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TEAM PLAYER Roschon Johnson’s selfless move to RB has been a key to the Texas run game.
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Answering the Call | by Mike Blackwell Roshon Johnson’s move from QB to RB was best for the team.
Opportunistic Horns find Success in Morgantown
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Game Story by Joe Cook 5 Quick Thoughts by Ian Boyd
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The Swiss Army Knife | by Mike Blackwell Joseph Ossai can do it all on defense.
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A Rough Day at the Fair Game Story by Joe Cook Post Mortem by Scipio Tex
Texas Eeks Out Win Over Kansas |
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by Joe Cook
Turnovers, Poor Defense Cost Texas in Fort Worth
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Game Story by Joe Cook Post Mortem by Scipio Tex
Publishers -- Michael Pearle, Clendon Ross | Managing Editor--Clendon Ross | Editor-- Mike Blackwell InsideTexas.com Editor -- Justin Wells | Lead Writer -- Joe Cook | Contributor -- Ian Boyd Designer/Photographer -- Will Gallagher | Recruiting Analyst -- Eric Nahlin To Subscribe/Customer Service -- Phone: 512-659-8167 | Email: help@insidetexas.com October - 2019
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ANSWERIN
Sam Ehlinger, in his own Sam Ehlinger way, could not resist. Across the line of scrimmage from him awaited the LSU defense, and yet for a second of time, Ehlinger ignored the snarling Tigers long enough to appreciate who he saw standing next to him in front of 100,000 people. October - 2019
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G THE CALL By Mike Blackwell
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- Roschon Johnson -
O
nly a step or two away from him stood Roschon
Oh, and he also finished his career as the school’s second all-
Johnson - or, rather, “quarterback” Roschon Johnson.
time leading rusher at 4,900 yards, a fact which - unbeknownst
Only now, Mr. Johnson was aligned in the University
to him - would become something of significance later on in
of Texas backfield next to Ehlinger, the starting quarterback, in
2019.
the position of running back. He was a part of 85 touchdowns in high school - running and/or A scant few days before, Johnson was the team’s third-string
throwing - a dual threat juggernaut who was listed on every-
quarterback, but now, thanks to Cliche 101 that claims that
body’s “top recruits” list. For good measure, he was a quick
“injury is a part of football”, Johnson was a running back.
study in the classroom (a trait that would also prove of great value) - an honor roll student who has maintained an A-average
Ehlinger has seen plenty in his lifetime as a quarterback, but it’s
on the Forty Acres.
not often that he has seen one of his fellow quarterbacks line up next to him as a running back.
By the end of fall camp prior to the season, the Longhorns’ running back room was thinning rapidly due to injuries. Keaontay
“I looked over and it was Roschon and I was like, ‘Oh, what’s up
Ingram. Kirk Johnson. Daniel Young. Jordan Whittington. The
bro?’”, Ehlinger told reporters. “This is pretty cool. We were just
“next man up” mantra that football coaches love to spew was
sitting in the same room a few weeks before.”
not “no man up” for Texas.
To say the Roschon Johnson journey in 2019 has been unique
Enter Roschon Johnson.
is the understatement of all understatements, and that’s not an understatement.
“If you need me,” Johnson texted to Herman prior to the opening game against Louisiana Tech, “play me.” Herman not surprisingly called Johnson his “break glass in case of emergency” option. Ideally, in a perfect world, Johnson would’ve spent the 2019 season as a third-string quarterback to Ehlinger and backup Casey Thompson, gaining a redshirt year and waiting his turn like quarterbacks from California to Maine and all parts in between. With four running backs on the mend, 2019 was not a “perfect world” for the Longhorns. “If I’m playing running back right now, I’m a running back,” Johnson said of the switch. “Simple as that.”
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The 6-2, 220-pound Johnson came to Texas from Port Neches
Johnson stepped off 63 yards in his first two games against
Grove as an All-American quarterback in January of this year,
Louisiana Tech and LSU, and gained 121 yards on 21 carries
an all-state player who finished his high school career as the
against West Virginia to record his first 100-yard rushing game
team’s all-time leading passer with 7,710 yards through the air.
as a Longhorn, the most by a Texas true freshman since Chris
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- Roschon Johnson -
Warren has 276 yards against Texas Tech in 2015, an effort that resulted in him being named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. His first receiving touchdown came against Rice, and he had a huge 57-yard run against Oklahoma in the loss to the Sooners. His first rushing touchdown came in a home win against Oklahoma State. Herman is certainly glad he received that initial “play me” text from Johnson, who is now a full-fledged running back. “He’s taken to it like a fish in water,” Herman gushed before the LSU game. “He’s a really competitive guy, too, so when he makes a mistake he’s hard on himself. It’s like, ‘Ro, you’ve been playing this position for 10 days, we kind of understand you’re not going to be perfect.’ He’s tough. I have no doubt that he will play well, regardless of the competition just because he’s that fierce of a competitor.”
Being named a finalist gave Johnson and his parents Schwanna and Ronald - a chance to travel to Washington D.C.
Herman isn’t the only one impressed with Johnson’s almostimmediate grasp of the new position, and with his success.
for the awards ceremony. The trip included an eye-opening journey through the city, allowing Johnson for partake in a rich cultural exposure both he and his parents greatly enjoyed.
“We put him back there one day and all of a sudden he made some guys miss, he’s running 21 miles an hour and we’re like,
Clearly Johnson is more than just a football player, and this trip emphasized that point.
‘He looks pretty good,’” said Texas offensive coordinator Tim Beck. “He was having fun. I think he realized where he fit in the quarterback room. He said, ‘Coach, I’ll do whatever I need to do.’” At some point, Herman and Johnson must decide what position he will settle into, but his success in 2019 will make it hard to move back. Whatever happens, Johnson seems content.
And hearing Johnson talk about his parents provides a window into perhaps the biggest reason he has been able to change positions on the field so successfully: his character. “My family is special...my dad, he takes pride in making sure that I know my cultural roots,” Johnson said. “It’s my first time being up here. It’s been a lot of fun. The whole experience...to see the history that DC has, to have my mom and dad up here
“Honestly, I’ll do anything for this team,” Johnson says. “I’m just
and have them see everything...it’s a privilege to be with them.”
rolling with the flow right now.” Needless to say, the Johnson parents were thrilled with their son That flow included being named one of five finalists earlier in
in DC.
2019 for the Franklin D. Watkins Memorial Award, which is presented by the National Alliance of African American Athletes, an honor that high school athletes apply for and are selected for
“He has really been dedicated and focused, not only with his athleticism, but with his academics as well,” Schwanna said.
based on a number of factors: grade-point average, personal statements, extracurricular activities, community service and letters of recommendation.
Ronald said, “It’s an amazing event. It’s a proud moment for me as a father.”
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- Roschon Johnson Mother and father have obviously been proud of the successful transition their son has made from quarterback to running back, too. On the field, though, the opinions of parents and coaches might very well take a back seat to the one group of people whom Johnson perhaps plays for with the most vigor: teammates. Those teammates are certainly familiar with the Texas tradition of “red stripes”, which adorn freshmen helmets until they earn the right to remove them. Johnson followed the removal of his own red stripe with words that were not lost on his teammates, who likes fans and coaches have been amazed by his transition. “He stood up when he got his red stripe off and was like, ‘I will do anything for you guys. I will play any position. It doesn’t matter. Put me on the field, I just want to play,” said Texas center Zach Shackelford. “He pretty much poured his heart out.” To paraphrase Ehlinger, that’s what’s up, Bro.
YOU HYD R AT E
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TURNOVERS FUEL BY JOE COOK
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D’Shawn Jamison
L WIN OVER WVU
MORGANTOWN, WV — Through one quarter, it was 7-7. After the first half, Texas led 21-14. The Longhorn offense didn’t look pretty, but the defense held its own over the first 30 minutes. After halftime, Todd Orlando’s side of the ball continued to pace the way, and the Longhorn offense finally caught up.
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T
texas vs west virginia
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hanks to two interceptions from
other in various ways. West Virginia
D’Shawn Jamison, one from
was able to score first with a 44-yard
The Longhorns entered halftime with
B.J. Foster, and one from Ayodele
touchdown pass from Austin Kendall
a lead and with an advantage in first
Adeoye, Texas was able to give the
to Sam James. They were put into
downs, rushing yardage, passing
ball back to its offense several times
position thanks to several Texas
yardage, total offense, turnovers,
with short fields.
penalties and missed tackles.
time of possession, third down con-
Texas’ 21 points off those turnovers
Texas struck back with a Malcolm
boosted the Longhorns to a 42-31
Epps touchdown reception right after
win over West Virginia.
