Texas Football: Grading the Longhorns' Game vs Oklahoma State

Just a week after Oklahoma drilled Texas at the Cotton Bowl, the Longhorns returned to Austin looking to redeem themselves.

Saturday against Oklahoma State, the Longhorns did many things right that may pave the way to victory on other Saturdays, but untimely errors on defense and turnovers at the quarterback position proved to be too much in the Pokes' 38-26 win in Austin.

It was the Longhorns' first loss following the Red River Rivalry in the Mack Brown Era. Their second consecutive loss drops them to 4-2 on the season and 1-2 in the Big 12.

The report card is in, and though the grades are better than last week, the Horns still need more time in study hall.

Quarterbacks

Grade: D

D for David Ash (kidding).

Jokes aside, Ash got the starting nod against Oklahoma State and took every snap. But the true freshman struggled to take care of the football. Minus the late-game interception when the game was all but decided, Ash gave up two drive-killing turnovers that snatched any momentum away from the Longhorns.

The former Belton HS standout flashed his athleticism running the ball, but his ability to make timely decisions and deliver good passes down the field—especially deep—needs a ton of work.

By the numbers, Ash completed just 22-of-40 passes for 139 yards and 2 interceptions, an average of 3.5 yards per pass attempt. 

The quarterback position is not where it needs to be if Texas is to improve as a team this season.

Running Backs

Grade: A

Texas made huge leaps forward with its running game, although credit needs to be given to a dodgy Oklahoma State defense.

Nevertheless, the Longhorns ran the ball successfully, racking up 231 yards on 49 carries, with both of their touchdowns coming on quality runs by Malcolm Brown.

The true freshman Brown led the team with 19 carries and 135 yards, a career high. Fozzy Whittaker added 36 yards on nine carries, and D.J. Monroe once again flashed his explosive ability with 33 yards on four carries, an average of 8.3 yards per attempt.

The running backs are becoming a strength for this Texas team, and on Saturday they passed with flying colors.

Receivers

Grade: C-

Just three Texas receivers caught more than one pass, with Mike Davis hauling in 10 for 80 yards, Marquise Goodwin reeling in three for 23 yards and Jaxon Shipley snatching another three for 23 yards.

It was a tough day for the receivers, as timing and chemistry was visibly jarred due to inconsistency from the quarterback position.

The passing game has hardly been a strong suit for the Texas offense this season, and Saturday was a case of same story, different chapter.

After coming up with three touchdowns against UCLA, has anyone seen D.J. Grant around these parts?

Offensive Line

Grade: B-

The offensive line probably put in its best game so far this season for the Longhorns, as the big men in the trenches paved the way for huge yardage on the ground.

Pass protection was off and on, but for the line to really shine it needs to give its freshman quarterback much more time to find receivers and deliver balls with more precision.

Josh Cochran, a true freshman, saw a ton of time at left tackle in place of fifth-year senior Tray Allen, an adjustment that paid some dividends but also saw some setbacks throughout the game.

Perhaps one of the bigger positives of the game was that we never saw an offensive lineman get totally dominated by an Oklahoma State defensive lineman.

The line played well enough to allow Texas to win the game, but football is a two-way game.

This is a performance to store for the future, as Texas will need to produce similar numbers on the ground if it is to be successful moving forward.

Defensive Line

Grade: C+

The defensive line received some praise for its performance against Oklahoma, and the unit deserves some more applause after turning in another fine game against Oklahoma State.

Given the recent efforts of the Cowboys' offensive line, efforts which have led to greater production on offense, props to the Longhorns' big boys in the trenches for putting up some good run defense, but their pass defense still needs a ton of work.

It would be hard to fault the line for the big touchdown runs, seeing as how Jeremy Smith hardly got touched after getting to the second level.

On the ends, both Jackson Jeffcoat and Alex Okafor had disruptive efforts for the Longhorns. The interior line seemed to disappear, however.

Linebackers

Grade: C+

The linebackers have to take the good with the bad.

With the offensive sets that Oklahoma State was implementing, Texas was forced into a ton of nickel and dime schemes on defense, putting just one or two linebackers on the field.

Keenan Robinson led the Longhorns with seven tackles, as Emmanuel Acho and Jordan Hicks each had five tackles of their own. Acho also proved to be disruptive in the backfield, picking up two tackles for loss.

But despite the active play from each of them, Hicks' insertion into the game led to errors resulting in big gains for the the Cowboys.

For a unit that has two seniors and a potentially budding star, this group has to perform better.

Secondary

Grade: B+

The Texas secondary easily was the top performing unit of the afternoon, at least from the cornerbacks' perspective.

We knew the Oklahoma State receivers, namely Justin Blackmon, would get their own. But the Longhorns defensive backs held the Cowboys' hefty passing attack to just 23 receptions on 41 attempts for 218 yards and only one touchdown.

The young guns in Adrian Phillips (who left the game with a right arm injury), Quandre Diggs and Carrington Byndom played their positions admirably, though safety play could have been better as a number of times Longhorn safeties appeared to be out of position and unable to make big-gain saving tackles.

Byndom kept Blackmon under relative wraps, nearly picking off two passes and finishing with four breakups. Vaccaro added two deflections of his own.

Probably the biggest key to the game on defense was stopping the Pokes' passing attack. Check. But allowing touchdown runs of 30 and 74 yards almost voids Texas' stout pass defense.

It should be noted that Brandon Weeden completed just 56.1 percent of his passes, which falls well below his season average. The last time Weeden passed for under such a low percentage was the first game of the season when he completed just 61.5 percent of his passes against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Special Teams

Grade: B

Speechlessness was the word after Justin Gilbert opened the second half with a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown for Oklahoma State.

Not 15 seconds later, Fozzy Whittaker had his own 100-yard return for a quick response, maintaining the status quo.

An eye for an eye? Maybe, but Texas simply cannot continue to give up free points as momentum killers to open or close halves. The Longhorns were lucky to have Whittaker answer with his second return for a touchdown in as many games.

The punting game was effective, and Justin Tucker nailed his only field goal attempt of the afternoon.

Whittaker has shown his breakaway ability, but special teams defense has killed the Longhorns all season, and Saturday was no different.

Coaching and Game Plan

Grade: C+

The game plans were put in place quite effectively.

Defensively, Texas kept Oklahoma State to 420 yards for the game, well below its season average. The Longhorns made the Cowboys' prolific passing offense look rather mediocre, holding Weeden and company to just 218 yards through the air.

However, two big touchdown runs (30, 74) by Oklahoma State's Jeremy Smith left Texas' run defense scratching its head during pivotal moments in the game.

Offensively, the Horns ran the ball whenever and however they wanted, producing big gains on several drives, but the three Ash turnovers were killer.

Surely the coaches are preaching the importance of ball security, but we simply are not seeing that translated onto the field.

Intangibles

Grade: C+

We saw a ton of promise for the Longhorns coming off an embarrassing defeat against the Sooners. Texas responded to momentum swings well and kept level heads and continued to battle against a good offensive unit.

David Ash showed flashes of brilliance and could eventually be Texas' quarterback, even though he struggled with some simple technical aspects.

D.J. Monroe, Malcolm Brown and Fozzy Whittaker have turned the Longhorns into a legitimate threat in the running game, and those three cannot get enough touches moving forward.

Defensively, there is a ton of work that needs to be done. Texas is missing that single hoss on the defensive side that can take over games and put in game-changing performances.