The Texas Longhorns had a couple of rough losses in 2014 – the 41-7 blowout loss to BYU and the 31-7 loss to Arkansas – but other than that, they were mostly respectable. They finished with a 5-4 record in the Big 12 in their first year under head coach Charlie Strong and it looked like they had a foundation to build on. That didn’t appear to be the case in their 2015 opener as they were blasted 38-3 by Notre Dame. While many people felt that Strong had a long road ahead of him in terms of rebuilding, that was basically reiterated in Week 1. Let’s take a look back and recap the three main reasons why Texas got blown out:
Swoopes Struggles Again
Strong talked about wanting a “restart” to the season following last week’s blowout loss and that will involve a change at the quarterback position where junior Tyrone Swoopes was awful. Swoopes completed just 7-of-22 passes for 93 yards and was sacked twice in the loss to Notre Dame. Strong has confirmed that he will turn to backup and redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard versus Rice next week.
Heard failed to unseat Swoopes as the starter in camp but it would hard to play worse than Swoopes did against the Fighting Irish. The Longhorns were hoping to see some growth out of him but the reality is that they need to win games like this if they’re going to get back in the national spotlight. He looked overmatched at many points last season and unfortunately for Longhorns fans, he again looked overmatched in Week 1. At this point, they have no faith that Swoopes can lead them to wins in matchups like this, so that’s why they’re making the change. Expectations should include a better performance from the Longhorns starting quarterback in Week 2.
The Offensive Line Was A Mess
Another factor that should help in terms of the team’s quarterback play is the performance of an offensive line that was an absolute mess in Week 1 against Notre Dame. Texas has two freshman starters up front and they really struggled to fend off the Fighting Irish pass rush. They weren’t much better when it came to opening up lanes for the rushing attack either. The Longhorns managed to record just eight first downs and after one week of college football action, they rank last in the entire country in offense and scoring. Another full week of practice focused on fixing the areas in which they struggled against the Fighting Irish should help the front five and if the offensive line improves, it will pay major dividends in terms of both the team’s rushing and passing attack against Rice.
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The Defense Could Not Stop A First-Time Starter
Strong was outspoken about how his defense didn’t do enough to keep Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire in check as he was able to absolutely torch them both through the air and on the ground. Zaire completed 19-of-22 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns and never looked like he was really uncomfortable in the pocket the entire game. Zaire might have caught the entire country off guard with an absolutely dominant performance. At the final whistle, Notre Dame had outgained Texas 527 to 163.
However, as terrible as that performance was, there is reason to think that the Texas defense should be better than it showed against the Fighting Irish. The Longhorns have enough talent at all three levels to regroup this week and get in to position for a better performance against Rice this week. Of course, Rice is a cupcake matchup but it’s the ideal opponent for a Longhorns team that is looking to rebuild their confidence. After getting punched in the mouth in Week 1 it is now on Texas to regroup and prepare for an offense that doesn’t have nearly as much firepower as Notre Dame. They’ll have make sure they produce a much better performance in Week 2 versus Rice.
