On Saturday, the Longhorns showed up at McLane Stadium and absolutely had their way with the Baylor Bears all night. Watch our Devon Messinger & Dylan DeRaud react to Texas’s sizable win over the Bears by clicking on the YouTube video above.
[Messinger’s Thoughts]
- Game Balls:
- Texas defensive front: The defensive front, led by Byron Murphy II and a swarm of others, such as T’Vondre Sweat and Vernon Broughton, absolutely controlled the line of scrimmage and only allowed Baylor to rush for 60 yards. Additionally, the front seven accounted for five sacks, as well as an interception – courtesy of linebacker Jaylan Ford.
- Ja’Tavion Sanders: The junior tight end had a massive performance against the Bears, tallying 110 receiving yard on five catches. The Longhorns have never had such a dominant receiving threat at tight end and Sanders has been fun to watch.
- Jonathon Brooks: After a great 164-yard performance against Wyoming, Brooks did more of the same in Waco with 106 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
- Deflated Balls:
- Texas punt returns: Honestly, punt returns were hard to watch on Saturday. Besides Worthy’s big return earlier in the game, in which he was tripped up around midfield, the option to punt may have been Baylor’s most potent weapon. Both Xavier Worthy and Jordan Whittington muffed a punt and will surely be hearing about it in this week’s practice.
- Texas secondary: While it did not happen repeatedly, the Longhorns secondary did allow several big gains through the air, in the form of completions and a defensive pass interference penalty. Additionally, Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson would be listed quite low on the conference’s power ranking of quarterbacks, so the secondary must improve quickly.
[DeRaud’s Thoughts]
- Game Balls:
- Jaylan Ford: 8 tackles and an interception in his own end zone? Not too shabby.
- Byron Murphy: The defensive line was excellent all night and Murphy tallied four tackles with two sacks. Additionally, he was also the lead blocker on a two-yard touchdown rush by Jonathon Brooks.
- Jonathon Brooks: 18 carries for 106 rushing yards and two touchdowns… quite an impressive night for the sophomore.
- Quinn Ewers: The young quarterback has thrown 225 straight completions without an interception, the school’s second-longest streak behind Sam Ehlinger (308). Moreover, Ewers was able to find the end zone twice on Saturday and also threw for 293 yards.
- Ja’Tavion Sanders: Led the team with 110 receiving yards and was a legitimate threat.
- Deflated Balls:
- Texas secondary: The Longhorns secondary struggled against the speed of Baylor’s wideouts. The unit allowed 305 yards passing, but much of that total came during garbage time via Baylor quarterback RJ Martinez.
