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Texas Football: 5 thoughts halfway through the regular season

By Andrew Miller

DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 06: Jeffrey McCulloch #23 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates a win against Oklahoma Sooners in the 2018 AT&T Red River Showdown at Cotton Bowl on October 6, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 06: Jeffrey McCulloch #23 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates a win against Oklahoma Sooners in the 2018 AT&T Red River Showdown at Cotton Bowl on October 6, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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AUSTIN, TX – SEPTEMBER 22: John Burt #1 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates with Reese Leitao #81 after the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX – SEPTEMBER 22: John Burt #1 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates with Reese Leitao #81 after the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /

2. This defense is going to be good for a long time

The Big 12 is usually the toughest conference in the nation to play good defense in just due to the flat out power of the offense you face week to week. Although, Texas doesn’t seem to know that fact this season and even for most of the 2017 campaign. Allowing 45 points to the Sooners sounds like a poor defensive performance, but the actual story was much different.

Second-year Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando is making his case to be known as a top three DC in the nation. Orlando forced Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley into some key mistakes that cost the Sooners enough to make a difference for a Texas win in the Red River Shootout. You can thank Orlando’s preparation and scheming for a few of those key plays and turnovers.

Moreover, Texas is finally starting to get healthy across the board. Mainly, it’s key that this team is getting healthy on defense. True freshman safety B.J. Foster was back at full health against the Sooners and he was one of the standout performers in that win.

Junior safety Brandon Jones is also healthy and made a huge impact in the past few weeks. He leads the team in total tackles and even has two interceptions on the season already. Foster and fellow true freshman safety Caden Sterns are just two examples of why this Texas defense is going to be so good for so long.

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