Cal 45, Texas 44: What We Learned

[caption id="attachment_18806" align="alignright" width="300"]Screen Shot 2015-09-19 at 11.36.35 PM Photo by Will Leverett[/caption] Nick Rose won’t sleep easy tonight. Everyone watching the Texas Longhorns face California thought the game in Austin was going to be tied at 45 with 1:11 left after redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard scored on a scramble to pull Texas within a point of Cal’s lead. Everyone was wrong. A missed extra point and an ensuing failed onside kick ruined the coming out party of Heard. The 45-44 loss puts Texas at 1-2 entering Big 12 play, which begins next week against Oklahoma State. On the bright side, though, Charlie Strong found his quarterback. After nearly six years of waiting, it looks like Texas found a face to run the program. nDE79sAQMV Heard, a redshirt freshman out of Denton, passed for over 300 yards and rushed for over 100, scoring three times with his legs. He did commit two costly turnovers, but it was a performance that should put the quarterback discussion in Austin to bed for the first time since Colt McCoy ran out of eligibility. The Longhorns built a 24-14 lead late in the second quarter, but Cal scored the next 31 points to take a 45-24 lead into the fourth quarter. And when everyone resigned itself to watching Texas fold once again, the Longhorns took a step forward under Strong. The team grew. There should be no such thing as a moral victory at a football factory like Texas, but the Longhorns found an identity in a loss. This program needed a face to lead the offense and it looks like the combination of Heard at quarterback and Jay Norvell calling plays is working through two games. The rushing offense has opened up and the passing offense is improving because of it. The offense made mistakes, but the defense will take 44 points in every outing. The Texas defensive unit is still struggling on third downs. Cal’s passing offense is really good, but the final statistics were staggering. Texas gave up 559 yards passing, but it was the success Cal had on the ground that should trouble the Longhorn coaching staff. The one thing Texas couldn’t do was allow Cal to be two-dimensional on offense and Cal ended up with 291 yards rushing. Well, the one thing besides missing an extra point, at least. bTtpZlNM0O