Follow along as I jot down notes from today’s game between the Texas Longhorns and the BYU Cougars.
First Quarter:
While the Longhorns offense wasn’t able to score points on their first drive, the team did not wait long to get on the scoreboard. Thanks to Xavier Worthy’s 74-yard punt return touchdown, the Longhorns jumped to a quick 7-0 lead. This is a promising sign for Texas as the punt return unit was a liability earlier in the season, most notably with two fumbles earlier in the season against Baylor.
Maalik Murphy’s early interception was a ‘welcome to the big leagues’ moment. Besides that questionable decision, Murphy has played well early on in his first career start.
Jahdae Barron has been excellent at the start of this game. Barron has had a big tackle at the line of scrimmage, and also deflected a pass that ended up being an easy interception for Terrance Brooks.
Second Quarter:
Steve Sarkisian one with a complex play call to start the second quarter and it looked like there was a good amount of miscommunication across the board. With a missed block, among other things, Murphy faced pressure quickly and paid the price for being loose with the ball – with a fumble. It was another learning moment for Murphy, who will have to grow up fast under the big lights with Quinn Ewers being sidelined for a little while.
To end the half on offense, Murphy bounced back and delivered a nice vote of confidence to Steve Sarkisian by delivering a 30-yard touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell. Again, with the young quarterback presumably needing to start for a couple of weeks, fans must be patient as every single snap at the position is valuable for his growth.
Halftime Thoughts:
If you are Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns, the best sounding option, up 21-3, must be to let Jonathon Brooks do his thing and run up the score via the ground. While the Longhorns have a decently-sized lead, Brooks can help to drain the clock and keep the Texas defense off of the field. And, on the more drastic side of things, doing so may enable freshman quarterback Arch Manning to register a few snaps as the backup quarterback.
Third Quarter:
Since his early interception, Maalik Murphy has done a solid job of not forcing unnecessary passes. He has settled for the check down pass on a few occasions, but those have resulted in positive gains.
Fourth Quarter:
Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe has had to deal with a considerable amount of ridicule during his time on the Forty Acres, because of his walk-on status, however the Westlake product has always been a baller. In the fourth quarter, Taaffe set up the Longhorns offense with great field position after intercepting BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis. Since his days in high school, Taaffe has been known to have a nose for the ball, and seemingly always comes up strong in big moments.
