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    Jeff Howe
    Steve Sarkisian faces the toughest on-field decision of his six-season tenure as No. 19 Texas welcomes No. 7 Ole Miss to DKR on Saturday (6:30 p.m., ABC).
    Will he continue to ride with Arch Manning as the Longhorns’ starting quarterback, hoping Manning can reverse course and stop his precipitous slide?
    Or will Sarkisian pull the plug and give KJ Lacey an opportunity to spark the offense?
    Other than resolving the quarterback conundrum, there are things Sarkisian and the Texas (4-2, 1-2 SEC) coaches can do to avoid the program’s first three-game losing streak since the Longhorns dropped five in a row late in Sarkisian’s 2021 debut.
    Here’s the checklist Texas must complete to stop the bleeding and get a much-needed win over the Rebels.
    — Pick an offensive identity and ride with it
    Sarkisian wants to be creative while being true to who the Longhorns are as an offense. That sounds good, in theory, but the offense needs consistency to be consistent.
    Between the quarterback situation, the offensive line coming off a forgettable performance in last Saturday’s 27-24 loss to Florida and Hollywood Smothers dealing with an apparent shoulder injury, Sarkisian’s hand could be forced when deciding how to attack Pete Golding’s defense.
    While there are times when the running game clicks, specifically when Sarkisian relies on duo and inside zone calls to get the job done, it’s not consistent enough to count on it when it matters. If Smothers and/or Derrek Cooper can’t go against Ole Miss (5-1, 3-1), Sarkisian might not have a choice but to lean into being an offense that operates almost exclusively out of 10 and 11 personnel.
    Especially if Raleek Brown is the only reliable runner available, getting the ball to Jermaine Bishop Jr. and Ryan Wingo in space with schemed-up deep shots for Cam Coleman and Emmett Mosley V sprinkled in might be the most effective means of moving the chains and setting up scoring opportunities.
    Whether it’s that or something else, Sarkisian can’t afford to waste possessions trying to figure out what might work. Be aggressive by focusing on the few things the offense has shown it can execute and, if the results are good, don’t pivot until Golding adjusts.
    — Have a plan to deal with Will Echoles
    According to Pro Football Focus, the 6-foot-3-inch, 315-pound future NFL draft pick has logged 199 of his 275 snaps in the B gap. That means Brandon Baker and Dylan Sikorski will have their hands full.
    Echoles’ 14 total pressures (according to PFF) are tied for the fourth-most among SEC interior defensive linemen. He leads the Ole Miss defensive line with eight stops (a solo tackle that constitutes a failure for the offense) and his 81.6 season-long PFF grade against the run is the 11th-best among SEC defensive linemen.
    Echoles is a game-wrecker. Considering the damage David Stone and Jayden Jackson did two weeks ago in Texas’ loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout, the offense’s fate could hinge on how the interior of the Longhorn offensive line handles Echoles.
    — Prioritize communication and execution in coverage
    If Colin Simmons can’t go, Will Muschamp will have to take risks to put pressure on Trinidad Chambliss. When he turns up the heat, the Texas secondary will be vulnerable, meaning one-on-one battles must be won on the back end to give the Longhorns a chance.
    Only three of Chambliss’ 11 scrambles this season (according to PFF) have come from a clean pocket. Instead of bailing early and trying to make something happen when he feels the rush, Chambliss is executing at a high level against pressure, especially when he’s been blitzed.
    According to PFF, Chambliss has been blitzed on 36.4 percent of his dropbacks this season. Against the blitz, Chambliss is completing 62.7 percent of his passes (47-for-75) for 608 yards with six touchdowns and one interception.
    Chambliss has only been sacked twice on blitzes this season, resulting in an exceptional 8.7 percent pressure-to-sack rate (Manning, by contrast, has a 29.7 percent pressure-to-sack rate against the blitz this season, according to PFF).
