Jeff Howe

It was clunky so I cleaned it up. Sorry for the confusion.

The focus regarding which phase of the game most needs to turn things around when No. 8 Texas faces Sam Houston at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN+/SEC Network+) has centered around the Longhorn offense. Still, as good as the Texas defense has been through the first three games, Pete Kwiatkowski’s side of the ball could use a tune-up. Specifically, the last game before jumping into SEC play is an opportunity to improve the pass rush by putting heat on Bearkat quarterbacks Hunter Watson and Mabrey Mettauer. As far as Steve Sarkisian is concerned, the issue has more to do with the Longhorns adjusting to how opponents are trying to neutralize the impact Colin Simmons and the bevy of pass rushers Texas has on hand, rather than personnel deficiencies. “I think the ball came out Saturday, on average, 1.8 seconds,” Sarkisian said on Monday when he was asked about the pass rush, referencing the pressure the defense put on Malachi Nelson last Saturday in a 27-10 win over UTEP. “You can only get so far with somebody in front of you in 1.8 seconds. It's just difficult. “People are going to try to attack the holes in our game and they're going to try not to get exploited by the strengths that we have in our game. One of our strengths are our edges,” he added. “One of our strengths is our pass rush and the multitude of ways that we can get to a quarterback. We have to anticipate what they're going to do to try to combat that, and part of that is getting the ball out of their hands quickly. Part of that might be moving the pocket some.” The Longhorns came into the season with the tools to field arguably the fiercest pass rush in the country. While the Texas pass rush hasn’t been woeful, by any stretch, it hasn’t been as impactful as expected. With six sacks through three games, the Longhorns are tied with Missouri for ninth sacks in the SEC, which is good enough to be tied for No. 69 among FBS defenses. They’re in the same realm regarding pressures generated; Pro Football Focus has credited the Texas defense with 46 pressures, which is tied with Texas A&M for the seventh-most in the SEC. Skewing the numbers is the plan Ryan Day and Brian Hartline devised for Julian Sayin to execute in the season opener. In Ohio State’s 14-7 win, Sayin only dropped back to throw the ball 20 times, according to PFF, with the Longhorns pressuring him on just five of his dropbacks. There have been more opportunities to rush the passer in the team’s last two games, resulting in 39 total pressures and all of the defense’s sacks. Even though Nelson got the ball out quickly, Texas pressured him 11 on time 39 dropbacks, according to PFF, which almost equaled the number of times Nelson had been pressured through two games (Nelson was pressured on 12 of 56 dropbacks entering last week’s game). The Longhorns can have success building on the pressure they've generated, with conditions ripe to pin their ears back and get after the quarterback on Saturday. According to PFF’s pass blocking efficiency rankings for offensive lines, Sam Houston is tied for 108th nationally out of 136 FBS offensive lines. The Bearkats have allowed 33 pressures through three games under first-year coach Phil Longo; only nine FBS offenses have allowed more pressures than Sam Houston, according to PFF. Watson has been pressured on 38.2 percent of his dropbacks (26 of 68). Mettauer has been pressured 15 times on 48 dropbacks (31.3 percent), and his pressure-to-sack percentage (33.3) means one in every three pressures Sam Houston’s opponents have gotten against the Wisconsin transfer have made it home. Sarkisian believes the defense left upwards of three sacks on the field in the team’s 38-7 win over San Jose State on Sept. 7. For more fruitful returns on the pass-rushing opportunities Texas gets, Sarkisian has stressed to the defense the importance of maintaining their rush lane integrity and utilizing a disciplined pass rush. “Maybe it's not how many opportunities you get to get the quarterback on the ground, but making the most of the opportunities when you do get them,” Sarkisian said. “That's what we're trying to train our guys to do.” View full news story

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.

Can we just drop it and move to something else? Please!

Just stop responding to him.

I'm just asking that it ends.

JMarquette and Oldest Horn, take it somewhere else. Any other public posts directed at each other will be deleted.

