Texas Football: Most Important Adjustments That Need to Be Made During Bye Week
Sitting at 1-2 heading into their early-season bye week, the Longhorns have plenty of adjustments to make and issues to address.
Above all, Charlie Strong and the coaching staff need to work on their relationship with the team.
Until the offensive line can come together, the Longhorns are going to have to work on getting explosive plays from their passing offense. The line needs to be reassessed after two tough weeks, but the Horns can help themselves by getting more playmakers involved in the offense while building on quarterback Tyrone Swoopes' success outside of the pocket.
As for the defense, which has suffered through two second-half letdowns, it's all about attitude and buying into the one Charlie Strong is trying to instill.
Any degree to which he can accomplish that during the extra week will go a long way toward turning this team around.
Involve the All-Purpose Threats
1 of 5Strong said numerous times this offseason that he wants receivers that can take a short pass and turn it into a big gain. That has yet to be part of Texas' offense, and it's a glaring need through three games.
So far, John Harris and Jaxon Shipley are the only Longhorns with more than 10 receptions. Aside from Harris' persisting issue with drops, both have been productive and have made it easy for Tyrone Swoopes to get the ball out in time.
However, neither player will ever be considered dangerous in the open field, which Strong said he wanted back on Big 12 media day.
"Need a playmaker at wide receiver. Need someone that can catch a five-yard hitch and turn it into just a big play where you go yards after a catch with YAC yardage," Strong said during his press conference.
The problem is, Texas isn't featuring that type of player in the passing game. Jacorey Warrick has just three catches this season, Armanti Foreman has hardly left the sideline after Strong lauded him during camp and Daje Johnson is still suspended.
"Charlie Strong said that Texas frosh WR Armanti Foreman is type of guy who can turn 5-yard hitch into 20-yard gain. Big need for #Horns O.
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Johnson has to earn his way back to the roster, but it's a mystery as to why neither Warrick nor Foreman have found themselves in the game plan. They're barely even involved in the return game, where Foreman has brought back just one kick to 10 for Marcus Johnson.
Both guys have the quickness to make a man miss, along with the 4.4 speed (per ESPN and 247Sports' Brian Perroni) you look for from guys to fill an all-purpose role. Everything's there but the snaps.
Until Texas can protect Swoopes long enough to develop a downfield passing attack, these two need to be schemed into space.
Get Swoopes Moving
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One of the many positive signs emerging from Tyrone Swoopes' first couple of starts is his ability to throw on the run. The Longhorns should use that to mask some of their issues up front.
Swoopes has done most of his damage from the pocket, proving to opposing defenses that he can deliver when his line can protect him. Unfortunately, those moments have been few and far between with three starters missing up front.
However, Swoopes has also shown that he can still accurately deliver the ball on the move. He mainly scrambles to escape pressure but keeps his eyes downfield and maintains the tight, laser-like spirals he throws from the pocket.
The best example of Swoopes' success in this department came during Saturday's loss to UCLA. The sophomore felt pressure, escaped to his right and then threw the ball 33 yards down the sideline to John Harris.
Texas would be wise to take advantage of this ability, especially given the protection issues. Rolling Swoopes out would take pressure off the line to keep a clean pocket, and he has enough speed that defenses have to account for the run when he's out there.
Look for the Longhorns to put these kinds of plays in during the bye week and start using them against Kansas. After all, it's no coincidence that the 33-yarder to Harris is Texas' longest pass play of the season.
Get the Ball to Marcus Johnson
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In addition to getting more open-field elusiveness involved in the passing game, the Longhorns need to figure out how to get Marcus Johnson more involved.
A year after leading the Horns in yards per catch, the junior has just seven receptions for 66 yards on the season. And while he caught a season-high four passes against UCLA, his impact has been minimal compared to leading receivers Jaxon Shipley and John Harris.
Johnson will struggle to make big plays until the issues up front are sorted out, but the Longhorns just aren't making an effort to get him the ball. Instead, the Horns continue to force-feed Harris, who has at least one drop in each game this season to remove the luster from his 19 catches.
There's no doubt that Harris has turned the corner as a senior, but he can't outrun guys the way Johnson did as a sophomore. They can coexist, and the sooner the coaches can make that happen, the better this passing offense is going to be.
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Explore Different Combinations Along the Offensive Line
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The Longhorns continue to struggle up front. The bye week's as good a time as any to try out different combinations up front.
Down three starters, line coach Joe Wickline doesn't have a whole lot of options behind the guys he's been trotting out the past two games. He's stuck with Sedrick Flowers at left guard and will probably have to keep playing Kent Perkins out of position at tackle.
Wickline could, however, take a look at backup guard Darius James, who was recruited as a 5-star center (per 247Sports). He's listed as a guard on the roster, but it's hard to imagine that he can't supplant Jake Raulerson in the middle or even swing out to tackle so Perkins can move back to guard.
The Horns also have redshirt sophomore tackle Camrhon Hughes, along with freshmen Elijah Rodriguez and Alex Anderson, but James is probably the only one capable of taking a spot during the layoff.
Improve the Connection Between the Staff and the Team
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If the past two weeks have shown us anything, it's that Charlie Strong's rebuild at Texas is still very much in progress. For this team to take the next step in the process, the main goal of this bye week should be to improve the connection between Strong's staff and his players.
First, the Longhorns fell apart in the second half against BYU, giving up 35 points after allowing just six in the first half. After the 41-7 defeat, Strong called out his team for not being ready during warm-ups, which Quandre Diggs echoed the following Monday:
"I'm sure you guys can remember me at Media Day saying a lot of guys just didn't love football. Some guys feel like they're entitled. They think they're going to go out and play and they're going to do well without watching film. … That's kind of what I meant when I said guys don't love football - that's where it comes from.
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Though the Longhorns showed fight in a much closer loss to UCLA, they were still mired by a bizarre blunder at the coin toss as well as a second-half letdown. In the end, they cost themselves a crucial possession and were outscored 17-7 in the final two quarters of a three-point defeat.
While much of the team, like Diggs, has bought into the new change, it's clear that there's a significant enough contingent to keep this team from taking the next step. These two weeks won't totally fix that, but it's enough time for Strong to use the on-field results to motivate the stragglers.
Whatever improvement Texas hopes to enjoy the rest of the season needs to start here.
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