5 takeaways from Texas football’s backbreaking OT loss to Texas Tech

Pass rush completely disappeared

One of the most disappointing aspects of this game was the fading of Texas’ pass rush, especially late in the second half.

It definitely didn’t help that this defense was on the field for roughly 100 plays on a hot afternoon in Lubbock to open up the Big 12 slate. But we would expect the Texas defensive front to get home on Smith and the Red Raiders more than just two times when Texas Tech has roughly 60 pass-play snaps.

This looked more like the inept Texas pass rush that was present throughout Big 12 play last season than it did the revitalized front seven that was wreaking more havoc in the opposing team’s backfields in the first three games of the 2022 campaign.

There is plenty of faults to go around here. But two parties, in particular, that must play better than they did this weekend against Texas Tech are senior edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo and sophomore edge rusher Barryn Sorrell. Oghoufo is now going on at least 60 snaps as a pass rusher with no more than one quarterback hit, and no sacks.

Meanwhile, Sorrell completely faded off the face of the earth in this game, coming up with just one assisted tackle, at least one missed tackle of note, and no sacks or quarterback hurries. It is really disappointing to see the way that Sorrell’s game has gone in the last three weeks after a big outing with 1.5 sacks in Texas’ season-opening win over the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

Sorrell is now going on triple digits in terms of pass rush snaps since the last time he even had a QB hit, let alone a sack.