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Posted
On 9/13/2025 at 9:06 PM, sith_horn said:

 

I've linked it to start with Sarkisian.  Drag it back to start if you want to hear Arch.

Look at Arch's body language and tone. He's saying all the right things, but he looks completely defeated. This shit isn't righting itself any time soon. 

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  • closetojumping changed the title to Texas Football 2025 - Careening Towards the Abyss
Posted
26 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

I think the idea is that Milwee and Flood are supposed to help formulate the gameplan and be the lead voices in the room when Sark has to go to a defensive meeting or whatever. I've heard the analyst they promoted to assistant QB coach (Bimonte) is pretty involved too and is who sits in the box as the eyes in the sky for the offense.

Maybe it has changed, but several years ago, I heard a second-hand story about a game where Sark was on the headset asking the offensive assistants for recommendations/suggestions and was basically met with crickets. 

It feels like the natural end to this is offseason upheaval that brings in fresh ideas. Sark did it really well during PK's first year when the once great DC had no answers during a rough season. Will Sark spice up his own offensive stew? He's already had his life's greatest comeuppance, so I assume he won't be to stubborn to adjust.

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Posted

the fact that sark won't call the game to his team's strength - the defense and punting is mind bottling.  the QE discussion goes to the real problem - coaching - not so much to the past. ball security, penalties, asinine fourth and go for it calls and play down to your level offensive production points to coaching. yeah Arch's head is turned backwards, but if the genius trifecta of sark, flood and milwee would punt the ball, kick the field goal, and stop the OL penalties this team as is will win at least 9 with arch wearing a paper sack over his head. it won't take much from the genius trifecta to get 10 wins. from there it's on arch, but to me it starts with the coaches.

Posted
15 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Unfriendly reminder to idiots posting on this thread about Quinn Ewers and what all that entails - there is a thread dedicated to that shit, so go the fuck over there with Ewers stories and fantasies. Thanks.

In other news, clearly something that is happening right now that isn't working is Sarkisian getting way too fucking cute with personnel and playcalling management. 

Regarding personnel, yeah, January can't go because he's got a throat injury. Maybe Baxter can't go with a real hamstring injury. A lot of the other guys being held out for dings and cuts need to be getting reps with their units, as much for the unit as for the player. "It's a long season" as a refrain sounds dumber than a soliloquy from Spider2YWhateverTheFuckThatIdiotIsCallingHimselfNow. This is not a playoff team as currently presented. This is 1991 Texas incarnate. Get guys out there and figure out some cohesiveness, as they all might be/probably are playing 13 games max this season.

If Sarkisian and his combover idiot friend know that Yips Manning isn't going to be fixing much by Florida, have some fucking courage and put in the Caldwell spare early against SHSU and let's see what he can do with the first team unit. 

Regarding playcalling, it's time to go in the bag a bit for Arch Rocker and let him cut some deep balls loose, early. If he lands a few of those, maybe that loosens the guy up and his bugs get fixed. If that happens and he's still Glitch Manning, then go back to the earlier point about Caldwell. Get him in there. At some point, Texas needs to be running the actual offense that Sarkisian wants it to run. This is a brutally inexperienced offense. They need to be figuring out how the actual playbook functions at full speed and seeing reps there.

Other personnel things that should be getting analyzed are:

1) LG - they played Stroh with the 1st unit exclusively in order to get them gelling. How did that work out? If progress isn't being made there, let someone else get similar reps in this next game. 

2) 3rd String QB - Lacey has passed Owens. However, they want him to redshirt. If Arch Knoblauch isn't functional and Caldwell gets hurt or sucks as well, Lacey would ostensibly be the guy. All 5'10", 170 pounds of him. So get the guy reps against SHSU in the second half and let him run the offense. 

Is Trey Owens seen as totally inept and unplayable by the coaches? The limited reps we’ve seen of him publicly suggest, what, maybe an average P5 starter? That doesn’t seem too bad at the moment. 

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Posted (edited)
17 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

"It's a long season" as a refrain sounds dumber than a soliloquy from Spider2YWhateverTheFuckThatIdiotIsCallingHimselfNow. This is not a playoff team as currently presented. This is 1991 Texas incarnate. Get guys out there and figure out some cohesiveness, as they all might be/probably are playing 13 games max this season.

