4 overreactions from Texas football’s impotent loss to TCU
![Hudson Card, Texas football (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) Hudson Card, Texas football (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/3461104850add08b4b07ae5ea5c6280ace13c95d1ecba94dff60860d4ce7a417.jpg)
A lot of the blame for the offense’s struggles falls on the receivers
The struggles that Texas faced in the passing game in the last few weeks are well-documented at this point. Texas was not able to move the ball consistently through the air in each of the last three games.
But nothing was as bad as what we saw from redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns against TCU. Ewers finished up this game with just 17 completions on 39 passing attempts, good for well under 200 passing yards, no passing scores, and one pick.
Ewers was out of rhythm for the entire game, and his receivers didn’t do much to help his cause. Texas’ wideouts dropped three catchable passes in this game, and I would argue that there were at least four or five other passes that his receivers could’ve caught that weren’t officially registered as drops.
At least half the time that Ewers got a decent pass off in this game, his receivers either weren’t on the same page as he was or they just didn’t make the play to come down with the catch.
The lack of execution on the receiver’s part was evident by the fact that Ewers’ wideouts dropped 15 percent of catchable balls he threw in this game, good for the bottom three in the Power Five in Week 11.
Something just isn’t right this season in terms of the chemistry between Ewers and the receivers.
Take Xavier Worthy as an example. Worthy is getting targeted more than 90 percent of the other wideouts in the Big 12 this season. But he’s caught fewer than 50 percent of his targets in the passing game this season, good for one of the worst reception percentages in the FBS.
Lowest reception % among FBS players with at least 70 targets this season:
— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) November 13, 2022
1. Dontayvion Wicks (UVA), 41.7
2. Jason Brownlee (USM), 48.4
3. Xavier Worthy (UT), 48.9
4. Tetairoa McMillan (ZONA), 49.3
5. Corey Crooms (WMU), 49.5
https://twitter.com/FTBeard7/status/1591606764138827777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1591606764138827777%7Ctwgr%5E0cd83d67a300660acd1563abcce086f072438878%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhookemheadlines.com%2F2022%2F11%2F13%2F3-takeaways-from-texas-footballs-lethargic-loss-to-tcu%2F
The timing is definitely off between Ewers and his receivers in the last few games. We’re seeing it happen all too often that Ewers gets a pass off to a different part of the field than his receiver’s route finishes at or he just doesn’t go through his reads as the plays were designed.
If Texas is going to figure out its issues in the passing game to finish up the season, Sark, the receivers, and Ewers all need to take some level of responsibility here and get on the same page before facing Kansas on the road next weekend.