5 overreactions to Texas football’s contentious win over Iowa State

Jaylan Ford is blossoming into Texas’ best defensive player

I’m not really sure if this is an overreaction from a few good weeks, or something that is legitimately coming to fruition as this season progresses. But it’s pretty crazy to think that saying that junior linebacker Jaylan Ford is Texas’ best defensive player isn’t out of reach at this point of the season.

Ford put his awareness and pursuit of the ball carrier on full display in this game, which resulted in multiple turnovers forced and a bevy of tackles. This was also probably Ford’s best game in terms of his production in pass coverage.

In this game, Ford registered eight combined tackles, just one missed tackle, five stops, a couple of run stuffs, four run stops, one interception, one fumble recovery, two quarterback pressures, and one QB hit.

This was a game where we saw Ford gobbling up run stops like it was nothing. He was finding his way through traffic and bringing down the ball carrier for one or two-yard gains on a consistent basis. For his efforts in run defense in this game, Ford wound up with the second-highest run defense grade among FBS defenders in Week 7.

Ford was also the highest-graded defensive player in the Power Five in Week 7.

If Ford keeps performing at this level for the Longhorns for the rest of the season, how can you not say that he is the best defensive player on this team? He was filling gaps, reading plays instantly, and contributing in a positive way in essentially every facet of the game.

The Iowa State game this year for Ford felt a lot like the Oklahoma State game did last season. Ford didn’t make many mistakes in either game and was all over the place finding the ball carrier to get stops for this defense.