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Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 1)


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Collecting post-game $9.95-er articles from the Rice game here:

(Gerald Goodridge) Texas 37, Rice 10: Three things we learned

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After an offseason full of high expectations, the Texas Longhorns’ opening game of the season left something to be desired in spite of the lopsided victory over the Rice Owls.

The offense needed a while to get going but finally managed to find its stride in the second half, while the defense played strong for most of the game, giving up its only touchdown of the game on a long drive mostly featuring the second unit. With Alabama on the horizon, there are some clear lessons Texas can take into the week of preparation.

The offense needs to find its rhythm and focus on intermediate passing

Fans had an opportunity to groan early as Steve Sarkisian dialed up deep shots and then was unable to convert on them, unable to ignore the similarities to last year’s efforts. Quarterback Quinn Ewers missed Worthy and AD Mitchell deep early and the longest pass of the first 40 minutes of the game was a swing pass to running back Jonathon Brooks in space that he took 47 yards for a score. In the second half, Texas managed to string together back-to-back TD passes from Ewers, a nine-yard touchdown completion to Mitchell and a quick pass to JaTavion Sanders that he turned into a 44-yard score by outrunning the defenders.

For the game, Ewers was 0-7 on attempts longer than 15 yards, while completing 9-10 on passes between 5 and 14 yards. In fact, 174 of Ewers’ 260 yards came on intermediate routes, which was clearly his and the offense’s best bet for consistency.

Third downs are still a problem for the offense

A year after finishing the year 38.79% on third downs, Texas was more or less the same team in 2023, finishing the game 6-15 on the money down. The Longhorns started the game 0-2 on third downs and managed to rattle off three consecutive conversions on a late first-half drive to finish the opening 30 minutes 3-9. Texas managed just one drive longer than 10 plays, a 16-play, 66-yard drive that stalled in the red zone and ended in a field goal. That being said, Texas turned several of their short drives into points, with seven scoring of their 12 drives ending in scores.

Perhaps part of the problem for the Longhorns was their inability to put themselves into third-and-manageable situations. When the starters were pulled in the late third quarter, Texas had an average distance to go of 9.3 yards, leading to their 5-12 conversion rate at that point.

The defensive line can be a dominant force

Speaking of expectations, a group that was expected to be a strength for the Longhorns, the defensive line, truly shone against the Owls. We saw the Longhorns’ defensive front regularly reset the line of scrimmage and play in the backfield, keeping the Owls off-balance and swinging the advantage in favor of the defense. When Texas pulled the starters at the start of the fourth quarter, Rice had amassed just 25 rushing yards, without removing sack yardage, for a 1.5 per-rush average. Their ability to create havoc can be exemplified by a play by Alfred Collins, who on a critical passing down beat his blocker, rushed Rice quarterback JT Daniels forcing a bad throw, then jumped up to bat down the pass and end the Owls’ threat.

The defensive front routinely played on the Rice side of the line of scrimmage, with the starters finishing with six tackles for loss for 28 yards and two sacks for 19 yards. Sophomore Ethan Burke, who Texas will need a big season from, led the charge for the defense, accounting for 1.5 of the Longhorns’ two sacks on the day.

Joe Cook: Dominant defense and enough offense powers No. 11 Texas to victory

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Week 1 comes before Week 2, and No. 11 Texas had to dispatch Rice before it could focus on what’s ahead in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian disseminated the message of focusing on Rice to his team effectively, with nary a word said by his players throughout the week about Sept. 9’s matchup with the Crimson Tide. Texas knew it had to go 1-0 before any thought about winning in Bryant-Denny Stadium could enter its head.

That task of keeping focus was pretty easy according to linebacker Jaylan Ford, who recorded five tackles and an interception during Texas’ 37-10 win over Rice. “I brought the team up before we went out there and made an emphasis that the last time we took the field was December 29,” Ford said. “We didn’t have the outcome we wanted, and 247 days later, now it’s time for us to go out there and show everybody what we’ve been working for this whole offseason. I think there was a lot of energy, and I think we came out strong.”

