Texas's Biggest 2025 Problem Was Tackling
Cole Cubelic
I forget who the non-con team they played, it was like Illinois State or Utah Tech, somebody they played earlier in the year. It was the best individual tackling performance I saw all season. I could not believe watching the film. And Roman Harper, I told him this when we did our show on Monday night, he was like "get out of here, you're dumb." Go watch it and just watch their defense and tell me there were more one-on-one tackles made in that game against a team in which one-on-one tackles should not have been made. And Roman went back and watched it and he called me on Wednesday and said — "Dude, you were right. This is embarrassing."
Context
Cole's specific scouting flag on what Texas actually has to fix — not scheme, not talent, but tackling. The example: a non-con FCS-tier opponent making one-on-one tackles in space (in the flat, on stretch zone) that Texas players were supposed to break for 80 or at least eight.
The corollary: Will Muschamp's return as DC is partly to bring an edge to a defense that physically wasn't tough enough at the point of attack in 2025.
The Roman Harper anecdote — disbelief, then verification — adds a co-sign.