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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

Quote

The No. 7 Texas Longhorns looked lethargic yet again, playing against an outmatched opponent, struggling to get the offense going, and failing to launch both on the ground and through the air. Texas managed to come away with a win, but it has just two weeks left before the start of SEC play, and there are still plenty of questions remaining for the preseason favorite to win the conference.

The offensive issues are more than skin-deep

The offense looked out of rhythm and, frankly, inept in every aspect of its offensive performance, struggling to get any rhythm going at all. Texas leaned into the run in the game, whether that was the original gameplan or required due to the abysmal play of quarterback Arch Manning. After starting the game 3-5 for 58 yards, Manning’s next 10 passes fell incomplete, including a fourth-down interception in the red zone. He finished the game with 114 yards on 25 attempts and a touchdown, 4.56 yards per attempt. Part of the issue is that Texas still doesn’t know who its go-to receiver is in the group, with last week’s star, Parker Livingstone, effectively disappearing against UTEP.

Part of the issue with Texas’s offensive rhythm is that it lacks a standout at the running back position. Quintrevion Wisner missed his second consecutive game due to injury, and CJ Baxter left the game after one carry for six yards, leaving Jerrick Gibson, Christian Clark, and freshman James Simon to carry the load. Simon finished as the game’s leading rusher with 67 yards, while Gibson, who avoided his usual struggles with ball security, added 64 yards of his own. Manning was Texas’s most effective threat on the ground, rushing nine times for 51 yards and the Longhorns’ two touchdowns on the ground.

The defense can carry the team, again

While UTEP was able to put up numbers against Texas, they kept the Miners’ offense in check for most of the contest, surrendering the Miners’ lone touchdown of the game, which came with 1:57 left on the clock. The Miners managed just 2.2 yards per carry on the ground and 5.8 yards per attempt through the air, while turning UTEP quarterback Malachi Nelson over twice. Jelani McDonald and Graceson Littleton took advantage of Nelson’s struggles at quarterback, both securing their first interceptions of the season.

The Longhorns spent a lot of time in the UTEP backfield, with six tackles for loss in the contest, including bringing down Nelson for two sacks and two additional hurries. Hero Kanu’s sack marked the second consecutive week where a Texas defensive tackle brought the QB down, while Zina Umeozulu added the game’s other sack.

Texas’s special teams are growing

Jack Bouwmeester has already emerged as a threat for Texas, but the rest of Jeff Banks’ unit had a lot of questions left after the first three games. Texas fans finally got an extended look at Mason Shipley, who went 2-2 on the day from 30 and 31 yards, keeping the Longhorns comfortably ahead in the game. We also saw Ryan Niblett finally break out as a return threat, specifically on punts, finishing the game with 72 yards on three chances, including a long of 49.

It wasn’t perfect from the unit, with Warren Roberson notching two block-in-the-back penalties in the second quarter, pushing the Texas offense back before they even took the field. Unforced errors continue to plague the Longhorns, with 76 total penalty yards on the defense and special teams alone.

Eric Nahlin: Sarkisian Faces Tough Choices After Arch Manning’s Passing Struggles vs UTEP

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I’m writing this a little too immediately after the game. The absolutists are out in full force making strong declarations about how the whole season is going to go. They might end up being right, but they don’t know with nearly as much certainty as they think they do. I got a text from a buddy—one of our investors, actually:

“Gotta play Arch like Haynes King and mimic Georgia Tech. Protect the defense, ask Arch to make 10 throws a game, always kick field goals, never go for it on 4th down. Figure out how to get to 24 points each game. Best chance moving forward, imo.” Some stuff I agree with. Sounds like K-State in days of yore:

But also, that’s a bit absolutist as well—“always kick field goals” and “never go for it on 4th down.” His point about protecting the defense is well taken, though. My thinking is Steve Sarkisian believes this would be the floor for his team. He’s seeking alpha and upside. He’s an offensive coach and expects much more from his own side of the ball. However, if the offensive line doesn’t start blocking better, he’s going to have to run Arch a lot more than he ever anticipated. Another reason he’s going to have to run Arch more than expected…

He’s struggling mightily as a passer. I had confidence in Sark when he was 5–7. Many of you don’t have confidence in him now after The Rebuild. It’s a bridge too far for me to try to debate those people or to agree that Arch is a bust, but Sark may be a bit too proud in his ways. He also may have misjudged his offense.

It’s one thing for Arch to have jitters against Ohio State—entirely something else to miss layups against UTEP at home. It’s one thing to replace four starters on the offensive line, but another to apply the same context Sark did in saying he still had experience returning. That experience isn’t showing up. I love the defense. I love the program culture. There were many other positives today that I’ll get into tomorrow, but Sark may need to rethink his approach based on team strengths and weaknesses.

 

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Posted

These guys are mouth breathing idiots. Best Texas team ever, arch looks great all the camp talk was so dumb they aren’t coaches, they don’t know shit. Waste of space on the internet if you ask me.

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Posted

In fairness, the offensive off season reports weren't exactly glowing.   There was just hope that the reason was because the defense was so elite and we were breaking in a new OL and skill players.  But in reality, shit is fucked.  This looks like late era Mack Brown ineptitude on offense.  

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Posted
15 hours ago, RabidM said:

In fairness, the offensive off season reports weren't exactly glowing.   There was just hope that the reason was because the defense was so elite and we were breaking in a new OL and skill players.  But in reality, shit is fucked.  This looks like late era Mack Brown ineptitude on offense.  

That's what I remember.  The 9.95 stuff I read about fall camp said the offense looked like shit.  

