Posted by Tom Fornelli

The depth Texas has at running back is being severly tested on Saturday afternoon. The Longhorns were already without both Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron heading into today's game against Missouri, and now the Longhorns will be without Fozzy Whittaker.

Whittaker hurt his right knee while making a cut on a run in the first quarter. Whittaker immediately went to the ground clutching the knee and looked to be in a lot of pain. There is no official word on what the injury is, but according to sideline reports, Whittaker will not be returning to the game.

Which means that Bryan Harsin will have to rely on D.J. Monroe, Jeremy Hills, and Cody Johnson for the rest of the afternoon.

Texas came into this game rushing for more than 400 yards in each of its last two games, but it looks like it will have to rely on the arm of quarterback David Ash a bit more today.

Posted by Tom Fornelli

TEXAS WON. For the second week in a row the Longhorns looked dominant against an opponent. Last week it was Kansas on the other end of a beatdown, and this week it was Texas Tech's turn. The trio pictured to the right -- Fozzy Whittaker, Joe Bergeron, and D.J. Monroe -- did most of the damage for Texas on Saturday, as the Longhorns rushed for 416 yards and 6 touchdowns, averaging 8.2 yards per carry on the day. 

WHY TEXAS WON. Simply put, Texas Tech just couldn't stop the Texas rushing attack. Bergeron finished with 191 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Whittaker had 83 yards and 2 touchdowns. Hell, even wide receiver Marquis Goodwin picked up 45 yards rushing on 2 carries, as he just wanted to get his hands on the ball considering Texas only threw 9 times in 63 plays on offense.

WHEN TEXAS WON. When Joe Bergeron scored his first touchdown of the day with 1:46 left in the first half to give Texas a 31-6 lead, there was no reason to believe the Red Raiders would mount any kind of comeback in the second half considering they hadn't stopped Texas once in the entire first half.

WHAT TEXAS WON. The respect is coming back. While Texas is not on the same level as either of the Oklahoma schools in the Big 12 -- which their two losses showed -- there's a chance that Texas may be the third best team in the Big 12 conference. In fact, if the Longhorns play like they have the last two weeks on both sides of the ball for the rest of the year, then I wouldn't be shocked to see the Longhorns finish third in the conference and go to the Holiday Bowl. Not a terrible end to the season after what took place in 2010.

WHAT TEXAS TECH LOST. What isn't Texas Tech losing at this point? The program was on a high two weeks ago after beating Oklahoma, but even in that game it had to hold on to dear life after blowing a 31-7 lead. Since then it's been blown out at home by Iowa State and now was manhandled by Texas. Tech is now 5-4 on the season and needs another win to get to a bowl game, but with Oklahoma State, Missouri and Baylor left on the schedule, there's no guarantee they'll get it.

THAT WAS CRAZY. The Texas offense had 10 possessions on Saturday, and scored on 8 of them. The only 2 possessions that Texas didn't score on? Those were stopped by halftime and the end of the game.

Posted by Chip Patterson

Even without many of the faces that took them to the national championship game a season ago, the Texas Longhorns are starting to creep back into the title hunt.  They received a first-place vote in the AP Poll, and have been bumped all the way to No. 4 in the Coaches Poll.  Texas Tech gave Texas a scare on Saturday, but the Longhorns relied on some rock solid defense to escape with a 24-14 win.
  
The Longhorns were able to escape Lubbock with a victory on Saturday evening, but it was not without cost.  With running back Tre Newton re-injuring his hip against the Red Raiders, the Longhorns are being forced to go deep into their depth chart, and possibly burn redshirts, to get healthy running backs out on the field.

Tre Newton aggravated his hip-pointer against Texas Tech, and isn’t 100 percent.  Fozzy Whittaker has a hurt shoulder and Cody Johnson still isn’t 100 percent after spraining his ankle in the season opener against Rice.

During the Tech game, Mack Brown told reserve back Jeremy Hills — who has asked to be redshirted — to get ready in case he was needed.The Longhorns also know they’ll have to discuss using some of their freshmen tailbacks, or possibly looking at D.J. Monroe, Brown said.Statistically, the three back system of Newton, Whitaker, and Johnson has worked so far.  The trio has combined for 405 yards and 7 touchdowns in the first three games.  But with there be no clear front-runner for the most healthy and/or able, Mack Brown and offensive coordinator Greg Davis are forced to develop a strategy to bring their running backs to 100 percent health without sacrificing production.  

The Longhorns host UCLA, ranked 80th among FBS teams in points allowed, on Saturday.  It would not be surprising to see some of D.J. Monroe against the Bruins, a decision that would please much of the Texas fan base.  Regardless, arguably the most important game of the Longhorns' season is just two weeks away with the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners awaiting them in the 106th playing of the Red River Rivalry.  They will need as much from their running backs as they can get, needing that win to claim the drivers seat of the Big 12 South.

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