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    Jeff Howe
    LEXINGTON, Ky. — Texas won a football game on Saturday.
    That’s almost the full extent of the positives from a sobering 16-13 overtime win over a lowly Kentucky squad at Lexington’s Kroger Field.
    A team shouldn’t apologize for winning a road game in the SEC. Still, Steve Sarkisian’s offense put up a putrid performance, so much so that it nearly wasted an outstanding night on special teams and a defensive effort that, while not dominant, saw the Longhorns dig deep enough on the 86th official snap they defended to finish off a goal-line stand.
    “I always feel like, once a year, you have a culture win where the game is not pretty, but the team — because the team is so close — finds a way to win the game,” Sarkisian said. “Tonight, these guys found a way to win when the game was sliding in the wrong direction. So, absolute credit to our defense. What a tremendous goal-line stand in overtime. What a tremendous job by our special teams — Mason [Shipley], Jack [Bouwmeester], Ryan Niblett, that punt return unit — and the way they played in that phase of the game.”
    The 179 yards of total offense Texas (5-2, 2-1 SEC) posted is the lowest single-game total for the program since a 2015 season-opening loss to Notre Dame.
    Shawn Watson’s offense tallied 163 total yards in the first game of Charlie Strong’s second season, finishing a woeful night in South Bend with an average of 3.1 yards per play with only eight first downs to their credit. Tyrone Swoopes slugged his way to a 7-for-22 night, throwing the football for 93 yards.
    The Longhorns averaged 3.3 yards per play on Saturday. The offense’s anemic production matched the per-play output in a 2022 loss to TCU for the second-worst for a Sarkisian offense on the Forty Acres, trailing only the 3.2 yards per play Texas averaged in a 2021 loss to Iowa State.
    Furthermore, after a low-penalty game against Oklahoma, the offense had two critical infractions late in the game. Those errors contributed to 24 of the Longhorns’ 55 plays coming on passing downs (second-and-8 or longer and third and fourth down with a to-go distance of five or more yards) and 12 plays from scrimmage (not counting two kneel-downs by Manning) that went for no gain or lost yardage.
    “We do some things that are, obviously, very frustrating,” said Sarkisian, whose offense faced six third downs with nine or more yards needed to convert (5-for-16 on third-down attempts). “You get a hold on the first play of overtime. You get a false start in the fourth quarter when we're trying to put the game away. We catch a pass with a minute to go and we go out of bounds without getting the first down, or stay in-bounds and make them use the other timeout. There's little things that we're not doing offensively. We miss open throws. Clearly, I'm not calling enough stuff for our guys to feel good about what we're doing."
    On Saturday, Sarkisian’s offense had half as many three-and-outs (4) as first downs (8).
    Arch Manning, who has been sacked 13 times in four games against Power Four competition, had to try and make something out of nothing too often while, once again, facing an absurd amount of pressure. The Wildcats harassed Manning in 15 of his 32 dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus, accounting for a 46.9 percent pressure rate.
    When he had time to throw, Manning’s 12-for-27 outing (132 yards) was eerily reminiscent of his performance against UTEP earlier in the season, making this game another that was marred by poor execution and numerous missed opportunities.
    “We've got to find ways to get him more completions,” Sarkisian said of Manning, who was 4-for-9 for 51 yards on third down. One of Manning’s four third-down completions was a 9-yard strike to DeAndre Moore Jr. on a third-and-7 en route to Shipley’s game-tying field goal late in the fourth quarter.
    “There’s some good things there, but there’s some layups that we’ve got to hit for him, too, and that he needs to hit,” Sarkisian said. “We need to find more of those opportunities for him.”
    After the 2015 loss to the Fighting Irish, Strong stripped Watson of play-calling duties and Swoopes was benched in favor of Jerrod Heard. Sarkisian isn’t going to demote himself and he admitted afterward that he didn’t entertain the idea of sitting Manning for a stretch and going with Matthew Caldwell.
    Still, comparing Saturday’s offensive showing against a Kentucky (2-3, 0-3) defense that came into the game allowing 192.7 rushing yards per game in SEC play side by side with a 38-3 bludgeoning at the hands of Notre Dame, a team whose two regular-season losses came to top-12 opponents on the road by a total of four points, frames the historically horrific nature of the offense's attempt to build on their efficient, productive afternoon in last Saturday’s win over Oklahoma.
