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Monday - Bobby

Spoiler

Monday

 

Bobby Burton

By Bobby Burton

  • 2 hours ago
 

Texas is currently on a four-game win streak. That's tied with Georgia for the third longest current win-streak in the league behind only A&M and Alabama.

During that streak, we've seen a team that is maturing, especially on offense. And we've seen a team that is consistently showing a spine when times get tough.

No, the journey hasn't been perfect, including Saturday's win over Vandy. But no team's season has been.

Georgia has been tied or behind in five of their six conference games going into halftime. Alabama put up a stinker versus a hapless Florida State to start the year. A&M won by three in Fayetteville against a Razorback squad who remains winless in conference.

My point is this: there are no perfect teams this year.

So that means the requirement for any contender is to survive and advance each and every week. Texas is doing exactly that.

Yes, there will be setbacks at times, like the offense in Lexington or the secondary in the fourth quarter in Austin this past Saturday.

But neither of those issues are the larger story, they are just part of it.

The over-arching (sorry for the pun) story is that a young Texas team is learning how to win. They're displaying the consistent effort it takes despite whatever odds or situations they face or any missteps they make along the way.

**

The defeat of Vanderbilt on Saturday moved Texas to 7-2. The win keeps the Longhorns in the college football playoff picture and the race for the SEC crown.

Current SEC standings:

Texas A&M 5-0

Alabama 5-0

Georgia 5-1

Ole Miss 5-1

Texas 4-1

Oklahoma 3-2

Vanderbilt 3-2

Tennessee 3-3

Missouri 2-2

LSU 2-3

Florida 2-3

Mississippi State 1-4

Auburn 1-5

Kentucky 1-5

South Carolina 1-6

Arkansas 0-5

**

Some other thoughts:

- We've also witnessed the importance of team depth during a physical SEC schedule. Defending 80+ plays two weeks in a row on the road is something few teams can deal with.

- The Texas defense leads the nation in sacks with 34.

- Arch Manning had a tremendous game on Saturday. His final stats: 25 of 33 for 328 yards and three TDs. It's amazing to think he did that while he was still shaking the cobwebs off of a concussion.

- Ryan Wingo is turning into the big play artist this Texas offense sorely needs. He is forcing teams to respect the outside screen game.

- While many will point to the protection Manning received from the offensive line on Saturday (and rightly so), I want to call out Tre Wisner. Wisner is improving in pass protection by leaps and bounds. He was absolutely stellar against Vanderbilt in that regard.

- Ethan Burke is playing at a very high level the last four weeks. Texas needs that. The combo of Burke and Colin Simmons could be a difference maker as Texas faces three powerful offenses in a row (Georgia, Arkansas and A&M) to end the season.

 

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Posted

Sarkisian Made the Adjustment, Now He Must Stick With It (Sunday) - Vogel (OTF)

More about how bad we've been in 12 personnel and how good 11 has been.

Spoiler

Sarkisian Made the Adjustment, Now He Must Stick With It (Sunday)

 

CJ Vogel

By CJ Vogel

  • 18 hours ago
 

Sarkisian Hitched His Wagon 11 Personnel, But Will He Keep Pulling Moving Forward?

Texas is coming off of their best offensive performance of the season against Vanderbilt. 

The Longhorns scored on six of their first seven possessions against a Vanderbilt defense that was top 20 in sacks, tackles for loss and in run defense. But it didn't matter on Saturday. The lone possession Texas did not find points on among the first seven drives was due to the half ending after 10 seconds.

So what changed?

Of course the insertion of Cole Hutson back into the lineup at left guard played a key role.

Texas did not allow a sack, and only one snap went for negative yards. That is a night and day difference in comparison to what we have seen from this offensive line in the eight games previous in 2025.

So of course, that helped.

But more than anything, Sarkisian tossed the two tight end game plan in the garbage and went back to what he does best – spreading the field, going fast and throwing the football.

At half time, his quarterback was 12-16 passing for 200 yards and two touchdowns. His offense had 24 points on the board and the punting unit had not seen the field. It was a brand new looking offense with results that had rarely been yielded all season long.