Ford led a dominant defensive effort that limited Rice to 176 total yards and eight total first downs in 51 plays. Rice was unable to put together a drive of longer than six plays in the first half, and the Owls didn’t score their first touchdown until the game was more than decided in the fourth quarter.

The Longhorn defensive front, led by T’Vondre Sweat, Byron Murphy, and Ethan Burke, made gaining yardage for JT Daniels and the Owl offense a task as difficult as going to the moon.That side of the ball’s prowess was needed, as the Longhorn offense took some time to get going.

“I think the majority of the people that walked into the stadium thought that game was going to go a certain way, when in reality our defense played a fantastic football game,” Sarkisian said. “And there’s not always a lot of talk about how good we are defensively.”

More numbers illustrate how rough life was for Mike Bloomgren‘s team. Average yards per carry for the Owls? 1.1. Average yards per play? 3.5. Turnover differential? Minus-three thanks to Ford’s interception, a pick by Austin Jordan, and a fumble recovery by Jett Bush.

That defense was needed as the Longhorn offense was not at its best in the opening portions of the game. Texas faced a 4th-and-2 on its first drive, and Sarkisian decided to go for the line to gain while on his own 33-yard-line. A pass from Quinn Ewers fell incomplete and Rice took over, only able to net three points out of the short field.

The Longhorns would respond with an explosive scoring play off a screen pass to Jonathon Brooks, but there was some disjointedness to how the entire unit, from quarterback, to receivers, to backs, to O-linemen, played together. False starts occurred. Sacks were surrendered. Pass attempts were unconverted, specifically a number of deep passes.

“It’s going to feel good when we do hit them,” Sarkisian said of his deep passing attempts. “We have to do it because we have to be able to make people defend all three layers of the field: the line of scrimmage, then that intermediate throw, then the deep shot. We have to make them defend that.”

Some of those difficulties had to do with being surprised with how Rice played defense. Sarkisian said there were coverages Rice ran that the Longhorn staff’s preseason film study did not uncover. Some of the early struggles could be attributed to the surprising schematics, but there were other aspects that had more to do with Texas than with Rice.

“We’ve got a lot of things to clean up, which is understandable coming out of the first game,” Sarkisian said. “Now we have to make sure we identify those things really well as a coaching staff, get our players bought into what needs to get cleaned up and get fixed so we can improve our quality of play.”

To be sure, the Longhorns got things going on offense and were able to more closely match the defense’s performance in the second half. Texas scored a touchdown on its first three drives of the final 30 minutes, with Adonai Mitchell and Ja’Tavion Sanders hauling in touchdown passes and Ewers rushing for one around right tackle on his final play of the afternoon.

When the final whistle rang, Texas had done what it needed to do against Rice. And with that task complete, the Longhorns could finally begin to turn their attention toward surmounting Nick Saban‘s program in a rematch of a thrilling 2022 contest.

“The end of the day, it’s a heck of an opportunity,” Sarkisian said of playing his former boss’s team. “We’re playing a great opponent. We all know that. The reality of it is we have to acknowledge the opportunity that we have and then we’ve got to get right back to being present with our preparation. Part of our preparation is fixing stuff from today, and dialing into what we need to do day in and day out to prepare to play.”

That was reiterated postgame by Xavier Worthy, who led the longhorns with seven catches for 90 yards.

“Right when we got into the locker room, Sark’s after game speech was ‘my feet aren’t in Bryant-Denny Stadium.'” Worthy said. “I feel like we need to match his energy and be where he’s at.”

Said Sweat, who tallied five tackles, 0.5 TFL, and two hurries, “we’ll go to work Monday and we’ll go from there.” Sarkisian relayed how his assistants and support staff were able to work on preparing for Alabama, something he wanted his team to have no part in. At least not knowingly.

“Sometimes, throughout training camp, you work on some things for games that might be down the road so they get some exposure to that, and when that first week comes you dive back into what you need to work on for that first game,” Sarkisian said.

