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

(Gerald Goodridge) No. 17 Texas 52, Arkansas 37: Three things we learned

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After an abysmal offensive performance a week ago, ending up on the receiving end of a blowout, the No. 17 Texas Longhorns put a beating on the Arkansas Razorbacks. Not only was it a win that let Texas take a breath, but it was a much-needed data point for their postseason resume.

Arch Manning can play at an elite level with support

Arch Manning had one of the best quarterback outings in Texas football history. Even without his record-setting rushing and receiving touchdowns, it would have been a career game for the signal caller as he fully grows into the role. Manning was in control of the offense, connecting with six different receivers on his 389 yards and four passing touchdowns — three of which went to DeAndre Moore, who had a career day of his own.

It was probably thanks, in large part, to the offensive line giving him room to operate without having players in his face, but he was still able to operate when he did. He showed a remarkable ability to work his feet to escape pressure while keeping his eyes downfield, opening up big plays for the offense. The most emblematic of that was his final touchdown pass to Moore, when he rolled out to make a player miss, keeping his eyes downfield to find Moore at the back of the end zone.

The Texas defense can put someone away

For the first half, the Longhorns traded scores with the Razorbacks, going into halftime with a four-point lead thanks to a field goal as time expired. Texas came out of the break and engineered a long touchdown drive, while the defense forced the first of their two turnovers of the second half to set up another long Texas touchdown drive to get Texas a three-score lead.

The second turnover of the half, a scoop-and-score by Liona Lefau off of a Colin Simmons strip sack, put Texas over the 50-point mark for the first time since the Sam Houston State game and the first time scoring more than 35 points in regulation since the start of SEC play.

Texas needs answers at linebacker

Texas got an early preview of the post-Anthony Hill thanks to his hand injury, which looked a bit bumpy early. Arkansas cracked off a 41-yard run on its first play of the game after Trey Moore got caught flowing the wrong direction and Mike Washington punished him for it. While expecting the backup to play at the level of a player with first-round NFL talent, going into Texas A&M with that level of play would have been a problem.

To make matters worse, TyAnthony Smith, who had stepped up and played well late, was flagged for a questionable targeting penalty in the second half, meaning Texas will be without his services when they welcome the Aggies to Austin on Black Friday.

(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: Texas smokes the Hogs

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The Arkansas Razorbacks held true to the identity they’ve maintained all season in Austin. Viewers were treated to brilliant rushing offense, slippery tight ends, absolutely clueless defense, and the obligatory “what was that?” mistake by Taylen Green. Green attempted to shot put a toss to the tight end on a option play when the Hogs were facing a key 3rd-and-3 while down 31-20. The ball fluttered into the hands of Jelani McDonald…

Texas scored again to make it 38-20 and the game was essentially over. Green didn’t return to the game after that mistake. No word on whether he stayed to enjoy the luau after the game featuring roasted pork. Meanwhile his counterpart Arch Manning absolutely poured it on early and often in this game. After the interception Manning’s play turned what might have been a shootout into a blowout. There’s nothing like coming back home to Austin, TX and a DKR crowd for this team to rebuild confidence and get a win.

Quick thought no. 1: Arch throws bombs and also…

Manning found the end zone early and often in this game, scoring on a receiver toss from Parker Livingstone…

…a goal line trap quarterback run…

…and four passes…

The final stat line for Manning read 18-30 for 389 yards at 13.0 ypa with four touchdowns, zero picks, and nine yards and two additional scores as a skill player. He continues to misfire on shallow crosses for whatever reason. It’s a single but rather unfortunate weakness in an otherwise brilliant performance. Arch had a gritty and solid day against Georgia after back-to-back 300+ yard passing days against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.

He’s been playing as well as most anyone in the country since the hiccups in non-conference play. With another explosive day he could pass 3k yards on the year against the Aggies.

Quick thought no. 2: Texas weathered the Ji-Hog

Arkansas definitely came into this game looking to establish a tone physically. A lead iso run yielded a 41-yard gain for big running back Mike Washington early and a later zone play saw him truck-stick Michael Taaffe and the Longhorns for a touchdown. Success on the ground, where Arkansas out-rushed Texas 157-50 while averaging 9.2 ypc in the first half, was even breeding success on defense. The Razorbacks broke up a few passes with bit hits from the secondary and managed to force a pair of back-to-back punts. For a moment there, it appeared they might impose their will on this game.