If Sarkisian and his combover idiot friend know that Yips Manning isn't going to be fixing much by Florida, have some fucking courage and put in the Caldwell spare early against SHSU and let's see what he can do with the first team unit. 

Regarding playcalling, it's time to go in the bag a bit for Arch Rocker and let him cut some deep balls loose, early. If he lands a few of those, maybe that loosens the guy up and his bugs get fixed. If that happens and he's still Glitch Manning, then go back to the earlier point about Caldwell. Get him in there. At some point, Texas needs to be running the actual offense that Sarkisian wants it to run. This is a brutally inexperienced offense. They need to be figuring out how the actual playbook functions at full speed and seeing reps there.

Other personnel things that should be getting analyzed are:

1) LG - they played Stroh with the 1st unit exclusively in order to get them gelling. How did that work out? If progress isn't being made there, let someone else get similar reps in this next game. 

2) 3rd String QB - Lacey has passed Owens. However, they want him to redshirt. If Arch Knoblauch isn't functional and Caldwell gets hurt or sucks as well, Lacey would ostensibly be the guy. All 5'10", 170 pounds of him. So get the guy reps against SHSU in the second half and let him run the offense. 

Spider2YWhateverTheFuckThatIdiotIsCallingHimselfNow  comment hilarious 😂😂😂      agree Stroh experiment needs to end.  

Sark owes some reps to other QBs on Saturday if available... with this defense, Sark owes the TEAM better QBplay/offense and a reasonable shot to compete for the SEC Championship...  

 

Edited by LTtxfan
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Posted
9 minutes ago, scramblyn said:

the fact that sark won't call the game to his team's strength - the defense and punting is mind bottling.  

You think Sark is calling the same guy against UTEP he's going to call against Florida or OU?  Cmon now.

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Posted
8 minutes ago, scramblyn said:

the fact that sark won't call the game to his team's strength - the defense and punting is mind bottling.  the QE discussion goes to the real problem - coaching - not so much to the past. ball security, penalties, asinine fourth and go for it calls and play down to your level offensive production points to coaching. yeah Arch's head is turned backwards, but if the genius trifecta of sark, flood and milwee would punt the ball, kick the field goal, and stop the OL penalties this team as is will win at least 9 with arch wearing a paper sack over his head. it won't take much from the genius trifecta to get 10 wins. from there it's on arch, but to me it starts with the coaches.

So what was your old handle before you got crowd sourced? Asking for the entire board.

If you can't understand that Sark is trying desperately during these games where we're playing inferior opponents to try and get this offense back ON the rails, I don't know what to tell you. If he's doing the same dogshit against Florida, you can bitch about this, but as of now he's trying desperately to fix this shit before it's too late and what you describe is the only option. 

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Posted

Tbh the OL struggles probably should have been more expected than they were. 4 new starters are going to have growing pains. We all sorta overlooked that. I don't understand Stroh over Neto though.

The Arch stuff is still weird. Watch his every pass video from the MSU game last year - he was hitting everything including some very tough passes. It gives me hope that he still has the somewhere but clearly he's gotta get his mind right to find it.

I'm also 100% on board the fire Milwee train. Over his time here, Ewers improved but not as much as anyone expected. Arch has regressed so far. Owens looked good in the spring game last year but apparently can't crack the top 3 over two newcomers. Maalik was shaky at best in year 2. I'm less worried about playcalling than whatever the fuck this guy is doing with the QBs.

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Posted
30 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

The problem is that now Sark needs to have the balls to pull Manning and play Caldwell. I'm not holding my breath. 

Connor Stroh with all 85 snaps. I'm not sure there's a bigger indictment of Sark's coaching this season than that right there. 

He's unacceptable. That picture posted above in the thread? Where him, Hutson, and Campbell are all on the ground? It's because Stroh tripped over his own feet and tripped the other two. He is actively damaging the performance of the offensive line more than anyone on the defensive lines we've played. Him still being on the field is exhibit A in the case to fire Flood. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, SydneyCarton said:

So what was your old handle before you got crowd sourced? Asking for the entire board.

