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Collecting all the post-game analysis articles, including those behind paywalls, regarding the Vandy game here:

(Gerald Gooridge) No. 20 Texas 34, No. 9 Vanderbilt 31: Three things we learned

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The No. 20 Texas Longhorns were a slim favorite in their first home game since September and looked to be in control from the first offensive snap of the game, but let the Vanderbilt Commodores back in late and had to sweat it out. The offense ended the game kneeling the ball down and sealing the victory, but there’s still work to be done ahead of Georgia.

The offense is finding its rhythm

The Longhorns’ offense caught fire at the end of the Mississippi State game, and it continued into the first play of the game against Vanderbilt. Steve Sarkisian called a play to put Ryan Wingo in space, one of the most explosive players on the team, and he took it for 75 yards and a touchdown. Texas spent most of the game running a more uptempo scheme, keeping a Vanderbilt defense that couldn’t keep up athletically on its heels, and took advantage early and often. Arch Manning, after setting a career high a week ago, completed 76% of his passes for 328 yards and three touchdowns, connecting with 10 different receivers in the contest.

Getting the ball out quickly served the offensive line well, letting the unit get into rhythm and shut down a Vanderbilt defensive line that has talent and likes to create havoc. The Commodores were averaging nearly three sacks per game heading into the contest, but they were held without a sack and just one tackle for loss in the contest.

The defense still isn’t fixed

After needing the offense to bail them out a week ago, the defense played lights out for most of the game, but seemingly fell apart late in the game and opened the door for Vandy to make things tense late. Leading by 24 points, Pavia managed to squeak away from the defense and crack off a 25-yard scamble for a touchdown.  On the next drive, broken coverage led to a 67-yard touchdown pass to Eli Stowers to close the game to 10 points.

After the offense was unable to put up points on the ensuing drive, Texas allowed Vanderbilt to go 89 yards on 12 plays to make it a one-score game with 33 seconds left in the game. There were bright spots with the unit, bringing down the elusive Pavia six times and hurrying him another seven times, led by Ethan Burke, who finished with two sacks and three tackles for loss.

Texas can run, a little, without Arch Manning

While Manning typically needs to use his feet in the ground game, for both his benefit and the benefit of the offense, with a recent concussion, the offense looked to limit his exposure to hits. Quintrevion Wisner, who hasn’t been up to standard in the last several weeks due to injury, turned in one of his best games of the year when Texas needed it the most. Wisner finished the day with 75 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, helping ease some of the load on the passing game to carry the offense. Texas still needs another option in the backfield, with CJ Baxter still not up to full speed in this one, finishing the game with just 22 yards on seven carries, with a seven-yard scamper as the long of the day for him.

Sam Khan Jr.: Arch Manning stars as Horns keep Playoff hopes alive with 4th straight win

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AUSTIN, Texas — If you thought you could count Texas out of the College Football Playoff race, think again. The No. 20 Longhorns are very much alive. A week after hanging on by a thread at Mississippi State, the Longhorns constructed one of their best performances of the season in a 34-31 win over Vanderbilt that they controlled for most of the day before a late Commodores’ rally made it close.

The win is Longhorns’ fourth in a row and second this season over a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. Just a few days before the first College Football Playoff selection committee rankings, Texas (7-2, 4-1 SEC) will enter the homestretch very much in control of its CFP chances.

How Texas dominated on Saturday

The Longhorns set the tone on the first play from scrimmage, a 75-yard touchdown on a swing pass from Arch Manning to Ryan Wingo, in which Wingo evaded a pair of would-be tacklers on his way down the right sideline. From there, the Longhorns played some of the cleanest, most well-executed offense they have all season long, scoring on six of their next seven possessions. And it wasn’t just one-hit wonder plays; Texas sustained drives, with three scoring marches of at least eight plays and 68 or more yards that were at least four minutes long.

Manning, who was limited in practice this week while in concussion protocol, was sharp, accurate and well-protected. He generally got the ball out of his hands quickly, but the Texas offensive line, which may have had its best performance of the year, gave him ample time in the pocket on longer-developing pass plays. And though the run game wasn’t dominant, it was plenty effective. Quintrevion Wisner broke tackles to gain extra yardage and navigated the traffic between the tackles well to offer a good changeup to the quick passing game.

Offensively, Vanderbilt had a hard time doing much against the stout Longhorns front for the first three quarters. The running game was virtually non-existent, making every other offensive play a lot tougher for the Commodores. Texas’ speedy pass rush effectively corralled quarterback Diego Pavia, preventing him from making many off-schedule explosive plays. Pavia was able to fire a strike to tight end Eli Stowers for a first-half touchdown on third-and-10, but otherwise, Texas kept Vanderbilt quiet offensively until the game’s final 10 minutes, when Pavia led three consecutive touchdown drives to turn a 34-10 deficit into just three points.

Texas will undoubtedly have to close better than it did on Saturday. The Longhorns were in full control before allowing three scoring drives that went for 233 combined yards, including a conversion on fourth-and-19 from the Vanderbilt 2 when Pavia found Junior Sherrill for a 21-yard completion to stay alive. — Khan

(Eric Nahlin) 5 Quick Thoughts: Arch Shines, Texas Survives Late Vanderbilt Assault

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There’s tons to dissect from Texas’ big win over No. 9 Vanderbilt. The game went better than even the most optimistic pre-game predictions. They were not perfect on the day, but when this team is playing well, it’s typically more than good enough. Adversity struck due to unfortunate injuries to two of Texas’ most talented players—WR Ryan Wingo and DB Jelani McDonald. The Horns did a much better job overcoming the loss of Wingo.

The loss of McDonald, as well as Michael Taaffe missing the game, led to probably the secondary’s roughest game of the year when accounting for opponent. Xavier Filsaime in particular had a rough go, and then two veterans, Derek Williams and Jaylon Guilbeau, miscommunicated and allowed a long touchdown pass. Getting studs back healthy will fix some of the problems. Receiving fair officiating would help, too.

1st Quick Thought: Legit Opening Script

Sark wrote a wonderful opening script, probably with a quill pen in candlelight. I mentioned they should open with a counter to last week’s long pass to Wingo. It turns out Sark went back to it, and it worked out even better than before. Rather than a long gain, it was a long TD. Wingo is so explosive. On the second series, the reverse flea flicker was designed to slow down the pass rush and buy Arch time.

The early script only stalled due to early Arch shakiness and an inexcusable delay of game. Sigh. Just as last year, Texas attacked the perimeter with great success. Sark challenged the team all week to be physical on the perimeter. Texas was the more physical team, and Vandy missed too many tackles.

2nd Quick Thought: Veteran OL Provides Balance

As the game wore on, Texas continued to find offensive success. It quickly became obvious the Horns were having their best day up front of the season. Who would have thought the most veteran group with clean position fits would turn out this way? It went: Trevor Goosby–Cole Hutson–Connor Robertson–DJ Campbell–Brandon Baker. Goosby is a real LT. Hutson is much more comfortable at guard—where he started his whole career until this season.

Robertson, who was signed back in 2022, has been at center his entire career. Campbell has somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 career starts at right guard. Flood recruited Baker for right tackle. There was no obvious weak link in pass protection, and it was a solid run-blocking unit. This led to a couple of things, but most notably, balance. Sark, Arch Manning, and the run game got into the best rhythm of the year, producing multiple long drives for touchdowns. At times, Vandy was powerless. The balance also led to a lot of YAC—both after the catch and after contact.

