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Posted
2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Dude. It’s an existential certainty we are going to beat the shit out of these teams. This roster is way too good not to. It will teach us nothing. 

Nah. We were told the same shit last week. Our roster is too good we were sacking sayin a dozen times. We were gonna hang 30 blsh blsh. Our defense I agree is lights out. But I’m a show me.  Fuck what it looks like on paper. Texas has had the better paper roster for a decade 

Posted
29 minutes ago, Im_smarter_then_you said:

Fucking 9 am out here

I love our 9am west coast games.  Wake up. Gym. Longhorns and now I have the rest of my day to do whatever.  It’s glorious 

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Posted
5 minutes ago, Sgt Hulk said:

Nah. We were told the same shit last week. Our roster is too good we were sacking sayin a dozen times. We were gonna hang 30 blsh blsh. Our defense I agree is lights out. But I’m a show me.  Fuck what it looks like on paper. Texas has had the better paper roster for a decade 

You have no conception of how bad those teams are. Are you surprised every day when you wake up to the sun rising in the east?  

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Posted
10 minutes ago, Sgt Hulk said:

I love our 9am west coast games.  Wake up. Gym. Longhorns and now I have the rest of my day to do whatever.  It’s glorious 

Feel that way about 10am mountain time games. I can hike and make it back in time for the game or just miss the first Q if I get a late start 

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Posted

Mechanically if Arch looks like he did last year in his 2 starts we will all feel much better about the rest of the season. If he continues the Uncle Rico footwork, spraying the ball around like late career Chuck Knoblauch and we blow out San Jose on some big runs and defensive TDs, concern will linger.

That's why these games matter

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Posted

Sunday - Bobby

Spoiler

Sunday

 

Bobby Burton

By Bobby Burton

  • 22 hours ago
 

Arch Manning is not infallible. For those trying to make negative premature judgements, I’d caution against that.

Strongly.

Manning had a good fourth quarter, sustained four drives in the second half, while working through a difficult day at the office.

Part of the problem was Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia was clearly determined not to let the Texas passing game beat him. The gameplan worked.

Arch also had a couple of nifty runs to keep drives alive earlier in the game and was not taking easy sacks the entire contest.

Those are things Texas can and will build on.

So long as he grows from here, and gains confidence, he’s ultimately going to be as good as expected.

And I say that with a relatively large amount of confidence in spite of what we witnessed against the Buckeyes.

**

The red zone woes are real.

With Patricia taking away the deep passing game, the Buckeyes ceded some of the run game.

So Texas moved the ball between the 20s.

Yet if the only two tweaks to this year’s short-yardage scheme are QB power and the tush push, then Steve Sarkisian may have misgauged the depths of the team’s issues.

As much as anything, Texas needs a red-zone identity and a cohesive plan that emphasizes that identity.

And, at some level, there needs to be more short-yardage run-game focus against the types of fronts that opposing defenses like to deploy.

For instance, the Ohio State offense clearly identified its go-to play against the Horns. The Buckeyes scored their fourth-down rushing TD yesterday on the same exact short-yardage play they hit for a TD in the Cotton Bowl against Texas.

**

Some other brief notes:

- A blitz pick-up by CJ Baxter was outstanding. It was “winning” football.

- The deep ball down the sideline to Jack Endries was best perhaps the best throw and best catch of the day.

- Parker Livingstone’s touchdown catch was terrific. He fought through a lot of hand traffic to make that catch. We are going to need more of that this season from multiple receivers.

- The pass breakup by Graceson Littleton on Jeremiah Smith was about as pretty of a defensive play as you will see. Just outstanding.

**

Overall, I loved what the Texas defense did yesterday.

But I want to issue a slight word of caution.

The Buckeyes did not really test the Longhorn secondary as much as we thought they might. Instead, Ohio State played it really close to the vest, especially after entering halftime with the lead and their own defense clearly flummoxing Manning and Sarkisian.

I know people think the Texas defense is outstanding. And the signs are there that they likely will be. But my suggestion is don’t overreact to the positive on the defense (or to the negative on offense).

IMO what we really learned about the defense yesterday is three-fold.

1. First and foremost, Texas stopped the run with a lighter box. That is HUGE. That will pay dividends down the road.

2. They are a sure tackling team. I don’t recall a single, obvious missed tackle. Poor tackling usually either signals a lack of athleticism or a lack of physicality. Texas displayed neither.

