On Texas Sports Unfiltered’s daily talk show, “It’s Only an Hour,” Jordan Scruggs and I have spent a lot of time talking about the Texas running back situation in the wake of C.J. Baxter and Christian Clark suffering season-ending injuries during preseason practice. During the show last Tuesday, a viewer posed a question comparing Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian’s expected expanded wide receiver rotation to the deep depth that the 2019 LSU offense boasted.
Given the thin depth of their backfield, would it make sense for the Longhorns to attack teams similarly?
Until Texas’ wide receiver corps proves itself on the field, it would be foolhardy to compare Sarkisian’s personnel to a Bayou Bengals unit led by two receivers (Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson) who are considered the NFL’s top offensive weapons. That being said, if the Longhorns can replicate what LSU’s offense did en route to an undefeated season and national championship, Quinn Ewers getting the ball out quicker to one of his weapons will matter less than which running back can protect the pass.
During Joe Burrow’s historic Heisman Trophy season, Pro Football Focus ranked Burrow’s average time to throw (the time between when the quarterback puts the ball in the pocket and when it comes out of his hand) at 2.61 seconds, a time that LSU’s offensive coaches established as the ideal time between the ball being snapped and when it leaves Burrow’s hand.
Burrow kept 69.2% of his dropbacks scoreless in 2019, and his quick passing helped protect an LSU offensive line that couldn’t overwhelm opponents at the point of attack like other winning lines in the SEC.