Those were all methods where the purpose was left unmentioned. Sarkisian and company repeated time and time again in the leadup to the contest versus Rice that Rice was their opponent, and they couldn’t look past the Owls.

They may not have played their best game, but they played a winning game. Over the course of Labor Day weekend, the Longhorns can turn their attention toward doing something no team from outside the SEC has done since 2007 and win in Tuscaloosa.

 

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(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: Texas steams Rice

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Texas’ 2023 season opener against the Rice Owls wasn’t exactly what fans hoped it would be. Expectations had Quinn Ewers burying the Owls early and naming the score late while Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning competed to see who could make the most of garbage time opportunities. Instead the Longhorns needed a sharp third quarter to put safe distance between themselves and the academics from Houston.

Yet ultimately the game was never really in question for the simple reason the Texas defense completely overpowered JT Daniels and the Owl offense. Even when Rice did manage a few early drives with a touch of promise they typically ended in turnovers well short of the goal line. Final tally: Texas 458 yards, Rice 176. Texas had 6.1 yards per play, Rice a mere 3.5. In the end it was a dominant win, it just wasn’t exciting and didn’t look as expected.

Quick thought no. 1: The offense was sloppy

In the first half in particular Rice had defenders running free to make big tackles in crucial moments, they had a pair of sacks on Ewers, and they held Texas to a 6-15 day on 3rd down with a brutally poor 1-3 day on 4th down. Most of it was simple sloppiness. Texas didn’t pick up Rice’s movement very well in their pressure package, their timing was off on a few throws and reads, and just when freshman CJ Baxter finally got going in the run game he went down with an injury.

A lot of this can be attributed to a new lineup on the offensive line involving true sophomore DJ Campbell and the certainty we all have that Texas was clearly looking ahead to next week’s contest. Texas’ deep shot passing from Ewers to Xavier Worthy was still off point though which is a major concern. Surely they’ll eventually get the timing right but today Ewers struggled to find his range and left a number of big plays on the field. Ewers also bounced a throw off an unsuspecting JT Sanders when his tight end was executing his out break on an option route. Eventually they settled in for the 3rd quarter and mixed in a heavy dose of RPOs to take over the game before the back-ups came in and the sloppiness resumed.

Quick thought no. 2: The defense put down the clamps

Texas’ defense completely dominated the Owls while rotating heavily well before the end of the game. Rice not unexpectedly had major issues blocking Texas’ defensive line and Pete Kwiatkowski didn’t give them many chances to pick-up first downs and run extra plays in order to try and tire them out in the heat. The Longhorns were aggressive throughout the game, often playing the 3-4 “base” defense with Alfred Collins at defensive end and Jett Bush at Sam linebacker. From that package they could routinely put five defenders on the line of scrimmage and encourage 1-on-1 blocks by Rice on various defensive tackles, which generally went very poorly.

When Rice could get the ball out the defensive backfield made tackles and plays on the ball. You can’t see the D-line dominance reflected in the stat sheets but it was plainly evident watching the game. Rice scored a meaningless touchdown late but even that score came at the cost of a big hit on Luke McCaffrey by Michael Taaffe in the end zone. The defense is safely ahead of the offense at this point and they’ll be helpful for the Longhorns in coming weeks.

Quick thought no. 3: Jaylan Ford kept the turnover train going

Ford showed the same pass dropping skills and amazing hands which helped him snag four interceptions a year ago in picking off an attempted seam route by Rice. A miscue by David Gbenda on an early shallow cross marred a terrific performance by the linebackers in coverage. Rice clearly hoped early on to generate some offense finding matchups against Texas’ inside linebacker tandem and instead came up empty.

A few Texas pass-rushers also had strong outings in roles which weren’t exactly forecast for them coming out of high school. Ethan Burke had 1.5 sacks working as a stand-up Edge after a few dominant seasons as a true defensive end at Westlake and it should have been 2.5 sacks but for Daniels giving him the slip once. Anthony Hill showed off his agility and twitch as a 3rd down Buck in a specialty package and generated a quarterback hurry and very nearly a sack or two of his own. Kristopher Ross also showed a lot of promise as the back-up Jack Edge with a quicker first step and more agility than was apparent from his high school film as a defensive tackle.

