Anemic Offense Will Doom Texas Longhorns to Another Long Season

It's hard to find a positive from Texas' 38-3 loss at Notre Dame, especially with regard to the offense.

An offseason filled with optimistic platitudes about "getting better every day" and "really looking good" and "improving Area X from last season" came crashing to Earth during a game in which the Longhorns looked no better than they did last December.

Granted, they gained twice as many yards (163) as they did in last year's Texas Bowl loss to Arkansas (79). That's the good news. But they also gained just one more first down (eight to seven) and failed to reach the end zone even once.

"We're just totally different [on offense] because of a lot of things," offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said before the game, per Jeff Howe of 247Sports. "We're not battling the same issues as we battled a year ago."

Yeah. So much for that.

The worst part of Texas' problems is that it's hard to conceive a solution.

Should Tyrone Swoopes be benched in favor of Jerrod Heard? Maybe. But it doesn't seem like that will fix anything.

Heard played two series against the Irish, endured two consecutive sacks, left because the wind was knocked out of him and never returned. He's more mobile than Swoopes is, which ostensibly makes him the smarter choice behind a cellophane offensive line, but Saturday was proof that's untrue.

There is no smart choice behind a cellophane offensive line.

And therein lies Texas' real problem. The offensive line is a mess. It's easy to blame that on youth and inexperience, but even senior Sedrick Flowers, one of the team's supposed leaders, cost the offense 15 yards for basically throwing a punch:

A bad line makes everything worse.

It stunts the quarterbacks' development because they don't have time to throw. It stunts the running backs' development because they don't have room to run. It stunts the receivers' development because they don't see as many targets. It's something the players and coaches have to tiptoe around.

Most teams the Longhorns play will be worse than Notre Dame, a College Football Playoff contender with multiple potential first-round draft picks on defense. Defensive tackle Sheldon Day, linebacker Jaylon Smith, cornerback KeiVarae Russell—they all played up to their potential.

But even some of the "soft" defenses on Texas' schedule present problems. Texas will score points against Cal in two weeks, but Cal will score points right back. So will teams like Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma. At some point the Longhorns' defense will not be enough. They will need to hang 30-40 points on someone.

Can anyone name a defense that vulnerable?

Jon Durr/Getty Images

One idea Texas might consider is shaking up the coaching ranks. Firing Watson would be bold—and it's highly improbable—but there's precedent from head coach Charlie Strong's time at Louisville, when in 2011 he fired Mike Sanford after five games and replaced him with, of all people, Watson.

But again, that proposal fixes nothing for the 2015 season. It sends a message to the players that they need to play better, but it messes with continuity on the practice field and on Saturdays. Even if you think there's a long-term benefit to firing Watson, there is very little benefit in the short term.

The only way for Texas to fix its problems is by learning from what it did wrong in South Bend—by poring through the tape, addressing the major concerns and developing a group of underclassmen at a faster rate than most underclassmen develop.

Turning things around is not impossible, but at this point it seems unlikely. Saturday's game was a measuring stick, and the Longhorns came up miles too short.