Texas Football: No, Casey Thompson is not the Longhorns problem

There are plenty of question marks for new Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian and this team to answer heading into the first bye week of the season. Texas had a long seven-week stretch of consecutive games to start out the 2021 campaign, and it definitely took its toll on them of late.

Sark and the Longhorns are now heading into the bye week coming off two of the most painful losses in recent memory for this program. And there is some shaken confidence in the play of redshirt junior quarterback Casey Thompson in bits and pieces of the last three games.

Thompson surely played well throughout most of the game in the Longhorns tough collapse of a loss at the hands of head coach Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma Sooners in the annual Red River Rivalry game back on Oct. 9. Thompson and the Longhorns couldn’t hang on in that game, falling short to Oklahoma by the final score of 55-48.

Nonetheless, Thompson still tossed an impressive five touchdowns in Red River against Oklahoma. He also had 388 passing yards and no picks in that tough loss to Oklahoma two weeks ago.

But Thompson did have his worst performance of the season thus far in the fourth-quarter collapse that the Longhorns had last weekend in the one-possession loss to head coach Mike Gundy and the No. 12 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. Thompson likely also had the second-worst start of the season thus far of any Texas quarterback, behind that of Hudson Card’s performance in the road loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks back on Sep. 11.

In the loss to Oklahoma State at home on Oct. 16, which came by the final score of 32-24, Thompson registered just 179 passing yards, one passing touchdown, and two picks. He looked out of sorts throughout most of the game.

One of those interceptions really swung the momentum out of Texas’ favor, which resulted in a pick-six for Oklahoma State. That was the first and only touchdown of the game for the Pokes until the offense finally broke through in the fourth quarter.

Casey Thompson should still be the starting QB for Texas football heading into the bye week

The other pick that Thompson tossed in this game was an even worse throw that sealed the win for Oklahoma State.

While Thompson definitely didn’t help the Longhorns get this win over Oklahoma State, it still looks like he is the guy for Sark moving forward. And that is the right move all things considered.

Thompson will have his ups and downs. Such is life with a new starting quarterback in a new scheme in a Big 12 that is actually improving across the board on defense.

Let’s take a moment to remember that Thompson is still the leader in the Big 12 this season in passing touchdowns, touchdowns responsible for, passer efficiency rating, and passing yards per attempt. The last quarterback to even lead the Big 12 in half of those passing categories in one season for the Longhorns was Vince Young.

Thompson is still going to have some wrinkles to work out. And this team as a whole needs to find a consistent identity for itself under Sark. Texas is not playing a complete 60 minutes game in and game out this fall. That partially falls back on Thompson, but it is up to him from here on out to rally the troops when it matters most.

It feels like Thompson is the guy who could still rally this locker room and help Texas finish this season right down the stretch. He needs help from his supporting cast, though.

You can’t overlook the struggles of the offensive line and the lack of playmaking, at times, from the receiving corps. Texas lost redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordan Whittington for the season. Whittington was one of Thompson’s two top targets. Thompson will take time to get more comfortable with the likes of Marcus Washington, Joshua Moore, etc. in the passing game.

And the offensive line is showing signs of gelling in bits and pieces. Andrej Karic and Derek Kerstetter just had their best game of the season in the loss to Oklahoma State. And the trio of Karic, Kerstetter, and Junior Angilau just keep getting better in the last few weeks. Freshman center Jake Majors was a little bit more inconsistent, but he’s played better since the first three games of the season.

Get the offensive line to hold up on a more consistent basis in front of Thompson, and this offense should blossom in front of our eyes. That will also open up the offense to get more room for the likes of star Bijan Robinson, Xavier Worthy, Keilan Robinson, etc. to make things happen in the open field.

When kept clean this season in the pocket, Thompson has played really well. He ranks among the top three quarterbacks in the Power Five this season in passing touchdowns when kept clean, with 14. He also ranks in the top 10 in the lowest number of turnover-worthy plays this season when kept clean, with just three.

The problem is that the offensive line is playing so poorly in front of Thompson that he can’t get much time to go through his reads. Among Power Five quarterbacks, Thompson ranks in the top five in terms of allowed pressures that are the fault of the offensive line (north of 88 percent this season). That means that among the 36 pressures allowed on Thompson’s dropbacks this season, only four can be faulted to the quarterback.

This also gives some insight into the fact that it’s not the fault of the tight ends, running backs, wide receivers, etc. that Thompson is coming under pressure so often. Texas showed to be especially vulnerable from the left and right guard positions, which allowed more than 55 percent of the pressures combined with Thompson dropping back this season.

The point here is that Texas has a clear path forward with a good starting quarterback so far this season in Thompson. Improve the offensive line play, and make the proper adjustments in the wake of key injuries to the likes of Whittington and Denzel Okafor, and Texas should come out strong from the bye week.

Thompson is not the problem for the Longhorns. He did not have a good game against Oklahoma State. And around half of his performance in the win over the TCU Horned Frogs at the beginning of the month was a little bit stale. But the rest of his play this season was nothing short of astounding.

Texas carries a record of 4-3 (2-2 Big 12) into the bye week following the meltdown loss to Oklahoma State last weekend. Next up for Thompson and the Longhorns out of the bye week is a meeting with the Baylor Bears on the road on Oct. 30.