Texas Football: 3 reasons the Longhorns can upset Iowa State
Texas can mix up the looks with Bijan Robinson and Keilan Robinson to take advantage of the Iowa State defense
The first two parts of this list completely hinge on the ability of the Texas coaching staff to scheme their best skill position weapons open against an experienced, but prone in certain areas, Iowa State defense. This Iowa State defense is laden with upperclassmen, but that doesn’t mean that Texas doesn’t have the talent to beat them.
If Texas really is able to mix up the looks on offense and confuse this six-deep look in the secondary from the Clones, then this could be a good day for the duo of star sophomore running back Bijan Robinson and redshirt junior quarterback Casey Thompson.
But if the Baylor game showed us anything, it’s that Sark is going to have to get more creative at times with the way he uses Bijan. And really, Sark and the Longhorns need to get more creative with the way they use this entire stable of running backs.
We’ve seen signs of Texas’ backfield exploding in multiple ways with all of the weapons they have in the mix. That should start with letting Bijan continue to spark this offense at the outset of this game. The offensive line should be able to continue to improve in ways, as long as the Iowa State defense is kept on its toes.
Believe it or not, the blocking grades for Andrej Karic and Tope Imade did improve week-over-week in the last two games.
Where Texas can really open up the offensive playbook in this game is if they can use the speed of the former Alabama transfer and redshirt sophomore running back Keilan Robinson. As maybe the fastest and most agile running back on this roster, Keilan can do some real damage in the open field to this Iowa State defense that definitely doesn’t possess elite speed.
It wasn’t ok that Sark only gave the ball to Keilan one time in the loss to Baylor. Get him the ball more and it should also open up more room for the likes of Bijan and junior Roschon Johnson.
Getting the running backs going will be a major key for Texas in general to beat Iowa State this weekend.