3 overreactions from Texas football’s hardy win over Baylor

Head coach Steve Sarkisian and No. 24 ranked Texas football made a real statement to close out the regular season. Texas won two straight games to finish out a regular season that marked a campaign of progress thus far for Sark and his staff.

Sark and the Longhorns finished up the regular season with a record of 8-4 (6-3 Big 12) following a 38-27 win over head coach Dave Aranda and the Baylor Bears on Black Friday (Nov. 25). The other win that helped Texas build the two-game winning streak to end the regular season came on the road in Lawrence on Nov. 19 over the Kansas Jayhawks.

Moreover, Texas got it done in Week 13 thanks to a strong ground game for the second consecutive week. Bijan gave the Longhorns roughly 150 rushing yards in the second half. And senior running back Roschon Johnson had another big game with more than 70 rushing yards and two rushing scores.

The defense played really well in the second half, which helped Texas get the double-digit win over the Bears.

All in all, this was a solid win for Texas to close out Baylor in the second half. If Sark and this staff proved anything, it’s that the second-half struggles could be behind the Longhorns for good now.

Overreactions from Texas football’s double-digit finale win over Baylor

Here’s a look at three overreactions following Texas’ comfortable 11-point win over Baylor in the regular season finale.

Barryn Sorrell will be the best edge rusher in the Big 12 in 2023

One of the biggest developments of the regular season for the Longhorns was the improved play of sophomore edge rusher Barryn Sorrell.

You don’t have to look any further than Sorrell’s stat line to see the strides he made on the field in 2022. He has literally posted nine times the number of tackles for loss that he did as a true freshman, and he’s spearheading a resurgent pass rush with a team-high 5.5 sacks on the season.

Sorrell was steady, but not fantastic, for the Longhorns in the win over Baylor. He came up with one run stop, two quarterback pressures, three combined tackles, and didn’t have any missed tackles in the finale on Black Friday.

While this was the quietest game in the last month or so for Sorrell, it also proved that his floor is getting increasingly higher this year. He’s also setting the edge in run defense really well and consistently getting upfield to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

This now makes it all but two games this season where Sorrell has registered at least a couple of quarterback pressures.

Sorrell is definitely the most pleasant surprise among the edge rushers for the Longhorns this year. And I fully expect him to be a major impact player for this defense in 2023.