Texas Football: 4 overreactions after decisive win over No. 23 UL

Missed tackles will be an issue for the linebackers this year

Were the results going to be perfect from the linebackers against a really experienced and proven Louisiana offensive line, quarterback, and receiving corps, this weekend? No.

Was it realistic to expect the linebackers to not miss as many key tackles in the open field as they did in this win over Louisiana? Yes.

Texas fans should still be optimistic about what this largely new group of linebackers brings to the table for new co-defensive coordinators/linebackers coaches Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate this fall. But with that said, let’s take a look at some of the problems the linebackers had with missed tackles this weekend.

First and foremost, it’s not a great sign that junior linebacker Luke Brockermeyer and former Notre Dame transfer Ovie Oghoufo combined for four missed tackles in this game. There were some bad missed tackles for those two in this game, including one that resulted in a crazy touchdown pass to Louisiana standout wide receiver Kyren Lacy in the second half.

Brockermeyer and Oghoufo will be key cogs for the Texas run defense. They do need to cut down on the missed tackle percentage (combined for a missed tackle percentage north of 20).

Nonetheless, we shouldn’t get too carried away with some of the missed tackles in this game. It is something to note moving forward, but there was going to be room for improvement here no matter what.

There will be an opportunity to show improvement in this regard for the likes of Brockermeyer and Oghoufo as soon as next weekend. Arkansas has a good ground game under head coach Sam Pittman. While it did come against a subpar defense in the Rice Owls, it is impressive that Arkansas put up more than 250 rushing yards, four rushing scores, and nearly six yards per carry in the season opener.