    Thankfully, Texas continues to put up a united front. The defensive leaders chose to prop the offense up rather than throw the other side of the ball under the bus.
    Even when Sarkisian said the Longhorns’ identity is centered around the defense and kicking game, Colin Simmons, who had three sacks and a forced fumble in the win, felt his coach must've misspoke.
    “We're a team. We're a whole team,” Simmons said. “It ain't just defense and special teams. It's defense, special teams and offense. We've got the offense's back. The offense has got our back and the special teams got both of our backs.”
    Anthony Hill Jr., who had a game-high 12 tackles and notched his first interception of the season, said the defense understands how much it must help the offense right now. Hill indicated the defense is comfortable carrying the load, specifically because Pete Kwiatkowski’s group has the talent, experience and leadership to get the job done.
    “We know we're very young on that side,” Hill said of the offense. “We've got a lot of older guys on defense, so we want to help them out and just keep lifting them up and keep pushing them because we know their time is coming.”
    Even though the Texas offense’s ceiling is significantly lower than anyone expected, a repeat of Saturday’s performance will all but guarantee another loss, especially with the upcoming uptick in competition.
    The offense can't be expected to evolve into a juggernaut. Still, an identity in which winning the field position battle and counting on the defense to keep the opponent’s point total down is the path to victory won’t get Texas anywhere if the offense continues to drag the other two phases down.
    The defense and the punt team could’ve secured one of Kentucky's four combined fumbles. The Wildcats' 7-for-18 night on third down extended too many drives in which the Texas defense had a chance to get off the field.
    Nevertheless, the offense was so bad on Saturday that the Longhorns needed the defense to be elite and the kicking game to be virtually flawless to win. While the bar doesn’t appear to be set very high for what the offense must do to carry its weight, their ability to clear it (and by how much) will determine what becomes of the 2025 season.
    “If our style of game and our style of play is that we're going to play hard-nosed football and we're going to play great on defense and great on special teams, we need to be more efficient on offense with the opportunities that we get,” Sarkisian said. “That's what we need to do offensively, is we've got to minimize the self-inflicted wounds and become more efficient.
    “We just… We weren't efficient enough tonight.”

    Jeff Howe
    LEXINGTON, Ky. — A goal-line stand by the defense and Mason Shipley’s third field goal of the night helped No. 21 Texas avoid a staggering upset on Saturday with a 16-13 overtime road win over Kentucky at Kroger Field.
    On Texas Football has live coverage of the postgame press conference with coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns.

    Jeff Howe
    On the eve of No. 21 Texas attempting to build on winning last Saturday’s 23-6 fist fight with Oklahoma when it faces Kentucky on the road (6 p.m., ESPN), what Colin Simmons said on Monday stands out as the theme of the week for Steve Sarkisian’s team.
    Texas (4-2, 1-1 SEC) wants its suffocation of the Sooners to be the jumping-off point to a prosperous second half of the regular season. Coming off of his most productive game of the season (five tackles and 2.5 sacks), Simmons, who was named SEC Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week for his performance in the win over Oklahoma, was blunt in his response when asked about the challenge of maintaining the mental approach the Longhorns carried into the Red River Shootout.
    “Well, I'll let you know this right now: We're not here for the emotional roller coaster. We're not here to go up and down,” Simmons said. “We're only here to go up and be consistent.”
    Simmons, along with the other Texas players who met with the media on Monday, and Sarkisian referred to Saturday’s meeting with the Wildcats as “an SEC Championship Game.” While that might sound disingenuous on the surface, the mantra speaks to the Longhorns' understanding that a loss to Kentucky (2-3, 0-3) would all but put an end to their hopes of returning to Atlanta for the second consecutive season.
    A start to Saturday’s game that mirrors what happened when Texas got itself into an early 10-0 hole in Gainesville on Oct. 4 (Florida hung on for a 29-21 win that knocked the Longhorns out of the Associated Press Top 25) is one from which the Longhorns might not recover. Mark Stoops has had better teams than the one he’ll lead onto Kroger Field. Still, the Wildcats’ potential to successfully utilize a ground-and-pound style of offense (Kentucky averages 159.4 yards per game and 4.22 yards per attempt on the ground) is the kind of attack capable of protecting a lead.
