Offensive line, quarterback experience and playmakers on defense.
Throughout the off-season, these were the three areas of concern that dominated conversations with regards to the 2021 Texas Longhorns. If those three areas of concern proved to not be major areas of concern during the season, you could see this Longhorns team having a good chance to compete for a spot in December in the Big 12 Championship Game.
A quarter of the way into the season, I find myself at a loss to completely answer questions about all three areas.
For instance, where do we even begin with the Texas offensive line?
We all know that this group has some serious limitations going into conference play, but what exactly does it mean? Is it going to directly lead to a loss? Two?
If there was an ominous feeling in a 58-0 win over Rice, it was the pressure the Owls were able to generate on Casey Thompson in the first quarter any time Thompson wasn't getting the ball out quickly on a screen or something semi-related to it. This is a group that is going to probably let every opponent it plays for the rest of the season get a few big shots in on its starting quarterback.
Can it get better? How much can it get better? What should the expectations be for this group knowing its limitations?
Maybe these are questions we're only going to have true answers to in a few weeks when both TCU and Oklahoma are in the rear-view mirror.
Meanwhile, while it's true that new starter Casey Thompson won't make his first career road start until the Longhorns head to Fort Worth, I'm less concerned about his experience at this point than I am with the Texas passing game in general, which ranks 100th nationally in passing offense, 45th in the nation in passing yards per completion and 100th in the nation in sacks allowed.
As much confidence as Thompson is playing with since replacing Hudson Card, he's still directing a passing offense that is among the worst in the nation in completing passes down the field and struggles to consistently get the ball to its best receivers.
These are areas that simply have to improve or Texas isn't playing in Dallas beyond this October.
Finally, on the defensive side of the ball, the Longhorns rank 75th in the nation in turnovers created and 68th in the nation in sacks.
More stuff that needs to get better.
The point of all of this isn't to rain on your 58-0 parade from the weekend, but rather make sure that everyone understands the scope of where things stand with this team as the most important stretch of football in the entire season begins this week against Texas Tech.
Each week this season, the Longhorns will go as far as these areas of the team allow them to. Nothing that happened on Saturday night against the Owls changed any of it.
Perhaps we can't know the answers to a lot of different questions, but we do what we need to be looking at before it ever happens.
No. 2 - Bijan's greatness ...
The worst part of Saturday might have been the fact that the Longhorns beat Rice so badly that it robbed Bijan Robinson of a chance to put a real marker down in his quest to compete for first-team all-America honors.
If there was a night this season when a 300-yard effort might have been in the books, it was probably against a Rice defense that might have allowed four different Texas backs to rush for more than 100 yards if Steve Sarkisian cared about such things.
Still, it was a pretty good night for Robinson, who reached the 1,000-yard career mark in rushing at the fastest pace (138 carries) since Jamaal Charles. Typically speaking, if you're tying Charles in some sort of record, you're likely doing something really well.
No. 3 - Three personnel changes I'd make going into Texas Tech ...
a. If was given a chance to be Kyle Flood for a day, I'd move Andrej Karic into the starting line-up at left tackle, while moving Christian Jones to right tackle and Derek Kerstetter to left guard.
b. Notre Dame transfer Ovie Oghoufo would be my first-team edge and my first-team strong-side linebacker. Basically, I would not be taking him off the field unless he needs a breather.
c. True freshman Byron Murphy would be taking reps away from every single interior lineman on the roster right now. No one else has been playing well enough to warrant taking reps away from the guy that seems to do something disruptive on nearly every snap.
No. 4 - More randomness with a day to chew on things ...
... As well as DeMarvion Overshown has been playing this season through three games, you'd like to see him making more game-changing plays. The moment he starts getting to the quarterback, forcing fumbles or creating interceptions, it'll be the moment when this defense is the best version of itself.
... Ovie Oghoufo is the only player on the defense with more than one sack with 2.0 and he's one of only two players, along with Luke Brockermeyer, to have more than two tackles for loss this season with 3.0.
... How well has Anthony Cook been playing in the slot? I don't really remember anyone getting the best of him in coverage this season and outside of a missed tackle against Arkansas, it's hard to find any areas to nitpick even a little. He's been nails so far.
... It's only one game, but it was interesting to see Jordan Whittington turn into a complete non-factor in the passing game, while Xavier Worthy's place in the passing game really took off with the inclusion of Casey Thompson into the offense. It'll be interesting to see if they can find a way for both guys to get going in the same game because it hasn't happened yet through 1/4 of the season.
... Joshua Moore seemed to lose his job on Saturday. I'll be curious to see what his game reps number looked like when Alex breaks down the numbers this week, but Kelvontay Dixon seemed to take his action against the Owls and the only target Moore received came when Hudson Card came into the game in the third quarter.
... Speaking of Hudson Card, I'm not sure he plays at all this week against the Red Raiders.
