Burning Question Revisted: How well did Texas defend Texas State's passing game?

It’s time to revisit On Texas Football's “One Burning Question,” where we ask a significant question of the Texas Longhorns heading into a game.

Entering Saturday’s 59-7 win over Texas State, our burning question for No. 5 Texas was:

How will the Texas pass defense fare in its first test under Will Muschamp?

Although there were a few hiccups, the Longhorns kept Brad Jackson and the Bobcats’ passing attack from producing the eye-popping they posted last season.

Jackson’s 150 passing yards on a 15-for-23 afternoon marked his lowest output through the air since the 2024 season, when he threw for 102 on a 4-for-6 outing in a blowout win over Southern Miss. The 188 passing yards Texas State mustered are its fourth-fewest in 41 games under GJ Kinne, while Saturday’s route saw Texas hold the Bobcats without a passing touchdown for only the fourth time in Kinne's tenure.

Texas State ended the game with three pass completions of 20 or more yards, a hair below the 3.6 per game the Bobcats averaged last season (tied with the Longhorns and five other programs for No. 34 nationally with 47 20-plus-yard completions). Just one of those chunk-yardage connections (a 41-yard strike from Jackson to Tucker Cusano in the second quarter) led to a touchdown, which might’ve been the only coverage bust Muschamp’s defense experienced while defending 29 official pass attempts.

Defending the deep ball was only part of the challenge Texas faced against the Texas State aerial attack. Thankfully, the Longhorns minimized the damage the Bobcats did after the catch; Texas State’s 109 yards after the catch and 5.5 yards after the catch per reception (according to Pro Football Focus) were under its 2025 season averages of 137.7 yards per game and 7.05 yards per reception, respectively.

Of the 109 yards Texas allowed after the catch, 61 of them came on three plays. Cusano’s catch, where Jackson dropped the ball into him after he got behind the Longhorn linebackers in coverage, kickstarted a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, but the Bobcats couldn’t turn either of their other two long catch-and-run plays into points.

Texas overcame a 24-yard catch-and-run by Davian Jackson, who Graceson Littleton rode out of bounds at the 5-yard line after Brad Jackson pulled up during a scramble and flipped the ball to his running back for big yardage. The defense stood tall, denying the Bobcats the end zone on a 13-play, 82-yard drive, which ended with a missed field goal.

Chris Dawn Jr. beat Bo Mascoe on an angle route out of the backfield in the second quarter, ripping off a 22-yard gain before Jonah Williams tackled him at the Longhorns’ 36-yard line. Two plays later, Rasheem Biles (whose interception on an attempted screen pass by Jackson in the third quarter was the defense's third takeaway of the game) punched the football out of Taji Atkins’ arms, leading to Littleton’s 59-yard scoop-and-score touchdown.

PFF credited Jackson with a 2-for-6 performance on passes thrown 10 or more yards beyond the line of scrimmage for 53 yards. That exemplifies how the Texas defense executed Muschamp’s game plan: get lined up quickly to combat the opponent's tempo, don't let the ball get behind you and prevent ball carriers from ripping off extra yards after the catch by making plays in space.

Muschamp shouldn’t have been expected to be too exotic against Texas State with a showdown against No. 1 Ohio State next on the schedule. The Longhorns will face a Buckeye passing game that was clicking on all cylinders in a 56-3 rout of Ball State; Julian Sayin threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns on a 21-for-25 performance, with Jeremiah Smith recording 151 yards and two touchdowns on eight receptions.

In two games against Texas, Smith has caught seven passes for 46 yards and didn’t find the end zone in either meeting. Like a lot of things that can be said about the Longhorns coming out of the win over the Bobcats, the challenge facing the pass defense will be much tougher when Ohio State is occupying the visiting sideline at DKR next Saturday (6:30 p.m., ABC).