Collecting all the post-game analysis articles, including those behind paywalls, regarding the UTEP game here:
(Gerald Goodridge) No. 7 Texas 27, UTEP 10: Three things we learned
Eric Nahlin: Sarkisian Faces Tough Choices After Arch Manning’s Passing Struggles vs UTEP
OL - concerns over Flood's recruiting have been percolating for a while over on the recruiting boards. After that first big class where he landed Banks and Campbell, it's been very hit-or-miss, although the sunshine pumpers would always handwave away concerns as usual. Baker has been a disappointment, Campbell is still a penalty machine and Stroh has been a disaster.
RB - we apparently thought our RB room was fine and declined to go after a transfer portal option. The few of us who raised concerns were shouted down, again, by the usual sunshine pumpers (seeing a theme here?) who crowed about how great Baxter and Clark would be coming off of pretty serious injuries.
QB - we bet the farm on Arch being a top quartile QB this year and a significant improvement over Ewers. Massive miss by pretty much everyone on the planet, he's solidly in the bottom quartile of P5 QBs so far this season. Not even the biggest doomers could have anticipated him being this bad as a redshirt sophomore with nearly 200 career passes under his belt so far.
WR - who the fuck knows. We hit in the transfer portal the last few years, this year Mosley was hurt. This room can still look a lot better with a competent QB throwing to them.
Been abroad and catching up on games late this week. Wow, it has not been a great start to the season for the Big 12...
- Arizona State losing to MSU
- Kansas State losing to Army
- Baylor losing to Auburn
- Okie Lite self-immolating against Oregon
...or the ACC
- Clemson losing to LSU
- Virginia Tech losing to Vanderbilt
- North Carolina getting slaughtered by TCU
- SMU falling to Baylor
If this was the year for the Big 12 and ACC to prove that the sport doesn't entirely revolve around the SEC and Big Ten, they've missed that chance.
The head of this crew, Mike McCabe, used to be a Pac-12 official. Fucked up there too.
https://pac-12.com/news/2022/9/25/pac-12-acknowledges-mistake-made-oregon-washington-state-game-confirms-proper
Would be nice to see:
- A clean game with far fewer penalties
- Arch consistently hitting his crossing routes and not firing the ball into the ground with poor mechanics
- A 3rd-down conversion rate that isn't horrific
I consider these realistic asks for a team with CFP aspirations, but I'm sure the usual suspects will show up next week to castigate everyone for having unreasonable expectations, demanding too much from Arch and Sark, etc. etc. when these asks aren't met. As is tradition.
Collecting all the post-game analysis articles, including those behind paywalls, regarding the SJSU game here:
(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: The Texas Longhorns pick up their first win of 2025
Sam Khan Jr.: Arch Manning calls 5-TD game ‘sloppy’ in Texas romp after falling flat at Ohio State
(Gerald Goodridge) No. 7 Texas 38, San Jose State 7: Three things we learned
Manny Navarro: Should Texas be worried about Arch Manning?
Stewart Mandel: No sugarcoating it — Arch Manning underwhelmed in Texas’ loss at Ohio State
Dane Brugler: What did Arch Manning’s performance at Ohio State mean for his NFL Draft outlook?