If you can't understand that Sark is trying desperately during these games where we're playing inferior opponents to try and get this offense back ON the rails, I don't know what to tell you. If he's doing the same dogshit against Florida, you can bitch about this, but as of now he's trying desperately to fix this shit before it's too late and what you describe is the only option. 

where did I say he wasn't desperately trying to get the offense back on the rails? I'm talking about a long term philosophy and track record of his with extremely talented texas teams. the offense has its problems, but at some point, he's going to have to trust his defense, his offense is that bad.  PM sent, seriously.

Posted
Just now, SydneyCarton said:

If you can't understand that Sark is trying desperately during these games where we're playing inferior opponents to try and get this offense back ON the rails, I don't know what to tell you. If he's doing the same dogshit against Florida, you can bitch about this, but as of now he's trying desperately to fix this shit before it's too late and what you describe is the only option. 

Yeah he was never going to open up the playbook against SJSU and UTEP for a lot of reasons and that's how most top teams operate. That's perfectly reasonable. Although now he might need to just to get Arch some easy throws for his confidence

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Posted

As I watched Sark call running play after running play into the teeth of the vaunted UTEP defensive line, I got real “If you children don’t start behaving in the back seat, I’m driving this car into the ditch” vibes. 

Posted
7 minutes ago, Skipper said:

You think Sark is calling the same guy against UTEP he's going to call against Florida or OU?  Cmon now.

his redzone tactics, his fourth and go for it mentality. you really think he's going to adjust for fla, ou, and georgia and take 3 points on 4th and 3 from the 5 yard line or punt on 4th an 2 from midfield.

do you really think that?

if you do, please tell me in the record of the last 2 years where there is evidence of that.

Posted
50 minutes ago, MrBig said:

I still don’t understand the logic of hiring Neal Brown who was fired from West Virginia and bringing his RB coach Chad Scott to coach our RBs. 

Not only was he fired from West Virginia, the QB situation got progressively worse every year. 

Posted (edited)

false dichotomies is a real thing.

1. get arch back on track, or on track for the very first time as needed for the heart of the SEC schedule.

2. be a better game day coach as we head into the heart of the SEC schedule.

these are not mutually exclusive.

 

* for the record, I think his scheme is fine - for a QB that can throw the football. guys are open, guys are schemed open, I have no issue with the passing game structure, I have major issues with his in game management and that plus Arch's tilt a whirl head game is gonna fuck us.

Edited by scramblyn
Posted
7 minutes ago, scramblyn said:

his redzone tactics, his fourth and go for it mentality. you really think he's going to adjust for fla, ou, and georgia and take 3 points on 4th and 3 from the 5 yard line or punt on 4th an 2 from midfield.

do you really think that?

if you do, please tell me in the record of the last 2 years where there is evidence of that.

Sigh.  Post less.

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Posted
20 minutes ago, Sal said:

Is Trey Owens seen as totally inept and unplayable by the coaches? The limited reps we’ve seen of him publicly suggest, what, maybe an average P5 starter? That doesn’t seem too bad at the moment. 

I don't know what the deal is regarding Owens. I know that there is a strongly held belief that Lacey is a 5 star stud in a 3 star body. Now, given the questions many of us have regarding the QB coaching and the staff involved, I don't know how reliable that thinking really is. 

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Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Sigh.  Post less.

wait, you think sark's in game management over the last 2 years is ok and actually helps the offense get back on track? serious question.

Edited by scramblyn
Posted
Just now, closetojumping said:

I don't know what the deal is regarding Owens. I know that there is a strongly held belief that Lacey is a 5 star stud in a 3 star body. Now, given the questions many of us have regarding the QB coaching and the staff involved, I don't know how reliable that thinking really is. 

Milwee likes being taller than someone in the room

Posted (edited)

Right now Qb and OL are major issues. If Arch did not meltdown, the OL would be the story. The only bright spot was Simon

Edited by Codaxx
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Posted
2 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

Milwee likes being taller than someone in the room

Nothing about Milweewee is taller

Posted

Have to bench Arch at this point. At some point I start to worry that the rest of the team (mainly the defense) will begin to mentally quit if they continue playing Arch. He’s clearly not the guy at this moment and a change is needed. 

Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, scramblyn said:

wait, you think sark's in game management over the last 2 years is ok and actually helps the offense get back on track? serious question.