3rd Quick Thought: Arch of Dimes

What happens when Sark embraces the right offense for Arch and the offensive line does its part in pass protection and run blocking? You see a quarterback who is immensely gifted. After that somewhat shaky start, Arch went 25/33 for 328 yards, 3 TDs, and no interceptions. Chalk the shaky start up to him missing almost all of practice this week. Indicative of the proceedings and encouraging, Arch had one rush attempt on the day. Manning was devastating from a clean pocket, and his receivers all made big plays, including freshman Daylan McCutcheon who bounced back from what looked like a serious wrist injury.

4th Quick Thought: Edge of Darkness

Colin Simmons, Ethan Burke, and Brad Spence all had big days. Trey Moore lost contain a time or two but also made his share of positive plays. In particular, Simmons played one of his best games ever. He not only created for himself but also for his linemates. Texas has him for one more year.

5th Quick Thought: Nearly Disaster

Texas recovered the onside kick, but only because the ball skipped out of bounds after being mishandled and nearly recovered by Vanderbilt. Closing teams out while holding a big lead is hard. It’s time for the program to catch its breath, but more importantly, get healthy.

 

  • Hook 'Em 9
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Evan Vieth: Texas' offense propels a top-ten win in Austin

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Heading into this week’s matchup against the Vanderbilt Commodores, this Texas Longhorn offense was tasked with stepping up in a must-win game to keep playoff hopes alive. Texas’ offense had struggled against Kentucky two weeks prior and for three quarters against Mississippi State. Head coach Steve Sarkisian knew he had to find a better rhythm in a top-ten matchup, and that’s exactly what happened as Texas took home a 34-31 victory.

The Longhorns got off to an electric start. Sarkisian was calling plays at a high level, the offensive line was generating push in the run game, and Arch Manning was delivering on his throws. The game began in an almost identical fashion to the week prior, with star WR Ryan Wingo taking a screen pass all the way down the field for yet another first-play, 75-yard touchdown. His presence in the screen game has been a revelation for the Longhorns over the last two weeks.

But it wasn’t just explosive plays. On Texas’ next full drive, already up 10–0 thanks to a great forced fumble from Colin Simmons, Manning led a 10-play, 83-yard drive, dicing through the Vanderbilt defense with relative ease. Texas had creative play calls, ran the ball well, gave Manning protection, and had key contributions in the broken-tackle department from Wingo, Quintrevion Wisner, and multiple receivers.

Manning capped the drive off with a patient touchdown pass, rolling right and allowing the play to develop. CJ Baxter maneuvered his way behind a defender, leaving himself open for the easy toss on the goal line. It was Baxter’s first touchdown in 670 days, a feel-good moment for the fan-favorite back healthy in front of the home crowd.

The offensive onslaught continued, as Manning went down the field on the next drive for a TD score, with Wisner running it in. After four drives, the Texas offense had one of the most efficient starts to a game any team has seen all season.

It never really stopped for this team. With Vanderbilt securing a score late in the first half and receiving the ball to begin the second, there was still a flicker of hope for the scrappy Commodores team. It wouldn’t surprise anyone to see a second-half crumble from Texas, either. Instead, the Longhorn defense forced a three-and-out, and Manning went to work.

  • 18 yards to Emmett Mosley on 3rd and 4
  • 10 to Parker Livingstone on 2nd and 9
  • 29 to DeAndre Moore
  • 17 yards to Jack Endries

Even with Wingo hurt on the sidelines, Manning spread the ball out to all of his other pass catchers to drive deep into enemy territory. On 2nd and 5 inside the Vanderbilt ten, Manning looked for one of his newest favorite targets in Mosley for the slant and score. Texas had scored 31 points in under 40 minutes of game time. It was a complete game from the Longhorns.

Sarkisian found a rhythm in play-calling with a spread-focused offense, Wisner extended plays, and Manning was kept clean throughout the game. That last note extends into arguably the most important development of the game. Texas had its best game up front thanks to a new starting five on the offensive line. Now healthy, Texas put starting center Cole Hutson at left guard, keeping backup center Connor Robertson in to snap while Hutson played his more natural position, the one he had played for the past three seasons in Austin.

Hutson looked more comfortable, and the line as a whole was much more cohesive. Vanderbilt had just one tackle for loss and never sacked Manning. By the time Texas had reached pure clock-draining mode, they were still averaging nearly 4.5 yards per carry. Wisner ended the game with 75 yards rushing and a TD, while Manning finished with a cool 328 yards and three touchdowns on 76% completion percentage. He completed a pass to 10 different receivers, with Mosley and Wingo emerging as the two best pass catchers on the team.

Vanderbilt made it far too interesting at the end, scoring 14 points out of nowhere and nearly recovering an onside, but a win is a win for the Longhorns. Texas moves to 7-2 ahead of the bye week, with the mighty Georgia Bulldogs hosting Texas in two weeks time. With a new formula of success on the offensive side of the ball, who knows where this offense can be with a bit of rest and recovery heading into Athens?

(Joe Cook) Instant Reaction: Texas' efficient offense does enough to hold off Vanderbilt

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***Texas’ season goals remain in front of it after an all-around performance against the No. 9 team in the nation. The Longhorns never trailed during their 34-31 win and led for 59:49. As a result of improving to 7-2 and 4-1 in the SEC, the Longhorns are in the thick of the conference title hunt and will see their names in Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings release as they head into the bye.

***We know why Steve Sarkisian wanted Arch Manning to play. After his status this week was the subject of considerable discussion, Manning looked better than ever and like the player everyone expected to see in the 2025 season. He was calm and collected in the pocket, a place he could spend a good amount of time in thanks to Connor Robertson starting at center and Cole Hutson playing guard. Manning finished 25-for-33 for 328 yards and three touchdowns, spreading the ball all over the field. He only had to run the ball one time for four yards. He didn’t take a single sack. He didn’t turn the ball over either.

***Manning led a magnificently efficient offense. The Longhorns scored on six of their first seven drives, the only one not resulting in points coming as the half expired. Even then, there was a Hail Mary attempt Every drive finished with the opportunity for Texas to score points. Texas scoring drives were

  • 1 play, 75 yards, 0:11
  • 5 plays, 8 yards, 1:08
  • 10 plays, 83 yards, 5:01
  • 8 plays, 68 yards, 4:15
  • 11 plays, 93 yards, 5:15
  •  11 plays, 51 yards, 5:31

***Quintrevion Wisner did everything asked of him on Saturday. He helped the Longhorns plod down the field, rushing 18 times for 75 yards and a score.

***Coming out of halftime, Texas was protecting a two possession lead. The Longhorns were up 24-10, and Vanderbilt got the ball first. A score of any type puts Vanderbilt back into a situation where it can run its normal, methodical offense instead of having to get into a hurry. Texas got a break via one drop from Vanderbilt, then Malik Muhammad made a nice breakup. In spite of a Warren Roberson penalty, Brad Spence made a fantastic play to sack Diego Pavia force a three and out.

***In response, all Manning did was put together what was possibly his best drive this year. He opened the second half 7-for-8 with one incompletion off Livingstone’s hands. He moved the ball down the field with impressive precision on his passes, then stood in and took a hit as he hit Mosley for the touchdown that made it 31-10 Texas. After starting 2-for-5, Manning went on a 17-for-19 tear where one of his two incompletions was an end-of-half heave on a Hail Mary.

***It may not have been the exact same play as the one Texas opened the game in Starkville with, but it looked about the same. So did the result. Ryan Wingo took another swing pass for an explosive, this time for a 75-yard touchdown on the very first play of the game. To put the Longhorns ahead against a Vanderbilt team that tries to protect leads with their style was a nice small victory just a few seconds into the game. Credit for Emmett Mosley and DeAndre Moore for great blocks.

