The University of Texas' defense did its job Saturday. Holding Missouri’s offense to 17 points is an accomplishment. It’s the fewest points the Tigers have scored in a game this season.

Missouri's D did its job as well, holding Texas to its lowest point total of the season — five (incidentally, it's also the fewest points UT has scored in a game since 2004 against Oklahoma).

The game score, 17-5, might look like a close, well-played defensive football game. It wasn't. The game wasn't close, and after the Longhorn's first possession of the second half, the game was never in doubt because . . .

Texas offense was indeed offensive. Granted, the Longhorns played short-handed. Jaxon Shipley, the team's best receiver, didn't even travel to Columbia due to injury. Then 30 minutes before game-time, Texas announced Joe Bergeron was suffering from a sore hamstring — he didn’t play; and Malcolm Brown’s turf toe was still too painful — he didn’t play either.

During the first quarter it got worse. Fozzy Whittaker injured his left knee and was lost for the game and maybe longer.

A fourth string running back won’t beat Missouri alone. Texas' quarterbacks had to make plays, and they did not.

UT's offense showed sheer ineptitude. The Longhorns' total output came in at just a little over half of what they ran for last week. The passing stats were worse. Texas QBs completed fewer than half their passes. David Ash threw an interception.

When I said last week that Texas needed to throw the ball downfield, I didn’t mean every pass. I meant strategically.

Sure, Texas threw a couple of screens and a couple of passes across the middle, but the vast majority went deep and many went deep to the sideline. That sideline route is a safe pass — if your guy doesn’t catch the ball it probably goes safely out of bounds, but it’s also a tough pass to throw well. Ash and McCoy clearly are not up to it.

To make matters worse, the Texas offensive line returned to its poor form. The Missouri defensive front four played lights out. The O-line gave up two sacks, not generally a horrible stat, but the unit played much worse than that. Missouri shut down everything Texas tried up the middle. UT rushed for only 76 yards and Tigers were in the Texas backfield more often than the Horns' own tailback.

Missouri's defense could afford to sell itself out to stop the Texas running game because the Longhorns passing game stinks. On a day Texas needed to throw the ball well — the top three runners hurt and out of the game — it could not.

To say the offense is inept is to be kind. The Texas offensive coaching staff may be good at a lot of things but coaching up quarterbacks clearly is not one of them.

David Ash and Case McCoy both looked clueless in this football game — missing open receivers, holding the ball too long, overthrowing, underthrowing, throwing to the wrong side, wrong shoulder, wrong guy and overall just seeming to play slow. At times it appeared Ash was throwing the ball simply in order to get it out of his hands as opposed to trying to actually gain yards.

Right now Connor Brewer, the all-everything Arizona high school quarterback coming to Texas next year, can't get here fast enough.

Enough negativity, give some love to that nasty Texas defense. The Longhorns' defenders shut down everything Missouri tried to do, including making a three-play, goal-line stand inside the one-yard line. The defense forced and recovered a fumble and generally dominated the Missouri offense. The special teams blocked a punt for a safety (UT also allowed a blocked punt)

This Longhorns defense is making a statement. They play tough and aggressive football, and when the offense was desperate to get the ball back, the defense delivered.

Texas is a good football team. Good enough to beat No. 2 Oklahoma State, and good enough to beat Missouri. Losing both those games is on the coaches and on the quarterbacks — mostly the coaches.

Freshman David Ash and sophomore Case McCoy seem no farther along today than during game one against Rice. The poor decision making continues as does the poor skills play. And please don’t tell me how great it was that Ash threw the ball away a half dozen times rather than take a sack.

Sure, that’s a smart thing to do. But you get credit for that when you actually start completing passes too.

Co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin is doing no favors for his QBs. When it became clear Ash — and in the second half McCoy — was not on target, one would think it might be time to give the quarterbacks a few simple dump-off passes in order to help them build confidence.

If you just keep slinging it down field, as Texas did, you risk losing your quarterback's confidence, as UT did. Ash got worse as the day went on.

It's time to make a quarterback commitment and coach that kid up by spending 95 percent of your time with him. This maybe Ash . . . maybe McCoy stuff needs to stop now.

Next week a monster in the form of Kansas State comes to Austin. Texas faces the best team it’s played since the Oklahoma schools. The Longhorns better pray for some quick healing, and they better start re-working their game plan, because holding K-State to just 17 points is a stupid thing to hope for, and because the Wildcats will steamroll the pathetic offense that showed up in Columbia.

And the season gets no easier. Two huge emotional rivalry games follow Kansas State — the Aggies and Baylor. Texas is more than capable of hanging with those teams if it plays its best football.

The Longhorns that showed up this Saturday will get blown out again . . . and again.