Doing the little things right has paid off big time for Texas football team

When Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers drops back to pass for the first time against Iowa State on Saturday, he'll have options among his receivers.

Jordan Whittington has hauled in a team-high 26 passes. Sophomore Xavier Worthy might be ready to score the 17th touchdown of his collegiate career. Perhaps Iowa State transfer Tarique Milton will get open against his former team.

But don't expect to see Texas receivers just catching passes. To be successful, the Longhorns need their receivers to block as well.

Take the touchdown that running back Keilan Robinson scored in last weekend's 49-0 rout of Oklahoma, for example.

For the rest of time, the box score will simply state that Robinson scored on a 15-yard second-quarter pass from Ewers. The highlight reel shows that Robinson was sent in motion, gathered in a pass behind the line of scrimmage and scooted mostly unbothered into the end zone.

On Monday, though, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian didn't talk much about the throw or the catch. He noted that Worthy sealed off Oklahoma cornerback Jaden Davis with a block to Robinson's left.

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"All of a sudden now, here's Xavier Worthy, who everyone is looking for big touchdowns and all these plays, he's straining and blocking a corner to start that play to score Keilan Robinson," Sarkisian said. "That tells me we're playing really good team football, complementary football, and we're buying into all aspects of what we're asking of them."

On that same play, a few yards down the field, Whittington blocked Sooners safety Trey Morrison to the ground closer to the goal line. Sarkisian has referred to Whittington as a "lead dog" among the receivers when it comes to blocking.

And Whittington knows it.

Two weeks ago in a 38-20 win over West Virginia, Worthy threw a touchdown pass on a trick play in which he caught a backward pass and then fired a 33-yard strike to Ja'Tavion Sanders. A few days later, Whittington made sure to point out that he'd kept a West Virginia defender away from Worthy on the play.

"Y'all ain't going to say who the lead blocker was," Whittington joked. "Ain't nobody going to give me (credit). It's all right."

Whittington said he receives satisfaction from springing a teammate's big play with a block. Sarkisian has explained that blocking among the receivers is paramount because "to be a really good running team, you've got to go block secondary people. You've got to block safeties; you've got to block corners. We take a lot of pride in that."

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The physicality of Texas' receivers hasn't just been an asset on an offense that's averaging 38.8 points and 445.3 yards per game. It has also helped out the defense, which is playing its best football in more than a decade.

"Not to give any downplay to any other teams," defensive back Jahdae Barron said, "they block, but at the end of the day, the way our receivers block, they're coming at me really fast, so I'm really kind of prepared for everybody else that's trying to come block me."

The ability of the Texas receivers to block is a "detail." That word has been stressed by the Longhorns over the past couple of weeks.

There are plenty of on-field details. The off-field ones can't be ignored, though. Senior defensive back Anthony Cook said the main message of the players-only meeting held in the wake of the overtime loss at Texas Tech on Sept. 24 was to "just tighten up the details" with some things as simple as cleaning up the locker room.

"It's just holding everybody accountable and just being a player-led team," Barron said. "Just making sure the little things are straight within the team, and then it will go onto the field."

Texas will try to be detailed in its approach Saturday. Iowa State is still looking for its first conference win, but the Cyclones' 31-24, 14-11 and 10-9 losses were dealt by Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State teams that were either ranked when they played Iowa State or are currently listed in the Top 25.

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Four Big 12 teams — No. 8 Iowa State, No. 18 Kansas State, No. 23 Texas and No. 37 Baylor — rank among the nation's top 50 scoring defenses. Four conference schools — No. 11 Iowa State, No. 25 Baylor, No. 32 West Virginia and No. 35 Texas — are among the top 50 total defenses. Allowing 13.7 points and 277.5 yards per game, Iowa State also boasts the conference's best rushing defense (91.0 ypg), top passing defense (186.5 ypg) and second-most forced turnovers (10).

On Thursday, Sarkisian was asked what the Cyclones do well on defense. One year after he was beaten 30-7 in his first game with Texas against Iowa State, Sarkisian retorted, "They do it all. ... What don't they do well is probably a better question."

Texas (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) will receive offensive reinforcements this week. Senior tight end Jahleel Billingsley is eligible to play after he finished serving a six-game suspension that was due to an undisclosed issue at Alabama. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound transfer turned 37 receptions into 559 yards and six touchdowns while playing with the Crimson Tide from 2019 to 2021.

Saturday's game

Iowa State at No. 22 Texas, 11 a.m., ABC, 104.9, 105.3 (Spanish), 1260, 99.3, 98.5

Scouting Iowa State

Last year: 7-6, fourth in the Big 12 (5-4); lost to Clemson in the Cheez-It-Bowl.

About that 0-3 conference start: After losing quarterback Brock Purdy and running back Breece Hall to the NFL draft, the Cyclones were expected to finish in the middle of the Big 12 pack, picked sixth in the conference preseason poll. But these first three games have been hard to swallow. The Cyclones battled back from a 31-14 fourth-quarter deficit with 10 unanswered points but fell by a touchdown to Baylor 31-24. Iowa State missed three field goals in the 14-11 loss to Kansas, including a 37-yarder that would have tied it with less than 30 seconds to play. And the Cyclones were edged 10-9 at home by Kansas State last week.

Three players to watch: (1) WR Xavier Hutchinson, whose five touchdown catches lead all Big 12 receivers this season; (2) DE Will McDonald IV, who has 32½ career sacks and is 1½ away from the Big 12 career sacks record; (3) LB Colby Reeder, who already has three takeaways on a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery.

FYI: The Cyclones have scored only one touchdown in their last 20 offensive possessions. ... Iowa State leads the Big 12 in total defense, rushing defense and points allowed per game and is top-15 in all those categories nationally. Teams are averaging only 4.0 points and 105.2 yards in the second half of games this season. ... Iowa State has 10 takeaways, which is second-most in the Big 12. ... Hutchinson is one of only two players in Iowa State history with 200 career receptions (Allen Lazard is the other). ... QB Hunter Dekkers leads the Big 12 in passing yards (1,514) and completions per game (25.5).

Rich Tijerina

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Wide receivers' blocking has been a key to Texas' offensive success