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Posted
16 hours ago, satyanash said:

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

 

Any Scipio postmortem nuggets? 

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Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, troph said:

These guys are mouth breathing idiots. Best Texas team ever, arch looks great all the camp talk was so dumb they aren’t coaches, they don’t know shit. Waste of space on the internet if you ask me.

Well, really no more so than this board and these thread.  If you give them that much credibility.  Some have some good thoughts, others don't, or don't often, but no one has any real answers.

Arch was anointed based on essentially $9.95ers, the actual ones and the national ones, and some of us bought into it hard.  And that's not to say the "2A Lousiana" naysayer crew were right, either.

Edited by TwiceHorn
Posted
58 minutes ago, surlyujest said:

Any Scipio postmortem nuggets? 


If he analyzes the offensive line his post game write up might not be suitable for children. I watched a lot of football yesterday and I did not see a single game that featured an offensive line worse than ours. That included multiple G5 and Big 12 games. 

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Posted
4 hours ago, satyanash said:

(Scipio Tex) 2025 UTEP Postmortem: Offense

 

Thanks. I guess there's a chance that we just need to ice that cake and then "we're back".

Gotta be uncomfortable accountability wise in the coaches' room for Sark's core team of Flood, Milwee and Banks. 

Posted

I have noticed that OL recruiting hasn't been very good after Kelvin Banks and Cam Williams.  Lots of big, heavy 3 stars, which means Kurt Flood has to develop them physically and technique-wise.  Stroh, Robertson, Goosby, and Baker haven't been developed for strength.  The penalties show the issue with technique training.  College football is about coaches.  They either got stupid or lazy.

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Posted
12 minutes ago, Monahorns said:

Lots of big, heavy 3 stars

I hate their approach.  Good feet should be the first thing you look for

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Posted
27 minutes ago, Monahorns said:

I have noticed that OL recruiting hasn't been very good after Kelvin Banks and Cam Williams.  Lots of big, heavy 3 stars, which means Kurt Flood has to develop them physically and technique-wise.  Stroh, Robertson, Goosby, and Baker haven't been developed for strength.  The penalties show the issue with technique training.  College football is about coaches.  They either got stupid or lazy.

I mentioned this last year and got smoked for it but the vast majority of the OL/DL that were responsible for the 2023-24 playoff runs were Herman recruits. Sweat, Murphy, Collins, Broughton, Sorrell, Jones, Majors, Conner. Sark and staff did not ID and eval any of those. Kelvin Banks is the obvious exception but I don't know that you get a lot of credit for that eval, everyone in the country had an offer in and he was a stud from day one.

Fortunately it does look like the ability to evaluate and develop from start to finish is there on the DL side, which is impressive given coaching turnover. And certainly Flood did good work with Jones and Majors (less so Conner). But the career arcs of DJ Campbell, Cole Hutson, and Cam Williams are the first returns we have on Flood's ability to evaluate/develop his own guys and they are... a mixed bag. Campbell and Williams are/were both inconsistent and undisciplined, Cole Hutson is just bad. Goosby looks pretty solid at LT. I think you can cut Baker some slack as a second year guy, I don't even know if he's 20 years old yet. Campbell is another one who could have gone wnywhere in the country but his development, while not completely absent, does leave you wanting more. The rest of Flood's recruits either don't look great after several years or can't get on the field over guys that don't look great after several years. I don't know that we have proof of concept that we can actually evaluate OL talent.

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Posted
11 hours ago, gmr548 said:

Fortunately it does look like the ability to evaluate and develop from start to finish is there on the DL side, which is impressive given coaching turnover. And certainly Flood did good work with Jones and Majors (less so Conner). But the career arcs of DJ Campbell, Cole Hutson, and Cam Williams are the first returns we have on Flood's ability to evaluate/develop his own guys and they are... a mixed bag.

I think it’s obvious they really would have liked another year with Williams but that doesn’t explain weak shit interior play for three years running.

If it was released that DJ Campbell was actually deaf and couldn’t hear snap counts it would help explain a lot.  

Those Bama lines that got Sark and Flood the Texas jobs were mostly recruited under Brent Key, who’s clearly a badass. 

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Posted
3 hours ago, LCHorn said:

I think it’s obvious they really would have liked another year with Williams but that doesn’t explain weak shit interior play for three years running.

If it was released that DJ Campbell was actually deaf and couldn’t hear snap counts it would help explain a lot.  

Those Bama lines that got Sark and Flood the Texas jobs were mostly recruited under Brent Key, who’s clearly a badass. 

Yeah, Cam Williams was always going to be a project and him making a stupid decision to leave early isn't on Flood.

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Posted

(Scipio Tex) 2025 UTEP Postmortem: Defense/Special Teams

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The Texas defense played a vanilla defensive game plan against the UTEP Miners but continued to display a well-rounded set of playmakers and disruptors that go as many as 24 deep.

The Longhorns held UTEP to only 10 points and forced QB Malachi Nelson into a seemingly endless series of checkdowns while keeping a lid on the Miner running game with honest fronts. Nelson finished the game 24 of 36 for only 209 yards and 2 interceptions, but frankly Nelson played better than his five star counterpart on the other side of the ball. He kept his composure and had a couple of nice throws into tight windows, but my characterization of Nelson as a single read QB proved out.

It’s telling that UTEP didn’t attempt a single throw 20+ yards down the field. Nelson didn’t have the time and Texas always had two safeties parked deep. UTEP’s final average depth of target was a scant 4.8 yards. UTEP popped a 30 yard run, but on their 21 other normal carries, they yielded 26 yards. UTEP was 4 of 18 converting money downs, including an 0 for 3 mark on 4th down, including a terrific short yardage stop on their first drive of the game. 