WTF are you even talking about.  I have zero desire to relitigate coaching decisions from last year in the 2025 game thread (or the OSU game this year for that matter).   What I'm certain of is "game management" against fucking UTEP when our offense was actively hitting rock bottom in a game we still had no actual risk of losing means absolutely nothing for future game management in conference play.  If you can't understand that, I don't know what to tell you.  Moving this clown to ignore.

Edited by Skipper
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Posted
Just now, Skipper said:

WTF are you even talking about.  I have zero desire to relitigate coaching decisions from last year in the 2025 game thread (or the OSU game this year for that matter).   What I'm certain of is "game management" against fucking UTEP when our offense was actively hitting rock bottom in a game we still had no actual risk of losing means absolutely nothing for future game management in conference play.  If you can't understand that, I don't know what to tell you.

you only have to go back to Ohio State 3 weeks ago to have major concerns about Sark's in game management. there's nothing to "re-litigate" the combination of Arch's performance and Sark's in game management will fuck us in the ass this year more than once.

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Posted

According to PFF there are 838 offensive linemen in college football who have played at least 25 run blocking snaps.

Connor Stroh ranks 810th in run blocking grade.

I've been actively watching Texas football for 23 years since my freshman year of college. He's the worst run blocking offensive lineman I've seen at Texas. 

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Posted (edited)

"Hell, you can’t do any worse. Get in there" is what Sark will / should say to Matt Caldwell around the 2nd Quarter against Florida. Then he needs to call Deion to get his advice on how early is too early to retire a player's number because Caldwell's ~60% completion rate and somewhat timely throws will look like the great thing a Texas QB has ever done.

Joseph Gordon Levitt Angels GIF

Edited by Danimal
Posted
39 minutes ago, Darth Tron said:

As I watched Sark call running play after running play into the teeth of the vaunted UTEP defensive line, I got real “If you children don’t start behaving in the back seat, I’m driving this car into the ditch” vibes. 

He's always been this way. Playcalling against TCU in 2022 felt punitive. I think Sark is a good dude but I also think he has an angry streak and I think it is most manifest when the team is failing to execute the layups he's feeding them. Maybe I'm just another fucking idiot on this board, but playcalling does not seem like the issue to me. At all.

Some plays get called because they're setting up later plays, not because they're necessarily going to succeed on that down. Sark does that a lot and always has. But what Sark does on offense only works if it's executed. If the players don't execute the play that is supposed to be the payoff for all that set up, then it doesn't mean dick and the whole thing falls apart. If you don't like that style of offense - which, for the record, is not an unreasonable position - then the only fix is a different playcaller or an entirely new OC. You're not talking about changes to game management, you're talking about a wholesale revision to the offensive philosophy. 

7 minutes ago, Red Five said:


Oh good. Let’s spread out the Connor Stroh experience to different positions while we’re also giving him 100% of the 85 snaps at LG.

Stroh needs to be gone. Drop Conner Roberson in at C and move Hutson to LG. Or anything that gets that guy off the field. I cannot believe how "cute" Sark is being about that guy's level of play. He should be irate and Flood should be working to save his job. 

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Posted
31 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

I don't know what the deal is regarding Owens. I know that there is a strongly held belief that Lacey is a 5 star stud in a 3 star body. Now, given the questions many of us have regarding the QB coaching and the staff involved, I don't know how reliable that thinking really is. 

I have a friend whose parents are the neighbors of the Owens' in Cypress (a fine family and people the Owens', btw, generally speaking). Owens is and has always been effortlessly strong and big and fast. So for him to be completely out of the conversation means he's a 3 star in a 5 star stud's body? The inverse of Lacey.

Posted
4 minutes ago, Helobious said:

I’d like to see Cruz finally get his shot, if not at center than LG.

Delightfully on brand, thank you. Truly a bright spot in an otherwise dark thread. 

Posted
22 minutes ago, ATLLonghorn said:

According to PFF there are 838 offensive linemen in college football who have played at least 25 run blocking snaps.

Connor Stroh ranks 810th in run blocking grade.

I've been actively watching Texas football for 23 years since my freshman year of college. He's the worst run blocking offensive lineman I've seen at Texas. 

Half-serious response: I think that's what we look for in a left guard.