Unfortunately for the pigs, Steve Sarkisian was getting very comfortable dialing up his trademark play-action shots to spring receivers wide open down the field. The Longhorns kept scoring and once Green made his fatal mistake the Razorbacks had to get away from the run game and any chances of dominating a rivalry game with physicality went out the window.

By the time Colin Simmons was sack-stripping back-up quarterback KJ Jackson, the Razorbacks were about ready to go home and start thawing the turkeys for Thanksgiving. Liona Lefau was given a fair bit of time and space to scoop and score and Bobby Petrino‘s charges spent the rest of the game scrambling around and throwing while glancing up at the clock.

Jackson did add an impressive scramble midway through the fourth quarter for a score but the game was already well decided. Petrino still had the spite to push the score to 37 before the game was over, but it was meaningless rivalry nonsense and made no real difference to the scoreboard. A physical run game doesn’t do much good if you kick field goals early as an offense while surrendering long touchdown passes as a defense.

Quick thought no. 3: Some concerns with the run game

Both sides of the ball had some issues with the run game in this contest that can’t be totally overlooked. Texas defended the Arkansas run game primarily and most effectively with the offense utilizing the deep passing game to score. That’s actually the best way to defend the run, by discouraging your opponent from sticking with it, but ideally your traditional countermeasures of beating blocks and fitting gaps with your defenders fare a little better than what we saw from the Longhorns in this game.

The Longhorns were predictably very inconsistent at getting a man in position to defend both the inside and outside runners on the option when playing in the base 4-down looks. The Edges typically make the right play but the linebackers have often been lost in navigating whether they should be scraping wide for the quarterback keeper or getting downhill to stop the inside dive. These issues will need to be resolved over a short week before Marcel Reed and the Aggies come to town.

The Texas run game continues to be little more than a change-up to keep defenses honest and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in nature when it’s Tre Wisner at running back vs anyone else. Wisner was able to pad his stats just a little running over the Pigs late. He still finished with just 67 yards on 15 carries at 4.5 ypc. CJ Baxter had 24 yards on seven carries for 3.4 ypc and fumbled a Wildcat snap at the goal line.

The run game is what it is at this point, this team is going as far as Manning can carry it.

Quick thought no. 4: Sending a message?

There will be two big questions coming out of this blowout, 52-37 win for Texas. The first is whether a commanding win with loads of Arch highlights across television sets and social media will do the Longhorns any good if they reach a point of consideration for the playoffs. Technically, Texas’ tougher showings were all on the road and easily understood. Losing on the road by a touchdown against undefeated Ohio State? Understandable. Losing at 9-1 Georgia? Not disqualifying.

Losing at Florida may disqualify the Horns but if they are being compared to other 9-3 teams those squads will inevitably have some less impressive losses on the resume as well. What matters is winning the big game at home this week against the undefeated Aggies to load up the positive end of the resume. The second question is whether this team has rebuilt its confidence enough to put together a necessarily strong showing in DKR when the Aggies visit.

Before we get to the Aggies, consider that in SEC play over two seasons Texas is 5-1 in DKR and also has a blowout win over SEC-adjacent Clemson in the playoffs. The home field advantage the Longhorns are getting these days in DKR is very real and the team looks very different than on the road. It was noted pregame on the broadcast that Taaffe relayed the team was pretty beat down by the Georgia loss before rallying midweek to get ready for the Razorbacks.

There isn’t really any question now of whether this team will be up or not for the Aggies on Friday. Texas A&M knows they’ll be coming into a hostile atmosphere against a team that will be motivated to hold up its end in a rivalry game. The Longhorns also have a deep playbook of schemes that are connecting on offense now for the Aggies to try and prep over a short week.

Quick thought no. 5: Hello to A&M

Obviously the Aggies are a tough matchup. While A&M hasn’t exactly faced the cream of the crop in the SEC this season, they did play Notre Dame at South Bend and have yet to lose a game. The 11-0 record the Aggies are bringing to Austin is good enough to carry a lot of weight if the Longhorns can pull out a win and find themselves in position to be judged against other 9-3 teams.

