A few more thoughts on the Longhorns from my fertile football mind

1. It’s not breaking news and it doesn’t take a lot of expert knowledge to see that Quinn Ewers might just live up to his five-star hype. I’m not a recruiting expert so correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Ewers was the nation’s highest rated quarterback recruit since Vince Young.

Steve Sarkisian is going to have to find a way with Texas’s inexperienced offensive line to protect Ewers from the kind of shot he took that knocked him out of the Alabama game.

Reading between the lines on the reporting on the quarterback situation going into the UTSA game, I’m thinking Ewer’s injury may not be as serious as initially feared. I’ll go out on a limb and predict he’ll be back for the Texas Tech game next week.

2. Running against the grain of all the good feelings coming out of the Alabama game as I did yesterday, I’ll point out that Texas failed to make a few critical plays that would have turned the tide and scored them the victory.

Xavier Worthy failed to make a very makeable catch on a beautifully thrown ball from Ewers in the endzone in the first quarter.

You’ll need to help me here but either D’Shawn Jamison or Ryan Watts muffed an easy interception that may have resulted in a pick six for the Horns.

Ryan Watts had a clear path to sack Bryce Young for a sizable loss that probably would have derailed Alabama’s game winning drive and secured the win for Texas. This kind of missed opportunity has haunted Texas for the last 12 years. To have a breakout season, Texas needs to make these plays.

3. What the hell were Sarkisian and his defensive coaching staff thinking on conceding Alabama underneath pass routes at the beginning of their game winning drive. From my perspective, Texas basically let Alabama get to the Texas 40-yard line playing your basic prevent defense. This was a glaring strategic failure by Sarkisian and his coaching staff. You know the saying about the prevent defense, it prevents victory. It also gave Sarkisian his sixth one-loss game during his brief tenure in Austin.

Theoretically, Texas is still in the playoff race. The rule of thumb is losing a game early in the season to a quality opponent doesn’t eliminate you from contention for one of the four playoff berths for the national championship.

Further, Texas is still undefeated in the Big 12. ????

Come on Horns, make some plays!

Hook “Em,

Willie Earl

For easy reference if you haven’t submitted your Over/Under guesses.