Tone setter there. The DL did a fantastic job of not just getting lower than the Miner OL, but also burrowing, driving their legs, and resetting the line of scrimmage. The linebackers are then free to play over the top. That’s how you do it. Overall, this was a workmanlike performance and though you’d have liked to have kept UTEP from scoring a touchdown, it’s probably instructive that it came with 1:57 left on the clock against an assortment of second teamers running basic stuff.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Ethan Burke balled out. He had 5 tackles in only 29 snaps, a tackle for loss, a pressure, a QB hurry, and affected a screen with his long wingspan. He’s been great this year. Hero Kanu continues to be our most disruptive interior DL, which is impressive given that the others haven’t been slouches.

There was a four play sequence in the 3rd quarter that really highlighted his disruption. Play 1: Kanu penetrates into the backfield and forces the RB into a waiting Lefau. They split the TFL. Play 2: Kanu flushes Nelson from the pocket by driving the UTEP guard into his face, ends with Lance Jackson cleaning it up as Nelson stumbles forward. Play 3: Nelson, having just seen Kanu collapse his pocket, starts to feel constriction again and auto throws to sideline. Graceson Littleton is squatting in zone coverage for the INT. Play 4, Kanu dominates the guard and gets a tackle for loss on a run play.

Watch the Deep Dive this week, where I’ll be highlighting how his play is creating for others.

Good snaps from Maraad Watson again. I’m realizing that he’s more of a finesse player, but his get off is improving and he’s understanding his role of a hard 30 snaps. Travis Shaw had a nice tackle for loss near the goal line when the UTEP guard tried to zone block him with just a hand. Shaw is a little too big and strong for that. Simmons was good and effective. UTEP was simply getting the ball out too quickly.

Lance Jackson and Zina Umeozulu had some flash snaps and look to be players. Care to guess PFF’s highest graded Longhorn defenders only three games into the season? Burke, Kanu, Taaffe.

LINEBACKER

Some surprisingly casual snaps from Ty’Anthony Smith. One saw him take a terrible angle at a jog on a run play and get lost in the trash. That’s not his nature. We need him flying around like a rabid dog. Lefau led Texas in tackles. He had one missed tackle early but had several hard hits at the line of scrimmage. He owes the interior DL some drinks, they set up him beautifully flowing the RB directly into his unblocked gap multiple times on zone runs. Lefau’s play strength 10+ pounds heavier is noticeably better.

I liked the snaps we saw from Moore playing off the ball at the 2nd level. Clearly an attempt to get him comfortable there for SEC play. We know he’s great in pursuit, but he did some traditional read-blocking-flow, step into interior gap old school LB stuff.

DEFENSIVE BACK

They hit Jelani McDonald for a 33 yard gain on a flawlessly thrown ball. McDonald got his redemption on the next play, snagging an INT as Nelson tried to throw across his body on a roll. Muhammad was a no go zone. Threw at him 3 times for a total of 7 yards.

Guilbeau had a penalty (eh, whatever) but I was more concerned about the 23 yard completion that he surrendered and two missed tackles. He did have some nice stops in coverage and in run support. He will be the target as we face more competent passing games. His play speed looks a step slow compared to his teammates and he’s not always in a great tackling position when he arrives. Four missed tackles on the year now and a 36% whiff rate. Let’s see if that gets better as the year goes on.

JJR had a beautiful PBU but got hit for a 43 yard gain. Or at least he took the fall for it in that coverage. I like his instincts. Seems like a very smart player. Littleton was fantastic covering the slot. They targeted him four times, he surrendered a yard and got an easy zone INT on a ill-fated out route. What a player. Taaffe pretty much hung out deep and flew to the ball. Six tackles, including two hard stops. He’s tackling much more under control this year and not overrunning with attempted missile shots.

Relatively pleased with the secondary overall, particularly considering that we were quite vanilla and barely blitzed.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Every week, the importance of this unit for this particular team crystallizes. Shipley is now 3 for 3 on the year and perfect on XP. That will become increasingly important if the Texas offense continues as it is. Bouwmeester had some field flipping shots. 47.8 average with an awesome 46.5 net.

Ryan Niblett had 3 punt returns for 72 yards, with a long of 49 yards. Finally, some value add in the kicking game. UTEP’s longest return went for 4 yards and they didn’t attempt a kick return. A clear win for the good guys in special teams. Let’s keep that going. This Texas team will need hidden yards wherever it can find them.

FINAL

Other than Guilbeau, tackling was on point after it got a little loose against San Jose State. Good pursuit to the football. Didn’t like the feeling of defensive intensity waning late.

Relatively pleased overall. The quality of offense that Texas faced was poor and the Horns did very little defensively besides line up and play ball. UTEP’s first ten possessions yielded 134 yards on 38 plays at 3.5 yards per play. Their last three possessions yielded 22 plays for 164 yards and a touchdown. I attribute that more to UTEP’s adjustments to a vanilla defense and generous Longhorn substitutions than the Longhorn defense tapping out, but you’d like to see talented second teamers come in and play to the standard with a bit more confidence and cohesion.

The Bearkats and a bye await. 

 

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Posted
On 9/14/2025 at 6:02 PM, satyanash said:

(Scipio Tex) 2025 UTEP Postmortem: Offense

 

He also seems to be back on the S&C tangent he was on in 2021, based on what he said on his podcast yesterday. Something about how the way we lift weights isn't translating to football strength and the top weight room performers are transfers.