Adeoye’s pick. Kendall responded
version percentage, and red zone
with a touchdown run following a
conversion rate. A game of hot potato between the two offenses broke out at the beginning of the second half. Texas began by punting after losing six yards on six plays. They immediately got it back thanks to Jamison’s one-handed interception. “I saw the ball come up and I knew I had to jump up and make the play,” Jamison said. Texas couldn’t capitalize on the turnover, and Ehlinger offered up his second pick of the year in the third quarter hot potato game, throwing deep to Burt in triple coverage. The Mountaineers would only manage a field goal as a result of their only
Sam Ehlinger
forced turnover. The trading of possession continued into the fourth quarter when Foster
“We played great defense in the
60-yard drive.
picked off Kendall at the Mountain-
second half when the offense kind
eer 18. Texas scored three plays
of sputtered around in those first
Sam Ehlinger then helped Texas
later on a Devin Duvernay rush
couple of drives,” Texas head coach
take a lead they wouldn’t surrender
where the senior slot superstar lined
Tom Herman said. “We had the lead
with a 13-yard pass to John Burt, fol-
up beside Ehlinger in the backfield.
at halftime, never gave it up, and I
lowed by a touchdown run of his own
He received the handoff and fol-
thought our guys responded well to
for 13 yards.
lowed his blocking into the end zone
some early adversity and a bit of a slow start.”
from 13 yards out. That touchdown run put Ehlinger in a club with four other Longhorn
Jamison’s evening pestering Kendall
The first half was a mostly even
quarterbacks who have rushed for
wasn’t through yet, as he intercepted
affair, with each team helping the
20 touchdowns in their careers.
another pass on the second WVU
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play following Duvernay’s rush-
Atascocita High School, Todd Mo-
“Things haven’t turned out exactly
ing TD. That set up the play of the
ses. Cosmi spoke about how much
like I planned, but honestly I’ll do
game.
Moses meant to him after the game,
anything for this team,” Johnson
and was proud to have scored on
said. “Whether it be playing running
Herman sent in the play call of
a play named after one of his men-
back, wherever. I’m just rolling with
“Moses.” Ehlinger rolled right, but
tors.
the flow right now.”
He started to position himself a few
“When they put in the play, it was
Johnson didn’t end up with a touch-
yards behind Ehlinger. As Texas’
because of him,” Cosmi said. “He
down on the evening. Though he
QB rolled right, so too did most of
texted me and said ‘don’t screw
ran hard in the fourth quarter,
the WVU defense.
it up!’ I got a text from him saying
left tackle Sam Cosmi stayed put.
great job in not screwing it up.” Ehlinger turned and lateralled to
Texas’ punctuating score was made by Ehlinger. On third and three with
Cosmi. He followed blocking from
When Texas sought to put the
under four minutes remaining, he
Parker Braun then rumbled over a
game away, they looked toward
ran in from 23 yards out to send
WVU defender into the end zone
their freshman quarterback-turned-
West Virginia’s homecoming crowd
to put Texas up 18 one-third of the
reliable rusher in Roschon Johnson.
of 62,069 to an early exit.
way through the final quarter.
He entered the fourth quarter with
The play is called “Moses” after Cosmi’s offensive line coach at
79 yards rushing and finished it with
The Mountaineers scored one
121.
more touchdown late to make it an 11-point game, but Texas recovered
Sam Cosmi
October - 2019
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Join the Conversation Roschon Johnson
multiple onside attempts and was in no risk at the end. Now, the Longhorns turn their attention toward rival Oklahoma in what should be a top ten matchup in the Cotton Bowl. The game will have huge ramifications for the Big 12 Conference and potentially for the College Football Playoff. It’ll match Herman against Lincoln Riley. Both coaches have one game over the other in the Cotton Bowl, while Riley holds the tiebreaker with his victory in the 2018 Big 12 Championship. The Texas players joined visiting Longhorn fans in a “Beat OU” chant prior to the Eyes of Texas postgame. It’s probably been something they’ve been waiting to say for weeks. Now, it’s their full focus.
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October - 2019
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5
QUICK
vs
thoughts by Ian Boyd
Texas kept scoring in this game, finishing with 42 points and prevent-
X position. If Collin Johnson weren’t due to come back next week I
ing West Virginia’s attempts to exploit the Longhorns’ special teams
imagine they’d have explored moving Devin Duvernay over there in
late from holding much relevance for the final outcome.
order to start Jake Smith at the H.
You had to wonder if Tom Herman determined during or after the
The Longhorns settled in though and put together a 200/200 rushing
2018 season that it might be better to pour on a few extra points
and passing day with Sam Ehlinger going 18-33 with 211 yards at 6.4
when feasible in Big 12 contests this season. No one in this league
ypa with two passing touchdowns, an interception, and two rushing
will accept a beating like a gentleman, they will keep throwing hay-
touchdowns.
makers and welcome the possibility of a 55-24 final score if it means they have a better shot at winning 56-55.
None of those stats reflect Ehlinger’s throwback to left tackle Sam Cosmi, which along with Ehlinger’s final rushing touchdown felt like
Despite a nice final score, it wasn’t a particularly strong performance
a little bit of a message for the West Virginia program and their tens
from the Longhorn offense. Sam Ehlinger threw an interception try-
of thousands of exuberant fans.
ing to force a ball down the middle of the field and the offense frequently stalled due to a strong performance by Darius and Dante
“You thought you wanted a rival, but really you don’t want any part
Stills and Texas’ own inability to find a reliable receiver to field at the
of this.”
#1: TEXAS SURVIVED THE SCRIPT! Way back in the day Texas used to be coached by a man named
West Virginia had a nice opening script, as @Scipio Tex noted
Mack Brown, whom you may know today as the head coach of
that they would, and after their initial drives their tempo slowed
North Carolina. Mack had a saying about the need to “survive the
and their precision on offense slowly went over a cliff. By the
surge” in playing in games like this against West Virginia. The
end of the game West Virginia was curiously lining up in TE sets
thinking was that opponents often had a knack for throwing some
that invited Texas’ linebackers into the box where they could
hard punches Texas’ way even if the Longhorns built an early
erase what had once been a solid Mountaineer rushing attack.
lead. The dreaded “surge” could flip momentum in a game and
Obviously they had run out of spread sets, or otherwise lost
threaten to steal victories from incautious Texas teams.
confidence in their ability to maintain success against Texas as the Longhorns grew wise to the call sheet that Neal Brown had
These days the more fitting admonition for Texas seems to be to
brought into the game.
“survive the script!” Opposing offenses usually start games on a script, a series of play-calls that were dialed up to maximize
It’s been an encouraging sign for this defense that they’ve been
an offense’s ability to hit scouted weak points and to do so with
solid in Big 12 play (through two games) at clamping down on
tempo. The announcers in this game were confused by West
opposing offenses after taking the best punch early. The Moun-
Virginia’s lack of tempo over the course of the game to match
taineers had 367 passing yards on the day and finished with 30
the tempo they utilized early in the game. The problem is that it’s
points thanks to a pair of late, largely meaningless TD drives.
hard to play fast with predetermined calls when you don’t have a
Overall Texas played a solid game on defense, holding the
script ready to help guarantee leverage on all your plays and an
Mountaineers to a 4-14 rate on third downs and of course picking
easy time for your players lining up and getting ready to go.
off lifetime Sooner Austin Kendall four times and giving Texas some useful short fields that put this game out away.
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Moro
#2: THE STILLS BROTHERS AND WEST VIRGINIA GAMEPLAN REALLY MUCKED UP THE WORKS West Virginia parked the Stills brothers in either A-gap for much of the game and their quickness and power caused a lot of problems for the Texas rushing attack. Roschon Johnson will get a lot of the credit for solving the Mountaineer run defense, and he deserves credit for demonstrating some really smart and patient running while turning 21 carries into 121 yards at 5.8 ypc. The schematic solution involved Texas largely simplifying the plan to running the base tight zone play and moving into a few different formations to work matchups while surely coaching up Ro on the sideline on how to patiently find the creases as they opened up. Herb Hand seemed to determine that West Virginia’s run blitzes and quality at DT was best handled with careful execution of the base scheme. If you didn’t notice, Jared Wiley got a lot of snaps down the stretch and he blocked well. You may also have noticed that Texas picked up a few key third downs by running the tight zone play for Ehlinger, but with the RB pretending to take the ball before turning into a blocker on the backside of the play while Ehlinger ran into the cutback lane behind the TE block and then Sam Cosmi/Parker Braun tandem. You can find the replay for that one by watching his late touchdown run. Texas needs Collin Johnson back next week. They experimented in this game with Brennan Eagles and Marcus Washington at the X position rather than Malcolm Epps, but they lacked a feel for the spacing and timing with Ehlinger on some of the routes that can become unstoppable there. There should have been a killing to be made outside against the Mountaineer coverages had Johnson been out there feasting in space underneath the cornerbacks’ drops. This also has had ramifications for the empty passing game and Devin Duvernay in particular, who’s getting a lot of attention these days from teams that understand how the Longhorns are trying to get him open on those key downs. Texas still finished 10-18 on third down because of Ehlinger’s quality but it’s going to get a lot easier when they can field a second receiver that opponents have to double. The upside to this offense from adding Johnson to the mix is pretty substantial, which is promising for Texas’ prospects of facing the Sooners in Dallas. Ojomo (98) and T’Vondre Sweat (93)
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- 5 Q uick T houghts | W est V irginia -
#3: JOE OSSAI WAS A STAR ON DEFENSE IN THIS GAME Texas had an interesting gameplan for this game, coming
work chewing up grass.
