Texas vs. Notre Dame: Horns struggle through horrific first half

The Texas Longhorns looked ill-prepared to face off against the much more experienced Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The half ended at 17-0 Notre Dame when Texas senior place kicker Nick Rose hit twice from 52 yards, only to have both negated by Fighting Irish timeouts. On the third, he missed his attempt wide left. Fitting.

The only real highlight was the play of freshman linebacker Malik Jefferson, who looked sturdy against the run in racking up tackles and this resounding tackle for loss:

In the end, the offense looked just as poor as last season -- the offensive line struggled and junior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes looked shaky once more as a result. Redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard didn't look much better because of the horrendous offensive line play. Here's how bad Texas has been offensively of late:

Past 10 quarters for the Texas offense: 17 three and outs, 5 INT, 2 TD, 1 FG, 2 fumbles returned for TD.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) September 6, 2015

Jordan Spieth doesn't exactly have a lot of chill about that reality:

Texas' offense looking about as useful as my last 4 rounds....

— Jordan Spieth (@JordanSpieth) September 6, 2015

He's not wrong.