How the Texas Longhorns graded out in their 57-7 win over Texas Tech
That's more like it. Texas can only hope that the College Football Playoff selection committee was watching Friday night's 57-7 demolition of Texas Tech because while it wasn't the Longhorns' best win of the season, it was their most complete. The running game produced, the passing game was effective enough to keep things humming, the defense was stifling all night, special teams plays wowed us not once, but twice and there were highlight-reel plays being made left and right.
Wins like that make filling out a team's report card a pretty easy task. Is that what teachers feel when they get that rare great class? How the Longhorns graded out in their win:
Quarterbacks: B
Quinn Ewers (17-26-196, 1/1) was sacked three times, was hurried three times, threw an interception and saw Texas go just 3-of-11 on third-down conversions. Rough night at the office? Not really. His body of work lasted only three quarters before Arch Manning (2-5-30, 0/0) took over for the entire fourth quarter. It was an efficient night for Ewers, whose lone pick came on an underthrow inside Tech's 20. He started the night solid, with completions on his first six throws, spread his targets around to some of his best weapons and moved the chains enough to allow for a big gain out of the running game or take advantage of good starting field position to make way for Bert Auburn to do his thing again and again. As for Manning, it was too small a sample size to really tell what we'll get from the five-star freshman. He was throwing to the likes of Johntay Cook II and Casey Cain, took a couple of shots into the end zone, made a heady fumble recovery of a snap that got away from him and got 23 snaps, 18 of which were running plays or scrambles.
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Go figure: Ewers finished the night in Texas' No. 8 spot for career touchdown passes and passing yards.
Season average: B (Rice B, Alabama A+, Wyoming C, Baylor A-, Kansas A, Oklahoma B, Houston B, BYU B, Kansas State C, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech B)
Running backs: A-
Hello, Jaydon Blue. On a night when the ABC broadcast came back to Jonathon Brooks watching things from the sideline, it was Texas' new No. 2 back who flashed. The 69-yard touchdown run was a beautiful burst and he led the Longhorns in carries and yards. CJ Baxter was efficient (9-45), averaging 5 yards a pop, but had just one run over 10 yards. He limped off slightly to the sideline in the second half and saw Blue and Savion Red handle things the rest of the way. Blue had 10 carries for 121 yards and the touchdown. It was a 300-yard rushing night for Texas.
Go figure: Texas has had three straight games with a 100-yard rusher — all different backs with Brooks, Baxter and Blue — for the first time since D'Onta Foreman, Jonathan Gray and Jerrod Heard in 2015.
Season average: B+ (Rice C, Alabama C, Wyoming A-, Baylor A-, Kansas A, Oklahoma B, Houston B+, BYU B+, Kansas State A-, TCU B+, Iowa State A-, Texas Tech A-)
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Wide receivers: B-
Nine different Longhorns ended up catching the various 19 completions between Ewers and Manning and there wasn't an alpha in the house. Xavier Worthy (4-49-1) had a gritty performance, shaking off potential injuries left and right, even being assisted into the locker room a little early before halftime, but finished with a night that looked more impressive than his final stats. But he did snag his fifth touchdown of the season and finished the night No. 5 on UT's all-time list for receptions and No. 6 in receiving yards, setting himself up for a potential personally big 2024 season. Jordan Whittington tied for the team lead in catches in his final game at DKR. It was a quiet night for Adonai Mitchell (2-35 with four targets).
Go figure: Worthy has played 38 career games and has had at least one catch in every one of them. That's the third-longest streak in UT history.
Season average: B (Rice B, Alabama A, Wyoming B, Baylor B, Kansas A-, Oklahoma B, Houston B, Houston B, BYU B-, Kansas State B-, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech B-)
Tight ends: B
Ja'Tavion Sanders was another Longhorn who shook off a couple of injury scares. He had three catches for 45 yards — not prolific, but in there was an 18- and a 23-yarder and the latter was the longest pass play of the night. Gunnar Helm had a short catch inside the 10-yard line in the second quarter.
Go figure: Sanders moved into UT's career No. 2 spot for receiving yards for tight ends (1,115).
Season average: B- (Rice A-, Alabama A, Wyoming D, Baylor A-, Kansas D, Oklahoma B, Houston C, BYU B-, Kansas State B, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech B)
The offensive line: B
It was a mixed bag for the front line, which looked Grade A in the running game with Kelvin Banks Jr., Jake Majors and DJ Campbell paving the way for a solid rushing performance but also allowed Ewers to get sacked three times and committed some frustrating penalties — a Christian Jones false start at Tech's 1, a Cole Hutson false start that forced Steve Sarkisian to back off his decision to have Auburn try a 50-yarder and punt instead, and a Jones holding call that erased a nice gain from Blue. All in all, the Longhorns got their yards (528 total — 226 passing, 302 rushing) and their points (57, which is the second-most of the Sarkisian era and the most since Texas put up 70 against Texas Tech in 2021).
