Five questions: Austin American-Statesman’s Ryan Autullo talks Texas

In what was supposed to be its first marquee game of the season, UCLA heads to AT&T Stadium to face a Texas squad coming off a 41-7 beating by BYU. Ryan Autullo, who covers Texas for the Austin-American Statesman, answered five questions about the Longhorns.

1. What are the most significant ways that first-year head coach Charlie Strong has changed the program since he arrived?

Strong is trying to eliminate the culture of entitlement that ultimately signaled the downfall of his predecessor, Mack Brown. Under Brown, players rode an air-conditioned bus a half mile to practice. Now they walk. Until late in preseason camp, Strong forbade players from flashing the Horns hand sign. Additionally, the coach ordered the removal of the Longhorns logo from helmets. It’s all about getting tougher as a program and understanding the value of playing at Texas, Strong says.

2. Of all the players Strong has dismissed/suspended, which ones do the Longhorns miss the most?

Great question. I’d say suspensions to offensive tackles Kennedy Estelle and Desmond Harrison hurt the most. Estelle was suspended after playing the opener against North Texas. He’s out indefinitely. Harrison missed the opener, was reinstated the Monday of the BYU game, and was suspended again two days later. He’s also out indefinitely. Including center Dominic Espinosa, who broke his leg in the opener, the line is minus three starters. Even at full strength the line is considered a weakness of the team.

3. How does Tyrone Swoopes look so far? What part of David Ash’s skill set will be most difficult to replace?

Swoopes looked OK. He connected on his first eight pass attempts against BYU but his teammates sabotaged drives with penalties and turnovers. He and Ash are similar quarterbacks, I suppose. Neither has an exceptional arm or exceptional foot speed. At the same time, neither has a weak arm or is slow. What Swoopes lacks is playing time. The more he gets, the better he’ll be. Blue chip freshman Jerrod Heard is warming up in the bullpen, but I wouldn’t expect to see him just yet.

4. The offensive line entered last weekend with five combined starts; is there hope in the trenches, and how much is that unit responsible for Texas’ offensive struggles?

Honestly, I don’t see much hope. Three starters are out and likely won’t be back anytime soon. Only one player, left guard Sedrick Flowers, started at the same position in each of the first two games. With so little continuity and so little experience, this is the weakest unit on the team. Maybe by a long shot. It’s a shame, too, as Texas is wasting two good running backs who have nowhere to run.

5. Texas’ defensive line gets talked about a bit, but how does the rest of the defense look? What went wrong against BYU?

On Wednesday, defensive coordinator Vance Bedford called the linebackers “solid” and the secondary “average” through two games. It’s easy to look at the 41 points BYU scored and reason that Texas’ defense must be awful.

Don’t fall into that trap. This defense surrendered less than 100 yards in the opener against North Texas. BYU had just six points at halftime. These guys can play. What went wrong last Saturday? The failure of Texas’ offense to produce long second-half drives played a role. The Horns defense was on the field for 11-plus minutes in the third quarter. Beyond that, a missed tackle here, a blown assignment there, and an unhealthy amount of BYU quarterback Taysom Hill, turned a 6-0 game at halftime into a 34-0 rout.