Horns247 Board

Random stats:

Johnathan Gray, Joe Bergeron, Daje Johnson combined for 34 carries for 263 yards (7.74 yards/rush) and 7 touchdowns.

Ten Texas players had receptions out of the 19 passes completed.

Texas averaged 8.5 yards per play on first down on offense.

Baylor was 0/8 on third down at the until the 6:29 mark of the 4th quarter.

Against the zone-read with Florence keeping the ball in the first half... Four carries for 59 yards (rushes of 8, 11, 23, 17) and a touchdown, and a seven yard touchdown on a zone-read play-action pass (just to add, Florence's only other rush was an 11-yard scramble).

Against the zone read in the second half... One rush for minus-one yard, but Florence fumbled into the end zone off a Kenny Vaccaro forced fumble, and Baylor recovered the ball in the end zone. The only zone-read play action pass was on the play that Cedric got a sack.

Why some numbers matter more than others....

Baylor rushing (5.8/rush, 255 yards), Texas (5.7/rush, 251 yards)
Baylor passing (8.6/attempt, 11 incompletions), Texas (8.8/attempt, 12 incompletions)
Baylors total (7.1/play), Texas (7.0/play)
Baylor penalties (5-55), Texas (5-52)
Baylor T.O.P. (29:29), Texas (30:31)

And the numbers that matter....
Baylor had two turnovers, Texas had zero turnovers.
Baylor was 3/12 on third down, Texas was 10/16 on third down.

Baylor had 35 plays in the first half, scoring 31 points.
Baylor had 50 plays in the second half, scoring 19 points.

What should you take from that stat? I believe that the ideology that bending, but not breaking, can be statistically proven as the best way to defend potent offenses. Texas was able to make Baylor move the ball methodically down the field which took up a lot of game time while trying to come from behind. If Texas gives up scoring drives on series that are just two or three plays, the final score could have been a totally different story.

In the last 15:09 of the game, Texas ran twelve run plays for 64 yards, and completed 2/3 passes for 22 yards and a touchdown (only incompletion was on the pass to M.J. McFarland down the seam). Not fancy numbers, but they were able to control the ball and prevent the opposition from having the chance to come from behind. (Game log... six straight rushes for 31 yards, fifteen yard touchdown to Mike Davis, two rushes for 25 yards, seven yard screen pass to Daje Johnson, one rush for -4 yards, incompletion to M.J. McFarland, three rushes for twelve yards).

Clock management bothered me at times. At the end of the first half, and at the end of the fourth quarter, Texas could have ran a lot more time off the clock. I can understand this occuring on the few wildcat snaps because you have a freshman running a formation based on hitting a specific hole, or the sweep man on the edge, so the best time to snap the ball may not be late in the play clock and a freshman can't be expected to have the wherewithal to make the decisions of a quarterback. The plays where the standard offense snapped the ball with ten to fifteen seconds left on the play clock preplexed me.

Other notes...

Trey Hopkins jumped off the screen at least five times with kick out blocks, driving opponents ten yards downfield, and great pulling. Mike Davis, M.J. McFarland, Jaxon Shipley and D.J. Grant also had good blocks downfield.

Josh Turner had a really good game. Tied at 28, Turner had a sack, then an interception, on back-to-back plays to help swing the momentum. Texas scored five plays later. Turner also had a really big play when he knocked Lanear Sampson out of the end zone on a pass that Sampson may have landed in bounds for a touchdown. He also tackled well.

A big swing.... I thought that going deep to Mike Davis on a play-action pass pass on first down after he had dropped a key pass on third down play which was sandwiched between Baylor scoring twelve unanswered points to cut the Texas lead to 42-20 was really big.

Unfortunately, another fourth down stop was ruined this week. This time, a sack/fumble recovery was negated because of an offsides penalty.

Texas still had a lot of pre-snap confusion on defense. The tackling was better, but still missing tackles. There were plays where Texas was beat on play-action and double moves and there were still players being broke down in open field situations.