Texas football vs. OK State: 4 reasons the Horns can dominate in Stillwater
Quinn Ewers can help end Texas’ woes on the road
The lone road loss on the season for Sark and the Longhorns came in overtime on Sep. 24 in Lubbock against Texas Tech. At the time, junior quarterback Hudson Card was the starter for Texas while redshirt freshman Quinn Ewers was dealing with the clavicle sprain he originally suffered on Sep. 10 against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Texas is obviously a much different team when Ewers is leading the way for the offense. In the last two games, Ewers is completing more than 66 percent of his passing attempts, good for more than 450 passing yards, a whopping seven passing touchdowns, and just one interception.
The way that Ewers’ arm talent opens up the field for this passing offense will make it extremely difficult for Oklahoma State to defend. This Oklahoma State secondary is just too inexperienced and inconsistent to think that they will come up big against Ewers this weekend.
Oklahoma State lost more than 70 percent of its production in the second during the offseason. And that has really shown up in the box score stats for the Pokes passing defense in the last few weeks.
According to CFB Stats, Oklahoma State is on the only team in the Big 12 this season allowing more than 300 passing yards per game. Oklahoma State also ranks ninth in the Big 12, allowing 336.7 passing yards per game in conference play. Only the Kansas Jayhawks rank lower than the Pokes.
Something to watch this weekend will be how Oklahoma State matches up with the likes of star sophomore wide receiver Xavier Worthy and redshirt junior Jordan Whittington. I believe Oklahoma State will try to take away Worthy over the top by using their top cover corner, Jabbar Muhammad, to stick on him with senior safety Jason Taylor shading over the top.
But that will leave both Whittington and sophomore tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders with room to work against junior cornerback Korie Black, who was questionable in pass coverage this season, along with a host of other inconsistent Oklahoma State safeties.
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TCU exploited Oklahoma State in the passing game in the second half last weekend largely thanks to a former Texas flip in wide receiver Quentin Johnston and former Texas tight end transfer Jared Wiley. Those two combined for more than 100 receiving yards and two touchdown catches in the fourth quarter and overtime alone last weekend. And it was often Black and senior safety Sean Michael-Flanagan that the Frogs picked on.
I would take a page out of TCU’s playbook there if I were Texas to take advantage of the single-high safety Pokes defense by getting Sanders down the seam deep and getting Whittington in space near the sidelines.