Even if Texas can’t quite make it into final consideration for the playoffs, it’d still be a big win that would dampen the hopes and excitement this season from the rival Aggies and provide some momentum for this squad heading into the offseason. Challenges for this game include another physical rushing attack with a blazing fast quarterback and option elements, explosive pass-catchers, and a better (though still bust-prone) defense.

The Aggies are like a blend of Vanderbilt and Mississippi State on offense and have more than enough in the blitz package to give Texas fits if the Longhorn O-line doesn’t play a clean game or finds itself in too many passing downs. The Longhorns need their best day yet on the O-line to put over one more win. The way Arch Manning has been playing will certainly give Texas a chance.

Evan Vieth: Arch Manning shines as Texas takes down Arkansas in Austin

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Despite offensive struggles all season for the Texas Longhorns, one player has shown to be a step above during SEC play. That would be the quarterback that many had already written off. CFBs first flop, if you will, Arch Manning. Despite a poor start to the season, a bad loss to Florida, a mistake-filled game against Kentucky and an embarrassing defeat last week at Georgia, Manning has consistently dug in and continued playing his game.

As a result, Texas has seen its QB put up multiple strong performances in SEC play, but it’s hard to argue any was better than what he did against Arkansas today in a 52-37 win. In the first half, Manning was responsible for touchdowns on the first three drives of the game, and they came in some strikingly different ways. The adage ‘Arch throws bombs’ came out to play on the first drive, stepping up in the pocket, shrugging off potential first-rounder Quincy Rhodes and delivering a beautiful pass 50 yards in the air to DeAndre Moore Jr. for the touchdown.

On the next drive, Manning would methodically drive down the field and score, as the receiver? Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian called his own version of the Philly Special, placing the ball in the hands of Parker Livingstone on a reverse, who threw a high pass to Manning near the right pylon. QB1 went up and got it, coming down with the TD catch for the second score of the game for Texas. At that point, Manning was 8-9 with 191 yards passing and two touchdowns.

Despite his defense struggling to contain Arkansas QB Taylen Green and RB Mike Washington, Manning continued to shine. His sack avoidance was at an elite level, and even with his receivers failing to haul in multiple favorable throws, Manning led his offense to six total touchdowns by the end of the third quarter. Four through the air, one on the ground and one as a receiver.

Manning’s final stat line, despite not playing in the fourth quarter, was fantastic:

  • 18-30
  • 389 passing yards
  • 4 passing TDs
  • 1 rushing TD
  • 1 receiving TD

In a game where Texas’ defense struggled, the run game was once again inefficient and multiple different mental errors were made, Manning led Texas to a more than comfortable victory in a rivalry game. Texas’ star QB is coming into his own at the perfect time and looks like the best player on the field on every dropback. Texas is going to need this level of play when it hosts undefeated Texas A&M next week, an even bigger rivalry game against an even better defense. 

 

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Posted

(Blake Toppmeyer) Texas, Arch Manning keep CFP hopes alive: 'All eyes will be on us'

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If you thought Texas' blowout loss at Georgia served as a playoff extinction-level event, you're confusing this 12-team bracket with a beauty contest. It's not. At the tail end of the bracket, it could be much more of a they'd-do-in-a-pinch type of affair. If the selection committee finds itself in a pinch in a couple of weeks, facing a dearth of beauties, well, Texas still lurks.

And if the Longhorns don't look like a grand prize, just knock back a six-pack and flip on game film of this 52-37 rout of Arkansas. This didn't look half bad. Let's not turn this result into more than it is. This win serves as a blowout of a bad team, an opponent with an interim coach, a rival that lost to playoff-bound Notre Dame by 43 points.

But, the Razorbacks have had a way about hanging close against SEC opponents, before ultimately losing, and Texas changed the script by burying the Hogs. “The season’s not done," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said afterward on ABC. "You never know what can happen.” Arch Manning shined to the tune of 389 passing yards and four touchdowns. Must be the glasses. Or, must be the continued improvement of a first-year starter.

