Texas Football: Takeaways from instant Big 12 classic loss to West Virginia

2. Ground games largely a non-factor

We knew coming into this game that West Virginia was going to rely more heavily on the arm of senior quarterback Will Grier and this deep receiving corps than it would the ground game. It’s not to say that West Virginia has a lack of talent among the running backs, but it’s not the strength of this offense.

Although, it was anticipated that the Horns would have a bigger emphasis on the ground game. Between the production it got from Watson and how good true freshman running back Keaontay Ingram looked of late, the ground game should’ve been a pivotal factor. Ingram had a few spurts, but nothing established for more than one quarter.

Meanwhile, West Virginia got some big plays out of some of its running backs in the first half. That included a 55-yard scamper for a score from junior backup Martell Pettaway. Outside of that, most of the yardage gained from the West Virginia offense came through the air. It was a surprise that the Mountaineers got more efficiency out of its rushing attack most of the game than the Horns did.

The ground game for each game was a bit more important in the fourth quarter, but it was the passing games that highlighted the entire game. We’re talking about more than 700 combined passing yards between the two quarterbacks and an extreme lack of mistakes through most of the game on both sides.