Quick thought no. 4: The offensive identity is established

Texas’ offense didn’t play great today, but their identity and roadmap ahead is still very clear. Texas was at their best in the shotgun running RPOs, which made it difficult for the Owls to find the ball or outnumber the box to stuff the run. 

Eventually Texas will play teams who cover the routes and force the Longhorns to drive the field running the ball on honest fronts, at that point their execution on the O-line will need to be much cleaner. For most games this season using some tempo and spread spacing to throw the ball around will cause major problems for opponents who can’t handle Texas’ skill athletes.

Additionally, Jonathon Brooks was a major weapon in this game with 12 carries for 52 yards, all early before Texas got more established, two catches for 42 yards and a touchdown. He should have had an additional touchdown catch but for a drop. Brooks is going to end up being a featured player for Texas this year, particularly if Baxter misses significant time, Jaydon Blue‘s hard running late notwithstanding.

Quick thought no. 5: Time for Bama

Texas probably won’t dwell on this game too much longer than the fanbase before moving on to prepare for their big Week 2 showdown with Alabama. It’s not hard to recall how sloppy and shaky Texas looked on offense in Week 1 last year against Louisiana-Monroe before (initially) lighting up Alabama in front of a stunned viewership.

The Longhorns who travel to Tuscaloosa will be better prepared and sharper in their gameplan execution than the one who hosted the Owls in the season opener.

Alabama is hosting Middle Tennessee State tonight and former Longhorn commit Jalen Milroe is expected to start. That’ll make for a very different offensive challenge for the Longhorn defense as the Tide will likely be running something akin to the Jalen Hurts offense they ran back in 2016.

An obvious concern and point of conversation will be Texas’ offensive line. Is DJ Campbell healthy? Why didn’t Cole Hutson get any action? Can they clean up their play enough to give the offense a chance against a loaded Alabama defensive line? Buckle up, the season and Bama are here.

 

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Jeff Howe: No. 11 Texas flattens Rice behind a suffocating defensive effort

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AUSTIN, Texas — Yes, Rice was the opponent, but Saturday’s season-opening 37-10 victory for No. 11 Texas was spearheaded by a suffocating effort from Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense. The Longhorns held the Owls to just 3.5 yards per play (176 total yards on 51 official plays), which included a lowly 27 yards running the football (1.1 yards per carry) on a day when the defensive line displayed the kind of dominance Bo Davis’ group reportedly showed throughout scrimmage situations in camp. Whether it was T'Vondre Sweat, Byron Murphy and Alfred Collins getting pressure into the face of Rice quarterback JT Daniels and making it impossible for the Owls to pound the ball between the tackles, or Ethan Burke, Kristopher Ross and Co. screaming off of the edge, the Texas defensive front looked every bit the part of a unit that has a chance to be the best in the Big 12 and one of the best in the country in 2023. When the dust settled, Rice finished the day 4-for-13 on third down on an average to-go distance of 8.5 yards.

‌While Kwiatkowski’s bunch didn’t pile up sacks (getting the quarterback on the ground was a major point of emphasis in the offseason with the defense averaging only 1.9 sacks per game through 25 games under Kwiatkowski heading into this season) with Burke (1.5) and David Gbenda (0.5) credited with the two the Longhorns wrangled, an offseason emphasis on turnovers led to the finishing of a healthy number of plays. Interceptions by Jaylan Ford and Austin Jordan and a fumble recovery by Jett Bush added to the program’s first game with at least three takeaways since forcing three in a win over TCU in the fifth game of the 2021 season.

