Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 9)

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Collecting post-game analysis articles regarding the BYU game here:

Joe Cook: No. 7 Texas does more than enough to beat BYU 35-6

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AUSTIN – Winning is becoming a habit for Texas. No. 7 Texas used a pair of Maalik Murphy-to-Adonai Mitchell touchdown passes, 138 total yards and a rushing touchdown from Jonathon Brooks, and a 74-yard punt return touchdown by Xavier Worthy to overwhelm visiting BYU 35-6 on Saturday in a Big 12 Conference game at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Murphy, making his first start of the season in place of the injured Quinn Ewers, was 16-for-25 for 170 yards and two scores but was also intercepted once and fumbled. He completed four passes each to Worthy, Brooks and Ja’Tavion Sanders along with three to Mitchell. Brooks amassed 98 yards on the ground and another 40 yards receiving, finishing just short of his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the year.

The Longhorns (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) won their second straight game and moved into a first-place tie in the conference thanks to No. 6 Oklahoma’s loss to Kansas. Texas jumped to an early lead and was never seriously challenged despite failing to produce points on three drives inside the BYU 12. Kedon Slovis threw for 162 yards and two interceptions in the loss for BYU (5-3, 2-3 Big 12).

Worthy got the Longhorns on the board when he raced 74 yards untouched on a punt return for a touchdown at the 12:08 mark of the first quarter. It was officially Texas’s second punt return TD of the season (Malik Muhammad recovered a blocked punt in the end zone against Oklahoma on the other) and the longest punt return of Worthy’s career. After an exchange of interceptions, Brooks added to the lead with a four-yard scoring plunge off right guard to cap a six-play, 26-yard drive.

Texas drove to the BYU 11 before Murphy fumbled on the first play of the second quarter while being sacked by the Cougars’ Isaiah Bagnah, ending the scoring threat. BYU then drove 64 yards in 16 plays to a 24-yard field goal by Will Ferrin that cut the Texas lead to 14-3 with 4:57 to play in the half. That was plenty of time for the Longhorns, who moved 75 yards in 10 plays to a 30-yard Murphy-to-Mitchell TD pass that expanded their lead to 21-3 with 58 seconds remaining before intermission. It was Mitchell’s team-leading sixth TD catch of the season and the first career scoring pass for Murphy. The duo would later increase those numbers.

Texas outgained the Cougars 161-113 in the first half but BYU stayed close thanks to the Longhorns’ two turnovers. The Cougars added a 32-yard FG by Ferrin seven minutes into the third quarter after Slovis hit Darius Lassiter on a 47-yard pass to the deep middle of the field. The Texas defense again stiffened, pushing BYU back two yards before forcing the Cougars to settle for the three points.

On Texas’ ensuing possession, it moved to the BYU 2 but failed to score on fourth down when Ja’Tavion Sanders was tackled short of the end zone on pass by Murphy. The Longhorns were denied again after moving to the BYU 2 early in the fourth quarter as Brooks was stopped short on a fourth and one run by the middle of the Cougars’ defense.

An interception and return for 45 yards by the Longhorns’ Michael Taaffe set the table for Murphy’s second TD pass to Mitchell, this one from 13 yards away, that staked Texas’ lead to 28-6 with 9:07 to play. Jaydon Blue ran 34 yards for his first career touchdown and the Longhorns’ final points with 1:43 remaining. Texas returns to DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium to face surging Kansas State on Nov. 4. Game time is yet to be announced.

(Gerald Goodridge) No. 7 Texas 35, BYU 6: Three things we learned

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The No. 7 Texas Longhorns went into the game with questions about how the offense could function without quarterback Quinn Ewers. Maalik Murphy took over and flashed the big arm that made him Sark’s high school quarterback of choice, but Texas needed to rely on its defense to get right and compensate for what the offense lost.

1. The red zone woes are not fixed

A week ago, with Steve Sarkisian leaning into the wildcat formation in short-yardage situations, with quarterback Savion Red as the triggerman to great success. It looked to be the solution Texas needed to punch things in from short distance, but that success turned out to be short-lived. Going into the game, Texas was No. 119 in the country in RZ touchdown conversions.

Against BYU, they went 2-5 in the red zone, with one FG and one touchdown, after another embarrassing stonewalling in short distance due to a combination of odd playcalling and poor execution. In the third quarter, the RedCat formation was unable to get the ball in from the five, so Texas turned to Maalik Murphy to try and score through the air, but a breakup and a route short of the sticks cost Texas the score. The Texas defense got the ball back via three-and-out, but the offense rewarded them by petering out at the goal line again and keeping BYU in the game.

2. Maalik Murphy can get the job done but needs to improve

We saw flashes of brilliance from Murphy, with a sprinkling of struggle plays mixed in. After starting the game 3-7 with an interception on a play that he should have just taken a sack, Murphy completed seven of his next eight attempts, capped off by a beautiful deep ball to Adonai Mitchell for a touchdown. He and Mitchell connected again on Murphy’s last pass of the game, a 13-yard laser to give Texas a 29-6 lead.

Murphy turned the ball over a second time, a fumble on the first drive of the second quarter, but did a great job taking care of the football following. His production was good enough to comfortably beat BYU, but Texas will need more from him as they take on the Kansas State Wildcats.

3. The defense can still be elite, when healthy

BYU is far from the best offense that Texas has faced this year, but after struggling in its last two outings, the Texas defense needed a game to remind itself of how good it can be. Quarterback Kedon Slovis was guessing all day and frankly should have thrown more than two interceptions in this contest, with two clear turnover drops — highlighted by Jaylon Gilbeau’s should-have-been pick-six at the end of the game.

Not only did Texas keep Slovis in check, but they shut down the Cougars’ RB1, holding Aidan Robbins to 56 yards on 17 touches, with seven of them going for one or negative yards. Overall, Texas held BYU to 4.5 yards per play, the Cougars’ second-worst performance of the year — while Texas breaks its streak of back-to-back games giving up more six yards per play.

 

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Richard Tijerina: Our staff takeaways from the Longhorns' 35-6 win over BYU

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Texas emerged victorious on the field thanks to its backup quarterback and won again in the Big 12 standings tanks to the Kansas Jayhawks, and its defense led the way in Saturday's 35-6 win over BYU at Royal-Memorial Stadium. No Quinn Ewers? No problem, at least for this first game without him. Our staff takeaways from Texas' win:

A roller-coaster start for Maalik Murphy
As expected from a quarterback making his first career start, Maalik Murphy had a bit of a roller-coaster ride during Texas’ 28-6 win. He had moments of brilliance, including two touchdown strikes to Adonai Mitchell and a feathery ball to tight end  Ja’Tavion Sanders for an 18-gain that may have been his best throw of the game. But he also forced several throws, especially off his back foot. He threw an interception and lost a fumble on a sack, but ended the game with 170 yards on 16-of-25 passing.

A strong showing by the D
After allowing 486 yards in a loss to Oklahoma three weeks ago and 392 yards in a win over Houston last week, the Texas defense responded with its best showing since a win over Kansas Sept. 30. BYU finished with 292 yards thanks to some garbage-time yards with Texas holding a 28-6 lead. Defensive end Barryn Sorrell had arguably his best game of the season with a sack and three quarterback hits, and defensive backs Terrance Brooks and Michael Taaffe each had an interception. In all, the Texas defense finished with three turnovers, two sacks and held BYU to a 2-of-13 conversion rate on third downs.

