Texas @ Iowa State Preview: The Redemption Continues

Ames, Iowa – The carnage that swallowed up the proud and storied Longhorn football program in 2010, torpedoed what had been – to that point – a highly successful coaching staff, was a product of entitlement, smug superiority and a cocksure swagger that felt donning the burnt orange and white was enough. Alas, it was not. UCLA came to Austin, made a mockery of that inflated self-image, kicked sand all over Longhorn nation. Humbling, as it was, and damaging, too, that whipping was only the prelude to the nuclear-grade cyclone that slammed into DKR Memorial Stadium, blew apart the season beyond all repair. The Longhorns lost that game a year ago by a deceptively close 28-21 count. Only a late charge by Texas made the score respectable, as the ‘Horns entered the final quarter trailing 28-6.

That was a year ago, ancient history to many, but not to this Longhorn team. This team has a long memory. This team seeks redemption. This team, call it Burnt Orange OS 2011, bears little resemblance to last year’s faulty, flawed team, even if some of the names do remain the same. And you know what? This team is going to get its redemption too… for this week, at least.

UT Offense vs Iowa State Defense

With Garrett Gilbert done for the year, wunderkind Case McCoy firmly established as the man at QB, and RB Malcolm Brown already on the road to stardom, look for the Texas offense to keep it simple: feed the ball to Brown, find budding new stars, tight end D.J. Grant (3 TD grabs vs UCLA) over the middle, or wide-out Jaxon Shipley deep downfield. To execute that simple plan, the rapidly-improving Texas O-line will have to keep doing what it has been doing, namely controlling, then dominating the line of scrimmage. As exciting as the emergence of the triplets – Brown, McCoy and Shipley – has been, the thing that has pleased me most about this team, has been the metamorphosis of the O-line from unsure tenderfoots to rapacious, ornery, downright nasty run blockers. (Great job, Coach Searels!) I expect more dominance from this salty squad tonight, though a gritty, proud and undefeated(!) 3-0 Cyclone team that so accurately mirrors their fine coach, Paul Rhoads, will duke it out to the bitter end. Too much size, too many weapons: look for the “Horns O to bloody the Cyclones D after halftime, pull away late.

UT Defense vs Iowa State Offense

Manny Diaz has taken control of the Texas D, implemented a blitz-happy, attacking style of search-and-destroy aggressiveness. While the new defensive ideology has not resulted in very many sacks, the unit has been successful enough to rank 11^th nationally. Linebacking play has been solid and consistent, while the young secondary has been lights-out, in fact, the shining star of the defense. When the huge defensive line finally gets it on for Diaz, however (and they will), this defense will be fearsome indeed.

For ISU’s offense to challenge Texas, the burden lies squarely on the arm and legs of new QB Steele Jantz (What a great name!). Through three games, he has shown a knack for big plays, clutch running, late game heroics, and, yes, some scatter shot decisions, too, as evidenced by his six interceptions versus six TDs and 666 (!) yards passing. Jantz is big, mobile and strong, and capable of inflicting damage to the Texas D, if his legs and running ability are ignored. But don’t count on that happening. Tonight, I think the Texas D-line finally stands up and gets its “sack on.” It might take a quarter and a half, maybe two, but expect the Texas D to take control sometime in the third quarter, put this game away, once and for all.

Predicted Score:

Tough, hard-fought game for the first half. Texas lines began to assert themselves on both sides of ball in the second quarter, set the stage to take over in mid-to-late third quarter. Toughness and tenacity keep Iowa State in reasonable range of Texas, until the bruising running of Malcolm Brown and a dominating O-line carry the Longhorns to a convincing win on the road. On the road to redemption, the ‘Horns improve to 4-0, pick up their second scalp in a row from the long list of 2010 tormentors.

Texas 34 Iowa State 20 (betting line: Texas -9)