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Longhorns defense locks in a school record that no unit wants
No defensive unit in the history of Texas football has allowed more yards than the 2015 Longhorns.
They locked in that infamous standing Saturday against Baylor, allowing 479 yards of total offense to bring Texas' season total to 5,431 yards of total offense allowed. Normally, giving up 479 yards against Baylor would be viewed as a significant triumph. But this wasn't the nation's No. 1 offense on display, not with both third-string starting quarterback Chris Johnson and 1,000-yard rusher Shock Linwood lost to injury early in the game.
Baylor was down to using wide receiver Lynx Hawthorne at quarterback and using two running backs to take direct snaps.
That concoction nearly did the unthinkable. Despite turning the ball over four times, Baylor rallied from a 20-0, first-half deficit and had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. But a fumble by running back Johnny Jefferson after he picked up a first down on a fourth-down run, allowed the Longhorns to get out of Waco with the 23-17 win.
Texas finishes the season 5-7 and with all kinds of questions heading into the offseason. Coach Charlie Strong is expected to overhaul his offensive staff, and some are wondering if he'll do the same on the defensive side after the unit took a huge step back from last year's stellar performance.
Texas lost elite talent from that defense and filled big holes with young players. By the Baylor game, it was a young and badly banged-up defense -- seven starters were out Saturday -- and it showed in a near-disastrous second half, one that Texas will prefer to view as having made key crunch-time stops that will teach and motivate its young defense as it heads into the offseason.
