Texas Football: 5 takeaways from the crippling collapse vs. OU

Bijan Robinson won’t always be the answer

Although it was really difficult for Sark and the Longhorns to get much of anything going with star sophomore running back Bijan Robinson in the second half, this was still a solid performance in the end. Bijan went for 143 rushing yards and one rushing score on 20 carries. Texas did give a lighter workload to Bijan this weekend.

But that wasn’t anything that would help the offense get a sustained rhythm going in the second half. Texas was in a great rhythm in the first half before Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch got his group going down the stretch.

Texas needed more production from the ground game in the second half. Brooks exploded for the Sooners, while Bijan was held back for the Longhorns.

In fact in the fourth quarter alone, Bijan only got three carries for two rushing yards. If you take out the 33-yard run for Bijan in the third quarter, this was an abysmal second half for the star running back as a whole. Remove that 33-yard run, and Bijan only gets two rushing yards on eight carries. That is something new to the Longhorns to see Bijan limited like this.

It didn’t help out that the Longhorns didn’t get much of any production on the ground either from junior running back Roschon Johnson or redshirt sophomore Keilan Robinson. The game still felt like it was largely in the hands of Bijan down the stretch, and he didn’t have the support necessary to shoulder the load like he did in the win over the TCU Horned Frogs last weekend.