10 Things We Learned From Watching Texas' Win Over Texas State

0:00No, bro. Yeah I'm Tony. We're doing another podcast in 20 minutes. You cannot keep everyone waiting like that. It is too busy of a week for your PowerPause nonsense. Let's get right to it. It is Texas Week and here we are doing our Texas State rewatch, our Texas rewatch against

1:00Texas State. Usually in the big games that happen later in the season. So we have more big games, better games to watch. Like when we do cover playoff games, you've got, you can watch Texas against Georgia. You can watch Texas against Oklahoma. You can watch Texas against whomever. Here there's a one game sample size. So we're going to do it we can rewatch the Texas game or watch the Texas game. To talk about what we saw against Texas State. And Tom, generally we just for the viewers, we go back and forth. And if this is you finding us for the first time, we are over at Buckaheadsiders.com. If you've watched us before, all of the Ohio State friends have watched us before and you didn't know that we're not at Buckaheadsiders.com. That's where we are. Just had to throw that out there because some people still don't know. But generally with these rewatches, we'll go back and forth and say, hey, I noticed this. What did you need? We could just go back and forth. So Tom, I'm going to let you go first. What's one of the first things that stood out to you? What's one thing that you want to talk about first? I want to talk about the Texas rushing attack because we walked out of Ohio Stadium on

2:02Saturday night going, boy, Ohio State's rushing attack was not really good. And we need to preface all of this with Texas State as a better team than ball state. So this is not an apples to apples thing. We've said that. We said that in the week leading up to the games, don't treat this as apples to apples. But the area where Texas State is generally better is on offense. Texas State's offense is by light years the best of the four units in terms of Texas State offense, Texas State defense, ball state offense, ball state defense. So, you know, this is not a team that has built its foundation on phenomenal defense. And Texas really kind of struggled to run the ball. And I like Texas's running backs. They brought in a couple talented transfer running backs. And Hollywood's mother who came in from North Carolina, saying he is really good. I think he can be a big play guy. He could hit a big one against Ohio State on Saturday night. But in terms of consistency, I counted 10 plays where they had no gain or a loss in

3:03the run game. That's a lot. And that is not against a phenomenal defense. So then the question becomes, okay, what is that going to look like against a Matt Patricia Ohio State defense? Because I have, you know, when we do the Ohio State rewatch, I'm going to be saying a lot of the same things about the Ohio State ground game that I am about Texas. But this felt like an area where I thought, well, Texas is going to have a real advantage. And now I'm not so sure they're going to have a substantially better run game than Ohio State does. Yeah, watching those two, they each had something. The Relic Brown had the 21-yard touchdown run. Hollywood's mother's had a fantastic 45-yard jump and go rush. They combined for 21 carries for 104 yards, but 66 of that came on two carries. Then you're left with like 19 rushes for 38 yards. I don't know. Time what's the math on that two yards of carry? Two yards of carry. So, yeah, against Texas State. Texas State actually outrushes Texas in this one, 161 to 156.

4:09So, again, Texas is only doing so much. Ohio State only did so much. They could not try to show Texas State everything. But we said the same thing about the Ohio State running game and they meet it, media aftermath. It just should have been a little bit easier than it was. And so, yeah, that one stood out to me as well. But like the big run eventually, it'll happen or it makes things look better just as it did with Ohio State. It also shows you the potential on any given play that those two running bags have. Where if you do miss a tackle, that might be it. So, hey, don't miss tackles. If you know what's good for you. With me, I guess we can go ahead and start talking about arch because I thought he looked very comfortable, very calm, very decisive. And like the only time he didn't look decisive was an interception in the end zone where he kind of double pumped and let the defense know where the ball was going and through an interception in the end zone and Texas State came way with it. But other than that, you know, four touchdowns, one or two cheapies in terms of what the

5:11jet sweep type of stuff. But still, 20 of 27, 305 yards, four touchdown passes, one interception didn't really do much running of the ball because don't. Three rushes in this one. You might have three or four times that against Ohio State depending on how things go. Which looks comfortable, looks accurate and looks like the timing is already there with Cam Coleman, even though you only caught three passes, but you know, how much did he even play Ryan Wingo there, the receiver. It's a Batman and Robin type thing, but don't tell Wingo that he's Robin because he had seven for 121 in this one and a touchdown. So the passing game looks pretty darn decent and arch looked more accurate than when we saw him last year for sure. Oh, yeah, this is an entirely different player than the one that you saw in Ohio State in last August. That was that was start number one on the road against a brand new defensive coordinator

