Texas loses Hollywood Smothers, hands Raleek Brown RB1

The first word Wednesday night was vague: Smothers was out, with no timetable.

Pete Nakos

@PeteNakos

Sources tell @On3 that Texas RB Hollywood Smothers is out for the foreseeable future and there’s no timetable at this time. t.co/gPb3POVaSc

Pete Nakos

@PeteNakos

Texas RB Hollywood Smothers is out this week, while EDGE Colin Simmons and WRs Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo are questionable. Longhorns at Missouri. t.co/gPb3POVaSc

That changed fast. 247Sports confirmed the injury is a torn MCL that ends his season. He got hurt in last week's win over Mississippi State, where he ran 4 times for minus-6 yards before he was helped into the medical tent. The worst part is how the whole year went for him. Smothers came over from NC State as the No. 3 running back in the transfer portal after a 939-yard, 7-touchdown season there. In Austin he never stayed healthy. He missed the Tennessee and Ole Miss games and closed his Texas run with 283 yards in 6 games.

Honestly, the RB1 question was settled weeks ago. Raleek Brown leads the team with 92 carries for 452 yards and 5 rushing touchdowns, which is 4.9 a pop. Smothers was at 4.1. Over his last 3 games Smothers was splitting the work with Brown and not doing much with it. The ceiling is the part that hurts. He had double-digit carries in several SEC games and 23 touches with 2 touchdowns in the Ohio State win. Now the backfield belongs to Brown, and there's nobody proven behind him if he goes down too.

Smothers is far from the only problem on the injury report. Seven Texas starters are listed between questionable and out for Missouri. Left tackle Trevor Goosby is also done for the season. Colin Simmons, Ryan Wingo, Cam Coleman, Kade Phillips and Graceson Littleton are all questionable.

There is some good news, and it's on defense. Texas has stopped the run all year, and Missouri's Jamal Roberts, who leads the SEC in rushing, is about to test that.

Texas is 6-2 and No. 7 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, and the last 4 games are Missouri, LSU, Arkansas and Texas A&M. That is a brutal close for a team with this many guys banged up. LSU in Death Valley is the following week. Brown just has to carry it. If he can handle a full workload, losing Smothers barely moves the needle. If he can't, Texas has a big problem in November.