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    Jeff Howe
    As Saturday’s 29-21 loss to Florida unfolded, it became clear that Texas has significant issues.
    Some of those issues can be fixed over the seven remaining games on the regular-season schedule, but others will require changes after the season. Still, Saturday’s loss to the Gators came down to the Longhorns losing the line of scrimmage battle in a landslide.
    From the jump, Florida (2-3, 1-2 SEC) punched Texas (3-2, 0-1) in the mouth up front and never let up.
    The Gators finished the game with six sacks and seven tackles for loss. While the Longhorn offensive line might not be solely responsible for each of those negative plays, the fact that the Texas running backs ran for 15 yards on 11 carries on a day when the running game tallied 52 net yards on 26 official attempts is a direct reflection of how the offense was soundly defeated at the point of attack.
    ***
    Nick Brooks briefly replaced Connor Stroh at left guard in the first half. The true freshman started the second half next to Trevor Goosby, with Steve Sarkisian and Kyle Flood searching for an answer to help generate a push.
    Although he was flagged for consecutive false starts on a fourth-quarter drive, I could see Sarkisian and Flood giving Brooks another shot.
    Whether Brooks is in the starting lineup against Oklahoma or not, Saturday’s performance made it clear that the starting offensive line mix — as it was through the first five games of the season — isn’t the answer to getting the offense untracked.
    ***
    Offensively, everything Texas couldn’t afford to have happen did.
    Unable to establish the run, the Longhorns had to put the fate of the offense on Arch Manning’s shoulders. The result was a mixed bag, with Manning (16-for-29, 263 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions; 37 net yards on 15 official rushing attempts) making his share of plays to keep Texas in the game, along with a few turnovers and a final possession of regulation he’d like to have back.
    Operating a one-dimensional offense, moving the ball came down to Manning’s ability to make a play. It’ll require a more nuanced evaluation to determine if the mistakes down the stretch were things to worry about or a case of a quarterback trying to make the best of a bad situation.
    Manning did enough positive things to believe he can truly trend upward in the not-too-distant future. Still, he’s not at a point of elevating everyone around him to the point where he can mask the offense’s deficiencies.
    ***
    It doesn’t seem right that I’ve gotten this far into writing my postgame thoughts without talking about the defense.
    It was disappointing that things played out for the offense the way they did, but it wasn’t a total surprise. I, however, was flabbergasted at how Florida gashed Texas on the ground (159 yards, 4.3 yards per attempt), negated the Longhorn pass rush and gave DJ Lagway (21-for-28, 298 yards, two touchdowns and one interception) enough time to hit six explosive plays (15 or more yards gained through the air).
    Coming into the game, Texas allowed five rushing attempts to gain 10 or more yards. The Gators had five double-digit-yard runs in the first half (only 13 through their first four games).
    Only Auburn had fewer 20-yard gains through the air than Florida (10) before Saturday’s game. Lagway connected on four such plays against a Longhorn defense that allowed only six through four games.
    Jadan Baugh (107 yards and a rushing touchdown on 28 carries) and Dallas Wilson (111 yards and two touchdowns on six catches) made the kinds of plays the Longhorn skill players didn't or couldn't come up with on Saturday.
    ***
    The 2021 Iowa State game (a 30-7 loss) is the last loss I can remember Texas suffering in which it lost the line-of-scrimmage battle as it did in the Swamp.
    You’d have to go back to the Arkansas game that same season to find the last time a Sarkisian-coached Longhorn squad was bullied to the extent the Gators pushed Texas around from start to finish.
    ***
    There’s a lot more to digest from the loss than these time-constrained thoughts.
    Still, the following must be said: Talk of the SEC Championship Game or the College Football Playoff, at this point, is pointless. This is beyond a play-calling issue or a few personnel fixes for this team to become what it hoped to grow into by season's end.
    Against a desperate team, coming off a bye and knowing the kind of road environment they’d be going into, the Longhorns lost a game in which they were soundly defeated in all three phases.
    Considering the circumstances, and with Texas still unable to play disciplined (10 penalties for 70 yards) and/or complementary football, an argument can be made that this was the worst loss of Sarkisian’s tenure. While I have recently given Sarkisian credit for not suffering a head-scratching loss, my trust in the staff to avoid an unnecessary toe stub the rest of the way must be rebuilt after Saturday.
    The Longhorns can still be a good team. But Saturday’s performance didn’t inspire any confidence that Texas can turn the corner any time soon.