Don't take this as me stumping for Texas' playoff bona fides. I had an eyewitness view of the Longhorns' fourth-quarter meltdown in Athens, Georgia. Sarkisian did my job for me when he called his team's disintegration against Georgia "a disaster." Couldn't have said it any better. The Longhorns did not resemble a playoff team that night, much as it did not in a loss at Florida or in white-knuckle victories at Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Texas languishes on the road. It's pretty good at home, and it boasts wins against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, a pair of top-15 teams. The committee suffers from an affliction known as recency bias. If Texas' final trip down the catwalk before Selection Sunday is an upset of undefeated Texas A&M in primetime on Black Friday, well, let's just say hold off on shoveling the dirt on this season. "All eyes will be on us," Sarkisian said. "We’ve got to go compete.”

Need I remind you the first-team-out last season was three-loss Alabama? If Texas reaches 9-3, it'll tout a resume superior to that of the 2024 Tide. Texas checked in at No. 17 in the latest CFP rankings. Its playoff hopes would benefit from a dash of chaos inflected upon teams ranked ahead of it. Southern California losing this weekend helps. Look for Texas to be ranked no worse than No. 15 in next week's pecking order. Add in a victory against Texas A&M, and you never know. If the committee finds itself in a pinch, the Longhorns might look fine.

Chip Brown: Quick Takes from Texas' 52-37 win over Arkansas

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AUSTIN, Texas — Arch Manning is now a quarterback who can carry his team. He showed it on Saturday in a 52-37 victory over Arkansas on a day in which the Texas defense didn't have its leading tackler and spiritual leader Anthony Hill Jr. and was giving up one explosive play after another (15 in total).

Manning completed his first six passes for 125 yards and a TD and then caught a 4-yard TD pass from his roommate Parker Livingstone (after Ryan Wingo took a handoff on a speed sweep and then flipped the ball to Livingstone on a reverse, setting up his pass to Manning). On Texas' third possession of the game, Manning found Livingstone wide-open for a 54-yard TD, putting Texas up 21-13. At that point, Manning was 8-of-9 passing for 191 yards and two TDs with a TD reception.

Manning, however, seemed to be just warming up. With a 24-20 lead coming out of halftime, Manning opened the third quarter with a 30-yard pass to Emmett Mosley V and hit tight end Jack Endries for 35 yards before adding a 3-yard TD run to his TDs passing and his TD reception.

The touchdown on Saturday that might best exemplify Manning's growth, however, came on third-and-goal from the 8 in the third quarter. Manning was flushed and nearly sacked, then looked like he was going to run, drawing two defenders to him before pulling up short of the line of scrimmage and throwing a dart through traffic to DeAndre Moore in the back of the end zone. Manning finished Saturday's win 18-of-30 (60%) passing for 389 yards and four touchdowns with a 4-yard TD reception and a 3-yard TD rushing.

On a day in which Arkansas had 15 explosive offensive plays, Manning accounted for 11 explosive pass plays of 16, 46 (TD to DeAndre Moore), 15, 25, 54 (TD to Parker Livingstone), 22, 30, 35, 18, 50 and 20 yards (TD to Moore). At the beginning of the season, Texas was winning in spite of Manning as he worked through unprecedented expectations placed on him by others.

Like he did on Saturday, Manning kept his eyes downfield and has continued to get better in terms of pocket presence, decision-making and leadership. (In the last six games, Manning has accounted for 15 touchdowns to just two turnovers.) Now, Texas is winning thanks to Manning, who is starting to play like one of the best quarterbacks in college football.

— The worst development for Texas from Saturday's game was the targeting ejection of linebacker Ty'Anthony Smith with 2:43 left in the third quarter. Smith will now be forced to miss the first half of next Friday's rivalry showdown against No. 3 Texas A&M. Texas hopes LB Anthony Hill Jr., the Longhorns' leading tackler who missed Saturday's game with a fractured fifth metacarpal in his hand, will be able to play against the Aggies.

— The defense sure seemed to miss Hill on Saturday. The Longhorns gave up more than 400 total yards (425) for the fourth time in seven SEC games this season, including 15 explosive plays on passes of 30, 21, 23, 26, 27, 18, 16, 16, 21 and 21 yards and runs of 41, 18, 25, 22 (TD) and 12 (TD) yards. Arkansas scored on its first four drives of the game (FG, FG, TD, TD) while averaging 9.2 yards per carry and trailed only 24-20 at halftime.

