In watching film of the Wyoming game, the Texas defensive front looks much different.  They’re not as quick as they were last year and only possess one high draft pick versus three.  Kindle, of course, is still a stud and will look like he’s running in fast forward relative to the other guys.  Sam Acho is a guy with a lot of potential, and at some point, will have a breakout game this season.  He’s the next best guy and has All Conference ability.  They lack a Roy Miller difference maker on the inside, but every one of them is solid against the run.  I actually think new starter Ben Alexander brings more to the table than incumbent Lammar Houston.  Alexander possesses a fire plug build, which allows him to play with good leverage.  The biggest thing is their depth.  While they may lack the starpower of past Texas units, they’ve got a lot of solid bodies to throw out there and they’re playing much more disciplined against the run this season.  Eddie Jones, Kheeston Randall, Russell Carter, Alex Okafor, and few other guys like that.  Names you know from recruiting that may not be the 1st day draft picks as advertised in high school, but would start at every Big 12 program outside of Norman.  Muschamp seems to know he only has one elite athlete and uses the other guys to stop the run or execute a variety of stunts to free up guys with good closing speed like Acho, Jones and Houston.  Outside of Kindle, they can tend to get a little tied up in pass rush for stretches.  Eventually, the depth advantage starts to kick in, and when this happens, watch for Acho and Jones on the inside stunts with Kindle coming from the outside. 

LT Chris Olson vs. WDE Sergio Kindle/Alex Okafor - Ouch.  This matchup swings heavily in the Horns favor.  I’m guessing Matt Moore is prepared for the worst.  Olson’s strength is typically his footwork, so Kindle is probably a much easier draw for him than say Brian Orakpo last year.  Kindle runs around pass blockers for the most part given his 240-lb frame.  If we can block everyone else, Kindle can be neutralized with additional support.  Okafor didn’t show me much in the Wyoming game and I’m not sold on his athleticism yet, especially standing up as a LB, which Muschamp will sometimes do.  He’s got a big frame and can move around a little, but most QBs in the conference are mobile enough to avoid him.  Okafor looks like a guy that will grow and could handle 275-290 pounds, and be a force at DT.  He looks a little stiff at times playing out in space at end, but the kid plays hard from what I saw.  He might have enough natural strength as a bull rusher to get by Olson, which is probably the most impressive thing about him. 

LG Lonnie Edwards/C Shawn Byrnes/RG Brandon Carter vs. NT Ben Alexander/Kheeston Randall - I think Alexander is a little better player than what Longhorn fans feel.  He’s built like a mini-Casey Hampton, and when motivated, can easily get under bigger players pad level with a nice first step.  Not near the pass rushing threat that Roy Miller was, but might actually be a more disciplined player in run defense.  I think we’ll have a little trouble controlling this guy in the ground game, but should be able to handle him fairly well in pass rush.  I didn’t see a whole lot of snaps on Randall, but Alexander looked more disruptive during his time.  Tech will have the opportunity to run the ball in here, if they can get the bigger player, Byrnes, worked around him on combo blocks allowing the guards to the 2nd level.

LG Lonnie Edwards/RG Brandon Carter vs. DT Lammar Houston - Houston isn’t as scary to me as Longhorn fans make him out to be.  To Houston’s credit, Louis Vasquez was even better than I thought, so serving as a blocking dummy in the 2008 contest shouldn’t be held against him.  Don’t kid yourself, though.  He plays for Texas, so he’s got talent, which primarily consists of outstanding closing speed.  However, he doesn’t possess the powerful first step of past Texas greats and tends to get tied up on blocks.  Houston is a decent run defender, but he’ll take some plays off on occasion.  Houston is probably quick enough to get by Carter a couple of times and he’ll destroy all stretch/zone blocked plays.  This could be a nice matchup for an up and coming Lonnie Edwards.  He’s got the same tools as Vasquez, except he’s a little more polished run blocker than Louis was at this point in his career.  Or, he could lose his goddamn mind in his first road start in front of 100,000 people.  Focus.  Relax.  He’s not as hard to block as Colby Whitlock in practice.

RT Marlon Winn vs. SDE Sam Acho/Eddie Jones/Russell Carter - I think Acho is potentially a future star in this conference.  Jones and Carter are pretty fast too, but none are in Kindle’s league.  One-on-one, Winn would take any of them.  However, my one knock on Winn is that he’ll start taking plays off late in the game, so the depth these guys bring is what will give us a headache.  What these guys were executing really well against Wyoming were the inside stunts.  If any of these guys get free, they’re all fast enough to chase down Potts in a backpedal. 

Overall

For the first time I can remember in years, Texas doesn’t have a gamechanger in the middle of the field.  They’ve just got a bunch of solid dudes about like everyone else.  Guys that will make you pay for mistakes.   Muschamp does a great job with this unit of throwing different combinations of bodies and running stunts/blitzes to create pressure as his confidence in a talented secondary grows.  If Muschamp finds a scab, he’ll continue to pick until it starts bleeding profusely.  The inside stunts are something that could give the interior Tech OL trouble as the tendency is to follow the nearest threat.  It’s imperative that these guys communicate well in a hostile environment and maintain disciplined gap control pass blocking principles.  On the outside, Sergio Kindle is an elite gamechanging player and that’s about all Muschamp needs to get pressure.    He’s one of the best in the business at half time adjustments.  Tech will need to put points on the board in the 1st half before the Texas depth and coaching start to take a turn for the worse in the 2nd half.  At some point, Texas is going to face a team that can run the ball on them, but I don’t think it’s Tech.  It sometimes takes half a season for our running game to start having any kind of threatening effect.