3. They play with a lot of fight. Ohio State tried to lean on Texas in the 3rd and 4th quarter and Texas was just having none of it.

Overall, it was an impressive defensive performance. But we need to see Texas play an offense that attempts more than just 20 passes in a game to really tell IMO.

**

- Alex January and Maraad Watson were the starters at defensive tackle.

- Connor Stroh started and played all but a couple of series over Neto Umeozulu.

- Graceson Littleton did not “officially” start but he played on the very first series of the game.

- Texas deployed a lot of 12 personnel and used Jack Endries and Spencer Shannon almost exclusively.

**

Cedric Baxter’s return was very welcome. Baxter ran hard, even if he didn’t quite have the same explosiveness out of a cut in the first quarter.

His hands out of the backfield, his willingness to pass protect and his outright strength in the run game are all outstanding traits.

I want to add this:

I’m told Baxter, playing without a brace, was completely healthy after the game. That alone is a great sign for his continued recovery.

**

Now that camp is over, I can finally explain why I had such consternation over Trevor Goosby’s injury.

Goosby had a medical procedure two weeks ago, inserting a plate into his hand. That’s why there was obvious concern over the healing process.

Had it been merely taping fingers together or a ligament tear, the prognosis would have been much clearer.

The end result is that Goosby played and looked good on Saturday.

There was rarely any pressure coming from Arch’s blindside. Additionally, the combo of Goosby and Stroh opened up some nice holes on the left side.

**

It was the very first thing I noticed in fall camp and it proved true on Saturday.

The punting game is miles different from a year ago (or at least a good 10 yards).

**

Play this game again in January of 2026, at a neutral site, and let’s see who wins.

Hook’Em

Monday - Still Working: Bobby

Spoiler

Monday - Still Working

 

Bobby Burton

By Bobby Burton

  • 2 hours ago
 

While it’s Labor Day, the team is not off today. They’ll be on the practice field here momentarily.

Coach Steve Sarkisian is then set to speak with the media around 10:30am this morning.

Sark will almost assuredly be asked about the team’s red zone woes, the inconsistent play of his quarterback and his offense as a whole, and whether or not any player sustained serious injury.

**

There are a lot of micro issues that can be discussed about the Ohio State game (many of which we’ve already written and spoken about).

But the macro issue is this:

Texas came up short again.

Even though Texas matched or even bested the physicality of Ohio State on Saturday while out-gaining them on the ground, the Horns could not break through and win the game.

What is it going to take for Texas to break through and win games against teams with equal talent? Against teams like Georgia or Ohio State.

Some thought the issue might be the former Texas quarterback, some thought it might be a lack of team physicality on the offensive line, some thought it might be a variety of factors. But it turns out many of the faces have changed but the results remain the same.

Therefore, the question remains unanswered.

What is it going to take to win those games?

My response: better execution, better play-calling, more experience for some of those new faces, and a couple of players stepping up to become true difference makers, not just regulars or starters.

If all of those things don’t happen, Texas will not be a championship team this year; they won’t break through.

As I wrote in the pre-season, Texas has all of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle on the table. Now it’s truly about putting all of those pieces together.

That’s where this Texas team is at post-Ohio State. They’re very much a work in progress as of Labor Day, 2025.

 

Posted
3 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Dude. It’s an existential certainty we are going to beat the shit out of these teams. This roster is way too good not to. It will teach us nothing. 

No one will go into the first snap at Florida confident in what we'll see. 

But this offense desperately needs this next month to go back to the drawing board and get their shit together. It's like a 2nd chance at a fall camp after another top tier program just exposed your offense. 

Sark needs to look in the mirror and realize defenses are sitting on all of his stuff. Most don't have the talent level to completely stuff it, but people we have to beat to get a title like Georgia and OSU do.  

Posted
47 minutes ago, cmontexas said:

Mechanically if Arch looks like he did last year in his 2 starts we will all feel much better about the rest of the season. If he continues the Uncle Rico footwork, spraying the ball around like late career Chuck Knoblauch and we blow out San Jose on some big runs and defensive TDs, concern will linger.

That's why these games matter

Bad mechanics didn't show up last year when he was playing shitty competition; they did show up versus Georgia. On one play versus Georgia, he had time, yet he missed a wide-open receiver in that game. What if his bad mechanics only show up when he's overwhelmed and anxious about playing a talented roster? These games will tell us nothing, but I hope he gets over whatever it is in big games and gets more help from Sark next time when we play Florida.

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