6:13who they had no idea what to expect from this looked like a guy who, you know, this is this is not someone who is, you know, the second coming and is the greatest quarterback prospect in the history of the world. But he's a pretty good quarterback. This is a pretty good major college quarterback and you're seeing, you know, you've seen significant growth from him. The fact that they really kind of had the shackles on him, I think a little bit in the run game that kind of keeps that limits him because I think that's one of the areas where he really can excel and can really make a big play to hurt you and very clearly, you know, reminded me of the old JT Barrett at Ohio State when Urban Meyer was there and they would run JT Barrett three times against Rutgers and twice against Akron and then they play Penn State or Michigan and it was like 18 rushes and I'm not expecting 18 rushes out of arch manning next weekend, but I'm certainly expecting more than three. The wide receiver room there is really talented because you've got Cam Coleman who they brought in who's a transfer who's considered maybe the best wide receiver available in the portal.

7:14Ryan Wingo, that's a name that Ohio State fans will remember from the last couple years playing Texas. But you know, mostly they brought in and it mostly is there as well. Third wide receiver. He's not bad either and he was the guy who arch was trying to throw the ball to in the end zone and I read that that was a double move and essentially Texas State didn't light on the first move. So then it was kind of well, you know, the whole plan is you're supposed to go that way and then, you know, and it's still that was probably a, you know, that's a ball you want to stick in your back pocket and use one of your three runs there if, you know, take a settle for a field goal or whatever it is there. That was right before half time. That was the only drive they did not score on all game long. That one, that was it. So, you know, as far as nitpicking, yeah, I mean, you'd like to have that one back, but that was, you know, definitely not anything that would really swing the game for them. Let's move to the other side of the ball. Now let's talk. Can I throw you one thing on the other? Yeah. The Texas offense.

8:14First, that interception that drive would have been the longest of the day. If there was a pass completed there, that was a 79 year drive, but the Texas offensive line and the while the starters were out there giving up six tackles for loss to Texas state is a little bit of a, that's surprising type of thing. Yeah. I mean, the offensive line and they had Trevor Goose be back at left tackle. That was sort of the big question for the last month was, oh boy, are they going to have to play without their starting left tackle? No, he was back and he looked, yeah, I think it looked fine. I think he played a lot, Sark set after the game that he played more than he probably might have otherwise because they need to get him back up to game shape and up to game speed. So that's, you know, you saw a good bit of him in it. You know, he did not look terrible by any means. It looked, you know, and you would assume he's probably better week two as he's sort of got another week of practice under his belts and all that. But yeah, the offensive line and the whole was not great. And they have, I think they've got one of their guard spots.

9:14They're still sort of trying to figure out, okay, who's going to be the starter and you're maybe they're, you know, Sark talked on Monday about the fact that they may still kind of be going back and forth there a little bit. That's never super encouraging. So definitely, definitely a work in progress there. You get the sense this is probably a Texas team that is substantially better if these two teams play again in December or January, then they will be this week. But you know, still still look like a pretty good, still look like a pretty good Texas team to me. One of the reasons is Raheem Biles. Like he is on defense and let's, let's see, let's start with the fact that his name is pronounced Raheem, even though it's spelled Raheem, the S is silent according to the Texas media guide. And he is, so he is Raheem Biles. He is a Pickerington Central guy from Central Ohio. He got hurt in his senior year and only played like five games. And I think was, you know, potentially going to be a guy who Ohio State was looking at and then was banged up and so, and they're going to pit instead and had a really, you know,

10:19had a solid career at pit and then turned into basically an all-american last year. And then when he went to the portal, Ohio State was interested and he said, don't, I'm going to Texas instead. And that's not how he said it. Well, that's, it's close. It's that that's the gist of it. And so he was really an impact player week one for Texas. Had five tackles, had a half a tackle for loss, had a forced fumble on, I mean, a remarkable peanut punch. Like you see them, you see guys, you know, coming, you know, you're running beside someone and you kind of grab them with hand at one hand and punch the ball out with the other. He was going like, head on. You don't see that ever and hit the back, but also punch the ball out at the same time that forced a, that was a scoop in score for Texas. And then also had an interception on a screen, Sarkset on Monday. He's just, he's someone who just kind of the ball finds him and, you know, there's, there's some, you know, you can, you can flip that around and he, he may also be the one finding the ball.

