Texas football: Was last week's 4 interception performance a tipping point for secondary?

The numbers aren't pretty.

Texas currently ranks No. 126 against the pass in the country with only four teams (Wyoming, Arizona, UCLA and New Mexico) below them in those rankings.

The Longhorns are giving up 325 yards per game and a staggering 8.3 yards per attempt. Injuries have decimated the Texas secondary with five different players with starting experience missing at least one game and three expected starters expected to sit out for at least the next couple of weeks.

It's been a season of near-misses for Texas. Against LSU Caden Sterns was inches away from knocking down a third-and-long pass attempt that instead went for a touchdown. Several other times Texas players appeared to be in the right place but weren't quite able to win on 50-50 balls.

I've said this in the beginning, like we're inches away from finishing these plays," Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said. "So as a coach, you say, this is not an athletic ability deal, this is just pull the pin and just be confident in terms of the way you been coached."

A turning point?

It isn't all doom and gloom for Texas on the back end, though. The Longhorns may have found a remedy for their recent pass defense blues in the mountains of West Virginia when they picked off Austin Kendall four times, setting up three touchdowns and helping Texas pull off a 42-31 victory on the road.

D'Shawn Jamison came up particularly big with a pair of veteran-type picks.

Orlando believes Jamison's interceptions could help turn the tide of momentum that has been working against the Longhorns on the back end all year.

"(Those interceptions) give him (Jamison) a ton of confidence," Orlando said. "But it also gives that room a ton of confidence will see just one of those guys go in there and finish some plays. So everybody's picked it up. And now they have a really a standard of saying like, 'Hey, listen, I want to be like him (Jamison).'"

Some of the younger players now have film evidence that Orlando and his staff's cover techniques work and hard work can be richly rewarded.

On the other side, Orlando has seen significant improvement from Anthony Cook. Cook was up and down through camp and was never quite able to seize a starting spot until a pair of injuries to starters Jalen Green and Josh Thompson forced him into service.

"To me, he's on his way, from a practice standpoint," Orlando said. "Now he's got to put it together."

Jack of all trades, master of none

The Longhorns have also been able to get B.J. Foster back with DeMarvion Overshown expected to return this week. As the depth chart begins to fill back out,

Several players are going back to their natural positions, allowing for more quality practice reps.

An example would be, you know, he's your fifth-best guy, and maybe you get an injury," Orlando said. "Now he has to play the nickel spot. Or now he has to be the backup field-side safety. So when you start losing guys, and you still want to try to play your best players, then you have to cross-train a whole bunch of guys. So having BJ back, and being able to, you know, kind of solidify that position. And now you can keep a guy maybe like Montrell Estell is still and say, Okay, listen, we just worry about field-side safety."

Texas will be able to specialize even more in the coming weeks when they get Caden Sterns (sprained knee ligament) and Jalen Green (separated shoulder) back in action.

Until then the team will have to hope that increased practice reps and confidence will help the younger players play beyond their years against an Oklahoma team that is currently ranked No. 1 in the country in total offense, a full 72 yards per game ahead of the No. 2 team (LSU).

The Longhorns and Sooners kick off at 11 a.m. in Dallas. The game will be televised on Fox.