***Texas made sure to keep the momentum from its fast start, something that’s worth praising especially considering the time of possession battle could have started tilting toward the Commodores. When explosives happen, that puts the defense back on the field quickly. Texas had a one-play touchdown drive, then notched a four-and-out, then netted three points all after six plays. The fact that the Longhorn defense didn’t allow a lengthy touchdown scoring drive to Vanderbilt until the very end of the half did a lot to keep the Texas defense fresh. That all said, Vanderbilt won the time of possession battle 19:09 to 10:51 in the first thirty minutes. Texas did well to enter with a two-possession lead considering both teams had four regular drives in the first half.

***Colin Simmons played with his hair on fire in the first half. He had five tackles, one sack, 1.5 TFLs, two quarterback hurries, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. He made life miserable for Vanderbilt offensive linemen although he didn’t add anything to his counting stats in the second half.

***The Texas defense was susceptible to yardage outside the numbers, but aside from a handful of lapses the Longhorns did what they needed to do on defense. The lapse that hurt them most, however, was a 67-yard pass from Pavia to Eli Stowers where Stowers was left uncovered as a result of some sort of miscommunication by the Longhorn defense.

***The defense was also the reason why the final score was so close. Texas was gashed in the pass game in the final quarter, with Pavia netting 205 yards and two touchdowns through the air in the final 15 minutes. The Longhorn coaching staff also played a LOT of depth players in the secondary during the Commodores’ final drives, including Jonah Williams, Kade Phillips, and others.

***Jeff Banks’ special teams recovered two onside kicks. It didn’t recover a third, and if that third found a Vanderbilt player’s hands it would have spelled trouble for the Longhorns. But the wet football rolled out of bounds on Vandy’s last effort and Texas was able to kneel out a win.

***Texas’ safety room is a MASH unit at the current moment and desperately needs the bye. Michael Taaffe did not play and Jelani McDonald was knocked out of the game in the first half. Derek Williams and Xavier Filsaime filled in admirably but some of the defensive mishaps from those players were exploited by Vanderbilt. In addition, neither Ty’Anthony Smith nor Liona Lefau covered themselves in glory this game. Trey Moore, Anthony Hill, and the Longhorn defensive linemen put in an elite effort to keep Vanderbilt’s offense from racking up the yards.

***Good job from Cedric Baxter in the first half on a play where Parker Livingstone was probably held. He sits down to give Manning a stationary target, the defender tries to play Manning’s legs, and Baxter hauls in his touchdown reception.

 

  • Hook 'Em 3
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(Jeff Howe) Snap Judgments: No. 20 Texas hangs on for a 34-31 win over No. 9 Vanderbilt

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Let’s start with what’s objectively fantastic about Texas hanging on for a 34-31 win over No. 9  Vanderbilt, and that’s the start of the game. The season-saving closing moments of last Saturday’s 45-38 overtime win over Mississippi State carried the Longhorns into a game at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for the first time in 42 days.

With those two factors colliding, I would’ve been disappointed if we didn’t see the most inspired, ready-to-go-from-the-jump version of Steve Sarkisian’s team through nine games. And Texas (7-2, 4-1 SEC) came out like a house of fire. Less than four minutes into the game, Arch Manning (25-for-33, 328 yards and three touchdowns) and Ryan Wingo (89 yards on two catches before exiting the game with a thumb injury) connected on a 75-yard touchdown, Colin Simmons forced a Diego Pavia fumble on a strip sack and the Longhorns had a 10-0 lead.

I wanted Sarkisian to take the ball first (he didn’t get the choice since the Commodores won the toss and deferred their option to the second half). The opportunity to be the aggressor and set the tone the right way could get Vanderbilt (7-2, 3-2) on its heels. That’s exactly what happened. The Longhorns never trailed in the latest must-win game of the 2025 season.

I couldn’t have envisioned a better start to a victory that keeps the team’s goals of a berth in the SEC title game and a third consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff alive.

***

Manning achieved back-to-back 300-yard passing games for the first time in his career with the most complete sampling of throws we’ve seen from him this season. On quick throws, screens, intermediate passes and the occasional shot down the field beyond 20 yards, Manning completed 10 consecutive passes at one point. While connecting on 22 of his final 27 attempts, Manning was 7-for-9 for 81 yards on third down and six of his completions moved the chains. Manning led Texas to points on six of the offense’s first seven drives, with the Longhorns failing to score only on a two-play drive at the end of the first half.

***

Until the end of the game, when Texas was trying to drain the clock and make the Commodores use their timeouts, Sarkisian called the game he needed to call to position the Longhorns for a win. While I might be a prisoner of the moment, I'll say that the vast majority of the Vanderbilt game is up there with last season’s road win over Michigan and the 2023 road win over Alabama as games in which Sarkisian seemed to push all the right buttons on offense at a consistently high level. One of the things I liked was how Sarkisian helped the offensive line, which benefited from the return of Cole Hutson from injury.

With Hutson in the lineup at left guard, Texas had the athleticism between Trevor Goosby and Connor Robertson that wasn’t there with either Nick Brooks or Connor Stroh. Sarkisian’s decision to maximize the Longhorns’ advantage on the perimeter with the quick passing game, well-executed screen passes to the running backs and the utilization of pre-snap movement to create a numbers advantage in the running game led to Quintrevion Wisner (75 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries) and C.J. Baxter Jr. (22 yards rushing and a receiving touchdown) rushing for a combined 97 yards on 25 carries.

With only one tackle for loss allowed (Clark Lea’s defense came into Saturday’s game averaging 6.8 tackles for loss per game, which ranked 21st nationally) and the defense sacking Pavia six times (only seven sacks allowed through eight games) to go along with 10 tackles for loss, Texas dominated the line of scrimmage against a team that prides itself on winning with a physical, methodical brand of football.

The hard-to-stomach final few minutes of the game could push the winning trench effort aside. It shouldn’t, but it’s understandable if it’s hard to see it through the muck of an almost catastrophic fourth quarter.

***

The game turned on a play that nearly put the nail in Vanderbilt’s coffin. Manning’s 33-yard touchdown strike to Emmett Mosley V (69 yards and a touchdown on seven catches) was correctly overturned and ruled an incomplete pass. However, the officiating crew failed to call defensive pass interference or defensive holding on cornerback Kolbey Taylor, who had a handful of Mosley’s jersey, restricting his left arm from helping him complete the play.

Instead of a touchdown that would’ve put Texas up 40-16 (extra point pending) with 4:09 to go, effectively ending the game, Mason Shipley’s failed field goal try from 51 yards out on the next snap put into motion a forgettable end to an otherwise strong outing.

***

Two things are true about the end of the game.

I try as hard as I can to leave the officials out of the discussion of how things played out. With that said, I don’t know what else Simmons (five tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, two hurries and a forced fumble) has to demand more holding calls. Even though Trey Moore (three tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss and two hurries) drew one on Vanderbilt’s last possession, it’s hard for me to believe that Simmons’ constant disruption and the Vanderbilt offensive line’s inability to block him couldn’t get him more calls (and I that's without getting into the Commodores’ two-point conversion, which was upheld after a review with a flimsy explanation from the replay booth to the ABC crew working the game as to why it stood).

Still, there’s no excuse for the breakdowns on the back end, which helped the Commodores nearly pull off an upset that would’ve dashed the Longhorns’ postseason hopes. Pavia, who threw for 365 yards, rushing for 43 and accounted for four touchdowns (three passing and one rushing), went 12-for-16 through the air in the fourth quarter, racked up 205 yards and threw two touchdowns.

