Joel Klatt explains how much blame Arch Manning should get for Texas struggles

After Texas’ loss to Florida, much of the attention turned to Arch Manning and his uneven performance. However, FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt believes the criticism of Manning is misplaced.

According to Klatt, the Longhorns’ problems run far deeper than their young quarterback. The offense’s issues start up front: “Arch did not play well — but neither did anybody else,” Klatt said on The Joel Klatt Show. “And in a lot of cases, it really wasn’t Arch’s fault, because the offensive line was terrible against Florida.

“That defensive line for Florida absolutely owned the line of scrimmage. Texas couldn’t run the football. They couldn’t pass protect. Steve Sarkisian talked about it after the game, and he was pretty matter-of-fact about it. And this is what most offensive coaches would tell you: ‘When you can’t block, you can’t play. And when you can’t play like that, you can’t win.’”

Continuing, Klatt didn’t sugarcoat what he saw from Texas. He’s seeing a team that opened the season as a preseason No. 1 and featured the Heisman Trophy favorite fall flat. He stated that the loss to Florida was a low point in what has been a surprisingly underwhelming campaign.

“That’s the No. 1 team in the preseason — and the preseason Heisman Trophy favorite — that has totally underperformed up to this point,” Klatt stated. “And against Florida, it was bad. It was really bad. That defensive line absolutely took it to them. They’ve got to fix their offensive line. It was as bad as I’ve seen in a while.”

For the most part, the spotlight has centered on Manning’s disappointing play. Klatt believes the issue lies elsewhere — in Sarkisian’s offense as a whole. The veteran analyst elaborated on why Sark’s system and the lack of a running game are failing his young quarterback.

“Here’s the thing about Sark’s offense,” Klatt deleniated. “Everybody loves the numbers they’ve put up, the passing totals they’ve had. You think back to Mac Jones at Alabama, or some of those USC offenses. But here’s the thing: at its core, Sark’s system really needs a run game.

“You can go all the way back to his days as head coach at Washington — they had Bishop Sankey, a great tailback. They always had great backs at USC, great backs at Alabama. And they were able to run the football well, which then allowed them to throw the ball when they wanted to, take the shots necessary to get the safeties out of the box, and then continue to run it effectively.”

That balance, Klatt said, is missing in Austin right now: “Those dominoes are not falling for Texas right now,” he added. “And the reason is because the first one — the run game — isn’t falling. They’re not blocking up front. They can’t generate anything. Arch was their leading rusher. Outside of him, the backs really didn’t produce much of anything.”

However, Manning isn’t innocent: “When they did give Arch time, he didn’t throw the ball well or accurately down the field,” he added. “In fact, one of the first times I was watching on film, I thought, ‘Okay, that’s a clean pocket’ — then it’s an overthrow and a pick. And I’m like, geez, man. It was all bad on the Texas side. They’ve got to clean that up.”

For Klatt, the bottom line is clear — Manning has to improve, but the root of Texas’ issues doesn’t fall solely on his shoulders. The Longhorns need to fix their offense sooner rather than later, or else their young star will continue to take the brunt of the blame.