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Posted

Bobby Burton: Adversity

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For those of you wanting obvious answers or quick fixes to the QB conundrum, Steve Sarkisian offered none yesterday. At his weekly press availability, Sark acknowledged the issues his QB is having but focused instead on the idea that Arch Manning will be better for it once he comes out on the other side. Of course, Texas fans are wondering when exactly we are going to see the other side. Will it be in 2025? The offense has been so lackluster that lofty pre-season aspirations have already been reduced.

I’ll admit, there is wisdom in what Sark said. Facing adversity, then overcoming it, it makes us all better. And maybe that’s what Manning is going through now. Yet here’s the issue Texas fans are grappling with: Not all quarterbacks overcome that adversity before eventually flourishing. Some just wither. Despite what Sark said, there’s no guarantee that adversity will make Arch Manning a better quarterback, or a quarterback that will eventually lead Texas to a college football playoff. Instead, Sark is making a projection into the future. The problem? A projection doesn’t win games in the here and now.

**

One thing I feel comfortable with is this: Sark is the coach making these statements and these decisions. This is not his first time shepherding a talented young QB through early season woes. He knows better than us whether or not Manning will eventually come through the other side. For those wondering, I remain a big believer in the future of Arch Manning. I don’t think a QB looks tremendous one year and overwhelmed the next. Not without a level of talent that is hard to stop from eventually blossoming. The problem is, Manning’s development is behind what we all expected. Well behind.

**

I’ve seen some comments about moving on to Matthew Caldwell at QB. I’ll agree that Caldwell might be a better immediate option if Manning continues to stumble. But I also want to be clear in this overall assessment: Texas isn’t going to win an SEC title if Caldwell has to start 6 conference games for the Longhorns. The Texas OL isn’t good enough for that, and the other pieces of the offense aren’t either. It’s a reminder to us all that it’s not just the QB who is having issues on offense currently. While so much national focus is on Arch, the offense as a whole has not played well to date. 

 

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Posted
36 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

He also seems to be back on the S&C tangent he was on in 2021, based on what he said on his podcast yesterday. Something about how the way we lift weights isn't translating to football strength and the top weight room performers are transfers.

I remember how proud he was this summer to tell his audience that he got great early odds for Clemson winning it all. He’s always ahead of the game, even when he’s behind. 

Posted
19 minutes ago, Ricky Butler said:

I remember how proud he was this summer to tell his audience that he got great early odds for Clemson winning it all. He’s always ahead of the game, even when he’s behind. 

I can't for the life of me figure out why Paul Waddlington, who maxed out as an undersized LB/EDGE in H.S., has a following.  He's not a coach, aside from his kids peewee team.  He doesn't have experience.  I guess he uses big words to sound smart?  He points out obvious stuff and uses rhetorical traps to call anyone who would disagree with him stupid?

Posted
14 minutes ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

I can't for the life of me figure out why Paul Waddlington, who maxed out as an undersized LB/EDGE in H.S., has a following.  He's not a coach, aside from his kids peewee team.  He doesn't have experience.  I guess he uses big words to sound smart?  He points out obvious stuff and uses rhetorical traps to call anyone who would disagree with him stupid?

I like some of his stuff, just not the condescension. We’re all in “we’ll see” mode about all of this.

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

He also seems to be back on the S&C tangent he was on in 2021, based on what he said on his podcast yesterday. Something about how the way we lift weights isn't translating to football strength and the top weight room performers are transfers.

He's intimating back to the dark days at the foundation of the program it seems

Edited by BurgleBro
Posted

Waddlington has obviously read Rippetoe's Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training and subscribes to the methods described there as "Strength = Ability to Apply Force against an External Resistance."  What he leaves out is that Rip also says that a novice will demonstrate incredible strength gains for months or even years, especially a genetically gifted 18-year old, even in a sub-standard training program.  Basically if you weight train an undertrained novice, they will progress, period.  Of course a better program with a Novice Linear Progression is always best.

If Waddlington is going to go with Rippetoe, the better definition would be Power (aka Explosion)which is the ability to express Strength rapidly.  The standing vertical jump is a good examples of demonstrating and measuring power production vs. squat or deadlift for strength.  Unfortunately, power is less trainable than strength, it's very genetic.

Nowadays, kids showing up are usually trained.  They've been doing weight training for 5-8 years at least.  They're beyond the novice phase and into intermediate where the gains are slower.  So the training programing needs to be different.  I suspect that while yes maybe the S&C program could be improved, the issue in the o-line is less raw power and more technique (pad level, leg drive), genetic gifts, and especially coordination.  It's not lack of strength that is making our O-line trip on their own feet and fall on their face, or dive and miss a cut block, or miss on a reach or combo block.

https://startingstrength.com/article/the-state-of-strength-conditioning-coaching

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

 I suspect that while yes maybe the S&C program could be improved, the issue in the o-line is less raw power and more technique (pad level, leg drive), genetic gifts, and especially coordination.  It's not lack of strength that is making our O-line trip on their own feet and fall on their face, or dive and miss a cut block, or miss on a reach or combo block.

https://startingstrength.com/article/the-state-of-strength-conditioning-coaching

I don't remember him attributing those mistakes to lack of strength. It's losing at the point of attack. It's getting driven backwards by D-lineline 40 pounds lighter. It's an inability to move people at the goal line. Off the top of my head I remember him specifically calling that stuff out on his latest podcast breakdown.

