HUGE determination of success will be PENALTIES. asked coach AI
why did the Longhorns football team have so many penalties year after year?
The Texas Longhorns' recurring penalty problem is primarily driven by systemic pre-snap issues on the offensive line, aggressive over-extension on defense, and a compounding lack of team discipline under head coach Steve Sarkisian. While the Longhorns have consistently field highly talented, playoff-caliber rosters under Sarkisian, their discipline metrics have progressively worsened, culminating in a disastrous 2025 campaign where they finished 135th out of 136 FBS teams by averaging 8.3 accepted penalties per game. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Chronological Trend of the Penalty Crisis
Rather than resolving structural mistakes as players grew older, the penalty issue steadily degraded over several seasons: [1, 2, 3]
2021–2022: The Longhorns were relatively disciplined, ranking 58th and 68th nationally in penalties per game. [1]
2023–2024: As Texas transitioned into a national powerhouse, flags began to mount. They plummeted to 99th (2023) and 94th (2024) in penalties per game, averaging 52 penalty yards against them. [1, 2]
2025: The issue became completely unmanageable. Texas committed 108 enforced penalties for 906 lost yards, dropping to the very bottom of college football in team discipline. [, 2, 3]
Core Reasons Behind the Yearly Penalty Woes
1. Severe Offensive Line Instability and Technique Errors [1]
The single largest culprit has been the offensive line, coached by Kyle Flood. In 2025 alone, 43 of the team's 62 offensive penalties were called on the offensive line. [, 2]
Pre-Snap Jumps: Procedural miscues like false starts plagued the unit, heavily influenced by rotating personnel and a lack of game-speed cohesion. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Repeated High-Volume Offenders: Certain individual players consistently drew yellow laundry. For example, tackle Brandon Baker accounted for 12 fouls and guard DJ Campbell committed 10 in a single season. [1, 2]
2. Overaggressive Defensive Over-Extension [1, 2]
On the other side of the ball, young, highly touted defenders frequently crossed the line between physical play and reckless play. Coach Sarkisian noted that star players frequently got "jumpy" or tried to do too much rather than trusting the system. This resulted in an abundance of costly pre-snap offsides and major post-snap infractions like roughing the passer or personal fouls. Edge rusher Colin Simmons, for instance, led the team in flags due to over-aggression. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
3. Special Teams Blunders
Special teams units underachieved in fundamental positioning, frequently wiping away game-changing plays. Avoidable infractions like blocks in the back and holding calls on kickoff and punt returns routinely backed up the offense, forcing quarterback Arch Manning and the rest of the unit into difficult 1st-and-20 scenarios. [, 2]
4. Offseason and Practice Standards
Analysts and local media have pointed directly to a deficit in internal accountability and self-discipline fostered during the offseason. Because the high-octane offense was talented enough to overcome penalties against lesser opponents, minor errors went unchecked until they manifested as devastating, drive-killing mistakes in high-stakes losses against disciplined teams like Ohio State and Florida. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Sarkisian's 2026 Strategy Shift
Entering the 2026 season, Sarkisian has publicly overhauled how the team handles mistakes. The program implemented severe collective punishments in practice—meaning if a single player jumps offsides or holds, the entire unit faces immediate physical conditioning. Additionally, the coaching staff utilized the transfer portal to bring in mistake-free veteran depth, such as guard Dylan Sikorski, specifically to anchor down the penalization crisis. [, 2, 3]