Hello, friends! Mississippi State was a bit of a “grind it out” game, huh? And what the hell is happening with the rest of the SEC?!
Watching the MS game gave me a bit of anxiety. They gave us a test that I, personally, wasn’t expecting. It was interesting to watch the group have to battle the adversity, and overcome it. In the end I don’t think the scoreline necessarily reflected the game, and there’s a bunch of lessons to be learnt.
Though I do think we were fortunate to have that kind of game when we had it. It exposed some gaps on the offensive and defensive lines that we weren’t aware of that going into a bye week we’ve hopefully been able to fix.
Jaydon Blue is a machine. An absolute unit. But he was kept quiet against Mississippi State, and fumbled twice. The O-line wasn’t able to open the holes or shut down linebackers as effectively as they had done. This was concerning against a team with one of the worst rush defences in the NCAA. Penalty count was unacceptable, too. It felt like every series we’d false start. These small details will be gruesome vs. the significantly better teams we’re yet to face.
On defense the Longhorns gave up 19 first downs. It was the one statistic that during the game that made me nervous. It’s the most we’ve allowed all season. Mississippi chewed up hard yards — and converted well on 3rd down, despite a record 6 sacks, and 11 tackles for loss (shoutout to Colin Simmons who was awesome).
So, yeah. Work to have been done since last week, and hopefully that’s happened leading into Saturday which is going to be a war with Oklahoma.
There’s sentiment that this weekend couldn’t have gone better for us without even playing a snap. I disagree. That’s only true if you’re looking at the Associated Press Poll rankings — while it’s marvellous to be back at #1 the ramifications of this weekend extend far beyond sitting at the top.
We’re about to play arguably the toughest two games of the season against OU and Georgia over the next two weeks. Georgia at DKR is going to be undeniably huge, and fortunately I’ll be stateside for the game. Oklaholma is a game that we just have to win. Doesn’t matter to me if it’s by a point, a field goal, or a blowout like two years ago. Just. Fucking. Win.
What’s scary now is a minimum of four games after that have real boogeyman potential. Vanderbilt and Arkansas road games after they knocked off ‘Bama and the Vols respectively. Our SEC counterparts will have the taste of blood in their mouths and confidence. Why not knock off numero uno, providing we’re still there, of course. Georgia scraped a victory against Kentucky early in the season so that’s no picnic. And then we have the Aggies to close it out. Going into that game undefeated I think is a scarier prospect than going in 10-1.
As ever, I have faith in Texas. I have faith that this team is built to win. I have faith that coach Sark will have us prepared for every eventuality, and tricks in the playbook that’ll help us to victory. I can’t tell you if my nerves outweigh excitement at this point, but what I know for sure is that this is going to be a hell of a season.
Hook ’em.
Hooked: UT Football through a UK lens. 
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