One area the Texas Longhorns need to improve in for 2021

The Texas Longhorns offense was slightly better in some areas in 2020 compared to 2019. There is one area they failed to compare to.

When looking at the Texas Longhorns offense in 2020, it doesn’t appear to be much of a difference between the two teams outside of scoring offense in comparison to 2019.

Category 2019 2020
Total Offense 465.8 457.3
Rushing Offense 176.5 183.3
Passing Offense 289.3 274.0
Scoring Offense 35.2 41.3

On the surface, they are similar. The records being 7-5 in the regular season during the 2019 campaign, 6-3 during the 2020 campaign. However, there is one huge glaring difference when you look a bit deeper. This year’s offense doesn’t have a dynamic receiver as they have in years past. No Lil’Jordan Humphrey or Devin Duvernay of the last three seasons. No consistent go-to guy for the offense.

Yards after the catch WR rankings

  • 2017- Lil’Jordan Humphrey (No. 122)  265 yards on 38 receptions, 7.0 average of YAC
  • 2018- Lil’Jordan Humphrey (No. 10) 592 yards on 86 receptions, 6.9 average of YAC
  • 2019- Devin Duvernay (No. 3) 719 yards on 105 receptions, 6.8 average of YAC
  • 2020- Joshua Moore (No. 140) 161 yards on 25 receptions, 6.4 average of YAC

Moore was the first receiver to lead the team in yards after the catch that didn’t average at least 6.5 yards per attempt. Of his 161 yards after the catch, 92 came in the game against UTEP. He would rack up a total of 72 yards the rest of the season. The Longhorns need more from the position.

On the other hand, you had a running back who was the overall team leader in yards after the catch. Bijan Robinson had 171 yards after the catch, which averages out to 13.2 per touch. Bijan was the only running back among the top seven in the Big 12 that had less than 20 targets for the conference leaders in yards after the catch.

Robinson was also the team leader for yards after contact carrying the ball. He led the team with 392 yards total and 5.1 yards after contact per attempt. Bijan was also one of the best in the country in that regard.

Texas needs a wide receiver who can be as dynamic as Bijan with the ball in his hand.