    This week, coverage busts will lead to catastrophic mistakes. Whether Muschamp has his secondary playing man or zone coverage, communication and execution must be the best they’ve been all season to avoid getting burned by one of the nation’s top playmaking quarterbacks.
    — Prepare to maximize the “Middle 8”
    Losing the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half cost the Longhorns dearly against Oklahoma and Florida.
    Settling for a field goal on their last drive of the first half against the Sooners was bad enough, but the offense went three-and-out to open the third quarter and Oklahoma used a 42-yard run by Lloyd Avant to set up a 53-yard field goal by Tate Sandell, making it a one-score game.
    Sarkisian’s fourth-and-1 gamble backfired against the Gators, putting the Texas defense on a short field with 2:44 remaining until halftime. Florida converted a fourth-and-12 on its ensuing 9-play, 49-yard drive, cutting the Longhorns’ lead to a touchdown (17-10) with 18 seconds remaining in the half. The Gators got the ball to start the third quarter and went 3-for-3 on third down, covering 69 yards in 15 plays and milking more than eight minutes off the clock to tie the game.
    Texas has been outscored 37-14 in the second half of each of its last two games. The momentum in both losses started mounting for the opponent when the Longhorns failed to end the first half or start the second half on the right foot, a trend that must be reversed to give themselves a shot at knocking off the Rebels.
    Jeff Howe
    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.
    Jeff Howe
    If you can’t win your get-right game, then you’re the get-right game.
    That’s what No. 7 Texas was for Florida in Saturday’s 27-24 loss, a defeat that drove home a few realities about where the Longhorns are halfway through the 2026 season:
    — The offense is broken and I don’t think Steve Sarkisian can fix it.
    It’s beyond sticking with the running game or dialing up high-percentage throws to get Arch Manning into a rhythm. Outside of the opening script and a late touchdown drive highlighted by Manning’s desperation fourth-and-7 heave to Emmett Mosley V, Texas (4-2, 1-2 SEC) was abysmal offensively against one of the worst defenses in the SEC.
    There’s no identity. There’s no flow or rhythm.
    The only thing the Longhorns do consistently is fail to execute in critical situations and put the defense in bad spots.
    The whole operation is a disaster and was every bit of one on Saturday.
    Almost half of the 272 yards the offense gained were on the first two drives. After that, nothing went right.
    When Sarkisian made calls that could've worked, Manning either missed open receivers, missed reads, misdiagnosed blitzes or put the offense behind the chains.
    — Sarkisian’s game management has regressed.
    Saturday’s loss looked a lot like the losses the Longhorns suffered in 2021 (which, by the way, is the last time Texas lost back-to-back regular-season games). According to Chris Hummer of CBS Sports, the Longhorns are the top-10 team in the Associated Press Top 25 since 2003 to blow a double-digit lead in back-to-back games.
    When Texas got up 17-3, the Longhorns put it in neutral. The offense lacked urgency until the Gators took a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and the defense (a unit that's not without blame) was gassed
    The game flipped when Sarkisian went for it on fourth-and-1 from midfield with 3:23 left in the first half. A defense that had held its own finally cracked when asked to defend a short field (two of Florida’s three touchdown drives started in Longhorn territory).
    Florida (5-2, 2-2) ran 81 plays against Will Muschamp’s defense. Buster Faulkner followed the same plan that worked for Oklahoma, with Tramell Jones Jr. making his first career start: short, high-percentage passes to set up manageable third downs, which activated the play-action passing game thanks to Jadan Baugh being a threat in short-yardage situations (all eight of the Gators’ third-down conversions came with a to-go distance of seven or less).
    Jon Sumrall’s team kept chopping wood, just like Sooners did in the Red River Shootout last Saturday. The tougher team found a way to win, and for the second week in a row, it wasn't Sarkisian's squad.
    — It’s seriously time to look at moving on from Manning.
    I’ve been hesitant to buy into the Longhorns changing quarterbacks. But Manning isn’t making enough plays to offset catastrophic mistakes.