11:19The ball may not be seeking him out, but he seems to be in the right place, but he's also athletically, incredibly gifted, very, very smart player. He's going to be someone that Ohio State is going to have to deal with on Saturday because he can present a challenge in a lot of different areas. Yeah, I mean, the interception, we've seen a lot and it was based on an over thrown screen pass. And so it's going to hit somebody and we've seen it all the time where it'll hit somebody in the hands, like a defender in the hands and a little just far from the ground. You're like, man, why didn't you catch that? And it's like, just came right to him and he caught it. And Sarkset and the ball finds him and coaches always love those kinds of guys. Yeah, just watching him one of my notes was that, you know, him and Colin Simmons, the defensive end, like their speed is going to be an issue because there are times where Erickin Biles is rushing off the edge. And I'll play on the edge, you'll play off ball. He'll, you know, probably also flex out and, you know, may defend a tie-dend or something like that. So I'm thinking like, don't run away from them.

12:19Just maybe run right at them. And with your 12 personnel, get your tie-dends out there and just try to power some things through there and maybe wear them down. But trying to go away from him, you just be quick about it. And because he's got the speed, he's got the athleticism, he's got the nose for where things are going. So yeah, as Sarkset on Monday, he's got the mental side and the physical side and can marry the two. And it comes out as a heck of a player. And I'll be interested to see more of Colin Simmons. We know all about him. I think it's, there's some undersized nature to what Texas does on the edges. And so I'm interested to see how Simmons does. Obviously, Ohio State did better pass blocking than they did run blocking on the edges with their tackles this past week. But this is going to be the biggest test by far in terms of the pass blocking aspect

13:20of things. So Julian Sands got to be ready. He's got to be ready, Tom, but he can't just be looking like waiting for, all right, who's going to miss on Simmons now and keep an eye on, you know, Philip Daniels to see how things are going there. I'm going to have to trust his guys until they can't. But like Simmons is going to be somebody that we're all looking at. And this is going to be an awesome opportunity for both of these offensive tackles for Ohio State to say like, no, we're good. Yeah, this is, this is going to be a real test. Because that's certainly one of the big questions that I have about Ohio State going into this game is how are the tackles going to hold up against the pass rush? Because, you know, I haven't watched that much of Colin Simmons this year, other than obviously the one game, but I'm going to guess he's better than ball states defensive ends in terms of pass rush. And Simmons is also someone who, sometimes you get a good idea, you know, but one of your patented good ideas where it's like, well, we're going to slant the line left and we're going to have a guard pull around and pick him off.

14:22And they tried that and it did not work because he is too quick to get around and, and I think I ended up getting a sack or a TFL on that play. But it was, and that was, that was relatively early. But yeah, it's going to be really important to try and keep Julian saying clean because if Julian Sains got his eyes down field, I think there are opportunities here for Ohio State in the past game. But if Julian Sains eyes start drifting down because you're looking for, okay, where's the next big scary dude coming from? That's when, okay, then you're not seeing the guys who are open down field. That could be a big, a big difference for, you know, how effective an official Ohio State passing attack can be on Saturday. The overall just Texas Tech moving the ball in the first half. They had an 82 yard drive. They had a 75 yard drive. They, they, they, they turned it over on downs inside Texas territory at the Texas 42. They fumbled at the Texas 41. So like that first half, they were moving the ball.

