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3 necessary adjustments Texas must make during bye week

No. 2 Texas can come out of the bye week with more confidence and rest before OU if a handful of key issues on each side of the ball from the Mississippi State first half are cleared up this week.

By Andrew Miller

Cameron Williams, DJ Campbell, Texas football
Cameron Williams, DJ Campbell, Texas football / Tim Warner/GettyImages
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Barryn Sorrell, Anthony Hill Jr., Texas football
Barryn Sorrell, Anthony Hill Jr., Texas football / Aaron E. Martinez/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Come out more aggressive on defense

Texas's defensive game plans have been pretty conservative this season, and rightly so in some of the out-of-conference games they've played in the first month of the regular season since late August against Colorado State in the opener.

The run defense and third-down adjustments for Pete Kwiatkowski and the defensive coaching staff could be shored up coming out of the sluggish start in the first half against Mississippi State last week. Mississippi State was able to effectively run the ball against the Longhorns last weekend, largely thanks to Jeff Lebby being able to control the time of possession on the ground with the UT offense having so many short possessions in the first half.

Texas also struggled to get off the field last weekend for stretches of the game against the Bulldogs. The Longhorns were a season-worst 47.1 percent in opponent third-down conversion rate against Mississippi State's offense, that converted on a half-dozen money downs in the first half to keep the chains moving against Texas's defense.

The pass rush and linebacker assignments in run defense have been pretty vanilla early this season. PK and the Longhorns entrusted linebackers Anthony Hill Jr. and/or David Gbenda to stop the run sometimes all by themselves behind the four-man defensive front against Mississippi State's ground game that was in rhythm last weekend.

And until the second half against Mississippi State, Texas hadn't rushed the passer as effectively in the season's first four or five weeks or so as they did last fall. Texas ranks in the bottom in the in the SEC, only having sent blitzes on roughly 35 percent of its plays on defense against passing offenses after five weeks this regular season.

Trying some different pass rush schemes and personnel sets and alignments could help the Longhorns get better and more consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks in key games against good quarterbacks in the regular season's second half for the Texas defensive front.

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