Five games into the 2024 season, the No. 2 Texas Longhorns are 5-0 and 1-0 in SEC play. Great teams tend to rank highly in the various statistical measures, and that holds true for Steve Sarkisian’s team.

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At the same time, there are some areas where Texas can improve as it goes through the rest of conference play following the bye.

Here’s where Texas is in the top-25 in conventional stats plus a look at where the Longhorns rank in the bottom half of college football.

Top 25 statistical rankings

Third down conversion percentage: No. 11 – 52.5%

• Pretty good, Texas’ pass game has helped the Longhorns convert at a good clip

Third down conversion percentage defense: No. 13 – 27.8%

• Similar applies, but teams aren’t converting 3rd-and-longs against Texas.

Blocked kicks: No. 23 – 1 blocked kick

Completion percentage: No. 9 – 71.4%

• Kudos to Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning here

Defensive touchdowns: No. 17 – 1 touchdown

First downs defense: No. 14 – 64

• Teams aren’t moving the ball, meaning they aren’t moving the sticks

First downs offense: No. 12 – 116

Passes intercepted: No. 10 – 7 interceptions

Passing offense: No. 10 – 322.0 ypg

• Kudos to Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning here, again

Passing yards allowed: No. 3 – 121.6 ypg

• A well-coordinated defense has done fantastic in an area of real weakness last year

Passing yards per completion: No. 23 – 14.0 ypc

Red zone defense: No. 12 – 66.7%

Sacks allowed: No. 21 – 1.0

Scoring defense: No. 2 – 7.0 ppg

• This one is pretty simple, teams are not scoring against Texas

Scoring offense: No. 11 – 45.0 ppg

• This one is also pretty simple, Texas is scoring

Tackles for loss: No. 9 – 38.0 TFL

Team passing efficiency: No. 8 – 185.30

Team passing efficiency defense: No. 4 – 88.42

• You’ll see some raw yardage stats in a couple of spots but the two above are truly impressive. Texas is not only passing for chunks of yardage, they’re doing so at a very efficient level and is preventing other teams from doing the same.

Total defense: No. 6 – 228.2 ypg

Total offense: No. 8 – 513.4 ypg

Turnovers gained: No. 16 – 9 turnovers gained

Rankings where Texas is in the bottom half of college football

Fourth down conversion percentage: No. 72 – 50%

Blocked kicks allowed: No. 82 – 1 blocked kick

Blocked punts allowed: No. 106 – 1 blocked punt

Fewest penalties: No. 83 – 32 penalties

• False starts, snap infractions, and occasional blocks in the back are the main culprits here. Eighty-two other teams are being flagged less than the Longhorns.

Fewest penalties per game: No. 71 – 6.4 penalties per game

• It’s not a whole lot better on a per game basis

Fewest penalty yards: No. 68 – 248 yards

• Nor on a raw yardage basis.

Fumbles lost: No. 81 – 3 fumbles

Passes had intercepted: No. 69 – 4 interceptions

• The context of these interceptions matters some, but Texas’ quarterbacks have indeed turned the ball over four times in five games.

Punt returns: No. 87 – 6.4 ypr

• Texas finished No. 11 in this metric last year at 15.88 yards per return

Time of possession: No. 72 – 29:56

Turnovers lost: No. 82 – 7 turnovers lost

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We’ll look at some advanced statistical measures shortly.

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