One of the areas that the Texas Longhorns want to be better at is the running game. They have used a running back stable that includes Keaontay Ingram, Roschon Johnson and Bijan Robinson. The West Virginia Mountaineers with Leddie Brown and Alec Sinkfield. Brown is the primary ball carrier for Neal Brown’s offense.
The Longhorns top running back Ingram will not be available for this game after suffering a high ankle sprain in the game against Oklahoma State. He played a total of three snaps, Robinson has been the starter the last couple of games. Texas head coach Tom Herman stated that Bijan and Roschon will split the load at running back.
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The Mountaineers have the second-leading rusher in the conference with Brown. He averages 115.7 yards and 1.3 TDs per game. He will carry the load and he will be spelled by Alec Sinkfield. They are quite the 1-2 punch for a WVU offense that ranks third in yards rushing per game and rushing touchdowns. The Longhorns will need to slow down this rushing attack the way they did Chuba Hubbard last Saturday.
As mentioned Ingram won’t be available this week so the workload falls on Robinson and Johnson. The team hasn’t released a depth chart for this week but the last two, Bijan has been the starter. Safe to say that likely continues. Roschon will spell him as needed especially in the redzone. He and Ingram have taken most of those snaps this year. With no Ingram, Robinson could see some looks when they get close to the end zone.
Who wins the RB tale of the tape?
| Robinson | vs | Brown |
| 6-0 | Ht | 5-11 |
| 222 | Wt | 210 |
| Freshman | Class | Junior |
| 39 | Carries | 126 |
| 181 | Yards | 694 |
| 4.6 | YPC | 5.5 |
| 0 | TDs | 8 |
| 46 | Touches | 149 |
| 248 | Yards | 860 |
| 0 | TDs | 10 |
Backup Running Backs Tale of the Tape
| Johnson | vs | Sinkfield |
| 6-2 | Ht | 5-9 |
| 227 | Wt | 193 |
| Sophomore | Class | Junior |
| 42 | Carries | 62 |
| 192 | Yards | 301 |
| 4.6 | YPC | 4.9 |
| 2 | TDs | 3 |
| 44 | Touches | 69 |
| 206 | Yards | 350 |
| 3 | TDs | 3 |
Edge: West Virginia
The Mountaineers have the better duo of running backs from a production standpoint in this game. They also have the more experienced backs in this game. Also factor in that Roschon has carried the ball 13 times combined in the last three games. For Texas to win, Bijan and Roschon are going to have to do the heavy lifting while Keaontay recovers.
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