Vanderbilt averaged 11.3 yards per play in the fourth quarter, went a combined 4-for-5 on third and fourth down and converted a fourth-and-19 from its 2-yard line on a 12-play, 89-yard touchdown drive. Yes, Texas missed Michael Taaffe and Jelani McDonald. But the absence of the two veteran safeties can’t singularly account for the egregious breakdowns in the fourth quarter, which helped make the game closer than it should’ve been.

***

While the closing minutes are ripe for criticism, the Longhorns have a top-10 win in their pocket heading into the bye week. Manning seems to be hitting his stride, Sarkisian might’ve found something to help the offense click with AJ Milwee’s move to the press box and the offensive line should come out of Saturday’s win with a little confidence.

The most concerning thing coming out of the game is that for two consecutive games against two different passing attacks, the pass defense has been shredded. Texas needs Taaffe and McDonald back in a bad way, but things need to tighten up and get cleaned up. The Longhorns have looked exploitable in SEC play. With Gunnar Stockton (Georgia), Taylen Green (Arkansas) and Marcel Reed (Texas A&M) left on the schedule, the issues on the back end must get resolved with an extra week to prepare for a highly anticipated trip to Athens on Nov. 15.

Joe Cook: One week removed from a concussion, Arch Manning continues strong stretch since receiving 'flop' label

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Arch Manning sustained a concussion in overtime of the Longhorns’ win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs last week, putting his status for the following game against Vanderbilt in jeopardy. He had to clear concussion protocol in order to play against the No. 9 Commodores and be able to keep No. 20 Texas’ College Football Playoff hopes alive.

When did he think he would be able to suit up? “I think I thought that on Sunday,” Manning said. Manning said he felt good since his injury in Starkville. He was listed as questionable on Thursday night in the SEC Student-Athlete Availability Report but was not on it Friday night, indicating he was going to play. On Saturday, he played possibly his best game as a Longhorn. “Maybe the concussion helped,” Manning joked.

Manning was 25-for-33 for 328 yards and three touchdowns. One was a 75-yarder on a swing pass to Ryan Wingo on the very first play of the game that looked a lot like the offensive opener for the Longhorns last week. One was to CJ Baxter on a rollout later in the first quarter. The third, his final pass of the night, was to Emmett Mosley V in the fourth quarter. It required Manning to stand in and take a vicious hit. He did that as he completed the pass to his wide open target.

His yards per attempt was an absurd 9.9. Take away the 75-yarder to Wingo and he still posted a sturdy 7.9 yards per attempt. Manning spread the ball out to 10 different receivers for his 25 completions. He also rushed the ball just once for four yards. He did not take a sack. His accuracy was phenomenal. His on-target throw percentage will likely approach his career best.

His completion percentage? 76 percent. The catch percentage for Texas receivers? 76 percent. Finding an incompletion and putting it at the feet of Manning would prove to be a difficult task. Manning received what Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian described as “the best protection he’s gotten all year.” The Longhorns put Trevor Goosby–Cole Hutson–Connor Robertson–DJ Campbell–Brandon Baker on the field as their O-line group and were charged with just three QB hurries.

“It allowed him to get through reads,” Sarkisian said. “When you can get to your second and third reads in a progression, that means your protection is pretty good.” Said Manning, “I think it starts with the O-line. They played really well today. Receivers made plays. That makes it a little easier on me.” Over the course of the last four games, a sample size that comes after he was described as a flop by The Athletic, Manning is 87-for-133 (65%) for 972 yards and seven touchdowns to just one interception. He’s also rushed for a touchdown.

In the course of that timeframe, Sarkisian has seen his team mature plenty. But that maturation is most evident in the play of No. 16. "I do think he’s grown up,” Sarkisian said. “He just looks so much more mature. He looks so much more poised. He looks so much more confident. He’s got a lot more trust in the guys around him.” Added Manning, “Offense is starting to click a little bit. We’ve got to continue to press and finish games. Proud of the way we played today.”

To be described as a flop brought what seemed like even more attention on Manning, then his concussion put every eye in the SEC world on him as they waited to see what description was by his name on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights on the SEC injury report. So too did getting pulled over this week in the midst of all that buzz. Manning said he ran a red light and was pulled over by UTPD. Someone captured the image and blasted it to social media.

Whether it’s a traffic ticket or SEC defenses, Manning has handled it well over the course of the past few weeks and is turning in performances that have been critical to Texas wins. His strong showing on Saturday to boost Texas to 7-2 and 4-1 in the SEC was just another example of that growth. “Very proud of him,” Sarkisian said. “It’s been a long year. He’s been through a lot. For him to have some of the successes he’s having right now, he deserves it.”

 

  • Hook 'Em 4
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Sam Khan Jr.: This is the Texas offense with Arch Manning we were waiting for

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AUSTIN, Texas — When Texas stared down a 17-point deficit going into the fourth quarter at Mississippi State on Oct. 25, its season hung by a thread. Many of the struggles that took Texas to the brink fell on the shoulders of its offense, a unit equipped with a talented young quarterback who carried enormous expectations, plus a host of other blue-chip recruits and impact transfers.

Fan frustrations came to a head as the Longhorns sputtered and leaned heavily on their defense in wins over Oklahoma and Kentucky, to the point that some questioned whether coach Steve Sarkisian — widely regarded by his peers as one of the top offensive minds in the game — should still call the plays. But something happened in the fourth quarter and overtime in Starkville, Miss., and it carried over to Texas’ 34-31 win Saturday over No. 9 Vanderbilt. Arch Manning and the Texas offense came alive.

After struggling for large portions of September and October, the Longhorns offense may have finally figured things out. And it’s just in time, because Texas has its toughest stretch of the year coming up. “I think our offense is starting to click a little bit,” Manning said. “We’ve got to continue to press and finish games, but proud of how we played.”

Manning, who made his 11th career start, had one of his best performances and finished with more than 300 passing yards and three touchdowns for the second consecutive game. A week after suffering a concussion, Manning was sharp on Saturday. He was decisive in the pocket, got the ball out of his hand quickly and saw the field well while going through progressions.

Enabling that performance was an offensive line that performed better than it has all season. Manning wasn’t sacked and was pressured on only six of 34 dropbacks on Saturday, according to TruMedia. That 17.6 percent pressure rate was by far a season low for a unit that had allowed Manning to be pressured on 41.9 percent of dropbacks in the first eight games of the season. “This was the best protection he’s gotten all year,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian credited the decision to move Cole Hutson, who started five of the first six games at center this year, to left guard upon his return from injury. Conner Robertson, who started at center in Hutson’s place, remained there. That gave the interior offensive line an experienced trio, joining right guard DJ Campbell, the lone returning starter from 2024’s offensive line. It unlocked a performance up front that Texas sorely needed after a rough start to the year.

“Proud of that offensive line,” Sarkisian said. “You’re not a finished product in September and October, we can continue to improve and that group is an example of that; they’re getting better.”

Improved line play helped, but Manning played a role in the minimized pressure, too. “Arch, to his credit, helped them,” Sarkisian said. “He did some things in protection to pick some things up to allow us to throw it down the field. It allowed him to get through reads. When you can get to your second and third reads in a progression, that means your protection is pretty good.”

Sarkisian’s game plan and adjustments also contributed to Saturday’s success. Easy, short throws, like the swing pass Manning made to Ryan Wingo that the receiver took for 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, made the quarterback’s life easier.

Yards after contact also bolstered the efforts, as Vanderbilt struggled to tackle the Longhorns. On running back Quintrevion Wisner’s first carry of the game, he was hit about 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage but stayed on his feet and gained 13. Wingo evaded a pair of arm tackles on his way to the end zone, too. As a result, Sarkisian mixed in more 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three receivers) than originally planned.