    Jeff Howe
    With Emmett Mosley V hopefully making his Texas debut on Saturday, when the ninth-ranked Longhorns travel to the Swamp to face Florida (2:30 p.m., ESPN), and the Gators expected to have true freshman Dallas Wilson available for the first time this season, Arch Manning and DJ Lagway could get some much-needed perimeter weaponry for their respective offenses.
    If Mosley and Wilson are on the field, the wide receivers might do more than beef up the Texas (3-1) and Florida (1-3, 0-1 SEC) passing games. Stressing the opposing defense enough to give the running game a boost could be the difference between winning and losing, especially if the weather gets sloppy and the ground attacks become more of a factor.
    Neither running game has set the world on fire through four games. Based on the raw yardage output, the Longhorns have been good, ranking 37th nationally and seventh in the SEC in rushing yards per game (202.8).
    Still, the team’s average yards per rushing attempt (4.89) is behind last season’s pace (5.01) with one quarter of the regular season in the books.
    Getting Quintrevion Wisner and potentially C.J. Baxter Jr. back will give Texas two proven commodities in the backfield. The return of either runner will take some of the running game burden away from Arch Manning, although his legs will likely continue to be a major part of Steve Sarkisian's game plan.
    Where Wisner and Baxter need to make an impact is their ability to maximize runs. That’s one way to bring some juice to a running game lacking explosiveness.
    Texas has 24 rushing attempts that have gone for 10 or more yards this season, which ranks ninth in the SEC. Alabama and Oklahoma are the only SEC clubs with fewer rushing attempts that have gained 20 or more yards than the Longhorns (three), none of which have come from running backs.
    Manning’s 20-yard touchdown run on a scramble against San Jose State and two big gains in the Sam Houston game by Ryan Wingo (32 yards on an end-around) and Matthew Caldwell (an option keeper for 50 yards) account for the offense’s three longest rushing attempts from scrimmage. Baxter had an 18-yard run against San Jose State, which is the longest by a Texas running back this season.
    With running backs Jaden Baugh and Ja’Kobi Jackson back from last season, along with four starting offensive linemen (preseason All-American Jake Slaughter and preseason All-SEC pick Austin Barber among them), Florida’s running game has the pieces to be arguably the best in the SEC.
    Instead, the Gators are averaging 123 yards per game, which is the third-worst in the conference and No. 106 in FBS.
    Florida averages less than four yards per rushing attempt (3.94) and, like Texas, hasn’t been able to lean on big plays on the ground. Alabama’s offense is the only SEC attack with fewer rushing attempts that have gained 10 or more yards than the Gators (13), who’ve matched the Longhorns’ three gains from scrimmage of 20 or more yards (a 27-yard run by Jackson in a road loss to Miami is the longest gain on the ground for Florida through four games).
    Whether either running game gets untracked on Saturday will be easier said than done.
    Texas is No. 3 nationally against the run (59.8 yards per game allowed), leads the SEC in yards per rushing attempt allowed (2.13), has held five consecutive opponents to under 100 yards rushing and has allowed only five rushing attempts to go for 10 or more yards. The Gators are a top-40 defense nationally against the run (111.3 yards per game and 3.37 yards per attempt allowed) with a Pro Football Focus team tackling grade of 85.7, which is the second-best in the SEC and ranks No. 6 in the country.
    While the Longhorns cruised to a win in last year’s meeting with Florida, with a 49-17 drubbing in Austin, Anthony Hill Jr. remembers the Gators rushing for 197 yards. Florida’s output was second to Arizona State’s 214-yard effort in the Peach Bowl for the most rushing yards allowed by the Texas defense in 2024.
    With Billy Napier’s offense returning a lot of the pieces the Longhorns saw last season, they're preparing for a fierce trench battle on Saturday.
    “We know the type of athletes they have,” Hill said on Monday. “We know who they recruit — we've probably lost some recruits to them — so we know they have the athletes. We're just going to go out there and play the best football we can.”
    Jeff Howe
    When the dust settles on Saturday’s SEC action, including a pair of top-25 showdowns — No. 13 Ole Miss hosts No. 4 LSU in Oxford and No. 5 Georgia welcomes No. 17 Alabama to Athens — everyone will get a better feel for the conference pecking order entering October.
    The good news for Texas, even with an open date on the schedule, is that more football must be played before clear-cut frontrunners for SEC Championship Game berths emerge.
