3 biggest concerns for Texas football against a tough Oklahoma State team

Quinn Ewers throwing under pressure… and playing on the road

The strongest position group for Oklahoma State this season lies along the defensive line. Oklahoma State has at least three or four NFL guys playing along the defensive line, namely senior defensive end Tyler Lacy, sophomore defensive end Collin Oliver, and redshirt junior defensive end/edge rusher Trace Ford.

According to Sports Reference, Oklahoma State is the only team in the Big 12 with more than two players with at least three sacks on the season. And Oklahoma State has four between the three aforementioned standouts and senior defensive end Ben Kopenski.

These four Oklahoma State defensive ends/edge rushers spell trouble on paper for Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns.

Yet, while Oklahoma State has a pretty talented group of defensive ends and edge rushers that could make life difficult this weekend for Ewers, they haven’t gotten home much this season. Oklahoma State ranks outside the top 80 teams in the FBS this season in terms of team sack percentage, at 5.26.

If true freshman offensive tackle Kelvin Banks and senior Christian Jones can do their jobs holding all of these talented Oklahoma State pass rushers at bay this weekend, I wouldn’t be very concerned about the pressure on Ewers. But Gundy and defensive coordinator Derek Mason are sure to pull off some stunts at the line of scrimmage to try and get more pressure coming up the middle to take advantage of the weaker Texas interior pass blocking.

Keeping Ewers clean this weekend will be a major x-factor for the Longhorns.

Ewers has struggled for much of the season when he comes under pressure. But he is about as good as it gets among Big 12 quarterbacks when kept clean in the pocket. Ewers has the second-best passing grade in the Big 12 this season when he’s kept clean, and the best QBR.

Meanwhile, Ewers has the worst passing grade in the Big 12 on dropbacks where he comes under pressure. He’s also got the third-lowest QBR in the Big 12 when put under pressure.

It’s clear that Texas must be able to protect Ewers this weekend or else all of these talented Oklahoma State defensive ends and edge rushers could have a field day in Stillwater.

Moreover, Texas must also prove that it can play a more complete game on the road against a Big 12 foe than we’ve seen out of this team in the last season and a half. Texas has yet to win a road game in Big 12 play under Sark.

But none of the road games in the Big 12 for Texas under Sark have come with Ewers as the starting quarterback. This will be a new type of test for the freshman quarterback this weekend.