    According to College Football Data, the Wildcats average 3.2 line yards per carry, which ranks fifth in the SEC. According to the metric, which distributes a percentage of the credit for an offense’s rushing yards to the offensive line, the Kentucky offensive line gets the job done in the running game better than all but four lines in the conference.
    For all of the talk about the Texas offense needing to start fast, the defense’s job is just as important in that regard.
    “We've got to come out and stop the run,” defensive tackle Hero Kanu said on Monday. “That's, obviously, the mindset we’ve got to have.”
    In the loss to the Gators, Florida gained 94 of its 159 rushing yards in the first quarter. If the Longhorns can replicate what it did against the Sooners — the defense allowed only 80 sack-adjusted rushing yards (3.2 yards per attempt) and, once Texas grabbed the lead in the second half, turned up the heat on John Mateer to the tune of five sacks — it will go a long way toward making sure the team returns home with all of its goals intact.
    “We've got to force them to have third-and-longs,” Kanu said. “We've got to stop them on first and second down. That's really the mindset we have and we know what we've got to do.”

    Jeff Howe
    Texas replicating exactly what it did while choking the life out of Oklahoma en route to winning the Red River Shootout for the third time in four years is a formula capable of giving the Longhorns a chance to win their six remaining regular-season games.
    Specifically, Texas (4-2, 1-1 SEC) would love the manner in which it manhandled the Sooners in the second half to carry over to the back half of the schedule, which begins with Saturday’s road game against Kentucky (6 p.m., ESPN).
    After trailing Oklahoma at halftime, 6-3, the Longhorns recorded a 20-0 edge on the scoreboard in the second half. Texas had a 188-88 advantage in total yards, racked up 91 net yards and averaged 3.8 yards per attempt on the ground and got a near-flawless performance from Arch Manning (11-for-13, 97 yards and a touchdown).
    Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense held Oklahoma’s offense to a combined 1-for-10 effort on third and fourth down and an average of 2.9 yards per play after halftime. A defense that failed to record a sack in losses to Ohio State and Florida got to John Mateer five times, with constant pressure (according to Pro Football Focus, Mateer was pressured on 17 of his 47 dropbacks), contributing to the quarterback’s three interceptions.
    Steve Sarkisian’s club “showed a lot of maturity and mental toughness and resolve and then, ultimately, imposing our will as the game went on,” he said during his press conference on Monday. Now, with Saturday’s trip to Lexington looming, the internal challenge is building on the process that led to the team’s success in Dallas.
    “Do we get right back to those same habits that we had last week?” Sarkisian said. “With the intent, with the sense of urgency, making every rep count in practice and then playing the brand and a style of football that we're very proud of, which is a physical one?”
    For Texas to continue being a team that can finish strong, the Longhorns must start becoming one that gets off to faster starts. When analyzing the first three drives for Texas and its opponents in the team’s three games against Power Four competition, the Longhorns have made a habit of putting themselves behind the 8-ball.
    Texas’ starts against the Power Four: Three games, nine total possessions
    Texas
    Points: 7
    Total Offense: 45 plays, 178 net yards (3.96 yards per play)
    Rushing: 23 carries, 68 yards (2.96 yards per attempt)
    Passing: 15-for-22, 110 yards
    Third Down: 1-for-10
    First Downs: 8
    Penalties: Nine for 85 yards
    Opponents
    Points: 20
    Total Offense: 68 plays, 344 yards (5.06 yards per play)
    Rushing: 36 carries, 152 yards (4.22 yards per attempt)
    Passing: 18-for-31, 191 yards, one interception
    Third Down: 7-for-13
    First Downs: 21
    Penalties: One for five yards
    The win over the Sooners was a microcosm of the Longhorns' early-game struggles.
    For starters, penalties and negative plays plagued their first three possessions. When the dust settled on those drives, Texas mustered only 40 total yards (3.1 yards per play) and was 0-for-3 on third down while facing a minus-6 play differential (19 snaps for Oklahoma to 13 for the Longhorns).
    When the offense took the field facing a 6-0 deficit with 9:09 remaining on the clock, Texas got it together.