Texas utilized 11 personnel on 66.7 percent of offensive snaps per TruMedia, only the third time all season the Longhorns have been in 11 more than 65 percent of the time. “When the ball got on the perimeter early in the game, they had a hard time tackling our guys. Our guys were playing fast in space,” Sarkisian said. “So I kind of shifted even more in that direction. It was part of the plan, but it became a real part of the plan once I realized they were having a hard time getting us on the ground.”

The run game, which has been hit-or-miss this season, showed some progress. It wasn’t spectacular, but Texas finished with 100 yards after totaling just 119 in the previous two games combined. Wisner, who finished with 75 yards, gave Texas just enough run presence to take some pressure off the passing game.

That Texas’ strong showing Saturday came on the heels of a strong finish the previous week is encouraging. Before Texas went to Mississippi State, the Longhorns’ offense was averaging 2.1 points per drive, which ranked 88th in the FBS. Texas scored on just 37.6 percent of its possessions (82nd) and was also below average on third-down conversions (38.1 percent, 89th).

But since starting a drive trailing Mississippi State 31-14 with 26 seconds left in the third quarter, the Longhorns have been night-and-day different offensively.

Texas is averaging 3.8 points per drive over its last 15 possessions, a rate that would be roughly on par with the nation’s top offenses if sustained (USC and Indiana entered the weekend leading the FBS with 3.7 points per drive for the entire season). And that run includes three end-of-half possessions where the Longhorns ran out the clock twice and attempted a Hail Mary on the other.

Exclude those, and Texas has scored on 10 of its last 12 true drives, with a missed field goal and a punt in the fourth quarter on Saturday against the Commodores being the lone empty possessions. Including the fourth quarter at Mississippi State, these are the results of Texas’ past 15 possessions:

  1.     Touchdown
  2.     Touchdown
  3.     Field goal
  4.     End of half
  5.     Touchdown
  6.     Touchdown
  7.     Field goal
  8.     Touchdown
  9.     Touchdown
  10.     End of half
  11.     Touchdown
  12.     Field goal
  13.     Missed field goal
  14.     Punt
  15.     End of game

Sarkisian attributes the success to growth across the board, from younger players improving to the transfers settling into the roles better to getting key players healthy.

“I could feel early in the season that we weren’t very mature yet offensively,” Sarkisian said. “We weren’t mature enough at quarterback. And that’s fair and Arch will tell you that. And where he is today is not where he was a month ago. We’re a lot more mature on the offensive line. We’re a lot more mature at running back with (Wisner) and Cedric (Baxter) back.”

Sarkisian admittedly leaned on his defense early this season while the offense battled through its issues. But now he’s willing to approach games differently. “We shifted from, ‘Hey, let’s try to slow things down, let’s play to our defense, they’re the strength of our team,’ to now we need to be more in attack mode offensively,” Sarkisian said. “I thought we did that (Saturday).”

Manning raising his level of play of late has mattered. His decisions have been better, as he’s checking the ball down at times rather than forcing it, changing protections when necessary and managing the game. “I do think he’s grown up,” Sarkisian said. “He just looks so much more mature. He looks so much more poised. He looks so much more confident. And he’s got a lot more trust in those guys around him. I think that continuity of playing with them more and more and more (matters).”

There were points this season when it was easy to wonder whether Texas would ever figure it out this year. We’ll have to wait another two weeks for the next stress test, as the Longhorns travel to Georgia on Nov. 15 following an off week.

But in the past five-plus quarters, the Texas offense has taken major steps forward. And if the Longhorns can sustain that and pair it with their elite defense and game-changing special teams, they can very much make this a November to remember as they pursue a College Football Playoff berth. “(November) is when we need to be at our best,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’re growing and getting better as a team.”

Stewart Mandel: Start believing in Texas, stop trusting Miami

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The ACC has been waiting more than 20 years for its three biggest national brands, Florida State, Clemson and Miami, to all be nationally relevant at the same time. There was a brief moment in September when all three were ranked in the top 15, but the Noles and Tigers quickly fell apart. And there was a brief moment in early October when the Hurricanes were ranked No. 2 in the country.

But after a Saturday that saw both No. 8 Georgia Tech and No. 10 Miami go down in the ACC race, out-of-nowhere Virginia is now alone in first place at 5-0, followed by five teams with one loss. That’s six teams with a realistic chance to reach the conference title game — and 2-2 Miami isn’t one of them. As impressive as the Canes looked early in the season, when they beat Notre Dame, hammered Group of 5 darling USF and routed Florida, I had trouble envisioning Mario Cristobal landing the plane.

And now I remember why. Miami led 20-17 with one minute left at SMU when an unnecessary roughness flag — one of 12 penalties on the day — allowed the Mustangs to pick up a fourth-and-9 en route to a game-tying field goal. And then in overtime, Canes star Carson Beck threw his sixth pick in three games. SMU drove for a walk-off touchdown to win 26-20.

Cristobal, 63-31 over eight seasons at Oregon and Miami, has become the sport’s resident “does less with more” guy. He has the most talented roster in the ACC, yet he has gone 3-4 in his last seven conference games, with all four losses to teams that were unranked at the time. And now the Canes are all but eliminated from the conference title picture.

This team has a better shot than last year’s to get an at-large berth at 10-2 thanks to those two good nonconference wins, but Cristobal and Beck don’t elicit much confidence that they can win their last four.

****************

After weathering two months of Arch Manning blowback and Steve Sarkisian angst, No. 20 Texas somehow heads into the first CFP rankings of the season with all its goals intact. The Longhorns, now 7-2 and 4-1 in SEC play, topped No. 9 Vanderbilt 34-31 at home to earn their second ranked win of the season, behind a season-best performance from their oft-maligned star quarterback.

Which they needed from Manning, because his Commodores counterpart, Diego Pavia, had 408 yards of total offense and nearly led his team back from a 34-10 deficit. Arch and friends have three games left, including at No. 5 Georgia and home against No. 3 Texas A&M. Don’t shoot the messenger, but if the Horns add a third top-15 or so win, we may need to start talking about 9-3 Texas making the CFP.

Danny Davis: Texas football nearly lost composure, but stayed alive in SEC by beating No. 9 Vanderbilt

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On Saturday, Texas football nearly learned the same lesson it had taught one week earlier.  Until the fat lady sings, it ain't over. At least not in the Southeastern Conference. Despite building a 24-point lead at home against No. 9 Vanderbilt, Texas was left sweating until the final seconds of a 34-31 victory. The Longhorns fended off Vanderbilt's comeback attempt one week after they rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Mississippi State in overtime.

Those two dramatic victories now have Texas (7-2, 4-1) chasing Texas A&M (8-0, 5-0) and Alabama (7-1, 5-0) in the SEC standings along with Georgia (7-1, 5-1) and Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1) as the regular season enters its final month.

"As far as the statement win goes, they're all statement wins right now," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "When you lose your conference opener, it's one game at a time at that point. Last year in this conference, we went 7-1 and that was the best record in the regular season in the SEC; 6-2 got you into the SEC championship game. Like I told the team, I don't know if 6-2 is going to be good enough this year. I think 7-1's got to be the deal, and the only way to go 7-1 is to win the next one. And that was our focus this week."

With six seconds left in the third quarter Saturday, a Texas victory seemed inevitable at Royal-Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns had opened the second half with two long scoring drives and Mason Shipley's 37-yard field goal lifted them to a 34-10 lead.  So how did Vanderbilt rally so rapidly and come within one recovered onside kick in the final minute from making things incredibly interesting? For starters, Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia threw 67- and 8-yard touchdown passes in the fourth quarter while also running for a 25-yard score.

