5 Thoughts from Texas’ victory over Texas Tech
Texas’ victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders leaves the Longhorns just two wins away from becoming bowl eligible. Before we start looking ahead, let’s look back at the game and what caught our attention.
- Special teams continues to develop
Things seem to be getting better for the special teams unit. Nick Rose got on a roll in the field goal department. William Russ was booming punts.
Saturday night was a mixed bag. Rose missed an easy 37-yard attempt. Badly. But he did hit two kicks from 42 and 46 yards. I’m not sure Texas fans trust Rose with a game-winning kick just yet.
Russ had a couple of 50-yard punts. He also had a 25-yarder that gave Tech a very short field. Basically, you don’t know what you’re going to get from him.
- Texas cut back on the penalties
It was frustrating to watch numerous drives throughout the season stalled by penalties. Holding and false start penalties plagued the offense. Against Tech, the offensive line was able to avoid both of these infractions until the fourth quarter. The result was 469 yards of offense and 34 points. The offense needs to build upon this game because the defenses get a lot tougher from here on out.
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On defense, there were two penalties on Jason Hall and Steve Edmond that helped the Red Raiders extend a drive deep into Texas territory. The defense was bailed out when the Texas Tech kicker missed a chip shot field goal. Other than that, the defense played a clean game.
- Swoopes trusted his abilities and threw deep
We have watched the slow progression of Swoopes as a quarterback. Saturday we saw what kind of signal caller he can be when he trusts his abilities and receivers. Swoopes took numerous shots down the field. This is nothing new as he has thrown deep before. The difference on Saturday was that he stood tall in the pocket and waited for his receivers to come open. He also put more air under the ball to allow the receivers to run under the throw. John Harris was the benefactor of a more poised Swoopes. With powerful offenses like West Virginia and TCU coming up, Swoopes will need to continue to build upon the success he had against Tech.
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- Malcolm Brown touched the ball, a lot
A week after touching the ball six times in the loss to Kansas State, Texas coaches got Malcolm Brown involved in the offense early and often. Brown had a season-high 22 carries. He ran hard, slipping through the holes created by the offensive line. The end result was 116 yards and two touchdowns. Brown has been the most consistent player on offense, and Texas finally leaned on its senior tailback. Charlie Strong would be wise to continue to use Brown down the stretch.
- The defense was relentless
Davis Webb missed the game with an injury. True freshman Patrick Mahomes made his first start. He performed admirably early on, but could not get the Red Raiders on the board. Quandre Diggs made it a short night for Mahomes with a bone-jarring hit that led to a turnover, and ended Mahomes’ night. Walk-on Vincent Testaverde replaced Mahomes and took Texas Tech down the field for its only offensive score. After that, the defense stiffened, and Tech never really threatened after that. The Texas secondary was all over the field. Duke Thomas had at least four pass-breakups. Mykkele Thompson intercepted Testaverde to stop a drive. The defense gave up some yards, but kept Tech off the score board.