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Texas Longhorns: Four Thoughts from Texas’ Win Over Rice

By Chris Okrainetz

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Sep 12, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns punt returner Duke Thomas (21) returns a punt against the Rice Owls during the first quarter at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

4. Explosive plays propelled the Longhorns

When you look at the Longhorns drive summary, they only had three drives of five or more plays, and only one of those drives went for more than 30 yards. Sure, Texas put up 42 points on Rice, but that was largely in thanks to a few explosive plays, particularly from the special teams unit. Duke Thomas gave the Longhorns a 51-yard punt return, but it was Daje Johnson’s 85-yard touchdown return that highlighted a night full of big plays.

Texas compiled 175 punt return yards on Saturday night, which is a new school record. Most of those yards came from Johnson, but either way, the special teams unit set the Longhorns offence up with great field position.

But the offence can not live and die off explosive plays and favourable field position. To put it in perspective, the Longhorns had three three-and-out drives, plus a four play drive that ended with a punt. If Malik Jefferson doesn’t scoop and score midway through the third quarter, who knows how this game might have turned out. At the time it was 28-14 Longhorns, but the offence struggled to sustain drives. It’s a big “what if” at this point, but against the upper echelon of the Big 12, Texas can’t expect this trend to continue.

What were your takeaways from Saturday night Longhorns’ fans? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Next: Texas Longhorns: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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