Crunch Time: Analyzing Texas’ third-down and red-zone performance vs. Kentucky

The Longhorns closed out the Wildcats for a win. How did key performance areas impact the victory?

The No. 3 Texas Longhorns held on for a 17-point victory over the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday in Austin to continue the quest for a berth in the SEC Championship game. The Longhorns never trailed, but faced a moment of peril late in the game after a fumble by quarterback Quinn Ewers was returned for a touchdown to narrow the lead to just 10 points. Texas responded with an old-school, smash-mouth touchdown drive that went 86 yards on 15 plays and consumed 8:22 off the clock.

The Texas offense was superb on the ground, setting a new season high in yards with 250. Running back Quintrevion Wisner led the way with a career-high 158 yards and a touchdown on 6.1 yards per carry while running back Jaydon Blue chipped in 96 yards and touchdown on 6.4 yards per carry.

While Texas was able to secure the win, there were undoubtedly moments of poor execution. In this week’s edition of Crunch Time, we’ll analyze how the Longhorns performed on third downs and in the red zone.

Third downs

6-of-13 (46.2 percent)

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Texas fared just above their season average on third down, converting 46.2 percent of attempts against Kentucky. For the year, the Longhorns sit at a conversion rate of 43.4 percent.

However, the themes that have plagued Texas on third down at times — long distance, poor protection, and penalties— were much cleaner. Seven of the 13 conversions were four yards or less while the average distance to go was 5.7 yards.

Texas gave up zero third down sacks and ran the ball on four of the six successful conversions. The Longhorns had just one penalty on third down, although the penalty did lead to a punt.

These areas were not perfect, but cleaner.

Texas started the game with a third and distance. Facing a quick three and out, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian isolated wide receiver Matthew Golden into the boundary. Golden drew a lone defender and cooked him.

With defender forced to consider the possibility that Golden was going to run past him, he began to open his hips right as Golden broke down, creating a narrow window of separation. Quarterback Quinn Ewers delivered a strike to Golden’s outside shoulder for a completion to move the sticks on 3rd and 11.

Ewers targeted Golden again on third down later in the drive, this time facing 3rd and 2 at the Kentucky 4-yard line.

On the play, Golden was once again isolated; however, this time he was split to the field side just off the left hash with green grass everywhere, an alignment used successfully by Texas throughout the season to free up Golden. With the open space on either side, Golden can work inside or across the formation while also running away from his defender on speed outs or back shoulder throws.

Sarkisian used wide receiver Ryan Wingo on a jet motion to create space for Golden and pull the defense before running an RPO Glance. Wingo’s speed represents a threat into the boundary as a ball carrier while any added body is a threat to win the line of scrimmage in the run game. This jet motion reshaped the defense into a look that isolated a defender to Ewers to read.

In this case, it was the route-side safety thanks to the RPO Glance call. The glance route is similar to a slant but used slightly differently. A glance route requires a wide receiver to take five steps before cutting into the field. The glance route resembles a skinny post and takes a less harsh angle than a slant and targeting different areas of vacated space while a slant hits the same spot nearly every time. A glance route is successful thanks to its elasticity — as mentioned, it targets a vacated area of space with the wide receiver coached to run to open grass. The run blocking by the offensive line often creates enough space for the pass.

On this play, the route-side safety became the defender for Ewers to read given the two-shell look that Kentucky was showing. With Wingo motioning away, the route side safety was responsible for run support. As he moved toward the line of scrimmage, an area of space was vacated. Once the defender filled, Ewers correctly pulled the ball and delivered to the vacated space. Unfortunately for Texas, Golden was unable to secure the catch thanks to strong, physical coverage by the Kentucky defensive back.

The RPO Glance is a staple of offenses at both the collegiate and professional level. This combo punishes a defense if they overly commit to the run game with a quick-hitting route behind a key defender while taking advantage of personnel advantages inside the box if a team guards against the pass.

After being unable to connect on third down, Texas converted on fourth down for a touchdown when Ewers scrambled and worked through his reads before connecting with tight end Gunnar Helm.

The rest of the game saw Texas perform as expected on third downs with anticipated outcomes. The Longhorns struggled with the handful of third-and-distance situations but converted many third and shorts. A point of interest — when Texas converted third downs, they scored.

On the other three touchdown drives, the Horns converted 5-of-6 third downs. The lone failed third down set up 4th and 1 at the Kentucky one yard line that Texas would punch in to seal the game. On that drive, Texas faced an average third-down distance of 1.33 yards.

The formula for Texas is no secret. Create third and short so the playbook opens, defenses are spread thin, and running the ball becomes an option. Not to mention, it gives Sarkisian the option to keep the offense on the field for fourth down.

With the performance against Kentucky, Texas improved to 43.6 percent on third downs an upsurge from last year’s rate of 38.4 percent. The Longhorns offense currently sits at 30th in the country and sixth in the SEC in conversion percentage on third downs.

Red zone

Five attempts, four TDs, one missed FG

Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas scored 28 points on five red-zone trips thanks to two rushing and two passing touchdowns. The only possession that turned up empty was a missed 47-yard field goal by Bert Auburn.