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Posted
16 minutes ago, CurlyDumps said:

I don't remember him attributing those mistakes to lack of strength. It's losing at the point of attack. It's getting driven backwards by D-lineline 40 pounds lighter. It's an inability to move people at the goal line. Off the top of my head I remember him specifically calling that stuff out on his latest podcast breakdown.

I'd also say the defense is in the same S&C program. We have no issues there, so I'm pretty confident the problem isn't our S&C training. The offensive side of the ball just has bad and poorly taught players. 

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Posted
47 minutes ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

Waddlington has obviously read Rippetoe's Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training and subscribes to the methods described there as "Strength = Ability to Apply Force against an External Resistance."  What he leaves out is that Rip also says that a novice will demonstrate incredible strength gains for months or even years, especially a genetically gifted 18-year old, even in a sub-standard training program.  Basically if you weight train an undertrained novice, they will progress, period.  Of course a better program with a Novice Linear Progression is always best.

If Waddlington is going to go with Rippetoe, the better definition would be Power (aka Explosion)which is the ability to express Strength rapidly.  The standing vertical jump is a good examples of demonstrating and measuring power production vs. squat or deadlift for strength.  Unfortunately, power is less trainable than strength, it's very genetic.

Nowadays, kids showing up are usually trained.  They've been doing weight training for 5-8 years at least.  They're beyond the novice phase and into intermediate where the gains are slower.  So the training programing needs to be different.  I suspect that while yes maybe the S&C program could be improved, the issue in the o-line is less raw power and more technique (pad level, leg drive), genetic gifts, and especially coordination.  It's not lack of strength that is making our O-line trip on their own feet and fall on their face, or dive and miss a cut block, or miss on a reach or combo block.

https://startingstrength.com/article/the-state-of-strength-conditioning-coaching

I like him, but he can go a little crazy when he gets into the S&C aspect of things. I prefer him to just stick to game breakdowns. 

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Posted (edited)

Scipio does this weird thing where he can’t make a point without pretending that there’s a swath of people who have been arguing the opposite. It’s not enough to analyze the offense and say the OL is weak at the point of attack. He has to build this pretend group of people who are saying they just need time to gel or they’ll be okay because they need experience. No one worth listening to is saying that! He can’t just be right—someone else has to be wrong. To Scipio’s credit, he knows he’s arrogant. 
 

At any rate, he def loses some credibility not just for taking Clemson in all these bets but also for saying he knew they’d be awesome the day after they lost to UT in the playoff (while others only came on later to Clem). 

That said…I’ve read just about every word he’s written since early Barking Carnival and always enjoy his stuff. 

Edited by Bobby Western
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Posted
On 9/16/2025 at 10:24 AM, Horn of Gabriel said:

I can't for the life of me figure out why Paul Waddlington, who maxed out as an undersized LB/EDGE in H.S., has a following.  He's not a coach, aside from his kids peewee team.  He doesn't have experience.  I guess he uses big words to sound smart?  He points out obvious stuff and uses rhetorical traps to call anyone who would disagree with him stupid?

It is funny.  he doesn't really know anything more than we who watch/have watched the Longhorns for decades and played a bit of football know.  At least he doesn't charge for it(I guess)

I am totally amazed that people pay money for "insider access" for a college football team.  It is the one of the true mysteries of our time.

I'm sure it has been obvious in practice for a couple of years now that Manning has issues but all you are going to get is sunshine from 9.95ers

1. Ewers played even though he was limited/injured and couldn't hit a deep ball consistently.

2. we got a 5th year meh QB from the portal as an insurance policy.

Sark had no choice but to play Manning, so I get that, but we are seeing why certain decisions were made. yet, we have people thinking that Manning has been awesome in practice still.

 

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Posted
On 9/16/2025 at 12:47 PM, Dahobbs said:

I'd also say the defense is in the same S&C program. We have no issues there, so I'm pretty confident the problem isn't our S&C training. The offensive side of the ball just has bad and poorly taught players. 

quit bringing Occam into this...the S&C canard always amuses me.  all these strength coaches are doing mostly the same thing. 

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Posted
3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Scipio synthesizes the info well, he's a clear writer, and he can be funny as shit.

Some of his articles on Barking Carnival were very funny. The obnoxious Clipper Cooper comes to mind.

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Posted

(Eric Nahlin) Texas Football: My Glass is Half Something

Quote

Expectations were sky high for the Texas Longhorns heading into this season, but barring drastically improved play from the offense, the team will fall well short of its preseason goals. Given our reporting this offseason, I’m as surprised as anyone. I didn’t think Arch Manning would be a finished product, but I thought he’d at least be good. I knew the offensive line had issues—specifically at left guard and right tackle—but the problems go well beyond that.

Quarterback play and offensive line play are the two main detriments right now, and those are the two worst areas a team can possibly struggle with. One must be realistic and willing to alter opinions in the face of new evidence. There are times my glass is…

Half Empty

Game re-watches will tell you the issues go far beyond the scoreboard or moribund statistical results—too often, plays never stood a chance. We heard the O-line lacked cohesion before the start of the season. That’s true, but it also lacks identity, effort, assignment soundness, power, and maybe even talent. It doesn’t even look like the guys have been in the program together.

Some of these issues can’t be addressed in-season, but cohesion can and should. Effort can be addressed too—but why is that even an issue when the defense plays with its hair on fire? Why are veterans struggling? Manning is a shell of himself from last year, and I don’t just mean as a passer. Where the hell did this guy go?