15:25They didn't really have anything to show for it. And watching this, and we know this is a very basic Texas defense for this opponent. But there were, there are areas where there was no defense around the offense. And you saw some, some good, you know, some decent gains, some chunk plays, some explosives, as it would say in the box score. But they had a 22 yard run. They had a 32 yard run. They had a 22 yard reception, 41 yard reception, 24 yard reception. And five different guys had a 10 yard rush or more. Like that's, I'm sure some of that came in the fourth quarter. But like over the first three quarters, they were Texas Tech moved the ball. But there was never any concern. But there could have been more concern without a, you know, a formal return for touchdown for Texas and some things like that. But it just, you're looking for like, where, what could Ohio State take advantage of in terms

16:29of like this, the defensive gaps and not just, I'm not talking about the line of scrimmage necessarily, but like in the intermediate, there seem to be some. Yeah. And, you know, we have talked about this a bunch when we've been sort of discussing this game in advance. And the Texas State is one of the best offenses in the nation, you know, sort of pound for pound, where they had a couple 1000 yard receivers on last year's team. And somehow they brought back both of them and also brought back the quarterback. I don't know, maybe the tort transfer portal doesn't reach San Marcos. I don't know how that's possible, but they did. But in, you know, Texas State had, you go quarter by quarter through their stats and they averaged 4.8 yards per play in the first quarter, 8.4 in the second quarter. And they hit a big, a big play in the second quarter. It kind of skew that up. 4.3 in the third quarter, 3.2 in the fourth quarter. At that point, they had kind of given up and were just kind of trying to get out of there. But it was kind of, they were able to move the ball. It wasn't, you know, horrendous, but they were able to move the ball consistently enough

17:31that you kind of thought, you know, it's a little bit of a concern. But there was a whole lot of stuff that Texas wasn't doing. You know, you saw lots of twists and stunts and games and stuff up front from Texas State. You didn't see any of that from Texas. Texas was playing it very, very vanilla on defense. So, you know, this is, this does not just mean you take what Texas State did and say, well, Ohio State's 3 yards per play better than that. So this is what Ohio State's going to do. Like you're going to, you're going to see a whole lot of different stuff. Texas was not doing a lot of blitzing. Maybe some run blitzing in early downs, but it was really, you saw them blitz on third and long. And it wasn't, even that wasn't, you know, crazy, unique stuff. It was just kind of relatively, you know, relatively base stuff. So I don't, I don't want to read too much into this and say, Texas's defense is doomed or anything like that. But it does feel like if Julian Sain has time, I think there are going to be opportunities for Ohio State's offense. Yeah, I would agree with that for sure. And the way they get us, came up and with all of the attention going towards Jeremiah Smith,

18:35it's going to allow theoretically, like Devon McEwan, if there's just one guy on him, some opportunities there. Hero, Hero Canoe showed up and made some plays. That was good to see Eli State fans or remember him from such things as being a former Buckeye. Anything else from this that you, as I'm just scanning through my notes and that's, I think one time Texas Tech hit Texas, or Texas State hit Texas early with some tempo in terms of Texas not getting set, but they still got the tackle for loss. So, you know, maybe that was just deployed by the Longhorns. Pretend you're not ready and then just go. Yeah, I had, I had Hero Canoe on my list as well, because he was someone that you had not heard about a lot, you know, reading through some Texas football coverage during, during fall camp. And, but he made a couple, he had a couple of tackles for loss in the backfield, including one on a third and goal play. So, yeah, he will number 93, former, former Ohio State number 93 will be Texas's number 93 on Saturday and will be a familiar face, I'm sure, to Ohio State fans.

19:39Boy, we are going to be talking about this game for a while and maybe talking about it for a little while and I'll have to word as well. And of course, the best way to watch that is here, youtube.com slash at Buckeye Insiders. Subscribe to the channel, hit the bell to be notified. Like this video, if you're watching on mobile and you want to hype it, that's great as well. You can also find us over at BuckeyeInsiders.com where there's already been a game thread talking about this game for a little while and it is hopping. And we are talking about the Texas Ohio State rivalry time. It's basically a rivalry now. It's been started 20 years ago and has been brewing and now it is here. And we're going to have so much more to talk about. This week will be in Austin Thursday at Boy. I don't even know what day it is right now, but I know that eventually I'll have to head to the airport and we will both be there and looking forward to it. So, to find all of the coverage that we're doing, you can find us over at BuckeyeInsiders.com and of course, here at youtube.com slash at Buckeye Insiders as well.

20:41That will do it from here. Thank you all for tuning in and we will talk to you all later.