Oklahoma's loss was Texas' gain
A roar erupted across DKR when the ending of the Oklahoma-Kansas game was shown on the big screen. The Jayhawks' 38-33 win in Lawrence has officially turned this Big 12 race wide open, and it's exactly what the Longhorns needed. Now next week's Texas-Kansas State game takes on even bigger meaning, since the Wildcats also are 4-1. But OU's win over Texas meant Texas needed to win out, get back into the Big 12 championship game, win that and hope for a CFP selection committee invitation. No. 7 Texas will surely move up in Sunday's rankings.

... but why not see what Arch Manning's got?
First, Arch Manning can play in as many as four games this season and still retain his precious redshirt. Second, BYU looked either unable or uninterested in mounting much offensively. Third, this was a matchup Texas had in control for most, if not all, of this game. Fourth, Murphy's first start was hardly squeaky clean. So why not put Manning out there and see what the freshman can do? What this potentially means is that if Ewers misses another start next week — remember, he missed three games last year with a sprained collarbone — then the Longhorns will go with Murphy, who certainly was up and down in this first start, yet won't have gotten Manning any meaningful snaps. Or, actually, any snaps at all, which would make an appearance next week that much tougher for a debut. The closest we got was seeing Manning warm up on the sideline with 6 minutes to go.

Red zone issues. Again.
Red zone issues again emerged as a source of trouble, especially at the goal line. Texas went 2-of-5 in the red zone and couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone from inside the 5-yard line on two separate drives. On one fourth-down play from the 2, Murphy swung it out to Ja'Tavion Sanders, who got stopped a yard short of the touchdown. On another fourth-down play, Jonathon Brooks got stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the 2. Texas remains one of the most inefficient teams in the nation when it comes to scoring touchdowns in the red zone.

Texcetera
Xavier Worthy's 74-yard punt return in the first quarter is Texas' longest touchdown play of the season. ... Brooks finished with 98 yards, just short again of a fifth 100-yard effort for him this season. And the other one that he didn't reach 100 (last week against Houston), he had 99. ... Brooks is 77 yards away from 1,000 for the season; he's got 923. ... Backup safety Michael Taaffe had his second interception in as many weeks when he picked off a tipped pass in the fourth quarter. He started out as a walk-on from nearby Westlake High School before he was placed on scholarship last December.

Next up for Texas: Kansas State
Next Saturday at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Quick: who's the defending Big 12 champions? TCU, which made it to last season's College Football Playoff? No. It 's Kansas State, which carries an identical 4-1 conference record into Austin. The winner of this one still has legit Big 12 title hopes and CFP aspirations. The loser, not so much. The Big 12 hasn't announced a starting time or broadcast information for next weeks' game.

(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: Texas blows out BYU

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Texas was able to cover what seemed like an aggressive spread for a team playing without star quarterback Quinn Ewers, beating down BYU 35-6 thanks to a dominant defensive performance as well as a special teams score. Texas rolled with Maalik Murphy as the starting quarterback and he had a pretty strong showing, belied by a pair of turnovers, while throwing a pair of touchdown passes and leading four scoring drives. Texas should have had a few other scoring drives but ended two at the BYU goal line without points due to more red zone struggles.

Yet those issues were academic. BYU ran 65 total plays in this game for 292 yards at 4.5 ypp and were only 2-for-13 on 3rd down and just 2-for-3 in the red zone with a pair of field goals. That’s how you want to play as a whole team when you’re a favorite at home missing the starting quarterback.

Quick thought no. 1: A solid initial outing from Maalik Murphy

The part with two turnovers wasn’t great, although the second was pretty understandable as Murphy was getting popped from behind while trying to throw a quick gadget pass in the red zone. We’ll get to Texas’ continued struggles in “the red area” later.

Murphy also lofted a well placed ball to Adonai Mitchell for a score on a double move where Texas anticipated Cover 2 from BYU, got it, and Mitchell faked a corner route before crossing up the safety to glide into the end zone. Later Murphy zipped in a slant to Mitchell for another touchdown. He had a connection on a corner route to Ja’Tavion Sanders that was a particularly well thrown ball, beating the outstretched arms of an underneath defender and landing where only Murphy’s man could get it.

The interception was a panic moment by Murphy after an unexpectedly early snap and some pressure in his face, but it came early and he settled in afterwards. Murphy finished 16-for-25 for 170 yards at 6.8 ypa with two touchdowns and a pick. It wasn’t a brilliant performance but it wasn’t terrible for a first start and Murphy showed some positive attributes and an overall ability to guide the offense if Steve Sarkisian and his teammates can continue to provide winning play around him.

Sark had a lot schemed up to help Maalik. Amongst the various tricks and boosts Sark added to help his quarterback in Murphy’s first start was a diamond formation Texas hadn’t shown much of (if any) thus far in the 2023 season. It included Keilan Robinson and Savion Red and was heavy on misdirection, RPOs, and had a fair bit of success.

Robinson had a 23-yard run and seven yard reception and Texas was able to generate some nice gains to help generate easy (for the quarterback at least) offense. The main boost was Jonathon Brooks putting in another good day at the office with 138 total yards and a score as the main weapon in a run game which generated 184 rushing yards at 5.3 ypc in support of a redshirt freshman quarterback. Defense, run game, and special teams scores will put away any opponent in the Big 12.

Quick thought no. 2: Red zone woes continued

Things bogged down for the Longhorns once more when they reached the red zone. Texas once again gave the ball up on downs after trying to pound the ball in from short-yardage sets and failing. In fact, the Horns did so twice.

We got the full gamut of Texas short-yardage solutions in this game and none of them were great. Sark ran Red in the “Redcat” to get down to the goal line once and he was pretty effective but stopped up on 2nd-and-goal from the 3-yard line after a single yard. Then he asked Murphy to try and hit a rollout pass which was pressured and fell incomplete after being forced late. Finally the Horns ran a zone-arrow RPO which might have scored but for a rare instance of Jordan Whittington failing to execute a block.

The next turnover on downs took place after Texas actually nearly scored on 3rd-and-11 throwing a swing pass to Brooks. After a review put the ball on the 2-yard line it was 4th-and-1 and Sark sent in the jumbo package to run a Down-G play pulling Hayden Conner around the edge. The pulling block failed when the BYU defender got inside of Conner to hit Brooks and the play was stacked up for a loss. It’s going to be hard for the Longhorns to solve their red zone and short-yardage issues without consistently good guard play in their run schemes.

Quick thought no. 3: 3rd down defense was great

Texas utilized a very effective 3rd down package in this game which deployed a 3-down line with Anthony Hill lining up in a few spots, sometimes as an Edge and other times as a linebacker. Mo Blackwell replaced Hill as the Will linebacker in those sets and he had two tackles for loss. Behind them it wasn’t clear if Texas consistently played Jaylon Guilbeau with Jahdae Barron or if Guilbeau got in late as a sub for Barron. Either way the back-up nickel nearly had a pick-6 late in the game from this set when Texas brought a zero blitz on 4th-and-11.

It was a very effective package. Moving Hill around as a pass-rusher is devastating for offenses and his ability to peel off a pass-rush to make a tackle on a screen or even a throw down the field is special. He had five tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass break-up, and a hurry on the day. T’Vondre Sweat was dominant with seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and Byron Murphy was quietly dominant with zero tackles but three quarterback hurries (arguably at least three uncalled holds).