If he plays at an average level, Texas is likely 3–0, and his throws would paper over offensive line troubles (at least with fans) until Texas faces better competition. Instead, he’s missing gimme throws and easy reads. But then, you see his natural play-making ability, understand he lacks experience, and my glass becomes…

Half Full

I’ve had it in my head—and Ian as well—that Steve Sarkisian is simply experimenting with everything in the run game to see what works. Soon—hopefully this week—he’ll pare the call sheet down and focus on what Texas runs well. This includes running the QB.

While we, and Texas, were wrong on certain aspects of the offense, at least so far, it’s clear our reporting about Texas running more gap schemes was accurate. Given their emphasis on those schemes, it’s a positive they’re running them relatively well. We also mentioned Sark would run Arch much more than he normally runs the quarterback. The fact that these two characteristics bear out offers some hope the staff is layering in the offense in stages.

Joel Klatt, a former QB and one of the better CFB analysts, believes Arch is simply going through his progressions too quickly and that’s messing up his mechanics. If that’s accurate, then it’s a fixable problem—and in a way, a good sign. Better too quickly than wondering where the second progression is. It’s possible the O-line will begin to coalesce while running more suitable plays right as Manning calms down in the pocket. The importance of experience is real. An offensive identity could soon emerge.

Closing

The offense is going to be a work in progress no matter what happens. Questions will remain—in some cases about talent, in others about football IQ. Those will be tough to address in-season. But the schemes and upside are there for Sark to design an offense that finds success sooner than people think. In talking with a source last night, he said he can’t wait to see the offense this week:

    “I don’t see how Sark can let them struggle against Sam Houston State. If they do, that’s a bad sign.”

There’s no panic behind the scenes, but that could be people trusting Sarkisian even more than I did with my August reporting and season projections. If anything, I’m rigid to my evaluations, and I still think Sark is going to win a National Championship and Manning is going to be a star. Things better change in a hurry if any of that is going to happen though.

Joe Cook: Texas' O-line must mature -- and fast -- for the run game to be there in SEC play

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Maybe it does all start up front. During the 2023 season, Texas started the same offensive line combination for 13 of 14 games. Kelvin Banks, Hayden Conner, Jake Majors, DJ Campbell, and Christian Jones were the starting five for all but the Kansas State game. In that contest, Cameron Williams stood in.

Then in 2024, Banks, Conner, Majors, Campbell, and Williams started 14 of 16 games. In the two contests where there was a different starting lineup, Trevor Goosby stepped in. Veteran Cole Hutson also saw regular action on the interior in both 2023 and 2024 after starting 13 games at right guard in 2022. Banks, Conner, and Williams were all picked in the 2025 NFL Draft. Majors was an undrafted free agent. Over 100 starts were lost.

Texas did have what was thought to be as good of a scenario entering the 2025 season as a team could have after losing four starters. At the all-important left tackle spot, Goosby was next man up. Though he only had a couple of starts under his belt, those starts were magnificent.

Goosby, like several others, entered 2025 as a third year player. In fact, every realistic option available to Steve Sarkisian and offensive line coach Kyle Flood was at least a third year player with one exception: second-year tackle Brandon Baker. Even Baker came to Texas with some fanfare as the 2024 Rivals Industry Ranking’s No. 34 overall prospect and No. 2 offensive tackle. Plus, he made a few appearances in his freshman year.

Experience leaving does present the possibility for a step down at every college football program, especially as teams try to keep their valued players from entering the portal and as the COVID seniors filter out of the sport. But for Texas in 2025, the loss of so many banked game reps at multiple spots, namely offensive line, has caused a jarring step down in offensive potency.

Texas is average to below average in a number of counting stats. The Longhorns are No. 51 in rushing yards per game, No. 88 in passing yards per game, and No. 77 in total yards per game. For a team with College Football Playoff aspirations, average isn’t going to cut it. Advanced stats don’t paint much of a better picture. Among starting O-linemen, Pro Football Focus sees…

Player Offensive grade      Run block grade      Pass block grade      Snaps
Trevor Goosby, LT 81.5 80.6 75.6 210
Connor Stroh, LG 51.7 45.9 72.6 174
Cole Hutson, OC 55.5 56.7 55.8 192
DJ Campbell, RG 67.2 68.3 76.7 210
Brandon Baker, RT 53.4 57.6 64.5 221
Neto Umeozulu, LG      64.9 63.9 67.3 48
Average 64.2 62.2 68.8  

Last year? No regular O-lineman graded lower than 59.6 in any category across the entire season. More advanced stats paint bleaker pictures.

  •     Line yards per rush: 38th-39th
  •     Offensive SP+: 49th
  •     Offensive FEI: 31st

Sure, they’re top 50. Is top 50 CFP good? After all, Texas was No. 13 in offensive SP+ and No. 18 in offensive FEI at the end of last season, and Sarkisian had to play Texas A&M, Georgia, Clemson, Arizona State, and Ohio State in succession on the way to the semifinals.

Not every offensive woe can be blamed on the lack of continuity. Arch Manning has not lived up to expectations, especially considering the pass blocking has been up to standard more often than not in the first three games. Some of those missed connections with players like Ryan Wingo and Parker Livingstone have cost Texas yardage that would paint brighter pictures, but Manning had time to miss those connections.

The run game has missed its top two running backs in CJ Baxter and Quintrevion Wisner for large chunks of the previous two games. But the position that starts every play and allows for the six others on the field to do their job is the O-line. Texas’ has not shown up against Ohio State, San Jose State, and UTEP in a way that inspires confidence for Southeastern Conference action especially as it pertains to running the football.