— There were some superlatives on defense, however: Colin Simmons collected his 10th sack of the season in strip-sack fashion, and linebacker Liona Lefau, who seemed like he needed a big play right about now, scooped it and scored it from 52 yards out early in the fourth quarter. After his score, Lefau tossed the ball into Bevo's pen, hitting the big fella and causing him to flinch. Safety Jelani McDonald grabbed his third interception of the season and returned it 11 yards to the UA 38 in the third quarter. The offense turned it into a touchdown as Texas won the turnover battle 2-0, converting both into 14 points.

— Through three quarters on Saturday, Texas ran the ball 20 times for 70 yards (3.5 ypc) against a defense that had been giving up an average of 181.2 yards per game and 4.66 yards per carry (No. 114 in FBS). Texas finished with 28 carries for 97 yards (3.5 ypc), led by Quintrevion Wisner, who had 15 carries for 67 yards (4.5 ypc) and CJ Baxter, who had seven carries for 24 yards (3.4 ypc). What will Texas' run game be capable of against A&M next week (after running the ball 43 times for 302 yards, including 33 carries for 186 yards by Wisner, in a 17-7 win at Texas A&M last year)?

— It was a big day for Texas wideouts: DeAndre Moore Jr. had three catches for 74 yards - all for touchdowns of 46, 8 and 20 yards. Parker Livingstone had two catches for 104 yards, including a TD reception of 54 yards, as well as a 4-yard TD pass to Arch Manning. Ryan Wingo had six catches for 81 yards (long of 22). Emmett Mosley V had four catches for 81 yards (long of 30). There was even a tight end sighting - Jack Endries had two catches for 49 yards.

— Has anyone had more consequential holding penalties than Warren Roberson? My goodness. Pete Kwiatkowski dials up a perfect blitz by Liona Lefau on third-and-5, forcing QB Taylen Green to throw incomplete, and on the opposite side of the field - miles from the play - Roberson got tangled up with an Arkansas receiver and got flagged.

Instead of holding the Hogs to a field goal, the penalty extended a drive to a TD on a 4-yard keeper by Green, cutting Texas' lead to 21-20 midway through the second quarter. Roberson, of course, had a hold last week that negated a 59-yard kick return by Ryan Niblett at Georgia (and had a hold last year on a 64-yard kick return against Georgia by Matt Golden).

— I was worried Michael Taaffe might be concussed on the hit he took from Arkansas RB Mike Washington on a 22-yard TD run in the second quarter. Damn. Talk about an angry run. The Texas defense had a burn-the-film first 16 minutes to the game as Arkansas scored on its first three drives (FG, FG, TD) and had 10 carries for 133 yards (13.3 ypc).

— The Texas defense gave up an explosive play on the opening snap of Arkansas' first three drives - a 41-yard run by Mike Washington; a 30-yard pass to TE Jaden Platt (on a busted coverage by Texas); and a 25-yard keeper by QB Taylen Green - helping the Razorbacks get into scoring position on each of their first three drives. Washington took an inside zone handoff and bolted for 41 yards. It looked like Liona Lefau got hooked/held by an Arkansas O-linemen on the play.

— Sarkisian's clock management at the end of the first half felt clumsy. He could've used one of his two timeouts before a third-and-7 play by Arkansas from the UA 14, but he didn't, allowing 34 seconds to run off the clock. After the Texas defense forced an incompletion on third down, and then Arkansas shanked the punt, Texas took possession at the UA 35 with 50 seconds to play instead of 1:24.

After Manning couldn't connect with DeAndre Moore in the end zone, the Horns ran the ball twice, using a timeout after Quintrevion Wisner's first run (for 7 yards) with 37 seconds left. After Wisner ran for 2 yards on third-and-3, there was 30 seconds left. With Texas facing fourth-and-1, Sarkisian let the clock run down to :03 before calling timeout and having Mason Shipley kick a 44-yard field goal, giving Texas a 24-20 lead at halftime.

 

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Posted
14 hours ago, satyanash said:

To make matters worse, TyAnthony Smith, who had stepped up and played well late, was flagged for a questionable targeting penalty in the second half, meaning Texas will be without his services when they welcome the Aggies to Austin on Black Friday.