    Either Manning doesn’t have a feel for when to make a pull read on RPOs or read options or Sarkisian doesn’t trust him to make the read and the pull read isn’t a part of the play. Beyond that, Manning looked gun-shy, held onto the ball too long and for the second week in a row, turned the ball over on the offense’s last possession of regulation.
    The main question regarding Manning isn’t whether he’s regressed. It’s whether Manning can get to a point where he can be trusted to manage the game. If that can’t happen, Sarkisian has to look long and hard about what's best for the Longhorns.
    — The defense will have issues if Colin Simmons, who was carted back to the locker room in the fourth quarter with an apparent lower leg injury, is out for an extended period of time.
    Right now, Muschamp doesn’t have another defender who can take over a game like Simmons can. Whether Simmons was on the field or not, it’s hard to know how much of the defense’s issues are because of the lopsided play differential or Faulkner out-scheming Muschamp with an inexperienced quarterback and an offense that won the line-of-scrimmage battle.
    — We can stop talking about the College Football Playoff. We need to start talking about whether this team can pull the nose up offensively to qualify for a bowl game.
    Yes, it’s that bad right now.
    Saturday was a chance to get right. Instead, the loss reinforced everything that’s wrong with Texas.
    That there are too many questions and concerns to count at the halfway point is disturbing, especially since Sarkisian doesn’t have any obvious answers.
    Jeff Howe
    It’s time to tackle “One Burning Question,” an On Texas Football in-season feature where we’ll examine a question facing the Texas Longhorns as they enter a game.
    On Sunday, we’ll revisit the question to see whether Steve Sarkisian’s team answered it successfully.
    This week, with No. 1 Texas welcoming Florida to Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday (11 a.m., ABC), the question is:
    Can Steve Sarkisian and Arch Manning get on the same page?
    For all of the talk about personnel packages, the lack of an identity, play-calling concerns, offensive line issues and whether the Longhorns can count on the running game in 2026, the Texas offense won’t go anywhere until there’s synergy between the play-caller and the quarterback.
    When the Longhorns turned over a new leaf offensively in the second half of the 2025 season, it felt like Sarkisian understood what he had in Manning, whose playmaking ability became the identity of the offense. By the end of the season, Manning looked primed to take the next step, which led to grandiose expectations for the Texas offense this season, Manning’s fourth in the program and his second full season as QB1.
    Unfortunately, the ascent hasn’t happened through five games.
    Whether Manning has regressed is subjective. What’s clear is that he hasn’t taken off as expected, eroding Longhorn fans' patience and turning questions about Manning’s development and potential into legitimate concerns.
    Late last season, Sarkisian tailored the offense to maximize Manning's skill set. He doesn't fit the mold of the quarterbacks who’ve succeeded in Sarkisian's system, but things were trending upward by the time Manning accounted for 376 yards and four touchdowns in a Citrus Bowl win over Michigan.
    Sarkisian’s offense works best when rhythm and timing are keeping things on schedule. Considering the links Sarkisian has to Don Coryell (through Norv Turner), Bill Walsh (through Norm Chow and Pete Carroll) and Kyle Shanahan (who he succeeded as the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator), Sarkisian’s offense blends the discipline and precision of the West Coast offense with Air Coryell’s vertical passing game, topping it off with the running game, RPO and pre-snap elements he picked up from his time in the NFL and when he ran Nick Saban’s Alabama offense.
    Manning can do some of those things, but he’s at his best when he can use his athleticism and instincts to thrive in chaos. Down the stretch last season, Sarkisian called more quarterback runs and gave Manning the green light to scramble when opportunities presented themselves, which helped bring balance to an offense that couldn’t rely on a traditional running game.
    Coming into 2026, Manning had to improve within a structured offense. Manning's mastery of the offense would make him an extension of Sarkisian on the field. He'd be trusted to get the offense out of bad plays and articulate what he likes and what doesn't in certain situations. Manning's legs and ability to ad-lib when things break down around him would further elevate the offense, with impossible-to-defend aces up Sarkisian’s sleeve, capable of making college football’s best defensive minds wrong on any given snap.
