Texas Football: 4 overreactions to the stunning upset loss to Arkansas

Front seven is in trouble

The leader for this Texas defense heading into the regular season was the former converted safety and elite blue-chip recruit DeMarvion Overshown. Now in his senior season with Texas, Overshown is the leading voice for Texas at linebacker. And he showed out well in Week 1 against an experienced and proven Louisiana team in the trenches.

Yet, what we saw from the likes of Overshown and this Longhorns’ defensive front against Arkansas was nothing short of lame. Texas got ran over along the defensive front to the tune of the Hogs running for 340 yards in this game. Arkansas has some strong talents on offense that can do damage on the ground.

But this is not what really anyone expected after Texas allowed just 76 rushing yards against the Cajuns in the regular season opener.

After Louisiana barely skidded by FCS Nicholls State this weekend, though, it looks like the Cajuns might just not be as strong as first thought this fall. Texas is going to just have to look forward now to responding well in the trenches in the next few games.

In this loss to Arkansas, Overshown missed a team-high four tackles in one of the worst performances of his career. Safety Jerrin Thompson also missed a career-high three tackles. That’s not to mention how the likes of former five-star recruit Alfred Collins was worked over, along with the former Notre Dame transfer Ovie Oghoufo.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly one source of the defensive struggles in this game for Texas, but the line has to be better next weekend. Texas got completely worked over, as it will take a complete-team effort to come back strong against Rice and in the Big 12 opener next weekend.