If you had asked most Texas fans a week ago how they felt about their Week 2 matchup against Alabama, they’d be more on the side of confidence. A mood that might have changed since.
The confidence this offseason surrounded the Longhorns returning an extremely experienced team, Quinn Ewers supposedly playing at an elite level, and Alabama’s quarterback situation was as murky as it gets.
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The Crimson Tide eventually figured out who their quarterback was in Jalen Milroe who accounted for five touchdowns in their Week 1 win after beating out Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner for the gig.
As for Texas?
The Longhorns won their Week 1 game against Rice pretty handily, but the energy around the program has somewhat changed. While the defense looked as stout as ever, the offense was not nearly as good as many expected.
Based off of Week 1 there are now three major reasons to be concerned about No. 11 Texas ahead of their matchup against No. 3 Alabama.
The offensive line
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Rice Sacked Quinn Ewers three times and they were consistently getting pressure on the quarterback and getting hits on him. The offensive line is supposed to be one of the best units in the country, but they did not look the part. Alabama will have great pass rushers all over the field, and if they cannot protect Ewers this offense will have no shot.
Jalen Milroe’s mobility
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This isn’t because Texas’ defense showed that they aren’t capable of making plays, but more so that Jalen Milroe appears to be unlike any quarterback on the schedule for Texas this season. If the Longhorns are unable to bring him down for sacks, he will run all over them. Bryce Young was a mobile and elusive quarterback, but Milroe is a far better athlete and runner. The Longhorns need to not only apply pressure, but get to him otherwise there will be more viral clips of him running wild and Texas will lose the game.
Jalen milroe really scored a touchdown after this 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/WE75d7xMNa
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) September 2, 2023
Quinn Ewers’ struggles with the deep ball
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It is fair to say that most fans walked away from Texas’ first game thinking that Quinn Ewers left some throws out there. After a season full of near misses, many were expecting that he would put it all together and to be blunt, he didn’t. Quandre Diggs expressed his frustration with Ewers’ struggles, and it was a major talking point after the game. If Ewers is unable to hit on these throws, it takes away an aspect of what makes Steve Sarkisian’s offense so special. It will also likely mean they need a lot of big plays after the catch or in the run game to win the game. So, if there was anytime for Ewers to finally put the pieces together now would be the time.
At a certain point, you’d like to see Quinn Ewers start to deliver the deep ball more consistently. Still lots of work to do in that department. Xavier Worthy was wide open. pic.twitter.com/Vzk7KrxuXp
— Tyler Feldman (@TylerFeldmanTV) September 2, 2023