out in a 3-3-5 nickel package but playing the inverted Tampa 2 from that look rather than their normal set in which the B-
The defensive line played well, Brandon Jones was his
backer is in the box on the edge.
usual erasing self, and we’ll get to some of the playmaking from the secondary in a moment but this was a unique
Joe Ossai was the strong side or “sam” linebacker in this
gameplan that put Ossai in some interesting spots and he
game and so he traveled with the passing strength of the of-
handled it well.
fensive formation. In layman’s terms he lined up like a nickel in this game, regularly flexed out in space over slot receivers
Texas’ reasoning was likely related to an expectation that
while
West Virginia was going to mix in endless sweeps, screens, and quick throws to manufacture gains on the perimeter
Texas kept three safeties deep and over the top. That’s a
in lieu of a run game and set up some deep shots for their
tough assignment for a big guy like him but he led the team
passing game.
with eight tackles, including seven solo stops and a TFL that he incurred when the Mountaineers foolishly started playing
So the answer was to have Ossai patrolling the perimeter
with a TE that invited him into the box.
and putting his power and tackling ability to work blowing up perimeter blocking. It seemed to work out pretty well watch-
We’re talking about a player who’s a natural DE/OLB that’s
ing live and eventually West Virginia opted to have him play
played weakside linebacker and space-ranging nickel line-
in the box more by using a TE, which is as good as a hat tip
backer this season for Texas and never looked out of place
to the sophomore linebacker.
once the ball was snapped and his lanky frame was put to
Joseph Ossai
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#4: BIG DAY FOR D’SHAWN JAMISON AND THE YOUNG DBS
Chris Brown (15 ) and Anthony Cook (4)
This wasn’t a flawless day for the Texas secondary, obvi-
Anthony Cook held up pretty well and definitely showed
ously. They struggled with some of the dropback schemes,
some comfort with the run support aspects of cornerback
they got beat some when cornerbacks were isolated 1-on-1
play in this inverted Tampa 2 scheme.
outside, and the tackling in the flats was very good at times and spotty at others.
Another major benefit to Orlando’s decision to run the 3-3-5 in this game was how it allowed the secondary to rep the
However, the four picks were instrumental to the winning
inverted Tampa 2 playbook and continue to get a good feel
margin and the confidence built up by D’Shawn Jamison
for how to defend space and concepts from those defensive
and Anthony Cook was likely invaluable.
calls despite Texas playing a nickel package rather than the dime.
Jamison’s early interception was an astounding play and he made a lot of good tackles over the course of the game
The confidence and reps that Jamison and Cook in particu-
before adding another interception later on when Austin
lar were able to get in this game were enormous and could
Kendall lost his mind.
potentially be the difference next weekend.
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#5: IT’S TIME FOR OKLAHOMA Now seems as good a place as any to note that this coming contest with the Sooners in the Cotton Bowl is like a playoff game. This game probably won’t determine the Big 12 championship, unless something goes terribly wrong (or right) the Longhorns and Sooners will finish atop the Big 12 standings and have a rematch in Jerry World in December. Obviously that game will determine the Big 12 championship, which is the main goal for Texas this season. Above all else, Texas needs to win that game. However, as of now this game stands as the obvious difference between an 11-2 season and a 12-1 finish. The former would be momentous and certainly a successful year, but the latter could mean a trip to the playoffs. If Texas loses the Red River Shootout the main goal for the season remains intact, which is to win a Big 12 championship. If they can beat the Sooners in Dallas and then win out then they could pursue the goal of making the National playoffs. So while the addition of a league championship game has regrettably dulled the impact of the RRS game, this one is still going to very passionate and meaningful for the season. We’ll break it down over the coming week, but the Longhorns
D’Shawn Jamison(5) and Zach Shackelford (56)
who managed to protect a cover on the road in West Virginia today appear as well prepared for this game as any other I’ve seen this decade.
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BURNT ORANGE SWISS ARMY KNIFE By Mike Blackwell
The injuries are borderline incomprehensible. Shoulders. Ankles. A knee. A broken forearm here. A dislocated collarbone there. And then there is Texas linebacker Joseph Ossai. The University of Texas defensive unit has been, literally and figuratively, besieged in 2019. An epidemic of injuries - and, as has been suggested by many, poor schemes and game plans - has resulted in a defense that has struggled against the run and the pass. Umm, and also, a defense that has struggled to tackle, missing 20+ tackles, for example, against the Oklahoma Sooners. And then, as we mentioned earlier, there is Joseph Ossai. October - 2019
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joseph ossai
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If you are a Texas football fan - or coach, or player, or
“With kids, if there’s something they don’t understand,
“Joseph Ossai” to your list of blessings as you enter the
Ossai told Texassports.com. “I had to go through that, but
you just like the color of burnt orange - you should add
2019 holiday season. He has been all things and everything to the Longhorn defense.
The thought of Joseph Ossai becoming THE dominant
they question and sometimes bully, so I got bullied a lot,” I overcame it and I would say I really started to overcome it and find my voice when I started playing football in the seventh grade.”
figure on the Texas defense is something no one could
Ossai, who it’s safe to say isn’t bullied nearly as much
can’t possibly be given its proper respect within the
the game after school each day in Nigeria. He undoubtedly
fathom only a few short years ago. His story is one that boundaries of a magazine, so we will do the best we can. Ossai is a native of Nigeria, where he lived before arriving in the United States at the age of 10. His mother,
Emmanuela, was chosen in the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery program after applying for a spot, and the Ossai
anymore, began his athletic as a soccer player, playing
gained the nimble afoot talent long before he strapped on his first shoulder pads.
Incredibly bright, Ossai picked up American football with relative ease, thanks in part to the tutoring of his uncle.
family arrived in Houston in late 2008.
“It was all new to me and I learned the rules of football as
The real life Coming to America story for Joseph began
someone would do something and the ref would throw a
with a 10-year-old being bullied in his new home.
I played,” Ossai said. “Over the years of playing, whenever flag, I’d say, ‘You can’t do that? I didn’t know you couldn’t do that.’”
Ossai has learned the rules more thoroughly
while also becoming the most valuable player on a defense that has seen one player after another after another, et.al., go down this
season. The one constant has been Ossai, the anchor.
Texas coach Tom Herman is not surprised by
Ossai’s worth to a defense that has spent the
last month or so in many ways just holding on for dear life.
“You’re not going to find a guy that plays
harder on defense and is more suited to do multiple things like he is,” Herman said.
Not only has he played hard, but he’s also had
to use his keen intellect in order to play in various spots: inside the tackles, in the box, out-
side the box, versus the opponents’ offensive tackles, etc. etc. etc.
He can rush from the edge and also stuff the
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joseph ossai
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run. And perhaps most importantly, he’s stayed on the field throughout the season.
The results of his versatility are clear: he leads the team
with 45 tackles, 32 of which are solo. He’s got 6.5 tackles for a loss of yardage, and has added two sacks and five
quarterback hurries. Heck, he’s even snared a pair of interceptions. He led the team in tackles in last season’s Sugar Bowl win against Georgia.
“I’ve known that it’s going to be a challenge to play in this defense since the first day I got in it,” Ossai told Inside Texas. “It’s not really much to me. I just put my head
down, study during the week, put in some extra time, and I just hope I can go out there and produce and help the team as much as I can.”
Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando is not surprised at Ossai’s productivity, but in a season full of challenges,
he’s certainly appreciative of Ossai’s ability to wreck shop in the opponent’s backfield.
“The expectation for him is to make the plays he should
and then make four or five that are unique,” Orlando says. “I think that’s the one thing that can spark a defense, the big time guys.
“Joe’s always like, ‘Give me more, I can do it. Show me what to do. He’s always eager that way.”
Ossai is eager to learn more because he CAN learn more.
The 6-4, 245-pound sophomore was named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll last spring, and wants to major in Arts and Entertainment Technology with a minor in Computer Science.
“AET comes into play with app design and maybe some video game designing,” Ossai said. “There are a lot of
options and I’m really enjoying it. With a background in
computer science and programming, I can really take it wherever I want.”
That ability to learn has not only won over teachers and
“There were a lot of things he had to learn when he first
came on campus, but the way he goes about doing things, he’s getting better each day,” says Texas defensive
lineman Malcolm Roach. “Watching film with him, he asks
questions and I talk about how I see the game and discuss tips he could use for formations.
