Texas 2010

Texas (2009 Statistics)

• Mack Brown is in his 13^th year as head coach.
• Texas is coming off of a loss in the national title game to Alabama. Quarterback Colt McCoy was injured on the very first drive of that game (after just 2 passes) and never returned.  His arm went dead and he literally couldn’t throw the ball 5 feet.  Back-up Quarterback Garrett Gilbert (a true freshman) came in and really struggled at first.  He completed just 15 of his 40 passing attempts.  But he led an impressive come-back in the second half of the game against Alabama, i.e., the best defense in the country (technically it was TCU but I’m giving credit to Alabama for playing in the SEC) and laid a foundation for this year.  Gilbert is the starter in 2010 and will not face a worse situation or opponent all year than he did in his first game taking a significant snap (he had about 20 passing attempts going into the National Championship game).
• Texas has had 10 or more wins in each of the last 9 seasons and that’s a lot of pressure on a team, especially when they lose their 4-year starter in Colt McCoy.  He racked up 13,253 yards of offense from 2006 to 2009 and those numbers will be hard to replace. Texas also loses Wide Receiver Jordan Shipley (1485 yards, 13 touchdowns) whose clutch plays saved many drives for Texas.
• The Offensive Line returns just 2 starters from last year, which could be an issue, especially because the line only paved the way for 4 yards per carry. Texas had their worst rushing numbers since 2002.
• Texas is in better shape on defense this year than they are on offense with 7 starters returning (as opposed to 4 on offense). They lose two 2^nd round draft picks from their defensive line (Sergio Kindle and Lamarr Houston) but they have Sam Acho back who had 10 sacks last year and was right behind those two in terms of tackles.  Texas also has experience at linebacker with Keenan Robinson and Emmanuel Acho back.  And their defensive backs are their best unit of all with 3 returning (despite the loss of 1^st round draft pick Earl Thomas).
• Interesting note:  Last year Texas was ranked first in the nation in rushing defense.  But keep in mind they play in the Big 12 where the emphasis on running the ball is limited, especially in 2009. Excluding Alabama (their SEC foe in the title game), their FBS opponents averaged a 77^th ranking in terms of rushing offense (with four of them ranking worse than 100^th).  Outside of the Big 12 they played two Conference USA teams and one Mountain West.  So when Texas faced Alabama’s 12^th ranked rushing offense in the Championship game, they were exposed…giving up over 200 yards on the ground compared with the mere 62 yards per game they had been allowing.