Texas Football: 5 thoughts after drubbing of Louisiana Tech

3. This defense has promise

Possibly the best surprise for Texas football in this season opener against Louisiana Tech was the way that the defense showed out. The Longhorns stuffed the Louisiana Tech ground game to the tune of less than 80 rushing yards and under three yards per carry. Texas also won the turnover battle. That proved crucial under Herman and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando in the past two years.

From top-to-bottom, this Longhorns defense showed a ton of potential with all the young talent that stepped up. Sophomore linebacker Joe Ossai and redshirt freshman safety DeMarvion Overshown each nabbed their first career interception. Senior safety Brandon Jones was all over the place early too.

A big concern heading into the non-conference schedule for the Longhorns was all the inexperience in the front seven and at cornerback. Ossai helped to put the front seven worries to rest, at least for this moment. But there was not a single Louisiana Tech wideout that managed more than 58 receiving yards, so the corners at least held their own.

LSU will be a much bigger test for the rising Texas defense. But this side of the ball showed plenty of fight and even held the Bulldogs offense at a shutout well into the third quarter. It wasn’t until Herman started to throw in the backups and work in early playing time for younger guys that Louisiana Tech was able to snag their two scores of the game.