“He’s one of the hardest workers on the team and he’s getting better and better every game.”
As someone who has already overcome a lot just to literally be here, Ossai doesn’t seem too concerned about his workload as the Longhorns head into the stretch run of the season.
“It doesn’t faze me too much.”
coaches, but teammates as well.
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OU DEFENSE KEY IN BY JOE COOK
Entering Texas’ game against Oklahoma, questions existed about the Sooner defense under new defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. UCLA, South Dakota, and even Texas Tech didn’t have the talent of the Longhorn offense. The common inquiry was what would happen when the Sooner defense faced an offense composed of talented players? October - 2019
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N WIN OVER TEXAS
Sam Ehlinger
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- red river showdown -
O
n Saturday, they answered those questions with nine
that culminated in a 49-yard field goal from Cameron Dicker.
sacks, 15 tackles for loss, and a defensive effort that led
the Sooners to a 34-27 victory.
It was a dominant defensive performance by a unit previously lambasted for its woes.
It was the first time this season Oklahoma scored fewer than 40 points and won.
“They are really, really good and played really, really well,” Texas head coach Tom Herman said. “We did not.”
Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley is thought to be one of the most successful offensive minds at any level of football. He’s
The Sooner offense moved down the field easily in the first
produced Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks and first overall
half, accumulating 260 yards of total offense. Oklahoma’s Jalen
picks in the NFL Draft.
Hurts netted a touchdown pass on his first drive in this rivalry when he found CeeDee Lamb for a one-yard score.
Even he noted the key to Oklahoma’s victory was the side of the ball he hired Grinch to oversee in the offseason.
However, they would only add a second quarter field goal to cap their first half of scoring. Despite giving up plenty of yards and looking overmatched on both sides of the ball, Texas entered halftime trailing just 10-3. Texas’ offense picked up the pace in the second half with 24 points and 227 yards of total offense. It wasn’t pretty, especially when one drive included two false start penalties in the shadow of the goalposts. Ehlinger rarely had time to throw, and when he did he still often couldn’t find an open receiver. Oklahoma’s consistent defensive effort made life difficult for Ehlinger. His stat line is evident of that. He was 26-for-38 for 210 yards, good for a paltry 5.5 yards per attempt. He rushed the ball 23 times with two scores and finished with a final tally of -9 yards due to the nine sacks.
Roschon Johnson
The only Texas rusher who had a solid day in the Cotton Bowl was freshman Roschon Johnson. He “Defensively just was awesome,” Riley said after the game. “We
had eight carries for 95 yards, including a 57-yard run in the
tackled well, covered them well. Obviously, we were able to get
third quarter that put Texas in position to tie the game at 10.
quite a bit of pressure on the quarterback, which is probably the
Johnson did that with a four-yard run a couple of plays later.
key to the game.” Johnson’s burst through the middle of the field was the only
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The Sooner defense limited Texas QB Sam Ehlinger to just 71
bright spot of the day for the Texas offense. The Longhorns
passing yards in the first half. The Longhorns as a team had 83
rushed for 100 yards on 36 attempts, good for 2.77 yards per
yards of total offense, with 48 of them coming on the final drive
carry.
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- red river showdown -
Subtract that 57-yard run and Texas rushed for 1.1 yards per
LSU, and West Virginia tallied huge yardage totals against the
carry.
Longhorn defense and often evaded defenders who tried to make tackles.
“I think the scheme is not terribly complex in terms of knowing where they’re going to be, but they’re extremely well coached
Those problems were made all too obvious against the elite
and confident in how to get there, where to get there, and how
Oklahoma offense.
to fit different runs and routes and coverage,” Herman said. “You can tell that they really know what they’re doing.” Complex or not, it was a puzzle Texas couldn’t figure out. Where the Oklahoma defense shined, the Texas defense fizzled. It’s expected for the Sooners to score a bunch of points and put up bunch of yards on offense. It’s what Riley’s teams have done in his entire Oklahoma tenure. His team rushed for 276, passed for 235, and fin-
CeeDee Lamb
ished with over 500 yards. They had plenty of help from the Texas defense. UT’s tackling was putrid. Lamb was a primary beneficiary of that notching three touchdowns and 171 yards on 10 receptions. On his third quarter touchdown in response to Texas’ tying score, he was left wide open after a flea flicker for Hurts. He hauled in the pass and Texas had him surrounded, but the Longhorns failed to wrap up the star receiver. He bounced off a Longhorn or two and jaunted into the end zone for a 51-yard score to give Oklahoma a lead it wouldn’t surrender. “Losing is not a failure unless you refuse or don’t learn from the It happened once again, this time early in the fourth. Lamb
things that you did poorly,” Herman said. “As long as we do that
looked corralled near the sideline inside the Texas 10-yard line.
and continue to improve – I told our team we’ve got a team com-
He slipped through several defenders, and added six to the
ing into our place next week and they could care less what the
scoreboard for the third time.
outcome of this game was, and they shouldn’t. They are going to give us their best shot.”
Texas struggled to not only bring down Lamb, but anyone wearing a white jersey.
Herman has often repeated that his plan to win games at Texas includes playing great defense. It was part of a successful plan
Todd Orlando’s defense showed deficiencies with tackling and
to win, only it was enacted by Oklahoma.
with air raid passing attacks in earlier games. Louisiana Tech,
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POST-MORTEM |
O F F E N S E
by Scipio Tex I laughed when I heard that Tom Herman had Greg Davis in the
Despite knowing that Alex Grinch’s trademark defense plays
building last week consulting on the game plan and made the
downhill with constant stunts, twists and blitzing safeties and
expected jokes, but damned if I didn’t see Texas rolling out a
linebackers to inflict negative plays, even at the expense of
classic Longhorn circa 2000-2004 GD game plan on offense this
conceding the short passing game, getting hit by misdirection in
Saturday. 3 points at halftime, 3.5 yards per play, and no ability
all of its forms, and some solo deep shots, the Longhorns came
to game plan pressure defense told the tale.
out running (well, walking) predictable offense that screamed obvious keys to Sooner players already coming downhill; our
The opposite of deceptive is apparent. We ran apparent offense.
game planning’s greatest ambition was apparently to hit Devin
OFFENSIVE LINE
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SAM EHLINGER
Duvernay on a slow swing pass to set up 2nd and 12 or running
put on a clinic against the Browns aggressive D on Monday
inside zone into the blitz path of Kenneth Murray and a twisting
night doing all of that. Maybe ask him for a Skype session.
Neville Gallimore.
OFFENSIVE LINE Offensive game plans that allow defenders to come downhill
A total failure at the unit level, compounded by Zach Shack-
and not question their instincts are never going to work in an
elford, Junior Angilau and Derek Kerstetter all getting beaten
emotional rivalry game.
repeatedly by T/E stunts and twists.
Texas seemingly spent the entire game in 3rd and long. The
Shack repeatedly gave up penetration to Gallimore or got hard
statistic that showed that 46 plays into the game, Texas had 20
set by him, allowing a slightly delayed blitzer to sprint untouched
plays for 0 or negative yards is proof of that.
through interior gaps. Angilau did the same.
While the Texas OL played poorly and the Texas staff might
Braun allowed one late in the game when the wheels were fully
rationalize that player execution undermined their solid game
off, but was generally passable.
plan, aggression and competence flows from the game plan. Cosmi didn’t give up anything individually, but this was a conThe way you take the initiative from a downhill, shamelessly
fused, passive OL that clearly would have liked a little help from
stunting and over-pursuing defense is to install counters, misdi-
the booth in getting OU’s DL and LBs out of their track stances.
rection, constraint plays, rollback screens and fly sweep motion to punish their excesses and make them think and hesitate.
They also weren’t synced up at all with our RB and TE in protections. It even bled into our running game, where big plays
And do it fast. Hurry up, no huddle. Texas-Ex Kyle Shanahan
were available when OU guessed wrong, but the OL never got
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synced up.
Several of these throws were perfect strikes. If the receiver can’t make a play with nothing but green in front of him, you can’t
On the positive side, for the second straight week I’m able to
allow frustration to pin that on #11.
fill in my All Big 12 1st Team DL ballot with permanent marker. Gallimore, you’re my NT.
Similarly, I’m not in the “Sam shoulda done something!” camp that expects him to do much of anything besides take the sack
QUARTERBACK
when protection breaks down and 1) no Longhorn WRs have
26 of 38 for 210 yards passing is an awful demonstration of
separated or 2) they’re mindlessly running routes with their
Texas inefficiency in the passing game. 23 carries for -9 yard
backs to him instead of adjusting to the actual game.
rushing is proof of how much offense Sam had to shoulder while carrying an ineffective game plan.
