Defensive line leads Texas to victory

Chase Daniel was forced into bad passes all night.

By Nick Forrester

Published Oct. 19, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas — The Longhorns came into Saturday night’s game against Missouri wanting to pressure senior quarterback Chase Daniel.

Mission accomplished.

Texas kept the Tigers out of the end zone for the entire first half and defeated Missouri 56-31. All but three Missouri points came in the second half, when the game was pretty much out of reach.

Texas was able to continually rattle Daniel, having two sacks and forcing 10 incomplete passes, the most since the first game of the season for Daniel.

“It was very frustrating because (Daniel) does a great job of getting rid of the ball when needed, but we did a great job at pressuring him with only three or four guys,” Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo said. “We played relentlessly, tried to get after it and put pressure in his face, to cause interceptions, bad passes and battered balls. I thought we did a great job trying to disrupt him and get him out of rhythm.”

Orakpo finished with only one tackle on the night, but he was constantly in the backfield causing Daniel to hurry.

“Our front four is really good. They can run, they’re quick, and they can put pressure on a quarterback,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “It can make a quarterback uncomfortable, which will cause him to make bad passes. Our defensive coaches put together a fantastic scheme as well.”

This game, played in front of 98,383 fans at Texas Memorial Stadium and in front of a national television audience, was Daniel’s opportunity to make a case for the Heisman Trophy. Instead, it was Texas quarterback Colt McCoy who stole the show.

McCoy completed 29 of 32 passing for 337 yards and two touchdowns. He completed a school record 17 consecutive passes and also ran for two touchdowns.

“He was phenomenal,” Brown said. “We are supposed to yell at him for not falling on (the loose fumble), but why yell at him when he made another first down? He’s playing at a very high level and the receivers are playing well.”

All night, the Texas offense made superior plays. In the second quarter, holding a 14-0 lead, McCoy found Malcolm Williams in the middle of the end zone, who jumped over two Missouri defenders for a 32-yard touchdown catch.

“I think this is probably as efficient as we’ve been,” Texas senior wide receiver Jordan Shipley said. “Obviously there is always room for us to improve, so we’re just trying to try not to get complacent and try to keep improving.”

Until the final play of the first half, Texas was able to shut out the potent Missouri offense.

“I felt we started off very strong and we made Missouri have to play a lot of catch up,” Orakpo said. “We could’ve finished a lot better, but I felt like we got a lot of great effort from all the guys.”