Texas Offense Wakes Up in Win but Inconsistency Still Plaguing Longhorns

One week after being shutout in the Little Apple against Kansas State, the first shutout suffered since 2004, the Texas Longhorns' offense finally found a bit of swagger against a much weaker Texas Tech, hanging up a 34-13 win against the Red Raiders.

Tyrone Swoopes had arguably his most efficient game of the year, throwing for 228 yards and a touchdown on 13-of-25 passing.

The Longhorns also finally hit their stride on the ground, amassing 241 rushing yards led by Malcolm Brown, who accounted for 116 of them.

But there were still signs of inconsistency, which has been the one consistent aspect for the Longhorns all season.

There were the two turnovers, both fumbles, by Swoopes and wideout Jaxon Shipley.

There was the 5-of-16 third-down conversion rating.

And then there was the simple fact that Texas has yet to put back-to-back positive showings together all year.

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Last week, Texas looked like a bottom-feeder of the Big 12 in getting shutout by the Kansas State Wildcats.

This week, they flipped the script on in-state rival Texas Tech, which granted was hindered by the loss of quarterback Davis Webb.

Next week, Texas hosts West Virginia. Will the Mountaineers put Texas back to the page that Kansas State had it on, or the one the Red Raiders seemingly couldn't get past?

Odds seem to favor the former.

The fact of the matter is that Texas, and first-year head coach Charlie Strong, are both huge disappointments in 2014. The Longhorns are just 4-5 this year and need two wins over their last three games against WVU, Oklahoma State and TCU to even earn bowl eligibility.

That's going to be hard to come by the way WVU and TCU have been playing, and Oklahoma State is about on par with Texas this year.

Ultimately, Charlie Strong's approach to cleanse the program from a litany of dismissals and other culture-changing moves are taking their toll in Austin this season.

As Texas looks to rebuild next year, it'll start with finding a quarterback. Everything else should fall into place.

But for 2014, ultimately it's an inconsistent, growing pains type of year.