Texas Football: Is it time for Pete Kwiatkowski to go after loss to WVU?

On the late morning/early afternoon of Nov. 20, we saw the Texas football program reach a new low this fall by extending their losing streak to six games. Texas fell short to head coach Neal Brown and the West Virginia Mountaineers by a one-possession margin on the road in Morgantown on Nov. 20.

West Virginia got the best of new head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns in this game by the final score of 31-23. Texas did have a few chances to get back even with the Mountaineers in this game in the second half, but ultimately couldn’t get anything going.

Both sides of the ball struggled at times again for the Longhorns as the losing streak continues. But it seems like most of the focus of late is going to the struggles that Texas is having on the defensive side of the ball. And this is putting a ton of pressure on new co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Pete Kwiatkowski.

The former Washington Huskies co-defensive coordinator had a lot of hype when he was initially hired during the offseason to join Sark’s coaching staff. And some of the early results looked pretty good for Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns. Yet, during this six-game losing streak, this defense really unraveled for the Longhorns.

Texas had a really bad afternoon especially defending the pass. They allowed roughly 460 total yards, including around 290 from West Virginia senior quarterback Jarret Doege. Doege and the Mountaineers racked up roughly seven yards per pass, around two more than Texas. That included three passing touchdowns and no interceptions from Doege.

West Virginia also was efficient on third downs, going 12-of-20 in this game. The fact that Texas couldn’t get off the field against the Mountaineers meant that the Longhorns were on defense for nearly 39 minutes. That’s not going to win many games.

It feels like Pete Kwiatkowski’s days are numbered with Texas football

At this point, Texas is one of the worst defenses in the Big 12. And it seems like this defense is unable to make big-time plays when it matters most no matter what. If the defense was making big plays during clutch time, Texas would not be bowl-ineligible and sitting on a six-game losing streak right now.

There is clearly a disconnect right now between Kwiatkowski and his defense, much like there looks to be between Sark and his offense. But the fact of the matter is that Texas is invested in Sark a lot more than they obviously are in Kwiatkowski.

Kwiatkowski’s defense has now let up 58 points to the Kansas Jayhawks, 31 points to West Virginia, 55 to the Oklahoma Sooners, and 40 to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Texas’ opposition has also scored more than their average number of points per game this fall in each of the last seven games.

Texas just has too much talent to be coming up flat on either side of the ball consistently as Kwiatkowski’s defense has done all throughout Big 12 play. It just so happened that the loss to West Virginia feels like a potential breaking point for Kwiatkowski with the Longhorns.

With apparent staff changes on the way, I would say that the days are likely numbered for Kwiatkowski no matter what happens in the regular season finale which will come on Black Friday at home against the Kansas State Wildcats.