No. 19 Texas 34, No. 7 Ole Miss 27: Five Observations and Sunday Chat

Well, this Texas Longhorns team proved me wrong and found a way to win this game, grabbing a 34-27 victory against the Ole Miss Rebels. It was certainly a lot closer than it should have been. It certainly made you want to pull your hair out like the previous two games. But they found a way to come out on the winning side of things this time out.

This game should have never come down to this play, but hey, here we are celebrating the win anyway. Texas needed this win in every way imaginable. They still probably need to win out to have a firm shot of making the dance, but they still at least have a chance. This win came with a cost, and I’m going to get into that in a minute. Texas is going to have to find a way to gut this season out, because it doesn’t appear things are ever going to be pretty.

Will Muschamp had a good approach to defending Trinidad Chambliss

Everyone is familiar with Chambliss’ game and story by now, and he’s an absolute baller, but Muschamp had a nice game plan dialed in early to limit his effectiveness. The Ole Miss offense was held to three points in the first half and looked absolutely lost. Chambliss couldn’t find guys down the field, Kewan Lacy wasn’t finding much room, and the Texas defense had a disciplined rush strategy to not allow Chambliss to hurt them with his feet. He spent most of the half (and night, really) going east and west and was kept in the pocket, which led to his passes getting batted and tipped multiple times throughout the night.

Shoutout to Rasheem Biles and Juice Cryer for their performances in this game. They both logged every snap and they both made multiple impact plays and made life tough for Chambliss and the Ole Miss offense.

The Texas defense did a pretty good job defending the Ole Miss offense, holding them to 363 total yards, and limited Chambliss to a pretty inefficient 25-of-52 passing and 250 yards with three interceptions mixed in. Texas was the first team to force Chambliss into multiple interceptions since his arrival to Ole Miss, which is certainly notable. The third one was made by Jelani McDonald on the Hail Mary at the end of the game, but you still count that in the box score.

The Longhorns didn’t log a sack in this game and only had four tackles for loss, but that is a byproduct of Colin Simmons being out and Texas not trying terribly hard to get up the field and get out of their rush lanes.

On the negative side of things that stood out to me, I will say that cornerback Kade Phillips had a very rough outing against the Rebels. He was clearly being targeted throughout the matchup, and he was also flagged for pass interference in the end zone. Tough night for him all around.

Raleek Brown earned himself a game ball

Brown was by far the best player on offense for Texas on Saturday and he turned in by far his best performance as a Longhorn. On a night that Texas was without Hollywood Smothers and needed someone to pick up the slack, Brown turned in a dandy of a performance as he showed patience, burst, and some thump as he ran behind his pads.

If there was ever a night to feed Brown, it was on Saturday — 23 totes was a season high for him and he didn’t disappoint in the slightest when given a chance to be a feature back.

A little side note about the running back position. Michael Terry III looked pretty solid to these eyes in his expanded role on Saturday.

Wasn’t sure what to make of seeing more of Terry on Saturday rather than Derek Cooper, but the flashes were certainly there, and he was a guy I wasn’t sure would settle into a home from a position standpoint when Texas signed him. After getting a glimpse of him on Saturday, I think he may be getting comfortable.

Special teams once again almost cost Texas a ballgame

We are talking about the Texas special teams almost costing them the game… AGAIN. Once again, the hands team botches an onside kick recovery. Once again, it results in the opponent getting a Hail Mary attempt that would have tied or won the game.

I am going to keep this short and not rant on about it. There needs to be a change in the special teams department. I know Steve Sarkisian has tried to publicly take up for Jeff Banks, but this has been a recurring theme and there have been moments like this over the years now since they arrived together in Austin. Banks isn’t a big enough difference maker on the recruiting trail to look past the shortcomings of his special teams units. It’s an absolute eyesore, and they have influenced multiple games in a negative way this year. It needs to be over come the offseason.

The Texas offense continues to be frustrating

Not going to spend a lot of time on it either, because we’ve all seen it for weeks now. Once the Texas offense gets off the script and into the flow of the game, things begin to sputter and become disjointed.

Arch Manning made some plays, but was an inefficient 18-of-30 passing for 212 yards that included one touchdown and a very baffling interception (he had two on the night).

This interception followed a solid gain on a pass to Michael Masunas. You clearly were able to run the ball well with the night that Brown had. Why do you wind up and take a shot there, and why do you lob into double coverage? I don’t understand the play call from the headsets, and I don’t understand the decision to throw the ball from Arch. You can’t keep giving away possessions in this manner. It has happened way too much this year and it just derails you when you are trying to get something going.

This one I am not sure what to make of, because Herbie noted on the broadcast this was actually a coverage bust by the defense that resulted in two guys covering the same Texas receiver. It’s also a very long throw from the opposite hash, so when you add in the other unintended defender things get real dicey. Arch has made some puzzling interceptions, but that one belongs in a different bucket.

Speaking of frustrating moments:

Just can’t happen. Coleman is too talented and is drawing too much money from Texas to have concentration drops like that. That would have been a walk-in touchdown and Manning put it right on him with pressure.

Oh, and penalties were a problem again for Texas. As a team, they had 14 penalties for 134 yards. Several of them occurred on the offensive side of the ball, including several pre-snap penalties. You gotta cut that shit out at some point.

Speaking of pre-snap penalties. This was NOT one:

What the hell were the refs even looking at here? The broadcast was even confused on this because nobody even moved. You look at the replay and Robertson didn’t even flinch. We have to get this kind of shit out of the game, because calls like that can change an entire game.

This win came at a cost, injury-wise

You knew when the cart came out for Goosby that it wasn’t going to be good news on the injury front for the future first-round pick. Texas was already without multiple starters going into this game due to injuries and now they will be without their best offensive player for the rest of the season. Andre Cojoe will have to fill some very big shoes for the remainder of the season.

Also, Cam Coleman went down with an injury and didn’t return to the game.

Time will tell on the prognosis for Coleman, but he left the game and returned in street clothes. Just very unfortunate news all around for Texas with injuries.

Texas wins and gets off the deck after dropping back-to-back games in previous weeks. Next up is Mississippi State, who has a banged-up Kamario Taylor and can be had defensively. Texas has to find a way to get some of these guys healthy, though. You’re going to need all the bodies you can get for the back half of the schedule.

You know the drill around here. The 24-hour rule is now in effect. We are onto Mississippi State and them damn cow bells.