 "Photo: Stephen Keller/The Daily Texan")
Texas’ slender and quick defensive backs may have been the ones to come down with the four interceptions in the Longhorns’ 41-14 rout of Oklahoma State, but all four gave credit to the big boys up front for creating havoc in the OSU backfield.
After giving up 217 rushing yards to the Cowboys last season, the defensive line made it a point of bottling up OSU’s rushing attack. The Cowboys only averaged 3.1 yards per carry on 43 carries.
“We wanted to stop the running game,” said Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. “They’re a running team, and we wanted to put the ball in the quarterback’s hands.”
Stopping the run has become a routine occurrence for the Longhorns. They have ranked in the top six in rushing defense nationally each year since 2006. There were concerns about how this season’s line would fare after losing tackle Roy Miller and end Brian Orakpo.
Consider all those concerns put at ease. The Longhorns lead the nation in rushing defense (52.9 yards per game).
Players and coaches credit defensive tackles coach Mike Tolleson for his ability to simply reload after losing a star player like Miller.
“He’s got a lot of first-round draft choices and a lot of guys in the NFL,” said Texas coach Mack Brown of the players Tolleson has coached. “When he speaks, they listen to him because they know he knows what he’s doing.”
This season, Lamarr Houston, Kheeston Randall and Ben Alexander have solidified the interior line.
“Everybody has their role here, and everybody has their time to step up,” said Alexander, who has 20 tackles, five for loss. “I just had to wait my turn and be ready when they called my number.”
Cure for complacency
It doesn’t take anything special to get the Longhorns fired up these days. A non-conference game against Central Florida right in the middle of the conference schedule? No problem.
To avoid becoming complacent, the players simply think about how they felt after losing to Texas Tech, a game in which they admit complacency took hold.
“We know how it felt to get complacent last year,” said defensive end Sergio Kindle. “I’m pretty sure nobody on the team wants to have that feeling again.”
They’ll need to sustain that attitude. Without another ranked opponent remaining on the schedule, there has been much talk about the Longhorns being locks for the national championship game Jan. 7.
But none of that is taking place inside Texas’ locker room.
“We had a huge team meeting [Sunday] just to say, hey, don’t relax, don’t give up, there’s still a long road ahead of us, lots of games to play and lots of room for improvement,” said quarterback Colt McCoy. “I really feel like the attitude on our team is really good and wants to get better.”
Same ol’ O’Leary
Brown and Central Florida coach George O’Leary have a history dating back to their days as rivals in the ACC when Brown was at North Carolina and O’Leary at Georgia Tech.
According to Brown, the Longhorns could just as easily dig up game tape from 1997 and be prepared for the Golden Knights. O’Leary has stuck with the same strategy through the years: a rush-heavy offense and a conservative defense.
“They’ll be very sound. They won’t be very complicated,” Brown said. “They only blitz about 16 percent of the time, and he’s a guy who wants to run the ball on offense from the I[-formation].”
Injury update
Cornerback Aaron Williams is listed as day-to-day after injuring his right knee in the first quarter against Oklahoma State. If he doesn’t play, safety Earl Thomas will slide over to nickel back again, and Nolan Brewster will play safety.
Tackle Mason Walters (foot) and defensive tackle Calvin Howell (concussion) are both out for Saturday’s game. Both are true freshmen but won’t make a decision about redshirting for the season until they are at full health, Brown said.
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