Stroh has become an easy target considering his numbers and some of the substandard plays that have become popular on social media. But instead of piling on Stroh when asked about him on Monday, Sarkisian stressed the need for continuity for his O-linemen as they learn how to play in-game and next to each other.

“For so many years, we had so much continuity up front,” Sarkisian said. “We had so much trust in a lot of those guys, even maybe when we weren’t at our best. They could work well together. Striving for that continuity right now, I think, is important. We just felt like going into the week, now we’re gauging it on a week to week basis. I thought Connor had a really good week of practice. I felt comfortable with him in there.”

Sarkisian even detailed why the run game has struggled against teams like SJSU and UTEP. “A lot of times when you’re facing defenses like we played Saturday, there was so much twisting, stunting, slanting, we had a lot of time we had guys pulling and there wasn’t even anyone there to block at times,” Sarkisian said. “How do you continue to play? That’s where we have to strain differently.”

So how does Sarkisian try to get one past these defenses with his O-line considering he admitted they give his team trouble? And also considering his main course of action against them during his Texas tenure has just been to try to run them over?

“What we tried to do Saturday is repeat some calls so that we could find a little bit of a rhythm in blocking the multitude of looks we were getting rather than just to keep running new plays where every time we ran it was the first time that we were getting it versus the defense we were getting,” Sarkisian said. “Now it’s banking those reps with anticipation of we could see more stuff like that. Then they carry it over into practice and they carry it over into the next week of work. I think there was a lot to gain from last week’s game.”

That’s just one example Sarkisian gave on Monday. Of course, there are a lot of new faces at different spots on the offense and Sarkisian even said “I’m not naïve to think we wouldn’t have some growing pains. I just want to get tall as fast as we can, feel good, and start playing.”

And even with the level of experience in the program, there is something to be said about experience in-game. The six O-linemen in the table above entered the year with 45 combined starts. Thirty of them belonged to Campbell, and 13 were from Hutson during the 2022 season. Umeozulu, Stroh, and Baker had no starts entering 2024.

Texas is now left to hope that there’s more development to come within the O-line room in the run game, but after SHSU the schedule quickly increases in difficulty and problem-solving becomes a greater chore for a unit that has to problem solve with cohesion down after down. There are growing pains everywhere, but the ones on the O-line have downstream effects that currently are plaguing other positions on offense. For Sarkisian, the quickest way to “get tall” is to give those players the opportunity to all grow together over the next two weeks with SEC play on the horizon. 

(Evan Vieth) Arch Manning vs. the Rest of the SEC QBs: It Can’t Be That Bad, Right?

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Many diehard fans or single-team analysts get caught in the bubble of their own program, especially this early in the year. They’ve been waiting seven months for their team to make a push for something bigger. For Texas fans, that was the promise of an elite QB who could push them to their first national title game in 16 years. But when that QB turns out to not be very elite, it becomes all you can think about. It can make it hard to actually observe what’s going on elsewhere.

I personally can get caught up in that idea. Texas’ game on Saturday was the only game featuring an SEC player I got to fully watch. I caught some plays from Georgia-Tennessee and the fourth quarter of A&M vs. Notre Dame, but not nearly enough football to make general claims about these players. When that’s the case, stats can sometimes be our best friend.

With three weeks into the season, every SEC team has gotten a hard enough matchup, and enough other snaps outside of it, to get a gauge of how good they are at the moment. Missouri’s Beau Pribula’s hardest opponent was Kansas, so maybe he deserves an asterisk next to his name, but otherwise every other SEC QB has faced the following:

  • 4 great defenses: Arch Manning vs. Ohio State, Georgia and Tennessee QBs, Mateer vs. Michigan
  • Great-ish competition: Marcel Reed, Ty Simpson, DJ Lagway, and Garrett Nussmeier
  • Ole Miss’s good defense: Taylen Green and Zach Calzada
  • A good Big 12 team: Jackson Arnold vs. Baylor and Blake Shapen vs. Arizona State
  • Each other and a common opponent: Diego Pavia and LaNorris Sellers
  • Kentucky: Austin Simmons
  • Kansas: Beau Pribula

Eight of these QBs have played in really important games already, with another six at least being tested enough to get a good set of snaps that we can care about. I sorted them into what I think are five of the most important QB stats:

  • Yards per attempt
  • Big-time throws / turnover-worthy plays (basically a number to find the efficiency of explosive plays)
  • AY/A, adjusted yards per attempt
  • NFL passer rating
  • EPA/play, expected points added — one of the more accurate single measures of efficiency stats

Here’s how Arch stacks up with the rest of the SEC:

image-110.png

First of all, Zach Calzada. Now that we’re past that, it still looks pretty ugly for the star boy. Ty Simpson is having a strong efficiency season so far, bouncing back well after FSU. He’s followed closely by Diego Pavia and Joey Aguilar. On the other side of things, Manning is way down at the bottom. If you average out every player’s position on this chart, he, Calzada, Jackson Arnold, and DJ Lagway are the only ones who are 12th or lower on average in each of these categories.

Even if John Mateer may seem a bit overrated from what this chart shows, he’s still miles more efficient than Manning, whose only above-average stat is in explosive rate (that BTT/TWP stat). He’s poor in every other stat and bottom of the barrel in EPA/play. Every time he impacts a play, Texas loses -0.4 points. To put that into context, the opposing team gains a touchdown’s worth of expected points every 15 dropbacks or runs by Manning. Yikes.

Manning does stand out in a few stats. His pressure-to-sack ratio is one of the three best in the SEC, making him really hard to take down on dropbacks. His average depth of target is high, proving he likes to push it down the field. He’s also one of the four or five best running QBs in the conference. But when you see he has the highest time to throw of any QB in the SEC, yet a bottom-two adjusted completion percentage, it’s hard not to shake your head.