***

Only 16 plays on Saturday had two tight ends on the field. At a clip of 27.1%, that is the lowest 2+ tight end game plan Texas has deployed since Ohio State in the opener (25.4%).

Texas averaged 8.47 yards per play in 11 personnel on Saturday vs. Vanderbilt.

In turn, Texas utilized presnap motion on 31/59 offensive snaps (52.5%) – the highest rate of the season.

***

The decision should be pretty simple moving forward – use your wide receivers.

I mentioned after my rabbit hole trip last week, that the yards per play against Power 4 teams in 12 personnel would rank 135 out of 136 teams in college football for 2025. On Saturday, that season average dropped a couple points after the Longhorns totaled 62 yards on 16 snaps for an average of 3.88 yards per play.

Keep three wide receivers on the field. It spaces the defense which in turn frees up room to run the football which in turn helps your quarterback which in turn gives the offensive line a two-way go. It is a win-win and an adjustment that is incredibly overdue.

I asked Sarkisian on Saturday after the game what went into the decision to showcase more 11 personnel against Vanderbilt.

"It was a part of the plan," Sarkisian said in regards to utilizing more 11 personnel. "Clearly we were trying to create some space. Really, a lot of what we were trying to do was 12 personnel with broken sets to open our sets up."

Broken sets typically refers to having a tight end split out wide in combination with another on the in-line or also split out.

"I felt like when the ball got on the perimeter early, they had a hard time tackling," Sarkisian said. "I thought our guys were playing fast in space. And 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.

"It was probably the best way in this game for us to be effective on first downs. Their interior defensive front is really good, so once it started going in that direction, I just stuck with it."

***

Now, with a week to prepare for Georgia, Sarkisian and his staff will be tasked with maximizing their personnel packages and game planning to defeat Kirby Smart for the first time.

But for now, the Texas offense has found a consistent answer to a problem that has lingered all season long.

 

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Posted

People will “point to the protection Manning got vs Vanderbilt…….” because it’s a legit consideration for the Georgia game.  Georgia has not been the Georgia team of recent years in many ways, but their lines on both side of the ball remain legit.  It’s true that our line, backs, WRs blocked admirably vs Vanderbilt on Saturday, providing pass pro we just haven’t seen from this offense this season.  The question is whether that’s a symptom of the kind of athletes Vandy had on defense, or actual signs of improvement in our pass pro going into Athens.   Give me a night game ESPN

Posted

Assuming we stick with what we've seen lately that actually works, and that UGa is who they appear to be so far, I feel pretty good about this game. Need to include freedom from practice injuries, of course... but right now, it kinda smells like 2023 Bama in T-town.

Can't wait.

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Posted (edited)
14 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

Boys - it’s a bye week

Yeah, which is why the title says "week 12" instead of 11.

Edited by MuellerHorn
I'm dumb
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Week 10 just finished.

Lol, I looked this shit up and still screwed it up. I meant to type week 12. The Vandy thread's week (says 9, not 10) was incorrect, and that threw me off. Thanks and edited.

Edited by MuellerHorn
  • MuellerHorn changed the title to Week 12 - Texas @ UGA
  • immamac changed the title to Week 11 - BYE WEEK 2
Posted

We've got to somehow get Wisener a break in games going forward. Dude looked completely gassed towards the end of the 3rd quarter. I know they're probably wanting to bring Baxter along slowly to avoid another injury, so maybe we can haz more Simon?

Posted
7 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

No worries, only concerned that we must maintain our thread title accuracy in order to justifiably complain about our QB's accuracy.

Here's an interesting stat.  Through the same number of career attempts (363), Arch has a higher completion percentage (64%) than Quinn did (59%).  And yes, I know there was a lot of complaining about Quinn's accuracy too.  Complaining:  it's what we do.  

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
2 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

No worries, only concerned that we must maintain our thread title accuracy in order to justifiably complain about our QB's accuracy.

I just hope we aren't bitching about Kirby stealing Sark's lunch money for the third-straight time.