    Needless to say, that hasn’t been the case through five games. After last Saturday’s 27-24 loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout, the program is at an offensive crossroads.
    Will Sarkisian scheme up easy completions to get Manning into a rhythm early against the Gators? Simpler, quick-developing reads, including deep shots that don’t take as long to develop, could help Manning get his feet underneath him.
    Does Sarkisian need to trust Manning to make good decisions before the snap? Or does the quarterback need to do more to show the play-caller he can handle more responsibility than what he appears to have now?
    That extends to Manning running the ball. Yes, Manning’s legs are a weapon Sarkisian must incorporate into the offensive play more often, but Manning has to be smart when he takes off and protect himself when he’s vulnerable in the open field.
    It also means that when Sarkisian does scheme things open with advantage throws for Manning, he must make his layups.
    At some point, Sarkisian and Manning need each other at their best to become the kind of offensive team Sarkisian believes the Longhorns can be. But doing what they’ve done will result in more of what they've produced.
    Something has to change.
    We’ll see what those changes are in a few hours. When the dust settles, we’ll have a better idea of whether the offense can truly turn the corner in the second half of the regular season.
    Jeff Howe
    AUSTIN, Texas — The elixir for what’s ailed the Texas passing game through the first five games of the 2026 season could be facing Florida’s secondary.
    The Gators will roll into Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to take on the seventh-ranked Longhorns on Saturday (11 a.m., ABC), with the nation’s 131st-ranked pass defense in tow. In addition to allowing 268.7 yards per game through the air, opponents have torched Jon Sumrall’s defense for 10 touchdowns and 22 completions of 20 yards more, tied for 118th in FBS.
    If Texas (4-1, 1-1 SEC) is going to turn a corner offensively after Steve Sarkisian’s unit wilted in the second half of a 27-24 loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout, it must produce against Florida (4-2, 2-2). A critical stretch of three October home games for the Longhorns begins with their third game in as many seasons against the Gators, who are 90th nationally in yards per play allowed (5.64), are ranked 121st in third-down defense (46.7 percent conversion rate allowed) and are tied for 87th in FBS in red-zone touchdown rate allowed (63.6 percent, with 14 red-zone touchdowns tied for 109th in the country).
    Sarkisian said during his Thursday pregame Zoom meeting with the media that the running game is closer to becoming something Texas can count on, “than maybe we're getting credit for.” Even though the offense started clicking late in the loss to the Sooners when the Longhorns operated out of 10 personnel (four wide receivers, one running back and no tight ends) with Jermaine Bishop Jr. on the field, Sarkisian wants a balanced offense.
    “Don't get me wrong, our 10 personnel is really good to us. It's grown as the season's gone on and it's been effective, but you have layers to that,” Sarkisian said. “Your run game can get limited, your pass protections can get limited, so you have to have other things to offset that if people are trying to attack that aspect of your game.”
    No matter which personnel packages Texas utilizes against Florida, Arch Manning will look to pick up where Austin Simmons and LaNorris Sellers left off against the Gators. Simmons completed a season-high 76.7 percent of his passes (23-for-30) and threw for 340 yards (one yard shy of tying his career high) in Missouri’s 45-17 rout of Florida on Oct. 3. Sellers threw 279 yards and a season-high four touchdowns last Saturday, helping South Carolina deliver a 38-19 smackdown at the Swamp.
    To shine against the Gators, who picked Manning off twice and sacked him six times in last season’s 29-21 win over Texas in Gainesville, Manning must reverse a couple of unsavory trends.
    Manning, who has an 11-0 record as a starter at DKR, has thrown five interceptions in five games, including two critical misfires against Oklahoma. According to Pro Football Focus, 56 of Manning's pressured dropbacks have resulted in 12 sacks, a 21.4-percent pressure-to-sack rate that’s pacing well ahead of his 13.3-percent mark in 2025 (22 sacks on 165 pressured dropbacks).
