X-in' and O-in' with actual coach Tyler Sellhorn.

The biggest story coming out of the Red River Shootout was everybody's new All-American, Colt McCoy, and the Texas offense's second half explosion, and deservedly so. But it was also a validation for Will Muschamp's salary: the highest-paid defensive coordinator in America was hired to beat Oklahoma, and he delivered with seven defensive stops. Now the reward: Missouri comes to Austin slightly battered after last week's surprising loss to Oklahoma State, but still featuring Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin and still in the top three nationally in passing, total and scoring offense. What does the Boy Wonder do for an encore?

Let's Talk Game Plan
Muschamp's basic defensive philosophy comes from his background as Nick Saban's coordinator at LSU, and by extension, straight from the Bill Parcells/Bill Belichick playbook that guided Saban in his formative years in the pros. The Saban School focuses on being sound defensively on first and second down, especially against the run. When making choices on first and second down, Muschamp and the Longhorns will nearly always choose to stop the run before defending the pass. Once the offense has been contained on first and second down, the 'Horns are then free to set their athletes free on the quarterback and protection scheme.

Let's Look at the Tape
You can see the Bill Parcells/Belichick/Saban influence in Texas' three-down, four-linebacker front on this first down run by Oklahoma last week in the first quarter. Count the number of Longhorns within three yards of the line of scrimmage at the snap, and watch what happens to the Sooners when the initial run goes nowhere:

It helps to have a defensive lineman (or several defensive linemen, in this case) like Lamarr Houston who not only has the strength to shed his block inside, but the speed to chase the runner down the line of scrimmage. Despite the Saban-esque rhetoric of "exotic blitzes" on third down, the same athleticism on the line allows Muschamp to go after offenses on obvious passing downs with only the front four, and drop seven into coverage.

Still, notice that even against a spread offensive set, almost none of the defensive front seven is out of immediate run support position. This is acheived by playing a what's typically known as a "Cover 4 Man." The corners are playing a traditional man-to-man on the outside recievers. The two safteys playing at 8 to 10 yards off the ball aren't in deep coverage, as in a conventional Cover 2 or Cover 3; they're locking up one-on-one with the inside recievers. The advantage here is that it allows the safeties to come up on run support when it is clear that the offense has handed the ball off.

Unfortunately, passing routes where the inside and outside recievers trade spots are especially effective against a Cover 4 Man. In one drive during the second quarter, OU was sacked on first down, then ran two straight plays switching the recievers, scoring on third down when the Texas corner followed the outside receiver on a slant to the middle of the field and the UT safety "forgot" to cover Jermaine Gresham on the flag:

In the end, though, the strategy worked because seven Oklahoma drives ended in punts or interceptions. From a strategy breakdown, this happened because the front seven could focus on stopping the run (also, the defensive ends could focus on getting a pass rush, to the effect of two sacks by Brian Orakpo) and the defensive backfield made enough plays in coverage once the OU offense reached second and third down.

In regards to Saturday's matchup of the prolific Missouri spread versus the Texas D, the Tigers' pass protection has to improve dramatically, or it will be another long night for Chase Daniel. Mizzou really likes to line up in empty backfield sets with wide splits between the linemen, spreading out the defensive line. Oklahoma State's answer was to twist its defensive ends inside through the large splits and twist the defensive tackles outside. Versus a no backs situation this defensive line stunt is difficult to block man-to-man, and Mizzou did not adjust -- the first interception below is on the open receiver, but watch the defensive line on the other Tiger disasters that followed:

Texas has two outstanding outside pass rushers, Orakpo and Sergio Kindle, who might have a field day if the protections don't change this Saturday. Watch for Texas to employ the same stunts that worked so well for the Cowboys, and for Missouri to adjust -- if it adjusts -- by shifting to a zone blocking scheme that allows the blockers to "trade" men more easily. What hasn't changed: without pressure, Daniel will pick any secondary apart.

Let's Make a Prediction
The overall personnel situation appears to favor Mizzou: given Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, et. al. versus the young Texas secondary, almost anyone would take Daniel and his merry men. But UT's young 'uns just proved themselves worthy against Oklahoma, with Earl Thomas intercepting Sam Bradford as a result of the same kind of pressure that did in Mizzou last week. Sticking with the same game plan from the OU game will stop the middling Mizzou ground game in check. The result could be a comfortable margin for the very capable Texas offense, which will want to dominate time of possession again, as it did in the Cotton Bowl. Missouri will make some plays, just as Oklahoma did, but Texas has the personnel to get to Daniel and should win going away on drive-killing turnovers, a la OSU last week.

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Tyler Sellhorn is a former small college player and single-wing high school coach in Fort Wayne, Ind. Big thanks to Holly Anderson full pulling and editing clips of UT-Oklahoma and OSU-Missouri games.