Then there was the officiating. Texas found itself on the wrong end of several calls in the final quarter. With about four minutes left, wide receiver Emmett Mosley V fought through uncalled pass interference but had a touchdown catch overturned on a drive that ended with a missed field goal. As the Longhorns tried to later kill the remaining clock, they stalled when offensive lineman Brandon Baker was called for a false start ahead of a third-and-2 snap.

And after Vanderbilt pulled within 34-22 with 3:54 left, the Commodores went for two. Pavia connected with Junior Sherrill, but it appeared on replays that the Vanderbilt receiver failed to reach the ball to the goal line as he was being tackled by UT cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau. Nevertheless, the officials ruled that Sherrill had done what he needed to do for those two points. A review upheld that call.

"He didn't get that," Guilbeau insisted. "That ball didn't even cross the plane. That ball wasn't nowhere near the plane. It's crazy. When I'd seen the replay, I'm like, ain't no way they just called this a (2-point conversion) when the ball never even crossed the plane. It is what it is. At the end of the day, I've got to go to the next play."

Texas plans on submitting those disputed plays to the league office, Sarkisian said. He wants an explanation as to why Vanderbilt defensive back Kolbey Taylor wasn't called for defensive pass interference on Mosley's overturned touchdown catch, and he thought Baker's false start should have instead been a Vanderbilt offsides penalty. Sarkisian said he didn't receive an on-field explanation for the Sherrill play.

Sarkisian, however, conceded that Texas players and coaches may have lost their composure in the fourth quarter when things didn't go their way. The Longhorns got "too caught up in the officiating," he said. "I think it's a lesson learned about poise and composure, controlling what you can control," Sarkisian said. "We can't control the calls. We got to focus on the next play."

After the close call against Vanderbilt, Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. was admittedly frustrated with the team's play in the fourth quarter. He promised that "we're going to clean up some of the stuff next week and the week after, but just going to get the win is the most important thing right now." But what happens if Texas faces a similar kind of adversity after it returns from the bye week during a homestretch of games against Georgia, Arkansas and Texas A&M? How will the Longhorns keep their composure when opponents are making plays and the team isn't getting calls?

Hill said it was important to "trust the coaches and trust the calls that we have. So just comes back to just trusting the people around you and trusting the coaches." Said Gilbeau: "That's why you always have veteran guys around. So that way, if something happened to a vet guy or a rookie or a young guy, you always have a veteran player that picks that player up and just give them positive energy. I mean, it's always next-play mentality." 

Kirk Bohls: Maturing Arch Manning leads the way as Texas shows its offensive identity in win over Vanderbilt

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AUSTIN — Don’t look now but Arch Manning is coming of age. For the second straight game, the Texas redshirt sophomore quarterback threw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns and lifted the No. 20-ranked Longhorns to a solid 34-31 win over No. 9 Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon, the misleading final score notwithstanding. What concussion?

Actually, Manning had the perfect response about that, too, as he came back strong after suffering the head injury in overtime against Mississippi State last week. He wasn’t cleared until Friday but played the entire game and delivered another spectacular, spotless performance with 328 yards passing and touchdowns to three different receivers and no turnovers.

Discounting two errant Hail Mary passes to end the first half, Manning completed 22 of his last 25 throws in a game that was played in a driving rain the last few minutes. “Maybe the concussion helped,” the Texas quarterback cracked. Sure didn’t hurt. He was masterful and showed he is light years better than he was in September.

“I do think he’s grown up,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He just looks so much more mature, more poised. He looks more confident, and he’s got a lot more trust in the guys around him. He’s making good decisions and throwing the ball accurately. It’s been a long year for him. He’s been through a lot, and so for him to have some of the success he’s having right now, he deserves it.”

He has thrown just one interception in his last four games and thrown six touchdown passes the past two weeks. Only 10 other FBS quarterbacks had thrown more than his 18 passing touchdowns, entering Saturday’s games. With its fourth straight win since the loss to Florida, Texas thrust itself back into the SEC chase although Sarkisian might say it never left the race.

The Longhorns, now 7-2 and 4-1 after their first home SEC game of the year, have a week off before venturing to Georgia in two weeks. Vanderbilt fell to 7-2 and 3-2 in league play. “Coach Sark has been saying we’re going on a heater,” said running back Quintrevion Wisner, who had a productive 75 yards rushing on 18 carries. “And we woke up feeling like it this morning.”

Manning watched Monday’s workout but practiced every subsequent day and didn’t even show up on the SEC availability report Friday. And when did he know he was good to go? “I think I thought that on Sunday of last week,” he said with a broad smile.

 

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(Scipio Tex) 2025 Vanderbilt Post Mortem: Offense

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The Longhorn offense won the game on Saturday, in what I believed to be the game’s most critical match-up, reversing game winning season roles for the second straight week as a hapless Texas secondary was mauled by the Commodore passing game. There was a lot to like and a lot to take away from this performance.

Texas didn’t get many possessions, but my fear of early throwaway drives never manifested. Changes in scheme, strong protection, and Manning’s overall play exploited obvious holes in the Vanderbilt defense and created virtuous circles of offense. When tactics and personnel become mutually reinforcing and cross-enabling, good stuff happens.

Vanderbilt’s game plan to blitz and stunt Texas into submission didn’t quite work out. Manning was 15 of 18 for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Vandy blitz. One data point doesn’t mean that teams are going to back off just yet, but Georgia, Arkansas and Texas A&M now have some different film to ponder from the prior certainty of blitzing Texas into oblivion or running simple T/E stunts and getting home.

Screens (WR and RB), quick releases, and outside runs enabled protection, protection enabled regular passing offense, regular passing offense enabled the first set of tactics. On offense, you have to do something well to create other wellsprings, otherwise it’s play calling Battleship and a lot of dry holes. Texas had 10 official possessions, but only eight real ones.

Two occurred before the end of each half, one with 7 seconds on the clock in the 1st and the other a kneel down to win the game. So what happened on our eight meaningful possessions?

  • 1-75-TD
  • 5-8-FG
  • 10-83-TD
  • 8-68-TD
  • 11-93-TD
  • 11-51-FG
  • 10-32-FG (missed)
  • 4-14-PUNT

That’s a lot of per drive success. Ideally, we would have liked to have punched it in after the Hill strip-sack fumble, but penalties hurt us and recall that the missed field goal drive in the late 4th quarter was created by a gratuitous non-call pass interference in the end zone on Mosley. I’m not interested in dedicating too much ink to referee hijinks – we hold these truths to be self-evident – but they were probably worth about 12-14 points in toto.

The Horns featured explosiveness, methodical drives, and a couple of toe stubs, but it was the offense’s best performance of the year, when adjusted for opponent quality on a per drive basis. The Horns only ran 60 plays, got 428 yards out of it (7.1 yards per play) and if you charitably deduct the Wingo 75 yard screen TD as an aberration (it wasn’t – see his other WR screen for 14 yards and all of our other WR screen/swing success, a healthy Wingo would’ve had 150+ yards in this game), Texas still averaged 6 yards a play.

Texas went 7 of 11 on 3rd down, mostly attributable to excellent play from #16 and solid pass pro. My scout on the Commodore defense proved accurate. They were propped up by pace and possession and they struggled to deal with superior athletes in space. Oddly, Mizzou and LSU tape didn’t reveal that to me as much as Utah State did.

Sark has been attacking opponent schemes all year with an offense of his imagination; on Saturday he schemed for the his actual team and attacked Vanderbilt’s personnel. If you believe his postgame press conference, he more or less stumbled into it. He wanted to run a lot of 12 from broken sets (meaning, the TEs split out) but 11 spread stuff kept working.

