Texas Football: 3 Things Standing in the Way of a Big 12 Championship

Texas has the recruiting acumen and coaching staff to return to the top of the Big 12. First, it will have to overcome its issues at quarterback and in the trenches.

The Longhorns have had the same problem since they began their slide after 2009: They don't have a quarterback capable of leading the offense, and quality under center wins games in the Big 12.

As of now, the Horns also have some issues with depth and the overall effectiveness of the offensive line. The defense will be more than the sum of its parts, but this team has to do a better job of controlling the point of attack on the offensive side of the ball and preparing for when injuries strike.

Still, it all starts with the quarterback, and it seems like fielding a championship-caliber one will take another year or two.

Quarterback Play

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Swoopes was simply not good enough in 2014 for the Longhorns to contend with the best offenses in the Big 12.

You have to score to win in the Big 12, and the Longhorns lack the quarterback play to keep pace with the conference's best offenses.

Six Big 12 teams averaged more than 30 points per game in 2014. Of those teams, only Texas Tech posted a losing record, while Oklahoma State finished as the lone winning team that finished below that mark.

Then there's Texas, which barely averaged more than 20 points and scored 10 or fewer on five different occasions. As with the rest of the conference, the Longhorns' record (6-7) was a reflection of their quarterback play.

Of quarterbacks who played at least 75 percent of their team's games, Tyrone Swoopes ranked seventh in yards per game, efficiency and yards per attempt. Baylor's Bryce Petty and TCU's Trevone Boykin, the quarterbacks of the two best teams in the conference, were excellent in all three of those categories.

Texas has to fix that disparity to get back in the upper echelon of the conference, but it's unclear how close it is to pulling that off.

Swoopes is in a close competition with redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard to run a more uptempo attack in 2015, though neither looked comfortable in the spring game.

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Jerrod Heard is FAST. Looked sharp on his throws to, especially on a corner route to Templin. Burned the first team defense #Longhorns

@SiegelEzra, 18 Apr 2015

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The Longhorns will spend the offseason choosing between Swoopes' experience and Heard's athleticism. Whoever wins the job will have to play like one of the best quarterbacks in the country for Texas to contend this season, which is highly unlikely at this point.

An Effective Offensive Line

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The struggles up front, in both pass- and run-blocking, prevented the Texas offense from sustaining meaningful drives.

Texas didn't just struggle at quarterback last season. Its troubles started up front, where the offensive line was consistently overmatched by the competition.

In addition to ranking as the worst passing offense in the conference, the Horns also sported one of the Big 12's most pedestrian rushing attacks, averaging only 3.7 yards per carry.

That number is the direct result of subpar blocking from the offensive line, which also gave up seven combined sacks in the blowout losses to TCU and Arkansas. This group's struggles caused Texas to have the Big 12's second-worst third-down conversion rate, which kept the defense on the field far too often.

For Texas to have any chance to improve, especially with its inexperience at quarterback, the offensive front has to be able to control the line of scrimmage.

Until this group finds consistency, the Horns will constantly be battling game flow.

Depth

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Texas enters the offseason without much experienced depth, especially behind top corner Duke Thomas (pictured).

Quarterback and offensive line were the two sore spots of this Texas team in 2014. It's no coincidence that these were the two positions that had little to no depth.

Several positions are in similar situations entering 2015.

The Longhorns have lost 10 starters from last year's team, including six crucial members of the second-best defense in the conference. That side of the ball, particularly the back seven, has almost no backup behind the projected starters.

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The Longhorns will be thin at CB today. Sheroid Evans, Jermaine Roberts and Duke Thomas all out. #Longhorns

@texansports, 18 Apr 2015

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Granted, head coach Charlie Strong recruits very well and 247Sports indicates that he has a talented group of freshmen on their way. But most of them won't be ready for a season or two, and the ones who can contribute immediately will have their growing pains.

It takes time to accumulate and develop the talent that makes championship teams. That is especially true for the Longhorns, who were mismanaged for so long by former coach Mack Brown.

Strong is working on this, but it will be another year or two before his team becomes a perennial contender once again.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.