Five Quick Thoughts: Texas-BU

AUSTIN — That game was so Big 12, so Texas, and so Baylor.

Well over 1k yards of total offense, yet bizarre officiating and stranger coaching made this an agonizing roller coaster that finally ended in a hilariously traditional fashion. Texas knocked in the game winning FG, Baylor launched a desperation drive, their QB made horrible decisions, the officials conferred, and somehow Texas survived.

I know a popular sentiment right now is to give the Big 12 a pair of middle fingers, lament the lack of elite teams, and look to make an exit after that triumphant win over a universally despised foe. On the other hand…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqJFIJ5lLs&feature=youtu.be

Quick thought no. 1: Foreman bros for the win.

After eight long, arduous years, many of which actually featured fairly strong Texas running games, the Longhorns finally have a 1k yard rusher in D’Donta Foreman. Unless something else crazy happens this year, like Foreman moving to QB and taking a dozen sacks next game before getting injured.

I wouldn’t even mention something that crazy happening but Texas played Tyrone Swoopes at RB today, gave him crucial carries (that went horribly), and still beat Baylor.

We have to give some credit to this OL. I don’t know why Patrick Vahe was benched but Jake McMillon is playing great football and consequently it didn’t particularly matter. Texas should really, carefully consider signing his brother in this next class. Texas is getting rich off taking brothers at this point, they should keep that train rolling.

Connor Williams regularly finds linebackers at the second level, the OL is controlling DL at the point of attack (and often driving people off the ball), and Buechele is playing well enough in the passing game to keep opponents from going totally wild with their run-stopping schemes.

But at the end of the day, D’Onta Foreman is going out every week and dominating +1 fronts. There’s not really anything else Texas’ opponents can do schematically, he’s just better.

Meanwhile, the main method Texas utilized for punishing what aggressiveness Baylor did bring against the run was throwing to the other Foreman, Armanti. Four catches, 142 yards, and a big problem for teams that want to drop the safety on his side to help stop the run.

Quick thought no. 2: Texas won that game on the goal line.

Baylor got in the red zone three times in the second half, it wasn’t that hard the way they were running the ball, but they only got six points out of it. Then there was the strange decision by Baylor earlier in the game to try and throw on first and 10 from their own two yard line, which ended with a holding call and safety that literally made the difference between Texas winning or losing.

This was largely thanks to the play of the Texas DL, and we should count Hager in that reckoning for his typically disruptive play on the edge combined with some really sound play against the option. He’s the best Fox on the roster by a safe margin right now. Malcolm Roach has potential, but they need to go over containment assignments with him over the next few weeks.

Much of that game came down to Baylor looking to stop Texas’ run game thanks to the play of their DBs, blitzing off the edge or making stops in the alley, while Texas was hoping that they could make a few key stops with their DL. Big men usually beat small men in this game.

But Baylor also blew this one with that fumble.

Quick thought no. 3: The Texas run D is still atrocious.

Besides the horrible contain on Seth Russell, who converted at least five first downs by scrambling for yardage up the middle, Texas is still playing really poor run defense. This isn’t shocking or any more appalling than it was in previous weeks, you can’t teach guys to read the triangle and control the trenches in a week. Still, this game wasn’t a signal of the Texas defense righting the ship.

Baylor ran the ball 68 times for 398 yards, 5.9 yards per carry, and two yards (before we even remove lost yardage from Texas’ six sacks). Terrence Williams had 24 carries for 180 yards, Seth Russell had 21 for 138, and Shock Linwood was held more in check with only 67 yards on 17 carries.

Texas usually played the zone read per the plan and funneled the ball inside to the DT and LBs, but of course that’s a questionable plan with these LBs.

The difference in this game was the situational, goal line defense and the usual, brilliant play of the Texas offense.

Quick thought no. 4: Charlie played that properly

There was never a chance that Texas was going to shut down the Baylor offense and be able to win this game by just pounding the ball with Foreman and leaving with a 24-14 type win. Charlie needed to be willing to allow Shane Buechele to throw the ball deep and land some deep shots on a Baylor defense that predictably looked to attack the run with numbers and blitzes.

Sure enough, Buechele threw deep early and often and averaged 13.9 yards per pass, landing several key deep shots that allowed Texas to finish drives. If not for the multiple, explosive passes that Buechele landed, the Bears win this game thanks to the occasional negative plays they were able to inflict with their aggressive play calls.

Indeed the winning FG was set up by a 38 yard fade to Armanti Foreman when he slipped past his man once more and Buechele dropped in his patented boundary-side fade that he throws as well as anyone I’ve ever watched in this conference.

At some point, some defense is going to employ “the blueprint” against Texas but Baylor prefers to be aggressive with their boundary safety and leave that corner alone in deep coverage. Look out for Kansas and TCU in particular to look to take away those boundary fade routes that Buechele has been murdering opponents with.

Quick thought no. 5: Thank you, Charlie!

Let’s all just put aside concerns over whether Charlie Strong is the right man for the Texas job and offer up our thanks that at least he has protected the scoreboard against the Baylor Bears in the midst of an intense period of hatred between the two fan bases.

When the Washington Post story dropped in which the Baylor regents leaked some details from the Pepper Hamilton report, I could only inwardly groan over the fact that the Bears were still likely to follow that bombshell up with a win over the state’s flagship program on their own turf.

But Charlie and his players didn’t allow it.

Malik isn’t an inside linebacker, but he played his heart out and came up with two big sacks while leading the team in tackles. The word “soft” is getting thrown around a lot with this kid and it needs to stop. Lacking comfort or know how with playing as a plugger between the tackles doesn’t make you soft. This kid plays hard every week and has done some amazing things when he’s in positions to make use of his gifts.

Kris Boyd had a typical Kris Boyd game, locking down the Baylor vertical passing game (with some help from Seth Russell’s inaccuracy), and bringing his standard “right up the edge” style of play. When your cornerback is setting the tone with his physicality you’re in good shape. I can’t wait till his brother sees the field.

While they may often be totally lost, and they may have a tendency to fall apart on the road, these kids don’t quit. They played with a ton of pride in a game where Texas had a lot of pride at stake and they represented the program well. Good job, Texas.

Baylor, enjoy your ride home.

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— HornsFan29 (@HornsFan29) October 29, 2016