Entering Saturday’s game, the storylines were all about Texas’s potentially last trip to Lubbock as a member of the Big 12 Conference and Quinn Ewers’ pregame warmups. Unfortunately for the Longhorns, those will certainly not be the headlines following Saturday’s contest as Texas Tech was able to deliver an ugly 37-34 upset victory, one in which the Longhorns had every chance to win.
Despite of the seemingly-decent statistics from Texas’s game against Tech, the film will tell a different story. On offense, sophomore quarterback Hudson Card looked decent for most of the night but was unable to lead the troops when they needed a spark. However, the same can be said for other Longhorns, such as junior running back Bijan Robinson, who fumbled away any chance of a Longhorns victory on the team’s sole offensive drive in overtime. Unfortunately for Texas, besides Hudson Card’s second quarter interception, and Robinson’s fumble in overtime, the two players had an ‘alright’ Saturday. Although, needless to say, ‘alright’ Saturdays are oftentimes just not enough.
Aided by the offense’s inability to move the football during the second half, the Longhorns defense looked gassed against the Red Raiders, allowing Texas Tech sophomore quarterback Donovan Smith to throw for 331 yards and two passing touchdowns. Additionally, what really ended up hurting the Longhorns on Saturday was the team’s struggle to stop the Red Raiders on fourth down. In fact, the Red Raiders converted on six out of their eight, yes eight, fourth down attempts. However, even if you were to disregard Tech’s fourth down efficiency, the Longhorns defense was certainly not on their A-game with plenty of missed tackles, and opportunities, sprinkled throughout the contest.
Ultimately, when the Longhorns started to show signs of life against Texas Tech, it was too late. Hudson Card was able to move the team into field goal range right before time expired in regulation on Saturday, enabling a Bert Auburn time-expiring field goal which tied up the game at 34 points apiece. However, more often than not, the offense and, team in general, did not look like a squad worthy of being ranked during the second half of Saturday’s game. Even during the early stages of the contest, the Longhorns defense was unable to contain the Red Raiders as they had already scored 14 points with 12:06 left in the first quarter. But, following the tumultuous start, Hudson Card was able to turn things around with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy while also displaying a rapport with Jordan Whittington and Roschon Johnson. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, Bijan Robinson had his moments – including a 40-yard touchdown rush late in the third quarter which gave the Longhorns a 31-17 lead over Texas Tech.
Despite of these moments, there was simply not enough going on for the Longhorns on Saturday – even though the Red Raiders routinely found themselves flirting with fate through their multiple fourth down attempts, as well as two fumbles which were not recovered by the Longhorns.
Now, following the team’s loss to Tech, Texas’s Big 12 Conference title hopes are already going to come down to the wire, with Texas still needing to compete against the conference’s juggernauts later in the season. Is this Longhorns team the same as those of recent years? Next weekend, we will see as Texas hosts West Virginia, potentially with their season-opening starting quarterback Quinn Ewers back in the lineup.
Game Stats:
- QB Hudson Card: 20/30, 277 passing yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT
- RB Bijan Robinson: 101 rushing yards & 2 TDs
- WR Xavier Worthy: 3 receptions, 50 yards & 1 TD
- DB Anthony Cook: 11 tackles
