Last week, I highlighted the offensive line as the key to the game. I was right, but in a very undesirable way. The offensive line looked consistently outmatched by Texas’ talented defensive line, and consistently forced Jacob Park to scramble for his life. Park did make some of his own mistakes, but many of them could have been mitigated with better offensive line play.
This weekend, Joel Lanning will prove to be a key piece of a defense hoping to stop the best offense in college football and its Heisman front-running quarterback. Baker Mayfield has been in college long enough to remember when Perry Ellis was just a redshirt freshman for Kansas back in the 80s, and his experience is always on full display.