Finally, Michael Taaffe put in another good day at the office making four tackles, intercepting a post route off a deflection and returning it deep into BYU territory, and helping guide young Derek Williams who had a great game with seven tackles and a tackle for loss. If not for a 4th-and-2 play where BYU picked up the first down throwing a wide open slant to their top receiver enjoying a 8+ yard cushion from the cornerback, Texas would have had an unimpeachably strong day in situational defense. Next week they’ll get a tougher test from more mobile passers.

Quick thought no. 4: No Arch Manning

The world’s most famous 3rd string quarterback missed any chance for action in this game as Murphy was entrusted with a full game to pick up reps and experience for the upcoming slate of games. Arch Manning‘s first appearance in a Texas game has been one of the more highly anticipated events of the season but instead he remained on the bench. Meanwhile Ewers looked fairly comfortable on the sideline with no sling amidst reports from Pete Thamel his timeline for a return would be 2-to-4 weeks. If two weeks, that’d have Texas’ starter back for Kansas State next week.

Four weeks would have him out for this entire slate of BYU, Kansas State, at TCU, and at Iowa State which will determine the fate of Texas’ Big 12 Championship hopes. It’s likely Sark preferred to get Murphy as many reps in different situations as possible in order to prepare him to play winning football next week (at least) in what will be one of the biggest games of the season. If Ewers did manage a return for Kansas State then there was less reason to get Manning involved.

If Arch has to play next week he’ll have to rely on having received world class instruction his whole life to make do for lacking any live reps from this season. There is some question as to whether springing Manning during a game on an opponent who hasn’t seen him yet might actually be more advantageous for Texas, but the Longhorns are hoping we don’t find out.

Quick thought no. 5: Oklahoma lost to Kansas in football

With a Cincinnati at Oklahoma State game still pending tonight, here’s the new standings for the Big 12 after Oklahoma lost to Kansas in football earlier in the day.

1. Oklahoma: 4-1
2. Texas: 4-1
3. Kansas State: 4-1
4. Iowa State: 4-1
5. Oklahoma State: 3-1 (probably 4-1, Cincy is awful)

We now have a 5-way tie atop the league and no longer have round robin scheduling to ensure this has to even out like it did in the past. Texas still has two of the top five left on the schedule but are in control of their destiny as both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State cannot finish the year with fewer than two losses. Those two squads meet in Bedlam next week in Stillwater. If the Horns can knock off Kansas State at home they’ll be in fantastic shape heading into the following two road games against TCU and Iowa State.

 

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Joe Cook: Maalik Murphy wasn't perfect, but he was everything Texas needed at quarterback in its win over BYU

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All 101,670 pairs of eyes were on Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy as he prepared to take the field for his first-career start in the place of the injured Quinn Ewers. In that moment before the first first-quarter snaps of his career, Murphy appeared unfazed. The 6-foot-5, 238-pounder danced to the music playing in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, ready to lead his team to a win.

Steve Sarkisian called a pass on eight of the first 10 plays for Murphy, with another play a thrown lateral to Savion Red. There was faith in the California-bred signal-caller from Sarkisian, something that helped Murphy succeed and be contributing factor in Texas’ 35-6 win over BYU. “He believed in me,” Murphy said postgame. “If he’s able to script that many openers as passes for me in my first start, that tells me something. He’s not letting off the gas. He believes in me. That was huge.”

There was a limited amount of success in those first 10 plays, though. Texas picked up just one first down on its opening possession. After Murphy and the offense took the field a second time with a 7-0 lead following a 74-yard punt return touchdown from Xavier Worthy, he threw the first interception of his career while eluding defenders and throwing off his back foot.

Then on the first play of the second quarter for the Longhorns, Murphy was sacked and lost possession of the football, surrendering it to the Cougars. But the quarterback who had enough confidence to dance prior to his first start had enough confidence to bounce back and be a part of why the Longhorns improved to 7-1. “It was a young mistake on my part, putting the ball in harm’s way,” Murphy said. “But I was able to bounce back and the team bounced back with me. They didn’t get down on me. Everybody came up to me and said I’m alright, let’s keep going and keep our foot on the gas. That’s what we did.”

Murphy began his outing 7-for-11 for 52 yards with an interception and a fumble. After that turnover, he finished 9-for-14 for 118 yards and his the first two touchdowns of his career. “For Maalik to come out and play the way that he did, it’s unfortunate he had a couple of those turnovers which were quite frankly a little bit because we were out of rhythm,” Sarkisian said. “I think we can clean some of that rhythm up as he gets a little bit more comfortable as we move forward.”

Sarkisian absolved Murphy of some of the blame on his turnovers. On the interception, Sarkisian said “we had a bit of a miscommunication and we didn’t get a route from the receiver on the front side” but still mentioned Murphy should have protected the ball. On the second, he pointed out there was a missed block by two different offensive players that had Murphy feeling pressure quickly.

But after that, Murphy started to show off some of the arm ability that had Sarkisian pursuing him out of Junipero Serra in the Los Angeles area. Up 14-3, he led a scoring drive that saw him complete two passes to Worthy before he lofted a pass in the end zone intended for Adonai Mitchell. The Georgia transfer brought it in to make it 21-3, and as Murphy did prior to his start, he danced and celebrated with his teammates.

“We worked it all week,” Murphy said. “I was excited he was able to get the opportunity to go make a play on the ball. I was letting my playmaker make a play.” Murphy got that football, and said he’ll probably give it to his parents. Murphy and Mitchell would make a scoring connection again with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, completing a 13-yard slant route for the closing score. That throw would end Murphy’s day throwing the ball and put the Cougars away.

It wasn’t a Murphy led effort, to be sure. Texas rushed 35 times for 184 yards and two scores, one by Jonathon Brooks and the other by Jaydon Blue. Brooks had 98 yards rushing and 40 yards receiving, pacing the Longhorn efforts. Plus, the Texas defense limited BYU to under 300 total yards and just 4.5 yards per play.

Still, Sarkisian praised Murphy for his efforts on Saturday and for everything he’s done as a Longhorn since enrolling early in 2022. Murphy saw Quinn Ewers transfer into Texas upon his enrollment, and also learned of Arch Manning’s commitment to the Longhorns following his first semester. Murphy didn’t leave for the portal after those two events.

“He stayed because he wanted to be part of this team, and he wanted to make sure he had an opportunity to compete,” Sarkisian said. “That’s what makes him special. I think that’s why our team really loves him so much. He loves his teammates. He’s a great teammate.”

Senior defensive back Jahdae Barron echoed those thoughts. “(It shows) the loyalty he has,” Barron said. “He’s committed to us. That shows a lot from a young kid, and that shows fight that he has. He’s not just going to give up just because something’s not in his favor or in his way. We really appreciate that, and he stepped up when we needed him to.”

Murphy wasn’t perfect, something he admitted to after the the game, but he was good enough to be a part of why Texas won without its backup quarterback. His efforts kept the Longhorns in the College Football Playoff race, and after Oklahoma’s loss, placed Texas at the top of the Big 12 standings.

There’s room for growth from Murphy, but he was what Texas needed versus BYU. And he felt the love from his teammates because of that. “I was glad that they accepted me in the team’s role to be able to help them,” Murphy said. “Honestly they helped me. I was able to help at the end of the day. I just helped the team.”

Steve Habel: Texas defense was ready for BYU and made things easier for the offense

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AUSTIN – No. 7 Texas’s head coach Steve Sarkisian is an offensive guru and the Longhorns’ motto is “all gas, no brakes.” But it’s the team’s defense that has been (mostly) a constant through the first eight games of the season, the latest a 35-6 win over BYU on Saturday in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas’s dominating win – along with No. 6 Oklahoma’s loss at Kansas – have the Longhorns (7-1, 4-1 in league play) tied at the top of the Big 12 Conference standings with four regular season games to play.

