The Texas Defense er, Longhorns, won on the road against a very tough Vanderbilt team. Let’s celebrate the 27-24 win before I start picking on what went wrong in Nashville.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
The Texas D had another great game with two of Vanderbilt’s three touchdowns coming on short-field drives after Texas turnovers. The second Commodore TD in the 3rd quarter was aided by a questionable pass interference call on a fourth down play. The third TD was aided by a roughing the passer penalty which wiped out a pick six.
The Texas D won the turnover battle against Vanderbilt and that is no small thing. The INT against Pavia with 5:05 left in the game was the nail in the coffin. Texas started the drive on the Vandy 29 yard line and eventually settled for a field goal to put them up by 10 with less than two minutes to go in the game.
The biggest problem with the Texas D was Vernon Broughton’s roughing the passer penalty which wiped out a pick 6 which would have ended the game. He’ll miss the first half of the next game due to the targeting penalty. The worst part about that is the hit did not impact the play at all. The ball was out before the hit came.
DeAndre Moore did his part to help Texas win. He finished the game with 6 catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Who wouldn’t take that? Of course, that was nearly all in the first half. Moore with 5 catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns at halftime.
Speaking of halftime stats, Ewers had a 215.5 passer rating at halftime but finished the game with a 154.3 rating. On the night, Ewers was 27-37 288 yards, 3 TD's and 2 INT's. It was a good (not great) first half but not a good game overall.
TEXAS HAS AN OFFENSIVE LINE PROBLEM
Now let’s really get to the biggest concern for this Longhorn team … the offensive line. The o-line gave up four sacks and multiple bad penalties to kill drives.
I’m especially concerned about the right side of the line which is giving up a lot of pressure.
The run game was ok. Quintrevion Wisner ran with toughness with 17 carries for 79 yards (4.6 ypc). Jaydon Blue added 47 yards on 10 carries (I’ll let you do the math on the ypc). The total numbers won’t look great because of Ewers’ -20 yards rushing due to all of the sacks.
THOUGHTS I WROTE DOWN IN THE GAME AS IT HAPPENED:
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
The Texas D had another great game with two of Vanderbilt’s three touchdowns coming on short-field drives after Texas turnovers. The second Commodore TD in the 3rd quarter was aided by a questionable pass interference call on a fourth down play. The third TD was aided by a roughing the passer penalty which wiped out a pick six.
The Texas D won the turnover battle against Vanderbilt and that is no small thing. The INT against Pavia with 5:05 left in the game was the nail in the coffin. Texas started the drive on the Vandy 29 yard line and eventually settled for a field goal to put them up by 10 with less than two minutes to go in the game.
The biggest problem with the Texas D was Vernon Broughton’s roughing the passer penalty which wiped out a pick 6 which would have ended the game. He’ll miss the first half of the next game due to the targeting penalty. The worst part about that is the hit did not impact the play at all. The ball was out before the hit came.
DeAndre Moore did his part to help Texas win. He finished the game with 6 catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Who wouldn’t take that? Of course, that was nearly all in the first half. Moore with 5 catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns at halftime.
Speaking of halftime stats, Ewers had a 215.5 passer rating at halftime but finished the game with a 154.3 rating. On the night, Ewers was 27-37 288 yards, 3 TD's and 2 INT's. It was a good (not great) first half but not a good game overall.
TEXAS HAS AN OFFENSIVE LINE PROBLEM
Now let’s really get to the biggest concern for this Longhorn team … the offensive line. The o-line gave up four sacks and multiple bad penalties to kill drives.
I’m especially concerned about the right side of the line which is giving up a lot of pressure.
- Ewers’ first interception came on a tipped pass from a player getting pressure on the right side.
- Early in the second quarter, more pressure from the right side forced Ewers to tuck it and run. On the one hand, I liked the decisive nature to run. On the other, I did not like the pressure being given up from that side of the line.
- Later in that same drive, Cam Williams had a knucklehead penalty called against him which killed the drive’s momentum.
- The play after the Williams penalty, Hayden Conner gives up a sack after not even seeing the rusher. I know Conner plays on the left side, but it was a big sack.
