Jeff Howe

If I could talk to Arch, I'd tell him that if he's worried about the worst-case scenario unfolding, stop. Getting booed at home is about as bad as it's ever going to get for a Texas quarterback. The pressure is off. Cut it loose and play like you've got nothing to lose.

I don't believe I've written or said anything that would or should put me in the camp with the other folks you mentioned. I don't want to blow smoke, but I'm not being negative for the sake of being negative. This article has nothing to do with loyalty. I'm attempting to find answers to the problem or dig into why things are in the shape they're in and what can be done to remedy the issue(s).

I haven't attacked Arch personally. I agree with the poster that things went off the rails after the two-play sequence in question. I'm sorry, but I don't believe anything I've written is attacking the Longhorns or any players. The point of my article is that the offense has an issue that, in hindsight, has existed since the preseason. I hope they get it fixed. I want them to get it fixed.

Couldn’t agree more.

I've been stuck on Sark's Aug. 5 quote for the last few days. I hope this isn't something that lingers, but this offense clearly needs something positive in a hurry to have any hope of righting the ship.

The line just doesn't block zone run consistently, which takes time and is more about understanding the play design than losing a battle at the point of attack. There's a lot of guys standing around watching the pile, which is more often than not a missed assignment rather than someone just getting beat.

The Texas offense’s inability to move the ball consistently and maximize scoring opportunities through three games is staggering. The Longhorns enter the non-conference finale at home against a 0-3 Sam Houston club on Saturday (7 p.m., SEC Network+), averaging 24 points per game and 5.39 yards per play. Steve Sarkisian’s fifth season running the program is off to the worst three-game start Texas has experienced on offense since 2014, when Shawn Watson’s unit averaged 20.7 points per game and 4.57 yards per play through the first three games of the Charlie Strong era. The reality of where the Longhorns are offensively, 18 days away from a trip to Florida for the SEC opener, is sobering. Injuries have sidelined Quintrevion Wisner, C.J. Baxter Jr., DeAndre Moore Jr. and Emmett Mosley V through the non-conference schedule, compounding the experience issues Sarkisian knew existed on offense, even if Arch Manning had a full complement of weapons around him. “I'm not naive to think we wouldn't have some growing pains,” Sarkisian said during his weekly news conference on Monday. “I just want those growing pains to... I want to get tall as fast as we can and feel good and start playing. That's the race that we're in. I'm comfortable in saying we're going to get there. I just want to get there sooner rather than later.” Manning has been under the gun publicly since he put up a clunker in last Saturday’s 27-10 win over UTEP, with an 11-for-25, 114-yard performance through the air. While he accounted for the offense’s three touchdowns (one passing and two rushing), the fifth start of Manning’s career was marred by a forgettable second quarter, one in which he went 2-for-12, including 10 consecutive incomplete passes, for 15 yards and an interception. When it comes to helping Manning get back on the right track, Sarkisian said he feels “good about the process that we're in right now,” adding that Manning “had a great practice this [Monday] morning.” “So many times, what happens is you can start looking at yourself, beating yourself up, focusing on yourself. Well, it's already hard enough. The other team is already trying to beat you up,” Sarkisian said. “The other team is already trying to knock you down, so let's not self-inflict wounds. “Let's take some of that frustration and anger out on them.” Nothing Sarkisian said throughout training camp foreshadowed the struggles the No. 1 team in the preseason Associated Press Top 25, a club whose players spoke openly about their national championship aspirations while being quarterbacked by the odds-on favorite for the Heisman Trophy, has experienced. Still, what he said roughly four minutes into his post-practice availability on Aug. 5 could be a massive red flag missed by virtually everyone with a pulse on the squad, especially since it might be the best way to describe the current state of the Texas offense. “One thing for us that I think, with players that are trying really hard, we have to learn to feel... we have to learn how to deal with disappointment a little bit better. What I mean by disappointment is not every play is going to go perfect,” Sarkisian said. “You might miss a block, you might not catch that ball, you might not get the yardage you thought you were going to get on the run, but you've got to get onto the next play. You’ve got to give the next play the credit it deserves because that next play has a life of its own. I think, right now, a little bit on offense, we're trying so hard that there's this level of disappointment, that we're carrying some of that to the next play and some of those mistakes are compounding on top of one another for certain players. We've got to improve upon that and, as a coach, once you can identify that, we can talk to that, we can coach to that, but I think that's something we can improve upon.” Even if Sarkisian, his assistant coaches and other staff members did everything they could to resolve the problem at the time, the Longhorns are still working through it on some level. This is a time when offensive leadership must step up. Unfortunately, the leaders on that side of the ball are on the mend physically (Cole Hutson is on the list of players whose health will be monitored leading up to Saturday’s game, along with Baxter, Moore and Wisner), aren’t playing up to their potential (along with Manning and Ryan Wingo’s struggles, D.J. Campbell has the second-most accepted penalties against him among FBS offensive linemen with five, according to Pro Football Focus) or are gaining the experience they need to maximize their leadership capabilities. The Longhorns won’t get out of their current predicament overnight. Sarkisian said on Monday that “leadership always starts with us as coaches." He remains confident that the offense will eventually get over the current dilemma. Nevertheless, with only one opportunity left to work on itself before entering the SEC portion of its schedule, Texas needs a heightened sense of urgency when analyzing and attacking its problems. “We want to see a well-oiled machine offensively, on special teams, on defense, playing our best football when our best is needed,” Sarkisian said. “We've got to get there as quickly as possible.” View full news story

It's nice to watch Red Zone on a Sunday and see a lot of Longhorns across the league.

Angle or not, Josh Simmons was on some Larry Allen stuff to deny Mukuba a pick-six.

This is the same Turkish League club Dogus Balbay played for and and helped lead to two EuroLeague titles:

In all honestly, I can’t looked beyond Sam Houston with this team right now. You don’t have time to envy your neighbor’s house when yours is in dire need of repair.

I thought I mentioned Simon among my thoughts, but I left him out. That was my mistake. He was the unquestionable bright spot on offense today.

The Texas offensive line hasn't shown it can support such a style of offense.

To me, broken would imply that there's no hope. That the offense is beyond repair. Texas can put a competitive product on the field, but it's going to take Sark calling the game and changing the way he calls/manages a game to play off of the defense and special teams. It won't be sexy, but something has to give.