And while the Texas offense had its ups and downs with first-time starter Maalik Murphy at quarterback instead of the injured Quinn Ewers, the defense did more than enough to carry the load, limiting BYU to just 292 yards of total offense, forcing three turnovers (and just missing on at least two more) and recording 12 tackles for a loss.

“It’s just that our defense takes so much pride in wanting to be dominant,” Texas linebacker Jaylan Ford said. “We really felt like we haven’t had a dominant performance that we were really capable of yet so the goal was to go out there and try to achieve that. As football players there is always room to improve. So, no matter how dominant you feel, or how good you might play, there’s always things you know you can improve on.”

It’s the fourth time in eight games that the Longhorns allowed less than 293 total yards of offense and the second time this season they’ve kept an opponent out of the end zone. “We know when it’s our turn to step up,” Ford said. “We’re gonna be the ones that swing the momentum back to our favor and I thought we did a pretty good job of that (against BYU). Everybody’s trying to get that mentality of, ‘let’s go make a play, let’s go help the offense out.’”

The Cougars, with staid quarterback Kedon Slovis confined to the pocket, suffered a pair of sacks and constant pressure from the Texas defense. BYU was just two of 13 on third downs.

“Our defensive front showed up today and that was the one of the key bullet points in the game was to dominate the line of scrimmage,” Sarkisian said after the win. “And when our front plays like that, then we can be really active in the back end. That showed up with a couple big interceptions and the sack fumble. We had an opportunity for maybe a couple more interceptions there.

“When those two things work hand in hand – we’re active upfront and we’re really sticky in coverage – It can make it hard on any offense when a quarterback feels the pocket kind of collapsing and the windows are tight.”

Safety Michael Taaffe, who had an interception and 45-yard return in the fourth quarter to set up a Texas touchdown, said the team studied Slovis tendencies and were ready to swoop into action when given the chance.

“They kind of showed what they what they do on film all game,” Taaffe said of BYU and its quarterback. “We knew what they were going to do when they’re in this formation. We knew what they were going to do in that formation. And so just knowing that Slovis’ legs weren’t the most important thing and that scramble wasn’t the most important thing, but obviously you’ve got to still keep him contained. You got to still encourage your pass rushers to stay in their lanes and just be dogs up front.”

Sarkisian singled out linemen T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II, linebackers Ford, Anthony Hill Jr. and Jett Bush, among others, for affecting the quarterback. “It was a variety of guys and a lot of different looks of getting to the quarterback so it’s not like we’re relying on one guy,” Sarkisian said. “I think the scheme was good. The versatility of the defense showed up tonight. There was a lot of different guys making plays and being active upfront.” The challenge will be much different when the Longhorns battle defending Big 12 champion Kansas State next week.

 

[utexas8 1,706]

Is there a decent chance ewers could return next week or is Ian Boyd just saying stuff? I would think he’s out at least 2 weeks.

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(Scipio Tex) 2023 BYU Postmortem: Defense/Special Teams

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BYU as a smoke and mirrors 5-2 team bore out and the Cougs will have to fight hard to win another game this year, but the Texas defense handled its work and showed much more cohesion than what they exhibited against Houston, holding the BYU Cougar offense to their season low of six points and no touchdowns. I had few concerns about the Texas defense dominating physically, but I wanted to see mental engagement and more thoughtful play; to see them uphold a standard of play, irrespective of the opponent.

Texas delivered. Even when the Texas offense struggled with turnovers and in the red zone, the game never felt it would be in doubt due to the mismatch between the Cougar offense and special teams vs. their Longhorn counterparts.

The Texas D notched 12 tackles for loss, 10 QB hits on Kedon Slovis, grabbed two interceptions and limited the Cougars to 292 yards on 66 plays (4.4 per play). The latter is unremarkable production measured against how BYU performed against their season opponents, but the Horns dominated them on critical downs, specifically 3rd down (5 of 17 on money downs overall) and the Cougs grabbed 62 cheap yards on meaningless drives at the end of each half. BYU also had six 3 and outs. It was a thorough hiding.

Texas had two plays it’d like back on defense: the first was a layup 4th and 2 completion for 12 yards against off coverage – ten yards off – which was borderline throw-the-remote-at-television worthy and the other a terrific 47 yard catch from Darius Lassiter where a late arriving Derek Williams didn’t find the ball. If those are your two hickeys – one self-inflicted, the other the opponent largely making a good play – you’ve had a good day at the office.

The Texas pass defense held Kedon Slovis to a unproductive 25 of 40 for 197 yards and intercepted him twice. That’s beyond dink and dunk. More like dink and junk. Slovis was 3 of 12 for 83 yards and 2 picks on any throw greater than 10 yards down the field. Wasn’t he accurate though? Not really. BYU threw 13 passes behind the line of scrimmage, completing them all… for 32 yards. Take those away and Slovis was a sub 50% passer on the day.

The pick plays and crossers that bedeviled Texas in Houston were eradicated by much better awareness from 2nd and 3rd level defenders and pocket push narrowed throwing windows.

Defensive Backs

It was great to see Ryan Watts out there again, albeit in limited action. We’ll need him badly against KSU. Jahdae Barron was fantastic, creating a tipped ball interception for Terrance Brooks on a nickel blitz and he had six tackles, including two tackles for loss. By far the best player in the Texas secondary. Terrific football IQ.

Derek Williams saw heavy snaps and finished with 7 tackles. Nice job supporting on short passes, but he needs to be a little more ball aware when he’s keeping the top on. Kitan Crawford saw fewer snaps by my count. Michael Taaffe had a heads up interception on a Cougar receiver volleyball set that he brought back 45 yards.

Note Taaffe’s fundamentals switching the ball to the proper hand when he reverses field. Coach on the field! Jerrin Thompson was quiet out there… in a positive way. Holmes, Brooks and Muhammad were all engaged and seemed to communicate better on the back end.

Defensive Line

Terrific performance, headlined by Sweat, Murphy and Sorrell. Sweat filled up the box score as frequently as he filled up the BYU backfield and the waist line of his football pants, registering 7 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. That’s playing nose against a passing team. Murphy got shut out of the box score but repeatedly collapsed the pocket, registering 3 QB pressures and hits. He leads the Big 12 in “times a guard has clotheslined him, but it has not been called holding.”

Sorrell had 3 big QB hits and a nice sack. Really good work, particularly in the second half. Vernon Broughton drew a PI and a hold (they called PI) when Texas had BYU backed up deep.

Justice Finkley drew the start and played heavy reps in place of an injured Ethan Burke and had some nice moments. He had a big edge set that created a tackle for loss, but also struggled to rush the passer consistently. He broke through late for a strip sack fumble (he met at Slovis with J’Mond Tapp) when the BYU OT pushed him upfield and outside and let him go, almost as if he thought the Cougars were running a middle screen. Tapp flashed in the 4th quarter.

Linebacker

Good games from Hill and Ford. Ford had 11 tackles and 2 QB hits on Slovis while Anthony Hill had his best game as a coverage linebacker to date. Several hard tackles, a pass breakup and multiple instances of good breaks on the ball from zone. It’s really coming together for Hill and it’s fun to watch. Multiple instances of 3-3-5 allowed a healthy Morice Blackwell to get his most snaps of the season. He responded with 5 tackles and 2 tackles for loss.

