Languishing Longhorns: What's Wrong with the Texas Defense?

Texas has long been heralded as a recruiting powerhouse.

In recent years, top talent has poured in from all over the state of Texas, along with a few top-100 recruits from elsewhere in the US.  Many of these exceptional players have gone on to careers in the NFL, including three defensive backs from last year's class.

So can someone please explain why Texas' defenses over the past three seasons have been so mediocre?

Defensive coordinator Gene Chizik was brought to Austin to reproduce the best defense in Division I, but his best season came only when the Longhorns had the best athlete in all of college football on offense.

Vince Young single-handedly helped the UT defense thrive for two seasons by keeping them off of the field. Once Vince left for the NFL, Chizik lucked out again with Colt McCoy's stellar freshman season—but even then the Horns' pass defense was exposed.

My question: If the talent was there, why couldn't the team stop opposing quarterbacks from airing it out week after week?

UT ranked 99th out of 119 teams against the pass in 2006. One might argue that several teams in the Big 12 have pass-happy offenses, including Texas Tech and Nebraska.  However, Texas A&M's passing attack was ranked 98th in the country going into the UT game...and the Aggies had their best passing game of the entire year against the Longhorns.

This year, the Horns are ranked 109th nationally against the pass.  They gave up an average of over 500 yards on defense the last four games, most of them through the air.

Is it the unimaginative defensive scheme?

Duane Akina inherited a very talented group from Chizik. Even though three key players moved on to the NFL, the rebuilding seemed to occur more on the offensive side of the ball. But Texas rarely, if ever, stunted or blitzed on pass plays.

The result?

The front line didn't get to the quarterback, which left receivers plenty of time to create space. Given enough time, most quarterbacks will eventually find at least one open target.

Coach Mack Brown is going to have to take a long, hard look at the issues on the defensive side of the ball. Texas fans and alumni aren't going to sit idly by and accept mediocrity.

The Longhorn defense shouldn't rank lower than 30th out of 119 teams on pass defense next year. Someone, somehow, is going to have to find a way to get the job done.

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