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It’s time to revisit On Texas Football's “One Burning Question,” where we ask a question about the Texas Longhorns heading into a game. Entering Saturday’s 27-24 loss to Florida, the burning question was: Can Steve Sarkisian and Arch Manning get on the same page? They didn’t. It was bad enough that Sarkisian must at least entertain a quarterback change. Sarkisian is ultimately to blame for the Texas (4-2, 1-2 SEC) offense woefully underperforming. He assembled a roster he believed could execute his offense at a championship level. After Saturday’s loss to the Gators, the Longhorns rank among the worst offenses in the country in total offense (93rd), yards per play (tied for 104th), rushing offense (102nd), 10-yard plays from scrimmage (tied for 81st) and 20-yard plays from scrimmage (tied for 126th). Nevertheless, things came to a head in Sarkisian’s 19th consecutive game with Manning as his starting quarterback. Another week of blown opportunities, missed assignments, poor decision-making and Manning’s catastrophic mistakes overshadowing his positive plays might force Sarkisian to make a move that seemed unfathomable a few weeks ago. Sarkisian had hot routes to help Manning handle blitzes. He simplified his quarterback’s reads. There were run-pass options where Manning could've used his legs to jumpstart the offense. Manning, however, didn’t execute enough of those things to keep the offense from another feast-or-famine outing. Whether Manning isn’t confident enough to pull the trigger, can’t process what’s unfolding in front of him or is locked onto a predetermined read at all times, Sarkisian can no longer field an offense in which the starting quarterback needs training wheels. Manning’s inability to get rid of the football on time cost the offense time and again against Florida, most notably on Myles Graham’s strip-sack that ended Texas’ comeback bid. Manning appeared to have Emmett Mosley V open on an out route, but he held the ball too long and succumbed to pressure, for the fifth and final time (the Longhorns have allowed 17 sacks in three games and are tied for 117th in FBS by allowing 2.83 sacks per game), resulting in a game-clinching turnover. On second-and-3 from the Gators’ 16-yard line in the second quarter, Manning appeared to miss a pull read on a run-pass option. Had he pulled the ball instead of handing it off to Hollywood Smothers for a 4-yard loss, Manning could’ve either run for the first down or flipped the ball to Nick Townsend, who was open after leaking into the flat and had a chance to score. Instead of taking a two-touchdown lead, Texas settled for a field goal. Manning doesn’t appear capable of getting the offense out of a bad play (multiple rushing attempts into an outnumbered box and waves of unblocked defenders coming free on blitzes) or changing protection with a pre-snap check at the line of scrimmage. He’s incapable of making those decisions or doesn’t have Sarkisian’s trust to do so, either of which would be a serious indictment of Manning’s development (or lack thereof). There’s no question now that Manning has regressed. Attributes that were his strengths (pocket awareness chief among them) have become weaknesses that are holding the offense back. Whether Manning’s confidence has eroded to the point that he can’t regain or rebuild it is a legitimate concern. Is he broken? Can he fix what’s ailing him? If he does, will it happen before the house of cards collapses? The Sarkisian-Manning era was on a championship trajectory after last month’s comeback win over Ohio State. Five weeks later, Sarkisian might be closer to pulling the plug and starting anew than he is to riding it out, waiting for Manning to get back on track. View full news story

Muschamp is the HC in waiting. They aren't announcing for obvious reasons. Muschamp HC Gideon DC G J Kinne OC

Saban would point to this chart and rip Sark a new a**hole.

This is exactly right. Stubbornness is literally the end of any coach time and time again: - Mack Brown - Dabo Swinney -James Franklin All sunken due to pride/not wanting to change their ways. Counter example: -Ryan Day Gave up playcalling and then immediately won a title I’d say the ultimate weaknesses of a HC, no matter how good everything else is: 1) stubbornness 2) over loyalty to underperforming assistants I think Sark is very strong in many respects and I like him as a person and HC. But we are suffering from heavy doses of these two weaknesses

It was a joke

We have a national championship winning HC on the athletic department payroll. Maybe Sark should ask him for advice.

Cowboys have been killed by QB play and they really needed that INT to score a TD. I can't hardly believe this game is still in the first half. 17-0 halftime in 23 more seconds.

I never saw that side of Augie. Wow. Yeah that's not going to work with Sark.

Saban would probably tell him to start looking in the mirror. Year six. His coaches. His recruits. His offense. His play calls. You can’t keep changing the people around the problem while refusing to consider that you might be the problem. At some point, Sark has to decide whether he’s willing to sacrifice his ego to win a championship, or sacrifice another season protecting it.

Use the offseason to prepare for the next season!

There are a lot of typos there for somebody that has a username with DOC in it…lol. In all seriousness, I don’t disagree. It’s hard to watch someone continue to make the same mistakes, that has as much time in the system as he does.

If his name wasn’t Manning he would have been benched already. its insanity to continue to waste a near elite defense and multiple offensive weapons with incompetent wb play. Srch is shell shocked and needs a change of scenery and a new start. The players deserve a chance to win games with competent wb play its insanity to continue with Arch

Sarkisian didn’t learn a lot from Saban.

Adapt or die!

Muschamp better be on the defense and coaches like that. Maybe he needs to light Sark’s a$$ up and get some intensity and urgency going everywhere.

Run the damn ball, and quit being so stubborn about deep shots.

My good friend, Tony Crosby (look up 1st barefoot kicker and 1963 Natl Champ Horns) told me – we could easily be 2-4. So, I think now is the appropriate time to really count our blessings (cut with the negative waves). They are numerous for all us Texas fans. E.g. We will always be a top five astronomy school having the McDonald observatory as a blessing. So lets list all our blessings OK?

If Sark called Saban for advice what advice do you think Saban would give?

Not the type of coach Sark is. Team would tell that it's disingenuous, would probably hurt more than help.

It's funny that Sarkisian has tricked himself to thinking we are an aggressive/physical outfit just because we go for it on 4th and short. We are not physical. We are not aggressive. It's a mindset and culture. Sark uses it as a platitude to say something at press conferences. We have no leadership anywhere on the field. Our culture is known for celebrations instead of physical play. We are a sham in every sense of the word right now. From Sark to the water boy and all levels in between

I wish they did not look good against the Cowboys.

But then he ran a shotgun formation knowing his OL couldn’t block a fly That part was idiotic by Sark, if you’re gonna go for it just do a QB sneak Also would have been smarter to let a first time starter go down the field instead of running a play that hasn’t worked for us this year and giving up good field position

That will do nothing to make Arch a better QB.

I’m with you. Play to your defense. That’s our strength. Don’t give them an inch or help them in any way. Make them earn it. We handed them short fields twice.