Special Teams

 

BYU lacks team speed and I thought Texas would have an opportunity in the kick return game. Xavier Worthy delivered early, with a gorgeous 74 yard touchdown that gave Texas margin for a novice QB. Ryan Sanborn averaged 54 yards a punt. He’s currently averaging 48.4 on the season. Outstanding. Good kickoff coverage on 4 of 5 covers, except that Will Stone made two tackles. Not quite how we draw it up.

Final

Texas did exactly what it should have done to a poor BYU offense. However, even a bad offense can exploit a defense that makes mental errors. Those were cleaned up on Saturday. Now Texas needs its best physical and mental game for the reinvigorated Wildcats. 7-1.

Joe Cook: The numbers from Texas' 35-6 win over BYU

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A little bit of help from all three phases boosted the Longhorns to a 35-6 victory over BYU to improve to 7-1 and surge to the top of the Big 12 standings There was plenty of good, but also some not so good. That’s something Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian addressed after the game.

“So there was a lot of positives but I will say we haven’t played our best yet,” Sarkisian said. “And to me, that’s a little bit exciting to know that our best is still out there and that we can play better. I think it goes without saying we need to play better, but I’m going to be really proud of our guys on this one. Any time you can come home and beat a 5-2 football team the way that we did and play the style of defense that we played, that’s exciting and again the team versatility showed up.” Here’s a detailed look into the numbers from the Texas win.

FIRST QUARTER

Top performer: Xavier Worthy

Play of the quarter: Xavier Worthy’s 74-yard punt return.

Stats: Maalik Murphy’s first drive ended with him going 2-for-4, moving the chains once thanks to a 16-yard completion to Adonai Mitchell. Worthy’s punt return was the first true return touchdown of the year for the Longhorns and the second special teams score along with Malik Muhammad’s block recovery versus Oklahoma. Terrance Brooks’ first quarter interception was the first of his career. On the ensuing drive, Murphy was 2-for-2 for 9 yards. Gavin Holmes recorded his first pass breakup of the season on a long Kedon Slovis throw intended for Darius Lassiter.

BYU accumulated 12 yards on 12 plays and were 2-for-7 passing. No first quarter drive for the Cougars lasted longer than three plays. Texas gained six first downs to BYU’s one. The Longhorns gained 104 total yards, split evenly between passing and rushing.

Notes: Texas almost intercepted Slovis’ second and third passes thanks to pressure from Byron Murphy. Xavier Worthy’s punt return was the first true return touchdown of the year for the Longhorns and the second special teams score along with Muhammad’s block recovery versus Oklahoma. Worthy’s return was the longest of his career, eclipsing a previous high of 40 from earlier in 2023. Murphy’s first career interception came on his seventh pass of the game. Jonathon Brooks recorded his 7th rushing touchdown of the season.

SECOND QUARTER

Top performer: Adonai Mitchell

Play of the quarter: 30-yard touchdown pass from Maalik Murphy to Adonai Mitchell.

Stats: Texas’ first sack of the day was recorded by Barryn Sorrell midway through the second quarter. BYU’s first drive of the second quarter was a 16-play, 64-yard drive that took 9:57 off the clock. It ended in a field goal. Murphy’s end-of-half completion was the longest pass of the day and of his career to that point. It was Mitchell’s team-leading sixth touchdown reception.

Murphy was 3-for-4 for 51 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter. That was one yard short of his first quarter total of 52. Texas RBs managed just six yards. Worthy had 21 receiving yards while Mitchell added 30 on the scoring reception. The Longhorns averaged 5.2 yards per play in the first quarter and 5.2 yards per play in the second quarter.

Notes: Murphy’s second turnover of the game came on fumble during a dropback play from under center. Isaiah Bagnah recorded the sack-fumble. Thanks to going for it on fourth down on its own 39 after the sack-fumble, BYU sustained its first drive of longer than three plays. BYU’s opening drive of the second quarter was successful on its first fourth-down attempt and again on its second via a pass play.

THIRD QUARTER

Top performer: Jonathon Brooks

Play of the quarter: Jonathon Brooks’ 38-yard run

Stats: Ryan Sanborn’s first two punts traveled 119 yards, good for an average of 59.5 yards. Lassiter recorded another massive catch with a 47-yard reception to move inside the Texas red zone on BYU’s second drive of the quarter, their longest play of the game. Brooks’ 38-yard rush in the third quarter was the longest play of the day for the Longhorns to that point. The run accounted for most of the 59 rushing yards from the Longhorns in the quarter. After holding the ball for almost 11 minutes in the second quarter, BYU had 6:34 of possession in the third.

Notes: BYU’s opening drive was a three-and-out, the fourth of the game and sixth total that lasted three plays, as BYU threw an interception on the third play of its third drive and went into halftime on its sixth. On the 3rd and 11 play prior to BYU’s field goal, half of the players on the defense were either first or second-year players. The Longhorns failed to garner any points in a goal-to-go situation yet again, as a pass complete to Ja’Tavion Sanders on fourth down was stopped short. After the failed fourth-down attempt, Texas held BYU to its fifth three-and-out in nine drives.

FOURTH QUARTER

Top performer: Jaydon Blue

Play of the quarter: Michael Taaffe’s interception and 41 yard return to the BYU 6

Stats: Keilan Robinson recorded his first carry of the day in the beginning stages of the fourth quarter. It was a 24-yard gain that made it first and goal Texas. Texas failed to convert its second 4th and short opportunity inside the Cougar 10 in the fourth quarter when Brooks could not convert a 4th and 1 on the BYU 2. Taaffe’s interception was his second of the season and second in two games. It led to a Murphy to Mitchell connection, Mitchell’s team leading seventh touchdown reception of the year.

Notes: The Longhorns had a goal-to-go situation on back to back drives, and Murphy found Mitchell for their second scoring connection of the game. BYU was held to 2-for-13 on third downs, their final failure coming with 5:50 left in the game. Brooks finished at 98 yards after he rushed for 99 yards versus Houston last week. Jaydon Blue scored his first career touchdown in the final two minutes on a 34-yard run. BYU had 13 total drives. Nine lasted three or fewer plays.

FINAL

Texas passing

• Maalik Murphy: 16-for-25 for 170 yards and 2 TDs over 1 INT

Texas rushing

• Jonathon Brooks: 16 carries for 98 yards and 1 TD
• Jaydon Blue: 4 carries for 44 yards and 1 TD
• Keilan Robinson: 1 carry for 23 yards
• CJ Baxter: 9 carries for 22 yards
• Savion Red: 4 carries for 15 yards

Texas receiving

• Jonathon Brooks: 4 receptions for 40 yards
• Ja’Tavion Sanders: 4 receptions for 37 yards
• Xavier Worthy: 4 receptions for 27 yards
• Adonai Mitchell: 3 receptions for 59 yards and 2 TD
• Keilan Robinson: 1 reception for 7 yards

Texas defense

• Jaylan Ford: 11 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 2 QB hits
• Derek Williams: 7 tackles, 1.0 TFL
• T’Vondre Sweat: 7 tackles, 1.5 TFL
• Jahdae Barron: 6 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 PBU
• Anthony Hill: 5 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1 PBU, 1 QB hit
• Justice Finkley: 5 tackles, 1 sack, 1.0 TFL, 1 QB hit, 1 forced fumbles
• Barryn Sorrell: 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1.0 TFL, 3 QB hits

Texas total

• Total yards: 354
• Rushing yards: 184
• Passing yards: 170
• First downs: 17
• Total plays: 60
• Red zone: 2-for-5
• 3rd downs: 6-for-11
• 4th downs: 0-for-2
• Penalties: 6-for-40

Texas notes

• Texas did not allow its opponent to score a touchdown for the second time this year, joining the Baylor game.
• The Longhorn defense recorded 7.0 TFL in the first half
• Worthy’s score was the third non-offensive touchdown of the year
• Texas led wire to wire for the third time this season, joining Baylor and Kansas
• Murphy became the 19th freshman quarterback to win a game for the Longhorns
• Brooks has rushed for a touchdown in five of his last six games, and recorded his sixth consecutive game with 100 or more all-purpose yards
• Ford recorded a season high 11 tackles

 

[satyanash 15,608]

(Scipio Tex) Defensive Back Snaps vs BYU & Implications for Kansas State

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Texas expanded a nine man DB rotation to ten, but snaps could be becoming more discriminate? Here’s how it broke down vs. BYU and what we should think about going forward.