Attacking individual pieces (safety CJ Heard missed six tackles) outside of the hashes (outs, screen game, overs) over set piece offense proved propitious. There were three key adjustments in this game:

  • Connor Robertson at C, Cole Hutson at LG. This allowed a level up from horrific to competent.
  • Heavier use of 11 personnel to create space.
  • WR/RB screen/swing game in space. We attacked individual defenders and box counts (Vandy missed 20 tackles, their season high) instead of trying to draw up gotcha coverage busters. We saw this work in Starkville late and it carried over.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Texas surrendered only four pressures, four hurries, and no sacks. This wasn’t really about dominance, just guys getting hats on hats, certainty creating more aggression, consistent protection calls, keeping shoulders squared, quick throws early, and basic recognition. Tre Wisner also blocked his ass off to the extent that he was physically able.

The play call mix was enabling – getting the ball out quickly is discouraging to hell-bent pass rushers – oh, why bother, he throws it out too fast – and we ran outside on Vandy’s edges with Niblett misdirection to keep them from from sprinting blindly to Arch’s drop spot. 

 

I was in the “try everything and anything at C/LG camp” but skeptical of the efficacy of the Robertson and Hutson move for a few reasons. First, Hutson had been our 2nd worst starting OL overall. Then Robertson played disastrously against Kentucky at center. In combo with on-field data points, I had simply assumed that this combo had been tried in practice in Spring/Fall Camp and in-season and had not proven useful.

Weirdly, I gave Flood too much credit. Robertson’s passable center play against Mississippi State and repeated failure at LG from two different players allowed the experiment for Game 9, once again showing desperation doing the work of reason. That’s irksome data for our ability to self-scout and get the best on the field, but hey, here we are.

Baker played his best game in pass protection all season. Overall, we had no standout performances on the offensive line beyond the pass pro from our tackles on Vandy’s capable edges, but no one was horrific. OL play, like the secondary (yikes, more on that in the D Post Mortem) is as much about not having anyone failing miserably and cohesion as much as dominance at every position.

The goal was passable whole unit play and Texas passed. We helped them a bit with misdirection in the run game early, but that ran its course and we didn’t do a great job of relocating the line of scrimmage. These guys just aren’t real strong. That’s troubling, particularly given some of the second and third team scrubs that Vandy ran out in their interior DL.

RUNNING BACK

Wisner and Baxter combined for 8-45-1 touchdown in the 1st half. Once the eye candy enablement with Niblett stopped, they combined for 17 carries for 52 yards in the second half, when we most needed to control clock and possession. Tre Wisner ran really hard and blocked his ass off against Vandy’s big linebackers. I admire him.

18 carries for 75 yards isn’t going to blow up the box score, but he averaged 3.4 yards after contact and he caught two productive blitz-beating screens for 28 yards. You can see the burden of being the lead back slow him down as the game progresses. He’d be such a nice asset at 8-12 touches a game. C4 might consider rebranding as DAFC4. Down At First Contact.

He averaged 1.5 yards after contact, which is well below replacement level running. He laid down a couple of times. We’ve got to find a way to get Simon in the mix.

WIDE RECEIVER/TIGHT END

Really proud of the perimeter blocking from the entire group. Watch Mosley and Moore stick on their blocks on the Wingo TD.

Wingo was poised for a hell of a game, as Vandy had no ability to tackle him on the perimeter, but his injured thumb sidelined him after two snaps. Two snaps, two catches, 89 yards, same play.

Emmett Mosley has arrived. He became WR #1 after Wingo went out with 10 targets and he was a non-call PI away from going over 100 yards with 2 scores. Moore, Livingstone and McCutcheon all shared a distributed load with Endries as receivers. Moore ran nice out and over routes. None of the tight ends blocked particularly well.

QUARTERBACK

#16 was ready to play. 

Manning looked excellent and finished a hyper efficient 25 of 33 for 328 yards with 3 touchdowns and never put the ball in peril. Take a look at his touchdown pass to Baxter.

This is the famous Spider 2 Y Banana.

image-11.png

You’re only allowed to talk about it in Jon Gruden’s voice. I tell you what man, you know what play I like, man? Spider 2 Y Banana. All day, man. Defenders are dummies, man. Low inta-leckt. This is a core West Coast concept so old that it dates back to Bill Walsh’s time in Cincinnati. We run this concept a lot in the red zone (typically with Wisner) and Manning has screwed it up multiple times by extending the play unnecessarily when the RB springs immediately open and he won’t throw it.

You can see his read progression in the diagram, but Vandy has 1, 2, 3 all covered. Arch calmly extends the play and then intelligently presses the LOS as if to run. His first read reopens. Two Vandy defenders attack and Arch floats a nice little ball to a wide open Baxter who carried the route up into the paint. A week or two ago, he tucks this and gets drilled at the 5 yard line. That Arch Manning, man. He might be OK, man. Turns out when you block and scheme it up right, QBs do good shit, you follow me?

You know a good diagnostic for Arch’s day? When he hits intermediate out routes on a dime.

Not getting a helmet into his throat as he releases the ball also seems to abet a commanding pocket presence. Watch all of the plays. This guy clips exactly the plays that impressed me most. Real QB stuff. Calm progressions, perfectly thrown balls on time.

FINAL

The Texas offense won the game, largely whipping Vanderbilt’s defense but only barely edging an assortment of nitwits wearing striped shirts. The bye week is a good time for further exploration of stuff that works rather than stuff we fancy. 

 

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(Scipio Tex) 2025 Vanderbilt Post Mortem: Defense

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Texas had the Vanderbilt Commodores right where they wanted them. The Comms were down 24 points and forced to pass predictably from traditional passing sets, deprived of deception, with a very good, but very collegiate passing skills dual threat QB who can only throw to certain spots on the route tree. It turns out that’s exactly where Vanderbilt wanted to be.

The run heavy Commodores ended up throwing the ball 45 times in only 63 snaps. 71/29 pass-run is not exactly their typical mix. Granted, Vanderbilt lit up an uncoordinated Texas secondary with the help of an offensive line that hugged Texas edges like orphaned koala bears and an officiating crew that looked like they had just taken a red eye flight in from Las Vegas.

We won the game and in the moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes, but if you can’t laugh at a replay crew so impotent that they had to make up a lie about “off center” pylon cams creating an optical illusion, you have no sense of the absurd. The offsides penalty where we drew Vandy offside and our guard correctly touched the offending player to guarantee the call only to be the one called offsides was equally absurd.

There was a lot of bullshit, often at key leverage moments. But that doesn’t mean the secondary gets to take a hiatus. Diego Pavia finished 27 of 38 for 365 yards passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also added 8 carries for 82 yards and another touchdown if you take away his six sacks. Admittedly, he’s hard to tackle Juan on Juan…

Vanderbilt scored 21 unanswered points in the 4th, turning a potential blowout win into a late game nail biter. As gross as the officiating was, the play of the Texas secondary matched it. The absence of Michael Taaffe and Jelani McDonald was certainly felt. Taaffe and McDonald are coaches on the field, but my fear is that they may also be the coaches on the sideline. This play before the half foreshadowed a later collapse: 

17 seconds on the clock, 3rd and 10, Vandy is in five wide. Vanderbilt came out in this very set and we decided to call a time out and talk about it. If Vandy comes out in five wide again, we’ll be ready. Let’s talk over assignments and make sure that there’s no easy candy in the middle of the field. In that situation, you take away the easiest throws on the field first. If Pavia can throw a dime in the back corner of the end zone on a contested fade route, tip your cap.