    The Longhorns, who’ve spent 36 consecutive weeks ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25, might not get another chance to prove themselves to the rest of the country as a championship-caliber squad until Nov. 15, which will mark their third meeting with Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs in 393 days. If Texas dispatches a reeling Florida squad in Gainesville next Saturday, upends an Oklahoma club without the services of John Mateer and gets through a run of games against Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt unscathed, it won’t move the needle nationally.
    Still, even if the Longhorns get the Gators’ best shot, the Sooners get Mateer back from his recent hand surgery in time for the Red River Shootout and the Wildcats, Bulldogs and Commodores prove themselves to be more formidable foes than what they appear to be on paper, it shouldn’t matter to Steve Sarkisian or anyone else inside the Moncrief Complex. With all due respect to the team’s upcoming SEC opponents, Texas must continue to look within and focus on self-improvement. Failing to embody the “being enamored us” mantra that’s driven the Longhorns to 28 wins in their last 34 games would greatly enhance the odds of Texas slipping up before the team’s second bye week (Nov. 8).
    Last Saturday’s 55-0 win over Sam Houston didn’t put the Longhorns in the fast lane to Atlanta in and of itself. Nevertheless, there were enough positive things that happened in the game that, if built on properly, can form an identity Texas could ride into the College Football Playoff.
    Specifically, the split zone RPO, which is enhanced by Arch Manning’s running ability, has the makings to be the focal point of the offense’s identity in the red zone. Instead of waiting, hoping the offensive line gets to a point where it can consistently win in short-yardage situations, the split zone RPO gives Kyle Flood’s group much-needed margin for error.
    DeAndre Moore Jr.’s return from injury provided a huge lift for the offense last Saturday. How much higher is the offense’s ceiling when Moore, C.J. Baxter Jr., Quintrevion Wisner and Emmett Mosley V are a part of Sarkisian’s game plan?
    Then there’s Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense, which has held its last five opponents to under 100 yards rushing, including Ohio State twice.
    The Longhorns have forced six turnovers in their last three games. The takeaways were evenly split between fumble recoveries (three) and interceptions (three), proving the defense can dominate the ball in multiple ways.
    Even with Anthony Hill Jr. (16 tackles, one tackle for loss and two fumble recoveries) and Colin Simmons (six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and three quarterback hurries) off to slow starts, Texas is holding opponents to an SEC-leading 3.58 yards per play (No. 5 nationally in total defense, allowing 211 yards per game). The Longhorns lead the conference in scoring defense (7.8 points per game allowed, which is No. 4 in FBS) and is among the top 10 nationally against the run, the pass and on third down.
    Texas can't do anything about the state in which their next five opponents arrive on game day. With that said, if the Longhorns handle their business and start to establish consistency, the last three games of the regular season will look a lot less daunting than they might appear, while positioning Texas for a finish befitting a team that benefitted from early-season growing pains.
    Jeff Howe
    At some point, opposing quarterbacks must stop picking on Jelani McDonald.
    According to Pro Football Focus, McDonald has been targeted 15 times in coverage through four games. That’s No. 1 among SEC safeties, and tied for 20th among FBS safeties, but McDonald has made teams pay for throwing in his direction.
    McDonald has allowed eight receptions for 76 yards (9.5 yards per reception). With two interceptions (PFF also has him down for one dropped interception), McDonald has held opposing quarterbacks to a paltry 28.1 NFL passer rating when targeting him.
    A dynamic athlete Texas recruited out of Waco Connally in the 2023 cycle, McDonald has thankfully found a position where he’s flourishing, quickly growing into one of the most impactful defensive backs in the SEC.
    “When we recruited him out of high school, we didn't really know what [position] we were going to play him,” Steve Sarkisian said after McDonald intercepted a pass and recorded a tackle for loss in last Saturday’s 55-0 win over Sam Houston. McDonald is targeted once every 7.2 coverage snaps, which ranks 14th among SEC safeties who’ve logged at least 20 coverage snaps, according to PFF.
    McDonald, whose 115 coverage snaps are the fifth-most by an SEC safety, has cushioned the blow the safety room absorbed when Andrew Mukuba’s eligibility expired at the end of the 2024 season.
    “He was playing high school quarterback and, initially, we thought he was going to be a linebacker. When he got here, we moved him to corner, then he found his way back at safety, so his development has been different,” Sarkisian said regarding McDonald’s development. “He's always been very physically gifted, but learning to play the game from that perspective is a little bit different when you've been an offensive type of player. But, to his credit, he's worked on his craft.”
