Habe on the Horns: Wide open — fundamentals and poor technique hurt Texas defense against Cal

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas football coaching staff will stress fundamentals and proper technique while preparing the Longhorns’ beleaguered defense this week for Saturday’s Big 12 opener in Austin against Oklahoma State, especially in the wake of a third consecutive poor showing Saturday in a 45-44 loss to California.

Texas allowed 548 yards of offense to the Golden Bears, including 280 yards on the ground, and most of that was earned right up the middle, where the Longhorns are supposed to be at their strongest. In their first three games of 2015, the Longhorns have surrendered 1,537 yards of total offense (512.3 yards per contest), which ranks 118th nationally out of 127 FBS schools. The ‘Horns have capitulated 722 yards on the ground (240.7 per game), putting them 119th nationally.

Texas coach Charlie Strong said Monday [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]in his weekly media availability that the UT defense has to try to take something — either the run or the pass — away from the opponent’s offense and make opponents one-dimensional.

The Longhorns haven’t been able to accomplish that task because they don’t create the needed pressure with their front four, don’t cover well in the secondary, miss assignments and can’t seem to tackle when they are in position to make plays.

“It’s just the fundamental integrity, and there are always plays that can be fixed,” Strong said. “It’s all about fundamentals and technique. It’s something we have to get fixed, and we have to get fixed right away.”

Strong said the Longhorns, who were a missed Nick Rose extra point from tying the game Saturday after a stirring comeback marshalled by quarterback Jerrod Heard, were hurting is a team after the loss.

“For the first time, I saw a team that actually took a loss the way they should take it: it hurt a lot of players,” Strong said. He added that he spent hours with Rose after the game, trying to console his senior placekicker about the miss.

“I talked to (Rose) ’til 12:30, 1 o’clock,” Strong said. “I told him there’s going to be battles in life, there’s going to be struggles in life. There’s going to be a tight game down the stretch here and we’re going to need a 50-yarder, and he’s going to win the game. I told our team we can’t put it on (Rose’s) shoulders. If we take care of the offense and defense, (then) that would never have happened.”

Strong said the team is still focused on its goal to win the Big 12 Conference.

“That’s one of our goals — we’re going to go out and compete each and every week,” he added. “For us, it starts (this Saturday) with Oklahoma State.”

Oklahoma State is ranked No. 22 in the coaches’ poll and No. 24 in the Associated Press poll.

Also gleaned from Texas’ Monday presser:

• Freshman linebacker Ed Freeman could miss as much as eight weeks with a right shoulder injury he suffered midway through the second quarter in Saturday’s loss to Cal. Freeman, from Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas, collapsed to the ground inside the red zone at the instruction of his coaches, agitating Cal quarterback Jared Goff because it appeared to be a tactic to slow the Golden Bears’ offense. Freeman is a starter in Texas’ three-linebacker set and has seven tackles and two tackles for loss. Anthony Wheeler is listed behind Freeman at weakside linebacker.

• Strong said he thought safety Jason Hall and running back Chris Warren, both of whom suffered injuries against Cal, will play against Oklahoma State.

• Receiver Marcus Johnson, who hurt his ankle in the Longhorns’ season opener against Notre Dame, dressed out against Cal but did not play. He’s listed No. 2 this week on the depth chart, behind Daje Johnson, who leads the UT receivers with 190 yards on 11 catches.

• Kickoff times have been set for two upcoming games. Texas and TCU will meet at 11 a.m., Oct. 3, in Fort Worth and will be televised either on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. The Nov. 7 Texas-Kansas game in Austin will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be carried by the Longhorn Network.

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