Folks, please take your personal conversations elsewhere. If you need to address each other, don't do it in the thread.

I'm not throwing in the towel, but I'm worried. Very worried.

The Texas offense is bad. I won’t declare it broken. I believe it can be repaired and that the Longhorns can put a product on the field capable of helping them win games in the SEC. But Steve Sarkisian’s offense regressed from a middle-of-the-road performance against San Jose State to a clunker in Saturday’s 27-10 win over UTEP. After three games, Texas is 12-for-42 on third down, 5-for-12 on fourth down and 8-for-13 in the red zone with six touchdowns, two field goals, two interceptions and three turnovers on downs. The Miners outperformed the Longhorns on first down (5.3 yards per play for UTEP to 4.5 for Texas), committed fewer penalties (six penalties for 34 yards for the Miners, while the Longhorns were docked 81 yards on seven penalties), got a more efficient day throwing the football from Malachi Nelson (24-for-36, 209 yards and two interceptions) than the one Texas got from Arch Manning (11-for-25, 114 yards, one touchdown and one interception) and averaged more yards per play (4.4 to 4.2 for the Longhorns). Scotty Walden and his staff deserve a lot of credit for showing up ready to play. UTEP wasn’t intimidated by Texas, came to town with a sound game plan and made the Longhorns work for 60 minutes. The 4.2 yards per play by the Texas offense marked the fifth-worst single-game output under Sarkisian. The only games in which the Longhorns have been worse under Sarkisian were losses to Arkansas (4.0 yards per play) and Iowa State (3.2) in 2021, TCU (3.3) in 2022 and last season's regular-season meeting with Georgia (3.4). The issues on offense exist beyond failing to play to a standard or the personnel Texas didn’t have (Quintrevion Wisner, DeAndre Moore Jr. and Emmett Mosley V were out and C.J. Baxter Jr.’s day was done after one carry). Sarkisian’s attack lacks an identity and whether it was Manning’s erratic afternoon (10 consecutive incompletions at one point), the times the offensive line lost the battle at the point of attack (the Miners didn’t record a sack, but they had five tackles for loss and 12 of the Longhorns’ 56 official rushing attempts either lost yards or went for no gain) or poor situational execution, the Texas offense found different ways to stumble throughout the day. The week leading up to the Sam Houston game next Saturday (7 p.m., SEC Network+) will be a time when Sarkisian must look in the mirror and determine a course of action on offense. The offense Sarkisian wants (and the one a lot of other people, myself included) isn’t one the Longhorns can have right now. With one non-conference game left, Sarkisian must take the information he’s gathered so far and try to build confidence across the board by building on what the offense can do well. It might mean that Manning runs the ball more than what Sarkisian initially expected (he ran for two touchdowns, and he and Matthew Caldwell had the longest runs from scrimmage on Saturday, both recording 14-yard gains). It could mean figuring out which portions of the short passing game can get Manning in a rhythm early in the game so that the defense doesn’t automatically play coverage to prevent the deep ball, rendering the passing game helpless, which is what it was for almost the entirety of the UTEP game. Sarkisian and Kyle Flood could examine personnel along the offensive line and try a different combination. Whatever answers Sarkisian comes up with, Texas can’t have a repeat performance of Saturday’s debacle the rest of the way. Even though the defense held up their end of the bargain (six tackles for loss, sacks by Hero Kanu and Zina Umeozulu and interceptions by Jelani McDonald and Graceson Littleton while holding the Miners to a 4-for-13 performance on third down and an 0-for-3 effort on fourth down) and the kicking game is showing signs of growth (Jack Bouwmeester got back on track with a 47.8-yard net punting average, Mason Shipley went 2-for-2 on field goals and Ryan Niblett had a 49-yard punt return), the offense is operating at a level so far below a championship standard that it’s hard to look beyond the next game on the schedule when envisioning the trajectory on that side of the ball. View full news story