    The Longhorns will face tougher challenges when the conference schedule begins next Saturday, when No. 10 Texas hits the road to face Florida (2:30 p.m., ABC). Still, with Michael Taaffe owning PFF's eighth-best coverage grade among SEC safeties (80.2), a top-tier safety tandem will go a long way toward the Longhorns developing into a championship-caliber pass defense, especially if McDonald continues his current upward trajectory.
    "Jelani has his physical ability, but now he's really tapping into the mental side of the game," Sarkisian said. "He's communicating at a high level, but his play-making ability is obviously elite. He's a great tackler — probably one of our best tacklers on our team. His ball skills are really good. I just think his confidence and who he's become as a leader, I think, has probably been the most impressive thing. This guy's a real leader on our team — he was a captain tonight — so I'm just really proud of all that he's done to get to this point in his career."
    Jeff Howe
    The Texas offense didn’t resolve all of its issues in last Saturday’s 55-0 win over Sam Houston.
    Still, getting DeAndre Moore Jr. back from injury went a long way toward helping the Longhorns cultivate an offensive identity heading into SEC play. A player that Steve Sarkisian said on Monday is “part of our personality,” Moore returned to action following an injury sustained during the team’s 38-7 win over San Jose State on Sept. 6, which caused him to miss the 27-10 win over UTEP on Sept. 13, with a five-catch, 79-yard effort in the victory, closing out the team's non-conference schedule with a bang.
    Moore's five receptions came on five targets, showing his value in the passing game by catching ball within each of the four passing depths tracked by Pro Football Focus: one catch for eight yards behind the line of scrimmage, two catches for 17 yards on short (0-9 yards down the field) passes, one catch for 16 yards on intermediate throws (10-19 yards) and a 38-yard catch on a deep (20 or more yards) ball from Arch Manning.
    Moore has a season-long PFF receiving grade of 72.6, which leads all Texas wideouts and ranks second to Emaree Winston (84.6) among all Longhorns on offense. Of Moore’s 13 targets, five have been behind the line of scrimmage (five catches for 18 yards, with 33 yards after the catch), three have been on short throws (26 yards on three receptions), four have come on intermediate throws (two receptions for 33 yards) and the deep shot against Sam Houston is the only time Moore has been targeted 20 or more yards down the field.
    Where Manning has struggled, and where Moore can help him evolve as a quarterback capable of attacking multiple levels of the field, is in the intermediate game.
    Before the Sam Houston game, Manning was 7-for-21 for 115 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and two turnover-worthy plays (according to PFF, a TWP is a pass that has a high percentage chance to be intercepted or a poor job of taking care of the ball and fumbling) on intermediate throws. In the win over the Bearkats, Manning’s 16-yard connection with Moore was part of a 5-for-6, 77-yard night with a touchdown (a 13-yard RPO glance to Ryan Wingo) and no turnover-worthy plays.
    Along with the 16-yard catch, Moore was 21 yards down the field when Manning hit him for the 38-yarder, which was highlighted by Moore gaining 17 yards after the catch.
    “What DeAndre brings is our ability to work the middle of the field really well, and I think we saw that tonight,” Sarkisian said after the game. He highlighted Moore’s 16-yard catch, which came on third-and-9 on the offense’s first possession, a 12-play, 76-yard drive capped by Jerrick Gibson’s 13-yard touchdown run.
    Moore has turned 84.6 percent of his targets into receptions, which is a higher percentage than Parker Livingstone (73.3), Jack Endries (70) or Wingo (44.8) have turned in among Texas players who’ve been targeted at least 10 times.
    Along with the consistency Moore brings to the passing game, he upgraded the team’s perimeter blocking upon his return. In Monday’s film session with the team, Sarkisian said he celebrated the job Moore and Wingo did blocking on a bubble screen to spring Daylan McCutcheon for a 21-yard gain.
    For an offense in desperate need of confidence and energy entering the non-conference finale, Moore’s return came in the nick of time. The Longhorns got a much-needed shot in the arm before the SEC opener against Florida on Oct. 4, which Sarkisian expects to last beyond the Sam Houston game with Moore back on the field.
    “It's the confidence that DeAndre brings,” Sarkisian said after the game. “He's played a lot of football. This guy goes to practice with a great deal of energy, with a great deal of detail and he's hard on the guys around him about what they're supposed to do and how they're supposed to do it, whether he's in the play or not.
    “For DeAndre to be in practice all week, I think, kind of set the tone for what the expectation was.” 
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