By Steve Habel/Associate Editor – Habe on the Horns
Turnovers – creating them or surrendering them – makes all the difference in winning and losing football games.
Texas didn’t force a single turnover in the past [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] two games – losses to nationally ranked Baylor and Oklahoma – while giving up four. For a team that’s struggling with the fundamentals and with the margin between winning and losing just a few plays each week, forcing turnovers will be the key to the Longhorns’ chances to improve in the second half of the season.
“We’ve got to get that interception when we get the chance or punch out the ball and jump on it when it’s loose,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said Monday at his weekly press conference. “We need to help our offense by shortening the field. Plus, those kinds of the plays change momentum in a game.”
The Longhorns’ lone turnover against Oklahoma, an interception that was returned 43-yard for the touchdown, provided the winning margin for the Sooners in a game where Texas outplayed OU across the board but still lost. A 91-yard kickoff return touchdown certainly didn’t help either.
Texas might be the best 2-4 team in the Power Five conferences and is improving with every game.
With the early season gauntlet that saw the Horns play four of their six games against teams ranked in the top 15, Texas now settles into its Big 12 campaign with some confidence gained from knowing it could have – and likely should have – garnered wins in two of its four defeats.
The second half of the season begins Saturday with a home game versus Iowa State, which beat Toledo on Oct. 11 to improve to 2-4 on the season. The Cyclones are winless in three league games.
The Longhorns are still a team learning to win. Strong knows his team is better team than its record shows, but also understands that the teams than make the plays when needed the most are the ones that win.
“We have to be sure we continue to move forward from the good performance that we had in Dallas against Oklahoma,” Strong said. “Playing well doesn’t mean much if we take a step back from what we’ve gained. We are still concentrating on playing well in all phases of the game – and that includes creating turnovers and ending our breakdowns in the kicking game.”
Strong blamed part of the Horns’ problems in the kicking game on the team’s lack of depth. Starters from both the offense and defense are also part of Texas’ special teams, and playing on those units can take its toll.
Other items of note from Monday’s presser:
Suspended tackle Desmond Harrison has not been reinstated for the Iowa State game and will miss his seventh straight outing.
Wide receiver Daje Johnson, who missed the OU game with a hamstring injury, is still not at full speed and will be evaluated during the week to determine his availability for this Saturday’s game.
Strong said he was impressed with the play of redshirt freshman Naashon Hughes, who earned the first start of his career at defensive Saturday versus Oklahoma. Hughes had five tackles while playing just 24 snaps and was a factor thanks to his speed and quickness.
Noise and inexperience was to blame for the five false-start penalties Texas was flagged for in the first half against OU. Strong said the loud Sooners crowd at the south end of the Cotton Bowl also contributed to the bad snap from center Taylor Doyle that hit quarterback Tyrone Swoopes in the facemask. “We were going on first sound in that part of the field and Taylor heard something that Swoopes didn’t,” Strong said.
The Horns rank 17th in the FBS in total defense (316.7 yards per game), No. 3 in passing defense (133.7 yards per game), No. 4 in both yards allowed per play (4.29) and passing efficiency defense (95.31 rating) and 34th in scoring defense (21.2 points per game).
Over the last three games, the Horns held Kansas QB Montell Cozart to a rating of just 50.84, Baylor’s Bryce Petty to a career-low rating of 104.20 and Oklahoma’s Trevor Knight to a season-low 129 passing yards. UT ranks No. 89 nationally in rushing defense (183.0 yards per game, but held the Sooners to a season-low 103 on the ground.
The Longhorns rolled up a season-high 482 total yards (148 rushing/334 passing) vs. Oklahoma and rank No. 107 in the FBS in total offense (346.3 ypg). The total yards output vs. OU was the second most in the series. The Horns racked up 553 total yards in a 37-27 win in 1999.
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