Quinn Ewers and the offense overcame a sluggish first half that veered into the realm of sloppiness (three drives ended in plus territory with Bert Auburn needing to use his leg to put points on the board on a 3-for-4 day) to put away Rice with three touchdowns on each of the offense’s first three possessions coming out of halftime. Ewers finished with a 19-for-30 passing performance for 260 yards and three touchdowns to go along with a rushing touchdown on a day when the things he did well (executing the bevy of run-pass options on head coach Steve Sarkisian’s call sheet and pulling the ball down with nowhere to throw it en route to two of the team’s six explosive rushing attempts, which for 16 and 14 yards, respectively) canceled out the things he got away with (missed opportunities on shots down the field chief among them) to make for a solid opener for the redshirt sophomore quarterback.

‌Ewers’ favorite target was Xavier Worthy, who gained most of his 90 yards after the catch on seven receptions. Ewers’ touchdown passes went to three different receivers with Jonathon Brooks scoring the first touchdown of the season on a 37-yard screen pass, Adonai Mitchell catching a dart from Ewers on a glance route for a 9-yard score and Ja'Tavion Sanders pulling away from the Owls on a 44-yard pop pass for the final points of a third quarter in which Texas outgained Rice 164-36 while holding the Owls to 2.4 yards per play (the Longhorns averaged 8.6) and reversing their first-half fortunes on money downs (a combined 3-for-4 effort on third and fourth down after ).

What it Means: There’s going to be a lot to work on before Texas travels to Tuscaloosa next week to face No. 4 Alabama. Specifically, the way the offense struggled in short-yardage situations and on money downs in the first half (a combined 3-for-11, including an 0-for-2 showing on fourth down) along with turning the three turnovers into just three total points are things the Longhorns can do next Saturday and expect to beat the Crimson Tide.

Star of the Game: Sweat was credited with five total tackles (two solos) and 0.5 tackles for loss, but it felt like he was around the football from the jump. He had two of the defense’s seven quarterback hurries, including a hit on Daniels (a 14-for-26 day throwing the ball for 149 yards, one touchdown and three total turnovers) that led to Jordan’s interception. Overall, Sweat set the tone for the defense's performance.

Don’t Overlook: After CJ Baxter left the game with an unspecified injury after falling awkwardly on the turf at the end of a 32-yard run in the second quarter, Jaydon Blue came in and finished with a game-high 55 yards on 10 carries. Blue showed enough burst and a willingness to finish runs that he should be in the mix for carries next week, especially if Baxter is going to be out of action beyond today.

‌What’s Next: Everybody with a dog in the fight when it comes to the Texas program can finally start focusing on the Crimson Tide. College GameDay will be a part of the spectacle in Tuscaloosa ahead of what should be an electric night at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

 

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Wescott Eberts: Texas QB Quinn Ewers struggled in the downfield passing game again vs. Rice

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AUSTIN — After Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers connected with wide receiver Xavier Worthy for a 46-yard gain against the Alabama Crimson Tide — just before Ewers was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury — the talented passer struggled to hit deep shots for the remainder of the 2022 season. The inability to take the top off of defenses severely limited an offense that ended the regular season unbalanced and heavily dependent on the run game, leading Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian to prioritize downfield passing in the month between the Alamo Bowl and Saturday’s season opener.

In the much-anticipated 2023 debut for Ewers after an offseason built around a narrative of improvement in numerous facets of his game, the overall performance was respectable — in three quarters, Ewers was 19-of-30 passing for 260 yards and three touchdowns and zero interceptions, in addition to a short rushing touchdown. But the continued inability to hit deep shots, this time against an overmatched Rice defense, was a topic of conversation with Sarkisian, Ewers, and the wide receivers in the post-game availabilities after Ewers missed all six passes over 20 yards. In fact, the two longest passing plays — a 44-yard touchdown by junior tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders and a 37-yard touchdown by junior running back Jonathon Brooks — were a seam pass and a misdirection screen.

Worthy agreed with Sarkisian’s assessment that Ewers and the Longhorn are on the verge of executing the downfield passing game, a critical component of the Texas offense quarterbacks under Sarkisian have struggled to unlock since his arrival on the Forty Acres in early 2021. “We’re getting closer,” Sarkisian said. “It’s gonna feel good when we do hit them and we have to do it because we have to be able to make people defend all three layers of the field — the line of scrimmage, then that intermediate throw, and then that deep throw, we have to make them defend that. Obviously, I’m aware that people want to defend the deep ball against us and I think that’s why we see some of those intermediate things open.”

