The Texas Longhorns are coming off a much-needed bye week after the devastating loss to Oklahoma in Dallas. Not only was it a tough loss mentally for the Longhorns, they left the game extremely banged up. Tight end JT Sanders was clearly hobbled from his injury sustained in the Kansas game, CB Ryan Watts didn’t play due to a hamstring issue and center Jake Majors left in the first quarter with an ankle injury and didn’t return. The bye week came at a great time and hopefully the Longhorns can stay healthy for the second half of the schedule.
It’s time for Texas to move on from the Oklahoma loss and focus on getting to the Big 12 title game in Arlington. That starts this week with a Houston Cougars team coming off a thrilling upset against West Virginia. Texas is clearly more talented than Houston but the ‘Horns must still execute to win on Saturday at TDECU Stadium.
Fix the Red Zone Woes
Texas has excelled in many facets on offense this year, but red zone production isn’t one of them. That was certainly the case against Oklahoma and arguably the reason they ended up losing. In three red zone trips Texas scored just 3 points. That is crushing to the team and it finally caught up with them in Dallas. If the Longhorns are going to run the table the rest of the season, they must score more touchdowns in the red zone. If they don’t fix these issues Texas could easily lose another game or two.
Many will ask what is wrong and how do you fix it? First, the run game. Jonathon Brooks has been great this year and is a high caliber running back, but he isn’t necessarily a goal line back. Ideally freshman Cedric Baxter could fill that role but he has been banged up a lot this year. Another option is sophomore Savion Red. Texas broke out the Red-Cat package against Oklahoma and it had great success. Red was a high school quarterback and he has the ability to throw as we saw against Oklahoma. Red is likely the most physical back of the group.
Stop Donovan Smith on 4th Down
Donovan Smith is Houston’s starting quarterback and last year was the starting quarterback for Texas Tech when they beat the Longhorns. Tech’s head coach Joey Mcguire left no stone unturned as he went for it 8 times on 4th down and converted 6 of them in last year’s contest. In the Red Raiders’ 3 point victory, the 4th down offense played a large part. Smith had nearly 400 yards of total offense and proved too much for Texas to handle. He has been a solid addition to the Dana Holgorsen’s Cougars and against West Virginia he completed his last 16 passes including a Hail Mary touchdown to win.
Holgorsen may not have survived to coach the Texas game without the comeback victory last week as his seat was already hot. That means he will be pulling out all the stops to beat the Longhorns. Texas has to be prepared for trick plays, fake field goals and punts, along with a barrage of 4th down attempts.
Texas Defense Needs to Make Plays
Prior to the Oklahoma game, the Texas defense looked elite and one of the best in the country. Then came the Oklahoma and we saw missed tackles, blown assignments and dropped interceptions. When those things happen they snowball and what should be an interception turns into 7 points because a safety can’t complete the catch. With how bad the communication in the secondary was on the final drive in Dallas there is no doubt it was cleaned up in the off-week. Houston has some skill players who will test the Texas secondary.
The Cougars will throw it around plenty which will give the defense opportunities to create turnovers and get sacks. Texas has forced just one fumble on defense and Steve Sarkisian made sure in his media availability to point that out. If you can’t get sacks or turnovers as a defense, you essentially have to play perfect football. Houston is an opponent Texas should be able to enforce their will onto not just on offense but on defense also.