Safety

Williams- 46

Taaffe- 36

Thompson- 31

Crawford- 21

This was in line with my post UH game speculation. A true freshman grabbed 34% of the available safety snaps and the coaches are in a race to get his experience level to meet his traits. Crawford saw a diminishment in playing time vs. what we’ve seen. Taaffe’s snaps shouldn’t surprise anyone. This question will help you: compared to who? Ed Reed ain’t on the roster.

Cornerback

Brooks – 51

Watts – 37

Muhammad- 24

Holmes- 18

Brice – 4

Ryan Watts returned and he graded out the best in coverage of any corner by my eyes. He knocked some rust off on a limited pitch count and I want him to play 50+ snaps vs KSU. Holmes saw his playing time pruned after the 4th and 2 gaffe and one other hiccup, but tomorrow is a new day. Brooks played much better against BYU’s bigger, slower wide receivers with a clearer understanding of his role in the coverage scheme.

Nickel

Barron – 35

Guillbeau – 23

Jahdae Barron is the best player in the secondary by a massive gap. If the elevation of Guillbeau’s snaps was to limit Barron’s snaps vs. BYU and Houston so he can log 60+ against KSU, good. If not, bad.

Commentary:

Holmes limited his playing time against BYU with his play – it wasn’t the plan. He made a bad decision on 4th and 2 and struggled with BYU’s size a bit. He was our best corner against UH though. Every Saturday is a new opponent and we have to play matchups.

There is a temptation to play Crawford more against KSU given their run game and his physicality, but catching him in play action is KSU’s likeliest path to explosives. While Crawford is bigger and more physically gifted than Taaffe, he’s actually a less reliable tackler and less disciplined. That’s important against option ball. Taaffe sees it, Crawford doesn’t.

Texas cannot allow Kansas State to scheme Jahdae Barron off of the field when they go with heavy or traditional sets. It’s Week 9 and PK needs an answer for that. Move him to cornerback or free safety. I don’t care. He’s the most instinctive, smartest player on our defense.

Against Kansas State, the two premium assets for our DB corps are reliable tackling and recognition against passing game explosives and various types of option. Against two potential dual threat QBs (each emphasizing a different aspect of the dual), it’s a certainty that Texas will play more zone. While I’m generally unimpressed with how any of our defensive backs play zone outside of Barron and usually Watts, we know who is most likely to hurt us at safety.

Styles make fights. Brooks, Holmes, Muhammad should see their snaps dictated by their play that day and matchups. Gavin Holmes on Phillip Brooks is not a bad thing, Holmes tackling DJ Giddens on a sweep might be. The players that should anchor our rotations and get the most snaps overall needs to be Barron, Watts, Taaffe and probably Williams (we’ll see how he’s seeing it on game day).

Coach V: The defense leads the Longhorns to victory over BYU

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By Mike Venable: It just didn’t look the part of a 29 point win. There should be little doubt that the defense held up their part of the bargain. Our defense hammered the Cougars with relentless pursuit and cost effective hustle. Four full quarters of GATA was perfect evidence as basically the entire defensive roster flooded the field with talented effort. We played well on defense with maybe three ugly plays in an otherwise stout performance. Throw in a touchdown punt return and tremendous punting with coverage and you have a superior defensive game. If only we could say the same about the offense.

But as Chris Berman often describes on television our offense resembled stumbling, bumbling, crumbling, wobbling, and a few more ing’s in a display of uncoordinated series of unrelated plays mis-casted as a script building upon each other in a fashionable sense of relation. We started off throwing early and never really lost our sense of humor. Despite having Mr. Brooks in the backfield we decided to give our first time starter at QB every chance to guide our team down the field on his arm.

Our short yardage/GL attack is still out of whack. We appear not to have big problems making gains once we spread our formation but we stub our toe once we get ankle to ankle and depend on changing the LOS with our current cast of characters in that capacity. I think it only fair to strongly state Malik Agbo (80) had a tremendous blocking game by constantly changing the line of scrimmage by driving his assignment completely out of the play. Cole Hutson (54) returned to part time action at RG and knocked the rust off his game. Trouble is he filled in at the wrong guard where he was needed more. Hayden Conner (76) had two ugly efforts that cost the offense in the red zone. He was late pulling on Maalik Murphy’s play action fumble on the ten and completely whiffed a kickout block on 4th down inside the 2 yard line.

Jake Majors (65) had a strong game in a difficult situation. Christian Jones (70) had one costly false start in an otherwise good game. Kelvin Banks (78) returned to form with a strong game as the blindside protection. The least positive thing about these three is none are mauling drive blockers. DJ Campbell (52) is a really good drive blocker and is improving with pass protection. Gunnar Helm (85) was effective with body positioning blocks but left out of the passing game. Ja’Tavion Sanders (0) made two highlight reel catches and had one way above average block in a return to action difference.

Jonathon Brooks (24) is my nominee for offensive player of the game. Yes, Brooks hung almost a hundred yards on them rushing and had a strong share of pass receptions but it was the effort on the pass interception that saved our bacon four points when he tracked down (about 30 yards) the returner on the ten. We held to a FG—he stays Mr. Brooks in this old coach’s point of view. CJ Baxter (4) wasn’t able to stretch his legs on a big carry but hammered out good gains when little was offered in the blocking scheme. Jaydon Blue (24) looked the part of a rookie when he first stuck it up in there then tried to bounce and lost the LOS and then finally sprinted around the edge and coasted into the end zone for our final touchdown. Keilan Robinson (7) had one good run and another strong game in the special team roles he plays.

Adonai Mitchell (5) had two touchdown receptions and a better effort blocking. Xavier Worthy (1) had the punt return for six and tried to high jump a defender but then again that’s X with the I’ll do anything to win attitude. Jordan Whittington (13) didn’t crack the stat sheet but played a very active effort behind the scenes and blocked well. Maalik Murphy (6) started cautious and had accuracy problems early including a pressured interception but had more success as the game wore forward. He had several terrific throws and some not so good flairs. He had a red zone fumble—blocked poorly but he needs to protect the ball at all times. He won his first start and that’s the bottom line.

There were a few correctable mistakes on defense (mostly missed tackles) but overall the troops just flat outhustled (with better speed) the opponents in a fun defensive game to watch. T’Vondre Sweat (93) is our best defensive front player. He deposits blockers into the backfield on his way to another tackle for loss. Barryn Sorrell (88) is a steady DE that offers winning performances in a variety of assignments and alignments. Bryon Murphy (90), Vernon Broughton (45—recovered fumble), Jaray Bledsoe (94—sack), and Alfred Collins (95) all had flash plays along with finishing their assignments correctly. Justice Finkley (1), J’Mond Tapp (17), and Jett Bush (43) were very good on the edge with Finkley adding a sack in his best game this year.