    If Manning gets rid of the football quickly and protects it, the Longhorns can build on what went right against the Sooners. The list includes a season-high four completions of 20 or more yards, Cam Coleman’s first 100-yard game as a Longhorn (110 yards and a touchdown on five receptions) and Bishop’s first-career touchdown catch (a 15-yard strike from Manning in the fourth quarter).
    Beyond whatever numbers the passing game produces on Saturday, Sarkisian wants to see the offense start to look like a unit that’s making strides “to a point to where we can beat the elite teams, knowing that that's who you have to beat if you want to have a really good record at the end of the year.”
    “I look more at our execution, our level of consistency, knowing the quality of players and the quality of coaches and the environments that we play in,” he said.
    OTHER STATS AND MATCHUPS TO WATCH WHEN THE LONGHORNS FACE THE GATORS
    — According to PFF, Manning has been blitzed on 40.3 percent of his dropbacks this season (73 of 181). Florida enters the game with a season-long blitz rate of 30.6 percent, according to PFF. Expect the Gators to dial up pressure with extra pass rushers against Manning like UTSA (blitzed Manning on 22 of 42 dropbacks) and Tennessee (blitzed on 13 of 30 dropbacks) did in recent weeks.
    The matchup between Manning and Brad White, however, extends beyond the six- and seven-man pressures the Florida defensive coordinator is expected to throw at the Texas quarterback.
    While Sarkisian wants Manning's legs to be a weapon, Manning has to pick his spots wisely. Manning has scrambled out of a clean pocket 15 times among 22 total scrambles this season, according to PFF. That helps explain why Manning's average of 7.5 yards per scramble is down from last season (10.9 yards per scramble) and why he hasn't been as effective on the move as he was in 2025.
    — Whether Aaron Philo plays or Tramell Jones Jr. makes his first career start at quarterback for the Gators, Vernell Brown III’s return will test the secondary in the deep part of the field.
    Brown, who missed Florida’s losses to Missouri and South Carolina with a knee injury and is considered a game-time decision, has been targeted 11 times this season, six of them on attempts of 20 yards or more downfield, according to PFF. Brown has caught three of the six deep shots, which have accounted for 97 of his 133 receiving yards.
    If Brown and Eric Singleton Jr., who has been working his way back from an ankle injury he suffered in the Gators’ 66-21 season-opening win over Florida Atlantic, are in the lineup alongside Dallas Wilson and Bailey Stockton, the Florida wideouts might be the most talented group of wide receivers the Longhorn secondary will face in 2026, other than Ohio State.
    — A healthy Florida team on the perimeter means Will Muschamp can’t devote all of his resources to slowing down Jadan Baugh, who ran for 107 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries against Texas last season.
    The lack of viable threats in the passing game helped Missouri and South Carolina focus most of their attention on stopping Baugh. Both defenses kept him from getting loose and taking over the game, which will be one of Muschamp's primary objectives. The Tigers held Baugh to 13 yards on 12 carries, while the SEC’s third-leading rusher (112 yards per game and 6.1 yards per carry) finished with 59 yards on 15 carries against the Gamecocks.
    Muschamp’s defense hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher this season. Currently, Bo Jackson’s 74-yard outing in the Longhorns’ 24-23 comeback win over Ohio State on Sept. 12 is the best performance an opposing running back has had against Texas in 2026. Georgia and South Carolina are the only two SEC defenses to allow fewer 10-plus-yard runs than the Longhorns (15) this season, with only Mississippi State allowing fewer 20-plus-yard runs than Texas (three).
    After the Gators ran for 159 yards (4.3 yards per carry) against the Longhorns at the Swamp last season, Saturday’s game is an opportunity for the Texas defense to send a message that it isn’t the same unit that lost the line-of-scrimmage battle in a landslide when the two clubs met more than a year ago.
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