Five thoughts: Texas taking baby steps, but D still must improve dramatically; Baylor offense deserved better than 56-50 loss

This originally appeared on our colleges blog.

Five thoughts on Texas’ 56-50 win over Baylor on Saturday night.

1. Partial redemption. Beating Baylor for the first time in three years won’t come close to erasing memories of the 63-21 loss to Oklahoma. Fans will still take to their laptops and complain, especially about the defense. It’s still a lot harder to argue with a win. As Mack Brown put it, the team “is taking baby steps here.” That’s better than falling down.

2. Joe Bergeron isn’t Cody Johnson 2.0. Sure, the sophomore tailback pounded for five scores as a “touchdown vulture.” He also accomplished much, much more, giving Texas a solid game between the tackles while showing a burst outside en route to his fourth career 100-yard game. With Malcolm Brown still out and Johnathan Gray still developing, Bergeron delivered.

3. Whither the Texas defense. Texas allowed 607 yards and 50 points and kind of felt good about itself. That shows just how bad things have gone this season. Yes, the Longhorns got a win. At the same time, some weird play calling and Baylor field goals let Texas off the hook. The defense has to improve dramatically for Texas to have a chance at wins in Lubbock and Manhattan.

4. Baylor deserved better. The Bears have now scored 113 points in two road games and still lost. While Nick Florence isn’t RG3, he’s taking advantage of the weapons he has. Terrance Williams is a big-time receiver and Lache Seastrunk (56 yards on seven carries) is no longer an urban legend. This is still one of the nation’s top 10 offenses, which leads us to No. 5.

5. Why can’t the Baylor D match the offense. OK, that may be expecting too much. But at the very least, shouldn’t the Bears be competitive? They entered the game 120 (i.e. dead last) in the Bowl Subdivision in defense. They won’t get much better. Briles is getting some athletes on defense (Ahmad Dixon, freshman Javonte Magee). Baylor just needs more. Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett has to find a way to hold teams to the 30s.

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