Texas did also have some success running duo<\/a>, but needs to get better executing outside zone, the running play that Sarkisian prefers to major in every year and one that should allow the line to take advantage of the athleticism that makes it so effective in pass protection.<\/p>\nOverall, the consistency was lacking for the Longhorns as the Bobcats recorded seven non-sack tackles for loss in a \u201cbig, little\u201d performance by Texas as the running game finished with 156 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries, but only produced one other run of 15 or more yards after the opening play, a 21-yard score by Brown in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know when we have the threat of running the football, that\u2019s when we\u2019re at our best as an offensive football team, and I think there were there were too many times today where it was gain of one, gain of none, gain of two, and so how do we find that consistency that a bad run is four yards or three yards? Second and 7 is a heck of a lot better than 2nd and 10,\u201d Sarkisian said after the game.<\/p>\n
Beyond the performance by Smothers, the effort of the Texas running backs against Texas State largely rlacked decisiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like at times we were dancing a little too much with the ball in our hands,\u201d Sarkisian said.<\/p>\n
The defensive game plan played a role as well \u2014 like many opponents who are overmatched physically in the trenches, the Bobcats tried to disrupt the blocking schemes for the Longhorns by slanting, a particularly effective strategy when Texas was running pin and pull and outside zone, as well as using some stunts and other movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some things where we didn\u2019t have great angles on plays as the game went on,\u201d Sarkisian said.<\/p>\n
Some improvement should come from better conditioning, health, and continuity on the left side of the line.<\/p>\n
Goosby missed the second scrimmage when he suffered a bone bruise in his knee that cost him two weeks of practice and left him still playing through some pain and with less than optimal conditioning in hot conditions against Texas State.<\/p>\n
The decision to play on Saturday was made between Goosby, the coaching staff, and the medical staff with some increased pressure put on it because everyone wanted the big left tackle to get some game reps before facing off against Ohio State.<\/p>\n
Next to Goosby at left guard, Western Kentucky transfer Laurence Seymore also missed time during preseason camp with an injury, and rotated with Dylan Sikorski, the surprise starter after transferring from Oregon State.<\/p>\n
With chemistry along the offensive line at a premium, getting more reps for both guards with Goosby should benefit the Longhorns over the next several weeks as the coaching staff maintains a rotation at left guard.<\/p>\n
For Sarkisian, as well as SEC analyst Cole Cubelic, a major area for improvement was on straining more to finish plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like we could have strained a little bit more in the run game, and that\u2019s all parties involved \u2014 I\u2019m not talking just about the O-line, there\u2019s opportunities for tight ends, there\u2019s opportunities for receivers that could have created some bigger runs,\u201d Sarkisian said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an area where junior wide receiver Cam Coleman still needs to grow after earning the team\u2019s lowest run-blocking grade of 45.7 from Pro Football Focus, a one-game regression from the major gains that he made from his freshman to his sophomore year at Auburn.<\/p>\n
At tight end, the Longhorns received strong efforts from senior Spencer Shannon, sophomore Nick Townsend, and sophomore Emaree Winston, but received a disappointing performance from fifth-year Michael Masunas, the Michigan State transfer who arrived in Austin with a reputation as an effective run blocker that wasn\u2019t fully backed up his PFF grades, an effort that helps explain why Masunas didn\u2019t earn the starting job over Shannon as expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s got to take a step forward from Week 1 to Week 2, and generally that can happen as long as we\u2019re coachable, and then as long as we apply the things that we need to apply to try to get better,\u201d Sarkisian said.<\/p>\n
The challenge stiffens considerably against Ohio State this week as the Buckeyes bring the nation\u2019s top defensive in SP+ to Austin after holding Ball State to 45 yards on 23 carries in last weekend\u2019s 59-3 blowout win.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as Ohio State\u2019s interior defensive line, they\u2019re deep, they\u2019re talented. Larry Johnson has been there a long, long time. He\u2019s a heck of a coach,\u201d Sarkisian said on Monday. \u201cI know they lost some of the veteran guys \u2014 they still have some \u2014 but they\u2019re good and they\u2019re a penetrating group, they\u2019re active. They do a good job of collapsing the pocket in the pass game, and they\u2019re stout in the run game.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Arch Manning struggled in the passing game in last season\u2019s 14-7 loss to the Buckeyes, the running game was a bright spot, notching 166 yards on 4.5 yards per carry, but Texas can\u2019t simply expect to do replicate that success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a rinse-repeat, and I think that\u2019s a mistake you can make is that hey, we\u2019re good against this team, let\u2019s just do the same thing again, because there\u2019s really good coaches that we coach against, and they\u2019re making adjustments, too,\u201d Sarkisian said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The new-look running game for the Texas Longhorns set the tone early in Saturday\u2019s 59-7…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,536,28],"class_list":["post-432017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}