Isn't there some petition we can make to the league office over this? It was objectively a bad call. We badly need the ACC review system where everything gets discussed on broadcast. 

Posted

(Scipio Tex) 2025 Arkansas Postmortem: Offense

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Arch Manning and the Texas wide receivers lit up an overmatched Arkansas Razorback defense in DKR, offering some much needed fireworks and equal measures of hope for the coming grudge match with the Aggies on Friday night. 

Texas “only” had 490 yards to match their 45 offensive points, but that was on 59 offensive plays at 8.3 yards per play. The Horns passing game was explosive with passing gains of 54, 50, 45, 36, and 30 yards, respectively, but Texas also went a methodical 8 of 12 on 3rd down, committed no turnovers, killed it in the red zone (including dreaded goal-to-go scenarios from the 9 or 10 yard line), and more or less took the air out of the ball late in the game rather than try to get Arch over 400 yards for the game or maximize the box score.

Texas probably left a little meat on the bone when the game was still in contest – Manning misfired on a couple of short open throws in the middle of the field, Parker Livingstone botched a perfect deep ball, and Mosley didn’t help Arch enough on a beautiful throw to an intermediate in-breaking route, but we’ll damn sure take that performance overall.

The Hogs were as slow as the 1986 Big 10 team that I promised you in the preview, but it’s still nice to see what Manning is capable of with a clean picture, adequate protection, and open wide receivers. If I had a nit to pick from a game management perspective, I wasn’t wild about the end of first half strategy to play for a field goal in a game where the Arkansas’ offense was taking it to the Texas D however they wanted.

Those points didn’t end up being meaningful, but in the moment, starting a possession deep in Razorback territory with around 40 seconds on the clock and two timeouts in your pocket, running the ball twice and throwing once, and then letting time run down for a non-guaranteed 44 yard field goal attempt felt like a toe stub. As for the larger offensive game plan, a winner. Texas really didn’t waste time with bullshit.

They saw Arky couldn’t run and struggled to find a consistent pass rush, so we spread it out, and let Arch and his pass catchers eat down the field. The Texas running game is more or less irrelevant to our larger success. Runs that don’t end in negatives are a win, more or less a pause for Sark to scan for the next pass play on his laminate. This offense is #16 and he today he showed what he can do when the supporting cast wins.

QB

Arch Manning was superb, even when you factor in that the Arkansas defense was as dismal as promised. He manipulated the pocket well, threw accurate deep balls, ran to create space and time for receivers to break open, and shook off a couple of free Arkansas pass rushers to create positive plays. 

I’m not sure the TV broadcast showed how impressive that pass was vs. seeing it live.

#16 finished 18 of 30 for 389 passing, with 4 passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and nifty 4 yard touchdown catch on a Livingstone reverse pass. A coveted football hat trick on a combined six touchdowns. This had to be a huge confidence booster for Manning and his pass catchers.

Wide Reciever/Tight End

A couple of drops marred an otherwise wonderful day. Arkansas’ oversized defensive backs didn’t have a prayer of running with Texas and Sark clearly saw their propensity to bust. The Razorbacks also had dirty eyes and repeatedly tried to guess on fake screens or swings, allowing Arch to punish them downfield as various distractions took their eyes off of the real vertical action.

Amusingly, the game began with another Wingo screen, which went for a successful gain. Everyone got into the act. Moore had a career day with 3 catches for 74 yards and 3 touchdowns. Livingstone only caught bombs – 2 for 104 and he could have had 3-150 but for a drop on a post route. Arch shouldn’t feel threatened that Parker is going to take his QB job anytime soon. 

Mosley dominated the intermediate middle with 4 catches for 81 yards, basically spamming the same two routes between the hashes all game. Wingo had a sure-handed 6-81 and ran hard after the catch. Jack Endries got to show his wares with a nice 35 yard catch and run to the Arkansas red zone and another sure-handed 14 yard grab.

Offensive Line

Brandon Baker had some struggles with big edge Quincy Rhodes, Arkansas’ only disruptive DL. That was expected (and predicted) as Baker can struggle with size and strength. He gave up a couple of pressures and got called for hold. The rest of the OL pass blocked pretty well. When the pocket did break down, it was only one free runner and Arkansas lacks the team quickness to turn pressures into sacks or real discomfort when Manning used his legs to buy time.