Over time, Ehlinger deteriorated as he got banged up and faced relentless pressure. That’s what all QBs do - from the kid at your
No turnovers in the face of 9 sacks and multiple hits on
local high school to Tom Brady. There was no release valve in
scrambles and on release is a positive and one of the subtle
the short passing game, no creative screen game, nor anything
reasons that the game was kept deceptively close, no thanks to
to punish OU’s sprints to the QB.
Longhorn headsets.
WIDE RECEIVER/TIGHT END The QB always get a lot of flack anytime the offense fails, but
A TE who adds no value as a receiver vs. a WR replacement
on review, Ehlinger made a number of good throws that should
and who is a subpar blocker against real defenses is a net
have gone for big chunk gains, but WR drops (Johnson, Eagles
negative. Any debate on this anymore or can we move on?
x 2, Smith) in combination with Oklahoma PI’s - some called, most not - erased about 125-150 air yards and an end zone visit
Collin Johnson played well (6-82 yards) except for one big drop
or two.
that could have gone for 50+ yards and a possible TD on a 2nd half RPO. Sam’s throw was money and CJ had nothing but green, but he lost focus. He made a terrific catch when he was sandwiched (and targeted) by Sooner defenders on 3rd down and had several other excellent routes, while drawing 2 (flagged) PIs. He made himself a problem, but the Texas staff couldn’t scheme his wins outside into better production anywhere else. Epps had 3 catches for 29 yards replacing him, which is good for Epps, but also some demonstration of what was available. One has to wonder what a HUNH quick set spread passing game full
DEVIN DUVERNAY
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ROSCHON JOHNSON
of motion, fly sweeps, counters, and constraint screens would
RUNNING BACK
have yielded in setting OU’s defense on their heels.
Let’s end on a good note. Roschon Johnson came to Dallas to play football. He caught 4 balls for 23 yards and had 8 carries for
Duvernay was minimized by OU tackling and our obvious play
95 yards and a touchdown. He also ripped off a 58 yarder.where
development into a mild irritant (8-54) rather than a chain mover.
he broke through pathetic contact by the OU defender at the LOS, which is unremarkable, but makes a lovely explosive cut to
Brennan Eagles played small all game against a small Sooner
the right to find the massive seam. He made another solid move
secondary. Multiple drops in key moments and passive when he
on the sideline.
was PI’d - hoping for a flag bail out instead of forcing the issue. Needs to play his size.
We didn’t see that decisive run maximizing cut from him last week and it popped that run wide open. When he realized he wasn’t go-
Jake Smith had a drop on a Sam dime while being PI’d. Other-
ing to house it and was surrounded, he valued ball security, know-
wise, a non-factor.
ing that the Sooner DBs would try to stand him up and punch the ball. Two arms on the ball. Veteran stuff.
I emphasized in the preview that the Sooner DBs would hold that this is coached, not an accident, and all over their film - and
On the ensuing goal line TD carry, he ran through Deshaun White
that it was crucial for the staff to coach the receivers through it,
closing down from the edge like he was dooky Charmin. Good
prepare them mentally so that OU didn’t get in their heads, while
power through contact. RoJo has dog in him. He may be quiet
simultaneously lobbying the Big 12 office during game week, the
and polite, but he’s that friend you want in a dark alley.
officials during pre-game, and throughout the contest. I’ll let you judge how effective we were on that coaching point.
FINAL THOUGHTS Texas needs to coach better.
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POST-MORTEM |
D E F E N S E
The Texas defense forced two first half turnovers (forced fumble
game. Hurts is secretly a very average QB when he has to do
by Cook, interception by Brandon Jones) in the deep red zone
real QB stuff, but when he’s sprinting through inviting fields of
and held Oklahoma and Jalen Hurts to 3 of 12 on 3rd down
green on scrambles, or tossing it to a wide open CeeDee Lamb,
conversions. In combination with those turnovers, Jalen’s third
who adds another 10-25 yards to the play on missed tackles,
down struggles highlighted his weaknesses as a QB and were
the old stat line comes out pretty nice.
JOSEPH OSSAI
largely responsible for OU’s 10 point halftime total. OU had only 11 legitimate offensive possessions (I’m not countThose were the defensive unit level highlights of the game.
ing kneel-downs) and only ran 66 plays. They drove for 49+ yards or more on 7 of those possessions.
When Lincoln Riley was able to get the joystick hooked back up to Jalen Hurts’ brain and operate him on single reads - with the
Most disheartening was the fact that Oklahoma ran at will,
aid of some poor Longhorn defensive fundamentals - OU rolled
totaling 276 yards from scrimmage. In the first half, it was Jalen
the Texas defense to the tune of 511 yards at 7.7 yards per play
Hurts exploiting poor Longhorn containment for long scrambles.
and made their second half yardage pay off in points. Mostly by
In the second half, it was OU mercilessly exploiting the Long-
schematically woodshedding Texas in the running game and
horn inability to set the edge. Both emanating from the same
exposing poor Longhorn tackling and recognition in the passing
wellspring: the Texas defense hasn’t set or contained the edge
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B.J. FOSTER (25) AND JOSEPH OSSIA (46)
in the running or passing game since 2017. Given that OU’s
Hurts averaged 8.9 yards per carry in the first half. 7.7 for the
offensive tackles looked vulnerable all game, this is particularly
game. And not a single negative run.
surprising. Their starters played, but they gave up pressures when we chose to align men on them and presumably that
3. Did not tackle. I counted nine missed tackles in the second
would have also helped in setting the edge. No dice.
half by just the Texas DBs. I tally that number very conservatively. They have to make contact and be in a reasonable
OU broke off several long runs by simple alignment. They won
position to make the play for me to count it. Chris Brown missed
before the ball was even snapped. Maybe Orlando intended
five tackles for the game. Brandon Jones challenged my missed
the short side edge to be held by two DBs (one at depth) and a
tackle tally by being so out of place multiple times in the second
playside LB in our tite front (3 man DL inside the OU tackles) vs.
half that I’m struggling with understanding if he was instructed
two pulling OU OL, a lead back and a WR, because that seems
to do so or was just overwhelmed. Can you miss a tackle if you
reasonable.
don’t attempt it? In the woods with no one to hear. With one
THE TEXAS DEFENSE:
hand clapping.
1. Did not set the edge. This was a failure by scheme and
4. Did not establish any defensive identity. Six opponents, six
personnel. OU repeatedly outflanked us by alignment and
defenses. We remain a defense of “looks.” Want to tell me our
instructed their RBs to bounce the counter trey outside. Find
base defense? I mean in actual practice - not in theory. An align-
me a more fundamentally poor defense at setting the edge in
ment is not a defense. A defense encompasses some shared
FBS. This has been going on for 1.5 years unabated. Kennedy
understanding of roles and responsibilities. Cohesion. How
Brooks averaged more than 10 yards per carry. Rhamondre
about you just give me your best guess as to how Joe Ossai
Stevenson more than 7.
will line up on 3rd and 7? On the edge? Off the ball hovering around? At nickel? Fifteen yards out of the box on CeeDee
2. Did not contain. Hurts had 107 yards rushing at halftime.
Lamb?
Mostly on scramble gimmes. Texas got pressures from Longhorn defenders lined up over the Sooner tackles, but reverted to
5. Continues to get injured making (and missing) tackles, draw
the true tite front or a 3 + Ossai look on most downs. Longhorn
personal fouls, and target. Are we teaching tackling? Eyes up,
edge defenders repeatedly gave up their outside shoulders or
don’t lead with your crown is instruction that happens in junior
ran past Hurts on pass rushes. A big no-no. “The most useless
high. What do we teach? Why does a team captain get kicked
place on a football field is two yards past the QB” - Bill Parcells.
out of the game for a target after the clear learning points from
That goes double for a mobile QB whose second read is run.
last week and the bowl game? We bitch about our tough breaks
October - 2019
37
like it’s bad luck, but look around college football. This isn’t hap-
of a play:
pening anywhere else. Not like this. In one sequence in the first half on OU’s field goal drive at the Why do we appear to lead college football in stingers and shoul-
3:24 mark, Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 14 yards on 1st and
der injuries?
10 through a gaping hole behind a wall of crimson down to the Texas 17 yard line. On review, I watched Ta’Quon Graham
6. Lost by formation. If you’re outnumbered at the point of at-
sprint laterally down the Texas DL at the snap because he was...
tack when the ball snaps, your players don’t matter. Football
following CeeDee Lamb on a fake fly sweep. A down interior DL
is a numbers game. Concentration of force. If you’re screwed
anchoring the point of attack just vacates. Obviously instructed
repeatedly on the same soft edge run alignment or a casual
to do so. OU ran a simple inside zone handoff right into that
CeeDee Lamb flip pass for 21 yards that I could complete
vacated hole. I guess it was just “a look.” 4D chess. Fun stuff.
because he <gasp> went in motion and no defender followed while Texas had eight in the box, that isn’t kosher in Game Six
That probably wasn’t a game-changing play. But I see multiple
of the season.
instances of stuff like this every week. It’s Laminated Playsheet Battleship.
