There’s something new in Austin. And no, I’m not (yet) talking about Arch Manning. Nor am I talking about (yet) the team’s shiny new number one ranking.
What’s new around here is a top five scoring defense.
“Our standard this year is to not let anybody get in the paint,” junior safety Michael Taaffe said Monday. “That’s who we are now. That’s our defense now.”
The Longhorns have been doing a great job of keeping offenses out of the end zone, giving up just 19 points through the first three games.
You have to go back to 1983 to find a Longhorn team this stingy.
That was the year that the world was introduced to Matthew Broderick, a rapscallion young hacker who nearly started World War III in the movie “War Games.” In fact, it was a damn good year for movies all the way around.
I walked through the sticky floor of The Texan theater in Athens, Texas to watch another young man, Tom Cruise, slide his way into America’s consciousness in “Risky Business.” Chevy Chase loaded up the family in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and set off on the road in “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” Dustin Hoffman taught us to love drag queens in “Tootsie.” And Ralphie really did end up shooting his eye out after receiving his coveted Red Ryder bb gun in “A Christmas Story.”
Yes, it was a fine year at the movies, and a damn fine year on the gridiron as well. Jerry Gray, Mossy Cade, and Tony Degrate led one of the country’s best defenses.
The ’83 Horns gave up a touchdown to Auburn in week one, six points to North Texas State (as it was then called) in week two and six points to six points to Rice in week three. Incidentally, the 21-7 loss to Texas to start the season was Auburn’s only loss of the year.
Texas ended up conceding only 114 points over the 12 games played that season (9.5 points per game). The defense led the team to an undefeated regular season and a chance at a national championship.
But alas, that year was doomed to end in heartbreak. Or, rather, 1984 was doomed to begin in heartbreak, as Texas ended up losing in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day to the Georgia Bulldogs, 10-9.
The Horns gifted the Bulldogs the only touchdown of when defensive back Craig Curry muffed a punt late in the 4th quarter, setting Georgia up for a 17-yard touchdown run.
Curry was sobbing after the game when he was asked about choosing to field the punt rather than letting it go. “I just don’t know why I did it,” he told reporters.
Sadly, he was never able to let that play go either.
“I am hoping and praying that they win the national championship this year,” Curry told the Dallas Morning News in 2005 before Texas played USC in the Rose Bowl. “Please, because I am just dying. I don’t even go to games at this point. I’m afraid that my presence will be like a taboo. Somebody will see me there and throw rocks or something like that.”
Texas’ loss, opened the door for Miami to win its first national championship after the Hurricanes beat number one ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl later that night.
It’s funny how 41 years later, what was old is new again. Georgia is one of the best teams in the country, Miami is good again, Nebraska is on the rise and the Texas Longhorns, once again, have one of the best defenses in the country.
“Our guys are playing a style of football that I am excited about,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “We play hard, we play fast, we play physical defense. We tackle really, really well. We’re attacking the football right now defensively, we’re creating turnovers and they’re having a lot of fun.”
It is easy to have fun when your defense is going up against some of the worst offenses in the country.
Colorado State is currently ranked 112th in the country in total offense. Michigan is ranked 106th. UTSA checks in at 105.
But when you start looking at the rest of the schedule, you can see how the good times for the Longhorn defense will likely continue for quite a while.
“I feel like the best is yet to come for this defense,” said senior defensive end Barryn Sorrell.
NCAA TOTAL OFFENSE RANKINGS (through week 3)
| ULM | 113 |
| OU | 108 |
| GEORGIA | 68 |
| MISSISSIPPI STATE | 82 |
| VANDERBILT | 89 |
| FLORIDA | 72 |
| ARKANSAS | 5 |
| KENTUCKY | 129 |
| A&M | 52 |
Louisiana Monroe actually ranks 31st in the country in rushing offense, but that should tell you all you need to know about the passing game led by General Booty. You can expect UT to load the box to shut down the run and leave the DB’s on an island.