Several of his pockets were perfect. Run blocking is what it is by now. Avoid negative plays.

Running Back

Arkansas bleeds rushing yards against competent offenses, but fortunately we had other avenues to attack. The longest Longhorn run of the day went for 12 yards. Tre Wisner had three decent maximizing runs in the early 4th quarter (and another solid 3rd down conversion) when Texas wanted to run clock and the Arky D began to tap out a bit, but still only finished with 15-67.

CJ Baxter had 7 carries for 24 yards. Halting trot would be a kind descriptor for his assertiveness and contact-seeking over the last few games. Christian Clark got a little run late. Not much is being added to the blocking.

Final Thoughts

Texas should blow the doors off of a bad defense and that’s exactly what they did. While the big plays will rightfully get all of the attention, minimizing frictions, no turnovers, and a paucity of executional failures distinguished this game. Belief is a huge part of offense and Texas got a little bit more of it today. 

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

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I won’t be so effusive when discussing the performance of the Longhorn defense against a dangerous Razorback offense, as Arkansas mistakes and game state did more to derail their scoring maximization than the Longhorns. The Razorbacks scored on 7 of their 11 possessions, including 20 points on their first four possessions (FG, FG, TD, TD) while amasssing 252 yards on 30 plays with drives of 42, 60, 75, 75.

In the first half, they seemingly ran at will and the Arky tight ends ran up the seam without escort. Speaking of that… The two Arkansas QBs were a combined 22 of 31 for 305 yards between the numbers. When forced to throw outside the numbers, they were a combined 4 of 16 for 24 yards. If only we could find a pattern! To preview the game, Ian Boyd and I pulled some clips for the Deep Dive to illustrate the Arkansas offense, explain the concepts, and discuss what the true threats were to Texas.

They were:

  1. RB Mike Washington’s surprising power and burst behind a rebuilt, physical Arky OL.
  2. Taylen Green as a runner and constraint. As a passer, only in the middle of the field.
  3. The Arkansas tight ends up the seam and between the numbers. Specifically, as the first read. Gotta get the Arky QBs to reads 2 and 3, outside. Their wide receivers are unimportant, except when lined up in the slot….running between the numbers.

The threat certainly wasn’t the overblown Omega Blake deep threat (2 catches, 29 yards) outside. How did we do in our cautions? Mike Washington ran 17 times for 105 yards and a 1 touchdown while adding another 6 catches for 43 yards. He opened the game with a 41 yard run…

And then boar-trampled Michael Taaffe on his way to a touchdown after a feeble effort at setting the edge up front.

The two Arkansas tight ends were their top pass catchers. Rohan Smith led the Pigs with 5 catches for 82 yards. Their #2 TE Jaden Platt had 4 catches for 66 yards. Nine of their ten catches were in the middle of the field. Often wide open. First reads.

The final piece was Taylen Green as a runner and constraint. Green giveth and taketh away, but it was a good thing for the Texas run defense that they only saw a little more than a half of play from him before his injury. Green had 6 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown on a stroll-in and added an explosive 25 yard keeper around the edge.

I think our preview was dialed in. For the game, the Pigs lit up Texas for 37 points and 512 yards at 6.4 yards per play. The Texas pass defense remains broken, but the infection has spread. Or, more precisely, Texas played an opponent with the ability and play caller to expose rot in the larger scheme. Anthony Hill was certainly missed, but that’s not why Arkansas rolled up 29 first downs.

A few things really stopped Arkansas: First, Taylen Green. Except when he was kicking our asses. It’s complicated. He made the weirdest play of the year, though his main competition is just other Taylen Green plays. What a talented, strange football player. 

