3 Areas the Texas Longhorns Need to Improve Against Rice

Sep 5, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Tyrone Swoopes (18) throws in the second quarter against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

After a post-mortem of the Texas Longhorns, here are three areas the team needs to improve when they take on Rice Saturday night.

There are a lot of adjectives you can use to describe the Texas Longhorns 38-3 loss to Notre Dame last weekend. But truthfully, the soap opera story lines ensuing at UT right now depict a better picture than any adjective possibly could.

After one game, head coach Charlie Strong has changed his offensive play-caller, defensive coordinator Vance Bedford has challenged fans to attend Saturday’s home opener, as well as promise to have the freshmen on the field more, and the Texas players have already hit the proverbial ‘reset button’.

After an offseason riddled with optimism, the Longhorns appear to be in disarray after one game and Orange Bloods across the state of Texas are dying to see any semblance of progress in the program.

We’re not going to pour salt in an open wound here, we get it, Texas was brutal last Saturday. But the lack of progress over the last three games — dating back to last season — has been disheartening. Consider this, when you combine the TCU, Arkansas and Notre Dame game, the opposing defence has outscored the Texas offence 21-20.

Yes, you read that right. Over the last three games, the opposing defences have managed to score more points than the entire Longhorns’ offence! We could easily bury the Horns with embarrassing stats, but instead, let’s take a look at three areas the Texas Longhorns need to improve for when they face Rice in the 2015 home opener on Saturday.

Next: The Run Game -- or Lack Thereof