LINEBACKER Joseph Ossai or as I call him “Oh **** Maybe Joe Can Fix That Bad Call Ossai” had a tipped ball, 6 pressures, 3 QB hits, 8 tackles and a tackle for loss. Terrific effort and play for a guy we ask to play edge, off ball LB, nickel, sell popcorn. He missed one tackle about 25 yards from the LOS, so I guess he’s human. Adeoye had 8 tackles, but was poor as a blitzer (he repeatedly ran past Hurts) and was consistently slow in his reads and flow. Juwan Mitchell was also slow in
BRANDON JONES (19)
seeing the play develop and
DEFENSIVE LINE
was way too slow flowing outside when OU was bouncing every
The contrast in how OU attacked us when we tried to play
run wide. So much for spill and kill. #6 had a nice tipped ball
downhill defense vs. our own offensive approach was a stark
that saved an easy 4th and 1 conversion to a wide open Sooner
contrast.
receiver covered by Boyce.
OU effectively negated their impact in the second half by run-
McCulloch had some ineffective run before injury.
ning around the pure 3 man front and we too frequently let their OL off the pressure hook. Coburn, Roach and Graham all had
DEFENSIVE BACK
multiple good plays, but the OU coaches realized they didn’t
Anthony Cook had his second straight good game. Physical.
love this match-up and crafted a game plan to limit their impact.
Good TFL. Good form tackle. Good fumble force on Hurts. Hurt himself making a tackle. Give him a safety cover in a sane cov-
Let me illustrate one example of how we schemed ourselves out
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erage, he can be a very effective football player.
insidetexas.com
Here’s the participation portion of the postmortem:
-
1. How many total missed tackles on Lamb? What was the result of those missed tackles in terms of points and yardage? 2. In your opinion, how open is Lamb in general? 3. Rate the difficulty of each throw Hurts made to Lamb. 1-10. Average them. 1= backyard toss with junior. 10 = very difficult. It’s not a high number, is it? That’s how OU’s best receiver goes 10-171-3 tds (on 12 or 13 targets) while the rest of OU’s team totals 5-65 yards (on 15 targets). There’s an imbalance there, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
CAMERON DICKER
Texas defense wins this game - our awful display of offense included - if it sets the edge, contain Hurts on scrambles, and game plans CeeDee Lamb more effectively. But
Duvernay misplayed the fair catch rule and caught the ball at
there is one nagging problem...
the 5.
SPECIAL TEAMS
- Duvernay fielded a perfect OU kick off that pinned him right on
Dicker the kicker drilled a 49 yard field goal after Riley tried to
the sideline. If he fair catches, it’s ball on the 25. More creatively
ice him with three consecutive timeouts and his onside kick was
(assuming the college and NFL are the same) you can field the
money. Buj had a nice punt that downed the Sooners at the 5,
ball while standing out of bounds and take the ball on the 35.
but his others lacked leg.
Not sure on that one though - couldn’t find a clear resource.
That’s the extent of Longhorn highlights. OU won special teams.
- Jamison let a straightforward punt drop in front of him and roll
Mostly because our guys made poor decisions. Oklahoma State
inside the 10.
was lost as a teaching point.
FINAL THOUGHTS
- Duvernay returned a kick off with no time outs when Texas
You need positional and philosophical fundamentals to run a de-
was trying to score before half. That ran clock and was net -4 in
fensive game plan. Any game plan or defense. 3 or 4 man front.
yardage vs letting it roll through the end zone. This after Texas
Nickel, dime, zone, man. Tampa 2. Buddy Ryan 46. Double
took their final timeout before the OU field goal. Bad situational
Eagle Flex.
football. Setting the edge, tackling, lining up correctly, and basic contain- Duvernay repeatedly returned deep kickoffs with poor results.
ment principles aren’t approaches to defense. Or theory. Or
On all returned Longhorn kick offs, the Horns started on average
negotiable. They are fundamental to any and every defense we
at the Texas 17 yard line. Simply starting those possessions at
want to run.
the Texas 25 with fair catches would have yielded Texas +40 yards in field position over the course of the game.
If they are not taught, the rest doesn’t matter. Does it?
October - 2019
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TOO CLOSE FO
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FOR COMFORT BY JOE COOK
A week after a dismal defensive performance against Oklahoma in which the Longhorns gave up 34 points, Texas returned home and proceeded to allow 48 points and 569 total yards to the Kansas Jayhawks. Todd Orlando
October - 2019
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- texas vs kansas -
K
ansas took the lead with 1:11 remaining after a Carter
Dicker was the answer. It was fitting a special teams play
Stanley pass to Stephon Robinson. Jayhawk head
decided the outcome because if it weren’t for a few other plays
coach Les Miles made the decision to go for two,
from the third phase, Texas might have left Saturday’s game 4-3
and Stanley found Daylon Charlot in the end zone to give the
and 2-2 in the Big 12 as opposed to 5-2 and 3-1.
Jayhawks a 48-47 lead. Texas would come back with a 10-play, 60-yard drive capped by a game-winning 33-yard field goal from
Kansas’ first offensive drive ended in a missed field goal. Texas’
Cameron Dicker to avoid total disaster and defeat the Jayhawks
ensuing drive ended with a Jake Smith touchdown to make it
50-48.
14-0. Those three points left on the field proved pivotal in a twopoint game.
Texas’ offense covered for its defense, which Texas head coach Tom Herman said could improve at “everything.” The UT
Late in the second quarter with the score 21-17 Texas, the Jay-
defense allowed 569 yards to the Jayhawks, but the UT offense
hawks lined up for a 37-yard field goal. Joseph Ossai blocked
put up 638 yards of its own. Texas took an early 14-0 lead, but
it, and Texas maintained a four-point lead. Again, three more
after Kansas scored 17 unanswered in the first half, it became a
points left on the field.
question of who would have the opportunity to score last. In the fourth, KU’s Pooka Williams ran for 16 of his 190 total yards as part of one of his two scores. Kansas lined up for the extra point to tie it, but Malcolm Roach blocked the attempt and D’Shawn Jamison returned it for two Longhorn points making it a 33-30 game in Texas’ favor. “I thought the play of the game was the blocked PAT by (Roach) to put us up by three,” Herman said. “We went up by 10 after that when there was still a ton of time left on the clock.” Texas was helped by scoring opportunities Kansas didn’t take advantage of, and with the Longhorns’ defensive performance, it needed every piece of help it could get. Defensive errors, whether schematic or tackling-based, have served as the governor on Texas’ success in 2019 and the leading cause of its two losses. Though there are injuries in Texas’ defensive backfield that led to a walk-on seeing time during game-deciding snaps Saturday, many of the Kansas scoring opportunities came through porous defensive play. Texas gave up 569 yards of total offense, four yards short of its season-worst effort against LSU. The 259 yards UT allowed to Kansas on the ground was 17 yards shy of the total it allowed on the ground to Oklahoma. Keaontay Ingram
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“We’ll just have to do a better job of stopping the run,”
insidetexas.com
- texas vs kansas sophomore Joseph Ossai said. “When you can run the ball, you can control the defense, and that’s one thing we didn’t do a very good job of today.” Those stats, and 48 points, were surrendered to a team that hasn’t thrown for 300 yards all season, had one other game with a rushing total of more than 175 yards, and who scored just seven points in a loss against Coastal Carolina. The Longhorns forced no turnovers and had one sack from DeMarvion Overshown, who made his first career start. The Ehlinger-led offense wasn’t Devin Duvernay
totally spotless, including a handful of plays from Ehlinger himself. Ehlinger threw an interception that lead to a fourthquarter Jayhawks score and was sacked three times on the evening. However, his 57 yards on 5-of-7 passing on Texas’ final drive put Dicker in position to hit the game winner. The final drive was an encapsulation of his entire evening; doing everything asked of him with limited demerits. He wasn’t the only performer on offense. Keaontay Ingram rushed for 101 yards and a score. His backfield mate Roschon Johnson added a touchdown, too. Four receivers, Devin Duvernay, Collin Johnson, Cade Brewer, and Brennan Eagles all had more than 70 receiving yards. Duvernay, Eagles, and Smith brought in touchdown passes. All those numbers were almost wasted due to the defense. Several players received extended playing time on defense for the first time in their careers including Moro Ojomo, David
Gbenda, DeMarvion Overshown, Byron Vaughns, and walk-on Mason Ramirez. As those players made their way onto the field, Texas’ defense didn’t simplify for the fresh faces. It proceeded to get more aggressive and complex. The blitzes called rarely got home with Overshown’s one sack across 86 plays and 21 Kansas third or fourth down attempts as evidence. Blitzes mean fewer players are able to defend in the back end, and when those fewer players are backups and walkons, the defensive quality goes down. Add in Texas’ continued struggles with tackling and a two-point game with Kansas is the result. Herman bluntly responded “no” after the game that his team wouldn’t be able to do anything special if they couldn’t generate pass rush, remedy miss tackles, and generally “patch things up.” Against superior opponents, of which arguably the rest of the Big 12 is compared to Kansas, his team will have to or else the winning result from Saturday might not be attainable. Jean Delance
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MISTAKES COST HOR BY JOE COOK
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RNS IN FORT WORTH
FORT WORTH â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Through six career games, TCU quarterback Max Duggan had not completed more than 19 passes, passed for more than 250 yards, or thrown a single interception. When he faced a depleted, boom or bust Texas defense with a seasonlong inability to stop Power 5 teams, he was able to make personal history. Junor Angilau (75), San Ehlinger (11) and Sam Comi (52)
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- texas vs tcu -
D
uggan guided the Horned
Sterns and DeMarvion Overshown were
downfield to Taye Barber. Owens was in
Frogs to a 37-27 victory,
unavailable, and BJ Foster was avail-
coverage, but Barber was able to haul
taking advantage of youth in
able for emergency situations only.