While frittering away that possession, he was simultaneously injured by Moore and Smith while throwing to his only possible receiver, Horn safety Jelani McDonald. After a half of dominating Texas, Green was out. Though Arkansas’ backup QB KJ Jackson was shockingly effective – dropping over 200 yards passing on the Horns in less than a full half and rushing for a TD when he broke four tackles – his inexperience was partially exploited in this game-changing Simmons strip sack, Lefau fumble return touchdown on 4th and 8: 

What is Ethan Burke doing, by the way? This is not the time to hug, Ethan. AND WHY DID YOU THROW IT AT BEVO, LEFAU? Rude. Arkansas stopped itself from the sideline as well. Why on earth is Bobby Petrino kicking field goals with a 2-8 football team in the Texas red zone when his offense was thoroughly kicking our ass for lengthy portions of the game?

As a general rule, a head coach should try do the thing that the enemy fanbase dreads and abstain from doing that which would give them comfort. How relieved were you when Arkansas kicked those field goals? I’ll forgive Petrino for trying to get points on the board on their first drive, but on the their next possession Arkansas kicked a field goal on 4th and 2 on our 15 with a chance to go up 10-7. Thank you.

Then Petrino kicked another field goal in the mid 3rd quarter to cut it to 15 points from the Texas 15 in a game where his defense couldn’t get a stop. Thanks again. As for the overall play of the Texas defense, I think you should be somewhere at around a moderate panic.

DL

Simmons was terrific rushing the passer. #1 created the strip sack fumble return touchdown, added six pressures, four hurries and had a big additional hit on the QB. A player that I called out in my preview to watch as a Hog weakness, Arkansas tackle E’Marion Harris, had a rather traumatic night. Nearly every Texas edge defender had a run game snap that he’d like back though Burke redeemed himself with some other good run stops. Zina had his worst game as a Longhorn.

Way too much block-catching up front. Maybe it was an attempt at trying to read the Arkansas offense, peek at Green, play multiple gaps, but it just led to guys getting pushed around and the Arkansas OL and ball carriers delivering the blow. Passivity at the point of attack isn’t the solution to an offense being multifaceted. You still have to be the aggressor.

LB

Trey Moore had some rough snaps when Arkansas targeted him in the passing game and he had a couple of poor run fits, but he also had some really good efforts as a pass rusher and chaser. Up and down game, but he was the only other pass rusher of consequence besides Hill. 

That’s targeting? I’m an out of touch dinosaur. I have no idea what football is anymore. Smith will miss the first half of the Aggie game. Lefau had a very rough first quarter. He settled in and played much better.

DB

The collective inability of the Texas pass defense brain trust to understand that taking away first reads in the middle of the field is a worthy team defensive goal is frustrating. Particularly when Arky’s use of their tight ends was so predictable coming in, even if their season numbers didn’t suggest it. Taaffe had a rough Saturday in run support. He missed 3 tackles. Got trucked. He missed 3 tackles last week, too. He was better in coverage. Nice PBU.

Proud of Kade Phillips. I had no problem with his PI in the end zone and Arky only converted 2 of 5 throws on him for 9 yards. Same for fellow freshman Graceson Littleton. 5 targets, 1 reception, 5 yards. Texas had 3 PBUs. All by two true freshman. The guys we’ve coached least play the ball in the air best? Jelani McDonald had a strong second half with a decisive tackle for loss and a gift interception. Roberson had an obligatory penalty.

Texas played some more 3-1-7 and it seems to offer little benefit in actual coverage. I chuckled bitterly when we subbed it in and Arkansas threw to a wide open receiver in the middle of the field. Another time, we blitzed from it (games within games!) and KJ Jackson had an easy 3rd down conversion flipping it to Washington on a simple backfield release.

Special Teams

DeAndre Moore tried to return a punt instead of let it bounce into the end zone. He was tackled on the 8 yard line. Just dumb. Mason Shipley drilled a 44 yarder. Bouwmeester downed two punts inside the Arkansas 20.

Final Thoughts

Texas is now 58-23 against Arkansas all time. Rivalry? I’m not sure a 35-win gap and a 71% winning record constitutes a two-way street, but it’s always fun to beat opponents that feel something a little extra about Texas. Arkansas is now the toughest 2-9 football team in the history of football. Crown them. Bring on the Aggies…

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

It’s pretty easy to say cover the middle of the field.  But not when every time they run outside they get big yards.  That’s why Petrino is a master play caller.  He uses successful plays against you to catch you overplaying.  If we had our linebackers simply follow their TEs on every play they would have run for 400 yards.

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