Offensive line’s nastiness produces pleasant results
AUSTIN — Going to work in the trenches isn’t a pleasant experience. It’s just behemoth on behemoth grabbing, poking, pushing, scratching, scraping, slamming and generally abusing one another play after play.
Operating on either side of the line requires a sharp mind and a mean streak. A little nastiness goes a long way; a lot of it can transform an entire program’s outlook.
And lately, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has seen the requisite on-field malice from an offensive line that just a couple weeks ago was dissected and maligned after being devastated by Arkansas’ defense.
“I think that we’re trusting the communication amongst one another. There’s not as much hesitation” Sarkisian said Monday. “I think we’re using much better fundamentals and techniques to make the blocks. And then when we’re getting there, I think we’re getting there with a much nastier demeanor. That’s part of offensive line play.”
Texas (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) has won its past two games by a combined score of 128-35. It accumulated 1,259 total yards, 763 rushing yards and 17 total touchdowns in those lopsided wins over Rice and Texas Tech, a stretch in which the offensive line has allowed just one sack and one quarterback pressure.
Credit Texas’ linemen for elevating their game — and their aggression — after the Razorbacks wreaked havoc with the Longhorns’ pass protection and run blocking. But credit is also due to Sarkisian and offensive line coach Kyle Flood, both of whom won a national title with Alabama last season, for sticking with the same starting five week after week, allowing them to grow into a more cohesive unit without fear of demotion.
“I think we definitely took a step forward from weeks prior,” sixth-year left guard Denzel Okafor said. “You know, everybody hates losing, and we really put an emphasis on what we need to do better as a unit. Because I believe that any game, the outcome of it revolves around the offensive line. So I took that personally, and I think everybody else did, too.”
Since being elevated to Texas’ starter in Week 3, junior Casey Thompson has solidified his status as one of the country’s most prolific and efficient quarterbacks. He leads the nation with a 95.1 total quarterback rating (QBR), per ESPN, and has delivered points on 24 of 27 drives dating to the 2020 Alamo Bowl.
Remarkable as Thompson has been of late, the real genesis of this offensive outburst has been the Longhorns’ sheer dominance on the ground. And while tailbacks Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson, Keilan Robinson and Jonathon Brooks ooze talent, Texas wouldn’t be averaging 267.8 rushing yards per game and 6.1 yards per carry without linemen who can understand and execute the scheme — and do so with furious effort.
Texas’ commitment to establishing the run, and its ability to sustain that rushing attack, has in turn opened up the passing attack for Thompson, a savvy student of the game who doesn’t need much time to make the right read.
“We’re cerebral in a lot of what we do, and there’s design, and there’s scheme, and there’s communication,” Sarkisian said. “But at the end of the day, you still have to defeat your man.
And that was something that we had to kind of get across: that it’s one thing to be assignment-sound and be in front of the man you’re supposed to block; it’s another to win the play and dominate the man and move the man in a direction to create holes.”
Sarkisian singled out redshirt freshman center Jake Majors for rising to the occasion after the loss to Arkansas. It also helps that the youngest lineman is sandwiched between veterans in Okafor, fourth-year left tackle Christian Jones, fourthyear right guard Junior Angilau and fifth-year right tackle Derek Kerstetter.
That group responded precisely how Sarkisian and Flood hoped. What had been a weakness looks, at this moment, like a potential strength, or at the very least not an urgent concern.
And despite all the headaches TCU (2-1, 0-0) has caused Texas in recent years, this Saturday’s road game against the Horned Frogs presents another prime opportunity for a recently denigrated group of linemen to shift the narrative.
No one should ever underestimate coach Gary Patterson’s defense, but his team just allowed 595 yards of offense (350 rushing yards) and six touchdowns in a home loss to SMU. If this offensive line overpowers TCU like it did Rice and Texas Tech, the Longhorns will become immediate Big 12 title contenders.
“And I thought that has been probably as big of a step as we’ve made here the last two weeks — that we’re really sustaining and finishing blocks much better than we did the first couple games of the year,” Sarkisian said. “So yes, I think we’re playing better together and the communication’s better and all that. But I think we’re playing a lot more nasty, a lot more physical.”