INSIDER: E-Newsletter Game 2 Texas At BYU

 

5 Questions – BYU

BY STEVE HABEL

Words can’t describe the difference in performances between Brigham Young and Texas during this past Saturday’s game at LaVell Edwards Stadium. One can only look at the statistics as we begin evaluating the Cougars’ 40-21 victory over the 15th-ranked Longhorns.

Two statistics tell a large part of the story.  [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]BYU rushed for 550 yards — the most ever against Texas — and gained almost as many yards in the first half as the Longhorns managed the entire game.

Remember that this wasn’t the Red River Rivalry where Texas faces one of its toughest opponents of the season. This game took in Provo, Utah, against a team that lost to a pedestrian Virginia team in its season opener.

This kind of game — where Texas found itself outplayed, out-coached and physically dominated on every snap — was supposed to be a thing of the past.

This Longhorn team has 19 returning starters and was supposedly prepared to take on any situation by a coaching staff culled from the nation’s best programs. The team has senior leadership and a swagger built on the momentum from the 2011 and 2012 campaigns. Texas should be passed dropping games such as this one.

This team shouldn’t have spent its time watching the opposition’s running backs, and even quarterback, racing to the end zone without being touched, again and again.

What happened?

“We couldn’t stop them from running the ball, even though that was the focus of our game plan,” head coach Mack Brown said. “We missed tackles and assignments. Our offense didn’t do enough — especially on third and fourth down — to keep our defense off the field. We’re disappointed.”

BYU quarterback Taysom Hill looked like the second coming of Vince Young running the read-option, racking up 259 yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns on the ground, as well as 129 yards passing on nine completions.

“[BYU] got after us and outplayed us, and their quarterback was the difference in the game,” former defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. “We knew what we had to do to win this game and we felt like we were prepared enough to stop them, but we didn’t execute our game plan.”

Add the 182 rushing yards in 30 carries from Jamaal Williams and Paul Lasike’s 87 yards and two touchdowns, and you have the equation that equaled total domination.

BYU’s 550 rushing yards set a new Cougars’ record for a single game, supplanting the 465 yards they ran for in 1958 against Montana. The count was also 98 yards more than Texas had ever allowed in a game, erasing the 452 yards that the Longhorns surrendered in 1997 to Rice.

“We expected to run on them, but we didn’t expect to break the school record,” Hill said. “We were taking what the defense gave us, and there wasn’t a reason to go away from that as long as it was working.”

Texas did some things offensively — the Longhorns had 445 yards of total offense, 313 of which came from the passing game — but the offense spent most of its time playing catch-up because the porous defense.

The Longhorns led the game twice. The first time after a spot-on David Ash to Mike Davis pass in the first quarter. The second came early in the second quarter when Joe Bergeron plowed into the end zone on a 2-yard scoring run at the end of a nine-play, 76-yard drive that gave Texas a 14-10 advantage.

But the game went downhill for the Longhorns from there. BYU (1-1) scored on a Hill 20-yarcd run, then on Lasike’s 10-yard run that finished a 56-yard march. The Cougars finally took a 27-14 lead to halftime on Paul Sorensen’s 32-yard field goal at the end of the second quarter.

The Cougars added a 26-yard touchdown run by Hill on their first possession of the second half and two more Sorensen field goals that capped the scoring.

“We had some plays that were working for us, but not enough of them,” Davis said. “Our goal now is to make sure that we don’t allow this one loss to turn into a second one. We have to put this out of our minds and look forward.”

Despite Davis’ statement regarding the team’s direction moving forward, Saturday’s performance created more questions than answers.

Yes, the contest played out as a slugfest, but only the Cougars answered the bell. That, in itself, should have Texas fans apprehensive as Ole Miss comes to town next Saturday.

 

1. How much bad defense is enough bad defense?

Texas’ performance against BYU was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Diaz was relieved of  his duties as defensive coordinator on Sunday afternoon and former co-defensive coordinator Greg Robinson was named to the position. The Longhorns will reassign Diaz to a position within the athletics department.

“Our performance on defense last night was unacceptable and we need to change that,” Brown said Sunday. “Greg will get with the staff and players to start preparing for Ole Miss. He’ll begin running our defense immediately.”

A 36-year coaching veteran who has served as a defensive coordinator on two Super Bowl winning teams and the Longhorns’ 2004 Rose Bowl Championship squad, Robinson returned to Texas in July as a football analyst.

