Coming off of last week’s loss, Texas was able to squeak out a win over No. 25 Vanderbilt, 27-24, and despite the offense looking better than last week, past mistakes resurfaced to make it a close matchup.
Junior quarterback Quinn Ewers, after throwing for only 17 yards in the first half against Georgia, seemed to rub off some of the rust that he accrued over the past two weeks, going for an impressive 19-of-21 completion attempts for 211 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone. Sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. also had a notable performance, leading the team in receiving with 97 yards and two touchdowns.
While Ewers and other offensive players overcame whatever roadblock they were facing, other aspects of the offense took some potential points off the scoreboard for the Longhorns.
Texas’ offensive line again struggled to protect Ewers. After giving up seven sacks to Georgia, Texas carried over the weak interior protection letting Ewers get brought to the ground four times for a total of 29 yards lost. The Texas defense was not able to sack Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.
The Longhorn’s offense also followed the pattern of not being able to convert turnover points. The Commodores, who before this game led the Southeastern Conference, only giving up two turnovers, fell to the Texas defense, who excelled accumulating three turnovers through two interceptions and one fumble. However, the offense was not able to use any of these advantages to put points on the board. On the other hand, the Vanderbilt offense held 14 of its points off of Texas turnovers.
Similar to last week, Texas’ run game was not very explosive, going 104 total yards and averaging 3.1 yards per carry. At the end of the first quarter, the Longhorns ran for a mere 15 yards in comparison to Vanderbilt’s 47.
Despite the weaker-than-usual rush game, both junior running back Jaydon Blue, who had no carries against Georgia last week, and sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner held 126 rushing yards between them both.
Despite being able to pull through with a win, it is apparent that there is an overall problem with offensive consistency — looking like two separate teams in the two halves. For instance, Ewers was only able to throw for 77 additional yards in the second half, in contrast to his impressive first half.
Texas is currently still one of the top favorites with about a 79% chance of making it to the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row. However, if these simple mistakes and inconsistencies continue to occur, then fans can expect the loss of more games and a significant decrease in another CFP appearance.
