Sitting at 1-3 with two more tough matchups on tap, it's easy to overlook the pleasant surprises that have littered the early part of Texas' season. Especially since one of them is the emergence of a real quarterback.
There are a couple of ways to assess losing teams. Does the team play hard and make fixable mistakes, or is the quality of play just a total train wreck? Also—and this is equally important—does the team have the talent to improve?
Aside from the 38-3 loss to Notre Dame, this Longhorn team has certainly been competitive. Charlie Strong's group played both Cal and Oklahoma State, two veteran Top 25 teams, to the brink of overtime.