior DL. ULM's offensive line was completely outmatched but I was encouraged that Kwiatkowksi let his guys do more than just stack blockers and he allowed some attacking upfield. That certainly plays well to the DL's strengths and depth. As you'd anticipate, that varied with down and distance and whether they were in a 3-3-5 or 2-4-5. The five big boys combined for 12 tackles, 1.5 sacks and generally did what they wanted against a young, outmatched ULM group that had to abandon its running game and had to throw everything on timing or on the roll or risk a sack.

The edges had a very good game. Barryn Sorrell was my clear Defensive MVP, showing up well against run and pass equally. I had him with three pressures and two sacks in limited pass rush opportunities. He also had a great QB hit in the early 1Q after humiliating the Monroe tight end assigned to speed bump him. Watch how well he uses his hands, stabbing the ULM OT to get him rocking back and then slapping down his arms as he takes the corner.



Hat tip to Ojomo and Coburn for the upfield pocket push there. Earlier, Sorrell notched another sack with an inside move where he once again did a nice job of playing through the OL's hands. Sorrell is really interesting to me in that he has no single outstanding physical trait but appears to be above average in almost everything. He's football smart, skilled and coachable. That counts for a lot. Ovie Oghoufo is showing better discipline in not sprinting wildly upfield and he's certainly quick. He set the edge against ULM nicely, but I want to see him set the edge against a real team.

Linebacker

I'll call Overshown a linebacker because that's what the media guide says, but he's basically a weak side edge rusher against passing sets, a hero safety walked up to the line of scrimmage against standard offense and an off-ball linebacker protected by big fronts who gets to peer into the backfield and chase after the guy with the ball. He's not doing much real linebacking. The commonality of all of his deployments is that his assignment consists of a single task: chase and pursue. #0 excels at doing that and it showed up on the field and in the box score with 8 tackles and 2 tackles for loss. I don't even think he played more than 20 snaps but still made an impact. Diamonte Tucker Dorsey earned the start and he has nose for the ball. He took a bad step on a Chandler Rogers scramble run up the middle, but that's coachable. Interested to see how he handles the upgrade in competition coming soon. Jaylan Ford looked bigger and more athletic, but he needs more reps on run fits. My guess is that the varied fronts and looks as well as diminishing Demarvion's responsibilities means Jaylen has a little more to think through. It'll come in time. David Gbenda backs up DTD and Jett Bush was the backup Mike, earning snaps as early as the 1st quarter. He's certainly a much better fit at inside linebacker than edge, but I would expect his snaps to lessen as competition ramps up.

Defensive Back

D'shawn Jamison housed an errant Rodgers throw, but notice how the overload blitz from Guilbeau and Finkley affected the ULM QB's accuracy and timing. Finkley's straight path push on the blocking back was a good job of understanding football geometry. Next time get your hands up, young fella.



Ryan Watts didn't get to score twice like Jamison did, but he played well. He offered good run support and had a nice cover in the end zone. When he pressed, receivers had real trouble getting into the route. Big ol' corner and that wingspan is real. How will he handle a 4.3 40 guy next week?

Young Guilbeau Baggins was a treat to watch. Instinctive. He and Jahdae Barron split snaps 50/50 and Boogie Knight's quiet stat line (4 catches, 26 yards, long of 9...haha) was a product of their efforts and the Longhorn base pass rush.

I thought Anthony Cook looked decisive all game. Good PBU hit early forcing a ULM drop. Thompson was decisive in run support, including one hard decisive fill early in the game. Kitan Crawford isn't as dialed in as they are yet, but the staff is going to keep playing him to speed his football IQ.

Final Thoughts

Everyone played early and late and that's good for morale and for the coaches to construct real depth charts.

Seeing Texas pursue, deploy assets correctly, occasionally take on blocks with the correct shoulder, and demonstrate some understanding of football geometry is good. That these things need to be praised gives you some notion of how lost Texas was in the final days of Orlando and the early days of Pete K in 2021. One caveat for a fine defensive performance is that this was accomplished against comparatively poor athletes who didn't exactly have a visionary offensive coordinator trying to force Level 2 assignment comprehension on the Longhorn D. Texas got to play pretty free and loose. We'll see in the coming weeks how Texas responds to conflict and if this defense really gets first principles or if they just scouted out a bad program that was in Austin to collect a check.

We have a lot of games left to determine whether this D's upside is Top 30 or Top 50. I'm eager to find out.

[Red Five 40663]

ST

 

Special teams gets its own write up because there's a heck of a lot of good and bad to sort through.

Let's start with the good. The Longhorns got on the board early after a 3 and out by the Texas defense:



Jeff Banks clearly saw some coaching neglect in ULM's shield protections (as in, blocking priority begins with proximity to the football) and D'shawn Jamison sprinted through untouched for the block while Keilan Robinson got the scoop and score. Apparently, based on their film study, Texas expected to block a punt going into the game and they expected to do it early. Not a bad tone setter. Some Texas fans are such maniacs that they were irritated that the block and score delayed our first look at Quinn Ewers. You may confess below in the comments.

That wasn't the only Longhorn special teams highlight. Later in the game, Xavier Worthy defied one of the cardinal rules in the return game by giving ground while reversing field to line up his return with the Return Right blocking scheme. This is behavior that might be punished by a better opponent, but notice the great decision-making by Texas blockers to pull up or get their pads in front of their men as Worthy puts them in a tight spot:



Worthy got 21 yards out of 65 yards of running, but it's a good example of a disciplined return unit doing their job and allowing a great athlete to try to make a play. Worthy was also very aggressive later in the game, scooping up a rolling punt in a crowd. If I had to guess, his aggression in those returns may have stemmed from regret at the 10:16 mark in Q1. ULM was attempting their second punt, Texas had return on, and Worthy fair caught with a good amount of green around him.

Now for darker news. The Texas kicking game - specifically as it pertain to the kickers - showed some cracks. Don't say I didn't warn you:
 

Isaac Pearson is said to have a kangaroo leg, but expect the typical Year 1 Aussie growing pains that come with their first live action, complete with fumbled snaps and occasional shanks. It happened to Dickson, it happened to Bujcevski, it will happen to Pearson.

Pearson mishandled a field goal snap costing Texas 3 points before the half and then dropped a perfect snap in punt formation, leading to a booming 15 yard kick. The latter is part of the expected growing pains predicted above. The former is the coaching staff probably not thinking this through particularly well. Yes, I get that you want a special teams guy holding kicks because of how practice breaks out. But execution in-game is more important than the inconvenience of losing your backup QB to some holding drills. Hudson Card needs to be holding those kicks. Not the guy who has never been in a college football game and thinks an American football is an Aussie Rules Football on a diet. Let's limit his nerves and make Pearson's world as small as possible. Danny Trejo came in to punt and Machete's 40 yard average belied line drive punts that were almost blocked, begging to be housed by anyone who can set up a punt return. Both Texas punters had saucers for eyeballs. Texas needs to get Pearson up to speed as the punter quickly and exile him from holding.

As for kickoffs, Will Stone had nine kick offs and only three made it to the end zone for a touchback. Half of his short kicks didn't have much air or hang time either. If you can't consistently get a touchback, you want a pinned kick inside the opponent 5 yard line with plenty of hang time where the returner catches it two yards from the sideline and not much field to work with. Texas needs dramatic improvement here. On the positive side, Sideshow Bert Auburn made a 41 yard field goal when the hold went smoothly.

Texas made huge plays in special teams against ULM, but don't let that cloud the fact that the unit showed several major issues with respect to unforced errors that showed future opponents with better coaching and more talent that there are opportunities available for game-changing plays in a bad way.