... Bijan Robinson is the team's third-leading receiver through the first three games with six receptions.
... Apologies to
@RLong68. I was waaaaay wrong about the level of production that this tight ends group would produce.
No. 5 – ICYMI ...
If you haven't given it a watch yet,
@Anwar Richardson and I stayed up until nearly midnight breaking down the Rice win.
No. 6 - A little love for the Texas volleyball team ...
The No.1 Longhorns didn't just beat Texas A&M in four games on Friday night to move to 8-0.
They beat the Aggies and then clowned on them.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) I think it's going to be a fairly close game.
(Buy) That doesn't mean that it's going to happen, but they are definitely working behind the scenes in the event that it can happen.
(Sell) I think we'll see more of that formation moving forward because it's going to be helpful to the offense to have something that opposing defenses have to account for. Whether it was successful last season or not, this offense needs as many wrinkles as it can produce.
(Buy) He's not going to be taking many reps away from Bijan Robinson, but this offense needs playmakers and speed, something he brings to the table.
(Buy) I think his three-year total between 2021-2023 will put him in some rarified air at the position in program history.
(Sell) It's not impossible, but it probably is not the betting favorite in terms of options.
(Double Sell) Pay for play is not allowed under NIL rules.
(Buy) You're not new around here, you should know this place doesn't handle losses well.
(Sell) I'm not sure it'll happen this season.
(Sell) Way early for that kind of talk.
(Sell) Hard for me to pick this team to win in Ft. Worth at this point. The Longhorns haven't earned that benefit of the doubt.
(Buy) Playing true freshmen a lot is always good for recruiting.
(Sell) My wife goes by this scale, but I'm more about the quality of the chicken and steak.
(Sell) You are asking if D'Onte Foreman could make fourth string running back on this team? Or Malcolm Brown? Or Fozzy? Come on...
(Sell) I'm not quite ready to buy the passing game producing historic numbers.
(Buy) I think Sarkisian has mentally made the switch.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on the sports weekend ...
... Only Alabama could win on the road against a top-11 team and have people convinced it is vulnerable, Man, it's quite a standard the Tide has established.
... Repeat after me, nothing Oklahoma does in September ever matters in October.
... Tech quarterback Tyler Shough has been good and terrible so far this season, but will enter Saturday with a 170.8 quarterback rating, which means he has a chance to be a handful.
... West Virginia looks like a team that will put up a good fistfight later this season.
... How good is Baylor running the football right now? The Bears have the top two rushers in the league at this point in the season with Abram Smith (366) and Trestan Ebner (317).
... Solid win for the Cowboys over the Chargers on Sunday. That felt like we got out of Dodge with a few breaks going our way and I'll take it.
... I watched a lot of the Texans loss on Sunday to the Browns and I'm not sure what anyone watching that team is expecting. They aren't terrible, but they aren't really any good, either.
... Jameis Winston is back to being Jameis Winston.
... I should have drafted Derrick Henry.
... Is Jon Gruden good again?
... The Jets are going to break Zach Wilson. That dude has no chance.
... Admit it, there are folks on OB you'd love to direct this kind of hit towards.
... Premier League Thoughts From The Weekend Because I'm Trying To Force Soccer Down Your Throat: One of the big clubs needs to take a punt on Allan Saint-Maximin. I'd take him on Liverpool in a heartbeat. Speaking of Liverpool, my guy Sadio Mane scored No.100 for the Reds this week and in general I just want to see the boys keep their heads down and keep grinding out results. I enjoy watching Everton lose more than I enjoy watching the Eagles lose. Crystal Palace is going to win a few games this year against the big boys. Ismaila Sarr is going to be playing for Leicester next year. I can feel that coming a mile away. You could also see Mark Noble missing that penalty on Sunday coming from a mile away. Chelsea is good.
No. 9 - Top 10 Most Best Songs of All-Time ...
Rolling Stone magazine updated its Top 500 songs of all-time list this week. Yes, it was controversial. No, I didn't agree with the list.
However, it made this week's Top 10 list an easy call.
First, let's take a look at Rolling Stone's Top 10 songs of all-time list.
10. Hey Ya - Outkast
9. Dreams -Fleetwood Mac
8. Get Ur Freak On - Missy Elliott
7. Strawberry Fields, Forever - The Beatles
6. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
5. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
4. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
3. A Change is Going to Come - Sam Cooke
2. Fight the Power - Public Enemy
1. Respect - Aretha Franklin
Here's my personal Top 10 list.
10. Hotel California - The Eagles
9. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
8. The Tracks of My Tears - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
7. He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones
6. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
5. Respect - Aretha Franklin
4. Hey Jude - The Beatles
3. B.O.B. - Outkast
2. Imagine - John Lennon
1. A Change is Going to Come - Sam Cooke
No. 10 - And Finally ...
I loved this photo so much that I wanted to give it a section. Moms are just the best.