in the 51-yard catch that set up Sewo
the Longhorn secondary and general
Olonilua for a rushing touchdown two
defensive ineffectiveness on his way to
The two safeties who started in their
a career day.
place, Montrell Estell and Tyler Owens,
“When he got out of the pocket, he’s a
plays later to tie the game at 20.
were beaten for several of TCU’s big-
They weren’t the only members of
gest plays.
the defense that struggled. D’Shawn
tough guy to catch up to and get down
Jamison had his eyes in the backfield
on the ground,” Texas head coach
“With younger guys sometimes, the
instead of on one of the best wide
Tom Herman said of Duggan after the
game is a lot different than practice is,”
receivers in the Big 12 in Jalen Reagor
game. “He then made some unbeliev-
Jones said after the game.
in the third quarter. Reagor blew by him
able throws. Hats off. He played a great
and made it 27-20 TCU with his 44-yard
game, and their defense, it’s the best
In the second quarter on third-and-17,
defense in our conference for a reason.”
Duggan found Pro Wells in the end zone for TCU’s first touchdown and a 10-3
catch. Texas’ defense was in a position to make a stop and offer the offense a chance to get back in the game. TCU took over with a 30-27 lead with 6:50 remaining in the game. Their first opportunity to get off the field came on a third-and-11 from the TCU 24. Texas sent a blitz that failed to reach Duggan, who found John Stephens for 16 yards. Five plays later, the Longhorns needed one stop on third-and-14 to give Ehlinger the ball back. Texas sent another blitz that failed to
Devin Duvernay
reach Duggan in time.
TCU’s defense started three juniors and
lead. Estell saw the play develop, but
He lofted a ball downfield for Barber
four seniors. Texas’ defense started two
couldn’t reach the football before Dug-
with Owens in coverage. Barber was
sophomore corners, a freshman safety,
gan’s pass reached Wells.
able to bring it in for a 36-yard gain, and
and a sophomore safety along with senior Brandon Jones at nickel. Caden
46
Duggan rushed in on the next play to In the third quarter, Duggan threw
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make it 37-27.
- texas vs tcu “We’re not good,” Herman said of his defense. “We need to be better. I think the off week will help. We’ve got to do a better job as coaches. The guys that are out there, we’ve got to get them ready to play. We’ve got to make plays and put them in position to do so.” The Longhorns’ hopes for a comeback were extinguished on the next drive by TCU’s Innis Gaines when he intercepted Ehlinger on a fourth and nine with under a minute left. Defense continued to be an issue for Texas, but a problem Tom Herman alluded to following Kansas appeared Brandon Jones
for the Longhorns.
offense struggled against TCU, typical
example of a team coming together
of so many of the Longhorns’ trips to
they should look to the 2018 team that
Amon G. Carter Stadium.
lost those games to OSU and WVU.
turnovers or scoring in the red zone.
Texas now is 5-3 and 3-2 in the Big 12.
“We’ve lost a game, and we’ve got an
Texas was able to reach the confer-
open date to get back to the basics,”
When Texas received the ball in TCU
ence championship game last year with
Herman said. “Get back to the funda-
a 7-2 conference record. Those two
mentals. Find out what we can do and
conference losses were to Oklahoma
who we’re going to be doing it with. The
State and West Virginia in back-to-back
only thing to do is improve.”
Herman said that while the defense was struggling, his offense needed to improve in their complimentary football. Things like scoring off
territory twice in the second quarter, they scored zero points. One possession ended in a missed 26-yard field goal. The other ended in a punt.
weeks.
The offense did little to help in the
Herman said Malcolm Roach addressed
game aspirations, they’ll have to do as
the team after the game and said they
the 2018 Longhorns did; put on a repeat
needed to come together and fight. He
performance and improve.
second half. After touchdown throws to Devin Duvernay and Keaontay Ingram in the first half, Ehlinger and the rest of the
For Texas to fulfill their conference title
also mentioned that if they needed an Jean Delance
October - 2019
47
POST-MORTEM |
O F F E N S E
by Scipio Tex The Longhorn offense was certainly explosive early on. First, on
that made keeping up with TCU’s own deep passing explosion
TCU’s defense (Texas had over 275 yards total at halftime as
impossible.
Sam threw for 211). I could write several paragraphs about what I saw and what Then, increasingly, on itself. With no back up underwear.
shifted as TCU made some personnel changes (Patterson benched a couple of dudes) and Patterson reinforced a few
The Longhorn passing game had four turnovers - two I’d put
scheme adjustments on defense, but these observations are
mainly on Texas receivers, two on the QB - and a good, if slop-
best summated as: Texas has a basic offense and Gary Pat-
py, first half was frittered away by a second half performance
terson solved it once he got his secondary defenders to do what
SAM EHLINGER
48
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he wanted.
him. Seeing him get tackled on a screen with no flag shocked me as much as it shocked him.
QUARTERBACK Sam finished 22 of 48 for 321 yards with two touchdown and
For three weeks in a row, Longhorn opponents have solved the
four interceptions after a spirited 1st half deep ball display that
Horn running game for at least one decisive half of football. TCU
saw Ehlinger throw for over 211 yards at 19.2 yards per comple-
held Texas to 16 yards rushing on 9 carries in the 3rd quarter.
tion. He added another 49 yards rushing for the game and was
No misdirection, no constraints, no adjustments.
effective with his legs overall.
WIDE RECEIVER/TIGHT END Texas was aggressive pushing the ball down the field and
Eagles was held out for discipline reasons. John Burt had 3
while that came at the cost of consistency, there were big plays
catches for 21 yards, a drop, and a couple of bad routes.
aplenty and it created some running game space. The second half was tough to watch. As TCU broke down our offense (the Frogs had an amazing 6 PBUs), #11 started to break down. I saw a lot of frustration at our lack of route adjustments and the vanilla nature of some of our passing game was increasingly evident as TCU began jumping routes and shutting down obvious route combinations. Sam went 11 of 25 for 110 yards and three interceptions in the second half. You’re not going to win with that. Worst half of football I can remember from him in some time.
RUNNING BACK Keaontay Ingram ran well (he had
KEAONTAY INGRAM
two 12+ yard runs lost to penalties) and did his job on a wide open TD catch. He had 60 yards at halftime and was averaging over 5
Jake Smith dropped another deep ball and ran a poor rounded
yards per carry.
in-cut that created another Ehlinger pick when the small TCU coverage safety claimed his space and the ball.
As against KU last week, TCU made some simple adjustments to our two or three run plays and he finished the game with 71
Duvernay’s worst play was not completing an early 1st half in
yards and only touched it five times in the second half.
route that allowed a pick to Wallow. Beyond that, he was incredibly dynamic. He went 8-173-1 TD, including huge catches of 47
So much for complementary football. Ro Johnson was fine de-
and 63 yards. TCU really had trouble getting him on the ground
spite rushing for only 9 yards on 5 carries. It just wasn’t there for
in space.
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49
Collin Johnson had a great first half, winning most of his match-
Cade Brewer left in the late first half with an ankle injury. Jared
ups with TCU’s #1 cornerback Jeff Gladney (4-83 at half).
Wiley replaced him and played OK blocking smalls on the pe-
That changed a bit in the second half as Gladney and the Frog
rimeter. He and Leitao were non-factors as receivers and TCU
defense figured out our route combinations and Collin was held
treated them as such.
to 3 catches for 24 yards in the second half. The refs allowed physical play in press coverage and, as against OU, Texas
OFFENSIVE LINE
didn’t have many answers on the perimeter.