Several of you really questioned me when I said in last week’s column that Texas wouldn’t need anything other than base defense to beat OU. But that offense is really, really bad. The offensive line is a sieve. The Sooners have given up three sacks in each of their first three games (nine sacks allowed ranks 117th in the country).
Jackson Arnold has flashed some of his ability, but more often than not he looks like a freshman (which he is). And most of their receiver corps is out with injuries.
Sooner fans are in for a long night Saturday when Tennessee (which also sports one of the country’s elite defenses) rolls into town.
Let’s face it. The best offense the Texas defense will face all year is the Texas offense during practice.
TIME TO PUT SOME DAMN RESPECT ON HIS NAME...
The putridness of the offense play from Texas’ opponents should not detract from what the team’s players and coaches have been able to do so far this season.
The Longhorns have struggled on defense over the first three years of Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski’s tenure. But they have slowly built on themselves each year. First, it was a 5-7 campaign. Then things got better with an eight win season in year two. Last year, the run defense was elite while the pass defense was pretty bad. This year, it all seems to be coming together.
“We’ve adjusted some defensively from where we were and we’ve kind of evolved each year from where we’ve gone from one year to the next,” said Sarkisian. “I think they’ve (the defensive staff) done a nice job. I think the addition of Johnny Nansen coming on board has been helpful with PK and bouncing some new ideas off of each other.”
One of the most notable changes is tackling. This year’s squad has improved considerably at getting opponents down.
Another area where there has been a big jump is getting off the field. Texas is 10th in the country at stopping opponents from converting on third downs.
“Some of that is a credit to PK (Pete Kwiatkowski),” Sarkisian said. “Part of the reason I wanted to hire him early on was because he doesn’t give you the rhythm on third down. Some guys you can get a sense and a feel for, ‘ok, this is what the next call is going to be.’ He’ll put calls out there and he’ll call things and he’ll save a call for the second half on a critical third down that will catch you off guard. It's one of his best traits that he has.”
Linebacker David Gbenda also credited Kwiatkowski with putting players in the right position to succeed on third down.
“He dives in and does an amazing job with just breaking down the offense and understanding what they like to do,” Gbenda said. “We're building our football IQ, and we understand what offenses are trying to do to us.”
It really helps when you combine skilled coaching with players who also happen to be dripping with talent.
Anthony Hill has taken over the middle linebacker spot and became an above average replacement for Jaylan Ford (who is now playing in the NFL – or will be when he gets over some injuries). Andrew Mukuba has helped stabilize the back end of the defense with a style of play that he hasn’t really produced since his Freshman All-American season at Clemson. And of course, who could possibly leave out the 5-star edge Colin Simmons who has wowed crowds and his teammates in his still growing playing time.
“He’s an elite pass rusher,” said senior defensive tackle Alfred Collins. “He’s getting better every week, every day. So I’m excited to see where he goes.”
Sarkisian praised the way his defensive players have come together.
“I don’t remember our guys celebrating the way our guys are celebrating one another right now when they’re making great plays. That part is encouraging,” said Sarkisian. “I think that’s part of our team, that’s part of our culture right now. But I think a lot of that is stemming from what we’re doing defensively and the confidence they’re playing with right now.”
Michael Taaffe echoed his coaches sentiments about culture.
“We're ordered to love each other as teammates, go win a National Championship and win every single play,” Taaffe said. “That's what we do.”
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a defense like this one in Austin. And if the Horns do end up going on to win a national championship, then this defense will have accomplished something that not even the 1983 squad was able to pull off.
ABOUT THAT NUMBER ONE RANKING …
The Texas coaches and players are all saying the right things about being ranked number one in this week’s AP poll.
“It really doesn’t matter," Sarkisian said. "We say it all the time as a team, it’s not really what other people think of us, it’s about what we do, and we’ve got to perform, and we’ve got to prepare to perform because the way this is set up, back in the day, the polls were huge because the polls dictated who got to play for a national championship and ultimately, who won the national championship.