“We’re fortunate that Greg has watched all of our practice video and has a good scouting report moving forward,” Brown said. “He knows this place, did a terrific job in leading our defense before, and I’m excited to have him back on the field. We’re back at it and working hard to beat Ole Miss this weekend.”

Robinson is familiar with the Longhorns’ defensive personnel and started self-scouting and scouting opponents when he returned to Austin 10 weeks ago.

“This is a tough deal for everyone involved but I love Texas, and coach Brown has been wonderful to me,” Robinson said. “I’ll do anything I can to help him. I know and respect the staff, and I’m excited for the challenge moving forward.”

Several players defended Diaz after the game Saturday by blaming themselves for the way Brigham Young ran away with the game.

“Coach Diaz gave us a game plan and we didn’t execute,” safety Adrian Phillips said. “He told us the positions we needed to be in and the plays we needed to stop, and we didn’t do it.”

Given Phillips’ statement, and the fact that Texas looked even worse in stopping the run in the second half than it did in the first, one must wonder about the Longhorns’ drive while out on the field.

“We go into every game, and into every play with the desire to play our hardest and execute,” cornerback Quandre Diggs said. “Our desire is never an issue, and it can’t be if you’re a football player. We just didn’t play to our standards in this game.”

And, ultimately, that cost Diaz his job.

 

2. What was the biggest loss?

On the Longhorns’ first offensive series, sophomore running back/wide receiver Daje Johnson turned his left ankle on a running play and didn’t return to the game. In the second half, Johnson was on the sideline in his street clothes, with a plastic boot on his left foot and ankle.

Offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said that losing Johnson was a big blow to his offensive game plan.

“We had a lot of packages where Daje was the one we wanted to use, and not having him there made us make some changes,” Applewhite said. “There’s no doubt that it affected what we wanted to do, but we have other weapons; but we still didn’t make the plays we needed.”

Midway through the fourth quarter, with the Longhorns still holding onto some hope for a comeback, Ash sustained a blow to the head during a scrambling run and was forced from the game. If he’s not ready for Saturday’s game against Ole Miss, the starting job will fall to Case McCoy, who ended the BYU game with 62-yards passing (45 came on one play on the next to last snap).

 

3. What do the numbers tell us?

BYU ran 99 plays in the game, averaging 6.9 yards per snap and amassed 33 first downs. The Cougars scored on every one of their six possessions in the second and third quarter (when the game was won and lost), didn’t allow a sack and lost just six combined rushing yards on 72 attempts.

In the entire 2012 season, only four teams (Army, Georgia Tech, Air Force and Nevada) ran the ball 72 times in a game.

For Texas, linebacker Jordan Hicks had 15 tackles (eight of them solo) though none were for a loss. Defensive end Cedric Reed had a monster game with 14 tackles (six solo) and 10 of those were in the first half.

Both Davis (114 yards) and Jaxon Shipley (105) eclipsed the 100-yard mark in receiving yards while Johnathan Gray led the Longhorns with 90 yards on 13 carries on the ground. Ash threw for 251 yards on 19-of-34 attempts and Texas didn’t commit a turnover.

 

4. What was the biggest play of the game?

The biggest play was likely the roughing the punter penalty committed by the Texas’ Bryson Echols midway through the second quarter. The penalty gave BYU a new set of downs after Texas made a rare great play on third down to get off the field.

The Cougars scored four plays later, the first of 24 consecutive points, and the game was never the same.

“That was a huge momentum swing because we finally had [BYU] on its heels for a minute and it could’ve been something to grow on,” Hicks said. “We want to be aggressive with that block attempt but we also have to be smart. Even when we gave them the extra chance, we should’ve stopped them.”

Texas works hard in practice to make big plays on special teams but came up empty against the Cougars. The last thing this BYU team needed was more chances to score.

5. What’s next for the Longhorns?

While it’s easy to get down on Texas after its showing against BYU, the game is just one loss in the 13-game season.

The Longhorns’ pride is likely hurt, but a Big 12 championship and a potential BCS bowl game bid is still theirs for the taking if they can right the ship.

“We didn’t expect to be in this position and we’re going to focus on making sure this doesn’t happen again,” Diggs said. “I believe in this team and I know we’re not going to give up. We are not like last year’s team — I’m so tired of talking about last year — and we’ll be ready for Ole Miss.”

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