This 4-2 record looks different on the Texas Longhorns
As one Inside Texas community member wrote in a thread yesterday, Texas has the same 4-2 record coming out of the OU game it did a year ago.
[Get FOUR MONTHS of Inside Texas Plus for $1!]
The record may say they’re the same, but these two teams are quite different.
Texas hasn’t been blown out this year, like what happened in Arkansas in ‘22.
Yes, Texas Tech produced a comeback loss, but even that was not as demoralizing as what happened in the Cotton Bowl last year. Against Tech, Texas didn’t implode. They just lost.
So instead, I feel this year – as we look toward the second half of the season – is filled with the idea that Texas is on the precipice of being a very good football team, not only on offense but on defense as well.
Let’s talk about that defense.
Take away Texas Tech’s inordinate success and reliance on fourth downs, and the Horns’ defense has kept every other opponent to 20 points or less in its six games. By this time last year, Texas had already allowed four of their six opponents to score more than 20.
And it didn’t get any better for the defense the rest of the year. The Horns only held one other team below 20, and that was the season’s final game, a 22-17 win over Kansas State. In all, nine of 12 opponents scored more than 20 points against Texas in ‘21. The Horns have already improved on that total mark and we’re just six games into the season.
As for offense, we’ve really seen much of the same. The Horns are scoring points in bunches. Yet now they are proving more consistent. The second half of games no longer feel like an offensive dead zone.
Mix that all together and this 4-2 record feels very different than a year ago.
Texas may still drop a few games this season. But nothing I’ve seen tells me we’re in for the collapse we all witnessed a year ago.
The team has even more firepower on offense and the defense is playing together. That’s the difference a year makes.
