Texas vs. West Virginia: Game Grades, Analysis for Longhorns and Mountaineers

Taking advantage of five Longhorn turnovers, the West Virginia Mountaineers ran away from Texas for an easy 38-20 win on Saturday.

Quarterback Skyler Howard led the way for the Mountaineers, needing only 12 passes to throw for 122 yards and two touchdowns. The scrappy junior also ran for a touchdown, with Wendell Smallwood adding another 165 yards on the ground.

The win puts the 5-4 Mountaineers only one away from a bowl game and crushes Texas' hopes of doing the same.

Charlie Strong's team has now been outscored 150-30 on the road this season and still has to play at Baylor for the season finale. After his team committed a ridiculous five turnovers, it's going to be a rough week for the Horns' embattled coach.

Positional Unit	1st Half	Final
Passing Offense	B	D+
Rushing Offense	C+	C
Passing Defense	C	C-
Rushing Defense	D	C
Special Teams	C	F
Coaching	C	C

Grade Analysis for the Longhorns

Passing Offense

Jerrod Heard was solid right up until he fell apart. His nine yards per attempt were his best since the Cal game, and he's doing a better job making the right read. That said, the two interceptions were brutal evidence that he still needs a lot of work.

Rushing Offense

D'Onta Foreman is going to be a bonafide star. His 65-yard touchdown run, his third carry of at least that distance this season, gave Texas an early lead. Feed this man, and let the other middling options sprinkle in when he's tired of dominating. Tyrone Swoopes' fumble ruined what should have been a second-quarter touchdown drive.

Passing Defense

Jason Hall was picked on, giving up both touchdowns because he won't play the ball. The pass rush continues to be inconsistent, and Howard threw only two incompletions on 12 attempts. Surprisingly, poor safety play has undone some good work by the corners all season.

Rushing Defense

The Longhorns made some strong stands, but Smallwood wore them out in the first half. And with the offense and special teams shooting themselves in the foot, all these guys could do was try to keep the floodgates from completely breaking open. Even though it gave up 257 yards on the ground, it's hard to blame this one on the defense.

Special Teams

Kris Boyd's fumble on a second-half kickoff return ruined Texas' chances to stage a comeback. That set up West Virginia for its second score in four minutes, pushing the score to 31-17. The rest of the Longhorns lost their fire after that.

Coaching

The game plan was working when it was executed, and the Longhorns had multiple chances to take control of this one on the road. But five turnovers made this a blowout, and Strong is back in the crosshairs because of it.

Strong has a young team and few upperclassmen he can lean on. It's jarring to watch Texas play like it has this season, but this is what starting over looks like. And with a bowl game now pretty much out of reach, he needs to get the talented youngsters ready to tear it up from the very first play of 2016. His job depends on it.

Positional Unit	1st Half	Final
Passing Offense	C	A-
Rushing Offense	A	B+
Passing Defense	C	B
Rushing Defense	C	B
Special Teams	A	A
Coaching	C	B

Grade Analysis for the Mountaineers

Passing Offense

Howard did a great job shaking off that early interception and let the Longhorns give him the game from there. He took control from that point and threw a really nice ball on his eight-yard touchdown to Daikiel Shorts. The Mountaineers will easily win out if he keeps it up.

Rushing Offense

You'll always take 257 rushing yards, especially when you get them on better than five yards a pop. Smallwood and Rushel Shell feasted on Texas' tired front to salt this one away, though they struggled in short-yardage situations.

Passing Defense

Heard came out sharp, but the pressure got to him late, and his two interceptions sealed it. The picks by Daryl Worley and Nick Kwiatkoski made up for some questionable coverage throughout the day.

Rushing Defense

Had Texas been able to hang onto the ball, the Horns would have run the Mountaineers out of the building. This defense just had no solution for Foreman or Swoopes before the latter coughed up a fumble. On the bright side, Heard got almost nothing on his scrambles, which is all the Horns have when they're down big.

Special Teams

Nick O'Toole gave Texas life with some bad punts in the second half. The forced fumble on Boyd took the life out of the Longhorns.

Coaching

Texas undid itself in this one and bailed out a defense that couldn't stop one of the Big 12's most basic offensive attacks. The Mountaineers came into this one expecting to blow out the Horns and got down early because of it. All's well that ends well, though, as these guys picked it up late and took advantage of some sloppy football. Dana Holgorsen's team is set up for a nice finish.