Go figure: Texas has scored 50 or more points in a game six times under Sarkisian.
Season average: B (Rice C, Alabama A, Wyoming B-, Baylor B, Kansas A, Oklahoma C, Houston B, BYU B, Kansas State A, TCU B+, Iowa State B, Texas Tech B)
The defensive line: A
Another solid game for the defensive front, which saw T'Vondre Sweat (4 tackles, .5 TFL, 1 hurry and 1 pass breakup) and Byron Murphy II play their final home games as well as Alfred Collins, who had a pair of hurries. Texas Tech's Tahj Brooks, the nation's third-leading rusher, was held to under 100 yards and that included a big 25-yard gainer. No sacks for the defensive front, but five of Texas' nine hurries came from linemen and Tech quarterback Behren Morton had a long, long night: only 88 passing yards on 19 completions, three interceptions and his longest pass play going for just 15 yards. Ethan Burke made a play, Justice Finkley made a play, even Trill Carter made a play. A 57-7 win allows for lots of snaps in the rotation, and several linemen got involved.
Go figure: With two — maybe three — games left to play, it's a tight race for the team lead in sacks. Burke has 5.5, Murphy has 5.
Season average: B+ (Rice A, Alabama A, Wyoming B, Baylor A, Kansas B, Oklahoma C, Houston B, BYU A, Kansas State A, TCU B+, Iowa State A-, Texas Tech A)
Linebackers: A
A solid night for the 'backers. Jaylan Ford (8 tackles, .5 TFL, 1 breakup, 2 hurries) delivered the biggest hit of the night at Morton's expense and should have had his third pick of the season, but couldn't snag a third-quarter gift from the quarterback. Anthony Hill Jr. made another mental mistake, a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but made up for it with a third-down sack off a second-quarter blitz to force a punt and made his biggest play late in the first half snuffing out a fourth-and-2 gamble on Tech's side of the 50 that gave Texas the ball with 31 seconds left, which the Longhorns converted into a field goal. And Jett Bush — another senior playing his final home game — had the big play: a 43-yard pick-six that started when Morton's pass to Brooks bounced off the running back's foot and into Bush's hands.
Go figure: Bush finished the night with a sack, an interception and a touchdown.
Season average: B (Rice B, Alabama A-, Wyoming C+, Baylor B+, Kansas B, Oklahoma C-, Houston B+, BYU B, Kansas State B+, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech A)
Defensive backs: A-
Things certainly started off shaky enough when Ryan Watts was lost for the game after just one play. But Malik Muhammad stepped in and immediately started making plays, defending a third-down incompletion at the end of that first drive and coming up with an impressive interception on Tech's next drive, stealing the ball away from Jerand Bradley on their way to the ground. Kitan Crawford was flagged for pass interference in the end zone that awarded Tech the ball at the 2, but overall the secondary clamped down on downfield coverage and played a big part in the Red Raiders' frustrations.
Go figure: Michael Taaffe is the first Longhorn with interceptions in three straight games since DeShon Elliott in 2017.
Season average: B (Rice A, Alabama A, Wyoming A-, Baylor B, Kansas B, Oklahoma C, Houston C, BYU A, Kansas State C, TCU B, Iowa State B-, Texas Tech A-)
Special teams: A+
What a night for Texas' special teams. What a season, really, when you factor in all the big plays the Longhorns have produced in the kicking and punting games: the Crawford punt block in the end zone that Muhammad recovered for a touchdown, Worthy's 74-yard punt return score, Sweat's blocked extra point that Austin Jordan returned 82 yards for 2 points. Friday night, we saw Michael Taaffe block a punt and Keilan Robinson return the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. And Auburn was fabulous again, setting a school record with five field goals to give him 19 straight makes now, another school record. Five field goals, a kick-return touchdown and a blocked punt. That's big.
Go figure: Auburn now has 250 career points. That's eighth-most in program history.
Season average: B- (Rice A, Alabama B, Wyoming B+, Baylor D, Kansas D, Oklahoma B, Houston B+, BYU A, Kansas State A, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech A+)
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Longhorns football vs. Texas Tech report card: How UT graded