Jaylan Ford (41) is returning to normal. He had a big hit pressure and several good tackles. Anthony Hill Jr. had his first start (I think) and he has just gotten better every week. He still takes some WTF routes to the ball but then just flat nails the ball carrier with big hit or open field tackles. Morice Blackwell (37) played well in an expanded role this week, He had a couple of flying missed tackles but had some direct hits also. These three are active and have fun playing the game and it shows. Liona Lefau (18) and David Gbenda (33) had brief action and both had tackles in reduced roles.

Our secondary played much better this week overall. Terrance Brooks (8) had a big game. Taaffe (16) had a big interception and several nice tackles. Derek Williams (2) had several good open field tackles. Jahdae Barron (23) is the steady force in the back five. Kitan Crawford (21) had a few nice plays. Jerrin Thompson (28) was effective in a reduced role. Jaylon Guilbeau (3) had a near interception. Malik Muhammad (5) made a good tackle. Ryan Watts (6) had two good plays. Gavin Holmes (9) had two good plays. Xavion Brice (14) had an impressive cover and tackle late in the game. Ryan Sanborn (27) punted extremely well with a beauty that traveled a long, long way. Will Stone had another kickoff tackle. Williams (2) had a good kickoff tackle.

We need to clean up our shortages this week—KSU will present big problems. The goal is still active…

Mike Venable is a retired coach who had a 30 year career coaching football at Lancaster, Duncanville, Gladewater, Pasadena Sam Rayburn, R.L Turner and The Colony.

(Daniel Seahorn) No. 7 Texas 35, BYU 6: Five observations and Sunday chat

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It still wasn’t the cleanest game for the Texas Longhorns in Saturday’s 35-6 win over the BYU Cougars at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, but it was a much prettier effort than the one they had a week ago in Houston. The Longhorns made it out of Houston by the narrowest of margins with a victory, but this week they left themselves plenty of room to breathe against BYU.

Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy made his first start of his collegiate career with Quinn Ewers out with a shoulder injury. It was hairy at times with the young signal caller, but ultimately Texas emerged with a comfortable win and that is all you can really ask for after how things went last week. I don’t want to filibuster too much this week, so let’s jump into things and take a look at how things went against the gentlemen of Brigham Young University.

An up-and-down performance from Maalik Murphy

Let’s go ahead and start with the biggest storyline entering the game. Murphy took every snap for Texas on Saturday in the victory over the Cougars. Murphy finished the day 16-of-25 passing for 170 yards and two touchdowns while turning the ball over twice via an interception and a fumble that occurred in the red zone. The turnovers ultimately didn’t derail Texas from winning the games, but my biggest takeaway from them were that things were moving fast for Murphy early on and that teams are likely going to do their best to muddy his pocket knowing he isn’t the best athlete back there. He straight up didn’t see the linebacker that grabbed the interception, as he moved outside the pocket to his right and that will be something Steve Sarkisian undoubtedly harps on when they break down the film.

Ball security and cleaning up Murphy’s tendency to drift backward and throw off his back foot are going to be the biggest things that need to be tightened up from Saturday in my opinion.

On the positive side of the ledger, Murphy was able to successfully navigate the Texas offense up and down the field against BYU on Saturday. The drives didn’t always result in points, but he got Texas into the red zone several times and he hooked up with Adonai Mitchell for two touchdowns. He flashed his big arm which he has been known for as he was able to push the ball down the field when the opportunities presented itself, but he would also take what the defense would give him at times. That is all you can really ask for from a guy making his first-ever start against a team that has a bunch of guys who have mortgages and 401Ks.

He is going to get better with time and reps. He passed the first test on Saturday with what I’ll call a B-/C+ game. Yes ,I’m fence riding on the grade and I’ll let you the readers hash it out in the comments.

The defense was better this week

After almost giving up 400 yards through the air last week against Houston, the Texas defense got back to the basics this week. The results were the Longhorns holding the Cougars to 292 yards of total offense, with Kedon Slovis being turned over three times (two interceptions, one fumble).

Slovis threw just for 197 yards on 25-of-40 passing and was getting knocked around all day by the Longhorn defense. Despite being down a few starters for today’s contest, the Texas defense got corralled Slovis twice for sacks and inflicted an additional 12 negative plays on the afternoon. While the BYU offense mustered six points in the contest, they did not make it into the end zone against the Texas defense.

This unit needed this kind of performance after getting beat up a good bit the previous two contests. Ultimately, I think BYU offense presented a matchup and style that set up better for the Texas defense. We will see how they handle the Kansas State offense that rolls into town next week that presents a few more wrinkles than what they saw today.

The red-zone struggles continued this week

I don’t really know where to begin here, but I am going to try not to rant too long on this. Texas entered the matchup as one of the worst offenses in the country when it came to scoring red-zone touchdowns. They did not do much to help their cause on Saturday when they turned the ball over on downs twice inside the BYU 5-yard line.

The offensive red-zone struggles are well-documented at this point. Where I get particularly frustrated is not from the lack of execution in the situations we saw on Saturday, but more so on the decisions made to try to force the issue when it was clear the offense was struggling to get movement inside the 5-yard line. While I can understand that a coach wants to challenge his guys to finish drives and stay aggressive, I think you have to step back at times and stop being stubborn. In both situations, the Texas offense could have walked away with points and made it a three-score game. At the time the game wasn’t exactly decided and the offense had engineered solid drives that should have resulted in points. I know field goals are sexy to a lot of people, but sometimes the right decision is to lay up and take the three.

On Saturday, those decisions didn’t hurt Texas. But against better competition they absolutely will. Last week we witnessed the decision to try to execute a fake field goal on 4th down instead of keeping the offense on the field. The result was Houston driving right down the field and flipping the momentum firmly in their favor heading into halftime. This week the offense was left out there, but I ultimately think it was an unnecessary risk that was taken even if the win was eventually secured.

I’ll end by saying this. I think Steve Sarkisian is a very good offensive mind. But I think he has tendencies to be stubborn at times and it shows up in moments like we saw inside the 5-yard line. I commend him for wanting to stay aggressive and always wanting to apply pressure on opponents. But sometimes I think he can overcomplicate situations from time to time.

Jonathon Brooks continues to pace the offense

I am going to do my guy Gerald proud and continue to bang the drum for Mr. RB1 in Austin, Texas. If Brooks is going steady on the ground, then the Longhorn offense is clicking. He has been the most consistent part of the entire Texas offense and he had himself another nice outing on Saturday.

Brooks tallied 138 total yards of offense and had one rushing touchdown against the Cougars, but just like against Houston he came up just shy of cracking 100 yards on the ground (99 yards last week, 98 yards this week). Even though he didn’t make it to triple digits on the ground, Brooks continues to be a key piece of the Texas offense and is having a great season. If he continues on the pace he is on, he is going to hoist some hardware and accolades come the end of the season.

Xavier Worthy finally broke one on special teams

 

That is how you put the special in special teams. Worthy has been close to breaking off a big return all year and today he opened up the scoring by showing good vision and housing one untouched from 74 yards out. This is the primary reason why you put a player of Worthy’s caliber back on kicks. His elusiveness and burst in the open field makes him a big play waiting to happen and he has used that skillset to give Texas a big boost in this facet of special teams this year. 7-1.

