Texas Football: 3 reasons why Iowa St could get dominated by the Horns

1) Why Texas football dominates Iowa State

Rapidly improving run defense

What a lot of Longhorns fans didn’t see coming in recent weeks was the rate at which the front seven improved. Linebacker went from a weak point of this Texas defense to being essentially the glue holding a lot of it together. Solid play in the last couple of games from junior linebackers DeMarvion Overshown and Joseph Ossai completely changed the outlook of this Texas defense.

So far this season, the latter of those two talented Texas linebackers registered 49 combined tackles (22 solo and 27 assisted), a team-leading 13.0 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. Ossai also has a solid track record in two tries against Iowa State (12 combined tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and one forced fumble).

Meanwhile, Overshown really started to come on strong of late. He’s registered 42 combined tackles (19 solo and 23 assisted), 6.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, six pass breakups, and two forced fumbles. Overshown was also good in limited snaps in his first full game played against Iowa State last season (three combined tackles and two tackles for loss).

And the Texas defense as a whole is getting much better in defending the run. They’re now allowing just 118 rushing yards per game, 3.2 yards per carry, and less than 1.5 rushing touchdowns per game. Texas is also now forcing more than 0.5 turnovers per game than they’re coughing up, which is a great sign of where this defense is headed.