5 Questions: Ole Miss

AFTER A LONG DAY of revelry at The Grove — Ole Miss’ famed tailgating spot — Rebel fans planned for the celebration to continue inside the stadium. Prepared to watch a ground-based battle, where both teams played close to the vest and points would come at a premium, the Longhorns ….

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floored the fans with their unexpected performance.

Texas brought their Big 12 Conference-style of play to the Southeastern Conference Sept. 15, beating Ole Miss 66-31. The 12^th-ranked Longhorns were on a mission to prove to the 61,797 fans sitting in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (the fourth-largest crowd in school history and the largest to ever see a non-conference game at Ole Miss), as well as to the people watching across the country, that Texas is on the rise this season.

Since the beginning of the season, the Longhorns needed to find a balance between explosive plays and managing the offense. In the game against Ole Miss, Texas found that balance, racking up 676 yards of total offense. Led by sophomore quarterback David Ash (who went 19 of 23 passing for a career-high 326 yards and four touchdowns), the Longhorns scored on nine of their 12 possessions, including seven in a row.

“Whenever a team scores 66 points, you know the offense was prepared,” defensive end Alex Okafor said. “Those guys executed the game plan — they went out and dominated. They helped the defense out by keeping us off the field.”

Just as amazing was that the Texas defense — the unit considered the team’s point of strength — needed such help. Ole Miss recorded 19 first downs and 399 yards of offense, but couldn’t keep up with the Longhorns’ suddenly unstoppable offensive machine.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had this much success on offense,” head coach Mack Brown said. “We knew we had a game like this in us, but we haven’t been able to bring it to the field on Saturdays.”

Texas had 11 plays that included runs for 12 or more yards, and passes for 18 yards or better. Ash threw a 46- and a 55-yard touchdown pass to Mike Davis and Marquise Goodwin, respectively. But Ole Miss still had nine plays of the same caliber, including a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown by Jaylen Walton.

UT linebacker Steve Edmond got the team off on the right foot when he picked off a short pass from Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace and rumbled 22 yards for a touchdown.

After a Nick Jordan 31-yard field goal increased the Texas lead to 10-0, Goodwin raced through the Ole Miss defense on a jet sweep play for a 69-yard TD.

Two extended drives allowed the Rebels to claw within 17-10 with 8:50 to play in the second quarter.

The Texas offense, taking advantage of their speed and strength, kept up the heat. Ash mixed both short and long passes and the dual-headed running attack of Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron continually gashed the Rebels’ defense.

Texas scored two more times in the first half, both times at the end of lengthy drives. Ash found tight end D.J. Grant on a 3-yard touchdown pass two plays after hitting Goodwin with a 47-yard throw.

Quandre Diggs intercepted Wallace on Ole Miss’ next drive, and Texas used all but 12 seconds of the time remaining in the half to drive 60 yards in 12 plays. The drive ended with a 1-yard pass from Ash to Ryan Roberson.

The Longhorns (now 3-0 to start the season for the sixth straight year) opened the second half with a seven-play, 74-yard march that ended with a D.J. Monroe 10-yard touchdown run. Texas now led the Rebels, 38-10.

“That final possession of the first half and first possession of the second half are important because it allowed us to keep some momentum,” coach Brown said.

Ole Miss (1-2) wouldn’t back down, scoring on a 75-yard strike from Wallace to Donte Moncrief (who had seven catches for 144 yards). Texas responded with another long march, punctuated by an 18-yard catch by Bergeron and a pin-point 45-yard throw by Ash between two defenders to Davis. Brown eventually scored on a 5-yard blast off right guard.

The Rebels again gashed the Texas defense, scoring on Jeff Scott’s 48-yard run in which two Texas defenders missed tackles near the line of scrimmage. “[Tonight] was a bad night for tackling. We’ve got to go back to work,” safety Kenny Vaccaro said. “Our defense is much better than what we showed [against Ole Miss].”

Ash’s 46-yard TD pass to Davis pushed the score to 52-24 and Brown’s second TD run, this one from 12 yards out two plays into the fourth quarter, added to the lead.

Goodwin hauled in Ash’s final throw of the night for a last touchdown and the Longhorns drove to the Ole Miss goal line in the waning seconds before taking a knee.

“We’re disappointed that we weren’t able to keep the game close,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. “Offensively, we did some good things and we put up some yards on a good defense, but we didn’t play great defensively. Texas is a wonderful football team … very physical, deep, with tremendous speed.”

