Nick Saban reveals where he sees continued issues in Arch Manning, Texas defense

Five weeks into the college football season, many questions still loom around the Texas football program. It’s not where anyone expected this team to be.

The Longhorns, now ranked No. 9 in the country, have not played against a Power Four program since Aug. 30. That was their season opener, which they dropped to No. 3 Ohio State 14-7 on the road in Columbus. Since then, they’ve racked up wins against San Jose State, UTEP and Sam Houston.

These wins, however, haven’t been convincing, leading to many wondering what this team is truly about. Can they live up to preseason expectations? Can they compete for an SEC Championship with Arch Manning struggling the way he is? Legendary head coach Nick Saban (for whom Steve Sarkisian was an OC for at Alabama) discussed their issues on Friday’s edition of ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’

“If I called [Steve Sarkisian] right now and said ‘what are you concerned about?’ He would probably say, ‘well, we haven’t been able to run the ball with the kind of consistency that we’d like to so we don’t have to put everything on the quarterback. And then, the quarterback has been a little bit inconsistent in his fundamental accuracy,” Saban said. “It’s getting better, but not where he’d like for it to be. I think their defense has been pretty good, but I think they need to get those two things fixed on offense and they’re going to play against a really good defensive team.”

Texas has opportunity to prove itself this weekend against Florida

“They’re going to play against a defensive team that plays a lot of Cover 7, but it’s kind of an umbrella 2-Deep,” Saban said. “The safeties are involved in the run, but you’ve got the 2-Deep against the pass. There’s not gonna be as many clean looks for the quarterback and that’s one of the reasons they only give up 173 yards a game passing.”

Heading into this weekend’s game against Florida in their season opener, the Longhorns boast the third-best defense in the conference (212.0 YPG). Their offense, however, has been underwhelming, especially since three of their four games this season have been against lesser competition. They’re averaging just 438.8 YPG, which ranks ninth in the SEC.

Kickoff between No. 9 Texas and Florida this weekend is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on ESPN.