"Nowadays, you got to go earn it, and so I think it’s good to show what we’re capable of, but at the end of the day, we’re going to have to go earn this thing, and the mission is far, far from over," Sarkisian continued. "We’ve got a long way to go. So again, our guys, I don’t even think they talk about it.”
The player all, to a man, echoed the sentiment that the polls in September are irrelevant.
“You can’t win a national championship in week four,” said Texas center Jake Majors.
But that doesn’t mean the number one ranking means nothing to the players.
“It does mean a good bit to me just because I've been 5 and 7,” said center Jake Majors, referring to Texas’ 5-7 record during his freshman season in 2021. “I've gone through those hardships. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's only week four. You know, it doesn't really matter until January, 20th (the date of college football’s national championship). I want to be number one then.”
And Texas tight end Gunnar Helm was thinking about the fans.
“I know it's huge for people who grew up Texas fans and haven't seen this since 2008,” said Helm. “To be on the team, to bring us back to being ranked number one in the country, is a complete honor.”
Brian Jones is right, this number one ranking suits this team well.
THE ARCH EFFECT …
Think about this, Texas moved up to number one in the polls the same week that starting quarterback Quinn Ewers went down.
Last season, Florida State lost its starting quarterback late in the year and that was enough for the College Football Playoff committee to keep the Seminoles out of the CFP even though FSU finished the regular season undefeated.
But Texas actually rose up a spot after Manning came in and led Texas on five scoring drives.
Longhorns fans need to realize just how blessed they are right now. Quinn Ewers is a better quarterback right now than Manning is. And yet, Manning is, already, one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
Not since Colt McCoy backed up Vince Young has UT been this loaded in the quarterback room.
I do have to say, Ewers’ injury has me a little concerned for him from one perspective. I think his NFL draft status took a hit this week.
Ewers has absolutely nothing left to prove as far as his readiness to step into the NFL and compete. He has grown each year on the 40 Acres and this year is shaping up to be his best yet.
But Ewers has yet to make it through a season without missing games due to injury.
If NFL teams have Ewers somewhere around Carson Beck and Shedeur Sanders in terms of draft grades then his injury history could very well be the deciding factor between taking Ewers or taking one of the other QB’s in the first round.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PROJECTION
There's not a lot new in this week's CFP projections. I have taken out Utah as the Big 12 champion and replaced them with Kansas State. Cam Rising is expected to play again this week after missing last week's game with an injured finger. The Utes just aren't the same team when Rising is out and I don't think we can expect him to survive a season unscathed.
Meawhile, Kansas State's young quarterback, Avery Johnson, may just now be starting to come into his own.
I've also moved Memphis into the so-called G5 spot. I still think this could end up being a number of teams that slide into that spot, including UNLV which had a big win over Kansas last week. But for now, let's go with the Memphis Tigers there.
I still have six SEC teams in the CFP. Things will have to break just right for that many teams from one conference to make it there ... but that's what I'm predicting to happen right now.
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
A lot was made about the speed Arch showed off on his touchdown run last week, and with good reason. But let’s not forget who the real speedsters on this team are.
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You think Sark will be playing this clip for the team this week?
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I mean … you can’t prove that he’s wrong.
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Bijan Robinson is a stud in all the ways that makes running backs great … including pass protection.
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We tried to tell you …
By the way, the rest of the league done screwed up letting Murphy go play for Mike Macdonald.
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I was wrong to predict that Coach Prime would be a success in Colorado. Of course, in my defense, I had no idea he just wouldn’t recruit. But there is no denying his success in getting people to watch CU.
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Billy Napier still has his job – for now. But there is little doubt that he is walking that green mile.
I couldn’t help but notice he wasn’t even ready to get going when he jumped on the SEC coaches weekly conference call.
The little things matter.
Of course, he probably won't have to worry about these calls for much longer. I'll stand by my preseason prediction that Napier would be fired either just before or just after the Texas game.
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This one is for all of you husbands out there (and more than a few wives know this frustration as well).