    A 12-play, 75-yard drive took 4:40 off the clock and ended with a 39-yard Mason Shipley field goal, allowing the Longhorns to break through on the scoreboard. On that series, Texas wasn’t assessed a penalty and, although Quintrevion Wisner was dropped for a 1-yard loss one play after he burned the Sooner defense for 37 yards, Manning’s third-and-10 completion to DeAndre Moore Jr. for 14 yards on third-and-10 was the first of two third-down conversions on the drive.
    In short, the Longhorns proved that they’re capable of playing complementary football against a formidable opponent.
    “It's like, 'Guys, can we just execute a little bit and move forward?’ Third-and-6 is a heck of a lot better than third-and-12 or third-and-23 or third-and-whatever. Just give ourselves a chance,” Sarkisian said. “Then, when they start to figure out, 'Hey, this is a lot easier,' Arch is like, 'Wait, this is a lot easier.'
    "Then what happened? The penalties, all of a sudden, went away," he added. "We're more productive. We have a 12-play drive, a 14-play drive, a 10-play drive — we're controlling the ball. The defense is getting their rest. They're playing with a little bit more energy on defense. That's where the complimentary football piece comes into play.”
    To build on the win over Oklahoma, and for Texas to avoid getting into a hole against the Wildcats, Sarkisian needs his squad to get into a rhythm and play successfully off each other a lot earlier than it’s taken them to get settled.
    “We have to be able to take things throughout the week — and then on Friday — that we say, 'Hey, these are going to be things we're going to open the game with, and we've got to execute those things with confidence.' We did it better later in the game than we actually did earlier in the game, so we've got to do a better job as a staff to instill that in them, for them to understand that this is what's going to get called — we don't need to have any anxiety. We had too many breakdowns early in the game, for my liking. That's an area where we have to improve. We should be starting games better than we have been and we need to do that. We've got to — as a staff — find a better way to instill that in those guys.”

    Jeff Howe
    Steve Sarkisian was available to field questions from the media on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference ahead of No. 21 Texas traveling to Kentucky for a conference road game on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN). Sarkisian’s normally scheduled obligation occurred one day after the departures of running back Jerrick Gibson and kicker Will Stone from the football program.
    When asked what went into their respective decisions, Sarkisian didn’t elaborate beyond the facts of the situation.
    “They wanted to redshirt and transfer,” Sarkisian said.
    According to Pro Football Focus, the two snaps Gibson logged in last Saturday’s 23-6 win over Oklahoma marked the fourth game in which he’s played this season. The same is true for Stone, who missed the team’s non-conference wins over UTEP and Sam Houston with what Sarkisian indicated was a back ailment.
    Gibson, the team’s de facto short-yardage back, rushed for 152 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries. Even with C.J. Baxter Jr. on the mend after suffering a hamstring injury in the team’s 27-10 win over UTEP on Sept. 13, Sarkisian expressed confidence in the other running backs on the roster picking up the slack.
    “Who will take those carries is everybody,” Sarkisian said. “Whether that's Tre [Wisner], whether that's Christian [Clark], whether that's James [Simon], whether that's Cedric when he gets back, we've got ample bodies. We should be OK in that aspect of it all.”
    Mason Shipley, who handled kickoff duties in the two games Stone missed, will resume those responsibilities, Sarkisian said.
    While the Longhorns have enough scholarship bodies at most positions to avoid in-season departures crippling depth at a particular spot, Sarkisian isn’t a fan of players who feel forced to make decisions like the ones Gibson and Stone deemed best for themselves. The NCAA appears to be on the verge of granting student-athletes five years to complete five seasons of eligibility, a model dubbed the “5 in 5” plan, which Sarkisian believes would curb situations like the one Texas (4-2, 1-1 SEC) is dealing with while competing for a berth in the SEC Championship Game and a third consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff.
    “I think it's a terrible position to put these players in to make these decisions right now, but there's money involved, there's revenue sharing, there's NIL — there's different factors,” Sarkisian said. “I think it's putting agents and family members and student-athletes in a difficult position to make business decisions in the middle of the season, but that's where we're at. I'm not really here to complain about it; that's just the reality of the situation we're in. When a player asks to do that, I thank him for their time and I wish them the best of luck. I mean, what else are we supposed to do at that juncture? These are the rules that we've put in place. We've got to operate within the parameters of the rules.”

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