The Longhorns are right where they need to be heading into the home stretch of the season tied for first place in the Big 12 after Oklahoma’s loss to Kansas in Lawrence on Saturday. The Wildcats of Kansas State are up next and they will provide a stiff test for Texas as they typically do. The hope is that you can get some guys healthy and ready to go for this game, as this will likely have ramifications for who will make their way to Arlington come December.

The 24-hour rule is officially in effect. Then it is on to the Wildcats. One more thing: Someone print Oklahoma Fears Kansas on a T-shirt and make a profit.

 

[LTtxfan 50,005]

Defensive Line DOMINATION | Maalik Murphy First Start | On Texas Football | Grading the Horns | BYU

[LTtxfan 50,005]

Monday, October 30th

Goal Line / Short Yardage Issues Continue | Maalik Murphy | On Texas Football | Lunch with the Coach

 

[satyanash 15,608]

(Scipio Tex) 2023 BYU Postmortem: Offense

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The glow of a 29 point win always papers over in-game issues that are subsequently revealed or remembered on rewatch. After another viewing, it’s pretty clear that the Texas defense and special teams powered that margin. A more consistent throw game and some strength inside would have allowed a 49-6 style rout. I liked Sark’s gameplan for starting Maalik off fast, preferring that Murphy get some tosses in early on neutral downs rather than having him throw his first ball on a 3rd and 11.

There were also some bright spots in the running game, powered mainly by Brooks and some effective zone blocking combos. The Horns compiled 354 yards on 60 plays for 5.9 yards per play. Unfortunately, they also turned it over twice, had another fumble that Xavier Worthy self-recovered on a lucky bounce and Maalik had two other throws that would be turnover worthy against a more athletic group of safeties.

Texas was a dismal 2 of 5 in the red zone, including two failures that ended on the BYU 1 and 3 yard lines. Despite the postgame attempt to hype the Cougar front as the next coming of ’09 Nebraska, they are above-average and BYU was ordinary in the red zone against a weak prior slate. This is a Texas problem.

As for going for it on 4th down from the 1 and 3, the analytics on point differential (for both the TD vs. FG attempt and a failed TD with opponent offense backed up) are pretty straightforward in favor. However, the best thing coaches can do to aid the correct analytics decision is to make more inspired play calls that suggest learning from the prior failed attempts. So I get the frustration all around.

Touchdown drives of 39, 26 and 8 yards along with a 74 yard special teams touchdowns may have inflated our post-game sense of offensive production. Obviously, an offense can only gain the yards available to it and a 39 yard touchdown drive is a good thing, but Texas also squandered starts at the BYU 40 and the Texas 49 with no points. It’s important to attribute the good thing to the primary causes.

On the positive side, Texas converted 6 of 11 on 3rd down and did hit explosive runs of 38 (Brooks), 34 (Blue) and 23 (Robinson) yards. Texas also won the Middle 8 of the game 7-0 after being dominated by Oklahoma and Houston there 14-0 over the last two weeks.

QB

Maalik Murphy’s stat line was bus driverish (16 of 25 for 170 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, 1 fumble) but he delivered a few good throws and managed the offense. To my eye, we started walking back some of the offense after the second turnover. That written, I’ve seen plenty of nervous first-time starter QBs thrust into a game in the middle of a season and it can look much, much worse. A quick scan of other college games will confirm.

However, while we can grade him developmentally on a curve for the spot he was throw into, scoreboards and future opponents force you to take your earned letter grade. On rewatch, he threw multiple balls with bad mechanics, including this successful shot to a wide open Adonai Mitchell:

Mitchell had significant separation on the defender but too much air under a duck launched off Malik’s back foot made it a more interesting play. Here’s the other angle to give you an idea how open Mitchell was.

Maalik struggled with getting the ball out on time a few times and his mechanics fell apart too often in clean pockets. As for Good Murphy, here is a good example of converting a gimme where the ball comes out on time:

That’s a called shot against a known coverage. Worthy and Helm clear out, predetermined read to Mitchell. So Murphy is capable of rhythm passing, but needs some help and a clear picture. A little deeper stat dive bears this out.

Murphy was 9/10 for 51 yards on throws behind the line of scrimmage. On all throws beyond the line of scrimmage, he was 7 of 15 for 119 yards – a 46.7% completion percentage. While all QBs pad their accuracy stats with tosses behind the line, Ewers was completing 64.5% of his passes beyond the line of scrimmage. That 18% margin has a lot of offense in it. How Sark bridges that gap going forward will determine Maalik’s efficacy. If he nails more play calls like the second Mitchell touchdown, we’re in good shape, but open-ended offense is a more dangerous proposition.

RB

A fantastic game from Jonathon Brooks, which can pretty much be written on repeat every week. He maximized several runs and was strong in the passing game. Brooks went 16-98 rushing at over 6 yards per tote and added 4 catches for another 40. He’ll be a 1,000+ yard rusher very soon. Pretty wicked stiff arm for a finesse back…

CJ Baxter spent a good portion of the game tip-toeing around instead of planting and burrowing for whatever he could when the blocking went bad. Not much after contact either. This was a step backwards compared to how lively he looked against Houston. 9 carries, 22 yards. He did block though. Keilan Robinson had a terrific misdirection run where he looked like the most dynamic player on the field. Left me wanting more. Jaydon Blue was strong in mop up duty and his juice around the corner warrants some consideration for real playing time if Baxter isn’t feeling it.

WR/TE

Worthy struggled to get on the same page with Murphy. 10 targets yielded only 4 catches for 27 yards. He was an effective decoy though. Adonai Mitchell notched an efficient 2 touchdowns and 59 yards on only 3 catches with one misfire. JT Sanders had 4 catches for 37 yards, including a 20-yard catch that probably bailed Maalik out of a pick. He looks like he’s about 80% now. Malik Agbo played well. Good effort level. Noticeably different motor on Saturday compared to some of his OL friends.

OL

It’s fun to save the best for last. But not this time. As a whole, this unit played below standard in the run game, particularly as the field compressed. Big Humans are great PR and play well on the message boards, but big humans that aren’t very strong or powerful get knocked back off of the ball on covered up inside runs the same as small humans. The difference is that they do it with higher pads, less motor and less leverage. This is an OL of screeners.

Hayden Conner had his worst game since last year’s Alabama game. Any game where he can earn a draw in the run game is a win for Texas and he usually always pass-blocks well. He was bad in both phases against BYU. DJ Campbell has seemingly reversed his strengths and weaknesses from early in the year. He pass blocked well and was below average in the run game. Cole Huston got some snaps in relief, but he’s coming off of an injury. I’m not sure if he’s an improvement yet.

Jake Majors was game and actually did a good job screening on zone blocks, but his lack of pop was revealed in compressed space. Seeing the entire interior lose across the board on multiple goal line snaps was jarring. Kelvin Banks had the best game of the unit, dominating as a pass blocker and playing adequately as a run blocker, particularly in zone concepts. Christian Jones was uncharacteristically average all around.

This unit didn’t play well. For a massive group, they don’t move people and that’s impacting how defenses align in goal to go. Heads up, don’t gap it (why risk choosing the wrong gap and getting screened off), dare Texas to move ’em. Running directly behind this interior without some sort of angle advantage makes little sense.

Final

The Texas offense was as disjointed as one might expect with a new inexperienced QB, but the lack of supporting play on the offensive line and some meandering exploratory play calling on the play sheet didn’t help. Texas needs to find some ways to maximize an imperfect offense with some very dangerous weapons. Sometimes, being clever means less cleverness when experiencing straightforward down to down success and more deception when down and distance scream for convention.