Sarkisian believes that the seam pass to Sanders and an explosive play by senior wide receiver Jordan Whittington were created by the attempts to stretch the field vertically. For Ewers, the emphasis during the offseason was trusting his wide receivers to make plays on the ball. For the most part, the Texas quarterback accomplished that goal with underthrows to Worthy and junior wide receiver AD Mitchell that came close to creating defensive pass interference penalties, particularly on the throw to Mitchell. “They feel better when we hit them or at least get a pass interference and I thought we might have got a PI on one,” Sarkisian said.

On another throw, however, an out and up to Worthy in the first quarter in which the speedy wideout broke open, Ewers didn’t give Worthy a chance to make a play on the ball when it drifted onto the sideline. “Obviously can’t complete a ball when it’s thrown out of bounds, so that’s got to be fixed,” Ewers said. More disappointing were signs that Ewers hasn’t completely overcome his tendency for sloppy footwork, from how he hitches at the top of his drop to coming off the ground on deep-ball deliveries to the occasional tendency for balls to sail on him thanks to his preferred low arm slot.

Ewers was willing, though, to accept the underthrown passes. “I’m not mad at the throws I think I gave my receivers chances to go up and get the ball, but that’s what has been my focus the past this past offseason, trying not to be so perfect and end up overthrowing those guys. I think it’s it’s good that I’m just giving those guys a chance,” Ewers said. That’s one important step forward for Ewers as a quarterback and if last season was any indication, Sarkisian believes enough in the need to stretch the field with shot plays that he’ll stay aggressive with it. “We’ve got to continue to stay creative as a staff and then we’ve got to continue instill belief in Quinn and the receivers that those shots are there and we’re going to make those plays,” Sarkisian said.

 

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2 hours ago, Josef Pwag said:

"Every 25+ air yard attempt from Quinn Ewers"

What a fucking mess. Jesus. 

It really wasn't that bad in terms of being all Quinn's fault. Two errant throws, one throw where the receiver ran a wrong route, two no call PI's (yes he hung the ball up too much), and a couple of throws that hit guys in the hands in traffic and they didn't make the play. If we get the PI calls and JT is able to pull in that end zone catch, things look very different. 

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6 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

It really wasn't that bad in terms of being all Quinn's fault. Two errant throws, one throw where the receiver ran a wrong route, two no call PI's (yes he hung the ball up too much), and a couple of throws that hit guys in the hands in traffic and they didn't make the play. If we get the PI calls and JT is able to pull in that end zone catch, things look very different. 

It feels weird because Quinn's been taking so much this week, but if Brooks and Sanders catch TD passes that hit them in the hands, Ewers accounts for six TDs in three quarters. 

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39 minutes ago, Red Five said:

It feels weird because Quinn's been taking so much this week, but if Brooks and Sanders catch TD passes that hit them in the hands, Ewers accounts for six TDs in three quarters. 

(Narrator voice)

"And the people of surly were still unhappy and found minuscule things to bitch about."

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1 hour ago, Red Five said:

It feels weird because Quinn's been taking so much this week, but if Brooks and Sanders catch TD passes that hit them in the hands, Ewers accounts for six TDs in three quarters. 

If we are being honest, how we played vs. Rice was pretty much the perfect scenario ahead of Saturday (except for those who had money on it, I guess).  

Game was never in doubt and drew no attention from anyone outside of Austin, but will give us plenty of shit to work on.  The third quarter allowed the team to see how fucking dominant they can be when they execute, but the first half gave them all a reminder that you actually still have to execute.

Obviously the team would never be in danger of overlooking 'Bama, but I think I prefer the mindset that a bunch of 18-22 year-olds will approach this week with now instead of if we had won 70-0.

 

Edited by Chuckie Finster
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