Texas Football: 3 takeaways from crazy Red River loss to OU

3) Takeaways from : Struggles can’t be blamed on the defense anymore

The Longhorns defense is actually playing better this year against some good offenses in the Big 12. In this game, Texas continued to generate turnovers and mostly play with that “bend but don’t break” mentality.

If any coordinator hire looks like it is actually working out for the Longhorns, and Herman in particular, right now it is on the defensive side of the ball. Texas hired former Rutgers head coach Chris Ash to take over for the departed Todd Orlando as the next defensive coordinator/safeties coach. And while there is still a lot left to be desired for this defense through four games, they do have some potential for the rest of this season.

There were multiple big plays in this game from the likes of junior safety B.J. Foster, junior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, and junior cornerback D’shawn Jamison, among others. That trio of juniors forced multiple turnovers, got quite a few tackles for loss and/or quarterback hurries, and a number of notable pass breakups.

Problems at times with more missed tackles against Oklahoma is a negative point for Ash from this game. But overall, Herman has a lot more problems to focus on with the offense and special teams than he does on the defensive side of the ball.

It would’ve been nice to see the Texas defense come through with at least one stop in overtime, though. That at least does fit the bigger theme here that Texas just couldn’t get a big play to win the game when it mattered, just like in the loss to TCU.