That clip is the defensive product that we saw out of a timeout against the same personnel group that they showed before the time out. Look how we aligned to trips at the top of the screen with their most dangerous receiver closest to Pavia. This is us, all coached up. No excuses about missing starters here. We lost by alignment at the snap.

We didn’t cover their best receiver in the middle of the hash (Pavia has a gimme throw on his first read) and Filsaime blows a tackle at the 4 yard line while Derek Williams offers moral support at the 1 yard line. That play wouldn’t have happened if Texas (Derek Williams) hadn’t given up a 4th and 5 conversion to Stowers at the Texas 25 two plays earlier. We then promptly wasted a Ant Hill sack that put them in 2nd and 17. The Texas secondary was already unraveling. The Texas pass rush just concealed it for a while. 

I think this is on Williams (with Guilbeau underneath), so I’m not sure “inexperience” is the blanket answer here. Two veterans should be talking and the Texas coaches should be calming guys down and giving them a plan. I nearly lost it on the 4th and 19 from the Vandy 2 yard line where Pavia hit a 21 yard completion as Longhorn coverage essentially stood on the line to gain and milled about. The play before that was an authoritative Burke sack. We can’t close out a 4th and 19 and end the game right there? That’s our best call?

Defensive Line

As bad as the Longhorn secondary play was, the Texas defensive line was outstanding. They had six sacks and inflicted most of Texas’ 11 tackles for loss. This was a sequence I recorded in my notes on Colin Simmons in the first quarter:

  • #1 strip/sack/fumble recovery.
  • #1 draws hold on 3rd and 1. Now 3rd and 11.
  • #1 pressure/hurry on 3rd and 11. Forced incompletion.
  • #1 held, no call.
  • #1 held, no call.

He finished with a sack, 5 tackles and 7 pressures. In the 3rd quarter there was a play where he was held, he still spun out of it, got a pressure, and then Burke got the clean up. Burke really played well. 

He now has back to back games that are the best he’s ever played at Texas. He finished with 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss and 5 pressures. Great open field tackle by Brad Spence in the 1st half on a retrace after Pavia scrambled. He then did it again on a 3rd and 5 that prevented a Pavia scramble for a first down. He’s also effective at dropping into coverage and he’s consistently violent.

Trey Moore had a terrific sack where he retraced to Pavia after flushing him. A batted ball. Several pressures off of the edge and as a blitzer. He missed a couple of tackles in space trying to rally to the ball. As for the interior DL, Vanderbilt attempted 10 RB gap runs – a critical aspect of their base offense from which they repeatedly dropped big plays on Bama, LSU, Missouri. They were held to 23 yards with a longest run of 6.

LINEBACKER

For the second straight game, it’s unclear whether some of our linebackers understand their role in coverage. It’s not as glaring as in Starkville, but perhaps passive safety play is widening the middle of the field space issues. Lefau had a face mask. Ty Smith is playing less confident in the scheme than in mid October. I don’t think that’s totally on him. He looks lost in pass coverage. Anthony Hill had a sack.

SECONDARY

Safety play was a disaster. I don’t think it’s overly harsh to say that Xavier Filsaime has no idea what he’s doing. He missed two critical tackles and he repeatedly took bad angles. He’s passive when he should be closing on the ball in front of him. If he made up mental gaffes with athletic playmaking, you take the trade off, but there’s no playmaking and for a track fast guy, his play fast isn’t.

Derek Williams was hit six times on six targets for 139 yards and two touchdowns. They weren’t “slowed by knee injury” errors. They were mostly “I don’t know what my responsibility is right now” and passivity. There’s some larger scheme things going on that you can’t just throw on the players, but covering the deepest man in Cover 2 when an opponent is trying to furiously rally is on the safety job description.

When the backstop of the secondary falls apart, people start trying to overcompensate. Littleton didn’t play well in the slot and he overran a likely sack on Pavia. Guilbeau and Muhammad played well enough. Roberson did OK except for a weird offsides penalty playing press man. We never took away Pavia’s preferred spots (anywhere between the hashes, short throws outside).

He was 16 of 18 for 204 yards and two touchdowns between the hashes and he converted multiple third downs with short throws at the sticks outside. He threw only 4 balls 20+ yards down the field and the only one he hit was the busted coverage to Stowers. The other three were in zero danger of being caught. Two landed out of bounds.

His preferred passing heat map is easy to read – no Waze required – and Vandy didn’t have disguise advantages. They were just dropping back and throwing, down 24 points. Pavia can’t throw big boy routes and we respected the whole field in off coverage like he’s going to dice us up throwing 20 yard outs and 18 yard digs outside of the opposite hash. That’s insane. I don’t think he was forced to make a hard throw all game despite an often withering pass rush.

Final Thoughts

The last two weeks have revealed a defense created by a committee, and not in a good way. Getting Taaffe and McDonald back is crucial, but I have questions. 

 

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Posted (edited)
59 minutes ago, BurgleBro said:

Is it really on him?

Surprised Scipio didn't call him out by name if so, given how quickly he lists culprits in his write ups

It has been known for a while that Akina is "man" guy.  It is fair that we were down a few guys(and I agree the 1 play drive was a communication bust)but It isn't shocking we look like ass trying to play zone/prevent.

also, you never know who is the writer's, connection to the staff....just saying.

Edited by dcar00
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Posted
10 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

It has been known for a while that Akina is "man" guy.  It is fair that we were down a few guys(and I agree the 1 play drive was a communication bust)but It isn't shocking we look like ass trying to play zone/prevent.

also, you never know who is the writer's, connection to the staff....just saying.

Vs Vanderbilt there is a lot of irony to this. They do not have a bunch of speedsters among their skill positions. Vandy guys were just finding massive holes in the zones. . I was begging them to run man watching this game (Man 2 or 1 if you want a spy). Instead they went a lot of man vs Florida, who may not be a good team, but they have athletes. 

Posted
2 hours ago, BurgleBro said:

Is it really on him?

Surprised Scipio didn't call him out by name if so, given how quickly he lists culprits in his write ups

I mean, he had 3 NFL starters, one of which won the Thorpe award in 2006 and he trotted out the 108th ranked pass defense.   Inconsistent at best, compete garbage at times.  
 

Man he had some talent to work with for several years never having less than 3 NFL DBs playing, I believe 04-05 were the only two years he really did much with them.

Posted

I thought that Akina was brought in as a last minute replacement for Joseph. His real value add was that he could help Texas pivot to more man coverage and groom Mark Orphey to take over as the real coach of the secondary. I though giving him the passing defense coordinator role was a little weird, but figured it was a "we need to justify his salary" kind of thing. 

I have a lot of respect for Akina, but he is too old to be the HNIC of the DB room. Great to have him on staff, but I sincerely hope his not actually calling the shots. 

Posted
18 hours ago, Jimbob said:

I mean, he had 3 NFL starters, one of which won the Thorpe award in 2006 and he trotted out the 108th ranked pass defense.   Inconsistent at best, compete garbage at times.  
 

Man he had some talent to work with for several years never having less than 3 NFL DBs playing, I believe 04-05 were the only two years he really did much with them.

Not giving him any credit for developing those NFL players is a choice.

Posted
17 minutes ago, Park Gothic said:

I thought that Akina was brought in as a last minute replacement for Joseph. His real value add was that he could help Texas pivot to more man coverage and groom Mark Orphey to take over as the real coach of the secondary. I though giving him the passing defense coordinator role was a little weird, but figured it was a "we need to justify his salary" kind of thing. 

I have a lot of respect for Akina, but he is too old to be the HNIC of the DB room. Great to have him on staff, but I sincerely hope his not actually calling the shots. 

Akina is a great teacher of technique. He great a tthe micro level. He is bit out of his element on the macro level (see DC results). 

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