Posted
55 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Right now Qb and OL are the entire offense has been a shitshow especially OL. If Arch did not meltdown, the OL  Sark's would be the story.    The only bright spot was Simon

FIFY

Posted
27 minutes ago, Park Gothic said:

He's always been this way. Playcalling against TCU in 2022 felt punitive. I think Sark is a good dude but I also think he has an angry streak and I think it is most manifest when the team is failing to execute the layups he's feeding them. Maybe I'm just another fucking idiot on this board, but playcalling does not seem like the issue to me. At all.

Some plays get called because they're setting up later plays, not because they're necessarily going to succeed on that down. Sark does that a lot and always has. But what Sark does on offense only works if it's executed. If the players don't execute the play that is supposed to be the payoff for all that set up, then it doesn't mean dick and the whole thing falls apart. If you don't like that style of offense - which, for the record, is not an unreasonable position - then the only fix is a different playcaller or an entirely new OC. You're not talking about changes to game management, you're talking about a wholesale revision to the offensive 

I should have clarified that I don’t have a problem with it.  They SHOULD be able to move fucking UTEP off the line.  I get where Sark was coming from.  And that was the game to have that mindset in, anyway.  We weren’t going to lose, even with our O line playing like wusses and Arch playing like my 8 yr old on NCAA.  Might as well run it over and over again until they get it right.

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Posted
1 hour ago, Tex-19 said:

Yeah he was never going to open up the playbook against SJSU and UTEP for a lot of reasons and that's how most top teams operate. That's perfectly reasonable. Although now he might need to just to get Arch some easy throws for his confidence

Arch has had about 30 easy throws this season that he's completely biff'd. There's not much else you can fucking do for the guy when he's throwing behind or below wide open receivers 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. 

Posted
LSU and South Carolina's offenses looked just as bad as ours or even worse. LSU can't run the ball for shit and Sellers has looked just as lost as Manning and can't stay healthy. 

To put it in golf terms, Manning is slicing into the woods and not hitting past ladies tees. Sellers, Lagway, and back in the day, early Simms and Gilbert, were getting good lift on their shots but hooking it, bombing it into water, and three-putting. No one’s breaking 85 from pro tees, but those other guys could at least have a chance on the right course.

Arch looks like this…

giphy.gif

Breaks my heart. Good luck to him.
Posted
49 minutes ago, Vegas64 said:

I have a friend whose parents are the neighbors of the Owens' in Cypress (a fine family and people the Owens', btw, generally speaking). Owens is and has always been effortlessly strong and big and fast. So for him to be completely out of the conversation means he's a 3 star in a 5 star stud's body? The inverse of Lacey.

Owenses

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Jimmy Two Times said:

Say what you want, but Stroh has established continuity. Continually tripping over his 20 inch circumference ankles and nearly crushing anyone in the vicinity. 

tenor.gif

Posted
52 minutes ago, Park Gothic said:

He's always been this way. Playcalling against TCU in 2022 felt punitive. I think Sark is a good dude but I also think he has an angry streak and I think it is most manifest when the team is failing to execute the layups he's feeding them. Maybe I'm just another fucking idiot on this board, but playcalling does not seem like the issue to me. At all.

Some plays get called because they're setting up later plays, not because they're necessarily going to succeed on that down. Sark does that a lot and always has. But what Sark does on offense only works if it's executed. If the players don't execute the play that is supposed to be the payoff for all that set up, then it doesn't mean dick and the whole thing falls apart. If you don't like that style of offense - which, for the record, is not an unreasonable position - then the only fix is a different playcaller or an entirely new OC. You're not talking about changes to game management, you're talking about a wholesale revision to the offensive philosophy. 

Stroh needs to be gone. Drop Conner Roberson in at C and move Hutson to LG. Or anything that gets that guy off the field. I cannot believe how "cute" Sark is being about that guy's level of play. He should be irate and Flood should be working to save his job. 

Plays and schemes only work when they are executed. Right now, the offense and defense look like they are coached by different staffs. The offense has major issues. Sark needs cull the playbook and find a couple things the offense can execute. The OL and QB are struggling, so it is not an easy job. Even vs a UTEP defense running predominantly 3 high safety looks the OL struggled to open holes. SHSU is completely outmanned. Sark needs to find a way to instill some confidence in the offense. If that means running a handful of passing plays and run plays, so be it. Right now the offense needs to learn how to add and subtract, Sark can work towards calculus later. 

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