TCU got very little penetration (2 tackles for loss, 1 sack) and while their pass rushers did put some heat on Ehlinger (four
Outside of CJ and Duve, the Longhorn WR corps was largely a
QB hits, some hurries), our continued inability to help the OL
no-show.
with misdirection, spreading the field, or putting defenders into conflict was again evident. Both starting guards were flagged twice. Angilau and Braun had holds that hurt us and both had false starts. Shack had a load to contend with inside with Blacklock and held his own more often than not. When he didn’t? Let’s just say a fresh Blacklock is a handful. The OL did their job outside of some penalties and a couple of pressures surrendered on obvious passing downs. Anyone looking at them without considering the larger structure of the offense is missing the boat, IMO.
FINAL THOUGHTS Texas lacks balance on offense. Not in terms of pure/run pass ratio (forcing 50/50 is false balance), but in terms of attacking defenses in different ways once they make adjustments to our concepts. That was evident in the second half. It was plainly evident in the red zone. The bye week would be a good chance for Texas to reflect on how it can help create some indecision for the oppoZACH SHACKELFORD
50
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nent’s defense.
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POST-MORTEM |
D E F E N S E
BRANDON JONES (19) AND JOSEPH OSSAI (46)
Down 30-27 after a sputtering 2nd half Texas offense finally got
up 3rd and 14 with 2:34 on the clock at midfield.
back on track for a 12 play, 75 yard touchdown drive, a struggling Longhorn defense (TCU scored on 4 of their 6 second half
Any of this sound familiar? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about to get more familiar.
possessions) had the chance to get a stop, give the ball back to the Texas offense, and steal a game in Ft Worth.
With the game on the line, the Longhorn coaching staff telegraphed a zero blitz that exposed the Texas secondary to a
52
The TCU drive began with Max Duggan converting 3rd and
series of one-on-one match-ups. Duggan read it as easily as a
11 on an easy pitch and catch. The Texas defense regathered
Clifford The Big Red Dog yarn, threw a nice ball on an automatic
itself and behind sterling play from Malcolm Roach and Keondre
to green, Taye Barber went and got it, beating Owens -- a true
Coburn, inflicted a series of negative plays on the Frogs to bring
freshman safety locked in man coverage.
inside texas
insidetexas.com
Another zero blitz at nut-cutting time. Another long conversion. TCU: 1st and 10 on the Longhorn 11. Still, if Texas could just hold the Frogs to a field goal, the game was still very winnable. And the clock virtually guaranteed a first down run...so... On the next play, TCU ran a simple zone read for the Duggan score. The Texas Defense had no assignment discipline and no edge enforcement. Zero. Juwan Mitchell sat paralyzed
MARQEZ BIMAGE
and unblocked as Duggan scampered for the gamewinning touchdown. I refuse to call it the edge anymore. From now on, it’s the welllrounded nub. 37-27, Frogs. And in only two plays, the perfect encapsulation of Todd Orlando’s defense. Old habits die hard. Sad hours seem long. That’s how it finished, but that’s not how it started. Texas started the game resisting many of its worst impulses and - despite a walking wounded safety corps - held TCU to 13 first half points that saw TCU rush for 93 yards (longest rush was 11 yards) while Max Duggan went 10 of 15 for 92 yards. That’s not defensive domination, but it’s damn reasonable. It was unquestionably winning defense. Aside from a blown coverage that allowed an open post route blitz TD (on 3rd and 17, sigh), Texas played a lot of basic 3-3-5 nickel defense, allowing the Longhorn front to dominate the LOS with numbers tackling capably behind them. Orlando also frequently used the Texas cornerbacks to set the edge, allowing layered coverage to take care of the Frog passing game while the interior of the Texas DL
kicked serious ass between the tackles despite double teams at every point of attack. TCU shielded Duggan against that game plan (particularly after his ill-advised throw to Brandon Jones) and Texas was taking advantage of it. Something seemed to shift at the end of the first half. TCU got the ball with only 1:04 on the clock at their 6 yard line, down 17-10. Their freshman QB calmly marched the Toad offense down the field, hitting easy short gains against an early prevent defense and then increasingly predictable Texas blitzes. Corner blitzes so obvious the play-by-play announcer called them out pre-snap the third time we ran the same short side corner blitz in a row. Duggan went 6 for 7 on that drive, his confidence grew, Sonny Cumbie saw what was possible if the Horns could be goaded into easy-read single coverages, and TCU got a field goal. I think TCU got a lot more than three points on that drive. They got a second half game plan. In the second stanza, Duggan went 9 of 12 for a sizzling 181 yards while adding 72 yards rushing for the game. He did most of his damage against the Longhorn blitz (the first long ball on Owens was a 3 man rush), which revealed a lack of fundamental play that had been largely absent in the first half. The true
October - 2019
53
freshman dominated with 345 total yards and three touchdowns.
setting some parameters of smart play for our defenders.
TCU scored 24 points and averaged 7.8 yards per play in the
Keondre Coburn made number of terrific hustle plays, got good
second half.
penetration, and once again made a tackle downfield on a short pass. The roughing call on him was absurd.
Given that TCU’s running backs carried 28 times for 90 yards (a 3.2 yards per carry average) for the entire game running against
Moro Ojomo is really starting to show pop at contact. I’d love to
mostly honest (or even light) Texas fronts, that’s a hard pill to
see what he could be as an attacking 3 tech inside. On the first
swallow.
TCU drive where Texas held on 3rd and 1, Mitchell made the tackle, but it was Moro who created the disruption.
Yes, the Texas offense crapped the bed spectacularly in the second half, but does Texas still have a chance to win if the D stuck
Bimage had a terrific form tackle on a 3rd and 2 to stop the RB
to its 1st half knitting? We’ll never know.
cold and short of the sticks. Graham was solid, though his two tackles aren’t prominent in the box score. Chisholm got some snaps in relief. Before Orlando lost his discipline, the entire game plan hinged on these guys winning 3 on 5 inside and they consistently delivered. TCU’s “normal” run game was a total nonfactor.
LINEBACKER Some good and bad. Obviously, Juwan Mitchell had some lowlights, most prominent on Duggan’s game clinching TD, but I wonder how much I should put on the player when it’s so clear that coaching is an issue. Mitchell also had a freebie sack on a stunt and put his head in there several times while logging 7 tackles. Adeoye played well enough for us to win. Like Mitchell, he has some paralysis moments, but he flowed OK when we were in our 3-3-5 and he can handle drop zone coverages that don’t expose him to 1 on 1s. Joseph Ossai had 10 tackles and was all over the place. Warrior. Clearly playing hurt. He did a nice job in coverage choking off some routes before they blossomed into
MORO OJOMO
DEFENSIVE LINE If you just watch the ball, you may not believe that several members of the Texas DL kicked serious ass. But they did. Malcolm Roach was a wild man with 4 tackles for loss and a sack. He also could have earned two personal fouls that weren’t called and I’m not sure what’s going on with respect to the coaches
54
inside texas
something damaging. What an asset.
DEFENSIVE BACKS Brandon Jones had a very good game and I’m not just talking about the interception that Duggan gifted him. He was allowed to do real safety stuff and really did a nice job as a run force and overall hustler. 11 tackles. He wasn’t flawless, but I saw a ton of effort, leadership, and range. Not coincidental to his employ-
insidetexas.com
ment, IMO. Jones is at his best from depth. Period. Montrell Estell struggled in some spots and while Brock Huard’s commentary was totally appropriate about his lack of break on the ball on TCU’s 3rd and 17 first half touchdown, the receiver (I believe a TE?) running that post route was inside of Estell’s alignment and the deep middle of the field was wide open by defensive deployment.
Terrific fake punt by Buj and a nice job of downing TCU at the 2 in conjunction with Brandon Jones. Unfortunately, Buj is now down for the year.
FINAL TCU’s offense was a good matchup for this defense, particularly given the current personnel situation. For 29 minutes, the Texas defensive staff played it right and surrendered 10 points. Then
Contrast that with the Brandon Jones INT and how Texas had three across deep when we correctly guessed a TCU deep shot. Tyler Owens was shielded well in the first half with defense in depth. In the second half, not so much. He did his best. Man coverage for a 6-2, 210 freshman safety probably isn’t his best use. TCU hit him for two big catches totaling 87 yards and a touchdown on simple verticals. D’shawn Jamison blew a second half coverage on a five man rush. He played the go route like he had safety help and could stare into the backfield. Zero understanding of game situation there. Reagor sprinted by him for the 41 yard gimme touchdown. Fundamentals. Reagor was irrelevant except for that one play. Jalen Green was eased back into action and played very good ball. TCU had little interest in targeting
BYRON VAUGHNS
him. Anthony Cook played well in more limited snaps.
SPECIAL TEAMS Jake Smith flubbed another punt return, losing nine yards of
some old bad habits kicked in just a bit too often as the Longhorn offense started committed second half seppuku. 27 TCU points surrendered to a true freshman QB later, Texas is 5-3.
field position. Dicker went 2/3 on field goals, surprisingly shanking a gimme.
On to the bye week...
Byron Vaughns had a nice hit that forced a Frog KOR fumble.
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