After five seasons of it, Steve Sarkisian was fed up.
The Texas Longhorns head coach was tired of standing on the sideline and watching Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense regularly give up easy-access throws, the type of completions that build confidence in quarterbacks and allow offenses to sustain drives.
So last December, Sarkisian unexpectedly fired Kwiatkowski and brought in renowned defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, his original target after leaving Tuscaloosa for Austin in early 2021.
“I felt like
if you look back at us historically defensively, I felt like we were giving up too much of that, and in knowing Will and studying Will from afar, that is one of the calling cards of his defense is making sure that there are no gimmies,” Sarkisian said Thursday.
With Texas fielding the No. 7 defense in ESPN’s SP+ rankings, the move has paid off — even though Muschamp hadn’t been a primary defensive play caller in a decade when Sarkisian hired him, Muschamp still has it.
Beyond the game-planning excellence on display in Saturday’s win over Ole Miss despite the absence of star edge rusher Colin Simmons, Muschamp’s defense has exactly what Sarkisian wanted in limiting the easy-access throws for opposing quarterbacks.
Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is still completing 63.7 percent of his passes, but that number dropped significantly after the Horns held him to a career-low completion percentage of 48.1.
Sticky coverage from Texas, including the linebackers, resulted in a career-high three interceptions thrown by Chambliss, matching his entire total last year on 445 pass attempts, six batted passes, tying his season total entering the game, and four throwaways, also matching his season total entering the game.
“We made it hard and we can make it hard on people,” Sarkisian said.
To accomplish that task, the Longhorns didn’t just have to play tight coverage on the outside, they also had to push the pocket into the face of the quarterback generously listed at 6’0 and maintain pass-rush lane integrity to keep him from punishing the defense with scrambles or plays downfield outside the pocket.
Texas also stopped the run to make Ole Miss one-dimensional, limiting star running back Kewan Lacy to 36 yards on 16 carries. Backup Mekhi Frazier was able to break a 34-yard run, but his other five carries only went for 13 yards.
“It all ties together when you want to play that type of tight coverage,” Sarkisian said.
For the first time in years, the Longhorns are tying it all together, and it’s making opposing offenses earn everything they get the hard way.
