There is no such thing as a bad win, but this was any ugly one for the No. 7 Texas Longhorns on Saturday in a 27-10 victory against the UTEP Miners at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Texas labored a bit last week offensively against San Jose State, but eventually was able to pop some big plays and touchdowns. This week that was not the case.
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Texas won the battle on Saturday, but I am very concerned about the overall outlook for the war, a.k.a. the season for Texas after what I saw against UTEP. No long wind up for this one — let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this thing and talk about what went right and what went wrong against the Miners.
The Texas offense is a mess
There is no way to sweeten this and there shouldn’t be. The Texas offense stunk on Saturday against an opponent it should have been able to easily overwhelm from a personnel and talent standpoint. Safe to say that did not happen on Saturday and what occurred has to be setting alarms off in Austin. The passing game on Saturday was one of the worst we’ve seen from Steve Sarkisian’s team since he arrived in Austin. Arch Manning was 11-of-25 passing for 114 yards, which included a touchdown pass to Ryan Wingo and another really bad interception in the red zone.
The offenses was a paltry 5-of-16 on third downs, which again is not going to get it done. And the offense almost exclusively operated as a running operation in the second half, which is why Texas was able to roll up 226 yards on the ground with 26 passes and only nine pass attempts. It wasn’t because the Horns were establishing their will and making things happen. It was because they had no choice but to force the issue because Sarkisian was not able to trust his signal caller in crucial down and distances.
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Speaking of Wingo, he and Manning STILL are not on the same page. Almost every ball thrown Wingo’s way is a misfire or not catchable. For someone who is supposed the be this team’s WR1, he has not been able to get into any kind of groove due to the inconsistency from the quarterback position. Wingo entered the game on Saturday with six receptions on the season. He only added three more to his tally despite receiving seven targets.
There was flat out not much to be optimistic about in this performance from the offense. For a team that was expected to compete for a national title this season, the offense is in horrific place heading into Week Four, as they lack an identity and their quarterback is lacking confidence.
Sarkisian is going to have to take a long look in the mirror and have some tough conversations this week, because the offense is his baby and they are not playing up to the standard in anyway right now.
Expectations for Arch Manning need to be heavily readjusted
Speaking of the quarterback, it is time to have an honest conversation about Arch because Manning was bad on Saturday and I am talking the kind of bad that you can’t win with in SEC play. The fact that Sarkisian basically had to completely take the ball out of his hands in the second half against a team of UTEP’s caliber is very concerning. I was hoping to see increments of improvement from week to week across this non-conference slate, but this was a huge step back and any talk of accolades need to be parked until we start seeing actual proof of concept that he is ready for that kind of talk.
First, he has Livingstone open to the bottom of the screen and he doesn’t rip it. Secondly, once he doesn’t do that he starts going off script and the sparks start flying. When you go into the scramble drill like that it is absolute chaos and on top of that you are in a condensed space given where you are on the field. Throwing the ball across his body into the middle of the field late violated multiple cardinal sins of playing the quarterback position. If you are not going to rip the throw to the open man on the initial roll out, then you damn sure can’t throw that ball there. It was avoidable and that is now two weeks in a row now that it has happened that has cost the offense.
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The talk of Arch over the course of the offseason has not aligned with what we have seen on the field so far through three weeks. For a player who has been in the system for three years, I am not seeing enough to be optimistic. I am seeing a guy who is pressing and isn’t comfortable at all. There is a very large commitment invested in Manning to be the quarterback of this team. The staff does not have much choice but to try to figure out what the hell is going on between the ears, because the confidence is nowhere to be found.
Texas has a former FCS opponent next week in Sam Houston. Let’s see if they are able to crack 200 yards the next time they roll into DKR.
The health of the Texas running back room is a concern
Texas went into this game without Quintrevion Wisner, as they were hoping to get him another week of rest. Then after the very first snap of the game CJ Baxter went down and didn’t return. In the words of one of my dearest friends, that is very ungood. Texas was optimistic about their running back room and was prepared to put a lot on the shoulders of Baxter and Christian Clark, both of whom are returning from season-ending injuries in 2024. Clark has not been anything to write home about in the last two weeks he has seen carries, and Baxter unfortunately is showing that he can’t stay healthy after dealing with knocks as a true freshman, too.
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Texas is likely going to have to put a lot on Wisner’s shoulders this year, and they were already trying to remove some of that responsibility after a heavy work load last year. In retrospect, the Longhorns probably should have taken a back in the portal this year, but I vividly remember Tashard Choice saying he was good in his position room before leaving for a new job. Ahmad Hardy (formerly of ULM and currently at Mizzou) is looking like one of the best backs in the country this year, and Texas got to see him first hand last year in Austin. And they probably didn’t even pick up the phone.
The one glimmer of optimism I have here is that James Simon looked solid in his expanded role on Saturday. But asking him to pick up the slack being presented by the others in his position room is asking a lot of a true freshman.
I said last week that Texas lacks explosive playmakers on offense and this group didn’t do anything against UTEP to beat those allegations. The longest runs of the game were two 14 yarders and they both came by quarterbacks (one for Manning and one for Matthew Caldwell). That is pretty damning.
The Texas defense is the calling card for this team
And it is not even close. The defense plays hard and they make plays. They are the primary reason Texas has had a chance in every game despite the offensive side of the ball looking like a tire fire for the most part.
Two more turnovers forced by the defense this week with one of them coming by true freshman Graceson Littleton. That kid is playing A LOT and he has done something every week to stand out. He is looking like a huge addition in the recent signing class.
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The defense held UTEP to 259 total yards of offense, with their only touchdown coming late in the game. The Miners were 4-of-15 on third downs and o-for-3 on fourth-down attempts. They held up their end of the bargain.
They need some help from the offense otherwise they are going to wear down and run out of gas by the end of the season.
Special teams were better overall this week
The two penalties from Warren Roberson aside, I was more encouraged from what I saw from the special teams as a whole. The field goal and extra point teams were perfect, Jack Bouwmeester averaged 47.8 per punt, and Ryan Niblett chipped in with two solid returns, including a 49-yard scamper when he was able to get to the wall. You take those kinds of days at the office, all things considered.
Texas is going to have to win the field-position battle if the offense continues to stink. So this was encouraging to see.
A win is a win is win. But that one didn’t feel too good in the process. My prediction coming into the year was that Texas would win 10 games and make the playoff. Three weeks in I am not feeling confident about that prediction with how the offense is looking. I am trying to hold out hope in that regard, but I was really hoping to see reason for optimism over this three-game stretch and I have only really gotten that from one side of the ball.
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Sam Houston is next. The 24-hour rule is officially in effect. Need to watch the film, make the corrections, and then move on to the next one.
