1994 Texas - SMU
Texas uses revitalized ground attack against Ponies
[Blake Brockermeyer] controlled our defensive linemen all day. He is the
best offensive lineman we've seen." -- Troy Williams, SMU safety
Gene Menez
Daily Texan Staff
Last week, Blake Brockermeyer and his fellow offensive line mates were
stumped.
No, it was not the poor performance against the Rice Owls that caused
them to scratch their heads (although it probably did at some point).
Instead, they were wondering why they had never in three years broken the
counter trey -- one of their bread-and-butter plays -- for more than 15 or
20 yards.
Some time before Saturday, they must have found an answer.
The Longhorns broke the counter for two touchdowns, including a
47-yarder and a 19-yarder, both by Rodrick Walker, to rejuvenate the
rushing attack against Southern Methodist. One week after the Texas running
game ran for cover after gaining only 16 yards against Rice, the Longhorns
rushed for 170 yards and averaged 5.2 yards per carry against the Mustangs.
"We didn't make many changes. We did a better job blocking and running,"
Texas coach John Mackovic said. "We were able to get our runners in the
secondary -- something we didn't do very well last week. Anytime you can
get them past the line of scrimmage, you are going to get some big gains."
The biggest gain of the season came in the second quarter when the
Longhorns ran the counter to the right side. On that play, Brockermeyer and
John Elmore, the left tackle and guard, pulled to the right side to lead
block for Walker.
Walker took the hand-off, followed their clearing blocks and raced down
the right sideline for the longest touchdown of his career.
"That's the play where people say, 'Isn't that play kind of slow?' But
it's our bread-and-butter play," said Bucky Godbolt, Texas running backs
coach. "Blake Brockermeyer just comes around the corner and wipes out
everything."
Brockermeyer sprung Walker on the play by annihilating SMU linebacker
B.J. Stankovich.
"Their big guy [Brockermeyer] is a definite first-rounder," said Mustang
safety Troy Williams, who conceded the war in the trenches to the
Longhorns. "He controlled our defensive linemen all day. He is the best
offensive lineman we've seen."
Earlier in the contest, Walker, who rushed for 107 yards on 15 carries,
took the counter down the left side for 19 yards and the team's first
touchdown, even though television replays showed he may have stepped out of
bounds at the 3-yard line.
"I think we just hit a weakness in their defense, and we did a good job
with the blocks," center Dan Neil said. "Rod also made some excellent
runs."
The Horns did not change their running attack for SMU. They just changed
the way they ran it. Unlike last week when the Owl defenders used their
speed to stuff the Texas offensive line and the UT running game, the
Longhorns were able to control SMU's smaller defensive linemen and spring
the running backs when they needed to.
"We just finally got some key blocks," Neil said. "Every play has some
key blocks where the guys must make them. Today, they were making their
blocks."
Walker's effort was the third 100-yard game of his career and the second
this season. Junior running back Priest Holmes also ran for 59 yards,
carrying the ball 10 times.
Despite helping to produce more than 10 times the rushing yardage they
produced against Rice, the Texas offensive linemen know they have to play
this well every week.
"Any success like that gives you confidence in your running game, which
is something that we lost last week," Elmore said. "This will boost the
offensive line's confidence and the backs' confidence that the holes will
be there. I think this will do a lot for our running game. We just need to
keep it up."
And keep serving up the bread and butter on the trey.
Texas 42, Smu 20
TEXAS 7 14 7 14 --42
SMU 7 0 0 13 --20
SMU -- Womack 16 run (Crosland kick).
Texas -- R. Walker 19 run (Dawson kick).
Texas -- R. Walker 47 run (Dawson kick).
Texas -- E. Jackson 13 pass from Morenz (Dawson kick).
Texas -- Pinkney 9 pass from Morenz (Dawson kick).
Texas -- Brown 12 run (Dawson kick).
SMU -- Whitmore 24 pass from Flanigan (Crosland kick).
Texas -- Bradley 17 pass from Brown (Dawson kick).
SMU -- Womack 1 run (kick failed).
A -- 61,307
Texas SMU
First downs 19 19
Rushes-yards 33-170 41-75
Passing 205 266
Return Yards 41 108
Comp-Att-Int 18-26-1 19-36-1
Punts 4-43 8-37
Fumbles-Lost 5-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 4-25 9-58
Time of Possession 27:10 32:50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Texas: R. Walker 15-107, Holmes 10-59, Brown 2-15, Coleman 3-
(-4), Morenz 3- (-7). SMU: Womack 13-54, Harmon 5-12, Smith 2-8, Nelson
2-1, Shepard 1-3, Biggins 1-5, Flanigan 17- (-8).
Passing -- Texas: Morenz 13-18-122, Brown 5-7-83, Dutton 0-1-0. SMU:
Flanigan 19-36-266.
Receiving -- Texas: E. Jackson 4-40, Pinkney 4-36, C. Jackson 2-58,
Wallace 2-33, R. Walker 2-7, Bradley 1-17, Fitzgerald 1-7, Lucas 1-4, Hakes
1-3. SMU: Rossley 8-133, Whitmore 4-83, Biggins 3-22, Robinson 2-11,
Wilburn 1-11, Smith 1-6.