As previously touched on, the Texas offense started the game with seven and ended the game with seven.

Sandwiched in between each of those red-zone touchdown drives were two more possessions that resulted in seven.

The second red-zone drive came with 7:59 left in the second quarter. A nine-yard rush by Blue brought Texas to the Kentucky 16-yard line. He got a head of steam on the series, powering forward for a 4-yard gain and first down.

Unfortunately, the offense stalled there. A one-yard rush by Wisner followed by two failed passing attempts seemed destined to kill the drive. Luckily for Texas, a personal foul penalty on Kentucky gave Texas new life and an automatic first down. With the ball at the Kentucky 5-yard line, Blue powered the ball into the end zone off the left side.

This drive highlighted good and bad. On the one hand, Texas took the new life and capitalized, quickly scoring after the penalty. On the other hand, the Longhorns were stopped in the red zone in a 7-7 game when three plays netted one yard, including a pass being batted down — Texas can’t rely on penalties to punch the ball in.

The third Texas touchdown drive of the game once again demonstrated the highs and lows of a possession. After an incredible interception by safety Jelani McDonald, the offense was set up with a short field. One play later and the Longhorns had a 1st and 10 on the Kentucky 20-yard line.

On the next two plays, Sarkisian targeted Blue in various fashions. On the first play, the deception of Sark shined when Blue motioned across the formation before return orbiting and taking a reverse handoff from behind Ewers. Meanwhile, Wisner faked a counter with right guard Cole Hutson pulling. Wingo was responsible for a seal block which he handled well. Blue was set up with a one-on-one opportunity in space with a Kentucky defender. While Blue has built his highlight reel from these situations, he was unable to elude the defender on a two-yard gain.

On the second play, Sarkisian had Wisner and Blue in a split back look off the right hash. Wisner once again faked a run, this time into the boundary, while Blue leaked out for a swing pass to the field side.

Blue caught the ball with two wide receivers blocking and three Kentucky defenders in pursuit. Wide receiver Isaiah Bond, the interior blocker, was able to slow down his defender, who wasn’t able to make the tackle but slowed Blue down enough to allow a pursuit defender to clean up the play for a short loss.

Both plays created favorable situations for Texas — Blue is dangerous in space — but neither play was able to move the ball. Texas then faced 3rd and 8 from the Kentucky 17-yard line.

Cue Helm and Ewers.

Facing man coverage, Helm attacked vertical and crossed his defender’s face while Ewers looked away an out of position safety. Ewers then dropped a perfect ball, leading Helm up the field as opposed to across it in order to keep that safety out of the play. The Kentucky safety, the same defender from the RPO Glance, ended up a step too late as Helm redirected to make one of the more acrobatic catches from his time on the Forty Acres.

An NFL-caliber throw paired with an NFL-caliber catch. A fitting way to go out at home for both players.

Against Kentucky, the 6’5, 250-pound senior from Englewood, Colo. continued a campaign that has garnered national attention. The two-touchdown performance boosted his total to five on the season along with 544 yards on 42 receptions. Helm has played his way up many draft boards and the catch against Kentucky is a prime reason why.

As mentioned, this drive also demonstrated the highs and lows of Texas in the red zone. The Longhorns have incredible athletes and thus sometimes rely on incredible plays to score. However, the play by Ewers and Helm is preceded by two plays with poor execution, both plays that Blue had the ball could and should have gained more yards. Texas didn’t need to be in a position where a miraculous catch was required to score.

The lone red-zone possession that ended without points was a missed field goal. The drive showed promise as Texas had moved the ball into the red zone when the fourth quarter was set to begin. Facing 2nd and 7 at the Kentucky 18-yard line, things turned sour.

Ewers mishandled the snap and turned a bad play into a terrible play — he was able to secure the ball and navigate the pocket, but with a defender bearing down, Ewers tried to dump the ball into the flat, throwing the ball backwards instead. It went out of bounds as a fumble and 11-yard loss.

A promising drive now faced 3rd and 18. The Longhorns tried to throw a tunnel screen, but an errant throw from Ewers led to an incompletion. This sequence set up a long field goal that Auburn would miss.

The two mishaps from Ewers killed the drive and made the kick even tougher on Auburn. Ewers looked rattled on both plays after dropping the snap and made poor throws.

The lack of any yards on third down after the botched snap is tough. Getting back a small chunk has the potential to change the confidence level Auburn feels in the kick and how he mentally approaches it. It might not have changed the outcome based on how he connected with the ball on this kick, but there is definitely a difference between a 47-yarder and a 40-yarder or something even shorter.

Perhaps the brightest takeaway from this sequence is that the lack of points is due to a random play not failed execution. Ewers failing to catch a snap is not a bad play call, missed block, or anything of that nature. It is unlucky.

For the season, Texas has scored 37 touchdowns on 51 red-zone attempts in addition to six red-zone field goals makes for an overall scoring rate of 84.3 percent, which is tied for 73rd in the country. At 72.5 percent, however, the touchdown rate for the Longhorns is up from an atrocious 50.8 percent last year, and ranks 18th nationally.