Manning has to figure it out. The Longhorns are going nowhere with a bottom-four SEC offense and quarterback. They may be able to get by a struggling Gators team with arguably a worse QB, but what happens when it’s the Red River Rivalry? What about Georgia? Hell, what about Vanderbilt!? It needs to get simpler for Manning. Do everything in your power to get that EPA closer to where Marcel Reed or Taylen Green is, two good, not great, passers who impact the game with their legs at an elite rate. If Texas can’t win with him using his arm 30 times a game, it has to win with its defense and his legs.

 

Posted
On 9/16/2025 at 4:11 PM, Bobby Western said:

Scipio does this weird thing where he can’t make a point without pretending that there’s a swath of people who have been arguing the opposite. It’s not enough to analyze the offense and say the OL is weak at the point of attack. He has to build this pretend group of people who are saying they just need time to gel or they’ll be okay because they need experience. No one worth listening to is saying that! He can’t just be right—someone else has to be wrong. To Scipio’s credit, he knows he’s arrogant. 
 

At any rate, he def loses some credibility not just for taking Clemson in all these bets but also for saying he knew they’d be awesome the day after they lost to UT in the playoff (while others only came on later to Clem). 

That said…I’ve read just about every word he’s written since early Barking Carnival and always enjoy his stuff. 

Yes!  You put words on it, that's what bugs me.  "...and for all those people who just want to say 'the OL is fine and it just needs time to gel!', well you can continue to say that but you'll be wrong!" ...Uhh, NO ONE is saying that.  At all.  It's fine to point out obvious stuff but inventing and pretending there is some huge group of naysayers taking the opposite opinion just to puff up your own obvious takes is annoying.

I also have an allergic reaction to arrogant people, especially if their arrogance is unwarranted.  You can be arrogant if you've earned it; Paul Waddlington hasn't.

Posted
Just now, Horn of Gabriel said:

Yes!  You put words on it, that's what bugs me.  "...and for all those people who just want to say 'the OL is fine and it just needs time to gel!', well you can continue to say that but you'll be wrong!" ...Uhh, NO ONE is saying that.  At all.  It's fine to point out obvious stuff but inventing and pretending there is some huge group of naysayers taking the opposite opinion just to puff up your own obvious takes is annoying.

I also have an allergic reaction to arrogant people, especially if their arrogance is unwarranted.  You can be arrogant if you've earned it; Paul Waddlington hasn't.

You sure people aren't saying that at IT?  He'd do that kind of thing at BC, but when people there, and "here," and elsewhere were saying the things he took on.  Usually someone like echeese.

  • Haha 1
Posted
3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

You sure people aren't saying that at IT?  He'd do that kind of thing at BC, but when people there, and "here," and elsewhere were saying the things he took on.  Usually someone like echeese.

Maybe there are a handful at IT or elsewhere on the internet, there's always idiots.  I think Waddlington is doing a straw man argument to make himself look smart vs. "the others."  Both can be true.

Posted
9 hours ago, AeroHorn said:

Some of his articles on Barking Carnival were very funny. The obnoxious Clipper Cooper comes to mind.

This is his high point to me, a true masterpiece.  

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The Misunderstood Shawn Watson

When Charlie Strong was named head coach of the Texas Longhorns, Texas fans placed a mental check mark on their football grocery list next to ‘Find Better Defense’ and turned immediately to speculating about the offense. Which bright young coaching star would be handed a blank check to coach a Longhorn offense that would combine the best aspects of Briles’ spread, Royal’s wishbone and Vince Young making up his own plays in the huddle?

When Shawn Watson was announced as Strong’s man, the dying toot of the Price is Right trombone could be heard around the internet, the final sound of a party balloon emitting its last flatulent wheeze as it whizzed across the surface of the party punch like a latex sea eagle, swooping down to rest atop the giant turd Strong had placed there.

Shawn Watson wasn’t on the primary list of offensive coordinators Longhorn fans coveted.  He wasn’t on the secondary list either.  He wasn’t on the doodle pad under that list that included names like The Greg Davis Sequel: Now Horizontal in 3-D!, Goldie Hawn from Wildcats and a Playstation running on Basic Level.  If Longhorn fans knew Watson at all, they remembered him from his mundane Colorado offenses or as the offensive coordinator fired from Nebraska by Bo Pelini, whose 2009 Husker offense was so bad it kept Texas in the Big 12 championship game despite the Husker front four rag-dolling Colt McCoy like a plush toy thrown into a terrier kennel.

 

  • Haha 1
Posted
4 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

Yes!  You put words on it, that's what bugs me.  "...and for all those people who just want to say 'the OL is fine and it just needs time to gel!', well you can continue to say that but you'll be wrong!" ...Uhh, NO ONE is saying that.  At all.  It's fine to point out obvious stuff but inventing and pretending there is some huge group of naysayers taking the opposite opinion just to puff up your own obvious takes is annoying.

I also have an allergic reaction to arrogant people, especially if their arrogance is unwarranted.  You can be arrogant if you've earned it; Paul Waddlington hasn't.

This seems to be a general malaise across all social media. Almost every post that has a tiny bit of information starts with “I am astonished that …” or “It beats me …” to list a counterpoint to what they are going to say. Reddit and Quora are full of this pomposity. Just state your one bit of fact that you most likely picked up from an earlier comment in the same thread or when this was posted multiple times earlier and don’t act like you are special. 

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