78-676-8.7: Texas offense plays, yards, yards per play
Now that we've gotten the doom and gloom of the defensive performance out of the way, let's talk about the fun stuff. Wasn't that offense fun to watch? I mean really. I had fun. We'll dissect the performance over the remainder of this Inside the Numbers, but on a macro level, it was great to get an idea what this Bryan Harsin offense is going to look like moving forward. It took advantage of an undersized front 6 of Ole Miss with power O, inside zone, and the pin and pull on the ground, then beat single coverage down the field when numbers were committed inside. It was systematic and glorious. This isn't to say we'll be a 600 yard-60 point offense every week, but it was a joy to watch what this unit will look like when the plan is executed.
I understand the trauma induced by the Texas QB performance in 2010 and 2011, but I hope you were able to enjoy the performance of the passing game against Ole Miss. The play action game was on full display with the deep balls to Marquise Goodwin and Mike Davis (who finished with 2 catches - 102 yards and 5 catches - 124 yards respectively, each with a TD), and in the red zone with TD passes to FB Ryan Roberson and TE DJ Grant. Ash also worked the intermediate game, featuring a few throws to Davis and a nice 23 yard strike to Jaxon Shipley. What I was most impressed with was the touch on short throws Ash continues to display. The play action game in the red zone and liberal use of screens place a high priority on touch, and Ash hasn't disappointed. Only one of the deep balls could really be considered a perfectly thrown ball, but the others were thrown on time and gave the WR a chance to make a play against single coverage. When your WR can beat a DB in single coverage, all you really need to do is give them a chance at the ball while the DB scrambles to catch up. Still, it was as complete a performance in the passing game as Texas has had since the elder McCoy owned campus. The "Jaxon Shipley is our best QB" jokes have officially expired.
I actually didn't realize how historically good this performance was. 676 total yards is the second highest total of all time, and this is only the third time (1990 vs Houston and 2009 vs UTEP) that Texas had over 300 rushing yards and 300 passing yards. There's an entire decade of Texas Longhorns in the NFL right now, so considering this was a road game vs a BCS opponent, SEC no less, is amazing.
BON breaks it down. Go read the whole thing, but an intro to the offense:
I actually didn't realize how historically good this performance was. 676 total yards is the second highest total of all time, and this is only the third time (1990 vs Houston and 2009 vs UTEP) that Texas had over 300 rushing yards and 300 passing yards. There's an entire decade of Texas Longhorns in the NFL right now, so considering this was a road game vs a BCS opponent, SEC no less, is amazing.