Texas Football: 5 Improvements Longhorns Need to Make During Bye Week

Thankfully, Texas enters their bye week in pretty good shape. In-game injuries against Cal, however, showed that Texas is still thin in some places so they need to get healthy and then stay healthy.

The biggest injury against the Bears was to quarterback Shane Buechele. Early in the first half, Buechele took a hard hit that ended up keeping him out for much of the first half. Buechele was taken into the locker room to be checked out for what was officially deemed a chest injury. Later, he was able to come back into the game.

However, his absence really upset the rhythm of the offense. Even when he came back in, there were some deep throws that seemed to lack their usual touch. Repeated shots from the Cal defense really seemed to take their toll on Buechele. Texas needs their young star under center healthy if they want to make a run in the Big 12. That means he needs to get healthy this week and the offensive line needs to figure out how to keep him upright.

Speaking of the offensive line, junior right tackle Tristan Nickelson missed his second straight game with a knee injury suffered in the opener against Notre Dame. The team is confident that with the bye week, Nickelson will be healthy enough to get back into the starting lineup for the Big 12 opener. With how much pressure Cal was able to put on Buechele last week, that’s big news for the offense.

Other notable injuries during the game did nothing to help a struggling defense. Devante Davis was knocked out of the game with a head injury that stretched a thin and overmatched secondary. Malik Jefferson had to leave the game in obvious pain with what ended up being diagnosed as a stinger. He was able to return to the game, however, and finished the contest.