Longhorns Football | Five Questions Notre Dame

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

Notre Dame takes apart overmatched Longhorns

NOTRE DAME, Indiana – The only good thing about young and inexperienced football players is that they eventually get older and learn from their mistakes. That will have to be the future on which Texas hangs its hat after it was dismantled and dominated in every phase of the game in a 38-3 loss to 11th-ranked Notre Dame Saturday that was even more lopsided that the score indicates.(Continue reading below…)

 

(…Continued from above.) It was the first season-opening loss for Texas since a 23-20 defeat against North Carolina State in 1999. The defeat was the second-most lopsided loss in a season-opener in school history and its worst since 1988. [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] 

For the youthful Longhorns, who started seven freshmen (five of them right out of high school) and 14 underclassmen in their top 24 players, the defeat was a lesson learned about how much more they need to work to gain purpose against the nation’s upper-tier teams.

But it has to get better than this, doesn’t it?

Notre Dame controlled the line on both offense and defense and took the Longhorns completely out of their game from the opening possession. The Fighting Irish’s offense – with junior quarterback Malik Zaire running the attack with precision and confidence – racked up 527 yards despite all but shutting things down with 11 minutes left.

Texas, meanwhile, managed only 163 total yards and had just one big play, a 48-yard pass from junior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes to true freshman John Burt early in the third quarter. That deep completion advanced the Longhorns to the Notre Dame 23-yard line and allowed for their only points of the game, a 41-yard field goal by Nick Rose.

“We weren’t able to establish the run enough to allow our line to protect Swoopes or to control their defensive line,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said. “We knew we had to win the game at the line of scrimmage and we didn’t.

“We are just a better football team than what we showed,” Strong continued. “We’ve just got to keep believing in it and our players have to keep believing in it because we can’t go out and not execute.”

Is Notre Dame really this good or was Texas just really bad?

Well, the Irish did have 19 starters back from a team that went 8-5 in 2014 and beat LSU in the Music City Bowl. And they did have a dangerous dual-treat quarterback – the kind that always seem to give the Longhorns trouble – in Zaire, who hit on 19 of 22 of his passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns.

And Texas did have two true freshmen starting in the offensive line, a group that was no match for the experienced Notre Dame defensive front.

“Singularly the biggest factor in the game is that Texas had a difficult time blocking our defensive front line,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “You could tell that it was going to be difficult for Texas to run the football because we were constantly in the backfield.”

Notre Dame struck first at the 6:29 mark of the opening quarter on a 16-yard TD pass from Zaire to Will Fuller at end of 55-yard drive. It was the first punch in the mouth for young Horns but it wouldn’t be the last.

The Fighting Irish’s own true freshman, running back Josh Adams, rumbled home from 14 yards out to build Notre Dame’s lead to 14-0 at 1:02 of the first quarter.  The touchdown run culminated a nine-play, 95-yard drive.

Notre Dame added to its advantage in the waning minutes of the second quarter on a 38-yard field goal from Nick Yoon (another true freshman). Rose then missed from 52 yards on the final play of the half – after making two from that distance that were nullified by last-second timeouts from Kelly, allowing the Irish to take a 17-0 lead to halftime.

Texas had six possessions in the first half, none lasting longer than 2 minutes, 31 seconds. The Irish gained 230 yards in the first 30 minutes to the Horns’ 75 and had a 14-4 edge in first downs.

The Swoopes-to-Burt deep hookup and Rose’s subsequent field goal gave Texas fans a little hope that was quickly squashed by Zaire’s 66-yard TD pass to Fuller over Texas senior cornerback Duke Thomas, moving the Irish lead to 24-3 at the 5:50 mark of the third quarter.

Adams later raced untouched for 25 yards and his second TD of the game and Zaire wrapped up Notre Dame’s opening-night package with a final 6-yard scoring pass to Chris Brown three minutes into the fourth quarter.

“It’s a disappointing and surprising way to open the season, but we will build from this and make adjustments and get better,” Texas sophomore defensive end Naashon Hughes said. “Notre Dame was good, but we didn’t make the plays we needed to to win. We know the mistakes we made – it’s up to us to take charge and find the answers.”

1. Why was Texas so ineffective on offense?

The problems are a combination of a continuation of last year’s ineptitude on the offensive line, Swoopes’ indecisiveness in the pocket and lackluster playcalling by the Texas staff.

Swoopes, who ended up just 7 of 22 passing for 93 yards – after going 1-for-8 in the first half – just didn’t have the time to throw and was inaccurate when he had rare open space.