LunchMoney.jpg.0f244528feaca97e0b6881fe03235897.jpg

Posted

Love seeing Burke get some recognition. He was quiet early in the season, and seemed to have his usage drop. I coudn't believe that would hold up though. He's come up time and again in big time situations over the years. Him and Simmons warming up to the back half of the SEC run will be huge. 

Posted
1 hour ago, tokamak said:

When will the game time be announced? Not until next week?

Schedule will be released right at noon today. Guessing they might use the six day window to see what Georgia and Alabama do this weekend before deciding which one gets the night game on the 15th.

Posted
1 minute ago, General Specific said:

IDK, we need to see who the backup QB is for Bye first!

Does BYE have anyone we need to tamper with for the portal?? How’s their OL and RB room?

  • Like 1
  • Drool 1
Posted
1 hour ago, BigHorn'13 said:

We've got to somehow get Wisener a break in games going forward. Dude looked completely gassed towards the end of the 3rd quarter. I know they're probably wanting to bring Baxter along slowly to avoid another injury, so maybe we can haz more Simon?

Baxter just hasn't been effective this year. He goes down instantly. 

Posted

Well timed bye week.

The next game is the biggest game of the season. We should lose but...that is why we play the games.

I hate having to look at Kirby Smart though. I have an irrational hatred of that motherfucker I am not even sure why. He brings up Barry Switzer levels of rage in me.

  • Hook 'Em 5
  • Like 3
Posted

I thought McCutcheon dislocated his shoulder when it happened, but he was back playing again later in the game.  Maybe he did and he's just a dawg.

Posted
29 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Bye is terrible, we'll win convincingly.  

 

4 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Bye week is terrible.  We should win convincingly.

Boo This Man GIF

  • Like 1
Posted
22 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Baxter just hasn't been effective this year. He goes down instantly. 

He's frustrating to watch run. When he approaches a single open field tackler he immediately starts going to the ground in preparation for contact. No effort to avoid or run over the tackler. He immediately gives up on breaking the tackle in any way. 

I would like to believe it's psychologically related to the injury but he has done it to some extent since he's been here. Someone needs to remind him he's a badass and it's his job to break that tackle. 

Posted
32 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Bye is terrible, we'll win convincingly.  

 

6 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Bye week is terrible.  We should win convincingly.

the big lebowski GIF

Donald Trump Politics GIF by BuzzFeed

Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Isn’t this kind of supposed to be his job?

IMG_7246.jpeg

Almost like Sark/Texas did that with the pass to Mosley.  That would have iced the game. 

But the ref decided not to throw the flag

Oh and we were about to go for it on 4th down before the refs, again, fucked shit up. 

Edited by Js1
Posted
2 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

They both returned to the game after they left with injuries, right?

McCutcheon did. I don't think Filsaime did. He went out on the 4th and 19 play. Even if he had recovered enough to play, I'm not sure how he would have time to get back out there. 

Posted
2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Isn’t this kind of supposed to be his job?

No lead is safe in this crazy time in football. The mentality of getting a big lead and running out the clock will lose you a lot of games. You have to go full right to the whistle. Unless you are playing SHSU or something.

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Posted
13 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Well timed bye week.

The next game is the biggest game of the season. We should lose but...that is why we play the games.

I hate having to look at Kirby Smart though. I have an irrational hatred of that motherfucker I am not even sure why. He brings up Barry Switzer levels of rage in me.

Because he's fucking obnoxious and has an elementary school haircut.

Posted
9 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Bye week is terrible.  We should win convincingly.

Put it on the fucking wall!

-aggie...probably.

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Posted
12 minutes ago, CashMcCoy said:

 

Get to see aggy lose, OU lose, and Georgia lose back to back to back.

And be "see" I mean maybe if YTTV/Disney get their shit together.

Posted
2 minutes ago, Drew said:

Get to see aggy lose, OU lose, and Georgia lose back to back to back.

And be "see" I mean maybe if YTTV/Disney get their shit together.

It would be incredible, but I just don't see SCar winning at Kyle.

Posted
37 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

It would be incredible, but I just don't see SCar winning at Kyle.

 

31 minutes ago, Steamboat1874 said:

Aggy will crush South Carolina.

you can eating GIF by Showtime

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