Film Room: A look at the Texas D-line’s dominant day versus Rice.

To no surprise, the place where the talent discrepancy between No. 4 Texas and Rice was made most apparent was in the battle between the Longhorn defensive line and the Owl O-line.

Texas, boosted by standout performances from T’Vondre Sweat, Byron Murphy, and Vernon Broughton, limited Rice to only 176 yards of total offense and 27 yards on 25 carries. The Owls’ longest rush on the day was six yards.

“I thought we played really hard,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “I thought we populated to the ball and tackled pretty well. I thought our defensive front, T’Vondre Sweat, had a heck of a game.”

The D-line’s performance was one expected after it drew rave reviews as one of the best position groups on the team, but some of the intricacies of the showing are worth diving into.

1st & 10 – 11:40 Q1 (+23)

There were already a handful of plays where Texas defensive linemen, including EDGEs, penetrated into the Owl offensive backfield without a ton to show for it in the stat sheet. JT Daniels still made some good decisions and the Owls were able to muster together a few yards and a first down on their first drive.

This, however, was the play that indicated how the day would go for Rice. The Owls run an outside zone play where Murphy is double teamed and Sweat is left one-on-one. The poor Rice left guard is left to fend for himself against Sweat and his left tackle companion arrives too late to offer assistance.

While the Rice center and right guard executed the mechanics of the double team on Murphy properly, personnel made it mean little. The center tries to move to the second level, leaving Murphy one-on-one with the right guard.

That means, in essence, Sweat and Murphy are left one-on-one with Rice interior O-linemen. The play unsurprisingly goes nowhere thanks to 90 and 93.

3rd & 10 – 10:53 Q1 (+23)

Rice attempts to confuse Texas a bit here with Luke McCaffery at Wildcat quarterback and Daniels split to the strong side of the field.

No matter what Rice was trying to do with this gap scheme run, it was immediately snuffed out by Sweat, Broughton, and Ethan Burke. Picture perfect swim moves by Broughton and Sweat ended this play before it even started.

And thus began what would be a very long day for the Owl O-line.

2nd & 10 – 3:14 Q1 (-15)

Not all of the great efforts made by the Texas defensive line resulted in a trench player earning the statistic. That said, their work created opportunities for the players behind them.

Push is important for an O-line. The Texas D-line doesn’t allow for any noticeable amount of push save for the right tackle versus Barryn Sorrell. With blockers occupied and not moving forward that allows for linebackers like Jaylan Ford to find the ball and make a play.

3rd & 10 – 2:28 Q1 (-15)

This is another example of the defensive line, Kristopher Ross this time, making plays in the backfield. But what stands out here is the pre-snap alignment. Ross, Murphy, and Alfred Collins are in a three-down look.

They’re flanked by Anthony Hill on the strong side and Ford on the weak side, with David Gbenda manning the middle.

This is more than likely a pass-rush formation meant to put athleticism on the field in order to get after the quarterback, although Ford and Hill could just as easily drop into coverage and create a difficult rush-three, drop-eight picture for the quarterback to have to decipher.

It’s on tape now, but it’s a bit of a glimpse as to the ideas the Texas coaches had over the offseason about how to deploy Hill. Daniels himself gets a taste of that at the end of the play.

2nd & 7 – 10:51 Q2 (+43)

This is a blitz that dares Daniels throwing out of an empty formation to make the proper read and quickly deliver the ball to one of five receivers in man coverage.

Instead of sending Justice Finkley off the edge, Texas uses him as a spy and instead blitzes Gbenda as the fifth man. Gbenda makes a nice play to hustle for a share of the sack, but most of this work is done by Murphy at the point of attack. Sorrell also does a nice job to meet at the quarterback.

1st & 10 – 7:51 Q2 (-25)

Poor Daniels has Sweat barreling down on him one play after throwing an interception to Ford. As a result of the pressure created by Sweat, Austin Jordan is able to capitalize and record his first career interception.

Sweat showed off an array of moves over the course of the game, but this swim move that allowed him to get his 350-plus pound frame moving toward the quarterback was one he used effectively on several occasions.

2nd & 6 – 8:49 Q3 (-21)

Fox play-by-play man Jason Benetti had a great line when this play happened, saying Collins swatted the football “into next Tuesday.”

Collins, aligned as the strong side 5-technique in this play, gets a free pass due to the attempted play fake by the Owls. He bears down on Daniels and instead of leaping in the air to swat the pass, he stays on his feet and uses his wingspan to end the play before it can even think of going anywhere.

4th & 1 – 5:51 Q3 (-44)

The football phrase “low man wins” tends to dominate discussion about defensive line play. Sweat proves here in this play that axiom doesn’t always hold true.

There may have been a bit of luck involved. Sweat may have anticipated a QB sneak from Daniels, and jumped to try and stop him from reaching the ball over the pile Rice is trying to create. It’s instead a handoff play, and Sweat’s leap knocks the lead blocker into the ball-carrier, and his knee lands behind the line to gain as a result.

2nd & 1 – 0:12 Q3 (-34)

There’s not a lot more than Rice fumbling the exchange and Jett Bush being there to jump on it, but let a picture from Inside Texas’ Will Gallagher tell the tale of what Bush played with on Saturday.

Bush started and performed well at a Sam linebacker position more suited to his skill set. He recorded 2.0 tackles, 0.5 TFL, and recovered the fumble for a solid day at DKR.

More second and third string Longhorns began to rotate into the game after this turnover.

As mentioned Sunday night, the Texas defensive tackles and EDGEs accounted for 19 of the Longhorns’ 56 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, 3.0 tackles for loss, one pass breakup, and five hurries.

They’ll a difficult task versus Alabama’s offensive line, who ran for 205 yards and five touchdowns versus Middle Tennessee State.

According to Pro Football Focus, the starting Alabama offensive line consisting of Kadyn Proctor, Tyler Booker, Seth McLaughlin, Darrian Dalcourt, and JC Latham played 57 snaps versus the Blue Raiders, save for Dalcourt who only played 43 snaps. That group produced an average PFF offensive grade of 66.5 on Saturday. In addition, they didn’t allow a single sack to MTSU.

The challenge of defeating the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa is a tall one but if the Longhorn D-line can replicate their performance from Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium, it’ll tremendously boost Texas’ chances at avenging last year’s 20-19 loss.

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