There is plenty to unpack after the Texas Longhorns took care of business and head into the bye week at 5-2. The defense was once again huge for the team in their 17-13 victory on Saturday. They allowed a touchdown on West Virginia’s opening drive that went nine plays and 75 yards. They forced the Mountaineers offense into a three and out on three separate occasions. Safe to say they were the key factor in the win.
Stat of the Game: Rush Defense
For the second week in a row, the Texas defense took away the run. Essentially told the offensive coordinator that you better dial up the pass because the ground game isn’t going to work this week. In the Mountaineers’ four wins this year they have averaged 218.3 yards per game. The average for each game was 5.1 yards per carry on 43 carries in each game. That was not the case on Saturday.
WVU attempted a season low 26 times against the Longhorns defense. On those 26 carries, their run game averaged 1.7 yards per carry for a total of 43 yards. Leddie Brown has rushed from 115 yards per game this year, against Chris Ash’s unit he managed just 47 yards. Of the 47, 12 came on one run that scored their lone touchdown of the game. The rest of the way, he managed 2.5 yards per carry.
The Longhorns have managed to bottle up two of the best running backs in the conference. They will face the top back in a matter of weeks. Iowa State’s Breece Hall will be their toughest test. WVU falls to 0-3 on the road and when they fail to hit the 100-yard mark in rushing.
On the flip side, the Longhorns run game averaged five yards a pop on 36 attempts. Playing defense and running the football was the way to victory on this Saturday.
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