4 most disappointing Texas football players through first 4 weeks

The first three weeks of the season went pretty well for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program. After the first three games of the 2022 campaign, Texas held a record of 2-1 (0-0 Big 12) and was ranked as the No. 22 team in the AP Poll.

Yet, the team that would stimy Sark and the Longhorns early in the season would prove to be new head coach Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. On Sep. 24, the Longhorns would fall short in the first game of the Big 12 slate in a backbreaking fashion.

Texas fell short to Texas Tech on the road at Jones AT&T Stadium on Sep. 24 by the final score of 37-34 in overtime. The upset loss to Texas Tech on the road on Sep. 24 also proved to be some real deja vu for the Longhorns faithful after this team experienced so many second-half collapses under Sark last season.

There was a point in time in the second half when Texas held a double-digit lead over Texas Tech. In fact, Texas came into the second half with a 24-14 lead over the Red Raiders. Texas also held a 31-17 lead over Texas Tech at one point around the middle of the third quarter. But that didn’t mean much in the end with Texas Tech coming away with the three-point win in overtime.

Disappointing Texas football players through the first 4 weeks

Here’s a look at the four most disappointing Longhorns players from the first four weeks of the 2022 season.

Ovie Oghoufo, EDGE

A player that came into the season with raised expectations among the starters along the Texas defensive front was the former Notre Dame Fighting Irish senior edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo. The second-year Longhorns edge player showed flashes in the early portion of the regular season, especially with a solid showing against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Just looking at the stat sheet, it’s easy to think that Oghoufo is raising his level of play so far this season. Through four games played, Oghoufo is on pace to put up career bests in sacks, tackles for loss, combined tackles, quarterback pressures, run stops, and forced fumbles.

But the problem is that Oghoufo is being entrusted by the defensive staff as a linebacker/edge player that can make a real impact and cause some havoc in the opposing team’s backfield. We’ve seen anything but that for most of the snaps that Oghoufo played in so far this season.

Oghoufo has picked up a career-best 16 quarterback pressures already this season. That is encouraging on the surface. But when you look at the fact that Oghoufo only got home once on those 16 quarterback pressures this season, you see where the lack of effectiveness can come into play at times.

Oghoufo is actually one of just two edge rushers in the Power Five this season that has at least 15 quarterback pressures, but no more than 3 QB hits and/or sacks.

The run-stopping ability of Oghoufo has also come and gone. He’s not missing as many tackles this season as he did last year, but he’s also one of the least impactful players along this defensive front in this phase of the game. Oghoufo actually has the lowest run-stopping percentage of any of the regular starters along the Texas defensive front this season.

For Oghoufo to have a successful run for the rest of the season, we would need to see him start getting home more often when he’s able to generate pressure on the opposing team’s quarterback. He’ll also need to at least be a little bit more impactful in run defense than posting the lowest run-stopping percentage among the starters along the front.