1. CAN ASH CONTINUE HIS GREAT EARLY PLAY?

After throwing a few deep passes during the first two games, Ash threw caution to the wind on most of his long bombs. He under threw the majority of those balls, but the Texas receivers made the plays happen against the Ole Miss secondary.

“I’ve mastered the under throw,” Ash said. “Mike and Marquise made adjustments to catch some passes that could’ve gone either way. We took advantage of the opportunities we missed during the first two games.”

Both Coach Brown and Harsin lauded Ash for his decision making and command on the field. “The offense certainly answered some questions tonight,” Brown said.

“We showed a lot on offense,” Harsin added. “We got the ball into the players’ hands that allowed us to make big plays. Our playmakers took advantage of their chances.”

The real indication of Ash’s success? He went without a turnover for the second consecutive game. He’s also recorded seven TD passes and zero interceptions for 2012. His lone turnover this season came on a high shotgun snap against Wyoming.

“We’re pleased with the way Ash is running the offense,” Brown said. “He was into the flow [against Ole Miss].”

 

2. SHOULD FANS START PANICKING ABOUT THE TEXAS DEFENSE?

Not quite yet, Longhorn fans. Ole Miss had one thing going for them coming into this game — an explosive offense. Texas expected the Rebels to move the ball, but they didn’t expect their own defense to miss tackles and lose their marks.

Texas came after Wallace (a junior college transfer that the Longhorns considered recruiting) and forced him into quick decisions. The strategy worked for the most part, but the Longhorns got burned on big plays when they zeroed in on the Rebels’ quarterback.

“We won the game, and that’s the goal,” Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. “To be a great defensive team, we can’t give up big plays for touchdowns. We have to do a better job of tackling and finishing things off — we have to tackle the catch.”

Nevertheless, the Texas defense recorded five sacks and three interceptions (two by Diggs).

3. WHO WAS THE GAME’S BEST PLAYER?

Although Ash was impressive, the nod goes to Goodwin — the Longhorns’ real road warrior this season.

Goodwin competed for Team USA in the long jump during this year’s Olympic Games. After placing 10^th, he returned to Austin for the second week of fall workouts. On Sept. 13 he traveled with his track & field teammates to Washington, D.C. to meet the president the following morning. He then traveled to Memphis to meet the football team before the Ole Miss game, arriving at 10:15 p.m. on Friday after five hours of flight delays.

“It was a wonderful experience hanging out at the White House with the president, the first lady, the vice president, all the Olympians and my fellow Longhorns,” Goodwin said. “It was a challenging couple days of travel, but I was proud to represent the Longhorns at the White House.”

Goodwin had a career-high 198 all-purpose yards (102 receiving, 80 rushing and 16 kickoff returns) against the Rebels, giving the Longhorns an offensive boost.

“Marquise’s trip was perfectly planned to freshen up his legs for this game,” Harsin joked. “He was into things mentally — he’s a great competitor and showed that [against Ole Miss].”

 

4. WHAT’S THE KEY TO TEXAS’ CONTINUED OFFENSIVE SUCCESS?

Despite the highlight-reel performance from Ash and his receivers, Texas is a run-first team.

With their dynamic duo of Brown (128 yards and two TDs on 21 carries) and Bergeron (48 yards on 11 totes in the first half), as well as freshman Johnathan Gray (nine carries for 50 yards), Texas should play to their strength. Against Ole Miss, the Longhorns racked up 350 total yards on the ground — an average of 6.5 yards per carry.

“I felt stronger as the game went on,” Brown said. “We attacked and the holes were there. The credit for that goes to the game plan and the guys who were blocking.”

The Texas offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage, giving Ash time to throw and Brown and Bergeron room to run before encountering the defense. “The game is won and lost up front,” Ash said. “Those guys were physical and allowed us to establish what we wanted to do.”

5. WHAT’S THE LONGHORNS’ BIGGEST CONCERN?

Texas needs to address their field goal kicking. Freshman Nick Jordan missed a 37-yard attempt in the third quarter — his fourth miss of seven attempts this season. With games coming down to the wire, the Longhorns need a dependable kicker.

“Jordan was perfect on nine extra points … but back him up 10 yards and he misses,” coach Brown said. “We need to tell him they’re all extra points.”

Kicker Anthony Fera — who transferred from Penn State during fall practice — might be the answer, but the Texas trainers haven’t cleared him for game action.

“That’s completely out of my hands,” Coach Brown said in regards to Fera’s status. “The trainers will tell us when he’s ready. We’ll want him at 100 percent if we send him out there.”

The time when Texas needs a big field goal to win the game may come sooner than expected. Based on his performance thus far, fans should be nervous if that responsibility falls into Jordan’s hands.

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