“First and foremost, we needed to get healthy,” Texas defensive coordinator Chris Ash said of what his unit focused on in the break. “We spent a lot of time of scouting ourselves. We evaluated everything, just finding ways to helps us get better — we looked at all of it. We got a lot of good work done on that. So it was a combination of things.”
Texas (2-2 overall, 1-2 against Big 12 teams) enters the game with the defense ranked 40th out of 77 teams in the country, a spot that looks better due to the Longhorns’ performance in the season-opener against UTEP.
The UT defense faces an interesting matchup this week as Baylor offensive coordinator Larry Fedora spent last season as an analyst on the Texas staff. Fedora has had head coaching stints at Southern Miss and North Carolina, but with the Bears only having played two games this season, there is limited film for the Longhorns to evaluate.
“We’ve studied his past, and he has a lot of difficult concepts that he used at North Carolina with a lot of different ways to attack you,” Ash said. “It still comes down to players. Players have to play and execute, and that’s where the game is won or lost.”
Graham noted that familiarity with Baylor’s offensive personnel, such as quarterback Charlie Brewer, is something the Texas defense will have to lean on.
“You can only look at that film of their two games and start to break them down,” he said. “Even though it’s a new offense, I still have some history playing against these guys before.”
The Bears (1-1 overall and in Big 12 games) have been hit harder by the coronavirus than any team in the country. They have had three games either canceled or postponed and have not played since a 27-21 double-overtime loss Oct. 3 at West Virginia.
Discover more from Horns Illustrated
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.