4 reasons why Texas football can dominate West Virginia in Week 5

In the second game of conference play, Texas football will try and bounce back this weekend against head coach Neal Brown and the West Virginia Mountaineers. Texas will be looking to rebound nicely from the worst loss of the season so far, which took place on the road in the Big 12 opener in Lubbock on Sep. 24 at the hands of new head coach Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns suffered yet another second-half collapse in Big 12 play last weekend. For the fourth time under Sark’s direction, the Longhorns managed to cough up a double-digit second-half lead against a Big 12 opponent.

What made this one especially concerning was the fact that this second-half collapse transpired in Sark’s second year at the helm with Texas. The expectation was that this sort of result was behind the Longhorns with Sark’s first year at the helm now in the rearview mirror.

Yet, Texas will now have a shot to rebound this weekend when they face the Mountaineers at home at the friendly confines of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. Texas does have a pretty good edge in the opening betting odds, as nearly a 10-point favorite over West Virginia.

Why Bijan Robinson and Texas football can dominate West Virginia in Week 5

Here’s a look at four reasons why the Longhorns can dominate the Mountaineers in Week 5.

Pass rush is bound to get home more often soon

Texas’ pass rush is much more effective this season at least in terms of drumming up pressure on opposing quarterbacks. That was evident last weekend when Texas managed a whopping 29 pressures on the quarterback.

As a side note, CJ Vogel of The Football Brainiacs posted on Twitter on Sep. 26 that Texas registered pressure on 44 plays against Texas Tech. We at Hook’em Headlines got closer to roughly 30 quarterback pressures, and Pro Football Focus data gives up 29.

But the problem that Texas is facing is that all these quarterback pressures aren’t amounting to much. Texas got just two sacks in the loss to Texas Tech last weekend. There need to be better results when Texas gets nearly 30 QB pressures than just a few QB hits and two sacks.

I do believe Texas is on the right track, though. If Texas can start getting senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and senior edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo in situations where they’re pressuring opposing quarterbacks, it’s only a matter of time before they get home.

And West Virginia looks like an opponent where that can take place. West Virginia doesn’t boast as mobile of a quarterback as Texas Tech did. WVU QB JT Daniels has a higher pressure to sack rate than Donovan Smith and he has a lower passing grade on plays where he’s put under pressure.

That bodes well for Texas if they can continue to generate pressure on the quarterback at the same rate that they did last weekend. It’s also worth noting that Texas is just better at causing havoc plays this season than last on defense.

You can thank at least marginal improvement across the board from the likes of Overshown, sophomore nose tackle Byron Murphy, senior corner D’Shawn Jamison, junior safety Jerrin Thompson, etc. for that team progression.

According to College Football Data, Texas has registered a havoc rate on defense this season of 20 percent. That is improved from a havoc rate of 16 percent from last season. That takes into account all forms of havoc for the defense, including tackles for loss, pass breakups, and/or turnovers.

But it goes to show that Texas is creating more impactful plays on the defensive side of the ball this season compared to last.

I like what Texas should be able to do against Daniels and the Mountaineers this weekend if co-DC/LB coach Pete Kwiatkowski can get guys like Oghoufo and Overshown to pressure the quarterback this weekend.