Behind Enemy Lines – Limit Super Explosive Plays and Win Games.. it’s that easy

It’s Vandy Week, so we’re going to do some housekeeping. The Commodores are one of the most talked-about teams this year for obvious reasons. Diego Pavia has risen into the Top 5 of the Heisman race odds after their Week 9 win against Missouri at home, while hosting GameDay for the first time in 17 years. While I love checking in Behind Enemy Lines each week to see what is going on at Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Georgia – with the last few weeks unfolding the way they have, I want to do something I did last season… see where the Longhorns are at and see what we have missed from the first two months..including a deep dive into Offensive and Defensive Super Explosive plays. Let’s “Clean up your own backyard, before pointing your finger at your neighbors,” and enjoy November.

6 Things through 6 Wins

(1) Longhorns RB, Tre Wisner is 74th in Breakaway Run Rate (20.8%), 45th in Yards after Contact per Attempt (3.29), and 77th in Yards per Carry (4.0) in the Power 4 since the Oklahoma game.

James Simon – 12.6% – 3.29 YAC/A – 4.5 YPC (On the Season)
CJ Baxter – 13.1% – 2.88 YAC/A – 4.2 YPC (On the Season)
Ryan Niblett – 0% – 2.20 YAC/A – 3.0 YPC (On the Season)
Christian Clark – 0% – 1.79 YAC/A – 3.9 YPC (On the Season)

(2) – Longhorns Transfer Defensive Lineman Hero Kanu

Is 3rd among Defensive Lineman in the Power 4 with 7 Run Stops over the last 3 weeks. (Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missisippi State) – Bear Alexander leads the country with 10 for Oregon.

Kanu also has 6 pressures, leading the Longhorns interior defensive lineman by 2. Ahead of Cole Brevard and Alex January. Mississippi State’s Jaray Bledsoe has 7 and Oklahoma’s David Stone has 7

(3) – The Longhorns Offensive Tackles are

Among 61 Qualifying Offensive Tackles in the Power 4 that don’t graduate this year and are “expected” back in 2026. Brandon Baker (16th) and Trevor Goosby (17th) are the 3rd highest graded returning pass blocking-duo.. again, IF Goosby returns

Tennessee – Jesse Perry 80.2 (8th) and Lance Heard 78.9 (11th)
Utah – Caleb Lomu 79.2 (9th) and Spencer Fano 79.1 (10th) – this duo is currently viewed as one if not both, will enter the 2026 Draft.
Texas – Brandon Baker 75.6 (16th) and Trevor Goosby 74.8 (17th)

(4) – Punter, Jack Bouwmeester

Is 13th in P4 in Net Punting (40.5 yards) with the 6th best Hangtime (4.14s) and the 5th most Punts Inside the 20 (14), which is DRASTICALLY better than the 2024 Texas Punter did… 56th in Net (37.9 yards), 69th in Hangtime (3.51s) and 56th in punts inside the 20 (6).

(5) – Wide Receiver, Ryan Wingo now leads the Longhorns in Super Explosive Plays

First 20 career games, he had surpassed 50 receiving yards on 3 occasions… Colorado State, UTSA, and Sam Houston State. He was 0-13 against Power 4 schools before SEC began this season.
8 Targets vs Florida (73 yards, 1 TD)
5 Targets vs Oklahoma (35 yards)
7 Targets vs Kentucky (22 yards)
12 Targets vs Mississippi State (184 yards)

Wingo was credited with 2 drops in 2024 on 41 targets. So far in 2025, he has 4 drops (2 against Mississippi State).

(6) – Linebacker Anthony Hill Jr.

Is playing at a different level over the last 4 weeks than he has at any point in his Texas career.
*4 games (ranks among LBs)
*43 tackles (1st in P4)
*12 pressures (1st in SEC)
*5 QB hits (1st in SEC)
*3.5 TFLs
*2.5 sacks (5th in SEC)
*1 INT
*1 FF
*52.9 NFL Rating allowed on 16 tgts (6th in P4, 1st in SEC)

One more impressive thing that Hill has cleaned up this season, during his Freshman (11.5%) and Sophomore (11%) seasons, he was missing tackles at an 11+% rate; this season he has missed just 3 tackles (5.4%). And that NFL Passer Rating allowed grade is no joke; that is improved from 89.4 and 90.3 in the previous two seasons. Looks like that offseason training and pilates is helping out the All-American Linebacker.

Opponent Super Explosives 2022-2025 (20+ yard plays)

I’m about to nerd out HARD… this took me a bit to put together, but after Mississippi State EXPLODED for 8 Super Explosive Plays (20+ yards) on Saturday, I knew I had to dive into this… because that was abnormal from the Texas we have seen over the last two years. My biggest takeaway after going into this… man, did this defense miss Michael Taafe and man, how lucky is Texas. You can only dance in the fire for so long before you get burnt… severely. It sort of got shoved under the rug, because the defense maniacally deconstructed the Bulldog offensive line on Saturday, finishing with 7 sacks, 9 TFLs and 2 Forced Fumbles during the monumental comeback. For 3 Quarters, this is the WORST Defensive Performance we have seen from Texas since… *GULP* Oklahoma State in 2022.

In 2024, Texas led the SEC in Total Super Explosive Allowed with 40 allowed in 16 games (2.5/g). They were 8th overall and 1st on a per-game basis in the Power 4.

Through 8 games in 2025, Texas has allowed 23 Super Explosives. Before Mississippi State, Texas had allowed 15. This is the genesis for doing this mini exercise.

Here is the list… every single game under Steve Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski

Click here to read the rest of Behind Enemy Lines and join the conversation