“You have to protect your quarterback, which we didn’t do, and you have to control the clock and you have to win special teams, which we didn’t do,” Strong said.

Redshirt freshman backup quarterback Jerrod Heard saw his first action, playing two series and completing his only pass for 10 yards. He also got loose on a scramble, but got the wind knocked out of him and was attended to by the UT trainers. In the second half, he stood and watched, with helmet off, on the sidelines, with the understanding that his work in this game was done.

It also hurt Texas that senior wideout Marcus Johnson – who is one of the Horns’ most needed players this season – never touched the ball and was injured in the first half. He was on crutches and a plastic protective boot to protect his ankle at the end of the game.

 

2. Where were all the touches for Johnathan Gray?

This is supposed to be Gray’s season to shine, and the senior has bided his time on the way to being Texas’ go-to running back after sharing the job the past three years.

Instead, Gray got just eight touches – all on handoffs – for 40 yards as the Longhorns were forced to play from behind and all but eschewed the run in the second half.

Asked if he was upset by his lack of chances, Gray stuck with the party line.

“I’ll do whatever the coaches ask me to do and I know they will get me the ball when they know I can get things done for the team and make an impact,” Gray said. Although he was keeping a stiff upper lip and taking the high road, it was obvious that he wanted, and believed, he could have done more.

Afterward, Strong and co-offensive coordinator Shawn Watson explained that the Texas offense was just trying to take what little the Notre Dame defense was giving them. The Irish paid rapt attention to the Texas run game and dared Swoopes to beat them with his arm – a plan of attack that was utilized my many teams to neutralize the Horns last season.

“We’re right there on the edge,” Gray explained. “There are minor things we need to correct. We’ve got to be more detailed in our work to get the running game going.

“Also, we’ve got to be strong in the passing game,” he added. “All those young guys in the front, they’ve got to keep working. As a senior leader, I’ve got to keep those guys focused and have a great mindset. For us to come here to Notre Dame and go lay an egg, it’s just mind-boggling.”

 

3. Is Swoopes ever going to get better?

Heads are shaking and doubts continue to rise after another team put the Texas signalcaller in the crosshairs and he did not deliver anything close to a competent performance.  

Watson reaffirmed in his postgame press scrum that Swoopes is better now than he was last season, that the quarterback has more confidence and understanding of the offense and has earned the backing and respect of his teammates.

But there is cause for concern when Swoopes told the media earlier in the week that the offense hasn’t changed much since last season and then reversed his tune in his post-Notre Dame game interview – conducted, perhaps appropriately, next to a dumpster in the bowls of ancient Notre Dame Stadium.

“It’s a new offense – everybody’s learning on the fly still,” Swoopes said. “It’s just new for everybody, first time really doing it in a game. Coaches, players, it’s new to everybody. So we just gotta get better next week.”

Gulp. Maybe Swoopes doesn’t really know what he doesn’t know. That’s a scary notion, in his second season as the starting quarterback, right?

4. After all the optimism heading into the season, how big of a shock was this performance to Strong and his staff?

The Longhorns will be the team that the coaching staff molds them into, but there has to be a drive inside from the players – a burning desire to combine their talent, preparation and fire into performance.

The Texas team that left Notre Dame Saturday night was upset, angry and humiliated and that should play a factor just how much they will eventually improve. At least you have to hope that’s the case.

“It’s always a shock and you go get embarrassed,” Strong said of the showing in South Bend. “You would have figured out we would have played much better than we did. And you can’t take anything away from Notre Dame. But you can still look at it at the end of the day at 38-3 and I think we have to be a better football team than that.”

5. Were there any bright spots in the Notre Dame debacle?

A few Texas players showed up and indicated that they will be forces with which to be dealt in 2015.

On the top of that list was true freshman linebacker Malik Jefferson, who roared through, ran around and flew across the Fighting Irish line to secure nine tackles, two and a half of which were in the backfield.

Jefferson, who’s playing more on instinct and high-skill level than understanding of his new middle linebacker position, even said that there were times he was out of place but just did what he could to run down the ball carrier.

Senior linebacker Peter Jinkens led the Longhorns with 10 tackles and UT’s only sack, while Hughes was an occasional presence in the Notre Dame backfield and true freshman Kris Boyd made two of the game’s biggest hits on special teams.

On offense, Burt looks like a real playmaker and senior wide receiver Daje Johnson led the team with six catches for 45 yards, including one for 20 yards.

Texas opens its home schedule Sept. 12 versus Rice (a 56-16 winner against Wagner Saturday), with kickoff at Darrell K Royal Stadium set for 7 p.m.

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