Texas Longhorns-Baylor Bears: A Look Back

The 4-3 Texas Longhorns hosted the 6-2 Baylor Bears this Saturday night in a game that was somewhat of a reversal for both teams.  The Bears came into this game ranked 25th in the nation and sporting one of the better offenses in the NCAA.  Texas had struggled often this season, and they had not been able to either summon enough offense to take control of games or to keep from making mistakes at critical times.

Despite the fact the Longhorns had this game in hand at times, they still managed to lose to Baylor 30-22.  This game was close throughout, but in the end the Longhorns just couldn’t stop Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin, who was able to beat them on the ground and in the air.  

This time, the Longhorns didn't lose because of too many bad mistakes; they were clearly outplayed by the other team, done in by what appeared to be a superior offense and defensive breakdowns.

Scoring Summary

A 26-yard field goal by kicker Justin Tucker put the Longhorns on the board early in the first quarter.  The Bears tied the game with a 24-yard Aaron Jones field goal later in the quarter.

Tucker hit a 31-yard field goal in the second quarter to put the Longhorns ahead 6-3 and added another field goal to make it 9-3.  Baylor would end up taking a 10-9 lead in the second quarter on a 49-yard touchdown toss from Griffin to Terrence Williams.  The Longhorns wouldn’t let up, however, getting a 40-yard field goal just before halftime to pull ahead of the Bears 12-10.

Quarterback Garrett Gilbert put the Longhorns even further ahead in the third quarter with a 20-yard touchdown run that made the score 19-10 .  That was pretty much the high point of the game for the Longhorns.

Jay Finley ran 69 yards for a touchdown to get the Bears within two at 19-17, still in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Bears tacked on a one-yard Griffin touchdown (the two point conversion failed) to take the lead for good, 23-19.  Baylor’s Kendall Wright caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Griffin to extend the lead to 30-19.

The Longhorns scored the final points of the game on a 21-yard field goal by Tucker to make it 30-22.

Stud of the Game

You have to give Gilbert a lot of credit; for a young guy, he’s started to do much better at times as the season has worn on.  He only had one interception in this game, which was good compared to some of the other games that he had.  If there was a star in this game, then it was Gilbert, who kept things steady but still couldn’t do enough to win.

Dud of the Game

The Longhorns defense, thought to be one of the best in college football, did manage to allow just 328 total yards but didn’t keep Baylor from making the critical plays that won the game.  Take notice that the Texas defense allowed the Bears two long plays during the course of the game.  Had the Longhorns been able to stop those long gains, we might be talking about a different result.

Analysis

Texas slipped deeper into a hole with this loss and now sits at 4-4, leaving some wondering if they will even make a bowl game this year.  They should be able to notch two more wins and get to a bowl, but it obviously won't be anything spectacular.

So what is plaguing the Longhorns?  What is causing them to lose so many games when many had thought that they would have a promising season?

It’s simple: youth. 

This is a young team with a lot new players at different positions, and it’s going to take time for them to put it all together.  Most of us didn’t expect this to be a down year for the Longhorns, but perhaps we should have seen this coming. Any team with a high-scoring power offense and a good quarterback has managed to circumvent the Longhorns defense this season, and that’s been their problem.  They have also made errors at critical times, and that’s caused them serious problems as well.

In this game, the Texas Longhorns were bested by the big play. They need to work on containing offenses and not allowing them to get big gains. Most of the yards that the Bears were able to get came on long plays, and the Longhorns defense just can’t allow those kids of plays if they want to win.

The offense will get better, but their time for this season is running out.  You can expect them to be much better in 2011.

Next Up

The Longhorns will head up north to play Kansas State. Stay tuned for a full preview of this game coming at the end of the week.