- Ewers with bad decision making on 3rd and 4 with :42 left in the half led to another sack. That was on him. He can’t hold on to the football that long. Make a decision and throw it away.
- On 3rd and 11 with 13:40 left in the game, Vandy gets a big sack with Khordae Sydnor destroying Cam Williams.
- 2nd and 9 with 8:40 left in the game, Cam Williams gave up more pressure forcing Ewers out of the pocket and he threw the ball away.
The run game was ok. Quintrevion Wisner ran with toughness with 17 carries for 79 yards (4.6 ypc). Jaydon Blue added 47 yards on 10 carries (I’ll let you do the math on the ypc). The total numbers won’t look great because of Ewers’ -20 yards rushing due to all of the sacks.
THOUGHTS I WROTE DOWN IN THE GAME AS IT HAPPENED:
- The kickoff was actually a harbinger of how this game would play out. Texas shot itself in the foot with a penalty on the kickoff return to start the game in bad field position.
- This game started out as perfectly as possible for Vanderbilt with the turnover and short-field touchdown. That’s how upsets happen.
- Quinn looked worried when they showed him on the sideline after the Pavia opening touchdown run.
- The second drive of the game for UT was the Quinn Ewers reclamation drive. The quick outs, and short passing game allowed the Horns to put together a 9 play, 75 yard drive. Ewers was a perfect 8 for 8 with a touchdown. Perhaps just as importantly, the Horns kept the ball for 5:37. (Texas 7 – Vanderbilt 7)
- Gutsy call by Clark Lea to go for it on fourth and one from their own 34 yard line. That was a big time acting job that opened up a big play … killed by an illegal formation play. That mistake is on the coaches, it was designed that way and they should have known the rules better. Clark Lea even says he didn’t understand it. Sorry Clark, that’s on you.
- Silas Bolden with another great punt return with 2:55 left in the 1st quarter. The 24 yard return set up Texas at the Vandy 49. Bolden is a weapon in the return game and it’s only a matter of time before he breaks one.
- Quinn Ewers had all day to complete the 29 yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Moore – who is playing extremely well in this first quarter. Great play call. Matthew Golden ran an out route to open up the field deep, outside the hashes. (Texas 14 – Vanderbilt 7)
- Texas getting an INT with 13 minutes left in the 2nd quarter was HUGE! Vandy just does not turn the ball over. That was all on Ethan Burke. That young man has earned his playing time (and probably a little more than he’s getting.
- That Pavia shovel pass on 3rd and 5 with about 7:00 left in the first half from the four yard line was DANGEROUS! The kid is not afraid to let it fly.
- DeAndre Moore again! Ewers hits Moore with a quick wheel route from the slot that Moore then turns into a 25-yard touchdown. That was Ewers’ 17th straight completion after the interception in the first drive. Ewers and Manning laughing it up on the sidelines after the touchdown. It was a very different look from Ewers than what we saw after that interception.
- I’m calling the time of death: 5:04 in the 2nd quarter with Texas up 21-7. (That was not my smartest note.)
- The Texas defense gets another turnover! (1:00 left in the half) That’s the way to stop Vanderbilt from pulling off the upset. They need everything to go right to pull off the upset and it was after the first drive but it’s been all Texas since. Great hit by Michael Taaffe who has been in on both Vandy turnovers.
- Holding call on Michael Taaffe (called against Malik Muhammad) with :15 left puts Vanderbilt in field goal position. Vandy got a very generous call when the refs stopped the clock with two seconds left. Pavia went down in the field of play and didn’t make it out of bounds, but the ref blew it down. That allowed Vandy to get the 54-yard field goal to close out the half.
- Texas with a third straight three and out to start the second half. The Vandy offense has no answer for this Texas D. The Commodores going for it on 4th and 7. Vandy gets bailed out by the pass interference call. That looked like hand fighting to me. I don’t know that it was really PI.
- Pavia threaded the needle on the touchdown with 3:11 left in the quarter. That ball went through multiple Texas defenders to find Sherrill for the TD. How did he complete that???? Texas 27 – Vanderbilt 17
- Vernon Broughton! This game should have ended with a score of 34-17. His hit didn't impact the play at all. Broughton owes Kobe Black dinner or something for robbing him of a pick-six.
