Players to watch, game strategy against Oklahoma State

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN, Texas — No. 12 Texas (2-1) hosts unbeaten and über-dangerous Oklahoma State (3-0) Saturday night in each team’s Big 12 Conference opener, with kickoff at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium set for 6:30 CDT.

Here are a few of the players we will be watching and our thoughts about some of the dustup’s key strategy as the Longhorns try to break a five-game home losing streak to Mike Gundy’s talented Cowboys:

Players to watch
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger — It has been said [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]before and will be said again: the Longhorns are Ehlinger’s team and can beat anyone if he plays his best. If there is a real difference between UT’s offense and the powerful one that will take the field for Oklahoma State, it’s Ehlinger, who has an experience and a “big game” edge over the Cowboys’ redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Sanders. Ehlinger has thrown 34 touchdowns and only three interceptions over his last 16 games and has scored rushing and passing touchdowns in 10 of those games. Texas is 12-4 during that stretch.

Tight end Cade Brewer — Texas needs some pass-catching contributions from its tight ends, and maybe this is the game in which Brewer fills that void. The junior has three catches for 14 yards in the Longhorns’ first three games, but has the ability to be a bigger contributor, and thus a weapon in the Texas attack and another player for whom the defense must account. Both Brewer and fellow tight end Reese Leitao were lauded by Texas coach Tom Herman this week for their blocking, and that’s important to the Longhorns as well. How about three catches for a total of 30 yards and a touchdown grab for Brewer against Oklahoma State?

Safety Chris Brown — With Texas still missing safeties B.J. Foster (hamstring) and DeMarvion Overshown (back) because of injuries, Brown has been forced to step up his play, and according to Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, he has. “To me, Chris has really bought into us and what we what we were doing,” Orlando said. “In fall camp, he was, by far, our best player. He just goes and figures it out, and that goes along with the fact (that) he’s very talented. The mental aspect of him to just cut it loose and not being afraid of failure separates him from a lot of our guys.” Brown will be part of the last line of defense for the Longhorns if, or when, Oklahoma State tries to beat the defense over the top.

Defensive end Malcolm Roach — Roach is the leader of the defense on the field and with his overall leadership. “Roach is outstanding in practice, and he’s playing at very high level,” Orlando said. “Malcolm is a guy that I really think has elevated himself personally, professionally, and has really helped us defensively. He runs that show out there, and he feels like ‘I’m the best.’ He’s played so many different spots for us in the past two years, so he knows our system so well.” Roach, and the rest of the Texas front six will need a big game to slow the Oklahoma State run game.

Key game matchup
UT’s offensive line against the Oklahoma State defensive front six — the Longhorns want to control the ball and use the run to keep the Cowboys’ vaunted attack off the field. That means long drives and some real contributions from the running backs, and in choice spots, planned runs from Ehlinger. The Longhorns have been great in producing long drives: they have had 30 scoring drivers of 10 plays or more since the start of the 2018 season.

The wild card
The Longhorns have to reduce their missed tackles, because whiffing against the Cowboys and their team speed will likely mean the defense is chasing a runner that’s heading to the end zone.

“Missed tackles are part of the game,” Orlando said, “and part of it’s the guys you’re going against sometimes, too. It’s one of those things where we don’t expect, you know, one-on-one guy to make 100 percent of the tackles. So we really put an emphasis on our guys run into the football because, I mean, if a guy makes three guys miss that, that’s … terrible tackling,

“But if a guy’s one-on-one with somebody nice, and he’s a really good player, it’s going to be a low percentage of getting them on the ground. So our emphasis is always go up and take your shot. Don’t hesitate and count on the other 10 guys to help you out.”
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