Where Texas ranks among SEC teams in key stats

Usually, this article is about how Texas is rated among the top schools in the country.

I know that’s not what y’all want to read at this point in time. They’re slowly dropping from what seemed like one of the four best teams in the nation in the preseason to around the 15th best in the nation.

We’ve played enough football to shift our sights to a different type of statistical profile: comparing Texas to the rest of the SEC in key statistical categories.

Defense

Let’s start on the more fun side of things.

Texas clearly has one of the two best defenses in the SEC. No one is forcing more turnover. No one is giving up fewer explosives, and Oklahoma is the only school doing better on stats like EPA/play and opponent scoring.

In Texas’ defense, they’ve played some better offenses and bested the Sooners head-to-head on a neutral field.

Texas’ defense is elite this year. The Sooners and Ohio State are the only two teams you continuously see ahead of them in multiple stats. Ohio State clearly has THE best unit in college football, but you could easily argue Texas’ is the next best in contention. I don’t want to hear anything about the Kentucky game. That actually helped them in most non-yardage stats; they were just on the field too much.

Looking at future Texas opponents, the Longhorns won’t be tested too much defensively. Mississippi State, this week’s opponent, does force a lot of TOs, but Vanderbilt and Arkansas, clearly the worst in the conference, don’t scare you much defensively.

Georgia and A&M are clearly above average, but have some faults. They don’t generate turnover, and the Aggies give up many explosive plays. Will that matter much when Texas plays them? Who knows, but where they kill you is on offense.

Speak of the devil.

Offense

Well, at least they aren’t THE worst.

That would go to a school like South Carolina or Kentucky, but Texas might as well be. They average out to be 11th in the conference in these stats, which is boosted a lot by their being so positive in the turnover margin. At least they do that well.

Texas is struggling most on 1st downs and in EPA/Play, a down-to-down efficiency stat. Texas isn’t an above-average team in any non-turnover stat. That’s a wild thing to say in year five of the Sarkisian tenure.

If you average both sides of the ball out, Texas is 2nd on defense and 11th on offense, per the numbers. They are also an above-average kicking team and an elite return team on special teams. Where would that generally put them as a power rating?

Probably the seventh-best team in the SEC, which would make sense. That would put them behind Alabama, A&M, Georgia and Ole Miss, while in a similar tier with Vanderbilt, Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma, who they’ve beaten.

That doesn’t quite feel right. On one hand, no way Texas should be the seventh-best team in the SEC, given how they were projected coming in. I never thought we’d be saying Vanderbilt was the better team before the end of October.

On the other hand, are they really that good? They lost to Florida, a now coachless team, and probably should’ve lost to Kentucky. They clearly struggle as a true road team, and that’s exactly what they’re doing this weekend. Are they even a top-10 SEC team if they lose to the Bulldogs? Probably not.

Players

Lastly, and very quickly, we’re going to look at a few players topping out at their positions.

On offense, there is no one of note. Sigh.

Colin Simmons is second in the SEC in sacks and QB hits. He’s a stud.

Michael Taaffe is PFF’s highest-graded run defender. Hero Kanu is seventh and second among DTs. Taaffe is also the highest-graded pass defender among safeties.

Jelani McDonald, Jaylon Guilbeau and Malik Muhammad have yet to miss a tackle in the run game.

Muhammad is giving up the fewest yards per reception among SEC CBs. He and LSU’s Mansoor Delane are the two best in the conference.

Ryan Niblett leads eligible SEC returns in total return yards and yards per attempt.