Texas has been searching for a dominating – reliable, even – running game since the Horns fell to Alabama in the 2009 national championship game. Those Longhorns passed the ball early and often and relied on the legs of quarterback Colt McCoy to gain crucial yardage on the ground. Following the loss to Alabama, Coach Mack Brown vowed [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] to turn the Horns into a power running team.
The change didn’t take in 2010. Texas didn’t have a dominant running game in 2011 or 2012 either. Nor did it appear Texas could impose its will and run whenever it wanted earlier this season.
But something happened on the way to the Metroplex. The Horns found their legs against Oklahoma, gashing the Sooners for 255 yards on 60 carries in the Cotton Bowl. Last week, back in Fort Worth, they kept churning out yards. Against TCU’s conference-best run defense, the Horns gained another 187 yards on 52 tries. The average wasn’t gaudy, but no one cares. The commitment to the run game forced TCU to bring more players in the box, which in turn created space for Case McCoy to find Marcus Johnson and Mike Davis for big plays in the passing game.
Texas wore TCU down and kept its own defense fresh in the process. The defense responded by forcing nine punts and an interception on TCU’s last 10 possessions.
It’s been since 2007 that the Longhorns have run with such impunity. Of course that team featured current NFL All-Pro Jamaal Charles, who had seven 100-yard games during his 1,619 yard season. No Longhorn since has approached the 1,000 yard plateau, though Johnathan Gray will if he continues his current pace.
During Charles’ last season in Austin, he ran behind a line that included NFL draft pick Tony Hills. NFL teams haven’t called any Texas lineman in the draft since, and Texas has struggled to push around opposing defenses.
Until now.
As Jonathan Woo wrote at bleacherreport.com, the Longhorns may just have found the formula that could help them achieve a goal many laughed away a month ago: winning the Big XII.
Behind an offensive line that includes Dominic Espinosa, Kennedy Estelle, Trey Hopkins, Donald Hawkins and Mason Walters, Texas has found its legs again. Though he didn’t crack the century mark against TCU, Gray has already rushed for more than 100 yards twice this season and is on pace to surpass 1,100 yards. He’s averaging 93.7 yards per game but nearly 105 yards per game if you discount his 28-yard total in the opener against New Mexico State. Brown ran for 63 yards total in his first five games. Against OU and TCU, he’s averaged 85 yards per game. Both backs now resemble the players who topped the recruiting rankings both locally and nationally.
The line, Mark Rosner reported in the Austin American-Statesman this week, has the entire team feeling good.
They even felt good during the weather delay at TCU, Brown said at Monday’s press conference. One writer summed it up that offensive lineman love to eat and run block, both of which they enjoyed doing Saturday night.
Whether the success comes from meals provided by quarterback Case McCoy or not, Texas has certainly become a different, much tougher, team than it showed early in the season.
As a team, Texas averages 200.4 yards per game rushing, a number that will likely go up as the team continues to emphasize the run. In that 2007 season, Texas rushed for 207.5 yards per game, its best since the national championship team averaged 275 yards. Both of those teams won their bowl games, which remains one of the goals still attainable for these Longhorns.
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