Texas Football: 4 lessons learned from the win over Texas Tech

2. Defense still has a long way to go

This was by no means the start that the Texas football program wanted to come out with on the defensive side of the ball in this game. Texas Tech got off to a fast start, and took a commanding 14-0 lead, in the first quarter.

But defensive coordinator Todd Orlando got the response he needed from his side of the ball to lock down on this big time victory. Allowing just 71 rushing yards and staying in the Texas Tech backfield often gave this defense a nice way to head into bowl season.

Yet another outing where the Longhorns secondary allowed at least 350 passing yards didn’t help the case for Orlando. His pass defense didn’t come up with much of any stellar numbers this fall. They allowed 470 total yards to Texas Tech and 399 passing yards. And that went to junior Texas Tech quarterback Jett Duffey, by no means a stellar thrower.

What was good in the passing numbers for the Longhorns were the yards per attempt. While Texas had more than 12 yards per pass against the Red Raiders, Duffey and his squad saw with less than seven.

Certain plays by sophomore defensive back D’shawn Jamison and true freshman cornerback Kenyatta Watson II did inspire confidence that better times are ahead for the secondary. Both Jamison and Watson II had key pass breakups in the endzone against Texas Tech.

All in all, holding a good Texas Tech offense to 24 points after such a slow start isn’t a bad look for the Texas defense. There was progress in the last three weeks, but still a long way to go heading into the postseason.