Texas Football: 3 catalysts that can help upset OU
Moro Ojomo, DL
Texas has struggled at multiple points of the defense this season, especially in the secondary. That makes it difficult to find a real catalyst that can be a game-changer against an offense that has as much talent as the Sooners do. But if there is one area of strength you can pick of late for the Longhorns, it is along the defensive line.
Texas has started to get better results of late out of the likes of senior defensive lineman Moro Ojomo, sophomore defensive end Alfred Collins, and freshman defensive tackle Barryn Sorrell, among a couple of others along the defensive front. Yet, it seems like Ojomo could be a real source of strength for the Longhorns in the trenches throughout the rest of the season.
In general, two of the best players for the Longhorns defense in the last two or three games are Ojomo and senior defensive back Anthony Cook. Ojomo got off to a slow start through the first few games. But he’s one of the defensive line that has made a real impact since the start of Big 12 play. And that should only continue in Red River.
On paper, Ojomo isn’t off to a great start this season. He’s got no sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, and no turnovers drawn. But if you look closer at his impact in the last few games, you can see how valuable he was to this D-Line of late. In the last two games alone, Ojomo has five quarterback hurries, one QB hit, four stops, no missed tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, five combined tackles, and one run stuff. He’s making an impact all over the place of late, and not really making any mistakes in the process.
An area of weakness for the Sooners that the Longhorns can exploit is along the offensive line. More often than not, Ojomo lines up as the left defensive tackle in this scheme for Pete Kwiatkowski up front. That will often face him up against Oklahoma’s second-lowest graded pass blocking lineman and the second-lowest graded run-blocking lineman, in Marquis Haynes.
That will give a lot of opportunities for Ojomo to create disruption in the Oklahoma backfield this weekend.